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Otis wrote it first. Aretha made it hers — and this week, Kansas City's giving her five nights to prove it.
🍸 The Weekend
Thursday Jazz with KC Green · Thursday, 7:00 PM
A West Bottoms cocktail room handing its Thursday stage to a working jazz set.
→ The Ship
Eboni Fondren · Friday, 8:30 & 10:00 PM
The G20 ambassador and Paris-praised vocalist takes the Blue Room's Friday night sets — two chances to catch her!!
→ The Blue Room
Intoxicant · Friday, 7:00 PM
VAMP Kansas City's burlesque revue stages a night built on temptation and the tease — 18+, cash bar, run those bills!!
→ Red Light Studio
Dan Sturdevant · Saturday, 8:30 & 10:00 PM
Saturday night at the Blue Room, two sets, no filler.
→ The Blue Room
Mike Bourne & KC Boogie · Saturday, 7:00 PM
A KC blues fixture leads his band through boogie-woogie and blues in Lee's Summit's swanky cocktail room, upstairs from the bar.
→ The 1909 Club
Kansas City FilmFest International · Sept 18–20
Thirty years in, KC's international juried film festival takes over AMC Ward Parkway with shorts, features, and a dedicated CinemaJazz track — cover for a dinner-and-a-movie night that isn't dinner and a blockbuster.
→ AMC Ward Parkway 14
Aretha: The Music of Aretha Franklin · Sept 16–20
MTH's Ruby Room Series closes its cabaret-tribute run with a night of "Respect," "I Say a Little Prayer," and the rest of the Queen of Soul's songbook.
→ Music Theater Heritage
💃🏽 Date Nights
Lonnie McFadden & His Band: "John Coltrane Centennials" · Fri–Sat, 7:00 PM
Dinner, a welcome champagne cocktail, and a KC institution leading his band through a Coltrane centennial tribute. Reservations recommended.
→ Lonnie's Reno Club
Mengel & Matthew Duo · Sunday, 6:00 PM
Chaz's Sunday-night regulars close the weekend with a set that swings from jazz standards to Beatles and Doors riffs.
→ Chaz at the Raphael
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
Fall Fun Festival · Sept 18–20, varies by day
Downtown Blue Springs' 57th run — 200-plus vendor booths, carnival rides, a classic car show, and a beer garden for the adults.
→ Downtown Blue Springs
Camp Leavenworth · Friday–Saturday
A free two-day street festival at Leavenworth Landing Park — Better Than Ezra headlines Saturday night, with fireworks, food trucks, and the carousel museum next door. Fri 5–9 PM, Sat 11 AM–9 PM.
→ Leavenworth Landing Park
Hallmarket: A Hallmark Art Festival · Saturday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM
Free, rain-or-shine art festival on Crown Center Square featuring current and retired Hallmark employees, live music, and food and drink vendors.
→ Crown Center
A Pirate's Feast at GloWild · Fridays & Saturdays, Sept 12–Oct 24
Themed dining add-on to the Zoo's GloWild lantern festival — pirate-themed buffet, a live interactive pirate show, and a Kenyan Cruise boat ride along the Boathouse waterfront.
→ Kansas City Zoo
From the Bar
The Queen of Soul, five nights, one room trying to contain it.
Music Theater Heritage's Ruby Room closes out its run on Aretha this week — "Respect," "I Say a Little Prayer," the whole songbook. "Respect" wasn't even hers first. Otis Redding wrote and recorded it two years before Franklin got hold of it, and then she flipped the whole meaning — took a song about a man demanding respect from his woman and turned it into the other way around. She also added the spelled-out chorus. R-E-S-P-E-C-T wasn't in Otis's version at all.
That's the whole Aretha move in one song. Take what's there, make it yours, make it bigger.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
— I’ll see you at the bar ☾
Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 Cocktail Destinations
✅ The Monarch Bar — Serious cocktails, serious energy — a clean handoff between dinner and the night. Still my favorite!
→ The Monarch Bar
✅ Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen — Crossroads wine bar and kitchen, a Wine Enthusiast Top 100 pick — extensive by-the-glass list, seasonal American plates, daily happy hour.
→ Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen
✅ Enzo Bistro & Wine Bar — City Market Sicilian and Greek with one of the largest patios in town. Happy hour Tuesday through Sunday, three to six.
→ Enzo Bistro & Wine Bar
✅ XO HiFi — Westside listening bar in a converted auto garage, Japanese-inspired cocktails and snacks, vinyl on a Garrard turntable.
→ XO HiFi
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