Every year, The Advocate magazine gives props to the "activists, artists and other stand-outs" who are advancing the gay rights movement around the globe. Last week, the magazine released this year's "Forty Under 40" list.
It isn't exactly dominated by the ladies. In 2009, just 10 of the 40 were women. This year, there are only 13.
Missouri state Sen. Jolie Justus is one of them.
Elected in 2006, the Kansas City Democrat was the state's first openly gay senator -- and she's got some hilarious stories about her initial interactions with her more rural and conservative colleagues to prove it.
The world is learning what Kansas City already knows: Boulevard is good enough to win gold. The brewery's Pilsner took gold in the American-Style Specialty Lager Category at the 2010 World Beer Cup.
"We're still soaking it in -- this is our first win," says Jeremy Ragonese, Boulevard's director of marketing.
The World Beer Cup is the largest beer competition in the world. This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries submitted 3,330 beers in 90 categories. The beers are judged on taste, aroma, appearance and whether they are reflective of a particular style. Boulevard submitted 13 different styles of beer, and the judging took place in Chicago on April 6 and 7.
"This is the Olympics of beer, and it's a huge thing for a craft beer to win in the category that we won," says Ragonese.
The Pilsner was placed in a category with 18 other entries, which included ice beers and malt liquor. The silver went to Mickey's Malt Liquor and the bronze went to Colt 45. It's a category not typically won by craft brewers because lagers have long been the bread and butter of the major brewers in America -- Mickey's is made by Miller and Colt 45 is from Pabst.
"This beer was 14 years in the making," Ragonese says, "and I think this win validates the brewer's devotion to producing a Pilsner."
| It's got ingredients, all right |
When a singer with a distinctive voice starts a new band, trying to place that voice in a new context can be a difficult task. Such is the case with former Danger Bob frontman Karl Michelbach and his new band, the Table of Contents.
It doesn't help matters that Unravel & Return gets off to a rocky start. Everything -- bass, guitar, drums, vocals -- all seem just ever so slightly off kilter on album opener "Lyre of Orpheus," and it was difficult to keep going. As I went through the album on first listen, I wasn't sure as to what I thought, but then I found myself quietly singing the chorus to "A Certain Grace" to myself as I chopped onions for dinner. It's the little details, like that song's catchy lyrics ("It doesn't happen overnight/It takes time to put things right") or the keyboard flourishes on "Look Away," that come out of the speakers with an ear-grabbing hook.
I can only compare it to listening to Piebald: the vocals aren't quite on key, and the band's pretty rough, but somehow, you find yourself repeatedly coming back to the recordings. Despite a difficult and rocky start to Unravel & Return, the Table of Contents have some hooky indie pop that rewards further listens.
Yesterday, we spent some time with Kansas City tastemaker Jason Burton, the product designer cum brand manager behind Lab 5702, which provides beverage consultation, package design and flavoring advice for individuals and corporations around the country. Today, we ask him five basic questions.
If you were out drinking, where would you most likely be found?
Extra Virgin. I'd be trying whatever is their newest cocktail on the menu.
Burton supplied the follow-up question: But where would I like to be drinking?
R Bar. It's got this great funk to it. I enjoy the culture and the cocktails, but I just don't get down there [the West Bottoms] as much as I want to.
A year ago, Shomari Benton and David Lloyd were fresh out of law school and grinding away their days at one of the largest corporate law firms in Kansas City -- and looking damn good doing it.They each got ribbed by other lawyers at the firm for their always-crisp attire -- three piece suits, pocket squares, the works. Both were frustrated that the only time they could shop for clothes that matched their style was when they traveled outside of Kansas City.
Lloyd and Benton hatched a plan to open a menswear store. Today at 4 p.m., the Downtown Council is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the brick-and-mortar reality of Benton and Lloyd's dream: Method, their new store at 1529 Grand.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Pink Floyd's , The Wall, a work of epic bombast, and the definitive concept album. As anyone who's ever smoked dope or dropped acid can tell you, it's also a classic piece of psychedelic head-fuckery.
Floyd frontman Roger Waters brings "a monumental tour featuring a full band and a newly-mounted state-of-the-art production of his epochal masterpiece of alienation and transformation performed in its entirety" to Kansas City and the Sprint Center on October 30. Tickets will probably be priced in the "former hippie who 'bought in'" price range, meaning floor seats will probably cost the equivalent of a new set of tires when they go on sale Monday, May 10.
(Courtesy Marketwatch)
The candidate with the most potent sperm won't be getting an endorsement from Operation Rescue.
The anti-abortion group is calling for Rob Wasinger to drop out of the race for Jerry Moran's soon-to-be-vacant Congressional seat.
Wasinger, a father of nine, would seem to be the ideal poster candidate for a pro-life group. But even though Wasinger isn't shooting blanks in the bedroom, he is at the polls and those numbers are scaring the Jeebus out of Operation Rescue's Troy Newman.
Alexander Abnos, the leader and frontman of the indie-electro collective Tut Tut, is a busy guy.
He just got his solo project featured in this week's Pitch, and now, his other project, Secret Cities (formerly known as White Foliage) just got plugged by Stereogum as a "Band to Watch." Clearly, the dude's doing something right. Here's what Stereogum had to say:
The band's twisting kaleidoscope of crystalline psychedelia, chirpy folk, dark baroque pop, and bare emotions comes lined with male/female vocal harmonies, guitars, percussion, piano, loops, field recordings, viola, violin, fuzzed-out whistling, ambient hiss, trumpets, etc. The results are non-linear and mysterious, but intimate and immediately likable. The Antlers in a blender? A chillier Grizzly Bear brought up on the Unites States Of America ('60s band, not present place)? Or, in a track like "Slacker," you hear Sufjan Stevens in the pulsing, cascading choirs. The Wilson theme comes through clearly on standout "Boyfriends." As does their knack for melancholic, uplifting hooks. (Note they do have smiles on their faces.)
Grizzly Bear, the Antlers and Sufjan Stevens: those are some pretty potent comparisons. Well done, guys! You can check out Secret Cities in Kansas City on June 29, when they stop by Record Bar.
| Julie Le's spring rolls are a Le Monde tradition |
I had been craving the Cafe's spring rolls and made the mistake of stopping in on a Tuesday, forgetting that Le Monde only offers the freshly made spring rolls on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. That's when Julie Le, the wife of Le Monde's head baker Houng Le, prepares the soft, fat rolls and the homemade peanut sauce served with them.
Le Monde's Glenn Reynolds says that the spring rolls -- three for $5.45 -- are so popular that they frequently sell out early. There's nothing like an order of the rolls with a gorgeous piece of Houng Le's apple strudel. I wonder if the strudel planned for the new Grunauer Restaurant in the Freighthouse will be anywhere near as delectable?
Soundgarden's sludgy sound, last night at The Midland (review)
Potbelly Sandwich Shop opens June 4 on the Plaza
KCPD will breathalyze patrons at Tanner's tonight
Kansas City is not a top-five beer city
Why you shouldn't eat the snow cones at Minute Maid Park
So is Kansas City International a convenient airport or not?
Kurt Vile headed to Lawrence in August
Homer's Drive-In: the oldest drive-through in the metro