Tesla Motors has plans to bring a service center to Kansas City later this year, but the California-based maker of electric vehicles thinks the Missouri General Assembly is quietly pushing pro-auto dealer legislation that would keep the new competitor out of the market. Tesla took to its website yesterday with a post denouncing the Missouri Senate’s passage of a bill that deals…
Four years ago, I interviewed Courtney Taylor-Taylor while he was touring in support of the Dandy Warhols’ 10th album and “best of” compilation, The Capitol Years 1995 – 2007. Our conversation then was like most of the Warhols’ catalog: vastly entertaining and wildly tangential. We talked about books and eating organic (the Warhols are from Portland, Oregon), and Taylor-Taylor gave…
The inaugural Westport Roots Fest, centered around the Westport Saloon and taking place on Saturday, May 24, is approaching fast. To prepare for the pending roots romp presented by the good folks at Little Class Records, The Pitch will be highlighting a “song of the day” from one of the featured artists in the weeks leading up to fest. There are plenty artists who…
The longevity of Lyle Lovett’s expansive career – 11 full-length studio albums and various film and TV roles over more than three decades – is due to the artist’s most dominant feature: character. Lovett has never compromised his eclectic leanings. His albums can be as much western swing as orchestra. Though Lovett filled 2012’s Release Me with cover songs from…
The Kansas City Council quickly passed an ordinance change on Thursday afternoon to ban ride-sharing programs like Lyft from offering transportation in exchange for a donation. The ordinance was not on the published agenda and councilmembers did not know they were voting on the change until about 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Ordinances are usually introduced, sent to committees and are…
%{}% DST Systems, the downtown Kansas City-based software and data processing firm, spun $100 million in net income during the first three months of 2014 alone. But that favorable bottom line won’t keep the company from receiving a public incentive to expand their data center near Swope Park. The Kansas City Council on Thursday approved incentives for DST, which in…
Steve Scudiero can’t take the beloved murals from the original Villa Capri, but his new restaurant will have many other of the original features. Please don’t upset Tony Scudiero. The 82-year-old restaurateur, who survived a stroke two years ago, has been extremely unhappy with comments that he has read online and heard about his son, Steve, changing the name of…
The inaugural Westport Roots Fest, centered around the Westport Saloon and taking place on Saturday, May 24, is approaching fast. To prepare for the pending roots romp presented by the good folks at Little Class Records, The Pitch will be highlighting a “song of the day” from one of the featured artists in the weeks leading up to fest. Kansas City-by-way-of-Arkansas artist AJ Gaither is…
ComedyCity Facebook. Since 2008, ComedyCity – the local comedy organization that treats improv like a sport (of sorts) – has been leasing space inside Westport Flea Market, having fled its previous location at Third and Charlotte in the River Market. As of June, though, it’ll have its own home again, in the Uptown Shoppes at 3600 Broadway, Suite 107. Owner…
On the Black Keys’ latest full-length Turn Blue, the Akron, Ohio duo hits a lot of the same notes that first got it attention – heady beats and fuzzy, grungy guitars – but there’s also a few other elements that crop up, with shredding a la the Grateful Dead and frontman Dan Auerbach pushing his voice to a dreamy falsetto….
In the 10 years since the release of Get Lifted, John Legend’s debut album, the deeply talented pianist and singer has won nine Grammy awards, and has worked with some of the top names in the music business, including Kanye West (whose album imprint GOOD released Get Lifted), Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, the Roots, Dialated Peoples and Alicia Keys, among many others….
A bit of hot air from Silicon Valley. On April 24, the ride-sharing company Lyft expanded into 24 new markets, including Kansas City. Millennials cheered. The establishment jeered. Petitions have been signed, lawsuits filed. Lots of drama. But what is Lyft? “Your friend with a car,” says the company’s marketing materials. If your friend were a San Francisco – based…
The majority of a 24-member advisory group said on Wednesday that the most expensive of three options – a single-terminal overhaul – is the best path forward for a revamped Kansas City International Airport. How expensive? No one will say. The KCI Terminal Advisory Group, commissioned by Mayor Sly James last year to study the 40-year-old airport’s future, revealed its…
Derby day at Julep. Afternoon drinking, horses, gambling – there is much to love about the Kentucky Derby and its accompanying celebrations. Last Saturday, the most appropriate local establishment to take in the race seemed especially obvious: Julep Cocktail Club, the just-opened, low-country-themed whiskey bar in Westport. I saw bonnets of various colors, a headpiece that I am told is…
The inaugural Westport Roots Fest, centered around the Westport Saloon and taking place on Saturday, May 24, is approaching fast. To prepare for the pending roots romp presented by the good folks at Little Class Records, The Pitch will be highlighting a “song of the day” from one of the featured artists in the weeks leading up to fest. County Graves hail from Carbondale, Illinois….
You don’t want to drink a Simeon Bricker latte. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. The man knows his coffee. It’s just that you don’t feel quite right disturbing the foam on top – frothed milk that, when it comes from Bricker’s pitcher, is art. It’s not the kind of art that appreciates, but Bricker’s handiwork has still earned…
