Riverfront Times, September 21, 2022 by Chava Communications

OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Rosalind Early EDITORIAL Managing Editor Jessica Rogen Editor at Large Daniel Hill Digital Content Editor Jaime Lees Food Editor Cheryl Baehr Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic, Benjamin Simon Copy Editor Evie Hemphill Contributors Thomas K. Chimchards, Joseph Hess, Reuben Hemmer, Dmitri Jackson, Andy Paulissen, Famous Mortimer, Mabel Suen, Graham Toker, Theo Welling Columnists Ray Hartmann, Dan Savage Editorial Interns Kasey Noss, Sarah Lovett ART & PRODUCTION Art Director Evan Sult Creative Director Haimanti Germain Production Manager Sean Bieri Graphic Designer Aspen Smit MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING Associate Publisher Colin Bell Account Manager Jennifer Samuel Directors of Business Development Rachel Hoppman, Chelsea MARKETINGNazaruk Director of Marketing & Events Christina Kimerle Marketing Coordinator Sydney Schaefer BUSINESS Regional Operations Director Emily Fear CIRCULATION Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers EUCLID MEDIA GROUP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Executive Editor Sarah Fenske VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Audience Development Manager Jenna Jones VP of Marketing Emily Tintera, Cassandra Yardeni Executive Assistant Mackenzie NATIONALwww.euclidmediagroup.comDeanADVERTISING VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, SUBSCRIPTIONSvmgadvertising.com 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, www.riverfronttimes.com63117 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. INSIDE Hartmann 7 News 8 Missouriland 10 Feature 12 Calendar 20 Cafe 23 Short Orders 27 St. Louis Standards 30 Reeferfront Times 33 Culture 35 Music 36 Out Every Night 40 Savage Love 45 COVER The Package Killer Confesses After 30 years, St. Louis’ most notorious serial killer has been found Cover photo courtesy MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

TABLE

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It’s quite the paradox. The same institutions that give so much to St. Louis with their great works are not above taking from St. Louis when it comes to advancing the self-interests of their proper ty-tax-free real estate empires. Make no mistake about it, when it comes to their business side, they are all business.

Meanwhile, can someone tend to the school folks? They just got punched. n

HARTMANN

Other cost-cutting might come from the developer sharpening its pencil, as they say, on the details of the project.

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So it is today with Cortex. For all the good the technology district continues to do for St. Louis and beyond, its real estate interests are another matter entirely. As shown by last week’s TIF approval to support Keeley Properties’ 165unit residential apartment build ing, Cortex expects to be treated like any other business.

Collectively they are the self-ap pointed guardians and leaders of St.SoLouis.here’s the only question that matters for this one residential real estate project in Cortex: What would happen if the city said no to a AfterTIF?speaking to a number of experts with far greater under standing of these matters than I, here is the short answer: Cortex could build it anyway. If the proj ect is truly “vital,” in the words of Cortex President and CEO Sam Fiorello, they could get it done.

If any combination of those things took place, there would be one result that you’d think should matter to the leaders of Cortex: The schools would benefit from day one on the project, as would other property-tax recipients.

Isn’t that convenient? Cortex, with the top SLDC executive on its board, takes its proposal to the TIF commission — which relies heav ily on the SLDC for analysis of the proposal. Ditto for the process at the Board of Aldermen.

That’s a fine deal if you can get it.Jones has already done more than any previous mayor to con dition TIFs on affordable housing, donations to efforts to make the city a more equitable place and the like. She’s far too progressive for many developers’ tastes.

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann1952@ gmail.com or catch him at 7 p.m. on Thurs days on Nine PBS and St. Louis in the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9-11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

t wouldn’t even be that di cult to fill the gap et’s set aside the obvious solution, which would be for the member institutions of Cortex to use a tiny sliver of their collective billions in assets to get thisOrdone.just as simply, for Arch to Park to make a “patient capital” investment to cover all or part of the million shortfall reater St. Louis Inc. President and CEO Jason Hall has boasted of his group having a fund for that purpose to taling million or more

nd let’s not forget the financial institutions. Cortex and Greater

But it’s also special because of who owns it — Washington Uni versity, Saint Louis University, BJC HealthCare, the Missouri Botani cal Garden and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. They are re vered as essential institutions and forces for good. They are warm andButfuzzy.sowas

A TIF diverts future propertytax revenues from a project to fa cilitate that project happening in the first place The basic theory is that property-tax recipients won’t get hurt because without the TIF there would have been no new revenues in the first place n the city, the public schools are by far the largest recipient of propertytax revenues.

But that won’t bother Cortex much, not unless Jones decides to lead an effort to reform the struc ture as it pertains to its role as a player in real estate.

BY RAY HARTMANN

T Fs are a fine economic devel opment tool if limited to projects that wouldn’t happen without them. Conversely, they do great harm to the schools and others if granted — as they so often are — to projects that would have gone forward without the TIF.

The process is institutionally corrupted by its very structure. Unbelievably, the parties most influential in evaluating and de ciding upon any TIF request from Cortex sit on the board of direc tors of Cortex.

The city’s Tax Increment Fi nancing Commission approved an unneeded TIF to subsidize an apartment project at the Cortex Innovation District. Cortex also got bailed out of its failure to meet a 10-year deadline to develop two other parcels.

St. Louis Inc. are populated with bankers who fancy themselves to be pretty big shooters when it comes to serving the community. What better way to show their leadership for the region than by getting a little more aggressive in reducing the bank’s profit on the deal? (Good luck with that.)

But that’s not all that could be done. Indeed, cost-cutting might come into play, especially before the large monied interests start throwing money around. Here are some random thoughts the ex perts

St. Louis’ rich and powerful need to ﬁnd a new special ﬁnancing district

City BankNotSchoolsPublicAreYour

That brings us to the real es tate portion of our story. When it comes to the territorial growth and needs of Cortex member insti

tutions, at least some of them have been known to do a little smush ing. Make that a lot of smushing.

ut Cortex has identified million in infrastructure costs it claims should be paid for by tax payers through TIFs. Perhaps that might be convincing were Cortex just another real estate company, but it isn’t. Cortex itself has ben efited from its own property-taxexempt status over the past two decades.What’s more, Cortex portrays itself as a great civic asset, an es sential part of St. Louis’ leader ship. It is viewed as a top priority of Arch to Park Equity Fund LLC, the for-profit real estate company operated by Greater St. Louis Inc.

No doubt a rejection of the TIF request would be insulting, shock ing and offensive to the people and institutions of Cortex. But if push came to shove, if the future of Cor tex and technology innovation and all the rest hung in the balance, they would not allow a mil lion hole in this particular project to bring the whole thing down.

Simple, right? Well, here’s some thing simpler: It isn’t happening.

King Kong.

Thesuggested:largestchunk of infrastruc ture costs million for storm sewers — might be eligible for an MSD grant. But even lower-hang ing fruit is represented by the soft costs that are also part of a project likeThosethis. include the developer’s fees and those of lawyers, archi tects, consultants and so forth. These are generally quite hand some for a project of this nature. None is set in stone. Ever.

Just another day in paradise. The Board of Aldermen is a lock to approve the commission’s ad visory action, rational opposition notwithstanding.That’sbecauseCortex is special, in more ways than one. The na tionally acclaimed initiative has provided an unparalleled bright spot for the city in the past two decades, a “striking success as a magnet for emerging companies and endeavors, especially in the tech sector … and a valuable asset to the region” (my words from a previous column).

he people who exalt them selves as the guardians of St. Louis cleared a hurdle last week toward the noble cause of ever-so-gently suck er-punching the St. Louis Public Schools.Allinthe name of progress.

Yep. Either by statute or tradi tion — dating long before the ad ministration of Mayor Tishaura Jones — Cortex hosts representa tives of the mayor’s o ce and the St. Louis Development Corpora tion as ex o cio members To day that’s Jared Boyd, the mayor’s chief of staff, and Neal Richard son, SLDC executive director, ac cording to the Cortex website.

The apartment project in Cortex is one of those. Cortex is a thriv ing area of opportunity and prom ise. It’s hard to imagine a smarter place for Keeley to build an apartment in the city. It’s not the sort of place where the city should be throwing around TIFs.

C marked on them in bold white letters on the front and back. The video contained no audio, so it’s unclear if the o cers verbally announced themselves as o cers, or if they said anything at all.

The video then cuts to Ross stand ing in the alleyway. Two unmarked police vehicles soon pull up to Ross. One o cer umps out of the first ve hicle closest to Ross, at which point the teen starts to run as a second of ficer trails behind the first oth o cers wore plain clothes and black ballistic vests with “PO

It’s unclear from the footage how much time elapsed during the en tire incident. The police video edits together different angles from dif ferent cameras. Police paused the video at times and included Google Maps images to show where gas station cameras were located. Al together, police showed reporters 9 minutes and 16 seconds of video.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch re ported that Johnny Parker, Ross’ uncle, said o cers had not identi fied themselves as police and oss feared the police were actually members of a gang.

It’s cameras.fromdifferenteditsTheentireelapsedhowfromunclearthefootagemuchtimeduringtheincident.policevideotogetheranglesdifferent

NEWS 8

partment of Public Safety.

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

8 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

Police sought to quell the differ ing narratives Friday afternoon. City and police o cials allowed reporters to twice view surveil lance footage of the incident lead ing to Ross’ death at a press brief ing hosted by police Lieutenant John Green, whose department oversees internal investigations. The footage will not be released for some time in an effort to “pre serve the integrity of the investiga tion for the family of Darryl Ross and the police o cers involved, according to Monte Chambers, a program manager with the De

The footage begins with a “wit ness the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says it is Johnson, Ross’ mother) arriving at the gas station in a red vehicle bout four to five individu als, who all appear to be around the same age as Ross, huddle around the vehicle n the footage shown to reporters, police had circled where they suspected subjects stowedAccordingguns.) to the police’s inci dent summary, detectives saw several armed subjects outside the Shell gas station around 11:40 p.m. on September 11. They “ob served several subjects on the lot armed with guns

At one point, police noted that Ross possessed a handgun, but the gun was not clearly visible in the blurry surveillance footage.

A dark object drops a few feet away from Ross. He then stumbles to pick it up. The object is in his hand for just a moment before po lice shoot him olice identified the object as a handgun.

point a handgun at the o cers t is also not clear if Ross intended to pick the object up and continue running.Thevideo paused several times in the seconds leading up to Ross’ killing to show onscreen notes from the police department. The notes pointed out that Ross tripped, dropped his gun and grabbed it be fore o cers shot him

o o cers were in ured, and Ross’ weapon was recovered at the scene, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s incident summary.

Police Show Video TeenShootingOfﬁcersof

oth o cers involved have been put on administrative leave. One o cer, , has worked at for years The other , has been with the department for four years. The older o cer is lack, the other white.Lieutenant Green answered few uestions at Friday’s press briefing He said the investigation into Ross’ death is still in its early stages and the video may be released some timeWhenlater.asked if he had any mes sage for Ross’ family, Green said, e’re sorry n

Ross made small movements with his arms and torso as he laid on the ground afterward. After an undetermined amount of time, and after oss stopped moving, o cers began administering medical aid. One o cer retrieved a medical kit The video ends shortly after, with Ross’ body on the ground while red and blue lights flicker in the back ground as o cers tend to him

SLMPD showed the media surveillance footage of an o cer-involved shooting. | PAUL SABELMAN

t. Louis Metropolitan Police on Friday showed surveil lance footage of a shooting incident from September 11, when two o cers shot and killed a 16-year-old boy outside a gas station in St. Louis’ Old North neighborhood.TwoDrugEnforcement Interven tion detectives shot Darryl Ross after a foot pursuit at a Shell gas station in the 2800 block of North Florissant Avenue. Accounts of what led up to the shooting have widely differed between police and Ross’Thefamily.boy’smother, Jukita Johnson, has previously told reporters she was there at the scene of the shoot ing, though police claim she wasn’t. Accounts also differ on whether police announced themselves as o cers as they approached oss Whether Ross’ gun was visible dur ing the police’s confrontation has also been up for debate.

From the RFT’s interpretation of the video, it does not appear as if Ross made any gesture to indicate he was going to turn around and

Ross was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.

The video then cuts to the front of the convenience store, showing oss running away from o cers It cuts again to show Ross tripping over a sidewalk curb along North Florissant with an o cer close behind him.

A visibly upset woman with the same hair color as Ross’ mother is seen near Ross as he lies on the ground after the shooting. Ross’ family members have contended that Ross was at the gas station along with his mother to buy chicken tenders. At one point dur ing the video, Ross exits the con venience store with a white con tainer and what looks like plastic eating utensils.

e 16-year-old was shot a er running away from police in Old North

Ross arrived in a separate vehicle from the first sub ects shown in the video and had several interactions with them. A few minutes into the footage, Ross travels from the front of the gas station’s convenience store to an alleyway to the east.

alyn Griggs, Andre Montgomery’s sister, said that Tim Norman’s testimony was nothing but “crying and lying” and he got the justice he deserved. She was standing on the steps of the federal courthouse in St. Louis on Friday, moments after James “Tim” Norman had been found guilty on all charges in a murder-for-hire conspiracy trial.

That detention, which the report says lasted about 20 minutes, seems to be referring to a trafﬁc stop that occurred June 8,

The investigation into Seals would be reviewed by the field office’s chief divi sion counsel “at least semi-annually,” the file says.

Written by RYAN KRULL

Seals’ FBI ﬁle was provided to the RFT by St. Louis-based activist James Cooper, who said he requested it two years ago from the agency using the Freedom of Information Act. FBI ﬁles typically become public records after a subject’s death. n

needed to go somewhere.

On the stand, Norman painted himself as an empathetic uncle who allowed his nephew to live in the lap of luxury in an apartment near Forest Park.

previously classified, heavily redacted FBI file shows that the agency opened a file on Darren Seals before his death.

According to the report, at one point Seals was “investigatively detained” during a trafﬁc stop conducted by police at the request of the FBI.

“It had a rusty stove and what looked like a Salvation [Army] cot he was sleeping on, with two metal chairs. It was nothing but a small box he was living in right next door to Tim’s penthouse,” she said.

When2016.police pulled him over, Seals was driving his 2012 Jeep Wrangler with a companion whose name is redacted.

The speciﬁc police agency working

A later addition to the FBI ﬁle states, “Trafﬁc warrants for subject’s arrest re main active if additional car stops are deemed merited.”

Sealsafﬁliations.”wasnotthe only Ferguson ac tivist to meet a tragic fate at a relatively young age. Talk of conspiracy has sur rounded his death since it happened.

James “Tim” Norman. | MADISON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, DETENTION CENTER

Darren Seals had a 900-page FBI ﬁle. | VIA INSTAGRAM

A search of Seals’ car turned up noth ing.Law enforcement told Seals there were warrants out for his arrest but then let him go.

In the ﬁle, the FBI refers to Seals as “a self-described revolutionary who has espoused somewhat militant rhetoric and has access to weapons.”

Seals, who was 29 when he died, suffered numerous gunshot wounds throughout his life. In the wake of the 2014 protests he gained national atten tion for his anti-violence activism, with a focus in particular on combating police brutality.Seals was outspoken in his criticism of national Black Lives Matter organiz ers and activists, whom he accused of getting rich off the name of Michael Brown while doing little for the area of St. Louis where Brown came from.

Guilty Verdict in Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s Trial

Newly released ﬁle shows the FBI was behind Seals being pulled over at least once

The FBI file shows Seals was under some level of FBI surveillance, though to what extent is unclear. The file on Seals runs over 900 pages, but around 860 of those pages were fully redacted. The remaining 45 or so pages still had sig nificant partial redactions.

The chief division counsel is a ﬁeld ofﬁce’s senior legal counsel.

when he emerged. Hill testiﬁed that Norman paid him $5,000 through a mutual acquaintance.BothMontgomery and Norman previously appeared on the reality TV show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s. The show’s star was famed singer and restaurateur Robbie Montgomery, who was Norman’s mother and Andre Montgomery’s grandmother.Norman’s defense attorney Michael Leonard told reporters after the verdict that he was “extremely surprised and disappointed.”Leonardhighlighted Norman’s lengthy testimony, saying it is unusual for a person accused of such a serious crime to take the stand in his own defense. He said that it is “one in a million” for someone to handle themselves as well as Norman did in such a situation.

