The Pitch: April 2023 (The Weed Issue)

rose Marshack on life with poster Children and her new book

Since 1987, alt-rock mavericks Poster Children have created experimental sounds from Champaign, Illinois, with the inarguably punk rock Rose Marshack on bass. Marshack is also an accomplished computer programmer and director of the Creative Technologies Program at Illinois State University, where she serves as a professor for courses such as Computer Programming for Creatives and Music Business. Additionally, Marshack is a versed martial artist, specializing in capoeira angola. Now, Marshack can add published memoirist to her already impressive resume. In her new book, Play Like a Man: My Life in Poster Children, Marshack chronicles her life on tour and reflects on decades working with the band.

Boon Area 1 is a surprise community asset reclaiming KC’s tarnished history

More than 2,700 parcels of vacant land available for purchase are owned by The Land Bank of Kansas City, Missouri. Artist and environmentalist Carl Stafford decided to turn one of these plots of land from wasted space into a community nature area. With his team, he planted grass, trees, and other wildlife across the plot, cleaning an area that had been abandoned for decades. Most of these plots that are untouched in KC lay east of Troost. People weren’t buying land in areas with a majority Black population, therefore abandoning these neighborhoods. As Stafford says, this project isn’t only to provide a clean community space but confronts “a continued racial practice.”

6 lETTEr

letter from the Editor: We did not assign patrick to get this high BY BROCK WILBUR

8 pOliTiCS

Weighting Game

Broken bureaucracy, outdated technology delay expungement for an erased crime

BY SARAH MOORE

10

SpOrTS

Disc Drive A sport, a coalition, and the hazy politics of Kansas cannabis

BY TYLER SCHNEIDER

12

CUlTUrE Thank You For Toking

Smokey River Entertainment District offers a permanent venue for cannabis-friendly events

BY AMANDA HADLOCK

14

Terminal paradise

Local artists earn international viewership at KCI

BY ASHLEY LINDEMAN

16

preserve The past, Craft A Future Ma’Ko’Quah Jones indexes Indigenous strategies for climate change resilience

BY HAINES EASON

20

FOOD & DriNK

Elevated Cuisine

STL’s Rooted Buds provide an infused dining experience

BY HANNAH STRADER

22

Three Scoops For Sweet revenge Sweet EMOtion makes vegan, allergen-free ice cream treats for music lovers

BY AMANDA HADLOCK

23

Eat This Now

Green Queen at Buffalo State Pizza

BY SARAH SIPPLE

Drink This Now

Voo lounge is downtown

KC’s newest piano bar

Will O’Keys is the aptly named inhouse pianist at Voo, Kansas City’s newest piano bar inside the Hotel Muehlebach at 12th and Baltimore. Voo prides itself on stocking its bar with locally-sourced spirits and collaborating with KC businesses to create the space itself. The venue also plans monthly drink specials that will see a portion of sales donated to local charities. Saunter in for an evening of upbeat jazz courtesy of O’Keys, savory or sweet craft cocktails, and a relaxed atmosphere conducive to conversation.

Violet Mango Cannabis Seltzer by Mighty Kind

BY KALA ELKINTON

24

Mise en place

High Hopes owner Jamie Howard lights up about melting mouths with thoughtful ice cream flavors

BY KATE FRICK

26

MUSiC

Doom patrol

Lawrence’s They Watch Us From The Moon! crash-land in our backyard BY NICK

SPACEK

28

Gavin Brivik Blows Up

Film composer and UMKC alumnus strikes back on How to Blow Up a Pipeline

BY ABBY OLCESE

30 EVENTS

April Events Calendar

BY THE PITCH STAFF

32

ADViCE

Keep Them Coming

Blurred lines

BY KRISTEN THOMAS

34

KC CArES

KC Cares

Artistic license from Imagine That! Kansas City

BY BETH LIPOFF

Cover by Cassondra Jones

Voo’s cocktail assortment. Photo by Anna Petrow

Carl Stafford of Boon Area 1. Courtesy photo

poster Children. Courtesy photo

Search for 90.9 The Bridge

Editor-in-Chief

Brock Wilbur

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Film Editor

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Little Village Creative Services

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Cassondra Jones

Staff Writers

Amanda Hadlock, Sarah Moore

Contributing Writers

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Letter from the Editor

WE DID NOT ASSIGN PATRICK TO GET THIS HIGH

By Brock Wilbur

On a weeknight evening in the San Fernando Valley, i found myself bumming a cigarette from a fellow stand-up comedian. It was 2013. He was a young, fresh-faced comedian who I discovered was from KC originally. It was a thrill to meet Patrick Moore, argue about sports, and reminisce on fond childhood memories of The Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza.

Pat and I were both supposed to perform as openers for another comic—a drive-time radio DJ at one of the city’s biggest alternative rock stations. This venue had been rented out to serve as the recording for his hour-long stand-up comedy special. Between the landmark occasion and his huge fanbase, we were delighted to be performing for his crowd.

Not a single person showed up. Patrick and I stood outside, continuing to smoke, convinced that somehow hundreds of people must be entering the theater from a different, secret entrance that we were not privy to viewing. Nope. At some point, the radio host called it off, leaving Patrick and me to walk back to our cars, engaged in a short exchange that boiled down to: “Hm. Maybe this career is wildly depressing, and we should get out of it?”

We did. Good for us.

When I moved to Kansas City, I was delighted to find Patrick had re-established himself here as well. His quick wit was being put to use as the producer and on-air co-host for a drive-time radio show on one of the city’s biggest stations. I joked with him at several points about how he had followed an unfortunate destiny and had become the man responsible for us committing ritualistic Seppuku with our own comedy careers by doing radio— but Pat was like, y’know, actually good at this.

Shortly thereafter, Patrick was fired for spending too much time on-air complaining about how his corporate overlords insisted on repeatedly playing Imagine Dragons, despite Imagine Dragons sucking shit. Honestly, an S-Tier way to lose your job.

In the wake of Patrick’s newfound time, he began writing stories for The Pitch. What followed was a series of gonzo documentations where Patrick would seek out the best and weirdest events in KC, get exceptionally high on edibles, and recount his adventures. These columns began to be known as “We Did Not Assign Patrick To Do This.”

Pat’s Mary Jane-influenced adventures around the metro are—for lack of better terminology—intoxicating. The man never uses drugs as a crutch or replacement for genuine talent in writing but as a gateway to a release from pressures and internal emotional debilitations, freeing him to experience our community absolved of the weight that tethers the rest of us to terra firma.

When Patrick goes to catch The Play That Goes Wrong on 300mg of THC at a local dinner theatre—a show wherein the en-

tire stage collapses and jettisons an actor into space—the childlike wonderment of his review and the specific laugh that I know he let fly throughout makes for some of the purest experiential work that crosses my desk. When Patrick ingests a Honeybee Salted Brownie Batter chocolate bar CBD/THC combo candy at a KC Current game, it is his fault and his fault alone that a mascot Easter bunny wandering the stadium teleports our stoned reporter directly to Hell itself.

As Twitter user @_n0_one once posted: “I feel like everything Patrick Moore has ever done for The Pitch is like he heard ‘No one has ever died from marijuana’ as a challenge.”

And that is why we have, for legal purposes, never assigned Patrick to do anything.

The cult of personality around Patrick Moore’s joyous approach to our city has taken him into several long-running podcasts for The Pitch, including a ranking show for celebrating/debating the pinnacles of KC culture and food, to a weekly movie review show that loops in our entire extended film review family.

But then, Pat got called to the majors. Now, you can find him as the on-air producer for Codie & Zeke In The Morning on 106.5 FM The Wolf, where he keeps the show roped in just as often as he lets it off the leash. More visually, you can catch him as a resident film reviewer on Fox 4’s Great Day KC, where his weekly cinema round-ups are Siskel & Ebert with just the right implied nod of Fox insisting “We Did Not Assign Patrick To Get This High.” More importantly, he always dresses in character for the films he’s reviewing, and honestly, we don’t know where he finds the budget for screen accurate Top Gun flight suits or high-end bodysuits of The Flash. But it sure is fun to watch.

With this month’s annual 4/20-themed magazine, we’ve got a ton of great stories that all come Pat-approved—from a pot catering company and infused beverages, to an eco-terrorism film score created on a steady diet of joints and Smash Brothers, to a look at how conversion from the metric system might be keeping Missourians with possession charges in prison.

Finally, it is our pleasure to announce the next phase of the Patrick Cinematic Universe today, as we welcome the man and the legend back into our fold. The Pitch has a new daily podcast, available every weekday morning, featuring the best news you can use (and a lot more) wherever you get your podcasts. The Pitch presents: The Brittany & Patrick Show features Mr. Moore alongside beloved KC comedian, TikTok star, and The Bachelor critic Brittany Tilander. The first few episodes are already out, and we couldn’t be prouder to have our journalism broadcast through their (lack of) filters.

Pitch in and we’ll make it through,

Weighting Game

BROKEN BUREAUCRACY, OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY DELAY EXPUNGEMENT FOR AN ERASED CRIME

By Sarah Moore

Thousands of Missourians are being haunted by an offense that no longer exists. Missouri legalized recreational marijuana, but there are still people waiting to be granted a clean slate.

When Amendment 3 was put into action Dec. 8, 2022, it promised to change the lives of citizens carrying around a marijuana-related offense, allowing them to submit for jobs previously off-limits, rent an apartment, apply for scholarships, and receive federal student aid.

That is… if the courts followed through with the expungement policy.

Amendment 3 calls for immediate expungement for all misdemeanor marijuana charges in the state. This policy was included in an attempt to keep the courts from being overwhelmed by thousands of petitions and hearings. Looking at the books, there were 21,559 marijuana-related arrests between 2020 and 2021 alone. If every person eligible had to petition to have their records expunged, the courts would burn to the ground under a mountain of paperwork.

If this streamlined the court’s ability to release the majority of offenders, why haven’t they been able to finish 100 days after the amendment was passed?

A small, seemingly unimportant language discrepancy between Missouri Law and Amendment 3 has the courts struggling and is barring offenders from finally being free from their past. According to Missouri law, a misdemeanor is classified as possessing less than 35 grams of marijuana, and a felony is possessing any amount over this limit.

However, while the law was in grams, Amendment 3 says that any charge for pos-

sessing less than 3 pounds can be expunged. Three pounds of marijuana is roughly 1,300 grams, allowing many felony charges to also be forgiven.

Once a marijuana charge became a felony, it was simply lumped in with all the other felony drug charges. The county courts, who were given authority over these expungements, couldn’t see what kind of drug was in the offender’s possession without manually looking through every case.

In an interview with the Missouri Independent, Greene County Circuit Clerk Bryan Feemster says the process for one expungement takes a little more than an hour for an experienced clerk.

After a case is pulled up electronically or on a written file and checked to ensure it qualifies for expungement, it must be approved by the county judge. If approved, the clerk has to redact the charge from every page of the file.

The first Greene County expungement was for a case from 1971. It took the clerk about 12 hours to redact every mention of the case on years of docket entries, motions, and filings. Clerks must follow the new language and ensure that the amount in possession for each case wasn’t more than 1,300 grams.

