kansas city sucks.

[AllThingsKC]

KCMO wouldn't be as boring if they would plow their streets!  If KCMO would plow its streets, it would be on par with Denver, MLPS, Chicago, or NYC.

&

[nota]

not really, but my fiancee and i have been talking a lot recently about how boring kansas city is.  we rack our brains trying to think of somewhere good to hang out - good food and/or good atmosphere and/or good music.  we don't even go out that much, but when we feel like it, we can't think of anywhere to go.  even places we tend to like aren't really cutting it.  

kc has plenty of half-assed "nice" places and more than enough VFW-hall esque dives, but there are woefully few places that just feel "good" to hang out in.  as far as i can tell, no place plays good music.  we've found ourselves wanting to go to lawrence (for shame!) just to go to a place with a nice feeling.  we spent three hours in a nearly-empty 8th st. taproom on a monday night just because it felt good to be in a lived-in place with some nice records being played (by the bartender no less).  

these feelings come and go, but we're definitely in a burned-out, "kc sucks" mentality right now.  the weather isn't helping.

Entertaining at home is a fun way to feel better when you are bored, have cabin fever, etc.

Have a mai tai party complete with tropical decor and tropical type music and food and tropical type dress. Our mai tai parties were in demand every winter. (Tropical music doesn't have to be "Tiny Bubbles"

All kinds of party themes if you think about it. The ones that are really fun are the impromptu ones or the theme ones that everyone works together to make a good time.

[nota]

chrizow, your complaints are common among scenesters who have exhausted a scene.  like locusts, after consuming one field you have to move on and start fresh.

This is exactly right. Life comes in stages and sometimes as we progress, making the step takes a bit of time. Sometimes we just aren't "into" what we once were. Each step of my life has been better than the last. (except, this retirement stuff is a bit difficult )

but....we've got the golf clubs packed and off to Hawaii in a few days. 

I do agree with whoever said KC is a bar town. We've found the best bars there compared to anywhere else we might have lived.

[nota]

Can't disagree with that. Starting shows at 11 or 12 is kind of silly. Not sure why that is the standard.

Because they pander to a younger demographic.

[chrizow]

wow. i think lawrence is pretty depressing and beyond vanilla. there are the same people in the same bars playing the same music since 2001-- my idea of hell would be organizing around that lifestyle. do you think you'd be happy living in columbia? i doubt it.

yeah, i'm not suggesting that lawrence is "better" than kc or offers more.  i'm just saying that we've been bored with kc and have gone to lawrence just for something different - which, of course, is a perk to living in kc.

we do go to most of the places on your list.    

it sounds like you just want brooklyn. NOT authentic.

sure, if you just mean a gawker.com / american apparel brooklyn.  i think brooklyn is pretty raw and is probably the best and most balanced, exciting urban area in the country right now.  of course it is ground zero for hipster douchiness, but i'll take some "inauthentic" bars and art spaces playing awesome music on a nightly basis over riot room or czar bar or whatever is "authentic" here.  and of course there's the other 95% of brooklyn that is an amazing tapestry of urban neighborhoods, ethnic enclaves, deep-rooted communities, etc.  

What's wrong with actual live music? KC has a wealth of great rock, indie, punk, pop, folk, jazz, blues, and country bands... but nobody goes to see them, apparently because they aren't in Pitchfork or NME or whatever.

i'd love to know more about the local scene, as what i've seen i've been pretty meh about.  the only kc band whose music i actually seek out and purchase is Expo 70.  

I have big long fits of kc sucks, punctuated by short, ecstatic (and frankly inexplicable) rapturous weeks when I really get it.

Strangely, (or not, given my proclivities) one of the things I like best about KC is its bars. For better, or worse, this is a drinker's town. It is the primary form of entertainment for young and old alike here, and I think the wealth of bars we have is a real stong suit in a town that kind of specializes in mediocrity. Especially our low key, drink drinkers bars. Places people don't go to hook up in, places people go to get drunk in. I dig that. Baker's/Twin Cities/Chez Charlie's (pre-art student days, RIP) type bars. I was at the Tap Room in Lawrence recently, a bar I dearly loved when I lived there, and I was reminded how FUCKING TERRIBLE the music there is and how terrible its always been. What sounded like the exact same bullshit lo-fi records, the same onanistic free jazz record and the same (admittedly awesome) obsure-but-accessibe (4/4 time) northern soul record played as the last time I was there, ca. 2005. Its one of those things my brain had sort of glossed over.

Reading your post, I was sort of struck by the fact that bad music is almost a feature of a good bar to me. It keeps out the people who ruin good bars. I can't imagine my life in bars without it. The Grassroots on the Lower East Side had some of the worst early-stage Williamsburg-revival music the last time I was there, my favorite bar in Philly - whose name I've never known - has had buttrock or progrock blasting unironically from its jukebox the 4 times in my life I've been there (last time, ELO, Rush and other unidentifiable aural abortions played for the five hours I spent there). But I once heard the barmaid begin a sentence with the phrase "Irregardless of no matter what..." They don't make music that good.

Baker's is my favorite bar in this city and I cringe every time some 30-something Waldo mom sidles up to it and begins laying down her favorite tracks while the babysitter lays her kids to sleep 3 blocks away. But really, bad music is like part of the other bad bar goodness to me, like the dust-covered kitschy knick-knacks or the little roll in the carpet that people trip over coming in or the bartender who opens your beerbottle with his prosthetic hook-hand (actually seen it).

