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CONTENTS
APRIL FLEMING
34
6 GET OUT
34 FEATURE
8 NEWS
38 CAFE
12 SUMMER GUIDE
40 FOOD
Cat People At Midtown’s Whiskers Cat Cafe, the future is feline. BY KELCIE MCKENNEY
The Bow Tie and the Bully Which side of outgoing Mayor Sly James will Kansas City remember? BY BARBARA SHELLY
Stay Cool Bands! Beers! Bbq! Goat yoga! Maximize your KC summer with this everything guide. BY PITCH STAFF
26 PROFILE
Freed Spirit How Calvin Arsenia left the church and found his musical calling. BY REBEKAH LODOS
30 ARTS
Fear and Loathing in KC Gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman gets a retrospective at the Kansas City Public Library. BY DAN LYBARGER
Green Acres Who’s looking out for Swope Park? BY APRIL FLEMING
Island Time Hawaiian Bros. brings the plate lunch to Belton. BY LIZ COOK
On and Off the Avenue KC’s Historic Northeast is rife with culinary gems. Here are a few. BY APRIL FLEMING
42 EAT
Eat This Now Harp Barbecue at Crane Brewing Company BY APRIL FLEMING
43 DRINK
AUGUST
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Drink This Now The City of Fountains at Parker at The Fontaine BY APRIL FLEMING Must be 21 or older to gamble. Must be a B Connected member to receive B Connected discount. Must be at least 18 or accompanied by an adult to enter Star Pavilion. Must be at least 21 to enter Depot #9. Tickets available online at Ticketmaster.com or at the Gift Shop (service charges and handling fees may apply). No refunds/exchanges unless canceled or postponed. Offer not valid for persons on a Disassociated Patrons, Voluntary Exclusion or Self Exclusion List in Missouri, Indiana and Ohio or who have been otherwise excluded from Ameristar Kansas City, MO. Gambling problem? Call 1-888-BETSOFF. ©2019 Boyd Gaming Corporation®. All Rights Reserved.
thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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CONTENTS
THE PITCH
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Publisher Stephanie Carey Editor in Chief David Hudnall Digital Editor Kelcie McKenney Staff Writer Emily Park Contributing Writers Traci Angel, Liz Cook, Riley Cowing, Emily Cox, Karen Dillon, April Fleming, Roxie Hammill, Libby Hanssen, Deborah Hirsch, Dan Lybarger, Eric Melin, Aaron Rhodes, Barbara Shelly, Nick Spacek Little Village Creative Services Jordan Sellergren Contributing Photographers Zach Bauman, Chase Castor, Joe Carey, Kelby Reck Graphic Designers Austin Crockett, Jake Edmisten, Jennifer Larson, Katie McNeil, Danielle Moore, Gianfranco Ocampo, Kirsten Overby, Alex Peak, Vu Radley, Zachary Trover Director of Marketing & Promotions Jason Dockery Senior Multimedia Specialist Steven Suarez Multimedia Specialist Becky Losey Director of Operations Andrew Miller Editorial Intern Rebekah Lodos Multimedia Intern Madeline Turner Design Intern Lacey Hawkins
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44 ARTS
Picture This An afternoon at Imagine That!, a dynamic hub for artists with developmental disabilities. BY EMILY COX
46 MUSIC
Project Poetry Rap as hyperlocal storytelling on A’Sean’s One Big Happy Family. BY AARON RHODES
48 Harry Styles
Lawrence’s Paul DeGeorge revives his brotherly Potter-punk act. BY NICK SPACEK
50 FILM
Undead on Arrival Zombies and laughs in Jim Jarmusch’s latest genre flick. BY ERIC MELIN
52 SAVAGE LOVE
Disclosed Herpes is incredibly common — upwards of 50 percent of the population has it. But it’s rarely discussed. BY DAN SAVAGE
COPYRIGHT
The contents of The Pitch are Copyright 2019 by Carey Media. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the express written permission of the publisher. The Pitch 1627 Main St., #600, Kansas City, MO 64108 For information or to share a story tip, email tips@thepitchkc.com For advertising: stephanie@thepitchkc.com or 816-218-6702 For classifieds: steven@thepitchkc.com or 816-218-6732
“TAKE A LOAD OFF” Chase Castor
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1900 DIAMOND PARKWAY ∙ NORTH KANSAS CITY, MO 64116 MJEWELRY.COM (816) 453-1111
GET OUT
CAT PEOPLE AT MIDTOWN’S WHISKERS CAT CAFE, THE FUTURE IS FELINE. BY KELCIE MCKENNEY
Four years ago, in Denver, Audrey Boese visited her first cat cafe and immediately knew she wanted to bring the concept back to Kansas City. “It was just magical,” Boese says, recalling the cove of cozy cats she met there. It took a while to make the dream a reality. A 2016 Kickstarter brought in $20,000, but then Boese had to find a retail landlord OK with a couple dozen cats as tenants. Whiskers Cat Cafe finally opened for business last November, in a storefront along Southwest Trafficway near 37th Street. The cafe charges visitors $10 for a cup of coffee plus an hour of play time with the cats inside. The cats come from KC Pet Project, which vets (no pun intended) the felines in its care and supplies Whiskers with healthy, social ones that would be comfortable in a cafe setting. Designed with help from a KC Pet Project behavior specialist, the cafe features tunnels, ramps, hideaways, napping coves, and a giant climbing wall for about 15-20 cats to explore. But Whiskers is also designed to convert coffee drinkers into cat adopters. “Some of the best adoptions we see happen when the person adopting is least expecting it,” says Tori Fugate, spokesperson for KC Pet Project. “Outside of the shelter environment, the cat’s personalities are able to shine through, and you see more of what they would be like in a home, versus when they’re like in a kennel.” Over the last six months, Whiskers Cat
KELCIE MCKENNEY
Cafe has facilitated 63 adoptions — somewhere between four and six a week lately. “They really don’t stay long,” Boese says. “It’s kind of sad to see them go, but that’s the goal.” Jeremy, who was found in Iowa — he came from a hoarding situation — spent four months at Whiskers before he found his “forever home.” Boese says Jeremy was scared and shy at first, but gradually gained confidence and the ability to socialize with the other cats. Alexis Washington adopted him after her first visit to the cafe. She had experience with shy cats before. “I saw him online on the KC Pet Project website and fell in love with his little face,” Washington says. Whiskers has been expanding in small ways. It recently rolled out a membership program, and it now offers 30-minute,
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children-only sessions on Sundays from 1 to 2 p.m., which give families the chance to learn how to interact with cats. And on Tuesdays and Fridays, you can do yoga alongside the cats for $20. Even for those not looking to adopt, Whiskers Cat Cafe offers mental health benefits. Petting cats has been shown to lower stress and anxiety, and some studies even suggest that the vibration of a cat’s purrs can have therapeutic benefits for humans. But, y’know — they’re also just cute to be around. Boese says she couldn’t be happier. “Seeing people come in, and it’s like the best hour of their week or month or day — it’s been everything I thought it would be and more,” she says. “People leave smiling. That’s the goal.”
GET OUT
Whiskers Cat Cafe 3705 Southwest Trafficway Hours: Wednesday – Friday, 3–7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Sunday, 12–4 p.m. Make a reservation at whiskerskc.com.
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NEWS
THE BOW TIE AND THE BULLY WHICH SIDE OF OUTGOING MAYOR SLY JAMES WILL KANSAS CITY REMEMBER? BY BARBARA SHELLY
Kansas City Mayor Sly James uses a phone app to track his time left in office. He can’t check it often enough. “Ninety-one days, twelve hours, 34 minutes,” he boisterously told an out-oftown developer at a ceremony marking construction progress on the new downtown convention hotel. “Seventy-seven days, 14 hours, 12 minutes,” he announced to a class of middle-school students at a charter school. The clock will hit zero on July 31, when either Jolie Justus or Quinton Lucas is sworn in as the new mayor. That leaves a narrowing window in which to contemplate two versions of James’ legacy: the Bow Tie, and the Bully. The Bow Tie (James nearly always wears one) cracks jokes, high fives kids and poses for “selfies with Sly.” He speaks his mind, and people love him for it. He is rightly credited with helping to restore Kansas City’s confidence after the Great Recession and the dour single term of Mayor Mark Funkhouser. “He restored a sense of fun and swagger,” says Phil Glynn, a businessman who jumped into this spring’s crowded primary for mayor. “He made people feel good about Kansas City.” The Bully, less well known to the public, berates people for asking questions, brooks no disagreement, and has little patience for niceties like consensus. “I’ve never worked with anyone like Sly, and I hope I never have to again,” says Councilwoman Teresa Loar. On a drizzly morning in early May, attending a “topping ceremony” at the 800room Loews hotel at 17th and Baltimore streets, James is in full Bow Tie mode. He’s proud of bringing a major convention hotel to downtown without placing the city on the hook for bond payments. (He doesn’t mention the hefty tax breaks granted to developers.) As a crane lifts a beam to the newly finished rooftop, James jokes about sending some people up with it, presumably to disap-
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“Collaboration isn’t his thing,” Councilwoman Kathryn Shields says of James.
pear into the fog. Now, in his office on the 29th floor of City Hall, the mayor is diving into a concoction he assembled a few minutes before at the salad bar of the downtown Cosentino’s supermarket. He lifts the lid of a take-out container to reveal layers of pepperoni, banana peppers, and other toppings resting on lettuce and drenched with ranch. I see tomatoes and maybe some cucumbers. But calling this dish a salad, as the mayor does, is to malign salads. I have seen the Bow Tie and feel it is my job to catch a glimpse of the Bully. So I start by raising a sore subject — Kansas City voters’ overwhelming rejection, in April, of James’ idea to raise the sales tax so that all 4-yearold children in Kansas City could have access to high-quality preschool. James put the issue on the ballot over the objections of leaders of
KELBY RECK
all of the city’s school districts. What went wrong, I ask. There is silence. James works on a few mouthfuls of his horrific lunch. He chuckles. More silence. “Couple of things,” he finally says. “I think there were some tax issues. I get that. But at the end of the day, when the school districts didn’t get behind it, that hurt.” Now he starts working up some steam. “I will say this, I kept hearing [about the school districts], ‘They’ve got a plan, they’ve got a plan, they’ve got a plan.’ I never heard the plan. I still haven’t heard the plan.” Clearly, James is angry at school superintendents, who claimed the mayor rolled out his plan without consulting them. “That’s bull,” he says, adding that school leaders have been involved in meetings about
pre-K for years. “For them to say they had no idea, that’s just total BS.” People who know James say he operates on a three-step formula: Here’s the problem, here’s the solution, let’s go. “It’s just not in his nature to sit in his office knowing a problem exists and not fix it,” says Joni Wickham, the mayor’s chief of staff. The hurry-up approach partly explains how James has managed to accomplish as much as he has in eight years as mayor. But it leaves little room for consensus or warm feelings. “Collaboration isn’t his thing,” says Councilwoman Katheryn Shields. “He basically comes up with an idea, puts it in front of a small group of people, and says, ‘We’re moving forward.’” People who get in James’ way are most
thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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NEWS
likely to see the Bully in action. No one knows that better than Loar, who was elected to the City Council four years ago as a vocal skeptic of a new, single terminal at Kansas City International Airport. While waiting to be sworn in, Loar attended a reception at a Kansas City T-Bones baseball game. There, James confronted Loar. “He was in my face and pointing his finger at me,” she says. “He said he didn’t want to hear that I was spreading rumors around the city about not getting a new airport because, by god, that’s what we were going to do.” James phoned Loar the next morning to apologize. But their relationship never recovered. “Even though we tried on numerous occasions to kind of right the wrong, we never really did,” Loar says. “I think he saw me as a threat to his agenda.” The 2015 election, which James won easily, brought a new class of council members more likely to ask questions and divert from the mayor’s priorities. While the Bow Tie continued to charm Kansas Citians and others, the Bully emerged more often in City Hall. “Lord knows, the back and forth we’ve had during the airport saga has been the stuff
of legend,” says Lucas, whose relationship with James has soured during his four years on the council. Ah yes, the airport saga. If there was a moment when the Bow Tie began to unravel, it was when word leaked in the spring of 2017 that James was talking with Kansas City engineering firm Burns & McDonnell about a no-bid contract to design a new terminal at KCI. Most council members were stunned. The Kansas City Star’s editorial board went ballistic. The council hired its own legal counsel to figure out what to do. James was forced to back down and put the contract out for bid, kicking off a mess of a process that blundered on for months. I figure a mention of the Star’s editorial board might be a good way to awaken the Bully. So I ask James about the newspaper’s frequent assertion that he is an arrogant and secretive operator. “I don’t give a damn what the Star writes,” he says. “I don’t get happy when they praise me, and I don’t get mad when they criticize me.” But when I press him about the secrecy rap, he seems mad enough. “What really pisses me off is I worked a
long time to make sure I have a clean name,” he says. “I don’t ask people to like me. I don’t ask people to care about me. But at the end of the day, if somebody comes around and tries to act like I’m doing something underhanded, then we’ve got a serious problem.” James’ version of the early Burns & McDonnell negotiations goes like this: Polling showed low public support for a new terminal at KCI. He told the city’s business community to step up with a plan. Burns & McDonnell stepped up. “They called us and they said, ‘We want to meet and tell you what we came up with.’ And we went and met,” James says. “Duh. Should we put out a press release? Should we call the council and say we’re gonna have a meeting?” His office was getting ready to brief council members when word leaked, James says. “The next thing you know, they go running to the newspaper and say there was some kind of a deal. There was no deal.” Councilman Scott Wagner, who has served as mayor pro tem during James’ second term, says the Burns & McDonnell fiasco reflects the mayor’s impatience to get things done. “I think he thought, ‘I finally have a
pathway. Let’s go forward,’” Wagner says. “If there was a mistake, it was thinking this was the only option, that this would be the only group interested.” Not surprisingly, other groups were interested. Edgemoor, an out-of-town firm, ended up receiving the contract and recently broke ground on the $1.5 billion project. When he first ran for office, in 2011, James touted his successes as a trial lawyer and mediator; it was his way of making the case that he could get things done. That now strikes some people as funny. “I’ve never seen the mediator,” Loar says. “Mediation always starts with one very basic premise: You have to have two people who want to get to a deal,” James says, still munching on his lunch, which is now down mostly to lettuce and ranch dressing. When things don’t get done in the political arena, or in courthouse negotiations, it’s usually because someone doesn’t want to deal, the mayor says. “It’s all about winning or somebody has horribly misevaluated the reality of the situation,” James says. But he seems oblivious to the idea that, at least some of the time, that somebody might be him. James points out that many of his negotiations have ended successfully. The
Concerts are held in Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
(816) 471-0400 / kcsymphony.org
GOOD TIMES + GREAT MUSIC Michael Stern
Classical Concert
SYMPHONIC METAMORPHOSIS plus BACH and BRAHMS Friday & Saturday, June 7-8 at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. Michael Stern, conductor Yefim Bronfman, piano
Jason Seber
Featuring Elgar’s Enigma Variations
Season Finale!
Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m.
Friday & Saturday, June 21-22 at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 23 at 2 p.m.