The Amendment set a deadline for Class D felony charges (possessing 35 grams) to be expunged by June 6, 2023, and Class E felony charges (possessing more than 35 grams) to be expunged by Sept. 4, 2023. The Missouri Supreme Court requested $4.5 million from Governor Parson to employ 500 overtime clerks and attempt to beat the deadline. However, their request

was not included in the Governor’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget.

The money is also meant to go towards hiring two IT contractors that would hopefully develop code that could sort through the files. The Office of State Courts did not respond to The Pitch’s requests for an update on expunged cases.

State court officials have asked for $2.5 million in a supplemental budget to pay clerks and their employees for overtime hours. At the time of this writing, the House Budget Committee has begun work on the overall supplemental budget.

To hold the courts accountable, Amendment 3 requires an index of cases to be updated throughout the process. Even if the deadlines pass before the courts can get a handle on this situation, every eligible person will be expunged.

“There are a lot of people who will benefit from this. Far more than the ones who are, at this moment, on probation or parole or in jail,” Director of Integrated Advocacy for the Missouri ACLU Tony Rothert says. “People’s lives are on hold during this time while they’re waiting for it to be expunged.”

However, the benefits for those currently on parole or probation cannot be forgotten. In addition to an early end to their sentence and a clean record, it can save offenders hundreds of dollars because Missouri requires offenders to finance their own probation costs.

These costs can include multiple drug tests, ankle monitors, and classes required for the offender. According to the Department of Corrections, 565 people on proba-

in this situation have other charges tacked on to marijuana possession that won’t be expunged by the amendment, for example, having a DUI and a marijuana charge.

“Some people are in [prison] because of a DUI, and they also had possession of marijuana or probation because of domestic violence but also had possession of marijuana,” Rothert explains. “Those are the cases where it’s unclear if they’re being captured.”

The two charges may not be related, but since their marijuana sentencing is tacked on to a crime that isn’t excused by the amendment, offenders don’t have the option to petition.

“There are folks that are concerned about this and want to help process those claims for people who are incarcerated and will be required to file a petition,” Rothert says. “It’s just a matter of identifying folks needing assistance.”

To ensure that there was someone studying and organizing marijuana policies, Amendment 3 required a Chief Equity Officer to be appointed before Feb. 6, 2023. Abby Vivas was hired five days before this deadline.

Vivas is currently developing plans for economic and social equity initiatives, according to her office. This will include a plan to check all of the licensed dispensaries and make sure they are in good standing and remain eligible for a license. This single government bureaucrat is also charged with establishing public education programs that are dedicated to providing communities that were impacted by past marijuana

tion or parole are eligible for expungement. The financial benefits will be wasted if cases aren’t reviewed before a sentence has been served.

In addition to those on parole, there are 27 people serving time in the DOC who are eligible, but these people aren’t being let off without paperwork. Each incarcerated offender is required to petition the courts. So, once again, an offense that no longer exists is being lorded over people’s lives.

When speaking with Rothert about these hurdles, he was taken aback by the numbers reported by the DOC. When more than 21,000 people have been arrested for these crimes over the past three years, 27 is strikingly low. Many of those entangled

laws with information about the licensing process and support resources.

Approving a supplemental budget would allow courts to get more cases expunged, and information from the DOC would help the 27 incarcerated offenders get released, but this mess was either created by design or simply the result of deprioritization from a system that is in no hurry to release inmates or surrender small amounts of supplemental income.

Thousands in Missouri are waiting to have their cases wiped clean, so they can reclaim citizenhood and an unblemished record as they engage with employers and their community. How much longer does their waiting game have to last?

“There are a lot of people who will benefit from this. Far more than the ones who are, at this moment, on probation or parole or in jail. People’s lives are on hold during this time while they’re waiting for it to be expunged.”

Cassondra Jones

A SPORT, A COALITION, AND THE HAZY POLITICS OF KANSAS CANNABIS

By Tyler Schneider

it’s a brisk spring day, and droves of disc golfers have returned to rosedale park to hit one or perhaps even both of the 18-hole courses the KCK recreational hub offers for a flourishing regional scene that has one of few legitimate claims at being the sport’s true capital of the world.

In all likelihood, many of these frisbee-slingers will also probably be taking hits as they stroll the course and plan their putts. Disc golf and the Devil’s Lettuce, after all, have been naturally intertwined ever since the lax yet sufficiently competitive hippie version of golf originally sprouted up in Oak Grove Park, California, in 1975.

In the decades since, a dominant stigma around disc golf—that it is a “stoner’s game”—has stuck around as societal judgments typically will. And though those lingering negative connotations may more often than not be supported by the literal frequent odor of that skunky, funky, smelly green shit out on any given course, it seems that the American masses have, for the most part, finally turned their backs to the pitiful dying embers of the “War on Drugs.”

able to do so, however. In a few vile circum stances, states like Kansas now border more than one state with legal recreational, adultuse cannabis markets. With Missouri now having officially joined Colorado in that distinction, leaders of the Sunflower State have found themselves pressured into finally facing the absurdity of the fact that Kansas doesn’t even have a medical cannabis pa

tient system in place yet.

Meanwhile, out at Rosedale, one party of disc golfers advances to the third hole of the “Up-Top” course. As they make their ascent on the final straightaway before entering into the first of a great many swarming groves of trees, the worst and newest player in the friend group has only just now clunked their disc into the chains. They snatch their putter from the basket with an added pep to their step as they hustle to catch up with the rest of the squad, hoping that maybe the next hole could mark a turn in fortune—the long-awaited putt that could finally, if only for one fleeting moment, put them on equal footing.

Just under a mile and a half east of Rosedale Park lies State Line Road. It was here that the Kansas Cannabis Coalition organized an event March 4, 2023, to protest the absurdities of continued prohibition.

ture for failing to act even after the governing body had actually succeeded in approving medical marijuana legalization back in 2021. Unfortunately, representatives in opposition to the decision essentially tabled the efforts by Kansas Senate Bill 560—designed to allow for the cultivation, processing, distribution, and dispensing of cannabis—by neglecting and leaving it for dead in the final days of the previous legislative year.

The current Big Bad of this saga is Ty Masterson, a Kansas Republican currently serving as the president of the state senate. Masterson has shown little interest in addressing the concerns of the would-be medical cannabis patients among his constituents.

“Seventy percent of Kansans want this. It’s Ty Masterson; it’s one person that doesn’t,” says Dolores Halbin, RN, a Missouri resident just off the border who recently had her cannabis conviction expunged after nine years.

She’s seen both the benefits and the pitfalls of living on such a precipice.

39th Street, with so many making their way inside that people began spilling over, with permission, into the back room of the neighboring Jazz A Lousiana Kitchen.

The chatter melted to a hush as the evening’s first honored speaker, veteran Chris Wolfenbarger (and his service dog, Chu Chu Rodriguez Wolfenbarger), took the mic and prepared to address the room.

Wearing a camo-style #15 Chiefs jersey, Wolfenbarger explained how, after he was “blown up in Afghanistan” in 2010 while on active duty, he quickly found cannabis to be a formative tool in aiding his recovery and controlling his pain. He was far from alone in making that discovery.

“Almost every veteran I’ve ever served with now uses cannabis in some form,” Wolfenberger told his listeners.

Wolfenberger could not help but feel comfortable enough with this group to share that his own mother had recently taken her last breath at approximately 4:20 a.m. on

ease in the state of Colorado” and who has now been in remission for nine years.

The experience led to the establishment of the Coltyn Turner Foundation, an effort through which the Turner family could organize fundraising events and put those funds back towards the cause of creating and promoting “ethical, comprehensive, patient-driven, observational and anecdotal research surveys.”

After Wolfenbarger and Turner had shared their experiences, the activists filed outside and proceeded to take their places on either side of State Line. Some had written of their own illnesses, experiences, and support of cannabis as a treatment option on signs. Others, like Stacia Louthie, an eightyear survivor of endometrial cancer, were more forthcoming with their experiences.

“It’s considered terminal now,” says Louthie, who describes herself as a “product of the D.A.R.E. generation.”

“I’ve done four different types of chemo, I did two years of immuno-therapy, I’ve done internal, external radiation… and the tumor is still there. They want to put me back on chemo again, I told them no, I’m done with all their drugs and poison. So, since June of 2020, I’ve done nothing but cannabis,” Louthie says with fearless bravery and absolutely no intentions of ever turning back.

The more pointed of the demonstration efforts had people donning orange mock-prison garb on the west side of the

street, a less than subtle representation of a convict caught on the wrong side of the border at the wrong time. A few people frolic around in pot leaf costumes and similar festive getups, a few more hold antagonistic signs featuring Masterson’s senate headshot.

Chants of “puff, puff, pass it, Kansas!” and “make it make sense!” echoed for several blocks. One unidentified driver of a KCMO Fire Department vehicle even honked in support as it passed, igniting the already enthusiastic and diverse group.

It was another wildly positive outcome for the Kansas Cannabis Coalition—one branch of a tight network of similar statewide organizations that have a vested interest in changing how Kansas interacts with cannabis on both a scientific and legal basis.

To start raising money for these aims, the group held the first of a pair of fundraiser disc golf tournaments at LFK’s Centennial Park in April 2022. The initial concept was, perhaps unsurprisingly, successful enough to warrant a follow-up at Wichita’s Clapp Park last October.

Originally set for late April 2023, this year’s edition of the competition will likely come in early June.

Michael Babbitt was a senior shortstop on the Missouri Western State University base-

ball team in 2015 when he first began dabbling in the sport of disc golf. One of his teammates invited him to play a round one day, and from there, as Babbitt would say, “the rest was history.”

Eight years later, the Raytown High School product is one of the best professional disc golfers in the Midwest and also a co-owner of Native Hemp Co. in downtown Lee’s Summit.

The latter opportunity came about from a chance meeting with fellow co-owner, Rich Dunfield, in 2018. At the time, Dunfield was experiencing the agony of a particularly aggressive bout with Lyme disease. Seeking a treatment that worked for him, Dunfield immersed himself in learning about the upand-coming CBD market.

Between maintaining an intense professional practice schedule and working in the shop, Babbitt is still a heavy proponent of the benefits of both cannabis use and the ever-growing popularity of disc golf.

“If you can just get out for 10, 20, 30 minutes—maybe even an hour or two hours with your friends outside on the course in nature getting direct sunlight—that does a lot,” Babbitt says.

He admits to using CBD fairly often, especially for recovery and inflammation. However, as a serious professional, Babbitt will now almost always refrain from lighting up on the course, as is a near-daily occurrence for the amateur ranks.

“I’m out training for long hours for a specific purpose. There are not a lot of times that I’m just out with my friends.. I don’t get to see that recreational side of the game. I don’t play as much as I would like to,” Babbitt says.

With that said, he knows these days won’t last forever.

“After my competitive career is done, then, for sure, I’ll consume and enjoy cannabis with my friends,” Babbitt says. “The game and the community and the friendships are what’s most important. Weed is never the driving factor there, but it can definitely add to the fun times we can share out in nature together with our friends.”

