Riverfront Times, July 6, 2022 by Chava Communications

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JULY 6-12, 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Rosalind Early

E D I T O R I A L Managing Editor Daniel Hill Digital Content Editors Jaime Lees, Jenna Jones Food Editor Cheryl Baehr Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic Contributors Chris Andoe, Joseph Hess, Reuben Hemmer, Devin Thomas O’Shea, Andy Paulissen, Victor Stefanescu, Mabel Suen, Theo Welling Columnists Ray Hartmann, Dan Savage Editorial Interns Julian McCall, Carlos Mendoza, Lulu Nix, Kasey Noss, Olivia Poolos, A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Creative Director Haimanti Germain Production Manager Sean Bieri Graphic Designer Aspen Smit

COVER

M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Associate Publisher Colin Bell Account Manager Jennifer Samuel Directors of Business Development Rachel Hoppman, Chelsea Nazaruk Directors of Sponsorship Sales Deanna Schmidt

Love’s Labors Lost River Styx has been a St. Louis institution for almost 50 years, but now its future is in peril.

M A R K E T I N G Director of Marketing & Events Christina Kimerle Marketing Coordinator Sydney Schaefer Social Media Coordinator Jamila Jackson B U S I N E S S Regional Operations Director Emily Fear

Cover illustration by

SAM WASHBURN

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

INSIDE Hartmann

News

Missouriland

Feature

Calendar

Cafe

Short Orders

St. Louis Standards

Reeferfront Times

Culture

Music

Stage

Out Every Night

Savage Love

E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Editor at Large Jessica Rogen VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein VP of Marketing Emily Tintera, Cassandra Yardeni www.euclidmediagroup.com N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com S U B S C R I P T I O N S Send address changes to Riverfront Times, 5257 Shaw Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63110. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $78/6 months (MO add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (MO add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member Riverfront Times PO Box 179456, St. Louis, MO, 63117 www.riverfronttimes.com General information: 314-754-5966 Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977

Riverfront Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1.00 plus postage, payable in advance at the Riverfront Times office. Riverfront Times may be distributed only by Riverfront Times authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of Riverfront Times, take more than one copy of each Riverfront Times weekly issue. The entire contents of Riverfront Times are copyright 2022 by Riverfront Times, LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the expressed written permission of the Publisher, Riverfront Times, PO Box 179456, St. Louis, Mo, 63117. Please call the Riverfront Times office for back-issue information, 314-754-5966.

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HARTMANN Side Gig Greater St. Louis Inc. needs to ditch its real estate side hustle Written by

RAY HARTMANN

he group of major companies that runs St. Louis needs to get out of the real estate business. That’s a strange sentence to write. I’m guessing it’s a puzzling one to read. But 18 months into the grand experiment known as Greater St. Louis Inc., it is more apparent than ever that its promised dramatic overhaul of the region’s civic structure has a fatal flaw. That flaw is known — or not known — as the Arch to Park Equity Fund LLC. It is a private, forprofit company that invests in real estate. It’s also a central enterprise of GSL, the not-for-profit group that presumes to provide leadership for economic development in the St. Louis region. The commingling of a powerful civic organization with a powerful real estate company destroys any pretense of impartiality on development issues that groups like GSL focus upon. That’s not a sexy issue, but it’s a big one. In its articles of incorporation, GSL — a merger of the St. Louis Regional Chamber, AllianceSTL, Civic Progress, Downtown STL Inc. and Arch to Park — mentions a focus on the area’s “urban core.” But they also reference GSL being “operated exclusively to promote the common business interests, growth and opportunity, and the general economic welfare for businesses in the St. Louis metropolitan area.” (Emphasis added.) The Arch to Park fund’s stated mission is to provide “patient capital” to development projects that otherwise could not find it. That might seem great news for a region dotted with pockets of poverty and despair that could use a guardian angel like that. But it turns out that the fund is limited by charter to investing in projects in the city’s urban core. What a terrible fit for GSL, which bills itself as the unifying voice of the sprawling metropolitan area of 15 counties. What about the pa-

tient-capital needs of those other counties and parts of the city? Since it’s a private company, there’s little to report definitively about Arch to Park. It was spearheaded by Enterprise CEO Andrew Taylor, the most revered civic leader in St. Louis, who reportedly has the largest investment stake in the fund, by far. Taylor, the driving force behind GSL, remains its dominant leader. The fund counts among its investors a who’s who of untouchable St. Louis companies and institutions, from the Cardinals to the major universities to Schnucks and others. Again, details of the fund’s structure are a private matter. But the fund seems to have developed a particular fondness for the area immediately around the new MLS soccer stadium. What a happy coincidence. The soccer franchise and stadium are widely regarded as a generous gift to the community from Taylor and his family. No one with a brain would question that. As reported last week in the local media, AHM group, a locally based developer, has advanced an exciting new proposal within a short walk of the stadium. It hopes to build up to 500 apartments and 30,000 square feet of office space, and another 25,000 to 30,000 square feet for restaurants and retail. Buried deep in a Business Journal story was this: “AHM was able to buy the [needed] sites using money from Greater St. Louis Inc.’s Arch to Equity Fund, a patient capital fund designed to encourage development for large projects. Greater St. Louis Inc. declined to say how much capital they invested in the project.” Other media dutifully reported the same point in passing: GSL isn’t answering questions on the details of its investment. OK bye. What an act of civic benevolence. Really? The soccer stadium is one of the most exciting local developments in years. The area around it is arguably the hottest real estate game in town. Whatever virtues investors might need there, patience isn’t high on the list. And there is that pesky GSL bylaw about “exclusively” serving the needs of the metropolitan area. Not certain how a project near the stadium does that. Let’s assume that 500 new tenants decide to relocate to a down-

The commingling of a powerful civic organization with a powerful real estate company destroys any pretense of impartiality. town area wracked with a terrible reputation for crime — a short walk from where thousands of strangers will be coming to and from a stadium (always a valued amenity). From where do you suppose these people would be relocating? In a city with declining population and a region that’s largely stagnant, I’m going to go with “somewhere else in the 15-county region served by GSL.” Unless folks will be moving to St. Louis in excitement over the new MLS stadium. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the Arch to Park moguls doing whatever they want with their money. But there’s plenty wrong with GSL favoring one part of the metropolitan area at the expense of another. And the lack of transparency is even worse. Not-for-profit groups must disclose financial activities annually with IRS Form 990 detailing the size of their operation, compensation of key employees, top vendors and so forth. Profitmaking companies file nothing. GSL will be filing its first-ever Form 990 in the next several months. But that reporting is essentially meaningless without knowing who benefits how much from the non-disclosed spending of the fund it manages. GSL hotly denies this. Last week, spokesman Tony Wyche repeated what has been said before: GSL does not earn a dime from the fund. GSL only manages the Arch to Park fund, and purely at its costs, which are reimbursed. GSL makes no decisions as to the investment decisions of the fund. He added this: “I will add that Arch to Park Equity Fund LLC has no employees.” Wow. Maybe robots are running it?

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So, let’s get this straight. GSL is managing a private, for-profit real estate fund at cost, out of the kindness of its heart? Why? And what does “managing” mean if GSL isn’t making subjective investment decisions picking winners and losers in the region? Finally, would GSL provide this sort of management help to other real estate funds in the region should they request it? Understand this is a St. Louis thing. No other major region has an overarching chamber of commerce with a Civic Progress–style organization operating a real estate side hustle out of its office. In the process of making unwelcome inquiries to GSL, I was told by Wyche, “Your questions have been asked and answered on MULTIPLE occasions. But you seem entirely unwilling to accept what we have provided you.” That’s true. I have not accepted the bogus answer that what GSL is doing is no different than other cities. Last week Wyche reiterated that Greater Cleveland Partnership and GSL “operate almost identical to one another.” He cited its relationship with the Cleveland Development Partners as analogous to GSL and Arch to Park. Bad example. I looked it up, which is something that GSL, with all its clout, can count on the mainstream media not to do. (The Post-Dispatch, for example, is listed as a major GSL investor in the $50,000 to $99,000 range). Cleveland’s situation turns out to be precisely the opposite of St. Louis. Both of its organizations are not-for-profits fully disclosing their financials to the public annually. They both file Form 990s. The comparison could not be falser. I’m not sure which is worse: that Arch to Park is a for-profit company and as such totally unaccountable to the public, or that GSL has a problem being accurate about the uniqueness of its situation. GSL continues to duck the question as to why its real-estate fund wasn’t set up as a transparent notfor-profit. Maybe the answer is worse than St. Louis can be allowed to know. 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 and St. Louis in the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9-11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

JULY 6-12, 2022

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NEWS

Man Found Guilty of Killing Disabled Son Dawan Ferguson faces life in prison Written by

RYAN KRULL

fter listening to five days of testimony from more than 30 witnesses, a ury deliberated for only a little more than two hours before declaring Dawan Ferguson, 9, guilty of murder for killing his nine-yearold disabled son in 2003. All last week the trial was marked by interruptions and delays, and Friday’s proceedings got underway more than two hours behind schedule, with the ury not entering the courtroom until a few minutes before noon. With the ury in place, the prosecution and defense each had one last chance to argue their version of what happened on the morning une , 2003. Ferguson and his public defender have insisted that Ferguson’s SU was stolen from the intersection of Page and Skinker with his severely disabled son, Christian, in the back. The prosecution has argued there was no stolen car and that Ferguson’s story was an elaborate ruse to cover up for his having killed his son. “For 9 years, that man right there, Dawan Ferguson, has gotten away,” prosecutor ohn Schlesinger told the ury in his closing statement. “It is time he be held responsible. It is time Christian Ferguson and his family finally receive ustice.” Schlesinger spent much of his closing statement reminding the ury that Christian’s condition when he died was due to his father’s neglect. Christian was born with citrullinemia, which causes ammonia and other to ic substances to build up in the blood.

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The Dawan Ferguson trial ended in a guilty verdict. Ferguson is in inset box, seated at the table. | VIA SCREENGRAB Until he was seven, Christian en oyed a relatively normal life. People with citrullinemia are often able to manage the disorder with medication and proper diet. In anuary 200 , though, Ferguson ignored signs his son was in medical duress, and Christian slipped into a life-altering coma. Afterwards, the boy wasn’t able to walk, talk or eat without a feeding tube. “No one wants to believe that a person can be responsible for something like this, much less a parent,” Schlesinger said. He added that this disbelief is partially how Ferguson “got away with murder” for this long. Schlesinger went on to say that Ferguson’s motive for murdering his son lay in the fact that he had been neglecting and abusing his son for years but in May 2003 was about to lose custody of him to Christian’s mother. “Time was up. He could no longer keep Christian away from everyone else,” Schlesinger said. “He didn’t want to have to show Christian to anyone because he knew he was going to get caught.” Last Thursday, Ferguson’s defense called what could have been a trial-altering witness in Dion Dupree who was near the intersection of Page and Skinker on une , 2003. Dupree testified he indeed did see Ferguson’s car speeding

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“He could no longer keep Christian away from everyone else. He didn’t want to have to show Christian to anyone because he knew he was going to get caught.” away from that area. However, Ron Goldstein, a former chief criminal investigator for the county prosecutor’s office, said that in 2003, when questioned, Dupree did not mention seeing an SU . “I don’t think we need to say another word about Dion Dupree,” Schlesinger said in his closing statement. He called Dupree’s testimony “a oke.” He asked the urors to consider Dupree’s credibility versus that of the neighbors on Ronbar Lane who said they saw Ferguson’s SU on their street at dawn, hours before Fer-

guson claimed it was stolen. “So many people have failed Christian Ferguson,” Schlesinger concluded. “Don’t fail him now.” Around p.m. Friday, Ferguson’s public defender emia Steele began her closing testimony. She stressed to the ury that the case at hand wasn’t about deciding if Ferguson was a good parent or not. It was about murder. “I wouldn’t dare stand here and say Dawan was father of the year,” she conceded. Steele argued that the prosecution’s case was nothing but “theories and innuendo.” She pointed out that Christian’s body has never been found. “The state hasn’t even proven death,” she said. “We don’t know if he’s dead.” Christian’s doctors testified that, without medication, Christian would have died within one to three days. Steele finished her closing statement by encouraging the ury to focus on the “all sorts of reasonable doubt” in the state’s case. “If it’s possible Christian is alive, it’s not guilty,” she said. The ury left the courtroom around 2:30 p.m. and returned a little before 5 p.m., having found Ferguson guilty of murder in the first degree. The mandatory sentence is life in prison without eligibility of parole. After the verdict, Ferguson was led away in handcuffs. n

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Fights Abortion Ban Wesley Bell calls ban “terribly misguided” and “dangerous” Written by

MONICA OBRADOVIC

oments after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, elected officials in several GOP states (including Missouri) rushed to criminalize most abortions. Some progressive prosecutors were nearly as quick to condemn the law, including St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. In late June, Bell and 87 elected prosecutors across the country said they would refuse to prosecute anyone who seeks, assists or provides abortions. Prosecutors listed several reasons for their refusal to do so, including their own personal horror at how some states failed to carve out exceptions for rape or incest (including Missouri). Their long list of grievances was sent in a joint state-

