Riverfront Times, October 5, 2022

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Publisher Chris Keating

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EDITORIAL

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Copy Editor Evie Hemphill

Contributors Thomas K. Chimchards, Joseph Hess, Reuben Hemmer, Andy Paulissen, Olivia Poolos, Famous Mortimer, Victor Stefanescu, Mabel Suen, Graham Toker, Theo Welling

Columnists Ray Hartmann, Dan Savage

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HARTMANN

The Political Irrelevance of Abused Kids

Eric Schmitt couldn’t fit Agape into a MAGA sound bite, so the school’s victims still su er

Written by RAY HARTMANN

For decades, children at the Agape Boarding School for Boys have allegedly been sub jected to mental, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian school’s staff. Here is some of what took place (all denied by the school) according to lawsuits filed against what one survivor described as a “torture compound”:

Boys were routinely beaten. One was choked with an electri cal cord. Another was handcuffed for two weeks. Another ended up with his arm in a sling from an overzealous restraint. Another was nearly starved during pun ishment. One was chased around a volleyball court (captured on video) wearing just a bathrobe, in view of other students, before get ting kicked and dragged by a staff member after falling. Multiple boys claim they were victims of sexual abuse.

But here’s the good news: There were no reports of any boy being forced to wear a mask during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Presumably that’s why shutting down Agape never quite made it to the top of Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s priority list. That’s not to say he didn’t express outage a full year ago; he did. But nowhere to be found was the big, bad, tough guy Eric Schmitt — the one seen in MAGA campaign ads taking a blowtorch to President Biden’s socialist agenda. e did not file Sunshine Law requests and law suits against Agape. No, Schmitt couldn’t muster even a fraction of the outrage he showed over Mis

souri schools attempting to follow the advice of the world’s health experts by requiring masks dur ing the pandemic.

The Agape campus is located deep in southwest Missouri in a little town called Stockton (popu lation 1,810) in little Cedar County (relevant statistic to Schmitt: 80.89 percent Trump voters in 2020). It’s not the sort of place that a MAGA attorney general wants to be seen breaking china at the expense of local politicos. Not even if said AG tried to sued China.

What happened last year in Ce dar ounty is as much a confirma tion of Schmitt’s lack of character and competence as all the horrific pain he in icted on school dis tricts throughout Missouri. That’s saying something.

Consider the facts: In March 2 2 , the attorney general’s o ce was asked by Cedar County to as sist with the need for prosecution of the Agape Boarding School. chmitt’s o ce agreed to help.

ut, according to that o ce, what it found was an appalling disinterest on the part of Cedar County Prosecutor Ty Gaither to take seriously the apparent crimes against the boys. Schmitt found that the county prosecu tor had no interest in pursuing enough charges — or seriousenough charges — against alleged perpetrators at the school.

So what did Schmitt do? He ran for cover like fellow insurrection ist Senator Josh Hawley scurrying like a chipmunk out of the path of January 6 MAGA rioters.

Here’s the unbelievable head line from last September 24 in the Springfield News-Leader: “Missouri AG asks governor’s permission to exit Agape child abuse case, cit ing concerns about prosecutor.” What followed in the reporting on Schmitt’s letter to Governor Mike Parson was jaw-dropping.

“Mr. Gaither’s decision to pur sue a relatively small number of minor felony offenses reveals that he has no real need of the exper tise and resources of the Attorney eneral’s ce, chmitt’s letter to the governor said. “Gaither has indicated that he does not intend to seek justice for all of the 36 chil dren who were allegedly victim ized by 22 members of the Agape Boarding School staff.”

Schmitt wanted 65 criminal counts against 22 Agape codefen

dants, including some high-level felony child-abuse charges carry ing 15-year prison sentences, the News-Leader reported. But Gaith er only wanted to charge seven defendants, none with more than Class E felonies carrying no more than four years in prison.

Just to recap, the attorney gener al of the state of Missouri discov ers a glaring failure and unwill ingness by a county prosecutor to pursue real justice against nearly two dozen perpetrators of child abuse. On a case in which the at torney general has been called to help.

And what does Schmitt do in the face of this outrage? He begs the governor publicly to let him out of the case. Shame on all of us for not paying enough attention to the malpractice of this coward.

Schmitt had far better options, according to local attorney Elad Gross, an expert on these matters. One was to sue to have Gaither re mo ed from o ce, something the attorney general is empowered to do. (Replace “Ty Gaither” with “Kim Gardner” and imagine what Schmitt would have done.)

But Schmitt didn’t even have to bother with Gaither. “Schmitt has long had the power to go af ter Agape Boarding School’s non profit status under our consumer protection laws and close the in stitution on his own, but he has refused to do so,” Gross told me.

Gross added that Schmitt “de

layed and botched the new en forcement action he finally too to close the school, which left the students there subject to months of additional abuse.”

Presently, there are loud biparti san calls for closing Agape. As the Missouri Independent reported, “House Speaker Rob Vescovo, RArnold, has become a vocal propo nent of closing the Stockton-based boarding school that faces mount ing allegations of staff physically and sexually abusing students.

“‘I refuse to turn a blind eye! Let’s call out the corruption that has allowed this organized crime against children to persist,’ Vesco vo tweeted, along with a video compilation of news clips regard ing abuse allegations at Agape.

“House Minority Leader Crys tal uade, pringfield, and Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, re plied to Vescovo’s tweet, saying it is ‘past time’ to shutter the school.

“‘This isn’t partisan,’ Quade said.”

Schmitt, meanwhile, is smartly positioned on the right side of the issue as part of the growing clamor for closure of the school. Even more smartly, Schmitt is in the background and glad that the politicians are turning a “blind eye” to his failure to act a year ago or more to save these kids.

That doesn’t change the cold re ality of the situation: Schmitt was uniquely positioned to make a dif ference in this case, and he let the kids down. That wasn’t his intent, to be sure, but it was the conse quence of abuse at Agape Board ing chool not fitting any A A narrative that could help Schmitt in what really matters: his cam paign for U.S. Senate.

So if you want to hear from Schmitt about the passionate ac ti ities of his o ce, don’t be loo ing for any further insights about alleged child abuse at a Christian boarding school. No, the attorney general is on to more important litigation involving young people: He’s suing Biden — at Missouri taxpayers’ expense — to make sure folks don’t get their college loans forgiven.

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

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What does Schmitt do in the face of this outrage? He begs the governor publicly to let him out of the case. Shame on all of us for not paying enough attention to the malpractice of this coward.

Youth Pastor Sentenced for Sex with Minor

Pastor Jesse Vargas’ victim says he “remorselessly stole” her childhood

Written by RYAN KRULL

Aformer youth pastor from New York was sentenced in federal court in St. Louis last week to more than 13 years in prison for two felonies stemming from his crossing state lines to engage in a sexual act with a person under 16.

In 2013 when Jesse Vargas was 29, he had sexual contact with then 15-year-old Molly Rodgers, of St. Louis.

Rodgers spoke at length dur ing and after Vargas’ sentencing, both to shine a light on the dam age the former youth pastor had done and to encourage others in similar situations to trust their in stincts when they feel something about an authority figure’s atten tion is not right.

Rodgers, now 24, first met Var gas when she was 11 and attended the Incredible Journey Christian camp in Michigan. In her victim impact statement, which she read in court in front of Vargas, Rodg ers recounted their initial meet ing as Vargas worked the camp’s check-in table.

“Molly Rodgers? The Molly Rod gers? I’ve been waiting for you all day,” Vargas said.

Rodgers said that at age 11 she was immediately “charmed” and that his manipulation and groom ing began instantly.

“Over the course of the next four years, Jesse played with my fam ily and I like frogs in a pot, slowly increasing the temperature of his manipulation until we each were unaware of the water we had been submerged in, let alone its sudden ly scalding temperature,” she said.

After that first meeting at camp, Vargas asked for Rodgers’ phone number and would text her and send her gifts.

He was a youth pastor at a church in New York with a fantas tic reputation, she said. She trust ed him as an authority figure.

Vargas enticed Rodgers to travel to New York to visit him. Vargas also traveled to Missouri to stay with Rodgers’ family. The two continued to meet at the summer camp in Michigan as well.

The first sexual contact occurred when Rodgers was 15. Vargas was married with a child at the time.

Vargas manipulated not only her but her family, Rodgers says. He repeatedly told her not to tell her parents about what he’d done. He “remorselessly stole” her child hood, she said.

Vargas referred to Rodgers’ body as “God’s gift to him.” He manipu lated her into forsaking her friends in favor of him.

“By age 13 I [had] abandoned most of my spiritual leaders and friendships at his suggestion. By 14 he [had] even guided me to push away my two closest friends,” she said.

“I would ask [Vargas], from time to time, God’s opinion on what it was we were doing. In answering, he was unwaveringly careful and calm,” Rodgers said.

Prior to his sentencing, Vargas himself addressed the court say ing that he was responsible for Rodgers’ pain.

“I am possibly, or probably, the worst thing that ever happened to

this person,” he said, referring to Rodgers.

Vargas’ attorney, New York Citybased Edward Sapone, referred to Vargas’ crime as one that “could not be more serious.” However, he re quested that the well-being of Var gas’ son be taken in account, as well as Vargas’ Asperger’s diagnosis and his claim that he himself had been sexually abused as a young person.

Sapone asked for a sentence of a little over eight years.

After Vargas spoke, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said in court that throughout his life Vargas had demonstrated a “striking ability to behave in a du plicitous way.”

Vargas had entered his guilty plea March 22.

In addition to 13 years and four months in prison, Vargas must pay $146,000 in restitution and upon release will be on lifetime supervision.

He still faces charges in Nassau County, New York. n

Cracking Down on Overdose Deaths

St. Louis law enforcement agencies want to start treating overdose deaths like homicide cases

Written by MIKE FITZGERALD

Asurging epidemic of drug-overdose deaths is cutting a deep, jagged line across the St. Louis region, sparing almost no town or neighborhood.

More than 1,000 people in the St. Louis area died from drug overdoses last year — a record number — and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, is the biggest reason why.

Fentanyl contaminates virtually all street drugs such as crack cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as counterfeit versions of such popular prescription drugs as Xanax and Adderall. Fatal overdoses occur because consumers of these drugs unwittingly ingest the fentanyl, trace amounts of which can prove deadly.

Sayler Fleming, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Missouri told more than 200 law enforcement personnel and prosecutors from 50 agencies the urgent nature of the overdose crisis means they must take a tougher approach — turning overdose death cases into homicide cases.

“When it comes to drug-overdose deaths, especially with respect to fentanyl, I think we are fighting a very, very steep uphill battle,” Fleming told attendees of Operation OD Justice, a conference held last week at Twin Rivers Church, in south St. Louis County.

The nature of the opioid crisis is especially insidious because of the fact that fentanyl is so deadly and pervasive, according to Fleming.

In past decades, it was common for teenagers and young adults to experiment with drugs such as Xanax or Percocet, she said.

“More likely than not, they usually knew what they were taking,” Fleming said. “But we know now oftentimes they don’t know what they’re taking. They may take a Percocet, or they may be taking a Percocet with fentanyl.”

Michael Davis, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s St. Louis office, noted that last year 1,030 people died in the St. Louis region from drug overdoses.

“That’s a lot,” he said. “We have a lot

Molly Rodgers speaks a er her abuser was sentenced. | RYAN KRULL

“ I am possibly, or probably, the worst thing that ever happened to this person,” the pastor said of his victim.

to do. We need to hold the individuals and organizations accountable on our streets and killing our citizens.”

Davis noted the DEA and other fed eral agencies are engaging with China and India to prevent the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl from coming into America, while the DEA is also pushing hard to interdict drug traf fickers bringing fentanyl across the bor der from Mexico.

Davis called on local law enforcement and prosecutors to pursue drug-overdose cases aggressively.

“We want to spread the wealth,” he said.

Fleming pointed out that prosecuting a drug-overdose death can be very complex because “you have a drug-trafficking angle and you have a homicide angle. At some point you think, ‘Why put that extra effort into linking the two? Because we can get this guy off the street for simple distribution.’”

But bridging this gap is worth the extra effort, Fleming said, “because we’re not just taking a drug trafficker off the streets, we’re going to be taking them off the streets for a very, very long time, maybe forever.”

There is another benefit to taking this tack, she said.

“We’re also going to be giving a sense of justice, maybe a little bit of peace to family members, their friends and all those that are left behind,” she said. “And I think finally you’re going to send a message. And I think it’s going to be a real strong message. … There are some that will listen to that. Maybe it’ll make them at least think twice about it.”

Members of the news media were asked to leave following Fleming’s and Davis’ opening remarks.

The rest of the daylong conference was devoted to a wide range of topics dealing with overdose-death investigations, including the mapping of overdose data, interpreting toxicology reports and providing law enforcement agents the tools to work more effectively with state and local prosecutors. Speakers came from Baltimore, Los Angeles and San Diego, according to the event schedule.

Nationally, an average of 295 Americans die each day from drug overdoses. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were about 108,000 drug-overdose deaths in the United States in 2021, an increase of nearly 15 percent from the year before.

In later remarks to the media, Fleming said her office plans to hire a prosecutor focused exclusively on drug-overdose fatalities.

The challenges in prosecuting dealers connected to drug-overdose deaths are

illustrated by the hurdles facing the DEA and Fleming’s office in going after the people responsible for St. Louis’ worst mass drug-overdose event.

The mass overdose event occurred in early February, when eight people died from the ingestion of fentanyl-tainted crack cocaine at the Parkview and Park Place apartments in the city’s Central West End.

The DEA within a few days brought charges against Chuny Ann Reed, a longtime heroin and fentanyl user. Reed supported her addiction by selling crack cocaine to neighbors out of her 14th floor apartment at the Parkview Apartments.

But after eight months, Reed remained the only person arrested and charged in the case, and the case against her centered on a federal charge of distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine resulting in bodily injury, not homicide. No one else has been charged in connection with the eight deaths.

Reed died in July at the Southern Illinois jail where she had been incarcerated while awaiting trial. The Illinois State

Reduced Hours at Starbucks Lead to Strike

Police criminal investigation unit is still looking into her death.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the eight overdose deaths is still ongoing, Davis said.

“I can’t really talk about that case,” he said. “Because it is an active inves-

tigation. But I can tell you this, when we work these types of cases, we’re not just focusing on one person, we’re focusing on, hey look, who that person got it from, and who that person got it from. We always want to find out the ultimate distributor of these types of drugs.” n

Written by BENJAMIN SIMON

Three months after becoming the first St. Louis-area store to unionize, workers at the Ladue Starbucks held a one-day strike on September 24.

Employees tell RFT they have seen their hours drop as a result of their unionization efforts. The shortened shifts have led to fewer workers on the floor, causing longer wait times for customers and overwhelmed workers.

It has made shifts a “disaster,” says barista Jon Gamache, who says one work er fainted on the job and others have quit.

The breaking point came September 23 when waves of people filed into the Ladue Starbucks. With school back in session and pumpkin spice season in effect, the store saw nearly 130 customers in half an hour — their highest in months, says Gamache.

Shortly after that Friday morning rush, the frustrated workers scheduled the one-day strike for the following day.

“After that, at least for me, I’m just like, ‘I can’t do another day like this,’” he recalls. “‘We’re walking, like, tomorrow.’”

Another worker involved in the unionization efforts, Bradley Rohlf, says they scheduled the strike in an attempt to “demand recognition.”

“Our hopes with that was to give a show of force and give a show of seriousness that we can come together and make changes — and you need to pay attention to us and listen to us,” Rohlf says.

