It was the 1970s. George Clinton’s Funkadelic blistered the airwaves. Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” had hit Billboard’s top 5, a first for a Native American band. Like thousands of other American teenagers, Preston Singletary dreamed of life on the stage making music — until a detour in the mid-’80s led him down a new path.
The legacy of local entrepreneurs in Kansas City goes as far back as Francois Chouteau, who established a trading post at present-day Kansas City in 1821. Later followed Hallmark Cards, founded by Joyce C. Hall in 1917; Arthur Bryant’s in 1940; Ewing Marion Kauffman’s Marion Laboratories in 1950; Cerner Corporation in 1979; Garmin in 1989; […]
Cab Calloway. Bessie Smith. Lena Horne. Duke Ellington. For a couple decades starting in the 1920s, these legendary performers put on some of their greatest shows in a Harlem nightclub that proved to be a dichotomy – both a celebration of African American art and one of the most racially exclusionary and offensive landmarks of […]
The Kansas City area has a rich music scene, capped by the Kansas City Symphony and its performances at the beautiful Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Several times a year, many of us suburbanites happily drive downtown, find a parking spot and pay premium prices for the privilege of hearing one of America’s outstanding […]
Opening the Lyric Opera’s 2019-2020 season is Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. This risqué rom-com is an exciting start to the season, with a production set in the glamour of 1940s Hollywood. What makes it even more exciting is that Prairie Village native Ben Bliss will grace his home stage for the very first time, alongside his mother, Judy Bliss, a longtime member of the Lyric Opera Chorus.
Ask anybody what Kansas City is known for, and most will answer, “Jazz and barbecue!” You’ve probably had a lot of barbecue, but how often do you go listen to live jazz in Kansas City? Well, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra’s upcoming season is the perfect opportunity to get a taste! As we embark on […]
