Gov. Mike Parson signs SB 53 into law. // Governor Mike Parson via Facebook Yesterday, Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill that reduces the charges a person faces after transmitting HIV, updating the criminalization law for the first time since the ’80s. Missouri now joins a number of other states to pass similar legislation this year in an attempt to…
Amazing Grace Now that COVID restrictions are lifting, you may have noticed Kansas City’s live event calendar has come back with a vengeance. There are loads of good shows coming up between now and the end of the year, both at outdoor and indoor venues, and even more on the way. However, having spent most of the last 18 months…
Can’t stop, won’t stop: KC Tenants demanded zero evictions this past January. // Photo by Chase Castor Call us modern, but isn’t it weird to think that landlords can still make cash grabs while simultaneously refusing to meet the minimum when it comes to housing upkeep? Yesterday, 53 tenants living in properties owned and managed by Matthew McGee and Alex…
Drew McIntyre // Photo courtesy WWE. For its first show back at full capacity, the T-Mobile Center will host the flagship program of wrestling company WWE, Monday Night Raw, on Monday, July 26. Not only will fans from Kansas City and the surrounding area be able to see the Center back in action, but viewers across the country and around…
The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners was among the groups discussed in the recommendations. // Image courtesy of Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City released three recommendations regarding the current state of the KCPD and public safety July 14 via a Zoom news…
Musician Danny Cox’s resume is impressive: two LPs for Casablanca Records, one of the founding partners of the ’70s Kansas City venue the Cowtown Ballroom, and recently, a musical production about the baseball teams of the Negro League, entitled Fair Ball. Though the folk, blues, and roots musician has long performed in and around the area, it’s been 15 years…
Inside Deep Space. // Photo by Aaron Rhodes Sometimes you need to do some soul searching before you make an important decision. Sometimes that decision is opening a co-op practice space for local musicians. Sometimes that soul searching comes in the form of doing shrooms on a camping trip in Colorado. A few months into the pandemic, while looking for…
A show at Kansas City’s Starlight Theatre is nothing short of magical. // Courtesy Starlight Theatre Oh, we remember being young and trying to match Idina Menzel’s high notes at the end of Wicked’s “Defying Gravity.” Lucky for our egos, and for the health of eardrums everywhere, that was from inside a car on the way to class. Even luckier,…
Owner, Rhonda Lorenz helps a customer. // Courtesy of Smokin Joes Smokin’ Joe’s Bar-B-Q is closing after 32 years of operation and it just doesn’t feel right. Owner, Rhonda Lorenz confirmed the news on their Facebook page, citing growing price costs, shortage of steady employees, and mounting repairs. The institution will be missed by many as it became a refuge…
Illustration by Nidhi Shenoy Whether yours is wet, dry, or sticky, earwax is a good and necessary bodily secretion—got to plug those holes in your head somehow, right? But many people’s relationship with their earwax has changed during the pandemic—and they may not know it. An initial signal of that changed relationship is hearing loss. Dr. Kate Aberle, a Kansas…
IDAHO. // Photo by Aubrie Lawrence There were a lot of things we missed during the pandemic, one of them being live music. Artists went a year and a half without performing live and their faithful fans could only listen to the recording of their favorite albums. But unlike the normal music-goer who has only been waiting since the pandemic…
Restaurants and groups across the country received or were approved for grants from the Small Business Administration’s restaurant revitalization fund yesterday to help jump back after the pandemic. Twenty-one of those entities are Kansas City area companies that will receive at least $1 million. Receiving $10 million was 801 Restaurant Group LLC, which runs two 801 Chophouse locations and the…
Courtesy Apple+ TV The AppleTV+ comedy Ted Lasso is up for major awards in this year’s Emmys, in a move that should not surprise anyone. 20 Emmy nominations total, to be exact. This breaks the record for most-nominated freshman comedy series—previously held by Glee, which was nominated 19 times. The show, about an American football coach from Merriam hired as…
Melissa Cheatham and Tony Medina, candidates for Overland Park’s Ward 2. We asked the candidates running for Ward 2 in Overland Park’s August Primary election some hard-hitting questions. We wanted to determine their stances and commitments to improving equality and transparency issues, which have plagued the city’s current leadership. The candidates are Melissa Cheatham, Tony Medina, and the elusive Roger…
Hundreds of workers at the Frito-Lay facility in Topeka are on strike. // Courtesy of Abigail Censky Strikes regarding fair wages and reasonable hours sound like things that belong in the past, right? Think again. Nearly 600 employees at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, are entering the second week of their strike and a fair deal is nowhere in…
KCUR is in need of your help! The transmitter used to put their fantastic news coverage into the comfort of your car is getting older (we know some of you Millennials might not want to hear that right now) and is in need of replacing. Right now, the Sunderland Foundation is putting out a $250,000 matching challenge grant for KCUR,…
Kansas City, January 25, 2019: CIGNAL SYSTEMS at the Uptown Theater. // Photo by Todd Zimmer for Loud Production Group, LLC When Covid-19 restrictions began loosening back at the end of April, the first thing I started looking for was concerts. Be they small patio shows with socially distanced precautions or parking lot performances with dozens of folks, I wanted…
The cast of Children of Eden, Jr. // Photo by Alice Combs The Book of Genesis, among its many themes, is about family—many, many families, and the challenges they face. Spinning Tree Theatre’s Children of Eden Jr., a compilation of family-centered Genesis stories (streaming July 16-18), is a fitting reflection of the theater’s new focus. Spinning Tree produces the musical,…
Tigeress. // Courtesy KCPP We teamed up with KC Pet Project to host a weekly “creature feature” on a loveable and adoptable animal here in the KC Metro. This week’s local Adopt an Animal features Tigeress, a 9-year-old Domestic Shorthair Mix. She resides at the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care at 7077 Elmwood Avenue in Kansas City, MO where you…
As rapper Flare Tha Rebel notes when we speak by phone at the end of June, his new four-track EP, The Revolution Will Not Be Hashtagged, “clearly draws inspiration from Gil Scott-Heron’s single, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.’” It’s a bold move, updating a classic song with such a strong message, but as he notes, you can’t help but…
Everette DeVan, who died at the age of 71 Hammond B-3 organist, pianist, and bandleader Everette DeVan died July 3 at age 71 after a long battle with health complications. DeVan was a long-standing pillar of the Kansas City jazz community. His death is a blow to the community, but the local legend leaves behind a strong legacy. DeVan’s legacy…
Pistol Pete (left) and Various Blonde Last September, rapper Pistol Pete dropped The Sweep, his fourth album. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, no-one’s had a chance to hear those songs live. That all changes with this Thursday’s show at the recordBar. Not only is it Pistol’s first “real” show in over a year, it’s the first show back at the…
Randy Ross Just last July, we thought the pandemic would surely be over soon. Yet it still kind of isn’t. This year’s KC Fringe Festival, July 18-August 1, remains a virtual one like last summer. On the plus side, an online Fringe is also a digital cornucopia—a menu of dance, music, film, storytelling, spoken word, one-person shows, plays, and musicals….
Logan Heley and Michael Czerniewski, candidates for Ward 1 of Overland Park We asked the candidates running for Ward 1 in Overland Park’s August Primary election some hard-hitting questions. We wanted to determine their stances and commitments to improving equality and transparency issues, which have plagued the city’s current leadership. The candidates are Logan Heley, Michael Czerniewski, Ryan Spencer, and…
