Karen Love makes adjustments to her fluid art project at a Monkey Brain Art class July 11. // Photo by Beth Lipoff For Gary Walker, art was the only thing that could calm his mind while dealing with the PTSD he has as a result of his time in the Air Force. Now he and his wife, Trish, are reaching…
Day Shift. // Photo by Andrew Cooper/Netflix Vampires really love southern California, don’t they? From The Lost Boys to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the seemingly incongruous imagery of sunny beaches inhabited by creatures of the night is one of media’s most popular tropes. Netflix seeks to cash in on this with Day Shift, the action-packed directorial debut from J.J. Perry…
Roe v. Wade reproductive rights protesters at the Plaza on Friday, June 24, 2022. // Photo by Jim Nimmo We’ve been asking members of the KC community to submit stories about their thoughts and experiences in all walks of life. If you’ve got a story you’d like to share with our readers, please send it to brock@thepitchkc.com for consideration. Today,…
Courtesy Ron Funches Ron Funches is one of our favorite comedians working today. The comedian and all-around gigantic personality aren’t just one of the best in the game, but he has the most infectious laugh in… the same… game. Funches’ sunny disposition pairs nicely with his work in the marijuana advocacy space which is the easiest line-in for our hearts. …
Kristen Thomas. // Photo by Nicole Bissey For a multitude of reasons, my partner and I won’t be makin’ babies. I had a friend give me shit recently for admitting we practice the pull-out method until My Guy gets the ole’ snippy clippy. I tried to educate my friend about the nuances and research about coitus interruptus, though I still…
Chris Frye sticker art. // Courtesy Chris Frye By day, Chris Frye is an unassuming middle school art teacher. By night, he’s an eclectic sticker artist with an unbridled penchant for bootlegged cartoon characters. If there’s a blank canvas and adhesive involved, he’s in. He’ll immediately start doodling, drawing, or designing with his signature hyper-color flair. Frye says he was…
Bodies Bodies Bodies. // Courtesy A24 “I’m smart! I’m strong! I’m ready for what comes along! I’ve got! Good friends! We’ll stick together ‘til the end!” So begins the titular game of Bodies Bodies Bodies, in which a close-knit group of friends decides to spice up their hurricane party by playing an offshoot of social deduction game Werewolf—but when the…
Chris Botti. // Courtesy Chris Botti According to Grammy-winning musician Chris Botti, it’s been a hot minute since his band has made a pilgrimage to Kansas City. He guess-timates 14 years, but who’s counting? Botti—who jokes he puts the “tour” in touring musician—has been in the midst of non-stop performances for the past 14 months, and his tour schedule now…
Rex and Fiona. // Courtesy Scott Poore and Wayside Waifs This week’s “Creature Feature” is thanks to the help of Scott Poore from Mission Driven. Meet Rex and Fiona. They are two Huskies who were part of a large scale puppy mill rescue in Iowa in Nov. 2021, which saved approximately 500 puppies and dogs. Wayside Waifs took responsibility for…
Dusty Slay is one of the funniest and hardest working stand up comedians working today. He’s also someone you can take your whole family to see. That puts him in rarified air with Jim Gaffigan, Bryan Regan, and Sebastian Maniscalco. Slay has been on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon multiple times, he’s the co-host of Nate Bargatze’s podcast, Nateland,…
Courtney Barnett. // Photo by Nick Spacek Here and There Festival with Courtney Barnettt, Lucy Dacus, and Quinn Christopherson The Midland Theatre Monday, August 8 GRAMMY-nominated Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has selected a rotating line-up for her U.S. tour that is decidedly queer. The Here and There Festival’s first stop at the Midland features Alaskan artist Quinn Christopherson, “Night Shift”…
Making Movies. // Photo by Luis Cantillo In a powerplay of heritage celebrations, Latinx activist champions, and rock ‘n’ roll band, Making Movies, present Celebrate Ameri’kana, a music and arts festival catering to the masses. On Sept. 10 at Grinders KC, the stage will be set to observe a feat of musical mastery and feed philanthropic endeavors through donations to…
Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, speaks on the Senate floor on Feb. 10, 2021. // Courtesy of Senate Communications Tension among Republicans that has mired the Missouri Senate in gridlock over the last two years bubbled up again this week, as a GOP state senator and an adviser to the conservative caucus took aim at each other in dueling radio…
Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore. // Courtesy The Electrified Cooks Around these parts, Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore are known as The Electrified Cooks. To date, these prolific, local food writers have penned 17 cookbooks and created thousands of recipes and content for various publications. (Their most recent cookbook, you ask? The Best Cast Iron Baking Book.) In addition to…
Papaya salad at Thai Orchid. // Courtesy Thai Orchid Thai Orchid’s papaya salad Out with the green leafy salads and in with the savory fruits. Thai Orchid, a traditional Thai restaurant specializing in Massaman and Panang curry, keeps the public on their toes as to what amazing flavor combinations they will come up with next. Earlier this month, a new…
Rewind Video Dive behind the Screenland Armour Theater. // Photo by Chase Castor Take a stroll down a North Kansas City alley behind a strip of Armour Rd. businesses, and just past a set of dumpsters there’s a door with a Blockbuster-esque logo that welcomes the weary with a portal to a simpler time. Rewind is the ‘90s basement dive…
Major Cannabis Expo. // Photo by Kristen Thomas Missouri voters will decide this November whether to legalize recreational marijuana, four years after they first approved the drug for medicinal use. Secretary of State John Ashcroft announced Tuesday an initiative petition to put the question before voters received 203,551 valid signatures across six Congressional districts — barely overcoming the minimum threshold…
Anthrax. // Photo by Anna Perry Anthrax with Black Label Society and Hatebreed The Midland Tuesday, August 2 Last Tuesday night, Anthrax’s 40th Anniversary tour rolled into the the Midland, with Hatebreed and Black Label Society in tow. Compare this tour to when Anthrax played the Bottleneck in Lawrence back in the early ’00s with Lamb of God—it’s hard to…
Multi-hyphenate musician, N3ptune. // Photo by Juli Williams N3ptune knows all. The Colorado icon fears no evil, hears no evil, and sees no evil. “I’m out here disappointing everyone because they’re close-minded,” N3ptune says. “Love that for them.” From his schooldays, N3ptune was heavily influenced by the world and morals of the Baptist Church. This background led to a musical…
Greg Mosier’s first assignment as president of Kansas City Kansas Community College was to get student housing on campus. With trustee chair Evelyn Criswell, he recently cut the ribbon at a dedication ceremony for Centennial Hall, which will house 258 students. // Chase Castor/The Beacon This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon. Community colleges traditionally have been…
Theresa “Ting” Spencer. // Courtesy TIng’s Filipino Bistro When it comes to flavor, there is no substitution for family lineage. Theresa “Ting” Santos-Spencer is the owner of Ting’s Filipino Bistro—one of the very few traditional Filipino food establishments in the KC metro. Ting and her staff put a strong emphasis on family bonds and ancestral history, as can be seen…
Some bands build catalogs over the years. Murder by Death has built a universe. Over more than two decades together, they have released eight deeply immersive albums, each one subtly broadening their sonic and thematic limits, and exploring what the band is truly capable of. On their ninth album, Spell/Bound, the band has taken their largest leap forward into lavish,…
Courtesy AMC Networks This year has been a veritable buffet of Texas-set cinema: Ti West’s throwback slasher X (and the upcoming prequel, Pearl), BJ Novak’s Vengeance, and now, the Shudder original What Josiah Saw, directed by Vincent Grashaw and written by Robert Alan Dilts. What Josiah Saw is a fascinating tale of family trauma and faith amidst a small town’s…
The Chainsmokers. // photo credit Archana Sundar Starting in Columbus, Ohio, in 2013, the Breakaway Music Festival has expanded several times to become two days of shows in North Carolina and Michigan, alongside its home state. When the company behind it, Prime Social Group, announced the return of its “critically-acclaimed multi-city, genre-blending” festival earlier this year, not only was Breakaway…
