The Pitch: December 5, 2013

December 5–11, 2013 | free | Vol. 33 No. 23 | pitch.com

december 5–11, 2013 | Vol. 33 no. 23 E d i t o r i a l

the u s u ry s u s pects

Editor Scott Wilson Managing Editor Justin Kendall Music Editor Natalie Gallagher Staff Writers Charles Ferruzza, David Hudnall, Steve Vockrodt Editorial Operations Manager Deborah Hirsch Events Editor Berry Anderson Proofreader Brent Shepherd Contributing Writers Tracy Abeln, Jonathan Bender, Liz Cook, Adrianne DeWeese, April Fleming, Larry Kopitnik, Angela Lutz, Dan Lybarger, Jessica Marshall, Nancy Hull Rigdon, Dan Savage

How Kansas City’s wealthiest neighborhoods became a shadowy nexus of predatory online lending b y dav i d h u d n a l l

a r t

Art Director Ashford Stamper Contributing Photographers Angela C. Bond, Barrett Emke, Chris Mullins, Lauren Phillips, Sabrina Staires, Brooke Vandever Intern Christina Larkins

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BOB DUTTON, Royals beat reporter, is leaving the Star.

Celina Tio opens THE BELFRY December 16.

Mizzou’s athletic department should continue to EJECT THE ANTLERS from games for as long as they act like terrible people.

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THE PITCH

2

Questionnaire

Davyeon Ross anD BRuce IannI

Co-founders of ShotTracker

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What I do (in 140 characters) Ross: Entrepreneur. Every day brings an

opportunity to be creative, innovate and solve complex problems.

Ianni: I date my wife, Maria; do Crossfit at Boot Camp Fitness at 6 a.m. M-F (when I am in town); help coach my son’s fifth grade St. Ann football team and his twin sister’s basketball team.

What’s your game?

Ross: Hoops and 7 a.m. standing tee times

on Saturday mornings with my boys.

Ianni: Basketball

What’s your drink?

Ross: Macallan 12 or 18 Ianni: Half a beer Where’s dinner?

Ross: Capital Grille, Kona Grill or Nick and Jake’s, depending on how I’m feeling.

Ianni: If it’s not my wife’s amazing cooking,

then it’s Il Centro.

Finish this sentence: “Kansas City got it right when …”

Ross: Building Sprint Center. More than

an iconic structure, it represents the best Kansas City has to offer: diversity, entertainment, sports and economic opportunity.

Ianni: Google Fiber came to town.

“Kansas City screwed up when …”

Ross: The Kansas City Kings of the NBA

bolted for greener pastures. We lost a bit of luster as a “major league” city.

Ianni: The city became so segregated.

Cleveland is my hometown, and it’s one of the most integ rated cities in the country.

“Kansas City needs …”

Ross: Swagger — and to own it.

Ianni: Google Fiber for business.

“In five years, I’ll be …”

Ross: Coaching my kids’ basketball team,

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What’s your addiction?

Ross: Basketball, golf and tech Ianni: Carbohydrates

from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

practicing father-daughter routines and steps for dance recitals — and semiretired.

Ianni: Smarter, stronger, wiser, kinder and more loving.

“I’ve been known to binge-watch …”

Ross: Suits, Law & Order, Covert Affairs and the Golf Channel.

Ianni: Homeland and 24.

“I can’t stop listening to …”

Ross: Dancehall, hip-hop and Lionel Richie

(reluctantly).

Ianni: Prince.

“I just read …”

Ross: The Sports Gene and Venture Deals.

Ianni: Venture Deals by Brad Feld. It’s a must-

read for every entrepreneur looking to raise capital.

What’s the best advice you ever got?

Ross: You can’t score if you don’t shoot.

Ianni: Was from my dad, “Easy work, hard results. Hard work, easy results!”

My sidekick?

Ross: Shani, Beckham and Tatum Ianni: My son, Mack, and daughters, Isabelle

and Matia. They are so cool, and I love them so much.

My dating triumph/tragedy?

Ross: My dating triumph resulted in the birth

of two amazing, wonderful souls, Beckham

Ianni (left) and Ross and Tatum. I’m proud to be their daddy.

Ianni: Maria Brazil, who is now Maria Ianni.

Smart. Hot. Kind. Loving. Faith-filled. Supportive. Heaven sent! Anybody who knows her knows what I am talking about.

Your brush with fame?

Ross: Leading the NAIA in field-goal percentage in 2000.

Ianni: When I was 8 years old, I found a bur-

ied treasure in my backyard!

What was the last thing you had to apologize for?

Ross: In 2012, I vowed to put up Christmas

lights before Thanksgiving.

Ianni: Telling my son, Mack, to stop being an ass. That really hurt his feelings.

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Who’s sorry now?

Ross: I’m sorry and will be freezing my ass

off this weekend so I can keep my word.

Ianni: I still am. Mack is only 10.

A recent triumph?

Ross: Launching ShotTracker.

Ianni: Jumping off the cliff again to start ShotTracker.

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3

news

Reading the SymptomS W

as a staff member at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, Missouri, trying to kill sick people?

That’s the question that former Hedrick emergency-room physician Cal Greenlaw faced the evening of February 18, 2002, as he attempted to save the life of a patient. Greenlaw could find no good explanation for the cardiovascular collapse and bizarre blood-sugar levels that he was trying to treat. Then a nurse in the hospital’s intensive-care unit told him that two other patients prior to that night had displayed similar puzzling symptoms.

Greenlaw concluded that someone working at the hospital had given fatal drug doses to patients, and he shared his concern at a March 12, 2002, meeting with administrators.

Minutes from that meeting indicate that the doctor told his bosses that someone on staff was “attempting to kill and sometimes succeeding in killing patients.”

Greenlaw would later say in an affidavit that, after the meeting wrapped up, he heard the hospital’s nursing director, Julie Jones, say, “We don’t have a problem here, and if anyone breathes a word of this, you’ll be fired.”

Unsatisfied with the hospital’s response, Greenlaw went to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities there suggested that the hospital install video-surveillance equipment in the respiratory therapists’ locker area — a seemingly simple task, given that the hospital was undergoing renovations at the time.

Later that March, Greenlaw met with Jim Johnson, Hedrick Medical Center’s CEO, and said he suspected a specific nurse of killing patients at the hospital.

“No, we don’t have a problem,” Johnson said, according to Greenlaw’s account of the conversation. “We can’t let this get out, or it will affect our admissions.”

Greenlaw recommended that the hospital form a committee to review the deaths, and he

A lawsuit charging that a therapist killed

By

patients in a Chillicothe hospital can go forward.

S t e v e v ock rod t

passed along the sheriff’s suggestion about the surveillance equipment. Johnson blew off both recommendations, according to Greenlaw.

The doctor’s account is contained in a November 26 Missouri Court of Appeals decision regarding five wrongful-death lawsuits against Hedrick Medical Center and its owner, St. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City.

The lawsuit contends that nine people died under suspicious circumstances at Hedrick Medical Center between February 3 and May 18, 2002. Each of the nine died while a respiratory therapist named Jennifer Hall was working, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuits claimed that Hall systematically killed patients at the hospital by administering fatal doses of insulin and a drug called succinylcholine, a muscle relaxant normally used to calm respiratory muscles to ease the insertion of a breathing tube down a patient’s throat. An overdose of that drug paralyzes a patient’s breathing muscles, leading to slow suffocation and death.

Hall, who lives in the Kansas City area, has never been charged with a crime and is not named as a defendant in any of the civil lawsuits.

J. Kent Emison, a Lexington, Missouri, lawyer who represents the family of one of the victims, declined to discuss why he didn’t name Hall as a defendant. Hall’s attorney, Matt O’Connor, says his client had no involvement in any of the mysterious deaths at Hedrick Medical Center.

“Clearly, there is no proof that Ms. Hall was involved,” O’Connor tells The Pitch.

O’Connor adds that he is not aware of any criminal investigation that targets his client, and says she has never been deposed in civil proceedings.

“It’s really concerning,” O’Connor says.

“Can you imagine? You’re a person who has done nothing wrong, who has not been named

in the lawsuit, to have your name bandied about in such a horrific way?”

Hall was suspended and then fired from Hedrick Medical Center in May 2002, two days after the last of the nine deaths mentioned in the lawsuit occurred there. No other suspicious deaths were reported at the hospital following her departure, according to the appeals court decision.

The lawsuit on behalf of the deceased patients takes aim at the hospital and its owner for, it contends, trying to cover up the possibility that one of its staffers had deliberately killed them. Specifically, the lawsuit contends that the hospital executives told employees to bury information regarding Hall, avoided autopsies on the victims, told employees to tell victims’ families that the causes of death were natural, shut down the hospital’s peer-review committee, and failed to investigate Hall when local law enforcement requested it.

Through a lawyer, Hedrick Medical Center and St. Luke’s Health System denied the lawsuit’s claims. The appeals court overturned a Livingston County court’s ruling that the statute of limitations for the plaintiffs to file a lawsuit had expired.

“I can tell you my client definitely disputes

all the allegations in this pleading,” says Chris Schnieders, an associate with Kansas City law firm Wagstaff & Cartmell, who represents the hospital along with firm co-founder Tom Wagstaff. Schnieders has declined to discuss the specifics of the case but says his client plans to appeal the November ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court.

St. Luke’s Health System, which bought Hedrick Medical Center in 2003, believes that the Missouri Supreme Court will reverse the appellate court decision.

“More importantly, we passionately defend the actions of the hospital and the forthright manner in which this case has been handled,” St. Luke’s spokeswoman Rebecca Sesler writes in an e-mail statement to The Pitch. “We care deeply for the communities and patients we serve and consider it a privilege to partner with them in their care.”

More than 11 years after the deaths, authorities in Chillicothe and Livingston County are still investigating.

“There’s stuff going on with that,” says Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox. “I really can’t comment on it.”

Adam Warren, the Livingston County prosecutor, told the St. Joseph News-Press in 2012 that he had asked the Chillicothe Police Department to take another look at the case, based on information he had received from the civil cases and Livingston County’s coroner, Scott Lindley.

That same article describes the difficulty of proving intentional succinylcholine poisoning, in part because the body metabolizes the drug so quickly that little trace remains.

Lindley confirms that an investigation is ongoing but won’t discuss the case in detail.

“There are other offices that are involved in it, obviously,” Lindley tells The Pitch.

E-mail steve.vockrodt@pitch.com

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Usury Suspects

How Kansas City’s wealthiest enclaves became a shadowy nexus of predatory online lending | By David Hudnall

T

he new money started announcing itself at St. Ann sometime around 2008.

“It was most obvious at the school auctions,” says one member of the Prairie Village Catholic church. (Like many people interviewed for this story, this source did not want to be identified by name.) “You’d see these cliques of people pulling up in limos, acting wild, dropping a lot of money on exotic two-week vacations and the other lavish items up for bidding. Or all of a sudden so-and-so has a brand-new Range Rover. Or so-and-so family is moving into some giant Mission Hills mansion. And you see it enough times and you start to go, ‘Where is this money coming from?’

“And on one hand, it’s St. Ann — this is a school and a church that serves Mission Hills and Prairie Village,” the member continues.

“You expect to see nice cars in the parking lot. But there was something so sudden and loud about this. It was this bizarre explosion of really extreme wealth.”

Word trickled out: Some members of the church had become mixed up in the online payday-loan industry.

Payday lenders advertise their loans as short-term, emergency solutions. But every credible study of the industry has found that the high interest rates and fees these outfits charge are designed to turn the loans into longterm debt burdens on the borrowers. These parishioners were involved in various business interests that enjoy astronomical profits by lending to borrowers at interest rates that commonly reach unholy heights of 700 percent.

St. Ann’s pastor, the Rev. Keith Lunsford, joined the parish in 2009, after replacing Monsignor Vincent Krische, who retired. “I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of anybody at St. Ann involved in the payday-loan industry,” Lunsford tells The Pitch.

But according to a number of people The Pitch contacted for this story, the presence of families who have amassed tremendous wealth through their involvement in online payday lending was, and continues to be, a taboo topic and a source of tension in the parish.

“It presented a moral conundrum for St. Ann,” says a different parishioner. “Because there was all this money coming into the church through donations and through the

auctions and, I mean, it was huge money. And gradually everybody realized that it was money that, if you trace it back to its root, came from poor people who were being taken advantage of, who were being charged crazy interest rates.

So there were a lot of behind-closed-doors, hushed-tones conversations happening about it. People on the finance committee and the school board were talking about the morality of taking that money. But in the end, I think they just looked the other way.” (Last year, the church reached an $8 million capital campaign goal to fund extensive renovations. It does not disclose specific donations.)

St. Ann is not the only Catholic church in the Kansas City area whose members are whispering about usury. Go to Sunday Mass at Visitation Parish, just south of the Plaza, and you’re likely to see a few individuals who bought their Ward Parkway mansions with money earned through charging the welfare class massive interest rates on short-term loans.

Regarding the church’s position on payday lending, the Rev. Patrick Rush, pastor at Visitation, notes the lack of specificity in the Bible as to what would constitute usury in modern times. “I think in today’s world, you would have to make the judgment of what constitutes a legitimate interest rate versus what constitutes an exorbitant interest rate,” he says.

