GreasySkillet Lauds Winstead's, I Beg 2 Differ

The GreasySkillet blog touts Winstead's and Town Topic as the best burgers in town, but I do not concur.

It's not quite on the Plaza, but we can walk to the Westport Flea Market... their burger is the absolutely bomb-diggity. From their site:

"The Flea Market has a storied history: Infamous serial killer Bob Berdella had a booth in the flea market part of the building. The place nearly closed a few years ago,until Joe Zwillenberg stepped in to buy it, rescuing it from developers who wanted to demolish the building and build a Hooters."

Now that makes you want to eat meat, doesn't it?

10oz of juicy goodness can be had at the Flea Market in conjunction with curly fries as "springy as a piggy tail" and 23 brews on tap... well, you can't go wrong, you can just go fat.

See you there NEXT WEEK!

Topeka Symphony Orchestra @ Halls Tonight

Get your symphony on at Halls tonight when the Topeka Symphony Orchestra comes into town to raise the roof and raise some funds.

10% of all purchases at Hall's will go to benefit the Symphony. They will be playing from 6pm to 830pm.

I'll be out on The Plaza tonight, so I'll likely stop by and get all culturey and stuff. Of course, then head over to Club Blonde to see if LJ is there.

UPDATE: I dare say it's a good thing that we don't have a ton of readers yet because I failed to do my homework. Halls was doing a benefit, but the Symphony was not playing... oopsy daisy.

Panhandling is Banned on The Plaza?

Yeah right. Apparently panhandling is banned on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza, yet every time I go out I pretty much run into the "Down Payment on a Cheeseburger?" Guy, the elderly African American gentlemen on crutches and the guy that just shakes his Styrofoam cup full of change at you.

What kind of a ban is that?

Lawrence is seeking the same ban... good luck with the results there, Kansas.

"There is precedent for banning panhandling from prominent shopping districts, according to research conducted by the city’s legal staff. Kansas City, Mo., has banned panhandling in the Country Club Plaza area."

However... it is always nice to see those Kansans trying to be like us Missourians.

TessK on Election Day

Our own PlazaBUZZer TessK talks about her experience on Election Day from the Plaza Precinct Phuk Up to the fantastic party at the Midland.

Don't forget... "CityBall" Premiere Tonight!

I didn't make the premiere since I wasn't feeling that well... so sorry!

Hope Hangover

I skipped writing about the Plaza Precinct voting issues yesterday... I figure y'all know about it plenty. But, TessK was actually there when it happened... maybe she'll write about it later.

I, on the other hand, have a Hope Hangover.

Asleep on the Border (War)

Although chock fulla great one-liners, "Border War" kinda put me to sleep during it's last half hour. The first two-thirds of the documentary, however, were quite entertaining. I'm hoping that they edit it a bit more for television when it is broadcast on Thanksgiving.

The "Border War" is the calamity that went on before the beginning of the Civil War. Well, you really could say that the Civil War started here. Kansas dudes (Jayhawkers) burned Osceola, MO. Kansas dudes kidnapped the Missouri dudes' (Bushwackers) wives and daughters who then died in a building collapse. Missouri dudes burned Lawrence, KS. Kansas dudes declared 4 Missouri counties as "No Man's Land" and killed livestock and burned homes. It's pretty ugly history.

The "Border War" still manifests itself in the rivalry between the universities of Kansas and Missouri. If ever one felt right to use the word "hate," which is a word I utterly despise, this is the region where it almost feels justified. MU & KU have been playing football against each other for more than a century, second only to length of the Wisconsin/Minnesota match up. In fact, MU & KU can't even agree on the record between them, but that is another story.

"It's not a rivalry, they are enemies."

Great one-liners from the documentary:

• In Poland they tell Missouri jokes.
• Korea had the 38th parallel, we've got the State Line.
• I hear the MO government is voting to make the Jayhawk the state game bird.
• We had to move the MU/KU games out of Kansas City because everyone ended up in jail.
• It's nice to see the football teams playing well again. For years they've been like 6 year olds flogging each other.
• BURN THE WHEAT!
• The Jayhawks wears boots, perfect for kicking a Tiger.
• Jayhawks are a bunch of thieves, you can look it up in the dictionary.

