NYT Celebrates Our Kansas City Chiefs Today

Yes sir, the one and only New York Times has a very prominent, front sports page article on our own Kansas City Chiefs, our Patrick Mahomes and how we naturally, rightly like--love?--him.

‘He’s Ours. Patrick Mahomes Is Ours.’

Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs, accustomed to football disappointment, now have the most exciting player in the N.F.L. on their team, in their town.

And it's a great and of course, true article, we love our Patrick Mahomes and all this winning he's doing but in the print edition of the paper, the headline reads: "Kansas City finally found something to love."

Excuse me?

Excuse me, New York Times.....  Excuse us??

We have LOTS to love around here, make no mistake.

We love our Kansas City Chiefs, for starters. And that's all the time, not just when we're having a stellar season, like right this moment. Sure, we prefer winning them all, including the Super Bowl, like anyone and everyone else but we love our team ALL THE TIME.

Going on, we love our Kansas City Royals. For sure. Absolutely. And that's all the time, too. Sure, we prefer "going all the way" seasons like 1985 and 2015 but we love our team, let there be no doubt.

Going on from there, things we Kansas Citians love:

Our barbecue

The

Country Club Plaza 

All our fountains

Being the "Paris of the Plains"

Ward Parkway and our boulevard system

4 seasons--especially now that winters are milder

Mostly clean air, nearly all the time

Low traffic

Having and being two cities, not just one

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

Union Station

American Jazz Museum

National WWI Museum and Memorial

Kansas City Museum

The Arabia Steamboat Museum

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Arthur Bryant's Barbeque Restaurant

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que

And a lot more, to be sure.

So thanks, New York Times for the article and coverage but please, ladies and gentlemen, give us more credit than this.

Please.

Happy Birthday, Roy Inman!

Yes, indeed, wishing a very happy, happy birthday to Kansas City's own professional photographer and area history recorder, Roy Inman.

Roy Inman

Roy Inman Photographs | Facebook

Royals Rally Poster | Union Station

Photo gallery - | The Kansas City Star

Roy Inman Archives - Boelte-Hall

Roy Inman | Missouri Photojournalism 

Hall of Fame

Roy Inman - Artwork for Sale - Lenexa, KS

And then there's his blog:

Fire-Eating Press Photographer

No one has documented this city or area or region and people any more or better than you, sir. Thank you and kudos to you for your work, all these years. Terrific stuff.

For, I believe, all his working life, Roy has been photographing and documenting Kansas City, the metropolitan area and region, at least. Some of the best photos of and in the area were captured by him. It was only last Fall, Roy got on top of Union Station, for just a moment, just a shot and got what I believe most everyone in the area thinks is the best photo of the celebration there for our world champion Kansas City Royals. (Go to his Facebook page to see it, at least. It's also available for sale).

If you follow him on Facebook, you will frequently get some terrific Kansas City and local history as well as information on past trains and planes from the nation and world. It's interesting and fun, frequently.

So, again, happy birthday, Roy Inman and thank you for all the years you captured us and our city. We appreciate all you've done and all you've captured for us.

As an extra, added bonus this year, I know you are aware the President and Royals are giving you an extra special gift, too.

Champion Kansas City Royals to visit 

White House July 21

Enjoy!

Fantastic KC Video

Fantastic.   From local videographer Dan Wood. 

Entertainment Overnight -- 100 Years of Union Station

Celebration at the Station this weekend

Celebration at the Station airs Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 8pm on KCPT. 

Located at Kansas City’s Union Station, music is by the Kansas City Symphony with Michael Stern, music director. This year  they're also featuring Oleta Adams, Musicorps and host Jim Birdsall with Charles Bruffy, chorus director.

Bank of America Celebration at the Station is the largest FREE Memorial Day Weekend event in the Midwest. The Kansas City Symphony, led by Music Director Michael Stern, performs patriotic favorites against the backdrop of Kansas City’s historic Union Station. The event concludes with their wonderful, annual fireworks display. The Kansas City Symphony is grateful to Bank of America for making this gift to our city possible.

This year's Celebration at the Station will also have a variety of food truck vendors on-site, offering a wide array of food and beverage options! Including The Moose Truck,New York Dawg Pound, Cajun Cabin, Monk's Roast Beef, Kona Ice-Trucks, Jerusalem Cafe Hookah Bar, Jazzy B's and CoffeeCakeKC.

Kansas City Southern "Union Express" Train tonight at Union Station

The Holiday Express train is free and open to the public. At each stop, The KCS Charitable Fund will make a contribution of gift cards to the local Salvation Army to provide warm clothing and other necessities for children in need.

Beautiful train, great cause. Go, enjoy.

A Kansas City/Union Station Christmas

From local photographer Roy Inman today at his Facebook page: Don't forget the Kansas City Southern Holiday Express will be at Union Station Kansas City December 14~16. It is an all-volunteer operation and fun for children of all ages

Small note in the Star this week on Union Station

I saw this a couple days ago, then searched for more information on it online but could find no further information from the travel writers. Anyway, here goes:

Union Station lauded by travel writers

Union Station is one of the best examples in the world of conservation and preservation, according to the Society of American Travel Writers.

The restored Kansas City train station received one of six Phoenix Awards at the trade group’s annual meeting.