CLASSICS UNCORKED: SECRETS REVEALED
Jason Seber, David T. Beals III Associate Conductor
When the backstory is as intriguing as the music, we have to pull back the curtain! Elgar’s Enigma Variations BRAHMS/THOMSON 11 Chorale Preludes captures the essence of his friends and even himself LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major in 14 variations on an enigmatic theme. Masquerade J.S. BACH/STOKOWSKI Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Anna Clyne conjures up a mid-18th century London promenade concert with street entertainers. HINDEMITH Symphonic Metamorphosis on Most tickets $25. Themes of Carl Maria von Weber Yefim Bronfman performs Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto — an iridescent and dazzling work with a fiery finish. Tickets from $25.
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Benjamin Grosvenor
Sponsored by:
PICTURES at an EXHIBITION Michael Stern, conductor Benjamin Grosvenor, piano BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 JOHN CORIGLIANO Snapshot: Circa 1909 MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition The Kansas City Symphony’s season closes with one of the most celebrated and colorful works in the entire symphonic catalogue, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Ravel. Tickets from $25. Sponsors include:
NEWS
list includes the downtown streetcar, voter approval of $800 million in bonds for infrastructure projects, redevelopment of a shopping center at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue, construction of an Aldi’s supermarket in an East Side food desert, restoration of the Beacon Hill neighborhood, construction of the East Patrol police station and crime lab, and dedicated funding for city parks and recreation. “We’ve had a hell of a lot more successes than we’ve had losses, and those things have been a result of mediations, negotiations, and getting people to get on the same plane and fly off together,” James says. Of course, some passengers are happier than others. Younger people appreciate the mayor’s charisma, accessibility, and social media savvy, says Jared Campbell, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association. “Millenials want to be engaged, and he gave them a vehicle to do that,” Campbell says. “He was willing to listen and talk and engage with anyone.” James also gets props for being an education mayor. He’s visited most schools in city limits and founded Turn the Page KC, which now operates as a nonprofit focused on help-
ing students reach proficiency in reading by the end of third grade. For all of the criticism of his preschool proposal, it was in keeping with the mayor’s sincere desire to put Kansas City children on a better path through education. Oddly, given James’ barrier-breaking achievements as a black lawyer in Kansas City and his status as the city’s second African-American mayor, the mayor has been on the outs with leaders of Kansas City’s black political organizations from the beginning. Friction with groups like Freedom Inc., the black political club, was inevitable. James did not come from their fold and isn’t beholden to their agendas. In 2015, he didn’t bother seeking Freedom’s endorsement in his re-election bid. But civil rights groups haven’t warmed to James, either. Leaders of the local chapters of the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership Conference declined to comment for this story. On James’ watch, development on and around Troost Avenue has pushed Kansas City’s historic racial dividing line closer to Prospect Avenue. “That didn’t happen by accident,” he says. But plenty of neighborhoods on the East Side and elsewhere con-
tinue to struggle. “I think he did a lot for the richer neighborhoods. I don’t think that he did a whole lot for us,” says Mary Queen, who lives in the Washington-Wheatley neighborhood and wages a daily struggle against illegal dumping, housing blight, and threat of violent crime. Wagner, the mayor pro tem, points out that James’ background as a lawyer and negotiator has positioned him for transactional successes, like the airport terminal, the streetcar line, and the convention hotel. Foundational successes, like clearing out blight and making the city safer, are harder and take longer. “The issue with the East Side is so big and pervasive,” Wagner says. “There’s not one transaction — or two, or three — that will solve that foundational issue.” Still, Wagner thinks James and the council have created some pillars that could lead to long-lasting change. He mentions youth hiring, data-based decision making, and the use of technology to deliver services more efficiently. And for all of the friction in his second term, James managed to get most of his priorities through the council, Wagner points out.
“Who’s to say whether his directness is better or worse for getting things done?” James is reaching the end of his lunch, and I give up on seeing the Bully in action, at least on this day. The mayor is chill. He offers to share his potato chips with me. We talk about his next steps. He’s hoping to get some gigs consulting and speaking on things like education, infrastructure, and local government. He’s got a book that is supposed to come out in July “about life growing up in Kansas City and being mayor.” He says he’s not contemplating any other political office. “Mayors do things,” he says. “Other people argue about things.” James bangs his fork down “That was yummy,” he says. He rises to greet a camera crew coming in to talk about mental health for veterans. City Hall may talk about the Bully in the days and months after the clock runs down on James’ time in office. But even council members who clash with him acknowledge that’s probably not the way he’ll be remembered. “He is the cool guy with the bow tie,” says Shields. “I think he created a great image for Kansas City.”
thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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STAY COOL Bands! Beers! BBQ! Goat yoga! Maximize your KC summer with this everything guide.
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
SUMMER GUIDE
JUNE
June 1 Boulevard Spring Fling, Crossroads KC at Grinders Fashion Designer Professional Development Seminar, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts KC Spring Brew Fest, Free State Brewing Co. Strangefest 2019, KC Live! Block in the Power and Light District Todd Rundgren, Liberty Hall June 2 Author Talk: Chuck Warner, “Birds, Bones, and Beetles,” Lawrence Public Library
June 3 Kiefer Sutherland, Knuckleheads
June 5-30 The Revolutionists, Unicorn Theatre
June 4 Hozier, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
June 6-30 Oklahoma, Musical Theater Heritage
Carson Vaughan, author of “Zoo Nebraska,” Our Daily Nada
June 7 Dillon Francis, KC Live! Block in the Power and Light District
Adventures Among Orangutans, featuring biologist Cheryl Knott and wildlife photographer Tim Laman, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Crossroads KC at Grinders
Found a Job (Talking Heads tribute), Knuckleheads Jazzoo, Kansas City Zoo Kill Tony (live podcast), Granada June 7-23 Mamma Mia!, Theatre Lawrence
Uriah Heep, Knuckleheads
BARD IN THE PARK
HEART OF AMERICA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Southmoreland Park, 4600 Oak, kcshakes.org Tuesdays through Sundays, 8 p.m., from June 11 through July 7
It’s easy to take for granted the fact that, every summer in Kansas City, at a nice park in the middle of town, for an entire month, you can go watch a high-quality Shakespeare production for free. This year, the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is switching things up just slightly by putting on not one of the Bard’s great works but rather a work inspired by the Bard: Shakespeare In Love, the 1998 feature film written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard. In this production, local husband-and-wife pair Matt Schwader and Hillary Clemens play Will Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps; other local names on the bill include John Rensenhouse, Matt Rapport, Todd Lanker, and Jan Rogge. CHASE CASTOR
thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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SUMMER GUIDE
OUT IN THE STICKS June 8 Big Slick, Sprint Center Brit Floyd, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland Cajun Night 20th Anniversary Cookout, Johnny’s Tavern (North Lawrence) Juneteenth Celebration, NelsonAtkins Museum of Art Strawberry Swing Pop-Up, Parlor
Lindsborg’s Midsummer’s Swedish Festival
JIM RICHARDSON
No mountains, no ocean — yeah, yeah, we know: Kansas City isn’t exactly a destination city for nature lovers. Start venturing further out into Missouri and Kansas, though, and there’s plenty to see and explore. You just gotta know where to look. Lucky for you, we’ve done a bit of the legwork already. Here’s five outdoorsy events worth the drive (or bike) (or hike).
Katy Trail Guided Hike Katy Trail State Park, 2503 West 16th Street, Sedalia, MO, 660-563-2463 June 15 The Katy Trail is one of Missouri’s recreational crown jewels, and this relatively short (1.5 miles) guided tour, led by an experienced naturalist and park expert, is a useful introduction to what the MKT has to offer. Plus, it’s free. Midsummer’s Swedish Festival 104 East Lincoln Street, Lindsborg, KS, midsummersfestival.com June 15 Lindsborg, aka “Little Sweden, USA,” is an adorable town about a half-hour’s drive straight south from Salina. Every June, Lindsborg hosts an equally adorable festival featuring loads of Swedish food, dancing, games, and music. Meramac Caverns Lantern Tours Meramac Caverns State Park, 1135 Route W, Stanton, MO, americascave.com June 1, 8, 15, 22 The spectacular Meramac Caverns are closer to St. Louis than Kansas City, but this commercial cave — eerie and massive, with seven levels of passages — is truly a mustsee. Tours are held daily, but special tours are offered on certain dates in June; for $22, you can do a 80-minute hike guided only by an old-fashioned lantern. Island Cave Hike Ha Ha Tonka State Park, 1491 Missouri D, Camdenton, MO, 573-346-2986 July 12, 19, 26 This hike, at the Lake of the Ozarks-area Ha Ha Tonka State Park, takes you past rushing water and a small, bright turquoise lake before depositing you outside a large, natural karst cave. It’s normally restricted to visitors, but not on these hikes. (There’s no fee other than regular park admission.) Float Your Boat Cardboard Boat Races Milford State Park, 3612 State Park Road, Milford, KS August 10 If you can build a boat out of only cardboard and duct tape, you can race it at Milford State Park on this mid-August afternoon. And if you don’t trust your construction skills, consider attending simply to watch the boats go by; these handmade vessels are often quite elaborate. The event is free and requires no registration. --April Fleming
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West 18th Street Fashion Show, Wyandotte and 18th streets June 10-16 Art Talk: Printmaker Johanna Winters, Lawrence Arts Center The Wizard of Oz, Starlight Theatre June 11 Snarky Puppy, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
June 11-July 7 Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Southmoreland Park
June 16 Future Stages Festival, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
June 11-August 4 Elephant and Piggie’s “We are in a Play!,” Coterie Theatre
June 17 Blackbear, Uptown Theater
June 13 The Canvas People, with Akkilles and Varma Cross, Replay Lounge June 14 Machine Gun Kelly, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland June 15 Excelsior Springs Wine Festival, Downtown Excelsior Springs Symphony in the Flint Hills, Irma’s Pasture, Chase County, Kansas Juneteenth Festival, 18th and Vine District
June 18 Jim James, with Anderson East, Crossroads KC at Grinders June 18 - July 7 Hamilton, Kansas City Music Hall June 20 John Fullbright and Them Tulsa Boys, Knuckleheads Muddfest, Crossroads KC at Grinders June 20-30 City of Angels, Metropolitan Ensemble Theater June 21 Hembree, Bloxx, and Warbly Jets, The Truman
UP ON THE ROOF
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The Kansas City Public Library is going interdimensional with a string (theory) of sci-fi movie showings on the rooftop terrace of the Central branch (14 W. 10th Street) all summer. They’re free; you just bring your own blankets or folding chairs, and a picnic basket for munching. Find details at kclibrary.org.
SONY PICTURES
Coneheads (1987) June 21 Galaxy Quest (1999) July 19 Mars Attacks (1996) August 16 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) September 20
GET HOPPY
JOIN US AT
KC Beer Fest
NICOLE BISSEY PHOTOGRAPHY
Many a summer weekend in KC, you can turn a random corner and stumble into a beer fest of some kind. Below, a few of the ones we’re most looking forward to.
Wine and Brew Walk on the Square Independence Square, independencesquare.com June 14 Sample local and regional wine, beers, and spirits — from Crane Brewery, Wood Hat Spirits, and Red Fox Winery, and more — in historic downtown Independence. Briar Fest Mulberry Lake at Briarcliff, briarfestkc.com June 21-22 A two-night party in the Northland, Briar Fest pairs local music — this year, Calvin Arsenia, Casi Joy, and Amanda Fish are on the bill — with a food-sampling event featuring bites from a few dozen local restaurants. Plenty of beer, as well.
Crossroads Beer Fest Crossroads KC at Grinders, crossroadskc.com June 29 It’s all in the name: 30 craft breweries will feature more than 80 beers in the Crossroads — specifically Grinders’ backyard. Seventies soft-rock cover band Petrock provides the audio backdrop. UNICO Microbrew Festival Zona Rosa, unicokc.org/microbrew-festival August 10 Sample over 50 microbrews while supporting UNICO, the Italian-American nonprofit. Plenty of Scimeca’s Italian Sausages, too. KC Beer Fest Power & Light District, kcbeerfest.com September 14 This P&L fest — likely the last beer event before the weather begins to turn — features 200 craft beers from familiar names like Cinder Block Brewery, KC Bier Co., Left Hand Brewing, Martin City Brewing Co., and more. --Kelcie McKenney
JUNE 22, 2019 7-11 p.m. At the beautiful Overland Park
Arboretum & Botanical Gardens
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SUMMER GUIDE
FESTIVITIES ON THE FOURTH June 21 DEADFEST, The Bottleneck Train, with Goo Goo Dolls, Starlight Theatre Yeasayer, RecordBar June 21-22 Moving Arts Dance Festival, Polsky Theatre June 21-23 Pictures at an Exhibition, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts June 22 Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland Celebrate the 244th birthday of the United States with fireworks, country music, and other vaguely American diversions.
Booms and Blooms at Powell Gardens Powell Gardens Fireworks start at dusk Fourth of July Celebration Worlds of Fun All day Hot Country Nights with Travis Marvin KC Live! Block 6 p.m.
Hot Import Nights Arrowhead Stadium July 6 KC Riverfest Berkley Riverfront Park 3-10 p.m. Royals vs. Indians Kauffman Stadium Game starts at 12:15 p.m. Leawood 4th Celebration Leawood City Park 6-9:30 p.m.
GOLDEN SMOG
Overland Park Star Spangled Spectacular Corporate Woods Founders’ Park 5-10 p.m. Weston Parade and Fireworks All day, Main Street, Weston Fireworks at 9:45 pm Platte City’s Annual Independence Day Fireworks Platte Ridge Park Fireworks at 9:50 p.m.
Red, White and Zoo Kansas City Zoo All day VillageFest Prairie Village, 77th and Mission Rd 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Ward Parkway Four on the 4th Race Ward Parkway Pavilion 7:30 a.m.
