A few weeks ahead of the opening of Corvino Supper Club and Tasting Room, the most eagerly awaited new restaurant to open in Kansas City in 2017, chef Michael Corvino jokes that it all could have been very different. “Over the past couple of years, there’s a little piece of me that has wondered: Should I just go do something…
Roger Ebert, reviewing the 1996 manga adaptation Ghost in the Shell, writes: “The ghost of anime can be seen here trying to dive into the shell of the movie mainstream. But this particular film is too complex and murky to reach a large audience, I suspect.” The makers of the 2017 Hollywood live-action remake, starring Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko…
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback did the expected on Thursday. He vetoed expanding Medicaid to approximately 150,000 low-income Kansas residents.%{}%It’s a stupid decision by a small and stupid man. In addition to improving the health and well-being of the less fortunate, the expansion would surely reap financial benefits for the state. It’s why you see John Kasich, a Republican governor whose…
The late polemicist Christopher Hitchens famously described Mother Teresa as a “lying, thieving Albanian dwarf.” Hitchens believed that Teresa was more of dogmatist than a humanitarian, among other sins. He wrote:“MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only…
African-Americans are far more likely than any other group in America to end up as homicide victims. The statistics are astounding. In 2014 — the most recent year of FBI data available for homicide numbers — blacks accounted for 50 percent of all homicide victims in the United States, despite representing only 13 percent of the total population.More stats: in…
Summer concert announcements are clogging our inboxes today, adding to an already-impressive summer show lineup. First, the golden-voiced Jill Scott is coming to the Midland on Thursday, July 6 in continued support of her 2015 album, Woman. Tickets range from $35-$130 and go on sale this Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. via the Midland’s website. Another act appearing at the…
One of the only meaningful policy changes implemented after the wild excesses of the American financial industry plunged the world into economic chaos in 2008 was the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The new federal agency, a product of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, is tasked with watchdogging the financial services industry — banks, payday lenders, mortgage…
A couple of days before the Ryan-Trump “repeal and replace” bill went up in flames, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed a letter urging Congress to pass it.Bad move, governor. You are now on record supporting a piece of legislation that would have caused 24 million Americans to lose health insurance. Based on at least one study, that number would have…
Missouri has a budget problem, because it gave away too much money in corporate income tax breaks. Somebody is going to have to pay. The governor and GOP legislators think they know who that should be.Old people.At first, Republican Gov. Eric Greitens wanted to tighten Medicaid eligibility requirements and force as many as 21,000 elderly and disabled persons out of…
There are plenty of opportunities for whistle-wetting this week, including tastings, tappings and even a run from Kansas City to Lawrence with the promise of beer at the end. Check back here each week for a look at some of the week’s most intriguing food and drink events throughout Kansas City and Lawrence. Monday, March 27 Bell’s Brewery fetes the…
An obscure state legislator came to Kansas City’s rescue.A priority of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a downtown arts campus for the University of Missouri–Kansas City. The campus would create a new home for the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.UMKC says it’s raised half of the $96 million…
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas reminded voters on Thursday that his unpopularity is richly deserved.As Republicans debated the repeal-and-replace health care bill, Roberts scoffed when asked about the mandate that insurance plans cover benefits like maternity care. “I sure don’t want my mammogram benefits taken away,” the Republican told Talking Points Memo reporter Alice Ollstein.After his bout of jerkiness…
It’s hard to believe that the Sprint Center has been open for 10 years, but there’s an easy way to remember the anniversary: October 2007 was when Garth Brooks opened the arena with nine (!) sold-out shows — still a deeply impressive feat that no other act has, or probably ever will, duplicate here.If you missed that concert series, or…
The Cannonball Roarers, a screening collective founded in 2014 by Matthew Lloyd and Jaclyn Dalbey — visual artists and filmmakers — kicks its Psychotronic Film Series back into action Thursday night, with an 8:30 event at the Holy Cow Market (3109 Gillham Road). That means another season of “exploitation, art-house, horror, erotica, lost classics, and much, much more,” booked into…
Spoon is embarking on a lengthy tour this summer and fall in support of its new Hot Thoughts. The band typically makes time for our area — bassist Rob Pope has Lawrence bona fides — but only this morning has confirmation been given: Spoon appears at the Uptown Theater on Sunday, September 10. The date was just confirmed on Spoon’s website, though…
For better or worse (for our waistlines), we can’t get enough of the specialty beer and wine dinners, cooking classes and other food-related events taking place throughout town every week. And with The Pitch going monthly, we want to make sure that we aren’t leaving you out of the loop as our format adapts. Check back here each Monday for event listings,…
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced this week that workers in the executive branch who are primary caregivers will receive six weeks of paid parental leave following a birth or adoption. Secondary caregivers will get three weeks.Greitens’ order is sensible, if not all that generous. Most high-income countries provide between three months and one year of paid leave.But state Rep. Mike…
At the outset: Constellations, a romantic one-act by British playwright Nick Payne, is an unmitigated delight with subversive charms. But I attended the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production with some trepidation. Based only on the baseball-card stats, Payne has mixed up a supersolution of literary clichés. Romantic leads with implausibly quirky jobs (she: an anxious astrophysicist; he: a boutique beekeeper)….
Trigger warning: everything. Eclipsed, now playing at the Unicorn Theatre, covers a series of tragic particulars in its focus on 2003 Liberia: rape, hunger, abuse, abandonment. But the script isn’t steeped in pity or clichés about noble suffering. In fact, it’s partly a comedy — and that’s key to its success.The play opens in a slanted metal shack at a…
Last Friday, ProPublica called out U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri for misleading a constituent about the Affordable Care Act. On Monday, The Kansas City Star’s editorial page allowed Blunt to repeat some of the untruths. Like most Republican-led discussions of health care, Blunt’s guest column contains more complaints about Obamacare than practical solutions. The current members of the Kansas delegation…
Say you are the type of person who enjoys the sounds of a variety of pleasant, non-confrontational, male-fronted singer-songwriters. Gently set down your cuppa tea and celebrate, because this is your week. Tickets for a range of shows — Ed Sheeran, Joe Jackson, David Gray, the Shins — are either on sale now or are just about to hit the…
Dan Andriano is best known as the bassist for Chicago’s Alkaline Trio, in which he shares vocal duties with guitarist Matt Skiba. However, in addition to his main band’s eight albums, Andriano has a robust catalog of solo material. Recording as Dan Andriano in the Emegency Room, he has released two albums — Hurricane Season and Party Adjacent — via Asian Man…
We now have eyes on Boulevardia’s 2017 music lineup, and it’s looking both fresher and more robust than in years past. Headliners for the two-day festival include George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic and the Joy Formidable on Friday, June 16, and Sara Morgan, Guster and Local Natives rounding out the show on Saturday, June 17. A slew of local acts…
Cool news: today it was announced that the inaugural Bluegrass in the Bottoms festival will be held in Kansas City in May. The two-day fest will take place Friday, May 19, and Saturday, May 20, in the East Bottoms outside Knuckleheads Saloon. Big names on the bill include Greensky Bluegrass, the Infamous Stringdusters, Railroad Earth, and Yonder Mountain String Band. Supporting…
