Riverfront Times, February 15, 2023

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FRONT BURNER 6

THREE QUESTIONS for Dan Martin, Weatherbird Artist

Every day, a 121-year-old Weatherbird appears on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It is the work of Dan Martin, 65, who has amassed nearly 13,000 Weatherbird illustrations over his 43-year tenure at the daily. He’s the sixth artist to draw the bird since 1901. On Monday, Martin announced his semi-retirement. Although he will continue to draw the Weatherbird daily, he will cease his additional duties as a cartoonist and designer for the Post-Dispatch. We spoke with Martin on Tuesday to learn more about his career. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What led you to make this move to semi-retirement?

The biggest one is that I turned 65. There’s too many fish to be caught, naps to be taken, so I wanted to retire. When I was discussing this with [Executive Editor] Alan Achkar beforehand, he says, “Would you be interested in freelancing this?” because they want to continue this great tradition. And I said, “Sure.” So I joined a small geezer club of Bill McClellan, who still writes a column part-time, and Rick Hummel, who will still be writing about baseball part-time also.

What is your process drawing the Weatherbird?

I deal with Brent Fisher, the night city editor, who knows what’s on the front page that day. The Weatherbird always has to comment or relate to something on the front page. He sends me a budget of what’s going to be on page one, and I look through what I think might be the best bird subject, and then he says OK, and then I draw it here at home. I’ve been working at home during the pandemic for the past two and a half years.

I still draw it the old-fashioned way. I do it with pencil and ink on Strathmore drawing paper. From the studio here at home, I scan it into the Mac, and then I color-break it, and I’ll send it to Brent, and he’ll put it into the system. I’ll write about a dozen potential bird lines and he’ll pick one of those, and that’s what he’ll type in the drawing itself in the paper.

What do you want readers to know about what goes into the illustrations that you do on a daily basis?

I want them to know that this is the oldest continuously drawn daily cartoon in American journalism. A lot of people don’t realize that –– that we take pride in that at the Post-Dispatch. People say, “Why is it even there?” But it’s really no different than the New York Times running their famous box –– “All the news that’s fit to print” at the top of the page. And I want them to know that it’s done on daily deadlines. So it’s unique to St. Louis, and we do it every day.

Previously On LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6 Beginning at 7 a.m., thieves steal four cars in an hour — and Fox 2 reports that in every case, the victims left their cars running while, say, stepping out to pick up coffee or dropping a pet at doggie daycare. People! You live in St. Louis. You cannot leave your car running, even at 7 a.m. Your suburban behavior is fueling our crime stats!

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7 U.S. Representative Cori Bush brings Michael Brown Sr. to the State of the Union. She wears a jacket saying “I still can’t breathe.” Too bad TV networks didn’t give her the close-up she deserved. Also: the Board of Aldermen decides “equity” can take a back seat to the status quo — sending President Megan Green’s plan to give north city wards more money to crushing defeat. “There is not enough money in ward capital to fund the basic needs we have now,” Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer says of her south city ward, and who can argue? So whatever happened to all that Kroenke cash anyway?

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Emerson will keep its HQ in St. Louis — finally, we’re not getting dumped! Speaking of dumping, the Post-Dispatch says BiState Development is getting rid of its $10.3 million smart-card system, which never actually worked. Another thing we apparently can’t put our Kroenke cash toward is making public transit free. Instead, we’ll spend $4 million on a differ-

ESCAPE HATCH

ent gate-keeping system. So St. Louis.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9 The archdiocese floats turning St. Louis’ 178 parishes into 88 “pastorates” — where some congregations will survive, but their Sunday masses won’t. The president of the group fighting the changes says he anticipates a “Catholic hunger games” where parishes fight for the time and attention of their priests. Surely a ratings bonanza!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 The Board of Aldermen wraps its session — and passes $65 million for safer streets. Does this mean we can cross the road without waiting for at least three cars to blow past the red light? (Undoubtedly no.)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 April weather in mid-February is such a treat. Please tell us this won’t mean August weather in April! Also, U.S. fighter jets shoot something else out of the sky, this time over Canada, and just one day after shooting another object down over Alaska. Let’s hope it’s not the arrival of extraterrestrials because this seems more likely to end like War of the Worlds than E.T.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Chiefs win! Can we count this as a victory for Missouri? The city is divided: Half claim the win, half remember that the Chiefs’ owners colluded with Kroenke to screw St. Louis. Even in the face of a $578 million advertising juggernaut, we maintain zero consensus

We ask three St. Louisans what they’re reading, watching or listening to. In the hot seat this week: three people at Volpi Foods.

Richard Creeps, 98-year-old customer

Listening to: Harry James

“He plays the trumpet and plays 1940s music better than most. He’s really good.”

Thomas Jackson, Volpi employee

Reading by way of listening: Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano mystery series

“It’s nice to listen to while working on things.”

Andrei Rugamas, Volpi employee

Reading: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

“It’s hard to stress how much history repeats itself. We never learn anything.”

Benjamin Simon

Dan Martin and the Weatherbird. | DAN MARTIN

WEEKLY WTF?!

Sign Spotting

Date of sighting: February 8

Location: Near North Riverfront neighborhood

Metaphorically, the bombed-out building is: a difficult three-way race for reelection against a popular state representative and another alderman

Metaphorically, the bombed-out building also is: a scandal involving allegedly striking a woman with a car then pulling a gun on her while streaming on Facebook live

Metaphorically, the PAIN billboard looming ominously is: Federal Prosecutor Hal Goldsmith, possibly looking to bust another alderman for bribery

Metaphorically, the Brandon Bosley signs are: Brandon Bosley

SO ST. LOUIS Peeping President

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

Flip back the yellowing pages of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives, and you’ll find evidence of a scandal so Midwestern, so petty and so focused on moralizing, that you’ll have a singular conclusion: only in St. Louis.

The year was 1891, and the subject was “lady teachers.” Just like in 2023, people couldn’t help sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

The story began with an innocent woman, a lady teacher.

“I had been told to drink beer by my physician,” the lady wrote in a statement, “on account of nervousness which sometimes kept me from sleeping.”

One night she was drinking that medicinal brew in the bracing night air and realized that she

was under surveillance by two “gentlemen,” one an unknown. Shortly afterward, she found herself called before the Teachers Committee and questioned about her drinking. She soon identified the mystery man: none other than St. Louis Public School President Miller!

How much sneaking around in the night, peering in at teachers innocently sipping their brews, did he do? The P-D thought: too much.

But if this widespread surveillance scandalized readers, the way that these ladies got out of their chargers seemed even more indecorous. Several had, uh, some “petticoat pull” with education board members.

And if you have to ask what that means, well, you’re probably not from here.

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

Lucas Kunce, the affable and fresh-faced candidate working to unseat the fist-raising insurrectionist-boosting-turned-insurrectionist-fleeing Senator Josh Hawley, introduced his new bride, Marilyn (Martinez) Kunce over brunch at Benton Park Cafe on Saturday.

Lucas and Marilyn sat beside me on a padded bench while we waited for the table to open up. The body language of the fit and attractive couple was that of a classic courtship, with his arm around her and a lot of smiles, laughter and eye contact.

Lucas met Marilyn at a D. C. coffee shop this past September. The svelte 29-year-old couldn’t get her Apple Pay to work. She was rifling through her bag looking for cash when Lucas introduced himself and offered to pay. They met for a romantic walk along the National Mall that very evening, but as the two held hands Saturday morning, Marilyn told me it wasn’t until the second date that she learned he was a public figure.

“I was talking about how cruel people can be online, and how they will say things they’d never say in person, and he said, ‘I know something about that.’ He then Googled his name, and I tried not to show much of a reaction, but the instant I got home I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’” she recalled with a laugh.

Marilyn spent her early years on a farm in rural Mexico but says climate change made the land unsuitable for farming, so her family moved to town. Intellectually curious at a very young age, she was bored in preschool and asked to sit in on the first-grade class. The teacher humored her but realized she was already on a first-grade level and recommended the four-year-old skip two grades. In addition to her schooling, she worked long hours at the family’s food truck and began earning money as a singer at age seven. (Karaoke is a favorite activity, which she’s roped Lucas into.) After graduating at 16, she attended Juárez University of the state of Durango, where she graduated at the top of her class.

Marilyn came to the U.S. on an exchange program in 2017, not knowing English. Today, she works for the Na-

SOMETIMES

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT

Lucas Kunce Introduces His New Bride

tional Resource Defense Council as an international finance and research analyst, a job she can do remotely from their home in suburban Kansas City but which also involves traveling abroad.

You might say the life of a political couple is one of hard knocks. When going door to door in Independence, for instance, one man pointed a gun at them.

“You’re coming out hard today!” Lucas laughed at the time, and after talking for a few minutes, the man said he would vote for Lucas’ candidate. (That day he was going door-to-door for state Representative Robbie Sauls, DIndependence.) Another time, Marilyn didn’t notice a deep puddle because it was covered in leaves.

“I now wear boots when door knocking,” she said while extending her legs.

Life with Lucas has been a crash course in all things Missouri. He has taken Marilyn to all corners of the state, up into the Arch and the St. Louis Wheel — despite her fear of heights.

“We were driving along Route 179 along the Missouri River,” Lucas began, “and she was amazed at how well we could see the stars.”

Lucas hails from Jefferson City, and Marilyn finds many similarities with her own hometown, including that many have to leave in order to find work. While Lucas has been pursuing that problem politically, Marilyn has been pursuing it with environmental policy. Another similarity they point to is the community feel. While the couple was married in Independence on January 13, they will have the big ceremony in Mexico later this month. One reason it will be so big is that everyone who has touched Marilyn’s life in some way wants to come, which Lucas said reminds him of the Jefferson City culture.

Recently, Marilyn went to the ER with stomach pains. “The doctor simply said, ‘You’re pregnant,’” she recalled. Their baby boy is due to arrive at the end of July.

It was a brunch chock-full of delightful conversation and Rihannaesque revelations. And I suspect this smart, nimble power couple will continue to surprise us.

Missouri Gets Famous for ‘Toddlers’ Right to Carry’

A Republican gun bill morphs from an attack on Kim Gardner to a national punchline

Written by RAY HARTMANN

This year’s legislative whoring for the gun lobby started out innocently enough in Missouri.

The main focus of Missouri’s Republican politicians was to be an attack on Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. That’s low-hanging fruit in Jefferson City. Sure, it’s pointless, hypocritical and unabashedly racist. That’s why they do it.

What’s that about Republicans believing in governing closest to home? And local control? Those lofty ideals weren’t meant to apply to Black women of Gardner’s unyielding persona. Not even a little.

There’s plenty to criticize in Gardner’s work. But she answers for that to an electorate, not overseers from the opposing political party, all feigning their rage from a comfortable distance.

This has nothing to do with crime in St. Louis. A shocking number of homicides don’t even make it to Gardner’s office for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that new stand-your-ground gun laws make it virtually impossible to prosecute firearm crimes.

Much of the criticism of the circuit attorney’s office being poorly run is justified. But the notion that any such shortcomings somehow move the needle on the overall crime rate is just irrational and ludicrous.

Regardless, bashing Gardner is Republicans’ favorite political sport these days. So they led with that while slipping in their annual shameless favors to make the gun lobby more secure. And Missouri-

ans less safe.

The legislative strategy was straightforward: Governor Mike Parson, conveniently a former county sheriff, would be empowered to gut Gardner’s authority by usurping her role on the most serious felony charges. Initially, the concept was that direct, but it became clear to the bill’s sponsors that they would need the fig leaf of writing the bill more broadly. You know, so that the governor would at least have the capability of inflicting this injustice upon any county in the state where he had a problem with the prosecutor.

No one was fooled by any of that; Republicans were after Gardner alone. The political bottom line was obvious: An appointed special prosecutor would be foisted upon the citizens of the City of St. Louis as an upgrade over their elected circuit attorney. What’s not to like if you’re a non-Black person not from St. Louis?

It didn’t go so well. The kind benevolence of white Republicans wasn’t welcomed with the gratitude that overlords customarily require of their fortunate recipients. In this case, representatives of the disenfranchised Black community responded with the anger and indignation one would expect and to which they were entitled.

But don’t underestimate one thing: The white racial instigators in Jefferson City loved every moment of it. It’s political gold.

Now, far be it from me as a white guy to call any of this racist. The Black House members took care of that. Getting insulted, sometimes inadvertently, is old hat to them.

But then this happened. Representative Kevin Windham (DSt. Louis County), who just happens to be a Black man, had his microphone shut off abruptly on the floor of the House last week by House Speaker Dean Plocher (R-St. Louis County). That’s the customary response when white members take offense to a Black member’s choice of words.

Apparently, Windham made a reference to systemic racism or some such forbidden subject under the new House “Don’t You Talk Like That About White People” speech code. The Republicans immediately cut off debate, without debate.

That was that. A bill that would enable Parson to supplant an elect-

HARTMANN 9

ed prosecutor with an unelected “special prosecutor” — with zero input or approval from the inflicted local jurisdiction — was sent slithering last week to the Senate. Just can’t wait for that debate.

As for the legislation, it rather gave the game away in its definition of what might trigger the governor. In the bill is this:

“The governor would be empowered to call in a special prosecutor if he ‘determines that a threat to public safety and health exists in a circuit or prosecuting attorney’s jurisdiction’ after:

“(1) Reviewing federal, state, or local crime statistics; or

“(2) Finding that the number of occurrences of homicide cases in the twelve months immediately preceding exceeds a rate of thirtyfive cases per every one hundred thousand people within the circuit or prosecuting attorney’s jurisdiction.”

That first one — “reviewing … crime statistics” — pretty much empowers the governor to call in a special prosecutor over cocktails on a beach. If the mere act of reviewing crime statistics is all that’s needed to move on a prosecutor’s turf, it’s superfluous to offer any other metric.

But for whatever reason, the bill does that anyway, and it’s a bit of a tell. The homicides-per-hundred-thousand-people statistic is standard currency in the world of crime numbers. And only one county in the state of Missouri even comes close to hitting it.

That, of course is St. Louis, which also suffers the tragic distinction of being just one of four cities in the entire nation exceeding the 35-homicides-per-hundred-thousand figure.

Consider another homicide statistic: In 47 of the past 54 years, the City of St. Louis has had a crime rate exceeding that horrific 35-per-hundred-thousand trigger point, according to Post-Dispatch research. Not since 2003 has St. Louis been below the level cited in the bill. Only seven times dating back to 1970. How far back would they like to blame Gardner?

Obviously, this wasn’t intended to be just about Gardner and St. Louis and race and political cheap thrills. It was about making a statement. But it also included other gun-related matters, including some ideas recommended by

a bipartisan working group that sought to carve out new ground with something other than NRA marching orders.

As an example, the state’s 2016 law — enacted over the veto of Governor Jay Nixon — eliminated permit requirements for concealed carry. But those permits were restricted to 19-yearolds and up (except in the case of 18-year-olds serving in the military), so their elimination also removed any age-related rules as to firearm possession.

Real-world impact: if police stop a kid with a firearm, even if the kid is in their early teens or younger, there’s no such thing as taking away that weapon. Any child has free rein to roam the streets packing heat, for real.

So Representative Donna Baringer, D-St. Louis, proposed a modest amendment that would have banned minors from carrying certain firearms on public property without the presence of an adult. The Republicans pulverized it with a vote of 104-39.

