Archives: August 2023

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A&E

Kansas Citian Kyle Hopkins represents Midwest on MasterChef season 13

Hopkins shares his experience winning the season's first 'immunity pin' and his family cheerleaders.
Belle Yennie,

  Hopkins holds a note card from his son Teddy: “You can do hard things.” // courtesy Alyssa Broadus Homecook contestant Kyle Hopkins represents Kansas City in season 13 of MasterChef: United Tastes of America. During the show, contestants from all over the country compete against four regions to see who has the best cooking skills: the Northeast, Midwest, South,…

Katieart
Questionnaire

Katie Carrillo talks digital design, self-motivation, and cowboy possums in The Pitch Questionnaire

Sofia Mongillo,

Courtesy of Katie Carrillo Independent illustrator Katie Carrillo decided to give digital illustration a try after feeling that their job in the theatre industry wasn’t a great fit. Always having had a hunger for a creative career, the Latina LGBTQ+ artist began experimenting with various mediums and types of art. After designing her first sticker design, a cowboy possum, she…

Batman Mask Of The Phantasm Logo Art
Movies

Writer/producer Alan Burnett on the legacy of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm ahead of this weekend’s Fountain City Con

Nick Spacek,

If you are a child of the ’80s and ’90s, writer and producer Alan Burnett is the man behind some of your fondest entertainment memories. He wrote for Disney, scripting episodes of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and Gummi Bears,  along with the screenplay for Ducktales: Treasue of the Lost Lamp, before moving over to Warner Bros. and becoming…

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Music

A Meeting of the Mindz: A new book by Geoff Harkness covers the greatest rap group you’ve probably never heard of

Tyler Schneider,

Dvs Mindz. // Courtesy image In the fall of 1999, Geoff Harkness—a former Pitch writer and current sociology professor at Rhode Island College with three books under his belt—was still fresh out of his undergraduate years at KU and had just been hired to cover music for the alternative-weekly arts and entertainment magazine, The Mag, a then-sub pub of The…

Tuneabomber Nonames
Theater

The TUNEabomber entertains with a clever embracement of absurdity and showcase of pure talent

Brynn Winkler,

Courtesy AnnaBeth Crittenden At their KC Fringe debut, Michael Wysong and John Lampe’s The TUNEabomber proved to be the delightfully absurd spectacle that you might expect given just the name of the satirical musical comedy. Written and performed by the creators as a two-man Cabaret, the show is centered around one query you didn’t know you wanted the answer to:…
Food & Drink

Dish & Drink KC: Lemon/limeades at Sylas and Maddy’s Homemade Ice Cream and Black Dog Coffeehouse

Lauren Textor,

Strawberry Lemonade Sherbet and Piña Colada at Sylas and Maddy’s. // Photo by Lauren Textor Introducing Sylas and Maddy’s World Cup flavor  Since 1997, Sylas and Maddy’s Homemade Ice Cream has been family-owned and operated by the Englands. Now that the owners’ daughters are grown up, their families assist with the shops, which have two locations in Lawrence and Olathe….

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News

Visually impaired youth at Alphapointe’s Annual Technology Camp learn coding, build robots

Jacqulyn Seyferth,

Courtesy Alphapointe This week, Alphapointe enabled visually impaired and blind youth to learn text-based programming, robot building, and cybersecurity in their Annual Technology Camp (ATC). The camp was co-sponsored by EnterpriseKC and Cyber.org. This was the latest in a series of Alphapointe youth-based summer programs. “As an organization focused on regional economic development, EnterpriseKC is thrilled to be co-hosting such…

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Politics

‘Fueled by lies,’ Trump charged with seeking to overturn 2020 election

Trump pursued “unlawful means” of subverting the election results and made false statements about results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, indictment says.
Jennifer Shutt, Ashley Murray, Jacob Fischler,

President Donald J. Trump disembarks Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Wednesday evening, Aug. 21, 2019, returning from his trip to the American Veterans (AMVETS) 75th National Convention in Louisville, KY. // Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump…

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Music

Swiftie-level devotion met a wall of sonic brutality when Death Grips grabbed The Midland

Sofia Mongillo,

Death Grips at Midland 2023. // Photo by Sofia Mongillo KC’s Midland Theatre witnessed an explosion of raw energy on the night of July 25 as genre-blurring, experimental hip-hop group, Death Grips, took to the stage for a performance difficult to capture in words. Known for their ear-splitting, unique blend of sounds falling under categories ranging from electropunk to digital…

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Movies

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fresh take on the renegade reptiles

These turtles actually feel like teenagers of today, rather than holdovers from a bygone era.
Adrian Torres,

April checks her journalism against the Turtles. // Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Considering we last had a (mostly forgotten) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot in 2014, which spawned a (slightly less forgotten) sequel two years later, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a little soon for another big-screen go at the franchise. However, it gives us great pleasure to report…
Music

LFK youth music org Amplify host Aug. 26 drag’n’roll fundraiser at Bottleneck

“Amplify should have as many resources as possible to care for these kids and show them a good time."
Jacqulyn Seyferth,

Illustration by Jacqulyn Seyferth Amplify Lawrence will hold a fundraiser for their annual youth summer camp on August 26 at the Bottleneck. The fundraiser will feature performances by The Creepy Jingles, Mellowphobia, Lyxe, and DJ Chance Romance.  The camp meets for a week out of the summer every year, where the kids and teenagers have the opportunity to learn a…

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Movies

Director John Alexander’s Little Satchmo illuminates an unknown side of one of America’s greatest entertainers

Nick Spacek,

Director John Alexander’s debut documentary, This Is Love, told the story of the nearly-forgotten and sadly unheralded soul singer, Rudy Love. His latest, Little Satchmo, does the same by bringing the story of Sharon Preston-Folta, the secret daughter of Louis Armstrong, to light. The Emmy-winning documentary is a fascinating, if saddening, tale which illuminates a heretofore unknown side of one…

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Politics

ACLU sues Missouri school district for transgender bathroom policy

Annelise Hanshaw,

Free use image via Pixabay. The ACLU of Missouri is suing the Platte County School District for banning transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Platte County Circuit Court, says the district’s policy discriminates on the basis of sex, transgender status and disability — violating the Missouri Human Rights…

Film Critic Illustration
Movies

Critical Mass: KCFCC frames the joy of the flicker

Belle Yennie,

Illustration by Jacqulyn Seyferth The term film critic seems to have an overbearing connotation. Some may depict them as conceited reviewers, carefully analyzing screenings to only nit-pick every minute detail. However, is this how we actually receive the news of the greatest or worst movie of all time?  Unlike the gaudy image of a critic snob, passionate movie-goers comprise the…