Riverfront Times, February 1, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Rosalind Early

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Jessica Rogen Digital Content Editor Jaime Lees

Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic, Benjamin Simon Theater Critic Tina Farmer

Music Critic Steve Leftridge

Copy Editor Daniel Hill

Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Thomas K. Chimchards, Mike Fitzgerald, Joseph Hess, Daniel Hill, Reuben Hemmer, Andy Paulissen, Delia Rainey, Mabel Suen, Graham Toker, David Von Nordheim, Theo Welling Columnists Chris Andoe, Ray Hartmann, Dan Savage

Editorial Interns Katie Lawson, Braden McMakin

ART & PRODUCTION

Art Director Evan Sult

Creative Director Haimanti Germain

Production Manager Sean Bieri Graphic Designer Aspen Smit

MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING

Associate Publisher Colin Bell

Account Manager Jennifer Samuel Directors of Business Development Tony Burton, Rachel Hoppman, Chelsea Nazaruk

BUSINESS

Regional Operations Director Emily Fear

CIRCULATION

Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

EUCLID MEDIA GROUP

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Executive Editor Sarah Fenske VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein

Audience Development Manager Jenna Jones VP of Marketing Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com

NATIONAL ADVERTISING

VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS

FRONT BURNER

FIVE QUESTIONS for Activist Precious Barry

Previously On

LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

MONDAY, JANUARY 23 Sunshine! What is this beautiful thing? Also: the city sees seven carjackings in just a few hours. It’s terrifying, perhaps even more so because it’s amateur hour — these gun-toting kids don’t seem to realize that when you terrorize people at the Hampton Village Schnucks, you’re immediately Public Safety Priority No. 1. You can’t trust crooks this clueless.

At the age of 17, Precious Barry already has a robust resume. The Riverview Gardens senior has served as a Youth Outreach Coordinator for Cori Bush, a sex-ed intern for Pro-Choice Missouri and a member of the St. Louis County Youth Advisory Council. She published an op-ed in the St. Louis American, started her own podcast and spoke at an NAACP dinner. Most importantly, every day Barry strives to be an activist. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get involved in activism?

In 2020 after the George Floyd movement, I was 15 at the time. I really didn’t know what was going on in my society. And I figured out, “Hey … being so young, how can I help develop and be an inspiration to a lot of youth to speak out about police brutality?” Because I just knew it was wrong.

Before George Floyd, had you thought about activism?

Yeah, I was always, like, doing those history day projects [chuckles]. ... I would compete at National History Day, doing poster boards on the Central Park Five or the bombing in Birmingham. So I never thought I would be where I am today just by doing those history projects, but I’ve always had this passion to know about my history.

What are your goals?

Yeah, so I have a few goals, so bear with me. One, of course, is to run for office, probably state rep or mayor or U.S. Senate. That’s my political goal. But I see that in the probably near future, when I’m like 30-something. I just got accepted to [the political science program at] Howard University. ... And I really want to be a political commentator, so I want a minor in broadcast journalism.

You have a lot of responsibilities. Does it feel like a lot of pressure? I’m human. I always tell people that I had to learn — and that I’m still learning — to have boundaries. ... It’s OK to say no to some of those opportunities because you have to take care of yourself. Selfcare is number one, key. That’s one thing that I try to advocate for young people, is [to guard] their mental health.

So what do you do to relax?

My favorite show is ... called Abbott Elementary. … I love 9-1-1, too, on Fox. I’m a big motivational person, so I love watching different types of church sermons or motivational speeches... I’m [also] reading a book right now [by] Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry, that just came out. —Benjamin Simon

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 Now Progressive and State Farm won’t issue new policies for most Kias and Hyundais in St. Louis. Damn those Kia Boyz. Also, even Mike Pence is now revealed to have classified material. When the guy who’s too cautious to have dinner with a woman gets caught up in the scandal, maybe it’s time to admit the feds are classifying too many documents without securing them.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 It’s a snow day … or what passes for one in St. Louis. We get an inch of snow that melts by 11 a.m., and parents are forced to juggle work-from-home pressures with child wrangling. Our PTSD from 2020 is raging. But there are no snow days on Delmar, where a police chase ends with three arrests. The cops say the trio may be behind the recent spate of carjackings. Naturally, the chase also ends with an uninvolved motorist getting his car totaled. City living, amirite?

ESCAPE HATCH

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 Five Memphis police officers are charged with murdering Tyre Nichols, a motorist pulled over for supposedly driving recklessly. The first police statement about their interaction says only that a “confrontation” occurred — and that “the suspect was ultimately apprehended.” Three days later, the “suspect” died. If you’re not horrified by how bland cop-speak provides cover for unspeakable violence, you’re not paying attention.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 Memphis releases the video of Tyre Nichols’ death. It’s horrible.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 It’s a glorious day. Winter in the Midwest may be a dreadful slog, but here on the edge of the South, every few weeks we get a flash of spring

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 Just when things are looking up, they go down. In comes the ice storm. Slippery roads everywhere! But who cares when Missouri finally wins something? Super Bowl, here we come (or at least here comes Kansas City). Naturally, Josh Hawley is tone-deaf trying to pretend he’s a manly man who cares about football. In a wager with Ohio-based colleague J.D. Vance, Hawley suggests a Kansas barbecue spot. Senator Stanford never fails to bungle pretending to care about Missouri.

We ask three St. Louisans what they’re reading, watching or listening to. In the hot seat this week: Three bicycling enthusiasts, including two employees of Road Crew Coffee, a combination coffee and bike shop.

Chris Cleeland, avid cyclist in south city

Reading: A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer’s Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium by Joe Parkin

“This is actually a great book about bike racing.”

Alicia M., staffer at Road Crew Coffee

Watching: Rising Phoenix

“It’s a documentary on Netflix about Paralympic athletes. A lot of people think [they] are the same as the Special Olympics, but they’re not. [Rising Phoenix] shows that disabled people are athletes, and they can be just as good at sports as anyone else.”

Jordan C., staffer at Road Crew Coffee

Reading: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

“It’s definitely a very intelligent book. Women spontaneously turn into dragons, and it’s spoken about in a very hush-hush way, the way other feminine things are spoken about. It speaks on feminism in a very weird way.”

Precious Barry is one of the youngest activists in Missouri. | COURTESY PHOTO

WEEKLY WTF?!

Car Watch

Date of sighting: unknown

Location: Osceola Street, near Morganford

Type of graffiti: Guerilla marketing

Identity of tagger: Almost certainly Mizkan Holdings, a Japanese company that manufactures condiments and dressings and is the maker of Ragu-brand pasta sauce

The second-most ominous thing about this photo: the footprints leading either to or away from the passenger-side door

The most ominous thing: the brick by the front tire

SO ST. LOUIS If You Know, You Know

An anonymous story about something that could only happen in the Gateway City

Last Thanksgiving, in my wife’s hometown back east, my whole in-law family was somewhere between pie and a tryptophan-induced nap when, for the first time all day, a silence fell over the gathering.

Everyone was feeling contemplative and grateful. But my wife’s aunt couldn’t bear a pause in any conversation. All silences had to be filled.

“Does anyone know any jokes?” she asked. Eyes rolled.

But, mind you, this was less than a month after Halloween, the busiest holiday on our street, so I was chock-full of gut busters.

“I heard a good Halloween joke,” I said. All eyes turned to me.

“A priest, an imam and a rabbit walk into a bar,” I said. The adult relatives looked at me dubiously. The children looked expectantly, excited for the punchline. “The bartender looks at a rabbit and

says, ‘I think you’re a typo.’” The adults’ dubious expressions grew. The kids waited for the punchline.

I could feel my face blushing. “Because the rabbit is like rabbi, just with an extra T. A typo.”

I was the only goy at the table, which added an additional layer to the quickly accumulating layers of embarrassment and regret. This was technically an all-Abrahamic faith joke, right?

I looked at my wife’s cousin who had a goofy grin on his face. “We get it,” he said. “But what does that have to do with Halloween?”

“What?”

“You said it was a Halloween joke.”

That’s right, I thought. No one does that but us. I looked to my wife, the St. Louisan back in her hometown.

“Can you explain it to them?”

She waved the question away. Some things about the Lou are beyond explanation.

Send your So St. Louis story to jsrogen@riverfronttimes.com.

YOU WANT SERIOUS? WE’LL GET SERIOUS... JUST NOT QUITE YET

CHRIS ANDOE’S SOCIETY PAGE

The Krewe of Vices and Virtues Preps to Get Wild

The lean, muscular and gorgeous Ed Walton, of Blue Max Leather Club, was tied to an X-cross as a leather-clad man (also from Blue Max) flogged him for the gallery of onlookers.

Front and center was “Maven of Mardi Gras” Luann Denten, donning a tiara over a big blond wig and wearing a hooped Victorian gown, sipping from a champagne flute. This was last year’s infamous Vices and Virtues Mardi Gras Ball, and the Maven, who told me she has a designated emergency fund for bailing friends out of jail, was in her element.

Over the past five years, the Krewe of Vices and Virtues has grown to be one of the largest and most active of Soulard Mardi Gras, with a paid membership approaching 150 and projects year-round. After the krewe’s float came in second behind the illustrious Mystic Knights of the Purple Haze in the 2022 Bud Light Grand Parade, the Maven, who is the krewe’s founder and queen bee, has made this year’s entry her primary focus. I will have the honor of accompanying her on the showy two-level engineering marvel, which has been under construction for months.

“Kate [Dressler] came up with the design and asked, ‘Is this possible?’”recalls the krewe’s lead builder, Jeff Rains. “I said ‘Sure. Anything is possible.’ Any builder’s biggest fear is something collapsing, so safety has been my primary focus.”

I climbed aboard the Casino-themed (and quite sturdy) float on Saturday to visit with Dressler as over a dozen people were busily working. The fully powered behemoth will feature televisions, spinning slot machines, spinning roulette wheels and an illuminated rotating Vegas-inspired sign.

The Las Vegas-theme and the ambition carries over into the krewe’s ball, Casino Royale, which will be held at the Four Seas Banquet Facility on Saturday, February 4. The black-tie or full-costume event promises to be the krewe’s most opulent ever. Famed drag queen Jade Sinclair will be the master of ceremonies, and you can expect an open bar, an indulgent buffet, Vegas-style showgirls, velvet ropes and a red carpet.

Almost everything is available for a price, from a coveted spot on the parade float to being crowned the Royals of Vices and Virtues, which is determined by who gets the most votes at $5 a pop.

When asked what defined her krewe, the Maven replied, “Joie de vivre! Joy of life! We go and we go big! I love our unofficial mission statement: ‘We want to do good stuff for people, while dressed up and drinking!’”

Building Vices and Virtues is a fulltime job for the Maven. The recruiting and team building, the costuming, the organizing. She works feverishly to elevate what’s arguably this city’s queerest and most risque krewe, but it’s her X-cross to bear.

[QUOTE OF THE WEEK]

“My god, this is horrible. These wonderful alphabet people are simply trying to share their beautiful culture. I wish folks would just embrace our pansexual, non-binary, polyamorous existence.”

—Angela Septkowski, commenting on ‘3 LGBTQ Bars in St. Louis’ Grove Threatened by Caller.”

MAGA Hate Is Winning in Rockwood Schools

Missouri GOP extremists have found Ground Zero for their culture wars

Written by RAY HARTMANN

The Rockwood R-6 School District is one of Missouri’s best, ranking fourth among 455 districts in the state — and in the top 3 percent nationally — according to the 2023 rankings at niche.com.

But Rockwood holds another distinction that has not been officially measured rom all indications, the students’ proficiency in reading and language arts exceeds that of the school board. And perhaps it’s even higher than some of the parents reciting wingnut talking points into drooldrenched microphones at schoolboard meetings.

Suddenly dominated by clownishness, Rockwood’s school board appears intent on achieving a top 3 percent ranking in MAGA culture war headlines. The board and parents use volume to compensate for the absence of collective wisdom one might otherwise associate with an elite school district.

These bozos leapfrog from one noxious cause to another from banning books to eliminating respected programs helping minority students to invoking apocalyptic imagery in rooting out nonexistent “critical race theory” curriculum to protecting girls’ athletics from the hypothetical but otherwise imaginary threat posed by trans kids.

It’s all part of a statewide GOP attack on education that has been spoon-fed to obeisant legislators by national MAGA puppet masters. The culture war is expected to culminate — possibly as early as this week — in a so-called state-

wide “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

It is a hodgepodge of measures — dutifully replicated from national scripts — that would empower parents to sue or otherwise torment teachers and administrators they don’t like. And that’s just for starters. ne thing is clear Not teaching critical race theory is no excuse for a district if someone decides to accuse them of so doing.

It’s nothing less than a broadside attack from people who want to destroy public education. But Rockwood is a special case because it isn’t waiting for state stupidity to reverse the district’s record of achievement.

The hatred advanced by parents, and now school board members, is already having the intended effect. The Post-Dispatch reported on January 24 the resignation of two more Rockwood administrators, “the fourth and fifth high profile leaders to leave the district in the last two years.”

One was Aisha Grace, director of educational equity and diversity, who resigned after less than a year on the job, the daily reported. And there was this

“Brittany Hogan, Grace’s predecessor, resigned in the spring of 2021 after one year on the job. ormer Superintendent ark Miles retired at the end of that school year, after two years there. And Terry Harris, former executive director of student services, resigned in December after 17 years with the district.

Harris and Hogan, who are both Black, had said they were subjected to repeated threats and taunts, the Post-Dispatch reported, adding “Harris, whose department oversaw the empowerment programs, was a Rockwood product a St. ouis city kid, he graduated from afayette High School through the region’s voluntary desegregation program.”

Harris’ departure is precisely the sort of “progress” the MAGA mob has sought to achieve. You know, so that the “real Americans” in the district can own “the libtards” — to borrow parlance from one of the most recently elected school board members, essica aurent lark.

She embodies — and celebrates — the sort of change that can only reverse Rockwood’s achievements over time. You heard about lark last year as the school board

candidate who was best known for teaching others how to be a “sugar baby” on social media before thinking better of making it her educational calling card.

Statistics aren’t available for what percentage of school board members formerly served as sugar babies. Or what percentage of sugar babies serve on school boards. But it’s incredible that moralistic MAGA zealots are just as cool as can be with lark’s past activity as long as she tells them what they want to hear.

or the unaware, here’s Wikipedia’s definition of a sugar baby

“Sugar dating, also called sugaring, is a relationship of an older wealthy person and a younger person who is in need of financial assistance. This sometimes achieves mutual benefits, but is often abused to take advantage of and coerce poor people. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term ‘sugar’ is slang, but is often used as a modifier to sweeten’ something or as a euphemism for money.

“Payment can be received by way of money, gifts like designer goods, jewelry, support or other material benefits in exchange for companionship or a dating-like relationship. The person who receives the gifts is called a sugar baby, while [the] paying partner is called a sugar daddy or sugar momma.

