© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Central Standard

Seg. 1: Info Gates' Legacy | Seg. 2: The Black Creatures | Seg. 3: Little Red Riding Hood

Segment 1: A key player in Kansas City's hip hop community died unexpectedly.

In addition to being a producer for Ces Cru, Justin "Info Gates" Gillespie started the Beat Academy of Kansas City at the Plaza Academy, touching a lot of teens. Now the hip hop community is banding together to carry on his legacy and make sure those teens will continue to be supported.

Segment 2, beginning at 12:31: This band writes and produces beautiful songs in just an hour.

The Black Creatures are an R&B darkpop duo in Kansas City that take inspiration from things like video games and science fiction and like to challenge themselves to make songs in just an hour. They're also one of the many bands featured in I Heart Local Music's spring edition dedicated to Black History Month, which is being celebrated with an event called Black Prom.

Segment 3, beginning at 27:46: An updated retelling of the classic fairytale is being turned into a puppetry production.

Set amongst America's amber waves of grain, this telling of Little Red Riding Hood features a tough tractor-driving grandma and a wolf that is hungry for muffins—not little girls. And now the tale is being turned into a puppet play, where all of the puppets are made out of cooking utensils.

People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.
Whether it’s something happening right now or something that happened 100 years ago, some stories don’t fit in the short few minutes of a newscast. As a podcast producer and reporter at KCUR Studios, I help investigate questions and local curiosities in a way that brings listeners along for adventures with plot twists and thought-provoking ideas. Sometimes there isn’t an easy answer in the end – but my hope is that we all leave with a greater understanding of the city we live in. Reach me at mackenzie@kcur.org.