The Pitch’s sister paper, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, shadowed the fag-hating flock of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church as they picketed the supposed sinners of an Opa-locka megachurch. Writer Brandon K. Thorp focuses on the vitriolic reactions the family elicits. Check it here. – Justin Kendall
Did anyone else see a connection between these two seemingly unrelated stories – from far opposite ends of town – in this morning’s Star?
The first was this one, about how the grand opening for downtown’s prefab new Power & Light District has been moved back to next spring. Developers blamed the city for not transferring land quickly enough to keep the development on time, while Mayor Mark Funkhouser and City Manager Wayne Cauthen sent letters to the tenants they’d already booked, begging them to open earlier. In any event, here’s the point: “Long-term plans for the district call for 450,000 square feet of bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and specialty retail that would bring sizzle back downtown. Blake Cordish, the official in charge, promised a grand opening this fall when his company took over construction of the public-private venture last July.”
The marketing team for Overland Park-based Sprint has a whole new attitude! By which I mean that they’re executing a carefully planned new digital consumer outreach strategy that somehow combines the Bratz-style bitchiness of Gawker.com with those toothless Coca-Cola slide shows that run before movies start (“Unscramble ARPIS HILTON! Name the movie in which Michael Keaton says, 'I’m Batman!'”)
The Ssion's* new video, for the song "ASAP," is a study in kitsch, weirdness, pop homoerotica, sports, disco violence, and the art of busting a move, and we at the Wayward Blog are pleased to present it for your viewing entertainment.
Jaimie Warren's dance solo at 4:13 will set your face on fire.
The Ssion on MySpace: www.myspace.com/ssion
The Ssion in our archives: go history
*Informed Kansas Citians already know that "Ssion" is pronounced like the second syllable in "passion."
Last Saturday night, Julianne Donovan and Nathan Wyman got married. Since both are creative, crafty types, I knew that their wedding would be pretty spectacular, and my suspicions were confirmed when I got the invitation. It encouraged guests to wear costumes and comfortable shoes for the after-ceremony parade, and it also included two tickets to the debut performance of Love Shall Endure, the play that they wrote and directed.
Menomena. Friday, June 22, at the Bottleneck
By Richard Gintowt
It's been awhile since I got really excited about a show. Maybe it's just bad luck, but most of the bands I've been digging lately -- Field Music, Crystal Skulls, Chromeo, Mice Parade, Rotary Downs, Voxtrot -- haven't ventured anywhere near the area. That's not to slight the fine folks bringing shows to Kansas City and Lawrence, but more and more it seems exceptional when I get amped up for a national act like Menomona.
Needless to say, I had high expectations for the Seattle band's show at the Bottleneck on Friday night. I've been digging the band's latest LP Friend and Foe, which reminds me of what Captain Beefheart would sound like if I actually liked Captain Beefheart. I was eager to see how the band's many nuances would translate live, and the multi-tasking trio proved to be up to the challenge.
Menomena wouldn't refuse a doggy a sandwich, nor Lawrence a good show. Photo by Pavlina.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Institute for Labor Studies is off the chopping block for now, according to a letter sent out Saturday by the institute's only staff member, Judy Ancel. Last Friday, UMKC Chancellor Guy Bailey decided not to immediately close the institute. Bailey changed his mind after a meeting with Gary Kemp, the Business Manager of the Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades Council, and Missouri State Sens. Victor Callahan and Chris Koster.
Check out her letter below.
Starbucks heard the “predator” taunts when it plopped a new store next to the Broadway Café in 1998. But the onslaught of green-aproned baristas hasn’t been all bad for independents. By ritualizing the consumption of fancy coffee drinks, Starbucks has made caffeine peddling an attractive business. As Starbucks boss Howard Schultz said on 60 Minutes, “[W]e created an industry that did not exist ... ”
A few places around town seem to support Schultz’s theory.
Yes, the episode is old – it first aired December 11, 2005. But a few nights ago, I caught the Aqua Teen Hunger Force spoof of Sprint’s Boost Mobile youth brand of cell phones. For those with lives, jobs and ambition, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a late-night cartoon about the misadventures of a floating box of French fries (Frylock), a rolling ball of meat (Meatwad) and a shit-talking milk shake (Master Shake).
FRIDAY
Giant celebrity funnyman and Bullwinkle impersonator Dave Coulier (pictured) performs his inimitable brand of Bullwinkle-imitation-based comedy tonight at Stanford and Son's (1867 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas) and will be, perhaps, the only man in the city limits who has been seen on television somewhere in the world every single day since, like, 1987. Go experience the cognitive dissonance that can come only from seeing in person a man doing a Bullwinkle impression who, previously, you had seen doing a Bullwinkle impression only on TV. Coulier takes the stage at 7:30 p.m.
WWE's Monday Night Raw returns to Kansas City October 14
Kansas City is not a top-five beer city
Potbelly Sandwich Shop opens June 4 on the Plaza
Voltaire - the saloon, not the philosopher - opens tonight
Why you shouldn't eat the snow cones at Minute Maid Park
Soundgarden's sludgy sound, last night at the Midland (review)
Kurt Vile headed to Lawrence in August
KCPD will breathalyze patrons at Tanner's tonight