I loved the time that the documentary spent on Coach Don Fambrough. He is a character that I wasn't previously familiar with and he's hilarious. He says that he's amazed that he's still alive because his doctor is a Missouri alum. Fortunately, he did his med work at KU Med. :)

Finally, the Truman Forum at the Plaza Library is an awesome venue and I should make it back on Thursday night for the premiere of "City Ball."

"Border War" Premiere Tonight

PlazaBUZZ just found out that the movie "Border War" will premiere at the Plaza Library tonight. We all know what the KU/MU Border War is all about.

The Missouri-Kansas football series is the second-most-played rivalry in college football history. The teams first matched up in football on October 31, 1891. Missouri leads the all-time series 54-53-9. There have been 9 ties in the 116 games played.

The real border war hatred, if you want to go back that far, stems from the argument about who was going to be the big bully on the block and convince everyone else to be a part of the Confederacy or the Union. Missouri was a split state, but Quantrill crossed into Kansas and burnt Lawrence down (he also attempted to ravage the Union stronghold in Columbia, btw). The Red Leggers (aka, Jayhawks) returned the favor by destroying farms in Missouri along the border frontier. Good times, eh?

Catch the premiere tonight at the Plaza Library branch round 'bout 630pm.

The REAL BUZZ Over the Plaza

Are these the guys that are buzzing around the Plaza at night? And here I thought it was just the medical helicopters!

All kidding aside, I saw the PlazaFlights video on YouTube today (embedded below) and it looks something to check out! Maybe we can get them to post some video of the flight to show us how cool it really is?

Or maybe, just maybe, they can take a PlazaBUZZ blogger up into the skies and we can micro-blog the entire experience on Twitter.



For $85 you can tool around in a Cessna at night and see some great sites.

Flights can be scheduled with KCPlazaFlights.com or PlazaFlights.com.

A Blonde & a Transformer

Chillin' on the terrace on a warm fall night,
Rappin' with my man when the sky filled bright.
"What the hell was that?" I said aloud,
But the night had returned to its cool, dark shroud.
I asked, "Dude, didn't you see that huge, bright flash?"
"No, but those sirens are sure in a mad dash."
And away they were to the calamitous scene,
We saw the engines pass with their spotless glean.
I texted Tess, fer sure, 'cause she's a newshound.
But it was hours before she said what she'd found.
"A transformer blew in a car wreck,
Surely that's the flash you saw from your deck."
So there we had it, without further to wonder,
An unfortunate driver the cause of the blunder.
Our minds at ease, we jumped in the car,
Time for live music in the local dive bar.
Nothing but gum-chewing ladies in here,
We left to find someplace else to drink beer.
When suddenly we got a text from a friend,
"Come to the club, your woes we will mend."
What club do you think, well the one they call Blonde,
Which isn't one that we necessarily find fond.
A recent article by the Star's Kent Babb,
Was nothing but ridiculous, inflated flab.
"Blonde is nothing but peaceful and warm,"
When ear-numbing bass is typically the norm.
But have a few drinks, we did with a smile.
The eye-candy there could line up for a mile.
When finally we left, we stopped for a cap,
Positive tomorrow would demand a quick nap.

Kinda like Frogger

A local Plaza resident wants the speed limit on the Plaza, namely 47th which is currently set at 35mph, to be reduced to 20mph. Now that I'm a fellow Plaza resident, I've seen how careful you must be when dipping your toe into the river of flowing machinery.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday and we were nearly hit twice walking from CPK to my condo. The first one was a car flying out of a parking garage and the second was another driver trying to slip through the crosswalk without stopping.

I've never understood why pedestrians assume that cars will see them in a crosswalk. It's your life, better take care of it. Motorists realize that pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk in many of the places that I have lived. But here, I can stand in the middle of the street and watch car after car blow past without regard for the crosswalk.

Each one gets the evil eye as they pass by. Perhaps I should give them a little bit more.

Alas, the Public Works "traffic engineering staff" assessed the concern and gave our local resident the middle finger.

"If the speed limit were too low, many motorists might ignore it. That means that a road can have motorists traveling at widely varying speeds — those abiding by the new limit and those going at a higher rate — and that creates more problems than it solves."

Such as?

PlazaBUZZ suggests that Plaza residents return the favor and give the middle finger to any motorist that fails to recognize pedestrians trying to cross the street.

Ideally, I'd love to see the Plaza become more like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA.