Hickman High students in Columbia, Mo. navigate the halls on their first day back to school on Aug. 23, 2021. // Photo courtesy of Hickman High School Fourth graders Addison, Reagan and Lauren Harper are no strangers to catastrophes or challenging circumstances. Five days after they were born in May 2011, a tornado swept through Joplin and leveled their home,…
Martyrs Lane. // Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival Some say the film festival season truly “kicks off” in the summer and fall, with a number of high-profile events assembling slates of the most interesting new cinema from across the globe. At Cannes and Toronto, you’ll see the big-deal studio awards contenders and recently-minted indie darlings. At Canada’s Fantasia International…
Kraske hiking Glacier National Park in 1976. // Photo courtesy Steve Kraske. Illustration by Katelyn Betz KCUR’s Steve Kraske has helped to shape the very language of our local and national history, and his reporting has had a huge impact in the Kansas City area. Kraske, a student of a more traditional era of journalism, is now raising a young…
Illustrated by Katelyn Betz As Delta numbers continue to rise and things consistently seem to be precariously dangling on the precipice of once again requiring us to hide in our homes, I find myself consistently returning to these videos which show that, despite everything, local musicians are finding a way to create art which manages to uplift my spirits, three…
Pumpkin Seeds. // Courtesy of KCPP We teamed up with KC Pet Project to host a weekly “creature feature” on loveable and adoptable animals here in the KC Metro. This week’s local Adopt an Animal features Duke, a 9-year-old Pit Bull, and Pumpkin Seeds, an 8-year-old Domestic Shorthair. Duke resides at the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care (7077 Elmwood Avenue in…
Jordan Sellergren. // Photo by Tyler Erickson Jordan Sellergren is the monthly magazine designer at The Pitch. She works at Little Village Magazine and also moonlights as a musician. She answered The Pitch Questionnaire about what makes her tick, what she loves about design, and what the editorial design industry needs more of. The Pitch: What got you started with design?…
A poster announcing the #TeachTruth rally and march. // Courtesy SURJ KC On Saturday, August 28, from 10-11:30 a.m., Showing Up for Racial Justice Kansas City will march from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy to the Black Archives of Mid-America at 18th and Vine. SURJ KC’s mission is to stand up for people of color as a “local network organizing white…
Captured in a metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia primary school, this photograph depicts a grouping of objects common to an average classroom setting, which included a variety of colorful backpacks, toys, papers, and paraphernalia associated with a school’s learning environment. // Photo courtesy CDC/Amanda Mills Students across Missouri will return to their classrooms in less than a week, but it’s unclear if…
A family enjoys KC Pride fest. // Photo by Jim Nimmo The Show-Me Kansas City Pride Festival took place over the weekend at Theis Park, featuring a main stage with local acts, vendors, food trucks, family activities, and more. Last year’s Pride Fest was canceled due to Covid and this year’s celebration was decidedly different than the last. The festival…
Testimony: African American Artists Collective, on view June 5, 2021 – March 27, 2022 in gallery L8 (Project Space) of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Media Services photographer Dana Anderson. When was the last time you saw a local, living artist’s work featured in an exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art? It’s a trick question….
Exterior view of the CBE, located at 1401 Grand Blvd. in Kansas City. // Courtesy the CBE The College Basketball Experience, a massive entertainment space connected to Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center, will open back up on Thursday, August 26. The CBE houses the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, where guests can learn about their favorite players, coaches, and the…
Veritography (Andy Schwartz) Rapper, jazz trombonist, and anime fanatic Ryan Jamaal Smith—better known as Kadesh Flow on stage—and I met up at a coffeehouse to answer some questions about his latest album, Room Service 2. The album—composed of 13 tunes by Kadesh, features local artists including Trevor Turla and Marcus Lewis, eye-opening verses, and funky trombone licks—will leave you excited…
On August 20, funk band The Whips released their debut EP, Never Change, or Do. It’s six songs of what the band describes as “a curated anthology of funkadelic jams,” and includes their previously-released singles “Go Fix Yourself” and “Not What I Have Done” alongside new cuts featuring guest vocalists like Aidan Connelly and Baby and the Brain’s Dia Jane….
A sign marks the entrance to a drive-through COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Shannon County Health Center on July 8, 2021. // Photo by Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent July was the deadliest month for COVID-19 in Missouri since January, data released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Senior Services shows. The weekly review of death certificates, where 75 percent of…
This week on the Streetwise podcast we discuss pushing away the Earth, enjoy a reading of Liz Cook’s review of Society, vibe to Stephonne’s track “The King’s Gambit.” and chat with Carolyn Glenn Brewer about her book “Beneath Missouri Skies, Pat Metheny in Kansas City, 1964-1972.” Streetwise is hosted by Brock Wilbur, editor in chief of The Pitch. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Subscribe to the Streetwise newsletter,…
Barber: Ailele Ighile; Wardrobe Stylist: Vanne McMillan; Wardrobe Assistant: Teresa Brooks. // Photo by Monté Law For over a decade now, Kansas Citian Steven Green, who goes by Steven G. professionally, has found himself behind the camera. Whether he’s staging, shooting, or styling a model, Green is generally the one peering through the viewfinder. But in February of 2020—with the…
Kelly Ann Greene and the larger iteration of her invention, the Baby Saver. // Photo by Emily Standlee Back in June, The Pitch spoke to several young inventors, including Kelly Ann Greene, who designed a mechanism called the Baby Saver. The device is built to detect heatstroke in infants left in hot cars. On August 20, Greene will discover whether…
Ben Apatoff // Photo credit Sarah Anne Wharton/SAW Photography Metallica: The $24.95 Book by Ben Apatoff is out this week from Backbeat Books and it’s a deep dive into the music, musicians, and inspirations behind the work of the world’s biggest metal band. The author looks at the stories of Metallica’s individual members, the bands and creative works from which…
Disassemble. // Photo by Timothy Dykes A Missouri law prohibiting state and local police from enforcing certain federal gun laws has already undermined drug and weapons investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice argued in documents filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court. As part of an ongoing lawsuit set for a hearing Thursday afternoon, the Justice Department is asking Cole County Judge…
After having the show moved from Grinder’s KC to the Record Bar, and somewhere along the way losing originally-announced opener Juliana Hatfield, Soul Asylum’s “Back In Your Face” tour took the stage on Sunday, August 15, where the long-running Minneapolis rockers turned in a set of tunes pulling from classic ’90s albums like Grave Dancers Union and Let Your Dim…
Not Tonight released in August of 2018. The satirical adventure game was something of a Sim-Brexit, portraying the United Kingdom as sprawling into authoritarian rule as it left the European Union. Your character finds work in the booming gig economy as a bouncer at various venues. You’re also in danger of deportation. The player must make enough money to avoid…
The Vegan Bae from Devoured. Photo courtesy of Devoured. Get ’em if you can: Pizza from Devoured and baked goods from Little Butter Bakery Jhy Coulter and Kelsey Earl have a few things in common: both are local women have made names for themselves starting on Instagram and then quickly beyond with their home-based, from-scratch recipes. Their pop-ups have only…
Former Gov. Eric Greitens delivers the annual State of the State address to the Missouri House in 2018. // Photo by Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications Results from a Saint Louis University poll suggests that disgraced former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens is the frontrunner in the race to fill retiring Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat. While former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has recently resigned after allegations of sexual…
An I Support the Girls fundraiser.// Courtesy I Support the Girls After losing some weight, Dana Marlow went to her local boutique to get fitted for new bras. When she asked the saleswoman what she should do with her old bras, the saleswoman suggested that unhoused women in need of clothes could use them. This specific need in unhoused populations…
