The Pitch, Pitch

Big Rip Brewing Co. opens to the world Sunday

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:04:00 -0500

The Big Rip Brewing Co. is set to let it rip Sunday. The two-man microbrewery in North Kansas City (216 East Ninth Avenue) will be serving up samples to the participants in the Tour de Brew bike race as part of the official open of their Tap Room.…

Indios Carbonsitos and the Hangover III and other weekend possibilities

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:30:37 -0500

Indios Carbonsitos, one of the city's original food trucks, is giving out free tortas on Saturday to help promote Hangover III. (The event kicks off at 10 a.m.; the free food starts at noon.)…

The Pitch's Taste of KC is ready for eaters this Sunday

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:38:00 -0500

Eat your way across Kansas City's culinary landscape at The Pitch's Taste of Kansas City 2013 this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the KC Live Block of the Power & Light District. The annual local food-and-drink sampling party includes more than 20 restaurants (Clark's, BRGR, Los Alamos, KC Smokeburger, Thai Orchid and Poco's among them) and beer from Sam Adams.…

The Humdinger: Stand in line to get in, baby

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:09:00 -0500

This hot afternoon called for a cold milkshake. Not one of those bland boring (and probably chemical-laden) shakes at one of the conglomerate fast-food restaurants, but something a little more eccentric.…

KC Pride Festival 2013? Yes, it's still on

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:00 -0500

In 1984, Kansas City's Gay Pride Festival was little more than a halfhearted little carnival set up in the parking lot behind the since-razed Dover Fox saloon, at 43rd Street and Main. Over the past 29 years, the event has gotten much bigger, much grander - with the occasional financial scandal here and there.…

Jim Gaffigan, Dad Is Fat author, on his way to our fat town

Scott Wilson — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:21:00 -0500

"People keep bringing up wistfulness," Jim Gaffigan says. We're on the phone, talking about Dad Is Fat, the comedian and actor's first book.…

Steve Earle to play Crossroads KC at Grinders

David Hudnall — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:08:43 -0500

The rootsy summer lineup at Crossroads KC at Grinders just got a bit rootsier: The venue announced today that Steve Earle will grace the stage on Tuesday, July 9. Tickets on sale tomorrow, May 17, at 10 a.m.

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Friends of KCI take another crack at stalling new KCI terminal

Steve Vockrodt — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:45:00 -0500

Friends of KCI just announced plans to start an initiative petition to prevent the advancement of a new airport terminal without the approval of voters.

"We do not need to spend $1.5 billion on a new airport," reads Friends of KCI's statement.…

S.D. Strong Distilling is likely the country's only distillery in a cave

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:30:50 -0500

While other suburban fathers in Parkville tend to their lawns on the weekends, Steve Strong is heading 65 feet below ground. The former rocker, most recently of Steve Strong and the Jackknife Truckers, and father of three has been toiling in the caves below Park University for the past two years.…

D'Bronx corned-beef sandwich is a deli stopgap

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:00:42 -0500

At d'Bronx (3904 Bell), I always walk in intending to get a grinder and I end up hearing myself order a slice of pizza and a chocolate-chip cookie (if they're recently out of the oven) before my brain can catch up with my mouth. But several weeks ago, armed with the mission of compiling a month's worth of sandwiches for this week's cover story, I was determined to walk away with a hoagie in hand.…

Tonight in Lawrence: Laura Stevenson at the Jackpot

David Hudnall — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:47:58 -0500

On her new record, Wheel, Laura Stevenson calls to mind Sharon Van Etten and Land of Talk's Elizabeth Powell - women singers who preside over expansive, soaring indie-rock songs. But I like Wheel better than anything those two have done, including, yes, Van Etten's Tramp.…

Watch Hospital Ships' kinda-gross new video for "Servants"

David Hudnall — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:44:00 -0500

In print this week, we chatted with Brad Shanks of Replay Records, and rounded up a few recent releases from the the Lawrence label. One of them was a split 7" with the Hips and Hospital Ships.…

Petro America: guilty verdicts all around

Steve Vockrodt — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:14:00 -0500

The jury in the Petro America case has returned guilty verdicts for all defendants in the Petro America trial.