As for the efforts of Kansans to simply enact medical marijuana guidelines in the near future? Babbitt wholly sympathizes with those who are suffering, particularly the terminally ill. He supports the efforts of groups like the Kansas Cannabis Coalition but knows that it could take a longer time than many would like to believe to change minds like that of Senator Masterson.

“You can only control what you can control,” Babbitt says. “I love democracy, the power of the vote, and transparency. I think that understanding this plant, working with this plant, and changing the world with this plant will come in time through education and experience. What Missouri is doing is showing that if we lead by example, we can build a bridge.”

FRIENDLY EVENTS

By Amanda Hadlock

Now that recreational cannabis is legal in Missouri, there is a need for social gathering places for smokers and substance-free friends alike. It’s important that safe spaces be available where people have the option to partake in a toke or choose not to while they mingle with their stoned friends. Thankfully, Besa Hospitality Group will meet this need with its new cannabis-friendly entertainment venue.

The Smokey River Entertainment District is set to open its doors to the public April 20. Development is underway on the new space that winds along the Missouri River. The venue is located off 291 Highway in River Bend, MO, east of downtown Kansas City, and will showcase music, artwork, cuisine, and more at its events.

The Smokey River Entertainment Dis-

trict will feature an outdoor amphitheater, two indoor clubs, music halls for dining and drinking, and designated cannabis con-

Besa Hospitality Group’s mission, according to President Joey Pintozzi, is “normalizing cannabis through hospitality.”

“Cannabis will be part of the experi-

When Besa Hospitality Group founder he had the idea to expand BHG with the Smokey River Entertainment Dis trict. The space struck him as an opportunity not only to provide a much-needed new venue for entertainment and arts in Kansas City but also to further BHG’s mission of normalizing cannabis now that recreational cannabis has been legalized in Missouri.

“Just like alcohol and tobacco, you’re going to have designated areas where you can legally consume and be yourself, where you can have that normalization,” Pintozzi says of the new venue space. “It’s not just an entertainment district that has legal cannabis. If you don’t want to be around it, you don’t have to be around it. There will be entertainment for all to enjoy”.

The Smokey River Entertainment District is kicking off with the Smokey River 420

Festival on—you guessed it—April 20. This will be the first festival in the state of Missouri that pays homage to legal cannabis, according to Pintozzi. Grammy-nominated rapper Wiz Khalifa will headline the inaugural festival, with support from Joey Bada$$, Berner, Smoke DZA, and Chevy Woods.

“Wiz, Berner, and Smoke DZA are all very well known in the cannabis space already, with all of them having their own world-renowned cannabis entities: Khalifa Kush (Wiz), Cookies (Berner), and Smokers Club (DZA),” says Pintozzi.

Along with a day’s worth of musical performances, the event will include a “Cannabis Village” featuring cannabis vendors from across the state. Attendees will also be able to participate in cannabis-themed activities and partake in cannabis consumption inside designated lounge areas. Food and beverage vendors will also be on-site.

Other events in the works include a Fourth of July festival honoring veterans and an end-of-summer festival, with the date to be determined.

By 2024, the Smokey River Entertainment District plans to implement an indoor music hall as well, along with frequent Riverwalk events with accommodations such as a skate park, a playground, and, potentially, an Esports lounge.

“[The Smokey River Entertainment District] is progress, not just for us, but for the country as well. We want it to be responsible and safe as we celebrate the end of prohibition,” says Pintozzi.

An artistic rendering of the district. (Below) Headliner Wiz Khalifa and the inaugural 420 Fest lineup. Courtesy images

Terminal Paradise

LOCAL ARTISTS EARN INTERNATIONAL VIEWERSHIP AT KCI

By Ashley Lindeman

The new KCi terminal, which opened February 28, 2023, offers more than an upgraded parking garage, new local restaurants, and gender-neutral bathrooms. Twenty-eight local artists were selected from thousands of applications to create artwork for the airport. Nineteen of those artists are local, and nine are world-renowned.

During the Community Open House event 10 days prior to the grand opening, the front desk attendants provided a magazine about the new airport terminal. Although it delivers a short segment on the artwork, it emphasizes non-KC artists such as Jill Anholt and Nick Cave. However, the local artists in Kansas City are equally deserving of recognition.

One KC artist, John Louder, invites airport goers to preview the very landscape they will be seeing from the sky above the metro. In a series of four oil-on-stretchedlinen paintings, he renders views of environments with various seasons, weather, and times of the day. One fascinating aspect of his series of paintings is that each work is organized as a diptych, giving the viewer two options for understanding the space and the landscape: one aerial and the other at eye level.

“These paintings are a celebration of the rural environment that KCI travelers experience both on the ground and overhead. Hopefully viewers will be stimulated to take a closer look as they travel,” says Louder.

In breaking down what this public art commission process entailed, all the artists worked with the Build KCI team, which stipulated size restrictions, a $20,000 budget, and even some safety equipment on their walls, such as defibrillators and fire extinguishers. Each artist was given a contract over 10 pages long that detailed state tax, city license to liability, and safety insurance. The payments, distributed quarterly in four equal segments, covered expenses related to the creation and delivery of the artwork.

“I felt the application process was fair, clear, and transparent. The selected artworks reflect the diverse voices and inclusion from the KC region,” says Hong Chun Zhang, a world-renowned local artist. “Even though artists were not paid enough given the time and material, the exposure to a broader audience at the airport was my main purpose for participating and creating the work outside of traditional gallery or

museum space.”

Zhang’s charcoal-on-paper work, Kansas Braids and Grass Style, combine her characteristic depictions of long black hair with the native grasses and wheat of Kansas and Missouri to make a statement on cross-cultural exchange as well as her identity of being a Chinese immigrant in the midwestern states. Because she knew her works would hang on a dark gray wall, she chose black and white charcoal on paper to create a contrasting and eye-catching effect.

“The Chinese fine-style painting technique with scrolls at the ends gave more depth, layers, details, and eastern art aesthetics,” says Zhang.

All artists worked with Public Art Administrator of Kansas City, James Martin, and Holly Hayden, consulting artist with Paslay Management Group.

Kati Toivanen, another local artist and a professor of studio art at UMKC, says, “They did a wonderful job laying out the project development and production plan, which had four deadlines for specific intermediary targets.” Every three or four months, Martin and Hayden conducted studio visits and noted their progress, ensuring they were on track to meet deadlines. After the selected works were completed, artists were responsible for framing their art and hiring professional art handlers to pick up and deliver the finished work to the new terminal. Build KCI oversaw the installation once the art was on site.

Regarding the protection and preservation of public works at KCI, Mark Spencer was recently hired as the art program coordinator for the Kansas City Aviation Department. With directorship experiences at Hallmark, ArtsKC, and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, Spencer appears wellequipped to handle the preservation of the artworks, which are worth approximately $5.65 million in total.

One might wonder, though, how much of the city’s funding it will take to dust Soo Sunny Park’s $700,000 sculpture Molten Swing in a few years. Even some of the paintings required a different set of protections because they are showcased publicly.

“I don’t normally frame with plexiglass over oil paintings, so the airport public access called for a safer alternative,” says Louder.

Toivanen submitted a piece entitled I

Spy Carry-on for public display in the airport. A series of colorful digitally composed photographs, the work shares some personal aspects of Toivanen’s life.

“I grew up in Finland and have travelled quite a bit in my life to visit family, much of it with my son. When he was little, my carry-on needed to consider his needs for snacks, entertainment, and other basic needs. The collection of objects in the project reflects this universal experience of family travel. It is my hope that the project will act as entertainment for both parents and children as they explore and discover familiar objects in the images,” says Toivanen.

In regards to the high-stakes project and pressure artists felt to complete the public commissions, Louder says, “Commissioned works, especially important public venue paintings, are always more stressful because the finished painting comes after the agreement and the large volume of

viewers, whereas gallery paintings are the other way around. I can’t deny that I was relieved when I delivered the paintings to the airport and handed them to the art installers hired by Kansas City.”

“I have completed several temporary public art projects around Kansas City and the region over the years, but this was my first permanent commission, which made it particularly meaningful. As I developed the set of three digital collages, I paid particular attention to the visual flow from one panel to the next for a sense of continuity. I also added lots of color, which is always stimulating at an airport,” says Toivanen, who was elated by the opportunity.

For anyone planning a trip, make sure to get to the airport in time to see all local KC artworks at KCI by: Debbie Barrett-Jones, Laura Berman, Mona Cliff, Santiago Cucullu, JT Daniels, IT-RA Icons, Israel Alejandro Garcia, Rachelle Gardner-Roe, John Hans, Rachel Hubbard Kline, Kwanza Humphrey, Molly Kaderka, Kathy Liao, John Louder, Sean Nash, Stephen Proski, Hasna Sal, Kati Toivanen, Bernadette Esperanza Torres, and Hong Chun Zhang.

Hong Chun Zhang with Kansas Braids and Grass Style, 2022. John louder, Sight Lines, Flight Lines, 2022; Soo Sunny park, Molten Swing 2022; and Kati Toivanen, I Spy Carry-on, 2022. Courtesy photos

of its lifecycle, it is barely rooted to the lake bottom. Additionally, research is beginning to show just how vulnerable the crop is to the increasingly intense weather associated with climate change.

But, this year, the rice was growing tall. Time will tell if the tribe and a collaborating team of university researchers can preserve the crop and restore its range.

Around Lawrence and among the native community, Professor Dan Wildcat is something of a legend. Known as a teacher who grows his students through hands-on opportunities, he’s a kind, mild-tempered person who, according to Jones, loves to push his students into the deep end with little notice and a smile.

To complete the picture: thin, with long, gray hair. Sometimes sporting a flat-brim cowboy-style hat. Bolo tie with jeans—the hint of a southern drawl.

Preserve The Past, Craft A Future

MA’KO’QUAH JONES INDEXES INDIGENOUS STRATEGIES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE

By Haines Eason

in some ways, Ma’Ko’Quah Jones’ journey toward climate advocacy had always been underway. But, the urgency of her mission intensified in 2008.

“I had a son who passed away that year. He was a 7-month-old baby,” says Jones. Her tone is firm. There’s a sadness, of course, but something else. “Before that, I was a stay-athome mom taking care of my kids. That loss is what put me on the college track.”

A resoluteness is perhaps that other thing. From the grief and chaos of the loss, Jones focused her entire being. She and her husband at the time, and their children, eventually five, had settled in Lawrence and were trying to find their way. Jones was a semester into her studies at Haskell Indian Nations University. Summer 2009 was approaching, and she was determined to stay the course, find a job, and complete her studies.

“I’d heard about this research internship from a friend of mine. But I was a freshman. It was with Professor Wildcat. He didn’t know me. He teaches upper-level classes… But he was the one to talk to about this research internship, and it paid really

well,” says Jones. •

Our world’s climate is changing, and fast. Stories abound of what could happen if our species does not act quickly to curb our carbon emissions. But, more and more, stories documenting the loss and change that is happening now are appearing. Sometimes, though, those stories do manage to offer a bit of hope.

