The Pitch: September 2017

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the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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contents

Contents

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Feature

Game On Pat Clarke hopes his Hoops at Night program can make a difference in violence-prone Oak Park.

By Traci angel

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tragedy Plus time Mike Smith traded in a life of crime for standup comedy. Or did he?

the contrabassoon chop?

Chiefs fandom and KC Symphony devotion are far from mutually exclusive.

news

By DaviD HuDnall

10

streetside

Füd Fight The beloved Westside vegan restaurant has closed, for what appear to be very strange reasons.

By DaviD HuDnall

12

PrOFile

evermore Lawrence poet Danny Caine takes over the Raven Book Store as it enters its 30th year.

By DaviD HuDnall

First PersOn

By lucas WeTzel

the crying Bowl The absolutely justifiable hallucinations of new motherhood By angela luTz

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shOP Girl

Fashion, Forward Noble Native appeals to your clearance rack–weary conscience.

By angela luTz

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caFé

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normcore KCK’s Mockingbird Lounge could make a Cheers-style regular out of me.

summer Guide Here’s where we’re spending our season.

By liz cook

cOver stOry

By april Fleming

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Fat city

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the daily Grind Ibis Bakery and Messenger Coffee team up for a flour-and-drum show downtown.

Green and Blue Minor Park’s more-than-minor wonders: history, riverfront hiking and a busy cricket league in south Kansas City.

By april Fleming

Feature

By april Fleming

Getting comfortable Fall’s new restaurants bring on the meat and potatoes.

By april Fleming pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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contents

You Belong At...

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Dog Days Checking in with Heidi Van and Shea Ketchum, whose Fringe gambles we covered in June. Plus: the fall’s theater datebook.

By liz Cook aNd deBorah hirsCh

44 FilM

too Much?

Maybe more Blade Runner, more Larry David and more Stranger Things can make up for a lesser summer — if they live up to hype.

the pitch

Editor Scott Wilson Staff Writer David Hudnall Proofreader Brent Shepherd Contributing Writers Tracy Abeln, Traci Angel, Liz Cook, Karen Dillon, April Fleming, Natalie Gallagher, Deborah Hirsch, Ron Knox, Larry Kopitnik, Angela Lutz, Dan Lybarger, David Martin, Eric Melin, Annie Raab, Aaron Rhodes, Barbara Shelly, Nick Spacek, Lucas Wetzel Art Director Julie Whitty Contributing Photographers Zach Bauman, Chase Castor, Jennifer Wetzel Graphic Designers Amy Gomoljak, Abbie Leali, Liz Loewenstein, Melanie Mays Publisher Amy Mularski Director of Marketing and Operations Jason Dockery Senior Classifieds & Multimedia Specialist Steven Suarez Multimedia Specialists Becky Losey, Ryan Wolkey Office Administrator and Marketing Coordinator Andrew Miller

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By eriC MeliN

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MuSiC

Extended Play Hembree dances away from its Americana roots.

By NiCk spaCek

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JAzz BEAt

Swing Season Fall’s jazz calendar includes local heroes and national legends.

By larry kopitNik

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The contents of The Pitch are Copyright 2017 by KC Communications, LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the express written permission of the publisher.

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News

A YouTube still from one of Smith’s videos

Tragedy Plus Time

Mike Smith traded in a life of crime for stand-up comedy. Or did he?

By DaviD HuDnall

The Lodge of Overland Park is a run-ofthe-mill suburban apartment complex that sits just north of Interstate 435, between that highway’s Metcalf and Antioch exits. Despite its proximity to heavy traffic, the place feels isolated, tucked away down a winding road and bounded on its western and northern edges by Indian Creek. The property is vast — more than 30 squat, beige-and-brown buildings spread across several acres — and outside the units on the southernmost end, you can hear, but not see, cars whooshing down 435. Billy Jo Goodface says she was talking on the phone outside one of these units on the afternoon of Thursday, February 2, 2017, when she heard gunfire in the apartment where she was staying. As Goodface backed away toward the stairwell to flee, she saw a man she would later identify as Michael Collins Smith emerge from the apartment. He had a gun in his hand, she says, and when he saw her, he turned and started firing it at her.

“I looked at him, and he looked at me, and I screamed, No! And I ran and yelled for help,” Goodface testified at a preliminary hearing in August. She hid behind some cars in a parking lot and called the police. Asked if the shooter was still on the scene, Good-

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face told the 911 dispatcher that she wasn’t sure. The call was then disconnected.

Goodface says that when she exited the apartment, there were three people inside: Goodface’s 3-month-old granddaughter, Kalahni; Anthony Shuster, 28, father of Kalahni and fiancé of Goodface’s daughter, Kayla; and Smith. Goodface frequently stayed at the apartment to help take care of Kalahni, and she had seen Smith before. She knew him as Shuster’s barber, and lately he’d been coming by to cut Shuster’s hair at the apartment. She passed him in the doorway on her way outside, she says. He was carrying a large black duffel bag.

When police arrived at the Lodge, Smith wasn’t there. A baby’s wail and the smell of burnt marijuana greeted two officers as they entered Shuster’s apartment, where they saw a large jar of marijuana on the mantle. In the living room, they found Shuster lying on his left side, the lining in the right front pocket of his pants turned inside-out. He’d suffered six gunshot wounds to the body and two blunt-force injuries to the face. He was dead. Six inches from Shuster’s limp hand, Kalahni squealed atop a bloody rug. One of the officers scooped her up and carried her outside into the late-winter air.

SMith viewed Standup, friendS Say, aS an OppOrtunity fOr redeMptiOn.

For the past 15 years, Mike Smith has worked as a standup comic and lived in Kansas City. He performed often at the two top comedy venues in the area — Stanford & Sons and the Improv — and he regularly toured Midwest comedy clubs: the Loony Bin, in Little Rock, the Funny Bone, in Des Moines, places like that. You might recognize him from his occasional guest appearances on the local morning show KC Live!

About a decade ago, Smith appeared on BET’s ComicView, which showcases up-andcoming black comedians.

A trope Smith often returned to in his act was his own troubled past. Now 47 years old, Smith grew up in Wyandotte County and attended Sumner Academy. After high school, he fell into a life of crime — “robbing dope boys and getting into trouble,” as he has described it on various bios online. He served a decade in prison for aggravated robbery and unlawful firearm possession and was released on parole in 2000. Smith soon began pursuing a career in comedy. He viewed standup, friends say, as an opportunity for redemption.

“I met Mike probably around 2002, when he was just starting out,” says Will Clifton, a lo-

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cal comic who goes by the stage name Will C. “He was bouncing back from prison and trying to take his life in a positive direction. Early on, he was mining his experiences in prison for his act, which — I think, as a result of that, there was a little bit of an edge to his act that you didn’t see very much around here.”

Elliott Threatt, also a black comic based in Kansas City, describes Smith as a confrontational performer, with an alpha-male energy.

“I remember early on him asking me if I thought he should use the N-word in his set,” Threatt recalls. “And I said absolutely not. I never use that word, and I don’t think it belongs anywhere, comedy included. And then I see him go up onstage and he’s saying it over and over. He was kind of his own guy, in that way.”

Though Threatt and Smith’s styles diverged — Threatt works clean, Smith blue — he says Smith nevertheless found ways to connect with the predominantly white comedy audiences in the Midwest.

“You go to Fargo, and there’s not a lot of minorities in the crowd up there, you know?” Threatt says. “And Mike would take the stage to rap music and talk about his past. And I’m watching, thinking, These North Dakotans are not going to be able to relate. But then he would kill. His swagger and confidence got him over.”

Craig Glazer, owner of Stanford & Sons, says he saw in Smith’s crossover appeal a potential worth pursuing in Hollywood.

“This is not some schmoe comedian we’re talking about,” Glazer says. “I always thought Mike had the skills and the talent and the unique perspective to move to L.A. and break out. I would always tell him, You could be in the same league as guys like Katt [Williams] and [Kevin] Hart, but it ain’t gonna happen if you stick around KC. But he had two little boys he was raising [Smith shared custody of them with his ex], and he was dedicated to them. He didn’t feel that moving to L.A. was an option.”

Comedians who opt not to light out for the coasts have limited earning potential.

At the traditional clubs in which Smith primarily worked, a hierarchy exists. A typical show includes three performers: an opener, a featured act and the headliner. Average pay for an opener — often a comic just starting out — hovers around $150 for a week’s worth of shows (Thursday through Sunday, two shows each night). Pay for a featured act varies: $250 on the low end, $600 for more experienced performers. A headliner’s pay depends on his or her level of fame; a comic with name recognition who regularly appears on TV can command several thousand dollars for a week of shows, whereas somebody more local and less well-known might receive only $1,000 or $1,500 to headline.

“If you feature, you can maybe travel regionally and do one-off shows, but the pay is

Shuster rapping in his music video for “Rain”

ShuSter waS part of a rap Scene that congregated in now-cloSed midtown venueS.

not great and you’re on your own dime, trying to figure out whether to get a hotel or crash at somebody’s place or sleep in your car,” Clifton says. “Then you get to be a headliner and at first you think you’re on top of the world, but there’s only so many clubs and they’ll only book you once a year, maybe twice. For example, I headline Stanford’s twice a year, and the Improv maybe once a year. There are thousands of comics trying to get these gigs.”

“Touring is really tough because the money is the same as it was 20 years ago, but everything else — the price of gas, hotels, whatever — is way more expensive,” Threatt says. “That’s why almost everybody has some kind of side hustle, whether it’s Uber or acting or serving in a restaurant.”

Smith’s hustle — one of them, at least — was cutting hair, a skill he’d picked up while in prison. He barbered at Milan for Hair, a salon off 80th Street and Parallel Parkway, in Kansas City, Kansas. Among his loyal customers there was Anthony Shuster, who’d been coming to Smith for cuts from the time he was a teenager until the day Smith allegedly killed him.

Like Smith, Shuster was a child of Wyandotte County. He grew up near 84th Street and Leavenworth Road. He played varsity football and basketball at Washington High School, and his mother, Toni Maltbia, says college football scouts were recruiting him until his thigh bone was snapped in half during a senior-year football game. He dropped out of school shortly thereafter.

Maltbia says that, at the time of his death, Shuster was “no longer in the streets.” She says that, during the early years of this decade, her son was part of a rap scene that would sometimes congregate at now-closed establishments such as America’s Pub, in Westport, and Balanca’s, in the Crossroads.

In 2012, Shuster was convicted in Wyan-

dotte County of possession with intent to sell a depressant; he received probation. In 2014, Shuster was shot in the face outside a gas station in Kansas City, Kansas. He had several reconstructive surgeries for the injury but ultimately lost vision in his right eye.

“He was living that life — doing music, going to clubs, out in the streets — and that [getting shot] scared the shit out of him,” Maltbia says. “He never went back to the apartment he was living in at the time. By the time he got out of the hospital, they [Shuster and Robinson, his girlfriend] had a new place in Shawnee. Anthony wouldn’t go back to KCK after that. He wouldn’t even come visit me in Missouri.”

Life in Johnson County was quieter but not without incident. In 2015, Shuster was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of criminal destruction of property and obstruction of justice, receiving a year of probation. Not long after, Robinson became pregnant; the child would be Shuster’s third.

(He had two other children with different mothers.) Unemployed, he spent time promoting his younger brother’s musical endeavors and dabbling in hip-hop himself.

“He encouraged those around him to follow their dreams, and if he could help, he would,” recalls a cousin of Shuster’s, Falysha Andersen. “And he was dedicated to his three kids more than anything else.”

Before he died, Shuster recorded a video for his song “Rain,” under the stage name Bandoe. In it, he wears a flat-bill Chiefs cap and a red T-shirt, and raps from a front yard, a park bench and the top of a swing set in a nondescript suburban setting. I’m just stuck in the rain/With a Glock and a hoodie, goes the refrain.

The day after the shooting at the Lodge, Smith turned himself in to authorities and was charged with first-degree murder in pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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Shuster’s death. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder (for allegedly shooting at Goodface) and aggravated endangerment of a child (because Kalahni was present).

On August 8, a preliminary hearing was held in Johnson County District Court for the purposes of convincing Judge Thomas M. Sutherland that the state’s prosecutors had sufficient evidence to justify criminal proceedings against Smith. After a day of witness and expert testimony, Sutherland found that the state had met its burden, after which Smith — who sat silent in an orange jumpsuit, thick brown belt and eyeglasses — entered a not-guilty plea to the charges against him.

In such a hearing (at which no jury is present), the defense is permitted to cross-examine the state’s witnesses but cannot call its own.

As a result, the information that surfaced was skewed in favor of the prosecution. Should the case go to trial, Smith’s attorneys will have the chance to present their version of what happened in that apartment on February 2.

Conversations with those who have spoken to Smith since the shooting suggest that he will likely claim he acted in self-defense. (Both the prosecutor and Smith’s public defender declined to comment for this story. A scheduling conference for the trial is planned for mid-September.)

Because the only known witness to the shooting was an infant, it will be difficult for either side to establish facts about what occurred in the moments before Shuster’s death. But clues exist. When police searched the home, they found $31,000 in cash stuffed in a jacket hanging in Shuster’s closet. They also discovered, in the bedroom, a handgun (not believed to have been used in the killing), two digital scales, six cell phones hidden in a shoebox (three iPhones and three flip phones), and well over a pound of marijuana inside vacuum-sealed bags. Prints on the marijuana bags trace to Shuster, not to Smith.

Both Goodface and Robinson testified that they were unaware of any of the incriminating evidence — the gun, the drugs, the phones, the scales — found in the small apartment where they had been staying.

There also came a moment, while the prosecution was questioning Robinson, when she seemed to back away from statements she had previously given to the state.

“You told us after Anthony was killed that you talked to his friends about what happened,” the prosecutor said. “Who were those friends?”

Robinson hesitated and then said that she had spoken only to Shuster’s younger brother, M.J. In the back of the courtroom, four young men — one of whom had earlier been sitting beside Maltbia, Shuster’s mother — sat watching the proceedings.

“I know you don’t want to get anyone else involved, but you told me you spoke to Anthony’s friends about what happened,” the prosecutor returned. “You told me their names.”

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Robinson repeated that she had talked to M.J. alone. During cross examination, Smith’s attorney asked Robinson if she was afraid of Shuster’s friends. After a few seconds, Robinson said no. “You hesitated,” Smith’s attorney said. “Why?” A meaningful response did not appear to be forthcoming, and the line of questioning was abandoned.

The state appears to have plenty on Smith, though. Cell-phone records obtained by the prosecution suggest that giving Shuster a trim was not the only reason Smith had stopped by the apartment that day.

According to phone numbers the prosecution claims to be associated with Smith and Shuster, the following exchange took place a few hours before the shooting:

Smith’s February 3 mugshot

“He went out tHere witH bad intentions.”

Toni Maltbia

Smith: Gotcha covered, be through at 4 Shuster: Gone at 4:30 to pick up my chick Smith: Can we do same thing again? I’ve got ways to get rid of it quicker Shuster: My dude Smith: OMW Shuster: OK Also earlier that day, a phone believed to be associated with Smith received a text from an unidentified phone number that said: “2gs for 30?” This, paired with the exchange with Shuster, seem to suggest Smith may have been dealing small amounts of marijuana purchased from Shuster.

