The Pitch: December 2022

Flanks & Pranks

BY LIZ COOK

To honor his family farm, chef Andrew Longres crafts Midwestern cuisine in Parkville, MO. Acre bridges the gap between nostalgia and upscale interpretations on classic dishes, but struggles to innovate on their approach. The lavish presentation of menu items creates an exciting performance, but fails to commit to the role of luxury cuisine.

16

FOOD & DRINK

Snack Attack

Getting salty with Guy’s food empire

BY GRACE WILMOT

Guy’s Snack company is experiencing a revival. The company’s foundation of smoked herring and roasted peanuts evokes fond memories for boomers, but its more recent developments appeal to a younger clientele. The addition of brick-and-mortar deli spaces, a comedic Twitter account, and a THC-infused potato chip all promise new memories… or lapses.

23

MUSIC

Sounds of Eden Love Garden’s Kelly Corcoran programs Mass. Street’s permanent playlist BY DREW WINDISH Lawrence, Kansas has a bustling music scene, yet Love Garden stands tall as the only remaining record store in town. It remains a thriving community hub under the guidance of store owner Kelly Corcoran and his humanistic approach to music exploration. Audiophiles and casuals alike discover the magic touch that makes this place spin.

30

KC CARES KC Cares Heartland Song Network

BY BROCK WILBUR

BY BETH LIPOFF

BY SARAH SIPPLE

BY SARAH SIPPLE

BY GRACE WILMOT

BY HANNAH STRADER

BY PITCH STAFF

BY NICK SPACEK

BY KRISTEN THOMAS

BY DAN SAVAGE

Cassondra

Jones

Drew Windish

Zach Bauman

Editor-in-Chief Brock Wilbur President & Chief Operating Officer Andrew Miller Director of Marketing & Promotions Jason Dockery Associate Editor Steph Castor Community Manager Sarah Sipple Music Editor

Nick Spacek Film Editor

Olcese Calendar Editor Thomas White Little Village Creative Services

Jordan Sellergren

House Designers

Miroslav Pavlovic Cassondra Jones

Contributing Writers

Emily Cox, Liz Cook, Barb Shelly, Beth Lipoff, Michael Mackie, Kristen Thomas, Kala Elkinton, Michael Cripe, Jordan Baranowski, Tyler Shane, Justin Burnell, Emeline Hutton, Lauren Textor, Sophia Johnson, Isaac Biehl, Caroline Rose Newman, Nina Cherry, Adrian Torres, Patrick Moore, Kate Frick, Hannah Strader

Contributing Photographers

Zach Bauman, Chase Castor, Travis Young, Jim Nimmo, Chris Ortiz, Destiny Frack, Barry Meitler, Archana Sundar, Angela C. Bond, Anna Perry-Rushton

Contributing Designers and Illustrators

Alex Peak, John Alvarez, Jake Edmisten

Editorial Interns

Grace Wilmot, Ivy Anderegg, Drew Windish

VOICE MEDIA GROUP

National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

DISTRIBUTION

The Pitch distributes 20,000 copies a month and is available free throughout Greater Kansas City, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $5 each, payable at The Pitch’s office in advance. The Pitch may be distributed only by The Pitch’s authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of The Pitch, take more than one copy of each week’s issue. Mail subscriptions: $22.50 for six months or $45 per year, payable in advance. Application to mail at second-class postage rates is pending at Kansas City, MO 64108.

COPYRIGHT

The contents of The Pitch are Copyright 2022 by The Pitch LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the express written permission of the publisher.

The Pitch

3543 Broadway Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111

For information or to share a story tip, email: tips@thepitchkc.com

For advertising: andrew@thepitchkc.com or 816-218-6792

Letter from the Editor

SEVEN STAGES OF ACCEPTANCE

By Brock Wilbur

Congrats to you, KC, on yet another year under your belt. You’re looking good for your age. We know this year wasn’t ev erything that you’d hoped, but it sure as hell was more than we were promised. In this issue, we’ve patched together some must do’s—and must-don’ts—for your time off this holiday season.

I wanted to take a brief moment before we dive into the December issue to cele brate my favorite part of 2022: the return of concerts. Yes, in-person shows have exist ed in some form or another throughout the pandemic, but this was the first (almost) full concert calendar year, with few cancel lations/delays from illness, and events not grinding to a halt when the first snowflake fell and the outdoor venues shuttered for the season.

Here are seven on-stage moments that made 2022 what it was, at least for yours truly.

Kevin Morby at Knuckleheads

In a sold-out homecoming hootenanny, KC’s golden boy Morby swung through to obliterate the packed honky-tonk with a sequence of classic hits, sexy break downs, and barn-burning arrangements that heightened the—already stellar—new classics from This is a Photograph. This was the kind of spectacle that a local can only dream of, not just as a performer but as an audience seeing the return of a champion. Morby is at the top of his form right now, and we could not be prouder of our top cultural export. Continue to be our ambas sador. Slay, king.

Tell-Tale Electric Poe at The Coterie Theatre

We’ve never stopped singing the praises of Coterie’s dedication to excellent, original entertainment for crowds of all ages—and the sheer innovation behind each of their presentations. This Halloween saw the re turn and expansion of their Electric Poe show, wherein actor R.H. Wilhoit inter prets the work of multiple Edgar Allan sto ries while musician and composer Rex Ho bart provides accompaniment. One dude going bat-shit feral and reciting poetry

while another guy plays metal riffs on his guitar from the shadows of the stage? Just a dream production. Catch it again next year.

Phoebe bridgers at Starlight Phoebe.

That’s it. That’s the tweet. Send.

Murder by Death and Amigo the Devil at Lemonade Park

The coronavirus left us with few endur ing gifts. Okay, some of us haven’t fully regained our sense of taste, but let’s not count that. Lemonade Park was meant to be temporary, but this summer showed that keeping her around forever is gonna be a net positive for us all. Of all the fun under the sun we had in the converted lot, the bleak, dark country of these two acts made for the perfect evening of getting ab solutely blitzed and taking one out on the universe for all it’s taken from us. Revenge feels good in a place like this.

The 1975 with bLACKSTARKIDS at Ca ble Dahmer

Sure, Limp Bizkit and Yung Gravy brought delightful dirtbaggery to Dahmer earli er in the year, but the biggest stand-out show here… hasn’t actually happened as of this writing. That’s fine. We’re willing to go ahead and bet all our chips on black. BLACKSTARKIDS, that is! ‘75 is always game for the biggest visual show in town, layered atop absolutely wrecking-ball mu sicianship, and we’re glad they get a re dux on their 2019 show in KC, which got stormed out. But seeing BLACKSTARKIDS open for a world-class act on their home coming will inevitably yield the kind of memorable spiritual experience that came with catching Radkey opening for Foo Fighters. We spoke to BLACKSTARKIDS

the morning after they played Madison Square Garden, and holy shit, we couldn’t be prouder.

Thursday with Cursive at The Truman

The Truman continues to exist as an exten sion of The Pitch office, where we can be found at least two nights a week sending at least one emissary to the pit. This year, they were an absolutely behemoth, host ing everyone from IDLES and their levia than-sized riffs to Girl Talk’s musical mashup masterclass to the cartoonishly joyful wall of sound that only Sleigh Bells can conjure. But the highlight here in 2022— for us, masters of our domain—was the ar rival of the long-delayed Thursday/Cursive co-headlining tour. Thursday’s lead sing er ran the room, despite lugging around a broken foot, and Cursive’s Tim Kasher finally got to perform tracks from two al bums released during quarantine. Joined by LFK’s emo stalwarts The Appleseed Cast and singer-songwriter Nate Bergman, this was one of those nights where magic—and the screams of the damned—were certain ly in the air.

THUNDERGONG! at The Uptown

Coach Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, our pals in Hembree, and a bunch of celebrities doing live-band karaoke for a good cause—what more could we want from the sixth year of our favorite fundraiser? A seventh year, that’s what.

See you in the pit in 2023, KC. Let’s go harder than ever before.

Pitch in and we’ll make it through,

Abby

Sugar & Spice World

JON LOVITCH INVITES YOU TO GINGERBREAD LANE

By Grace Wilmot

It’s 4 p.m., and Jon Lovitch is hauling card board boxes full of constructed ginger bread homes from his Penske cargo van into the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. He’s covered 2,000 miles with what he claims to be 2,000 pounds of ginger bread, candy, and icing for his 50th iteration of Gingerbread Lane.

“This morning was exceptionally windy. My cargo van was wiggling, so I had to slow down. Living in NYC, the hardest part is actu ally getting out,” says Lovitch.

Amazingly, the majority of Lovitch’s gin gerbread village arrives intact and slowly fills a room in the northwest corner of the muse um. The sun is sinking into the horizon, and the glass panels allow streams of warm light to bathe tables cloaked in white.

Lovitch’s mom, Vickie Lovitch, and his aunt, Cynthia Cline, are cross-legged on the wood-paneled floor, meticulously applying red and green gumdrops to the front sides of the tablecloth with royal icing that dries with in minutes.

Vickie Lovitch denies that Jon Lovitch inherited any creativity from her, although she admits that she was always crafting in his younger years.

“I generally employ the help of one or two people at most at the very beginning stage. After that, I am too particular about how I want things,” Jon Lovitch says.

This year, he has relinquished a bit of control. Stephanie MacDonald and Sarah Franson graduated from Fort Osage with him. The three have kept in touch through Face book over the years, but today is the first time they’ve shared physical space in 40 years.

Their connection is palpable. An effort less banter complements the Christmas mu sic that is shockingly inoffensive considering it’s early November.

“There’s just a warm feeling that comes with being around someone you grew up with who understands you without requiring any explanation,” says MacDonald.

Jon Lovitch emits a certain warmth in

general. He confesses that he’ll anonymous ly hang around his exhibits, soaking in unfil tered reactions to his baked wonderland.

“Regardless of the state of the world, Gingerbread Lane has a nice escapist, albeit ephemeral, quality,” says Jon Lovitch.

It might come as a surprise, then, that an undercurrent of bitterness defines Jon Lo vitch’s persistent success. The concept was conceived in 1994 when Lovitch entered a gingerbread house competition in Prairie Vil lage called Gingerbread Lane.

“I lost, and I was really mad, so I ripped off the name,” he says.

For the past 28 years, his displays have grown in complexity and scale (although elements of KCMO like Topsy’s Popcorn, Crown Center’s Ice Terrace, and Union Sta tion’s train station remain), with appearanc es in D.C., New York City, and Norway. This year, following his stint in KC, Gingerbread Lane will appear at the Leonardo Art Mu seum in Salt Lake City and Essex Market in NYC.

Ten years ago, Jon Lovitch set the Guin ness World Record for the world’s largest gingerbread village.

“When I met my wife eight years ago, it was a selling point. And I used that—I put that in my first email with her,” Jon Lovitch says.

It was more recently that Jon Lovitch pursued Gingerbread Lane as a full-time profession as opposed to a passion project.

“I was running kitchens at some of the nicer hotels, like the Algonquin, in NYC. To give up the paycheck, the security, and what I’d been passionate about for 20 years… to

walk away from that was daunting. I was kind of done with it, though,” he says.

Jon Lovitch’s direction may have shifted, but his work ethic remains. He starts bak ing new gingerbread houses on the week of Christmas before the following season. His home in Queens, which he shares with his wife and four-year-old daughter, is eternally packed with gingerbread structures and de humidifiers.

“People come over and tell me, ‘Wow, your house smells so good.’ What is it that you’re smelling? Because I smell cat litter, laundry detergent, and the meal cooking on the stove. I am not picking anything up. I’m immune to it,” he says.

