Joshua Lewis of Kin Seltzer // Courtesy Joshua Lewis Joshua Lewis is a man about town. The self-proclaimed “party guy” leveraged his sociability to launch a party-finding app in 2016. As the parties, club events, and networking flowed, inspiration struck for a product that would connect it all: an alcoholic seltzer, made in Kansas City, and designed with the tens…
Nina Simone: Four Women // Photo courtesy of KCRep Theatre The Kansas City Repertory Theatre celebrates its 60 year anniversary this year. The year of celebration will be kicked off with their first play of the 2024 season, Nina Simone: Four Women. Nina Simone: Four Women opens Feb. 13, 2024 and runs through March 3, 2024 at the Kansas City…
CW: Mention of domestic abuse/violence, complex trauma, and childhood trauma. On October 22, 2022, I woke up to listen to the bonus tracks on Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights (3am Edition). It was a spiritual experience that nudged my personal life story in a direction I never saw coming when the lyrics, “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first,” crooned…
Damon Arredondo of Rizoma. // Courtesy photo Damon Arredondo, owner and founder of Rizoma, grew up in Parkville, where most residents are white and Catholic. As a child, he felt deeply disconnected from his Latinx roots due, in part, to the community in which he was raised. He always had a desire for a safe space but no luck in…
Johnny Cash Experience Live // Photo courtesy of The American Theatre Guild Saturday, Feb. 10, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts welcomes Johnny Cash – The Official Concert Experience to the stage. It has been produced in collaboration with the Estate of Johnny Cash and his son, John Carter Cash. The show utilizes archival footage from Cash’s TV show,…
Press releases and director’s statements for movies that we get sent at The Pitch often open with an elevator pitch: It’s X meets Y. Nine times outta ten, the combination in this elevator pitch is—at best—a set of aspirational goal posts that their end product would be better served if they skipped references to films that did it better. Molli…
Hot dog at Chartreuse Saloon. // Photo by Lauren Textor Chartreuse Saloon can be a bit of a sensory overload if you don’t know what to expect. As indicated by the name, the color scheme is yellow-green, and the theme is cowboy. Steer skulls and a single dart board are mounted on the walls. Green-and-black chess tables are arranged in…
Swoon Cookie Crafters For those not making the trip to Las Vegas for the big game on February 11, Kansas City is the next best option. We gathered up the best deals, watch parties, and delicious festivities to help you plan ahead whether your style is more house-party or party-party. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. CST. Cheers to the fanatics,…
Weird Stuff Antiques. // Photo by Erin Woodiel Imagine that you enter a store, taking in a massive collage of color, texture, and style. You carefully squeeze through aisle after aisle, moving between shelves and towering piles of boxes. A model airplane hanging in the corner catches your eye. Your shoulder brushes a rack of furs. You open a creaky…
A selection of albums from onetime University of Kansas visitor Taylor Swift available for sale at Love Garden Sounds in Lawrence, Kansas. // Clay Wirestone of Kansas Reflector A pop icon falling for one of the NFL’s preeminent superstars may seem like a slice of Americana — a scene from a small-town high school magnified by a factor of 10 million….
Previous conference for AWP with booths and attendees. // Courtesy AWP This week, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is coming to Kansas City for its 24th event, bringing nearly 8,000 guests to the metro for a huge multi-day event. Last year, the event was attributed with having a $15 million net impact on the city of Seattle,…
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…
Fitting In. // Courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment Cinema in the last year or so has seen a powerful resurgence of the coming-of-age film, with a number of flicks like Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret becoming the sort of teen stories that are elevating the form. There’s an uptick in the genre’s efforts in modernization—both understanding that 2024…
Photo by Gabriel Flynn Planet Queen Vintage & Records has an interesting spot to fill. Opening up on 209 W Maple Ave in Independence, it is the only record store. Kimmie Queen, the owner, says it’s the only one in that area filling the market. For those noticing a similarity between the store and that name, that wasn’t entirely intentional….
Records with Merritt is Marion Merritt’s vinyl store in Westport with partner Ann Stewart. As a staple in our community for nearly a decade, we’ve partnered with Merritt for a monthly column, where the tastemaker shares her picks for the best wax releases to look forward to grabbing, divided by release date. Here’s Marion Merritt’s rundown of the most exciting offerings in…
Photo Courtesy of KC SuperStar Chloe Fineman of Saturday Night Live fame is hosting the KC SuperStar. Auditions are open for the 2024 season. This is a local singing competition open to any and all high school students. Students are competing for the prize of a $10,000 scholarship. Those looking to compete should register on their website. Auditions are being…
Courtesy David Remley When you visit the Kansas City Museum, housed in a beautiful, recently-renovated former beaux-arts mansion on Gladstone Boulevard that once belonged to a lumber baron, you might expect to see a lot of history. You’re probably thinking of stories featuring well-known Kansas City characters like Tom Pendergast, neighborhoods like 18th and Vine, or businesses like J. Rieger…
Gathering space at Mean Mule // Photo courtesy Mean Mule Distilling Co Mean Mule Distilling Co. in East Crossroads is hosting a free wellness retreat for service industry workers on February 25 – 26. Service industry employees of restaurants, bars, and cafes are welcome to register for the two-day event. Mean Mule started began distilling agave spirits locally in 2016,…
Jesse Dayton and Samantha Fish. // Courtesy photo Released in May of 2023, Death Wish Blues, the collaborative album between blues rockers Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, sees the pair taking the sparks from their 2022 EP, The Stardust Sessions, and fanning them into a full-blown blaze. In support of the Rounder Records release produced by Jon Spencer, Kansas City’s…
Argylle. // Courtesy Universal Pictures Matthew Vaughn started with a lot of promise. He first arrived as a producer on Guy Ritchie’s early films, which he then spun into a successful directing debut with 2004’s Layer Cake. Since then he’s directed blockbuster-hopefuls that were well-received (Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men) then increasingly less well-received (The Kingsman series). Like all those previously-noted films,…
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 Whiskey Dynamite: In a…
Rep. Steven Howe said a bill limiting DEI practices at Kansas colleges and universities is necessary. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Rep. Steven Howe, chairman of the House Higher Education Budget Committee, pointed to job applications at Kansas State University and other Kansas public universities to argue the necessity of legislation restricting diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Howe, a Salina…
Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy. // photo courtesy the artist Tomorrow, February 2, long-running Wichita thrashgrass quintet Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy drop the vinyl edition of their new EP, Logos. To celebrate, we’ve got the premiere of a new music video which features two tracks, “Soot Follows Cinder” and “Antonius Block’s Confession,” the first two singles from the Logos…
House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, claps as the Missouri House welcomes a guest on the first day of the 2024 legislative session (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher fired his legislative director Wednesday, the latest in a series of departures from his office as he continues to face an ethics investigation into allegations of unlawful conduct. Erica…