“Sugar dating is especially popular in the online dating community due to the easy access to specific niches and desires.

It must be noted that, in this context, the reference to “specific niches” is thoroughly unrelated to niche.com, the respected source of school district ratings. Niche. com provides neither listings nor analysis related to sugaring.

Now, far be it from me to sug-

gest that lark’s having excelled as a sugar baby should be underestimated as a skill set. I suppose the case could be made that we need to rectify the under-representation of sugar babies on school boards.

ut lark no longer lists her credentials as a sugar baby on her vitae. Instead, at her very first board meeting September 1, she was dished upon for having been captured on video offering up this spoonful of MAGA sugar, as reported by the Post-Dispatch

“In a speech at a Real Talk Radio event last month, essica aurent lark said teachers are indoctrinated with liberal viewpoints in college and decried ‘transgender crap’ and ‘tyranny’ in schools.

“As a school board member, it’s scary. They’re fighting hard to take control of our children, lark said. “They come to the school board meetings with their gay flags and their masks. They come in with the kids in the wheelchairs and everything. ... Whatever, you are a libtard and I mean it and I stand on it.”

That got lark kicked off a committee assignment or two in record time. But in fairness, her MAGA credentials were not all talk. lark oined fellow board member Izzy Imig in the instant torching of three programs that were working to empower African-American students, mostly from the city.

“I don’t feel like they serve all of our students,” Imig said at a meeting. Of course she doesn’t. Imig’s culture-war credits also include encouraging parents to report school librarians to hild Protective Services.

The school board members advancing the hateful MAGA agenda — with the full-throated backing of some of the most mean-spirited parents on record — are achieving a level of success that should concern people for whom the district’s home in Eureka is known only for Six lags. It’s a place associated with screaming and wild rides.

Which is the last thing that public education in Missouri needs right now.

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann1952@ gmail.com or catch him at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on Nine PBS.

The “Parents’ Bill of Rights” is nothing less than a broadside attack from people who want to destroy public education.

Unhoused STL Dissolves Amid Controversy

Ramona Curtis says she was a victim of “online targeting,” but others say the issue was Curtis

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

The founder of an organization supporting unhoused people in St. Louis says she’s dissolving her nonprofit after becoming the victim of “online targeting.” But other advocates for homeless people in St. Louis say the story is much more complicated.

Ramona Curtis, a former journalist who became a prominent local advocate under the name Unhoused STL, says online harassment she’s received will make it impossible for her to raise money, so she’s calling it quits. The organization just achieved 501(c)(3) nonprofit status last arch.

Unhoused STL organized volunteers at shelters and distributed food and hygiene items to unhoused people in St. Louis. Curtis says targeting against her organization began late last year after she refused to allow volunteers to work at a shelter she deemed dangerous. That’s when she claims leaders of Lifeline Aid Group, a new nonprofit also offering services for the unhoused, began tarnishing her name by stating on social media that Curtis “doesn’t support shelters.”

Curtis says she saw the “harassment” as lethal for her organization — capable of destroying her ability to fundraise.

“I didn’t really have the time, capacity or maybe even the skill set to build [Unhoused STL] as an organization to where it could sustain this attack,” Curtis says.

Unhoused STL’s social media pages were deleted mid-January. Curtis posted a detailed account

of the organization’s downfall on her personal website around January 15. In addition to the harassment, she says, Lifeline Aid Group falsely accused her of committing fraud.

But Syd Hajicek, treasurer of Lifeline Aid Group, tells the RFT that Curtis’ “strange” claims came out of the blue. He says his organization started talking about Curtis and Unhoused STL online only after Curtis started criticizing him and his organization in posts of her own.

Hajicek says the vitriol began after Lifeline announced on social media it would no longer work with certain unnamed organizations that did not support a shelter off Kennerly Avenue last winter.

State Representative KimberlyAnn Collins (D-St. Louis) opened the Kennerly Shelter on November 28. It closed a month later to transition to a new permanent location, according to a statement from Collins at the time.

Curtis says Hajicek “targeted” her when she refused to work at the shelter for free; she’s freely lent her services in the past and “people kept using” her.

“I was living off of credit cards for a minute trying to support this organization,” Curtis adds. “I’m not doing that again to support [Collins’] shelter.”

Even so, Curtis says she ultimately lent some support to the shelter. Unhoused STL volunteers worked there until they told Cur-

ter saying she was gonna try to shut it down,” Hajicek says. “She told everyone there were drugs and needles there and all kinds of insane things that weren’t happening. I was very confused by that.”

Curtis at one point removed a spreadsheet with volunteer information from public view. She and Unhoused STL volunteer Avital Reznikov say they called inexperienced volunteers and told them not to go to Kennerly Shelter.

Reznikov says this type of conflict between unhoused advocates is common. Stress often boils over when resources for the unhoused, such as money, volunteers and shelter space, are low while need remains high.

“Everyone does what they can when they can,” Reznikov says. “If the city provided adequate shelter for the most vulnerable citizens, outreachers wouldn’t be so stressed. Lack of city-funded shelter beds is the real issue here.”

St. Louis has relied on a patchwork of providers to provide emergency shelter in winter months after the city forced Larry Rice’s New Life Evangelistic Center to close in 2017. Advocates have pushed for a 24/7 shelter with low or no barriers to entry, but in its absence, numerous organizations and ad hoc coalitions have attempted to meet the region’s needs.

“There are a lot of different formal organizations and loose coalitions that try to find services because the city is failing dismally at providing any kind of services for the unhoused,” Cate Redfern, Unhoused STL board president, says. “There is a huge mental toll for every person working in this community, and it’s part of why we’re closing Unhoused STL.”

tis they felt unsafe at the shelter. So Curtis pulled them out.

“Unhoused STL volunteers are college students and west county soccer moms,” Curtis says. “I’m not sending them to that environment.”

In a phone call with the RFT, Collins denies that her shelter was anything but well run. ultiple people who volunteered at the shelter, including Hajicek, say Curtis’s description of the shelter did not match what they saw.

“[Curtis] came down to the shel-

While the dispute over the Kennerly Shelter erupted into public view, the hard feelings between Lifeline and Unhoused STL apparently began months earlier, with a disagreement over money for a temporary shelter at Bethel Church last February.

The shelter at Bethel ran for eight days during a cold snap last year and cost about $2,000 to run, with costs including food and utilities. According to Hajicek, Curtis had received at least $7,500 in donations for the shelter. Curtis would not confirm the amount to the RFT but insists she was a

Ramona Curtis (le ) became an advocate for unhoused people. | COURTESY RAMONA CURTIS

“[Curtis] came down to the shelter saying she was gonna try to shut it down. She told everyone there were drugs and needles there and all kinds of insane things that weren’t happening. I was very confused by that.”

“good steward of public money.”

The donations went to Curtis’ personal bank account. Unhoused ST was not an official nonprofit yet, and Curtis says that left her unable to set up a business account for it.

Curtis and Bethel Church had agreed that Unhoused STL would run the shelter so long as the organization reimbursed the church for utilities, according to Bethel Church member Amanda Reynolds. But despite receiving enough donations to cover the $700 cost of utilities, Unhoused STL did not pay them, Reynolds says.

Curtis had also refused to leave the shelter when temperatures warmed, Reynolds says, and

Cool Valley Mayor Impeached

Written by MIKE FITZGERALD

Jayson Stewart, 32, began his political career nearly three years ago vowing to bring jobs and better government to the financially ailing village of Cool Valley, a north county town of 1,200 people near Lambert International Airport.

But after more than two years as mayor, Stewart’s abysmal track record became too much for the Cool Valley City Council. To all of it — the broken promises, erratic behavior, pie-in-the-sky schemes, city hall dysfunction, petty insults, penchant for going MIA and refusing to obey aldermen, the inexplicable failure to provide even the most basic city services — the council said enough.

The council voted 3-1 last week to remove Stewart from office after finding him guilty on six charges of insubordination and malfeasance, including the refusal to return a city-owned car, to draft a 2022-23 city budget, and to turn over bank passwords and records necessary to track down $230,000 in badly needed federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Defiant to the end, and adamant that his enemies not have the pleasure of seeing him brought low, Stewart emailed the council and city attorney five minutes

“rushed at” Reynolds.

“Because of that incident, I would not open my doors to a shelter again at that church until we were better staffed to where we wouldn’t have to put up with that,” Reynolds says.

Curtis did send the church an online payment of $300 to cover trash pickup and supplies, according to her post on her website. Curtis says she also spent more than $2,000 on boots and winter gear to give to those who stayed at the shelter.

“Ramona probably spent more of her own money coming from her personal account then she took in,” Redfern says.

Hajicek says Curtis eventually gave Lifeline $440 for the shelter

in addition to the $300 she gave directly to the church.

The money issue at Bethel didn’t come up again until Curtis called Hajicek a “colonizer” on social media.

“His whiteness made him feel so entitled to this Black woman’s labor, that the very first time she ever said no, he lost his shit,” Curtis tells the RFT

Curtis now says she will continue working for the unhoused, but not under Unhoused STL. Unhoused STL’s board has started to disband the organization as a legal entity, according to Redfern.

“There is a very significant emotional investment and a huge mental toll for every single person

that is working in this community, and it’s part of why we’re closing Unhoused STL,” Redfern says. “The mental health of Ramona is far more important to me.”

Hajicek and Lifeline President Drew Falvey say they’re trying to move on from the drama and continue serving St. Louis’ unhoused population.

Lifeline began because Falvey wanted to do some good and help the unhoused.

“Our Black and Queer-led nonprofit’s focus is helping people in need,” Falvey writes in an emailed statement to the RFT. “We’re excited for this new year and proud of what we have accomplished thus far.”

Stewart, a self-described multimillionaire businessman, won the Cool Valley mayoral race in a landslide in April 2020 after campaigning on a platform of reform and bringing employers to the beleaguered town. Cool Valley lost its two main employers — a Schnucks supermarket and DRS, a defense contractor — in recent years, losing hundreds of jobs.

Instead, Stewart focused on things most city residents found irrelevant, such as a hydroponic garden that provides leafy greens to a few St. Louis restaurants and a nebulous pledge to give every city resident $1,000 worth of bitcoin. The latter promise garnered lots of national attention and even led to an invitation to speak at Harvard University Law School, but so far has failed to result in anything tangible.

before the impeachment hearing was set to begin, informing them he “was retiring from politics.” Since his email and its terminology did not adhere to state law governing how an elected official resigns, the council went ahead with Stewart’s impeachment hearing.

Stewart did not return calls seeking comment.

Floyd Blackwell, one of Stewart’s main antagonists, took over as interim mayor by virtue of his role as aldermanic president. Blackwell could barely conceal his glee as he took repeated victory laps around Stewart’s political corpse.

At the end of the council meeting that followed the hearing, Blackwell told the audience that he and other council members had spent the past year “trying to right the ship. And yet there are so many leaks all over the place. ... I’m tired of playing games. I’m ready to move forward.”

Stewart, a graduate of the prestigious John Burroughs School in Ladue, leaves

behind a town in even worse shape than he found it, with the Missouri auditor’s office actively pursuing an investigation of the city’s finances after a whistleblower complaint and rumors of a federal investigation swirling around the missing COVID-19 relief funds.

Paul Martin, the attorney the city hired to prosecute the impeachment case against Stewart, led witnesses through a 90-minute hearing that was a road map of Stewart’s malfeasance and dereliction of duty.

“There were several missteps by the mayor,” Martin said during his summation. “He interfered with a business license when he had no authority to do that. He kept a city car for many, many months when the board clearly indicated they wanted the car returned. ... And he obviously hasn’t provided or attempted to provide financial information to the board so that the board could understand finances and get a budget passed on a timely basis.”

Meanwhile, Stewart showed an utter indifference to the nuts-and-bolts of small-town governance, turning even his staunchest partisans against him. Grass on city properties went uncut, trash uncollected, snow unplowed and giant potholes unfilled after years of neglect.

Stewart, officially at least, does not become ex-mayor until February 22, when the council is set to vote on the hearing’s findings of fact.

Stewart’s impeachment and ouster from office culminated a nearly year-long process that began with a concerted citizen campaign to remove him. Also leading the charge was Alderman Jermaine Matthew, who, along with his wife Melanie, relentlessly demanded accountability from Stewart, a master of doublespeak and verbal evasion.

Alderman Matthew looked visibly relieved over Stewart’s removal, but expressed none of Blackwell’s glee.

“I just hate that we had to go through this in the first place,” Matthew says. n

Despite resigning five minutes before the hearing, Mayor Jayson Stewart was still impeached

Jayson Stewart was the mayor of Cool Valley. | THEO WELLING

St. Louis County Quietly Removes Racist Marker

It took the county two years to remove the sign announcing when white settlers first arrived

Written by ROSALIND EARLY

St. Louis County has quietly removed a historical marker noting the date when “the county was first visited by white colonists but one of the people who advocated for its removal isn’t happy with how it happened.

eoff Ward, a professor of African and African American studies at Washington University, believes the county’s uiet removal, without public conversation or publicity, was a missed opportunity: “It was taken down in a way that deprives the community of an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of its removal.

Ward remembers seeing the sign not long after he arrived in St. ouis in to start his faculty position. He was shocked.

“The marker was very explicitly identifying St. ouis ounty as a place where history begins with the presence of white people. And I think that is a very obviously raciali ed way of framing history, he explains.

According to sley Hamilton, the former county historian, the marker was once outside of the Clayton Community Center near Clayton High School and was part of a series of markers put up by the State Historical Society of issouri. Clayton took down the sign and stored it in a closet in the community center, but when the community center was about to be demolished, the county took possession of the sign and eventually put it up at the corner of orsyth oulevard and eramec Avenue.

Ward says the timing of the marker is noteworthy. “This marker was erected in , a year after the Supreme Court holds that segregation is unconstitutional. ...

In these moments of liberal reform] you get this backlash in the form of reactionary measures, including the establishment of racist commemorative ob ects.

Since the sign was in layton, Ward initially wrote to its municipal leadership about the issue. y then it was , and protesters across the country were tearing down offensive monuments and markers in response to police killing eorge loyd. layton, which had started an equity commission, looked into Ward’s suggestion only to realize St. Louis County actually owned the marker.

In mid une , layton and Ward brought the marker to the attention of the county, which had recently announced it would do a review of “oppressive symbols, such as street names, statues and historical markers.

oug oore, spokesperson for the county, says the review came in response to Tower Grove Park removing its statue of hristopher olumbus. A web portal was set up so people could submit symbols for consideration, and Ward was asked to serve on a committee to assess the symbols.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Page himself brought up orsett oad, which is named after Walter H. orsett, a farmer who, according to the census, owned slaves. Another complaint was that Lee and Jackson avenues in layton and University ity are named for onfederate ivil War generals obert . ee and Stonewall Jackson.

