Riverfront Times, November 15, 2023 by Chava Communications

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NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Owner and Chief Executive Officer Chris Keating Executive Editor Sarah Fenske

E D I T O R I A L Managing Editor Jessica Rogen Editor at Large Daniel Hill Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic Dining Critic Cheryl Baehr Theater Critic Tina Farmer Music Critic Steve Leftridge Contributors Aaron Childs, Max Bouvatte, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Cliff Froehlich, Eileen G’Sell, Reuben Hemmer, Braden McMakin, Tony Rehagen, Mabel Suen, Theo Welling Columnists Chris Andoe, Dan Savage Interns Alexia McCullison, Peter Cohen

A R T

COVER

P R O D U C T I O N

Art Director Evan Sult Creative Director Haimanti Germain Graphic Designer Aspen Smit

Shop Local

M U L T I M E D I A

There are so many St. Louis shops we love in 2023. Get to know some of our favorites. Cover photo by

A D V E R T I S I N G

Publisher Colin Bell Account Manager Jennifer Samuel Directors of Business Development Tony Burton, Rachel Hoppman

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

JESSICA ROGEN

B I G

L O U

H O L D I N G S

Executive Editor Sarah Fenske Vice President of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator Elizabeth Knapp Director of Operations Emily Fear Chief Financial Officer Guillermo Rodriguez Chief Executive Officer Chris Keating

INSIDE Front Burner News Missouriland Feature Calendar Cafe Short Orders Reeferfront Times Culture Music Film Out Every Night Savage

N A T I O N A L

A D V E R T I S I N G

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FRONT BURNER

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6. After last week’s freezing cold Halloween, St. Louis is back to being so balmy, it’s all we can do not to turn on the A/C. Mayor Tishaura Jones signs legislation aimed at cracking down on short-term rentals; cross your fingers it works. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch InBev says 40 percent of Bud Light drinkers are willing to forgive the brewing behemoth for sending a personalized can of beer to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney — apparently because Bud Light now sponsors the UFC? We’ll believe it when we see it. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7. Spin says our music scene is “on fire” — and unlike when it happens to our dumpsters, this is meant as a good thing. At City Hall, Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier pulls the plug on her homeless bill of rights. And with that, unhoused St. Louisans remain like the rest of us in not being allowed to piss in the streets but still doing so anyway. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8. In LA, the

Previously On LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS actors’ strike is over, as SAG-AFTRA and the studios now have a new three-year deal. Does anyone even care now that no one watches TV? At a Republican presidential debate in Miami, Nikki Haley speaks for the nation by calling Vivek Ramaswamy “scum.” And, in Jefferson City, new Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ginger Gooch hears her first case. The court now has a female majority.

its. Meanwhile, the House GOP is proving to be the one entity that believes House Speaker Dean Plocher actually meant to reimburse taxpayers for those double-billed expenses, so it looks like he’s keeping his job … for now. Also, a pro-Palestinian protest stops traffic in St. Louis County, and there’s another dead elephant at the Saint Louis Zoo. Is there a small dog we can pin this on?

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9. The first feature film to be shot in Missouri in ages, On Fire, kicks off location shooting at Saratoga Lanes, and all of St. Louis has gone movie mad. Score one for Governor Mike Parson’s tax cred-

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10. A government shutdown looms again. But never fear, that new House Speaker who monitors his son’s porn use will be totally capable of bringing everyone together. Back home, in yet another battle in the proxy

war between supporters of Israel vs. Palestine, Saint Louis University student government ousts its pro-Palestine president Marquis Govan. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11. The Blues beat the Avalanche 3-2, while a road rage incident in Fenton begins with one angry motorist flicking a cig at another and ends with a High Ridge man charged with first-degree murder. Gotta be careful in those mean suburban streets. Meanwhile, the carpetbaggers recruiting for the Atlanta Police Department in St. Louis can’t find any qualified locals interested in the job — a familiar feeling. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12. The maple trees are flaming red, and the air crisp but only cool at night — perfection. Alas, a hiker finds human remains at Creve Coeur Lake. (Remember what we said about the suburbs?) In the afternoon, a massive pro-Palestine protest fills the Central West End.

5 QUESTIONS for radio veteran Carol Daniel In May, KMOX newscaster Carol Daniel shocked the media world when she announced her retirement. But just four months later, Daniel started a new gig — as senior producer and host at Nine PBS. Her new podcast, Listen, St. Louis, dropped its first episodes late last week. Daniel joined us to discuss why she quit journalism, her speedy return and why she may end up being the Joe Rogan of public television podcasts. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. You were one of the most prominent voices on the Voice of St. Louis. Why leave KMOX? I had been thinking about retirement for a long time. I’m 61. Work was just taking a toll on me. I went to St. Croix to visit my motherin-law and my brother-in-law, and while I was there, I just had this epiphany: “OK, I can do this. And I think I need to do it.” It was an answer to a prayer to be in that mental space and that spiritual space that I could walk away. I didn’t know what the future held, but I knew I would be OK. Yet you picked those headphones right back up. Someone asked me, “Well, what would you love to do? What would the dream be?” And I said, “To tell the stories of Black St. Louisans, to tell the stories of people who are making change, to tell the stories of the issues we face and who’s facing them and what we’re getting right and what we’re getting wrong.” And when that question was asked of me, the first entity I thought of was Nine PBS. I have known Amy Shaw, the CEO, and Aja Williams, the vice president of content, for over 15 years. We’ve always wanted to work together, but there was never an opportunity. And so I reached out to Amy and then Aja and boom. I mean, boom. Was it bittersweet not to get that retirement? Yeah, but I will tell you that I’ve talked to people who have worked in public broadcasting. One said to me it was the most freedom she’d ever had. There is such a freedom. How is Nine PBS different from KMOX? My husband goes, “You sound so relaxed.” I don’t even look at the clock. At KMOX, there was a clock five feet from me where I paid at-

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Carol Daniel left journalism, but Nine PBS brought her right back. | COURTESY PHOTO tention to the second hand all day long. And now — I just realized talking to you right now, there’s no clock on the wall here. When you’re actually taping the podcast, do you need to pay attention to the clock? Well, I don’t pay attention to the clock, and I predict that I will be getting an email — a gentle reminder that you are not Joe Rogan, you cannot go on for three hours. I predict that’s coming. But maybe not. The first episode is 52 minutes. I was listening as I was driving home, a 25-minute drive. I paused it, got in the house, started cooking, and listened to the rest of it as I was cooking. And if St. Louisans will engage in that way, 45, 50 minutes, we’re good. I want to have the conversations that I want to hear when I’m in my car. And these are conversations we aren’t having in depth. We’re getting 90 seconds, or if we’re lucky, we’re getting two or three minutes. And it’s so much deeper than that. And so I’m so, so grateful to be able to do this now in this way. —Sarah Fenske

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WEEKLY WTF?! POLE WATCH When: 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, November 9 Where: Bayless Avenue and Morgan Ford Road What: Either a very short telephone pole or a very round community bulletin board. Seriously, what happened here? Someone was in such a hurry to make a new sidewalk, they apparently poured around an obsolete pole rather than remove it. So St. Louis! But why is it so short? ‘Tis yours not to reason why, yours but to do and die. Are you actually quoting “Charge of the Light Brigade”? It’s a great poem. At any rate: This truncated telephone pole may look odd, but it’s a fine place to advertise your yard sale. Someday, anthropologists will study poles such as these and understand everything they need to know about our civilization.

A historic treasure? | MONICA OBRADOVIC

15 SECONDS OF FAME FLASHBACK FREAK OF THE WEEK

Rod Jetton

Rod Jetton is back! The disgraced former Missouri House Speaker and BDSM enthusiast has been hired as chief of staff for current Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher (R-Des Peres), which is apropos because Plocher appears on the road to being both disgraced and former, too. But forget the details of the scandal now engulfing Plocher, which involves him submitting for reimbursement by taxpayers a series of expenses already covered by his campaign. Yawn! The far juicier scandal was Jetton’s. Back in 2009, the newly divorced legislator connected with a childhood friend and, as one does, arranged a sexual hookup complete with a safe word. Actually, make that safe words — “green balloons.” Then he proceeded to get her drunk and choke her and smack her until she passed out. And in the morning, rather than apologize to the bruised woman before him, the then-Speaker of the Missouri House and defender of family values chided her, “You should have said green balloons.” Never mind that people who are drunk are both incapable of true consent and likely to suffer memory loss on things Rod Jetton will never live down “green balloons.” like balloon colors. Never. | SCREENSHOT Jetton was charged with felony assault for allegedly causing “serious physical injury,” but ended up pleading to a misdemeanor. And that apparently left him poised for a comeback. No complaints here! We’ve been looking for a good reason to talk about consent and the limits of safe words, and when it comes to the tawdry side of life, the Missouri GOP is only too happy to oblige.

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NEWS ‘Day of Reckoning’ Led to Resignation

“She hit the eject button two hours before we were going to court, in order to deprive the state of thousands of pages of documents that we had subpoenaed.”

Missouri AG Andrew Bailey shares what he learned about Kim Gardner’s secret life as a nursing student Written by

RYAN KRULL

n Monday night, Attorney General Andrew Bailey released his 62-page report into former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, detailing the months-long quo warranto process led by his office that resulted in Gardner abruptly resigning. Among the details in the report is new information about the extent to which Gardner was spending her time pursuing a Master’s degree in nursing and the importance that the revelations of her student life played in her resignation. Prior to her resignation on May 16, Gardner had previously announced she would leave office June 1. Bailey says Gardner abruptly moved up that timetable so she could avoid further disclosures about her degree work at Saint Louis University as well as broader disclosures about her office. Former Judge William Corrigan, who was with the Attorney General’s Office at the time, says that the office first became aware of Gardner’s secret life as a nursing student because of a tip submitted to the office’s constituent services website. Someone wrote in to say their spouse was a classmate of Gardner, which kicked off the investigation. Based on that tip, investigators observed on two occasions — April 27 and 28 — as Gardner spent extended periods of time at the Family Care Health Centers clinic in the Grove, completing practicum work. It turned out that Gardner had been enrolled in the

Kim Gardner spent nearly two years of her tenure as St. Louis Circuit Attorney in a master’s nursing program. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI Master’s program since the fall of 2021, Bailey’s report says. The timing of Gardner’s resignation has everything to do with those revelations, the attorney general tells the RFT. “The day of reckoning was staring her in the face,” Bailey says. At a scheduled May 16 hearing in the quo warranto proceeding, a judge was likely to order both SLU and the clinic to produce records related to Gardner, Bailey says. He finds it no coincidence that Gardner emailed her resignation to the governor two hours before that meeting. “She hit the eject button two hours before we were going to court, in order to deprive the state of thousands of pages of documents that we had subpoenaed,” Bailey tells the RFT. Gardner also had a deposition scheduled for two days later, which her resignation allowed her to avoid. Bailey tells the RFT that Gardner is “absolutely” open to criminal charges. “For criminal liability, it could be as simple as she was stealing from the public coffer by using official resources to do private activity, like obtain an advanced degree in nursing,” Bailey says.

“There are federal public corruption statutes on the books, so the Department of Justice has the authority certainly to pursue a case like that,” Bailey adds. Corrigan says that, like many others, the Attorney General’s Office also heard rumors that Gardner was not living in St. Louis city, as is required by law for the city’s

Change Comes to Troubled Complex The Coronado’s owners have parted ways with their management company Written by

MONICA OBRADOVIC

hree troubled apartment buildings in Grand Center will soon be under new management. Residents of the Coronado Place & Towers say they have lived without consistent heat, hot water, air conditioning and working elevators while under the care of Cardinal Group Management.

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top elected prosecutor. “We did look into that, but we couldn’t find any proof that she was not a St. Louis city resident,” Corrigan says. The report details Gardner’s resistance to every request made by the Attorney General’s Office for documents and other discovery. “She avoided the production of the records,” the report says, later adding, “She never handed over a single page of discovery.” What those records contain and any further revelations they may contain is currently unknown. “Those records still exist,” Bailey says. “They’re still out there to be accessed.” n

Certain advertised amenities, such as a rooftop pool, have also been unavailable to residents in recent years. Denver-based Cardinal Group oversaw the buildings on Lindell Boulevard for Mapletree Investments, a massive real estate company headquartered in Singapore with properties in Asia, Australia and Europe, in addition to the U.S. But that relationship is no more. After a Riverfront Times cover story detailed residents’ claims of substandard living conditions in September, sources say Cardinal Group no longer manages the Coronado Place & Towers. It’s unclear who severed ties with whom, or whether the two companies will cease working together at Mapletree’s other Cardinal-managed properties across the U.S. But in St. Louis, the two companies’ working relationship is definitely through. Both Mapletree and Cardinal Group confirmed the Coronado Continued on pg 10

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Fontbonne’s Future Looks Rocky Facing a $5.2 million deficit, the university eyes big cuts Written by

RYAN KRULL

ontbonne University in Clayton is facing a significant budget shortfall heading into next year, and its leadership has proposed cutting more than 20 degree programs and 18 faculty positions to make up for the projected red ink, according to internal documents first published by the Riverfront Times. Those documents say that the school’s operating budget has a $5.2 million deficit for fiscal year 2024. In response, the Roman Catholic university’s executive leadership team has drafted a proposal for “selective retrenchment” to reduce overall costs. Fifteen undergraduate programs are proposed for elimination, among them degrees in actuarial science, art, global studies, healthcare management and game development. The proposal would also have the university eliminate its religious studies undergraduate program as well as its highly regarded program for

THE CORONADO Continued from pg 9

split in separate statements to the RFT. According to Cardinal Group, a different company is taking over this week. “Cardinal Group is assisting the property owner of Coronado Place & Towers with the transition to a new management company, with a transition effective date of November 15,” a statement from the company reads. Greystar appears to be the company taking the reins. The property management company has several job listings for roles at the Coronado Place & Towers on its website. “Mapletree’s focus is to provide all residents at Coronado Place & Towers a safe and conducive place to stay,” Mapletree said in a statement. “That includes to change the property manager and other adjustments to the building’s operations and maintenance.” Cortney Harper, who lives in Lindell West (which residents told the RFT has been the most neglected building of Coronado Place & Towers), says representatives of Mapletree visited the property in recent weeks. “They were going around asking if there was anything they could do better,” Harper says. Cardinal Group and Mapletree Invest-

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Fontbonne University is located in Clayton. | ROSALIND EARLY deaf education. Graduate programs in art, computer science, fine art and supply chain management are also on the chopping block. Other cuts would include eliminating the e-sports program, getting rid of nonessential travel and professional development, and reducing library collections. The executive leadership team putting forth the proposal includes Fontbonne President Nancy Blattner, CFO Ray Karasek, Controller Ann Spall and Vice President for Academic Affairs Adam Weyhaupt, among others. The documents say that academic departments and committees had until November 13

ments have both been sued multiple times by tenants in apartment buildings across the country. In 2021, a class action lawsuit filed in Denver alleged residents of an apartment complex there endured bug infestations, faulty elevators, lack of air conditioning and malfunctioning door locks. In St. Louis, suits filed against Cardinal Group and Lindell Lofts LLC, which public records indicate is a subsidiary of Mapletree, all make similar allegations — that tenants deal with mold, broken equipment or unusable facilities, broken elevators, shoddy maintenance and “uninhabitable” units. The most recent lawsuit from a tenant of the Coronado Place & Towers was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court in October. It alleges the tenant lived without adequate heat last winter or a working lock on her door. In May, according to the suit, the unit’s air conditioning didn’t work. So staff installed a window unit using “duct tape and cardboard.” Rain eventually created a hole in the cardboard, and the hole grew until it was “substantial enough to bring in heat and a significant draft on cold nights. The air conditioning and heat were never fixed despite numerous attempts to reach staff, the suit alleges. Cardinal Group also never delivered on a promise of a $600 gift card in exchange for the tenant to renew her lease.