“He didn’t leave much opening for cross [examination],” Leonard stated.

The jury deliberated for 18 hours and ultimately believed the prosecution’s theory of Montgomery’s death: that Norman took out a $450,000 life insurance policy on the 21-year-old and then paid two other individuals to lure Montgomery to his death and shoot him.

One partially unredacted page re cords Seals’ death. But like the vast majority of the document, its meaning is largely hidden behind redactions.

Andre Montgomery’s family said Norman’s testimony was full of lies.

Norman hired someone to kill his nephew Andre Montgomery Jr. in 2016.

Written by RYAN KRULL

with federal law enforcement is redact ed as well. The report does indicate that an FBI agent and a U.S. Marshal assist ed in the stop.

Griggs said that Norman only made a brief appearance at Montgomery’s funeral in Texas, wearing a bulletproof vest and ﬂanked by security guards. Norman showed no emotion while there, Griggs said, and disrupted proceedings when he had to leave to catch a ﬂight back to Los“Tim’sAngeles.aNorman, Andre’s a Montgomery,” Montgomery’s aunt said. “He’s the last lineage of the Montgomery family. If anything happened to Ms. Robbie it would go to him. Tim didn’t want that.”

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Seals was an activist from Fergu son who came to prominence during the protests following the 2014 killing of Michael Brown. In September 2016 he was found shot and killed in his car, which had been set on ﬁre. The murder has never been solved.

Tim Norman will be sentenced December 15

FBI Watched Activist Darren Seals

The trial started September 6. During it, jurors heard from other members of the conspiracy. Terica Ellis, a Memphisbased exotic dancer, testiﬁed that Norman paid her $10,000 to track down Montgomery on the day of his death. She texted him to come out of his home recording studio and meet her. Travell Hill, the confessed shooter, gunned him down

Norman had also testiﬁed he gave Andre Montgomery access to his ﬂeet of vehicles, which Montgomery’s sister Kalyn Griggs says was not true. She says Montgomery had to call for a ride whenever he

“SEALS was found shot to death and burned in his known vehicle on 9/6/2016. [redacted] Police Depart ment is investigating the matter as a homicide,” the report says. “The inves tigative plan will be to [redacted] homi cide of SEALS because it is anticipated that violent protests may be generated by his death as conspiracy theories are already forming that Seals was killed by the police because of his black lives matter

Notations in the ﬁle indicate that much of the redacted text pertains to “investigative techniques and proce dures” as well as private information about people other than Seals.

However, Montgomery’s aunt said she visited her son’s place and that it was a rundown efﬁciency.

Norman’s sentencing is set for Thursday, December 15. He faces life in prison. n

The following afternoon, the bal loons all gathered on Central Field where people could get an upclose look for a few hours before the race. A “hare” balloon set off at 4:30 p.m. and the “hound” bal loons followed, filling much of the sky over St. Louis with languidly gliding color into the evening. n

Words by ROSALIND EARLY

Glow, Baby, Glow

all can’t start until after the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, which turned 50 this year. On Friday, all of the hot air balloons parked on Emer son Central Fields in Forest Park and, at dusk, fired up their burn ers, causing them to glow. People picnicked and partied, with live music, food trucks and a special show from the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. The whole evening was capped off with fireworks

10 MISSOURILAND

10 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

Photos by THEO WELLING

A CELEBRATION OF THE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING ASPECTS OF

OUR HOME[ ]

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as Avenue near Cherokee Street.

Now 66, Larry Kennedy knew Muehlberg in the early 1990s when the two hung out at the same diner in Overland ennedy remembers Muehlberg as a conde scending narcissist, twice divorced and openly feared by his thengirlfriend, a diner waitress. “He was always staring down at some body,” Kennedy says of Muehl berg, who stands at 6 feet 3 inches. ary didn’t like anybody who didn’t respect the way ary lived Muehlberg worked construc tion both in St. Louis and around the country arious people who knew him tell the RFT he was a creepy man with a hostile de meanor who often espoused bi zarre ideas. When he was in town, he lived in a rundown house on an out-of-the-way street in Bel-Ridge. According to a 1993 police report, his home was defined by its filth, disarray and a basement where he maintained a “secret room.”

For more than three decades, the Package Killer remained the city’s most notorious serial mur derer to elude justice. Until now.

Whoever had left the bin there had pulled a black trash bag taut over its top and secured it with wire. A stench of rot and decay emanated from within.

That’s a human, his coworker, Jones, exclaimed.

There they noticed a brown plastic trash bin sitting in the grassy median between the street and a wooded area.

A 1991 report created for the F ’s iolent Criminal ppre hension Program referred to the crimes as the packer killings. In time, the unknown serial killer be came known as the Package Killer.

However, on that night, the es cort service’s phone sat silent in its cradle. Mihan, in the grips of severe crack cocaine addiction, was desperate for money.

Given what we know now, that basement became what was al

Earlier this summer, that break arrived, and on Monday police formally charged 73-year-old Gary Muehlberg for the murder of Lit tle The probable cause statement accompanying the charge says that Muehlberg has confessed to killing Little, Pruitt and Mihan.

he Package Killer murders began on March 22, 1990, when police say Muehlberg abducted Robyn Mihan from the Mihan,stroll.already a mother of two at 18, had established a call-girl phone line with her friend Faye Sparks as a way to make money via sex work while avoiding the worst perils of walking the street.

“What the hell is in this thing?” Maze thought as he approached it. He undid the wire, removing the bag. His brain struggled to pro cess what he was looking at.

Police also found out that the Package Killer had even more vic tims for them to uncover.

told her to take a alium and come down, crash,” says her brother Tommy, who worked se curity for his sister and Sparks as he battled his own addiction. “In stead, she went to the stroll. She took Faye with her.”

She had dark hair and wore a halter top. A ligature had been wrapped around her neck, a cloth tied around her mouth and eyes. Her legs were pulled tight against her chest, an unnatural position, as if she folded like cardboard.

lvin Maze and Andre Jones, Maryland Heights municipal employees, had ust finished clearing trash from a park abutting an apartment com plex near Page Avenue around 9 a m on the first Thursday of Oc tober 1990. It was a perfect fall morning, the bright sun taking the teeth out of the chill in the autumn air They headed down Basston Drive, an isolated outer road, boxed in by Page on one side and thickets of trees on the other.

Then the murders stopped The case went cold The three women were all but forgotten in the city’s collective memory even as their deaths shaped the lives of those they left behind for decades to come. Cold-case detectives never stopped poring over evidence and case files, hoping for a break

ihan and parks parked on Tex

As a rule, when one of the wom en got in a man’s car, she would ask him to circle the block once so the other woman could get a look at the car and its driver This pro vided a measure of security. But it didn’t always work That night, Mihan went around the corner onto Cherokee Street looking for a customer, and Sparks sat in the car, waiting for a drive-by that neverGaryhappened.Muehlberg had abducted his first victim

Maze and Jones had just stum bled across the so-called Package iller’s latest victim

e’s playing games with us Leaving bodies out in the open, and he’s doing a good ob, one frustrated detective told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time.

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Thirty-two years ago, a serial

To this day, a e vividly re members her black cross necklace with a jewel in its center.

mattresses, in a large trash bin, in a plywood box — along major highways where they would be easily found.

Continued on pg 14 After 30 years, the Package Killer, St. Louis’ most notorious serial killer, has been found BY RYAN KRULL

killer with a macabre modus ope randi stalked St. Louis, abducting women from the city’s south side and then taunting law enforce ment by leaving their lifeless bodies in plain view of morning tra c on the outskirts of the met ro Over the course of , the Package Killer murdered Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt and Sandy Little — all young mothers.

Mihan, Pruitt and Little were abducted from the Southside troll, then the city’s red-light district running along Cherokee Street between Jefferson and Gravois avenues. Muehlberg has confessed to taking them to his house in Bel-Ridge, where the vic tims were subjected to numerous acts of torture before Muehlberg strangled them. He then left their lifeless bodies in conspicuous “packages”— between a pair of

All women were found with lig atures around their necks, their faces

In the months prior to her death, Little lived with her infant son and her boyfriend, Chris Day, in Day’s mom’s apartment above an antique store at Nebraska and

SERIAL KILLER

Robyn Mihan was the Package Killer’s ﬁrst known victim. | COURTESY PHOTO

In addition to the Conex cable, other physical evidence connect ed the murders of Pruitt, Mihan and Little. The three women had hair from the same type of dog on the clothes they were found in, meaning they were likely held in close proximity to the same ani mal. According to a 1993 police re port, Muelhberg did indeed have a dog in the early 1990s.

Shortly after that, Danielle didn’t see her mom for weeks, and the family filed the missingperson report.

“Whoever did that to Robyn de serves to be sent to hell the same way he sent Robyn to heaven,” Sanders says.

Jackson did recall one ominous story she’d heard from her mom about one of the last times Pruitt was seen alive.

Muehlberg worked for Cherick Construction, a company head quartered in Maryland Heights. Authorities long suspected that the Package Killer may have been employed in construction. The killer used Conex cable, a material used by electricians to wire hous es, to tie the mattresses around Mihan’s body and to tie the trash bag over the bin containing Pruitt.

Likecovered.Mihan and Pruitt, Little was also a new mother when Muehlberg allegedly killed her. She’d given birth to her son Chris Day Jr. in 1989.

By the time Pruitt’s body was discovered in Maryland Heights in October, Muehlberg had already abducted his next victim, Sandy Little, whom Muehlberg held cap tive in his Bel-Ridge house. Police believe Little shared the basement with Pruitt’s dead body.

“He had two people,” Burgoon, the former detective, told the RFT in 2019. “Whoever it was had a

Pruitt’s granddaughter Anti nelle Jackson says neither she nor her sister, also named Bren da, know very much about their grandmother. “Nobody ever talks about her because it’s too pain ful,” Jackson says.

was“MyMuehlberg.mother,Danielle, died three years ago,” the younger Brenda Pruitt says. “She was depressed her whole life. She was very scared, with anxiety through the roof. This man has caused us more agony than I could ever explain.”

most certainly a torture chamber for Robyn Mihan, a place where Muehlberg murdered her.

Pruitt took Jackson’s mom, Dan ielle, out for ice cream on Chero kee Street. While the nine-yearold ate, Pruitt got in an argument with a man in an alley. Pruitt came back to her daughter in tears.

couple of bodies at the same time.” Little, 21, disappeared Labor Day weekend 1990 from the Southside Stroll and was found dead five months later, on Feb ruary 17, 1991, in O’Fallon, Mis souri, 30 miles west of St. Louis. A motorist on his way to work that morning discovered her body alongside Interstate 70, crammed in a home-fashioned box.

Maze and Jones made a simi

Continued from pg 13

larly gruesome discovery seven months later on October 5, 1990.

Detectives interviewed employ ees of Beiner Hardware, where the trash bin Pruitt was found in had been purchased. They identi fied a semi-regular who may have bought the bins. Police showed the employees photos of three suspects. The employees didn’t recognize any of them, and none of the suspects was Muehlberg.

“He was smart about where he dumped the bodies,” Burgoon said in 2019. “He knew to spread them out across jurisdictions to make things harder for us.”

Joe Burgoon, a St. Louis city de tective in the early 1990s who now works cold cases, says that Mi han’s body was found with quite a bit of blood and a ligature around her neck. There was a stab wound to the head that pierced the scalp but didn’t go through and contu sions on her face, cheek, wrist and feet. Some of these were defensive wounds, implying a struggle. Oth ers were postmortem. “My guess was she was in pain,” Burgoon told the RFT in 2019.

Brenda Pruitt had a nine-year-old daughter, Danielle. | VIA ANTINELLE PRUITT

14 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

The ice cream story has become family lore, and Brenda Pruitt’s granddaughters can’t help but wonder if the man their grand mother got into an argument with

Four days after abducting Mi han, Muehlberg dumped her life less body along State Highway E, 60 miles northwest of St. Louis in Lincoln County. He’d tied two mattresses around her remains, leaving a gory scene soon found by a lone commuter.

It would take months of pains taking work to identify the decom posed remains, but a dedicated fingerprint analyst named anet Majors eventually found that they belonged to 27-year-old Brenda Pruitt, whose family had report ed her missing on May 5, 1990, six months to the day before her body was found. She lived near the intersection of South Grand Boulevard and Cherokee Street.

Korky Sanders, a former boy friend of Mihan’s, was shown photos of her corpse taken by the medical examiner. The photos show unthinkable torture that still haunts Sanders 30 years later.

In 1966, when Gary was 17, the family moved to Salina, Kansas, where his father took a job with an oil Likecompany.theirfather, both Gary and his brother, Ronald, enlisted in the military during the Vietnam War. Gary completed basic train ing in 1968, though it’s not clear if he was ever deployed overseas. That same year his older brother, who was 21, died during battle in the Mekong Delta.

orn in 1949, Muehlberg grew up in Bellefontaine Neighbors at a time when the north-county municipal ity was experiencing rapid growth. Muehlberg’s father, Wil liam, had been a policeman until he left to join the military during World War II, earning a Purple Heart after being wounded in the

A judge ordered a mental-com petency examination be done on Muehlberg prior to his trial. He was convicted on the robbery charge but acquitted of rape. Af ter spending a month in prison, he was ordered to check into treat ment at a VA facility in Topeka, though it’s not clear if he ever did.

In February 1972, Muehlberg was charged with rape, kidnaping and aggravated robbery after break ing into a house in Salina where an 18-year-old girl was home alone. She told police the 23-year-old Muehlberg held her at knifepoint, raped her, and then forced her to accompany him to the bank to withdraw $25 to hand over to him.

ary married for the first time in June 1970. A grainy photo in the Salina Journal announcing the wedding shows a tall Muehlberg flashing a toothy grin The photo, even in its low resolution, belies the terror that was to come.

Sandy Little was trying to get clean when she was murdered. | COURTESY PHOTO

The man was questioned exten sively on numerous occasions but neverThroughoutcharged.the 1990s, Burgoon and other detectives continued working the case, investigating more than 450 leads over three years.Detective Sergeant Jodi We ber, the woman who eventually caught Muehlberg, says that it was only dumb luck that allowed him to evade capture at the time.

But her old life still beckoned. Day says Little worked the stroll in 1990, and he was at her side, him self hustling for clients. He kept an eye on her, and she kept an eye on him. But the night she was abduct ed, he was locked up in city jail.

“He was never on any detec tive’s radar,” she says. “More than 50 investigators worked on these cases back in the day, and not one linked anything to him.”

“I’ve never been able to go visit her grave,” he says. “I couldn’t face her. Now I guess I’ll have to.”

“Over the years, there were a lot of persons of interest, people that we thought were capable of doing this that we looked at long and hard,” Carson says. “[Muehlberg] was not on our radar.”

In 1992, the Post-Dispatch re ported that police had physical evidence connecting the man to Mihan’s murder, likely the blond the man had recognized. Police asked Lincoln County’s prosecut ing attorney to bring charges.

But the notion that serial kill ers never change their methods is more fiction than fact

But “then there was a blond that I did recognize,” the man said, “and I thought, ‘This is not good.’”

fter February 1991, Burgoon says the St. Louis Major Case Squad came to an agreement with federal law enforce ment: The next time the Package Killer struck, local police would seal off the scene so that in vestigators from the F could fly in from Quantico, Virginia, and process all the evidence.

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 15

A man who lived on Miami Street in south St. Louis was the police’s prime suspect for the Package Killer murders at the time. Police interviewed him on multiple occasions, showing him pictures of the victims.

According to Grewach, the only physical evidence connecting Mi han to the man on Miami Street was candle wax found on Mihan’s

Kenna Quinet is a professor emeritus of criminology from the

However, the Package Killer never struck again. At least that was the thinking for three de cades. Investigators assumed that because dead women stopped showing up in containers along highways, the Package Killer must have stopped taking lives.

Cherokee streets. A sense of duty to her newborn son motivated Little to get clean and get a more stable job. She died wearing the tattered remains of the uniform from her fast-food job.

They had no idea that the Pack age Killer had been sentenced to life in prison earlier that year. That case didn’t involve packages or sex workers. It didn’t even in volve a woman.

“They change their M.O. all the time. They want to kill as many people as they can for as long as they can,” she told the RFT in 2019. “They don’t want to get caught.”