But maybe I've just lived here too long and have to forgive this city and its little peccadillos in order to forgive myself for never leaving. A philosophy, by the by, that I would suggest is the better part lasting love, between people and between them and their places.

great post, as usual.  

[LenexatoKCMO]

but....we've got the golf clubs packed and off to Hawaii in a few days. 

See you there - we leave first thing in the morning. 

[mean]

i'd love to know more about the local scene, as what i've seen i've been pretty meh about.  the only kc band whose music i actually seek out and purchase is Expo 70.  

Depends on what you like, I guess. Expo '70 is great, but pretty niche. There aren't a lot of live acts crafting ambient soundscapes that sound like something John Carpenter might compose.

[nota]

See you there - we leave first thing in the morning. 

Sunday for us. We be North Shore bound.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Ah west shore of Maui for us - looks to be 82 or so the whole time.  Nothing like going through an 80 degree temperature shift in a single day. 

So long suckas - enjoy your driveway shoveling.   

[nota]

Ah west shore of Maui for us - looks to be 82 or so the whole time.  Nothing like going through an 80 degree temperature shift in a single day.   :lol:

So long suckas - enjoy your driveway shoveling.   :P 

Kapalua???

[trailerkid]

Perhaps ironically, places like Davey's DO have matinee shows in the 8-9pm timeframe. They're just reserved for touring bands with a big draw. Local bands, regardless of how good they are, get stuck playing between 11 and 2 because nobody cares or comes to see them. It's not that people here don't have taste in music, it's that KC doesn't believe in its own scene, particularly the indie rock, pop, and punk scenes. It's like people who live here assume that if it's from KC it is crap, but man, if it's from Arkansas or Nebraska it is AWESOME! I don't get it.

whaaaaaat?

I've never been to a local show anywhere that started early. If I'm at a small bar and there's a band playing I don't expect to leave before 1:00 AM.

[LenexatoKCMO]

between kapalua and kaanapali. 

[nota]

We always stay with friends in SW Honolulu and go out from there depending on what they have planned.

[WSPanic]

No one cares about your trips. It's cold and we're bitter. Just leave already.

j/k.

[moosnsqrl]

Damn, and I have to settle for LA-are where it's only in the 70s 

When the going gets tough . . .

[heatherkay]

We're in San Antonio next weekend!

[kucer]

KCMO wouldn't be as boring if they would plow their streets!   If KCMO would plow its streets, it would be on par with Denver, MLPS, Chicago, or NYC.

&

Twice today on my little side street!!!

...probably because it was trash pickup day.

[rxlexi]

 

I have big long fits of kc sucks, punctuated by short, ecstatic (and frankly inexplicable) rapturous weeks when I really get it...

 fantastic post, chingon, it was a pleasure to read.

 Chrizow, I guess I'm not really sure how to react to your post.  A number of potential responses come to mind, or lengthy lists of the random places and "things to do" that I love and frequent in KC (having stiff drinks and cigarettes pre-cheap student tickets to the Lyric Opera, followed by bar-hopping and late night eats at some of the places mentioned above, tops my list).  

 But really, what's the point?  Despite the magnetic pull of some the "it" cities (I was in SF in Sept, and how do you not fall in love with SF?), I really am a firm believer that if you aren't consistently enjoying yourself in a place with as much to offer (perhaps below the surface) as KC, you won't get a whole lot more out of anywhere else.  How can you be bored at our age, with no kids, a reasonable amount of disposable income, good friends and a city (any city) and it's culture at your fingertips?

 Part of the joy of living and believing in KC is that no one else does, relatviely speaking, and the potential here that can be so frustrating when it is left to languish also creates the most unbelievable sense of pride and accomplishment (in me, at least) when realized.  Simply stated, be a part of creating the scene you want, and spend time and money with those people and places that are working hard to bring vibrance and creativity to KC, because they are out there.  When I spend money at Cosentino's downtown, or R Bar, or Justus, or Jardines or the MMFoundation or whatever, I almost want to give more.  My tiny bit of spending can and does impact the bottom line at these places, in KC, and I can't imagine feeling so intimately connected with the very impersonal act of purchasing foodstuffs or a drink or two anywhere else.  But this is my city.

 I suppose that is the classic "midwestern city" rant, but it really is so clear, and true.  I mean really, it is a snowy, bitterly cold January in KC, what else is there to do but rant  

 

[markf]

Find a place or two and become a regular.  In my 20's there was a neighborhood bar that I frequented, and I do mean "frequent".  It got to the point where when I walked in the bartender would address me by name, pull out my favorite beer, pop the top and then ask "what's going on with you?"  and genuinely wanted to hear how my day went.  Maybe not too exciting to some, but it was familiar and "divey-hipster" before there was such a thing.

Now I'm married and my wife and I are regulars at a couple of KC restaurants and get similar treatment.  The owners feel comfortable enough to pull up a chair or slide into the booth and hang out with us without asking.  It's fun.

I guess what I'm saying is what some consider to be a rut, we think is a blessing.

[trailerkid]

Re: Kc vs. Brooklyn

it really sounds like you want hipsterish x yuppie x dive x ethnic bars/restaurants. I just don't think there is enough pretense to support much Brooklyn eccentricity in this city. right now, KCMO is probably the "coolest" it's been since the Jazz age. I've heard "what Portland used to be" thrown around by good sources. Might want to move to Lawrence if you want privileged white people in costumes with bad taste in music.