And in so doing, Missouri got to make another gun-related statement, and this one wasn’t so pretty. Consider these headlines that I assure you had state economicdevelopment and tourism officials making early exits for the Jefferson City bars after they showed up online:

From Vanity Fair: “Missouri Republicans Vote to Affirm Toddlers’ Right to Carry Firearms in the Streets”; from the Washington Post: “Missouri Republicans block proposed ban on kids carrying guns in public”; from Rolling Stone: “Missouri GOP on Kids Carrying Guns: Yes, Please”

What great public relations for a state that already ranks fourth in the nation for firearm deaths, according to the latest CDC statistics. That will put Missouri on the map, all right. The map of places too dangerous to visit, much less move to.

And to think it all started with just a little exercise in the Republican sport of maligning Kim Gardner for cheap political gain. You just never know when you’re going to shoot yourself in the foot. n

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.

Missouri Executes Leonard “Raheem” Taylor

He claimed he was innocent of the quadruple homicide up until his death

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

ASt. Louis County man who claimed he was nearly 2,000 miles away from the quadruple homicide for which he was convicted was executed last week at a Missouri prison in Bonne Terre.

Leonard Taylor, 58, died by lethal injection at 6:15 p.m. on February 7 for the 2004 murders of his live-in girlfriend, Angela Rowe, and her three young children.

Rowe and Alexus Conley, 10; AcQreya Conley, 6; and Tyrese Conley, 5, were found dead at their house in Jennings on December 3, 2004. Each suffered at least one gunshot wound to the head. Rowe also had a graze wound to her chest and a bullet wound in her left arm.

In the execution chamber, Taylor laid flat on a bed, under a thin white sheet. He hardly moved during the time state witnesses were permitted to view Taylor. His eyes stayed shut. For a few moments, his chest heaved up and down, and then his breathing slowed. He was pronounced dead nine minutes after a five-gram lethal injection shot was administered.

Rowe’s older sister, Gerjuan Rowe, said after Taylor’s execution that “justice was served.” She said she’s celebrated her lost sister’s, nephew’s and nieces’ birthdays for the past 18 years: “I’ve always wondered what they’d be like.

“Maybe now I can move forward a little bit — just a little bit,”

Gerjuan Rowe said. “Just take baby steps every day.”

For his supporters, Taylor’s death was met with anger and frustration.

“Today, Leonard Raheem Taylor was unjustly killed by the very system that should have protected [him],” the Midwest Innocence Project said in a statement to the RFT.

Taylor had long maintained he was in California at the time of the murders. Since his trial in 2008, new evidence — most obtained in just the past few months — had supported his claim.

At the center of Taylor’s innocence claim is the disputed time of death for Rowe and her children.

In a pre-trial deposition, Dr. Phillip Burch testified that Rowe and her children were killed about two or three days before their bodies were found on December 3, 2004. At trial, however, Burch changed his opinion and said the murders could have occurred two to three weeks before their bodies were found — a time when Taylor was still in St. Louis.

In an affidavit on January 25, forensic pathologist Dr. Jane Turner said signs pointed to the murders occurring days, not weeks, before

the bodies were found.

Deja Taylor, Taylor’s daughter who was 13 at the time of the murders, claimed in a November 9, 2022, court filing that her father was in California at that time. She said her father had put her on the phone with Rowe, who “seemed very excited to meet” her. Deja Taylor also said she spoke with one of Rowe’s children during the phone call, which lasted about 20 to 30 minutes.

Taylor’s supporters also maintain that a confession police obtained from his brother, Perry Taylor, was coerced. Perry Taylor originally told police his brother had confessed the murders to him. He recanted the statement at trial.

“I’ve seen a lot of cases over my career, and this was one of the strongest cases of innocence I’ve ever seen,” Kent Gipson, one of Taylor’s attorneys, told the RFT

Up until his final hours, Taylor’s attorneys hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would stay Taylor’s execution and appoint a special master to investigate Taylor’s innocence claims. But the court declined to halt Taylor’s execution around 4 p.m.

Earlier in the week, organizations that focus on wrongful convictions, including the New York-

based Innocence Project, asked Governor Mike Parson to appoint an independent board of inquiry to evaluate Taylor’s case. Parson shot down the request, calling Taylor’s claim of innocence “selfserving.”

A few hours later, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell doubled down on an earlier decision he made not to leverage a newly passed law to get Taylor a hearing on his innocence. Though Bell opposes the death penalty and will not seek it as a matter of office policy, Bell said in a statement that his office “believed the jury got the verdict right.”

“The only way I was confident we were going to get anywhere was if Wesley Bell would’ve filed under that new law,” Gipson said.

But Bell — who took steps to see a special prosecutor appointed before the November execution of Kevin Johnson, only to see the process halted by the Supreme Court — was unwilling to go to the mat for Taylor.

Bell’s statement also contained this somewhat ominous suggestion: “For this office to provide details on why we came to this judgment could only further incriminate a person who sought relief from this office and currently has appeals pending.”

In his final official statement, Taylor did not opine about the perceived injustice in his case. Rather, he quoted a verse from the Quran, writing in part, “And do not speak of those [Muslims] who are slain in Allah’s way as dead; nay, (they/we are) alive, but you do not perceive [their life and strength].”

Taylor, a Muslim, continued to write that “Muslims don’t die.” He wrote, “We live eternally in the hearts of our family and friends.”

Taylor had requested a spiritual advisor to stay by his side as he received a lethal dose of pentobarbital. The state denied his request late Monday, saying he did not ask for an advisor’s presence in time. (Taylor had signed a document on January 25 saying he did not want witnesses for his execution.)

Missouri Department of Corrections Communications Director Karen Pojmann said Taylor’s attorneys had requested to be witnesses as well. Their requests were also denied.

Missouri executed Leonard “Raheem” Taylor. | COURTESY MACARTHUR JUSTICE CENTER

All told, there were nine witnesses to Taylor’s execution chosen by the victims — and none by Taylor. Fifty-eight demonstrators stood outside of the prison in support of Taylor, with four others who stood in support of his execution.

MacArthur Justice Center co-Director Megan Crane, who said her request to be a witness was also denied, called the denial of Taylor’s chosen witnesses “an undeniable and irreversible injustice.”

“But, in the words of Raheem, he will ‘live eternally in the hearts of family and friends,’” Crane said. “Up until his final moment, he was joy, he was light, he was a rock. His spirit could not be destroyed.”

Rev. Darryl Gray, a Christian minister who served as spiritual advisor to Kevin Johnson, said Taylor joined his congregation in a church service over the phone the Sunday prior to his execution.

“It was an amazing experience,” Gray said. “He got a chance to speak to our congregation and they got a chance to pray for him.”

Taylor spent his 19 years of incarceration mentoring younger inmates, studying law and serving as president of the Potosi Correctional Center’s chapter of the NAACP.

“He’s a great person,” said Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians Against the Death Penalty. “Very charismatic, very intelligent.”

Taylor is the 95th inmate and the 39th Black man to be executed in Missouri since the state began executions by lethal injection in 1989. He’s also the third person to be executed in Missouri in the past 70 days as part of a trio of cases put in motion by former Attorney General Eric Schmitt before his election to the U.S. Senate.

More than 3,300 formerly incarcerated individuals have been exonerated for crimes they did not commit, including 52 people in Missouri, 4 of whom were on the state’s death row, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Many of Missouri’s exonerees would not have lived to be exonerated had they been sentenced to death like Taylor.

“It’s a shame to kill him without giving him a chance to prove his innocence,” Gipson said. “He probably isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last one.”

New Afghan Welcome Center Opens

The center will support the nearly 700 Afghans who have moved to St. Louis since 2021

Written by BENJAMIN SIMON

After hundreds of Afghan refugees settled in St. Louis over the past year, the International Institute of St. Louis held a grand opening for its most recent initiative on Friday: a community center.

The center, located in an office space at 3611 South Grand Boulevard in Tower Grove South, will offer a wide range of services for Afghan immigrants resettling in St. Louis. It will include the Afghan Chamber of Commerce, which will provide services such as English classes, driver’s education for women, financial literacy, credit building and mental health programs. The center will also supply additional activities for kids, including a youth talent show, sports and arts, says Moji Sidiqi, Afghan Community Development program manager for the International Institute.

“[Kids] have been exposed to war for decades on end. Folks are more concerned with survival,” she says. “Now that they’re in the United States in a safe space, I’m going to push for the center to advocate for their creativity for arts, for bands, for music, for writing.”

After more than six months of work, the grand opening took place on Friday morning. More than 50 institute employees, Afghan families, business owners, representatives from immigrant organizations and community members crowded into the lobby of the building where the center is located. Throughout the hourlong event, attendees enjoyed Afghan food, toured the office space and listened to multiple speakers, including Sidiqi, attorney Jerry Schlichter and International Institute President and CEO Arrey Obenson.

Over the past year, St. Louis has seen an influx of Afghan refugees — the largest number of total arrivals in the International Institute’s history, according to St. Louis Public Radio. Nearly 700 Afghans have settled into permanent housing in St. Louis since 2021 when the U.S. withdrew troops and the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

And the influx of new arrivals to the

city is not over. More than 220 refugees are expected to arrive from Albania in the coming months. Last week, two International Institute staff members, including Sidiqi, traveled to Albania to speak with refugees about coming to St. Louis.

After Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the institute launched the Afghan Support Program in January 2022 to accommodate the growing number of Afghan immigrants, providing $500,000 for housing assistance, creating an Afghan newspaper and supplying 200 families with iPads and smartphones. Many have settled in south St. Louis, making Grand an ideal location for the commu-

Cori Bush Staffer Feels She Was Unfairly Fired

nity center.

“It’s in a centralized location, close to the institute, in a neighborhood where the majority of our new arrivals stay,” Sidiqi says. “It couldn’t be more ideal.”

As more Afghan immigrants land in St. Louis, Sidiqi doesn’t want them just to live here. She wants St. Louis to feel like home.

“There’s a big initiative behind the Afghan Support Program and that is to incentivize Afghans to move to St. Louis,” Sidiqi says, “so that we can basically emulate [the] Bosnian migration that took place in the ’90s and make St. Louis the next little Kabul.” n

mayor of Jennings.

Aja Owens, 41, says that she was fired on January 27. Four days prior, Owens was filmed yelling at Mayor Yolanda Austin at a Jennings city council meeting. Owens is a former Jennings City Council member who is currently running against Austin for mayor.

This has lead Owens to believe the termination was politically motivated. When asked if she feels like Austin pressured the Bush office to fire her, Owens says, “absolutely.”

Late last month an outreach representative from Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush’s office was let go from her job a few days after getting into a confrontation with the

A spokesperson for Cori Bush says in a statement that the congresswoman’s office “considers internal personnel matters confidential and will not comment publicly on its staffing decisions, except to say that the office values our team deeply and conducts all personnel matters in compliance with the

Continued on pg 13

Moji Sidiqi speaks at the opening of the new Afghan Welcome Center. | BENJAMIN SIMON

After an argument with the mayor of Jennings, Aja Owens was terminated from her job with Cori Bush

Written by RYAN KRULL

AJA OWENS

Congressional Accountability Act and applicable House Rules.”

Owens says she wasn’t at the meeting as a representative for the congresswoman’s office and therefore didn’t violate any congressional rules. She says she is seeking legal representation in regards to the termination.

“I was there in my personal capacity,” Owens says. “I never miss a meeting.”

The argument at the January 23 city council meeting was about Fairview Village Senior Living, a 50-unit senior living facility that was vacated after a pipe burst over Christmas. The facility has gotten negative press recently for delays that have prevented residents from moving back in.

Many of the facility’s residents have been in the Hilton Garden Inn by the airport and receiving help from the Urban League. Owens tells the RFT that she has been delivering food to them as well, in her capacity as a private citizen. She says she’s long taken an interest in Fairview Village because it was in her ward when she was a Jennings city councilwoman.

At the council meeting, Owens says that the mayor told those assembled that the Urban League would no longer be assisting the residents because Owens had told them not to.

“She slandered my name, which is why I stood up to defend myself,” Owens says.

The RFT reached out to Austin via email but has not heard back.

A video clip from the city council meeting obtained by the RFT via a Sunshine Law request seems to begin mid-meeting as Austin says, “Aja Owens from the United States Representative office of Cori Bush came in and said from this day forward she would be taking care of —”

At this point, Owens stands up and begins shouting at Austin.

“Change what you said,” she says in the video as she approaches the front of the room. “You will never lie on me,” she shouts. “That was a lie and you need to correct it.”

Owens then steps onto the dais where the mayor and council members are seated as she continues to accuse the mayor of lying.

According to Owens, the Urban League hasn’t stopped helping Fairview Village residents and she never asked them to. Owens says that if Jennings residents thought she told the Urban League to stop helping seniors, it would damage her politically in the race against Austin.

The Urban League confirms to the RFT that it is committed to helping the seniors displaced from Fairview Village.

Two police officers eventually escorted Owens out of the room. The entire confrontation lasted about 90 seconds.

Owens says that she subsequently received a letter saying that she’s banned from city council meetings.

The city council meeting was on a Monday. That Friday, January 27, Owens says she was fired from Bush’s office over a Zoom call.

“I’m devastated, disappointed,” Owens says. “I’m just shocked.”

Aja Owens (in blue) was escorted out of the Jennings city council meeting. | VIA SCREENGRAB

Continued from pg 11

On a Streak

The Cupid’s Undie Run brings daring runners to downtown

Words

by ROSALIND EARLY

Photos by BRADEN MCMAKIN

Donning only shoes, socks and underwear, runners lined up downtown under an arch made of red and white balloons for the annual Cupid’s Undie Run. The event raises money to fight neurofibromatosis, or NF, a disorder that causes tumors to grow on the body’s nerves. The research is done through the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

This year, the runners gathered at Ballpark Village for a mileishlong run around Busch Stadium. Luckily, the weather was unseasonable warm. After the run, participants could head to Ballpark Village to dance in their undies. n

A CELEBRATION OF THE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING ASPECTS OF OUR HOME

Talk radio is not known for its brevity, and the teaser for Eric Nepute’s radio show is no exception.

“Even before all the COVID craziness, Dr. Eric Nepute has been a fighter for truth, health and freedom,” it begins. “And he is respected not only in the St. Louis area, but worldwide. Now he’s inviting his like-minded colleagues and friends to help. The so-called government health experts are putting their agenda before your health and well-being and Dr. Eric and friends are debunking the evil …”

No one should be surprised to learn Nepute broadcasts on a conservative radio station, in this case Real Talk 93.3 FM. He comes on air introduced as “the Rock Doc” while Europe’s “Final Countdown” plays in the background.

He typically starts the show by giving a rundown of the day’s headlines most likely to alarm and outrage his listeners. A recent episode in January was no exception: Another young athlete had mysteriously dropped dead; the United Kingdom announced there had been 1,000 more deaths of young people per week in 2022 than in previous years; the debt-ceiling limit would soon be reached; millions of taxpayer dollars were going to “transgender training of trout and other weird animals in the Middle East.”

“You’re not going to believe some of this stuff because you’re not seeing it in the mainstream media,” Nepute told his listeners.