Then, last November, two years after Ward’s complaint, the parks department quietly removed the marker and put it in storage.

oore says that there was no press around removing the marker because “we ust didn’t think that was really a priority.” He adds that county leaders are “happy it was removed.”

Still, Ward speculates that the county’s silence around the removal benefited the people in power. If the county had come out and said that the marker was racist, they may have gotten pushback.

“Some would attach labels like critical race theory to [taking down the marker], he says. “There’s an element of whiteness that requires a commitment to evasion and self deception on matters of race. or many, there’s an inability to acknowledge the problem of structural racism.

ut Ward says the committee never met. Ward believes, and oore confirmed, that it was because the late Ha el rby who had been director of diversity, euity and inclusion for the county was fired in August of . rby later sued the county, outlining complaints with ounty xecutive Sam Page and alleging her dismissal violated the state’s whistleblower protection statute.

oore, the county spokesperson, says rby’s dismissal and larger concerns about the pandemic meant the county “didn’t focus a lot of attention on how to proceed with removing the offensive symbols.

“This was at a time when people were tearing down monuments and moderates, conservatives and liberals were saying, Well, yes they should be removed, but do it the right way.’ Don’t use vandalism, Ward recalls. et, after Ward went through the proper channels, the sign still “sat there for a couple years.

Ward remembers following up from time to time about the marker. eanwhile, others had submitted complaints through the portal.

oore says the county isn’t sure what will happen with the sign. “Instead of destroying it, people are wondering if it would make sense to preserve that for some kind of exhibit down the road.

oore adds that the county is still reviewing oppressive symbols submitted by members of the public, but there weren’t many and the process is internal. The committee Ward was invited to be on has still never met.

oore notes that the county has renamed a shelter in the military cemetery efferson arracks Park that was named after obert . ee. Now, it honors the uffalo Soldiers.

ven so, renaming streets like orsett oad is a different matter. “That’s a ma or street that can run through several municipalities and it can also have several hundred addresses assigned to it, oore explains. “So if you had a business or lived on that street, your address would change.”

ut, oore continues, “We will continue looking at symbols and hopefully there’s not many others out there.”

This is not the first time that the white settlers marker has been in a closet. The question now is whether this time it will stay there.

e historical marker was quietly removed in November. | GEOFF WARD

Frosty Fun

e Loop Ice Carnival beats winter doldrums

Words by JAIME LEES

Photos by REUBEN HEMMER

The 16th Annual Loop Ice Carnival brought hundreds of people down to Delmar Boulevard on Saturday, January 21. The family friendly event featured live ice sculpting, face painting, a temporary tattoo scavenger hunt and even a DJ so folks could bust a move. More than 40 ice sculptures lined the boulevard, and the pleasant temperatures and sunny skies brought the crowd out. n

A CELEBRATION OF THE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING ASPECTS OF

TRIPTYCHS, DOG DICKS & POLITICS

INSIDE THE FASCINATINGLY UNSETTLED MIND OF

Tom Huck

BY DANIEL HILL

Of all the deeply upsetting details in Tom Hück’s relentlessly unsettling oeuvre, the dog dick has to take the top spot.

The distressing bit of canine anatomy appears in what Hück himself has acknowledged may be his “most heinous print,” “Anatomy of a Crack Shack,” which was released in 2005 as part of his Bloody Bucket series. The 50-inch by 32-inch work depicts an act of physical congress between a woman in fishnets bent over a befouled outhouse toilet and a World War II veteran with hooks for hands, a peg leg and an eyepatch. Both their faces are twisted into toothy displays of carnal delight, such that it’s almost believable that neither character registers that a pooch with a spiked collar and a horrifying dog boner is getting in on the action as well. Continued on pg

Continued from pg 17

It’s a truly harrowing set of genitals, replete with the retracting-lipstick action for which man’s best friend is well known, as well as a disproportionately prodigious length.

It’s also the dog dick that almost wasn’t.

“While I was drawing that dog wiener on there, I was telling myself, ‘Hück, don’t put that in there. Don’t do it. Don’t do it, Hück,’” he recounts. “I did it — and I felt better.”

It’s a fascinating insight into the twisted process of the Missouri-based master printmaker, who is widely and correctly regarded as one of the best there is at what he does. nown for his oft-profane large-scale satirical prints, created through a painstaking process that dates back to medieval times, Hück wields a talent so undeniable that his work can be found in private and public collections across the world, with pieces included in the Whitney Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Saint Louis

Art Museum and countless others.

The behind-the-scenes tale of that dastardly dog’s disturbing dick comes via a new hardback retrospective of Hück’s work entitled Tom Hück: The Devil Is in the Details, the newest release by boutique St. Louis publishing house Fine Print Small Press, operated by selfdescribed “serial entrepreneurs” Chris Ryan and Jim Harper. Clocking in at more than 300 pages and authored by writer and archivist reg essler, the book offers a granular examination of Hück’s prints from 1995 through 2020, with stories and quotes from the man himself that offer something of a backstage pass into the inner workings of a madman’s mind. Fitting for an artist of Hück’s esteem, the book was officially released into the world in late October with a signing and print demo at no less than the Met in New York.

The weighty 12 by 12 inch tome’s origins can be traced back to just before the pandemic, when Harper and Ryan met with Hück about creating a comprehensive collection of his works. It wasn’t the first time he’d been

TOM HÜCK

In a print that could best be described as “horrific,” the dog dick still stands out. | VIA FINE PRINT SMALL PRESS

Hück poses with prints of a panel from his latest work, A Monkey Mountain Khronikle. | VIA FINE PRINT SMALL PRESS

approached in this way — but right away, he could tell the two had a vision.

“There have been a lot of other attempts by people — failed, usually, either for lack of prolonged interest or finances and all that. Books never got done,” Hück tells the RFT “But I got the immediate impression that they were in it for the long haul and they wanted to do it right. … They convinced me. It took a long time, but they got it done, and it’s a fantastic representation of [my work].

“Some of the stuff in there I don’t even remember doing,” he adds. “It was crazy.”

Ryan and Harper had worked together previously on commercial projects through their individual businesses — Ryan’s Once Films company in Midtown St. Louis and Harper’s design firm Harper’s i arre. Through that work, they hit it off and became friends, ultimately deciding to launch Fine Print Small Press as a way to bring into the world bespoke physical artifacts that they themselves simply wanted to own, including books, vinyl records and the like.

A hardcover collection of Hück’s work was at the top of the list.

“Very much the endeavor for us to even work on these kinds of cool side projects is, as we describe it, to put things out in the world that we wish existed,” Ryan tells the RFT. “We

knew we wished a book of Tom’s work existed. I know I did, and when I talked to Jim we were like, ‘Yeah, that should exist. Why does it not exist?’ And if we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it big.”

“We had been talking about doing some projects together for a long time,” Harper says. “Chris was like, ‘We need a book on Tom Hück. ... I love Tom’s work; you have to go all over the place to see it. Most of it sells out; it’s hard to see, and I want to talk to him about it.’ He had met Tom before, I had not.”

In that first meeting, everything ust clicked. Not only did the vision they had for the project pique Hück’s interest, they also had some shared experiences over which they quickly bonded.

“ oth of our first concerts were ISS with our moms in 1978,” Harper says with a chuckle. “There were all kinds of ways we hit it off.”

With the green light from Hück, Ryan set out to accomplish the difficult task of photographing all of Hück’s pieces since 1995 — no small feat, especially when one considers Ryan’s own point that Hück’s work is scattered across various collections around the world. Further complicating things was the sheer scale of some of the prints. His 2017 triptych Electric Baloneyland, for example, is widely credited as the largest chiaroscuro woodcut in the world,

measuring 86 by 108 inches. In order to properly shoot something of that size, Ryan and Harper had to get creative.

“Chris, at one point, built a contraption, a structure with the camera hanging in a bird’s eye, so we could lay the large ones down in the studio,” Harper explains. “Because there was literally no other way.”

But right as things were really in full swing, the COVID-19 pandemic came along and ground the world to a halt. In response, Ryan and Harper shelved some of their other planned projects and poured all of their focus into the book. They brought in longtime St. Louis punk scene archivist and writer Greg essler to handle the text portions of the collection essler then participated in a series of freewheeling Zoom sessions, emails and, eventually, in-person interviews with the three, as well as Hück’s longtime friend and collaborator Levi Banker, from which he was able draw out the stories and details behind some years’ worth of work. essler took his inspiration for the form the text would take from the liner notes of the 1984 greatest hits album No Remorse by Motörhead — Hück’s favorite band, and one he’d even had the pleasure of working with professionally over the course of his career.

Continued on pg 20

Hück’s 2014 work e Tommy Peeperz features a depiction of his mom in the first panel. | VIA FINE PRINT SMALL PRESS

TOM

Continued from pg 19

Rather than appearing as large blocks of text covering multiple pages, most of the introductions of the various works and the stories behind their creation are presented in smaller chunks interspersed between yan’s photography of H ck’s work, which through Harper’s design prowess is presented in a manner that allows the reader to focus on the incredible level of exacting detail in the art itself. All the different pieces are shown in their full form, but then yan would also oom in on specific details he particularly enoyed, which allows the pieces to be viewed in a new way while also subtly encouraging readers to seek out their own favorite bits.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the inclusion of two of H ck’s sketchbooks, which show early versions of H ck’s best known work, as well as ideas that haven’t yet made their way to the wood ust yet.

“This might have been my favorite part of the whole thing, yan says. “ ou know, I’m a behind the scenes, in process guy, right I love to peek behind the curtain. or me to get into his ournals and photograph all those, and for us to flip through them and find, like, weird artifacts from you know, to years ago or whatever ust a really cool experience.

Three of the illustrations from those sketchbooks appear to be rough, early versions of “Anatomy of a rack Shack. Sure enough, no dog boner appears in any of them.

estled at the foot of the ark ountains in a rural community about an hour’s drive south of St. ouis or three dead roadside deers’ worth, depending on your preferred unit of measurement sits H ck’s Park Hills head uarters, Spiderhole Studio. There, seated in a small round chair in early November, H ck has a different set of dicks on his mind.

It’s the day before the midterms, and the nation is on edge. The emocrats have crowed on and on for months that it’s the most important election of our lifetimes, that fascism is at our doorstep, that democracy itself is on the ballot. epublicans, meanwhile, have gone all in on the culture wars, targeting drag ueens and trans rights and critical race theory in what they are sure will be a winning campaign of hate, a red wave to sweep them into power.

efitting a satirist, H ck has a more nuanced view of the matter.

“Tomstradamus is making a prediction that maybe it’s , he says between bites of a cheeseburger. “I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as the liberals think it’s going to be, and I don’t think it’s going to be as good as the epublicans think it’s going to be. I think it’s going to be , and we’re still going to keep the Senate. ut the House That’s a murderer’s row of whack obs over there. Anything goes over there.

or the most part, H ck would be proven correct. In a climate of endless takes from countless armchair political analysts, the guy best known for making deranged art out of

hillbilly fables and canine genitals has somehow delivered the savviest assessment of the current political landscape. The Nate Silvers of the world could learn a thing or two.

Actually, though, it’s not that surprising. H ck’s work has increasingly trended toward broader social commentary over the course of his career, and like any good satirist, he’s proven himself a keen observer. Whereas he approached his early pieces as a sort of revenge against his surroundings in rural Potosi, issouri, savagely targeting the cast of characters he grew up with, he’s since pulled the lens back and focused more on American society as a whole.

An argument could easily be made that the culture at large has simply finally caught up to H ck’s view of it.

“It is kind of hard making the kind of work that I make, looking at this stuff happen, he says. “ ike a anuary that’s some shit I would make up A dude wakes up in the morning and decides to dress up like oda and go overthrow the fucking government on

the date of certification day. That’s the kind of shit that I’d come up with over about six fucking years. h, I’m gonna make the next body of work about this.’ It’s got built in surrealism, it’s metaphoric, it’s allegorical and hillbillies are involved. That’s the whole life of my work And it played itself out, so how the fuck do you top that, what’s really going on? I mean, it threw me a little bit.”

He pauses a moment before continuing. “ ou gotta be a certain breed of individual to wake up in the morning and say, Honey, today I’m gonna overthrow the government. Where’s my loincloth ’

H ck’s latest work, A Monkey Mountain Khronikle, is his attempt to at least match the absurdity of the times we’re living in. A collaboration between H ck’s vil Prints and Peacock isual Arts out of Aberdeen, Scotland, the front-and-center panel of the 48 by inch double sided triptych introduces the viewer to ord Aporkalyptus, a creature with a skeletal animal face, clad in religious vestments adorned with hot dogs and burgers,

“IT IS KIND OF HARD MAKING THE KIND OF WORK THAT I MAKE, LOOKING AT THIS STUFF HAPPEN. LIKE A JANUARY 6 — THAT’S SOME SHIT I WOULD MAKE UP! A DUDE WAKES UP IN THE MORNING AND DECIDES TO DRESS UP LIKE YODA AND GO OVERTHROW THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT ON THE DATE OF CERTIFICATION DAY?!”

e new book from Fine Print Small Press clocks in at more than 300 pages. | VIA FINE PRINT SMALL PRESS

holding a banner that reads “ALL YOU CAN AT. elow him, deranged angel like figures force feed food products to several onlookers whose faces indicate their willingness to consume.

n the reverse side, also in the center panel, we meet Mr. Wiener McPicklehead, a ghastly clown beast with a burger for a head that is topped with more hot dogs, as well as onion rings, pickles and several bugs crawling on its outer bun. lanking him on each side are his at ats, which are exactly what you’re picturing, and the ooey uardian irl , horned women with snake bodies being fed slices of pi a while cPicklehead tucks into the largest banana split ever conceived, complete with human bodies among its toppings.

The other scenes depicted on the triptych’s panels are similarly food focused, and similarly unsettling, with Na i es ue and lan es ue figures making appearances as well. n the predella across the bottom are the words, “WE EAT. WE SLEEP. WE HATE. REPEAT.”

“It’s all about gluttony, H ck says. “American gluttony in all of its forms. In politics, religion, conspiracy theories. All of it rolled together into one. Pop culture, bad food, all of it. It’s all about how A A figured out how to market to that 30 percent of people who are sports fans. ust give it a good brand and a uniform, and we’ll sell it to you like a sugar laced ig ac. That’s what it is. It’s sloganeering and logo-ing that got people.”

A Monkey Mountain Khronikle took H ck five years to complete. H ck’s process sees him first sketch ideas for a piece before drawing it on a slab of birch plywood; from there he uses a gouge tool to carve the image into the wood, making tiny motions in a painstakingly detail oriented process that would drive most to madness. Since the end goal is to use the block to transfer ink to paper, H ck must carve the mirror image of what he’s envisioned in his mind, adding an extra layer of complication. Work on this latest project started in in Scotland, where H ck labored for hours at a time to complete the first block. When I came, H ck hunkered down in his Park Hills studio and finished the piece, which made its preview at New ork’s Print Week in late ctober before being debuted online at lordaporkalyptus. com the week of Thanksgiving naturally .