Continued on pg 16

Less is known about Muehl berg’s mother, Christine. One of Muehlberg’s ex-wives tells the RFT Christine worked in account ing for a department store.

body.“She was apparently tortured before she was killed,” Grewach says. “This guy had this candle with the same type of wax, but that candle was sold in hundreds of different outlets.”

In 1995, a series of similar mur ders occurred in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis detectives were intrigued enough to travel there to investigate.

acific Theater e later served as mayor of Bellefontaine Neighbors for one term, 1955 to 1957.

Ed Grewach, now the general counsel for the Missouri Gaming Commission, worked for the Lin coln County Prosecuting Attor ney’s O ce in

Bill Carson worked the case as a detective in the early 1990s. Now he is chief of police in Maryland Heights, a municipality with only one unsolved homicide in its en tire 37-year history: Brenda Pruitt.

In January the following year in Salina, a 14-year-old was baby sitting even younger children when Muelhberg knocked on the door, asking if he could use the telephone. Brandishing a knife, he told her he was going to rob the house. He then tied up and gagged the young girl, locked her in the bathroom and began filling the bathtub with water. However,

“He was never on any detective’s radar. More than 50 investigators worked on these cases back in the day, and not one linked anything to him.”

University of Indiana-Indianapo lis and one of the few academics who studied serial killers.

“I didn’t worry because I didn’t know any of them,” this man told the RFT nearly 30 years later, add ing that he believed that meant the police wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him.

16 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

“She was scared to death of him,” Kennedy says.

Gary Muehlberg at 73. | MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

a car drove by and a panicked Muehlberg, thinking it was the girl’s parents, fled Muehlberg was again charged with aggravated assault.

“He always talked about what a secret organization it was and that they helped children so no body would ever investigate the Masons,” Layton says.

n those years, uehlberg was a

After their divorce, she says, he wasn’t particularly interested in spending time with his two children, who lived with her but also frequently spent time with Muehlberg’s mother. Muehlberg himself was rarely a presence in their lives.

Muehlberg had previously worked construction, but in 1993, the 43-year-old was telling oth ers that he was in ailing health. nstead of manual labor, he sold marijuana and dabbled in buying and selling used cars. He later told police that he frequently kept con siderable quantities of weed in his basement.Laytonsays that in the early ’90s Muehlberg tried to recruit

n February , uehlberg spread word around the Diner that he was trying to unload a 1989 Cadillac Fleetwood. Kenneth “Doc” Atchison, another regular, was in terested in purchasing the car.

Muehlberg, however, showed back up at the diner later that same night, showing off a stack of newly acquired cash.

“He took him over to his house and showed him a false wall in the basement, and said, got all these bricks of weed. Do you want to help me get rid of them?’” Layton says.

t was your friendly neighbor hood coffee shop,” says Larry Kennedy, a regular who got to know Muehlberg. “Aside from the people who went there at night.”

Upon his release from prison, Muehlberg attended classes at Central Methodist College and Central Missouri State University before moving to St. Louis in the lateHe1970s.married again in 1980. The RFT spoke to the woman, now in her 70s, who was married to Muehlberg for six years before di vorcing him in 1986.

ater in , uehlberg’s first wife divorced him. He had little contact with his wife or son from that first marriage thereafter That same year, his mother and father moved back to St. Louis, where his father died of a heart attack soon after.

regular at the Diner, a restaurant open 24 hours a day in Overland.

“He was more narcissistic than he was anything,” Kennedy says.

Deborah Layton, who frequent ed and later worked at the Diner, says that among the milieu of regulars, Muehlberg rubbed just about everyone the wrong way.

tchison’s family filed a miss ing-persons report, but though Muehlberg was immediately a suspect, police waited to search his home.

The timing of the fire is signifi cant t occurred in the basement where Muehlberg almost certain ly had been keeping the bodies of his victims, in some cases for sev eral months, over the past year. And it likely destroyed important evidence.

got away from him, she says nd was glad did after found out that he killed that guy later on.” When told why exactly a report er was calling inquiring about her ex-husband, she adds ow ’m really, really glad could have been dead.”

Another regular from that time said at night the diner became host to a “wild crowd” where people avoided telling each other their last Muehlbergnames.was part of the night crowd, Kennedy says.

On February 8, Atchison told Kennedy and Layton that he was going over to Muehlberg’s house with $6,000 to buy the car.

At trial, Muehlberg’s lawyer claimed that Muehlberg had gone insane at the time of the incident. Muehlberg’s wife, mother and psychiatrist testified for the de fense. The jury found Muehlberg guilty, and he was sentenced to five years in prison

Both Kennedy and Layton said they were worried about Atchison going by himself, as Muehlberg had always been a menace and was now involved in large-scale drugButdealing.Atchison, 57, waved his friends off and headed over to Muehlberg’s house alone.

Layton adds that Muehlberg was always hanging out with a man who openly displayed his gun and claimed to be a police of ficer, even though everyone knew he was a security guard. “A rent-acop,” Layton says.

“He was the type of guy who was always sni ng around, try ing to make a quick buck,” says another diner regular at the time who asked his name not be used.

SERIAL KILLER

She describes Muehlberg as an unremarkable husband who was ust fine as a father e always had problems with authority at work, she says. He always resent ed having to listen to a boss.

Gary Muehlberg kept his victims in a secret basement room in his home in Bel-Ridge. e home has since been torn down. | GOOGLE MAPS

her husband into his burgeoning marijuana business. Muehlberg even showed her husband where he kept his stash.

“You’d see him there at 10, 11, 12 o’clock,” Kennedy says. “And then he’d be there off and on the rest of the Muehlbergnight.”stalked his waitress girlfriend, often posting up at the Diner for the majority of her shift, regulars say. When someone Muehlberg didn’t like came in to eat, Muehlberg would wait out side by his van, peering in until the person he disliked left.

“Gary Muehlberg was crazy. He was always bringing women to his house. He was a very bizarre man. He had bizarre ideas, and he was dirty, like he never cleaned himself,” she says. “He kind of thought he was it, but no one re ally wanted anything to do with him From what learned later, he was picking up waitresses from affle ouses and places likeBoththat.”Layton and the brother of a woman Muehlberg dated at the time say that Muehlberg often

n the following days, according to a 1993 police report, Muehlberg contacted at least two people and asked them to construct a plywood box made to his specifications n

n February 1991, the same month that Muehlberg alleg edly left Little’s body beside a highway in O’Fallon, Missouri, a fire destroyed a portion of Muehlberg’s home in Bel-Ridge.

bragged about being an o cer in the Freemasons and had a highly inflated sense of his importance

He was never seen alive again.

Continued from pg 15

SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 17

n the basement’s secret room they found Atchison dead, en

Weber says that because Muehl berg is a prison inmate, his DNA was in the F ’s Combined ndex ystem, waiting for her to connect it to the murders of Mi han, Pruitt and Little.

Weber says the case became her passion. For 14 years, she worked on it by herself, poring over old reports and re-interviewing key people. But most of all, she was waiting for technology to advance to the point where the remaining pieces of physical evidence from 1990 could be tested for DNA.

Her meticulous investigation crawled along for more than a de cade. Then, this summer, a major breakthrough came.

Chris, ’ve been working on your mom’s case since 2008,” We ber told him. “And the reason we have you here today is because ’m getting pretty close Day Jr. battles fentanyl addic tion. Like his mother had done, his girlfriend works the streets. t’s a tragic repetition of history that gives his father, Chris Day, abundant heartache and worry.

“He wanted to shake my hand at the end of the interview,” she says.Weber says she had no choice but to extend her hand as well — it was in everyone’s interest that Muehlberg remain willing to keep talking.

Nowadays, the name Gary Muehlberg doesn’t ring much of a bell at the Diner, which op erates under a different name, even for some longtime regulars. The loved ones of those he killed, though, still remember.

he’d soon find out that he had even more to tell her.

Continued on pg 19

Muehlberg was arrested one month later, on March 27, 1993. The deputy from the Wayne Coun ty heriff’s epartment in llinois had no idea he’d handcuffed a se rialDuringkiller.interrogation in St. Lou is, Muehlberg admitted to police that Atchison was dead in his base ment, though he swore he hadn’t killed him. He began to cooperate with law enforcement, but only be cause he was trying to pin the mur der on his boss at the construction company. Muehlberg insisted that he was being framed.

t wasn’t long until eber had a name to match the DNA: Gary Muehlberg.Maryland Heights Police Chief Bill Carson acknowledges that Muehlberg was not on the radar

Weber paid him a visit in Potosi.

t was hard for him to talk about,” she says, describing him as remorseful f you can believe that.”However, Weber says she devel oped a rapport with Muehlberg. The second time she interviewed him, he opened up.

During Muehlberg’s 1995 trial, the defense claimed he had been framed by his boss. The jury didn’t buy the implausible story, sentencing Muehlberg to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Doug

Detectives describe boxes upon boxes of reports, evidence and other material associated with the case, all of it stored in the Mary land Heights police station. We ber went through it all again, but Muehlberg’s name was nowhere in the countless pages of inter views and witness statements.

Atchison said he didn’t want

“The lab said, ‘We got a hit. We don’t know who it is, but we got a hit,’” Weber recalls.

vestigators would later learn that Muehlberg used the makeshift box to store Atchison’s body.

Wisdom adds, “This guy must have been a pretty tough old guy because he had a rope around his neck. He’d been stabbed. And he’d been shot. They tried to kill him three different ways.”

espite his life sentence, Muehlberg refused to con cede his guilt, penning lengthy longshot legal mo tions appealing his convic tion on the grounds that his trial had been unfair, the jury biased and his defense inadequate.

“They couldn’t get his whole body in there. His feet were stick ing out,” Kerry Wisdom, one of the detectives who searched the house, tells the RFT

By 1999, his options for appeal had been exhausted. Muehlberg would be spending the rest of his life in Accordingprison.to a source familiar with Potosi Correctional Center, Muehlberg has been a “model inmate” who keeps to himself and doesn’t give corrections staff problems.Muehlberg had been in prison for 29 years when, this summer, Jodi Weber, the detective with the O’Fallon Police Department, showed up to ask him about the murders of Mihan, Pruitt and Lit tle 32 years prior.

Weber needed Day Jr.’s help be cause the DNA that detectives had from his mother had been com promised. They needed a sample from Day Jr. to prove that Little’s DNA was on the same material as Muehlberg’s.Bythesummer, police sources said they had four pieces of physi cal evidence from the three victims that connected back to Muehlberg.

Muehlberg had also secured Atchison’s hands in a pair of handcuffs.ThecarMuehlberg had claimed to want to sell to Atchison turned out to be stolen. After killing the prospective buyer and taking his $6,000 cash, Muehlberg sold it to his boss at the construction company.

Kennedy coming along. Kennedy says he realized years later that it was probably because Kennedy and Muehlberg were perpetually atKennedyodds. still clearly remem bers that night.

“Like it was yesterday,” he says.

She says he described the details of all three gruesome murders, giving her a confession t almost seemed to give him relief.

Detective Sergeant Jodi Weber is the o cer who ﬁnally tracked down the murderer. | COURTESY O’FALLON POLICE DEPARTMENT

Prior to police searching his home, Muehlberg told detectives that he had built a “secret room” in the northeast corner of his basement.“Headvised that entry to the room could be gained by pushing on a drywall panel just inside the door leading from the basement to the driveway,” the police report says.Muehlberg’s house near En dicott Park was leveled at some point in the past two years, but old photos show a forlorn-look ing, vinyl-sided ranch far recessed from ast dgar venue ts rear door led directly to the basement. A shoddily overbuilt front porch would have concealed whatever Muehlberg was doing from any prying eyes on the street.

From llinois, he called friends offering them money to go to his house and pretend to do lawn work while checking to see if police were surveilling the premises. He of fered one man, Jerry Akers, $20,000 to move the box containing Atchi son’s body out of the basement. Akers declined. He asked another man to let his dog out and, while he was at it, move the box containing Atchison out of the basement. The man agreed to let the dog out but left the crude co n alone

tombed in the hastily constructed wooden box crude co n is how police later described it to the Post-Dispatch.

O’Fallon, Missouri, is where Sandy Little’s body was dumped in February 1991. Weber is a 22year veteran of the force and a member of St. Louis County’s Ma jor Case Squad. She arrested infa mous killer Pam Hupp. Since 2008 she’s taken a keen interest in the Package Killer cold case.

Sidel, the prosecutor who put Muelhberg in prison in 1995, tells the RFT through a court spokesperson, “We had no infor mation tying him to other crimes.”

Muehlberg remained in the house for a week with Atchison’s dead body in the makeshift co n in the Accordingbasement.toa 1993 police re port, he then fled to llinois, tell ing his “rent-a-cop” friend that if police searched his basement he would be “locked up the rest of his natural born days.”

before that t wasn’t until the match came back. Then we started looking at this guy, and all the piec es started falling into place.”

Detectives searching the prem ises in 1993 found total disarray. Muehlberg had been sleeping on a foldout bed in the living room. ts sheets were soiled, and dirty clothes were strewn about every where.

Muehlberg was not in good health, which meant that Weber had to act quickly or risk the man taking his secrets to the grave. have to be friends with him, Weber says. “‘Friends’ is too strong a word have to be open to what he says whether like it or not Muehlberg was initially hesi tant to discuss his heinous crimes.

told him to stand there and wait for me was in my work uniform, and wanted to go up to the house and get a shower and change,” Kennedy says.

Atchison’s friend Kennedy re calls the moment in the Diner right before Atchison went over to Muehlberg’s house to buy the Cadillac.

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“He was surprised to see us af ter 32 years,” Weber says of that first meeting

n uly, andy ittle’s son, Chris Day Jr., was asked to come to the O’Fallon police station where We ber swabbed his nose for a DNA sample.

18 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

Mihan expressed gratitude to Weber and the other de tectives, but she still held bitter ness over how the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department had treated her family in 1990. Lincoln Coun ty is where Muehlberg left Robyn’s body alongside a Missouri high way, and deputies told her that Robyn “was not murdered in our fair city. She was just dumped here.” That still smarts.

Talbot says she was sick when she saw Muehlberg’s photo.

About three weeks after the meeting with the families, Weber went to interview Muehlberg for a third time. He didn’t have much more to say to her.

after Mihan’s murder, 40-year-old Donna Reit meyer was out working the stroll with her friend, 24-year-old Sheila Leach. Leach and Reitmeyer had a tight bond, having met while serving time together in prison and now keeping an eye on one another while on the street.

“I’m a paranoid person to this

Mostly, they talked about how the murders impacted the fami lies for generations.

money.After the meeting, Day found himself struggling with compli cated feelings. He was grateful to Weber, to Burgoon, to everyone who hadn’t forgotten about Little.

Leach went to a nearby KFC to buy a soda, and when she came out, Reitmeyer was gone. Hours went by without Reitmeyer re turning, and the next morning, Leach reported her missing.

Weber explained that the 1993 murder had been different. The victim had been a man, someone Muehlberg knew, the motivation

Continued from pg 17

“I wanted to give you guys some answers,” Weber said. “That’s what this is all about.”

Weber said that she’d be shar ing the first name and a photo of the man who, though he hadn’t yet been charged, she was certain had killed Mihan, Pruitt and Little. She said that she had interviewed this man in prison twice and that during the second interview, he hadSeveralconfessed.gasped at the word “confessed.”Weberthen asked those assem bled to share memories of Mihan, Pruitt and Little.

Weber is now poring through missing-persons reports from that time frame. There’s likely another family out there that for three decades has been left to wonder what happened to their daughter, sister,Webermother.wants to bring them some answers. n

“Sandy would be proud of me,” heHesaid.felt that her murder being solved would be an important step toward closure, though he was upset his son didn’t make it to the private meeting that day.

Weber said he was.

Weber explained that Gary had been in prison since 1993 for murder.“What kind of murder was it?” one of the family members asked. The question had been awkward ly phrased, but there was no good way to ask it.

In chairs where trespassers and drunk drivers typically wait to have their infractions adjudicat ed, the dozen or so family mem bers took seats.

Geneva Talbot, Sandy Little’s half sister, said that she hates that she never got a chance to re ally know her sister. “There was a big age gap. She was 20 when she died; I was just 13, a brat annoy ing her all the time,” she said.

ary Muehlberg has chil dren and a sister. His fam ily, to some extent, is still in touch with him. An indi vidual who has interacted with him says that he likely fears the reaction from family mem bers once they learn he didn’t just kill an acquaintance 30 years ago but also tortured and murdered five women, at least four of them youngMuehlberg’smothers. crimes, by their nature, defy any attempt to make sense of them. Weber says that he has not given any reason that he did what he did other than stating “it was a dark period in his life.”