As with many things on Real Talk

with Dr. Eric Nepute and Friends, there is some key information missing. While it is true that both the U.K. and the U.S. have seen upticks in deaths of young people, it has not been at a rate of 1,000 per week in the U.K. and most experts place the blame for the excess deaths on COVID-19 and other pandemic-related knock-on effects and not, as Nepute would later imply, the COVID-19 vaccine. Numerous Google searches for different combinations of “transgender” and “trout” failed to turn up any results.

“You need to listen to people who are free thinking, who have common sense and rational logic,” Nepute said. Then he gave a shout out to his chief nemeses. “Good morning, FTC; good morning, DOJ. Hope you guys are having a blessed day. That’s right folks, they literally listen to every word we say because we are in a police state. Our Constitution is literally being trampled upon, ripped up

and quite honestly urinated on by these crazy left-leaning — I don’t even know what to call them — lunatics. They’re just lunatics.”

While this may sound like rightwing paranoia, Nepute was actually spot on about one thing. The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice were almost certainly listening in.

Nepute says that he was raised by a pig farmer in central Illinois and that his parents taught him to “stand up against tyranny.” Growing up, he wanted to be a doctor and says he was enrolled in medical school at Northwestern when he suffered a football injury. The pain from the injury lingered until he visited a chiropractor who helped, inspiring Nepute to become a chiropractor himself.

After studying chiropractic medicine at Missouri’s Logan University, he earned a Ph.D. in natural medicine from Honolulu’s Quantum University, a “self paced, online learning university.” He followed that with a certification from the Carrick Institute in quantum neurology, a chiropractic practice described in one Medscape article as “word salad” pseudoscience.

In addition to hosting his morning radio show, Nepute operates wellness centers in Creve Coeur and south county where patients can get an infusion of vitamins or a spinal decompression.

Nepute also owns Wellness Warrior, a company that sells vitamins and supplements, as well as a “Thyroid Masterclass” workshop and books such as The Parasite Cleanse. He has said numerous times on his show that his compa-

ny is giving away a million bottles of vitamin D and zinc for free.

Nepute is a natural broadcaster with a keen ability to deliver a message with urgency, an energy that can’t be easy to sustain for a two-hour broadcast. A prolific user of social media, he often shoots livestreams wearing darkcolored scrubs branded with the Nepute Wellness logo, a medical chart of some sort behind him.

In December, Nepute was in different attire in a slightly different setting. He wore a suit at the federal courthouse in St. Louis, where he waited in a 10th floor lobby in front of a window overlooking Busch Stadium. He is bald, cleanshaven and broad-shouldered and still has the build of guy who played football in college. One room over, Nepute’s lawyers were conferring with lawyers from the DOJ, hashing out an agreement to avoid Nepute being held in contempt of court. Despite what was going on in the next room, Nepute came across as affable.

Nepute holds the distinction of being the first person to be sued by the Federal Trade Commission under the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, a law that took effect in December 2020. It regulates how products can be advertised in relation to COVID-19. The goal is to prevent unsubstantiated claims that certain products can cure or prevent COVID-19. Whether Nepute’s rhetoric merely tests the bounds of this law or tramples it will be decided later this year by a jury of Nepute’s peers.

Since getting sued, Nepute has been telling anyone who will listen that he’s a victim of tyrannical government. When asked, he said Continued on pg 19

Eric Nepute has a radio show where he talks extensively about COVID-19. The FTC says he often gives misleading information to listeners. | VIA SCREENGRAB

that he couldn’t talk about the status of his case, explaining that he didn’t want to incur the wrath of his attorneys by talking to the media (though he regularly pops up on right-wing media to talk about it). Instead, he mentions his website, fightwitheric.com. (He might have thought twice about that URL.) The website’s landing page features a graphic of Nepute standing in front of a pair of jack-booted thugs, a strip of duct tape over his mouth, censored and silenced.

On a recent podcast, Nepute referred to the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, the law he’s allegedly run afoul of, as “a brand-new law that nobody knew about until I was sued for half a trillion dollars.”

Nepute says that the government is trying to bankrupt him just for merely suggesting people take vitamins to stay healthy.

But suggesting people take vitamins is only part of the story.

In December 2018, prior to becoming an FM radio host, Nepute live streamed via his public-figure Facebook page. Many of these live streams have since been deleted, but by 2020, if not sooner, he was interspersing his monologues on health, wellness and nutrition with advertisements encouraging his listeners to buy vitamins from Wellness Warrior, the company he owns.

Even those dubious about his credentials or the underlying science of some of his claims would be hard-pressed to question his sincerity. He says he gathered his information from years of working as a chiropractor. He only occasionally veers into the overheated bombast that right-wing talk radio is known for, and in such cases it is almost always the topic of the FTC lawsuit that brought him there.

The FTC is tasked with enforcing laws against deceptive advertising and other fraudulent business practices. It couldn’t care less what Nepute thinks about vitamins or anything else. But it cares a great deal how Wellness Warrior advertises its products. In hawking his vitamins, the FTC says, Nepute disseminated misinformation and exploited fears in the midst of a pandemic.

In March 2020, the vaccine-tobe-skeptical-of was a long way away. But Nepute was dubious of the need for lockdowns, saying that the pandemic shouldn’t even qualify as a pandemic. The virus,

he said, would be nothing to worry about so long as people took their high-dose infusions of vitamin C and saw a good chiropractor.

“You don’t need to be sitting at home right now scared that you’re going to die from some virus,” he added. “You know what you need to do? Get yourself adjusted. Get yourself your vitamins.”

In May of 2020, the FTC, which issues regulations specifically focused on advertising on social media, sent Nepute a letter warning him that he was making “unsubstantiated claims” on his show.

Nepute ignored the warning and kept live streaming.

Then in April 2021, the FTC again contacted Nepute, this time in the form of a lawsuit.

Crucially, in between the warning letter and the lawsuit, Donald Trump had signed the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act into law, making it illegal “to engage in a deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce associated with the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID–19.”

The FTC said Nepute had violated the then-five-month-old law, alleging that he said vitamins “are more effective than the available COVID-19 vaccines.”

Nepute has very publicly disputed the FTC’s claims, saying numerous times that he’s never told anyone not to get the vaccine and that he’s never made statements like that in conjunction with advertising his Wellness Warrior products.

“They took my words and lied about them. They said that I told people if you take vitamin D you don’t need a vaccine. I never said that,” he said in a video.

Anyone listening to Nepute’s

radio show or live streams has heard him say something to the effect of, “if you want a shot, get a shot.” But he’s also said that the COVID-19 vaccine is “a geneticmodification therapeutic tool.” He has claimed that the mRNA vaccine killed all the cats, ferrets and monkeys unlucky enough to be its test subjects.

Suzanne Alexander, the bureau chief for St. Louis’ Communicable Disease Division, tells the RFT that the mRNA vaccine is not altering anyone’s DNA. To explain how that vaccine works, she used the analogy of a car engine.

“Let’s call the DNA your actual engine. Your mRNA is going to be your fluids that go into your engine, like your oil, your transmission fluid, your brake fluid, all that good stuff. The way you maintain your fluids in your car engine is going to impact the way your engine works, but it will not fundamentally change your engine,” she says.

Nepute has also told his listeners that “the vaccine is going to make spike proteins in the brain cells and the lungs, in the testicles, in every tissue in your body. So it’s pretty crazy. We need to stop those spike proteins from being attached and sticking to the cells. Vitamin D stops that. So that’s why I’m such a big fan of vitamin D and zinc.”

Nepute is not totally wrong. The spike protein is a feature of the coronavirus, and the mRNA does create spike proteins in your body. But this is precisely why the vaccine works, according to the CDC. Over the course of a few weeks, your immune system learns how to destroy these spike proteins so that if the COVID-19 virus shows up in your body, your immune sys-

tem will know how to destroy it.

The FTC says that Nepute is free to express whatever he wants about spike proteins, mRNA, vitamins and the vaccine as a journalist, a chiropractor or just a regular person with opinions. But he’s not free to make these statements in the context of advertising.

In the same broadcast in which he talked about spike proteins going into your testicles and the ferrets who died from the mRNA tests, he also encouraged listeners 11 times to go to freevitamindeals.com.

Nepute’s attorneys have said in court filings that they believe the case is government overreach overly reliant on selective snippets of videos and audio taken from broadcasts that sometimes ran for two hours.

Nepute’s attorneys also cite mainstream medical experts talking about the benefits of vitamins during the pandemic. One filing quotes Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump’s former chief medical advisor, who said during a September 2020 Instagram Live event that, “If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. So I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements.”

Filings also reference the National Institutes of Health’s website, which says, “Your immune system needs vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses.”

When the FTC filed its lawsuit in April 2021, it asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction against Nepute. To avoid this, Nepute agreed to a consent order in which he didn’t concede any wrongdoing but did agree he wouldn’t broadcast certain claims in connection to Wellness Warrior ads, particularly that vitamins could be used to “cure, mitigate, treat or prevent COVID-19.”

Both parties signed onto those terms on May 5, 2021. Nepute subsequently moved his broadcast to terrestrial radio, and the government says that over those FM airwaves he violated his end of the agreement.

On February 4, 2022, Nepute acknowledged on his radio show that the government was taking action against him and then said, “Here’s a big old up your nose with a rubber hose, federal government. Have a listen to this. Brand-new study confirms that vitamin D significantly, significantly reduces the risk of dying from COVID-19.”

That same broadcast Nepute

Nepute operates two wellness centers, including this one in South County. | RYAN KRULL

ERIC NEPUTE

Continued from pg 19

said that vitamin D is “a hell of a lot more beneficial than these shots that people are taking.” He added: “Federal government asked me not to do this anymore and so, here’s what I’m going to say to them. Uh, go to freevitamindeals.com. That’s freevitamindeals.com.”

Dr. Erik Dubberke, a professor at Washington University School of Medicine, has evaluated Nepute’s claims on behalf of the government, and he’s written that Nepute’s on-air statements are often based on single studies, which Nepute ignores many key aspects of while mischaracterizing their results.

In addition to being an MD, Dubberke is an epidemiologist as well as the medical director of infection prevention and control at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. In court filings, he went through many of Nepute’s statements about vitamins and COVID-19, again and again labeling them as misleading.

According to Dubberke, Nepute commonly takes a study that has found an interesting correlation — for instance, between vitamin D levels and a person’s likelihood of catching COVID-19 — and communicates it to his audience as if it has proved a causation.

Like Dubberke, Suzanne Alexander with the city’s Communicable Disease Division is significantly less bullish on vitamin D than Nepute is. She points out that COVID-19 tends to hit worse in the winter when people are inside, so it makes sense that patients hospitalized with COVID-19 after those winter waves would have low vitamin D. Also, she says, taking vitamin megadoses comes with its own risks.

“There is a problem called hypercalcemia,” she says, referring to a buildup of calcium in the blood, caused by taking too much vitamin D, which can potentially lead to severe kidney issues.

“If you have someone who is saying, ‘Take megadoses of vitamins,’ and that person has not done their due diligence by having blood tests taken first, you’ve got someone who is essentially saying, ‘I don’t know what your

biochemistry is, but here, take this drug,’” Alexander says.

Over the past year, Nepute has become something of a cause célèbre in corners of the internet where people are skeptical of the federal government’s response to COVID-19. He’s appeared on numerous conservative podcasts and radio shows, saying he’s a victim of censorship and that the government is afraid to go to trial so instead is trying to bankrupt him through legal fees.

He’s spent $3.5 million on his legal defense so far, he says, and expects to spend a million more. Donations can be made to his website, he adds.

Many fringe media outlets have run headlines about how the federal government is suing Nepute for half a trillion dollars. That figure, which is about 2 percent of the country’s entire GDP for last year, seems absurd on its face. But as is often the case with Nepute, there is a soupçon of truth in the statement.

The FTC charged Nepute with more than 10 million violations of the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act — 10,175,234, to be exact — and wouldn’t reveal how it arrived at this exact number.

Court filings from the FTC state that the maximum penalty for each violation is $43,792.

Put those two numbers together and, purely in theory, Nepute could be on the hook for something like half a trillion dollars.

In actuality, that’s not going to happen. The FTC says that when it assesses how much an individual defendant should pay, it takes into account the amount of money fraud victims were taken for as well as what would be appropriate punitive fines.

The biggest fine in FTC history is $5 billion against Facebook. Nepute will not be coughing up 100 times more than Mark Zuckerberg and company did. Fines in the dietary supplement area tend to be in the hundreds of thousands, and the figures are typically lower in cases where the defendant is an individual and not a behemoth corporation.

But all that hasn’t stopped Nepute from saying, in the third

person, “Here’s what the government of the United States of America told us: ‘We drew our sword against Dr. Nepute. We’re not putting our sword away until there’s blood on it.’”

The martyrdom and federal prosecution could be lending Nepute legitimacy. Real Talk with Dr. Nepute airs on a station with shows from former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, Trump lawyer Rudy Guiliani, and the man who is believed to have originated the idea that Biden’s electoral victory was made possible by fake ballots printed on Chinese bamboo paper. Among this crowd, there is no greater imprimatur of street cred than having the screws put to you by the feds.

In many ways, Nepute’s case isn’t that different from typical FTC lawsuits.

In 2013, the agency went after the makers of POM Wonderful for claims the company made about the juice curing prostate cancer. The FTC prevailed and the juice makers had to pay a fine.

In 2019, the agency sued the makers of a jellyfish extract supplement, arguing their advertisements claimed the capsules cured dementia. That one was dismissed by the judge before trial.

However, assuming Nepute’s case makes it to trial, it will be wholly unlike most FTC cases because pomegranate juice and jellyfish pills haven’t become politically polarized in the same way the vaccine has.

It’s going to be very difficult to find jurors who don’t have strongly held beliefs about the pandemic. Poll after poll has found that someone’s beliefs about the danger of COVID-19, the efficacy and safety of the vaccine and the government’s response to the pandemic depend in large part on what political party the person prefers.

Alicia Campbell, an attorney who studies juries and who has argued many cases in federal court, says that it’s up to the judge to determine what questions can be asked of potential jurors during jury selection.

“This is a really interesting case because it does implicate

jurors a little more personally,” she says. “You’ve either affirmatively chosen to get a vaccine or you have affirmatively chosen not to. And that’s very personal. It’s not like deciding a case over a car wreck.”

She says that attorneys would likely want to know a potential juror’s vaccine status, but there’s a good chance the judge wouldn’t allow such a question to be asked.

Campbell also adds that even though this isn’t technically a First Amendment case, “I would think, for people who are anti-vaxxers, it could seem like it is.”

Court filings suggest that the government may call Dubberke, the Washington University professor of medicine, as an expert witness, but he likely won’t be the only medical doctor to testify.

One name that Nepute’s attorneys will likely bring up in the courtroom is that of Boston University researcher Michael Holick.

One of the statements Nepute made that the FTC sited in its suit was, “Boston University’s Dr. Michael Holick found ... that people who have enough vitamin D are 54 percent less likely to catch coronavirus in the first place.”

The complaint against Nepute says that he was telling his audience the study found a causation between vitamin D and not catching COVID-19 when in fact the study’s only finding was that it established “further rationale to explore” a possible causal relationship.

However, Holick’s own comments to his hometown newspaper seem to be not at all that different from what Nepute is being taken to court for saying.

