Riverfront Times, April 24, 2024

TRAIN WATCH

What: a lazy train laying on its side, just sleeping on the job

When: 4:02 p.m. Tuesday, April 16

Where: the railroad tracks near Redbird Carriers on 1301 South Wharf Street, Kosciusko Do those guys in the stylish orange vests all know each other? Probably, they all showed up at about the same time.

And then what happened? The boys got down to business, working some heavy machinery and manhandling 15 tankers’ worth of that slothful train back onto the tracks where it belongs in a classic display of Dudes Rocking.

How can we thank them for this service? If you simply derail a train within city limits they’ll probably show up and you can shake their hands in person — we’re sure they’d love that.

15 SECONDS of FAME FOOD CRIME OF THE WEEK

THE HEADLESS BAT’S PIZZA ROLL PIZZA

As if it wasn’t already hard enough to hold on to one’s good sense while being stoned out of one’s mind, the Headless Bat made things even more difficult for last week’s High Holiday. The Tower Grove South pizzeria introduced a 4/20 special so over-the-top, it should be illegal: a pizza topped with sausage, cheese and — this is the crazy part — pepperoni pizza rolls. But that’s not all: They crunched up Cool Ranch Doritos on top, provided a side of ranch and, for dessert, taped a classic Cosmic Brownie to the side of the plate.

FRONT BURNER 7

[QUOTE OF THE WEEK]

“Ah yes, I love being able to get a cut by brushing up against the corner of my truck.”

— reader Jason on Facebook, commenting on our online story about one of St. Louis’ first Tesla Cybertrucks

Previously

On

LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

MONDAY, APRIL 15. It’s tax day, and it’s also incredibly hot. Things take a tragic turn in Tower Grove South, where police respond to a call around 9:30 p.m. and find a 55-yearold woman dead on the front porch. They end up in a shootout with her 50-year-old partner, who they say killed her before police killed him. Meanwhile, a judge awards former St. Louis police officer Luther Hall $23.5 million from former colleague Randy Hays, who was part of the group of cops who beat Hall during a protest he was working undercover. Hays is in prison and never responded to Hall’s lawsuit, which is generally a very bad idea unless you like the idea of owing someone $23.5 million.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16. Temps drop and news breaks that we lost a great one yesterday: Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog is dead at 92. Just two weeks ago the beloved White Rat attended the Cardinals’ home opener. Over at the courthouse, the family of Ben Polson, the young St. Louis firefighter who died battling a blaze in 2022, sues 3M Polson’s family says the breathing equipment he was wearing should have alerted his colleagues to where he was trapped. It didn’t, and he died of smoke inhalation And with that allegation, a tragedy becomes an outrage

lying about him. That ought to end well.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18. It’s a day of carnage: A triple shooting in the Loop just one block from the Pageant leaves a 29-year-old man dead and two women critically injured, while the Missouri Legislature passes a big old K-12 education bill that expands a scholarship program that allows low-income students to go to the school of their choice — including private schools. “I really saw this bill as a moving of public money to private institutions,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade tells St. Louis Public Radio. Oh, and did we mention nine tornadoes touched down across the region?

And with that, against all odds, the Pizza Roll Pizza instantly became the most stoner food around in a town that was already home to the culinary monstrosities on the Hi Pointe Drive-In’s menu and Steve’s Hot Dogs’ infused offerings, which literally have weed in them.

Reached for comment, Headless Bat owner Rick Giordano tells the RFT, “I just wanted to do the stupidest, most shamelessly delicious thing possible.” Mission accomplished.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17. The RFT and St. Louis Public Radio report in a cover story paid for by the River City Journalism Fund that the Cardinals are gearing up for a big ask for public funding to refurbish Busch Stadium (and yes, the story also points out that the math for these asks never seems to add up). Unsurprisingly, given the region’s increasingly sour mood toward handouts to billionaires, not to mention the team’s woeful state of play, President Bill DeWitt III’s trial balloon doesn’t go well. By day’s end, he’s distancing himself from the very idea to the St. Louis Business-Journal Meanwhile, the Post-Dispatch reports that Steven Blakeney is back! Remember that menace? The former Pine Lawn cop was a regular presence in these pages in 2016, accused of illegally arresting a local mayoral candidate, drugging women and even sucker-punching a drunk woman and her designated driver. Now, after four years in prison, he’s suing two of his alleged victims and ArchCity Defenders, accusing them of

FRIDAY, APRIL 19. Neighbors of the big new apartment complex planned for the site on South Kingshighway that previously held decaying homes say they’re worried about traffic. We hate to sound callous, but they live within a few blocks of Kingshighway and I-64. If that’s not a spot for multi-family housing, we have no idea what could be. Also! Did you hear Michelle Obama was in St. Louis — and apparently left signed copies of her new book at three different Targets? The former first lady’s charming video showing her playing Santa Claus across suburban St. Louis is a viral sensation. Perhaps the biggest win for the region? She makes zero mention of the hellhole that is the Brentwood Target parking lot

SATURDAY, APRIL 20. Police say a motorist intentionally hit a female pedestrian around 1 a.m. at Chouteau and Jefferson. This being the intersection of two local autobahns in a town where everyone drives like maniacs at all times, we have to wonder: How could police even tell? Sadly, the victim is reportedly in critical condition.

SUNDAY, APRIL 21. The oldest studentrun carnival in the nation, Wash U’s ThurtenE Carnival, closed early last night — and cancels its final day today entirely. Must have been some fight: The Saint Louis Zoo also closes early today after getting reports the kids involved might be headed its way. Meanwhile, the Cardinals lose 2-0, their fourth straight loss and part of a sweep by the Brewers. At least the Battlehawks won again yesterday? Ka-kaw!

If you derail it, they will come. | ZACHARY LINHARES

A Free Pass on Libel?

St. Louis Public Radio says “sovereign immunity” means it can’t be sued for defamation

BY RYAN KRULL

At a hearing last week in a lawsuit brought by the former general manager of St. Louis Public Radio, an attorney representing the station put forth a surprising defense: that the local NPR affiliate is unique among the major news outlets in town in that it can’t be sued for defamation.

Tim Eby’s lawsuit is against the University of Missouri Board of Curators, which operates the radio station. He alleges that the station published false statements about him, including that he “chose to uphold white supremacy” and mismanaged the station’s finances. But the attorney for the university, Joseph Martineau, argued that Eby’s suit must be dismissed because the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the state of Missouri extends down to St. Louis Public Radio.

Sovereign immunity is a legal concept that provides government entities broad protections from civil litigation, not unlike the concept of qualified immunity which makes suing police officers for their misconduct so difficult.

When asked after the hearing if it created a moral hazard to have a media operation immune from suits of libel, slander and defamation, Martineau replied, “No comment.”

Although such lawsuits, and the mere specter of them, can be the bane of a journalist’s existence, recent legal action such as the successful Dominion Voting Systems suit against Fox News and a Kentucky high schooler’s suit against CNN have shown the critical — if annoying — role such litigation serves for people who have been legitimately smeared.

But Tina Pamintuan, St. Louis Public Radio’s CEO (and Eby’s replacement), said the public need not worry. “I am 100 percent confident in the journalism that is produced at STLPR. Our reporters are highly trained professionals who take a lot of care in their work.

“STLPR exists to uplift its community and this region through fair, rigorous, fact-based news and information. That is our focus and it’s important that we continue to keep that in mind. Like all nonprofit media, we have limited resources that are put to best use by prioritizing our mission.”

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Joseph Patrick Whyte is weighing the station’s motion to dismiss on those sovereign

immunity grounds.

The hearing before Whyte was the first hearing in the lawsuit Eby filed last August. Eby had been the local station’s general manager for 11 years until he resigned in September 2020.

A month prior to Eby’s removal, a group of station staffers published a blog post accusing him of choosing “to uphold white supremacy at the station.” Eby’s lawsuit cites a story published on the radio station’s website linking to and quoting that blog post. The suit also cites another story, published roughly a year later announcing the hiring of the new CEO, Pamintuan, which refers to Eby having resigned “amid accusations from newsroom staff that he ignored problems of systemic racism at the station and mismanaged finances.”

