AUGUST 5–11, 2015 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 32
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Dorian Johnson:
Tef Poe: HOW THE MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN IN FERGUSON CONTINUES TODAY
A year after Michael Brown’s shooting, he’s still grappling with the fallout. riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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AUGUST 5–11, 2015 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 32
RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM I FREE
Dorian Johnson:
Tef Poe: HOW THE MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN IN FERGUSON CONTINUES TODAY
A year after Michael Brown’s shooting, he’s still grappling with the fallout. riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
RIVERFRONT TIMES
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AUGUST 5–11, 2015 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 32
RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM I FREE
Dorian Johnson:
Tef Poe: HOW THE MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN IN FERGUSON CONTINUES TODAY
A year after Michael Brown’s shooting, he’s still grappling with the fallout. riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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“Back in Portland, we all spent a lot of time on the Willamette River. I feel like people have a very specific image of Portland these days, but when you take in the city from the river, you don’t see bike lanes and leafy neighborhoods—you see crumbling piers and enormous barges. It’s like you’re in a totally different city, or like you’re encountering some weird alternate-reality version of it. Out here on the Mississippi, it’s been the same thing. If we were driving in on the freeway and hopping off at the downtown exit, we’d get a super distinct image of St. Louis, we’d get chrome and glass and pretty red brick buildings. Instead, we anchored to a rusty pier, tiptoed through a bunch of poison ivy and shin-deep mud, biked past junkyards and sewage treatment plants and only then did we find our way to the Arch.” –BRIAN BENSON, SPOTTED ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH OF DOWNTOWN, AUGUST 2.
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14 WITNESS 101 Dorian Johnson’s life changed irrevocably when he saw Michael Brown shot to death in Ferguson. One year later, he’s still grappling with the fallout. BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI
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10 Ferguson: The Movement By Tef Poe
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SAIL: A New Approach to Long Prison Sentences
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.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig has known for years that long prison sentences don’t solve a criminal offender’s problems. “They’re expected to come out and have a better life than they had before they were in prison for ten to fifteen years,” she says. “Whatever was going on in their life before they were imprisoned is probably at least as bad now. Their family structure has probably been totally decimated, if it wasn’t before.” In addition, long sentences cost money: $28,893 per federal inmate per year, according to a 2011 statistic in the Federal Register. So last March, Fleissig, along with her colleague Judge E. Richard Webber and several others who work in the Eastern District of Missouri’s criminal court, launched an alternative: the Sentencing Alternatives for Improving Lives program, a.k.a. SAIL. SAIL looks like this: Anyone charged with a federal offense — whether related to fraud, firearms, drugs, etc. — would first plead guilty. They then sign a contract pledging to not commit any more crimes and to follow SAIL rules, which include agreeing to drug tests, house visits and counseling sessions with Pretrial Services officers and the SAIL team. Instead of going to prison, the offender spends a year in SAIL — not just to avoid getting locked up, but also to genuinely improve their lives. Participants receive a detailed handbook outlining the expectations, phases and various people available to help out, including pretrial services officers; Judge Webber and Judge Fleissig; two assistant U.S. attorneys; and two assistant federal public defenders. The program has also enlisted the help of Gateway Legal Services, Saint Louis University and Washington University’s law-school clinics — in case participants need a hand resolving warrants and other legal issues. Participants must complete the three phases to pass the program, remove their guilty plea and have their charges dismissed. If they fail, they will spend time behind bars. “They have a tremendous incentive,” says Judge Fleissig. Judge Fleissig first heard about post-plea diversion programs when she attended a na8
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Empty cells could be a good thing, says a federal judge.
tional judges’ conference in 2014. A judge at the meeting asked if any district had a post-plea diversion program. No one spoke up and everyone went on with their other discussions, she explains. But the question struck a chord. She brought the idea back to the Eastern District of Missouri. Fleissig was aware of the many other reentry courts in the Eastern District, but she still felt something was lacking. She wanted to find a solution for more serious offenders. Judge Fleissig spent months meeting with Judge E. Richard Webber, the Pretrial Services Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Public Defenders Office, all of whom wanted to help with the program. They launched SAIL last March. It consists of several phases. Phase One is the assessment and intensive supervision phase, which takes a minimum of two months to complete. In this phase, participants must meet with the SAIL team weekly; begin to identify problems and ob-
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stacles in their lives; set personal goals; meet with the Pretrial Services office weekly; begin engaging in weekly Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT); comply with random drug tests and house visits; begin a job search, community service or schooling program; among other things. “We assign them tasks at every session, and we need to hear from them at the next session how did they do on their tasks and how did their week go,” she explains. “And they’re going to get more tasks to do, and a reward or perhaps a sanction based upon how well they performed those tasks. So the feedback is immediate.” As participants progress from Phase One, each phase allows the participant more and more responsibility and independence. Phase Two is primary treatment and learning stability with SAIL support. This phase takes a minimum of six months to complete. Participants meet with the SAIL team twice monthly; meet with Pretrial Services every
other week; remain in counseling; continue with MRT, random drug tests and house visits; and continue developing an ongoing support network. Phase Three is healthy life maintenance and beginning transition to community support, which takes a minimum of four months. This phase requires even fewer meetings with the SAIL team and Pretrial Services, and it allows the individual more independence and responsibility in their own life. The entire program will take a minimum of one year to complete. So far, SAIL has taken on eight participants, but it’s ready to take on more since many of the fi rst eight participants have already graduated into Phase Two. Although the program has a broad base, some defendants are excluded from the program: people with immigration offenses, violent offenders, non-local offenders, offenders with state probation charges, and sex offenders.
“The way we designed the program was to have a focus on individuals who, without this program, are likely to receive prison sentences, some of them significant prison sentences, who we believe have some kind of problem or problems in their lives that have contributed to them being in the criminal justice system, and [who have] problems we believe we can address through an intensive supervision and intervention program,” she explains. Judge Fleissig emphasizes that this program is not for the weak-willed. “The people have to be willing to do that kind of work, because it’s beyond what would be required of them if they were on probation.” Because each participant is dealing with very different personal problems, the SAIL team received training from Saint Louis University on such things as the effects of trauma and how it can manifest itself. “What if their problem is a mental health problem? What if instead they just fell on really hard times at some point in their life? Or what if there’s been a failure to launch?” Fleissig says. “Or maybe they’ve been abused and they’ve become very dependent upon somebody who’s manufacturing metham-
phetamine, and they’ve been running around trying to help them manufacture methamphetamine because they’re very dependent on that person. There are so many different scenarios that can cause someone to land in the criminal-justice system.” Although SAIL is only a few months old, Judge Fleissig is already looking for a better ways to gauge its impact. “I think we need more than anecdotal evidence to properly assess this program. If we can get it and if it works like I think it does, then it’s much easier to make the case to other districts, and to the public,” she explains. Out of the 94 federal districts in the United States, 22 of them will have their own postplea diversion programs by the end of the year, Fleissig says. “It can work,” she continues. “I believe that most people, if given the right support, services and moral support, then they can change their lives I believe that to be true,” she says. “Locking up people forever, letting them out with minimal supports doesn’t work. And we can’t afford it anymore. Prisons are overcrowded. We simply cannot afford it anymore.” — EMILY MCCARTER
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Feds: Area Tech Firm’s Employee Expensed Online Strippers
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n employee of World Wide Technology Inc., a Maryland Heights-based IT firm, was indicted in federal court here last week for secretly using his company credit card to shower online strippers with tips and gifts, and to buy himself a “sexual device” made by Fleshlight, a brand of male masturbation tools. John David Berrett of Gilbert, Arizona, started working at WWT in 2004. His job was to meet with clients both in the U.S. and abroad to offer training and support. Berrett would submit expense reports to WWT detailing what he’d bought with his company credit card — stuff like training materials and computer cables. But in reality, prosecutors allege, Berrett was using the money for other things. He would go to the online stripper website MyFreeCams.com and buy virtual “tokens” to tip the dancers. Berrett tipped them 2,200 times, according to the indictment, for a whopping total of Protip: Don’t charge online strippers to work. $100,000. He also befriended some of the stripto October 2014, Berrett is accused of diverting pers and used his WWT credit card to buy more than $476,000 of company funds toward them “chocolates, flowers, electronic equip- his own purposes. ment, wine, a television, handbag, laptop com(And, yes, one of his purposes was a $131.08 puter, iPod and shoes.” item that he claimed was a “training guide,” To one stripper he allegedly sent $26,800 but was in fact a “sexual device” made by in cash so she could pay for her college tuition Fleshlight, which — well, feel free to visit the bill, new tires for her car and her parents’ util- website.) ity bill — all on WWT’s dime. Berrett now faces five counts of federal wire All told, for the period from September 2013 fraud. —NICHOLAS PHILLIPS riverfronttimes.com
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We Are No Longer Afraid ONE YEAR AFTER MICHAEL BROWN’S DEATH, A RAPPER-TURNED-ACTIVIST TAKES STOCK OF THE MOVEMENT FORGED IN FERGUSON BY T E F P O E
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he best way to start this story is with the truth. So here it is: Michael Brown Jr. did not deserve to die. I have nothing but animosity in my heart for anyone who would dare argue with this statement. And here’s another truth: Today in America black people are not liberated. We are not free, and Ferguson shows us that we must fight like hell to reject any notion that equality has entered into our lives through Barack Obama and his stagnant calls for hope and change. A year after Michael’s Brown’s death and the protests that followed, my perspective has shifted. I can no longer force myself to chant the words “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot.” We chanted this phrase assuming that white supremacy actually gave a damn about our humanity. We were ignorant to the ways of the world. Now things are different. Our youthful exhibition of peaceful protest has changed the dynamic. They fear us — and our growing lack of fear of them.
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he violence in our city a year after the Ferguson Uprising has snowballed, centered on the devaluing of African American life. As the murder rate climbs, it is black people who are terrorized. When the rapists and the murderers are released from prison, they come home to north St. Louis and live in the same apartment buildings as we do. Nothing in this world can describe the psychiatric trauma attached to being born in the ghetto. And yet, as a black man living in Missouri, I can die by the gun of a police officer just as quickly as I can die by the gun of a rogue “criminal.” No one is as affected by the fears of white police officers patrolling our impoverished neighborhoods as we are. In terms of protecting our lives and preserving our human dignity, there is no safe haven from either party. After Ferguson, some things have indeed changed for the better. Now that the community has openly challenged the racism of every police department in the region, a slight paradigm shift has occurred. A very small contingent of us has decided we believe in ourselves. Black people in St. Louis have often been treated as if we can be quarantined, contained to very limited spaces. The history of this city is deeply rooted in the subjugation of African Americans. Blacks in Missouri were essentially reduced to staying in our place and understanding that we must never step out of line when dealing with a white person. Michael Brown Jr. died because he dared to challenge that practice and refused to stay in line when approached by a white male authority figure with a loaded gun and a heavy trigger finger. Because his story is not unique, his death resonated with thousands. I remember seeing the multitudes of people from Left: Tef Poe leads a protest march through downtown St. Louis.
are capable of voting it into oblivion. When the slave ships arrived with human cargo from Africa onboard centuries ago, the discussion of freedom was also connected to “voting rights.” But we have attempted to vote ourselves off the plantation for centuries years now, and it still has not worked. In fact, Ferguson did not occur under the order of a white president. Barack Obama, our beloved first black president, is also the first president in my adult lifetime to sit on his hands as a potential race war becomes the underlying narrative of America today.
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year later, we still believe — more than ever — that Darren Wilson is a stone-cold racist killer cop protected by a system that offers zero accountability for his actions. The racism that extinguishes black lives in the present day — the lives of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Cary Ball Jr., VonDerrit Myers Jr., Kimberlee RandleKing and so many more — is the same racism that shackled black people and sold us to the slave merchants in the early 1600s. After all of the marching, chanting, singing and praying, the reality of fighting back when you are unjustifiably targeted must become a universal theme. A community that is often fragmented currently stands united in the pursuit of a radical theory of change. We may each have a different method of operation in mind, but we all agree it is time to move. Once a month we gather in O’Fallon Park to host Books and Breakfast, an event mimicking the now-defunct 1960s Black Panther Free Breakfast for School Children Program. This event won’t bring killer cops like Darren Wilson to justice, but God willing, it will help us implant a village mentality inside the hearts and minds of the children and adults who attend. There is a chance we will further extend the art of resistance by leaving its importance chiseled in the spirits of these children as they grow older. My organization, Hands Up United, has started a tech program to teach black children to code as a means of being victorious through technology and education. We also have embarked upon a campaign to declare war continued on page 12
A man exhales a cloud cigarette smoke in the direction of heavily armed officers stationed on West Florrisant Avenue on August 18, 2014.
DA N N Y W I C E N TO W S K I
neighborhoods that were once rivals standing in solidarity for Brown on West Florissant as we gathered in the name of resistance. The world paused momentarily while we stood there and steadfastly endured the treacherous heat of the sun upon our backs last August. This is what happens when the black community no longer fears the power of its ordained police force. Thousands of black people nationwide are demanding inclusion into a system that was never designed to include us. In this generation, the fight our ancestors embarked upon was rekindled and sparked by St. Louis-area youth and their allies. The movement, as many like to call it, was reborn in Ferguson after being incubated in St. Louis for many years. Then Freddie Gray’s untimely murder caused the city of Baltimore to go up in flames as cries for justice filled the East Coast and beyond. Many would say this is a story about how we as a community have continually suffered defeat, but I beg to differ. See, many people watching from afar did not realize how personally black people in St. Louis took Trayvon Martin’s murder. Mike Brown’s death triggered a collective voice of people, saying, “This is wrong, and we will not take it.” The sleeping giant has now risen, and the result is a movement for black lives that has spread across the world. Your system does not have to embrace us; we are simply asking to be released from the confines of your jaded perspectives. We do not want your food stamps or supplemental handouts. Hillary Clinton and the multitudes of white presidential candidates do not represent us — and we do not seek representation within this government if it is only for symbolic value. Claire McCaskill suggested on national TV that young black leaders like myself should run for office. We say very candidly to people like Senator McCaskill that to work and fraternize with devils is to become one. I stood at the Ferguson Police Department on August 10 and listened with my own ears to local authority figures attach the issues of police brutality to the issues of the ballot. Racism is evil, and I reject any notion that would suggest we
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Above: A woman and child look on as officers block sections of road near interstate 70 on September 10, 2014, during an organized protest. Below: Dozens of protesters held a “die in” outside the Edward Jones Dome to confront football fans with the message of “Black Lives Matter” on October 13, 2014.
No Longer Afraid against the food deserts plaguing our communities by starting a food pantry to help families in need. Groups like the Lost Voices, Tribe X, Black Souljahz and the Ferguson Freedom Fighters — all molded from the fires of Ferguson — adamantly push civil disobedience as a module of political self-expression against the angst black people in St. Louis are forced to live with. Today’s generation of freedom fighters refuses to allow victimization to be our calling card. My parents do not completely understand, because they believe the racism they experienced has been dethroned. But my friends are still virtual moving targets for the police — and anyone else who deems it acceptable to murder a black person. I believe I speak for myself and any true organizer from the Ferguson movement when I say that we realize yelling at buildings and being abducted by the police while protesting is not a sustainable plan. The oath of the badge is so powerful that police officers will neglect the obligation they have to the human race once they put on their uniform. In response, the oath of the people must be created and reaffirmed by our love and admiration for freedom. If you live in the city and you’re black, you’ll agree that things are out of control at the moment. St. Louis has never been a safe place for us to live, and right now it’s more dangerous than it’s ever been. Many of the movement’s most visible individuals are growing increasingly more paranoid. I am, too. I fear for not only my own safety, but also for the safety of many other people I have grown to know and admire over the course of the last 365 days. We are all under some
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form of surveillance, and spending a night in jail has now become a regular occurrence. I fear any interaction between the police and the people I ride with will result in one of us eventually sleeping in a casket. We have no desire to do anything violent, but our arrests are growing more and more aggressive. I personally feel that one of my arrests will result in my funeral — at home in St. Louis, or maybe abroad in a different city. Either way, I do not feel comfortable interacting with any form of law enforcement, as this fact still remains: All of the cards are always stacked in their favor. The police unions in America are arguably the most powerful criminal organizations in the world when dealing with minorities. There are hundreds of thousands of wonderful human beings working for law enforcement, but unfortunately, they are nothing more than a tool being used to maintain the lopsided power
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of the empire. Look at Sandra Bland. She was recently stopped in Texas on a routine traffic violation. Illegally arrested by the police, now she is dead. The story they tried selling us is that she killed herself in jail. We know this isn’t the truth. And if this movement were not alive and breathing, Bland’s death would equate to the finale of her story. Yet there is this movement. People are questioning Bland’s death. The official police narrative has not been allowed to stand. Our lives do indeed matter, and when we fight for ourselves we should be mindful that we are fighting for the basic freedoms of every man and woman in this society, regardless of their skin color, gender or sexual preference. When the establishment has proven that it is not capable of ruling the people it governs fairly and justly, revolution is the only option.
The Tea Party and other radical groups don’t realize it, but we have more in common than meets the eye. Every human being on this planet has a right to preserve their existence. The challenge for any self-respecting citizen of any functioning society is to be bold enough to speak when everyone else is silent. America is different from many other places on this planet because this is a country founded primarily on action and imagination. When we combine these elements, we quickly discover that almost anything is possible. As young people, we seek to change the world in which we live for the better. This is our only goal. We can not correct centuries years of oppression in one year. We will not outgun the police, and we do not desire to try. We simply search for the golden idea that will set us on the path of freedom and liberation. These are our peers and siblings being murdered at a rate that mimics an intentional genocide. We believe we are smart enough to defeat this evil and substitute its dominion over planet Earth with all-encompassing love and togetherness. I don’t fear the badge, a bullet or any other power mechanism of law enforcement. They can only kill us or lock us up. Going to jail for what you believe in is often embarrassing — my mother has called plenty of times and questioned why I continually find myself in jail. But in this movement we wear each and every arrest on our chests as badges of honor. We are proud of each other, and we are supportive of any initiative that will add value to our hardships. We believe we are the generation that will create the energy that gives birth to an idea that will change the entire world. We remain committed to the gospel of love. We invite you to join us. ■ Tef Poe is a rapper/activist based in St. Louis who has spent much of the last year on the frontlines of the protest movement in Ferguson. His activism has taken him to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the United Nations with the family of Michael Brown; he has penned pieces for publications including Time and the Huffington Post; and he’s been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, BBC and BET. As a regular Riverfront Times contributor, Tef was honored in 2014 with a Salute to Excellence Award by the National Association of Black Journalists. His most recent musical effort, War Machine III, was released by Delmar Records in July and is available on iTunes.
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Witness 101 DORIAN JOHNSON’S LIFE CHANGED IRREVOCABLY WHEN HE SAW MICHAEL BROWN SHOT TO DEATH IN FERGUSON. ONE YEAR LATER, HE’S STILL GRAPPLING WITH THE FALLOUT. BY DA N N Y W IC E N TOWS K I
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Dorian Johnson, 23, says his own life was put on hold after Michael Brown’s death last year. Now he’s looking to the future.
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sk Dorian Johnson what happened on August 9, 2014, and he’ll tell you that the story begins just past noon. He’ll say that he and Michael Brown Jr. had been walking down Canfield Drive in Ferguson when they were stopped by a police officer in an SUV – and that the last thing Brown ever said to him was, “Keep runnin’, bro.” As the officer moved to exit the SUV, something happened. Witness accounts differ: Maybe Brown blocked the door and began punching and throttling the officer through the open window. Then again, maybe it was the officer who violently slammed the car door into Brown and instigated the struggle. What we do know is that two gunshots went off inside the vehicle, and one struck Brown in the hand. That’s when Brown and Johnson took off running. Johnson says he ducked behind a stopped gray Pontiac and watched as Ferguson officer Darren Wilson pursued his six-footfive, 280-pound friend down the street. Seconds later, Johnson saw bullets tear through Brown’s body. The eighteen-year-old crumpled onto Canfield Drive as the life drained out of him, staining the pavement red. The August 9 shooting brought the weight of the world’s scrutiny on the modest north county suburb of Ferguson, but a significant portion of that burden fell on the narrow shoulders of Dorian Johnson. The wiry college dropout with a checkered past and mismatched eyes – one blue, one brown – became a national lightning rod almost overnight. To a grieving community seeking answers and justice, Johnson, then 22, was the key witness to the reality of both Brown’s death and the black experience in Ferguson, and his emotional testimony became the gospel of a burgeoning protest movement. The “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” mantra was based, in part, on Johnson’s account of how Brown raised his hands and told the advancing Wilson, “I don’t have a gun,” before the final shots rang out. But Johnson also drew the ire of people skeptical about the movement taking hold in Ferguson. They combed through his statements, drawing jagged circles around the inconsistencies and omissions. They blogged, tweeted and commented that Johnson was no truth-teller – in their view, he was an accomplice, a proven liar, just another young black thug claiming victimhood and angling for a payday. For a time, Johnson’s face appeared in newspapers and on television across the world, but for the past eight months he’s mostly avoided direct contact with journalists. Last week, however, he sat down with Riverfront Times for a 60-minute interview, describing the months of secrecy and strain that followed Brown’s death – as well as the surprising silver lining to his recent, highly publicized arrest by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He’s currently suing the City of Ferguson, its police department and the now-retired officer Wilson. He says he lives in fear of retaliation from vigilantes and law enforcement. It’s been almost a year since Michael Brown was shot to death on Canfield Drive, and the shockwaves of those frenzied moments are still pushing Johnson toward an unknown destination. Try as he might, he can’t escape what happened that day. Michael Brown told him to run. In some ways, Dorian Johnson has been running ever since.
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he first day after the shooting was pure panic. Johnson’s own family didn’t know his whereabouts, and early news reports of a dead body discovered near a Domino’s fueled rumors that the witness to the Brown killing had himself been killed. Johnson’s brother, Damonte, remembers their mother obsessively clicking through social media feeds and Twitter, searching for updates on her son. Even the police couldn’t locate him. Two days later, on August 11, Dorian walked through the door of his family’s small St. Louis apartment. He was accompanied by two male friends acting as security. “I had never seen my brother so shook up,” Damonte Johnson says. “This was the first time we saw him after the shooting. Everybody was sitting on the floor, on the windowsill, sitting around like it was story time. He was telling the story, he was shaking, sweating bullets, telling us step by step.” As Johnson tells it, he went into hiding immediately after Brown’s death. He fled his Canfield Green apartment and says he was contacted by Adolphus Pruitt, president of St. Louis NAACP, who immediately arranged for “protective custody.” His life became a series of hotel rooms shared with his girlfriend and young daughter. He watched TV compulsively. The images of looters, tear gas and violence overwhelmed his waking moments. “I was crying,” Johnson says. “It was so real to me, but it was unreal at the same time. It was almost like, every time I stepped away from the TV, it was like a dream. But when I go back to the TV, it made it more real.” Johnson would ultimately move in with a family member in late October. By then, he’d been interviewed on local TV stations and cable networks. Each time, he told the same story: That Wilson initiated the confrontation with Brown, grappled with the teen through the driver’s side window, pursued Brown down Canfield Drive and fired bullets into his body. Johnson insisted that Brown had never threatened Wilson or reached for the officer’s gun. He told KSDK (Channel 5) that Brown had been shot “like an animal.” He told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Wilson shot Johnson in the back. But Johnson’s character quickly became part of the story. By August 14, media had discovered his criminal history, which included a guilty plea for making false statements in 2011, when he was a college student in Jefferson City. (He’d been busted stealing a backpack and told a cop his name was “Derrick Johnson” and that he was 16. The officer found Johnson’s ID, complete with his real age, 19, tucked away in his sock.) The other shoe dropped a day later, on August 15. Ferguson police released surveillance footage showing Michael Brown stealing cigars from a Quik Trip minutes before his fatal confrontation with Wilson. Johnson, who accompanied Brown but did not appear to participate in the robbery, had never mentioned the crime in his initial media interviews. “Isn’t that lying through omission?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked Johnson’s lawyer, former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., later that day. “Not at all,” Bosley Jr. answered. “Lying is when you say something that’s not true. Nobody asked him, ‘What you all did before you came in contact with the officer?’ If he [Wolf Blitzer] had asked him, we would have told him. But we had the duty to tell that to the FBI and they got the full story.” In media appearances, Johnson was almost never seen without his lawyers, Bosley Jr. and the New Orleans-based James Williams. One (and sometimes both) would accompany Johnson to TV interviews. When Johnson’s cabin fever reached a boiling point, it was Williams who drove him to Ferguson so he could watch the protests from the safety of the passenger seat. “I met Dorian for the first time in one of those hotel rooms,” Williams says. “One of the things Dorian would always say to me is how he wanted to get out there. Just for his safety we had to limit it. One night we rode down there, just so he could get out there and see what was going on. But it was still a very dangerous environment.”
Indeed, various conspiracy theorists and right-wing blogs had latched onto Johnson, fixating on his testimony and his role in the creation of the “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” narrative. His TV interviews were collected and uploaded as YouTube compilation videos, which users picked over for proof of his deceptions. He was dubbed a “serial liar,” and much worse. His Facebook inbox filled up with apoplectic rants and veiled threats. He stopped Googling his name. He’d become a public figure, merely by virtue of what he’d witnessed. In December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Johnson had landed a temporary job with St. Louis city, as a forestry worker. The story was published before he could even log his first day on the job. “At the time I was working there, there were incidents where cars were following me to work,” Johnson says. “I can’t walk out of my house without someone I don’t know knowing me. They ask me for autographs, pictures, hugs, can I come to their church. I’ve been invited to meet people’s families. I speak to anyone who speak to me, and it’s good and bad. You can’t really trust someone you don’t know.” After the temporary city job ended, Johnson landed a full-time gig as a server in The Kitchen Sink, a cajun restaurant in the Central West End. Things seemed to be getting back to normal. It wasn’t until the spring of 2015 that he suddenly found himself back in the spotlight — for something that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of his detractors.
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“I HAD NEVER SEEN MY BROTHER SO SHOOK UP. HE WAS TELLING THE STORY, HE WAS SHAKING, SWEATING BULLETS, TELLING US STEP BY STEP.”
ohnson grew up in the northwest St. Louis neighborhood of Walnut Park, which is almost entirely black. It’s there, he says, that he learned how police and black males interact in the real world. “When you’ve been born in an urban environment, you don’t have to be taught,” he says. “That’s kind of been my life St. Louis, head on a swivel. You see with your eyes how the police handle somebody else.” Raised by a single mother, Johnson grew up in a house his mother shared with his aunt and her children. It was a chaotic childhood, but instead of joining a gang, Johnson took his competitive streak to the football field — as a member of the St. Louis recreation division’s Junior Rams. Despite his small stature (he’s now a slender five feet seven inches”), Johnson reveled in showing off his speed on the field. He traveled across the country with the team. But in 2007, a shootout erupted as Johnson was getting off a school bus. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet embedded near a vein in his leg. That was the end of his football career. Johnson graduated high school. But his continued on page 16
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first year at a historically black college in Jefferson City, Lincoln University, ended with his 2011 arrest for stealing a backpack. After returning to St. Louis, Johnson landed a job with MetroLink and proudly moved into his own apartment in Ferguson, in the Canfield Green apartment complex. That’s where a mutual friend introduced him to Michael Brown in March 2014, just five months before his death. Dorian’s younger brother Damonte had a different upbringing. Damonte spent much of his early years living with godparents in St. Louis County. He attended Chaminade College Prep, an elite Catholic high school in suburban Creve Coeur, and at eighteen moved to Maryland to attend the University of Baltimore, where he says he excelled academically. Both brothers, though, watched things fall apart in 2012, after D’Angelo, their youngest sibling, died in a drag-racing accident. He was sixteen. After his little brother’s death, Damonte’s grades plummeted. He says he couldn’t focus on his classes. After a disappointing semester he moved back to Missouri. “A part of me died with our little brother, and that’s been the main thing myself and my family has been trying to overcome,” says Damonte. “Dorian and I had always
The spot where Michael Brown died became a memorial and a gathering place for protesters. been close, but after that no one knew how to behave or how to react or how to treat an everyday situation. We were at each other’s necks and just going at it, and it could be over the smallest thing.” The intervening years softened the tension between them, but didn’t heal the rift. That wouldn’t happen until nearly a year after Brown’s shooting made Dorian Johnson a national name – on May 6, when Damonte, Dorian and their half-brother, Otis McRoberts, were arrested during a block party in north city. According to court records, someone called the police to report that a group had gathered on the 5700 block of Acme Avenue, and that they might have guns or knives. When the first patrol car arrived, the two Johnsons and McRoberts were part of a crowd of about fifteen people hanging out on the sidewalk. “They came like they already knew somebody was going to jail,” Dorian Johnson says. “Me and my brothers just standing there, like, ‘OK, we’re not doing nothing, so I’m not finna run and make it seem like we’re doing something.’ So we just stood there.” Dorian and Damonte Johnson both say at least five more patrol cars pulled
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up, but it wasn’t until an officer grabbed McRoberts — investigating “a bulge in his waistband which I believed could possibly be a concealed gun,” as the officer would later write in his report — that things got out of hand. “That kind of sent a shock to my brother Damonte,” Dorian Johnson says. “He wasn’t used to seeing police do stuff like that. I’m used to it, but Damonte grabbed both of them.” What ensued was a kind of tug-of-war between Damonte Johnson, the officer and McRoberts. More officers arrived to pull Damonte off. “After they put the handcuffs on me,” says Damonte, “Dorian became more irate. They slammed him on the ground, ripped his pants and messed up his shoulder.” In the end, all three brothers were hauled off to the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. No weapons were found in McRobert’s waistband. But the arrests were leaked to the media immediately, and Dorian and Damonte’s mugshots were blasted over the internet. Citing anonymous police sources, the Post-Dispatch reported that officers had also recovered “cough medication mixed with what police believe to be an illegal narcotic” from a cup Dorian Johnson had supposedly discarded at the scene. It only took a day for the rumored drug possession charge to evaporate. The cup tested negative for drugs. “A drug charge was brought to our office,” Lauren Trager, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney’s office, said at the time. “It was refused by our office.” The brothers weren’t home free. Both Johnsons were hit with a charge for resisting arrest, and Damonte faced an added charge of third-degree assault against a police officer. In the Justice Center, word quickly spread: Dorian Johnson — yes, that Dorian Johnson — was locked up. “We had gang unit come down and take pictures of us, and it started a kind of a buzz. So now we get umpteen different officers coming down,” Dorian Johnson remembers. “We had two officers come down and look through the window and smirk and laugh. We had a couple officers just coming and pointing. I was telling my brothers, ‘Don’t pay them no mind, we’ll be alright.’ “There was this young officer, he said, ‘I had to buy new guns because of you and Mike Brown. You guys ruined my whole vacation, and my whole summer.’” Damonte Johnson also remembers a parade of curious officers approaching the holding cell. “The first two days we were in there, it was absolutely horrible. It wasn’t an inmate that was a problem, it was all the [corrections officers]. It was this constant, ‘This ain’t Ferguson, you ain’t get no money out of here, fuck you, we’re going to fuck you up.’
Brothers Dorian (top) and Damonte Johnson accuse police of using excessive force during the May 6 arrests. “It was vulgar and in your face,” he adds, “almost like they were trying to bait us.” Although McRoberts, the youngest of the three brothers, was released on bond after a few days, the Johnsons were left to stew in an eight-by-ten cell with more than a dozen other men. One night, Damonte says, around 3 a.m., one of their cellmates woke up vomiting and defecating all over himself. When the guards took him away, they left the puke and shit behind in the cell. Dorian objected, asking one of the guards to clean up the mess. “At this point Dorian gets off the floor, walking toward the C.O. Dorian is just standing there, and that made the C.O. even more mad,” Damonte says. “The guard was screaming out our home address, ‘I’ll be waiting outside your continued on page 18
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house, I’m going to take my badge off and beat you.’” But along with the tension came a chance for reconciliation. More than three years after the fact, D’Angelo’s death still hung between the pair. “We had one of those big brother-tobrother talks, letting all our feeling out in this cell,” Dorian says. “We both wanted to be good for our mom. We both want to take care of our family. We were trying to do it on our own.” After D’Angelo died, the brothers had sparred over who would step up, be the man and fix the wounds in their family. Damonte wanted to take more responsibility, and he felt disrespected by Dorian’s overbearing attitude as the family’s eldest son, the protector. “We found each other in that place, we found what it meant to be brothers again,” Damante says. “Both of us had been just wrecks after losing our little brother, always doubting ourselves, just messing up and being real tough on ourselves. When we sat down and talked, it was crazy how much we saw eye to eye. He wanted the same thing that I did. He wanted to make it, to do something, to bring the family up and out of this.” Damonte left the Justice Center after five days, while Dorian was shipped to City Workhouse jail for another two days before
his own release. A few days later, Dorian lost his job at The Kitchen Sink. The staff, he says, disliked his notoriety and the attention the recent arrest had brought him. “This whole incident was excessive use of force against Dorian’s brothers,” says attorney Williams – who says the treatment only escalated once the officers realized who Dorian was. But both Dorian and Damonte say the time spent in Justice Center brought them closer. “The surprising thing was that we said we loved each other, for the first time in maybe five years,” Damonte says. “Now we always get off the phone with ‘I love you, bro. Stay safe.’”
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orian Johnson has found little peace in the year since Brown’s death. He lost his apartment, his job and his independence. He also became a national whipping boy after a U.S. Department of Justice report concluded that physical evidence and witness testimony supported Wilson’s version of events, rather than his own. In a column titled “‘Hands Up; Don’t Shoot,’ was built on a lie,” Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, who is black, wrote that the DOJ report made him ill. “Wilson knew about the theft of the cigarillos from the convenience store and had a description of the suspects,” Capehart wrote. “Brown fought with the officer and
“IT SEEMS LIKE THE PROSECUTOR GOT WHAT HE WANTED — A NON-INDICTMENT, AND SLOWLY EVERYTHING IS QUIETING DOWN, KIND OF JUST BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG.” 18
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Dorian’s Story
tried to take his gun. And the popular handsup storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by Witness 101. In fact, just about everything said to the media by Witness 101, whom we all know as Dorian Johnson, the friend with Brown that day, was not supported by the evidence and other witness statements.” Similar arguments metastasized across social media and blogs. And while Capehart concluded his column by emphasizing the serious issues raised by Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests, a vast array of naysayers used the same argument to dismiss the entire Black Lives Matter movement as a lie. As for Johnson, the only major change in his testimony occurred during the grand jury hearings, when he clarified that he did not actually see Wilson shoot Brown in the back, only that Brown appeared to jerk and halt in the same instant that Wilson fired a shot at the fleeing teenager. Otherwise, Johnson remains steadfast in his testimony — that Brown was murdered on that street with his hands raised. Unsurprisingly, he’s still bitter about the grand jury decision. “It seems like the prosecutor got what he wanted — a non-indictment, and slowly everything is quieting down, kind of just being swept under the rug,” he says, and the hurt is clear on his face. “People are out here trying to get to the bottom of it still, trying to get the clear, correct story. The story that’s going to add up, because the story that Darren Wilson told does not add up.”
A family photo of Dorian (right) and Damonte Johnson during their teen years. Johnson’s testimony lives on, however, in the form of lawsuits. In April, Michael Brown’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Ferguson, Wilson and former police chief Thomas Jackson. The suit draws heavily from Johnson’s statements, including how Wilson allegedly yelled “get the fuck off the street” before reversing his vehicle to block Brown from walking, and how Brown “raised his arms in a non-threatening matter” before Wilson’s fatal shots. Johnson has his own lawsuit pending against the same plaintiffs. He’s seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for “psychological injury, severe emotional distress, medical expenses, lost wages, living expenses [and] incurred additional expenses.” The prospect of a monetary windfall, however, seems small comfort in light of how things have shaken out. No matter how much Johnson has shunned the spotlight in the last eight months, the nation’s interest in him continues to border on tabloid obsession. And that, he believes, is in stark contrast to the third man on Canfield Drive that hot day last August – the man he believes bears responsibility for his friend’s death and everything that followed. “It does sadden me that it seems like Darren Wilson just fell off the face of the earth,” he says. “I mean, I can pick my nose and it’ll be on the news. Who’s to say what Darren Wilson is doing right now?” ■
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JUNE 10 FATPOCKET
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THREE PEDROS
AUG 12 MADBEATS
YOU HAD ME AT “DRINK SPECIALS”!
SEPT 9
GRIFFIN AND THE GARGOYLES
5:00-8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE | DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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NIGHT + DAY ®
MARK DETHROW
WEEK OF AUGUST 06–12
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[THEATER]
SPELLBOUND! A MUSICAL FABLE
Stray Dog Theatre’s current season comes to an end with the world premiere of Spellbound! A Musical Fable. Written by artistic director Gary F. Bell with Robert L. White, the play is an all-ages tale about a young woman named Arabella. She undertakes a hero’s journey to the land of Samaren, where she encounters shape-shifting beasts in the service of Layla, an enchantress. These are the obstacles that block Arabella’s path to discovering the value of her own worth, but she has the strength to triumph. While the kids are sure to enjoy it, don’t dismiss Spellbound! as “only for children”; Stray Dog has a long track record
of presenting thought-provoking and entertaining musicals, so adults will have a good time, too. Spellbound! is presented at 8 p.m. Thursday through T H IS C O D E Saturday (August TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES 6 to 22) at Tower IPHONE/ANDROID APP Grove Abbey FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT (2336 Tennessee riverfronttimes.com Avenue; 314-8651995 or www. straydogtheatre.org). There are two additional shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday (August 12 and 19). Tickets are $10 to $25. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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FiftyOneBowie revisits the many face of David Bowie.
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[ART EXHIBIT]
SOUND & VISION
Sound & Vision is a synthesis of music and art spread throughout several venues at Grand Center’s First Friday. The Kranzberg Arts Incubator (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.kranzbergartscenter.org) hosts Mark Dethrow’s exhibition FiftyOneBowie, an installation of 51 portraits of the chameleonic performer. Eric Hall and Kevin Harris present “Turn and face the strange,” an audio/visual piece comprising electronic remixes of the Main Man’s music and live analog video, in the Black Box Theater.
Downstairs the Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design presents Heavy Metals, an amalgamation of metal-arts demos and a punk-rock performance. Sound & Vision takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ N O VA N I G H T S ]
NASA NEW HORIZONS: PLUTO
The PlayStation 4 may be the most powerful home video game console on the market today (according to its manufacturer), but when NASA launched the 2006 New Horizon probe for a mission that would take it 3 billion miles from Earth, it went with the tried-and-true decades-old CPU that powered continued on page 22
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From the left: Get Spellbound!, buy art at Scratchfest, bask in Zardoz’s strange beauty and learn about early St. Louis breweries.
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Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 1 over any bleeding-edge tech. The mission’s flabbergasting findings on the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons are the focus of NASA New Horizons — To Pluto!, this month’s Nova Nights at the St. Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Avenue; 314-289-4400 or www.slsc.org). Attendees can test upcoming video games created by area developers, play with robots in the Maker Garage and take in a lecture about NASA’s mission to Pluto. At 10 p.m. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar screens for free in the theater (but not in the IMAX format; regular style only). Admission is free, as are mostsoulardconcertsseries_qrtr_pg_aug.pdf of the activities. — MARK FISCHER
S AT U R D AY |08.08 [ART SALE]
SCRATCHFEST: AN ART & DANCE FESTIVAL
The problem with most fine art is that once you’ve finished paying for it, you can no longer afford the home you were going to hang it in. But Scratchfest: An Art & Dance Festival Honoring the Life & Work of Bob Reuter changes that. The open-portfolio show features numerous printmakers who craft original and striking art that is surprisingly easy on your wallet, thanks to the black magic of mechanical reproduction. Most of the Outlaw Printmakers gang will be present, as will numerous Printbangerz workshop attendees — you buy straight from the artist and cut out the middleman. There will be live music and a couple of surprises — you’ll have to go to find out what that entails. Scratchfest runs from 6:50 AM August 8, at Atomic 61p.m.7/22/15 to 1 a.m. Saturday,
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Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue; www. evilprints.com). A portion of the proceeds benefit the Cowboy Angel Foundation in memory of photographer and musician Bob Reuter. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ C U LT C L A S S I C ]
ZARDOZ
John Boorman’s sci-fi brainmelter Zardoz is more commonly known as “that film where Sean Connery runs around in a red diaper and pirate boots.” And it’s true — he does, and that’s a big part of its appeal. Connery plays Zed, a primitive man from the Brutal caste who’s only skill is killing. When he infiltrates the secluded world of the Eternals, the ruling elite, Zed finds himself studied, feared and used as a weapon by various factions. It’s crazier than you think — a flying stone head issues weapons as needed, and the Eternals use naked mud wrestling to fight erectile dysfunction — but it’s also thoughtful and inventive despite
the cheesy bits. The Reel Late film series presents Zardoz at midnight Friday and Saturday (August 7 and 8) at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-727-7271 or www. landmarktheatres.com). Tickets are $8. — PAUL FRISWOLD
S U N D AY |08.09
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[HISTORY]
DRINKING UP ST. LOUIS
St. Louis has a long history as a beer town and a baseball town. The Brown Stockings, the team that eventually became the modern St. Louis Cardinals, was an original member of the founding class of the National League in 1875. That’s also the year the Compton and Dry map of St. Louis was created — clearly, drinking and baseball are cornerstones of the city. Numerous breweries, taverns and pubs were immortalized in the Compton and Dry
map (the Cardinals have done pretty well, too), currently on display as the centerpiece of the exhibition A Walk in 1875 St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard T H IS C O D E and DeBaliviere TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Avenue; 314-746RIVERFRONT TIMES 4599 or www. IPHONE/ANDROID APP mohistory.org). FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT riverfronttimes.com Today at 2:30 p.m. during Drinking Up Compton and Dry’s St. Louis, Cameron Collins of Distilled History discusses the brewing centers of interest visible in the map, and reveals tidbits about the history and fates of the noble structures. Admission is free. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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[DOCUMENTARY]
[MUSICAL]
ENCHANTED KINGDOM
OKLAHOMA!