Jon Lovitch does eventually take a break. At the end of the year, once his gingerbread homes have been distributed to people as bird feed or next year’s decor, and before his baking really ramps up, he’s known to sleep often and ski in the Poconos Mountains. He’s eager to visit Snow Creek, where he learned to ski, when he’s back in Kansas City in January.

Gingerbread Lane will be available for perusal at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures (5235 Oak St.) until Jan. 15. Tickets are available for purchase at toyandminia turemuseum.org

(Top) Jon Lovitch displays a gingerbread house. Courtesy Jon Lovitch (Right) Vickie Lovitch sorts through materials. (below) A gingerbread neighborhood. Photos by Grace Wilmot

Puff-Puff Passed

MISSOURI’S LEGALIZATION LETS LUXURY LEAF LEAN IN

By Hannah Strader

Amendment 3 was a particularly divi sive topic, even among cannabis professionals. Many caretakers, home growers, small businesses, and even St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones opposed the legislation as it was written.

The primary concern among dissent ers was the proposed cap on licenses, which would essentially block many dispensaries and businesses from entering the market and give preference to more established companies with deep-pocketed inves tors. This would make it nearly impossible for Black-owned companies to raise the amount of capital needed to compete in the larger market while also limiting licenses granted to startups.

Still, opinions differ, and the vote was in favor. Most members of the Black com munity, and the cannabis community at large, are looking forward to decriminaliza tion and the potential for expungement.

“I have patients who come in here and say they got locked up for a joint in the ‘70s. They had to do 5-6 months in jail, and it’s white guys who are telling me this. It’s af

fecting everybody. It definitely affects my community super hard, but it affects every single person,” says Mike Williams, the gen eral manager and son of Luxury Leaf owner Adrienne Scales-Williams.

“[In some ways] I feel like I’m obligat ed to do what I’m doing, and I have to put my best foot forward. That’s why we do ev erything we do. I don’t want people to just come shop with us because we’re a Blackowned store; it’s much more than that. I like to say we’re bringing vibes to the legal side. I feel like a lot of people respect that and can relate to it,” he says.

Mike Williams and his brother Phil Wil liams recently relocated to Missouri to help manage operations at the Luxury Leaf store as it began to grow in popularity. They’ve both spent years educating themselves and expanding their horizons in cannabis. After taking a break to attend Morehouse College, Mike Williams moved to Michigan and tried his hand at growing and cultivating.

“When you grow the plants, you really learn about yourself because they’re like a reflection of you. If you don’t take care of

the plants, it’s going to show,” Mike Williams says. “You need to look at yourself and say are you having problems with consistency? Are you having problems with the routine? What’s going on with you? The plants aren’t taken care of, which means you’re not doing your job.”

The Williams brothers are definitely doing their job. They’re both working on the sales floor nearly every day, alternating one day off per week. Their mom has been at the current location since 2007, only transform

ing half of the building into a medical dis pensary in 2021. Their familiarity with the neighborhood and its residents has given them a unique advantage. The business is rarely lacking in customers.

“I think we’re doing good. It’s busy, but we’re keeping up,” says receptionist Liz Bak er. She’s the first step in the process of en tering the store. Medical users must present ID with their medical cards and be checked into the system before entering the sales floor.

A happy patron sports branded Luxury Leaf packaging. Courtesy Luxury Leaf

Baker is currently enrolled in the Can nabis Sciences and Operations program at St. Louis University, where she is learning about the plant more thoroughly through online courses. Among other things, stu dents are taught about terpene profiles, dos ing patients, and how to perform extractions.

“I’m for [recreational use], honestly. I think we should just go ahead and break that barrier. We can make it better, but we should at least put in a first step,” says Baker.

Phil Williams agrees. He has his own history with the legal system involving can nabis and has seen how legalization has regulated the market and made it safer for consumers.

“I personally know somebody who knows three people who have died from fentanyl-laced cannabis,” Phil Williams says. “Just being able to sell people a clean product where they know exactly what they’re getting—that’s been one of the big gest benefits.”

Phil and Mike Williams work not only as managers and budtenders but also as connoisseurs. Every product sold at Luxury Leaf has been personally assessed by one of the brothers for the highest quality brands. Additionally, they’re lowering the prices of products.

“We’re one of the pickier stores, but we curate our menu while thinking about the

patient first; profit second,” Mike Williams says. “In the cannabis industry, you’re go ing to make money. Many people love to in dulge, so I don’t want profit at the forefront. Let’s take care of the people first. That’s what I’m really big on.”

This is just one of the many ways Lux ury Leaf stands out. Budtenders know most of the patients on a personal level. Paired with the dispensary’s elegant design, room to roam, product selection, floor displays, and price points, the brothers were able to nearly triple their revenue in just three months.

“I think that dispensaries in Missou ri are going to see a major boom. I always tell people that we’re maybe seeing about a tenth of what we’re going to see in the rec market, so I think everyone is super excited about it. At the same time, when you run a dispensary, you have to be sure that you can handle that load. I think everyone is put ting in place little procedures to make sure we can handle the number of people who will be coming through,” Mike Williams says. “Once it goes rec, I think all of us will be running around like chickens with our heads cut off.”

Luxury Leaf is located at 1463a S Vande venter Ave. in St. Louis, Missouri. Find out more at luxuryleafstl.com

Ice Skating Season

Pass (2022 - 2023)

Crown Center Ice Terrace

We’re workin’ on our fitness. KC’s original outdoor ice rink is celebrating its 50th season. From now until March 2023, skaters can enjoy unlimited access (during business hours and weather permitting) to our beloved Crown Center Ice Terrace for just $120. Reservations can be made online. Skate rental, sharpening, and lessons are also available for additional charges. Now, let’s see your best hockey stop.

Crown Center Ice Terrace

2425 Grand Blvd.

Kansas City, MO 64108

Moxi Rainbow Rider Roller Skates

Legacy Skates

You’ve seen them everywhere, from TikTok to your neighborhood tennis courts. Moxi Rainbow Rider skates are an affordable and fashionable introduction to the resurgence of roller skating (thanks, Covid… no, really).

Available in three colors, these skates are ideal for beginner-level or casual roller skaters who are cruisin’ for a literal bruisin’ (everyone falls, it’s ok). Avoid possible shipping delays and swing by the Legacy Skates shop to snag a pair ahead of the outdoor spring fever.

Legacy Skates

2601 Madison Ave., Suite B Kansas City, MO 64108

Caffeinated Care Repetition

Coffee

Local coffee roasterie with exclusive access to small-batch coffee from across the world. Repetition emphasizes nourishing a direct relationship with coffee farmers and buying socially responsible products. The best coffee in Lawrence. Subscriptions and sample sets are available.

Available in stores and online at repetitioncoffee.com

elevates everyday use objects. For the foodie on your shopping list, we recommend the butter keeper. Safely store and serve perfectly spreadable butter, designed to be displayed on the counter, not in the fridge. The home cook in your life will appreciate the sleek stone oil cruet. Hand-crafted art not meant to be hung on a wall or saved for special occasions but used every day? That’s luxe.

Convivial 1026 Hickory Street, Floor 4 Kansas City, MO 64101 shopconvivial.com

style. The Latina-owned business prioritizes inclusivity by offering both pierced and clip-on earring styles. Expect quick shipping in darling packaging.

Available at lilasclayground.com and pop-ups around KC.

Lila’s Clayground Lila’s Clayground founder and maker, Priscilla, creates everyday jewelry with a variety of materials. Dainty gold necklaces, funky acrylic earrings, or lightweight silicone beaded hoops help you express your personal

KC Current Gear

Kansas City Current

Display your #CurrentRising spirit on your sleeve. Support KC’s NSWL team with a sweatshirt, jersey, or quintessential “I’m a soccer fan” scarf. Don’t wait for the new stadium to be built before reppin’ your fandom. Anytime is Teal Time!

Available online at shop. kansascitycurrent.com

Jungle House

Lawrence, KS

LFK’s beloved Plant shop where customers can find healthy and unique houseplants, get advice and care instructions, connect with other plant lovers, and get hands-on support for potting and other skills.

Jungle House

924 Delaware St. Lawrence, KS 66044

vegan coco apricot crème wax and phthalate-free, cruelty-free fragrances, get the perfect gift in white and gold travel tins with the following scents: “Warm Hugs,” “In the Mood,” and “Sexy Leather.”

Effing Candle Co. 3703 Main St. Kansas City, MO 64111 effingcandleco.com

Wandering bud Ceramic Pipe

Wandering Bud

Riley Brain’s signature bright, pearlescent hues and flecks of real 22-karat gold accentuate her intricately carved and painted ceramic pipes. If you’re ready to expand beyond phallic glassware and dude-centric cannabis culture, Wandering Bud’s floral and fruit designs—paired with a lovely strain of bud—make for a softer, prettier high.

Available online at wanderingbud.com

Cooking Class

Billie’s Grocery

Hands-on classes guide you through the preparation of a full meal and complementary wine and cocktail pairings in Billie’s expansive test kitchen. California-inspired dishes & Australianinspired cocktails cater to the healthiest of nuts amongst us.

Billie’s Grocery

3216 Gillham Plaza, Suite 100 Kansas City, MO 64109

batch #16 Chili Oil

James Chang’s next mouthwatering original chili oil batch drops Dec. 4. Word has it that this one includes honey. The nectar goes quickly. Get yours before it sells out. More info TBA.

Watch for product updates on Instagram @jchang.kitchen

George Strait but I Ain’t Tee

Cunntry Legends

Saddle up those presents with some tailor-made western finds. This tee offers the iconic George Strait signature with a subtle subheader to defy heteronorms. Cunntry Legends’ online store presents a multitude of cow-town apparel and accessories for those a little bit queer, a little bit fun, and a whole lot of country.

Available online at cunntrylegends. bigcartel.com/product/but-i-ain-t

“Canoodle by The Fire” Candle Tin Gift Set

Effing Candle Co.

Stay “lit” this holiday season with Effing Candle Co.’s newest cozy candle drop. Made with slow-burning

KC Mavericks Tickets

Cable Dahmer Arena

Brrrrrreak the ice with friends, family, and loved ones for the 22-23 ECHL hockey season with the KC Mavericks. The signature sports team of the Cable Dahmer Arena awaits triumph to be shared with Kansas City fans. #growthegame

Cable Dahmer Arena 19100 E Valley View Pkwy. Independence, MO 64055 (816) 252-7825 tickets@kcmavericks.com

For Strange Women Perfume

Amulet

For Strange Women Kansas City’s women-owned and gender-neutral indie perfume shop illuminates landscapes and atmospheres buried deep within the subconscious. Amidst the overwhelm of modern living, hand-cut perfume amulets available in quartz and glass allow you to unearth those landscapes and atmospheres at any given moment. For the sensitive & escapist.

For Strange Women

115 W 18th St., Suite 107 Kansas City, MO 64108

Vintage Apparel & Accessories

Good Cult

An eclectic mix of structurally sound attire in funky patterns & prints. Devon Sheridan’s one-woman sustainable clothing collective offers statement pieces for everyday wear.

Available online at shopgoodcult.com

bra of the Month Club Subscription

Birdie’s Panties

For the most impressive babes whose undergarments are as gorgeous as their overgarments… Birdie’s offers a monthly subscription to quality, curated bras ranging from emerging designers to established European brands.

