Code Orange. // Photo by Tim Saccenti Code Orange is a band that refuses to stop evolving. Since the Pittsburgh group’s core members first convened as teenagers in 2008, each progressive release has seen them incorporating new sounds and imagery, with each album more ambitious than the last. What was once a scrappy punk rock band playing VFW halls and…
Ocean Prime’s Ahi Tuna Tartare. // Photo Cameron Mitchell Restaurants For a city touted as “Cowtown,” there sure are plenty of upscale seafood restaurants on the Plaza these days. The addition of the posh, new Ocean Prime Kansas City will soon up the ante to four high-end seafood eateries in a mere four-block radius, which also includes Jax Fishhouse, McCormick…
Erin Eades in December. // Photo by Ron Lamendola Local singer-songwriter Erin Eades uses her craft to capture the ebb and flow of ever-evolving internal turmoil. She finds that pushing honest, private subjects into public art encourages a more sincere connection with her audience. “It makes you more willing to put yourself out there,” Eades says. “You know it’s not…
A sign directs residents to a state-sponsored COVID-19 testing site in Columbia on Jan. 25, 2022. // Photo by Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent Two weeks after a Cole County judge stripped local health agencies of their ability to issue orders to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, a top official in the state health department predicted the impact would be much more…
The Pitch has partnered with a local political awareness organization called Loud Light. Their goal is to engage and empower individuals from underrepresented populations to build community power. And impact decision-makers. Each week of the year that the Kansas statehouse is in session, they release a short video recapping what the legislature is up to. Knowing the nitty-gritty of what’s happening with your…
Dr. Mohamed Nabeel Kuziez and his team at Madison Medical Center, a small emergency room in southeastern Missouri, saved Kathie Ganime’s life by creating a makeshift intensive care unit to treat her severe pneumonia when they couldn’t find a single open ICU bed due to the surge in COVID-19 patients. // Photo submitted to Missouri Independent For six days, Dr….
The KCPL’s pop-up library being in action. // Courtesy of Kansas City Public Library The Kansas City Public Library received the largest grant out of 41 recipients across the state selected for the Missouri State Library’s Strengthen Missourians Grant. The $175,000 grant will go towards growing the KCPL’s mobile services and community outreach. The grant will enhance the library’s ability…
Guests gather for a Kansas City FilmFest Event. // Photo by Larry Levin A Black Film Series at this year’s Kansas City FilmFest and a Black Movie Hall of Fame are on the way thanks to a three-way partnership between Kansas City FilmFest International (KCFFI), the Critics Choice Association, and Boone Theater. The collaborative effort aims to call attention to…
A still from Free Chol Soo Lee. // Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo by Grant Din. Considering Kansas City and Lawrence’s recent histories with highly-publicized wrongful convictions, Free Chol Soo Lee’s upcoming Liberty Hall screening feels especially apropos. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s documentary covers the arrest of a Korean immigrant for a murder he didn’t commit, and the subsequent…
The Pitch’s Infinite Playlist. // Illustration by Shelby Phelps Welcome to The Pitch’s Infinite Playlist, a forever-growing playlist of songs picked by people in KC. View/follow the full playlist on Spotify and you can always go back and check out the full run of articles. Throw the playlist on shuffle and enjoy away! Playlist Guest #11: Jason Kander Who are…
Keke Palmer in Alice. // Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo by Kyle Kaplan The most shocking part of Krystin Ver Linden’s Alice is its assertion that it’s based on a true story. Considering the movie’s content—the main character is an enslaved person who escapes a Georgia plantation only to discover the year is actually 1973—you’d be right to be stunned,…
Lawrence, Jan. 20, 2022. MellowPhobia during a show at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, KS. // Photo by Aiden Droge Originally tasked with photographing MellowPhobia’s set on Thursday, Jan. 20, I had decided to listen to their discography in the days prior to the show. Walking into the Replay Lounge on that very cold Thursday evening I could not help…
