The Magic Conch

My time covering the City of Warrensburg as my beat is coming to an end, so I thought it would be appropriate to highlight some of the things I learned during my coverage. One of the coolest things I learned was that Warrensburg is full of some really rich history. I was able to learn all about it from Mike Shaw, the curator for the Johnson County Historical Society. I 100 percent recommend stopping into the building some time and chatting with Mike. Another really neat thing that I was able to experience was the company and insight of some of the people that devote their time to making Warrensburg run smoothly and stay clean. Marcy Bryant, the tourism director for the city, is a UCM alum and is currently working in her first year at the city after working at UCM. Bryan Jacobs, the mayor of the city, is taking steps to reach out to the media more and is a great face for Warrensburg. Cindy Gabel is pretty much the backbone and support system of the city council. She’s also one of...

The Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce sent out a press release last week that informed the community on the use of a counterfeit bill. A woman tried to use the fake $100 bill at a business in the city Thursday, Nov. 16. The business has received one other counterfeit bill similar to this one. The bill says replica on it twice and on the front, it says, "This note is not legal, it is to be used for motion pictures." The back of the bill says, "This is a replica." Keep on your toes, Burgies.

A parade will be swinging through Downtown Warrensburg at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 starting at South and Washington streets and going through to Holden and Market streets. The event is open to the public. After the parade concludes, the presiding county commissioner and the mayor of Warrensburg will conduct the celebratory lighting of the 20 foot Christmas tree on the courthouse lawn. Patrons are also welcome to participate in the parade either as a walker or with a float or vehicle. The deadline to sign up is Nov. 27 and the application can be found at warrensburg.org.

The last Warrensburg City Hall meeting consisted of two ordinances to establish districts in the city. One of the areas was a property located on the east side of HH Highway north of Highway 50 and south of Veterans Road. The other area was a single family residence district for property that is known as the right-of-way for Veterans Road between Enterprise Avenue and the Cayhill subdivision. The farmer’s market lease was approved. The market will be open twice a month beginning Dec. 2, 2017 and ending after April 21, 2018. The Inclusive Playground Equipment Project was also discussed. The total bid amount for the Cunningham Recreation was announced along with the Play and Park and Reasbeck Construction.

A past UCM marketing specialist and one of my old bosses, Marcy Bryant, just recently switched gears and transitioned to a job at the city as the tourism director. Marcy was a senior marketing specialist in the Office of University Relations for 3 ½ years. While she was there, she created content that was featured in university departments’ brochures and other informational pieces. Not only was Marcy great at her job, but she was great at instructing me on how to write good content, so I thought it would be a great time to shine some light on Marcy and the work she is doing with the city. Marcy’s duties include creating advertisements, managing digital advertisements, managing MCVB’s website, assisting guests on the phone or in the office and representing WCVB on numerous committees. She worked for the city for almost 10 years prior to working for the Office of University Relations at UCM. She started in the city’s finance department as a finance assistance overseeing payr...

I spent the morning at the Johnson County Historical Society, so I figured I’d share a couple of neato burrito facts/stories that I learned about Warrensburg. The first ever newspaper in Warrensburg was the Warrensburg Clipper that was handwritten by this guy named William Stephenson. Everyone called him Uncle Billy. He charged 25 cents for advertisements and there was this firm, Pinkston and Calhoon, that didn’t like the price, so Uncle Billy drew up an advertisement for the firm at no cost. The advertisement was just a man vomiting up negative words about the firm. After all that, the firm gladly paid the 25 cents for the rest of the time the Warrensburg Clipper ran. Grasshoppers plagued the town in 1875. They ate pretty much everything green they could find and then they filled the ground with eggs. Some trains were even stalled because of how bad it got in a couple of places. Johnson County lost about a million dollars out of the ordeal. An entomologist in Missouri came to W...

On Monday, Aug. 7, JiRee Police was sworn into the Warrensburg Police Department. During the swear in, Cindy Gabel read the oath to Police. After the oath was delivered, Police’s girlfriend and son were brought up for the pinning of the police badge. Camera lenses shuttered during this touching moment where Police’s family slightly struggled to get the badge on his uniform. After the badge was successfully pinned, the group gathered there for the swearing in cheered. Soon after that, Police got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend. It was an exciting moment for all in the room and the city of Warrensburg in general. Congratulations to JiRee on his new position as well as his new fiance!

(Above) Chelsea Peters (left) and Megan Eagan (right) help out during Stop and Serve by making thank you cards that will be delivered to the Public Safety department. This month's community service project is aimed to celebrate National Campus Safety Awareness Month and Custodian Appreciation. (Above) Kristie Brinkley encourages students while they make thank you letter to Public Safety workers during September's Stop and Serve. Brinkley is the assistant director of volunteer services. (Above) Megan Eagan, freshman, works on a thank you letter for Public Safety during Stop and Serve. Eagan is a biology major.   (Above) Chelsea Peters, senior, glues animals on her thank you letter to Public Safety. Peters is a sociology major. 

