Midwest Photos 5

The historic 18th and Vine District is where...
...the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum are located.
I had been to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum once before on a business trip to Kansas City many years ago.
This was another museum where they do not allow photos. I don't understand this.
So I grabbed these two off of the interwebs as well.
I had not been to the American Jazz Museum which is in the same complex as the NLBM. I didn't know what to expect.
It was mostly kiosk-type things with headphones and music to listen to. It makes sense after all. It is a museum of music. There was also a sign prohibiting photos, but I didn't see it until after I took this photo of some Ella Fitzgerald stuff.
Big giant Charlie Parker head.
Walt Disney opened his Laugh-O-grams Films in 1922 and it was located on the second floor of this building here in a now not-so-nice area of Kansas City. The building had fallen into ruin before a non-profit called "Thank You, Walt Disney" and the Disney family started a restoration effort.
Also in a not-no-nice area is this house where the Disney family moved after leaving Marceline in 1911. The current owner does acknowledge the previous owners with a Mickey Mouse in the upstairs window and another in the birdbath in the front yard.
The Liberty Memorial was opened in 1926 to honor the fallen soldiers of World War I. It makes sense that it is the location of the National World War I Museum.
Nice view from the top of the tower toward downtown with historic Union Station in the foreground.
Let's test the zoom again, shall we? My car is down in that parking lot.
And there it is.
If I just crop the original photo, it is a little grainy but you can see the small Nashville FC sticker on my window.
I wasn't sure what these people were doing down on the lawn, so I zoomed in and saw they were playing croquet.
Beneath a glass walkway at the entrance to the museum are poppies, the symbol of the war's remembrance.
There are several old guys volunteering at the museum. They might be veterans, but certainly not from WWI.
I have always been interested in patriotic war propaganda and fund-raising posters. Here are a couple from the U.K.
And France had them too. I don't know where the Souscrivez Territory is, but the French are for the liberation of it.
While I don't know French, I stand a far better chance of understanding their posters than this Chinese one. China declared war on Germany in August 1917 and all social classes were asked to contribute to defeat imperialism. It looks like their strategy against the Germans was to shoot them in the crotch with tiny soldiers.
The right side of the museum covers 1914-1917 and the left 1917-1919. Between the two sides is a film explaining the events that led to America's entrance into the war and a replica of a battlefield littered with authentic objects.
Some American war bond posters. Let's defeat the Hun!
The famous Uncle Sam poster on the right was first used as a recruitment tool in World War I.
A pair of uniforms and headquarters flag of the German 5th Sturmbattalion.
This is a genuine French-made Renault FT17 tank. The FT17 was the first to feature a fully-rotating turret.
An army ambulance. I'll even fit Walt Disney in here too. Walt drove a Red Cross ambulance in France for a year following the end of the war. Not this one, though.
More propaganda. There is an current exhibition called "Over By Christmas" featuring things from the first year of the conflict. Many people thought the war would not last past Christmas. It did.
Again, when in Kansas City... This is one of the locations of the well-known Gates Bar-B-Q. A barbeque beef sandwich and fries was dinner.
Another trip, another soccer match. This one is a CONCACAF Champions League group stage match between Sporting Kansas City and Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica. And as a bonus, Sporting Park is a short walk from my hotel
I really have to hand it to the fans of the Kansas City area. From its founding in 1996 the club usually played before disappointing crowds, but once they built this nice soccer-specific facility in Kansas City, Kansas they have turned out in great numbers and created a real footballing atmosphere. It is one of the reasons I wanted to see a match here.
I usually cannot capture a goal in progress on film (digital?), but given a penalty I stood a much better chance. This one is going into the lower right.
The Cauldron is located in the north stand where the SKC supporters clubs sing and chant and set off blue smoke bombs after goals.
And there's your final. While I am undefeated in league matches when traveling (6-3-0) I was zero for two in cup matches prior to this one. I finally got that elusive win!