IN Kansas City September 2020

New Places to Dine and Drink in Kansas City

SEPTEMBER 2020 | INKANSASCITY.COM

SHOPPING THE FARMERS MARKETS BOLD COLOR REVIVES A PRAIRIE VILLAGE RANCH A TRANQUIL GARDEN RETREAT

Janelle Monรกe AN EXCLUSIVE Q&A

TALKS ABOUT HER ACTIVISM, HER HOMETOWN, HER MUSIC AND HER NEW MOVIE

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Beyond Bounds 2020 • Participating Artists • Online Auction • jccc.edu/beyondbounds Tony Abeyta

Rena Detrixhe

Kahlil Robert Irving

Art Miller

Michael Schonhoff

Gina Adams

Tomory Dodge

Hiba Jameel

Dylan Mortimer

Andrew Schoultz

Ben Ahlvers

Lori Raye Erickson

Ezra Johnson

Cristina Muñiz

Dana Schutz

Norman Akers

Mark Errol

Thomas Kiefer

Amy Myers

Emil Schutzel

Asheer Akram

Bart Exposito

Jessica Kincaid

Johnny Naugahyde

Carlos J. Setien

Ricky Allman

Brian Fahlstrom

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Wilbur Niewald

Russell Shoemaker

Barry Anderson

Edie Fake

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Ron Slowinski

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Amir H. Fallah

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Lynn Smiser Bowers

Scott Anderson

Asad Faulwell

Jonathan Knight

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Tim Barnhart

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Lin Stanionis

Justin Beachler

Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez

Janet Kuemmerlein

Michael Pesselato

Sean Starowitz

Eric Beltz

Andrea Fuhrman

Lisa Lala

Ann Pibal

Mary Ann Strandell

Rita Blitt

Jorge Garcia Almodovar

Ke-Sook Lee

Jason Pollen

Juniper Tangpuz

Matt Bollinger

Matthew Willie Garcia

Sherry Leedy

Tim Pott

Caleb Taylor

Katherine Bradford

Rachelle Gardner-Roe

Beverly Potty

Penny Thieme

Sheila Pree Bright

Laura-Harris Gascogne

Christopher Leitch

Zigmunds Priede

Larry Thomas

James Brinsfield

Kathleen Gerber and Lori Nix

Beniah Leuschke Judith G. Levy

Jane Pronko

Susan Tinker

Linda Lighton

Stephen Proski

Kim Lindaberry

Robert Quackenbush

Anne Lindberg

Michael Rees

Bernadette Esperanza Torres

Cannupa Hanska Luger

Warren Rosser

Gerry Trilling

Eva Lundsager

Aryn Roth

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Archie Scott Gobber Tom Gomersall Joanne Greenbaum

William Tinker

Brad Callahan

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GK Callahan

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Sean Lyman

George Rousis

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John Hachmeister and Judy Paley

Marilyn Mahoney

Jim Sajovic

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Erik Hanson

Lynn Manos

Emily Sall

Eva Wilkin

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Maura Cluthe

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Rodolfo Marron III

John Sandbach

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Diane Henk

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Douglas Coffin

Ronald D. Hicks

Adolfo Gustavo Martinez

Kyu Sung Woo Architects

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Jim Woodfill

Mark Cowardin

Peregrine Honig

Joe Mason

Hubbard Savage

Clinton Work

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Bo Hubbard

Nicole Mauser

Andrew Schell

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EG Schempf

Carol Zastoupil

Anson DeOrnery

Richard Hull

Matthias Merkel Hess

Nancy Schneider-Wilson

Allison Zuckerman

John Davis Carroll

Rashawn Griffin (10 x 8”/detail)

Ezra Johnson (16 x 15”/detail)

Warren Rosser (24 x 24 x 2”/detail)

Brian Fahlstrom (16 x 11”/detail)

Matt Bollinger (12 x 16”/detail)

Davin Watne (16 x 12”/detail)

Anne Lindberg (19 x 18 x 1”/detail)

Richard Hull (20 x 14”/detail)

Maura Cluthe (10 x 8 x 2”/detail)

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DC inKC_Sept_vFA.indd 1

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Contents SEPTEMBER 2020 84

74 Features 70

IN CONVERSATION WITH JANELLE MONÁE The actor/singer/activist and KCK native discusses growing up in KC and her life now.

Departments

90

GONE TO MARKET Shopping local doesn’t get any fresher than a trip to the farmers market.

92

74

SHED THE SWEATS Trade up for something more fashionable, but still comfortable.

COLOR THEORY Interior designer Jessica Gordon mixed bright, happy colors with bold patterns to give a renovated ranch a new lease on life.

84

A VERY ENGLISH GARDEN The landscape around this classic Tudor is transformed with a series of paths and garden rooms that lend it a sense of all things British.

On the cover

92

90 28

WOMEN IN BUSINESS IN KC

32

ENTERTAINING IN KC

38

OUR MAN IN KC

44

ARTS & CULTURE IN KC

50

BEHIND THE MUSIC IN KC

58

LOOK IN KC

64

LIVING IN KC

104

FLAVOR IN KC

120

MY ESSENTIALS IN KC

IN EVERY ISSUE

Janelle Monáe. Photo by Danielle Levitt.

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 18 | INKANSASCITY.COM

22

EDITOR’S NOTE

24

INKANSASCITY.COM

Heart attacks and strokes don’t stay home.

Don’t avoid the ER out of anxiety.

Don’t die of doubt.

Don’t stay silent and don’t stay home.

If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1.

When seconds count, the hospital is the safest place to be.

Heart.org/DontDieofDoubt

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Editor’s Note

After a Fashion Vol. 3 | No. 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 Editor In Chief Zim Loy Art Director Alice Govert Bryan Digital Editor Michael Mackie

I

photo by aaron leimkuhler

t may seem a bit frivolous to plan a fashion issue in the midst of a pandemic, nationwide protests, and an historic recession, but I beg to differ.

One of my favorite movies is The Devil Wears Prada. (Not the book; that was a poorly written exercise in vindictiveness.) Meryl Streep is fabulous as the imperious editor (read, Anna Wintour) of the most powerful fashion magazine (read, Vogue) in the world. And one of my favorite scenes in the movie was the cerulean sweater scene, where Miranda Priestly schools Anne Hathaway’s character on the fashion industry—how that sweater represented millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the history of fashion itself. Sometimes a blue sweater is not just a blue sweater, to paraphrase Freud.

Fashion speaks volumes. Just look at our cover story and exclusive interview with Janelle Monáe. As you read the interview, you’ll see that Monáe is a serious activist, dedicated to fighting racism, sexism, and homophobia, and she does plenty of volunteering in her commitment to helping others. (And it is real, active volunteering, such as delivering meals to families in need as a part of her Wondalunch program.)

But she also is known for her formidable fashion aesthetic, from her black-and-white tuxes and saddle shoes in the early 2000’s to her couture looks at last fall’s Paris Fashion Week and the Met Gala. Black and white has always been her go-to, and she explained why in a 2012 interview at the BET “Black Girls Rock” awards. “When I started my musical career, I was a maid. I used to clean houses. My mother was a proud janitor … my father was a trash man. They all wore uniforms, and that’s why I stand here today in my black and white.

I wear my uniform to honor them. This is a reminder that I have work to do. I have people to uplift. I have people to inspire.” That’s definitely fashion with a message.

In our fashion feature, as is true throughout the magazine, the clothes and products you’ll see are sourced from local boutiques and shops. You’ll find no Amazon or Shopify fashion here. I’m a firm believer in shopping local and promoting local whenever possible.

These clothes represent the local small-business owners and salespeople who strive to help you look your best.

We’ve become entirely too comfortable in elastic waistbands and slippers. It’s time to put on your (fashionable) mask, make an appointment, and safely shop at your favorite store. It’s bound to lift your spirits and help keep our small businesses in business.

After all, aren’t you ready to shed the sweats and step out in something a bit more stylish?

Contributing Writers Kelsey Cipolla, Stacy Downs, Judith Fertig, Timothy Finn, Cindy Hoedel, Cody Hogan, Merrily Jackson, Damian Lair, R. Murphy

Zim

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 22 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Contributing Photographers Ron Berg, Aaron Leimkuehler, Danielle Levitt, Gary Rohman Graphic Designer Eva Tucker Copy Editor Craig Magnus Publisher Michelle Jolles Media Director Brittany Coale Senior Media Consultants Katie Delzer, Nicole Kube, Shelayne Lawyer, Krista Markley Newsstand Consultant Joe J. Luca, JK Associates 816-213-4101, jkassoc.net Editorial Questions: zloy@inkansascity.com

Advertising Questions:

cparkhurst@inkansascity.com

Distribution Questions: mjolles@inkansascity.com

Magazine Subscriptions:

Mail: In Kansas City, PO Box 92257 Long Beach CA 90809 Phone: 888-881-5861, M–F, 8–4 PST Email: inkansascity@psfmag.com

Subscribe Online:

inkansascity.com Find the subscribe link under The Magazine tab

IN Kansas City is published monthly by KC Media LLC

118 Southwest Blvd., 2nd Floor Kansas City, MO 64108 816-768-8300 | inkansascity.com Annual Subscriptions are $19.95

K E L LY J O H N S O N D E S I G N

Celebrate more time at home.

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American Ninja Warrior Warrior—Or Bust!

Photographer Amber Dawkins has been training for NBC’s American Ninja Warrior for a few years now—and she finally got the call to be on the show. We profile the athlete ahead of her debut later this month. Find it at inkansascity.com.

Fashion Is Our Passion This Month! If quarantine has you in a rut,

we’re here to help! One lucky winner will score a $100 gift card to do some retail therapy at the dazzling new Clairvaux boutique. Plus, our friends at AesthetiCare Medspa in Leawood are throwing in a year-long package of twelve Hydrafacials to help you look your best. Enter to win this “Glow Up” package by September 30 at inkansascity.com/the-magazine/enter-to-win—and good luck!.

pinged several local interior designers for their favorite colors—from calming cream to bold black and beyond.

Find it at inkansascity.com.

FOLLOW US

Holy Guacamole!

Love avocados? Brace yourself, we’ve got a spicy recipe that will require drinking a couple of margaritas to squelch the heat! FYI: National Guacamole Day is September 16. Find the recipe at inkansascity. com/eat-drink/recipes.

Funny girl. Kansas City native and Groundlings alum, Nicole Burch, is poised to debut her first televised comedy special Never Been Kissed on September 15 on Amazon and Apple TV. We touched base with the comedian to find out five things you don’t know about her.

Find it at inkansascity.com.

FACEBOOK @INKANSASCITYMAGAZINE

TWITTER @INKANSASCITYMAG

Perfect restaurant patios to peruse! From happy hours to

the local restaurant scene, we’ve got the city’s most comprehensive dining guide. So many patios to check out now that the weather is cooler.

Check ‘em out at inkansascity.com/ eat-drink/dining-guide

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 24 | INKANSASCITY.COM

INSTAGRAM @INKANSASCITYMAG

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER subscribe at INKANSASCITY.COM (under The Magazine tab)

VERDIGRIS PHOTO BY AARON LEIHMKUHLER

Thinking of Painting the Exterior of Your House? We

GREAT PLAINS SPCA ANIMAL EXPERT ANSWERS YOUR PET QUESTIONS Animal expert, Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA, is the Director of Animal Behavior & Training at Great Plains SPCA. Ashley has more than 16 years of experience in animal training and behavior.

FEATURED PET

Dear Ashley – What is the best way to keep my dog cool during these hot summer days?

– Alana Harrison Hi Alana – This is an excellent question considering how hot it has been lately. I highly recommend fresh, cool water and lots of breaks from the heat. I like to use ice cubes in water dishes and damp towels for my dogs during the summer months.

Baby pools or doggy pools are must-have if your dog likes being outside a lot. Avoiding the mid-day heat and providing places that are shaded will help significantly. Avoiding asphalt can also be a big help since a dog’s paws can be as sensitive as a human’s feet. Make sure your pup is well-hydrated and never leave your dog in the car unattended during warm weather. Stay cool!

Deuce is a six-year-old Australian Cattle Dog mix who likes long walks and the simpler things in life. He loves to play and run and gets along well with other dogs, although other small animals and little kids aren’t his thing.

He may take a little time to warm up, but once he decides he likes you, he gives tons of love. To adopt Deuce, visit greatplainsspca.org/adopt.

GREATPLAINSSPCA.ORG

– Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA

Dear Ashley – How do I socialize my puppy during the pandemic?

– Derek Williams

5424 Antioch Dr. | Merriam, KS 66202

Hi Derek – This is an excellent question that has many people completely boggled during this time. I recommend sitting outside with your puppy to get him used to watching neighbors go about their business or taking him on some car rides so he can watch people from the window and simultaneously get exposed to new and different noises. You can also go to the grocery

store and sit in the parking lot while giving your puppy treats when people walk by. A fun activity is for you or your family members to wear different types of hats and sunglasses to get him used to them so he won’t be afraid of them or other people and don’t forget to expose him to things like bikes, strollers, or skateboards. These are all things dogs may find scary when they are not overly exposed to them.

– Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA

Dear Ashley – My long-haired cat’s hair gets matted when I’m away and can’t brush her daily. Is there any way to prevent this?

– Maria Garcia Hi Maria – Brushing is truly the best way to keep mats out of your feline friend’s fur.

I suggest trying to get a family member to come and help brush her when you are away. A well-balanced diet that includes Vitamin E and Omegas can help nourish your cat’s coat to make it a little easier.

Extra petting can always help with preventing mats because you brush your fingers through your cat’s fur. If your cat likes to rub on things, you can use lick mats and put them in places where your cat rubs her body to help brush herself when you are not there. Hope these tips help.

– Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA

ADOPT. DONATE. VOLUNTEER. About Great Plains SPCA: Great Plains SPCA is an independent 501 (c)(3) no-kill shelter serving approximately 6,000 animals annually in the Johnson County community. As Kansas City’s premium family shelter, we continue to support the seven municipalities that we are contracted with including Overland Park, Leawood, Shawnee, Lake Quivira and Johnson County Parks and Recreation and unincorporated Johnson County.

T H E FRIE N D S OF TH E CON S E RVATORY PRE S E N TS

Co-Chairmen Amy Embry and Nicki Wang and Honorary Co-Chairmen Carrie and Casey McLiney invite you to an extraordinary evening of music, dance and theatre. Each year, the Friends of the Conservatory presents Crescendo to showcase the UMKC Conservatory students and faculty and raise crucial scholarship funds. In consideration of the health and safety of our patrons and performers, we will present a very special HYBRID EVENT featuring streamed viewing of exciting and inspiring live student performances. Though we are modifying Crescendo 2020, our cause remains and scholarship need grows.

BECOME A SCHOLARSHIP SPONSOR TODAY! CALL 816-235-1247 • UMKC.EDU/CRESCENDO

Photograph illustration by Mike Duah and Brandon Parigo. Crescendo art by Vedros Photography © 2020. To ensure safety from COVID-19, each person was photographed individually and digitally placed in the illustration.

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Women in Business by

IN KC

Michael Mackie

photo by

Gary Rohman

Valerie Jennings

THE BUSINESS LEADER, ENTREPRENEUR, AND INFLUENCER HAS BEEN NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AS A TOP INNOVATOR

I

n 2003, Valerie Jennings was starting to make a name for herself—successfully maneuvering her way around the ever-evolving world of publicity and PR. In those days, social media wasn’t even a blip on anyone’s radar, so Jennings—now CEO at Jennings Social Media & MarTech—found herself scrambling to provide tangible results for clients, relying on old-school metrics like viewership, impressions, etc. “I started getting frustrated with that as a business owner. I put myself in my clients’ shoes and said, ‘Yeah, there’s really no other way to qualify all this hard work.’”