For millennia, the Ojibwe Tribe, now of Wisconsin’s Lac de Flambeau Reservation, roughly 4 hours northeast of Minneapolis, has harvested wild rice from the constellation of marshes and lakes characteristic to the region.

In a recent article published in The Nation, it was noted that wild rice once grew in 25 lakes on the Lac de Flambeau Reservation alone. Now, the staple crop grows in two. Once encountered widely across the Upper Midwest, the plant is now hard to find wild, given the extensive development our nation has seen over the last several decades.

A rice plant is sensitive, and, at a stage

knowledge of climate research was deep and broad—as impressively so as Jones’ passion.

A little later on, Barnes and Jones reconnected when Jones was chairing the Douglas County Sustainability Board. This time, the two focused on utility solar regulations.

Then, in 2021, CEP accepted a project with Lawrence Douglas County Sustainability to collect and document the lived experiences of marginalized communities about the changing climate’s impact on them as part of a Climate Action Plan.

Jones consulted with CEP to support the storytellers and turn their recollections into materials that could be used to advertise the rollout of the Action Plan.

Barnett feels this work, for Jones, was synergy. And it was timely.

• • •

Jones’ childhood was marked by abuse, parental alcoholism, and numerous other challenges.

“I so wanted that internship,” Jones says. “I visited Professor Wildcat. I made my case. He said, ‘No, you’re a freshman. This is for upper-level students. Come back when you’re a junior or senior.’”

He didn’t count on Jones’ tenacity. Or, perhaps, her savviness.

“I know you still have spots to fill,” she remembers saying, tactfully if pointedly. “You need to fill them. I’ll contact you closer to the end date of the application period.”

She contacted him a week before the application period closed and asked him if he still had spots open.

“In that southern drawl of his, he says, ‘Yeah, well, there are still spots…’ So I said, ‘Okay, I want to apply.’ Again, he said ‘no,’” Jones says.

In the interim, Lawrence had proved too challenging. Jones and her family had moved back down to Oklahoma, where she’s from, to live with her aunt, save money, and regroup.

On the phone, having contacted Wildcat again, with the application period about to close and having learned there were still spots available, Jones told him the Wednesday before the internship is supposed to start: “Don’t say no. I’ll be in Lawrence tomorrow, in person, to interview.”

She drove all night. She nailed the interview. She started the internship that Monday.

“I first met Ma’Ko’Quah when she was doing environmental assessment work with the Potawatomi Tribe,” recalls Climate + Energy Project (CEP) Executive Director Dorthy Barnett.

Barnett notes CEP was intentionally trying to expand its network to include Indigenous peoples. Right away, she was impressed with Jones’ passion and ability to show up “with her whole self.” And, she notes, Jones’

“I grew up Christian, but it was a cultic environment,” Jones says, her voice low.

When her son passed away, she tried to turn to the Christian beliefs of her youth, but they seemed hollow. Searching for solace and answers, being far from Oklahoma in her new world at Haskell, she went to a healing ceremony, one meant to ease the pain of the community. For her, it was a chance to share the burden of her son’s death.

It was there, listening to the healing songs, wrapped in the ceremonies filled with the ecological artifacts on which the ceremonies depend, that a different part of her childhood came flooding back.

Her grandparents had held onto the tribe’s pre-Christian ways: the songs, dances, stories, and rituals. Her grandparents had taught Jones that culture. And it came flooding back.

“The healing songs at the Haskell ceremony—it was like they were left for me, waiting to be refound when I needed them,” she says. “And, I realized the ceremonies depended on the environment to continue. I thought to myself, ‘Can we continue if our environment doesn’t continue?’ Protecting all this—that’s going to be my job.”

• • •

Returning to her home region, she found work as an environmental and GIS technician with her tribe, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Then, consulting with CEP, among other stops. She even had a foray into legislative work.

Through her time at Haskell, Jones has struck up and maintained a connection with Ponka-We Victors, the first Indigenous woman to serve in the Kansas State Legislature. She and Victors had worked to establish an internship program at Haskell.

In her work as a legislator, Victors persistently voiced a need for there to be a reckoning with the inordinately high number of

Indigenous women who go missing or who are murdered each year. With Jones’ and many others’ help, House Bill 2008, which created a course of training for Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center cadets, was signed by Governor Kelly into law April 7, 2021. The training, according to the attorney general’s office, provides law enforcement personnel with “historical context, definitions, statutes, tribal sovereignty and jurisdictional challenges,” and more.

By spring 2022, Lawrence had ordered a proclamation setting aside May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Persons Awareness Day. Jones drafted this proclamation. Victors took the language to Wichita, where it resulted in a proclamation there also setting aside May 5.

Jones’ shining resume is perhaps all the brighter for what she has endured personally. As mentioned, her childhood was rough, but her traumas did not stop there. She was jailed in 2020 for fighting back against an abuser. She had sought help, but the system did not intervene. She used a weapon and was charged with a felony.

“It’s all an issue of climate change. All of it. Think about it. When you have poor communities sitting on oil, for instance. When you have to work with outsiders to develop it. This is how you get what some call ‘man camps.’ The oil companies house the oil field workers as close to the rigs as they can, and those are in or near tribal communities. What do you think is going to happen?”

Lack of opportunity on reservations. Exploitation by outsiders. It’s a recipe for cultural collapse, substance abuse, mental illness, and so much more.

The man camps are called so because, according to the careers data company Zippia, roughly 95% of all oil well and rig workers are male. The work can be extremely difficult at best, with it commonly regarded as some of the most dangerous there is. And the hours are long. It’s not unusual for a roughneck, as these workers are sometimes called, to put in 12-hour shifts for two or three weeks at a time.

The workers come from far away and live in a temporary shelter in a community that is likely very different from their own. The pay can be quite good, especially considering the local, usually rural, standard of living. Furthermore, local poverty can also be a big factor. When you consider that the national rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 11.6% but, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the Native American rate is 25.4%, an illustration of a toxic power imbalance comes into focus.

“If there’s a tribe nearby, it’s the Native women who are targeted,” Jones says flatly. “And, because there are so few people looking out for Native women, and because there are law enforcement jurisdiction issues, longstanding colonial history, etc., we Native women are largely invisible. Because of that invisibility, men are almost encouraged to visit violence on us.”

Jones then jumps right to what she sees as the ultimate source of the problem.

“If we didn’t rely on fossil fuels, we wouldn’t have these man camps,” she says. No man camps, safer women. Safer women, healthier communities. Over the last two decades, more and more research shows that protecting and empowering women can lift entire communities.

“For many Indigenous communities, traditional gendered responsibilities and knowledge have been vital to community health and survival for millennia,” write Kirsten Vinyeta, Kyle Powys Whyte, and Kathy Lynn in their 2015 study, “Climate Change Through an Intersectional Lens: Gendered Vulnerability and Resilience in Indigenous Communities in the United States.”

“Colonization has profoundly affected and continues to affect these gendered responsibilities and knowledge by disrupting (and in some cases destroying) the sociocultural fabric that sustained gender diversity and gender egalitarianism within many tribes, and by affecting the plants, animals, lands, and waters that are critical to gendered responsibilities and knowledge.”

Jones points to this study as a seminal one. But, study author Kyle Whyte points to Jones, in return, giving her glowing praise. He reports knowing her through networks supporting the empowerment of Tribal colleges and universities and the advocacy of Indigenous sovereignty in climate change and sustainability.

“Even in the early stages of her career, Ma’Ko’Quah has always had the courage to be out front as a leader,” he says. “She has a rare combination of talents all in one person, including scientist, organizer, policy expert, Indigenous rights advocate, environmentalist, and more—not to mention her tremendous responsibility as a parent and community member.

“She has inspired people toward Tribal and community service. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, I am proud of Ma’Ko’Quah’s accomplishments, knowledge, and leadership as a Potawatomi person. She is razor sharp, tenacious, dynamic, and committed to justice for all.”

So, where does Jones go from here?

“So all of this, what I lived through, what I see going on around me, my natural inclination toward policy… All of that feeds into what I am calling a ‘vulnerability index.’ It’s going to be informed by the life experiences and the need and priorities of the tribal communities,” Jones says.

The index, then. What is it?

Refer back to the story of the rice. Troll the news for stories about fish ladders helping restore essential salmon runs or Jones’ own tribe restoring wetlands. There are so many positive efforts in the works, and they must be cataloged and disseminated.

“So many of the issues the tribes are facing come from the disruption of our cultures due to colonialism and colonization. We’re going to be facing that again due to climate change. My ancestors walked the Trail of Tears. They lost everything to relocate to Oklahoma. We are going to face that again and have to leave the land again if we don’t prepare for climate change through our empowerment and by restoring our ways. We’re facing another round of generational trauma as a result of potential relocation.

“I know the people. I know the issues, the policies. How it all ties together. And I know how to explain it to diverse audiences. I have to explain it to tribal communities, scientists, politicians… The science of climate change—stuff that people still don’t understand or accept.

“It’s on me, this work. That’s why I am trying to put this research prospectus, this index, together. I am the person who needs to do this work. I am the only person to do this work. I’m a Native researcher, I’m from a tribal community, I’ve lived within these communities to know why these issues are so important, and essential, for us to tackle.”

Ma’Ko’Quah Jones and family stand outside the lawrence City Hall amid her campaign for environmental conservation in 2021. Courtesy photo

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Elevated Cuisine

STL’S ROOTED BUDS PROVIDE AN INFUSED DINING EXPERIENCE

By Hannah Strader

it’s difficult to encompass an entire community compared to another, but St. louis and Kansas City each provide a different approach to cannabis and education. It’s still early days for legal weed in Missouri, and while it’s too soon to tell which way the wind blows for caregivers and small businesses, many consumers and providers had concerns about its passing.

On one hand, KC has a closer connection to Colorado and the long-established companies that have been eyeing the Missouri ballots for the last few years. On the other, St. Louis has had to compete with a recreational market just a few miles over the state line in Illinois, creating an edge for small businesses trying to find momentum in a yet undeveloped medical market.

“Because [the corporations] are large enough, they have access to the capital, they have their manufacturing license and all of those things, it really blocks us,” says co-owner and chef Snoop Hollins, one half of the duo who created Rooted Buds.

Snoop and partner Denise Hollins are working side-by-side to cultivate a safe space for the cannabis community to become a main ingredient in the culinary arts. The two have been working to combine their many years in the service industry with an inherent love for weed.

Their concerns aren’t unfounded— there have been many issues brought up about the ways in which the law benefits “failsafe” companies compared to those who have been living the reality of limited resources and have much more to lose. There are also questions about the ways in

which a primarily red state will handle issues like home growing, licensing, and parents who choose to partake.

“To know that I could possibly lose my child or I could run into issues just because I’m consuming? That’s the part [lawmakers] were refusing to answer. At the end of the day, this is how they feel,” Denise says.

“We don’t see a lot who are taking it and acting out or knocking people out. It’s munchies most of the time, very laid back,” Snoop adds.