The natural-history documentaries produced by BBC Earth are widely regarded as the best in class, but their crowning achievement may be their latest, Enchanted Kingdom 3-D. The film places viewers deep within the wilderness of Africa, using state-of-the-art 4K 3-D cameras. This new dimension of BBC Earth’s storytelling is further enhanced with high-definition time-lapse photography and micro and macro 3-D lenses. The film examines not only the critters that populate Africa’s densest jungles, but takes audiences on a journey from the bottom of the continent’s secretive seas to the tip of its ice-capped mountains. Enchanted Kingdom screens at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (August 10 and 11) at Ronnies 20 Cine with IMAX (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com). Tickets are $15. — MARK FISCHER
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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! paved the way for the modern musical, thanks to the duo’s insistence on using the songs as a means both to expand the story and to explain the motivations of the characters. Not a bad trick for the duo’s first collaboration, eh? It’s a classic, and the songs are part of America’s cultural heritage. Cowboy Curly McLain rides into town one last time to propose to his long-time gal, Laurey. She thinks he’s put it off too long, and goes to the dance with menacing farmhand Jud just to spite Curly. Curly can’t tolerate that, the same way cowboy Will Parker can’t tolerate Ado Annie’s relationship with the peddler Ali Hakim. Both cowboys have to fight for their respective gals, and this being Oklahoma!, that means singing and dancing are the weapons of choice. The Muny
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in Forest Park (314-361-1900 or www.muny. org) closes out its season with Oklahoma! Performances are at 8:15 p.m. Monday through Sunday, and tickets are $14 to $87. — PAUL FRISWOLD
Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.
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film
The Sharper Image Catalog as Film IN THE LATEST MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE STARS ARE THE GADGETS AND STUNTS. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames. Now open at numerous theaters.
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hile I have generally enjoyed the Mission: Impossible series, if you were to ask me what any of the films were about four days after I saw them, well...that information is kept in an airtight BY “dark tunnel” under six levels of encryption and accessible ROBERT only after presenting a thumbprint, a retinal scan and the HUNT name of my high school mas24
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cot. But that’s okay! Profundity is not the point of a Mission: Impossible film; logic, consistency and plausibility are equally discounted. These films deal in chaos and deliver it well. The latest, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is no exception, and although it may be almost too much of a good thing, it promises — and provides — two hours of continuous action. As in previous M:I outings, the film involves super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) looking for an international ring of terrorists known as the Syndicate, with help from his sidekicks on the Impossible Mission Force, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). They’re joined by British double agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may not be trustworthy — not that such things matter. There’s also a sub-plot in which CIA man Alan Hunley (Alex Baldwin) has the IMF disbanded and gives orders for Hunt’s arrest, while keeping Hunt’s former boss (Jeremy Renner) under his control. The action jumps from London to Vienna to Morocco, staying in each place just long enough to unload a new carton of gadgets and head into an extended series of stunts and action sequences before jumping off to the next location. For all of their globe-trotting heroes, terror-
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ist cells and world-threatening weapons, the Mission: Impossible films are, at heart, technophilic fantasies about men (and women) who live like real-life Jetsons and have better phone service than you can even dream about. Technology has been central to the series from the beginning, but much has changed since 1996, when Tom Cruise had to type in MS-DOS commands to break into CIA headquarters and arch-villain Vanessa Redgrave worried about transmitting a file before her Wi-Fi connection failed. In the first film, technology was a sometimes unreliable tool; with Rogue Nation, it is the whole point. The suspense of waiting for a particular bit of high-tech trickery to go off or the clockwork timing of some of the IMF capers are what passes for dramatic development here. Without them, Ethan Hunt is a cipher. Unlike James Bond, there’s no hint of a personal life or even much of a personality. His existence depends on having some kind of task to keep him occupied. You can’t imagine him ordering a drink, let alone worrying if it was shaken or stirred. Which is fine, because he’s just a vehicle for Tom Cruise and the elaborate stunt work which pulls the film closer to the semicomic terrain of Jackie Chan circa 1990 than
Tom Cruise (and uncredited motorcycle) star in the new Mission Impossible.
to the macho ruthlessness of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just as CGI effects would dilute the pleasure one gets from the motorcycle chases and endurance tests, so would having to believe that Ethan had any emotions or thoughts which might distract him from the action at hand. The filmmakers dutifully try to build up some kind of reason for all of the running around, but in this case, the ineffectual supervillain behind the complicated plot barely makes an impression. This isn’t a movie about good and evil; it’s about solving puzzles. Alliances shift as easily as trusts and characters are judged not by their ideology but by their usefulness. The filmmakers only lose sight of this once, near the end, when Hunt starts to make a statement about the necessity of the IMF bringing down the bad guys. (I’ll blame writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed Cruise in the heavy-handed Jack Reacher) It’s not just out of character; it’s disappointing. The last thing anyone wants from a Mission: Impossible film is for Cruise to start giving speeches. ■
MICAH USHER
STILL ROLLING OUR ONGOING, OCCASIONALLY SMARTASS, DEFINITELY UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO WHAT’S PLAYING IN ST. LOUIS THEATERS
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We’ve all seen the wedding-cake topper of the
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bride grabbing the groom by the collar, dragging him away from a life filled with sexy funtimes and toward the altar of imprisonment, where all that’s left is monogamy and arguing over how to properly squeeze the toothpaste tube (from the bottom up, always). In Trainwreck, it’s beer-slamming, bed-hopping Amy (Amy
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Schumer) who’d rather order another round of shots than order fine china. Until, of course, she meets Aaron (Bill Hader) who reminds her that, in the words of British philosopher Samantha Fox, naughty girls need love too. Sure, it gets
“What’s important about Tangerine is that it’s so
a little formulaic in places, but it’s a hell of a
CATHARTICALLY HILARIOUS.” Jonathan Kiefer, SF Weekly
“ONE OF THE
MOST EXCITING FILMS OF THE YEAR. It may not be the summer comedy we asked for, but it just might be the summer comedy we need.” Peter Macia, Vogue
“IT JUMPS OFF THE SCREEN AND
WOWS YOU LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS A VISUALLY INNOVATIVE KNOCKOUT THAT GRABS YOU FROM THE FIRST FRAME.”
.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
★★★★★
“THIS MOVIE IS EVERYTHING.” David Ehrlich, Time Out New York
“A TOUGH YET TENDER, GRITTY YET GORGEOUS MOVIE MADE WITH INGENIOUS SKILL. A DIZZY, OFTEN EXUBERANT, DOWN AND DIRTY ROMP.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
lot more fun than most actual weddings. ●
INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE
Almost every day we hear about the death of another pop-culture touchstone: “The inventor of the Hula-Hoop died? Sad,” we think. And just as quickly: “Can you super-size that?” Very few deaths hold our attention even minutes after we learn about them. And then there’s Amy Winehouse. Watching a fierce natural talent disintegrate in real time, her death four years ago at 27 wasn’t a complete shock — but the failure of anyone to successfully save her from herself was. Asif Kapadia’s Amy is already be-
MONDAY, AUGUST 10 7:00PM
ing called one of the best music documentaries ever made. It reveals the root of so many of her ills — eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse,
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manic depression — and how the wrong people in wrong places at the wrong times only sped up a frantically ticking clock. ● If your vacation week has come and gone, if you’re in the grips of the summertime blues, if you’re feeling old and irrelevant with the reappearance of back-
RATED PG-13 FOR ACTION VIOLENCE, SOME SUGGESTIVE CONTENT, AND PARTIAL NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.
to-school things, Pixels is for you. After an old VHS tape of a video-game tournament is broadcast into space (go with it), Pac-Man,
tangerine A film by
Sean Baker
magpictures.com/tangerine
STARTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Q*bert and their alien ilk believe they’re under attack...and are pissed. Fear not: This is a world where Donkey Kong prowess saves the universe, Kevin James can be president and, of course, Adam Sandler gets the girl. In other words, it’s
IN THEATERS AUGUST 14
“ageless” in the sense that every other Sandler flick has been since about 1995. Don’t you feel younger already?
— Kristie McClanahan
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Still the Big Man CAROL REED’S THE THIRD MAN REMAINS HAUNTING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. The Third Man Directed by Carol Reed. Written by Graham Greene. Starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Opens Friday, August 7, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; 314-995-6285 or www.landmarktheatres.com).
Keep the Receipt JOEL EDGERTON’S THRILLER THE GIFT HAS SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT WOMEN. The Gift Directed and Written by Joel Edgerton. Starring Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Opens Friday, July 7, at multiple theaters.
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h, but The Gift is an infuriating movie on so many levels. It can’t decide if it wants to be serious drama or a salacious thriller, and so it’s nowhere near enough of either, and each aspect seems to be laughing at the other. It touches on sensitive, tangled emotional matters that could easily be the basis for either sort of movie — how the effects of bullying in childhood linger into adulthood; how stress and grief can render us unable to function in daily life; how even the most intimate of relationships can be tinged by a lack of trust; and more — but it fumbles all of them so badly that it contradicts itself constantly, as 26
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death but immediately disappeared pull Martins into a noir-ish journey through Vienna’s backstreets and sewers, accompanied by Anton Karas’ relentless zither score. It’s not a great film, but it is memorable, driven by the casual charm of Cotten and the enigmatic draw of Welles. Graham Greene’s screenplay is uneven (there’s a particularly bad scene where Cotten is forced to address the local literary club, a roomful of grotesques if it doesn’t really understand the pain it is attempting to appropriate. It wants you to doubt who the villain is but doesn’t have the nerve to do anything meaningful with that gambit. I’m trying not to spoil. Suffice to say that The Gift, after descending into emotional idiocy and insufficient intrigue, ends up in a disgusting place that presumes its audience will be horrified at the repulsive suggestion that a medieval notion about marriage has been contravened. Granted, this notion remains something that some real people in the real world still believe, and it’s an awful trope that movies like this one frequently trot out. But it is a trope that deserves to die, not be perpetuated. I cannot even say that The Gift — written and, in his feature debut, directed by actor Joel Edgerton — starts out promisingly. Almost from the get-go, we are led down a path that treats Robyn (Rebecca Hall) as an appropriate battleground for a war of wills between her husband, Simon (Jason Bateman), and an old school friend of his, Gordo (Edgerton). (The movie is totally on board with the idea that women are properly pawns in games men
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who grill him on modernism. What literary grudge was Greene indulging here?), but just atmospheric enough to cover up the plot’s holes, and with just enough Hitchcockian elements to keep the story from being drowned by the atmosphere. But Hitchcock may not be the only source of inspiration. It used to be commonly believed -- although evidence has since proven it unlikely -- that Orson Welles directed his
Orson Welles leads the way in The Third Man.
own scenes in The Third Man (Welles himself always emphatically denied it). It is now often presumed that even if Welles stayed in front of the camera, Reed’s dark settings and odd compositions were inspired by the innovative look of Citizen Kane and The Lady from Shanghai. While there may be something to this -- there is a startling cut involving a
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arol Reed’s The Third Man has straddled the line between high and low art for so long that it’s hard -- no, impossible -- to watch it in innocence. One inevitably approaches the film under the influence of memory or nostalgia if you’ve seen it before, or under the long shadow of its reputation if you haven’t. In an otherwise enthusiastic review for BY the New York Times in 1950, ROBERT Bosley Crowther felt obliged to warn his readers that the HUNT film was essentially a firstrate contrivance in the way of melodrama -- and that’s all. The description still holds. It’s either a serious film with a lot of pulpy elements, or a genre piece with an air of self-importance. And yet it works, for the most part. Its contradictions are what holds it together. For those who haven’t seen it, The Third Man is a crime story set in post-war Vienna, when the city was run by international peacekeeping forces and black marketeering was rampant. Western author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten, in a rare leading role) has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but upon arrival he learns that Lime has just been killed under slightly mysterious circumstances. Questions about Lime, his business interests and, most of all, a mysterious “third man” who witnessed his
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Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall in The Gift.
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cockatoo, recalling one of Kane’s most jarring transitions -- it’s a superficial homage, entirely ignoring the in-depth staging and innovative sound design of Welles’ films. There are many vivid and evocative shots, but quite a few that seem to be set at harsh angles solely for a calculated effect. It’s not a particularly personal work, but Reed wasn’t a particularly personal director (although he inserts himself into the film as narrator of its oddly chatty prologue sequence). Maybe that’s why he indulges himself in the off-kilter angles; they act as a filter between the characters and the viewer. And yet Harry Lime has unmistakeably become one of cinema’s most memorable villains, a remarkable feat considering that he appears for less than ten minutes, and only after more than an hour has passed. His appeal, if you can call it that, can be attributed almost entirely to Welles, who was so taken
with the character and his amorality that he spun it into a radio series, The Adventures of Harry Lime. What’s most unique about Lime is that he doesn’t really seem to be villainous at all; he’s seductive, charming in a way that’s as irresistible as it is condescending, and though Martins -- and the viewer -- can see through Lime’s desperate need to win him over, he can’t turn away from it either. All things considered, The Third Man may be less than the sum of its parts — but those parts — a great villain, a personable hero, that impossible-to-ignore music and an exotic heroine (Alida Valli as Lime’s mistress) — do linger. No, The Third Man is not a great film, but 65 years after its premiere it remains a haunting one. ■
play.) The couple have just moved back to Los Angeles — to one of those masterpieces of mid-century architecture faced with huge glass windows, all the better for creepazoids to loom into view from the darkness beyond — when they run into Gordo in a shop. Simon doesn’t remember the guy at all, except that he was a bit of an oddball, which seems proven when Gordo shows up at the house without invitation (and clearly having obtained the address in some nefarious way, because they didn’t give it to him) several times, bearing increasingly and inappropriately extravagant gifts, and only when Robyn is home alone. Still, Robyn thinks that while Gordo may be a little socially awkward, he seems okay...but Simon is increasingly weirded out and wants to break off the new forced friendship. There are several intriguing directions this basic scenario could have gone in: The Gift ignores all of them and chooses one that has no ring of emotional truth at all...but which, I suspect, it thinks is incisive and subtly smart. Even though Simon was the one who didn’t want anything to do with Gordo, and rather condescendingly informs others that Robin
only struck up a friendship with the other man because she’s “too nice,” Robyn is the one who gets cast in the role of the fragile irrational when she begins to see that Gordo might actually be pretty creepy after all. But of course she’s delicate and unreasonable and probably not to be trusted! She lost a baby at some point prior to the beginning of the story here, and went through a “rough patch.” We’re meant to wonder if Simon is now gaslighting his wife, trying to deflect her from getting suspicious about his long-ago high-school relationship with Gordo. But it’s the movie that is gaslighting Robyn, seemingly positioning her in the center of the story when what is meant to be the significant stuff is happening elsewhere. And The Gift gaslights the audience, too. It sets itself up in a way that seems to be a preemptive attack on detractors by borrowing hot-button and even feminist issues but then treating them in implausible ways. Of course some women suffer in the wake of a miscarriage, but not like this. Of course marriages can have trust issues — but not like this. Of course bullies deserve their comeuppance — but not like this. —MARYANN JOHANSON
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E M
cafe
Clockwise from the left: White Fish Fillet, Twice-Cooked Pork and Short-Rib Black Pepper Beef.
Top Chef FOR AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL FOOD, GO TO CHEF MA’S — AND SURRENDER TO THE CHINESE TASTING MENU Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet 2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-395-8797. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
“C
hef Ma, five people.” My friend — a native Mandarin speaker — had beat me to Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet and was busy securing our table from the eponymous chef. As the tiny older man scrambled to arrange the BY chairs and place settings, we noticed that one thing was noC H E RY L tably absent — a menu. “No menu. I cook for you,” BAEHR Chef Ma said, then disappeared into the kitchen. If you visit Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I suggest you proceed as we did, though your first instinct may tell you otherwise. The small, unassuming restaurant sits just off a busy inter-
section in suburban Overland, housed in what used to be a Taco Bell. From the outside, it could easily be dismissed as just another Americanstyle place whose food is about as authentically Chinese as the San Francisco invention of chop suey. Dig a little deeper, however, and your perception quickly changes. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, it turns out, is a bastion of authentic Chinese cuisine owned by a man whose culinary pedigree is far more impressive than his bare-bones fast-casual restaurant would suggest. Ma has been cooking professionally for roughly 40 years, beginning his career with Marriott in his native Hong Kong. He traveled with the company, opening properties in Singapore and Malaysia before landing in Hawaii in 1979. He eventually moved to the mainland United States, first to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles, before arriving in St. Louis in the early ’90s to work for Mandarin House. After overseeing the palatial restaurant’s banquet operations for years and helping to open its satellite location on Olive Boulevard, Ma decided it was time to strike out on his own. He chose the space in Overland, figuring its close proximity to Mandarin House would encourage his loyal customers to visit the new venture.
He was right. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet appetizers — but then I would have missed peralready has a small word-of-mouth following, haps my favorite course. “This is what we have its clientele divided equally between American for lunch,” our server told us as she ladled a diners looking for something beyond sweet and still-simmering fish stew into our bowls. The sour chicken, and Chinese expats in search of broth was delicate and understated, like a spring the food of their homeland. onion consommé. Small filets of flaky whitefish Ma is eager to share the more traditional and pork meatballs bobbed alongside cabbage, side of his cooking with diners, especially those onions, snow peas and exotic mushrooms in the willing to let him take control of the wheel. steaming broth. One of them, a high-altitude Minutes after we sat down, a server delivered fungus that looked like an eggplant-hued sea an overflowing appetizer platter to the table. Pot creature, had a light umami flavor and silken stickers filled with pork and onion and pan fried texture. It was positively ethereal. to a golden brown sat alongside no less than ten If the fish stew was the embodiment of deliexcellent handmade egg rolls. The rolls were cate, understated cooking, the twice-cooked overstuffed with pork, carrots pork was decadence inand mushrooms, and piled into a carnate. Slices of creamy, Chef Ma’s Chinese paper-thin shell. A mouth-puckmelt-in-the-mouth pork Gourmet ering sweet and sour sauce (the belly, caramelized around Fish stew .............$15.95 difference between Ma’s homethe edges, were paired with Twice made version and the stuff that thin charred tofu strips, eggcooked pork ...... $11.95 comes out of a jar is astounding) plant, onions and green bell Hot braised chicken ............... $7.95 and soy-based dumpling sauce peppers. A sugary soy and were there for dipping, though chile-spiked glaze coated the I couldn’t get enough of the acingredients. companying chile-oil paste. It was fiery, burnMa continued with the hearty theme for the-back-of-your-throat hot, but so savory and his next course, black pepper beef. Bone-on nuanced the heat didn’t obscure the flavor. slices of short ribs, red and white onion petals I would have been satisfied had I left after and hunks of celery were continued on page 30 riverfronttimes.com 1 riverfronttimes.com MAOUNGTUHS TX X–X 5 - 1 1X, , 2200105X R RI IVVE ER RF FR ROONNT T T TI IMME ES S 29
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3265 S . Jefferson Avenue St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 776-5700
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smothered in black-pepper gravy. It was like a Chinese grandmother’s version of a hearty pot roast — so warm and comforting that we forgot we were in public and tore into the savory meat with our hands. “These taste like shrimp doughnuts,” one of my dining companions astutely observed as she bit into the pumpkin shrimp course. The battered and deep-fried shrimp rested atop a pumpkin brown-butter sauce — a savory shellfish pastry. The dish was heavy and intentionally on the salty side to cut through the richness — wonderful, though I was maxed out at two. Ma reeled in the richness for his next two dishes. His house specialty, Hainan chicken, is a boiled, skin-on bird, served room temperature and hacked into large pieces. The ginger-spiked cooking liquid gently infuses the meat with subtle sweetness; its flesh is like silk (though I must admit I preferred it skinoff ). Ma recommended pairing it with the accompanying ginger sauce and whole salted peanuts to enhance its flavor, then went to the back to show us the medals he won for his interpretation of this Singaporean classic. He served it alongside a simple, buttery sautée of assorted vegetables, the highlight of which was the tender, zucchini-like Chinese long squash. Our feast ended with a warm peanut, almond and sesame soup — a subtly sweet dessert that evoked the starchy liquid part of oatmeal, only seasoned with nuts and warm spices. Though we’d said we were too full for dessert, everyone at the table cleaned their bowls. Chef Ma’s impromptu and unadvertised Chinese-style tasting menu is the clear highlight of the restaurant, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the Americanized stuff too. The restaurant’s main menu (it sits directly above the ordering counter, as if Ma expects most of his diners to order from it) consists of the dishes most people have come to expect from a Chinese restaurant in the middle of America. What differentiates Chef Ma’s Chinese Gour-
Stew with fish fillet and assorted vegetables
Ma is eager to share the more traditional side of his cooking with diners, especially those willing to let him take control of the wheel. met, however, is that he approaches these dishes with the same respect as he does the traditional fare. He could just as easily order his food out of cans or frozen and ready for the deep fryer. Instead, the chef gets to the kitchen by 7 a.m. daily so that he can make from scratch things we are inclined to dismiss: sweet and sour, hot braised glaze, Mongolian beef sauce. The care is evident. On an earlier visit, I gave in to my not-so-guilty pleasure and ordered the hot braised chicken. Like Ma’s sweet and sour, the fact that the chef makes the sticky hot sauce in house and hand cuts and breads his chicken makes this a far better dish than what is peddled at greasy chop-suey joints. The pork Mandarin was equally enjoyable. Thin, breaded and fried pork cutlets were smothered in piquant sweet and sour then finished with soy-caramelized onions. And let’s be honest: Who doesn’t love crab Rangoon, especially on those all too rare occasions when it’s made with real crabmeat and scallions as it is at Chef Ma’s? The menu offered to Americans is in no way authentic Chinese cuisine, but it’s of good enough quality and flavor to make it worth a taste. But really, it doesn’t matter what’s on his board of fare. The next time I am at Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I won’t even look at what’s on the menu. “Chef Ma, three people” is the only guide I’ll need. ■
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[RESTAURANT NEWS]
short orders [DISTILLER CHAT]
Meet St. Louis Distillery’s Dr. Vodka
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C O M P L E M E N T S O F S T. LO U I S D I S T I L L E R Y
’ll be honest — I was escaping a Pampered Chef party,” Dr. Bill Schroer laughs when asked about the origins of St. Louis Distillery. “I was with two of my neighbors at one of their houses while their wives were down at mine. We got to drinking and talking about how there are a lot of people who open breweries and wineries, but not many who open distilleries. Then it came to us: We could do that.” Schroer is about as unlikely a distiller as they come. A respected orthopedic surgeon who spends his days doing knee replacements, Schroer has yet to quit his day job. It’s unlikely that will come anytime soon (he does hundreds of surgeries a year and lectures around the country on the procedure), though the success of St. Louis Distillery’s Cardinal Sin vodka could make that possible. What started out as a little more than a hobby has turned into a major, high-tech opT H IS C O D E eration that produces a TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES spirit even he and his IPHONE/ANDROID APP partners (Steve HerberFOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT holt and Greg Deters) riverfronttimes.com are surprised by. “We came to market about three years ago,” Schroer explains. “I remember going to our first tasting at Lucas Liquors. It was the first time anyone but our wives and us had tasted the vodka. We were so nervous — we didn’t know if it was actually good or not. The manager took one sip of it, looked at us, and said, ‘This is incredible!’” The words of encouragement led Schroer and his partners to enter Cardinal Sin into four different contests. They came away with the gold medal at all of them. Schroer was content making the vodka until a patient with a bum knee gave him an idea. “We got to talking about her business,” Schroer recalls. “She said that she owned a cooperage, but that I probably wouldn’t know what that was. I laughed and told her that she would be surprised.” Their conversation led to an arrangement whereby her company would provide St. Louis Distillery with brandnew Missouri white oak barrels where the vodka could age. “We came up with the idea for our Starka barrel-aged vodka to do something a little different,” Schroer says. Though Starka has been around Eastern Europe since the 15th century, it has only recently become popular in the United States. Schroer isn’t surprised
Local Takes Missouri Barbecue Flavors to Colorado
St. Louis Distillery partners Steve Herberholt, Bill Schroer and Greg Deters.
that people are catching on. “It’s like bourbon but smoother. Put it over rocks with an orange slice — there’s nothing better.” Schroer took a break from distilling vodka and replacing knees to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, being a morning person and which local chef he’d love to spend the day with. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I wish more people knew that we have an award-winning vodka distillery right here in town! What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I have to get up early and get working early. If I don’t have something accomplished by eight o’clock, I’m a wreck. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To be able to work and play without sleep — seems to be a terrible waste of time. What is the most positive trend in food, beer, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Local quality — moving away from national chain restaurants and breweries to local eateries, microbreweries and artisan distilleries. Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? Gerald Craft [Niche] — I would love to spend a day to see how this guy puts it all together. I bet he doesn’t sleep much either. Who’s the one person to watch right now in
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the St. Louis food and beverage scene? Ron Buechele, owner chef of Capitalist Pig and Mad Art Gallery. It’s the most inventive food and location in town. Tell Ron, “Doctor Vodka” sent you. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Cinnamon — can be sweet or hot. And just like the challenge, a little is great, but too much will make you yack. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ food and beverage climate, what would you say? Inventive and creative. I’m amazed by the creativity I witness in bars and restaurants in pairing unlikely ingredients. We are so lucky to have so many original and diverse options right in our back yard. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Cheap booze — life is way too short to drink poorly. What is your after-work hangout? My back patio with friends drinking Starka mules. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks, of course. An award-winning chef presenting a tasting menu with wine flights. I love to indulge in the best of the best where a chef puts his or her talent and vision on full display. — CHERYL BAEHR
ason Ganahl, a 1994 graduate of Webster Groves High School, is taking St. Louis barbecue to Colorado. The St. Louis native has fond memories of his father grilling in the back yard with his Weber grill and Maull’s sauce at the ready — such flavors and experiences, he believes, are missing in much of the West. Although Ganahl is a long-time barbecue fan, his path to restaurant ownership began when he actually left St. Louis. At the age of 30, he packed up his bags for a job in California. Though the sunshine was great, the smoked meat was not. He missed good barbecue, so he signed up to become a barbecue competition judge with the Kansas City Barbeque Society. As a judge, however, he was eating as much bad barbecue as good. Granahl thought he could do it better himself, so he started competing...and winning. Work took him to Colorado where he continued to compete, but once again he was unsatisfi ed with the local restaurant offerings. Hence, GQue is under construction about fifteen minutes northwest of Denver in the suburb of Westminster. Its grand opening is scheduled for mid-October. Ganahl considers himself a meat-andpotatoes kind of guy who used to eat at Bandana’s a few times a week. In competition circles, Ganahl is best known for his brisket, which will likely be the star of GQue. He’ll serve prime brisket: “The best I can get my hands on.” In addition to the barbecue staples, Ganahl plans to serve “lots of fun stuff, too.” Ganahl is planning a number of daily specials that will stretch the imaginations of traditional barbecue lovers — similar to what you might find at St. Louis outposts such as Sugarfire Smoke House. Though Ganahl eats a ton of barbecue, he doesn’t have a particular St. Louis favorite. When he’s home, he heads to Farotto’s and Nachomama’s. The Rib House, located nearby Longmont, Colorado, has its walls covered with Denver Broncos memorabilia — that’s the ultimate stab in the back to anyone from Kansas City (such as the Rib House’s very owners). But Ganahl iinsists he will never turn his back on his beloved Cardinals or Missouri Tigers. Owning a restaurant in Colorado won’t dampen the pride of this self-proclaimed rabid fan. The 2,500-square-foot space will be set up for fast-casual service. GQue will feature a Missouri-made Ole Hickory Pits smoker. — JOHNNY FUGITT
Authentic MexicAn Food, Beer, And MArgAritAs!
2817 cherokee st. st. Louis, Mo 63118 314.762.0691 onco.coM www.tAqueriAeLBr
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Beer, Wine, & Full Bar Now Available! Breakfast Served All Day! CHEAPEST DRINK PRICES IN TOWN! St. Louis’ New Cajun-Creole Restaurant
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E N
106 main st. • edwardsville, il 618.307.4830 www.clevelandheath.com
–Restaurants 2014
La Vallesana’s frozen treats come in a dizzying array of flavors, all made with fresh fruits. [SUGAR HIGH]
La Vallesana’s Paletas, a Tasty Frozen Treat To Beat the Heat
B
efore La Vallesana (2801 Cherokee Street; 314-776-4223) expanded into the fullservice, multi-patio Mexican-food mecca it is today, it had humble beginnings as a simple frozen-treat stand. According to manager Marco Vargas, whose father owns the business, the restaurant originally opened in 2003 selling ice cream. The addition of tacos, tortas, burritos and more came in years following. To this day, La Vallesana still offers some of the desserts that started it all: paletas. “To a lot of people, it’s different,” Vargas says. “It’s all homemade. We use all fresh fruit and don’t use preservatives.” 34
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The Latin American-style popsicles known for their utilization of fresh fruits come in two different varieties: water-based and milk-based. Family recipes scaled to proper proportions feature simple mixtures of milk or water with sugar as well as fruit or nut flavorings. Bestsellers include pistachio, pecan, strawberry and spicy mango. Look for a dozen or more options on any given day out of a pool of 50-some options established over the years — each for less than a few bucks bucks a pop. In addition to paletas, La Vallesana also offers a selection of agua frescas and ice creams. Like the paletas in the next cooler over, look in the dipping cabinets for sixteen or so flavors of ice cream out of a total of around 50 rotating options. These, too, are a bit different than similar traditional American treats. The texture of the housemade ice creams is a bit denser and milkier, according to Vargas. Beat the heat by cooling down with any one of these refreshing sweets. — MABEL SUEN
Craft Beer Week - Llywelyn’s Webster
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Look for the RFT Street Team at the following featured events this week:
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Friday, 8.7.15 What: Taking Back Sunday & Greek Fire Concert When: 5 - 8:30 PM Where: Ballpark Village
Thank you St. Louis!!!
Voted #1
BEST FRIED CHICKEN
by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Readers
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Saturday Sessions When: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM Where: Tower Grove Farmer’s Market
Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Grub and Groove 2015 When: 3 - 10:30 PM Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Where: Francis Park
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Trombone Shorty Concert When: 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
Where: Ballpark Village
114 W Mill St, Waterloo, IL 62298 (618) 939-9933 • gallagherswaterloo.com
For more photos go to the Street Team website at www.riverfronttimes.com. riverfronttimes.com
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
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dining guide The Dining Guide lists only restaurants recommended by RFT food critics. The print listings below rotate regularly, as space allows. Our complete Dining Guide is available online; view menus and search local restaurants by name or neighborhood.
Happy Hour M-F 3-7PM 25% Tapas & Wine $
1 off domestic beers
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7344 Manchester Rd
3 1 4-645-4803
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Price Guide (based on a three-course meal for one, excluding tax, tip and beverages): $ up to $15 per person $$ $15 - $25 $$$ $25 - $40 $$$$ more than $40
SOUTH CITY Adam’s Smokehouse 2819 Watson Road, St. Louis, 314-875-9890. You can’t spell barbecue without “cue,” but the lines haven’t formed outside the door at Adam’s Smokehouse — yet. The slow-smoking barbecue joint in Clifton Heights opened in October and serves as a sister store to well-renowned, consistently packed restaurants Pappy’s Smokehouse and Bogart’s Smokehouse, so it seems like only matter a time before all of St. Louis stands in line to try a bite. Co-owners Frank Vinciguerra and Mike Ireland spent several years working at Pappy’s with barbecue master Skip Steele before embarking on their own venture. With the blessing of their barbecue brethren, the two put together a small but substantial menu of smoked meats and traditional sides done well. $$ Athlete Eats 2837 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, 314-9325566. Tucked amid the bodegas and indie record stores of Cherokee Street sits Athlete Eats, a polished little café that is all about healthy eating. Owner Simon Lusky started the business as a nutrition service, providing meal plans and prepared foods to healthconscious clients, including some of the St. Louis Cardinals players, and expanded to include a breakfast and lunch counter. Athlete Eats offers a variety of juices, smoothies and guilt-free fare, including Carolina-style barbecue; a juicy, locally raised grass-fed beef burger; and hearty salads. One of the more creative offerings, the bibimbap bowl, T H IS C O D E replaces the traditional sticky TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE rice with caulirice — grated RIVERFRONT TIMES pieces of roasted cauliflower IPHONE/ANDROID APP that resembles small rice FOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT grains. Tossed with edamame, riverfronttimes.com shiitakes and thinly sliced spiced beef, it’s as good, if not better, than the traditional, rice-based Korean staple. Athlete Eats only serves breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays — a shame because it’s where some of the restaurant’s best items are showcased. The gluten-free pancakes, laden with cinnamon and topped with coconut cream and maple orange syrup, are so tasty that one doesn’t miss the flour. And do not leave without trying Athlete Eats’ breakfast take on the Gerber sandwich: a garlic-studded waffle is topped with shaved ham, Provel cheese, béchamel sauce and a sunny-side egg. It’s one of the best uses of waffles in town. $ Corvid’s Cafe 5001 Mardel Avenue, St. Louis, 314-481-1522. Tucked into the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood of south city, Corvid’s Café is the quintessential neighborhood café — a place to gather, have a light meal or grab a cup of coffee to go. Owners John and Cindy Panian had been operating a catering company next door for eight years, and when the adjacent restaurant space (formerly World Café) became available, they jumped at the chance to put their own stamp on the place. The menu features light, classic café fare, such as tarragon-infused chicken salad and a spinach salad topped with dried fruit, sunflower seeds and Gorgonzola. The signature item is the “Crabwich,” a fried crabcake fritter served with oven roasted tomatoes, arugula and ancho chile sauce on a pretzel croissant. Other offerings include housemade pizzas and dressed-up baked potatoes. It’s the perfect place to sink into an overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace, sip a cup of coffee and snack. $ Gooseberries 2754 Chippewa Street, St. Louis, 314-5776363. Gooseberries is a Dutchtown South-Cherokee Street gathering place where locals and passersby can go to grab a meal, a snack or just a cup of coffee. Out of a cozy, re-
SCAN
4144 S. Grand
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 875-9653
Tuesday-Sunday
11am-9pm
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habbed storefront, owners Kim Bond and Ross Lessor serve an eclectic mix of breakfast and lunchtime items, including several vegan and vegetarian dishes. Bond is a pastry chef, so Gooseberries’ baked goods are highly recommended — especially the hand pies, filled with everything from gyro meat to chicken and waffles to broccoli-cheddar. Sandwiches include a vegan beet Reuben, pulled pork, and a Gouda and cheddar grilled cheese that can be made with waffles instead of bread. The restaurant’s signature dish is “KFT”: “Krispy Fried Tofu” made with a savory blend of thirteen herbs and spices that is so tasty, it could make one forget the Colonel. $ Grapeseed 5400 Nottingham Avenue, St. Louis, 314-9258525. Chef Ben Anderson’s Grapeseed serves seasonal American cuisine in the SoHa neighborhood of south city. Anderson sees the restaurant as a canvas upon which to feature locally sourced ingredients, the wares of the city’s artisans and even paintings by local artists. The menu is eclectic yet approachable, with offerings as varied as a Cuban sandwich to Chinese five-spice salmon. Though the menu changes frequently, some dishes remain as his signatures, such as the smoked turkey nachos — a platter of sweet potato chips topped with smoked turkey, spiced cranberries, micro greens, red peppers, buttermilk dressing and house brewed sweet and sour firecracker sauce. Dine at the bar next to the SoHa regulars, or grab a table in the warm, contemporary dining room for a feast that celebrates the best of the season. $$$ Leonardo’s Kitchen 2130 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, 314-664-1410. Leonardo’s Kitchen is a quaint sandwich and pizza shop, located in a converted gas station. Characteristic of its Hill neighbors, the restaurant specializes in St. Louis-style Italian dishes, such as pastas, sandwiches and pizzas. Meatballs are the house specialty, and Leonardo’s Kitchen and Wine Bar gives diners several opportunities to enjoy them — on the “Hey Bauly” pizza, “naked” with a variety of sauces or as the must-try meatball sandwich. For this version, Leonardo’s packs the moist, tender meatballs between two slices of garlic bread, smothers them with fresh tomato sauce and basil pesto then tops them with melted provolone cheese. The hot Italian beef sandwich is another signature dish: Gravy-drenched roasted beef and giardiniera are served atop a soft roll, like an Italian version of a French dip. Pizzas fall between St. Louis and New York style — handtossed and thin, but with heft and crunch. Leonardo’s piles on the toppings. Its veggie pizza gives diners two days’ worth of vegetables. This cozy little spot may no longer be filling up cars, but diners will leave overstuffed with tasty casual Italian food. $ Lulu’s Local Eatery 3201 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, 314-357-7717. St. Louis food-truck-goers are already familiar with the name Lulu’s Local Eatery; these mobile peddlers of vegan cuisine have been rolling around town since 2012. Following the success of their truck, husband and wife owners Lauren “Lulu” Loomis and Robert Tucker expanded their operations to include a brick-and-mortar corner storefront on South Grand, featuring the dishes that diners came to love from their food truck. Lulu’s may be vegan, but patrons are treated to hearty, satisfying cuisine that appeals to even the most committed carnivore. Buffalo cauliflower bites are like vegetarian boneless buffalo wings, complete with ranch dressing. Another appetizer, the avocado boat stuffed with Mexican-style quinoa, is satisfying enough to be a meal unto itself. The buffalo veggie burger and sweet potato falafel are also excellent sandwiches, but the star of the menu is the Buddha bowl, filled with stir-fried vegetables and thick, silky udon noodles. Dine on the patio, amidst the organic herbs and vegetables — you just might be sitting next to tomorrow’s special. $-$$ Old Standard 1621 Tower Grove Avenue, St. Louis, 314-8999000. Acclaimed chef Ben Poremba adds to his Botanical Heights restaurant flock with Old Standard Fried Chicken. Located in a converted horse stable, this casual chicken and bourbon shack draws crowds for its sustainably raised fried birds and Southern-style dishes. Poremba’s chicken recipe involves brining the bird, then cooking it in a pressure fryer to lock in the juices and give it a crisp exterior. Fried chicken is the only entrée at Old Standard, but the menu is filled with such downhome snacks as creamy pimento cheese dip, boiled peanut hummus, and sweet and spicy chicken wings. The restaurant’s standout snack, the smoked whitefish croquettes, is like eating a sweet and savory cream puff. Classic side dishes, such as smothered greens, creamed corn and mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, complement the fried chicken, and the bread board, served with housemade butters and jellies, makes for a hearty feast. $$-$$$ The Purple Martin 2800 Shenandoah Ave, St. Louis, 314898-0011. Long-time Fox Park residents Brooke Roseberry and Tony Lagouranis dreamed of creating a neighborhood gathering place. They’ve finally gotten their wish with the Purple Martin. Located in a rehabbed corner storefront, the restaurant is a quaint, casual bistro with Mediterranean and North African fare. Appetizers such as skordalia, a tangy garlic dip, and zeal, a lima-bean-based Berber specialty, serve as zesty starters, while the lamb shank with roasted tomatoes and potatoes is a satisfying entree. Make sure to save room for dessert. The Napoleon, layers of buttery puff pastry, sweet cream and macerated blackberries is a decadent end to a meal. For those who prefer an adult beverage as a nightcap, the Purple Martin boasts a creative cocktail menu. Its namesake drink, a concoction of Fitz’s grape soda, Malibu rum and lime juice, is a sweet and refreshing treat. $-$$
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music
B-Sides 40 Critics’ Picks 44 Concerts 46 Clubs
The Good Fight FIFTEEN YEARS INTO HIS CAREER, ROCKY VOTOLATO REFUSES TO BE KNOCKED DOWN Rocky Votolato 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street. $12. 314-535-0353.
ocky Votolato, the Seattle-based, Texas-born singer-songwriter, has always been workmanlike as an artist — and it shows. Throughout his fifteen-year-plus career, songs about making ends meet (or failing to) and laboring fingers to the bone have always shared time with more genre-typical matters-of-the-heart fare. Take, for example, the aptly titled “St. Louis,” a recently released B-side from 2012’s Television of Saints. Inspired by a gig in town a few years BY back, Votolato sings, “Taping JAMES up your knuckles and climbing back into the ring/For a KANE workman’s wages slugging it out in St. Louis/Your life is not your own without the chances that you take.” “Maybe just because my name is Rocky, I relate to a boxer, and each night is kind of getting in the ring when I go do a show,” Votolato says, speaking from Washington, D.C., after three nights of sold-out shows. “Some nights you get your ass kicked. Other nights, you know, you put up a good fight.” Votolato has been waging that battle in countless cities throughout the United States and Europe, playing earnest folk, rock and Americana tunes from his eight full-length studio albums. His latest, Hospital Handshakes, came out in April on No Sleep Records, recorded by former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla. “We’re old friends,” Votolato says of Walla. “He did Suicide Medicine [Votolato’s 2003 breakthrough], so we already knew each other. He just recently left Death Cab — that basically happened while we were making the record. There was a lot of good creative energy around, but it was also kind of tough because we were both at a point of transition. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but I don’t know any record that ever is.” Votolato, his brother Cody (a long-time collaborator and member of the post-hardcore band the Blood Brothers) and Walla scoured their contacts to find a veteran group of friends and musicians to fill out the full-band studio
AMBER ZBITNOFF KNECHT
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Rocky Votolato.
lineup. The group included Eric Corson of the Long Winters, who played bass, and Casey Foubert, now on tour with Sufjan Stevens, who filled in on various instruments. “It’s always different every time for me because I’ve never had a set, solid band. It’s a solo project, so I like it to be flexible,” says Votolato. “Basically, it was a group of super pro, super experienced guys who’ve done a lot of records.” The album came together at a breakneck pace. “Because I trusted them all, I just let it happen. There wasn’t a lot of cerebral overthinking of the process,” Votolato says. “It was more kind of a punk approach to it. I wanted to make this record in two weeks, which we basically did. And it was live to tape, which is really fun. It felt impulsive and urgent.” Votolato explains that overthinking his process had caused problems for him in the past. “I went through some trouble the last couple years, sort of getting writer’s block. You can shut down the creative process pretty
quickly, being too critical or too perfectionist about things,” he says. “But I got through that. Hospital Handshakes has been great for just getting back to work, man. I’m super proud of this album; it’s going to be one in my catalog that I always look back on and feel good about. I think it will stand up.” It does. As the former frontman of a punk band, Votolato’s new studio lineup finds him as energized and uptempo as ever. Cody Votolato’s muscular electric guitar provides the forward momentum (see “White-Knuckles,” “A New Son” or the Foo Fighters-inspired “Rumi”) while his bandmate in several other projects, Andy Lum, plays drums with abandon. Votolato’s vocals are as full-throated as they were in his days with Waxwing, though perhaps tinged with a bit more Americana influence — casual listeners could be forgiven for mistaking several new songs for Ryan Adams tunes. There are notes of resignation, too, as Votolato chants, “Trust that everything happening is perfect/I’ll trust you if you trust me,” almost echoing his thought process, swaying as, say, a like-named champ in the fifteenth round would. riverfronttimes.com
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Handshakes also marks Votolato’s return to a record label proper. After making his home at Barsuk Records for three albums (and Second Nature Recordings for three before that), 2012’s Television was a strictly crowd-funded endeavor. Votolato considers it a learning experience. “After I did a Kickstarter, I realized how much extra work there is on the back end to get that done,” he says. “I wanted to have a label this time around. It’s nice having a team of people helping.” The tour he built around that album was a social-media-driven effort, consisting of fanhosted-living room shows across the country. Votolato continues that tradition today. “A company called Undertow Music does [the living room shows] for me. Basically, it’s sort of like crowdsourcing the houses. Anybody who wants to host one of the shows gets in touch, and fans send in pictures of their living rooms,” he says. “We sell a very limited number of tickets, between 30 and 50 tickets, and they’re just these really intimate shows. I love doing those tours. The people that are there really want to hear me sing. It’s the most organic way you can do it. It just cuts down on all the bar talkers and distractions, and just makes it all about the songs.” Speaking of bar talkers, a digression: More than a decade ago, this writer witnessed Votolato dismiss a particularly obnoxious kilt-wearing heckler in a room of otherwise reverent fans in Kansas City. After several polite requests to quiet down, Votolato silenced him: “C’mon, man, I don’t go to your job and knock dicks out of your mouth!” He issues a belly laugh when reminded of this memory. “That is a classic from my past,” he sighs. “I learned that from my dad. He was a bit of a rough character. And I was pretty fiery as a young man, making all kinds of mistakes in life. I don’t think I’d ever say that to someone now. I’ve grown up a little bit.” How so? For one, he’s gotten better at traveling. But Votolato also says that committing to music full-time was a major step for an artist who, six albums ago, plaintively sang, “I should be singing/To earn my keep by now.” “I think we all have some kind of singing to do,” he says, referencing that line. “I think that’s a big part of figuring out life, if you really want to be happy — finding what you really love to do, then finding a way to make it into your job. I hear stories all across the country all the time of people who are struggling to do that. That’s just a real challenge, so I’m super grateful now to be in a place where, for now, I have a balance. I kind of made my mind up: This is all I do. This is all I do.” ■
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Shooting a Scene ART SHOW AT BLANK SPACE FEATURES MORE THAN 500 PHOTOS DOCUMENTING THE PAST TEN YEARS OF ST. LOUIS MUSIC More Loves than Stupids: The Past Decade of the South St. Louis Music Scene in Photos 7 p.m. Thursday, August 13. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee Street. Free. 314-300-8831.