Where does 700 percent fall in that judgment?

“I would say that’s an exorbitant interest rate,” Rush says.

R

ush acknowledges knowing of at least one member of Visitation engaged in the online payday-lending business. But he says his role as pastor is not to pry into his congregants’ business ventures.

“What I do is put out the religious principles of our Catholic community,” he says. “I preach justice; and in justice, I preach business ethics; and in business ethics, I preach not victimizing people. Our members live their own lives and can make their own decisions and compromises about that.”

Over on the East Side of town, at St. Therese Little Flower, the Rev. Ernie Davis has less reason to be diplomatic.

“We’ve seen members of our parish who lost their homes through the snowball effect of payday lending,” Davis says. “It has absolutely ravaged the lives of people in our parish.

“There’s no justification for it [payday lending] in the faith we share,” Davis continues. “Anything that oppresses the poor is condemned in both Jewish and Christian Scriptures. People have a sense of what is right and fair, whether it’s through Scripture or through their hearts. And charging especially poor people hundreds of percent in interest is oppressive.”

Payday money has also migrated into local law firms and investment firms seeking the legal fees and hefty dividends that the industry generates. That many of the area’s millionaires are profiting from payday lending — either directly (through operating lending businesses or lead-generating businesses) or indirectly (through investing in funds that finance those businesses) — is an uncomfortable open secret among Kansas City’s financial elite.

The industry has its defenders, who will tell you that payday loans provide a service that banks do not. They will tell you that, for people who need cash in a hurry, a payday loan is the best option. They will point out that such loans offer desperate borrowers something better than bank overdraft fees.

What they don’t defend — what they cannot defend — are payday loans’ interest rates. At a time when states are capping lending rates at highs of about 36 percent, payday lenders often assess 20 times that much against vulnerable consumers. It’s easy for them to do, in part because they never see the borrowers. Their extortion starts behind Indian tribes and layers of generically named shell companies, and it thrives in the murky abyss of the Internet.

This is an industry that has enriched itself by preying on the least fortunate members of society. And Kansas City is, in many ways, its home base.

T

he Online Lenders Alliance is a Washington, D.C., lobbying group for the paydayloan industry online. It was founded by a Kansas City native — Mark Curry, who has been involved with multiple payday-loan-

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related businesses registered in Kansas, Missouri, Nevada and other states — and its list of donors for the year 2013 includes a high number of people with Kansas City–area addresses.

You will not find the name Scott Tucker on that list. But the story of how predatory online lending exploded in Kansas City begins with Tucker.

Because he was the subject of a piercing 2011 investigative report by CBS and iWatch News, Tucker is one of the few known quantities in the world of online lending. Today, Tucker, 51, is a race-car driver. He has competed in the American Le Mans Series with the team he owns, Level 5 Motorsports. But his racing hobby is bankrolled by the money he has made through his payday-loan businesses.

Tucker grew up in Kansas City and attended Rockhurst High School, graduating in 1980.

(He donated between $15,000 and $49,999 to the Jesuit school in 2011, according to the 2012 President’s Report.) He later attended Kansas State University. When he was 26, Tucker was popped on charges of mail fraud relating to a loan scheme he and a friend cooked up. Tucker presented himself as an executive of a fake investment firm called Chase, Morgan, Stearns and Lloyd, and duped at least 15 investors to the tune of $100,000. Tucker was sentenced to a year in Leavenworth. He was released in 1992. Shortly thereafter, he began operating a brick-and-mortar payday-lending location.

In 1997, Tucker hooked up with a Philadelphia businessman named Charles Hallinan, who was also involved in some payday-loan businesses. Together, they founded a paydaylending company called National Money Service, with Hallinan providing NMS’s initial $500,000 line of credit. Tucker was president; Tucker’s brother Blaine Tucker was vice president.

Despite the fact that a condition of the agreement with Hallinan was that the Tuckers could not start any businesses that would compete with NMS or Hallinan’s entities, Tucker started CLK Management in 2001.

Over the next five years, Tucker, through CLK, is believed to have pioneered many of the shadowy hallmarks that now define the online payday-loan industry, such as constructing byzantine trails of front continued on page 9 december 5 -11, 2013

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The Usury Suspects continued from page 7 companies and merging with Indian tribes to provide his businesses with regulatory immunity. (Only the federal government can sue businesses on tribal lands. That makes it difficult for states to prosecute Tucker when his companies lend at interest rates surpassing the caps they have in place.)

William James, a former collection agent employed by CLK, gave an affidavit in 2008 stating that despite CLK’s “official” tribal address, he went to work every day at an office in Overland Park that served as the company’s actual headquarters. There was nothing to suggest that CLK was owned by an Indian tribe, he said. He also told lawyers about the bottomless complexity of CLK’s corporate structure.

“In addition to owning One Click Cash, CLK also owned or was affiliated with … Ameriloan, US Fast Cash, United Cash Loans, Preferred Cash Loans, and Internet Cash Advance Marketing,” James stated. “I understand that there are at least 500 Internet-based payday-lending companies that are currently affiliated with one of the five companies mentioned above owned by CLK.” The affidavit sheds light on the company’s lending practices as well.

“I often saw a customer loan of $300 turn into a $900 debt in a very short period of time, due to interest, rollover and late fees,” James said. One month, James stated, he brought in $52,000 in collections. He estimated that 60 percent of that figure came from the principal of the borrowers’ loans, and that the rest came from interest, rollover and late fees.

So hidden and shielded was Tucker that it was not until 2005 that any state authorities even learned his name. Tucker had gone so far as to hire someone to pose as the CEO of his business interests and register his shell companies. (This practice is, rather remarkably, legal in the state of Nevada.) Tucker’s identity came to light only after the impostor was subpoenaed by the Colorado attorney general.

In 2009, Hallinan filed a lawsuit against Tucker after discovering that Tucker had not only started dozens of payday-loan businesses on the side but also transferred assets out of NMS and into Tucker’s new businesses.

(It was settled out of court.) Among other things, it revealed the nature of the relationships between Tucker’s businesses and the Indian tribes — namely, that he was paying the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma between just 1 and 2 percent of the revenues of his companies in exchange for renting their name and land for regulatory purposes.

“It’s the worst deal Native Americans have made since they sold the island of Manhattan for a bag of beads,” says Jeffrey Wilens, a California lawyer who has brought a class-action suit against a group of payday-loan companies, including the Tucker-affiliated AMG Services.

“Tucker is taking advantage of these tribes and skimming all the profits for himself to support his racing career and his lavish lifestyle.”

(In addition to his Leawood residence, Tucker Scott Tucker keeps outrunning regulators. owns an $8 million vacation home in Aspen the highest-selling item: a weekend getaway and a private jet.) featuring a private jet to a pied-à-terre in ManIn 2012, the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Tucker and AMG Services, alleg- hattan’s Art District, for $35,000.

Joel Tucker’s money comes from a paydaying that the company threatened consumers related company he started in 2002 that at the over the phone while trying to collect debts. time was called Bahamas Marketing Group. In The two parties reached a partial settlement January 2008, he changed the name to BMG this past July.

“The agreement bars the settling defen- Solutions. Then he changed it again in Sepdants from using threats of arrest and law- tember 2008, to eData Solutions. Presumably, suits as a tactic for collecting debts, and from these tweaks were precipitated by Bahamas and BMG acquiring a reputation, on message requiring all borrowers to agree in advance boards and online forums, for harassing borto electronic withdrawals from their bank accounts as a condition of obtaining credit,” rowers. This post, from a debt-consolidation according to an FTC release. “The FTC contin- forum in 2009, is consistent with other cries ues to litigate other charges against the AMG for help that you can find by simply searching defendants, including allegations that they de- “Bahamas Marketing” online: “These people are conceived consumers about the tacting me about a payment cost of their loans by charg“Tucker is taking I have already made back in ing undisclosed charges and advantage of these tribes 2007, they are threatening inflated fees.” to have me arrested and Meanwhile, Tucker conand skimming all the have an investigator sent to tinues to f ly around the profits for himself to my place of work. … Should world racing cars, enjoying support his racing career I pay? What should I do? I low-level fame competing have proof of this payment… in a sport he bought himself and his lavish lifestyle.”

I’m scared… PLEASE HELP!” into. A spread in KC magaIn an executive summary zine last year featured two photos of Tucker, one of him in full gear be- from early 2011 obtained by The Pitch, eData Solutions calls itself a “technology-based market hind the wheel of a race car, and another of him modeling a stylish cocktail-hour outfit. facilitator for online consumer finance.” The document reveals that eData Solutions does “Scott Tucker — Kansas City Celebrity and just about everything related to online lending Auto Racing Genius,” the headline reads. except actually lending money.

Say you need a quick loan. You type “fast cott is not the only Tucker to get the rich- loan online kansas city” into Google and click person treatment by KC magazine. Home- on one of the sites that pops up. There’s a good Design, a specialty imprint of KC, featured an chance that the site is not an actual lender but instead is a middleman of sorts that processes interior-design spread of the mansion of his younger brother, Joel, in its September 2009 your information, evaluates your credit in a matter of seconds, and creates a profile for issue. At the time, Joel and his wife, Stacy, lived in Mission Hills and were St. Ann mem- you. This software — eData Solutions’ version is called iLead — then auctions off your profile bers. Joel Tucker has since moved to Boulder, to companies that do the lending.

Colorado, according to the address listed on The executive summary also notes that his 2012 political contributions. Last year, at an auction benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs 85 percent of loans processed by eData Soluof Metro Denver, Joel Tucker went home with tions are generated through internal leads.

S

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Critics of the online-lending industry view lead generators as problematic because they stifle accountability by creating an extra layer between borrower and lender. There also are reports of lead generators reselling borrowers’ information multiple times. That’s why you sometimes hear about people taking out loans online and then being barraged by calls from offshore data centers.

“These websites mask the true identity of the lender so it is harder to track down and prosecute deceptive lenders,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) said of lead generators in 2012.

In addition to processing leads, eData Solutions has made money through other Web products on its electronic platform: iACH, which processes transactions between consumers’ bank accounts and lenders, and iCollect, which purchases defaulted loans from eData’s customers for third-party resale to debt-collection agencies (for a fraction of the loan balance).

“What happened in California in 1849?” says Pete Smith, a McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan attorney representing eData Solutions. “There was a gold rush. That’s what happened some years back with the payday industry. Everybody wanted in on the money.

But eData isn’t one of the companies doing the digging. It’s more like selling picks and shovels to the people digging.”

Offering such mining accessories can be quite lucrative in the era of Web-based microloans. According to documents obtained by The Pitch, eData Solutions grossed $30 million in 2007, $37 million in 2008, $38 million in 2009, and $54 million in 2010. The company reported a net income of $26 million in 2010.

That’s after it paid salaries and benefits totaling $3 million to a measly 16 employees.

At the time, Joel Tucker owned 70 percent of eData Solutions. That means he cleared roughly $18 million in 2010 — more than the individual incomes of the CEOs of Halliburton, Yahoo and Lockheed Martin that year.

Joel Tucker borrowed a page from his brother’s book and sold eData Solutions to the Wyandotte Nation tribe in Oklahoma in 2012. Its new president, Doug Spangler, says Joel Tucker no longer has a management role at the company.

“We’re not in the payday-lending industry,” says Spangler, who previously served eight years in the Kansas House. “We’re a computer software company. We provide services to people in the financial-services business.”

But Spangler also speaks the language of online lending rather fluently, demonstrating awareness of trends in the industry and familiarity with its major players.

“The biggest payday operators in the country are in Kansas City,” Spangler says. “It’s a mecca for the industry.”

T

he ownership structure of eData Solutions that was in place in 2011 indicates that 17 percent of the company continued on page 11

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drunk nature of the online lending business.

So do a few other local investment offerings continued from page 9 that The Pitch has obtained.

Ward Parkway Capital is an LLC formed belonged to Spectrum Business Ventures, a private investment firm headquartered on the in February 2012 by Kansas Citians Michael Sinatra and Jim Gamble. Sinatra is a principal Country Club Plaza. (Spectrum Business Venat local consulting firm Chadwick Partners; tures also owned 100 percent of eDat Holdhe previously owned a limousine company in opp, a Missouri limited liability corporation town and served as a VP at UMB Bank. Earlier used in eData Solutions’ puzzlingly complex this year, Sinatra was named one of Ingram’s business structure.) magazine’s “40 under 40.” Gamble is a realAmit Raizada is listed as president and secretary of Spectrum Business Ventures on all estate agent with Reece & Nichols.

In Ward Parkway Capital’s offering, it the company’s filings since 2005. Raizada also signs as both manager of eData Solutions and sought $5 million from investors, with a minimum buy-in of $50,000. The document president of Spectrum Business Ventures in a promises investors a 25 percent annual return joint lawsuit filed by the two entities in 2011.

Raizada formed Spectrum Business Ven- on their money.

That is a pretty rich claim. What’s the tures in 2002 after “developing wireless retail secret? stores for AT&T and T-Mobile,” according to a “The Company intends to use the proceeds 2010 Kansas City Business Journal article. Like of the sale of the Notes to fund one or more new a lot of private investment firms, Spectrum loans to one or more Payday Lending OperaBusiness Ventures doesn’t disclose much about its practices. The Business Journal report tors,” the offering states.

