@Blip Roasters
Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
A summer of Bird tributes ends this weekend, and the Folly's saving its best lineup for last —don’t sleep on it!
🍸 The Weekend
Soul Fundamentals with Julian Goff · Thursday, 7:00 PM
Live soul, funk and R&B in Lee's Summit's seated listening room, upstairs from Libations & Company's cocktail bar.
→ The 1909 Club
Open Rehearsal: KC Jazz Orchestra — Saxophone Legends and Rising Stars · Thursday, 7:00 PM
Free, no reservation — an unpolished look at a big band running charts ahead of its Charlie Parker tribute program.
→ 515 Music Hub
August Moon Market · Friday, 6:00–9:00 PM
West Bottoms Plant Co.'s open-air night market returns to the West Truss — local artists, vintage finds, handmade goods, and the signature Pay What You Can Produce stand!
→ Rock Island Bridge
Full Tilt Film Festival: Opening Night · Friday, 7:00 PM
A new sports-documentary festival opens with a screening of a Friday Night Lights episode and a cast Q&A.
→ Full Tilt Film Festival
Spotlight: Charlie Parker Celebration Concert · Saturday, 7:00 PM
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra closes its summer-long Bird tribute on what would be Charlie Parker's 106th birthday, with saxophonists Bobby Watson, Matt Otto and Stephen Martin sitting in.
→ Folly Theater
Flew the Coop Fest · Saturday, afternoon into evening
Nearly 20 KC acts — including Kirstie Lynn and Big Fat Cow — across three stages, with whiskey tasting and food trucks on site.
→ Blip Roasters
🥂 Date Nights
Indigo Hour: Delynia Jannell · Friday, 5:30 PM
Happy-hour jazz at 18th & Vine!!
→ The Blue Room
Baby J Duo · Friday, 6:00 PM
Jesica "Baby J" Poell fronts a duo built to make jazz sexy again — 20s, 30s and 40s sounds with hip-swinging intent.
→ Chaz at the Raphael
Mengel & Matthew Duo · Sunday, 6:00 PM
Chaz's popular Sunday-night duo — classical technique bent toward jazz, pop and rock covers.
→ Chaz at the Raphael
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
Charlie Parker Day · Saturday, 10:00 AM–3:30 PM
Free celebration of what would be Bird's 106th birthday — a Saxophone Salute at the Bird Lives statue, biographer Chuck Haddix, guest artist Willie Cole, trivia, and an all-ages instrument petting zoo.
→ American Jazz Museum
Sword and Sorcery Weekend · Saturday 10 AM–5 PM / Sunday 12–5 PM
Costumed takeover of Science City — potion-mixing chemistry stations, UV wand crafting, a dragon-fighting math showdown, live animal encounters tied to fantasy creatures, and a laser show set to K-Pop Demon Hunters.
→ Science City
From the Bar
Bird would've turned 106 on Saturday, and we should not let that pass quietly. Charlie Parker left Kansas City before he became Charlie Parker — but the sound he built, the one that rewired what a saxophone was allowed to do, started in spots not far from where you're standing if you're reading this in KC proper. The American Jazz Museum's throwing all kinds of love for the man — a saxophone salute at the Bird Lives statue, Chuck Haddix telling stories he's told a hundred times and still means, an instrument petting zoo for the kids who'll be bored for twenty minutes and then obsessed for the next twenty years. Then at night, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra closes out a summer-long tribute at the Folly with Bobby Watson, Matt Otto, and Stephen Martin sitting in — heavyweight sax presence IYKYK.Don't let the summer close out with you meaning to catch one Spotlight: Charlie Parker date and haven't, this is the one. It's the finale. Don't let it be the one you missed.
Bird is the Word.
— 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
✅ Verdigris — Leawood's upscale lounge, from the Monarch Bar/Mercury Room team — preparation and presentation are the whole point.
→ Verdigris
✅ Bar Stilwell — The Loews Kansas City lobby bar, downtown — hand-crafted cocktails and skyline views without ever leaving the hotel.
→ Bar Stilwell
✅ P.S. Speakeasy — The old mail-sorting room in the Hotel Phillips basement, behind an unmarked door. IYKYK.
→ P.S. Speakeasy
✅ Tom's Town Distilling Co. — Downtown's first legal distillery since Prohibition — art deco tasting room, house gin and bourbon.
→ Tom's Town Distilling Co.
✅ 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. Ask for Tru!
→ Enzo Bistro & Wine Bar
✅ Café Corazón — Indigenous-owned Latin American café — specialty coffee, yerba mate, empanadas, and amazing espresso martinis! Westport, Brookside, Crossroads.
→ Café Corazón
🔲 J. Rieger & Co. — The Hey! Hey! Club — An intimate cocktail lounge tucked beneath the distillery, a modern nod to the city's jazz-era nightlife. Open Wednesday–Saturday evenings, two-hour reservations.
→ J. Rieger & Co.
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