I
f you ask Jaime Lees to explain the body of work that will be on display in her one-night photography show at Blank Space next week, she might say, “It’s just my friends doing what they do best, and I have these crappy pictures of them.” She might tell you that she’s not a “real photographer.” But don’t let her fool you. Her photos are definitely the real deal. For more than ten years, Lees has been quietly documenting the St. Louis music scene, taking candid photographs and storing them away in her personal records. She didn’t initially plan on showing the images to anybody. But she has since had a change of heart, and on August 13, more than 500 of the photographs will be on display, offering viewers an intimate glance into the heart of the scene. Lees isn’t a musician herself, but she is every bit a part of the scene as the men and women in her photographs. In addition to being a regular contributor to RFT Music, she and Bunnygrunt’s Matt Harnish maintain HaikuLou, a minimalist music blog that
exclusively features show reviews in haiku form. Between the two of them, they have written more than 800 poems over the last four years. For Lees, St. Louis music is as important as family. “I’m not trying to document some scene; I’m just taking pictures of my friends,” Lees says. “There’s some kind of holy thing that these musicians are tapping into. I can’t do it, so the best I can do is document it. This is just how I show my appreciation.” While many of the images in the show are entrancingly beautiful, exploding with crisp light and deep contrast, what makes these photographs so captivating is the way that they capture the personalities and emotions in every moment. In one image, Lees’ favorite, local artist Dana Smith and musician Anne Tkach sit together at the bar at Ryder’s Tavern. The photo was taken in January of this year, just months before Tkach tragically died in a fire at her father’s house. Tkach faces the camera, but both of them seem completely oblivious to Lees, totally wrapped up in their conversation. They each smile thoughtfully, and look as if there is nowhere they would rather be. “That’s her at her happiest,” Lees explains. “It’s one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken because Anne looks so great in that picture.” These are the kinds of moments that Lees looks for when she is at a show. Although there are plenty of photographs of live music in this body of work, most of the pictures capture the musicians before and after they step onto the stage. Lees is more interested in people than performances, capturing her musician friends dancing in the crowd,
JAIME LEES
b-sides
A small sample of the photos that will be on display at Blank Space on Thursday.
loitering outside the venue or hugging and kissing one another. “With actual journalism it’s about capturing exactly what’s there, but with a photo it’s about capturing how the room feels, or the
HOMESPUN SI FASIC Basement Sessions EP facebook.com/Sifasic SIFASIC Record Release Show 9 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Avenue. $7. 314-352-5226.
J
oshua J. Grassle has a growling, gristley voice that’s well-suited for the low rumbles of melodic hardcore or the soul-scrapings of heavy metal. He’s proved as much over the years with a host of St. Louis-byway-of-Alton, Illinois, bands such as Foster Pilot and Elbow Through Hammer. His newest group attempts to soften some of the edges of his previous acts, though his vocal delivery has lost none of its heaviness. SIFASIC, a clunky acronym for “sometimes it’s foggy, and sometimes it’s clear,” had its genesis in Grassle’s musical partnership with vocalist and pianist Jamie Marie George, and the two have collaborated in a few projects prior to this one. Alongside guitarist Sean Stone, bassist Rich White and drummer Paul Sanders, the two singers lock into set roles — his gruff, hers honeyed — for this grayscale hard-rock EP. As the title suggests, Basement Sessions collects five home recordings as a way of introducing the group. The finished product is better than a demo tape and less convincing as a statement of purpose, and the suitably rough production is a good fit for a band with little 40
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love for polish. Most of these songs are minor-key and downcast, mining the strip of land between modern radio rock and bleak outlaw country, if more in mood than in genre signifiers. Opening track “Everything Changes” gives the clearest picture of what SIFASIC is after: A rangy lead guitar cuts a path early in the song, and George’s heavy piano chords add a different kind of gravity than that of the rhythm section. It’s also the best example of what Grassle and George can accomplish as a duo; her lines float above his with a plaintive sway, as if the characters in the song are speaking the same lines but still failing to communicate. That’s a useful tension that the best duet singers have relied upon, but too often the singers perform in tandem at a set interval that doesn’t explore the space of the songs. These feel like Grassle’s performances with George’s harmonies tacked on. “Right” shows a little more buoyancy thanks to some syncopated guitar interplay and plucky piano parts, and set closer “On and On” shows the band at its most muscular. As an introductory recording, Basement Sessions shows that SIFASIC can be a fine hard-rock band, but the group will have to leave room for nuance if it wants to create a new space for its sound. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space? Send music c/o Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130. Email music@riverfronttimes.com for more information.
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feeling of what’s happening in there,” Lees says. “Some things just want to be pictures.” The 560 photographs that will be on display at Blank Space on August 13 are just a small sliver of the many thousands of pictures that Lees has taken in the past ten years. For her, flipping through the photographs is a bit like reliving history. With each image, nights that would be otherwise forgotten flood back into her memory. “It’s a little disturbing to see ten years of your life condensed to 500 pictures,” she says. “I can see who I was hanging out with, where I went, what bands I saw. It makes you realize how much time has gone by.” Although she takes pictures almost every day, Lees sees herself as more of a documentarian than a photographer. She prefers an iPhone to a bulky camera, and isn’t particularly worried about having the highest quality images. For her, taking pictures isn’t so much about creating art as it is about recording the music scene that means so much to her. She shoots shows so that they will never be forgotten. “I have a very strong instinct to document. It’s like if I don’t get this, no one will — and then it will be gone forever. It’s sort of an anxiety to document,” Lees explains. “I don’t have kids; if I had a baby there would be ten thousand pictures of a baby. Music is how I prioritize my life.” –DEREK SCHWARTZ
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Bowling the way it is now– FUN!
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Delmar Loop
Saint Louis
SaturDaY 8/8
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friDaY 9/11
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UPCOMING SHOWS 9.12 THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE 9.18 KACEY MUSGRAVES 9.25 WARREN HAYNES 9.27 BEACH HOUSE 9.29 ZZ WARD 9.30 PARADOSIO 10.2 FUNK VOLUME TOUR 2015 W/ HOPSIN 10.6 GHOST 10.7 FATHER JOHN MISTY 10.8 BEN RECTOR 10.12 BRING ME THE HORIZON 10.15 FLUX PAVILION
10.16 LETTUCE 10.17 GRACE POTTER 10.19 PASSION PIT 10.21 LYLE LOVETT & JOHN HIATT 10.23 YELAWOLF/MEG MYERS 10.24 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS 10.28 ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS / NEW POLITICS 10.31 SOMO 11.6 TIMEFLIES 11.8 NEW FOUND GLORY / YELLOWCARD 11.23 GLEN HANSARD
visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL
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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161
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critics’ picks
Clockwise from the top: The Coup (Ferguson Rocks), Girlpool and Jay Farrar (Open Highway Fest).
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 5, through Sunday, August 9. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $40. 314-773-3363. The brainchild of musician and promoter John Henry, the Open Highway Music Festival celebrates its fifth year with the kind of lineup that should make LouFest, if not Sasquatch, envious. Two major songwriters, Jay Farrar and Ryan Bingham, join Bob Schneider (who kicks off the five-night event on August 5), Ha Ha Tonka, Diarrhea Planet and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. It’s been decades since Farrar has played Off Broadway, once a stomping ground for Uncle Tupelo, and Bingham ordinarily plays rooms three times the size of this club, so that should be incentive enough. But with not-quite-local heroes Ha Ha Tonka (the band hails from Springfield) and Finn, who will be debuting new material from his second solo album Faith in the Future, OHMF should tempt anyone who wants a festival experience without the increasingly corporate mega-festival bullshit. Local Rock Love: On August 6, the second night of OHMF, two local bands, Bruiser Queen and Brother Lee and the Jackals, test their mettle before Nashville, Tennessee’s Diarrhea Planet, widely hailed as one of rock’s wildest live bands. — ROY KASTEN
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run its course. Expect a good time shared by friends and fans alike, as well as sets from Fister, Anodes and the aforementioned Hell Night. Catch the Fever: [Editor’s note: Damn it, “Catch the Fever”? That’s, like, the easiest, most groan-worthy idiom ever. Let’s make sure not to print this or else people are going to accuse us of being lazy writers.] — DANIEL HILL
FERGUSON ROCKS 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. Free. 314-833-3929. One day before the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the Ready Room will play host to a concert to raise awareness and benefit social activism. Organized by rapper/activist Talib Kweli’s Action Support Committee, the free show will feature performances by many artists who are passionate about social justice, including Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Boots Riley of the Coup, Street Sweeper Social Club and more. While the event is free of charge, donations are encouraged. The Nightwatchman Cometh: Morello has been outspoken about last summer’s events in Ferguson since the very beginning, even writing a song called “Marching on Ferguson” under his solo guise as the Nightwatchman. Safe to assume he will have a lot to say on the matter. — DANIEL HILL
CATHEDRAL FEVER FINAL SHOW
GIRLPOOL
8 p.m. Friday, August 7. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $8. 314-289-9050. Three-and-a-half years after forming, Cathedral Fever is calling it quits. Though that might not seem like a very long time, it is actually a pretty typical lifespan for a hardcore band, and the St. Louis group managed to release a matching number of records during that period (one demo, two EPs and a split with Hell Night, amounting to three-and-a-half releases, according to our crack team of math buffs). That actually puts the group a little bit ahead of the curve. Bonus points are awarded for the fact that each of those efforts was really fucking good. Members of the darkened hardcore act (“dorkened,” to hear them tell it) insist there is no bad blood or animosity behind the breakup, and that the group has simply
7 p.m. Tuesday, August 11. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 Jefferson Avenue. $5. 314-772-2100. You don’t have to dig too deep to pull out the adjective “child-like” to describe Girlpool. The drummer-less duo of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad titled its debut Before the World Was Big — its title track is a paean to uncomplicated youth — and the album’s cover art depicts a boy and girl making their own universe of Lego bricks. But the pair’s twinned vocals and open-hearted lyrics transmit a certain twee naivete that is matched with a keen eye for site-specific details and sharp ear for big-hearted, do-it-yourself pop. Star Power: Frankie Cosmos, the stage name of lo-fi folkie Greta Kline (daughter of St. Louis native Kevin Kline) will open the show. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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R OX Y C A M P O S
O P E N H IG H WAY M U SIC F E ST I VA L
tickets available at ticketfly.com for $10.57 GA only. VIP sold out. day of show tickets available $15. must be 18+ ($10 minor surcharge under 21 applies)
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concerts
JUNE 10 | JULY 8 | AUGUST 12 | SEPTEMBER 9
5:00–8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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V I A W M E E N T E R TA I N M E N T
THIS JUST IN Aaron Kamm and the One Drops: W/ Spare Change Trio, Fri., Sept. 4, 6 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Allie Kral & the River City All-Stars: Thu., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Bad Taste: W/ Lumpy & the Dumpers, Shitstorm, Sun., Aug. 16, 5 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Bible Belt Sinners: W/ Blackwater ‘64, Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals, Sat., Aug. 29, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Broken Prayer: W/ Cruelster, Bitchin’ Reality, Fri., Aug. 21, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: W/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Burn Halo: W/ Heartist, Courage My Love, Against Himself, Wed., Oct. 7, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Chance the Rapper: W/ D.R.A.M., Towkio, Metro Boomin, Tue., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Cleric: W/ VII, Crawl, Sun., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Cop Circles: W/ Friendship Commanders, Bagheera, Sat., Aug. 15, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Crizzly: Wed., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Dana: W/ Dinofight!, the Ultraviolents, Mon., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Dead Horse Trauma: W/ Superpimp, Tue., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Deafheaven: W/ Tribulation, Mon., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $16-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Extravision: W/ Dubb Nubb, the Wilderness, Mon., Aug. 31, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Face Up & Sing: Celebrating 25 years of Ani DiFranco: W/ Suzie Cue, the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Genevieve, Wed., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: W/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: W/ Al Holliday and the East T H IS C O D E Side Rhythm Band, Torrey TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Casey & the Southside Hustle, RIVERFRONT TIMES Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West IPHONE/ANDROID APP City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, FOR MORE CONCERTS OR VISIT Festus. riverfronttimes.com Floating City Reunion show: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. For All I Am: W/ A Promise To Burn, Torn at the Seams, Wed., Aug. 19, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. The Front Bottoms: W/ the Smith Street Band, Elivs Depressedly, Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m., $16.50-$20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Futurebirds: W/ Cara Louise Band, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Gary Clark Jr.: Sun., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., $33.50-$38.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Health Problems: W/ the Crisis, Wed., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. I See Stars: W/ For the Win, Alive In Standby, Life On Broadway, Ecclesiast, Fri., Oct. 9, 6 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Idle Hour Club: W/ the Jans Project, Cave States, Sat., Sept. 19, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Idlehands: W/ Author, Sun., Sept. 20, 7 p.m., $12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis.
Gary Clark Jr. will perform at the Pageant on Sunday, February 28. Last to Show First to Go CD Release & Farewell Party: Fri., Aug. 14, 9 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Love Moon: W/ the Brainstems, Sun., Aug. 30, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. Lucas Jack: W/ Scarlet Tanager, Little Falcon, Aaron Krause, Sat., Aug. 22, 7 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Mat Kearney: W/ Parachute, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $27.50$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. Matisyahu: Fri., Oct. 23, 8 p.m., $27-$32. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. The New Mastersounds: Tue., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $20-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. Nick Moss Band: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $10-$12. 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700. Nile: Mon., Jan. 25, 6 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Ought: Sun., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Pat Sajak Assassins: W/ Traveling Sound Machine, Hands & Feet, Fri., Aug. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Pretty Little Empire: Fri., Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Rich Homie Quan: W/ K Camp, Justine Skye, Jacques, Diggy, Elijah Blake, Rawyals, Anthony Lewis, Chris Miles, 4EY, Star Mic, Sun., Sept. 27, 7 p.m., $26.50-$86.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. Rick Springfield: Thu., Oct. 1, 8 p.m., $45-$75. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. Rumpke Mountain Boys: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Sydney Street Shakers: Wed., Aug. 19, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-7722100. Tasi: W/ Lioness D Rasta, Da Bredren Band, Jay Spearman, Sat., Aug. 22, 8 p.m., $5. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tea Leaf Green: W/ Acoustics Anonymous, Belagroove, Sun., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$20. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Trout Steak Revival: Wed., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tumbleweed Wanderers: Tue., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Tunic: W/ Skin Tags, Ish, Sun., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. The Twistin’ Tarantulas: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Underground Styles Hip Hop Music Festival: W/ Preach, Bates, Beastmode, Sat., Aug. 22, 5 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Union Electric: W/ Drown Fish, Thu., Aug. 13, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. The Way Down Wanderers: Fri., Sept. 11, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Weathered: W/ Quarrels, Oakwood Estate, Tue., Aug. 25, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way!
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way! www.riverfronttimes.com/concerts/
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TNT Glass
out every night
Designs
All-American Smoke Shop
Wraps by Cody Custom Ordering Available Every Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday PIPES • VAPORIZERS • E-CIGS KRATOM • DETOX • JEWELRY 6163 Delmar Blvd. • 63112 Next to The Pageant on Delmar
314.863.8860
“Out Every Night” is a free listing open to all bars and bands in the St. Louis and Metro East areas. However, we reserve the right to refuse any entry. Listings are to be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail. Deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, ten days before Thursday publication. Please include bar’s name, address with ZIP code, phone number and geographic location; nights and dates of entertainment; and act name. Mail: Riverfront Times, attn: “Clubs,” 6358 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130-4719; fax: 314-754-6416; e-mail: clubs@ riverfronttimes.com. Schedules are not accepted over the phone. Because of last-minute cancellations and changes, please call ahead to verify listings.
Jay Farrar: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Rocky Votolato: w/ Dave Hause, Chris Farren, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350353, www.firebirdstl.com. SIFASIC CD Release: w/ Slow Down Scarlett, the Edgefield C. Johnston Duo, Jamie M. George, Grass & Stone, Sat., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226, www.theheavyanchor.com. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue: Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $11-$25. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com. Vanilla Fudge: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720, www.popsrocks.com.
S U N DAY T H U R S DAY Diarrhea Planet: w/ Bruiser Queen, Brother Lee and the Jackals, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Fireworks: w/ Weatherbox, Dry Jacket, Welcome Home, Thu., Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m., $13-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www.firebirdstl.com. PopNation Summer Tour 2015: w/ Round 2 Crew, Sweet Suspense, Carson Lueders, the Food Conspiracy, Chris Miles, After Romeo, Frankie, KATELYN JAE, the Bomb Digz, Thu., Aug. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$30. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Smiling Politely: w/ Riot For Violet, Ramona Deflowered, Thu., Aug. 6, 9 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. WEEED: w/ Sole Loan, Rip Rap, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/.
F R I DAY Andre Moore: w/ VG, Lizzie Webber, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www. fubarstl.com. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: w/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Dom Chronicles: w/ Farout, DJ Mahf, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thedemostl.com. Fister: w/ Cathedral Fever, Hell Night, Anodes, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Ha Ha Tonka: w/ Craig Finn, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $17-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. I Actually Album Release Show: w/ Fumer, Durango, Mike Pennekamp, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., T H IS C O D E $5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www. RIVERFRONT TIMES firebirdstl.com. IPHONE/ANDROID APP Jason Michael Carroll: Fri., Aug. FOR MORE CLUBS OR VISIT 7, 8 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, riverfronttimes.com 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom.com. Taking Back Sunday: Fri., Aug. 7, 6 p.m., $10.57-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com.
SCAN
S AT U R DAY El Monstero: A Tribute to Pink Floyd: Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., $20-$45. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation. com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-tickets-Maryland-Heights/venue/49672. Ferguson Rocks: w/ Tom Morello and the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, the Coup, the Outernational, Steffanie Christian, Jessica Care Moore, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom. com. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: w/ Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm Band, Torrey Casey & the Southside Hustle, Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, Festus, www.cityoffestus.org.
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Charli XCX: w/ Bleachers, Børns, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $31$36. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161, www.thepageant.com. Every Time I Die: w/ Real Friends, Counterparts, Gnarwolves, Brigades, Gatherers, Sun., Aug. 9, 5:30 p.m., $19-$22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: w/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Rasputina: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505, www.oldrockhouse.com. Ryan Bingham: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl.com. Safe to Say: w/ Young and Heartless, WATERMEDOWN, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Tim McGraw: w/ Billy Currington, Chase Bryant, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation.com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-ticketsMaryland-Heights/venue/49672.
M O N DAY American Idol Live!: Mon., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $33-$63. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-2411888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com. Campdogzz: w/ Dutch Courage, Mon., Aug. 10, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/. Exotype: w/ Kingdom of Giants, Brightwell, Like Vultures, Ends of Infinity, Mon., Aug. 10, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
T U E S DAY All About a Bubble: Tue., Aug. 11, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Brian Wright: w/ Caleb Caudle, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-7274444, www.blueberryhill.com. Girlpool: w/ Frankie Cosmos, Strong Force, Posture, Tue., Aug. 11, 7 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100, foamvenue.com/. The Jukebox Romantics: w/ Powerline Sneakers, Murphy and the Death Rays, Black Tar Heroines, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
W E D N E S DAY Callaghan: Wed., Aug. 12, 9 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444, www.blueberryhill.com. Drag the River: Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. The Few: w/ Hodera, the Winks, Silverfern, Wed., Aug. 12, 6 p.m., $7. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. KMFDM: w/ Chant, Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $25-$28. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Live Like Glass: w/ Dismantling the Silence, Alive/Alone, Unforgiven Amore, Wed., Aug. 12, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. My Morning Jacket: w/ Hippo Campus, Wed., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m., TBA. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com.
NOW HIRING PH OTOGRAPH E RS
savage love High Times Hey, Dan: Does a person who acts loving only when high on weed really love you? My live-in boyfriend of three years acts sweet, loving, and caring when he’s high, but when the weed runs out, he’s mean, angry, hurtful, and horrible to be around. I’m so confused! Without weed, he’s intolerable. Should I just make sure he’s always well stocked with his drug? He’s a relatively functional BY stoner, even though technically it’s not allowed at his job. I’ve DAN told all my friends he is no lonS AVA G E ger the mean asshole he was when I wanted to leave him (but didn’t), and now I’ve convinced everyone that he transformed back into the amazing catch I always knew he was. So basically, in order to save face over not leaving him (and now I can’t for financial reasons), I burned the bridges. Tensions Highlight Concerns That Relationships Aren’t Perfect
Someone who can be nice only when he’s high isn’t someone you should be fucking, living with, or starting a grow-op on your roof for, THCTRAP, he’s someone you should be dumping, dumping, and dumping. And to be clear: Your boyfriend’s problem isn’t weed, THCTRAP, your boyfriend’s problem is that he is an asshole. And the fact that you’re covering for him is a very, very bad sign. If being with someone isolates you from the support of your friends, that’s not someone you should be with. Does he love you? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t — but even if he does, do you want to be loved by someone who treats you like shit when he isn’t fucked up? No, you don’t. My advice: DTMFA. But let’s get a second opinion, shall we? “It’s not unusual for people to complain that they feel a little cranky when they run out of weed,” said Dan Skye, editor in chief of High Times magazine. “I know a lot of people who prefer to be high all the time — but if his personality is that different when he runs out of weed, this woman’s boyfriend has problems other than not being high.” Now, there are people out there who selfmedicate with pot — in good ways, not bad ways. “I know many people who have dumped their pharmaceuticals for pot,” said Skye, “because pot is a better substance for easing their pain and anxiety. We are hardwired as humans to hook up with this plant, and some people hook up with this plant in profound ways. It makes them feel better, it makes them more compassionate and more creative — it makes them better human beings.” But Skye doesn’t think your boyfriend is one of those people, THCTRAP.
“If this guy is such a prick when he’s not high, I’d get rid of him,” said Skye. “Putting your girlfriend in a position where she feels like she has to become your dealer — that she has to supply you with pot — is not acceptable.”
The Riverfront Times is looking for outgoing, enthusiastic photographers to join the Riverfront Times Street Team. Team members promote the Riverfront Times at local events and take photos, gain e-mail addresses to build our database, and hand out free stuff! If you are interested in part time work (5-10 hours per week- nights and weekends are required) and want to attend the best events St. Louis has to offer, send your resume to emily.westerholt@riverfronttimes.com. Must be 21 years old!
Hey, Dan: I’m a man who is married to a woman. In our twelve-year relationship, our sex life hasn’t ever been really active, but after being married, my wife’s sex drive decreased noticeably. She had promised things would improve once we tied the knot. She explained that her upbringing was conservative and she felt guilty about having sex before marriage. But marriage didn’t help. We’ve gone to couples’ therapy, only to abandon it because she doesn’t feel any progress, and our pantry has barely used natural remedies for low libido. Currently, she can last having sex for nearly half an hour before feeling exhausted and stopping, regardless of me reaching orgasm or not. On the other hand, we enjoy each other’s company and we’ve got each other’s backs whenever things are rough, so I can’t say she’s uninterested in me. I can’t remember the last time I had fulfilling sex. Whenever I bring it up, she breaks down, saying she’s not enough for me. My need for sex is killing me. Unsexed Grumpy Husband
Maybe your wife’s religious upbringing ruined sex for her and her for sex. Maybe your wife is one of those low-to-nolibido women who sex therapists and counselors whisper about: a woman with no desire for sex, a woman whose marriage is hanging by a thread, a woman who sincerely wants to save her marriage — but nothing seems to help, her marriage collapses, and she winds up divorced. And three months after the divorce, the woman who was weeping to her therapist about the possibility that she might be asexual? She wants to fuck every cute bartender, personal trainer, and waiter she sees. Turns out she wanted sex all along. She just didn’t want it with her husband, or she didn’t want it with only her husband, and her newfound freedom to fuck other people — freedom that might have saved her marriage — reawakened her libido. Maybe your wife is asexual. Here are your non-divorce options, UGH: (1) You can get sex elsewhere without her okay, aka “cheating.” (2) You can ask your wife for permission to get sex elsewhere, aka “not cheating.” (3) You can resign yourself to a sexless marriage, aka “cheating inevitably.” P.S. Never once has a conflict over too little sex in a long-term relationship been solved by a marriage ceremony. On the Lovecast, Dr. Vy Chu on some nastiness that can happen to one’s bottom: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter riverfronttimes.com riverfronttimes.com
M ON TH 0X R R ER FO RO IM E S 491 AU GU S TX 5X–X - 1 1X, ,2 2001 5 I VI V ER FR NN T TT IT M ES
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100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools
THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
DWI/Traffic from $50/Personal Injury.
Mark Helfers, 314-862-6666 Choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
Personal Injury, Workers Comp, DWI, Traffic 314-621-0500
ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising.
530 Misc. Services
WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
800 Health & Wellness 805 Registered Massage
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
500 Services 525 Legal Services
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DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE: R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
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Ultimate Massage by Summer!!!! Relaxing 1 Hr Full Body Massage. Light Touch, Swedish, Deep Tissue. Daily 10am-5pm South County. 314-620-6386 Ls # 2006003746
810 Health & Wellness General ARE YOU ADDICTED TO PAIN MEDICATIONS OR HEROIN? Suboxone can help. Covered by most insurance. Free & confidential assessments. Outpatient Services. Center Pointe Hospital 314-292-7323 or 800-345-5407 763 S. New Ballas Rd, Ste. 310 SUNRISE DAY SPA *SPECIALS* $30-Therapeutic Foot Massage $50-1 HR Full Body Massage See display for coupon! 9441 Olive Blvd. St. Louis, MO 314-993-0517 www.sunrisedayspa.com
600 Music 610 Musicians Services MUSICIANS Do you have a band? We have bookings. Call (314)781-6612 for information Mon-Fri, 10:00-4:30 MUSICIANS AVAILABLE Do you need musicians? A Band? A String Quartet? Call the Musicians Association of St. Louis (314)781-6612, M-F, 10:00-4:30
100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
SOUTHERN MISSOURI TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL Are You Addicted to Pain Are You Addicted to Medications or Heroin? Pain Medications Suboxone Can Help. or•Confidential Heroin? Outpatient •Convenient
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5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 763SAINT S. NEWLOUIS, BALLASMO RD.,63128 STE. 310 ST LOUIS, MO 63141 314-842-4463 After hours 314-292-7323 or weekends 800-345-5407 or 5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 ST LOUIS, MO 63128 314-842-4463
After hours or weekends: 800-345-5407
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888-323-6917
THE GENTRY’S LANDING
More than you’d expect for less than you’d imagine. The Best Views in St Louis overlooking the Arch/Riverfront. Spacious studio’s, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments-Fully Furnished Apt’s and short-term leases also available. Rooftop pool, two fitness centers, community room and business center w/WiFi. Penthouse Suites Available. www.gentryslanding.com DOWNTOWN Cityside-Apts 314-231-6806 Bring in ad & application fee waived! Gated prkng, onsite laundry. Controlled access bldgs, pool, fitness, business ctr. Pets welcome GRAVOIS-PARK $550 636-230-0068 3300 Miami- 1st floor all new 1BR/1 BA, ADT security system, off street parking, & w/d included, locked basement storage area. KINGSHIGHWAY! $450 314-309-2043 2 bedroom 4-plex, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, plush carpet, enclosed back porch, recent updates! rs-stl.com RGSCU NATURAL-BRIDGE! $575 314-309-2043 Family size 3-4 br, central air, big basement, fenced yard, appliances, w/d hookups, off street parking! rs-stl.com RGSCX NORTH-CITY 1-bedroom-apts 314-921-9191 4008 Garfield $315/mo $415 deposit. 5071 Ruskin $375/mo $475 deposit. Credit Check Required. NORTH-COUNTY $500 (314)606-7868 Senior Community: 2Br, Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher, C/A, W/D Hkup. NORTH-COUNTY! $399 314-309-2043 Budget 1 br, cold a/c, fitness room, sauna, flexible deposit, deck, pool access, kitchen appliances, pets allowed! rs-stl.com RGSB5
WESTPORT/LINDBERGH/PAGE $525-$575 314-995-1912 1 mo FREE! 1BR ($525) & 2BR ($575 specials) Clean, safe, quiet. Patio, laundry, great landlord! Nice Area near I-64, 270, 170, 70 or Clayton
320 Houses for Rent BEVO-MILL $795 636-230-0068 3920 Schiller -all new 2+BR, off street parking, fenced yard, w/d included, c/a, beautiful semi-finished basement. CHIPPEWA! $725 314-309-2043 Large 3 bed, 2 bath house, finished basement, extra storage, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, pets welcome, rent to own! rs-stl.com RGSC3 DELOR! $750 314-309-2043 Updated 3 bed, 1.5 bath house, central air, walkout finished basement, hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, pets welcome!, rs-stl.com RGSC4 HALLS-FERRY! $405 314-309-2043 All-electric 1 bedroom house, full basement, fenced yard, frosty a/c, all kitchen appliances, pets allowed, easy move in! rs-stl.com RGSC0 MARYLAND-HEIGHTS $1100 314-443-4478 1557 Redcoat: All elec. 3 bdrm, 2 bath house. Parkway Schools. NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 2, 3 & 4BR homes for rent. eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome PAGE! $700 314-309-2043 Ready to rent 3 bed house, full basement, central air, all kitchen appliances, ceiling fans, w/d hookups, off street parking! RGSC2 SOUTH-CITY $790 314-223-8067 2 BR house,some wood floors, stove/fridge, W/D hkup in bsmt, new C/A, garage, porch. No Sec. 8. SOUTH-CITY! $475 314-309-2043 Cute house, full basement, central air, garage w/opener, fenced yard, all appliances, built-ins, only $200 deposit! rs-stl.com RGSC1 U NIVERSITY-CITY! $850 314-309-2043 Charming 4 bedroom house, big basement, central air, beautiful hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, covered porch! rs-stl. com RGSC6
RICHMOND-HEIGHTS $515-$555 (Special) 314-995-1912 1 MONTH FREE! 1BR, all elec off Big Bend, Metrolink, 40, 44, Clayton SOUTH CITY $400-$850 314-771-4222 Many different units www.stlrr.com 1-3 BR, no credit no problem SOUTH ST. LOUIS CITY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1, 2 & 3 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome SOUTH-CITY
$495 314-707-9975 813-815 Courtois St: 2 BR, hdwd flrs, C/A.
SOUTH-CITY $530 314-481-6443 6429 Gravois- Apt. 2 BR, C/A, Carpet, Draperies. $530 deposit
SOUTH-CITY
$475 314-397-2388
1BR near Grand & Gravois area. Totally rehabbed, close to everything, all appls incl, hdwd flrs, thermal wins. $400 Dep.
SOUTH-CITY
$430-$440
314-277-0204
3841 Gustine 1BR; $40 Per Adult App Fee. SOUTH-CITY $450-$495 314-707-9975 Grand & Bates: 1 BRs, hardwood flrs, all electric, C/A. SOUTH-CITY $475 314-223-8067 Move in Special! Spacious 1BRs, Oak Floors, Ceiling Fans, Stove & Refrigerator, A/C, W/D Hook-Up, Nice area SOUTH-CITY $500 314-731-0840 4239 Tholozan. 2BR, Eat in Kitchen, C/A, W/D hkps, Application req.
SOUTH-CITY! $625 314-309-2043 Roomy 3-4 bedroom, central air, hardwood floors, nice deck, all appliances, w/d hookups, recent upgrades! rs-stl.com RGSCY
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
or SERVICES OUTPATIENT
317 Apartments for Rent
SOUTH-CITY 314-504-6797 37XX Chippewa: 3 rms, 1BR. all elec exc. heat. C/A, appls, at bus stop
Suboxone Can Help. 314-292-7323
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SOUTH-CITY $675 314-221-9568 2br duplex, hdwds, central air, private basement, Carondelet area, $25 app fee, no sec 8.
•Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
Outpatient - Confidential - Convenient 763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 Covered byLOUIS, most insurance SAINT MO 63141 Free & confidential assessments
ST. JOHN $495-$595 314-423-3106 Special! 1BR.$495 & 2BR.$595. Near 170 & St.Charles Rock Rd
300 Rentals
IF YOU DESIRE TO MAKE MORE MONEY AND NEED A NEW JOB EARNING $45-$50 thousand the 1st year, great benefits, call SMTDS, Financial assistance available if you qualify. Free living quarters. 6 students max per class. 4 wks. 192 hours.
SOUTH-CITY! $725 314-309-2043 Big 4 bedroom, full basement, hardwood floors, central air, all kitchen appliances, w/d hookups, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RGSCZ ST. CHARLES COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1 & 2 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome
• More driving time than any other school in the state •
riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
RIVERFRONT TIMES
51
Are You Addicted to Pain Medications or Heroin ?
R 314-754-5966
Suboxone Can Help.
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
Outpatient • Confidential • Convenient •Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
DATING MADE EASY... LOCAL SINGLES! Listen & Reply FREE! 314-739-7777 FREE PROMO CODE: 9512 Telemates
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63141
314-292-7323 or
5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63128
314-842-4463
After hours or weekends 800-345-5407
DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE:
R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
DWI/Traf $50+/Personal InjuryMark Helfers, 314-862-6666- CRIMINAL former Asst US Attorney, 32 years exp
www.HelfersLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
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ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
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“Back in Portland, we all spent a lot of time on the Willamette River. I feel like people have a very specific image of Portland these days, but when you take in the city from the river, you don’t see bike lanes and leafy neighborhoods—you see crumbling piers and enormous barges. It’s like you’re in a totally different city, or like you’re encountering some weird alternate-reality version of it. Out here on the Mississippi, it’s been the same thing. If we were driving in on the freeway and hopping off at the downtown exit, we’d get a super distinct image of St. Louis, we’d get chrome and glass and pretty red brick buildings. Instead, we anchored to a rusty pier, tiptoed through a bunch of poison ivy and shin-deep mud, biked past junkyards and sewage treatment plants and only then did we find our way to the Arch.” –BRIAN BENSON, SPOTTED ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH OF DOWNTOWN, AUGUST 2.
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14 WITNESS 101 Dorian Johnson’s life changed irrevocably when he saw Michael Brown shot to death in Ferguson. One year later, he’s still grappling with the fallout. BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI
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10 Ferguson: The Movement By Tef Poe
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SAIL: A New Approach to Long Prison Sentences
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.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig has known for years that long prison sentences don’t solve a criminal offender’s problems. “They’re expected to come out and have a better life than they had before they were in prison for ten to fifteen years,” she says. “Whatever was going on in their life before they were imprisoned is probably at least as bad now. Their family structure has probably been totally decimated, if it wasn’t before.” In addition, long sentences cost money: $28,893 per federal inmate per year, according to a 2011 statistic in the Federal Register. So last March, Fleissig, along with her colleague Judge E. Richard Webber and several others who work in the Eastern District of Missouri’s criminal court, launched an alternative: the Sentencing Alternatives for Improving Lives program, a.k.a. SAIL. SAIL looks like this: Anyone charged with a federal offense — whether related to fraud, firearms, drugs, etc. — would first plead guilty. They then sign a contract pledging to not commit any more crimes and to follow SAIL rules, which include agreeing to drug tests, house visits and counseling sessions with Pretrial Services officers and the SAIL team. Instead of going to prison, the offender spends a year in SAIL — not just to avoid getting locked up, but also to genuinely improve their lives. Participants receive a detailed handbook outlining the expectations, phases and various people available to help out, including pretrial services officers; Judge Webber and Judge Fleissig; two assistant U.S. attorneys; and two assistant federal public defenders. The program has also enlisted the help of Gateway Legal Services, Saint Louis University and Washington University’s law-school clinics — in case participants need a hand resolving warrants and other legal issues. Participants must complete the three phases to pass the program, remove their guilty plea and have their charges dismissed. If they fail, they will spend time behind bars. “They have a tremendous incentive,” says Judge Fleissig. Judge Fleissig first heard about post-plea diversion programs when she attended a na8
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Empty cells could be a good thing, says a federal judge.
tional judges’ conference in 2014. A judge at the meeting asked if any district had a post-plea diversion program. No one spoke up and everyone went on with their other discussions, she explains. But the question struck a chord. She brought the idea back to the Eastern District of Missouri. Fleissig was aware of the many other reentry courts in the Eastern District, but she still felt something was lacking. She wanted to find a solution for more serious offenders. Judge Fleissig spent months meeting with Judge E. Richard Webber, the Pretrial Services Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Public Defenders Office, all of whom wanted to help with the program. They launched SAIL last March. It consists of several phases. Phase One is the assessment and intensive supervision phase, which takes a minimum of two months to complete. In this phase, participants must meet with the SAIL team weekly; begin to identify problems and ob-
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stacles in their lives; set personal goals; meet with the Pretrial Services office weekly; begin engaging in weekly Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT); comply with random drug tests and house visits; begin a job search, community service or schooling program; among other things. “We assign them tasks at every session, and we need to hear from them at the next session how did they do on their tasks and how did their week go,” she explains. “And they’re going to get more tasks to do, and a reward or perhaps a sanction based upon how well they performed those tasks. So the feedback is immediate.” As participants progress from Phase One, each phase allows the participant more and more responsibility and independence. Phase Two is primary treatment and learning stability with SAIL support. This phase takes a minimum of six months to complete. Participants meet with the SAIL team twice monthly; meet with Pretrial Services every
other week; remain in counseling; continue with MRT, random drug tests and house visits; and continue developing an ongoing support network. Phase Three is healthy life maintenance and beginning transition to community support, which takes a minimum of four months. This phase requires even fewer meetings with the SAIL team and Pretrial Services, and it allows the individual more independence and responsibility in their own life. The entire program will take a minimum of one year to complete. So far, SAIL has taken on eight participants, but it’s ready to take on more since many of the fi rst eight participants have already graduated into Phase Two. Although the program has a broad base, some defendants are excluded from the program: people with immigration offenses, violent offenders, non-local offenders, offenders with state probation charges, and sex offenders.
“The way we designed the program was to have a focus on individuals who, without this program, are likely to receive prison sentences, some of them significant prison sentences, who we believe have some kind of problem or problems in their lives that have contributed to them being in the criminal justice system, and [who have] problems we believe we can address through an intensive supervision and intervention program,” she explains. Judge Fleissig emphasizes that this program is not for the weak-willed. “The people have to be willing to do that kind of work, because it’s beyond what would be required of them if they were on probation.” Because each participant is dealing with very different personal problems, the SAIL team received training from Saint Louis University on such things as the effects of trauma and how it can manifest itself. “What if their problem is a mental health problem? What if instead they just fell on really hard times at some point in their life? Or what if there’s been a failure to launch?” Fleissig says. “Or maybe they’ve been abused and they’ve become very dependent upon somebody who’s manufacturing metham-
phetamine, and they’ve been running around trying to help them manufacture methamphetamine because they’re very dependent on that person. There are so many different scenarios that can cause someone to land in the criminal-justice system.” Although SAIL is only a few months old, Judge Fleissig is already looking for a better ways to gauge its impact. “I think we need more than anecdotal evidence to properly assess this program. If we can get it and if it works like I think it does, then it’s much easier to make the case to other districts, and to the public,” she explains. Out of the 94 federal districts in the United States, 22 of them will have their own postplea diversion programs by the end of the year, Fleissig says. “It can work,” she continues. “I believe that most people, if given the right support, services and moral support, then they can change their lives I believe that to be true,” she says. “Locking up people forever, letting them out with minimal supports doesn’t work. And we can’t afford it anymore. Prisons are overcrowded. We simply cannot afford it anymore.” — EMILY MCCARTER
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Feds: Area Tech Firm’s Employee Expensed Online Strippers
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n employee of World Wide Technology Inc., a Maryland Heights-based IT firm, was indicted in federal court here last week for secretly using his company credit card to shower online strippers with tips and gifts, and to buy himself a “sexual device” made by Fleshlight, a brand of male masturbation tools. John David Berrett of Gilbert, Arizona, started working at WWT in 2004. His job was to meet with clients both in the U.S. and abroad to offer training and support. Berrett would submit expense reports to WWT detailing what he’d bought with his company credit card — stuff like training materials and computer cables. But in reality, prosecutors allege, Berrett was using the money for other things. He would go to the online stripper website MyFreeCams.com and buy virtual “tokens” to tip the dancers. Berrett tipped them 2,200 times, according to the indictment, for a whopping total of Protip: Don’t charge online strippers to work. $100,000. He also befriended some of the stripto October 2014, Berrett is accused of diverting pers and used his WWT credit card to buy more than $476,000 of company funds toward them “chocolates, flowers, electronic equip- his own purposes. ment, wine, a television, handbag, laptop com(And, yes, one of his purposes was a $131.08 puter, iPod and shoes.” item that he claimed was a “training guide,” To one stripper he allegedly sent $26,800 but was in fact a “sexual device” made by in cash so she could pay for her college tuition Fleshlight, which — well, feel free to visit the bill, new tires for her car and her parents’ util- website.) ity bill — all on WWT’s dime. Berrett now faces five counts of federal wire All told, for the period from September 2013 fraud. —NICHOLAS PHILLIPS riverfronttimes.com
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We Are No Longer Afraid ONE YEAR AFTER MICHAEL BROWN’S DEATH, A RAPPER-TURNED-ACTIVIST TAKES STOCK OF THE MOVEMENT FORGED IN FERGUSON BY T E F P O E
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he best way to start this story is with the truth. So here it is: Michael Brown Jr. did not deserve to die. I have nothing but animosity in my heart for anyone who would dare argue with this statement. And here’s another truth: Today in America black people are not liberated. We are not free, and Ferguson shows us that we must fight like hell to reject any notion that equality has entered into our lives through Barack Obama and his stagnant calls for hope and change. A year after Michael’s Brown’s death and the protests that followed, my perspective has shifted. I can no longer force myself to chant the words “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot.” We chanted this phrase assuming that white supremacy actually gave a damn about our humanity. We were ignorant to the ways of the world. Now things are different. Our youthful exhibition of peaceful protest has changed the dynamic. They fear us — and our growing lack of fear of them.