Eby’s attorney Christian Montroy has argued that the station had ample reason to know those claims about Eby were false. He cites initiatives and task forces around diversity implemented at the station under Eby’s tenure, as well as a grant the station received from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to boost the diversity of its news coverage, audiences and staff.

Now, Montroy is perplexed at the idea that the media operation is immune from the same sort of lawsuits that its peers like the Post-Dispatch and even the Riverfront Times are subject to.

“They are representing themselves as state-controlled media,” says Montroy.

“They are representing themselves as state-controlled media. And so they are trying to argue that they can call anyone a white surpremacist or a pedophile.”

“And so they are trying to argue that as an arm of the state they can call anyone a white supremacist or even a pedophile” and not be subject to litigation. He cites the station’s own Statement of Editorial Integrity as evidence it maintains “editorial independence” from the board of curators.

Montroy says that even though the station is operated by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis Public Radio itself is a “proprietary function,” a legal term meaning that the station’s purpose is a nongovernmental one. In arguments, he specifically referenced the quiz show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, saying that it is “ridiculous” that airing such a program is a function of the

government in the manner of building a road or educating students at a state university.

He also argues that the radio station carried $3 million of liability insurance covering its content. The existence of an insurance policy could potentially waive sovereign immunity protections. It also raises the question of why the station needed insurance if they were immune from lawsuits to begin with.

Eby’s lawsuit is playing out against the backdrop of a wider controversy surrounding the national NPR organization, touched off earlier this month when longtime editor Uri Berliner penned an essay accusing his employer of representing a “distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.” He cited as examples of this worldview a multitude of editorial practices, including having reporters record all of their sources’ race and gender information as well as an in-house style in which is it verboten to use the term “terrorists” to refer to the Hamas militants who murdered 1,200 Israelis, including children, the elderly and music festival revelers, on October 7. Berliner has since resigned.

After last week’s hearing, both sides await Judge White’s ruling on the Board of Curators’ motion to dismiss. Court filings indicate a jury trial in the matter is set for July, though that will almost certainly get pushed back, if the matter goes to trial at all. n

St. Louis Public Radio is being sued by its former general manager, Tim Eby, who alleges they defamed him in coverage of his resignation and replacement. DOYLE MURPHY

Railway Exchange Beckons County Teens

The long-neglected downtown building draws bored suburbanites looking for an adventure

BY ZACHARY LINHARES

The Railway Exchange building in Downtown St. Louis was once where teenagers went to shop, cause trouble and awkwardly stand around. It used to be Famous-Barr’s flagship store. But in 2013, Macy’s closed its doors; last year the city condemned the building. Today, it is a nuisance property where young county teenagers go to experience the blight and decay of the City of St. Louis.

Earlier this month, I joined some of them. The building and its surrounding blocks had been featured in a damning Wall Street Journal story on the “doom loop” of downtown St. Louis. The article caught a lot of hostile feedback on X and other social media platforms.

As I stood nearby, camera held up to my face, a man in his late teens or early twenties called out to me, “Hey, have you ever taken pictures in this building?” He meant the Railway Exchange. “Want to go with us? We are going to the roof for the sunset.”

I reluctantly said no, as I had abandoned my mediocre urban exploring dreams long ago. Then my vagabond counterparts — residents of Brentwood and Creve Coeur, respectively — reminded me that we are in St. Louis city and you could almost guarantee that no legal action would be brought against us for our delinquency. I decided to come along.

To stop people from entering the Railway Exchange building, the city erected steel

plates facing Locust Street. They were touted as an upgrade from the shoddy wooden boards that once attempted to keep out shitheads, scrappers and squatters, but in no time people were back in the building. Without giving away details, I’ll just say it wasn’t hard to get in. We were soon hiking up the 21-story building toward the roof.

Inside was a scene straight from John Carpenter’s 1981 film Escape From New York, famously filmed in St. Louis. Complete chaos. The place was pitch black, its glass panels smashed, with holes in every wall, collapsed ceilings, stairs falling apart, amateur graffiti on the walls and the remnants of wannabe arsonists trying to start fires.

Our long journey to the roof would soon be interrupted by our first group of so-called UrbExers — a group of six teenagers stomping on shattered glass. We would see two more groups of teens on our quest. In our hour-long journey inside through the 20thcentury masterpiece there were no signs of squatters, just bored young adults wandering through the building.

As we made our way through the labyrinth of staircases and empty offices, it was abundantly clear that the code of urban exploring had not been upheld: Do not disclose your location and leave everything as it is.

The view from the roof was wonderful, perhaps the most stunning sunset I’ve seen in St. Louis city. But the Railway Exchange building is a problem. In March of 2023, a dog with the St. Louis Fire Department’s search and rescue team died in the building. It is only a matter of time before someone else is seriously injured or dies.

The city is attempting to use eminent domain to seize the building from its Florida-based owner. It can’t happen soon enough.

Until then, the bored suburban kids coming into the city, certain that they’re never going to get in trouble, should proceed with caution. n

It’s a dystopian scene inside the former Famous-Barr building. | ZACHARY LINHARES

Word to Your Mother

St. Louis celebrated Earth Day with beautiful weather and a renewed appreciation for the joys of Forest Park

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ZACHARY LINHARES

Earthday 365 hosted St. Louis’ annual Earth Day Festival in Forest Park on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21, and thousands of people flooded the park to uplift the Earth and support local vendors.

The festival just outside the Muny featured food, music performances, free rock climbing, an electric car show and more. An endless line of booths promoted sustainability and wellness, as well as teaching Missourians about the importance of caring for the environment. Local artisans sold clothing, plants, geodes, candles and other sustainably sourced goods. The celebration also included petting zoos where attendees could get up close with puppies and alpacas, an odd but endearing combination.

Festivalgoers who were not keen on crowds took the opportunity to lay out on a blanket in the grass and soak in that crisp spring air. Missouri may not be known for its environmental consciousness — but on this day, St. Louisans showed that they care. n

urge

STEVE EWING IS A REAL - LIFE ST. LOUIS ROCK STAR, A HOT DOG

thrill the to

AND THE HARDEST WORKING MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS

BY STEVE LEFTRIDGE

When Steve Ewing unlocks the door to Steve’s Hot Dogs on South Grand, the flagship location of his growing restaurant chain, he pulls open the door handle, which is shaped like a handheld microphone. There must be incredible muscle memory built into such a grip for Ewing, as he has held a similar microphone during thousands of shows as the lead singer for the Urge and in his various solo configurations dating back to his days as a teenager at Webster Groves High School in the ’80s.

It’s Monday morning, an hour before the restaurant opens, and Ewing has walked over from his nearby Tower Grove South home, which he shares with his wife and teenage daughter, to talk with me. He’s wearing a track suit that covers his compact frame, built solid from decades as a fitness nut and, more recently, as a competitive amateur bodybuilder. On his head is a black Steve’s Hot Dogs ball cap, which he takes off occasionally to rub his shiny bald head, a contrast to the Urge’s hit-making heyday when Ewing wore dreads down to his shoulders.

The Urge posters and other memorabilia from Ewing’s career decorate the place, a marketing strategy since he opened the original Steve’s location on the Hill in 2011. Of course the biggest treat for many fans at Steve’s restaurants has been the presence of Steve himself, and in the early days after opening, he could often be seen turning dogs on the outside grill. Even today he can be found working the cash register, always taking time to sign autographs and pose for photos with folks who had been buying his CDs and concert tickets for decades.

Now 54, Ewing is used to the attention and still thrives on it. “That’s what it’s all about,” he says of his interactions with fans. But Ewing’s life and his approach to success is about a lot

of things, and if one thing is clear for this man with a booming restaurant business, a stillflourishing music career, a happy marriage, a medal-winning hobby as a bodybuilder, and two books on the way, it’s that he worked his ass off to get here.

For Ewing, life began in Rock Hill. Young Steve was the product of a jazz purist, trumpet-playing father and a Motown-loving mother, who once signed a record deal in a Supremes-style singing group for a label owned by Freeman Bosley, Sr., father of former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr. Ewing’s father attended Douglass High School in segregation-era Webster Groves; his mother attended Kirkwood High School.

