A year after taking a dip in the fountains of Kauffman Stadium during a Royals game, Fountain Lady is sorry. The Des Moines Register caught up with 26-year-old Jessica McCoy (known in KC as Royals Fountain Lady), who offers no excuses for jumping in the fountain during a Royals-Twins game on August 5, 2013. McCoy was charged with trespassing for her…
Chris Olsen is one of those guys. One of those guys with the words startup and entrepreneur tattooed on his résumé. One of those guys apt to co-found something like, say, a video-marketing company called FindItKC. But even former TV-news guys with a knack for monetizing social media have to eat, and Olsen is about to do a little bit…
Name: CW Cooke Hometown: Overland Park What I do (in 140 characters): I work in insurance, and I write comic books and create worlds of my own! One is clearly better than the other. What’s your addiction? I have a ton of comics all over my apartment and have been collecting since I was a kid. Thankfully, it’s…
Miley Cyrus, along with 10 truckloads of costumes, props, dancers and a band, invaded the Sprint Center on Tuesday night.
Remarks made by Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Bryan Round during a sentencing hearing July 30 have raised the eyebrows of some legal-ethics experts. Round was sentencing Nicholas Rose on convictions of careless and imprudent driving and disturbing the peace for an incident last year, in which Rose and several dozen stunt-bike riders were creating a traffic hazard on U.S….
Those Darlins Those Darlins’ lead singer-songwriters and guitarists Jessi Zazu and Nikki Kvarnes probably chose their band name with more than a touch of irony. Since the Nashville band’s 2009 self-titled debut, Zazu and Kvarnes have made it clear that they are anything but well-behaved Southern girls. But the October release of Blur the Line reined in the group’s trademark…
A friend once told me that she was conceived to the soundtrack of South Pacific. Given this World War II-set musical’s sexual tensions and tropical setting, I’m sure she isn’t alone in being able to make that claim. “Some Enchanted Evening,” reprised throughout and now a standard, surely helped launch countless destinies. But this deathless Rodgers and Hammerstein show isn’t…
Vi Tran is ready to tell his family’s story. His new play, in which he appears as himself and his father, recounts his family’s flight from wartorn Vietnam through Khmer Rouge–ruled Cambodia in the early ’80s through settlement in a new country. At 34 — the same age as his father when that journey began — this skilled actor, musician…
Romanticizing city living is easy in the abstract — so vibrant! so hectic! Then you’re faced with certain urban particulars. The smell of sun-scorched asphalt. The chalky splotches of pigeon shit on your just-washed car. Still life with dropped change and discarded condoms. Confectionary, a collection of Madeline Gallucci’s paintings, wrings aesthetic pleasures from these unpleasant realities. The solo exhibition,…
On the day after Christmas in 2008, a dispute over drug debts resulted in a man named Matthew Astorga driving to the Leavenworth, Kansas, home of Ruben Rodriguez and shooting him in the stomach. Rodriguez died. Police picked up Astorga after a short car chase. Astorga, who had previously served six years on second-degree murder charges in New Mexico, was…
Esteemed jazz writer Stanley Crouch recently was in town, and he stopped by the Blue Room to hear some of this city’s young jazz talent. The musician who captured his attention that night was saxophonist Michael Shults, from Bobby Watson’s UMKC jazz program, which continues to graduate extraordinary musicians into the KC scene. Shults’ solos soared in unexpected and delightful…
Over the years, the burger has been elevated from diner standard to featured role in almost every American restaurant. But it’s not enough to toss a ground-chuck patty on a grill and call it a meal. A modern burger requires a certain amount of cachet, and a steakhouse burger, once the cheapest option on the menu, isn’t an afterthought. “I…
MilkDrop Dear Sleep, Soon Enough (Self-released) The first installment of what MilkDrop says is a three-part series, Dear Sleep, Soon Enough flows like the stream-of-consciousness diary of an insomniac, a man whose half-awake mind is burdened by the past and plagued by doubt about the future. Album opener “You Woke Up” shows us to his front porch, by his side…
Justin Baird has a taste for midcentury aesthetics, and the walls of his Hyde Park living room are decorated with prints, mirrors and fixtures from that era. There is an obnoxious red floral-printed couch, and a 1950s art-deco ashtray is placed in every corner of the room. Baird, keyboardist-guitarist for All Blood, makes use of one of them as he…
Last week, the U.S. Air Guitar Championships were held at the Midland. This week, it’ll be pantomiming of a different kind downtown, when the Air Sex Championships arrive at the Chesterfield bar inside the Alamo Drafthouse. It is exactly what it sounds like. Is this the role you’ve been waiting for all your life ? Head over here to sign…
The Kansas City Royals recently overtook the Detroit Tigers for the top spot in the AL Central on the strength of an eight-game winning streak. But that streak might be coming to an end with the Oakland Athletics the next team on the Royals schedule. The A’s have led the majors in both wins and run differential for most of…
If you have a dream of opening your own restaurant, Block & Company’s Max Kosoglad has a nice little space for you: 16,000 square feet, actually, at 3951 Broadway. Until last month, this building was occupied by Open Fire Wood Burning Pizza and the Kiosk Gallery. The restaurant’s final day was announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page July 30. The…
It’s difficult to imagine a more troubling campaign year for Gov. Sam Brownback. State finances look more grim with each passing month, two credit rating agencies have downgraded the Kansas bond ratings on the account of the eroding state balance sheet, an FBI probe has targeted one of Brownback’s closest associates, and roughly 100 current and former Republican officeholders annoyed…
The wait for Detolf glass-door cabinets and Billy bookcases is down to about a month. Ikea issued a press release this morning announcing that it will open its store in Merriam on Wednesday, September 10. So put in your PTO now so you can start camping out for the 9 a.m. opening. Seriously. Ikea says customers can start lining up…
At 36, MC Young Jeezy — real name Jay Jenkins — may need to amend the first half of his moniker. He has matured a bit since his 2001 debut, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, and he has multiple Grammy nods (though no award) to show for it. The Atlanta rapper’s forthcoming album, Seen It All: The Autobiography, is…
Last month, Fairway bookstore Rainy Day Books presented a talk between RDB owner Vivien Jennings and Hillary Clinton at the Midland. That format will be repeated this fall, when John Cleese — actor, writer, tall person, Monty Python’s Flying Circus co-founder — sits down for a conversation with Jennings at the Midland on Wednesday, November 12, at 8 p.m. Tickets to…
The six-month-old Ça Va bistro at 4149 Pennsylvania hosted a soft opening for its new Sunday brunch on August 3, but “officially” introduced the brunch menu, created by chef and co-owner Howard Hanna, yesterday. The stylish menu reflects the distinctly Gallic style of the intimate champagne bar with its marble-topped cafe tables and potent French-press coffee (roasted for the venue by…
For a state dominated by a party that extols fiscal conservatism, the Kansas checkbook looks more like bank-account statements belonging to an insane gambling addict. For one thing, compulsive gamblers tend to mislead themselves and others about the true nature of their financial picture (“I can always win it back”). Gov. Sam Brownback reported last month that Kansas would have…
