Motherboard, the tech channel of Vice, published a story yesterday taking a look at how Google’s attempt to bring fiber-based internet service to Kansas City has fared, five years after its launch. Short answer: not great! As the story notes, two CEOs overseeing Google Fiber have come and gone in the last year, and layoffs are underway. Google Fiber’s plans…
Friday, September 1Kansas City Irish Fest (through September 3)kcirishfest.comCrown Center SquareSanta Cali Gon Days (through September 4)santacaligon.comHistoric Independence SquareSaturday, September 2Kansas City Renaissance Festival (weekends and holidays through October 15)kcrenfest.comBonner SpringsIndigo GirlsBecky WarrenCrossroads KCSunday, September 3John Butler TrioNattali RizeCrossroads KCRavyn LenaeSmino and SZAUptown TheaterMonday, September 4Lake Street DiveCrossroads KCTuesday, September 5Cherry GlazerrRecordBarYes, featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick WakemanKauffman Center…
Voice actor Fred Newman has appeared in numerous films and television programs over the years, including voicing the titular Bigfoot in 1987’s Harry and the Hendersons, Doug’s dog Porkchop and best friend Skeeter on Nickelodeon’s Doug, and innumerable video games. But he’s probably best known for as the long-running sound effects man on American Public Media’s A Prairie Home Companion….
On a warm Tuesday night, at the east edge of the Crossroads, Royce Handy is delivering handshakes and daps, head nods and side hugs. In the upstairs meeting space of the ArtsTech building, on Holmes, he’s greeting friends and acquaintances and civic leaders; later, he’ll end up on Mayor Sly James’ Instagram. These are the unexpected places his hip-hop career…
Tuesday, August 29EJ’s Urban Eatery (1414 West Ninth Street) opens its doors for lunch for the first time today, serving Southern-inspired comfort fare in a “meat and three” style. Chef John Cedric Smith, whose talents were honed in Europe as well as at Tom Colicchio’s Craft in New York, was inspired to bring this style of fast-casual to Kansas City…
Most people are afraid of change. The organizers of KC Zine Con are not most people.For one thing, they’ve changed the annual convention’s location for the third time in as many years. This time, following stints at UMKC’s Pierson Hall and the Uptown Theater’s Valentine Room, the gathering happens at the historic El Torreon. That’s where some 100 artists, writers…
Sometime in the past year, Heidi Van Pelt came to the conclusion that her employees were conspiring against her. “I do believe they were plotting ,” Van Pelt — an owner of Füd, the seven-year-old vegan restaurant on the Westside — told me recently. “I can prove it.” Van Pelt had not, as of The Pitch’s press deadline, supplied that proof. But…
Dear Dan: A few years ago, my dad was busted by the cops for using an online forum to solicit escorts. The arrest and infidelity destroyed his marriage to my mom. My brother and I were in our midteens at the time and were angry enough with him that we asked him to not seek custody. He obliged, and neither of…
Over the weekend, several hundred people convened on the Country Club Plaza to protest white supremacy. The Plaza is a good place to do that. It was built by J.C. Nichols, a man who, seventy years after the Civil War, pioneered the use of restrictive covenants that prevented blacks from buying homes in his developments. The Country Club Plaza district…
One July day, I returned to my apartment to find a large black bird crouched on my second-story porch. I carefully stepped around and went into the house to send a message to the only person I knew who could help me solve this situation: Evie Englezos.“So, uh,” I texted. “There’s a raven on my porch and it’s not flying…
Six months after winning the Bloody Mary competition at The Pitch’s Brunched event, District Pour House and Kitchen racked up another plaque, taking first place at Margarita Wars August 18. Bar manager Gordon Roberts served a five-pepper-and-pineapple margarita that left your lips thrumming for minutes afterward, as well as a strawberry-guava concoction, with a sugar rim, that provided the perfect…
One of the big movie stories this summer has been the unexpected success of writer-director Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. While fifth movies in the Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean sagas, and a Tom Cruise–led attempt to launch a new series (the Dark Universe), The Mummy, all failed to make back their blockbuster-size budgets domestically, Wright’s minor-key action-musical more than…
