Ashley, Singing to the Baby

I recently had the pleasure of returning to Kansas City for a couple weeks to do some work. Well, really it was supposed to be one week. I had just finished a new checkout process for Harry J. Epstein Co. And I was brought out to start-up another website for a niche auto-industrial supplier in Kansas City, KS. Anyway, after an intensive work-week-long visit, I was supposed to fly back home to Brooklyn. It was Saturday. Biking up the alley from You Say Tomato to my mom's house, I was struck by the first color and fragrance of fall. Leaves were crunching with gravel under my tires as sunlight peeked through to the backs of houses. It was such a euphoric moment. I thought to myself, why am I doing anything but this? I thought of all the friends I hadn't caught up with and all the events KC Kids had brewing for the coming week. So I decided to hit reset, and give myself a second week in Kansas City.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Attending the Public Opening with J. Ashley Miller

SPACE THANG
by Jori Sackin and Pat Vamos

Site-Specific feature film at The Strand Theatre on Troost

Pat and Jori made a feature-length site specific movie-going experience called Space Thang for a one-night-only event at the Strand Theatre. The Strand on Troost is Kansas City's oldest operating movie theatre. Generally they only show adult pictures. It's just three blocks from my mom's house. But I'd never go by that way, because the neighborhood erected a permanent road-block to divert traffic. I'm proud of everyone who spends time in parts of the city where common knowledge says we're not supposed to go.

The event was a wild success with 150 people in attendance. That's a lot for a theatre with fewer than one-hundred seats. I imagine that people were sitting on the floor. Everything began with a musical performance by the band Mary Fortune, followed by MK12's short film "Follow the Sun" as a trailer. Vamos' DVDs, Sackin's paintings and Space Thang t-shirts took the place of the usual merchandise for sale in the lobby.

The fresh context of the situation gave Sackin and Vamos license to produce animations and found-footage collage that weren't suited for everyone, but that just about everyone came out to enjoy.

THE BINDERY
Idris and Amanda's Live-In Restoration Project

MEGA BOG + KUSIKIA from the Pacific NW
Shortly after extending my visit, I found out that our friends Erin, Zach and Shelby from the grey mountain sound of Seattle were on tour with Kusikia, trying to find a show in Kansas City. Rita Brinkerhoff, Drewcifer, the bands and I scrambled a little bit and somehow everything fell gracefully into place. The mysterious house show that resulted with Blondie Brunetti at Ruby's Sofa King Swing HQ had such a rich and encouraging mood. It was one of my very favorite shows.

PERFORMANCE SPACE at KAW POINT
My default approach to problem solving is to ride my bike around for three hours and talk to government officials. When I heard the Mega Bog show was looking for a venue, my first thought was to have it at Kaw Point.

This spot where the Missouri and Kansas Rivers join a) can be seen from space, b) has multi-pass historical significance, and c) gives an emblematic view of Kansas City as a City on the Water. The natural panorama becomes backdrop to an outdoor amphitheater with bathrooms, electricity and seating for 500.

I spent half a day figuring out how to book a show there. It turns out it's really easy. Just contact the Friends of Kaw Point. Your show is why they built the park. Shows durring daylight can be reserved free of charge. After dark, you need to have some form of security guard present.

The show at night would be such a beautiful show. It might be lit by oil lanterns in the river-bank grove, with the city glimmering on the confluent surface all around.

To Reserve the Stage at Kaw Point Contact:
Dwayne Knott, Secretary, Friends of Kaw Point
Louisa3@earthlink.net
(816) 868-5343


The 816 Bicycle Collective NEW BUILDING
The 816 collective held their 5th Annual Benefit with music, food and friends in fancy dress. The big news was the unveiling of their plan for a new bicycle transportation complex at 31st and Cherry in a set of adjacent buildings they recently purchased. The buildings are a big restoration project. The complex will house 816 Bike's community bike shop and public programs. It will also provide leasable office space that will co-locate several of Kansas City's bicycle advocacy groups. This community space could be as significant to the 31st street corridor as YJ's has been for the crossroads.

More to come: I'm working on a post just about this plan.

PHOTOGRAPHED and NOT PHOTOGRAPHED

Now it's not that I don't like living in Brooklyn. In fact I feel like I've gotten my second wind here. I just like both New York and Kansas City. It has been hard to live here, like it's hard to learn a new subject. You start from the beginning. And even after a year, I'm still working to make a way of life here that's really me, that brings me closer to my Total Maximum. I guess you might say, "When does that ever stop?" Growing up in Kansas City, I was attracted to people who knew you didn't have to live in New York or LA to have world class fun. And it is harder to find those people in New York or Los Angeles. But maybe I'll let loose my criteria a little bit, let myself change and find new ways to share fun ideas. I'm not done yet! And I don't think I could leave without figuring it out.