Sinatra and Gamble’s venture resembles a noted that the company bought a distressed Prairie Village lemonade stand compared with ethanol plant in Nebraska in December 2010.

Vianney Fund, whose offering The Pitch has According to its website, Spectrum Business Ventures has lately been acquiring apartment acquired. Led by Vincent Hodes, Vianney in 2010 sought $20 million from investors, with buildings in the Carolinas. And Raizada apa $100,000 minimum buy-in. (Hodes is a memparently shares Scott Tucker’s enthusiasm for race cars: In 2012, he bought a McLaren ber of St. Ann. He also is listed as the owner and president of Midland Metal Manufacturing, a sports car for $269,255 in cash from a dealer in Beverly Hills. He later sued the dealer for plumbing-supply company.)

Vianney Fund projected its annual rate of misrepresenting various attributes and accesreturn to be between 18 percent and 35 persories of the vehicle. cent. “We intend to focus the majority of the In 2011, eData Solutions and Spectrum Company’s efforts and investments on fundBusiness Ventures filed suit against a Scarsing loans to payday-lending dale, New York, finance companies in both the retail compa ny ca lled New “That’s why this and Internet markets,” the World Merchant Partners. offering states. “However, The entities had previously payday stuff has the Company may also exentered into an agreement spread around the tend credit to other Subwhereby N WMP would prime Borrowers, including “act as a non-exclusive ficity like it has, check-cashing, rent-to-own, nancial and strategic advidespite how ugly it is subprime mortgage, and sor to eData in connection pawn shops.” with assisting eData in the at its core.”

In other words, Vianney research of, and the idenis an equal-opportunity extification and selection of, one or more sources of capital.” The suit al- ploiter of poor people.

The Vianney offering also notes that Hodes leges that NWMP later violated nondisclosure “has made loans totaling in excess of $15 miland confidentiality agreements that had the lion over the past four years to a number of effect of harming eData’s business.

Subprime Borrowers that the Company may Pretty boring stuff — until you scan for the target for loans in the future.” Hodes or his dollar signs in NWMP’s counterclaim. Among affiliates, it reads, have made loans totaling the highlights: NWMP claimed that it brokered $15.5 million in financing for eData from an approximately $10 million to the Bahamas Marketing Group and KSQ Management. unnamed company. NWMP also claimed that Both of these companies are controlled by eData was able to obtain $60 million from an Joel Tucker. A related document obtained by outfit called the Riverside Co. through NWMP’s The Pitch shows that Joel Tucker entered into a contacts. Finally, NWMP alleged that eData guaranty agreement in favor of Vianney Fund. was in the process of entering into a con“What Vince Hodes does is draw up an tract, aided by NWMP’s introduction, with investment fund and then take it to his rich Deutsche Bank “in an amount believed to be friends at the country club and get them to $180,000,000.00.” drop in a hundred thousand, a couple hundred One of the largest banks in the world lendthousand apiece,” says a source familiar with ing $180 million to a virtually unknown Kanthe setup. “Then he hands the money over to sas City company? Such a deal — Smith, who somebody like Joel Tucker to use as capital for also represents Spectrum Business Ventures, disputes the figure — gives a sense of the cash- his payday companies. And it’s such a great

KC H O M E

The Usury Suspects

Joel Tucker’s lavish KC home return that if you have that kind of money, it’s just a very easy bet to make. Because in a year, you’ve done nothing, and now you’ve got an extra $20k or $30k. Or if you’re superrich and you have a million sitting around, in theory you’re making $200,000 without lifting a finger.

“That’s why this payday stuff has spread around the city like it has, despite how ugly it is at its core,” this source continues. “Because it’s just another investment to a lot of these people. They’re just writing a check. They’re so far removed from where that money is actually coming from that they barely even have to think about it.”

C

hristopher Hodes, Vincent Hodes’ brother, is not quite so removed. From a Brookside building at 601 East 63rd Street, he presides over a variety of hard-to-pin-down companies.

Based on lawsuits filed in recent years, he is likely very much immersed in the online lending industry.

In 2010, the Arkansas Attorney General sued Arrowhead Investments and Galaxy Marketing, as well as Christopher Hodes (whom it alleged to be the controller of these two companies), for lending over the Internet to Arkansans at interest rates of 782 percent. Arkansas law caps consumer lending rates at 17 percent.

The companies settled and promised not to lend in the state again.

But another lawsuit from that year, brought

by Axentia Solutions (a “business with expertise in sales and marketing of debit card programs,” according to the petition), reveals how difficult it can be for a state to ensure that a Christopher Hodes company is not lending at usurious rates to its citizens.

The suit names Christopher Hodes as a principal owner of a company called Star Financial and alleges that “Hodes is an individual who has a financial interest in Star, as well as other entities that engage in, fund, support, or profit from the payday-loan industry.” It then names 36 such LLCs, in addition to Arrowhead Invest-

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ments and Galaxy Marketing. It notes that among Star’s financial backers are Vincent Hodes and Vianney Fund. Not a shock.

Also not shocking: It states that “because sovereign Indian tribes enjoy immunity from many state and federal regulatory regimes, Hodes had become interested in … using various Indian tribes as lenders in order to circumvent the increasingly restrictive regulatory environment in which the payday-lending industry operated.” Axentia had relationships with the Ponca tribe, and in the course of Axentia and Star’s dealings, Hodes was introduced to some of the tribe’s representatives. The suit goes on to allege that Christopher Hodes went around Axentia and persuaded the Ponca Indians to sever their relationship with Axentia and enter into a nondisclosure agreement with “Star, Hodes or Hodes-related entities.”

Christopher Hodes and another brother, Billy Hodes, were primary investors in the south Plaza restaurant and bar the Beacon. It opened in 2012, and reports of unscrupulous business dealings had begun wafting from the place by the time it closed this past summer.

The Beacon served much of the community around Visitation Parish, located a couple of blocks away. Christopher and Billy Hodes are members of the parish; Christopher was on the school ministry team in 2011 and the administrative ministry team in 2012. The latter “advises the pastor and parish council in matters pertaining to the financial affairs of the parish,” according to the Visitation website.

The Hodeses bought out the Beacon’s principal partners in late 2012. When the brothers closed the place, former employees attest to being left high and dry. Carlos Williams, the former head chef at the Beacon, describes an environment in complete disarray.

“By the end, the liquor license had expired.

We were on a do-not-deliver list with distributors,” he says. “And they were withholding the money that’s supposed to be sent to the courts for employees with child support. People’s checks were being garnished because the money wasn’t being sent where it was supposed to be sent.”

Williams also notes that the Beacon’s accounting was done through one of Christopher Hodes’ businesses.

Whitten Pell, who created the concept for the Beacon, has a similar take: “Myself and many of the other investors found dealing with the Hodes brothers to be extremely unpleasant.”

There are recent indications that the world of short-term online lending might soon undergo an implosion not unlike that of the Beacon. The federal government is flexing some muscle in both regulating the industry and prosecuting its especially bad apples. And some local payday outfits, once aligned, have begun to turn against one another.

Part 2 of this story runs next week.

E-mail david.hudnall@pitch.com december 5 -11, 2013

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WEEK OF DECEMBER 5-11

“Boy and Wolf,” digital print by Muriel Fogarty, at Leedy-Voulkos

FIRST FRIDAY HIT LIST The year’s last First Friday falls on the feast of St. Nicholas, named for the fourth-century Greek bishop whose life and legend, via 600 years of circuitous cultural appropriations, inspired the whole Santa Claus, child-focused, gift-giving centerpiece of U.S. capitalist culture. So yes, there are some bazaars tonight, along with worthwhile group shows, and yes, you may need to stop at the ATM before you head out.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Daily listings on page 28 pitch.com

december 5 -11, 2013

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Art

KCAI’s Got tAlent

W

hat do Sid Vicious, America’s Got Talent and rhinestone undies have in common? More than you might think.

Pop culture and panties converge at the H&R Block Artspace this month in New, Four, a biennial exhibition featuring 17 artists who have e r Mo joined the Kansas City A rt Institute faculty within the past three at e n i Onl .com years.

Group shows can pitch be tough to collate, but the Artspace’s arrangement neatly highlights a preoccupation with pattern among these disparate works.

David Steele Overholt anchors New, Four with two of the most entrancing pieces on display. “Make ’em Sing, Boys” employs custom software and a touch-screen monitor to flash fractured portraits of musical luminaries: Sid Vicious, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, 50 Cent. The photos are fragmented into vertical strips, as if run through a digital paper shredder, and reassembled on the screen for you. Tap and you can fit strips of stars together like a puzzle; swipe your finger along the horizontal axis and you reveal a new face entirely. Rubbing back and forth seems to sharpen and define the focus, snapping segments into place. The result is a kind of electronic finger painting that allows the viewer to craft new combinations within Overholt’s amalgam of famous faces and features.

ART

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New, Four rounds up interesting

By

pieces by Art Institute faculty.

L i z C ook

in a recognizable ripple of a delicate underSecreted away in the back of the gallery, garment splayed and flattened on the floor.

Overholt’s “Awaiting Adjudication” is no less Corey Antis presents his mixed-media engaging. The single-channel video loop isn’t pieces within a similar grid aesthetic. “Unstrictly interactive, but it’s hard not to feel swept into a kind of emotional voyeurism as titled (Selected Drawings)” repeats and remixes visual tropes in a diverse collecyou watch its concentrated expressions of anxiety, hope and loss flit across the screen. tion eight drawings high and seven wide.

The bold works range from bare depictions The camera slowly zooms in on the faces of of isolated shapes and angles to involved America’s Got Talent hopefuls as they await sketches of the functional objects that emjudgment, capturing glimpses of something human and intimate amid a spectacle of cal- body them. The longer you gaze at the grid, the more patterns and themes emerge, until culated theatricality. Tears glimmer in some competitors’ eyes; other people hesitate, un- currents of connection blare from the paper.

Maura Cluthe’s “Arrange and Rearrange” certainty dancing across their features as they also engages with pattern. wait for a pronouncement.

The oil-and-enamel puzzle We wait with them, a vigil New, Four combines bright swatches of anticipation that goes Through December 12 at into an intricate patchwork. ungratified. The soundtrack H&R Block Artspace Themed tiles of color and underscores the corporate, 16 East 43rd Street angular text are arranged chilly repetition of reality kcai.edu/artspace on the canvas like pieces TV’s celebrity-minting maof a quilt; blocks patterned chinery: a constant loop of applause and adoration sings over a pound- like crossword clues, wheel spokes and hourglasses pepper the surface with arrangeing, ominous bass line.

Misty Gamble’s “Sunday” answers a dif- ments of their own. These constellations cluster in the upper-left corner, loosening ferent impulse. Her installation features 49 and spiraling out like a nautilus across the pairs of ceramic panties, hung in a balanced canvas. Cluthe’s work traps you in a dizzying, grid. Dusty purples and pinks emit a gentle femininity that seems at odds with the un- fascinating maze of individual motifs, resisting attempts to impose on it a singular order. dies’ glitzy crotches: Glitter and rhinestones The smooth, flat finish of David Terrill’s adorn the fun parts of a few pairs, and others oil paintings at first suggests a simpler aesshimmer as if dipped in liquid silver. Gamble perfectly captures in ceramic the fluid dy- thetic, but the subject matter here is no less complex. Companion portraits “The Lost namics of fabric — each pair seems frozen

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Left: “Sunday” by Misty Gamble Above: “Make ’em Sing, Boys” by David Steele Overholt Love of Agrimony Bodge” and “The Fertile Mind of Helebore Mandrake” create a riddle of their own in the artist’s attention to comic dissonance. The fleshy figures of both pieces are trapped in somber poses, but Terrill stretches and skews their features toward the grotesque, leaving dignity behind.

“Bodge” highlights the asymmetrical features of a grieving woman with the air of a gothic cartoon: Her eyes rest at different heights, one clouded with a milky film, and her cheekbones are similarly imbalanced. “Mandrake” plays with proportions for comic contrast, the subject’s head ballooning over the rest of his body to dwarf his spindly, shrunken fingers. The tension between these stiff figures and elements of caricature lends a macabre sense of play to Terrill’s work. You feel a trace of guilt for ogling these sideshow acts, but not enough to pull away from them.

Playfulness is just one way these varied pieces end up cohering. The visual and thematic patterns on display suggest other shared concerns among KCAI artists as well, but New, Four lets us sort them on our own. It’s an exhibition that rewards our urge to extract meaning from some excellent new work.

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Art

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T r a c y a bel n

The rest of our First Friday Hit List

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lied.ku.edu 785-864-2787 continued from page 13 mong the places where you’ll find goods for purchase: an open house at Hilliard Gallery (1820 McGee) that doubles as a smallworks show (6–10 p.m.), and the Trunk Show & Holiday Mercado at Mattie Rhodes (915 West 17th Street). The latter centers on Latin American goods and works by local artists, complementing an exhibit from the Center for Traditional Textile of Cusco, Peru, directed

by Nilda Callañaupa.