But Steve, who was born in 1969, was a Webster Groves High School Statesman, a baseball and wrestling standout who attended Turkey Day games and Friendship Dances and other Webster High traditions. And then, one day during his senior year, he got the Urge.

While Ewing sang in the school choir and in church, he says, “I wasn’t serious about singing. I was serious about sports.” Still, just as his musical tastes were changing, having recently Continued on pg 15

Famous as the lead singer of the Urge, Steve Ewing is a familiar presence at his namesake eatery. | ZACHARY LINHARES

STEVE EWING

Continued from pg 13

discovered bands like Bad Brains and Fishbone, he became aware of a couple of recent Webster High graduates, bassist Karl Grable and drummer Jeff Herschel, who had started a band, already calling themselves the Urge. “I really admired what they were doing,” he remembers. “They had only played a couple of gigs, but you know when you’re in high school, you’re like, ‘Oh my god, they’re in a band!’ I would walk by the drummer’s house after school every day and would hear them practicing in there.”

When the band sought a new singer, Herschel’s sister, a friend of Ewing’s, helped get him an audition. After learning a cassette-full of the group’s songs, Ewing found himself the Urge’s new lead vocalist, a position he would occupy for the next 37 years and counting.

“By the time I started, I was the only one still in high school,” Ewing says. “But I started writing with the band right away.” Initially, the music was heavily influenced by bands like U2 and R.E.M., who at the time were breaking from their college-rock roots into the mainstream. Soon, however, Ewing would bring in more of the funk and ska sounds that fans today associate with the Urge. “We were into the Specials and the English Beat and all that,” he says. “That really made an impression on me. I got really huge into it. And then we started hanging out with the [Mighty Mighty] Bosstones and some other bands, and everything we started seeing, we just started playing.”

The band made a debut cassette in 1988, the year Ewing graduated high school, with the not-very-Ewing-like title Bust Me Dat Forty. Then a four-piece band rounded out by guitarist Pat Malecek, the band added saxophone player Jordan Chalden before releasing Puttin’ the Backbone Back in 1989. “We wanted a horn section, but he had to ease into it,” Ewing says. “So we got Jordan, who was amazing, really awesome. He added a lot of energy to the show.”

That energy became the calling card of the Urge concerts, with the members going for broke the entire show, heavy on the jumping, with horn players stomping all over the stage, Grable bobbing over a bass slung down to his knees, and Ewing’s indefatigable whirling, leaping and waggling to the music. The enthusiasm spilled over into the crowd; Urge shows have long been sweaty affairs with a pogoing intensity that often blurs the lines between band and audience.

A couple of early moves helped the Urge blow up. One, they were the first local band in St. Louis to release their music on CD. “Everyone else was still making cassettes,” Ewing says. “We wanted to make this investment and make a CD to elevate ourselves past what everyone else was doing locally.” Ewing remembers a release party at the old Galaxy club downtown. “We did the soundcheck, and then came back, and there was a line down the entire street to get in. We were, like, ‘Oh

shit!’ So that was the moment when we knew that all the work we’d done over the last few years, the hustling, had started to pay off.”

The other break was when Pat Hagin, who was managing Mississippi Nights at the time, took on the Urge as their manager. (Hagin is now the co-owner of the Pageant and Delmar Hall.) He booked them as the opening act for dozens of national acts who came through St. Louis to play the legendary nightclub on Laclede’s Landing. “The Bosstones were one of the first ones,” Ewing recalls. “It gave us a chance to meet those guys. We opened for Murphy’s Law, Public Enemy. So we started touring with some of those bands and building our following on the road.”

On tour, Ewing remembers Atlanta as pivotal in breaking the band on a national level. “We played this little bar called the Point, and there must have been like 60 people there,” he remembers. “The program director for the Georgia State radio station was there. It’s the biggest non-commercial radio station in the country, broadcasting at 100,000 watts on a college campus. So they started playing our song. The next time we came back a few months later, it was sold out. The place was packed.”

Despite that college-radio success, Ewing says the Urge never entertained the idea of having songs on Top 40 radio, given the band’s heavy blend of funk, metal, ska, reggae and rock. “Nobody playing our kind of music was thinking that we’d be on the radio,” he says of the scene in the early ’90s. “We’re coming out of hair metal, we’re coming out of arena rock, we’re coming out of the Michael Jackson era, the Madonna era. But we were cool where we were because we saw how all these touring bands were killing it. We were selling out venues that were 500 seaters.”

By then, the Urge, now featuring Bill Reiter (replacing Chalden) on saxophone and keyboards, was playing huge Pointfest-style radio festivals in major cities and hanging out with kindred bands like 311, who took the Urge on an exten-

sive tour across the country. The touring grind took a toll on some of the members. “This is when our guitarist and drummer didn’t want to be on the road anymore. So we split ways with them,” Ewing recalls of Malacek and Herschel. Did Ewing experience a similar burnout? “I was having the time of my life!” he says. “I knew this was what I wanted to do.”

The lineup change created a new opportunity with the 1994 arrival of guitarist Jerry Jost and drummer John Pessoni, two graduates of Christian Brothers College High School who had opened for the Urge many times as part of the band Life Without Wayne. Versatile, dynamic players both, Jost and Pessoni, according to Ewing, elevated the Urge to a new level. “They already knew all our material, and they are amazing musicians,” he says. “So at that point, I felt like we could do more musically. We had more tools in our arsenal.”

Still, the band had not signed with a record label despite considerable success and independent sales of their selffinanced 1995 album Receiving the Gift of Flavor. “We were selling thousands of CDs at our shows, but nobody in the industry knew who we were,” Ewing says. So, taking a cue from Dave Matthews Band, the Urge stopped selling CDs at their shows and went to retail only, inking a deal with Best Buy and ending up selling 50,000 CDs in St. Louis alone in six months. “So at that point we hit Billboard, and every label in the country was, like, ‘Who are you guys?’ We said, ‘We’ve been here for a while!’”

The Urge, which had grown to seven members with the addition of two trombonists, signed with Immortal Records, which had launched the careers of Korn and Incubus. The deal gave the band a substantial cash advance, a guarantee of three records and a video for the single “All Washed Up.”

More money, upgraded touring amenities, bigger shows: The young frontman must have been partying like a rock star, right? “Not more than anybody else,” Ewing tells me with a smile. “Probably less than most people. For us, there

was beer or liquor or whatever. But cocaine and all that shit? It was just never part of it.”

Plus, he knew that he had to take care of his voice if the Urge wanted to keep touring. “It’s hard for a singer to party on the road. Keeping your voice up is OK as long as you take care of yourself. That’s the trick. That means no partying. You can’t. The guitar player can drink a case of beer and his fingers will still work. My voice will not work. If you’re out and you have 40 shows, you have to be disciplined. Because if you wake up the next day with no voice, that sucks.”

Indeed, Ewing was always in control, not only guiding the band through smart business decisions but also inspiring the other members to stay physically healthy on the road. These days, it’s not uncommon to see portable gyms set up in parking lots outside bands’ tour buses, but Ewing was well ahead of the curve. “I was the one who went to bed at night, so I was also the one who got up early,” he says. “So every time we hit, I found a gym. And then eventually we started carrying our own gym equipment on the bus. We had a bench and weights, a portable gym. So the crew would set the gym up in the parking lot, and the other bands would be like, ‘Aww, dude, can I jump in?’ So it became a thing. You gotta stay fit.”

I ask Ewing about being the only Black member in an otherwise all-white band and if he ever experienced racism while out with Urge. “Not much, because in our world, there was a lot of [racial diversity] happening,” he says. “Fishbone was huge. Living Colour was just coming out. 24-7 Spyz, Bad Brains, King’s X, all the ska bands. In our world, it was all mixed up. In the mainstream, it was either Black or white. So it was not a big deal to us. We had our own crowd, our own thing.” Was there that kind of racial diversity in the crowds? “The majority of our crowds were all white,” he says with a wry laugh. “Still are. Because it’s rock music. It’s how music is marketed. It sucks. Don’t get me wrong. But that’s just how it is.”

