Help Find Lisa Irwin

10-month-old Lisa Irwin went missing from her Kansas City home the night of October 3rd. At this point, it's believed that she was kidnapped.

What started as a case for local police has now expanded into a nationwide hunt for this little girl. The FBI has become involved, and the Irwins were in Good Morning America today, once again pleading for their daughter's abductor to return her, no questions asked.

Please see the flyer below with details on her disappearance and ways to reach out if you have any information that can help return this child to her parents. Although police have received 47 tips, many were vague and so far none have led to any big breaks in the case.

In case you can't see the image, here are links where you can find more information:

Facebook page

Kansas City Star articles

ABC News article

CBS News article

If you have any information on Lisa's disappearance, PLEASE call the Kansas City TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS or 911. I can't imagine the pain these parents are going through, and if we can pull together as a country and look for this little girl, who knows? Maybe we can help make a miracle happen and reunite the Irwins with their little girl.

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Drinking for Joplin

When you already love drinking great beer, it makes the experience even more enjoyable when you can benefit a charitable cause while doing so. Kansas City's hometown brewery, Boulevard Brewing Company, recently announced that for every barrel of Boulevard beer sold in Missouri during the month of September, they will donate $1 toward the Joplin, Missouri relief efforts. As a reminder to those that may be out of the loop, Joplin was hit by a deadly EF5 tornado in late May that destroyed most of the city.

Full press release from Boulevard:

Boulevard Brewing Company is proud to announce a new effort to assist victims of the devastating tornado that hit Joplin on May 22. For every barrel of Boulevard beer sold in Missouri during the month of September, the company will contribute $1.00 to the American Red Cross to aid in its ongoing Joplin relief efforts. Irrespective of the Boulevard brand or package—a six-pack, a Smokestack bottle, or a pint at any Missouri bar or restaurant—money will be contributed to the humanitarian organization.

“We haven’t forgotten,” said John McDonald, Boulevard founder and president. “And with 40% of our sales taking place in the state, we hope to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the long road of restoration that lies ahead, helping our fellow Missourians rebuild their homes, their neighborhoods, and their lives.”

The EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that destroyed one-third of Joplin was one of the worst natural disasters in Missouri history. Meteorologists indicate that the 190-mph twister was the single deadliest tornado to strike the country in more than 60 years, claiming 134 lives and damaging or destroying more than 2,000 buildings, including Joplin High School and St. John’s Regional Medical Center. Analysts estimate the total cost of the disaster could top $3 billion.

“It’s no secret that Boulevard beer is one of Kansas City’s treasures,” said Matt Meyer, chief executive officer for the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Red Cross, “and the Red Cross is incredibly grateful that such an esteemed company has decided to demonstrate its commitment to its local communities throughout Missouri by assisting us in the Joplin relief effort.”

It's great to hear about this effort from Boulevard, and it makes me even more inclined to drink their beer during the month of September. So if you live in Missouri, or will even be stopping through at any point during the month of September, pick up some Boulevard beer and help Joplin get restored. Maybe now is the perfect time to try their new release, Nommo Dubbel. And especially now that FEMA funds are being redirected from Joplin to Hurricane Irene victims, it's as important as ever to contribute in any way we can to get this city back on its feet.

Learn more about Boulevard Brewing Company on their website, Facebook or Twitter pages.

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Soul Providers Crew - The Soul Keeps Rockin First Edition

The Soul Providers Crew is a collective of numerous talented MCs hailing from Kansas City. With 12 members, it can be hard to keep up with everything they are doing, especially when it's all incredibly dope music. These guys are like a cross between a Midwest Wu-Tang Clan and a hip-hop Megazord on steroids (and yes, that is a compliment). Because they are all busy working on their own material, it can be difficult for the whole group to come together to produce something as a whole. To make up for this fact, they've decided to release a mix series featuring work from each of the crew's members.

The first in this series, The Soul Keeps Rockin First Edition, dropped a few days ago and is a fantastic glimpse into what this group has to offer. Whether you are a previous Soul Providers Crew fan, or new to their music, this mix is a great way to get a taste of what they have to offer and revel in the diversity of their musical offerings.

Check out the mix below, and while you're at it, head over to their Soundcloud page and check out more of their music. You can also keep up with the latest on their Facebook group page.