It’s among H ck’s sharpest pieces of satire to date, an unyielding condemnation of modern society and consumerism in the Trump era. “A Monkey Mountain Khronikle presents real world horrors wrought by our own hands and catalogs the innumerable ways in which we have fallen short in our mission to give a damn about one another, reads its description on the website in part.

“I think that’s where we’re at, H ck says of the piece. “We’ve been fed a bunch of stuff. Willingly. And we’re seeing the fallout. They got us where they want us, man, as consumers on all levels. And it freaks me out.

alking into the ocust event space Work eisure on ecember , the first thing you see is a bunch of dicks. In a new twist on an old theme, these particular penises are made of hot dogs,

with little pret el balls for testicles. ick dogs, if you will.

Those come courtesy of Steve’s Hot ogs, which made them as a special for H ck’s St. ouis book release and signing, which is also A Monkey Mountain Khronikle’s local debut. A sign accompanying the dogs reads “The uffet of ord Aporkalyptus, which is fairly unsettling when one is familiar with the work that served as the food’s inspiration.

urther inside, a crowd gathers around the completed triptych as H ck sits in the corner with a marker in hand. Harper and Ryan are here as well, mingling with guests and excitedly discussing the newly published book. lack Sabbath plays over the stereo, and a mini documentary depicting H ck at work is soundlessly projected on the wall as attendees chat among themselves about the art on display.

Sherita and Allan ober used to be H ck’s neighbors, but according to Allan they really got “indoctrinated his word after seeing his work at Saint ouis University. escribing the new piece as “one hot, fast-food mess,” the two are impressed with the incredible level of detail in all of H ck’s output.

“A lot of times, when you look at it a second time, it’s like watching a movie for the second time, Allan notes. “ ou notice things you didn’t notice before, like, h, there’s something in that coffee cup I didn’t notice,’ or you see faces, like, There’s people on that bus there.’ And, you know, there’s a lot going on there. There’s things happening behind the scenes. or me, it’s ust the intricacy that is so impressive.

Tree Sanche was first exposed to H ck’s art when she was years old. Her uncle took her to the Saint ouis Art useum, where she saw his piece The Transformation of Brandy Baghead. She was blown away, she says.

“That was the first experience I had where it was like, Wow, I didn’t know if this type of art could be made before,’ she says. “I was always excited to see more Tom H ck stuff

the older I got.”

oe and anet Huck have arguably known H ck longer than anyone, being his parents and all. They too were on hand for the release of the book. They say that H ck’s interest in art and illustration was apparent from a young age. He was constantly drawing, they recall.

“In the early years it was all action figures, oe says. “ ike Superman, comic book characters and things like that.”

“ ut he never would draw women, anet says. “So his art teacher in unior high ... she said, I’m tired of seeing you draw ust men. I’m gonna teach you how to draw a woman.’ Well, she did. The rest is history on that.”

anet is actually afforded a uni ue perspective on this particular matter, having been depicted in one of H ck’s pieces. In the first panel of his 2014 work The Tommy Peeperz, anet is shown in bondage gear with curlers in her hair and plungers stuck to her breasts, catching a young H ck in the act of looking at his dad’s porn stash. It’s probably not what she or oe envisioned when they first bought H ck art supplies as a child, but nevertheless they say they are extremely proud of their son and how far he’s come on his artistic ourney.

“I keep up with him and try to keep him on the straight and narrow, oe adds. “ ut it ain’t worked yet.

Seated in the back of the room, H ck takes a copy of the new book from an attendee and writes “ N’T U THIS UP in all caps with a gold marker. “I don’t know what it means. ust kind of a catch all, he says with a laugh while signing his name.

Before he hands it back, he scribbles a few doodles on the page and asks for re uests.

“I got you a cross, a spade and a skull, he says. “Anything else?”

The owner of the book says it looks good. ut H ck thinks for a second before asking a uestion that’s evidently a constant in his mind.

“How about a dick

Hück’s sketchbooks o er a glimpse into his creative process. | VIA FINE PRINT SMALL PRESS

CALENDAR

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 02/02 Get Stumped

Are you tired of softball trivia with way-too-easy questions like, “In what city is Escape from L.A. set?” Then Impossible Trivia, written and hosted by Pancake Master Rob “Googz” Severson at the Crack Fox (1114 Olive Street) this Thursday, February 2, is for you. The trivia night bills itself as “designed to astound, gobsmack, flummox, ba e, bamboo le, and vex.” In most trivia contests, the winning team is the one who only got one or two questions wrong. But with Impossible Trivia, the winning team is likely to have only gotten one or two right. It’s like powerlifting for your brain. It’s also a great chance for you and your friends to have a couple of drinks as you come to realize all the arcane knowledge you had no idea you didn’t know. Admission is free, and the impossible questions start at 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY 02/03

Get Swifty

Celebrating Taylor Swift has practically become a national pastime.

All across the country there are young fans locked away in their bedrooms worshiping at the altar of Miss Swift and dropping snake emojis in comments on Instagram. But local Swifties don’t have to go at it alone for much longer because on Friday, February 3, the Hawthorn (222 Washington Avenue) is hosting Long Live: A Taylor Swift-Inspired Dance Party. At this event, Swifties can assemble to praise all of Swift’s eras, from her innocent curly haired country days to her “Ready For It” vixen days and on through to the secrets spilled in Midnights. The event will include a costume contest, lip-synching, trivia and will offer plenty of selfie opportunities, too. Come together, gaylors and hetlors, and everyone can feel “happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time.”

Use the (Tuning) Forks

ne of film’s greatest music scores in recent years is coming to St. Louis. This Friday, February 3, the St. Louis Symphony will perform the music of Star Wars: The Force Awakens under the direction of conductor Norman Huynh. The score will come from legendary composer John Williams, who is

also known for the Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and Jaws soundtracks. Williams’ work on The Force Awakens earned him multiple awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Score and a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. The concert runs at Powell Hall (718 North Grand Boulevard) through the weekend from Friday to Sunday. Tickets range from $50 to $93, depending on location. For more information, visit slso.org.

B as in Black Light

Combine your love of black lights with your passion for the gambling habits of the geriatric with Glo Bingo, surely the trippiest way to keep your mind from going soft in your twilight years (or otherwise). Indeed, as noted by its official website, lo ingo is “not your Grandma’s bingo,” and instead features glowing dabbers, hats and bingo cards, as well as plenty of music, dancing and singalongs. This Friday, February 3, and Saturday, February 4, the fun comes to Tribout’s Belle Vegas Bingo Hall (517 South Illinois Street, elleville, Illinois to benefit the Belleville Area Humane Society. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door, and come with six cards for 10 games. In addition to the heated competition, the event

will feature a cash bar, and guests are encouraged to bring their own snacks. Felt Dr. Seuss hats and glow-in-the-dark alien masks not provided but strongly encouraged. For more information, visit bahspets.org/event/glo-bingo.

Lift Your Voice

Out of all activities that could be made better with alcohol, most people already know singing is chief among them. But instead of your drunk ass singing in bars or other places where no one wants to hear you, Das Bevo (4749 Gravois Avenue) will host you for a night for Beer Choir, where your slurred, drunken croons are not only tolerated but encouraged. Beer Choir is a no-talent, no-experience-required event where patrons lift their voices and glasses in song. Musical selections include German and Irish drinking songs from Das Bevo’s Beer Choir Hymnal. Festivities kick off this Friday, February 3, at 7 p.m. More info at dasbevo.com.

SATURDAY 02/04

One Night Only

Damien Sneed has made his name by mixing the spiritual and the

is Is Not My Home follows Lily, whose family has reimmigrated to Taiwan. | COURTESY PHOTO

classical, bringing jazz and gospel together with genres previously dominated by dead (or very old) white Europeans. The result is nothing short of dazzling — and so when Sneed comes to town, music lovers pay attention. This Saturday, February 4, he comes for a one-night-only performance of his Our Song, Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices. By paying tribute to his mentor Jessye Norman and the great midcentury contralto Marian Anderson, Sneed offers an evening of dazzling arrangements of both arias and spirituals, presented in conjunction with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Sneed will be at the piano, with vocals from Jacqueline Echols and Justin Austin. (Fun fact: The talented Austin played the lead role in Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the Metropolitan Opera — a show that debuted at, yes, Opera Theatre of St. Louis.) The bill at the Sheldon (3648 Washington Avenue) includes songs by Mozart, Handel, Puccini and Strauss, but also Gershwin, Henry T. Burleigh and Sneed himself. Tickets are $36 to $46. More info at thesheldon. org/events/our-song-our-story.

Dance of Death

If you like delightfully macabre, witchy-gothic vibes and belly dancing, then the Bleeding Hearts Ball is for you. The ball first started in and has been going strong for 15 years. The evening includes dance performances by numerous artists — including Mistress of the Night Ami Amore and the infamous Lunar Fusion Dance — as well as off-beat vendors, food and drink, with music courtesy of DJ Skeletal. Check out the fête at the Mad Art Gallery (2727 South 12th Street) this Saturday, February 5. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Attendees must be 21 and up, and tickets are $25 to $70. For more information, visit amiamore.com/ bleeding-hearts-ball.

SUNDAY 02/05 City Museum Is For Lovers

Not only is the City Museum (750 North 16th Street) one of the

best places in St. Louis to have a little fun all year round, it also goes all-out for the holidays. This year, it’s going to be all dressed up for Valentine’s Day and ready to treat you and your lover right! They even have activities for kids planned, too, so that nobody feels left out. During the entire month of February, the museum’s enchanting Tunnel of Love light exhibit inside the Vault at the City Museum will be open and functioning as the hottest spot in town for couples’ photos. And the cozy little cabin bar outside will be transformed into Cupid’s Cuddle Cabin , featuring themed cocktails, Valentine’s Day decor and love songs on the playlist. Adorable. In addition to all of this, there’s going to be even more Valentine’s Day fun to be had at the City Museum, throughout the month. From craft time to a Galentine’s Day brunch to a performance from “Elvis Presley,” your favorite tourist attraction in St. Louis will become Love Headquarters until March. For a full schedule of Valentine’s Month events, visit citymuseum.org.

TUESDAY 02/07

Best Friends’ Book

California expats Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang met while studying at Washington University and rapidly became best friends. Yoh, an art student, had always dreamed of making her own picture books. In the midst of the pandemic, the two began writing one together, never thinking it would amount to much. How wrong they were. The resulting work, This Is Not My Home, secured a two-book deal with Little Brown. That’s not too surprising, in retrospect, as it’s a charming take on immigration and what it means to make your own home. It follows Lily, whose family returns to Taiwan to take care of an elderly grandma, and her struggles to leave behind what she’s always known and assimilate into a new place. St. Louis readers can get their hands on the book during a launch event for This Is Not My Home this Tuesday, February 7, at 6 p.m. at Subterranean Books (6271 Delmar Boulevard). The event is free, and the book is $18.99. n

e City Museum’s Tunnel of Love launches this week. | COURTESY PHOTO e Sheldon and Opera eatre of St. Louis present Damien Sneed. | COURTESY PHOTO

Simmer On

Shabu Day will make St. Louis diners fall in love with Koreanstyle hot pot

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Shabu Day

8237 Olive Boulevard, University City; 314-755-1075. Tues.-Fri. 4-10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Closed Mondays.)

Your first clue that Shabu ay is less a restaurant than a salve for the cold and dreary idwest winter are the windows. ompletely covered in steam, they obscure the goings on inside the dining room from the outside, creating a sense of mystery on the approach. Inside,

however, the picture becomes clear as a multitude of sensory experiences greets you upon your arrival. There’s the warmth that

envelopes you the moment you step through the doors, generated by cauldrons of steaming broth atop every occupied table. The

scent coming from them, akin to slowly simmering stock, adds to the soothing effect, while vibrant curls of semi fro en shaved meat contrast the drab, slushy gray outside environs a sensory symphony that can shake even the most despondent diner out of their SA riddled funk.

ictor and oon ang may not have intentionally set out to create the culinary e uivalent of a weighted warming blanket, but their motives were not far off. As the husband and wife team behind the popular orean barbe ue restaurant, Wudon, the pair are passionate about feeding guests, but moreso, they see it as their mission to create lively, immersive dining experiences based on the food that they love to eat.

Shabu shabu is one of those dishes. Though Wudon has kept the pair busy for the last seven

Shabu Day o ers all-you-can-eat hot pot. | MABEL SUEN

Sang Lee and Moon and Victor Jang are the minds behind Shabu Day. | MABEL SUEN

SHABU DAY

years, the Jangs have lately made it a point to travel as much as possible with the goal of trying out different restaurants around the country. Everywhere they went –Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, New York – they’d come across Japanese shabu shabu, or hot pot, restaurants and were blown away by what they experienced. It reminded them of the shabu shabu restaurants back in Korea that incorporated the country’s uni ue flavors and ingredients into the dish. They got thinking that such a concept would do well in St. Louis.

After securing the former Tang Palace storefront in University City, the Jangs spent months perfecting their broth, finally opening in July of last year. Their effort is apparent, with each of their three cooking liquids delivering a mouthwatering canvas for assorted meats and vegetables. Shabu Day’s signature beef broth, made from short ribs, has a gentle beef flavor that is fairly neutral so as to not overtake the meat and vegetables being cooked in it. The Shabu Day House Spicy Broth uses the beef version as a base, then adds fiery chilis and alape os for an intensely spicy kick that gets hotter as the cooking liquid reduces. As a result, ingredients cooked in the spicy broth pick up its heat, ust as those cooked in the restaurant’s third broth offering, the sake- and soy-infused Sukiyaki, are suffused with its subtly sweet, umami taste.

Broths are presented to diners in a hot pot that sits atop individual convection burners built into each table. The pots are divided into two compartments so that diners can experience two differ-

ent styles of broth, and all pots are served with a side of ramen noodles and a bowl of accouterments that include Korean mandu (dumplings), bok choy, napa cabbage, mushrooms and tender fish balls that add a gentle sea flavor to the broth. From here, diners select from different cuts of beef and pork, such as tender sirloin, luscious, well-marbled brisket, premium special pork and pork tenderloin. All are sliced paper thin, served semi-frozen and require mere moments in the broth to cook; whole, head-on shrimp, an a la carte add-on, take slightly longer. Of the meat choices, I preferred the brisket cooked in the Sukiyaki, its generous marbling the perfect sponge for the liquid’s sweet soy flavor.