After the record deal, the Urge was back on the road for a grueling 18 months, and felt the pressure of the big leagues, a game with higher stakes. “The label had just invested a shitload of money in us, and they were, like, ‘We need hits.’”

In 1998, the band gave them one. While recording a new album, Master of Styles, in Reno, Nevada, the Urge had finished everything, but the label didn’t feel they had a single, at which point the band called in an old friend, Nick Hexum, lead singer for their old touring mates 311. “I picked him up in Sacramento, and I sat in the bedroom with him for a couple of hours and worked on the song. We tracked it, and the label was like, ‘OK, I think we got something.’ And that was the first single. We shot the video for that. and it seriously charted like a motherfucker.” The song was the band’s skalternative classic “Jump Right In,” still the band’s signature song, a Top

On stage, Ewing wears his heart on his chest. | KEITH BRAKE

Continued from pg 15

10 hit on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart, featuring the memorable music video with the band performing the song while sitting atop teetering 20-foot poles.

Ewing describes the band’s writing process as a collaborative effort with all of the members sitting in a room and writing together, although he is generally in charge of melodies and lyrics. And as the Urge continued, his lyricism and vocal approaches evolved. “The music was changing a little bit. My focus was on digging deep into the lyrics. What am I really talking about? Who am I? I was getting better as a writer, and I was focusing more on melody and harmony, instead of just screaming all the time. I had a good voice, so let’s use it for melody. Singing is not hard at all. Lyric writing is hard.”

Master of Styles would go on to sell more than a quarter-million copies. In 1998, was that enough to make Steve Ewing and the guys in the Urge rich? “The money was all right,” he says. “At this point, we’re making enough money to live off of. We were making money from shows, not from album sales. But it was exciting. My attitude was that we needed to make sure we were working hard and capitalizing on this. So we toured our ass off.”

Still, things were changing, and the turn of the century also marked a turning point for the Urge. The band went back into the studio to record their next album, 2000’s Too Much Stereo, which coincided with the beginning of the collapse of the music retail industry. Once the album came out, the band still toured for a year and put out the title track as a single, which bubbled into the Top 100, along with its video. But the album sold about half of what its predecessor did. Experiencing burnout and musical differences, the Urge broke up after its tour in 2001. “We had differences in what we wanted to do musically, stereotypical band shit,” he says. “Plus, the outlook was different. We had been the band on the rise. If you feel like you’re not on the rise anymore…”

By this time, Ewing had gotten married and relocated to Los Angeles. With a pile of music he had written and a list of new collaborators in L.A., Ewing put out a series of solo albums in the aughts, incorporating more electronic, looping and hip-hop elements, and touring as the Steve Ewing Band. “I was outside of the Urge completely, so it was almost like starting over again,” he says. When his wife, a speech therapist, got pregnant in 2006, the couple moved back to St. Louis to be close to family.

Of course, the Urge never ended for good. The other members continued to live in St. Louis — Pessoni went on to be the classic-rock drummer par excellence in tribute bands like El Monstero, Celebration Day and, with Jost, Joe Dirt and the Dirty Boys. But demand for Urge reunions was always high, and the last 20 years have seen the Urge coming back together for one-off reunions and full-blown resump-

tions, including a comeback album, Galvanized, in 2013. Such icons are the Urge in their hometown that the St. Louis Blues even partnered with the band in 2018 to create a new goal song, “The Blues Have the Urge,” which the team plays whenever the Blues score a goal.

All along, Ewing has continued to play his own shows, mostly as an acoustic duo with guitarist Adam Hansbrough, himself a Webster High graduate, but one 10 years younger than Ewing. “He’s a fucking unbelievable guitar player,” Ewing tells me. Ewing and Hansbrough continue to play some 200 shows every year. It was during one of those shows that a whole new idea occurred to Ewing.

“I like food, and I’d seen street food in other cities,” he says. “We were playing a lot of shows, and these bars are packed, you walk out after the show, and there’s nowhere to eat. I was, like, ‘I’m going to get a hot dog cart and put it out at these venues.’” Sure enough, Ewing bought a cart, hitched it on the back of his truck and parked it outside of Steve Ewing shows. Fans who had just watched Ewing perform on stage were surprised and delighted to find the singer himself personally selling hot dogs to hungry latenight revelers.

Next, Ewing took his stand to the old Procter & Gamble factory in downtown St. Louis, selling hot dogs to the factory workers. “I would see a truck driver every 10 seconds,” he recalls. “Those drivers couldn’t stop to eat, I was literally throwing hot dogs into their trucks.” In 2010, he put another stand outside

Mangia Italiano space on South Grand was closing, and the current Steve’s Hot Dogs moved into half of that space three years ago, this time with a liquor license.

When CityPark was being planned as the home for St. Louis CITY SC soccer, organizers wanted all local food for the stadium’s concessions and polled St. Louisans on which venues should be included. Steve’s Hot Dogs was an overwhelming favorite. Locations at Enterprise Center and America’s Center followed. And now Ewing and Eickenhorst have opened their newest concept, Steve’s Meltdown, at City Foundry, with the goal of doing the same thing for grilled cheese sandwiches that Steve’s did for hot dogs.

It might seem odd that a guy who runs restaurants specializing in comfort food, with enticing carbohydrates everywhere, including some of the best french fries in town, would also be a bodybuilder who must maintain a painfully fit and lean physique, but here we are. “I was getting ready to turn 50,” he says. “And I had some friends who were doing bodybuilding shows. I had always been fascinated with that. It’s just fun to get into really good shape and compete.”

of Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, hiring partner in grilling and smoking ace Joe Zeable to run the stand, now called Steve’s Hometown Hot Dogs.

The first permanent Steve’s Hot Dogs took over a building on the Hill in 2011, a joint with no kitchen, so Steve ran the grill and smoker outside. “I took all the Urge stuff at my house to the restaurant and put it on the walls,” he says. “And that worked big time. People were curious out of the box. ‘Why is Steve selling hot dogs?’ People were just coming to hang out and see what it was about.”

Also key to the success was building a creative menu, and Ewing wanted a list of uniquely constructed hot dogs that would hook customers. “If you have a hot dog joint and tons of toppings and you ask someone what they want, they’ll sit there for 20 minutes not knowing what to put on it,” he says. “So we’re gonna make a menu of really cool, innovative stuff. We were the first ones to do a mac-and-cheese dog here.”

It took three years to outgrow the 16-seat location on the Hill, so Ewing opened a second location in Tower Grove East next to Tick Tock Tavern, eventually closing the Hill restaurant. In 2020, Ewing had decided to close the Steve’s in Tower Grove also, but when a press release went out announcing the closure, he says, “The entire city basically came and bought a hot dog for the next week. It was crazy.”

At that point, Ewing found a new partner in marketing consultant Danni Eickenhorst and reopened Steve’s. It’s been a smash ever since, even thriving during the pandemic and eventually outgrowing its location. Just then, the old

Ewing’s first show had him posing and flexing in front of 3,000 people, and now he has added a pile of bodybuilding medals to his list of accolades. As we chat in his restaurant, with the smell of hot dogs wafting through the place, I ask how he avoids the temptations. “It gets tough!” he says. “Trust me. I walk in here right past the french fries every day. It’s hard when you’re getting to that point where you’re super lean. You’re hungry. But I have my built-in cheat meals right here.”

Ewing chalks up his lifelong work ethic to where he’s from. “I think it’s a Midwest thing,” he says. “We have a sort of a chip on our shoulder. I think we feel like we have to work harder here compared to bigger cities where there’s more industry. We have to do more to be seen.”

These days, Ewing is still playing continually with the Steve Ewing Band and in the Steve Ewing Duo, including a recent sold-out show at City Winery. The Urge, which Ewing considers a fully active band, has new singles that will be released later this year and sold-out shows set for Kansas City and Omaha. And he hints that a big concert announcement for St. Louis will be coming soon.

And is Steve’s Hot Dogs done growing? “No, not at all,” he says. “Expansion is our game right now.” Ewing hopes to open locations in St. Louis County and St. Charles County and points beyond. Also in the works is a photo book commemorating Ewing’s career, and he is at work sketching out a memoir of his life.