AN EVENING WITH BILL CALLAHAN Lawrence Public Library Lawn, 707 Vermont July 5 It’s fitting that Bill Callahan should do a library gig. The artist formerly known as Smog is one of the most interesting lyricists of the past 20 years. Like the great literary minimalists, Callahan carries a simple toolbox — a wooden baritone, straightforward language, naturalist scenes, a guitar — with which he carves out spectacular beauty. I started out in search of ordinary things / How much of a tree bends in the wind / I started telling the story without knowing the end, he tells us on “Jim Cain,” a song that was technically released in 2009 but is ultimately so timeless it seems to exist on another plane of music and consciousness. Despite his brilliance, Callahan tends to float beneath the mainstream, bobbing up every now and again when more popular artists acknowledge his contributions (the title of last year’s Netflix documentary hit Wild, Wild Country nods to a line from Callahan’s 2011 song “Drover”) and quietly touring — sometimes solo, sometimes with a small band, and not all that often around these parts. All of which to say: Callahan playing a free, outdoor show on the lovely Lawrence library lawn is a special treat you’ll not want to miss. --David Hudnall
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Bill Callahan
Hanly Banks
Brew-B-Que 2019, Renaissance Festival Lawrence Air Guitar Championship, Bourgeois Pig June 23 The Yadda Yadda Showcase, RecordBar Third Eye Blind, with Jimmy Eat World, Starlight Theatre June 24-25 The TONY Awards Show, Musical Theater Heritage June 25 John Paul White, Knuckleheads New Found Glory, Granada The Try Guys: Legends of the Internet, Uptown Theater June 28 A Conversation with Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez and Jon Gries of Napoleon Dynamite, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts June 28-August 3 (Sub)Urban Sprawl, an exhibition curated by Matthew McLaughlin, Lawrence Arts Center June 29 Crossroads Beer Fest, Crossroads KC at Grinders KKFI Collaborations Live!, Folly Theater Yallapalooza, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre Tom Segura, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland June 30 Flipper with David Yow, RecordBar
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SUMMER GUIDE
JULY
July 1 CHVRCHES, Uptown Theater
LADIES NIGHT
THE JANE DOE REVUE RecordBar, 1520 Grand June 8 Like an old-school Stax revue, the rotating collective of musicians in the Jane Doe Revue includes a chorus of back-up singers and horn and string sections, in addition to the full rock and roll band. There’s one key difference, though: the lineup is all female, and the musicians whose songs they cover — everything from Etta James on up through Feist — are too. This “rock orchestra,” as founder Violet Vonder Haar describes it, was formed in 2017 and is based out of Columbia, where Vonder Haar resides. In June, a cast of performers Vonder Haar has assembled will set up at RecordBar for a show benefiting the Midwest Music Foundation, the KC-based organization that helps musicians find healthcare. “[MMF] is a really important organization that more people — and more musicians — need to know about,” Vonder Haar says. “I also thought that it was fitting, because it started because of a female musician named Abby [Henderson], who couldn’t afford her costs, so the artists in the music community of Kansas City came together to cover some of her costs. That community aspect is a similar vibe to what we’ve accomplished with the Jane Doe Revue.” As for the show: local musicians, including Mikal Shapiro and Amy Farrand, will be members of the Revue, and the set list will include some classics — “Respect,” by Aretha Franklin; “Feelin’ Good,” by Nina Simone — but also some newer songs like Kacey Musgraves’ “High Horse.” As it’s grown, the Revue has evolved. In February, Vonder Haar issued a call for talent and held auditions for new singers for this show. “We wanted to open it up to people that maybe none of us knew,” Vonder Haar says. “Because of that, we ended up including a couple songs we maybe wouldn’t have otherwise. We had one person who auditioned with Adele’s ‘Rumour Has It,’ and I was like, “Yes! Yeah! I wanna do that!’” --Nick Spacek
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Cuco, Madrid Theatre
Fringe Festival
July 3 The Avett Brothers, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre
July 12 98 Degrees, KC Live! Block in the Power and Light District
Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre
July 5-6 Concept Zero Dance Theater presents ALIBI, Polsky Theatre
Felipe Esparza, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
July 18 Gold Frankincense & Myrrh, Bottleneck
Reel Big Fish, with The Aquabats, Uptown Theater
July 18-20 Lawrence Field Day Fest, Lawrence, KS
June 13 Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express, Knuckleheads
July 19 Joywave, KC Live! Block in the Power and Light District
“A New Deal for Public Art in the Free State” (film screening and discussion), Lawrence Public Library Lawn
Shawn Mendes and Alessia Cara, Sprint Center
July 9 Jane Fonda: A Celebration of a Storied Career, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Priests, RecordBar July 9-14 Cats, Starlight Theatre July 10 Amanda Seales, Uptown Theater July 11 Santana and The Doobie Brothers, Sprint Center Art Talk: Ceramicist Nate Ditzler, Lawrence Arts Center July 11-13 Salute! Wine Fest, Oread Hotel
THE GOOD PROFESSOR
THE GNADIGES FRAULEIN
July 14-28 Fringe Festival, Multiple KC venues July 16 Alex Di Leo, Bottleneck July 16-17 La Frontera, Musical Theater Heritage July 17 Snail Mail, Granada
July 20 Apollo 11 (50th anniversary screening), Lawrence Public Library Earth, Wind & Fire, Starlight Theatre July 21 Khalid, Sprint Center MattyB, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland The Growlers, Crossroads KC at Grinders
July 23 Band of Horses, Liberty Hall Built To Spill, Madrid Theatre July 24 Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters, Knuckleheads July 25 Jon Bellion, Uptown Theater July 26 Sophistafunk, The Bottleneck July 27 Baroness, Granada Screen Qweens! A Multimedia Experience, Liberty Hall Tenacious D, Starlight Theatre July 28 Author Talk: Andrew Shaffer, Lawrence Public Library July 30 - August 4 A Bronx Tale, Starlight Theatre
CLIPS AND CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN WILLMOTT Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak July 12 From June 1 through August 25, the Nelson will be exhibiting “30 Americans,” a look at the American experience told from the perspectives of 30 African-American artists, including Kerry James, Kehinde Wiley, Kara Walker, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more. Fresh off his Academy Award (Best Adapted Screenplay) for BlacKkKlansman, screenwriter and University of Kansas professor Kevin Willmott will stop by the museum on July 12 to talk about his film work (which includes a writing credit for Spike Lee’s Chi-raq and Willmott’s sadly prescient 2004 film C.S.A. The Confederate States of America) through the lens of 30 Americans’ themes of race, history, identity, and beauty. The event is free and open to the public. --David Hudnall
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19
SUMMER GUIDE
NOT-SO-FARFLUNG FESTIVALS
AUGUST
August 1 Hayes Carll, Knuckleheads PRETTYMUCH, Uptown Theater
80-35 Festival
FRANKIE PERRIN
The 2019 Pitchfork and Lollapalooza lineups in Chicago are looking tantalizing as ever, and Milwaukee’s Summerfest is offering up a smorgasbord of pop performers. But those are substantial investments of time and money, and maybe you’re broke, or you can’t get away from work, or you’ve got kids. In that case, here’s a handful of music festivals that are a touch closer to KC and a little bit cheaper. (And don’t forget about the Walnut Valley Festival —bluegrass, folk, and other pickin’ music —which closes out summer from September 18-22 in Winfield, KS.)
Country Stampede Manhattan, KS, countrystampede.com June 20-22 This Manhattan fest features some of the biggest names in the industry — Jason Aldean, Clint Black, Old Dominion, and Jake Owen — plus dozens more country up-and-comers. Attend as a regular guest, or camp on-site. Tickets start at $79 and go up from there, depending on what all you want to do. Hinterland Music Festival St. Charles, IA, hinterlandiowa.com August 2-4 St. Charles, Iowa, is just a two-and-a-half-hour drive from KC, and Hinterland, its three-day festival, features a respectable camping area and an Americana-tilted lineup: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgraves, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Hozier, Maggie Rogers, and many more. Tickets are $59 for a Friday pass and $135 for a three-day pass. (The $369 VIP weekend ticket includes a bunch of extras.) 80-35 Festival Des Moines, IA, 80-35.com July 12-13 Portugal the Man, Liz Phair, NoName, Elle King, and Metric are among the top draws at this year’s 80-35 (named after the highways that crisscross Des Moines). This fest is also super affordable, with tickets ranging from $45 for a one-day pass to $220 for a VIP weekend experience. Maha Festival Omaha, NE, mahafestival.com August 14-17 Part innovation conference, part music festival, Maha, which takes place in Omaha’s sprawling Aksarben Village, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The indie-rock lineup assembled is impressive, and includes Lizzo, Jenny Lewis, Courtney Barnett, Matt and Kim, Oh Sees, Duckwrth, and Pinback. Tickets are $80 for the full fest, and between $10 and $45 depending on which night you want to go. Dancefestopia LaCygne, KS, dancefestopia.com September 5-8 This homegrown EDM festival has moved from Kansas City to the sticks, where it’s easier to camp. At the top of the bill this year is Big Gigantic, Rusko, Alison Wonderland, and RL Grime, plus several dozen more performers. General admission passes for the entire four-day festival start at $159, with lots of extras (unlimited showers!) to add. --April Fleming
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
August 2 Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre John Moreland and Caroline Spence, Knuckleheads
August 4 Long Beach Dub Allstars, Madrid Theatre August 5 Peter Frampton, Starlight Theatre August 6 Mary J. Blige and NAS, Starlight Theatre August 7 Dean Lewis, Madrid Theatre August 7-25 A Doll’s House, Kansas City Actors Theatre
August 8-18 Missouri State Fair, Sedalia August 8 - Sep. 1 In The Heights, Musical Theater Heritage August 9 Curator Talk: Anthony Hernandez on “L.A. Landscapes,” NelsonAtkins Museum of Art Kirk Franklin, Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
HOMEGROWN MUSIC FESTIVALS
Boulevardia
Coachella can keep its supermodels and smaller crowds. These four local festivals have plenty of edge, talent, and heart — and don’t require plane tickets.
StrangeFest Kansas City Live! Block, 13th & Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, MO, strangemusicinc.com June 1 The venerable local label Strange Music has put together a two-stage, one-nightonly celebration of its roster, featuring performances from Krizz Kaliko, Dax, ¡MAYDAY!, Mackenzie Nicole, and, of course, Tech N9ne.
Y’allapalooza Providence Medical Center Amphitheater, Bonner Springs, KS, q104kc.com June 29 If there’s one day this summer to muddy your double stitch jeans and lean into the Miller Lite aesthetic, it’s at Q104’s annual Y’allapalooza party. Kane Brown headlines this year’s country festival, accompanied by Lanco, Morgan Evans, and Travis Marvin. Yeehaw.
Boulevardia Stockyards District, Kansas City, MO, boulevardia.com June 14-15 A miniature village overflowing with craft beer, live music, and local makers, Boulevardia embodies KC in its most concentrated form. Boldface names on the music lineup include national acts like Young the Giant, Dashboard Confessional, and Fitz and the Tantrums, and local representation from The Greeting Committee, Ha Ha Tonka, and The Appleseed Cast.
Field Day Fest Downtown Lawrence, KS lfkfielddayfest.com July 18-20 Lawrence vibes on its own oddball wavelength, and Field Day Fest, the annual music festival that sprawls across the town’s downtown venues, is a brilliant (and free!) way to dial in to that frequency. This year’s lineup includes Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds, The Midnight Devils, The Sluts, and lots more. --Rebekah Lodos
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SUMMER GUIDE
INSIDE VOICES
lege’s Polsky Theatre, but don’t sleep on the various masterclasses being held around the city or the discussion/sneak-peek at Quixotic Studios on June 18.
Moving Arts
HIROMI PLATT PHOTOGRAPHY
Nothing wrong with air conditioning. Certainly nothing wrong with staying inside to hear some of the finest classical music Kansas City has to offer. Below, some aurally soothing ideas for potentially scorching-hot days.
Kansas City Symphony, “Secrets Revealed” Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, kcsymphony.org June 13 Kansas City Symphony’s
“Secrets Revealed” — part of its Classics Uncorked series — features the works of British composers Edward Elgar and Anna Clyne. (You might also consider KCS’ bombastic, season-ending
“Pictures At An Exhibition,” from June 21-23.) Moving Arts Polsky Theatre, movingartsco.org June 21-22
Moving Arts, the rebranded version of the Kansas City Dance Festival, is on the move, now staging events in KC and Cincinnati. The big local showcase is at Johnson County Community Col-
Kansas City Baroque Consortium, “Women of Note” Series kcbaroque.org June 21 and August 23 at St. Paul’s Episcopalian Church July 26 at Village Presbyterian Illuminating the multifaceted role of women in the arts is the aim of the Kansas City Baroque Consortium’s “Women of Note” series, and the organization has extracted some gems for its 2019 dates, culminating in August with the premiere
of a new piece by Ingrid Stölzel. Summerfest Chamber Music summerfestkc.org Weekends in July The Summerfest series reliably offers an approachable blend of new and old, finely played. “Weird Al” Yankovic Starlight Theatre August 31 The comedian-actor-songwriter-accordionist “Weird Al” Yankovic brings his “Strings Attached” tour to KC. Described as Al’s “most full-blown, over-the-top extravaganza ever,” he’ll perform his many parody hits with the backing of a full orchestra. --Libby Hanssen
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23
SUMMER GUIDE
NAMASTE IN KC
Katya brings “Help Me I’m Dying” to the Folly on August 26.
August 10 Food Truck Festival, Crossroads KC at Grinders The Alarm, Liberty Hall August 11 Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art HopCat Beer Yoga
An increasing number of classes offer yogis (and the yoga-curious) the opportunity to stretch their limbs and find their center outside the studio. Here’s a few to check out this summer.
Rooftop Beer Yoga HopCat, 401 Westport, hopcat.com Second and fourth Sunday of the month HopCat’s Westport rooftop bar transforms into a den of downward-dog serenity for an hour, rain or shine (the cabana is enclosed). Bonus: they give you a free Boulevard Easy Sport Ale afterward.
Yoga on the Lawn Ward Parkway Center, 8600 Ward Parkway Wednesdays at 7:30, through Aug. 7 This free class is held on the south end of Ward Parkway Center, near the new development that includes Smitty’s Garage — which offers a half-priced drink to attendees after all the stretching’s done.
Cat Yoga Whiskers Cat Cafe, 3705 Southwest Trafficway, whiskerskc.com Tuesdays and Fridays The midtown “cat cafe” offers onehour yoga sessions followed by 30 minutes of playtime with the adoptable felines that reside there. Be prepared for much purring and the occasional case of “the zoomies.”
Yoga in the Park The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak, facebook.com/groups/yogaintheparkkc/about Sundays A rotating cast of yoga teachers leads this weekly outdoor session on the museum’s south lawn.
Goat Yoga Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead, 13800 Switzer, opkansas.org June 18, 27; July 2, 9, 16, 25, 30; Aug. 6, 8, 13 This Overland Park farmstead hosts outdoor classes in the evenings for those interested in deep breathing near goats. “The goats are curious and will chew and climb on almost anything,” we’re told.
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Heartland Yoga Festival Unity Village, 1901 NW Blue Parkway, heartlandyogafest.com June 21-22 For the dedicated yogi, the Heartland Yoga Festival — founded by Lauren Leduc of Karma Tribe Yoga and Angela Cronk of Hagoyah — offers two days of yoga exploration featuring workshops, classes, and vendors. Yoga Flow at the Pool The Fontaine, 901 West 48th Place, facebook.com/TheFontaineHotel June 9, 16; July 14, 21; Aug. 11,18 Check in to the rooftop bar of the Plaza hotel on the second and third Sundays of the month for poolside yoga. (The other summer Sundays offer free barre and pilates.) --Kelcie McKenney
August 13 Gary Clark Jr., Crossroads KC at Grinders Pentatonix, Starlight Theatre The Faint, Madrid Theatre August 15-17 Slash and Bash Movie Fest, Doubletree Hotel (Lawrence) August 16 Ben Folds, with Violent Femmes, Starlight Theatre Galantis, KC Live! Block in the Power and Light District John Hiatt (solo acoustic), Knuckleheads
WORLD MUSIC
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
August 16 Light Up the Lawn, with Hembree, Nerman Museum Lawn August 16-18 Ethnic Enrichment Festival, Swope Park
Papa Roach, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre August 26 Black Flag, Crossroads KC at Grinders Katya’s “Help Me I’m Dying,” Folly Theater
August 16 - Sep. 1 Every Brilliant Thing, Spinning Tree Theatre August 17 Slipknot, with Behemoth, Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre Scott Mulvahill, RecordBar August 20 Chris Isaak, Uptown Theater August 21 A Conversation with Mavis Staples, Liberty Hall August 23 Amanda Fish, Bottleneck August 24 Mary Baker & Friends Broadway Cabaret, Lawrence Arts Center
August 28 The Milk Carton Kids, Knuckleheads August 30 Light Up the Lawn, with Bob and Una Walkenhorst, Nerman Museum Lawn August 30 September 1 KC Irish Fest, Crown Center August 31 “Weird Al” Yankovic, Starlight Theatre Through Sept. 1 Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
JOSE GONZALEZ, WITH BEDOUINE Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, August 29 This multiculti performance pairs Jose Gonzalez — a Swede whose delicate, avant-garde songwriting draws from West African blues, Brazilian tropicalia, and American folk-pop — with Bedouine, aka Azniv Korkejian, who was born in Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia, and now lives in Los Angeles. Bedouine’s self-titled 2017 debut is one of the prettiest folk records in recent memory, and the grandiose acoustics of the Kauffman should only enhance its beauty. --David Hudnall Bedouine
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Op Ju en ne s 1 Kehinde Wiley, Triple Portrait of Charles I, 2007. Oil and enamel on canvas, overall 82 x 125 inches. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Š Kehinde Wiley.