An old photo of Keith Carnes and his father. // Courtesy of Latahra Smith Keith Carnes has spent 19 years behind bars serving a life sentence with no chance for parole for a murder that he and others say he didn’t commit. The prosecution of Carnes has been suspiciously sloppy from the beginning. In his first court appearance, a jury…
Kansas City Curling Club members pose for a photo. // Photo by DeeAnn Moore The Kansas City Curling Center is set to open Feb. 2, before the Winter Olympics, celebrating a “sweeping” victory for the Kansas City Curling Club. The sport—beloved out of sheer befuddlement at least once every eight years when the Winter Olympics occurs—is a combination of finesse…
// Photo by Alana Broyles While doom-scrolling Facebook we encountered a post on a private brewing industry group page—the sort of place that insiders haunt, looking for the next big thing. Amanda Burkemper, a Beer Judge Certification Program Grand Master, had some more-than-kind words to share about a lesser-known treasure in our midst. “We are so spoiled,” she posted. “We…
Courtesy Imagine Downtown KC 2030 Strategic Plan and MIG/Confluence Over the last 22 months, hundreds of local business, civic, governmental, and neighborhood leaders banded together to pull through an economic setback—the likes of which have not been encountered in a century. The time for pivoting toward a better future has arrived. Led by the nonprofit Downtown Council of Kansas City,…
Pizza Tascio, a new concept from Erik Borger, is now serving New York-style slices and whole pies to North Kansas City. The mascot and name has roots in Sicily where Borger encountered Italian “Tascios,” which he describes as loud and lively. // Photo by Liz Goodwin Flavorful and foldable New York style-slices from new Pizza Tascio A newcomer has popped…
Emergency. // Courtesy of the Sundance Institute Emergency is director Carey Williams’ expansion of his 2018 short film with the same name. The tense dark comedy follows three college roommates—two Black, one Latino—who find a drunk, passed-out white girl (Maddie Nichols) in their house on the night of several campus-wide parties. The boys, straight-A student Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins), party…
If you’re the sort of person who once owned The Director’s Series DVDs and poured over hours of ’90s-’00s music videos, skip this review and just go rent the film. This is exactly the sort of visual storytelling you missed from folks like Michel Gondry. You don’t need any further details to have a great time. Hello everyone else! Beyond…
Courtesy Transport Brewery Transport Brewery is crafting 70 gallons of Bootlegger, their take on a pre-Prohibition style lager. Beginning Jan. 29, the brewery will donate one dollar for every can sold. The funds will be donated to CASA of Johnson & Wyandotte Counties—court-appointed special advocates who serve kids removed from homes of abuse and neglect. Bootlegger is the product of…
A presenter pauses play to speak address the audience during a coaching demonstration. // Photo by Chris Ortiz The Kansas City Convention Center played host to 7,000 guests for the United Soccer Coaches Convention. The event, which ran from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23, drew vendors, presenters, and attendees from across the globe. United Soccer Coaches are headquartered in KC,…
Bit (Shon Ruffin) and Frol (Elise Poehling). // Photo by Hannah Taylor/Unicorn Theatre Saturday, Jan. 22, saw the world premiere of a new play at the Unicorn Theatre. Our Black Death: Plagues, Turnips, and Other Romantic Gestures, written by Lindsay Carpenter and directed by Cynthia Levin, is not your standard queer-centered romance set during the plague of mid-1300s England. It’s…
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. // Courtesy the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Monday he was suing nine more school districts over their mask mandates, including a school district in St. Louis County that serves students with disabilities. The additional lawsuits bring the total filed in recent days to 45, as Schmitt continues his legal push…
Camilla Damião and Cícero Lucas in Marte Um (Mars One). // Courtesy Sundance Institute Marte Um (Mars One), which screens Saturday, Jan. 29 at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, is one of the Sundance Film Festival’s most pleasant surprises thus far. Gabriel Martins’ portrait of a working-class Brazilian family trying to stay positive while enduring personal and national upheaval is small…
