Seventh Annual Samba in the Snow Parade 2011

Feb 19, 2011: Somewhere in the alternate universe where Kansas City Midtown meets Abbey Road

The Kansas City Midwest and national Blizzard of 2011 - Snowpocalypse

Round 3pm Mon Jan 31, 2011

Yosh's infamous West Bottoms loft is no more ... lost lease

July 26th marked the end of an era for an underground West Bottoms event space that had stitched together the wayward strands of Kansas City's fringiest tribes of artists for the past two years. Informal "tribes" of fire performers, hoopers, drummers, jugglers, spinners, and dancers all flocked towards the semi-secret loft space subleased by four men, but commonly referred to as Yosh's Place. The loft became an important source of community, training, recruitment, and collaboration among the mostly underground performers.

Regularly scheduled events included free-movement dance and spin-jams. The spacious quarters accommodated killer New Years and Halloween parties where invitations consisted mostly of being in the know as to when which events were held. As the loft's events became increasingly popular, the back portions of the loft space were cordoned off and entry restricted to known participants during major events to prevent pilfering and retain private space.



Word of mouth popularity led to increasingly ambitious events which culminated in a Facebook marketed Halloween party in 2009 with a line up of international DJ's and t-shirt merchandising. Success attracted attention from the authorities resulting in the infamous police shut down of the Halloween party of 2009. The cops burst in suddenly and unannounced around 11 pm just as the party was beginning to groove. There was much bellowing and bullying from a mannnish female officer although the party goers grumbled but offered no resistance. The police basis for the shut down was that an undercover agent had purchased a beer for three dollars and tickets to the event were sold to the public without a city permit. The net net was a financial loss and legal hassles for Yosh.



The "rough-use" space was also a haven for photographers, body-painters, artists, and models because of it's north facing windows, second floor privacy, rooftop access, peeling walls, wooden floors, and skyline vistas.


When the landlady declined to renew the lease, opting to convert the space to commercial use, it was the death knell for one of Kansas Cities free-est and least pretentious of spaces.

No public announcement now or ever on where the new fringe-space will re-emerge ...

USA authorities sieze and shut down 73000 blogs

Latest Federal Strategy - "All your Internets is mine"

It is official, the Obama strategy is now as crooked as the Republicans. Where the Republicans once courted big business campaign dollars, the Democrats have now sided with big media dollars. Proposals have been floated in Congress over the past few months to tax websites such as the Drudge Report, prohibit "unlicensed" citizen bloggers from reporting news, and now the Dems - fearing a re-election rout - have pulled the trigger on protecting big media movie revenue streams rather than protecting the First Amendment. They are now seizing control of domain names and have shut down 70,000 blogs. Yikes, Maybe the American public is too stupid to see the threat. I mean we bought defcit spending, two wars, credit card debt, too-good-to-believe mortgages, allowed lobbyists to run the government. Maybe citizens get what they deserve.

This is the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This is the First Amendment on the Democrats Watch as reported by TorrentFreak:

"Hot on the heels of recent threats from Vice President Joe Biden and Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel directed action at sites offering unauthorized movies and music.

‘Operation In Our Sites‘ targeted several sites. In almost unprecedented action, the domain names of 7 sites were seized and indications are that others – The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload – narrowly avoided the same fate.

Fears remain, however, that this action is only the beginning, and that more sites will be targeted as the months roll on. Indeed, TorrentFreak has already received information that other sites, so far unnamed in the media, are being monitored by the authorities on copyright grounds.

Now, according to the owner of a free WordPress platform which hosts more than 73,000 blogs, his network of sites has been completely shut down on the orders of the authorities."

And it's not just Joe Citizen who is complaining about being squeezed. Here's the way the Obama administration is restricting reporting on the BP spill.

National Hot Rod Association at Topeka Heartland Park

NHRA Summer Nationals Held May 21 - 23

The smoke is thick and the air is heavy with the smell of fuel and burnt rubber

Wheels squealing, engine screaming, and ground rumbling

Earth shaking, ear-splitting quarter mile drag racers

Drag racers hit over 300 mph on the strip

Flames exit vehicles as they burn to the finish line

The view from the owner's suite

Some say the world will end in fire. Some say ice ...

SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,	5
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

FAA website map fails to highlight Major East Coast Airport Delays

You would think the the FAA site would have useful information about airport delays? Not! At 439pm the FAA site shows the DC airports as green dots indicating no delays. In fact, almost every East Coast airport is marked green which means General Arrival/Departure delays are 15 minutes or less. Whatever.

And New York, it's orange, not even red, even though reports are that some people will be missing Christmas because they are stuck at the airport in NYC with 800 flights canceled and some Kansas City parents being being told that their kids can't get a connecting flight out until the 24th or 25th.

Compare to the USA Today Flight Tracker site above which relies on various data sources. The East Coast is ALL RED. This what the public needs to know: How severe are the delays! Wow, I can't wait until the government computerizes all our medical records too.

At least you can get the REAL story on Weatherbug shown above-- Only one DC airport functioning on one runway and 800 flights canceled in NYC!