@Nours!
Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
There's an Old Fashioned on Warwick you need to drink, but we'll get to that. First, welcome to SecretKC, September 24–27.
🍸 The Weekend
KCJO 5: In My Jazz Era — Uptown Funk · Thursday / 7 PM
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra's small unit runs funk and pop through a big-band filter, inside the art deco tasting room of downtown's first legal distillery since Prohibition.
→ Tom's Town Distilling Co.
Andre Ward @ The Blue Room · Thursday / 7 PM
Saxophonist working smooth jazz, R&B, funk, and soul on Vine Street.
→ The Blue Room
Post Clarity @ Nighthawk · Friday / Final Show
The pop-punk and alt-rock cover band plays its last show ever, on the red-curtain stage inside Hotel Kansas City. Covering your favorites, one more time.
→ Nighthawk
This Is Buzz: Atlas9 Takeover · Thursday / Doors 6 PM
Mark Pellington's documentary on Buzz, the nearly forgotten MTV series RuPaul hosted in 1990. Archive clips and artifacts spill through Atlas9's 30-plus rooms before the screening and a live Q&A with Pellington.
→ Atlas9
The Bad Cat Jazz Bar — Opening Weekend · Friday & Saturday / from 7 PM
South KC's newest jazz room. Friday: Brant Jester into Stephen Martin. Saturday: Justin Binek, then Chris Hazelton's organ trio into Nic Weaver.
→ The Bad Cat Jazz Bar
Pitbull & Lil Jon @ Morton Amphitheater · Friday / 8 PM
The I'm Back tour hits Riverside, Lil Jon opening.
→ Morton Amphitheater
Sundog + RSS Trio @ The Black Dolphin · Friday & Saturday / 6:30 PM & 9:45 PM
Back-to-back sets — Sundog early, RSS Trio carrying it past 1 AM both nights.
→ The Black Dolphin
Late Night Jam Session · Friday & Saturday / 1:30–5 AM
No cover, no pretense. The after-hours jam at the room where it all started. As late as KC gets.
→ Mutual Musicians Foundation
Daft Disko: A French House & Disco Party · Saturday / 8 PM
French house and disco, built on grooves!
→ recordBar
Chiefs @ Dolphins Watch Party · Sunday / Noon kickoff
Chiefs play in Miami; KC Live! puts it on the biggest outdoor screen downtown. Doors two hours before kickoff, 21+.
→ Power & Light District
💃🏽 Date Nights
Savor the Flavors · Thursday / 5:30 PM
Twenty-plus KC restaurants and chefs compete for your vote under the City Market roof, with live music and live and silent auctions. Proceeds go to the Don Bosco Centers.
→ Savor the Flavors
Eboni Fondren Jam Session · Sunday / 2–5 PM
The G20-ambassador jazz vocalist hosts an open jam, with farm-to-table plates and a genuinely local crowd.
→ 515 Music Hub
Sunday Night Jazz · Sunday / 5–9 PM
Weekly series pairing local players with farm-to-table plates in the Crossroads.
→ Green Dirt on Oak
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
Plaza Art Fair · Friday 5 PM / Saturday 10 AM / Sunday 11 AM
The 95th year. Three live music stages run the length of the Plaza alongside the artist booths. Time your walk for early evening, when the Main Stage picks up. Free.
→ Plaza Art Fair
Kansas City Renaissance Festival · Saturday & Sunday / 10 AM–7 PM
Weekend six in Bonner Springs. Full faire grounds and daily royal entertainment, both days.
→ Kansas City Renaissance Festival
18th & Vine Arts Festival · Friday–Sunday
Friday: Rock the Runway, nine designers plus a Kim Keys opening set, 7–9:15 PM. Saturday: the Live on the Vine music competition runs from noon to finals at 7:30, with DJs rotating all day. Sunday closes with Soulful Sunday and a food truck showcase. The whole district turned into one weekend.
→ 18th & Vine Arts Festival
From the Bar
Art fair weekend. The Plaza Art Fair turns 95 this year. Artist booths run the length of the Plaza, three music stages play alongside them, and it's free!! Go early evening, when the Main Stage picks up. Across town, the 18th & Vine Arts Festival takes over the whole district: a runway show Friday, a music competition running all day Saturday, and Soulful Sunday to close it out. One is the city's longest-running art party. The other is the neighborhood that gave KC its sound, dressing up for itself. Hit them both.
Then eat. Nour's on Warwick does Lebanese with a modern hand, and the patio is where you want to be right now, bring your friends! And have the Akkari Old Fashioned, Buffalo Trace, jallab demerara, pistachio syrup, black walnut and cardamom bitters.
Art on the Plaza. Art on the Vine. An Old Fashioned on Warwick. That's the weekend move.
@Nours
— I’ll see you at the bar ☾
Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 Cocktail Destinations
The Monarch Bar — Serious cocktails, serious energy.
→ The Monarch Bar
Verdigris — Leawood cocktail room from the Monarch/Mercury Room team.
→ Verdigris
Bar Stilwell — The Loews lobby bar downtown. A proper cocktail before or after anything nearby.
→ Bar Stilwell
P.S. Speakeasy — The old mail-sorting room in the Hotel Phillips basement. Reservations run about a month out.
→ P.S. Speakeasy
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