Riverfront Times, March 8, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publisher Chris Keating

Editor in Chief Rosalind Early

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Jessica Rogen

Editor at Large Daniel Hill

Digital Content Editor Jaime Lees

Dining Editor Cheryl Baehr

Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic, Benjamin Simon

Theater Critic Tina Farmer

Music Critic Steve Leftridge

Contributors Thomas K. Chimchards, Mike Fitzgerald, Reuben Hemmer, Andy Paulissen, Mabel Suen, Graham Toker, Theo Welling

Columnists Chris Andoe, Ray Hartmann, Dan Savage Editorial Interns Katie Lawson, Braden McMakin

ART & PRODUCTION

Art Director Evan Sult

Creative Director Haimanti Germain

Graphic Designer Aspen Smit

MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING

Associate Publisher Colin Bell

Account Manager Jennifer Samuel

Directors of Business Development Tony Burton, Rachel Hoppman, Chelsea Nazaruk

BUSINESS

Regional Operations Director Emily Fear

CIRCULATION

Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

EUCLID MEDIA GROUP

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman

Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner

Executive Editor Sarah Fenske

VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein

Audience Development Manager Jenna Jones

VP of Marketing Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com

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Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977

FRONT BURNER

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 An executionstyle killing on the edge of downtown St. Louis has the anti-Gardner crowd eagerly sharing snuff films on social media. That includes KMOX’s Kevin Killeen, hitherto known chiefly for his hatred of February, and St. Louis’ own Gateway Pundit Disturbing. Meanwhile, Cori Bush got hitched! The lucky man, Cortney Merritts, previously worked security for Bush’s campaign and was paid accordingly. Only in St. Louis could something that everyone acknowledges is not actually a campaign finance violation still yield dozens of column inches about the potential for campaign finance violations

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 A pro-Kim Gardner rally in downtown St. Louis draws fewer people than the ballot in some aldermanic races. At least the weather is beautiful? Gardner’s supporters are calling on Judge Bryan Hettenbach to resign and Mayor Tishaura Jones to apologize for failing to support Gardner. Sure, maybe when the River Des Peres no longer stinks. Meanwhile, the Post-Dispatch digs into a crash near Carondelet Park on Saturday. Citizens apparently called in complaints about

Previously On LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS

a traffic signal facing the wrong way on Wednesday, days before the crash. Police also noticed it was facing the wrong way when they reported to the scene Saturday. But never fear, city leaders say it was fixed Thursday, and neighbors backed them up. Even so, we can’t help but wonder about that “fix.” Isn’t the most plausible explanation that someone did a half-assed job, called it good enough and went home for the day — only for the signal to swing back into the wrong spot again? We’re in St. Louis; never underestimate the potential for rank incompetence

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 Ace P-D photojournalist David Carson covers a balloon vigil memorializing the high-profile car accident that killed four and wounded another four the previous Sunday — but in addition to the mourning, he captures

FIVE QUESTIONS for Food Pedaler Owner Alex Ward

an attendee flashing his gun, even while wearing an ankle bracelet. Yikes. Things are so bad, even progressive city leaders are now floating the idea of red-light cameras as a fix for the city’s lawlessness. Yeah, that’ll solve everything.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 Fox 2 reports a man was robbed in the Fountain Park neighborhood by a total of 11 armed suspects. They asked to borrow his phone only to demand his passcode at gunpoint and then take off with the phone. The Wall Street Journal has reported on the trend of people using force or deception to garner iPhone passcodes and, once inside, emptying victims’ bank accounts. Yet another thing to worry about on these mean streets. Also: Congrats to former Cards’ third baseman Scott Rolen, whose greatness is now Cooperstown official!

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 Balmy weather turns into pouring rain, and we get one of those regular reminders of St. Louis drivers’ utter inability to navigate wet weather. Y’all know you can slow down, right?

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 Everyone who’s anyone turned out at CITYPARK to watch St. Louis CITY SC’s home opener — and the city’s hottest ticket became another victory! The region has been in an increasingly foul mood in recent years. Could professional soccer be what it takes to bring us together?

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 The swamp monkeys escape their cages at the Saint Louis Zoo, and with that, a chill slithers down our spine. Yes, it was funny when Ben the Bear did it, but surely we can agree poop-hurling simians are another story. Good news: Unlike the perps of just about every other high-profile caper in St. Louis in recent years, these jailbreakers were swiftly apprehended. Also: Congratulations to the lady Billikens. They’re going to the NCAA tournament! The news isn’t as good for the Battlehawks: Our XFL team lost to the D.C. Defenders.

How has the rise of Postmates, Uber Eats, GrubHub and other corporations affected you?

It’s interesting because Food Pedalers started before the rise of these massive corporations. I would still say we just have to focus on what sets us apart –– and that is, again, we’re committed to being environmentally friendly, as well as committed to supporting local. Uber Eats and DoorDash have billions of dollars in venture capital funding that they can use for advertising and offering huge incentives. At one point, they were offering like $100 of food credit for new users. … That’s put pressure on us, too, to offer lower prices and everything like that. But again, we’re just differentiating ourselves in the best way we can.

How do you differentiate yourself?

I’m a local guy. I live in the Central West End. One example would be –– if [a restaurant] has an issue with an order or they have to close for the night, instead of going through a help-desk phone call or messaging service that may take forever to respond, they can just text us, and we are very quick to respond. Secondly, since I am local, I can just go places in person, and they have that face-to-face interaction with me as opposed to our competitors. The CEO of Uber is never going to stop by Pickles Deli to chat.

For 10 years, Food Pedaler has brought food to the doors of people in the Central West End and downtown via bike. The RFT caught up with owner Alex Ward as his company celebrates its decade anniversary. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How has the business changed over the years?

We are still focusing on restaurants in and around the Central West End and downtown. We deliver anywhere in between there and then a little bit outside of that. I really want to just focus on continuing to offer high-quality service and maximize the amount of people we can reach within those areas. Once we’re at a maximum point within those two neighborhoods, then we can see from there where we go, if we expand geographically or what.

How long do delivery drivers ride on the bike per shift?

Three and a half hours. It would be lunch or dinner. [During] a busy time [a delivery driver] would probably [bike] an estimated 10 miles.

What are the next steps?

Tower Grove has always been in our sights. A couple of years ago, I was working on [moving into] Tower Grove, but it was honestly just difficult to find the workforce. I dialed back a little bit and decided to focus just on our current offerings. But yeah, Tower Grove, University City and Clayton would certainly be the first three areas we would like to expand to.

—Benjamin Simon

Alex Ward. | CARRIE ZUKOSKI

SOMETIMES IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT

[QUOTE OF THE WEEK]

WEEKLY WTF?!

RFT Watch

Date of sighting: February 27

Location: South Eighth Street and Market Street

Who knocked the box over: We don’t know, but the Post-Dispatch building isn’t far away … just sayin’.

Who really knocked it over: an online troll, as part of his resolution to spend less time on his phone

Who really, really knocked it over: the wind

What happened half a second after this photo was taken: The light went from yellow to red, and a car blew through the intersection.

ESCAPE HATCH

We ask three St. Louisans what they’re reading, watching or listening to. In the hot seat this week: three women out and about on the Hill.

Barb R., picking up a carry-out order of baked spaghetti from Amighetti’s

Reading: Switchboard Soldiers: A Novel “It was a learning experience for me about how women had to be trained to be switchboard operators during World War I.”

Sara R., also carrying out baked spaghetti from Amighetti’s

Reading: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives “[It changes] how you feel about plugging in your phone at night and charging the battery.”

Katie H., enjoying a biscotti from Café Dolce

Reading: The Cold War: A World History

“This is what I’m reading now, and it is a superb history.”

Maplewood Politics Inspire a Play

In May of 2022, the revelation that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade left the nation reeling and dominated headlines. Galvanized Maplewood activists rose up and vowed to never stop fighting — to shut down a neighborhood donut shop after it made a peanut allergy joke.

As the nation and world engages in an epic battle between right and left, within the 1 1/2 square miles that make up the inner-ring suburb of Maplewood, the 8,000 residents are witnessing a hyper-local and far more personal war between fringe left versus left-of-center. The latter camp defines the former as militant, humorless and hysterical, and nobody is more vocal about that assessment than playwright Donald Miller, a 59-year-old gay, married father who has voted (and often campaigned) for every Democrat since Bill Clinton, but is essentially Ted Cruz in the eyes of some of his younger progressive neighbors.

I met the wildly irreverent Miller about a decade ago, when we both wrote for the LGBTQ magazine Vital Voice. Until 2017, he appeared to live a relatively drama-free life in upscale Richmond Heights, but when his family moved five minutes east, lured by a large circa-1900 Victorian on one of Maplewood’s idyllic tree-lined streets, Miller’s sometimes irritated, oftentimes comical Facebook posts described constant neighborhood dramas.

“Once I had been friended by some members of the Maplewood community, including neighbors and other parents, I noticed there seemed to be this hyper rigidity that I found off-putting. It really came to the forefront during the 2021 mayoral and school board races, and the vitriol thrown around in both of those races was just staggering,” Miller says, discussing how local activists painted the former moderate mayor — Barry Greenberg, a Jewish father of a Black son — as a racist and referred to anyone who wanted to resume inschool learning as “kid killers.”

“You would have thought it was the political race to end all political races, given the hyper melodrama,” Miller says. “Some acted as if the mayoral race was between David Duke and

Mother Teresa. It was crazy.”

While Maplewood prides itself on its diversity, Miller and others who agreed to speak with me on background say the vitriol and hysterics center around less than a dozen straight white 30-somethings with kids.

The story is also very St. Louis in how neighborhood-specific the saga is. Just lines on a map separate Maplewood from the city, Richmond Heights or Clayton. Yet there is very little cultural spillover. When a local woman who’d been browbeaten out of a mom’s group she founded agreed to discuss her observations and experiences, we arranged a clandestine meeting where nobody would know her: One mile east of Maplewood in El Paisano.

“I think Don’s play is going to humorously skewer the archetype of the white, comfortable, upper-middleclass urban housewife who expresses her activism by carefully curated social media posts, hyperlinks, paywall articles and online outrage. And maybe the occasional crocheted beanie,” she says after sharing the story of how she was labeled every derogatory term under the sun for not making her parenting group more political.

Set in a community garden, Miller’s latest play centers upon “a performative community activist” who attempts to manipulate others under the guise of equity and feminism.

“From the Garden is political satire that focuses on a growing divide within the Democratic Party between old-school liberals and the new strain of überleft progressives,” Miller says. “While it’s written largely for comedic effect, the conflict at the core of the story is very real and serious. It examines how, in some cases, identity politics can be not just rigid and unproductive but downright toxic.”

Shortly after the local donut shop’s controversial peanut allergy post, it promoted a coconut donut. Miller commented, “How dare you? Thousands are killed each year from falling coconuts!”

Tickets for From the Garden, which runs May 5 to 7 at the Chapel (6238 Alexander Drive, 314-529-1581), are available through eventbrite.

“Jaime Lees ... that was well said, and hysterical”

—Amy Russell on our article “Nelly Announces First Ever ‘Hot in Herre’ Music Festival ... in Toronto”

The Strange Mind of a Homophobic Missouri Legislator

You have to see the video version of Missouri’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill

RAY HARTMANN

Iam sure you’ve gone to a movie based on a novel and heard the expression, “You really need to read the book.”

Well, there’s a twist to that old adage with the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was introduced last Wednesday in the Missouri House. It’s not enough to have read the bill or even a news account of the bill.

No, you need to see the movie. In this case, the movie would be a snippet of must-see video of Representative Ann Kelley, RLamar, discussing House Bill 634, which she is sponsoring, at the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

Kelley casts it as “a bill to protect parental rights.” It has a number of fuzzy and troubling provisions, but the one that makes headlines — and which she didn’t shrink from at the hearing — is that “school personnel are not allowed to provide classroom instruction relating to sexual orientation or gender identity.”

This comedy gold — on a par with the best of SNL — can be seen on the Missouri House website.

Kelley’s state website notes that she spent 13 years working as an English Language Arts teacher with the Lamar School District. So, one might assume she comes well prepared for the mission of addressing LGBTQ issues as they pertain to public education.

Then again, one might not want to assume that.

I hope you take 38 minutes to see for yourself, starting at the 9:48:30 mark. For those who can-

not, I believe the best way to present Kelley is with her own words, verbatim.

Right from the start Kelley admitted that it was largely the same bill passed by the Florida legislature March 8 of last year and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis amid much national fanfare. She quoted parts of the bill awkwardly, as if she was reading it the first time rather than having authored it.

That became painfully clear when fellow legislators hammered her with questions that mostly received the response, “I don’t know.”

If you’re an aficionado of political humor, I cannot recommend this part of the video enough. My personal favorite was the grilling she received from her fellow Republican Representative Phil Christofanelli of St. Peters, who happens to be gay.

During his annihilation of his Republican colleague, Christofanelli seized upon a reference Kelley had made earlier in which she said, “we don’t go around saying George Washington was heterosexual.”

It went like this:

Christofanelli: You mentioned George Washington. Who is Martha Washington?

Kelley: His wife?

Christofanelli: Under your bill, how could you mention that in a classroom?

Kelley: So, to me, that’s not sexual orientation.

Christofanelli: Really? So it’s only really certain sexual orientations that you want prohibited from introduction in the classroom.

Kelley: Do you have language to make that better?

Christofanelli: I didn’t introduce your bill. I didn’t write it. You wrote it. So I’m asking what it means. Which sexual orientations do you believe should be prohibited from Missouri classrooms?

Kelley: This is my personal belief: that we all have a moral compass and that my moral compass is compared with Bible [sic].

Were this a prize fight, Kelley’s corner would have thrown in a whole pail of towels. But it wasn’t. Christofanelli quickly ascertained that Kelley had never heard of Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to public office in California.

Even more shocking, this state legislator and former schoolteacher — fighting gay rights — did not know what the Obergefell decision was (the one legalizing same-sex marriage).

No wonder Kelley came off as someone who had copied someone else’s work. She did not pretend otherwise. The most bizarre part of her presentation was a memorable moment in which she attacked the enforcement section of her own bill.

“There are also penalty provisions for violations,” she told the committee. “I hate penalty provisions, and I’m open to change this. One idea I had was, once the family has gone through a due process [sic] that they can appeal to the state School Board and request a school transfer to another district and that tuition be waived [sic]. So that’s one idea I had.”

I don’t believe it’s customary for a bill’s sponsor to challenge one of its provisions while introducing it to a House committee. But I suppose offering an opinion on how to improve your own bill is the next best thing to improving it yourself before submitting it as legislation.

So it’s impossible to believe Kelley’s claim that the bill would not prevent students from discussing their home lives with one another or including such information in their schoolwork. It’s also impossible to believe her claim that counselors could still “do their jobs” were her bill enacted.

Who does Kelley think she is? An expert on this bill?

But it is true that Kelley added her own stamp in one place. Kelley proudly proclaimed that she was expanding Florida’s bill — which was limited to students in K-3 — to apply “don’t say gay” all the way through high school.

