Archives: September 2024

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Food & Drink

Black-owned eateries launch extensive food week benefiting Missouri’s longest-standing Black-owned bookstore

KC Black Feast Week takes place October 1 - 14 around the metro.
Sarah Sipple,

A new type of food week has pulled up a seat in Kansas City. From October 1 – 14, Kansas City Defender is hosting the first-ever KC Black Feast Week. Kansas City Defender is a youth-led Black media and community organization.  With a goal of highlighting KC’s Black culinary talent as well as uplifting Black-owned businesses, the two-week event will…
Politics

In failing to protect voting rights, the Kansas Supreme Court reserves the right to be wrong

Max McCoy,

Elisabeth Frost, representing League of Women Voters, gives a rebuttal to a question in her Kansas Supreme Court argument during the hearing of League of Women Voters, et al v. Schwab in 2023. (Pool photo by Evert Nelson/Topeka Capital-Journal) One hundred and sixty-five years ago come Friday, the Kansas Constitution was adopted by voters. The document had been framed the…

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Food & Drink

Mise en Place: Fresh takes and Asian influences guide Mari Matsumoto’s cocktail creations at Goat & Rabbit

Ellen Beshuk,

Photo Courtesy of Mari Matsumoto In the bar scene of Kansas City, few stories are as captivating as that of Mari Matsumoto, a seasoned bartender whose journey began in the quiet farmlands of Japan. With family in the restaurant industry and farming, Matsumoto’s path has been one of passion and resilience. From bussing tables and decorating cakes to becoming a…

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Politics

Tangled Up In Blue: Dems down the ballot push against unbeatable odds

Barbara Shelly,

Photo by Barbara Shelly About 20 people gathered on a Saturday morning in a strip mall storefront that operates as the office of the Platte County Democrats. Some are fresh faces but most are core volunteers who understand that, in Missouri, the surest way to make a difference in politics is to bolster Democratic representation in the state legislature. This…

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Sports

Photos: NASCAR zoomed through the Kansas Speedway this past weekend

Tarik Sykes,

NASCAR Weekend at the Kansas Speedway on Sept. 27-29. // Photo by Tarik Sykes The Kansas Speedway hosted a weekend full of throttles and turns as NASCAR came through town. The weekend began on Friday with the Reese’s 150, won by Tanner Gray, and the Kubota Tractor 200, won by Corey Heim. Saturday was all about the Kansas Lottery 300,…

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Music

Photos: Country artist Evan Honer stuns in his honky tonk KC debut

Allison Scavo,

Evan Honer // Photo by Allison Scavo Evan Honer w/ Thomas Rowland recordBar Thursday, Sept. 26 Touring in support of his latest full-length, Fighting For, Evan Honer erupted his very first Kansas City show with “Going Nowhere Fast” and introducing us to his explosive live honky tonk ways on Thursday, Sept. 26. As he showcased songs from his recent album…
Movies

Eureka Springs projects new screams on screen at ‘Nightmare in the Ozarks’ film fest

In its first year, the flicker across this makeshift Halloweentown aims to match everyone’s freak.
Abby Olcese,

If you’ve ever been to Eureka Springs, Ark., you know it’s a perfect place to get in the mood for Halloween. The picturesque, artsy Ozarks town is packed with antique stores, historic buildings and boutiques specializing in magic supplies, crystals and new age healing. The town is probably most famous for the Crescent Hotel, which bills itself as “America’s most…

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Movies

Fantastic Fest 2024: Detention’s manic master Joseph Kahn brings us his most accessible movie yet with Ick

Adrian Torres,

Courtesy Fantastic Fest This is part of our coverage from Fantastic Fest 2024 in Austin, TX where genre films are debuting before they get wider release. Check out all of our coverage here.  No one makes movies quite like director Joseph Kahn. He’s the kind of visual Tasmanian devil who people stop short of calling an auteur because of his chaotic…

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Music

Photos: WHY? brings The Well I Fell Into (and NNAMDÏ) to recordBar

Whitney Young,

WHY? // photo by Whitney Young WHY? with NNAMDÏ RecordBar Monday, September 23 Touring in support of their latest album, The Well I Fell Into, indie rockers WHY? took to the RecordBar stage on Monday. Instrumentalist NNAMDÏ opened and our photographer Whitney Young was there to capture it all. WHY? WHY? setlist These Hands January Twenty Something The Letters, Etc….