“The higher your vitamin D status, [the] lower was your risk,” Holick told the Boston Herald in September 2020. “I think that the message is that everyone should consider improving their vitamin D status — especially in the era of COVID, by taking a vitamin D supplement,” Holick said to another Boston news radio station around that same time.

An important distinction is that Holick isn’t saying those statements in the context of advertising. But still, it’s not hard to imagine what that will look like to a jury of Nepute’s Missouri peers. n

CALENDAR

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 02/16

Catch a Classic

Remember that time in the late ’90s when director Gus Van Sant wanted to remake Psycho? Van Sant assured us he wasn’t going to mess with it — he was going to do a shot-for-shot remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic from 1960. The public, understandably, asked, “Why?” As far as psychological thrillers go, the original film is iconic. Van Sant clearly thought the same thing, seeing as how he decided to reshoot the film exactly as Hitchcock did it (though Van Sant did add a scene of main character Norman Bates masturbating, which made critics clutch their pearls). Really, the only issue with the original is that you can’t see it on the big screen nowadays because it’s so old. But for this week, at least, Webster University has solved that problem and is presenting the classic film at the Winifred Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue, 314-9687128) on Thursday, February 16, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 to $8. More information at webster.edu/ film-series.

Meet a Bishop

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri got a new bishop in 2020: Deon Kevin Johnson. From Barbados, Johnson is also the first openly gay leader of the diocese. In this week’s Thursday Nights at the Museum event at the Missouri History Museum (5700 Lindell Boulevard, 314-746-4599), Johnson will talk about his childhood, embracing his sexuality and the relationship between faith and activism. An Evening with Bishop Deon Johnson will begin at 5 p.m. with a chance to explore the museum’s exhibits and check out the #1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis banner display in the Grand Hall. There will also be food and drinks available for purchase. Tours that explain local LGBTQ history begin at 5:45 p.m., and Johnson’s talk starts at 6:30 p.m. The event is free. For more information, visit mohistory.org/events/bishop-deon-johnson.

FRIDAY 02/17

Sword Show

We can all admit that looking at ancient armor and swords and the like is a bit macabre. After all, these are real weapons. But the realness of those hunks of metal is part of what makes them so interesting, insomuch as there’s actual history in the room. It’s not a painting of a pipe; it is the pipe. And the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive, 314-721-0072) is going to have one of the best assemblies of arms and armor in the nation on its grounds during its upcoming show Age of Armor, featuring the Higgins Armory Collection from the Worcester Art Museum. You could wait and see the exhibit during its regular run from Saturday, February 18, through Sunday, May 14, but why do that when you could duck in

early during SLAM’s public preview? The event runs from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, February 17, and admission is free, though tickets acquired on-site are required. More info at slam.org.

Beat the Band

What better time of year to get down to some Brazilian-Carnivalinspired beats than Mardi Gras season? This Friday, February 17, don your finest purple, green and gold (and your dancing shoes) and head to Samba Bom Mardi Gras at Joe’s Cafe (6014 Kingsbury Avenue, 314-862-2541). Samba Bom plays a variety of danceable Brazilian styles of music, with a set that will include an epic all-percussion jam. The event will have the feel of a house party, but with a better band than any house party you’ve ever attended before. Bring your own food and drink.

Tickets are $15 when purchased ahead of time via Eventbrite or $20 at the door.

SATURDAY 02/18

Release the Hounds

There is exactly one day a year when it is socially acceptable to let your sweater puppies roam free in public, and that’s the day of the Bud Light Grand Parade. St. Louis is big on Mardi Gras celebrations — we’re second in the country only to New Orleans, they say, and if you’ve been in Soulard for the Grand Parade you know that it’s true. There are plenty of great parties leading up to the big event, but parade day is where it’s at if you like to take your top off in public or barf into a dump-

The Samba Bom Mardi Gras will light up Joe’s Cafe on Friday. | COURTESY PHOTO

ster. This Saturday, February 18, the parade rolls through Soulard from downtown on South Broadway and features dozens of floats, practically all of which will be loaded with beads and other treats to hurl at the huge group of partiers gathered along the route. If you want to experience real St. Louis Mardi Gras, this is the event you must attend. Just make sure to arrive super early if you’re driving, though, because parking is a nightmare. The parade gets moving at 11 a.m.; for more information, visit stlmardigras.org.

Sea Bugs

Mardi Gras isn’t just about getting

drunk and stumbling through Soulard. At Narwhal’s Crafted (1450 Beale Street #125, St. Charles; 636395-7315), it’s about the crawfish and shrimp. While the exurban Mardi Gras parade rolls through St. Charles from 12 to 5 p.m. this Saturday, February 18, you’ll find the 6th Annual Al Rubin Memorial Crawfish & Shrimp Boil at Narwhal’s. A $25 ticket will get you “batch after batch of all-youcan-eat crawfish flown in fresh from Louisiana.” The sea-bug feast is named after Al Rubin, who founded the event before passing away in 2018 from prostate cancer. Appropriately, a portion of the money from each ticket sold will go toward the Prostate Cancer

Foundation in honor of Rubin. For more information, visit facebook. com/events/573630704625046.

Brass Bash

As you can surely see, there are a lot of ways you could celebrate Mardi Gras in St. Louis. Even though St. Louis has drifted relatively far from its French roots these days, we still like to go allout. But maybe you’ve grown tired of all the hoopla in Soulard and need a new venue. In that case, we suggest checking out the esteemed Funky Butt Brass Band at the First Annual Mardi Gras Brasstravaganza at Delmar Hall (6133 Delmar Boulevard, 314-726-6161) this Saturday, February 18. One of St. Louis’ finest horn-centric acts, the Funky Butt Brass Band is sure to deliver on the bright and soulful music necessary for a good Mardi Gras vibe. The matinee festivities kick off at 5 p.m., and tickets to the party cost $15 via Ticketmaster. More info at delmarhall.com.

Dance! Dance!

Theater nerds and dance queens unite at the Broadway Rave at the Old Rock House (1200 South Seventh Street, 314-588-0505). This is probably the only rave where you’re more likely to hear Kristin Chenoweth than Deadmau5 because this party is all about show tunes. This Saturday, February 18, sing along to Broadway’s greatest hits while shaking that booty. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17 to $20, with a $2 minor surcharge. Fore more information, visit broadwayrave.com.

TUESDAY 02/21

Party in the Park

Living in St. Louis, it’s easy to forget what Mardi Gras is not — that, by definition, it can’t just be a giant all-Saturday street party in Soulard. The name translates to “Fat Tuesday,” after all, and the original idea is that the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is your last chance to indulge in hedonism before you abstain from meat and booze and le bon temps throughout Lent. Even though few RFT readers are likely giving up anything for the 40 days before Easter this year, we’d surely all benefit from more than one Mardi Gras ritual, and so regardless of whether you go all out in Soulard on Saturday, why not also indulge on the night that gave the holiday both its name and raison d’etre? This Tuesday, February 21, you can do just that in a remarkably civilized way at the Piper Palm House (4271 Northeast Drive, 314-771-4454), where the acclaimed mixologists of STL Barkeep will set up their second annual Fat Tuesday Cocktail Carnival. No reservations or tickets are required; just show up for a New Orleansthemed cocktail (or three), craft beer and Cajun dishes, with offerings available for à la carte purchase. The fun kicks off at 4 p.m. Will it continue into the wee hours of the morning like a true Mardi Gras celebration? Assuredly not; you’re in Tower Grove Park, after all. But no one said you had to start Lent with a hangover. Details at towergrovepark. org, search Fat Tuesday. n

Don’t miss a rare chance to catch the original Psycho on the big screen. | ORIGINAL POSTER ART

St. Louis’ Funky Butt Brass Band plays Delmar Hall on Saturday. | ERIC NEMENS

To Taipei and Back

Taiwanese restaurant Kitchen 95 is a hidden gem in Overland

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Kitchen 95

2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-8018895. Mon.-Tues. Noon-3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m.; Thurs.-Sun. Noon-3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. (Closed Wednesdays.)

Vicki Lin says that her husband, Brian Hsia, has been dreaming of opening his own restaurant since 1995, a quest that has finally been realized with their aptly named Overland eatery, Kitchen 95.

Upon first bite of his steamed wontons, I, too, experienced a dream realized — a fantasy world filled with silken wonton wrappers wrapped around a melange of tender pork and snappy shrimp placed atop a pool of spicy chili oil laden with so much fresh-shaved garlic, I could still taste it a full day later. Thanks to the luscious sesame oil, the sauce clung to every bite, slicking the wontons with its sweet-soy, garlic heat. I didn’t know it before devouring these bite-sized nuggets, but this is a flavor I’d been searching for my entire adult life.

Though the humble digs — a former Taco Bell in Overland — might suggest otherwise, it comes as no surprise that Kitchen 95 delivers such culinary greatness. For more than three decades, Hsia has been perfecting his craft, a path that began when he wandered into his first kitchen job as a teenager in Taiwan. Lin lovingly describes her husband as a terrible student who was known less for listening to his teachers than he was for falling asleep in class. However, cooking instantly clicked for him, and he threw himself into learning everything he could about the industry, working his way up from washing dishes and doing basic prep work to cooking on lines at restaurants around Taiwan, always dreaming about having a place of his own.

After moving to Philadelphia from Taiwan in the early aughts, Hsia continued his culinary career in restaurants around town and eventually met Lin, who was a front-of-house coworker. The pair began talking about settling down and starting a family, but decided to move from fast-paced and expensive Philadelphia to

somewhere more low-key. Though they knew no one in St. Louis, something about the city seemed right when they began to research places to live, so they packed their bags and headed west in 2005.

Hsia continued to work in restaurants in the St. Louis area, something Lin describes as increasingly stressful; this stress

finally boiled over at the end of 2020. He took a break from working, wondering if the time was right to finally go out on his own, while Lin supported the family as a cook in the Parkway School District. Finally, after about a year and a half of soul-searching, Hsia decided it was time. He’d heard of a perfect-sounding available space; the original location of Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet was for lease, and the building was exactly what he’d been looking for. Lin could see that this was her husband’s chance to take the leap, so she quit her job, and the two of them joined forces to create Kitchen 95, opening the restaurant in October of 2021.

Both Hsia and Lin hail from Taiwan, so it was important to them that their heritage shine through Kitchen 95’s menu. However, they were less committed to adhering to any culinary canon and more interested in putting their own spin on Taiwanese favorites in addition to serving more American-style Chinese dishes. Lin emphasizes that they have chosen this path as a way to offer a comprehensive

Kitchen 95 features Asian appetizers, entrees and more. | MABEL SUEN

Husband-and-wife duo Hsien Chung Hsia and Vicki Lin, with their daughter, Joana. | MABEL SUEN

KITCHEN 95

Continued from pg 27

dining experience that can appeal to a variety of preferences.

No matter which direction you go, Kitchen 95 is sheer joy. A visit for nothing more than those pork and shrimp dumplings would be enough of a treat, but it would mean missing out on other delights, such as the crispy tofu with Taiwanese kimchi. Here, the tofu has a thick, crispy fried exterior that yields to a custard-like interior. It is paired with pleasantly pungent Taiwanese fermented cabbage that replaces the Korean version’s chili heat with subtle sweetness. Another first course, wonderfully snappy Taiwanese sausages, matches the popular street snack’s garlic-laden pork flavor with a delicate sweet glaze that pairs beautifully with a can of apple soda imported from Hsia and Lin’s homeland.

A steaming hot bowl of sesame oil chicken soup is revelatory, hitting that “simmering on grandma’s stove” classic found in just about every culinary tradition with a sesame and ginger inflection unique to the Taiwanese version. Instead of pre-pulled hunks of meat, Hsia’s dish contains whole drumsticks for diners to enjoy; the tender meat falls off the bone with little coaxing.

Lin is especially proud of Kitchen 95’s chili popcorn shrimp, a riff on a traditional Taiwanese specialty that she concocted. The shellfish is coated in a light, yet almost cornmeal-textured breading and is tossed in a spicy mayo reminiscent of a fiery remoulade. A boneless pork chop is equally fantastic, dusted in a coating crispier than its delicate texture suggests. Also unexpected is the sweet pop

of cinnamon and earthy black pepper that dusts the chop and gives it a complex warmth.

Kitchen 95’s three cups chicken is a wonderful rendition of the classic Taiwanese dish. Unlike the more traditional bone-in version, Lin serves hers boneless, the hunks of dark meat glistening with the slightly pungent and deeply savory soy-rice wine, sesame glaze.

Another quintessential Taiwanese dish, the Hakka stir fry — a mix of bean curd strips, ground pork and dried squid — is so fiery that

you wonder if it might combust at the table. It’s a sneaky spice, though, creeping up on the mid palate about two seconds after the first bite, coating the tongue and throat in blazing chili heat that’s mildly offset by Chinese celery. It’s the kind of spice that builds with every bite — at times teetering on the line of searing hot, though it’s so flavorful you can’t stop.

As impressive as Kitchen 95’s food is, what borders on shocking is that it comes from the hands of Hsia and Lin alone. The two are

the sole employees at the restaurant, and they prep everything from scratch and cook every dish to order. This gives Kitchen 95 the feel that you are feasting at someone’s home in Taipei, not a converted north county Taco Bell — though with wontons this magical, you couldn’t care less where you eat them. n

Pineapple shrimp is served with onion, bell pepper and mayo sauce. | MABEL SUEN

Joana shows off a cutlet platter. | MABEL SUEN

The steamed wontons are served with hot chili sauce. | MABEL SUEN

SHORT ORDERS 31

a little bit sour, a little bit sweet — right in the middle.”

Eating and Singing

Randy and Sally Arcega open Filipino restaurant Kain Tayo in Midtown

Written by SARAH FENSKE

Last Saturday, a new restaurant serving Filipino cuisine opened in Midtown St. Louis — but it’s a restaurant that already has a big following. Kain Tayo first opened in Trenton, Illinois, in 2018, but owners Randy and Sally Arcega drew diners willing to make the 40-minute trek east from St. Louis.

“The majority of our customers were coming from here,” Randy said. “That’s the reason we moved to St. Louis to find a place.” The couple closed their Illinois restaurant in May and have been pre-

[ACCESSORIES]

Get it?

Panera is selling a $40 purse for carrying its toasted baguettes

Written by JAIME LEES

The masters of marketing over at St. Louis Bread Co. Panera have a new weird-ass product for you to buy: a “BAGuette bag.”

Advertised as the perfect size to carry one of Panera’s new Toasted Baguette sandwiches, this pea-green purse has a strap, an embossed texture and gold hardware featuring a “P” for Panera. This is not, as many have pointed out, an April Fools’ Day joke, either. Panera is for real selling this ugly thing, and you can get one for about $40. It is a “final sale” item, though, so you’re gonna be stuck with it even if you hate it.

Panera is known for releasing funny

paring to open the Midtown location ever since.

Kain Tayo is not just as a spot to showcase Sally Arcega’s food (Sally, a native of the Philippine city of Valenzuela, is a self-taught chef) but also for karaoke, with a machine set up in the corner of the dining room. “People in the Philippines, when they’re out to eat, they’re usually singing,” Randy explained. “At Kain Tayo, after you eat, you can sing too.”

And there should be plenty of good things to eat. Randy prom-

promotional products. In summer 2021, it released a bread-bowl-inspired pool float that people scrambled to buy, and it sold out immediately. It appears that this bag is less popular, but it’s still a winner for the Panera marketing department. Why? Well, here we are writing about it.