Race. History. Identity. Beauty. Contemporary art by 30 of the most important African American artists of the past four decades. Juneteenth Celebration
June 8 | FREE | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. FREE admission to 30 Americans June 8 & 9, courtesy of:
#30AmericansKC | Organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH 25
PROFILE
FREED SPIRIT HOW CALVIN ARSENIA LEFT THE CHURCH AND FOUND HIS MUSICAL CALLING. BY REBEKAH LODOS
KELCIE MCKENNEY
A deep, melancholy voice embellished by the shimmering harmonies of a harp swells inside a packed RecordBar. The audience is still, eyes on the stage. Alone, with red velvet curtains draped behind him, Calvin Arsenia wears a brushed golden crown, cuffs, a cascading necklace, and an architectural metal collar stretching out to his shoulders. He’s 6 feet, 6 inches tall. When the light hits just right, he looks like a Caravaggio portrait that’s stepped off the canvas. “I’ve performed this song in multiple different countries, and I’m always afraid to sing it, every single time,” Arsenia confesses, towering before us. “But I think there is something very special in doing something that scares you, that ignites feelings inside of you.” With a stomp and a clap, Arsenia leans into an acapella version of “Tip Toe,” a rhythmic, bouncy track from his latest album, Cantaloupe. Eyes clamped shut, he sings the opening lyrics: There are parts of this town / That I have to avoid / So I tip toe around / I don’t wanna make noise. Slowly, the room joins in, one enthused audience member after another, inspired by Arsenia’s vulnerability to overcome their own reserve. Depending on how he wants you to feel in the moment, Arsenia has a range of modes: medieval minstrel, debauched queen, high priest, glittery nymph. As such, it’s difficult for anyone, including his record label, to say exactly what he is. His songs have catchy pop choruses (he recently released a brilliant cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic”) but none of the tidy, packaged sheen you’ll find on the Hot 100. His vocal style sits somewhere between opera and soul, but his records veer from electronic to jazz to indie-acoustic. Everything about
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Arsenia is curated for your experience, different on any given night. The set list, stage, props, and makeup — it’s all highly calibrated to make you feel. And he’s good at making you feel. •
•
•
Arsenia has a complex story to match his complex art. He was born in Orlando and raised in Olathe but describes his life in two distinct phases: pre- and post-Scotland. In the former, he was a worship leader at a local church and staff member at the International House of Prayer, the Grandview church known for its 24-7 worship room and absolutist end-of-the-world theology. Laughing, Arsenia tells me he wanted to spend the rest of his life “growing worship teams, starting prayer meetings, leading communities of fasting, and ushering in the second coming of Jesus.” I laugh with him. He’s speaking my language — a million years ago, in a distant past, I came to Kansas City for IHOP-KC’s Bible school. Everything changed in 2012, when Arsenia moved to Edinburgh to work as a liaison between a church community and that city’s art scene. He performed at Fringe festivals and made new, often-non-Christian friends. And he found an audience for his classical voice and exuberant style — something he’d never been able to find back in the Midwest. “I got to sing acapella songs in rooms full of old Scottish guys, and they would be silent the whole time,” Arsenia says. “And I learned over time that it wasn’t my technique that was reaching people, it was my vulnerability. To use language that you and I are familiar with, it was the ‘posture of my
heart’ that really connected with people.” I smile again at the nod to our shared past in the weird vortex of IHOP-KC. Arsenia is gay, which the doctrine we subscribed to during our House of Prayer days is decidedly, and notoriously, prohibitive of. Scotland changed this for him, too. Arsenia says that, one day, he was walking and praying, depressed at having to carry “this burden of same-sex attraction,” when he had a revelation. “Jesus said, ‘The truth will set you free.’ And the truth is that I’m attracted to men,” he says. “And I said to God, you know, ‘I’m not going to hide this from you anymore.
same spiritual emotions as I listened to Arsenia’s song, though its effect on me wasn’t one that IHOP would condone. Carnal, if we’re keeping things biblical. “Equally,” Arsenia says, is the first song he performed publicly that used the pronoun he. It was a few years after he’d returned from Scotland, by which time he’d drifted away from the Christian community. “The song was inspired by a lover that I had, and it kind of morphed and shifted,” he says. “For me now, that song is all about masculine sexuality, but not romanticism — the non-romantic, kind of very visceral, sexual passion.” Arsenia says he’s on a quest to reproduce the transcendence, emotional vulnerability, and euphoria of the charismatic church in his own performances — IHOP, minus the guilt-inducing Christian theology. He quotes a song by IHOP darling Misty Edwards: Arms wide open, a heart exposed. Again, I’m all too familiar — I once belted out those lyrics alongside Edwards onstage at IHOP’s Onething conference. But where she’s talking about Jesus, Arsenia’s talking about himself. “Allowing yourself to be rejected, allowing yourself to be dismissed, but baring it all — it’s like the most powerful posture,” he says. “And I’ve seen it — I’ve lived it now for years, where I just give my all, and the rest is up to the audience.” •
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In 2014, Arsenia’s British visa expired, spurring a move back to Kansas City. He gradually found his footing in the arts community here. Around 2016, Arsenia began producing what he calls “five-sensory”
“ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE REJECTED, ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE DISMISSED, BUT BARING IT ALL — IT’S LIKE THE MOST POWERFUL POSTURE.”
Whatever you want to do about it, that’s fine, but until then, this is me.’ And I felt this lifting, this weight lifted off my shoulders.” I ask Arsenia about “Equally,” a track from Cantaloupe that, for me, set off distant echoes of songs I used to sing about Christ. His hands were equally skilled, the song goes, But the power is revealed / In the presence of his perfect lips. The blending of tactile, borderline sexual language with spirituality and soft melodies is a hallmark of IHOP’s original worship songs, part of its allure to thousands of passionate young adults. I felt those
shows in Kansas City, with caterers, massage therapists, dancers, stilt walkers, smoke, and incense. He performs regularly with the immersive, avant-garde cirque nouveau collective Quixotic. (At the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art’s Party Arty this year, he joined the group dressed as Marie Antoinette.) After having met Arsenia just once, Peregrine Honig, a longtime Kansas City artist and curator who runs the Greenwood Social Hall, hosted Arsenia’s first live recording in 2017. Every aspect of the room and performance was curated, from Julep’s saffron cocktails to
PROFILE
the incense, rose petals, and borrowed saris that covered the chairs. Arsenia is a “classic beauty,” Honig says, and an artist she hopes to work with for the rest of her life. “There’s certain people that have this effervescent energy where, you know, he could be in a king’s court [or] he could be in the future,” Honig says. “It’s not about language, it’s not about color, it’s not about the height of his body or the color of his skin. It’s that he is everything.” I heard similar words of adoration and admiration from many others who’ve worked with Arsenia. For Patrick Sprehe, who saw Arsenia perform for the first time at Greenwood Social Hall, Arsenia was the “chosen one.” Sprehe, an English teacher, and James Andrews, an heir to Andrews McMeel Publishing, had been dreaming of starting a record label; the idea was to find important local artists and give them substantial resources that could boost their signal beyond Kansas City. Arsenia was exactly what they were looking for. In February 2018, they drew up a contract, and Arsenia became the first artist signed to Center Cut Records. The newborn label, personally funded by Sprehe and Andrews, invested heavily in Cantaloupe, producing gorgeous music videos, printing vinyl, the whole deal. “Those things cost money,” Sprehe says. “But we also realized that with someone like Calvin, that’s what it’s going to take to get him to the next level.” The music industry today, though, requires more from artists than a strong album and a buzzy video. Center Cut has jumped between three PR firms since launching, and promoting someone as metamorphic as Arsenia, who rides the line between concert artist and immersive theatre experience, can be deeply complicated. “He’s so versatile, he’s kind of a marketing challenge for us,” Sprehe says. “When they ask us, you know, what’s his genre — we have to sort these things out for Spotify — I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ Could be R&B, could be electronic. He could be singer-songwrit-
er. I mean, I’ve seen him do punk.” Given his obvious talents, it can seem inevitable that Arsenia will eventually transition from relatively hidden KC gem to national touring headliner. But that doesn’t mean it is inevitable. Center Cut has a noble vision, and money, but limited experience. And the dynamics of publicity, now fueled largely by social media, change so fast that even established music industry pros have a hard time keeping up. Ultimately, though, the solution to the label’s most pressing goal — to get more people in the room at Arsenia’s shows — is analog: find him a supporting slot on tour with a bigger artist. But even that could be tricky. “He really likes those kinds of shows where he has a lot of free rein and can kind of control everyone’s experience from beginning to end,” says J. Ashley Miller, who produced, mixed, and collaborated on Cantaloupe at his local studio, Infoaming Vertex, and co-wrote “Headlights,” one of Arsenia’s singles. “But it’s a real logistical challenge sometimes to get all the right people in the same room and all the resources for those sort of larger visionary pieces.” Then again, Arsenia says that it’s never been all about succeeding in the industry. “I’m not looking for likes and stats and numbers, or even album sales necessarily,” he says. “I’m looking to encounter people where they are and encourage them.” He wants to keep touring the US, and he wants to find a bigger act to support. But he has plenty to keep him busy and fulfilled. Arsenia and Miller are currently working on a club remix of Cantaloupe, and Arsenia is set to headline the Transfiguration Festival at Quixotic and the West 18th Street Fashion Show, both this month. He’ll also perform at San Francisco Pride in late June. And he says to expect a new album later this year, too. “I want to be a part of people seeing their fullest self,” Arsenia says. “Whatever that looks like, I want to do that.” Spoken like a true pastor — just an infinitely more accepting one. 3 2 N D
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29
ARTS
Steadman sketches the Stockyards.
THE RALPH STEADMAN ART COLLECTION
FEAR AND LOATHING IN KC GONZO ILLUSTRATOR RALPH STEADMAN GETS A RETROSPECTIVE AT THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY. BY DAN LYBARGER
In the summer of 1970, the Welsh cartoonist Ralph Steadman and the Kentucky-raised journalist Hunter S. Thompson pioneered a new style of reporting with “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved.” Often cited as the first work of gonzo journalism, the piece puts the unwelcome and often hilarious Thompson at the center of the action, with the Vietnam War reverberating around in the background. Steadman’s bold, nightmarish drawings leap off the page, enhancing Thompson’s wild, stinging prose. That piece was published in the mostly forgotten Scanlan’s Monthly, but the two later collaborated in Rolling Stone magazine for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and despite Thompson’s 2005 suicide, Steadman remains bound, in the public’s imagination, to the famously incorrigible writer. But Steadman’s genius extends far beyond his work with Thompson. He’s added his irreverent gonzo visuals to Alice in Wonderland, The Devil’s Dictionary and Animal Farm; Vans Shoes has a series of sneakers decorated with his drawings; and the labels for Flying Dog beer sport his distinc-
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
tive artwork. Steadman, who turned 83 last month, recently teamed up with the writer Ceri Levy for a book called Critical Critters where both argue passionately and humorously for animal conservation by depicting the amazing creatures who might leave our planet for good. And after a gap in his political cartoons, which used to grace The Times of London, he’s recently turned his gaze to politicians like England’s NIgel Farage and President Trump. It’s like what he used to do to Richard Nixon. Surprisingly for a guy based in the U.K., Steadman has a few local ties. He and Watergate figure John Dean covered the 1976 Republican National Convention, held in Kansas City’s West Bottoms. Steadman also had an unforgettable encounter with Lawrence’s most famous writer, William S. Burroughs, in the early 1990s. From June 1 through September 8, the Kansas City Public Library will be devoting much of its first floor to a Steadman retrospective, featuring his depictions of Kemper Arena and other pieces he’s created since that era. I spoke with Steadman by Skype from England in May. His
daughter, Sadie Williams, who manages the Ralph Steadman Art Collection, was also on the line.
He said, “My God, you look like a matted-haired geek with string warts!” I never did find out what that meant.
Ralph Steadman: We were in Kentucky last week.
The Pitch: We could Google it after we’re done.
The Pitch: How was that different from 1970?
Steadman: They’d probably say, “Something Hunter used to say.”
Steadman: The different thing was seeing the two little towers in Churchill Downs. They were the highest thing there 49 years ago. I noticed that they built up the stands for people to occupy. They were the crowning glory once.
Sadie Williams: [Ralph] got to go back as an honored guest as opposed to an interloper last time. He was literally the king of the Derby this year. It was like the court jester going back as the king, in a way.
The Pitch: Now they’re just little guys. Steadman: That’s when I first met Hunter. I was asked how I would like to go to Kentucky and meet an ex-Hell’s Angel who just shaved his head. I had a little goatee beard at the time. When we did meet, he said, “They said you were weird, but not that weird!” Back then, beards were not very prevalent.
The Pitch: For that Scanlan’s article, you used materials that normally aren’t used for artwork. Steadman: When I went to stay with Don Goddard and his wife, Natalie, I’d left my inks and everything in the cab going to their place for supper before I went to the Derby. She worked for Revlon and said, “I’ve got these eye shadows and inks and red, lipsticky
ARTS
stuff.” So, I said, “Let’s have a look at it.” And that’s what I used to do the drawings.
mother used to knit to try and keep calm.
The Pitch: You’re still using unorthodox techniques. In Critical Critters, Ceri Levy referred to your technique as “Ralphschach.”
The Pitch: Do you think being a child of the Blitz might have affected your view of the world because people who’d never met you were hurting you?
Steadman: I now use “dirty water” to wash the brushes out. It’s better if it smells a bit, too. I pour it onto a sheet of paper, on an absorbent flat bit of it, which is underneath it. And then I let it dry for three or four days, but when it dries, it has the most wonderful natural textures. The smell goes. Everything goes. It’s just incredible, and then you draw into that. That’s how I saw the creatures in the Critical Critters book. It’s a nice way to evolve, if you like, to think what I do now.
Steadman: Yeah, that’s true. But also, we used to go out every morning after the bombing to find pieces of shrapnel. I wish I’d kept it. Exploded metal dried in the most extraordinary way. It wouldn’t have been much good if it had hit you. You’d look across the street and see one of the houses had been bombed. There was another house just up the road that I’d swear was a Banksy house because the parents had allowed the child to draw all over the walls inside.
