It’s true to say Licorice Pizza, which opens in KC on December 24, is Paul Thomas Anderson’s most sentimental film to date. However, that statement requires some deconstruction before we continue. Anderson isn’t known as a sentimental filmmaker. His humor is bone dry and cuts like razor-wire. His characters are often sad-sack losers or self-important blowhards, with the occasional bumbling…
Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick. // Photo by Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications If school districts want to take advantage of a lower interest rate on bonds, Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick is requiring them to certify compliance with a recent court ruling targeting local health orders before his office will approve of the deal. Fitzpatrick detailed the decision he described as “unprecedented”…
Allison Bailey (Glinda) & Talia Suskauer (Elphaba) in the North American Tour of Wicked. // Photo by Joan Marcus The touring production of Wicked is returning to the Kansas City Music Hall January 5-23 with the Kansas City Broadway Series. The show is one of Broadway’s most successful musicals—it premiered in 2003 and began touring North America in 2005. The…
Natalie D. Richards. // Courtesy Richards Author Natalie D. Richards’ book Five Total Strangers is the gift that keeps on giving. It hit the New York Times bestseller list last year, and was picked for this year’s Big Library Read from Libby. The story of five strangers trapped together during a snowstorm over the holiday season is only too appropriate…
Leanne Stowe brags that she’s a tried-and-true Kansas farm girl who “put the Tom in tomboy.” “I’m a mom first, maker second,” Stowe says. She’s also a hometown girl who created a curse word-centric maker business, Annie’s Barn, a decade ago. It’s become a booming venture as Stowe capitalizes on creating snarky whatnot for the masses. When she started creating…
School buses wait Tuesday outside Thomas Hart Benton Elementary School in Columbia to take students home from the first day of classes. // Courtesy Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent As a growing number of Missouri school districts drop COVID mitigation measures under threat from Attorney General Eric Schmitt, at least two closed the doors on their fall semester early due to large…
Stephen Taylor on stage at BotB holding a white Furby for some reason. // Photo by Nichole Force We’re living in strange times. The ongoing pandemic has left more people than ever feeling isolated and alone due to remote work and public health measures. Even the most emotionally resilient among us are succumbing to stress and anxiety induced by the…
Photo by Toa Heftiba Writing is weird. If you watch somebody writing, it’s usually just them sitting frozen, staring into the middle distance and looking perturbed. If you have the good fortune not to be a writer yourself, give thanks, friend. If you live with a writer, or love one, I am so terribly sorry. We are not good company….
Boulevardia. // Courtesy Boulevardia After two years away, the city’s best booze-fueled street festival finally returns to the community. Marking its seventh year, Boulevardia will be back the weekend of June 17th and 18th, 2022. Several special attractions from previous years will return, including the iconic ferris awheel, silent disco, Makers Market shopping experience, and multiple stages of music—along with…
Old Crow Medicine Show (L-R: Morgan Jahnig, Mason Via, Ketch Secor, Jerry Pentecost, Cory Younts, Mike Harris) // Photo by Kit Wood Over the last 20 years, Old Crow Medicine Show has gone from bluegrass buskers to a genuine musical institution. Their song, “Wagon Wheel,” was co-written by the band’s frontman and fiddle player, Ketch Secor from a snippet of…
Lindsey Buckingham // photo credit Lauren Dukoff Musician Lindsey Buckingham is one of those folks who doesn’t need an introduction at this point in his career. Buckingham was musical partners with Stevie Nicks. They joined up with Fleetwood Mac, and made a series of multi-platinum albums before splitting up. Buckingham recorded some excellent solo albums—then Fleetwood Mac got back together….