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he violence in our city a year after the Ferguson Uprising has snowballed, centered on the devaluing of African American life. As the murder rate climbs, it is black people who are terrorized. When the rapists and the murderers are released from prison, they come home to north St. Louis and live in the same apartment buildings as we do. Nothing in this world can describe the psychiatric trauma attached to being born in the ghetto. And yet, as a black man living in Missouri, I can die by the gun of a police officer just as quickly as I can die by the gun of a rogue “criminal.” No one is as affected by the fears of white police officers patrolling our impoverished neighborhoods as we are. In terms of protecting our lives and preserving our human dignity, there is no safe haven from either party. After Ferguson, some things have indeed changed for the better. Now that the community has openly challenged the racism of every police department in the region, a slight paradigm shift has occurred. A very small contingent of us has decided we believe in ourselves. Black people in St. Louis have often been treated as if we can be quarantined, contained to very limited spaces. The history of this city is deeply rooted in the subjugation of African Americans. Blacks in Missouri were essentially reduced to staying in our place and understanding that we must never step out of line when dealing with a white person. Michael Brown Jr. died because he dared to challenge that practice and refused to stay in line when approached by a white male authority figure with a loaded gun and a heavy trigger finger. Because his story is not unique, his death resonated with thousands. I remember seeing the multitudes of people from Left: Tef Poe leads a protest march through downtown St. Louis.
are capable of voting it into oblivion. When the slave ships arrived with human cargo from Africa onboard centuries ago, the discussion of freedom was also connected to “voting rights.” But we have attempted to vote ourselves off the plantation for centuries years now, and it still has not worked. In fact, Ferguson did not occur under the order of a white president. Barack Obama, our beloved first black president, is also the first president in my adult lifetime to sit on his hands as a potential race war becomes the underlying narrative of America today.
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year later, we still believe — more than ever — that Darren Wilson is a stone-cold racist killer cop protected by a system that offers zero accountability for his actions. The racism that extinguishes black lives in the present day — the lives of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Cary Ball Jr., VonDerrit Myers Jr., Kimberlee RandleKing and so many more — is the same racism that shackled black people and sold us to the slave merchants in the early 1600s. After all of the marching, chanting, singing and praying, the reality of fighting back when you are unjustifiably targeted must become a universal theme. A community that is often fragmented currently stands united in the pursuit of a radical theory of change. We may each have a different method of operation in mind, but we all agree it is time to move. Once a month we gather in O’Fallon Park to host Books and Breakfast, an event mimicking the now-defunct 1960s Black Panther Free Breakfast for School Children Program. This event won’t bring killer cops like Darren Wilson to justice, but God willing, it will help us implant a village mentality inside the hearts and minds of the children and adults who attend. There is a chance we will further extend the art of resistance by leaving its importance chiseled in the spirits of these children as they grow older. My organization, Hands Up United, has started a tech program to teach black children to code as a means of being victorious through technology and education. We also have embarked upon a campaign to declare war continued on page 12
A man exhales a cloud cigarette smoke in the direction of heavily armed officers stationed on West Florrisant Avenue on August 18, 2014.
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neighborhoods that were once rivals standing in solidarity for Brown on West Florissant as we gathered in the name of resistance. The world paused momentarily while we stood there and steadfastly endured the treacherous heat of the sun upon our backs last August. This is what happens when the black community no longer fears the power of its ordained police force. Thousands of black people nationwide are demanding inclusion into a system that was never designed to include us. In this generation, the fight our ancestors embarked upon was rekindled and sparked by St. Louis-area youth and their allies. The movement, as many like to call it, was reborn in Ferguson after being incubated in St. Louis for many years. Then Freddie Gray’s untimely murder caused the city of Baltimore to go up in flames as cries for justice filled the East Coast and beyond. Many would say this is a story about how we as a community have continually suffered defeat, but I beg to differ. See, many people watching from afar did not realize how personally black people in St. Louis took Trayvon Martin’s murder. Mike Brown’s death triggered a collective voice of people, saying, “This is wrong, and we will not take it.” The sleeping giant has now risen, and the result is a movement for black lives that has spread across the world. Your system does not have to embrace us; we are simply asking to be released from the confines of your jaded perspectives. We do not want your food stamps or supplemental handouts. Hillary Clinton and the multitudes of white presidential candidates do not represent us — and we do not seek representation within this government if it is only for symbolic value. Claire McCaskill suggested on national TV that young black leaders like myself should run for office. We say very candidly to people like Senator McCaskill that to work and fraternize with devils is to become one. I stood at the Ferguson Police Department on August 10 and listened with my own ears to local authority figures attach the issues of police brutality to the issues of the ballot. Racism is evil, and I reject any notion that would suggest we
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Above: A woman and child look on as officers block sections of road near interstate 70 on September 10, 2014, during an organized protest. Below: Dozens of protesters held a “die in” outside the Edward Jones Dome to confront football fans with the message of “Black Lives Matter” on October 13, 2014.
No Longer Afraid against the food deserts plaguing our communities by starting a food pantry to help families in need. Groups like the Lost Voices, Tribe X, Black Souljahz and the Ferguson Freedom Fighters — all molded from the fires of Ferguson — adamantly push civil disobedience as a module of political self-expression against the angst black people in St. Louis are forced to live with. Today’s generation of freedom fighters refuses to allow victimization to be our calling card. My parents do not completely understand, because they believe the racism they experienced has been dethroned. But my friends are still virtual moving targets for the police — and anyone else who deems it acceptable to murder a black person. I believe I speak for myself and any true organizer from the Ferguson movement when I say that we realize yelling at buildings and being abducted by the police while protesting is not a sustainable plan. The oath of the badge is so powerful that police officers will neglect the obligation they have to the human race once they put on their uniform. In response, the oath of the people must be created and reaffirmed by our love and admiration for freedom. If you live in the city and you’re black, you’ll agree that things are out of control at the moment. St. Louis has never been a safe place for us to live, and right now it’s more dangerous than it’s ever been. Many of the movement’s most visible individuals are growing increasingly more paranoid. I am, too. I fear for not only my own safety, but also for the safety of many other people I have grown to know and admire over the course of the last 365 days. We are all under some
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form of surveillance, and spending a night in jail has now become a regular occurrence. I fear any interaction between the police and the people I ride with will result in one of us eventually sleeping in a casket. We have no desire to do anything violent, but our arrests are growing more and more aggressive. I personally feel that one of my arrests will result in my funeral — at home in St. Louis, or maybe abroad in a different city. Either way, I do not feel comfortable interacting with any form of law enforcement, as this fact still remains: All of the cards are always stacked in their favor. The police unions in America are arguably the most powerful criminal organizations in the world when dealing with minorities. There are hundreds of thousands of wonderful human beings working for law enforcement, but unfortunately, they are nothing more than a tool being used to maintain the lopsided power
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of the empire. Look at Sandra Bland. She was recently stopped in Texas on a routine traffic violation. Illegally arrested by the police, now she is dead. The story they tried selling us is that she killed herself in jail. We know this isn’t the truth. And if this movement were not alive and breathing, Bland’s death would equate to the finale of her story. Yet there is this movement. People are questioning Bland’s death. The official police narrative has not been allowed to stand. Our lives do indeed matter, and when we fight for ourselves we should be mindful that we are fighting for the basic freedoms of every man and woman in this society, regardless of their skin color, gender or sexual preference. When the establishment has proven that it is not capable of ruling the people it governs fairly and justly, revolution is the only option.
The Tea Party and other radical groups don’t realize it, but we have more in common than meets the eye. Every human being on this planet has a right to preserve their existence. The challenge for any self-respecting citizen of any functioning society is to be bold enough to speak when everyone else is silent. America is different from many other places on this planet because this is a country founded primarily on action and imagination. When we combine these elements, we quickly discover that almost anything is possible. As young people, we seek to change the world in which we live for the better. This is our only goal. We can not correct centuries years of oppression in one year. We will not outgun the police, and we do not desire to try. We simply search for the golden idea that will set us on the path of freedom and liberation. These are our peers and siblings being murdered at a rate that mimics an intentional genocide. We believe we are smart enough to defeat this evil and substitute its dominion over planet Earth with all-encompassing love and togetherness. I don’t fear the badge, a bullet or any other power mechanism of law enforcement. They can only kill us or lock us up. Going to jail for what you believe in is often embarrassing — my mother has called plenty of times and questioned why I continually find myself in jail. But in this movement we wear each and every arrest on our chests as badges of honor. We are proud of each other, and we are supportive of any initiative that will add value to our hardships. We believe we are the generation that will create the energy that gives birth to an idea that will change the entire world. We remain committed to the gospel of love. We invite you to join us. ■ Tef Poe is a rapper/activist based in St. Louis who has spent much of the last year on the frontlines of the protest movement in Ferguson. His activism has taken him to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the United Nations with the family of Michael Brown; he has penned pieces for publications including Time and the Huffington Post; and he’s been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, BBC and BET. As a regular Riverfront Times contributor, Tef was honored in 2014 with a Salute to Excellence Award by the National Association of Black Journalists. His most recent musical effort, War Machine III, was released by Delmar Records in July and is available on iTunes.
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Witness 101 DORIAN JOHNSON’S LIFE CHANGED IRREVOCABLY WHEN HE SAW MICHAEL BROWN SHOT TO DEATH IN FERGUSON. ONE YEAR LATER, HE’S STILL GRAPPLING WITH THE FALLOUT. BY DA N N Y W IC E N TOWS K I
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Dorian Johnson, 23, says his own life was put on hold after Michael Brown’s death last year. Now he’s looking to the future.
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sk Dorian Johnson what happened on August 9, 2014, and he’ll tell you that the story begins just past noon. He’ll say that he and Michael Brown Jr. had been walking down Canfield Drive in Ferguson when they were stopped by a police officer in an SUV – and that the last thing Brown ever said to him was, “Keep runnin’, bro.” As the officer moved to exit the SUV, something happened. Witness accounts differ: Maybe Brown blocked the door and began punching and throttling the officer through the open window. Then again, maybe it was the officer who violently slammed the car door into Brown and instigated the struggle. What we do know is that two gunshots went off inside the vehicle, and one struck Brown in the hand. That’s when Brown and Johnson took off running. Johnson says he ducked behind a stopped gray Pontiac and watched as Ferguson officer Darren Wilson pursued his six-footfive, 280-pound friend down the street. Seconds later, Johnson saw bullets tear through Brown’s body. The eighteen-year-old crumpled onto Canfield Drive as the life drained out of him, staining the pavement red. The August 9 shooting brought the weight of the world’s scrutiny on the modest north county suburb of Ferguson, but a significant portion of that burden fell on the narrow shoulders of Dorian Johnson. The wiry college dropout with a checkered past and mismatched eyes – one blue, one brown – became a national lightning rod almost overnight. To a grieving community seeking answers and justice, Johnson, then 22, was the key witness to the reality of both Brown’s death and the black experience in Ferguson, and his emotional testimony became the gospel of a burgeoning protest movement. The “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” mantra was based, in part, on Johnson’s account of how Brown raised his hands and told the advancing Wilson, “I don’t have a gun,” before the final shots rang out. But Johnson also drew the ire of people skeptical about the movement taking hold in Ferguson. They combed through his statements, drawing jagged circles around the inconsistencies and omissions. They blogged, tweeted and commented that Johnson was no truth-teller – in their view, he was an accomplice, a proven liar, just another young black thug claiming victimhood and angling for a payday. For a time, Johnson’s face appeared in newspapers and on television across the world, but for the past eight months he’s mostly avoided direct contact with journalists. Last week, however, he sat down with Riverfront Times for a 60-minute interview, describing the months of secrecy and strain that followed Brown’s death – as well as the surprising silver lining to his recent, highly publicized arrest by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He’s currently suing the City of Ferguson, its police department and the now-retired officer Wilson. He says he lives in fear of retaliation from vigilantes and law enforcement. It’s been almost a year since Michael Brown was shot to death on Canfield Drive, and the shockwaves of those frenzied moments are still pushing Johnson toward an unknown destination. Try as he might, he can’t escape what happened that day. Michael Brown told him to run. In some ways, Dorian Johnson has been running ever since.
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he first day after the shooting was pure panic. Johnson’s own family didn’t know his whereabouts, and early news reports of a dead body discovered near a Domino’s fueled rumors that the witness to the Brown killing had himself been killed. Johnson’s brother, Damonte, remembers their mother obsessively clicking through social media feeds and Twitter, searching for updates on her son. Even the police couldn’t locate him. Two days later, on August 11, Dorian walked through the door of his family’s small St. Louis apartment. He was accompanied by two male friends acting as security. “I had never seen my brother so shook up,” Damonte Johnson says. “This was the first time we saw him after the shooting. Everybody was sitting on the floor, on the windowsill, sitting around like it was story time. He was telling the story, he was shaking, sweating bullets, telling us step by step.” As Johnson tells it, he went into hiding immediately after Brown’s death. He fled his Canfield Green apartment and says he was contacted by Adolphus Pruitt, president of St. Louis NAACP, who immediately arranged for “protective custody.” His life became a series of hotel rooms shared with his girlfriend and young daughter. He watched TV compulsively. The images of looters, tear gas and violence overwhelmed his waking moments. “I was crying,” Johnson says. “It was so real to me, but it was unreal at the same time. It was almost like, every time I stepped away from the TV, it was like a dream. But when I go back to the TV, it made it more real.” Johnson would ultimately move in with a family member in late October. By then, he’d been interviewed on local TV stations and cable networks. Each time, he told the same story: That Wilson initiated the confrontation with Brown, grappled with the teen through the driver’s side window, pursued Brown down Canfield Drive and fired bullets into his body. Johnson insisted that Brown had never threatened Wilson or reached for the officer’s gun. He told KSDK (Channel 5) that Brown had been shot “like an animal.” He told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Wilson shot Johnson in the back. But Johnson’s character quickly became part of the story. By August 14, media had discovered his criminal history, which included a guilty plea for making false statements in 2011, when he was a college student in Jefferson City. (He’d been busted stealing a backpack and told a cop his name was “Derrick Johnson” and that he was 16. The officer found Johnson’s ID, complete with his real age, 19, tucked away in his sock.) The other shoe dropped a day later, on August 15. Ferguson police released surveillance footage showing Michael Brown stealing cigars from a Quik Trip minutes before his fatal confrontation with Wilson. Johnson, who accompanied Brown but did not appear to participate in the robbery, had never mentioned the crime in his initial media interviews. “Isn’t that lying through omission?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked Johnson’s lawyer, former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., later that day. “Not at all,” Bosley Jr. answered. “Lying is when you say something that’s not true. Nobody asked him, ‘What you all did before you came in contact with the officer?’ If he [Wolf Blitzer] had asked him, we would have told him. But we had the duty to tell that to the FBI and they got the full story.” In media appearances, Johnson was almost never seen without his lawyers, Bosley Jr. and the New Orleans-based James Williams. One (and sometimes both) would accompany Johnson to TV interviews. When Johnson’s cabin fever reached a boiling point, it was Williams who drove him to Ferguson so he could watch the protests from the safety of the passenger seat. “I met Dorian for the first time in one of those hotel rooms,” Williams says. “One of the things Dorian would always say to me is how he wanted to get out there. Just for his safety we had to limit it. One night we rode down there, just so he could get out there and see what was going on. But it was still a very dangerous environment.”
Indeed, various conspiracy theorists and right-wing blogs had latched onto Johnson, fixating on his testimony and his role in the creation of the “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” narrative. His TV interviews were collected and uploaded as YouTube compilation videos, which users picked over for proof of his deceptions. He was dubbed a “serial liar,” and much worse. His Facebook inbox filled up with apoplectic rants and veiled threats. He stopped Googling his name. He’d become a public figure, merely by virtue of what he’d witnessed. In December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Johnson had landed a temporary job with St. Louis city, as a forestry worker. The story was published before he could even log his first day on the job. “At the time I was working there, there were incidents where cars were following me to work,” Johnson says. “I can’t walk out of my house without someone I don’t know knowing me. They ask me for autographs, pictures, hugs, can I come to their church. I’ve been invited to meet people’s families. I speak to anyone who speak to me, and it’s good and bad. You can’t really trust someone you don’t know.” After the temporary city job ended, Johnson landed a full-time gig as a server in The Kitchen Sink, a cajun restaurant in the Central West End. Things seemed to be getting back to normal. It wasn’t until the spring of 2015 that he suddenly found himself back in the spotlight — for something that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of his detractors.
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“I HAD NEVER SEEN MY BROTHER SO SHOOK UP. HE WAS TELLING THE STORY, HE WAS SHAKING, SWEATING BULLETS, TELLING US STEP BY STEP.”
ohnson grew up in the northwest St. Louis neighborhood of Walnut Park, which is almost entirely black. It’s there, he says, that he learned how police and black males interact in the real world. “When you’ve been born in an urban environment, you don’t have to be taught,” he says. “That’s kind of been my life St. Louis, head on a swivel. You see with your eyes how the police handle somebody else.” Raised by a single mother, Johnson grew up in a house his mother shared with his aunt and her children. It was a chaotic childhood, but instead of joining a gang, Johnson took his competitive streak to the football field — as a member of the St. Louis recreation division’s Junior Rams. Despite his small stature (he’s now a slender five feet seven inches”), Johnson reveled in showing off his speed on the field. He traveled across the country with the team. But in 2007, a shootout erupted as Johnson was getting off a school bus. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet embedded near a vein in his leg. That was the end of his football career. Johnson graduated high school. But his continued on page 16
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first year at a historically black college in Jefferson City, Lincoln University, ended with his 2011 arrest for stealing a backpack. After returning to St. Louis, Johnson landed a job with MetroLink and proudly moved into his own apartment in Ferguson, in the Canfield Green apartment complex. That’s where a mutual friend introduced him to Michael Brown in March 2014, just five months before his death. Dorian’s younger brother Damonte had a different upbringing. Damonte spent much of his early years living with godparents in St. Louis County. He attended Chaminade College Prep, an elite Catholic high school in suburban Creve Coeur, and at eighteen moved to Maryland to attend the University of Baltimore, where he says he excelled academically. Both brothers, though, watched things fall apart in 2012, after D’Angelo, their youngest sibling, died in a drag-racing accident. He was sixteen. After his little brother’s death, Damonte’s grades plummeted. He says he couldn’t focus on his classes. After a disappointing semester he moved back to Missouri. “A part of me died with our little brother, and that’s been the main thing myself and my family has been trying to overcome,” says Damonte. “Dorian and I had always
The spot where Michael Brown died became a memorial and a gathering place for protesters. been close, but after that no one knew how to behave or how to react or how to treat an everyday situation. We were at each other’s necks and just going at it, and it could be over the smallest thing.” The intervening years softened the tension between them, but didn’t heal the rift. That wouldn’t happen until nearly a year after Brown’s shooting made Dorian Johnson a national name – on May 6, when Damonte, Dorian and their half-brother, Otis McRoberts, were arrested during a block party in north city. According to court records, someone called the police to report that a group had gathered on the 5700 block of Acme Avenue, and that they might have guns or knives. When the first patrol car arrived, the two Johnsons and McRoberts were part of a crowd of about fifteen people hanging out on the sidewalk. “They came like they already knew somebody was going to jail,” Dorian Johnson says. “Me and my brothers just standing there, like, ‘OK, we’re not doing nothing, so I’m not finna run and make it seem like we’re doing something.’ So we just stood there.” Dorian and Damonte Johnson both say at least five more patrol cars pulled
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up, but it wasn’t until an officer grabbed McRoberts — investigating “a bulge in his waistband which I believed could possibly be a concealed gun,” as the officer would later write in his report — that things got out of hand. “That kind of sent a shock to my brother Damonte,” Dorian Johnson says. “He wasn’t used to seeing police do stuff like that. I’m used to it, but Damonte grabbed both of them.” What ensued was a kind of tug-of-war between Damonte Johnson, the officer and McRoberts. More officers arrived to pull Damonte off. “After they put the handcuffs on me,” says Damonte, “Dorian became more irate. They slammed him on the ground, ripped his pants and messed up his shoulder.” In the end, all three brothers were hauled off to the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. No weapons were found in McRobert’s waistband. But the arrests were leaked to the media immediately, and Dorian and Damonte’s mugshots were blasted over the internet. Citing anonymous police sources, the Post-Dispatch reported that officers had also recovered “cough medication mixed with what police believe to be an illegal narcotic” from a cup Dorian Johnson had supposedly discarded at the scene. It only took a day for the rumored drug possession charge to evaporate. The cup tested negative for drugs. “A drug charge was brought to our office,” Lauren Trager, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney’s office, said at the time. “It was refused by our office.” The brothers weren’t home free. Both Johnsons were hit with a charge for resisting arrest, and Damonte faced an added charge of third-degree assault against a police officer. In the Justice Center, word quickly spread: Dorian Johnson — yes, that Dorian Johnson — was locked up. “We had gang unit come down and take pictures of us, and it started a kind of a buzz. So now we get umpteen different officers coming down,” Dorian Johnson remembers. “We had two officers come down and look through the window and smirk and laugh. We had a couple officers just coming and pointing. I was telling my brothers, ‘Don’t pay them no mind, we’ll be alright.’ “There was this young officer, he said, ‘I had to buy new guns because of you and Mike Brown. You guys ruined my whole vacation, and my whole summer.’” Damonte Johnson also remembers a parade of curious officers approaching the holding cell. “The first two days we were in there, it was absolutely horrible. It wasn’t an inmate that was a problem, it was all the [corrections officers]. It was this constant, ‘This ain’t Ferguson, you ain’t get no money out of here, fuck you, we’re going to fuck you up.’
Brothers Dorian (top) and Damonte Johnson accuse police of using excessive force during the May 6 arrests. “It was vulgar and in your face,” he adds, “almost like they were trying to bait us.” Although McRoberts, the youngest of the three brothers, was released on bond after a few days, the Johnsons were left to stew in an eight-by-ten cell with more than a dozen other men. One night, Damonte says, around 3 a.m., one of their cellmates woke up vomiting and defecating all over himself. When the guards took him away, they left the puke and shit behind in the cell. Dorian objected, asking one of the guards to clean up the mess. “At this point Dorian gets off the floor, walking toward the C.O. Dorian is just standing there, and that made the C.O. even more mad,” Damonte says. “The guard was screaming out our home address, ‘I’ll be waiting outside your continued on page 18
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house, I’m going to take my badge off and beat you.’” But along with the tension came a chance for reconciliation. More than three years after the fact, D’Angelo’s death still hung between the pair. “We had one of those big brother-tobrother talks, letting all our feeling out in this cell,” Dorian says. “We both wanted to be good for our mom. We both want to take care of our family. We were trying to do it on our own.” After D’Angelo died, the brothers had sparred over who would step up, be the man and fix the wounds in their family. Damonte wanted to take more responsibility, and he felt disrespected by Dorian’s overbearing attitude as the family’s eldest son, the protector. “We found each other in that place, we found what it meant to be brothers again,” Damante says. “Both of us had been just wrecks after losing our little brother, always doubting ourselves, just messing up and being real tough on ourselves. When we sat down and talked, it was crazy how much we saw eye to eye. He wanted the same thing that I did. He wanted to make it, to do something, to bring the family up and out of this.” Damonte left the Justice Center after five days, while Dorian was shipped to City Workhouse jail for another two days before
his own release. A few days later, Dorian lost his job at The Kitchen Sink. The staff, he says, disliked his notoriety and the attention the recent arrest had brought him. “This whole incident was excessive use of force against Dorian’s brothers,” says attorney Williams – who says the treatment only escalated once the officers realized who Dorian was. But both Dorian and Damonte say the time spent in Justice Center brought them closer. “The surprising thing was that we said we loved each other, for the first time in maybe five years,” Damonte says. “Now we always get off the phone with ‘I love you, bro. Stay safe.’”
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orian Johnson has found little peace in the year since Brown’s death. He lost his apartment, his job and his independence. He also became a national whipping boy after a U.S. Department of Justice report concluded that physical evidence and witness testimony supported Wilson’s version of events, rather than his own. In a column titled “‘Hands Up; Don’t Shoot,’ was built on a lie,” Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, who is black, wrote that the DOJ report made him ill. “Wilson knew about the theft of the cigarillos from the convenience store and had a description of the suspects,” Capehart wrote. “Brown fought with the officer and
“IT SEEMS LIKE THE PROSECUTOR GOT WHAT HE WANTED — A NON-INDICTMENT, AND SLOWLY EVERYTHING IS QUIETING DOWN, KIND OF JUST BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG.” 18
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Dorian’s Story
tried to take his gun. And the popular handsup storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by Witness 101. In fact, just about everything said to the media by Witness 101, whom we all know as Dorian Johnson, the friend with Brown that day, was not supported by the evidence and other witness statements.” Similar arguments metastasized across social media and blogs. And while Capehart concluded his column by emphasizing the serious issues raised by Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests, a vast array of naysayers used the same argument to dismiss the entire Black Lives Matter movement as a lie. As for Johnson, the only major change in his testimony occurred during the grand jury hearings, when he clarified that he did not actually see Wilson shoot Brown in the back, only that Brown appeared to jerk and halt in the same instant that Wilson fired a shot at the fleeing teenager. Otherwise, Johnson remains steadfast in his testimony — that Brown was murdered on that street with his hands raised. Unsurprisingly, he’s still bitter about the grand jury decision. “It seems like the prosecutor got what he wanted — a non-indictment, and slowly everything is quieting down, kind of just being swept under the rug,” he says, and the hurt is clear on his face. “People are out here trying to get to the bottom of it still, trying to get the clear, correct story. The story that’s going to add up, because the story that Darren Wilson told does not add up.”
A family photo of Dorian (right) and Damonte Johnson during their teen years. Johnson’s testimony lives on, however, in the form of lawsuits. In April, Michael Brown’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Ferguson, Wilson and former police chief Thomas Jackson. The suit draws heavily from Johnson’s statements, including how Wilson allegedly yelled “get the fuck off the street” before reversing his vehicle to block Brown from walking, and how Brown “raised his arms in a non-threatening matter” before Wilson’s fatal shots. Johnson has his own lawsuit pending against the same plaintiffs. He’s seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for “psychological injury, severe emotional distress, medical expenses, lost wages, living expenses [and] incurred additional expenses.” The prospect of a monetary windfall, however, seems small comfort in light of how things have shaken out. No matter how much Johnson has shunned the spotlight in the last eight months, the nation’s interest in him continues to border on tabloid obsession. And that, he believes, is in stark contrast to the third man on Canfield Drive that hot day last August – the man he believes bears responsibility for his friend’s death and everything that followed. “It does sadden me that it seems like Darren Wilson just fell off the face of the earth,” he says. “I mean, I can pick my nose and it’ll be on the news. Who’s to say what Darren Wilson is doing right now?” ■
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JUNE 10 FATPOCKET
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THREE PEDROS
AUG 12 MADBEATS
YOU HAD ME AT “DRINK SPECIALS”!
SEPT 9
GRIFFIN AND THE GARGOYLES
5:00-8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE | DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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NIGHT + DAY ®
MARK DETHROW
WEEK OF AUGUST 06–12
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[THEATER]
SPELLBOUND! A MUSICAL FABLE
Stray Dog Theatre’s current season comes to an end with the world premiere of Spellbound! A Musical Fable. Written by artistic director Gary F. Bell with Robert L. White, the play is an all-ages tale about a young woman named Arabella. She undertakes a hero’s journey to the land of Samaren, where she encounters shape-shifting beasts in the service of Layla, an enchantress. These are the obstacles that block Arabella’s path to discovering the value of her own worth, but she has the strength to triumph. While the kids are sure to enjoy it, don’t dismiss Spellbound! as “only for children”; Stray Dog has a long track record
of presenting thought-provoking and entertaining musicals, so adults will have a good time, too. Spellbound! is presented at 8 p.m. Thursday through T H IS C O D E Saturday (August TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES 6 to 22) at Tower IPHONE/ANDROID APP Grove Abbey FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT (2336 Tennessee riverfronttimes.com Avenue; 314-8651995 or www. straydogtheatre.org). There are two additional shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday (August 12 and 19). Tickets are $10 to $25. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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FiftyOneBowie revisits the many face of David Bowie.
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[ART EXHIBIT]
SOUND & VISION
Sound & Vision is a synthesis of music and art spread throughout several venues at Grand Center’s First Friday. The Kranzberg Arts Incubator (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.kranzbergartscenter.org) hosts Mark Dethrow’s exhibition FiftyOneBowie, an installation of 51 portraits of the chameleonic performer. Eric Hall and Kevin Harris present “Turn and face the strange,” an audio/visual piece comprising electronic remixes of the Main Man’s music and live analog video, in the Black Box Theater.
Downstairs the Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design presents Heavy Metals, an amalgamation of metal-arts demos and a punk-rock performance. Sound & Vision takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ N O VA N I G H T S ]
NASA NEW HORIZONS: PLUTO
The PlayStation 4 may be the most powerful home video game console on the market today (according to its manufacturer), but when NASA launched the 2006 New Horizon probe for a mission that would take it 3 billion miles from Earth, it went with the tried-and-true decades-old CPU that powered continued on page 22
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From the left: Get Spellbound!, buy art at Scratchfest, bask in Zardoz’s strange beauty and learn about early St. Louis breweries.
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Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 1 over any bleeding-edge tech. The mission’s flabbergasting findings on the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons are the focus of NASA New Horizons — To Pluto!, this month’s Nova Nights at the St. Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Avenue; 314-289-4400 or www.slsc.org). Attendees can test upcoming video games created by area developers, play with robots in the Maker Garage and take in a lecture about NASA’s mission to Pluto. At 10 p.m. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar screens for free in the theater (but not in the IMAX format; regular style only). Admission is free, as are mostsoulardconcertsseries_qrtr_pg_aug.pdf of the activities. — MARK FISCHER
S AT U R D AY |08.08 [ART SALE]
SCRATCHFEST: AN ART & DANCE FESTIVAL
The problem with most fine art is that once you’ve finished paying for it, you can no longer afford the home you were going to hang it in. But Scratchfest: An Art & Dance Festival Honoring the Life & Work of Bob Reuter changes that. The open-portfolio show features numerous printmakers who craft original and striking art that is surprisingly easy on your wallet, thanks to the black magic of mechanical reproduction. Most of the Outlaw Printmakers gang will be present, as will numerous Printbangerz workshop attendees — you buy straight from the artist and cut out the middleman. There will be live music and a couple of surprises — you’ll have to go to find out what that entails. Scratchfest runs from 6:50 AM August 8, at Atomic 61p.m.7/22/15 to 1 a.m. Saturday,
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Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue; www. evilprints.com). A portion of the proceeds benefit the Cowboy Angel Foundation in memory of photographer and musician Bob Reuter. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ C U LT C L A S S I C ]
ZARDOZ
John Boorman’s sci-fi brainmelter Zardoz is more commonly known as “that film where Sean Connery runs around in a red diaper and pirate boots.” And it’s true — he does, and that’s a big part of its appeal. Connery plays Zed, a primitive man from the Brutal caste who’s only skill is killing. When he infiltrates the secluded world of the Eternals, the ruling elite, Zed finds himself studied, feared and used as a weapon by various factions. It’s crazier than you think — a flying stone head issues weapons as needed, and the Eternals use naked mud wrestling to fight erectile dysfunction — but it’s also thoughtful and inventive despite
the cheesy bits. The Reel Late film series presents Zardoz at midnight Friday and Saturday (August 7 and 8) at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-727-7271 or www. landmarktheatres.com). Tickets are $8. — PAUL FRISWOLD
S U N D AY |08.09
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[HISTORY]
DRINKING UP ST. LOUIS
St. Louis has a long history as a beer town and a baseball town. The Brown Stockings, the team that eventually became the modern St. Louis Cardinals, was an original member of the founding class of the National League in 1875. That’s also the year the Compton and Dry map of St. Louis was created — clearly, drinking and baseball are cornerstones of the city. Numerous breweries, taverns and pubs were immortalized in the Compton and Dry
map (the Cardinals have done pretty well, too), currently on display as the centerpiece of the exhibition A Walk in 1875 St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard T H IS C O D E and DeBaliviere TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Avenue; 314-746RIVERFRONT TIMES 4599 or www. IPHONE/ANDROID APP mohistory.org). FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT riverfronttimes.com Today at 2:30 p.m. during Drinking Up Compton and Dry’s St. Louis, Cameron Collins of Distilled History discusses the brewing centers of interest visible in the map, and reveals tidbits about the history and fates of the noble structures. Admission is free. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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[DOCUMENTARY]
[MUSICAL]
ENCHANTED KINGDOM
OKLAHOMA!
The natural-history documentaries produced by BBC Earth are widely regarded as the best in class, but their crowning achievement may be their latest, Enchanted Kingdom 3-D. The film places viewers deep within the wilderness of Africa, using state-of-the-art 4K 3-D cameras. This new dimension of BBC Earth’s storytelling is further enhanced with high-definition time-lapse photography and micro and macro 3-D lenses. The film examines not only the critters that populate Africa’s densest jungles, but takes audiences on a journey from the bottom of the continent’s secretive seas to the tip of its ice-capped mountains. Enchanted Kingdom screens at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (August 10 and 11) at Ronnies 20 Cine with IMAX (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com). Tickets are $15. — MARK FISCHER
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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! paved the way for the modern musical, thanks to the duo’s insistence on using the songs as a means both to expand the story and to explain the motivations of the characters. Not a bad trick for the duo’s first collaboration, eh? It’s a classic, and the songs are part of America’s cultural heritage. Cowboy Curly McLain rides into town one last time to propose to his long-time gal, Laurey. She thinks he’s put it off too long, and goes to the dance with menacing farmhand Jud just to spite Curly. Curly can’t tolerate that, the same way cowboy Will Parker can’t tolerate Ado Annie’s relationship with the peddler Ali Hakim. Both cowboys have to fight for their respective gals, and this being Oklahoma!, that means singing and dancing are the weapons of choice. The Muny
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in Forest Park (314-361-1900 or www.muny. org) closes out its season with Oklahoma! Performances are at 8:15 p.m. Monday through Sunday, and tickets are $14 to $87. — PAUL FRISWOLD
Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.
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film
The Sharper Image Catalog as Film IN THE LATEST MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE STARS ARE THE GADGETS AND STUNTS. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames. Now open at numerous theaters.
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hile I have generally enjoyed the Mission: Impossible series, if you were to ask me what any of the films were about four days after I saw them, well...that information is kept in an airtight BY “dark tunnel” under six levels of encryption and accessible ROBERT only after presenting a thumbprint, a retinal scan and the HUNT name of my high school mas24
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cot. But that’s okay! Profundity is not the point of a Mission: Impossible film; logic, consistency and plausibility are equally discounted. These films deal in chaos and deliver it well. The latest, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is no exception, and although it may be almost too much of a good thing, it promises — and provides — two hours of continuous action. As in previous M:I outings, the film involves super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) looking for an international ring of terrorists known as the Syndicate, with help from his sidekicks on the Impossible Mission Force, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). They’re joined by British double agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may not be trustworthy — not that such things matter. There’s also a sub-plot in which CIA man Alan Hunley (Alex Baldwin) has the IMF disbanded and gives orders for Hunt’s arrest, while keeping Hunt’s former boss (Jeremy Renner) under his control. The action jumps from London to Vienna to Morocco, staying in each place just long enough to unload a new carton of gadgets and head into an extended series of stunts and action sequences before jumping off to the next location. For all of their globe-trotting heroes, terror-
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ist cells and world-threatening weapons, the Mission: Impossible films are, at heart, technophilic fantasies about men (and women) who live like real-life Jetsons and have better phone service than you can even dream about. Technology has been central to the series from the beginning, but much has changed since 1996, when Tom Cruise had to type in MS-DOS commands to break into CIA headquarters and arch-villain Vanessa Redgrave worried about transmitting a file before her Wi-Fi connection failed. In the first film, technology was a sometimes unreliable tool; with Rogue Nation, it is the whole point. The suspense of waiting for a particular bit of high-tech trickery to go off or the clockwork timing of some of the IMF capers are what passes for dramatic development here. Without them, Ethan Hunt is a cipher. Unlike James Bond, there’s no hint of a personal life or even much of a personality. His existence depends on having some kind of task to keep him occupied. You can’t imagine him ordering a drink, let alone worrying if it was shaken or stirred. Which is fine, because he’s just a vehicle for Tom Cruise and the elaborate stunt work which pulls the film closer to the semicomic terrain of Jackie Chan circa 1990 than
Tom Cruise (and uncredited motorcycle) star in the new Mission Impossible.
to the macho ruthlessness of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just as CGI effects would dilute the pleasure one gets from the motorcycle chases and endurance tests, so would having to believe that Ethan had any emotions or thoughts which might distract him from the action at hand. The filmmakers dutifully try to build up some kind of reason for all of the running around, but in this case, the ineffectual supervillain behind the complicated plot barely makes an impression. This isn’t a movie about good and evil; it’s about solving puzzles. Alliances shift as easily as trusts and characters are judged not by their ideology but by their usefulness. The filmmakers only lose sight of this once, near the end, when Hunt starts to make a statement about the necessity of the IMF bringing down the bad guys. (I’ll blame writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed Cruise in the heavy-handed Jack Reacher) It’s not just out of character; it’s disappointing. The last thing anyone wants from a Mission: Impossible film is for Cruise to start giving speeches. ■
MICAH USHER
STILL ROLLING OUR ONGOING, OCCASIONALLY SMARTASS, DEFINITELY UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO WHAT’S PLAYING IN ST. LOUIS THEATERS
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We’ve all seen the wedding-cake topper of the
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bride grabbing the groom by the collar, dragging him away from a life filled with sexy funtimes and toward the altar of imprisonment, where all that’s left is monogamy and arguing over how to properly squeeze the toothpaste tube (from the bottom up, always). In Trainwreck, it’s beer-slamming, bed-hopping Amy (Amy
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Schumer) who’d rather order another round of shots than order fine china. Until, of course, she meets Aaron (Bill Hader) who reminds her that, in the words of British philosopher Samantha Fox, naughty girls need love too. Sure, it gets
“What’s important about Tangerine is that it’s so
a little formulaic in places, but it’s a hell of a
CATHARTICALLY HILARIOUS.” Jonathan Kiefer, SF Weekly
“ONE OF THE
MOST EXCITING FILMS OF THE YEAR. It may not be the summer comedy we asked for, but it just might be the summer comedy we need.” Peter Macia, Vogue
“IT JUMPS OFF THE SCREEN AND
WOWS YOU LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS A VISUALLY INNOVATIVE KNOCKOUT THAT GRABS YOU FROM THE FIRST FRAME.”
.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
★★★★★
“THIS MOVIE IS EVERYTHING.” David Ehrlich, Time Out New York
“A TOUGH YET TENDER, GRITTY YET GORGEOUS MOVIE MADE WITH INGENIOUS SKILL. A DIZZY, OFTEN EXUBERANT, DOWN AND DIRTY ROMP.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
lot more fun than most actual weddings. ●
INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE
Almost every day we hear about the death of another pop-culture touchstone: “The inventor of the Hula-Hoop died? Sad,” we think. And just as quickly: “Can you super-size that?” Very few deaths hold our attention even minutes after we learn about them. And then there’s Amy Winehouse. Watching a fierce natural talent disintegrate in real time, her death four years ago at 27 wasn’t a complete shock — but the failure of anyone to successfully save her from herself was. Asif Kapadia’s Amy is already be-
MONDAY, AUGUST 10 7:00PM
ing called one of the best music documentaries ever made. It reveals the root of so many of her ills — eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse,
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manic depression — and how the wrong people in wrong places at the wrong times only sped up a frantically ticking clock. ● If your vacation week has come and gone, if you’re in the grips of the summertime blues, if you’re feeling old and irrelevant with the reappearance of back-
RATED PG-13 FOR ACTION VIOLENCE, SOME SUGGESTIVE CONTENT, AND PARTIAL NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.
to-school things, Pixels is for you. After an old VHS tape of a video-game tournament is broadcast into space (go with it), Pac-Man,
tangerine A film by
Sean Baker
magpictures.com/tangerine
STARTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Q*bert and their alien ilk believe they’re under attack...and are pissed. Fear not: This is a world where Donkey Kong prowess saves the universe, Kevin James can be president and, of course, Adam Sandler gets the girl. In other words, it’s
IN THEATERS AUGUST 14
“ageless” in the sense that every other Sandler flick has been since about 1995. Don’t you feel younger already?
— Kristie McClanahan
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Still the Big Man CAROL REED’S THE THIRD MAN REMAINS HAUNTING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. The Third Man Directed by Carol Reed. Written by Graham Greene. Starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Opens Friday, August 7, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; 314-995-6285 or www.landmarktheatres.com).
Keep the Receipt JOEL EDGERTON’S THRILLER THE GIFT HAS SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT WOMEN. The Gift Directed and Written by Joel Edgerton. Starring Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Opens Friday, July 7, at multiple theaters.