By 2005, the Iowa native started snooping around the burgeoning world of bloggers and online press releases and was immediately intrigued. “I thought, ‘Wow, there’s some live data I could overlay on top of what I was already offering,” she says. What seems old-school now was revolutionary at the time, and that’s how Jennings helped build her business—one Google analytics case study at a time. “I was either attracting people looking for new vehicles to get their messaging out there or people who were excited to hear of other opportunities—or maybe a

SEPTEMBER 2020

little bit of both,” she says. Her first experimental client? “A start-up in the dirt-track racing industry,” she says, laughing. “Not typical.”

Jennings was securing entrepreneurial clients who found her specialized pilot offerings unique. Many were more than eager to be her marketing guinea pigs. “They came at it from the mindset of ‘why not?’” she says. “I felt like I was surrounded and supported by businesses that wanted to try something new.”

Jennings grew her company in an untapped market—and she did it all sans investors. “I was truly invested in the exploration process— almost like a science lab. What can we learn? How do we solve these business challenges and how do we look for new tools to do it? And that opened up doors with publicly traded companies.” When social media started blowing up, Jennings and her team capitalized on it.

Jennings can relate a slew of success stories but is quick to point out that merely starting her business as a 24-year-old was a significant milestone. From tapping influencers long before they were called that to picking up name-brand companies, the growth was gratifying. “It was an honor to be a new, fresh agency competing with firms in New York,” she says. “And recently, our growth is in the marketing tech space. I feel like we’ve had that same growth in knowledge with the development of martech and artificial intelligence in the last two years—a substantial success story for our agency. We’ve been able to continue to own that early adopter status—and that’s not easy to do.”

Jennings has been recognized with honors, including Folio: 2020 Top 20 Women in Media, 2020 Marketer of the Year by DMN, and in 2018, a 40Under40 honoree by Direct Marketing News. She says while accolades and awards are nice, the fact that they’ve kept reinventing themselves and staying relevant is doubly impressive. “In fact, we just relaunched our brand. We’ve doubled down on our Instagram creative offerings and expanded all our automation and CRM integration. That’s fueled by what clients want today—full transparency on where their leads are coming from and what programs are in place to drive those leads.”

Jennings says being a woman in this industry has proved advantageous.

“I’ve stood out—and I haven’t been afraid to speak up about what I know and our experiences,” she says. “I’ve sought out industries where there aren’t many women working in them. For example, we’ve worked in the automotive industry for over ten years. I have loved it. We have sought [male-dominated companies] out and found them to be incredibly rewarding, and we have had a voice at the table.”

Even in the midst of the pandemic, Jennings says it’s been rewarding to watch the metro’s entrepreneurial spirit shine. Mentorship and positive reinforcement were paramount when Jennings was starting her business and she’s paying it back—and then some. “This town is a town of entrepreneurs and small business owners and we respect and encourage each other, and it’s why I still have this business today. I want people to realize they should not give up right now. They’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to keep encouraging people to start businesses regardless of what’s going on.”

| 28 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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“REVOLUTIONARY” BODY TECHNOLOGY IS NOW AVAILABLE AT ASSOCIATED PLASTIC SURGEONS

R

arely do the medical professionals at Associated Plastic Surgeons use a term like “revolutionary” to describe one of their newest procedures, but in the case of the BodyTite by InMode, it’s a perfect description. Want to “remodel” parts of your body and improve the appearance of your skin without surgical intervention or downtime?

The surgeons at APS all agree, this is the body contouring procedure for you.

Treat Problem Areas Not only was this technology by InMode recently cleared by the FDA, the treatment is an ideal, minimally invasive solution to treat problem areas of the body with nominal fuss and muss. How? InMode’s advanced technology uses radio-frequency (RF) energy to provide targeted skin tightening, cellulite reduction, and fat reduction. “We are always looking at new technology and aesthetic devices as they come on the market. We see a lot of ‘fad’ products that promise things, but don’t have the science to back up those promises. In comparison, InMode was very exciting with proven data and results,” says Jon E. Rast, M.D. “It offers a complete system for minimally invasive treatments for facial and body contouring, skin rejuvenation, and other in-demand procedures unlike anything else on the market.

We are proud to be one of the first to bring this innovative treatment to the Kansas City area.”

Before

After

Treat Multiple Areas At Once InMode technology delivers three specialized aesthetic treatments in one system, which is incredibly convenient if you’re targeting multiple areas. Yes, you can treat multiple problem sections in just a single session.

FaceTite: Not quite ready for a traditional facelift? This procedure can get close to surgical results without having the scarring and downtown that comes with surgery.

BodyTite: A treatment which addresses skin laxity that comes from aging, weight loss or pregnancy.

AccuTite: A treatment that tightens the skin while remodeling underlying fat deposits with radio frequency energy.

The InMode system comes with applicators designed with built-in thermal sensors that monitor skin surface temperature in real time. At APS, patients are guaranteed procedures are performed and monitored by board-certified, experienced plastic surgeons. “The ideal candidate for a

FaceTite, AccuTite, or BodyTite procedure would be a person wanting to improve laxity of saggy, wrinkly skin potentially caused by weight loss or aging,” says Mark W. McClung, M.D. “For FaceTite, someone unhappy with their double chin, sagging under eyes, or jowling could receive significant aesthetic improvement. Meanwhile, the best BodyTite candidates are individuals who are close to their ideal body weight, but struggle with fatty areas of the body that are resistant to working out and dieting and have loose skin. Target areas would include excess skin and fat on your buttocks, arms, back, hips or knees. And AccuTite allows us to achieve those pin-point fine areas on the face and body with accuracy and detail.”

The Addition of Morpehus8 Along with the stellar before-and-after results patients have seen, they’re are also raving about the addition of InMode’s secondary treatment regimen, Morpheus8. The machine allows coated micropins to penetrate the skin and channel RF energy deep into your dermis, stimulating your body’s natural elastin and collagen production. It’s the perfect one-two punch when combined with InMode’s other state-of-the-art, targeted technologies. “The Morpheus8 can be used as a stand-alone radio frequency (RF) micro-needling facial or as a powerful follow-up to our other InMode procedures for enhanced and lasting tightening results. We have offered micro-needling before and for good reason—it garners great results,” says Joseph V. Cannova, M.D. “With microneedling, we create tiny micro-injuries across your skin to elicit a healing response in the form of elastin and collagen synthesis (the proteins responsible for the tone and elasticity in your skin). Microneedling with RF takes this process a step further by delivering RF energy through the microneedles to heat and coagulate your dermis farther down than the needles reach. This thermal action creates a stronger and deeper response in your skin for better results. It is nice to have more tools in our toolbox to provide multi-level care to create optimal results for every patient.”

Results—as patients often mention—speak for themselves. Some have seen nearly immediate visible results while touting short recovery times, almost pain-free experiences and pleasing results. “It has been exciting to share real results on social media and with patients in office. Minimally invasive cosmetic procedures are one of the fastest-growing areas of plastic surgery, and FaceTite was recently named one of 2019’s biggest plastic surgery trends,” says Sheryl L. Young, M.D. “At APS we always strive to offer choices to fit our patients’ personal needs and desires. We don’t want to push things on patients who would not benefit or be completely satisfied with the results. From our med spa through our surgical options, we pride ourselves in being able to help people no matter where they are on their aesthetic journey.”

Tired of living with small amounts of excess fat and/or loose, sagging skin?

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SAVE THE DATE

Get ready for an innovative and exciting open house on Thursday September 17.

Nosh on complimentary bites and sip refreshing beverages all while taking in educational opportunities, product education, and of course, amazing once-a-year discounts! Follow us on social meda for more details.

Before

After

Don’t miss a beat New home community opening SEPTEMBER 2020

816.605.4414 Cadence@ReeceNichols.com @CadenceNewHomes

CadenceNewHomesKC.com

IN KC

photo by aaron leimkuehler

Entertaining

The Days of Wine and Comfort Food by

Merrily Jackson

photo by

Aaron Leimkuehler

OUR HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS SHARES TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SERVING CLASSIC COMFORT FOOD WITH EASE, STYLE, AND WIT

I

don’t know about you, but I have had zero people over for anything since this ghastly pandemic hit. I do, however, make dinner every night for my “quaran-team,” (me and the hubs), while watching the news on the telly in our kitchen. For me, watching the news in 2020 requires the solace provided by, well, many things, including traditional comfort foods.

It’s September, and the cool months draw near. Another reason for comfort food in the form of soups, stews, casseroles, pasta dishes. Here

Email me with your entertaining questions, dilemmas, or triumphs at mjackson@inkansascity.com

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 32 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Come Home to Sophistication.

COME HOME TO NEST.

5911 Johnson Dr. u Mission, KS 66202 u 913.901.8257 u www.nestkc.com

Entertaining DATE & LOCATION CHANGE!

IN KC

Perfect Late-Summer Comfort Fare

This dish from Lidia’s Favorite Recipes by Lidia Bastianich, is so simple and so spectacular. Use the freshest ingredients you can beg, borrow or steal. I made it with cavatappi instead of penne once; it was excellent.

2020

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 BOULEVARD DRIVE-IN

Penne with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella Makes 6 servings

Stanislav & Friends will indeed take place!

We’re not cancelling, we’re revamping.

The event will collide a piece of Americana,

1 pound ripe and juicy cherry tomatoes (the ones sold still on the vine are the best), rinsed, dried and cut in half ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling over the finished pasta, if you like 4 garlic cloves, peeled

drive-in movies, with world-class classical music.

This fun-filled event, prerecorded in Helzberg Hall,

1 teaspoon sea salt, preferably coarse

features Behzod Abduraimov, Kenny Broberg,

1 pound penne pasta (note: I use ¾ lb pasta)

Stanislav Ioudenitch, and others,

plus an 8-hand, 4-pianist, 2-piano finale!

You should bring the whole family and the dog.

$50 FOR 2

|

$100 FOR 3+

( Must be in same non-commercial personal vehicle ).

I C M . PA R K . E D U

SEPTEMBER 2020

A pinch of crushed red pepper

10 fresh basil leaves, shredded ½ pound bocconcini, bite-size fresh mozzarella, cut in half

Toss the tomatoes, oil, sea salt and crushed red pepper together in a large bowl. Whack the garlic with the side of a knife and toss it into the bowl. Let marinate at room temperature, tossing once or twice, for 30 minutes.

While the tomatoes are marinating, bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat. Stir the penne into the boiling water and cook semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove the garlic, if you like, from the marinated tomatoes and toss in the basil. Drain the pasta, add it to the bowl of tomatoes, and toss well to mix. Check the seasoning, adding salt and more crushed red pepper if necessary.

Gently stir in the bocconcini and serve.

| 34 | INKANSASCITY.COM

are some menus and ideas for serving comfort food to your own quaran-team—and to fresh faces at the table, once the pandemic ends. (And it will!)

HUMBLE FOOD, PRETTY TABLE Comfort food typically is not fancy food. But it’s never wrong, even for the most casual occasion, to bust out the china, crystal, family sterling, and linen damask … if you’re lucky enough to have it. If not, you still can set a table that welcomes your people. Even if I’m serving chili and cornbread, I want my guests to feel pampered when they sit down to my table. In addition to the standard dinnerware, each place setting has a place card, a charger, a handsome cloth napkin with an interesting napkin ring (World Market has great assortments of the latter three) and miniature salt and pepper shakers. My friend David Jimenez, who now lives in Paris, likes to have a prezzie for each guest at his gorgeously set table. Each setting has an elegant little box of chocolates or French macarons.

THE MOOD, THE MOOD, THE MOOD Fiestaware is perfect for serving comfort food. I love the rich, saturated colors of the dishes and the way you can mix and match them in infinite combinations. I have a collection of vintage Fiesta, supplemented by fabulous new pieces purchased at Pryde’s Kitchen & Necessities.

New, crisp, easy-to-launder king-sized sheets from Tarjhay make fabulous to-the-floor tablecloths.

Most important is the ambiance you create as a backdrop for these things. Everything is prettier by flickering candlelight, with Billie Holiday playing in the background.

LESSONS FROM THE SNOBBY CHEF My cooking buddy Donald Loncasty (dba The Snobby Chef ) makes a tuna noodle casserole using a recipe that calls for a can of Campbell’s soup, and he actually has the stones to serve it as an entrée at a dinner party. Donnie, a frequent host, can get away with this because, most importantly, the casserole is delicious, and because he is known far and wide as an insufferable food snob and highly skilled home chef. He serves the casserole with a simple green salad and a nice, dry sauvignon blanc and everyone wants seconds. He has shared the recipe with me, and I will email it—and any other recipe mentioned herein—to you, if you ask nicely. I also will email you his recipe for country-style rigatoni which I have written about before (adapted from Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook); it takes a little extra effort and is more party-foodish. And as an added bonus, he has graciously allowed me to share with you a PDF he created, a collection of his most popular tried-and-true recipes, including Chicken Divan, also comforting—also calling for canned soup.

SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED NOODLES Decades ago, I spent an entire summer trying to recreate

SEPTEMBER 2020

127th & Metcalf

Fabulous Selection & In Home Design AreaRugDimensions.com | 35 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Entertaining

IN KC

the pasta puttanesca served in the storied, short-lived Midtown eatery, Mama Stuffeati’s. (Raise your hand if you remember!) I could never match the salty, earthy perfection of that dish, so I gave up trying. Then, several years ago, I got my hands on Colu Henry’s fabulous new book Back Pocket Pasta and tried her puttanesca recipe.

Nailed it! This would be a great dish to make and bring to someone who is truly in quarantine.

For sheer pasta comfort, nothing can compete with my spaghetti and meatballs for a crowd recipe. It uses store-bought marinara sauce and meatballs—I use Scimeca’s—to make a rich, complex-tasting sauce, good enough to serve at a Saturday night dinner party. The secret ingredient is a package of country-style pork ribs, found in the meat section of most grocery stores.

I also adore Nigella Lawson’s linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme, perfect for vegetarians, served any time of the year.

INSPIRATION FROM CLAUDINE I learned a lot about comfort food from my husband’s sister, Claudine Jackson Weiher, who we lost to cancer in 2012. It feels good to write about her because she was a huge influence on my life. She entertained brilliantly and often in her elegant home on Capitol Hill, and at her weekend cottage on the Chesapeake Bay. Although she was a sophisti-

cated, accomplished cook, she loved to make hearty, simple stews and soups, served with love, panache, and bossiness.

Claudine’s Six-Hour Chili, so named because it simmers in the crockpot for half a day, was her go-to recipe for casual family gatherings. She served it over spaghetti, and passed bowls of toppings: sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, diced red onions and chopped cilantro.

Email me and I will send you her recipe, along with instructions for the grapefruit and avocado salad she served beforehand.

Also in her repertoire of unpretentious recipes was a dish called picadillo. I had not heard of it the first time she plopped a plateful of it in front of me. But I’ve since learned that in many Latin countries, picadillo is comfort food. There are dozens of variations, but it is always made with ground beef and served over rice. Her version was delicious, made with diced tomatoes, chopped apples, olives, raisins, and a pinch of cinnamon and ground cloves.

Maybe Claudine discovered picadillo in Colombia. She was stationed there in the Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration.

Before the Peace Corps, she visited Hamburg on a student ambassador program. It was 1961 and The Beatles were living and playing there, relatively unknown, before they took the world by storm. She got to see them perform three nights in a row in a tiny club on the Reeperbahn.

Great dinner party story, huh?

