During the Middle of the Map Fest earlier this year, event organizers planned a forum to discuss the prospect of whether Kansas City might become the next Austin, Texas. The panel included reliable city boosters, such as Kansas City Mayor Sly James and interim Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association CEO Jon Stephens, to discuss whether Kansas City could match…
El Ten Eleven with Kodak to Graph RecordBar, Kansas City Wednesday, July 23, 2014 In its decade together, El Ten Eleven has consistently delivered its own niche brand of instrumental math-rock, married to the midtempo melodies of, say, an indie-rock group. While bassist and guitarist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty have never truly hopped the pop line into the…
According to Guinness World Records, the longest marathon television talk show happened last April, with the record set by Rabi Lamichhane in Nepal. This weekend, Mike Anderson – host of Lawrence’s The Not So Late Show – hopes to blow past Lamichhane’s mind-bending 62 hours and 12 minutes. He’s preparing to attempt 66 hours straight on Lawrence cable channel 6,…
Some days are better than others. And some nights are just the best. To celebrate both, we’ve divided this year’s annual Best of Kansas City into a celebration of the best of the day (people and places, goods and services, sports and rec) and the best of the night (food, drink, arts and entertainment). We want to know your favorite…
Kansas City, Missouri, is always the bridesmaid when it comes to the metro’s biggest soccer developments. The then-Kansas City Wizards once upon a time were supposed to build their new soccer stadium at the moribund Bannister Mall, but late in 2009, Kansas and Wyandotte County officials came forward with a tax incentive-laden deal to lure the Major League Soccer squad…
This year, the 2014 Pitch Music Awards Showcase is split over two nights: This Saturday, July 19, at the Riot Room and Friday, July 25, at Knuckleheads Saloon (lineup details and tickets here.) The PMA Awards Show is at the Uptown Theater, held this year on Sunday, August 3, and hosted by World Air Guitar Champion Eric “Mean” Melin and Mills Record Co.’s Judy…
After a six-year hiatus, the original members of acclaimed hip-hop group Jurassic 5 are back together. It’s enough to bring tears to the eyes of 1990s nostalgists who revere the group’s seminal self-titled debut along with the excellent follow-up albums: Power in Numbers, Quality Control and Feedback. Yes, Jurassic 5’s four spotlight-sharing MCs remain in a rare patch of eternal…
Sticking it out. Among the crimes of what we inexactly refer to as the millennial generation — a group I belong to, though just barely — is the misuse and abuse of several words and phrases in the English language. I keep a regularly updated list in my brain of these buzzwords, along with various other tics and affectations. (I…
Midwesterners are being reminded almost weekly now that earthquakes aren’t just for Californians. Just last weekend, two earthquakes were recorded within hours of each other in south-central Kansas with magnitudes of 3 and greater. Scientists are scrambling to figure out what is causing thousands of minor temblors in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, with fingers pointed at oil and gas extractors,…
It’s odd to think of El Ten Eleven as a duo, given the massive wall of sound that Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty are capable of creating. The music of the Los Angeles post-rock instrumental group bends minds with majestic looping and intricate compositions on bass, guitar and various percussion instruments. The nuanced tracks on the duo’s five full-length releases…
Name: Casey Yunger Occupation: Chief engineer at GENESYS Systems Integrator, mentor at MINDDRIVE Hometown: Republic, Missouri Current neighborhood: Shawnee What I do (in 140 characters): I am a husband, father, son, brother, mentor. What’s your addiction? I get addicted to anything that I set out to do. In past years, it was running. (One year, I ran three marathons, one…
Dedrie Hawkins watches the Wyandotte County Juneteenth Parade from the folding chair she has propped up on the corner of 18th Street and Parallel Parkway. June 14 has turned into a steamy day, and she sits in the sun as marching bands and Shriners move along hilly 18th Street, in the heart of Kansas City, Kansas. Hawkins describes herself as…
Tim Whitmer has been rollicking and swinging Kansas City–style jazz since the days of the City Light Orchestra in the 1980s. These days, you can find him at the Phoenix on Saturdays. But Sunday, at Community Christian Church, Whitmer has planned something special: July Jazz Jam 4. This concert finds Whitmer at his usual seat behind the piano, with longtime…
Miniature Tigers I saw Miniature Tigers four years ago, when the band opened for Freelance Whales at a club in Minneapolis. At the time, the Brooklyn four-piece seemed to be honing a sound built around 1970s dream folk, with lyrics that were kitschy-cute. I remember the highlight of that performance being a prominent rain-stick solo, if that tells you anything….
Fringe Fest is such a hefty undertaking that the occasional snafu is inevitable. A Hard Day’s Night, for example, was listed in the program with a running time of 60 minutes, an inaccuracy addressed by signs in the Just Off Broadway Theatre lobby updating that to 90 minutes, making life a little harder for anyone planning to hit another event…
A lot of foods taste particularly fine with a cold beer: pizza, hot dogs, a pig’s foot. So when chef Alex Pope decided to put his food inside Bridger’s Bottle Shop — the suds emporium that Phil Theis, Eric Flanagan and Aaron Beatty carved out of a portion of the Westport building once occupied by the America’s Pub nightclub —…
Jerry Jay Cranford has lived most of his life “as a true gypsy,” he says, “living in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, and touring for nearly 14 years … that’s a lot of hotel rooms!” Since moving to Kansas City in 2007 and taking up residence in Brookside, the singer, actor, dancer and choreographer has brought laughs in A…
The status quo prevails in Roeland Park. Sometimes, all you can do is rely on your faith in God to guide you. That’s what Roeland Park City Council member Marek Gliniecki did last night, when the long-debated ordinance to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the group of classes protected by the Kansas municipality’s anti-discrimination law at last saw…
President Barack Obama will make a stop in Kansas City next week. The Kansas City Star reports that Obama will give a speech about the economy on Wednesday, July 30. But the president arrives in town a little early, getting here on Tuesday. So he’ll be hanging out for a couple of days in KC. Keep an eye out for Obama at…