We just made Florida look rational. God help us.

Kelley revealed some of her own thinking — if you want to call it that — about why she boarded

this MAGA train:

“The reason I bring this bill to you this morning is because it’s the parent’s job to teach their children about sexual orientation and gender identity. Parents decide how they want to handle those topics. They do not have a place in a school setting. As a teacher, we must keep our personal beliefs out of the classroom, and this has not been happening.

“This bill will not have a big impact on most school districts and most teachers because they’re teaching and doing their job. However, for the teachers or school districts that are integrating their personal views in their classroom instruction, then yes, it’s my intention to get them to stop.

“A teacher’s job is to teach all students, and this can and should be done by supporting rights and liberties for all persons regardless of sexual orientation.”

Now that sounded pretty good. But Kelley didn’t stop there.

“It is not the place of the school to indoctrinate our children by exposing them to gender and sexual identity curriculums [sic] and courses. It is not the teacher’s responsibility to integrate political nuances and inclusive language in their instruction or to infirm [sic] their students’ identity questioning.

“Kids are kids. All kids must deal with trying to find their place, trying to fit in, trying to find out who they are as a person. This is completely natural. Some kids take a while before they know who they are and what makes them special. Kids are also very naïve and easily influenced.

“Therefore, we must keep our educational instruction pure, without the political nuances. We must allow kids to grow and develop on their own accord, without indoctrination or manipulation.”

Pure? That’s a revealing choice of words if ever there was one. In Kelley’s narrow little mind, heterosexuality equates with purity and everyone else? Why, school’s no place for their “political nuances.”

This is all just pathetic. But I still want to see the sequel. 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.

We just made Florida look rational. God help us.

Suspect in Fatal Crash Has History of Traffic Violations

After fleeing a hit-and-run, Cedric Dixon turned himself in last week

Written by RYAN KRULL AND MONICA OBRADOVIC

The man charged with causing a crash on South Grand Boulevard that took four lives on February 26 has a history of flouting traffic laws in both St. Louis and the Metro East.

Alleged Cult That Bought Nelly’s House Eyes Boeing Property

Kingdom of God Global Church has gotten complaints from its neighbors

Written by RYAN KRULL

The alleged cult that in 2021 bought a Wildwood mansion from Nelly is now trying to buy a 284-acre property in Florissant where Boeing used to operate its Leadership Center.

According to an individual familiar with the Kingdom of God Global Church’s business dealings, the organization is attempting to take out a $25 million loan in order to purchase the sprawling property, which until the fall of 2020 was used by Boeing for corporate retreats and training.

According to a brochure for the property on New Halls Ferry Road, the site contains dining and educational facili-

Cedric Dixon, 34, of St. Louis has been charged with 17 crimes after police say he fled the scene of a crash he caused in Midtown. Four people died and four more were injured.

Court records show Dixon has a history of traffic violations dating back about a decade.

In February 2015, Maplewood police ticketed Dixon for driving on a suspended license and without insurance. The following year, he was again ticketed for driving on a suspended license by police in St. Ann. In November 2017 in Brooklyn, Illinois, he was cited for driving on a suspended license a third time.

In April 2019, Dixon faced a slew of charges including two felonies for fleeing the police and being found in possession of a controlled substance. He was also ticketed for driving with a suspended license and without insurance. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was given probation, which he completed in June of last year.

While on probation in Illinois in March 2021, the Missouri High-

way patrol ticketed Dixon for driving on a suspended license on a highway near Spanish Lake.

According to St. Louis Police, Dixon’s reckless driving led to a fatal accident. Police say he was traveling southbound on South Grand in the small hours of February 26 when he swerved into northbound lanes to get around

stopped traffic. Dixon then ran a red light and collided with a Chevy Tahoe that was traveling west on Forest Park Avenue, causing the Tahoe to fall off of the overpass and land on its roof in the westbound lanes of Forest Park Parkway.

Four of the Tahoe’s eight passengers were pronounced dead at the scene: Bryanna Johnson, 18; Anthony Robinson, 19; Contrail McKinley, 20; and Richard Boyd, 19. The other four passengers were critically injured.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has charged Dixon with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, eight counts of armed criminal action, four counts of assault and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.

Police allege Dixon removed his license plate and fled the scene. But two Saint Louis University security guards responded to the accident and spoke to Dixon before he fled. Further investigation led police to Dixon’s identity. Dixon turned himself in last week, KSDK reports. n

feet, including 204 private rooms as well as a cafeteria and dining facilities similar to those on college campuses. The property is adorned by a chateau and a carriage house adjacent to tennis and basketball courts. The structures are surrounded by five miles of hiking trails.

The Boeing property is about a 30-minute drive north of St. Louis at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The land once belonged to the wealthy Desloge family, whose roots in Missouri go back more than two centuries.

Boeing acquired the property when it merged with fellow aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The Boeing Leadership Center opened in 1999.

ties, as well as conference rooms, classrooms and residential lodges.

Reached for comment, Joseph Busch, a preacher with the church whose name is on a loan application obtained by the RFT, said he would have to run the query by the church’s executive team. We never heard back.

The Kingdom of God Global Church currently owns nine properties in west St. Louis County, including the Wildwood mansion and a five-bed, nine-bath mansion in Chesterfield valued at $2 million.

Past local properties owned by the church have drawn scrutiny from neigh-

bors, who have complained of large numbers of people living on site. At one property in Chesterfield, which the church has since sold, neighbors said that dozens of people were living in the home and working on site in what appeared to be a callcenter operation.

The church is led by 50-year-old David E. Taylor, who has boasted of raising people from the dead.

While the church owns millions of dollars’ worth of property in the St. Louis area, the Boeing property would be on another level entirely. A brochure advertises buildings totaling 300,000 square

One California facilities manager told an industry publication in 2000 that the campus was a “velvet prison,” because while the amenities were top-notch, almost all the Boeing employees who went there for training and corporate retreats didn’t have a car, and there was nowhere else to walk to.

The source familiar with the church’s business dealings spoke to the RFT on the condition of anonymity for fear of drawing the group’s animus. He proved his bona fides by providing more than 20 of the church’s bank statements, a loan application, paperwork from the IRS

Continued on pg 15

Police say Cedric Dixon’s reckless driving caused a fatal accident. | VIA SLMPD

The Boeing campus has been called a “velvet prison.” | COURTESY PHOTO

granting the church tax-exempt status and a photocopy of Taylor’s passport.

The source tells the RFT that he aided the church in its attempts to buy a hotel in Houston as well as with its attempts to secure financing for the Boeing property.

The loan application for the Houston hotel says that the church has almost $7 million in a savings account and has brought in $26 million in gross revenue over the past two years. Curiously, on the loan application for the hotel in Texas, the church listed its street address as 16805 New Halls Ferry Road, which is the address for the Boeing Leadership Center property.

The source says the church is still actively trying to buy the property but that Boeing appears hesitant to sell to it.

The source says a loan applicant listing as a street address a property it doesn’t own is odd but on par with the unusual manner in which he has seen Taylor’s church conduct business. Business representatives for the church were prone to long phone calls at irregular hours, the source says. He adds that representatives from the church often referred to “having to check with” a board of directors but that he came to suspect this board doesn’t actually exist.

In 2019, the News-Herald of Southgate, Michigan, published a lengthy investigation of Joshua Media Ministries International, another organization run by Taylor. An individual who left the church told reporter Colin Maloney that at a property southwest of Detroit, numerous people spent hours a day coldcalling and messaging people on Facebook to solicit donations. Some of these people lived at the church, sleeping on mattresses or pieces of plywood, the former member said. Maloney reported that tax records show the church brings in millions of dollars a year in Michigan. The church also operates a “dream interpretation phone line.”

Former members told Maloney the church is a “slave labor cult.” They described working long hours in the church’s call center, as well as witnessing physical assaults. They also said Taylor frequently had sexual relations with female church members.

The source familiar with the church’s business dealings tells the RFT that the church is increasingly having trouble securing financing for its purchases. He cites one instance in which it received preliminary approval from a lender that specializes in loans to faith-based organizations.

However, the source alleges that the lender scuttled the deal once it did its due diligence.

“As soon as they googled him, they saw all the negativity out there,” the source says. n

Woman Who Shot at Students Free on Bond

Judges, prosecutors face more scrutiny for bond violations

Written by RYAN KRULL

Video obtained by the RFT appears to show a 20-yearold woman opening fire on two Confluence Preparatory Academy students last December. That woman, Cierra Wealleans, was charged with assault and armed criminal action that month and has remained free on bond despite violating the terms of her bond twice in December and eight times in January.

The alleged shooting occurred December 6, 2022, as the Downtown West charter school was being dismissed. A probable cause statement from St. Louis police says that Cierra Wealleans got into an argument with two students on the 15th Street sidewalk near several school buses.

The surveillance video of the incident is shot from a distance but shows a woman with her hand in her jacket standing on the sidewalk in front of a white car. She draws the attention of an adult who positions himself between the woman and the students. Another individual wearing a jacket and tie, who according to the probable cause statement is the school principal, acts as a buffer between the woman and other bystanders. The two of them move onto 15th Street, at which point the woman pulls a gun out of her jacket and begins firing. Everyone in the area runs and ducks for cover.

The shooter is quickly tackled by the school principal and a security guard. The school buses leave the scene as quickly as they can.

A person on one of those buses captured a video of the security guard and the principal tackling the shooter to the ground. The video shows an ammo magazine laying on the sidewalk next to Wealleans as she is being subdued.

The police probable cause statement says that Wealleans dropped the gun as she was being tackled,

causing it to fire again. A bullet grazed Wealleans’ hand.

Wealleans was arrested and charged with two counts of assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.

On December 8, Judge Madeline O. Connolly ordered Wealleans to be held with no bond.

But a week later, Wealleans was released on GPS monitoring and house arrest by Judge Clinton Robert Wright. Records from the Circuit Attorney’s Office indicate that the office took the position Wealleans ought to have no bond and remain in jail. Nonetheless, she was released to wait for her court date on February 2, about six weeks later.

During those six weeks, Total Court Services, which operates the GPS monitors, alerted the court 10 times that Wealleans had violated her GPS tracking throughout December and January.

A January 27 notification from Total Court Services says, “Dear Judge: The service of this client’s device has been disconnected … due to having a GPS strap tamper for 3 days.”

A “strap tamper” refers to an individual with the tracking device attempting to remove it.

The February 2 hearing was rescheduled until February 7, at which point a grand jury indicted Wealleans, and her case was sent to a different judge’s courtroom.

On February 7, Judge Michael Stelzer ordered Wealleans to remain free on GPS monitoring despite the numerous violations throughout January.

Last week, prosecutor Andrew Russek filed a motion requesting Wealleans’ bond be revoked, citing the monitoring violations.

This was at least the third time

Wealleans’ bond status came before a judge.

Last week, Judge Rochelle Woodiest ordered that Wealleans immediately report to Total Court Services to have her GPS monitor reinstalled. The judge scheduled a bond hearing on March 9, but Wealleans remains free on bond in the meantime.

Details of Wealleans’ case are seeing scrutiny thanks to the dispute between Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and the 22nd Circuit Court in St. Louis regarding who was responsible for 21-year-old Daniel Riley being free on bond when he caused a car crash that resulted in a teenager visiting from out of town to lose both her legs.

At the heart of the contention is whether prosecutors made an oral motion for Riley to remain out of jail on bond. Riley had racked up dozens of GPS monitoring violations, and Gardner’s office says it asked for the bond to be revoked — but the lack of a written motion to revoke has led critics to question the assertion. (Riley’s former defense attorney has stated that Gardner’s office sought orally to revoke the bond at least once.)

The controversy has demonstrated how difficult it can be to determine from court records how issues of bond are determined in hearings.

Last week, it appeared as though the Riley case has altered how prosecutors carry out their business in court. In Judge Bryan Hettenbach’s courtroom, someone made a remark about how parties with business before the court were now “documenting everything.” In reply, the judge quipped that he had “stacks of paperwork the state has filed about many things.” He added, “It’s a new day in the 22nd Circuit.” n

Cierra Wealleans is out on bond after allegdly shooting at students. | VIA SLMPD

On February 7, Judge Michael Stelzer ordered Wealleans to remain free on GPS monitoring despite the numerous violations throughout January.

Homecoming

St. Louis CITY SC finally plays its first game in St. Louis

er with St. Louis ties.

“I’ve been waiting,” he said, “for 25 years.”

On Saturday, there was no more waiting: CITY SC hosted its first home game against Charlotte FC in front of a sold-out, 22,423-person crowd.

their lungs, howled at the sky and smacked each other’s hands. They banged the railings and stomped the ground until it shook. Popcorn flew in the air, and beer rained down on the crowd.

Words

by BENJAMIN SIMON

Photos

by

REUBEN HEMMER

When Andrew Gai settled into his seat in the second row of the supporter’s section at CITYPARK stadium, he looked down on the pitch like a proud father. He wore a red CITY SC jersey under a cutoff jean jacket with a Saint Louis City Punks patch. With a soft smile and watery eyes, he thought back to the FIFA 98. He used to play the soccer video game as the Columbus Crew because it had one play-

“Today, the result was always going to be secondary,” head coach Bradley Carnell said in the postgame press conference. “We’re fighting with the emotions of 70 years of history.”

Despite Charlotte FC scoring the first goal, CITY made a comeback. Forty minutes into the game, just before halftime, CITY SC defender Jakob Nerwinski floated a cross into the Charlotte box. Charlotte defender Bill Tuiloma tried to head the ball safely out of danger. Instead, it went over his own goalie and into the net — the first CITY SC goal in CITYPARK history.

The crowd erupted into a tsunami of cheers. Red smoke burst into the sky. Fans screamed at the top of

Five minutes later, CITY midfielder Eduard Löwen scored on a penalty kick. In the 71st minute, Brazilian forward João Klauss fired in a goal to extend the lead to 3-1.

With a comfortable 3-1 lead in most stadiums, fans would leave early, beat the traffic and get a head start on their evenings. But when the final whistles rang out on Saturday evening and CITY defender Kyle Hiebert kicked the ball up in the air and pumped his fist, triggering red smoke and a wave of STL cheers, every seat was filled.

After the game, the CITY SC players and staff walked to the edge of the field. They stopped at each section. They waved to fans, clasped their hands in gratitude and basked in the sound of soccer in St. Louis. n

A CELEBRATION OF THE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING ASPECTS OF OUR HOME

A Whole New Ward

In the early morning of January 7, fire ravaged the Sanctuary.

It had been more than a decade since anyone worshiped in the north city church. For a few years, it housed a community center. The nonprofit North Campus Partnership later turned it into an after-school center for neighborhood kids. Decades ago, families paid for the church’s beautiful stained glass windows. Their names remained at the bottom of each.

Most recently, the church — once a beloved

building and center of community in the heart of the 21st Ward — sat vacant. And as flames shattered its windows and firefighters’ ashblackened water flowed from the building into surrounding streets, the church’s life was extinguished with little fanfare.