Details are still scant about the content of Muehlberg’s letter, but in it, he confessed to two more murders.Bothwomen.Threemonths

“What could he have more im portant than this?” he asked after ward.Saundra

Weber, careful with what she could reveal at that moment, said truthfully he had addresses asso ciated with him in both.

Eight days later, Reitmeyer’s body was found in a brown Rubbermaid trash bin near the intersection of South Broadway and Gasconade Street, seven blocks south of the stroll. A price sticker on the bin indicated it had been bought from Beiner Hardware, a store with only two locations in town. Brenda Pruitt would be found in a similar trash bin in October.

uehlberg says there is a fifth victim as well, a woman he killed in early Muehlberg1991. told Weber he doesn’t remember the fifth vic tim’s name, if he ever even did know. All he can say is that he left her body in a metal container in a self-service car wash.

But then, a few days later, We ber got a letter from Muehlberg.

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In the wake of his girlfriend’s death, Chris Day remained mired in addiction for decades, serving long stints in prison. Burgoon of ten visited Day when Day would get locked up. “He’d show me the picture of Sandy he kept with him. He’d say, ‘This isn’t what she’d want,’” Day recalled.

“They were somebody’s sister, daughter, you know, my moth er,” Talbot added. “Just because you have the devil on your back doesn’t make you a bad person. My sister was only 20. She could have gotten out of that situation and become an amazing person. We’ll never know.”

n August 5, friends and relatives of Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt and Sandy Little gathered in a nonde script municipal courtroom in O’Fallon, issouri, to find out who killed the three women 32 yearsWeberago.had arranged the private event quickly. The family mem bers were only notified the day prior. No one knew for certain what police were going to say, be yond that they had good news.

“But he ain’t going to do a day for this,” he said of Muehlberg. “He’s already doing life without. They can’t give him anything else.”

“City or county?” Tommy asked.

In recent years, Day has settled down, gotten his life on track.

Tommy Mihan asked if Gary was a St. Louis guy.

There was talk on the street that Reitmeyer had overdosed and the panicked people around her had put her body in the bin. Police had investigated Reitmeyer’s death in connection to the Package Kill er, but never had any definitive proof until Muehlberg’s written confession.

SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 19

“And that’s about all I really know about her,” Brenda said.

After the meeting, Little’s step sister Barb Studt said, “When it’s all said and done, Sandy’s killer still gets to eat meals, watch TV, read, make friends if you can do that in prison. But he hasn’t suf fered, and I don’t know if he will ever suffer enough for robbing the lives from these girls and causing the cascading traumas of the children left behind.”

SERIAL KILLER

“But at least he ain’t going to hurt no one,” Day’s girlfriend, Jack ie,Dayadded.was convinced he recog nized Muehlberg from crossing paths with him during a stint in state“Heprison.wasquiet,” Day said. “He kept to himself.”

After everyone had a chance to speak, Weber displayed a photo of uehlberg, and for the first time the families saw the face of the man who took their loved ones.

“I was disturbed that he looked so average. Like a grandpa,” Tal bot recalls later. “That face will forever be in my head. I hate his face, and only saw it for five min utes. Knowing he took the lives of these young women without a piece of remorse. There’s no way he could feel remorse. He’s lived with this ust fine for years don’t think he ever had a real de sire to confess. He just couldn’t deny the hard evidence. I hope he gets death for this. It won’t bring these women back, but an eye for an eye. He deserves no less.”

Leach told police that on June 3 she drove Reitmeyer to the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Chippe wa Street where Reitmeyer hoped to make some money. Reitmeyer gave her friend a business card and, according to a police report, said that if anything ever hap pened to her, Leach should tell people about this guy.

day,” Talbot said. “My six-year-old child knows that there’s bad peo ple out there. And I’m teaching her that at six years old because there are bad people out there.”

The name on the card was not Muehlberg’s but a Frank, whom Reitmeyer had dated a few times. She was afraid of him because he seemed obsessed with her, stalk ing her while she was working.

More than anything, over the last 30 years, the family members had felt their loved ones’ absence. Brenda Pruitt’s granddaughter, also named Brenda, said that the only things she knows about her grandmother are that she was pe tite and energetic, always up on her feet, going for early morning walks. She was also clumsy, a trait the younger Brenda inherited.

The group fell silent. The pain that had clung to them for 30 years now had a face and a name —The“Gary.”photo of Muehlberg showed him with a neatly trimmed, white goatee, a crown of short white hair around his bald head. He sat upright at the table where Weber interviewed him. He wore a drab prison-issue shirt.

The first few leaves have barely begun to fall, yet we’ve already set back our clocks … all the way to the 1870s. At noon, the Kran zberg Arts Foundation’s weekly High Noon at the High Low (3301 Washington Avenue, 314-5330367) series will highlight the ab surdity of the moment’s current book-banning movement with a program that celebrates the free dom to read. The event, held in partnership with the Volunteer Lawyers and Accounts for the Arts, takes place during Banned Books Week and features story time with celebrated local drag queen Maxi Glamour followed by a discussion of notable freedomto-read cases and Missouri’s cur rent book-ban push with attorney Mark Sablemen. Admission is free; for more information, to-read.vlaa.org/celebrating-the-freedom-visit

Leather Daddy

Somewhat confusingly, Hispanic Heritage Month — the U.S. com memoration of the contributions of Hispanic and Latinx peoples — began on September 15 and

20 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

SATURDAY 09/24

Tilting at the Windmill

Tower Grove Pride used to be one of the best (and hottest) par ties of the year. The outdoor cel ebration of all things queer used to happen during Pride Month

Pride in the Park

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

Viva St. Louis

novel to win the Pulitzer Prize, and it’s not every day a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist comes to town. So don’t miss the opportuni ty to see Andrew Sean Greer read from his new book and take ques tions at the beautiful Ethical Soci ety of St. Louis (9001 Clayton Road, Ladue; 314-991-0955). Greer’s very funny novel Less is about a mid dling novelist, Arthur Less, who needs to get out of town to escape a dreaded wedding invite. So he goes on a round-the-world liter ary tour. It won the Pulitzer in 2018. Now Greer is back with Less is Lost. Same character. Different adventure. The event kicks off at 7 p.m. and costs $34 for one or $39 for two.

FRIDAY 09/23

Award-Winning

ust off your finest lederhosen and start exercising your steinhoisting arm because Das Bevo’s (4749 Gravis Avenue, 314-8322251) second annual Oktoberfest celebration is upon us. The fes tivities kick off Friday night with an accordion-led performance by Larry Hallar’s Good Times Band and continue all weekend long. Bring the kids and let them pogo to the polka in the bounce house; bring your long stubby pups for a chance to take home the gold in the weiner dog costume contest; and definitely bring a designated driver so that you may properly quench your thirst. There will be plenty of live music and party vibes, and perhaps best of all, the whole event is free. We’ll prost to that! For more information, visit dasbevo.com.

in June, which meant that many people spent their weekends in Tower Grove Park sweating off their rainbow eyeshadow. But many things changed with the pandemic, including the schedul ing of this big party. Because of a huge wave of COVID-19 cases, it was pushed until September last year, and well, everybody loved it. Cooler temperatures (and a bit of a breeze) helped to raise the vibe even higher, so the organizers stuck with it. This year at Tower rove ride, you can find all of the same features you enjoy each year like music, food, shopping and an endless amount of oppor tunities to volunteer to help the community. The event begins at noon, and admission is free. Visit towergrovepride.com for more information.

High Noon at the High Low will feature a storytime with Maxi Glamour. | COURTESY VLAA

THURSDAY 09/22

Ban This

It’s uncommon for a humorous

The longest-running annual leath er contest in the country spon sored by a single leather club is back for its 39th year. Mr. Mis souri Leather Weekend 2022 kicks off with the Black and Lou Fetish Ball on Friday, September 23. Show up late to the ball, and you may be punished, organiz ers say. During the day on Satur day, September 24, you can enjoy Master Kink Klasses, educational seminars open to the public. The pageant itself will begin at 10 p.m. that day. Contestants will be judged on cruise wear, physique and personality, formal wear and a short speech. Admission is $10. Finally on Sunday, September 25, join the Mr. Missouri Leather Vic tory Brunch at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $30 and includes two drinks and brunch. All events are at Tropi cal Liqueurs (4104 Manchester Avenue, 314-899-9404), except the o cial after party, which will be at Rehab Bar and Grill (4054 Chouteau Avenue, 314-652-3700) on Saturday.

CALENDAR

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22-28

Taste of St. Louis will feature around 30 local food vendors. | EGAN O’KEEFE

Star Gazing

WEDNESDAY 09/28

Science Stories

Have an event you’d like consid ered for our calendar? Email cal endar@riverfronttimes.com.

Art Outdoors

SmorgasbordLouis

SUNDAY 09/25

After highlighting the best of San Francisco; Boston; and Washing ton, D.C., the Cultural Landscape Foundation turns its attention to St. Louis and the Missouri River Valley this weekend — with a ros ter of free walking tours Saturday and Sunday designed to intro duce locals and visitors alike to the great public sites dotting the region. What’s Out There Week end St. Louis includes an archi tect-led tour of Forest Park’s Jewel Box, a docent-led tour of down town Hermann, a preservation ists’ take on Greenwood Cemetery and much, much more. There are no less than 35 illuminating op tions, with the chance to spend 60

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 21

Calling the ambitious, the indeci sive, the adventurous — the eat ers of St. Louis. This weekend is your weekend because it’s Taste of St. Louis at Ballpark Village (601 Clark Avenue). The event, which bills itself as “St. Louis’ big gest free event,” brings together about 30 local food establish ments every year to create what’s certainly the city’s biggest smor gasbord. This year’s lineup is too long to share here but features an eclectic mix including Simba Ugandan Restaurant, Hi-Pointe rive- n and oardwalk affles Ice Cream. There will also be live music throughout the weekend: Ozomatli on Friday, September 23; Eli Young Band on Saturday, Sep tember 24; and James Biko and DJ

Shakespeare at the Mill

St.

If you’re strolling through the heart of Bevo Mill this weekend, you might catch an unusual sight: a full-on Shakespeare production. But Shakespeare in the Streets isn’t a regular-old staging but rather an original play that’s cre ated from stories from residents in a specific neighborhood as well as an existing Shakespeare work.

On a Monday, after a long day at work and the sun has set, the James S. McDonnell Planetarium (5050 Oakland Avenue, 314-2894400) will open its doors so that attendees can tour the premises and admire the Milky Way in the largest artificial sky in the Western Hemisphere all while … doing yoga? That’s right: At 7 p.m. the Forest Park planetarium will host Yoga Under the Stars, an event that will allow visitors to enjoy yoga under the gaze of the stars. “The lights stay low,” organizers say, “but the stars stay bright.” The evening kicks off with a 15-minute tour of the stars. Then visitors can enjoy an hour of yoga suitable both for beginners and more advanced practitioners. Tickets cost $25 but space is limited. For more infor mation visit: views/yoga-under-the-stars.slsc.org/event-over

une with eys ass rums to finish things off on unday, ep tember 25. Admission is free, but food costs vary. Hours daily.

In Bevo Mill, this includes high lighting the rich history of immi grants in the neighborhood and its roots in Germany, Bosnia and Afghanistan. It will be the ninth Shakespeare in the Streets pro duction yet –– all taking place in different St. Louis neighborhoods, stretching from the Ville to Maple wood, and now to Bevo Mill. The event, which starts at 8 p.m., is free. Show up early to grab a lawn chair or bring a blanket or your own chair, and enjoy the show. For more information, visit org/production/bevo-mill.stlshakes.

runs until midway through Oc tober (the month roughly begins with Mexican Independence and ends around Día de la Raza). In the metro area, there’s perhaps no better way to celebrate than to attend the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival, which kicks off at Soulard Park at 10 a.m. Sat urday, September 24, and ends on Sunday, September 25, at 8 p.m. This year’s festival returns after a two-year hiatus with live music from national artists; the food of Mexico, Colombia, Honduras and more from local vendors; folkloric dancers from Carnaval de Tlax cala; craft vendors from Bolivia, Mexico and Ecuador; a los niños corner for the kiddos and more. The organizers welcome St. Lou isans of all ethnicities, and admis sion is free.

Walk This Way

to 90 minutes appreciating spots from Carondelet Park to the city’s Ville neighborhood to Fort Belle fontaine. The goal? To help you discover the little-known design history of places you pass by ev ery day. Visit toursrundownthere-weekend-st-louistclf.org/whats-out-toseetheandregister.Allofthearefree.

eeing art in t ouis’ fine galler ies and museums is hard to beat. But going to an outdoor art event where you can pick up some great pieces to take home and admire 24/7 might be even better. One of the finest such opportunities to do so comes at Art in the Park St. Louis Hills. The family-friendly fest returns this year after a twoyear hiatus. Visitors will be able to enjoy art, music and food against the beautiful backdrop of Francis Park (intersection of Eichelberger Street and Donovan Avenue) and its lily-festooned pond. Visitors can opt into the festival’s raffle, which has prizes that range from jewelry to prints to sculptures and wall art. The festivities kick off at 10 a.m. and run through 5 p.m. Admission is free. More informa tion at artintheparkstl.com.

MONDAY 09/26

Story Collider stages live storytell ing events across the country to demonstrate the role that science plays in our lives, sharing some of those stories on a weekly podcast. The shows feature storytellers who run the gamut from special ists to regular people. The next St. Louis-based Story Collider fea tures tales about finding yourself after your habitat evolves” from Christienne Hinz, a professor of Asian and world history; Taylor Stone, a PhD candidate in viral im munology; Keith Duncan, research scientist; and Elizabeth Haswell, biology professor. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Public Media Commons of St. Louis Public Radio (3653 Ol ive Street). Tickets are $10. n

t was the beginning of 2020, and Matthew Fuller was look ing forward to an exciting year. For the first time ever, he was booked solid with music gigs for the entire calendar, a lineup of shows that would take him all over the country doing what he loved He was on top of the world, but in a few short months, he watched each of those shows get canceled as the pandemic ravaged life as we knew it. It was hard enough to bear, but things would get worse for Fuller a couple of months later when a car accident upended his life, leaving him homebound and debilitated for a year.

party the two hosted, he decided to try out making toasted ravi oli from scratch is friends loved them, which made Fuller reali e he could actually make a go of his idea. He turned to Abernathy and asked her if he should do it. Her answer, without hesitation, was yes.Abernathy and Fuller joke that,

From le : Sous Chef Jamell Cooney, Brittany Abernathy and Matthew Fuller. | ANDY PAULISSEN

T Toasted are clear once you try their wares ot only have b ernathy and Fuller created more versions of a uni uely t ouis dish they have shown us how good our deep-fried stuffed dough pillows can be when treated with the care and respect they deserve

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 23 [REVIEW]

Fuller was unsure of what to do with his life ven as he regained his strength, his music career has not yet rebounded. He had worked in real estate to pay the bills prior to the pandemic, but it wasn’t the path he wanted to take. His wife, Brittany Abernathy, had some ideas he reminded him that there was something else he loved to do Fuller had always been a talented home cook and had en oyed his time working in restaurants urely there was a way to turn that passion into something more Abernathy’s suggestion sparked something within Fuller n , he had the idea for a concept that would feature different types of toasted ravioli hat form it would take, he wasn’t sure, but he figured that a million other people surely had the same idea and never pursued it owever, the idea came flooding back to him, and one night, for a dinner

once they set their plans in mo tion, those plan took on a life of their own ven before they had their first pop-up, they’d secured a meeting with the culinary team at City Foundry through a mutual ac uaintance the Foundry folks were so impressed with the toast ed ravioli idea that they sent ber nathy and Fuller a letter of intent,

asking them to be a part of one of the first waves of vendors in the Foundry’s food hall. Quickly, Ab ernathy and Fuller began working out recipes and partnering with their friends at their local water ing hole, the Drawing Board, for their first pop-up under the name

e Bu alo chicken rav starts with Frank’s Red Hot–infused dough and is stu ed with Bu alo-sauced shredded chicken. | ANDY PAULISSEN

STL Toasted takes a St. Louis classic and sets a new standard

CAFE 23

T Toasted’s ravs are no dinky, long-fro en fare you drunkenly gobble up between shots of ame son at your local dive bar Fuller’s beauties are robust, voluptuous pillows, their thick dough more

Continued on pg 25

Toasted Rav of the Town

STL 3730ToastedFoundryWay (inside City Foundry). Sun.-Tues. noon-7 p.m., Wed. noon-8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. noon-9 p.m.