That’s part of how Rooted Buds was born. As cannabis users themselves, the two were looking for a way to step out of general hospitality and into something much more creative and community-driven.

“During the pandemic, we went to a party that one of our friends threw. They had some infused food, and it was nice, but

we just thought we could do something a little bit different,” Denise says.

Next came a series of cannabis courses, along with trial and error, to ensure that what they wanted to create was wholly safe and as transparent as possible. The two use a variety of different methods to properly dose. Beyond the traditional butter and oil, they’ve come to rely on other methods like vegetable-based glycerin and seasoning for catering to consumers who may be vegan and plant-based, as they once were. There are options for CBD or THC-infused sauces, infused food, or un-infused catering.

“From a dispensary, my tolerance might be 30-40 milligrams, but if I get something from the street, maybe it’s 100 milligrams, or I can eat the entire thing. You just don’t know,” Snoop says.

Things took off for the duo when they began hosting what they call Fried Fridays at The Cola Lounge, the first legal consumption lounge in Missouri. From there, popup events began sprouting up. They’ve done grand openings, birthday parties, and weddings and have created their own private dining club to ensure that when cannabis is involved, it’s being done legally.

Now that the state has gone recreational, they’re looking forward to expanding and providing for consumers on a larger scale. On their side is a tight-knit community of other small businesses in St. Louis like Luxury Leaf and Sanct Lounge, who are open to partnering and cultivating experiences for the city they love.

“They’re really doing it right. One of the issues is that people don’t know how to infuse food,” says Jamila-Owens Todd, a doctor and member of the Missouri Can-

nabis Trade Association who helped create Sanct. “So what we’re finding is that you get an older population, a lot of what we call canna-curious. They’re interested but have never consumed it before. And because edibles have a much longer effect, you don’t want to be super high.”

Denise and Snoop both agree that their long-term goal is to educate and foster a laid-back environment where experimentation feels comfortable for anyone who may be hesitant. It certainly helps that their food not only looks incredible, but tastes even better.

“We have a lot of people who are actually surprised. They’re like, ‘It’s inside here? In this sandwich?’” Denise says. Occasionally, they must ensure people their food isn’t infused unless specifically requested. That sort of food isn’t dished out without prior knowledge.

“We want you to eat the entire meal. We want you to be able to eat the whole thing and not be too messed up,” Snoop says.

“We’re in the industry, showing love, building connections, and providing experiences for people. That’s what’s important to us—making sure people are medicating, and the experiences are what they’re looking for,” Denise says.

As they venture into creating infused products that can be bottled and sold, like their custom-made sweet and spicy Bud Sauce, there are other plans still on the horizon. Most recently, they hosted a self-care luncheon for women with weed and wine. Fried Fridays are back at The Cola Lounge, and the two are currently seeking support to open a brick-and-mortar concept for a more permanent location.

A cannabis-infused tasting menu. Courtesy photo

Chef garnishes a plate with edible flowers and Bud Sauce.

Courtesy photo

Three Scoops for Sweet Revenge

SWEET EMOTION OFFERS VEGAN, ALLERGEN-FREE ICE CREAM TREATS FOR MUSIC LOVERS

By Amanda Hadlock

Seth Kean had zero experience making ice cream when he started up Sweet EMOtion, the ice cream parlor in the back of the rino offering up “sweet treats and sad jams,” often in collaboration with artists performing at the venue.

“Sweet EMOtion started kind of out of boredom,” says Kean. “I put on concerts for a living, and during the pandemic, I was losing my mind because I had no career.”

Kean says he had almost a decade of barista experience before he went into booking and promoting concerts but has always had a passion for both music and food. The pandemic allowed him the time to marry these two interests by starting up Sweet EMOtion.

“I almost went to culinary school before I went into doing shows,” Kean says. “So, it was kind of like opening up this whole new creative outlet that I forgot I had with baking.”

When Kean first set out with his ice cream business, it was important to him to offer options that were vegan and allergen friendly. As an ice cream lover himself, he had noticed the lack of options for those who cannot consume gluten or dairy. He wanted to develop an array of flavors, including homemade toppings and mix-ins such as brownies, cookie dough, and caramel sauce—all made without using dietary allergens. To add to this feat, Kean rolls out a new featured flavor weekly to keep the menu dynamic.

“It’s a challenge because, yeah, I could go buy stuff,” says Kean. “But doing these things vegan, making them dairy- and eggfree, all of that is really cool because it’s a whole challenge in itself. It’s not as easy as just running to the store and buying it from a grocer.”

The original Sweet EMOtion location is in Springfield, MO, in the Outland Ballroom ticketing booth, which Kean converted into the ice cream parlor. He says he’s working on moving that location to its own brickand-mortar shop around the corner, as the ticketing booth can only accommodate so much.

The popularity of the Springfield location led to a pop-up event in Kansas City in 2021, which sold out within 30 minutes. For a second pop-up event, Kean brought three times as much product and sold out in an hour and a half. It was clear there was a demand for a permanent location in KC, and since he books shows at local venues such as recordBar, the Bottleneck, and the Truman, starting a second Sweet EMOtion location in the metro seemed like a natural business move.

The KC location, in the rear of the Rino, celebrated its one-year anniversary in January 2023 with a pop punk/emo karaoke event and signature ice cream flavors such as Post-Emo, featuring Post Coffee Company espresso. Emo tribute band Zero Zero from Springfield, MO, also played a set.

Many menu items are named with

puns on band or song names, such as the recently released flavor “Crunch! No, Captain Crunch!” Or holiday seasonal favorite “Sugar Cookie, We’re Going Down.” Other fun flavor names include “The Strawberry So Far” and “Jimmy Eat Swirl.” Kean says he keeps a running list of possible music puns on his phone for future flavor inspo.

While Kean has fun with easily recognized music references, it is also important to him to collaborate on flavors with local musicians to help promote music from the up-and-coming artists he often books for events.

“Now, with shows being back, it’s a cool collab where we allow the bands I book to make their own customized ice creams, and we sell them for one night only,” says Kean. “It’s been an absolute blast, and the bands all love it.”

Kean splits his time between the Springfield and KC locations prepping for the week and working hands-on in the parlor, side-by-side with his staff.

“I want to be present,” Kean says.

His presence is especially important since the business is on the verge of several expansions. In addition to the Springfield location moving into its own space, the Kansas City location will soon see a new all-vegan food menu featuring items such

SWEET

companykc.com/sweet-emotion

as burgers and fries. This venture is in collaboration with the owners of the Rino and will be called Leaf Eater: A Plant-Based Dive.

With angst in their hearts and sugar goin’ down (the hatch), Seth Kean and the staff at Sweet EMOtion are building an inclusive ice cream empire with options for everyone, and local musicians provide the soundtrack for their success.

Owner Seth Kean swirls music-inspired soft serve and alternative treats. Photo by Zach Bauman

Kean works the ice cream counter located inside The rino. Photo by Zach Bauman

Green Queen at Buffalo State Pizza

BY SARAH SIPPLE

Overland Park

7901 Santa Fe Dr., Overland Park, KS 66204

Crossroads

1815 Wyandotte St., Kansas City, MO 64108

Buffalo State prides itself on gimmick-free New York-style pizza and beer. The pizza speaks for itself, so you won’t find frequent menu changes or supplemented options of pasta and frozen-to-fried apps.

Choices range from an XXL 26inch party-sized pie to individual slices. If you’re really into the dough, you can get a calzone. Meaty, plant-forward, basic, gluten-free—they’ve got it (with the exception of vegan cheese).

The Green Queen is topped with roasted broccoli, mild but crisp red onion, green pepper, black olives, barely detectable spinach, and goat cheese crumbles. Spicy red pepper flakes are a welcome addition, and for a custom taste, try adding pine nuts and bacon. On its own, the Green Queen makes ordering a serving of veggies feel like you’re getting away with something. The goat cheese and black olives add a twang of saltiness, while the fine pieces of roasted broccoli and fresh red onion provide the slightest crunch. It’s not a saucy pizza—the thin layer of pizza sauce keeps the flavors grounded without drowning it.

Don’t think for one second that this is about nutrition. We care about your health, but not necessarily more than we care about damned good ‘za.

Violet Mango Cannabis Seltzer by Mighty Kind

BY KALA ELKINTON bemightykind.com

Alcohol alternatives have been top of mind lately as hangovers gain their full strength. Seltzer waters, pre-biotic sodas, kombuchas, and non-alcoholic beers; the options are ever-growing. The key to switching out alcohol for an alternative though is to get the relaxing, social-anxiety soothing effects that alcohol brings. Something you can have a glass of at the end of a long, hard day. Cue the Violet Mango Cannabis Seltzer (CBD: 20mg) from Mighty Kind.

The seltzer is floral and sweet in all the best ways. The fizz keeps well and doesn’t leave that weird aftertaste that seltzers sometimes have. It’s on good authority that the other flavors are great, too, so a variety pack may be your best option if violet mango feels outside of your comfort zone. The seltzers are packed with 20mg of CBD, and they’re sugar-free, calorie-free, and gluten-free. With summer around the corner, the violet mango seltzer is a delightful option for patio sipping.

Mighty Kind is a St. Louis company sourcing ingredients from family farms and small businesses. They produce all of their seltzers with organically grown hemp. Mighty Kind beverages are available at retail locations and restaurants throughout the Kansas City area, including Grinder’s, The Pairing, and Mike’s Wine & Spirits.

Sarah Sipple

Kala Elkinton

MISE EN PLACE

By Kate Frick

The High Hopes window is a friendly, walkup portal to transcendent ice cream flavors. The employee-only interior is adorned with drippy psychedelic ice cream art with melting cat-ice-cream-faces. The menu items read like cannabis strains: Banana Haze, Mother Earth, Monster High, Modest Mallow, Malted-Candy-Cap Mushroom. Jamie Howard, a master of her craft, avoids glowing online reviews to maintain her modesty.

How did you get into ice cream? I’ve done pastry. I’ve done the hotline. I worked at Rieger [and Blackhole Bakery] for a while. I finally got an ice cream gig, and I was like, “This is what I’m going to do when I grow up.” The very first ice cream that I made was at Betty Rae’s. I was the kitchen manager for almost three years, but I knew I wanted to open my own shop.

When we first opened, I wanted to reserve [Strawberry Birthday Cake] for the shop’s birthday, but then I took it off the menu, and people online were really upset with me, so I put it back. Almost everything here is colored with beetroot powder, turmeric, matcha, and spirulina—except Birthday Cake. It has to have the Jell-O for that nostalgic flavor.

Between industry jobs and parenting, how did you manifest High Hopes? I started collecting a bunch of used equipment. I didn’t really have the means to start it, but I already had all this stuff. I impulsively bought this ice cream machine on eBay at, like, 3 a.m. It was really affordable [about nine grand for this used machine all the way from New York], and I had it shipped here, and it sat in my living room for a year. It was very nice, but the most expensive bookshelf I’ve ever had in my life. Every day I would walk by and be like, “You’re still not making ice cream.” That was another motive.

