Archives: November 2016

News

The Kansas City pollster who called the Trump upset

David Hudnall,

In the days leading up to the election, the political establishment largely ignored, and, in some cases, ridiculed the polling being published by Remington Research Group.“I was definitely laughed out of a couple of rooms,” says Titus Bond, director of polling for the Kansas City-based operation. “People had me feeling like a crazy person — like I was a nut…

Lucius, Alejandro Escovedo and Steven Wilson lead your live-concert week

Natalie Gallagher,

Lucius with the Cactus BlossomsJess Wolfe and Holly Laessig could be sisters: Their voices sound made for each other, part of the same genetic makeup. Onstage, as the two lead singers for Brooklyn five-piece Lucius, Wolfe and Laessig match both in pitch and in dress, their immaculately coiffured hair dyed the same bright red. The effect is a little jarring, a little…
News, Politics

Parties over: Missouri Trumps itself into a red-state Kansas clone

Barbara Shelly,

Somewhere between Florida and Michigan yesterday, the jetliner loaded with the hopes and the baggage of Hillary Clinton and the national Democratic party slipped off the radar and nose-dived into the bitter soil of middle America. Nothing to do now but search for bodies, dissect the black box and await the swearing-in of President Donald Trump.What the hell happened? Even…

Nicolas Cage remains an Army of One, James Spader always has his Secretary, and The Red Balloon stays forever in mind

Thursday, November 10%{}%The late-period noir Private Property, virtually unseen since its 1960 release and recently restored in 4K, qualifies as a genuine discovery. Directed by Leslie Stevens (creator of The Outer Limits) and lensed by legendary cameraman Ted McCord (Treasure of the Sierra Madre, East of Eden), it’s the creepy, quietly devastating story of two drifters (a young Warren Oates…

Jazz Beat: Tyrone Clark at the Blue Room

Larry Kopitnik,

Tyrone Clark is a first-call Kansas City bassist. In 2014’s Prairie Village Jazz Festival, he backed both headline acts, laying a graceful yet energetic foundation behind singers Deborah Brown and Kevin Mahogany. He’s in the trio anchoring KCUR 89.3’s weekly 12th Street Jump series. But when he leads his own quartet, a different sound takes over. Spurred early in his…
Art

Dylan Mortimer opens up again, Mike Sinclair goes full Nelson, the SCP snaps to attention, and PLUG books a big weekend

Tracy Abeln,

At the beginning of 2016, with a show in the main gallery at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Dylan Mortimer shifted his sign-based artwork from the overtly religious toward a more personal faith quest. He put his daily, lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis into the public sphere, asking us to participate in his healing journey. This Friday, he updates the story,…
Music

MC Chris dreams you into his Nightmare

Nick Spacek,

MC Chris has blown past the nerdcore label to become one of the most interesting minds in music. Sure, he could rock the mic for the comics-convention set indefinitely, but he clearly has a broader audience in mind. His latest, MC Chris Is Dreaming, concludes a kind of trilogy with an ambitious set centered on dreams and A Nightmare on…
News

As the republic trembles, let’s distract ourselves with libraries and campaign-finance reform

David Martin,

Let’s take a look at the fine deck chairs the White Star Line has chosen for the RMS Titanic, shall we?Missouri voters rejected two separate proposals to raise the nation’s lowest cigarette tax. Tobacco tax increases have failed in previous state elections. This twist this year was that tobacco companies got behind each campaign. R.J. Reynolds supported a proposal to…
News

In Missouri, Greitens and Blunt ride wave of distrust for other guy and gal

David Martin,

Polls showing Donald Trump winning Missouri with ease were less optimistic about the two Republicans running for governor and U.S. Senate. In the end, their races broke the same way the battleground states went for Trump.Eric Greitens, a political neophyte who literally blasted through the Republican primary, beat Attorney General Chris Koster in the governor’s race. Roy Blunt, meanwhile, won…
Stage, Theater

Spinning Tree’s Nine keeps fair count of its source material

Liz Cook,

On paper, Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston’s musical Nine is just one more in a long line of uncomfortably aspirational works about successful men who become serial adulterers (with regrets!). Onstage, in the care of Spinning Tree Theatre, it’s an exercise in radical empathy. Nine loosely traces the contours of Federico Fellini’s film 8½ as it follows Italian filmmaker and stunted womanizer…
A&E

Danielle Meister opens We Are Sincerely Yours, her Beacon Hill boutique

Annie Raab,

Among the brick buildings and boarded-up houses around 27th Street and Troost, Danielle Meister’s new clothing shop stands out — especially on its opening night. Just beyond the large green leaves of a potted plant visible through a brightly lighted picture window set inside the robin’s-egg-blue façade of We Are Sincerely Yours, I can see four racks of the clothing…
Stage, Theater