At 7:30 a.m. on the day of the strike, with the music still playing, customers in the store and drinks on the counter, about eight employees walked out of the

store, forcing it to close. A video of them leaving the Starbucks has reached nearly 1.7 million views on TikTok.

The workers spent that Saturday pro testing in front of the store and on Clayton Road, holding signs that read “hour cuts = wage theft.” The strike lasted until 7 p.m.

“We just want to show our managers what we can do,” Gamache says. “If they’re not going to take us seriously, then it’s our job to make them take us seriously.”

A Starbucks spokesperson tells RFT that “we respect our partners’ right to strike,” but that the allegations of “retaliation are categorically false.”

Employees think the cuts may be retaliation for unionizing

U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming and Special Agent Michael Davis of the DEA. | MIKE FITZGERALD

Workers at the Ladue Starbucks hold up signs during a one-day strike. | VIA JON GAMACHE

STARBUCKS STRIKE

The spokesperson says it is normal for workers to see their hours drop depending on the season, attributing it to “market forecast.”

“With summer coming to an end, our hours decline a little bit, which happens every year and nothing out of the ordinary at all,” the spokesperson says. “... We schedule to what we believe the store needs based on customer behaviors. It may mean a change to the hours available, but to say that we’re cutting hours would not be accurate.”

In June, the Ladue Starbucks at Lindbergh and Clayton became the first of five local-area Starbucks to unionize in a resounding 12-3 victory.

But after their unionization efforts be gan, the store changed, say Rohlf and Gam ache. Gamache, for example, saw his hours cut nearly in half. He asked not to open the store — only to be scheduled to open the store multiple times a week. He says the Starbucks location fell from an average of 15 workers on the floor to under 10.

Rohlf, a shift supervisor, also had his hours cut. He says that before the union election, the staff worked a total of 600 labor hours a week. Now they work around 520.

“A year ago, we weren’t having these problems because we were properly staffed and, of course, there wasn’t any talk about union stuff a year ago,” Rohlf says. “But it’s clear that the company has been intentionally understaffing our store to once again try to push out employees.”

This is not the first time a St. Louis-area Starbucks has accused the company of retaliation. In June, workers at a store in Bridgeton, where the unionization vote failed, contested the results with the Na tional Labor Relations Board after workers had their hours cuts, found anti-union liter ature in their tip envelopes and were sub ject to multiple captive-audience meetings.

The strike in Ladue comes as Starbucks stores nationwide, represented by Workers United, are continuing to unionize — but struggling to start the negotiation process. Although about 240 stores have unionized in the United States, Starbucks has only begun bargaining with three. The Ladue Starbucks has not started the bargaining process.

As a result, Starbucks employees around the country have resorted to striking. One location in Boston, where they also accused the company of hour cuts, went on strike for 64 days. Others have opted for one-day strikes.

In a statement released early last week, Starbucks said it hopes to start bargaining with each store individually next month, including the Ladue store.

But Gamache says if nothing changes, the strike might not be their final action.

“It’s definitely not going to be the last thing we do,” Gamache says, “if they don’t respond the way we want them to.” n

TikTok Star Britt Barbie Is from Missouri

e controversial star has millions of followers and views

Written by ROSALIND EARLY & RYAN KRULL

Turns out, controversial Tik Tok star Britt Barbie is from Missouri.

But the teen doesn’t want to share too many details about herself. “I’m from Missouri,” Britt Barbie explained in an email. “But [I] don’t want people know ing exactly how old I am or what part I stay in, so I keep all of that information guarded.”

Britt Barbie went viral two weeks ago with a video she posted to TikTok repeating the phrase “period ah, period uh” against the beat from the Drake and Future collaboration “I’m the Plug.”

In an interview with Speedy Morman, Britt Barbie explained that she used to do hauls on her TikTok channel and ended every haul with “period ah” indicating it was a good haul.

“And so then I was thinking like what if I buy something and it’s period uh, like it’s not good. So I made it into a song,” she said, add ing that “period ah” is something she’s said her whole life. When Morman asked about why she sticks out her tongue when sing ing “period ah,” Britt Barbie said it “gives period ah vibes.”

Britt Barbie also explained that she did the TikTok in one take af ter donning a wig from Shein.

We’ll leave the artistic merits of the work to the ears of the behold ers, but the short video did rack up more than 22 million views (possibly netting Britt a total of $600 paid out from TikTok’s par ent company, the Chinese-based ByteDance, worth $275 billion).

Britt Barbie’s video included a portion with just the Drake/Fu ture beat rolling so that others could contribute their own verses in impromptu duets.

Among those who jumped on the trend were Atlanta rapper Baby Tate and singer Chloe Bai

ley. Brooklyn-born pop singer and Lays potato chip company collab orator Bebe Rexha also gets in on the action.

Even Cardi B gave the eight-syl lable hook a shout-out via Twitter.

Backlash, however, quickly fol lowed.

umerous lac in uencers called out Britt Barbie for carica turing Black women both in the “Period Ah, Period Uh” video as well as in previous posts.

“Period, please stop it,” reads the sub-headline in one BET ar ticle covering the backlash.

Now, if you search #Brittbarbie on nstagram, the first posts that come up are all taking her to task.

When asked about the contro versies, Britt Barbie was not eager to talk about them. “I am just me,” she wrote. “I’ve never mocked

anyone. I love Hiphop and it’s got ten me through very dark days. The same way that Nicki Minaj had Roman, I have Britt Barbie.”

Britt Barbie is referring to one of Nicki Minaj’s alter egos, Roman Zolanski.

Prior to this month, the con tent creator mostly posted eccen tric videos to her TikTok account ritt arbie2. he filmed herself professing to be confused about hair growing from the scalp. In the video, she speaks with an ur ban accent, which led one person to confront her and say she made the video to mock Blacks.

Also, because Britt Barbie has made videos where she uses fun ny voices or speaks like she has a speech impediment, many in the autistic community have called for her to be canceled, saying she is pretending to be autistic. Britt Barbie has not claimed to have autism or a speech impediment.

Around the same time, TikTok took down her original video with its more than 20 million views. She didn’t have permission to use the Drake/Future beat. Sub sequently, her entire TikTok ac count was deleted.

She’s started a new account, though: BrittBarbie3. She already has 1.2 million followers. And you have not heard the last from her.

“I have a few record labels bid ding over me at the moment,” Britt Barbie said via email. “I’m not rushing into anything. I know my worth. In less than 24 hours, my new song‘Bag, Secured Peri od’ has already brought in over 4 million views.” n

TikTok Star Britt Barbie is known for her “Period Ah, Period Uh” video. | VIA TIKTOK

“ I’ve never mocked anyone. I love Hiphop [sic] and it’s gotten me through very dark days. The same way that Nicki Minaj had Roman, I have Britt Barbie.”

Family of Woman Who Died in Prison Searches for Answers

Chuny Ann Reed was connected to St. Louis’ deadliest mass overdose

Written by MIKE FITZGERALD

This project was completed with the support of a grant from Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures.

Chuny Ann Reed’s family is still waiting for answers.

The Illinois State Police criminal investigation unit began looking into Reed’s death in late July after Reed — the only person charged in connection with a mass drug-overdose event in early February that killed eight people in St. Louis — suddenly took ill at a southern Illinois jail where she’d been incarcerated awaiting trial. She was taken to a hospital in Mount Vernon, Illinois, where she died on July 18.

For Carolyn Reed, Chuny Ann’s moth-

Cyclists Protest Unsafe Streets

Signs along South Grand caution pedestrians to wear helmets

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

Sean Milford has biked to his job in downtown St. Louis from his home in Tower Grove South for years. Lately, doing so has felt unsafe.

At least eight people were killed by motorists in the city this summer, including one pedestrian and a cyclist on South Grand.

Milford and several other concerned bicyclists are fed up, so they hung signs along South Grand to raise awareness about the issue and call on city leaders to take action.

“We’re just all frustrated at what we’re seeing: the inaction of leaders,” Milford says. “We wanted to make a statement to get people talking about it.”

The signs taped to several posts along South Grand read like a satirical city notice. “Complimentary” bike helmets hang next to each.

er, the Illinois State Police investigation can not wrap up soon enough.

“They haven’t given me anything,” Reed says of the police and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the Tri-County Justice and Detention Center in Ullin, Illinois.

The center was where Chuny Ann was being held since her arrest in early February in connection with the mass overdose event at Parkview Apartments in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood.

Carolyn Reed says she believes her daughter died as a result of negligence based on the timeline she was given. Chuny Ann reported feeling sick on the morning of Thursday, July 13, but was not taken to a hospital until the next day, July 14, when Reed and her family drove up to see Chuny Ann.

By that time, her daughter was in a coma and breathing with the help of a ventilator, Carolyn says.

“I saw no life in my daughter,” she says. “I’m angry … These guys were wrong. They were wrong for putting me through this pain and anguish, because you guys knew she was dead when she arrived at the hospital.”

After a monthslong wait, it looks like some answers could be coming soon, according to Roger Hayse, the coroner for Jefferson County, Illinois, where Mount Vernon is located.

Chuny Ann Reed’s autopsy included a toxicology test, which detects and identifies chemicals, toxins or poisons in a given sample. The results of the test have come back, according to Hayse.

“I talked to the pathologists,” he says. “They are sitting down this week and working on reports.”

The toxicology report for Reed could be written as early as Friday, according to Hayse.

Hayse declined to say if any evidence suggests foul play was a factor in Reed’s death.

“I haven’t talked to the Illinois State

Police to see what they found on their end,” he says.

Trooper Jayme Bufford, an Illinois State Police spokesperson, declined to comment on specifics of the Reed investigation.

“The investigation remains active and ongoing,” Bufford wrote in an email in response to questions from RFT. “In order to protect the integrity of the investigation, no information is available at this time.”

At the time of her death, Reed was awaiting trial in St. Louis on a federal charge of distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine resulting in bodily injury at the Parkview Apartments at 4451 Forest Park Avenue. If convicted, she would have faced at least 20 years in prison.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller, had somehow contaminated the crack cocaine Reed had allegedly sold out of her apartment on Parkview’s 14th floor, causing 11 people to overdose. Eight of them died between February 5 and 7 of this year at Parkview and neighboring Park Place Apartments — the second-deadliest mass opioid overdose in U.S. history and the subject of an RFT cover story whose print version came out the morning Reed took ill.

The mother of four children, Reed had a long history of drug use and interaction with the criminal justice system. Family members say she dealt to support her own drug habit. She was not charged with causing any of the deaths at either Parkview or Park Place. n

“In a continued effort to be perceived as caring about traffic violence, we are considering studying the issue,” the posters continue. “In the meantime, please enjoy this complimentary helmet to wear while crossing the street...”

In a conversation with reporters last month, Jones said St. Louis needs a citywide traffic-calming study.

“We want to do a citywide traffic-calming study to make sure that everyone is safe and that we don’t get these little piecemeal projects depending on which ward you live in,” Jones says.

Nick Desideri, a spokesman for Jones, clarified Monday that the mayor’s office would like to see a citywide “plan” and not a study.

“We don’t need another study that sits on the shelf,” Desideri says. “We want an actual plan that helps us apply for federal grants and moves us away from the ward-by-ward system.”

St. Louis has historically done traffic studies by ward or neighborhood, with the cost of each study sourced out of ward capital funds.

“As of October 2022, we hereby suggest that all pedestrians crossing any St. Louis street should wear helmets while crossing such street until further notice,” the signs read.

After the death of bicyclist Danyell McMiller, 47, on September 6, St. Louis

Mayor Tishaura Jones said police would ramp up traffic enforcement in accidentprone areas.

The concerned residents’ posters cited how dozens of pedestrians were killed and hundreds more were injured by motorists in St. Louis city and county last year.

Milford said he hopes to see city leaders take action. Maybe the city could build protected bike lanes? Or take a stronger stance on traffic enforcement? He’s not a traffic expert, he says. He just wants something to change.

“We really want the city to step up and do something,” Milford says. n

Chuny Ann Reed’s in-custody death is being investigated. | THEO WELLING

Satirical signs that warn pedestrians need to wear bike helmets line South Grand. | SEAN MILFORD

MISSOURILAND

A Visit to the Past

e St. Louis Renaissance Festival allows people to go back in time without all the icky plagues Words by ROSALIND EARLY

Photos by REUBEN HEMMER

This year’s St. Louis Renais sance Festival opened Sep tember 17 in the Rotary Park in Wentzville, Missouri, bring ing out history aficionados, cosplayers, fans of the 1500s and people in search of turkey legs.

The ongoing festival features an artisan marketplace where you can buy weapons from the smithy and pick up apparel from

ye olde tailor such as Boss Wench and Lady MacSnood. There is also entertainment, including jousting matches, circus and aerial perfor mances, jugglers and more.

The real draw for many, though, is the food, which resembles more of a modern state fair than Re naissance festivals of yesteryear. You can get burgers, quesadillas and fried Oreos, in addition to the famous turkey leg, which despite looking quite Medieval-esque was definitely not widely eaten dur ing the Renaissance. (Both turnips and pheasant were much more common than Oreos but are no where to be found.) The festival isn’t about hewing to historical accuracy but taking some histori cal tropes, activities and entertain ment and having fun. Check out one of the themed weekends, such as the Viking Invasion (certainly not very historically accurate, let’s hope) on Saturday, October 15, and Sunday, October 16.

The St. Louis Renaissance Fes tival is open weekends until Sun day, October 23, plus Monday, Oc tober 10. n

“ e [other franchise] owners wouldn’t even let her sit down for the picture,” Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum manager Amy Berra says. “ ey made her stand behind them!” |

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

BY LESLIE GIBSON MCCARTHY

AT SOME POINT this month — or maybe into November if we’re lucky — the lights will go out on what arguably has been the greatest year in modern Cardinals history. That’s not a stretch for a season that saw the joyful race to 700 home runs by Albert Pujols; a record 328 starts, and counting, by Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina; and more than 3 million fans attending games at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals are our family, St. Louis’ glorious, messy, sometimes dys functional, sometimes-we-hate-’em-but-we-always-forgive-’em family, winners of 11 World Series titles, and home to a slew of Hall of Famers. The team gave us the Gas House Gang, El Birdos, Rogers Hornsby, Sunny Jim Bottomley, Stan the Man, Brock, Gibby, Whitey, Ozzie. Lou. Lou. Lou. And probably the most iconic moment in Cardinal’s history just last Sunday when u ols, ainwright and olina wal ed off the field for the last time together. Go crazy folks! We will see you tomorrow night.

Yet they weren’t always the Cardinals, the Nation al League’s premier franchise with all the history, ags, trophies and retired numbers adorning usch Stadium III like ornaments on a Christmas tree. The winning started with a 1926 World Series win over the New York Yankees. That’s about the same time

the o cial history of the ardinals starts, too, be cause the folks who write books typically start with the good stuff.

ut before they won that first title, the team we know and love as the Cardinals had been a profes

Continued on pg 16

When Helene Hathaway Robison Britton inherited the St. Louis Cardinals, everyone expected her to sell the team. She had other plans

THE GAMECHANGER

sional entity in St. Louis for 45 years — 35 years in the National League. The franchise didn’t even adopt the name Cardinals until 1900. A whole lot of early history has been overlooked — including that the seeds of Cardinal Nation were planted by a woman.

One hundred and eleven years ago, a brave, tenacious, pearlswearing mother of two owned the Cardinals. A woman who couldn’t vote, or even go to a game without a male escort, sat in the owner’s box and kept score. A woman who had grown up in privilege but learned to love the game of “base ball” from her father and uncle.

