Land of the Real People

"Tell me who's slacking!" she growls gamely as Bobby gropes for a color palette.

"I think I'll be all right."

"I'm sure you will — you were damn near the Apprentice," he answers playfully.

Actually, she was almost the Apprentice twice. Most don't know that Mason first applied to the show in 2004. At the time, she had been renovating a downtown office building with her business partner and ex-beau, Matt Abbott. Mason's mom died of cancer when Mason was 12, and when her father died unexpectedly of a heart attack, she surrendered to a moment of whimsy and tried out for the show in Chicago. Her audition was memorable: She argued with other contestants, barking that a businesswoman should disclose a pregnancy to her boss. That incensed some female candidates. Her hard-nosed tactics and heartbreaking back story carried her as far as the final auditions in Los Angeles, where she was cut. It was hard for Mason, who had poured her heart out and considered the casting crew "pen pals for life."

She popped up the following year at a tryout for The Apprentice in Kansas City. After standing in line, she answered just one question on the show's questionnaire.

Q. What's the most embarrassing thing you've done?

A. Stand in this line.

Next stop? New York City. After the show, she declined the lecture circuit and the offers from major development companies. She instead returned to Kansas City and bet on her business prowess.

Bobby tries to hand Mason a fistful of business cards for painters. She responds: "I can't use small-time painters. I noticed some of these other guys are like, 'Leave a message.' That's not the kind of business I do."

When Bobby personally recommends a particular painter, she adds, "You'd never guess it from his cards.... What I can't handle are guys who aren't already experts."

She takes one of the cards, orders her selection, gathers her paint cans and heads downtown to meet with Abbott and a security contractor at the Towers. "At my age, you can't walk into Manhattan and do shit," she says later. "This is the city to be in if you want to be somebody. You get us and our architects into a meeting with bankers, and it looks like a college frat party. But it's awesome because we are the ones changing the face of Kansas City."

The Towers project should be completed by fall 2007. She has named it the Manhattan.

Can a dance prodigy outrun the curse of child stardom?

Aaron Wedgeworth bursts onto the YMCA’s basketball court at 70th Street and Troost sporting white tails that are pure Fred Astaire. The 17-year-old has written his stage name, ShoTyme, in glittering letters across his back. “The thing you gotta remember is you’re never too early, never too late,” Wedgeworth says. “The superstar is always there on time.”

Other rules ShoTyme lives by since appearing on America’s Most Talented Kid in 2003: • It doesn’t matter who is in the audience; always give 110 percent. • Give more praise to God, because without Him there is nothing. • Remember to pause for a photo op before you bust a blurry move.

ShoTyme jumps into motion as if on fast-forward. Hip-hop beats from a nearby speaker as he pops to his toes like a ballerina. His bling twinkles — a gold chain, diamond studs and a grill of silver braces.

When rapid drumbeats bang, he does his Matrix impression, bending backward at the hips and backstroking air with his arms like Neo dodging bullets. When the speakers blast fake automatic rifle shots, he flails wildly like a patient having a finely coordinated seizure. When he flips and lands on his back on the gym floor, the crowd hoots wildly.

The fans, the frilled duds — it wasn’t always like this. ShoTyme is the first to admit that national television molded him. Before cracking the top 15 finalists on America’s Most Talented Kid, he didn’t even place at a Lee’s Summit High School talent show. After his TV success, he was booked on The Today Show, Extra! and a three-month gig at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City. He doesn’t have to rent tuxedos anymore; he is sponsored locally by Anderson’s Formal Wear.

“I saw that as a chance for me to keep going,” ShoTyme says of Most Talented Kid. “I just felt that would show the world what I had to offer. I felt that it gave people the impression that Kansas City does have something to offer other than just sports teams.”

ShoTyme is more than this flashy shtick. He stays grounded with his gospel troupe, Prince of Peace. He teaches step and drumbeats to kids his age in the Kansas City Marching Thunder. He also has his own squad of stylish, fast-footed dancers who storm local talent shows and go by the name SPY: Men of Distinction. He dreams of choreographing music videos in Los Angeles and bringing hip-hop to Broadway.