But just because it’s ugly and weird doesn’t mean it’s not funny. The comments on the announcement post on Facebook are pure gold.

Here’s a sample:

• “I’m mad at myself for wanting this. Looks like a great size for burritos and subs too”

• “Waaaaait but why do I want one for real?! It’s cute and I love bright colors.”

• “This is the *exact* level of extra I aspire for”

• “I saw this and thought — Dachshund carrier!”

• “Someone’s been watching Emily in Paris.”

• “This is honestly really cute, Panera! Well done! However, I will be waiting for the matching shoes to drop before getting the purse.”

• “Panera, might I kindly ask what is going on over there? Is your marketing

ises Filipino favorites like lumpia Shanghai, the beloved deep-fried riff on a Chinese egg roll, and sisig, which is made of oft-neglected parts of the pig such as ears and jowls, tossed with peppers. (Sally’s version utilizes chicken.)

Of course there will be the Spanish-influenced, vinegar-and-soy braise adobo, considered the national dish of the Philippines, though Randy noted that Sally’s Valenzuelan version stands apart.

“You go north or south, all have a different taste,” he said. “Ours is

Located at 2700 Locust Street, Kain Tayo will be part of a small hub of hospitality businesses planning 2023 opening dates, including a wine bar and a coffee shop. Randy is hopeful that the businesses can become a destination.

“If you’re hungry, you can go to Kain Tayo or Nexus [Cultural Cuisine and Craft Cocktails]. If you’re thirsty for wine, you can go to Videira. If you want a fresh coffee you can go to Anita Cafe and Bar,” Randy said. “It’s a one-shot deal.”

Kain Tayo, though, is opening first. Randy anticipates lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, with the restaurant opening at 11 a.m. and staying open until 8 p.m. most nights. On the weekends, the restaurant hopes to stay open until 9 or 10 p.m., depending on business.

But Randy has no doubt that people who give Kain Tayo a try will become repeat customers, much like the diners who eagerly visited them in Trenton. He said, “Once they taste Sally’s cooking, they’ll definitely come back!” n

See kaintayostl.com for more on the restaurant.

department okay?”

• ”Perfect purse for any girl heading out to drink. We are always hungry after a late night out.”

• “This is the stupidest thing ever. I want it.”

Congratulations, Panera. You’ve done it again. n

From left: Jeross, Sally and Randy Arcega opened Kaim Tayo this month. | COURTESY PHOTO

The BAGuette bag is the perfect size for the company’s new sammies. | COURTESY PANERA

Family Pie

Lola Jean’s Pizza in Southampton offers focaccia-like pizza with a deep crunch

Written by KATIE LAWSON

What makes Lola Jeans’s pizza different is the crust. Thick and focaccia-like, it gives the pizza a nice fluffy texture, without sacrificing the crunch.

That special pie is the latest effort from owners Russell and Emily Ping, who opened up shop at 5400 Nottingham Avenue on January 11 in the former home of Lola Jean’s Giveback Coffee.

The Pings are also behind Russell’s a cafe with locations on Macklind and in Fenton. They are excited to keep the good vibes going in their latest effort — and already have big dreams for its future.

“We hope that the wholesale will become so big we can find a warehouse,” Emily Ping said, pointing to the half of the room with boxes, cooling racks and storage, “then make this a full-scale pizza restaurant.”

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, St. Louisans can preorder takeout on the Lola Jean website, which has a selection of Sicilian staples, such as pepperoni and cheese pizzas, or a twist, such as the hearty Russell’s Supreme. It also offers a weekly rotating special and desserts, such as a box of freshly baked cookies or a creamy mousse. Prices range from $12 for four chocolate chip cookies to $29 for the Russell’s Supreme, featuring San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, Italian sausage, pickled sweet peppers, black olives, peperoncini and ParmigianoReggiano.

The spot is named for the Pings’ very delightful seven-year-old daughter, who was compiling some LEGOs together to create an epic bracelet on a recent Friday evening. A portrait of her dog, Wally, looked on approvingly, and Sinatra played through the overhead speakers.

Those entering the shop are greeted by a homey wall filled with family portraits, quotes from Julia Child and curated art. The furniture in the space comes from an antique store on Cherokee Street, reflecting the old-world charm of the pizza. There’s limited seating, with half of the space belonging to the baking business. But the Pings are quick to encourage customers to stay awhile and relax.

This is the second iteration of Lola Jean’s. Originally, the Pings opened the concept in 2018, going all in on pizza and ice cream. However, they got sidetracked with other projects, keeping their businesses going during the pandemic

and raising Lola Jean.

Now that things have settled down a bit, and after an inspirational trip to New York City last year, the Pings decided they want to give it another try. Converting the space into a half-storage unit, half-kitchen, they are able to make what they’ve always wanted: really good pizzas.

For the moment, it will only be the Pings working at Lola Jean’s “so it will be just carry-out for now,” Emily Ping said.

makes sense.

“Once it gets nice, we plan to open the patio, so people can hang out,” Emily Ping said. “We hope to have pop-up events like a movie night, music or a local market.”

Lola Jean’s is family first and down to earth. With Emily Ping manning the counter, Russell in the back dishing dough, and Lola Jean stopping by after school occasionally, it’s a welcoming and genuine. n

CHERYL BAEHR’S EGGPLANT PICKS

A glorious flavor vehicle not nearly as persnickety to cook as its reputation otherwise suggests, eggplant has been low-key livening up the menus at some of the area’s restaurant hot spots over the past year.

Patlidzan, Balkan Treat Box

But the team is planning on making it a permanent part of their restaurant family and expanding the operation as

Lola Jean’s is open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Pizzas are available for preorder and pickup only. [FOOD NEWS]

Cooking With Fire

With

Written by RYAN KRULL

Full-service, indoor dining is returning to Grove BBQ mainstay BEAST Butcher and Block (4156 Manchester Avenue, 314-944-6003, beastbbqstl.com) this Thursday.

But BEAST chef and pit master David Sandusky is giving diners even more reason to skip the takeout and instead get back in his restaurant for dine-in.

“Starting Thursday, we’re going to light the fires at five o’clock for dinner,” he told the RFT. BEAST will still be open for lunch, but it is taking things to the next level for dinner, with Sandusky and company lighting up some white oak and cooking the night’s entrees over an open flame.

Sandusky said that diners will be able to order swordfish, pork steaks, ribs, shrimp skewers, pork chops and a variety of other

meats, which will roast atop the live fire on a spit visible from the dining area.

“This is going to be pretty special because we cut all this stuff here,” Sandusky said, referring to the full butcher shop BEAST operates on site.

Diners will also be able to order the entree cooked to a specific flavor profile.

When asked what a first time BEAST diner should order, Sandusky suggested the pork steak.

“This is about an inch and a half thick and spoon-tender,” he said, noting that the entree is a 30-ounce-plus, elevated cut of the St. Louis staple.

Sandusky said that starting Thursday, walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are preferred. n

You could stuff just about anything into Balkan Treat Box’s (8103 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves; 314-733-5700) bread and make it delicious, but Loryn Nalic and company go above and beyond with their beautiful fire-kissed eggplant sandwich, topped with luscious kajmak cheese, eggs, herbs, veggies and apricot pomegranate molasses.

Berenjenas Quemadas, Bar Moro

Ben Poremba’s mastery of “Middleterranean” cuisine is on full display at Bar Moro in the form of the berenjenas quemadas, a haunting melange of pureed eggplant, honey and tahini that is placed atop charred strips of the purple vegetable and accented with sweet tomato pulp and sherry. There’s warmth, smoke, tartness and a very subtle hint of mint that nods to the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

Eggplant Parmesan, O+O Pizza

The gold standard of all eggplant Parmesans, O+O Pizza’s eggplant Parmesan is, hands-down, one of the best bites of food in the metro area. Chef Mike Risk has been mastering Italian cuisine for years, and it’s beautiful to see him finally get the credit he deserves.

Hot Eggplant, Yen Ching

Yen Ching has distinguished itself over the decades with stunning Chinese-American fare such as its hot eggplant, a sizzling display that perfectly marries sweetness, salt, heat and a little bit of sour.

Babaganoush, Al-Tarboush Deli Al-Tarboush Deli owner Sleiman “Sam” Bathani’s babaganoush is a creamy concoction that is equal parts smoke and garlic.

its new open-flame menu, BEAST is giving carnivores extra reason to dine in

Lola Jean’s is the latest effort from Russell and Emily Ping. | COURTESY RUSSELL PING

David Sandusky suggests new BEAST diners try the pork. | COURTESY GLENMADE STUDIOS

ST. LOUIS STANDARDS

Mainstay

Tony’s on Main has been the place to eat in St. Charles for 25 years

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Tony’s on Main

132 North Main Street, St. Charles; 636-940-1960

Established 1998

Tony Bethmann learned early on the benefits that come from working hard in a professional kitchen.

“I started riding my bike to Rich & Charlie’s to wash dishes; it was the first job I got a paycheck at other than my dad’s [farm],” Bethmann says. “I was 15 and had $20 dollar bills in my pocket. That made me the kid who always brought beer to the parties — I just didn’t get there until 11 or 11:30.”

Since well before he could (legally) purchase booze, Bethmann has been dedicating himself to hospitality, a path that has led him to becoming the owner of one of the area’s most successful restaurants, the wildly popular Tony’s on Main. Since opening the restaurant on St. Charles’ Historic Main Street in 1998 with his then in-laws, then becoming sole owner in 2006, Bethmann has been the

person responsible for creating and maintaining the vision that has become one of St. Charles’ most beloved institutions.

Bethmann knew he loved the industry the moment he set foot inside Rich & Charlie’s Italian Restaurant, thriving on the energy and camaraderie of the kitchen and fueling himself by the realization that he was good at cooking. He carried that energy with him to the Pasta House Co. and other restaurant gigs and made a name for himself in his circle of family and friends as the one they’d call upon to make food for get-togethers and casual backyard barbecues.

Still, Bethmann made other plans when it came to his career path, assuming he’d head off to engineering school at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla until life took an unexpected turn. His thenpartner got pregnant with their son, which prompted him to put his engineering plans on hold and stay in the St. Charles area. He took a job at the Chrysler plant to support his family and was just going about his life when his in-laws made a proposition that would set him on an entirely different path.

“They asked me if I wanted to open a restaurant,” Bethmann says. “They’d cherry-picked this little bitty place at 208 North Main Street that they got for about the price of a car. I was always the one who cooked when I was with family, so when they wanted to get into the business, they came to me.”

Bethmann knew he had what it took to be successful. Not only had he worked under a series of talented chefs during his time in the business, but he had a commitment to nailing every single detail, an understanding of how people want to eat and an openness to new ideas. This philosophy has been borne out in a straightforward but well-executed menu that blends the classic steakhouse experience with that of the quintessential St. Louis-style Italian restaurant. Known for its handcut steaks — topped with Tony’s signature mâitre d’hôtel butter — and potato skins as much for

its pizzas and pasta con broccoli, the restaurant quickly garnered a reputation as the place to eat on Main Street and developed a cadre of regulars so large, the restaurant soon outgrew its space.

A few years after opening Tony’s in its original spot, Bethmann and his partners moved the restaurant to its current location at 132 North Main Street, a historic property dating back to 1860 that has been everything from a bowling alley (some of the lanes are still intact underneath the current banquet rooms, Bethmann says) to a miniature museum. Not long after the move, in 2006, Bethmann be-

You must make friends to have a sustainable business, Tony Bethmann says. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN

Tony’s is a maintstay in St. Charles. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN

came sole owner and has kept the momentum going, still working the busy grill station three nights out of the week, even though he laments that it’s a “young person’s job.” He believes the reason Tony’s has remained so consistently popular is that he and his team are dedicated to getting the little things right — the touches that might seem insignificant but, when added up, result in a better guest experience.

“Literally, we do these things because nobody else will do them,” Bethmann says. “You look around, and it’s hard to find a place that does the stuff we do. The way we

cut our steaks, make everything from scratch — and the amount of traffic we get is crazy — even putting our salad bowls in a special freezer; it’s those little details. We try to stay in our lane and do what we do as well as we can do it.”

Bethmann also insists that the key to Tony’s success is the way he values his employees. He’s proud that he pays his team well, as he believes that investing in his people is investing in the restaurant as a whole. The result, he says, is a staff of hard-working industry rock stars who he hopes to build up to go on to bigger things.

“People say that young people

don’t work hard, but we have some badass young people who kill it,” Bethmann says. “We want them to be with us as long as they want and then go on to do bigger things.”

For his part, Bethmann continues to do bigger things, always walking that fine line between consistently delivering what people love and expect of Tony’s while keeping the business relevant. This means constantly being on the lookout for new recipes, trends and ways people do things at other places and investing in the building, which he owns — something he admits is a constant

battle considering its age and historic character. Still, he insists that even though putting everything he has into the business can be exhausting and expensive, it’s the way he rests assured that he’s doing everything he can to take care of his guests.

“I live in a modest house; I drive modest vehicles; I spent a fortune on this building when I bought it way back when,” Bethmann says. “But I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t keep sticking it back in. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn in the business: You’re not here to make money. You’re here to make friends.” n

ICONIC PEOPLE, PLACES & DISHES THAT ANCHOR STL’S FOOD SCENE

You can’t just be in the business of making money; you have to make friends. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN

Tony’s invests in its employees. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN

Tony’s makes everything from scratch and focuses on the details. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN Owner Tony Bethmann got his start washing dishes. | BRANDEN MCMAKIN

REEFERFRONT TIMES

Missouri Has a Weed Equity Officer

Longtime state employee Abigail Vivas will now be in charge of ensuring Missouri’s recreational cannabis program is equitable

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

Astatewide role created to ensure an equitable rollout of Missouri’s recreational marijuana program has been filled.

The Department of Health and Senior Services has hired Abigail Vivas to serve as chief equity officer of Missouri’s Division of Cannabis Regulation, according to spokeswoman Lisa Cox.

Vivas began her new role on February 1.

The new job — and a February 6 hiring deadline for it — were both enshrined in the Missouri Constitution via the 2022 amendment legalizing recreational use marijuana.

Cox did not immediately respond to the RFT’s questions about Vivas’ background and qualifications for the job, and Vivas could not be reached for comment. Vivas’ LinkedIn suggests a long career in state government, with more than 18 years at the Missouri Highway Patrol, where she worked as a criminalist.

The LinkedIn chronology suggests Vivas left the highway patrol in April 2022 for a job as a feed laboratory manager at the Missouri Department of Agriculture, a job she held until taking the chief equity officer position this month.

Vivas’ LinkedIn bio suggests she spent 14 of her years at the highway patrol working in a drug lab, though nothing in the bio highlights any professional interest in cannabis culture or issues of di-

versity, equity and inclusion.

Key players involved in the push for legal marijuana in Missouri were not familiar with her.

St. Louis City NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt tells the RFT he had not heard Vivas’ name before, but he’s thankful the state hired someone for the role.

“I’m glad they understand that the chief equity officer needs to be in place now versus later,” Pruitt says.

As chief equity officer, Vivas “will be an integral part of ensuring the social and economic equity requirements of the new law are fully realized,” Cox says in an email.

