The Jedi homicide

Our courts reporter covered this trial, but the circumstances were so bizarre and the details so rich that the metropolitan editor, Bob Samsot, assigned me to write a reconstruction of the case after the verdict was in. Early on, I got the cooperation of the killer's father, which gave me great access to the son's bedroom and drawings, windows into his disturbed mind. The dead boy's parents also opened up to me, eager to show what a talented young man he had been. And the investigating detectives opened up their thick case file.

What made the story eerier was my realization, about halfway through the reporting, that I actually had met the murder victim a year earlier when covering the opening of one of the Star Wars movies in suburban Kansas City. I went out to write about the rabid young fans who waited days in line for the first screening, and the most rabid fan out there was this immature looking guy in a Beatles haircut and an old Army jacket bedecked with sci-fi movie trinkets. Ralph Cochran.

We didn't have a Sunday magazine at the Kansas City Times, but the paper would sometimes run long stories on Saturdays in a full-page format. That's how this story appeared. I'll never forget eating a late breakfast in a restaurant that Saturday morning and all around me, people were opening their paper and getting absorbed in the story. It was one of the most exciting moments I've had as a writer.

I was further honored when the story was reprinted in the book, Best Newspaper Writing of 1985.

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K.C.'s lost "Black Rialto"

Count Basie's death occasioned this look at the storied neighborhood of 18th and Vine, once one of the jazz centers of America, but in the 1980s a desolate stretch of empty lots and old brick buildings housing a handful of stubborn businesses.  Nowadays, I've read, 18th and Vine has been revived as a thriving tourist and entertainment center, with a hall of fame for KC jazz players and Negro League baseball. I'd like to think that articles like this one helped keep the memory alive.

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Orwell, on the eve of 1984

I wrote this profile in appreciation of George Orwell just as the year 1984 was upon us.

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An artist who feels

A profile of an artist whose works belie any disability.

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The Count returns

Count Basie, the jazz legend, returned to his adopted hometown of Kansas City for a triumphal concert that was the epitome of grace. He was in poor health and showing his age. I interviewed him in his hotel room, which was equipped like a hospital room. I have a memory of a bed pan, but maybe my imagination has embellished the scene. No matter. He gave the audience every bit of energy he had. It was an inspiring thing to see. And as it turned out, he didn't have long to live.

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Introducing ... computers in schools

An early story about a somewhat successful invention.

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A new orchestra strikes high note

Kansas City's cultural elite went into crisis mode when the city's famed old orchestra collapsed under financial pressure. A new group was rapidly put together, and an esteemed Kansas City daughter returned to lead its premiere.

This story wasn't particularly well-written, I see as I read it over today, but it did the job. It led the Saturday paper, the Times' biggest edition; it didn't publish on Sundays.

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Arthur Bryant: Barbecue king, philosopher

One of my favorite interviews ever, even though some brain-dead editor buried it on page 11 of the metro section, because of the richness of the quotes that glided so smoothly from the lips of Arthur Bryant, possibly the greatest name in Kansas City barbecue.  The master died not long after this -- the beginning of a string of deaths by notables soon after I'd interviewed them (Abbie Hoffman; Villanova coach Al Severance), causing my very witty friend Jon to dub me a name I wore proudly for awhile: "The Grim Reap-orter"  

Tom McCall

Playing what they wanted, with great taste

I loved profiling this independent radio station.

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