The trial, which started April 17, went to the jury around noon Tuesday.…

Owen Hawkins tries to talk his way out of the Petro America mess

Steve Vockrodt — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:13:00 -0500

Paul Bax was asleep when he got the call. It was May 8, and he'd finished working his graveyard shift for the U.S. Postal Service.…

Darin Mason, convicted sex offender, found coaching basketball in Northland

Ben Palosaari — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:44:00 -0500

It's been a crappy spring for news about youth sports coaches. A few weeks back, soccer coach and popular party DJ Joel White was charged in federal court for allegedly taking nude photos of children.…

Wolfe-es has classic stick-to-your-ribs breakfast

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:10 -0500

You can blame brunch, but, at some point, breakfast got complicated. French toast got gussied up, pancakes have been stuffed beyond recognition and the cocktails seem to matter as much as the food.…

Investigation finds anonymous campaign against Linda Mau in Roeland Park doesn't violate state law

Steve Vockrodt — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:40:31 -0500

The Johnson County District Attorney can't make a legal case against an unsourced campaign mailer that took Roeland Park mayoral aspirant Linda Mau to task for codes violations and bounced checks.

The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday that the anti-Mau flier that went out to Roeland Park residents just before the April 2 general election did not violate Kansas campaign laws.…

Cody Rhodes keeps his family's tradition alive on WWE's Monday Night Raw

Justin Kendall — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 -0500

The Rhodes wrestling family has spilled a lot of blood in rings around the world, including Kansas City. Patriarch "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes was a champion in the 1960s, '70s and '80s (holding the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship in '68, and dropping the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair in September 1981 at Memorial Hall).…

The Pitch's Questionnaire with T2 creative director Travis Schlitter

Justin Kendall — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:00:00 -0500

Name: Travis Schlitter

Occupation: Creative director for the motion design and animation team at T2 Studios. If you're curious about what the hell that is, hit t2.tv.…

Tonight! Ra Ra Riot at, er, the Riot Room

David Hudnall — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:01:11 -0500

My experience with Ra Ra Riot is that each of the Brooklyn-via-Syracuse act's albums has one unstoppably addictive track - "Can You Tell" on the group's 2008 debut The Rhumb Line; "Boy" on 2010's The Orchard - surrounded by about nine inoffensive but forgettable chamber-pop songs. On this year's Beta Love, the group has largely ditched the cellos and violins for a synthier electro-pop sound.…

Hello Again turns love's wheel at Spinning Tree Theatre

Deborah Hirsch — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Deborah Hirsch When Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde debuted, around the turn of the 20th century, it was seen as so risqué — well, pornographic — that it went unproduced again for two decades. But yesterday's shock is today's prime time, and Michael John LaChiusa's 1993 musical adaptation, Hello Again, now appears no more barrier-breaking than your average HBO series.…

Replay Records' slow and steady approach to local vinyl

David Hudnall — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Singles are going steady at Replay Records. by David Hudnall The Replay Lounge is a Lawrence institution. Everyone knows this.…

Star Trek Into Darkness

Bilge Ebiri — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Bilge Ebiri Star Trek Into Darkness opens, in typical J.J. Abrams style, in medias res, with Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Bones McCoy (Karl Urban) running through a bright-red jungle, chased by natives covered in white war paint. Meanwhile, a volcano nearby is about to blow, and Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) races to stop it.…

Hot Club of Cowtown singer and violinist — and KC native — Elana James on her band's latest, Rendezvous in Rhythm

David Hudnall — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

We talk with Hot Club of Cowtown's Elana James: singer, fiddler, KC native. by David Hudnall "I think this creepy obsession with new, new, new, personal 'I wrote it' stuff is a kind of plague on American traditional music," Elana James tells The Pitch. "What's wrong with reinterpreting traditional melodies or, in our case, standards and traditional songs from the early part of the 20th century, in an absolutely current, sincere and thrilling way?"…

Mapping your favorite sandwiches

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Locating your favorite regional sandwiches - in KC. by Charles Ferruzza If Kansas City has a signature sandwich, it's surely beef brisket, thickly stacked on cheap, doughy white bread. But humankind cannot exist on barbecue alone — or Wonder bread, for that matter — and any city with cosmopolitan ambitions salutes sandwiches from different regions of the United States.…