Elsewhere, there’s a Sip & Shop at 8183 Studio (1735 Oak), with handmade goods by local artists and collectives such as Wonderfair and Vahalla (5–9 p.m.) At Main Street Gallery (1610 Main), there’s the “Small Works Holiday Group Show,” with art by Amy Green, Nora Othic, Travis Pratt, Amanda Thweatt, M. Scott Torri and many others. Locust Factory (504 East 18th Street) has its monthly First Friday Art Fair as usual, this time featuring guests from Blue Valley Northwest High School.

As noted in this issue’s Shop Girl (page 17),

A

Red Star Studios at Belger Crane Yard Studios

(2011 Tracy) holds holiday open-house hours Friday through Sunday, if you’re looking for gifts like functional and decorative ceramics and jewelry, and the Kansas City Textile Studio has loaded goods into Leedy-Voulkos Arts Center (2012 Baltimore) for sale Friday and Saturday, in conjunction with an ongoing exhibit in the Opie Gallery. (Red Star and Belger Arts Center, 2100 Walnut, still have Ceramic Top 40, Affably Amusing, Contemporary Talavera Uriarte, and The French Connection

"Greed flag” by John Bükaty on view, along with ConFluence: Paul Donnelly & Rain Harris. You shouldn’t miss these.)

Also at Leedy-Voulkos: Heinrich Toh’s Momentary Longing (reviewed in our November 21 issue) remains up through December 28, and Richard Mattsson is exhibiting inthe-moment oil paintings in a show titled Now and Then. Other art there includes Muriel Fogarty’s curious characters in Alternate Bodies: In Series, and Joe Gregory’s globular nudes in a show called All the Same.

In addition to its usual “Wonder Wall” of works priced at $500 or less, Blue Gallery (188 Southwest Boulevard) is displaying a series of collaborative paintings and installations

by Luis Garcia-Nerey and Anke Schofield (together known as Kollabs). Inbound deals with forest animals and their interaction with human life.

And in a reversal of the whole “Christmas in July” concept, the Todd Weiner Gallery (115 West 18th Street) shows off new works

by John Bükaty that confront us with bold interpretations of Independence Day’s main icon, the U.S. flag. The American Collection includes paintings, triptychs and threedimensional works. Whether this is a straightforward celebration of the symbol or hints at political critique is left for you to interpret, but Bükaty is on hand for a talk at the December 5 reception (6–9 p.m.) and at First Friday the next evening.

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Terraform is the first of a three part video series curated by Professor of Art, Barry Anderson. In our Culture Lab, take a behind the scenes look at the process involved in Terraform the firstexhibition, of a three featuring part videoour series curated

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Design Sponge. And with that exposure had our months ago, a handful of textile lovers come success and a desire to grow her space. emerged from their basements and other “I wanted a storefront and a place for workisolated work spaces in the name of collaboshops, and knew there had to be other likeration. They began dyeing, sewing, knitting, minded artists willing to go quilting and crafting inside in with me on a larger and a historic warehouse turned Kansas City Textile more legit space,” she says. loft. This weekend, 11 of Studio Holiday Show She teamed up w ith these artists, all part of the 6–9 p.m. Friday, December 6, Debbie Barrett-Jones, a Kansas City Textile Studio, and 10 a.m.–2 p.m. weaver and KCAI textiles display their creations in a Saturday, December 7 graduate, who liked the idea holiday sale at the LeedyLeedy-Voulkos Arts Center 2012 Baltimore of dyeing yarn somewhere Voulkos Arts Center. kctextilestudio.com other than her garage. They Expect handmade goods began speaking to others including felted jewelry, who were looking for a simitextile-inspired screenRed Star Studios lar change of scenery. printed posters, woven Holiday Open House “The more we talked scarves, and hand-dyed 6–9 p.m. Friday, December 6; about it and reached out to quilts and place mats and 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Saturday, others, the more we realized pillows. If you’ve been waitDecember 7; 11 a.m.–4 p.m. that Kansas City was missing to restore black-lightSunday, December 8 ing a textile community,” reactive loungewear to your Belger Crane Yard Studios 2011 Tracy, redstarstudios.org Eichler-Messmer says. wardrobe — or give it as a gift I n Au g u s t , E ic h le rto the free spirit in your life Messmer and Barrett-Jones — you’re in luck. rented space in Columbus Park’s Soda Lofts, Kansas City Textile Studio sprouted from and the Kansas City Textile Studio was born. what Kim Eichler-Messmer calls a selfish quest.

The space includes a workroom and a dye Eichler-Messmer, an assistant professor of fiber at the Kansas City Art Institute, had been mak- studio. Ideas for future plans include catering to those who want to learn a specific ing her Midwest-landscape-inspired quilts in skill or gather for a dyeing day, as well as a Kansas City, Kansas, basement studio and exhibiting them in numerous national shows. holding events during Art in Columbus Park on third Fridays.

Her work had also begun finding its way onto “We want to facilitate what our textile popular blogs, such as Apartment Therapy and

Mon-Thu: 10am-5pm • Fri-Sat: 10am-7pm • Sun: 1-4pm 206 North Liberty St • iNdepeNdeNce, Mo 64050 816.237.6974 • ugLygLaSS.coM Functional and decorative ceramics on sale at Red Star Studios. community wants — not dictate it,” EichlerMessmer says.

I

f spreading seasonal cheer with ceramics is your thing, Red Star Studios’ holiday sale should be on your route this weekend.

Red Star Studios’ members and resident artists are set to roll out their functional and decorative ceramics and jewelry, with a selection including ergonomic teapots and coffee mugs from Noah Riedel, a studio artist originally from Seattle.

“He spends so much time thinking about how his pieces will interact with someone’s hands and how comfortable a piece will feel,” says Red Star Studios curator Michael Baxley.

The sale also features the work of Margie Poston, a retired Kansas City actress. She found her passion for clay after leaving the stage, and her work has included a commissioned line for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s gift shop. Her holiday-sale items, including bowls and ornaments, promise to put shoppers in a festive mood.

“Her work revolves around themes,” Baxley says. “Think holly bowls with a lot of red and green. They will be really Christmassy.”

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Saturday-Night FuSioN

Sake Lounge dances into Olathe.

By

Ch a r l e s F e r ru z z a

Sake Lounge • 11953 South Strang Line Road, Olathe, 913-780-2800 • Hours: 11 a�m�–10 p�m� Monday–Thursday, 11 a�m�–11 p�m� Friday–Saturday, 11:30 a�m�–9:30 p�m� Sunday • Price: $–$$

M

y ship came in last week.

It was a wooden boat on wheels, maybe a foot long, with a green, batteryoperated light. Its cargo: five sushi rolls.

OK, so we’re not talking about the kind of vessel that inspires songs like Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s “My Ship,” but the scale was perfectly fine for that night’s soundtrack: Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which played in the background as the rolls arrived.

At the six-month-old Sake Lounge in Olathe, the word fusion doesn’t refer merely to the multicultural cuisine (Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian — give or take some Buffalo wings) e r Mo but also to the décor and the music. (A nd the liquor — one recent drink t a ine Onl .com special was a sake sanpitch gria.) In a different time and city, Sean Lin might have referred to his bar and restaurant as a disco. The saloon side of the mammoth space has a dance floor large enough to shoot an episode of Dancing with the Stars, with a lighting rig that seems ready for network TV. Lin has stopped shy of installing the kind of illuminated dance floor that changed colors in Saturday Night Fever, but the bar itself is translucent and goes from yellow to green to magenta faster than you can slap your hand down on it and demand a mai tai.

“People come here on Friday and Saturdays to dance,” a waitress informed me after I peeked behind a curtain to scan the lounge side of the business. “We have a disc jockey.”

I asked her if the DJ played Asian pop tunes.

After all, Sake Lounge bills itself as “Sushi Asian Fusion.” She shook her head and said, “American music.”

My dining companion chided me. “Why would you even ask that? This place is in an Olathe shopping center, not Hong Kong.”

Well, when the lighting is right, some restaurants work anywhere. And Sake Lounge wouldn’t feel terribly out of place in Macau or New York. Or Wichita. Anywhere people go to dance, drink and eat a Godzilla roll.

A friend of mine is crazy about the place.

“It’s really weird,” he told me. “And I mean that in a good way.”

Eccentric might be a better word, particularly where the cuisine is concerned. At Sake, I tasted my first — and my last — Spanish spring roll. Some things shouldn’t be enclosed in a sheath of wonton wrapper and deep-fried.

Among those things: goat cheese and fresh

AngelA C. Bond

Café

spinach. Some fusions are best left to the works, balancing cool and hot, soft and crunchy. imagination.

A different shade of soy paper — baby pink But let’s give Lin, who owns the restaurant — is the coy wrapper for the Sex and the City and is one of its sushi chefs, his due. When Sake Lounge is on its game, the food here is roll: tempura-battered eel, succulent spicy tuna worthwhile. A dish of Thai-basil steak was and chunks of fresh avocado. Sushi (most of it exquisitely tender and glazed with a shiny, in versions less phallic than that) is meant to be the signature dish here, and there are plenty of fragrant sauce that was tingly spicy rather than fiery. I’ve also eaten an exceptional red-curry tempura rolls, raw rolls, cooked rolls, nigiri and sashimi to be had. But Lin also makes 13 familstew here. Served in a rustic earthenware pot, it came deftly spiced with chili-based sambal, iar Chinese dishes (pepper steak, orange beef, and was creamy with soothing coconut milk the Happy Family combo), and the half-dozen noodle possibilities include and loaded with broccoli, a first-rate pad Thai (made green beans, mushrooms Sake Lounge with thicker than usual rice and squash.

Sex and the City roll �����$14�50 noodles) and a bowl of ropy Far from deft, on the Spanish spring roll ��������$4�25 udon wheat noodles. other hand, was a sub-buffet Thai basil steak �������������������$13 Mercifully, no teppanplate of glossy General Tso’s Pad Thai with shrimp ���������$12 yaki grill is on the premises. chicken, overcooked and far General Tso’s chicken ���������$11 Tempura bananas ����������$4�95 Between the sushi chefs dotoo chewy. ing their thing in the center Sake’s menu, as these of the dining room and the contrasts suggest, is formicomputer-driven light extravaganza over at dably large, with ingredients deployed in the dance floor, Sake has more than enough a variety of complementary dishes. Crispy theatrics without attempting the old breaktempura-battered bananas can be ordered as a dessert with whipped cream or as a com- ing-eggs-flying-shrimp routine. Hibachi-style dishes are available, but they’re prepared offponent of the Paradise sushi roll; the latter is stage, in the kitchen. fried fruit with lobster salad and fried shrimp The service is pretty slick, though on my enfolded in soybean paper and dappled with a yuzu mango sauce. It sounds busy but it first visit, one of the waitresses came over twice

pitch.com

Seafood in all its incarnations is celebrated at the Sake Lounge� with dishes that another table had ordered.

The lighting is so dim in the dining room that it must be difficult to maneuver with any sense of confidence. I got lost just trying to find my way back to the table from the restroom.

I was hoping to see some Dance Fever action in the lounge on my second visit, on a Friday night. As at the discos in the 1980s, though, Sake doesn’t start shaking its groove thing until after 10 p.m. That’s what the waitress told us, anyway.

“We could stay,” my dining companion said.

“We could sit at the bar until things started happening.”

Two glum-looking people sat at the bar, a sad counterpoint to the circuslike colors rotating under their drinks. Maybe they, too, were waiting for something to happen. I wasn’t in the mood. It would take more than one or two sake sangrias for me to see hope in a mostly empty Olathe bar. I’d eaten some good food, and now the little green lights on top of the sushi boats were giving me a message: Go.

have a suggestion for a restaurant The Pitch should review?

E-mail charles.ferruzza@pitch.com december 5 -11, 2013

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19

Fat C i t y

Shack attack

Chiefs lineman Jeff Allen tackles RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack.

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december 5 -11, 2013

eff Allen’s eyes drift to the TV above the bar at RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack (5835 Lamar, in Mission). His eyes lock on ESPN’s update on his injured teammates, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

“He’s all right,” Allen says of Hali. He says he expects Hali to play in Sunday afternoon’s showdown with AFC West rivals the Denver Broncos. “I don’t know about Justin,” he adds.

The Chiefs offensive lineman also suffered an injury, another tweak of his groin, during the Chiefs’ 41–38 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

Allen exited briefly but returned.

“Just a nagging injury,” he says. “I’m playing through it. They really don’t care if you’re hurt or not. If you’re hurt, don’t play. You get passed up if you’re hurt and you can play.”

Allen watches as ESPN replays San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers throwing the 26yard go-ahead touchdown with 24 seconds remaining.

“No one likes Rivers,” Allen says. “They know they shouldn’t have won that game.”

The loss dropped the Chiefs to 9–2 heading into a home game with Denver. Thankfully, the Broncos also fell.

“We kind of know what to expect; it should be a good game,” Allen says. “It’s tradition.

Everyone who came before you, they had the same type of rivalry. It just carries on.”

Allen and I have come to RJ’s, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Halloween, on our latest barbecue adventure. A sign covering a front window announces: “Buck-a-Bone Tuesday.” A dollar gets you a St. Louis–style rib. Chiefs and U.S. flags also fly out front.

