On Monday, Bill Pascrell, a Democratic Congressman from New Jersey, introduced a resolution that would require President Trump to disclose his tax returns, as every president has since Gerald Ford. There are many very good reasons why Trump’s business interests should be known, most obviously because of potential national security implications. There is really no legitimate reason for not requiring…
Elvis Costello has been popping up all over Kansas City lately on solo tours, but on Friday, June 9, fans of Elvis with his backing band, the Imposters, will be treated to a full outdoor concert at Crossroads KC. The show, “Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers,” will feature songs from the Imperial Bedroom album, as well as a variety of…
The murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla at an Olathe bar has been added to the list of post-election hate crimes. Witnesses say the suspect, Adam Purinton, told Kuchibhotla and his colleague, fellow Indian national Alok Madasani, to “get out of my country.” Purinton reportedly thought the men, who worked at Garmin, were of Middle Eastern descent.The attack raises new alarms about…
Broken-up-and-back-together classic ’90s band Soundgarden is reportedly at work on a new album. Meanwhile, the group stops at Starlight Theatre on May 14 as part of an 18-date North American tour, with the Dillinger Escape Plan. Soundgarden has a 30-year-deep catalog from which to draw, and we might also hear new music.Tickets will be available at 10 a.m. tomorrow, February…
What appears to be a racially motivated hate crime left one man dead and two injured in Olathe last night. According to The Kansas City Star, a 51-year-old Navy veteran named Adam Purinton uttered racial slurs inside Austin’s Bar and Grill on Wednesday. Purinton, who is white, then left the bar and returned later with a gun. He allegedly said,…
Karma Vision leader and Whatever Forever co-founder Bobby Sauder has a new album out on his label. Dark Empire Fairgrounds, his solo debut, is a short affair, but despite its brevity and its quiet production, it’s an entrancing listen.For those familiar with Sauder’s work in Karma Vision and Oils, this is a much less psychedelic affair, but no less impressive….
Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica could probably get by rehashing Martin Denny and Les Baxter tunes, but the Boston quintet, led by Brian O’Neill, takes the goes well beyond cocktail lounge and exotica to make music that sounds truly global. The ensemble pulls in aspects of jazz and chamber pop and combines them with a quiver of international influences, with a result…
Thursday, February 23On the three short making-of featurettes from the new Blu-ray of Tom Ford’s divisive Nocturnal Animals, the writer-director speaks with the utmost sincerity about his artistic intentions for this sleazy noirish drama. Part of the reason I love this movie so much is because Ford unknowingly nails the absolute bull’s-eye between high art and low art; it’s a…
File under: true, too good to be. Janelle Monáe, the reported headliner for May’s new Kansas City Jazz and Heritage Festival, is not playing that event. Following the American Jazz Museum’s announcement this morning of the festival’s bill, Monáe took to social media to counter that her booking was an “alternative fact.” So there were probably a lot of ringing phones…
Valerie JuneIn 2013, Valerie June’s breakthrough record, Pushin’ Against a Stone, shook the majority of the music-listening population — or, anyway, the NPR crowd. That album breathed fresh life into the roots-and-blues genre, thanks in no small part to June’s stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks voice. It’s an odd instrument, with a deep Tennessee twang built in and a lonely howl on the outside,…
It’s difficult to describe exactly how a room reacts to David Wayne Reed unless you’ve been in a room when David Wayne Reed enters it. This is what I learned last December, when I was among the storytellers drafted for one of Reed’s Shelf Life events. I knew the local actor and playwright by reputation, but I’d never watched him…
A Missouri state senator reduced children who identify as another gender to an episode of Kids Say the Darndest Things.On Tuesday, the Senate’s education committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 98, which would prevent children in public schools from using bathrooms and locker rooms that don’t correspond to their “biological sex.”The bill is opposed by groups like PROMO, a statewide…
Manhattan power-pop trio and major-label survivor Ultimate Fakebook broke up in 2003. But since 2008, the band has reunited for occasional holiday and benefit shows. No writing, recording or touring, but fans in Kansas City and Lawrence can generally count on seeing Fakebook once a year or so.The latest such emergence happens this weekend, with the group adding its name…
Janelle Monáe has most recently won acclaim co-starring in the movie Hidden Figures. She models for CoverGirl. But she is recognized first as a singer on the exotic edge of R&B, with six Grammy Award nominations.Now, she’s set to mingle in the jazz world. Over Memorial Day weekend, Monáe leads the list of headliners for the first Kansas City Jazz…
Italiano moderno. It’s an ambitious motto, one that evokes both a gleaming sports car and a checkered picnic blanket flapping in some sun-warmed Tuscan breeze. But Plate, the year-old restaurant owned and operated by Christian and Andrea Joseph, has already worn that tagline into a confident groove.The east Brookside haunt has built a loyal following, thanks to the Josephs and…
Kansas City has no shortage of drool-worthy bakeries and delectable locally made sweets. There are so many, in fact, that trying them all can seem daunting for even the most dedicated dessert connoisseur.The Pitch’s annual Sugar Rush is here to help you out. On Thursday, February 23, follow your sweet tooth to the Guild (1621 Locust) to sample desserts from…
Missouri is steadily removing the restrictions that have confined charter schools to areas served by the Kansas City and St. Louis school districts.Last week, Robbyn Wahby, the executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Commission, spoke to the Southern Communities Coalition, an umbrella neighborhood group, at the Kansas City Police Department’s south patrol station. Wahby was invited to speak…
Missouri Department of Corrections Director George Lombardi abruptly resigned in December, amid allegations of employee discrimination and retaliation, and the department’s new director, Anne Precythe, has issued an internal directive formalizing her zero-tolerance corruption policy. Gov. Eric Greitens, who appointed Precythe, has said that cleaning up the state’s prison system is one of his major goals.But even as a legislative…
In 2014, the Humphrey, Farrington & McClain law firm, in Independence, began assembling complaints from students who had attended Wright Career College.The stories eventually assembled were typical of persons who have enrolled in any of the profit-seeking schools that exist to rake in grants and loans available to low-income students. Most of the law firm’s clients had borrowed tens of…
This year, Black History Month coincided with a battery of protests and demonstrations over executive orders — the timing and tenor of which recall those of the Civil Rights era. Meanwhile, at KC Meltingpot Theatre, a revival of Dutchman by LeRoi Jones (better known as Amiri Baraka, a name he adopted later in life) reminds us that we have a…
Recent reports regarding Willie Nelson’s failing health apparently have been greatly exaggerated: Today it’s been announced that he’s planning a Kansas City date at Starlight Theatre on Saturday, June 17, with guests Dwight Yoakam and Robert Earl Keen (a good bill indeed). Ticket prices range from $40.45 to $180.45; they go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, February 24, via…
The Pixies have given KC lots of face time in recent years, appearing here on nearly every recent tour. Its most recent appearance was at the Midland in 2014. This morning, a new fall 2017 date was confirmed for October 15, at the same venue. The band right now includes original members Frank Black, Joey Santiago and David Lovering; bassist…
CIA Director Mike Pompeo (or someone close to him) is apparently a Seinfeld fan. A Kramer poster hangs in a bedroom of his Wichita home.Pompeo served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before President Trump asked him to lead the CIA. No longer bound to a congressional district, Pompeo and his wife, Susan, are auctioning off their sprawling…
This coming Monday, February 20, is Presidents Day, a federal holiday. Many people are not required to attend work that day. If you are one of those people, you might consider attending the Presidents Day Protest, which will be held at the JC Nichols Memorial Fountain between 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (Even if you have to work, you can…