Her name was Helene Hatha way Robison Britton, and she owned the Cardinals from 1911 to 1917 after inheriting the team from her uncle, Stanley Robison. Her inheritance made national headlines, most speculating that she would sell the team. Yet she had no intention of selling. In stead, Robison Britton held her own with her fellow owners at a time when she couldn’t keep her maiden name if she wanted to, or even easily divorce her gambling, drinking and abusive husband.

Yet few have heard of her. That Helene Hathaway Robison Brit ton has been a footnote to history all these years is likely due to the Cardinals’ mediocre performance on the field during her six years as owner. The team ne er finished higher than third. Despite having some supporters, each year she faced legal challenges, intense me dia scrutiny and outright bullying. But she never backed down, intro ducing measures that changed the atmosphere of the game.

She was “undaunted and deter mined,” writes Joan M. Thomas, a writer and baseball historian from Le Mars, Iowa. Thomas wrote the seminal book on Brit ton, Baseball’s First Lady: Helene Hathaway Robison Britton and the St. Louis Cardinals. Robison Brit ton’s surviving relatives credit Thomas for first shedding light on the former owner’s legacy. “She claimed her rightful inheri tance despite everyone telling her she should back down,” Thomas wrote, “and fearlessly accepted her responsibilities.”

“She crashed the boys’ club,” says Amy Berra, manager and cu rator of the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum in Ballpark Village. “Her story lets young girls know women can not only like baseball, they can run it, too.”

“Helene dared to do the un thinkable,” says her great-grand daughter Candy Barone, an engineer and now leadership-de velopment expert and executive coach in Austin, Texas. “She dared to set herself apart. For six years, she fought, she used her voice and she championed women’s rights in the realm of sports. She played in a fierce good ol’ boys’ club and survived challenges and struggles.

“Yet, she showed up,” Barone continues. “She chose to be brave. She chose to lead. And she made history.”

‘The Team Is Not for Sale’

Born on January 30, 1879, Robi son Britton grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, as the middle daughter of Frank Robison, who along with his brother Stanley had made the family fortune in streetcars. He lene accompanied her father and uncle to games of the Cleveland Spiders, the franchise the broth ers founded in 1887. They taught her baseball’s nuances, including the intricacies of keeping score. The middle of three sisters grow ing up in a mansion on Lake Erie, she not only accompanied her fa ther and uncle to every game, but she also learned from her father his favorite pastime of billiards —

to be played “only within the fam ily confines, Thomas writes.

Hers was a life of wealth and privilege. St. Louis came into the picture in 1899, when the Robi son brothers purchased the city’s National League franchise from owner Chris von der Ahe, who lost the team (then called the St. Louis Browns) due to a string of bad financial decisions and a fire at the ballpark. They kept dual ownership of the Spiders but moved all the best players, includ ing future Hall of Famer Cy Young, to baseball-friendly St. Louis and renamed the team the Perfectos.

In 1899, the Spiders ended up being the worst team in base ball history with a 20-134 record, while the Perfectos, less than per fect, finished fifth. y , the Spiders had folded, and the Ro bisons put all their efforts in their St. Louis team, changing the name to the Cardinals to match the color of the uniforms.

Right around this time, Helene Robison was keeping active as a Cleveland debutante and going to parties and outings in the company of young suitors, one of whom was a young salesman named Schuyler Britton. They married on October 29, 1901, and would have two chil dren within seven years, Frank and

Marie. The marriage was unhappy, so much so that Robison Britton twice filed for di orce, both times citing abuse and lack of support.

Her father, Frank, didn’t seem to like Schuyler Britton either. He died in 1908, but in 1905, Thom as writes, Frank added a codicil to his will ensuring everything in his estate went to his wife, his daughter (of his children only He lene lived into the 20th century) and their descendants, leaving Schuyler Britton nothing. “The codicil provides evidence,” Thom as writes, “that at the time Frank Britton had misgivings about his son-in-law.”

Two years after Frank died, Ro bison Britton lost her uncle, M. Stanley Robison, president and owner of the “Cardinals National League baseball team of St. Lou is.” It made front-page news in the evening edition of St. Louis PostDispatch of March 24, 1911, that he had died of “heart stroke” ear lier that day.

“Though all of Robison’s legal heirs are women — his sister, sister-in-law and niece,” the story reads, “it was made clear soon af ter the announcement of his death that the Cardinals will not be owned or controlled by women.”

Except nobody asked Stanley’s eldest surviving niece, Robison Britton, who inherited 75 percent of his team shares, with the other 25 percent going to her mother (and Stanley’s sister-in-law), Sar ah Robison. Neither woman had any intention of giving them up.

“I don’t think that because I am a woman I will be handicapped in managing a baseball team,” Robi son Britton would tell Marguerite Martyn of the St. Louis Post-Dis patch a few weeks later. Her ascent to baseball owner made national headlines because of her gender, her status in the social register and because baseball was, at the time, the national pastime.

“This Woman May Head St. Louis Ball Club,” warned the April 4, 1911, Tacoma Times, above a picture of Robison Britton hold ing her son. “Lovely Woman May Head St. Louis Ball Club,” wrote the Seattle Star. Her fellow own ers, including Reds owner August Herrmann, who was a pall bearer at her uncle’s funeral, suggested that not only would she sell but she should.

But despite the national atten tion — and the pleas to sell — she held fast. “I shall feel it my duty as well as my pleasure and advan tage not to shrink from doing ev erything in my power to further the interests of the Cardinals,” she told Martyn at the time. “And the

Helene Hathaway Robison Britton in the stands with her children Marie and Frank. | MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Despite the national attention — and the pleas to sell — Robison Britton held fast. “I shall feel it my duty as well as my pleasure and advantage not to shrink from doing everything in my power to further the interests of the Cardinals,” she told Martyn at the time. “And the team is not for sale.”

team is not for sale.” When asked if she felt her gender would hinder her in anyway, she said, “On the contrary, I think there are some ways in which I can take a positive stand and actually aid the prosper ity and popularity of base ball by very reason of my sex.”

But controversy was already waiting in the wings. On June 14, , Robison ritton filed her first petition for di orce and got a restraining order against Schuy ler. “The restraining order clearly indicates that Helene was the vic tim of physical abuse at the hands of her spouse,” Thomas writes.

In 1911, Robison Britton found herself a 32-year-old woman with an estranged, abusive husband; a national figure being made fun of in the media because no one thought she belonged; the moth er of two and an aid to her aging mother; and somehow running a baseball team that was not even the most popular team in St. Louis (that honor belonged to the new St. Louis Browns, an American League team brought in from Mil wau ee , with a fiery catcher and popular team manager named Roger Bresnahan. She and Bres nahan would soon be getting into some very public arguments, in cluding one after a loss in Chicago where she questioned his strat egy, and he replied, through the papers, that “No woman can tell me how to play a ball game!”

How bad was the media haz ing? They nicknamed her “Lady ee, for the first letter of her last name. Or she was known as “Mrs. Schuyler P. Britton” because a woman’s own first name didn’t matter. None other than Grant land Rice — the patron saint of sportswriters (at least the male ones), the man who coined iconic sports phrases such as “The Four Horsemen,” “One Great Scorer” and “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” — wrote a December 1911 poem about women taking over base ball after Robison Britton’s ap

pearance at the owners’ meetings in New York. The poem expresses outrage at the idea of a woman’s name being printed alongside the names of the game’s great stars. The last verse: They’ve gone out after baseball, and they stand the one best bet But as full of conversation and as fussy as they get When they start the old hairpulling and the hat pin stabs some mogul They’ll have no bloomin’ edge upon our Ebbetts, Murph or Fogel. It was the 1911 version of being canceled.

Six Tumultuous Seasons

Robison Britton’s years as an own er were tumultuous. he first had to withstand a legal contest of the will. he had her di cult mar riage to contend with. Though she

Three ways Robison Britton changed baseball

1. Bringing women and families to the ballpark. One of her first actions as owner was to ban the sale of alcohol at games, telling the board it was her uncle’s wish and that it had nothing to do with the game itself. She re-instituted “Ladies Days” with free admission and added a downtown drugstore as an offsite ticket booth.

2. Livening up the ballpark experience. She instituted giveaways such as free scorecards and began the practice of playing music between innings.

3. Passing the torch: The ownership group she sold to included Sam Breadon. A minority owner in 1917, Breadon gained control by 1919 and hired a young man named Branch Rickey, whose idea of a farm system would revolutionize baseball.

did not manage the franchise on a day-to-day basis, she did make sure that all the big decisions of running the team went through her. Robison Britton was smart enough to know she had to ap point a man as president, first se lecting family friend Ed Steininger and eventually her husband after they reconciled and she withdrew her petition for divorce.

In her six seasons as owner, the Cardinals languished despite hav ing such stars as player/manager Miller Huggins, who took over af ter resnahan was fired after the 1912 season. The team also had to share the city with the St. Louis Browns and, for two seasons, the St. Louis Terriers in the upstart Federal League.

But Robison Britton made changes that transformed the game and attracted fans. One of her first mo es, e en though it cut into team profits, was to pro hibit the sale of alcohol at Robison Field in order to draw families, telling the media that her uncle had been planning to do the same thing. She allowed game tickets to be sold at a downtown drugstore, a safer venue than local saloons. She reinstituted “Ladies Day” at Robison Field, a practice she had encouraged when her uncle owned the team. The difference was that instead of a reduced rate, all “fanettes” were given free ad mission to Robison Field — and

eventually would be allowed in without a male escort.

She attended games; she sat in the owners’ box with pearls, her kids and a scorecard and knew exactly how her team was doing on the field and in the standings. She’d attend owners’ meetings in New York, and hold her own, even when they tried to maneuver a sale of the team behind her back.

In January 1916, she was told she should sell “for the good of the game,” while at the same time, the owners were trying to convince her to accept a below-market price. Her response: “I have not sold the Cardinals and I’m not selling the Cardinals.” Naturally, the media blamed her for all the team’s misfortunes.

Eventually, the challenges caught up with her. The team was bleeding money and so was her family. There were rumors she was forced to sell personal pos sessions to offset her husband’s gambling debts. By November 17, , she filed again for di orce, on the grounds her husband was “addicted to habitual drunken ness” and someone who “fre quently struck and frequently swore” at his wife.

The divorce might have been a personal victory, but Schuyler Britton, who had been serving as team president, resigned, leaving Robison ritton the first female

Chad, Crystal, Char and Candy Barone are Helene Hathaway Robison Britton’s grandchildren and great grandchildren. | COURTESY PHOTO

THE

executive in baseball. That might ha e been the final straw. he made the agonizing decision to sell. n ebruary 2 , , she sold the team for , to a syndicate, one that promised to sell shares that included a season tic et to be used by a boy under , with the idea of both ensuring a family atmosphere and creating future ardinals fans.

Among the in estors was am readon, who would become ma ority owner within two years. That’s where the history of the ardinals as the ational eague’s premier franchise generally be gins. ut it was set up by a wom an, who held on as long as she could and wal ed away from it all for the good of her family.

or her to ma e the decision to wal away on her own terms, that was badass, great granddaugh ter andy arone says.

A Legacy of Baseball arone has a picture of her great grandmother hanging in her Aus tin, Texas, o ce. t’s a photo from the collection of the ational Archi es of one of the ational eague owners’ meetings in ew or , and in frame are six own ers seated side by side, loo ing li e the captains of industry they think themselves to be. Behind them, by herself, stands Robison ritton, with a loo that says, ’ e persisted.

Amy erra, with the ardinals Hall of Fame and Baseball Muse um, has the same picture on her wall in her allpar Village of fice. The owners wouldn’t e en let her sit down for the picture, erra says. They made her stand behind them

erra recently came across a set of Spalding Guides in a clos et maintained by the ardinals communications department, a record of records that was the source of information for execu ti es and media from the late s to the late s. They were each bound and embossed with the names of ardinals executi es, including ranch Ric ey and am readon. And then came across one published in , which had rs. . . ritton’ embossed on it, erra says. They couldn’t e en use her first name.

n 2 , erra organi ed a Women in Baseball exhibit at the ardinals all of ame. That was the same year Robison ritton’s granddaughter, har arone whose father was elene’s son

ran threw out the first pitch with her two daughters, rystal and andy, and son had on the pregame field.

There was something so magi cal about being on the field at usch tadium honoring elene, rystal arone says. don’t now if any of us really felt the magni tude of what she meant to base ball until we got to experience that and see her artifacts and photographs from the ardinals all of ame.

can’t e en describe the feeling of what that meant, says har ar one, who grew up in hiladelphia attending hillies games with her father especially when the ardi nals were in town. he remembers almost nothing of her grandmoth er, who died on anuary , , when har was ust two. e ust didn’t tal about her legacy in the family, har says. y dad was uiet, and reser ed, so had no idea how important my grandmother’s contributions

Five things Robison Britton could not do while she owned a baseball team

1. Vote. Women’s suffrage was heating up in the years Robison Britton owned the team, but the

to baseball were.

ust new li ed baseball.

o did her girls, each of whom held a lifelong lo e not only of baseball but of business. t wasn’t until rystal arone, a real estate agent in Texas, came across a sto ry on the website of the ociety for American aseball Research, written by Thomas, that the scale of Robison ritton’s legacy began to sin in for the family. They ust new their grandmother and great grandmother owned a base ball team at one point in time. rystal reached out to Thomas, and the boo was born.

feel li e there’s something in our blood, rystal arone says. There’s a dri e, and a determina tion, and it comes from her.

There was a space about find ing out my great grandmother’s legacy that was special to me and connected so many dots, says andy arone, who grew up a ubs fan. ’d been a baseball fan my whole life, but learning this connected so many things for me. elene’s legacy is a source of pride and admiration for our fam ily. ut there was this, ow come we didn’t tal about this more ’ ut they’re tal ing now to anyone who as s. elene athaway Robison rit ton deser es a more prominent place in baseball history. At the ery least, she belongs alongside owners August A. usch r. and readon in the ardinals all of ame as a pioneering baseball ex ecuti e. erhaps it is time to con sider a statue at ardinal ay in honor of this courageous, pluc y woman who was way ahead of her time, who made the ind of baseball history that’s been o er looked.

wasn’t ratified until August 18,

2. Go out in public without an

simply didn’t go to

3. Use birth control.

4. Smoke in public.

to the

Women of polite society in the

much less a

thers would come behind her. ffa anley owned the e gro eague team the ewar agles in the s. race omis ey owned the hite ox after her husband died in . ean aw ey owned the Red ox after her husband died in . n 4, arge chott became the first woman to buy a team outright when she bought the incinnati Reds. omen are showing up and ta ing charge. And Robison rit ton pa ed the way.

he made it so that women who wanted to watch a baseball game didn’t ha e to be escorted by a man, rystal arone says. t sounds so simple, but that fires me up more than anything.

5. Live long. In 1910, life expectancy

States was

years for men, and

years

when she inherited the Cardinals, Robison Britton was considered

died

he was ery clear about what she stood for, rystal adds. he ga e oice to all women who li e she did and we do now sim ply lo e the game.

“I’d been a baseball fan my whole life, but learning this connected so many things for me. Helene’s legacy is a source of pride and admiration for our family. But there was this, ‘How come we didn’t talk about this more?’”