The Pitch: A lot of your work reminds me of a German artist I like named Käthe Kollwitz. She had a lot of the bold lines and the harsh textures I see in your work. She did a lot of anti-war work after World War I, but I guess the rest of the Germans forgot what happened the last time.
The Pitch: You’ve done sort of a Banksylike take on our own monuments in Kansas City. For the assignment you did for Rolling Stone in 1976, you drew Kemper Arena covered with abandoned Ronald Reagan signs.
Steadman: I was bombed by those bastards [laughs]. I was in an Anderson shelter [in World War II] when I was a little kid. My
Steadman: I was drawing about politics and horseracing and all those things. Some of the people [in the drawings], Republicans, were like cattle, and that’s how I felt about them.
The Pitch: That part of town was where the meatpacking was done. Steadman: That’s how I started drawing the people. The people were the cattle. I drew George Wallace. He was a foul racist. The Pitch: These drawings are only going to be seen on this stop of the tour. Williams: It was my idea. To be honest, it’s nice to give people something that’s unique and they can relate to. I don’t know that everyone’s going to like them. I think that some people might find them a little bit insulting, but it’s only ink on paper. We’re not holding a gun to anyone’s head and saying, “You’ve got to like these.” It’s just a view of Kansas City at a very particular time by someone who’d never really been there before or seen anything like it. It’s an observation Steadman: All I had was a flan, and I wanted to put it in somebody’s face, and I couldn’t find the right person. Wittgenstein said that the only thing of value is the thing you cannot say, but if you can see it, it really means something. It’s that which makes drawing kind of interesting. It’s not
like you’re making a conundrum. You’re explaining something. So, are you going to ridicule me? [laughs] The Pitch: No. That would be hypocritical, because I’m wearing a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas T-shirt you designed. Steadman: By the way, something I noticed about the shirt. Look at it when you take it off. Unless, it’s been reversed, in the drawings I did [of Thompson], he was driving on the right-hand side of the car like we do in England. I never thought of that, and I did all those drawings, and I’ve only noticed it in the last few months. It was marvelous that he could come up with such a phrase as “Buy the Ticket. Take the Ride.” His turn of phrase was so wonderful. I was always in awe of that. I couldn’t have done that better. The Pitch: Or, “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert…” Steadman: “...When the drugs began to take hold.” People would offer him pills, and then he would eat it and say, “What was that?” That was a dangerous thing to do.
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ARTS
The Pitch: You’ve collaborated with people — John Dean, Thompson, Levy — who were there to collaborate with you in person. What was it like to work with Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, and Ambrose Bierce, who weren’t?
The Pitch: You were involved with another writer who loved chemical recreation and guns: William S. Burroughs. Steadman: When I met William in Lawrence, Kansas, we did a [drawing experiment] where we took a picture of Hunter and put targets on his sheriff ’s badge, his Rolex watch, and between the eyes. I said, “Those are the three places, if you can try to hit those.” Burroughs had this little pistol. It was a six-shooter. He was also shaking. Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom. Just like that. None of them hit the targets. I went up to the print and said, “Sorry, William, but you’ve missed.” He said, “Well, he’s dead, isn’t he?” That was quite an interesting thing to do. I think he was on his last legs. I think that was 1990. The Pitch: Gonzo journalism had a reputation for being engaged in destructive activities, but both you and Thompson were using it to try and change the world. With Critical Critters and other recent books, you’re trying to preserve it. Steadman: Do you know what Hunter said when I started drawing wine labels? He said, “Stupid little grape stuff. That’s
Steadman: With Animal Farm, I just loved the horse, Boxer. But I also realized the pigs are an animal that we should respect more than we do. We say to people, “You’re a filthy pig,” and it’s a real insult. But in fact, they’re quite intelligent and hygienic. Sadie’s heard this so often, but this is my father’s, and it mentions pigs, too:
Kemper Arena in the background of Steadman’s depiction of the ‘76 RNC. THE RALPH STEADMAN ART COLLECTION
all you care about, stupid little grapes.” We’re trying to save what’s left. I do pick up things that people have thrown down. We are our own worst enemies. We can’t behave ourselves, and we’re destroying everything. The Pitch: Why do you think you still draw?
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
Steadman: I don’t know what else to do. I don’t bother with football. I don’t golf or anything. I’m not interested in sport at all. There’s a saying — do you use it over there? — “Kicking the can down the road.” That’s what they did with Brexit. I’ve done this drawing, “The Can Kicking Award.” We may as well stay in Europe.
One day in last September, As far as I remember, I was walking down the street with manly pride. My heart was all a flutter When I fell into the gutter And I found a pig a lying by my side. My heart was still a flutter As I was a laying in the gutter And a lady was heard to say. You can tell a man who boozes By the company he chooses And the blooming pig got up and walked away.
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thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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FEATURE
GREEN ACRES SWOPE PARK IS HOME TO SOME OF KANSAS CITY’S RICHEST HISTORY AND MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. BUT WE OFTEN TREAT IT LIKE A LAND GRAB AND A PARKING LOT. BY APRIL FLEMING
There’s a secret forest inside the Kansas City Zoo, which itself sits inside Swope Park, the largest and most visited park in the city. Here, beyond a ten-foot-high fence with a locked gate, the voices at the zoo and the sounds of trains fall away. You hear the songs of warblers and mockingbirds and the wind in the tall trees — bur oaks, sycamores, and black walnuts, some of them 200 years old — that soar in the sky above native grasses, paw paw trees, and wild ginger. This is Shirling Sanctuary. According to Linda Lehrbaum of KC WildLands — a group that has, along with members of the Burroughs Audubon Society, resuscitated the area — we’re standing in a highly biodiverse remnant riparian forest. Another way of saying that: it’s a rare, old-growth river bottom forest that was never tilled or otherwise modified. The forest here is the same forest Lewis and Clark saw as they hiked westward through Kansas City. It’s stunning. But Shirling Sanctuary — and Rocky Point Glade, another remnant area resurrected and managed by KC WildLands — is very much the exception to the rule when it comes to Swope Park care and preservation. Swope has hundreds of acres of forested land, much of it under constant assault by destructive invasive species. That includes plants like honeysuckle. But it also includes the humans who have sought, repeatedly and successfully over the years, to develop the park for their own ends. Throw into the mix a chronically underfunded parks budget, and a tough question comes into focus: Does Kansas City really care about preserving this park? •
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There is so much to do at Swope Park. Amenities include the Zoo, Starlight Theatre, Swope Park Pool, two golf courses, Lakeside Nature Center, fishing at Lake of the Woods, a zipline adventure company, and more than 13 miles of mountain biking trails. Relatively recently, the Swope Soccer Village and Sporting KC Training Facility added nine fields dedicated to play and training. Later this year, KC Pet Project will open its massive (and much-needed) $26 million Campus for Animal Care on park ground near Elmwood and Gregory streets. “It’s the primary [Parks] location with the greatest opportunity for us to connect as a community,” says Teresa “Terry” Rynard, the recently appointed director of Kansas City Parks and Rec. Few would argue. But beneath these
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
positive civic developments is a park whose critical needs are not being met, with no resolution in sight. If you were to visit Swope Park 100 years ago, you would most likely have arrived in a packed streetcar at the Grand Entrance near Meyer Boulevard and Swope Parkway. You’d have seen the stately limestone Shelter Number 1 (now the Swope Interpretive Center) with the flowering formal Eib Gardens behind it, immaculately manicured in the style of a meticulous English garden. To the northeast, visitors could stroll to the zoo or the large lagoon for a boat ride. In the distance, beyond fields where horses grazed and rested, and where Kansas Citians picnicked, you’d have seen the impressive white granite Thomas H. Swope Memorial, built in honor of the local real estate magnate who gifted the city 1,332 acres of land to be “used as a Public Pleasure Ground or a Park Forever.” The park soon expanded to over 1,800 acres, and was — still is — one of the largest urban parks in the world. Swope Park was envied across the Midwest as a naturalist treasure, a crown jewel of Kansas City. Despite the raw beauty of Shirling Sanctuary and Rocky Point Glade, a century later you are unlikely to find many Kansas Citians who view Swope Park with such awe. The Delbert J. Haff Mirror Fountain, just west of the Grand Entrance, recently received an impressive $1.2 million renovation through a public-private fundraising effort, but Shelter Number 1, just a few hundred feet away (and perhaps the park’s most historically significant building) now sits essentially empty, closed to the public save for one office that’s rented to a Blue River conservation group. Other historic buildings, from the Lakeside ranger station to the former summer camp buildings, are empty and have fallen into disrepair. The Eib Garden sits fallow; you won’t find the seasonal flowers and plants common to the beds in Loose Park and along Ward Parkway. It is rare to see people walk through the gardens. Few seem to even notice the nearly 200-foot-high flagpole built by Jacob Loose — the tallest in the world when it was erected. Beyond the gardens, the grassy fields between the entrance and the zoo are kept clipped but are in many spots patchy, barren, or weedy. Dozens of times a year, these fields double as parking lots for Starlight shows. The carved lions at Thomas Swope’s memorial still stand proud. But in May, a large tree felled by a spring storm blocked ramp access to the memorial for weeks before it was removed.
Old camp ruins near Rocky Point Glade.
APRIL FLEMING
Both Rynard and Todd Garrett, who oversees maintenance for Swope Park, are sensitive to, and readily acknowledge, the reality that beautification and maintenance efforts at Swope don’t measure up to some of
the city’s other parks. Garrett says he and his crew devote almost everything they have simply to maintaining the status quo. Turf rebuilding — counteracting the damage that occurs when
FEATURE
ZACH BAUMAN
people drive vehicles directly up to shelters during barbecues and other gatherings — is a constant and never-ending task at the park. Dumping is also an issue, as is cleaning up scattered trash. Currently, the two fulltime employees whose job it is to clean up refuse at Swope haul out a truckload of trash a day. “And this isn’t a small truck, either,” Garrett says. Rynard and Garrett don’t say it this way exactly, but it all boils down to the ageold hard truth that Money Talks. If rich people wanted to fund beautification efforts at Swope Park, they could. But they’re not. “Right now, Swope is mowed on the same schedule as every other park in the
city,” says Rynard. “The exceptions [in beautification] are the areas that are enhanced by private donors, like Loose Park. I don’t love that it’s our process ... but we do lack resources.” Larry Rizzo, a biologist and conservationist who regularly works with KC WildLands, is more blunt. “There is a big racial component to this,” he says. “There has been this perception that Swope is dangerous. It’s black.” Rizzo recalls how, a few years ago, a tall tree fell on Shelter 7 after a storm, rendering the structure unusable. It remained that way for several weeks, even though it was the middle of the summer — a prime usage time for the shelter. “That would nev-
er happen at Loose Park,” Rizzo says. •
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What is good for the city — a new animal shelter, soccer fields, a lovely amphitheater — is often bad for the park, or at least for those who view a park through a traditional, naturalist lens. Development began claiming wild park land in the 1930s, when Swope Memorial Golf Course was built. Then came Starlight and a zoo expansion. KC Pet Project will utilize dozens of acres of formerly forested land for its 60,000-square-foot campus. Rynard says she considers many of the above developments to be worthy tradeoffs.
“In these cases, we had good mission alignment, and conservation partnerships were good with [it],” she says. “We were approached, and I would say we embraced, for a lack of a better term, the idea of bringing new patrons into the park and enhancing the usability. I would say that the loss of forested area was examined in the cost/benefit.” Rynard also points to a citywide tree-planting effort and the adoption of a new sustainability plan for the Parks system as indicators that conservation is not far from the minds of those in the Parks Department. Lehrbaum, the KC WildLands program director who took me through Shirling Sanctuary, says she understands that the Parks Department has to balance stakehold-
FOUR THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT SWOPE PARK 1. Thomas Swope wanted his park to help the beneficiaries of the Humane Society — which at the time meant horses and children. Thomas Swope had a soft spot for Kansas City’s horses, which in the early 1900s were everyday work animals. Swope was concerned about the horses’ lack of resting time, fresh food, and fresh air, and he wanted the park to be a place where not just people but horses could recreate. Swope also cared a great deal about children, encouraging programs that benefited particularly impoverished and disabled children. This legacy carried forward in form of summer camps that ran until the 1960s in the Lake of the Woods area and near where the Go Ape Ziplining Adventure campus now sits. Some of those old camp buildings are still used by Parks staff, though others sit empty and in disrepair. Last summer, artist Ebony Patterson used a long-abandoned therapy pool for her popular exhibit “Called Up,” painting the pool decks a vibrant blue and filling the pool with silk flowers and stuffed animals.
2. Shirling Sanctuary features one of the region’s most beautiful old-growth forests. But it’s not open to the public. Shirling Sanctuary is named for Albert Shirling, a high school biology teacher, naturalist, and writer who penned a book called Birds of Swope Park in 1920. His love for the wild parts of the park was so well-known that, in 1953, the Burroughs Nature Club (now the Burroughs Audubon Society) named the nearly ten-acre preserve after him. The specific place was chosen because Shirling thought it to be one of the park’s most beautiful. When the Kansas City Zoo’s Africa exhibit expanded in the 1990s, his sanctuary was absorbed into the Zoo’s holdings. Today, it remains behind Zoo fences for security reasons. Tour groups are periodically granted permission to access the Sanctuary. If you’d like to visit, keep an eye out for cleanup days sponsored by KC Wildlands.
3. Swope Park’s history has long been yoked to golf. When the park was originally established at the turn of the 20th Century, players would line up to hit balls at a series of holes near the park’s Grand Entrance. This ultimately became a problem for streetcar riders headed for the zoo; play had to be regularly halted so pedestrians wouldn’t get beaned with golf balls. Shelter Number 1 was once a concession stand and gold clubhouse, and 20 original wooden lockers can still be found in its basement today. And in the 1930s, the Swope Memorial Golf Course was designed by legendary golf architect A.W. Tillinghast (a big deal among golfing types). Though some changes were made over the years, the course was restored to Tillinghast’s original design in 1989.
