While waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square and Kathy Griffin to further embarrass Anderson Cooper on CNN, here are a few New Year’s Eve jottings…
:: Driving to the DMV in Raytown today, I noticed that all the parking spaces in front of the Speedy Cash store at 63rd and the Paseo were full and the lobby crowded. Must be a banner day for the payday loan guys…
:: I was undecided whether to go to the Downtown DMV or the one in Raytown. I chose correctly. While the one in the Missouri State Office Building on 13th Street has a good texting system that lets you know where you stand and how long your wait is, the wait is almost always pretty long. When I got in line at Raytown this morning, there were 12 to 15 people ahead of me in an S-shaped queue. I had taken my New York Times and was expecting to wait 30 minutes or more. Five clerks were working on renewals, however, and one of them was watching the line closely and giving crisp instructions to people waiting. “You people over here need to go to the back of the line,” she said at one point. Another time, she told a hesitant person at the front of the line, “Just go up to any window; we all do everything.” It was the first time I’d ever seen a take-charge clerk at any DMV location. They’re usually bored, tattooed and impatient…For the record, I got to the front of the line in about 15 minutes. Barely had time to read one newspaper story.
:: The report out of Cleveland is that quarterback Johnny Manziel, who led the Browns against the Chiefs last Sunday, is out of this weekend’s final, regular-season game because of “concussion symptoms.” That, despite no indication during or immediately after the Chiefs’ game that he had suffered a head injury. The report was being greeted skeptically on the Internet. Here’s what two commenters had to say on a New York Post story: 1) “He ain’t got no damn concussion, he got a hangover” and 2) “Johnny Manziel is being evaluated for a possible hangover; tests revealed a 30 rack of Bud heavies under his jersey.”
Mojave
:: I don’t know what The Star is coming to…A very touching and well-reported “dog” story by Lynn Horsley ran in the paper today, but it ran on age A4 instead of the front page, where it and all touching cat-and-dog stories have historically gone. I guess that’s what happens when a “redesign” dictates only two stories will be on the front page. So, the story of “Mojave” being rescued by a dedicated animal control officer after being dumped near 45th and Brooklyn got bumped by Bill Cosby and a statehouse ethics story. Those were both good stories, too, but Mojave should have been “outside.”
Jordan
:: Here’s a strange one…The Star reported that Ray Anthony Jordan, 41, of Grandview, turned himself in Wednesday, three days after he struck and killed a 38-year-old man walking along East Outer Road near 128th Street early Sunday. Jordan is charged with leaving the scene and driving with a suspended license. In an interview, Jordan told police he thought he had struck a deer with his SUV. (Uh huh.) He not only left the scene but he later took the SUV to an Independence body shop, apparently to repair damage from the hit and run. Among other things, investigators found pieces of hair in the damaged windshield. It wasn’t deer hair…
:: You’ve gotta see this — Kansas City’s Joyce DiDonato singing “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City” with the New York Philharmonic, which lost a World Series bet with the Kansas City Symphony. One of the best parts of this video is the irrepressible DiDonato wearing an Amos Otis jersey.
Happy New Year, everyone. I wish you a safe and healthy 2016. And thanks for your readership this year.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jim:
Have always wondered why Anderson Cooper would subject himself to appearing with Kathy Griffin on New Year’s Eve. Makes no sense at all. He must get a lot of money for it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Laura
Self-flagellation. Penance for sins. Something along those lines…
No, they are funny together. His mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, invited her for dinner and they had a blast, as well. Kathy brings out the best in Cooper. I can’t wait.
No, she is crass, gross and unfunny (sorry, Tracy). Some people think it’s cool to laugh at people like her. With his Momma’s (and his) millions, I suspect that’s Anderson’s reason.
Happy New Year to you, too, Jim, and keep the writing coming!
I have to admit, at least for last night Kathy toned down her crassness quite a bit and she and Anderson together were pretty funny. Poor Anderson, it’s all he can do to hang on in her whirlwind.
I had no idea that my lead-in, throwawy sentence would generate such a controversy. A writer just never knows what’s going to claim the readers’ attention…
(Great to have an all-ladies contingent commenting on this one…so far.)
Laura started it!! :-)
I was also going to say how happy I was that sweet Mojave (if that’s the name they kept) found a good home. Now if the same could just be done for sad little Marshmallow so my heart will stop breaking.
Gayle — I stand in admiration of Anderson; I would be totally tongue-tied — a blithering idiot — in Kathy’s “whirlwind,” as you so perfectly described it. When he does get a chance to utter a few words, he’s coherent, and he takes it all in such good humor. It’s clear he really likes her and just goes with the chaos.
I loved her prodding of him about whether he had a thing for Caitlyn Jenner, and, of course, I liked her stroll down Times Square in a bra, with Anderson saying several times, “Kathy’s going to put some clothes on now.”
I didn’t see it live and haven’t finished with the recording yet…Still waiting to see the ball drop. It ain’t officially New Year’s yet!
There’s a pretty good reprise of the 4 hour show, about 20 minutes after midnight. Anderson says, Kathy, you did all the work and I just giggled like a school girl. I love his giggle. And so does America. It’s far better than all those years we watched Dick Clark go senile. Anderson also speaks the truth: “We are here to give a smile to the ones who DONT party, who might be sad at NYE, like I was when my Dad died at age 5.” In the theatre, that is called breaking the 4th wall, looking out to the audience and talking one on one with them. They do that in House of Cards as well.
Kathy Griffin WAS toned down, I agree, Gayle. She was more appropriate. And boy, does she do a spot on imitation of Mummie/Gloria Vanderbilt. And is the only person in America with the street cred and gay following to be able to poke fun at them, at times. That’s a good thing–for any formerly excluded class, one sign that you are one of the tribe is when the tribe is allowed to tease you.
Alas, we are not there yet with the BlackLivesMatter group–one cannot say All Lives Matter in public. It’s like we are back in 1964. Hope there is healing this year. The cops need to quit killing blacks –their job is to arrest and let the courts decide.
Healing this year would be a blessed thing, Tracy.
Excellent commentary on all fronts, Tracy. I haven’t gotten to the part where Anderson goes into his personal reflection and reaches out to the have nots. The guy’s got a heart.
Thank you, Fitz for writing an intelligent and well-informed blog, an island of sanity in an ocean of crap. Hope you never give up the desire to write and commit the kinds of acts of journalism that were sometimes elusive at The Star.
Thanks, John…You know, every time you talk about me committing “acts of journalism,” I start thinking I’d better go to confession — even though I’m no longer Catholic.