Up to Date

11:00 am - Noon  Monday - Friday Up to Date is KCUR's award-winning one-hour daily public affairs / talk show featuring newsmakers of the Kansas City community.  Host  Steve Kraske, a political correspondent for The Kansas City Star brings pressing issues, both local and national, to the table including politics, economics, planning and design, history, entertainment and social points of view - topics that have an impact on the lives of the Greater Kansas City region. Up to Date is produced by Stephen Steigman.  Contact Stephen Did you Miss a Broadcast?    Up to Date is Podcasting.  You can also find older shows in our archive. Looking for programs from last week - or even two, three, or four weeks ago?  You can find information about guests, their writings, and links to additional resources mentioned during the broadcast on the the Previously on Up to Date section of our website. Become a Part of the Conversation: You can become part of the conversation during the show by calling in at 816 235 2888 or by emailing us at uptodate@kcur.org.  Interested in knowing what constitutes a "good call"?  Check out former NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin's column on "How to Get on Talk of the Nation" - we use similar guidelines for Up to Date.  You can also check out our Tips for Callers. Up to Date is seeking interns for the Fall and Spring semesters.  Click here for more information.

This Week on Up to Date

Click on a day to see the full program description, guests, and more. Monday: ¡Ask a Mexican! Tuesday: KCK/WyCo Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon Wednesday: Memories of Ernest Hemingway Thursday: Jazz Pianist Eldar Classical Pianist Stanislav Ioudenitch Friday: TBA Looking for programs from last week - or even two, three, or four weeks ago?  Visit the Previously on Up to Date section of our website. Monday May 12, 2008 Download Listen Send To A Friend To download this audio file, right click and select 'Save Target As...' It's been almost four years since the editor of the OC Weekly published in Orange County, California suggested to his food editor that he write a one-time Q&A column (as a joke) to replace the paper's long-running Burning Bush political column.  That food editor was Gustavo Arellano - who figured that for a one-time deal - why not?  He posed as the writer of a column titled ¡Ask a Mexican! and created the question “Dear Mexican, why do Mexicans call white people gringos?”  He answered that they don't, and with the correct disparaging term that Mexicans use.  OC Weekly ran it. Intended to run as a spoof just that once, both Arellano and his editor were not unprepared for the reaction the column generated (half the people loved it, half hated it).  What they didn't expect were the letters that started arriving asking about Mexicans.  Thus was born the weekly ¡Ask a Mexican! feature and Arellano found himself attacking racism and dispelling stereotypes in a most unconventional way. Today Steve Kraske talks with Gustavo Arellano about his column (which appears locally in The Pitch), the frank approach the Mexican takes in answering readers' questions, how political incorrectness plays a part, and what Arellano looks to accomplish when he sets Gabachos straight on Mexicans. We'll even give you a chance to ¡Ask a Mexican! Additional Information: In his own words, “I'm Gustavo Arellano. I was born in Anaheim, California, to a tomato canner and an illegal immigrant. My ¡Ask a Mexican! column won the 2006 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for the best column in a large circulation weekly. I'm a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times and have appeared on Today, Nightline, NPR's On the Media, The Situation with Tucker Carlson, and The Colbert Report. I also mow lawns for $15 -- $10 if I get a water break.” Gustavo Arellano also has a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from UCLA with an emphasis in history, sociology and anthropology. He has written ¡Ask a Mexican! in book form as well as Orange County: A Personal History. Tuesday May 13, 2008 Joe Reardon, Mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City Kansas oversees an area that has seen tremendous economic growth.  Home to the Kansas City Speedway and the Village West entertainment and shopping district, Wyandotte County counts among its many attractions the amphitheater formerly known as Verizon, the Renaissance Festival, and the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.  While the western part of Wyandotte County is growing, what’s happening in Kansas City, Kansas? Today Mayor Reardon sits down with Steve Kraske to discuss the dichotomy that is Wyandotte-KCK.  They’ll discuss the Mayor’s project list that includes downtown redevelopment, we’ll get an update on the Dotte Promise college tuition project, and discuss why some feel KCK is being overlooked and overshadowed by the success in western Wyandotte County. Additional Information: Joe Reardon was elected to a four-year term as Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City Kansas in 2005. He was first elected to the Unified Government Commission in 2003. Mayor Reardon, who was recently recognized as one of greater Kansas City’s top civic leaders by Ingram Magazine’s 40-under-40, earned a law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Rockhurst University. He worked for the law firm of McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips, P.A. in Kansas City, Kansas. He also was employed by Thomson West, a legal information company based in Eagan, Minnesota. He is a member of the Kansas Bar Association and the Wyandotte County Bar Association.  