  "The Soul Keeps Rockin" First Edition by Soul Providers Crew

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Wild Kingdom

It's good to be king. And right now, Mike and Nate of Thank Heaven For Beer/Wilderness Brewing Co. have to be feeling like royalty. With just about an hour left in their Kickstarter campaign, the entrepreneurial duo has already exceeded their fundraising goal, which will allow them to open the nanobrewery they dreamed of.

When I blogged about their Kickstarter campaign before, I was genuinely optimistic and excited for them to raise the money they needed to accomplish their dream. And now that the funding has been reached, I am even more optimistic and excited to see their progress as they build their brewery and begin creating artistic and unique brews for beer geeks like myself to enjoy.

I anticipate this won't be my last blog post about Wilderness Brewing Co. I have every intention of following their progress, and once their beers are available, I have no doubt they'll be making an appearance (if not multiple appearances) in my Beats and Beer Friday posts.

Mike and Nate, my sincerest congratulations go out to the both of you. And if you are ever in need of an outsider's taste buds to test your batches, I am ready and willing to sacrifice for the cause!

If you are on Twitter, make sure to go tweet Mike and Nate and give them your congratulations.

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Midwest Dud Fest

My daughter is finally starting to reach the age where we can venture out and find entertainment from a variety of sources and events. Long gone are the days of 'she's just a baby, she'll have no idea what the hell is going on.' So, when I recently heard that an event called Midwest Kids Fest was going to be taking place in Overland Park, I immediately checked it out and planned to attend with Ava.

The list of entertainment options sounded great. Kids activities! Games! Kids characters! Stage entertainment! Interactive workshops! And with tickets only $5, how could you pass something like this up? Well, as I learned after attending, pretty easily once you find out what the event is REALLY about.

I'll cut to the chase: Midwest Kids Fest is a glorified trade show aimed at getting parents' information for vendors to use as sales leads. One thing I WISH I had looked at before attending was who the vendors were. Let's take a look at some of the wonderful organizations that my daughter had available to her:

Bath Fitter
First Investors
Fulk Chiropractic
Hague Quality Water
Leonardi Chiropractic (who knew kids had so many skeletal issues)
Mary Kay
Mutual of Omaha
ReBath
Renewal by Andersen (replacement windows)
St. Clair Corporation (windows and vinyl siding)

Now, maybe I'm alone here, but my child doesn't have a lot of interest in home remodeling, investing or cosmetics. Now obviously, I "get" that the organizers know that parents are going to be there, and can make money from  parent-focused vendors that buy booth space. But despite the fact that I "get" it, I think it sucks. Don't label yourself a 'Kids Fest' when your main attraction is trade show style booths with pushy vendors trying to slang their product or weasel parents into filling out contact information forms. Pardon my French, but no, I don't want a fucking water evaluation, I want to have fun with my daughter. THAT'S what I paid for. Not your sales pitch.

These kids seem awfully happy to have their parents hounded by salespeople.

I guess it's only fair to note that there WERE activities and fun things for kids to do. Of course, the majority of them cost extra money, which is conveniently unmentioned in the promotion of the event. Want your face painted? 5 bucks. Want a balloon animal? 5 more bucks. Want to feed the goats at the petting zoo? Give us a dollar for a 2 ounce Dixie cup of food. Fortunately, my daughter is very thrifty and was picking up the food off the floor that other kids had dropped. Way to beat the system, Ava!

And the kids characters that were supposedly there? Never saw one. One of the main things I was taking my daughter there to see was Elmo (she has a mild obsession) and it never happened. I know they were there at SOME point, because I've seen other people with pictures of Buzz Lightyear, but apparently you have to hit the perfect 15 minute window of time in order to make this happen. Or maybe you are just supposed to pay extra to meet the costumed characters.

So there you have it. All in all, Midwest Kids Fest was a joke of an event. When I left, I wasn't mad, but I was disappointed. However, what happened later DID make me mad.

I took to Facebook to see if anyone else had been disappointed in the event. Sure enough, one of the first comments I saw on the Midwest Kids Fest Facebook page was a mother who had the same concerns and feelings I did. She had expressed them in a perfectly constructive and calm manner on their Facebook Wall. I commented on her post and said that I felt the same way and gave some suggestions for how to improve the event.

I revisit the page maybe 30 minutes later to see if there's been any other discussion or activity and…wait a minute, where did our comments go? Yep, deleted. Now, as a blogger, and heavy social media user both in my professional and personal life, I know there's one big no-no when it comes to handling your business' social media pages: deleting negative comments that are actually constructive. I didn't go on a swear-fueled rant. I didn't call names, I didn't do anything aggressive or inappropriate. But apparently Midwest Kids Fest would prefer to delete and ignore people's opinions than address them and try to improve their lackluster event.