T Toasted The bu that first event generated led to a few ad ditional pop-ups, and before they knew it, they had a robust Insta gram following that was banging at the doors when they finally opened at City Foundry on une

Though there is no t-rav shortage in the t ouis area, the reasons for all of the fanfare surrounding

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

24 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

Toasted’s sweet offer ings are equally successful. A

It’s something the community has clearly picked up on; Aber nathy and Fuller can barely meet demand and have even signed a lease on a production space in or der to fulfill their customers’ de sire for more ravioli. Fuller jokes that taking on another thing in the midst of all they have going on is intimidating but that he keeps asking Abernathy what to do, and she keeps saying yes. Her position is understandable. How can any one say no to STL Toasted? n

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 25

lemon-blackberry gooey butter cake version stuffs housemade gooey butter cake into a lemon zest–infused dough, a combina tion that sounds over the top but is surprisingly balanced and restrained. A side of tart black berry coulis cuts through the sweetness. As delicious as it is, the Oreo Cheesecake Truffle des sert ravioli steals the show with its cocoa-flavored dough and filling made from crushed Oreo cookies and mascarpone cheese that flows out when pierced like a thick, chocolaty cookies-andcream river. The only thing that makes this better is dipping it in the accompanying fresh whipped cream or delectable coffee-mas carpone glaze. Abernathy and Fuller created this masterpiece to honor a friend who recently lost her battle with mental health. It’s

STL

STL Toasted shines beyond the classic. Herbed ricotta dominates the three-cheese version (moz zarella and parmigiano-reggiano round out the rest of the cheese filling), giving the ravioli the feel of a fried manicotti. A loadedpotato option gives you all the joy of a potato skin — creamy potato mash, bacon, cheese and green onions — nestled into a deep-fried pasta shell. Paired with a side of green onion–flecked sour cream, it gives the bar and grill staple a run for its money. Spinach arti choke ravioli, too, takes the joy of a classic appetizer, spinach dip,

However, STL Toasted’s most delectable savory offering is its Buffalo chicken rav. A true patri ot like Fuller does not simply fill a standard shell with some Buf falo-seasoned chicken. Instead, he begins by infusing his regu lar dough base with Frank’s Red Hot, then stuffs the pasta with tender, Buffalo-sauced shredded chicken, cheddar and mozza rella cheeses and green onions. And lest one think they have to choose between being a ranch or blue cheese person, Fuller pairs the dish with both a Franks Red Hot–infused, chunky blue cheese sauce and zesty ranch dressing, giving you the funk, heat, cream and zing that is the best of both worlds.STL

a beautiful tribute and one that underscores how, under its easy, whimsical vibe, there is real sub stance to STL Toasted.

STL Toasted Original beef (4) ..........................................$8 Buffalo chicken (8) ..................................$18 Oreo Cheesecake Trufﬂe (1)..................$3.50

STL TOASTED

Continued from pg 23

STL

dough almost has a baked feel despite being fried. | ANDY PAULISSEN

Toasted’s sweet o erings are as successful as its savory ones. | ANDY PAULISSEN

Toasted is open in the Foundry. | ANDY PAULISSEN

and presents it in a creative form.

akin to a hand pie than rubbery, big-box bar fare. Fuller makes the dough from scratch every day and rolls it out slightly thicker than traditional toasted ravioli; as such, it almost has a baked feel to it because it doesn’t soak up as much grease from the fryer as a thinnerFuller’sversion.carewith the dough sets the tone for the entire STL Toast ed experience. His original beef version, for instance, ticks all of the flavor boxes you want from a classic St. Louis t-rav: seasoned ground beef, marinara sauce with a hint of, but not too much, zest, umami from parmesan cheese and a whisper of fryer grease. However, his components are the best versions of themselves: The meat is tender but not pasty, the sauce is shockingly bright and the parmesan is freshly shredded and poured so liberally over the top it looks like the ravs got caught in a snowstorm. This is the standard by which all other toasted ravioli should be judged.

26 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

“It’s fun because tropical and equatorial and island-style is the world we live in here,” Wiggins says. “It’s fun for me to reimagine what that could mean rather than just playing up allspice and pumpkin and putting smoke into traditional molds. My team and I are excited to try to come up with something a little more unexpected.”

wickedly popular Hallow een-themed pop-up bar is back again this year, prom ising paranormal vibes, haunted tiki cocktails and luau-inspired food. Corpse Re viver (210 North Euclid Avenue), the seasonal concept from the minds behind Lazy Tiger, Yellow belly and Retreat Gastropub, will run from Thursday, October 13, through Saturday, October 29, giv ing guests the opportunity to cel ebrate spooky season at one of the city’s essential cocktail bars.

According to co-owner and ac claimed bartender Tim Wiggins, this year’s Corpse Reviver, held at Lazy Tiger, will be a bit different from those in years past.

Caws Celebrationfor

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Corpse Reviver Halloween pop-up returns to Lazy Tiger

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

at Crow (1931 South 12th Street, 314-934-1400) — the new concept from the owners of the popular Maplewood bar and res taurant the Crow’s Nest — may have a different name than its sister concept and a couple of extra dishes, but co-owner Kenny Snarzyk insists its es sence is the same.

“The excitement the community has for it and the fun it brings for the staff — we’re just really happy to bring that back again this year,” Wiggins says. n

Born on Halloween, Wiggins says that he has always had an a nity for this sort of nostalgic, vintage Scooby-Doo/Brady Bunchgoes-to-Hawaii way of celebrating the season. This year, he and his team have tried to capture that feeling by playing up Yellowbelly’s and Lazy Tiger’s existing equato rial themes and adding a haunted surf rock playlist and decorations that suggest paranormal tiki.

Corpse Reviver, the popular Halloween pop-up at Lazy Tiger, returns on ursday, October 13. | COURTESY OF LAZY TIGER

“If you walked in here and didn’t know we were related to the Crow’s est, you’d figure it out pretty quickly,” Snarzyk says. “Either that, or you’d think we were ripping them off pretty badly.”

featuring dishes such as a teriyakistyle cold soba noodle salad, spam fried rice and a pork-butt plate with slaw and crispy potatoes.

Eat Crow brings heavy metal and mac and cheese to Soulard

For Snarzyk and his business partners Eliza Coriell and RJ Marsh, the main reason to open Eat Crow was to capture that Crow’s Nest magic for even more diners. It’s something they had been talking about well before the pandemic, but once they re opened for in-person service fol lowing an 11-month shutdown, they were so inundated with customers that they figured the time was right to expand. They had no room left to do so in their Maplewood location; after reno vating their back patio, the real estate footprint was as large as municipal zoning would al low. With nowhere to grow on site, they figured their best op tion was to open an additional location.Snarzyk, Coriell and Marsh searched around town for a place that ticked all the right boxes and happened upon the former Nadine’s Gin Joint in Soulard. They were hopeful that the space would be turnkey, but

But it’s not only the theme that is getting an update this year. Based on feedback he received from last year’s pop-up, Wiggins is adding food to the experience. Yellowbelly’s chef has created a family-style, lu au-inspired menu for the occasion,

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 27 [FOOD NEWS]

As they did in previous years, Wiggins and his business part ners will be donating a portion of Corpse Reviver proceeds to the ACLU. He’s proud of the fact that the Halloween pop-up has already raised more than $10,000 for the organization over the past three years iggins is confident that this giveback, together with the fun, paranormal vibes, good food and drinks, will make Corpse Re viver 2022 an essential part of Oc tober in St. Louis.

first-come-first-served setup saw lines around the block, and last year, reservations booked weeks in advance — Wiggins has capped reservation times at 90-minute blocks. Guests are encouraged to secure their spots through Resy for tables that seat up to six.

Continued on pg 29

Boo-Z Cruise

[FIRST LOOK]

SHORT ORDERS

As for drinks, Wiggins has been excited to play around with varia tions of classic tiki cocktails. Look for drinks like the Creature in the Surfer’s Lagoon, made with gin, seaweed, blue curaçao, sour blue raspberry distillate and lime acid, or the Death by Beachball, which pairs hibiscus-infused rums with spicy ginger, fresh banana puree, Campari and pineapple.

“In the past, we’ve leaned into more traditional Halloween things like pumpkins and stuff like that,” Wiggins says. “This year, we want ed people to feel like they were on this abandoned, haunted tropical island — not take things too seri ously and have a fun take on it. We aren’t doing skeletons falling in your face and creepy clowns star ing at you. This isn’t a fright fest but more of these haunted, spooky and kind of hokey things.”

Because of Corpse Reviver’s popularity — the inaugural year’s

28 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

icture it: St. Louis, 2022. An iconic pizza brand needs a nonna.

According to the application, the nonna gig is a paid opportunity with a minimal monthly time commitment. Those who made it through the initial application process were invited to partake in an in-person interview.

Eat Crow is open Monday through Saturday from 11 to 1:30 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. until mid night. The kitchen closes Monday through Thursday at 10 p.m., Fri day through Saturday at 11 p.m., and Sunday at 9 p.m.

“We [were] trying to ﬁnd someone with personality,” Ashby says. “She’s probably older, but she doesn’t have to be; she doesn’t have to be Italian, but we want someone who is a little sassy and that we can have fun with.”

Pizza Pizzazz

they ended up having to do a sig nificant renovation, including fill ing a sinkhole that was uncovered when they were redoing the pa tio Finally, after seven months of construction, the three welcomed their first guests to at Crow on ulyn

addition to the heavy-metal vibe, nar yk, Coriell and arsh carried over much of the Crow’s est menu to at Crow um mus, pork poutine, chili-cheese fries, cheese curds, salad dress ings, grilled cheese and the hilly sandwich are all available at the sophomore spot owever, there are several new additions to the menu arsh, who runs the kitchen at the Crow’s est in ad dition to being a partner in at Crow, built upon his popular mac and cheese at the new spot by changing up the noodles and of fering a build-your-own option e also created several versions for guests to choose from includ ing a ot oney option with fried hot-honey chicken, gorgon ola and a ranch dri le, as well as a hilly ac, made with roast beef, saut ed onions, green pep pers and cream cheese n addition to expanded mac and cheese offerings, new dishes at at Crow include mini tacos, the lbu uer ue Turkey featur ing turkey breast, bacon, cheddar-

Overstores.the years, the brand has grown to include both its namesake frozen pies and a line of 4 Hands Brewery–inspired pizzas, both of which have endeared themselves to the St. Louis community as a source of edible civic pride. Ashby is hoping to build upon this with a recognizable brand ambassador who will be the face of Lucia’s, a move inspired by the rise of “grandma inﬂuencers” on TikTok.

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 29

e Taco Salad is topped with fried mini chicken tacos. | CHERYL BAEHR

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Lucia’s Pizza President Scott Ashby and his team were on the hunt for their very own Sophia Petrillo to rep their iconic Mama Lucia’s frozen pizza brand. Dubbed a “Grandma Brand Ambassador,” or “nonna” in Italian parlance, the yet-unnamed spokesperson will serve as the face of the pizza company, “offering wisdom to the next generation and expressing her uncensored opinions on topics of her choice.” The search, which began in August and closed on September 16, aimed to uncover a company matriarch, someone Ashby hopes will connect customers with Lucia’s very own nonna who appears on its frozen pizza labels.“She’s at the heart of the brand; the original Mama Lucia created the pizza line, and we still use her silhouette,” Ashby says. “A lot of people may not have

Lucia’s Pizza wants a grandma who keeps it real

ack, green chili and deep-fried garlic mayo) and the ig asty, which is an open-face roast-beef sandwich with cheddar cheese and horseradish sauce that is smothered in peppercorn gravy nlike the Crow’s est’s thicker burgers, at Crow serves several varieties of smash burgers nar yk feels extremely grate ful for the response he and his team have seen to both the Crow’s est and at Crow e credits the success to a happy staff as he notes, neither he nor Coriell had ever owned a restau rant before the Crow’s est and worked their way up in the in dustry s such, they know how to treat their employees, who, in turn, translate that good-na turedness to their guests ever in my life did figure ’d own any bar or restaurant, much less two, nar yk says t’s pretty intense here, every one is new, including us ow do you prepare for that e’re ust trying to do as much of what we do at the Crow’s est here and take care of our employees be cause we love them and want to make sure that they have a good uality of life n

been around when she was running the business, so we thought we would introduce her to the world to engage the next generation of people coming up who might not be familiar with Lucia’s.”

Founded 40 years ago by Lucia Tumminello, Mama Lucia’s got its start as a word-of-mouth Hill neighborhood staple before going on to become the ﬁrst St. Louis-style frozen pizza available in grocery

[FOOD NEWS]

CAWS

Continued from pg 27 Lucia’s Pizza had a nationwide hunt for a spunky brand ambassador. | CHRIS BAUER

“We want someone who, when she talks, people are going to listen to her,” Ashby says. “It’s one of those things where we will know it when we see it.” n

“It was a really cool space right down the street from ike uffy’s — they got all the frat kind of cus tomers, and we got all the alterna tive folks,” Costello says. “I’d nego tiated a one- and a two-year lease to see if it was going to work out, and after a year, the landlord said he was getting a lot of complaints about our business from the neighbors. A woman who worked the front desk at one of the busi nesses by us was appalled by some of our customers, and she’d report it to the landlord. I got called into his o ce it felt like was in high school, and he was the principal. He started listing this long list of complaints about what some of the unusual folk might have been doing, and all I could do was laugh. I was like, ‘OK, maybe we are not Kirkwood.’”

If you ask anyone who has had the pleasure of patronizing MoK aBe’s, they are likely to wonder the same thing. Since 1992, the iconic coffeehouse has been more than just a place to grab a cup of joe or a bite to eat. It’s been a safe space, a community center, a place for activism and a source of refuge for anyone who has ever felt unwel come and unseen. Costello humbly

The Kirkwood spot may not have been the right fit, but Costello and company still knew they were onto something with MoKaBe’s. Undeterred, they began looking for other spaces around town and discovered a former pharmacy on Arsenal Street, just west of South Grand Boulevard. After get

MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse 3606 Arsenal Street, 314-865-2009

A De CenterCommunityFacto

Before opening MoKaBe’s to gether, Costello, Kathy and Becky were all working in their own individual fields Costello was bartending at her father’s pub in west county while trying to bal ance long evening hours with being a single mother to three kids. Kathy, her twin, worked in Franklin County as an advocate for teens, and Becky was in retail. Though they came from very dif ferent professional worlds, all three were active in the sober and queer communities and often dreamed of creating a place where their compatriots would feel wel come. In 1992, they formalized their plans and opened MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse & Books in the heart of downtown Kirkwood. Costello notes that it was a lovely space, instantly embraced by those she describes as being on the “fringe of society.” However, their neigh bors were less than enthusiastic.

ST. LOUIS STANDARDS

MoKaBe’s patio is an iconic Tower Grove spot. | ANDY PAULISSEN

“I don’t know if you’d just walked in you would have no ticed, but I noticed that it was all happening here, and it was wild,” Costello says. “I thought, ‘Isn’t this so great?’ This is about as commu nity as you can get. And it wasn’t my doing; it’s just what the space offered. I can honestly say that, pre-CO , there are many times I have looked around and said, ‘God, this is what I had in mind and hoped for.’ How lucky am I?”

ting a good feel for the landlord, they signed a lease, renovated the space and opened MoKaBe’s in its current location in July of 1994.

The three got rid of the books component when they opened their Arsenal location, but they added simple food made using nothing more than a panini grill, a non-commercial microwave and a small reach-in cooler For a few years, the three ran the space together and were blown away by the response. Eventually, though, it became clear that the coffee house revenue could not support all three of them, so they amica bly parted ways, leaving Costello as MoKaBe’s sole proprietor.

aureen “Mo” Costello viv idly remembers a particu lar weekend afternoon when she realized her vision for MoKaBe’s, the coffeehouse she cofounded 30 years ago, had come to be. It was a Saturday a few years back. On the patio, a Girl Scout troop was selling cookies to customers and passersby. Inside, a table of trans friends who frequented MoKaBe’s because it had always been a safe space for them were gathered for their usual weekend get-together, and a weekly reading group, set up in their usual spot, was dis cussing the works of the activist intellectual Howard Zinn. It was a motley crew, and it filled her heart with joy.