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to provide feedback to the plan. Fontbonne’s Vice President for Enrollment Management, Marketing & Communications Quinton Clay tells the RFT the school is “in the middle of discussions,” and no further details could be shared beyond a short statement. “Like many post-secondary institutions, Fontbonne is navigating shifting economic and financial circumstances. Because we value our faculty and staff, we are including them in a series of meetings to discuss various proposals to strengthen Fontbonne’s financial position and reduce expenses while retaining our ranking as a ‘best value’ school and

top regional university in the Midwest,” the statement said in part. Clay adds that the school is “prioritizing fiscal health to provide the best experience for students” and that no final decisions have been made. But the proposed cuts outline potentially significant cuts to personnel, including losing 18 faculty members, primarily from the programs that would be cut, but also faculty from math and biological and behavioral sciences. Two full-time positions in the Office of the Registrar have already been eliminated, the document says. Several others — including the director of campus ministry, the special advisor to the president for diversity, equity and inclusion, and vice president for advancement — would remain unfilled under the plan. The documents don’t specify the cause behind the budget shortfall, however a 2018 article from the Post-Dispatch lists the school’s enrollment at 1,375. Numbers provided by the school from earlier this year show the student headcount having dropped to 944. Those numbers track with a nationwide trend of fewer students being interested in liberal arts degrees, seeking instead programs that lead more directly to a specific career. Another St. Louis area liberal arts school, Webster University, lost $128 million over the past decade and its chancellor, Beth Stroble, has announced she will depart in December. n

The Coronado Place & Towers is in Grand Center. | MONICA OBRADOVIC “Cardinal Management, in my opinion, is not a legitimate property management company — they’re a criminal enterprise,” the tenant’s lawyer, Al Johnson, tells the RFT. Johnson also represented a couple who moved from Canada to an allegedly uninhabitable apartment in the Coronado Place & Towers in 2021. The couple reached a settlement this year for an

amount Johnson would not disclose. “I can’t believe that any legitimate owner would not know how bad this property is and put the money into it and fix it up,” Johnson says. “If they were really acting in good faith, what they’d do is stop making promises to people and immediately do rent abatement so people aren’t paying $1,000 a month for apartments that aren’t even habitable.” n

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MISSOURILAND

Rock of Ages Hip-hop luminary Pete Rock dazzled at .ZACK last Friday Photos by

THEO WELLING Words by

SARAH FENSKE

hen one of the most acclaimed hip-hop producers of all time came to town, St. Louis turned out. Pete Rock’s set at .ZACK (3224 Locust Street) on Friday, November 10, also featured DJs Biko

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and Chilly C. Rock, of course, is one of the luminaries associated with hip-hop’s East Coast scene in the 1990s. He’s originally part of the duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth, known for “They Reminisce Over You,” cited as one of the top 100 hip-hop tracks of all time by both Rolling Stone and The Source. The evening was part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop thrown by Music at the Intersection — one of 50 concerts, workshops, demonstrations, installations and parties that “celebrate and elevate” hip-hop throughout 2023. And “celebrate and elevate” certainly described the mood of the event, which ushered in a gorgeous weekend with chill, positive vibes. n

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

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It’s easier than ever to avoid the shop

around the corner. A few clicks of the trackpad and you can order just about anything you want from Amazon, Target or even (ugh) Walmart. We’re here to say one thing: Don’t do that. Despite the ease of

e-commerce, St. Louis has more great shops than it has had in a long time open right now, and we’re not talking national chains. These are idiosyncratic retail outlets personally curated by some of the coolest people in the city. And as you’ll see in the 29 shops we highlight in the pages that follow, it’s not just that they offer an impressive array of products. They also offer superior service, a better browsing experience and in some cases a way to help not just your neighborhood but also the world. So get off your couch and go see what’s on the shelves. You’re sure to find something worth taking home with you. —Sarah Fenske

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The Joy of IRL Service in the Age of Amazon Parker’s Table reminds us what we lose in a digital shopping world

By CHERYL BAEHR

’ll never forget the moment my daughter went from being my shopping sidekick at Parker’s Table (7118 Oakland Ave, Richmond Heights; parkerstable.com) to a customer for life in her own right. It was New Year’s Eve, and she was eight years old, tagging along with her mom as we procured provisions from the low-key lunch counter and specialty shop in Richmond Heights: some sparkling wine, an obscene amount of cheese and charcuterie, a container of the citrus-marinated olives that have a cult following, freshly baked ciabatta (because you never leave Parker’s Table without its freshly baked ciabatta), more wine, some good rum and mixers. A child who is wise beyond her years about the finer things in life — something I chalk up to her being the daughter of a dining critic, subjected to going to grown-up restaurants since she was

five months old — Coretta wanted to join in the celebration with a festive beverage of her own, and would in no way be fooled by the false pomp and circumstance of pouring Honest Kids fruit punch into a wine glass. Jon Parker had known Coretta for several years by that point; the lunch counter’s smoked turkey and gruyere sandwich had been her favorite for almost as long as she could eat solid food. But beyond that, Parker, the shop’s owner and resident creative, has such a knack for picking up on what people are looking for you sometimes wonder if he has a sixth sense, and in this particular instance, he knew Coretta was looking for a fun beverage. Instead of simply directing us to the front of the store where the N/A options were located, he bent down, got to her eye level, and engaged with her as if she was asking Continued on pg 17

Parker’s Table, left, is Cheryl Baehr’s happy place, with service you just can’t get at a chain store. | CHERYL BAEHR riverfronttimes.com

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PARKER’S TABLE Continued from pg 15

for his finest bottle of Bordeaux. “Do you like more of a citrus flavor or cranberry?” he asked, teasing out the flavor profiles she was searching for like a sommelier at a white-tablecloth restaurant. When she told him she liked a little of both, he asked her to follow him to a display of an alcohol-free beverage brand that came packaged in wine-shaped bottles. “Now this one here has white tea and ginger, but there is a little elderberry in it too,” he explained about the rose version. “This other one is a bit more citrusy. What do you think?” What she thought was that she wanted the rose version, but more so, she thought she was the most important person in the room, valued and seen in a way kids don’t often get the chance to be. She was absolutely beaming, a smile that grew even brighter when he threw a little bag of candy that

Joe Parker is a gift — not simply a shopkeeper, but a vivid reminder of the value of human connection and just how vital the relational aspect of retail is. looks like rocks into our bag “just because.” The thing you have to know about Parker, and pretty much everyone who works at Parker’s Table, is that this sort of interaction is not a one-off. Every last person who walks into this lovely Richmond Heights store is treated as if they are a dear friend, not a dollar sign. Parker is a gift — not simply a shopkeeper but a vivid reminder of the value of human connection and just how vital the relational aspect of retail is, something that’s missing when you shop at a big-box shop or place an order from an online mega-retailer. Throughout its 23 years of business, Parker’s Table has curated its wares not by algorithm or a data analysis of your shopping history but by taking the time to get to know you, your family and your friends. He and his team — Simon, Steve, Phil, Kim, Frank, Clara, Alessandra — create a community that feels like an extended family. And you don’t have to be a regular for this sort of treatment. It’s simply the way they do business and, after experiencing it, the way you wish everyone did business, and the way you hope they will continue to do business for years to come — at least until their eight-year-old rose-buying customers are old enough to take home the real stuff. n

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Shops We Love

Retro 101/Cherry Bomb Vintage has a vast selection, but it’s also well-curated. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

Retro 101/Cherry Bomb Vintage

Retro 101/Cherry Bomb Vintage (2214 Cherokee Street) is universally acknowledged as one of the best places to get vintage clothing in St. Louis. That’s for good reason. What sets the store apart is its wide and heavily curated selection. Sure, you could go to thrift stores and search for hours to find maybe one or two vintage pieces you’d want to take home. But at Retro 101/Cherry Bomb Vintage, you’ll have to restrain yourself from taking home all the gems you see. You’ll probably spend more than what you would at a thrift store, but at least you won’t have to sift through aisles and bins of stuff you would never want. Or maybe the hunt is your thing — in which case Retro 101 still has you covered, because the place is packed with clothes. You may even struggle to move some hangers on the racks because they’re so full. You’ll find anything from grandma-chic sweaters and vintage concert tees to high-end pieces that are timelessly gorgeous (or tastefully corny). —Monica Obradovic

The Hunters ought to know a thing or two about the perfect gift; their store is packed with them. Debra and Ross opened Provisions in the Central West End five years ago after moving from the Bay Area. “St. Louis is really, really supportive of small businesses. It’s always been that way since we’ve moved here,” Hunter says. “It’s palpable, and it’s not just us.” Browsing Provisions’ cozy confines on a recent rainy afternoon, it didn’t take long for the perfect gift to reveal itself. Among Provisions’ wares are candles, cookbooks, baking flour, books, pillows, scarves and paintings. The store’s relatively small square footage belies how long you’ll likely spend looking through it all. Hunter says the common thread among everything she stocks is that it is all gift-oriented, but that also includes “things to give to yourself.” To her point, we left that day with three items, two to give away and one to keep for ourselves, though which items fell into what category is something we still need to figure out. —Ryan Krull

Provisions St. Louis

Planet Score Records

Buying a gift isn’t always easy, but Provisions St. Louis (228 North Euclid Avenue, provisionsstl.com) co-owner Debra Hunter has some advice: “My husband always says give something you’d like to have yourself.”

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Planet Score Records (7421 Manchester Road, Maplewood; discogs.com/user/planetscore) is your favorite record store’s favorite record store. OK, we’ll admit that might Continued on pg 19

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SHOPS WE LOVE Continued from pg 17

not make a whole lot of sense, but this delightful Maplewood shop is so chock-full of treasures that it would be unsurprising if, granted sentience, the other fine record stores in this town at least made it a point to swing through. Owners Tim Lohmann and Joe Stulce are longtime record store employees, having cut their teeth working at the late Hazelwood spot Record Reunion and its rebrand CD Reunion, and their many years of experience shine through in the shop’s wellcurated selection. The two met decades ago while playing music together in the St. Louis rock group the Helium Tapes and share a love for garage rock, punk, psychedelic rock and prog, which are all well represented in Planet Score’s stock, but there is plenty of hip-hop, soul, jazz, reggae, metal and everything in between as well. Expect slabs of wax from the likes of J Dilla, Death Grips, Jesus Lizard, the Pogues, Minor Threat, Ty Segall, Guided by Voices (lots of Guided by Voices) and plenty others. While the store is primarily focused on vinyl, it dutifully offers a nice selection of CDs, tapes, VHS cassettes and even eighttracks for those whose outdated technology is of a slightly different flavor. Best of all, Stulce or Lohmann or both are almost always on site and happy to answer all of your burning questions, lending their decades of collective knowledge to ensure that at Planet Score, your record-purchasing experience is out of this world. —Daniel Hill

dresses to cool jewelry. Owner Hillary Dutcher offers the right mix of useful and stylish, with bold colors and plenty of texture. On a recent visit, we ogled the Halloween-ready sweaters inscribed BOO!, the cute dresses with whimsical animal prints and puffer jackets, including one in an eye-catching magenta. The common thread among those pieces suggests one reason for Ivy Hill’s staying power: The shop never takes itself too seriously. —Sarah Fenske

Betty’s Books

Cornucopia

Just around the corner from Cyrano’s in Webster Groves is a small storefront that contains a comic-book store unlike any other: Betty’s Books (10 Summit Avenue, Webster Groves; bettysbooksstl.com). Opened in 2021, it stocks the sort of classic comic-book store fare — DC and Marvel comics, a huge amount of Japanese manga — that you’d expect. But the vibe of the space is much more akin to an independent bookseller than anything you might anticipate. The shop is light-drenched and full of quirky murals as well as a kids’ section replete with cloud lights and a play structure adorned by a stuffed snake made by a local artist. The stock is expansive, with sections devoted to comics and graphic novels about things you didn’t think could ever be in graphic novel form. Want to learn to cook or garden or draw? Betty’s Books has graphic novels for that. The store also offers subscriptions for various age groups or interests and a calendar of community-minded events that offers something for everyone. —Jessica Rogen

Betty’s Books is a comic book store that has far more than comic books. | JESSICA ROGEN

Cornucopia (107 North Kirkwood Road, Kirkwood; cornucopia-kitchen.com) immediately instills a sense of coziness when you walk through the door. Maybe it’s the aroma of the dozens of varieties of flavored coffee beans and teas that the store sells by weight. Or maybe it’s the kind staffers, who are always around to lend their expertise, or the notes

spread throughout the store that detail interesting facts on products that can often only be found at Cornucopia. Wherever that charm factor derives from, we’re here for it. But even more important than the good vibes, Cornucopia has what home cooks both novice and experienced need. While Cornucopia feels and looks like the small mom-andpop shop that it is, there’s seldom a kitchen product you can’t find there. Dozens of different whisks, spatulas, grill supplies, spoons, gadgets and more cover the walls. In the basement, Cornucopia boasts the largest assortment of Fiesta tableware in the area, in addition to beautiful Polish pottery and other styles of dishware. There’s also the items you didn’t think you’d need, such as Cornucopia’s collection of more than 100 cookie cutters, that you’ll spend time combing through anyContinued on pg 21

Ivy Hill

A favorite among smart St. Louisans since it opened in 2008 in the Central West End, Ivy Hill (8835 Ladue Road, facebook.com/ivyhillboutique) has been comfortably ensconced since 2013 in a Ladue strip mall chock full of great shopping — and it more than holds its own amidst formidable competition. The colorful, cozy shop offers just about everything a girl could want, from chunky sweaters to chic

Planet Score Records has a lot of vinyl — and some CDs and eight-tracks too. | DANIEL HILL

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Located on Cherokee Street, STL Rocks offers crystal, fossils, jewelry and more. | MONICA OBRADOOVIC

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way (and probably walking away with one or two). From the outside, Cornucopia blends in with the rest of downtown Kirkwood’s quaint exterior — but make sure you come in, because you’re sure to like what you find inside. —Monica Obradovic

Big River Running

Everyone knows that Big River Running (three locations including 606 North and South Road, University City; bigriverrunning. com) is the place in town to buy a pair of running shoes. Their sales staff have both the expertise and the gait-analyzing gadgetry to make sure you find the right set of kicks for whatever sort of running you do. Their prices are competitive, with online deals, too. But what’s less well known about Big River is that the store also has you covered from the ankle up. Don’t ask us to explain it, but their T-shirt game is absolutely next level. The fabric is soft, yet durable; cool, without drawing too much attention to itself. Most of the designs incorporate St. Louis in one way or another — whether it’s RUN STL emblazoned across the chest or a map of the city’s neighborhoods. “They’re a fan favorite,” says general manager Michael Bain. “And a great way to rep local pride.” One great place to rock Big River T is on one of the store’s Monday night,

no-pressure fun runs. Do the shirts make you faster? Hard to say. But they will make you look good at any speed. —Ryan Krull

MO Art Supply

The newest entrant in St. Louis’ art supply lineup, MO Art Supply (6174 Delmar Boulevard, Second Floor; moartsupply.com) nevertheless has everything on hand to please the creative soul in your life — whether that’s you, your best pal or your kid. The stock is broken into thematic rooms, so you can find what you want quickly. It’s easy to skip to crafts or to architecture supplies or to printing if you want to run in and out, and one of the gregarious staff members will be more than happy to direct you to the correct area. Alternatively, there’s a real pleasure in browsing the different areas, checking out the murals by a bevy of St. Louis artists such as Cbabi Bayoc or Brock Seals, and seeing what unexpected supplies it turns out that you absolutely need. While you’re doing so, you might also get the chance to catch an artist doing a live demo or head over to the studio space to check out what classes are on offer. Here there be treasures. —Jessica Rogen

STL Rocks

On every bustling shopping street, there’s that store. An I-could-spend-hours-in-here store. On Cherokee Street, that’s STL Rocks (2003 Cherokee Street, stlrocks.me). Even if rocks aren’t your thing, you’re bound to be entranced by STL Rocks’ treasure trove of crys-

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tals, fossils, sterling silver jewelry and yes, rocks. In just a small space — a few shelves, a jewelry case and a display in the middle of the store comprise most of STL Rocks — there is loads of knowledge to unearth. You could either talk to the store’s staffers or glance at the several handwritten signs next to each specimen. Who knew, for instance, that petrified wood could provide stability, patience and trust, and lavender quartz could bring love, joy and self esteem? Whether that’s something you believe in or not, it’s worth taking a gander at what the store has to offer — and at the very least gazing at the beautiful treasures throughout. —Monica Obradovic

AO&Co.