Birdie’s Panties

116 W 18th Street Kansas City, MO 64108 birdiespanties.com

J. Chang Kitchen

Pitch Membership

The Pitch (unashamed plug)

For the friend who prides themselves on having the inside scoop about all things KC, level up their inbox and mailbox with a Pitch Membership. At only $5/ month, the Pitch Membership supports our local, independent journalism while granting them access to exclusive Pitch newsletters, discounts, and monthly giveaways, plus home delivery of the print issue each month. The artful, glossy mag is the perfect coffee table enhancement.

thepitchkc.com/member

Deluxe HydraFacial

The Glam Room

Give the gift of a cool down from the holiday rush for that busybody you know. The Glam Room serves as an oasis in the heart of downtown. With quality medical spa and salon services to an abundance of high-tier hair products, the Deluxe HydraFacial deep cleans and invigorates, offering a relaxing take on high-end beauty and skin care.

The Glam Room 308 Delaware St. Kansas City, MO 64105 theglamroomkc.com

Kansas prairie between Lawrence and Topeka, Saltwell Farm Kitchen offers an intentional menu with local ingredients that are sure to immerse any foodie in the power of a homestead kitchen. Engage in a celebration of local farmers and culinary experts through an 8-course seasonal dining experience. Gift cards and private dinners are available.

Saltwell Farm Kitchen 214 N 800 Rd. Overbrook, KS 66524 facebook.com/saltwellfarmkitchen

Zum Winter Pine Line

Zum by Indigo Wild

A fragrant mix of all your nostalgic holiday season favorites. Zum’s all-natural products offer the perfect arrangement of sharp and refreshing goat milk bar soaps, mists, and candles made with plant-based ingredients, essential oils, and nonanimal-tested products.

Available online at indigowild.com/ collections/zum-holiday-lineup

Curated Art Supplies/ Fine Art/ Printmaking

Wonder Fair Art Gallery

For the creative homebody, style their portfolio with art supplies, stationery,

prints, zines, and other ephemera at Wonder Fair. Their cat, Dave, will be sure to show you the finest selections in stock. Keep the art ecosystem sustainable with art prints, journals, and a multitude of useful objects to enrich any artist’s workspace.

Wonder Fair

841 Massachusetts St. Lawrence, KS 66044 wonderfair.com

Jewelry & Accessories

Annie Austen

What started as a brother/sister duo making mask and glasses chains at the height of the pandemic, Annie Austen is now an expansive jewelry and accessories shop with nickelfree and hypoallergenic goods. Their jewelry line of snakes and the celestial collection are two of our favorites, but it’s their collabs with local businesses that really shine—just peep the Café Cà Phê Collection, and you’ll see.

Annie Austen (located at 12th St. Post/ West Bottoms Plant Company) 12th and Liberty Kansas City, MO 64101 shopannieausten. com

books

mission behind this Midtown bookstore.

With an expansive collection of diverse books and events ranging from Feminist Book Clubs to book release meditation sessions, you won’t be hard-pressed to find a gift for the reader in your life.

BLK + BRWN

104 1/2 W 39th St. Kansas City, MO 64111 blkbrwn.com

Flagship Books

Strawberry Hill’s Flagship Books has quickly become a neighborhood staple, selling new and used volumes with a heavy emphasis on local authors, LGBTQ+ writers, and authors of color, with offerings for readers of all ages. They also host fun events, from a monthly open book club (the best kind of book club: free discussion with no assigned reading!) to a Dec. 19 craft night with maker space Secret Handshake Studios.

Flagship Books

600 Ohio Ave. Kansas City, KS, 66101 bookshop.org/shop/flagship

Gay Spoons

Umeshiso

Admittedly, we also didn’t know we were looking for queer utensils. But Umeko—“nonbinary, mixed race, disabled, a proud gaysian”— Motoyoshi has filled that void with their coffee supply shop Umeshiso. And the

spoons are just damn pretty—each made in creatively colored metals like rose gold, galactic grape, and rainbow. Sizes range from teeny tiny espresso spoons all the way to the Big Dipper—designed for all your sipping or slurping needs. Oh! And they have chopsticks, too.

Available online at umeshiso.com

Local Streetwear

Wasteland Society

Post-punk angst and Kansas City street style meet harmoniously in Wasteland Society’s apparel. Screenprinted in-house on ethically sourced garments, the collection of graphic tees, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and hats proclaim strange and existential messages that we can’t get enough of. “Death to racism,” “Fuck SCOTUS,” and “Life sucks but there’s always a party.” Yes, yes, and yes. Your nihilist friend is gonna love it.

Available online at wastelandsociety.com

Flanks & Pranks

ACRE IS WEIGHED DOWN BY TOO MANY SAFE BETS

By Liz Cook

“We do things a little differently here,” the server said, and I felt a jolt of electricity course through my body. Restaurants have mostly retired that cliche by now—to resur rect it in 2022, they’ve gotta be doing some thing truly shocking, like delivering French fries via t-shirt cannon.

She continued. “We’ll have you put in all of your order at once, from appetizers through entrees, and the chef will course it out for you.”

Oh. Okay. Right.

To be fair, Acre, which opened in Parkville in August, hasn’t branded itself as an iconoclast. Chef-owner Andrew Longres cut his teeth at dependable outposts for fine dining, including a tour as the French Laun dry’s sous chef and executive chef roles at The American and Bluestem.

Fans of the latter will feel right at home in Acre’s sedate greige dining room, which echoes a few Bluestem design tropes (local firm Herron + Partners designed both dining rooms). The menu’s sensibilities are simi lar, too. Everything at Acre is made in-house, from the sauces to the buns, using local pro

duce and proteins whenever possible.

One self-imposed constraint: everything the restaurant serves could—at least, theoret ically—be grown at Rolling Acres, a Liberty, MO farm that belonged to Longres’ grandpar ents.

The name “Acre” is an homage to that farm. But it might also be a reference to the length the restaurant will go to decant little tureens of things into other things. Across my three visits, every course seemed to have some component that needed to be poured at the table—Fairy Tale pumpkin soup over a cherries-and-sorrel garnish, almond cream over a piece of trout, cognac cider over an ap ple cake. Even the Wooded Acre Martini ($16) was decanted tableside, with the excess pre sented in a little cork-stopped glass jar. I began to wonder if my dinner was being watched by a pervert with an extremely specific fetish.

Fortunately, the martini warranted some pageantry. I like to grouse about offbeat mar tinis, but the Douglas fir character in Acre’s version was just-right, adding complexity to the drink without overwhelming it.

ACRE

6325 Lewis St., Parkville, MO 64152

(816) 321-2958, Acrekc.com

Hours: Tues-Sat, 5-10 p.m.

Cocktails: $14-16

Appetizers: $6-17

Entrees: $18-70

Best bet: Sip on a Peach Shrub and Soda ($8) or a Wooded Acre Martini ($16) while you crunch through a bowl of fried Wisconsin cheese curds ($12). For your entree, order the Crispy Pickled Chicken ($25).

That martini is a menu fixture, but much of the cocktail menu at Acre changes frequent ly; Longres tells me bartending staff and gen eral manager Kyle Bennett collaborate on the cocktails, most of which have novelistic ingre dient lists. The Hunters Moon ($14) boasted aged rye gin, sweet vermouth, an unspecified aperitif, duck fat, black currant, cranberry, sage, bay leaf, and burlesque bitters.

Could I detect a third of those ingredi ents? No. Was the drink assertive and fun with a pleasingly astringent finish? Absolutely.

At times, those menu descriptions can feel more prankish than evocative. The Gun slinger ($14) sounded stiff and smoky, prom ising blended scotch and peat alongside cit rus and spices and casein (a milk protein). But the drink was bluntly sweet, like an extra-hon

eyed Penicillin. By contrast, the Spellbound ($14), a split-base rum drink with warming spices and ginger and lime, was the brashest and booziest-tasing cocktail on the menu.

The beer list feels creaky and underde veloped, given the restaurant’s Midwestern spotlight, but the wine selection is decent, and everything is available by the glass or bottle. The alcohol-free drinks also shine. The non-alcoholic peach shrub and soda ($8) was the best drink I had, with a warm blush from smoked chili and cinnamon and a bright vin egar tang to cleave through the orange soda.

The menu mixes steakhouse classics (dry-aged ribeyes, beef tartare) and more nos talgia-inflected Midwestern dishes. I enjoyed the smoked Caesar salad ($11), which adds fried saltines, chunky pickled shallots, and pepperoncini rings for fun and texture. And on my first visit, I loved the Crispy Wisconsin Cheese Curds ($12), plump and lightly/crisp ly breaded, served with a dense pimiento cheese for dipping. But when I ordered them again on my second visit, the order looked like it had come from the tail end of the fryer bas ket: more crumble than curd.

The steaks are a focal point of both the menu and the dining room. A cooler filled with dry-aging ribeyes greets guests next to the host stand, and the open kitchen offers an expansive view of strip loins sizzling on a wood-fired brasero-style grill (custom built for Acre by J & S Welding in Holt, MO).

My 14-ounce ribeye ($70), dry-aged for 40 days, was a showpiece with a beautiful (and flavorful) salt crust. It was also overcooked— though ordered medium rare, it arrived well past medium, with a pale pink center. The sides, too, seemed more style than substance. The butterball potatoes were the size of sau sages and just as appealing, with taut, glossy skins. But the potatoes were lukewarm and bland; the veal glaze’s main contribution was fusing potato skin to my teeth. A ramekin of smoked horseradish crème fraiche helped, but it, too, seemed overly chaste. I can think of a lot more entertaining ways to blow $70.

It’s these more generically tony entrees where Acre struggles most; Longres’ heart doesn’t always seem in it. There was nothing technically wrong with an Idaho ruby trout almondine ($38) with Minnesota wild rice and charred pole beans. But it was an upscale version of a meal I’ve been served at a dozen Sodexo-catered charity banquets—better in gredients, but still bland.

The best dishes here tend to be both the most casual and the least expensive. The dryaged Black Angus Burger ($18) was cooked precisely to order and nearly perfect, with a lightly charred and salt-crusted patty, crispy bacon, and tangy red onion marmalade—not too sweet, as onion jam often is, and sparkling with vinegar and hot sauce. The house-made bun was not bisected evenly when I ordered it—the burger’s bottom bun quickly disinte

Crispy Pickled Chicken and a Wooded Acre Martini. Photos by Zach Bauman

grated in the moisture from the patty—but for once, I didn’t mind the mess.

The most compelling reason to visit Acre may be the Crispy Pickled Chicken ($25), which is some of the best upscale fried chick en I’ve tried. The boneless chicken thighs and tenderloin were implausibly juicy—Longres uses pickle juice in his brine in honor of an old family recipe—and confidently seasoned with hot sauce, honey, and a heavy applica tion of fresh dill. And the square-cut garlic fries were so fresh and crisp they retained

The best dessert was also the least sea sonally appropriate: Maxine’s lemon cake ($11), named for Longres’ grandmother. The bright lemon cake was served in three wedges to boost the proportion of thickly glazed edg es. It was so good I didn’t question why it was being served with “summer berries” (straw berries, blueberries) in November.

Acre is the most fun (and the most deli cious) when it leans into its nostalgic impuls es—when it flirts with a little retro kitsch. But right now, the restaurant doesn’t seem willing

their crunch after a full day of languishing in a to-go box in my fridge.

The desserts, which Longres says are a collaboration between him and pastry chef Brooke Davis, are a bit uneven. The honey apple cake ($11) was both dry and shy on ap ple flavor, overpowered by the honey. But the restaurant seems to be making edits: when I returned a week later, the cake was gone from the menu. In its place was a pumpkin cheese cake ($11), which had a soft, airy texture clos er to a whipped pumpkin pie. It was fine in its own right, but cheesecake lovers may be dis appointed.

to commit to the bit. Flashes of brilliance and heart are weighed down with too many stol id, safe bets—beet and goat cheese salad, whipped ricotta and crostini.