A Diners, Drive-ins and Dives logo adorns RJ’s menu, noting an appearance on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show.

“I love that show, man,” Allen says. “The first episode I saw, he went to this place called Lucky’s in Chicago. I went to it the next day and decided to do the challenge. It was on Man v.

Food, too. I got my picture on the wall.”

The walls at RJ’s aren’t adorned with images of full-bellied diners. Here, it’s John Wayne. In fact, an entire wall is dedicated to the Duke.

“Are you guys ready to order?” asks James, our wiry waiter, whose pointy mustache suggests an old-timey strongman.

“I’m going to do the sampler,” Allen says.

The sampler is a gauntlet of RJ’s smoked meats: a smoked half chicken, six St. Louis–style ribs, choice of chicken, brisket, pork, Polish sausage, turkey or ham (or burnt ends for a $2 upcharge) and two sides.

“That’s for two or three people,” James says.

Allen laughs. “It’s cool.” Allen picks beans and fries for his sides.

I also get the sampler, with fries and corn.

pitch.com

Chris Mullins

J

“Steamed or deep-fried?” James asks about the corn. “The fried corn, if you haven’t had it, you should try it out. They drop it in the fryer just enough to caramelize the outside.”

Fried it is.

James offers to bring over a bottle of RJ’s habanero barbecue sauce.

“You can bring a side of it,” Allen says.

The plates come loaded with bowlingshoe-sized chicken breasts, quarter-sized cubes of burnt ends, meaty ribs and a couple of pickle spears. The beans are served in a gravy boat.

Allen digs into the burnt ends, dousing them with house sauce.

“They’re good,” he says. “Still like Plowboys’. I like their fries better.”

The crisp and salty spuds grab everyone’s attention. Pitch photographer Chris Mullins, along to shoot, can’t keep his fingers off them.

Allen tells us that he takes photos as a hobby, and discusses camera choices and photo shoots with Mullins.

“Last week, I shot some of my teammates and their families for Christmas cards,” Allen says. Mullins slathers his ribs with the sweet sauce and digs in. “These are good ribs,” he says.

“I love it,” Allen says. “They’re kind of like the burnt ends as far as texture and crispiness.

They’re not better than Oklahoma Joe’s, but this is a good rib. Tender.”

Allen isn’t a fan of the sauce. “It’s all right,” he says. “It’s not the best. I’ve had better. It’s sweet, but you can taste the vinegar.”

He plows into the big bowl of beans.

“They’re good,” he declares. “They’re real good. I like them a lot.”

Allen samples RJ’s best.

The fried corn on the cob and chicken also receive high marks. The meaty bird is tender and moist. James was serious. The food is too much for someone who doesn’t play in pro football’s trenches. I need three boxes to transport my leftovers home.

Allen is finishing up, but first he tries the habanero sauce on a rib. “Don’t try it if you don’t like hot stuff,” he warns.

“Does it linger?” Mullins asks.

“No,” Allen says. “It just has a little kick.

I liked it.”

Allen recommends it in small quantities, preferring it to the regular RJ’s sauce. He finishes his ribs, which he names his favorite meat at RJ’s.

“I’ll come here for ribs,” he says. “And the corn. I liked the fries. They’re good.”

Ribs for just $1 on Tuesdays, definitely worth it.

We leave full. Allen heads back to 1 Arrowhead Drive for more practice. The Broncos await in five days. He’s not going to like their sauce, either.

Box Score RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack

5835 Lamar, Mission Two sampler platters: 12 ribs, a full chicken, two orders of burnt ends, two baskets of fries, beans, and fried corn on the cob Total: $61.04 Allen’s rating: 7 out of 10

E-mail justin.kendall@pitch.com

fat c i t y

NEW ATTITUDE, NEW VIBE, NEW MENU.

Party Planner

Six options to satisfy the sweet tooth of your holiday-party guests

By

Je s sic a M a r sh a l l

H

osting holiday parties can be more stressful than fun. But don’t freak out. You can have both your holiday spirit and your sanity by calling in reinforcements to help with dessert. These six local bakeries offer catering options that are sure to leave your guests in blissful sugar comas — and relax your nerves.

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The Classic Cookie & Cafe 409 West Gregory Boulevard 816-444-1933 | theclassiccookie.com Classic Cookie owner-baker Leslie Stockard and her team have perfected their chocolatechip cookie recipe. Stockard’s cookies are chewy, chocolatey favorites.

The Classic Cookie also bakes chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate chip nut, peanut butter, ginger (a nostalgic seasonal favorite), snickerdoodles, chocolate peanut butter chip (the best of two worlds), oatmeal scotchies, oatmeal raisin chip, oatmeal raisin nut, and white chocolate chip. And the bakery does a 12-inch, party-ready cookie. If you’re looking for something a bit smaller for gift giving, the Classic Cookie sells small and large tins of cookies. You can pick up an order in-store or take advantage of the delivery service.

Milk & Honey milkandhoneykc.com Pastry enthusiasts Karina Parreño and Casey Conner are masters of the “it” cookie: the French macaron. Their macarons are locally sourced, handcrafted, all-natural and gluten-free.

Following a 32-step process, Parreño and Conner create flavors such as salted caramel, hazelnut mocha, pistachio, bananas Foster, lavender vanilla bean, pumpkin spice, chai and apricot almond. These puffy little taste-

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For 20 years, Robert and Cherrie Duensing have been baking yummy cakes, cookies, cupcakes, pies, breads and big gooey cinnamon rolls.

Best Regards offers about 10 types of cookies, each weighing a quarter-pound (if you really want to spoil your guests). A slightly smaller size makes up the one- and two-dozen-cookie party platters. Cookies to choose from include the thick and soft apple pie, cranberry-orange, oatmeal toffee winter, chocolate avalanche, oatmeal raisin, decorated sugar and signature chocolate chip. The Duensings make each cookie an experience.

bud temptations feature a light, crunchy outer layer with a soft, chewy center.

Milk & Honey macarons are available by custom order as well as at the Roasterie, 3 Women & an Oven, Chez Elle, Cosentino’s and Nordstrom Café.

Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott 4745 Central 816-960-7096 | natashasmulberryandmott.com Since 2005, Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott has become a sweet tradition in Kansas City, offering French pastries (croissants and cream puffs), handcrafted desserts (pies and tarts), cookies (two dozen varieties) and mouthwatering signature cakes.

Led by mother-daughter team Vicki and Natasha Goellner, Natasha’s catering has a little something on the menu for everyone.

Their sweets are created with silky buttercream, decadent chocolate, light-as-air meringue and heavenly cake layers.

Look for their French macarons and other goodies at Dean & DeLuca and Parisi Café.

Sugar Mamma’s Bakery/Café 4173 North Mulberry Drive 816-437-8044 | sugarmammasbakery.com This Northland bakery is ready for custom orders of cookies, cakes, pies, cake balls and cupcakes. It offers 30 cupcake varieties, with holiday favorites such as red velvet, dulce de leche and spumoni. On the cookie front, the

THE

Irish Ale House & Pub

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Milk & Honey macarons bakery has a variety, including the traditional chocolate chip and snickerdoodle and the not-so-traditional iced red velvet.

Sugar Mamma’s version of cake balls — the trendy, bite-sized cake roundies dipped in icing — come in different flavors on different days, including chocolate and vanilla and, for the more adventurous, German chocolate and strawberry champagne.

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The regular and deluxe Christmas cookie assortments feature confectionary masterpieces shaped and designed as trees, candy canes, stockings and wreaths. The winter cookie collection of snowflakes, snowmen, hats and mittens will warm your heart.

Swoon also makes Hanukkah and New Year’s cookies. They are pieces of art that fit in your hand — and your mouth.

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KNUCKLEHEADS F re e S h u tt le in S u rr o u n d in g A reth e a

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december 5 -11, 2013

The Murder Ballad Ball is back.

By

N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

A

night filled with intrigue, vengeance and homicide. Acts committed by characters with dubious pasts and shady motives. Blood on the walls. Kris Bruders means to deliver all this at the Murder Ballad Ball, December 6 and 7, at the Living Room Theatre.

Now in its fifth year, the event unites varied musical allegiances in what Bruders considers a celebration of storytelling.

“I was listening to Reverend Gary Davis one night, and it just kind of struck me to have a show based on murder ballads, a style of songwriting which I’ve always been a big fan of,” Bruders says. “Not a lot of people do much with murder ballads these days — short of Nick Cave, back in the ’90s — and it’s always been a big influence of mine.”

Bruders, a guitarist and singer for Cadillac Flambe (a local band specializing in Delta blues), tells More me this as we share an impossibly lopsided table at Harling’s. Every time he t a ine lifts his arm to take a swig Onl .com pitch from his bottle of Negra Modelo, the soft wood leans away from him. The surface tilts again, and I ask him how he first discovered murder ballads and traditional folk music. It all started, he explains, while he was playing bouzouki at New Mexico’s ZoukFest years ago.

“There was a guy there that played Son House’s song ‘Death Letter’ on the bouzouki with a slide, and it was such an amazing song. I was just about moved to tears,” he says. “I went up to talk to him afterwards, and he wrote down a list of all these old blues musicians, and I never picked the bouzouki back up. I went out and I bought all these records of this early, traditional blues music. I just dove into it headfirst. That’s when I really got into murder ballads, when I got into early American music.”

Bruders cites an early murder ballad, “Stagger Lee,” which tells the story of a man, Billy, who is caught cheating at cards. Stagger Lee takes matters into his own hands and slays Billy in a barroom. The song is based on a crime that took place in 1895, and dozens of versions of the ballad are known. It’s among the more famous of the hundreds of songs that have their origins in similarly gruesome circumstances with similarly gloomy outcomes.

Not that murder ballads must be morbid.

Rather than reveling in dirty details, Bruders says his event emphasizes a great American tradition. Local musician Cody Wyoming, who joined Bruders as a co-organizer for the ball this year, tends to agree.

“The tradition of the murder ballad is strong enough and runs such a strong current through

M us i c

DEC 12TH, 2013

Treachery, revenge and blood:

pitch.com

AngelA C. Bond

WHERE THE BEST MUSICIANS IN THE WORLD PLAY

all genres of music, that it often gets overlooked Cadillac Flambe: blues, banjo and blood, oh my as a genre itself,” Wyoming says. “There are For the first time, the event has been broken murder ballads in heavy metal, in rap, in counup into two evenings. Friday, December 6, is a try. It can transcend all kinds of genres, but it’s “preshow,” Bruders says, featuring three oneinteresting to go back to the origin, specifically.

This year, we’ve got psych-rock bands, we’ve hour acts: Freight Train Rabbit Killer, High Magic and American Catastrophe. The pace got country-blues bands, we’ve got acoustic picks up Saturday with 14 acts set to perform performers and blues bands — people from all from 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. different kinds of genres who are performing.”

“It’s all going to be roughly 20-minute sets.

Wyoming continues: “People like to get together for a theme, and on a Halloween kind They’re short, so that the thing is constantly moving,” Bruders says. “We’ve got all kinds of of tangent, murder ballads are something dark and sinister that people like to play with with- fun surprises that happen in between specific out actually engaging in. You don’t actually acts. Things will happen in the room to create want to hear about someone drowning their this experience.”

Naturally that means girlfriend, but it’s interestpeople dressing for the ocing to hear it told well.”

Murder Ballad Ball casion. All Murder Ballad Bruders adds, “There’s A Benefit for the Midwest Ball attendees — not just also a lot of lessons involved Music Foundation the players — are encourin the murder ballad. SomeFriday, December 6, aged to gussy up. In the times it’s a warning. These and Saturday, December 7, at the Living Room Theatre past, Bruders and Wyoming people were punished for say, costumes have indoing these heinous crimes, cluded Southern gothic and generally. It’s not necessarily antique Civil War garb. glamorizing crime or murder. Four years in a “It’s all about creating atmosphere to let row, it’s made for something very fascinating.” the songs be told,” Bruders says. “I’ve noticed Fascinating doesn’t quite cover it. The Murder Ballad Ball is more than just a concert. It’s over the years of throwing this ball that a lot of musicians come to me and say that it’s their a theatrical experience, a dark-hued descent favorite event of the year. I think it’s the parinto crimes of passion. And, as in years past, ticipation and the anticipation of it. Everyone Bruders has a specific theme in mind, and has gets all fancied up and tells these stories.” designed and built a set around it.

“The stories really are what make it,” “This year’s event is titled ‘Plead the Fifth,’ Wyoming says. “Whenever a story is told well, in honor of our fifth year,” he says. “There’s a courtroom theme. There will be a giant gavel I don’t care what it is, you’ve got me. You feel it in your bones.” overhead and a witness stand.”

“We may or may not make people testify in it,” Wyoming adds with a grin.

E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com

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december 5 -11, 2013

the pitch

23

music

WintEr is Coming

The KC Symphony’s Classics Uncorked series pops open for everyone.

By

N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

T

C at S z a l k o w S k i

he Kansas City Symphony welcomes everyone — even the MTV generation. So says Aram Demirjian, the symphony’s associate conductor, who believes that classical music isn’t as exclusive as its reputation.