Char Barone, Robison Britton’s granddaughter, threw out a first pitch to celebrate women in baseball at Busch Stadium. | COURTESY PHOTO

CALENDAR

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 10/6

Forerunner

ou can find ori ush all o er t. Louis. Sometimes you’ll see her at a charity event, sometimes she’s at an outdoor rally and, other times, you’ll catch her on the street talk ing to people and earning her reputation as the Soul of St. Louis. This Thursday, you can catch Bush at her own event: her book launch. Hosted by Left Bank Books, this event is being held at 7 p.m. at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Lou is (1 Touhill Circle, 866-516-4949). Tickets are $35, but they include a copy of Bush’s new memoir, The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America. The book chronicles her life from nurse, pastor and community ac ti ist to becoming the first lac woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives. Bush shares the deeply personal experiences that have shaped her life in public service, from being abused to living unhoused. Masks and vaccinations are required to attend the event, but if you’d rath er watch from the safety of your home, there’s also a virtual ticket and book combo that includes a link to a live stream of the launch. Details at left-bank.com/event/co ri-bush-forerunner.

FRIDAY 10/7

The Writing’s on the Wall

St. Louis’ art enthusiasts needn’t head to a museum or gallery to take in the city’s hottest new instal lation — all it takes is a nice outdoor stroll through Grand Center. That’s thanks to the recent completion of Walls Off Washington, an expan sive mural walk opening this week between Josephine Baker Boule vard and North Leonard Avenue, behind Sophie’s Artist Lounge (3333 Washington Avenue, 314-710-5647) and the High Low (3301 Washing ton Avenue, 314-533-0367). The eyepopping works of wall art come via 20 artists from across the city, coun try and world, adding color and vi

brancy to the ever-expanding arts district. The collection is meant to be an alternative to the sometimesstuffy gallery world, and with tem peratures in the 60s and 70s all week, there’s never been a better time to get out there and take it all in. Admission is free.

SATURDAY 10/8

Beer by the Liter

It’s that time of the year when everyone suddenly seems super German and celebrates a festival they know close to nothing about. But what better way to celebrate the arrival of fall than with good beer and enough gem tlich eit to go around? This weekend, pull on your lederhosen and dirndl to cel ebrate the city’s German heritage through two days of food, drink and live music at the Oktoberfest at Soulard Market (730 Carroll Street, 314-622-4180). The event will feature an open-air plaza, wine garden, bands and compe titions and German fare catered by Bierman foods. Organizers say Oktoberfest at Soulard Market is a family-friendly affair, so bring the

kiddos (though if past events are any testament, things get rowdy as the day turns to night). Festivi ties kick off at 4 p.m. Friday with polka music from the Good Times Band and resume Saturday at 11 a.m. Entry is free, though entrance into a VIP bier hall requires pur chase of a $30 ticket that comes with a one-liter stein.

Bats and Beers

When the clock hits October, the Saint Louis Zoo transforms. It won’t just be the place where you can see animals and ride the Emerson Zooline Railroad. In October, it will be the home to Zootoberfest, a fes tival that will take over the park for the second weekend in a row this wee . There, you’ll find beer trail ers with beverages from Germany to Belgium to Kalamazoo to St. Lou is. There will be German-inspired food, such as Bavarian pretzels, cheddar bacon and pepper-jack bratwursts, and autumnal wa e cones. There will be music by a DJ and games for kids, such as an ob stacle course that takes you through the point of iew of a butter y. The free event takes place Saturday, October 8, and Sunday, October 9,

from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more in formation visit stlzoo.org.

Party Mashup

Both the City Museum and Hal loween know how to make adults feel like kids again, so what could be better than a combination of the two? This October, celebrate Halloween at the museum all month long with a variety of pro gramming, from the festive to the frightening, during Misfit Hal loween. The all-ages spooky cel ebration will include spirit tast ings, murder-mystery dinners, magic shows, a Rocky Horror Picture Show Extravaganza and more. Select events require a sep arate ticket, but most come free with general admission. The fes tivities kick off Friday, October 7, with Dinner Detectives, followed by a craft vendor fair this week end. For more information, go to citymuseum.org/halloween.

SUNDAY 10/9

Open-Air Art

One of St. Louis’ most classic out

Cori Bush’s memoir e Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America came out this week. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

door art events returns this week end with the Shaw Art Fair. Lo cated in the Shaw neighborhood north of Tower Grove Park, the fair has been put on since 1993 and brings approximately 130 art ists who work in glass, sculpture, painting, drawing and other media to sell their wares on the tree-lined parkway of Flora Place. In addi tion to the fine art, isitors can ex pect food from local vendors and musical entertainment throughout the day. The festivities run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Octo ber 8, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 9. Advance tickets are $8 and $10 at the door and good for both days. Details at shawstlouis.org/attractions-ame nities/historic-shaw-art-fair.

Brew Fest

For 10 years now, the Lutheran El ementary School Association has been transforming Francis Park into a haven for beer enthusiasts for one Saturday in October with its fundraiser Brew in the Lou. This full-day, family- and petfriendly tasting event features the best of St. Louis beer, wine spirits and food with proceeds benefiting scholarships and other educational opportunities for stu

dents of all faiths. This means you can spend the day filling yourself with food and drink from local and regional craft breweries and restaurants but rest assured that your indulgence is going to a good cause. Tickets are $50 in advance, and $60 the day of — and include unlimited tastings and a com memorative glass. More at lesastl. org/2022-brew-in-the-lou.

MONDAY 10/10

Tacos Tacos Tacos

This is the week to enjoy all your old favorite taco joints and try that new taco spot you’ve been mean ing to. Monday, October 10, marks the beginning of the Riverfront Times’ Taco Week, which will end on Sunday, October 16. Participat ing taco spots will include Mission Taco Joint, Taco Buddha, Terror Tacos and more than two dozen others. All will be cooking special tacos just for the occasion, with plenty of gluten-free and vegan op tions on offer. Download the Taco Week app and track your taco-eat ing adventures. If you hit up four or more eateries, you’ll be entered to win cash prizes. Find participat ing vendors at stltacoweek.com.

TUESDAY 10/11 Haute Couture

Even if you’re not a fashion maven, you’ve probably come across Diane von Fürstenberg. If you’ve ever donned a wrap dress — those soft jersey, subtly A-line, generally attering to all belted numbers that became popular in the ’70s and have stuck around since — well, then, you’ve worn something that’s a descendant of a von Fürstenberg design, if not one of the originals, because she is widely credited with inventing the style. Learn more about, and maybe come face to face with, the designer this week from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11, during Speaking of Fashion: A Conversation with Diane von Fürstenberg at Graham Cha pel at Washington University (6475 Forsyth Boulevard). Then check out her wares the same day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on Wednesday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Contempo rary Art Museum (3750 Wash ington Boulevard) during the Diane von Fürstenberg Trunk Show. Both free events are host ed by and will benefit the aint Louis Fashion Fund. Details at

WEDNESDAY 10/12

Spooky Trails

If people have inhabited a region long enough, they are bound to have left something behind. If that’s not some fancy ruins, it’s of ten literal garbage. We are a messy species. But sometimes, what gets left behind is a little spoooooky. That’s apparently the case in Bel leville, Illinois, which allegedly suffers from a surfeit of ghosts. You can try to take a good look at them, and other supernatural hap penings, during the Haunted Bel leville Walking Tour (701 East Washington Street Belleville, 618234-0600). Attend the hourlong tours run by the St. Clair County Historical Society to get your heart rate up — from fear as much as ex ercise — while digging deep into the Old Belleville Historic District’s spine-tingling past. Catch a tour from 6 to 9 p.m. from Wednesday, October 12, to Saturday, October 15. Tickets are $20. n

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

saintlouisfashionfund.org.

Terror Tacos is one of many local establishments taking part in RFT’s Taco Week. | MABEL SUEN e

Walls O Washington murals open Oct. 7. | KASEY NOSS

COMMANDMENTS

1THERE’S A GOOD CHANCE THEY WILL RUN OUT

We expect that the restaurants will be extremely busy. So if a place runs out toward the end of a shift, handle it like an adult; go back earlier the next day, order your tacos and thank them for working really hard. Please be nice to our restaurants.

2

THERE WILL LIKELY BE WAITS

People have been talking about Taco Week 2022 for months. Don’t be surprised if restaurants have waits.

3 YOU WILL TIP LIKE A PRO

$5 brings out the cheap in all of us, but really, you’re most likely receiving $10+ tacos. Many restaurants go above and beyond for Taco Week, so please tip at least 20%. Those who are serving you are working harder this week than any other full week in the year. Kind words can go a long way — these folks are our friends and neighbors.

4 YOU REALLY SHOULD BUY A DRINK AND/OR OTHER FOODS

Purchase of sides and extras are not a requirement, but we think it says a lot to those working hard to bring you an extraordinary experience. Grab some queso, a beer or a cocktail and say thanks.

5

CHECK TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

Restaurants are encouraged to post updates on supply throughout the week, but download the new Taco Week App and check Taco Week social media for the most real time updates. Don’t forget to tag your Instagram photos with #STLTacoWeek too!

6 DINE-IN & TAKE OUT OPTIONS

While Taco Week was designed to be dine in only, with the current state we are encouraging restaurants to offer take out options as well. Many locations will be offering both dine in and take out, however, make sure to double check the Official Taco Week App or www.stltacoweek.com to confirm which locations offer carry-out and which locations are dine-in only.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

A L P H A B R E W I N G

C O M PA N Y

4310 Fyler Ave, St. Louis

MOJO DE AJO CHICKEN TACO

Mojo de ajo chicken taco served with queso fresco, cilantro, hatch Chile avocado crème, and topped with our 18 month aged Still630 whiskey barrel aged hot sauce on a corn tortilla

A M I G O ’S CA N T I N A

120 W Jefferson, Kirkwood

BARBACOA TACOS

Two oft our tortilla filled with slow roasted shredded beef simmered in a rich broth of guajillo peppers & spices topped with diced white onions, green onions & cilantro

BEAST BUTCHER & BLOCK

4156 Manchester Ave, St. Louis

BRISKET TACO

Brisket taco on a toasted cotija tortilla, chimi, lime sour cream, pickled onions

B E E R SAU C E

3880 Lindbergh Blvd, Ste 300, Sunset Hills 10453 B Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur 14738 B Manchester Rd Ballwin

CREVE COEUR LOCATION: BEERSAUCE SMOKED

PORK STREET TACOS

Two Pork Street Tacos with your choice of: Jalapenos, Sweet Slaw, Spicy Giardiniera, Diced Onion, White Queso (+$1)

SUNSET HILLS LOCATION: BEERSAUCE SMOKED

CHICKEN STREET TACOS

Two Chicken Street Tacos With your choice of: Jalapenos, Sweet Slaw, Spicy Giardiniera, Diced Onion, White Queso (+$1)

B O B ’S D R I V E - I N

5166 US Hwy 61-67, Imperial STREET TACO AND ELOTE

1 Smoked pulled Pork or Beef Street Style Taco with Cilantro, Onion, Cojita cheese, and Taco Sauce with a small Elote Street Corn in a cup

CA N T I N A L A R E D O

7710 Forsyth Blvd, Clayton

POLLO DE CASCABEL

Spicy chicken in cascabel sauce with marinated onions, cilantro and queso fresco TACOS DE PIBIL

Marinated pork in spicy arbol sauce with pickled onions, cilantro and queso fresco

CA R N I VO R E 5257 Shaw Ave, St. Louis

CHICKEN GYRO TACO

Greek seasoned & shredded chicken, topped with lettuce, cucumbers, feta and a zesty Tzatziki auce. erved in a rilled our tortilla

C I AO C H OW

1923 Marconi, St. Louis

DOGGY TACO WAFFLE

Two mini do waf es topped with round beef, lettuce, cheese and “sour cream”

*For dog consumption

D E F I A N T D O U G H

17409 Chesterfield Airport Rd, Chesterfield

WAFFLE CONE TACO

Cookie dough, whipped topping and sprinkles

D I E G O’S

630 North and South Rd, St. Louis

SIGNATURE DIEGO’S CARNITAS

Achiote braised chicken with onion, cilantro and cotija on a corn tortilla. Served with a side of rice and beans

COSTRA DE FRIJOLES NEGRO

Black beans, cabbage, tomato, habanero salsa, onion and cilantro on a grilled cheese shell. Served with a side of rice and beans.

D U K E’S I N S O U L A R D

2001 Menard St, St. Louis

E L B U R RO L O C O

313 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis

1101 Lucas Ave, St. Louis

STEAK TACO

Made with corn tortilla, onion, and cilantro served with rice and beans

E L P O T RO

6922 Manchester Ave. St. Louis

CLASSIC TEX MEX TACOS

Choose a crunchy corn hard shell or a soft our tortilla. hoose round beef or shredded chicken. Topped with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes. Includes 2 tacos

E L I N D I O

9865 Manchester Rd, St. Louis

TACOS DE CARNITAS

Two corn tortillas stuffed with carnitas-style cooked pork tips. Topped with cilantro and onion. Served with a small side of hot sauce and a lime wedge

TACOS CAMPECHANOS

Two corn tortillas stuffed with steak and chorizo (spice, Mexican sausage), topped with cilantro and onion. Served with a small side of hot sauce and a lime wedge. *Flour tortillas available upon request

E L TA PAT I O

3279 Hampton Ave, St. Louis

QUESABIRRIA

Three birria st le cooked beef folded into a our tortilla with melted cheese and served with a side of consommé for dipping. Quesabirria tacos are served with cilantro, onion, and a lime wedge. *Corn tortilla available upon request

TACOS AL PASTOR

Two tacos with marinated pork, onion, cilantro, house-made tomatillo salsa and lime. Tacos are served on corn tortillas. *Flour tortillas available upon request

H I P O I N T E D R I V E I N

McCausland Ave. St. Louis

S Kirkwood Rd. Kirkwood

Washington Ave. St. Louis

HOLD MY BIRRIA

Slow braised chuck tacos with chihuahua cheese, cilantro, diced onion with quesadilla shells and consome for dipping

H OT S H OT S B A R

A N D G R I L L

HOTSHOTS FAMOUS

and and a request our side are cheese, an

L A T E JA N A

3149 N Lindbergh Blvd, St Ann POLLO CHORI TACO

Best of both tortillas! 2 Grilled chicken with Chorizo served on a corn tortilla and flour tortilla

M AYO K E TC H U P

2001 Park Avenue, St. Louis

TRIPLETA TACONADA

eep fried our empanada shell filled with shredded braised ank steak, chicken and mo o pork toppped with pickled red onion, guasacaca, salsa rosada, guava sauce and potato sticks

M E Z CA L E R I A L AS

C H U PACA B R AS

25 The Blvd St. Louis, Richmond Heights

BIRRIA TACO

1 taco of birria cook with cheese Cilantro and onions served with rice accompanied with Birria broth

M I S S I O N TAC O J O I N T

6235 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis

908 Lafayette Ave, St. Louis

105 E Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood

1650 Beale St. Unit #130, St Charles NACHO TACO

Carne molida (ground beef), queso con cervesa, pico de gallo, cilantro crema, pickled jalapeno, all on a MTJ hard shell

P I T S T O P

2130 Macklind Ave, St. Louis

THE SKINNY TACO

Vegan chorizo, avocado salsa pico

SMOKED CHICKEN

Roasted corn relish, roasted red pepper crema

PORK BELLY TACO

Crispy pork belly bacon jalapeno jam

THE FUSION TACO

Apple pie, cinnamon cream cheese sauce house caramel drizzle

S H A R P S H O O T E R’S

P I T & G R I L L

8135 Gravois Rd, St. Louis

STREET TACO

One street taco with pork, brisket or turkey and one 6 oz side

S U N N Y’S CA N T I N A

6655 Manchester Ave, St. Louis

CHICKEN TACO

Sautéed onions and peppers, lettuce, queso Fresca, siracha creme and avocado verde sauce served with rice or beans

CARNITAS

Spicy avocado verde sauce, queso Fresca cheese and fresh cilantro served with rice or beans

TAC O B U D D H A

7405 Pershing Ave, University City

THE CHIHUAHUA

Carne Deshebrada: Northern Mexican shredded beef, cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado, cotija, cilantro, corn tortillas

TAC O D R I P S T L

5252 Kensington Ave, St. Louis 3000 S Jefferson, St. Louis

DOS AMIGOS

Two Birra tacos of Your choice, Steak, chicken, or Ground beef & jackfruit too! Each for 2.50 each! (A three taco limit per person at promotional price)

TAC O & I C E C R E A M J O I N T

2738 Cherokee St, St. Louis

T H E B L U E D U C K

2661 Sutton Blvd, Maplewood

TACO: 1987

Two seasoned ground beef tacos on corn tortillas with lettuce, onion, tomato, yellow cheddar and special sauce

T E R RO R TAC O S

3191 S Grand Blvd, St. Louis

JAMAICAN JERK CHORIZO TACO

A rilled corn tortilla filled with spic Jamaican jerk chorizo seitan and garnished with pickled onions, crispy jalapeños, coconut cream sauce, fresh cilantro, and arbol chili akes. This taco comes terrori ed with an additional e terior rilled our tortilla la er and house-made terror sauce. Served with a side of pineapple-mango salsa.