It’s hard to reduce AO&Co. (1641 Tower Grove Avenue, bengelina.com/aoco) to just a few dozen words. On one side of the specialty market and coffee/tea shop, you’ll find cheeses, wine, beer, bread, pasta, olive oil and packaged foods from co-owner Ben Poremba’s restaurants. On the other side, there’s a coffee shop/ espresso bar that along with its libations sells various baked goods (including, arguably, some of the best chocolate chip cookies in town). St. Louis isn’t exactly known for its selection of independent food markets, especially those that don’t sell their items at exorbitant prices. We’re much more of a Schnucks kind of town. But this Botanical Heights destination provides what few grocery stores Continued on pg 22

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can: chef-created foods at a shop around the corner that’s open seven days a week, with coffee and tea to boot. Food selections vary at AO&Co., but you’re sure to find some gems. On a recent weekday, we found fresh sesame bagels, strawberry schmear and chicken salad from Poremba’s Deli Divine. Schnucks could never. —Monica Obradovic

City Sprouts

Molly Curlee and her sister Carrie Drda were running their delightful Phoenix Rising boutique in the Loop when Curlee experienced a life-changing event: She got pregnant. Curlee’s new role in life inspired her to open City Sprouts (8807 Ladue Road, citysprouts. com), which has all the style and wit Phoenix Rising (RIP) was known for, only with a kids’ focus. Eighteen years later, City Sprouts is all grown up, but it’s still going strong in Ladue for one simple reason: Curlee has a great eye for what kids like and the people shopping for them admire. The shop promises “cool stuff for cool kids,” which might be a wonderfully soft Jellycat stuffie or Klutz craft kit, a cool puzzle or a wooden dollhouse. And if you’re wondering where your most stylish friend gets the adorable outfits she uses to outshine other guests at baby showers, we’re here to tell you: It’s City Sprouts. Clothing runs from newborn to kids’ size 10 to 12. —Sarah Fenske

Four Muddy Paws

Shops have a tendency to open and close in the heart of Lafayette Square, perhaps because the rent in the historic neighborhood tends to be too damn high for the foot traffic. Four Muddy Paws (1711 Park Avenue, fourmuddypaws.com) has outlasted all the rest for one simple reason: It has not only the cutesy gifts pet lovers want, but also the day-to-day items they need. Sure, you can get Fido a darling little pointy hat and an all-natural, ovenbaked pupcake for his birthday (of course you celebrate his birthday!). You can also get any number of high-end chew toys or bones for that all-important gift. But you’ll also find raw food to set him on a healthier diet, various leash options for good long walks, a grooming spa with a host of kindly staffers and even a self-serve dog wash for when the stink just gets too bad. (Admit it: He smells.) Co-owners Matthew Brazelton and Jeffrey Jensen offer the perfect mix of practical and puptastic. No wonder this St. Louis favorite is still going strong at 16 — and helping ensure your dog is, too. —Sarah Fenske

STL Style House

Sometimes it feels like our shrinking city doesn’t have much to be proud of. With a steadily declining population, shootings seemingly every day and a circus full of characters that give the place a bad rap, there’s much to despair. But one step into STL Style House (3159 Cherokee Street, stl-style.com) will have you again beaming with civic pride. STL Style highlights the best of St. Louis with merch inspired by the best parts of St. Louis. You’ll find

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Road Crew Coffee is both a bike shop and a coffee shop in Tower Grove South. | RYAN KRULL City of St. Louis “arnaments,” T-shirts printed with neighborhood-specific landmarks, flags, signs, stickers and more. STL Style is arguably more than a St. Louis gift shop — it’s the city’s best hype man. —Monica Obradovic

Road Crew Coffee

“Do one thing. Do it well.” That adage is for the birds. Road Crew Coffee (3172 Morgan Ford Road, roadcrew.cc) does two things insanely well: bikes and coffee. Co-owner Chris Green says that the shop was born of necessity. “We were riding around wanting coffee,” says Green. “Sometimes you go to a coffee shop wearing a [cyclist’s] kit and it doesn’t feel totally accepted. But as cyclists we all love coffee. It’s energy. It keeps us going.” Opened in 2019, Road Crew is the perfect embodiment of both those passions. The guy tuning up your bicycle in the back room brings just as much acumen and care to your bike as the barista behind the counter does to your coffee. The oat milk latte is exceptional — same goes for any espresso-based drink on the menu, for that matter. The cafe side of the business has an open, sunny vibe, making it a great place to study or just watch cyclists roll in with their bikes. If you’re a rider yourself, every Monday evening when weather allows (i.e. not during winter), the shop hosts a group ride that starts and leaves at Road Crew. Get some caffeine in your system before you start rolling. After, chow down on a pastry, taking in the Morgan Ford vista. Your endorphins will keep spinning long after your wheels have stopped. —Ryan Krull

Max and Moo’s Thrift

Your average thrift store experience can be pretty hit-or-miss. When one’s business model is to simply invite the public to drop off their unwanted shit on your doorstep so

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that you can then flip it and sell it to some other idiot who will inevitably bring it back and dump it back on your doorstep again, thus restarting the cycle, that’s understandable. But there are those chain thrift stores whose names we all know, and then there is Max and Moo’s (11726 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton; maxandmoos.com). A smaller shop tucked away in the corner of a Bridgeton strip mall, the family-owned affair offers a more curated thrift store experience, with a fine selection of clothing, housewares, jewelry, furniture and more on its sales floor. The store specializes in vintage goods as well, including the mid-century modern items that the masses drool over nowadays — think Green Shag goods at significantly more reasonable prices. Best of all, it’s all for a good cause: A full 50 percent of sales go to benefit the Angels Frontline charity, which works with existing nonprofits to assist political refugees and trafficking victims by helping to ensure they have what they need financially to get back on their feet. With that in mind, feel free to spend extravagantly — just don’t bother asking about the jukebox. It’s not for sale. —Daniel Hill

Garden District STL

There are stores you go to because they sell exactly the thing you need for a specific person. Then there are stores that seem to have something for anyone. Garden District STL (3203 South Grand Boulevard, gardendistrictstl.com) is the rare stop that delivers both precision specificity for a certain set and yet enough diversity of stock to satisfy. As the name suggests, plants make up a good chunk of the merchandise, but this isn’t a nursery or florist. Instead, it sells indoor plants, adorable pots and gardening supplies fit for Continued on pg 25

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Clockwise from top left: Zee Bee Market (JESSICA ROGEN), Procure (COURTESY PHOTO), City Sprouts (SARAH FENSKE), Frenchtown Audio (DANIEL HILL), MO Art Supply (JESSICA ROGEN), STL Style House (MONICA OBRADOVIC).

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the indoor plant lover from a large display toward the back of the store. There’s also a sizable selection of tea and brewing goods, fit for any tea lover. Then there’s everything else — and that’s a lot. Gourmet flavored marshmallows, upscale jam and honey, fancy popcorn and other foodie delights. Scented candles, gifts for kids, pet items, guides to St. Louis and even fun outdoor lanterns that are solar powered. It all comes from the brain of Memphis-born owner Kathleen Witek, who draws inspiration from both her hometown and her current one and infuses the shopping experience with Southern hospitality that always begins with a warm greeting and a sample of brewed tea. —Jessica Rogen

Zee Bee Market

Julio Zegarra-Ballon was preaching the gospel of fair trade even before opening his shop on South Grand Boulevard in 2011. But you don’t have to be a believer in fair wages for artisans in the developing world and sustainable production to appreciate Zee Bee Market (two locations including 3211 South Grand Boulevard, zeebeemarket.com). The storefront is a pop of color in what can feel like a washed-out Midwestern fall and winter, with brightly colored dish towels from India, woven baskets from Uganda and earrings from Zegarra-Ballon’s native Peru. Zee Bee also stocks products from Forai, the homegrown St. Louis nonprofit helping refugees living here learn craftsmanship and make money even while working from home. Browsing the smartly curated wares, it’s easy to daydream about all the countries represented within these compact storefronts. Few places in St. Louis have such a global reach. —Sarah Fenske

Frenchtown Audio

For a certain type of music lover, the wares at Frenchtown Audio (1624 South Broadway, frenchtownrecords.com) represent the Holy Grail of the form. We’re talking about those for whom high-quality sound reproduction is an obsession, one capable of consuming the afflicted audiophile and draining their wallet with surgical precision as they plunk down yet more money for their latest fix. Owner David Boykin has long been one such obsessive, and together with electronics technician Bill Huber, a.k.a. the Repair Da Vinci, who fixes up the used audio gear that Boykin then sells, he’s brought a real-deal high-end audio store to St. Louis. In addition to the retro wares, Frenchtown stocks plenty of new gear ranging in quality from entry level to budget audiophile to used-car expensive and back again. Brand names in the shop’s wellappointed showroom include Pioneer, TEAC, Marantz, Onkyo, Sony, Integra, McIntosh and many more. A stocked bar in the back of the showroom affords the generous Boykin the ability to pour those customers who make an appointment in advance a drink as he enthusiastically demos the wares on hand with a level of knowledge that betrays the decades

Intoxicology’s “Intox Box” offers everything you need to make your cocktail of choice. | COURTESY PHOTO of obsession that make Frenchtown Audio a true gem. Two fingers of 12-year scotch and the opportunity to listen to music through some of the best equipment one can purchase? Sounds good to us. —Daniel Hill

Intoxicology

Andy Foerstel and Melissa Pfeiffer have seen major changes since opening in the Grove in 2016, but one thing has stayed constant: This is a neighborhood, and a city, that appreciates a stiff drink. Intoxicology (4321 Manchester Avenue, intoxicologystl.com) is different from the region’s liquor warehouses for countless reasons, but perhaps one of the most appealing is that this is not just a place to buy booze. There is booze, of course, and you’ll find some bottles that are hard to procure elsewhere in town. But that’s just the back walls. Front and center are all the accouterments — snazzy midcentury rocks glasses, cocktail stirrers that will evoke a Pavlovian response in martini drinkers, strainers, shakers and peelers. You can almost hear the glasses clink, that lovely sound of ice on crystal. Looking to buy something for the sophisticated drinker in your life? Intoxicology’s “Intox Box” offers everything you need to make a particular cocktail, no matter how obscure the particulars, in a gift-ready boxed display. Intox Box cocktail options include everything from a classic Aviation to local mixologist supreme Ted Kilgore’s beloved In a Pickle, a bestseller at Planter’s House. Thanks to this intoxicating shop’s packaging, yes, you can try it at home. —Sarah Fenske

Elder’s Antiques

What spins the record on an archaeophile’s Victrola varies per person, and so choosing where to shop for antiques is a very subjective choice. You may like the massive antique malls that seem to stretch on for miles. Or maybe you prefer to stick to the smaller, more curated shops. Elder’s Antiques

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(2124 Cherokee Street) is a happy medium. You’ll still find a fair share of random and quirky shit, but you’ll also find nicer stuff from more elegant days when people didn’t buy all their housewares from Target. On the first floor, booths are often stuffed to the brim with everything from curios, china dinnerware and lost family photos. A massive space upstairs features room after room of vintage furniture and art. Helpful staff — who likely belong to the Elder family, which has run the antique store for four generations —- are always around to help and divulge history on any given item. —Monica Obradovic

LARK Skin Co.

LARK founder Lisa Donlan got interested in safe skincare after her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and developed her product line from there. She opened up her brick-and-mortar Webster Groves store in 2018, adding skin treatments to her offerings. A good entry into the products at LARK Skin Co. (8709 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves; larkskinco.com) is the skincare quiz on its website, which is blessedly short but will generate a routine of varying complexity based on your preferences, skin type, goals and self-care preferences. LARK also sells small starter kits for different skin types/desired outcomes that can be picked up online or in store. If you’re a person who wants to think about ingredients, LARK’s products are ideal, with clear names and ingredients lists. Do you need to know anything else about the Green Coffee + Avocado Awakening Undereye Oil or the COQ10 + Sea Buckthorn Age Defy Facial Oil, for example? LARK’s storefront is filled with appealing displays of its minimalistic glass-packaged products and is open for browsing on Saturdays. Spa services, such as custom facials, enzyme peels, extractions and more, are available most days. Orders can also be picked up at the storefront next door other days of the week. —Jessica Rogen n

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hen City Foundry STL (3730 Foundry Way, cityfoundrystl. com) opened its doors two years ago this past August, it was all about the food. St. Louisans were so excited to try the bounty of international cuisines in the former manufacturing plant’s food hall, no one seemed ready to acknowledge the place was basically an elevated food court — without the mall to go around it. That’s all changed since, to the benefit of St. Louis shoppers. These days, City Foundry offers all the benefits of a shopping mall (easy parking, a great collection of diverse retail outlets and, of course, that top-notch food hall) without any of the downsides (a dearth of natural light, boring chain stores). As a bonus, these shops mostly keep regular afternoon hours, meaning you can swing by on your lunch break and happily pick up the kinds of things that have been all too hard to find in the city proper in recent years: lovely gifts, a pair of sneakers, a cute dress for Friday happy hour, a new pair of earrings. Treat yo’self! The options are diverse, or at least as diverse as it gets for artisanal products. There’s Sanctioned Sneaker Collective (sanctionedsc. com), which proudly markets itself as “the biggest sneaker store in the Midwest” and almost blew my sneakerhead nephew’s mind on a recent visit. There’s Golden Gems (shopgoldengems.com), a gift shop where the ethos is proudly feminist badass (and which blew my conservative sister’s mind in a totally different way) and plantbased skincare provider Esther & Mila (estherandmila.com). Women’s clothing shops include Polished Prints (polished-prints. com), the flagship for St. Louisan Leah Longueville’s clever printed T-shirts, onesies and glassware. A mom of three, Longueville famously started selling her prints on Etsy as a hobby only to see her brand land in boutiques around the country (including one you may have heard of called Nordstrom). There’s also La Vie Boheme (bohemeboutique.com), the second outpost of an Edwardsville, Illinois, boutique with enough flowy dresses and romantic blouses to outfit Stevie Nicks, and Mix + Match (stlmixandmatch.com), a well-curated collection of quality of-the-moment women’s basics.

A Mall for People Who Don’t Love Malls City Foundry offers one-stop shopping in Midtown By SARAH FENSKE

La Vie Boheme offers romantic clothing at City Foundry. | SARAH FENSKE

Polished Prints is a destination for clever T-shirts and glassware. | SARAH FENSKE

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“A lot of people who shop with us aren’t expecting to buy anything. Then they pop in and go, ‘Oooh!’”