International Materials of Design TILE & STONE

4691 Indian Creek Parkway (I-435 & Roe) Overland Park, KS 913.383.3383

www.imdtile.com

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 36 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Our Man BY

IN KC

Damian Lair

dlair@inkansascity.com

: @damianlair #OurManINKC

Wild, Wild Westport

C

rises bring about changes—good and bad—and Westport is amidst its very own pandemic renaissance. Though a proud resident of downtown, I freely admit that a majority of my weekends are spent in and around Westport. The district has experienced ebbs and flows before. I can vividly remember when I first moved here—the big, new, and flashy Power & Light District ushered what felt like a mass exodus of bars, restaurants, and well—people, from Westport. But the vacant spaces brought with them the opportunity for something fresh, new, and more authentic. Some still remain among my favorites.

One, which I’ve extolled previously, was partially what brought me down on a sunny Saturday morning. Serving directly to the sidewalk out their front windows, the team at Westport Café & Bar has been cooking up breakfast crêpes from their weekend “Le Petit Café” that I just had to try. I opted for the savory Parisian ham and gruyere with heirloom tomato (no, not just ham and cheese). They also have sweeter varieties with Nutella, coconut, and banana as well as a mixed berries version. Oh, and there are frozen cocktails to go. Think: a giant Capri Sun—with alcohol! I had the Pimm’s Cup, and it hit the spot.

Overall, an experience so magnifique I nearly forgot I was trapped stateside. Side note: I was at WPC the following evening for one of their “Raclette Soirees,” and I must rave a bit more. If you’ve never had raclette (a semi-firm cow’s milk cheese from the Alps that is melted just enough so it HOT can be hand “scraped” onto items on your GOSSIP: plate—in my case, a short-ribs burger), then look up their next date and try Whose big birthday it out. You’ll squeal with delight and party had guests your Instagram followers will be extra haphazardly dressed in everything from tuxedos jealous as you post every mouth-wato flip flops? Guest tering, gooey scrape. But back to my communication Westport Saturday…

FAIL??

SEPTEMBER 2020

Damian Lair enjoying the “Life of the Party” milkshake at Creative Culture.

OVERHEARD “It’s like a memory in your mouth.”

With a cocktail slurped, and extra pep in my step, I crossed Broadway into what I am henceforth coining “East Westport.”

I feel this is necessary because what not long ago seemed the abrupt cut-off point for the eponymous bar and restaurant district, is now but a gateway to a whole new world of goings on. First on my list was Soap Bar and sister store Mid Coast Modern. Soap Bar specializes in small-batch soaps, bath bombs, shower steamers, bath salts, and a line of beard products—all made on site. And at neighboring Mid Coast Modern, the same owners offer limited-edition jewelry, artwork, and a fresh, edited selection of gifts. Betwixt the two, I was able to check off all sorts of gift needs, including a nice

| 38 | INKANSASCITY.COM

A Glorious Fall at Pear Tree!

Our Man

IN KC

HOT GOSSIP:

Direct Importer of European Antiques, decorative furnishings and unique gifts.

Pear Tree

candle and artwork card for a Who is just as good at couple’s upcoming anniversary stirring up a protest as and a housewarming package she is at passing them off for someone special—complete to someone else? with sage and palo santo incense sticks. And of course, I nabbed a few skincare items for myself. Check, check, and check!

Next up, just another few steps down Westport Road, was the still new and absolutely charming Wise Blood Booksellers. Don’t let its size fool you, the place is thoughtfully stacked with books on an assortment of topics, particularly those of current interest (and what they don’t have, they’ll order up lickety-split). On my visit, they were very well supplied with a vast variety of social justice titles—including just the one I’d been referred to by a friend and had been meaning to read. Another check!

The next block down, and the other principal reason for my trek that day, was the grand opening of Creative Culture. By now, I bet you’ve seen their insanely photogenic gourmet “milkshakes” all over your social media channels. Like the raclette, the milkshakes practically beg to be digitally shared. Perfect for zinging your FOMO friends. For my milkshake, I went with the “Life of the Party” (sounds about right), birthday cake option—topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, vanilla wafer, a full cupcake, and an ice cream cone. But, in addition to artistic milkshakes, they offer a bevy of other ways to get creative, including a plant bar and a robust craft menu. You can pick a plant, container, variety of potting mediums, and assemble to your liking. Or try your hand at some pottery painting, macramé, or nail and twine wall art. There’s plenty of space in the craft room to safely spread out, and the room can even be reserved for private parties. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind spot in the city, and I can’t wait to get a group of friends together for a crafty party.

Yet another stop, right across the street in East Westport (it’s really catching on, no?), is Dva Percent. Part upscale flea market, part sneaker reseller, it’s a haven for OVERHEARD the streetwear obsessed (including “I like your hair. yours truly). You can’t miss the giant It looks like you Takashi Murakami inflatable flower just fell apart.” in the front window—an icon made famous by its early 2000s mashup inclusion on Louis Vuitton hand-

303 E 55th Street, Kansas City, MO 64113 | 816-333-2100 Open—Mon-Sat 10-5pm | PearTreeDesignAntiques.com

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 40 | INKANSASCITY.COM

OVERHEARD “He’s been flashing that Gucci logo belt for the last 300 days, but he’s still missing the bumper on his car...

bags. Inside, you’ll find a variety of vintage tees and jerseys, as well as a smattering of used luxury accessories—e.g., LV, Dior, Gucci, Balenciaga, Supreme—all logically fitting within the streetwear genre.

Oh, and there are shoes. They lean heavy on Jordans, Yeezys, and the like, but other rare options abound, and the selection quickly rotates. They buy, sell, and trade, so whether you’re looking to pick up a deal or offload some old treasures, it’s worth a drop-in. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that they do custom gold grillz. I’ve been carefully studying the endless array of options, and I’m nearing a decision. Stay tuned—check mark forthcoming.

Continuing my gradual stroll down this destination street, I popped into the O.G., Pryde’s Kitchen & Necessities for a quick purchase. My old hand mixer had just bitten the dust, and I was in need of a replacement. You know I can cook, right? So, I picked up the latest KitchenAid stainless version. In and out.

Productive check!

And finally, I looped back to Bistro 303 for a congratulatory glass of Veuve Clicquot in their back courtyard—toasting to my spontaneous spree. Checkmark cheers!

Besides my fun create-your-own-adventure day, I also made it back to Westport a few other times over the past month. With the end of summer in full effect, I wanted to make the most out of the new street closure outdoor dining. I had a couple of delicious dinners at Mickey’s Hideaway. I’d make some recommendations, but I’m crazy about their menu, and every single thing I’ve had has been super delicious.

I’ve loved stopping by Char Bar for their existing outdoor space and their chicken nugget and dipping platter—my go-to.

I also finally tried the new Chick-In Waffle restaurant. It’s a cool spot, imagined by the lovely proprietors of Aladdin Café, which recently moved to a new, larger space down the street. At Chick-In Waffle, I shared with a friend the Canadian Buffalo Waffle (buffalo sauce and crispy chicken in your choice of waffle cone or bubble wrap—I had the bubble waffle, which was super fun) and the loaded fries, made tikka masala style. Yummm.

So, you wonder how Westport has captured my heart? I’ve just counted (some of ) the ways.

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| 41 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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1807 Jefferson | Westside Contact Tom Suther at 816.585.6144

1628 Jefferson | Westside Contact Becky Loboda at 913.481.8270

310 West 49th Street, Unit 1005 | Wornall Plaza Contact Tom Suther at 816.585.6144

433 Ward Parkway, Unit 2 East | 433 Ward Pkwy Contact Heidi Peter at 816.217.7100

4934 Pennsylvania | Sunset Hill Contact Kathy Scaglia-Green at 816.520.1281

827 West 54th Street | Loose Park Contact Heidi Peter at 816.217.7100

5353 Sunset Drive | Sunset Hill Contact Becky Loboda at 913.481.8270

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Arts & Culture

IN KC

D

ecades ago, Tom Corbin arrived in town as an ad man. A chance meeting with sculptor Elma Muir opened another career door that Corbin bravely entered—and has never looked back. His bronze sculptures are both in public—the Firefighters Memorial and the Children’s Fountain on the Plaza—and in private collections, including some belonging to Hollywood’s biggest names. The day he heard that Frank Sinatra’s wife had purchased a sculpture for the late crooner’s birthday, “I had to pull off the side of the road,” he says, laughing.

In the 1912 firehouse in Rosedale that now serves as gallery space, office, and studio, Corbin continues to explore in both representational and abstract paintings and three-dimensional sculpture. He details his ongoing creative journey in his new book Tom Corbin Continued. “I like to think that my best work is ahead,” he says. And it just might be. corbinbronze.com INKC: How is your sculpture of Harry S.

Tom Corbin

THE SCULPTOR AND PAINTER ANSWERS FOUR QUESTIONS by

Judith Fertig

Photo by Ron Berg

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 44 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Truman, destined for the Capitol Rotunda’s Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C., coming along? You say that getting details like the hands and face are so essential to figurative sculpture. How are you handling Truman’s clothes, since he was known as a “snappy dresser”?

Corbin: I was awarded the commission by Truman Library Institute to produce the Truman sculpture in March of 2019. The process of getting a new sculpture into the Capitol’s Statuary Hall Collection is extensive, deliberate, and highly detailed. Thus the term, “the wheels of government turn slowly,” An unveiling date has yet to be determined.

The research for the sculpture was greatly enhanced by having the Truman Library close by. We were able to work closely with library archivists to examine actual presidential apparel, accompanied with Mr. Truman’s exact measurements. In addition, the library has an extensive photo collection online, which was a huge help in establishing the final pose, expression, and attire.

INKC: As the son of an art teacher and an engineer, you were probably destined to combine form and function.

But how do you navigate between the purely artistic and the commissioned commercial?

Corbin: It’s funny that you should say that. Yes, my mom was an art teacher, which inspired my early interest in art. My dad, on the other hand, was extremely process-driven as an electrical engineer. As a bronze sculptor, I realized that the medium is highly process-driven, requiring not only artistry, but a keen knowledge of mold making, casting, fabrication, and patina. When I took on sculpture as a profession decades ago, I initially relied strictly on commissions, work driven more by a client’s needs and wants more than mine. The income derived by those commissions gave me a cushion to start producing my own self-inspired editioned sculpture. Currently, my editioned work is the mainstay of my dayto-day work, which appears in galleries and showrooms around the world. I still will entertain commissions but they are primarily public installations inspired by my own vision.

Every Option of Wood Flooring

Every Type of Carpet

INKC: Tell us about your new book, Tom Corbin Continued.

Corbin: My new book encompasses my work from roughly the

last decade. The decade began with a physical change in venue as I moved my studio and staff from the River Market to a turnof-the-century firehouse in Rosedale. The new venue served as a catalyst for my most prolific period and my most explorative. For the first time, I immersed myself in nonobjective sculpture and painting, taking an extended “time-out” from my figurative work.

As I eventually reconsidered my approach to the figure, it would take some unexpected but welcome twists and turns. Looking back over my career, I feel that my most pivotal works, whether nonobjective, figurative, or somewhere in-between, were produced during the last decade and are part of the new book’s 288 pages.

INKC: How has Kansas City helped nurture your work?

Corbin: From day one, I was never swayed by the chorus of voices

saying, “To make it as an artist you need to be in NY, LA, or Chicago—not Kansas City.” I must admit very few bronze sculptors lived in KC when I first started out. As a result, I was quickly given consideration for public commissions that were popping up around the city. Art organizations, like the Kansas City Artists Coalition, provided a means for me to meet and work with other artists. I have since served on a variety of art boards, including ArtsKC and KCAC. Additionally, the arts in Kansas City, from visual to performing to music, are so generously supported by our entire Kansas City community. My patrons and friends make it possible for me to live engrossed in my passion for art each day.

SEPTEMBER 2020

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| 45 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Arts & Culture BY

IN KC

Judith Fertig

DYLAN MORTIMER: VIRTUAL GALLERY VISIT “WON’T HE DO IT.” This call-and-response exhibit deserves only one answer: Yes, Dylan Mortimer will.

Mortimer, born with a lung ailment that has resulted in not one, but two lung transplants, has used this experience to visually explore some of life’s questions that few get to ask. One question is: “How do you contend with the idea that people have died so you can live?” Mortimer muses in paint and glitter and cut paper in images that are appealing and disturbing at the same time. You can’t quite look away. All of those things are what it’s like to grapple with chronic illness he says—scars and ambulance doors and bronchial passages.

Ambulance doors? They’re ornate doors with intricate designs, he says, beautiful but terrifying. Trauma and hope at the same time, gates as proximity to paradise.

His work appears in collections all over the country, both indoors and out. Explore his art and hear his talk on YouTube. hawcontemporary.com

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UNDERGROUND STRINGS AND HOUSE CONCERTS ART IN THE TIME of pandemic brings us virtual tours, YouTube artist talks, Zoom classes, and intimate, socially distanced house concerts.

For violinist Laurel Morgan Parks and cellist Sascha Groschang, known as The Wires Alternative String Duo (when they’re not teaching Drunken Fiddles classes), this is a further opportunity to think outside Carnegie Hall.

They are booking underground concerts featuring their original music—Celtic, tango, Romany, jazz, rock—all infused with the precision of the classical. Anywhere in Musicland that a stringed instrument can go, they go, too.

Check out their new website where you can listen to their debut album The Wires by The Wires. Download it, then book your concert. thewires.info

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Arts & Culture by

IN KC

Judith Fertig

ZOOM READINGS AT THE WRITERS PLACE FIRST, The Writers Place moved from their original location in the Valentine neighborhood to new digs at The Nonprofit Village near Children’s Mercy Hospital. Then the pandemic hit. Now, you don’t have to worry where they are. They’ll come to you.

Among many other programs offered through The Writers Place, three writers share their unique work during the monthly TWP Reading Series. On September 18, Virginia Brackett, Traci Brimhall, and John Peterson will showcase their literary talents.

Brackett is known for her young adult biographies. But her latest project is a biography of her father, a Korean War veteran, who died when she was eight months old. What was it like to research the father you never knew?

Brimhall is a poet and the author of Our Lady of the Ruins. She received a 2013 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Poetry.

Peterson has been a social worker, a mud-logger on oil rigs, a small-town newspaper editor, a bigger-town reporter, magazine writer and photographer, a corporate marketing writer, and is currently a freelance copywriter who has published poetry and fiction. thewritersplace.wildapricot.org.

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SEPTEMBER 2020

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REFLECT/PROJECT COVID-19 has made many artists’ lives more challenging, even more so if the artist already happens to be marginalized.

Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) is trying to do something about that.

On the first Friday of the month, September 4 – October 1, they will present reflect/project, an exhibition series featuring socially engaged video work by a selection of artists who identify as queer, trans, Black, indigenous, and persons of color.

September’s artist is Adam McKinney, a former member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet Company. McKinney believes in the power of dance to heal.

Visitors can engage with McKinney’s work in socially distanced viewing, enjoying the films from the sidewalk, street, or parking lot in front of Mid-America Arts Alliance at 2018 Baltimore Ave in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. Viewers can also stream the films at maaa. org/project-reflect.

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Behind the Music

IN KC

F

ew people in Kansas City’s music world have been hit harder by the COVID pandemic than Steve Tulipana, who co-owns RecordBar—a restaurant and one of our city’s busiest music venues— and is a member of at least three active rock bands.

In September, RecordBar will celebrate its 15th anniversary, a celebration that will include a live show (details below) and Kickstarter that will offer donors a trove of gifts and prizes. In the meantime, Tulipana is also one of the organizers behind Lemonade Park, an outdoor music space in the West Bottoms that is keeping a live-music vibe going while practicing strict safety protocols.

He recently answered questions about his deep and vast roots in our music community, which go back to his days at Liberty High School, his most heralded band, Season to Risk, and his staunch optimism for live music beyond the pandemic.

What was your childhood like?

by

Timothy Finn

Steve Tulipana: I moved a lot from birth until my

Steve Tulipana SEPTEMBER 2020

| 50 | INKANSASCITY.COM

teenage years. We landed in Liberty where I entered seventh grade. I had primarily grown up in suburban environments until Liberty. We lived on the outskirts on some land towards Excelsior Springs. My father wanted to teach my three younger brothers and me some lessons similar to what he had known growing up in rural Bull Shoals, but still have prox-

imity to the city. I can tell stories for days about how much I disliked it but in retrospect so glad that I experienced it. Most of them have to do with manual labor and birthing cows.

What was its music community like back then?

ST: Liberty had a very advanced music program that included a statewide lauded symphonic band. I started out as a trumpet player, but the competition was fierce, so I switched to tuba. I was not very good, but there were only a few of us so we were included in all the band trips and events.

This is where I met many of my still-to-this-day best friends. Chris Gile in particular was a huge influence on me. He and Eric Anson, Clayton Brown, Dylan Hoffman, and Mark Decker were a year ahead of me, but they had started a band called Spaztic Motive that set my imagination on fire. Spaztic would go play “Anarchy Benefits” in Columbia and then make friends with bands in St. Louis and go play there.

Totally punk rock/DIY spirit.

We discovered The Foolkiller at 39th and Main in Kansas City, and we’d hitch rides from Mark’s dad, who worked in the city at night, to go see the likes of Black Flag or the Meat Puppets. Eventually, Dan Jones, whom I now play with in the Squids, Mark Hoffman, and Mindy Mattingly and I started our own band called Corn Dog Jamboree.

We were a rudimentary slap-dash of Minutemen, Ramones, and maybe some Velvet Underground. We didn’t get to do road shows like Spaztic

Motive, but we did play a Kearney High School field party once and if I remember correctly someone threw a beer can at us.

A few years later when we’d all departed to college, I teamed up with the Spaztic Motive crew and we changed our name to Nine Lives.

We kept pretty busy. We even opened for Fugazi on their first tour when they came through St. Louis. Years later when Season to Risk opened for them, Ian McKaye remembered Nine Lives. He even remembered the green and white striped pants I was wearing. Probably all he remembered to be honest.

I appreciate how you honor your father now and then on social media, whether on his birthday or other occasions. What was he like and how did he most influence you?

ST: As stated above, my dad was into teaching his boys hard work and “stick-to-itiveness.” He was a bit of a disciplinarian which I of course loathed, but he had a soft side too, which came out more and more as we got older. He didn’t really care for the fact that I was pursuing music, but he came around a bit towards the end when he saw how much we had accomplished. He still advised me that I needed to have a back-up plan.

He had played guitar when he was young but he never had one around the house except for a week that he’d borrowed one from a co-worker back in the mid-’70s. I strummed it for a week and then decided it would be a frivolous purchase and gave it back. Years later when Dan Jones and I started thrashing around in the barn on our beater guitars

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Behind the Music

IN KC

he came out and showed us how to play Wipeout.

Who were your earliest music influences and inspirations?

ST: There were always records in our house. My mother grew up in the inner city of Pittsburgh and used to attend these dances put on by Mad Mike Metrovech of WZUM. The station released compilation albums of his favorite tunes. My mom even appeared in one of the snapshots on the cover. We listened to those albums non-stop. They featured tracks

by The Sonics and a bunch of obscure acts that only put out seven inches. Gizmo by Jimmy Heap is still one of my all-time favorites.

She also had a great seven-inch collection that we pretty much destroyed. I still have them in all their static-y glory. I was also a massive Queen fan, and I have a funny story about a grade-school talent show that involves a nun, the seven inch of We Are the Champions, some eighth-grade girls and lip-synching. I was in second grade, my brother in first. “You’re the coolest little kids we know,” we were told. Probably the impetus for all that came afterward.

What was the first album you owned?

ST: Bought with my own money? Probably KISS’s Destroyer.

Finish this sentence by naming a band/artist or two: “People who know me may be surprised to find out I’m a fan of ...”

ST: I think most people who know me know that I have a large palate

and am open to any style of music. If the song has something unique and something that evokes emotion, you can sign me up. From opera to pop to country music, punk or metal, I can pull out a record from most any genre from my collection and listen deeply. That said, you can keep zydeco. Weirdly, I can listen to polka and norteña, but something about zydeco gets under my skin.

If I were to make a list of the ten best bands to come out of Kansas City, Season to Risk would certainly be on that list, for a variety of reasons. If you can, distill your perspective and your relationship with the band into a paragraph or few. What are you proudest of? What, if anything, frustrated you most about the experience?

ST: Oh, man, this is tough. First of all, thank you. Duane Trower and Paul Malinowski, two prodigious producer/engineers and musicians, were in the original line-up. We’re all still great friends to this day and do many projects together including working at RecordBar, the occasional Season to Risk show/tour, and they are my go-to recording engineers for any of my projects.

We spent the better part of seven years in a van nonstop and then at least a month or more in the later years when we were releasing independent albums. Inside that van you either form lasting inexplicable bonds or foment unforgivable schisms. Luckily for the most part the latter was how it worked out for me.

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Our musical mission was to keep evolving and pushing boundaries as we learned more and more about our instruments, our limits and our psyches. That led to some line-up changes, but we kept on, trying something different every few years. I’m most proud of that. I think there is a cohesive story line from one record to the next, but they all sound completely different.

I’m glad for the opportunities that being on a major label afforded us early on, but the fact that we kept at it and evolved when the money dried up is satisfying. Above and beyond all of that, I’m most proud that I have lasting relationships, not just with the band members but also with the members of bands we toured with or met on the road, the people who let us sleep on their floors or eat at their restaurants. That communal spirit that came out of the DIY ethos will stick with me forever.

Season to Risk just re-released its 1997 album Men Are Monkeys. Robots Win. (which Facebook keeps tagging as hate speech).

It’s remastered and now on vinyl for the first time and is available at seasontorisk.bandcamp.com/music.

S2R shared bills with other amazing bands. Which shows stand out?

ST: Fugazi in Norman, Okla. Any time we got to play with No Means No from Victoria, British Columbia. Rob Wright’s bass playing has been a big influence on me, for sure. That band was just monstrous.

Touring with Molly McGuire and ending the set with one of Jason Blackmore’s and my noise-freak-outs where I played drums or guitar

depending on the night. Touring with Corrosion of Conformity (RIP Reed Mullin) and Monster Magnet showed us the excesses of rock and roll life that you only read about. Not always pretty, but generally pretty fun. Those were some of our biggest shows. Unsane, 7 Year Bitch, Babes in Toyland, Pain Teens, Jesus Lizard, Glazed Baby and on and on.

Name the bands you are in now and give us a brief description of each.

ST: I try to keep busy. Dan Jones & The Squids: I play bass with one of my longest best pals. It’s much more formed and complex and shows off Dan’s distinctive songwriting and voice, but it really is in some ways a full circle completion of the Corndog Jamboree vision. Recommended if you like: Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Replacements, Guided By Voices.

I am also playing bass in Slights. Matt Dunehoo, previously of Doris Henson, Baby Teardrops and others, was performing as a duo with Ben Parks (Of Tree) on drums. They asked if I would sit in on bass for a record-release show. I kept sitting in and asked Alex Alexander to join on lead guitar. Recommended if you like The Cure, Alice in Chains and Bob Seger. I’m serious. You have to like all three, though.

Men of Men/Women of Women: This is one of my favorite projects. One is all men, the other all women. They allow me to express and explore my vocal range and share with these musicians my favorite obscure and not-so-obscure tunes from Tom Waits, Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, and Swans. Women of Women’s list leans a bit more rock and

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Behind the Music IN KC

blues; Men of Men lean on jazz and punk.

You and Shawn Sherrill opened RecordBar 15 years ago. It has become both a beloved, go-to place for live music and food, especially those Sunday brunches.

It has survived a lot, including an unexpected move from the outskirts of Westport to downtown. Looking back, was that a blessing? Because it seems people love the place on Grand as much or more as the original room.

ST: In ways it was a blessing. I miss the local community-vibe of the old spot, but our Sunday brunches have, to some degree, filled that void. I do think we needed a spike of new energy and we really needed to get out from underneath that building which was in major disrepair. The landlord there, unlike the one we currently have, never did us any favors. We replaced the HVAC unit and 90 percent of the waste plumbing at the Westport location. I don’t even want to tell you how much that cost over the years I think the new location has a life of its own that goes beyond “Shawn and Steve’s place,” which is where it needs to be if it plans on living beyond my ambitions. Which I hope it does.

The pandemic is obviously the biggest challenge. Are you optimistic you can make it through this historically dire situation?

ST: I am an eternal optimist. But this, I’ll be honest, has really challenged that part of my psyche. That said, we’re always moving forward and trying new things. To celebrate our 15-year anniversary and raise funds to weather this COVID crash, we are launching a Kickstarter campaign at the beginning of September. Rewards on the campaign include items from our vast collection of posters and signed albums; limited-edition 15-Year Anniversary T-shirts, masks, and posters; a 2021 calendar featuring Todd Zimmer photos from the last 15 years; future tickets, “golden tickets,” and more.

We have figured that we need to raise about $70,000 to pay down rent and bills that have been on hold and get us into next year when the tours come back (we hope). We are also planning a very, very limited-ticket

Kickstarter kick-off party with Shiner performing. The date is September 5.

What are some shows that RecordBar hosted that you are proudest of?

ST: Most of the ones that I’ve lost money on.

[Laughs.] Flipper, Chrome, Black Flag, No Means No, to name a few. I’m so proud that we got to host Gary Numan and The Fall early on, thanks to Mammoth Live productions. Phoenix, The National, St. Vincent and Afghan Whigs from Jacki Becker and Up to Eleven. I mean, it is really endless. Billie Eilish just last year. I brought Lizzo to the old location when no one here knew of her. She blew my mind that night. I’m proud to see these artists on their way up. It is rewarding.

In response to the virus, you have started a regular music event, Lemonade Park, which, like RecordBar, is a live-music and dining venue but outdoors, in the West Bottoms. Describe for our readers what an event at this site is like?

ST: We have several tiers of seating that allow you to pick from and give you freedom in your comfort level of proximity to others.

General admission allows you to bring your own chair and spread out in about 6,000 square feet. There are only 50 of those tickets. Then there are 36 tabled tickets that are assigned seating, but you have to pick a side of the table and allow for two others at the other end. You are still six feet from someone. And there is the VIP experience that gives you your own up-front table with up to five of your besties. You have a COVID-19 safety-trained server that will bring you your food and drinks.

How have recent events transpired?

ST: So far, they’ve been amazing. People are

respecting each other and wearing masks when moving about the park. By and large people remain seated except for at the bar and the bathroom with six-foot distancing in lines. It’s only 100 people in 12,000 square feet so it has been really manageable.

There is no cash at the door so we can contact trace easily if anyone comes down with anything. So far, no problems, other than the city took issue with our permitting

SEPTEMBER 2020

| 55 | INKANSASCITY.COM

YOUR BEST LIFE BEGINS WITH A HOME THAT INSPIRES YOU.

Behind the Music

IN KC

and we’ve had to make some corrections and pay a lot more money. So that said, it is a labor of love. We are getting money into the hands of artists and some of the RecordBar staff that Voltaire has taken on for these events. So that is a good thing.

In a normal world, in which there is no pandemic and the music industry is healthy, what advice would you give to someone considering opening a live-music venue?

ST: Don’t expect to get rich. Do the work. Get dirty. Surround yourself with smart, honest, and optimistic people. Don’t take things personally.

You have been part of The Band That Fell to Earth, the David Bowie tribute band, since its inception nearly five years ago. What have you learned from getting so deep into his catalog and into so many of his songs?

ST: I’ve been a Bowie junkie since childhood. I think it is fairly apparent that I’ve embraced his ability to be a chameleon both in presentation and artistic pursuits. He constantly educated himself and wasn’t afraid to experiment. Always push, re-invent, and don’t be afraid of failing.

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That band epitomizes one thing I admire about this music community: everyone’s willingness to collaborate with one another. What do you love most about being such an integral part of Kansas City’s music world?

ST: You said it right there. I think in the past there was a time that [collaborating] didn’t exist, or maybe it just didn’t feel that way because I was young. But instead of getting butt-hurt about it, we built up our own scene and supported each other.

(I’m talking about the early ‘90s.)

In turn, I know some people accused us of being gatekeepers, but because of that accusation we learned a bit and expanded our connections. I think my wide musical tastes helped open those gates and doors a bit in the ‘90s and into 2000s.

But that is just an observation from my corner. Kansas City has so much talent in every genre. How can you not want to bring that to light and share it? What Bowie tune do you think Tech N9ne would want to do with us? I think an Ashes to Ashes collab would be amazing.

WANT MORE TIMOTHY FINN? Check out his weekly online-only content at inkansascity.com.

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SEPTEMBER 2020

Every Wednesday the website publishes his list of Top 5 Notto-Miss Concerts in the metro.

Every week you’ll find his revered, rollicking, reasoned reviews and commentary.

Email Timothy Finn at tfinn@inkansascity.com

| 56 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Fashion

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Use a swatch of it as an accent or drape from head to toe in a dress or jacket. Whether men’s or women’s, plaid is a perennial favorite.

RUSTIC BUT REFINED As the weather cools, throw on a cozy shirt jacket like this one from Ulah.

Layer the lightweight 100 percent cotton jacket with shirt styling for a casual look for Saturday farmers market runs or apple picking. The Normal Brand shirt jacket, $118, available at Ulah (Woodside Village).

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Scarves are the ultimate fall accessory as we hold on to the last gasp of summer while looking forward to the bite of winter. What’s better than a scarf? A scarf in the softest baby alpaca hair. Grab this one in red and gold and cheer on the Chiefs in style. Plaid baby alpaca scarf, $49, available at the Peruvian Connection (Crestwood Shops).

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IN KC Beauty

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If you need a little pick me up, find a signature fragrance instead. The changing of the seasons is the perfect time to switch things up and get a little spicier with your scent. Just remember, if someone can smell it from six feet away, it’s too much. Let your fragrance be an exclusive perk for those in your inner circle. Here are three options from local makers that can perk up your day.

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Wellness

Let the Sunshine In

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by

R. Murphy

et’s be honest—everyone thinks they are a doctor these days. With so much floating around about what to do and what not to do, it would be nice to have something simple to count on. Something as steady as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

Lucky for us, the sun might be right where it’s at—or at least the sunshine vitamin.

Vitamin D has lots of benefits—from potentially lessening the effects of acute respiratory illnesses to boosting mood in the fall and winter months to decreasing heart-disease markers. We’re fans, but what are the best ways to increase your vitamin D levels?

Well, as the name suggests, sunshine.

Vitamin D is synthesized naturally when we spend time outside. If you’re an office dweller, sunscreen devotee, or say, in quarantine, and aren’t spending much time outdoors, there are other ways to get this essential vitamin.

As Hippocrates is quoted, “Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food.”

According to the National Institute of Health, fatty fish such as salmon, trout, and sardines are your best bet. Not into fish? Egg yolks are another good source and don’t forget the vitamin D fortified milk, whether cow’s milk or alternatives such as soy, almond, or oat.

Mushrooms are another surprising source.

The salmon bowl at The Russell on Main is looking positively virtuous right now.

If you want to take your vitamins with your morning coffee instead of your evening glass of red, there are supplements available.

