Moderate Johnson County Republicans hoping to oust conservative incumbents in the Kansas Legislature were out in force at a candidate forum in Overland Park on Wednesday evening. The candidates included a small-town mayor, a homeschooling dad and a third-grade teacher. In their allotted time, the moderates sharply criticized Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and the conservative legislators who have implemented a…
For a band that has released just four full-length original albums in 31 years, Guns N’ Roses looms massively over rock and roll. But that shadow is cast largely by the outfit’s original lineup, a quintet that practically defines the zeitgeist of the 1980s Sunset Strip: Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy and Adler. When even three of these men reunite —…
Thursday 6.30In 1988 — after seven years of toil and without the aid of a VHS copy of the movie for reference — three teenagers finished their own scrappy, no-budget remake of their favorite film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Two decades later, they reunited to complete one scene that was missing (Indy fighting the giant Nazi under the Flying…
If someone tells you that a new brewery is absolutely, definitely, without a doubt opening on a given date, you can probably make other plans that day. Nothing in this business goes according to plan. As the people behind Brewery Emperial, the brew-and-food project at 1829 Oak, can now remind you firsthand.Saws are grinding in the brewhouse on the mid-June…
Occupation: Elizabeth: Veterinary technician at Prairie Village Animal Hospital Quinten: Senior systems analyst at Grantham University and founder of MPO TechnologyCurrent neighborhood: WaldoWhat I do: We are the founders of Dog Park KC. Our work is to create an indoor space for you and your pup with the energy of a dog park, feel of a coffee shop and atmosphere…
Just in time for Brexit comes Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, the first time the director has employed England’s army as a deus ex machina since the grotesquely pro-colonial Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This time, it’s not Indian cultists who must be put down by the redcoats. It’s the ill-tempered, child-chomping giants of Roald Dahl’s 1982 book, and…
People throw around the term Hitchcockian way too often when they talk about suspense movies — rarely more so than when the suspense movie is by Brian De Palma. The director has heard that adjective applied to his work since 1973, when his psycho-twin horror movie Sisters became a surprise hit.But he has courted it, too, so it’s fitting then…
There’s a hint of All-Star Game about July’s First Friday, a midsummer mini-classic for multi-artist invitationals.Case in point: Weinberger Fine Art (114 Southwest Boulevard) is showing landscapes by six painters whose approaches range from the abstract (Jennifer Rivera, Clare Doveton) to the more clear-cut (Richard Mattsson and Jeff Robinson). Somewhere in between are Francis Livingstong and Daryl Thetford. First Friday…
When Allison Miller was a teenager, Downbeat magazine pegged the drummer as an up-and-comer to watch. Miller is 41 now, and she has indeed been seen often, performing with Ani DiFranco, touring with Natalie Merchant and sitting in with the band on Late Night With Seth Meyers. She also fronts a jazz ensemble, Boom Tic Boom, which performs her progressive…
Selena GomezThe chains around me are finally breaking, Selena Gomez sings on the title track to this year’s Revival. I’m becoming my own salvation. Well, give her this much credit: The album successfully eradicates any remaining traces of Disney bubblegum, though not as loudly or forcefully as Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz accomplished the same rinse. Unlike Bangerz, however, Revival is bolstered…
By Ron KnoxPiper Harrow is busy enough without having to deal with this damn generator.Outside, a dozen or so punks have arrived early at the Hidden Temple, the forlorn warehouse off Southwest Boulevard where Harrow books below-the-radar shows — including this June 22 Kansas City tour stop of the International Noise Conference. The punks kick at gravel outside and smoke…
The Pitch reported last month on the waves of discontent churning among Crossroads bar and restaurant owners who say they’ve faced unfair licensing hurdles. Much of that criticism centers on developer and property owner Brad Nicholson, who controls enough parcels of downtown real estate that he has been able to block some licenses — and, in some cases, dictate menu…
Generations before Cialis, John Romulus Brinkley said he had the fix for a certain male problem. The answer to impotence, said Brinkley (1885-1942), was goats. Specifically, an operation grafting goat testicles to human anatomy. The “goat gland” procedure was a breakthrough, a miracle — and, not incidentally, the ticket to tycoon-dom for the man who once called Milford, Kansas, his…
Whenever the summer heat turns oppressive — as it has in Kansas City already this summer — I reach for The Great Gatsby. Over the years, I’ve come to regard the novel less as an indictment of the Jazz Age’s shallow vanities than as a lament for its dearth of air conditioning. Weather reports choke the book. The heat stifles….