For decades, MoKaBe’s has provided a welcoming space for all

Established 1992

insists that she isn’t the architect of this scene, though there is no question that the plans she put in motion with her twin sister, Kathy, and their friend, Becky, gave birth to such a treasure.

In 2000, Costello expanded MoKaBe’s, adding a full kitchen, loft seating and a catwalk area to accommodate even more guests. She also leaned into the coffee house’s identity as a safe space and venue for public discourse, never shying away from activism and making it clear that MoK aBe’s social consciousness was an essential part of its identity. It’s made the place a must-visit for progressive politicians, a gather

30 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

ICONIC PEOPLE, PLACES & ANCHOR STL’S

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 31

ing place for activists, a ministry for the unhoused, a pariah that’s been accused of making molotov cocktails in its basement (Costello notes they were actually first-aid kits), and most importantly to Costello, a de facto community center that has become a source of comfort and healing when peo ple needed it most.

e Greek Salad with grilled chicken is served with warm pita bread. | ANDY PAULISSEN

“We have been here when there was no LGBTQ+ community cen ter,” Costello says. “I remember when Matthew Shepard was bru tally murdered e were the go-to place. I got a phone call that morn ing from someone asking if they could put something together and do it at MoKaBe’s. I said, ‘Absolute ly. The space is yours.’ It was quite

remarkable; there were hundreds of people who showed up because they needed someplace to be and grieve together. How lucky am I that our space could provide that for that sad and scary moment?”

Maureen “Mo” Costell is the owner of MoKaBe’s. | ANDY PAULISSEN

DISHES THAT

Costello got a chance to feel just how much of an impact MoKaBe’s has had on the community over the last few years as her customers

“If walls could talk, there is so much shit that has gone on here,” Costello says. “I have no idea about a lot of it. People have met here for a first date and ended up get ting married. The stories go on and on. It’s impossible for me to know what’s gone on here, and I shouldn’t. Then it’s ‘Mo’s Place,’ and that’s so limiting. I just allow it to happen. That’s why I always say it ain’t Mo. I had some hopes and was pretty damn lucky, but it is re ally the space. It’s all pretty damn simple: Allow people the space to be whoever the hell they are.” n

FOOD SCENE[ ]

MoKaBe’s small sticker-covered fridge is instantly recognizable to any frequent customer. | ANDY PAULISSEN

supported her and her staff as they navigated the pandemic. Though the coffeehouse was closed for in door service for 17 months, regu lars would crowd the patio, flood the system with online orders and generously give money to the staff who they knew were struggling to pay their bills. Costello gets emo tional when she recalls the gener osity — the people who sat on the patio in the middle of winter eating cold food because they wanted to give her their business, the guests who would give $50 tips on a mini mal order because they wanted the staff to make ends meet. In her opinion, the government relief money may have allowed the busi ness to keep going, but the support of the people is what kept them alive. She knows their customers offered those helping hands not be cause they loved her coffee, hum mus or Blu Mac burger but because MoKaBe’s has always been there for them — just as Mo intended.

32 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com MUNCHIE MONDAY: 15% o edibles including: beverages, tinctures, and topicals. 25% o Mama J’s TOP SHELF TUESDAY: 15% o all eighths 45 and above, corresponding grams too. Teal 25% o WAXY WEDNESDAY: 15% o concentrates, 25% o Gas Carts; Rainbow and Notorious 25% o TWISTED THURSDAY: 15% o all Prerolls; AiroPro 25% o , Vertical 25% o FUN FRIDAY: 15% o everything; 25% o Heya STOCKUP SATURDAY: 25% o Beach; Buy any eighth 40 and above get a Heya or Mama J’s eighth 40% o ; Vivid 25% o SUNDAY - SPEND 5% o for 20$- 45$, 10% o for 45$-75$, 15% o ; MORE, SAVE MORE: 75$ and above - Curador Live Resin Pens 25% o , Farmer G 25% o FIRST TIME PATIENT DEALS 1st visit: 30% o entire store, 40% o in house brands 2nd visit: 25% o entire store, 30% o in house brands 3rd visit: 20% o entire store, 25% o in house brands 4th visit: 15% o entire store, 20% o in house brands “Medical decisions should not be made based on advertising. Consult a physician on the beneﬁts and risks of a particular medical marijuana products”

n initiative petition to legal ize recreational marijuana in Missouri will remain on the ballot after a panel of judges on the Missouri West ern District Court of Appeals af firmed that the steps ecretary of tate ay shcroft took to certify the petition were proper.

Chrissy eters, the secretary of state’s director of elections, testi fied on eptember that the o ce focused on the two congressional districts the campaign identified as having errors, that the o ce did not also review signatures marked valid to see if they should have actually been invalidated, and that it did not contact local election o cials about the errors or to let them know they were overruling their work n

REEFERFRONT TIMES

owever, the estern istrict Court of ppeals said alker did not err in concluding that the re view process shcroft undertook to certify the initiative petition was legally authori ed, that the petition had a su cient number of valid signatures to make the ballot and that it did not violate single-subject rules.

Recreational marijuana will be on the November ballot. | VIA FLICKR/ANTHONY QUINTANO

upreme Court declined to review the case after the re uest to trans fer it from the Western District Court of Appeals was denied.

Full PressCourt

On eptember , Cole County

Circuit Court udge Cotton alker dismissed weeney’s case after he determined she lacked standing to sue because she had not proven she was a Missouri citizen. While weeney testified virtually during the hearing and answered ues tions regarding her Missouri resi dency, her testimony was taken after her attorneys had already rested their case.

This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent

A three-judge panel heard ar guments last week in ansas City and ruled shortly after that the lower court committed a legal er ror by refusing to reopen evidence regarding whether oy weeney, an anti-drug-legali ation activist, had standing to pursue the case.

uke iforatos, the C O of ro tect Our ids C, a Coloradobased super C launched earlier this year that opposes the legal ization of drugs and has been sup porting weeney’s lawsuit, says that they had re uested the case be transferred to the issouri u preme Court for review.

owever, the court of appeals said the lower court was correct in finding that shcroft properly certified the initiative petition to appear on the November ballot and that it does not violate the Missouri Constitution’s singlesubject rules.

n a statement, shcroft said he was once again pleased that the courts a rmed the steps his o ce took were correct and consis tent in making every voter’s voice heardegardless of how personally feel about a ballot measure — I took an oath to uphold the law, he said, and the court today af firmed that’s what we did

contrary, artin wrote in her opinion.The Independent previously reported that when it appeared Legal Missouri would be short of the necessary signatures to make the ballot, the campaign reached out to shcroft’s o ce re uesting a review of signatures it felt had been erroneously invalidated avoiding the typical court process used to challenge certification that is outlined in state law.

Written by TESSA WEINBERG

e feel like it’s a very cut-anddry point of law, iforatos says, where these clerks have a statu tory authority to dis ualify these signatures, but they do not have the authority to re- ualify them nd that’s ust a matter of law ut on eptember , the dead line for the courts to determine whether voters get to decide the issue this ovember, the issouri

Appeals court leaves marijuana on Missouri ballot, Supreme Court refuses to take case

o clear, une uivocal or un ambiguous statutory provision prohibits the secretary of state from independently determining that signatures belong to regis tered voters after a local election authority has determined to the

ohn ayne, campaign manager for egal issouri, says the ruling will ensure that in less than two months Missourians will have the opportunity to legali e mari uana and expunge nonviolent mari juana offenses from criminal re cords.“This historic citizen-led effort to become the 20th state to legal i e, tax and regulate mari uana for adult use is closer than ever to becoming a reality, ayne said in a statement.

alker’s decision not to allow weeney’s attorneys to reopen ev idence to admit her testimony was an abuse of discretion, udge Cynthia artin wrote in her opin ion early last week

The strategy surprised longtime observers of the initiative petition process, and shcroft’s o ce’s re view ultimately found a surplus of signatures for the initiative pe tition to make the ballot after re evaluating local election o cials’ review of signatures.

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 33 [WEED LAWS]

“That’s the end of the road legal ly, iforatos says, adding that he plans to advocate against the bal lot measure.

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monumental way to express one self,” Grafos says. “They also can have very, very loaded themes without [the viewer] having to read a didactic [essay] or ... catalog. And so the heavy hearted, or the politi cal, becomes larger than you are as a human being standing in front of it. It is a way to really address topics that are loaded head on.”

Aside from an entreaty to check out the space, Grafos asks one more thing of potential visitors: “If you don’t see yourself in the murals, then get out your sketch book, and your tablet, and get to making what you want to see.” n

It’s a cause that Gina Grafos, director of visual infrastructure for Kranzberg Arts Foundation and co-curator of the exhibition, firmly believes in s a former resident of Seattle and Chicago, she witnessed both cities change and push their art scenes to the periphery. She and her colleagues have fought tirelessly to save St. Louis from the same fate.

“Thisworld.isfor the people that don’t feel comfortable walking into an art institution or a commercial gal lery ‘white-cube space’ who still want to be inspired,” Grafos says.

Walls Off Washington will official ly open for public viewing on ri day October 7 as part of the Grand Center Arts istrict s irst ridays.

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 35 [VISUAL ART]

The exhibition is the founda tion’s latest endeavor to fulfill its mission of bolstering the arts in St. Louis through the development of artistic venues and communitybased programming.

Unlike many such displays, the Walls Off Washington exhibit is free of charge. Nevertheless, the murals themselves will remain a curated experience, similar to that of any indoor gallery, with set hours of operation and entry to the outdoor lot primarily through Sophie’s.“Wewant people to be taken care of as soon as they enter the threshold,” Grafos says. “Sure, you can randomly drive through and see most of it. But we want people to really have a map in their hand and have someone available for questions or to use the restroom or get a drink.”

CULTURE

that they can afford o ce space, so they can afford studio space next to these all these hotels and all these restaurants and all these things that are coming to Mid town,” Grafos says. “We’re just making sure that the core and the instinct and the vibrancy of what makes this city pivotal and im pactful doesn’t shrivel.”

e Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s Walls O Washington features 20 unique murals by local and international artists

“ Murals are the most ofstandingathanbecomesorheavyoneself.waymonumentalampliﬁed,toexpressThehearted,thepolitical,largeryouareashumanbeinginfrontit.”

Contributing artist norm4eva, who created a vibrant geometric mural titled “Soul Salutations,” echoes this sentiment.

St. Louis artist Cbabi Bayoc created “Change Is Gonna Come.” | BROADYS WORK PRODUCTIONS

“I feel like access to public art is really important,” they say. “I think that by having a space that allows people to have a lot of freedom to express — not only does that really inspire others, but it makes the community have a different sense of belonging within the space.”

The minds behind Walls Off Washington drew inspiration from other public displays of art in St. Louis, such as the Mural Mile. They looked beyond the city’s borders as well, from Miami’s Wynwood Walls to the Berlin Wall.

Written by KASEY NOSS

urals are the most amplified,

t. Louis’ next great art exhi bition won’t be found within the walls of a gallery or a museum. Instead, viewers should head outdoors.

The strip of Washington Av enue where the murals reside “is a block that has been very devel oped in a way that is sustaining artists and arts organizations so

Art for All

The foundation celebrated the completion of Walls Off Washing ton in the Grand Center Arts Dis trict last Thursday with a ribboncutting ceremony and catered reception. The project has been over three years in the making.

For Grafos, the medium of the mural is particularly conducive to this type of response.

In a similar vein, the mural walk aims to present viewers with a more accessible and less intimi dating experience than what they might normally encounter in the art

The Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s Walls Off Washington showcases murals by 20 artists of local, nation al and international renown, in cluding St. Louis-based visual artist Cbabi Bayoc and street artist Remix Uno of Mexico City. The expansive and dynamic mural walk runs be tween Josephine Baker Boulevard and North Leonard Avenue, behind Kranzberg Arts Foundation ven ues Sophie’s Artist Lounge (3333 Washington Avenue, 314-710-5647) and the High Low (3301 Washing ton Avenue, 314-533-0367).

“[It feels] priceless, you know, to have this opportunity,” he says. Goines hails from New Orleans. e first came to music because of his mother — she thought playing a wind instrument would help his asthma. Soon, the medicinal side of music fell away as Goines came to study under a series of great teachers and alongside players such as his pal Marsalis, sneaking

“I was around enough that they started to recognize me and say, ‘Hey, just come on in, man,’” Goines recalls.

He went on to study at Loyola University in New Orleans and then at Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond, Virginia, and is cur rently at work on a PhD through Boston University. That neverstop-learning philosophy has roots back to a series of great teachers growing up, including his clarinet and saxophone instructor, Carl Blouin, who also doubled as his mathematics teacher.

“I get joy out of doing that, of helping students,” he says. When Goines retired from his teaching post at Northwestern earlier this year, he was looking for some thing different. He’d been aware of the opening at Jazz St. Louis but didn’t initially intend to go after it.

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

he moment that Victor Goines really got into jazz is seared into his memory.

into the city’s jazz clubs, such as Tyler’s Beer Garden.

Victor Goines. | SARAH ESCARRAZ

Goines intends to start out by doing something musicians re ally know how to do: listening. He wants to know what’s really working and what things can be tweaked to work that much better so that Jazz St. Louis can be im proved in the long run.

“I have not andparticulartowasmakegoodI’veget,whateverIeverythinggottenthatwanted.ButIdidn’tIalwayssaymadeaveryattempttosurethatitastrongeffortpursuemybeliefsvisions.”

MUSIC 36

It’s all about building upon the strong foundations that already have been put in place, he says.

RenownedWorld

Goines did go on to apply and get the job, even earning a math certificate ater on, he’d find himself answering bandmates’

Jazz St. Louis’ new CEO and president Victor Goines aims to elevate the organization’s proﬁle

36 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com [JAZZ]

kids’ math questions, laughing as he recalls going over 50 of Mar salis’ son’s math homework prob lems one night after a concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Goines’ good friend? Well, his name was Wynton Marsalis. Yes, that Wynton Marsalis.

Then he kept hearing from friends and colleagues — includ ing Marsalis — that he should pur sue it, that they’d recommended him. “All these doors are starting to swing in a certain direction,” he recalls, thinking of Blouin’s advice all those years ago. So he applied and got the job.

“I would like to elevate the sta tus of Jazz St. Louis to not just be ing known around the world but being world renowned,” he says, “but at the same time, as is in the mission statement, to realize it’s there to serve the community.” n

He was 13 and had only begun to experiment with the genre, imagining himself as a classical clarinet player instead. But there Goines was with a fel low budding musician — his good friend since kindergarten — who put on a record of John Coltrane’s “Countdown” and played along on his“Ittrumpet.wasphenomenal,” Goines says. “It was really extraordinary to hear him play that and to hear ohn Coltrane for the first time t was a mind-blowing experience that I’ve been in pursuit of my en tire life since then. It really ignited the a flame in me

Yet, even next to the famous trumpet player, Goines himself is no slouch. Since 1993, he’s been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet. Until earlier this year, he directed jazz studies at Northwestern University, and he has more than 200 original com positions to his name. He’s also re cently been named president and CEO of Jazz St. Louis, stepping into that role earlier this week.

After high school, Goines asked Blouin about applying for a job as a math teacher. “He said, ‘I don’t know if you will get the job if you apply, but I guarantee you won’t get the job if you don’t apply,’” Goines explains. “And that has been my story about everything that I do. I have not gotten every thing that I wanted. But whatever I didn’t get, I always say I’ve made a very good attempt to make sure that it was a strong effort to pursue my particular beliefs and visions.”

If the enthusiasm for the fest was palpable among its attendees — and it surely was — it’s equally noticeable in its organizers now that the dust has settled.

Hansen shrugs off any similarities be tween the festivals, pointing out that un like LouFest, Music at the Intersection was 100 percent locally produced and staffed, with a majority of the acts who performed based in or originally from the city as well.

“Here’s the bottom line: This doesn’t look like a LouFest. It’s not a commercially based event,” he says. “It’s a boutique, identity-based festival. It’s rooted in our heritage. LouFest didn’t celebrate our great legends. It didn’t have tributes and legacy acts like this. No, we’re not at all trying to recreate that. It had its time and its place, and it served the community well for a festival for a long time.”