Besides Goodface’s account of Smith shooting at her, the most damning testimony against Smith so far has come from his mother, Zella. The prosecutor asked her to confirm the contents of a message Smith had sent her three days before Shuster’s death. In it, he asked for financial help from his parents in exchange for him doing work around their house. He said he’d hit “rock bottom” due to poor decisions he’d recently made.

“I thought I could help myself through my own methods, but I was wrong,” Smith is alleged to have written his mother. “I need to lean on my family and loved ones.”

Zella, an elderly woman who seemed foggy and bewildered on the stand, testified that she’d told her son she would keep his request under consideration. Before the end of the week, Smith was in custody.

The prosecution recently amended its complaint against Smith to accommodate other explanations for Shuster’s death.

Smith was initially charged with premeditated murder. Now, room has been made in the charges for two alternative, non-premeditated counts: murder while committing an armed robbery, and murder committed in the course of distributing marijuana.

Beneath these three formal charges lie several possible sub-narratives: Smith had a problem with Shuster and went over there to kill him; Smith was desperate for money and went over there to rob and kill Shuster; Smith

planned only to rob Shuster but the situation escalated and he killed him; Smith came over only to buy drugs, but an argument over the price turned deadly; Smith came over only to cut Shuster’s hair, and an argument arose that ended fatally; Shuster attempted to rob Smith, and Smith shot him in self-defense.

It’s also possible that Goodface knows more about what happened inside the apartment than she has so far revealed.

Outside of court, advocates for Smith and Shuster seem sure of their own version.

“He went out there with bad intentions,” Maltbia says of Smith. “It was not some drug deal gone bad. He knew Kayla wasn’t going to be home when he went over there.

He was a greedy little bastard — a hateful, greedy little bastard who shot Anthony with his 3-month-old in the room. Absolutely, he premeditated that murder.”

Glazer says Smith was at Stanford & Sons “normal as can be” the night before the killing. “There is no way on God’s green Earth that Mike Smith went over there with the intention of killing somebody,” Glazer says.

Laurie Fank, a former comedian and close friend of Smith’s, says she has spoken to Smith since he turned himself in.

“I know he’s looking forward to telling his side of the story,” Fank says. “I have no doubt that when all the information comes to light, it will be clear that he acted in selfdefense. I believe that man attacked him and things went horribly awry from there.”

What about the “rock bottom” text? Fank says the mother of Smith’s children had recently married someone in the Army and had received permission to move Smith’s children away from Kansas City for a year while the new husband was in basic training.

“She took his kids around December and he was bummed about that,” Fank says. “But that should not be interpreted as, he was in a dark place and that led to a life of crime. That’s not it.” (Smith’s ex could not be reached.)

Smith website, mikeyoulaugh.com, has been removed from the internet, owing to subpoenas issued related to the state’s investigation. But a handful of YouTube videos of Smith continue to live online. In 2013, he appeared on a morning segment of KC Live! to promote an upcoming headlining gig at Stanford & Sons. He joked about Paula Deen saying the N-word, expressed admiration for Bill Maher, and spoke of how nerveracking his BET appearance had been.

“If you weren’t doing standup comedy, what sort of career would you be in?” host Michael Mackie asked toward the end of the interview.

“I would probably, uh, be selling drugs,” Smith said. Mackie threw his interview notes in the air. “Oh, can I not say that on TV?” “No, you can say that — you just did,” Mackie replied.

“Oh, OK, because if you need the hookup: mikeyoulaugh.com,” Smith said, pointing at the camera and spelling out the words.

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streetside

Füd Fight

The beloved Westside vegan restaurant has closed, for what appear to be very strange reasons.

By DaviD HuDnall

Sometime in the past year, Heidi Van Pelt came to the conclusion that her employees were conspiring against her.

“I do believe they were plotting [against me],” Van Pelt — an owner of Füd, the seven-year-old vegan restaurant on the Westside — told me recently. “I can prove it.”

Van Pelt had not, as of The Pitch’s press deadline, supplied that proof. But there is much evidence that she sincerely believes it to be true. Most notably, there is the fact that, on the afternoon of Friday, August 4, Van Pelt arrived at Füd with her attorney and a police officer and ordered everyone — cooks, servers, customers — to leave the premises.

It had already been a pretty unusual week. On Monday, a cook named Cybil Watson quit after getting into an argument with an employee Van Pelt had recently hired.

The new employee, Watson tells me, aimed to provoke her by spouting what she calls “alt-right” talking points.

“Anti-immigrant, anti-trans type of stuff,” Watson says. “I told him he was making me uncomfortable, and then I went and told Heidi the same thing. And Heidi starts talking about how, well, there’s passing trans and non-passing trans. Then she goes into this rant about how men are dressing up as women and going into bathrooms and molesting people. I was like, What?”

Watson continues: “That wasn’t the first transphobic thing I’ve heard her say. On my second day working there, she said something about the patriarchy forcing women to cut off their tits and ovaries so they could be more like men and have power. So the thing on Monday was it for me. I just left.”

Van Pelt has long been regarded as eccentric. In the early 2000s, she was tabloid fodder in Los Angeles: a vegan chef to the stars who married a former child actor — Taran Noah Smith, the youngest brother on the 1990s ABC hit Home Improvement — 16 years her junior. (She was 32; he was 17.) In 2005, when the couple’s relationship went south, Van Pelt returned to Kansas City, where she’d grown up. She soon opened Füd as a raw-vegan pop-up restaurant inside Bad Seed, the Crossroads farmers market. In 2010, Füd debuted as a stand-alone eatery on the Westside.

According to five now-former Füd employees with whom I’ve spoken, Van Pelt in recent years has fed herself a steady diet of conspiracy-theory podcasts in Füd’s kitchen. Earlier on the day Watson quit, she says, Van Pelt had been “talking for hours about Pizzagate — how pedophiles were grind-

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ing people up to make pizza sauce. Another shift I worked, she was trying to educate me about reptilian overlords who control the world. Like, delusional shit that you would never expect an adult could believe.”

Another cook, Wade Conyers, and a server, Geneva Wilbury, both say they heard Van Pelt openly and repeatedly express her belief that the Earth is flat. “It’s easy to laugh at something like that and just keep on working,” Conyers says. “I mean, it sounds insane — because it is. But when she goes on about gays are pedophiles and all this stuff, that’s a whole other thing.”

Two days after Watson quit, an anonymous Google review of Füd appeared online. The review’s author complained about having overheard Van Pelt deliver toxic political rants at Füd: “hateful dialogue,” the diner wrote, including “referring to all Catholics as pedophiles, trans persons as freaks, fat people as primitive.” Van Pelt’s flat-Earth sympathies were also cited.

The Google review seems to have been the last straw for Van Pelt. That Friday, employees turned up for work to find that the cash register and the credit-card machine were gone, as was all the money in the safe.

Van Pelt was not there. Conyers says he called Jerimiah Rozzo, who is both co-manager of Füd and Van Pelt’s ex-husband. Rozzo went to the restaurant, and the staff managed to open for business that day. Around 5 p.m., Van Pelt arrived with her lawyer and the police, and ordered the place shut down.

In an email, Van Pelt outlines her perspective on that week. She writes that she is neither a conspiracy theorist — “I do not know who controls the world, if I knew that, maybe I would be one of them. I am human” — nor trans- or homophobic. (“I am genderqueer,” she adds. “I have never said

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“There’s abouT 10 of us Who are ouT of jobs because of This.”

Former employee seth Wood

gay men are pedophiles. Any man can be a pedophile. Often, pedophiles are in straight relationships.”)

Van Pelt, in her email, says it’s she who has come under attack.

“Only the recently fired employees are saying this because they were running the restaurant to the ground, and I was working on replacing them,” Van Pelt writes. “They knew this and did what they could to create character assassination. This is ALL ABOUT MONEY ... My partner [Rozzo] decided to try and run it [Füd] without my consent. He drained the payroll and operating accounts that morning because I did not want to reopen until we replaced the staff.”

She goes on: “The problem is that I was not managing any more. I was taking a break while my partner was trying to manage. He thought he was doing his best. His problem was that he became too friendly and began drinking with them. This was the breakdown. He didn’t want to make them mad, so they had the run of the place.”

Rozzo, who owns 49 percent of Füd to Van Pelt’s 51 percent, tells me that he and Van Pelt are trying to iron out the legal details of how to sever their partnership in the restaurant. He calls it “a very traumatic end to a long, dysfunctional business relationship.”

“She [Van Pelt] apparently believes that she was within her rights to cease operation of our business without my consent, just as I believe I was within my rights to continue to operate our business that I did not consent to close,” Rozzo says. “At this point, what’s done is done, and I’m ready to move on. In the end it will have been a relief. There are many memories I will hold close, and my heart goes out to all of our staff whose lives were upended. My deepest appreciation goes out to our customers and all who have supported us over the years.”

Van Pelt says she expects Füd to reopen soon with a staff of new as well as former employees. Seth Wood, one of the former Füd employees whom Van Pelt believes to have been “disloyal,” says she shouldn’t expect anybody who worked there over the past year to return.

“There are six or seven of us she let go who she thought were scheming against her, but she tried to tell four other employees they’re welcome back when she reopens,” Wood says. “But those four employees have since sent her their resignations as well. Basically, there’s about 10 of us who are out of jobs because of this, and none of us are willing to go back and work for Heidi.”

Van Pelt, in her email to me, closes with an appeal against the very type of hate her employees accuse her of.

“The online bullying is becoming an epidemic,” she writes. “People no longer have empathy for each other. There is only hate spreading rapidly. This will only lead to a civil war. I hope I tip the scales in this city for a new direction of compassion and empathy toward our fellow human beings.”

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Profile

Caine moved to Lawrence to get an MFA and ended up with a bookstore.

Evermore

Lawrence poet Danny Caine takes over the Raven Book Store as it enters its 30th year.

ZaCh Bauman

by DaviD HuDnall

On a Wednesday in early August, Lawrence’s Raven Book Store was closed for an afternoon of repair work, and Danny Caine, surrounded by many quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore, dragged a couple of chairs over from Nonfiction, parked them in the small area in front of the counter and set about explaining how he had recently come to own a bookstore.

First he had to get hired.

“Getting a job here was a prolonged campaign,” Caine, 31, said. “I came to Lawrence in August 2014 to start in the [University of Kansas’] MFA program for poetry. A friend I made, Meghara, who was getting her Ph.D. in literature, worked here, and once I found that out I really started working on her to put in a good word for me. I would come by the store and try to talk to Heidi [Raak, then the owner]. I’d always buy a book. Finally,

12

after five months, Heidi agreed to interview me for a job — and 15 minutes into the interview, she agreed to hire me.”

Caine made the most of his new gig.

In addition to the usual clerking duties — running the register, stocking the shelves, writing those notecard recommendations for staff-favorite books — he also curated the Raven’s Big Tent Reading Series and worked events the store put on in conjunction with the Lawrence Public Library. It was at a Big Tent reading last year, Caine said, that Raak made an offhand joke about selling him the store once she was too tired to run it anymore.

“She was like, ha ha, but I was like, ‘Actually, if you are ever serious about that, please talk to me, because I would be very interested,’ ” Caine said. “So, then we did start to talk about it a little bit over the course of several

Raven resident Dashiell’s new bed is a hollowed-out RCA Victor TV.

months. Then, as I got closer to graduating, those talks got more serious.”

Caine had always thought he’d teach for the rest of his life. After college, he taught high school in Smithville, Ohio, for three years, then went back to school for a master’s degree in English, before being accepted to the poetry track in KU’s MFA program. (He has since published a chapbook and recently sent a new manuscript to publishers.)

“But I’d been noticing the past few years that teaching didn’t feel right to me the way it used to,” Caine said. “Plus, it’s really hard to get a job as a poetry professor these days.

To get the good job, you almost have to be famous before you hit the job market. You have to have a book out already on Graywolf or some other prominent press. And I didn’t want to do the adjunct thing.”

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Profile

Raak had been running the Raven since purchasing it from the original owners, Pat Kehde and Mary Lou Wright, in 2008.

Though she had worked at a bookstore previously — Watermark Books, in Wichita — she faced a steep learning curve exacerbated by the relentless march of Amazon.

“The first three or four years were very rough — I think everybody who owned a retail store during those years was having a hard time,” Raak told me. “It was not a moneymaking proposition. But eventually we turned it around, and I think a lot of that had to do with making ourselves part of the larger community here in Lawrence: partnering with the library, bringing in local and regional authors.”

But after nearly a decade, Raak was feeling burned out. “At some point, I realized I didn’t want to invest so much energy in it anymore,” she said. “And Danny is super eager, a fast reader, high energy, and more outgoing than I am. And he had a lot of ideas.

So we hatched a plan.”

Caine graduated in May of this year, and on August 1, he became the new owner of the Raven. He’s in the process of figuring out QuickBooks and business taxes (“I never expected to have a job where financial paperwork was involved”) and has made some small cosmetic alterations to the place: custom-built bookshelves, a short row of antique movie-theater seats bolted into the floor near the front windows, a couple of new rugs, fresh lettering on the windows.

“It’s a creaky-feeling bookstore, which is great and charming, and I don’t think we necessarily want it to feel brand-new,” Caine said. “This is more like just a small facelift.”

When the Raven opened, in 1987, its niche was mysteries. But the days of a college-town bookstore surviving on a specific genre have largely passed, and though the Mystery section still occupies a considerable amount of real estate in the modest space, the store’s offerings have diversified over time. Literary fiction, children’s books, local and regional titles, and — particularly since the election — political nonfiction make up a growing chunk of Raven revenues.

“In a way, we serve two markets,” Caine said. “The mystery readership is still strong.

We’ll sell two cases [32 hardcovers] of the new Louise Penny novel when it comes in. The other core is college-adjacent people, many of whom might be professors or young parents who are coming to us for titles by Rebecca Solnit or Naomi Klein, or literary fiction, but also for children’s books. That’s kind of been the formula since I’ve been here, and I think it would be foolish to mess with it.”

To celebrate the unlikely success of that formula — the Raven has outlasted every other bookstore in downtown Lawrence, save for the Dusty Bookshelf (which sells used titles) and Signs of Life (Christianfocused) — Caine, the staff and Raven resi-

dent cats Dashiell and Ngaoi are putting on a 30th anniversary party at the shop on September 8. There will be music, food and 30 percent off selected books. (Details at raven bookstore.com.)

During the 30 or so minutes Caine chatted with me about the store, a halfdozen passersby had pulled on the entrance door handle, inspected the “closed for renovations” sign and shuffled off.

Now someone came gently rapping at the Raven door: two visitors from Game Nut, the downtown video-game store, there to pick up a large old green bookshelf that once housed the Current Events section.

Caine held the door for them as they carried the piece out onto the sidewalk and disappeared from view.

“A good bit of Raven history I learned while working here is that the day Borders

opened down the street, in the late 1990s, was a record-breaking day of sales for the Raven,” Caine said, returning to his chair.