Battle at the Ballot Box Written by

JENNA JONES

overnor Mike Parson signed a bill June 29 that requires all voters to provide a government-issued photo ID at the ballot box and repeals the use of mail-in ballots. Voting rights groups are pushing back. HB 1878 is set to go into effect Sunday, August 28, meaning the measure will not be in place until after the Tuesday, August 2, primary election. Denise Lieberman, director and general counsel of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said in a statement that the group is disappointed by the new law and is considering legal action against some of the bill’s provisions. Under HB 1878, individuals must show a government-issued ID when voting or cast a provisional ballot. Previously, voters could show a variety of forms of ID. The new photo ID requirement is just one part of the bill. It also repeals the use

ment distributed by the Fair and Just Prosecution group. “Enforcing abortion bans runs counter to the obligations and interests we are sworn to uphold,” the statement reads. “It will erode trust in the legal system, hinder our ability to hold perpetrators accountable, take resources away from the enforcement of series crime, and inevitably lead to the retraumatization and criminalization of victims of sexual violence.” Many of the prosecutors who signed the statement work in the 13 states with trigger bans. In Missouri, medical-care providers could lose their licenses and face a Class B felony charge if they perform an abortion. A guilty verdict would result in a 5-to15-year prison sentence. No licensed abortion providers operate in St. Louis County, so Bell does not anticipate abortion cases will be brought to his office “at the moment.” However, in his own statement, Bell called Missouri’s trigger law “terribly misguided” and “dangerous.” “Prosecutors are mandated to protect public safety by seeking accountability for those who endanger our safety and prosperity,” Bell said. “In no way does a skilled and qualified medical professional providing a safe abortion to a woman who seeks this medical procedure endanger the safety of anyone.” Bell was the only elected prosecutor

of mail-in ballots — a method popularized in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic — but allows certain absentee ballots and prohibits drop boxes for absentee ballots. It makes the paper ballot the official method of voting, banning electronic vote-counting machines after January 1, 2024, and bans the machines from being connected to the internet. It also increases the period to submit a vote via absentee ballot with no excuse to two weeks. Additionally, it gives power to the Missouri Secretary of State to conduct audits of voter rolls and remove ineligible voters. (Local election officials already canvass voters after elections, so they can remove voters who are inactive or didn’t respond to mailers about updating their voter registration, the Kansas City Beacon reports.) Along with the new rules regarding elections, the bill does away with the presidential primary in Missouri, meaning voters will no longer cast a ballot on their party’s candidate for the president of the United States. “HB 1878 is breathtaking in the ways it undermines our elections,” Lieberman said in her statement, adding that the new law hampers “voter registration

Wesley Bell is fighting Missouri’s abortion bans with 87 other elected prosecutors across the country. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI from Missouri to sign the joint statement. Missouri’s sole abortion provider is in the City of St. Louis. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was not included in Fair and Just Prosecution’s statement. Last week a spokesman for Gardner told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the attorney is “committed to ensuring the safe delivery of comprehensive productive health services” in St. Louis.

Voters will have to show a photo ID at the polls in Missouri this fall. | MONICA OBRADOVIC drives, making it illegal to help people get absentee ballot applications, enshrining an unconstitutional strict photo ID provision, allowing the Secretary of State to order voters removed from the rolls at his discretion, allowing partisan lawmakers to be part of challenges to voting laws, opening the door to sham

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Criminalizing and prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion makes “a mockery of justice,” prosecutors said in their recent statement. “Our legislatures may decide to criminalize personal health care decisions, but we remain obligated to prosecute only those cases that serve the interests of justice and the people,” the statement continued. n

audits and more.” Lieberman is joined by other activists in her promise to fight — Reverend Darryl Gray, the executive director of Missouri Faith Voices, said they will meet this threat “in the courts, the ballot box and the streets if necessary.” “This blatant attack on black Missourians is an attack against our basic rights and freedom,” Gray said in the statement. “Black people and our allies will not sit idle while our basic human rights are threatened.” Marilyn McLeod, president of the League of Women Voters in Metro St. Louis added that the legislation adds “unnecessary roadblocks to our most basic right.” Voting rights activists have challenged a similar bill that required photo ID at the polls in 2017, and the Missouri Supreme Court sided with the group. A previous 2016 law had allowed three methods of voting: Show a photo ID, show a similar method of identification such as a utility bill and sign an affidavit, or cast a provisional ballot and return with a photo ID. In 2020, the court struck down the law due to the sworn-statement portion being “misleading” and “contradictory.” n

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MISSOURILAND

Mad as Hell After the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, St. Louis took to the streets Written by

ROSALIND EARLY Photos by

REUBEN HEMMER

n June 24, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a federally protected right to abortion, protests erupted across the nation including in St. Louis where hundreds of people gathered in front of Planned Parent-

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hood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri. Protesters also organized marches in the Central West End, Forest Park Southeast and Midtown. Missouri became one of the first states in the nation to enact its trigger law and effectively end abortion in the state when Attorney General Eric Schmitt signed an opinion enacting the law — moments after the Supreme Court officially released its opinion. Now, terminating a pregnancy is illegal in Missouri even in cases of rape or incest. The only exception is a medical emergency. More troubling is that it is also illegal to aid anyone in getting an abortion. In front of Planned Parenthood, politicians, including U.S. Representative Cori Bush (D-St. Louis), and abortion-rights activists gathered to protest the change. n

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A C E L E B R AT I O N O F T H E U N I Q U E A N D FA S C I N AT I N G A S P E C T S O F O U R H O M E

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RIVER STYX RUNS DRY The literary magazine has been a St. Louis institution for almost 50 years, but now its future is in peril BY MONICA OBRADOVIC

In the late 1960s, a group of young poets formed a new literary community in St. Louis. Poet Dan Spell had just returned to St. Louis in 1969 after spending four years in the Navy. In search of fellow poets, Spell made fliers and put them on trees around his apartment and tacked them onto Washington University bulletin boards. “Poetry reading at 0 0 Pershing — second floor,” they read. What followed would send a community of writers down a path that would transform St. Louis’ literary scene. A group of young poets — Spell, Michael Castro, Jan Garden Castro, Howard Schwartz and more — crammed into Spell’s Central West End apartment at 6010 Pershing Avenue for poetry jam sessions. Fueled by “the countercultural spirit in the air” and “by fast food and circulating six-packs, by jugs

and oints,” they’d go round and round, reading poems into late night or early morning, according to a 1987 essay by the late Michael Castro. Castro became St. Louis’ first poet laureate in 20 5. The poets didn’t assemble in Spell’s apartment to dissect the poetry line by line, nor did they wish to critique it. They were there to “sound the poetry,” Castro wrote, to “breathe it, to become energized by it.” The informal gatherings at Spell’s apartment evolved into a radio show called River Styx Poets on KDNA-FM. The founders named the show after an infernal river in Greek mythology that serves as a barrier between the realm of the living and the underworld. According to Castro’s account, they wanted the name to suggest the poets’ under-

Jan Garden Castro gives a music and spoken word performance of La Prose du Transsibérien, a 1913 book by Blaise Cendrars. | PAUL NEUENKIRK, COURTESY OF JAN GARDEN CASTRO

ground status in “the poetic pecking order” and their close location to the Mississippi River. In 9 5, they started River Styx magazine, now one of the oldest literary magazines in Missouri. Jan Garden Castro, an art historian and poet now based in New York City, tells the RFT that the founders sought to create something lively, multicultural and interdisciplinary. Garden Castro served as the main editor of the magazine from 1976 to 1986. She and Castro were married from 9 2 to 9 9. She says they sought to create something with an essence. What essence were they looking for? “There are as many answers to that as there are great poems,” Garden Castro says. Whatever essence River Styx found, it resonated. River Styx published some of the nation’s biggest writers, sometimes before their names were well known. Its contributors included U.S. poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners and Nobel laureates. River Styx also became known for its multiple reading series that drew world-renowned writers to Continued on pg 14

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RIVER STYX

Continued from pg 13

St. Louis. However, after more than 100 issues and 47 years, the River Styx seems to have lost its flow. In recent years, the magazine’s staff has continuously diminished. Grant funding has shrunk. And the pandemic forced the magazine to pause its long tradition of in-person readings. River Styx, which at its most steady pace published three times a year, has not released an issue since early 2021. It has three people on its board of directors. All this instability causes board president Deborah Taffa to worry about the magazine’s future. “Please, someone care enough to take it over,” Taffa says. She’s the director of the creative writing MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, New Mexico, but she splits her time between Santa Fe and St. Louis. “I’m in Santa Fe now and can’t believe such a venerable old magazine is being neglected.” The magazine has had three different editors-in-chief in the past six months. Author Jason Lee Brown left in December after serving as editor since November 2017. Interim editor Angela Mitchell took his place this anuary, but left a month and a half later. The magazine’s managing editor Molly Harris left earlier this year as well. Before joining River Styx’s staff, Mitchell, an author based in St. Louis, knew River Styx as a literary “gem.” “It’s a nationally recognized literary journal, especially in the realm of poetry,” she says. With this in mind, Mitchell says she was honored when asked to step in as interim editor. “It seemed it would be another good experience to add to my CV.” Her tenure didn’t last long. Mitchell says the magazine ran out of money, and she “didn’t

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know what to do.” Fundraising has traditionally been the responsibility of River Styx’s board, not the staff, according to previous staff members. “We couldn’t function,” Mitchell says. “It takes money to run a ournal. You’re planning for the future — you know, the contests need to be advertised. You have to put out ads for poets and writers and all those things. We ust kind of had come to a halt. … I’m not made of money myself, so I felt like it was better to just step away.” After her departure in midMarch, writer and former River Styx managing editor Christina Chady took over as interim editor. In an email, Chady told the RFT she was hired on a temporary basis, and Shanie Latham has since taken over as associate volunteer editor. Chady declined to be interviewed, as did Brown and Harris. River Styx is definitely going through a slump, Latham says. Latham worked for River Styx as a managing editor and volunteer from 2009 to 2013 and a volunteer editor from 2013 to 2017. She returned as managing editor again in 2018. Upon her return, Latham says, “there was already a big differ-

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ence” in the stability of the magaine. She’s worked for River Styx on a volunteer basis for the past four years. A big part of why she has remained involved is because she is concerned about the magazine’s future. She stepped down as managing editor in January 2021 but recently became the associate volunteer editor for the publication. “I haven’t really had as much time to devote to it as I would have wanted to, but I just didn’t want it to die,” Latham says. Latham points to a decrease in grant funding as one factor in River Styx’s lack of buoyancy. “From 2009 to 2018, and even worse since then, grants have decreased significantly,” she says. Two organizations — the Regional Arts Commission and Missouri Arts Council — have been mainstays of River Styx’s grant funding for decades, according to Latham. River Styx receives significantly less from both organizations compared to what it did in the early 2000s. In 2008, River Styx received $19,000 from the Regional Arts Commission, according to Chloe Smith, the commission’s grants and program manager.

By 2017, RAC started capping its program support grants at $15,000 as “funding cycles have changed over the years,” Smith says. During the pandemic, RAC had to cut grants to organizations as funding decreased. For the 2020-2021 grant cycle, RAC awarded River Styx $4,800 — about 25 percent of its original award. The most the Missouri Arts Council ever gave to River Styx was $19,000 in 2009, according to Executive Director Michael Donovan. The recession led to a decrease in funding to the arts council, and smaller grants. “One year, we didn’t get funding at all,” Donovan says. However, Donovan says the magazine’s funding from the arts council has remained fairly consistent since 2014, with annual grants totalling between $10,000 and $11,000, though River Styx received even more than that in 2022. Federal CO ID- 9 relief money allowed the arts council to supplement River Styx’s annual $11,000 grant with an additional $3,454, Donovan says. Latham says grants have never been the majority of River Styx’s funding, though any cut has a big impact on the magazine’s small budget, which has only ever been between $60,000 to $80,000 annually, she explains. To lose thousands of that “really cuts the heart out of things,” she says. The magazine has always been independent and never under the

Clockwise from top left: From Washington University’s River Styx collection, a strip of film from River Styx photographer Paul Neuenkirk shows scenes of a reading at Duff’s in the Central West End. River Styx covers for issues 41, 48, 103 and 80. Writer Michael Castro and poet Shirley LeFlore perform at Duff’s Restaurant around the 1980s. Poet Quincy Troupe. | PAUL NEUENKIRK gaze of a budget-slashing dean at a university. Previously a point of pride, independence has now become River Styx’s Achilles’ heel, as it requires the constant need to fundraise and hold events, both difficult tasks to accomplish during a pandemic and with a skeleton staff. “That has always been a double-edged sword,” Latham says of universities housing lit mags. “University journals usually have funding, staff, office space, et cetera. … But they [could] have all of it pulled in a single decision that’s completely out of their hands, if an administrator or board decides a literary journal is an easy cut to make as schools have to tighten budgets.” Still, times are desperate, and Taffa says she is seeking partnerships with local universities to house the maga ine to make it more sustainable. What’s left of River Styx’s board and staff are trying their best to hold the magazine together. The board has sought more private donors to keep River Styx afloat in recent years. One former board member donated $5,000 from her family’s trust. Taffa’s contacts at the Missouri Humanities Council gave the magazine an extra $1,000.