Demirjian, 27, joined the symphony a little less than two years ago, and he has quickly worked to create a more approachable symphony experience. Last year, he helped introduce Classics Uncorked, a series aimed at luring a “nontraditional” audience to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts to listen to classical music. Last year, Classics Uncorked’s audience included young professionals who would pop over for a show after work and families with grade-schoolers.

Each of the five Classics Uncorked concerts runs between an hour and 75 minutes. Generaladmission tickets cost $25 and include a free drink coupon.

The series’ second year kicks off December 11. We chatted with Demirjian about what to expect this season.

The Pitch: Give me a little background on Classics Uncorked.

Demirjian has holiday gifts on his mind.

Demirjian: So, Classics Uncorked is a series is winter-themed. We try to have a theme that that we started last year, which was my first is a point of entry for as many people as posyear with the symphony, and it was really sible. When they get into the hall, the orchesa series that developed kind of organically.

We wanted to do some shorter concerts on tra is dressed down a little bit. We encourage weeknights and serve drinks along with the people to come dressed down or wear whatever they were wearing to work. I sort of provide a concerts. We wanted to give an opportunity to people to kind of try out the symphony in a narrative from the stage as it’s going on. I’ll be introducing every piece, trying to give a less formal way, if they were curious but hadn’t window into the piece for as many people in been to concerts yet.

When we were trying to create a real con- the audience as possible.

The first concert in the series is called Winter’s cept for the series, I talked to a lot of my friends Gift. How did you decide upon that theme? who are my age — young 20s, early 30s — all We decided that every of whom I knew were museason we would devote sically inclined people, and Classics Uncorked: one program to being a part who I knew liked classical Winter’s Gift of our holiday offerings — a music or liked orchestra muWednesday, December 11, December concert — but sic and responded very posiHelzberg Hall, Kauffman we try to make the Classics tively to it when they heard Center for the Performing Arts Uncorked a little bit differit but didn’t go to concerts. ent than our other holiday I tried to probe them as to why, and the most common answer that I got concerts. Not necessarily what you’d turn on was, “Well, I’ve never felt like there was a place the radio and hear, but great classical music that is closely tied to the season. This year, for me in the concert hall.”

I really try to construct these programs so when designing the program, I tried to think that there is a place for anyone who wants to about some things beyond Santa Claus and reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, and even come. Every program has a theme, and that the more religious aspects of the season. What theme is generally nonmusical, something that really anybody, no matter what their are some things beyond those that are essenbackground or experience with music is, can tial, indispensable?

I came to the season of winter itself, which identify with. we all experience, and which is an experience What are some of this year’s themes? that bonds us all together. And then, also, this This year we have a Paris-themed program, idea of gift giving, that no matter what you and we also have a program featuring music about and by women. Our upcoming concert celebrate or what you believe in, everyone is 24

the pitch

december 5 -11, 2013

pitch.com

exchanging gifts with everybody else. Those are the two concepts that I tried to zero in on when designing the program, and it’s reflected pretty well, I think, in some of the music.

What are some of the selections for Winter’s Gift?

We have two short violin concertos, one is

by Vivaldi, from his “Four Seasons,” and it’s “Winter.” It’s a very, very famous concerto, one of those pieces that you know it even if you don’t think you know it. The other, a parallel piece, is by an Argentinian composer named Piazzolla. He wrote a piece inspired by Vivaldi a couple of centuries later, called “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” so we’re doing the “Winter” from those “Four Seasons” as well.

This concerto by Piazzolla is this hot, sexy, tango-infused take on what Vivaldi wrote, and there are even little quotations from the Vivaldi piece in the Piazzolla.

There’s also what I like to think of as the greatest Christmas gift ever given, which is a piece by Wagner called “Siegfried Idyll.” He wrote it as a birthday gift for his wife, which was on Christmas Eve. He wrote her this beautiful piece in recognition of their baby son Siegfried’s first Christmas, and gave it to her in the form of an ensemble playing in the foyer of their house on Christmas morning, waking her up with this piece. I just think it’s one of the most beautiful, romantic and family-oriented gestures in the history of music.

Are these pieces recognizable to a wide variety of listeners?

They’re all in our ears, even if you don’t realize that you know them. There are a few

pieces that are maybe new, or maybe a little less familiar, but we’ll delve into those before we play them and really give people a framework in which to listen. We want people to get the most enjoyable experience out of being in Helzberg Hall and listening to the Kansas City Symphony, whatever that means to them.

E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com

J a z z B e at gErald spaits QuartEt, fEaturing CharlEs pErkins, at thE BluE room

Charles Perkins’ alto sax has soared since standing out in the 1980s’ New Breed Orchestra. Whether quoting, note for note, a Charlie Parker solo or rapidly weaving in and out of his own smartly conceived, complex lines, Perkins has always been worth seeking out. Then there’s Gerald Spaits, a musician whom other musicians seek out. You might find the versatile bassist backing Marilyn Maye, Karrin Allyson or the Trumpet Summit, or filling in with the People’s Liberation Big Band. Thursday night, the Gerald Spaits Quartet, featuring Charles Perkins, fills the Blue Room with jazz by some of KC’s long-recognized best. — Larry Kopitnik Gerald Spaits Quartet, featuring Charles Perkins, 7–11 p.m. Thursday, December 5, at the Blue Room (1600 East 18th Street)

pitch.com

december 5 -11, 2013

the pitch

25

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CD SO COWRecital SUN. 12/8RELEASE 7pm Clint Velazquez Guitar Studio : Christmas PARTY 9pm Holiday Jams with Run With(IRELAND) It and Company

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The Infamous Stringdusters

The Infamous Stringdusters are not your granddaddy’s bluegrass band. The Nashville five-piece seems unassuming on the surface — Dobro, fiddle, banjo, guitar, upright bass — and the band’s songs don’t seem to stretch the genre. But take a closer listen or experience a Stringdusters concert, and your eyes — and ears — will open to a new class of bluegrass, with elements of folk rock and infectious rhythms.

Friday, December 6, at Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts, Lawrence, 785-749-1972)

WEEKLY

SUN. 12-5PM BARTENDER’S BRUNCH & BLOODY MARY BAR MON. 7PM SONIC SPECTRUM MUSIC TRIVIA TUES. 7PM HONKY TONK SUPPER CLUB WED. 7PM BOB WALKENHORST & FRIENDS THURS. 7PM TRIVIA CLASH

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Midlake

Drake

I’ve been listening to Drake’s Nothing Was the Same on repeat for the last month. It cycles through the CD player in my car, and somewhat against my will, I find myself engrossed in Drake’s monotonous raps. On the one hand, I love how thoroughly specific and confessional his lyrics are (his shout-out to “Courtney from the Hooters on Peachtree” in “From Time” is both brilliant and terrifying). On the other hand, his open-diary format can feel lazy.

Perhaps Drake’s live show will bring clarity.

Saturday, December 7, at Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7000)

Midlake

Last year, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Tim Smith left Midlake, the indie folk-rock band he co-founded in 1999 and led to critical acclaim. Smith’s departure didn’t deter the remaining six band members from business as usual. Midlake’s second guitarist, Eric Pulido, took over lead vocals, and the group set out to write a new album. The resulting Antiphon — released just six months after Smith’s departure — still has the hallmarks of Midlake’s psychedelic Americana sound, but it also proves more expansive and breathable than any past Midlake release.

Saturday, December 7, at the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, 816-442-8179)

Hunter Hayes

The Features

The Caves

The Lonely Biscuits

It’s unclear whether 22-year-old country star Hunter Hayes can yet grow facial hair. We won’t hold his baby face against him or the fact that he has figured out the formula to writing a country megahit: romantic, heart-on-yoursleeve lyrics, plus some adorable twang and a smile. In another year or so, he’ll pull a Taylor Swift and become a crossover sensation, so you might as well enjoy his purity while it lasts.

Friday, December 6, at the Midland (1228 Main, 816-283-9921)

Local indie darlings the Caves exist somewhere between dream pop and psychedelic folk. Their full-length, Duplexiaville, released earlier this year, is a glittering nugget of precious, easygoing tracks that lead listeners by the hand to a field of butterflies and bluebells. Lead singer Andrew Ashby has a scratchy, straight-out-ofbed voice that seems to slow down the driving guitar chords. His harmonies with drummer Elizabeth Bohannon are so sweet, they require a dental checkup. Knife Crime and Sona offer local support.

Friday, December 6, at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (3402 Main, 816-753-1909)

f o r e c a s t

26

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n ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

STEDDYP

UPCOMING: 12/12 HIBOU 12/13 RADKEY 12/18 AMERICAN AUTHORS/MISTERWIVES/ROYAL CONCETPS UPCOMING 12/20 PAPER BIRD 12/21 KC UNCOVERED III : SHINE A LIGHT 3/14 EXPENDABLES 4/8 FUFAKEBOOK MANCHU 12/25 GYPSY SPARROWS 12/28 ULTIMATE 3/18 DARWIN DEEZE 12/31 HEARTS OF DARKNESS/LAZY 1/174/16 TENNISMOWGLIS 1/22 LIFE&TIMES 1/27 CATE LEBONLOVELESS 1/29 FRANKIE ROSE 2/84/23 REGGIE & THE FULL EFFECT 3/19 LYDIA BLACK MT. 2/19 COM TRUISE 3/3 KODALINE 4/3 THAO& TGDSD 4/30 DEVIL MAKE 3

SUN. 12PM-12AM MON.TUES.SAT. 4PM-1:30AM

Music Forecast

By

december 5 -11, 2013

As the first band signed to Kings of Leon’s Serpents and Snakes label, the Features are either automatically beloved or dismissed.

The Features deserve an unbiased listen.

The band’s latest self-titled release contains dynamic, danceable pop songs that are as catchy as they are smart. This confident indie band seems to be maturing quite nicely — and is worth a weeknight venture.

Tuesday, December 10, at the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, 816-442-8179)

The Lonely Biscuits have two lead singers: John Paterini, with his classic pop voice’s smoky, throaty edge (think John Mayer but not annoying), and Grady Wenrich, an MC who keeps his rhymes at a relaxed pace, allowing the character of his voice to shine. Add some funk rhythms and blues guitar and — well, what do you call that? The band received mtvU’s 2013 Woodie Award, recognizing the best-emerging campus musicians. Here’s hoping that graduation doesn’t derail the band from a long career.

Wednesday, December 11, at Czar (1531 Grand, 816-421-0300)

K e Y

Pick of the Week

Baby Hit Makers

Breakup Survivors

Locally Sourced

Bring the Kids

Wear Your Dance Pants

Indie Rock

Bluegrass

Bring Your Own Gravy

Bring on the Country

Hip-Hop

Band to Watch

pitch.com

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december 5 -11, 2013

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27

AgendA

continued from page 13

Thursday | 12.5 |

NermaN museum of CoNtemporary art

missouri mavericks vs. Wichita | 7:05 p.m. Independence Events Center, 19100 E. Valley View Pkwy.

Performing Arts

ultimate Blue Corner Battles | 6:30 p.m. VooDoo Lounge, Harrah’s Casino, 1 Riverboat Dr., NKC

City in motion dance showcase | 7-9 p.m. The Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway

seAsonAL events

Kansas City Chorale’s Winter song | 5:30 p.m.

Rozzelle Court, Nelson-Atkins, 4525 Oak

Christmas in the Park | 5:30-11 p.m. Longview Lake Campground, 10711 W. Scherer

royal opera House presents Les Vespres Siciliennes | Noon, Tivoli Cinemas, 4050 Pennsylvania

Kristkindl markt | 5-9 p.m. Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St.

LiterAry events

sar-Ko Aglow | 6-7 p.m. Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, 87th St. and Lackman, Lenexa

midwest Poets series: Dave smith | 7 p.m. Mabee Theater, Rockhurst University, 54th St. and Troost

spirit of Christmas Past | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. BinghamWaggoner Estate, 313 W. Pacific, Independence

When fashion meets Power with robin givhan and David von Drehle | 6 p.m. Kansas City Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., kclibrary.org

sHoPPing

good Ju Ju | 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., 1420 W. 13th Terr.

seAsonAL events

Brookside Christmas in the Park | 6 p.m., 63rd St.

and Brookside Blvd.

Kaws • Ups and Downs; Dylan Mortimer • Illuminate | Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JCCC, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park

mecum Kansas City Collector Car Auction |

sHoPPing

Artists Holiday mart | 5-9 p.m. The Peanut Gallery,

Open Fire Wood Burning Pizza, 3951 Broadway

field Daydreams, vehicles, sissyfist, fake fancy | 10 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

fundraising shopping Party for the Her Art Project | 5 p.m. Stuff, 316 W. 63rd St.

Saloon, 2715 Rochester

Cody Jinks with scott ford | 8 p.m. Knuckleheads

opening of the rooftop at mestizo | 5-7 p.m., $25,

Mestizo, 5270 W. 116th Pl., Leawood

Friday | 12.6 | Performing Arts

mecum Kansas City Collector Car Auction | 8

a.m. Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St.

mischief of rats, vomit Assault, iron reagan |

9 p.m. Davey’s Uptown, 3402 Main

the old no. 5s | 8:30 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

fiLm

Beer and a movie: Anchorman | 8:30 p.m. The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts, Lawrence

the Priests | 7 p.m. The Midland, 1228 Main nigHtLife

musiC

Deviator, Death valley High | 7 p.m. Jackpot Music Hall, 943 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Downton Abbey Party | 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble Town

Center Plaza, 4751 W. 117th St., Leawood

art exhibits & eveNts Lynn Benson: Sidetrip | 12-4 p.m. Saturday, Kiosk

Lost and Found: A Group Show | PLUG Proj-

man Center, 1601 Broadway

seamless Dance theater: Solstice | 8 p.m. City Stage Theater, Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Rd.