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h, but The Gift is an infuriating movie on so many levels. It can’t decide if it wants to be serious drama or a salacious thriller, and so it’s nowhere near enough of either, and each aspect seems to be laughing at the other. It touches on sensitive, tangled emotional matters that could easily be the basis for either sort of movie — how the effects of bullying in childhood linger into adulthood; how stress and grief can render us unable to function in daily life; how even the most intimate of relationships can be tinged by a lack of trust; and more — but it fumbles all of them so badly that it contradicts itself constantly, as 26
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death but immediately disappeared pull Martins into a noir-ish journey through Vienna’s backstreets and sewers, accompanied by Anton Karas’ relentless zither score. It’s not a great film, but it is memorable, driven by the casual charm of Cotten and the enigmatic draw of Welles. Graham Greene’s screenplay is uneven (there’s a particularly bad scene where Cotten is forced to address the local literary club, a roomful of grotesques if it doesn’t really understand the pain it is attempting to appropriate. It wants you to doubt who the villain is but doesn’t have the nerve to do anything meaningful with that gambit. I’m trying not to spoil. Suffice to say that The Gift, after descending into emotional idiocy and insufficient intrigue, ends up in a disgusting place that presumes its audience will be horrified at the repulsive suggestion that a medieval notion about marriage has been contravened. Granted, this notion remains something that some real people in the real world still believe, and it’s an awful trope that movies like this one frequently trot out. But it is a trope that deserves to die, not be perpetuated. I cannot even say that The Gift — written and, in his feature debut, directed by actor Joel Edgerton — starts out promisingly. Almost from the get-go, we are led down a path that treats Robyn (Rebecca Hall) as an appropriate battleground for a war of wills between her husband, Simon (Jason Bateman), and an old school friend of his, Gordo (Edgerton). (The movie is totally on board with the idea that women are properly pawns in games men
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who grill him on modernism. What literary grudge was Greene indulging here?), but just atmospheric enough to cover up the plot’s holes, and with just enough Hitchcockian elements to keep the story from being drowned by the atmosphere. But Hitchcock may not be the only source of inspiration. It used to be commonly believed -- although evidence has since proven it unlikely -- that Orson Welles directed his
Orson Welles leads the way in The Third Man.
own scenes in The Third Man (Welles himself always emphatically denied it). It is now often presumed that even if Welles stayed in front of the camera, Reed’s dark settings and odd compositions were inspired by the innovative look of Citizen Kane and The Lady from Shanghai. While there may be something to this -- there is a startling cut involving a
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arol Reed’s The Third Man has straddled the line between high and low art for so long that it’s hard -- no, impossible -- to watch it in innocence. One inevitably approaches the film under the influence of memory or nostalgia if you’ve seen it before, or under the long shadow of its reputation if you haven’t. In an otherwise enthusiastic review for BY the New York Times in 1950, ROBERT Bosley Crowther felt obliged to warn his readers that the HUNT film was essentially a firstrate contrivance in the way of melodrama -- and that’s all. The description still holds. It’s either a serious film with a lot of pulpy elements, or a genre piece with an air of self-importance. And yet it works, for the most part. Its contradictions are what holds it together. For those who haven’t seen it, The Third Man is a crime story set in post-war Vienna, when the city was run by international peacekeeping forces and black marketeering was rampant. Western author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten, in a rare leading role) has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but upon arrival he learns that Lime has just been killed under slightly mysterious circumstances. Questions about Lime, his business interests and, most of all, a mysterious “third man” who witnessed his
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Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall in The Gift.
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cockatoo, recalling one of Kane’s most jarring transitions -- it’s a superficial homage, entirely ignoring the in-depth staging and innovative sound design of Welles’ films. There are many vivid and evocative shots, but quite a few that seem to be set at harsh angles solely for a calculated effect. It’s not a particularly personal work, but Reed wasn’t a particularly personal director (although he inserts himself into the film as narrator of its oddly chatty prologue sequence). Maybe that’s why he indulges himself in the off-kilter angles; they act as a filter between the characters and the viewer. And yet Harry Lime has unmistakeably become one of cinema’s most memorable villains, a remarkable feat considering that he appears for less than ten minutes, and only after more than an hour has passed. His appeal, if you can call it that, can be attributed almost entirely to Welles, who was so taken
with the character and his amorality that he spun it into a radio series, The Adventures of Harry Lime. What’s most unique about Lime is that he doesn’t really seem to be villainous at all; he’s seductive, charming in a way that’s as irresistible as it is condescending, and though Martins -- and the viewer -- can see through Lime’s desperate need to win him over, he can’t turn away from it either. All things considered, The Third Man may be less than the sum of its parts — but those parts — a great villain, a personable hero, that impossible-to-ignore music and an exotic heroine (Alida Valli as Lime’s mistress) — do linger. No, The Third Man is not a great film, but 65 years after its premiere it remains a haunting one. ■
play.) The couple have just moved back to Los Angeles — to one of those masterpieces of mid-century architecture faced with huge glass windows, all the better for creepazoids to loom into view from the darkness beyond — when they run into Gordo in a shop. Simon doesn’t remember the guy at all, except that he was a bit of an oddball, which seems proven when Gordo shows up at the house without invitation (and clearly having obtained the address in some nefarious way, because they didn’t give it to him) several times, bearing increasingly and inappropriately extravagant gifts, and only when Robyn is home alone. Still, Robyn thinks that while Gordo may be a little socially awkward, he seems okay...but Simon is increasingly weirded out and wants to break off the new forced friendship. There are several intriguing directions this basic scenario could have gone in: The Gift ignores all of them and chooses one that has no ring of emotional truth at all...but which, I suspect, it thinks is incisive and subtly smart. Even though Simon was the one who didn’t want anything to do with Gordo, and rather condescendingly informs others that Robin
only struck up a friendship with the other man because she’s “too nice,” Robyn is the one who gets cast in the role of the fragile irrational when she begins to see that Gordo might actually be pretty creepy after all. But of course she’s delicate and unreasonable and probably not to be trusted! She lost a baby at some point prior to the beginning of the story here, and went through a “rough patch.” We’re meant to wonder if Simon is now gaslighting his wife, trying to deflect her from getting suspicious about his long-ago high-school relationship with Gordo. But it’s the movie that is gaslighting Robyn, seemingly positioning her in the center of the story when what is meant to be the significant stuff is happening elsewhere. And The Gift gaslights the audience, too. It sets itself up in a way that seems to be a preemptive attack on detractors by borrowing hot-button and even feminist issues but then treating them in implausible ways. Of course some women suffer in the wake of a miscarriage, but not like this. Of course marriages can have trust issues — but not like this. Of course bullies deserve their comeuppance — but not like this. —MARYANN JOHANSON
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E M
cafe
Clockwise from the left: White Fish Fillet, Twice-Cooked Pork and Short-Rib Black Pepper Beef.
Top Chef FOR AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL FOOD, GO TO CHEF MA’S — AND SURRENDER TO THE CHINESE TASTING MENU Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet 2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-395-8797. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
“C
hef Ma, five people.” My friend — a native Mandarin speaker — had beat me to Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet and was busy securing our table from the eponymous chef. As the tiny older man scrambled to arrange the BY chairs and place settings, we noticed that one thing was noC H E RY L tably absent — a menu. “No menu. I cook for you,” BAEHR Chef Ma said, then disappeared into the kitchen. If you visit Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I suggest you proceed as we did, though your first instinct may tell you otherwise. The small, unassuming restaurant sits just off a busy inter-
section in suburban Overland, housed in what used to be a Taco Bell. From the outside, it could easily be dismissed as just another Americanstyle place whose food is about as authentically Chinese as the San Francisco invention of chop suey. Dig a little deeper, however, and your perception quickly changes. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, it turns out, is a bastion of authentic Chinese cuisine owned by a man whose culinary pedigree is far more impressive than his bare-bones fast-casual restaurant would suggest. Ma has been cooking professionally for roughly 40 years, beginning his career with Marriott in his native Hong Kong. He traveled with the company, opening properties in Singapore and Malaysia before landing in Hawaii in 1979. He eventually moved to the mainland United States, first to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles, before arriving in St. Louis in the early ’90s to work for Mandarin House. After overseeing the palatial restaurant’s banquet operations for years and helping to open its satellite location on Olive Boulevard, Ma decided it was time to strike out on his own. He chose the space in Overland, figuring its close proximity to Mandarin House would encourage his loyal customers to visit the new venture.
He was right. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet appetizers — but then I would have missed peralready has a small word-of-mouth following, haps my favorite course. “This is what we have its clientele divided equally between American for lunch,” our server told us as she ladled a diners looking for something beyond sweet and still-simmering fish stew into our bowls. The sour chicken, and Chinese expats in search of broth was delicate and understated, like a spring the food of their homeland. onion consommé. Small filets of flaky whitefish Ma is eager to share the more traditional and pork meatballs bobbed alongside cabbage, side of his cooking with diners, especially those onions, snow peas and exotic mushrooms in the willing to let him take control of the wheel. steaming broth. One of them, a high-altitude Minutes after we sat down, a server delivered fungus that looked like an eggplant-hued sea an overflowing appetizer platter to the table. Pot creature, had a light umami flavor and silken stickers filled with pork and onion and pan fried texture. It was positively ethereal. to a golden brown sat alongside no less than ten If the fish stew was the embodiment of deliexcellent handmade egg rolls. The rolls were cate, understated cooking, the twice-cooked overstuffed with pork, carrots pork was decadence inand mushrooms, and piled into a carnate. Slices of creamy, Chef Ma’s Chinese paper-thin shell. A mouth-puckmelt-in-the-mouth pork Gourmet ering sweet and sour sauce (the belly, caramelized around Fish stew .............$15.95 difference between Ma’s homethe edges, were paired with Twice made version and the stuff that thin charred tofu strips, eggcooked pork ...... $11.95 comes out of a jar is astounding) plant, onions and green bell Hot braised chicken ............... $7.95 and soy-based dumpling sauce peppers. A sugary soy and were there for dipping, though chile-spiked glaze coated the I couldn’t get enough of the acingredients. companying chile-oil paste. It was fiery, burnMa continued with the hearty theme for the-back-of-your-throat hot, but so savory and his next course, black pepper beef. Bone-on nuanced the heat didn’t obscure the flavor. slices of short ribs, red and white onion petals I would have been satisfied had I left after and hunks of celery were continued on page 30 riverfronttimes.com 1 riverfronttimes.com MAOUNGTUHS TX X–X 5 - 1 1X, , 2200105X R RI IVVE ER RF FR ROONNT T T TI IMME ES S 29
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3265 S . Jefferson Avenue St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 776-5700
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smothered in black-pepper gravy. It was like a Chinese grandmother’s version of a hearty pot roast — so warm and comforting that we forgot we were in public and tore into the savory meat with our hands. “These taste like shrimp doughnuts,” one of my dining companions astutely observed as she bit into the pumpkin shrimp course. The battered and deep-fried shrimp rested atop a pumpkin brown-butter sauce — a savory shellfish pastry. The dish was heavy and intentionally on the salty side to cut through the richness — wonderful, though I was maxed out at two. Ma reeled in the richness for his next two dishes. His house specialty, Hainan chicken, is a boiled, skin-on bird, served room temperature and hacked into large pieces. The ginger-spiked cooking liquid gently infuses the meat with subtle sweetness; its flesh is like silk (though I must admit I preferred it skinoff ). Ma recommended pairing it with the accompanying ginger sauce and whole salted peanuts to enhance its flavor, then went to the back to show us the medals he won for his interpretation of this Singaporean classic. He served it alongside a simple, buttery sautée of assorted vegetables, the highlight of which was the tender, zucchini-like Chinese long squash. Our feast ended with a warm peanut, almond and sesame soup — a subtly sweet dessert that evoked the starchy liquid part of oatmeal, only seasoned with nuts and warm spices. Though we’d said we were too full for dessert, everyone at the table cleaned their bowls. Chef Ma’s impromptu and unadvertised Chinese-style tasting menu is the clear highlight of the restaurant, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the Americanized stuff too. The restaurant’s main menu (it sits directly above the ordering counter, as if Ma expects most of his diners to order from it) consists of the dishes most people have come to expect from a Chinese restaurant in the middle of America. What differentiates Chef Ma’s Chinese Gour-
Stew with fish fillet and assorted vegetables
Ma is eager to share the more traditional side of his cooking with diners, especially those willing to let him take control of the wheel. met, however, is that he approaches these dishes with the same respect as he does the traditional fare. He could just as easily order his food out of cans or frozen and ready for the deep fryer. Instead, the chef gets to the kitchen by 7 a.m. daily so that he can make from scratch things we are inclined to dismiss: sweet and sour, hot braised glaze, Mongolian beef sauce. The care is evident. On an earlier visit, I gave in to my not-so-guilty pleasure and ordered the hot braised chicken. Like Ma’s sweet and sour, the fact that the chef makes the sticky hot sauce in house and hand cuts and breads his chicken makes this a far better dish than what is peddled at greasy chop-suey joints. The pork Mandarin was equally enjoyable. Thin, breaded and fried pork cutlets were smothered in piquant sweet and sour then finished with soy-caramelized onions. And let’s be honest: Who doesn’t love crab Rangoon, especially on those all too rare occasions when it’s made with real crabmeat and scallions as it is at Chef Ma’s? The menu offered to Americans is in no way authentic Chinese cuisine, but it’s of good enough quality and flavor to make it worth a taste. But really, it doesn’t matter what’s on his board of fare. The next time I am at Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I won’t even look at what’s on the menu. “Chef Ma, three people” is the only guide I’ll need. ■
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[RESTAURANT NEWS]
short orders [DISTILLER CHAT]
Meet St. Louis Distillery’s Dr. Vodka
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C O M P L E M E N T S O F S T. LO U I S D I S T I L L E R Y
’ll be honest — I was escaping a Pampered Chef party,” Dr. Bill Schroer laughs when asked about the origins of St. Louis Distillery. “I was with two of my neighbors at one of their houses while their wives were down at mine. We got to drinking and talking about how there are a lot of people who open breweries and wineries, but not many who open distilleries. Then it came to us: We could do that.” Schroer is about as unlikely a distiller as they come. A respected orthopedic surgeon who spends his days doing knee replacements, Schroer has yet to quit his day job. It’s unlikely that will come anytime soon (he does hundreds of surgeries a year and lectures around the country on the procedure), though the success of St. Louis Distillery’s Cardinal Sin vodka could make that possible. What started out as a little more than a hobby has turned into a major, high-tech opT H IS C O D E eration that produces a TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES spirit even he and his IPHONE/ANDROID APP partners (Steve HerberFOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT holt and Greg Deters) riverfronttimes.com are surprised by. “We came to market about three years ago,” Schroer explains. “I remember going to our first tasting at Lucas Liquors. It was the first time anyone but our wives and us had tasted the vodka. We were so nervous — we didn’t know if it was actually good or not. The manager took one sip of it, looked at us, and said, ‘This is incredible!’” The words of encouragement led Schroer and his partners to enter Cardinal Sin into four different contests. They came away with the gold medal at all of them. Schroer was content making the vodka until a patient with a bum knee gave him an idea. “We got to talking about her business,” Schroer recalls. “She said that she owned a cooperage, but that I probably wouldn’t know what that was. I laughed and told her that she would be surprised.” Their conversation led to an arrangement whereby her company would provide St. Louis Distillery with brandnew Missouri white oak barrels where the vodka could age. “We came up with the idea for our Starka barrel-aged vodka to do something a little different,” Schroer says. Though Starka has been around Eastern Europe since the 15th century, it has only recently become popular in the United States. Schroer isn’t surprised
Local Takes Missouri Barbecue Flavors to Colorado
St. Louis Distillery partners Steve Herberholt, Bill Schroer and Greg Deters.
that people are catching on. “It’s like bourbon but smoother. Put it over rocks with an orange slice — there’s nothing better.” Schroer took a break from distilling vodka and replacing knees to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, being a morning person and which local chef he’d love to spend the day with. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I wish more people knew that we have an award-winning vodka distillery right here in town! What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I have to get up early and get working early. If I don’t have something accomplished by eight o’clock, I’m a wreck. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To be able to work and play without sleep — seems to be a terrible waste of time. What is the most positive trend in food, beer, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Local quality — moving away from national chain restaurants and breweries to local eateries, microbreweries and artisan distilleries. Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? Gerald Craft [Niche] — I would love to spend a day to see how this guy puts it all together. I bet he doesn’t sleep much either. Who’s the one person to watch right now in
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the St. Louis food and beverage scene? Ron Buechele, owner chef of Capitalist Pig and Mad Art Gallery. It’s the most inventive food and location in town. Tell Ron, “Doctor Vodka” sent you. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Cinnamon — can be sweet or hot. And just like the challenge, a little is great, but too much will make you yack. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ food and beverage climate, what would you say? Inventive and creative. I’m amazed by the creativity I witness in bars and restaurants in pairing unlikely ingredients. We are so lucky to have so many original and diverse options right in our back yard. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Cheap booze — life is way too short to drink poorly. What is your after-work hangout? My back patio with friends drinking Starka mules. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks, of course. An award-winning chef presenting a tasting menu with wine flights. I love to indulge in the best of the best where a chef puts his or her talent and vision on full display. — CHERYL BAEHR
ason Ganahl, a 1994 graduate of Webster Groves High School, is taking St. Louis barbecue to Colorado. The St. Louis native has fond memories of his father grilling in the back yard with his Weber grill and Maull’s sauce at the ready — such flavors and experiences, he believes, are missing in much of the West. Although Ganahl is a long-time barbecue fan, his path to restaurant ownership began when he actually left St. Louis. At the age of 30, he packed up his bags for a job in California. Though the sunshine was great, the smoked meat was not. He missed good barbecue, so he signed up to become a barbecue competition judge with the Kansas City Barbeque Society. As a judge, however, he was eating as much bad barbecue as good. Granahl thought he could do it better himself, so he started competing...and winning. Work took him to Colorado where he continued to compete, but once again he was unsatisfi ed with the local restaurant offerings. Hence, GQue is under construction about fifteen minutes northwest of Denver in the suburb of Westminster. Its grand opening is scheduled for mid-October. Ganahl considers himself a meat-andpotatoes kind of guy who used to eat at Bandana’s a few times a week. In competition circles, Ganahl is best known for his brisket, which will likely be the star of GQue. He’ll serve prime brisket: “The best I can get my hands on.” In addition to the barbecue staples, Ganahl plans to serve “lots of fun stuff, too.” Ganahl is planning a number of daily specials that will stretch the imaginations of traditional barbecue lovers — similar to what you might find at St. Louis outposts such as Sugarfire Smoke House. Though Ganahl eats a ton of barbecue, he doesn’t have a particular St. Louis favorite. When he’s home, he heads to Farotto’s and Nachomama’s. The Rib House, located nearby Longmont, Colorado, has its walls covered with Denver Broncos memorabilia — that’s the ultimate stab in the back to anyone from Kansas City (such as the Rib House’s very owners). But Ganahl iinsists he will never turn his back on his beloved Cardinals or Missouri Tigers. Owning a restaurant in Colorado won’t dampen the pride of this self-proclaimed rabid fan. The 2,500-square-foot space will be set up for fast-casual service. GQue will feature a Missouri-made Ole Hickory Pits smoker. — JOHNNY FUGITT
Authentic MexicAn Food, Beer, And MArgAritAs!
2817 cherokee st. st. Louis, Mo 63118 314.762.0691 onco.coM www.tAqueriAeLBr
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Beer, Wine, & Full Bar Now Available! Breakfast Served All Day! CHEAPEST DRINK PRICES IN TOWN! St. Louis’ New Cajun-Creole Restaurant
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E N
106 main st. • edwardsville, il 618.307.4830 www.clevelandheath.com
–Restaurants 2014
La Vallesana’s frozen treats come in a dizzying array of flavors, all made with fresh fruits. [SUGAR HIGH]
La Vallesana’s Paletas, a Tasty Frozen Treat To Beat the Heat
B
efore La Vallesana (2801 Cherokee Street; 314-776-4223) expanded into the fullservice, multi-patio Mexican-food mecca it is today, it had humble beginnings as a simple frozen-treat stand. According to manager Marco Vargas, whose father owns the business, the restaurant originally opened in 2003 selling ice cream. The addition of tacos, tortas, burritos and more came in years following. To this day, La Vallesana still offers some of the desserts that started it all: paletas. “To a lot of people, it’s different,” Vargas says. “It’s all homemade. We use all fresh fruit and don’t use preservatives.” 34
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The Latin American-style popsicles known for their utilization of fresh fruits come in two different varieties: water-based and milk-based. Family recipes scaled to proper proportions feature simple mixtures of milk or water with sugar as well as fruit or nut flavorings. Bestsellers include pistachio, pecan, strawberry and spicy mango. Look for a dozen or more options on any given day out of a pool of 50-some options established over the years — each for less than a few bucks bucks a pop. In addition to paletas, La Vallesana also offers a selection of agua frescas and ice creams. Like the paletas in the next cooler over, look in the dipping cabinets for sixteen or so flavors of ice cream out of a total of around 50 rotating options. These, too, are a bit different than similar traditional American treats. The texture of the housemade ice creams is a bit denser and milkier, according to Vargas. Beat the heat by cooling down with any one of these refreshing sweets. — MABEL SUEN
Craft Beer Week - Llywelyn’s Webster
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Look for the RFT Street Team at the following featured events this week:
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Friday, 8.7.15 What: Taking Back Sunday & Greek Fire Concert When: 5 - 8:30 PM Where: Ballpark Village
Thank you St. Louis!!!
Voted #1
BEST FRIED CHICKEN
by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Readers
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Saturday Sessions When: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM Where: Tower Grove Farmer’s Market
Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Grub and Groove 2015 When: 3 - 10:30 PM Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Where: Francis Park
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Trombone Shorty Concert When: 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
Where: Ballpark Village
114 W Mill St, Waterloo, IL 62298 (618) 939-9933 • gallagherswaterloo.com
For more photos go to the Street Team website at www.riverfronttimes.com. riverfronttimes.com
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
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dining guide The Dining Guide lists only restaurants recommended by RFT food critics. The print listings below rotate regularly, as space allows. Our complete Dining Guide is available online; view menus and search local restaurants by name or neighborhood.
Happy Hour M-F 3-7PM 25% Tapas & Wine $
1 off domestic beers
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7344 Manchester Rd
3 1 4-645-4803
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Price Guide (based on a three-course meal for one, excluding tax, tip and beverages): $ up to $15 per person $$ $15 - $25 $$$ $25 - $40 $$$$ more than $40
SOUTH CITY Adam’s Smokehouse 2819 Watson Road, St. Louis, 314-875-9890. You can’t spell barbecue without “cue,” but the lines haven’t formed outside the door at Adam’s Smokehouse — yet. The slow-smoking barbecue joint in Clifton Heights opened in October and serves as a sister store to well-renowned, consistently packed restaurants Pappy’s Smokehouse and Bogart’s Smokehouse, so it seems like only matter a time before all of St. Louis stands in line to try a bite. Co-owners Frank Vinciguerra and Mike Ireland spent several years working at Pappy’s with barbecue master Skip Steele before embarking on their own venture. With the blessing of their barbecue brethren, the two put together a small but substantial menu of smoked meats and traditional sides done well. $$ Athlete Eats 2837 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, 314-9325566. Tucked amid the bodegas and indie record stores of Cherokee Street sits Athlete Eats, a polished little café that is all about healthy eating. Owner Simon Lusky started the business as a nutrition service, providing meal plans and prepared foods to healthconscious clients, including some of the St. Louis Cardinals players, and expanded to include a breakfast and lunch counter. Athlete Eats offers a variety of juices, smoothies and guilt-free fare, including Carolina-style barbecue; a juicy, locally raised grass-fed beef burger; and hearty salads. One of the more creative offerings, the bibimbap bowl, T H IS C O D E replaces the traditional sticky TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE rice with caulirice — grated RIVERFRONT TIMES pieces of roasted cauliflower IPHONE/ANDROID APP that resembles small rice FOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT grains. Tossed with edamame, riverfronttimes.com shiitakes and thinly sliced spiced beef, it’s as good, if not better, than the traditional, rice-based Korean staple. Athlete Eats only serves breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays — a shame because it’s where some of the restaurant’s best items are showcased. The gluten-free pancakes, laden with cinnamon and topped with coconut cream and maple orange syrup, are so tasty that one doesn’t miss the flour. And do not leave without trying Athlete Eats’ breakfast take on the Gerber sandwich: a garlic-studded waffle is topped with shaved ham, Provel cheese, béchamel sauce and a sunny-side egg. It’s one of the best uses of waffles in town. $ Corvid’s Cafe 5001 Mardel Avenue, St. Louis, 314-481-1522. Tucked into the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood of south city, Corvid’s Café is the quintessential neighborhood café — a place to gather, have a light meal or grab a cup of coffee to go. Owners John and Cindy Panian had been operating a catering company next door for eight years, and when the adjacent restaurant space (formerly World Café) became available, they jumped at the chance to put their own stamp on the place. The menu features light, classic café fare, such as tarragon-infused chicken salad and a spinach salad topped with dried fruit, sunflower seeds and Gorgonzola. The signature item is the “Crabwich,” a fried crabcake fritter served with oven roasted tomatoes, arugula and ancho chile sauce on a pretzel croissant. Other offerings include housemade pizzas and dressed-up baked potatoes. It’s the perfect place to sink into an overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace, sip a cup of coffee and snack. $ Gooseberries 2754 Chippewa Street, St. Louis, 314-5776363. Gooseberries is a Dutchtown South-Cherokee Street gathering place where locals and passersby can go to grab a meal, a snack or just a cup of coffee. Out of a cozy, re-
SCAN
4144 S. Grand
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 875-9653
Tuesday-Sunday
11am-9pm
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habbed storefront, owners Kim Bond and Ross Lessor serve an eclectic mix of breakfast and lunchtime items, including several vegan and vegetarian dishes. Bond is a pastry chef, so Gooseberries’ baked goods are highly recommended — especially the hand pies, filled with everything from gyro meat to chicken and waffles to broccoli-cheddar. Sandwiches include a vegan beet Reuben, pulled pork, and a Gouda and cheddar grilled cheese that can be made with waffles instead of bread. The restaurant’s signature dish is “KFT”: “Krispy Fried Tofu” made with a savory blend of thirteen herbs and spices that is so tasty, it could make one forget the Colonel. $ Grapeseed 5400 Nottingham Avenue, St. Louis, 314-9258525. Chef Ben Anderson’s Grapeseed serves seasonal American cuisine in the SoHa neighborhood of south city. Anderson sees the restaurant as a canvas upon which to feature locally sourced ingredients, the wares of the city’s artisans and even paintings by local artists. The menu is eclectic yet approachable, with offerings as varied as a Cuban sandwich to Chinese five-spice salmon. Though the menu changes frequently, some dishes remain as his signatures, such as the smoked turkey nachos — a platter of sweet potato chips topped with smoked turkey, spiced cranberries, micro greens, red peppers, buttermilk dressing and house brewed sweet and sour firecracker sauce. Dine at the bar next to the SoHa regulars, or grab a table in the warm, contemporary dining room for a feast that celebrates the best of the season. $$$ Leonardo’s Kitchen 2130 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, 314-664-1410. Leonardo’s Kitchen is a quaint sandwich and pizza shop, located in a converted gas station. Characteristic of its Hill neighbors, the restaurant specializes in St. Louis-style Italian dishes, such as pastas, sandwiches and pizzas. Meatballs are the house specialty, and Leonardo’s Kitchen and Wine Bar gives diners several opportunities to enjoy them — on the “Hey Bauly” pizza, “naked” with a variety of sauces or as the must-try meatball sandwich. For this version, Leonardo’s packs the moist, tender meatballs between two slices of garlic bread, smothers them with fresh tomato sauce and basil pesto then tops them with melted provolone cheese. The hot Italian beef sandwich is another signature dish: Gravy-drenched roasted beef and giardiniera are served atop a soft roll, like an Italian version of a French dip. Pizzas fall between St. Louis and New York style — handtossed and thin, but with heft and crunch. Leonardo’s piles on the toppings. Its veggie pizza gives diners two days’ worth of vegetables. This cozy little spot may no longer be filling up cars, but diners will leave overstuffed with tasty casual Italian food. $ Lulu’s Local Eatery 3201 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, 314-357-7717. St. Louis food-truck-goers are already familiar with the name Lulu’s Local Eatery; these mobile peddlers of vegan cuisine have been rolling around town since 2012. Following the success of their truck, husband and wife owners Lauren “Lulu” Loomis and Robert Tucker expanded their operations to include a brick-and-mortar corner storefront on South Grand, featuring the dishes that diners came to love from their food truck. Lulu’s may be vegan, but patrons are treated to hearty, satisfying cuisine that appeals to even the most committed carnivore. Buffalo cauliflower bites are like vegetarian boneless buffalo wings, complete with ranch dressing. Another appetizer, the avocado boat stuffed with Mexican-style quinoa, is satisfying enough to be a meal unto itself. The buffalo veggie burger and sweet potato falafel are also excellent sandwiches, but the star of the menu is the Buddha bowl, filled with stir-fried vegetables and thick, silky udon noodles. Dine on the patio, amidst the organic herbs and vegetables — you just might be sitting next to tomorrow’s special. $-$$ Old Standard 1621 Tower Grove Avenue, St. Louis, 314-8999000. Acclaimed chef Ben Poremba adds to his Botanical Heights restaurant flock with Old Standard Fried Chicken. Located in a converted horse stable, this casual chicken and bourbon shack draws crowds for its sustainably raised fried birds and Southern-style dishes. Poremba’s chicken recipe involves brining the bird, then cooking it in a pressure fryer to lock in the juices and give it a crisp exterior. Fried chicken is the only entrée at Old Standard, but the menu is filled with such downhome snacks as creamy pimento cheese dip, boiled peanut hummus, and sweet and spicy chicken wings. The restaurant’s standout snack, the smoked whitefish croquettes, is like eating a sweet and savory cream puff. Classic side dishes, such as smothered greens, creamed corn and mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, complement the fried chicken, and the bread board, served with housemade butters and jellies, makes for a hearty feast. $$-$$$ The Purple Martin 2800 Shenandoah Ave, St. Louis, 314898-0011. Long-time Fox Park residents Brooke Roseberry and Tony Lagouranis dreamed of creating a neighborhood gathering place. They’ve finally gotten their wish with the Purple Martin. Located in a rehabbed corner storefront, the restaurant is a quaint, casual bistro with Mediterranean and North African fare. Appetizers such as skordalia, a tangy garlic dip, and zeal, a lima-bean-based Berber specialty, serve as zesty starters, while the lamb shank with roasted tomatoes and potatoes is a satisfying entree. Make sure to save room for dessert. The Napoleon, layers of buttery puff pastry, sweet cream and macerated blackberries is a decadent end to a meal. For those who prefer an adult beverage as a nightcap, the Purple Martin boasts a creative cocktail menu. Its namesake drink, a concoction of Fitz’s grape soda, Malibu rum and lime juice, is a sweet and refreshing treat. $-$$
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music
B-Sides 40 Critics’ Picks 44 Concerts 46 Clubs
The Good Fight FIFTEEN YEARS INTO HIS CAREER, ROCKY VOTOLATO REFUSES TO BE KNOCKED DOWN Rocky Votolato 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street. $12. 314-535-0353.
ocky Votolato, the Seattle-based, Texas-born singer-songwriter, has always been workmanlike as an artist — and it shows. Throughout his fifteen-year-plus career, songs about making ends meet (or failing to) and laboring fingers to the bone have always shared time with more genre-typical matters-of-the-heart fare. Take, for example, the aptly titled “St. Louis,” a recently released B-side from 2012’s Television of Saints. Inspired by a gig in town a few years BY back, Votolato sings, “Taping JAMES up your knuckles and climbing back into the ring/For a KANE workman’s wages slugging it out in St. Louis/Your life is not your own without the chances that you take.” “Maybe just because my name is Rocky, I relate to a boxer, and each night is kind of getting in the ring when I go do a show,” Votolato says, speaking from Washington, D.C., after three nights of sold-out shows. “Some nights you get your ass kicked. Other nights, you know, you put up a good fight.” Votolato has been waging that battle in countless cities throughout the United States and Europe, playing earnest folk, rock and Americana tunes from his eight full-length studio albums. His latest, Hospital Handshakes, came out in April on No Sleep Records, recorded by former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla. “We’re old friends,” Votolato says of Walla. “He did Suicide Medicine [Votolato’s 2003 breakthrough], so we already knew each other. He just recently left Death Cab — that basically happened while we were making the record. There was a lot of good creative energy around, but it was also kind of tough because we were both at a point of transition. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but I don’t know any record that ever is.” Votolato, his brother Cody (a long-time collaborator and member of the post-hardcore band the Blood Brothers) and Walla scoured their contacts to find a veteran group of friends and musicians to fill out the full-band studio
AMBER ZBITNOFF KNECHT
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Rocky Votolato.
lineup. The group included Eric Corson of the Long Winters, who played bass, and Casey Foubert, now on tour with Sufjan Stevens, who filled in on various instruments. “It’s always different every time for me because I’ve never had a set, solid band. It’s a solo project, so I like it to be flexible,” says Votolato. “Basically, it was a group of super pro, super experienced guys who’ve done a lot of records.” The album came together at a breakneck pace. “Because I trusted them all, I just let it happen. There wasn’t a lot of cerebral overthinking of the process,” Votolato says. “It was more kind of a punk approach to it. I wanted to make this record in two weeks, which we basically did. And it was live to tape, which is really fun. It felt impulsive and urgent.” Votolato explains that overthinking his process had caused problems for him in the past. “I went through some trouble the last couple years, sort of getting writer’s block. You can shut down the creative process pretty
quickly, being too critical or too perfectionist about things,” he says. “But I got through that. Hospital Handshakes has been great for just getting back to work, man. I’m super proud of this album; it’s going to be one in my catalog that I always look back on and feel good about. I think it will stand up.” It does. As the former frontman of a punk band, Votolato’s new studio lineup finds him as energized and uptempo as ever. Cody Votolato’s muscular electric guitar provides the forward momentum (see “White-Knuckles,” “A New Son” or the Foo Fighters-inspired “Rumi”) while his bandmate in several other projects, Andy Lum, plays drums with abandon. Votolato’s vocals are as full-throated as they were in his days with Waxwing, though perhaps tinged with a bit more Americana influence — casual listeners could be forgiven for mistaking several new songs for Ryan Adams tunes. There are notes of resignation, too, as Votolato chants, “Trust that everything happening is perfect/I’ll trust you if you trust me,” almost echoing his thought process, swaying as, say, a like-named champ in the fifteenth round would. riverfronttimes.com
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Handshakes also marks Votolato’s return to a record label proper. After making his home at Barsuk Records for three albums (and Second Nature Recordings for three before that), 2012’s Television was a strictly crowd-funded endeavor. Votolato considers it a learning experience. “After I did a Kickstarter, I realized how much extra work there is on the back end to get that done,” he says. “I wanted to have a label this time around. It’s nice having a team of people helping.” The tour he built around that album was a social-media-driven effort, consisting of fanhosted-living room shows across the country. Votolato continues that tradition today. “A company called Undertow Music does [the living room shows] for me. Basically, it’s sort of like crowdsourcing the houses. Anybody who wants to host one of the shows gets in touch, and fans send in pictures of their living rooms,” he says. “We sell a very limited number of tickets, between 30 and 50 tickets, and they’re just these really intimate shows. I love doing those tours. The people that are there really want to hear me sing. It’s the most organic way you can do it. It just cuts down on all the bar talkers and distractions, and just makes it all about the songs.” Speaking of bar talkers, a digression: More than a decade ago, this writer witnessed Votolato dismiss a particularly obnoxious kilt-wearing heckler in a room of otherwise reverent fans in Kansas City. After several polite requests to quiet down, Votolato silenced him: “C’mon, man, I don’t go to your job and knock dicks out of your mouth!” He issues a belly laugh when reminded of this memory. “That is a classic from my past,” he sighs. “I learned that from my dad. He was a bit of a rough character. And I was pretty fiery as a young man, making all kinds of mistakes in life. I don’t think I’d ever say that to someone now. I’ve grown up a little bit.” How so? For one, he’s gotten better at traveling. But Votolato also says that committing to music full-time was a major step for an artist who, six albums ago, plaintively sang, “I should be singing/To earn my keep by now.” “I think we all have some kind of singing to do,” he says, referencing that line. “I think that’s a big part of figuring out life, if you really want to be happy — finding what you really love to do, then finding a way to make it into your job. I hear stories all across the country all the time of people who are struggling to do that. That’s just a real challenge, so I’m super grateful now to be in a place where, for now, I have a balance. I kind of made my mind up: This is all I do. This is all I do.” ■
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Shooting a Scene ART SHOW AT BLANK SPACE FEATURES MORE THAN 500 PHOTOS DOCUMENTING THE PAST TEN YEARS OF ST. LOUIS MUSIC More Loves than Stupids: The Past Decade of the South St. Louis Music Scene in Photos 7 p.m. Thursday, August 13. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee Street. Free. 314-300-8831.
I
f you ask Jaime Lees to explain the body of work that will be on display in her one-night photography show at Blank Space next week, she might say, “It’s just my friends doing what they do best, and I have these crappy pictures of them.” She might tell you that she’s not a “real photographer.” But don’t let her fool you. Her photos are definitely the real deal. For more than ten years, Lees has been quietly documenting the St. Louis music scene, taking candid photographs and storing them away in her personal records. She didn’t initially plan on showing the images to anybody. But she has since had a change of heart, and on August 13, more than 500 of the photographs will be on display, offering viewers an intimate glance into the heart of the scene. Lees isn’t a musician herself, but she is every bit a part of the scene as the men and women in her photographs. In addition to being a regular contributor to RFT Music, she and Bunnygrunt’s Matt Harnish maintain HaikuLou, a minimalist music blog that
exclusively features show reviews in haiku form. Between the two of them, they have written more than 800 poems over the last four years. For Lees, St. Louis music is as important as family. “I’m not trying to document some scene; I’m just taking pictures of my friends,” Lees says. “There’s some kind of holy thing that these musicians are tapping into. I can’t do it, so the best I can do is document it. This is just how I show my appreciation.” While many of the images in the show are entrancingly beautiful, exploding with crisp light and deep contrast, what makes these photographs so captivating is the way that they capture the personalities and emotions in every moment. In one image, Lees’ favorite, local artist Dana Smith and musician Anne Tkach sit together at the bar at Ryder’s Tavern. The photo was taken in January of this year, just months before Tkach tragically died in a fire at her father’s house. Tkach faces the camera, but both of them seem completely oblivious to Lees, totally wrapped up in their conversation. They each smile thoughtfully, and look as if there is nowhere they would rather be. “That’s her at her happiest,” Lees explains. “It’s one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken because Anne looks so great in that picture.” These are the kinds of moments that Lees looks for when she is at a show. Although there are plenty of photographs of live music in this body of work, most of the pictures capture the musicians before and after they step onto the stage. Lees is more interested in people than performances, capturing her musician friends dancing in the crowd,
JAIME LEES
b-sides
A small sample of the photos that will be on display at Blank Space on Thursday.
loitering outside the venue or hugging and kissing one another. “With actual journalism it’s about capturing exactly what’s there, but with a photo it’s about capturing how the room feels, or the
HOMESPUN SI FASIC Basement Sessions EP facebook.com/Sifasic SIFASIC Record Release Show 9 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Avenue. $7. 314-352-5226.
J
oshua J. Grassle has a growling, gristley voice that’s well-suited for the low rumbles of melodic hardcore or the soul-scrapings of heavy metal. He’s proved as much over the years with a host of St. Louis-byway-of-Alton, Illinois, bands such as Foster Pilot and Elbow Through Hammer. His newest group attempts to soften some of the edges of his previous acts, though his vocal delivery has lost none of its heaviness. SIFASIC, a clunky acronym for “sometimes it’s foggy, and sometimes it’s clear,” had its genesis in Grassle’s musical partnership with vocalist and pianist Jamie Marie George, and the two have collaborated in a few projects prior to this one. Alongside guitarist Sean Stone, bassist Rich White and drummer Paul Sanders, the two singers lock into set roles — his gruff, hers honeyed — for this grayscale hard-rock EP. As the title suggests, Basement Sessions collects five home recordings as a way of introducing the group. The finished product is better than a demo tape and less convincing as a statement of purpose, and the suitably rough production is a good fit for a band with little 40
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love for polish. Most of these songs are minor-key and downcast, mining the strip of land between modern radio rock and bleak outlaw country, if more in mood than in genre signifiers. Opening track “Everything Changes” gives the clearest picture of what SIFASIC is after: A rangy lead guitar cuts a path early in the song, and George’s heavy piano chords add a different kind of gravity than that of the rhythm section. It’s also the best example of what Grassle and George can accomplish as a duo; her lines float above his with a plaintive sway, as if the characters in the song are speaking the same lines but still failing to communicate. That’s a useful tension that the best duet singers have relied upon, but too often the singers perform in tandem at a set interval that doesn’t explore the space of the songs. These feel like Grassle’s performances with George’s harmonies tacked on. “Right” shows a little more buoyancy thanks to some syncopated guitar interplay and plucky piano parts, and set closer “On and On” shows the band at its most muscular. As an introductory recording, Basement Sessions shows that SIFASIC can be a fine hard-rock band, but the group will have to leave room for nuance if it wants to create a new space for its sound. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space? Send music c/o Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130. Email music@riverfronttimes.com for more information.
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feeling of what’s happening in there,” Lees says. “Some things just want to be pictures.” The 560 photographs that will be on display at Blank Space on August 13 are just a small sliver of the many thousands of pictures that Lees has taken in the past ten years. For her, flipping through the photographs is a bit like reliving history. With each image, nights that would be otherwise forgotten flood back into her memory. “It’s a little disturbing to see ten years of your life condensed to 500 pictures,” she says. “I can see who I was hanging out with, where I went, what bands I saw. It makes you realize how much time has gone by.” Although she takes pictures almost every day, Lees sees herself as more of a documentarian than a photographer. She prefers an iPhone to a bulky camera, and isn’t particularly worried about having the highest quality images. For her, taking pictures isn’t so much about creating art as it is about recording the music scene that means so much to her. She shoots shows so that they will never be forgotten. “I have a very strong instinct to document. It’s like if I don’t get this, no one will — and then it will be gone forever. It’s sort of an anxiety to document,” Lees explains. “I don’t have kids; if I had a baby there would be ten thousand pictures of a baby. Music is how I prioritize my life.” –DEREK SCHWARTZ
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Bowling the way it is now– FUN!
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Delmar Loop
Saint Louis
SaturDaY 8/8
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friDaY 9/11
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UPCOMING SHOWS 9.12 THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE 9.18 KACEY MUSGRAVES 9.25 WARREN HAYNES 9.27 BEACH HOUSE 9.29 ZZ WARD 9.30 PARADOSIO 10.2 FUNK VOLUME TOUR 2015 W/ HOPSIN 10.6 GHOST 10.7 FATHER JOHN MISTY 10.8 BEN RECTOR 10.12 BRING ME THE HORIZON 10.15 FLUX PAVILION
10.16 LETTUCE 10.17 GRACE POTTER 10.19 PASSION PIT 10.21 LYLE LOVETT & JOHN HIATT 10.23 YELAWOLF/MEG MYERS 10.24 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS 10.28 ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS / NEW POLITICS 10.31 SOMO 11.6 TIMEFLIES 11.8 NEW FOUND GLORY / YELLOWCARD 11.23 GLEN HANSARD
visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL
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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161
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critics’ picks
Clockwise from the top: The Coup (Ferguson Rocks), Girlpool and Jay Farrar (Open Highway Fest).
