Skate or Die

ONGOING
When roller derby started in 1935, it was a 57,000-lap couple skate meant to represent the distance between Los Angeles and New York. In the years since, men were removed, violence was added and another American art form was born. Now roller derby is back in vogue, and the newly formed KC Roller Warriors are here to represent. Practicing at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the Westport-Roanoke Community Center (3601 Roanoke), the team focuses on the two prongs of roller derby: skating and falling. “You have to go through a month of drills before you can come into contact with another skater,” says cofounder Brooke Leavitt, whose derby name is Dirty Britches. She encourages potential skaters to join up. Those with pacifistic streaks or Y chromosomes need not apply, but spectators are welcome. Call 913-271-2960. — Christopher Sebela

Safe Bet

You could win a fortune — or not.

SAT 8/14
In 1986, Geraldo Rivera got a hot tip about Al Capone’s locked safe in the basement of a Chicago hotel. Geraldo’s much-hyped, live safe-cracking effort yielded only a few empty gin bottles. Nancy Kwilas of Old Northeast Inc. learned a lesson about safe cracking from that moment in television history. This fall, when the folks at Old Northeast Inc. open the mysterious safe they discovered in the basement at 6612 Independence Avenue, they’ll record it. But they won’t show the tape until their twentieth-anniversary gala in October, when a drawing will determine who wins the safe’s contents — and end almost a decade of speculation and distraction around the office. “We’ve put stethoscopes up to it and listened for the click,” Kwilas admits. Raffle tickets can be purchased at a 4 p.m. party offering live entertainment this Saturday at the Askew Inn (3600 Independence Avenue). For information, call 816-231-3707. — Gina Kaufmann

Money, Honey

SAT 8/14
Bill Belzer, New Amsterdams drummer and former Uncle Tupelo member, is sporting that musicians’ accessory du jour: the side project. His is called Bill Belzer and the Beauty Operators, and Saturday at the Cope and Drag (4518 Troost), the band hosts a fund-raiser to, Belzer says, “pay past recording debt and finance the completion of an EP, which will be available for the stuffing of stockings by end of year.” From 3 to 6 p.m., there’s a kid-friendly performance and bake sale, but around 9 p.m., Belzer and company will break out the boxed wine and kegs for a “late-night rumble.” Call 816-519-5983. — Annie Fischer