All of which means that Ewing has no more time to sit and talk to me. Before he goes, he recommends that I get the Bacon Bacon Jamaican (listed on the menu as “Steve’s favorite!”) or the Geddy Lee (named after the Canadian bassist due to the poutine that is piled on the hot dog). I go with the Geddy Lee, as Ewing flashes me a smile on his way out. “You’re not going to get one of those anywhere else!” he says. And then he’s out the door to jump right in to his next calling. n

A competitive bodybuilder, Ewing is surely St. Louis’ most swole rock star. | KEITH BRAKE

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 04/25

Backstage Pass

Hopefully you’re no stranger to the phenomenal productions that take the Muny stage every summer. But have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? This week is your chance to find out as the Civic Pride Foundation asks you to meet them at the Muny for their second annual Explorer Series. Attendees will get a backstage tour while enjoying light refreshments and complimentary drinks. It’ll be the perfect aperitif to the Muny’s seven-show, 106th season kicking off at its stage in Forest Park this June. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 25. Admission is free, but you need to register ahead of time. More info at shorturl.at/dOXZ7.

FRIDAY 04/26

The Foreseeable Future

The STL Mystic Fair is coming to Bridgeton. But if you’re a psychic, you already knew that, huh? For the rest of us, we can access their special powers at Machinists’ District 9 Hall (12365 St Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton) from Friday, April 26, through Sunday, April 28. The fair will offer all manner of mystical entertainment and interventions, including mediums, healers, psychics, herbalists, energy workers, spiritual guides and numerologists. Visitors can opt in to energy healing, have their portrait taken by an aura camera or buy crystals and other mystic paraphernalia. The event also offers hourly workshops, door prizes and more. Tickets to the STL Mystic Fair cost $8 for a daily admission, $15 for a twoday pass and $20 for a weekend pass. Kids age 12 and under get in for free. Visit facebook.com/EmpoweredHealingKC for more information.

SATURDAY 04/27

Local Girl

Makes Good

Nikki Glaser kicked off The Good Girl Tour way back in January of 2023, so it’s about damn time she finally brought it to her own city of residence. The pride of Des Peres (and current Central West End resident) may be the funniest woman in comedy today, which is saying something — and her hilariously ribald observations will have you peeing your pants in the glorious environs of the Fabulous Fox (527 North Grand Boulevard) on Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. You can bet the place is

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going to be packed and the comedy will be sharp. Tickets are $39.75 to $69.75; find those and more details at fabulousfox. com/events/detail/nikki-glaser.

All’s Fair in Forest Park

The Missouri History Museum’s (5700 Lindell Boulevard) interest in St. Louis’ landmark 1904 World’s Fair goes back decades — after all, much as we hate to admit it, the fair may be the biggest thing that will ever happen in this city. But the exhibit that opens on Saturday, April 27, is brand new, a total rethinking of what the fair meant and everything that happened 120 years ago, from the appalling Human Zoo featuring people from the Philippines to the welcome popularization of the ice cream cone. The museum has a full weekend of kickoff activities planned for the new 1904 World’s Fair exhibit, with museum hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday and a host of events in and around it. Enjoy ragtime piano, take a fair-focused walking tour of Forest Park and even partake in a Japanese tea ceremony. The exhibit is free, but you’ll need to register at the front desk for timed tickets, and some activities have limited capacity. See mohistory.org/worlds-fair-opening for all the details.

C’mon, Get Crafty

If your tastes run toward the handmade and historical, you’ll want to spend the weekend treasure hunting at the Ninth

Annual Sappington House Country Craft Fair, an old-timey festival set to take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, at the Sappington House and Barn Restaurant (1015 South Sappington Road; Crestwood). Whether you’re looking for antiques, arts and crafts, books, home decor or jewelry, there’s a vendor for it. There will also be historical demonstrations, live music and a petting zoo, as well as a Young’uns Outpost where kids can participate in crafting. Admission is free and parking will be available at the nearby Crestwood Elementary School and in the overflow lot off Reco Avenue. In case of inclement weather, the fair will be rescheduled for June 22 and 23. Admission is free. Learn more at cityofcrestwood.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=979.

Working Out the Kinks

Calling all leatherheads: St. Louis’ Rudis Leather Society is hosting its Third Leather Swap from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, at Shameless Grounds (3245 Lemp Avenue). Participants are encouraged to bring gently used leather, rubber, pet play, fetish gear or kink equipment to swap with others. All items must be cleaned beforehand, and insertable items are not allowed for reasons that should be fairly obvious. “Passing on old gear is an important leather tradition. It’s a powerful way to build personal connections within the community, discover new gear, and it helps keep it more affordable

and accessible,” says Rudis in promotion materials. Participants with numerous items to swap are encouraged to bring their own clothing racks and tables. All trades will be conducted on a one-to-one basis. More info at rudisleather.com.

SUNDAY 04/28

Blockbuster Night

St. Louis’ own Trackstar the DJ has your entire Sunday planned, with a top-notch doubleheader event sure to please all the rap fans and hip-hop heads of the Gateway City. Known for his time as DJ for Killer Mike and Run the Jewels, the talented turntablist is returning to the city that raised him to host yet another Give Up the Goods: Hip Hop Swap Meet at the Golden Record (2720 Cherokee Street). Come for the good vibes and the people-watching, or shop for records, posters, collectibles, vintage gear and more. Then grab yourself a taco down the street and return for some Boiler Roomstyle performances from Trackstar and Friends. Headlined by Skratch Bastid, whom Trackstar refers to as “one of the greatest hip-hop DJs on planet earth,” the lineup includes acts from local legends Jay-E, Biko fka Needles and Mahf, as well as some surprise guests. With a spacious venue and world-renowned talent, it’s an event you won’t want to miss. The swap goes from noon to 5 p.m., with free entry. Performances begin at 7 p.m., with entry limited to those 18 and up and tickets starting at $15 in advance or $20 at the door. For information and tickets, visit rapfan.com.

The Civis Pride Foundation’s Explorer Series invites guest to meet them at the Muny this week for a behind-the-scenes look at the Forest Park gem. | COURTESY PHOTO

All Over the Map

West county destination 360 Westport has a menu that goes around the world — and a sexy space right out of a movie set

Are the young things wafting about the 12th floor of this shimmering Westport Plaza office building too young to know about Mad Men? Are they not old enough to have had bonkers crushes on Jon Hamm, because who didn’t? Probably.

Too bad for them. Too bad their appreciation for all of this may be a little lacking, their experience not quite as moody as it was for me. Because Don Draper would have been here. He would have stopped up after work, loosened his tie in the elevator, patted his pockets for his cigarettes. And the smokiness — if it was 1961 — would have been real; the air would have been thick with the noisome bilge of Lucky Strikes. Now, though, the haziness comes from glass tinted to temper the sun’s day-long glare, and the floor-to-ceiling gauze that drapes at the giant windows. Yeah, if 360 Westport isn’t a pick-up joint, then I don’t know what.

Aside from wishing I wasn’t 95 years old, I wished I wasn’t driving. At this west county iteration of 360 STL downtown, the drinks are beauties — big, and, by reports, pack a punch. But I was OK with a very nice glass of rosé from Provence once I’d stuck in a few olives, a cherry and a skinny tongue of orange

peel. The expense of the lux surroundings boggles the mind. The bar stools alone — and there are so many — could sleep two comfortably. And then there are the myriad couches and sofas and divans and table arrangements. In this huge 11,200-square-foot space, there is so much choice of where to be; here or here, or over there through those doors where the fire pits are, and the night breezes of Maryland Heights tickle in your mint sprig. But it is all rather lovely — the Art Deco lines and circles, the black corrugated walls and silvery seams running through.

And then there’s the menu. 360 Westport wants to be good in the kitchen, and certainly needs to provide some solid food to sop up those bevvies. So what’s on offer here is a little taste of any flavor you might be in the mood for after a few — and then a few more — drinks. In the main, the menu is appetizery (de rigeur shareable things), and it’s all over the map — a veritable food court of international offerings. Spain is here in the pintxos, Mexico in the shrimp tostada. There’s Korea in the BBQ lettuce wraps, Japan in the karaage chicken. America is honored by the chargrilled burger. Somewhere else is present in the bone marrow with clams and grilled bread, and I assumed wrongly that my native

UK was represented by fries that come with salt and vinegar. But those, apparently, are a nod to New Orleans and aren’t fat and soggy, but thin and crisp. I skipped ’em.

