By CHRIS RASMUSSEN
The Royals travel to Baltimore on Monday, where Wild Bill Hagy used to cheer for the Orioles in right field.
So would Hagy be encouraged to perform his antics at Kauffman Stadium today?
Not a chance.
By NADIA PFLAUM
Yesterday, I sat down with a candidate running for the 6th district Congressional seat whose
name isn’t Kay or Sam.Dave Browning is the Libertarian candidate for Congress. We meet in the back of Clint’s Comics at 39th and Main, where he’s part owner. He follows my eyes to a rack full of Playboy magazines from the ‘70s and ‘80s and laughs, “I wonder how many of those came from my collection.” He calls Clint’s “my only toehold in the city.” He lives in a rural town beyond Grain Valley and works as a divorce lawyer in Independence.
He’s an entertaining guy, full of stories about the radical founders of our country (did you know Andrew Jackson beat a would-be assassin with his cane on the White House steps?). He believes in a non-intervention policy on war, solid currency backed by gold or silver, free trade and strictly limited government. He and his fellow Libertarians would like to see the country run as it was in the good ol’ days – “good” according to them, at least -- when the Constitution was the only rule in town.
For this, he says, his Democrat and Republican friends think he’s one signature short of a complete Bill of Rights.
By JUSTIN KENDALL
The Kansas City Star’s David Boyce is the most uninformed NBA writer in the country. Boyce’s incompetence was clear Sunday when he unveiled his first mock draft. Boyce ignored nearly every prognosticator and projected the Chicago Bulls taking Kansas State forward Michael Beasley with the first pick. Sure, Beasley has a chance at being a 20 and 10 beast in the league, but Boyce ignored every sign that the Bulls weren’t digging the immature Beasley and wanted a kid who can become a leader -- Memphis point guard Derrick Rose. Note to Boyce: projecting picks isn’t about what you think a team should do, but what a team will do. Also, check out the heights and weights of the players. Beasley is not 6-foot-10. He measured in at 6-foot-7.
By ROY KASTEN
The glitter fell but doom never did. So much the better for this -- how else can it be put? -- historic Tom Waits show at the Fox Theatre. Not that Waits didn’t try to summon all the spirits in the boneyard at the end of the junkyard at the end of the world. The hall roared when he gave “What’s He Building In There?” all his crypto-voyeurism, but his greatness has nothing to do with channeling Vincent Price. And who cares who “Mr. Stitches” is anyway? One can only take so much persona.
Click the photo to view slideshow.
For all the prophecies of chaos and clusterfucks that heralded the anti-scalper gouge-fest that is the Tom Waits ticketing system, the Fox staff moved the sell-out crowd through the block-long lines on Grand like they knew what they were doing. To think I could I have driven to Memphis, chased some trucker speed with a half pint of bourbon, and made it back to St. Louis, stopping for all the coffee and cigarettes I could consume at every other truck stop along the way, for the same price as my VIP2 Row H ticket. I might have gotten some stories out of it, but none of them would have been history.
More after the jump.
By ANDY VIHSTADT
Only July 29, Thirsty Ear Records and the Future of Music Coalition will bring the subject of Net Neutrality to the forefront with the Rock the Net compilation. The album will feature new and exclusive cuts from artists like the Wrens, Portastatic, and They Might Be Giants. Where the proceeds go isn’t quite clear, but you can stream the entire thing right here.
By CHRIS PACKHAM
My house was confiscated by the Downtown Improvement District last Monday. It turns out that there's a little-known constitutional power laid out by America's powdered-wig-wearing founding fathers, which is known today as Tom Clancy's Right of Eminent Domain, because
The Man — as seen in country clubs and Republican Party fundraisers — can take what's yours Without Remorse via Executive Orders in the event of a Clear and Present Danger and just give it to somebody else. I'm a rebel, and I reject your precious rules, but that means nothing to a phalanx of armored lawyers backed up by teams of bulldozers that are already idling amid clouds of diesel exhaust.The state is required to pay fair market value for confiscated property, but last year I dumped some barrels of oil and various toxins on the lawn in order to get on that sweet, sweet Superfund Cleanup gravy train. So payment of "fair market value" turned out to be presenting me with an enormous bill for polluting what had just become the property of the city of Kansas City. Now that oil is up to $142 a barrel, I'm wishing I'd held on to a few of those barrels I dumped in the yard so I could sell them on eBay.
Now I'm trying to convince my girlfriend to buy a scooter, because gas prices are going to skyrocket, and also because I want to ride around on it when nobody's looking. After the jump, other embarrassing tips for surviving the coming economic collapse — click here, here or on this picture of Tom Joad wearing a fanny pack:
By JUSTIN KENDALL
A couple weekends ago, I stopped in the Plaza Barnes & Noble to buy The Great Derangement, the latest book by Rolling Stone political columnist Matt Taibbi. I found the book on display on the second floor, and when I flipped open the top copy, a neatly folded note fell out.
I naively looked around in the midst of a Neo moment. Delusions of grandeur -- and my self-centered nature -- made me believe the note was for me. I looked over my shoulder and sheepishly peeked at the flowery stationery.
Alas, I am not “The One.” The note was for a “very handsome” man who had “made eyes” with someone on the bookstore's second floor on May 25. Damn.
Click on the note for a readable version, Neo.
By Chris Rasmussen
At last, this is the time of the year for big men clad in big suits, David Stern naming names (um, not in that way), homoerotic scouting reports (Knicks GM Donnie Walsh described his draft pick as having “tremendous size” and an “unusual package” … and he’s normal compared to his predecessor) and awkward conversations between Stephen A. Smith and teenagers. (Worst. Dateline. NBC. EVER.)
Let’s look at the draft picks from the local area:
By CHRIS RASMUSSEN
Last week I wrote about Royals' fans delusional belief that the Cardinals are our rivals. Here's a concurring a post from the talented Andrea Reiher, who blogs for Bugs and Cranks, Zap2It and Ladies... After the jump, she provides the Cardinal fan's perspective on the I-70 Series.
By C.J. JANOVY
During a political summer leading up to a Democratic National Convention starring a charismatic young newcomer, it’s no surprise that a book about Bobby Kennedy’s short-lived 1968 presidential campaign is climbing the bestseller lists. Others might be interested in Thurston Clarke’s The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America because Barack Obama reminds them of Bobby Kennedy. But for those who live around here – and those of us too young to remember – what’s striking about Clarke’s book is realizing that Kennedy’s historic campaign kicked off in Kansas.
A nervous and hesitant Kennedy, not known for his public speaking skills, flew into Kansas City’s downtown airport on March 17, 1968. He continued to Kansas State University, where he’d already been booked to give a lecture. That speech, which Kennedy titled “Conflict in Vietnam and at Home,” changed everything.
The Gaf has closed in Waldo
Pitch Taste of KC beats the weather, draws 700 hungry people
Giovanni's Deli goes big in the Northland
Insane Clown Posse fans will be chugging Faygo in Lawrence tonight
Boulevard's Saison-Brett hits store shelves and taps Tuesday
Kanrocksas single-day tickets now on sale
Big Rip Brewing Co. opens to the world Sunday
KC Pride Festival 2013? Yes, it's still on