If that’s what Longres wants to bring to Parkville, I suppose that’s fair enough. The full dining rooms across my three visits—a mix of families, couples, and conspicuous lawyers— suggest the restaurant is finding its customer base.

There’s no mandate that every restaurant “do things a little differently,” after all—just that it live up to its own ambitions. But Lon gres has the chops to take Acre farther still.

The best dishes here tend to be the most casual and the least expensive.

Snack Attack

GETTING SALTY WITH GUY’S FOOD EMPIRE

By Grace Wilmot

Envision a brown paper bag full of pea nuts. The oily blotches allude to the satiating, slightly sweet legumes coated in salt granules, and your brain might already be flooding with dopamine. And now envision a man named Guy—yes, Guy—delivering these brown pa per bags full of peanuts to corner grocery stores throughout KC.

Does your heart flutter? Do your pupils dilate? If your mind wanders to Epipens or in flammation, you’re missing the point.

The origin of Guy’s Snacks is as Midwest ern as it gets. Following his service in WWII, Guy Caldwell returned to Kansas City and purchased a home-sized peanut roaster. By 1938, Caldwell was distributing peanuts and potato chips throughout his neighborhood.

Within 10 years, Guy’s product line expanded to include pretzels, pickles, and smoked herring. Caldwell’s wife, Frances, packaged the peanuts and potato chips in brown bags, an image reminiscent of simpler pleasures and an illusion of simpler times. Guy’s packaging has taken on a more vibrant look since then, although their logo—a sun rise emerging between rolling hills—conveys a sensibility that underpins Guy’s salty snacks.

Guy’s wholesome, playful spirit is a prod uct of rebirth as the company endured. Let’s call them “darker times.”

Once Caldwell retired in 1979, the com pany was sold to Borden Dairy, who thought their DSD network would be a good fit for chips. It wasn’t, and the brand was bankrupt under another private equity brand by 2007. In 2008, Jack Joslin acquired ownership. He passed away in 2011, and his wife, Janine Jos lin, took over the company. Despite her ad mired efforts to return the brand to its original glory, her passion was elsewhere.

It was around that time that Andrew Miller, the current President of Guy’s Snacks, decided to cold-call the company: “I’m Andy, and I bet I can sell your chips better than the guy doing it right now.”

And so he did. By 2014, Miller had taken over their DSD, brokerage, and eventually to

tal ownership. “I get bored easily,” Miller says of his dedication to the cause.

His portfolio reflects this confession. Miller ran his first three bars by age 21. In 2007, his father requested that he leave his current position in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to help with his family’s company, Spanish Gar dens Food, of which he is currently the COO. In 2021, Miller launched what he deems an extension of Spanish Gardens Foods: Una Familia Tequila, KC’s first local tequila brand.

brick-And-Mortar Expansion

It’s thematically consistent, then, that when Joe Addington of Joe’s Pizza discussed retire ment in 2021, Miller immediately launched Guy’s Deli. Despite the massive undertaking of developing and growing Una Familia Te quila throughout the Midwest that same year, the deli’s shared walls with the historic Kelly’s Westport Inn posed an undeniable opportu nity for brand equity.

Perhaps this explains Guy’s preserva tion of Joe’s tried and true pizza-by-the-slice with a few minor tweaks to the recipe and a few additions to their lineup. Guy’s features monthly pizza specials: last month’s flavor was crab rangoon, and next month’s is Big Mac. Three months ago, they released the Dill Dough pizza, which has been so readily em braced that they’ve integrated it into their per manent menu. The Dill Dough pizza—whose name emerged via a Twitter poll—highlights a dill-infused dough, dill ranch, pickles, and banana peppers.

Miller’s true concern is Guy’s sandwich repertoire—it’s a sandwich, after all, not a pizza, that is traditionally paired with chips. Constructed between two slices of Farm to Market bread, Guy’s offerings include Italian

cold cuts, and hot pastrami, among others. Not to mention a peanut butter, grape jelly, and “barbeque” chip blast from the past.

Miller anticipates a second deli space in Lee’s Summit, as well as a bodega in the Crossroads, which is scheduled to open this winter.

“We want to engage with the neighbor hood and see what they want,” says Miller.

Guy’s Broadway Bodega will feature a full-service bar where you can grab break fast, lunch, and dinner. They’ll also feature fresh produce, bouquets by a local florist, and nightly specials that highlight restaurants throughout the city.

Flavor Collabs

Despite recent brick-and-mortar develop ments, salty snacks remain the focal point of Guy’s Snacks Corporation. Guy’s claimed rights to the first “barbeque” potato chip, and the company has tentative plans for a varia tion of their barbeque flavor in collaboration with Arthur Bryant’s. Other future flavor col labs include a sweet Maui onion potato chip

with Longboards and a wasabi potato chip with Gojo’s.

Beyond potato chips, Guy’s Tasty Mix— an assemblage of pretzels, cheese crackers, and cheese puffs dusted in a proprietary cheesy ranch blend—draws the long-time clientele.

“People remember having Tasty Mix in their sack lunches, including myself,” says Miller. “But we don’t want the brand to die on nostalgia… and that’s where our Twitter ac count feels relevant.”

“My dad grew up eating Guy’s barbeque potato chips, but people within my age brack et—people in their late 20s and 30s—had no familiarity with the brand,” says Jeremy Smith, who was hired to run Guy’s Twitter account last September.

Smith’s appointment was strategic. His background is in stand-up comedy, and he is unafraid of the margins. He suggested that Guy’s Deli try the viral internet pickle pizza, and he heavily advocated for its name. He’s also a sports fan—he’s notorious for posting during Chiefs games, and he’s garnered a lot of attention this way.

Guy’s Deli—accessible through Kelly‘s Westport Inn—serves late-night slices and sandwiches.

Photos by Grace Wilmot

Although Guy’s is not yet at a scale to dis tribute to the Arrowhead Stadium, the com pany is in partnership with Sporting KC (i.e., Guy’s Nuts) and the KC Pioneers, KC’s esports league.

“Not to be too stereotypical, but the e-gamers might be fans of the THC chip when it launches,” says Miller.

This brings us to Guy’s most recent col laboration with KC-based cannabis start-up: Franklin’s Stash House.

Munchies Squared

Before you deem yourself a comedic genius for considering the infinite snack loop that is a THC-infused potato chip, know that Miller is already fatigued by the bit. Jokes aside, potato chips are a classic remedy for the munchies. Much like Taco Bell’s audacious appeal to a stoner subculture, Miller has discovered yet another avenue to brand awareness.

“I am a fan of the cannabis industry, and I genuinely believe dispensaries will start having marketplaces, so why not integrate my brand into the space?” asks Miller.

Despite Miller’s seemingly non-stop for ward momentum, he did pause before adding the THC potato chip to his lineup.

“What would be the impact of taking a brand that people know and love and asso ciating it with something [i.e., cannabis] that still has—wrongfully so—a stigma?” asks Mill er.

His questioning pertains to brand equi ty and Miller’s perception of Guy’s Snacks as something fun and wholesome, much like Caldwell’s first iteration of the company.

The recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Missouri helps. Whereas potato chips, specifically under Guy’s Snacks, never really felt… medicinal—they absolutely align with the recreational market.

“I think Guy [Caldwell] would approve of THC potato chips as a branding opportunity,” says Miller.

Miller strives for inclusivity. He seeks to cater to a clientele who knew Guy Caldwell’s brown paper bags, younger generations who are only discovering the company through Twitter and late nights in Westport, and ev eryone in between.

Smith’s suggestive Twitter content, the deli’s Dill Dough pizza, and the anticipated THC chips are like the hidden vulgarity in children’s shows. They reach their targeted audience while maintaining enough subtle ty (or separation, in this case) to appease the more prudent among us.

“I cannot verify or deny whether Guy partook in marijuana, but I’d like to think that he did to brainstorm potato chip flavors,” says Miller.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. May be that’s the key to Miller’s creativity. None theless, Guy’s remains true to its origins: a straightforward snack company with a little something extra for everyone.

Ricotta Dumplings at The Town Company

BY SARAH SIPPLE

The Town Company

1228 Baltimore Ave.

Kansas City, MO 64105

Every dish at The Town Company elicits a double take after the first taste. The Ricotta Dumplings are a fall feature and an elevated version of comfort food you didn’t know you needed in your life.

Served as an entrée, the dumplings are prepared with butternut squash, green tomato, pumpkin seeds, and feta. Five expertly-formed dumplings by Executive Chef Johnny Leach are decadently rich, tangy from the ricotta, and doughy without being sticky. A pleasant crunch is added with toasted pumpkin seeds. The dish, as with all Town Co. fare, is designed to be shared, but this, alone, makes a filling main course.

This Ricotta Dumplings perfectly illustrate The Town Co.’s dedication to local ly-grown ingredients. The butternut squash is from Thane Palmberg Farm in De Soto, KS, and the feta is from Green Dirt Farm Creamery in Weston, MO. The green tomato is from Juniper Gardens Training Farm in KCK, which helps refugees start and operate independent vegetable farms.

Local farmers are not just a source of individual ingredients, but inspiration. “They are our heroes,” says Leach.

Mexicolada at Drastic Measures

BY SARAH SIPPLE

Drastic Measures

5817 Nieman Rd. Shawnee, KS 66203

Few places in KC take the art of craft cocktails as se riously as Drastic Measures. Co-owner Jay Sanders takes to social media to show the be hind-the-scenes of the estab lishment’s meticulous ingre dient curation. For example, while most bars use traditional lemon and lime juice, Drastic Measures concocts their own “super-juice” using citric and malic acid to expel oils in fruit peels. This creates a stronger juice with a longer shelf life.

This lime super-juice is apparent in the Mexicolada. Described on the menu as a “needlessly complicated piña colada riff leaning into fragrant cooking spices,” this bright drink is made with charred pineapple infused Uruapan Charanda Blanco Rum, toasted cumin-coconut cream, and lime super-juice. The Mexicolada goes down (a lit tle too) easily, starting a party on the tongue.

An honorable mention must go to the Measured Approach, which is Drastic’s take on an old fashioned, offering an unparalleled depth of flavor from bourbon and aged rum, grilled apple tincture, decanter bitters, and demerara sugar.

Cocktails cost around $14, and you’re likely to feel generous with your tip after ex periencing the level of service provided. The speakeasy-style entrance has a chandelier that lights up green when you’re able to walk in or red when the bar is at capacity

Sarah Sipple

Sarah Sipple

Mise en Place

By Kate Frick

Ice cream aficionados know that while summer cones drip, winter scoops stay frosty for each lick. Local shop lines can stretch for blocks during the warmer months. Maybe it’s time to consider a new season for your frozen treat fix. We caught up with Willie Justus, an ice cream connois seur, and owner of No Coast Creamery, to discuss flavor experimentation, simplicity, failure, vegan donuts, and how capitalism sucks.

What is your first memory of ice cream? My mom, grandma, and I used to go down to our small-town Dairy Queen, and we would pick up ice cream and then go sit on this old structure from a dilapidated bridge and just eat ice cream down by the river.

That’s dreamy. It wasn’t so dreamy. Have you ever been to the Illinois River? I would describe it as, perhaps, the opposite.

You have many interesting flavors. What’s your favorite? For me, it’s always about the chocolate, even though I work with experimental flavors. At the end of the day, I like a simple chocolate ice cream.