According to Taffa, a “fatal mistake” was shutting down the magazine’s submissions page. At one point, it was open constantly for writers to submit their work for a small fee. It was an ethical choice to close the submissions page, Taffa explains. The magazine didn’t have an editor to help organize readers. “There was no one to read the slush pile, and it’s wrong to take money when no edition is coming,” Taffa says. When asked what she thought was in store for River Styx’s future, Taffa simply replied, “I’m worried.” They need new blood: volunteers, board members, donors, a permanent editor. “We need some fresh, young poets,” Taffa adds. “We need the same excitement that we had in the time of Michael Castro, where people were getting together at a pub, and they were reading poetry. You know, going back to in-person stuff.”

oetry for River Styx has always begun with the human voice. According to Michael Castro’s account, no one imagined those early reading sessions at Dan

Spell’s apartment and the radio show at KDNA-FM would evolve into a magazine. But when KDNAFM was sold in 1972 after a series of financial hurdles, suddenly the poets were without a platform. They then formed River Styx Press to print commercial and literary work. The organi ation crumbled, however, after the poets never got paid for their first ob of printing books for an ecological conference in Stockholm. “While all this had been happening, …I had been collecting material for a first issue of River Styx

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and had become quite attached to it,” Castro wrote in an essay published in River Styx’s 100th issue. “We decided we had to find a way to publish it.” It looked unlikely the maga ine would publish until an angel arrived, according to Castro. Steve “Huckleberry” Harris, a printer at Saint Louis University, offered to print the first few issues of River Styx. “The first issue was put together by people who had the resources,” says an Garden Castro. “Huck, the

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printer, printed it; someone got us paper; the artists gave us their art, and we hand collated it.” River Styx was a “community effort,” Garden Castro explains. Its staff included Robin Mack, Betsy Fentress, Paul Neuenkirk, Jan Rothschild and many others. Writers Jan Greenberg and Bill Gass, composer Harold Blumenfeld, philanthropist Margie May, Washington University English professor Carter Revard and more served on the board. By the third issue, the magazine was incorporated into Big River Association, a nonprofit arts organization. Garden Castro became its executive director and led the association until 1985. “Our goal was to have diverse, multicultural and interdisciplinary programs that would build audiences for the humanities and also connect the humanities to the larger world outside,” Garden Castro says. To aid that, the Castros hired Quincy Troupe, a world-renowned poet born in St. Louis, to bring in a wide range of voices. “A lot of people don’t think beyond their nose,” Troupe says. “If they’re a white person, they think about publishing white people. If they’re Black, they think about just publishing Black people. … Jan and Michael, they didn’t think that way. We were kindred spirits in a lot of ways.” Troupe had lived on the East and West coasts and made a wide range of literary acquaintances. In New York, Troupe met music and literary icons at a jazz club called Mikell’s in Central Park West. Miles Davis used to play there “before he got too famous,” Troupe says with a laugh. Troupe won an American Book Award in 1991 for collaborating with Davis on Miles: The Autobiography and later penned a memoir called Miles and Me about his friendship with Davis. Great musicians, writers and painters would hang out at Mikell’s, according to Troupe. He convinced some to come visit St. Louis, including James Baldwin. The magazine hosted several reading series that brought bigname writers to St. Louis, including Margaret Atwood, Robert Bly, Howard Nemerov and Jamaica Kincaid. One music and poetry series, River Styx at Duff’s, a Central West End eatery, became associated with the restaurant just as fiercely as its bear-claw sundaes

Attendees for readings at Duff’s paid just a few bucks to listen to poets, writers and musicians perform their work. | PAUL NEUENKIRK

“We need some fresh, young poets. We need the same excitement that we had in the time of Michael Castro, where people were getting together at a pub, and they were reading poetry. … You know, going back to in-person stuff.” and spinach strudel. The restaurant closed in 2013 after 41 years of business. A second series, River Styx PM, featured John Irving, Gass, Adrienne Rich, Nemerov and more, in addition to wide musical talent, including members of the World Saxophone Quartet, bassist and composer David Hines, and composer Leonard Slatkin. In 1986, Garden Castro received the Editor’s Award from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. She accepted the award with Troupe in New York. “I always thought River Styx was special,” Troupe says. “I’ve always felt we had something a lot of people grew to respect.” With the series and magazine, River Styx managed to build a literary community in St. Louis of local and international renown. Volunteers assisted with readings. Devoted readers kept subscribing. Dedicated staffers were passionate about the work. It’s this community that made River Styx the longest-surviving lit mag in St. Louis and possibly the state, according to former River Styx editor Richard Newman. The average lifespan of a literary magazine is one issue, Newman explains. Though River Styx is so much more than a lit mag. “It’s a community.” “And I don’t mean just a St. Louis community,” Newman says. “It’s a literary community of writers. When we have writers coming to read with us for the reading se-

ries, they become part of the River Styx family, as do the audience members.” However, six years after his departure, Newman fears River Styx has now distanced itself from its community. The pandemic forced a long hiatus to River Styx’s tradition of inperson readings (though virtual readings have been held). Even before then, some of the magazine’s key staff, including a former editor, lived outside of St. Louis, which eliminated some of the magazine’s direct connection to the local scene, according to Newman. “I think, for one reason or another, [the board and leadership] alienated a lot of their community,” Newman says. “And that [community] was really the lifeblood of River Styx. So, hopefully, the new people can make it their own thing.”

f anyone knows how to bring River Styx back from the dead, it’s Newman. In the early 990s, a financial crisis nearly wiped River Styx from existence. It had lost its grant support, and nearly its entire board of directors resigned after voting to dissolve the organization. But Michael Castro and the magazine’s two remaining board members did not give up hope. They asked Newman, a 27-year-old poet, to put everything back together. “I was young and stupid enough to think that sounded like a great idea,” Newman says.

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The magazine rebounded into a new heyday after Newman and an all-volunteer staff worked to catch River Styx up. The previous staff had compiled enough work to produce seven issues that they weren’t able to publish. They labored in an office with no air conditioner and often no water (and, sometimes, no toilet paper, unless someone remembered to bring some in). They didn’t have a computer at first, either. Someone from the previous staff took it as recompense for her time. Yet the new staff released seven issues in one year. To boost a subscriber count that had dipped down to double digits, the staff held a poetry contest with a yearlong subscription tied to the entry fee. Newman led River Styx for the next two decades until he left in 2016. It was time to move on, he says. He currently teaches writing and world literature at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. “We had a healthy group of volunteer readers, interns and staff, I thought,” he says. “Financially, it was always difficult because we continued getting less and less money from granting sources. That was one of the reasons why I had just had enough. I just got tired of beating my head against that same wall over and over again.” After Newman’s departure, Shanie Latham says River Styx lost its center. “When you have one person who is running the show for 22 years, a lot becomes dependent on that person,” Latham says. “A lot of people donated because they were friends with Richard or appreciated what he was doing.” Board member Deborah Taffa says those remaining are trying their best to hold everything together, but they need new blood. “Do not let River Styx die,” she says. “It is so hugely important to the St. Louis literary community.” Newman hopes River Styx will find a way to reconnect with its community again, but the magazine faces a grim landscape. “Let’s face it, the realities are different now, and not just because of the pandemic,” Newman says. “People read less, especially literature.” In an email to the RFT in May, Taffa plugged her upcoming memoir, Whiskey Tender. She’s very proud of it, though she says she’s also a realist. “It probably won’t get a lot of readers.” “Everyone watches TV now instead of reading books,” Taffa wrote. “Sometimes, I fear River Styx and literature lovers are nothing more than dinosaurs.” n

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CALENDAR

BY JENNA JONES

THURSDAY 07/07 A Return to the Middle Passage The Black Rep’s Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea blends poetry, wordplay, humor and ritual to tell the story of 18-year-old Dontrell Jones. Jones voyages into the Atlantic Ocean searching for an ancestor who was lost during the Middle Passage, the portion of the Atlantic slave trade where enslaved people were transported to the Americas. Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea can be seen at Washington University’s Edison Theatre (6465 Forsyth, 314935-6543, theblackrep.org). The show opens Wednesday, July 6, and runs through Sunday, July 24. Shows are at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15-$50.

Not Your Average Picnic If you fancy a camping trip with a bit more pizzazz, St. Clair is hosting their Pickin’ On Music Festival that combines nature, live music and workshops. Find yourself taking in the scenic bluffs, enjoying river and lake access, or singing by the campfire at night with more than 10 musical acts booked for the weekend jamboree. The festival is family and dog friendly. In addition to live music, there are workshops and local vendors scheduled to come out to the 50-year-old walnut grove. Lost Hill Lake (2300 Mill Hill Road, St. Clair; pickinfestival.com) hosts the festival beginning on Thursday, July 7, and running through Sunday, July 10. Tickets for a single-day admission are $95.

FRIDAY 07/08 Bounce, Bounce, Baby If you’re missing the easier days of childhood and are itching for a bit of a relief from the nostal-

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There are adult-only sessions available for the World’s Largest Bounce House. | COURTESY BIG BOUNCE AMERICA / SARASOTA EXPERIENCE gia, the World’s Largest Bounce House is coming to the area for big and small kids alike. There will be many bounce houses at the event. Options include a competitive sports arena, a giant obstacle course and a space-themed inflatable called airSpace that has slides, ball pits and a 25-foot inflatable alien. A ticket gets you a three-hour jump session, and within the three-hour frame you’ll have a timed entry for the world’s biggest bounce house. The other bounce houses have unlimited access. Jump around at Brookdale Farms (8004 Twin Rivers, Eureka, 636-938-1005, thebigbounceamerica.com/family/tickets/st-louis) Friday, July 8, through Sunday, July 10. Different age groups have separate sessions. Toddler sessions (for children under three) cost $19, while junior sessions (seven and under) cost $32. There is also a bigger-kids session (15 and under) for $32, and an adultsonly session (16 and up) costs $39. Parents who want to jump with their children must buy a ticket.

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Summer Flicks A summer tradition with over 10 years under its belt, the Art Hill Film Series returns. This year’s installment has a sports theme in celebration of the upcoming art exhibition Catching the Moment. Assembled by Cardinals Hall of Famer Ted L. Simmons and his wife — publisher and fine art printer Maryanne Ellison Simmons. The series returns for four consecutive Fridays. The Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive) hosts the event on Art Hill beginning Friday, July 8, with A League of Their Own. The event starts at 6 p.m. with live music from Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes. The film starts at 9 p.m. The event is free to attend.

Marie Antoinette-esque St. Louis’ artiest suburb will host a festival in honor of the creatives of the community. Live art demonstrations, kids’ activities and

performances by regional musicians are promised for Let Them Eat Art in Maplewood. The event is meant to celebrate the arts and serve as a tribute to Bastille Day, the anniversary of when the French stormed the Bastille, kicking off the French Revolution. Food and drink will be available for purchase, as well as local shops open to browse and buy from. The shops are said to offer special event-only promotions. Let Them Eat Art is in downtown Maplewood (3520 Greenwood Boulevard, cms7.revize.com/revize/cityofmaplewoodmo) on Friday, July 8, from 6 to 10 p.m. It’s free to attend.

SATURDAY 07/09 Work It Celebrate the Black, queer, trans and nonbinary community with a festival this weekend. WerQfest will be hosted by drag artist (and recent RFT ChangeMaker Award winner) Maxi Glamour and will feature performances from

WEEK OF JULY 7-13 lies ways to make their home and their community safer and more green. In addition to workshops and displays, there will be activities available for the whole family and experts on standby ready to answer all of your questions. Scheduled workshops include how to make your home more energy efficient, how to arrange for a green burial and more. Organizers will be offering the “Summer of Sustainability” at the Missouri History Museum (5700 Lindell Boulevard, missouribotanicalgarden.org) on Saturday, July 9. —Jaime Lees

SUNDAY 07/10 Blast From the Past

WerQFest celebrates the Black queer community. | NDREA PETTY Frankie DoWop, Noah Fence, DJ Nico Marie, the Voice Season 16 contestant Julian King and more. Additional acts are scheduled for a satellite stage: Jay-Marie is Holy, A.M. Strings and DDare Bionic are performing on a livestream. In addition to being a safe space, the festival aims to amplify LGBTQ artists, organizations and voices within the Black queer community. A portion of the proceeds made at Wer Fest will go to nonprofits THISTL and The Trevor Project. WerQFest hits The Lot at the Big Top (3401 Washington Avenue, werqfest.com) on Saturday, July 9, at 5:30 p.m. (doors open at 5 p.m.). The event is 18 years or older. Tickets begin at $25.

It’s a Vibe Dutchtown is celebrating the season and is going the whole nine yards: Live music, community resources, kids’ activities, shopping, and food and drink are all included in Dutchtown Summer Vibes. The street festival will even have a misting tent, water and cold treats for the kids so you’ll

stay cool while enjoying the festivities. The Urban Eats Neighborhood Food Hall will have more treats in store: Crepes and Treats, Tacos la Jefa and All Rolled Up are going to be there, plus more food will be at other locations, including beer from Earthbound Beer. Plus, live music from local artists such as Eddie C, Leethal the Poet and other acts are going to hit the stage. Check out the vibes on Saturday, July 9, from noon to 5 p.m. The event spans downtown Dutchtown (Meramec Street, Michigan Avenue and Louisiana Avenue; dutchtownstl.org/2022/06/dutchtown-summer-vibes-2022) and is free to attend.

Green Living The Missouri Botanical Garden’s famous Green Living Festival is back this year and is being hosted as a series of pop-up events at your favorite St. Louis locations. Brought to you by the Missouri Botanical Garden’s EarthWays Center, this free, kid-friendly event will encourage eco-conscious discussion and show fami-

Nostalgia wins this weekend at one of our beloved institutions: Laser Light Shows are back again. Once known as Laserium in the good old days, the popular 40- to 60-minute event features throwback music jams accompanied by laser artwork and 3D effects. This session goes beyond just classic rock, though: Lizzo is in the mix with hits like “Truth Hurts” and “Good As Hell,” as well as rock band Fleetwood Mac. Visit the James S. McDonnell Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Avenue, 314-2894400; slsc.org/event-overviews/ laser-light-shows) for a show on Sunday, July 10. Additional showtimes are also available. Sunday’s show features Lizzo or Michael Jackson, but different days have different offerings. Tickets cost $10.95 for non-members, while members pay $9.95.