Before the passage of Amend -

[TO BE BLUNT]

Missourians Bought a Lot of Weed

The first weekend of legal adultuse cannabis saw $12.7 million in sales

Written by ROSALIND EARLY

Recreational marijuana went legal on Friday, February 3, and stoners and wannabe stoners across the state wasted no time in going to their local dispensaries to buy weed. According to MoCannTrade, Missouri sold $12,689,965 worth of product from Fri-

ment 3 in November, debate split over whether the measure adequately addressed concerns over racial and economic equity. Critics derided the measure for entrenching the system that led to few minorities receiving licenses to sell and cultivate medical marijuana.

Now being implemented across the state, the amendment sets in motion a new microlicense program aimed at allowing people with disadvantaged backgrounds to enter the state’s marijuana industry.

Vivas will be responsible for “communicating program equity initiatives to internal and external partners,” Cox says, as well

day to Sunday.

This occurred despite some cities, such as Columbia, not being able to start adult-use sales as early as others. Clearly, Missouri was ready to get stoned.

On February 3 alone, Missouri sold more than $5 million worth of cannabis.

It’s not a competition, but during Illinois’ first day of legal adult-use marijuana (back in January 2020) the state with more than twice Missouri’s population sold only $3.1 million worth of product.

Not all of Missouri’s sales were recreational marijuana, though that made up the lion’s share with $8.5 million in total sales. Medical marijuana license holders purchased $4.2 million.

MoCannTrade also pointed out that Missouri is the second-fastest state to ever implement adult-use marijuana, which passed with the Amendment 3 ballot initiative in early November 2022. Only 87 days later, people were buying recreational marijuana. The only state

as developing and implementing programs to inform the public of opportunities available to those eligible for microbusiness licenses.

Vivas will also certify that applicants are eligible for microbusiness licenses and create educational programming detailing the licensing process.

Brennan England, president of the Missouri chapter of Minorities for Medical Marijuana, says he doubts the microbusiness program is actually equitable, or at least not for “the minorities that have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.”

Still, England hoped to suggest his own candidate for chief equity officer. He says he spoke to a coordinator for the microlicense program, and within days the application period had been opened and closed. England didn’t have a chance to make his own referral, he says.

Last month, the Missouri Independent reported the Department of Health and Senior Services had kept the position posted on the state’s job listing website for 10 days — a normal time frame for the department.

“I would’ve liked to have known what type of candidate they were looking for, but it was up and down so fast that it was virtually inaccessible,” England says.

The chief equity officer may only be removed “for cause,” according to the amendment. n

that implemented adult-use faster is Arizona, which did it in 80 days.

So far the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, whose Division of Cannabis Regulation issues licenses to cannabis growers and sellers, has issued 207 comprehensive dispensary licenses, 72 comprehensive infused-product manufacturing licenses and 56 comprehensive cultivation licenses.

“Our industry was adamant that we would be ready on day one to deliver for Missourians, but I never would have imagined this type of reception,” says Andrew Mullins, MoCannTrade’s executive director. “To have sold more on opening day than Illinois is quite astounding. These opening weekend sales numbers are a testament to what a great program the Missouri Department of Health has run as well as the level of excitement we see from Missourians about cannabis legalization. The best is yet to come.”

Abigail Vivas did not wish to provide a photo, but she does not look like this. | ELSA OLOFSSON

Classic Kush

Vertical Cannabis’ Wild OG would be better fresh but still packs a punch

Written by GRAHAM TOKER

Full recreational adult-use cannabis is finally legal in the Show-Me State. I’m sure there are lots of excited people who didn’t get a medical marijuana card who can now visit all the dispensaries that have popped up in the metro area over the last two years.

I honestly forgot it was a thing happening in early February. But when I was picking up the weed to review for you, Jay Q. Public, the staff at Feel State (444 Howdershell Road, Florissant) let me know about the specifics for medical patients after recreational folks begin coming through the doors. Medical patients will still be able to purchase online; there will be special medical discounts for veterans, seniors and lowincome folks; and there will be a dedicated check-out lane.

After making the trip up I-270 further than you knew was possible into Florissant, I found Feel State tucked neatly in the corner of a nondescript strip mall. To really maximize your dispensary trip, there’s a meat shop next door if a nice big steak is your idea of satisfying the “munchies.”

I got buzzed inside swiftly when approaching the entrance. The front-desk attendant confirmed my IDs before I was whisked back onto the sales floor. The space is much cozier and more intimate than most dispensaries I’ve visited. While other dispensaries have a large sprawling sales floor making it hard to know what’s available, at Feel State it was easy to discern what brands were for sale in the cases within arms length of the register. The back-room attendant, who passes product to the sales rep before ringing patients out, remarked that I had 20 percent off as a first-time customer.

When I perused the menu online before visiting, Wild OG from Vertical Cannabis caught my eye. Even though candy-tasting terpenes are in vogue now, I’m a big fan of the funky, kushy, heavyhanded OGs. It seems like a safe bet and old standby, like that one dish that’s been on the restaurant menu for so long that everyone knows it’s worth ordering.

I told the budtender that I had never had Vertical before, and he boasted that it was his favorite cultivator in Missouri. Suddenly, there were six or seven jars of Vertical’s flower sitting in front of me. The budtender wafted their scents at my nostrils and commented on the THC levels. The Wild OG was one of the higher (pun intended) options based on total cannabinoids (which includes THC and terpenes) at 25.9 percent. I also purchased Vertical’s Apple Fritter, which piqued my nose’s interest and had a stronger total cannabinoid test result at 29.4 percent. With the 20 percent first-time discount, I got the two-eighths of Vertical for $51.88.

As a first timer with Vertical, I

thought the packaging was nice: a white-and-orange branded box containing a small jar with the flower. I could see the strains getting mixed up once outside the box, though, since each jar is unlabeled.

The genetic origins of Wild OG were difficult to trace online, but one source claimed it is a cross between OG Kush and San Fernando Valley OG. The collection of medium-sized buds in the jar were lighter in color, taking on a greenish-grey hue. Loading the grinder, I could tell that this flower was past its prime, as an abrasive crunch akin to Rice Krispies filled the room upon the grinder’s first turn. But let’s not get carried away here before we see how it smokes, I thought. The medley of prime OG terpene smells was subdued, but my first small joint had a great relaxing body-high effect.

The second smoke, I went bigger. I filled up an Elements Kingsized paper with the Wild OG before an evening relaxing on the couch. While the strain had a nice balanced effect with the smaller joint, this larger joint compound-

ed the effects, and it was an early night for me as I became one with the couch. After waking up to my dog’s concern, I made my way to bed and woke up with a bit of a weed hangover the next morning.

My final joint, a happy compromise between the small and large joints previously rolled with Wild OG, kept me from faceplanting on the couch within 30 minutes, but I did notice that weed-hangover feeling when I got up in the morning.

If you got through all of that and were like, “Yikes, that’s not for me,” then try the Apple Fritter instead. It is classified as a hybrid, a cross between Sour Apple and Animal Cookies, and was a great contrast to the heavier effects of the Wild OG. Compared to its comrade, the Apple Fritter was a much deeper hue of green and had much more invigorating head effects while still maintaining a nice body high sans couchlock. I found myself most enjoying the Apple Fritter on an afternoon walk or when I was gaming.

The effects of the Wild OG and Apple Fritter strains were great, but I wish I’d gotten it fresher, so there wasn’t as much of a crunch when grinding the flower and I’d got more of the entourage effect with terpenes. This caused the flower to grind much finer than I’d prefer for a joint. I felt like a fresher batch would’ve made more of those terpenes sing more, so I’ll be on the lookout for the next batch drop. With the recreational era upon us, I’m optimistic for fresher flower being available with the higher turnover of product. Now it’s time for Missouri’s dispensaries to Show-Me the weed! n

Vertical Cannabis’ Wild OG seemed like a safe bet and an old standby. | GRAHAM TOKER

After waking up to my dog’s concern, I made my way to bed and woke up with a bit of a weed hangover the next morning.

CULTURE

Valley of the Narcissists

Yayoi Kusama’s acclaimed Narcissus Garden, now at Laumeier, resonates in the era of the selfie

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

Fields of polka dots. A cryptocoin — or actually two. A Louis Vuitton bag, actually a collection, actually two collaborations.

All are evidence of the presence and influence of the queen of polka dots, Yayoi Kusama. At 93, she’s one of the most important contemporary artists alive and is known for her sculpture, installations and feminism, among many other things.

Over the years, the Japanese artist has become something of a pop-culture icon, whose art crowds often travel to see.

But St. Louisans won’t have to do that. On Saturday, an installation of one of Kusama’s most notable works — Narcissus Garden — opened in Laumeier Sculpture Park’s Aronson Fine Arts Center. The exhibit will run until May 14.

Under the Kusama influence, the act of walking into the sculpture park’s Whitaker Foundation Gallery becomes something of a trip. Now 1,200 steel balls, each about the size of a bowling ball, fill the space. They are laid out in patterns that visitors can traverse through, like a garden, and their highly reflective surfaces create infinite visual space that is perfect for contemplation — or a selfie.

“It’s just going to be fun,” Laumeier curator Dana Turkovic says. “People are going to come in here, and then they’ll be like, ‘Wow.’”

While Turkovic is thrilled to help bring the first large-scale installation of Kusama’s work to St. Louis, she’s possibly even more excited about the inherent interactive element, describing her own attempt to line up the perfect selfie in the changing silver surfaces.

“It’s inviting you to be a part of the work,” she says. “Even though you can’t pick it up and touch it, you are part of the piece. Your imagery is part of the work.”

Though the selfie wasn’t yet a thing in 1966 when Kusama first installed Narcissus Garden at the Venice Biennale, the work nevertheless speaks to the drive behind self-image. After all, it’s titled after the Greek myth of Narcissus, who fell so in love with his own face, he wasted his life staring at it.

That first iteration of Kusama’s work was actually made of plastic, and she began selling the lighterweight balls for $2 a piece to the attendees. Pretty soon, she was asked to leave.

“But the whole idea of that was the work itself was sort of a performance,” Turkovic says. “You know, it was [an active] performance in your face, but also just kind of a cheeky way to take on the whole commercialization of art.”

Since then Narcissus Garden has been installed all over the world, both indoors and outdoors. Though the Laumeier run will be indoors, Turkovic explains that the gallery’s wall of windows will be uncovered so that visitors can see reflections of the park’s outdoor space interacting with the

show. She hopes it will create an inside-outside relationship in the installation.

The plan for this exhibit has been in the works for almost three years. The configuration of its garden pathways is specific to this gallery and was designed by the curatorial team through careful study of the floor plans and some calculations about the size and number of each piece.

Arranged on the floors, the steel balls look like Kusama’s polka dots come to 3D life. During the height of the abstract expressionist movement in 1960s New York City, Kusama became known for artworks and installations featuring bright fields of bold polka dots. She rocketed to greater fame in the late ’60s after festooning naked participants with painted dots as a protest against the Vietnam War, as detailed by many publications, including ARTnews

As a young girl, Kusama experienced hallucinations, beginning around age 10, of repetitive dots and an aura that would envelop her body, Turkovic says. The dots have been part of her artwork since.

“She felt this kind of sense of self-obliteration,” Turkovic says, describing Kusama getting lost in the repetitive motion of creating

her Infinity Net paintings, which are made up of lots of dots. “The act of the polka dot was one that was more about calming her fear and anxiety in a way … so the spheres are very much kind of going back to that first experience of hallucination.”

Since then, Kusama’s celebrity has waxed and waned — even as male peers such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg reportedly lifted elements of her artwork, gaining more acclaim in their time than her.

But Kusama, and her dots, have persisted — quite literally.

“I think she struggled for many years, just trying to get the recognition that she deserved,” Turkovic says.

Now she has that recognition, and people journeying to her installations — yet at 93, she’s still in the studio every day. Making art. Maybe even making polka dots. n

Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden will be open Wednesday through Sunday now to May 14 at Laumeier Sculpture Park (12580 Rott Road, 314-615-5278, laumeiersculpturepark.org). The show is free but reserved timed entry is required for all visitors.

Yayoi Kusama first installed Narcissus Garden in 1966 at the Venice Biennale. | JESSICA ROGEN

MUSIC 39

Playing Grass

With Graham Curry, Webster Groves has turned out an epic flatpicking whiz

Written by STEVE LEFTRIDGE

According to “Nashville Cats,” the Del McCoury (by way of the Lovin’ Spoonful) classic, “There’s thirteen-hundredand-fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville/And they can pick more notes than the number of ants on a Tennessee ant hill.” True enough, but there are few finer in Music City these days than 25-year-old bluegrass guitarist and local boy Graham Curry.

Curry, best known for his stint as the flatpicking whiz for newgrass road warriors Old Salt Union, now splits his time between St. Louis and Nashville, where he has climbed into the top ranks of session players and guest pickers on Music Row.

The Webster-Groves-raised Curry is a hammering-on, pulling-off, cross-picking wonder with sealsmooth movement around the strings, proximal phalanges nonpareil and a mastery of flawlessly clean runs at breakneck velocities.

We chat in a busy cafe next to a guitar store where Curry teaches a few lessons each week, a side hustle that allows him to earn his living as a full-time musician, a destiny that Curry insists he was locked into “straight out of the womb.”

Indeed, he has been playing the guitar as long as he can remember: His pop put a full-size acoustic into his hands at age five. Little Graham was a quick study.

“It just felt really natural,” Curry says. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this doesn’t seem that hard.’”

With no formal training, the kid found his way around the fretboard through finger-taxing trial and error and by playing along to records by his father’s favorite band, the Grateful Dead.

He remembers the song that

set him on a different path: Jerry Reed’s “East Bound and Down” from the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. “I remember hearing that banjo,” Curry says. “That got me into bluegrass.”

From there, Curry couldn’t get enough. He was soon taking deep dives into the early recordings of Clarence White and Tony Rice, legendary pickers who turned bluegrass guitar into a lead instrument.

At Webster Groves High School, the guitar temporarily took a back seat to sports, as Curry, a standout pitcher, chased a baseball schol-

arship. However, a sophomoreyear injury to his throwing arm ended his time on the mound. “I feel like me blowing out my arm was meant to happen,” he says, emphasizing that in the absence of baseball, the guitar became his main priority.

By the time Curry graduated, he already had the chops to hang with professional pickers, but getting paid for it was another story.

“I knew I wanted to play music for a living, but I didn’t know how, so the only thing I knew to do was get better and better,” Curry says.

“So I just practiced my fucking ass off.”

He played constantly — a hundred “Wildwood Flower”s, a thousand “Blackberry Blossom”s, a million G runs.

He also added high-lonesome tenor vocals to his repertoire and, seeking adventure, moved to Denver to soak up the rich Colorado bluegrass scene. After a year of woodshedding and poverty, however, the 18 year old moved back home.

Soon after, Curry was recruited

Continued on pg 40

Graham Curry splits his time between Nashville and St. Louis. | COURTESY PHOTO

GRAHAM CURRY

Continued from pg 39

to play mandolin in local folkgrass outfit Grass Fed Mule, giving him his first taste of paying gigs and regional touring. Still, Curry says that the band was not an ideal fit. “They were a progressive, jammy band,” he says. “And I wanted to play grass.”

Curry means traditional bluegrass — the ancient tones of Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers, et al. — the music he has wanted to play since he was 16.

