I t’s a dog-eat-dog world out there … And that’s putting it mildly in the case of dog park point person Deb Hipp. Two years ago Hipp helped organize WOOF (Well Organized Off-leash Friends). The group of like-minded Kansas Citians wants to establish a dog park at Sunnyside Park near 84th and Wornall.
You might say death becomes him… On the heels of Wood Dickinson’s successful 2005 movie “Raising Jeffrey Dahmer,” the former Dickinson Theatres honcho is producing and directing another docudrama.
Coming soon to a jazz joint near you: Beena Rajalekshimi … The owner of Jardine’s near the Plaza has been missing in action for three years while hanging with family and friends in India.
Could the answer to energy independence be found right here in the lowly Cowtown? If Carriage & Motor Works main man Brian Haupt has his way, the answer is a resounding yes. By day the Rockhurst engineering prof turned classic imported car guru spends his time keeping aging sports cars like Alfa Romeos and MGs operational. And since 1968 Haupt has engaged in amateur sports car racing.
About that cutting-edge new Dillard’s at Zona Rosa … Need a $5,000 Waterford punch bowl or feel like going on a Lisa Lampanelli shoe-shopping binge?
As prep school grads go Carol Duboc kinda breaks the mold… The former Pembroke Hill homecoming queen-turned jazz crooner taught KU legend Wilt Chamberlain tennis, danced with John Travolta for the movie “Be Cool” and she even got her boyfriend in high school “thrown in jail.”
You know, he who laughs last … Clay Chastain isn’t laughing, but as architect of KC’s lone successful voter-approved light-rail plan he has a take on the defeat dealt the city’s starter system Tuesday.
As in life, somehow the soap opera continues for Tammy Faye… The deceased former televangelist’s Loch Lloyd dream home is now back on the proverbial block. Erected two years ago by her church-building hubby, Roe Messner, the house later was foreclosed on, but he bought it again in an auction on the courthouse steps.
It took a couple of years but Kansas City’s most famous radio export, Erich “Mancow” Muller, is back on the air in the Windy City. On legendary Chicago signal WLS-AM from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays, no less.
Times are tough and could well get tougher. So what’s an enterprising coffee shop/eatery owner to do? Have a bowl of cereal.
Talk about haunted Hollywood … The Cowtown’s heretofore buttoned-down Variety Club children’s charity “Academy Awards Night” benefit is about to get a ghoulish and unsettling makeover.
New kickoff chant fails … That was the headline for Monday’s University Daily Kansan story about its effort to appease the KU athletics department and help rid home football games of an expletive-laced kickoff chant that has grown to epic proportions. The UDK is the KU student newspaper.
The Cowtown’s safest party zone? For the most part Kansas City Police statistics appear to indicate that all three — Westport, the Country Club Plaza and the Power & Light District — are places where comparative peace of mind can be attained while partying like a rock star.
Suppose they built a shopping center and nobody came … That quite somber reality has been visited upon the good taxpayers of Merriam, in the form of the town’s spanking new ghost mall, Merriam Village. The tres handsome, attractively landscaped retail center sits high atop a hill along the east side of I-35 and just south of Johnson Drive.
L ooking for the most idiosyncratic Halloween experience imaginable? Check out Jardine’s Wee Snuff Jazz Doll Party.
It may well be the American Royal’s wildest ride… He goes by Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey, and if you’ve ever caught a glimpse of a tiny Capuchin primate riding the holy heck out of a Border Collie at a rodeo, NBA game or in a Taco John’s commercial, that’s him.
Boo!!! Guess who’s coming to Kansas City for Halloween … “I’m coming in and I’m bringing my bag of treats,” says light rail activist Clay Chastain. “I’ve changed my mind, and I’m coming before the election to campaign for the light rail initiative the voters already approved — to ask voters not to vote for this new light rail plan that doesn’t go to the train station, doesn’t go...
Imagine a fried chicken dinner without the chicken … Now lose the fantasy, because it’s about to go down. Heidi Van Pelt, the young woman who made a man out of then-17-year-old Taran Noah Smith (of “Home Improvement” fame), is poised to open a new biz in the Uptown Shoppes at 37th and Broadway.
Queen of Mean by night, grrrl next door by day … Who would have guessed that superstar comic Lisa Lampanelli was a certifiable Halls Plaza shopaholic? Or how about a shy shopper who wouldn’t ruffle a feather in what passes for the real world?
So many governors, so few first dudes… There’s been no shortage of media mentions about Todd Palin choosing that moniker instead of the customary first gentleman. That after Palin’s wife, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, became the Republican vice-presidential candidate.
The heat is on … So will the frightful phrase go away now that some student leaders have joined the University of Kansas athletics department’s war against the vulgar football kickoff chant?
One of the wackiest local marriages ever is at a crossroads … Seven short years ago, then-17-year-old “ Home Improvement” star Taran Noah Smith skipped on his parents, ran away with Heidi Van Pelt of Kansas City and was married by lawyer David Scott Whinery in Lawrence with a cadre of strippers serving as bridesmaids.
Let the finger-pointing begin … With the economy in shambles and the Power & Light District’s dearth of retail tenants, an e-mail blame game has erupted between P&L developer Cordish and City Hall.
Turns out one T-shirt vendor’s nightmare is another’s no big deal... Earlier this year the University of Kansas athletics department put the legal kibosh on Lawrence T-shirt vendor JoeCollege.com’s “Our Coach Can Eat Your Coach” T-shirt.
Tap, tap, tap … Light-rail advocate Clay Chastain has a reminder for voters and local pols:
To borrow an expression, mission accomplished… Year Numero Uno for the venue known as Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone is in the books. The good news: Despite $4-a-gallon gas, a withering economy and a ridiculously competitive concert landscape, they lived to tell the story. The season wrapped Sept. 19 with headbanger blowout Shinedown.
No rainouts, guaranteed… Mother Nature’s recent clobbering of Channel 19’s annual TV Dinner black tie blowout at Liberty Memorial won’t be repeated at Standard Style Boutique’s fifth anniversary rooftop fashion fandango Thursday.
Think of it as the five-year plan … Half a decade back, area hipsters and alternative rock devotees banded together to “Save the Buzz,” the alternative rock station at 96.5 on the FM dial. Word then was parent company Entercom was close to killing the low-rated Buzz 96.5 FM and transporting high-rated 61 Country morning show host David Lawrence and crew to the Buzz’s signal.
The beat goes on … For three years University of Kansas students have let fly a certain profane chant at home football games … to the chagrin of the athletics department.
