KC Confidential.com

It has been almost two months that a surprising amount of Kansas City News has been hosting more than a few consistent details regarding the fate of former Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences CEO Karen Pletz after she was fired late last year.

I understand a bit of the fuss because the lady was getting paid BIG TIME. Check out this quote:

“Pletz’s compensation skyrocketed from $261,000 in fiscal 1999 to nearly $1.2 million — about $250,000 more than the president of Johns Hopkins University made. Members of Pletz’s executive team also enjoyed huge raises.”

But even for an executive firing the coverage has obviously been way overdone.

Elitism and the money lust of local dead tree newspapers might be a few reasons why the story was blasted throughout the Cowtown media scene.

Let’s not forget that the Star came out with an article that was completely wrong about the reason Pletz was axed. According to almost everybody it wasn’t an “idea to combine osteopathic degree with M.D.” that got Karen Pletz fired as the Star suggested. Nope, as always, the answer was simple: Money, or lack thereof, was the culprit. Ironically Internet comments proved more accurate than reporting from the so-called paper-of-record when it came to determining a motive.

Nevertheless, Pletz is just one of many people who lost her job last year and other than a few sordid details about executive waste, her firing shouldn’t have been regarded anymore than the other newly unemployed people in the Kansas City area.

Sure, we’ve seen stories about the recession but Kansas City newsies really were into the meat and bones of this story, covering almost every angle of the Pletz drama all the way down to the no-name executives who were booted along with the high flying lady. Even today, news that Pletz won’t seek re-election to the Kansas City Southern Board is being blasted all the way to Canada.

Maybe I’m missing something? Could one very rich white lady be so important even after she’s been ousted from her prominent position?

Or maybe the details of this ongoing drama provide one of the reasons so many people are turning away from mainstream media and making, filtering and consuming their own content online — Because the newsies are too focused on the life and times of the rich & famous (even at the local level) and they have forgotten the great unwashed masses who comprise a much more vast, real audience.

Tony Botello

Thirty years is a long time to survive in biz…

That said  living to tell the story through the past two year’s economy and the last six weeks revenue-killing weather was more than Westport’s Corner Restaurant could handle.

Lack of attention to detail may have played a role in the Corner’s demise as well…

Case in point; Pitch foodie Charles Ferruzza says he hasn’t eaten there in 10 years.

KC Confidential food writer Jennifer Janesko’s take on the Corner’s passing is equally glum.

“I’ve actually never been there,” Janesko says. “”It just looked too sketchy for me.”

Now a bit of good news. Continue reading

“Bold New Plays,” the Unicorn Theatre advertises. The company’s fine production of the fascinating new musical “Grey Gardens” (now through February 28) makes that slogan a promise. Producing musical theater about a deranged debutante and her hopelessly wacky mother is one of the bolder things you’ll see on a Kansas City stage this season.

That they carry off the task so effectively– and entertainingly– is a credit to the work of two of our town’s most gifted actresses, Cathy Barnett and Kathleen Warfel. Working with a fine cast under the well-paced direction of stager Nedra Dixon and musical director Anthony Edwards, this “Grey Gardens” team–against the odds and without most musicals’ six figure budget–makes it work.

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“This is why sports is great – it’s not scripted.”
Shannon Sharpe, on the New Orleans Saints upset win over the Indianapolis Colts to claim the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship, CBS
GH: Amen. It is why we watch. It is why we care. We all need to know because we can never be sure until they play the game, fight the fight or run the race. It is why I pity those who do not understand this fascination we sports fans have for strangers competing at the highest level.

“What courage it takes to call that after you waited all that time you waited (during halftime).”
Phil Simms, on Sean Payton’s decision to attempt an onside kick after halftime, CBS
GH: Payton’s gamble signaled to me he did not think his Saints could win this game without a dramatic turnover. He gambled and won. Stephen King could not write a more unbelievable script for the Saints. Read on.