Is ice cream an emotional food for you? I guess it could be emotional and a stress food. Because, like, usually when I’m con suming my own ice cream, it’s like 10 p.m. I’ve worked my day job, I’m here, and I’m just eating random scraps out of the ma chine at the end of our churn cycle where we’re done producing for the day, and I’m just gonna like shovel way too much ice cream, and it’s fine.

You don’t have any aversions to dairy, do you? So, actually, this kind of ties in with the whole story. I was mostly dairy-free for a really long time, and my initial goal when starting this was actually to make vegan goods, believe it or not. I’m originally from Peoria, Illinois. And there’s just not a whole lot going on there, really. I had visited some West Coast cities where there’s always so much innovation. Everything that happens on either coast slowly just, like, trickles into the center of the U.S.—that’s not a diss be cause I’m a Midwesterner at heart—but I

was inspired to make vegan donuts. I made a couple of batches of vegan donuts, and they were horrible. So, I took a step back and thought, “You know what? I’m going to try vegan ice cream.” I quickly learned that ice cream is all about science and needs dairy and sugar. My first flavor was Earl Grey, and it turned out really well. I shared it with some friends, and a few liked it, and eventu ally, it cascaded a bit and I was making it for more friends.

I was a little burnt-out living in smalltown central Illinois and moved up to Mad ison, Wisconsin, where ice cream kind of went to the back burner until I worked for a chef. He was honestly kind enough to let me put ice cream on the dessert menu, and we did a little trio. Again, at that point, I still didn’t really have any true experience work ing in a commercial kitchen. I was one of those naive folks that were like, “Oh, I love to cook. I should work in a restaurant.” You know, that’s not necessarily a good reason to work in a restaurant. It’s not the same at all.

When I think back on it, that was so nice of him. He had gone to culinary school; he had tons of experience and multiple businesses. I feel like those are the kinds of people that you really need in the world— the ones that will just see some potential in someone or see some passion and just build on it. He pushed me to do flavors that I never would. He showed me how to freeze things with liquid nitrogen to shatter herbs and infuse them. So, I started producing again and offered a subscription service where you’d get one or two pints per month. But along the way, I was like, “Man, I cannot do Wisconsin winters.”

Do you think Lawrence can incubate ar tisan businesses? In all transparency, this is totally my side gig. I honestly don’t make any money from it. Everything that I make is just reinvested back into the company. I often wish that I could just make it a fulltime gig because I love the idea of provid ing something for the community that I’m passionate about. I feel like there should be some kind of support for that in society, and there just isn’t. I particularly think about landlords who own properties that sit va

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

WILLIE JUSTUS OF NO COAST CREAMERY GIVES THE SCOOP ON PASSION AND ANTI-CAPITALISM

cantly; Lawrence has so many open spaces. You’d think that these people would be like, “Hey, you know what? I want something cool for my community,” but that’s just not the reality of it. And capitalism sucks. Yeah,

we’re pretty anti-capitalist—as much as a business can be.

Production and inspiration; how do you find balance? For a while, I was selling out of a grocery store. It was kind of weird and soulless. It’s tough to just be in there and not interact with any customers and bust out, like, the same four flavors week after week. It felt draining and kind of just made me re alize, “Okay, this is not what the company was ever about.” So I had to stop doing that.

I have the curiosity of wanting to try every single flavor and try every ingredient that I possibly can.

If you weren’t making ice cream, would you go back to vegan donuts? I actu ally did make donuts once this year. They weren’t vegan, but they were pretty good.

There’s an amazing new donut shop in Lawrence—Taylor’s Donuts. It sounds like there’s some kind of future decadent partnership waiting to happen. Could you imagine that? It’d be pretty awesome. I would eat that. Yeah, you’d probably eat it and then, like, you know, keel over. It would be worth it.

Garden Mint Chip ice cream with local mint. Willie Justus enjoys a cone in the sun. Courtesy No Coast Creamery

33 RESOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

JAMS FOR A LONG, DARK DECEMBER

By Nick Spacek

There are less than three weeks until Christmas. Your family member/friend/part ner/weird Secret Santa pick at work is big into local music, but you have yet to decide what to get them. Please allow us to take you through a variety of recent local releases from which you might make your selection. We have you covered with country-tinged rock ‘n’ roll, dreamy indie rock, hip-hop flavored jazz, garage rock, psychedelia, and more.

Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy Grinding of the Stars (Self-released)

For this new LP, guitarist and singer Til Willis took a strippeddown power trio version of Erratic Cow boy to record in a 122 year-old barn on drummer Austin Sinkler’s property. Along with Eric Binkley on bass, the three of them thrashed out the basic tracks in the barn’s loft in May 2017. While there are overdubs here and there, the real appeal of Grinding of the Stars’ 10 tracks is the energy, verve, and live warmth achieved from those initial sessions.

The ever-so-subtle reverb from those century-old rafters leaves Willis and company’s songs sounding as if they’re right in front of you. The sheer rawness of “Cold Hum” will stop you in the middle of whatever you’re doing to sit and listen. While the album as a whole benefits from turning the knob on your stereo as far to the right as you possibly can, the one acoustic-based song, “Seed & Root,” saw Willis step out of the barn and climb inside a silo to record his vocal and guitar, with all the reverb on that particular track from a mic he “ran high up the silo’s concrete wall,” per the musician’s Facebook.

Grinding of The Stars is available on black vinyl and digitally at tilwillis. bandcamp.com

Dooms Shellshine (High Dive Records)

but their new project together, Dooms, marks a newfound collaborative pro cess for the pair.

While Dooms’ debut album, Shell shine, was recorded almost four years ago, bringing these songs to comple tion took some time, with Dollar learn ing all the skills needed to self-pro duce—engineering, mixing, and so on. Dollar also collaborated with Conroy on the songwriting and performing.

The end result, however, is a collection of songs that see the pair branching out and letting the music breathe more than one might expect from Conroy and Dollar’s time together in their previous band, La Guerre. Re plete with sparsely insistent drums, ob scure samples, and scintillating guitars, the time spent working on this album is readily apparent and well worth the wait. The band’s name is well repre sented in songs such as “number’s up,” with the lyrical passage, “The worst part/ I’m pretty sure that I’m unable to give up on love/ It’s too tough/ And be ing my own best friend is a bummer.”

Shellshine is available on black or “doublemint” green inside blue vinyl and digitally at highdivekc.com

member of and guitarist for the Stan dells. Here we also have Elan Portnoy of The Fuzztones, Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge, and Eric Ambel of the Black hearts, among others.

Riot on Kansas City Strip is a well-produced collection of originals like the amped-up opener “You’re Worth the Risk” or slight-but-fun and keyboard-inflected “Scooter Girl,” alongside covers of the Standells’ “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White,” Barry McGuire’s “Eve of De struction,” and the Rolling Stones’ first top 40 hit, “Tell Me.” Your enjoyment of the album is likely to be determined by how much one can tolerate vocal rang es limited by age, but the backing band is tight as hell, and the arrangements draw forth vibrant life.

Riot on Kansas City Strip is avail able on banana yellow vinyl at joeys kidmore.com

Lizard brain Trust

The David Christ Memorial Indoctrination Fund for the Cure (Dumb Ghost)

Featuring 3/4 of longtime pop-rockers Podstar— drummer JP Redmon, guitarist Aar on Swenson, and singer/guitarist Cameron Hawk— alongside Seth Chandler, one might assume that Lizard Brain Trust would be a catchy, Big Star-worshipping af fair. It is not. Fronted by Chandler, the band’s debut album, The David Christ Memorial Indoctrination Fund for the Cure, took two years to come together, was recorded in three different states, and is an indie-rock melting pot of in fluences.

the band cracks up in the background. It’s a wild ride that feels hidden in the stacks of a college radio station, forgot ten since 1994, and brought back to life for a new generation. Eric Bachmann and Robert Pollard would be proud.

The David Christ Memorial Indoc trination Fund for the Cure is available on compact disc and digitally at lizard braintrust.bandcamp.com

Eddie Moore Intuition (Self-released)

Eddie Moore’s new album Intu ition is over far too soon.

Coming in at just a few seconds over 24 minutes, the eight songs from the Kansas City-by-way-of-Houston pianist leave the listener wanting more Moore. The minute that Jaylen Ward’s drums hit on instrumental opener “Skatepark Days” and Moore’s synth and piano work begin strolling along; the listener is absolutely hooked.

Equally balanced between instru mental workouts and songs with fea tures from Dom Chronicles and Kemet Coleman, alongside vocals from Yung Mehico (who also lends saxophone to “No Time”) and Branjae, Intuition is a brilliant, exceptionally chill album. Even “Jazz Mercenaries,” with its war rior-adjacent title, is more focused on the idea that “nobody knows what to do with [Moore]” other than getting in a fight. Jazzy while also floating ethere ally on a hip-hop vibe, Moore’s solo de but makes the statement that he’s here to raise the level of what can be done.

Intuition is streaming through all major digital music services.

Musicians Katlyn Con roy and Orion Dollar have been making music togeth er for over half a decade,

The Nuclear banana Riot on Kansas City Strip (Supernova Productions) Joey Skid more has fronted the Joey Skid more Band for more than three de cades. Open ing for a cavalcade of classic garage rock acts as part of his annual Skid-ORama since 2015 has put the longtime rocker in contact with many legends of the genre, bringing this supergroup to life. Most notably, The Nuclear Banana features Tony Valentino, a founding

The band claims Guided By Voic es, Sebadoh, Elliot Smith, and New Order as touchstones, and while you can hear elements of all of them, what seems to be the real touchstone for Liz ard Brain Trust are all of those early to mid-’90s acts signed in the post-grunge alt-rock boom who got one album on a major and a minor single which re ceived a couple weeks’ airplay before fading away. All of these songs tap fa miliarly at the back of your brain until you remember something by For Squir rels or Triplefastaction.

Tinged with the eclecticism of Da vid Lowry with Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, their CD also includes a song called “Six Kids from Bayside,” wherein Chandler croons in a talk-sing ing tone about Saved By the Bell, before declaring, “That’s it!” while the rest of

The Moose Renaissance (Desert Animal Records)

After The Moose’s previous album,Spa ture, their follow-up, Renaissance, feels posi tively brief. That epic release stretched to nearly two hours, and we described it at the time as “the sprawling psychrock journey into madness you need right now.” While nowhere near Spa ture’s length, Renaissance still sees the Moose leaning into “the first modula tion, the destruction of the macrowave from human error, the over-saturation of all the things people want you to see,

and more” on an “upbeat, psychedel ic journey.”

It’s the kind of album that makes you wonder if maybe you were sur reptitiously micro-dosed before put ting your headphones on, resplendent as the Moose’s music is with fuzz, echo, delay, and all of the flourishes. Paired with droning and brilliant use of motorik rhythms, this conveys the sensation of strapping yourself to a rocket that’s on its way into the outer reaches of the cosmos. Everything is blown out and distorted, and by the time the final track “Macrowave” marches to its conclusion, it’s time to hydrate and take a nap.

Renaissance is streaming on Spotify.

The Architects

Border Wars Episode 3 (Self-released)

On a Wednesday afternoon in early November, the various social media accounts of the Phillips brothers, along with long-dormant accounts for their equally dormant rock band, The Ar chitects, came to life with a sudden surprise: the third installment of their Border Wars series of EPs was finally available. To put it in perspective, Episode 1 came out almost exactly nine years prior, Episode 2 followed in 2014, and since then, the last music we’d heard from the band was the track “Josie,” appearing on a Wiretap Records benefit compilation called Attention in 2019.

