Archives: November 2021

Best of Kansas City 2021: David Dastmalchian’s star is still on the rise

David Dastmalchian. // Photo by JSquared Photography There’s no shortage of creative talent with their roots in the Kansas City region, but something about David Dastmalchian strikes us in a different way. In the last eight years, he’s gone from small but memorable turns in movies like Prisoners and Ant-Man to meatier roles in The Suicide Squad and the hotly-anticipated…

Best of Kansas City 2021: We’re hungry for more food pop-ups

A pop-up hosted by Cafe Cà Phê in the parking lot of Sequence Climb, where the coffeeshop is doing its residency. // Photo by Phon Willis Photography Devoured Pizza. Chamoy Boi. Tamaleon KC. Avec Moi Sweets. Ragusa’s Italian Cafe. The C Word. Easy As Pie. Cafe Cà Phê. Cauldron Collective. Dead Beet Eats. There are many, many more food pop-ups…

KC Zoo broke ground on a $75 million aquarium

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Looks nifty! // Courtesy Kansas City Zoo The Kansas City Zoo has begun work on a $75 million aquarium project that is estimated to be completed by 2023.  The expansion will be the largest project in the zoo’s 112-year history, hosting about 35 exhibits in a new 60,000 square-foot expansion near the elephant enclosures.  $45 million of the funding will…

Photo gallery: Remo Drive rocked The Rino Nov. 5

Remo Drive with Boyscott and Another Michael The Rino Friday, November 5 On Friday night, Minnesota post-punkers Remo Drive played an intimate show at The Rino in North Kansas City, with openers Boyscott and Another Michael. Remo Drive was touring in support of their most recent release, the 2020 Epitaph Records album, A Portrait of an Ugly Man. Our photographer…

Best of Kansas City 2021: The unending will of Willa Robinson

The interior of Willa’s Books & Vinyl. // Courtesy Willa Robinson If Willa’s Books & Vinyl is a phoenix, Willa Robinson is the force that keeps breathing fresh life into the ashes. The name “Willa’s Books” has been around since 1994 as Robinson sold books throughout the city as a vendor. She ran bookselling tables on 18th and Vine during…

Local cookie-maker is duking it out again on Food Network competition

Baker Kellen Whaley, as seen on Christmas Cookie Challenge, Season 5 Every time local cookie maker Kellen Whaley competes on Food Network, he ends up winning lots of dough—figuratively and literally. Whaley—who started baking cookies on a whim nearly a decade ago—is appearing this Thursday, Nov. 11 on an all-winner edition of Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge. It’s his third…

Spencer gets inside Princess Diana’s head

Pablo Larraín further develops the pattern he created with Jackie.

Spencer. // Courtesy Neon. Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, like his 2016 film Jackie, presents a psychological portrait of an iconic historical female figure. Crucially, this isn’t a biopic. It’s something far more interesting: a consideration of what might have been going through someone’s head at an important crossroads in their life. In the case of Princess Diana, embodied here by Kristen…

Best of Kansas City 2021: Housing Unions are getting the job done

KC Tenants protesting outside City Hall. // Photo by Chase Castor Across the city, rent prices continue to rise and landlords continue to prize profit over people. Over the past year, rent increased from anywhere between 6-13% in Kansas City. In the face of gentrification and developers taking over the city, KC Tenants, KC Homeless Union, and other tenants unions…

Citywide mask mandate expires, child vaccinations to begin Nov. 8

Courtesy CDC Kansas City’s citywide mask mandate expired Nov. 4, with a single measure to extend it for anyone in a school setting. The decision to rescind the mandate was passed by city council with an 11-2 vote.  Those in schools and on school busses will still be required to wear masks through Dec. 2, when the council will deliberate…

Keep Them Coming: Shop local for your sex toys and leather gear

Kristen Thomas. // Photo by Nicole Bissey The internet has brought us access to many things we might never have been exposed to when it comes to sex, fetishes, and kinks. It’s also given many of us the chance to buy vibrators, leather gear, and implements quickly and discreetly when we want to try something new. Sex toy sales are…