“People really came out for us. So we’ve always had a pretty loyal following in the community. I think as long as we can preserve that here, we’ll be OK.” Outside, down on New Hampshire Street, the old Borders space sat vacant. It closed in 2011. But the Raven — it still is sitting. pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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cover story

Beyond the Chiefs, this fall brings U2 to Arrowhead, Lady Gaga to Sprint — and just enough food, drink and cultural events to let you recover.

Friday, September 1

Monday, September 4

Kansas City Irish Fest (through September 3)

Lake Street Dive

kcirishfest.com

Crossroads KC

Crown Center Square

Tuesday, September 5

Santa Cali Gon Days (through September 4)

Cherry Glazerr

santacaligon.com Historic Independence Square

Saturday, September 2 Kansas City Renaissance Festival (weekends and holidays through October 15) kcrenfest.com

Bonner Springs

Indigo Girls Becky Warren Crossroads KC

Sunday, September 3 John Butler Trio Nattali Rize Crossroads KC

Ravyn Lenae Smino and SZA Uptown Theater

RecordBar

Yes, featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Thursday, September 7 Paris of the Plains Cocktail Festival (through September 10) popfest.com

Various locations

Dancefestopia Music Festival (through September 10) Tiësto, Breathe Carolina, Datsik, Liquid Stranger, Crizzly, Space Jesus, Puppet, PhaseOne Berkley Riverfront Park

Friday, September 8 Local Runway Fashion show benefiting Healing House facebook.com/eventimagineers

The Oliver Building (1321 West 13th Street, West Bottoms)

Jesse James Festival (through September 17) jessejamesfestival.com

Kearney, Missouri

Annunciation Greek Festival (through September 10) greekfoodfest.com

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Belton Fall Festival

mainstreetbelton.org

Main Street, Belton

Snoop Dogg Foster the People, Spoon, Marian Hill, K.Flay, Toadies, Hippo Campus Children’s Mercy Park

Saturday, September 9

Michael Stern leading the Kansas City Symphony at Arrowhead in 2015.

(Photo courtesy of the symPhony)

Crossroads Music Fest

Monday, September 11

Walnut to Oak Streets between 16th and 19th streets

Douglas Preston Author, The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story

cmfkc.com

Kansas City Renaissance Festival (weekends and holidays through October 15) kcrenfest.com

Liberty Hall

Weezer Run the Jewels, Gogol Bordello, PVRIS, Bishop Briggs, Chicano Batman

Tuesday, September 12 U2 Beck

Children’s Mercy Park

Arrowhead Stadium

Ying Yang Twins and Second Hand King John Price, Lovergurl, Smitty the Kid

Wednesday, September 13 Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals Uptown Theater

The Riot Room

Sunday, September 10

Noon-6 p.m., BinghamWaggoner Estate (313 West Pacific Avenue, Independence)

Kenny Broberg Van Cliburn piano medalist

Dance in the Park

Kansas City Jewish Culture Fest

KC Beer Fest

7 p.m., Unity Temple on The Plaza (707 West 47th Street)

Seu Jorge

Bonner Springs

Independence Uncorked Wine Festival

7 p.m., Roanoke Park (3600 Roanoke Road, north corner)

rainydaybooks.com

Thursday, September 14 The Mountain Goats Kevin Morby Madrid Theatre

4 p.m., Folly Theater Jewishculturefest.com

Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal Uptown Theater

Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City

kc-beerfest.com

Kansas City Power & Light District pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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cover story

u2

Tech N9Ne

KaNsas ciTy BalleT’s Romeo & Juliet

Parade of homes

Friday, September 15 Brush Creek Art Walk (through September 17) Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center

Kansas City Symphony Season opening weekend: pianist Natasha Remiski plays Rachmaninoff Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts kcsymphony.org.com

Tech N9ne The Truman

Eli Young Band Granada Theatre

Sunday, September 17 Banks Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland

Monday, September 18 Tove Lo

Saturday, September 16

The Truman

Dan Savage’s HUMP! Film Festival

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Beth Hart

Screenland Armour, screenland.com

Riverside Music Fest riversidefest.com

E.H. Young Riverfront Park

Waldo Fall Festival 75th Street and Wornall Road

Village West WineFest

villagewestwinefest.com

Schlitterbahn Kansas City Waterpark

Uptown Theater

Wednesday, September 20 Andrew W.K. RecordBar

Thursday, September 21 Kansas City Wine & Roses

kansascityrosesociety.org/wine-roses.html

Jacob L. Loose Park

Uncorked: KC 90+ 100 wines rated over 90 points Union Station

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Friday, September 22 Liberty Fall Festival (through September 24) libertyfallfest.com

Downtown Liberty

Lee’s Summit Oktoberfest (through September 23) lsoktoberfest.com

Downtown Lee’s Summit

Gorillaz Sprint Center

Melissa Etheridge Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Saturday, September 23 Annual Fall Parade of Homes 11 a.m.–6 p.m. daily through October 8 kchba.org

Plaza Art Fair

plazaartfair.com

Country Club Plaza

Overland Park Fall Festival

opkansas.org/events/overlandpark-fall-festival/

Santa Fe Commons Park

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Soul2Soul Sprint Center

Sunday, September 24 Zach Lovely’s Wild West Showdown 11 a.m., lowrider show and hop contest 1217 Union Avenue, West Bottoms

Under a Harvest Moon: A Farm to Table Benefit Dinner featuring Vaughn Good of Hank Charcuterie powellgardens.org

Powell Gardens

Rise Against, Pierce the Veil, and White Lung Uptown Theater

Andy Mineo

Lords of Acid Combichrist, and Christian Death Granada Theatre

Wednesday, September 27 Counting Crows and Matchbox Twenty Starlight Theatre

Thursday, September 28 Universal Film Festival

universalfilmfestival.com

Cinemark Palace on the Plaza

Friday, September 29 Gladstone Gladfest (through October 1)

gladstonechamber.com/events/ gladfest-copy

Oak Grove Park

The Truman

Saturday, September 30

Tuesday, September 26

Eugene Onegin Lyric Opera (through October 8)

The Weeknd Sprint Center

Sylvan Esso Helado Negro Crossroads KC

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Green Dirt Farm Table Dinner featuring chef Carlos Falcon (Jarocho Mariscos y Pescados) greendirtfarm.com

Green Dirt Farm, Weston

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FIERCELY LOYAL. ALWAYS THERE WHEN YOU NEED. REPRESENTING YOU SO WELL, THEY’LL THINK WE’RE YOU.

GOT YOUR BACK BY STANDING AT YOUR SIDE.

LAST: NEGOTIATOR

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WWW.WHICHROLE.COM pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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WaTerFire KanSaS CiTy

lady gaga

Trio SoliSTi

Weston Tobacco Festival Weston Burley House

Busta Rhymes Crossroads KC

Clint Black

Tuesday, October 10

Sunday, October 22

George Saunders Author, Lincoln in the Bardo

The B-52’s

lawrence.lib.ks.us

7.p.m. Liberty Hall, Lawrence, free

Uptown Theater

The Afghan Whigs Har Mar Superstar

Ameristar Casino Kansas City

Thursday, October 12

RecordBar

Monday, October 2

Tim O’Brien Author, The Things They Carried (2017’s Big Read book)

Friday, October 27

Between the Buried and Me Granada Theatre

Tuesday, October 3 The xx Perfume Genius Starlight Theatre

Wednesday, October 4 Willie Nelson Starlight Theatre

Thursday, October 5 Dan Brown Author, Origin rainydaybooks.com

7 p.m., Unity Temple on The Plaza (707 West 47th Street)

Mount Moriah Angel Olsen Granada Theatre

Saturday, October 7 Kansas City Japan Festival kcjapanfestival.org

Johnson County Community College, Overland Park

WaterFire Kansas City Country Club Plaza

18

kclibrary.org

6:30 p.m., Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch

Friday, October 13 Romeo & Juliet Kansas City Ballet, worldpremiere choreography by Devon Carney (through October 22) Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Weston Irish Festival westonirish.com

O’Malley’s

Saturday, October 14 Botanical Brewfest Overland Park Arboretum

Arcade Fire Silverstein Eye Centers Arena

Uptown Theater

Tuesday, October 31 Gogol Bordello Granada Theatre

Screenland at the Sympony: Nosferatu Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts kcsymphony.org.com

Walter Isaacson Author, Leonardo da Vinci

Thursday, November 2

rainydaybooks.com

Lied Center

7 p.m., Unity Temple on The Plaza (707 West 47th Street)

Cults The Riot Room

Ministry Death Grips Uptown Theater

Pavel Haas String Quartet Friends of Chamber Music chambermusic.org

Folly Theater

Brew at the Zoo & Wine Too

Kansas City Symphony Dvorák, Shostakovich

Kansas City Zoo

kcsymphony.org.com

kansascityzoo.org

Regina Spektor

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Wednesday, October 18

Sunday, October 29

Mark Bowden Author, Hu 1968 kclibrary.org

Missouri Barn Dinner Series featuring chef Carmen Cabia of El Tenedor

6:30 p.m., Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch

Powell Gardens

powellgardens.org

Kristin Chenoweth

Tuesday, November 7 Victor Wooten Madrid Theatre

Saturday, November 11 Everest Lyric Opera (through November 19) Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

O.A.R. Uptown Theater

Bret Michaels Ameristar Casino and Hotel

Friday, November 3 Empty Bowls Harvesters fundraiser emptybowlkc.com

ArtsTech Center (1522 Holmes)

Trio Solisti Friends of Chamber Music

Vienna Boys Choir Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Wednesday, November 15 Lady Gaga Sprint Center

chambermusic.org

1900 Building, Mission Woods

Kansas International Film Festival kansasfilm.com

Glenwood Arts Theater

Descendents Less Than Jake Uptown Theater

Slowdive The Truman

Sunday, November 5 Blues Traveler and Los Colognes

Thursday, November 16 Jessica Lea Mayfield The Riot Room

Nick Offerman Uptown Theater

Saturday, November 18 Brandy Clark RecordBar

Sunday, November 19 St. Vincent Uptown Theater

Uptown Theater

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T IC K E TS AR E S E LLI N G FAST!

DON’T MISS F

Free Symphony Happy Hour PRANKS and PASSIONS Wednesday, September 20 at 6 p.m.

Family Series begins! SUPERHEROES at the SYMPHONY Sunday, October 1 at 2 p.m.

pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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Fall Guide: Film

Blade Runner 2049

Too Much?

Maybe more Blade Runner, more Larry David and more Stranger Things can make up for a lesser summer — if they live up to hype.

By eric melin

Anyone else thrilled that summer is over?

Glad to leave behind three months of sequel after failed franchise after lame formula?

Yes, we got Baby Driver, Dunkirk and Good Time, galvanizing formal challenges that also exerted commercial appeal. But inspiration stayed at low tide all season.

Will fall bring more adventurous filmmaking? Will weeks of doldrums give way to movies and TV and streaming content worth shouting (favorably) about? Gotta hope — starting with the titles below. (But if all else fails, I can at least catch up with The Big Sick and War for the Planet of the Apes, well-liked movies I missed.)

September

Until this country legalizes cocaine, Netflix’s Narcos will always have, at least in theory, plenty of storytelling opportunity.

Seasons 1 and 2 chronicled the rise and fall of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (played by an enigmatic Wagner Moura) and the Medellin cartel. Season 3 shifts its focus to the continued rise of Colombia’s Cali cartel. Moura’s Escobar was a temperamental momma’s boy, and a huge part of what made Narcos addictive, so I’m eager to see how the new Cali players change the tone

20

The gifTed Might be More YA thAn X-Men.

(and if the new DEA agents are any less tedious than the last ones).

The double-episode opener of ABC’s third Marvel spinoff series, Inhumans, debuts not on TV but in IMAX theaters (for two weeks, starting September 1). Of course, you can always hold out for its freeTV debut, on September 29. Early reports about the show, which stars Hell on Wheels’ Anson Mount, are unpromising, but you have to almost respect the moxie of the IMAX play.

Likewise, I’m wary of even mentioning the new Stephen King adaptation, It. The talented Cary Fukunaga (the first season of True Detective, Beasts of No Nation) left the project, complaining that the studio, New Line, hadn’t granted him enough creative control. The final product may earn its R rating with truly scary violence, but you have to prepare for the likelihood that this It will be a by-the-numbers trip to clown college.

This summer, Twin Peaks: The Return and Top of the Lake: China Girl became the first two TV shows to premiere at Cannes, further erasing the traditional lines between movies and TV. Jane Campion (The Piano) created the latter, which, in its first season (2013), used a murder mystery to explore

issues of modern femininity and stars Elisabeth Moss as an Australian detective. The second season adds Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones) and has already been met with nearly universal acclaim. Its U.S. premiere is September 10 on SundanceTV, with each of its six episodes appearing on Hulu one day after the Sundance broadcast.

Much secrecy surrounds the plot of Darren Aronofsky’s long-awaited Mother! I’m inclined to honor it; I don’t really want to know anything about it before I line up to see it, come September 15. Of course, that might be a short queue. The director last tried to meld his distinctive brand of weirdness with studio-picture tropes on his 2014 biblical misfire, Noah. This looks like a return to the psychological horror that served him well in Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream. That’s enough for me right there. If you need more, I’ll mention that Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer are in the cast.

The reality-based prank satire Nathan for You has gone from low-rated Comedy Central show to highbrow cult object. Why? Because it deconstructs and viciously parodies the conventions and formulas of not just reality TV but also comedy. On September 21, Comedy Central runs an hourlong special called Nathan for You: A Celebration, in which deadpan host Nathan Fielder checks back in with past guests. One week later, Season 4 begins, and you can see him take on Uber and reconnect with a lost love.

Also this month: Kingsman: The Golden Circle opens September 22, adding Jeff Bridges and Channing Tatum. CBS is premiering its long-delayed Star Trek: Discovery reboot on September 24, but beams subsequent episodes exclusively to the CBS All Access streaming service. Doug Liman directed Edge of Tomorrow, the best nonfranchise Tom Cruise movie in some time, so there’s reason to be hopeful about the duo’s reunion, American Made, the bizarre true story of a TWA-pilot-turned-CIA-operative who also worked for the Medellin drug cartel. That opens September 29.

October

It’s been six years since we last heard from the no-filter, id-driven version of Larry David made immortal on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. October 1 brings a new season, with Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Lewis and Bob Einstein all returning, and guest appearances by Bryan Cranston, Nick Offerman, Jimmy Kimmel, Elizabeth Banks and Carrie Brownstein.

On October 2, Fox debuts an X-Menuniverse series called The Gifted. Here’s the scoop: Matt Nix from trashy-fun Burn Notice is in charge, and longtime X-Men film director Bryan Singer helms the first episode. continued on page 44

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SEPTEMBER 15 – 17, 2017

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APril FleMing

Minor Park’s more-than-minor wonders: history, riverfront hiking and a busy cricket league in south Kansas City

By April Fleming

Beginning almost two centuries ago and continuing for 35 years, the grassy hills now a part of Kansas City’s Minor Park were rutted by constant wagon traffic from travelers on the Oregon, Santa Fe and California trails, most of which originated in the region. Just west of where the old Red Bridge now sits was a muddy bog in which wagons often became stuck. Deep swales from the three pioneer routes are still visible today, marked with a shabbily kept but informative National Park Service plaque.