On your whiteboard, it says: “High Hopes, even lower expectations.” is that a life motto or a business motto? The guy who did most of the plumbing and stuff in here wrote that. He’s gonna do some coloring pages for me. He’s hilarious.

How do you feel about ice cream for the munchies? A lot of people come up and

Mise En Place is a series of questions, answers, recommendations, and culinary wisdom from the food and drink masters that push KC flavor further. The following answers have been edited for length and clarity.

say, “Where do you get your ideas from?”

It’s on the cusp of cannabis. You know, it doesn’t fuel creativity, but it certainly opens the gate. The name came from cannabis. We were going to be a cannabis ice cream shop, but I didn’t have the licensing and money for it. The regulations for medical marijuana excluded ice cream, specifically because of its appeal to children. I’m hoping that one day maybe a local farmer will approach me and say, “Hey, we love your ice cream, and we want to put our cannabis in it.” And then a relationship can kind of start from there. I kept the name in the hopes of it growing into something a lot bigger.

You’re baking most of the ingredients and making all the ice cream. What’s a regular work week for you? A lot of nights. It kind of balances out with how my children go to school, and Jonathan (my fiancé) recently came on full-time, so we can work the shop together. I’m teaching him, and he just came out with his own flavor. Very much a bartender flavor: a grapefruit shrub turned into a sorbet. I would put it with some champagne.

What flavor combination is hitting all the marks? The campfire s’mores, with smoked cinnamon sticks and dried vanilla beans to get that campfire punch. It took a while for me to put this on the menu because I didn’t want people to get used to something that was basic.

HIGH HOPES OWNER JAMIE HOWARD LIGHTS UP ABOUT MELTING MOUTHS WITH THOUGHTFUL ICE CREAM FLAVORS

Jamie Howard serves up a scoop of Mother Earth.

Photos by Steph Castor

Walkers will leave Theis Park onto Emanual Cleaver II Blvd going West, then take an immediate Right on to Oak St. and proceed North on Oak St to 45th.

At 45th Walkers will go to the right on 45th, in back of The Nelson Atkins Art Gallery, and walk East on the street to Rockhill. Volunteers will start directing walkers on to the North side sidewalk to prepare for the turn on Rockhill Rd.

Cleaver II should be closed at Oak and Cleaver II and Oak St. will be closed from Cleaver II to 45th Street and 45th St. to Rockhill. Unless KCPD disagrees, this should be the full extent of complete closures of streets as the crowd will have thinned out on 45th St. and only intermittent control will be required at following intersections where crossings will be made.

From 45th St. they will turn right/South on Rockhill, using the West sidewalk to Volker Boulevard.

Walkers will proceed forward across Volker, veering to the left to continue on Rockhill using the West sidewalk to 51st Street.

Walkers will turn right/West on 51st, using the North sidewalk to Cherry St.

They will cross Cherry and go South/left on Cherry.

At 52nd, the route turns west, utilizing the north sidewalk, to Oak Street.

The course turns right on Oak and walkers, on the east sidewalk, will once again cross Volker and enter Theis Park, just north of Brush Creek, where the course ends.

A I DS Walk ROUTE

Doom Patrol

LAWRENCE’S THEY WATCH US FROM THE MOON! CRASH-LAND IN OUR BACKYARD

By Nick Spacek

if you’ve seen them live, or even simply in promotional photos, the sheer bombast of doom metal rockers They Watch Us From the Moon! has seared the scale and scope of their grandeur into your frontal cortex. The sextet exists only in costume and wearing makeup, but they come off less like a musical group and more like a threatening interplanetary hit squad sent to eliminate you.

I speak with band leader and guitarist The General Shane Thirteen and Chelsy Larson (aka Nova 10101001)—one part of the band’s vocal duo alongside Lauren Mayhew (aka Luna Nemesis)—on a Thursday night via the omnipresent digital meeting platform. At least Shane is appropriately shadowed and mostly backlit, making the bandleader appear to broadcast from a hidden base somewhere.

We quickly get down to business talking about the band’s debut full-length, Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension. Out May 5 on the United Kingdom’s New Heavy Sounds, it follows TWUFTM’s Moon Doom! demo from three years prior. With a slew of collectible merchandise over the course of the last five years—a comic book, patches, t-shirts—it’s appropriate their first physical release comes as a cosmic blue and purple swirl vinyl.

“It’s been a longtime goal as a musician to actually be on a record,” says the bandleader. “I’ve had digital releases and CDs and seven inches through the ‘90s and early ‘00s, but vinyl was something that just kind of was outta reach for a while, and now it’s happening. I’m pretty excited.”

Bringing Cosmic Chronicles has been an interesting process for TWUFTM. Larson came into a band that already existed, and one with a singer—whom she herself had suggested. It’s kind of a funny story, she says.

“Soon before COVID, the band had reached out to me to audition for the role of lead singer,” Larson says with a grin. “I had told them, ‘I’m in several bands already. I’m trying to cut back on bands because I’m having a second child, and I don’t know how I’m gonna juggle it all, but you guys should absolutely audition Lauren Mayhew.’ And they were like, ‘She’s already on our list. We’re already auditioning her.’ And I was like, ‘Great,’ ‘cause she’s one of my closest friends.”

Mayhew auditioned, was a good fit,

and became the lead singer. Then COVID hit. During the whole lockdown, Mayhew contacted Larson to explain that she was reworking some of TWUFTM’s songs to make the melody better fit her voice or allow her to interpret them in a more interesting way and needed some assistance.

“We met outside in my backyard and socially distanced and played it over my backyard speakers, and I helped her rewrite some of the melodies, and we started coming up with harmonies,” says Larson. “And she was like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna start recording some of this down in Wichita. Would you come to record the harmonies with me? I understand if you don’t want to—I’ll record ‘em separately—but it would be really powerful if you were singing ‘em at the same time as me.’”

Larson thought, “Sure, why not?” She went with the band to Wichita and recorded all the vocals for “Return to Earth,” stacking a massive amount of harmonies to create something that sounded like a huge chorus.

“Then a month or so later, she was like, ‘Band pictures are gonna be coming up if you wanna be in them,’” Larson continues.

“I was like, ‘I feel like if I’m in a band picture, then I’m like actually in the band.’ And she’s like, ‘Well, you’re on the album.’ And I was like, ‘Shit, you tricked me.’”

The music of TWUFTM has always, at its heart, been one of big riffs and gorgeous vocals. Shane describes it as “super-heavy but accessible,” and he’s not wrong. Fans of the band familiar with their Moon Doom! EP will be excited to hear two of that release’s songs, “M.O.A.B.” and “Creeper,” in a newly-revised form alongside Cosmic Chronicles’ first single, “Return to Earth,” as well as “Space Angel” and epic opener, “On the Fields of the Moon.” It’s a melding of the old and new, representing the band’s evolution.

“It was always my intention that that was just the EP version,” says Shane. “There was gonna be an album version coming. It started off in one place and then ended up in another. The songs are similar but not the same, you know? I felt if we were gonna do an album version, they would have to really be something unique, and I think that’s what happened.”

He explains that he wrote all those songs in soul format, much in the same way that the Holland–Dozier–Holland used for Motown in the ‘60s.

“They would experiment with these different formulas and create huge pop songs that you’re still humming along to today,” he says.

By following those formulas, some of the songs from the first demo have been cut in half in terms of length. However, another part of that reason is that a few of those songs needed to be cut down to manageable terms just to get them on a record because the band wanted the LP to have optimal sound.

“We didn’t want anything to be cloudy or muddy because we were trying to jam too much on a side of a record,” Shane says. “I don’t wanna get it all smashed together, so we had to edit things appropriately to get it all to fit in.”

Part of the uniqueness of the songs on Cosmic Chronicles, whether old or new, is that the band has turned over a few members in the intervening years between it and Moon Doom! Guitarist R. Benjamin Black spent time with The General in Truth Cell back in the late ‘90s.

“Years ago, we wrote tons of songs together, so it’s just kinda like falling back into that old language,” Shane explains. “Every band has a weird way to explain: one musician to the other is like, ‘No dude, not the [imitates guitar riff] part. That one [imitates another, slightly heavier riff].’ He knows where I’m gonna go with things before I’ve said where I want to go.”

To sum it up, Shane says that he and the guitarist write well together because they exist on the same wavelength together, to which Larson is quick to agree, explaining that when the band as a whole first started collaborating, it was exciting. Equally exciting was the ability to get up on stage in costume. Being in They Watch Us From the Moon! is more than just being in a band—it’s capital ‘P’ performance.

“It’s always been fun for me to try to

COSM i C CH r ON i C l ES: ACT 1, THE ASCENS i ON MAY 5, 2023

theywatchusfromthemoon. bandcamp.com

put together things that I’m gonna wear that will visually represent what I’m doing musically and be different than what I would wear just every day,” Larson says. She continues to say that dressing up helps take things to the next level, where the band has a storyline and a whole concept while enhancing the experience for both the musicians and the audience.

As to why this whole cosplay-meetscomics-meets-stoner-meets-metal thing just works so well, Shane points to the fact that, in conjunction with this album release, there’s a reboot of the band’s comic coming—music videos and a string of summer tour dates on the horizon.

“I don’t feel right unless I’ve got six or seven balls in the air,” Shane says.

Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension releases May 5 on New Heavy Sounds in vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats. Pre-orders will be available at theywatchusfromthemoon.bandcamp.com

When stoner doom meets sci-fi. Illustration by Cassondra Jones

Gavin Brivik Blows Up

FILM COMPOSER AND UMKC ALUMNUS STRIKES BACK ON HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE

By Abby Olcese

According to filmmaker Daniel Goldhaber, the ingredients to his ongoing collaboration with Overland park-born composer Gavin Brivik are simple: “Two critical components to my process with Gavin are smoking weed and playing Super Smash Brothers,” Goldhaber says, then backs it up with a story that could be lifted straight out of one of his own films.

Last summer the pair were finishing up the music for Goldhaber’s latest movie, the environmental thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Los Angeles was in the middle of a scorching heat wave, and the air conditioning in Brivik’s apartment and studio had quit working.

“Gavin’s studio is totally airtight for sound purposes. There was no airflow, and it got to be 100 degrees in there during the day,” Goldhaber says. “We had to work in our underwear, dripping sweat onto the keyboard.”

The unbearable temperature and heavy air meant the pair could only work for 20 to 30 minutes at a time before taking a break to cool down. Enter the twin muses: marijuana and Mario.

“We’d go out into the living room with a mobile AC unit, smoke weed and play Super Smash Brothers for an hour and then go back in,” Goldhaber says. “I think that’s how real art is made.”

Brivik laughs at that story, and confirms it’s true, though he describes what he likes about their work together more holistically. “Daniel has a way of challenging me to do my best work,” he says. “Sometimes you hear a composer’s work and see it’s fulfilling its purpose, and then wonder if it could be better. Daniel is always asking that.”

How to Blow Up a Pipeline will have its hometown premiere at 7 p.m. April 14 at the Glenwood Arts Theater in Overland Park [3707 W 95th St.], with Brivik in attendance to introduce and discuss the film. For him, it’s both an exciting homecoming and an opportunity to highlight the local musicians he worked with to create the film’s score: percussionist Morgan Greenwood and guitar player Adam Schlozman.