Yet to residents of the 21st Ward, or at least those who noticed, the church was only the most recent thing lost, just another dilapidated relic of the past in a ward where nearly a third of housing units are vacant. And just the most recent setback.

Today, more than a quarter of the area’s residents have income below the federal poverty level. Its residents, who live mostly in the O’Fallon neighborhood and parts of Fairgrounds, College Hill, Penrose and Kingsway East, are 95 percent Black.

This May will mark a year since the ward’s former Alderman John Collins-Muhammad resigned in light of a federal investigation into bribes he took in exchange for his political leverage.

His corruption was worse than what be-

By Monica Obradovic

came publicly known. Constituents tell of years of businesses being “shaken down” for money. For some ward residents, Collins-Muhammad’s time in office was simply marked by years of lies and broken promises.

While their hopes for the former alderman are now effectively shattered, the people of the 21st Ward still look to the future of their community. The ward will soon balloon from a population of 8,400 to about 20,000 after redistricting takes effect in April, and much of what is currently Ward 21 will become part

of the new Ward 11. Those vying to represent the ward in this new era are looking to repair some of the damage done.

Laura Keys, the alderwoman who took Collins-Muhammad’s place, hopes to be the leader that Ward 21 needs. But she faces a hefty task — to repair constituents’ trust after her predecessor stained their views of government.

Even after the numerous plights that affected the ward and so many other north city neighborhoods post-World War II (redlining, racism, freeway construction, lack of public

transportation, white flight and more) there’s still so much Ward 21 has to offer. It contains two parks, it’s 10 minutes away from downtown and the airport, and it lies just a hop away from the nearest interstate.

And it still has its people — many whose families have lived in the ward for several

Continued on pg 20

After former alderman John Collins-Muhammad’s corruption rattled his community, Ward 21 residents look to the future

O’Fallon neighborhood and parts of Fairgrounds, College Hill, Penrose and Kingsway East make up Ward 21. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

WARD 21

Alderman John Collins-Muhammad

Ward 21 will be part of Ward 11 after redistricting in April. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS CITY

11TH WARD

Continued from pg 19

generations. There’s “Ms. Rosalind” and “Mr. Harris,” who tend to a community garden in the plot of a demolished house and mow the lawns of vacant houses on their street. There’s Monique Reese, who rallied her neighbors to donate Christmas presents to all the children on her block.

There are many more like them — people who look to a better future for their ward. Can they get there?

At 7 a.m, Laura Keys already has her day planned through 9:30 that night. That’s when she tries to cut her days off — even if her phone has yet to stop ringing.

Keys’ election to Ward 21 alderwoman in August was her third attempt at gaining the seat. A Democrat, she earned 57 percent of the vote in a special election to replace Collins-Muhammad. He’d beaten her by only 29 votes in 2017, and Keys lost to him again in 2021.

When Keys won her election to Ward 21 alderwoman in the aftermath of Collins-Muhammad’s indictment, she knew she had a lot of work ahead of her.

“The majority of my time is spent cleaning up things or conversations that he was involved in and then trying to assure people that administration is gone,” Keys says. “Let’s move on. Let’s see what we can get accomplished. A lot of work has to be done.”

For many Ward 21 residents, Collins-Muhammad’s election in 2017 signaled a new hope for the

ward. Age 25 at the time of his election, Collins-Muhammad was the youngest person and the first Muslim to ever be elected to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

The scion of a prominent political family — his mother, LaTonia Collins Smith, is now president of Harris-Stowe State University; his sister, Kimberly-Ann Collins, became a Missouri state representative for several north St. Louis neighborhoods in 2020 — CollinsMuhammad, with both his background and charm, gave many of his constituents hope.

“He represented our next generation, what could be,” one longtime Ward 21 resident says.

Collins-Muhammad ran into trouble almost immediately. A few months after his election, Florissant police arrested him on outstanding warrants for driving on a suspended license. He was arrested again for the same violations and the ones from the 2017 incident after getting into a car accident in 2018. He apparently did not resolve many of those warrants because he was arrested again in 2019 on nine outstanding warrants for traffic violations.

And there was, of course, the $7,000 in cash, the $3,000 in campaign donations, the Volkswagen sedan and iPhone 11 Collins-Muhammad accepted in bribes during a two-year undercover investigation into him.

But all of this is just what’s already known about Collins-Muhammad’s illicit activities. Ward 21 residents say there’s much more.

It’s widely speculated that Collins-Muhammad did not live in the ward he represented, rather somewhere in south city (those who spoke to the RFT say they

could never prove his exact address).

As for the cash bribes CollinsMuhammad seemed to have been accustomed to receiving in the indictment against him — they were far from the first.

“From his first administration

almost immediately, I started getting calls from business owners who were telling me that he was shaking them down for money,” Keys says.

These calls occurred “on the regular.”

“People who own businesses

Former Alderman John Collins-Mohammad received a 45-month prison sentence. | RYAN KRULL

in the ward would call to say he [Collins-Muhammad] would say, ‘I better have $5,000 by Friday, or I’m gonna have to shut you down,’ which aldermen do not have the ability to do,” Keys says.

Former Alderwoman Melinda Long, who represented Ward 21 for two years before a recall vote ousted her from office in 2003, recalls a moment of shock during her first encounter with CollinsMuhammad shortly after his election to office. Long says CollinsMuhammad started ranting to her about his disappointment with a $12,000 cash payment he received from a business in his ward. He had expected more.

“Maybe because he thought I was a former alderperson he could be frank with me,” Long says.

Collins-Muhammad was hardly old enough to drink when Keys first met him during former Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed’s first mayoral campaign in 2013. Even so, he had a political acumen greater than people who’d been in St. Louis politics for decades, according to Keys. He was charismatic, a natural people person.

“I told people, ‘That boy’s gonna be somebody,’” Keys recalls.

“The thing about John is he’s very charismatic,” she says. “He would bond and connect with people, particularly older people. He’d call them, ‘Mama This.’ Hell, when he first met me, I was Mama Keys.”

Collins-Muhammads’ former constituents described their impressions of him in letters to Judge Stephen Clark before his sentencing. “JCM reminds me of a pimp,” wrote Long, the former Ward 21 alderwoman. “JCM was alluring in dress, gave seductive looks of admiration and spoke well.”

Other residents described a series of lies and broken promises.

The former alderman “violated the trust” of his community, according to Amber Cole, 65, who has lived in Ward 21 for 25 years. He “made promises to our community and withheld services from others, threatening me personally,” she wrote to the judge.

Cole and Collins-Muhammad once butted heads when he proposed to change the name of the O’Fallon neighborhood’s namesake park because it was named after a confederate colonel. Collins-Muhammad proposed in a 2017 bill to change the park’s name from O’Fallon to York, in honor of a slave who traveled with William Clark and Meriwether Lewis on their Corps of Discovery. Clark was O’Fallon’s uncle.

While O’Fallon owned slaves and was a staunch supporter of slavery, no historical text could be found that identified O’Fallon as a confederate. Cole says she told Collins-Muhammad as such. The bill didn’t go further than a first reading.

“I had great hope for him,” Cole says. “He’s very articulate, very knowledgeable. But he’s narcissistic.”

Neither Cole nor fellow Ward 21 resident Michael Harris were very surprised to hear of CollinsMuhammad’s corruption.

“I had my doubts all along because he promised some stuff that never materialized,” Harris says.

Harris, a senior citizen who lives in the O’Fallon neighborhood, keeps a community garden near his home off Clarence Avenue. It takes a labor of love for Harris and one of his neighbors to maintain the garden. He says he wanted a place to grow vegetables, so a few years ago he started a garden with Seed St. Louis, a

nonprofit for urban agriculture.

Collins-Muhammad made “promises he didn’t keep,” Harris says. He was going to help Harris get a fence around his garden, but it never materialized. The alderman also promised to repave a sidewalk near his house. That didn’t happen either.

“But he did get a building torn down, and that’s part of my garden,” Harris says. “That’s the best I can say about him.”

On a recent morning, Keys drives around Ward 21 in her “mobile office,” a Toyota Highlander she calls “Tammy Toyota.” She’s wearing a black collared shirt embroidered with her name and a city emblem — her “uniform,” designed by her and made by a business in her ward.

By the time she meets with a reporter at 10 a.m., Keys has her whole day planned. First on the docket is to bring the owner of Kingz Korner an application for the city’s small business grants. Then she has to meet a man about a sidewalk near his property he says the city destroyed. After that are a few other engagements, with a birthday party at an independent-living facility as the last event of the day.

“I’m trying to be the alderman I never had,” Keys says. She tries not to ignore people, as so many of her aldermen have in the past. Aldermen who’d never call back. Aldermen who had good intentions yet still struggled to remain responsive to constituents. Aldermen who’d lie.

“I don’t want anybody to feel like they don’t matter,” Keys says. “To return a phone call is a pretty simple thing to do.”

In “Tammy Toyota,” Keys answers a call from a resident who wants a pickleball court. She stops the car for a 10-minute conversation about speed bumps. When an old neighbor walks by, she honks twice, rolls down her passenger window and yells, “Hey, Miss Shellie!”

En route from stop to stop, Keys notices everything, and has a memory for just about each block she passes. There’s the 13-bedroom rooming house a “Mrs. Gardner” owned before she passed, and a stately house with a well-manicured lawn she’s always loved. There are also the houses that maintain their original beauty even if they’re clearly vacant, like a Second Empire home Keys points to on a corner. “I love old buildings,” she says. “It’s such a

Current Ward 21 Alderwoman Laura Keys has lived in the ward for over 30 years. | BRADEN MCMAKIN

“I had great hope for him,” says Amber Cole of John CollinsMuhammad.

“He’s very articulate, very knowledgeable. But he’s narcissistic.”

11TH WARD

Continued from pg 21

shame that people just don’t have the money to really dress them out.”

There’s a certain energy she feels when she’s in her neighborhood, she says. Not just a sense of home but of potential.

“We are ripe for development,” Keys says. “We have a lot of land that could be developed. Land that could be used for big box stores or grocery stores in our food desert. We need commercial businesses that are doing good business in our ward.”

It’s that potential Keys hopes to make reality. But first, she has to tackle the basics. Like trash. The situation in Ward 21 is “untenable,” she says. “We have rats as big as dogs and raccoons as big as cats.”

In her opinion, city staffers downtown, who she calls “suits,” are “administratively incompetent.”

“I’m not saying the suits downtown aren’t working, but there is a problem when we cannot hire, retain and pay people what it’s worth to do the job we need them to do,” Keys says.

Keys’ time to solve even the most basic of problems may be limited, however. In April, voters will choose between her and Carla “Coffee” Wright as the next alderwoman.

Wright, who has twice run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, has recently turned her political interests more local.

For Wright, the past is prologue, and Collins-Muhammad is a relic of the past, something to be forgotten. Anyone who handled politics in the 21st Ward, she says, “needs to go” as part of a clean sweep with redistricting.

After the April election, most of what’s now the 21st Ward will reside in the new 11th Ward.

“The 21st Ward is over, gone, bye,” Wright says. “John has resigned, and I think anybody else on his team needs to follow his lead. We got a new ward. We ain’t carrying nothing back from the 21st.”

A former actress who left St. Louis for a career in California, Wright moved away from St. Louis but came back in 2003 to a different community. Her new home in north St. Louis near Fairground Park didn’t match what she knew from childhood. Back then, there were small businesses on every corner. She says her family washed their clothes at Cops Cleaners, ate food at C&K Barbeque and Wilbert’s Pizza, and bought shoes at Yellow Ball Shoe Store.

You knew everyone, Wright recalls, and you knew everyone’s mother.

“The only thing we worried about was a stray dog or maybe

somebody stealing our bikes,” Wright says. “Now you got to worry about a stray bullet.”

It wasn’t always that way. Most of what’s now Ward 21 was once the largest prairie in the city. By 1850, most of the land was owned by a prominent riverman and the wealthiest man in Missouri at the time: Colonel John O’Fallon, whose country estate along then-Bellefontaine Road became O’Fallon Park after the city purchased it in 1875. An agricultural and mechanical fair, complete with a natural history museum and zoological gardens, came to O’Fallon’s land once a year.

The ward would later become a haven for middle-class African Americans, many whose descendants still reside in the ward.

Twenty five years ago, Cole, the long-time Ward 21 resident, faced a tough decision. Should she live in a pricier south city neighborhood or move to north city? She chose the latter. Not because it was cheaper, but because she saw potential.

At the time, Cole’s address was

in the Third Ward, and thenalderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. sold her on his vision for a better north St. Louis. She says she saw a strong Black community that was on the up-and-up. Then, redistricting moved her home into the 21st Ward, and alderman after alderman came with their own visions, stymieing any consistent progress, Cole says.

Her neighborhood used to have small, Black-owned businesses, plenty of schools within walking distance and homeowners — the neighborhood’s houses are now being bought by slumlords or “land-grabbers” who buy properties and do nothing with them.

The past two decades have “been a slope,” Cole says. “Then we started getting politicians who weren’t doing what they were supposed to.”

When Keys moved to the ward in 1989, the community was very “alive,” she says.

“There wasn’t as much blight — vacant lots, vacant buildings, stuff like that,” Keys says. “It’s just been constant decline.”

Still, if you ask Keys why she still lives there, despite the shortfalls that have already driven so many of the disinclined away, she’ll go on for 10 minutes about everything she loves about her ward. The architecture, the people, the potential, the community organizations working to make it better.

She still has a community that continues to work and continues to try, she says. They haven’t given up.

“This is where I live, it’s where I raised my children; I’m not going anywhere,” Keys says. “And if I’m going to be here, I have to make life better for me, and I’ve got to make it better for everybody who lives where I live.”

Ward 21 still has much to offer, including O’Fallon Park, which became a park in 1875 and was memorialized in postcards (pictured above) in the early 1900s. | COURTESY MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Laura Keys spends most of her days driving to meet constituents. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

CALENDAR

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 03/09

Full Circle

Join six-string aficionados Chris King and Tom Hall as they present the Guitar Circle at Schlafly Tap Room (2100 Locust Street, 314241-2337) this Thursday, March 9. It’s not a jam session or open mic but instead a chance to join a circle of fellow musicians and lead them in a song. (Don’t worry, you can bring some other instrument if you don’t have a guitar.) Poets are also welcome to share their work in the circle, and if you don’t want to get up and show your stuff, you’re also welcome to just listen. The Guitar Circle goes from 6 to 9 p.m. and is free.

FRIDAY 03/10

More Like Godforsakenland

It’s the late 1800s and Lucas, a Danish priest, is tasked with building a church in the remote hinterlands of Iceland in Godland, the 2022 film from Hlynur Pálmason. Things quickly fall apart, people start dying and no one trusts anyone anymore. The church is getting built, but Lucas is praying to return to Denmark and not at all behaving like a man of the cloth. The affecting drama has a powerful impact; catch it this Friday, March 10 through Sunday, March 12 at 7 p.m. each night as part of the Webster Film Series at Winifred Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). Tickets are $6 to $8. For more info, visit events.webster.edu/event/godland_2022.