For its history alone, then, Minor Park is a worthy local attraction. Plus, it features several amenities — park shelters, tennis courts, a public golf course and soccer fields. But the 200-acre space also boasts miles of winding, lush river-bottom trails (maintained by dedicated volunteers and conservationists who supplement efforts by the city’s parks employees to eradicate not only trash but also invasive plants, including honeysuckle) ideal for mountain bikers, runners and dog walkers. Here, in fact, is a soothing respite from summer’s hottest blasts: With a dense canopy of tall trees blocking or softening the sunlight, the trails are often 10 degrees cooler than areas outside the bottoms’ protection. The water in the Blue River, along which much of the trails run, is surprisingly cool and

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clear, and is home to fish, ducks, geese and turtles.

Much of the area has never been developed (Marie Minor Sanborn donated the land, which had long been in her family, to the city in 1941), and remains so quietly lovely that you can forget you arrived here having traveled through traffic-lashed sprawl. Only the shrill call of a train — a freight line bisects the park — interrupts your meditation.

With children’s soccer largely migrating toward Johnson County’s mega-complexes, Minor Park’s abundance of grassy sporting fields (there are dozens of them) have, in recent years, begun to attract more eclectic endeavors. Adult-league football and droneflying are sanctioned here, and the Midwest Cricket League, several teams strong, has also found a home in the park, playing just south of the old Red Bridge every weekend from late April to mid-October. (Pictured here: Pak XI squaring off against the UMKC Mystics.)

The north entrance to Minor Park is located on Red Bridge Road between Holmes and Blue River Road. Trailheads can be found along Blue River Road and along the paved path accessible at Minor Park’s north entrance. Bring insect repellent — this place is as buggy as a river bottom of any century.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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WARD PARKWAY LANES

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Castle, deemed a “horror doyen” by Publishers Weekly, has won three Bram Stoker awards, two Black Quills, and a Golden Bot, and has been nominated for an Audie, the International Horror Guild Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Pushcart Prize. He’s edited or authored 17 books, and his recent or forthcoming titles include New Moon on the Water, Writer’s Digest Annotated Classics: Dracula, and 2016 Leapfrog Fiction contest winner Knowing When to Die. Other Faculty: Julianne Couch, Don D’Auria, Mark L. Groves, Jim Hoy, Max McCoy, and Kevin Rabas. Manuscript critiques available.

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Game On

Pat Clarke hopes his Hoops at Night program can make a difference in violence-prone Oak Park.

By Traci angel| PhoTos By chase casTor

Running the green-painted asphalt, Mick Spearman is alone, but not for long. Defenders are catching up behind him.

He jumps. Slam.

The evening’s first basketball game belongs to Spearman’s team.

Hoops at Night in Oak Park is for young people who live nearby, though others drive in from surrounding neighborhoods. Games are fast, and the play — layups like Spearman’s — is often impressive. Energy gets burned and trash gets talked.

Better here than outside the fence. Hoops organizer Pat Clarke coined the league’s motto, printed on team jerseys: “Welcome to the Pat Clarke Park, where we keep kids on the court, out of court and off the streets!”

The park is east of Prospect at 44th Street and South Benton, in the heart of the 64130 zip code made notorious by The Kansas City Star’s “Murder Factory” series a few years ago, tracking the homicide rate. It’s still a tough place to live. Zoom in to look for recent crimes logged in an online database and you see the message “Too many incidents to plot.”

But the hoops program, in its third year, has become a bright spot.

“What Pat Clarke and the neighborhood are doing is very positive,” says Sgt. Kari Thompson of the Kansas City Police Department.

Clarke, director of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, lives just yards from the park, where players 14 and older hone their skills. “If they don’t have family, then we make them feel like they belong,” he says of the young people. “Basketball is something where you can also teach them about life — when to shoot or when to pass. If they pass on bad opportunities, then they have a chance of living past that. Some of the shooters on the street shoot basketballs on that court. We need to stop burying kids. That what I hope we do.”

Before play begins on a recent Wednesday, Michael Brown sits on a concrete step set in a grassy hill facing the court. He’s here to officiate, but he remembers playing in the park with his cousins.

He helps with youth sports around the metro, and he considers this a tough assignment. Some nights, the guys get frustrated with his whistle. But his presence brings consistency to street ball.

“You have to let them know you are here for a reason, and they have to adjust [to the calls],” he says as he changes into his stripes. “It’s life teaching, too. You learn you’ve got consequences for your actions. You can get a technical foul. You can get kicked out. They have to talk to me in a civil way.”

Also here tonight is Sgt. Darrel Rocker, who is off-duty, and who requested the job. “It’s imporpitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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tant to do my part,” he says. “We all have a role in making the city a better place.”

The players who get here, he adds, benefit from a casual interaction with a cop.

Clarke, who contracts with the department as an outreach specialist, agrees. He says he’s often called to crime scenes where witnesses talk to him but don’t want to talk to the police. “I tell them that every police officer is not bad,” he says. “Look, I’ve been pulled over. I’ve been slammed against my car. I was living that life. But you’ve got to see both sides of it. I tell kids to pay attention and look what’s beyond basketball. I say, ‘Come to my office and I will help you find work.’ The street calls some of these kids.” The games, he says, let the kids hang in the neighborhood without succumbing to that call.

Clarke grew up in a two-parent household, and his mother and father both worked. He credits them with instilling in him the discipline to pursue his dream of playing baseball; at age 6, he was competing in blue jeans and wool jerseys. “Kansas City was full of talent in baseball, black and white, and we took sports seriously,” he recalls. “My ball was my doll, and my glove was my pillow at night.”

He goes on: “My mom taught me how to play baseball in that park. She taught me how to pitch and how to bat left-handed. I remember one time she was getting mad at me.

She said, ‘Throw the damn ball, boy. Throw it hard.’ I didn’t want to hurt her. But she marched up to me and smacked me and said to throw the ball harder. I threw it as hard as I could, and she caught it. She was preparing me for now. I had to be the best. She told me, ‘I didn’t want you to be a punk.’”

Talking with his friend Rodney McGautha a few years back, Clarke called on his nostalgia for that time in his life. “I said, ‘Man, you know what we should do? We should get the baseball diamond going.’ ’’ Out of that came the basketball idea — an idea that Clarke didn’t think would fly with city officials “They said, ‘Yeah, whatever you want to do,’ ” he says. “I went home and drew everything up. I said, ‘Good. I want to put a court right down there. I want it closer to my house so I can keep an eye on it.’ ” The plan included a walking trail and a new playground. He wanted shatterproof backboards and breakaway rims to withstand the dunks. He insisted the court be hunter green rather than black so the surface would be cooler.

From the spring of 2011 through the fall of October 2016, Kansas City has spent about $678,000 on Oak Park Projects, including the baseball field and the basketball court, according to city records. The money came from Public Improvements Advisory Committee (PIAC) funds.

“It was a neighborhood park that was probably underutilized, and if you put positive activity it drives out unwanted activity,” says Terry Rynard of KC’s parks department.

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Hoops at Night organizer Pat Clarke begins games by huddling guys from both teams. “I ask God to keep his arms around what we are doing in the park, in the city, in our families and in our neighborhood,” he then prays.

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Referee Michael Brown remembers playing in the park with his cousins.

Mick Spearman slams the ball. Playing gets aggression out on the court rather than on the streets, he says.

“The court is wildly popular.”

DaNearle Clarke, Pat’s son, attends games when he isn’t working at Serenity Memorial Chapel, a job he took because he’d lost friends at an early age. “In this neighborhood a lot of guys had talent, but they were murdered,” he says. “That’s street life, but it’s not for me.”

Clarke’s nephew, Monty Taylor, serves as president of the basketball league’s board.

“Even when I’m not playing, I can take my kids and family and go down there and watch other games to just support other people,” Taylor says. “We just need to take down some of the murder rates so we can grow as a community rather than die as a community.”

Spearman pushes the ball down the court and then hustles back after the shot. His teammates down low miss a rebound.

“Get some boards,” he yells and pedals backward. “Play some D.” The game is becoming a bit more physical when the whistle halts play. One of Spearman’s teammates questions a call: “Man, that dude is trippin’!”

Spearman played at Central High School and knows the neighborhood. The league, he says, “brings the community together to build better relationships.” He adds, “There’s a lot of attitude that comes out. There’s an opportunity to get the aggression out. It helps to relieve stress and is a form of exercise and you are surrounded by friends so you can still kick it and feel safe.”

Ralonda Brown coaches a 15-and-under team that’s setting up to play next. Most are immigrants and Muslim and live in the Historic Northeast.

“This is where they learn not to be intimidated,” she says. “This is where they learn the absolutes — to press hard and keep playing.

You say you want the violence to stop, but you have nothing for the poor, disadvantaged youth to do. Here, they get confidence and opportunity. Here, all you need is a ball.” pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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first person

Kansas City Symphony conductor Michael Stern led the ensemble through the national anthem at Arrowhead in 2015. The symphony and the Chiefs both start their seasons this month.

Courtesy Kansas City symphony

The Contrabassoon Chop?

Chiefs fandom and KC symphony devotion are far from mutually exclusive.

By Lucas WetzeL

Going to a Chiefs game is one of the most intense things you can experience in Kansas City. In 2014, Arrowhead Stadium earned the world record for the loudest sporting event, when the crowd roar reached 142.2 decibels during a 41-14 stomping of the New England Patriots. Meaning it’s slightly quieter to position yourself 100 feet behind a jet engine. This is an impressive statistic, yet it fails to capture the overwhelming physical force of 75,000 people simultaneously yelling at maximum human capacity.

This isn’t an arbitrary action; each Chiefs game is crazy in its own way, demanding its own crazy response. Of the dozen or so games I’ve attended over the years, I’m thinking especially of the 2010 home opener, which I rode to in my dad’s old convertible while drinking beer and eating barbecued ribs out of a paper sack. That game featured Billy Ray Cyrus singing the national anthem (in a Montana jersey, of course), a flyover by two attack helicopters, and, for three quarters, torrential wind and rain. But I was also there for the most frigid kickoff in Chiefs history, last December (1 degree, technically a tie with a 1983 game), ahead of which we’d bundled up as though setting out from base camp in Antarctica. That was a screaming cold.

Most recently, there was last season’s playoff loss to the Steelers, rescheduled from a noon kickoff to dodge an ice storm that never arrived. The night game’s precipitation turned out to be fog — a verifiable meteorological manifestation of the cloud of doom that had hung over the franchise’s playoff fortunes for two decades. Afterward, the Steelers quarterback, whose name I refuse to spell out here, said it was the loudest game he’d ever played. I believe the word he used was deafening.

So the atmosphere at Arrowhead is widely understood to be uniquely thunderous.

But there is one other live entertainment event in the metro that rivals our brand of NFL insanity: the Kansas City Symphony.

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Obviously, the symphony doesn’t offer the physical violence, the public intoxication or the ear-splitting volume of a sellout game at Arrowhead. But let me point out some key similarities.

For starters, there’s the product on offer.

Both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Symphony feature teams of highly skilled and practiced professionals, working under world-class leadership and backed up by impressive support crews. Each outfit spends weeks rehearsing for relatively short display — in that time having tried to perfect a fluidity of motion, a sophisticated interplay and a precise coordination indicative of months of group practice and years of individual training.

Of course, even given all that teamwork, both are games of superstars. Whether it’s YoYo Ma or Peyton Manning, the biggest names draw the biggest crowds. Witnessing violinist Augustin Hadelich tear into pyrotechnical glissandos on Paganini’s Caprice No. 5, or seeing Tyreek Hill streak improbably down the sideline on a wild kickoff return, we can feel our pulses racing even as our breath gets put on hold.

Both symphony concerts and Chiefs games take place in dynamic, purpose-built climates. Arrowhead Stadium was designed

by Charles Deaton, the architect of the futuristic Sculptured House in Woody Allen’s Sleeper. The Kauffman Center, the giant glass croissant designed by Moshe Safdie, has drawn comparison to the Sydney Opera House. Both buildings are positioned across the street from a Denny’s restaurant.

The Chiefs season-ticket holder and the symphony patron have each signed up to witness regular spectacle, filled with conflict and drama and studded by hero-worship and the pulse of giant drums. There is the quest for a Super Bowl ring, and there is Wagner’s epic “Ring Cycle” (and the journey toward perfecting it). Historically, both arenas have been male-dominated, but the eternal feminine is never far on

the sidelines, from Clara Schumann and Gisele Bündchen to the nine muses and the Chiefs Cheerleaders. These days, women are often the greatest stars, from hometown hero Joyce DiDonato to the headliner of the NFL’s de facto greatest stage, the Super Bowl halftime show.

Both the Chiefs and the Kansas City Symphony are led by affable yet highly driven figures. Andy Reid is broadly regarded as the best pro football coach not to have won the big one, while Michael Stern is no stranger to elite international stages. He has also appeared at Arrowhead, leading the the symphony’s performance of the national anthem before the 2015 home opener — though Reid has yet to take the podium.

Then there are the fans. Chiefs Nation tends to run through GDP-affirming quantities of meat and beer before games. Symphony pregaming is more modest — a nice dinner, a tipple of chardonnay, perhaps a Werther’s original. But this base, too, has laid out good money for its tickets, and if you pick the wrong time to sneak to your seat in the middle of an aisle, be prepared to face grumbles, glares or a stony refusal to move. There are strict codes of conduct at each venue: no clapping between movements during a symphony, and absolutely no yelling while the home team is in the huddle.

(Once the conductor bows or the rival QB is in the pocket, by all means: Go crazy.)

Critics of this comparison might argue that football fans have an inherent appetite for violence, while the symphony is graceful and free of suffering. But that’s not totally accurate. One of my favorite things to do before a classical performance is read about the tragic circumstances that led to a work’s composition — Schumann’s failed suicide attempts, say, or the death of Mahler’s daughter from scarlet fever. The suffering behind the canon renews our appreciation of it, while the art itself informs our own suffering and guides us toward new depths of feeling. In both sport and in the arts, we relish the pain of the performer while rooting for a miraculous recovery.

We want the composer facing his own mortality to pen something uplifting. We want the quarterback on the stretcher to extend his arm and give us a life-affirming thumbs-up.

But what can these oddly parallel organizations learn from each other? Let’s examine by category.

Cheering: The sports crowd erupts for great plays from the home team, but symphony patrons are expected to maintain silence at all times. Maybe it’s time for some Debussy fan to stand up, spontaneously applaud and pump a fist when someone nails her part. (You go first.)

Exit strategy: The concrete ramps at Arrowhead and the spiral stairs in the Kauffman Center back up pretty quickly after the event, making for a glacial egress. The difference is that departing Chiefs fans often chant in unison as an expression of celebration or lament. I’d like to hear what such an exit might sound like after an especially resonant symphony.

Price: Classical performances are perceived as being expensive, but you can get day-of tickets to the symphony for $20. The Kansas City Symphony also hosts happyhour concerts and even free concerts in an effort to attract new audiences. The Chiefs, on the other hand, just raised the parking price to $60, to say nothing of the tickets.

