Holiday Specials and Activities on The Plaza by KCMB News Kansas City

GIVE THEM THE PLAZA THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!   This year there are lots of holiday specials and activities on the Plaza in Kansas City for 2015. There are Kansas City restaurants, KC bands and great activities all holiday season long! Plaza Gift Cards Give the gift everyone on your list will love - a Plaza Gift Card.  Gift Cards can be used at any Plaza store or restaurant and are available at the Plaza Customer Service located at 4750 Broadway or online. Plaza Merchandise  Looking for a special hostess, teacher, staff or boss gift? Check out Plaza swag from local artists Tammy Smith and Farmdog Studios.  We've got Plaza themed tea towels, pillows, prints, vintage wooded signs and more!   Plaza Gift Wrap After you've found the perfect gift, head to Plaza Customer Service to have your items professionally wrapped complete with a genuine retired Plaza Light Bulb tied to your package. HOLIDAY DINING ON THE PLAZA   See a listing of Kansas City Restaurants and Reviews SANTA PAWS - LAST WEEKEND Better hurry up!  It's the last weekend for Santa Paws.  Grab your furry friends and head to the Plaza. Santa Paws is located at 314 Ward Parkway next to Zoom Toy Store. Open Saturday and Sunday from noon - 4pm.  Photo packages start at $10 and proceeds benefit The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. VOM FASS GRAND OPENING Founded in Germany more than 20 years ago, VOM FASS is a gourmet food store offering vintage wines of different regions and wineries as well as premium vinegars, oils and spirits in a variety of quantities. VOM FASS hand-picks the highest-quality ingredients from around the world in order to create its signature flavors.  Nichols Road next to J. Crew. SPARK EXCITEMENT WITH PLAZA SHOPS and Restaurants Now - 24 | Free Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD with purchase of $499.99 or more at Helzberg Diamonds.  Exclusions may apply. Now - 24 | Get 30% off select "Items For The Week" and 40% off select apparel at Sperry Topsider Now - 30 | The Melting Pot $19 Lunch Special includes cheese fondue appy, salad and chocolate fondue.   Now - 30 | Get a free Trapp candle with the purchase of four Trapp candles at Decori. Now - 30 | Give the gift of Chuy's and receive free queso and chips with every $50 Gift Card purchase. Now - 31 | Receive a $50 award for every $200 you spend at Tommy Bahama to use toward future purchase in January. Now - 1/2 | Save up to $50 off any purchase over $200 or more at Sunglass Hut.  Now - 1/8 | Show your favorite Plaza store receipt at Chaz and receive a free lunch entree with the purchase of a another lunch entree.  Monday - Friday only.      Now - 1/17 | Save $50 on purchases of $200 or more at Terrasi Living & Scandia Home.

Holiday specials and activities on the plaza by KCMB Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.

Legends Shopping Center Defaults on Loan

The shopping center in "the hood" located in the heart of the ghetto neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas is having trouble keeping it's doors open. There wasn't much surprise that the Legends Shopping Center was having a hard time keeping up with other shopping centers located in more wealthy neighborhoods like Zona Rosa in the wealthy little nook of Briarcliff, Kansas City where they have tried very hard to recreate the lavish Leawood, Kansas and the Town Center Plaza Shopping Center located in Leawood. Although the Legends should get some help from the nearby Hollywood Casino that will be opening in February, it will still consist mostly of white trash people coming in from Cabella's (the store where they sell things to kill animals with), and of course the white trash mecca of the universe, Nebraska Furniture Mart. The Hollywood Casino will bring in a whole new group of rural country folk and the typical NASCAR fan, hillbilly types. In light of this, the chubby female staff at the Legends Shopping Center should consider catering towards the country folk, maybe a western wear store, a honky tonk bar with a mechanical bull, etc. Good stuff.

The company that holds the loan for The Legends shopping center said that they were going to "draw up a new loan plan for The Legends" in light of their recent loan default. Surely with the combined hillbilly draws of The Nebraska Furniture Mart, Cabella's, the NASCAR track, and finally the Hollywood Casino, The Legends Shopping Center should be able to get back on it's feet. Maybe that area should just go all the way and open up a large truck stop type motel and restaurant like Love's Truck Stop, that would put the icing on the white trash cake for that area.

We will keep you posted on The Legends Shopping Center in Kansas City and the state of their financial situation. As of now, since the center is being run by overweight women, it has been built to cater to overweight women, but if they can convert it to a rural hillbilly attraction I think that they will strike gold and get more business. Ooh! Maybe a new Silver Dollar City! Now that would be a great idea, it could be like the new Branson, Missouri out there - yeeeee-hawww!

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The Automatics Band Kansas City Celebrate 10 Years

Several local Kansas City bands have amazing history and credits to their name. Today, 10 years after they broke up, we celebrate some of the accomplishments of one of the most powerful funk bands that has ever performed in Kansas City, The Automatics. Here are a few things that this amazing horn powered band accomplished in just a few short years:

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - The Automatics (then called the BWB band) performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The White House - The Automatics have performed at The White House

Jerry Seinfeld - They opened for Jerry Seinfeld when he performed at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada

ESPN - The Automatics were featured on ESPN as the headline act for the NCAA Championship game.

Kansas Speedway - The Automatics performed with Brooks and Dunn at the Kansas Speedway on stage together.

Dick Clark's American Bandstand - The Automatics performed for the walk of fame Dick Clark's American Bandstand

The Automatics were made up of the perfect combination of Kansas City musicians including Johnny C (guitar / vox), Randy Malone (saxophone / vox), Shawn Cassity (trumpet / vox), Brian Reynolds (drums / vox), Adam Blue (keys / vox), and last but certainly not least, Greg "Coko" Henderson (bass / vox). They played relentlessly and they played whatever the hell they wanted.

They played as loud as any touring band, and they partied their asses off in the process. If a venue owner tried to tell them to turn down, drummer Brian Reynolds would happily point to the large sticker on his bass drum which read "If It's Too Loud, You're Too OLD". But if it was a concert-like environment you wanted, The Automatics delivered; a horn section that would peel your face off, a bass player in Coko Henderson that would make any white person who played bass just want to quit playing the bass on the spot, and a combined attitude of "fuck off, we're going to play, and we're going to play really loud". They don't make bands like that any more, ever since the acoustic strumming hippie acts have hit Kansas City, but we can always hope that the style of the Automatics is replicated sometime in the near future, or then again, maybe a reunion concert? Ay boys? Here's a slideshow video of one of the Automatics unforgettable performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv_83ziBAiU