“I love the idea of coming back home to show this movie,” Brivik says. “I want to keep fostering Kansas City people into the industry.”

A collective creative language

Brivik first worked with Goldhaber on CAM, a Netflix-distributed psychological horror

film set in the world of camgirls and online streaming. At the time, Brivik was fresh out of a graduate program at NYU.

“He’d never scored a feature before, and I’d never directed a composer before,” Goldhaber says. “We were both starting to understand our sensibilities.”

The experience taught Brivik a valuable lesson in effectively communicating with the filmmakers he works with. “I like to say a composer is like a therapist for the director. I’m deciphering their emotions and trying to read what they want between the lines,” he says. “CAM was the first film for both of us. It was a rocky process where we were struggling to find a mutual language, and it worked.”

Goldhaber says the close collaboration that resulted has become part of his cooperative on-set approach.

“I don’t want to be prescriptive about anything. There are compilations of ideas that come together into a story,” Goldhaber says. “I ask ‘what are the ideas of the movie and how are we going to express them?’ That guides the collaboration at every step from the score to the cinematography.”

The film, inspired by Andreas Malm’s 2021 nonfiction book of the same name, follows environmental activists Xochitl (Ariela Barer) and Shawn (Marcus Scribner) as they assemble a crew to destroy an oil pipeline in the West Texas desert. Xochitl’s friend Theo (Sasha Lane) is dying of cancer after a childhood spent in the shadow of an oil refinery. Theo brings along her reluctant girlfriend Alisha (Jayme Lawson). Crust punk couple Logan (Lukas Gage) and Rowan (Kristine Froseth) are eco-terrorists looking for their next adventure. Michael (Forrest Goodluck) channels his anger over the oil industry’s destruction of his town into a growing talent for homemade explosives. Dwayne (Jake Weary), a farmer, seeks retribution after an oil company takes his family’s land.

Goldhaber says the film partly stemmed from co-writer Jordan Sjol’s background in academia—Sjol sent Malm’s book to Goldhaber and Barer, who also worked on the script—and Goldhaber’s own experi-

ence growing up with parents who worked in climate science.

“More than anything, what spurred the project was spending a year in lockdown and feeling extraordinarily powerless, and creating a movie that spoke to that,” Goldhaber says. “We wanted to ask a hard question: If we’re staring down the barrel of the end of life as we know it, what tactics are justifiable?”

The sound of the desert, manipulated

As with CAM, the score for Pipeline is mainly electronic. That, combined with the film’s heist-inspired structure, led Brivik to take inspiration from synth legends Tangerine Dream. Specifically, Brivik says he was inspired by the band’s propulsive score for the 1981 Michael Mann movie Thief “Thief was a huge influence on the film,” Brivik says. “I took into account some sounds, and one of the synthesizers we used is a more modern version of a synth Tangerine Dream used all the time. It was so fun to listen to them.”

Another source of inspiration, fittingly, was the film’s environment. During filming, Brivik and Morgan Greenwood visited the set for four days to gather sounds that Brivik later turned into sound clips that he could manipulate.

“We brought all these drumsticks and

cello bows and chains and instruments, and we banged on pipes and pieces of rusty metal and old trucks and oil drums we found in the desert,” Brivik says. “Morgan has such a creative ear.”

“In academic electronic circles, it’s very much about getting samples of materials that suit the point you’re trying to make, actively interacting with those materials,” Greenwood says. “This was like a natural extension of that.”

The only real challenge, Greenwood notes, was abundance; there were many opportunities for experimentation, but a limited amount of time to explore.

“The challenge we ran into most was making sure we didn’t spend too much time with any one object or space,” Greenwood says. “There was one large rusty propane or oil drum that had been there for god knows how long, and we were doing all kinds of rolling on it, I was activating it with stones and friction. We found an abandoned vehicle from the 1940s and spent an hour and a half bowing different parts of it. It was easy to spend hours exploring stuff.”

After gathering sounds, Brivik got additional input from Adam Schlozman, who added, in Brivik’s words, “that classic self-indulgent 80s guitar solo sound” to the mix. Brivik recruited sound designer Paul Corley, who also worked on the Oneohtrix Point Never score for Uncut Gems

Stills from How to Blow Up a Pipeline Courtesy Neon

and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score for Arrival, to run the samples through various vintage and modular synthesizers, which Brivik then sampled and manipulated to create the final product.

“I would send Paul a sample of Morgan hitting an oil drum with a mallet and Paul would make it sound more interesting,” Brivik says. “He could add effects to make that hit more resonant or more distorted, and I’d incorporate that into the synth stuff that I was writing.”

Goldhaber says the finished product provided important guidance throughout the filmmaking process. “He turned those samples into instruments that became the backbone of his score. I played that for the cast as he created it,” Goldhaber says. “Gavin working through the edit, writing something that then inspired us, that was invaluable.”

Brivik says the experience solidified that electronic music, rather than orchestral scores—such as the one he created for the 2021 indie drama Wild Indian—is his preferred medium.

“It feels much closer to my own voice and intuitions,” he says. “Wild Indian was challenging in that it was writing in a style that wasn’t exactly my bread and butter,” Brivik says. “On Pipeline I was constantly creating and felt more free because I wasn’t saddled to a specific set of instruments.”

An invigorating reception

How to Blow Up a Pipeline premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was part of the festival’s competitive Platform program. That led to the film’s acquisition by Neon, the distributor behind arthouse and genre contenders like Triangle of Sadness, Infinity Pool, and Titane. It was Brivik’s first time attending the storied festival, usually considered the unofficial kickoff to awards season.

“Our premiere was sold out, and the film was sold out in screenings throughout the festival. I don’t think I expected that level of reaction to the film,” Brivik says. “I’d been working on it for so long and had seen an early cut of it, but I think you lose perspective on it after a while. It was the right audience, and they got what we were going for.”

Any initial nervousness going into the screening, Brivik says, quickly dissipated when he saw the audience react to the film in real-time.

“It was really invigorating,” he says. “In a theater with a sound system that’s cranked up, that subwoofer hits big. Daniel’s family was there, most of the cast were there, and we got a standing ovation. It was such cool energy.”

Brivik’s return to Kansas City for the film’s premiere will include a master class at

UMKC, where he’ll get to talk about the music business and film scoring on the same campus where he got his first taste of writing music for movies.

“In my second to last year, Paul Rudy at UMKC offered a seminar in film scoring because he was working on his first film score,” Brivik says. “Now they have a fulltime film score professor, which is really cool. The program has grown so much since I was there.”

Brivik says he’s excited for the opportunity to reach out to other aspiring Kansas City musicians.

“If some of the students feel like this is their calling and they want to break into the industry, I’ll always offer them as much assistance as possible and connect them with people who are hiring out here,” Brivik says. “I think now that we’re entering a postCOVID world, things are starting to change with remote work being more accepted. When I first moved to LA in 2018, I worked on the Netflix series Living Undocumented, and they were insistent that the composer live here. Now I don’t think they’d care.”

Primarily, however, he’s eager to see how the movie will be received by a hometown audience.

“The movie’s done so many runs across Europe and the U.S., and every screening audience has had the same reaction,” Brivik says. “I’m curious to see how KC reacts.”

April 7

Future & Friends

T-Mobile Center

Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn Cash, aka Grammy Award-winning rapper Future, has added a date in Kansas City on his “One Big Party Tour.” Each stop in the tour features different surprise special guests. KC’s show roster includes Don Toliver, G Herbo, Mariah the Scientist, and Dess Dior. Future is lauded as one of the most prolific contemporary rappers and a pioneer of the mumble rap/trap genre, utilizing melodies and autotune to create his catchy tracks. Tickets start at $55, and the show begins at 7 p.m.

April CAlENDAr

By The Pitch Staff

ONGOiNG/MUlTiplE:

April 3, 10, 17, 24

Karaoke Mondays with Vanessa Davis, The Black Box

April 6-7

The Fishtank Cabaret: Raise a Little Hell, The Black Box

April 18-23

Annie, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

April 21-22

KCGameOn Gaming and LAN Party #93, Plexpod at Westport Commons

EVENTS

April 3

King Tuff, recordBar

PlanetPalooza 2023, Lawrence Public Library

John Mellencamp, The Midland

April 4

Houndmouth, Granada

Watchhouse - Special Duo Set, Madrid Theatre

April 12

Tennis liberty

Hall

Tennis is taking a break from their trips sailing across the world and bringing their Pollen tour to Lawrence April 12 at Liberty Hall. The indie pop duo made up of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley is known for their mix of ‘50s pop style and ‘70s soft rock rhythms. After meeting in school in the early 2010s and purchasing a sailboat together, this group has written almost all of their records during months-long excursions at sea. The Pollen tour was set to promote their album of the same name they released Feb. 10. Kate Bollinger, an up-and-coming folk singer/songwriter, will join them for their stop in Lawrence. Her relaxed, vibey sound complements Tennis’ smoothness with ease. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are on sale for $29-$50.

Mac Ayres, The Truman 2023 Blues is Alright Tour, Kansas City Convention Center

April 10

Covet, The Bottleneck

Boulevard of Dreams Annual Gala, Starlight Theater

April 15

April 5

Spencer Sutherland, Madrid Theatre

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Uptown Theater

April 6

The Q-Tip Bandits, The Whips, recordBar

Noel Miller: Everything is F#&cked, Uptown Theater

April 7

Farmer’s Ball, The Bottleneck

Rakim, Madrid Theatre Kevin Morby, recordBar Various Blonde, LYXE, Flash Floods, Replay Lounge Floyd Nation, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

April 8

Midnight Market Presents: Kink NightMetal Edition, The Bottleneck

Queer Bar Takeover, Brick House

The Emo Night Tour, The Truman The Official 90s Party 808, Virtue

April 9

SHE SPEAKS IN TONGUES submits: Patti

Smith’s EASTER on EASTER, recordBar

The Mountain Goats, Liberty Hall

Class: Elevate Your Steak! Including the Popular Sous Vide Method of Cooking, Culinary Center of Kansas City

April 11

Open Art Night, Henry’s Upstairs Sullivan King: Thrones of Blood Tour, The Truman Michigander, recordBar Wheelwright, ASPN, miniBar

National Geographic Live, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

April 12

Pedro the Lion, recordBar KANKAN, The Bottleneck

April 13

Crunk Witch, Kadesh Flow, Mensa Deathsquad, miniBar Daily Bread, recordBar

Bad Friends with Andrew Santino & Bobby Lee, Uptown Theater

The Songcraft Sessions w/ Ben Gage, The Rino

April 14

All Sorts Open Mic, PH Coffee Demon Hunter, Granada

Free State Story Slam, Lawrence Arts Center

UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Allen, T-Mobile Center

Friendsgiving Trivia Pub Crawl, Various locations

Snow Tha Product, The Truman Wyandotte County Ethnic Festival, KCKCC Technical Education Center

NNAMDÏ, The Bottleneck

Westport 4 2 0 Canna Festival, Westport

April 16

Willi Carlisle, Knuckleheads

Gladstone Record Fair, Gladstone Community Center

Wild Horses, MAW, Replay Lounge

An Evening With Dawes, Liberty Hall

Scout Day at the K, Kauffman Stadium

Goth Coffee Swap n Shop, Westport Flea Market

April 17

North Star Boys, The Truman

April 18

Noahfinnce, Encore Room

City Morgue, The Truman

April 14-15

KC Cannafest Crossroads Arts District

Artisans of Dank productions presents the third annual Cannafest to gear up the KC community for 4/20. This year’s festival is the first since the end of cannabis prohibition and will be celebrating with a dab bar for VIPs. Also featured will be cannabis product makers, artisans, speakers, and performers. Low-income medical patients can show their cards for free entry, and vendor and sponsor spots are available. Tickets start at $25, and the festival kicks off on Friday, April 14, at 6 p.m.