T H E WO O D S H AC K

1862 S 10th St, St. Louis

BEEF BIRRIA

ich and avorful this beef birria is a perfect taco topped with onion, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice

T I N RO O F

1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis

TIN ROOF 2 FOR $5

STREET CORN TACO

pulled chicken, jack cheese, charred corn, cotija, spicy mayo, rib rub, cilantro, lime

PULLED PORK TACO

Pulled pork, carolina BBQ, peach pico, cilantro AVOCADO TACO

Beer-battered avocado, spicy mayo, lettuce, pickled red onion, cilantro

UNION 30 AT HOTEL ST. LOUIS

705 Olive St, St. Louis

UNION 30 STREET TACO

2 Street Tacos with your choice of chicken or beef. topped with tomato, onion, cheese, and shredded lettuce. Your choice of Corn or Flour Tortillas

FOR MORE DETAILS ON EACH OF THE SPECIALS, GO TO STLTACOWEEK.COM OR DOWNLOAD THE ST. LOUIS TACO WEEK APP!

Plant Forward

Benton Park’s Station No. 3 is a flexitarian oasis

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

No. 3

Acouple of months after Na tasha Kwan and her hus band, Rick Roloff, opened Station No. 3, she witnessed a profound moment in the gas-station-turned restaurant’s dining room. There, her aunts and father, who were in town for a family reunion, paused to look

at a photograph of their parents that had been taken long ago in the Philippines. The picture de picted the two in front of their family business, which they’d opened not long after arriving at the island nation as refugees from China. Though they had nothing, they’d managed to scrape togeth er enough money to buy a small business that would go on to sup port their family and set their kids up for generational success. The reason that moment was so poi gnant? Their business was a onepump Shell service station.

Like her grandparents all those years ago, Kwan never imagined she’d be the proprietor of a gas station business, even though hers is much different than the Shell Mart they ran. A success ful restaurateur who has gained a loyal following over the years with her University City spots Frida’s and, most recently, Diego’s, Kwan was looking to grow her

restaurant footprint in another area. She considered a few differ ent parts of town, but when she and Roloff pulled up to the prop erty that is now Station No. 3, they were instantly charmed. Though the building was originally a gas station, it had been converted into the restaurant Utah Station in 2019 and ran as a successful vegan fast-food spot for roughly two years before closing its doors after its owner was charged in a shooting.

Kwan and Roloff were aware of that drama, but they were confi dent they could bring a positive new energy to a space that was begging for a fresh start. It was simply too beautiful not to have one; between its large, landscaped front patio filled with gardens and fire pits and modern dining room and bar that seamlessly blends into the outdoor area through open garage doors, the shuttered restaurant had the potential to be

CAFE

a vibrant neighborhood gathering place if given a second chance.

That fresh start is evident the moment you pull up to the charm ing Station No. 3. The spot feels like an oasis in the middle of the city. entle smo e rises from fire pits you can barely catch a glimpse of through the tall, wispy grasses that surround the patio. Outdoor tables dot the large, well-mani cured garden space and open ga rage doors invite guests to wander between the dining room bar and patio, creating a breezy vibe that ows throughout the restaurant’s interior and exterior.

Kwan wanted the food to be as inviting as the scene, so she and her executive sous chef, Jerricha Belk, created a menu comprised of comforting gastropub style dishes that evoke the nostalgia of a TGI Friday’s at its heydey (who doesn’t love a good potato skin?) while be ing mostly — gasp — plant-based.

Station No. 3 features a predominantly vegan menu of appetizers, sandwiches, salads, flatbreads and more, with a few flexitarian o erings. | MABEL SUEN

I utter this shocking sentiment as I sit here, 24 hours later, still gob smacked by Station No. 3’s mozza rella stick, a perfect, golden, fried nugget that is so creamy, melty and cheesy, I am still convinced Kwan is fooling me when she insists it’s vegan. If this was a blind tasting, I would have never guessed this is a dairy-free product; the texture is so on point, and the herbed bread ing and accompanying zesty mari nara combine to make this the quintessential example of a mozz stick. This vociferous vegan cheese hater stands corrected.

Those same feelings carry over to the potato skins, Kwan’s admit ted nod to TGI Friday’s that pair the easy comfort of halved potato boats with vegan cheddar-jack cheese, sour cream and bacon. Like the mozzarella sticks, these capture the easy comfort of the sort of ap petizer sampler platter you nosh on while shooting darts at the pub.

Brussels sprouts, crisped per fectly without going over the edge to burnt, are tossed in a tangy vin aigrette that cuts through the veg etable’s earthiness, while vegan Asiago coats them in a pleasant nuttiness. The dish is the sort of side you’d find at a modern bar becue spot, as are the burnt ends, which are coated in a delectable sticky sauce with sweet cinnamon undertones. In place of animal protein, Kwan uses a plant-based product that does a nice job cap turing the pull and chew you get from pork or beef; the carameliza tion you’d get from the Maillard reaction just can’t yet be repro duced in a non-meat product (I’ll die on this hill), but this captures the essence of the other building bloc s of barbecue a or.

The foil-wrapped Station Burger gives diners the thrill of diving into a big, greasy fast-food burger without the disappointment that comes from eating unwholesome garbage. Over the years at Fri da’s, Kwan has perfected her beef sub-in — long before impossible burgers were a glimmer in a food scientist’s eye. The result of her efforts are a well-seasoned patty akin to a smash burger, which is adorned with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and a creamy pub sauce akin to the Thousand Island you get on a Big Mac. Here, though, Kwan adds wonderfully, mouth-

tingling heat with jalapeno slices that cut through the decadence.

Station No. 3 is not exclusively vegan, or even vegetarian, howev er. wan calls her menu exitar ian and serves a handful of turkey and seafood dishes, like a warmspiced turkey burger that tastes as if she compacted the Thanksgiving experience into a single ground patty. Her barramundi sandwich, too, is a wonderful offering, calling to mind the sort of fresh grilled fish sandwiches you’d eat at a dock side bar in south Florida. Dressed in crisp lettuce, pickles, onions, tomatoes and a zesty horseradish

dijon sauce, it’s an outstanding ex ample of how something can be at once healthful and immensely satisfying.

Enjoying that sandwich on a lo ely fall e ening as ames from the firepits illuminate the gorgeous patio, you can’t help but feel that Kwan, with Roloff by her side, was meant to operate this lovely space — as the photo of her grandpar ents hints, it was a matter of fate.

e Crispy Chick’n Sandwich features seasoned and house-battered vegan chicken, mayo, pickles, lettuce, tomato and onion. | MABEL SUEN

Chef-owner Natasha Kwan (far le ) is pictured with her family. | MABEL SUEN

e mozzarella sticks are hand rolled, fried and served with marinara. | MABEL SUEN

SHORT ORDERS

Sugar Shack

Ice cream sandwich purveyor Sugarwitch is now open in the Patch neighborhood

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Apopular ice cream brand is ready to welcome fans into its first t. ouis storefront.

Sugarwitch (7726 Virginia Avenue), the ice cream sand wich company owned by married couple artha ass and ophie Mendelson, opened the doors to its brick-and-mortar location last Friday, promising frosty treats, oats, coffee and more arieties of the staples that ha e helped it build a loyal following o er the past year.

The first pop up we did blew our expectations out of the wa ter, endelson says. e stoc piled two weeks of product that [we] thought would be a week of sales, and we sold out in three hours. e thought, , we need to figure out how to ma e more ice cream right now.’

Bass and Mendelson founded ugarwitch in olumbia, is souri, in 2019, though the roots of the brand began three years ear

lier. At that time, the pair were li ing 2,000 miles apart and realized that they were both separately making ice cream sandwiches as a way to pass the time, decompress from work and bring joy to their friends. hen they were finally li ing together in olumbia as graduate students, they combined forces and began selling their sandwiches under the ugarwitch name at pop up e ents and farm ers’ mar ets around town.

ast year, the pair relocated to t. ouis for ass’ ob and brought ugarwitch with them. They had planned on continuing the popup model that was so successful in olumbia but instead forged a more formal arrangement with restaurateur Ben Poremba to regularly sell the sandwiches out of an Airstream at his restaurant lio. The sandwiches were a hit, and as they took on more staff and de eloped a larger following, they realized that a permanent home was the next logical step.

At first, we were ery focused on a kitchen that would be big enough for all the freezers we were going to need and weren’t really thinking about a store front, endelson says. ut then we found this building. en was so instrumental in that and told us we had to loo at it. At first, we thought it was too big, but he was right it was ama ing. e thought that if we could figure out how to do this, we had to.

The building Bass and Mendel son found is the old arondelet

Bakery (most recently operating as Adelle’s a ery , a property that dates back to the 1870s and is said to ha e been a ba ery since . As endelson explains, she and Bass are thrilled with the space and ha e wor ed diligently with contractors and arious oth er building professionals to put their own ugarwitch twist on the space while balancing its historic character.

e’ e been putting together the ugarwitch presence while preser ing the building’s history in a isible way, endelson says. ans of ugarwitch’s pop ups can expect the core ice cream sandwiches they ha e come to lo e at the new location, as well as offerings that incorporate season al a ors into the rotation. They will also continue to offer their popular hoco Taco, a ugarwitch ersion of the londi e treat of the same name that was indefi nitely discontinued this summer. Additionally, ass and endel son are thrilled to be partnering with Fox Park roaster and cafe offeestamp for their coffee ser ice. Though they will not ha e an espresso machine, they will be offering drinks based around cold brew and nitro cold brew. Drinks include both mainstay and seasonally rotating soda fountain oats and other frothy, coffee based treats. They will also be do ing some no elties that combine coffee and tea with ugarwitch frozen items, such as a horchata push pop that uses offeestamp’s

famous atin American inspired be erage and ig eart Tea mat cha cold brew. owe er, endel son is excited to see how things e ol e and loo s forward to new a ors and concoctions as they grow into the space.

t’s ama ing to ha e this uid dream team of people contribut ing their expertise and creati ity to what we are building,” Mendel son says. n

Sugarwitch will be open Fridays from 3 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sugarwitch opened its first brick-and-mortar location on September 30, a er their pop-up events exceeded expectations. | COURTESY OF SUGARWITCH

“ We stockpiled two weeks of product that [we] thought would be a week of sales, and we sold out in three hours. We thought, ‘OK, we need to figure out how to make more ice cream right now.’”

Rav Your Engines

STL Toasted to take over Mama Toscano’s space on the Hill

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Anew St. Louis ravioli brand is preparing to take over the space once occupied by a sto ried t-rav legend: STL Toasted (3739 Foundry Way), the oneyear-old toasted ravioli concept founded by Brittany Abernathy and Matthew Fuller, has signed a lease on the building at 2201 Mack lind Avenue that formerly housed Mama Toscano’s. The husbandand-wife team plan on initially us ing the building as a production space for their City Foundry food stall, with an eye to eventually in cluding a retail market.

“When we walked into the building, we both thought the same thing, that there is so much history in this building surround ing ravioli,” Abernathy says. “It’s set up for ravioli manufacturing. We looked at each other like, ‘Is this happening?’ We were going

to be heartbroken if it ended up not working out because it was tugging at my heart as soon as we walked in. It just felt right.”

For Abernathy and Fuller, the new lease comes on the heels of a successful four months spent running their STL Toasted food stall at City Foundry. The brand, which opened on May 31, was the couple’s brainchild following a di cult 2 2 that forced uller to pivot to a new career path be cause of a serious car accident. They’ve been met with immediate success — so much that keeping up with demand has pushed their

Smoke Shop

Salt + Smoke to open Oh Hey! Barbecue inside Kirkwood Schnucks

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

Imagine this scenario: You’ve just ground through a whole day at the office, and you’re dragging hard. But you still have to go to the grocery store for a few items and, shoot, you’ve got to feed your family tonight, too.

But instead of running through the store and then running home and cooking up something slapdash, imagine you could just pick up a full dinner, shop a little more leisurely and then be a hero by bringing home a hot meal.

That vision above? That’s what Salt + Smoke owner Tom Schmidt thought of when he was first conceiving of Oh Hey!

Barbecue, a counter-service dining concept that will open within the Kirkwood Schnuck’s Food Hall (10233 Manches ter Road) this fall.

“[You won’t have] to worry about cooking and cleaning and all that stuff before bedtime, the chaos that is parenthood,” Schmidt says. “There’s a lot of families in Kirkwood. I think it’s just a really great service, and we’re excited to kind of be that solution for people.”

Oh Hey! Barbecue will fill the spot formerly held by the Shaved Duck. It will offer some classic Salt + Smoke items, such as the brisket and the white-cheddar cracker mac. But it will also be a chance to try out some new items that will be specifically designed for the concept, such as baby back ribs, smoked turkey, a creamy coleslaw, onion rings and a mustard-based potato salad.

Oh Hey! began with a phone call from Schnucks, asking if Salt + Smoke would be interested in joining the food hall. Schmidt says that when “one of the most iconic and beloved companies in the Midwest” called, he jumped at the opportunity. The initial challenge was trying to figure out how to adapt the large-scale Smoke + Salt concept to a

small kitchen to its limit.

“We knew we needed some where else to produce because we were out of space,” Abernathy says. “We were already thinking about potentially renting space at a commissary or looking into other production spaces because others at the Foundry are doing the same thing.”

As Fuller explains, the couple had not yet settled on the idea of renting a commissary space be cause it did not fit their needs. Because their ravioli-making pro cess is so time-consuming, they worried that it would not be cost-

effective to get into a commissary’s hourly fee schedule. However, as he and Abernathy were forced to turn down lucrative catering and event orders because they lacked capacity, they realized they had to do something. That’s why it felt like fate when he was driving by the former Mama Toscano’s build ing and noticed a “For Lease” sign. The next thing they knew, he and Abernathy were touring the build ing with a realtor and signing on the dotted line.

Though Abernathy and Fuller are excited for the extra produc tion space and opportunity to have a retail outlet, they will not be using the space for a second STL Toasted restaurant; as part of their contract with City Foundry, the pair are not allowed to open another location within a fi e mile radius of the food hall. For now, the pair are content with that arrange ment. As Abernathy explains, they are busy enough trying to manage what is already on their plates but are excited that one of those tasks is serving as stewards of a St. Louis ravioli legacy.