4. Thomas Swope’s sensational death often overshadows the history of the park. Swope built his fortune in real estate in the Kansas City area dating back to before the Civil War, when he began buying up tracts of land that he’d would later sell or lease at great profit. When he was in his seventies, Swope moved in with family in a mansion in Independence. Suddenly, one of Swope’s nieces died of a hemorrhage. Then Swope himself died in 1908, and several other family members later contracted typhoid, which led to one of their deaths. Eventually, nurses became suspicious, and Bennett Clark Hyde, a doctor treating the family who had married one of Swope’s nieces, became the prime suspect in their deaths. He was convicted of murder in 1910, though the verdict was later overturned, and Hyde moved to Lafayette County, where he practiced medicine until he died two decades later. --April Fleming
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FEATURE
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
er wants and needs when it comes to park lands. But, she says pointedly, “Once this land is gone, it’s gone. Even the sites that are degraded [by invasive species] are just as important as the other sites for maintaining the functionality of our natural ecosystem, air quality, soil quality, and flood control.” Swope — a huge green space with a healthy, forested river habitat — is also a major home for native birds and hundreds of other species of migrating birds. Elizabeth Stoakes from the Burroughs Audubon Society says that dozens of varieties of warblers and scarlet tanigers (which are prized by birders) stop for food and rest in the park on their way from South America to Canada. Orioles, nuthatches, and flycatchers, too. “I do get concerned,” Stoakes says regarding development within the park. “Swope Park is one of the nicest pieces of urban forest that we have, and it’s been with us a long time.” Invasive plant species in the park — winter creeper and honeysuckle, mostly — pose the gravest threat to Swope’s future, though. Groups like KC WildLands (with some financial assistance and the blessing of Parks and Recreation), expend continuous effort in battling back these species in places like the Shirling Sanctuary and Rocky Point Glade. But money’s tight, and almost all the work is done by volunteers, so the fight is sporadic. “Winter creeper is at Shirling Sanctuary,” Lehrbaum says. “Eventually it gets up into the trees and produces fruit. Winter creeper and honeysuckle choke off the native trees. Once those trees die, they can’t come back. We are looking at the destruction of our entire natural forest. Even the areas we don’t consider super high-quality still serve a very important purpose to our local ecosystem.” Lehrbaum says she believes the Parks system is aware of the problem and wants to do something about it. But from her vantage point, it’s far from a top Parks priority. Ultimately, for Swope Park to thrive again, the city will have to step in and invest significantly in its future. In addition to a lack of funds for beautification, the Parks
Blue River encircles Shirling Sanctuary. APRIL FLEMING
Fishermen congregating at Lake of the Woods . ZACH BAUMAN
Department has a $65 million deferred maintenance problem. Much of this relates to Swope, where the historic shelters, stone picnic tables, flower beds, and many of the roads are in need of attention. There are also accessibility issues for disabled patrons that have yet to be reckoned with. Rynard sees potential in reaching out to massive national funding organizations that promote public health, like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Surrounding Swope Park is KC’s East Side, where life expectancies are lower and health outcomes are poorer than in the rest of the city. An improved Swope might help ameliorate some of these issues. “I’ve worked in every district that we have — I’m very familiar with all areas of the city,” Garrett says, his voice rising a bit. “I just want the people that live in this area and everywhere to know that we are doing our best with the resources that we have to try to maintain this park up to a high standard like Loose Park and Roanoke Park. It only takes more people that love the area, and love the park, to get involved.”
JULY 22-28
thepitchkc.com | JUNE 2019 | THE PITCH
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CAFE
CAFE
ISLAND TIME HAWAIIAN BROS. BRINGS THE PLATE LUNCH TO BELTON. BY LIZ COOK
A few years ago, finding a Hawaiian plate lunch in Kansas City was nigh impossible. Now, the casual meat-and-sides meal is spreading like sugar cane. Hawaiian Bros. Island Grill opened in Belton last year along a stretch of North Avenue peppered with big-boxes and chains. At the time, it felt like a gamble. The Midwest isn’t exactly the epicenter of island cuisine; Belton isn’t exactly the epicenter of metro dining. But diners flocked to the bright teal building and lined up at the drive-through window. The restaurant quickly expanded to a second location in Lawrence, with a third slated to open in Overland Park in early June. The name merits a disclaimer upfront: the “bros” in question aren’t Hawaiian. Brothers Cameron and Tyler McNie grew up in Oregon, where their family owned and operated a small chain of quick-service restaurants called “Hawaiian Time.” That fact alone may be enough to set off alarm bells for cultural appropriation watchdogs. Doubly so when coupled with the interior of the restaurant, which conjures a tourist-oriented vision of an idyllic vacation island. The bright, breezy interior has an “Aloha from Hawaii” postcard mural (by California artist Kerne Erickson), cheesy-cute palm tree wallpaper, and a hightop table made from a gleaming surfboard. Diners can spoon through a Dole Whip — a soft-serve dessert that originated not in Hawaii but at Disneyland — while listening to pleasant, island-inflected coffee-house music with noodling steel guitar.
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But this isn’t a story about white guys Columbus-ing. The McNies aren’t claiming to have “discovered” the Hawaiian plate lunch, nor are they “elevating” it with fussy, nontraditional adornments. In other words: they aren’t giving it the poke treatment. The plate lunch was built on cultural exchange. The meal emerged in the late 1800s as a quick lunch for pineapple plantation workers, many of whom had emigrated to Hawaii from Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. The protein varied accordingly, but the sides were nearly always the same: a dome of mayonnaise-based macaroni salad and twin scoops of white rice. The plate lunches at Hawaiian Bros. are faithful recreations. The meals arrive in compartmentalized take-out containers that segregate the scoops of white rice and macaroni salad from the meats. Nearly everything on the menu is under $10, and portions are generous. I do not have a small appetite, and my “large” plate had enough meat and rice for two meals. In some ways, the Midwest feels like a natural place for the Hawaiian plate lunch to land. The meal is humble, hearty, and unmoved by changes in seasons, with few fussy or hard-to-find ingredients. It snaps into Midwestern foodways like a LEGO brick. My meals at Hawaiian Bros. were streaked with odd, nostalgic flashbacks to funeral lunches in Iowa church basements (this is not a criticism: church basement food is a distinct genre with unassailable comforts).
Can’t choose between the Molokai Chicken (left) or Luau Pig (right)? Order a mixed plate. ZACH BAUMAN
Nowhere does this connection feel stronger than in the restaurant’s elemental macaroni salad: salty, not sweet, with a thick, tacky dressing that generously swaddles each firm noodle. The McNies’ version HAWAIIAN BROS. ISLAND GRILL
Hawaiian Bros. Island Grill 1112 E North Ave, Belton, MO 816-425-4437, hawaiianbros.com
Hours: Daily, 11 AM–9:30 PM
Prices: Plate lunch: $6.50–$11.95 Sandwiches: $9.50 Sides: $1.50–$3.50
Best bet: Order the Spam musubi and the Molokai Chicken plate lunch. Grab a pineapple Dole Whip for dessert.
isn’t fancy. It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. (Lily-gilders can grab a glass jar of the restaurant’s “rice seasoning,” a jade-green furikake mix heavy on the seaweed and sesame. It’s good shaken liberally on everything, but it’s especially good on the macaroni salad.) I can already hear the self-proclaimed food snobs crowing, so I’d like to say a few words about mayonnaise-based pasta salad. Is any food easier to dunk on? Is any dish less likely to appear on the menu of a trendy, small-plate awards magnet? And yet despite the opprobrium, the dish is unbeaten in crowd-pleasing comforts. It’s a ruthlessly efficient vehicle for everything I crave: salt, fat, refined carbs, a flimsy pretense of greenery. That may be one reason why the Hawaiian plate lunch hasn’t spread as rapidly across the mainland as other island exports. The dish seems so unhip — so far removed from the “foodie” brand of aspirational eating — that writer Mitchell Kuga proclaimed the plate lunch “impervious to food trends” in Saveur last year. (Kuga also called the dish “un-Instagram-able,” which seems to me to both over- and underestimate the #influencer set.) But day laborers and working-class cooks have always found ways to make magic with less “fashionable” ingredients. Hawaiian Bros. nods to that legacy with its Spam musubi: a thick slice of grilled Spam affixed to a brick of sushi rice with a daub of mayo and a drizzle of teriyaki sauce. The whole package is encircled in nori like a napkin ring. It’s perilously cute, and it also happens to be delicious. Each serving arrives tightly wrapped in cling film, which both preserves the structural integrity of the brick and gives it the appearance of a grab-andgo gas station snack — which, in Hawaii, it is. At $2.50 a serving, it’s also a good value. Though I polished my musubi off in a couple impolite bites, the combination of rich meat, firm rice, and salty-fatty sauce left me feeling full before my plate lunch arrived. The first plate lunch I tried was the Huli Huli Chicken: a competent, if unadventurous take on teriyaki chicken. The bite-sized pieces of grilled chicken thigh were tender, and the mild, thin sauce rightly skewed more savory than sweet. The Honolulu Chicken had a slightly thicker sauce, though it wasn’t much bolder. A heavier hand with the supporting players — garlic, green onions, sesame seeds — might help the dish stand out. Restraint was a boon to the Luau Pig: tender morsels of pulled pork clothed only in a light perfume of smoke. If you prefer saucier pork, the restaurant offers two proprietary bottles: a teriyaki sauce (it’s fine; it’s teriyaki sauce) and a pineapple barbecue sauce (oversweet but solidly spiced). But my favorite of the proteins was the Molokai Chicken. Each morsel was judiciously coated with a slightly smoky and
CAFE
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Above: Grilled vegetables are lightly charred and drizzled with teriyaki sauce.
Left: Bright lighting and cheery island imagery. Right: Grilled Spam and sushi rice are tied with slender strips of nori to make the Spam musubi. ZACH BAUMAN
faintly sweet sauce the color of burnished mahogany. The version I tried had a slight, G-rated kick to it, as though it had recently kissed a jalapeño on the cheek. (The restaurant’s take-out menu notes that the dish can also be ordered “HOT.” I’ll go this route next time, and I fully intend to order it again). The meats are plated on top of a thick bed of rice, making the scoops on the side seem like overkill. For a modest upcharge, you can swap grilled vegetables for one or more of the rice scoops, and I recommend this route unless you’re a famished farmhand. The vegetables were better than I expected from a quick-serve restaurant. On one visit, I sampled a politely charred, teriyaki-kissed mix of broccoli, zucchini, mushroom slices, and chubby strips of onion and red pepper. This is the curious draw of Hawaiian Bros.: nearly everything is better than I expect from a quick-serve restaurant. The counters are gleaming and spotless, the single-stall restroom is the size of a dance studio, and the young staff members seem genuinely delighted to be there. On my second visit, I watched a busy cashier deliver dollsized cups of the day’s Dole Whip flavors to a table of preteens unbidden. “I just thought you might like to sample these while you wait,” she chirped. They did. About those Dole Whips: I’ve had the Disney version in Orlando and find this one
to be a faithful recreation. The dairy-free dessert has a texture somewhere between Cool Whip and ice cream, with a soft, subtle pineapple flavor. The flavors rotate, and you can swirl the pineapple with the fruit du jour, but the unadulterated original is the best introduction. The weak spots in an otherwise strong menu are the sandwiches, which heap one of the restaurant’s signature proteins on an enormous sweet Hawaiian bun. The insides of the soft bun were smeared generously with a spread that tasted like mayonnaise but had the unsettlingly white color of correction fluid. The Huli Huli sandwich was messy, and the Luau Pig was even messier. Both sandwiches quickly devolved into Slip ‘N Slides of sauce. Still, I’ll sacrifice a few napkins to the McNies’ brand of convenient comfort food. Skeptical though I am of most rapid restaurant expansions, I can’t deny Hawaiian Bros. has nailed the business plan. The restaurant is fast, frugal, and, perhaps more crucially, fun. It’s also probably expanding to a suburb near you. Cameron McNie told me by email that the Bros. are working on a fourth location in North Kansas City (and eyeing a few other spots as well). The Hawaiian plate lunch, it seems, is winning over landlocked diners. It may not be so “impervious to food trends” after all.
Line drawing by Peregrine Honig Photography by Jeff Evrard Produced by April Dion of April Communicates Assisted by Ashli Harris Graphic Design by Gabby DeFonso
Brought to you by:
Model: Phoebe Rain Film by Frankie C. Makeup by Shayla Nash & Ashley Myriee Accessories/Styling by Sarah Bender & Rissa’s Artistic Design
Brought to you by: Photography by Jeff Evrard Produced by April Dion of April Communicates Assisted by Ashli Harris Makeup by Shayla Nash & Ashley Myriee. Models: Jodi Hendricks, Super Flowa & Mo Film by Frankie C. Accessories/Styling by Sarah Bender & Rissa’s Artistic Design
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FOOD
ON AND OFF THE AVENUE KC’S HISTORIC NORTHEAST IS RIFE WITH CULINARY GEMS. HERE ARE A FEW. BY APRIL FLEMING
In the old days, KC’s Northeast neighborhood — roughly: Cliff Drive to Truman Road, the Paseo (now MLK) to Blue River — was made up of immigrants of the Italians, Irish, and Jewish variety. These days, it’s even more diverse, with Mexican, Ethiopian, Central American, Sudanese, and Vietnamese immigrants added to the rich cultural stew. The food has followed suit — and much of it is quite good, and quite cheap. Below, a guide to some of our faves on and around Independence Avenue.
Next-level tacos are hiding inside El Korita.
APRIL FLEMING
Taqueria El Korita 6225 Winner Road Taqueria El Korita is hidden away near a confusing three-way intersection at Winner Road, Independence Avenue, and Beacon Road, and it doesn’t help that the entrance somehow faces away from all three of those streets. Once inside, though, it’s worth the trouble it took to find it. Start off by ordering a Michelada (a humongous beer served in a goblet with tomato juice, spices, and lime). You’ll also want at least two of the restaurant’s namesake tacos, the El Koritas. They’re served with shrimp, steak, roasted poblanos, onions, and heaps of avocado and pico de gallo on an oversized thick tortilla. They’re huge, $3.50 apiece, and — without question — some of the best tacos in the city. Mansion Coffee
2821 Independence Avenue
If the curtains are open at the historic Byers Mansion, then Mansion Coffee is open. Let yourself in, gawk at the stately home, relax on the antique furniture, and enjoy Loren Fleming’s lattes, cortados, and espressos. Jubaland Grill
1315 Independence Avenue
At Jubaland Grill, diners can try hard-to-find East African dishes such as African beef stew, mandazi (fry bread), goat meat and rice, and Americanized selections like Philly cheesesteaks and fried fish. One of its best items, though, is the sambusa, which is kind of
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Peter May’s offers almost impossible Old-World charms.
the Somali version of a samosa: stuffed with ground beef, onions, and peppers, fried until crispy, and served with a spicy relish. Each sambusa is the size of a fist and costs $1. Like most spots on Independence Avenue, Jubaland Grill is light on frills, but the service is friendly and the prices are even friendlier.
APRIL FLEMING
Peter May’s House of Kielbasa
1654 Bristol Avenue
This obscure, family-run sausage shop — it’s about a mile south of Independence Avenue, not far from 435 — has been operating since 1928, specializing in house-made smoked pork kielbasa. The kielbasa recipe
was passed down from Peter May himself, who immigrated from Poland after the First World War, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anything comparable anywhere else in town. We recommend the pork sausage sandwich (just $3), but you can also pick up other diner classics here, including burgers,
FOOD
reubens, pork tenderloins, and even breakfast. (Pro tip: pick up a burger with pork sausage on top — an off-menu specialty.) Eleos Coffee House
3401 Independence Avenue
Eleos Coffee House is a lot of things. It’s a coffee roaster specializing in fair-trade beans. It’s a place where you can get a very reasonably priced pour-over, latte, or regular drip coffee. It’s a cafe that serves breakfast and lunch fare, much of it healthy, including items like chia bowls, pesto grilled cheese, and seasonal soups. And it’s a ministry that welcomes all kinds, including those who are down on their luck. Food, drink, compassion in a part of town that often needs more of those things: We’re into it. El Torito III
6200 Independence Avenue
We’ll visit any El Torito location whenever we can, and the Independence Avenue location is no exception. At this one, customers can stop in the supermarket to pick up high-quality cuts of meat (often cut to order) and pre-marinated proteins, including al pastor pork and shrimp ceviche. (The market is also a destination for Mexican pas-
tries, snacks, hot sauces, and fresh produce.) The taqueria next door features an impressive menu that includes tacos, of course, but also tampiqueña, carnitas, chilaquiles, sopes, and fajitas. And margaritas. Generous, lovely margaritas.