I went to my first city council meeting on Monday. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was a positive experience overall. All of the members on the council were present, so I was able to get familiar with them. During the meeting, there was small discussion on all the ordinances. The hearings were described, but there wasn’t much discussion on them. A few people came to represent certain groups on the issues that were discussed. I noticed that Cindy Gabel helps run the meetings and takes notes on all decisions and discussions. The Warrensburg Police Department had a representative there that informed the group of the swearing in of a new police officer. There was also discussion on the famous Facebook posts that the department have been posting. The page has grown a significant amount in the past month. I had a meeting with the mayor of Warrensburg, Bryan Jacobs this morning. During my time in Mr. Jacobs’ office, I got to know him on a more personal level and also got to ...

For the next 14 weeks I will be focusing The Magic Conch on the city of Warrensburg. I'll be finding out information on City Hall, its budget, the people that work, there how it has changed overtime, and other things. I'll track and record all of that information here along with any additional information I find out during the next weeks. I went to City Hall today to get acquainted with Cindy Gabel, who is the city clerk for Warrensburg. I plan on getting to know Cindy well since I was told she is the "nervous system" of the office there. She's a very polite woman who was completely willing to let me, a stranger, into her office to bother her with questions. Cindy informed me of the upcoming City Hall meeting which is this Monday at 7 p.m. She also said she would introduce me to the Mayor that night so that I'll be familiar with more people around the building. Cindy is also going to email me the packet for the meeting once it's been finished. My next...

I think I’ve mentioned Glass Animals a couple of times, but I wanted to write a special post for their album “How to be a Human Being” because it was my favorite album of 2016. First, I wanna talk about the band a little bit. It consists of four really talented guys from Oxford and their music is considered indie rock. The first album they released was called “Zaba” and was released in 2014. I was actually able to see them perform songs from that album the summer after the album was released and of course I wasn’t disappointed. The two most popular songs on that album were “Gooey”, or as my father insists on calling it, “Peanut Butter Thighs”, and “Black Mambo”. The guys have a lot of positive energy and the album is really different and it’s hard for me to compare it to any of the stuff I listen to on a regular basis. Now, “How to be a Human Being” is out of this world. It’s definitely my favorite newer album out today. I like it because it’s so universal. I can listen to it wh...

I went to Colorado this past weekend to see one of my favorite alternative bands, Portugal. The Man, play at Red Rocks. I haven’t talked about Portugal on here at all because honestly, I’ve kind of looked over them a lot in the past two years. About four or five months ago, the song “People Say” came up on my suggested songs and I gave it a listen. I’m really glad I did because I fell in love with the sound of Portugal. The Man all over again. I remember when a couple of their songs had made it big on the radio, but I just don’t feel like I appreciated them enough. Before I talk about the concert itself, I have to tell you what this trip was like because let me tell you, it was interesting. First off let me start by saying I didn’t plan this little trip. One of my friends talked me into going because Red Rocks Amphitheatre is the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world. There are a number of amazing artists who have played there and even recorded s...

Alright guys, so I did something cool and you just have to hear about it. I’ve been in London for the past couple of days for a family vacation and my mom talked me into seeing the live performance of the Lion King. I was way hesitant because it seemed like a silly way to spend a night in London, England, you know? Well I’m glad she was adamant about it because it was one of the coolest things I’ve done in a hot minute. Not only was the theater beautiful and old, but the performance was stunning! I thought it would be weird seeing people dressed up as animals, but the costumes are so complex and beautiful. There were actually people on stilts that looked like giraffes. The cast did a lovely job and did justice to one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. That’s not even the best part though. The best part was the live orchestra. They were hidden underneath the stage, but I could still see the conductor and some of the musicians. There were also drummers on the side balconi...

I wrote a post on The 1975’s album “I Like it When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” last March and I was finally able to see the band perform live last month. The show was great, and I’m pretty excited to share my favorite parts with you guys. First thing’s first, both of the opening bands were great. Colouring and Pale Waves opened the show with some edgy alternative music that you’d expect and want to hear right before watching Matty get up and dance around like a kid. The next thing that I loved about the show is the location. The bands played at the outdoor amphitheatre at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City. I didn’t buy the most expensive tickets available, but I still felt close to the music and I got to enjoy a nice summer night with great company. The next thing that is worth mentioning is how perfect the weather was that night. It’s rare to have a beautiful night that when you live in Missouri. I was fully prepared for a snowstorm, but the sky ...

One of my favorite albums that was released in 2016 was WALLS by Kings of Leon (I think I actually listed it as number 4 on ‘My Top Albums For 2016). It’s actually funny that I liked the album so much because I have never really been a huge fan of Kings of Leon’s music before. Anyways, this album was released on Oct. 14 and WALLS is an acronym for “We Are Like Love Songs”. The title speaks to what’s going on with the album. I’ve heard that a lot of music reviewers are putting this album in a negative light because it’s not as grungy and hard as previous works from Kings of Leon. I personally like it, but that’s probably because I tend to enjoy softer and slower sounds. The first song on the album, “Waste a Moment” was released first and it’s actually what drew me (and plenty of others) into the album. Even when I listen to the album now, I it’s still one of my favorite songs on it. It’s so hard to pick which two songs are my favorite, but I think I’ll have to go with “WALLS” ...