Otherworldly Art

Jacolby Satterwhite’s artworks draw inspiration from video games, historical artwork, mythology and contemporary pop culture. They evoke surreal other worlds and are more than a little trippy to look at, a kind of cross between a better Avatar, Van Gogh’s paintings and the inside of your eyelids. In other words, they are fun to behold and think about — though one doesn’t need

to be an art history buff to get into them. However, for those that want a deeper understanding of Satterwhite’s processes and intentions, there’s always the Artist Talk with Jacolby Satterwhite in conversation with Sasha Bonét that the Contemporary Art Museum (3750 Washington Boulevard, 314-535-4660) is hosting from 6 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 10. It also serves as the opening for the exhibit Spirits Roaming on the Earth, so if you just want to see some cool artwork, drop by anytime from then until August 13. The event is free, but reservations are required and can be made at camstl.org.

SATURDAY 03/11

Tear It Up

The Gallery at the Kranzberg (501 North Grand Boulevard, 314-533-0367) is now presenting a new clothing-based art exhibition. Torn Mixology represents the final project for Kranzberg

Arts Foundation visual artist in residence Felia Davenport, who is also an associate professor of communication and media at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The display features clothing that “explores the journey of identifying as a multi-racial female.” The five pieces correspond to different phases of life, from childhood through adulthood. “Each design will be quilted to map out the evolving journey and struggle with identity,” according to a press release. Davenport has served as an artist in residence for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation since 2021. She is one of 15 throughout the St. Louis area. Davenport holds a BFA and an MFA in costume design and has created costumes for theater and dance companies across the world, including in St. Louis, New York, London, Nigeria and South Africa. “Clothing is one of the best visual communicators and growing up it allowed me to verbalize my emotions and beliefs in connection to the world,” Davenport says in the press release. “Cloth-

ing became one of the first ways that I could express my identity in a world that made me feel displaced.” The exhibition runs through Saturday, March 25. Davenport will also hold a talk about her work this Saturday, March 11, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The exhibit is free. More info at kranzbergartsfoundation.org/ torn-mixology.

Open Season

Everyone knows that St. Louisans love to hear praise of St. Louis, and now that we literally have a day in honor of our city, you’re damn right it’s time to celebrate. At the Arkadin Cinema & Bar (5228 Gravois Avenue; 314221-2173), located in Bevo Mill, it’s all things St. Louis on (close enough to) 314 Day. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, March 11, the movie theater will show a slew of short films by local artists in its new indoor screening room as part of its 314 Day STL Films Open House. But it’s about more than just supporting local artists

Godland shows as part of the Webster Film Series on Friday, March 10. | VIA JANUS FILMS

— it’s supporting a local theater that has navigated through a wall of roadblocks in its first years. The cinema opened during the pandemic, and the owners were forced to move its operation outside. It worked, and it was named the RFT Best Movie Theater in 2022. But now it’s time to move inside. Here’s your chance to check out the new digs — along with some St. Louis creators. Admission to the event is free. For more information, visit arkadincinema. com/event/314-day-stl-films-openhouse.

Pole Position

When something is described as “’90s nostalgia with a throwback dance party and pole show,” as with the All That & a Bag of Chips event going down this Saturday, March 11, you know the party is going to be poppin’. What else could you want, really? First of all, we as a society are deep into ’90s nostalgia lately. Have you seen the jeans on the kids out there? Fashion these days is all about straight-legged mom jeans from the 1990s and oversized Nirvana T-shirts. Now we move to the second aspect of the description: dance party. Yes,

dance party. We love it. Everyone loves it. And third: pole show. Yeah, people like those, too. And since this shindig is being held at Aurora STL (7413 South Broadway), you know it’s going to be on point. The space is fast becoming well-known for hosting its intimate (sexy) shows in its intimate (small) space. And best of all? This party is B.Y.O.B., so you won’t be spending an arm and a leg at the bar, either. Visit aurorastl.com for more information.

SUNDAY 03/12

Happiness in Bloom

As previously noted, for the first two years of its life, the Arkadin Cinema & Bar (5228 Gravois Avenue; 314-221-2173) screened films outdoors due to the pandemic. But now that the indoor theater is open, it is showing some gems of movies unlikely to be on the average filmgoer’s radar, French director Agnès Varda’s 1965 flick Le Bonheur is among them. Le Bonheur is filled with gorgeous shots of floral settings that belie its shocking and subversive themes,

and it’s no wonder numerous film and literary icons have named it as a favorite. Check it out for yourself this Sunday, March 12. Tickets are $9 and the show starts at 2 p.m. For more information, visit arkadincinema.com/event/ le-bonheur-1965.

WEDNESDAY 03/15 Our Quietest Neighbors

St. Louis has a lot going on. We have a new soccer team. Our XFL team is back. The restaurant scene is bouncing back after the hardest years of the pandemic. But we’re also making national headlines for our traffic violence.

Every day, it seems another person has been shot and killed in the street. In these trying times, Bellefontaine Cemetery (4947 West Florissant Avenue, 314-381-0750) offers a morbid yet peaceful escape. Get some respite from it all from 10 a.m. to noon this Wednesday, March 15, at the Bellefontaine in Bloom Cemetery Walk, a twohour tour of the historic cemetery and arboretum. Guides will point out interesting figures who’ve made Bellefontaine their last address, as well as the cemetery’s horticulture side as it blooms into spring. If you can’t make it to this one, fret not: There are many more tour options between now and May. Tours are free, but registration is required. For more information, visit bellefontainecemetery.org.

Take a tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery during the Bloom Cemetery Walk. | FLICKR/PAUL SABLEMAN

La Bonheur plays at the Arkadin Cinema & Bar on Sunday, March 12. | MOVIE POSTER

Homestyle

Dou Dou Café showcases one family’s unique cooking at its finest

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Dou Dou Café

Donnal Chung dreams of revolutionizing the restaurant industry. In his culinary fantasy world, there would be no chains, no menus with tables of contents and you’d never see a taco at a pizza restaurant. Instead, the dining landscape would be populated by small mom-andpop shops where people from every culture, creed and class share the recipes unique to their particular families. He believes every family has one such dish, and in turn, every family could run their own tiny, hole-in-the-wall shop. But what they’d serve would not merely be sustenance; it would be a window into their lives, and all those unique dishes, when patched together, would tell the story of the community.

Chung’s vision is grand, almost Pollyannic, but it’s sincere and one he carries out through his tiny Richmond Heights eatery, Dou Dou Café, which originally opened in 2019, then reopened roughly two years later after a pandemic-induced hiatus. The temporary closure was not catastrophic for Chung and his wife, Frances Pham, for one important reason: They operate the tucked-away cafe just for fun — a position of privilege that Chung admits allows for such an idealized view of what a restaurant should be. His actual livelihood comes from the adjacent salon, Donnal’s Hair Design, which boasts a roster of high-profile clients cultivated over 30 years in business, some of whom fly in from far and wide to sit in the artist’s chair.

Chung, a Guangzhou native raised in Hong Kong, is passionate about his field — a profession

he came to after working a soulcrushing job as a watch manufacturer he took to please his physician father. However, the one thing that has always bothered him about the job is how difficult it is to find a proper meal when he gets off work. Craving something nourishing after a long work day, Chung consistently found himself walking into restaurants right before they closed — if they were

open at all — or having to make do with grab-and-go items that lacked substance. His only respite was Pham’s home cooking, which she would spend hours preparing for the sheer joy of it. The pair and their son, affectionately known as “Dou Dou,” (pronounced dough dough) would sit down to dinner together after a long day, savoring Pham’s outstanding dishes and often dreaming about how won-

derful it would be to share her talents with friends and neighbors. They’d also muse about setting up a kitchen right by the salon so Chung could pop in and out whenever he was hungry. Eventually, those ideas merged, giving birth to Dou Dou Café.

A passion project through and through, Dou Dou Café operates at the pleasure of Chung and Pham. Though its stated hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. seven days a week, it’s not uncommon for the family to shutter when they have other commitments or when they run out of food — something that happens regularly due to the small-scale nature of their operation. “If the light is on, we’re open,” Pham says, prompting diners to eschew the on-demand, customer-is-always-right ethos that permeates current restaurant culture in favor of one that is more akin to being invited into someone’s home. Doing so results in an utterly soulful experience. Pham learned to cook at a young age from her mother in her native Ho Chi Minh City (she refers to it by its pre-communist name, Saigon), and she’s never worked in a commercial

6318 Clayton Road, Richmond Heights; 314-952-2255. Sun.-Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. (subject to change).

Dou Dou Café offers a small menu of appetizers, noodle soups and entrees. | MABEL SUEN

Donnal Chung and Frances Pham are the co-owners of Dou Dou Café. | MABEL SUEN

kitchen. As such, her food is homestyle through and through, made from scratch in small batches every single day. You feel lovingly nourished eating dishes such as chicken noodle soup. It’s the quintessence of comfort, made with a delicate chicken broth infused with the mere suggestion of anise and black pepper and punctuated with the sharp flavor of freshly sliced scallions. It’s a stunning base for the silken flat rice noodles and filets of fork-tender white meat chicken that round out the dish.

Pham offers two other equally thrilling soups. The first, a beef pho, is shocking in how it can be both delicate and powerful at the same time. The broth is so light in texture, yet it’s packed with warm spice that counters the lusciousness of the accompanying rare beef slices. It’s gentle, whereas the Spicy Lemongrass Beef Noodle Soup is a wallop of rich spice and perfume. Here, the beef broth is slicked with fiery chili oil that starts out as a gentle burn on the roof of the mouth, then builds to lip-tingling heat after several bites. It’s not heat for heat’s sake but instead delivers layers of flavor that reveal themselves with each spoonful.

Pham’s plump spring rolls marry fresh herbs, greens, slowcooked beef and shrimp in a sticky rice paper roll. Here, the sauce is key — not one-dimensional hoisin or peanut sauce as is sometimes served with the dish but a complex concoction that has elements of fish sauce funk and sweet chili. The sauce, garnished with

crushed peanuts, is apparently so addictive that regulars beg to buy in bulk, to no avail.

You understand why Pham cannot mass produce her food when she describes how she makes her pork belly. The multi-step process involves cooking the belly, icing it down to remove excess fat and then glazing it with soy and honey; the result is equal parts tender meat and soft fat, each occupying its own distinct space in each bite rather than merging into a gelatinous hunk as is often be the case

with pork belly.

Beef lettuce wraps are equally extraordinary. How she gets the beef to be both tender yet caramelized is nothing short of magic. Accented with a mouthwatering sweet soy nectar, the meat is stuffed into a crisp lettuce cup, resulting in a bite that is at once warm and satisfying, fresh and cooling.

Pham bases her recipes on her experiences growing up in Saigon, her mother’s ideas about food, her Chinese background, and her and Chung’s own preferences. This

means that her version of a dish might be different from one you’d find in Hanoi, Da Nang or even other Vietnamese restaurants here in the United States. And that’s exactly the point. As Chung insists, every family has something to offer to the culinary landscape; Dou Dou Café is the thrilling proof of his point. n

Dou Dou Café

Spring rolls $9.50

Beef noodle soup ...................................... $18

Pork belly and rice $18

Dou Dou’s lettuce wraps include stir-fried beef and vegetables served in lettuce cups. | MABEL SUEN Chicken noodle salad is served with rice noodles, fresh vegetables and herbs. | MABEL SUEN

Frances Pham is busy in the kitchen cooking her iteration of family recipies. | MABEL SUEN

Not Just for Game of Thrones

Lake St. Louis’ new Burnt Barrel Meadery is the latest to get on a hot fermentation trend

Written by TONY REHAGEN

Nathan Price wasn’t sure what he was going to pour into his glass. For years, the St. Louis native ran Burnt Barrel Designs, producing custom glassware, bottle openers and other drinking accessories out of his Lake St. Louis home as a side hustle to his full-time gig at Lou Fusz Automotive. He was also an avid homebrewer and small-batch distiller and figured one day he’d combine his two hobbies and open a drink-slinging business. He was just never sure which type of libation would float his ambitions.

Then one of his glassware customers suggested Price try making mead.

Price was familiar with the drink — essentially fermented honey, water and yeast — from going to Renaissance Fairs and watching HBO’s Game of Thrones. Though it is commonly referred to as “honey wine,” it’s closer kin to beer because of the brewing process, which was familiar enough to Price. He consulted Foxes Den Meadery in Chicago and whipped up a mead with black currant, blueberry and vanilla. Rich and fruit-forward, it was popular among friends, so he made another batch. And then another.

“It just took off,” says Price, sitting at a barrel pub table inside Burnt Barrel Meadery (730 Lakeside Plaza, burntbarrelmead.com), the small-batch production facility and tasting room that he and his wife, Stephandine, opened in a Lake St. Louis strip mall last June. “We already have so many fantastic breweries here in St. Louis,

I feel like the market is going to want mead.”

Price isn’t just speaking from personal observation. According to a recent report from market research company Technavio, the global mead market is projected to reach $2.26 billion by 2026, with a year-over-year growth rate of almost 7 percent. Thirty-one percent of that growth will be in North America. In St. Louis metro mead-making, Burnt Barrel joins recent efforts by Brix Urban Winery (Ste. Genevieve), Four Brothers Mead (Festus), Mead Hall (St. Charles) and Bluewood Brewing (Benton Park).

Obviously, mead is no longer just for medieval cosplayers and fantasy fiction aficionados. But Price and his fellow mead purveyors aren’t exactly peddling something new to the mainstream drinking public. Rather, they are re-introducing humanity to one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in our history. Mead is thought to predate human agriculture and pottery-making, stretching back to the New Stone Age. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of a fermented beverage made on honey, rice and fruit in China that dates to the 7th millennium BCE. The Vikings, Greeks and Romans were all known to tiple the fermented honey water, and the drink appears in the Old English epic poem Beowulf and, later, in

the works of Chaucer. Eventually, the rise of ales and wine and then the wider availability of sugar to supplant honey pushed mead to the fringes of history.

In many ways, Price’s decision to make Burnt Barrel a meadery was based on the same reasons the drink has re-emerged. First, it’s easier to make than beer. You skip the boiling of wort and go straight to fermentation. “It’s a simpler, shorter brewing day,” Price says. “Less equipment is needed.”

That last point also means a smaller physical footprint and less overhead. For instance, Burnt Barrel uses only 3,000 square-feet of production space, a little more than twice its modest tasting room and a mere fraction of what’s required for most vat-packed brewhouses.

But mead’s biggest advantage is its renewed novelty — it’s something different. With more than 9,000 independent breweries popping up all over the place, consumers are constantly searching for new flavors and spins on traditional styles. Mead provides an entirely fresh medium. It can be fermented on spices, herbs and fruit; served still or naturally sparkling; be sweet, dry or spicy; and range from 3 percent to more than 20 percent ABV.