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Boulevard Bakery
2815 Independence Avenue
Looks are deceiving at this modest bakery, a beloved local fixture in the Northeast. What appear to be run-of-the-mill sugar cookies, icebox cookies, doughnuts, and pastries are anything but. The cookies are impossibly soft, to the point they almost dissolve in your mouth. The doughnuts are next-level fluffy and not too sweet. These people know their way around a treat. Call ahead to order custom cookies and cakes for parties. And that’s not all! Other NEKC spots to hit: Taqueria y Pupuseria Lupita (536 Hardesty Avenue), El Indio / Pollos Asados Al Carbon (4819 Independence Avenue), Frutopia Paleteria and Ice Cream / Gringo Loco (3825 Independence Avenue), Taqueria Super Taco (3616 Independence Avenue), and Elvira’s Cakes (3838 Independence Avenue).
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EAT
Eat ThisNow HARP BARBECUE AT CRANE BREWING COMPANY
Kansas City’s barbecue scene is as crowded as it’s ever been — good for us ravenous carnivores, but not as good for aspiring grillmasters looking to make a name for themselves. Tyler Harp has managed to stand out in that scrum of smoke after only a few months of serving up barbecue on Saturdays at Crane Brewing Company, in Raytown. Harp’s love of barbecue and its techniques is borderline obsessive. He travels all over the South, learning from the country’s greatest pitmasters. He’s been to Texas many times over to educate himself about brisket. He’s spent time in West Kentucky and North Carolina learning at the feet of whole-hog masters. He says — earnestly, with modesty — that his ultimate goal is to make the best barbecue you’ll find anywhere. What Harp is doing at Crane (for now, it’s every Saturday, from noon until sellout) suggests we ought to take the man seriously. Burnt ends, sausage, and KC-style ribs — all delicious — are available, as are brisket (juicy, ridiculously thick) and pulled pork (heaping piles). Those latter two you can order in traditional sandwich form or as a taco served on luscious pork-fat Caramelo tortillas with jalapeños, pickled red onions, and a lime. Customers can also opt for add-ons like pickled strawberries, cheesy corn, and a tangy green apple-jalapeño-cilantro slaw. Presumably, there will be more options soon, once Harp is able to utilize the full-service kitchen that’s currently under construction at Crane. Until then, go so you can say you remember when you could only get this stuff on Saturdays. --April Fleming APRIL FLEMING
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THE PITCH | JUNE 2019 | thepitchkc.com
DRINK
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Pool days are one of the only ways to fight the increasingly hot summers here in the Midwest. Ah, but all those little kids running around! We say: head to the pool at Parker at the Fontaine, the rooftop bar atop the Plaza hotel. Lean into the R&R vibe and order a City of Fountains cocktail. The drink, developed by bartender Devin Clay, is spicy and sweet, with Cruzan rum, habanero shrub, mango puree, fresh-squeezed lime juice, and a little simple syrup. It’s served in a coupe glass with a chili, lime zest, and salt rim. Best of all is the house-made mango popsicle, dusted with chili powder, that sits in the glass. Let the popsicle melt into the drink, naturally chilling it and adding extra sweetness. Or pull it out and eat it by the pool with your feet in the water. Either way, your day has just improved exponentially. --April Fleming APRIL FLEMING
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ARTS
PICTURE THIS AN AFTERNOON AT IMAGINE THAT!, A DYNAMIC HUB FOR ARTISTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES. BY EMILY COX
It’s Community Collage Day at Imagine That!, a Crossroads studio for artists with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and I’m sitting beside Johnny B, one of my favorite artists. The center of the gallery is filled with tables covered in magazines, glue sticks, and scissors to make collages. We — Johnny, other Imagine That! artists, myself — are sorting through stacks of old magazines like National Geographic, Better Homes & Gardens, and Vogue, seeking striking, collage-friendly images. Johnny’s a prolific collage artist, and his work is humorous, irreverent, strange; it often includes crudely drawn smiley faces pasted over glossy magazine models’ faces. Captions range from the absurd to the political. In a few weeks, the collages created today — both by the public (people like me) and Imagine That! artists — will be displayed as part of “Paper Cuts,” the studio’s First Friday exhibition opening. Students with developmental disabilities are often segregated into special education classrooms at school, and as adults it’s rare to find people with those disabilities socializing in the same kinds of spaces as those without. Imagine That! endeavors to do the opposite: to center its artists in the larger arts community and society in general. “What has surprised me working here is that it’s just so easy to be around people with developmental disabilities,” says Jillian Youngbird, who has worked at Imagine That! since its founding in 2012. “These people here are my best friends. It’s made me realize how sad it is that they’re just separated from the time that they’re children. It’s such a shame, a waste. It’s a loss for everyone.” The organization’s aspirations go beyond the making of art and extend into helping set goals for the artists’ personal and creative development and facilitating outings that help Imagine That! artists make connect with others. “We introduce people into the community, making sure they’re going places and meeting new people and building relationships,” says Jessica Fahey, who organizes outings for the studio’s artists. “Some people don’t get to interact with anybody with a disability or see anybody with a disability.” Imagine That! now boasts a roster of 63 artists, with around 30 in the building on
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any given day. The organization’s move, two years ago, into its current building near 20th and McGee streets, increased capacity, but there’s still a waitlist for new artists. “I wish more could come,” says Youngbird says. “We can only hold so many people in the building at once.” Artists arrive each day and check in with their floor lead to see which room they’ve been assigned to for the day. Each space has its own unique offerings. The Lab has printmaking equipment and a large photography backdrop. The Bat Cave offers ceramics and fiber workstations as well as computer workstations for digital art making. The main studio space, The Sun Room, has ideal light for oil painting and houses an art reference library. There’s a music room with a recording studio, and a wood shop, too. As for the outings: some days, it’s a gallery or museum visit, others it might be bowling or the zoo. They do some volunteer work, too, at organizations like Connections to Success and Harvesters. The public is welcome to stop by anytime the studio is open, but First Fridays is when most outsiders see for themselves what’s happening at Imagine That! Visitors can buy art just like at any other gallery, though it’s cheaper; most is in the $520 range. “We try to make sure every artist has at least one piece of artwork every month, so everyone has an opportunity to sell work,” Youngbird says. It’s an 80/20 split, with artists receiving 80 percent of the sale price. In keeping with Imagine That!’s goal of
KELCIE MCKENNEY
eliminating silos, the staff supports the artists by helping get their work into as many outside gallery exhibitions as possible. Johnny B. — his last name, like all Imagine That! artists, is withheld from the public to comply with HIPAA privacy rules — was featured on Missouri Bank’s art boards, and he had a solo exhibition at Plug Projects last year. Rickey M. had drawings included in the city’s Art in the Loop project. Several artists’ work have been exhibited in Ireland. Conversely, Imagine That! exhibitions regularly feature guest artists from outside the studio. “We’re an art studio for artists with
developmental disabilities, but we want to project the fact that we are a gallery, these are artists, and we want to make sure they’re always integrated with the rest of the arts community as much as possible,” Youngbird says. In April, KCAI student Miranda Pratt held her senior thesis show here, and May’s exhibition featured local artist Alex Savage. Some Imagine That! artists are coming straight out of high school, which makes the learning of interpersonal skills an essential part of their time at the studio. During my visits, I saw staff gently redirect and remind artists of boundaries and expectations. When an artist named Sean eagerly led
ARTS
me to the art storage room to show me the skateboard decks he’d painted, Youngbird reminded him not to barrel through the slower-walking artist ahead of us. Another artist, Brandon, tended to keep headphones on most of the day, but employed a variety of inside jokes to tease staff members. In order to encourage him to interact more with the other artists, the staff has implemented a rule that allows for teasing sessions only after he’s kept his headphones off for thirty minutes. From this, Brandon has created a series of artworks featuring the words “You better watch out or you’re going to have to socialize with your peers,” which became the title of May’s exhibition. (Brandon is also an accomplished musician. During my tour, I heard what I thought was music on a stereo. Then I realized it was Brandon playing the organ in the music room, one song after another, all from memory.) Youngbird emphasizes that the relationships forged at Imagine That! are mutually beneficial for those with disabilities and the staff — many of whom are artists — alike. “Everyone here is amazing, and everyone here is really empathetic, and everyone is kinda weird,” she says. “You have to be
kinda weird to work here and navigate all the different personalities and situations. This is, like, the one place you get to be as weird as you want. No judgement.” Staff working nearby shout their assent. “And for me personally, it’s been eye-opening for my own art and my own practice,” Youngbird continues. “Artists overanalyze and are very judgemental of themselves. It’s very freeing [to watch Imagine That! Artists] just make what they want to make. They just do it. They don’t think about it. I think everyone should work with some artists with developmental disabilities at some point.” Back at Community Collage Day, Johnny has finished a piece featuring a magazine photo of a man in the nude swinging a hatchet on an icy pond. With some staff collaboration, more elements are added to the collage: images of fishes swimming under the pond, a sweatshirt for the nude man, a pair of pants to float in the water. Johnny inks “‘You need to be careful with that!” over the image, with some staff assistance on spelling. Later, when I finished my collage, I stuck it on the gallery wall next to Johnny’s.
MUSIC
PROJECT POETRY RAP AS HYPERLOCAL STORYTELLING ON A’SEAN’S ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY. BY AARON RHODES
A’Sean Everette walks across a parking lot toward a playground outside the Greenleaf Apartments in Northeast Kansas City. “A lot of shit I talk about comes from reminiscing on this place,” Everette says. “I got a lot of stories from this motherfucker.” He points at the drab, white one-story apartment building where he once lived. He used to stare out the window at the people on the street and invent stories for them, which he’d turn into spoken-word pieces with titles like “Project Window.” Everette spies a man walking awkwardly down the sidewalk and spins a quick, fictional narrative: He used to sell drugs back in the day, then he got his spot taken by somebody else, then he formed a habit himself. Northeast KC looms large in Everette’s work. He attended Blue Valley North High School (thanks to a relative’s home address), but he spent a lot time here, starting around the age of ten and through his teenage years, and he recently moved back after living in the 50s off Troost. On his new album, One Big Happy Family, he treats it both as setting and subject. It’d be a beautiful thing if your dreams could prosper / But how could I think I’m alive if all I see is monsters, he raps on opening track “Hotel Rwanda,” referencing the neighborhood’s lack of resources and the warlike horrors it can unleash. The song is followed by the graphic “Muney’s Pain (Victim),” in which Everette details the anxiety-ridden lifestyle and the traumas endured by his lifelong friend and fellow rapper Ray Muney: gun battles, crack houses, depression. I shed so many tears, goes the hook. It took a while for Everette to embrace darker and more mature themes in his music. He started out sending diss tracks to high school classmates who were rappers, then began making party songs with his friend and producer Jacob Walton, aka
[Walt], before the pair evolved to their current, more focused state. “I was not emotionally ready to talk about this shit at first,” he says, settling into a seat at the playground’s miniature picnic table. “I’d try, but the songs wasn’t good, and I wasn’t saying the right shit to get it to come across and really be able to express myself.” Now, at 22 years old, Everette feels he’s up to the task of taking on more adult topics. In addition to his own personal growth, he credits the controversial (and now deceased) rapper XXXTentaction with popularizing a more emotive style of rap that he’s been able to incorporate into his overall aesthetic. And One Big Happy Family — the title is vaguely satirical; “The music’s all fucking sad,” Everette says, laughing — indeed bleeds with emotion. “Open” and “Home” are Everette’s most vulnerable love songs yet. “Blue Pill” unpacks the hypocrisy he observed growing up in a religious family. “Daddy’s Dearest” addresses his father’s acts of domestic abuse and periods of absence. The first half of “PeeWee’s Song” chronicles how Everette’s mother cared for him as a child with rheumatoid arthritis; the second half reverses their roles, exploring a recent health scare his mother suffered. Everette hid his tears behind aviator shades while performing “PeeWee’s Song” last year at a show when his mother was in the crowd. Then there’s “Facts,” which sputters to life following the sounds of a radio dial being tuned, capturing the joy felt when an upbeat rap song hits your car stereo on a hot summer’s day. It might first come off like an ordinary radio song due to its playfulness and indulgence in ego, or even like an interlude (running at 95 seconds), but “Facts” shows Everette speaking his truths (I ain’t ever shot no gun / I ain’t ever sold no rock) and dishing out autobiographical details
“I was not emotionally ready to talk about this shit at first,” Everette says.
(Between Truman Road and the Ave., n**** / That’s where I grew my soul, I’m from the North Pole, so don’t ask, n*****). Everette celebrated One Big Happy Family’s release back in February with a concert in the theater below Westport Coffee House, where he was joined by [Walt], rapper SoulFoodSuede, and a pair of young poets. The mood was warm and intimate; Everette spent most of his performance rap-
AARON RHODES
ping alone from atop a stool. “If [rappers] sit down, it can be very boring,” he says, “but I feel like it puts the pressure on me to rap as well as I need to — to pull enough emotion out of me to make everybody in here look at the middle of the stage.” And for a few brief moments at that show, A’Sean pulled off a Herculean feat: he made Kansas City feel a little bit like one big happy family.