Will people still pay that to get in? Of course they will. But that doesn’t make it OK. Intoxication: Chiefs fans could stand to tone it down a bit (go to a night game and you’ll see what I mean), whereas symphony lovers could probably cut loose a little more.

(Tailgate outside Webster House, anyone?)

Obviously you don’t want anyone puking on a Mercedes, but a few discreet nibbles from a weed cookie may in fact be just what Ravel had in mind when he wrote “Bolero.”

Music: “Thunderstruck” and “Crazy Train” are stadium favorites for good reason, but how powerful would it be to hear Verdi’s Requiem blasting from the Arrowhead speakers? I’d also love to hear “The Hey Song (Rock & Roll, Pt. 2)” not only reinstated at Chiefs games but also performed on the field by a live orchestra. (Yes, I know Gary Glitter has done reprehensible things, but that banished song belonged to us more than to him.)

Now, some of you are saying: Gary Glitter? “Bolero”? Sixty goddamn dollars? None of that sounds good. Fair enough. Together or apart, the Chiefs and the symphony aren’t for everyone. To you holdouts, I recommend Major League Soccer and the ballet.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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First Person

The Crying Bowl

the absolutely justifiable hallucinations of new motherhood

By AngelA lutz

Ten days after I gave birth to my son, a storm ripped through our neighborhood.

I was beyond exhausted. For more than a week, I’d slept no more than two hours at a time, and in my foggy-brained state I had started making up rambling stories in an attempt to soothe my crying baby. Most of these somehow turned into veiled critiques of capitalism. Owen expressed his Adam Smith-ian rebuttal by wiggling in my arms and kicking his legs. Why did my child refuse to rest? Wasn’t he supposed to sleep, as they say, like a baby? I hugged him to my chest and cried along with him.

Despite the fact that I couldn’t go more than an hour without sobbing, somehow I still handled sleep deprivation more gracefully than my husband, which is why I’d given him the night off to enjoy a poker game with some of our friends. It was sunny when he left, so I couldn’t have guessed that, a few hours later, a midsummer storm would fill my living room with the sound of the proverbial freight train. Otherwise I might have asked him to stay home.

As Owen finally relaxed into my breast for a feeding, the wind began to roar. Hail pelted the windows, and I held my breath.

Maybe I should go to the basement, I thought, but Owen was finally quiet — finally on his way to sleep. Was it really worth waking him and hauling ass downstairs to crouch on cold concrete, where Owen would surely resume his screaming? No, we’d stay where we were, cuddled together on the couch. Then the lights flickered.

Fuck, I thought, not now. But yes, now: We were entirely in the dark.

It wasn’t until the next day, when I saw the downed power lines and the trees that had been ripped whole from the ground, that I realized this storm had obviously been worth my worry. Motherhood had kicked my anxiety into overdrive, robbing me of the ability to discern the significant from the mundane.

I’d spent plenty of worry already on the latter category. For the first week of his life, Owen would sleep only in his little vibrating bouncy seat, with its festive orange “suf-

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focation hazard” warning permanently affixed to one side. Taking the label very seriously, I checked constantly to make sure he was still breathing, despite actual medical professionals having assured me that he would be safe and that the vibration would not, in fact, scramble his budding brain.

I was also convinced that the car seat would kill him due to the weird way he held his head when he was buckled in, a fear that prompted me to unfasten my seatbelt and crane around to check on him at every stop light on the rare occasion we ventured outside the house. The changing table became a precipice from which he would surely tumble when I turned my back for two seconds to grab another package of Pampers. And don’t even get me started on blankets. Instead of a cozy comforter to keep my baby warm, blankets became yet another suffocation hazard. Leaving my baby unattended with a blanket became, in my mind, basically the same as putting a plastic bag over his head.

I didn’t start to let go of these fears until one afternoon when I’d placed Owen in his fancy, high-tech swing so I could shovel some leftover lasagna into my face. Shaped like half of a hollowed-out eggshell, the swing filled an important role while my husband was at work: It held my baby for a few moments at a time so I could indulge in little luxuries such as going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth. During this time, Owen usually wailed, so I’d come to call the swing “the crying bowl.”

That day, I gently placed Owen in the crying bowl and popped a pacifier in his mouth, bracing for him to spit it out and scream at me to pick him back up. Instead, he sat calmly and stared at me — or at least his eyes were gazing in my general direction.

One of my many bleary-eyed, 3 a.m. Google searches had informed me that babies don’t start making eye contact until they’re six to eight weeks old. In any case, he didn’t cry.

He kicked his legs and stretched his arms,

Motherhood had kicked My anxiety into overdrive.

seemingly curious to discover how his little body worked. I retreated to the kitchen and stuck my plate in the microwave. When I went back to check on my boy, he was quietly sucking on his fingers.

I won’t leave you in suspense — the moment didn’t last.

As soon as I’d warmed my food, Owen demanded his own meal, so I tended to his needs and ate my lunch cold during his next nap. But I’d been offered a glimpse of my baby’s personality just then, and I realized that while he may temporarily be a carnival of needs, a curious soul lies within, waiting to emerge. Allowing that to happen will mean learning to trust him — and myself.

But I’m not there yet. In fact, tonight you’ll probably find me peeking over the side of his bassinet after he’s finally passed out, watching his little chest rise and fall.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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8/24/17 8/24/17 11:49 9:40 AM

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The Best of the Best

October 5, it’s all about The Pitch’s Best of Kansas City Party.

Let’s make one thing clear about The Pitch’s Best of Kansas City Party, which happens Thursday, October 5, at the Madrid Theatre: It’s not an awards ceremony.

This isn’t some staid evening where you sit and listen to nominees and winners being named in each category, read on a stage by an MC reading a winding scroll made of newsprint (or, these days, a fancy high-gloss magazine sheet). Yes, many winners from the Food, Drink, Goods and Services, People and Places and other categories will be in attendance, but they’re just there to have fun like the other ticketholders.

Think of the Best of Kansas City Party instead as a cool, low-key wedding reception with many of your favorite local faces (bartenders, tattoo artists, real estate agents, hair stylists, designers, etc.) on the guest list.

The winners will be off-duty, standing in line with you to sample from the best of what 2017 had to offer (and maybe campaigning a little fory our Best of KC 2018 vote). Everybody gets something tonight.

For example: help yourself to several helpings of the butternut-squash ravioli (with a

sage-brown butter cream) and house-made carved Italian sausage from Brancato’s Catering. Or the burnt-end sliders from the Point, served with jalapeño coleslaw and beer-battered onion strings in a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. Save room, though, for whatever you see from District Pour House and Kitchen, which won February’s Brunched Margarita Competition and August’s Margarita Wars and is surely about to deliver another trophyworthy offering.

And there’s a sweet open bar, too: beers from Tallgrass Brewing, vodka from Tito’s and assorted fine spirits from Tom’s Town.

Pinot’s Palette will have canvases set up, ready for your contribution to buzz-abetted collaborative art. Finally, Pretzel Addiction will make its case for “Best Pretzel” as a 2018 Best of KC category, and, of course, itself as the winner. Actually, the same could be said for “Best Party” and “Best of Kansas City Party.”

The Best of KC Party is sponsored by Topgolf and the American Jazz Museum. Tickets are $20 (GA) and $35 (VIP); doors open at 6 p.m. for VIP guests and 7 p.m. for GA. pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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shop girl

Fashion, Forward

Noble Native appeals to your clearance rack–weary conscience.

By AngelA lutz

It calls to you: the discount rack at the cheap clothing chain. You heard that siren’s cry in April, and you bought a few cheap tops at a big-box store. Now they’re unraveling in the dryer and you’re binge-browsing closeouts all over again in September, knowing you’re doomed to keep repeating the cycle.

Sarah Hicks wants to free you from that loop.

“Fast fashion is cheap for a reason,” Hicks tells me. “The workers that are making this cheap clothing are being tak-

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en advantage of. That’s the only way you can make cheap clothes, is not to pay the workers a living wage.”

Hoping to create a more socially conscious place to shop — and to stock affordable items made to last — Hicks launched Noble Native in May 2016. She says everything in her online boutique is sustainable (that is, the clothes are made from recycled or biodegradable materials) and has been produced by an ethically responsible company (short version: zero child labor). In addition to her online store, Hicks also puts

Sarah Hicks shows off her conscience.

Zach BaumaN

on regular pop-up shops around town. Over the summer, she shared a space with MADI Apparel on the West Side. This fall she has pop-ups planned at Urban Provisions in the East Bottoms and the Hair Parlour in the Crossroads’ Bauer Building. And she emphasizes local talent.

“Kansas City hosts so many wonderful independent and emerging designers that I really wanted to create a business that celebrates both sustainable brands as well as emerging designers,” Hicks says. Some of her favorite locally made items right now include repurposed vintage Indian saris from April Madden Studio; beaded jewelry from Sarah Cramer and Whiskey and Bone; denim and chambray garments from Chamchamqueen; and pillows from Heidi Herrmann, who is best known for her dresses featuring images of iconic Kansas City landmarks.

Most of the clothes Hicks sells share one elemental trait: They are basic items that can be worn with a lot of other things in a lot of different ways.

“I don’t sell anything that’s particularly jump-out-at-you fabulous,” Hicks says. “Audrey Hepburn was the pioneer of the little black dress. That one dress you can style 12 different ways is much better than owning 12 different dresses that you might wear once a year. You hear people talk about the French girl’s capsule wardrobe, and that’s what that is.”

These minimalist, versatile garments encourage sustainable shopping habits as well: Purchasing four or five well-made but higher-priced staples, she says, ends up being less expensive than snatching up trendy knockoffs every few months.

She knows that many people are addicted to bargains for a good reason — because they’re bargains — but she makes a convincing case for moving toward sustainable shopping.

“I realize that making the switch from shopping for what’s a good deal to shopping with sustainability in mind is hard, because it really is an entire lifestyle shift, in essence,” Hicks says. “But the least expensive clothing to manufacture is clothing that’s made with non-biodegradable materials. So your dress might only be 40 bucks at Target, but I guarantee it’s being made with material that will never break down and will sit in a landfill until the end of time. I don’t know of anybody who can feel good about that.”

But if you lack an environmental conscience, there’s still the thrill of the hunt.

“I only sell limited quantities of each of my items,” Hicks says. “My selection turns over quickly — often I’ll only have one piece of each size, so if you see something you like, snatch it up.”

Noble Native noblenative.com

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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feature cafÉ

Normcore

Owner Dan Castillo has a hit on his hands.

KcK’s mockingbird Lounge could make a Cheers-style regular out of me.

Zach Bauman

By Liz cook

I live near three entertainment districts in Kansas City, Missouri. I have no shortage of options for nearby neighborly cheer. Finding a Cheers, though — an establishment where at least a couple of people know my name and are always glad I came — that’s tough. Yet, hokey as it might sound, I keep looking for such a spot, a diner or a watering hole whose regulars I might join.

And recently, I have found that sometimes I wanna go to KCK. I do not live close to Kansas City, Kansas. But that minor detail isn’t enough to keep me away from the Mockingbird Lounge, where I’ve recently discovered that the cocktails are smooth, the service is cordial and the all-day brunch menu is stuffed with more avocado than a white girl on Cinco de Mayo. The six-month-old bar and brunch spot enjoys a prime perch atop Strawberry Hill, and its wooden patio offers one of the metro’s best unobstructed downtown vantage points. There’s a reason the building’s previous tenant, a neighborhood gay bar that roosted there under various owners from 1983 to 2014, was called the View.

Though the Mockingbird isn’t a gay bar, it has stayed true to a couple of its predecessor’s bedrock tenets: bargain-basement drink specials and an unfussy feel. To save scratch, owner Dan Castillo handled the

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lounge’s renovations himself, building a new red-oak bar and installing high-top pallet tables orbited by multihued industrial stools. The updated look is bright and cozy, accented with airy blue walls, glossy white subway tiles and stripes of icy Christmas lights.

Happy hour at the ’bird means $2 wells and select beers. If it’s a slow night, you might get a friendly upgrade. On one recent visit, the bartender filled my G&T with Hendrick’s and poured it over some block ice infused with blueberries and lemon zest she’d brought from home. She charged me the well price with a shrug: “I felt like experimenting.”

The on-menu cocktails, which Castillo developed himself, are a little pricier. Most are solid, but not everything’s a hit. The “maple Old Fashioned” I ordered was smoothsipping and fragrant with orange bitters, but the maple was too shy to have earned marquee billing. (Say this, though: The drink centered on a very generous, Uber-home pour of rye.) I preferred the watermelon mojito, a pretty, summery drink, this time fresh to bursting with its advertised flavor and complemented by cool, astringent mint.

The personalities — both behind the bar and in front of it — are half the draw. Castillo and his family are warm without ever seeming overbearing or salesman-y. And

The Mockingbird Lounge

204 Orchard Street, Kansas City, Kansas, 913-787-0921 themockingbirdkc.com

Hours

11 a.m.–1 a.m. Monday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–midnight Sunday

Prices

Cocktails: $7-$9 Appetizers: $4-$6 Entrées: $5-$8

Best bet: For happy hour,

nibble chips and guac and sip a watermelon mojito. Order the chorizo waffles as an entrée.

Castillo has been careful to hire hospitality pros to fill in when he’s not around. In particular, Brandy Gordon, one of the friendliest faces behind the stick, is creative, tenacious and passionate about her drinks. She’s also fast. If Gordon is on that night, forgo the table and take a seat at the bar.

Mockingbird has a small but smart menu Castillo and his mother, Rebekah Suminski, developed together using her recipes. Millennials, rejoice: The avocado is king here, and it’s priced for peasants. Suminski’s guacamole — fresh, peppery, not over-limed — is the starter to beat. And even after you’ve devoured it, you welcome another dose on the pulled-pork tacos: two soft flour tortillas snuggled around savory, slow-roasted pork, fresh pico de gallo and Cholula.

Another hit: the salmon sandwich, a buttery croissant topped with a tender salmon filet and smeared generously with an avocado spread. A cup of steaming sweet-potato hash comes on the side; the version I tried was well-prepared, though it could have been more generously spiced.

Vegetarians can sample a similar sandwich that replaces the salmon with two eggs (a mess to eat, though no less enjoyable). The accompanying side salad — a fresh blend of petite cucumber slices, tomato, red onion and lemon-avocado dressing — is worth ordering on its own.

The menu tops out at $8, and the dish at that ceiling — chorizo and waffles — is worth what passes here for expense. Mockingbird’s version smothers a slightly sweet, Belgian-style waffle in crumbled chorizo, two self-saucing eggs and a dollop of limeheavy pico de gallo. (A wee carafe of syrup comes on the side.) It’s a hearty, hangoversoothing balance of salt, sweetness and fat.

One quibble: The kitchen seems to be working out some consistency issues. On all three of my visits, I ordered the biscuits and gravy but received a slightly different dish.

The gravy ranged in color and quantity from a tawny-colored pool to an ivory ribbon to a milk-white lake under lily pads of chorizo.

All three were serviceable, but I’d cross my fingers for Option No. 3.