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 5, through Sunday, August 9. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $40. 314-773-3363. The brainchild of musician and promoter John Henry, the Open Highway Music Festival celebrates its fifth year with the kind of lineup that should make LouFest, if not Sasquatch, envious. Two major songwriters, Jay Farrar and Ryan Bingham, join Bob Schneider (who kicks off the five-night event on August 5), Ha Ha Tonka, Diarrhea Planet and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. It’s been decades since Farrar has played Off Broadway, once a stomping ground for Uncle Tupelo, and Bingham ordinarily plays rooms three times the size of this club, so that should be incentive enough. But with not-quite-local heroes Ha Ha Tonka (the band hails from Springfield) and Finn, who will be debuting new material from his second solo album Faith in the Future, OHMF should tempt anyone who wants a festival experience without the increasingly corporate mega-festival bullshit. Local Rock Love: On August 6, the second night of OHMF, two local bands, Bruiser Queen and Brother Lee and the Jackals, test their mettle before Nashville, Tennessee’s Diarrhea Planet, widely hailed as one of rock’s wildest live bands. — ROY KASTEN
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run its course. Expect a good time shared by friends and fans alike, as well as sets from Fister, Anodes and the aforementioned Hell Night. Catch the Fever: [Editor’s note: Damn it, “Catch the Fever”? That’s, like, the easiest, most groan-worthy idiom ever. Let’s make sure not to print this or else people are going to accuse us of being lazy writers.] — DANIEL HILL
FERGUSON ROCKS 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. Free. 314-833-3929. One day before the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the Ready Room will play host to a concert to raise awareness and benefit social activism. Organized by rapper/activist Talib Kweli’s Action Support Committee, the free show will feature performances by many artists who are passionate about social justice, including Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Boots Riley of the Coup, Street Sweeper Social Club and more. While the event is free of charge, donations are encouraged. The Nightwatchman Cometh: Morello has been outspoken about last summer’s events in Ferguson since the very beginning, even writing a song called “Marching on Ferguson” under his solo guise as the Nightwatchman. Safe to assume he will have a lot to say on the matter. — DANIEL HILL
CATHEDRAL FEVER FINAL SHOW
GIRLPOOL
8 p.m. Friday, August 7. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $8. 314-289-9050. Three-and-a-half years after forming, Cathedral Fever is calling it quits. Though that might not seem like a very long time, it is actually a pretty typical lifespan for a hardcore band, and the St. Louis group managed to release a matching number of records during that period (one demo, two EPs and a split with Hell Night, amounting to three-and-a-half releases, according to our crack team of math buffs). That actually puts the group a little bit ahead of the curve. Bonus points are awarded for the fact that each of those efforts was really fucking good. Members of the darkened hardcore act (“dorkened,” to hear them tell it) insist there is no bad blood or animosity behind the breakup, and that the group has simply
7 p.m. Tuesday, August 11. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 Jefferson Avenue. $5. 314-772-2100. You don’t have to dig too deep to pull out the adjective “child-like” to describe Girlpool. The drummer-less duo of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad titled its debut Before the World Was Big — its title track is a paean to uncomplicated youth — and the album’s cover art depicts a boy and girl making their own universe of Lego bricks. But the pair’s twinned vocals and open-hearted lyrics transmit a certain twee naivete that is matched with a keen eye for site-specific details and sharp ear for big-hearted, do-it-yourself pop. Star Power: Frankie Cosmos, the stage name of lo-fi folkie Greta Kline (daughter of St. Louis native Kevin Kline) will open the show. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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R OX Y C A M P O S
O P E N H IG H WAY M U SIC F E ST I VA L
tickets available at ticketfly.com for $10.57 GA only. VIP sold out. day of show tickets available $15. must be 18+ ($10 minor surcharge under 21 applies)
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concerts
JUNE 10 | JULY 8 | AUGUST 12 | SEPTEMBER 9
5:00–8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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V I A W M E E N T E R TA I N M E N T
THIS JUST IN Aaron Kamm and the One Drops: W/ Spare Change Trio, Fri., Sept. 4, 6 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Allie Kral & the River City All-Stars: Thu., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Bad Taste: W/ Lumpy & the Dumpers, Shitstorm, Sun., Aug. 16, 5 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Bible Belt Sinners: W/ Blackwater ‘64, Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals, Sat., Aug. 29, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Broken Prayer: W/ Cruelster, Bitchin’ Reality, Fri., Aug. 21, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: W/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Burn Halo: W/ Heartist, Courage My Love, Against Himself, Wed., Oct. 7, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Chance the Rapper: W/ D.R.A.M., Towkio, Metro Boomin, Tue., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Cleric: W/ VII, Crawl, Sun., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Cop Circles: W/ Friendship Commanders, Bagheera, Sat., Aug. 15, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Crizzly: Wed., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Dana: W/ Dinofight!, the Ultraviolents, Mon., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Dead Horse Trauma: W/ Superpimp, Tue., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Deafheaven: W/ Tribulation, Mon., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $16-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Extravision: W/ Dubb Nubb, the Wilderness, Mon., Aug. 31, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Face Up & Sing: Celebrating 25 years of Ani DiFranco: W/ Suzie Cue, the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Genevieve, Wed., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: W/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: W/ Al Holliday and the East T H IS C O D E Side Rhythm Band, Torrey TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Casey & the Southside Hustle, RIVERFRONT TIMES Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West IPHONE/ANDROID APP City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, FOR MORE CONCERTS OR VISIT Festus. riverfronttimes.com Floating City Reunion show: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. For All I Am: W/ A Promise To Burn, Torn at the Seams, Wed., Aug. 19, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. The Front Bottoms: W/ the Smith Street Band, Elivs Depressedly, Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m., $16.50-$20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Futurebirds: W/ Cara Louise Band, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Gary Clark Jr.: Sun., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., $33.50-$38.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Health Problems: W/ the Crisis, Wed., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. I See Stars: W/ For the Win, Alive In Standby, Life On Broadway, Ecclesiast, Fri., Oct. 9, 6 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Idle Hour Club: W/ the Jans Project, Cave States, Sat., Sept. 19, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Idlehands: W/ Author, Sun., Sept. 20, 7 p.m., $12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis.
Gary Clark Jr. will perform at the Pageant on Sunday, February 28. Last to Show First to Go CD Release & Farewell Party: Fri., Aug. 14, 9 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Love Moon: W/ the Brainstems, Sun., Aug. 30, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. Lucas Jack: W/ Scarlet Tanager, Little Falcon, Aaron Krause, Sat., Aug. 22, 7 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Mat Kearney: W/ Parachute, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $27.50$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. Matisyahu: Fri., Oct. 23, 8 p.m., $27-$32. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. The New Mastersounds: Tue., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $20-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. Nick Moss Band: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $10-$12. 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700. Nile: Mon., Jan. 25, 6 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Ought: Sun., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Pat Sajak Assassins: W/ Traveling Sound Machine, Hands & Feet, Fri., Aug. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Pretty Little Empire: Fri., Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Rich Homie Quan: W/ K Camp, Justine Skye, Jacques, Diggy, Elijah Blake, Rawyals, Anthony Lewis, Chris Miles, 4EY, Star Mic, Sun., Sept. 27, 7 p.m., $26.50-$86.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. Rick Springfield: Thu., Oct. 1, 8 p.m., $45-$75. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. Rumpke Mountain Boys: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Sydney Street Shakers: Wed., Aug. 19, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-7722100. Tasi: W/ Lioness D Rasta, Da Bredren Band, Jay Spearman, Sat., Aug. 22, 8 p.m., $5. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tea Leaf Green: W/ Acoustics Anonymous, Belagroove, Sun., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$20. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Trout Steak Revival: Wed., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tumbleweed Wanderers: Tue., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Tunic: W/ Skin Tags, Ish, Sun., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. The Twistin’ Tarantulas: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Underground Styles Hip Hop Music Festival: W/ Preach, Bates, Beastmode, Sat., Aug. 22, 5 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Union Electric: W/ Drown Fish, Thu., Aug. 13, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. The Way Down Wanderers: Fri., Sept. 11, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Weathered: W/ Quarrels, Oakwood Estate, Tue., Aug. 25, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way!
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way! www.riverfronttimes.com/concerts/
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TNT Glass
out every night
Designs
All-American Smoke Shop
Wraps by Cody Custom Ordering Available Every Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday PIPES • VAPORIZERS • E-CIGS KRATOM • DETOX • JEWELRY 6163 Delmar Blvd. • 63112 Next to The Pageant on Delmar
314.863.8860
“Out Every Night” is a free listing open to all bars and bands in the St. Louis and Metro East areas. However, we reserve the right to refuse any entry. Listings are to be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail. Deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, ten days before Thursday publication. Please include bar’s name, address with ZIP code, phone number and geographic location; nights and dates of entertainment; and act name. Mail: Riverfront Times, attn: “Clubs,” 6358 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130-4719; fax: 314-754-6416; e-mail: clubs@ riverfronttimes.com. Schedules are not accepted over the phone. Because of last-minute cancellations and changes, please call ahead to verify listings.
Jay Farrar: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Rocky Votolato: w/ Dave Hause, Chris Farren, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350353, www.firebirdstl.com. SIFASIC CD Release: w/ Slow Down Scarlett, the Edgefield C. Johnston Duo, Jamie M. George, Grass & Stone, Sat., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226, www.theheavyanchor.com. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue: Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $11-$25. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com. Vanilla Fudge: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720, www.popsrocks.com.
S U N DAY T H U R S DAY Diarrhea Planet: w/ Bruiser Queen, Brother Lee and the Jackals, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Fireworks: w/ Weatherbox, Dry Jacket, Welcome Home, Thu., Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m., $13-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www.firebirdstl.com. PopNation Summer Tour 2015: w/ Round 2 Crew, Sweet Suspense, Carson Lueders, the Food Conspiracy, Chris Miles, After Romeo, Frankie, KATELYN JAE, the Bomb Digz, Thu., Aug. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$30. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Smiling Politely: w/ Riot For Violet, Ramona Deflowered, Thu., Aug. 6, 9 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. WEEED: w/ Sole Loan, Rip Rap, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/.
F R I DAY Andre Moore: w/ VG, Lizzie Webber, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www. fubarstl.com. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: w/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Dom Chronicles: w/ Farout, DJ Mahf, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thedemostl.com. Fister: w/ Cathedral Fever, Hell Night, Anodes, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Ha Ha Tonka: w/ Craig Finn, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $17-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. I Actually Album Release Show: w/ Fumer, Durango, Mike Pennekamp, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., T H IS C O D E $5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www. RIVERFRONT TIMES firebirdstl.com. IPHONE/ANDROID APP Jason Michael Carroll: Fri., Aug. FOR MORE CLUBS OR VISIT 7, 8 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, riverfronttimes.com 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom.com. Taking Back Sunday: Fri., Aug. 7, 6 p.m., $10.57-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com.
SCAN
S AT U R DAY El Monstero: A Tribute to Pink Floyd: Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., $20-$45. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation. com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-tickets-Maryland-Heights/venue/49672. Ferguson Rocks: w/ Tom Morello and the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, the Coup, the Outernational, Steffanie Christian, Jessica Care Moore, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom. com. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: w/ Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm Band, Torrey Casey & the Southside Hustle, Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, Festus, www.cityoffestus.org.
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Charli XCX: w/ Bleachers, Børns, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $31$36. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161, www.thepageant.com. Every Time I Die: w/ Real Friends, Counterparts, Gnarwolves, Brigades, Gatherers, Sun., Aug. 9, 5:30 p.m., $19-$22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: w/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Rasputina: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505, www.oldrockhouse.com. Ryan Bingham: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl.com. Safe to Say: w/ Young and Heartless, WATERMEDOWN, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Tim McGraw: w/ Billy Currington, Chase Bryant, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation.com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-ticketsMaryland-Heights/venue/49672.
M O N DAY American Idol Live!: Mon., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $33-$63. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-2411888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com. Campdogzz: w/ Dutch Courage, Mon., Aug. 10, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/. Exotype: w/ Kingdom of Giants, Brightwell, Like Vultures, Ends of Infinity, Mon., Aug. 10, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
T U E S DAY All About a Bubble: Tue., Aug. 11, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Brian Wright: w/ Caleb Caudle, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-7274444, www.blueberryhill.com. Girlpool: w/ Frankie Cosmos, Strong Force, Posture, Tue., Aug. 11, 7 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100, foamvenue.com/. The Jukebox Romantics: w/ Powerline Sneakers, Murphy and the Death Rays, Black Tar Heroines, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
W E D N E S DAY Callaghan: Wed., Aug. 12, 9 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444, www.blueberryhill.com. Drag the River: Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. The Few: w/ Hodera, the Winks, Silverfern, Wed., Aug. 12, 6 p.m., $7. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. KMFDM: w/ Chant, Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $25-$28. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Live Like Glass: w/ Dismantling the Silence, Alive/Alone, Unforgiven Amore, Wed., Aug. 12, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. My Morning Jacket: w/ Hippo Campus, Wed., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m., TBA. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com.
NOW HIRING PH OTOGRAPH E RS
savage love High Times Hey, Dan: Does a person who acts loving only when high on weed really love you? My live-in boyfriend of three years acts sweet, loving, and caring when he’s high, but when the weed runs out, he’s mean, angry, hurtful, and horrible to be around. I’m so confused! Without weed, he’s intolerable. Should I just make sure he’s always well stocked with his drug? He’s a relatively functional BY stoner, even though technically it’s not allowed at his job. I’ve DAN told all my friends he is no lonS AVA G E ger the mean asshole he was when I wanted to leave him (but didn’t), and now I’ve convinced everyone that he transformed back into the amazing catch I always knew he was. So basically, in order to save face over not leaving him (and now I can’t for financial reasons), I burned the bridges. Tensions Highlight Concerns That Relationships Aren’t Perfect
Someone who can be nice only when he’s high isn’t someone you should be fucking, living with, or starting a grow-op on your roof for, THCTRAP, he’s someone you should be dumping, dumping, and dumping. And to be clear: Your boyfriend’s problem isn’t weed, THCTRAP, your boyfriend’s problem is that he is an asshole. And the fact that you’re covering for him is a very, very bad sign. If being with someone isolates you from the support of your friends, that’s not someone you should be with. Does he love you? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t — but even if he does, do you want to be loved by someone who treats you like shit when he isn’t fucked up? No, you don’t. My advice: DTMFA. But let’s get a second opinion, shall we? “It’s not unusual for people to complain that they feel a little cranky when they run out of weed,” said Dan Skye, editor in chief of High Times magazine. “I know a lot of people who prefer to be high all the time — but if his personality is that different when he runs out of weed, this woman’s boyfriend has problems other than not being high.” Now, there are people out there who selfmedicate with pot — in good ways, not bad ways. “I know many people who have dumped their pharmaceuticals for pot,” said Skye, “because pot is a better substance for easing their pain and anxiety. We are hardwired as humans to hook up with this plant, and some people hook up with this plant in profound ways. It makes them feel better, it makes them more compassionate and more creative — it makes them better human beings.” But Skye doesn’t think your boyfriend is one of those people, THCTRAP.
“If this guy is such a prick when he’s not high, I’d get rid of him,” said Skye. “Putting your girlfriend in a position where she feels like she has to become your dealer — that she has to supply you with pot — is not acceptable.”
The Riverfront Times is looking for outgoing, enthusiastic photographers to join the Riverfront Times Street Team. Team members promote the Riverfront Times at local events and take photos, gain e-mail addresses to build our database, and hand out free stuff! If you are interested in part time work (5-10 hours per week- nights and weekends are required) and want to attend the best events St. Louis has to offer, send your resume to emily.westerholt@riverfronttimes.com. Must be 21 years old!
Hey, Dan: I’m a man who is married to a woman. In our twelve-year relationship, our sex life hasn’t ever been really active, but after being married, my wife’s sex drive decreased noticeably. She had promised things would improve once we tied the knot. She explained that her upbringing was conservative and she felt guilty about having sex before marriage. But marriage didn’t help. We’ve gone to couples’ therapy, only to abandon it because she doesn’t feel any progress, and our pantry has barely used natural remedies for low libido. Currently, she can last having sex for nearly half an hour before feeling exhausted and stopping, regardless of me reaching orgasm or not. On the other hand, we enjoy each other’s company and we’ve got each other’s backs whenever things are rough, so I can’t say she’s uninterested in me. I can’t remember the last time I had fulfilling sex. Whenever I bring it up, she breaks down, saying she’s not enough for me. My need for sex is killing me. Unsexed Grumpy Husband
Maybe your wife’s religious upbringing ruined sex for her and her for sex. Maybe your wife is one of those low-to-nolibido women who sex therapists and counselors whisper about: a woman with no desire for sex, a woman whose marriage is hanging by a thread, a woman who sincerely wants to save her marriage — but nothing seems to help, her marriage collapses, and she winds up divorced. And three months after the divorce, the woman who was weeping to her therapist about the possibility that she might be asexual? She wants to fuck every cute bartender, personal trainer, and waiter she sees. Turns out she wanted sex all along. She just didn’t want it with her husband, or she didn’t want it with only her husband, and her newfound freedom to fuck other people — freedom that might have saved her marriage — reawakened her libido. Maybe your wife is asexual. Here are your non-divorce options, UGH: (1) You can get sex elsewhere without her okay, aka “cheating.” (2) You can ask your wife for permission to get sex elsewhere, aka “not cheating.” (3) You can resign yourself to a sexless marriage, aka “cheating inevitably.” P.S. Never once has a conflict over too little sex in a long-term relationship been solved by a marriage ceremony. On the Lovecast, Dr. Vy Chu on some nastiness that can happen to one’s bottom: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter riverfronttimes.com riverfronttimes.com
M ON TH 0X R R ER FO RO IM E S 491 AU GU S TX 5X–X - 1 1X, ,2 2001 5 I VI V ER FR NN T TT IT M ES
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100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools
THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
DWI/Traffic from $50/Personal Injury.
Mark Helfers, 314-862-6666 Choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
Personal Injury, Workers Comp, DWI, Traffic 314-621-0500
ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising.
530 Misc. Services
WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
800 Health & Wellness 805 Registered Massage
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
500 Services 525 Legal Services
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DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE: R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
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Ultimate Massage by Summer!!!! Relaxing 1 Hr Full Body Massage. Light Touch, Swedish, Deep Tissue. Daily 10am-5pm South County. 314-620-6386 Ls # 2006003746
810 Health & Wellness General ARE YOU ADDICTED TO PAIN MEDICATIONS OR HEROIN? Suboxone can help. Covered by most insurance. Free & confidential assessments. Outpatient Services. Center Pointe Hospital 314-292-7323 or 800-345-5407 763 S. New Ballas Rd, Ste. 310 SUNRISE DAY SPA *SPECIALS* $30-Therapeutic Foot Massage $50-1 HR Full Body Massage See display for coupon! 9441 Olive Blvd. St. Louis, MO 314-993-0517 www.sunrisedayspa.com
600 Music 610 Musicians Services MUSICIANS Do you have a band? We have bookings. Call (314)781-6612 for information Mon-Fri, 10:00-4:30 MUSICIANS AVAILABLE Do you need musicians? A Band? A String Quartet? Call the Musicians Association of St. Louis (314)781-6612, M-F, 10:00-4:30
100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
SOUTHERN MISSOURI TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL Are You Addicted to Pain Are You Addicted to Medications or Heroin? Pain Medications Suboxone Can Help. or•Confidential Heroin? Outpatient •Convenient
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5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 763SAINT S. NEWLOUIS, BALLASMO RD.,63128 STE. 310 ST LOUIS, MO 63141 314-842-4463 After hours 314-292-7323 or weekends 800-345-5407 or 5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 ST LOUIS, MO 63128 314-842-4463
After hours or weekends: 800-345-5407
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888-323-6917
THE GENTRY’S LANDING
More than you’d expect for less than you’d imagine. The Best Views in St Louis overlooking the Arch/Riverfront. Spacious studio’s, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments-Fully Furnished Apt’s and short-term leases also available. Rooftop pool, two fitness centers, community room and business center w/WiFi. Penthouse Suites Available. www.gentryslanding.com DOWNTOWN Cityside-Apts 314-231-6806 Bring in ad & application fee waived! Gated prkng, onsite laundry. Controlled access bldgs, pool, fitness, business ctr. Pets welcome GRAVOIS-PARK $550 636-230-0068 3300 Miami- 1st floor all new 1BR/1 BA, ADT security system, off street parking, & w/d included, locked basement storage area. KINGSHIGHWAY! $450 314-309-2043 2 bedroom 4-plex, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, plush carpet, enclosed back porch, recent updates! rs-stl.com RGSCU NATURAL-BRIDGE! $575 314-309-2043 Family size 3-4 br, central air, big basement, fenced yard, appliances, w/d hookups, off street parking! rs-stl.com RGSCX NORTH-CITY 1-bedroom-apts 314-921-9191 4008 Garfield $315/mo $415 deposit. 5071 Ruskin $375/mo $475 deposit. Credit Check Required. NORTH-COUNTY $500 (314)606-7868 Senior Community: 2Br, Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher, C/A, W/D Hkup. NORTH-COUNTY! $399 314-309-2043 Budget 1 br, cold a/c, fitness room, sauna, flexible deposit, deck, pool access, kitchen appliances, pets allowed! rs-stl.com RGSB5
WESTPORT/LINDBERGH/PAGE $525-$575 314-995-1912 1 mo FREE! 1BR ($525) & 2BR ($575 specials) Clean, safe, quiet. Patio, laundry, great landlord! Nice Area near I-64, 270, 170, 70 or Clayton
320 Houses for Rent BEVO-MILL $795 636-230-0068 3920 Schiller -all new 2+BR, off street parking, fenced yard, w/d included, c/a, beautiful semi-finished basement. CHIPPEWA! $725 314-309-2043 Large 3 bed, 2 bath house, finished basement, extra storage, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, pets welcome, rent to own! rs-stl.com RGSC3 DELOR! $750 314-309-2043 Updated 3 bed, 1.5 bath house, central air, walkout finished basement, hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, pets welcome!, rs-stl.com RGSC4 HALLS-FERRY! $405 314-309-2043 All-electric 1 bedroom house, full basement, fenced yard, frosty a/c, all kitchen appliances, pets allowed, easy move in! rs-stl.com RGSC0 MARYLAND-HEIGHTS $1100 314-443-4478 1557 Redcoat: All elec. 3 bdrm, 2 bath house. Parkway Schools. NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 2, 3 & 4BR homes for rent. eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome PAGE! $700 314-309-2043 Ready to rent 3 bed house, full basement, central air, all kitchen appliances, ceiling fans, w/d hookups, off street parking! RGSC2 SOUTH-CITY $790 314-223-8067 2 BR house,some wood floors, stove/fridge, W/D hkup in bsmt, new C/A, garage, porch. No Sec. 8. SOUTH-CITY! $475 314-309-2043 Cute house, full basement, central air, garage w/opener, fenced yard, all appliances, built-ins, only $200 deposit! rs-stl.com RGSC1 U NIVERSITY-CITY! $850 314-309-2043 Charming 4 bedroom house, big basement, central air, beautiful hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, covered porch! rs-stl. com RGSC6
RICHMOND-HEIGHTS $515-$555 (Special) 314-995-1912 1 MONTH FREE! 1BR, all elec off Big Bend, Metrolink, 40, 44, Clayton SOUTH CITY $400-$850 314-771-4222 Many different units www.stlrr.com 1-3 BR, no credit no problem SOUTH ST. LOUIS CITY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1, 2 & 3 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome SOUTH-CITY
$495 314-707-9975 813-815 Courtois St: 2 BR, hdwd flrs, C/A.
SOUTH-CITY $530 314-481-6443 6429 Gravois- Apt. 2 BR, C/A, Carpet, Draperies. $530 deposit
SOUTH-CITY
$475 314-397-2388
1BR near Grand & Gravois area. Totally rehabbed, close to everything, all appls incl, hdwd flrs, thermal wins. $400 Dep.
SOUTH-CITY
$430-$440
314-277-0204
3841 Gustine 1BR; $40 Per Adult App Fee. SOUTH-CITY $450-$495 314-707-9975 Grand & Bates: 1 BRs, hardwood flrs, all electric, C/A. SOUTH-CITY $475 314-223-8067 Move in Special! Spacious 1BRs, Oak Floors, Ceiling Fans, Stove & Refrigerator, A/C, W/D Hook-Up, Nice area SOUTH-CITY $500 314-731-0840 4239 Tholozan. 2BR, Eat in Kitchen, C/A, W/D hkps, Application req.
SOUTH-CITY! $625 314-309-2043 Roomy 3-4 bedroom, central air, hardwood floors, nice deck, all appliances, w/d hookups, recent upgrades! rs-stl.com RGSCY
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
or SERVICES OUTPATIENT
317 Apartments for Rent
SOUTH-CITY 314-504-6797 37XX Chippewa: 3 rms, 1BR. all elec exc. heat. C/A, appls, at bus stop
Suboxone Can Help. 314-292-7323
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SOUTH-CITY $675 314-221-9568 2br duplex, hdwds, central air, private basement, Carondelet area, $25 app fee, no sec 8.
•Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
Outpatient - Confidential - Convenient 763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 Covered byLOUIS, most insurance SAINT MO 63141 Free & confidential assessments
ST. JOHN $495-$595 314-423-3106 Special! 1BR.$495 & 2BR.$595. Near 170 & St.Charles Rock Rd
300 Rentals
IF YOU DESIRE TO MAKE MORE MONEY AND NEED A NEW JOB EARNING $45-$50 thousand the 1st year, great benefits, call SMTDS, Financial assistance available if you qualify. Free living quarters. 6 students max per class. 4 wks. 192 hours.
SOUTH-CITY! $725 314-309-2043 Big 4 bedroom, full basement, hardwood floors, central air, all kitchen appliances, w/d hookups, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RGSCZ ST. CHARLES COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1 & 2 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome
• More driving time than any other school in the state •
riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
RIVERFRONT TIMES
51
Are You Addicted to Pain Medications or Heroin ?
R 314-754-5966
Suboxone Can Help.
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
Outpatient • Confidential • Convenient •Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
DATING MADE EASY... LOCAL SINGLES! Listen & Reply FREE! 314-739-7777 FREE PROMO CODE: 9512 Telemates
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63141
314-292-7323 or
5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63128
314-842-4463
After hours or weekends 800-345-5407
DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE:
R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
DWI/Traf $50+/Personal InjuryMark Helfers, 314-862-6666- CRIMINAL former Asst US Attorney, 32 years exp
www.HelfersLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
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ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
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Tef Poe: HOW THE MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN IN FERGUSON CONTINUES TODAY
A year after Michael Brown’s shooting, he’s still grappling with the fallout. riverfronttimes.com
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“Back in Portland, we all spent a lot of time on the Willamette River. I feel like people have a very specific image of Portland these days, but when you take in the city from the river, you don’t see bike lanes and leafy neighborhoods—you see crumbling piers and enormous barges. It’s like you’re in a totally different city, or like you’re encountering some weird alternate-reality version of it. Out here on the Mississippi, it’s been the same thing. If we were driving in on the freeway and hopping off at the downtown exit, we’d get a super distinct image of St. Louis, we’d get chrome and glass and pretty red brick buildings. Instead, we anchored to a rusty pier, tiptoed through a bunch of poison ivy and shin-deep mud, biked past junkyards and sewage treatment plants and only then did we find our way to the Arch.” –BRIAN BENSON, SPOTTED ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH OF DOWNTOWN, AUGUST 2.
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14 WITNESS 101 Dorian Johnson’s life changed irrevocably when he saw Michael Brown shot to death in Ferguson. One year later, he’s still grappling with the fallout. BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI
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10 Ferguson: The Movement By Tef Poe
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SAIL: A New Approach to Long Prison Sentences
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.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig has known for years that long prison sentences don’t solve a criminal offender’s problems. “They’re expected to come out and have a better life than they had before they were in prison for ten to fifteen years,” she says. “Whatever was going on in their life before they were imprisoned is probably at least as bad now. Their family structure has probably been totally decimated, if it wasn’t before.” In addition, long sentences cost money: $28,893 per federal inmate per year, according to a 2011 statistic in the Federal Register. So last March, Fleissig, along with her colleague Judge E. Richard Webber and several others who work in the Eastern District of Missouri’s criminal court, launched an alternative: the Sentencing Alternatives for Improving Lives program, a.k.a. SAIL. SAIL looks like this: Anyone charged with a federal offense — whether related to fraud, firearms, drugs, etc. — would first plead guilty. They then sign a contract pledging to not commit any more crimes and to follow SAIL rules, which include agreeing to drug tests, house visits and counseling sessions with Pretrial Services officers and the SAIL team. Instead of going to prison, the offender spends a year in SAIL — not just to avoid getting locked up, but also to genuinely improve their lives. Participants receive a detailed handbook outlining the expectations, phases and various people available to help out, including pretrial services officers; Judge Webber and Judge Fleissig; two assistant U.S. attorneys; and two assistant federal public defenders. The program has also enlisted the help of Gateway Legal Services, Saint Louis University and Washington University’s law-school clinics — in case participants need a hand resolving warrants and other legal issues. Participants must complete the three phases to pass the program, remove their guilty plea and have their charges dismissed. If they fail, they will spend time behind bars. “They have a tremendous incentive,” says Judge Fleissig. Judge Fleissig first heard about post-plea diversion programs when she attended a na8
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Empty cells could be a good thing, says a federal judge.
tional judges’ conference in 2014. A judge at the meeting asked if any district had a post-plea diversion program. No one spoke up and everyone went on with their other discussions, she explains. But the question struck a chord. She brought the idea back to the Eastern District of Missouri. Fleissig was aware of the many other reentry courts in the Eastern District, but she still felt something was lacking. She wanted to find a solution for more serious offenders. Judge Fleissig spent months meeting with Judge E. Richard Webber, the Pretrial Services Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Public Defenders Office, all of whom wanted to help with the program. They launched SAIL last March. It consists of several phases. Phase One is the assessment and intensive supervision phase, which takes a minimum of two months to complete. In this phase, participants must meet with the SAIL team weekly; begin to identify problems and ob-
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stacles in their lives; set personal goals; meet with the Pretrial Services office weekly; begin engaging in weekly Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT); comply with random drug tests and house visits; begin a job search, community service or schooling program; among other things. “We assign them tasks at every session, and we need to hear from them at the next session how did they do on their tasks and how did their week go,” she explains. “And they’re going to get more tasks to do, and a reward or perhaps a sanction based upon how well they performed those tasks. So the feedback is immediate.” As participants progress from Phase One, each phase allows the participant more and more responsibility and independence. Phase Two is primary treatment and learning stability with SAIL support. This phase takes a minimum of six months to complete. Participants meet with the SAIL team twice monthly; meet with Pretrial Services every
other week; remain in counseling; continue with MRT, random drug tests and house visits; and continue developing an ongoing support network. Phase Three is healthy life maintenance and beginning transition to community support, which takes a minimum of four months. This phase requires even fewer meetings with the SAIL team and Pretrial Services, and it allows the individual more independence and responsibility in their own life. The entire program will take a minimum of one year to complete. So far, SAIL has taken on eight participants, but it’s ready to take on more since many of the fi rst eight participants have already graduated into Phase Two. Although the program has a broad base, some defendants are excluded from the program: people with immigration offenses, violent offenders, non-local offenders, offenders with state probation charges, and sex offenders.
“The way we designed the program was to have a focus on individuals who, without this program, are likely to receive prison sentences, some of them significant prison sentences, who we believe have some kind of problem or problems in their lives that have contributed to them being in the criminal justice system, and [who have] problems we believe we can address through an intensive supervision and intervention program,” she explains. Judge Fleissig emphasizes that this program is not for the weak-willed. “The people have to be willing to do that kind of work, because it’s beyond what would be required of them if they were on probation.” Because each participant is dealing with very different personal problems, the SAIL team received training from Saint Louis University on such things as the effects of trauma and how it can manifest itself. “What if their problem is a mental health problem? What if instead they just fell on really hard times at some point in their life? Or what if there’s been a failure to launch?” Fleissig says. “Or maybe they’ve been abused and they’ve become very dependent upon somebody who’s manufacturing metham-
phetamine, and they’ve been running around trying to help them manufacture methamphetamine because they’re very dependent on that person. There are so many different scenarios that can cause someone to land in the criminal-justice system.” Although SAIL is only a few months old, Judge Fleissig is already looking for a better ways to gauge its impact. “I think we need more than anecdotal evidence to properly assess this program. If we can get it and if it works like I think it does, then it’s much easier to make the case to other districts, and to the public,” she explains. Out of the 94 federal districts in the United States, 22 of them will have their own postplea diversion programs by the end of the year, Fleissig says. “It can work,” she continues. “I believe that most people, if given the right support, services and moral support, then they can change their lives I believe that to be true,” she says. “Locking up people forever, letting them out with minimal supports doesn’t work. And we can’t afford it anymore. Prisons are overcrowded. We simply cannot afford it anymore.” — EMILY MCCARTER
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n employee of World Wide Technology Inc., a Maryland Heights-based IT firm, was indicted in federal court here last week for secretly using his company credit card to shower online strippers with tips and gifts, and to buy himself a “sexual device” made by Fleshlight, a brand of male masturbation tools. John David Berrett of Gilbert, Arizona, started working at WWT in 2004. His job was to meet with clients both in the U.S. and abroad to offer training and support. Berrett would submit expense reports to WWT detailing what he’d bought with his company credit card — stuff like training materials and computer cables. But in reality, prosecutors allege, Berrett was using the money for other things. He would go to the online stripper website MyFreeCams.com and buy virtual “tokens” to tip the dancers. Berrett tipped them 2,200 times, according to the indictment, for a whopping total of Protip: Don’t charge online strippers to work. $100,000. He also befriended some of the stripto October 2014, Berrett is accused of diverting pers and used his WWT credit card to buy more than $476,000 of company funds toward them “chocolates, flowers, electronic equip- his own purposes. ment, wine, a television, handbag, laptop com(And, yes, one of his purposes was a $131.08 puter, iPod and shoes.” item that he claimed was a “training guide,” To one stripper he allegedly sent $26,800 but was in fact a “sexual device” made by in cash so she could pay for her college tuition Fleshlight, which — well, feel free to visit the bill, new tires for her car and her parents’ util- website.) ity bill — all on WWT’s dime. Berrett now faces five counts of federal wire All told, for the period from September 2013 fraud. —NICHOLAS PHILLIPS riverfronttimes.com
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We Are No Longer Afraid ONE YEAR AFTER MICHAEL BROWN’S DEATH, A RAPPER-TURNED-ACTIVIST TAKES STOCK OF THE MOVEMENT FORGED IN FERGUSON BY T E F P O E
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he best way to start this story is with the truth. So here it is: Michael Brown Jr. did not deserve to die. I have nothing but animosity in my heart for anyone who would dare argue with this statement. And here’s another truth: Today in America black people are not liberated. We are not free, and Ferguson shows us that we must fight like hell to reject any notion that equality has entered into our lives through Barack Obama and his stagnant calls for hope and change. A year after Michael’s Brown’s death and the protests that followed, my perspective has shifted. I can no longer force myself to chant the words “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot.” We chanted this phrase assuming that white supremacy actually gave a damn about our humanity. We were ignorant to the ways of the world. Now things are different. Our youthful exhibition of peaceful protest has changed the dynamic. They fear us — and our growing lack of fear of them.
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he violence in our city a year after the Ferguson Uprising has snowballed, centered on the devaluing of African American life. As the murder rate climbs, it is black people who are terrorized. When the rapists and the murderers are released from prison, they come home to north St. Louis and live in the same apartment buildings as we do. Nothing in this world can describe the psychiatric trauma attached to being born in the ghetto. And yet, as a black man living in Missouri, I can die by the gun of a police officer just as quickly as I can die by the gun of a rogue “criminal.” No one is as affected by the fears of white police officers patrolling our impoverished neighborhoods as we are. In terms of protecting our lives and preserving our human dignity, there is no safe haven from either party. After Ferguson, some things have indeed changed for the better. Now that the community has openly challenged the racism of every police department in the region, a slight paradigm shift has occurred. A very small contingent of us has decided we believe in ourselves. Black people in St. Louis have often been treated as if we can be quarantined, contained to very limited spaces. The history of this city is deeply rooted in the subjugation of African Americans. Blacks in Missouri were essentially reduced to staying in our place and understanding that we must never step out of line when dealing with a white person. Michael Brown Jr. died because he dared to challenge that practice and refused to stay in line when approached by a white male authority figure with a loaded gun and a heavy trigger finger. Because his story is not unique, his death resonated with thousands. I remember seeing the multitudes of people from Left: Tef Poe leads a protest march through downtown St. Louis.
are capable of voting it into oblivion. When the slave ships arrived with human cargo from Africa onboard centuries ago, the discussion of freedom was also connected to “voting rights.” But we have attempted to vote ourselves off the plantation for centuries years now, and it still has not worked. In fact, Ferguson did not occur under the order of a white president. Barack Obama, our beloved first black president, is also the first president in my adult lifetime to sit on his hands as a potential race war becomes the underlying narrative of America today.
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year later, we still believe — more than ever — that Darren Wilson is a stone-cold racist killer cop protected by a system that offers zero accountability for his actions. The racism that extinguishes black lives in the present day — the lives of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Cary Ball Jr., VonDerrit Myers Jr., Kimberlee RandleKing and so many more — is the same racism that shackled black people and sold us to the slave merchants in the early 1600s. After all of the marching, chanting, singing and praying, the reality of fighting back when you are unjustifiably targeted must become a universal theme. A community that is often fragmented currently stands united in the pursuit of a radical theory of change. We may each have a different method of operation in mind, but we all agree it is time to move. Once a month we gather in O’Fallon Park to host Books and Breakfast, an event mimicking the now-defunct 1960s Black Panther Free Breakfast for School Children Program. This event won’t bring killer cops like Darren Wilson to justice, but God willing, it will help us implant a village mentality inside the hearts and minds of the children and adults who attend. There is a chance we will further extend the art of resistance by leaving its importance chiseled in the spirits of these children as they grow older. My organization, Hands Up United, has started a tech program to teach black children to code as a means of being victorious through technology and education. We also have embarked upon a campaign to declare war continued on page 12
A man exhales a cloud cigarette smoke in the direction of heavily armed officers stationed on West Florrisant Avenue on August 18, 2014.
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neighborhoods that were once rivals standing in solidarity for Brown on West Florissant as we gathered in the name of resistance. The world paused momentarily while we stood there and steadfastly endured the treacherous heat of the sun upon our backs last August. This is what happens when the black community no longer fears the power of its ordained police force. Thousands of black people nationwide are demanding inclusion into a system that was never designed to include us. In this generation, the fight our ancestors embarked upon was rekindled and sparked by St. Louis-area youth and their allies. The movement, as many like to call it, was reborn in Ferguson after being incubated in St. Louis for many years. Then Freddie Gray’s untimely murder caused the city of Baltimore to go up in flames as cries for justice filled the East Coast and beyond. Many would say this is a story about how we as a community have continually suffered defeat, but I beg to differ. See, many people watching from afar did not realize how personally black people in St. Louis took Trayvon Martin’s murder. Mike Brown’s death triggered a collective voice of people, saying, “This is wrong, and we will not take it.” The sleeping giant has now risen, and the result is a movement for black lives that has spread across the world. Your system does not have to embrace us; we are simply asking to be released from the confines of your jaded perspectives. We do not want your food stamps or supplemental handouts. Hillary Clinton and the multitudes of white presidential candidates do not represent us — and we do not seek representation within this government if it is only for symbolic value. Claire McCaskill suggested on national TV that young black leaders like myself should run for office. We say very candidly to people like Senator McCaskill that to work and fraternize with devils is to become one. I stood at the Ferguson Police Department on August 10 and listened with my own ears to local authority figures attach the issues of police brutality to the issues of the ballot. Racism is evil, and I reject any notion that would suggest we
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Above: A woman and child look on as officers block sections of road near interstate 70 on September 10, 2014, during an organized protest. Below: Dozens of protesters held a “die in” outside the Edward Jones Dome to confront football fans with the message of “Black Lives Matter” on October 13, 2014.
No Longer Afraid against the food deserts plaguing our communities by starting a food pantry to help families in need. Groups like the Lost Voices, Tribe X, Black Souljahz and the Ferguson Freedom Fighters — all molded from the fires of Ferguson — adamantly push civil disobedience as a module of political self-expression against the angst black people in St. Louis are forced to live with. Today’s generation of freedom fighters refuses to allow victimization to be our calling card. My parents do not completely understand, because they believe the racism they experienced has been dethroned. But my friends are still virtual moving targets for the police — and anyone else who deems it acceptable to murder a black person. I believe I speak for myself and any true organizer from the Ferguson movement when I say that we realize yelling at buildings and being abducted by the police while protesting is not a sustainable plan. The oath of the badge is so powerful that police officers will neglect the obligation they have to the human race once they put on their uniform. In response, the oath of the people must be created and reaffirmed by our love and admiration for freedom. If you live in the city and you’re black, you’ll agree that things are out of control at the moment. St. Louis has never been a safe place for us to live, and right now it’s more dangerous than it’s ever been. Many of the movement’s most visible individuals are growing increasingly more paranoid. I am, too. I fear for not only my own safety, but also for the safety of many other people I have grown to know and admire over the course of the last 365 days. We are all under some
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form of surveillance, and spending a night in jail has now become a regular occurrence. I fear any interaction between the police and the people I ride with will result in one of us eventually sleeping in a casket. We have no desire to do anything violent, but our arrests are growing more and more aggressive. I personally feel that one of my arrests will result in my funeral — at home in St. Louis, or maybe abroad in a different city. Either way, I do not feel comfortable interacting with any form of law enforcement, as this fact still remains: All of the cards are always stacked in their favor. The police unions in America are arguably the most powerful criminal organizations in the world when dealing with minorities. There are hundreds of thousands of wonderful human beings working for law enforcement, but unfortunately, they are nothing more than a tool being used to maintain the lopsided power
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of the empire. Look at Sandra Bland. She was recently stopped in Texas on a routine traffic violation. Illegally arrested by the police, now she is dead. The story they tried selling us is that she killed herself in jail. We know this isn’t the truth. And if this movement were not alive and breathing, Bland’s death would equate to the finale of her story. Yet there is this movement. People are questioning Bland’s death. The official police narrative has not been allowed to stand. Our lives do indeed matter, and when we fight for ourselves we should be mindful that we are fighting for the basic freedoms of every man and woman in this society, regardless of their skin color, gender or sexual preference. When the establishment has proven that it is not capable of ruling the people it governs fairly and justly, revolution is the only option.