Dump a $1 can of cannellini into a bowl, mash them roughly, add some deep green olive oil, garlic, etcetera, and I’m as happy as a clam casino. These beans, on offer when we visited, were blitzed to a stiff paste, strongly fragranced with lemon and pretty with microgreens, but I wasn’t in a paste-y mood. That tuft of microgreens turned up again on the beets with labneh and hazelnut vinaigrette. I suppose I was expecting a delicate nuttiness, a suggestion of it in the dressing rather than a full-on nutfest. My jaws were weary afterward, but thankfully, the beets were (too?) soft and the labneh may have been overstrained: It, like the beans, was stiffer than I’d have liked it to be. And was that a fizz I picked up in those root vegetables? The shrimp tostada had a bit of bean going on as well, but the legume helped secure the shrimp, which were inching rather pleasantly toward undercooked.

Having girded myself for disappointment at the cheese and chive drop biscuits (they looked small and tight), I loved them. And

360 WESTPORT

111 Westport Plaza, Suite 1200, Maryland Heights. Open Mon.Sat. 4 p.m.-1 a.m., Sun. 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Continued on pg 22

360 Westport’s offerings include everything from pintxos to karaage chicken, but you can also find a good burger.

BY ALEXA BEATTIE

PHOTOS BY MABEL SUEN

360 WESTPORT

Continued from pg 21

I also got a kick out of this: You either may order them with a pimentoey dip (or honey butter) for $7, or you can add caviar for an additional $48. I loved that! A couple of lucky biscuits boomeranged from “second fiddle” to “main event” in the green wink of an ATM balance transfer. There was whipped ricotta with giardiniera as well, and I should have paid more attention to the menu. I puzzled over its accompaniment of rather tough squares of fry-bread only to understand later that those were gnocchi frito. So Italy was in the mix, as well.

Everyone’s been talking about the housemade Kit Kat. Either 360 Westport is being humble or it’s being cute, because comparing this dessert to a candy bar with almost zero percent cacao is both misleading and silly. These dark, rich, silky cubes scattered with crispy wafer-ish crumbs most closely resemble flourless chocolate cake — and by that I mean they’re luxe and have nothing whatsoever to do with Hershey.

Thanks, in part, to that “cake,” 360 Westport is a fun place to be, and it’ll be funner still once the exterior glass elevator starts carting customers up to their drinks-and-eats-and-drinks-again. Because take note: Word has it, the line during peak hours can be 50 to 100 strong before you even reach the main elevators. This is not good news if you’re hoping for a seamless start to your Tin-

der date. But if wishes were horses, perhaps, on the sun’s next tour of 360 Westport’s gilded flanks (i.e. tomorrow), I’ll be 24 again, merrily perched on a bar stool, ordering a “Soft Hands,” because Don Draper — very kindly — will have offered to drive.

Menu highlights include whipped ricotta, oysters on the half-shell, housemade Kit Kat and more. The interior dining area evokes a more glamorous era.

The kitchen staff at 360 Westport handles food for the often bustling spot.

SAUCED

Big Dreams

August the Mansion brings New American cuisine to a humongous farmhouse in O’Fallon, Illinois

BY LAUREN HEALEY

Abeautiful historical landmark has recently opened as a New American restaurant called August the Mansion at 1680 Mansion Way in O’Fallon, Illinois. This Italianate-style family farmhouse was built in 1857 by Augustus J. Wastfield and remained a home until the 1990s, when it became a restaurant called the Mansion at Lakepointe Centre. Two more restaurants operated there over the years, most recently the Grill at the Mansion until 2019, when the building was put up for sale.

When it went to auction in 2020, Candice and Justin Mills — who own the neighboring Terra Veta consulting services business — leapt at the chance to own a piece of history that’s been near and dear to the hearts of locals for decades.

“We fell in love with the mansion building from when we first visited for our wedding anniversary when it was

still Paulo’s at the Mansion [from 2007 to 2015] the first year after we moved here, enough so that it influenced where our Terra Veta office is,” Candice Mills says. “We felt it’s something so unique and loved by the community and still had so much potential to offer. We wanted to build what we ourselves look for during a night out — great food, service, people and atmosphere.”

With executive chef Jessica Hickman (formerly of Niche Food Group) at the kitchen helm, the team went about creating a New American menu that showcases a range of cuisines, allowing them to “have a broader degree of creativity and leverage the full depth of their experiences to introduce a variety of dishes combining familiar and new flavors,” Mills explains. “We really wanted to focus on creating a place that we would want to eat every day.”

From a kale Caesar salad with freshly zested lemon to a Peruvian chicken dish served atop creamy aji verde and alongside flavorful chile-lime potatoes and cauliflower, the wide range of influences is evident. You can also expect a crowd-pleasing burger and fries, as well as beef short rib with sweet corn polenta and heirloom carrots. For dessert, don’t miss the Basque cheesecake or the newly added strawberry shortcake, made with a ginger biscuit, macerated berries and Baileys’ whipped cream.

The beverage menu takes inspiration from the history of the building and aims to ensure there’s something for everyone.

“Since August was a wheat farmer, we’ve integrated a number of wheatbased products into our cocktail menu, leaning on whiskey and vodka,” Mills says. “Quality, balance and variety were key aspects in the decisions about what to include and build into the menu, from our tequila being additive-free for the best quality, to making sure that each beverage is as enjoyable to sip as-is, while also offering well-paired options with the food menu.”

The Mansiontini pays homage to a drink on one of the prior restaurant menus here, but has been reimagined with a limited-edition gin favored by the owners. “Whether it’s a stiffer stirred drink, light and citrusy, or an easy sipper, we have an option available, and a bar stocked to meet most custom requests as well,” Mills says.

Other beverage highlights include classics like a paloma, old-fashioned, negroni and a martini, plus a few others like the Mississippi Buzz, which combines rum, vodka, coffee liqueur, orange and spiced chocolate.

The historic building has had a few additions over the years, now coming in at about 6,500 square feet with three separate indoor dining areas, one of which includes a bar with a few seats,

plus a lovely patio space. In total, August the Mansion seats 125 guests. Renovations are underway for the upstairs, which will be used for private events.

“Our focus during the renovation was to find where we could restore and highlight as many of the features and charm of the original home or to preserve the characteristics from previous owners over the past many decades — the chandeliers, tin ceiling, molding, fireplaces, banister, balcony, stained glass windows, wooden floors and doors — which tell the broader story of the home’s history over time,” Mills says. “Beyond that, we focused on what we wanted guests to feel when they came in, which were spaces that felt clean, comfortable and inviting.”

The restaurant has only been open a few weeks, but it’s already had a great response from the community, both in turnout and feedback.

“We feel a great responsibility toward being as much of and more than what the community expects from us, given how well the building is recognized locally,” Mills says. “There is such a huge feeling of joy for the property being open as a restaurant again, and excitement about what we’re offering — aesthetically, in the menu and in the level of service.”

August the Mansion is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The Italianate-style family farmhouse that is home to August the Mansion was built in 1857 and remained a private residence until the 1990s. | LAUREN HEALEY

Pie Oh My

Pizza Via brings Scott Sandler’s artisan offerings to the Central West End

BY ALEXA BEATTIE

After 10 collective years of running Pizzeoli in Soulard and Pizza Head in Tower Grove East — though he’s since sold both of them — Pizza Via owner Scott Sandler comes to his new restaurant at 4501 Maryland Avenue in the Central West End with a few new ideas. He’s thinking artisan crusts, he’s thinking nuts. “I love nuts on pizza,” he says before going on to talk about a marriage of ingredients that isn’t on the menu yet, but possibly will be soon. Specifically, ricotta, basil, a little rosemary, hard Italian cheese and pistachios.