Even on rainy afternoons in Kansas, Lina Dickinson is ready to hit the beach. When I stop by her warehouse in the midst of a late-spring thunderstorm, the tall California blonde is modeling a travel wrap from Mer-Sea, the ocean-themed bath, beauty and home-products line she founded with her friends Melanie Bolin and Stephanie Lawrence.Lightweight, classy and stylish, the linen…
Forget what you’ve read or heard. Louis C.K. doesn’t hate us. The comic, writer and director — star of FX’s Louie and the self-produced Horace and Pete — is set to play a nearly sold-out show in Kansas City, the place he has famously (to Kansas Citians, anyway) derided over the years. Ahead of that Sprint Center date (Thursday, July…
The Johnson County Library owns six dozen DVD copies of Straight Outta Compton, the 2015 feature film about the rise of the rap group N.W.A. Even so, the supply can’t keep up with demand. A catalog search last week indicated there were 123 holds on the item.There’s no waiting list for Straight Outta Compton at the Mid-Continent Public Library. There’s…
Drinking and yoga do not mix. This I know from experience.Several years ago, after a particularly boozy night in Westport, I attempted to show off my vinyasa flow for my date and ended up facedown on the living room floor, a black-and-blue marshmallow blooming on my forehead. Still, the promise of a bracing post-practice treat — a few sips, not…
On Twitter, Hillary Clinton saluted an area high school student who questioned a pizza shop’s hiring practices. Jensen Walcott, a rising senior at Basehor-Linwood High School, and a male friend were hired at Pizza Studio at Legends Outlets on the same day. Later, when Walcott and her friend, Jake Reed, talked about their new jobs, she learned that he had…
Public EnemyDowntown LawrenceSaturday, June 25Last night’s show in downtown Lawrence might have drawn the most patient crowd I’ve ever seen. For real: I can’t even conceive of the tolerance required to stand on hot concrete and cram in with 7,500-some of your fellow sweaty Lawrencians and not lose your goddamn mind. After a series of equipment issues and a weird…
Classic Rock Summer is a series wherein we attempt to see as many classic-rock concerts coming through the Kansas City area as possible. From May through September, we will immerse ourselves in the music of our parents, from yacht rock to oldies to hair metal.Steely DanStarlight TheatreThursday, June 23Given the heat this past week, it’s unsurprising that a light, cool…
The Sprint Center is becoming the biggest comedy club in Kansas City. In about two weeks, Louis C.K. will play to a near sell-out crowd. Also on the way: Amy Schumer.Pre-sale tickets to Schumer’s Thursday, November 3, show go on sale at 10 a.m. today (Friday, June 24). That sale ends Monday, June 27, at 10 p.m. The code is…
A Midwestern city that let suburban sprawl get out of control has won a $40 million federal transportation grant.Alas, that city is not Kansas City, Missouri.Official word came Thursday that Columbus, Ohio, had beaten Kansas City and five other communities for a prize offered by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Smart City challenge invited cities to present plans for…
The last time The Pitch checked in with chef Joe West, the deal to open his long-planned Kusshi restaurant, inside Erik Borger’s yet-unopened mega-ramen concept, Komatsu, had just fizzled.Today, Bread & Butter Concepts announced that West, whose resume includes stints at 40 Sardines and Bluestem, will be the executive chef of the fast-growing local restaurant empire’s upcoming Stock Hill. That…