According to the folks at a local health store, Spirit of Health, their favorites are the Healthy Origins Vitamin D3 5000 IU softgels ($9.74, available at spiritofhealth.com). Softgels help the body absorb the fat-soluble vitamin more efficiently and one dose serves up 1,250 percent of your daily amount needed.

So take the sun, have some fish, or pop a pill, but don’t skimp on the sunshine vitamin!

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Living

IN KC by

Stacy Downs

When Clothing Inspires A Home Collection

I

t’s about time!

Peruvian Connection, the Tonganoxie, Kansas-based company founded in 1976, is finally offering a home collection.

“When I fall in love with a print, I want to live with it beyond just my wardrobe,” said Annie Hurlbut, owner and co-founder, in the announcement about the new collection that debuted in August.

There are bedding lines, including Botanica Floral, which is Bohemian and earthy and features dusty-pink florals inspired by 17th-century Dutch paintings. The Magnolia set highlights Peruvian Connection’s signature gold magnolia print as a duvet and shams.

In addition, there are black sateen sheets splashed with rich, Renaissance-style florals as well as neutral, hand-painted striped sheets,

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matelassé coverlets, and velvet pillows.

Of course there is the luxury fiber of alpaca—the bread and butter of Peruvian Connection—in the form of pillows and throws for the bed, sofa, and cabin.

Hurlbut fell in love with alpaca when she traveled to Peru with her mother, Biddy, as a college student. “I was immediately drawn to it; it’s softer than cashmere and more durable.”

She purchased a sweater for Biddy as a gift from the markets of Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas. Friends loved it, and Hurlbut started designing clothing. After The New York Times published a story about Peruvian Connection, the international women’s fashion brand was born and has flourished for more than 40 years. peruvianconnection.com

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Hardware is the Jewelry of the Home THERE’S MORE DIY ACTION than ever at Locks and Pulls, the door-and-drawer hardware store in Overland Park and north of the river.

The pandemic has definitely spurred lots of home-upgrade projects, says sales associate Anne Kersten.

The trending finishes in hardware are satin brass, rose gold, and matte black. And bigger is better. Buh-bye, standard 3-inch bar pull. Hello, 7- or 8-inch replacement.

When people want something special to liven up a master bath cabinet, the butler’s pantry or an old set of drawers, they turn to Addison Weeks. The Charlotte, North Carolina, company creates jewelry and hardware out of gemstones including green malachite, rose quartz, and blue lapis mixed with many finishes of metals.

“They definitely make a statement and elevate a space,” Kersten says. locksandpullskc.com

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Living

IN KC

Where Fashion Meets Interiors

photo by aaron leimkuehler

by

Stacy Downs

K

ristyn Iman is the dynamo behind @designspout on Instagram, where style pours out when fashion and interiors meet.

Peep her account and you’ll spot a pic of a model wearing a blackand-white gingham dress next to a photo of a sofa upholstered in a similar fabric. Or an outfit might resemble an abstract painting. Color, pattern, texture and form mirror each other in an interesting visual feast.

Iman walks her talk: she’s an interior designer with Lisa Schmitz Interior Design in Kansas City and is always wearing something noteworthy. We recently caught up with her and discussed the intersection between interiors and fashion.

What inspired you to create Design Spout?

I was shoe shopping, and thought it would be fun to share with my friends how the shoes I found mimicked an interior. A friend at Hallmark told me I should keep doing it. It’s an excuse to study fashion more and keep current with it. And it puts me in my happiest state: I love the hunt, whether it’s for an outfit or for objects. Sometimes I find a match quickly, sometimes not.

Based on current fashion and interiors, what trends are you seeing?

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High contrast is one big trend in fashion. Athletic sneakers with a dress.

Or a blazer and jeans with holes in them. In interiors, I see that high contrast with the ornate detailing of a historic house paired with sleek modern furniture. It’s a gorgeous look.

Tone-on-tone is popular in fashion and interiors. So are pastels.

One of my favorite colors to wear—dusty pink—is the color of a rug in my bedroom.

Fashion seems to come first. I see lots of sheer fabrics—maybe that’s next in interiors.

What is timeless in both fashion and interiors?

Just like the black cocktail dress, black-and-white interiors are classic, ageless. The piping on a suit is as timeless as piping in upholstered furniture.

Natural materials and fabrics are also timeless in clothing and interiors.

Why do you love the connection between the two design realms?

When an individual gets dressed, it is a self expression. Residential interiors are also very personal and express their inhabitants. I study fashion and interiors around the world. Making connections between the two gives them more life and energy, and broadens what I see and how I express myself.

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STYLE FILE: THE LATEST FASHION IN TILE

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW what the trend in tile is, visit a women’s clothing boutique.

Casual, colorful Bohemian prints and patterns are also popular in tile, says Amy Sanders, co-owner of International Materials of Design, a tile and stone showroom in Overland Park.

The newest example is the Rosewater collection by Tabarka Studio of Scottsdale, Arizona. Artists handpaint Mexican terra cotta.

“People love them,” Sanders says.

“They’re versatile. They can be used for walls and flooring. They look good in kitchens, laundry rooms, bathrooms, and lots of rooms in the home.” imdtile.com

Artisan apparel for nomads and romantics.

335 East 55th Street • Kansas City peruvianconnection.com

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SPONSORED CONTENT

AMID PANDEMIC CHALLENGES, INTERIOR DESIGNER TAKES CREATIVITY TO A NEW LEVEL

By Katy Schamberger

I

nterior designer Karin Ross, owner of Karin Ross Designs, always infuses her work with creativity: vibrant pops of color, unexpected patterns and textures or timeless materials used in modern ways.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross and her team have embraced another type of creativity—the ability to be flexible, nimble and always ready with a back-up plan.

“Pandemic conditions have made my work harder because of missing items like darker colored paint,” Ross says. “It’s recommended now to order in advance, or we may have to visit multiple locations to source what we need.”

SPONSORED CONTENT

These product-related challenges are even more inopportune considering that more people than ever are opting to invest in home renovation or design projects. Ross has seen this with a number of her clients, especially as some people find themselves currently unable to pursue other interests, such as travel.

Instead, those funds can be invested in the home. Since many

people are spending more time in their homes—and seeing their living spaces transform into offices and classrooms—they have a better understanding of what their homes might be lacking.

“Explore all of the possibilities and take a lifestyle approach to your space,” Ross says. “What are all of the functions that your home needs to provide?”

This is also a prime time of year for a healthy dose of optimism.

Ross, like many people, is hopeful for what she calls “a normal Christmas,” complete with gatherings of friends and family. At-home entertaining calls for a beautiful, functional and spacious kitchen, and Ross is ready to bring your culinary and hosting dreams to life.

“Now is the time to be planning if you want a new kitchen ready for the holidays,” she says. “We’re going to take the time needed to make sure it’s a masterpiece.”

As you consider how Ross can make your home the space you’ve always coveted, keep her creativity and flexibility in mind— and, better yet, follow her lead. Ross and her team may recommend alternative products or colors, depending on material shortages and other factors. Rest assured, however, that despite any chal-

lenges, the finished product will be nothing short of fantastic.

“We’re doing the best we can with the conditions that we’re operating in,” Ross says. “But we’re committed to making sure the result is beautiful, no matter what we need to do.”

Not everyone can thrive in these sorts of circumstances, but Ross has seized the opportunity to push her creativity. That might include creating an alternate plan to present to clients or adapting to small changes in her typical workflow—using paint chips to determine colors instead of hard-to-find paint samples, for example.

Her team has quickly adapted to meeting safety protocols, including masks and frequent disinfection.

Current circumstances may be different, but Ross’s unwavering commitment to client satisfaction remains a constant. And regardless of the project specifics, Ross delivers a finished space that makes each client feel good.

“We want to incorporate elements that help each client focus on the future and feel excited about where they live,” she says.

To start your home’s transformation, visit KarinRossDesigns.com.

PRESENTED BY

KarinRossDesigns.com

words by

Cindy Hoedel

photo by

Danielle Levitt

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Janelle Monáe

S

he is 5-feet-zero of incandescent, electrifying star power. At 34, singer/songwriter/actor/producer and Kansas City, Kansas, native Janelle Monáe is harnessing her celebrity to liberate the world. On Twitter, she regularly calls out racism, sexism, imperialism, voter suppression, and homophobia. Speaking about the #metoo movement at the 2018 Grammys, she announced, “We come in peace, but we mean business.”

Born into a large, close-knit clan (she has 50 first cousins) in the Quindaro neighborhood, Monáe starred in high school musicals at Schlagle High School and won the Juneteenth talent show three years in a row with covers of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. After high school she went to New York to study musical theater, then moved to Atlanta, where she was discovered by Big Boi and Sean Combs.

She’s earned eight Grammy nominations so far, including for best album for Dirty Computer in 2018. Prince and David Bowie were fans as well as mentors, and Monáe still calls Stevie Wonder for advice.

She performed at Barack Obama’s inauguration and attended his 55th birthday party.

In 2016, Monáe starred in two movies that racked up multiple Oscar nominations, Hidden Figures and Moonlight, which won Best Picture. Currently she is starring in Antebellum, a horror film in which Monáe’s modern-day character is transported back to a pre-Civil War plantation. She also took over the lead role from Julia Roberts in the second season of Homecoming on Amazon Prime.

IN Kansas City caught up with our homegrown superstar in

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a lengthy telephone call from Los Angeles, where she is sheltering during the pandemic.

What are you working on today?

I was just interviewing an incredible activist, Janaya Khan, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter. They just celebrated their seven-year anniversary, so I’m feeling very high and uplifted from that call.

I saw a video of you and Maxine Waters delivering lunches to families in Watts as part of your Wondalunch program, which provides boxed meals to people in need.

That started in Atlanta, when we partnered with Gate Gourmet to keep 500 people from being laid off by paying them to cook for the community. I haven’t been able to travel, so I couldn’t be there in Atlanta, but my mom, who lives in Atlanta now, was there. I’ve been partnering with Maxine Waters here in LA, and we distributed probably 15,000 meals.

My hope is that I can come to Kansas City and do the same thing for my hometown whenever we get the word that it’s safe to travel.

How is your family in Kansas City doing?

They’re good. It’s a big family. I have 50 first cousins. I came into the world at my grandmother’s house, right off 21st and Quindaro. I spent most of my days down there in that community.

Have your family members been able to stay healthy?

Yes, I haven’t had any phone calls about anyone being sick, so I’m super

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thankful for that. Because, you know, in black families and communities, we are dying disproportionately, and we are affected by COVID-19 disproportionately. Pre-existing conditions and living in close proximity make it hard to escape that [virus]. So not only are we fighting to save black lives against police brutality, we’re fighting to save black lives against COVID-19.

Some black activists have said that what makes the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests different than the 1960s civil rights protests is that more white people are participating. What role do you think white people should play in forcing needed change?

I think for white people, listening is going to be key to eradicating white supremacy. I think listening to black voices when they are speaking about injustice and really hearing them—not listening to speak but listening to understand—is going to be key.

I also think that white people are going to have to have conversations with their family members, with their colleagues and with their white friends around how to dismantle white supremacy, around how to dismantle systemic racism.

White people started this, and you benefit from that structure. So the only people who can untangle centuries of oppression against black bodies and black people are the people who reap those benefits.

Dirty Computer was nominated for album of the year in 2018, but it works as a soundtrack for 2020. At the time, reviews focused on the angle that the record was your first not released as your alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, and on the pan-sexuality theme.

But there’s also political content that speaks directly to the current struggle.

A lot of my work has been written for the future. Even with my first album, The ArchAndroid, the themes still ring true today, and part of me hates that. I hate that we’re living in a world where black and brown folks are other-ed, where in the LGBTQIA+ community we’re still fighting for rights, we’re still trying to protect trans lives and we’re still treated as the other in America, where equality is supposed to be our foundation. Yes, inch by inch we are making progress but part of me hates that we could have been so much further along.

I think music can be very healing, and I’m thankful that art can serve as a soundtrack and as a church and as a community for those who feel other-ed, for those who feel like there’s a target on their back for their mere existence.

In Crazy, Classic Life from Dirty Computer there’s a section that goes: “I’m not America’s nightmare / I am the American Dream / Just let me live my life / I want a crazy, classic life.” What were you thinking about when you wrote those lines?

I was thinking about how the American Dream looks different to each person depending on their values. We all have things that we aspire to be and aspire to do. And I believe the foundation of the Dream is having the freedom to choose and the freedom to make those decisions for ourselves. Denying anyone that freedom because of race, class or gender is a nightmare.

What I’m getting at is, we should be able to make mistakes in this world as a black or brown person and not be incarcerated when a white person who does the same thing is not. That is something we have to look at. We have to look at our prison-industrial complex. When the color of your skin gets you a harsher sentence than a white person, we have to look at that.

‘‘

I think for white people, listening is going to be key to eradicating white supremacy. I think listening to black voices when they are speaking about injustice and really hearing them— not listening to speak but listening to understand—is going to be key.”

We as white people built the system, so it’s on us to tear it down, to do that work.

Absolutely. And there are books out there by black people that can help you understand the problem. And it might take you having to disassociate yourself from those who want to continue white supremacy and continue white violence against black bodies.

There is some tension for white liberals between the idea of not wasting your time trying to change your MAGA uncle’s mind and the idea that silence is violence.

Yeah, absolutely. I have white friends who are seeking to be better allies who have said that they have been kicked out of their families because they have stood up against white supremacy.

It’s going to take not just posting Black Lives Matter hashtags,

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but putting your body in front of black bodies, who are constantly being beaten and taken to jail before white folks are. It will take you literally putting your life on the line, because you will be better protected than we are.

Was it difficult for you, as a black woman, to shoot the plantation scenes in Antebellum?

Absolutely. I felt all my ancestors’ power, though.

How so?

I felt the strength of every black woman, especially, that has had to bear the labor and burden of fighting racism and white supremacy.

Without giving away too much, there’s a scene at the end involving a statue that gave me chills knowing how that scene has now been overtaken by news clips.

Yeah. You know, the thing about this film, when I was watching it, all I could think about is how the past is not really the past. I think the

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Kiersey Clemons (left) and Janelle Monáe in Antebellum.

photo courtesy of lionsgate

white supremacy, the systemic racism, the micro-aggressions that run all through this film need to be discussed, because they are directly impacting our lives. And, particularly, the burden that black women carry to deconstruct white systemic racism and white supremacy every day is important to discuss. Because we’re in the fight right now.

This film is a reflection of who we are and what we can be. The themes in this film have not been in the faces of the people that perpetuate the delusions of white supremacy like they should be. I think this film is going to be triggering for some folks, and there’s going to be discomfort. But discomfort is part of everyone’s reality now, and we can’t shy away from it. I think it’s time to get uncomfortable. Real change requires an upsetting. Real change requires a re-routing. Real change requires a real honest look at ourselves.

Your activism is so wide-ranging. Does it ever feel overwhelming? Do you wake up and think, ‘What should we work on today, smashing the patriarchy? Canceling homophobia and transphobia? Ending systemic racism?

[Laughs.] Some of them work hand in hand. Bigotry and patriarchy and imperialism—a lot of that comes together in the need to stay in power. Abuse of power is at the root of a lot of the issues that I try to combat. Right now, my focus is on liberating black people in the LGBTQIA+ communities, black women in particular, and making sure

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that we are protected. My focus is also on defunding and eventually disbanding the police and redistributing that money to our communities.

Education has been defunded, and we all know that when we are not educated, we lack. Our world does not progress, we do not evolve, our economy suffers, and ideas that could really change the world for the better suffer as well.

