TJ Roberts // Photo by Mar’Che Boggess Located on the corner of North 6th Street and Ann Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas is Kinship Cafe, the city’s only Black-owned coffee shop. Formerly home to KC Cupcake Co, owner TJ Roberts has completely revamped the space and knocked down a few walls. Combining his love of midcentury modern decor, minimalism, and…
Courtesy image Artist Laedan Galicia, aka DINKC, has spent his whole life creating. With a love for cartoons like Spy vs. Spy and Steamboat Willie and growing up in Strawberry Hill with frequent visits to Mexico to visit family, he found himself surrounded by art. “I’ve been drawing basically my whole life since as long as I can remember, like many…
Art by Cassondra Jones Looking for delicious plans? Whether you want to impress a date, show your fam the best of KC, or just get out of the house, we’ve got you covered… all while supporting (mostly) local. Here is your weekly roundup of the best food and drink offerings around Kansas City. Cheers! Something New Saltwell Farm Kitchen: After…
Bremlin. // Art by Cassondra Jones Welcome to the December 2023 issue of The Pitch magazine, brought to you by your friends here in glamorous Kansas City. With Thanksgiving safely behind us, we are free to focus all of our energies on what matters most: delicious, delightful capitalism—the reason for the season! No applause break for capitalism? Yeah, that shouldn’t…
Kitchen Dwellers. // photo by Allison Scavo Kitchen Dwellers are a Montana-based jam band playing at RecordBar on December 3. We interviewed Max Davies, the band’s guitar player ahead of their tour stop about their upcoming new album, Seven Devils, the band’s history, and more. The Pitch: The last time you swung through it was in Kansas City, right? Max…
Joe Gatto. // Courtesy of Jonathan Thorpe Joe Gatto is incredibly well-known in the comedy sector, having spent 10 years as a member of the show Impractical Jokers. His time with his three lifelong friends, Sal Vulcano, James Murray, and Brian Quinn, propelled the four of them to becoming household names in comedic television. Now that Gatto has ended his…
Photo by Chris Ortiz. Art by Cassondra Jones Ongoing/Multiple: December 1-24 The Nutcracker, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts December 1-30 GloWild: Around the World, Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium December 1-3, 8-10, 15-17 The Strawberry Swing Presents: 13th Annual Holiday Swing, Crown Center December 5-6, 12-13, 19-20 Electric Glow, Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens December 14-16 Drunken Christmas…
Moonlight in Vermont sandwich at The Market at Meadowbrook. // Photo by Lauren Textor Some places capture my imagination right away. They open a doorway to an alternate reality where I blend seamlessly into my surroundings. A combination of the whimsical wallpaper, patterned curtains, roaring fireplace, and the glowing Christmas tree inside The Inn at Meadowbrook’s front lobby inspired my…
Shon Ruffin. // Photo by Dave Brick Been to a wedding, corporate event, philanthropic endeavor, or musical since the pandemic? Odds are Shon Ruffin was there performing her heart out. The small-but-mighty Kansas City native is a dynamo on the stage and/or behind the mic. She tells us she has a slew of musical theater shows under her belt, including…
Gov. Laura Kelly says her administration will pull the plug on a widely panned license plate design that was revealed last week. (Kansas Department of Revenue) TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Tuesday she would halt production of a widely panned new license plate and return to the drawing table. Republicans and Democrats recoiled last week when the state unveiled…
Aaron Washington’s House Elite. // Courtesy Julia Kapros Aaron Washington has a prestigious athletic history that began around his early childhood and is now leading the way to developing and producing more elite athletic talent here in Kansas City. He is the founder and CEO of House Elite and has dedicated his life to sports. “Of course, playing basketball, I…
Collab Brewing Between KC Bier Co and BKS Artisan Ales. // Photo Courtesy of Katie Camlin On Nov. 12, both KC Bier Co. and BKS Artisan Ales placed in the top 20 best beers in 2023 in Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine. Outshining over 1,000 other submissions, KC Bier Co.’s Bier Co Light and BKS’s Pivo Project Bohemian-Style Pilsner were…
Courtesy Rob Harvilla For the past several years, writer Rob Harvilla has been the host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s for The Ringer . The podcast covers “a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous R&B to rambunctious ska-punk, from…
Oaxaca Old Fashioned at Fern Bar. // Photo by Jack Hatzfeld Bryan Arri has long been a standout in the Kansas City cocktail scene. He’s shaken things up full-time at some of the metro’s most cutting-edge locations, including Manifesto, Rye, and The Monarch—you’ve probably noticed his fiery locks as he holds things down at the bar. For the past few…
Ari Fish. // Courtesy photo Ari Fish is an artist living and working in Kansas City. She received her B.F.A. in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute. However, her work is not restricted to ceramics; she also creates stunning paintings, illustrations, animation, audio designs, large-scale installations, and artistic fashion designs. You might recognize her from her stint on Project…
Resolution of the abortion issue will be a seminal test for our democracy. // Photo by Adobe Shrouded in hypocrisy, entangled by complexity and ensnarled in a battle for control, the abortion issue will be a real test of the structure of our democratic form of government. Will there be a new overarching federal law along with specific state laws…
Dream Scenario. // Courtesy A24 Kristoffer Borgli’s new film Dream Scenario dares to ask the question, “What if Nicolas Cage showed up in everyone’s dreams?” To be more specific, it asks the question, “What if a bald, normcore Cage showed up in your dreams, but just kind of stood there?” Borgli’s surreal comedy has an intriguing concept at its core—an unexplained…
Snotty Nose Rez Kids. // photo by Sterling LaRose First Nations hip hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids have been making a name for themselves over the course of the last few years. Their debut single, “Skoden,” rapidly went viral and its critical acclaim paved the way for a series of well-received and Polaris-nominated albums from the Haisla rappers. The…
Front door of Hope Faith’s main office. // Photo by Shawn Stewart One of the key components of Kansas City’s “Zero KC” campaign—the campaign to end functional homelessness—is the low-barrier warming shelter at Hope Faith Ministries. The goal is to ensure everyone in the metro seeking safety, warmth and rest has low-barrier options. Despite the institution’s name, Hope Faith places…
Circle Auction Preview of the Campanella Collection // photo courtesy of James Fry Circle Auction is auctioning the Campanella Collection, a group of 116 original works by Thomas Hart Benton that have never been displayed before. The collection includes sketches and paintings completed by Benton between 1917 and 1970, and are a glimpse into Benton’s working process and evolution as…
Art by Cassondra Jones Nowadays, it feels like years are composed of more than one year. 2023? That had at least four years of stuff in it, judging by the standards of, say, 2014. We’ve all simply been through too much. Do we all deserve a little reward for making it? Yes, we do. We can partake in some holiday…
Ari Groover as Tina Turner // Photo by Matthew Murphy PNC Broadway KC is closing out the year with a banger. The national Broadway tour of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical will be rolling through Kansas City Dec. 5-10 at the Music Hall. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd, the musical…
Trish Mitchell, of Kansas City, was raped when she was 21. When she found out she was pregnant, she sought out an abortion. This provided photo was taken a few months before the assault, in the early 1990s (photo submitted). When Trish Mitchell got an abortion three decades ago in Missouri, she didn’t tell the doctor her pregnancy was a…
It’s A Wonderful Knife. // Courtesy RLJE Films Frank Capra’s 1946 opus It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the only holiday films that feels slightly more fun each year on revisit, instead of the slightly diminishing returns over time of other Yuletide classics. Part of the charm is just how goddamned good the film is—line after impossibly well written…
