Sara Morgan is about as country as it gets – something she is unabashedly proud of on her latest EP, Easy to Dream, out today. The 25-year-old Arkansas native says she has found an unlikely support system and an audience for her music in Kansas City, and despite her pining for some famed Nashville stages – namely the Grand Ole…
For years, Missouri has been a gold mine for predatory lenders. There are nearly twice as many payday loan stores (934) in Missouri than there are McDonald’s, Wal-Marts and Starbucks combined (512). The average interest rate on a payday loan in Missouri is 455 percent; in Arkansas, interest rates for consumer loans are capped at 17 percent. Just as ugly as…
Back in 2011, Kansas found itself in a situation not unlike other states. The Kansas economy tiptoed out of the throes of a miserable recession, trying to find its bearings in a new economic reality. Fast-forward to today, and Kansas finds itself in a situation decidedly unlike many (but certainly not all) other states. While neighboring states continue to make…
Chris Brown has just announced a string of new dates on his One Hell of a Night Tour. The hip-hop star will stop at the Sprint Center on Wednesday, August 12, with special guests Kid Ink, Omarion, Fetty Wap and Teyana Taylor. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 12, at 10 a.m. Details here. Categories: Music Tags: chris brown, concert…
Last year’s Fiery Stick Open — a pop-up country club event organized by LiveKC — impressed a lot of people (other than our own beloved village curmudgeon David Hudnall). It’s back this year and with a pretty sizable headliner. On Friday, July 17, Fiery Stick Open 2.0 returns to Liberty Memorial, featuring a headlining “performance on the green” by Girl Talk. …
The actual opening of the Columbus Park Ramen Shop is several months in the future — construction is due to begin on the garage behind Josh and Abbey-Jo Eans’ restaurant, Happy Gillis Cafe & Hangout, at 549 Gillis, in two weeks — but Josh Eans is still hosting preview beer dinners. This Thursday, June 11, Eans opens Happy Gillis —…
Randy Newman is one of the most lovable music men on the planet. It’s gotta be that unmistakable, Muppet-like voice paired with his bespectacled, grinning, piano-playing self. He just seems so happy, you know? Even the singer and composer’s arsenal of sad-sack songs makes him as lovable as a big teddy bear. Wednesday at the Kauffman Center, test the theory…
For about three years, Downbeat Coffee + Tea operated in a somewhat secluded spot on the West Plaza — a basement space with an entrance on an otherwise residential street, at 4706 Holly. Owner Emily Madison vacated that space a few months ago, and last week she reopened Downbeat Coffee + Tea in another off-the-path location: the second floor of…
Over the weekend, five Johnson County senators, all of whom frequently carp about the evils of taxes and promote the idea of smaller government, advanced a tax plan that will raise taxes on all Kansans. The plan, which passed by a slim majority, would increase the state sales tax rate to 6.55. It’s currently 6.15 percent. It also includes various…
Johnson County residents should ready themselves for a property-tax hike. County Manager Hannes Zacharias proposed a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that contemplates an increase in property taxes that works out to $4 more a month for the average Johnson County residence. It’s a modest increase, but it would be the first such increase for the county since 2006….
If Jake Randall has his way, next year’s national Doughnut Day will be a bonanza at the shop he means to open in Westport. But bringing Doughnut Lounge to fruition is going to take some dough — the kind you raise and then spend. Later this month, the 32-year-old businessman told me this morning, he plans to launch a Kickstarter…
Boulevard Brewing Co.’s partnership with Sporting Kansas City is continuing with a new beer and merchandise. Boulevard announced today that the brewery and the soccer franchise are collaborating on a series of projects. Among them, Sporting Saison. According to Boulevard’s Brewers’ Blog, Sporting Saison is “a limited release, draft-only version similar to the popular 2014 Championship Ale release. The traditional farmhouse…
The weather lately has been dampening a lot of summer plans, and one more annual event now falls victim: the Crossroads Summer Block Party, originally scheduled for Friday, June 5, has been moved to Friday, July 3. Sad face. So far, lineup changes have not been announced; fingers crossed on that account. For more information on the event, go here. …
If you’re planning on heading down to CrossroadsKC on Saturday for the Old 97’s and the Delta Saints, make sure you turn up early for Los Angeles duo HoneyHoney. Violinist and lead singer Suzanne Santo has a voice that cuts through the static of typical Americana fare, big and rough and raw. Guitarist Ben Jaffe’s harmonies soften those earthy edges….
You could say that local author Judith Fertig’s life lately has been an embarrassment of riches — and cakes. Fertig, the author of numerous cookbooks (Prairie Home Cooking, I Love Cinnamon Rolls, 500 Fish & Shellfish Dishes) and dozens of national magazine articles, is celebrating this summer’s publication of two new books: a novel, The Cake Therapist (Penguin, $16) and…
When a photographer’s tools include a hazmat suit and a respirator, you know he has something at stake. Avery Danziger’s hypnotic pictures document abandoned, sometimes dangerous buildings, such as the Harlem Valley/Wingdale State Hospital — where, during the mid-1950s, more than 5,000 mental-health patients lived amid 5,000 employees. “I am drawn to the incredibly paradoxical beauty as expressed in the…
Once upon a time, it seems like you couldn’t go a few weeks without there being an Arthur Dodge show at the Replay Lounge. Be it solo acoustic or a full band show with the Horsefeathers, you could always count on the country troubadour slinging songs like our very own Townes Van Zandt. Now that the man’s a husband and…
For the last five years, the Mattie Rhodes Center has hosted La Chalupa Farmers Market every Thursday outside its Northeast location, at 148 N. Topping Avenue. When Jenna Wilkins, one of the veggie vendors there, heard the market wouldn’t be returning in 2015, she banded together with some of her fellow vendors and set out to create a new farmers market…
It was sad news last month when, just 24 hours ahead of its scheduled May 5 concert at the Sprint Center, the Who announced that it was postponing. Lead singer Roger Daltrey was being put on vocal rest for the Kansas City date and two subsequent shows. The Kansas City show has been rescheduled for Tuesday, December 8, seven months…