That particular track is what kicks off Border Wars Episode 3, and there’s no better example of what the Architects do (did?) so well. With big rock riffs, anthemic hooks, and the feeling that you’re listening to a band coming all the way live from an arena stage, it perfectly sets up the seven tracks that follow, like the barrelhouse rockabilly punk of “Eddie Cochran (Wannabe Rockanrollers)” or the chunky Clash riffs of “Dead Man’s Gun.” While frontman Brandon Phil lips and drummer Adam Phillips have kept busy with their dance-rock band Other Americans and Brandon’s solo electronic project Mensa Deathsquad, it’s been a long, long while since we’ve gotten properly rocked like this, and we certainly hope this portends something more.

Border Wars Episode 3 is stream ing on Spotify.

SOUNDS OF EDEN

LOVE GARDEN’S KELLY CORCORAN PROGRAMS MASS. STREET’S PERMANENT PLAYLIST

By Drew Windish

Pushing through the swinging entrance door of Love Garden is an experience defined by the store’s sheer zeal. The shelves stretch with record selections long and divergent. Suspended album art, while jumbled, strikes a harmony with its interior wood paneling. Most guests quietly browse albums filed between the playfully sketched dividers. Others remain engrossed in con versation about the compositions of both mainstream and underground tracks.

Upon checkout, you’re likely to meet the store owner himself, Kelly Corcoran. He’ll hold your record as carefully as he would the store’s wandering cat, Chardonnay. If you’re interested, he’s sure to share his favorite com ponents or some out-there tidbits of the re cord’s history—information born of immers ing himself in the Lawrence music communi ty for over 20 years.

Love Garden has served local artists and music lovers for more than three decades. Located at the heart of downtown Lawrence, the record store stands as an invitational time capsule to audiophiles everywhere with re cords, compact discs, and cassettes—new and old.

The store remains a staple in the com munity, which can be attributed to Corcoran’s

intentionality with business and guests. He prefers to uncover and assess music trends through conversation rather than spend hours in isolation analyzing music graphs. He believes human connection is far more im portant when it comes to a store’s growth and community.

“I try to stay curious,” says Corcoran. “I try to look at stuff and understand what the value to the person is. Where’s the emotional con nection that’s made there? That’s something I learned through having to watch formats and people’s interests change, generationally.”

Corcoran became Love Garden’s owner back in 2004 when it was located above The Toy Store. Still staking its claim on Massachu setts Street today, Corcoran kept the place alive by catering to all genres and mediums of music as well as hosting live bands in-store.

Browsing a record shop may seem like an antiquated past-time in today’s world of streaming. General Manager Dean Edington of Liberty Hall, a historic theater and one of Lawrence’s most vibrant music venues, ex plains how Corcoran’s approach is an experi ence irreplaceable by big-tech platforms. One that has cemented the store’s status as the de facto hub of music exploration.

“[Advertisements] are not something that you want to engage with or connect with. When you have a building full of people whose main passion is listening to music, that’s got to be the place that ties it all together,” says Ed ington. “[Love Garden] is a business that has constantly evolved while still being insanely true to its mission, and its mission is placed in the community.”

Love Garden promotional skits can be found currently screening at Liberty Hall. Both entertainment landmarks have collabo rated to promote the reciprocal nature of the music community on Mass. Street. One such scene features a Love Garden employee in the

grueling process of sorting through and filing new albums and records—all of which end up in the dollar section.

Corcoran’s contributions even extend beyond Mass. Street. The music aficionado has been known to donate records to the lo cal University of Kansas radio station, 90.7 FM KJHK. The station also marks Corcoran’s first introduction to the industry, having taken the helm as KJHK’s previous music, program, and assistant music director.

All the while, Love Garden remains en dorsed by the Midwest music scene, as well as on a national scale (Kurt Vile stopped by most recently). Its praises are sung from local bands found on the shelves near the entryway, and the store’s galactic squid logo—its tentacles engulfing a planet and its rings—can be found scattered throughout the city. Drowning in today’s era of typical snobbery in angry-nerd record stores, even artists within county lines appreciate Love Garden’s down-to-earth atti tude.

“I hate to say that for a lot of my record store experiences, they felt a little bit preten tious,” says local artist Olivia Mancina. “But [Love Garden has] always been extremely accommodating, very chill, and very welcom ing. It’s a beautiful bridge between the Kansas City music scene and the Lawrence music scene. You see so many KC local artists there: R.I.Peter and Daniel Gum—it’s so, so cool.”

Whether you’ve already spent countless hours browsing thick rows of vinyl, or have yet to discover the joys that come with hearing the warm tone of tracks on wax, there’s always something new and expanding to be dug up at Love Garden—the one constant being Kelly Corcoran and his ability to orchestrate any one’s personal playlist.

Guests rummage through rows of new and used records at Love Garden in LFK. Photo by Drew Windish

By

It’s December, which means that in addition to all your holiday prep work (or avoidance of holiday prep work—no judging!), it’s time for that other time-honored tradition: catching up on all the movie releases from the past year that you haven’t gotten around to yet.

As of this writing, there are still a number of high-profile films yet to hit theaters, many of which will still be in circulation of one kind or another by the time you’re reading this. If you’re not feeling the theatrical experience just yet, or you just want to brush up on everything that came out before the crush of year-end prestige pictures, there’s no time like the present to snuggle up on the couch with a hot drink, beloved pet and/or significant other, and check out some of 2022’s best offerings. Here are some recommendations of standouts to check out on streaming and VOD.

kung-fu battles, a talking raccoon voiced by Randy Newman and people with hot dog fin gers, among other elements. (VOD)

Nope: Like Everything, Everywhere All At Once, Jordan Peele’s Nope is specifically en gineered to make you love cinema and ev erything that’s possible within the medium. In addition to celebrating spectacle, creativ ity, and a pioneering spirit, however, Nope also contains fascinating commentary on specific aspects of the Hollywood machine, namely the often-exploited performers, craftspeople, and even animals the system loves to chew up and spit back out for our own entertainment. Also notable: Michael Kamen’s career-best score, which, like the movie itself, references other work while re maining thrillingly original. (VOD)

during their prolific career (which ended with their deaths in 1991) and analyzed with appropriately wry narration from Miranda July. The film wonders at nature’s bizarre glory alongside its subjects and admires their commitment to science and each other, while also remaining curious about the leg acy they left behind. Come for the lava. Stay for the weird love story. (Disney+)

Everything Everywhere All At Once: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s latest brain-bending sci-fi comedy enjoyed a sur prisingly long stint in theaters thanks to growing word-of-mouth, making it arthouse studio A24’s most financially successful release so far. Its jam-packed plot and fre

netic pacing may not be for everyone, but it remains one of the most original and auda cious movies of the year—or maybe the de cade so far, for that matter.

Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a frustrated laundromat owner who learns via her typically meek husband Waymond (for mer Goonies and Temple of Doom star Ke Huy Quan, in an astounding comeback role) that she’s the key to saving the multiverse from a fabulously-dressed destructive being named Jobu Tupaki. Colorful, sophomoric, and oddly touching hijinks ensue involving

The Woman King: From the moment Vi ola Davis’ Nanisca and her fierce army of woman warriors rise from the grass in the opening scene, we know what kind of mov ie The Woman King is going to be. Gina Prince-Bythewood continues the red-hot action streak she started with 2020’s The Old Guard with a historical epic that utterly rips but is surprisingly emotional and tender. Prince-Bythewood’s movie hits the expect ed beats of its genre while emphasizing the relationship and vulnerability that makes it stand out from the crowd. (VOD)

Fire of Love: Sara Dosa’s documentary about the lives and careers of married volcanol ogists Katia and Maurice Krafft is a quirky, visually stunning crowd pleaser. Fire of Love is made up mostly of footage the Kraffts shot

Bodies

“Cat Person” au thor Kristen Roupenian that plays like a mol ly-fueled Agatha Christie whodunnit. On the eve of a hurricane, a group of backstabbing, rich-kid friends gather at one member’s (Pete Davidson) family home to ride out the storm with drugs, drinking, and games. When the power goes out and someone turns up dead, the relational dynamics quickly plummet into chaos as corpses start to pile up along side long-buried grudges. (VOD)

Barbarian: If you somehow still haven’t seen this word-of-mouth sensation, believe what your friends say and go in as cold as possible. Zach Cregger’s debut film starts with a tense opening act, then swerves in un expected directions that will simultaneously make your stomach drop and incite hoots of laughter. That its best aspects haven’t been fully revealed by now is a miracle of market ing and its many fans’ dedication to keep ing the movie’s secrets under wraps. Watch it now before someone spoils it for you at a holiday party. (HBO Max)

Deadstream: Made with care and a wick ed sense of humor by filmmaking couple Joseph and Vanessa Winter, the plucky found-footage horror-comedy Deadstream belongs firmly to the Evil Dead II school, taking great pleasure in practical effects, potent scares, and putting its lead character through a well-deserved ringer. Joseph Win ter also stars as disgraced internet person ality Shawn Ruddy, who hopes to regain his

Bodies Bodies: Halina Rejin directs a script from award-winning playwright Sarah DeLappe (The Wolves) and

CATCH UP ON SOME OF THE YEAR’S BEST MOVIES FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR COUCH

Abby Olcese

lost clout with an overnight livestream in a haunted house. As you may have already guessed, Shawn isn’t alone, and it’s going to be a rough night. (Shudder)

Bros: The Discourse didn’t do Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller’s romantic comedy any favors, but I implore you to overlook all the annoying tweets (including some of Eich ner’s own) and check it out. Bros is a legiti mately good romantic comedy that deserves to be seen and appreciated by more people, regardless of whether someone online told you that you had to in order to be a good ally. Eichner’s movie is frank about the sex lives of gay men but also takes notes from the best examples of the genre in terms of making a character-driven movie about two leads with great romantic chemistry. Watch it. It’s fun, I promise. (VOD)

Turning Red: Disney made the choice to send Turning Red straight to streaming pre sumably as a pandemic precaution, though it’s a bummer they couldn’t have held it for a few months and released the film theatrical ly later in the year. Domee Shi’s debut feature follows a Chinese-Canadian girl whose phys ical reaction to puberty and mounting family pressures manifest as a giant, adorable red panda. It’s a heartwarming, funny and mov ing adventure from a perspective Disney and Pixar haven’t given us before. (Disney+)

Prey: Like Turning Red, Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey deserved a theatrical opening but was bafflingly only given a streaming release. Trachtenberg’s entry into the Predator fran chise is refreshing, building on the original 1987 movie’s commentary on macho mas culinity by showing natural intelligence and survival skills in an Indigenous woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder, in a breakout per formance). Prey is lean, smart, shot beauti fully, and features the other best film score of 2022. It’s not just a good Predator movie. It’s a good movie, period. (Hulu)

movie, period. (Hulu)

Marcel the Shell with Shoes on: If you love the whimsy and sweetness of the Padding ton movies, the detailed stop-motion craft of Fantastic Mr. Fox, or the aesthetic of Amelie, you owe it to yourself to watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, an 89-minute adven ture featuring the diminutive seashell star of the 2010s YouTube shorts. Dean FleischerCamp and Jenny Slate’s film has immense heart and a childlike sense of creativity that encourages us to seek delight in the everyday and look for the good in everything, even (es pecially) when it’s tough to find. (VOD)

The Sea Beast: This family film dropped un ceremoniously on Netflix earlier this year, but don’t let that deter you. The most recent effort from Disney veteran Chris Williams (his résumé includes Moana, Frozen, Big Hero Six and Bolt) is worth a look. Set in a fantasy world where humans are constant ly under threat from sea monsters, The Sea Beast follows young orphan would-be hunt er Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) as she stows away on a ship, befriends reluctant mentor Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) and discovers the truth about the giant creatures that roam the waves. This is colorful, charming enter tainment that any kid into high adventure and fantastical creatures (or former children still into that stuff) can enjoy. (Netflix)

Wendell & Wild: Stop-motion legend Henry Selick’s first film in over a decade—and his first collaboration with Jordan Peele—was worth waiting for. The supernatural young adult thrill ride is a little overstuffed (there are lots of ideas packed in here), but it’s still a great story about an orphaned teen (Lyr ic Ross) who summons two demons (Peele and Keegan-Michael Key) to revive her dead parents. Wendell & Wild also features a plot involving the school-to-prison pipeline, a heroic transgender supporting charac ter, and an expertly curated soundtrack of POC-fronted bands like X-Ray Spex, Death, and TV on the Radio. It’s an impressive piece of work, even if the movie can’t quite contain everything within its 105-minute runtime. (Netflix)

Dec. 7 - 24

The Nutcracker

Kauffman Center

Fresh off a critically acclaimed run at the Kennedy Center in D.C., the Kansas City Ballet and Symphony return home just in time to spread some holiday cheer. The annual stage show brings the 130-year-old children’s tale to life with immaculate set pieces and costumes along with beautifully precise dancing, all accompanied by the Kansas City Symphony. “Ooh” and “aah” as the Nutcracker and Mouse King duel with tin sol diers and just try not to get enchanted by the Sugar Plum Fairy’s prance. The holiday tradition has 21 performances. Tickets start at $34.

