In the border-warring Kansas City metro, developers enjoy a nearly inexhuastible supply of leverage, patience and goodwill from elected officials eager to someday cut the ribbon in front of a successful project. City councils and state legislatures rarely call a bluff when the latest player asks for taxpayer money or begs for more time when a deadline has been missed….
The official Kansas City St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. It’ll run south from 33rd Street and Broadway to 43rd Street and Broadway. The grand marshal is Gone Girl author and KCMO native Gillian Flynn, who is in possession of an impressively Irish name. Looking to have a tipple before, during or after the parade? Many joints…
Since it was announced in October that local mother-son duo Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear had signed to Glassnote records (home of Mumford and Sons, Phoenix), we’ve been anticipating the band’s full-length debut album. At last, we finally have a date we can scribble into our calendars. On Tuesday, May 19, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear will release…
Stockyards Brewing Co. is taking over part of the former Golden Ox space in the West Bottoms, with early October targeted as the beermaker’s opening day. Last October, The Pitch published a sneak peek of six new breweries set to open in late 2014 and throughout 2015. Greg Bland’s Stockyards Brewing Co. was among them. Bland, director of environmental services…
St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year. Unfortunately, not all employers will allow their workers to slip out of work at 11 a.m. to attend a parade and sample Irish whiskeys all day. It’s bad for productivity on March 18 when you go to bed like: We’ll have a post early next week about where to celebrate on…
Mark Gilstrap will advance to the general election for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, Commission next month by the thinnest of margins. A recount and vote canvass that wrapped up Friday confirm that Gilstrap finished second in the March primary by one vote over Nathan Barnes, the third-place finisher among seven candidates vying for the 1st District…
Earl Long recalls spending hours at the King Louie West building, at 8788 Metcalf, teaching his kids how to ice-skate. Ice skating ceased at King Louie years ago, replaced by little more than political theater on how Johnson County should proceed with the beat-up husk of the building it bought in 2011. “You paid too much for it,” Long told…
Blaise Foret is a 32-year-old Christian speaker and author who has been preaching since the age of 16. He currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, but from 2008 until 2013, Foret lived in Kansas City and was an active member of the International House of Prayer. Foret is not involved with IHOP anymore, and in a recent post on his…
Andrew Ashby is most familiar these days as part of the Caves, the mellow and beautiful indie quartet. But once upon a time, Ashby fronted the String and Return, a potent post-hardcore act. They released several albums in the early years of this century on the Sun Sea Sky label, and all of them are powerfully impressive. It was their…
For all the talk about civility and fair campaigning in Kansas City’s 2nd District At-Large City Council race, it will probably end up the dirtiest contest of them all. Teresa Loar, who wants back on the City Council after serving two terms in the 1990s and early 2000s, signed a pledge on March 5 calling for honest campaigning and no…
Thursday, March 12Beer, brat and Big 12 toppings buffet, at Gordon Biersch (11652 Ash, Leawood), $12 for a beer and access to the brat buffet, 4–9 p.m. Boulevard Irish Ale, Lagunitas Scare City 2 Rye Cocoa Porter and Triomfbier Vooruit Smoked Beer, at Waldo Pizza’s taproom (7433 Broadway) Craft Kansas City beer-tasting benefit for the Midwest Music Foundation, featuring KC…
When a restaurant calls a century-old building home, everyone expects a little wear and tear. But at the successful bistro at 1663 Summit — the six-year-old Westside Local — the leaks and creaks can start to add up. “We’ve been getting busier and busier every year,” says general manager and co-owner Brandon Strick. “The building had issues that were leading…
The Kansas Jayhawks entered this season ranked No.5 in the Associated Press preseason rankings. With the regular season now finished, the Jayhawks prepare to enter the NCAA College basketball postseason beginning with the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Conference Tournament. With a conference record of 13-5, Kansas edged out Iowa State and Oklahoma, emerging as the regular season Big 12…
Erik Borger, the St. Joseph restaurateur who opened his first Il Lazzarone last year on that city’s historic Frederick Avenue, jumped through the last of Kansas City’s licensing hurdles yesterday afternoon and opened his second Neapolitan pizzeria, Il Lazzarone, at 412 Delaware in the River Market today. At noon, the dining room was full, and the patrons included Howard Hanna,…
The stretch of Delaware Street in front of the Farmhouse, in the River Market, has been under streetcar construction for what feels like all winter. “Delaware doesn’t exist right now, and parking is impossible,” says Margot Thompson, the restaurant’s head bartender. “People kind of freak out about coming down to the River Market anyway — it’s like they think that…
Last fall, after the Royals’ narrow World Series defeat at the hands of the Pitcher Who Shall Not Be Named, I was hanging my head and dragging my feet around town when I spotted someone wearing a clever shirt that lifted my spirits. The baby-blue tee showed, in blue letters above a golden crown: “2014 second-place world champs. Still pretty…
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest nonfiction collection — the poorly reviewed David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, in which the writer examines “what happens when ordinary people confront giants that include powerful opponents of all kinds,” according to the book’s publicity materials — is now out in paperback. Gladwell is promoting the book with speaking engagements, and…
The seventh Spin Neapolitan Pizza location in the Kansas City metro officially opens tomorrow in the Crown Center complex, taking over the former Kabuki restaurant space on the ground level. Earlier this week, the co-founders of the Kansas City-based pizzeria chain, Gail and Richard Lozoff, and newer partner Mike Kramer, were in the space overseeing the training of the serving…
Brandy Wheeler sneaked into the empty headquarters of VCW Holding Co. on November 21, 2007. She brought along her brother, Brandon Wheeler, because he was handy with computers. Together, the Wheelers copied a voluminous cache of financial files from computers belonging to VCW, which leases office space at 11020 Northwest Ambassador Drive near Kansas City International Airport. VCW is run…
Name: Christopher Jackson Occupation: Pop-culture and comic-book convention producer and organizer, including Kansas City’s Planet Comicon, the biggest and best pop-culture extravaganza in Kansas City. Also, a comic-book and related–pop culture collectibles dealer. Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa Current neighborhood: Johnson County What I do: Longtime comics collector. Made my hobby my business, dealing in comics and collectibles, and creating an…
This is not the year of the superstar. Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, Kansas’ NBA lottery picks, are long-gone, last season’s one-and-dones. Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart has also gone pro with his flops. Big 12 Player of the Year Melvin Ejim and Newcomer of the Year DeAndre Kane ran out of eligibility. Baylor lost … you get the point. This…
Two women, two backgrounds, two cultures. The two characters of Black Pearl Sings exist in separate worlds, their orbits sometimes in sync, sometimes colliding. But it’s two actresses’ performances — distinct and together — that stand out in the Spinning Tree Theatre production of local playwright and University of Missouri–Kansas City instructor Frank Higgins’ uneven play. Nedra Dixon and Vanessa…