Of the seven or eight offerings on tap at any given time at Burnt Barrel — not to mention four or

five bottles — curious customers can sample anything from traditional mead made with honey from Exit 157 Farm and Apiary in Bloomsdale; the syrupy-sweet Keep It Simple Blueberry, which is aged in gin barrels; the crisp, dry Bacchus with aronia berries from Hannibal; the Dump Bucket mead with Caruba fruit that drinks like a mimosa; and the Cupid’s Box, a decadent mead fermented with dark chocolate, raspberry and a note of peanut butter that tastes like it came out of a candy box.

“All of our meads are flavorforward,” Price says. “You taste what’s on the label.”

Because of the smaller production, cranking out meads in batches as small as 20-gallon, the menu is constantly churning with new must-try concoctions.

Price says the plan for the time being is to keep coming up with new and exciting flavors here and eventually offer food outside of the charcuterie board that currently constitutes the menu. He says he is also working with other Missouri meaderies to form some sort of collaborative akin to the larger brewers’ associations.

But as mead continues to carve out its niche in the drinking scene, both in St. Louis and across the country, Burnt Barrel will always have something unique to other meaderies — custom-designed glassware. n

St. Louis-native Nathan Price opened Burnt Barrel Meadery last June. | COURTESY PHOTO

[FIRST LOOK]

To a Legend

Fleur, located in the former Eat-Rite Diner, focuses on making the foods St. Louis

Written by KATIE LAWSON

loves

For any diner to be considered good, it’s best to be able to see what the cook is making. You have to hear the sounds of sizzling eggs on the grill and fries crackling as they enter the oil.

Hopefully, some retro music plays overhead, preferably R&B (extra points for the Commodores).

Most importantly, the customers have to be eclectic. People of all generations, backgrounds, desires and stories need to be communing together over biscuits. The biscuit better be thick, too.

Luckily, Fleur meets all of these requirements and adds some chef-driven noshes.

Patrons entering Fleur will encounter at least one of the three people behind the operation. One is Cory Stieb, the front-of-house manager, bartender and waiter. He met chef and owner Tim Eagan on social media. After DM-ing back and forth, Eagan mentioned he was opening a restaurant, they started talking about the process and Stieb was hired the day before Fleur’s opening. He still works at a bar, but Fleur is his day-time gig.

Then there’s Eagan himself. He cooks the majority of the food and also serves as a waiter. He’s sporting a Made In the Lou hat and grooving to the tunes Stieb put on, typically ’80s or ’90s jams, sometimes ’70s road trip or soul.

Finally, there’s Oliva Diggs, the newest addition, who joined the team three months ago, and is their chef in training. She’s likely laughing, a highly infectious giggle which keeps going up and up.

It’s a collaborative environment, perhaps because of the nature of the beast the space only can seat, at max, 19 people: 15 at the counter and 4 at the windows. The kitchen is small, often only allowing for a two-step tango or shuffle step, which makes for good entertainment as you eat.

The menu is also small, with only nine food options, five alcoholic beverages and classic diner drinks like coffee. Eagan wants to keep the menu on the smaller side but plans to change things up periodically, experiment. He’s classically trained and worked as a private chef previously.

Coffee comes in the form of a personal French press, and Stieb will come over to press it for you. He is in charge of all beverages, bringing in his bartending expertise.

The team recommends the Brussels sprouts with whatever meal you get, regardless of the time of day. The Brussels are Fleur’s best seller, which makes sense. They’re made with a cider reduction, which gives them a nice sweet and sour finish, which Eagan then pairs with the fatty bacon and crispy leaves.

They have a rotating seasonal eggs Benedict. Currently, it features a coffeecrusted tenderloin. Diners can pair it with the soup of the day, which on a recent Friday was gumbo.

But even beyond the food, there’s the culture that Fleur serves up. The patrons of Fleur span all age ranges. There’s young couples as well as older and quieter gentlemen who’ve been eating on these barstool for a good, long while.

Like any good diner, Fleur is deeply rooted in St. Louis lore.

Eagan hadn’t been planning on opening a restaurant, especially in the former EatRite. But then a buddy on Snapchat posted a picture of the boarded-up building. EatRite had closed its doors on December 12, 2020, after a hard-fought battle by former owners Joel and Shawna Holtman. Eagan immediately got a feeling.

“I screenshotted it and zoomed in to the number of the relator,” he says. “I had no intention of opening a restaurant

whatsoever. I was going to open a to-go wine and charcuterie place. I had the LLC, and everything was ready to go.”

Eagan says the renovations took 22 months during the heart of the pandemic. It took a great amount of time and money to get the place fixed up. Eat-Rite was an institution but not exactly known for its beauty or cleanliness.

The building was erected just after the Great Depression in 1936. It’s in the Route 66 National Register as an iconic piece of history, but not much is known about its past, besides people’s personal experiences.

A customer mentions how patrons had to be buzzed in through a padlocksecured door. Eagan laughs, saying it was probably for a good reason. “When redoing the bathroom, we found shrapnel still in the walls from a robbery in the ’80s,” he says.

Along with the bullet holes, they had to clean up the kitchen’s floor, which was covered in kitty litter that had been sprinkled there to stop grease fires, an old trick in the diner trade. It had gotten caked into five-pound chunks and took a whole day to clear out.

They kept the majority of the stainless steel in the kitchen and repainted, retiled and refurbished the walls, ceilings, backsplashes and countertops. The barstools around the counter were relatively untouched, except for some much-needed tuneups.

Throughout the process, Eagan wanted to make sure he was honoring what came before, even as it transformed into his vision.

The name Fleur a reference to the fleur-de-lis calls back to the city.

“The name fit, and it’s a symbol of the city,” he says. “It’s very St. Louis, and ultimately, the place flourished into a rebirth of sorts. Fleur, flower.”

Much of the decor pays homage to what surrounds the tiny spot: a black-andwhite print of North Grand, an aerial of the old Rams’ stadium and the Arch, half built, waiting to realize its full potential. Eagan and company are looking to get the marquee painted with the new name, to welcome both old and new patrons.

Fleur has held small, private dining experiences for New Year’s and Valentine’s Day with a five-course tasting menu and reservations. The restaurant will be making that a regular, monthly event.

Besides making the tastings a staple, Eagan also hopes to expand with an outdoor patio. With fingers crossed, he’s looking to get construction done in time for the start of the Cardinals’ season.

But true to form, Eagan doesn’t worry about it too much. At most, Eagan’s worries ultimately come down to whether his customers feel taken care of. He makes sure to check in on each one throughout their meal.

“The nice thing about the size of a place like this is that I’m right here,” he says. “I can turn to my customers and ask if they like it, if they need something changed.”

This tiny spot has always been about making food that the people of St. Louis want. Now, as a more refined establishment, Eagan and team hope to keep that legacy of 622 Chouteau Ave alive, while doing the things they love for the people of the city they love.

As Eagan puts it: “St. Louis food is all about doing good.”

Chef-owner Tim Eagan opened Fleur STL in the former Eat-Rite Diner. | COURTESY PHOTO

It took a great amount of time and money to get the place fixed up. Eat-Rite was an institution but not exactly known for its beauty or cleanliness.

The End

Vin de Set, PW Pizza and 21st Street Brewers Bar have closed permanently after a September 2022 fire

Written by SARAH FENSKE

This is not the ending St. Louis was hoping for.

Paul and Wendy Hamilton announced on March 1 that they will not reopen the trio of restaurants damaged in a catastrophic fire last September. PW Pizza, Vin de Set and the 21st Street Brewers Bar are now permanently closed.

“After months of obtaining bids to rebuild and carry out the necessary fire remediation as well as determining the insurance loss limits, it has become clear that the funds necessary to rebuild the structure as it once was just aren’t there to do so,” the married couple said in an email to customers last week.

The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning of September 19, 2022. It took significant sleuthing for Paul Hamilton to figure out what had happened —

[FOOD NEWS]

Gone

Banh Mi So #1 on South Grand has quietly closed

Written by JAIME LEES

ASouth Grand legend has left us. Banh Mi So #1 (4071 South Grand Boulevard) has quietly closed, leaving all of the south side to mourn this huge loss.

Owned by husband-and-wife Thomas and Lynne Truong, the little Vietnamese restaurant was famous across St. Louis for its fantastic spring rolls and perfectly toasted banh mi sandwiches. The stellar menu was praised just as much as the Truongs were personally — they always treated their guests well and welcomed their many regulars like family.

a cigarette carelessly tossed in a planter during brunch service on Vin de Set’s roof had led to a slow, secretly smoldering blaze that finally burst into flame 13 hours later.

“After making structural repairs, replacing the roof, third floor windows and removing all floors and drywall below, it became very clear that this was an enormous remediation and rehab undertaking,” the Hamiltons wrote. “Our businesses were built over the course of sixteen years through continued re-investment, and now we find ourselves at the very beginning again.”

The pair still own two restaurants in the same block of Downtown West, Hamilton’s Urban Steakhouse and Winnie’s Wine

Bar, as well as Eleven Eleven Mississippi, which sits just across Chouteau in Lafayette Square.

“Several of our team members who were displaced by the fire work at these locations and we encourage you to visit them in the near future as they would love to reconnect with all of you who have gotten to know them over the years,” the Hamiltons wrote.

Vin de Set first opened 16 years ago and took up the third floor and roof of the building. PW Pizza was a popular pizzeria on the first floor, and 21st Street Brewers Bar offered a basement beer bar with PW’s full menu.

Moulin, the Hamilton’s second floor event space, now hosts events in different spaces across the city. n

While any restaurant can get a wholesale cone of beef and lamb, prop it on a rotisserie and shave it into pita, a truly extraordinary gyro ticks a few special boxes. Meat is plump, with caramelized edges and a juicy interior. Pita is warmed on a flattop, and tzatziki is so thick and creamy you could eat it with a fork.

Olympia Kebob House & Taverna

A fierce contender for top honors, this quintessential spot has the embodiment of gyro perfection thanks to thick, juicy meat that is caramelized around the edges and flakes off into little beef-lamb crispies. That is then wrapped in the town’s thickest tzatziki to becomes one of the most satisfying food bites you’ll have.

Mideast Market

Tucked away inside a west county international grocery store, this food counter is a vibrant hidden gem that serves a hot bar of South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. The classic gyro — overstuffed with hunks of meat and dressed to order — is, for good reason, the biggest draw.

The Greek Kitchen

Co-owner Lisa Nicholas cut her teeth in the industry by helping run Olympia Kebob House & Taverna where she perfected her gyro game. Now, in her own space, her version of the dish shows that the student has become equal to the master.

Vinnie’s Italian Beef & Gyros

Another veteran of Olympia, owner Matthew “Vinnie” Mulholland serves some of the best Italian beef outside the Windy City alongside an excellent gyro, characterized by plump meat and outrageously garlicky tzatziki.

Soco’s Gyros

It was announced that the space was for sale back in December 2021, so this closure isn’t a huge surprise to fans who have been keeping track of the restaurant’s status. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not still sad about it. This closure stings.

Banh Mi So #1 was more than just a place to grab some amazing food and fill your stomach, it was also the perfect place to visit when you needed to warm your heart.

Farewell, old friend. You will be missed.

An institution for more than a decade, this unassuming spot has an entire menu section dedicated to gyros, but its perfect rendition of the classic style — juicy meat, crispy lettuce, white onions and fresh tomatoes — is why its regulars are so vocal.

CHERYL BAEHR’S GYRO PICKS

Vin de Set has been closed since an early morning blaze in September. | BENJAMIN SIMON

The owners put Bahn Mi So #1 up for sale in December 2021. | CHERYL BAHER

REEFERFRONT TIMES 33

Missouri Begins Expunging Marijuana Criminal Records

The state has already expunged more than 6,000 misdemeanors

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

More than 7,500 Missourians have had their marijuana criminal records expunged from public record after a constitutional amendment legalized recreational weed in Missouri.

Last fall, voters approved Amendment 3, which not only legalized recreational cannabis in Missouri but kickstarted a process to expunge criminal records related to nonviolent marijuana offenses that otherwise would have been legal had Amendment 3 always been a part of Missouri’s constitution.

The majority of expunged convictions so far are misdemeanors.

As of February 21, courts have granted 6,121 expungements for misdemeanors related to nonviolent cannabis offenses that did not involve selling to minors or driving under the influence of cannabis. More than 1,200 felony convictions have also been expunged.

“It’s going faster than I expected,” says Dan Viets, secretary of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and co-author of Missouri’s medical and recreational cannabis laws.

Courts are indeed moving faster on the expungements than they’re constitutionally required.

Amendment 3, now Article 14 of

the state Constitution, established deadlines for when sentencing courts must expunge certain crimes. One deadline is upon us — sentencing courts must complete adjudication for misdemeanors of people currently in prison or jail by March 8. But most deadlines to expunge other crimes are at least 3 1/2 months away.

Circuit courts have until June 8 to order the expungement of criminal history records for all misdemeanor marijuana offenses of people no longer under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. And they have until December 8 to expunge criminal histories of people who already completed their sentences for felony marijuana offenses that are no longer crimes.

Questions about how Missouri’s court system could sustain the expected influx of expungement requests circulated before Amendment 3’s passage in November. In October, the Missouri Supreme Court requested almost $7 million to cover the cost of erasing eligible marijuana convictions. The Missouri Office of State Courts Administration also submitted a supplemental budget request asking for $2.5 million to cover clerks’ overtime and hire additional information technology staffers.

But Amendment 3 is a “self-

funding mandate,” according to Viets.

Yes, courts are mandated to do extra work. But, by the end of this month, the state will start receiving sales taxes from the highly lucrative launch of adult-use sales that began February 3, according to Viets. The state is required to use this money to help cover the cost of granting expungements.

Since the state has yet to reap the benefit of adult-use sales tax, Viets says he’s surprised courts have acted so quickly on the expungements.

“I thought clerks might wait until they got some money to hire additional people or pay overtime to their existing staff,” Viets says. “But at least 40-some counties are not waiting on that — they’re plunging right ahead and reviewing cases and expunging them.”

Even so, only 60 out of Missouri’s 114 counties have recorded expungements of marijuanarelated criminal records. And some counties have reported far more expungements than others.

St. Louis city, for example, has so far expunged just two felony convictions. Meanwhile, Clay County in the Kansas City-area has expunged 1,335 marijuana convictions as of February 21.

Even fewer counties have accepted petitions from people currently incarcerated. As of Febru-

ary 21, according to data from the Missouri Supreme Court, 25 counties have received petitions. Most counties have received just one or two petitions. Jackson County ranks the highest with six petitions received. (Data received by the RFT may not reflect petitions that clerks have not yet had the opportunity to process.)

“It’s kind of all over the place across the state,” Canna Convict Project co-founder Christina Frommer says. “Some judges are really open and willing to expunge the records, and others are still fighting it.”

Amendment 3 divided the state’s cannabis community before its passage in part because advocates felt it didn’t go far enough getting marijuana-related offenses expunged from criminal records.

