Pull on your coats: Stockyards Brewing Company (1600 Genessee, in the West Bottoms) is holding the Big Chill, a strong-ale and chili fest. From 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, February 18, you’ll sample one or two strong ales from a host of regional breweries, accompanied by chili made with one of those brews. It’s an outdoor event, so you’ll be…
Last October, record label the Company unleashed the debut full-length from Kansas City stoner-doom duo Keef Mountain. The self-titled recording could be had digitally or on CD, but the vinyl edition only just arrived. And those who waited were rewarded: If the band’s name weren’t tipoff enough about the slow, sludgy riffage within, the record’s packaging seals the impression; the…
There is no shortage of spots to enjoy locally brewed beer in Kansas City, but only one serves food by chef Ted Habiger. Brewery Emperial, nestled on the east side of the Crossroads at 1829 Oak, doesn’t resemble Habiger’s other businesses (Room 39, Sasha’s Baking Company), but it’s not hard to recognize his hands on the menu, which focuses on…
Missouri has paid Kimberlee Thompson, a former Kansas City parole officer who sued the Missouri Department of Corrections for employee discrimination, $165,625, according to a settlement agreement.Thompson received $80,000, and her attorneys — including David Lunceford of Lee’s Summit and Martin Meyers of Kansas City — received $85,625 as part of the agreement with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office this…
Most theatergoers can rattle off a laundry list of emotions a show can inspire: glee, sorrow, somber self-reflection (in the worst cases, pity and condescension). Add hunger to the list for How to Use a Knife, Will Snider’s ambitious, authentic-feeling riff on back-of-the-house drama at a sleepy restaurant.The play, a rolling world premiere now at the Unicorn Theatre, unfolds entirely…
Kansas is one of only a handful of states that has not expanded access to the naloxone, a drug that reverses heroin and opioid overdose. But that’s likely to change.A bill supported by physician, pharmacist and public safety groups was introduced in the Kansas House Monday. The bill would empower police and other first responders to administer naloxone to people…
In his State of the State address, on January 17, freshly elected Gov. Eric Greitens devoted a full three minutes — nearly 10 percent of the speech — to a startlingly partisan attack on trial attorneys in Missouri.“For too long in this state, trial lawyers have picked our people’s pockets,” Greitens boomed. “Our judicial system is broken, and the trial…
Political writers often describe Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as a man of faith. Profiles of 1,000 words or more typically mention the time he washed an aide’s feet in a show of gratitude.In an addition to the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, the Bible contains several passages instructing Christians to welcome people like those affected by…
Just when we were all thinking that what the world needs right now is John Mayer, here he comes. The singer-songwriter is heading to the Sprint Center on Friday, April 14. He will play three sets: solo, with his full band, and with the John Mayer trio. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 3, via LiveNation.Also on the way: the…
When The Pitch premiered the last installment of the Too Much Rock single series, last October — Hipshot Killer’s “All the Hell in the World” — the man behind the series, Sid Sowder, let us know that he already had the next single ready to go for early 2017.Here it is, not even a full month in: the exclusive premiere of…
President Donald Trump’s hateful and disgusting and plainly unconstitutional executive order banning immigration from Muslim-majority countries to the United States was temporarily blocked on Saturday evening by a federal judge in New York. Thank god for the courts, and for the ACLU, which challenged Trump’s executive order. Republicans in Congress are clearly not up to the challenge of holding Trump…
Melinda Henneberger, a member of The Kansas City Star’s new editorial board, has thoughts about abortion. One of the ideas she’s tried to advance throughout her itinerant career is that Democrats need to make room for people, like Melinda Henneberger, who consider themselves pro-life. She wrote about it in 2007 and 2012 and before the November election. Henneberger returned to…
“The only kind of writing is rewriting,” Ernest Hemingway said, and the work-in-progress Shearwater, onstage at the Living Room through Thursday, is a fine example of that ongoing process.Closing out the Writer’s Den series at the theater, Shearwater is in “workshop” — a state between a staged reading and a full-blown production — according to Living Room artistic director Rusty…
High farce in Topeka on Thursday. On the same day college students testified about their fear of concealed weapons on campus, a member of the House acknowledged leaving a loaded handgun in a committee room earlier in the week.Willie Dove, a Republican who represents Bonner Springs, forgot the .380 handgun he had set on a desk during a meeting of…
Obviously there is no replacing the greatest singer of all time in Freddie Mercury, but the remaining original members of Queen have felt for several years now that American Idol contestant Adam Lambert has the chops to do Freddie justice. See the pairing in person at the Sprint Center on Sunday, July 9. It is Queen’s first appearance in Kansas…
Gerald Spaits said of saxophonist Charles Perkins, “He’s so versatile and fresh. He can sound like Johnny Hodges one minute and Eric Dolphy the next.” Hodges was a star of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, while Dolphy’s tonal solos epitomized free jazz. Perkins has been an anchor of Kansas City jazz for decades. He came up through the Charlie Parker Foundation…
ERIC CHURCHIs Eric Church some kind of darling? I mean, here he is, a little over a year after releasing Mr. Misunderstood — the Country Music Awards’ 2016 Album of the Year — already steamrolling through an aggressive tour that has concertgoers and music reviewers alike all in a tizzy. The setlist for his “Holdin’ My Own” tour changes with…
The tax break for Amazon users who live in Missouri is coming to an end.Amazon will begin collecting the state’s 4.225 percent sales tax on February 1, the company told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.Missouri is one of a shrinking number of states where Amazon does not have a physical presence. The absence of a distribution center within Missouri’s borders has allowed…
In the span of just a few hours on the morning of May 2, 2014, two officers with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department cost taxpayers $375,000. As we reported last month, officers Shannon Hansen and Jacob Harris used excessive force during back-to-back stops, resulting in two separate settlements.Hansen resigned from the force in July 2015 and, in May of…
Thursday, January 26One of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2016 is now available to stream on Netflix. The Witness is a fascinating film that functions as both a personal journey and a re-examination of the facts surrounding a very famous murder: the 1964 slaying of Queens, New York, resident Kitty Genovese. %{}%At the time, the killing was held up as…
Twitter handle: @aimeetheattyHometown: Kansas City, Missouri!Current neighborhood: South Kansas CityWhat I do (in 140 characters or less): Help people with speeding tickets; momming and wife-ing; voter registration and protection; civic-leadership posts; plan family vacations.What’s your addiction? I read ridiculous amounts of cruise reports (people on the internet reviewing their cruises).What’s your game? None of my kids can beat me in…
Jason Kander couldn’t quite pull out a victory over Roy Blunt in the race for U.S. Senate last fall. But his star in Democratic circles continues to rise. Kander was the first name out of President Obama’s mouth last week when asked to identify politicians he sees as future leaders of the Democratic Party.As the former Secretary of State of…
You can add Lee’s Summit to the local beer universe. Fringe Beerworks, a new taproom and microbrewery from Mark Myers and Eddie Pease, recently opened at 224 Southeast Douglas Street with two dozen taps — and dedicated brews in the works.Fringe has a three-barrel, electric system, and does growler and crowler fills. The partners plan eventually to use half the…
After a grueling inauguration week, Spinning Tree Theatre’s latest production offers a glimmer of hope for our post-truth world: “Alternative facts” can be pretty entertaining.Such is the case with Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, playwright Donald Margulies’ exuberant ode to tall tales and the theatrical imagination. The extended one-act (Spinning Tree’s production runs a little over 90 minutes) follows Louis de Rougemont, a…