The star of the show in this 1,600-square-foot space is the brick oven, a blazing inferno fired by oak wood that heats to 700 degrees. Simplicity is key here, from the “Pizza” sign to the blue-and-red Pizza Via logo (designed by Sandler’s 16-year-old daughter), along with the dusty blue walls, red chairs and a minimal, five-strong list of

pies: Queen Margherita, King Pepperoni, White Knight Spinach, Earth Mother (vegan with a walnut pâté), and a plain white pie with ricotta, pecorino and basil. There’s also cheese for the kids. “I’m interested in consistent, quality pizza

served in a timely manner,” Sandler says.

When we asked him when pizza first figured in his life, and what accounts for this passion, we were surprised. “Pizza Hut,” he says, but thankfully expounds a little. “I hated it. I’d go to friends’ birth-

day parties and I’d pack my own PB&J.” When he was older, the local Pizza Palace in his New Jersey hometown left an impression. “Mediocre ingredients, but OK overall.” More recently, Sandler took a trip to Naples, Italy, and conducted some “research” at L’antica Pizzeria de Michele. Founded in 1870, this pizza restaurant has a total of two pies on its menu. This, for Sandler, was worth paying attention to: Business has been so brisk at that restaurant the last 154 years that it now issues tickets to temper the crowd.

With almost a lifetime of field work under his belt, Sandler is fine-tuning, further honing his craft. And it’s likely that, nestled in this residential nook not far from the cathedral, and just far enough from the CWE’s main strip, Pizza Via may capture a solid corner of the market.

Pizza Via seats 24 inside and 12 more on its pleasant patio out front, where Sandler plans to grow his herbs. Pizza is available until it sells out, which it did its first three nights of business. Sandler said a liquor license is in the works, but may be a little while yet. For now, they have both still and sparkling bottled water, cans of Coke, Diet Coke, Italian soda and apple juice.

The pizzeria is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. or until it sells out. n

Pizza Via offers a short and sweet menu that includes a classic pepperoni pie with mushrooms. | MICHELLE VOLANSKY

Scott Sandler, owner and pie-maker, has a beast of an oven. | MICHELLE VOLANSKY

REEFERFRONT TIMES

Edible Arrangements

Swade Cannabis teams up with top local chefs for an infused dinner series

BY LAUREN HEALEY

Local dispensary Swade Cannabis has announced the launch of Best Buds, a series of infused dinners held in collaboration with some of St. Louis’ favorite local restaurants and chefs. Participating eateries include Up Late, which served up infused blackberry jelly for the series’ kickoff over the weekend, as well as Pie Guy Pizza, El Molino del Sureste and Indo, all of which are on tap for future events.

Each meal utilizes a product new to the local cannabis market called “Stiribles” — unflavored, water-soluble THC-infused powder from the High

Five Edibles brand that’s manufactured by Teal Labs.

“Infused dinners and/or cannabisfriendly dining experiences are the future, especially as more and more people look for alcohol alternatives,” says Brandon Cavanagh, director of marketing strategy at BeLeaf Medical Co., the parent company of Swade. “We have been blown away by the interest from chefs to learn more about using tinctures, butters and stirrables in their cooking, and we are happy we can act as a bridge between curious consumers and the hospitality industry. This is no different than a wine dinner or a cocktail pairing dinner, and we want to normalize this.

“The chefs will throw down, and the vibes will be right,” he adds.

While every dinner has a slightly different setup, each is carefully guided in dosage by the chefs in collaboration with the Swade and Teal teams, according to Cavanagh.

“They will incorporate THC infusion across select menu items, with clear labeling on milligrams for each course/dish. It will be very clear for guests,” he says. “For example, Up Late [infused] their blackberry jam for breakfast sandwiches with

10 milligrams, while other chefs may have smaller doses across multiple courses. Dishes that are infused will have a set dosage that all guests are made aware of before consuming.”

The particulars for the remaining events in the Best Buds dinner series are as follows:

Monday, May 13

Pie Guy Pizza (4189 Manchester Avenue, pieguystl.com) in the Grove will offer infused pizza by the slice from 7 to 10 p.m.

Monday, June 24

El Molino del Sureste (5007 South Kingshighway Boulevard, elmolinostl. com) is serving infused tacos and tostadas with housemade chips and salsa from 7 to 10 p.m.

Tuesday, July 16

Indo (1641D Tower Grove Avenue, indostl.com) will have infused sushi rolls and Thai street food from 7 to 10 p.m.

Reservations for all of the events are available online. For more information, visit swadecannabis.com. n

The only thing better than your favorite El Molino del Sureste dishes is your favorite El Molino del Sureste dishes infused with weed. | COURTESY PHOTO

OUT & ABOUT 28

This week brings a pair of new EPs from top-notch St. Louis acts Freddy VS. and Tidal Volume as they team up for a dual release show on Saturday at Off Broadway, with Chicago’s Rebecca Jaffe kicking things off. Elsewhere, the inaugural Midwest Diskrust Fest brings together a bevy of hard-hitting d-beat bands from across the country for a full Saturday of fast, filthy fun at the Sinkhole; rapper and producer Mvstermind tops the lineup of St. Louis artists set to greet Saturday’s marathon runners at the finish line for an afternoon after-party; and Michigan’s Greta Van Fleet brings its progressive blues-rock stylings to Chaifetz Arena on Saturday evening.

“But are there any days of the week other than Saturday?” you may find yourself asking. The answer is yes, and those days even have shows, too: Friday will see Brittany Howard (of Alabama Shakes fame) bringing her powerful voice and fearsome songwriting chops to the Pageant, Sunday sees the Golden Record playing host to a Boiler Room-style DJ event hosted by Run the Jewels DJ and St. Louis native Trackstar and featuring a performance by the great Skratch Bastid, and guitar legends Joe Satriani and Steve Vai bring their Satch/Vai tour to the Factory on Tuesday. All this and San Francisoco’s premier perv pop band (that would be Big Gorgeous) in our picks for this week’s best shows!

THURSDAY 25

BIG GORGEOUS: w/ Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, The Public, The Centaurettes 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

SILVERSUN PICKUPS: w/ Rocket 8 p.m., $32.50. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis.

FRIDAY 26

BRITTANY HOWARD: w/ June McDoom 8 p.m., $46-$61. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SATURDAY 27

ENEMY AIRSHIP: w/ RxGhost, Telepathy Club 8 p.m., $10. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis.

THE GREATER SAINT LOUIS MARATHON

AFTER PARTY: w/ Mvstermind, Whitworth, Starwolf, James Líôn, Che Sanchez, Stazi 11 a.m., free. Downtown St. Louis, Downtown St. Louis, St. Louis.

GRETA VAN FLEET: w/ Geese 7 p.m., $49.50$124.50. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000.

MICHAEL FOSTER’S THE GHOST TRIO: w/ Alex Cunningham 8 p.m., free. Saint Louis University-Xavier Hall, 3733 W. Pine Mall, St. Louis, 314-977-3327.

MIDWEST DISKRUST FEST: w/ Pillars, Swamp Lion, Victim of Fire, Body Farm, Bondbreaker, Mindclot, Kato, Inferna, Hallux, Contracharge, Man With Rope, Nihilistic Disdain, Resistis, Jerking Class noon, $20. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

TIDAL VOLUME: w/ Freddy VS, Rebecca Jaffe

8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SUNDAY 28

HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS: w/ Bike Routes 7 p.m., $30-$45. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

SIERRA FERRELL: w/ Cat Clyde 8 p.m., $30$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

TRACKSTAR & FRIENDS: w/ Skratch Bastid, Jay-E, Biko fka Needles, Mahf, Buck Rodgers, Carlie Chan Soprano, DJ Highnoone 7 p.m., $15-$20. The Golden Record, 2720 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, N/A.

MONDAY 29

CHEEKFACE: w/ Yungatita 8 p.m., $18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314498-6989.

PALACE: w/ Jens Kuross 8 p.m., $27.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

TUESDAY 30

JOE SATRIANI & STEVE VAI: 7:30 p.m., $49.50-$124.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

MALEVICH: w/ Path of Might, Two Hands | One Engine 7:30 p.m., $12. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-3282309.

