To the list of world-famous inventors like Mary Anderson (windshield wipers), Archimedes (the Archimedes screw) and Karl Benz (petrol-powered automobile), add Fast Eddie Crane, bartender and co-owner of Westport’s Blanc Burger + Bottles and the Drop in Martini Corner.
Think of it as the Rock Chalk blues, to the 10th power… It’s not easy being a tiny T-shirt vendor in Lawrence and choking down what could approach a half million dollars in unrecoverable legal fees.
Thanks to James Westphal, the handwriting is already on the wall … A sour economy, $4-a-gallon gas and competition from the Power & Light District will probably continue to take a toll on area bars and restaurants, but Westport is mounting a comeback. Thanks to Westphal’s still-successful McCoy’s brewpub, his popular One80, Eddie Crane’s red hot Blanc Burger + Bottle and — drum roll, please — Westphal’s coming-next-week...
Seems like only yesterday… But five long years ago Bill Grigsby’s ticker took a licking — as in open heart surgery — and kept on ticking. Today he’s going strong. I caught up to the colorful sportscaster at a pre-opening bash for the new Mike & Charlie’s restaurant at Harrah’s North Kansas City Casino.
The future of the word “Kansas” is on the line … The University of Kansas athletic department’s attempt to swat tiny Lawrence T-shirt vendor Joe-College.com is to go to trial Tuesday in federal court in Topeka.
So the surf’s not up? That’s no reason for us landlocked Cowtowners to deny ourselves the gnarlyatious pleasures of hot-dogging our very own dune buggy — on and/or off the street. Team Joyner USA of Tempe, Ariz., and local affiliate Canyon Powersports of Lee’s Summit can satisfy that need to, uh, max out.
To what level will KC swing king Dave Stephens stoop? Onstage discharge of firearms? Check. Zany but hip dance moves? Obviously.
Just this once, Clay Chastain is hoping wife Valerie is wrong … “She thinks the only way Kansas City is going to see light rail is if the Missouri Supreme Court orders the city to reinstate the light-rail plan that the city stole from the voters,” Chastain says.
Strange days have found them… Conjuring Doors lyrics to depict the Kansas City Wizards’ experience inside the T-Bones stadium in KCK is beyond strange.
Bragging rights, anyone? The recent coronation of Nara in Zagat’s Top Japanese Restaurants guide, along with a reminder by new executive chef Debbie Gold that the American Restaurant is the Cowtown’s lone Mobil fou r-st ar eatery, raises a question: What other KC eateries are on the esteemed Mobil list?
It’s all over but the shouting… At long last, Tommy Morrison’s wife Dawn’s dream of a divorce from the former KC pugilist has come true.
Think of it as part marketing coup, part food fight… Not only does the American Restaurant’s July 1 landing of superstar chef Debbie Gold bode well for the esteemed downtown eatery, but it also sets the stage for a competitive clash between Gold and ex-husband Michael Smith’s nearby restaurant.
No smoke signals intended … Kansas City lawyer Jonathan Sternberg wasn’t looking for a job when he warned the Kansas City Council about the Missouri Constitution regarding smoking-ban ordinances — one council-approved, the other narrowly approved by voters.
The queen of “freaky fast, freaky good?” That would-be Cowtown export Leslie Liautaud, aka Mrs. Jimmy John’s. The fast-growing, Chicago-based Jimmy John’s specializes in sandwiches that arrive in customers hands almost instantaneously.
Of the original 40 Sardines, zero remain at what was once Leawood’s most tony eatery. Award-winning chef Debbie Gold tried to go it alone after splitting with ex-husband/chef Michael Smith but decided to call it quits and closed in March.
About those Power & Light District growing pains… Who doesn’t love a good urban legend? Take the one about some dude getting beaten with a pipe in front of McFadden’s or the one about someone who went missing.
About last weekend’s donnybrook at VooDoo Lounge … Will a wee-hours free-for-all between dozens of dance clubbers and police that even made Fox News nationally spell doom for Harrah’s Saturday night DJ blowouts?
Maybe it’s time to stop fanning the flames … Hand-wringing over keeping the fake flame flickering atop the Liberty Memorial flies in the face of financial woes plaguing the National World War I Museum and runs counter to energy and environmental concerns, say some.
Nightclub czar Stuart Salomon doesn’t really have a dog in the life-and-death struggle many area nightclubs now face…
Forget about the pompoms of politicians past … Kansas City doesn’t need a cheerleader, it needs a pol willing to get down in a three-point stance and make former KC Mayor Kay Barnes sexy-but-tax-giveaway-fueled downtown work in today’s economy.
Out with the odd, in with the green … The spiritual successor to what once was branded the Night of the Living Safeway is no more. The passing of Marsh’s Apple Market, a funky but spunky grocery in the Broadway Valentine Shopping Center, was the final chess move Uptown Theater owner Larry Sells needed to spark an ambitious redevelopment plan.
One of the hippest propositions imaginable has splashed down in, would you believe, KCK? Deegie’s Carma — a “retail destination” that fuses cutting-edge, affordable fashion, healthy cuisine and spa services — is up and running at The Legends.
Let’s get the “60 Minutes” stuff out of the way early… Does 38 the Spot host Holly Starr sport a stage name or not? You know, like “Hollywood Star”?
Do chicks really dig scrawny pale guys? That was the, uh, message on David Cook’s T-shirt on the publicity photo for his band Axium when I wrote about them in 2003 and 2004.
T he state of the city…? It’s one thing to hear it from a politician, quite another from straight-talking Crossroads artist and community leader Peregrine Honig.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the future Mrs. Nick Lowery … After a six-month romance, the legendary Chiefs kicker is looking at an early 2009 wedding to former ABC San Diego newscaster Phoebe Chongchua.
Coming soon to a party zone near you: the Kansas City Strip. Think of it as local bar and restaurant owners’ answer to the business drain known as downtown’s Power & Light District.
And the winner is… The handmade fashions of Lawrence artist John Sebelius — son of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius — will be featured from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Deegie’s Carma at The Legends at Village West in KCK.
They might have made beautiful music together … Only last year, KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser tendered an olive branch to light-rail proponent Clay Chastain: Join forces on a regional plan rather than going with Chastain’s voter-approved, soon-to-be-City Council-nixed plan, and a depot would be named after Chastain.