“The restoration itself was remarkable,” a selection committee member wrote, “and I love how the station has become a huge focal point of the community and also spurred other development around it.”

Other tourism sites lauded were a wildlife foundation in Namibia, the Charleston, S.C. city market, a wildlife society at Sanibel Island, Fla., a wildlife park in Fiji and a package of preservation projects in west Texas.

And to think we almost lost it.

Original story here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/13/3814251/union-station-lauded-by-travel.html

Entertainment overnight

Entertainment overnight

Entertainment overnight

National Train Day this Saturday

And what more appropriate city to celebrate National Train Day than our own Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas, given the train traffic we still get, daily, to this day?

It will be celebrated locally by the Kansas City Northern Miniature Railroad, 60th Street And Waukomis Drive here in town from 10 am to 6 pm (see 2nd link, below).

Links: http://www.nationaltrainday.com/; http://www.KCNRR.com/

Union Station boarding this morning

Notes from the video: "Union Pacific Steam Locomotive #844 picked up Civil War actors this morning at Union Station bound for the 150th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh." I saw and got this from local photographer Roy Inman's Facebook page today. (Thanks, Roy!).

An old idea revisited: A Smithsonian in the Midwest

I see in the Star today that Franklin, Kansas is getting a travelling Smithsonian exhibit soon. They're all excited, naturally, for what it can mean for their town. Good for them. Good for the Smithsonian. Good for this area. It brings back the idea, for me, that it would really benefit the Smithsonian, Kansas City, the region and even the entire US, really, if that same Smithsonian took just some of the things in their collection--from storage--and opened a midwestern museum here in Kansas City. It just makes so much sense. They have more things than they can show so they're in storage. This way, more people could see more of their things. I'm sure it would raise money for them, what with an entrance fee. It would make those pieces more available since you wouldn't have to go all the way to Washington, DC to see them. It would be a great boost for the city and region. People from all over the midwest and even the nation could come here to see the objects. Sure, Union Station is no longer available for it (who knows if that would have been big enough anyway) but we have plenty of space in downtown to locate such a facility. It just makes so much sense. Link to original story: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/27/3339396/franklin-kan-prepares-for-big.html

KC Southern Holiday Express Train at Union Station this weekend!

The Kansas City Southern Railroad's Holiday Express is at Union Station today--Saturday--and Sunday and it's free! It's definitely better at dusk or dark, and only open until 7:00 PM both days. Go check it out! Enjoy! And happy holidays! Have a great weekend! (Many thanks to Roy Inman, local professional photographer and train buff) for the "heads up").

I hope people are going to this exhibit

Tavis Smiley, Union Station and Wal-Mart (of all groups) have this exhibit on contributions of African-Americans now at Union Station and I hope it's being well-attended. It goes through January 8. There's a great deal most Americans can learn and don't know about our country in this area. As said at the Union Station site: "The exhibit traces the indelible imprint African Americans have made on America. Their stories - some familiar, many surprising are inseparable from the story of America itself." Here's hoping. More information here: http://www.unionstation.org/americaiam.html and here: http://www.americaiam.org/Pages/home.aspx

Clay Chastain? Back? Again?

What sick, twisted thing (things?) did Kansas City do to deserve being haunted and hounded by Clay Chastain, again and again, over the last many years?

I'm thinking it was either the racism of the city that divides us, physically, too much, even to this day, or the city sprawl that has us from Platte City to Louisburg and from Odessa to Gardner--or both.

That must be it.

Did you hear this?

Clay Chastain is back YET AGAIN to try to get signatures for another freaking campaign to get light rail? I heard it on KCUR this morning.

Holy cow.

This guy never gives up.

He has got to LOVE attention, don'tcha know? But I've thought and said that for years.

And get this--rather than him come to us for our signatures, he got the lapdog media in town to announce for him that he'll be at Union Station tomorrow so WE CAN COME TO HIM.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Man, that's good.

Yeah, right, Clay. We'll be right there.

Hold yer breath.

I think I might go down myself, with my camera, and take pictures of him standing there, all alone, waiting for people to come in.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

I know I will.

Terrific, even important, art exhibits in town right now

 

It turns out, this is really quite an art weekend for Kansas City.

Last evening was "1st Friday" in the Crossroads area, of course and while that's behind us, two exhibits are available right now, very different from one another, that are "can't miss" exhibits.

The Kemper Gallery of Contemporary Art has an exhibit of pieces by Wyeth family members--N.C., Andrew, James and Henriette--that is a knockout. Thanks to the Kemper family, of course, for both the gallery itself and now for several of these artworks, you can enjoy quite a range of talent and style.

Then, at Union Station, you can see a terrific display of Andy Warhol originals.

They're being shown as part of a Bank of America sponsorship and tour of the country. It's inexpensive, at only $12.00 per person and it doesn't take 2 or 3 hours to see.

I would recommend you go down at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, though. When we arrived, at about 1:30 pm, we had to pay $5.00 to park. My immediate, knee-jerk reaction was to dislike it. But then I got to thinking about supporting Union Station and this type touring exhibit and I thought it made sense and was fair. However, when we came back to the car an hour later, the barricades and money-takers were gone. It made no sense. We were back to feeling taken advantage of again. Oh, well.

One last note, I've put some pictures up from Union Station and our tour at my photography blog: www.kcphotogblog.blogspot.com.

Have a great weekend, y'all.