Now, this just fueled my fire and I wrote another post on their Wall, telling them that I thought it was ridiculous that they deleted the comments, especially when they were constructive criticisms. Well, what do you know, this was deleted too. Now, somebody did message me (I'm assuming an organizer of the event) telling me that any criticisms or suggestions should be directed to some form on a website, blah blah blah, but I thought this was still a sad attempt at damage control. Don't start a social media page if you aren't prepared to deal with issues in a PUBLIC forum. What's especially funny is that the majority of the positive comments/compliments on their page right now are from vendors. Imagine that!

Interestingly enough, I also spoke to a vendor (who will remain unnamed) from the event who agreed completely with what I said. Specifically, the vendor said that the event needs to focus more on activities for the kids and less on sales gimmicks.

Weird, Midwest Kids Fest, you have multiple attendees and even a vendor saying the same thing about your event..maybe it's actually true? Maybe these are legitimate concerns? I guess we'll never know as long as you keep deleting and ignoring people's comments. Constructive criticism doesn't make you any money, so I guess that's why it's not important to you.

Parents, I advise you to avoid this event in the future unless they make some notable changes. If you want a petting zoo, go to Deanna Rose where it only costs $2 to get in, and there are a lot more animals. If you want to paint your kids faces, go get a kit from the store. You could probably paint 20 kids faces for the cost of getting one cheek done at Midwest Kids Fest. Want balloon animals? Well, I don't really know how to help you with that unless you have a trained clown in your immediate family. But you get the idea.

Parents, save your hard-earned money and don't buy your way into an uncomfortable, deceitful venue where the focus is vendors trying to push their wares and services on YOU. No event deserves to take advantage of your desires to entertain your children by turning you into a sales lead.

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Help Wilderness Brewing Co. become a reality

As a craft beer enthusiast and a supporter of local businesses, I was intrigued when I first heard about Wilderness Brewing, a project from Kansas City locals Mike Reinhardt and Nate Watson. The two run the website Thank Heaven For Beer, and have been avid homebrewers for years.

The pair has decided to transform their hobby into a legitimate, money-making endeavor, but to start a fully functional brewery, there's one thing they need (and don't have): money.

Nate and Mike took to the Internet and decided to bring awareness and raise funds for their brewery using Kickstarter, an increasingly popular method of online fundraising for new small businesses and entrepreneurs. Their ultimate goal is to raise $40,000 by August 4. They've already raised $11,830 (as of 9:30 AM on Thursday, 6/23), which is great, but there is obviously a long way to go and they can use as much help as possible.

I can't say that I've met Nate and Mike, or had any of the beers that they created. But after watching their video on Kickstarter (which is also embedded below), I saw a true passion for what they are doing, and I have a lot of respect for that. Obviously, there's a special place in my heart for craft beer, so supporting a new, local microbrewery is a no brainer for me.

I highly suggest you go check out the Wilderness Brewing Kickstarter page. Check out the video, and if you can spare some money to pledge to this cause, you definitely should. Let's help these guys make their dreams a reality, and bring some new beer to Kansas City in the process!

You can also find Wilderness Brewing Co. on Facebook.

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Beats and Beer Friday

The weekend is upon us, which means it's that time again: BEATS AND BEER FRIDAY!

Forget the introduction, let's get right to the chase:

Beats: Kato - T.I.M.E. Vol. 3 Mixtape

Since I first heard Jarren Benton's "Justin Bieber", Kato (aka Christopher Ju) is quickly becoming one of my favorite hip-hop producers. He's got a sound that I can best describe as Southern Space Age. His collaboration with Benton led me to seek out more of his music, and the other day I came across his newest release, T.I.M.E. Volume 3.

The mixture features Kato's production accompanied by a number of fantastic artists (mostly Southern) both known and unknown. Jarren Benton, Elz Jenkins, Aleon Craft and Rittz are all included, and in my opinion, these are four of the top up and coming rappers in 2011. Also featured are West Coast artist Mistah FAB (Ghost Ride the whip, anyone?) and Kalenna from Diddy Dirty Money.

Because of my affinity towards Benton and Rittz, the first song I checked out from this mixtape was 'Billon Bucks', and it did not disappoint. If this song doesn't make you want to party, I don't know what will.