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 37

workshops and panels led by local and national inﬂuencers in the ﬁelds of music, art, technology and business. He believes they could tighten up and improve the VIP experience in future years as well. The programming will remain the same, with a slate of artists that occupy the space where jazz, roots and blues music meet with more modern hip-hop, rock and neo-soul sounds.

Hansen says they also want to grow the festival, but they are committed to not doing so too quickly — they want it to come into its own organically, and they recognize that unforeseen problems could arise if they went too hard too soon. The festival’s footprint this year was widely seen as one of its greatest strengths, and it could comfortably handle another 1,000 attendees per day, by Hansen’s“Biggerestimation.isn’tbetter on this one,” he says. “We want to make sure we execute something safe, something that everyone feels comfortable in, and that really celebrates our urban core.”

“Here’s the bottom line: This doesn’t look like a LouFest. It’s not a infestival.identity-basedIt’sbasedcommerciallyevent.aboutique,It’srootedourheritage.”

Going forward, Hansen says organizers intend to maintain the festival’s St. Louis-centric identity, with just a few tweaks. They plan to expand the SXSWstyle “Intersessions” conference with

“We’re going to hold on to a lot of the things we did this year because we got resounding feedback that it worked,” Hansen says. “We’re going to listen to the feedback that’s more critical about the things that didn’t work and try to improve upon those things. And we’re going to con tinue to sustain this festival. The goal of this festival, the promise of this festival is to be generational — something we bring our children to, and something our chil dren bring their children to.” n

With Music at the Intersection, St. Louis ﬁnally has a bona ﬁde music festival on its hands again. | DMITRI JACKSON

“The feedback that we were getting from the national acts, from Gary Clark Jr. to Terrace Martin and many more, was they really felt that they were part of something bigger than them,” he explains. “That they were inspired, that they don’t get to see and play in festivals that are as rich and diverse.”

ell, it’s ofﬁcial: With the success of last weekend’s Music at the Intersection, St. Louis has a bona ﬁde music festival on its hands.

Written by DANIEL HILL

Music at the Intersection comes into its own in its second year

Not since LouFest was unceremoniously canceled in 2018 just days before it was set to take place has the city seen a festival this ambitious. While some comparisons between the two would be easy to make, Music at the Intersection truly has its own identity — that of a unique, smaller-scale festival focused on the jazz, blues, soul, rock and hip-hop sounds that ﬁnd their roots in St. Louis’ storied music history.

In the event’s second year — and the first in this particular outdoor format — the fledgling affair proved that it’s ready to fly. The fest saw more than 50 acts performing across four stages in Grand Center within a thoughtful footprint that showcased the city’s urban core, with attendance numbering north of 8,000 people over two days — 4,500 attendees on Saturday and 4,000 on Sunday. The majority of those people were from the St. Louis area, but some traveled from as far as the U.K., New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis and Indianapolis for the event.

“Everything that was created around it serves St. Louis,” he adds. As far as he’s concerned, the only similarity is that the new event is also a major festival in the city with big names on the marquee.

According to Hansen, even the topbilled artists were impressed.

In all, though, Hansen and the rest of Music at the Intersection’s organizers know that they have got a hit on their hands — and they don’t plan on messing around too much with a winning formula.

All the Right Notes

It saw a diverse crowd with a wide age range and even a considerable number of families enjoying a slate of world-class acts on a weekend with temperatures in the 70s — by nearly all measures, an ideal set of circumstances for such an event. In the week since the fest wrapped up, the re views have been consistently positive and the city has been buzzing with excitement.

“We wanted to make sure that the identity of the festival, the values of the festival, rang loud — and we felt great about that,” says Chris Hansen, executive director of Kranzberg Arts Foundation. “We wanted to see St. Louis elevated, our culture and our musical heritage elevated, and to be recognized by not only our audience members, but all these great national acts coming to town — and we achieved that. We saw the much broader age range. We were very surprised by some of the younger ages that came out for this, and we also were very surprised at how many out-of-town guests came to St. Louis for the festival.”

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Bread and Roses Workers’ Opera shares real stories of St. Louis workers

“It makes us feel like we mat ter,” Monica says. “I hope every body comes out.”

The cast is made up entirely of volunteers, and not many have

That, Kohring says, is the point.

e Workers’ Opera runs this weekend. | COURTESY BREAD AND ROSES

read and oses a nonprofit founded by St. Louis’ legendary labor organizer Joan Suarez with

The actors found the Workers’ Opera in different ways, some by chance, others were involved with a previous Bread and Roses production or they were recruited by other cast members.

This year’s production has three showings this weekend at the Gaslight Theater (358 North Boyle Avenue, ers-opera_event)breadandrosesmo.org/event/work314-380-0174,

For Workers, By Workers

riverfronttimes.com

. It’s directed by St. Louis’ Mariah Richardson, a prolific playwright who wrote last year’s Shakespeare in the Streets production The Ville: Avengeance! and is a writer and voice on the forthcoming animated PBS TV show Drawn In

It wasn’t too long after their apartment building reduced secu rity that Monica and her husband Theotis “Theo” Bohlen’s Kia was stolen. But it wasn’t only them. About 10 cars from their apart ment’s lot soon were gone.

She started a petition and cir culated it to her neighbors, get ting the attention of management, who soon wanted to meet with her to discuss what could be done. The process made her realize how important it was to speak up for herself and for others.

The experience has bonded the whole cast, and they have even met outside of o cial rehearsal to practice, something that the Bohlens point to as evidence of not only their unity but also the power that comes from being able to share your own stories.

a mission to support and cele brate workers and their families through arts and humanities pro gramming — started producing operas in 2016 to create original theater “by workers, for workers.”

’ve been in it for the last five weeks, and I love it,” he says. “Oh, God, I love it so much. It’s some thing new to me. So I’m very im patient because I’ve been working for 25 years, just physical work. So this right here is something I’ve been looking for, how to explain — it’s not work.”

“It was getting so bad that ev ery night, at least three cars were being stolen off the lot,” Monica Bohlen says. “Management wasn’t doing anything about it.”

The Bohlens are looking for ward to doing that this weekend.

SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 39 [LABOR RELATIONS]

Telling the often-untold sto ries of the region’s workers is the whole point of the production.

Attend the Workers’ Opera: Our Sto ries United Will Never Be Divided at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 23, and Saturday, September 24, or 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 25, at the Gaslight Theater. Admission is free but reservations are recommended. Visit https://bit.ly/3w6iWTD to make your reservation.

He works for the Missouri De partment of Transportation, and Monica Bohlen retired from edu cation because of vertigo — she

drove a school bus and then be came a special educational as sistant. So aspects of the process are new and somewhat di cult, memorizing lines in particular.

“I got my lines pretty much,” Monica says, laughing. “But, you know, for Theo, I’m telling him his lines … he’s up there saying his lines out loud, and I have to re strainDoingmyself.”theopera together has brought them closer, given them something to work on together. When Monica sees Theo — or any of their fellow actors — struggling with a line, or something else, she says she empathizes.

Though it’s called an opera, actuallyproductiontheisaseries of shorts that include music, comedy.sketchestheaterand

previous theater experience.

STAGE

Rather, it came from cast mem ber Monica Bohlen.

“I hope it raises a great discus sion,” she says. “I think all the best theater is theater where people talk about it on the drive home and talk about what they saw and what it meant to them and what new ideas they got.” n

Bohlen shared that story with Delaney Piggins, the writing facili tator tasked with helping the cast craft the script for the aforemen tioned opera, who wrote it into the“That’sscript.what I really love about Bread and Roses: They are talk ing about things that’s going on, right here in the city, and not just talking, but reaching out and, you know, making people aware and lending a hand,” Bohlen says.

Though it’s called an opera, the production is actually a series of shorts that include music, theater sketches and comedy. The cast wrote the script in a two-week pe riod with Piggins’ help. There’s a parody of Family Feud, songs re written to be pro union and work ers’ rights, and personal storytell ing, such as one sketch that tells a cast members’ struggles to get to work at Home Depot during July’s flooding

Theo Bohlen, for example, was recruited by his wife. After her car was stolen, he’d taken to driv ing her to practice. Then she sug gested that he join himself.

he audience at this weekend’s Bread and Roses Missouri’s Workers’ Opera: Our Stories United Will Never Be Divided will see a sketch about Kias being stolen. But the plot wasn’t ripped from the headlines.

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

“In March, I couldn’t have told you who was going to be in the cast, and now that we have these nine people, they just seem like the right nine people,” says Emily Kohring, executive director of Bread and Roses. “They’re just all wonderful in different ways, and they’re all bringing a lot to the process.”

THE DEUTSCHMEISTER BRASS BAND: 4 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

HORROR SECTION: w/ Starter Jackets 7 p.m., TBA. The Ready Room, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

OVER HEAD DOG: 3 p.m., free. Grafton Winery & Brewhaus, 300 W. Main St., Grafton, 618-786-3001.

SICK THOUGHTS: 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

OUT EVERY NIGHT

FLORENCE DORE: w/ Cave States 8 p.m., $15-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

PHOENIX: 8 p.m., $60-$70. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

DAVID HYLLA’S GOOD TIME BAND: noon, free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

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

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

THURSDAY 22

DIE SPITZBUAM: 8 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

Talk About Underrated: If the name Mold Gold looks familiar, that’s because singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mere Harrach’s project has become a ﬁxture of the south city music scene, especially in the past year. Mold Gold’s latest release Creating Is a Highly Personal Transformation and It’s Awesome offers an 11-track transformation of Harrach’s approach to songcraft, complete with lush and diverse instrumentation.

Ripped Genes. | VIA ARTIST BANDCAMP

AGENT ORANGE: w/ Bastard Squad, Fight Back Mountain 8 p.m., $15. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

—Joseph Hess

BOOGIE CHYLD: 5:30 p.m., $10. The Attic Music ar, ingshighway, nd floor, t ouis, 314-376-5313.

DANIEL ROMANO: 8 p.m., $15/$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

HOT KOOLAID: 8:30 p.m., free. ReBar, 4149 S Old Highway 94, Saint Charles, (636) 922-0500.

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

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

HOME REMEDY: 5:30 p.m., free. Epiphany UCC, 2911 McNair, St. Louis, 314-772-0263.

THIS IS CASUALLY HAPPENING: A COMEDY SHOWCASE: w/ Scott James, Meredith Hopping, Brandon Taylor, Mollie Amburgey 7 p.m., $15.

recorded live to tape with no overdubs. Hadusek’s warbling guitar and sinewy vocals float lightly over rhythmic pathways laid by Ben Severns’ warm bass tone and drummer Jim Atchley’s downtempo beats. This is the soundtrack for the world’s slowest race, where reaching the finish line is the last thing on anyone’s mind. That Ripped Genes can carry out a similar, if even more dynamic, approach to live performance is a credit to the band’s years spent playing venues like CBGB, where the cramped quarters offer an up-close experience that’s comparable to a finely aged bedroom recording project.

MORGAN PAGE: 10 p.m., $15-$400. RYSE Nightclub, One Ameristar Blvd, St. Charles.

GLENN TILBROOK: 8 p.m., $35-$50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

JUDAH & THE LION: w/ Smallpools 8 p.m., $38. The Factory, Outer d, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

THE BOLZEN BEER BAND: 8 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

TUESDAY 27

WALTER GREINER: w/ Lotus Lunabelle 7 p.m., free. Spine Indie Bookstore & Cafe, 1976-82 Arsenal St., St. Louis, 314-925-8087.

ROSEMARY: w/ The Public, The Ricters 7:30 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Del mar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

THE WATERLOO GERMAN BAND: 4 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, SATURDAY314-224-5521.

HARBOUR: w/ America Part Two, Kesley Bou 8 p.m., $13. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

A WILHELM SCREAM: 7:30 p.m., $18. The Ready Room, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, WEDNESDAY314-833-3929.

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

LARRY FLEET: w/ Tyler Booth 8 p.m., $25/$30. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

SCREENSAVER: w/ Freak Genes, Maximum Effort, Freon 9 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

OF MONTREAL: w/ Locate S,1 8 p.m., $21. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

[CRITIC’S PICK]

IVAN & ALYOSHA: w/ Evan Bartels 8 p.m., $15$18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

FRIDAY 23

ANDREA GIBSON: 8 p.m., $18-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

Ripped Genes w/ Mold Gold, Inches From Glory, Enemy Airship

THE WURST BAVARIAN BAND: 11 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, MONDAY314-224-5521.26

usic ar, ingshighway, nd floor, t Louis, 314-376-5313.

KENNYHOOPLA: w/ Nothing, Nowhere, Groupthink 8 p.m., $30/$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

COMEDY SHIPWRECK: 8 p.m., free. The Heavy An chor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

DIRECT MEASURE: w/ Primitive Rage, Thotcrime, Ritual Abuse 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

IN FLAMES: w/ Fit for an Autopsy 6:30 p.m., TBA. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

All events are subject to change, especial ly in the age of COVID-19, so do check with the venue for the most up-to-date informa tion 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 vaccina tion. Happy showgoing!

CARBON LEAF: 8 p.m., $22.50/$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE: 8 p.m., $29.50-$49.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 d, Chesterfield, - -

TAYLOR FEST: 8 p.m., $17-$50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

HOLY FUCK: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

THE BARFLIES: 2 p.m., free. Cheers Bar and Grill, 61 National Way Shopping Center, Manchester, 636-220-8030.

ach week, we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the next seven days! To submit your show for con sideration, visit https://bit.ly/3bgnwXZ.

THE LUKA STATE: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ELI YOUNG BAND: 7 p.m., TBA. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481.

GREEN/BLUE: w/ Punk Lady Apple, Trauma Harness 8 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

VIDEOTAPE: w/ V Formation, Dead Birds Can Fly, Roseshands 8 p.m., $12. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THE BOAT SHOW JAM BAND: 7 p.m., free. Steve’s Hot Dogs, 3145 South Grand, St. Louis.

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

SUNDAY 25

STRING MACHINE: w/ Orson Wilds 8 p.m., $12. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

RIVERBEND BLUEGRASS: 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THE BOLZEN BEER BAND: 3 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

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

8 p.m. ursday, September 22. CBGB, 3163 South Grand Boulevard. $5 to $10. No phone.

GUILLERMO GREGORIO: w/ Damon Smith, Alex Cunningham, Josh Weinstein, Jerome Bryerton 8 p.m., $20. O’Connell’s Pub, 4652 Shaw Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-6600.

POINTFEST 2022: w/ Papa Roach, Highly Suspect, Halestorm, the Struts, Sometimes Y, New Years Day, the Warning, Brookroyal, the Ricters noon, $39.95-$129.95. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

40 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

While plenty of big names have used the Tascam MK414, a.k.a. the Portastudio, to great effect — half of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska was produced on the then-novel piece of music gear in the early ‘80s — the beloved four-track tape recorder has enabled smaller artists on a budget to make elaborate and robust recordings outside of the studio. For Columbia, Missouri–based indie band Ripped Genes, the Portastudio feels like a deliberate decision to place the sound on a subtle bed of static with a light blanket of hum hugging the riffs. Or maybe a cassette recorder was just the cheapest option for guitarist Jon Hadusek and his cohorts, and luckily that old tape deck still works. Ripped Genes’ 2022 release A Day Late and a Dollar Short offers a raw articulation of the band’s often mellow slowcore that was, of course,

FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS: 6 p.m., $10. The Attic

THE LADY J HUSTON SHOW: 7 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

DINOSAUR JR.: 8 p.m., $30/$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

FOUR YEAR STRONG: w/ Microwave 7:30 p.m., TBA. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JACKYL & STEPHEN PEARCY: 6:30 p.m., $29.50$59.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, - -

THE BRONX CHEERS: Fri., Oct. 21, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, t ouis, - -

THE BLACK ANGELS: W/ The Vacant Lots, Mon., Oct. 3, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

DARK STAR ORCHESTRA: Sat., Nov. 12, 8 p.m., $30-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

LOUIS C.K.: Thu., Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m., $39.50-$75. The Factory, Outer d, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

PUNK ROCK ART SHOW AND RECORD RELEASE

NOAH KAHAN: Tue., Feb. 14, 8 p.m., $32.50. The Pag eant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BE OUR GUEST! DISNEY DJ DANCE PARTY: Fri., Dec. 2, 8 p.m., $20-$40. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

12 p.m. Saturday, September 24.

a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

FIVEFOLD FAMILY REUNION: Fri., Nov. 11, 5 p.m., $10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: Thu., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $45$55. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Ave., St. Louis, (314) 533-9900.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

A DRAG QUEEN CHRISTMAS: Wed., Dec. 21, 8 p.m., $43-$171. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 d, Chesterfield, -FALL MUSIC FESTIVAL: Sat., Oct. 15, 1 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, t ouis, -FANETTI MUSIC FEST: Sat., Oct. 1, 1 p.m., free. Fanetti Park, Michigan Ave., St. Louis.