Canna Convict Project, a Missouri nonprofit that works to release Missourians from prison for nonviolent cannabis-related offenses, was one group that opposed the amendment. Its members would have rather seen a separate measure, Fair Access Missouri, legalize recreational cannabis in the state.

Fair Access called for a broad sweep of expungements for all cannabis-related offenses except for “dangerous” felonies and distributing cannabis to people younger than 17. These expungements hinged on charged people filing for release, rather than “automatic” expungements laid out in Amendment 3 for certain crimes. Now the amendment’s seemingly smooth expungement process is surprising some of its staunchest critics.

“I’m honestly shocked about the way this is actually playing out,” Frommer says.

After its passage, Amendment 3 became the first measure to automatically expunge marijuana offenses. Those eligible for automatic expungement are people on probation or parole for marijuana offenses involving three pounds or less.

But “automatic” doesn’t necessarily mean “immediate.” Rather, a person is not required to take any action with the courts to get their eligible cannabis records expunged.

Those whose records have been expunged will receive notice of their expungement from their sentencing court.

Courts are moving faster on expungements than constitutionally required. | PROPER CANNABIS

Community Space

A new Dutchtown gallery, Wildfruit Projects, showcases work of St. Louis artist Dail Chambers

Written by KATIE LAWSON

Walking into the doors of the new exhibition space

Wildfruit Projects (4704 Virginia Avenue), visitors are greeted by a collection of light and airy sculptures. There are multimedia pieces made out of materials from estate sales and hand-painted clothes.

They’re all the work of St. Louis artist Dail Chambers, who is exploring migration and sustainability, as well as her heritage through her exhibit Figure/Ground

The synergy between Chambers’ work and Wildfruit Projects is undeniable — both are all about place and community. That Chambers’ is the gallery’s latest exhibition just makes sense and speaks to the ideas behind its birth.

Wildfruit Projects is a relatively

CULTURE 35

new effort from Nate Lucena and Kentaro Kumanomido. The gallery and events space is in the original location of Urban Matter, the home goods and gift store now located on South Grand Boulevard.

Wildfruit Projects opened its space in June with the goal of creating a queer-led dedicated space for building community. Its first event was a Pride party that drew in 100 attendees.

“[It’s] not exclusive to the queer community,” Lucena says. “But we want a space that is safe and prioritizes lifting up St. Louis’ queer, artistic and creative community.”

The name, Wildfruit, is a tonguein-cheek nod to the use of “fruit” as a slur as well as an homage to the three fruit trees — two apple and a peach — located in the gallery’s backyard, which Lucena says is “wild” and “has a life of its own.”

It was that backyard that helped the two fall in love with the building, and they jumped at the chance to purchase it. The result is a passion project for the owners, who have been in St. Louis since 2009.

Located in south Dutchtown, the gallery stands out thanks to large windows brightening the space. Wildfruit is one of the few businesses on the street, in a part of town that has struggled with vacancies in the past couple decades.

Lucena says he hopes it will become a permanent staple in Dutchtown and that, for them, com-

munity means not only the queer community but also the neighborhood in which the gallery is located.

“We are pretty committed to finding ways to get people to come and engage with the neighborhood,” he says. “It’s something we think about a lot. We want to be clear: We love our community.”

Entering the building feels like stepping into a cozy, intimate home. Refurbished hardwood and exposed St. Louis brick make it feel like a place to relax while you explore the art.

The space comes complete with a comfortable bathroom, a fullservice kitchen (the opening included delicious, locally sourced snacks) and that large backyard, which includes a gazebo.

Wildfruit can cater to many types of events and plans to continue to showcase more artists’ work this summer. “We like to say to people, ‘If you have an idea for building community, come,’” Lucena says. “Come talk to us about it, and we’ll see if we can make it happen.”

When visiting the current exhibit, visitors will be able to appreciate and purchase items from Chambers’ latest collection, which includes her hand-painted clothing.

To make her hanging sculptures, Chambers uses weaving, wrapping and sewing. Her goal with each piece is “to document the people around me, and myself.” Each represents personal history,

such as the migratory patterns of family and friends, or those in the environment around her.

Chambers is based in St. Louis, as is her personal story. She takes great pride in being from here and believes in the power of her familial history belonging to the city where she’s now raising her family.

“My great-grandmother, Pearl Miller, moved here from Oklahoma,” she says. “I’ve been tracing my family history, and I’ve found it’s been four generations belonging to north St. Louis.”

Along with the art, her spiritual work is displayed for purchase, as is the Black Herbalist Guide. Chambers is also offering an herbal oil-making class and will present on the guide at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 11.

She produces and dries the herbs herself at her farm, Coahoma Orchards. The orchard is located in north county, in the Jeff-VanderLou neighborhood. It’s an urban farm open to the public, where one can pick familiar favorites, such as black cherries, and native plants, such as paw paw.

“I’m a sustainable artist,” she says. “I’m a spiritualist, so I try and find things which mean something.”

Visit Wildfruit Projects at 4704 Virginia Avenue. Viewing is by appointment only, but there will be a public artist talk and celebration at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 7.

Dail Chambers’ artwork documents the people around her. | KATIE LAWSON

Dail Chambers’ painted clothing is for sale at Wildfruit Projects. | KATIE LAWSON

Top 10

Melding blues and rap, St. Louis artist Dominique Dobbs’ first album hits No. 6 on the Apple blues charts

Written by BENJAMIN SIMON

For as long as he can remember, Dominique Dobbs has loved blues music — all its instruments, texture and emotion.

“I was always hypnotized with old-school samples,” he says. “Like blues samples and just old soulful-sounding melodies.”

But he loved rap music, too.

“I was also mesmerized with hard-hitting drums that you would hear in trap music,” he says.

When Dobbs became a producer, within just a few years, he found himself melding them together. He didn’t do it intentionally at first. “Subconsciously,” he calls it — until he noticed that he’d found a special sound. Blues and rap together.

That sound is what makes up Hustle City Blues, the 25-year-old Dobbs’ first album under his last name. Dobbs created the beats, and St. Louis rappers and singers provided the vocals.

To his surprise, the album has blown up. Since its release on February 17, Hustle City Blues has reached No. 6 on the Apple Music blues genre’s top albums — it’s tucked in between albums by Jimi Hendrix and the Black Keys.

“Hustle City Blues is the combination of [blues and rap],” he says. “You got your soulful beats, blues elements — bass guitar, saxophone, maybe flutes. And then you got your trap drums — you got your 808, you got your hi-hat rolls, and hard-hitting snare drum or kick drum.”

Growing up in St. Louis, though, Dobbs’ talent wasn’t mixing beats. It was basketball. He starred at Hazelwood Central, winning the Suburban XII North Player of the Year. He later earned a scholarship to Lindenwood University.

In college, Dobbs discovered music production. He began toying with sounds to emulate legendary St. Louis producer Metro Boomin.

Soon, Dobbs was hooked. He was so hooked that his college coaches made a rule: Dobbs couldn’t bring his computer into his room on road trips because he would stay up too late making beats.

He hung up his jersey in 2019 to focus more on music and graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“I’ve been doing something involved with music every day since summer of 2019,” he says.

Over the next few years, he bounced from basement to apartment to homemade studios. Along the way, he met LA4ss, a prominent St. Louis rapper who has made countless hits over the years that have echoed through-

out the city.

But LA4ss was drawn to Dobbs.

“He really picked up on that sound,” Dobbs says. “He was like, ‘Man, you finally found my sound.’”

That’s when Dobbs realized he had something unique. It’s not only the fact that he combines rap and blues. The music is deeply layered — to the point where it sounds like there are multiple competing songs running on one track, but somehow, they manage to fit seamlessly together.

“I make the music or the song feel like a movie,” he says. “That’s what I tried to do throughout the whole project.”

Dobbs has collaborated with artists for a number of years. He works at and manages a studio, Unplugged STL. But this is the first full album that features his beats — and only his beats. He started more than a month ago, compil-

ing 40 to 50 songs before landing on 12 final tracks.

Hustle City Blues is an album. But Dobbs also seems to use it as an adjective. It represents his sound, his upbringing, the city of St. Louis, its warts and its beauties.

“That’s why I ended up calling it Hustle City Blues because people say you can’t spell hustle without STL,” he says. “So we hustle city. And then you got your blues elements with it, too. And then it’s also a play off of the St. Louis Blues.”

He wanted only St. Louis artists, such as LA4ss, Mbz Live and Merissa Elayne, to perform over his beats. Even the idea of blues, he says, represents St. Louis. The National Blues Museum is housed in St. Louis, after all. But it’s more than that. Blues music, he says, is pain music, and that resonated with him. “It’s just long-term pain from living in the inner city of St. Louis,” he says.

He didn’t plan on making a hit album. He just wanted to share his work.

But when he woke up the morning after it was released, he found it at the top of the charts, as 14th of 200 blues albums listed worldwide.

“For me instantly to be top 14, top 15, that was crazy,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting it that fast.”

Before he released the album, he wasn’t sure what he would do next. But now he knows: drop another one. n

Dominique Dobbs’ Hustle City Blues is trending on Apple’s charts. | DJUANA DOBBS

“ That’s why I ended up calling it Hustle City Blues because people say you can’t spell hustle without STL. So we hustle city. And then you got your blues elements with it, too.”

Tom ‘Papa’ Ray Speaks Out

After more than 30 years on air, the Vintage Vinyl owner was let go from his volunteer position at KDHX

Written by RYAN KRULL

After more than 30 years behind the microphone, Vintage Vinyl record store owner Tom “Papa” Ray will no longer DJ on the community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM).

Ray hosted the show Soul Selector, highlighting soul, blues and R&B on Mondays from 4 to 7 p.m.

Ray announced his departure from the station on Facebook last week, writing he was fired on a Zoom call with KDHX Executive Director Kelly Wells. Ray writes in the post that his firing stemmed from his disagreements with and criticism of Wells.

Ray tells the RFT that his discord with Wells was long in the making.

Last August, longtime KDHX host John McHenry passed away. For almost 30 years McHenry had hosted the station’s Blursday rhythm and blues program. But, Ray says, after McHenry died at age 75, weeks passed without the station issuing any sort of statement or memorialization.

Ray says that he sent Wells a “terse” email about what he saw as an oversight and was told that she would only meet with him if a consultant acting as a neutral facilitator was present.

“She wouldn’t say how much money the station has spent on consultants,” Ray says. “It really wasn’t my place to ask that.”

Ray says Wells again offered to meet with him in September with a neutral facilitator present. According to Ray, she told him that agreeing to the meeting was the only path forward for him at KDHX.

“We had that meeting,” Ray says. “It really didn’t resolve anything.”

Among Ray’s gripes were that the station had no presence at last summer’s Music at the Intersection, despite the fact that other radio stations operated booths at the festival and that it was nearly in KDHX’s backyard. Ray also says that he was once given malfunctioning equipment for an appearance at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Ray says that there was a Zoom meeting with Wells and longtime station volunteers last Monday night. The meeting was scheduled during Soul Selector, but Ray got a fill-in host for his show so he could attend. He’d hoped to voice some of his concerns, but he said the meeting was “so scripted and choreographed that literally you couldn’t ask a question or say anything.”

“She’s built this station so basically she can’t be questioned about any of her questions or behaviors,” Ray says.

Last Tuesday, Ray was called into a Zoom meeting with Wells and the president of the KDHX board of directors, Joan Bray.

“The moment it started, Kelly started reading a prepared statement saying my services were no longer needed and I had done my last radio show at KDHX,” Ray says.

The RFT reached out to KDHX via the station’s media relations email as well as by phone but did not hear back by time of online publication last Wednesday. Wells also did not respond to a message. One hour after publication, Wells

reached out on behalf of KDHX with this statement:

“Tom Ray has contributed his time and talents to serving the community through his volunteer role at KDHX for more than 35 years. We are grateful for and honor his legacy and commitment. We wish him well as he continues his journey.

“In 2020, KDHX committed to transforming this organization. The transformation was cocreated with our partners — listeners, donors, staff, and volunteers. Through this process, we collectively developed a new purpose statement, a set of organizational values, and a strategic plan to guide our work and operationalize our commitments. In implementing this strategic plan and living into our values, KDHX has made a number of organizational changes, including the separation from Tom Ray. This decision was not made lightly, nor was it the comfortable or easy choice for anyone. The process of making the decision and the actions we took were aligned with the values and actions our community helped create in 2020.

“We understand that change can be

uncomfortable. We are building a foundation at KDHX that is grounded in our values of stewardship, independence, partnership, integrity, discovery, passion, and joy so that we will be resilient into the future as we work together to build community through media.”

Both Wells’ ascension to the director’s role and her years in it have been marked by turmoil.

In 2014, KDHX fell behind on its quarterly payroll taxes after expenses mounted from the move from its long-time Tower Grove East headquarters to its current home in Grand Center. The following year, nearly half of the board of directors of the station resigned and Executive Director Beverly Hacker was fired after 22 years on staff.

That’s when Wells, a longtime employee, was brought in as interim executive director, a promotion that soon became permanent. But the problems continued.

In 2019, staffers described to the RFT a “culture of dysfunction,” saying that employees who questioned leadership often faced retaliation or even termination. They alleged a “staggering rate of turnover at the station in the past year,” saying at least eight employees quit or were fired from an organization that only listed 10 staff positions in total.

Musician Syrhea Conaway, a now-former member of the station’s programming committee, criticized Wells’ approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, noting that at least five employees or volunteers of color had bad experiences under her leadership. Wells, she said, had “no business being leadership at KDHX, or anywhere … It comes down to, in my opinion, just poor leadership. Poor management skills. No emotional intelligence.”

Former event coordinator Darian Wigfall said, “Kelly is going to kill that organization if left to her devices.”

At the time, Wells had said the station was moving into a new phase of examining what it meant to be a true community organization, which involved diversifying staff and programming. “And we’ve entered into an uncomfortable space of trying to figure out how to do that,” she said. “And that’s what we’re learning through right now and what we’re continuing to pursue.”

As for Ray, he has been a St. Louis institution for decades. With Lew Prince, he began Vintage Vinyl at the Soulard Farmers Market in 1979, and the shop became a must-visit for music lovers and touring bands alike.

Prince left the shop in 2015, but Ray has no such plans, telling St. Louis Public Radio in 2020, “My retirement plan is to drop dead on the floor of the store, talking to somebody about music, and I hope it doesn’t mess them up too much.” n

Tony Ray outside Vintage Vinyl after being let go from KDHX. | COURTESY PHOTO

After Crash

St. Louis’ Dave Grelle is back at the keyboard — and playing better than ever

Written by STEVE LEFTRIDGE

Among the first-call, A-list musicians in St. Louis, keyboardist Dave Grelle has to be one of the friendliest. He has the best hair and is also the best surfer. He loves dobermans the most and broke the most bones in a hit-and-run bloodbath that nearly killed him. But we’ll get to that.

As St. Louis’ ivory-tickler-in-residence, Grelle plays with the Mighty Pines, Voodoos and Funky Butt Brass Band; holds down the keys in tribute heavyweights Celebration Day and Street Fighting Band; and records with the area’s top vocalists — Anita Jackson, Joanna Serenko, Emily Wallace and more.