“I keep saying, ‘One thing at a time,’ as we take on more things,” Abernathy laughs. “It does feel like we are taking on a lot so quickly, but it also feels destined. We were talking with [the former Mama Toscano’s owners] yester day, and they are the sweetest couple. They also felt the same way — that this was meant to be. It felt really reassuring.” n

small space.

He decided he wouldn’t. So Oh Hey! was born instead.

“It’s just a little bit more fun and casual and playful,” he says. “But as when we opened Salt + Smoke, obviously, we absolutely love everything we do there.”

The new spot will bring Salt + Smoke’s food to Kirkwood for the first time, and Schmidt anticipates that the smaller op-

eration will prove easier to staff than the full restaurant.

He’s interested in seeing how the smaller concept does and might develop other smaller ventures, in addition to expanding his main chain, in the future.

“You’ve got to walk before you run,” Schmidt says. “When we make barbecue, I think people really like to eat it, so I’m confident people will love this.” n

Matthew Fuller and Brittany Abernathy are excited for STL Toasted’s next chapter. | CHERYL BAEHR

Soon you’ll be able to pick up Oh Hey! Barbecue from the grocery store. | JENNIFER SILVERBERG

ST. LOUIS STANDARDS

Wine-derful!

Joy in trying new things is at the heart of the Wine & Cheese Place’s success

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

The Wine & Cheese Place

When Vijay Shroff wants to get across why people have such a connection to the Wine & Cheese Place, he draws upon his own childhood to paint a picture — long before he ever dreamed he’d own the store.

“I was three when it opened, but I remember going into [what was then] the Roasting House and the Cheese Place with my dad on the weekends and smelling freshly roasted nuts and coffee,” Shroff says. “It was just such a sensory experience as a child and brings up a memory of my dad.”

Now in its 40th year, the Wine & Cheese Place has been creating those memories for its custom ers since it was founded by Amos Kedmey as two small businesses — a little cheese and specialty grocery shop, the Cheese Place, and a small coffee and nut roast ery, the Roastery — on the east side of Clayton in 1982. As Shroff, who has owned the business since 2019, explains, both the Cheese Place and the Roastery began very small but grew into them selves organically thanks to the changing tastes and preferences of their customers. Because the mission of the businesses was to be a place of interaction and con versation between the shopkeep ers and guests, customers were able to in uence the products the stores carried. As European wines became more popular throughout the 1980s, for instance, the Cheese Place increased the size of its wine collection to include bottles that customers requested.

“We like to be ahead of the game, but the dialogue we’ve had with our customers has helped us to recognize trends that they’ve

seen,” Shroff says. “We have a dedication to our customers to satisfy that.”

Over time, the Cheese Place’s wine portfolio grew so much that Kedmey and his team decided to change its name to re ect that sig nificant side of the business. They crowned their store the Wine & Cheese Place, absorbed the Roast ery into the newly minted busi ness and expanded to include additional locations, all while dedicated to remaining the smallscale operation their guests had come to love.

While the Wine & Cheese Place was endearing itself to St. Lou isans, Shroff was on the East Coast with no idea he’d ever come to own the place he was so fond of as a child. After leaving his hometown for college and then law school, Shroff made his way to New York where he was working as a corpo rate attorney doing mergers and acquisitions. He felt professionally satisfied, but it was becoming in creasingly apparent to him and his wife that New York was not condu cive to the life they wanted to live.

“Our son started crawling in our Brooklyn apartment, and we real

ized this wasn’t going to work,” Shroff says with a laugh.

Shroff and his family moved back to St. Louis, where he contin ued to work in the legal profession as general counsel for a chemicals company. However, even though he was back in his hometown as

he’d wanted, he could not shake the feeling that there was still something not quite right. Hav ing grown up with parents who owned their own small business, he, too, felt the pull to become an entrepreneur. When he found out there was an opportunity to buy a

At first, the Wine & Cheese Place was a roastery for nuts and co ee, but the store started selling more wine. | ANDY PAULISSEN

e Wine & Cheese Place prepares its own nuts in-store. | ANDY PAULISSEN

place so important to him during his childhood, it was the push he needed to take the leap.

Shroff bought the Wine & Cheese Place in 2019 and immediately brought on longtime employee Aaron Zwicker as a partner. On their watch, the company relo cated two stores to Kirkwood and Town and Country and launched a new bottleshop-focused brand called Spirit Wine & Craft, which

ust opened its first store on the city’s south side. With the new lo cations, he’s brightening the stores and creating a welcoming, cheery environment, though he insists he has no interest in changing the fundamentals of the business, which he believes revolve around the passion his staff has for both the product and the guests.

“It’s a bit rare to have a place where people can come in and

have a real dialogue with some one if they want it,” Shroff says. “Wine, cheese and spirits can be mysterious, and we want to de mystify that. It’s so gratifying to see our staff just chatting with customers. That really doesn’t happen anymore.”

That connection, Shroff be lieves, is the reason for the Wine & Cheese Place’s staying power. It brings him such joy to watch

as generations of families come through the shop — just as he and his dad did — and make the place part of their celebrations and special events. He also loves that, even though the shop could be considered a liquor store, it’s family friendly and has one of the last remaining candy bars in St. Louis. Because the store has become such an integral part of its customers’ lives, it was able to sustain itself better than others during the height of the pandem ic, something Shroff admits gives him a bit of survivor’s guilt but that he is eternally grateful for, especially considering how much competition there is in his indus try. It doesn’t bother him, though. At the end of the day, he knows that people aren’t only coming to the Wine & Cheese Place for a bottle of wine; they are coming for an experience.

“You can get alcoholic bever ages at CVS, grocery stores and gas stations, but people are com ing out to see,” Shroff says. “The way we compete is by creating a place where customers want to come. The thing I love most about our product is that I am in a very fortunate place where I get to try everything new. My favorite thing is to try new things, and I am still discovering what my favor ite is. I think a lot of people feel that way about wine, cheese and spirits. The histories of all those things are centuries or millennia old, and it’s fun to talk through that history and fascinating back ground but also to make it fun. If you aren’t having fun you are do ing it wrong.”

Owner Vijay Shro came to the Wine & Cheese Place when he was a kid. | ANDY PAULISSEN

A selection of the store’s most popular wines. | ANDY PAULISSEN

e shop carries a wide variety of cheeses and has locations in Kirkwood and Town and Country. | ANDY PAULISSEN

REEFERFRONT TIMES

satisfying pain relief as well. efi nitely one of the best of the bunch.

Hit List

Tommy Chims reviews the rest of the sativa-flower entries in Illinois’ Cannabis Cup competition

Written by THOMAS K. CHIMCHARDS

The votes have been tallied, the smoke has cleared and, at long last, we have a winner in the sativa division of Illinois’ Cannabis Cup — let’s have a big round of applause for Fig Farms’ Figment strain, which edged out second-place winner Durban Poison by UpNorth and third place’s Miami Punch by Revolution for the top prize.

As regular readers know, your friendly neighborhood cannabis critic Tommy Chims was tapped as a judge for this year’s competition. High Times was kind enough to comp me a judge’s kit for the sativa division, and dutifully submitted my findings after a few wee s’ worth of thor oughly enjoyable work.

We’ve already published half of my 22 reviews in this space — a batch that happened to include all three of the winners, which all received high marks in my book as well — and now we’re closing out with the rest of them in shortened, rapid fire fashion. or my part, found urban oison, Love Affair and Spirit Quest to be the best of the bunch, but no matter how you slice it, there are some stellar strains here, many of them readily available at your nearest Illinois dispensary. Read on and start adding to your shopping list.

Brand: Bedford Grow Strain: Escape Rating: 10/10

The droplet crystals, keef and abundance of orange hairs cov ering Escape’s buds are almost perfectly even in their distribu tion, making for a striking look. The buds are dense but almost soft with a little crackle, and they crumble easily into little chunks, bringing a strong citrus and pine smell that reminds me of Pine-Sol. On inhale, it’s got a grassy and spicy a or that co ers the palate and lingers there. As for effects, it feels less like a sativa than most of the other offerings, leaving me re laxed and unmotivated to do any

thing, while also providing some delightful pain relief. One of my favorite highs from the bunch.

Brand: 4Front Strain: Green Crack Rating: 9/10

The fine dusting of crystals on Green Crack’s forest-green buds gives it an almost pale haze, with peach-colored hairs poking throughout. The strain’s smell is very nice, with prominent diesel and citrus notes, and on breakup it lightens up to a pale, white-ish green in its center. On inhale, it’s smooth and sweet, with a taste that brings to mind baked goods, but with oral hints on the bac end. I wrote in my notes that I was “jolly” high after smoking this stuff, grinning ear to ear and en tertaining myself with ease.

good-ass weed. Its buds are a nice spectrum of pale to dark green, covered in crystals in a way that looks less like dust and more like a damn geode, with the longest redorange hairs I’ve ever seen reach ing for the sky. The strain brings a spicy-sweet seasoning smell, faint ly reminiscent of oregano, and on inhale, its taste is deep and rich, weedy and earthy and extremely a orful, li e a fine cigar. ts high hit me right in the forehead first before spreading throughout my body, bringing relaxation and pain relief in a way I’d expect more from an indica than a sativa.

Brand: nuEra Strain: Granny MAC Rating: 10/10

Granny MAC’s buds are light green in color, covered in peach-colored hairs and positively fuzzy with keef. The strain brings an apple-y, citrusy smell that’s very fruity and sweet like a delicious dessert. On inhale, it’s got an earthiness to it, with fuellike diesel notes and a bit of nut tiness. Its high had me on my feet immediately, a real shot-in-the-arm energetic boost that brought some

Brand: Bedford Grow Strain: Candy Coast Rating: 6/10

Candy Coast is pale green with tons of white crystals and orange hairs throughout, and its buds are among the whiter ones I’ve seen. ts smell is fun y and its a or is light, with crackling styrofoam buds that break apart easily. It brings a mellow high that I found pleasant but largely unremark able, but it is one of the betterlooking strains of the bunch.

Brand: Rythm Strain: Love Affair

Rating: 10/10

Put plainly, Love Affair is some

Brand: Rythm

Strain: L’Orange

Rating: 7/10

L’Orange is powerful in its appear ance, covered in orange hairs and droplet-like crystals that shine like morning dew. It has a bright citrus smell, with some sour notes and a bit of pine. On inhale, it’s funky and sweet, with a nice spici ness on exhale. Its effects are a bit arring at first, bringing an intense burst of energy that gives way to a soothing head high.

Brand: Rythm

Strain: Durban Zkittles

Rating: 10/10

Durban Zkittles’ buds are well structured, with an even distribu

Granny MAC. | TOMMY CHIMS

Escape. | TOMMY CHIMS

Green Crack. | TOMMY CHIMS

Candy Coast. | TOMMY CHIMS

Love A air. | TOMMY CHIMS

L’Orange. | TOMMY CHIMS

tion of dark and light green and clusters of orange hairs through out. It’s got a great fruity smell, with some spiciness and diesel notes, as well as some pine. It’s sticky on breakup — a grinder would be wise — and on inhale it delivers a light and smooth fuel li e a or that hits hard in the sinuses. After making my way through a small amount of paranoia (this stuff is strong), I found it to be an energetic high that made me want to get shit done.

is a big-time upper that kicks you right in the chest. Novice smokers should proceed with caution.

Brand: Seed & Strain

Strain: 3D

Rating: 9/10

is definitely in the running for me as a daily smoker. Its buds are dark green with long orange hairs and keefy highlights, with crystals that penetrate all the way to the center. It’s got a hos pital-clean aroma mixed with its earthy weediness, and on break up it crumbles easily into sticky little bits. ts a or is as sweet as candy, with wood and diesel notes that hit me right in the sinuses. As for effects, this one’s a real gogetter, leaving me clear-headed and motivated, energized with no munchies. A working man’s weed.

Brand: Columbia Care

Strain: Spirit Quest

Rating: 10/10

Spirit Quest’s buds are extremely cool looking, like little orange and green clouds that are downright fuzzy with hairs. They’re dense and sticky, and they give off a deli cious fruity smell when broken up, with notes of citrus and pine that ma e their way into the a or as well. On inhale, I felt a near-imme diate burst of energy; this strain

Brand: Ozone

Strain: SFV OG

Rating: 7/10

SFV OG’s tight buds are frosty with crystals and sticky on breakup, rolling into little balls that would be good for a one-hitter or a chil lum. It’s got a pleasantly sweet oral smell with a nice spiciness that goes straight to the sinuses on inhale, bringing some wood notes as well. Its high is a motivated one that leaves your body feeling good and provides some nice pain relief.

Brand: Verano

Strain: Clementine

Rating: 9/10

FIRST TIME PATIENT DEALS

Clementine looks great and is stunningly strong, with orange hairs covering its dark-green buds and round, dewdrop crys tals shining throughout. It’s got a strong citrus smell with oral and fuel li e a ors that described in my notes as similar to “well taken care of antiques.” The high is, sim ply put, incredibly high — I found myself downright stupefied and staring into space.

n

Durban Zkittles. | TOMMY CHIMS

3D. | TOMMY CHIMS

Spirit Quest. | TOMMY CHIMS

SFV OG. | TOMMY CHIMS

Clementine. | TOMMY CHIMS

CULTURE

St. Louis Art Rules

Contemporary Art Museum’s Great Rivers Biennial celebrates the great art the region has to o er

Written by KASEY NOSS

An iridescent desert landscape.

A lush, green garden. A play ground in Cleveland, Ohio.

The 2022 Great Rivers Bien nial exhibition takes viewers to all these places — and more.

The Contemporary Art Mu seum (3750 Washington Avenue, 314-535-4660) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Great Rivers Biennial exhibition in Septem ber. Part of the museum’s fall/ winter exhibition, the biennial is an every-other-year collabora tion between the museum and the Gateway Foundation designed to foster artistic talent in the greater St. Louis metro area.

More than 105 applicants vied for a spot in this year’s exhibition. The three winners, Yowshien Kuo, Jon Young and Yvonne Osei, each received $20,000 in unrestricted prize money and a part in a major exhibition in the main galleries.

The Great Rivers Biennial is an open-call program, meaning the only restrictions on who can ap ply is that the artist be local and emerging or mid-career.

“It really is about allowing oppor tunity and accessibility,” says Was san Al-Khudhairi, chief curator at CAM. “It’s such a unique opportuni ty because it’s something that many cities don’t have to offer artists.”

After the initial round of online applications, the jurors conduct a second round of deliberation via studio visits, so that even artists who don’t win have an opportu nity to showcase their work. This year’s judges were Carmen Hermo, associate curator for the Brooklyn Museum Elizabeth A. Sackler Cen ter for Feminist Art; Jen Liu, a New York-based visual artist; and Ham za Walker, director of LAXART, a

nonprofit art space in os Angeles, and instructor at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.

Although this year’s exhibit didn’t have a theme, all three of the artists gravitated toward questions of national and person al identity. Kuo, for example, ex plores what it means to be Asian and Asian American in his exhibi tion Sufferingly Politely

“I feel like the sentiment in Asia is that the population is so high that the individual no longer becomes important,” Kuo says. “And then, in the United States, that’s transferred to all the kinds of stereotypes that exist around Asian Americans: qui et, reserved, not forefront in public; they won’t make a scene, which means that often we’re socially taken advantage of, even uncon sciously. There’s this sort of quiet suffering that occurs.”

Kuo’s show, which features vibrant vignettes of debauch ery backlit by neon lights and streaked with glitter, seeks to “tantalize” viewers, encouraging them to engage with and display the “quiet and invisible” aspects of themselves. To view the exhibi tion, patrons must remove their shoes and step onto a plush, white carpet, which Kuo says further in vites vulnerability.

