Kansas City Playlist: Will Kelly's Survive Another 75 Years In Westport???

Tonight we pay tribute to a Kansas City institution and a place that has served to define life in Midtown for generations.

Local media honors really aren't good enough and can't capture the hazy, spirited, sometimes filthy but always fun spirit of this town's favorite bar . . .

Kansas Citians celebrate 75 years of Kelly's Westport Inn

KANSAS CITY, Mo - An hour after the doors opened Saturday afternoon, Kelly's Westport Inn looked like it does most days. Regular customers, customers who used to be among the regulars and others just wanting a good time crowded into the historic bar.

Kelly's is for lovers: 75 years of meet-cutes at one of Kansas City's most famous bars

It was the summer of 1979. School was out for the summer, and Park Hill High School Senior Eric Cross was getting ready to pack up and leave for his first semester at Drury University. He had one issue though: he needed to break up with his girlfriend.

Sadly, this blog is more than a bit of a buzzkill so we have to ask the obvious question . . .

HOW LONG WILL KELLY'S LAST AS WESTPORT EVOLVES?!?!

Rampant toy train streetcar gentrification threatens to push out the middle-class drinking denizens of this party district. 

This Summer proved to be another violent hot mess.

Westport has been the punching bag of local politicos for at least two decades because very few elected officials understand the basics of crowd control and would rather impose unworkable social justice standards.

And let's not forget that social justice warriors proved that didn't really know the history of this town when they decried the slaver legacy of the building and burnt a stagecoach in front of the place but didn't take into account that the Irish hooligans who have owned the place for 3/4ths of a century didn't really have anything to do with that American legacy. At the time, their people were likely scrounging for potatoes and struggling every bit as hard as anyone else on the planet.

But I digress . . .

Tonight we merely celebrate Kelly's and their special brand of liquored up goodness whilst fearing that the things which make Kansas City special are at risk of fading away and the replacements don't seem nearly as remarkable. 

And all of this inspires our TKC Irish themed playlist tonight . . .

House Of Pain tribute is apropos for the Gen-X & Boomer crowd who might idealize the pub just a bit too much . . .

The final album from The Cranberries might be a bit bleak but this is the best track actually a quite inspirational . . .

Elvis singing Danny Boy seems like a monstrosity good enough for this blog . . .

An Irish rock classic almost finishes us off . . .

Possibly the best last call song in the world . . .

As always, thanks for reading this week and have a safe & fun Saturday night . . .