After years of making everyone else sound good, it was high time he put his name at the top of the marquee. He’s done so with his own fabulous soul-jazz outfit, Dave Grelle’s Playadors, a project that marks the culmination of a remarkable comeback story.

Grelle’s story starts in University City, where he taught himself to play piano as a kid. At Chaminade High School, he played clarinet in the school band and keys at night in joints such as the Bernard Pub on Laclede’s Landing.

After graduating, Grelle bolted for the University of Arizona, where he planned to major in business but spent most of his time partying and “getting into all kinds of trouble.”

His dorm was equipped with a piano in the lobby, and he’d play every night “until they kicked me off,” he says. That is, until various shenanigans got him booted from the dorm, at which point his parents pulled the plug. “They said, ‘Get on a plane — you’re coming home,’” Grelle says.

Back in St. Louis, Grelle threw himself further into music. He landed a job selling keyboards at McMurray Music Center and began performing at open-mic nights at Red Sea in the Loop. Things started clicking. He had a knack for selling keyboards in the beats-oriented early ’00s,

was named McMurray’s regional salesperson of the year and added high-end keyboards to his collection through sales-incentive programs.

Grelle joined forces with drummer Tony Barbata in Core Project, which enjoyed a five-year run as the city’s hottest hip-hop/jazz band. Afterward, Grelle formed the Feed, a popular soul-punk trio with Grelle on lead vocals and keybass alongside saxophonist Ben Reece and drummer Kevin Bowers.

As his reputation grew, Grelle was hired to make beats for Nelly.

“[Producer] Jason Epperson had all these cool old soul and funk records,” Grelle recalls. “He’d play a part of a record and say, ‘Man, can you play something like that over this beat?’” Grelle could and did, contributing to Nelly hits such as “Pimp Juice,” thereby helping craft the soul-inflected St. Louis hip-hop sound, a sensation in the early aughts.

Still, Grelle was hungry to get better. He had always played by ear, but encouraged by his nowwife Kasey, he decided to go back to school, commuting to Southern

Illinois University in Edwardsville, eventually earning a degree in jazz performance.

“I just loved learning how music works,” he says. “I have a very mathematical mind, and music theory is very mathematical. I went from being a disruptive ADHD kid to nerding out on theory.”

Grelle went on to play studio sessions in Chicago and Nashville, study film scoring at Berklee and USC, make soundtracks for TV commercials, tour with the Feed and play in Andy Coco’s Hip Grease and Kevin Bowers’ Nova.

“I try to surround myself with superior musicians because it always makes me want to be better,” Grelle says. That includes guitarist Jimmy Griffin, singer Mark Quinn and drummer John Pessoni of El Monstero fame, who tapped Grelle for their Led Zeppelin tribute band in 2006.

He was reluctant at first.

“But they said, ‘Just come to rehearsal — then you can tell us to fuck off if you want,’” Grelle says. “When the band kicked in, I was like holy shit,” Grelle says. “I’m fucking in.”

Celebration Day sold out its first show at the Pageant and has been a monster draw ever since. Grelle and Griffin subsequently linked up with Via Dove vocalist (and Mick Jagger ringer) Andy Shadburne to form Street Fighting Band, a Rolling Stones tribute. In addition, Grelle curated and directed an all-star band for an annual Yes We Can concert, a tribute to Alan Toussaint, the high priest of New Orleans music.

Then everything came crashing down on him.

On the evening of November 2, 2016 — with his nine-monthspregnant wife and two-year-old son waiting at home — Grelle was struck by a speeding car while walking across Grand Boulevard to pick up takeout. The driver carried Grelle a block on the hood of her car, dumped him in the middle of the street and kept going.

Grelle has no memory of being hit. “I just remember waking up with my head on the street,” he says. “It was lightly raining. I remember the headlights and flashing lights and someone asking me if I could move my legs.”

He couldn’t. Grelle had shat-

In 2016, a drunk driver plowed into Dave Grelle as he crossed Grand Boulevard. He is still recovering from the incident. | COURTESY PHOTO

tered tibias, fibulas, scapulas, ribs and more — 22 broken bones total. He suffered a lacerated liver and a punctured lung. The skin was ripped off his left arm. His ankle was swinging from its tendons.

Meanwhile, the driver parked her bloody, smashed, windshieldshattered car around the corner and went into a bar to have drinks with her friends. A judge later sentenced her to probation for leaving the scene of the crime.

Grelle was in the hospital for a month — released briefly to attend his daughter’s birth — and spent two more confined to a hospital bed at home. The cognitive toll of the accident forced him to relearn almost everything — speaking, walking, playing piano.

Miraculously, his hands were the only part of his body that remained unscathed. “I had to reteach myself how to play keys,” he says. “The best thing about being isolated and in a wheelchair is that I couldn’t do anything else but practice.”

More than six years after the accident, Grelle still has glass embedded throughout his body. He points to a spot on his cheek: “I have a piece of glass here working its way out right now,” he says. “I feel it every time I shave.” He goes to physical therapy sessions three days a week.

Despite knowing he will deal with the effects of his injuries for the rest of his life, Grelle can joke about it. “It was the night the Cubs won the World Series, and I have no memory of it, so as far as I’m concerned it never happened,” he says, smiling. “And at least I don’t remember Trump getting elected. I might have walked in front of a car on purpose.”

Shortly after the accident, his musical friends came to the rescue. Grelle had previously played every Brasstravaganza, the Funky Butt Brass Band’s annual holiday party. Though Grelle was fresh out of the hospital, the band got him back on stage that year.

“They were like, ‘You’re going to do it,’” Grelle says. “My dad drove me to Delmar Hall in an ice storm. They brought me on stage, hoisted me up in my wheelchair, and I sang a song wearing a Christmas onesie, my legs wrapped in Christmas lights.”

Grelle credits Jazz St. Louis Artistic Director Bob Bennett with pushing him to perform again in 2017. “Bob said, ‘You’re going to put a band together and play Jazz at the Bistro, and these are the dates,” Grelle says. “Thank God he did that. I was in a pretty dark place.”

For that gig, he assembled Dave Grelle’s Playadors, a who’s who of areas players, including Dee Dee James (guitar), Zeb Briskovich (bass), Adam Hucke (trumpet), Rob Nugent (alto sax), Matt Henry (percussion), his old Feedmates Bowers and Reece, and a rotating cast of vocalists.

A Playadors’ set is a dynamic display of almighty musicality. Grelle simultaneously plays and conducts from his perch at stage right.

“I throw hard shit at these people, and everyone is coming from way different backgrounds,” Grelle says. “I just love that it’s a group that everyone is excited about.”

Grelle is in the studio with the Playadors and plans to release A/B singles and eventually a full album over the next few months. He credits the St. Louis music scene for being able to rebound so successfully.

“I’ve lived in Nashville, Chicago. St. Louis is different,” Grelle says, shaking his head in awe. “It’s the perfect amalgamation of all the music from here and all the music from around us.”

Grelle is a priceless part of that mix.

“I’m here,” he says. “And I’m better than ever.” n

Catch Dave Grelle’s Playadors with special guest Anita Jackson at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, at Joe’s Cafe (6008 Kingsbury Avenue, 314-862-2541). Tickets are $15 in advance on Eventbrite or $20 at the door.

“ I just loved learning how music works. I have a very mathematical mind, and music theory is very mathematical. I went from being a disruptive ADHD kid to nerding out on theory.”

It’s So Easy

Kelly Howe soars as Linda Ronstadt at Just One Look, now at the Blue Strawberry

Written by SARAH FENSKE

Just One Look

Directed and composed by Joe Hanrahan. Presented by Midnight Theatre Company at Blue Strawberry at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays through March 15. Tickets are $25 with a $20 food and drink minimum.

Linda Ronstadt is having a moment. Her heartrending “Long, Long Time” was featured on HBO’s The Last of Us — and if there’s any recipe these days for breaking through the noise to become a bona fide sensation, it’s being on the soundtrack of a hit HBO show.

If you were born after, say, 1975, you know Ronstadt, if you know her at all, as the wide-eyed presence on the cover of your parents’ old Pirates of Penzance cast recording or as the must-be-famous singer in a bolero jacket hamming it up on Sesame Street. You probably didn’t know she hung out with Mick Jagger and brought the Ea-

gles together. You wouldn’t have known she was besties with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, much less connected her to top-40 hits as disparate as “Blue Bayou” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” You’d have no idea that — before she retired to San Francisco, before a disorder akin to Parkinson’s stopped her in her tracks — Linda Ronstadt was cool.

The new two-actor show at the Blue Strawberry, Just One Look, makes a terrific case that Ronstadt is more than just one song and more than worthy of your time. Written and directed by Joe Hanrahan, the Midnight Company’s 90-minute production expertly utilizes the venue’s tiny cabaret stage to keep the spotlight on Kelly Howe, who positively dazzles as Ronstadt. With a voice so powerful it nearly knocked out the sound system during its premiere, Howe inhabits Ronstadt so completely she even seems to look like her, despite wisely eschewing the singer’s 1980s mop of hair for timeless bangs.

The setup is simple, as befits the stage: Longtime journalist Lonny Anderson (Hanrahan, channeling a cross between Joe Edwards and a British Ray Hartmann) indulges in his crush on Ronstadt, interviewing her at length about her hit songs. Lonny never really gets anywhere with the coquettish singer, but that’s not the point — he’s simply the setup to let Ronstadt belt

out her favorite songs, and belt them she does. It’s an astonishing parade of hit after hit after genredefying hit, ably assisted by Curt Landes on piano, Tom Maloney on guitar and Mark Rogers on percussion. (Landes and Rogers even manage to fill in for Parton and Harris on backup vocals for one song — no small feat.)

That this production is taking place at the Blue Strawberry adds to the fun. This isn’t the sort of intricately plotted play that requires audiences to sit still and focus. Instead, Howe’s beautiful vocals invite us to lean back, relax with a cocktail and remember the music we took for granted on the soundtrack of our youths. That the cabaret-style venue allows audiences to get dinner first, and keep drinking throughout the show, provides an apropos intimacy that only puts Howe’s talents in higher relief.

Yes, there’s the occasional crash of silverware in the hallway, and you might notice your server slip past to bring the adjacent table a drink. But sitting in the positively packed cabaret, with hits breaking over you like a tidal wave, you might fool yourself into thinking you’re seeing Ronstadt at the height of her powers in an intimate venue. Thanks to Howe, Hanrahan and the rest of this thoroughly enjoyable production, you can’t help but marvel — what a show that would have been! n

Kelly Howe is a convincing Linda Ronstadt in Just One Look. | TODD DAVIS

[REVIEW]

Justice and Inequity

Now at the Fox Theatre, To Kill a Mockingbird resonates powerfully

Written by TINA FARMER

To Kill a Mockingbird

Adapted, written and composed by Aaron Sorkin. Directed by Bartlett Sher. Presented by the Fabulous Fox Theatre through Sunday, March 12. Showtimes vary by date. Tickets are $29 to $110.

Whether in book, movie or its most recent play version by Aaron Sorkin, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird remains a powerful, insightful American story. The current touring production at the Fabulous Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard, 314534-1678, fabulousfox.com), featuring Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch, is an impeccable dramatic production.

Tom Robinson, a Black man with a noticeably disabled left arm, is on trial and needs a competent lawyer. Accused of assaulting and raping Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman who lives nearby, his current lawyer encourages him to enter a guilty plea to a lesser charge. The judge, unsettled by

the recommendation, reaches out to Finch, convincing him to take the case.

Finch hesitates until swayed by his principled belief in justice and the underlying goodness of most people. Family housekeeper Calpurnia is less confident. Finch’s children, Jem and Scout, and their friend Dill, provide important framing through narration and commentary. The primary action takes place in the courthouse, where the case resolves as expected in 1930s Alabama. The drama extends well beyond the courthouse, however, deeply affecting the town and the Finch family.

Director Bartlett Sher guides a spectacular cast that convincingly commits to the story. Richard Thomas is captivating as Finch, with an easy, knowledgeable but down-to-earth approach that adds to the character’s inherent appeal. He staunchly believes that justice will ultimately prevail. Filled with natural empathy, he encourages his children to try to understand why people are behaving a certain way. Thomas captures all these aspects with an understated, natural gravitas.

Melanie Moore, Justin Mark and Steven Lee Johnson are compelling and appealing as Scout, Jem and Dill, respectively. They bring a sense of curiosity and youthful idealism to the roles, easily transitioning from in-the-moment reactions to audience asides that are often humorous as well as infor-

mative. Moore does an excellent job establishing Scout’s intelligent naiveté and youth, capturing the sense of a young woman with access to ideas she intuitively appreciates without fully understanding, and opens the character to the audience as she processes each.

Jacqueline Williams avoids stereotypes as the Finch family housekeeper, though she telegraphs considerable context through movement, tone and expression. Yaegel T. Welch is sympathetic and heartbreaking as Tom Robinson. Joey Collins and Arianna Gayle Stucki evoke pity, sadness and a different heartbreak as the racist, abusive Bob Ewell and his abused daughter Mayella while Travis Johns conveys compassion with a touch of loneliness as Boo Radley.

Playwright Aaron Sorkin has crafted a thematically relevant play that resonates with the same power and forceful intention as the novel and the well-received movie version. That his script evokes contemporary struggles, effectively showing racism, sexism and populism in scenes that bridge the period gap, is testament to the truth of the story. Audiences Scout’s age or older are likely to be moved by the effective Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Almost a century removed from its original telling, this drama reminds us that justice and equality for all is still a goal worth striving for and working to achieve. n

Richard Thomas plays Atticus Finch in the traveling show To Kill a Mockingbird. | JULIETA CERVANTES

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 9

BROTHER JEFFERSON: 8 p.m., $15-$20. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

DOUG & SHARON FOEHNER: w/ Eric McSpadden & Popcorn 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

ERIC JOHNSON: 8 p.m., $40. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

GUITAR CIRCLE: 6 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

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

KARA BALDUS-MEHRMANN QUARTET: 7:30 p.m., $17. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-571-6000.

KATIE TOUPIN: w/ Austin Plaine 8 p.m., $18-$22. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

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

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

SUBTRONICS: w/ Virtual Riot, Kompany, Ubur 7 p.m., $49.50-$79.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

FRIDAY 10

CASH LANGDON: w/ Faux Deep, Algae Dust, Crisis Walk-Ins 8 p.m., $5-$10. Platypus, 4501 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-359-2293.

CHEVY THA WRITER: 10 p.m., $15-$20. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

DIESEL ISLAND: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS PLAN DOUBLE EP

RELEASE: w/ the Jag-Wires, Skin Effect 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON BAND: 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

JOHN “PAPA” GROS: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

KELTIC REIGN: 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

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

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

MARAUDA: w/ INFEKT, DRINKURWATER, Executioner 8 p.m., $30. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis.