The figures that you’re going to encounter in the exhibition are essentially putting themselves in a very vulnerable state as they are navigating their way through reality and the dreams that they

carry,” Kuo says. “The compo nents of the installation are there to encourage you to also place yourselves in a state of dreaming, in a state of vulnerability.”

Osei’s multimedia exhibition Brainchild explores Black youth and motherhood in the United States. Osei drew heavily from her experiences during her own pregnancy, of which she learned just one week prior to receiving the award.

“I was in that state of mind just thinking of what it means to have generational inheritance, what it means to build a legacy, what it means to be a caretaker,” Osei says. “And I couldn’t stop thinking

about African and African Ameri can mothers that have birthed their promise and didn’t see them fully actualized.”

To create the work, Osei em barked on a series of pilgrimages across the United States, visiting areas significant to the ci il rights movement — such as Selma, Ala bama — and areas of more recent significance, too such as the rec reational center in Cleveland, Ohio, where a white police o cer fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.

“This work really looks at prom ise and childhood innocence in the Black community and how that’s not regarded,” Osei says. “‘I’m not only thinking of pregnancy in the literal sense of birth and coming into the world, but I’m also think ing of how we’re all pregnant with ideas, with ambitions, and not see ing them come to fruition — how much of a loss that is.”

The third exhibition, Young’s The Other Side of Quicksand, reimagines the American frontier as something at once familiar and foreign. He spotlights recognizable symbols of Americana — such as cacti and pic nic tables — but turns them mysti fying with iridescent hues and un conventional materials, including desert sands and upholstery.

“I thought about the show as a spectacle, site specific wor , Young says. “I pulled sands from either coast to this place that is considered ‘Gateway to the West.’”

Though visually alluring, the ex hibition holds a deeper and dark er meaning for Young, a citizen of the Catawba Indian Nation in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

“There is mapping that’s happen ing through the work, this map ping of collapsing symbols of the mythological West,” Young says. “It relates to my native heritage and my journey. It’s like trying to make a map to get back to a home that hasn’t existed for a long time.”

The Contemporary Art Muse um urges art connoisseurs and amateurs alike to check out the Great Rivers Biennial, which will remain on display until Sunday, February 12, 2023.

“They have pushed themselves to scale up and create immer sive experiences for people,” AlKhudhairi says. “The shows are relevant; they’re engaging with our current social and political cli mate. I think there’s something for everyone in these exhibitions.” n

Yvonne Osei’s “Africa Clothe Me Bare.” | COURTESY PHOTO

“ I couldn’t stop thinking about African and African American mothers that have birthed their promise and didn’t see them fully actualized.”

Tell All

In her new memoir, Cori Bush shares her story in her own words for the first time

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

Cori Bush has always had a story to tell, and she’s never shied away from telling it. From living unhoused as a single mother, to her two abortions and fighting on the frontlines of Ferguson, Bush has recounted her life story to count less crowds and reporters.

ow, for the first time, ush is telling her story in her own words. This week, her memoir, Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America, hits the stands. It’s not the “typical politi cal memoir,” Bush says.

“People told me to use this book to talk about my policies and re late it to my personal story,” Bush tells the RFT. “But I wanted this boo to be a memoir why fight the way that fight.

In the book’s 251 pages, Bush re counts her life, from early child

St. Louis Proud

Ed Wheatley’s new book St. Louis Sports Memories is a comprehensive history of hyper-local sports

Written by BENJAMIN SIMON

People kept asking Ed Wheatley when he would write a book on the history of bowling. St. Louis’ bowling history was magical — Wheatley couldn’t deny that. In 1958, a St. Louis squad, considered the “dream team,” set the record for the highest score — a record that would last for over 35 years.

“St. Louis was the bowling capital of the world,” he says.

But Wheatley didn’t know if he could sell a whole book about bowling. He started thinking. What about tennis and Arthur Ashe’s journey through St. Louis? What about horse racing at Fairmount Park in Illinois? What about the kids from the Hill, who participated in the 1950

hood in Northwoods, Missouri, to her election to Congress.

In a way, Bush has been writing her memoir for 20 years. Even at a young age she was a talented writer, win ning a writing contest in high school. At 16, an elder at her family’s church encouraged her to write a book. She start ed keeping journals, record ing incredibly personal details about her life. But after vari ous moves, Bush has no idea where the journals are.

If they’re still out there, those journals “tell all.”

“One of the books even has a body count on the front of the inside cover,” Bush says. “I realized later, looking at those folks that are on there, how many were rapes versus con sensual sex?”

Bush wrote about multiple sexual assaults and rapes she survived in crushing detail in her memoir. n the first pages of her book alone, Bush recalls a time she was raped by a “faith leader,” just four weeks af ter her unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 2016. The faith leader had a house for rent, and Bush took him up on a tour. She had felt her rise in public attention made her first oor apartment feel un safe for her and her two kids, Zion and Angel.

To Bush’s surprise, the faith lead

er grabbed her and forced himself onto her in one of the house’s bed rooms.

This is just one of many anec dotes of sexual violence Bush shares in Forerunner. Despite the di culty of writing and editing such vulnerable memories, Bush was determined to do so.

“I just really wanted to go all the way in so those who don’t un

into one book?” he says.

That’s how Wheatley’s newest book, St. Louis Sports Memories, which hit the shelves this past weekend, came together.

Everyone in St. Louis knows about the Cardinals and the Rams, Wheatley says. But this book highlights the comprehensive, multifaceted and hyper-local history of St. Louis sports history — from bowling to the National Invitation Tournament champion Saint Louis University basketball team to the historic Washington University volleyball program to Sonny Liston to Jackie Joyner-Kersee to chess.

“It’s the diversity of the sports,” he says. “We’re not a one-sports town or a two-sport town. We have a history, centuries old.”

Over the years, Wheatley has writ ten a number of books about St. Louis sports history, exploring wrestling at the Chase and the St. Louis Browns base ball team. But for this book, he realized he wanted to appeal to everyone, to al low St. Louisans to go back in time and reminisce.

derstand — those that push us away, those that tell us we’re lying, those that say it was our fault — take it in and see what it can be like,” Bush says.

Bush spends much of her book putting up a mirror to St. Louis city and county. As a single mother with no safety net, she faced eviction after eviction. At one point, Bush lived in a 1996 Ford Explorer with her ex-hus band while her two kids were still on formula. She climbed through white-dominated and racist environments — includ ing one of her own high schools, the now-closed Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Spanish Lake. Bullying by students and teach ers caused Bush to leave school after only one semester there.

Yet we all know Bush makes it through. The congresswom an hopes Forerunner will serve as a ray of light for women who’ve lived through similar tribulations.

“I hope that people see that even as somebody who has the past that I had, you can still reach way beyond the stars,” Bush says. n

Left Bank Books will host a book launch with Bush at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 6, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Find ticket information on Left Bank Books’ website.

making stops at the St. Louis Sports Collectors Show, Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream, Left Bank Books and Grant’s View Public Library. He’s also working on a new book about the Negro Leagues in St. Louis.

Normally, he takes two or three years to write a book, Wheatley says. But his publisher asked him to complete this one by the end of 2022, and he finished it in eight months.

“I put this one into supersonic speed,” he says.

He’d wake up at 3 a.m., and if he had an idea, he’d start researching and writing. Sometimes he wouldn’t stop until the sun went down.

“It was the excitement of finding these nuggets — that each time you go into a sport, there were these nuggets that we don’t know about or herald here,” he says.

Wheatley hopes that comes through in the book.

“This book is all about St. Louis proud,” he says. “Every chapter. Every single chapter is St. Louis proud.” n

World Cup game?

There was just so much that people didn’t know about sports in St. Louis. Then, he realized he had a book.

“It just expanded to: Why not put it all

“Go back and remember the good times,” he says. “Build upon it, recognize what you have.”

Throughout this month, Wheatley will give book tours in the St. Louis area,

Catch Ed Wheatley from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, October 8, at Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream (4400 Manches ter Avenue). The signing is free to attend.

e book launch for Cori Bush’s memoir takes place on ursday, October 6.| PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Ed Wheatley holds a copy of his latest book, St. Louis Sports Memories. | COURTESY PHOTO

An (Unlikely) Defense

Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling is visually compelling and filled with emotional resonance

Written by EILEEN G’SELL

Don’t Worry Darling

Directed by Olivia Wilde. Starring Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, KiKi Layne, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. Open in area theaters until Saturday, October 8.

Greedy for gauzy sunlit pati os, candy-colored Cadillacs and clinking martinis, I ex pected Don’t Worry Darling to be a brilliant disaster, a faux prestige ic worth iewing for its production design alone. I expected to en oy the film in the same way en oy watching and rewatching narrati ely prepos terous fragrance ads from the early ’ s no substance no prob lem . As li ia ilde’s second di rectorial feature and perhaps the most gossip plagued mo ie of the year Don’t Worry Darling has so far recei ed more atten tion for the personal s irmishes between its cast and director and sheer presence of arry tyles than for any salient failings of the film itself. ut the public has al ways adored a good catfight, real or imagined, especially between smart, beautiful women who dare to maybe disli e each other. ust as the public lo es punishing smart, beautiful women for dar ing to do something serious.

Don’t Worry Darling doesn’t succeed as serious art, but it does wor as a decent dystopian drama with some seriously memorable cinematic moments. et in Vic tory, a s company town nes tled in an unnamed desert alley, the film follows Alice lorence ugh , a 2 something wife to ac arry tyles , a rising technical engineer for Victory’s top secret de elopment of progressi e ma terials. arly on, we get a whiff that this idyll of glossy pools and

glassy houses isn’t what it seems. e shouldn’t be here, declares argaret i i ayne , one of Vic tory’s few lac citi ens, disrupt ing company head ran hris ine during a speech in his bac yard. ndeed, no one nows why they are there, and argaret pays for making a stir.

Victory, it seems, is only possible if no one as s uestions, and the wi es ne er tread past a boundary after which nothing is safe. ound li e a clun y metaphor for male op pression erhaps, but it’s also not far off from the literal 4 s reality of a ew exico community built by the . . go ernment where the Allies’ top scientists and engineers tested nuclear weapons while their wi es were ept as ignorant as pos sible. ’m not sure if the story writ ers consciously drew on this his tory, but its geographic similarity to Victory often felt uncanny. or those interested, Tara hea esbit’s excellent no el The Wives of Los Al amos explores the antage of these wi es to eerie, often profound, effect.

Reminiscent of Pleasantville, Stepford Wives and Revolutionary Road with a brutal dash of Clock work Orange , Don’t Worry Darling may be deri ati e, but that would hardly seem to matter in an age when e ery other film is a se uel / prequel / contemporary remake. hat it does with its dystopian

ourishes is often uite original, as are the film’s furti e final images that ha e prompted Inception le el interpretations online.

Throughout the film, the isu als themsel es outshine the plot and script often to hypnotic, unner ing effect. xtreme close ups of coffee poured, eggs fried and breakfast plated — all taken from a bird’s eye iew mirror recurrent blac and white clips of usby er eley li e showgirls forming geometric shapes with their bodies, gesturing not only to the ways that domestic and sexual duties con ate wi es with house hold props but also to Victory’s fas cist o ertones er eley, let’s not forget, was in uential to a i ro pagandist eni Riefenstahl . n an early, isually dis uieting scene, Alice wraps her face and head with the aran wrap out for her husband’s lunch, her face smashed as to be unrecogni able till she tears it from her s ull.

ith its sun blanched, menac ing atmosphere and ugh at its helm, the film perhaps most stri ingly resembles Ari Aster’s Midsommar, in which ugh played ani, a reluctant whistleblower at a cult li e wedish festi al. n Don’t Worry Darling, the 2 year old once again plays a complicated woman who refuses to be gaslit. nce again, she brea s down into righteous hysterics, her torment

FILM

ne er compromising our faith in her udgment and reliability.

n the role of her passi e, if amo rous, spouse is arry tyles can he pull it off That doesn’t really matter his character, li e most of the men onscreen, are more cari catures of patriarchal power than esh and blood husbands. or those among us who en oy watch ing ugh play whistleblower who en oy watching her incred ibly expressi e face and body do, well, practically anything tyles can remain ust style, as it were, a cardboard cutout of a heart throb hubby who seems to en oy cunnilingus.

’m too old, than fully, to care about tyles but young enough to find ilde’s filmma ing debut, Booksmart, a surprisingly fresh yet relatable bildungsroman that alues the le ity and complexity of teenage girldom. Also written by atie ilberman, Don’t Worry Darling isn’t as good as Booksmart, but it also isn’t as bad as people want it to be. n fact, it isn’t bad at all, when you consider most of what passes for cinema these days. t is an une en, but isually compelling, film whose emotional resonance rests on the s uare shoulders of ugh, her genera tion’s answer to ate inslet.

s it brilliant o. ut it also isn’t bad. on’t be gaslit. ee it for yoursel es.

Harry Styles and Florence Pugh play Jack and Alice in Don’t Worry Darling. | NEW LINE CINEMA

OUT EVERY NIGHT

Each 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. All events are subject to change, espe cially in the age of COVID-19, so do check with the venue for the most up-to-date information before you head out for the night. And, of course, be sure that you are aware of the venues’ COVID-safety requirements, as those vary from place to place, and you don’t want to get stuck outside because you forgot your mask or proof of vaccination. Happy showgoing!

THURSDAY 6

BLACK UHURU: 6-10 p.m., $20-$25. The Broadway Boat Bar, 1424 N Broadway St, St Louis.

DESERT LIMINAL: w/ Jeremiah M. Carter and Kelby Clark, WHSKYJANETor, Crisis Walk Ins 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

THE DESLONDES: 8 p.m., $15/$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

DREW SHEAFOR AND THE SOUL RANGERS: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

HENRY TOWNSEND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: 5:30 p.m., free. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 314-746-4599.

HERE COME THE MUMMIES: w/ Saxsquatch 8 p.m., $27.50/$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MICHAEL SCHENKER’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: w/ Eric Martin, Images of Eden 7 p.m., $40-$60. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

MOM’S KITCHEN: 9 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

MOTHER MOTHER: w/ Sir Sly, Transviolet 8 p.m., $30-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MS. HY-C & FRESH START: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

PIERCE CRASK: 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

STEPHANIE STEWART AND FRIENDS: 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

FRIDAY 7

4&20: A TRIBUTE TO CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: 7 p.m., $7. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

ANI DIFRANCO: 8 p.m., $25-$50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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

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

ELVIN BISHOP AND CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE: 8 p.m., $40-$50. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

ERIC GALES AND DEVON ALLMAN: A SALUTE TO THE KING: 7 p.m., $74.99 – $299.00. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

GUY COOK TRIO: 5 p.m., $10. The Attic Music ar, 424 . ingshighway, 2nd oor, t. ouis, 314-376-5313.

JON BONHAM AND FRIENDS: 7:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

ONE WAY TRAFFIC: w/ Fleetwood and Family 10 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

S.G. GOODMAN: w/ Le Ren 8 p.m., $15/$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

Ani DiFranco w/ Jess Nolan

Friday, October 7. 8 p.m. $40-$50. e Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

To call Ani DiFranco a modern-day Renais sance woman might sound like hyperbo le, but her body of work shows that, if any thing, that’s more of an understatement.