DEcEMbER cALENDAR

By Thomas White

ONGOING

Dec. 1 - 31

A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Coterie Theatre

Third Person: Storytelling as Cultural Construction, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Maya: The Exhibition, Union Station Monet & Friends Alive, Starlight Theatre

American Art Deco Exhibit, NelsonAtkins Museum of Art Dec. 1 - 4, 8 - 11, 15 - 24, 26 - 31

Immersive Nutcracker, Lighthouse Artspace KC Dec. 1 - 4, 7 - 11, 14 - 23, 26 - 30

Evergy Festival of Lights, Powell Gardens Dec. 2 - 4, 8 - 11, 16 - 18

Cinderella, Theatre Lawrence Dec. 3 & 4, 10 & 11, 17 & 18

Merry Market, City Market Dec. 6 - 11

Pretty Woman: The Musical, Music Hall Dec. 7 - 24

Milking Christmas, The Black Box Dec. 9 - 11

Jurassic World Live Tour, T-Mobile Center Dec. 12 - 18

The Pitch’s Craft Cocktail Week, Across the City

EVENTS Dec. 2

Strawberry Swing, J. Rieger & Co.

18th Annual Ugly Sweater Benefit Party

w/ Sugarhill Gang, The Truman

The Doo Wop Project Christmas, Kauffman Center

FIFA World Cup Watch Party, Kansas City Live! at the Power & Light District

Dec. 3

The Soul of Santa Tree Lighting, The Gem Theater

Nutcracker Ball, The Westin at Crown Center

Jackie Myers Quartet, The Black Box 12th Annual Holiday Swing, City Market Cannibal Corpse, The Granada Courtney Marie Andrews, recordBar Larsen, Modeling, Jingram, The Rino

Dec. 4

‘Tis the Season w/ Heartland Men’s Chorus, The Folly Theater

Hudspeth and Taylor, BB’s Lawnside

Disney Princess: The Concert, The Midland

Dec. 5

The Piano Guys, The Midland

Cane Hill, The Bottleneck

Jayson Kayne, Jerry’s Bait Shop Honky Tonk Monday, Knuckleheads

Dec. 6

Wet Leg, The Truman

The Family ft. Lonnie & Chloe McFadden, Kauffman Center

Dec. 8

The 1975

Cable Dahmer Arena

British indie synth-pop mavens The 1975 stop in Independence on their self-confi dently titled tour, “The 1975 at Their Very Best” in support of their fifth album Being Funny in a Foreign Language. The band’s post-modernist show features a black-andwhite aesthetic with a chain-smoking frontman (Matty Healy) theatrically belting reference-laden wistful lyrics accompanied by tight and bright instrumentation. Vice called The 1975 “the most hated and loved band in the world.” Decide for yourself Dec. 8. Remaining tickets start at $100. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m.

Unique Eats & Eateries of KC w/ Matt Stewart, KC Central Library

Pop Culture Bingo, Rewind Video

Dec. 7

Lemonheads, The Madrid Nearly Lear, Lied Center

Amon Amarth, Carcass, Obituary, Uptown Theater

Dec. 8

Josh Wolf, KC Comedy Club

Guitar Elation, Green Lady Lounge

Dec. 9

Switchfoot: This is our Christmas Tour, Uptown Theater Gullywasher, The Brick

David George Orchestra: Rock N Roll Christmas Show, The Madrid Aaron Lewis, Ameristar Casino He$h, recordBar The Whale, Screenland Armour

Dec. 10

The Grisly Hand, Knuckleheads Big Band Christmas, Liberty Hall

Trampled By Turtles, Uptown Theater

Sugar Plum Fairy Children’s Ball, Muehlebach Tower at Marriott Downtown Midwest Poetics Winter Showcase, Charlotte Street Foundation

Dec. 11

Leo Kottke, The Madrid

KC Comets v.s. Milwaukee Wave, Cable Dahmer Arena

Dec. 12

Raw Storytelling, The Black Box

Hollywood vs. History: The Last Samurai, Plaza Library 200 Stab Wounds, Undeath, The Rino

Dec . 13

Madball, recordBar

Zack Mufasa, O’Dowd’s Gastrobar

Dec. 14

Christmas Movie Trivia, Red Crow Brewing

Dec. 15

Kody West, Knuckleheads

J.E. Sunde w/ Such Lovely People & Fritz Hutchinson, The Ship

Dec. 16

David Koechner, KC Improv Comedy Club

Truck Noises, The Bird Comedy Theater

Midnight Market, The Bottleneck

Dec. 17

Nate Smith, Uptown Theater

Katy Guillen & The Drive, The Bottleneck Joshua Ray Walker, Knuckleheads

Dec. 18

Murder Mystery Dinner, Belvoir Winery Ramirez, The Bottleneck Labrador Retriever Meet-up, Bar K

Dec. 19

Handel’s Messiah, Kauffman Center

Jeff Shirley Organ Trio, Green Lady Lounge

Dec. 13

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

The Midland

Frontwoman Ela Melo and guitarist Darrick Keller visited a friend in the hospital before their first open mic and let their recovering pal name the band. From the ether of a morphine drip came three words: Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The name stuck, and RKS quickly rose from dorm-room recordings at Appalachian State to thrilling audiences at Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits. The indie alt-rockers bring their energetic live show featuring quick-shifting ornate instrumentation and poetically confessional lyrics to the Midland Dec. 13. Tickets start at $39.50, with a dollar from each ticket go ing to local food banks. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m.

Dec. 20

A Drag Queen Christmas, The Midland Hall N’Oke, Liberty Hall

Ashley Davis-Songs of the Celtic Winter, Lied Center

Dec. 21

Tony Holiday, Knuckleheads

KC Mavericks vs. Iowa Heartlanders, Cable Dahmer Arena Classless Act, Lucia Beer Garden

Dec. 22

Having Funn w/ Damien Gunn, Johnnie’s Jazz Bar

The Vincents, Nighthawk James Perryman Trio, O’Dowd’s Gastrobar

Dec. 23

Lonnie Fisher Album Release, The Brick Radkey’s Xmas Evil Eve, recordBar

The M80s & Yachtly Groove, Knuckleheads

Dec. 24

Dec. 26

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, T-Mobile Center

Brian Baggett Trio, Green Lady Lounge

Dec. 27

Tyrone Clark Trio, Green Lady Lounge Zack Mufasa, O’Dowd’s Gastrobar

Dec. 28

The Rainmakers, Knuckleheads Bird Watching—Short Film Showcase, The Bird Comedy Theater

Dec. 29

KC Comets vs. Monterrey Flash, Cable Dahmer Arena

Womanish Girl, Nighthawk Puppies’ Night Out, Bar K

Dec. 30

Ward Davis, Knuckleheads

The Bird Comedy Show, The Bird Comedy Theater

KC Mavericks vs. Iowa Heartlanders, Cable Dahmer Arena

Dec. 17

The Office Trivia w/ Todd Packer

KC Improv Comedy Club

Michael Scott’s emergency contact Todd Packer hosts an afternoon of The Office trivia. Fans of the show know Todd Packer as Dunder Mifflin’s crude, traveling paper salesman, played by KC area native David Koechner. Several rounds of trivia laced (like his cupcakes) with behind-the-scenes stories are followed by Koechner awarding de cidedly mediocre prizes to winners. Koechner—who’s in town for a week of standup shows at the KC Improv— will also be available for a meet and greet along with a Q&A portion. Seating is limited to two and four-person tables; $64 for two and $128 for four. The festivities begin at 3:30 p.m., though a 2:30 p.m. arrival is encouraged.

Dec. 21 - 24

Elf

Kauffman Center

Dec. 31

NYE w/ The Bad Ideas, The Brick Zoo Year’s Eve, The Kansas City Zoo

Watch Buddy travel through the seven levels of Candy Cane forest, past the sea of twirly-swirly gumdrops, and walk through the Lincoln Tunnel as Elf is played on the big screen at Helzberg Hall inside the Kauffman Center. The Kansas City Symphony performs John Debney’s score—playing loud for all to hear—live alongside the movie. The heartwarming tale of a cotton-headed ninnymuggins searching for his father as a fish out of water gets the orchestral treatment with three 7 p.m. shows followed by a Christmas Eve matinee at 11 a.m. Tickets start at $60.

NYE Live!, KC Live! at the Power & Light District

Irish New Year, Kelly’s Westport Inn NYE w/ Deadman Flats, The Bottleneck

Chiefs vs. Seahawks, GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium Game Day Experience, KC Live! at the Power & Light District Americana Music Academy Open Mic, Replay Lounge RSS Trio, Green Lady Lounge Stay in the know about KC’s upcoming

events on our interactive online calendar!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS LUBE

Often one of the first subjects broached with new clients during ses sions is lube use.

Arousal is seen as little more than pe nises get hard and vaginas elongate and pro duce fluid. Arousal and wetness for vagina owners are culturally tied, but studies show that most vaginas don’t give a damn—they get wet whenever they please, not just when their owners are turned on.

Lube that comes in a bottle is a neces sity for all bodies, but not all lubes are up to every task. I did not understand the won ders nor the necessity of lubes until I was a sex coach. Now lube is one of my favorite topics to discuss. When I am at networking events, I have a pocket full of lube handouts. I was even a Lube Fairy at the Pride parade this summer, where I tossed Überlube sam ple packets into the crowd.

“I’ve got a lube I use…when needed.” My immediate responses are: What kinds do you have? Why don’t you use a lube ev ery time? Yes, you should have a variety of lube in your collection. And yes, you should be using lube every single time. The kind of lubrication you add matters. Here are some more common conversations I have about using lube.

“I swear I am horny, but why aren’t I wet like I used to be?”

A multitude of things will influence wetness, like medication, hormones, hy dration, sexual stimuli, and what we use as

lube. Water-based lubes are plentiful. Wa ter-based lubes won’t stain sheets and are compatible with all toys. Reapplication is likely necessary with this formula of lube. These lubes are readily accessible at retail ers and online, but you have to check the ingredients before you buy.