I recently had the opportunity to see Cold War Kids live at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri. It was actually a crazy last minute deal because a friend of mine had bought tickets for her and some family members and the family members dropped out, so I ended up getting to see a great show out of the deal. I had been wanting to see them for a while, so I was pretty stoked. One of my favorite Kansas City bands, The Greeting Committee played and as always, they were fantastic. I’m always so flabbergasted when I see them live because it hits me that they’re really young kids with amazing talent. Cold War Kids came on after The Greeting Committee finished their set, and everyone went crazy. There were people of all ages at the show. Two kids who couldn’t have been more than 8 were right in front of me dancing and singing along to every song. The band has a new album that is being released soon (April 7), so they played two songs from that, and then played multiple songs from their ...

2016 was a great year for music, and even though we’re already in April of 2017, I still thought it would be neat to talk about my top albums of the year. 5. Death of a Bachelor-Panic! At the Disco (Jan. 15) A lot of people in our generation went through their emo phase, and bands like Panic were kind of the face of that. In an interview about the new album, Brendon Urie said that he had tapped into his inner Sinatra while writing the songs featured on it. That definitely shows and I thought Death of a Bachelor was pretty awesome and watching Panic’s music evolve over the years has been super cool. My favorite songs on the album were “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time” and “Impossible Year”. 4. Blackstar-David Bowie (Jan. 8) Obviously Bowie was a gigantic music icon when he was still alive. This album gave his fans the exact closure that they needed when he died. It’s neat that the legend was still working on his art up until his death. Hearing the lyrics “Oh I’ll be free...

I’m making a TV show! A couple of months ago, I was sitting in my Media Aesthetics class talking to Brad and Louie about dream jobs and I told them my dream job would be to have a TV show where I talked about my favorite music and interviewed bands and what not. Well, this eventually turned into the three of us making plans for our own TV show using the resources provided for us on campus. After a lot of lunchtime meetups, we got a plan together for our pilot episode and made our pitch. The show was greenlit after Winter Break and honestly, life has been crazy in the best way ever since! We decided to name the show SideTracked because of how sidetracked Louie, Brad, and I would get while figuring out exactly what the heck we were trying to do. We film the show every Thursday afternoon in the Digital Media Production studio on campus. It seems like the three of us are always running around finding people to be on the show, making props for the set, or tracking down our extr...

I recently had a friend introduce me to the band Jank. I listened to Jank’s newest album, “Versace Summer” which was a fun listen. Brad and I have a pretty different taste in the music that we choose to listen to when we’re hanging out, but I was pleasantly surprised by this album. From Philadelphia, Jank was formed in 2015 after the fall of another band. Their first album, “Awkward Pop Songs” was released in July 2016 and shortly after, the EP “Versace Summer” was released. The band consists of Matt Diamond, vocals and guitar; Ruben Polo, bass; and Sam Becht, drums. The second song on the album is “Chunk (Cool Enuff)” and this song did a great job in drawing me in and getting me excited for the rest of the album. I believe that the album has a clean sound and I really like the prominent sound of the drums. “Versace Summer” is full of interesting sounds such as a saxophone in one of the songs, “Gucci Spring”. One of the songs even gives off a Foo Fighters type of sound, and ...

“Teens of Denial” is the second album from the band Car Seat Headrest and was released on May 20, 2016 by Matador Records. Car Seat Headrest is an American indie rock band based out of Seattle, Washington. The group is led by Will Toledo who started the band as a solo recording project in 2010. Since the band’s beginning, it has gotten attention from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and other prominent publications. Teens of Denial has a classic indie rock sound with a very strong guitar presence in most of the songs on the album. The album has a very melancholy and depressed essence. These intense emotions are often made light of through certain lyrics, but Toledo always brings the lyrics back to a more serious note to emphasize just how strongly he feels. The lyrics in “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” tell a story of a person who is trying to make their way home after a night of drinking, but it also makes a comparison to life and how a person can feel so empty and feel ...

We all stream our media these days. Whether you're subscribing to Netflix and Hulu or putting on Pandora while cleaning your house, you're joining millions by using these streaming services. There are a couple of things that keep me from streaming as much media as the average college student. Not only am I "balling on a budget" and can't really afford to subscribe to these services, but I also live in a rural area where internet is limited. That being said, I have recently decided to give Spotify a chance because of how much music I listen to on a daily basis.  Before I paid for Spotify Premium, I was using Pandora and iHeartRadio along with the free version of YouTube Music. This was pretty frustrating because I didn't want to pay for the ad free radio service and I also didn't want to pay $12.99 for the upgrade of YouTube Music which allows users to listen to any song or watch any video.  Spotify has made my life so much easier, and I'll probabl...