“The Who played at halftime and the Colts do get fooled again!”
Chris Berman, on the Saints pulling off a successful onside kick, ESPN
GH: The decision to attempt an onside kick to begin the third quarter, down 10-6 to Peyton Manning and the best team in the NFL, was a gamble as big as any Super Bowl has ever seen. Lose the ball here and you give Manning a 42-yard field to turn the Colts lead into an 11-point bulge. But after one of the longest and more entertaining scrums for a loose ball I can remember, the Saints were blessed with the ball and eventually the title.

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The Steve Lambert Quartet is setting up as we speak...

The K.C. Confidential; / Stanford & Sons / Jardine’s Beena Bowl is ready to rumble. The doors are open, the 72-inch high def screen kick ass excellent and the Buffalo Chili – both Super Bowl Spicy and regular strength – is on tap.

Local luminaries such as Stanford’s Craig Glazer, KC Strip/Torres Pizza sparkplug Bill Nigro and jazz icon Lonnie McFadden will be on hand. Two time KC  Mayoral candidate Stan Glazer and K.C. Confidential’s Brian McTavish, Tony Botello and Jack Poessiger.

And whatever you do, don’t forget Very Special Guest of Honor: Lauren wants to know!

And yeah, I’ll be there, too. Along with a host of what passes local movers and shakers….

Lezak gave the all-clear until later tonight towards the end of the game and into Monday, so…

Kansas and the FDA have moved swiftly against K2. What looks like potpourri is now under attack by Sunflower State authorities with a vengeance. This is somewhat strange because a recent study suggests that it’s easier for teens to buy marijuana than beer so obviously prohibition still doesn’t work except when it comes to grabbing headlines.

Nevertheless, I still didn’t get a chance to sample the drug while it was legal and now it will forever remain a mystery. Kansas was seemingly forced to play babysitter after so many media reports sparked the curiosity of just about everybody with a TV in the four state area. And the price of all this publicity is that K2 purveyor Jonathan Sloan of Lawrence was charged with multiple felonies. Meanwhile, Natalie McAnulla who owns Lawrence store where the fake weed was sold has yet to be charged with anything.

Additionally, curious locals might be intrigued by the fact that a herb shop on Wesport and main still has limited supplies of K2. Pink, Blonde and Summit are still in limited quantities while supplies last but I still doubt I’ll leave my basement during the snow to sample especailly since they sell for the INSANE price of $30 for three grams. And since the shop in Lawrence supplies the Westport outlet, there’s probably not going to be a re-up.

Still, for me the real story here is the alleged quality of the now illicit drug.
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Think of it as the end of an era…

Just like that the fabled Corner Restaurant in Westport has quietly closed. In years gone by an infamous morning after respite for the One Night Stand Crowd, the unassuming eatery had fallen on less significant times in recent years.

“I haven’t been there for 10 years,” says Pitch food critic Charles Ferruzza. “It’s for sale.”

That said, Ferruzza harbors fond memories of The Corner. Up to a point.

“I feel bad,” Ferruzza says. “Let’s just say whatever charm it had , it had lost.”

Look for a Ferruzza obituary on The Corner on pitch.com

“(Blake) Bell, (Geneo) Grissom and Bishop Miege receiver Justin McCay are considered the three best high school football players in the state of Kansas. On Wednesday, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables flew into town to meet with Grissom and complete the Sooners’ trifecta.”
Pat Sangimino, columnist, HutchNews.com
GH: Kansas and Kansas State ranked above only Colorado in most of the Big 12 recruiting polls I saw posted. Their inability to sign in-state talent is one of the two schools more pressing problems. Read on.

