Jim Heath is full of stories. As the frontman for the Reverend Horton Heat, he has been witness to — or had a role in — plenty of roadhouse antics over the band’s two decades plus. And like any good songwriter, Heath catalogs his stories on disc. So the Reverend Horton Heat’s latest full-length, Rev, is full of tragic characters…
“I don’t think I’m very unique,” Megan Birdsall says. We’re about halfway through our conversation, and so far it has been about something that is, in fact, uncommon: leading a double life. Birdsall is a jazz singer who also fronts a folk-rock project. Writing original music for the latter — MBird, she calls it — has taken up most of…
Over the past few seasons the University of Baylor has really been able to turn their football program around. After spending decades in the bottom tier of college football, now they are the defending Big XII Champions and gained a 2014 Fiesta Bowl berth thanks entirely to head coach Art Briles. In his short tenure at Baylor, Briles has transformed…
The memories of February’s successful 26th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference – held for the first time in Kansas City – are still fresh in our minds, along with the wise influence of the FAI executive director (and SXSW co-founder) Louis Meyers. We knew that Meyers, who has been heading up the FAI since 2005, would be retiring at the…
On February 20, Breman Anderson put on another of his grandstanding displays before the Hickman Mills School Board. That night, Anderson launched a long-winded exegesis about why the district should renew a transportation contract with Durham School Services, even though another company put in a bid that was $470,000 lower than Durham’s and Superintendent Dennis Carpenter had just finished explaining…
Longboards Wraps & Bowls, the popular fast-casual grilled wrap and sandwich shop that started in 2004 at 6269 North Oak Trafficway, has just signed a lease to put its third location (the second is located in Liberty) in the former Little Caesar’s Pizza space at 5415 Johnson Drive in Mission’s Mission Mart Center. Steve Choikhit, president of Commercial Ventures and…
Kansas City Bier Co. is tapping its golden-red Maibock tonight at 6. KC Bier Co. (310 West 79th Street) announced a release party for the Maibock (6.6 percent ABV) – the new brewery’s first-ever seasonal – on Tuesday. Here’s the description via the Facebook event page: “Our golden-red Maibock is made fresh with all-German hops and malts – we even double…
Radio-station pledge drives, though necessary, are generally not fun for the listener. Local public-radio outlet KKFI 90.1 has a more creative spin on a fundraiser, and one that’s slightly more entertaining: its annual band auction. Every year, a handful of local artists and bands sign up to donate a two-hour show to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to…
The NBA regular season isn’t over yet, but the Miami Heat already has plans to return to Kansas City this October. LeBron James (probably) and the Heat will make their annual preseason pilgrimage to the Sprint Center to face the Golden State Warriors on Friday, October 17. Game time is 7:30 p.m. The Sprint Center issued an e-mail today announcing an…
The Kansas City Royals are hoping this is the year they make it back to the playoffs. Last season there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel as the Royals finished the season 86-76 just 6 games out of the second wild card spot. That success has led to a slight bump in ticket prices for the…
One of the businesses appearing at The Pitch’s Bacon & Bourbon Festival on Thursday is Our Sassy Pantry, which offers among its jams a savory concoction starring bacon. I was trying to figure out how best to deploy it when inspiration struck: Farm to Market dropped off a loaf of its limited-edition banana-nut bread. The bread is available in select supermarkets through April…
Name: Melissa Lenos Occupation: Assistant professor of English, Donnelly College Hometown: Norton, Ohio. I know you haven’t heard of it; it’s south of Cleveland. Current neighborhood: Old Hyde Park What I do (in 140 characters): I teach English, film studies and popular culture to the most amazing students in Kansas City. When I’m not doing that, I research and write….
Jessie and Spike Nguyen have opened the most glamorous French-Vietnamese restaurant in the metro. Yes, restaurateur Spike Nguyen (best known for his popular fast-casual Vietnamese bistro Pho Hoa at 1447 Independence Avenue) was warned not to lease the restaurant space at 3623 Broadway, across the street from the Uptown Theater. “It’s not a good neighborhood,” he was told. “I think…
Rumors are percolating in Johnson County that outgoing Overland Park police chief John Douglass is eyeing a 2016 run to become the county’s sheriff. Reached on Monday, Douglass said people have talked to him about entering the race, but he hasn’t made a decision. “Certainly people have inquired about whether I would be interested, but that’s a ways away,” Doulgass…
When Paul Davalos, the owner of the one-week-old El Burrito Loco (900 Swift, North Kansas City), saw the scathing comments from Pitch readers about his Cuban sandwich in last week’s Fast Pitch post, he didn’t get angry or defensive. He snapped into action. “The commenters were complaining that our Cubano sandwich was a ham sandwich with ketchup!” says Texas-born Davalos. “I told…
Banana nut bread – that moist, sweet bread that has more in common in taste and texture with cake than with traditional bread (although it’s usually baked in a loaf pan) – is a tradition that dates back to, at least, the Great Depression. At a time when frugality was more than just a virtue, overripe bananas could be used…
The music-festival game is a rough one; ask anyone involved – major multiday festivals are immensely challenging to plan and to profit from. It involves the types of months-long planning that most sane people steer clear of. Go too big too soon and you might fail pretty spectacularly (see Kanrocksas). Too small and there’s no money to be made, or…
Center of the City Vandals, Kansas City Saturday, April 5 Center of the City started as a response to Middle of the Map’s excluding bands of a … shall we say, “angry” nature. Despite past acts like Fucked Up and Coalesce, Middle of the Map tends to eschew punk acts. However, what was once a middle finger to Middle of…
Gulp. Has “thug” become a racist term? I’m not sure. But given that there is an ongoing public discussion about that word having evolved into a socially acceptable replacement for the N-word, I’m certainly steering clear of it. I just kind of assumed every other non-race-baiting media outlet was, too, until I came across a Star story about a theft…
Baseball is finally back to Kauffman Stadium as the Kansas City Royals will host the Chicago White Sox in their home opener at 3:05pm. Jeremy Guthrie will be on the bump for the Royals, making his first start of the season, going up against Erik Johnson of the White Sox. The Royals are looking for their first win of the…
The Cordish Co. has hired Port Fonda’s chef-owner Patrick Ryan to serve as an adviser and consultant for the renovation and rebranding of Tengo Sed Cantina, the Mexican-inspired saloon at 1323 Walnut in the Power & Light District. The space is scheduled to reopen April 28 with a new menu designed by Ryan, a new cocktail bar with freshly squeezed juices…