Shabu Day’s hot pots are successful without additional adornment, but the restaurant’s trio of sauces, served alongside the pots in s uirt bottles, enhance the flavors profoundly. These include the thick House Spicy, which has notes of earth and green chili, the Sukiyaki, which is a more concentrated version of the broth of the same name, and the House Sauce, a vinegary soy condiment similar to what is often served with dumplings. At first, I dipped each individual bite of meat in the sauce, but I soon realized that the far superior technique is to ladle a portion of ramen, broth, meat and vegetables into my bowl, then add sauce to that in order to enhance the taste.

The hot pots themselves are

wonderful, but what makes Shabu Day such a delight is the overall feel of the place. Though the decor is minimal, Moon painted a beautiful mural of large red flowers, white leaves and birds on the restaurant’s off-black wall that gives the space a whimsical feel. K-Pop music videos light up large televisions, and — thanks to its all-you-can-eat, communal format, there is an upbeat, ovial vibe that makes the restaurant feel like a lively gathering place.

That sort of atmosphere lifts the spirits more than anything you can put in a pot — though a little bit of Sukiyaki-cooked fatty brisket comes pretty darn close. n

Shabu Day Shabu shabu ........................................$26.99

Continued from pg 25

Noodles round out each meal. | MABEL SUEN

Meat is cooked up in the seaming hot broth in an instant. | MABEL SUEN

Located in University City, Shabu Day’s hot pots are great for sharing or for individuals. | MABEL SUEN

SHORT ORDERS

[FIRST LOOK]

Bean to Brew

Brew Tulum brings Yucatán co ee, cuisine and culture to St. Louis

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

For the past four years, Alberto Juarez and Laura McNamara have been serving traditional Mexican coffee, beverages and food specialties to patrons at their Yucatán cafe, Brew Tulum. Now, the husband-andwife team are offering that same experience to customers this side of the border with a second location of Brew Tulum (5090 Delmar Boulevard), located in the Delmar Maker District, which opened in late November.

For McNamara, Brew Tulum’s St. Louis location represents the culmination of a coffee journey that traces its roots back to her time abroad in Rome, through Vietnam, then Latin America and ultimately to Mexico’s Yucatán region. A St. Charles native, McNamara was immersed in Latin American culture during her childhood thanks to her stepfather, who is a first generation Mexican-American. That experience ignited in her a passion for learning about different cultures, which she pursued out of Mizzou’s journalism school as a news reporter in Rome. There, she had what she describes as a food awakening, eschewing her cereal and fast food ways for locally grown, home-cooked meals.

“I was floored by how ama ing food tasted when it was fresh and homemade,” McNamara says. “It made me want to know more and see where my food was coming from. Eating fresh and local was a game changer.”

From Rome, McNamara’s news career took her to Vietnam, where she had a second culinary epiphany, this time centered around coffee. Though she admits to drinking the beverage to fuel her undergraduate studies, she never appreciated it for all that it could

be until she arrived at a curbside stand in a small town in Vietnam and was stopped in her tracks by what coffee tasted like when it is consumed close to where it’s grown. That experience inspired her to seek out good coffee anywhere her job took her, including Guatemala and the Mexican Caribbean, where she fell in love with Mexican coffee.

That passion sent her down a rabbit hole to learn and experience as much of Mexican coffee culture as she could. To her surprise, it was difficult to find, as most of the restaurants and cafes in the area served Nescafe as a way to cater to tourists. Fortunately, McNamara was able to find a local roaster who delivered freshly roasted beans to her and Juarez’s doorstep. They came to rely on him as their source of great coffee, so when he told them that he was getting ready to give up his business, it filled them with a sense of dread at first but then, inspiration.

“I got off the phone with him and told my husband that the sky was falling,” McNamara says. “He said to get him back on the phone. The next thing I knew, he was off the phone and telling me we were going to buy the roaster.”

When they bought the roaster, Juarez and McNamara thought

they would simply pick up where their predecessor had left off. However, they quickly found out that the roster of direct-to-consumer clients they thought they’d have waiting for them was not there. They pivoted to restaurants and cafes throughout Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, assuming they’d have no problem convincing them to switch to local beans from Nescafe, but most were not interested. In need of a plan, they decided to take matters into their own hands, opening up their own cafe, Brew Tulum, in 2018. It was hard-going but successful until the pandemic shut them down, and they needed to figure out what to do.

The pair decided to move to McNamara’s hometown and began roasting and shipping coffee to their established clientele while making new customers at area farmers’ markets. At a pop-up last year, they were connected with the landlord for one of the buildings in the Delmar Maker District who was looking for a cafe to anchor the area. It was the perfect match.

“The concept works well with what we want to do,” McNamara says. “The aker istrict fits in well with who we are. It’s a great fit.

In that sense, Juarez and McNamara see Brew Tulum as more than a cafe; they want it to be a place where their customers can

experience and learn about Yucatán culture through food and beverage. Their extensive coffee menu underscores this idea and is filled with a wide range of drinks featuring various brewing methods and ingredients, ranging from a well-executed cup of freshly roasted, ethically sourced Mexican coffee served in a traditional vessel to pink horchata, which consists of a mix of chilled coffee, rice milk, cinnamon, beet powder and crushed almonds that is sweetened with local honey and garnished with strawberries.

Despite its name, Brew Tulum is about much more than coffee. The cafe features a menu of traditional Latin American breakfast and brunch dishes, such as chilaquiles made with strips of fried corn tortillas smothered in salsa, Mexican cream and cheese, onion, avocado and cilantro. Another specialty, enfrijoladas, features corn tortillas filled with molten Mexican cheese and covered in black bean puree. Tamales, enchiladas and sopes are also available, as are outstanding churros, which are custard-like on the inside, yet crispy and cinnamon-brown-sugar covered on the exterior.

Juarez and McNamara have a major undertaking on their hands with one location of Brew Tulum in St. Louis and the other in its namesake Mexican city. However, they hope to soon begin offering their signature coffee experiences that allow guests to sample and learn about the beverage in a tasting-seminar format. For them, these experiences, together with the traditional food and beverages they are serving, will provide diners with more than simply something to fill them up they will give their customers a window into a culture that means so much to their family.

“We are passionate in showing people this heritage and cultural roots,” McNamara says. “We couldn’t ask for a better location that is filled with super creative minded people who are passionate about making this a cool area and giving St. Louis a super artistic feel.” n

Brew Tulum is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., Sunday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Brew Tulum serves traditional Mexican co ee, like cascara. | CHERYL BAEHR

Queuing Is Cool

Bagel Union is worth 90 minutes in line in the cold

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

St. Louis has been starved for good bagels.

That was immediately apparent upon pulling up to the soft opening of Bagel Union (8705 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves), the new effort from Ted Wilson and Sean Netzer, owners of the beloved Union Loafers Cafe and Bread Bakery. Arriving just 15 minutes after the soft opening’s start time of 8 a.m., I found the line to get into the small corner shop stretched down the block and around the corner.

“Do I want a bagel this much?” I wondered aloud, and my husband didn’t respond, a sure sign that the answer should be apparent. Nevertheless, I jumped out of the car and ran to the back of the line while he parked.

My fellow St. Louisans and I queued in the cold damp weather under a gray sky, and at 8:20 a.m., a woman at the front of the line told me she’d been there since 7:40. I grimaced and walked back to our place in the back. So, maybe 30 minutes I thought, foolishly.

I’ve always thought that people who enjoyed queuing were insane. But after being in line for 90 minutes in 30-something degree weather, I get it. Almost immediately we made friends with the woman behind us in line, amiably chatting about Schitt’s Creek and the possible ghosts in her new home. Then we chatted with the man in front of us, who had lived in Indianapolis and asked about my Indy marathon beanie. After half an hour, we realized that the guy who kept running into the street to snap phone photos was Pulitzer-Prize-winning Post-Dispatch photographer Robert Cohen and said hello.

People who are willing to wait in line for bagels clearly love food, and in no time we began swapping recommendations. Favorite coffee house? Blueprint, Sump, Northwest, Mud House and Coffee Stamp. Pastries? Nathaniel Reid

Bakery, Missouri Baking Company, La Pâtisserie Chouquette. Cajun? Sister Cities. This went on.

A person in an inflatable dinosaur costume wandered by. We stared enviously at customers with stuffed paper bags.

So the 90-plus minutes it took to get our bagels flew by, helped by both a good Samaritan who reassured us that supply was good, as well as yeasty, appealing wafts of air emanating from the front door as customers departed.

Stepping inside the small shop was relief to our cold digits, as was the serve-yourself coffee. The decor inside is modern and simple. At the front of the space is a bakery case filled with the goods, two registers and a paper-ticket system. The space for customers is L-shaped and will one day hold a small amount of stools for an eat-in option, though the setup is clearly mostly for takeout.

For the soft opening, Bagel Union was only offering bagels and schmear (though they were out of the latter by the time we made it in). When the shop is fully up and running, it will also offer bagel sandwiches. We left with

a paper bag filled with a baker’s dozen assortment of plain, sesame, poppy, everything, salt and cherry crunch, and the phone number of one new pal. The baker’s dozen cost $27, and bagels are $2.50 to $3 each.

Too impatient to wait the 15-minute drive home, we dug into the cherry in the car. Here, the bagel dough was twisted, lightly glazed and filled with a plethora of uicy red fruit, reminiscent of babka. It was super tender and still warm, crossing the line into pastry, despite the dough’s leanness. It bore no resemblance to a sad, conventional fruit bagel.

At home we sliced the others up. Though the crust was firm and chewy it was also thin, a kind of delicious middle step between an East Coast-style bagel and an upscale roll. The inside was meltingly tender with a light and airy crumb that soaked up butter well.

We each had at least two and plan to go back when it officially opens sometime next week. I’m especially interested in a bagel sandwich.

All in all — it was worth the wait in line. n

CHERYL BAEHR’S CROISSANT PICKS

On a list of butter’s best uses, there’s no question that laminated dough would be near the top. A painstaking process that results in decadent, flaky layers, the technique dazzles in its most beloved form: the croissant.

The Darkness:

La Pâtisserie Chouquette

It’s been eight years since La Pâtisserie Chouquette (1626 Tower Grove Avenue, 314-932-7935) owner Simone Faure rolled out the Darkness, a love song to dark chocolate and a “pain in the ass” to make. It’s a deeply chocolaty masterpiece.

Salted-Caramel Croissant:

Pint Size Bakery

If you blink, you might miss your chance at Pint Size Bakery’s (3133 Watson Road, 314-645-7142) saltedcaramel croissant. Available only on Saturdays, this slightly sweet, kouignamann-adjacent butter sponge comes out of the oven at 9:30 a.m. and sells out not too long after that.

Comet Croissant: Comet Coffee

Pastry chef Stephanie Fischer and her partner, Mark Attwood, may have opened Comet Coffee (multiple locations including 5708 Oakland Avenue, 314-932-7770) to bring more specialty coffee to St. Louis, but they ended up with what might be the area’s most quintessential croissant.

Chocolate Croissant:

Nathaniel Reid Bakery

Owner Nathaniel Reid has taught chefs in France how to make pastries. You don’t need to know anything else: Just head to his shop, Nathaniel Reid Bakery (11243 Manchester Road, Kirkwood; 314-858-1019)

Croissant:

Mr. Meowski’s Sourdough

Baker Timothy Nordmann insists that he can’t make the perfect version of any pastry. But you might disagree when you taste his classic croissant at Mr. Meowski’s Sourdough (107 North Main Street, St. Charles; 314992-9234) n

e setup inside Bagel Union is simple and modern. | JESSICA ROGEN

e line at the so opening stretched around the corner. | JESSICA ROGEN

Home Grown

New salad restaurant Neon Greens will grow its fare in the former Rise Co ee House site

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

Like so many during the pandemic, Josh Smith picked up a new hobby. He began growing vegetables. Then he noticed something a little surprising: They tasted better than what he was used to picking up in stores. A lot better, actually.

That got him thinking about an entirely new type of restaurant, one that would blow away those salad bar joints popular across the U.S. One that would serve incredibly fresh vegetables — so fresh, in fact, that they would be picked and then make their way immediately to customers’ plates.

“If you had a salad with those kinds of greens — that are grown and harvested within minutes — everyone would be eating salads,” Smith says. “I wanted to find a way to bring that to people.”

That was two years ago, and now Smith’s resulting concept, Neon Greens,

The Pizza Treatment

New pizzas from 4 Hands and Mama Lucia’s highlight India’s Rasoi, Michael’s and Hi-Pointe Drive-In

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

What if frozen pizzas were more like craft beers?

In 2019, that question sparked a collaboration between two St. Louis culinary giants, Mama Lucia’s Pizza and 4 Hands Brewing Co. The two created a line of frozen pizzas inspired by St. Louis restaurants and foods — everything from a pie sporting a Lion’s Choice French-fry crust to an Old Vienna Red Hot Riplets pizza.

“[When] this thing started off, it was going to be kind of like craft beers, [rotating] in restaurants over time,” says Scott Ashby, president of Mama Lucia’s.

But with the pandemic, things came to a standstill. But no more.

Last week, Mama Lucia’s and 4 Hands

is set to launch this summer in the Grove at 4176 Manchester Avenue — the former home of Rise Coffee House.

Neon Greens will grow hydroponic greens in the lot next to the building, a 1,200-square-foot agriculture facility that will house two modular farms. Each will have the capacity to produce about three acres’ worth of lettuce. There will also be a processing room where the agricultural team will plant, harvest and wash the produce.

announced three new pizzas made in collaboration with local spots are getting added to the lineup:

-A chicken tikka masala pizza from India’s Rasoi, which will include a naan-like dough and tikka masala sauce, chicken, peppers, onions and mozzarella.

-A gyro pizza from Michael’s Bar & Grill, which will have gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, red onions, tomatoes and mozzarella.

-A cheeseburger-inspired pizza from Hi-Pointe Drive-In, which will include a brewery crust, cheeseburger sauce, hamburger, tomatoes, bacon, onions, cheddar and mozzarella.

The new flavors should now be in Schnucks and Dierbergs Markets, and prices vary depending on the store.

Developing the pizzas for the 4 Hands line is fun, Ashby says. It lines up with the company’s new motto: a distinctly different pizza manufacturer.

“We can get pretty creative, and we’re making stuff that you can’t find in the market anywhere else,” he says.

Getting these new pizzas from the drawing board into stores wasn’t a hugely long process. Mama Lucia’s had some back and forth with the restaurants in an attempt to get the pizzas as true as possible to what they are doing. But, he points out, none sell pizza, so this is a matter of interpretation. He points to the naan crust on the tikka masala pizza,

Customers will be able to look into this space as they dine and see the lettuce being brought in on a conveyor system over their heads.

“As a customer you will be part of the process; you’ll be immersed in it, and you will have a vantage point unlike anyone else in a modern restaurant today,” Smith says. “You will see the whole thing from seed to plate.”

Neon Greens’ menu will have 10 regular salads and three rotating ones, includ-

ing one rotating collaboration with a local chef. There will also be two soups, one seasonal and the other a broth-based soup using vegetables that can’t otherwise be used for the salads. For the sweet side, Neon Greens will sell soft-serve ice cream, with plans to feature an infused flavor such as a shiso or lemon verbena.