Food was slow out of the kitchen on a couple of my visits — a problem that could scale if more carpetbaggers like me start to descend on the place. But Mockingbird’s neighborhood vibe (and neighborhood regulars) give you plenty to take in while you wait. Nurse a $2 drink over a spontaneous conversation with an assembly-plant worker with Alabama vowels. Watch Finch, Castillo’s sweet-tempered, free-roaming pup, gum the fringe on an accent rug like an old hobo with a toothpick. Wriggle into a seat at the bar between relieved line cooks in inside-out work tees and Anthropologie-d Ladies Who Brunch. This is the Mockingbird, where the ambience, the menu and the prices are palatable for everyone.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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8/24/17 11:59 AM

fat city

Zach Bauman

The Daily Grind

Ibis Bakery and messenger coffee team up for a flour-and-drum show downtown.

Chris and Kate Matsch want you to see how everything is made.

By April Fleming

The mill inside Messenger Coffee’s new space, at 1624 Grand, comes from Vermont, and it’s impressive: two large stone discs, perched atop a frame of metal and wood.

Whole grain comes through the stainlesssteel hopper into a hole in the top stone, then flows into a webbing etched into the stones. The stones crush the grain and push out flour — an ancient process humming through modern, made-to-order tech and put on proud display. This historically protected building, housing the sister outpost of Lenexa’s Ibis Bakery alongside Messenger, is home to Kansas City’s first independent flour mill in recent memory.

The collaboration between Messenger and Ibis — which opens this month — springs from a web of family ties and everexpanding business partnerships. It’s owned

by Messenger Coffee Company, Chris and Kate Matsch (owners of Ibis and Fervere bakeries), and Carol and Ron Matsch (entrepreneurs themselves as well as parents to Chris and Matt Matsch, among the six partners in Messenger). The three groups have spent three years working with the city, architects Boor Bridges (of San Francisco) and Draw (of Kansas City) and Three Square contractors to revitalize the old commercial space. The results are clean and impressive, with a modern metal staircase and die-cut metal panels framing the second-floor loft and complementing restored original features such as the first floor’s salt-and-pepper hex-tile floor.

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Under a soaring ceiling, the first floor of the Grand Boulevard–facing space features a service counter on the north wall for the facility’s coffee and food offerings. Taking up the entire south side of the large footprint is the bakery, with different areas dedicated to bread and pastry. Toward the back of the room, in its own glass-enclosed space, are that mill (which takes up about 6 square feet) and a sifter.

Up the metal staircase — towering, angular, blue and white — is Messenger’s large roaster and a tasting room. Both floors were designed to be fully open, with the idea that all of the processes — breadmaking, milling, coffee roasting — would be entirely visible to the public. In fact, the owners hope that the public comes to watch; a transparency bordering on the participatory is almost the point of this place.

“Our goal is to have people engage and interact with what’s being done here,” Chris Matsch says. “The idea that you can watch flour being made or coffee being roasted — neither of those are unique in and of themselves, but to be able experience it and have it be open like we’ve created it, we’re really excited about it.”

On the bakery side, Matsch plans to run a program unique to this location, keeping the work at Ibis in Lenexa and Fervere focused on what patrons of each have come to know.

He explains that his program at Messenger will be bread- and pastry-focused. There will be some breakfast and lunch items, but the

menu won’t be as extensive as the one at Black Dog Coffee, Ibis’ neighbor-partner in Lenexa.

Pastry offerings will include croissants and buns made with laminated doughs, tarts, petit fours and more. Principally, though, he wants the products, especially the breads, to highlight the flour being milled on-site. “We really want this to be an outlet to showcase what we’re doing,” he says.

Having the mill here, Matsch says, allows this Ibis to use different types of grain and capitalize on what he says is a substantial difference in flavor with fresh product. “The flavor that comes out [of using fresh-milled flour] is totally unlike normal bread,” he tells me. “You have all these natural oils that dissipate over the course of a few days. But when it’s actually fresh, the aromatics of the bread are much more intense. You also use a lot less of everything — less starter, and less flour in the dough to make it become bread.”

On the second floor, Messenger’s head roaster, Kiersten Rex (one of just three female coffee roasters in KC, according to Messenger), and green-coffee buyer Nick Robertson are glad the company finally has a home base.

(The two are also partners in the business.)

Though Messenger has ties to Black Dog Coffee in Lenexa and Benetti’s Coffee in Raytown, and has a controlling stake in the Filling Station shops, this is the first address open to the public that bears Messenger’s name.

Messenger’s showpiece object is a manual San Franciscan drum roaster, a beautiful hulk with a matte-black body and shiny gold

accents that suggest a 19th-century steam engine. Like the flour milling, the coffee roasting on Grand is meant to be a public spectacle, visible from the handful of tables located upstairs. (Robertson admits that the roaster is somewhat loud, so most people who opt to sit upstairs for a while will likely belong to the earbud set.)

Rex and Robertson will be roasting and testing at this location, offering cuppings to potential and current partners in a private space on the second floor (one with windows, so patrons can view this as well).

Messenger sources its beans from around the world, and Robertson says the company tests hundreds of different crops a year to find its favorites.

There is one more floor at Messenger, a space partly reserved for private meetings and events. Most of it, however, is taken up by an impressive rooftop deck with 360-degree views of the Crossroads and downtown, which will be open to the public. It is a nearly literal cake topper for an ambitious aesthetic project.

“You’re kind of participating in this process of a craft product, and you can eat it — that’s really exciting to me,” Matsch says.

“We hope that people will feel comfortable to engage with it at whatever level they want, either people who want to bake with us now or have classes, or if they want to have a public cupping or just come and grab breakfast.”

Messenger Coffee Company, 1624 Grand, will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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8/24/17 8/23/17 12:00 8:17 PM

Voted Best Mom & Pop restaurant in The Pitch’s Best Of KC.

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sun 6am -3pm 1667 Summit , KCMO 816-471- 0450

pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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8/24/17 12:35 PM

feature

Smith At EJ’S

A CAmpground drink

Getting Comfortable

Zach Bauman

Fall’s new restaurants and bars bring the meat and potatoes.

By april fleming

EJ’s Urban Eatery

1414 West Ninth Street (September) Chef John Cedric Smith honed his skills in France and at Tom Colicchio’s Craft in New York before coming to Kansas City to head the kitchens at 801 Chophouse, Pig & Finch and the Jacobson. Now he’s opening his own place with partner and investor Erik Gaucher. (EJ’s represents the initials of their two first names.) And rather than replicating the casual- and fine-dining atmospheres familiar to him, Smith has set out to make his restaurant easygoing and approachable, without sacrificing flavor or leaving behind advanced techniques.

So EJ’s Urban Eatery, nestled in the West Bottoms in the former home of Woodsweather Café, is a fast-casual, Midwestinfluenced, Southern-style “meat and three” restaurant. The idea is that a diner selects one of six to eight meat options — brisket, fried chicken, blackened catfish, baked salmon stuffed with shrimp, pork chops and so on — then picks out three sides (with options including turnip greens, baked squash, fried green tomatoes and many others).

Also, it’s designed to be affordable: A generously portioned plate will come in at less than $11. (Not everything is stick-to-yourribs stuff, either; Smith plans to offer a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, salads, soups and sandwiches.)

Smith says his original inspiration came from a visit to Arnold’s Country Kitchen in Nashville. In the line that snaked out the door, he saw the governor of Tennessee and

38

well-known country stars alongside bluecollar workers and bankers and delivery drivers. And the food was as good as the line would suggest. He wants to bring that inclusiveness — along with his own recipes and flavors — to Kansas City.

“Most meat and threes are greasy spoons,” Smith says. “What I’m going to do is take the skills I’ve learned over my career, and elevate it. Just a little refinement. Using local ingredients, using techniques that we might use in a casual fine dining restaurant, but with a price point available to everyone.”

Lenexa Public Market

8750 Penrose Lane (September) The metro’s first indoor food hall opens this month in Lenexa. In addition to a variety of classes for home cooks (topics include canning, macarons and healthy lunches), visitors will be able to choose from a range of eateries and coffee shops. More tenants are to be announced, but you can expect Chewology, a locally owned Asian-fusion place serving bao, noodles and dumplings; the Roasterie; Topp’d Pizza and Salads; Foo’s Fabulous Café; and Marilyn’s Mad Treats, which combines a classic soda fountain with a dessert shop.

RecordBar

1520 Grand (September) At long last, the kitchen at the second RecordBar is officially open. A little more than two years after the music venue and restaurant was forced to relocate from its original

Westport address, the new (and truly improved) downtown location is once again serving comfort food, including a muchloved Sunday brunch. Co-owner Steve Tulipana notes the reason for the delay was principally a technical issue in the classification of the restaurant’s kitchen. Brunch has been available for a few weeks, but the official relaunch of the restaurant — and all of its soulsoothing menu — is set for September 9.

chitectural and permitting issues, the space is now set to open in the fall. The décor is inspired by camping and the outdoors, with reverence for the tidy, precise cuteness of Wes Anderson. The cocktails will veer toward the lighter sides of the palate (crisp, gin-based drinks and bright, house-made sodas), and the beer selection will be heavy on European saisons and lagers. Grab-andgo food also will be available.

The Russell

Black Dirt

3141 Main (mid-September) The Russell combines the talents of chef Amante Domingo and entrepreneur and baker Heather White. Located in the old Russell Florist building, next door to the Main Street Gates, the Russell is all about rustic flavors and presentation; much of Domingo’s food will be prepared using an open-flame oven — a sandwich of fireroasted beef, served with vegetables that have cooked under the meat and collected its savory juices. White, who owns half of a very successful cupcake business in her native Canada, will manage the baking side of the business (breads, pastries, cupcakes and cakes) as well as the administrative aspects.

The Campground

8 Westport Road (October) The Campground, a cozy craft-cocktail bar tucked into a small space at 43rd Street and Main, has been the dream of Christopher Ciesiel and his wife, Cristin Llewellyn, for a couple of years. Long delayed by ar-

5070 Main (November) Jonathan Justus’ and Camille Eklof ’s Black Dirt has been stuck in restaurant purgatory for a couple of years now, following the dissolution of a financial partnership in 2015. Yet Justus has confirmed that work is under way at the 51 Main mixed-use development, where he plans to serve a menu more accessible (in price as well as in scale) than that of his fine-dining destination, Justus Drugstore. Still, when the man makes meatloaf — as he says he’ll do at Black Dirt — he does it with cubed steak from proprietary cattle selected just for him by Paradise Locker Meats. Naturally, there are grilled mushrooms and onions, and the whole thing has been cooked at a low temperature in a loaf pan before being sliced and fried so that the outside is seared and the inside is pink and juicy. That would be steak loaf, served with scalloped potatoes cooked with Boulevard’s Tank 7 — reason enough to cross your fingers for that tentative November opening.

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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drink

Bath Time

Trying Ryan Miller’s fat-washed cocktails at Corvino Supper Club and Tasting Room By natalie GallaGher

The Catalan Rescue Mission is a garden in a glass, thanks to Miller (below). zach bauman

A warm breeze carries the scent of fresh garden herbs — oregano, sweet basil. The sun is shining so brightly on a nearby row of tomatoes that they look ready to burst on the vine. In the distance, just beyond wild and rambling green hills, white lines of snow form zigzag patterns atop grand mountain peaks.

Maybe someday you’ll make it to the Pyrenees.

In the meantime, there’s the Catalan Rescue Mission at Corvino Supper Club and Tasting Room. The cocktail is based on a traditional Spanish tapa called pan con tomate (pa amb tomàquet, if you’re in the Catalan region). It’s a version of bruschetta that pairs toasted bread with a chunky tomato sauce baked with fresh olive oil and herbs.

“My idea was to gather ingredients from the region and re-create that dish as a delicious, refreshing cocktail,” says Ryan Miller, lead bartender at Corvino.

Realizing that idea involved some bartender science. A base spirit can be infused with a fat-rich product — bacon, say, or butter; the fat-soluble compounds dissolve in

40

the alcohol but retain the product’s natural flavor. This is no longer cutting-edge lab work; fat-washed cocktails date back at least to 2007’s first bacon fat–washed bourbon at New York City’s PDT, and serious drink makers haven’t stopped pushing the technique forward. Consider, Miller says, peanut butter–washed bourbon or sesame-oil gin.

His Catalan Rescue Mission centers on fat-washing a neutral spirit — vodka, in this case, married to mushroom conserva. The drink also involves fresh tomatoes and Rancio sec, a maderized French Catalonian wine similar to Madeira or sherry.

“Mushroom conserva is a recipe from the Basque region,” he says. “Mushrooms have a weird growing season, and the way to get the most out of them is to preserve them in olive oil, which is how you see them a lot in Spain.”

Also at Corvino, where mushrooms are sautéed in olive oil with thyme, rosemary and other aromatic spices, then splashed with additional olive oil to stop the cooking, then (once cool) packaged as you would jar a marmalade. Miller got a whiff of this dish as

”I was lIke, what are you doIng wIth that olIve oIl? let me try somethIng.” ryan Miller

he was passing through the kitchen one day, and he knew. “I smelled the conserva going, and I was like, What are you doing with that olive oil? Let me try something,” Miller says.

Miller adheres to the fat-washing process honed by legendary PDT beverage director Don Lee. The fat — in this case, the oil — joins the vodka at room temperature, and the mixture is frozen overnight so that the spirit will stay liquid but the fat will congeal and send its solids to the top. The next day, Miller scrapes the solids off the top and strains the liquid through a few layers of cheesecloth. In washing a neutral spirit like vodka with the fragrant mushroom oil, Miller says, he can capture the aromas and earthy textures of mushroom and herbs.

“It’s a really amazing process,” he says.

“You feel like you’re taking out the flavor that you just put in, but the result can be really lovely.”

And so it is — the Catalan Rescue Mission captures the earthiness of the mushrooms and the aroma of the herbs. Lovely, too, is the symbiosis of flavors going on between Miller’s experiments and the kitchen at Corvino. To eliminate waste, the congealed olive-oil fat goes back to the kitchen to find its way into other dishes. A previously featured fat-washed cocktail infused bourbon with duck fat, and, on the back end of the process, allowed chefs to experiment with bourbon-flavored duck fat.

There’s not a huge amount of this infused vodka in the final Catalan Rescue Mission – about an ounce, Miller says. But you don’t need more than that to understand its effect.

The savory, umami mushroom notes tango with the nutty Rancio, and there’s something in the thick way this drink sips that keeps your lips smacking. That could be Miller’s tomato syrup, too, which pours some acidity and summer sun to the glass. It doesn’t hurt, either, that the garnish is a few drops of a blended basil and oregano oil. It’s a garden in a glass.

“I want to give you the feeling of when you’re sitting outside at someone’s countryside home, eating crusty bread and olive oil,” Miller says. “The idea behind any good cocktail is balance and harmony, just like any good dish.”

Corvino Supper Club and Tasting Room, 1830 Walnut, corvinokc.com

Want more fat-washed cocktails?