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MUSIC
HARRY STYLES LAWRENCE’S PAUL DEGEORGE REVIVES HIS BROTHERLY POTTER-PUNK ACT. BY NICK SPACEK
It’s been 13 years since wizard rock forefathers Harry and the Potters released their last album, Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love. Much has transpired in the Potterverse in the interim. For one, author J.K. Rowling put out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series. Potter fans have also seen the release of four films adapted from Rowling’s series of books, along with a stage play in London’s West End, plus two movies in the spin-off series, Fantastic Beasts. Video games, a theme park attraction, everything that happens in the online fan universe — it’s a lot. This month, Harry and the Potters — the act is based on the premise that there are actually two Harry Potters, and they play together in a punk band and sing about teachers who are werewolves and other Hogwartsian problems — will release a double LP, Lumos. The album is a look back at the final book in the series, and it seems to explore the ways the themes of that book remain relevant today. One song goes: Back when we were young, it felt like a story … But then we grew up, and the world grew dark. I wanted to know more about what was behind those lines. Lucky for me, Paul DeGeorge — who founded the group in Massachusetts with his brother Joe back in 2002 — lives in Lawrence, where, along with his wife, Meredith Moore, he owns the downtown art shop Wonder Fair. We sat down at Decade for tea recently and chatted about how Lumos connects the dots between a 12-year-old YA fantasy novel and the Trumpy world reality we’ve found ourselves living in. The Pitch: Why 13 years between albums? Paul DeGeorge: I think it had a little bit to do with the way that our personal lives unfolded, more than anything. To contextualize: the seventh Harry Potter book came out in 2007, and our last album was 2006. That was an era when we were playing 120 to 130 shows a year on the road, so we were super busy. At that time, we were fully employed by the band, and when we weren’t touring hard, we were at home working on the record. Then our lives moved into a different phase, where [Joe] was in college. And so, when he wasn’t in [school], we were touring. Then we just got further and further away from the book, and the band sort of took a
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The boys are back in town again; they’re hanging down at Hogwarts.
backseat to other things in our lives. It became sort of the “weekend warrior” phase of the band where we would still tour, but it was two weeks at a time, as opposed to two and a half months. We hadn’t lived in the same city since 2006, really, so we just had to kind of carve out the time. We started having these shows where people were really responding to our political songs from past records, and the political climate just forced us to go back and re-look at the book, ‘cause we were just like, “What is our place here, as a band in 2019?” And finally we just thought we could dig into these books in ways that have contemporary resonance. It’s funny, because I was listening to Lumos, and even knowing about the press release calling it “an album for this political moment,” I was wondering where the politics were. Then I heard “No Pureblood Supremacy,” and it all clicked. The last time I read [The Deathly Hallows] was in 2007, before we started working on the record, and as we started working, Joe was out here [in Lawrence], and we basically spent a week reading. We were sitting on the couch, reading, and we were making notes, and then we started writing. We were pulling out these themes we related to and wanted to touch on. The big ones in this political climate are “The Trace,” which is about the wizard surveillance state. There’s “On the Importance of Media Literacy Under Authoritarian Rule,” which is about the way Voldemort uses the media to his advantage. There’s The Daily Prophet, which in the wizarding world, sort of becomes state-run media, and the people who are working there are afraid to push back on authoritarianism
KIM NEWMONEY
and become this sort of mouthpiece for the Pureblood supremacist platform. You’ve been in the world of Potter fandom for a long time. But over the last 13 years, there’s been this explosion of media attention and content related to the Potter books. What’s it been like returning to the books after all that? I don’t think I’m alone in this experience, but I feel like contemporary fandom can carry a lot of baggage. To jump back into the book, it feels like a much more pure experience. All of that becomes disconnected when you’re just there, with the book, so it was just a really joyful experience to be re-reading the book again. Whatever you think of J.K. Rowling’s Twitter platform or post-canon material [laughs], the books are still there for you, so just jump back in. Is there a way to categorize Potter fans? Like, movie fans, and book fans, and maybe those who appreciate the way the two things intersect and diverge? I wouldn’t pigeonhole fans into those two or three categories — or, I would just add to them. In terms of the Harry Potter fan phenomenon as a whole, there’s a sort of corporate experience of that, and then there’s a fan experience that is frequently much weirder and more organic. Henry Jenkins, a media theorist who focuses on fan culture, has a famous quote that is, essentially, “Fan works exist in order to correct the flaws inherent in an original work.” So, that’s why you see race-bending and a lot of queer characters in fan fiction, because those are elements which are such a major part of the human
LISTEN
Lumos is out on CD, double vinyl LP, and digital download on Friday, June 21. Harry and the Potters perform at Shawnee’s Monticello Library on Wednesday, August 14. experience which are frequently overlooked because of whatever biases there are on the author’s side. And that’s why people love fandom so much. Would you say that Harry and the Potters exists as a way of expressing your own headcanon, then? In some ways, yeah. The premise of our band is that there are two Harry Potters that are fighting evil with the power of rock ‘n’ roll. It really stems from when I was first reading the books — I just had this idea like, Harry Potter has this sort of anti-authoritarian streak, where he’s not afraid to break the rules when the rules are wrong. It’s true of his friend group as well: Hermione, while she’s frequently by-thebook, also knows when the book is wrong, and she’s not afraid to confront that. I just had this thought in my head that Harry should have his own rock band, just fronting it up there like Henry Rollins — real aggressive. Harry has his angsty phases. I could see it. So, yeah, that was my headcanon: Harry in a punk band.
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FILM
FIVE JIM JARMUSCH MOVIES TO STREAM
Paterson (2016). Adam Driver is a kind, content adult who drives a bus for a living in Paterson, New Jersey. He also writes poetry inspired by the people in his daily life in this touching drama, streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). Having influenced music, science, and literature, two centuries-old vampires, played by Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, live quietly in the shadows of the modern world. Rent or buy this evocative drama on Amazon.
FOCUS FEATURES
UNDEAD ON ARRIVAL ZOMBIES AND LAUGHTER IN JIM JARMUSCH’S LATEST GENRE FLICK. BY ERIC MELIN
A zombie movie isn’t the first thing you’d expect to open the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, but The Dead Don’t Die, which hits theaters June 14, isn’t like any zombie flick you’ve seen. One way you know that is because Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed it. The legendary writer-director — Jarmusch has had 11 films at Cannes over the last 35 years and won the coveted Palme d’Or in 2005 with the Bill Murray drama Broken Flowers — makes films known for their deliberate pacing, philosophical musings, and a quiet stillness that allows viewers time to think. They’re intimate. The Dead Don’t Die is intimate, too, but it’s also laugh-out-loud funny. The sense of humor is dark and dry as a bone, but the movie maintains a genial quality throughout. It is also the least pretentious of the 66-year-old filmmaker’s movies, sometimes feeling less like a fully realized film than a mischievous hang-out session with the uber-talented usual suspects from his previous films — Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, as well as musicians Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, and the RZA. Yet despite its essential silliness and the fun it has with genre tropes, the Jarmusch Zombie Party also manages to let some of that patented Jarmusch melancholy creep in as well. In between the flesh-eating and the beheadings (which themselves are never played for laughs), The Dead Don’t Die is elegiac — a sort of funeral for 20th century Americana.
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Murray plays Cliff Robertson, the tired police chief of Centerville, Pennsylvania, a sleepy town with a population of 723. Ronnie Peterson (Driver) is his no-nonsense partner, and with officer Mindy Morrison (Chloë Sevigny), the trio makes up the entirety of the city’s police force. They first sense something is amiss when it’s still daylight at 8pm, and the next morning, two people are found mutilated in the diner. Is it the work of some kind of wild animal? Or several wild animals? When Cliff and Ronnie are alone, Ronnie states the truth as he sees it: “I’m thinking zombies.” It’s refreshing to see a world where The Night of the Living Dead already exists, and you don’t have to wait for the characters to catch up to what’s going on. Setting the movie in George Romero’s home state is no doubt a tribute, and the zombie pioneer is even referenced by name — as is Sturgill Simpson, who sings the theme song and later shows up in a cameo as a guitar-dragging zombie. Why is Tilda Swinton a Scottish samurai mortician who prepares dead bodies with drag makeup? Because she’s Tilda Swinton, that’s why. The Dead Don’t Die has enough winking self-reflexivity to make Deadpool blush. It’s refreshing, and it leads to some of the film’s biggest laughs, though it can be maddening if you’re trying to find an emotional marker. The movie’s zombie invasion, and Ronnie’s measured reaction to it, is a metaphor for the wacko political environment we live
in and the apathy that allows it to continue. If little acorns keep landing on our head, it doesn’t mean the sky is falling. Or does it? In The Dead Don’t Die, the pundits on the radio say the Earth has swung off its axis, but insist it’s not the result of polar fracking. The irony, of course, is that people are still deflecting blame. When an environmental apocalypse disrupts every living (and undead) creature on the planet, it’s a little late for that. Although Jarmusch is directing his actors to deliver his signature brand of low-key performances, that doesn’t mean the movie itself is subtle. Like the dire climate change warnings we’ve been getting lately from countless global studies, The Dead Don’t Die is as unmediated and direct as it gets, from its breaking of the fourth wall to its messaging. Jarmusch zombies talk, but it’s mostly just one-word exhortations of the thing that gave them joy when they were alive. This is an extension of another Romero idea, but it’s still pretty funny to hear zombies wandering around aimlessly, looking at their phones and bleating “Coffee!” and “Wi-fi!” On its surface, The Dead Don’t Die is a bit of a lark, but it’s also a warning. Jarmusch wants to wake us up from our tendency to accept the hostile aberrations around us as the new normal. Ronnie especially has a sense of resignation about everyone’s fate; he repeats throughout the film that he thinks it will all end badly. But if we know how the story is supposed to end, we can change it for ourselves, right? Through all the movie’s lighthearted pessimism, the most hopeful thought comes from RZA the Wu-PS delivery driver, who says, before everything goes to hell: “The world is perfect. Appreciate the details.”
Broken Flowers (2005). Bill Murray plays an aging former Don Juan who receives an anonymous letter informing him he has a son he never knew about. A road trip to visit former flames ensues in this quietly moving film about loneliness. Rent or buy on Amazon, Google Pay, or YouTube.
Dead Man (1995). This surreal, black-and-white western depicts a 19th Century America struggling with its identity during the age of industrialization. Johnny Depp plays a meek accountant. Now streaming on the Criterion Channel.
Down By Law (1986). Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni play incarcerated cellmates hatching a plan of escape. But the film centers less on the jailbreak and more on the relationships between these three very different men. Now streaming on Kanopy and the Criterion Channel.
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DISCLOSED HERPES IS INCREDIBLY COMMON — UPWARDS OF 50 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION HAS IT. BUT IT’S RARELY DISCUSSED. BY DAN SAVAGE
Dear Dan: Garbage human here. I’ve had herpes for about 15 years. The first five years, I was in a relationship with a guy who also had it. The last 10 years, I haven’t been in a serious relationship. I’ve been a (rare, drunk) one-night-stand type of gal, and I don’t usually tell the guy because, like, everyone has herpes. (I get that one in five isn’t everyone, but if you count HSV-1? I’ve seen numbers as high as 80 percent.) Frankly, it seems about as significant medically as minimally contagious mild acne. (Some risks to pregnancies and immunosuppressed people exist, and I know logically it’s not my call to determine what may be serious for someone else.) I justify nondisclosure to myself these ways, even though I know it’s not ethical. On the occasions where I have disclosed, I’ve been made to feel like a leper by dudes who 10 minutes before were begging me not to have to use a condom. I obviously have a lot of resentment over having this stupid thing and over the guilt I have around nondisclosure, and I suspect my history of casual sex is influenced by not wanting to deal with this conversation. Which brings us to now. What I thought was a one-night stand has turned into a months-long affair, and I’m amazed to report I find myself liking and respecting this guy. (I know, I know: If I really respected him, I’d have told him before I ever knew I respected him). What do I do? I have to tell him. But how? Is there any justification for what I’ve done? Can I just say, “Oh man, I noticed a thing and went and got tested and guess what?” That just adds to the lie. There’s no way I can have a relationship with this guy based on trust going forward, is there? I’ve fucked this up and I have to bail, don’t I? Am I going to be alone for the rest of my life? Deserves To Be Alone Dear DTBA: You’re not a garbage human, DTBA. You didn’t share something you should’ve — the fact that you, like upwards of 50 percent of everyone, have herpes — but weren’t obligated to. The problem with not disclosing, as you now know, is that casual sex partners have a way of becoming potential long-term partners. And by the time you recognize someone’s long-term potential, the stakes are so high that bailing looks like an easier option. “We don’t think DTBA needs to bail,” Momo and Felix wrote in a joint e-mail after reading your letter. “And we don’t think she’s destined to be alone for the rest of her life.” Momo and Felix are the cocreators of My Boyfriend Has Herpes, an Instagram account that has amassed more than 15,000 followers in just a few months. Using simple, direct prose and Momo’s charming illustrations, Momo and Felix educate others about herpes while sharing the story of their
relationship—from how they met, to Felix’s disclosure, to Momo’s initial hesitation to get involved with someone who has herpes. “Our stance is pro-disclosure, always, but we know this isn’t possible for everyone living with HSV,” said Momo and Felix. “Unfortunately, one of the significant pitfalls of [not disclosing early on] is the difficulty it adds to the potential of a long-term relationship. And while we don’t agree with DTBA’s choice to not disclose to her partners, we understand why she might have made those choices. The stigma against herpes is terrible.” Momo and Felix both feel — and I’m with them — that you need to be completely honest with this guy, even if it means the relationship could end. But it might not end, DTBA. He might have a disclosure of his own to make — he could have herpes, too — or the relationship could end for other reasons. You’ve been dating this guy for only a few months, and he could decide to end things for reasons that have nothing to do with the disclosure you’re about to make and/or your failure to make it sooner. Or you might learn something about him down the road that’s a deal breaker. (Have you searched his place for MAGA hats?) So how do you broach this topic? “She obviously cares about this person,” wrote Momo and Felix. “She made a mistake and she wants to make it right. DTBA needs to acknowledge her actions (opting for nondisclosure) and their impact (putting her partner at risk without his informed consent). DTBA’s partner may very likely feel betrayed or deceived. He might want to end the relationship, and his feelings would be valid. Unfortunately, all that DTBA can do is acknowledge her mistake, make herself vulnerable, and accept his reaction.” “But whatever happens, she doesn’t deserve to be alone,” they said. “We all make mistakes, and we all have the opportunity to do better.” Dear Dan: I’m a 24-year-old bisexual female, and the new person I’m dating just disclosed their HSV-2 status. I really like them and was all set to get intimate with them. But their disclosure made me change my mind. They are understanding but sad. But I feel terrible about it! They did the right, honest thing, and now they’re getting punished for it. Herpes isn’t dangerous, it’s usually not even symptomatic, and the social stigma (the chances of someone like ME saying no) is the worst part. I get all that, intellectually. And I’d still rather… just… not take the risk of becoming someone who has to have a slightly harder dating life, because of the stress of disclosing to judgmental people like myself. Have I perpetuated the stigma of having herpes because I’m scared of ending up
in the “life is harder now” group? Help A Reluctant Miss Dear HARM: I shared your letter with Momo and Felix, HARM, and they wanted to respond to you individually. But first a quick download: Herpes is caused by two different viruses: HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 is commonly called “oral herpes” and HSV-2 is called “genital herpes,” even though both are transmitted in similar ways—vaginal, anal, and oral sex, as well as simple skin-toskin contact—and both can cause sores on the mouth or genitals. Herpes is incredibly common: Some studies have found that more than two out of every three people have herpes. But most people who have herpes don’t know they do—which means that you could already have herpes yourself, HARM. “It’s HARM’s right to choose not to sleep with anyone for any reason,” said Momo. “But I do think that she’s perpetuating the stigma by rejecting someone just because they have HSV. I totally understand her concerns, and I had the same concerns before deciding to be intimate with Felix. But after doing my research and contemplating, I decided that I’d rather contract HSV than feed into the stigma. I don’t expect everyone to share the same feelings as me, but that was my choice. Plus, if she walks away from this person and keeps on dating, there’s a very good chance that a future partner might have HSV and not know it. So really, is she taking less risk by not dating them?” “Like Momo said, everyone has the right to choose who they do or don’t sleep with, regardless of their reasons,” said Felix. “Is HARM perpetuating the stigma against HSV? A bit. But I think her feelings are super-understandable. It’s important for people to educate themselves and take action toward dismantling the stigma, but to potentially take on the burden of living with the stigma is a huge leap. I don’t know if being concerned about becoming a victim of the stigma is the same as perpetuating it. But while HARM fears that contracting HSV will limit her dating life in the future, if she walks away from a relationship with potential, then her feelings have already limited her dating life.” Question for Dan? E-mail him at mail@savagelove.net. On Twitter at @fakedansavage.
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