Archives: January 2016

Music Forecast: Tool, Grazzhopper, El Monstero, Soopa Mooni Downz

Tool As Tool enters its 26th year, we welcome the legendary band to the Sprint Center for a show that, we expect, will not disappoint. This Kansas City date is part of a short January tour, which is serving only to build anticipation for a purported forthcoming album from the band. (Tool hasn’t put out a new release since 2006’s…

Subterranean Gallery’s Melaney Mitchell prepares to move up and out

While presidential candidates ponder how to “make America great again,” Subterranean Gallery director Melaney Mitchell is asking a different, better question: How do you make an alternative space alternative again? Subterranean has long counted as alternative, if for no other reason than its location: The six-year-old art space lives in Mitchell’s cramped midtown basement. But its innovative exhibitions — such…

Restaurant Week is back, and reservations are piling up

Although Kansas City’s Restaurant Week doesn’t start until Friday, January 15, the first weekend of the 10-day “week” is already booked up at many places, promising another big year for the fundraiser. A good example: Affäre, the stylish German-Austrian venue at 1911 Main Street operated by chef Martin Heuser and his wife, Katrin. Monday of this week, nearly every reservation…

Jazz Beat: Jay McShann Centennial Birthday Bash, at the Gem Theater

Jazz legend Jay McShann led the last of the great big bands out of Kansas City in the 1940s, a group that featured a young alto saxophonist named Charlie Parker. Meanwhile, his jumping, blues-based swing came to define Kansas City jazz. January 12, the late jazzman would have turned 100 — a milestone his hometown marks Saturday night. Benny Green,…

Sporting KC opening No Other Pub in the Power & Light District

The Power & Light District is the place to watch soccer matches in Kansas City, especially after packing the KC Live Block for the World Cup. Opportunity hasn’t been lost on the owners of Sporting Kansas City. The club has announced plans to open No Other Pub in the former Z-Strike bowling alley space at 1370 Grand Boulevard. Opening day is…

Overland Park man Zachary Self sentenced to 84 days in jail for stalking Lana Del Rey

You might have read yesterday, on TMZ or Buzzfeed, about the Overland Park guy who stalked “Video Games” singer Lana Del Rey. On December 1, 19-year-old Zachary Self was arrested following a November break-in at Del Rey’s Malibu home.  Self was on “hallucinogenic drugs” during the break-in, which may explain his super-creepy professions of love for the singer. (His Facebook page…

Kansas City Public Schools names two finalists for superintendent position

Kansas City Public Schools has found two candidates from the East Coast interested in taking on the toughest K-12 education job in this region. KCPS announced that it narrowed its list of candidates to Ronald Taylor, superintendent of Willingboro Township Public Schools in Willingboro, New Jersey; and Mark Bedell, assistant superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools. Both men will appear…

In the Northland, an uplifting TIF for a change

Tax-increment financing, a form of public subsidy for private development, has been getting some much-deserved scrutiny in Kansas City over the past few months. TIF is popular among developers because it generates tax revenues that can be used to pay development costs. It’s been used to transform Kansas City’s landscape since the 1980s, but an increasing number of wonky civic…

David Bowie dead at 69; listen to his entire 2004 Starlight Theatre show

David Bowie died Sunday of cancer at age 69.  The news came via Bowie’s Facebook page last night: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.” A lot has already…

Room 39 owners to purchase Sasha’s Baking Co.

%{}% The deal won’t close until the end of February, but Ted Habiger and his wife Jackie Kincaid Habiger, owners of the two Room 39 restaurants in the metro, are going to purchase the two-year-old Sasha’s Baking Co., at 105 West Ninth Street. Some things are already happening: Starting this weekend, the breakfast pastries served at the midtown Room 39…

Oregon standoff sends poison-cherry-flavored iceberg into the Star‘s website

%{}% Kansas City Star reporter Judy L. Thomas today continues the paper’s loosely organized series linking militias and anti-government fringe groups to domestic terrorism, with a story slugged “Experts: Oregon standoff may be small, but it’s just the tip of a growing militia iceberg.” As talking-heads roundups go, it’s readable and stats-y. As medium-alarmist troll bait, however, it’s a jingly…

Hand & Land cleans you up nicely in Leawood’s Park Place

%{}% The first thing I noticed about Hand & Land was the smell — the delightful smell. The charming home, body and health shop in Leawood’s Park Place immediately hijacked my senses with a clean, piney scent that welcomed me in from the cool winter air outside. Walking into the space felt like entering a spa. Unlike the seasonal products…