Impressionist France | Nelson-Atkins Museum

musiC

Bible of the Devil, Hosferatu, fault finder | ComeDy

sPorts & reC

Crown Center ice terrace | 10 a.m.-11 p.m., 2450 Grand the ice at Park Place | 11 a.m.-10 p.m., 117th St. and

december 5 -11, 2013

pitch.com

Bar, 3611 Broadway

Broadway, kcsymphony.org

Nall, Leawood

the pitch

Community Benefits

tuba Christmas | Noon, Kauffman Center, 1601

tammy Pescatelli | 7:30 & 9:45 p.m. Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

of Art, 4525 Oak

urban mining sale | 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 3924 Walnut

typhoon Haiyan benefit | 9:30 p.m. The Uptown Arts

Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence

SNIPE HUNT | 12-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday,

Test Patterns and Floor Samples: New Work

by Garry Noland | Studios Inc., 1708 Campbell

sweatshop: A Pop-up | 5-7 p.m. The Warehouse,

vienna teng, Barnaby Bright | 7 p.m. Lawrence Arts

Carlos Alazraqui | 7:45 & 9:45 p.m. Stanford’s Comedy Club, 1867 Village West Pkwy., KCK

charlottestreet.org

W. 13th St.

4218 Walnut

meet me at the museum tour | 2-3 p.m.

Percolator, alley between Arts Center and Ninth St., Lawrence.

restoration emporium | 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., 1300

KC symphony: Handel’s Messiah | 8 p.m. Kauff-

Charlotte street presents We’ll Make Out Better Than Okay | La Esquina, 1000

Charlotte Street’s 2013 Visual Artist Awards Exhibition | Grand Arts, 1819 Grand,

rag and Bone | 8:30 a.m.-9 p.m., 1412 W. 12th St., ragandbonekc.com

sip and shop KC | 5 p.m. 8183 Studio, 1735 Oak

ects, 1613 Genessee

Kemper Museum, 4420 Warwick Blvd.

8 a.m., Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St.

Heartland men’s Chorus: Baby, It’s Cold Outside | 8 p.m. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.

Gallery, 3951 Broadway

W. 25th St.

28

Liberty Belle | 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m., 1320 W. 13th St., libertybellekc.com

10 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

Books of Bokonon, ghosts of Kaw valley | 6 p.m.

Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Dikes of Holland, Burial teens, Lazy | 10 p.m.

MiniBar, 3810 Broadway

the Disappointments | The BrewTop Pub and Patio,

8614 N. Boardwalk Ave.

4 sknns reunion show with the snot rockets |

8:30 p.m. Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

continued on page 30

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS WITH CHESTER BENNINGTON

BLUE OCTOBER

December 8, 2013

There’s a NEW game in town!

December 12, 2013

COLD NIGHTS HOT COUNTRY FEATURING: BART CROW AND SCOTT FORD BAND

CHIPPENDALES February 15, 2014

December 19, 2013

KC’S ONLY FM SPORTS STATION!

AARON LEWIS

February 19, 2014

UPCOMING SHOWS: 12/6

Blue Corner

12/14

12/7 12/13

Magic 107.3 KC Groove Party Flirt Friday

12/20

Wynonna and The Big Noise A Simpler Christmas SLAM Radio 2014 Christmas Concert

SPORTS RADIO 102.5 THE FAN LINEUP:

5AM-8AM: Tiki Barber, Brandon & Dana

8AM-11AM: John Feinstein 11AM-2PM: Jim Rome 2PM-5PM: Doug Gottlieb 5PM-9PM: Chris Moore & Brian Jones 9PM-1AM: Scott Ferrall 1AM-5AM: D.A. - Damon Amendolara

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Subject to change or cancellation. Phone and online orders are subject to service fees. Must be 21 years or older to gamble, obtain a Total Rewards ® card or enter VooDoo ®. ©2013, Caesars License Company, LLC.

pitch.com V1_104025.7_4.776x9.8125_4c_Ad.indd 1

december 5 -11, 2013

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29

11/27/13 10:09 AM

THE HOUSE OF FORBIDDEN SECRETS

HOW TO BUY THE PERFECT GIFT

mon: rural grit 6pm // karaoke 10 fri 12/6 1 pm s sat 12/7 m t friday: art by nic r marcos v ole cawlfie 7, f r id ay t h e ld 13 t h : h jorge arana trio

FRIDAY

12.6

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t r a in w e e p y s , sat 12/14 fri 12/20 ththe summit, forres r e c k t r io sat 12/21 at e phantastics, outeter tic wolves r , david circle fri 12/27 mdevon russell brutchfield, agfuxxing nificent

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2.

Choose from a wide variety of certificates from area restaurants and retailers.

LIVE MUSIC EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT 8-12PM Dec. 6 - Nace Brothers Dec. 13 - Bobby Smith

Dec. 20 - Midlife Crisis Dec. 27 - True Blood

The House of Forbidden Secrets | Alamo Drafthouse (1400 Main) offers a look at local horror director Todd Sheets’ latest. A $10 ticket to the 7 p.m. screening puts you in the movie company of genre heavyweights Lew Temple (The Walking Dead) and Allan Kayser (Night of the Creeps, Mama’s Family), Troma mastermind Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger) and KC talents Antwoine Steele and Nicole Santorella.

— DAN LYBARGER

Blues Band

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE FOR FOOD SPECIALS & UPCOMING BAND DATES!

523 E. Red Bridge Rd. KCMO • Red Bridge Shopping Center •

816.942.0400 • www.theDailyLimitkc.com

continued from page 28 Hammerlord, Expo ’70, the Bad Ideas, Uzis | 8 p.m. The Riot Room, 4048 Broadway

Hunter Hayes | 7:30 p.m. The Midland, 1228 Main

Mike Dileo & Trevor Shaw | Gusto Lounge, 504

Westport Rd.

Saturday | 12.7 | PERFORMING ARTS

3.

Interstate Astronauts, My Oh My, Trainwreck Trio | 8 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112 Pennsylvania Stan Kessler’s Latin Trio | 6:30 p.m. Green Lady

1515 WESTPORT RD. • 816-931-9417

Lounge, 1809 Grand

Knife Crime, the Caves, Sona | 9 p.m. Davey’s Uptown, 3402 Main

Save 50% on every certificate you purchase!

Malik | 10 p.m. The Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway The Pines | 9 p.m. Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester WIFI NOW AVAILABLE!

CHECK OUT THE NEW ALL DAY HAPPY HOUR

1020 Massachusetts, Lawrence

4.

Brian Scarborough Quintet | 8 p.m. Take Five Coffee + Bar, 5336 W. 151st St., Leawood

The Slowdown, Parts of Speech | 9:30 p.m. Czar,

1531 Grand

Bask in the holiday glow of being generous, thoughtful and thrifty!

.com

Red Line Chemistry, Nigel Dupree Band, Syn City Cowboys, Years Past | 6:30 p.m. The Granada,

the pitch

december 5 -11, 2013

Kansas City Ballet: The Nutcracker | 2 & 7:30 p.m.

Kauffman Center, 1601 Broadway, kcballet.org KC Symphony: Handel’s Messiah | 8 p.m. Kauffman Center, 1601 Broadway, kcsymphony.org

La Scala Opera presents La Traviata | Noon, Tivoli Cinemas, 4050 Pennsylvania

Philharmonia of Greater KC: Christmas with Connie Dover | Grand Avenue Temple, 205 E. Ninth St. Seamless Dance Theater: Solstice | 8 p.m. City Stage Theater, Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Rd.

Elisabeth Von Trapp and the Carolian Brass: The Sound of Christmas | 8 p.m. Yardley Hall at

JCCC, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park

Whitewater Ramble | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New

LITERARY EVENTS

NIGHTLIFE

Patricia Lockwood, Bridget Lowe, Clancy Martin | 6:30 p.m. Walnut Place Laundromat, 4241 Walnut

DJ Eric Coomes | 9 p.m. Mosaic Lounge, 1331 Walnut

COMEDY

Hampshire, Lawrence

POOL TABLE • MEGATOUCH • 7 PINBALLS • PINBALL TOURNAMENT WEDNESDAYS • TOUCHTUNES INTERNET JUKEBOX • DRINKING ON THE SMOKING PATIO • CRAFT BEERS • $2 PBR / HIGH LIFE OPEN 12PM ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY • 4PM - 2AM EVERYDAY

DJ Cruz & Cyan | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway 30

Heartland Men’s Chorus: Baby, It’s Cold Outside | 8 p.m. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.

pitch.com

Carlos Alazraqui | 7:45 & 9:45 p.m. Stanford’s, 1867 continued on page 32 Village West Pkwy., KCK

APPEARING LIVE THIS WEEK WED 12.4 : OPEN BLUES JAM W/ BILLY BEALE & THE BLUES PRESERVATIONISTS thur 12.5 : LADIES NIGHT HOSTED BY JD & THE CHASERS, EAST CREEK GIRLS fri 12.6 : THE TRAIN WRECK TRIO, MY OH MY, INTERSTATE ASTRONAUTS sat 12.7 : NIKKI AND THE ROOFTOP PUNCH, THE FLOOD BROTHERS, COYOTE BILL BOOGIE BAND sunday : GOSPEL BRUNCH & BLOODY MARY BAR • SERVING FOOD TILL 3AM •

816.960.4560 4112 Pennsylvania Ave

Sun-Sat: 8p-3a westportsaloon.com

LEGENDS • 1867 VILLAGE WEST • NEXT TO DAVE & BUSTERS

CARLOS ALAZARQUI CHIPPENDALES

50 SHADES OF MEN DEC 6-7 REAL LAS VEGAS REVIEW

STAR OF RENO 911 • OFFICER GARCIA STAR OF RENO 911 THE MOVIE VOICE OF MANY TV SHOWS FAMILY GUY • VOICE OF THE LITTLE TACO BELL DOG

LOUIE ANDERSON DEC 12-14

SUPER STAR • HBO, THE LOUIE SHOW HOST OF FAMILY FEUD • STAR OF ‘SPLASH’ BIG ROOM IN VEGAS SEPCIAL SHOW • HE DOESN’T DO COMEDY CLUBS RARE OPORTUNITY TO SEE HIM UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

STANFORDS ON BROADWAY 3700 BROADWAY NEXT TO UPTOWN THEATER

STEVE KRAMER | DEC 13-14 FOLLOW CRAIG GLAZER ON TWITTER @KCKINGOFSTING

Sponsored by HOLLYWOOD CASINO

Buy tickets online at stanfordscomedyclub.com

913.400.7500 • TUE-SUN 7:45PM & 9:45PM

Live Music Live Music 7 nights 7 nights a week

a week

816.561.2444 www.erniebiggs.com nsas 4115 Mill Street West Port Ka

City pitch.com

december 5 -11, 2013

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31

continued from page 30 The Improv’s Comedy Magic Show | 1 p.m. Improv

THEATER

INVICTA FC 7

Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

The Kick-Off Improv Comedy Show | 8-9:30 p.m.

Westport Coffee House, 4010 Pennsylvania

Major League Improv | 7:30 & 10 p.m. ComedyCity at Westport Flea Market, 817 Westport Rd.

Tammy Pescatelli | 7 & 9:45 p.m. Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

Dates and times vary.

A Christmas Carol | Kansas City Repertory

DAY SATUR

12.7

Theatre, 4949 Cherry, kcrep.org

Almost, Maine | UMKC Theatre, through Sun-

day, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, Room 116, 4949 Cherry, umkctheatre.org

Smith Leslie ard. s forw e h c n pu

A Spectacular Christmas | Musical Theater Heritage, Off Center Theatre, Crown Center, 2450 Grand, mthkc.org

SEASONAL EVENTS

Christmas in the Park | 5:30-11 p.m. Longview Lake Campground, 10711 W. Scherer

Beauty and the Beast | Starting Tuesday, Municipal Auditorium/Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St., theaterleague.org

The Doo Dads | 12-3 p.m. Crown Center, 2450 Grand

Clybourne Park | Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main, unicorntheatre.org

Kristkindl Markt | 5-9 p.m. Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St.

Christmas in Song | Quality Hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th St., qualityhillplayhouse.com

Spirit of Christmas Past | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Bingham-

Waggoner Estate, 313 W. Pacific, Independence

Sugar Plum Fairy Children’s Ball | 11 a.m., $70,

Bartle Hall, 301 W. 13th St., kcballet.org

Whoville Holidays | 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. City Market,

Invicta FC 7: Leslie Smith vs. Barb Honchak | 6 p.m. Ameristar Casino, 3200 N. Ameristar Dr.