So I’m just really interested in protecting black lives. When black people are liberated, the rest of the world is liberated.

What do you see looking around right now that gives you the most hope?

The things that give me the most hope are these trees right here that I’m looking at. These trees have seen a lot. They have listened to a lot.

They have lived through decades and decades of trauma and joy. And when I go into another frequency, this tree will be here.

Listening to the conversation we have around revolution and around protecting black lives, and knowing this tree is going to hear that and knowing that potentially, the next person who walks by that tree will reap the benefits of living in the world where black folks are liberated and protected and where our lives truly matter. That Afro-futuristic vision gives me great joy.

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Interview condensed and minimally edited for clarity.

Shed the Sweats TRADE UP FOR SOMETHING MORE FASHIONABLE, BUT STILL COMFORTABLE

Ron Berg Arlen Wickstrum Flock Salon and Gallery makeup by Silvia Duckworth Bellísima by Silvia photos by hair by

HIGH PROFILE Raquel Allegra coverall, $625; Martiniano flats, $456; from Finefolk (West Plaza).

STREET SMART 3sixteen jacket, $265; 3sixteen pants, $265; Norse Projects shirt, $168; Made for Friends belt, $130; Made for Friends leather bracelet, $40; all from Guevel (Crossroads).

Moncler boots, $610, from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

ELECTRIC AVENUE Borgo28 shirt, $119; Schott Bros. sweater, $168; Raleigh Denim jeans, $285; National Standard sneakers, $240; all from Houndstooth (River Market).

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SOFT LANDING Angie sweater, $68; Driftwood jeans, $88; Earrings, $24; all from Clothology:135 (Parkway Plaza).

Jeffrey Campbell boots, $190, from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

EASY STREET YFB pants, $148; Z Supply sweater, $60; J Slides shoes, $150; Earrings, $40; longer Julie Zancanelli double strand necklace, $138; shorter Julie Zancanelli double strand necklace, $98; all from Alysa Rene Boutique (Park Place).

Gucci sunglasses, $375; from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

CONCRETE JUNGLE Purple gray jeans, $275; Alternative sweater, $48; Alternative jacket, $88; Montcler sneakers, $465; all from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

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HANG TIGHT Rains rain jacket, $110; Billy Reid shirt, $195; Neuw chinos, $159; Raen Wiley sunglasses, $135; Cloud Hi sneakers, $169.99; all from Ulah (Westwood).

GREAT LENGTHS Maxi Dress, $259; Suede jacket, $498; earrings, $99; all from Peruvian Connection (Crestwood Shops). Gucci trainers, $890; from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

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GIVE IT A SWIRL Etro sweater, $820; Hudson jeans, $215; Jimmy Choo sandals, $950; Tom Ford sunglasses, $420; all from Halls Kansas City (Crown Center).

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HOLD STEADY Raleigh T-shirt, $65; Inis Meain sweater, $450; Teleria Zed jeans, $325; Paraboot loafers, $245; Gimo’s leather jacket, $1,375; all from Hudson & Jane (Crestwood Shops).

Above: Homeowner Maurice Watson. Right: Just off the front entrance, a brick-walled courtyard features a Linda Lighton sculpture displayed on an antique marble-topped wrought-iron table.

THE LANDSCAPE AROUND THIS CLASSIC TUDOR IS TRANSFORMED WITH A SERIES OF PATHS AND GARDEN ROOMS THAT LEND IT A SENSE OF ALL THINGS BRITISH Judith Fertig Aaron Leimkuehler

WORDS BY PHOTOS BY

A Very English Garden

T

he venerable house in the Country Club District had been the home of Anglophiles for many years. Its mix of limewashed brick, stone, and half-timbered wood and stucco also reflected its mix of Tudor and Gothic architectural styles.

In 2016, Maurice Watson moved in.

The attorney and co-founder of Credo Philanthropy Advisors brought his more-ismore approach. “I’m not a minimalist; I’m a maximalist,” he says, rather emphatically. It was a fresh look and an infusion of energy

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Clockwise from top: The exterior of the 30s-era Tudor is a mix of limewashed brick, stone, and stucco. In the back courtyard, a massive Boston fern fronts the mirrored doors. A row of windowboxes overflows with scaevola and bacopa.

Brick arches and steps twist and turn around the house. Tucked into a niche in the front courtyard is a circa 16th-century English St. Christopher statue.

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Clockwise from top left: Several monumental architectural limestone finials salvaged from a building torn down at the Benedictine College in Atchison dot the garden, including this one which leads to a pebble and antique grindstone path. Bright chartreuse lady’s mantle lines the terrace. A spot to pause. An early 19th-century lead statue of Pan entertains passers-by.

Terra-cotta pots brimming with duranta surround the birdbath. The early 20th-century concrete birdbath is topped with an antique finial.

the house and garden definitely needed.

“I love color and scale and structure,” says Watson. He and Patrick Kappelmann, of Arcadian Design, duked it out over how much color—beyond green—would complement the garden. But they both agreed that the garden should develop over time.

“It is my view that gardening is a measured process, more interesting as you adapt and refine, change and edit over time,” Watson says. “Every time I travel, I go to houses and gardens,” he adds. “And I have a ton of gardening books.”

With a series of courtyards to work with and a somewhat shady site, Watson and Kappelmann decided on boxwoods for structure, tall evergreens for shade, dwarf dogwoods and Japanese maples for interest, and climbing roses and hydrangeas for English charm.

And, oh yes, a touch of classic green: “I went to an Ivy League school [Harvard],” he jokes, “so I like ivy.”

They added instant age with garden antiques and architectural salvage, adding fillips of visual interest here and there, as if it all had accumulated over centuries.

“I do a lot of entertaining,” says Watson, so a circular driveway was a must.

To make this look age-appropriate, they screened it with an honor guard of dwarf crabapples. Stone finials from an old building look like they’re always been there.

The front courtyard, with vintage grindstones forming the pattern on the brick pavement, features a French garden table, a pleasant spot in spring or fall to enjoy a glass of wine.

A paved path winds back to the large courtyard where a zinc oeil de boeuf, or bull’s eye, frames a terra-cotta piece, both items that Watson bought years ago from antique dealer Trish Headley. “This was just grass and dirt,” Watson says of the grounds, but antique marble pavers from Christopher Filley turned this into a garden room. In midsummer, blooming hydrangeas spill over the boxwood-framed beds. A magnolia offers Southern charm;

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purple and blue annuals fill window boxes. It’s a spot tailor-made for parties—and hummingbirds.

Watson had mirrored panels added to the brick wall that surrounds the property for a trompe l’oeil effect—is that the neighbor’s garden or Watson’s?

In a far corner, between sets of French doors that lead inside to

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the garden room, a fountain bubbles, looking like it has been there since the 18th century. Actually, it’s a fountain from Van Liew’s, made to look old by surrounding it with an antique stone sculpture of a horse, trailing vines, and climbing wisteria. “I knew as soon as I saw that fountain that it would work,” says Watson.

Instinctive. Distinctive. An English country garden in Kansas City.

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Left: In the large back courtyard, Watson had new custom cushions made for the vintage wrought-iron furniture. Below top: Conch shells placed in the fountain soften the water flow. Below bottom left: Restoration Hardware seating surrounds a table constructed of two columns topped with a salvaged marble slab. The tall crenelated brick wall surrounding the back courtyard is original to the house.

Below bottom right: Slabs of Carthage marble salvaged from Kansas City buildings make up the courtyard pavers.

THE IT LIST Garden Antiques Christopher Filley Antiques 816-561-1124 Landscape Design Arcadian Design 816-645-9591 Metalwork Kansas City Metalworks kansascitymetalworks.com

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Gone to Market

SHOPPING LOCAL DOESN’T GET ANY FRESHER THAN THIS

W

ith dozens of farmers markets now calling the metro home, finding the right shopping experience—and knowing what to buy once you’re there—can feel daunting. Consider this your cheat sheet, complete with market breakdowns, details about COVID-19 safety precautions and recommendations from a couple of Kansas City chefs about where they love to go and what they look for.

words by

Kelsey Cipolla

City Market The grandfather of Kansas City’s farmers markets is a sprawling collection of vendors dispersed throughout walkways and pavilions. Shoppers can find everything from produce and meat to pet treats and homemade crafts from City Market’s more than 100 vendors, not to mention permanent specialty grocers and restaurants you can stop at for a snack or to supplement your haul.

VENDORS TO KNOW: Al Habashi Market and Tikka House are tried-and-true favorites for bulk spices, and Of The Earth Farm & Distillery brings apples (and apple liqueur) to the table.

ADDRESS: 5th and Walnut Streets thecitymarketkc.org HOURS: April through October: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sundays; November through March: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Overland Park Farmers Market More than 70 vendors sell at the Overland Park Farmers Market, but it’s still plenty approachable. Producers chat with patrons and answer questions under the market’s green pavilion and in the surrounding spaces, although in light of COVID-19, the market has temporarily moved to the parking lot of the Matt Ross Community Center.

VENDORS TO KNOW: Little Green Gardens’ fresh-cut flowers and arrangements make for perfect gifts, and tasty prepared items are available from familiar names like Yoli Tortilleria, Broadmoor Bistro, and The Wild Way Coffee.

Chef’s Picks JUSTIN CLARK Urban Café Many farmers markets now offer a wide variety of goods, but Clark goes specifically to find high-quality produce. For that reason, he’s a fan of the relatively small Lee’s Summit Farmers Market.

“You have this whole area where you have all these micro farmers that have really good products,” he explains.

One standout vendor is Wolf Creek Family Farm, based in Peculiar, Clark says. He was impressed by the quality of the products, which include onions, zucchini, pork, and eggs. Urban Café also has a long-standing relationship with Kenny Barham of Barham Family Farm in Kearney, a vendor at the Historic Downtown Liberty Farmers Market.

ADDRESS: 8101 Marty Street opkansas.org/recreation-fun/farmers-market HOURS: 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays

Brookside Farmers Market There’s a sense of community at the Brookside Farmers Market, which draws shoppers from the neighborhood and beyond. Everything is sourced from within 100 miles of Kansas City and grown or made with sustainability in mind.

VENDORS TO KNOW: Two-Birds Farm, the market’s oldest vendor, offers topnotch produce, while the trailblazers at Urbavore Urban Farm bring spectacular multi-hued eggs.

ADDRESS: 6425 Wornall Road brooksidefarmersmarket.com HOURS: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays

Downtown Lee’s Summit Farmers Market Relaxed and family friendly, Lee’s Summit is home to a small Wednesday market and CONTINUED ON PAGE

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JASPER MIRABILE Jasperʼs Italian Restaurant Nearly 20 years ago, Mirabile recognized a need for Kansas City chefs to forge relationships with local farmers and got involved with Slow Food KC, an organization dedicated to supporting and spreading awareness about local growers.

“It was the way my father raised us at the restaurant here—we prepared what was available from the market with seasonal menus,” he says.

Mirabile continues the tradition today, looking for pumpkin and squash around this time every year to make Jasper’s guest-favorite pumpkin ravioli, along with local mushrooms—Grand River Mushrooms is a favorite and sells at City Market, but the chef says many other vendors have popped up with unique varieties lately, so keep an eye out.

Color Theory SEPTEMBER 2020

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In the formal living room, a Visual Comfort light fixture sets the tone for the space.

Gordon added the moldings, and set them off with Benjamin Moore’s White Dove.

Walls are BM Wind’s Breath.

INTERIOR DESIGNER JESSICA GORDON MIXED BRIGHT, HAPPY COLORS WITH BOLD PATTERNS TO GIVE A RENOVATED RANCH A NEW LEASE ON LIFE Judith Fertig Aaron Leimkuehler

WORDS BY PHOTOS BY

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hen this Prairie Village ranch was built in the 1970s, the color palette skewed Mediterranean— avocado green, harvest gold, burnt orange, dark brown. When Brian and Jackie Hartis moved there in 2012, they knew that one day they’d renovate. Brian’s construction company is known for custom remodeling, Jackie practices environmental law. The couple has two young daughters and busy lives.

Today, the home zings with saturated

Above: Jessica Gordon (standing) and Sara Noble of Noble Designs.

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Above: A statement-making bar holds pride of place in the family room.

Brass shelves display barware and liquor; integrated appliances include a below-counter KitchenAid beverage center and SubZero refrigerator.

Right: Another view of the family room with a pair of custom-upholstered bobbin chairs flanking a brass-toned garden stool.

hues—emerald green, deep sea blue, hot pink, and orangey red— for “tradition with a twist,” says homeowner Jackie Hartis.

“We took our time figuring out the design,” says Jackie. Brian adds, “I took parts and pieces of cool things I had done in other houses I had worked on.” The family moved out for a year so that the extensive revamp—gutting the first floor, bumping out space for the new kitchen, adding a second floor and a space over the new three-car garage—could happen.

To pull the design together, the couple tapped Jessica Gordon of Noble Designs. She and Brian had worked together on another project, and Jessica had the same love of color and pattern as Jackie. The challenge was to work from photos of furniture and art the couple had in storage. “Right away, we took a young, fun, vibrant approach,” says Gordon.

“We like bright, happy color that lights up a room,” says Jackie.

In the living room, an emerald green sofa and dragon-patterned draperies in Chiang Mai by Schumacher pick up the col-

SEPTEMBER 2020

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In Jackie Hartis’s office, a Regina Andrew chandelier hangs over a desk from Crate & Barrel and a Lee Industries chair upholstered in camel leather.

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Above: Custom-upholstered Lee Industries bar stools pull up to the capacious island topped with a quartz countertop. Above right: The walnut table and bench are from Unruh Furniture.

Right: In the powder room, Scalamandré Zebra wallcovering provides a bold backdrop for the Palmer Industries vanity.

ors across from upbeat wingback chairs in an overscale diamond pattern. On a far wall, a palette knife acrylic painting by Kansas City artist Allen Chow is one of the first artworks the couple has begun collecting.

Chow also did the four small paintings floating on the wall in the eat-in kitchen area. “Art is a very personal statement,” says Gordon, “and you want it to get the attention it deserves.” Hanging art at eye-level, making sure the piece fits the scale of the room, and giving it the light it needs are all ways to make the most of the art you collect, she says.

Even the master bath can be a place for art—in this case, a compromise between Jackie and Brian. He wanted a TV; she wanted art. They settled on a Samsung Art TV that looks like a painting—or a photo, if you wish— when the television is not on.

The kitchen, the family’s favorite room, has turned into a Swiss raclette workshop, where the machine melts thin layers of raclette cheese to go on just about anything. A glossy, pearlescent tile by Winchester Tile from England catches the light and puts on a show of its own.

Bold color and pattern continue through the rest of the house. Jackie’s office is swathed in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy with a Jaipur rug underfoot and a wall of built-in shelving that holds books and family mementos.

Upstairs, a daughter’s bedroom wall features custom

SEPTEMBER 2020

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In the kitchen, the lustrous, deeply glazed tile handcrafted in England accents the handsome custom-designed hood and the Wolf range.

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Jackie painted the formerly dark-wood sleigh bed a crisp white for the new master bedroom.

Linens from Anthropologie dress the bed.

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rainbow wallpaper from Kansas City’s Ampersand Design Studio, a collaboration between Jackie and Ampersand’s Morgan Georgie.

On the couple’s wish list: To commission a painting by Kansas City artist Mike Savage.

That’s how a family’s house continues to evolve.

Top left: The spacious master bathroom features a freestanding tub from Kohler, Newport Brass fixtures, and a huge shower clad in pale gray tile. Top right: Visual Comfort sconces flank double mirrors above the custom-made vanities with quartz countertops.