MONDAY 07/11 Post-Fourth of July festivities depression may be hitting you this week, but fear not: St. Charles may offer you some relief. Fair favorites are coming to the town across the river in the form of Thrillville with carnival rides, games and classic fair food. Circus shows and a petting zoo will be there, too. Other features of the festivalinspired event include magic and

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comedy shows. It’s family friendly, with unlimited-ride wristbands available for purchase to help you satisfy your thrills. Visit Thrillville at the St. Charles Family Arena (2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles; discoverstcharles.com/event/ thrillville-fair/3611) any day of the week, from Thursday, July 7, to Sunday, July 17.

WEDNESDAY 07/13 Music in the Garden If you still haven’t been to Missouri Botanical Garden (4344 Shaw Boulevard, 314-577-5100; missouribotanicalgarden.org) for the Whitaker Music Festival, time is running out. This week’s act is Sweetie and the Toothaches. The concert is free but reservations are required. Catch the Whitaker Music Festival on Wednesday, July 13. Music begins at 7 p.m. and last entry is at 8:15 p.m.

Prints on Prints on Prints Ted Simmons is a former Cardinals baseball player who was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020. His wife, Maryanne, is a fine-arts printer and publisher who has had her own publishing enterprise since 1996. Together, they collected art — and now, part of their collection makes up Catching the Moment. The exhibit primarily focuses on printmaking, but also has collages, a painting, sculptures, drawings and photographs. The Simmonses focused on contemporary art and artists, wanting to form a collection that critiqued broad social, historical and political issues. Catching the Moment is at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive, 314721-0072, slam.org/exhibitions/ catching-the-moment) now until Sunday, September 11. Tickets to the exhibit are $6 to $12. n

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CAFE

Whole fried seabass, garlic rice, fennel slaw, salsa criolla, avocado, lime and chimichurri. | MABEL SUEN

Glorious Ocean Bounty Jalea delivers a traditional Peruvian cevicheria experience in St. Charles Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Jalea 323 North Main Street, St. Charles; 636493-1100. Wed.-Fri. 5-9 p.m.; Sat. noon-3 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. (Closed Sunday through Tuesday.)

ndrew Cisneros admits he has an obsession with food. Even after a long day at work, his wife finds him in the kitchen, reading cookbooks, researching ideas or playing around with different recipes. She has no idea how he does it; Cisneros doesn’t see how he couldn’t. When you experience Cisneros’ Classico ceviche at his five-month-

old restaurant, Jalea, you feel this obsession. Even before you take your first bite, the painstaking effort he puts into preparing the dish reveals itself in the form of a gorgeous presentation. The entire floor of a shallow, white bowl is covered in a thin layer of orange-hued leche de tigre, a citrus marinade that is a key ingredient in classic Peruvian ceviche. Atop the vinaigrette sit small cubes of translucent corvina that are so symmetrical you wonder if Cisneros used a ruler to measure out each cut. The opalescent fish is adorned with squares of brightorange sweet potatoes, red onion slices, paper-thin red Fresno chiles and cilantro so perfectly placed it looks as if each piece has been intentionally positioned. Though you know the dish will be outstanding just looking at it, you’re still gobsmacked on that initial bite. The corvina is so tender, melting in your mouth and leaving behind traces of sea, citrus and herbs. The chiles gently warm the palate; the lime juice lights it up. The result is an electric experience

that leaves you wondering how on earth you’ve eaten such glorious ocean bounty in the middle of St. Charles’ Main Street. Cisneros wants his guests to ask themselves exactly that question. The whole point of opening Jalea, his debut restaurant, is to give diners in the St. Louis metro area an experience of a cevicheria as traditional as if they were in coastal Peru. It’s been a dream of his for as long as he can remember — ever since he was in high school, where he rotated his time between playing soccer and doing cooking competitions in preparation for a career as a chef. Though he knew a place of his own was his endgame, he also knew that he had to mature in his career before that was on the table. To do that, he enrolled in culinary school, apprenticed under the revered chef Pierre Chambrin at the St. Louis Club and worked for well-regarded local names such as Mike Randolph, Ben Poremba and Gerard Craft. While working for Randolph during the pandemic at the nowshuttered Original J’s barbecue

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restaurant, Cisneros began playing around with ideas in preparation for opening his own place. His thoughts centered around pollo a la brasa, a traditional Peruvian rotisserie chicken cooked over charcoal. Cisneros and Randolph workshopped the dish and came up with a version so delicious they had regular guests clamoring for it. Cisneros parlayed that success into an arrangement with Poremba to partner up on a pollo a brasa concept out of Poremba’s store, AO&Co. They found a food-trailer manufacturer, plunked down money and waited. And waited. After months of delays with no delivery date in sight, Cisneros and Poremba amicably parted ways. Unsure of his next move but ready to work for himself, Cisneros began looking for places to open a restaurant. Around that time, his brotherin-law was presented with an opportunity to take over a restaurant on Main Street in St. Charles where he’d previously worked. The spot, a former sushi bar, had no infrastructure to support a Peruvian brasas,

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Tiradito mahi mahi. | MABEL SUEN

Chef-owner Andrew Cisneros. | MABEL SUEN

JALEA

Continued from pg 21

but it was tailor-made for another concept near and dear to Cisneros’ heart: a cevicheria. With his brother-in-law and sister bought into the idea, the three opened Jalea in early January of this year. If Cisneros and his sister, Samantha, should have been worried about opening a Peruvian seafood restaurant in the middle of the stereotypically meat-and-potatoes Main Street St. Charles, they didn’t get the memo. The pair were so confident in what they were offering — his food and her drink and hospitality expertise — that they boldly opened the restaurant they wanted to open, unafraid that it might be inaccessible to prospective diners. Their approach paid off. In the five months that alea has been open, they have cultivated a loyal following of regulars — mostly St. Charles residents — who have warmly embraced the restaurant. How could they not? If the ceviche is not enough evidence that Cisneros is doing something right, the sanguchitos bolster the argument. These slider-sized Peruvian sandwiches, served on briochelike semi-sweet rolls from a St. Charles Filipino bakery, are otherworldly. Cisneros serves three varieties the first, a blue-crab version, pairs rich, mayonnaise-based crab salad with smoked roe. The small fish-egg spheres pop when bitten, giving the sandwich a fun texture and infusing the crab salad with mild sea smoke. The walleye sanguchitos are equally stunning, consisting of lightly breaded white fish and bright a i-lime mayo that make you wonder if this is the Platonic form of the fried-fish sandwich. Jalea’s lone meat dish, tender-braised pork belly, is the

Jalea’s (clockwise from top left) mussels and clams, whole fish and lentils, arroz con mariscos and tiradito mahi mahi. | MABEL SUEN star of the third sanguchito, paired with the verdant a i-lime mayonnaise that cuts through the meat’s decadence. Jalea’s namesake dish, a Peruvian specialty of various fried seafood and yucca, is a testament to Cisnero’s talent. Though it looks simple — ust breaded fish and shellfish — the e ecution makes it transcendent. The mixto version treats diners to an assortment of fried walleye, shrimp and calamari; the breading is substantial enough to notice but not so heavy as to take away from the seafood itself. Simply seasoned, the tender fish, shrimp and squid shine brightly, benefiting from the creamy acidity of the accompanying housemade tartar sauce. It’s

an extravaganza that puts all other fried seafood platters to shame. As wonderful as the jalea is, Cisneros’ runaway hit is the arroz con mariscos, a paella-esque seafood and rice dish with a flavor so intensely delicious it is haunting me days later. Shrimp, littleneck clams and PEI mussels — all fresh and flawlessly cooked — are placed atop garlic rice so perfect it should be the gold standard against which all other rice is udged. Cisneros gives away some of his trade secrets: He seasons the rice with the seafood’s cooking liquid to give it a subtle sea sweetness and uses a dried Peruvian red chile to add an earthy tang to the concoction. Does he also add the tears of an angel? Perhaps.

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I’d drive to the ends of the earth for that arroz con mariscos. Apparently, so would many others; Cisneros sees some of his regulars from his time at Original J’s weekly. They gladly cross the Missouri River to experience his cooking. However, he now has even more loyal customers from the St. Charles area, some of whom come in two and three times a week to check out what he’s cooking. Their enthusiastic embrace proves that when you’ve created something special, everyone can tell. n

Jalea Crab sanguchitos ...................................... $20 Classico ceviche ....................................... $17 Arroz con mariscos ................................... $25

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SHORT ORDERS

[SNEAK PEAK]

Garden Party Frankie Martin’s Garden now open in St. Charles County Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

fter months of anticipation, Friday was finally the day: Frankie Martin’s Garden (5372 St. Charles Street, Cottleville; 636-244-2420), a new food-truck comple from the minds behind the wildly successful 9 Mile Garden, is now open to the public, bringing a first-of-itskind dining and entertainment comple to St. Charles County. The venue, which consists of a food-truck area, a wine and whiskey house, pickleball and sand volleyball courts, a live music stage and an LED wall for viewing movies and sporting events, opened last week on a sprawling 2. 5-acre lot in the heart of downtown Cottleville. As managing partner Brian Hardesty e plains, Frankie Martin’s takes the idea of its sister property, 9 Mile Garden, as a umpingoff point, building upon its success to create a concept that is unique to this part of the metro area. “When you come to this part of the area, honestly, you see a lot of big corporate restaurant chains,” Hardesty says. “It’s fine, but when you get into the heart of old-town Cottleville, it’s maintained this independent vibe and all these independent restaurants. What we add to the conversation here is 30 food trucks that people can e perience for lunch and dinner, seven days a week, which is not the norm out here. We’re focusing on local businesses — 00 different local businesses are represented on a daily basis — and I hope that is something that people respond well to.” In addition to the pickleball and sand volleyball courts (as well as that dedicated golf-cart parking lot), the biggest difference between 9 Mile Garden and Frankie Martin’s Garden is the latter’s wine and whiskey house. The reservationsonly spot, which is located in the former house of the late longtime

Frankie Martin’s Garden’s comes from the minds behind 9 Mile Garden. | LULU NIX Frankie Martin’s Garden is a new food truck complex in Cottleville. | LULU NIX Cottleville resident Frankie Martin, features an e tensive whiskey selection — currently at 0 bottles strong and growing — a premium wine list, table service, and whiskey and wine lockers that can be rented on a yearly basis. The Cottleville community has already enthusiastically embraced Frankie Martin’s. On une 25, the venue hosted its first event, a bourbon and beer festival that brought ,000 people into the park. “Everybody seemed very e cited to be here, even though it was a sweltering hot day,” Hardesty

says. “It was a great e perience, and it seemed to be well received. Everyone was really e cited about what we are doing, and they only got to see about two-thirds of it.” Hardesty is e cited about the food-truck lineup for the inaugural Frankie Martin’s season. Guests can e pect a mi of established favorites and newcomers, including BEAST Craft BB , Lion’s Choice, Wok and Roll STL, Doggie Mac’s by Chef B and Wayno’s. Additionally, patrons will be able to grab local craft beverages at the large beer pavilion. As Hardesty

e plains, the whole point of the venue is for the community to have a chance to e perience the best of what the St. Louis metropolitan region has to offer in a fun, rela ing setting. “We hope people en oy this location, walk around the property, throw down a picnic blanket and have a good time,” Hardesty says. “We want people to embrace this place and make it their own — have big parties, small parties, come out with their families or partners, and have a bourbon or a glass of wine and watch live music. This is the spirit of what’s happening in Cottleville we are ust e panding and riffing on that.” n

[FOOD NEWS]

Winner Winner Eater names Juniper’s fried chicken one of the best in the U.S. Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ven before the beloved Southerninflected Juniper (4101 Laclede Avenue, 314-329-7696) opened its doors in 2013, fried chicken was its thing. It was the basis of one of owner John Perkins’ earliest pop-up dinners, Le Coq, and it set the tone for the sort of restaurant he wanted to create when he served his first guests at Juniper’s original location on North Boyle Avenue. For a brief moment, it was taken off the menu because of overexposure, came back by popular demand and made its way a few blocks down the road when Juniper moved to its current spot four years ago.

Juniper’s fried bird is, indeed, the word. | LUCAS PETERSON And Perkins wouldn’t have it any other way. “I love fried chicken; I’ve always loved fried chicken,” Perkins says. “At times, I’ve had a hard time getting my chefs to

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love it as much as I do because it might not be as creatively fulfilling to them as something else, but I think there is a lot of heart and soul that goes into good Continued on pg 27

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[FOOD NEWS]

Snow Day Popular TikToker reopens his shave-ice shop in Illinois Written by

JENNA JONES

olynesian Breeze Shave Ice (5620 Old Collinsville Road, Fairview Heights, Illinois; 618-691-1485) shuttered temporarily in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, trying to survive the uncertainty the virus brought to many businesses, and remained closed in 2021. But, on a sunny June day this summer, lines formed outside husband-andwife duo Michele Goldsmith and William Fanene’s new shave-ice shop location as they opened their windows for the first time in two years. Fanene says the first couple of weeks after opening their new Fairview Heights location was similar to when the shop would host special events the first weekend made more money over those two days than a week at the original Collinsville store. Both Goldsmith and Fanene credit the fan base they had built for their success. “It was kind of a nice break, and it almost kind of got comfortable to the point where it’s like, ‘Well, maybe we’re done, maybe we don’t need to open back up,’” Goldsmith says. “But really our fans continued messaging us and reaching out to us throughout the whole pandemic and then the next year, like, ‘We miss you guys so much.’ So it was really a tribute to them because, without them, we don’t really have the business anyway. So the fact that they made it so special and made us feel very missed and welcome, it helped a lot.” The fans keep coming, and now the business has let the rest of the world know they are back — which they hadn’t done before because they were nervous about overwhelming traffic. Goldsmith and Fanene had made the decision not to hire additional staff beyond themselves and their family members, and Polynesian Breeze operates on limited hours. Both Goldsmith and Fanene have commitments outside of the shave-ice shop — Goldsmith is in nursing school, and Fanene teaches the Samoan language online.