More information on Mayor Joe Reardon can be found here. Wednesday May 14, 2008 Valerie Hemingway worked for Ernest Hemingway years before she took the family name by marriage to one of his sons.  Though she only knew the author for two years, it was very near the end of the writer’s life and experienced as a member of his household. In her book, Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways, Valerie writes what many consider to be one of the best books on Ernest Hemingway and his family.  Today in a conversation with Steve Kraske and Kansas City Star senior writer and Hemingway scholar Steve Paul, Valerie Hemingway tells of her life in and out of the circle of the famous family.   Starting as secretary to the great writer then to his widow, Hemingway’s connection continued with marriage to and divorce from the youngest son, Gregory and lives on in her role as mother of their children.  Valerie Hemingway kicks off the Kansas City Literary Festival as she talks about Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways this evening at 6:30 at the Kansas City Library Plaza Branch.  A 6 p.m. reception precedes the talk.  Admission is free. Call 816 701 3407 or click here for more information and to indicate your interest in attending. Additional Information: The Kansas City Public Library has compiled a list of more readings by and about Ernest Hemingway.  To find them, click here. Valerie Hemingway lives in Bozeman, MT where she works as a freelance writer, editor and speaker.  For two decades she worked in publishing and public relations in New York City, including two years as a fiction reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Her articles have appeared in Saturday Review, The New York Times, and Ski Magazine. Thursday May 15, 2008 Eldar Djangirov and Stanislav Ioudenitch have a few things in common.  They hail from the neighboring countries of Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan but now live in the United States.  They attained fame before the age of thirty and they are acclaimed masters of the piano.  Their chosen genres, however, are very different and today they talk with Steve Kraske about their musical paths. At 21, Eldar has three jazz CDs and a 2007 Grammy nomination to his credit.  Noted for his speed, stylistic range and “a mature grasp of musical structure” and known simply by his first name, Eldar has wasted no time in branching out from playing the masters to his own original works.  He discusses his exploration of jazz in his latest release, re-imagination, which he explains this way: “I wanted to cross the lines—to present very organic tunes, things with a more produced sound, and also some solo piano songs. It’s meant to be a journey, not a departure.” Stanislav Ioudenitch’s road has been along the classical route.  After injury forced him to the sidelines for the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano competition, Ioudenitch returned in 2001 at the maximum age allowed for competitors (29) to win the gold medal.  Now a professor at Park University International Music Center, he speaks to the rigors of training as a child, where the next generation of classical pianists is to be found, his approach to teaching, and why there’s been such an influx of talented musicians from the former Soviet Union now living in the Midwest. Eldar performs this evening at 7 the Country Club Christian Church in Kansas City in a concert benefiting the Darfur region of Sudan.  For more information click here. Additional Information: Eldar moved to the United States with his parents in 1998, first settling in Kansas City because of its rich jazz heritage.  His mother Tatiana, a music studies professor, taught him the discipline of the Russian school of music.  His mechanical engineer father, Emil, brought home the records of jazz greats like Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock.  Originally noticed by late jazz patron Charles McWhorter at a Siberian jazz festival, Eldar was soon being heard on programs such as NPR’s Piano Jazz, Sunday Morning on CBS and the 2000 Grammy Awards telecast.   Eldar participated in the jazz piano competition of the 2001 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and won the top prize. The following year, he won first place in the Peter Nero Piano Competition.  His family moved to San Diego in 2003, and in Fall 2005, he matriculated at the University of Southern California.  For more information about Eldar, visit his website here. Stanislav Ioudenitch is currently serving as Associate Professor of Music and the Artistic Director of the Youth Conservatory of Music and the International Center for Music at Park University. In 2001 Ioudenitch won the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Ioudenitch has netted top prizes at the Busoni, Kapell, and Maria Callas Competitions and took first prize at both the 1998 Palm Beach Invitational and the 2000 New Orleans International Piano Competitions. A former student of Dmitri Bashkirov, he also studied with Leon Fleisher, Murray Perahia, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and Rosalyn Tureck at the prestigious International Piano Foundation Theo Lieven in Cadenabbia, Italy and is the youngest teacher ever invited to give master classes at the Foundation and Academy Theo Lieven.  Stanislav Ioudenitch currently lives in Overland Park, KS with his wife Tatiana and daughter Maria, both musicians. Friday May 16, 2008 To Be Announced. Check this space later this week for a program description and list of guests.  Program topics and guests subject to change. Previously on Up to Date

