Posts

into the scribbleverse

Image
An amazing night of multimedia and live performance flowed through a packed house at the Charlotte Street Foundation, highlighting the imaginative world of artist Donald Ross, known popularly as "Scribe." screenshot from scribbleversestudios While most immediately recognize his work stretching across decades of Kansas City buildings and alleyways, his recent efforts are likely the most impactful.  Larger-than-life murals commissioned by Children's Mercy Hospital throughout their campus inspire happiness and offer hope daily in children facing greater challenges than many of us will see in a lifetime. It is this visual storytelling that is celebrated in the film that was but one part of the audio-visual-lyrical trinity this evening. Produced by Kyle Dykes, "Enter the Scribbleverse" premiered at the Kansas City International Film Festival in March of 2025, after which Dykes and Ross began collaboration with the Charlotte Street Foun...

dani roma view of the city

Image
It is always exciting to discover a new work of art, especially in a place you kind of least expect it and on a larger scale.  This particular piece of work by Dani Roma covers the entire front of a building on Iron Street in North Kansas City.  It depicts an imaginary view of the Kansas City skyline, as seen from  the surrounding countryside to the south.  To me, the display is encouraging, drawing attention to things more important and colorful than the hustle of the stagnant hues of the city.

iron district eats

Image
A completely random opportunity to visit the Iron District of North Kansas City found a small cluster of brightly painted shipping containers standing ready to serve up a delicious lunch.  Though somewhat overpriced, that appears to be the standard these days. The concept launched in September of 2019 in  what developers assumed was the first logical step in developing a new food and entertainment district for the area .  They were probably on point for that moment in time too.  However, months later, the global shut down would present a whole new obstacle. Emerging mostly unscathed to a much different financial, emotional, and relationship landscape the Iron District continues in the same planned environment.  Offering include sandwiches, tacos, ice cream, breakfast, burgers, as well as Mediterranean and Laotian opportunities. This particular visit enjoyed a Shroomin' Swiss Burger with a side of onion rings from The Iron Grill. It was every bit as delicious as ...

a royal gordon

Image
A night out with the Kansas City Royals found former player Alex Gordon standing for induction to the Royals Hall of Fame.  Celebrating a 14-year career, he is undoubtedly one of the more memorable play makers for the franchise.   During his career he was named American League All-Star three different times and won eight Gold Glove Awards.  He was infamous for diving into the left field stands to turn fouls into outs, and few will forget his game-tying home run in the 2015 World Series.  These achievements are only overshadowed by his personal commitment to the very best person and player he could be.  As former manager and Royals Hall of Famer Ned Yost stated, Alex Gordon was "One-hundred percent, all of the time.” A beautiful night for baseball at "The K" did not turn out so well for team though, who found themselves trailing behind, after having scored first.  They were unable to respond a...

smithville bingo music

Image
A random Friday evening found our crew testing our memory of track titles in four rounds of music bingo at the local American Legion Hall.  We found we were able to recognize much more than had been expected overall, though it did not help much until near the end.  In the first three rounds, none of the six of us hit at all. The final round found one or another of us winning all three of the prizes for the evening, thereby covering part of the cost our tab!  It probably had more to do with the population level at that time than any other.  Most had departed for the evening.  We had a lot of fun though, enjoying  good drinks and better conversation, matching our wits against a few minutes of melody.  We look forward to giving it another try soon!