Archives: January 2015
Evil Twin takes you to beer school, Torn Label’s launch week continues and more beer events
Thursday, January 8Summit night, featuring a Fresh Hop IPA firkin, at Bier Station (120 East Gregory Boulevard), 6 p.m. Torn Label Brewing Co. tap takeover, featuring a one-off coffee variation of House Brew (coffee wheat stout), at Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters (419 East 18th Street) Tap Nite, featuring Dieu du Ciel Isseki Nicho, at Flying Saucer (101 East 13th Street),…
Emily Yeager, Kansas City’s only professional female brewer, does a little bit of everything
Emily Yeager has already taken two unintentional beer showers today at McCoy’s Public House. Those things happen to new brewers. That’s one reason she’s wearing rubber boots. On this mid-December afternoon, Yeager, the newest addition to the brewhouse at McCoy’s and Kansas City’s only professionally employed female brewer for the moment, is a week away from the release of the…
Stephanie Clayton talks #ksleg, Risk, the Border War and more in this week’s Pitch Questionnaire
Name: Stephanie Clayton Occupation: Republican state representative, Kansas’ 19th District Hometown: Shawnee Current neighborhood: Nall Hills What I do: I represent the people of Kansas House District 19. I live-tweet our proceedings. I narrate a slice of the #ksleg story. What’s your addiction? Dystopian literature, subversive cross-stitch, biting my nails, Twitter. What’s your game? Risk, but not with…
Inherent Vice thinks Rockford Files and Police Squad are cool. Good
You’d have to be a pretty hard case not to like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice. The writer-director, adapting Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 shaggy-detective novel with rare alertness to detail, has packed his follow-up to the highly noncomical There Will Be Blood and The Master with visual gags and druggy slapstick that echo the author’s wordplay. Before anything else, his Vice…
Ron Fondaw gives you the (messed-up, beautiful) world at KCAC
You can’t help feeling like a science-fair judge as you move through the Kansas City Artists Coalition’s Mallin Gallery and look at Ron Fondaw’s self-titled solo exhibition. Throughout, the artist draws magnetic poles and sacred geometry into his gaze, shifting his materials to match Earth’s geological churn. In “Shifting Ground,” one of two mixed-media installations incorporating an outdated school globe,…
Main Street’s most respected chefs wonder how they’ll survive streetcar construction
Over the half-century since the last electric streetcar zipped up and down Kansas City’s Main Street, the destinations along the route faded away. The movie palaces, the grand local hotels, the big department stores: gone. The fancy restaurants, too — until the past few years, when buzzed-about dining returned to the corridor between Crown Center and the River Market. That…
75th Street Brewery’s Big Chill strong beer and chili tasting event is set for February 7
Waldo’s 75th Street Brewery is going to warm up in February with the fifth annual Big Chill. The tasting event brings together two of our favorite things — strong beer and chili — on Saturday, February 7. Signed up to serve are Boulevard, Cinder Block Brewery, KC Bier Co., McCoy’s, Crane Brewing, the Big Rip Brewing Co., Rock & Run…
The Usury Suspects: Hutchinson, Kansas, collections agency NCA to pay $1 million in restitution to New York City for collecting on illegal payday loans
Consumer lending at interest rates exceeding 16 percent constitutes usury in New York, making payday loans — which often carry interest rates of several hundred percent — illegal in the state. It is also illegal for debt collectors to attempt to collect on payday loans in New York. “Studies clearly show that payday loans are not a solution for people with low…
Helmet announces tour in honor of the 20th anniversary of Betty, at RecordBar in March
There were plenty of milestones we met last year, but one that flew under the radar for many was the 20th anniversary of Helmet’s definitive 1994 album, Betty. Well, good news for Kansas City fans: In a series of 2015 dates, the New York metal act will play Betty straight through, followed by a second set of Helmet songs. On…
Missouri Department of Transportation lost another discrimination lawsuit
Last year was one to forget for the Missouri Department of Transportation. Voters nixed a proposed constitutional amendment to raise sales taxes for a department in dire need of money. Now policymakers are back to the drawing board to consider tolls on Interstate 70. The courtrooms were not kind to MoDOT in 2014, either. In December, a Buchanan County jury…
Tasty Thai’s American fried rice mixes up Bangkok and baseball
The staple dishes on most Asian buffets are, traditionally, more American in spirit than they are reflective of the foods of China (or Thailand, Vietnam, Korea). Certain such popular options — including General Tso’s chicken, chop suey and pepper steak — have long served as introductions to “Asian” cuisine for U.S. diners. It didn’t matter that lemon chicken and sweet-and-sour…
Has Haus left the building?
Haus, the two-year-old sausage-fries-and beer gastropub at 3044 Gillham Road, appears to be closed. The doors are locked, and the phone line no longer rings through. But owner-manager Desmond Carr says this is only a temporary situation. Carr today responded to an e-mail from The Pitch: “Haus shut down for about 6-8 weeks to rebrand.” Haus opened in 2012 with a limited…
Kevin Yoder’s Kansas City Star big-bank-loving op-ed makes no sense
U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder had almost a month to think about how he would respond to the avalanche of criticism he sustained when he dealt a major favor to the country’s biggest banks. And he still whiffed it. Yoder, who represents Kansas’ 3rd District, published an “As I See It” column in Monday’s Kansas City Star, belatedly attempting to explain his motives…
Download Fairgrounds, a local music sampler from Haymaker Records
If you’re already feeling a little bit of nostalgia for the great local music we enjoyed in 2014, fret not. Haymaker Records has just put out a compilation record from 15 DIY and experimental acts including Monta At Odds, Schwervon, Be/Non, the Jorge Arana Trio and more. It’s called Fairgrounds, and it’s a delightful little slice of local talent. From…
Download Fairgrounds, a local music sampler from Haymaker Records
Fairgrounds by Haymaker Records
Courtney Love is starring in a new musical called Kansas City Choir Boy?
In cool-seeming, vaguely local news: Courtney Love — Hole leader, wife of Cobain, occasional tabloid bait — will be starring this week in a musical called Kansas City Choir Boy. It’s being staged in New York as part of Prototype, a festival devoted to modern opera and musical theater. Written by Todd Almond, Kansas City Choir Boy is about what…
Here’s something that’s often forgotten about in all this talk about the budget disaster in Kansas
Just before New Year’s Day, Kansas did the classic late-Friday news dump on Wednesday, when it announced that the state took in $15 million less than expected in tax revenue for December. This isn’t surprising news, and probably won’t be for some time. At this point, it would only be remarkable if Kansas actually matched its revenue forecasts. Kansas has…
D/WILL talks streaming Reset and his plans for next year; at MiniBar on Saturday
Beatmaker Denzel Williams is better known to you and yours as D/WILL. He’s the man who supplies the backbone to many a local MC’s lyrical flow. Whether it’s as part of Heartfelt Anarchy with Les Izmore or partnering with Stik Figa, Williams’ music has made many a head nod. His solo releases have been few and far between, however, so…
OKC Thunder Tickets Averaging Over $215 In 2015
Since their controversial arrival from Seattle, the Oklahoma City Thunder have exploded onto the scene in the NBA. Through excellent drafting and management, Oklahoma City is one of the strongest teams in both the Western Conference and NBA. Aside from their inaugural season in 2008, the Thunder have made the playoffs every season since in the highly competitive Western Conference….
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