“There is no answer to it. It’s one of the more talked-about subjects. We can’t figure it out. The kids in Iowa seem loyal to their state. Kids in Nebraska are loyal to their state. The kids in Oklahoma seem loyal to their state. We’ve always wondered why it isn’t that way with the Kansas kids.”
 Jon Kirby, Rivals.com recruiting analyst, on why top Kansas recruits are leaving the state instead of signing with K-State or Kansas, HutchNews.com
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This just in…

The Bellator Fighting Championships mixed martial arts organization has inked a deal with Cordish to bring a nationally televised  ”first-of-its-kind mixed martial arts -MMA- promotion airing on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo” to the Power Light District.

Four – count ‘em – four events will go down starting in April in a ring to be set up smack in the middle of the P&L District’s open air atrium in downtown Kansas City. Continue reading

KSHB TV weather wonk Gary Lezak’s message to  snowbound party hearty types…

“You can get out tonight and on Super Bowl Sunday ,” he says. “The snow will start fallingtoward the end of the game but people will still be able to get around. The big snowstorm won’t hit until Monday. It will start late Sunday and snow through Monday. We’re going to get three or four inches of snow on Monday and I think we could get as many as eigh inches of snow. Snow on top of snow, just like we did at Christmas.”

With one big difference, Lezak notes. Continue reading

Round and round he goes and where he stops…

For better than a quarter century high-end gift and furnishings boutique J.M. Porters has ricochetted about the Cowtown. From the old Loehmann’s Plaza to Ward Parkway in the mid-1980s. Oak Park Mall and Leawood’s Town Center Plaza to the Parkside Plaza at 45^th and Main in Kansas City.

It hasn’t always been pretty…

Take the time Oak Park and Porters principal Kar Woo faced off in court over unpaid rent in 1997. Woo’s three stores filed for bankruptcy organization a few months later with three shopping centers claiming he owed nearly $300,000 in rent and interest. Continue reading

Radio jobs can end abruptly, or so I have heard. Cowboy Cory Anderson’s almost five-year year run as a sports talk host on 610 Sports and Entercom of Kansas City came to a sudden end with an incident that happened inside the Entercom building Tuesday afternoon during Anderson’s afternoon stint as co-host of the Chris & Cowboy show.

What was not known at the time to the audience was that Cowboy was scheduled to leave the show at the end of the month. Entercom was aware that Cowboy was planning to leave. Whether or not his scheduled departure was of his choice is unknown. But it needs to be understood that Cowboy had one foot in the saddle even before Tuesday’s incident.

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I’m in the wrong business.

Recently, I witnessed Corporate Comedian Ken Block perform a local gig and until that moment I didn’t realize that somebody could be paid for pretending to be funny.

I want to recall the act, I would like to provide accurate details but reliving the thing might be too painful. I’ll do my best here but if I miss describing any aspect of the performance, rest assured that readers won’t be missing much. First off, it’s important to note that Mr. Block is first and foremost an impressionist. His repertoire includes Elvis Presley, Cary Grant, Groucho Marx and all the Presidents from Kennedy till now. The unfortunate part of all this is that I don’t really like any of those people and that, in a nutshell, is the biggest fault with Mr. Block’s routine.

Believe me it gets worse.
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Say you love Satan.

No?

You’re showing better judgment than the young fellow who falls for a shirtless hunk in “Say You Love Satan.”

Good rule: Anyone walking around with “666” on his forehead isn’t dating material, regardless of pectoral appeal. But try telling that to Andrew (Taylor Gozla), who’s irresistibly attracted to Jack (Evan White) even after Jack admits he’s Satan’s spawn in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s devilish comedy opening at 8 tonight at the Off Center Theatre at Crown Center, 2450 Grand. Continue reading

Super Bowl weekend traditionally means Counter Programming at the movies.

This year’s super weekend is no exception as Sony’s Screen Gems division—known in certain circles as Columbia-Lite—serves up the expected Chick Flick.

But guess what? This is not your typical goofy comedy, but a timely Romantic-Drama from THE CIDER HOUSE RULES director Lasse Hallstroem

And guys will like this one too! Continue reading