Baroness with Torche The Granada Saturday, July 27 Saturday evening at the Granada saw two of metal’s finest acts, touring together in support of two new albums, playing to a packed house. Both Baroness’ Gold & Grey and Torche’s Admission are the bands’ first releases in nearly four years, and it seems that both lean toward more straightforward, rocking songs, as opposed to the…
Dear Dan: I’m a single gay guy in my late 30s. I’m quite introverted and a bit shy, yet I have a big sexual drive and a rich libido. I’ve always found the gay scene overwhelming, and my several attempts at online dating were not very successful. I feel my quiet ways tend to put people off and I hardly ever…
David Hudnall Buddies KC, the long-running midtown gay bar at 3715 Main, has officially closed. Its owner, Melvin “Lee” Mecker, died in April following an explosion in his home in Northeast KC. “Buddies essentially died with Lee when the bomb went off,” Eileen Norris, who has leased the space to Buddies since she took ownership of the property in 2001,…
Zach Bauman A few years ago, finding a Hawaiian plate lunch in Kansas City was nigh impossible. Now, the casual meat-and-sides meal is spreading like sugar cane. Hawaiian Bros. Island Grill opened in Belton last year along a stretch of North Avenue peppered with big-boxes and chains. At the time, it felt like a gamble. The Midwest isn’t exactly the…
facebook.com/TheAppleseedCast Twenty years ago, the Appleseed Cast relocated from California to Lawrence, Kansas. In the decades since, the band has released seven stunning full-length albums, exploring the world of post-rock with an ear toward beauty and soaring, epic songs. The Appleseed Cast has seen a number of line-up changes, label switches, and sonic divergences over the course of its existence,…
Four years ago, in Denver, Audrey Boese visited her first cat cafe and immediately knew she wanted to bring the concept back to Kansas City. “It was just magical,” Boese says, recalling the cove of cozy cats she met there. It took a while to make the dream a reality. A 2016 Kickstarter brought in $20,000, but then Boese had…
Kelcie McKenney It’s Community Collage Day at Imagine That!, a Crossroads studio for artists with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and I’m sitting beside Johnny B, one of my favorite artists. The center of the gallery is filled with tables covered in magazines, glue sticks, and scissors to make collages. We — Johnny, other Imagine That! artists, myself — are sorting…
Kelcie McKenney A deep, melancholy voice embellished by the shimmering harmonies of a harp swells inside a packed RecordBar. The audience is still, eyes on the stage. Alone, with red velvet curtains draped behind him, Calvin Arsenia wears a brushed golden crown, cuffs, a cascading necklace, and an architectural metal collar stretching out to his shoulders. He’s 6 feet,…
April Fleming Pool days are one of the only ways to fight the increasingly hot summers here in the Midwest. Ah, but all those little kids running around! We say: head to the pool at Parker at the Fontaine, the rooftop bar atop the Plaza hotel. Lean into the R&R vibe and order a City of Fountains cocktail. The…
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April Fleming There’s a secret forest inside the Kansas City Zoo, which itself sits inside Swope Park, the largest and most visited park in the city. Here, beyond a ten-foot-high fence with a locked gate, the voices at the zoo and the sounds of trains fall away. You hear the songs of warblers and mockingbirds and the wind in the…
Monday, June 24 The sixth annual Negroni Week kicks off today at bars all over the country. During this weeklong celebration of the classic cocktail, participating bars and restaurants offer the Negroni while collecting funds for charity. In other words: enjoy one of the world’s great drinks while supporting worthy causes. Participating KC venues this year include Swordfish Tom’s, Waldo…
Joseph Morales as HamiltonJoan Marcus Before walking over to the Music Hall on Wednesday night, I wrote down everything I knew, or thought, or had heard about Hamilton, which opened in Kansas City on June 18 and runs through July 7. I tried pretty hard, and this is what I came up with. -The main guy’s name is Lin-Manuel Miranda,…
Dear Dan: I found your column after a Google search. I saw your e-mail address at the bottom and was hoping for some insight. My issue is this: Two years into our 23-year marriage, my wife declared that she didn’t want to kiss me or perform oral on me. Several years ago, she had an affair and confessed that she…
David Harbour, who plays Chief Hopper on Stranger Things — and the title character in 2019’s Hellboy — stopped by Kansas City this week to toss out the opening pitch Thursday night at the K and to talk about the upcoming third season of Stranger Things, which arrives July 4. The Pitch: Television and movies these days are really loving those darker,…
An increasing number of classes offer yogis (and the yoga-curious) the opportunity to stretch their limbs and find their center outside the studio. Here are a few to check out this summer. Rooftop Beer Yoga HopCat, 401 Westport Second and fourth Sunday of the month HopCat’s Westport rooftop bar transforms into a den of downward-dog serenity for an hour, rain…
Co-director Andrew Grayman-Parkhurst confers with the cast. Starlight Express co-director Andrew Grayman-Parkhurst faces a clutch of teenagers. It’s day five of rehearsal for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, set to open in a week. “Safety first!” he calls out. Some of the performers ride scooters; others move about in Heelys, roller skates, or Rollerblades; another gets around in a motorized…
Clemens and SchwaderBrian Paulette The long cold winter of our discontent has blossomed into glorious summer, and the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, now in its 27th year, is a poetic proclamation of the season. Even the show’s prologue has become a ritual, the opening pronouncements by its veteran Beggar for the Bard (Steve Loethen) a familiar singalong. This year’s…
The Creepy JinglesOrange Blossom Photography Those last six months in Texas is when everything started to turn, Jocelyn Nixon says, drinking a lemonade at Lawrence’s Decade on an afternoon in early June. “I’d left to work on my marriage,” Nixon continues. “My wife at the time was offered a job and I figured, Yeah, Austin, great music city. I should…
Boulevardia is over, but there’s still several more beer fests to hit up this summer. Below, a few of the ones we’re most looking forward to. Briar Fest Mulberry Lake at Briarcliff June 21-22 A two-night party in the Northland, Briar Fest pairs local music — this year, Calvin Arsenia, Casi Joy, and Amanda Fish are on the bill — with a…
Quinton Lucas for Mayor Kansas City voters decided on Tuesday that Quinton Lucas will be the next mayor of Kansas City, Missouri — and it wasn’t close. Lucas bested his opponent and fellow Kansas City Council member Jolie Justus 59 to 41 percent. During his campaign, Lucas, a 34-year-old first-term councilman, championed issues like affordable housing and safe neighborhoods, emphasizing his…
Kim Newmoney It’s been 13 years since wizard rock forefathers Harry and the Potters released their last album, Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love. Much has transpired in the Potterverse in the interim. For one, author J.K. Rowling put out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series. Potter fans have also seen…
Courtesy Giancarlo Mancino Tuesday, June 18 Enjoy an extended happy hour tonight at Waldo Thai Place (8341 Wornall Road) featuring the renowned Italian bartender and entrepreneur Giancarlo Mancino, owner and founder of Mancino Vermouths. Mancino will be working alongside Waldo Thai bartenders Darrell Loo and Mari Matsumoto from 5-7 p.m. All cocktails, which will feature vermouths, Chinato, and aperitifs, will…
In its sixth year, Boulevardia got even cooler (literally — unusually cool weather brought in record-breaking crowds on Friday, according to The Star). Nestled in the Stockyards District near the Hy-Vee Arena, the annual music-and-beer festival put on by Boulevard Brewing Company convened beer tasters, food trucks, local vendors, and more beer with live music (local and national acts)…