But the shop most likely to command your attention the longest is Procure (shopprocure.com). It’s the first brick-and-mortar store for the Women’s Creative, which has been throwing great shopping events featuring womenowned brands around St. Louis since 2017. Procure now serves as a consignment-based showcase and incubator for those brands, as well as one-stop shopping for giftgivers on a mission. Looking for the perfect item for your boss? Procure is the only retailer in St. Louis for Sol Hom’s hand-poured candles, which sit in very cool minimalist concrete jars. A new outfit for your little sister? Locally owned, Caribbean-inspired Gyal Bashy offers jumpsuits, blouses and more. What about Dad? Even he is covered here, with Blues sweatshirts and T-shirts from Series 6. “We sell more of our sports stuff than anything else,” owner Christina Weaver notes. Procure will be open at City Foundry two years as of February, not without some struggle. “This year has been hard,” Weaver admits. Shoppers and entrepreneurs alike are feeling the strain of inflation. And Procure’s determinedly reasonable price point (most items are $25 to $100) means the store relies on volume, a tough thing in a boutique business. “We need lots of people to shop, and we need them to come back all the time,” Weaver says with a laugh. But days with good foot traffic can yield exactly the payoff she’s hoping for. “A lot of people who shop with us aren’t expecting to buy anything,” says Nina Geers, Procure’s director of inventory. “Then they pop in and go, ‘Oooh!’” In that way, City Foundry is just like a mall back in their heyday — only in this case, the shops are locally owned and the products for sale are a lot more interesting. Not to mention the serious upgrade to the food court. —Sarah Fenske

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BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 11/16 Simply the Best Described as an “uplifting comeback story like no other,” Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is a fittingly rockin’ tribute to one of the greatest musicians to come out of this city, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 83. The musical tells the story of Tina Turner’s rise, fall and comeback, with much of the first act set in St. Louis. In addition to Turner’s hits, the show features other great music of the era, making for a can’t-miss affair honoring one of the finest ever to do it. The show opened this week on Tuesday at the Fabulous Fox Theater (527 North Grand Boulevard, 314-5341111) and runs Tuesdays through Sundays until November 26. Showtimes vary, and tickets start at $33. More info at fabulousfox. com.

FRIDAY 11/17 Drag the River In St. Louis, we often take for granted that we live at the confluence of the two largest rivers in the United States. Part of that is city government’s fault — seriously, we can’t make it a priority to build up the Mississippi riverfront into the destination location it was born to be? — but another key piece of that puzzle is the fact that many of us rarely take advantage of what opportunities we do have to get out onto the water. What we’re saying is: Why not catch a ride on a riverboat this week? There are always river cruises launching off of the riverfront by the Gateway Arch, but Decked Out Divas: A Floating Drag Show might be the most fun. Once a month through December, St. Louis’ most enduring form of old-timey waterway transportation transforms into the area’s hottest drag club, with a series of performances helmed by host Jade Sinclair on the open water. Grab a cocktail and cheer on your favorites during a two-hour celebration of the Mighty Mississippi and the many colorful characters who live just beside it. This week’s event

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Tina: The Tina Turner Musical brings audiences an arresting look into the life of the Queen of Rock & Roll. | MATT MURPHY takes place at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, November 17, with tickets priced at $29. Be sure to bring cash for the food and beverages — and, of course, to tip the entertainers. For tickets and more information, visit gatewayarch.com/experience/riverboat-cruises.

SATURDAY 11/18 The Light Fantastic Summer, which for probably ominous reasons seemingly stretched well into overtime this year, with fall temperatures hitting the 80s, is finally over. The days are getting shorter, and the temps have finally dropped. If you feel the beginnings of seasonal sadness welling up in your soul, do not despair: Garden Glow is back. That’s right, the annual extravaganza of light at the Missouri Botanical Garden (4344 Shaw Boulevard, 314-577-5100) officially opens this very week. Starting Saturday, November 18, you can again wander the paths of the garden as gorgeously colored lights

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Nothing cures seasonal depression like Garden Glow’s millions of colorful lights. | TOM INCROCCI provide a reprieve from the despair that grips the Midwest every winter. The 11th annual event runs all the way to January 6 this year, and MoBOT is promising added attractions. That includes a S’more Shack, which will offer “elevated s’mores” (which is either the snack you’ve been craving or a sure sign that “elevated” cuisine has jumped

the shark!). Other new offerings include, per the Garden, a chance to dance on “interactive tile floors as they change color with movement” and “flurries from a new snow machine” at the exit through the Ottoman Garden. Also! You’ll be able to spy six- to ten-foot dandelions that light up in sync to the music in the “Springtime” display — precisely

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Decked Out Divas gets St. Louis out on the water by transforming a riverboat into the area’s hottest drag club. | VIA FLICKR/JOAN DRAGONFLY the joyful sight your sun-deprived soul will be craving. Tickets that allow you to choose the time and date are on sale now — and MoBOT strongly encourages you to book in advance because, let’s face it, every single person in the St. Louis metro is also counting on Garden Glow to get them through November and December. The fun starts on kickoff night at 5 p.m. and runs through 9:30 p.m. Tickets start at $8 for children and $19 for adults, and can be purchased at missouribotanicalgarden.org.

All Grown Up With adult-use cannabis now legal in Missouri, growers don’t have to keep their operations under grow lights in their basements anymore. It’s not like you can grow cannabis in your front yard, but state law now allows weed enthusiasts to display their buds in most indoor spaces. That’s what makes an event like the St. Louis Home Growers Canna Expo all the more exciting. This Saturday, November 18, at the Steel Mill Event Space (6189 Minerva Avenue, Wellston; 314-917-5436), local growers and vendors will showcase their illest canna goods. Whether you’re curious about cannabis or a longtime stoner, whether you’re a regular Dr. Green Thumbs or a homegrown

about winter in St. Louis in recent weeks — it’s felt more like spring or even summer with those temps in the 70s and even 80s. But ready or not, Old Man Winter steadily approaches, and the time has come at last to ditch your sandals and tanks for cute boots and chunky sweaters (or fur-lined trapper hats; you do you). Instead of mourning the end of pleasant temps, we invite you to embrace the changing of the seasons and head downtown to Winterfest at Kiener Plaza (500 Chestnut Street, 314-289-5300). There, from Saturday, November 18, to Sunday, December 31, you’ll find a celebration of all the best things about the chilly season: ice skating, s’mores, igloos where you can sip on a hot drink between ice-skating breaks and thousands of holiday lights, as well as special events including a 5K, a chance to play hockey with the Blues, visits from princesses and superheroes, and even a fireworks display for New Year’s Eve. Pricing and timing varies per event. Visit archpark. org/events/winterfest for all the details.

MONDAY 11/20 Paint the Town

Kiener Plaza pulls out all the seasonal stops for Winterfest. | VIA GATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION novice, the event’s organizers promise you’ll have a good time. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission costs $10. For more details, visit stlhomegrowers.com.

Banned Together Seeking to uplift and provoke discourse around the subversive elements of history and self, the St. Louis Women’s Chorus brings you Censored: Banned Books and Forbidden Stories. Through the power of live music, this vocal performance at Kirkwood High School’s Keating Performing Arts Center (801 West Essex Avenue, Kirkwood; 314-213-6100) offers a

new perspective on some of the most famous banned books in history. The concert will pair songs such as Willie Wonka’s “Pure Imagination” with Eric Carle’s controversial children’s book, Draw Me a Star. Attendees will be able to purchase banned books from bookstores including Left Bank and the Novel Neighbor. The show takes place Saturday, November 18, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 19, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door. More info at charischorus.org/events.

Winter Is Coming We know it’s been hard to think

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A night of canvases and cocktails awaits you at Paint and Sip at HandleBar (4127 Manchester Avenue, 314-652-2212), where St. Louisans 21 and older are invited to learn from local art instructor Gage Lopez as he guides them through a night of laughter, creativity and holiday spirit. Lopez works for Painting on the Rocks, a local company that hosts workshops and events designed to get people painting, and he knows his stuff. For this week’s event, each guest will receive a 16-by-20 inch stretched canvas on which to paint a portrait of Jack Skellington, a key character from 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Participants will get to take their work home with them to add to their art collection, or perhaps to serve as the perfect gift for the holiday season. The fun begins at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 20, and the event costs $35 to attend. For more information, visit paintingontherocks.org. n

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CAFE

Wrapped Up Chesterfield’s Dumplings and Tea showcases northern-style Chinese delights Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Dumplings and Tea 137 Chesterfield Towne Center, Chesterfield; 636-778-9090. Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.- 9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.

eiquan Jiang and Zixuan Hu, co-owners of Dumplings and Tea, both hail from the southern part of China. Though their hometowns are in different regions — Jiang is more from the center-south and Hu is from the southeast — they take pride in the area’s unique culinary heritage and have fond memories of the particular style of bao and dumplings they grew up eating. Yet once they tasted Yanlai “Auntie” Zhang’s northern-style dumplings and bao, they knew hers were the ones they wanted at their restaurant. As Hu tells it, Auntie had been working at an international grocery store when she and her husband decided to start a dumpling business. It began very small and grassroots, with the pair making dumplings out of their home kitchen for area international students, and eventually inviting them to their house for their signature dish, as well as other traditional cuisine. The students loved her cooking and began singing her praises outside of their immediate circle — word that eventually reached Jiang and Hu, who were looking to open a fast-casual dumpling and bao shop in the St. Louis area. After trying Auntie’s food, there was no question that she was the one they wanted to lead their culinary efforts. They brought her on board as a coowner and head dumpling- and bao-maker, thrilled to have such a powerhouse talent to help them realize their vision. That vision, Dumplings and Tea, opened in the Chesterfield Valley this January, though it traces its roots back several years to Columbia, Missouri. That’s where Jiang got his start in the restaurant busi-

Dumplings and Tea offers bao zi, dumplings, ramen, poke bowls, bubble tea and more in Chesterfield. | MABEL SUEN

Zixuan Hu is one of three co-owners of Dumplings and Tea. | MABEL SUEN ness shortly after arriving in the United States from China, roughly 16 years ago. At first, he helped out at his wife’s family’s business, but eventually, he branched out on his own, operating a few restaurants in his adopted hometown in the heart of Mizzou Tigers country. While Jiang knew almost immediately upon arrival in the U.S. that he was called to the restaurant business, Hu’s journey was more indirect. She, too, moved

to Columbia from China, but unlike Jiang, who came for family reasons, she pursued two master’s degrees from the university. While she was in her second year, she figured she’d pick up a parttime job to make extra money. She happened upon one of Jiang’s restaurants, where she started out as a cashier, then moved up to a serving position; eventually, their professional relationship grew, and the two began talking about

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starting a business together, settling on St. Louis as a large enough market to try out their ideas. For them, dumplings and bao made sense. Not only were the two dishes relatively easy to execute with the right equipment and training — something important because of their dream to create a chain boutique brand — they are also near and dear to their hearts, and, as they see it, the perfect way to share their culinary heritage. They saw this same desire in Auntie, and the three clicked, eager to create a place of comfort for their Chinese clientele who might miss a taste of home, as well as other neighbors eager to experience this particular style of northern Chinese cuisine. You understand why Jiang and Hu were excited by Auntie’s cooking the moment you bite into one of her pan-fried pork dumplings and are struck by the robust, meaty flavor, accented by Chinese vegetables and a whisper of ginger. Somewhat round in shape and about the size of golf ball (think two normal-sized bites), the tender pork and vegetables are hand-formed — or “squished,” as Hu calls it — into a rustic shape,

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DUMPLINGS AND TEA Continued from pg 31

then lightly pan-fried so that the interior stays tender, but the exterior crisps to a golden brown. A side of housemade ponzu sauce adds a delectable, sweet soy counter to the savory meat. Deep-fried beef and green and white onion dumplings, made with wrappers dyed red from radishes, are equally wonderful. Here, the earthy vegetables add a powerful pungent contrast to the rich beef — a necessary counter to the added decadence from the dumpling’s dunk in the deep fryer. Another welcome component is an anise-like spice that permeates the meat-and-onion mixture and adds complexity and depth to the dish. Boiled pork and shrimp dumplings are stunning thanks to appearance alone; the wrappers are colored and very subtly flavored with butterfly pea powder, which gives them a gorgeous indigo color and slight earthy taste. Inside, tender pork and snappy shrimp are accented with chives; the three combine for a delightful melange of sweet meat, gentle sea and verdant flavors. Dumplings and Tea’s fried leek dumpling is especially noteworthy, and not just because, as Hu explains, the dish is difficult to find in the area. The dumpling is simply outstanding, filled with leeks, chives, scrambled egg and rice noodles, then flattened and pan-fried, giving it a texture that falls somewhere between a delicate hand pie and a Korean scallion pancake. The onion flavor is prominent, but it’s balanced by the fluffy, almost custard-like egg — a deeply satisfying snack. Similarly, the Beef on Fire is a wonderful, deep-fried street food. Like the leek dumplings, this is a flattened-and-fried dumpling wrapper filled with gently sweet, almost fruity beef, pot-roast tender before being fried and served steaming hot. Though it’s from a different side of the world, I kept thinking of a Jamaican beef patty when I ate this magnificent treat. You understand Auntie’s northern Chinese influence when you enjoy her pork bao, which is made from a less sticky, completely closed steamed bun. As Hu explains, this locks in the delectable pork flavor, and an intoxicating, slightly sweet steam escapes when it’s bitten into. The Chinese burger is another of Auntie’s northern specialties. Here, finely chopped pork belly is

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Dumplings and Tea offers traditional steamed bao zi, or steamed buns. | MABEL SUEN

Mix-and-match dumplings come in options such as pork, shrimp and tofu. | MABEL SUEN accented with cilantro and green and red chiles, then stuffed into a wrapper similar to pita bread but about the size of an English muffin. The meat is as tender as pulled pork — not at all fatty or chewy as improperly cooked belly can be — and the fiery peppers cut through its richness and give a back-of-the-palate finishing heat. Dumplings and Tea also serves several noodle dishes, including an excellent tonkatsu ramen. The milky broth delights with rich pork flavor, and the thin pork belly cutlets that float atop the noodles, corn and scallions melt in the mouth. It’s the embodiment

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of what this dish is supposed to be. Chicken teriyaki udon, too, delights in its subtlety. Here, wonderfully chewy udon noodles are tossed with lemony diced chicken, egg and mixed vegetables. However, it’s what’s not on it — a cloying, American-style bottled teriyaki — that makes the dish. Instead, a lightly soy-sweet glaze barely coats the noodles, giving them a hint of flavor without hitting you over the head. The restraint is impressive. As its name indicates, the restaurant also serves a variety of teas, ranging from a lightly sweet (I ordered at 25 percent sweetness) bergamot-scented Thai

Fresh fruit mixed tea comes in passion fruit, strawberry, orange and lemon. | MABEL SUEN milk tea to a wonderfully creamy, brown-sugar milk tea that has a slight nutty flavor. Fruit teas, like one featuring passion fruit, are perfectly balanced between tropical flavors and the earthiness of black tea. They are a refreshing complement to an outstanding meal — one so delicious you can see why Jiang and Hu were inclined to switch their hometown culinary loyalties. n

Dumplings and Tea Pork bao ��$9 Chinese hamburger��$7�50 Beef dumplings ��$7�50

PEDAL THE CAUSE BENEFIT FEATURING

FILMORE wed, NOV 15 AN EVENING WITH THE LATE

JOHN CLEESE thu, NOV 16

CAIFANES FRI, NOV 17

STAVROS HALKIAS

THE FAT RASCAL TOUR

sat, NOV 18

CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM

PLUS MATHIAS LATTIN

sUN, NOV 19

SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX FRI, NOV 24

ALLMAN BETTS FAMILY REVIVAL

FT. DEVON ALLMAN, DUANE BETTS, THE ALLMAN BETTS BAND, TAL WILKENFELD, LARRY MCCRAY, LUTHER & CODY DICKINSON, ALEX ORBISON, JIMMY HALL, JACKIE GREENE, ALLY VENABLE, ANDERS OSBORNE

sat, NOV 25

STONER CINEMA

FEATURING BAD SANTA

sAT, DEC 2

CROCE PLAYS CROCE FEATURING A.J. CROCE sUN, DEC 3

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SHORT ORDERS [FOOD NEWS]