April 19

Jamie Drake, Flora, recordBar

Pop Evil, The Word Alive, Avoid, The Truman

KC Horror Club Hangout Night, Black Rose Co.

April 20

Carcass, Granada

Neil Hamburger, The Bottleneck

Shakedown Strings: Tribute to the Grateful Dead, Knuckleheads

April 21

Friday Night Lights: The Big B!*#& Show, Gaels Public House & Sports

April 22

Verbal Transformations, Lawrence Arts Center

cupcakKe, The Bottleneck

Parkville Microbrew Festival, English Landing Park

Cooper Alan, Granada

Downtown Brunch Walk, Kansas City Power & Light District

April 23

Trevor Hall, Granada

Ripe, recordBar

August Burns Red, The Devil Wears

Prada, Bleed Within, The Truman Sip & Sweat: Pilates & Wine Tasting, Aubrey Vineyards

April 27

Bruce-O-rama Starring

Bruce Campbell Uptown Theater

Join actor, director, and filmmaker Bruce Campbell for Bruce-O-Rama at the Uptown Theater April 27. It will be a full night of pop culture trivia and hearing unbelievable stories about Campbell’s past projects. The audience will get to screen one of the actor’s cult favorite films, then answer questions from the crowd. This is the chance to hear stories that he has never told before and get a behind-the-scenes look at some of your favorite movie sets. VIP ticket holders will also go home with a signed poster. Tickets are $27.50$125.00 on the Uptown Theater website. The show starts at 8 p.m.

April 24

RAW Storytelling, The Black Box

April 25

TRANSVIOLET - BODY THE TOUR, recordBar

Hits! The Musical, Folly Theater

April 26

Friendly Thieves | ULAH Live Sessions, ULAH

Lainey Wilson, Kansas City Live! Block

April 27

Whitechapel, Granada Black Flag, recordBar

April 28

Gimme Gimme Disco, Granada

April 29

Homecoming: A Beyoncé Tribute Night, Encore Room

Mirage, Aztec Shawnee Theater

The New Pornographers, The Truman Xiu Xiu, The Bottleneck

The Root, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The M80s Ultimate Dance Party, Knuckleheads

April 30

Women’s Open Jam/Open Mic, Cinder Block Brewery

Wage War, The Truman

April 30

The Salvation Choir recordBar

The Salvation Choir, a Congolese Rumba band made of family members and friends that fled armed conflict in Congo, is bringing its infectious sound to the recordBar April 30. The choir has been gaining traction the past few years, taking steps away from their home stage at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Independence to perform at festivals and venues around the metro. Although all of their songs are in Swahili, their love of music and the joy of performing are communicated without words. The show starts at 6 p.m., and tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. The show is 18+, but minors are allowed if accompanied by a guardian.

Stay

BLURRED LINES

With recreational cannabis sales now legal in Missouri, it’s no surprise that i’ve been fielding more questions about sex and weed in my practice. As someone who loves cannabis, I’m happy to answer these questions! While I am a big-time pleasure pusher, I don’t advise everyone to consume cannabis and start fooling around—at least not right away.

Integrating the use of weed products into your sex life can be a fun and exciting way to enhance pleasure, reduce pain, lower inhibitions, and alter sensations—in a good way. However, it is important to consider a few things before you get started.

Your body will treat various strains and products differently. Experimentation on your own is important. Discover your limits. Long-time, regular cannabis consumers are not the same as newbies dabbling in edibles and vapes or those that eat 2.5mg and pass the fuck out.

Cannabis’ early effect is the release of

dopamine. Many strains make you feel happy and relaxed. Finding what THC products make you feel relaxed without wanting to fall asleep will be helpful in this process. We are shooting for smash mode, not crash mode.

Cannabis may enhance your senses. Smells can be more intense, and it’s the same with taste. You may feel like your partner’s light touches are feathers caressing your skin. You may need the lights to be dimmed because they seem like they are miniature suns glaring in your face. This is all totally normal. Adjust your space to make it conducive to allowing your sensuality to be unleashed.

Weed can also make you freak out a bit. Panic and paranoia are common for some strains. This stems from THC tripping your sympathetic nervous system (aka your fight/ flight/freeze response). When you’re in situations where you feel trust and safety, these side effects can be easier to ride out. Breathe.

Move your body for a distraction. Remember that it will pass.

Sex should be like pizza. Talk about what you both want before you place an order. Your decision-making skills can be altered once you partake in cannabis. Some users may also experience slight increases in response inhibition. Your working memory can also be affected. This is why I recommend you have any and all conversations about sex before you consume.

Talk about what’s a “yes” or a “no” before you pass the pen with a potential new partner. If you’re high on dopamine and serotonin and THC, you could do things you didn’t plan on. Verbalize boundaries before you get busy. Talk when you’re still clearheaded about what sex acts you enjoy and are open to.

I once had a professional dominatrix tell me that once playtime begins, there are no additional “yesses” that can be added to the list. Once people are in their subspace, her devotees may agree to—even beg for— all sorts of acts that were “no’s” just minutes before. She said she doesn’t deviate from the “yes” list because they were absolutely high on neurotransmitters.

Do you understand consent? More importantly, do they??

The basics of consent are that it is an enthusiastic yes from all parties, you can say no or withdraw your consent at any time, and all parties know what they are about to get into.

Consent can get murky really fast once you start involving substances. Some substances make people lose control of their faculties more than others. Again, weed has different effects on different people. Be aware of what it feels like if you’re too stoned to actively give your consent. Watch for signs that your partner is too high, as well. Best for you both to call it a night, put on some pjs, and just relax together—or call a Lyft home.

Do you really know this person? If you’re around someone new that you’ve just begun dating, your inhibitions may be lowered. Can you trust this person will respect your boundaries once you’ve expressed them? Test the waters with a meaningless “no,” and if they react with anything other

than kindness and understanding, they are waving a red flag.

Remember, some users may experience response inhibition, meaning they feel like they can’t say “no”—or even sometimes that they can’t say “yes.” If you have found that you’re way more easily swayed when you’re stoned, take that into account as you’re mixing dating and weed. When you can’t clearly give consent or receive consent, it’s best to stop what you’re doing.

If you want to try weed, but your partner is not/will not be partaking, then consent conversations can look a little different. Some couples out there avoid sexy time when one party is inebriated, while other couples say they have their best sex when one of them has partaken in a substance. Can a weed-smoker find or maintain happiness with a non-smoker? For sure!

Many long-time weed users have fallen in love with someone who doesn’t use cannabis. Conversations around what ingestion methods are less smelly in the house, how brushing your teeth after smoking will make it more likely you’ll get a make-out sesh, or letting your partner know you’re a little baked and that’s why you’re giggling can be helpful.

Let’s wrap this up by discussing mixing—especially weed and alcohol. Both mess with your memory. Readers are more likely to know the effects of alcohol on their bodies. Mixing the two will amplify the effects of the other. Consider partaking in one or the other until you’ve learned how your body reacts to cannabis.

With all that said, integrating weed with your sex life can open you and your partner up to new experiences, less pain during intercourse, and help your mind release the stressors of the outside world. Just like there are sex coaches, there are cannabis coaches, too. Check out Rosie Marie Therapies locally on advocateselfcare.com or @advocate.self. care on Instagram.

You can find Kristen @OpenTheDoorsKC on Twitter or openthedoorscoaching com. Check out her podcast Keep Them Coming.

Photo by Nicole Bissey. Illustrations by Shelby Phelps

Artistic License from Imagine That! Kansas City

By Beth Lipoff

Artistic expression is for everyone, and imagine That! Kansas City is working to make sure adults with developmental disabilities get a chance to shine in whatever art medium they choose.

Imagine That! is part of an organization called Resources for Human Development based in Philadelphia. Another branch of Imagine That! started in St. Louis before they expanded to Kansas City in 2012.

Clients of Imagine That! are adults who have graduated from high school and currently range in age from 20 to 60 but need the support of a day program.

While the focus of Imagine That! is art, they’re also there to help with the typical needs met in a day program environment, such as hygiene, medication, or social development.

“The cool thing that we get to do is help them be creative during the day,” says Kansas City Imagine That! Program Director Amy Norman.

Everyone on staff has some sort of art expertise, and many are graduates of the Kansas City Art Institute.

“They help people be creative in whatever way they can be. Some people like to write stories or paint or weave or wrap yarn

roads Community Association.

“When we did the application for that, it wasn’t because, ‘This is Austin, and he has X disability.’ It was, ‘This is Austin. Here’s his art. Please consider.’ We showcase their talents rather than their disability,” Norman says.

The billboard was a major accomplishment for Dearth.

“I feel really proud of myself,” he says.

Dearth isn’t the only one to have developed more confidence as a result of having his art on display. Another Imagine That! client had his art printed on a streetcar stop when it first opened.

“I just saw that guy blossom after that. You could tell he had inner confidence. He was happy his art was recognized,” Norman says.

That impact isn’t a one-way street.

“People are being introduced to folks that have a story to tell, and they show it through their art,” Norman says.

Dearth has tried watercolors, printmaking, ceramics, and more, but he often comes back to drawing. At Imagine That! he likes “being around all my friends and learning new things,” he says.

His days at Imagine That! aren’t about

one time, but because not everyone comes in every day, they have had up to 60 clients in a week. The numbers are a bit smaller at the moment, due to the pandemic, but Norman expects to be getting more participants soon.

“We provide that space for people to be who they are and what they want to be. We’re not judgmental whatsoever. If somebody’s like, ‘I want to draw this picture of this nude lady,’ fine. That’s OK. If somebody happened to cuss, fine. It’s OK,” Norman says. “We’re letting them be adults. So often I’ve had

some people refer to them as children, and they’re not. They’re adults like you and I.”

Finding volunteers to help has been a challenge because Imagine That! is only open Monday through Friday during the day, and many potential volunteers are only available evenings and weekends. For more information on how to volunteer, visit imaginethatkc.org/contact

For more information on MO Hives KC, visit mohives.org

Donald pruitt, parker levi, and Austin Dearth make art at imagine That! Kansas City. Photos by Beth Lipoff