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Music

New book Taste in Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musicians celebrates the crossover between two creative joys

Nick Spacek,

Luke Pyenson (Credit Felix Walworth) and Alex Bleeker (Credit Leanne Kriz) Out this week from Chronicle Books, Taste in Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musicians is a new collection of essays curated by Real Estate’s Alex Bleeker and journalist Luke Pyenson (formerly of Frankie Cosmos) which explores “the unique relationship between touring and food and the bonds formed by…

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Music

Conductor Shelbie Rassler takes on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert this Sunday

Nick Spacek,

Shelbie Rassler. // photo courtesy the artist While live film scores have become a major industry, many of them are standard orchestral compositions that might liven things up with an electric guitar solo, at best. Composer Daniel Pemberton’s work for the two animated Spider-Verse films turns all of that upside down. In addition to standard orchestration and instrumentation, the music…

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Culture

Margaret Atwood discusses censorship, dystopias during celebration of KCPL’s 150th anniversary

Soffia Hernandez,

Margaret Atwood// Courtesy of Kenney Ellison It is the 150 anniversary of the Kansas City Public Library, and to celebrate, Margaret Atwood made an appearance in Kansas City Tuesday night. The Companion of Honour recipient gave invigorated answers at a Q&A to attendees at the Unity Temple on the Plaza. “One point of view might be another should be allowed…

Kareem Hunt Yahoo Sports
Sports

Kareem Hunt suits-up Sunday for the Chiefs. What does the context of his return say about our program?

"KC's beloved quarterback is right about one thing—football should be secondary, secondary to holding one accountable for one's actions, and not secondary to making sure an old teammate gets a redemption arc."
Jacqulyn Seyferth,

Kareem Hunt // Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports Content warning: This story includes a discussion of abuse. The KC skyline is illuminated in red. A faint aroma of grill smoke mixed with dead leaves permeates the air. An eye cannot wander without falling on a passerby wearing a 15 or an 87. In this relatively new era of a successful…

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Culture

Smoke Show: Missouri wants to protect children via cannabis ban, but small businesses will need a band-aid

Joe Ellett,

Illustration by Cassondra Jones Back in August, Missouri Governor Mike Parson announced Executive Order 24-10, prohibiting the sale of any food containing unregulated psychoactive cannabis compounds, as well as prohibiting liquor license-holding retail businesses from selling psychoactive cannabis compounds. The order was originally planned to take effect on Sept. 1, where the DHSS would be in charge of embargoing and…

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News

An Overland Park pharmacist quit the drug insurance game. He says it could save you money

The prescription insurance industry—and particularly PBMs, the powerful middlemen at its heart—get blamed for pharmacies closing down and patients often paying too much for medicine. Regulators are looking at what to do about it.
Suzanne King,

Pharmacist Nick Romo opened Pharmington Drugs in Overland Park two years ago. He promises to charge less for many drugs by not taking insurance. (Vaughn Wheat/The Beacon) Nick Romo spent a decade as a pharmacist under the rule of insurance companies and their middlemen. Too often, customers couldn’t get the drugs their doctors prescribed or ran into prices so high…

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Food & Drink

KC Sipps: Free coffee, a new McLain’s location, and more restaurant news

This week's Kansas City restaurant news.
Sarah Sipple,

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 Vintage ‘78 Wine Bar:…
Movies

Will & Harper is a charming, honest look at transitioning and allyship

Will Ferrell, Harper Steele and Josh Greenbaum have given the world a valuable (if knowingly imperfect) resource.
Abby Olcese,

During Will Ferrell’s tenure at Saturday Night Live, he met a writer named Andrew Steele, who he hit it off with immediately. The pair proved an effective combination, both on the show and after Ferrell’s departure (Steele remained on SNL’s writing staff and was one of the head writers between 2004-2008). Steele was the writer behind the Ferrell vehicles Casa…

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Politics

Cannabis union drive stalls as company attempts to set national legal precedent

BeLeaf Medical is arguing the post-harvest employees at its Sinse facility in St. Louis don’t have the right to unionize because they’re considered agricultural workers.
Rebecca Rivas,

Post-harvest employees at BeLeaf Medical’s Sinse facility await union election results on Feb. 6 at the St. Louis Public Library Barr branch (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent) It’s been more than seven months since employees of St. Louis-based Beleaf Medical cannabis company held an election to unionize. The majority of the ballots — 11 of the 16 — have remained closed. “It’s…

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Politics

Passage of Missouri sports betting amendment will squeeze Kansas gaming revenue

In nearly two years, Kansas has received $18.2 million in taxes from sports books.
Tim Carpenter,

Adam Proffitt, the budget director under Gov. Laura Kelly, said during an economic outlook conference at Washburn University that passage of a Missouri constitutional amendment legalizing sports wagering would reduce Kansas’ gambling revenue once Missouri residents in the Kansas City area had an alternative to driving across the state line to place online bets. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The…

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Culture

Creature Feature: Meet the resilient Rudy

Scott Poore,

Photo Courtesy of Scott Poore Creature Feature is The Pitch’s weekly profile on a local animal looking for adoption. Shelters and support in Kansas City and the surrounding region are often pushed to the breaking point, so picking one future companion to highlight is how we want to put them on your radar. But there are far more than we…

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Music

Permanent wax set to celebrate 25 years of the Creature Comforts’ Teaching Little Fingers to Play

Nick Spacek,

The Creature Comforts // Photo Courtesy of Billy Brimblecom Jr. This Friday, Sept. 27, power pop act The Creature Comforts reunite at recordBar for their first show since 2007. Along with their contemporaries Ultimate Fakebook, the band was stalwarts of the late ’90s and early ’00s. The Creature Comforts played innumerable shows in Lawrence and around Kansas, and “Sentimental Bliss,”…