Brew Tulum Closes Due to Lead The business couldn’t agree on next steps with the Delmar Maker District after finding contamination on site Written by

JESSICA ROGEN

relatively new but already celebrated St. Louis restaurant has temporarily closed its doors, citing an environmental hazard. Brew Tulum (5090 Delmar Boulevard, 636-576-8321), a coffee roastery and restaurant serving Yucatán cuisine, has been closed since early September because of what its co-owner says is lead contamination in its space in the Delmar Maker District. The eatery was the RFT’s choice for Best Mexican earlier this year. The owners of the building that houses Brew Tulum are disputing the eatery’s claims, and on Monday, their spokesperson issued a statement saying that they “hired a Missouri-licensed lead risk assessor who has identified no lead hazards relating to the building” and that the “building is in compliance with regulations governing lead.” In response, Brew Tulum coowner Laura McNamara provided the RFT with a 12-page statement that included lead testing results from Ian Saint John of St. John Environmental Consulting, a St. Louis company that specializes in identifying the presence of asbestos, lead and mold. McNamara says that the events that led to Brew Tulum’s temporary closure began when she tested her one-year-old son’s blood lead levels. “We were really shocked to discover, when the results came back, that he was high,” she says. McNamara then got lead levels

Brew Tulum has been closed since early September. | MABEL SUEN tested for herself and her husband, Brew Tulum co-owner Alberto Juarez, only to find they were also very high, she says. That knowledge in hand, she and Juarez began looking for the source. They considered their house and then the space that was home to their year-old eatery. “When it was handed over to us, it was handed over full of dust,” McNamara says. “There was no final cleanup.” McNamara and Juarez cleaned the space themselves, and without childcare, their son spent a lot of time crawling around the space. She wonders if the dust was full of lead. She says she paid for a test on September 6 that came back positive, and the landlord paid for an assessment on September 14. According to McNamara’s documentation, the tests showed concentrations of 63 μg/ft2 on the HVAC, 64 μg/ft2 on a wall and 20 μg/ft2 on the kitchen floor. The EPA lists its current dust-lead hazard standards as 10 μg/ft2 for floors, with a proposed rule change to 3 μg/ft2. After the second test, McNamara says that the landlord paid to clean the space, but she says the firm they hired, Touch of Class, is not certified for lead abatement. Lead testing done by Saint John on September 26 still showed the presence of lead — at an even higher level in some cases. According to documents shared with the RFT, walls tested had lead concentrations between 520 μg/

ft2 and 29 μg/ft2 while the HVAC return had 50 μg/ft2. On Monday, the RFT asked the building owner’s spokesperson for the dates and documentation of the lead testing mentioned in their statement and if they were disputing the results shared with the RFT. We did not hear back by press time the following day. Both the statements from Brew Tulum and from its landlord mention that a customer had raised concerns that Brew Tulum’s Mexican pottery could be made with a lead glaze. But McNamara says that, after being made aware of those concerns, the restaurant replaced its pottery in July. She also doesn’t believe the dishes could account for her son’s lead levels, writing that since he was only a

[BEER NEWS]

CEO Shakeup Fran Caradonna is out at Schlafly Beer, David Schlafly is in Written by

JESSICA ROGEN

ne of St. Louis’ largest breweries had a leadership shakeup lastweek. Fran Caradonna, CEO of Schlafly Beer, has left that position and will assume a consulting role, and the company an-

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year old at the time, “He did not regularly consume food or beverages from the traditional Mexican pottery.” McNamara says nearly two months of closure have wreaked havoc on the couple’s finances. “We invested everything we had in the business, and we were coming off of the pandemic, so we don’t have any more nest eggs or catch-alls to rely upon,” she says. That financial situation has made relocating a difficult proposition. But more than that, McNamara says they don’t want to leave because of the strong community support they’ve received. In late September, McNamara launched a GoFundMe with the hopes of raising enough to do the lead abatement work themselves, a window that has since closed since a company that had offered to do the work at a reduced rate has filled its schedule. The funds have also supported McNamara’s family. The Delmar Maker District is located on the south side of Delmar Boulevard, just west of its intersection with South Kingshighway Boulevard. In 2018, co-founders Doug Auer and Jim McKelvey, who is also a co-founder of Square, launched it with a vision to provide a home for St. Louis artisans and makers. It currently houses not only Brew Tulum but also Third Degree Glass Factory, Craft Alliance, Maker Hill and Made Makerspace. Several new concepts, including Steve’s Hot Dogs, the Fountain on Locust, Beyond Sweet and Ben Poremba’s Elaia, Olio and Nixta, are slated to join the district. n

nounced on Friday that David Schlafly will become CEO. Caradonna, the craft brewery’s first female CEO, had served in that role since 2019. She announced her decision to Schlafly employees in a message, writing, “This was a difficult decision, and one that I don’t take lightly. I care deeply about the people, company, and future of Schlafly Beer.” Caradonna did not respond to messages seeking comment by press time. Under Caradonna’s purview, Schlafly has grown, expanding into markets in Michigan and Ohio, now distributing in 17 states, and added new brewpub locations in Missouri and in Illinois. She also helped broker a deal with the local nonalcoholic beer producer WellBeing, KSDK Continued on pg 36

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[FOOD NEWS]

Manileño Adds Filipino Fare The Torio family’s restaurant will open in the former Sno space in Tower Grove South Written by

JESSICA ROGEN

Tower Grove South storefront that has sat unused for almost two years will soon see new life. Manileño, a restaurant serving authentic, homestyle cuisine from the Philippines, aims to open its doors at 3611 Juniata Street late this month or early December. The spot previously held VP Square, a popular Asian fusion restaurant from the owners of Cafe Mochi, and then the short-lived and ill-fated Sno. The new concept comes from the Torio family, which has lived in St. Louis since immigrating from Manila in the late 1980s. The restaurant’s name, Manileño, is a reference to that history. “Manileño means the origins of Manila,” says Raquel “Rocky” Torio, who is opening the restaurant along with her two elder brothers and her mother. The venture hearkens back to a barbecue stand the family had in the Philippines. Torio’s mother had long thought about venturing into the restaurant business in St. Louis, and Torio worked in the hotel industry for 17 years, most recently as a general manager at a Hilton-brand company. Her brothers, meanwhile, became independent truck drivers — careers that the COVID-19 pandemic stalled out. Suddenly, the family’s long-held dream of opening a restaurant started to seem like

SCHLAFLY BEER Continued from pg 35

reports. Caradonna was no beer newbie when she took the helm at Schlafly, having cofounded both the Signature Brew Company distributor and O’Fallon Brewery. She’d gained an interest in the craft beer industry while in college by seeking out fuller-flavor brews. “Life’s too short to drink bad beer,” Caradonna told the RFT in 2019. David Schlafly has been serving as vice chair of Schlafly Beer. In 2019, he was part of an investment group that purchased a controlling interest in the microbrewery, putting it back in the Schlafly family hands, according to Sauce Magazine. “I am now very excited to lead Schlafly Beer into an era that will con-

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Manileño hopes to open its doors later this month or early next month. | JESSICA ROGEN a better and better idea. Torio says things got serious a few months ago when she found the spot on Juniata. They’d looked at a few different areas, but this one spoke to them. “The space itself was absolutely gorgeous,” she says. “It was pretty much a semi-turnkey restaurant, which is another great thing. So we just did a lot of cosmetic work to make it our own.” Another big plus was the location, just steps away from South Grand. Torio immediately liked the diversity of restaurants in the area and the foot traffic. Manileño will serve traditional Filipino cuisine, which Torio says was influenced from both a variety of Asian traditions and Spanish dishes, with adobo probably being its most famous dish in the U.S. But Torio says Manileño’s menu will be a little different from what diners are accustomed to at other Filipino restaurants — the dishes will include the kinds

nect us to a new generation, who are seeking all things authentic, which is truly the essence of Schlafly craft beer. We appreciate Fran’s commitment to our employees and customers over the last four and a half years, and we are grateful for her support of the brewery now and in the future,” he said in a statement. Schlafly also confirmed the departure of Director of Pub Operations Andy White, but said it was not related. “Andy White’s departure is independent of Fran’s as he has chosen a new career path, and the Schlafly Beer team wishes him the best of luck in his new role in foodservice sales,” its statement said. Schlafly Beer is St. Louis’ third largest brewery, producing 25,000 barrels of beer in 2022, and has revenues of $20 million, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. n

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of things you’d find at someone’s home and local restaurants in the Philippines. “It’s more fun,” she says. “It’s tradi-

tional. We put a lot of love in our food.” That’s not just a metaphor. Torio says many of the dishes take a long time to prepare, anywhere from two hours to two days, and might include long marinations. Her favorite dish on the menu is one of the three pancits, a stir-fried noodle dish that incorporates two kinds of noodles as well as the customer’s protein and broth of choice. Torio also hopes to bring traditional Filipino hospitality culture to St. Louis. “A Filipino thing is like, ‘Eat more,’” she says. “We’re bringing that into our establishment so everyone can feel what that true Filipino [hospitality] is like.” The building includes a downstairs space that will be used for a bakery and cafe as well as for a takeout operation and more casual dining. The second floor will be used for dining and as a lounge. Only the need to get some final furniture pieces, supplies and permits stands in the way now, and Torio says she’s both excited and nervous about the impending opening. “Definitely getting antsy,” she says. “We’re having a lot of high expectations.” n

OCTOBER OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

Alex Pifer owns Baked & Boiled Bagels in Soulard. | JESSICA ROGEN

BY JESSICA ROGEN OPENINGS Baked & Boiled, Soulard The Biscuit Joint, Midtown Chimera Teas, Tower Grove East Hi-Pointe Drive-In, Edwardsville, Illinois Honey Bee’s Midtown, Midtown Hot Box Cookies, O’Fallon, Illinois Little Lager, Princeton Heights Looking Meadow Cafe, Maplewood Magic Mini Golf, Skinker DeBalieviere Paris Bánh Mì, Skinker DeBaliviere The Roastery by Living Millennially,

Maeystown, Illinois SC Lounge, Tower Grove South Sauce on the Side, Cottleville Topgolf, Midtown Urban Kitchen by Share Sweet, Chesterfield Vegan Deli & Butcher, Bevo Mill

CLOSINGS Apotheosis Comics & Lounge, Benton Park West Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream, Mehlville Chicken Out, West End Honeymoon Chocolates, Clayton

[FOOD NEWS]

Takashima Record Bar Closes The Grove listening lounge has canceled events without notice, including a wedding reception Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

n Saturday, November 4, Soo Kim and her fiance, Michael Rey, excitedly approached the front doors of Takashima Record Bar (4095 Chouteau Avenue, 314-9258982, takashimarecordbar.com), eager to work out the final details of their wedding reception, which was scheduled to be held at the Grove bar and vinyl listening lounge four weeks later. They had an appointment with the general manager for 3 p.m., but when they arrived just before that and found the doors locked and the place dark, they became suspicious. When no one showed up and their calls went unanswered, they started to panic. “They didn’t show up; they weren’t answering calls,” Kim says. “Once we realized something was wrong, we started walking up and down the Grove to see who knew what. That’s when we found out a Halloween event the previous weekend had been canceled, and no one had been there for two weeks.” Kim and Rey’s experience — one that resulted in the pair scrambling to find a new venue for their wedding reception in less than a month — confirmed what has otherwise been under the radar for weeks: Takashima Record Bar is no longer in business. Though Google lists the lounge as “Temporarily Closed,” a source with knowledge of the matter who wishes to remain anonymous confirmed that Takashima’s last day of service was October 21 and that the aforementioned Halloween event scheduled for Saturday, October 28, was canceled due to the abrupt closure. Dan Hayden, who reportedly bought Takashima from its original owners in 2021, declined to comment on the status of the

Takashima Record Bar quietly closed last month, leaving at least one local couple in the lurch. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS lounge, noting only that “things are still up in the air on the future of the company” and described the situation as fluid. (The property management company that owns the building where Takashima is located, Green Street Real Estate Ventures, did not return a call seeking comment.) Kim and Rey tell the RFT that when they were finally able to reach Hayden by phone, he said he had not been involved with day-to-day operations for months. They say, however, that Hayden refunded the couple their deposit from his own pocket. The current closure, event cancellation and uncertainty surrounding Takashima are the latest in a series of problems for the once-hyped venue. Originally opened as Takashima Records in February of 2020 by a partnership group that included Grove fixtures Sean Baltzell, Mike Cracchiolo, Casey Colgan, Matt Leach, Josh Martin and Casey Watson, Takashima was billed as a vinyl-centric bar modeled after the listening lounges Baltzell encountered in Japan. The spot was poised to be a Grove hotspot, building upon much of the partnership group’s success with the popular arcade bar Parlor. Takashima encountered its first setback in March of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the lounge to temporarily shutter and reinvent itself as a ticketed private dining space. That rebrand was underway

when Takashima became the epicenter of explosive sexual assault allegations lodged, via social media, against several individuals associated with the business. The allegations, which were found to be part of a larger pattern of abuse that permeated the overlapping Grove nightlife scene and parts of the St. Louis tattoo subculture, led to both a dissolution of the partnership and the closure of Takashima. In April of 2021 it was announced that Hayden and his then-wife, Robbie Fogarty-Hayden, would be reopening the bar under the slightly different name, Takashima Record Bar. Though Hayden was affiliated in some capacity with Takashima’s first iteration (opening press for the venue noted him as being involved with a record label, Takashima Records) he noted in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that nothing ever came of that association. Robbie later told Sauce Magazine that no one from the previous ownership group was involved in the new venture. Records from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office list FogartyHayden as the current Registered Agent for Takashima Record Bar, a position she has held since February 2, 2022, 10 months after she and Hayden reopened the lounge. More recently, Kim and Rey say Hayden told them he ceased involvement with the day-to-day operations earlier this summer. They say he also told them he was

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only a minority owner of the business. “According to our conversation, Dan was only [a] 20 percent owner,” Rey says. “He told us that he was part of the business until around June but that he was told to step aside and was in some way removed but is still in some ownership capacity. He told us that he didn’t know anything about this, which tracks because he wouldn’t have been involved when we went under contract.” Kim and Rey had no idea of the bar’s complicated backstory when they booked Takashima for one of the most important days of their lives. Having only moved to town from Texas one year prior, the pair happened upon the place and were immediately taken by its lowkey vibe that fit the style of wedding they were trying to have. That they unwittingly stumbled into the middle of the latest chapter in a space mired in drama in unsettling to them, and they insist they want no trouble. They just hope that by sharing their story, they can aid in getting to the bottom of the situation so that they can help others who might be impacted by Takashima’s abrupt closure. “We’re really private people, and the wariness we have of telling this is because of how other people were [acting] when we were trying to get answers,” Kim says. “How could a restaurant disappear off the face of the earth and no one knows anything about it?” n

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[FOOD NEWS]

Parlor Closes Three years after sexual assault allegations rocked the Grove, the former arcade bar’s space is now up for lease Written by

DANIEL HILL

St. Louis arcade bar that was previously plunged into a reckoning over allegations of sketchy behavior, Parlor (4170 Manchester Avenue, 314-833-3063), appears to have quietly closed its doors. A Google search has the Manchester Avenue bar marked as “temporarily closed.” Meanwhile, listings for the first floor space as well as the office space on the second floor have been posted for lease through Tower Real Estate Group. The first floor space is described within as a “Former Bar Space in the Grove

[ WA F F L E N E W S ]

Boardwalk Waffles Owner Sued, Again Eric Moore’s ex-girlfriend, Michelle Hastings, says she’s owed $250,000 Written by