GUY COOK TRIO: Fri., Oct. 7, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic usic ar, ingshighway, nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

OLD SEA BRIGADE: Wed., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

Astral Hand is just one of the bands rocking Whiskey War Festival on Saturday. | VA ARTIST BANDCAMP

DARYL HALL AND THE DARYL’S HOUSE BAND: Thu., Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m., $36.50-$166.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. DEADMAU5: Sat., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., $79.50$124.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, -DIESEL ISLAND: Sat., Oct. 15, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

VOODOO YACHT ROCK: 9 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314THIS621-8811.JUST IN

South Broadway Athletic Club, 2301 South Seventh Street. $20 to $25. 314-776-4833.

country of Urbana, Illinois’ Big Daddy Pride and the East Side Five. Rounding out the affair are some of St. Louis’ ﬁnest bands, including party punks Bassamp & Dano, no-frills rockers Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals and, naturally, a hardcharging set of blues-rock jams by the Maness Brothers themselves. Whiskey War Fest has long been one of St. Louis’ most rollicking and fun days of music, and while we’re sad to see it go, we’re glad it’s getting a proper sendoff. But Wait, There’s More: In addition to the 20-plus bands on the bill, Whiskey War Fest will also feature plenty of food, drinks, local vendors and performance art. The festivities kick off at noon and go all day, so make sure to pace yourself.

5 STAR ROSCOE: Fri., Oct. 28, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, t ouis, - -

PARTY: W/ the Bent Duo, Bruiser Queen, Darling Skye, the Centaurettes, Sat., Oct. 15, 3 p.m., free. 31art gallery, 3520 Hampton Avenue, Saint Louis, N/A.

THE 15TH ANNUAL GATEWAY BLUES FESTIVAL: Fri., April 7, 8 p.m., $59-$125. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

COVER LEE: Sat., Oct. 8, noon, $10. The Attic usic ar, ingshighway, nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

GIMME GIMME DISCO: Sat., Nov. 5, 8 p.m., $15$20. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, nd floor, t ouis, -GREAT WHITE & SLAUGHTER: Fri., March 24, 7 p.m., $30-$60. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

KENDALL STREET COMPANY: W/ Tenth Mountain Division, Thu., Oct. 13, 7 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

The Golden Hoosier, 3707 S Kingshighway Blvd, Saint Louis, (314) 354-8044.

WALTER GREINER: W/ Lotus Lunabelle, Sat., Sept. 24, 7 p.m., free. Spine Indie Bookstore & Cafe, 1976-82 Arsenal St., St. Louis, 314-925-8087.

PORCHFEST STL: Sun., Oct. 2, 1 p.m., free. Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council, 6008 Kingsbury, St. Louis, 314-862-5122.

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.

KEVIN BUCKLEY AND FRIENDS: Sun., Oct. 16, 11

HORSESHOES & HAND GRENADES: W/ One Way Tra c, at , ov , p m , Old ock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

JINGLEFEST 2022: Sat., Dec. 17, 7 p.m., $20-$100. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

FREDDY VS. THE HALLOWEEN SHOW: Sat., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

DOUBLETAP STL: Fri., Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m., free. Steve’s Hot Dogs, 3145 South Grand, St. Louis. DR. ZHIVEGAS: Fri., Oct. 14, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic usic ar, ingshighway, nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

THE STEEL WHEELS: W/ Old Capital Square Dance Club, Wed., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., $12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

KILLER WAILS: Sat., Oct. 29, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic usic ar, ingshighway, nd floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

Continued on pg 43

BE OUR GUEST! DISNEY DJ DANCE PARTY: Fri., Dec. 2, 8 p.m., $20-$40. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

CHEER-ACCIDENT: W/ Season to Risk, Fri., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $16. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

DALE WATSON: Wed., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., $22-$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

THE BOAT SHOW JAM BAND: Wed., Sept. 28, 7 p.m., free. Steve’s Hot Dogs, 3145 South Grand, St. Louis.

OVER HEAD DOG: Sat., Sept. 24, 3 p.m., free. Grafton Winery & Brewhaus, 300 W. Main St., Grafton, 618-786-3001.

THE UNLIKELY CANDIDATES: Sun., Oct. 30, 7 p.m., $18. Sun., Oct. 30, 7 p.m., $18. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

INTO IT. OVER IT: W/ Nectar, Tue., Nov. 1, 8 p.m., $20. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THE SAINT LOUIS CHAMBER CHORUS: Sun., Oct. 2, 3 p.m., $10-$30. Saint Louis Abbey, 500 S. Mason Road, St. Louis, 800-638-1527.

NICK GUSMAN AND THE COYOTES: Fri., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

UPCOMING

AMERICAN CHAMBER CHORALE & ORCHESTRA CONCERT: Sat., Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m., free. Salem in Ladue United Methodist Church, 1200 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Frontenac, 314-991-0546.

KATIE PEDERSON: Sat., Oct. 22, 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 S. Kingshighway, 2nd floor, t ouis, -KELLY HUNT: Sat., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $20. O’Connell’s Pub, 4652 Shaw Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-6600.

THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR: Sun., Oct. 23, 11 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

THE URGE: Fri., Nov. 25, 7:30 p.m., $34.99$49.99. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

GODSPEED! YOU BLACK EMPEROR: Thu., Nov. 3, 8 p.m., $35-$40. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

AARON KAMM AND THE ONE DROPS: Sat., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., $25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

riverfronttimes.com

BEST NIGHT EVER: Fri., Nov. 4, 8 p.m., $15-$20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BROTHER FRANCIS AND THE SOULTONES: Fri., Oct. 21, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

CHRIS WEBBY: Thu., Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m., $25$275. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

GUILLERMO GREGORIO: W/ Damon Smith, Alex Cunningham, Josh Weinstein, Jerome Bryerton, Sat., Sept. 24, 8 p.m., $20. O’Connell’s Pub, 4652 Shaw Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-6600.

SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 41

THE HARD PROMISES: A TOM PETTY TRIBUTE: Sat., Nov. 26, 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

STEVE PECARO’S SRV TRIBUTE: W/ the Tony Campanella Band, Sat., Dec. 3, 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE FORESTWOOD BOYS: Sat., Oct. 8, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

BRING ME THE FIRES: Fri., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

Whiskey War Festival

After ten years of toe-tapping, bootstomping, head-bobbing musical debauchery, the Whiskey War Festival is calling it quits — but not before playing host to one ﬁnal blowout at the South Broadway Athletic Club this weekend. And this year, the Maness Brothers, who’ve helmed the fest since its inception, have gone all out. Standouts on the stacked lineup include Milwaukee spacerock psychonauts Astral Hand, Kansas City doom-blues duo Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Fort Wayne weed-rock act Left Lane Cruiser and the psychedelic roots

JAKE’S LEG: Wed., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., $10-$20. The Pag eant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE BROKEN HIPSTERS: Thu., Oct. 13, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

BEN OTTEWELL & IAN BALL OF GOMEZ: Sat.,

HOT HANDS WONDERLAND: Sat., Oct. 1, 8 p.m., free. Maggie O’Brien’s, 3828 S Lindbergh Blvd, St Louis, 3148427678.

THE BLUE SPARKS: Sat., Oct. 22, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

Nov. 12, 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: Thu., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $49.50-$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 d, Chesterfield, -FOXING: W/ the Mall, Shinra Knives, Thor Axe, Fri., Dec. 2, 7 p.m., $20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

—Daniel Hill

42 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

9 p.m. Sunday, September 25. e Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway. $10 to $12. 314-328-2309.

PARTY: W/ the Bent Duo, Bruiser Queen, Darling Skye, the Centaurettes, Sat., Oct. 15, 3 p.m., free. 31art gallery, 3520 Hampton Avenue, Saint Louis, N/A.

THE 15TH ANNUAL GATEWAY BLUES FESTIVAL: Fri., April 7, 8 p.m., $59-$125. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

SOCCER MOMMY: W/ TOPS, Wed., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $25/$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

Screensaver w/ Freak Genes, Still Animals, Maximum E ort

St. Louis has Gonerfest, taking place Sep tember 22 to 25 in Memphis, to thank for the sudden glut of hip, punk-adjacent shows that might otherwise skip the river city. One of the big standouts this year is Screensaver, a heady synth-heavy postpunk outfit from Melbourne, Australia. Taking inspiration from a genre or group is nothing new, but Screensaver feels like a band plucked out of a specific time pe riod — the late ‘70s to early ‘80s, to be specific. Singer Krystal Maynard leads moody discordant verses into heavy hoofstomping dirges with dark riffs that give off real “surfing in a sewer” vibes. On the group’s latest Expressions of Interest LP,

RIVER KITTENS: W/ Nick Gusman, Jakob Baxter, R Scott Bryan, Leah Osbourne, Hunter Peebles, Wed., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. Thu., Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

WHITNEY: Sun., Oct. 9, 8 p.m., $34.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

Double Feature: Not to be confused with Ripped Genes, who is also playing in town this week, Freak Genes is just as much of a headliner on this show as Screensaver. The UK-based synth duo will perform the ﬁnal stop of its United States tour here in St. Louis following an appearance at Gonerfest. If the band’s August release Hologram is any indication, prepare yourself for some sordid Devo worship and pummeling electro punk in what’s become a holy location for shows of that ilk, the Sinkhole on South Broadway.

WET LEG: Mon., Dec. 5, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

—Joseph Hess

synths are used by every member of the four-piece band to impart driving melody and textural diversity while leaving just enough negative space for the acoustic elements, namely drums, to provide a nat uralistic backbone to the tracks. Screen saver’s songs have the kind of nuanced shape that only comes after years of care ful erosion and a lot of luck — this is punk that decidedly gives a fuck.

PUNK

TURNSTILE: W/ Snail Mail, JPEGMAFIA, Wed., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., $35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

PORCHFEST STL: Sun., Oct. 2, 1 p.m., free. Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council, 6008 Kingsbury, St. Louis, 314-862-5122.

POKEY LAFARGE: Fri., May 19, 8 p.m., $40-$50. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

Screensaver. | VIA BRAIN DRAIN PR

PROTOMARTYR: Wed., Nov. 2, 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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.

PEACH PIT: Thu., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., $27.50/$125. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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Continued from pg 41

NEIGHBOR LADY: Thu., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

THE JOY FORMIDABLE: W/ Cuffed Up, Tue., Nov. 1, 8 p.m., $23. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

THIS JUST IN

ILLUMINATI HOTTIES: W/ Enumclaw, Olivia Barton, Tue., Oct. 18, 8 p.m., $20/$25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

ROCK ART SHOW AND RECORD RELEASE

THE WILHELMS: Sat., Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THE QUEERS: Sun., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $20. W/ Teenage Bottlerocket, Sun., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $20/$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 45

Hey Dan: Been playing with one of my fellow guys recently — I’m a gay guy — who says he’s into men, but who absolutely refuses to let me (or anyone else) touch his butt. What is this?

I dated a guy who thought he should be able to walk around in front of his large picture windows at home, naked and sometimes hard (morning wood-y), and he was adamant about it. And then one day the police came and ar rested him for indecent expo sure. Anyway, you should put up curtains and/or plant some tall bushes in front of those picture windows.

Hey Dan: I’m a 40-year-old cis het man. For more than 20 years — most of my life so far — I’ve been obsessed with one woman. We were never a couple, and I haven’t had contact with her since my mid-20s. How to get past this? The easiest way would probably be to start a relationship with another woman. Or I could get therapy — but I don’t know if my in surance would cover it.

Some days my Instagram feed is mostly memes about how straight guys will do literally anything to avoid getting the therapy they

Follow Peter Sagal on Twitter @ PeterSagal.

JOE NEWTON

Hey Dan: At a party recently I was chatting with a parent who men tioned that he lets his (elementary school age) kids look at porn. He had a laissez-faire attitude about the whole thing, but I found it dis turbing. Am I being a judge-y child less witch?

BY DAN SAVAGE

There is more to this week’s Savage Love. To read the entire column, go to savage.love.

“Maybe this letter writer should’ve chosen a more appropriate time for intimate relations — like when This American Life is playing,” said Peter Sagal, the host of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, National Public Radio’s long-running news quiz program. “Still, I completely understand why the letter writer would be offended by this man’s behavior. First, by thinking our show would be appropriate as an audio background for lovemaking — although Bill Kurtis is known, for good reason, as the Barry White of anchormen. And sec ond, the fact that he actually an swered questions out loud while in flagrante ut the letter writer shouldn’t think he was completely ignoring her to concentrate on us: our questions aren’t that hard.”

The Ass Ceiling. (It’s also a bound ary of his, and one you must re spect — but you’re free to ask him about it. Conversations, even fol low-up conversations, about lim its, boundaries, and reasonable expectations are not inherently coercive. Wanting to better un derstand a “no” doesn’t mean you didn’t hear it and don’t respect it. But at the start of a follow-up conversation like that, you need to emphasize that you did, indeed, hear that “no,” and will, of course, continue to respect it.)

clearly need… and your ques tion brought every one of those memes to mind. I mean, you’ve been miserable for almost two de cades and you can’t be bothered to check whether your health in surance covers the therapy you so clearly need? Jesus, dude. Make that phone call, get some therapy, don’t date anyone until you’ve been seeing your therapist for at least a year.

Here’s a tip for poly newbies: do not move in with other singles, couples, triads, battalions, etc., you just started dating. If moving in together is the right thing to do, moving in together will still be the right thing three years from now. If it’s the wrong thing to do, mov ing in together will be a disaster three months from now. Take it slow.

Hey Dan: A date recently tried act ing out a Daddy Dom roleplay with me. I don’t want to judge, but… Go to Savage.Love to read the rest.

Quickies

Checkquestions@savagelove.netouttheSavageLovecast@FakeDanSavageonTwitter

SAVAGE LOVE

Hey Dan: 44-year-old here who’s on the dating scene for the first time in 11 years. A few months ago, I hit it off with a hot, hot guy. Great! My problem/question is about distrac tions during sex, and I need a san ity check. Once during intercourse, Hot Guy called out an answer to an NPR news quiz that was play ing in the background. Is this be havior rude? I’m operating under the assumption that if one’s mind wanders during sex, one should at least pretend to be focused.

Hey Dan: My husband likes to be naked all the time at home. I think he should cover up when he’s in front of the big window in our front room and can be seen from the street, but he says I am being body shame-y. What do you think?

There were no middle schools where I grew up, so an “elemen tary school age” child could be a six-year-old first grader or 14-year-old eighth grader. For the record: I obviously don’t think a six-year-old should view porn, and a responsible parent would not allow a young child to view pornography. I also know it’s al most impossible for a parent to stop a motivated 14-year-old kid from looking at porn. So, if this man’s children are older, perhaps he said “lets his kids,” when he meant “can’t stop his kids.” What ever his kids’ ages, you can’t stop him from not stopping his kid from looking at porn, but you are free to offer him some unsolic ited advice. You could send him the clip of Billie Eilish on Howard Stern talking about how watching porn at a young age really messed with her head.

“ Once intercourse,during Hot Guy called out an answer to an NPR news quiz that was playing in the background. Is this rude?”behavior

Hey Dan: My husband and I (bio female, newly transmasc) recently became poly. We have created a “closed kitchen table poly quad” with our two best friends. The break down is one older married couple, one younger engaged couple, and it’s getting serious. We are now talking about moving in together. Any tips on living together for poly newbies? I think we have a chance at making it work long-term, but I don’t want to add pressure.

46 RIVERFRONT TIMES SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 riverfronttimes.com

riverfronttimes.com SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2022 RIVERFRONT TIMES 47

Riverfront Times, September 21, 2022

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