Water-based lubes sometimes have chemicals in them your body doesn’t like, such as glycerin, propylene glycol, par abens, or warming/cooling agents. Dr. Kelsey Beach, a local pelvic floor therapist, taught me on my podcast about how the ingredients found in lubes either hydrate or dehydrate the epithelial layer of vulvar tissue. The chemicals listed above are de signed to make you need more of them, especially the longer you use them. Avoid these ingredients and throw your lube away if it contains them. Good Clean Love and JO are two of my favorite water-based brands to try instead.

Silicone personal lubricants have mul tiple uses, but it’s also the go-to for anal play. Usually, my gay clients and friends need no convincing to use lube, and we of ten compare notes on our favorite silicone brands, and I always favor Überlube. It is pH-balanced for vaginal intercourse as well, so it’s what I keep on my nightstand. With my pocket full of samples, I keep the girls, gays, and theys happy wherever I go. Plus, it’s a family-owned company, so you can feel good ordering from them on #ShopS

mall day. Swiss Navy is another brand with a dedicated customer base.

“I must not turn them on because they always reach for the lube.”

Your prowess is not in question. There should be zero shame in using lube. Vagi nas are sometimes lubricated when we are

good, are toy-friendly, and are fine for pen etration. But don’t use condoms with oilbased lubes. You need to use the fancy stuff that’s cold-pressed or commercially manu factured as lube, not just the coconut oil you cook with. Be careful with your sheets.

“We use lube, and I still have pain.”

Spit is not lube.

completely turned off, and they are not wet when we are actually really aroused (Sawatsky, Dawson, & Lalumiere 2018). Lu bricating with an external source is simply a step that should be taken to set the con ditions to maximize comfort and pleasure and minimize pain or discomfort. Release any judgment you have on yourself.

Oil-based lubes are a great all-natural lubricant that non-lube users seem to enjoy more than the goopy stuff. Try a lube made with avocado or coconut oil. Both taste

CBD lubes to prevent pain caused by tension and tightness in the pelvic floor are everywhere. Foria makes a coconut oilbased CBD product. There are water-based formulas at your neighborhood sex shops or even Target, as well. Apply the lube to the vulva, perineum, and/or anus, as well as just inside the vaginal opening. Using fingers, allow it to work into the area for 5-10 minutes. Focus on outer play that is non-penetrative at first. Try different things like toys, dilators, positions, and props to al

Photo by Nicole Bissey.

Illustrations by Shelby Phelps

leviate pain, if needed.

“I/she/we don’t need it,” with a smirk.

Mmm babes… you do so need lube. I did not understand until I was educated on the topic that without proper lubrication: vaginas can get tiny tears during sexual activity, and over time those little cuts and tears form a layer of scar tissue, which will reduce sensation and lubrication over time. I was setting myself up for an unnecessari ly uncomfortable situation in the future if I didn’t change my ways and use lube every time, regardless of my perceived wetness. Spit is not lube, so having them go down on you is not the same as the vagina being well-lubed and ready for penetration from the inside.

Place a bit of lube over the vulva before placing the dental dam, and they will have a much better time. You can even put a little flavored lube on the outside for your plea sure, but never use flavored products for penetrating any orifices below the waist.

Let’s also talk about dental dams for a sec. Barrier protection is a real topic, and it’s not taken seriously enough sometimes with oral, specifically with vaginas. If you or your partner have HPV, if you have herpes, if you’re wanting to avoid fluid bonding with a partner, if you have recently had oral sur gery, or if you have sores in your mouth and want to have oral sex—use a fucking dental dam.

I want you to think of lubrication as be ing like sunscreen. Accept that it’s got to be part of your routine—just use it every time, and you’ll thank me later. It’s not a value statement; it’s not about your age; it’s not because of a malfunction.

Hopefully I have influenced more than a few of you to grab a new lube soon. Toss some in as a stocking stuffer. Or start with samples before committing to the half-li ter pump bottle. There is no singular lube I recommend keeping handy. You will likely want different types for different ap plications. Find what works best for you. If there’s discomfort after you’ve been going at it, don’t be shy—grab that bottle and re apply.

And one more time, repeat after me, “Spit is not lube.”

JUST THE FACTS

Dear Dan: I’m a woman in a hetero-marriage. We’ve happily played with others a bit but not recently because we have a small child. We are both bi and in our 40s. We talked about getting the monkeypox vaccine, but I didn’t think it was urgent because we’re not currently having sex with anyone else. Here’s my ques tion: What should I do after learning that my husband got the monkeypox vaccine without telling me? I noticed a red bump on his arm, and he said it was nothing. After I said it looked like the monkeypox vax reaction, he admitted he got the vaccine but didn’t tell me. I was in favor of him getting the vaccine, so I’m totally panicking because he sneaked to get the shot. I think he’s cheating. It’s 2 AM where I am, and I just ordered two at-home HIV/AIDS tests and I’m getting a full STI panel at my OB-GYN on Monday. What should I do? I’m a wreck.

—Seriously Panicking Over Unapproved Shot And Lies

Dear SPOUSAL: By the time you read this, SPOUSAL, those at-home HIV/AIDS tests will have arrived, and you will have your results. You’ll also have seen your OB-GYN and most likely gotten the results of your STI tests. Assuming there were no unpleasant surprises—assuming you’re still negative for all the same things you were negative for the last time you tested—what does that mean?

While I don’t wanna cause you another sleepless night, SPOUSAL, your test results can all be negative and your husband could still be cheating on you. But in the absence of other evidence—in the absence of any actual evidence that your husband has cheated on you—I think your husband de serves the benefit of the doubt.

Getting the monkeypox vaccine is the only fact in evidence here, SPOUSAL, and it’s a huge leap from, “My husband got the monkeypox vaccine without telling me,” and, “My husband has been cheating on me with other men during a public health crisis that has primarily impacted gay and bi men and

wasn’t using condoms with those other men and knowingly put me at risk of contracting monkeypox and HIV.” If your husband has a history of being reckless about his own sexual health and yours—if he tried to go bare with out your consent when you played with other people, for example, and that incident and others like it fueled your freakout—I don’t un derstand why you’re still married to this man.

Zooming out for a second…

I can think of a few very good reasons why a married bi guy might decide to get the monkeypox vaccine even if his partner want ed him to wait. First, those shots haven’t been easy to get. If the vaccine became available where you live and/or his doctor offered it to him, it was a good idea for him to get his shots even if he’s not currently sleeping with any one else. And why would his partner—why would you—want him to wait? If you didn’t want him to get those shots as some sort of insurance policy, e.g., if you wanted cheating to be needlessly and avoidably risky as some sort of deterrent, that seems pretty reckless. Sometimes, SPOUSAL, the likely excuse is the honest answer. I’m guessing your hus band got his shots because he hopes you— the both of you—can start playing with others again in the near future and he wants to be ready. Guys have to wait a month after get ting their first shot before getting their second

shot, and another two weeks after that be fore they’re fully immune. (Or as immune as they’re going to get.) If your husband has been looking forward to opening your relationship back up—by mutual consent—sometime in the near future, he most likely wanted to be ready to go when you decided, together, to resume playing with others. And he didn’t tell you he was getting the shots because, al though he wanted to be ready to go when the time came, he knew you weren’t ready and didn’t want you to feel rushed or pressured.

My analysis of the situation presumes your husband isn’t a lying, cheating, incon siderate, reckless asshole and deserves the benefit of the doubt here. You know your husband better than I do, SPOUSAL, and it’s entirely possible that your husband has proven himself to be a liar and a cheat and an inconsiderate asshole and a reckless idi ot again and again and again.

But if that’s the case—if he’s all of those horrible, no-good, disqualifying things and, therefore, not deserving the benefit of the doubt here—I would ask you again (and again and again): Why are you still married to him then.

Email Dan at mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage New website at Savage.Love!

Kansas City may not be our nation’s live music capital, but it’s got its fair share of talented local artists. With any creative industry, it’s not always the case that hard work pays off. To change that, Danny Powell and Diana Ennis put their heads together and came up with the Heartland Song Net work.

The idea sprouted at the Folk Alliance convention in New Orleans in January 2020. Powell was at a panel discussion about what music industry bigwigs want from artists.

“They started talking about what the music industry is looking for, and the place kind of erupted with these do-it-yourself singer-songwriters. They said, ‘We do these things, and we still don’t get any attention,’” Powell says.

That prompted a Facebook post where he asked his artist friends, “What do you need that you don’t have?” The enormous response led Powell to create the Heartland Song Network.

“We are trying to help build the indus try here in the Heartland. We’re kind of a flyover city musically. There’s not a lot of record labels; there’s not a lot of manage ment,” Powell says. “We’re trying to educate these artists so when they create this music, we tell them, ‘You’ve got to publish this with BMI or ASCAP or whoever. If you’ve not done that, we will help you and show you how.’”

As it turned out, the timing was ap

propriate because they were poised to lend support when the pandemic shutdowns started. Their first order of business was to hold an online benefit concert, but then they got their first original programming underway, what they call “The COVID Collaborations.”

They were able to connect musicians across multiple genres to write and record new music together. That’s just the tip of the creative iceberg for them.

The Network arranged for Gram my-nominated songwriter Odie Blackmon to listen to and critique local artists’ songs via Zoom, hold webinars about the busi ness, and even stage a regular youth song swap, which gives performers ages 10-17 a way to share their own music or just play covers in front of an audience.

“A lot of these young people never played in front of anybody, and it’s very scary for them to do that, but once they’ve done it once, it kind of opens up a whole new world for them,” Powell says. “It gives them an idea that if they’re going to pursue this type of occupation, this is what it’s go ing to be like.”

If you want to hear from artists in the Network, you can also catch them at their Bloody Mary mornings on Saturdays at Mike Kelly’s Westsider located at 1515 West port Rd.

Reaching out into the community, their other major project is called Elder

Song. Powell and others are interviewing older members of the community about their life stories, then writing a song based on each person’s life.

The Network pays artists to create the tunes for Elder Song, although the artists do retain the rights to the work.

On the educational side, their webinar topics range from music licensing to writing a bio for your website.

“What we’re trying to do is educate not only the people that are creating the music but the patrons and the listeners on the im portance of what music is and what these artists can provide overall,” Powell says.

They also sponsor artists to take classes elsewhere or purchase musical instruments they might not be able to afford. Local mu sician Kristin Hamilton was able to take an online class in the business of being an independent musician with the Network’s help.

“It’s cool to sit in a Zoom room with other people doing what you do and con necting with like-minded people,” she says.

Hamilton and her 15-year-old daugh ter, Lucy Gray Hamilton, joined the Net

work almost as soon as it started.

“Being a part of the Heartland Song Network has helped both of us branch out by giving us opportunities to collaborate with new artists—artists we’ve never met before—and introduce our music to new audiences through performance opportu nities they’ve provided, and improve our craft through free workshops online,” Ham ilton says.

Hamilton, previously a member of the group Under the Big Oak Tree, has been performing as a folk-country Americana solo artist.

“[The Network] has really strength ened, in my mind, the entire music com munity here in Kansas City. I think we have something special. The community is sup portive, uplifting, and eager to get together and collaborate. I wouldn’t want to be any where else,” she says.

Powell says they’re looking for more volunteers to do interviews for the Elder Song project. For information, visit heart landsongnetwork.org/support

(Above) Kristen Ford performs at a Folk Alliance private showcase with another artist. (below) Megan Hurt, Sally Vee, and Jamie Lee of Sally and the Hurts perform at one of the Heartland Song Network’s bloody Mary Mornings. Courtesy photos