Nonetheless, a picker’s got to eat. So, in late 2017, when he was called to fill the guitar vacancy in Old Salt Union, he hit the road with them. Across the country, bluegrass and jam communities got to see what the kid could do.

With Curry in tow, Old Salt Union, a five-piece from Belleville, Illinois, played 150 shows a year to big crowds coast to coast. Curry also played on the band’s 2019 Alison Brown-produced album Where the Dogs Don’t Bite, contributing to the effort his own self-penned song, the hot-stepping, trad-leaning “Heartbroke & Lonesome.”

A Great Surprise

Brother Francis and the Soultones’ set is an exuberant dance party, and St. Louis is catching on

Written by STEVE LEFTRIDGE

The band opens with “Preachin’.” They always do. It’s the one thing about a Brother Francis and the Soultones show that will never surprise you.

Everything else is anyone’s guess. During a recent headlining set at Central Stage, the bespectacled guitarist plays knotty syncopations while spinning his high ponytail like a propeller, the beardy bassist busy with contrapuntal lines, the sax player blasting brassy backtalk at his bandmates and the drummer sneaking free-jazz fills into the pocket of the

Eventually, the road took its toll. “I gave it 2 1/2 hard years of touring nonstop and got to where I literally couldn’t go on the road anymore,” Curry says. He left Old Salt Union in January 2020 just before COVID-19 hit.

With no band and with live music on lockdown, Curry unplugged, taking a performing hiatus, which he spent fly fishing on rivers in the Ozarks and out west. “But I was still picking a ton,” he says. “My guitar was always with me.”

In fact, Curry’s playing was so sharp he felt ready to compete at the annual National Flatpicking Championships in Winfield, Kansas. In 2021, he showed up with no set song arrangement, tore off a sizzling, scale-defying blitz of improvisational soloing and walked away with fourth place. While Winfield and Old Salt Union established Curry as a top-tier bluegrass shredder, he’s careful to avoid letting it go to his head. “You’re not going to make it in this industry if you have any sort of ego,” he insists. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be around the best in the business in Nashville. Not a single one of those guys has an ego. Any moment you have an ego, just realize that there’s 30 other players just as good as you.”

Once restrictions eased, Curry, burned out on the jam scene, decided to forge his own path. “I have this certain sound that I have in my head for bluegrass music,” he says. “The older I get, I just want to do my thing.”

Graham Curry & the Missouri Fury debuted a year ago, featuring a handpicked team of some of the area’s finest players: journeyman banjoist Alex Riffle, Berkleetrained mandolinist David Louis

Goldenberg, and RiverBend bassist Will Miskall.

So 2023 looks to be a big year for Curry’s Fury — festival spots are on the books (including Pickin’ on Picknick in July), and the band has a full album on the way this spring. The first single, a terrific cover of Red Allen’s “Teardrops in My Eyes,” is out now.

While leading his own band at home, Curry plans to continue to hit Nashville twice a month to sit in with high-profile bluegrass bands, some of which have recently auditioned Curry to become a member (though he remains tight-lipped about those details).

Curry says that in many ways he feels as though he is finally where he needs to be — fronting his own band, calling his own shots and looking forward to the road ahead. Wherever that road may take him, two things are certain: Graham Curry will have his guitar with him … and the boy will be playing grass. n

Catch Graham Curry & the Missouri Fury at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 24 at Blue Strawberry (364 North Boyle Avenue, 314-2561745, bluestrawberrystl.com) Tickets are $25 for table seating and $20 for bar seating.

“Well, it’s not Michael Jackson,” singer/guitarist Francis Ladish says with a laugh. “It’s cheeky, but it’s fun. That’s our special sauce — that we’re all friends having fun, and I think that’s what comes through in the music.”

Audiences agree. A Brother Francis and the Soultones set is an exuberant dance party, and St. Louis is catching on. Last year, the band played an average of 14 shows per month, and 2023 is shaping up to be even busier.

It had been a twisty road to get to this point. “I’ve been on a fucking journey in this life,” says Ladish, 32, describing the circuitous steps that have brought him to his current place. Geographically, that place is the two-story house in the Bevo Mill neighborhood that Ladish shares with Soultones bassist Jacob Zengerling. There, in their living room/rehearsal space, the two bandmates break down their backstories.

band’s filth-funk groove.

And that was only the first minute.

Then things get really funky. The quartet plays bob-and-weave gumbo-pop that takes left turns into improvisational skronk-rock

as the instrumentalists call and respond to each other in a kinetic jazz-boogie conversation. Suddenly, the band locks back into the head with eighth-note precision, complete with some charmingly nerdy dance choreography.

The Festus-raised Ladish first picked up the guitar in high school before heading to college to study classical music. It did not go as planned.

“I started taking opioids,” he says. “It started off with unprescribed stimulants to help me stay up late. But then I developed a se-

“ I knew I wanted to play music for a living, but I didn’t know how, so the only thing I knew to do was get better and better. So I just practiced my fucking ass off.”

Brother Francis and the Soultones play Venice Cafe on Saturday, February 18. | COURTESY PHOTO

rious drug problem. I’d stay up for like 48 hours straight in the smoking lounge, smoking cigarettes and playing guitar.”

As a result, Ladish dropped out of school and moved home to recover from his year-long addiction.

Zengerling, 31, fell in love with the bass guitar as a Mehlville middle schooler when his brother’s friend brought one over.

“It was a cherry-red Fender PBass,” he remembers. “I strummed that big string and thought, ‘Yeah, this is where it’s at.’” A brief stint at college studying culinary arts taught Zengerling that he should listen to his intuition and dedicate himself to music.

The two met in 2011 at the home of Ladish’s friend Taylor Perkins, a musician known for throwing house parties that turned into allnight jam sessions. With Perkins on drums, the new trio discovered a shared facility for improvisation, not only with jam-fusion soloing but also with making up whole songs on the spot.

“We would go to Taylor’s farm out in Grubville and be up until six in the morning playing music by the campfire,” Ladish recalls. “We would just sing about random stuff, feeding off each other, improvising. It built the foundation of what we do when we play today.”

Ladish and friends took their show to stages at Cicero’s and the Gramophone, alternating personnel and band names — Envy the Cookbook, Fool the Radar, the Natural Process — before landing on their current lineup and name, which was partly based on Ladish’s propensity for extemporized mock-preacher stage patter.

The final piece of the Soultones puzzle was the mid-pandemic addition of Mike Neu, a young jazztrained saxophonist who pursued the band. “Mike is incredible. He’s probably the best musician in the group,” Ladish says, emphasizing Neu’s ability to roll with the Soultones’ improv-colored style.

The Soultones cut a 2019 album, What is Romance?, pre-Neu, so the band is eager to get new recordings out as a quartet and plans on releasing a series of singles, a remastered EP and a full album later this year.

The Soultones will have plenty of chances to play the new material and have a schedule that is filling up with winery shows, private gigs, Saturday nights at Venice Café and a monthly residency at Pop’s Blue Moon that sees the group inviting a different guest musician to sit in each time. For any show, audiences can expect a unique setlist as the band draws

from a deep catalog of original songs and surprise covers from the likes of Frank Zappa, Paul Simon and Steely Dan.

“It’s been a blessing,” Zengerling says of the band’s recent rise in popularity. “If you just make space for the things in your life, it’s amazing what comes through.”

This kind of spiritual outlook is central to Zengerling’s personal and musical credo. Last year, he traveled to Peru to study shamanassisted music therapy and started a solo project, the Holistic Guitarist, to perform ambient music for yoga and meditation. “I invite relaxing frequencies in for people,” Zengerling says.

Ladish, who also performs solo sets under his stage name Brother Francis, is not only the group’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, but he also adds an attentiongrabbing visual element through his flamboyant, gender-fluid stage attire. Brother Francis fans are accustomed to seeing Ladish perform in, say, a sheer psychedelic leotard, sports bra, booty shorts, fishnet thigh-highs, an I-Dream-ofJeannie ponytail and Cover-Girl-ad worthy makeup.

However, Ladish says his aesthetic is changing. “I’ve gone through so many different vibes and wardrobe styles,” he says. “The pendulum is now swinging the other way. People can expect maybe a slow transition into a more reserved style.”

That’s because his interest in fashion and gender experimentation is being replaced by other concerns. To prove it, he pivots the conversation to topics that have been taking up space with him lately, such as the skilled labor shortage, food security and digital currencies.

Much like the multitudinous nature of Ladish’s personality, a vigorous mix of musical sources is key to the band’s success.

“Live, we rage,” Zengerling explains. “We’re a loud band in the sense of rock & rollness. But we love funk, Latin influences, reggae vibes — it’s a collaboration of everything packaged around a rock band.”

But Ladish prefers a more elusive description of the band’s sound.

“It’s unique but familiar,” Ladish adds, with a smile. “It’s something you’ve heard a bunch, and something you’ve never heard before.”

Amen, Brother. n

Catch Brother Francis and the Soultones at 9 p.m. on Saturday February 18, at Venice Cafe (1903 Pestalozzi Street). Tickets are $5.

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 16

BRIAN WOODS & ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY: 7 p.m.,

$25. World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-9243.

BUTCH MOORE: 4 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

THE BUTTERY BISCUIT BAND: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

CHRIS JANSON: 9 p.m., $15-$65. The Armory, 3660 Market Street, St. Louis, 314-282-2920.

CORY WONG: w/ Victor Wooten, Trousdale 8 p.m., $32.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE FALLING FENCES: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

JOSIAH JOYCE & DREW WEISS: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

KOLBY COOPER: 8 p.m., $15. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis.

LOBBY BOXER: w/ Origami Button 7:30 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

PROTON: w/ Littered With Arrows, Hippyfuckers, Q 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

FRIDAY 17

ALASTAIR GREENE: 10 p.m., $15. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

BROTHER FRANCIS: 7:30 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

CAROLYN MASON: 7 p.m., $25. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

COLONY HOUSE: 8 p.m., $26.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE DIVINE MARCH: w/ Thicc Lizzie, Barry Sullivan Blues Band 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

THE FALL OF TROY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: 7 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

JEREMY TAYLOR AND IMPACT CHURCH GOSPEL

SHOW: 7 p.m., $20. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

KEVIN BUCKLEY: 4 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

LAST DANCE: A TOM PETTY TRIBUTE: noon, $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

MAC SATURN: w/ Billy Tibbals, Euphoria 7:30 p.m., $15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

️MARDI GRAS NOIR 2023️: w/ DJ Nico Marie, Makeda Kravitz 9 p.m., free. Sophie’s Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club, 3224 Locust St second floor of .Zack, St. Louis, 314-775-9551.

MARTY SPIKENER’S ON CALL BAND: 8 p.m., $15.

Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

MIDLAND BAND: 8:30 p.m., $38. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481.

MO EGESTON ALL-STARS FEATURING NIKKI ELLIS

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

MY EMO VALENTINE: w/ Finding Emo 8 p.m., $10.

The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

Proton w/ Littered with Arrows, Hippyfuckers, Q

8 p.m. Thursday, February 16. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway. $10. 314-328-2309.

Columbia invades St. Louis with a pair of relentlessly aggressive punk acts converging on the Sinkhole this Thursday. Proton delivers fast-paced crust punk sure to appeal to those who prefer to mend their perpetually dirty all-black outfits with dental floss — a roundabout way of noting that the relatively young group skillfully channels the best of Aus-Rotten and would have fit nicely on Profane Existence’s ’90s roster, as evidenced by its latest release, October’s split with Total Sham. Littered With Arrows, meanwhile, brings a more technical approach to its songwriting, with heavier-than-the-sun riffage that tends more toward the metal end of the

PTAH WILLIAMS AND FRIENDS: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

THE RICTERS: 7:30 p.m., $10. Blueberry HillThe Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SECRET SOCIETY NIGHT: AN EMO HANGOUT: 8 p.m., $15. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

VOODOO GILLIAN WELCH: 8 p.m., TBA. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

SATURDAY 18

ACOUSTIK ELEMENT: 8 p.m., $20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

spectrum than punk, while still keeping one foot planted firmly on each side — its latest demo, released in January, calls to mind early Converge at times. Joining the out-of-towners are St. Louis’ Hippyfuckers and Q, the former a relatively new act delivering snotty, high-energy punk, and the latter a St. Louis mainstay known for its pissed-as-fuck hardcore and infamously destructive sets. It’s a rare show without a single skippable act, and it’s proof positive that punk is alive and well in the Show-Me State.

THE FUNKY BUTT BRASS BAND: 5 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER PRESENTS: SONGS WE

LOVE: 8 p.m., $40-$50. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

JIJI: 7:30 p.m., $20-$39. The 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-421-3600.

MADALYN MERKEY: w/ Jack Callahan, Jeff Witscher 8 p.m., $10-$20. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

MARDI GRAS EXPERIENCE AT MOLLY’S: 11 a.m., $65-$1500. Molly’s in Soulard, 816 Geyer Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-6200.

MARDI GRAS PARTY 2023️: 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

MARTY ABDULLAH & THE EXPRESSIONS: 8 p.m.,

$12. Casa Loma Ballroom, 3354 Iowa Ave, St. Louis, 314-282-2258.

ROBERTNELSON & RENAISSANCE: 7:30 p.m., $25. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

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

THE SAINT BOOGIE BRASS BAND: 8:30 p.m., $25.

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

THE SCANDALEROS: w/ the Aquaducks, Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players 9 a.m., $30. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

SONGS WE LOVE: 8 p.m., $15-$50. The Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries, 3648 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

STRFKR: 8 p.m., $25. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SUMMER CAMP: ON THE ROAD: 8 p.m., $9.50-$13. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

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

SUNDAY 19

ELSIE PARKER & THE POOR PEOPLE OF PARIS: 4 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

ENEMY OF MAGIC: 3:30 p.m., free. Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-721-4096.

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

ETHAN JONES: 2 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

MARDI GRAS BRUNCH: w/ Hunter Peebles 10 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

MOOKIE TOLLIVER: 6 p.m., $15-$25. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

NOWAKE: w/ The Intrusion, Mild Cartoon Violence, Brave New World, Inner Outlines 7 p.m., $8-$10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

—Daniel Hill

Round Two: Fans of the bands on this bill would do well to circle back to the Sinkhole two days later to catch Chicago’s Cult Fiend, whose brand of crossover is more Power Trip than Municipal Waste (which is to say, the good kind). Expect riffs on top of riffs in true thrash style, with a bit of death metal influence for good measure.

ALMOST FAMOUS: 4 p.m., free. The Midwestern, 900 Spruce Street, St. Louis.

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

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

BECOMING BOJO: w/ DJ Nico, Umami 8 p.m., $10. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., St. Louis.

BROADWAY RAVE: 7 p.m., $17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

CULT FIEND: w/ Breakmouth Annie, Paternity Test 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

DISTANT WORLDS: MUSIC FROM FINAL FANTASY: 8 p.m., $39.50-$179.50. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111.

POP UP MUSIC AND ART SHOWCASE: w/ Cashflow, Teacup Dragon. T.G. Alpha Dogg, Merkeba, Emantreeman, C.E.B., Griizzly 7 p.m., free. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., St. Louis.

THE SADIES: 8 p.m., $22. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

THE SAINT LOUIS CHAMBER CHORUS: 3 p.m., $10$30. Third Baptist Church, 620 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-7340.