Dead Air | $54/$64, the Golden Ox, 1600 Genessee,

Urban Mining Sale | 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 3924 Walnut

The Santaland Diaries | Kansas City Rep, Copaken Stage, 13th St. and Walnut, kcrep.org

20 E. Fifth St.

FILM SPORTS & REC

Crown Center Ice Terrace |10a.m.-11 p.m.,2450 Grand

Mr. Marco’s V7 | The Brick, 1727 McGee Midlake | 8 p.m. Riot Room, 4048 Broadway

Uptown Film Showcase | 6:30 p.m. The Uptown Arts

Bar, 3611 Broadway

NIGHTLIFE

DJ Thundercutz | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway MUSIC

The Ice at Park Place | 11 a.m.-10 p.m., 117th St. and

Nall, Leawood

Missouri Mavericks vs. Arizona | 7:05 p.m. Inde-

pendence Events Center, 19100 E. Valley View Pkwy.

UMKC vs. Youngstown State men’s basketball | 12:05 p.m. Swinney Rec Center, 5100 Rockhill Rd. Westport Santa Dash | 10 a.m., Westport Road and

Pennsylvania

KC Cabaret variety show | 9:30 p.m. The Uptown

Winston Apple & the Two Tones CD-release show | 7 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd. Battle of the Bands: KU vs. MU | 8 & 10 p.m. The

Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway

Sunday | 12.8 |

Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St.

PERFORMING ARTS

kcmysterytrain.com

’Twas the Night Before Christmas | Theatre for Young America, City Stage Theater, 30 W. Pershing Rd., Union Station, tya.org

12 Plays of Christmas | Fishtank Performance Studio, 1715 Wyandotte

The Wiz | The Coterie, 2450 Grand, Crown Center, thecoterie.org

MUSEUM EXHIBITS & EVENTS Strawberry Hill Ethnic Museum and Cultural Center | 12-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 720

Bone Spur, Daffy’s Elixir, Death Vendor | 9 p.m.

Davey’s Uptown, 3402 Main

Heartland Men’s Chorus: Baby, It’s Cold Outside | 4 p.m. Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.

Dan Coyle, Dane Davenport, John Keck | 9 p.m.

Kansas City Ballet: The Nutcracker | 1 p.m. Kauff-

Take Five Tour | 6 p.m. Thursday, American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St.

Lisa Donnelly, the Band That Saved the World, Revelation: A Tribute to Journey | 7 p.m. The

KC Symphony: Handel’s Messiah | 2 p.m. Kauff-

SHOPPING

Czar, 1531 Grand

man Center, 1601 Broadway, kcballet.org

N. Fourth St., KCK, strawberryhillmuseum.org

SHOPPING

Cookbook sale | 10 a.m. Mod Gallery, 1809 McGee Good Ju Ju | 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., 1420 W. 13th Terr.

Liberty Belle | 9 a.m.-6 p.m., 1320 W. 13th St. LOLA Giant Holiday Showcase | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Van

Go Mobile Arts, 715 New Jersey, Lawrence

Mecum Kansas City Collector Car Auction | 8 a.m. Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St.

Rag and Bone | 9 a.m.-6 p.m., 1412 W. 12th St. Restoration Emporium | 9 a.m.-6 p.m., 1300 W. 13th St.

Granada, 1020 Massachusetts, Lawrence

man Center, 1601 Broadway, kcsymphony.org

Drake | 7 p.m., $29.50-$99.75, Sprint Center, 1407 Grand

Royal Opera House presents Les Vespres Siciliennes | Noon, Tivoli Cinemas, 4050 Pennsylvania

The Flood Brothers | 8 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112

SPORTS & REC

Pennsylvania

Hunter Hayes | 7:30 p.m. The Midland, 1228 Main

The Great Santa Run 5k | 9 a.m. Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park

Hearts of Darkness, the Conquerors | 8 p.m. The

Crown Center Ice Terrace | 10a.m.-9p.m.,2450Grand

house, 4218 Walnut

32

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december 5 -11, 2013

Sweatshop: A Pop-Up | 12-5 p.m. The Warehouse, 4218 Walnut

Urban Mining Sale | 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 3924 Walnut MUSIC

Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

Kodascope, Redder Moon | 10 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

The Ice at Park Place | 12-8 p.m., 117th St. and Nall,

Leawood

Stoney LaRue with the Ross Cooper Band | 9 p.m.

Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

pitch.com

Blue October | 6:30 p.m. VooDoo Lounge, Harrah’s Casino, 1 Riverboat Dr., NKC

Service Industry Gospel Revival | Westport Saloon, SEASONAL EVENTS

Sweatshop: A Pop-Up | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Ware-

LOLA Giant Holiday Showcase | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Van Go Mobile Arts, 715 New Jersey, Lawrence

Christmas in the Park | 5:30-10 p.m. Longview Lake Campground, 10711 W. Scherer

4112 Pennsylvania

Clint Velazquez Guitar Studio | 6 p.m. RecordBar,

1020 Westport Rd.

ALMOST, MAINE INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING OF

D THURS

AY

12.5

JEFF RUMANS

sky in Starlit h throug t, Almos y a Sund

Almost, Maine | Nine short plays, or vignettes, make up this work, directed by John Rensenhouse. It’s onstage through Sunday, at James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry, Room 116, 816-235-6222, umkctheatre.org.

ENTER-TO-WIN A COMPLIMENTARY TICKET! LOG ON TO GOFOBO.COM/RSVP AND INPUT THE FOLLOWING CODE: PITCHTDLR FOR MORE CHANCES TO WIN LIKE US ON facebook/43KIXKansasCity

Monday | 12.9 | LITERARY EVENTS

Tony Williams, Josh Johnson | 10 p.m. RecordBar,

1020 Westport Rd.

Wednesday | 12.11 |

OR FOLLOW US ON

twitter at/43KIXKansasCity

This film is not yet rated. Please note: Passes are available on a first-come first-served basis. While supplies last. No purchase necessary. Limit one admit-two pass per person. Employees of participating sponsors are ineligible. Arrive early! Seating is first-come, first-served, except for members of the reviewing press. Theater is overbooked to ensure a full house. Theater is not responsible for overbooking.

IN THEATERS CHRISTMAS DAY GRUDGEMATCHMOVIE.COM

Retired U.S. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill |

7 p.m. Unity Temple, 707 W. 47th St., rainydaybooks.com MUSIC

Chanel West Coast, Chase Compton | 7 p.m. The

SHOPPING

Laura Kathleen Trunk Show | 5-7 p.m. Colfax KC,

611 W. 39th St., colfaxkc.com

Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

The Jazz Disciples remember Leonard Kennedy | 7 p.m. The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St.

Tuesday | 12.10 | PERFORMING ARTS

Christmas with Kelley Hunt and the KC Jazz Orchestra | 7 p.m. Kauffman Center, 1601 Broadway KC Chamber Orchestra: A Baroque Holiday Concert | 7:30 p.m. Unity Temple, 707 W. 47th St., SPORTS & REC

Missouri Mavericks vs. Arizona | 7:05 p.m. Inde-

MUSIC

Acoustic Christmas with Tate Stevens, Dustin Lynch, Brothers Osborne, Dan & Shay, Rachel Farley | 7:30 p.m. The Midland, 1228 Main Selwyn Birchwood | 7:30 p.m. Knuckleheads Saloon,

2715 Rochester

Drew Black & the Dirty Electric, Approach & Boogaloo Odyssey, Mr. T and the BAs, Vertigone | 9 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway The Lonely Biscuits | 7 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand Dom Chronicles, GEN, Jay-Rel | 10 p.m. RecordBar,

1020 Westport Rd.

pendence Events Center, 19100 E. Valley View Pkwy.

MUSIC

NIGHTLIFE

DJs Mike Scott, Spinstyles and Bill Pile | MiniBar, 3810 Broadway

Lizzy Cruz, Greg Jai & the Suave, the Dark to Flaming Heart | 8 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand The Features, Refero, Tyler Gosnell | 8 p.m. The

Riot Room, 4048 Broadway

9 Plus 1 | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

Girlz of Westport | 8p.m.Californos,4124Pennsylvania E-mail submissions to calendar@pitch.com or enter submissions at pitch.com, where you can search our complete listings guide.

pitch.com

december 5 -11, 2013

the pitch

33

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to fall in the “right not to know” column, but “right not to know” always has to be weighed against “likelihood of finding out.”

You indicate that this couple are friends of “ours.” If either of them makes a reference to this the next time the four of you hang out, the boyfriend could be blindsided. And it’s not clear whether there were other witnesses.

You’ll have to ask yourself if finding out about the incident at a party or via a snarky Facebook post would leave him feeling twice as upset — then we’re talking about a crime and a cover-up, and learning about the incident in a manner that leaves him feeling humiliated.

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Dear Dan: I’m a bi woman in my mid-20s in a great monogamish relationship with my straight boyfriend. We occasionally invite other women into our sex life, which is enjoyable for both of us. He isn’t threatened by other women, only by other men, and I’m not interested in any other men. So when we find a lady we’re both into who’s also into us, anything goes, and it’s awesome. We’ve hooked up with both friends and strangers, but always as a couple. Enter the problem: I was visiting some friends of ours I used to live with before my boyfriend and I moved in together. We were playing an alcoholfueled card game that turned into an alcohol-fueled strip card game. This is in my former home where I’m very comfortable and was frequently in various states of undress while I was a housemate. One friend soon had her lovely breasts out, and she made a few comments that were direct and inviting and turned me on a little. I touched her boobs and sucked on her nipples, but that’s as far as things went. Her boyfriend witnessed this but wasn’t involved. It was a fun, playful moment, and soon after, I went to bed — alone. It wasn’t anything my boyfriend would’ve objected to had he been there. Should I tell him about it, or is this a case where he has the right not to know? I’m not interested in pursuing anything further with this friend, and I’m not sure what talking about it would accomplish, other than being honest at the expense of my boyfriend’s feelings.

3111

live together and are planning to move across the country in about a month. We have never fought and get along swimmingly. We have amazing sex, we see eye to eye on almost everything and are planning a future together. But we have never said “I love you” to each other. Is this normal?

Could it be possible that he doesn’t love me?

Hopefully Not Unlovable

Dear HNU: I don’t think a guy would move

across the country or plan a future with a woman for whom he felt nothing. Either he already loves you but hasn’t found the right moment to say so, or he realizes that you can’t be certain you’re in love until you’ve had at least one fight. That said, if you’re ready to say it to him, go ahead and say it. Just don’t have a meltdown if he’s not ready yet to say it to you.

Dear Dan: Say you’ve always wanted to peg a guy, but your otherwise GGG hot husband isn’t into receiving anal — for good reason (he’s had health problems there) — but he jokingly suggests that you peg his equally hot gay little brother. Should you ask his little brother if you can peg him?

Wanting It for Evah Dear WIFE: No. Dear Dan: How stupid would it be to sleep with my boss’s gorgeous 18-year-old son? My boss has become a mentor. He and his wife have welcomed me into their home, which includes their son, a high school senior. I’m a 23-year-old woman.

Normally, I wouldn’t sleep with anyone younger than 20. But my boss’s son is funny, kind and sweet. He’s also horny and has some serious unexplored kinks. I want to spend the next few months fucking him — honoring your campsite rule. Two problems: (1) This seems a surefire way to seriously wreck a relationship with a boss, and (2) he’s still in high school.

Sex or Not Dear SON: (1) Fucking your boss’s kid seems a surefire way to get your ass fired, and depending on what field you’re in, it could seriously derail your career. If you get caught. But if you decide to fuck the shit out of a gorgeous, funny, sweet and kinky adult who happens to be your boss’s son, you wouldn’t be the first person in human history to risk everything for sex.

(2) He’s an adult — who’s still in high school.

You’re not that far out of high school. You might be sabotaging your career, but you wouldn’t be robbing the cradle.

(3) The campsite rule for new readers: The older and/or more experienced person in a sexual relationship with a large age and/or experience gap is obligated to leave their younger and/or less experienced partner in better shape than when they found them — no sexually transmitted infections, fertilized eggs, unnecessary drama or unnecessary trauma.

The Savage Lovecast is at savagelovecast.com.

Have a question for Dan Savage?

E-mail him at mail@savagelove.net

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( 816 ) 326.9926 ( 913 ) 904.9974 FREE to listen & reply to ads!

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AMERICAN Dining Creations, a national provider of dining and catering services, is growing in Kansas City, KS. We are pleased to be servicing the Cerner Continuous Campus in early 2014. Start the New Year by working with the strongest culinary and hospitality professionals in Kansas City.

Bring your energy and enthusiasm to help us create great dining experiences every day!

Restaurant & Hospitality Hiring Event Thursday, December 12, 9am-5pm

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Supervisors, F/T, P/T, On-Call positions Culinary-Line cooks, Grill Cooks, Expeditor, Pizza Cook, Salad Tossery, Sandwich Server, Catering Servers & Set-up, Dish room/Utility positions Apply online at www.afvusa.com Resumé to: recruiter@afvusa.com

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To qualify you must currently be enrolled in college and able to receive college credit.

You also must be able to handle multiple projects at once and have related computer knowledge.

The Pitch is currently accepting applications for interns for the Spring & Summer semesters in the departments listed. Feel free to send us an email letting us know why you would like to intern with us.

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december 5 -11, 2013

pitch.com

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