Earlier this month, when Bob Dylan announced a new spring tour, it looked like Kansas City was being left out. Today comes the welcome news that we aren’t being forgotten about by the legendary folk man, after all. On Sunday, May 10, Bob Dylan stops at Kansas City Music Hall. This tour follows the release of Dylan’s latest album and…
If there’s a ceiling for Big Sean, he hasn’t hit it yet. The Detroit rapper’s latest album, Dark Sky Paradise, released today, showcases his swaggering, heavy flow on top of dark beats and darker themes. It’s already being heralded as Big Sean’s best work to date, and if that doesn’t make executive producer Kanye West crack a smile, nothing will….
Restaurants in the Power & Light District tend toward a certain domineering severity, but you don’t think 50 Shades of Grey when you step inside the district’s new Cleaver & Cork, at 1333 Walnut. More like 10 shades of cool slate. When the Cordish Co., which owns the P&L, pulled the plug on the six-year-old Maker’s Mark restaurant last year,…
Boulevard Brewing Co. is putting out a lot — a lot — of new beer this year. Spring Belle Saison with Flowers is the latest to hit local taps, starting in the metro area today. Six-packs of 12-ounce bottles won’t be far behind (looking like around March 9). Get it while you can because Spring Belle (6.2 percent ABV, 35…
Essayist, storyteller, New Yorker writer and generally funny human being David Sedaris seems to come within a reasonable driving distance of downtown Kansas City just about annually these past few years — the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Lied Center in Lawrence, the Stiefel Theatre in Salina. Sedaris returns to the Kauffman Center in a few months, on Wednesday, April…
In the restaurant business, the term “temporarily closed” can mean that a venue is making repairs or quietly changing ownership. Often, though, it ends up meaning permanently closed. The latter is true of Huddle House, the small diner at 3959 Broadway that put up such a sign earlier this month. But it may not be empty long: The Westport Mexican staple…
The Kansas State basketball team whipped cross-state rivals Kansas on Monday night before a nationally televised audience on ESPN, but few seem to be talking about the athletes’ play on the court. Instead, attention Tuesday seemed to mostly turn toward the antics of the Wildcats’ faithful at Bramlage Coliseum, who rushed the court to celebrate the victory and treat the…
Kansas, with its resolute opposition to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, earned the distinction as the only state in the United States that saw an increase in the percentage of those without health insurance in 2014 compared with the year before. A Gallup report out Tuesday shows that 14.4 percent of Kansans lacked health insurance coverage in 2014,…
In August 2012, my colleague Steve Vockrodt, writing then for the Kansas City Business Journal, covered a meeting held at Redeemer Fellowship regarding what to do with the buildings that once housed Westport High School (315 East 39th Street) and Westport Middle School (300 East 39th Street). Kansas City Public Schools closed both schools in 2010 amid declining enrollment. The…
Ariana Grande is set to kick off her second headlining tour. The Honeymoon Tour will start Wednesday night at Independence Events Center. The tour will feature two legs, featuring 25 shows in North America and 14 shows in Europe. North American dates will run through mid-May to a stop at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. On the secondary market, Ariana Grande…
Merle Haggard with Noel Haggard Uptown Theater, Kansas City Monday, February 23 For more photos from last night, go here. It was seven songs into Merle Haggard’s set last night at the Uptown before the country legend addressed his audience. He took off his black cowboy hat, his dark sunglasses, and smiled at the crowd. “I’m a California boy,” he…
“You’re asking me to pick between my children,” Cinder Block Brewery owner Bryce Schaffter tells reps from North Kansas City Beverage Co. Schaffter is less than two weeks from the official launch of his brewery’s beer outside its North Kansas City taproom, and he and his distributor are trying to decide which core beers to feature. Should they send out…
Hozier Liberty Hall, Lawrence Monday, February 23 Listening to Hozier’s self-titled debut, one may marvel most at his voice and delivery. It’s apt that the Irish singer-songwriter’s biggest song is “Take Me to Church,” because his music is, at its base, gospel-tinged soul. Of course, the question is: With all the quasi-religious aspects to Hozier’s music, how reverential is his…
A sign on the front door at Bloom Baking Co. (15 East Third Street) says the five-year-old River Market bakery is hiring sales clerks and a full-time bread baker. A former Bloom employee tells The Pitch that Bloom owners Janet O’Toole and Stephen Zaragoza have sold the bakery, which they’ve run since 2010. The Pitch contacted O’Toole at the bakery…
There is so much more to Randy Newman than his Toy Story legacy (though who could ever get tired of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”? Heartless jerks, that’s who). In June, you’ll have the opportunity to hear a good deal from the award-winning composer and singer-songwriter when he performs with the Kansas City Symphony. The concert takes place Wednesday,…
Brian Rogers – formerly the drummer for Lawrence rock band Forrester – has just released his debut full-length album as Lion. Disquiet is 10 stunningly produced tracks of experimental electronic and hip-hop beats, the kind of thing that can lull you into a hazy, hypnotized state with very little effort. On this crisp morning, it’s exactly the soundtrack we want. …
By Saturday morning of the Folk Alliance International Conference, you can feel the energy of the musicians, organizers, volunteers and attendees emanating from worn-thin bodies: Four nights of no-holds-barred music – even the top-notch stuff at FAI – is enough to fray the edges of anyone’s sanity a bit. But it’s all such a joy, too, a wonderful overwhelming of…
With the Folk Alliance International Conference and Music Fair spread over two hotels, with hundreds of musicians with seemingly thousands of guitars, a visitor can have any one of a myriad of experiences in one night. Last night, music poured out of nearly every room of the Westin, and as the conference this year has expanded into the Sheraton, banjos,…