The Tea Party and other radical groups don’t realize it, but we have more in common than meets the eye. Every human being on this planet has a right to preserve their existence. The challenge for any self-respecting citizen of any functioning society is to be bold enough to speak when everyone else is silent. America is different from many other places on this planet because this is a country founded primarily on action and imagination. When we combine these elements, we quickly discover that almost anything is possible. As young people, we seek to change the world in which we live for the better. This is our only goal. We can not correct centuries years of oppression in one year. We will not outgun the police, and we do not desire to try. We simply search for the golden idea that will set us on the path of freedom and liberation. These are our peers and siblings being murdered at a rate that mimics an intentional genocide. We believe we are smart enough to defeat this evil and substitute its dominion over planet Earth with all-encompassing love and togetherness. I don’t fear the badge, a bullet or any other power mechanism of law enforcement. They can only kill us or lock us up. Going to jail for what you believe in is often embarrassing — my mother has called plenty of times and questioned why I continually find myself in jail. But in this movement we wear each and every arrest on our chests as badges of honor. We are proud of each other, and we are supportive of any initiative that will add value to our hardships. We believe we are the generation that will create the energy that gives birth to an idea that will change the entire world. We remain committed to the gospel of love. We invite you to join us. ■ Tef Poe is a rapper/activist based in St. Louis who has spent much of the last year on the frontlines of the protest movement in Ferguson. His activism has taken him to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the United Nations with the family of Michael Brown; he has penned pieces for publications including Time and the Huffington Post; and he’s been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, BBC and BET. As a regular Riverfront Times contributor, Tef was honored in 2014 with a Salute to Excellence Award by the National Association of Black Journalists. His most recent musical effort, War Machine III, was released by Delmar Records in July and is available on iTunes.
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Witness 101 DORIAN JOHNSON’S LIFE CHANGED IRREVOCABLY WHEN HE SAW MICHAEL BROWN SHOT TO DEATH IN FERGUSON. ONE YEAR LATER, HE’S STILL GRAPPLING WITH THE FALLOUT. BY DA N N Y W IC E N TOWS K I
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Dorian Johnson, 23, says his own life was put on hold after Michael Brown’s death last year. Now he’s looking to the future.
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sk Dorian Johnson what happened on August 9, 2014, and he’ll tell you that the story begins just past noon. He’ll say that he and Michael Brown Jr. had been walking down Canfield Drive in Ferguson when they were stopped by a police officer in an SUV – and that the last thing Brown ever said to him was, “Keep runnin’, bro.” As the officer moved to exit the SUV, something happened. Witness accounts differ: Maybe Brown blocked the door and began punching and throttling the officer through the open window. Then again, maybe it was the officer who violently slammed the car door into Brown and instigated the struggle. What we do know is that two gunshots went off inside the vehicle, and one struck Brown in the hand. That’s when Brown and Johnson took off running. Johnson says he ducked behind a stopped gray Pontiac and watched as Ferguson officer Darren Wilson pursued his six-footfive, 280-pound friend down the street. Seconds later, Johnson saw bullets tear through Brown’s body. The eighteen-year-old crumpled onto Canfield Drive as the life drained out of him, staining the pavement red. The August 9 shooting brought the weight of the world’s scrutiny on the modest north county suburb of Ferguson, but a significant portion of that burden fell on the narrow shoulders of Dorian Johnson. The wiry college dropout with a checkered past and mismatched eyes – one blue, one brown – became a national lightning rod almost overnight. To a grieving community seeking answers and justice, Johnson, then 22, was the key witness to the reality of both Brown’s death and the black experience in Ferguson, and his emotional testimony became the gospel of a burgeoning protest movement. The “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” mantra was based, in part, on Johnson’s account of how Brown raised his hands and told the advancing Wilson, “I don’t have a gun,” before the final shots rang out. But Johnson also drew the ire of people skeptical about the movement taking hold in Ferguson. They combed through his statements, drawing jagged circles around the inconsistencies and omissions. They blogged, tweeted and commented that Johnson was no truth-teller – in their view, he was an accomplice, a proven liar, just another young black thug claiming victimhood and angling for a payday. For a time, Johnson’s face appeared in newspapers and on television across the world, but for the past eight months he’s mostly avoided direct contact with journalists. Last week, however, he sat down with Riverfront Times for a 60-minute interview, describing the months of secrecy and strain that followed Brown’s death – as well as the surprising silver lining to his recent, highly publicized arrest by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He’s currently suing the City of Ferguson, its police department and the now-retired officer Wilson. He says he lives in fear of retaliation from vigilantes and law enforcement. It’s been almost a year since Michael Brown was shot to death on Canfield Drive, and the shockwaves of those frenzied moments are still pushing Johnson toward an unknown destination. Try as he might, he can’t escape what happened that day. Michael Brown told him to run. In some ways, Dorian Johnson has been running ever since.
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he first day after the shooting was pure panic. Johnson’s own family didn’t know his whereabouts, and early news reports of a dead body discovered near a Domino’s fueled rumors that the witness to the Brown killing had himself been killed. Johnson’s brother, Damonte, remembers their mother obsessively clicking through social media feeds and Twitter, searching for updates on her son. Even the police couldn’t locate him. Two days later, on August 11, Dorian walked through the door of his family’s small St. Louis apartment. He was accompanied by two male friends acting as security. “I had never seen my brother so shook up,” Damonte Johnson says. “This was the first time we saw him after the shooting. Everybody was sitting on the floor, on the windowsill, sitting around like it was story time. He was telling the story, he was shaking, sweating bullets, telling us step by step.” As Johnson tells it, he went into hiding immediately after Brown’s death. He fled his Canfield Green apartment and says he was contacted by Adolphus Pruitt, president of St. Louis NAACP, who immediately arranged for “protective custody.” His life became a series of hotel rooms shared with his girlfriend and young daughter. He watched TV compulsively. The images of looters, tear gas and violence overwhelmed his waking moments. “I was crying,” Johnson says. “It was so real to me, but it was unreal at the same time. It was almost like, every time I stepped away from the TV, it was like a dream. But when I go back to the TV, it made it more real.” Johnson would ultimately move in with a family member in late October. By then, he’d been interviewed on local TV stations and cable networks. Each time, he told the same story: That Wilson initiated the confrontation with Brown, grappled with the teen through the driver’s side window, pursued Brown down Canfield Drive and fired bullets into his body. Johnson insisted that Brown had never threatened Wilson or reached for the officer’s gun. He told KSDK (Channel 5) that Brown had been shot “like an animal.” He told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Wilson shot Johnson in the back. But Johnson’s character quickly became part of the story. By August 14, media had discovered his criminal history, which included a guilty plea for making false statements in 2011, when he was a college student in Jefferson City. (He’d been busted stealing a backpack and told a cop his name was “Derrick Johnson” and that he was 16. The officer found Johnson’s ID, complete with his real age, 19, tucked away in his sock.) The other shoe dropped a day later, on August 15. Ferguson police released surveillance footage showing Michael Brown stealing cigars from a Quik Trip minutes before his fatal confrontation with Wilson. Johnson, who accompanied Brown but did not appear to participate in the robbery, had never mentioned the crime in his initial media interviews. “Isn’t that lying through omission?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked Johnson’s lawyer, former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., later that day. “Not at all,” Bosley Jr. answered. “Lying is when you say something that’s not true. Nobody asked him, ‘What you all did before you came in contact with the officer?’ If he [Wolf Blitzer] had asked him, we would have told him. But we had the duty to tell that to the FBI and they got the full story.” In media appearances, Johnson was almost never seen without his lawyers, Bosley Jr. and the New Orleans-based James Williams. One (and sometimes both) would accompany Johnson to TV interviews. When Johnson’s cabin fever reached a boiling point, it was Williams who drove him to Ferguson so he could watch the protests from the safety of the passenger seat. “I met Dorian for the first time in one of those hotel rooms,” Williams says. “One of the things Dorian would always say to me is how he wanted to get out there. Just for his safety we had to limit it. One night we rode down there, just so he could get out there and see what was going on. But it was still a very dangerous environment.”
Indeed, various conspiracy theorists and right-wing blogs had latched onto Johnson, fixating on his testimony and his role in the creation of the “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” narrative. His TV interviews were collected and uploaded as YouTube compilation videos, which users picked over for proof of his deceptions. He was dubbed a “serial liar,” and much worse. His Facebook inbox filled up with apoplectic rants and veiled threats. He stopped Googling his name. He’d become a public figure, merely by virtue of what he’d witnessed. In December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Johnson had landed a temporary job with St. Louis city, as a forestry worker. The story was published before he could even log his first day on the job. “At the time I was working there, there were incidents where cars were following me to work,” Johnson says. “I can’t walk out of my house without someone I don’t know knowing me. They ask me for autographs, pictures, hugs, can I come to their church. I’ve been invited to meet people’s families. I speak to anyone who speak to me, and it’s good and bad. You can’t really trust someone you don’t know.” After the temporary city job ended, Johnson landed a full-time gig as a server in The Kitchen Sink, a cajun restaurant in the Central West End. Things seemed to be getting back to normal. It wasn’t until the spring of 2015 that he suddenly found himself back in the spotlight — for something that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of his detractors.
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“I HAD NEVER SEEN MY BROTHER SO SHOOK UP. HE WAS TELLING THE STORY, HE WAS SHAKING, SWEATING BULLETS, TELLING US STEP BY STEP.”
ohnson grew up in the northwest St. Louis neighborhood of Walnut Park, which is almost entirely black. It’s there, he says, that he learned how police and black males interact in the real world. “When you’ve been born in an urban environment, you don’t have to be taught,” he says. “That’s kind of been my life St. Louis, head on a swivel. You see with your eyes how the police handle somebody else.” Raised by a single mother, Johnson grew up in a house his mother shared with his aunt and her children. It was a chaotic childhood, but instead of joining a gang, Johnson took his competitive streak to the football field — as a member of the St. Louis recreation division’s Junior Rams. Despite his small stature (he’s now a slender five feet seven inches”), Johnson reveled in showing off his speed on the field. He traveled across the country with the team. But in 2007, a shootout erupted as Johnson was getting off a school bus. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet embedded near a vein in his leg. That was the end of his football career. Johnson graduated high school. But his continued on page 16
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first year at a historically black college in Jefferson City, Lincoln University, ended with his 2011 arrest for stealing a backpack. After returning to St. Louis, Johnson landed a job with MetroLink and proudly moved into his own apartment in Ferguson, in the Canfield Green apartment complex. That’s where a mutual friend introduced him to Michael Brown in March 2014, just five months before his death. Dorian’s younger brother Damonte had a different upbringing. Damonte spent much of his early years living with godparents in St. Louis County. He attended Chaminade College Prep, an elite Catholic high school in suburban Creve Coeur, and at eighteen moved to Maryland to attend the University of Baltimore, where he says he excelled academically. Both brothers, though, watched things fall apart in 2012, after D’Angelo, their youngest sibling, died in a drag-racing accident. He was sixteen. After his little brother’s death, Damonte’s grades plummeted. He says he couldn’t focus on his classes. After a disappointing semester he moved back to Missouri. “A part of me died with our little brother, and that’s been the main thing myself and my family has been trying to overcome,” says Damonte. “Dorian and I had always
The spot where Michael Brown died became a memorial and a gathering place for protesters. been close, but after that no one knew how to behave or how to react or how to treat an everyday situation. We were at each other’s necks and just going at it, and it could be over the smallest thing.” The intervening years softened the tension between them, but didn’t heal the rift. That wouldn’t happen until nearly a year after Brown’s shooting made Dorian Johnson a national name – on May 6, when Damonte, Dorian and their half-brother, Otis McRoberts, were arrested during a block party in north city. According to court records, someone called the police to report that a group had gathered on the 5700 block of Acme Avenue, and that they might have guns or knives. When the first patrol car arrived, the two Johnsons and McRoberts were part of a crowd of about fifteen people hanging out on the sidewalk. “They came like they already knew somebody was going to jail,” Dorian Johnson says. “Me and my brothers just standing there, like, ‘OK, we’re not doing nothing, so I’m not finna run and make it seem like we’re doing something.’ So we just stood there.” Dorian and Damonte Johnson both say at least five more patrol cars pulled
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up, but it wasn’t until an officer grabbed McRoberts — investigating “a bulge in his waistband which I believed could possibly be a concealed gun,” as the officer would later write in his report — that things got out of hand. “That kind of sent a shock to my brother Damonte,” Dorian Johnson says. “He wasn’t used to seeing police do stuff like that. I’m used to it, but Damonte grabbed both of them.” What ensued was a kind of tug-of-war between Damonte Johnson, the officer and McRoberts. More officers arrived to pull Damonte off. “After they put the handcuffs on me,” says Damonte, “Dorian became more irate. They slammed him on the ground, ripped his pants and messed up his shoulder.” In the end, all three brothers were hauled off to the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. No weapons were found in McRobert’s waistband. But the arrests were leaked to the media immediately, and Dorian and Damonte’s mugshots were blasted over the internet. Citing anonymous police sources, the Post-Dispatch reported that officers had also recovered “cough medication mixed with what police believe to be an illegal narcotic” from a cup Dorian Johnson had supposedly discarded at the scene. It only took a day for the rumored drug possession charge to evaporate. The cup tested negative for drugs. “A drug charge was brought to our office,” Lauren Trager, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney’s office, said at the time. “It was refused by our office.” The brothers weren’t home free. Both Johnsons were hit with a charge for resisting arrest, and Damonte faced an added charge of third-degree assault against a police officer. In the Justice Center, word quickly spread: Dorian Johnson — yes, that Dorian Johnson — was locked up. “We had gang unit come down and take pictures of us, and it started a kind of a buzz. So now we get umpteen different officers coming down,” Dorian Johnson remembers. “We had two officers come down and look through the window and smirk and laugh. We had a couple officers just coming and pointing. I was telling my brothers, ‘Don’t pay them no mind, we’ll be alright.’ “There was this young officer, he said, ‘I had to buy new guns because of you and Mike Brown. You guys ruined my whole vacation, and my whole summer.’” Damonte Johnson also remembers a parade of curious officers approaching the holding cell. “The first two days we were in there, it was absolutely horrible. It wasn’t an inmate that was a problem, it was all the [corrections officers]. It was this constant, ‘This ain’t Ferguson, you ain’t get no money out of here, fuck you, we’re going to fuck you up.’
Brothers Dorian (top) and Damonte Johnson accuse police of using excessive force during the May 6 arrests. “It was vulgar and in your face,” he adds, “almost like they were trying to bait us.” Although McRoberts, the youngest of the three brothers, was released on bond after a few days, the Johnsons were left to stew in an eight-by-ten cell with more than a dozen other men. One night, Damonte says, around 3 a.m., one of their cellmates woke up vomiting and defecating all over himself. When the guards took him away, they left the puke and shit behind in the cell. Dorian objected, asking one of the guards to clean up the mess. “At this point Dorian gets off the floor, walking toward the C.O. Dorian is just standing there, and that made the C.O. even more mad,” Damonte says. “The guard was screaming out our home address, ‘I’ll be waiting outside your continued on page 18
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house, I’m going to take my badge off and beat you.’” But along with the tension came a chance for reconciliation. More than three years after the fact, D’Angelo’s death still hung between the pair. “We had one of those big brother-tobrother talks, letting all our feeling out in this cell,” Dorian says. “We both wanted to be good for our mom. We both want to take care of our family. We were trying to do it on our own.” After D’Angelo died, the brothers had sparred over who would step up, be the man and fix the wounds in their family. Damonte wanted to take more responsibility, and he felt disrespected by Dorian’s overbearing attitude as the family’s eldest son, the protector. “We found each other in that place, we found what it meant to be brothers again,” Damante says. “Both of us had been just wrecks after losing our little brother, always doubting ourselves, just messing up and being real tough on ourselves. When we sat down and talked, it was crazy how much we saw eye to eye. He wanted the same thing that I did. He wanted to make it, to do something, to bring the family up and out of this.” Damonte left the Justice Center after five days, while Dorian was shipped to City Workhouse jail for another two days before
his own release. A few days later, Dorian lost his job at The Kitchen Sink. The staff, he says, disliked his notoriety and the attention the recent arrest had brought him. “This whole incident was excessive use of force against Dorian’s brothers,” says attorney Williams – who says the treatment only escalated once the officers realized who Dorian was. But both Dorian and Damonte say the time spent in Justice Center brought them closer. “The surprising thing was that we said we loved each other, for the first time in maybe five years,” Damonte says. “Now we always get off the phone with ‘I love you, bro. Stay safe.’”
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orian Johnson has found little peace in the year since Brown’s death. He lost his apartment, his job and his independence. He also became a national whipping boy after a U.S. Department of Justice report concluded that physical evidence and witness testimony supported Wilson’s version of events, rather than his own. In a column titled “‘Hands Up; Don’t Shoot,’ was built on a lie,” Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, who is black, wrote that the DOJ report made him ill. “Wilson knew about the theft of the cigarillos from the convenience store and had a description of the suspects,” Capehart wrote. “Brown fought with the officer and
“IT SEEMS LIKE THE PROSECUTOR GOT WHAT HE WANTED — A NON-INDICTMENT, AND SLOWLY EVERYTHING IS QUIETING DOWN, KIND OF JUST BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG.” 18
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Dorian’s Story
tried to take his gun. And the popular handsup storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by Witness 101. In fact, just about everything said to the media by Witness 101, whom we all know as Dorian Johnson, the friend with Brown that day, was not supported by the evidence and other witness statements.” Similar arguments metastasized across social media and blogs. And while Capehart concluded his column by emphasizing the serious issues raised by Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests, a vast array of naysayers used the same argument to dismiss the entire Black Lives Matter movement as a lie. As for Johnson, the only major change in his testimony occurred during the grand jury hearings, when he clarified that he did not actually see Wilson shoot Brown in the back, only that Brown appeared to jerk and halt in the same instant that Wilson fired a shot at the fleeing teenager. Otherwise, Johnson remains steadfast in his testimony — that Brown was murdered on that street with his hands raised. Unsurprisingly, he’s still bitter about the grand jury decision. “It seems like the prosecutor got what he wanted — a non-indictment, and slowly everything is quieting down, kind of just being swept under the rug,” he says, and the hurt is clear on his face. “People are out here trying to get to the bottom of it still, trying to get the clear, correct story. The story that’s going to add up, because the story that Darren Wilson told does not add up.”
A family photo of Dorian (right) and Damonte Johnson during their teen years. Johnson’s testimony lives on, however, in the form of lawsuits. In April, Michael Brown’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Ferguson, Wilson and former police chief Thomas Jackson. The suit draws heavily from Johnson’s statements, including how Wilson allegedly yelled “get the fuck off the street” before reversing his vehicle to block Brown from walking, and how Brown “raised his arms in a non-threatening matter” before Wilson’s fatal shots. Johnson has his own lawsuit pending against the same plaintiffs. He’s seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for “psychological injury, severe emotional distress, medical expenses, lost wages, living expenses [and] incurred additional expenses.” The prospect of a monetary windfall, however, seems small comfort in light of how things have shaken out. No matter how much Johnson has shunned the spotlight in the last eight months, the nation’s interest in him continues to border on tabloid obsession. And that, he believes, is in stark contrast to the third man on Canfield Drive that hot day last August – the man he believes bears responsibility for his friend’s death and everything that followed. “It does sadden me that it seems like Darren Wilson just fell off the face of the earth,” he says. “I mean, I can pick my nose and it’ll be on the news. Who’s to say what Darren Wilson is doing right now?” ■
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JUNE 10 FATPOCKET
JULY 8
THREE PEDROS
AUG 12 MADBEATS
YOU HAD ME AT “DRINK SPECIALS”!
SEPT 9
GRIFFIN AND THE GARGOYLES
5:00-8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE | DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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NIGHT + DAY ®
MARK DETHROW
WEEK OF AUGUST 06–12
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[THEATER]
SPELLBOUND! A MUSICAL FABLE
Stray Dog Theatre’s current season comes to an end with the world premiere of Spellbound! A Musical Fable. Written by artistic director Gary F. Bell with Robert L. White, the play is an all-ages tale about a young woman named Arabella. She undertakes a hero’s journey to the land of Samaren, where she encounters shape-shifting beasts in the service of Layla, an enchantress. These are the obstacles that block Arabella’s path to discovering the value of her own worth, but she has the strength to triumph. While the kids are sure to enjoy it, don’t dismiss Spellbound! as “only for children”; Stray Dog has a long track record
of presenting thought-provoking and entertaining musicals, so adults will have a good time, too. Spellbound! is presented at 8 p.m. Thursday through T H IS C O D E Saturday (August TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES 6 to 22) at Tower IPHONE/ANDROID APP Grove Abbey FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT (2336 Tennessee riverfronttimes.com Avenue; 314-8651995 or www. straydogtheatre.org). There are two additional shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday (August 12 and 19). Tickets are $10 to $25. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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FiftyOneBowie revisits the many face of David Bowie.
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[ART EXHIBIT]
SOUND & VISION
Sound & Vision is a synthesis of music and art spread throughout several venues at Grand Center’s First Friday. The Kranzberg Arts Incubator (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.kranzbergartscenter.org) hosts Mark Dethrow’s exhibition FiftyOneBowie, an installation of 51 portraits of the chameleonic performer. Eric Hall and Kevin Harris present “Turn and face the strange,” an audio/visual piece comprising electronic remixes of the Main Man’s music and live analog video, in the Black Box Theater.
Downstairs the Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design presents Heavy Metals, an amalgamation of metal-arts demos and a punk-rock performance. Sound & Vision takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ N O VA N I G H T S ]
NASA NEW HORIZONS: PLUTO
The PlayStation 4 may be the most powerful home video game console on the market today (according to its manufacturer), but when NASA launched the 2006 New Horizon probe for a mission that would take it 3 billion miles from Earth, it went with the tried-and-true decades-old CPU that powered continued on page 22
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From the left: Get Spellbound!, buy art at Scratchfest, bask in Zardoz’s strange beauty and learn about early St. Louis breweries.
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Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 1 over any bleeding-edge tech. The mission’s flabbergasting findings on the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons are the focus of NASA New Horizons — To Pluto!, this month’s Nova Nights at the St. Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Avenue; 314-289-4400 or www.slsc.org). Attendees can test upcoming video games created by area developers, play with robots in the Maker Garage and take in a lecture about NASA’s mission to Pluto. At 10 p.m. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar screens for free in the theater (but not in the IMAX format; regular style only). Admission is free, as are mostsoulardconcertsseries_qrtr_pg_aug.pdf of the activities. — MARK FISCHER
S AT U R D AY |08.08 [ART SALE]
SCRATCHFEST: AN ART & DANCE FESTIVAL
The problem with most fine art is that once you’ve finished paying for it, you can no longer afford the home you were going to hang it in. But Scratchfest: An Art & Dance Festival Honoring the Life & Work of Bob Reuter changes that. The open-portfolio show features numerous printmakers who craft original and striking art that is surprisingly easy on your wallet, thanks to the black magic of mechanical reproduction. Most of the Outlaw Printmakers gang will be present, as will numerous Printbangerz workshop attendees — you buy straight from the artist and cut out the middleman. There will be live music and a couple of surprises — you’ll have to go to find out what that entails. Scratchfest runs from 6:50 AM August 8, at Atomic 61p.m.7/22/15 to 1 a.m. Saturday,
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Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue; www. evilprints.com). A portion of the proceeds benefit the Cowboy Angel Foundation in memory of photographer and musician Bob Reuter. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ C U LT C L A S S I C ]
ZARDOZ
John Boorman’s sci-fi brainmelter Zardoz is more commonly known as “that film where Sean Connery runs around in a red diaper and pirate boots.” And it’s true — he does, and that’s a big part of its appeal. Connery plays Zed, a primitive man from the Brutal caste who’s only skill is killing. When he infiltrates the secluded world of the Eternals, the ruling elite, Zed finds himself studied, feared and used as a weapon by various factions. It’s crazier than you think — a flying stone head issues weapons as needed, and the Eternals use naked mud wrestling to fight erectile dysfunction — but it’s also thoughtful and inventive despite
the cheesy bits. The Reel Late film series presents Zardoz at midnight Friday and Saturday (August 7 and 8) at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-727-7271 or www. landmarktheatres.com). Tickets are $8. — PAUL FRISWOLD
S U N D AY |08.09
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[HISTORY]
DRINKING UP ST. LOUIS
St. Louis has a long history as a beer town and a baseball town. The Brown Stockings, the team that eventually became the modern St. Louis Cardinals, was an original member of the founding class of the National League in 1875. That’s also the year the Compton and Dry map of St. Louis was created — clearly, drinking and baseball are cornerstones of the city. Numerous breweries, taverns and pubs were immortalized in the Compton and Dry
map (the Cardinals have done pretty well, too), currently on display as the centerpiece of the exhibition A Walk in 1875 St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard T H IS C O D E and DeBaliviere TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Avenue; 314-746RIVERFRONT TIMES 4599 or www. IPHONE/ANDROID APP mohistory.org). FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT riverfronttimes.com Today at 2:30 p.m. during Drinking Up Compton and Dry’s St. Louis, Cameron Collins of Distilled History discusses the brewing centers of interest visible in the map, and reveals tidbits about the history and fates of the noble structures. Admission is free. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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[DOCUMENTARY]
[MUSICAL]
ENCHANTED KINGDOM
OKLAHOMA!
The natural-history documentaries produced by BBC Earth are widely regarded as the best in class, but their crowning achievement may be their latest, Enchanted Kingdom 3-D. The film places viewers deep within the wilderness of Africa, using state-of-the-art 4K 3-D cameras. This new dimension of BBC Earth’s storytelling is further enhanced with high-definition time-lapse photography and micro and macro 3-D lenses. The film examines not only the critters that populate Africa’s densest jungles, but takes audiences on a journey from the bottom of the continent’s secretive seas to the tip of its ice-capped mountains. Enchanted Kingdom screens at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (August 10 and 11) at Ronnies 20 Cine with IMAX (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com). Tickets are $15. — MARK FISCHER
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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! paved the way for the modern musical, thanks to the duo’s insistence on using the songs as a means both to expand the story and to explain the motivations of the characters. Not a bad trick for the duo’s first collaboration, eh? It’s a classic, and the songs are part of America’s cultural heritage. Cowboy Curly McLain rides into town one last time to propose to his long-time gal, Laurey. She thinks he’s put it off too long, and goes to the dance with menacing farmhand Jud just to spite Curly. Curly can’t tolerate that, the same way cowboy Will Parker can’t tolerate Ado Annie’s relationship with the peddler Ali Hakim. Both cowboys have to fight for their respective gals, and this being Oklahoma!, that means singing and dancing are the weapons of choice. The Muny
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in Forest Park (314-361-1900 or www.muny. org) closes out its season with Oklahoma! Performances are at 8:15 p.m. Monday through Sunday, and tickets are $14 to $87. — PAUL FRISWOLD
Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.
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The Sharper Image Catalog as Film IN THE LATEST MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE STARS ARE THE GADGETS AND STUNTS. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames. Now open at numerous theaters.
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hile I have generally enjoyed the Mission: Impossible series, if you were to ask me what any of the films were about four days after I saw them, well...that information is kept in an airtight BY “dark tunnel” under six levels of encryption and accessible ROBERT only after presenting a thumbprint, a retinal scan and the HUNT name of my high school mas24
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cot. But that’s okay! Profundity is not the point of a Mission: Impossible film; logic, consistency and plausibility are equally discounted. These films deal in chaos and deliver it well. The latest, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is no exception, and although it may be almost too much of a good thing, it promises — and provides — two hours of continuous action. As in previous M:I outings, the film involves super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) looking for an international ring of terrorists known as the Syndicate, with help from his sidekicks on the Impossible Mission Force, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). They’re joined by British double agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may not be trustworthy — not that such things matter. There’s also a sub-plot in which CIA man Alan Hunley (Alex Baldwin) has the IMF disbanded and gives orders for Hunt’s arrest, while keeping Hunt’s former boss (Jeremy Renner) under his control. The action jumps from London to Vienna to Morocco, staying in each place just long enough to unload a new carton of gadgets and head into an extended series of stunts and action sequences before jumping off to the next location. For all of their globe-trotting heroes, terror-
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ist cells and world-threatening weapons, the Mission: Impossible films are, at heart, technophilic fantasies about men (and women) who live like real-life Jetsons and have better phone service than you can even dream about. Technology has been central to the series from the beginning, but much has changed since 1996, when Tom Cruise had to type in MS-DOS commands to break into CIA headquarters and arch-villain Vanessa Redgrave worried about transmitting a file before her Wi-Fi connection failed. In the first film, technology was a sometimes unreliable tool; with Rogue Nation, it is the whole point. The suspense of waiting for a particular bit of high-tech trickery to go off or the clockwork timing of some of the IMF capers are what passes for dramatic development here. Without them, Ethan Hunt is a cipher. Unlike James Bond, there’s no hint of a personal life or even much of a personality. His existence depends on having some kind of task to keep him occupied. You can’t imagine him ordering a drink, let alone worrying if it was shaken or stirred. Which is fine, because he’s just a vehicle for Tom Cruise and the elaborate stunt work which pulls the film closer to the semicomic terrain of Jackie Chan circa 1990 than
Tom Cruise (and uncredited motorcycle) star in the new Mission Impossible.
to the macho ruthlessness of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just as CGI effects would dilute the pleasure one gets from the motorcycle chases and endurance tests, so would having to believe that Ethan had any emotions or thoughts which might distract him from the action at hand. The filmmakers dutifully try to build up some kind of reason for all of the running around, but in this case, the ineffectual supervillain behind the complicated plot barely makes an impression. This isn’t a movie about good and evil; it’s about solving puzzles. Alliances shift as easily as trusts and characters are judged not by their ideology but by their usefulness. The filmmakers only lose sight of this once, near the end, when Hunt starts to make a statement about the necessity of the IMF bringing down the bad guys. (I’ll blame writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed Cruise in the heavy-handed Jack Reacher) It’s not just out of character; it’s disappointing. The last thing anyone wants from a Mission: Impossible film is for Cruise to start giving speeches. ■
MICAH USHER
STILL ROLLING OUR ONGOING, OCCASIONALLY SMARTASS, DEFINITELY UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO WHAT’S PLAYING IN ST. LOUIS THEATERS
Photographer
We’ve all seen the wedding-cake topper of the
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bride grabbing the groom by the collar, dragging him away from a life filled with sexy funtimes and toward the altar of imprisonment, where all that’s left is monogamy and arguing over how to properly squeeze the toothpaste tube (from the bottom up, always). In Trainwreck, it’s beer-slamming, bed-hopping Amy (Amy
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Schumer) who’d rather order another round of shots than order fine china. Until, of course, she meets Aaron (Bill Hader) who reminds her that, in the words of British philosopher Samantha Fox, naughty girls need love too. Sure, it gets
“What’s important about Tangerine is that it’s so
a little formulaic in places, but it’s a hell of a
CATHARTICALLY HILARIOUS.” Jonathan Kiefer, SF Weekly
“ONE OF THE
MOST EXCITING FILMS OF THE YEAR. It may not be the summer comedy we asked for, but it just might be the summer comedy we need.” Peter Macia, Vogue
“IT JUMPS OFF THE SCREEN AND
WOWS YOU LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS A VISUALLY INNOVATIVE KNOCKOUT THAT GRABS YOU FROM THE FIRST FRAME.”
.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
★★★★★
“THIS MOVIE IS EVERYTHING.” David Ehrlich, Time Out New York
“A TOUGH YET TENDER, GRITTY YET GORGEOUS MOVIE MADE WITH INGENIOUS SKILL. A DIZZY, OFTEN EXUBERANT, DOWN AND DIRTY ROMP.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
lot more fun than most actual weddings. ●
INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE
Almost every day we hear about the death of another pop-culture touchstone: “The inventor of the Hula-Hoop died? Sad,” we think. And just as quickly: “Can you super-size that?” Very few deaths hold our attention even minutes after we learn about them. And then there’s Amy Winehouse. Watching a fierce natural talent disintegrate in real time, her death four years ago at 27 wasn’t a complete shock — but the failure of anyone to successfully save her from herself was. Asif Kapadia’s Amy is already be-
MONDAY, AUGUST 10 7:00PM
ing called one of the best music documentaries ever made. It reveals the root of so many of her ills — eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse,
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manic depression — and how the wrong people in wrong places at the wrong times only sped up a frantically ticking clock. ● If your vacation week has come and gone, if you’re in the grips of the summertime blues, if you’re feeling old and irrelevant with the reappearance of back-
RATED PG-13 FOR ACTION VIOLENCE, SOME SUGGESTIVE CONTENT, AND PARTIAL NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.
to-school things, Pixels is for you. After an old VHS tape of a video-game tournament is broadcast into space (go with it), Pac-Man,
tangerine A film by
Sean Baker
magpictures.com/tangerine
STARTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Q*bert and their alien ilk believe they’re under attack...and are pissed. Fear not: This is a world where Donkey Kong prowess saves the universe, Kevin James can be president and, of course, Adam Sandler gets the girl. In other words, it’s
IN THEATERS AUGUST 14
“ageless” in the sense that every other Sandler flick has been since about 1995. Don’t you feel younger already?
— Kristie McClanahan
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Still the Big Man CAROL REED’S THE THIRD MAN REMAINS HAUNTING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. The Third Man Directed by Carol Reed. Written by Graham Greene. Starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Opens Friday, August 7, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; 314-995-6285 or www.landmarktheatres.com).
Keep the Receipt JOEL EDGERTON’S THRILLER THE GIFT HAS SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT WOMEN. The Gift Directed and Written by Joel Edgerton. Starring Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Opens Friday, July 7, at multiple theaters.
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h, but The Gift is an infuriating movie on so many levels. It can’t decide if it wants to be serious drama or a salacious thriller, and so it’s nowhere near enough of either, and each aspect seems to be laughing at the other. It touches on sensitive, tangled emotional matters that could easily be the basis for either sort of movie — how the effects of bullying in childhood linger into adulthood; how stress and grief can render us unable to function in daily life; how even the most intimate of relationships can be tinged by a lack of trust; and more — but it fumbles all of them so badly that it contradicts itself constantly, as 26
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death but immediately disappeared pull Martins into a noir-ish journey through Vienna’s backstreets and sewers, accompanied by Anton Karas’ relentless zither score. It’s not a great film, but it is memorable, driven by the casual charm of Cotten and the enigmatic draw of Welles. Graham Greene’s screenplay is uneven (there’s a particularly bad scene where Cotten is forced to address the local literary club, a roomful of grotesques if it doesn’t really understand the pain it is attempting to appropriate. It wants you to doubt who the villain is but doesn’t have the nerve to do anything meaningful with that gambit. I’m trying not to spoil. Suffice to say that The Gift, after descending into emotional idiocy and insufficient intrigue, ends up in a disgusting place that presumes its audience will be horrified at the repulsive suggestion that a medieval notion about marriage has been contravened. Granted, this notion remains something that some real people in the real world still believe, and it’s an awful trope that movies like this one frequently trot out. But it is a trope that deserves to die, not be perpetuated. I cannot even say that The Gift — written and, in his feature debut, directed by actor Joel Edgerton — starts out promisingly. Almost from the get-go, we are led down a path that treats Robyn (Rebecca Hall) as an appropriate battleground for a war of wills between her husband, Simon (Jason Bateman), and an old school friend of his, Gordo (Edgerton). (The movie is totally on board with the idea that women are properly pawns in games men
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who grill him on modernism. What literary grudge was Greene indulging here?), but just atmospheric enough to cover up the plot’s holes, and with just enough Hitchcockian elements to keep the story from being drowned by the atmosphere. But Hitchcock may not be the only source of inspiration. It used to be commonly believed -- although evidence has since proven it unlikely -- that Orson Welles directed his
Orson Welles leads the way in The Third Man.
own scenes in The Third Man (Welles himself always emphatically denied it). It is now often presumed that even if Welles stayed in front of the camera, Reed’s dark settings and odd compositions were inspired by the innovative look of Citizen Kane and The Lady from Shanghai. While there may be something to this -- there is a startling cut involving a
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arol Reed’s The Third Man has straddled the line between high and low art for so long that it’s hard -- no, impossible -- to watch it in innocence. One inevitably approaches the film under the influence of memory or nostalgia if you’ve seen it before, or under the long shadow of its reputation if you haven’t. In an otherwise enthusiastic review for BY the New York Times in 1950, ROBERT Bosley Crowther felt obliged to warn his readers that the HUNT film was essentially a firstrate contrivance in the way of melodrama -- and that’s all. The description still holds. It’s either a serious film with a lot of pulpy elements, or a genre piece with an air of self-importance. And yet it works, for the most part. Its contradictions are what holds it together. For those who haven’t seen it, The Third Man is a crime story set in post-war Vienna, when the city was run by international peacekeeping forces and black marketeering was rampant. Western author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten, in a rare leading role) has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but upon arrival he learns that Lime has just been killed under slightly mysterious circumstances. Questions about Lime, his business interests and, most of all, a mysterious “third man” who witnessed his
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Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall in The Gift.
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cockatoo, recalling one of Kane’s most jarring transitions -- it’s a superficial homage, entirely ignoring the in-depth staging and innovative sound design of Welles’ films. There are many vivid and evocative shots, but quite a few that seem to be set at harsh angles solely for a calculated effect. It’s not a particularly personal work, but Reed wasn’t a particularly personal director (although he inserts himself into the film as narrator of its oddly chatty prologue sequence). Maybe that’s why he indulges himself in the off-kilter angles; they act as a filter between the characters and the viewer. And yet Harry Lime has unmistakeably become one of cinema’s most memorable villains, a remarkable feat considering that he appears for less than ten minutes, and only after more than an hour has passed. His appeal, if you can call it that, can be attributed almost entirely to Welles, who was so taken
with the character and his amorality that he spun it into a radio series, The Adventures of Harry Lime. What’s most unique about Lime is that he doesn’t really seem to be villainous at all; he’s seductive, charming in a way that’s as irresistible as it is condescending, and though Martins -- and the viewer -- can see through Lime’s desperate need to win him over, he can’t turn away from it either. All things considered, The Third Man may be less than the sum of its parts — but those parts — a great villain, a personable hero, that impossible-to-ignore music and an exotic heroine (Alida Valli as Lime’s mistress) — do linger. No, The Third Man is not a great film, but 65 years after its premiere it remains a haunting one. ■
play.) The couple have just moved back to Los Angeles — to one of those masterpieces of mid-century architecture faced with huge glass windows, all the better for creepazoids to loom into view from the darkness beyond — when they run into Gordo in a shop. Simon doesn’t remember the guy at all, except that he was a bit of an oddball, which seems proven when Gordo shows up at the house without invitation (and clearly having obtained the address in some nefarious way, because they didn’t give it to him) several times, bearing increasingly and inappropriately extravagant gifts, and only when Robyn is home alone. Still, Robyn thinks that while Gordo may be a little socially awkward, he seems okay...but Simon is increasingly weirded out and wants to break off the new forced friendship. There are several intriguing directions this basic scenario could have gone in: The Gift ignores all of them and chooses one that has no ring of emotional truth at all...but which, I suspect, it thinks is incisive and subtly smart. Even though Simon was the one who didn’t want anything to do with Gordo, and rather condescendingly informs others that Robin
only struck up a friendship with the other man because she’s “too nice,” Robyn is the one who gets cast in the role of the fragile irrational when she begins to see that Gordo might actually be pretty creepy after all. But of course she’s delicate and unreasonable and probably not to be trusted! She lost a baby at some point prior to the beginning of the story here, and went through a “rough patch.” We’re meant to wonder if Simon is now gaslighting his wife, trying to deflect her from getting suspicious about his long-ago high-school relationship with Gordo. But it’s the movie that is gaslighting Robyn, seemingly positioning her in the center of the story when what is meant to be the significant stuff is happening elsewhere. And The Gift gaslights the audience, too. It sets itself up in a way that seems to be a preemptive attack on detractors by borrowing hot-button and even feminist issues but then treating them in implausible ways. Of course some women suffer in the wake of a miscarriage, but not like this. Of course marriages can have trust issues — but not like this. Of course bullies deserve their comeuppance — but not like this. —MARYANN JOHANSON
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E M
cafe
Clockwise from the left: White Fish Fillet, Twice-Cooked Pork and Short-Rib Black Pepper Beef.
Top Chef FOR AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL FOOD, GO TO CHEF MA’S — AND SURRENDER TO THE CHINESE TASTING MENU Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet 2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-395-8797. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
“C
hef Ma, five people.” My friend — a native Mandarin speaker — had beat me to Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet and was busy securing our table from the eponymous chef. As the tiny older man scrambled to arrange the BY chairs and place settings, we noticed that one thing was noC H E RY L tably absent — a menu. “No menu. I cook for you,” BAEHR Chef Ma said, then disappeared into the kitchen. If you visit Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I suggest you proceed as we did, though your first instinct may tell you otherwise. The small, unassuming restaurant sits just off a busy inter-
section in suburban Overland, housed in what used to be a Taco Bell. From the outside, it could easily be dismissed as just another Americanstyle place whose food is about as authentically Chinese as the San Francisco invention of chop suey. Dig a little deeper, however, and your perception quickly changes. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, it turns out, is a bastion of authentic Chinese cuisine owned by a man whose culinary pedigree is far more impressive than his bare-bones fast-casual restaurant would suggest. Ma has been cooking professionally for roughly 40 years, beginning his career with Marriott in his native Hong Kong. He traveled with the company, opening properties in Singapore and Malaysia before landing in Hawaii in 1979. He eventually moved to the mainland United States, first to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles, before arriving in St. Louis in the early ’90s to work for Mandarin House. After overseeing the palatial restaurant’s banquet operations for years and helping to open its satellite location on Olive Boulevard, Ma decided it was time to strike out on his own. He chose the space in Overland, figuring its close proximity to Mandarin House would encourage his loyal customers to visit the new venture.