“People want to know where their food comes from,” Smith says. “They want to know who grows it, they want to see it, they want to touch it. ... I’m so excited by that, and I just want to be part of that revolution.”

Though Smith is a St. Louis native, at first glance Neon Greens is an unlikely concept for him to have started. For one, his background is not in food. St. Louisans might have come across his work — in scenic and lighting design for theater, film and television — on Broadway, on shows such as The Flight Attendant or Russian Doll, and in town at Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

But Smith says design and restaurants are more alike than you might think. Designing a menu and designing a space are both about sharing ideas and hospitality and getting the right team of people together.

It was important to Smith that he launch Neon Greens in his hometown, which seemed to check all the different boxes for a good city to pilot the concept.

“Better yet, I was able to be close to home, close to family and bring something to the city that that brought me up,” he says.

which has the same ingredients as the naan you’d get in a restaurant. It’s not exactly like a restaurant naan, though.

“It’s a little different than a regular crust,” Ashby says. “It’s got a nice taste to it.”

For those who don’t think pizza can be anything but traditional crust, red sauce

and cheese, Ashby notes that these are definitely pizzas — even if they are unique.

“If they liked these restaurants, I’m pretty sure they’re going to like these pizzas,” he says. “They’re definitely a little different. But for the adventuresome, I think they’ll find that they’re really good.” n

Neon Greens will open this summer in the Grove. | COURTESY PHOTO

One of the new pizzas is chicken tikka masala flavored. | COURTESY PHOTO

The New Drug Frontier

Now that recreational-use cannabis is legal, advocates are turning to psychedelics for legalization

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

State Representative Tony Lovasco (R-O’Fallon) hopes the second time’s the charm in his quest to legalize psychedelics for medicinal use in Missouri.

Lovasco introduced a bill this legislative session that would allow adult patients with terminal or untreatable illnesses to try psilocybin and psilocin, the psychedelic compounds found in socalled magic mushrooms.

The bill is Lovasco’s latest attempt at psychedelic drug reform in Missouri. Last year, the legislator sponsored a broader bill that would have allowed eligible patients to try five different kinds of psychedelics, including mescaline and dimethyltryptamine, a.k.a. DMT.

ut the bill flopped after a hearing with the Health and Mental Health Policy Committee, during which most committee members balked at the idea of legali ing psychedelics for any use.

Yet Lovasco remains hopeful his latest attempt at medicinal legalization will go further this year. This bill is a narrower version of his last, proposing that eligible patients be allowed to try only psilocybin and psilocin. Patients with treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or terminal illnesses would be eligible. “Between the narrowing of the bill and a few new members who’ve come in, some of them much more interested, I think we’ve got a much better shot,” Lovasco says.

Psilocybin and psilocin are illegal at the federal level (the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency considers the substances Schedule I drugs, with no accepted medical use), but a growing number of states are considering its medicinal uses. States

REEFERFRONT TIMES 35

such as Oregon and Colorado have loosened restrictions as a growing body of research suggests psychedelics can do much more than get someone high.

esearchers at ohns Hopkins Medical School have published more than 60 peer-reviewed studies on the effectiveness of psilocybin for treating mental illness. At Washington University in St. Louis, physicians are studying psilocybin’s efficacy for treating depression and addiction.

As evidence of psilocybin and psilocin’s usefulness mounts, Lovasco says it’s “a basic freedom issue” to allow patients to try the drugs.

“We need to stay out of physicians’ ways so they can do what’s best for their patients,” Lovasco says.

Lovasco’s proposal would allow physicians to administer psilocybin at health offices or residential care facilities. Any person could petition the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to add a qualifying facility or medical condition to the list.

Psychedelic-drug advocates such as Elaine Brewer, founder of Humble Warrior Wellness Center, have traveled out of the country to try psychedelics. After a dose of MDMA at a health facility in Mexico, Brewer felt her chronic

anxiety lift. It was like “ years of therapy in two days,” Brewer tells the RFT

Brewer, a military spouse, has been a staunch advocate for psychedelic treatment for veterans ever since.

“They’re not seeking psychedelics to get high,” Brewer says. “They’re seeking treatment to heal the wounds they carry from combat.”

Not having a regulated, legal means for such treatment is “not only neglectful,” Brewer says, “it’s dangerous.”

“It’s causing desperate citizens to turn to un ualified, unvetted

sources here in the U.S.,” Brewer adds. “There’s a lot of opportunists and ‘shamans’ who want to take advantage of how there’s no real process for this.”

Advocates are pushing for psychedelics against the backdrop of veteran suicides rising in Missouri. The state’s suicide rate for both veteran and general populations is significantly higher than the national average, according to a recent report by Missouri’s Interim Committee on Veterans Mental Health and Suicide.

After two hearings last summer, the committee recommended the state to budget at least $27 million for the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The recommendation came after the committee heard testimony from advocates asking them to consider psychedelics as an answer to the state’s suicide crisis. The legislators ultimately rejected their proposal.

Even so, drug reform lobbyist Eapen Thampy says he’s seen mounting bipartisan support for psychedelics in Missouri.

“Sure, with some lawmakers there might still be a level of stigma or even ignorance,” Thampy says. “But we’re facing so many mental health crises right now, it’s hard to find a compelling or even coherent argument in opposition right now.” n

Advocates are pushing for the legalization of psychadelics for theraputic uses. | VIA FLICKR / TALAKAY PAKAY

“ [Veterans] are not seeking psychedelics to get high. They’re seeking treatment to heal the wounds they carry from combat.”

MUSIC

RIP Blake Fowler

e local hardcore community paid tribute to the beloved St. Louis bassist at O Broadway last week

Written by DAVID VON NORDHEIM

Looking at photographs of Blake Fowler performing with Time and Pressure, it is not difficult to see how his charisma and energy resonated with so many people in St. Louis and the many cities across the country the band performed in. It seems like Fowler was perpetually two feet off the ground, leaping, kicking and giving his all in every club, bar and basement that was fortunate enough to have him.

But like many of the most gifted performers, Fowler was a complex and multifaceted person, one whose tremendous stage presence was paralleled with an inner pain that often weighed upon him offstage.

On November 30 last year, the bassist died by suicide at age 23. He’s mourned by many, including the members of the St. Louis hardcore music community, who gathered last Saturday at Off Broadway to pay tribute to Fowler.

The memorial show featured performances from several area hardcore bands, including Time and Pressure, which Fowler was active in from spring 2019 through the band’s breakup in fall 2021. All proceeds from the show were donated to the Blake Fowler Funeral and Memorial Expenses fund, a GoFundMe project established to help Fowler’s family with funerary expenses.

efore he was a fixture in the St. Louis hardcore scene, Fowler was growing up in Belleville, Illinois, with his mother Angie Parnell, father Tim Fowler, and sister Breanna Shimer. He attended Whiteside Elementary and Belleville

East High, where his favorite subject was history. After graduating, Fowler intermittently attended classes at Southwestern Illinois College.

It was at this point that Fowler joined Time and Pressure, which played locally in St. Louis and at venues throughout the country. The band performed regularly at the Sinkhole, a south city bar famous for booking local hardcore and metal acts. Notably, the band had an opening slot at Murderfest 2019 and PromCore 2019, festivals held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Other out-of-state gigs included shows in Louisville, Kentucky; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

When Time and Pressure eventually broke up in late 2021, Fowler left school and moved to Philadelphia. He earned his forklift operator’s certification and began working at an Amazon warehouse. He eventually returned to the Metro East, continuing on at Amazon. Most recently, he had been working on material for a solo project.

“Blake was kind of the [hardcore] scene’s little brother,” says James Carroll, guitarist for Time and Pressure. “He was 10 years younger

than I am, so he learned a lot of what he liked in hardcore from being around us, going to local shows and touring the country.”

Fowler was also an active parishioner at Grace Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where he had attended services since he was a teenager. He got his start playing bass guitar in the church’s band.

“As a mom, it was breathtaking to see [Blake] on stage, doing what he loved,” Parnell says. “See-

ing him play at church and seeing him play with Time and Pressure — they were two totally different genres of music, but he was still [energized], and you could always see that.”

Parnell recalls witnessing Fowler’s love of music develop at a young age — at four, he got a thrill watching KISS play with the Australian symphony on TV.

“He was like, ‘Mom! They are cool!’” she recalls. “He was hooked.”

Parnell brought her son to see KISS perform at the now-Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Maryland Heights when he was in junior high. Fowler started learning to play bass guitar at age 14, and later that same year he started playing with Grace Church’s praise team.

Fowler began to develop his interest in hardcore music in high school, gravitating towards bands that shared his faith and passion for Christian music. Parnell chaperoned multiple trips to the Vans Warped Tour, where Fowler developed his love of Christian metalcore bands such as For Today, As I Lay Dying and Silent Planet. Fowler developed a close relationship with vocalist Garrett Russell

Blake Fowler always seemed to be two feet in the air. | COURTESY PHOTO

Young Blake Fowler dressed up as a member of KISS for Halloween. | COURTESY PHOTO

of Silent Planet, who once stayed at the Fowler home while the band was on tour.

“Blake loved representing St. Louis and championed its hardcore scene,” says Bren King, vocalist for Chemical Fix, describing him as a frequent concertgoer who supported local and touring bands.

“He was a stellar representation of St. Louis hardcore as a whole,” adds Brennen Wilkinson, vocalist for Squint.

In addition, Fowler was active on the video game streaming platform Twitch. Parnell recalls meeting one of Fowler’s Twitch friends at the service, an Army serviceman who came in full military dress.

“He had friends from around the world,” she says. “He had never met Blake in person, but he said he was just touched by what a kind person he was and that he had to come pay his respects.”

But despite all the good in Fowler’s life, there was also darkness. His family and friends describe their ongoing struggle with processing how a person so vivacious and well-loved, someone known for an ability to “talk others off the ledge,” would commit suicide.

Despite his outgoing demeanor, Fowler struggled with depression, Parnell says. He was a victim of bullying in childhood and adolescence, and she believes this contributed to a sense of alienation and hopelessness that haunted Blake in his adult life. He also had a concussion 10 days prior to his suicide, something his family believes was a contributing factor.

Fowler took his life one week after Thanksgiving. Among friends and family during the holiday, he didn’t display obvious signs of the inner turmoil, she says.

According to Parnell, Fowler had abruptly stopped taking his antidepressant medication in the months leading up to his death and was growing increasingly dependent on cannabis use to man-

age his depression and anxiety.

The two of them had a conversation about suicide on the evening before his death — a subject that had come up before.

“He always would say to me, ‘You know, Mom, I would never do that because I’ve seen what it does to families,’” she says. “I had been texting him earlier in the day and sent him a funny picture. And I said, ‘I’m going to give you the biggest hug on Friday, I can’t wait to see you!’ And he answered back, ‘I hope.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean, ‘I hope?’ I’m going to see you on Friday.’”

“Within about 20 minutes I got the next text message, and I knew we were in trouble,” Parnell adds. She doesn’t elaborate any further, saying it is too painful for her to recount.

As a mother mourning the recent loss of a child to suicide, Parnell sees herself as being in the early stage of a lifelong emotional journey. She described the complex and sometimes conflicting mixture of guilt, anger and grief that accompany a suicide.

“For people who are left behind, you have no closure,” she says. “You keep blaming yourself. … If you know somebody has cancer, or they’re in a car accident, you have some closure. When it’s suicide, your family and loved ones, and friends that are left, all they have is constant questions.

“I’ve had numerous people ask me if I’m mad at Blake, and my answer is always the same: absolutely not. I’m not mad at him because I know he was hurting so badly.”

Parnell describes the outpouring of support in response to his death as “overwhelming” — the attendance at his memorial service was in the hundreds. The bands that played Saturday’s show also made the event a proper tribute to their fallen friend.

“Blake was such a kind and genuine soul,” King of Chemical Fix says. “Whether in person or online, he surrounded himself with like-minded individuals who accepted people for who they are. He would be the first person to check in on you if you were having a rough time, and the last person to leave your side if anything bad came your way.”

Wilkinson adds: “We all miss him very much.”

Inside Scoop

St. Louis glam-metal legend Frankie Muriel and King of the Hill were at an all-time high — then everything fell apart

Written by STEVE LEFTRIDGE

If you tuned into MTV around 1990, chances are good that you were watching a glam-metal video. In those days, the lipstick-and-leather hairmetal bands — shimmering with spandex, Aqua Net, triple-innuendos, fingertapping guitar solos, castrato vocals, cherry pies, girls writhing on the hoods of Jaguars, etc. — dominated the Dial MTV most-requested video countdown every day.

Amid a steady stream of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses videos, you might have caught a clip from a young band out of St. Louis called King of the Hill — often stylized as an attention-demanding KINGOFTHEHILL — with an equally over-the-top video for their debut single “I Do U.”

The hard-rocking quartet checked all the boxes to be the next belles of the Headbangers Ball: big sexy anthem, rake-thin bangs-flipping guitar ace, hard-hitting shag-haired drummer, bassist with great pecs and a strutting, outfit-changing, hyperactive lead singer.

King of the Hill followed the arenafilling archetype of hard-rock bands with blond singers (Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Warrant, Skid Row, Poison), but Frankie Muriel took rock-star tresses to the next level with a platinum avalanche of hair that seemed to grow more voluminous as the video went along.

Muriel flashes lascivious dance moves, leather chaps and eyes the color of a resort pool while prancing around an airplane hangar like a horny pony and executing a Lou Brock-style slide between a girl’s legs atop a twostory platform.

He epitomized the go-big sensualism of a glam-rock lothario, and with MTV airplay, chart-climbing singles, oodles of talent and a major-label deal, King of the Hill appeared to be a lock for the big time. But then, just as it really got going, it came to an end.

Thirty-two years later, Muriel tells me the whole story from his chic home on

the Hill — it is an extraordinary twist of fate that his old band was prophetically named King of the Hill.

Muriel holds forth from a blue, plush, U-shaped couch between a wall of glass-framed posters of himself in various attitudes of rock-hero dazzle and an illuminated display of high-end tequila bottles. With its theater room, full recording studio and sleek, outdoor courtyard equipped with a heated pool and a massive LED video wall, Frankie’s house is a rock-star dream pad.

St. Louisans know Muriel best as the frontman for Dr. Zhivegas, the legendary disco-rock cover band that has been playing 200-plus dates a year for nearly three decades. Dr. Zhivegas’ enormous success and longevity — thousands of soldout shows, Vegas residencies, Mexico engagements, its own nightclub — have afforded Muriel the lavish lead-singer lifestyle he thought he had missed out on when King of the Hill came to an end.

That dream of a musical life started as far back as Muriel can remember. The son of a Latin music percussionist, Muriel grew up around the scene, and he recalls his father’s jazz jam sessions fondly.