Left: A daughter’s room is a cheerful rainbow of colors, including the wallpaper from Ampersand Design Studio and the pendant and table lamps from Pottery Barn.

THE IT LIST Cabinetry Profile Cabinet profilecabinet.com Contractor Hartis Construction LLC hartisconstruction.com Interior Design Noble Designs saranobledesigns.com Lighting Design Mavi getmavi.com

SEPTEMBER 2020

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gone to market continued from page

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a more bustling Saturday market where shoppers can often find food trucks and live entertainment.

VENDORS TO KNOW: Dang’s Gardening sells colorful and quirky blooms, and in addition to having a stellar name, Where the Redfearn Grows Family Farm cultivates a wide assortment of heirloom and hybrid vegetables and herbs.

ADDRESS: Wednesdays at 2nd and Douglas Streets; Saturdays at 304 Southwest Persels Road, downtownls.org/market HOURS: 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays and Saturdays

Parkville Farmers Market It’s hard to imagine a more charming place to stock up on leafy greens and bright berries than Parkville’s English Landing Park. The friendly, grower-verified market provides a personal touch and small-town feel that makes it seem like a mini-vacation.

6772 W. 135th Street Overland Park, KS 66223 4021 Somerset Drive Prairie Village, KS 66208

www.landofpaws.com

VENDORS TO KNOW: River’s Edge Produce has been around since 1886, but its longevity isn’t the only thing that’s impressive— keep your eyes peeled for sweet corn, tomatoes, and hot peppers.

Craving something sweet? Hit up Hinkle Enterprises for handcrafted jams and home-baked breads, scones, and muffins.

ADDRESS: 8701 McAfee Street, parkvillefarmersmarket.com HOURS: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays until Sept. 9; 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays

beautiful heart

Historic Downtown Liberty Farmers’ Market

gifts home stationery Hawthorne Plaza 4953 W. 119th Street Overland Park, Kansas 66209 913/325-7354

Historic Downtown Liberty provides the backdrop for this market with a devoted hometown following. It’s one of several operated in the town, so make sure you’re in the right place.

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VENDORS TO KNOW: Downtown Liberty is the place to find Barham Family Farm goods, which include beef, chicken, and pork featured on restaurant menus throughout KC. Veteran-owned Beautiful Day Farms offers a little something for everyone, including alcohol-infused jams, barbecue sauce, and baked goods.

ADDRESS: 117B N Main Street facebook.com/DowntownLibertyFarmersMarket HOURS: 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays

Smithville Farmers and Makers Market Farmers and makers are evenly split at this community market in Smithville’s Courtyard Park, where shoppers can peruse handcrafted jewelry, home decor, and bath products in addition to the produce you expect.

Creative ways to celebrate those important moments. cuorebella.com

VENDORS TO KNOW: Pastvina Acres Farm offers premium,

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well-marbled pork raised right in Smithville, while Foltzie’s Finds & Designs gives a farmhouse-chic second life to items rescued from dumpsters, garage sale, and thrift stores.

ADDRESS: 118 N Commercial Avenue smithvillefarmersandmakers.com

Sales, Consignment,Wash, Sanitization & Restoration

HOURS: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays

Lenexa Farmers Market There’s still plenty of variety at this smaller market, which boasts smaller crowd sizes and vendors unique to the metro, plus a thriving community on social media where you can get a first look at what’s growing (or cooking) straight from vendors.

VENDORS TO KNOW: Paola-based Jake Creek Pecans brings Pawnee and Kanza pecans from its more than 1,900 trees, and Hedgewood Farms offers grass-fed beef and pastured poultry.

ADDRESS: 17201 West 87th Street Parkway lenexa.com/things_to_do/lenexa_farmers_market HOURS: Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through September 1; Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon through October 31

COVID-19 CHANGES Farmers markets are frequent community gathering spaces—not ideal as Kansas City tries to combat the spread of COVID-19. To that end, local markets have adopted social distancing practices, and in some cases, temporarily moved locations. If you’re planning to visit a local market, keep the following in mind:

• Shoppers are asked to keep conversations to a minimum, avoid touching items available for sale, and wear face coverings at all times.

• Pay in advance or digitally where possible. If you do pay with cash, shoot for exact change.

• Pre-orders are available from select vendors at the Downtown Lee’s Summit, Overland Park, and Lenexa farmers markets to make shopping safer and more efficient.

• High-risk shoppers are encouraged to shop during the first hour of operation at Overland Park’s Saturday Market and at the Lenexa Farmers Market.

• Before heading to a farmers market, check their website for the latest vendor information and safety details.

And remember, shopping at farmers markets isn’t the only way to enjoy fresh food and support local farmers—some offer home delivery or CSA boxes with less public pickups, so select the option that works best for you.

SEPTEMBER 2020

This is No Time to Paws on Cleaning Gallery Hours: Mon by appt.

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Shop Talk

By Katy Schamberger

PEEK INSIDE HUFFT’S FABRICATION SHOP, WHERE INNOVATIVE RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE COMES TO LIFE

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hat do these spaces have in common? Corvino Supper Club’s sleekly sparse interior. Parlor Food Hall’s inviting industrial aesthetic. Woodside Health & Tennis Club’s colorful, communal warmth.

Each space reflects the mission of the design and fabrication studio, Hufft: to create meaningful spaces and objects inspired by people and places.

That focus on creating comes to life inside Hufft’s fabrication studio, a buzzing hive of activity where talented craftspeople make everything from custom furniture pieces to sculptural accents that add depth and style to boutiques, offices, and homes alike.

“The perception is that our shop and what we create are only for fancy folk,” says Scott Beattie, the director of fabrication. “We do make lots of fancy stuff, but we also do nuts and bolts projects. And we make things for existing homeowners, designers, other fabricators and cabinet shops.”

To the Hufft team, collaboration is key, whether they’re working with each other, outside designers or other vendors. A focus on teamwork infuses everything Hufft makes, and it starts Monday morning with a weekly huddle.

“Each week, we go through all of our projects and discuss updates, opportunities for fabrication and other information,” Beattie says. “I share lots of pictures so that designers can watch their projects go through the workshop from raw materials to the finished product.”

Normally, that would be a process that designers and even passers-by could step in and watch. Hufft’s fabrication shop, framed by the treed backdrop of Roanoke Park, is more than a workshop. It’s a place to learn, to discover, to dream.

In light of pandemic-related restrictions, Beattie and his team have closed access to the workshop, keeping the staff as small as possible. Everyone works in masks, and cleaning crews stop by multiple times a week.

“It’s been a huge struggle for us to not share in the same way that we’re used to,” Beattie says.

Yet the work itself continues uninterrupted, a welcome distraction for the fabrication team in the shop, thanks to a classification as an essential business. Hufft

office employees work from home, prompting more of the conversation and collaboration to happen virtually or over the phone.

And as current conditions change the way we live and work, Hufft is ready to meet the need for both residential and commercial customers.

“We’ve seen an uptick in making things that are specific to pandemic concerns—screens and dividers, for example,” Beattie says. “And we’re seeing influences on design, like more home mudrooms to help with cleanliness.”

With a project portfolio that includes high-profile clients like The Roasterie, 21c Museum Hotel, Nickel & Suede, Auburn University and the Kansas City Art Institute, it’s easy to overlook what Hufft can offer individual customers. Whether clients are interested in redesigning an interior space, a whole house, or looking for a piece of custom furniture, the Hufft team is always eager to explore what’s possible.

“I refer to our fabrication shop as the coolest hot rod in Kansas City that no one’s ever seen,” Beattie says. “There’s so much ground we have yet to cover in terms of the things we can make together.”

One of Beattie’s dreams? A line of Hufft products and furnishings created by Hufft designers and made in the fabrication shop.

“We should be that go-to furniture source, right here in Kansas City,” he says.

That’s a goal that’s already underway. Hufft fabricators are especially accomplished at creating custom cabinetry, a popular request. Or imagine gathering family and friends around a custom dining room table, locally designed and made. The Hufft info line, info@hufft.com, is always open for prospective customers to ask questions and explore their options.

For Beattie and the fabrication team, any project is a chance to savor the process of creating, watching pieces carefully take shape before their eyes.

“We’re all incredibly fortunate to be talking about making and designing stuff every day with cool people who care,” he says. “At the end of the day, we are extremely fortunate and grateful for the opportunity to be designing and making great stuff with cool people who care.”

Music to Boost Your Creativity Music plays an integral role in the Hufft fabrication shop. “Music is an important aspect of making things,” says Scott Beattie. Hufft’s Adam Wing is in charge of the shop’s music, and typically turns to www.NTS.live for a curated selection of underground music from around the world. If you find your own creativity in a slump, try music. Another shop favorite? Hits from the 1950s and 60s. “The music sets a nice tone for making interesting work,” Beattie says.

Flavor

IN KC

In the Kitchen CARROTS BY

Cody Hogan

PHOTOS BY

Aaron Leimkuehler

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e all take them for granted.

They hang out in the vegetable drawer for ages, reliably orange, usually crunchy and sweet until cooked. They seldom cause mischief other than going limp and occasionally growing a few little hair-like roots—but otherwise, they’re a bit like kitchen wallpaper. They don’t need to be. A good carrot deserves to be the center of attention every now and then.

As children, raw carrots are often the first vegetable we learn to request—after mashed potatoes, of course, which don’t in any way seem much like a vegetable. I would only eat them raw until when I was in college and living in Europe, when my culinary curiosity was growing by leaps and bounds. There were wonderful salads of grated, dressed carrots, carrots braised with meats that seemed even more delicious than the meat itself, pickled carrots, carrot purees, carrots in vinaigrette—it seemed everywhere I traveled there were amazing expressions of the carrot. I wanted to cook them, and I wanted to grow my own.

Over the years and in various gardens, I have tried to grow them, usually without any measure of success. This year during the lockdown I discovered a technique on YouTube for getting carrot seeds to reliably germinate—scatter the seeds in a row on dampened soil and then cover them with a board. You leave them covered for one to two weeks (lightly watering if the soil dries out), checking every few days, and then when you see the first tiny seedlings, prop the board up a half an inch for the next two days so they can expand. Remove the board and voila—carrots! The following months involved occasional watering and the obligatory and impatient extraction of a specimen while monitoring growth. When my first carrot harvest of the pandemic materialized, I couldn’t wait to get it into the kitchen. The taste of freshly dug carrots can be a bit of a shock. In my experience they tend to be less sweet than the mammoth grocery store carrots we are accustomed to but have a much more interesting and carroty flavor and depth. I grew several types including some of the shorter cylindrical Nantes varieties (good for our area soil) and a colorful selection called “Carnival Blend” which includes a number of very old carrot varieties ranging in color from whites, yellows, reds, and oranges all the way to a deep purple.

For gardeners with deep sandy soil and a desire to grow gigantic, super sweet roots, try Imperator. These monsters are frequently used in industrial kitchens and can occasion the type of restaurant-kitchen humor that causes HR directors to shudder.

SEPTEMBER 2020

Carrots that are less than ideal (a little wilty, maybe not so sweet or oddly sized) can be enhanced by cooking, especially roasting. And if you’ve gone to the expense of buying fresh carrots with tops or have gone to the trouble of growing your own, don’t neglect the fluffy carrot greens. Remove them before storing—if left attached they will cause the carrots to wilt in a surprisingly short amount of time. The tops can be made into a lovely vegetal pesto good for dressing pasta or as a dip for vegetables. Please, in the spirit of pandemic cooking, use every part of the carrot. Think of the carrot as an essential worker, a quiet hero in the kitchen often overlooked, but deserving of our attention and respect.

Brown Sugar and Rosemary Roasted Carrots Roasting root vegetables, especially carrots, concentrates their flavors and natural sugars—but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a little extra somethin’ every now and then. A coworker of mine introduced me to this technique years ago when preparing staff meal. Everyone loved it, and the preparation could not have been simpler. Prepare your carrots by peeling (unless very small) and slicing them into similar sized segments. In a bowl, drizzle them with enough olive oil or melted butter to generously coat them, then season with salt and pepper and a few sprigs of rosemary.

Add a responsible amount of brown sugar (let’s say approximately ¼ cup sugar for a pound of carrots). Toss them repeatedly until the carrots are completely coated and the brown sugar begins to dissolve. Pour the dressed carrots into a baking dish or onto a sheet pan and roast in a 400F oven for about 35 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so. The carrots will begin to shrivel and develop lightly singed edges. If you stop now, you will have tasty carrots that look approximately like the photo. They are at their prettiest at this point. However—if you continue to roast and stir them for about 20 to 30 more minutes, your carrots can become something even more marvelous. They become withered, lightly charred on many of the edges, and develop a pleasant, almost leathery texture. The carrot flavor and sweetness attain another level of complexity with the rosemary adding an almost meaty savory-ness to the dish. I have tried to rush the procedure by first blanching the carrots then finishing them in a very hot oven, but the end result isn’t worth the minutes saved. Serve the carrots warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be tossed with a vinaigrette and served alone or as a sweet and toothsome element to a composed salad. Enjoy.

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In Your Pantry BROWN AND SWEET All of these sugars insist they can be substituted one to one for white sugar, but persnickety cooks disagree. The most important thing to consider when using these sugars as substitutes for standard white sugar is the amount of moisture they contain. Generally speaking, the darker the sugar, the higher the moisture content.

Brown Sugar The standard for complex and delicious sweetening, this one is great for raw, liquid and cooked applications. Brown sugar may be either unrefined or partially refined sugar with residual molasses or refined white sugar that has the addition of molasses to achieve its flavor and color. Percentage of molasses (3.5-6.5%) determines whether the sugar is designated Light or Dark Brown, the darker having a more intensely molasses-y flavor. Naturally hygroscopic, it is normally soft but may harden in extremely dry conditions (AKA ages in your pantry in just a plastic bag that isn’t tightly sealed). To return it to softness, try either briefly microwaving for immediate use, or placing a slice or two of apple in the bag with the sugar and letting the sugar slowly rehydrate for a few days. When “fresh” and stored in a properly sealed container, this sugar has the highest moisture content.

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Turbinado Sugar AKA Sugar in the Raw, is made from partially evaporated sugar-cane juice from the first pressing of sugar cane that is then spun in a centrifuge (“turbine,” thus the name) to remove most of the molasses. This process results in large, golden-brown crystals. Turbinado sugar has a lower moisture content than brown sugar but a higher one than regular white processed sugar, so substituting in recipes can be a bit tricky with this one. A favorite of drinkers of sweet coffee and for topping baked goods.

Brown Coconut Sugar The most like traditional brown sugar and a little more nutritionally sound than other refined sugars. Coconut Sugar is made by farmers who cut into flower-bud stems of the coconut tree to allow the nectar to flow out which is mixed with water and boiled down to a syrup. It is then dried and allowed to crystallize, then broken into granule size. In addition to trace elements and nutrients, it purports to have a lower glycemic index. It has a nice, nutty caramel taste, performs well in all cooking and raw applications.

Date Sugar

Modern-American cuisine from award-winning Chef Linda Duerr. Chef Duerr and team present elegant fare and carefully curated menus for a variety of special occasions.

The least like standard brown sugar or white sugar, Date Sugar is made by dehydrating dates (which are very sweet) and then grinding them to the consistency of sugar granules. It does not dissolve in liquid so don’t use it for your next cocktail or to sweeten your next batch of ice cream. The most practical application is baking in something with a whole-grain texture, so the texture of the ground dates isn’t distracting. Perfect for tree-hugging earthy-crunchy bakers who like to make muffins that are supposed to be good for you.