RYAN KRULL

ric Moore, whose St. Louis-based Boardwalk Waffles and Ice Cream empire seems to, at least for now, have folded, is being sued by a former girlfriend and business partner who says Moore owes her $250,000. Michelle Hastings, 48, filed the lawsuit against Moore, 52, last month. She tells the RFT that this January she loaned him $100,000 followed by another loan for $70,000 in February. Hastings says she and Moore met online in September 2022 and were in a romantic relationship at the time she loaned him the money. The loans made them effectively business partners as well. Hastings says she believed Moore when he told her that he expanded his business too fast but that the four eateries he was operating at the time were overall doing well. Hastings says she

Parlor, the once popular Grove arcade bar, was at the epicenter of a sexual assault reckoning that rocked the Grove. | MONICA OBRADOVIC Ready for Your Concept.” When an RFT reporter called the number listed for the bar to confirm the closure, a man answered with a simple, “Hello?” When asked if this was the number for Parlor, the man wanted to know who was asking. After the reporter identified himself and explained the reason for the call, the man promptly hung up. thought to herself, “I’m going to help him and we’re going to get married. We’re going in this together.” “That’s not what happened,” she says. About two months after that second loan, the RFT reported that Moore’s waffles and ice cream operations were embroiled in litigation, including lawsuits filed by Moore’s landlords on South Grand and in south county, Maplewood, Soulard and Grand Center. Hastings says in April she read those alarming reports about Moore’s businesses and confronted him. Hastings says that when she put questions to Moore, he got angry. “He would get very defensive and he’d say, ‘You keep needling me about all these things.’ And I said, ‘Eric, I’m not needling you about them. I’m asking you because A, we are in a relationship and B, I’m an investor in this company.’” When the RFT spoke to Hastings two weeks ago, she said it had been a month since she’d last seen Moore. In a phone call Friday morning, Moore made clear to the RFT that he does not want to respond on the record to Hastings’ claims and that he is not happy with our coverage. Filings included with Hastings’ suit include copies of the original promissory notes signed by Moore, which seem to indicate he agreed to pay her back $150,000 by July 6 for the first loan and $100,000 before August 14 for the second. Hastings says in her suit she hasn’t gotten any of that money and she’s un-

When a second RFT reporter visited the bar around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, it was found to be locked. Its hours of operation on the front door were scratched out, and a banner for Tower Real Estate Group that reads “Available Now” was posted on the front of the building. This reporting comes on the heels of a similar revelation, published last week by the RFT, that

fellow Grove outpost Takashima Record Bar (4095 Chouteau Avenue, 314-925-8982, takashimarecordbar.com) has also recently quietly closed it doors, though it is possible that closure is only temporary. In June 2020, Parlor and Takashima were at the heart of a firestorm of allegations of sexual misconduct and assault that rocked the Grove neighborhood. Those allegations caused both bars, which at that time shared some owners, to close temporarily as a rift opened between some of the partners. After a messy period that saw threats of litigation and accusations flying in every direction, Parlor reopened just months later, determined to put the accusations in the rearview mirror. Takashima meanwhile saw a slight rebrand and opened a year later under new ownership. At this point the two bars seem to have little direct relationship to one another outside of a shared proximity and past filled with controversy. That and, apparently, a lack of operating hours. n Additional reporting by Monica Obradovic.

Michelle Hastings filed a lawsuit last month against Boardwalk Waffles owner Eric Moore, seeking the $250,000 she says he owes her. | COURTESY MICHELLE HASTINGS sure where the money she loaned him went to begin with. “The wires I gave him specifically say that it was for the intention of investment in his business,” she says. “Now, have I seen any evidence that’s where that money went? Absolutely not.” Hastings, a psychologist, says she liquified her retirement savings to make those loans to Moore. She stresses that she wanted to speak publicly about it in hopes it might prevent someone else from finding themselves in a similar situation. In retrospect, she says there are signs in a relationship that people should pay close attention to, because they

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could potentially be warnings of trouble to come. These include a partner ignoring boundaries in the relationships, a hesitancy to take responsibility for even the smallest of issues and a lack of transparency about things like finances. “At this point, it’s more about protecting other people,” she says. She adds, “I could sit here and be angry and sad. However, I’m not going to let this harden my heart. I’m not going to let it deter me from moving on.” Moore was served a summons in the suit at the end of last month. There is no court date set as of right now in the case. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

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REEFERFRONT TIMES

[ L E G A L I Z AT I O N ]

Missouri Universities Ban Pot Even schools with cannabis programs do not allow weed on campus Written by

MONICA OBRADOVIC

ly discovered cannabis in her early 20s. Smoking the plant alleviated her depression and anxiety, she says. When Aly, who asked the RFT not to publish her full name, told her doctor, he helped her get a medical marijuana card. “It was like a temporary moment of peace instead of the constant anxiety and sadness,” Aly says. This was before Missouri voters legalized recreational marijuana in December. Under Missouri’s medical marijuana laws, however, Aly could legally smoke cannabis in private places and possess up to four ounces at a time. But when at school in Maryville University, doing the same could lead to serious consequences. While state law has gradually loosened cannabis restrictions in recent years, public and private universities have steadfastly maintained bans of cannabis since the drug remains illegal at the federal level. Even colleges and universities that have courses or entire programs on cannabis bar students, faculty and staff from weed on campus, which they say would risk their federal funding. In 2020, Saint Louis University launched its Cannabis Science and Operations program, which covers cannabis product production, cultivation, entrepreneurship and more. When it comes to possessing or indulging in the very plant students are learning about, Saint Louis University’s policy is clear: It’s not allowed on campus, even if legally obtained. Same goes with St. Louis Com-

Despite legalization, students, faculty and staff have to keep their cannabis consumption off college campuses. | BRADEN MCMAKIN munity College, which started offering courses on cannabis science and cultivation in May. Tobacco is also banned on the public college system’s four main campuses throughout the metro area. The University of Missouri System (which includes Mizzou, UMKC, Missouri S&T and UMSL) receives federal funding for student financial aid, grants and research. Therefore all four of the system’s universities must comply with the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act and Drug-Free Workplace Act. “If federal laws changed, we would certainly review the changes and make any decision then,” spokesman Christian Basi says. “However, I can’t speculate on exactly what that would look like.” Aly’s former school, Maryville University, levies “conduct charges” against students caught with cannabis regardless of any medical right students have to possess it. The university, according to its alcohol and controlled substances policy, collects evidence such as witness statements on students suspected of violating the policy. Punishments increase with repeat offenses; on the first violation, students receive a disciplinary

warning and are required to attend an educational seminar. When asked about the content of this seminar, a spokesperson for Maryville University would not elaborate. Further drug violations at Maryville would potentially result in suspension or removal from university housing, according to the university’s policy. The policy didn’t feel strongly enforced when Aly was a Maryville student, she says. But some people “definitely got kicked out of their apartments and faced suspension or expulsion.” She felt safe enough to smoke in her car if she needed to light up at school. And when hanging out at her friends’ on-campus apartments, she said pot never got them into trouble. “It wasn’t like [resident assistants] were knocking at our door unless you were dumb about it,” Aly says. She also understands why it may not be sensible to smoke weed at school for reasons such as its smell and other students’ health restrictions. Even so, it would have been easier for her to medicate had her school allowed it and maybe even had a space dedicated for such activities, she says. “For medical patients, it’s medi-

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cation,” Aly says. “I feel like it’s stupid we’d have to remove ourselves to partake in the things that can help us.” Some of the campuses that ban weed simultaneously allow students 21 and older to indulge in a far more dangerous substance — alcohol. Overconsumption of alcohol results in 88,000 deaths per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Meanwhile, according to the DEA, no deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported. A person would have to consume between 238 and 1,113 joints in a day to overdose on marijuana, according to American Addiction Centers. Research into the effects of cannabis on the human body is still in its infancy as federal regulations stymies what can be done, so the therapeutic benefits of cannabis are yet to be fully uncovered. Aly ended up leaving Maryville University in her second year without any marks on her record, so she never had to sit through a policyrequired “educational seminar.” “That’s pretty silly,” she says. “It’s not like we haven’t been told all our lives about the effects of weed.” n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

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CULTURE [ S TA N D T O G E T H E R ]

Under My Umbrella The Umbrella Shop, a community event space and studio, is being forged in the longshuttered A. J. & R. Pawn Shop Written by

SARAH FENSKE

he Umbrella Shop is not yet open for business on South Grand, and there’s certainly no sign suggesting otherwise. Yet when the doors are open to the street, people just keep stopping by. You can’t blame them for that. The doors at 3127 South Grand Boulevard have been locked since protests over Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson spread to south city nine years ago — and plenty of people are wondering what might be happening beneath that familiar pawn shop sign. “We have had so many people poking their head in,” Troy Howard says. “They’re just so excited to see the space activated.” Before it was a pawn shop, vandalized and then shut down for good, before it was a Kroger grocery store in the 1950s, this was, yes, an umbrella shop. That was in 1908. And now as Howard and his collaborators prepare the storefront for its latest iteration, they’re taking the old name back but applying it to a distinctly different concept: a community event space and studio that will combine visual arts, live music and even circus arts. The collaborators each add their own areas of expertise. Lindy Wormwood, who performs as Zephyrina the Ethereal, wants to bring a tightrope to the space and host workshops and classes in aerial arts and bottle walking. David Bell, who goes all the way back to Commons Lane Elementary with Howard, followed by McCluer North High School, is a musician and promoter who knows everyone in the St. Louis scene.

At its center, though, is Howard, who grew up in Ferguson and recently moved back to St. Louis from Portland. He worked for Twitter in its early days, which he credits with giving him the financial means to purchase this building and not have to worry about a profit-driven model for its mortgage. He’s able to continue to work remotely in what he describes as “international community development for the tech industry.” This is his side project. It’s quite a project. At a recent weekend “sneak peek” at the space for various friends and people in the arts community, a host of local artists displayed their work both on the walls and on top of the old display cases that once held pawned items. Giant amps and colored lights speak to the sprawling backroom’s promise as a BYOB club. Howard even dreams of closing the street behind the shop to traffic and extending the community space out the back, with berths for food trucks. (Read more at cicadaalley.com.) Howard plans to let artists sell their work without the shop taking a percentage. “I don’t believe artists should be exploited,” he says. “The galleries that take a cut are not a community effort.” He’s also open to non-traditional artists — one of whom, he explains, he met because the guy saw the doors were open and just came on in. “He said, ‘You’re an art gallery, can I give you these?’” Howard recalls, and the man — whom he now knows as Tuna — displayed the paintings he’s made on old pieces of granite. “I told him, ‘These are amazing! Do you have more of these?’” They’re now for sale. Howard’s story is interrupted by a father and his young son, drawn by those open doors. “Hi, come on in,” Wormwood tells them. “See what I mean?” Howard asks. “We’re getting to meet the community. People do this all day long.” As Howard shows father and son the various pieces of art now on display, Wormwood vouches for the big plans he’s just described. She explains that they met hanging out on the Loop when they were just kids. “I’ve known him since I was 13,” she says. “I’m 38 now. I’ve watched him dream a lot of crazy dreams — and then actually go

David Bell, Troy Howard and Lindy Wormwood plan to return the South Grand space to its 1908 roots in name only — this will be a community event space and studio. | SARAH FENSKE through with it. I’ve seen him pull ideas like this to fruition. I have total faith this is happening.” As if to prove the truth of her words, the father-and-son duo end up purchasing a piece of art. Howard explains that it’s only because he’s left Portland for St. Louis that he can pursue this dream. “A building there costs three times what it costs here,” he says. This building wasn’t in great shape. Walking in was like walking into a crime scene, Howard says, with the vandalism from 2014 simply closed off and gone untouched until a new owner was ready to deal with it. Beyond the mess, they found all the detritus of the pawn shop, which included an ungodly number of clarinets. (Apparently many are pawned but few reclaimed.) He’s since had to shore up the back wall simply to keep the building from collapsing. He sees symmetry in Fergusonrelated protests shutting down the building and now the money

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he made from Twitter helping to reopen it, since Twitter first helped spread news of what was happening in Ferguson to the rest of the world. “There’s sort of a redemption arc here,” he says. Howard hopes that, once the Umbrella Shop is open for real in the next year, it can become a piece of the artistic ecosystem he’s been inspired by since he was a teenager — even if people in places like Portland don’t see it. “St. Louis is very good at understanding its own value,” he says. “But people outside St. Louis can’t. I want to make that happen here. I want St. Louis to be regarded for the arts culture we have here.” As the trio walks a reporter to the door, another couple is just poking their heads in. “Welcome to the Umbrella Shop,” Howard says. “I’ve heard it called that before,” the man says, and then it’s his turn to get a tour, his chance to see the big dreams taking shape behind that old pawn shop marquee. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MUSIC

[CLASSIC ROCK]

Back to the Future With throwback sounds and preternatural talent, Hunter Hamilton and the Hamilton Band are taking St. Louis by storm Written by

STEVE LEFTRIDGE

erhaps the first thing you notice is the voice. Hunter Hamilton, the young St. Louis-based guitarist, singer and songwriter, has a charmingly squeezed vocal timbre, present in both his speaking and singing voices, that creates a mirthful tenor, like a mix of Nick Drake, Sonny Bono and helium. Or perhaps what strikes you is Hunter’s lean, mod-folkie good looks — the tousled Dylan hair, the friendly brown eyes, the vests and paisley shirts and Beatle boots. Or, if you catch the Hamilton Band around town, you might first be taken with Hunter’s fluid, expressive guitar playing, which he can apply to a wide range of styles, from jam-band boogie to classic-rawk scorch to countryfolk twang. And before long, you will no doubt notice that there is another one of him. Behind Hunter on the drums or hanging around him at the bar is his brother, Alex, who is three years younger, and the two could easily pass as twins. “We used to use that when we needed to get Al into bars,” Hunter says with a laugh, a reference to the fact that the brothers have been performing in clubs before either of them could enter legally. And, no, Alex Hamilton is not named after the founding father, and the band doesn’t play music from LinManuel Miranda’s Hamilton, although Hunter says, with a laugh, that they get those questions often. The Hamiltons are still in their early 20s but have already established themselves as one of St. Louis’s best bands, currently hold-

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Hunter Hamilton, left, and Alex Hamilton, right, felt the St. Louis music scene calling them from Boulder. | COURTESY PHOTO ing down a residency at 1860 Saloon in Soulard where they play four hours every Friday night, growing a loyal following by specializing in classic rock, blues standards, psychedelia, soul covers, Grateful Dead classics and their own originals. Hunter is an outrageously affable guy, and as he talks on the phone from his Benton Park apartment, he opens up about his day. “Today I was clearing out some vines for my landlord,” he says. “He has these banana trees. He was, like, ‘It’s gonna be easy. Just cut ‘em down.’ I didn’t realize how much water they retained, so I got soaked in banana-tree juice!” We spend the first part of our conversation discussing whether banana-tree juice smells like bananas. (No, he says.) If you hung around Venice Cafe in the days just before the pandemic, you would likely have seen Hunter there by himself, new to St. Louis, waiting for his chance to play during open mic nights. Once on stage, he probably broke out Dylan and Donovan covers, and with the kid’s Greenwich Village

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throwback looks and vocal delivery, he looked and sounded like he was auditioning for a biopic of one of those legends. Like Dylan, Hunter is a rambler who moved far from home to start performing as a troubadour. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Hunter was raised in Woody Guthrie country by his mom, a native Okie, and his dad, a classical pianist who grew up in Kennett, Missouri, home of newly inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sheryl Crow. (In fact, Crow gave Hunter’s father piano lessons when he was a kid.) Hunter never took to his dad’s overtures to learn classical piano, instead picking up a guitar at age 10. When the family relocated to Boulder, Colorado, in time for Hunter to attend high school, the isolation of starting over without friends led to hours alone with his guitar. Landing a job at a Boulder record store further expanded Hunter’s musical horizons. “My boss, man, he would send me home with a handful of records every few days to listen to. It just really turned me on to jazz and

blues and rock.” Hunter has always been retrominded when it comes to music. When he discovered Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced? LP, it opened up a new world of sounds he says he’s been chasing ever since. “I really didn’t care for any contemporary music,” he says of his high school years. “After I found Hendrix and those guys, that’s all I had a taste for. Early Bob Dylan was huge in terms of songwriting. John Coltrane really expanded my mind in terms of improvisation. And then the Grateful Dead.” Colorado was fertile territory for jamminess and organic musical exploration, and Hunter played guitar in church, in poppunk bands in school and with a Peruvian flamenco guitar mentor in Boulder, occasionally visiting nearby newgrass enclave Nederland to soak up the scene. “You got the real hippies up there,” he says. “When I first started driving, I used to drive around up there, and some of those locals act like they haven’t seen someone in 20 years.”