“There were a lot of cats at the house all the time, and I’d sneak down the steps and listen to them play,” he says. “The next morning, I’d go around on all the instruments after they left.”

Despite that, Muriel’s biggest musical influences were two singers he has often been compared to over the years: David Lee Roth and Prince.

“I can remember riding my bike down the street and hearing [Van Halen’s] ‘You Really Got Me’ for the first time,” he says. “Whenever magazines would write about me, they would always say I’m like a cross between David Lee Roth and Prince. Those two guys went into my blender, and I came out.”

Despite his flamboyant, extroverted stage persona, Muriel insists that back in the ’80s at Hazelwood West High School, he kept to himself.

“I was always in the music room,” he says. “I had the greatest music teacher, Mr. Dole. He gave me a pack of signed passes, and I could get out of class any time I wanted.”

His focus on music paid off fast: Muriel was playing professionally with his old grade-school pal Cubby Smith (bassist for Dr. Zhivegas to this day) by age 16. While gigging at ’80s-era teen club Animal House, Muriel and Smith connected with drummer Vito Bono to form a new band: Broken Toyz. Then came Jimmy Griffin.

“He was just a kid, but he was already Continued on pg 38

n

“ He was a stellar representation of St. Louis hardcore as a whole.”

[DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK]

FRANKIE MURIEL

Continued from pg 37

a wizard,” Muriel says of Griffin, whose classic-rock-reviving guitar heroism has been a vital force in St. Louis for decades. “We rehearsed and instantly had that thing. Jimmy and I just connected.”

That chemistry would put Broken Toyz on a fast track: Soon they were playing almost every night for weeks at a time.

Then, to get the attention of the major labels, Muriel executed an ingenious sleight of hand.

“I had the idea to play on a rooftop at the VP Fair, do like a U2 thing,” he says. “There would be millions of people there, and the record company wouldn’t know that the crowds weren’t there for us.” Muriel rented a video truck and placed five camera operators on the roof and street to film the guerilla-style concert. “That’s what got us our deal,” he adds.

As bassist George Postos came on board to replace Smith, who departed to study jazz, the group flew into a whirlwind of Sunset Strip showcases and New-Yorkrecord-company courting, eventually inking a deal with EMI subsidiary SBK. With a name change to King of the Hill, a pile of advance money and management by the legendary Shep Gordon, the boys were swimming in the excesses of the LA high life. “We were like, ‘We made it!’” Muriel says. “It was everything you can imagine and more.”

King of the Hill cut its self-titled debut album with producer Howard Benson at the iconic Village Studios in LA. (“I have the shaker from [Steely Dan’s] ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’!” Muriel says.)

When the other boys hit the bars after recording sessions, Muriel stayed behind, learning how to make records. “I didn’t party,” he says. “I sat there from the time they opened the studio in the morning to the time they locked up at night, and I learned what everything did. That was my college.”

Then, just as the debut album was set for a big splash, the culture shifted as Nirvana burst onto the scene in September 1991 and released its landmark album Nevermind. Its first single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” became a sensation, sweeping the hair-metal bands away in favor of grunge.

Suddenly, all the Ratts and Wingers and, yes, Kings of the Hill were out of style.

“The very thing you do all of a sudden is not cool,” Muriel says.

Still, the band forged ahead behind a big marketing push. The video for “I Do U,” complete with the UCLA marching band and a 40-foot Ferris wheel, cost more to make than the album itself. The band hit the road, opening for bands such as White Lion, Lynch Mob and Extreme, who took King of the Hill on a sold-out arena tour across Europe.

The second single, “If I Say,” did even better, climbing to No. 63 on the Hot

100. Muriel saw the video for the first time on MTV in a UK hotel.

“I remember waking up and seeing my face staring back at me, and I thought I was dreaming,” Muriel says. “I was, like, holy shit! That’s us! We’re on TV!”

The label rushed the band back into the studio to record a follow-up with engineer Keith Olsen, producer of some of the biggest rock albums of the ’70s and ’80s. Muriel remembers thinking it was a better, more mature record.

Then the roof caved in.

“I was working on the liner notes for the second album when my manager called and said, ‘I wouldn’t do that’,” Muriel recalls. The label had decided to reject the album and dropped the band. King of the Hill was suddenly left with nothing.

“It was a tidal wave of financial ruin and crushed dreams,” Muriel says, calling it his lowest point. Finding himself rudderless and isolated back in St. Louis, Muriel let King of the Hill go fallow and put his life as a rock performer on ice.

Then Smith, his old childhood friend and bassist, came to the rescue, dragging Muriel along to do “this disco thing.”

“I thought I was going to do it for a week or two,” Muriel says. “It’s been 28 years.”

Dr. Zhivegas was an instant success, and over the years, Muriel’s rock & roll dreams came true after all.

Still, Muriel has long felt that King of the Hill had unfinished business.

To that end, 2023 is shaping up to be a full-scale redemption. This week sees the official release of that long-dormant (but oft-bootlegged) second album, now titled King of the Hill II, along with a sep-

arate collection of bonus cuts, acoustic b-sides and live tracks called Sessions

The four original members will be celebrating the new releases with a February 4 concert at Diamond Music Hall.

Muriel has been amazed by fans at recent King of the Hill reunion shows who know all the words to the band’s songs, even those that have never been officially released. At one point, he reads me a recent message on his phone from a fan in Austria who credits the unreleased song “Better U” with saving his life.

“You feel like it’s a failure, and you wait 30 years, and then you get something like this, and you realize that song was a success after all,” he says.

With Dr. Zhivegas still going strong and King of the Hill fielding offers from summer festivals, Muriel is prepping for one of his busiest years ever. But that doesn’t mean he’s maxed out.

“I’m working on a solo album,” Muriel

says with visible excitement. “I started thinking about what I want to be singing when I’m an old dude, you know?”

Frankie takes me into his home studio and blasts the solo-project tracks — soaring soul-rock bangers and rich heartbreak ballads — at muscle-failure volume. While he listens to his own songs, Frankie the showman suddenly materializes, dancing in his chair, making orgiastic faces and playing an orchestra of air instruments.

Watching him come alive to the solo recordings, I realize that Frankie, despite spending a lifetime in bands, has always been something of a lone soul. The high school kid hanging in the practice rooms by himself. The solitary singer studying in the studio when everyone else was out partying. The isolated rocker in his apartment after LA. The social media posts with the cigars, the pools, the tequilas, the beaches — most often alone. I ask him if he hangs out after the shows: “No. I hang out here,” he says, referring to his current bachelor pad detailed to only his specifications.

Like his hero Prince, Muriel is a paradox. He makes his living in the middle of the party but mostly prefers his own company. He has mastered the art of pleasing crowds but is himself most pleased when toiling away alone in the studio.

Nonetheless, he has great affection for the fans who have made this life possible, expressing his deep gratitude for the people who have followed his shows for more than 30 years, keeping him on stage doing the thing he loves.

I love it,” Muriel says. “You’re always playing someone’s favorite song.” n

Frankie Muriel performs with King of the Hill. | COURTESY PHOTO

“ I was working on the liner notes for the second album when my manager called and said, ‘I wouldn’t do that.’”

SIX Rocks

Now at the Fox eatre, SIX gives world history a remix

Written by TINA FARMER

STAGE 39

Chances are you know about England’s Henry VIII and the fact that he had six wives. Henry’s matrimonial escapades were scandalous and, like the king himself, a bit larger than life. They also laid the foundation for the Church of England and a rather macabre rhyme. The musical SIX adds a new perspective to history by giving voice to each of Henry’s queens.

In the high-powered rock musical, Henry’s six exes have formed a super group reminiscent of the Spice Girls, backed by a four-piece, all-female band. The stage design,

light show and costumes effectively reimagine the Tudor period, bringing the look into the 21st century. The musical kicks off with a group number, then each queen takes the spotlight to tell her story while vocally referencing contemporary pop queens. The premise is that the audience will judge which queen has the most compelling, heartwrenching tale, and she will become the lead singer of the group.

With that, the vocal battle royal begins. Catherine of Aragon, the OQ (original queen) and Henry’s longest marriage, kicks off the competition and Beyoncé is clearly her diva. There are hints of soul in the insistent impatience Cecilia Snow (replacing Gerianne Pérez) brings to “No Way,” Catherine’s signature song. Anne oleyn is fiery, determined and not about to soften up. Zan Berube channels Avril Lavigne and Pink in Boleyn’s crowd-pleasing “Don’t Lose Ur Head,” and its infectious “sorry, not sorry” refrain. Jane Seymour (mother of King Edward) is devoted to her child’s future, asserting her love persists after her untimely death. Amina Faye brings the soaring, heartbreak of an Adele song to Seymour’s “Heart of Stone,” ensuring at least a few tears among the audience.

While audiences may be more broadly aware of Henry’s first

three wives, the other three have juicy stories to share, helping the six queens to rewrite his-story to her-story. Born into German-royalty, Anna of Cleves’ divorce from Henry is something modern audiences can relate to — he chose her from a picture then didn’t like the real life version. Terica Marie gives Cleves’ hard rocking, dance party anthem “Get Down” a heavy dose of Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, with impressive club influenced choreography. Henry’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard was exceptionally attractive and young when she came to be his bride. Aline Mayagoitia finds the dark corners in “All You Wanna Do,” a catchy pop song that reflects the sexual duplicity of Ariana Grande and Britney Spears. Finally, there’s Catherine Parr, the queen at Henry’s side when he died. Married by obligation, Sydney Parra infuses her song, “I Don’t Need Your Love,” with R&B soulfulness and a touch of Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige.

Together, the queens make a compelling case for femme-powered unity by positing the fact that, if it weren’t for the six of them, history would likely forget the eighth King Henry. SIX re-mixes history with a satisfying story arc, songs that rock the house and a steady beat that brings the audience to its feet. n

SIX

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage. Presented at the Fabulous Fox Theatre through Sunday, February 5. Showtimes vary by day. Tickets are $35 to $150.

SIX is open at the Fox through this weekend. | JOAN MARCUS

90 Days Later

Arts and Education Council gives Centene Center for the Arts tenants notice amid plans to sell the Grand Center building

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

Soon, the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis’ Centene Center for the Arts will no longer be a home for St. Louis arts organizations.

On January 13, the tenants of 3547 Olive Street in Grand Center — all arts and education organizations — were given notice that they must vacate in 90 days and that the Arts and Education Council would be putting the building up for sale.

The day before, at 5:16 p.m., Ryan Henderson, executive assistant to the council’s president/CEO and administrative operations coordinator, sent out a brief email inviting the tenants to a 10 a.m. hybrid in-person/virtual meeting to discuss changes in face of “the restructuring.”

Later that day, Henderson emailed out a 21-minute recording of the meeting, which begins with almost four minutes of silence. It is the only eviction notice the arts organizations had received.

In the meeting, Jessireé Jenkins, Arts and Education Council grants and programs coordinator, announced the sale and said that Chris Hanson, executive director of the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, was willing to help relocate tenants to Kranzberg facilities and honor current rent costs.

Jenkins cited low occupancy as the reason for the sale. There are 14 current tenants, she stated, which is about 50 percent occupancy.

“I know it’s short notice, and it’s unexpected,” she says in the recording. “But this building is not producing the income that the organization A&E needs. It’s not, of course, a core part to our mission, so we had to make the difficult decision to put it on the market.”

The Arts and Education Council’s own offices will also “probably not be here after April 30,”

CULTURE

Jenkins says. She also advised the tenants not to count on using the buildings’ events space past three weeks.

Reached by phone Thursday, Jenkins tells the RFT that the staff had heard from the Arts and Education Council board of directors that the building might go up for sale in November or December, adding that the board might have been discussing the possibility before then. She says that the process to sell had begun but that she has not seen “a contract or anything.”

She says the decision was made to be “judicious” and to focus on the mission.

“What we do is get money into the community to support organizations,” she says. “We don’t necessarily need a building to do that.”

The Arts and Education Council has been located in the Centene Center since 2006 and purchased the building in 2012 for $1.26 million from Owen Development, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. The idea was to become an arts incubator, providing lowcost rent and shared performance

and meeting spaces. At that time, the building held 18 arts and education organizations.

Founded in 1963, the Arts and Education Council is an arts fund that draws its support from private contributions. According to the organization’s website, it provides grants to 39 area organizations through its six grant programs.

It’s also known for the St. Louis Art Awards, which recognize the “best of our region’s arts community.” Earlier this year, the Arts and Education Council pushed back that signature program from January 30 to April 17, citing supply chain issues with the awards as the reason.

According to the Arts and Education Council’s most recently available 990 — the information return all nonprofits must file to the I S — the organization shows a net profit of , for the tax year that ended in 2019 and $140,359 in rent and ancillary income.

In response to an email the RFT sent on January 11, Arts and Education Council board of directors

member Chris Dornfeld denies that the board had voted to dissolve the organization, writing “we will issue a statement about some staff and organization changes soon.”

On January 12, the RFT asked the organization’s president and CEO, Lyah LeFlore-Ituen, by email if she had resigned earlier that month and if the organization was having cash flow issues, asking whether the Centene building could be a contributing factor. LeFlore-Ituen did not respond to that email or a follow-up inquiry sent on January 17. She is still listed on the Council’s website as president and CEO. (Jenkins, the grants and programs coordinator, would not confirm if e lore Ituen is still with the organization.)

LeFloere-Ituen began her job as CEO on July 18, 2022. A native St. Louisan and best-selling author with 30 years in the entertainment industry, she’d moved home a few years earlier to take care of her ailing mother, former poet laureate Shirley Bradley LeFlore, before her 2019 passing. n

e Arts and Education Council intends to put the Centene Center for the arts up for sale. | VIA FLICKR / PAUL SABLEMAN

OUT EVERY NIGHT

Each week, we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the next seven days! To submit your show for consideration, visit https://bit.ly/3bgnwXZ. All events are subject to change, especially in the age of COVID-19, so do check with the venue for the most up-to-date information before you head out for the night. Happy showgoing!

THURSDAY 2

ANDY COCO’S NOLA FUNK AND R&B REVUE: 9:30 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

ERIC MCSPADDEN & MARGARET BIENCHETTA: 4 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS: 7:30 p.m., $30-$50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

KAREN CHOI: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

LA BLUES BAND: 7 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

TIM AND LISA FROM UNCLE ALBERT: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

TOM HALL: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

FRIDAY 3

CHARLES AND NIKKI GLENN: 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

COMMON GROUND: noon, $10. The Attic Music ar, S. ingshighway, nd floor, St. ouis, 314-376-5313.

DAVE BLACK GROUP: 8:30 p.m., $15-$20. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

FALLING FENCES: 8 p.m., $15. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

THE JOE BOZZI BAND: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

KICKSTAND COMEDY SHOWCASE: 8 p.m., $10.