The Purple Hibiscus is one of Polynesian Breeze’s most popular shave ice treats. | COURTESY MICHELE GOLDSMITH Fanene also runs a popular TikTok account — he offers lessons on Samoan but also highlights Polynesian Breeze and other aspects of his life. He’s amassed over 100,000 followers and 2 million likes on his page. In one video, he shows the customers on opening day and the process of making the shave-ice treats. That video drove some traffic to their store customers came out from Peoria, Illinois, and Wentzville, Missouri, just to sample the Polynesian dessert. Goldsmith thinks that TikTok plays a factor in the traffic Polynesian Breeze has experienced so far, explaining that people love to see the people they follow on the app in real life.

“I don’t know, maybe they’re thinking they’re gonna meet The Rock or something because The Rock just started following him not long ago,” she jokes. Another big part of the reopening had to do with honoring Polynesian culture, the owners say. They want to showcase the culture and help people learn about Polynesia. The shop offers tastes of Polynesian culture but also can give you a bite of the Midwest. One of Polynesian Breeze’s bestsellers is the Purple Hibiscus — a shave-ice treat made up of a vanilla ice cream base topped with shave ice, Midwest favorite Tiger’s Blood and Blue Raspberry flavoring, mochi, sweet condensed milk

that the business calls a snow cap and strawberries. With business back in swing, Polynesian Breeze is prepping for the rest of the summer and fall. The shop will be open until October. Goldsmith says Polynesian Breeze may try to host special events again, but they need to understand what crowds look like and get settled in first, so stay tuned. The husbandand-wife duo are thankful for the success they’ve had and the future they’re planning. “It is just amazing to have something as beautiful as people showing up every single day to your business and making it special,” Goldsmith says. “Just because they love it so much.” n

JUNIPER

“I think it defines who we are, to an extent, which has been the tension all along,” Perkins says. “I always knew we had a crowd pleaser in it, but there is a lot of other stuff we do really well, too. It’s great getting this kind of recognition, but I don’t want it to replace the other stuff we do. I don’t mind having something the restaurant is known for, but it’s then up to us once you get in the door to tell the whole story of what Juniper is about. To me, it points to the fact that we do everything really well. If we do fried chicken this well, it probably means we do our pork really well, and our oysters and cocktails really well. I’m not worried about it pigeonholing us.” Juniper, which offers its signature dish as the centerpiece of its all-youcare-to-eat Sunday Suppers, was the only restaurant from Missouri to be named to Eater’s “Best Fried Chicken in America” list, something that Perkins feels reflects

the painstaking work he and his team have put into the pursuit of fried chicken perfection. He describes this as a neverending quest and notes that, even if guests do not notice the subtle tweaks the kitchen team has made over the years, they are always looking for ways to make it better. Though he feels (and has heard from friends) that this version is the best they’ve ever put out, he knows that he will never stop trying to get better — which is why this honor feels so special. “This is a big deal, probably one of the bigger single things we have gotten in terms of recognition and the company we are in,” Perkins says. “I think it’s validation and encouragement for the guys in the kitchen and is a pretty forceful reminder to take pride in what you do. It feels nice to get some recognition for that, because we’ve always put a lot of time and effort into making it high quality.” n

Continued from pg 25

fried chicken. We take it very seriously and have high standards. It’s become entrenched in the culture of our restaurant, and we take pride in that and approach it with every bit of intention.” Now, nearly a decade into its run, Juniper’s crispy bird is getting recognition beyond St. Louis courtesy of Eater. The prestigious online food publication recently named Juniper’s fried chicken one of the best in America, placing it amongst 26 other notable restaurants that embody everything beautiful about what dunking a breaded bird in the deep fryer can be. For Perkins, the award is validation — not just for Juniper’s fried chicken but for all that he and his team have worked so hard to achieve over the years.

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JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

ST. LOUIS STANDARDS

The Hill Experience Adriana’s serves up some of St. Louis’ most quintessential Italian deli sandwiches Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Adriana’s on the Hill 5101 Shaw Avenue, 314-773-3833 Established 1992

ianna Guimbarda remembers the exact moment she and her sister, Suzanne Miramonti, hatched their plan to open Adriana’s on the Hill. It was a pleasant evening, and the pair were sitting on Miramonti’s front porch with their mother, the eponymous Adriana. They’d just found out that a corner restaurant on the Hill was for sale, and Miramonti enthusiastically suggested they go in on it together. Guimbarda had other thoughts. “I said, ‘No fricking’ way,’ only I didn’t use the word fricking,” Guimbarda laughs. “Mom was like, What the hell let’s do it,’ but I kept saying, ‘You can’t work with family.’ Thirty years later, look at this. I can’t say we’re no worse for the wear, but here we are.” In the 30 years since Guimbarda acquiesced, Adriana’s has gone on to become one of the St. Louis area’s most beloved sandwich shops. From their corner storefront — complete with that characteristic Mediterranean-blue awning and green-tiled entryway — Guimbarda, Miramonti and, of course, Mamma Adriana, craft subs and Sicilian specialties that exemplify not only the quintessential St. Louis Italian deli but the Hill experience itself. However, the seeds of Adriana’s go back much further than that fateful porch conversation in 992 — all the way back to the 930s when their grandfather, Ben Fazio, moved to St. Louis from Sicily. Drawn to the city by a job in his brother’s successful bakery, Fazio’s, he learned the trade and eventually went on to open his own bread shop on the Hill.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Adriana’s on the Hill has become one of St. Louis’ most beloved sandwich shops since opening in 1992. | ANDY PAULISSEN Adriana grew up near her father’s bakery, and when she started her own family, she remained. This was essential; a single mother who worked as a waitress, Adriana relied upon her extended family to help care for her three daughters, a formative time for them filled with love and food. “Being an immigrant, everything is tied to family,” Miramonti says. “We were engulfed by the rest of the family at an early age — Mom would work, and we were with Nonna and Grandpa, aunts and uncles. Only Sicilian was spoken to us, and food was a huge part of everything. Nobody sat in the family room on the couch. We always sat around the kitchen table.” It was natural that Guimbarda, Miramonti and their little sister, Tia Zanti, would pick up on their family’s cooking skills. From tending to the summer garden to prepping for the winter freezer, the girls were surrounded by food. They also learned to cook, first from their grandmother and eventually from their grandfather when their grandmother got sick and could no longer handle the kitchen duties. All three soaked up this knowledge and learned to

JULY 6-12, 2022

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The shop is named for beloved matriarch Mamma Adriana. | ANDY PAULISSEN make their family’s Sicilian-style ravioli, greens, spinach pie, octopus and pizza; however, it was Miramonti who took the know-how and ran with it. “We all know how to cook, but Suzanne loves to cook,” Guimbarda says. “We do it out of necessity, but she does it because she loves it.” By the time the sisters entered adulthood, they had firmly estab-

lished themselves in the service industry as a server and bartender, respectively. However, they were open to opportunity, which Miramonti found in the form of that corner restaurant. Once Guimbarda got behind the idea, the sisters took over the eatery, renamed it after their mother and continued to offer the same menu that had been in place before it

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ICONIC PEOPLE, PLACES & DISHES T H A T A N C H O R S T L’ S F O O D S C E N E

Many of the sandwiches are named for family members. | ANDY PAULISSEN

Adri’s market is a mini grocery inside Adriana’s. | ANDY PAULISSEN changed hands. Things were slow going until the sisters decided to put their own spin on things, adding more sandwiches and the Sicilian dishes they grew up eating, including their family’s sauce. Their business took off, and with Mamma Adriana working the front register and serving as the restaurant’s matriarch, the spot quickly became an institution that carved out its own niche in the Hill’s robust sandwich scene. Guimbarda and Miramonti credit their delicious sandwiches — many named after family members — and family recipes for their success, but they feel that the most impor-

tant ingredient is the restaurant’s namesake herself. “For the first 25 years, our mother was at the register every day,” Miramonti says. “The way she is with people just made them want to come back in and experience her again.” Adriana’s departure from the register was not the only big change in recent years. Both Guimbarda and Miramonti note the challenges the pandemic has presented to their business and have had to adapt on the fly to new ways of doing things. Their financial lifeline for the last two and a half years has been Adri’s market, a mini grocery and fro-

Adriana’s sauce comes from a family recipe. | ANDY PAULISSEN en-foods operation filled with heat-and-serve versions of family dishes within the restaurant. It’s helped tremendously, even as they struggle to accommodate their guests in the midst of staffing issues and the general havoc the protracted global health crisis has caused. The sisters admit they are rolling with the punches on it and remain dedicated to keeping Adriana’s going for as long as they can — adapting to the new reality, while fundamentally staying true to who they are. “I hope people know that we appreciate the business, but we are going as fast as we can,” Guimbarda says. “None of us are spring

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chickens half our staff is over 50 years old; even the baby of our family is 50. We will do this as long as we can.” Guimbarda admits this might mean adapting, but there is one piece of Adriana’s that will never change. “People have asked for us to do online ordering or get a POS system instead of doing handwritten tickets,” Guimbarda says. “But you know what? We are steadfastly against it. With online ordering, people don’t get what they want, and there are too many questions. It’s B.S. I don’t care what happens in the world. Some things have to stay old school.” n

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 6-12, 2022

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REEFERFRONT TIMES

The mini buds and shake in Flora Farms’ Bakers Batch XL are perfect for making your own edibles — or just as a good cheap smoke. | TOMMY CHIMS

[REVIEW]

Budget Buds Flora Farms’ wallet-friendly “Baker’s Batch” Platinum Grape Runtz buds are small but mighty Written by

FAMOUS MORTIMER

ome penny-pinching types might use a phrase like “careful with money,” “frugal” or always “looking for a bargain” to describe themselves. Not me! I’m just cheap, dear reader, and that especially applies to my journeys through the cannabis market. Luckily, there’s never been a better time to be a cheap stoner in this state — prices have finally started falling in the Missouri medical marijuana space as competition heats up, and the

many budget offerings on the market ensure you can even get your hands on an ounce of decent weed for under $200. Not too shabby. This week’s dispensary of choice was the Cherokee branch of Swade (2316 Cherokee Street, 314924-6504), and this week’s strain of choice was Flora Farms-branded Platinum Grape Runtz, sold in a wallet-friendly manner dubbed a “Baker’s Batch XL.” Its package says the half-ounce pack is full of the smaller buds and shake, perfect for cooking or infusions (hence the “Baker” bit), and its $80 pre-tax price point also makes it perfect for those of us smokers who are, as mentioned, quite cheap. Flora Farms’ Platinum Grape Runt is a hybrid, but it’s definitely indica-dominant, and the contents of the bag are truly covered in a dusty kief. The list of parent strains it came from is like a who’s who of comedy ’90s weed names — Zkittles and Grape Ape, to name but two. I love that, even now, and even in a medicinal setting, no growers are making new strains

with sensible names. Imagine if some new anti-inflammatory tablets were called Alien Space Bananas rather than umexitab or whatever fake-sciency name they have. Same vibe. Swade’s website lists Platinum Grape Runtz at 22 percent THC, and if you were to see the full flower, you’d notice the beautiful purple coloring — even with the mini-buds, you’ll see a few of them with that color, which is nice. I didn’t notice much in the way of a discernible smell, though, and that’s mostly because it doesn’t really smell of anything other than weed. But I wouldn’t call that a dealbreaker, especially at this price point. It’s like being forced to drink normal boring coffee when you’ve gotten used to the French vanilla flavoring — which is to say, perfectly fine, of course. But enough preamble. As with those online recipe blogs where the writer spends three-quarters of the post banging on about something their husband did, which reminded them of a trip to rural

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Italy, which reminded them of a fresh ingredient, which reminded them — oh my God please get to the point — you’re reading this because you want to know whether this stuff is any good or not, and if it is therefore worth $80. To that end: If you’re aiming to use this to relieve your aches and pains, then you’ll do well, and this particular indica-dominant strain will make sure you don’t want to wander too far from your sofa. It’s not going to knock you out, but you’ll definitely know what you’ve taken. In my experience, though, if you’re trying to break your habit of spending hours every night falling down YouTube rabbit holes — why do I watch so many videos about coin collecting? I don’t care about coins! — this might not be the product for you. In sum, even though we’re not getting the finest cuts of Platinum Grape Runtz for this ridiculously low price, Flora Farms is still looking after us with a great deal for the cheap stoners among us. Not bad at all. n

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 6-12, 2022

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CULTURE

Sorrow, Death and Rock & Roll Former RFT music writer’s audio memoir Dead Dad Club is a comingof-age tale about grief following her father’s death

Evan Stephens Hall of indie rock band Pinegrove scored Dead Dad Club with original compositions. | COURTESY AUDIBLE

