Those wonderful trees. // Photo by Ginny Varraveto We’ve been asking members of the KC community to submit stories about life under quarantine, protests, politics, and other subjects that require discussion. If you’ve got a story you’d like to share, please send it to brock@thepitchkc.com for consideration. Today, Kansas City resident and member of the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s, Young Friends of…
Bird offers free rides on Election Day // Photo courtesy of Bird.co Lack of transportation was cited as the reason that more than 4.5 million Americans didn’t vote in the 2016 election. Bird has teamed up with the North American Bikeshare Association’s (NABSA) Roll to the Polls initiative to keep history from repeating itself. The electric scooter company will provide registered…
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash After several weeks of conferences and interviews with the candidates in the metro area, The Pitch Editorial Board would like to share its final list of recommendations for all races in this area, both Kansas and Missouri side. Find your closest polling location here. Our suggestions for the best possible 2021 and onward are…
New menu QR code at XR Cafe. This last weekend, Crossroads Hotel’s XR Cafe reopened with a drink and dinner menu stacked with Napoletana style pizza and fall-forward fare thanks to new Executive Chef Ian Wortham. To say my interest peaked would be an understatement. A cocktail-ready Kelcie. In July, I visited Percheron—the hotel’s rooftop bar with breathtaking views—for my…
Free notary pop ups provided KC Public Library // photo courtesy of KC Public Library official website With the election fast approaching, the Kansas City Public Library is offering Notary Services pop-ups today and tomorrow throughout the city. The service is free and offered at the following locations and times: Monday: 10 am–5 pm: Plaza Branch (4801 Main St.) 10…
A smoked-out pumpkin from Topeka. // Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash Is your home in a designated “trick-or-treat” zone? Are you worried about your annual neighborhood traditions becoming a super-spreader for COVID-19? You’re not alone, and there’s good news; lots of creative Halloween enthusiasts have been working to solve this problem since we realized COVID would last this long,…
Borat and daughter in a dress shop. // Courtesy Amazon Studios 14 years after the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, we’ve been gifted a sequel: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Since the release of the original film 14 years…
Food. The mere mention of food drives people into a frenzy. Everyone has an opinion about favorite meals, best cooks, homemade recipes, great restaurants, to name a few food-related things. There’s even an entire cable network channel dedicated to food, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People love food and it’s the vision of Brodie Rush and Cori…
Photo courtesy of Dan Wayne When it comes to the art of taxidermy, the creator’s goal is generally to make a preserved animal seem as lifelike as it was when it was really alive. But what do you do when the creature you’re mounting hasn’t been conclusively proven to exist? Kansas City filmmaker Dan Wayne explores that question in his…
The Monster Squad team. // Photo by Sophia Fields The Monster Squad is a movie with a tricky history and a difficult path to definition. What kind of movie to we ascribe the title of “cult” to? What is a cult film? The term implies a dedicated following, but does that following need to be small and rabid, or can…
Everyone appreciates a good knife. Whether it’s your typical butter knife, a fancy knife that cuts through a well-done steak for some reason, or something that looks like the knives thrown in Call of Duty: Black Ops, you normally can’t go wrong with a sharp object that gets the job done. That’s what Sniper Bladeworks is here to do. A…
For 21 days, protesters have been occupying the front lawn of City Hall in downtown Kansas City living in tents they refer to as “The People’s City.” Their original demands had not been met. Those demands called for the termination of Officer Blayne Newton who allegedly pushed the pregnant Deja Stallings to the ground. Also, a 50% reduction in police…
March On Kansas City from September 2, 2020. // Photo by Jim Nimmo The summer of 2020 will always be one of those times that will be remembered in the same way our grandparents speak of the Great Depression, the Summer of ‘68, or 9/11, depending upon your age. We will all have stories to tell our grandchildren—and few will…
A Hard Road documentarian Hawker (left) with former Penn Center Executive Director Emory Campbell // Photo by Andy Brack. A just-released documentary about the divisive political mood of South Carolina and the rest of the country in 2018 shows emerging political fissures that exploded in this pandemic year with national protests over civil rights and race. The second episode of…
Mayor Lucas in conversation with KCMO public works. // Screengrab from Lucas’ Twitter. On October 22, Mayor Quinton Lucas and Councilmembers Andrea Bough and Eric Bunch introduced a resolution that will direct the city manager to create recommendations to enhance communication between the city and private utility companies. The city manager will have 45 days to create these recommendations, which…
Today on Streetwise from The Pitch we discuss over-spending, enjoy a reading of Abby Olcese’s Trauma-o-Rama, check out Megan Luttrell’s track “Just Out of Reach”, and chat with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway. Streetwise is hosted by Brock Wilbur, editor in chief of The Pitch. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Subscribe to the Streetwise newsletter, a weekly meditation on Kansas City news and events. Jason Klamm read…
We get to premiere a lot of music here at The Pitch, in the form of singles, videos, album streams, and more, but it’s rare that we get to premiere the first-ever release by a band. This makes “Straight Talk,” the first song from indie duo No Germ Candy, so very special. The pair, featuring Zso Nemeth and Harper Knecht,…
Kansas’ Representative for the 3rd District recently appeared on our Streetwise podcast. This is a transcription of our interview, ahead of the November 3rd election. Representative Sharice Davids, welcome to the show! How are you today? Sharice Davids: I’m doing well, how are you doing? Holding up as best as anybody can. I’m very excited to be doing this interview today…
Reissue label Craft Recordings is noted for their high-quality vinyl offerings of classic albums, both new and old. In recent years, they’ve reissued everything from punk act the Vandals to prog-metal band Between the Buried and Me to the soundtrack to It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and everything in between. The real gems of the label come from the…
Illustration by Katelyn Betz, Photo by Travis Young Even though we’re not likely to have any Halloween parties this year, there’s no excuse not to have a holiday playlist of spooky songs at the ready to set the tone. If nothing else, given the nightmare hellscape in which we currently find ourselves, songs of doom and creepy circumstances can offer…
Courtesy Will Gregory PR American Shaman, a leading U.S. CBD manufacturer, presented a $30,000 check to The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention (AFSP) for $30k. Hell yeah. Through the month of September, American Shaman observed National Suicide Prevention Month in partnership with AFSP, as well as National Self Care Month. The CBD manufacturer committed to donating a minimum of $30,000…
Detail from today’s comics. We’ve been missing out lately on comic strips and comic-adjacent art. Rachel Yaros and Maria Gnoza are young local artists whose work we adore. As such, we’re giving them a regular column here at The Pitch for showcasing their excellent work. We think the tone and message of what they make aligns perfectly with what we…
Empty stadium. // Photo by Joseph Hernandez With interruption that has come with COVID-19 pandemic, Aramark, the food service provider for Kauffman Stadium and the Kansas City Convention Center, announced it is laying off or reducing the hours of over 600 workers from the two sites. These workers include bartenders, cooks, supervisors, retail sales workers, cashiers and vendors, among others….
Blackstarkids // Photo by Ana Peralta-Chong For Whatever, Man, their third album in as many years, Kansas City’s Blackstarkids have taken their hazy pop jams and polished them into absolute gems. While Surf, released right at the end of February, heralded the fact that this trio was a force with which to be reckoned, full of laid-back bops like “Too…