In my opinion, the absolute must listen to track on this mixture is Aleon Craft's "I Still Love Her" (listen below). The soul-sample fueled beat is laced perfectly with Aleon's skillful rhymes. This one has been on repeat a LOT.

If you're interested in checking out some songs from T.I.M.E. Volume 3 or download the mixtape, head over to Kato's bandcamp page. You can also find Kato on Twitter.



Beer: Boulevard Saison-Brett

Last week's "Beats" section featured a Kansas City hip-hop artist, so it's only fitting that this week I feature a Kansas City beer. Boulevard Saison-Brett, which is a member of the Limited Release Smokestack series produced by Boulevard, is regarded by many as Boulevard's best beer.

While I haven't had the fortune of trying it yet, I was sure to pick up a bottle when it was released on Kansas City shelves this week. Saisons/farmhouse ales have moved up my list of favorite beer styles over the past few months, and they are especially good beers for warm weather.

But of course, Saison-Brett has a distinguishing characteristic from most Saisons in that it is brewed with Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that can add new levels of complexity to beer. In general, it's not commonly used, but seems to be becoming more popular as breweries continue to experiment with their beer.

Saison-Brett has been given excellent ratings on BeerAdvocate (A) and RateBeer (99).

Boulevard and drinkers of this beer note that this can be cellared for a number of years and maintain it's complexity, but let's face it, I don't have that kind of patience. I'll be cracking open my Saison-Brett tonight, and probably enjoying it out on my patio.

If you spot Boulevard Saison-Brett in your local liquor store, make sure to grab a bottle, because it's a Limited Release and will likely go fast!

Learn more about Boulevard Brewing Company on their website. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs JFrye Funfest

The 3rd Annual JFrye Funfest, hosted by Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs, will take place on Saturday, June 18 from 11-3 PM at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (click for map) in Overland Park.

Entry is free (auction and food tickets can be purchased) and you can expect to find live music (of course), a silent auction/raffle, games for all ages and great food.

In case you are wondering why you should go to this event and support M4JC and their cause, here's a little background:

Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs is an organization that will always hold a special place in my heart. The Overland Park, Kansas based charity continues the work started by Jeremy Frye, a talented musician and educator who lost his life to a brain tumor in 2008. M4JC works to bring music into the lives of children and youth everywhere, regardless of their (or their family's) socioeconomic status. By providing scholarships and donations of money and instruments, they ensure that young people everywhere experience the joy of music in their lives.

For those of you readers that don't know, my sister Jill (who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2000) passed away suddenly last August. After her passing, my family wanted to find a local organization with a cause that would have resonated with Jill in her life. When we discovered Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs, we knew it would be the perfect organization to have memorial contributions made to in Jill's name. Jill was a talented and passionate pianist, and always showed a true love for music. I can remember riding with her as a kid, listening to everything from The Violent Femmes to Beethoven and hearing her explain why she liked it all.

So, this post is not only one promoting what is sure to be a fun family event for those in the Kansas City area, but also to raise awareness for a group that has a very special goal and will always be dear to me. Check out the flyer below and help Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs fulfill their goal to "put music in the hands of children and a lifetime of love in their hearts."

Learn more about Music 4 Jeremy's Cherubs on their website or Facebook page.

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Help Find Jamie Sheets (UPDATED)

UPDATE - 6/16/2011: Jamie Sheets has been found alive and safe!  The family has not released any details yet, but is expected to issue a statement in the near future.

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I will keep this post short and to the point, because ultimately, it's not about me or my thoughts; it's about helping someone in need and hoping for a positive outcome to a tragic situation.

On May 18, 2011, the daughter of my mother's friend went missing. 16-year-old Jamie Sheets was last seen in Merriam, Kansas, and has not been seen or heard from since. The first inclination is to believe that she is somewhere in the Kansas City area, but realistically, she could be anywhere.

This is a heartbreaking story for anybody to hear, and being a parent makes it hit so much closer to home. I can't imagine the pain Jamie's family is experiencing right now, and every day my thoughts and prayers are with them, hoping that this terrible scenario results in a positive outcome.

I've posted the flyer below that contains information about Jamie and methods of contact if you have any information. Please, if you know anything or even think you may have seen Jamie, don't hesitate to call or e-mail to offer your information. Let's bring Jamie home!

For further updates, you can also access the Missing Jamie Facebook page.

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