Written by

JESSICA ROGEN

uring the first moments of her first show as a D at community radio station WFHB, Katie Moulton notices that something’s gone wrong. Looking at the unmoving levels of the soundboard, she reali es that no one can hear her. “Dead air, dead air, dead air, dead air,” she thinks, panicking. But her problem gets diagnosed quickly: Her mic is off. Moulton bounces back. “ Good morning, folks, you’re listening to WFHB,’ I said. I’m Katie, this is my first show, and you ust heard my first official technical difficulty. It’s 9:03 in sunny Bloomington, Indiana.’ Then I played Tom Petty.” The moment — which comes a little before the halfway point of Moulton’s memoir, Dead Dad Club: On Grief & Tom Petty, which Audible published as an audiobook original last month — feels uncomplicated and oyous as it highlights Moulton’s love for music. Over the course of that initial two-hour set, she plays picks from Raphael Saadiq, Neil Young, Father ohn Misty, Bob Dylan and others, and even vogues around the studio to New Young Pony Club, to which the station’s GM comes in clapping, with some light feedback: Maybe not more than one Tom Petty song. “It’s my birthday,” she replies. The importance of Tom Petty to Moulton’s memoir can’t be overstated (see the title), but birthdays also hold serious weight, marking the passage of time and seemingly drawing momentous events toward them — the biggest of which

Dead Dad Club is music critic Katie Moulton’s debut memoir. | EDGAR KUNZ being her father’s death shortly before she marked her th year. Through the memoir, Moulton traces the impact of her father’s death, a system failure from alcoholism, as well as their shared deep love for music. It’s set in Bloomington against a backdrop of “dad rock” figures and their too-often addictive personalities. “It mi es personal narrative and writing about music, particularly focused on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,” Moulton says. “This is sort of a record of coming of age through grief.” Dead Dad Club isn’t a memoir of grief in the same way that The Year of Magical Thinking is, the latter revealing oan Didion’s wrenching pain and gradual acceptance of the reality of her husband’s passing. Though there are moments when Moulton openly shares her grief, she often comes at the topic in an elliptical way, digging more into the impact of his life as well as her story of coming into herself in the same town where her parents met and fell in love. The memoir is evocative of struggle, but it’s not an overly sad book. More than anything, it’s contemplative, with real moments of humor, oy and connection among

family and friends. It’s also easy to listen to thanks to Moulton’s narration, which is calm and even, with a background score composed by Evan Stephens Hall of indie rock band Pinegrove. Moulton, 3 , grew up in St. Louis County. She began writing for the RFT in 2009, later serving as music editor for the Westword in Denver. Now in Baltimore, she teaches creative writing at Goucher College. She began working on the book in late 20 5. ust prior, she’d been writing fiction and noticed how certain topics — parents, relationships, arrested development — kept coming up. Gradually, those stories became essays and then a book where she put herself under the same type of lens she’d used as a music critic. In 2020, Audible picked up the book. Moulton could never have imagined Dead Dad Club would be audio-first, but soon she found herself imagining the possibilities. “I got really e cited,” she says, noting the freedom and reach that the large platform enabled. “For a music-obsessed narrative, the idea that through audio, through Audible, through an audio-first narrative, I could actually incor-

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porate an original score with the storytelling was so e citing.” After signing the deal, Moulton spent the ne t few months reworking her te t to make it audiobook friendly, adding in elements to let the listener know where in time they were. Having Hall, a friend, sign on to the pro ect felt momentous. Instead of ust e amining music already out there, Moulton would be helping create something new through collaboration. “It was a huge gift,” she says. “His idea was sort of a deconstructed American-heartland rock with my narration, my voice, as the percussive momentum. So not to get in the way of that, but to enhance it and to deepen the resonance of different parts, and also provide some of those audio clues and that audio flow that can be really useful for the listeners.” Another gift has been the feedback that has started to come in. Moulton says she’s heard from and connected with friends and strangers alike since it was released, a bi arre feeling after working on the pro ect alone for so long. But even though that’s satisfying, Moulton isn’t taking a pause in her own work. She’s continued to write and has other music writing pro ects on the hori on, and maybe even some multimedia ones. “I want to keep doing that and keep growing,” she says. “Maybe I’ll go back in the recording studio at some point.” n Listen to Dead Dad Club on Audible. It’s available to Audible subscribers or for one-time download.

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

EDDIE B.

TEACHERS ONLY COMEDY TOUR

FRI. JULY 8 WE OWN THE NIGHT TOUR

THE CULT

PLUS BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB AND ZOLA JESUS

Sun. July 10

KURTIS CONNER Sat. July 16

BIG GIGANTIC PLUS: INZO, YOUNG FRANCO, COVEX

SUN. JULY 17

THREE DAYS GRACE PLUS: WAGE WAR AND ZERO 9:36

FRI. JULY 22 KSHE PRESENTS

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD & FOGHAT SAT, JULY 23

LITTLE FEAT

45TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR SPECIAL GUEST NICKI BLUHM

SUN, JULY 24

BREWSKI KICKS ON ROUTE 66 16 BREWERIES, 30+BREWS, FEAT. THE BOBBY FORD BAND

SAT, JULY 30 KSHE PRESENTS

PAT BENATAR & NEIL GIRALDO Mon, August 1 MUSIC… MONEY… MADNESS…

JIMI HENDRIX IN MAUI

SPECIAL SCREENING

Fri, August 5

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 6-12, 2022

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In 2010, the tour began as a small event centered around chicken coops. | JULIAN MCCALL

Snapshots of Sustainability The 11th annual Sustainable Backyard Tour returns after two-year COVID hiatus Written by

JULIAN MCCALL

tepping from the sun-scorched sidewalk into the shaded canopy beneath the trees teleported me from an asphalt desert to a cool, green oasis. Here, on June 26, I met the sweet fragrance of 1,000 flowers, heard the songs of 100 birds and stood with the dozens of people enjoying the smells, sights and sounds of the Sustainable Backyard Tour. The event, put on by the St. Louis nonprofit Sustainable Backyard Network, was the 11th annual tour — and the first after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The free event brings St. Louisans to ecofriendly backyard spaces in the St. Louis and St. Charles region to share ideas for sustainable living. The tour and the nonprofit are the brainchild of Terry Winklemann, founding director of the network and a real estate agent with RedKey Realty Lenders. The event started in 2010 as a small six-yard tour of chicken coops, growing into a showcase of 30 private yards and the sustainable practices of their owners in St. Louis city and county the following year. Each year’s tour has drawn increasing interest from the public. This year, over 1,000 people registered to tour 43 yards featuring everything from quail coops to backyard renewable-energy projects. I stopped by three gardens: UCity Food Forest, Clayton Woodland Garden

and the Art Hill Artists’ yard. Each had its own story and provided a sample of homegrown sustainability efforts in the region. The UCity Food Forest is a kitchen garden created by Toni on Delmar Boulevard. This yard featured hundreds of edible plants in a relatively small area with limited sunlight, which is not an environment in which one would expect a garden to thrive. One of Toni’s tips was always to reuse and recycle materials to limit the amount you need to purchase. Discarded bed posts and laundry baskets supported several of her plants, showing how accessible gardening materials can be. She also had several quail and a bee farm; her quail produce about six eggs per day, and the bees may make up to 80 pounds of honey — too much to enjoy on one’s own, so she shares with friends. Sharing plants, produce and advice among the Sustainable Backyard Network was a recurring theme across the three yards. Several yards showcased renewableenergy projects. At Clayton Woodland Garden, Mark, the owner, installed a geothermal heating and cooling system in his backyard. This system buries four underground heat-pump exchanges 250 feet beneath the surface to pump cool air in the hot months and warm air in the cold months. The heat pumps cut the peak heating and cooling bills in half, even though renovations increased their house size by 65 percent. UCity Food Forest also utilized solar panels, practically eliminating its energy bill; the owners pay only 47 cents in electricity usage. Clayton Woodland Garden came about through a gradual process of trial and error focused on promoting native plants and removing turf lawn. The many trees and plants make this yard an urban refuge for animals such as blue jays, robins, cardinals, owls and chipmunks. This refuge provides a peek at nature; visitors can watch owls swoop down and grab chipmunks as blue jays fly all around you.

The Sustainable Backyard Tour returned this year after a two-year hiatus. | JULIAN MCCALL

The free tour brings St. Louisans to eco-friendly backyard spaces to share ideas. | JULIAN MCCALL A thick patch of bamboo stood alongside the trees, providing refuge from predators for small animals and shade for people. Urban gardening can help limit the effects of urban heat islands, as cities covered in concrete and asphalt are warmer than surrounding areas with grass and trees. Another example of the benefits of urban gardens is their effect on flooding. The Art Hill Artists’ yard was started by a woman living at the bottom of a hill whose yard and neighbor’s basement flooded whenever it rained. She planted a fern

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rain garden, stopping the flood of water from pooling in her yard or her neighbor’s basement. Each gardener stressed the importance of planting and promoting native Missouri plants for local ecosystems. I left the tour feeling encouraged by the small slice of sustainability in St. Louis I’d seen. In a world seemingly obsessed with how bad everything is, it’s easy to become discouraged. Seeing St. Louisans building a sustainable life for themselves — with plenty of tips to help you get started — is like a cold glass of water on a scorching day. n

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 6-12, 2022

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MUSIC [INDIE ROCK]

Get Rich Quick St. Louis band Boreal Hills’ new EP is filled with fuzzy, catchy rockers Written by

BENJAMIN SIMON

omehow, music found Karl Frank. He doesn’t know how. He grew up in Martinsburg, Missouri, a town of 300 people, a place too small for pizza delivery, too small for a stoplight and definitely too small for any sort of a music scene. No one in his family made music either — outside of an older sister who “can kinda play the piano.” Before he could even conceptualize how to make music, Frank made music. There are videos of him in first grade, meticulously playing the piano, carefully clicking keys with his pointer finger. He remembers watching a scene in Mary Poppins, where Bert “one-man-band” performs for the crowd. “I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do,’” he says. Decades later, that’s what Frank’s doing. He’s 34 years old, living in St. Louis, working a virtual 9-to-5 job as a car dispatcher, and carrying around $5 homemade CDs of his band, Boreal Hills. “I just want everyone to lay down a gold carpet in front of me and shower me with gold and give me gold,” Frank says, laughing. “Nah, nah. I just hope that people dig it.” This past January, Boreal Hills released its most recent EP — titled EP. (Its second EP, probably named EP2, Frank says, will come out in the fall.) It’s the band’s first project since 2019, when it put out a 10-song album. Frank doesn’t really have a system or a schedule for his music. He puts out music when he wants. He calls his collection of EPs and albums a “running diary” of his musical progress. His EPs are the latest chapter

Frontman Karl Frank of Boreal Hills, which released its latest EP, EP, in January. | COURTESY KARL FRANK in his diary. Each piece on the January release has a different feel. Some songs sound like indie rock, others like pop or punk. In some songs, you can hear the lyrics clearly, and in others, his voice is strained and contorted, with a melancholy feel. “It’s hard to pin my band down sometimes,” Frank says. “Like, I don’t really know what it is. But I use pop a lot now. Pop is just so easy to blanket on anything. I don’t know what it is. It’s the kind of music that I want to listen to myself. And I’m, like, my biggest fan.” Frank calls his brain a “running soundtrack.” “I’m always thinking of weird shit,” he says. “And then humming to it.” When he comes up with a good riff, he records it as a voice memo so he doesn’t forget the tune later. Then he records the track with his buddy, Tom O’Connor, his Boreal Hills cofounder who engineers the music. When Frank performs live, Boreal Hills features a full band, with Matt Stuttler on the guitar, Andy Kahn on the bass, and Adam Lucz and Austin Fogel on the drums. But when he’s recording his music in O’Connor’s basement, Frank likes to do it all himself. He handles everything from the drums to

the guitar to the bass to the singing. He only lets O’Connor, who served as the engineer for the entire EP and the drummer in one song, touch the music. “I get the most enjoyment out of recording as much as I can personally on something,” Frank says. “I’m just probably a little bit egotistical or whatever — controlling at that point.” Boreal Hills started more than a decade ago, in 2006, when Frank was a student at the University of Missouri–Columbia. There, he got degrees in forestry and fisheries and wildlife — a nod to his childhood playing in the woods and gardening in Martinsburg. On the side, he worked as a baker. But Frank didn’t go to school with the goal of becoming a scientist. He went to school with another goal: to start a band. That’s where Boreal Hills began, in an off-campus apartment at Mizzou, when Frank met a kid named Tom O’Connor, who wanted some weed. Frank knew where to find some weed, so naturally, they hit it off and ended up jamming together. Not long after, Boreal Hills was created, a two-piece band, with O’Connor as the drummer. For three years, Boreal Hills

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played around Columbia. Then Frank got a job in Chicago as a baker, and the group took a hiatus, he says. He joined another band in Chicago but found the music scene in the big city hard to crack. After a year in Chicago, Frank moved back to St. Louis in 2012 with the goal of performing with O’Connor again. “It was band first, figure it out second,” Frank says. He worked as a pizza baker at Whole Foods and at New Balance. In St. Louis, Frank resurrected Boreal Hills. They played at bars, house shows and parties in Frank’s basement. They toured across the region in Frank’s 1997 Chevy Astro an and even flew overseas for shows in Costa Rica and Germany. Over the years, Frank says he has matured. When he first arrived in St. Louis, he entered a punk scene that he calls “too bizarre.” He was a loose cannon on stage. He would walk into the crowd, steal people’s beers and chug them. He would kick his coperformers in the nuts. “Now, I think it’s just cooler to play good music and look cool, versus steal people’s beers that they paid probably six to eight bucks on,” he says. “I don’t need any praise. I don’t need any messages,” he says. “Money is great,” he adds, laughing. “If it sounds like how I wanted it to sound, I win.” Sitting in a bar in south St. Louis, sipping on happy-hour beers, Frank wonders about how long he’ll record music and perform live. “How old is too old?” he asks. But for now, he doesn’t see stopping anytime soon. He hopes people will listen to his music, he says. “I want the music to just get stuck in their head,” he says. “Because that’s, in my opinion, the best compliment I’ve ever gotten from some people. They’ll be like, ‘Ah, dude, this morning, I couldn’t get that out of my head.’” And if people don’t listen to his music? That’s OK, too, he says. He’s going to keep recording on his voice memos app, creating music he enjoys and compiling it all on a homemade CD. “Next step is to be Lady Gaga, let’s put it that way,” Frank says. Then he erupts in laughter. “No. Fuck no. All respect to Lady Gaga. Much more success than I’ll ever have.” n