WEDNESDAY 1

10 YEARS: 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

CINDY LEE: w/ Freak Heat Waves 7:30 p.m., $12-$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. n

Brittany Howard. | VIA RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

Mask 4 Mask

BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m a cis gay man in Canada. Other than my supportive enby partner of five years and a few close friends, most people in my life don’t know that I’m a fetish content creator. My stuff delves into the foot porn/macrophilia (love of giants) space. I don’t make enough to live off, but it’s a good side hustle; I earn enough to help with bills and groceries. Plus, creating this content has resulted in meeting people with the same paraphilias and fantasies that I have. Being a kink content creator has many more pros than cons and it allows me to share my sexual interests with willing and understanding people — which is a great thing, as my combination of fetishes is pretty rare. I do all of this faceless. Save for the handful of times I’ve posted a glimpse of my face on my OnlyFans account, I’ve never shown my face on public platforms. I am self-employed, so I don’t have to worry about my boss finding out and firing me, since I am my own boss. But the “internet is forever” and I fear repercussions if I change careers in the future. How best to navigate this?

Fearful About Coming Employment Situation

“The internet is forever,” said Aaron, a 30-year-old gay man and BDSM content creator. “I see news articles every week about people losing their jobs after someone sent their OnlyFans account to their employer.” Which is why Aaron and his fiancé, John, a 25-year-old gay man who shares his love of bondage, both wear masks in the videos they post on their joint JustForFans account. “Until we live in a world where no one is shamed for their sexual interests and what they choose to do in our free time,” said Aaron, “showing our faces is not worth the risk to our careers or to our relationships with friends and family.”

The couple had been posting short bondage clips on Twitter before the pandemic hit, and then — like a lot of people stuck at home during lockdowns — they decided to get on OnlyFans.

“At the time we figured, ‘Why not,’” said Aaron. “People seemed to like the stuff we enjoyed posting for free and anyone who wanted to see more of us could subscribe and we might make some money doing what we love.” Aaron and John promised each other that they would stop if creating content started to overwhelm their sex life. “But four years later, we’re still sharing our kinky faceless content and it has not only broadened our exploration in the world of kink, but — just like FACES — creating and sharing fetish content has led to many wonderful IRL connections.”

Some fans have begged Aaron and John to show their faces — a few have of-

fered to pay them more if they remove their masks — but their reasons for remaining anonymous are sound, FACES, and may resonate with you.

“The extra money is a huge perk — we earn between $2,000 and $3,000 per month — but it’s not consistent money,” said Aaron. “For example, our original OnlyFans account was pretty short lived. The company’s stance on porn changed one day, and suddenly all our content was banned for being ‘extreme,’ and that money disappeared. We’ve also been suspended from Twitter after posts got reported as ‘violence’ by people who don’t understand consensual BDSM. So, unless FACES has some other means of support besides his foot porn and macrophilia content, putting his face out there for the sake of a little extra cash that may or may not be there next month probably isn’t worth it.”

For the record, not all of Aaron and John’s fans hate their masks.

“We each wear a particular mask while filming,” said Aaron, “and to our surprise, some of our subscribers have started to fetishize the masks we wear. Now we’ve got people asking where they can buy masks and hoods like the ones we wear in our videos!”

Normally I share the socials and/or links to my guest experts’ websites here. But Aaron and John wanted to remain masked in the column.

I’m a 45-year-old gay man in a monogamous relationship. It’s the best relationship of my life. My partner and I have decided to become fluid bonded (a term you probably haven’t heard in years!). However, he has a conditioned called hypospadias, and I’m wondering whether it is something we need to factor into our decision to have condom-free sex. He has an extra hole near the head of his cock. It’s like he removed an enormous Prince Albert, and the second hole remained open. It’s weirdly hot. But this second hole is very wide and uncovered by foreskin when he’s hard. I’m worried that if he fucks me without a condom, he could be at heightened risk of infection. Or worse, could he get santorum in there?

Hoping Our Love Endures

Your boyfriend’s condition — let’s not call it a disorder — puts him at greater risk of urinary tract and bladder infections, which occur when harmful bacteria creep up the urethra. Cis women, due to their shorter urethras, get UTIs and bladder infections more often than cis men. So, with that bonus hole effectively shortening your boyfriend’s urethra, he should take the advice cis women are giving to prevent UTI/bladder infections: piss immediately after sex — well, not immediately after (he might wanna withdraw first) — and maybe take a quick shower or an even quicker whore’s bath just to be on the safe side. As for

SAVAGE LOVE

One thing that I can’t get out of my mind is being told that only liking girls was an “illness” and that I was missing out on half of humanity. But I can’t help liking women. Am I so wrong?

santorum, i.e., “the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex,” douche before your boyfriend fucks your hole, HOLE, and you won’t get a visit from the disgraced (and disgraceful) senator.

I’m writing because I feel lonely and wrong. Short story: I’m a 30something Italian lesbian and I’ve broken up with my lover of nine years because there have been too many dicks involved — including the dick of a good friend (ouch!) — and while I’ve tried to let her be free to do whatever she wanted because I deeply love her and I want her to be happy, I’ve realized that it’s too much for me. Polyamory isn’t really an option for me. We have a deep and strong relationship, with a lot of love and sex, and we constantly helped each other and our views about life are very similar. I don’t want to lose all of this, but I can’t see a solution. She needs to go in a direction I can’t go. So, I have decided to set her free, but I’m suffering so badly. One thing — one of the many things — that I can’t get out of my mind is being told that only liking girls was an “illness” and that I was missing out on half of humanity. But I can’t help liking women. Am I so wrong? After all of this, I feel totally empty and not right at all, badly alone. My self-esteem is so low right now and I worry about being sad and lonely for the rest of my life because I am not open to polyamory and have no interest in the other half of humanity. I know who I am and what I like but everything seems really confused and confusing. Utterly Gutted Homosexual Exiting Relationship Suddenly

It’s normal to feel sad and lonely after breaking up — I would be worried if you didn’t feel sad and lonely right now — but you shouldn’t feel bad about your sexual orientation. If you have the bandwidth to feel anything else right now, UGHERS, you should feel angry at your ex-girlfriend.

Not wanting to fuck all of humanity

doesn’t mean you’re missing out on half. I’m sure there are lots of men in your life you like and one or two you love. You love your dad, UGHERS, maybe you have brother or two you love, and friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are men that you like very much. While I’m exclusively attracted to males, I loved my mom and I love my sister and I have friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are women that I like very much. Nothing about being romantically and sexually attracted to one sex exclusively — in your case or in mine — means we’re missing out on half of humanity. It was manipulative, disrespectful and unkind of your ex-girlfriend to blame the conflict that doomed your relationship on your hard-wired aversion to dick and love of pussy. And it’s not like things would’ve worked out if you had somehow come to love dick as much as she did: You wanted monogamy, she wanted the freedom to fuck anyone she wanted — including good friends — without having to take your feelings into consideration. Even if you were sexually compatible, which you weren’t, you were romantically incompatible.

So, you had a good run, you had some good times, you tried to make it work, but it wasn’t going to work out — you were never going to happy — and you called it. Basically, UGHERS, you reached that tipping point where staying with someone causes more pain than moving forward without them. But unlike the slowly accumulating pain of staying, the pain moving forward without someone — the pain of dumping someone you wanted to be with — comes crashing down on you all at once. But trust me: that pain becomes more bearable with every passing day, every late-night phone call to a friend and every letter you send to an advice-columnist. In a year or two you may be able to reconnect with your ex and enjoy the kind of loving friendship so many lesbians have with their exes — it’s the lesbian superpower — but you need time away from her for now. And don’t make the rookie heartbreak mistake of waiting until you feel like you’re completely over your ex before you start dating again. When you feel like you’re almost ready, UGHERS, you’re ready.

P.S. For the record: Most men have dicks, most dicks have men — but not all men have dicks, not all dicks have men; most lesbians aren’t into dick, some lesbians like it fine; most gay men are into dick, not all gay men require it; bisexuals exist and they’re valid; homosexuals exist and they’re valid; straight people exist and don’t require validation, etc., etc., etc.

Got problems? Yes, you do. Send your question to mailbox@savage.love! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love