Musical Theater Heritage delivers a winning and worldly Cabaret

Deborah Hirsch,

“Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!” Cabaret’s emcee implores at the start of the show. “Leave your troubles outside. So life is disappointing — forget it!”The offer — coming from the seductive, androgynous emcee (Thomas Delgado) — entices, especially these days, but it may be deceiving. Cabaret, at Musical Theater Heritage, exemplifies just how such escape works, or doesn’t.The music, half a century…
Food & Drink

Chef Janet Ross joins Ragazza, McLain’s Market now open in Overland Park, Blue Koi’s 39th Street location to reopen this month, and the week’s restaurant events

April Fleming,

The small kitchen at Ragazza (301 Westport Road) now houses a big-name chef. Janet Ross, the longtime sous chef at Café Sebastienne and the recent second-place contestant on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen, began her tenure at Ragazza last Tuesday. She has been a fan of the restaurant since its opening three years ago.“I fell in love with it from the…
Beer & Spirits

The Westport Strong Ale Festival dares you to pace yourself, plus the rest of this week’s beer events

Jonathan Bender,

This is why you train. Why you spend countless hours cellaring beer and scouring lists of tap takeovers. This is the sixth annual Westport Strong Ale Festival, and it’s a heavyweight of a day. Beer KC’s fest, from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday in front of McCoy’s Public House (4057 Pennsylvania), includes more than 70 beers, each of which boasts…
Questionnaire

Betsy Blodgett, Hello Atelier podcast host, touts British mysteries and pop-up shopping in The Pitch‘s Questionnaire

Pitch Staff

Occupation: Host of Hello Atelier, a podcast that interviews artist and designersInstagram handle: hello_atelierHometown: Petersburg, IllinoisCurrent neighborhood: West PlazaWhat I do (in 140 characters or less): Along with hosting my podcast, I work in the sewing industry as a marketing consultant and freelance writer.What’s your addiction? Ice cream, chocolate croissants and buying fabricWhat’s your game? TakenokoWhat’s your drink? I love…
News

Actually, Kansas’ undocumented immigrant worker population is declining

David Hudnall,

On Tuesday, a considerable percentage of the American electorate will enter their local polling places and fill in the oval next to Donald Trump’s name. Many of those who will do so are energized by Trump’s position on immigration. They like his plan to build a “great, great wall” along the United States-Mexico border, and they heard their own worries…
News

Is Lyft returning to Kansas City? UPDATE: Looks like no

David Hudnall,

In the spring of 2015, as the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council, attempted to sort out how it should regulate ride-hailing companies, it appeared as though the two biggest players in the emerging industry — Uber and Lyft — were destined to do battle for market share in KC.The council eventually approved several revisions to the city’s taxi ordinance. Uber,…

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming to the Sprint Center next summer

April Fleming,

Knock ’em if you like, but apparently the Red Hot Chili Peppers aren’t going anywhere. The band, which now features Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer, is embarking on an ambitious, six-month stadium tour in support of its most recent effort, 2016’s The Getaway. The long jag includes a stop at the Sprint Center on May 21. Fan-club presale tickets…
Music

Amanda Shires stoked the fire at the Riot Room last night

Mike Warren,

Amanda Shires, with Colter WallThe Riot RoomFriday, November 4, 2016For the most part, Americana has outgrown shows at which crowds pack tightly right up front, close enough to touch a performer’s boots but happy breathing the same air. Last night, Amanda Shires revived the memory of an excited alt-country gig like that, packing the Riot Room’s main stage and leaving…
News, Politics

Kris Kobach knows how to bag the limit

Scott Wilson,

“The Koch brothers out with the Republican secretaries of state — that’s a news story I don’t need,” Allen Richardson, a Koch lobbyist, joked, unaware that a reporter was in attendance.So goes one graf in this essential New York Times story, in which Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach figures with depressing and obvious prominence. The hunting weekend described in…
Movies

Doctor Strange manages to tap into a new Marvel dimension

For those who care deeply about these things, the addition of a magic-wielding character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe invites all kinds of loopholes and plot challenges. Doctor Strange isn’t a hulking green monster or a superhero with a really strong shield. Dude can control time. And he travels within parallel dimensions of the multiverse as easily as you or…

Sturgill Simpson continued to redefine country music last night at the Midland

April Fleming,

Sturgill SimpsonArvest Bank Theatre at the MidlandNovember 2, 2016It’s been nearly two years since Sturgill Simpson stopped at Knuckleheads just following the release of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, a sold-out appearance during the tour that laid the groundwork for the singer-songwriter’s explosive artistic and commercial growth. Last night, Simpson played to a different sold-out audience: about 3,000 people at…