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 6-12, 2022

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STAGE

Natural Born Killers Now at .ZACK, Assassins brings Sondheim’s most controversial musical to disturbing life Written by

SARAH FENSKE Assassins Presented by Fly North Theatricals through Saturday, July 23. Music by Stephen Sondheim. Book by John Weidman. Directed by Bradley Rohlf, with music direction by Colin Healy. Tickets $20.

emember the good old days in America? Remember how things used to be, back when a distraught young person desperately seeking attention had no choice but to kill the president? Today they take aim at kindergartners. Ah, those days of yore! The new production of Assassins from Fly North Theatricals, which premiered last Friday at .ZACK, takes us back to the more innocent era, the age of presidential assassinations. Before John Hinckley nearly murdered Ronald Reagan (and paralyzed his press secretary) with a mere .22, presidents occasionally walked among us. Sometimes, ordinary citizens targeted them with their best shot. Occasionally, they even succeeded. Fly North’s vibrant production offers its own take on the 2004 Broadway show, which probes the psyches of nine real-life presidential assassins, and would-be assassins, in darkly comic ways. Director Bradley Rohlf stages the action not at a carnival (as it was originally staged Off Broadway) but at a political convention. Instead of a carnival barker as narrator, here we get a toothy TV news reporter (the enormously talented Eileen Engel, who also designed the costumes). Immersive elements like badges, security wands and even “John Wilkes’ booth” (get it?) prime the audience for a scene ripped from the headlines. But while the staging is clever, the show doesn’t fully deliver on that promise — which is appalling evidence of how much has changed since Assassins first shocked and

A quartet of assassins, and would-be assassins (from left: Jordan Wolk, Eli Borwick, Kimmie Kidd, Bradford Rolen), brandish their all-American weapons of choice. | JOHN GRAMLICH appalled Off Broadway audiences in 1990. Today, your average disaffected loner is more likely to be armed with an assault rifle, ready to take down two dozen of his fellow Americans. How else to get his own Wikipedia page? In 2022, fantasizing about killing the president seems downright quaint. That makes “Gun Song/The Ballad of Czolgosz” the show’s most poignant moment. With gun violence reaching into supermarkets and movie theaters, it’s deeply unsettling to listen to a gorgeous song … about how violence cures existential impotence. “And all you have to do/Is move your little finger Move your little finger And you can change the world,” one assassin offers seductively. “Why should you be blue/When you’ve your little finger?” What if you could move your little finger and take down a classroom? At that point, who wouldn’t listen to you? Who wouldn’t care? From that perspective, the penultimate “Something Just Broke” feels like hopeless boomer nostalgia. The song abruptly halts the black comedy to offer a sincere elegy for America’s innocence, shattered by Lee Harvey Oswald’s gun. But that’s now ancient history, and

history blinded by rank privilege at that. Something just broke? These days, days when we’ve traced the nation’s violent original sin back to 1619, that feels naive. The somber song still offers a jolt, and that’s a tribute to the skillful young cast, which mostly rises to the challenge of Stephen Sondheim’s famously difficult — and glorious — score. Starring as John Wilkes Booth, Jordan Wolk has a face that seems right out of the 19th century and a properly theatrical manner. He’s the devil on the shoulder of Oswald (Stephen Henley, whose beautiful vocals buoy the production). As Sara ane Moore and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, respectively, Kimmie Kid and Avery Lux provide hilarious comic relief. Both are terrific. In some ways, it feels like the attention paid to the music has left the staging as an afterthought. Too often, the actors stand not on, but in front of, the stage, which makes for difficult sightlines from . ACK’s flat floor. And while the idea of showing Wikipedia pages — and even a short TikTok video — on the screen that dominates the backdrop is clever, it doesn’t feel fully worked through. Too often, the text distracts instead of

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illuminating. And audio problems were a constant low-level aggravation on opening night; the acoustics at .ZACK aren’t great, and the engineering failed to solve them. Even so, this is a production worth seeing, and not just for those wondrous tunes — and a rare chance to see the once-controversial Assassins in flyover country. Rather than imitate the Broadway staging, Fly North blazes its own trail. The threeyear-old company is doing some of the most exciting and thoughtprovoking work in St. Louis today. Its ambition should be applauded. And the fact that Assassins feels like the product of a more innocent time is less a reason to discount this musical and more a clarion call to engage with it. Too many have moved their little fingers — depressed kids, disgruntled coworkers, angry white supremacists. Now they’re armed with weapons far deadlier than anything available to the show’s panoply of assassins. The brokenness only continues. Now our presidents are properly protected, and it’s we who stand there, defenseless — a row of interchangeable, and disposable, sitting ducks. n

JULY 6-12, 2022

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OUT EVERY NIGHT

ach 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. And of course, be sure that you are aware of the venues’ COVID-safety requirements, as those vary from place to place and you don’t want to get stuck outside because you forgot your mask or proof of vaccination. Happy show-going! —Joseph Hess

[CRITIC’S PICK]

THURSDAY 7

BEER CHOIR: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. CATERPILLARS: w/ Painted Light, Chancla Fight Club, Family Medicine 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. JIM STEVENS PROJECT: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MAN MAN: w/ Pink $ock 8 p.m., $18/$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. MELODY TRUCKS BAND: 10 p.m., $25. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE MIGHTY PINES: 8 p.m., $20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541. MOM’S KITCHEN: 9 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. PIERCE CRASK: 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. ROD, MARTY, & COMPANY: 6 p.m., free. The Attic Music Bar, 2 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

FRIDAY 8

CHERI EVANS BAND: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CREE RIDER: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. EMILY WALLACE WITH THE ADAM MANESS TRIO: 7:30 p.m.; July 9, 7:30 p.m., free. The Harold & Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz, 3536 Washington Ave, St Louis, 314-571-6000. GERARD ERKER: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. GERARD ERKER: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. HAZMAT: w/ Buyhercandy. Rosemary 7 p.m., $12. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. LYLE LOVETT AND HIS LARGE BAND: w/ Chris Isaak 8 p.m., $29.50-$425. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. MADAHOOCHI: w/ Cosmic Rascals 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MEMPHIS MAY FIRE: w/ From Ashes to New, Rain City Drive, Wolves At The Gate 7:30 p.m., $23-$39.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. PORKCHOP EXPRESS: w/ Justin Jagler 6:30 p.m., free. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 3 -3 -53 3. SUPERCRUSH: w/ Choir Vandals, Yuppy, Squint 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. THIRD SIGHT BAND: 11:30 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

SATURDAY 9 40

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Be sure to catch Man Man when you get the chance; you never know when the unpredictable group will take another hiatus. | VIA ANTI-

Man Man w/ Hard Tays Night 8 p.m. Thursday, July 7. Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street. $18 to $23. 314-588-0505. Man Man is a post-apocalyptic post-hippie rock conundrum led by Honus Honus (a.k.a. Ryan Kattner), a surreal multidisciplinary artist who has burrowed out a niche for himself in the entertainment industry. Besides working as a music supervisor for various entities and projects such as Super Deluxe and the 2016 television series The Exorcist, Kattner is also an accomplished

ALESANA: w/ Palisades, Vampires Everywhere 7:30 p.m., $26. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. ART, MIMOSAS, AND PANCAKES: w/ DJ Hood Bunny 8 p.m., $15-$30. Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St., St. Louis, 314-771-8230. BILLY JOEL TRIBUTE “UNDER PRESSURE”: 6 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BOOGIE CHYLD: 7 p.m., free. The Attic Music Bar, 2 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313. BOXCAR: 6 p.m., free. The Weingarten, 1780 E State Rte 15, Belleville. DANGER ZONE BAND: 9 p.m., $25. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. EL MONSTERO: w/ Living Colour 7 p.m., $25. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre - St. Louis, MO, 14141 Riverport Dr, Maryland Heights. EMILY WALLACE WITH THE ADAM MANESS TRIO: July 8, 7:30 p.m.; 7:30 p.m., free. The Harold & Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz, 3536 Washington Ave, St Louis, 314-571-6000. FALSETTO BOY: w/ Heavy Weather, Joe 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. FLATFOOT 56: w/ Capgun Heroes 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. GRANDEL SUMMER JAZZ FEST: w/ Soul Cafe, Janet Evra, Ptah Williams, Jay Oliver, Bach to

JULY 6-12, 2022

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actor with a notable co-starring role alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead for the short film So It Goes. As Honus Honus, Kattmer acts as the confident commander of Man Man’s Rube Goldberg machine of a band both on stage and in the studio. The 2020 album Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between is an audacious collision of disparate genres in the service of rootsy and cacophonous rock music, and marks something of a return to form for the group. The record dropped after a six-year hiatus during which Kattner worked on a deluge of other creative projects ranging from an

animated series to a graphic novel. This tour brings Man Man through St. Louis with openers Hard Tays Night, a Los Angelesbased immersive nightlife experience that offers a diverse cast of performers. Band Band: During one of Man Man’s infamous hiatuses, Kattner announced a solo album as Honus Honus and the alias has stuck ever since. Use Your Delusion released in November 2016 with a vibrant set of artful pop and outsider rock songs that made several best of lists at the end of the year. —Joseph Hess

the Future 7 p.m., $20. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, 314-533-0367. HILLARY FITZ: 10 p.m. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. JOSH A: w/ Justin Stone 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SISSER: w/ Vaudevileins, Soft Crisis 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. STL RIVERBOAT PART: w LuSiD, Alexis Tucci, Mark Lewis noon, $60. Gateway Arch Riverboats, 11 N. 4th St., St. Louis. WURST FESTIVAL: 2 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SUNDAY RHYTHM & BLUES SESSIONS: 3 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

SUNDAY 10

THE CULT: w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Zola Jesus 7:30 p.m., $49.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 0 Rd, Chesterfield, 3 - 23- 500. ERIC LYSAGHT: 9 p.m.; July 19, 9 p.m.; July 24, 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. GEORGE CLINTON AND PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: 5 p.m., $25-$100. The Lot at The Big Top, 3401 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, 314-549-9990. GRUMPSTER: 8 p.m., $15/$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. NEQUIENT: w/ Bangladeafy, Swamp Lion, Hot Corpse 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South

MONDAY 11

JOHN JOHNSON & DALE JONES: 7:30 p.m., $10. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. THIRD SIGHT BAND: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. WITCHPIT: w/ Lizard Breath, Mongoose 7:30 p.m., $10/$12. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

TUESDAY 12

ANDREW DAHLE: 9 p.m.; July 20, 4 p.m.; July 25, 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. J.D. HUGHES: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. LILIAC: 7 p.m., $25-$300. Diamond Music Hall, 4105 N Cloverleaf Dr, St. Peters, 636-477-6825. SHAWN JAMES: w/ Grave Dancer 8 p.m., $20/$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

WEDNESDAY 13

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic will blow the roof off the Big Top on Sunday night. | WILLIAM THOREN

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic w/ The Time Traveler DJs, Alexis Tucci, Blu Eye Extinction 5 p.m. Sunday, July 10. The Big Top, 3401 Washington Boulevard. $25-$100. 314-549-9990. We should feel immensely fortunate that the great George Clinton is even still hitting the road at all. At 80 years old, and with every accolade that exists already under his belt, there’s no reason anyone should expect the Prime Minister of Funk to still be loading himself into his spaceship and schlepping from town to town for our amusement — and yet, blessedly, he persists. The Parliament-Funkadelic bandleader even announced in April 2019 that he’d be retiring from touring 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. PERFUME: w/ Shroud, Reaver 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SORRY, PLEASE CONTINUE: 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. YARD EAGLE: 7 p.m., free. Yaqui’s on Cherokee, 2728 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-400-7712.

