August’s First Friday is the summer’s latest to include a notable last hurrah. The evening’s biggest party, the 25th anniversary of Midwestern Musical Co., also marks the store’s closing. Matt Kesler wraps up his years of being the Crossroads’ anchor for buying, selling and trading instruments with a big night, which includes a raffle to play the store’s famous “bash guitar”…
My task at hand, earlier this week, was to make another visit to Slap’s BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas (it’s my review subject for next week), but I discovered that Slap’s has a problem: it’s too popular. In June, veteran barbecue-team competitors Mike and Joe Pearce and Brandon Whipple opened the lunch-only barbecue shack, which frequently sells out of smoked…
If you skate, you’ve been influenced by Mark Gonzales. And even if you don’t, much of what you know about skating comes from him. He was a career skater before you could make a career of skating. And he’s one of the godfathers of street style. For First Friday, Escapist Skateboarding is bringing the Gonz (as he’s known) to town,…
We’re nine days away from Kansas City hosting the U.S. Air Guitar’s National Finals at the Midland (Saturday, August 9; tickets available here). It didn’t hurt our chances of hosting the event after our own Eric “Mean” Melin hopped a plane to Oulu, Finland, last year, competed in and won a dark-horse competition for a slot in the Air Guitar World…
The Pitch Music Awards Show is at the Uptown Theater this Sunday, August 3, and hosted by World Air Guitar Champion Eric “Mean” Melin and Mills Record Co.’s Judy Mills (tickets here). To count down to the awards ceremony – and help introduce you to this year’s picks – we’re debuting a “song of the day” each weekday until the show from…
I am what you might call a hopeful Internet user. I enter contests and sweepstakes. I send my name to giveaways, seeking silly prizes. Like most of us, I never win anything. I never had won anything, that is, until I made the ultimate score in the PBS lottery. In the span of a couple of weeks, I was awarded tickets…
Violet Music : Volume I by MY BROTHERS & SISTERS
Justin Timberlake Sprint Center, Kansas City Wednesday, July 30, 2014 For the full slideshow from last night, go here. The charm and charisma of Justin Timberlake is inarguable. The 33-year-old artist dominates on just about every creative outlet he finds, whether he’s giving a blockbuster performance for the big screen, goofing off with Jimmy Fallon or delivering a two-plus hour…
In March 2013, Joel White was caught stealing soccer-related merchandise at a World Cup qualifying match in Commerce City, Colorado. The arresting officers suspected that he might be selling the merchandise online, so they confiscated White’s cameras and computer. In reviewing them, they discovered video of an underage female changing clothes in what looked to be White’s home. At that…
The Pitch Music Awards Show is at the Uptown Theater this Sunday, August 3, and hosted by World Air Guitar Champion Eric “Mean” Melin and Mills Record Co.’s Judy Mills (tickets here). To count down to the awards ceremony – and help introduce you to this year’s picks – we’re debuting a “song of the day” each weekday until the show from…
Matthew Sweet with Tommy Keene, Well Hung Heart and Cassie Taylor Knuckleheads Saloon, Kansas City, MO Tuesday, July 29, 2014 Just when it seemed like we might be in for a fairly ho-hum run through the hits, Matthew Sweet turned out a truly electrified version of “Evangeline.” And from there it was on. That song is from Sweet’s eternally awesome…
The sun is bright and heavy on the early Sunday afternoon when I visit the 403 Club in Kansas City, Kansas. But from inside this storied establishment, I can barely make out any evidence of the world beyond, just a few slivers of light straining through the blinds. The eight pinball machines lining the back wall blink coquettishly, waiting for…
Nick Waterhouse with Various Blonde and DJ Thundercutz The Riot Room, Kansas City Tuesday, July 29, 2014 Nick Waterhouse definitely deserves a bigger crowd than the one that flocked over to the Riot Room last night for his show, but he couldn’t have asked for a better one. In a little over an hour, the Los Angeles artist had driven…
Kansas City, Missouri’s August 5 ballot is one of the more convoluted documents to face voters in recent memory. The city is holding the first of two elections to expand its streetcar project. But the ballot also includes a statewide measure to raise taxes for various transportation projects that affects the streetcar vote and its outcome. Let’s take a closer…
Name: Joel Nichols Occupation: Co-host of Kansas City Live Hometown: Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin Current neighborhood: Stilwell, Kansas What I do (in 140 characters): Have a great time with great people at KSHB Channel 41 working on Kansas City Live. Goofing around with the best co-host anywhere, Michelle Davidson. What’s your addiction? M&M’s and The Andy Griffith Show What’s your…
Artist David Goodrich, 52, died July 22 while hiking in Canyonlands National Park, in Utah. He had been on vacation there, and his last Facebook post, July 17, assured his friends, “I’ll be back with stories and photos.” Results of an autopsy are pending, but according to his sister, Denise Goodrich Frazier, preliminary reports suggest that Goodrich succumbed to heat…
Opportunities to enjoy jazz in Kansas City continue to unfold, and one of the latest and most exciting is during Sunday brunch at the Broadway Jazz Club. This week, the Steve Lambert Duo brings together two of the most talented stars of KC’s younger jazz generation when Lambert on tenor sax and flute and Andrew Ouellette on piano weave their…
The Toadies This year mark’s the 20th anniversary of this Fort Worth band’s seminal debut album, Rubberneck, which means a reissue and a national tour. Fans of the bizarre and brilliant classic “Possum Kingdom,” rejoice: When the Toadies stop at Knuckleheads on Thursday, the album gets a front-to-back airing. Sure, you can keep right on disdaining certain vacuous hallmarks of…
More than a dozen expensive-looking guitars hang on the walls inside the space at 1830 Locust, with dozens more suspended from the ceiling and lying above in the rafters, safely in their cases. There are rare ukuleles, collectible cowboy guitars and stereos from various eras, alongside antique toys and framed photos of musicians. There is a wall lined with acrylic…