Friday, the Lawrence Beer Company kicks off its existence with a big street party, featuring veteran ska-punk act the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It’s the culmination of a journey that started in 2015, when company president Matt Williams and his partners first filed their business plan. “At the core, we wanted to be just a neighborhood brewery that makes beer for…
“If you don’t do it, who will?” asks Laura Burkhalter. She’s been president of the Southmoreland Neighborhood Association since 2015, so she knows something about the role that groups such as hers play in a city’s decision making and self-promotion. And she knows the short answer to her rhetorical question: probably not anyone else.Picture a neighborhood and you typically think…
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Though we question Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ scruples — or lack thereof — on many matters, he is not willing to allow the state to execute a man who may be innocent.In that respect, he differs from state Attorney General Josh Hawley and justices on the Missouri Supreme Court, who were willing to…
In 2008, the company I work for relocated from a swank office on the Country Club Plaza to a nearly 100-year-old building in downtown Kansas City. When I first saw the architectural rendering, with its cheerful depictions of people walking down a gently shaded sidewalk, I laughed. I knew there were zero trees on that block, and the only people…
With 2015’s Full Communism on Don Giovanni, Providence’s Downtown Boys drew wide acclaim for music that attacked capitalism, anti-LGBTQA fascists and more, all with an angular punk edge. That edge has been honed razor-sharp on the band’s sophomore LP, Cost of Living, out now on Sub Pop. Opening cut and lead-off track “A Wall” takes aim at Trump’s America, and…
Monday, August 21In big cocktail news, the Monarch Bar (4808 Roanoke Parkway) opens its doors today at 4 p.m. on the Plaza. The luxury-minded cocktail bar features the combined efforts of architect David Manica, alongside Liquid Minded concepts, itself helmed by well-known cocktail and hospitality specialists Brock Schulte, Kenny Cohrs and Mark Church. Read more in our profile of the…
The Monarch is not coy about its extravagance. The new bar — nestled between the rich Polsinelli building and the Plaza-posh Jax Fish and Oyster House — basks in its own gilded-lily glow, from the showpiece terrace outside to the Italian-marble centerpiece bar indoors to the 1,500 handmade plexiglass butterflies that hover overhead. Set to open August 21, following months…
Dear Dan: I’ve been wondering: Since there are lesbians out there who occasionally crave cock, does the reverse also happen? Are there gay men who occasionally crave pussy?This Possible?Dear TP: There are gay men who watch football — hell, I have it on good authority that some gay men play football, TP. So anything is possible. (Also, there are lots…
Kendrick LamarThe Sprint CenterAugust 16, 2017The running theme of Kendrick Lamar’s explosive show last night at the Sprint Center was a kung fu journey — specifically, that of Kung Fu Kenny (Kendrick Lamar’s character, apparently inspired by Don Cheadle’s character in Rush Hour 2?). Throughout the show, ’70s- and ’80s-inspired kung fu video montages featured Kung Fu Kenny on a…
About 10 years ago, when The Sopranos was ending its six-season run on HBO, my dad told me something that has stuck with me ever since. Explaining why he had stopped watching the show well before its conclusion, he said, “I can’t find one single character on that show to give a shit about!” Dad would HATE Good Time. Set…
Miles Davis once said, “You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker.” Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and is buried in a cemetery off Truman Road, in Blue Summit. Clint Eastwood directed a movie about him. Alvin Ailey honored him with a dance. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie…
Over the past 17 years, Coldplay has well earned its reputation for shlock — but it also often still breaks through with its earnestness, and even, occasionally, with beauty. Last night’s show at the Sprint Center (the band’s first here since 2008) provided all of the above: over-the-top bombast, surprisingly steep ticket prices (most seats were north of $200), corny…