THIS JUST IN 4&20: A TRIBUTE TO CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: Fri., Oct. 7, 7 p.m., $7. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER: Sun., July 24, 7 p.m., $39-$59. St. Louis Music Park, 750 Casino Center Dr., Maryland Heights, 314-451-2244. ALEX G: W/ Barrie, Mon., Oct. 10, 8 p.m., $23. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. AMANDA SHIRES: Wed., Nov. 16, 8 p.m., $30-$35. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

that year, but as he’s taught us all so thoroughly and consistently over the years, the funk simply will not be stopped. With all the psychedelic spectacle and outlandish surrealism for which a P-Funk show is famous, it’s fitting that this event will be taking place at the Big Top, bringing a veritable circus of colors and lights and costumes and, of course, an otherworldly exploration of bass-driven, ass-shaking, spirit-uplifting grooves. Sure, Clinton could rest on his laurels if he wanted, but if he knows one thing, it’s this: We want the funk. We gotta have that funk. And he’s the man best-suited to deliver it to us. Hit ‘Em With the Bop Gun: Opening the show will be like-minded acts the Time Traveler DJs, Alexis Tucci and Blu Eye Extinction, promising a stacked night of heady tunes and hazy vibes. Be sure to pace yourself. —Daniel Hill ART, MIMOSAS, AND PANCAKES: W/ DJ Hood Bunny, Sat., July 9, 8 p.m., $15-$30. Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St., St. Louis, 314-771-8230. BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY: Thu., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., TBA. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: Wed., July 13, 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BILLY CURRINGTON: W/ Bobby Ford Band, Johnny Henry Band, Fri., Aug. 19, 7 p.m., $25$50. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. BILLY JOEL TRIBUTE “UNDER PRESSURE”: Sat., July 9, 6 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BLACK KNIFE: W Traffic Death, Blackwell, Sat., Sept. 17, 7 p.m., $10. The Ready Room, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. CARSIE BLANTON: Sun., Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., $25. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

CHERI EVANS BAND: Fri., July 8, 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. COMEDY AT THE KRANZBERG: Sat., July 16, 8:30 p.m., $15. Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 314-533-0367. THE COMMODORES: Sat., April 8, 8 p.m. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. DANGER ZONE BAND: Sat., July 9, 9 p.m., $25. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. DRIVIN’ N CRYIN’: W/ the Minks, Wed., Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m., $25. Lincoln Theatre, 103 E. Main St., Belleville, 618-233-0123. GLORIA TREVI: Fri., Nov. 4, 8:30 p.m., $50-$225. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. JAKE OWEN: W/ Travis Denning, Fri., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $45-$85. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. JAMIE EROS: Thu., July 21, 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. JAPANESE BREAKFAST: W/ the Linda Lindas, Fri., July 15, 8 p.m., $39.50-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. JASON GOTAY: Sat., Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. JIM STEVENS PROJECT: Thu., July 7, 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: Fri., Aug. 5, 7:30 p.m., $12. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 3 - 23- 500. JOHN JOHNSON & DALE JONES: Mon., July 11, 7:30 p.m., $10. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. JOSH ROYAL: Fri., Aug. 26, 9:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. LIGHTWIRE THEATER: A VERY ELECTRIC CHRISTMAS: Sun., Dec. 4, 8 p.m., TBA. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. LILIAC: Tue., July 12, 7 p.m., $25-$300. Diamond Music Hall, 4105 N Cloverleaf Dr, St. Peters, 636-477-6825. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., July 10, 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LYLE LOVETT AND JOHN HIATT: Fri., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., TBA. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. MARK HARRIS II AND THE AVENGERS: Sat., July 16, 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. MARSHALL TUCKER BAND: Sat., Oct. 8, 7 p.m., $45-$95. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. MARY J. BLIGE: W/ Ella Mai, Queen Naija, Wed., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., $66.50-$136.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. MELODY TRUCKS BAND: Thu., July 7, 10 p.m., $25. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MICHAEL BOLTON: Fri., Sept. 9, 8 p.m. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. THE MIGHTY PINES: Thu., July 7, 8 p.m., $20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541. MONEYBAGG YO: Fri., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., $65-$85. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. MONICA: Sun., July 31, 5 p.m., $50. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. MURPHY’S LAW: Fri., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., $17. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. POST MALONE: Sat., Sept. 17, 8 p.m., $36.50$226.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave.,

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St. Louis, 314-241-1888. POTTERLESS: Thu., Aug. 4, 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. RACHEL DESCHAINE: Fri., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. ROB ZOMBIE: W/ Mudvayne, Static-X, Powerman 5000, Wed., July 20, 6 p.m., $22-$149. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. RUBY JUBILEE: A BURLESQUE BIRTHDAY BASH: Fri., Aug. 5, 7 p.m., $20. The Crack Fox, 1114 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-621-6900. RUPAUL’S WERQ THE WRLD TOUR: Fri., July 22, 8 p.m., $55-$175. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. SET IT OFF: Wed., Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m., $25-$49.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. SHAWN MENDES: Sat., July 16, 7:30 p.m., $20$196. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. SORRY, PLEASE CONTINUE: Wed., July 13, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SPLIT MY SIDES ALBUM RELEASE PARTY: Sat., July 16, 7 p.m., free. The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-773-1533. SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS: Wed., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $35-$45. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: Tue., July 12, 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. STL RIVERBOAT PART: W LuSiD, Alexis Tucci, Mark Lewis, Sat., July 9, noon, $60. Gateway Arch Riverboats, 11 N. 4th St., St. Louis. SUNDAY RHYTHM & BLUES SESSIONS: Sun., July 10, 3 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SWEET LIZZY PROJECT: Fri., July 29, 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. THIRD SIGHT BAND: Fri., July 8, 11:30 p.m., $15. Mon., July 11, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THREE DOG NIGHT: Fri., March 3, 8 p.m. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. TRAIN: W/ Jewel, Blues Traveler, Thunderstorm Artis, Sat., July 16, 6:30 p.m., $9-$110. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. VICKI LAWRENCE AND MAMA: A TWO-WOMAN SHOW: Sat., Nov. 19, 8 p.m., TBA. Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts, 2300 W. Clay St., St. Charles, 636-949-4433. WARRANT: W/ Winger, Lita Ford, Fri., Sept. 30, 7 p.m., $35-$85. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. YARD EAGLE: Wed., July 13, 7 p.m., free. Yaqui’s on Cherokee, 2728 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-400-7712.

UPCOMING

ANDREW BIRD: W/ Iron & Wine, Meshell Ndegeocello, Wed., Aug. 10, 6:30 p.m., $41-$75. Chesterfield Amphitheater, 3 eterans Place Drive, Chesterfield. THE BLACK ANGELS: W/ The Vacant Lots, Mon., Oct. 3, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BLACK LIPS: W/ Bloodshot Bill, Sun., Nov. 20, 8 p.m., $20/$22. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. BORIS: W/ Nothing, Sat., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BUILT TO SPILL: Mon., Sept. 19, 8 p.m., $30. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: Thu., Oct. 13, 8 p.m.,

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

UK mainstay the Cult will bring its post-punk glam stylings to Chesterfield this weekend. | VIA SRO PR

The Cult w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Zola Jesus 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 10. The Factory, 17105 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield. $49.50 to $69.50. 314-423-8500. The Cult has been an institution in rock long enough to have a body of work that can be split into distinctly different eras, ranging from post-punk to arena and glam rock. Led by singer Ian Astbury, the band debuted in the UK in 1981 under the name Southern Death Cult, later shortened to Death Cult after guitarist Billy Duffy joined up. While Death Cult was certainly a fitting moniker for the band’s dark approach to goth rock, the name was ultimately changed to the Cult, which helped Astbury and Co. break through the mainstream in the mid-1980s. The Cult’s 1985 single “She Sells Sanctuary” currently sits at 50-plus million views on YouTube and, even if you don’t count the streams the song has racked up on streaming ser-

THIS JUST IN

Continued from pg 41 $49.50-$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 3 - 23- 500. FEAR - 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RECORD: W/ Bastard Squad, Wes Hoffman and Friends, Sat., uly 23, p.m., $ 0. Red Flag, 30 0 Locust Street, St. Louis, 3 -2 9-9050. ILLUMINATI HOTTIES: W Enumclaw, Olivia Barton, Tue., Oct. , p.m., $20 $25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 50 Delmar Blvd., University City, 3 - 2 . INTERPOL: W Spoon, the Goon Sa , Fri., Sept. 9, p.m., $3 .50-$225. Stifel Theatre, 00 Market St, St. Louis, 3 - 99- 00. JAPANESE BREAKFAST: W The Linda Lindas, Fri., uly 5, p.m., $39.50-$ 5. W the Linda Lindas, Fri., uly 5, p.m., $39.50-$ 5. The Pageant, Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . MELVINS: Wed., Sept. 2 , p.m., $2 . Old Rock House, 200 S. th St., St. Louis, 3 -5 -0505. OPEN HIGHWAY MUSIC FESTIVAL: W Steve Earle The Dukes, The Whitmore Sisters, Thu., uly 2 , p.m., $ 0. Old Rock House, 200 S. th St., St. Louis, 3 -5 -0505.

vices such as Spotify, that’s a number that proves just how relevant the legendary group remains today. Its most recent studio record, 2016’s Hidden City, artfully weaves together several songs with their own separate aesthetic plucked from different points in the band’s genre-hopping discography. A new record is on the way, but details are scarce outside of a recent interview where Astbury claimed the bulk of the songs were mixed and mastered. This might be the most exciting year for the band yet as the Cult comes through St. Louis only weeks after co-headlining a UK arena tour with Alice Cooper. Grand Opening: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is surely reason enough to arrive on time for the opening acts, but don’t sleep on hypnagogic pop group Zola Jesus. The brainchild of artist Nika Roza Danilova, Zola Jesus is much like the Cult in that the group’s stylistic approach has changed and evolved through multiple genres with roots in dark wave and industrial music. —Joseph Hess PINEGROVE: W Poise, Sat., uly 30, p.m., $2 . Delmar Hall, 33 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS: W , Tue., uly 2 , p.m., $ 0-$50. The Pageant, Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . THE QUEERS: Sun., Oct. 30, p.m., $20. W Teenage Bottlerocket, Sun., Oct. 30, p.m., $20 $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 3 - 9 - 9 9. RUPAUL’S WERQ THE WRLD TOUR: Fri., uly 22, p.m., $55-$ 5. The Fo Theatre, 52 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 3 -53 . SECRET WALLS: Tue., Sept. 3, :30 p.m., $25$99. Red Flag, 30 0 Locust Street, St. Louis, 3 -2 9-9050. SLEIGH BELLS: Fri., Aug. 2, p.m., $30. Red Flag, 30 0 Locust Street, St. Louis, 3 -2 9-9050. SOCCER MOMMY: W TOPS, Wed., Nov. 30, p.m., $25 $35. The Pageant, Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . TURNSTILE: W Snail Mail, PEGMAFIA, Wed., Oct. 9, p.m., $35. The Pageant, Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . WET LEG: Wed., Sept. , p.m., $25 $30. Delmar Hall, 33 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 3 - 2 . THE YOWL: Sat., uly , p.m., $ 0. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 3 - 9 - 9 9. n

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SAVAGE LOVE

Quickies BY DAN SAVAGE Hey Dan: Gay dude here. What the fuck is up with monkeypox? Do I need to be worried? Yes, you do. I tried to raise the alarm about monkeypox on the May 24, 2022, episode of the Savage Lovecast, back when there were 100 cases in 15 countries, all of them among gay and bi men. Now there are more than 5,000 cases all over the world, and almost all of them — more than 99 percent of cases — are among gay and bi men. “Right now, it’s behaving very much like an STI — and almost all of the cases have been among men who have sex with men,” said Dr. Ina Park, a professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and Medical Consultant at the Centers for Disease Control Division of STD Prevention. Monkeypox, Dr. Park explains, is the milder, gentler cousin to smallpox, and is spread by skinto-skin contact or through respiratory droplets. “But anyone who comes into close contact with someone who has monkeypox could catch it,” said Dr. Park. “And unlike other STIs which don’t live for very long outside the body, monkeypox can live for weeks on infected clothing, bedding, and other surfaces — think dildoes, slings, fetish gear — and barriers such as condoms worn over the penis or inside the rectum will protect those areas, but they don’t prevent transmission to other exposed parts of the body. If you notice red painful bumps anywhere on you or your partner’s body — especially the genital/anal area — or if you are exposed to monkeypox, get checked out right away. The sooner you get vaccinated, the better.” (Follow Dr. Park on Twitter @InaParkMd.) Okay, that was a quickie question but a long answer. Now onto quickier-quickies. Hey Dan: How soon is too soon to say love you for the first time

JOE NEWTON On your first date, right after a stranger from an app shows up at your door, during your first threesome with that hot couple you just met at a bar — too soon. Even if you’re already feeling it, even if you’re crazy enough to think they might be feeling it already too, you should wait at least six months to say it. But you know what? Once you’ve said it — once you’ve said “I love you” for the first time — feel free to backdate that shit. Go ahead and say, “I wanted to say it before the entrée even came on our first date,” or, “I wanted to say it when you showed up looking better than your pics,” or, “I wanted to say it when you both came inside me simultaneously.”

Hey Dan: A submissive guy reached out to me via my pretty tame Instagram and wants to send me money and wants nothing in return. Should I say no to this?

Hey Dan: Is it an overreaction for me, a cis woman who lives in Wisconsin and doesn’t want kids, to not want to have sex with my fiancé since the ruling on abortion? I’ve tried to explain to him that it’s a lot to come to terms with.

Hey Dan: Being spanked until I’m sobbing is the only way I’ve ever been able to get off. I masturbate after or while being held. It’s literally the only thing that has ever worked for me and my boyfriend of two years won’t do it. Don’t just tell me to dump him. I love him. He is also against opening the relationship. Help?

Each of us grieves in our own way, and at our own pace. If you’re not feeling sexy right now because of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — if the chance of an unplanned pregnancy in Wisconsin, where a law from 1849 banning abortion can now be enforced, dries you up — that’s totally understandable. And if your fianc is an ious to get back to penetrative sex, well, pegging counts.

In this economy? Hey Dan: New to weed. Best edible for sex? Ass. Hey Dan: What is it called when a guy jacks off into his own mouth while he’s upside down? Is there are term for that? I don’t think that has a name. Any suggestions, class?

The full version of Savage Love is now exclusively available on Dan’s website Savage.Love. To continue reading this week’s column, go to savage.love/ savagelove. questions@savagelove.net Check out Savage Lovecast @FakeDanSavage on Twitter

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Riverfront Times, July 6, 2022

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