The Grammy Award winner and New York Times best-selling author started off as a teenager busking on the streets of Buffa lo, New York, with her guitar teacher and, when it came time to release her own mu sic, started her own label, Righteous Babe Records, at age 19. With the liberal use of “she” in her lyrics, DiFranco was openly

STEVE REEB: 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 24, 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

SUECO: w/ Killboy 8 p.m., $20-$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

TAKING BACK EMO: 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry HillThe Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

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

SATURDAY 8

105.7 THE POINTS POINTERGEIST: w/ Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth 6:30 p.m., $29.50-$149.50. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre - St. Louis, MO, 14141 Riverport Dr, Maryland Heights.

ALL ROOSTERED UP: noon; Oct. 15, noon; Oct. 22, noon; Oct. 29, noon, free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

AMERICAN CHAMBER CHORALE & ORCHESTRA

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

CLUSTERPLUCK: 10 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

COVER LEE: noon, $10. The Attic Music Bar,

bisexual in the ’90s when the mainstream was split between romanticizing and de monizing her orientation. Her fame at the time is best illustrated by the August 1997 issue of SPIN magazine where the decorated singer-songwriter appeared on the cover with bushy green hair and a tribal chest tattoo alongside the words “Rock’s Most Unlikely Superstar.” It’s easy to forget that, even after becoming an un witting face of feminism, DiFranco has been freaky prolific with more than 20 studio albums to her name, including the groundbreaking live record Living in Clip, which just received a 25th anniversary rerelease in July. —Joseph Hess

424 . ingshighway, 2nd oor, t. ouis, 314-376-5313.

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

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

GLAIVE: 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE HEAD AND THE HEART: w/ Shakey Graves 7:30 p.m., TBA. St. Louis Music Park, 750 Casino Center Dr., Maryland Heights, 314-451-2244.

JAKE’S LEG - GRATEFUL DEAD TRIBUTE: 9 p.m., $10/$12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

JOE SATRIANI: 8 p.m., $41.50-$91.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND: 7 p.m., $45-$95. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

RACHEL HOLLIS: 7 p.m., $39.50-$69.50. The actory, uter 4 Rd, hesterfield, 314-423-8500.

RANDALL KING: 8 p.m., $20. The Ready Room, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

SLOTHRUST: w/ Weakened Friends 8 p.m.,

$20/$25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

TENILLE TOWNES: 8 p.m., $20/$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

TRIBUTE NIGHT: w/ Cover Letter, Parker & the Canons, Kerplunk 8 p.m., $12. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

YATRA: w arin Reaper, oat o n p.m., $10/$12. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

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

SUNDAY 9

THE BARFLIES: 2 p.m., free. The Little Bar, 6343 Alabama Ave., St. Louis, 314-875-0607.

THE DEAL: noon, free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

HELL FIRE: w/ Screamer 7:30 p.m., $12-$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

A JOURNEY OF VOICES: 7 p.m., $10-$52. Webster University Community Music School, 535 Garden Ave., Webster Groves, 314-968-5939.

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

PANIC! AT THE DISCO: 7 p.m., $26.50-$126.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX: 8 p.m., $39.50-$165. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SOUL GLO: w/ Inner Peace 3 p.m., $17/$20. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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

MONDAY 10

ALEX G: w/ Barrie 8 p.m., $23. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MR. WENDELL: 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811.

VIAGRA BOYS: w/ Shame, Kills Birds 7:30 p.m., $22. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

TUESDAY 11

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

BUTCH MOORE: 5 p.m.; Oct. 20, 5 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

FLOR: w/ The Wldlfe, good problem 7:30 p.m., $20/$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

KEVIN MORBY: 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MARGINS: w/ Buy Her Candy, Violet Fae 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

THE MIDNIGHT: w/ NIGHTLY 8 p.m., $30/$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

PARAMORE: 7:30 p.m., TBA. The Factory, 17105 uter 4 Rd, hesterfield, 4 42 .

W. MARK AKIN: 7 p.m., $10. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

WEDNESDAY 12

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

KILLER QUEEN: A TRIBUTE TO QUEEN: 7:30 p.m., $49.50-$59.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, hesterfield, 4 42 .

MARY J. BLIGE: w/ Ella Mai, Queen Naija 8 p.m.,

Ani DiFranco returns to St. Louis Oct. 7 at the Pageant with Jess Nolan in tow. | DAYMON GARDNER

$66.50-$136.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

MELT-BANANA: w/ The Mall, Radiator Greys 7:30 p.m., $20. The Ready Room, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

RIVER KITTENS: w/ Nick Gusman, Jakob Baxter, R Scott Bryan, Leah Osbourne, Hunter Peebles 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SLEEPING WITH SIRENS: 8 p.m., $39-$59.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

VOODOO LADIES NIGHT: 9 p.m., $12. Broadway Oys ter Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

THIS JUST IN

4 HANDS FALL FEST W/ VOODOO HIGHWAYMEN: Sat., Oct. 22, noon, free. 4 Hands Brewing Co., 1220 S. 8th St., St. Louis, 314-436-1559.

BANDS OF AMERICA - ST. LOUIS SUPER REGIONALS: W/ high school marching bands from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Fri., Oct. 14, 4 & 10 a.m.; Sat., Oct. 15, $25-$40. The Dome at America’s Center, 701 Convention Plaza, St. Louis, 314-342-5201.

BEERS FOR BUTTERFLIES MUSIC FESTIVAL: W/ School of Rock House Band, Fun with Cats, Boxcar, Sat., Oct. 15, 12-7 p.m., free, leigh.harris@popupprairie.org. McDonald Park, 4200 Utah St, St Louis, 314-289-5300.

BITCHIN BAJAS: W/ Heavy Pauses, Wed., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., $12/$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

BO DADDY HARRIS: W/ Glory N’ Perfection, Matt F Basler, Sat., Nov. 12, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

BOB VOODOO FESTIVAL W/ VOODOO METERS: Fri., Oct. 14, 10 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

BOB VOODOO FESTIVAL W/ VOODOO FORREST GUMP: Sat., Oct. 15, 10 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

CHILDREN OF THE RAT TEMPLE: W/ The Rose Court, Subtropolis, Fri., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

GOBLIN: Sat., Dec. 17, 8 p.m., $45-$75. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

HALLOWEEN SHOW: W/ Feverdream, Polterguts, Cavil, Direct Measure, Fri., Oct. 28, 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

HAZARD TO YA BOOTY: Sat., Oct. 29, 10 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

KARINÉ POGHOSYAN: Thu., Nov. 10, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Free, 314-977-2410, arts@slu.edu. St. Fran cis Xavier College Church, 3628 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108, St. Louis, 314-977-2410.

KEVIN BUCKLEY: Fri., Oct. 21, 4 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

MAMALARKY: W/ Algae Dust, Sun., Nov. 13, 8 p.m., $13/$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

ME LIKE BEES ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: W/ Matt F Basler, Super Bomb, Thu., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

METAL MASQUERADE TRIBUTE SPOOK-TACULAR: W/ Freak On A Leash, Undertow, Gravitational Constant, Use My 3rd Arm, Fri., Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m., $12/$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

MICROWAVES: W/ Van Buren, Christopher Pravdica (from Swans), Brett Lars Underwood, Wed., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $13/$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

Melt-Banana w/ Radiator Greys, e Mall

Wednesday, October 12. 8 p.m. $20. Blueberry Hill Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard.

Sure, it might seem like an insult to compare a band’s music to the sound of a caffeinated squirrel racing across power lines in a heavy thunderstorm, but even longtime fans of Melt-Banana would agree that it’s an apt description.

The Japanese noise rock outfit has been splicing blast beats into a chimeric blend of genres that include grindcore, punk, experimental and even pop since its start in 1992. Although the band hasn’t

NORCOS Y HORCHATA: W/ The Kuhlies, The addonfields, Thu., ct. , p.m., . The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

NOTES ON THE VINE - DINNER CONCERT FEAT. CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF ST. LOUIS: Fri., Nov. 11, 6-9 p.m., $38, 636-798-2675. Chandler ill Vineyards, efiance Road, efiance, 636-798-2675.

PATRIARCHY: W/ Street Fever, Fri., Nov. 4, 8 p.m., $12/$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

POPE: W/ Dubb Nubb, Thomas Dollbaum, Nicole, Mon., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

released a studio album since 2013’s Fetch — not to mention the departure of original bassist Rika Hamamoto that same year — singer Yasuko Onuki and guitarist Ichiro Agata carry on the MeltBanana legacy as a duo that leans heavily into pounding drum machines and synth-heavy backing tracks. The pair has spent most of 2022 celebrating its 30th anniversary as a band with performances at several festivals throughout the world, including a lengthy European tour this past summer. For “re:boot Tour USA,” Melt-Banana will travel from coast to coast from late September to midNovember with a rotating cast of opening acts, including support from exciting, like-minded groups in No Age, Ed Schrad-

THE ROCKY MAVERICK HORROR SHOW II: W/ te ne r ell, harai The ighlight rincess, Mrs. Finesse Jess, Matchez Malone, Readyade, . . ., Tha isfitcli ue, 2 ay, , ean Cashmir, Almighty Rastaking, NoID, DJ Key, Sat., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $10-$20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

SISSER ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: W/ Vaudevileins, The Potomac Accord, Sat., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

SORRY ERIC: W/ 3 of 5, Mold Gold, Wed., Oct. 19, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

TONKSGIVING: W/ Ha Ha Tonka, Yard Eagle, Fri.,

er’s Music Beat, Psychic Graveyard and many others. This night in St. Louis offers two of the very best the river city has to offer in the Mall (recently awarded Best Artist in last week’s Best of St. Louis issue) and Radiator Greys, the brainchild of beloved musician, promoter and flier artist Josh Levi.

Last-Minute Change: This event was initially announced for the new Ready Room located at 4140 Manchester (formerly the home of Atomic Cowboy) but was moved to the Blueberry Hill Duck Room only last week. What we’re saying is: Don’t show up to the Grove looking for your favorite noise rock band from Japan; you’ll be very disappointed.

—Joseph Hess

Nov. 25, 8 p.m., $18-$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

VOODOO WEEN: Wed., Nov. 9, 9 p.m., $12. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

WHITNEY: W/ Squirrel Flower, Tue., Dec. 6, 8 p.m., $34.50/$40. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

WOLF EYES: W/ Brain Transplant, Radiator Greys, Sat., Oct. 15, 8 p.m., $12/$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

ZAP TURA: W/ Lucky Shells, Janet Xmas, Stella, Thu., Oct. 27, 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. n

Melt-Banana plays the Blueberry Hill Duck Room with local favorites Radiator Greys and e Mall. | COURTESY THE ARTIST

SAVAGE LOVE

Done Wrong

BY DAN SAVAGE

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

Hey Dan: I’m a gay Black man in my early 30s. When I was a teen, I was called fat and ugly by family and friends. I should also point out that I was in an all-white communi ty with white parents. When I was coming to terms with my sexual ity as a teenager, I began working out. I built a lot of muscle and have kept it on for the past 17 years, and working out really helps with my anxiety issues. I get a lot of atten tion from guys, and I’m frequently told how good-looking I am. I used to revel in this because I thought I was ugly.

But what I thought would bring me happinessreally hasn’t. I’ve wanted to have a monogamous ro mantic relationship with someone where we both love and respect each other. It hasn’t happened. I’ve gone out on dates with guys who shoved their hands down my pants in public. One time when a guy asked for my number in Target, he began to fondle my nipple when I was putting it in his phone. I’ve been sexually harassed at work and pressured to have sex after saying no.

I’ve looked to some older, wiser friends and mentors for support about some of these experiences, but I am often told that I should “enjoy the attention while I’m young” or that I should expect this behavior because of how my body looks and how I dress. Some of my friends have told me not to take things so personally and that some guys just see me as their gay Black fantasy come to life. Is this really what I have to look forward to in my romantic journey? Parts of me wonder if some of my chal lenges are about my blackness. I know this is not always the case, and honestly there’s a feeling of shame to even bring this up as if I’m using my race as an excuse for my problems. But my experi ences have been so different from my white friends and mentors that I’m unsure. I’m seeing a therapist who is a person of color who has

been helping me with my blackness and sexuality. But my big question for you is this: Am I doing some thing wrong? Or am I navigating the same challenges other queer people of color face?

All Around Confused

Your therapist is both better quali fied and in a better position to help you parse the challenges imposed on you as a queer person of color, the challenges imposed on you by your experiences growing up and the challenges you may be impos ing on yourself. But I will say this: There’s nothing shameful about wondering whether your black ness — along with other people’s racism, your own internalized antiblackness and other forces beyond your control — may be in terfering with your happiness.

And I will also say this, AAC: You deserved better from your fam ily and friends growing up; you deserve better from your friends, mentors, romantic partners, sex partners and strangers at Target now. You should be able to wear what you want without guys touching you without your con sent. No one should be pressuring you to have sex you didn’t explic itly say yes to and/or have already explicitly said no to. And if being someone else’s “gay Black fan tasy come to life” was something you enjoyed doing — if stepping in and out of that role was some thing you wanted to do for your self — that would be one thing. But you shouldn’t be consigned to

that role by strangers, AAC, and it troubles me that your friends think you should have to tolerate it, much less embrace it.

As for whether you’re doing something wrong…

There are guys out there who’ve done everything right and still ha en’t managed to find into their mid-30s — a relationship they want. Remember, AAC, it’s not as simple as finding a guy who wants the same relationship model you do, i.e., the loving and monogamous model over the lov ing and non-monogamous model.

ou ha e to find someone who wants what you want and that you’re sexually compatible with. It should go without saying that sexual compatibility is hugely important in sexually exclusive relationships, but I’m saying it because people enter into sexu ally exclusive relationships with people they don’t click with sexu ally all the fucking time. (Serious ly, some weeks it’s half the mail.) But sexual compatibility by itself isn’t enough. ou also ha e to find someone whose career, life and family goals align with your own. And at some point, AAC, you will have to compromise. You may find a guy who wants monogamy but also other things (kids? poo dles? tit rings?) that you do not. Or you may find a guy you clic with sexually, emotionally and socially but who doesn’t want monogamy or won’t want it forever. You may not want it forever. To make a relationship work over the short

term, you will have to negotiate and make compromises; to make one work over the long term, you will have to renegotiate and revis it those compromises.

Two final things

First, I’d like to invite gay or queer Black readers to jump into the com ments thread online and share your experiences and insights with AAC. And if you’ve never seen the film Tongues Untied, AAC, you might want to sit down to watch it. Marlon T. Rigg’s 1989 documentary about what it means to be Black and gay in our culture is just as rel evant now as it was 30 years ago. Everyone should watch it.

Hey Dan: Would you mind remind ing your gay male readers that it’s rude to take pictures of strangers in public? (I guess men do this to masturbate to them later?) I’m a straight man who has lived in Seat tle for four years, and what gay men do to random male pedestrians here ranges from nuisance to battery. It’s usually innocuous: I’m walking down the sidewalk, a gay man and his friends see me, whisper together, start giggling, then one of them pre tends to take a photo of their group when they’re really taking a photo of me. This happens every half mile. Other times, gay men straight up just take my picture. Sometimes one will step directly in front of me, hoping to bump into me for a “meet cute.” Yesterday, I was walking, and I see three 50-year-old men hud dling together, and when I looked up all three were taking my picture. I ignored it, but I hate it. I kept walk ing but three other gay men were up ahead, and they stepped directly in front of me to block my way. One of them intentionally took a big step to the side, and when I was still pass ing, elbowed me “accidentally,” then turned to me laughing and said, “Oh, sorry!”

I’m sure most gay men would claim to never engage in such be havior. But when they get in groups, they allow their friends to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. It’s cowardly and it needs to stop.

Sneakily Taking Other People’s Pics Is Completely Shitty

Gay men in Seattle…

to savage.love to read the rest.

JOE NEWTON