Pork fat– and pork broth–infused J. Rieger vodka is the secret power ingredient in Ça Va’s version of that classic brunch cocktail, the Bloody Mary. It’s packed with other goodies, too, including horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce (Gates Extra Hot), cornichon juice and dijon. Bonus: the garnish is a freshly shucked oyster. Ça Va, 4149 Pennsylvania, cavakc.com

the pitch | September 2017 | pitch.com

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pitch.com | September 2017 | the pitch

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8/24/17 12:10 PM

stage

NolaN Wall

Dog Days

Checking in with Heidi Van and Shea Ketchum, whose Fringe gambles we covered in June

By Liz Cook

In June, I talked to two producers as they placed their bets — their theater productions — at Kansas City’s 13th annual Fringe Festival.

Heidi Van, a veteran Fringer and director of the Fishtank Theatre, was taking an informed risk. Shea Ketchum, a first-time producer, hoped that her work would do well enough to raise money for area animal shelters.

The festival closed on July 30. How did the pair of gamblers make out? It depends on the metric. Van’s and Ketchum’s shows were two of the event’s most well attended. But neither is going to leave its creator strictly in the black.

Van’s experimental dance show, Liminal State: A Traveler’s Guide, won the coveted “Best of Fringe” slot for her venue, mean-

OctOber 13-22

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September 1-17

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September 6-OctOber 1

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September 14-30

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September 14-OctOber 8

A Soldier’s Play

Fences

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Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, Arts Asylum, 1000 East Ninth Street, 816-663-9966, brtkc.org

September 8-14

September 14-OctOber 22

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OctOber 27-NOvember 12

Starlight Theatre, 4600 Starlight Road, 816-363-7827, kcstarlight.com

September 8-OctOber 1

Between the Lines

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September 13-OctOber 1

A Lie of the Mind

Kansas City Actors Theatre, City Stage at Union Station, 30 West Pershing Road, 816-235-6222, kcactors.org

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NOvember 9-26

Cymbeline

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Grease

hard not to wonder if those early snags hurt her sales. And, despite having logged the best overall attendance at the festival, Ketchum didn’t earn her venue’s “Best of Fringe” award.

Because that citation is based on average — not aggregate — attendance, productions with fewer performances may be at an advantage. Ketchum isn’t sure whether she’ll participate next year, but she says she’ll consider paring back the number of performances if she does.

Even without the extra Fringe Hangover show, Ketchum earned $2,376 in ticket sales.

As was the case for Van, much of that was spoken for ahead of time — production expenses, pay for actors and crew. But thanks to free-will donations from her audience — and a $300 donation from Ketchum herself — she’ll be able to donate $500 each to three shelters: KC Pet Project, Great Plains SPCA and Wayside Waifs.

“Working at a shelter, I know how much it costs to spay these cats and dogs and provide their food,” she says. The adoption fees recouped when the lucky animals go home with someone, she reminds me, barely begin to cover those and other expenses.

Ketchum wants to remount Shelter Shorts this fall to help local animal shelters continue to make up budget shortfalls. Without Fringe’s startup costs — and the venues’ 40 percent cut of the pot — she might be able to make an even bigger contribution. For now, though, she’s not disappointed with her experience.

“When I look at what I wanted to do — I wanted to educate, I wanted to expose new talent, and I wanted to make a little bit of a difference in my world — did I do all three of those things? I did. This is what I wanted to do, and I did it. So I think I won. I think I won the jackpot.”

King Lear

This fall’s theater productions Finian’s Rainbow

ing she had the best average attendance of all the shows assigned to Musical Theater Heritage’s main stage. The award comes with more than just bragging rights — Van also earned an extra chance to seduce audiences at the “Fringe Hangover,” a Sunday showcase of the festival’s most popular productions.

Still, it wasn’t enough to tip the financial scales in her favor. Van estimates she spent about $3,000 on entry fees, costumes, advertising and paying her collaborator, actor and Butoh instructor Logan Black. That’s a pretty lean budget, Van reminds me. Her regular main-stage shows can cost upward of $15,000. But Fringe is different; after her venue took its 40 percent cut of the door, Van recouped only $1,629.

But money? “That’s not the only criteria,” Van says. “I think it’s the most fun I’ve had in a while,” she adds of this year’s run. She credits a lot of that excitement to being in a busy theater where hers was just one among a slate of interesting shows. “It was like March Madness. I loved being in a venue that was so bubbly and full of patrons all the time.”

Van is already plotting her approach for 2018, which will mark her 10th consecutive year at Fringe. For that milestone, she’s alredy working on a musical. As for this ninth year, she appears to be without regret: “It was the Fringe. And it was exactly what it should have been.”

Ketchum’s show, Shelter Shorts, played to a nearly packed house every night, despite a streak of rotten luck early on. When the Fringe website went live, Shelter wasn’t listed. Fringe HQ righted the omission, but then the ticket link didn’t work for about a week.

Ketchum shrugs it off. With so many moving parts, the festival, she knows, is always bound to endure some hiccups. But it’s

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NOvember 14-19

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Fall Guide: Film

Stranger Things

Suburbicon

continued from page 20

Amy Acker (Angel) and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) are parents who go on the run when they find out their kids have mutant powers.

FX’s Legion proved that there’s plenty of room for experimentation in this world, but this might be more YA than truly X. OK, I’ll admit it: I am way too pumped for Blade Runner 2049 (October 6). The Catch-22 here is that a worthy successor to Ridley Scott’s noir-ish 1982 original should by rights be a box-office flop. Recall that, for all its visionary art direction, Scott’s film unfolds at a glacial pace, leaving plenty of time for reflection on what it means to be human. The “action” scenes, if you can even call them that, are few and far between, and the “hero” is emotionally stunted and sort of bumbling. If the new movie mines similar territory, it will be way too slow and heady for modern audiences. But that seems unlikely, given the triple threat of director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), cinematographer Roger Deakins and screenwriter Hampton Fancher, who wrote the original.

Hollywood’s reflexivity is on full display with the latest David Fincher project (following House of Cards) to come to Netflix.

Mindhunter is based on the real-life work of the FBI’s John Douglas, who pioneered the practice of criminal profiling, and who served as the inspiration for the character of Jack Crawford from Thomas Harris’ Hannibal novels. The series is set in 1979, and Fincher directs the first episode. The entire series drops October 13, and it’s already been renewed for a second season.

In 2008, Swedish TV veteran Tomas Alfredson directed Let the Right One In, the best horror film of the past decade. Since then, he’s made only two movies. First came 2011’s handsome, stylish, inert Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Now, on October 20, comes The Snowman, a serial-killer thriller from which we can expect spare camera framework, meticulous design and copious psychological wreckage. Michael Fassbender plays detec-

44

A worthy successor to Blade RunneR should by rights be A box-office flop.

tive Harry Hole (not pronounced as Americans would say it; he’s the star of nearly a dozen Jo Nesbø novels), and the movie — which Martin Scorsese was once scheduled to make — was shot on location Norway. So: emotional ice and actual ice.

At last, on October 27, we have Season 2 of Stranger Things. But before you binge the whole thing, go see The Killing of a Sacred Deer, from the twisted mind of Yorgos Lanthimos, which is also out today. Last year, The Lobster, which Lanthimos wrote and directed, explicated the pain of loneliness like nothing before it, and the adventurous black comedy earned he and co-writer Efthymis Filippou a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The Killing of a Sacred Deer earned the duo a Best Screenplay win at Cannes this year. The Lobster’s Colin Farrell is back, this time as a surgeon who falls under the influence of a sinister teenage boy. Nicole Kidman plays his wife.

Also out October 27 is 1950s-set dark comedy Suburbicon, with Matt Damon and Julianne Moore as victims of a home invasion. The director is George Clooney, working from a screenplay that Joel and Ethan Coen wrote in 1986, following the brothers’ first movie, Blood Simple.

November

Let it be known that the sole reason Thor: Ragnarok (November 3) promises to be different from standard Marvel fare is director Taika Waititi. With the dysfunctional family comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, he has demonstrated a unique comic voice. And the Thor short Waititi made last year (in which the Norse god gets a normal roommate and an office job) shows that he’s ready to bring something special to a rote genre. Oh, and he managed to cast Cate Blanchett, too.

Netflix’s original series Alias Grace also arrives November 3, with a serious pedigree.

It’s based on a novel by Margaret Atwood

(The Handmaid’s Tale), written by Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell) and directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho). It involves a double murder.

Kenneth Branagh directs the star-studded Murder on the Orient Express, which — despite the fact that it’s the fourth adaptation of the 1934 Agatha Christie novel — may seem like a breath of fresh air in today’s CGI-heavy blockbuster environment.

Branagh, also playing Christie’s beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, knows from snappy, dialogue-heavy entertainment, so I’m holding out hope for this one. Also on the train November 10: Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp and Daisy Ridley.

I’m a sucker for a goofy time-travel yarn, so I’ll give the new comedy series Future Man, directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, a chance when it starts November 14 on Hulu. Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) plays a janitor and gamer who must save the world when futuristic visitors tell him he’s the key to humanity’s survival.

Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), who played Hutcherson’s ever-supportive mother on the show, died during filming, but her character remains.

My last movie stop before turkey day happens November 17, when I show up to see the Avengers-style DC teamup Justice League, and I wonder how thankful I’ll be when it’s over. The film is already notorious for its production problems, and it’s said to be the last we’ll see of Batfleck. But The Avengers’ very own writer-director, Joss Whedon — having already rewritten the script — ended up directing two months of reshoots and overseeing a long, expensive postproduction. So my curiosity is just too much: How will original director Zack Snyder’s pretentious, self-consciously humorless “technique” mesh — or fail to — with smart-ass Whedon’s light touch? Once again this year, it’ll probably all be up to Wonder Woman.

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PITCH_

Music

Extended Play Hembree dances away from its Americana roots.

From left: Eric Davis, Isaac Flynn, Garrett Childers StepHen SHiremAn

By Nick Spacek

In the three years since playing its first show, Kansas City’s Hembree has evolved. What began simply as the band that rose from the ashes of Quiet Corral is now a distinctive entity. The big harmonies, catchy melodies and Americana flavor of the first Hembree EP, New Oasis, have been ushered aside, making way for the synth-tinged, highly danceable tracks Had It All, the group’s upcoming debut for the Domino label (due November 3).

I talked with Hembree frontman and guitarist Isaac Flynn about Hembree’s new approach.

The Pitch: How was getting Hembree up and running quickly on the heels of Quiet Corral helpful to the new act?

Isaac Flynn: I didn’t really have a clear vision of the band at that time. I just knew that Quiet Corral had ended and that I really still wanted to be in a band. [laughs] So, we rushed to get some material out, but yeah — I think that it helped that it came so quickly on the heels of Quiet Corral, because there was still some name recognition.

It’s weird, because it hasn’t been that long, but I feel like only a handful of people would remember our old band. It’s also funny because there’s only a few of us in Hembree who used to be in Quiet Corral.

But, you know, that’s how bands go. It’s a rotating cast of 25 people between Lawrence and Kansas City.

Not too long after Hembree started, you put out the New Oasis EP. Now you’ve moved into synthy stuff. What’s been the evolution of the band?

We also pulled down [from online streaming] that first EP, which is kind of the beauty of making music in this era. For better or worse, you can sort of restart whenever you desire. The progression of the band is that several of us had played in those folky Americana bands, and we were just concerned with trying to keep that fanbase on board and not just confusing them, because we knew that we’d be associated with our previous bands.

I think I just kind of had this realization that, while I enjoy Americana music and I really enjoy folk music, that’s not really what I wanted to be making. I realized that I shouldn’t necessarily cater to an audience. I should make the music that I want to make, and that we want to be making.

It was this rapid development. Not in a pretentious way, like, “We got so much better!” But we just started to get some clarity on what we wanted the band to be and kind of started to form our own identity, rather than trying to be something that we weren’t.

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Those big harmonies have been the foundation of pretty much any style you’ve played in, and they’re still present.

Right. That’s what’s interesting, too. I feel Kansas City Pitch Weekly 09-01-17.indd 1

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like there’s a lot of synthetic and dancey elements that we’ve added to the music, but at the core there’s still solid songwriting and sort of, like, a Midwestern undertone or something with those harmonies. Garrett [Childers, guitar and vocals] and I, we just love singing together, and I feel like that’s something that — despite what we’re doing, musically — we want to keep at the forefront of what we’re doing.

It’s wild, talking to you about our previous bands and the music we’ve made, because we’re finding, as things progress and we get some more national exposure, that people have no idea about the first EP that went away. But everyone at home knows our whole backstory and stuff.

New Oasis might not have made much of a national mark, but as a single, “Holy Water” exploded. What’s your take on how that happened?

I wasn’t anticipating for that song to do all that it did for us. Originally, I recorded that song as a demo in my loft in Kansas City in about four hours. I think that’s maybe why the song resonates with so many people: because it isn’t overthought.

I was just kind of playing off whatever emotions I was feeling at the time. Obviously, we refined it in the studio — we went back and upped the production level and everything — but with that song, all these strange things would happen. One day, I’d see something on Twitter that it’d been added on Alt Nation on Sirius Radio. I got a text from Lazlo at the Buzz [KRBZ 96.5] one night, and he was like, “Are you watching football right now?” and I tune in to find that it’s on Saturday Night Football. It was really fun to see that happen. We’ve all been doing bands for a long time, so to feel a momentum like that was really, really, really — it was cool.

“Holy Water” seems to be really emblematic of how music can work now. It’s going to be on Had It All, but when you put that song out, it belonged to neither a label nor an album.

Yeah, so bizarre. It’s been a natural progression, where I feel like the timing of everything has worked out really well for us.

Not like an overnight thing, but it’s moving rather quickly. When you’re living it, it doesn’t seem like all of this stuff is happening, but when you look back, it’s wonderful to see some progression and then, ultimately, secure the release of the whole EP. Does releasing a series of EPs make it easier to define Hembree’s sound?

There’s a little bit of a duality to it, because I think it can be a hindrance. The way music is released now, with streaming and stuff, it can kind of make it so you can change and be whatever you want, and maybe that stops bands from truly finding an identity. I do think on the other side of it, though, you can put a small batch of songs and really kind of develop your own thing, and it doesn’t have to be a full record from the get-go. You have time to mold your sound and develop who you want to be as an artist.

I’m a fan of how music is released now for that reason: You can put some samples out there and test how they lay out. But the music fan in me is such a fan of the album. I think it’s good for getting your band off the ground and finding your identity. Ultimately, I want for us to become an album band that puts out a lot of good, cohesive material, but I needed the time to really discover what I wanted us to be.

Hembree’s Had It All EP is out via Domino on November 3, and the band plays RecordBar with JR JR on Saturday, October 7.

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Jazz Beat

Swing Season

Fall’s jazz calendar includes local heroes and national legends.

By Larry KopitniK

Jack DeJohnette

Back in 2011, the Prairie Village Jazz Festival looked like a drowning victim. The event, in only its second year, took on water — literally. A microburst blasted the grounds, soaking instruments and crippling stage equipment. The music was over.

But the festival wasn’t dead. Its organizers toweled off, paid all of the bills and put on another jazz weekend in 2012 — and have done it ever since. This year, on the Saturday after Labor Day, the metro’s only outdoor celebration of jazz that books nothing but that music returns for an eighth consecutive year.