NOCHE DE VERANO SIN TI - BAD BUNNY BIRTHDAY

BASH: 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

RAGE ROOM: w/ Infekt, Drinkurwater, Executioner 9 p.m., $30. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis.

RAY BONNEVILLE: 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, 314-560-2778.

THAT 1 GUY: 8 p.m., $13-$18. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

THEORY OF A DEADMAN: w/ Skillet 7 p.m.,

Styles P

8 p.m. Saturday, March 11. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street. $15. 314-289-9050.

Whether you realize it or not, Styles P probably had a hand in the soundtrack to your life in the late ‘90s. As one-third of the New York hip-hop act the Lox, the Yonkers rapper helped to pen some of the biggest hits of the era — chart-topping, radio-dominating tracks including Diddy’s “It’s All About the Benjamins,”

Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block” and Mariah Carey’s “Honey.” The group’s collaborations with Diddy and his Bad Boy Records label were especially fruitful, and the Lox found itself working with everyone from Jay-Z to DMX to Ja Rule during its most prolific run in the latter part of the decade. Moving into the aughts, the Lox jumped ship to the Ruff Ryders label, where Styles released

$39.50-$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

SATURDAY 11

4 PLAY FEATURING ELLE LENEE: 8 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

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

ALL THAT & A BAG OF CHIPS: 90’S DANCE PARTY & POLE SHOW: 7 p.m., $20. Aurora, 7413 South Broadway, Saint Louis, 314-000-0000.

ALLIGATOR WINE: 10 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

AMERICAN CHAMBER CHORALE & ORCHESTRA:

7:30 p.m., free. Salem in Ladue United Methodist Church, 1200 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Frontenac, 314-991-0546.

BATE & THE STRANGERS: UNPLUGGED: 9 p.m., $15-$25. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

THE DISAPPEARED: w/ Petty Grievances, Maximum Effort 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill, 6504

his debut solo album, A Gangster and a Gentleman, whose single “Good Times” peaked at No. 22 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The rapper has been a veritable fountain of creativity in the years since, releasing 15 solo albums including January’s Penultimate: A Calm Wolf Is Still a Wolf. For his St. Louis show, expect a wide-ranging set full of tracks spanning decades, all delivered by a certifiable New York hiphop legend.

And the Winner Is: A highly anticipated Verzuz battle in August 2021 saw the Lox summarily obliterate Harlem rap group the Diplomats in a showing that one reporter dubbed “premeditated murder by microphone.” In the aftermath, the Lox saw streams of its music increase by 215 percent, received a key to the city of Yonkers and appeared on Kanye West’s Donda project alongside Jay Electronica.

—Daniel Hill

Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

EMMET COHEN TRIO: 8 p.m., $35-$45. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

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

AN EVENING WITH BLACK MAGIC: THE SANTANA

EXPERIENCE: 8 p.m., $22.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

IAN MUNSICK: 8 p.m., $28-$49.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

THE LEMON TWIGS: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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

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

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

SHI: w/ Path of Might, Kilverez 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis,

314-352-5226.

STORY OF THE YEAR: 8 p.m., $35-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. STYLES P: 8 p.m., $15. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

TEAM COAST VS. TEAM FERRISS: w/ Jay Coast, Ferriss, Ricky Wolfe, Harry Steezz, Ripconn, Jeff Co 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

TODD MOSBY NEW HORIZONS BAND: 7:30 p.m., $20. Jack’s Place, 4652 Shaw Avenue, St. Louis, 314-773-6600.

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

SUNDAY 12

CRO-MAGS: w/ No/Mas, Brat 8 p.m., $20. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DUOSONIC: 10 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

ERIC LYSAGHT: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster

Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

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

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

FMP WE ARE THE FUTURE YOUTH SHOWCASE:

7:30 p.m., $10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

FRIKO: w/ Free Range 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

PRE 314 DAY SHOW ME THE FUNNY COMEDY

JAM: 7 p.m., $25.64-$45.64. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

WASTE MAN: w/ What We Won’t See, Nick G Band 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

MONDAY 13

BUDDY GUY: 7:30 p.m., $49.50-$79.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

BYRNE & KELLY: 7:30 p.m., $35-$75. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, 314-560-2778.

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

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

TUESDAY 14

ALTER BRIDGE: w/ Mammoth WVH, Pistols at Dawn 7 p.m., $42.50-$248.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

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

DOLLYROTS: 8 p.m., $18-$22. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ERIC MCSPADDEN & MARGARET BIENCHETTA: 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

KEVIN BUCKLEY: 10 a.m., $20-$23. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

LUCKI: 8 p.m., $35-$75. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

MISTER GOBLIN: w/ Puhoy, Big Load 8:30 p.m., $5-10. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis.

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

PARKWAY SCHOOL DISTRICT ALL-DISTRICT

ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE: 7:30 p.m., $5. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

SHADOW SHOW: w/ Shitstorm, Mobile Alien Research Unit 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

UNDEROATH: w/ Periphery, Loathe 7 p.m., $36.50.

Styles P. | VIA ARTIST WEBSITE

PICK]

The Lemon Twigs

8 p.m. Saturday, March 11. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $20. 314-498-6989. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the members of the Lemon Twigs are straightup musical prodigies. The Long Island group consists of brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, multi-instrumentalists who possess that preternatural ability to craft harmonies in an otherworldly, locked-in manner that seems to be gifted only to siblings. The group exploded onto the scene with 2016’s Do Hollywood, which the brothers recorded before either of them was even 18 years old. Their psychedelically tinged mix of glam rock and power pop has earned them a slew of famous fans in the years since — artists including Elton John, Iggy Pop, Boy George, Todd Rundgren and more. Their skills on

OUT EVERY NIGHT

Continued from pg 43

The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

WEDNESDAY 15

BLACK VIOLIN: 8 p.m.; April 3, 8 p.m., $24.50$69.50. Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 Touhill Circle, St. Louis, 866-516-4949.

DREW LANCE: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. EXPERIMENTAL OPEN MIC IV: 7 p.m., free. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

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

KEVIN BUCKLEY: 10 a.m., $20-$23. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

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

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

WE SHOULD WRITE TOGETHER RELEASE SHOW: w/ Ella Fritts 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

THE WONDER YEARS: w/ Hot Mulligan, Carly Cosgrove 7:30 p.m., $20-$22. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

basically every instrument have led to the brothers being tapped to perform on other acts’ albums as well, with the two contributing to Foxygen’s 2017 album Hang and Weyes Blood’s 2019 album Titanic Rising. They’re first-call session musicians, in other words, and their work within their own group shows a grandiosity and theatricality that simply cannot be ignored. In short, the days of seeing the Lemon Twigs at a venue as small as Off Broadway are numbered, and this week’s show is sure to be one for the history books.

Funny Enough: Even comedian Tim Heidecker, of Tim and Eric fame, has worked with the D’Addario brothers. His 2020 concept album Fear of Death saw him tapping the duo for many of its tracks, with the two credited for bass, acoustic and electric guitar; drums; vocals; and mellotron. —Daniel Hill

THIS JUST IN

CROCODILES: Sat., April 29, 8 p.m., $20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

DIESEL ISLAND: Sat., April 29, 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THE FALLING MARTINS: Sat., March 25, 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THE FLAMING LIPS: Wed., June 14, 8:30 p.m., $34.50-$65. St. Louis Music Park, 750 Casino Center Dr., Maryland Heights, 314-451-2244.

GARY CLARK JR: Mon., May 8, 8 p.m., $59.50$79.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

JD SIMO AND MATTIE SCHELL SINGLE RELEASE

PARTY: Fri., March 24, 8 p.m., $18. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

MAGNETIC FIELDS: Mon., March 27, 8 p.m., $50. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

MEGADUNE: W/ Jesus Christ Supercar, No Antics, Fri., May 26, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

THE STRUTS: Sun., June 25, 8 p.m., $28.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. n

Lemon Twigs. | VIA REFLEKTOR MANAGEMENT

Quickies

BY DAN SAVAGE

Hey Dan: You suggested stocking up on abortion pills NOW for friends in the future because they could wind up being banned. I naively thought a ban would never happen. Now, as you probably know, it’s on the verge of being banned nationwide any day due to the lawsuit in Texas. It looks like I’d need to go to a doctor to get them, and I don’t want to have to lie about needing them. Is there any other way to get them?

Go to plancpills.org!

Hey Dan: I look OK, I make good money, I have my own place and I’m nice. But no one wants me, and no one stays because I’m autistic. I want a real relationship, but I would settle for an escort. But I don’t want to get robbed or killed. Everyone says, “Just get out there,” but it doesn’t work.

I can’t give explicit advice about finding escorts — it’s a legal gray area — but I can suggest that you follow sex workers’ rights advocates on Twitter, many of whom are sex workers themselves. Most of the women sex workers I know personally, not professionally — have experience working with autistic clients. And while locating an experienced sex worker you would like to see in person will require some time and effort, the energy you’re currently expending being miserable would be better spent on this search. There are also dating sites for autistic adults like Hiki (hikiapp.com) that you might want to check out.

Hey Dan: What’s the best way as GAYS to get laid at the gym?

No one gets laid at the gym — or through the gym — without going to the gym. As a very problematic person once said, 80 percent of success in life is just showing up. And here’s a pro tip: Presmartphones and hookup apps, GAYS would cruise each other while they lifted weights, offer to spot each other and then follow each other into locker rooms to mess around — discreetly, of course, so as not to panic STRAIGHTS and/or annoy GAYS who don’t mess around at the gym. These days guys open Grindr at the gym and send hole pics to guys sitting on the machine next to them.

Hey Dan: I’m a 43-year-old cis straight man. I’m going to see my doctor soon and

I plan to ask him about testing for autism spectrum disorder because more than half of my girlfriends and a few platonic friends have asked me if I might be on the spectrum. I don’t think a diagnosis will change my life, other than reframing a lot of confusing (to me) “breakups” with friends and girlfriends over the years. Any advice how I should contact previous friends and girlfriends to let them know I received a diagnosis that might explain some of our problems? I’m still on friendly(ish) terms with most of them.

A status update posted to Facebook and/ or a story posted to Instagram — assuming you’re on social media and/or want to be out about your diagnosis — would probably reach most of your friends and exes. If that’s too public, I don’t see why you couldn’t just send a note to the friends and exes with whom you’re on friendly(ish) terms, particularly the ones who suggested you might be on the spectrum.

Hey Dan: I have seen videos of guys getting fisted. Some of these guys take it all the way to the elbow. How the heck is this even possible?!? I mean they have to be touching their lungs or heart! Even done carefully how can this be safe and not do permanent damage?

“Some guys’ insides are just made differently,” said CagedJock, a gay male porn star who is often elbow-deep in his costars. “I once fisted this boy — he was short, only 5’5” — and I basically just slid in up to my elbow. He was gifted anatomically. But I have also fisted 6’2” guys without getting past my wrist. So it’s not the height that gets you to past the elbow. It’s like people in the circus — ordinary people just can’t do that. And it’s safe as long as you’re doing it right. I have been fisting since 2015, and I’ve bottomed since 2004. It’s about knowing how the body works, using common sense, learning how to read the body language of the receiver and lots of communication.”

Follow CagedJock on Twitter and Instagram @CagedJock.

Hey Dan: How do you use a dental dam effectively?

You remove the dental dam from its packaging, you place the packaging in the appropriate recycling bin, and then you carefully position the dental dam over the nearest trash can. You release the dental dam, you let it flutter into the trash can, and then you go to mylorals.com and order yourself some FDA-cleared, ultra-sheer underpants designed for cunnilingus.

SAVAGE LOVE 45

Hey Dan: How can a bottom in his 50s find a dang top? Ageism sucks!

I’m always a little suspicious when a guy in his 50s — and that’s my demo — starts to complain about ageism in the gay community … because I’ve heard from too many middle-aged gay guys whose complaints about “ageism” boiled down to, “Guys in their 20s and 30s don’t wanna fuck me, and I don’t wanna fuck guys my own age or older.” It may not be as easy for a guy in his 50s to find dick, but it’s not impossible, and it’s certainly not as hard as it was back when only guys in their 20s were considered hot. There are lots of guys who are into hot daddies these days, and while a lot of those guys are bottoms, they aren’t all bottoms.

Hey Dan: I’m pre-op, no-T, non-binary, AFAB. Do I belong on Grindr?

It depends on what you mean by, “Do I belong?” If what you mean is, “Am I allowed on Grindr and will I find someone there who might wanna fuck me?” then the answer is yes. But if what you mean is, “Will I have a completely frictionless experience on Grindr and not encounter a single asshole who goes out of his way to make me feel like I don’t belong on a hookup app for gay and bi men because I have a vagina and boobs?” then the answer is no. But by that standard … no one “belongs” on Grindr, where some people — where some assholes — have been known to go out of their way to make people, AFAB and AMAB, cis and trans, gay and otherwise, feel like they don’t belong.

Hey Dan: My girlfriend has some body odor — underarm odor — that I notice when we play. Any subtle ways to tell her?

I’m not a “mansmells” kind of guy/pervert, but I like the way my men smell … at least most of the time. When they smell too strong or sour or otherwise unpleasant, I usually just say, “You stink,” and point them to the shower. Try it.

Hey Dan: How does one effectively manage a throuple?

By not obsessing about what you’ve given up, lost and/or never had — which would be absolute primacy — and instead being grateful for what you’ve gained, e.g., someone else to do the dishes, someone else to pick up groceries, someone else to walk the dogs, etc.

Hey Dan: How are you liking MILF Manor?

I stopped watching MILF Manor after the third episode — the challenges were in-

creasingly lame, the MILFs didn’t seem serious about wanting to actually fuck the younger men, and the younger men didn’t seem serious about wanting to fuck the MILFs. I’m watching Young Royals S2, now, and rooting for Willie, Simon and Marcus to form a throuple.

Hey Dan: I’m addicted to PMO — “porn, masturbation, orgasm.” How do I break this addiction and start having real sex?

If you’re having a hard time closing the laptop, pulling up your pants and getting out of the house, you might have to do something radical — like canceling your internet service or getting your ass into therapy.

Hey Dan: Ever since birthing my children, all of my masturbation fantasies include me having a penis. Is there a possible physiological reason for this? Or is it all in my head?

Physiological — “relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts” would seem to cover what’s going on in your head, as you’re a living organism and your head is one of your parts, so the distinction you’re attempting to draw between physiological and psychological seems false to me. Whatever is going on here, it’s interesting — definitely something to explore and enjoy.

Hey Dan: My ex and I miss each other and we’re both in therapy now. Is it a bad idea to get back together?

There’s an option between “broken up” and “back together,” and it’s called “dating.” Keep things casual, keep your own places, keep seeing your therapists and keep all your options — including the option of getting back together — open.

Hey Dan: Any recommended resources (such as books) for our 18-year-old son about same-sex sex?

Assuming your son has access to the internet, he probably knows quite a bit. I would supplement what he already knows (or thinks he knows) with Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Moen, which is for young people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and get him an appointment with a gay doc who can talk to him about safety and, if appropriate, get him on PrEP.

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