By the time Hunter was a senior in high school, little brother Alex, an ace on the drums, was ready to join the band. “Al is one of those cats that since he was able to walk he was playing,” Hunter says. “He just has music in his veins.” First known as the Lapses, then as the Hunter Hamilton Band, the brothers started to play around Boulder as underagers, eventually using their dad’s family connections to land a gig 900 miles away in St. Louis at the now-closed Way Out Club in the summer of 2018. How old was Hunter at the time? “Freaking 19, man,” he says. While visiting St. Louis with his aunt and uncle, who was a founder of Heavy Riff Brewing, Hunter had something of an epiphany, feeling like the St. Louis music scene was calling him and that he belonged here. “Kerouac was a big influence,” Hunter says, kindling a wanderlust feeling. “I just decided, fuck it, I’m going to give it a go.” By the end of 2018, he had made the move by himself. That’s when you would have seen him hanging around Venice Cafe a few nights a week, hoping for a chance to sing a few songs. He would work in the kitchen at Heavy Riff, play open mics after his shifts and then join all-night jams at other musician’s houses, picking until dawn. The other musicians proved welcoming: “I pretty much had a family right away.” And biological family soon followed. Even though Alex was still in high school back in Boulder, he couldn’t let Hunter have all the fun. “Al said, ‘Well, fuck it, man, if you’re coming down [to St. Louis], I’m coming down as well.’” The boys’ aunt in St. Louis, a teacher, helped Alex finish his GED, and within no time the Hamilton Band was playing regular spots at Venice Cafe on Fridays and Saturdays. Working quickly, the Hamiltons established themselves as a band that can jam with anyone, play crowd-pleasing covers all night and write terrific original material. Hunter takes the lead on the songwriting, and has a mantra that he says he borrowed from Tom Petty: “Don’t bore us; get to the chorus.” “I’m a huge fan of early rock & roll,” Hunter says. “I love the early Beatles, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, all those guys. That’s really the kind of song

I want the Hamilton Band to bring to the world of music.” So the Hamilton Band channels classic rock with golden folk accents and a jam-band twist, all elevated by the brothers’ vocal harmonies. “[Singing harmonies] is what we’ve been doing forever,” he says. “We’re inspired by the Everly Brothers, the Beatles. That’s what we put the most work into for sure.” Now rounded out by Ryan Torpea on keys and Adamm Saint Clair on bass, the Hamilton Band’s Friday nights at 1860 are fourhour dance parties heavy on the covers, but the band slips in originals to taste-test in front of audiences. “We won’t announce that it’s our song until after we play it to see if people are still dancing,” Hunter says. The band now has enough songs to be able to play dedicated shows of originals, too, something they hope to do more of next year. Some of those songs have been released as singles and EPs, including live recordings of the Everlys-esque “If I Wrote You a Song” and the early Dylan ringer “Winds of Change” on 2021’s City of Saints EP. “Chains of Blues” and “Flowers in Her Hair” emphasize the Hamiltons’ knack for British New Wave arrangements, Beatles melodies, luscious harmonies and guitar-jam readiness. Now the band is set to release a new three-song EP in January, recorded at Kalinga Studios in Maplewood. The new songs represent the Hamiltons’ most satisfying combination of their influences yet — celestial Dead-like Americana, loose Rolling Thunder-style folk rock and sideswiping guitar solos. “We focused on great melodies,” Hunter says of the new songs. “And you can tell that we’ve been playing together so much. Everything just fell into place.” Fresh off a Colorado run where they played a festival in Boulder — the Hamiltons’ parents still live there — and a showcase in Breckenridge, the band looks forward to more touring in 2024 when the new record comes out. Until then, the Hamilton Band will remain a local fixture, playing an average of four nights a week in St. Louis. “Yeah, man!” Hunter says with typical free-spirit optimism. “We’re really starting to get something good going on.” n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

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FILM

[REVIEW]

Rise of the Superwomen The very things the fanboys hate about The Marvels makes this female-led flick worth seeing Written by

CRAIG D. LINDSEY The Marvels Directed by Nia DaCosta. Written by Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik. Opened November 10.

he minute I saw the three superheroines who are front and center in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster The Marvels getting to know each other by playing double-dutch aboard a spaceship, I just knew the geeks were gonna tear this one to shreds. As far as recent MCU offerings go, The Marvels certainly isn’t the most offensive one to come along. But considering that Marvel Studios has been in a creative/commercial slump, as recent installments that were supposed to jumpstart the new era of big-screen avengers have been continually underwhelming, the Universe’s latest gust of girl power may become an unfortunate casualty. It’s bad enough that the fanboys are gunning for this one to fail. Apparently, the sight of women proudly rocking superhero gear that doesn’t make them look like flying whores may make certain male comics fans think their precious Earth-616 adventures are being ruined by wokeness. (The comments section below that recent Variety piece on the MCU’s troubles reads like an incel message board.) We’ve already seen them try to act like the passable Captain Marvel, which grossed $1 billion worldwide, is the worst MCU flick of all time. As amnesiac superwoman Carol Danvers, Oscar winner Brie Larson got under a lot of their skins for allegedly coming off as smug and arrogant. But I can’t help but think she gets that hate for refusing to play another

Iman Vellani, Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris make like the Charlie’s Angels of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. | LAURA RADFORD © 2023 MARVEL piece of ass who can kick your ass. For this go-round, Larson’s guardian of the galaxy is joined by two game gals who’ve been mainly seen on the small screen. Teyonah Parris is Danvers’ godniece Monica Rambeau, all grown up and, thanks to a witch hex she got during WandaVision, now doing some powerful shit. We also have Iman Vellani, who headlined her own series as the exuberant teen superhero (and Captain Marvel fangirl) Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel. Thanks to an ancient bracelet MacGuffin and an entrancing “jump point” (read: quantum-leaping deus ex machina beings travel through in the solar system), the trio reluctantly becomes a time/space-hopping strike force, literally switching places all over the universe — usually when they’re right in the middle of their action sequences. Of course, they have a Big Bad to deal with, and it’s another angry alien of color (actress/playwright/Tom Hiddleston fiancee Zawe Ashton). Thankfully, this one has very good reasons to be a scowling psychopath. With a 105-minute runtime that makes this the shortest MCU movie currently in existence, The Marvels literally hits the ground running and gets the action going immediately. You can almost see how producer/Marvel Studios overlord Kevin Feige pruned away at scenes to make sure the narrative always stays on and popping.

The fast pace may have viewers who haven’t seen WandaVision, Ms. Marvel or the other MCU shows that are all over Disney+ a bit lost in the sauce. It’s almost like the film is a busy, dizzy response to how the MCU has concentrated for so long on world-building and connecting characters and storylines: Just taking a few moments to chill and get to know the superheroes almost seems impossible. Nevertheless, The Marvels exhibits a fun, frisky likability I haven’t encountered in an MCU film since Spider-Man: Homecoming. Before director Nia DaCosta (who helmed that Jordan Peeleproduced Candyman reboot) moved the hell on to work on a Hedda Gabler adaptation, filming enough footage to have Feige and Co. figure it all out in postproduction, she put emphasis on how this is really a multicultural girls’ trip full of cute, cozy, cosmic camaraderie. Although it’s yet another space adventure from the MCU (don’t you miss when these Marvel movies mostly took place on Earth?), DaCosta and co-writers Elissa Karasik and WandaVision scribe Megan McDonnell take the time to have these ladies bicker and bond amid all the asskicking. (A critic friend of mine on Facebook accurately called Marvels the 2000 Charlie’s Angels of the MCU.) DaCosta almost goes to great

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lengths to alienate those viewers who refuse to take in the frilly, feminine frivolousness of it all. When the ladies descend to another planet for the obligatory visiting-another-planet sequence that happens in every MCU movie these days, it’s a brightly colored world where everyone sings and dresses like they’re in a Bollywood movie. (South Korean dreamboat Park Seo-joon serves as the photogenic ruler.) DaCosta and the writers even throw in a third-act twist (set to Barbra Streisand’s rendition of “Memory” from Cats) that brings home the movie’s hilariously flagrant message that pussy ultimately saves the day. Meanwhile, Samuel L. Jackson plays resident superior Nick Fury as a beleaguered, crotchety uncle, something I feel he’s been wanting to do with this role ever since he got it. He spends most of his screen time nonplussed by the on-screen insanity, mainly keeping Khan’s family entertained even as they mingle with 300-year-old aliens. As much as The Marvels continues to keep the MCU machine running, giving audiences some teases of what the future has to offer (the post-credits scene practically hints that the MCU is ready to go in another direction if the Jonathan Majors-led Kang angle becomes a bust), the film stands as proof that the fairer sex can still keep the party going. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

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OUT EVERY NIGHT THURSDAY 16

BRIAN CURRAN: 3 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. THE CLEVERLYS: 8 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. EMILY CAVANAGH & CARL BANKS: 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. THE IVAS JOHN BAND: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541. JOHN SPLITHOFF: 8 p.m., $22. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. PAUL BONN AND THE BLUESMEN: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. PIERCE CRASK: 4 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. THIS WILD LIFE: 7 p.m., $22. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. WORLDS WORST: w/ 3rd Hour, 86 Red 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

MATTHEW SCOTT: 7:30 p.m., $25. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. MURTAUGH: w/ Karenocalypse, Grindylow 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. OLD DOMINION: 7:30 p.m., $29-$109. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. ON THE OUTSIDE: 8 p.m., free. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400. PLEASURE BOYS: w/ Pleasure Center, Subtropolis 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. PLUCKIN’ TO FEED: w/ Clusterpluck, Moon Valley 9 p.m., $15. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. RICH MCDONOUGH AND THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 8 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SCOTTY AND THE FUTURE: w/ Paul Niehaus IV 7 p.m., $10. Platypus, 4501 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-359-2293. THE TOM HALL MEMORIAL ACOUSTIFEST: w/ the Western Satellites, Ivas John & Brian Curran, Ethan Leinwand, Walter Parks, John Ford 3 p.m., $20. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. UNCLE ALBERT: 8 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. VINCE SALA AND HENRY KRESS JAZZ DUO: 8 p.m., free. Pat Connolly Tavern, 6400 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, 314-647-7287. WES HOFFMAN AND FRIENDS: 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

FRIDAY 17

BLUE MARLIN BAND, THE DUDE ABIDES: 6 p.m., $15-$25. Historic Miner’s Theatre, 204 W. Main St., Collinsville, 648-344-0026. CAIFANES: 8 p.m., $59.50-$99.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. DARK STAR ORCHESTRA: 8 p.m., $30-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. DAVID GRELLE’S PLAYADORS: w/ Jordan Rivers & the Real Juice, Jimmy Griffin 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. FOOL HOUSE: THE ULTIMATE 90’S DANCE PARTY: 8 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. GENE JACKSON’S POWER PLAY BAND: 8 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. HONKY TONK HAPPY HOUR: 4 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. KITZ ROW TAPE RELEASE SHOW: w/ Crisis WalkIns, Frogsplash 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. LADIES OF THE LOU: 8 p.m., $12. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. MOM’S KITCHEN: 9 p.m., $14. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. NORCOS Y HORCHATA: w/ Radio Buzzkills, The Kuhlies 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SKEET RODGERS & THE INNER CITY BLUES BAND: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. STEPHEN PEARCY & QUIET RIOT: 7 p.m., $30-$65. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. TINA FEATURING LAKA: 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. TRIXIE DELIGHT: 5 p.m., $6. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 South Kingshighway Blvd., 2nd Floor, St. Louis, 3143765313. WE CAME AS ROMANS: 7 p.m., $29.50-$49.59. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. WHITEHALL: 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SATURDAY 18

ALICE IN REVERSE: 5 p.m., $6. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 South Kingshighway Blvd., 2nd Floor, St. Louis, 3143765313. ALL ROOSTERED UP: noon, free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

SUNDAY 19

Ari Lennox. | ALBUM ART

Ari Lennox w/ Rod Wave, Toosii

There is one — and really, only one — good reason that Ari Lennox did not secure any Grammy nominations when the 2024 nominees were announced last week: the pesky fact that she did not release a new album in 2023. Were it not for that minor detail, it’s a reasonable assumption that she’d be in the running. With her soulful voice and J. Cole co-sign, the Dreamville R&B artist has been on a steady upward trajectory since she dropped her debut EP, 2016’s Pho — one that has seen the D.C. singer bump elbows with everyone from Earthgang to 6LACK to Lizzo to Jermaine Dupri. Her debut full-length, 2019’s Shea

Butter Baby, only cemented her status as one to watch, whereas last year’s Age/ Sex/Location raked in the accolades, including recently announced 2023 Soul Train Award nominations in the categories of Album of the Year and Best Female R&B/Soul Artist that find her in the same conversations as luminaries such as Beyonce and SZA. It’s rarified air indeed, but Lennox more than deserves to breathe it. Often compared to neo-soul legend Erykah Badu, Lennox’s contributions to Dreamville’s Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation in fact already secured her one Grammy nom in 2019 — and we have a strong feeling that it won’t be her last. Call Your Friends: Technically the headliner for this affair is Florida soul-trap rapper Rod Wave; Lennox’s status as an opener is just a strong argument to get to the show on time. Raleigh rapper Toosii will also warm the stage. —Daniel Hill

314-621-8811. ANDY ORTMANN, HEAVY PAUSES, PIERROT DESPERES: 8 p.m., donations. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis. BLUE MOON BLUES BAND: w/ Kent Ehrhardt 3 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

THE CUP: 7 p.m., $30. Carondelet Yoga Center, 6301 S Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, 3143136831. FIVEFOLD: 8 p.m., $18. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. KAREN CHOI: w/ Adam Gaffney 8 p.m., $15-$20. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

8 p.m. Sunday, November 19. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Avenue. $45.50 to $225.50. 314-241-1888.