HandleBar, 4127 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-652-2212.

KINGDOM BROTHERS: 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

THE LATE GREATS EP RELEASE: 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

LONG LIVE: A TAYLOR SWIFT INSPIRED DANCE

PARTY: 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis.

THE NAMBY PAMBY: w/ Cave Radio, Yannon 9 p.m., $10-$15. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

PARMALEE: 8:30 p.m., $20-$60. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481.

PTAH WILLIAMS: 6 p.m., free. Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 3716 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-754-1850.

RADKEY: w/ the Many Colored Death, Bruiser ueen, the Haddonfields p.m., . ed lag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SOUNDS TALENT & LOVE: 9:30 p.m., $12. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., St. Louis.

STEVEN WOOLLEY BAND: 9:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

TENCI: 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

VOODOO TALKING HEADS: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SATURDAY 4

ALL ROOSTERED UP: noon, free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

CLUSTERPLUCK: 9 p.m., $10-$15. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

DENISE THIMES: 8 p.m., $20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014

Anthrax w/ Black Label Society, Exodus

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 8. e Factory, 17105 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield. $49.50 to $69.50. 314-423-8500.

Improbably, Anthrax continues to exist. With a list of former members almost four times as long as the five players currently in its employ, the band has seen more than its fair share of volatility since its inception in 1981. But riffs are riffs and thrash is thrash. So as long as the pioneering metal act can still make the heads bang, its members can expect fans to flock to its shows. As one of the “Big Four” of thrash metal — alongside Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth — the group is using its current tour with Black

Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

DESTROY LONELY: 8 p.m., $35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

EMO NITE: 10 p.m., $17. Off Broadway, 3509

Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

EUPHORIA: 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

EUREKA STRINGS WINTER BALL: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Broadway Boat Bar, 1424 North Broadway, St. Louis, 314-703-0616.

FAEDED: w/ Punk Lady Apple, The Mall, Motherbear, Gabriel Vianello, Eric Donte, Rico Steez, Saylor, Maxi Glamour 10 p.m., $15. The Crack Fox, 1114 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-621-6900.

GATEWAY PIRATE FEST 2023: 7 p.m., $15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

GUNNAR: 8 p.m., free. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400.

Label Society and Exodus to celebrate its remarkable 40-year run as a band. Expect top tracks and deep cuts spanning the last four decades, maybe even with a Stormtroopers of Death song or two thrown in for good measure (hey, we can dream, can’t we?). Whatever you do, make sure you show up in time to catch Exodus, or be forever branded the poser that you are.

314-533-9900.

PAUL BONN AND THE BLUESMEN: 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PRE-VALENTINE’S DAY SURVIVAL GUIDE: w/ Katie McGrath and Chuck Flowers 7:30 p.m., $20$25. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

SUNDAY 5

BOB MARLEY’S BIRTHDAY BASH: w. Nonstop, DJ Ranking Spence, DJ Ital Kae 2 p.m., $11.50-$15. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

BROKEN JUKEBOX: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

BRUNCH AND THE BEATLES: w/ Drew Sheafor 10 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

CELEBRATE: 15TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: 7 p.m., . Schlafly Tap oom, ocust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

ERIK BROOKS: 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

JOHN MCVEY BAND: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

MISS JUBILEE & THE YAS YAS BOYS: 11 a.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

MONDAY 6

CEREMONIAL ABYSS: w/ Deniz Ozani, Kingston Family Singers, Eric Hall, Zak M 8 p.m., free. Platypus, 4501 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-359-2293.

MONDAY NIGHT REVIEW: w/Tim, Danny and Randy 7 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

TUESDAY 7

GUTCHECK: w/ Hard Graves, Reaver 7 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

JASON SCROGGINS & CECIL TIMMON: 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

MAGIC CITY HIPPIES: 8 p.m., $22.50. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

NAKED MIKE: 7 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PARKWAY DRIVE: 7:30 p.m., $35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

STEVE BAUER & MATT RUDOLF: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

—Daniel Hill

Quality Control: While Anthrax hasn’t released a proper studio album since 2016’s For All Kings, instead spending its time focused on its Among the Living graphic novel published through Z2 Comics in 2021, its members have reportedly been working on new music throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s hoping it’s more Spreading the Disease than Stomp 442

INTERPERSONAL: w/ the Open Books, A Living Hell, the Produce Isle 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

IVY LAB: w/ Lake Hills, Nikki Nair 9 p.m., $20$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

JOE PERA: 8 p.m., $35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE JUDDS: 7:30 p.m., $29.50-$399.50. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000.

KATIE MCGRATH AND CHUCK FLOWERS: 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

LAST GNOME STANDING: 11 a.m., $10. The Attic usic ar, S. ingshighway, nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

NATE’S MUDPIE HOOTENANNY: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

OUR SONG, OUR STORY: 8 p.m., $36-$46. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

WEDNESDAY 8

ANTHRAX: w/ Black Label Society 6:30 p.m., $49.50-$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 d, hesterfield, .

BADFISH: A TRIBUTE TO SUBLIME: 8 p.m., $20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

DREW LANCE: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

JOHN MCVEY BAND: 7 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

MARGARET & FRIENDS: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PRANK WILLIAMS & THE BROKEN SPOKES: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

VOODOO BOB MARLEY: 9 p.m., $10. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

BILLY E3: Sat., Feb. 25, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo

Angel Olsen. | ANGELA RICCIARDI

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Faeded w/ Maxi Glamour, Saylor, Rico Steez, Eric Donte, Gabriel Vianello, Motherbear, the Mall, Punk Lady Apple

10 p.m. Saturday, February 4. e Crack Fox, 1114 Olive Street. $10 to $15. 314-828-5064.

This week, several of St. Louis’ most delightfully weird acts will ratchet the absurdity up to new heights with Faeded, a “fantastic costumed spectacle of live music, DJs and dancing” presented by House of Glamour. The Crack Fox will be transformed to a fairy wonderland featuring two levels of drag queens, circus performers, musicians and other artists

Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314224-5521.

BRUISER QUEEN: W/ Petty Grievances, 33 on the Needle, Sat., April 1, 8 p.m., $10. Spaces, 207 E Main St, Belleville, 618-781-5232.

DAVE BLACK GROUP: Fri., Feb. 3, 8:30 p.m.,

$15-$20. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

THE DOLLY PARTON INSPIRED COUNTRY WESTERN

DIVA DANCE PARTY: Fri., April 14, 9 p.m., $12$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

DREW LANCE: Wed., Feb. 8, 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

GUTCHECK: W/ Hard Graves, Reaver, Tue., Feb. 7, 7 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

HOT KOOLAID: Sat., Feb. 25, 8 p.m., free.

all inviting attendees on a magical trip through an escapist realm of art and whimsy. The Demon Queen of Polka and Baklava, Maxi Glamour, will be your tour guide through the madness, and musical performances by the likes of Saylor, Rico Steez, Eric Donte, Gabriel Vianello, Motherbear, the Mall and Punk Lady Apple will ensure that the asses keep shaking no matter what otherworldly experience is thrown your way.

Go Ahead, Punk: This week’s edition of Faeded features a bit of a punk theme, with some of the artists bringing music with a harder edge to the festivities. However that ultimately plays out, one thing is for sure: Maxi’s fit will be one for the record books.

—Daniel Hill

Charlack Pub, 8334 Lackland Rd, Charlack, 314-423-8119.

JANET EVRA VALENTINE’S DINNER & SHOW: Tue., Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m., $95.00. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Sun., March 5, 2 p.m., $15. South Broadway Athletic Club, 2301 S. Seventh St., St. Louis, 314-776-4833.

JOSEPH: Fri., June 30, 8 p.m., $30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

NEIL SALSICH (OF THE MIGHTY PINES) WITH BETH

BOMBARA: Sun., March 5, 7 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

STARWOLF: W/ Bo and the Locomotive, Nick Gusman and the Coyotes, Sat., Feb. 11, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. n

Blake Fowler. | VIA TIME AND PRESSURE

Quickies

BY DAN SAVAGE

Hey Dan: My fiancé has a foot fetish, and he hates it. Can you tell him it’s harmless and immutable?

Harmless! Immutable! Also, we’re living in the golden age of foot-fetishist representation — from the conniving, murderous, unctuous Ser Larys Strong on HBO’s House of the Dragon (prestige television!) to the sweet, goofy, traumatized Jimmy on TLC’s MILF Manor (trash television!), guys with a thing for feet are suddenly all over our screens. And as kinks go, there are far … well, I don’t want to say worse fetishes. Let’s just say there are fetishes that are far harder to explain, far riskier to attempt, and that a vanilla partner is far less likely to happily indulge you in.

Hey Dan: Would you contact an ex after a year to ask how they are?

Depends on the ex, depends on the breakup and depends on where we left things. If the ex was a genuinely nice person that I liked, I might be inclined to reach out. If I experienced the breakup as amicable and I have every reason to believe my ex did, too, I might be inclined to reach out. And if the last time we talked we both said we would be open to being friends in the future, I might be inclined to reach out.

Hey Dan: Are you experienced with chastity?

I have tried on a cock cage — once a philosopher — but the idea of having my cock locked up for an extended period of time doesn’t appeal to me.

Hey Dan: Is sexting real sex or mutual masturbation? Is sex with an AI chatbot real sex or masturbation?

The American Psychological Association defines “mutual masturbation” as a “sexual activity in which two individuals stimulate each other’s genitals at the same time for the purpose of sexual gratification.” (Emphasis added for, well, emphasis.) Since you can’t touch someone else’s junk via sext message, sexting wouldn’t count as mutual masturbation. It’s a shared erotic experience and one many people in monogamous relationships would consider cheating, but it’s not a sex act. And while you can certainly stimulate your own genitals as you swap

messages with an AI chatbot, that’s not fucking. That’s typing.

Hey Dan: How do I get my libido back? I’ve lost it to SSRIs and boredom.

Talk to your doctor about adjusting your meds — advocate for your own libido — and then talk to your partner about breaking out of your sexual rut(s). If you’re always having sex with the same person, in the same place, at the same time and in the same way, try having sex with someone else, someplace else, at some other time and in some other way. If you aren’t allowed to have sex with anyone else, then have sex someplace else, at some other time and in some other way with your partner. And if the only person you’re allowed to have sex with (or want to have sex with) isn’t willing to give other places, times and ways a try, well, breakups are never boring.

Hey Dan: How does one find space for masturbation when living together with very little alone time?

One takes long showers, one gets up early or goes to bed late, one seizes opportunities as they present themselves, e.g., partner has a doctor’s appointment, partner is out with friends, partner is locked in the storage unit in the basement.

Hey Dan: What can/should I wear to a fetish party if leather/latex aren’t my thing(s)?

Check if the fetish party you’re planning to attend has a dress code. Some require a certain kind of fetish attire (usually leather and/or latex), but these days most fetish parties are open to any kind of fetish attire. You’ll see people at fetish parties in leather and latex, of course, but you’ll also see people in zentai suits, wrestling singlets, jockstraps, canvas straightjackets, fursuits or nothing at all.

Hey Dan: What is the best way to meet bi cis women in LTRs with men who want to hook up?

There are apps for that.

Hey Dan: Shoes or boots?

Wearing? Shoes. Licking? Boots.

Hey Dan: I have two friends who hate each other. Neither knows I’m friends with the other. What do I do?

Whatever you’ve been doing, I guess, seeing as you’ve managed to be friends with both without either finding out. Al-

SAVAGE LOVE

ternatively, you could tell them both and watch what happens. If one issues an ultimatum (you can’t be friends with both of us, you have to pick, etc.), you should definitely end your friendship — with the person who issued the ultimatum. If they both issue ultimatums, go make new and better friends.

Hey Dan: How do I cope with feeling ostracized from my local kink community due to some unfair accusations?

Get input from people who know you and may have observed your interactions at kink events and/or with your past partner(s), learn from your mistakes (if any), make amends (if possible) and get help (if necessary). And if you’re still not welcome in your local kink community … you’ll have to find or create a new one.

Hey Dan: I’m feeling very weird about trans women exploring tampons with such wonder, a feeling that has taken me off guard.

We got used to having a King of England who once explored — through fantasy and, for all we know, through roleplay — being his then-mistress’s tampon. How did we all manage to do that? Well, we tried not to think about it, and when that failed (when certain prestige dramas reminded us), we tried to remember that it’s none of our business. You can get used to trans women exploring tampons the same way: Try not to think about it, and if you find yourself thinking about it despite your best efforts … remind yourself that that it’s none of your business.

Hey Dan: Can someone be bad at cuddling?

Yes.

Hey Dan: Gay tops and bottoms — nature or nurture?

Some gay men really, really wanna bottom but can’t because bottoming — being the one getting fucked during anal intercourse — just doesn’t work for them; there’s just some physiological thing that prevents them from getting fucked. That’s nature. Some gay men don’t wanna bottom because it conflicts with their self-conception — the person they see themselves as — and some gay men don’t want to top for the same reason. That’s nurture. And some people are versatile, of course, and some — sides — aren’t interested in topping or bottoming, at least when it comes to anal sex.

Hey Dan: Dealing with ED — erectile dys-

function — and really don’t like taking Viagra. Any suggestions?

If it’s the side effects that bother you … try another ED med, such as Cialis, or a lower dose of Viagra. If it’s the symbolism that bothers you … get over it. Also, try cockrings maybe.

Hey Dan: Why would my boyfriend spend an amazing weekend filled with sex and affection with me, then make future plans, only to dump me over the phone a few days later without any real explanation, empathy or care? I feel confused and abandoned.

Your ex-boyfriend’s behavior wasn’t confusing. It was clarifying. Now you can clearly see what you missed before: Your ex-boyfriend is an asshole. You don’t (or shouldn’t) want to be with an asshole, so he did you a favor — a painful favor, but still — by revealing himself to be an asshole and promptly exiting your life, which is the nicest thing an asshole can possibly do for you.

Hey Dan: My boyfriend drinks three to four drinks per day. Is it my place to ask him to reduce consumption? It’s his body, after all.

It’s his body, he can do what he likes with it, and he gets to make his own choices. But your body is your body. You can do what you like with your body, and you get to make your own choices. And if you and your body don’t wanna be with someone who drinks as much as your boyfriend does, you can choose to take your body and go. If your boyfriend and his body would like you and your body to stay, he can choose to drink less.

Hey Dan: I’m a 40-year-old man, and I’m about to be single again. How do I approach dating?

With a sense of wonder and anticipation — also, a real appreciation for your luck, as your timing could not be better. You don’t mention your sexual orientation, but the world is suddenly full of men and women — some your own age, some significantly younger — who are all about dating, fucking and possibly marrying daddies, e.g., hot men in their 40s and 50s. Make sure you’re in good working order, be respectful, brush up on the campsite rule (always leave ’em in better shape then you found ‘em) and have fun out there.

Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love Podcasts, columns and more at savage.love!