Archives: April 2016

Food & Drink

JT Koenig-Riley reveals the secrets of Tom’s Town

Natalie Gallagher,

JT Koenig-Riley is not accustomed to being interviewed. At least, this is what he tells me when I arrive on a Wednesday afternoon at Tom’s Town, the new Crossroads distillery where Koenig-Riley is the bar manager. He and his teammates are preparing for a private party in the backroom event space. It might be that his mind is being pulled…

Kansas City FilmFest’s big tickets

Dan Lybarger,

Besides Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny (read our interview with its co-director here), KC FilmFest is screening several intriguing titles, including established favorites and some that may be poised to join their ranks. Miles Ahead 6:45 p.m. Friday KC-born Don Cheadle earned an Oscar nomination for playing a heroic real-life figure in Hotel Rwanda and is probably best-known playing Iron…

Record Store Day once again defies you to sleep late

Nick Spacek,

Since Record Store Day’s inception, nine years ago, the number of releases on the third Saturday in April has gone from just 10 special products to more than 300. If that feels tailor-made to aggravate hardcore LP consumers, consider that it’s also the road to clinical insanity for a record-store buyer. Especially given that the first orders for the big…
News

As Sporting KC prepares to play its 20th anniversary game Wednesday, fans have Lamar Hunt to thank for saving Major League Soccer from bankruptcy

Steve Vockrodt,

Major League Soccer died in 2001. Only five years after the latest in a string of unsuccessful North American soccer leagues started play, its investors wanted out. That’s how Dan Hunt, president of MLS club FC Dallas explained the situation in a podcast on Soccer Today posted Monday. According to Hunt, the league held a conference call among investors in November 2001,…
News

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office’s Spanish-language voter guides list incorrect information on registering to vote

Steve Vockrodt,

Chris Reeves of political blog Daily Kos had a big catch Thursday afternoon: He observed how Spanish-language voter manuals published by the Kansas Secretary of State’s office included wrong information about how to register to vote and what identification was appropriate. A spokesman for Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office has since acknowledged the error to The Pitch but has yet to…

Music

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put a big, loud River inside Sprint because they are semi-divine

Scott Wilson,

I dreamed of Bruce Springsteen before the concert. I dreamed of Bruce Springsteen after the concert. And I dreamed of Bruce Springsteen during the concert. After is pretty clear in my head right now — my groggy, ringing head — because I just woke up. Shot up, really, with the unwanted adrenaline defibrillation of deadline writing. But you guys aren’t…

Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaefer furthers his crusade against Planned Parenthood

Barbara Shelly,

As far as anyone can tell, it’s been more than a century since the Missouri Senate has held anyone in contempt. The unfortunate citizen back then, a man named Harry Nuttall, apparently showed up drunk for a corruption hearing in 1899. According to records, Nuttall apologized profusely once he’d sobered up, and the Senate decided that “his manly manner of purging…

West 18th Street Fashion Show announces its Wild Summer designers, and designer curator Rachel Anne Gottlieb talks about her role in the event

Scott Wilson,

Organizers of the 16th annual West 18th Street Fashion Show have just announced their list of designers for the June 11 event. As usual, it’s an intriguing group (full list after the jump), and the results are bound to surprise another capacity crowd. (Runway tickets go on sale May 1.) The theme this year is Wild Summer, but Rachel Anne…

Kinky Boots worth trying on at the Music Hall

Liz Cook,

If you’ve been meaning to catch a production of Kinky Boots, the Harvey Fierstein-Cyndi Lauper collaboration that swept the 2013 Tonys, now’s your chance. The national tour beds down in Kansas City for the next five days, and it’s mostly worthwhile. Kinky Boots is a subversive kind of comfort food, an endearing show about drag queens and red leather to…
Music, News

Janet Jackson cancels the rest of Unbreakable tour, will not come to Kansas City

Natalie Gallagher,

Janet Jackson continues to elude Kansas City. The legendary singer has just canceled the remaining dates on her Unbreakable tour — including the July 18 show at the Sprint Center, rescheduled from the February rescheduling of the original show date in October.  Jackson, 49, made the announcement in a video posted to her Twitter account. Her explanation: “My husband and I…
Music

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is still independent

Bruce Rodgers,

Amy Goodman, the Polk Award–winning host (with Juan Gonzalez) of Democracy Now! — the largest public media collaboration in the United States, broadcast on more than 1,400 public television and radio stations, and the internet — comes to Kansas City this weekend. The journalist, whose latest book is the just-released Democracy Now! Twenty Years Covering Movements Changing America, appears Saturday,…
News

Tallgrass hires Greg Papp as brewmaster, Big Rip releases barrel-aged beer, Neil Witte takes you to school, and more beer events

Justin Kendall,

Tallgrass Brewing Co. has a new brewmaster. Greg Papp is now the man behind the beer at Kansas’ largest production brewery. He started at the Manhattan business on February 1, taking over for Brandon Hoag, who is now the brewmaster at Little Apple Brewing Co. Papp joined the industry in 2004, and he most recently served as head brewer and…

Kiss chases a Phantom, Baskin goes to hell, Jackie Robinson premieres, and more must-sees

Thursday 4.7 Stay in tonight and enjoy the low-key comic brilliance of Christopher Guest’s unofficial improvisatory repertory company (featuring Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean and Jane Lynch, among others) in his dog-show tribute, Best in Show, new on Netflix this month.  It’s a treat to watch this again, almost 16 years after its release, and realize that it’s still…

Dining, Food & Drink

Il Lazzarone gets real, Conroy’s comes to Westwood, Bun Bros. pops up, and other restaurant news

Charles Ferruzza,

In the restaurant business, there are tips and there are … tips. Take, for instance, the phone call I received the other day from an acquaintance who promised me something in the latter category. “Guess who is moving into the old Sutera’s location in Westwood?” she said. She was talking about 4730 Rainbow, which, for 11 years until its closing…

News

Matt Lowe, senior media strategist at Crossroads, slows down to talk Columbus Park and Bill Murray in The Pitch‘s Q&A

Justin Kendall,

Twitter handle: @Loweski Hometown: Chicago Current neighborhood: Columbus Park What I do: I work as a senior media strategist at Crossroads (the public-relations partner agency to Barkley) helping our clients tell their stories in the most engaging way possible. In my spare time, I serve as the president of the Columbus Park Community Council, advocating for one of the best…