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CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM: 7:30 p.m., $29.50-$59.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. CRYSTAL LADY: 7:30 p.m., $12. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ERIK BROOKS: 8 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE: w/ Hound Dog Brown, Sunny Boy Mason, Art Dwyer, Ital K 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. GLARE: w/ Nightswim, Blush 7:30 p.m., $13-$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. HOT HANDS WONDERLAND: 1 p.m., free. Eckert’s Cider Shed, 951 South Green Mount Road, Belleville, 618-233-0513. JOHN MCVEY BAND: 3 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. KEVIN BUCKLEY: 10 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. PAIN OF TRUTH: 7:30 p.m., $18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROD WAVE: w/ Ari Lennox, Toosii 8 p.m., $45.50-$225.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. SUNDAY SOUL MUSIC SERIES: w/ Robert Nelson 4 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

MONDAY 20

CHANTE MOORE: 7:30 p.m., $35. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. TIM ALBERT AND STOVEHANDLE DAN: w/ Randy 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

TUESDAY 21

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

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

Continued on pg 50

RIVERFRONT TIMES

[CRITIC’S PICK]

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 49

ETHAN LEINWAND: 7 p.m., free. Yaqui’s on Cherokee, 2728 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-400-7712. HONEY REVENGE: w/ Pollyanna, Colorblind 7 p.m., $19. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. NAKED MIKE: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. SYDNEY SPRAGUE: 7:30 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

WEDNESDAY 22

120 MINUTES: 7 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. BEER CHOIR: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. CHOIR VANDALS: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. DREW LANCE: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. DYLAN TRIPLETT: 10 p.m., $20. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JAKE’S LEG: 8 p.m., $10-$20. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. JOHN MCVEY BAND: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. JUST ONE LOOK: A LINDA RONSTADT TRIBUTE: 7:30 p.m., $25. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060. MARGARET & FRIENDS: 3 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. PROUD LARRY: 5 p.m., $6. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 South Kingshighway Blvd., 2nd Floor, St. Louis, 3143765313. ROLAND LABONTÉ: 8 p.m., $12. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. SKANKSGIVING: w/ Skamasala, DJ Lammy 7 p.m., free. Steve’s Hot Dogs, 3145 South Grand, St. Louis. TEEC’A EASBY: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. VOODOO BEATLES: 9 p.m., $14. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

THIS JUST IN

120 MINUTES: Fri., Nov. 24, 8:30 p.m., $8. Sky Music Lounge, 930 Kehrs Mill Road, Ballwin, 636-527-6909. 15TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRASSTRAVAGANZA NIGHT 1: W/ Funky Butt Brass Band, Fri., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. 15TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRASSTRAVAGANZA NIGHT 2: Sat., Dec. 16, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. 2 PEDROS: AN EVENING OF YACHT ROCK: Sat., Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. ADAM LEVIN: Sat., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., $20-$35. The 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-421-3600. ANDREW WALESCH SINATRA YOUR WAY: Wed., Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. AUBORY BUGG: Sun., Dec. 3, 6 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. BAND OF HORSES: Sat., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., $39.50$70.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. BOBBY STEVENS, WESTERN STATES: Fri., Jan. 12, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. CANDLELIGHT: A TRIBUTE TO QUEEN: Wed., Dec. 13, 6:30 p.m., $37.06. Majorette, 7150 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 402-249-2445. CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE EXTRAVAGANZA 8: Fri., Dec. 8, 7 p.m., $20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. DAVID GIUNTOLI: Thu., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Last Waltz album art. | POSTER ART

18th Annual STL Last Waltz Celebration of the Band

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, one of the greatest bands in the greatest decade of rock & roll made its “farewell concert appearance” at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. That band, of course, was the Band, and the concert was filmed by Martin Scorsese. Special guests included Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ronnie Wood, Bob Dylan — it’s no wonder The Last Waltz is widely considered one of the greatest concert films of all time, even if Levon Helm didn’t like it. In the face of such greatness, what could any group of local musicians do but step up and pay tribute? For nearly two decades, that’s

just what has happened here in St. Louis, where a supergroup of locals calling itself the Stag Nite All-Stars has attempted to replicate all the glory of The Last Waltz on a St. Louis-sized scale. This year’s iteration — apparently the 18th annual — will feature the usual cast of characters, with Cree Rider, the Scandaleros, Old Capital Square Dance Club, the Sadie Hawkins Day String Band, Red Headed Strangers, the Maness Brothers and Racketbox all slated to make appearances, though in typical slapdash fashion organizer Johnny Vegas warns that “not everyone listed here has gotten back to us. If you know any of these acts, please remind them that they are playing.” Half Past Dead: A word of warning from the event’s Facebook invite for anyone turning up just to hear the Band’s bestknown track: “We will never figure out ‘The Weight.’” Adjust your expectations accordingly. —Sarah Fenske

DENISE THIMES - GIVING THANKS NIGHT 1: Fri., Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m., $30. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. DENISE THIMES - GIVING THANKS NIGHT 2: Sat., Nov. 25, 7:30 p.m., $30. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. EAGLES: Tue., Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m., $145.50$495.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. EARLY EYES: Wed., March 13, 8 p.m., $17. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. FLATLAND CAVALRY: W/ Zach Top, Fri., March 8, 8 p.m., $25. The Hawthorn, 2225 Washington Avenue, St. Louis. FORGIVING TREE, THE WINKS, DR. FONG AND THE LONG BROTHERS: Sat., Jan. 6, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. THE HADDONFIELDS, BASS AMP & DANO, RUMLUCK: Sat., Nov. 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: Sat., June 1, 7 p.m., $39.75-$179.75. Hollywood Casino Amphi-

theatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. JEFF ROSENSTOCK: Sun., April 7, 8 p.m., $22. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. JJ GREY & MOFRO: Sat., April 20, 7:30 p.m., $220. Chesterfield Amphitheater, 631 Veterans Place Drive, Chesterfield. A KAT EDMONSON CHRISTMAS: Fri., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $30. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. KEM, CHRISETTE MICHELE, LYFE: Sun., Jan. 14, 7 p.m., $75.75-$125.75. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD: Thu., Sept. 5, 8 p.m., $59.50-$89.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. KRIS KRINGLE & THE JOLLY JINGLES, THE LOUD LOUD CROWS: Sat., Dec. 23, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. LAST TIME DOWN, SIMPLYESOTERIC, ANDREW RYAN: Fri., Dec. 29, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. LOW WATERMARK FOR GHOSTS, SEASHORE, READY SET CIGARETTE: Sat., Jan. 20, 8 p.m.,

8 p.m. Wednesday, November 22. South Broadway Athletic Club, 2301 South Seventh Street. $20. 314-776-4833.

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

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$10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. MIKE MAINS AND THE BRANCHES: Tue., March 12, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. MORGAN PAGE: Sun., Dec. 31, 10 p.m., $25$1,000. RYSE Nightclub, One Ameristar Blvd, St. Charles. MUSCADINE BLOODLINE: Sat., Feb. 24, 8 p.m., $35-$49.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. NEIL SALSICH, BETH BOMBARA AND LYNN O’BRIEN: Sun., Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m., $20. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745. NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY: Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. PETTY GRIEVANCES, JEFFY AND THE SUNKEN HEADS, KILLING FEVER: Sat., Jan. 13, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. PLAIN WHITE T’S: Thu., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., $30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. PSALM THEATRICS: A SYNCOPATED CHRISTMAS A HOLIDAY JAZZ REVUE: Sat., Dec. 9, 7 p.m., $15. New Awakening, 8000 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, 314-385-3000. QUEENSRYCHE: Sat., April 6, 8 p.m., $40. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SHELBY RAYE: Sat., Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m., free. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400. SIR CHLOE: Fri., March 15, 8 p.m., $18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. ST. LOUIS STANDS WITH TRANS BENEFIT SHOW: W/ Half Gallen and the Milk Jugs, Sewer Urchin, Beau Diamond, Nite Frvr, Young Animals, Fri., Jan. 19, 7 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SUPERJAM: Sun., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., $25. RYSE Nightclub, One Ameristar Blvd, St. Charles. TATE MCRAE: Tue., July 30, 8 p.m., $39.50$79.50. St. Louis Music Park, 750 Casino Center Dr., Maryland Heights, 314-451-2244. THIS IS FALLING, NEW LINGO, THE GREATER GOOD, FERRISS: Sat., Dec. 30, 7 p.m., $15-$18. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. WINTER JAM TOUR 2024: Sat., March 23, 6 p.m., $15-$59.99. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

UPCOMING THE 16TH ANNUAL GATEWAY BLUES FESTIVAL: Fri., March 29, 8 p.m., $59-$175. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. 1ST ANNUAL FALL FUNK BALL: W/ St. Boogie Brass Band, The Service, Giant Quintet, Sat., Nov. 25, 7:30 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. BROTHERS LAZAROFF HANUKKAH HULLABALOO: Sat., Dec. 2, 8 p.m., $25-$60. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS: W/ Charlie Sexton, Fri., Jan. 26, 8 p.m., $69.50-$149.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD: Thu., Sept. 5, 8 p.m., $59.50-$89.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. OTOBOKE BEAVER: Tue., March 12, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. POSTMODERN JUKEBOX: Fri., Nov. 24, 8 p.m., $29.50-$69.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500. PUSSY RIOT: Tue., Nov. 28, 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE RECORD SPACE 5TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: W/ Bassamp and Dano, Petty Grievances, Bastard Squad, The Jag-Wires, Better Day, Fri., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SIR CHLOE: Fri., March 15, 8 p.m., $18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. n

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NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

RIVERFRONT TIMES

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE Quickies

relationship is closed, fuck each other someplace you haven’t fucked before — at the office, at a sex club, in the ass, etc.

BY DAN SAVAGE

Hey Dan: I’m a 50-year-old man. My spouse, 46, is in the process of transitioning from male to female. I want to be sensitive to this experience and don’t want to ask hurtful questions, but there are just things I don’t know. For instance, how do most people in her position feel about their male appendage? I’m hesitant to initiate any intimacy now.

Hey Dan: I met a man whose wife was very ill. Their relationship was no longer sexual, and he was in a caretaker role, and seeking release. We fell in love, and he promised to marry me when his wife passes. That was five years ago. I know he isn’t lying about his wife’s illness, but I no longer want to wait. The only leverage I have is telling his wife and kids, which I would never do. It would destroy him and destroy us. But I’m drunk right now, and I need you tell me I shouldn’t. You absolutely shouldn’t — unless you want stoned CNN viewers to root against the detectives investigating your murder in a future episode of Forensic Files. Hey Dan: Straight boy in the big city who sometimes plays the Bull for cuck couples. Went in for a second job interview and the boss was a man whose wife I’d fucked in front of him a year ago. There was lots of verbal abuse that his wife initiated (and I played along with) but their thing was too intense, and I politely declined to meet up with them again. I didn’t get the job, and I’m pretty sure why. I still have his wife’s phone number. Do I have any recourse here? You don’t — unless you want stoned CNN viewers to root against the detectives investigating your murder in a future episode of Forensic Files. Hey Dan: I have some questions about pronouns. I get he/him, she/her and they/them but not he/they or she/they. This has been a discussion with friends and family. Personally, I want people to identify with their truth. But I still don’t understand he/they or she/ they. Can you make it make sense? Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to make to make a good faith effort to remember the unique and sometimes unpredictable pronoun preferences of everyone we meet. We also have the option of training ourselves to never, ever use pronouns at all, in reference to anyone, ever again. (She/they, he/they: “I may identify with and present as my natal/ biological/assigned sex BUT I CONTAIN MULTITUDES, bitches!”) Hey Dan: Sex with hubs is boring, but I have no new fantasies. How do I get into it again? If the relationship is open, fuck some other people, alone and together. If the

Even if you knew how most MTF folks feel about their male appendages — and even if I knew how most MTF folks feel about their male appendages — neither of us knows how your particular MTF spouse feels about her male appendage. It’s entirely possible your spouse feels the way most trans women feel … or she could hold a minority opinion. So you’re going to have to ask her. Whatever she feels about her male appendage, broaching the subject is one way of letting her know you’re still attracted to her and still wanna be intimate. Hey Dan: I am a woman who has plentiful orgasms very easily and a WAP. I prefer a larger-than average penis, which apparently is common (according to some studies) among women who orgasm a lot, because I need to have my cervix rammed to feel completely satisfied. I don’t want to be this way and I feel a little ashamed since it’s something men can’t change about themselves. What do I do if I meet someone who is otherwise a very compatible partner, however, physically through no fault of his own, can’t give me what I need sexually? I like it to be a big enough dick that it hurts a little. Guys with big dicks are great, but guys — big or small — who are secure enough with their dicks to occasionally strap on a big dildo are even better. Find one of them. Hey Dan: What does it mean when a girl looks at you and runs her finger around her lips like in a circle with her lips open? Round the world? I wanna give you a rim job? She did it at me like three times, Dan. I want to interpret this the right way. I’m a straight guy who doesn’t get much, but I think maybe this gal is interested? Yay or nay? If this girl was in your league (be honest), it means she wants it. If this girl was out of your league, it means she takes cash or Venmo … or she was secretly filming you for her prank YouTube channel. Proceed with caution.

Hey Dan: How to deal with tears, fissures and inflamed bowels as a tight gay bottom?

ship is doomed? I wanna be glib and say, “Asking yourself — or asking an advice columnist — that particular question is one of the signs,” but that isn’t true. Everyone in truly longterm relationship (five-plus years) has wondered at some point whether their relationship was doomed. No, the truly tell-tale signs — the Four Horsemen of Relationship Apocalypse, according to John Gottman and Julie Schwarz Gottman of the Gottman Institute — are criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling. Learn more at their website (gottman.com).

Use tons of lube, take things very slowly, stop at any sign of pain or discomfort, play solo (no pressure not to bail) and make sure your sex partners know — in advance — that they’re not guaranteed anal to completion (no one is) and that you won’t tolerate pouting or pressure if you do have to bail. Also remind them that oral or mutual masturbation — the acts you’ll pivot to if you have to bail on anal — are great sex, not sad consolation prizes. Hey Dan: Best BJ trick?

Hey Dan: I’m wanting to get into fisting, but my boyfriend isn’t into it. We are open. How do I go about it? How do I even get started? “Open and honest communication about your needs and your partner’s needs is always the most important thing, whatever you’re into,” says Jazzmatazz, the fisting blogger who cohosts the Such FFun podcast. “Two fisting-specific tips: Train with toys first, solo and with partners. And find some experienced fisters in your area — guys you feel you can trust — who are up for showing you the ropes. Then explore and have fun!” Hey Dan: Is it safe to mix X-Lube with piss? Since X-Lube is powdered lubricant (just add water) that’s popular with fist fuckers and since I already had Jazzmatazz on the line, I passed your question to him: “Your large intestine has one job: absorbing water,” says Jazzmatazz. “Piss in your butt will get absorbed, with or without X-Lube. If you trust the quality of the piss, go for it.” You can find Jazzmatazz on Twitter @ jazzmatazzoz and the Such FFun podcast on Twitter @suchffun. Hey Dan: Is it normal during a foursome (FMFM) for one couple to forbid any kissing? It’s not unheard of for a couple in an open relationship — even a couple who swings together — to hold something back. Some couples only “soft swap,” meaning they only engage in oral and mutual masturbation when they play with others; some couples don’t play with others in the bed they share or their time zone where they live. For this couple, it’s kissing. People are allowed to rule anything in and anything out, and what may seem trivial to you — if you’re fucking other people why not kiss them? — could have deep emotional significance for the couple you played with.

Hey Dan: What are tell-tale signs a relation-

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A gentle bite — just a little pressure applied with the teeth at a moment when the dick isn’t sliding in or out — paired with sustained eye contact. It’s a great way to remind the person whose dick is in your mouth that they don’t have all the power, since you could tear that cock off with your teeth at any moment. So. Hey Dan: What other kink-minded dating apps are out there besides Fetlife and Feeld? Any dating app is a kink-minded dating app so long as you’re prepared to be open and honest about your kinks. But no one — not even other kinky people — will want to see a list of fetishes or kinks on a non-kinky dating app. Just drop a hint: “GGG seeking GGG.” Hey Dan: I’m a 50-plus male. In the past five to ten years, it seems like the skin on my penis has gotten more fragile. Where I used to be able to masturbate for as long as I liked, I have started getting an abrasion where my thumb rubs if I do it too long. I don’t think I have changed anything and have never been a “death grip” guy. I’m sure you are going to suggest lube, but I just don’t like the clean-up afterwards. Is this just an unavoidable byproduct of aging or is there something to be done to toughen it up? As we age, our skin becomes thinner, and our orgasms take a little longer to achieve. So, even if you’re not stroking your aging dick any harder, you are stroking your aging dickskin a little longer than you used to. Pick your poison: beating holes in your dick and bleeding out or using some lube and having to do a little clean up. The choice seems obvious to me. Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love Podcasts, columns and more at savage.love

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

RIVERFRONT TIMES

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

riverfronttimes.com

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

RIVERFRONT TIMES

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2023

riverfronttimes.com