Some of music’s biggest names played Kansas City’s high school gyms, converted ballrooms and hippie hangouts

Photo provided by Missouri Valley Special Collections.

Before The Who were rock legends, they were getting kicked off the stage at a suburban Kansas City high school. It was November 1967, and the British rockers were the opening act for The Buckinghams at the brand-new Shawnee Mission South High School. But when the band launched into its equipment-smashing finale during “My Generation,”… Continue reading Some of music’s biggest names played Kansas City’s high school gyms, converted ballrooms and hippie hangouts

Italian bootmaker Sam Vasta is crafting cowboy culture in the heart of the Flint Hills

Photography by Jake Wickersham.

You wouldn’t expect to find an Italian craftsman cobbling bespoke footwear in a Midwest city with a population under 2,500, but that is exactly what Sam Vasta is doing in Eureka, Kansas. However, Vasta will tell you that it was almost inevitable. “I don’t want to take any credit,” he says, “but I share a… Continue reading Italian bootmaker Sam Vasta is crafting cowboy culture in the heart of the Flint Hills