Steve Holle wants a Helles. It’s his favorite KC Bier Co. brew. And it’s what he wants to drink a year to the day since he opened his German-style brewery’s taproom, at 310 West 79th Street. As he tells me this, Holle and his KC Bier Co. are on the verge of a weeklong celebration to mark a year that…
Hometown King: I’m from KC. My parents called me the “Queen of River Quay” because we lived in the River Market when I was born, and apparently I was the only baby there. (My “baby book” tells of my early trips to neighborhood-association meetings at the bar.) Southard: I’ve lived in a number of places but spent a good part…
Thursday, February 19Founders CBS tapping, at Burg & Barrel (7042 W. 76th St., Overland Park) KC Bier Co. tap takeover and movie night, featuring The World’s End, at Alamo Drafthouse (1400 Main), $10, 7 p.m. St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition, Odell Myrcenary Double IPA, and Torn Label Quadjillo, at Waldo Pizza (7433 Broadway) 2013 and 2014 Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale…
Bassist Bob Bowman and guitarists Danny Embrey and Rod Fleeman have anchored the Kansas City jazz scene for decades. That’s what also makes it easy, unfortunately, to take these musicians for granted. So here’s a refresher on their credentials. Bowman has performed with New York’s Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi–Lew Tabackin Big Band, and singer Carmen McRae….
Catfish and the Bottlemen Catfish and the Bottlemen’s debut record, The Balcony, is a rather confounding collection of songs. On the one hand, the Welsh quartet is presented as the heir apparent to early aughts stadium rock, a confident bridge between the Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon. On the other: Is this really a sound we were missing? Many…
Last year’s Folk Alliance International Conference and Music Camp, the 26th such event, was the first to be held here in Kansas City. For the conference about to get under way, the folks at FAI have expanded the public offerings. The conference itself is open only to delegates, but a series of public concerts will be held downtown at the…
Imagine a digital Rolodex of every musician, venue, shop, organization, manager and concert photographer in the Kansas City area. Now, imagine the work it takes gathering and cataloging all of that information. Such a formidable task demands an ambitious team. Folk artists Kasey Rausch and Mikal Shapiro, who also co-host River Trade Radio at KKFI 90.1, decided to take on…
Two weeks before the 27th annual Folk Alliance International Conference takes over downtown’s Westin Hotel, Aengus Finnan blinks at his computer screen. He’s standing at the desk in his River Market office, giving the impression that sitting is a time-consuming luxury. He furrows his brow and blinks again. The FAI’s executive director is in the middle of another 15-hour day,…
The Country Club Plaza once boasted three high-priced steak restaurants: the Capital Grille, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and the venerable Plaza III. For diners ready to splurge on a costly slab of beef, there was simply no other neighborhood. What the Plaza lacked in those highly competitive days, and what it needs now at least as much as it did…
The environment that Justin Beachler has created in the basement space that is Subterranean Gallery feels cozy and familiar — as cozy and familiar as the screen you spend your days and nights gazing into. Unlike what commands your attention on a monitor or in your palm, though, the images that Beachler has assembled to make Enterface — culled from…
Lower property taxes. Develop beyond the western outskirts of Wyandotte County. Revive the urban core. Wyandotte County voters have heard these platitudes before, and they’re hearing them again from the most recent slate of candidates for the Unified Government Board of Commissioners. Their predecessors ran on similar platforms. And yet, Wyandotte County’s property-tax rate remains among the highest in the…
Click in this spot right here, and you will find yourself perusing a variety of charts and maps illustrating data compiled by the city of Kansas City, Missouri — homicide rates, citizen satisfaction surveys, estimated economic impact of the streetcar, life expectancy by zip code and other generally dry pieces of civic information. The idea behind “The Art of Data,”…
Traditionally, the foods served with vodka — in Russian, водка and pronounced votkə — have been inspired by classical Russian cuisine: black bread, salty caviar, blini, cured fish or smoked salmon. At least one of those dishes will be featured at this Thursday’s Pitch event, Vodka Vodka, beginning at 8:30 p.m. at the Monarch Event Space at 1701 McGee. Tickets…
When you buy a cup of freshly brewed, house-roasted coffee from barista Zaid Consuegra at Pirate’s Bone Coffee, at 645 East 59th Street, you need to tip generously. The 26-year-old Consuegra, who opened the tiny shop two months ago, hasn’t made enough of a profit yet to pay himself a salary, even though he’s working 12 hours a day, six…
Ahead of The Pitch’s first Vodka Vodka event on Thursday, we (I) decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try out some of the cocktail recipes that the distributors sent over. I am no star bartender, but I have consumed enough martinis in my time to understand how it works. So, one quick trip to Cosentino’s and a surreptitious,…
When the Kansas Legislature first passed sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds, in the mid-1990s, it was seen as the the last inducement that Wyandotte County needed to land a NASCAR racetrack. In 1997, NASCAR was hedging between Platte County in Missouri and western Wyandotte County, seeing which government could offer up enough of their taxpayer wares to land the project….
Boulevardia, the three-day West Bottoms urban street festival June 19-21, announced today the lineup for Year No. 2 of its Saturday beer festival Taps & Tastes. The lineup looks to be another great one, featuring Cigar City, Funkwerks, Pretty Things and a lot more. Here’s the full lineup of who will be pouring this year: 2nd Shift Brewing 4 Hands Brewing…
The Huddle House diner at 3959 Broadway is “temporarily closed” for at least the second time since it opened in 2012. The restaurant, originally opened by Dr. Ahmed Awad (who also opened the short-lived Open Fire Pizza a few doors to the north — a venue that’s still available for lease), had also closed in October 2013 after the building flooded….
Last Friday, the employees at the fast-casual Ingredient restaurant at 4807 Jefferson on the Country Club Plaza were given a brusque announcement that the five-year-old venue was closing — immediately. This morning, Bread & Butter Concepts — the local restaurant chain that operates Gram & Dun, Urban Table, BRGR and Taco Republic — announced that it had signed a lease…
Texas singer-songwriter and Grammy Award-winning artist Lyle Lovett has been tapped to perform at the 10th anniversary Symphony in the Flint Hills event. This year, the event takes place in the same national park where it began: the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Manhattan, Kansas. The concert takes place on Saturday, June 13. Lovett has a long history of supporting…
Owners of The Great Disappointment Mall of the Great Plains, a moribund shopping center at the southern outskirts of Olathe, will finally pull the plug on the operation this year. VanTrust, the asset manager of the Great Mall, told local media on Monday that it plans to shut down by the end of fall. The news is hardly surprising. Olathe…
Rising from the ashes of the unfortunately named Kansas Town comes another state-themed establishment at 1403 W. 39th Street: MO Brew. Where Kansas Town was an attempt at artistically progressive dining, MO Brew is going for a more casual vibe. Owner Chad Sander says, “We’re an entertainment-themed beer bar with comfort food, specializing in Midwest craft.” Sander is also an…
John Mellencamp and Carlene Carter The Midland, Kansas City Saturday, February 14 Aging rockers carry a heavy burden. Unlike their audience, they have to successfully be who they’ve always been – often an impossible task. But they also have to be renovated performers, preferably better, constantly plowing new ground. Last night, despite a cold, John Mellencamp managed to pull off that…