Up to Date's Art, Independent & Foreign Film List

Films Reviewed on May 9, 2008 with critics Cynthia Haines and Steve Walker Films Showing on Area Screens: DVDs: Reviewed Today: Then She Found Me Young at Heart My Blueberry Nights Redbelt Under the Same Moon Coming Soon: The Visitor Flawless Honeydripper Son of Rambow Suspension The Red Balloon Jackson Pollack My Kid Could Paint That What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Nanking Area Art/Indpendent/Foreign Film Video Outlets: SRO Video (Gregory & Oak, KCMO) Hollywood at Home Magazines & Movies (9063 Metcalf, OPKS) Liberty Hall (Mass. Downtown Lawrence) Video Mania (208 Westport Road, KCMO) ...and Area Libraries. Online Video Retailers: Kino.com Criterionco.com facets.org Area Art/Independent/Foreign Cinema Theaters: Glenwood Fine Arts, Rio Theatre in Overland Park, KS Tivoli Cinemas in Manor Square in Westport Screenland Crossroads Theatre in Kansas City's Crossroads District Liberty Hall (Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence, KS)

Up to Date's Video Guys

On our May 2nd, 2008 broadcast with video guru Jason Heck and film professor/screenwriter Mitch Brian... a review of films from 1968. Download Listen Send To A Friend To download this audio file, right click and select 'Save Target As...' The year 1968 was an incredibly good one for moviegoers.  From the sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick, to the British drama film Petulia featuring Julie Christie and George C. Scott, the year was full of award-winning gems for the silver screen. Today in a 40-year anniversary celebration of 1968, Video Guru Jason Heck and film professor/screenwriter Mitch Brian join Steve Kraske to talk about their favorite films from 1968 available on video.   On the list for today's program: The Graduate 2001: A Space Odyssey Petulia Rosemary's Baby Night of the Living Dead Planet of the Apes Thomas Crowne Affair Additional Information: This summer from June 9th to August 1st, Mitch Brian will teach a course titled Summer Movies: Spectacle and Spectatorship.  The credit (or non-credit) course is open to the public and meets Mondays & Wednesdays, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Tivoli Theatre.  Register through the UMKC PACE program: 816 235 1588.

Best Music of 2007

The December 21st edition of Up to Date featured the Best Music of 2007 with Kansas City Star pop music critic Tim Finn and Steve Wilson, manager of Kief's Downtown Music. They talked with host Steve Kraske about their picks for best albums of 2007.      Tim Finn's Picks  Steve Wilson's Picks The White Stripes Icky Thump Prickly Thor But Sweetly Worn (Warner Bros / Wea) Jesse Malin Glitter in the Gutter Tomorrow, Tonight (Adeline Records) Radiohead In Rainbows Jigsaw Falling into Place (Merge Records) Mary Weiss Dangerous Game You're Never Gonna See me Cry (Norton) Amy Winehouse Back to Black You Know I'm No Good (Republic) Rich Boys $ Let Me Be Your Man Bruce Springsteen Magic You'll Be Comin' Down (Columbia) Plastiscines lp1 Loser (Virgin France) Sloan Never Hear the End of It Who Taught You to Live Like That (Yep Roc Records) King Khan & The Shrines What Is?! No Regrets (Hazelwood) M.I.A. Kala Paper Planes (Interscope) Babyshambles Shotter's Nation French Dog Blues (EMI/Parlophone) The PedalJets The PedalJets Giants of May (Oxblood) Taken by Trees Open Field Lost and Found (Rough Trade)   Bettye Lavette The Scene of the Crime The Last Time (Rock Ridge Music)   1990's Cookies Pollock Shields (Rough Trade)   Super Furry Animals Hey Venus (import) Show Your Hand   Redwalls self-titled Modern Diet (Mad Dragon Records)   Ray Davies Working Man's Cafe Hymn for a New Age