By Justin Kendall
Kansas City’s West Bottom bohemian boys will soon be Northeasterners. Ron Megee and Jon Fulton Adams are selling their West Bottoms loft and moving to the Old Northeast neighborhood.
This means the end of the Student Union, the theme party paradise Megee and Adams hosted in their loft. Last weekend, Megee and Adams held an estate sale to unload their excess – including the giant iconic “R” above the stairway (sticker price, $150).
Click on the photo to see the best of Megee and Adams' booty.
By CHARLES FERRUZZA
In an election season, a tasteful “meet-and-greet” cocktail reception or brunch for a political candidate (with ample opportunity and pens for check-writing) is practically de rigueur for Kansas City hosts and hostesses with social consciousness – and spacious living rooms.
Last Sunday, Jordan and Betty Bushman opened their beautifully appointed Plaza condominium for just such a soiree.
By DAVID MARTIN
Anthony Ragusa used to own a liquor store at 27th and Troost. B&C Party Shoppe did a brisk
Tony Ragusa
In May, Mayor Mark Funkhouser and members of the city council gathered in the parking lot of the old store to announce their support of the Black Heritage District, a plan to eliminate the sales tax in a 20-block area in order to attract business to the East Side.
In a feature story about the initiative, I wrote that B&C Party Shoppe had gone out of business. This was not accurate.
“They forced me out,” Ragusa says.
By CHRIS PACKHAM
Someday, my name will be prefaced with the phrase "wealthy financier," and then you'll all be fuckin' sorry. Specifically, when wealthy financier Chris Packham launches a billion-dollar-losing media empire in Kansas City with heavy editorial application of multi-morpheme sobriquets based on the word douche.
Attention Fox 4: WE WILL BURY YOU. It's always embarrassing when your city produces so little telegenic news that you're forced to cover a MASSIVE BARN FIRE! I've been hearing scattered references to Kansas City as New York's "6th borough" or "7th borough" or something, but this shit is just going to reinforce the pre-existing stereotype of Kansas City Klansmen jumping their General Lees over flaming pits of biology textbooks. Our solemn vow to you, the sophisticated Kansas Citian, is that The Pitch will never cover barn fires, traffic jams caused by loose cattle, or first-cousin wedding announcements. On the other hand, by linking to barn-fire coverage, we're now driving traffic, including any monocle-wearing cosmopolitans from Eastern states, directly at the apparent hayseed provincialism of the Fox 4 worldview. After the jump, some reassuring evidence of Kansas City's post-secondary education. Click here, or on this picture of Pretty Pony Phil Witt receiving his associate's degree in handsome HVAC:By ANDY VIHSTADT
Next week, Saul Williams’ Niggy Tardust will see a physical release. No longer free to download, the CD will come with a handful of extras, including the song from that recent Nike commercial (link) and the track below (courtesy of Pitchfork).
MP3: Saul Williams, “World on Wheels”, The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust! (Fader)
The coolest little ladies in Kansas City take the stage at the KCK Blues Festival.
By ALAN SCHERSTUHL
New and old liberal symbols?
Dear conservatives:
Nice to finally meet you. Long time, first time and all that. Recently, I've enjoyed your blog posts, reviews, and message board postings and editorials about how Wall-E is an anti-corporate, environmental polemic crafted by Hollywood elitists to indoctrinate our kids.
Like you, I don’t care for entertainment that gets too pushy with its political agenda-- Lord knows I'll never shove my way through a second Orson Scott Card novel. But, really, you're reaching here. The key “political” elements of Wall-E are so over-the-top satirical that they have little to do with the politics of 2008. Worse, when you assume that they do somehow reflect the current political garbagescape, you betray a self-image problem far more horrific than any binge-and-purger's.
Spoilers follow after the jump:
KCK Street Blues Festival
Date: June 27 & 28, 2008
Venue: Koran Temple parking lot
Better Than: A drunken evening at B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ
By LORNA PERRY
Click to view slideshow.
The 8th Almost Annual KCK Street Blues Festival got underway this weekend at the corner of 13th and State, in Kansas City, Kansas. Friday night featured Cadillac Flambé, Koolaide & Exact Change, Dan Bliss, Blue River Ordonnance with special guests Phil Sanders and Ernie Johnson and Millage Gilbert plus Tommy Soul. Friday’s attendance was hearty, but Saturday was the biggest draw – a sizeable crowd had settled in by the time the first event, a 12:30 panel discussion titled “KC Blues – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” with Jim O’Neal, Lindsay Shannon, Chuck Haddix, Groovy Grant and White Hat Mike Ross got underway. Throughout the large parking lot in front of the very tall stage, people had laid claim to asphalt, throwing down blankets, lawnchairs and coolers. Venders and their wares – be it BBQ, T-shirts, African Juices or the African American Democrat Caucus booth – were everywhere.
By JOHN KREICBERGS
Click photo to view slideshow.
There’s little doubt that “American Idol” is the best thing that could have ever happened to Kansas City’s annual Red, White & Boom extravaganza. Having pulled through a few awkward years (think “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “White Wedding” on the same bill), this homegrown event started to hit its stride during its tweens thanks to a parade of artists hand-picked by primetime hitmakers Randy, Paula and Simon and, in most cases, rejected en masse by an American voting public obviously more interested in minting popstars than presidents. Now officially entering its teens, Red, White & Boom is starting to express a unique sense of style and personality, much like the young girls and boys (but let’s face it -- mostly girls) that packed the recently rechristened Sandstone Amphitheatre this past Saturday.
Bolstered by incredible weather that produced more suntans and cool breezes than cases of heat stroke, the show opened with Drew 6, winners of 93.3’s Ultimate Band Search, followed by the Last Goodnight. By the time the venue started to fill with bedazzled teens sporting puffy painted t-shirts declaring “[insert heartthrob of the moment here] 4 EVAR!,” Ferras pulled up a keyboard centerstage and settled into a short set capped off by this past Idol season’s official sayonara song “Hollywood’s Not America.”
By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI
For a critically acclaimed movie about a hometown war veteran, "Body of War" didn't stick around long in Kansas City movie theaters. The Phil Donahue-directed documentary intimately details the life of Northland native Tomas Young, who was paralyzed from the chest down after serving just five days in Iraq and came home to become a tireless anti-war activist.
When the movie debuted earlier this year, even some of the most ardent local peace advocates missed its short run at the Tivoli. But the curiosity of nurses at St. Luke's Hospital has brought the film back to KC for a brief second run.
Aixois Brasserie celebrates first birthday in a spirited fashion
Boulevard and Sierra Nevada join forces for Terra Incognita, which hits shelves Wednesday
McDonald's sued by employee who wants a check, not a debit card
Jewish Family Services' food pantry now offers pet food
Kiss' Rock & Brews will 'Shout It Out Loud' in Overland Park in early 2014
Phoenix will headline Buzz Beach Ball in September
Infusions Grill & Bar wants you to spread 'em
Aaron Sanchez and John Besh to collaborate on a restaurant named Johnny Sanchez?