Courtesy Jacqueline Ayala. Photographer Jacqueline Ayala was enlisted last summer by Footlocker Women to help the company create a “photo guide” of sorts, through which future marketing endeavors could be based. “They asked me to basically create a template, so we could pass it along to whoever they want to work with in the future, and it’d be easy for…
A wonderful Christmastime with Santa Jay. // Photo by Jim Nimmo Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus! Santas all over the country do gig work during the holidays for pay. Some are professional and some…not so much. A quick Google search on how to find Santa in KC brings thousands of results. So when choosing a Santa to hire…
A smash burger from Dead Beet Eats. // Photo by Kat Willis Dead Beet Eats brings chili dogs, smash burgers, and more at Cultivar Many plant-based Kansas Citians have chowed down on a chili dog from Dead Beet Eats’ hot dog cart. Now the eatery has a permanent residence inside of Cultivar KC. Kat Willis and Jon Terrey are the…
HappyBottoms volunteers hand out diapers at a mass distribution site. // Photo courtesy HappyBottoms Babies go through an average of 2,500–3,000 diapers in their first year of life. That amounts to about $500-$900 annually, not including the cost of wipes and other diapering supplies. For many, that is a necessary cost that they cannot afford. One in three families across…
Escovitch Fish with rice and peas, Beef Suya with jollof rice, and Egusi with fufu. Both meals served with onions, sweet peppers, and plantains. // Photo by Zach Bauman There’s this line from Act 2, Scene 3 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—you’ll probably recognize it even if you’ve never seen the show. “And though she be but little, she is…
Courtesy Sean Logan. Hamburger Mary’s Kansas City will host a special promotional event, Wednesday, December 15, for the new series And Just Like That…, an upcoming Sex and the City sequel-spinoff from HBOMax. Seating will start at 6:30 p.m., followed by bingo at 7 p.m., “with drag performances and other surprises to follow”. “Join us for a night filled with glitz…
Augustus Waters is a fancy boy who loves affection. // Courtesy KCPP We teamed up with KC Pet Project to host a weekly “Creature Feature” on loveable and adoptable pets here in the KC Metro. Sugar Cookie, a 3-year-old pit bull was adopted last week! This week, KCPP is introducing Augustus Waters, a 6-year-old domestic longhair, and Fannie, a 1-year-old mixed-breed…
KC Jazz Ambassadors president Marc Edelman. // Courtesy KC Jazz Ambassadors On Tuesday, December 14, the KC Jazz Ambassadors will present the first-ever JAM Musician Awards at Johnnie’s Jazz Club. The purpose of the event is to recognize “everyone’s favorite Kansas City jazz musicians,” explained JAM Magazine editor David Basse. Given that the KC Jazz Ambassadors have been around since…
Courtesy Jackie Nguyen. With about 750 individual donations, a GoFundMe campaign from Cafe Cà Phê owner Jackie Nguyen has raised $37,920 so far of its $68,000 goal. The Cafe Cà Phê team will use the funds to transform their new space into a full-fledged brick-and-mortar location. This new location marks incredible growth for the coffee shop that officially opened Oct….
Dan Jones & the Squids // Courtesy the band Dan Jones & the Squids’ We Live In A World That Is Out Of This World came out in 2019 and they released a second album, Serve Without Delay, in February of this year. Even still, the trio waited until now to release an official video. We’re happy to premiere their…
After the closing of several staples of Westport’s bar and entertainment scene, the new Taco Bell Cantina sign at 4111 Broadway has become, if nothing else, a very intriguing prospect ever since it was put up earlier this fall. Its arrival comes with mixed reviews. Many think the cantina is taking the spirit out of Westport and is a marker…
Shiner RecordBar Saturday, December 11 Touring in support of last year’s new album, Schadenfreude, Kansas City’s post-rockers Shiner made a stop at recordBar Saturday night. They ran through a selection of songs from their first new album in nearly 20 years, as well as longtime favorite tracks. Our photographer Steven Austin (Insta: @stevendslr) was there to capture it all. Categories:…
Some of the offerings at Prime Social. // Courtesy Cameron Mitchell Famed restaurant mogul Cameron Mitchell has successfully unveiled the first of two of his high-end eateries on the Plaza. It only took 35 years, give or take. Mitchell—the founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants—says he interviewed in Kansas City early in his career as a chef and promptly…