SEPTEMBER 2020

therestaurantat1900.com (913) 730–1900

1900 Building 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway Mission Woods, Kansas

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Flavor

IN KC

In Your Cocktail MITCH E AMARO by

Kelsey Cipolla

photo by

Aaron Leimkuehler

N

Laird’s Manhattan

SEPTEMBER 2020

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orth Kansas City’s Mitch e Amaro isn’t your standard cocktail bar. In fact, it’s not a bar at all, but a hybrid concept that sells spirits and home bar supplies in addition to serving drinks.

The brainchild of brothers Ben and Josh Edwards, Mitch e Amaro is designed to be a home bartender’s best friend—the friend they wish they had when they first delved into the world of craft cocktails. As they experimented with making drinks at home, Josh says they struggled to find exactly what they wanted in Kansas City, even by special order.

So they created a store themselves, named for the pit bull Ben adopted around the same time, Mitch, and one of their favorite categories of liqueurs, Amaro. With help from Swordfish Tom’s Jill Cockson, they curated their own selection of high-quality, not-so-standard spirits and liqueurs, including their namesake Italian bittersweet varieties.

“The idea is everything is good quality, it’s just what price point you want,” Josh explains. You won’t find well liquors; instead, there’s a carefully curated selection of Amari, whiskeys, gins, and mescals, many of which shoppers can sample at the unassuming L-shaped bar in the corner.

Josh is quick to establish that Mitch e Amaro’s focus is not creating ground-breaking cocktails—there are plenty of amazing bartenders in Kansas City, and he has no interest in competing, he says. Instead, the goal is to allow visitors to try a cocktail, find something they like and leave with ingredients to replicate it at home.

To that end, the bar offers an expansive 15-page menu. There are curated cocktail lists for each spirit, but guests are also en-

couraged to build their own drinks with guidance from lists of gins and tonics that can be combined however they see fit—the same concept is also applied to manhattans, martinis, old fashioneds and negronis, allowing for a head-spinning number of combinations. Oh, and did we mention there are also options for flights and non-alcoholic beverages made using ever-so-trendy non-alcoholic spirits?

If your head is spinning, that’s OK. Although Josh admits the sheer variety of possibilities can initially be overwhelming, he encourages guests to talk with their bartender to narrow down what they like and what they’re looking for.

“The idea is to encourage exploration and trying new things in a way that’s not prohibitively expensive,” he says. “We want to make learning about a lot of these things approachable and easy and fun.”

Questions are always encouraged, whether you’re looking for a specific product or hoping for a primer in an unfamiliar category. Guests can try about 80 percent of what is on the store’s shelves at the bar to try before they buy.

Mitch e Amaro’s off-the-beaten-path line-up doesn’t end with spirits and liqueurs—the shop also boasts books to help home bartenders expand their cocktail know-how, professional-quality barware, crystal

clear ice, and an impressive lineup of bitters, including the pimento berry variety used in this take on a manhattan.

“With the apple brandy instead of whiskey and the pimiento bitters, which have an allspice taste, it puts warm, fall flavors in the forefront,” Josh says. mitcheamaro.com

Laird’s Manhattan 2 ounces Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy 1 ounce Vya Sweet Vermouth 2-3 dashes Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Aromatic Bitters Garnish with Egbert’s Premium Cocktail Cherry Combine the first three ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until dilution is achieved. Strain and pour, then garnish with the cherry.

The Fine Art of Living. Served Up Daily.

Designer Kitchens Since 1946 SEPTEMBER 2020

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INNOVATIVE AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY: HOW THE BSA’S HEART OF AMERICA COUNCIL IS CHANGING THINGS UP IN KANSAS CITY

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ith an impressive, storied history, The Boy Scouts of America continues to create insightful, original programs for its Scouts. Locally, the Heart of America Council is upping the ante when it comes to family-friendly programming—and that’s by design, says Matt Armstrong, director of marketing and communications. “We have a unique take on things locally,” he says. “We have the ability here to innovate and think outside of the box and make our programming have more of a KC feel.

That’s what sets us apart—unique partnerships across Kansas City. It’s the tradition of Scouting and the tradition of Kansas City intertwined.”

IMPRESSIVE IMPACT Little known fact—The Heart of America Council of the BSA is one of largest councils in the country with nearly 40,000 Scouts, volunteers, and various stakeholders participating in the programs, says volunteer president Charlie Tetrick. “We pride ourselves on developing cutting-edge programs in the great outdoors and at home — like online merit badges that are used all around the country. Same story with many of our marketing and recruitment initiatives,” he adds. In fact, metro Scouts put in more than 240,000 volunteer hours in Kansas City.

“That’s great stuff for the community and really makes an impact,” says Tetrick.

With caring, focused precision, The Heart of America Council takes pride in helping kids transform into great adults. For more than 100 years, programs have had the single focus of teaching strong character, teaching morals, and teaching leadership skills. The numbers locally are impressive. In 2019 alone, 833 Scouts reached the incredible milestone of becoming Eagle Scouts and nearly 4,000 Scouts earned badges ranging from Citizenship to Environmental Science to Personal Management. “The evidence is quite clear; we are preparing these kids for a wonderful future,” says Tetrick.

SAFETY FIRST Tetrick is quick to point out how the safety of Scouts is paramount in the organization— with established guidelines governing safe Scouting activities for millions of kids nationwide. “It’s something we take very, very seriously in the Heart of America Council,” he says. “The policies and guidelines that drive youth protection in Scouting are among the very best you’ll find in any youth organization anywhere. In fact, many other youth organizations pattern their programs after the BSA.” LEARN AS A FAMILY, GROW AS A FAMILY Ruben and Laura Flores both had experience with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts respectively growing up. Now they’ve immersed all four of their children into the BSA program. The Flores’ say the program works on a number of levels. It’s a family affair—with both parents on board and participating in a variety of roles. “Scouts really works best when the entire family is involved. Scouts see their parents contributing to the unit and community and the parents see other leaders pour time and wisdom into their kids,” says Ruben Flores, who is both a former marine and former LAPD officer.

Flores says when it comes to participating in Scouts as a family unit, it’s all pros and no cons. “For our family, we have grown closer to each other and some of my best memories are from Scouting events,” he says.

Being involved in Scouts has helped his kids learn a frame of reference for what is moral and ethical and instilled the need for service to God, family and community, he says. “With the admittance of females into Scouts BSA, the days of the boys going camping has now become the entire family going camping. Scouting is also for the extended family and for friends of the family—and once you’re in the family, the level of your involvement is as much or as little as you desire.”

Bottom line? “Scouting makes kids better adults,” says Armstrong.

“The life skills you learn and the leadership opportunities you experience in Scouting help prepare you for life — and that’s the real power of Scouting.” hoac-bsa.org

EXECUTION SHOULD ALWAYS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS Grilling is a serious culinary endeavor. Hestan delivers the consistent control vital to perfecting everything from shrimp skewers to leg of lamb. Hestan offers American-made durability that weathers year-round use - in Stainless Steel and eleven vibrant colors, from Bora Bora Turquoise to Matador Red. DISTRIBUTED BY

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IN KC

Kelsey Cipolla

THE POST BREWING CO. WHEN Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar reopened

In Culinary News

in August after a months-long closure due to COVID-19, it brought along a deep-fried friend.

The Post Brewing Co. serves up fried chicken brined for hours in milk, dredged in a seasoned gluten-free flour blend and pressure fried to the juicy, golden brown ideal. The signature item can also be made Nashville hot and served with Southern-inspired sides, including hushpuppies, cheddar grits and bacon-braised collard greens, biscuits and sausage gravy. Like Jax, The Post Brewing Co. is part of the Big Red F Restaurant Group and got its start in Colorado, where it received numerous accolades. The concept currently operates from the seafood restaurant’s kitchen as owners look for a dedicated space, but in the meantime Kansas Citians can enjoy fried chicken to-go—or better yet, delivered straight to their door. postbrewing.com/kansas-city

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YOLI TORTILLERIA AFTER TRAVELING (and eating) their way through

In Culinary News

Mexico, husband and wife Marissa and Mark Gencarelli realized the tortillas they found in Kansas City grocery stores weren’t up to snuff. So they decided to make their own. Since 2017, Yoli Tortilleria has crafted corn tortillas using the ancient method of nixtamalization, cooking corn with lime and grinding it using handcarved volcanic stones before tortillas are run through an oven. Now Yoli is also making Sonoran-style flour tortillas at a new Westside retail location (1668 Jefferson St. #100), a tribute to Sonora, Mexico, where Marissa grew up. The variety is traditionally made with lard, producing a chewy, flavorful tortilla that comes in three sizes: “peque” for tacos, “quesi” for quesadillas and “burro,” which are just plain huge. Try them at the shop and at select retailers in the metro. eatyoli.com

SEPTEMBER 2020

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CONDUCTOR CLUB

In Culinary News

WORKING IN UNION STATION has its advantages. “You can’t pay for the history that kind of drips off these walls,” says Kenny Cohrs, director of guest experience and special projects for Hereford House and Pierpont’s. It’s that rich history that inspired Cohrs and company to convert a narrow second-floor space normally used by Pierpont’s for corporate events and rehearsal dinners into the Conductor Club when COVID-19 precautions made group gathers unlikely for the foreseeable future. Every two weeks, the Conductor Club hosts exclusive tasting events where guests can sample spirits in cocktails created for the evening. Although the goal is to eventually open up the Conductor Club on weekends, for now events are by reservation only. Follow @conductorclubkc on Instagram to hear about events first—and snag a spot before it sells out.

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Reservation for One ATOMIC PROVISIONS by

Kelsey Cipolla

B

photos by

iscuits. Pizza. Cocktails. Ice cream. What do they have in common? A spot in Westport’s newly opened Atomic Provisions.

The space includes four distinct concepts: brunch destination Denver Biscuit Co., pizza joint Fat Sully’s, the Atomic Cowboy bar and Frozen Gold ice cream shop. But Atomic Provisions isn’t a food hall. Instead, each place has its own menu and hours, and guests order from three of the spots from their table. (Frozen Gold is an outlier, operating out of its own dedicated section with a separate entrance.)

The four-in-one idea has already proven successful in Colorado,

SEPTEMBER 2020

Aaron Leimkuehler

where Atomic Provisions has several locations, and it’s easy to see why: Dishes are big, bold and self-assured, unusual enough to inspire interest without feeling intimidating. Here in Kansas City, the compound is housed in the Old City Ice Building, designed to look and feel approachably cool. The bar shares focus with a few neon light fixtures inside, while outdoors guests can enjoy an enclosed patio perfect for people watching.

Being at Atomic Provisions is perhaps best enjoyed as a communal activity, with friends or family around to ooh and ahh over dishes like Denver Biscuit Co’s giant biscuit cinnamon roll—and help with the eating. The biscuits are good across the board, but they’re more a novel

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foundation than a true star on the menu, which includes a long list of sandwiches. The Lola features crispy, tender buttermilk-fried chicken and three fat strips of bacon with honey butter and maple syrup. It arrives floating in a pool of syrup and is so sizable, picking it up with your hands is instantly eliminated as an option. Even using a knife and fork, the sandwich is syrup-in-your-eyebrows messy.

Beyond the Lola, there’s the Q39 Elmer, a pork belly-based sandwich that takes advantage of KC’s barbecue prowess with Q39’s sauce, fried onions, coleslaw, and house-made pickles, along with the more traditional sausage and egg-based breakfast option, The Tomahawk.

Denver Biscuit Co. finds ways to utilize biscuits beyond sandwiches: in French toast, strawberry shortcake and a deconstructed biscuit pot pie that captures the essence of the original dish impressively, even if it lacks some of its cozy comfort.

At Fat Sully’s, build-your-own pizza slices are loaded with the selected toppings and just the right amounts of sauce and cheese, making them an unimpeachable entry into the local ‘za landscape—and a definite future hotspot for dinner before (or during) a night out in Westport. Choose single slices or a whole pie, both of which are supersized.

The thin, crispy slices measure in at about a foot from crust to tip, while the house pie is a gargantuan 26 inches.

Fat Sully’s also offers a burger and chicken parmesan sandwich, and some profoundly tasty waffle fries, available plain or fully loaded with a deeply flavored sausage gravy, Tillamook pimento cheese, crispy bacon

SEPTEMBER 2020

shards and scallions. The fries are such a perfect hangover food that it’s tempting to have a few too many just to have an excuse to enjoy them in their element—fortunately, they’re available all day, along with drinks from Atomic Cowboy.

Since guests could be enjoying biscuits or pizza, the bar’s menu covers its beverage bases with craft beers from the KC and Denver areas and brunch-friendly cocktails. There’s the Atomic Bloody Mary, which throws Boulevard Steep Drop Nitro Milk Stout into the mix, as well as an easy-to-drink breakfast sangria, made with grapefruit vodka, St. Germain, lychee, lemon, and sparkling water. The sangria is light but layered, the ingredients offering a flash of vanilla one sip, shifting floral notes and citrus the next.

Despite its varied concepts, Atomic Provisions has a very clear identity: It’s entertaining and cool, with big flavors and even bigger slices of pizza. Slated to open in late August, Frozen Gold’s treats seem like a fittingly indulgent addition to the lineup, boasting cones with a surprise like caramel or fudge in the center and soft-serve offerings like toasted coconut with candied Rice Krispies and brown sugar fudge.

Forget about fine dining—this is fun dining. atomicprovisions.com Denver Biscuit Co. is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends; Fat Sully’s opens at 11 a.m., with select dishes only available 4-10 p.m. Atomic Cowboy is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 7 a.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.

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My Essentials

IN KC

ALEXIA WAMBUA FOUNDER OF NATIVE ATLAS BY

Michael Mackie

W PHOTO BY KENNY JOHNSON

ith more than 15 years of experience as an esthetician, Alexia Wambua has a more expansive take on what defines beauty. While some say it’s in the eye of the beholder, Wambua says, “Beauty—for me—is an attitude of kindness. It far surpasses any other form of physical beauty.”

Wambua found her skincare calling early. “I went to an event at a spa once when I was younger. I remember walking in and loving all of the smells and sounds,” she says. “It was almost instant.

I knew I was destined to work in that environment. I ended up working for that spa while I went to beauty school.”

Today, she’s responsible for creating Native Atlas, a line of luxe, all-natural skin- and body-care products free of harmful ingredients. Using her knowledge of skincare and all-natural botanicals sourced from all over the world, the local skincare mogul continues to expand the line, which was founded in 2014, to help customers look and feel their best.

Alexia’s essentials...

WHERE TO MAX OUT CREDIT CARDS:

Welwythn! I love all of the clean makeup, skincare, and pantry items they sell.

They have the most amazing selections.

HIDDEN GEM:

MANDATORY SKINCARE PRODUCT: I love my Rewind Tonic and Mimea Oil Cleanser, and of course, I have them on hand. My favorite SPF is the tinted version by Josh Rosebrook. I use it every day!

PEOPLE WATCH: The Crossroads district is really

fun to walk around—and there are beautiful, stylish and creative people everywhere.

Happy Gillis.

We love the food, and the owners are pretty awesome people.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Having

cocktails with my husband.

We usually stop over at Port Fonda for the great tequila selection and, of course, the epic margaritas.

REASON TO LIVE IN KC:

It’s a beautiful city full of beautiful creative people. There’s a slower, balanced pace of life here that feels good. The Chiefs and the Royals are pretty amazing too.

DECADENT DESSERT:

RETAIL THERAPY GETAWAY: I am

super excited to shop at Clairvaux, the new women’s boutique opening this fall, which I already know will be my favorite. The concept of blending Parisian and California style is genius.

SEPTEMBER 2020

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I’m not a huge sweets person, but if we ever order carryout from The Russell, I always make sure we get desserts!

I’ve never tried anything I didn’t like.

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