What are you up after midnight and before sunrise? What are you thinking about? Doing? Eating? Explore the region between the hours of midnight and 5 am.
A Late Night Frog Gig
In Missouri, the bullfrog and green frog harvest season starts on the night of June 30th and last through the end of October.
Waiting until complete darkness falls, a spotlight is used to scope the edges of water banks to find the frogs by the glare of their eyes. The frogs are blinded by the shining light and freeze in place. This makes it easier to get close enough to use a gig, a fork like hook on a pole, to stab them.
Up All Night With A New Baby
KCUR listeners may know that our producer and regular co-host Sylvia Maria Gross is on maternity leave. But this Up all Night show theme was her idea, so we felt we had to include her somehow. Sylvia and her husband, Bill Elder, had baby Rosa Mina just a month ago. We thought their overnight experience would take us to a scene all new parents will recognize.
An After Midnight Snack At Town Topic
Town Topic Diner at Broadway and Southwest Blvd. is open 24/7. Since 1937 this tiny white shack with its red neon sign has acted as a late night hub for all night workers, drunken partiers, and anyone looking for atmosphere and cheap food.
Ripe For The Night
At perhaps one of the busiest and time sensitive workplaces in town Donna Vestal, editor of Harvest Public Media, takes us to Liberty Fruit Co., in Kansas City, Kansas. Here she found a business constantly on the move. So much so, that spent most of her time trying not to get run over.
Mutual Musicians Foundation’s Spirit Won’t Stop
For more than eighty years, the small two-story building at 1823 Highland Avenue has been the heart of Kansas City jazz. Today it’s the Mutual Musician’s Foundation, but in 1917, the building became the headquarters for the Local 627 Colored Musician’s Union. Over the decades, nearly every jazz great in the country has jammed here, and the all-night weekend jam sessions have also served as training grounds for jazz students. KCUR’s Susan Wilson spent a late night there to find out what draws audiences and keeps them until the 6 a.m. closing time.
Up All Night, All Over Town
KCUR's Laura Ziegler and photographer Claus Wawrzinek hit the streets recently to check out the overnight activity. They stopped a few places along Independence Avenue ; a 7-11 , an overnight taqueria, and a quiet corner where a lone guitar player was soliciting donations. They hit Westport and the Crossroads, and found late night street life in K.C. looks different across town.
Best And Worst All Nighters From The Kansas City Art Institute
Students often describe Up all night as “the all-nighter.” And who among us who’ve faced a deadline of any sort can’t relate to being awake until 5 a.m. doing something you intended to finish the day before. We stopped by the Kansas City Art Institute for some stories from students who’ve been up all night creating art.