SARAH JANE AND THE BLUE NOTES: 11 a.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

SATAN’S GOD: w/ Googolplexia, Without MF Order, Super Bomb, Acid 87 8 p.m., $5. Platypus, 4501 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-359-2293.

SOUTHSIDE CREOLE PLAYBOYS: w/ Andy Coco’s NOLA Funk and R&B Revue 3 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

WES HOFFMAN AND FRIENDS: w/ The Stars Go

Littered with Arrows. | VIA ARTIST BANDCAMP

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Out, Bad Planning, Inner City Witches, The Winks 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

MONDAY 20

J.D. HUGHES: 4 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

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

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

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

TRIXIE & KATYA LIVE: 8 p.m., $38.50-$133.50. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111.

TUESDAY 21

BOB CASE: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

FUNKY BUTT BRASS BAND: 8 p.m., $10. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

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

WEDNESDAY 22

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

JERRY HARRISON & ADRIAN BELEW: 8 p.m., $39.50-$59.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

TINY TREE: w/ Mongoose, Kilverez 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

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

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

THIS JUST IN

AMERICAN CHAMBER CHORALE & ORCHESTRA: Sat., March 11, 7:30 p.m., free. Salem in Ladue United Methodist Church, 1200 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Frontenac, 314-991-0546.

ANTHOLOGY: A TRIBUTE TO THE ALLMAN BROTH-

ERS BAND: Sat., March 18, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BEST NIGHT EVER: Sat., April 8, 8:30 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE BLACK MOODS & THE DEAD DEADS: Tue., April 4, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

BLUSH: W/ Seashine, Sat., March 4, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

BODYSNATCHER: Mon., March 6, 7 p.m., $18. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BORN OF OSIRIS: Fri., Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m., $25$39.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BRENT COBB: W/ Brit Taylor, Thu., March 30, 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

DAVID BRIGHTON’S SPACE ODDITY: THE ULTIMATE

DAVID BOWIE EXPERIENCE: Fri., April 14, 8 p.m., $39.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

DEATH GRIPS: Wed., July 26, 8 p.m., $45-$59.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

DIALOGUE: W/ Scarlet Tanager, Bobby Stevens, Sat., March 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

DIRECT MEASURE: W/ Swamp Lion, Fortunate Son, Karenocalypse, Fri., March 24, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

8 p.m. Saturday, February 18. The Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard. $39.50 to $179.50. 314-534-1111.

As so-called “nerd” culture continues to crawl out of the basements of maladjusted teens and adults and fully into the fabric of society at large, video games have enjoyed increasingly prominent levels of cultural cachet. It’s not just the conversation-dominating nature of games such as Elden Ring or the leap-to-the-big-screen tendencies of some of the medium’s classics (such as the forthcoming Super Mario Bros Movie) — in 2023, video games are everywhere. One of the most delightful ways this has played out is with the soundtracks of those games making their way onto live-music stages across the world. From Bit Brigade to Minibosses to Powerglove, bands who specialize in vid-

DISTURBED: Tue., Aug. 29, 7 p.m., $29.50$149.50. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

THE DOWN BADS: W/ Thicc Lizzie, The Divine March, Wed., March 22, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

DREW SHEAFOR: Fri., Feb. 24, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS: Thu., Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m., $35-$125. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

FUTURE/MODERN: W/ Judson Claiborne, Two Hands/One Engine, Sat., April 8, 8 p.m., $10.

The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

GIMME GIMME DISCO: Fri., April 7, 8:30 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

eo game music have increasingly become a genre all to themselves, to the delight of those who spent their formative years drilling these sounds into their heads. But perhaps no experience is more notable in this space than that which is delivered by the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy concert tour. Curated by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu and led by Grammy-winning conductor Arnie Roth, the show will bring more than 100 musicians to the stage of the Fox Theatre this Saturday, November 21. The current tour is in celebration of Final Fantasy’s 35th anniversary, and will feature exclusive HD video from developer Square Enix displayed on a big screen. Sing it, Sister: Joining the group of talented musicians on the stage this Saturday will be vocalist Susan Calloway, whose past work with Distant Worlds led to her being tapped to perform the vocal themes for 2011’s Final Fantasy XIV.

—Daniel Hill

314-241-1888.

LIBRARY BIRDS: W/ Mobile Alien Research Unit, Future/Modern, Fri., April 28, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

LUCIUS: Mon., April 3, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

LUMINAL: W/ Nine Volt, With Glee, Fri., March 3, 7 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MODERN ANGST: Voice of Addiction, the Kuhlies, Stinkbomb, Fri., March 3, 7 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

MONGOOSE: W/ War Druid, Cloud Machine, Fri., April 7, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

NICKEL CREEK: Sun., June 11, 7 p.m., $39.50$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

OBITUARY: Fri., May 26, 7 p.m., $25. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

OPERA BELL BAND: W/ Charles Ellsworth and the Space Force Deserters, Sandman and Hill, Bobby Stevens, Fri., Feb. 24, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

ORANGE DOORS: W/ Loftys Comet, Thu., March 9, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

PETTY GRIEVANCES: W/ The Disappeared, Maximum Effort, Sat., March 11, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

POINTFEST 2023️: Sat., May 27, noon, $29.50$129.50. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre - St. Louis, MO, 14141 Riverport Dr, Maryland Heights.

POUYA: Fri., April 28, 7 p.m., $30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

RANDY ERWIN: Fri., March 24, 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

REVEREND HORTON HEAT: Thu., March 2, 8 p.m., $25. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THE ROAD TO POINTFEST 2023️: SESSION 1: Sat., March 25, 7 p.m., $8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

THE ROAD TO POINTFEST 2023️: SESSION 2: Sat., April 1, 7 p.m., $8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

THE ROAD TO POINTFEST 2023️: SESSION 3️: Sat., April 8, 7 p.m., $8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

THE ROOMINATORS: Sat., Feb. 18, 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

RUMOURS: A FLEETWOOD MAC TRIBUTE: Fri., May 19, 8 p.m., $29.50. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

SCOTT MULVAHILL & BEN SOLLEE: Sat., Feb. 25, 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

314-726-6161.

JACKIE GREENE, LILLY WINWOOD: Thu., April 6, 8 p.m., $29.50. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD: Wed., June 21, 7:30 p.m., $39.50-$99.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

KILLING FEVER: W/ Zantigo, Forteana, Fri., March 10, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

KISS YOUR FRIENDS: W/ Where’s the Rum, Missouri Delta, Wed., April 26, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

LADY J HUSTON: TRIBUTE TO BILLIE HOLIDAY: Fri., March 31, 7 p.m., $25. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

LEGENDS NEVER DIE: Sat., April 8, 8 p.m., $65-$225. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis,

SECRET SOCIETY NIGHT: AN EMO HANGOUT: Fri., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., $15. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SHI: W/ Path of Might, Kilverez, Sat., March 11, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

SHREK RAVE: Sat., March 18, 9 p.m., $20-$35. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SINKING SEASON: W/ Reaver, Fri., April 14, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

THE SISTERS OF MERCY: Mon., May 29, 8 p.m., $50-$65. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SQUIRCLE THE DESTROYER: W/ Nightswim, Key Grip, Fri., March 31, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE: Sun., April 16, 8 p.m., $32.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. n

Distant Worlds. | VIA THE ARTIST

Kant Say No

BY DAN SAVAGE

Hey Dan: Let’s say you’re a younger gay guy who’s been doing ethical FinDom (financial domination) for a few years, and you’re good at it, and you feel good about doing it because you take reasonable amounts of money, a.k.a. “tribute,” from your finsubs and you give value in return. In my case, I share sexy text messages, pics and do meetups with subs who’ve earned my trust. And let’s say one of your trusted subs — someone you’ve been draining in your own ethical way for a few years — offers to sign everything he has over to you. House, condo, vacation home, savings, stocks. Everything. This person says it’s their ultimate fantasy and they ask again and again. Do you have to say no? At what point can you ethically say yes? Let’s say this particular sub has no kids, no spouse and his nearest relatives are Trump supporters and homophobes who were awful to him when he came out. He doesn’t want them to get anything. He says if I don’t take it all, he’s giving it all to charity. I’m 32 (not that young, I guess) and he’s 72 and not in great health. This would set me up for life and I would be able to help my parents out. Thoughts? What if I had to marry him to make it possible for tax reasons? Should I marry him? No one in their right mind would make an offer like this, right? I half expect him to come to his senses and think I’m a monster if I say yes. Can I do this and call myself as an ethical FinDom?

Seriously Entertaining This Unbelievable Possibility

P.S. I told him he could leave me whatever he wants in his will, but he says he wants to have the experience of giving it all to me while he’s still alive to enjoy it.

I shared your letter with three random gay dudes who do financial domination online. All three were extremely jealous and all three, perhaps unsurprisingly, felt you should take the money and the house, the condo, the vacation home, all of it. In fact, two of them initially responded the same: TAKE THE MONEY!

But since you seem concerned with the ethics of the very unique situation you find yourself in, SETUP, I shared your question with a couple of actual ethicists.

“The fundamental, background, takenfor-granted ethical framework assumed by Dom/sub relationships is that they’re entered into autonomously and both parties are ‘in their right mind’ in some relevant sense,” says Dr. Brian Earp, senior

research fellow in moral psychology at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at University of Oxford. “Running with that, if SETUP really does think his sub may not ‘be in his right mind,’ if he thinks his sub is offering to sign over all those assets due to some breakdown in his decision-making competence, then, yeah, it would be exploitative and wrong to say ‘yes’ to this offer.”

So Dr. Earp doesn’t think you should take the money?

Not necessarily. Dr. Earp cited a relevant debate in the field of bioethics, his specialty, that might argue in favor of taking the money, SETUP. Indeed, it would be “objectionably paternalistic” to assume your sub isn’t in his right mind just because he wants to do something others might regard as imprudent or even harmful.

“Take someone who refuses to go on kidney dialysis because she’s ‘tired of life’ and doesn’t want to deal with all the hassle,” Dr. Earp says. “In a recent reallife case, the doctors basically said the sheer fact she says she prefers to die which seems pretty harmful! instead of getting the doctor-recommended treatment suggests she ‘lacks competence’ to decide about her own health care and so she should be forced to go on kidney dialysis ‘for her own good.’ But if you go with that way of thinking, you can basically just declare people incompetent people who otherwise would not be seen as incompetent every time they choose something you think is a bad idea.”

So to avoid even the appearance of behaving in an objectionably paternalistic manner because God forbid Dr. Earp thinks you should take the money?

Not necessarily. If there’s evidence of diminished mental capacity independent of the specific decision at issue here your sub giving you everything he owns that additional evidence of diminished mental capacity would argue against taking the money, the house, etc.

“Basically, if SETUP has some other, independent set of good reasons for thinking the sub is ‘not in his right mind’ apart from the sheer fact of offering to sign away all his assets,” Dr. Earp says, “then it’s not paternalistic to say, ‘No, I’m not going to honor your request.’ But if the offer is the only thing that makes the writer think the sub is not in his right mind, then the writer may be projecting their own values, preferences or worldview onto the sub in a way that is, itself, disrespectful of the sub’s underlying autonomy.”

If signing over all his assets is the only crazy thing your sub wants to do, you can take the money. But if signing everything over to you is one crazy tree in a forest full of crazy trees, you can’t take the money.

But how crazy is wanting to give everything you own to someone anyway?

“If we were to think giving all your stuff away without ‘expecting anything in return’ is evidence of not being in your right mind,” Dr. Earp says, “I wonder why you wouldn’t reach the same conclusion if the person just wanted to give away most of their stuff, or half of their stuff. Why wouldn’t you conclude that entering into a FinDom relationship as a sub is not by itself evidence that someone is not in his right mind? But if SETUP isn’t willing to concede that, as I assume he is not, then I don’t see why without other corroborating evidence of decision-making incompetence SETUP should think that the sub’s desire to give away most or all their stuff is somehow, by itself, disqualifyingly irrational.”

Now, when it comes to big decisions and this one more than qualifies it’s always helpful to get a second opinion.

“I don’t think marrying this person would be an ethical issue,” says Dr. Manon Garcia, dispensing with one of your concerns. “Marriage has been used for a long time as a way to protect and transfer assets,” and you’re free to use marriage that way and still regard yourself as an ethical person.

Zooming out, Dr. Garcia, junior professor of practical philosophie at Freie Universität (Berlin), thinks you should consider Kant’s Formula of Humanity: “So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.” (This is German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s [1724-1804] first-ever appearance in Savage Love. Shame he isn’t alive to enjoy it.)

What that means, Dr. Garcia explains, is that we have an ethical duty a positive duty to treat people as ends in and of themselves.

“This positive duty is very demanding,” Dr. Garcia continues. “It requires attention to the particularities of persons and the fact that they are not abstract beings but individuals who have their own cognitive limitations that could affect their ability to consent in different situations.”

So if your sub’s not in his right mind, you can’t take the money. But if you know your sub well enough and you love and respect them and you believe your sub truly wants to give you all his money and has the cognitive abilities to make this choice and it would make him happy you can take the money.

It should go without saying but I’m saying it anyway that you have a conflict of interest here. To be perfectly scrupulous about the ethics of this, you might want to ask your sub to get a full psych workup before you agree and maybe book a few sessions with an extremely sex-and-kink positive couples’ counselor you can talk with together.

Zooming back out for a second

Financial domination took off as a kink over the last 15 years. Its popularity has, I think, something to do with the mass cultural trauma of the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 and the way our smartphones have facilitated certain kinds of fantasy play and arms-length sex work. And while SETUP may be the first FinDom I’ve heard from facing this particular dilemma/good problem to have a finsub nearing the end of his life who wants to leave him everything I don’t think he will be the last. I expect others may find themselves in more ethically challenging dilemmas. Assuming SETUP is telling us the truth his sub offered, SETUP didn’t demand; there are no children or other dependents this one seems like an easy call.

But for sake of argument and because this might come up again in the future let’s say SETUP’s sub had children. Could he take the money then?

“Parents have some duties to their children,” Dr. Garcia says. He cites French law, which requires parents to leave their children at least 30 percent of their estate, even in cases where children may have been absolute shits.

“In most cases that is, in cases where the kid does not have psychopathic tendencies parents have something to do with how children treat them,” Dr. Garcia says, “so the children’s behavior cannot be grounds for complete disinheritance. I also think that inheritance plays very often a role of proof of love after a parent is deceased, so I do think one wrongs their kids by leaving nothing to them, no matter the behavior of the kids, given that parents have a duty to love their kids. Therefore, if the sub had kids, I’d say it’d be unethical to agree to receive more than 50 to 70 percent of their assets depending on their number of kids.”

Finally, SETUP, once it’s your money if you take your sub’s money you can do what you like with it. That could include setting up a generous trust fund that benefits your sub for the rest of his life. If he doesn’t want and/or need the money, he can sign it over to you. So even after everything is yours, he would still be in a position to pay you “tribute,” which he clearly enjoys doing.

Good luck, SETUP, whatever you decide to do. Also, best wishes to your sub, best wishes to your parents and always remember to tip your advice columnist generously.

You can follow Dr. Brian Earp on Twitter @BrianDavidEarp and learn more about him at brianearp.com. You can follow Dr. Manon Garcia on Twitter @ManonGarciaFR and her at manon-garcia.com.