Best of Kansas City 2021: Celebrating redemption arcs

Port Fonda while shut down in early 2021. // Photo by Travis Young In 2020 The Pitch released an investigation into sexual harassment, racism, verbal abuse, and uncontrolled substance abuse at Port Fonda. Later that year, we published a report on the workplace harassment and unsafe working conditions at the former Alamo Drafthouse. Then, early in 2021, we wrote on…

Tim Story and Mark Mothersbaugh on how Moebius Strips reflects collaboration

The new collaborative project, Moebius Strips, was created by musician Tim Story as a way to honor his late friend, Dieter Moebius, of the bands Cluster and Harmonia. Taking loops created by the late musician from an array of disparate sources, Story recomposed them into short pieces, and then sent them out to a cavalcade of collaborators to reinterpret them…

Eternals tries to add philosophy to the Marvel mix

Chloé Zhao’s franchise entry breaks the mold in messy, fascinating ways.

Getty Images Before we get into anything else, it must be said that Marvel’s Eternals tries very hard to do something new and interesting with the studio’s long-established formula. For this, at least, it deserves some credit. Chloé Zhao is a smart, compassionate, humanistic filmmaker, and those aspects combined with the subject matter—ageless humanoids sent by an all-powerful celestial being…

A look at the Johnson County School Board election results

Wyandotte on Election Day 2020. // Photo by Chase Castor A number of seats were open for Johnson County’s many school boards. Here are the results: Blue Valley School District 229: Kaety Bowers won just over 52% of the vote to take a Position 4 seat over Andrew Van Der Laan (47%). Gina Knapp earned 53% of the vote to defeat…

Garner elected first Black mayor of KCK, Skoog wins in OP

Former KCK police deputy chief Tyrone Garner has been elected the first Black mayor of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS. // Courtesy Garner Campaign KCK/Wyandotte County Mayoral: Kansas City, Kansas has elected its first ever Black mayor, Tyrone Garner, by a margin of 309 votes (8,243 votes, 51%) over the incumbent David Alvey (7,934, 49%).  Garner becomes the Unified Mayor for…

Photo gallery: Theory celebrates Say Nothing at the Midland

Theory with 10 Years and Eva Under Fire The Midland Tuesday, November 2 On Tuesday night, hard-rockers Theory (formerly Theory of a Deadman) and openers 10 Years and Eva Under Fire took to the stage at the Midland for a night of riffs upon riffs. Theory is currently touring in support of their 2020 album, Say Nothing, and this date…

Database shows Missouri residents what contaminants are in their drinking water

Among the largest water providers the state, contaminants like arsenic, nitrates, chloroform and atrazine were at levels an environmental group considers unsafe

Photo by Bluewater Sweden Missouri and Kansas residents may be drinking unsafe amounts of arsenic, nitrates and other chemicals — even if their provider is meeting federal drinking water requirements, according to data published Wednesday by an environmental group. The Environmental Working Group released its most up to date tap water database, compiling testing information for water utilities across the…

Photo gallery: A metalcore Friday night with We Came As Romans

We Came As Romans The Granada Friday, October 29 On Friday night, a stacked metalcore bill hit the Granada in Lawrence. Headliners We Came As Romans were celebrating the tenth anniversary of their 2009 debut, To Plant A Seed, after having to reschedule the tour twice from its original dates in spring of 2020. Also on the bill were genre…

Roommate duo with disabilities finds solace through art

Nathan Powell (L) and his roommate, Gene Smith (R), make and sell art as “Great Guys Art.” // Courtesy Life Unlimited. Nathan Powell and Gene Smith are a roommate-artist duo who sell their work as “Great Guys Art.” This is in no way false advertising. After hearing what each of them has overcome to get to this point, “great” is…