Singer and pianist Oleta Adams comes home to headline 2017. This city remembers her nightly gigs at the long-gone Signboard Bar, in Crown Center’s Hyatt Regency, before she went on the road and into the studio with the band Tears for Fears. In 1987, the band heard Adams while its members stayed at the hotel for a Kansas City concert. Last month, she was recognized at the Black Music Honors event at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville.

Preceding Adams, bassist Gerald Spaits’ ensemble Sax and Violins takes the bigger

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stage it deserves. The group is part jazz quartet and part string quartet, combining elements of jazz and classical music, played by Kansas City Symphony musicians alongside Green Lady Lounge regulars. The mashup works, thanks to amazing performers and Spaits’ remarkable arrangements. Also on the schedule are Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle (tougher to find since the Tank Room closed), Ryan Heinlein’s recently reunited Project H, and the Bram Wijnands Swingtet.

The Prairie Village Jazz Festival runs from 3 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 9, at Harmon Park, 77th Street and Mission Road. Admission is $5.

Johnson County Community College’s Jazz Winterlude returns in October. For what once was a two-day January festival, the school now packages a series of Sundaynight concerts — and this year’s opens with a serious superstar show. Hudson unites drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski and bassist Larry Grenadier. DeJohnette and Scofield spent time recording and touring with Miles Davis — DeJohnette is on Davis’ Bitches Brew — and both performed extraordinary shows in the 18th and Vine district with their own ensembles in the past year. This quartet is named for the Hudson River Valley, where all four musicians reside.

They’re in the Carlsen Center’s Yardley Hall on October 15. Tickets start at $40.

The college’s series of free Tuesday noontime concerts resumes on September 26 with the Danny Embry/Rod Fleeman Duo, which showcases this city’s two best jazz guitarists. Subsequent Tuesdays feature singer Ron Gutierrez; drummer Todd Strait; bassist Tyrone Clarke; saxophonist Steve Lambert; bassist Bryan Hicks; and the vocals-bass-piano trio Holeman, Hicks and Hill. Those concerts are in the Carlsen Center’s Recital Hall.

There are jazz events outside Johnson County this fall, too. The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra opens its 15th season with bigband arrangements of familiar R&B songs

by Ray Charles, Louis Jordan and Nat King Cole. “Jumpin’ Down Route 66” rolls on Friday, October 6, in the Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall. Tickets start at $25.

The Folly Theater launches its 35th jazzseries season with guitarist Lee Ritenour on October 28. Ritenour has recorded on more than 3,000 sessions and put out 40 albums of his own. He started with the Mamas and the Papas when he was 16 years old — the group nicknamed him “Captain Fingers” — and has since performed with Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and even Pink Floyd. Tickets start at $25.

If you’re up for the drive, there’s also Columbia, Missouri’s 23rd year of the We Always Swing jazz series, which this year offers pianist Eddie Palmieri with his septet on the artist’s 80th birthday. Tickets for the October 29 show, at the Missouri Theater, start at $20.

A couple of fundraising events dot the fall jazz calendar. The Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors and Les Dames d’Escoffier 2017 Supper Club pairs fine dining and jazz to support both culinary and musical scholarships. Among the evening’s chefs in the space last known as the American Restaurant are Debbie Gold, Celina Tio and Renee Kelly. Performing are Angela Hagenbach, Lonnie McFadden, Shay Estes and Mark Lowrey. The September 29 event isn’t cheap; tickets start at $150.

On October 15, the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and Jazz Friends sponsors its 16th annual Jazz and BBQ, this year honoring legendary bassist Ron Carter.

Featuring a buffet, a concert and a silent auction, this is the largest annual fundraiser for jazz scholarships at the conservatory.

Tickets start at $85.

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LOCAL 1100

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Mechatronics Engineer (Automation Engineer) Design engineering system for automation of merchandise returns. Apply principles techniques, knowledge and procedure. Analyze requirements utlz experience in business cultures, control and automation. Troubleshoot complex problems. Dvlp s/w and support, neural networks and genetic algorithm syst. Create mechanical design and tolerance analyses to stimulate mechatronics design concepts. Mail resume: T. Obershaw, Skutouch Solutions, 8900 Rosehills Rd. #B, Lenexa, KS 66215

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AUCTION DATE: 9/27/17 WEATHER PERMITTING

The following vehicles will be sold at public auction on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 unless claimed by owner and all tow and storage charges are paid in full. For information, please contact Insurance Auto Auction at 913-422-9303.

YR MAKE/MODEL VIN# YR MAKE/MODEL VIN# 2005 Toyota Scion XB JTLKT324550207514 2011 Ford Escape 1FMCU0D73BKA33148 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan 2B4GP44G31R177185 2008 Kia Rondo KNAFG526287182952 1997 Acura 3.0CL 19UYA2259VL007931 1997 Chrysler Town & Country 1C4GP54L5VB215459 2000 Cadillac Escalade 1GYEK13R3YR141677 2014 Nissan Versa Note 3N1CE2CP8EL359130 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 1GCEC19X63Z152545 2012 Volkswagen Jetta 3VWDX7AJ1CM304546 1996 Dodge Dakota 1B7GL23Y0TS569023 2000 Jeep Cherokee 1J4FF48S0YL211029 2005 Chevrolet Silverado 2GCEC13T851306979 2009 Yamaha XVS1300 JYAVP24Y59A001337 2005 Pontiac Bonneville 1G2HX52K85U126024 2004 Toyota Tundra 5TBDT48104S454788 1996 Nissan Quest 4N2DN11W4TD846007 2004 Mercury Sabe 1MEFM55S54A605698 2001 Buick Regal 2G4WB55K911175117 1999 Ford Contour 1FAFP6638XK181668 2010 Nissan Altima 1N4AL2AP9AN443390 1999 Honda Accord JHMCG5659XC040545 2008 Nissan Versa 3N1BC11E58L429989 2001 Honda Civic 1HGES16531L063877 2015 Load Trail Trailer 4ZEUT1228F1078442 2004 Ford Focus 1FAFP34324W199167 2004 Saturn Ion 1G8AZ52F94Z101056 2001 Kia Sephia KNAFB121215051467 2006 Kia Sedona KNDMB233166042115 2008 Kia Spectra KNAFE121785503267 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 1D7HA18N08S624893 2009 Chrysler Sebring 1C3LC46B49N517066 2015 Hyundai Sonata 5NPE34AB2FH251280 2005 Ford Escape 1FMYU94105KA23025 2005 Ford F150 1FTRF12265KD25452 2015 Doolittle Cargo Masters 1DGCS1622FM011496 2006 Honda Odyssey 5FNRL38676B012973 2008 Chevrolet HHR 3GNDA13DX8S540986 2004 Ford Taurus 1FAFP55204G152358 2005 Nissan 350Z JN1AZ34D25M608579 1978 Chevolet Van CGL2580153735 2005 Audi A4 WAULC68EX5A035487 2006 Mazda Wagon JM3LV28A460558633 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 1D7HU18D84S661487 2003 Ford Escape 1FMYU03163KE07949 2008 Nissan Versa 3N1BC11E58L429989 2015 Dodge Charger 2C3CDXCT7FH805907 2003 Ford Focus 3FAHP375X3R187713 1994 Honda Civic 2HGEH3389RH521598 2004 Nissan 350Z JN1AZ34E24T061875 2013 Hyundai Genesis KMHGC4DDXDU240984 2008 Chevrolet Malibu 1G1ZJ57B48F218131 2014 Ford Focus 1FADP3K22EL415068 2004 Ford Mustang 1FAFP42R24F131853 2016 Jeep Wrangler 1C4BJWDGXGL160816 1991 Nissan Sentra 1N4EB32A4MC738319 2013 Ford Fusion 3FA6P0H70DR296107 1997 Ifiniti Q45 JNKBY31D3VM002571 2011 Ford Transit Connect NM0LS7BN3BT068719 2007 Saturn Vue 5GZCZ33Z77S874891 Many of these vehicles run and drive. If you are looking for cheap transportation, don’t miss this auction/sale.

We welcome all buyers. Terms of auction: All sales are “as is” “where is”. No guarantees or warranties. Paper work to obtain new title will be $75.00 Per vehicle. No guarantee that paperwork will produce title.Bidding will be number only. Terms are cash or certified check. Vehicles must be paid for in full at end of auction. No exceptions. All sales are final. No returns.

INsURANCE AUTO AUCTION 2663 sOUTH 88TH sT. KCKs, 66111 913-422-9303 54

AUCTION DATE: 9/27/17 WEATHER PERMITTING The following vehicles will be sold at public auction on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 unless claimed by owner and all tow and storage charges are paid in full. For information, please contact Insurance Auto Auction at 913-422-9303.

YR MAKE/MODEL 1999 Mitsbuishi Eclipse 1997 Ford F150 2005 Pontiac Grand Am 2014 Chevrolet Cruz 1998 Buick Lesabre 2014 Toyota Rav4 2003 Volkswagen Jetta 2006 Nissan Pathfinder 2007 Chevrolet HHR 1990 Plymouth Voyager 2000 Chevrolet Camaro 2002 Kia Spectra 2016 Toyota Corolla 2001 Ford Range 2004 Volkswagen Passat 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2011 Harley Davidson FLSTC 2000 Dodge Durango 1988 Buick Regal 2010 Toyota Corolla Matrix 2008 Toyota Corolla 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2013 Volkswagen Passat 2012 Nissan Versa 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer 2006 Lexus GS 300 2004 Honda Civic 1999 Chevrolet Venture 2005 Toyota Camry 2003 Honda Civic 2003 Kia Sorrento 2015 Dodge RAM 1500 2009 Harley Davidson FLHX 2014 Dodge Dart 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan 2015 Nissan Altima 2016 Ford Fusion 2004 Ford Mustang 2004 Jeep Liberty 2003 GMC Yukon 2010 Chevrolet Impala 2007 Toyota Camry 2012 Nissan Altima 2001 Acura 3.2TL 2014 Nissan Versa 2010 Ford Fusion 2005 Ford F250 2003 Ford Crown Victoria 2005 Dodge Neon 2006 Volkswagen New Beetle

VIN# 4A3AK34Y3XE122264 1FTDX0869VKA87169 1G2NE52E25M110615 1G1PC5SBXE7125080 1G4HR52K4WH495717 2T3BFREV0EW135594 3VWSK69M43M138361 5N1AR18W26C663338 3GNDA13D77S638694 1P4FH54R0LX118792 2G1FP22K8Y2121202 KNAFB161X25055973 5YFBURHE4GP407739 1FTZR15U71PA07695 WVWPD63B44E036902 1GCEK19T73E261037 1HD1BW514BB011074 1B4HS28Z9YF161836 2G4WB14W8J1528976 2T1KU4EE8AC286972 1NXBR32E78Z990251 1J4GZ78S1VC648482 1VWBH7A37DC026745 3N1BC1CP4CL372711 1GNES16S246173303 JTHCH96S260019241 1HGES26754L021545 1GNDX03E5XD162690 4T1BE30K75U511858 1HGEM21533L042358 KNDJC733335065250 1C6RR6FT9FS762331 1HD1KB4139Y660401 1C3CDFBB3ED917716 2D4RN5D17AR496871 1N4AL3AP0FN368060 3FA6P0HD5GR222031 1FAFP42X04F232677 1J4GL48K74W314518 1GKEK13V53J231119 2G1WB5EK4A1247869 JTNBE46K973006782 1N4AL2AP2CC169688 19UUA566X1A018302 3N1CN7AP6EL847623 3FAHP0HAXAR145467 1FTNF20595EB70203 2FAFP71WX3X115119 1B3ES56C85D278578 3VWRR31C96M408295

YR MAKE/MODEL 2001 Chevrolet S10 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2004 Honda Odyssey 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe 2002 Toyota Corolla 2006 Chrysler Pacifica 2003 Ford Expedition 2006 Toyota Camry 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan 2004 Toyota Scion 2006 Mini Cooper 2010 Kia Forte 2011 Kia Soul 2000 Ford Focus 2010 Kia Forte 2004 Chevy Trailblazer 2007 Mitsubishi Galant 2010 Ford Fusion 2008 Kia Spectra 2012 Nissan Altima 1998 Ford Ranger 2011 Kia Soul 2010 Jeep Patriot 2000 Hyundai Sonata 2000 Ford Mustang 2001 Infiniti G20 2010 Dodge Caravan 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis 2004 Ford Explorer 2003 Ford Crown Victoria 1999 Mercury Tracer 2002 Oldsmobile Alero 1992 Chevrolet Lumina 2007 Kawasawki EN500 2007 Chevrolet Equinox 2014 Kawasawki EX300 1997 Acura 3.0cl 1995 Harley-Davidson FLSTC 2010 Toyota Corolla 1998 Ford Mustang 2006 Honda Civic 2013 Mazda Speed 2004 BMW 645CI 2016 Chevrolet Sonic 2005 Ford Mustang 2004 GMC Envoy 2009 Chevrolet Malibu 2007 Chevrolet Malibu 2009 Dodge Journey

VIN# 1GCCS19W318104036 2MELM75W2TX660150 1J4GZ78S0WC128839 5FNRL18864B131990 5NMSH13E77H018634 1NXBR12EX2Z588235 2A8GM48406R842314 1FMFU18L63LA05270 4T1BE32K96U660741 2D4GP44LX5R544902 X/A JTKKT624940072803 WMWRF335X6TG13877 KNAFU4A27A5064625 KNDJT2A20B7287194 1FAFP34P1YW378678 KNAFU4A27A5064625 1GNET16S746133392 4A3AB36F37E065379 3FAHP0HAXAR145467 KNAFE121785503267 1N4AL2AP2CC169688 1FTZR15U8WPA74619 KNDJT2A20B7287194 1J4NT2GB0AD529307 KMHWF25V7YA192558 1ZVFT82H775255077 JNKCP11A31T403829 2D4RN5D18AR496961 2MELM75W2TX660150 1FMZU73K84ZA93025 2FAFP71WX3X115119 1MEFM13P7XW614384 1G3NL52E82C168375 2G1WL54TXN1118242 JKAENVC107A206622 2CNDL13FX76064798 JKAEX8B12EDA06109 19UYA2249VL006382 1HD1BJL49SY015585 JTDBU4EEXAJ073302 1FAFP404XWF133408 JHMFA36256S005322 JM1BL1L37D1775195 WBAEH73484B190806 1G1JA5SH5G4107008 1ZVFT84N655256477 1GKDT13S542137168 1G1ZK57B09F196272 1G1ZS58F57F216949 3D4GG67V39T178017

Many of these vehicles run and drive. If you are looking for cheap transportation, don’t miss this auction/sale.

We welcome all buyers. Terms of auction: All sales are “as is” “where is”. No guarantees or warranties. Paper work to obtain new title will be $75.00 Per vehicle. No guarantee that paperwork will produce title.Bidding will be number only. Terms are cash or certified check. Vehicles must be paid for in full at end of auction. No exceptions. All sales are final. No returns.

INsURANCE AUTO AUCTION 2663 sOUTH 88TH sT. KCKs, 66111 913-422-9303

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