He was right. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet appetizers — but then I would have missed peralready has a small word-of-mouth following, haps my favorite course. “This is what we have its clientele divided equally between American for lunch,” our server told us as she ladled a diners looking for something beyond sweet and still-simmering fish stew into our bowls. The sour chicken, and Chinese expats in search of broth was delicate and understated, like a spring the food of their homeland. onion consommé. Small filets of flaky whitefish Ma is eager to share the more traditional and pork meatballs bobbed alongside cabbage, side of his cooking with diners, especially those onions, snow peas and exotic mushrooms in the willing to let him take control of the wheel. steaming broth. One of them, a high-altitude Minutes after we sat down, a server delivered fungus that looked like an eggplant-hued sea an overflowing appetizer platter to the table. Pot creature, had a light umami flavor and silken stickers filled with pork and onion and pan fried texture. It was positively ethereal. to a golden brown sat alongside no less than ten If the fish stew was the embodiment of deliexcellent handmade egg rolls. The rolls were cate, understated cooking, the twice-cooked overstuffed with pork, carrots pork was decadence inand mushrooms, and piled into a carnate. Slices of creamy, Chef Ma’s Chinese paper-thin shell. A mouth-puckmelt-in-the-mouth pork Gourmet ering sweet and sour sauce (the belly, caramelized around Fish stew .............$15.95 difference between Ma’s homethe edges, were paired with Twice made version and the stuff that thin charred tofu strips, eggcooked pork ...... $11.95 comes out of a jar is astounding) plant, onions and green bell Hot braised chicken ............... $7.95 and soy-based dumpling sauce peppers. A sugary soy and were there for dipping, though chile-spiked glaze coated the I couldn’t get enough of the acingredients. companying chile-oil paste. It was fiery, burnMa continued with the hearty theme for the-back-of-your-throat hot, but so savory and his next course, black pepper beef. Bone-on nuanced the heat didn’t obscure the flavor. slices of short ribs, red and white onion petals I would have been satisfied had I left after and hunks of celery were continued on page 30 riverfronttimes.com 1 riverfronttimes.com MAOUNGTUHS TX X–X 5 - 1 1X, , 2200105X R RI IVVE ER RF FR ROONNT T T TI IMME ES S 29
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3265 S . Jefferson Avenue St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 776-5700
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smothered in black-pepper gravy. It was like a Chinese grandmother’s version of a hearty pot roast — so warm and comforting that we forgot we were in public and tore into the savory meat with our hands. “These taste like shrimp doughnuts,” one of my dining companions astutely observed as she bit into the pumpkin shrimp course. The battered and deep-fried shrimp rested atop a pumpkin brown-butter sauce — a savory shellfish pastry. The dish was heavy and intentionally on the salty side to cut through the richness — wonderful, though I was maxed out at two. Ma reeled in the richness for his next two dishes. His house specialty, Hainan chicken, is a boiled, skin-on bird, served room temperature and hacked into large pieces. The ginger-spiked cooking liquid gently infuses the meat with subtle sweetness; its flesh is like silk (though I must admit I preferred it skinoff ). Ma recommended pairing it with the accompanying ginger sauce and whole salted peanuts to enhance its flavor, then went to the back to show us the medals he won for his interpretation of this Singaporean classic. He served it alongside a simple, buttery sautée of assorted vegetables, the highlight of which was the tender, zucchini-like Chinese long squash. Our feast ended with a warm peanut, almond and sesame soup — a subtly sweet dessert that evoked the starchy liquid part of oatmeal, only seasoned with nuts and warm spices. Though we’d said we were too full for dessert, everyone at the table cleaned their bowls. Chef Ma’s impromptu and unadvertised Chinese-style tasting menu is the clear highlight of the restaurant, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the Americanized stuff too. The restaurant’s main menu (it sits directly above the ordering counter, as if Ma expects most of his diners to order from it) consists of the dishes most people have come to expect from a Chinese restaurant in the middle of America. What differentiates Chef Ma’s Chinese Gour-
Stew with fish fillet and assorted vegetables
Ma is eager to share the more traditional side of his cooking with diners, especially those willing to let him take control of the wheel. met, however, is that he approaches these dishes with the same respect as he does the traditional fare. He could just as easily order his food out of cans or frozen and ready for the deep fryer. Instead, the chef gets to the kitchen by 7 a.m. daily so that he can make from scratch things we are inclined to dismiss: sweet and sour, hot braised glaze, Mongolian beef sauce. The care is evident. On an earlier visit, I gave in to my not-so-guilty pleasure and ordered the hot braised chicken. Like Ma’s sweet and sour, the fact that the chef makes the sticky hot sauce in house and hand cuts and breads his chicken makes this a far better dish than what is peddled at greasy chop-suey joints. The pork Mandarin was equally enjoyable. Thin, breaded and fried pork cutlets were smothered in piquant sweet and sour then finished with soy-caramelized onions. And let’s be honest: Who doesn’t love crab Rangoon, especially on those all too rare occasions when it’s made with real crabmeat and scallions as it is at Chef Ma’s? The menu offered to Americans is in no way authentic Chinese cuisine, but it’s of good enough quality and flavor to make it worth a taste. But really, it doesn’t matter what’s on his board of fare. The next time I am at Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I won’t even look at what’s on the menu. “Chef Ma, three people” is the only guide I’ll need. ■
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[RESTAURANT NEWS]
short orders [DISTILLER CHAT]
Meet St. Louis Distillery’s Dr. Vodka
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C O M P L E M E N T S O F S T. LO U I S D I S T I L L E R Y
’ll be honest — I was escaping a Pampered Chef party,” Dr. Bill Schroer laughs when asked about the origins of St. Louis Distillery. “I was with two of my neighbors at one of their houses while their wives were down at mine. We got to drinking and talking about how there are a lot of people who open breweries and wineries, but not many who open distilleries. Then it came to us: We could do that.” Schroer is about as unlikely a distiller as they come. A respected orthopedic surgeon who spends his days doing knee replacements, Schroer has yet to quit his day job. It’s unlikely that will come anytime soon (he does hundreds of surgeries a year and lectures around the country on the procedure), though the success of St. Louis Distillery’s Cardinal Sin vodka could make that possible. What started out as a little more than a hobby has turned into a major, high-tech opT H IS C O D E eration that produces a TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES spirit even he and his IPHONE/ANDROID APP partners (Steve HerberFOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT holt and Greg Deters) riverfronttimes.com are surprised by. “We came to market about three years ago,” Schroer explains. “I remember going to our first tasting at Lucas Liquors. It was the first time anyone but our wives and us had tasted the vodka. We were so nervous — we didn’t know if it was actually good or not. The manager took one sip of it, looked at us, and said, ‘This is incredible!’” The words of encouragement led Schroer and his partners to enter Cardinal Sin into four different contests. They came away with the gold medal at all of them. Schroer was content making the vodka until a patient with a bum knee gave him an idea. “We got to talking about her business,” Schroer recalls. “She said that she owned a cooperage, but that I probably wouldn’t know what that was. I laughed and told her that she would be surprised.” Their conversation led to an arrangement whereby her company would provide St. Louis Distillery with brandnew Missouri white oak barrels where the vodka could age. “We came up with the idea for our Starka barrel-aged vodka to do something a little different,” Schroer says. Though Starka has been around Eastern Europe since the 15th century, it has only recently become popular in the United States. Schroer isn’t surprised
Local Takes Missouri Barbecue Flavors to Colorado
St. Louis Distillery partners Steve Herberholt, Bill Schroer and Greg Deters.
that people are catching on. “It’s like bourbon but smoother. Put it over rocks with an orange slice — there’s nothing better.” Schroer took a break from distilling vodka and replacing knees to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, being a morning person and which local chef he’d love to spend the day with. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I wish more people knew that we have an award-winning vodka distillery right here in town! What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I have to get up early and get working early. If I don’t have something accomplished by eight o’clock, I’m a wreck. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To be able to work and play without sleep — seems to be a terrible waste of time. What is the most positive trend in food, beer, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Local quality — moving away from national chain restaurants and breweries to local eateries, microbreweries and artisan distilleries. Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? Gerald Craft [Niche] — I would love to spend a day to see how this guy puts it all together. I bet he doesn’t sleep much either. Who’s the one person to watch right now in
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the St. Louis food and beverage scene? Ron Buechele, owner chef of Capitalist Pig and Mad Art Gallery. It’s the most inventive food and location in town. Tell Ron, “Doctor Vodka” sent you. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Cinnamon — can be sweet or hot. And just like the challenge, a little is great, but too much will make you yack. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ food and beverage climate, what would you say? Inventive and creative. I’m amazed by the creativity I witness in bars and restaurants in pairing unlikely ingredients. We are so lucky to have so many original and diverse options right in our back yard. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Cheap booze — life is way too short to drink poorly. What is your after-work hangout? My back patio with friends drinking Starka mules. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks, of course. An award-winning chef presenting a tasting menu with wine flights. I love to indulge in the best of the best where a chef puts his or her talent and vision on full display. — CHERYL BAEHR
ason Ganahl, a 1994 graduate of Webster Groves High School, is taking St. Louis barbecue to Colorado. The St. Louis native has fond memories of his father grilling in the back yard with his Weber grill and Maull’s sauce at the ready — such flavors and experiences, he believes, are missing in much of the West. Although Ganahl is a long-time barbecue fan, his path to restaurant ownership began when he actually left St. Louis. At the age of 30, he packed up his bags for a job in California. Though the sunshine was great, the smoked meat was not. He missed good barbecue, so he signed up to become a barbecue competition judge with the Kansas City Barbeque Society. As a judge, however, he was eating as much bad barbecue as good. Granahl thought he could do it better himself, so he started competing...and winning. Work took him to Colorado where he continued to compete, but once again he was unsatisfi ed with the local restaurant offerings. Hence, GQue is under construction about fifteen minutes northwest of Denver in the suburb of Westminster. Its grand opening is scheduled for mid-October. Ganahl considers himself a meat-andpotatoes kind of guy who used to eat at Bandana’s a few times a week. In competition circles, Ganahl is best known for his brisket, which will likely be the star of GQue. He’ll serve prime brisket: “The best I can get my hands on.” In addition to the barbecue staples, Ganahl plans to serve “lots of fun stuff, too.” Ganahl is planning a number of daily specials that will stretch the imaginations of traditional barbecue lovers — similar to what you might find at St. Louis outposts such as Sugarfire Smoke House. Though Ganahl eats a ton of barbecue, he doesn’t have a particular St. Louis favorite. When he’s home, he heads to Farotto’s and Nachomama’s. The Rib House, located nearby Longmont, Colorado, has its walls covered with Denver Broncos memorabilia — that’s the ultimate stab in the back to anyone from Kansas City (such as the Rib House’s very owners). But Ganahl iinsists he will never turn his back on his beloved Cardinals or Missouri Tigers. Owning a restaurant in Colorado won’t dampen the pride of this self-proclaimed rabid fan. The 2,500-square-foot space will be set up for fast-casual service. GQue will feature a Missouri-made Ole Hickory Pits smoker. — JOHNNY FUGITT
Authentic MexicAn Food, Beer, And MArgAritAs!
2817 cherokee st. st. Louis, Mo 63118 314.762.0691 onco.coM www.tAqueriAeLBr
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Beer, Wine, & Full Bar Now Available! Breakfast Served All Day! CHEAPEST DRINK PRICES IN TOWN! St. Louis’ New Cajun-Creole Restaurant
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E N
106 main st. • edwardsville, il 618.307.4830 www.clevelandheath.com
–Restaurants 2014
La Vallesana’s frozen treats come in a dizzying array of flavors, all made with fresh fruits. [SUGAR HIGH]
La Vallesana’s Paletas, a Tasty Frozen Treat To Beat the Heat
B
efore La Vallesana (2801 Cherokee Street; 314-776-4223) expanded into the fullservice, multi-patio Mexican-food mecca it is today, it had humble beginnings as a simple frozen-treat stand. According to manager Marco Vargas, whose father owns the business, the restaurant originally opened in 2003 selling ice cream. The addition of tacos, tortas, burritos and more came in years following. To this day, La Vallesana still offers some of the desserts that started it all: paletas. “To a lot of people, it’s different,” Vargas says. “It’s all homemade. We use all fresh fruit and don’t use preservatives.” 34
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The Latin American-style popsicles known for their utilization of fresh fruits come in two different varieties: water-based and milk-based. Family recipes scaled to proper proportions feature simple mixtures of milk or water with sugar as well as fruit or nut flavorings. Bestsellers include pistachio, pecan, strawberry and spicy mango. Look for a dozen or more options on any given day out of a pool of 50-some options established over the years — each for less than a few bucks bucks a pop. In addition to paletas, La Vallesana also offers a selection of agua frescas and ice creams. Like the paletas in the next cooler over, look in the dipping cabinets for sixteen or so flavors of ice cream out of a total of around 50 rotating options. These, too, are a bit different than similar traditional American treats. The texture of the housemade ice creams is a bit denser and milkier, according to Vargas. Beat the heat by cooling down with any one of these refreshing sweets. — MABEL SUEN
Craft Beer Week - Llywelyn’s Webster
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Look for the RFT Street Team at the following featured events this week:
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Friday, 8.7.15 What: Taking Back Sunday & Greek Fire Concert When: 5 - 8:30 PM Where: Ballpark Village
Thank you St. Louis!!!
Voted #1
BEST FRIED CHICKEN
by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Readers
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Saturday Sessions When: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM Where: Tower Grove Farmer’s Market
Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Grub and Groove 2015 When: 3 - 10:30 PM Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Where: Francis Park
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Trombone Shorty Concert When: 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
Where: Ballpark Village
114 W Mill St, Waterloo, IL 62298 (618) 939-9933 • gallagherswaterloo.com
For more photos go to the Street Team website at www.riverfronttimes.com. riverfronttimes.com
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
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dining guide The Dining Guide lists only restaurants recommended by RFT food critics. The print listings below rotate regularly, as space allows. Our complete Dining Guide is available online; view menus and search local restaurants by name or neighborhood.
Happy Hour M-F 3-7PM 25% Tapas & Wine $
1 off domestic beers
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7344 Manchester Rd
3 1 4-645-4803
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Price Guide (based on a three-course meal for one, excluding tax, tip and beverages): $ up to $15 per person $$ $15 - $25 $$$ $25 - $40 $$$$ more than $40
SOUTH CITY Adam’s Smokehouse 2819 Watson Road, St. Louis, 314-875-9890. You can’t spell barbecue without “cue,” but the lines haven’t formed outside the door at Adam’s Smokehouse — yet. The slow-smoking barbecue joint in Clifton Heights opened in October and serves as a sister store to well-renowned, consistently packed restaurants Pappy’s Smokehouse and Bogart’s Smokehouse, so it seems like only matter a time before all of St. Louis stands in line to try a bite. Co-owners Frank Vinciguerra and Mike Ireland spent several years working at Pappy’s with barbecue master Skip Steele before embarking on their own venture. With the blessing of their barbecue brethren, the two put together a small but substantial menu of smoked meats and traditional sides done well. $$ Athlete Eats 2837 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, 314-9325566. Tucked amid the bodegas and indie record stores of Cherokee Street sits Athlete Eats, a polished little café that is all about healthy eating. Owner Simon Lusky started the business as a nutrition service, providing meal plans and prepared foods to healthconscious clients, including some of the St. Louis Cardinals players, and expanded to include a breakfast and lunch counter. Athlete Eats offers a variety of juices, smoothies and guilt-free fare, including Carolina-style barbecue; a juicy, locally raised grass-fed beef burger; and hearty salads. One of the more creative offerings, the bibimbap bowl, T H IS C O D E replaces the traditional sticky TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE rice with caulirice — grated RIVERFRONT TIMES pieces of roasted cauliflower IPHONE/ANDROID APP that resembles small rice FOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT grains. Tossed with edamame, riverfronttimes.com shiitakes and thinly sliced spiced beef, it’s as good, if not better, than the traditional, rice-based Korean staple. Athlete Eats only serves breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays — a shame because it’s where some of the restaurant’s best items are showcased. The gluten-free pancakes, laden with cinnamon and topped with coconut cream and maple orange syrup, are so tasty that one doesn’t miss the flour. And do not leave without trying Athlete Eats’ breakfast take on the Gerber sandwich: a garlic-studded waffle is topped with shaved ham, Provel cheese, béchamel sauce and a sunny-side egg. It’s one of the best uses of waffles in town. $ Corvid’s Cafe 5001 Mardel Avenue, St. Louis, 314-481-1522. Tucked into the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood of south city, Corvid’s Café is the quintessential neighborhood café — a place to gather, have a light meal or grab a cup of coffee to go. Owners John and Cindy Panian had been operating a catering company next door for eight years, and when the adjacent restaurant space (formerly World Café) became available, they jumped at the chance to put their own stamp on the place. The menu features light, classic café fare, such as tarragon-infused chicken salad and a spinach salad topped with dried fruit, sunflower seeds and Gorgonzola. The signature item is the “Crabwich,” a fried crabcake fritter served with oven roasted tomatoes, arugula and ancho chile sauce on a pretzel croissant. Other offerings include housemade pizzas and dressed-up baked potatoes. It’s the perfect place to sink into an overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace, sip a cup of coffee and snack. $ Gooseberries 2754 Chippewa Street, St. Louis, 314-5776363. Gooseberries is a Dutchtown South-Cherokee Street gathering place where locals and passersby can go to grab a meal, a snack or just a cup of coffee. Out of a cozy, re-
SCAN
4144 S. Grand
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 875-9653
Tuesday-Sunday
11am-9pm
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habbed storefront, owners Kim Bond and Ross Lessor serve an eclectic mix of breakfast and lunchtime items, including several vegan and vegetarian dishes. Bond is a pastry chef, so Gooseberries’ baked goods are highly recommended — especially the hand pies, filled with everything from gyro meat to chicken and waffles to broccoli-cheddar. Sandwiches include a vegan beet Reuben, pulled pork, and a Gouda and cheddar grilled cheese that can be made with waffles instead of bread. The restaurant’s signature dish is “KFT”: “Krispy Fried Tofu” made with a savory blend of thirteen herbs and spices that is so tasty, it could make one forget the Colonel. $ Grapeseed 5400 Nottingham Avenue, St. Louis, 314-9258525. Chef Ben Anderson’s Grapeseed serves seasonal American cuisine in the SoHa neighborhood of south city. Anderson sees the restaurant as a canvas upon which to feature locally sourced ingredients, the wares of the city’s artisans and even paintings by local artists. The menu is eclectic yet approachable, with offerings as varied as a Cuban sandwich to Chinese five-spice salmon. Though the menu changes frequently, some dishes remain as his signatures, such as the smoked turkey nachos — a platter of sweet potato chips topped with smoked turkey, spiced cranberries, micro greens, red peppers, buttermilk dressing and house brewed sweet and sour firecracker sauce. Dine at the bar next to the SoHa regulars, or grab a table in the warm, contemporary dining room for a feast that celebrates the best of the season. $$$ Leonardo’s Kitchen 2130 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, 314-664-1410. Leonardo’s Kitchen is a quaint sandwich and pizza shop, located in a converted gas station. Characteristic of its Hill neighbors, the restaurant specializes in St. Louis-style Italian dishes, such as pastas, sandwiches and pizzas. Meatballs are the house specialty, and Leonardo’s Kitchen and Wine Bar gives diners several opportunities to enjoy them — on the “Hey Bauly” pizza, “naked” with a variety of sauces or as the must-try meatball sandwich. For this version, Leonardo’s packs the moist, tender meatballs between two slices of garlic bread, smothers them with fresh tomato sauce and basil pesto then tops them with melted provolone cheese. The hot Italian beef sandwich is another signature dish: Gravy-drenched roasted beef and giardiniera are served atop a soft roll, like an Italian version of a French dip. Pizzas fall between St. Louis and New York style — handtossed and thin, but with heft and crunch. Leonardo’s piles on the toppings. Its veggie pizza gives diners two days’ worth of vegetables. This cozy little spot may no longer be filling up cars, but diners will leave overstuffed with tasty casual Italian food. $ Lulu’s Local Eatery 3201 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, 314-357-7717. St. Louis food-truck-goers are already familiar with the name Lulu’s Local Eatery; these mobile peddlers of vegan cuisine have been rolling around town since 2012. Following the success of their truck, husband and wife owners Lauren “Lulu” Loomis and Robert Tucker expanded their operations to include a brick-and-mortar corner storefront on South Grand, featuring the dishes that diners came to love from their food truck. Lulu’s may be vegan, but patrons are treated to hearty, satisfying cuisine that appeals to even the most committed carnivore. Buffalo cauliflower bites are like vegetarian boneless buffalo wings, complete with ranch dressing. Another appetizer, the avocado boat stuffed with Mexican-style quinoa, is satisfying enough to be a meal unto itself. The buffalo veggie burger and sweet potato falafel are also excellent sandwiches, but the star of the menu is the Buddha bowl, filled with stir-fried vegetables and thick, silky udon noodles. Dine on the patio, amidst the organic herbs and vegetables — you just might be sitting next to tomorrow’s special. $-$$ Old Standard 1621 Tower Grove Avenue, St. Louis, 314-8999000. Acclaimed chef Ben Poremba adds to his Botanical Heights restaurant flock with Old Standard Fried Chicken. Located in a converted horse stable, this casual chicken and bourbon shack draws crowds for its sustainably raised fried birds and Southern-style dishes. Poremba’s chicken recipe involves brining the bird, then cooking it in a pressure fryer to lock in the juices and give it a crisp exterior. Fried chicken is the only entrée at Old Standard, but the menu is filled with such downhome snacks as creamy pimento cheese dip, boiled peanut hummus, and sweet and spicy chicken wings. The restaurant’s standout snack, the smoked whitefish croquettes, is like eating a sweet and savory cream puff. Classic side dishes, such as smothered greens, creamed corn and mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, complement the fried chicken, and the bread board, served with housemade butters and jellies, makes for a hearty feast. $$-$$$ The Purple Martin 2800 Shenandoah Ave, St. Louis, 314898-0011. Long-time Fox Park residents Brooke Roseberry and Tony Lagouranis dreamed of creating a neighborhood gathering place. They’ve finally gotten their wish with the Purple Martin. Located in a rehabbed corner storefront, the restaurant is a quaint, casual bistro with Mediterranean and North African fare. Appetizers such as skordalia, a tangy garlic dip, and zeal, a lima-bean-based Berber specialty, serve as zesty starters, while the lamb shank with roasted tomatoes and potatoes is a satisfying entree. Make sure to save room for dessert. The Napoleon, layers of buttery puff pastry, sweet cream and macerated blackberries is a decadent end to a meal. For those who prefer an adult beverage as a nightcap, the Purple Martin boasts a creative cocktail menu. Its namesake drink, a concoction of Fitz’s grape soda, Malibu rum and lime juice, is a sweet and refreshing treat. $-$$
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music
B-Sides 40 Critics’ Picks 44 Concerts 46 Clubs
The Good Fight FIFTEEN YEARS INTO HIS CAREER, ROCKY VOTOLATO REFUSES TO BE KNOCKED DOWN Rocky Votolato 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street. $12. 314-535-0353.
ocky Votolato, the Seattle-based, Texas-born singer-songwriter, has always been workmanlike as an artist — and it shows. Throughout his fifteen-year-plus career, songs about making ends meet (or failing to) and laboring fingers to the bone have always shared time with more genre-typical matters-of-the-heart fare. Take, for example, the aptly titled “St. Louis,” a recently released B-side from 2012’s Television of Saints. Inspired by a gig in town a few years BY back, Votolato sings, “Taping JAMES up your knuckles and climbing back into the ring/For a KANE workman’s wages slugging it out in St. Louis/Your life is not your own without the chances that you take.” “Maybe just because my name is Rocky, I relate to a boxer, and each night is kind of getting in the ring when I go do a show,” Votolato says, speaking from Washington, D.C., after three nights of sold-out shows. “Some nights you get your ass kicked. Other nights, you know, you put up a good fight.” Votolato has been waging that battle in countless cities throughout the United States and Europe, playing earnest folk, rock and Americana tunes from his eight full-length studio albums. His latest, Hospital Handshakes, came out in April on No Sleep Records, recorded by former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla. “We’re old friends,” Votolato says of Walla. “He did Suicide Medicine [Votolato’s 2003 breakthrough], so we already knew each other. He just recently left Death Cab — that basically happened while we were making the record. There was a lot of good creative energy around, but it was also kind of tough because we were both at a point of transition. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but I don’t know any record that ever is.” Votolato, his brother Cody (a long-time collaborator and member of the post-hardcore band the Blood Brothers) and Walla scoured their contacts to find a veteran group of friends and musicians to fill out the full-band studio
AMBER ZBITNOFF KNECHT
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Rocky Votolato.
lineup. The group included Eric Corson of the Long Winters, who played bass, and Casey Foubert, now on tour with Sufjan Stevens, who filled in on various instruments. “It’s always different every time for me because I’ve never had a set, solid band. It’s a solo project, so I like it to be flexible,” says Votolato. “Basically, it was a group of super pro, super experienced guys who’ve done a lot of records.” The album came together at a breakneck pace. “Because I trusted them all, I just let it happen. There wasn’t a lot of cerebral overthinking of the process,” Votolato says. “It was more kind of a punk approach to it. I wanted to make this record in two weeks, which we basically did. And it was live to tape, which is really fun. It felt impulsive and urgent.” Votolato explains that overthinking his process had caused problems for him in the past. “I went through some trouble the last couple years, sort of getting writer’s block. You can shut down the creative process pretty
quickly, being too critical or too perfectionist about things,” he says. “But I got through that. Hospital Handshakes has been great for just getting back to work, man. I’m super proud of this album; it’s going to be one in my catalog that I always look back on and feel good about. I think it will stand up.” It does. As the former frontman of a punk band, Votolato’s new studio lineup finds him as energized and uptempo as ever. Cody Votolato’s muscular electric guitar provides the forward momentum (see “White-Knuckles,” “A New Son” or the Foo Fighters-inspired “Rumi”) while his bandmate in several other projects, Andy Lum, plays drums with abandon. Votolato’s vocals are as full-throated as they were in his days with Waxwing, though perhaps tinged with a bit more Americana influence — casual listeners could be forgiven for mistaking several new songs for Ryan Adams tunes. There are notes of resignation, too, as Votolato chants, “Trust that everything happening is perfect/I’ll trust you if you trust me,” almost echoing his thought process, swaying as, say, a like-named champ in the fifteenth round would. riverfronttimes.com
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Handshakes also marks Votolato’s return to a record label proper. After making his home at Barsuk Records for three albums (and Second Nature Recordings for three before that), 2012’s Television was a strictly crowd-funded endeavor. Votolato considers it a learning experience. “After I did a Kickstarter, I realized how much extra work there is on the back end to get that done,” he says. “I wanted to have a label this time around. It’s nice having a team of people helping.” The tour he built around that album was a social-media-driven effort, consisting of fanhosted-living room shows across the country. Votolato continues that tradition today. “A company called Undertow Music does [the living room shows] for me. Basically, it’s sort of like crowdsourcing the houses. Anybody who wants to host one of the shows gets in touch, and fans send in pictures of their living rooms,” he says. “We sell a very limited number of tickets, between 30 and 50 tickets, and they’re just these really intimate shows. I love doing those tours. The people that are there really want to hear me sing. It’s the most organic way you can do it. It just cuts down on all the bar talkers and distractions, and just makes it all about the songs.” Speaking of bar talkers, a digression: More than a decade ago, this writer witnessed Votolato dismiss a particularly obnoxious kilt-wearing heckler in a room of otherwise reverent fans in Kansas City. After several polite requests to quiet down, Votolato silenced him: “C’mon, man, I don’t go to your job and knock dicks out of your mouth!” He issues a belly laugh when reminded of this memory. “That is a classic from my past,” he sighs. “I learned that from my dad. He was a bit of a rough character. And I was pretty fiery as a young man, making all kinds of mistakes in life. I don’t think I’d ever say that to someone now. I’ve grown up a little bit.” How so? For one, he’s gotten better at traveling. But Votolato also says that committing to music full-time was a major step for an artist who, six albums ago, plaintively sang, “I should be singing/To earn my keep by now.” “I think we all have some kind of singing to do,” he says, referencing that line. “I think that’s a big part of figuring out life, if you really want to be happy — finding what you really love to do, then finding a way to make it into your job. I hear stories all across the country all the time of people who are struggling to do that. That’s just a real challenge, so I’m super grateful now to be in a place where, for now, I have a balance. I kind of made my mind up: This is all I do. This is all I do.” ■
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Shooting a Scene ART SHOW AT BLANK SPACE FEATURES MORE THAN 500 PHOTOS DOCUMENTING THE PAST TEN YEARS OF ST. LOUIS MUSIC More Loves than Stupids: The Past Decade of the South St. Louis Music Scene in Photos 7 p.m. Thursday, August 13. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee Street. Free. 314-300-8831.
I
f you ask Jaime Lees to explain the body of work that will be on display in her one-night photography show at Blank Space next week, she might say, “It’s just my friends doing what they do best, and I have these crappy pictures of them.” She might tell you that she’s not a “real photographer.” But don’t let her fool you. Her photos are definitely the real deal. For more than ten years, Lees has been quietly documenting the St. Louis music scene, taking candid photographs and storing them away in her personal records. She didn’t initially plan on showing the images to anybody. But she has since had a change of heart, and on August 13, more than 500 of the photographs will be on display, offering viewers an intimate glance into the heart of the scene. Lees isn’t a musician herself, but she is every bit a part of the scene as the men and women in her photographs. In addition to being a regular contributor to RFT Music, she and Bunnygrunt’s Matt Harnish maintain HaikuLou, a minimalist music blog that
exclusively features show reviews in haiku form. Between the two of them, they have written more than 800 poems over the last four years. For Lees, St. Louis music is as important as family. “I’m not trying to document some scene; I’m just taking pictures of my friends,” Lees says. “There’s some kind of holy thing that these musicians are tapping into. I can’t do it, so the best I can do is document it. This is just how I show my appreciation.” While many of the images in the show are entrancingly beautiful, exploding with crisp light and deep contrast, what makes these photographs so captivating is the way that they capture the personalities and emotions in every moment. In one image, Lees’ favorite, local artist Dana Smith and musician Anne Tkach sit together at the bar at Ryder’s Tavern. The photo was taken in January of this year, just months before Tkach tragically died in a fire at her father’s house. Tkach faces the camera, but both of them seem completely oblivious to Lees, totally wrapped up in their conversation. They each smile thoughtfully, and look as if there is nowhere they would rather be. “That’s her at her happiest,” Lees explains. “It’s one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken because Anne looks so great in that picture.” These are the kinds of moments that Lees looks for when she is at a show. Although there are plenty of photographs of live music in this body of work, most of the pictures capture the musicians before and after they step onto the stage. Lees is more interested in people than performances, capturing her musician friends dancing in the crowd,
JAIME LEES
b-sides
A small sample of the photos that will be on display at Blank Space on Thursday.
loitering outside the venue or hugging and kissing one another. “With actual journalism it’s about capturing exactly what’s there, but with a photo it’s about capturing how the room feels, or the
HOMESPUN SI FASIC Basement Sessions EP facebook.com/Sifasic SIFASIC Record Release Show 9 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Avenue. $7. 314-352-5226.
J
oshua J. Grassle has a growling, gristley voice that’s well-suited for the low rumbles of melodic hardcore or the soul-scrapings of heavy metal. He’s proved as much over the years with a host of St. Louis-byway-of-Alton, Illinois, bands such as Foster Pilot and Elbow Through Hammer. His newest group attempts to soften some of the edges of his previous acts, though his vocal delivery has lost none of its heaviness. SIFASIC, a clunky acronym for “sometimes it’s foggy, and sometimes it’s clear,” had its genesis in Grassle’s musical partnership with vocalist and pianist Jamie Marie George, and the two have collaborated in a few projects prior to this one. Alongside guitarist Sean Stone, bassist Rich White and drummer Paul Sanders, the two singers lock into set roles — his gruff, hers honeyed — for this grayscale hard-rock EP. As the title suggests, Basement Sessions collects five home recordings as a way of introducing the group. The finished product is better than a demo tape and less convincing as a statement of purpose, and the suitably rough production is a good fit for a band with little 40
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love for polish. Most of these songs are minor-key and downcast, mining the strip of land between modern radio rock and bleak outlaw country, if more in mood than in genre signifiers. Opening track “Everything Changes” gives the clearest picture of what SIFASIC is after: A rangy lead guitar cuts a path early in the song, and George’s heavy piano chords add a different kind of gravity than that of the rhythm section. It’s also the best example of what Grassle and George can accomplish as a duo; her lines float above his with a plaintive sway, as if the characters in the song are speaking the same lines but still failing to communicate. That’s a useful tension that the best duet singers have relied upon, but too often the singers perform in tandem at a set interval that doesn’t explore the space of the songs. These feel like Grassle’s performances with George’s harmonies tacked on. “Right” shows a little more buoyancy thanks to some syncopated guitar interplay and plucky piano parts, and set closer “On and On” shows the band at its most muscular. As an introductory recording, Basement Sessions shows that SIFASIC can be a fine hard-rock band, but the group will have to leave room for nuance if it wants to create a new space for its sound. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space? Send music c/o Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130. Email music@riverfronttimes.com for more information.
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feeling of what’s happening in there,” Lees says. “Some things just want to be pictures.” The 560 photographs that will be on display at Blank Space on August 13 are just a small sliver of the many thousands of pictures that Lees has taken in the past ten years. For her, flipping through the photographs is a bit like reliving history. With each image, nights that would be otherwise forgotten flood back into her memory. “It’s a little disturbing to see ten years of your life condensed to 500 pictures,” she says. “I can see who I was hanging out with, where I went, what bands I saw. It makes you realize how much time has gone by.” Although she takes pictures almost every day, Lees sees herself as more of a documentarian than a photographer. She prefers an iPhone to a bulky camera, and isn’t particularly worried about having the highest quality images. For her, taking pictures isn’t so much about creating art as it is about recording the music scene that means so much to her. She shoots shows so that they will never be forgotten. “I have a very strong instinct to document. It’s like if I don’t get this, no one will — and then it will be gone forever. It’s sort of an anxiety to document,” Lees explains. “I don’t have kids; if I had a baby there would be ten thousand pictures of a baby. Music is how I prioritize my life.” –DEREK SCHWARTZ
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Bowling the way it is now– FUN!
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Delmar Loop
Saint Louis
SaturDaY 8/8
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friDaY 9/11
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UPCOMING SHOWS 9.12 THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE 9.18 KACEY MUSGRAVES 9.25 WARREN HAYNES 9.27 BEACH HOUSE 9.29 ZZ WARD 9.30 PARADOSIO 10.2 FUNK VOLUME TOUR 2015 W/ HOPSIN 10.6 GHOST 10.7 FATHER JOHN MISTY 10.8 BEN RECTOR 10.12 BRING ME THE HORIZON 10.15 FLUX PAVILION
10.16 LETTUCE 10.17 GRACE POTTER 10.19 PASSION PIT 10.21 LYLE LOVETT & JOHN HIATT 10.23 YELAWOLF/MEG MYERS 10.24 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS 10.28 ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS / NEW POLITICS 10.31 SOMO 11.6 TIMEFLIES 11.8 NEW FOUND GLORY / YELLOWCARD 11.23 GLEN HANSARD
visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL
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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161
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critics’ picks
Clockwise from the top: The Coup (Ferguson Rocks), Girlpool and Jay Farrar (Open Highway Fest).
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 5, through Sunday, August 9. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $40. 314-773-3363. The brainchild of musician and promoter John Henry, the Open Highway Music Festival celebrates its fifth year with the kind of lineup that should make LouFest, if not Sasquatch, envious. Two major songwriters, Jay Farrar and Ryan Bingham, join Bob Schneider (who kicks off the five-night event on August 5), Ha Ha Tonka, Diarrhea Planet and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. It’s been decades since Farrar has played Off Broadway, once a stomping ground for Uncle Tupelo, and Bingham ordinarily plays rooms three times the size of this club, so that should be incentive enough. But with not-quite-local heroes Ha Ha Tonka (the band hails from Springfield) and Finn, who will be debuting new material from his second solo album Faith in the Future, OHMF should tempt anyone who wants a festival experience without the increasingly corporate mega-festival bullshit. Local Rock Love: On August 6, the second night of OHMF, two local bands, Bruiser Queen and Brother Lee and the Jackals, test their mettle before Nashville, Tennessee’s Diarrhea Planet, widely hailed as one of rock’s wildest live bands. — ROY KASTEN
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run its course. Expect a good time shared by friends and fans alike, as well as sets from Fister, Anodes and the aforementioned Hell Night. Catch the Fever: [Editor’s note: Damn it, “Catch the Fever”? That’s, like, the easiest, most groan-worthy idiom ever. Let’s make sure not to print this or else people are going to accuse us of being lazy writers.] — DANIEL HILL
FERGUSON ROCKS 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. Free. 314-833-3929. One day before the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the Ready Room will play host to a concert to raise awareness and benefit social activism. Organized by rapper/activist Talib Kweli’s Action Support Committee, the free show will feature performances by many artists who are passionate about social justice, including Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Boots Riley of the Coup, Street Sweeper Social Club and more. While the event is free of charge, donations are encouraged. The Nightwatchman Cometh: Morello has been outspoken about last summer’s events in Ferguson since the very beginning, even writing a song called “Marching on Ferguson” under his solo guise as the Nightwatchman. Safe to assume he will have a lot to say on the matter. — DANIEL HILL
CATHEDRAL FEVER FINAL SHOW
GIRLPOOL
8 p.m. Friday, August 7. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $8. 314-289-9050. Three-and-a-half years after forming, Cathedral Fever is calling it quits. Though that might not seem like a very long time, it is actually a pretty typical lifespan for a hardcore band, and the St. Louis group managed to release a matching number of records during that period (one demo, two EPs and a split with Hell Night, amounting to three-and-a-half releases, according to our crack team of math buffs). That actually puts the group a little bit ahead of the curve. Bonus points are awarded for the fact that each of those efforts was really fucking good. Members of the darkened hardcore act (“dorkened,” to hear them tell it) insist there is no bad blood or animosity behind the breakup, and that the group has simply
7 p.m. Tuesday, August 11. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 Jefferson Avenue. $5. 314-772-2100. You don’t have to dig too deep to pull out the adjective “child-like” to describe Girlpool. The drummer-less duo of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad titled its debut Before the World Was Big — its title track is a paean to uncomplicated youth — and the album’s cover art depicts a boy and girl making their own universe of Lego bricks. But the pair’s twinned vocals and open-hearted lyrics transmit a certain twee naivete that is matched with a keen eye for site-specific details and sharp ear for big-hearted, do-it-yourself pop. Star Power: Frankie Cosmos, the stage name of lo-fi folkie Greta Kline (daughter of St. Louis native Kevin Kline) will open the show. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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R OX Y C A M P O S
O P E N H IG H WAY M U SIC F E ST I VA L
tickets available at ticketfly.com for $10.57 GA only. VIP sold out. day of show tickets available $15. must be 18+ ($10 minor surcharge under 21 applies)
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concerts
JUNE 10 | JULY 8 | AUGUST 12 | SEPTEMBER 9
5:00–8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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V I A W M E E N T E R TA I N M E N T
THIS JUST IN Aaron Kamm and the One Drops: W/ Spare Change Trio, Fri., Sept. 4, 6 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Allie Kral & the River City All-Stars: Thu., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Bad Taste: W/ Lumpy & the Dumpers, Shitstorm, Sun., Aug. 16, 5 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Bible Belt Sinners: W/ Blackwater ‘64, Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals, Sat., Aug. 29, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Broken Prayer: W/ Cruelster, Bitchin’ Reality, Fri., Aug. 21, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: W/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Burn Halo: W/ Heartist, Courage My Love, Against Himself, Wed., Oct. 7, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Chance the Rapper: W/ D.R.A.M., Towkio, Metro Boomin, Tue., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Cleric: W/ VII, Crawl, Sun., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Cop Circles: W/ Friendship Commanders, Bagheera, Sat., Aug. 15, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Crizzly: Wed., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Dana: W/ Dinofight!, the Ultraviolents, Mon., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Dead Horse Trauma: W/ Superpimp, Tue., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Deafheaven: W/ Tribulation, Mon., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $16-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Extravision: W/ Dubb Nubb, the Wilderness, Mon., Aug. 31, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Face Up & Sing: Celebrating 25 years of Ani DiFranco: W/ Suzie Cue, the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Genevieve, Wed., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: W/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: W/ Al Holliday and the East T H IS C O D E Side Rhythm Band, Torrey TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Casey & the Southside Hustle, RIVERFRONT TIMES Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West IPHONE/ANDROID APP City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, FOR MORE CONCERTS OR VISIT Festus. riverfronttimes.com Floating City Reunion show: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. For All I Am: W/ A Promise To Burn, Torn at the Seams, Wed., Aug. 19, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. The Front Bottoms: W/ the Smith Street Band, Elivs Depressedly, Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m., $16.50-$20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Futurebirds: W/ Cara Louise Band, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Gary Clark Jr.: Sun., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., $33.50-$38.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Health Problems: W/ the Crisis, Wed., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. I See Stars: W/ For the Win, Alive In Standby, Life On Broadway, Ecclesiast, Fri., Oct. 9, 6 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Idle Hour Club: W/ the Jans Project, Cave States, Sat., Sept. 19, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Idlehands: W/ Author, Sun., Sept. 20, 7 p.m., $12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis.
Gary Clark Jr. will perform at the Pageant on Sunday, February 28. Last to Show First to Go CD Release & Farewell Party: Fri., Aug. 14, 9 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Love Moon: W/ the Brainstems, Sun., Aug. 30, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. Lucas Jack: W/ Scarlet Tanager, Little Falcon, Aaron Krause, Sat., Aug. 22, 7 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Mat Kearney: W/ Parachute, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $27.50$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. Matisyahu: Fri., Oct. 23, 8 p.m., $27-$32. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. The New Mastersounds: Tue., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $20-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. Nick Moss Band: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $10-$12. 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700. Nile: Mon., Jan. 25, 6 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Ought: Sun., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Pat Sajak Assassins: W/ Traveling Sound Machine, Hands & Feet, Fri., Aug. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Pretty Little Empire: Fri., Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Rich Homie Quan: W/ K Camp, Justine Skye, Jacques, Diggy, Elijah Blake, Rawyals, Anthony Lewis, Chris Miles, 4EY, Star Mic, Sun., Sept. 27, 7 p.m., $26.50-$86.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. Rick Springfield: Thu., Oct. 1, 8 p.m., $45-$75. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. Rumpke Mountain Boys: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Sydney Street Shakers: Wed., Aug. 19, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-7722100. Tasi: W/ Lioness D Rasta, Da Bredren Band, Jay Spearman, Sat., Aug. 22, 8 p.m., $5. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tea Leaf Green: W/ Acoustics Anonymous, Belagroove, Sun., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$20. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Trout Steak Revival: Wed., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tumbleweed Wanderers: Tue., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Tunic: W/ Skin Tags, Ish, Sun., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. The Twistin’ Tarantulas: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Underground Styles Hip Hop Music Festival: W/ Preach, Bates, Beastmode, Sat., Aug. 22, 5 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Union Electric: W/ Drown Fish, Thu., Aug. 13, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. The Way Down Wanderers: Fri., Sept. 11, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Weathered: W/ Quarrels, Oakwood Estate, Tue., Aug. 25, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way!
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way! www.riverfronttimes.com/concerts/
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TNT Glass
out every night
Designs
All-American Smoke Shop
Wraps by Cody Custom Ordering Available Every Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday PIPES • VAPORIZERS • E-CIGS KRATOM • DETOX • JEWELRY 6163 Delmar Blvd. • 63112 Next to The Pageant on Delmar
314.863.8860
“Out Every Night” is a free listing open to all bars and bands in the St. Louis and Metro East areas. However, we reserve the right to refuse any entry. Listings are to be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail. Deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, ten days before Thursday publication. Please include bar’s name, address with ZIP code, phone number and geographic location; nights and dates of entertainment; and act name. Mail: Riverfront Times, attn: “Clubs,” 6358 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130-4719; fax: 314-754-6416; e-mail: clubs@ riverfronttimes.com. Schedules are not accepted over the phone. Because of last-minute cancellations and changes, please call ahead to verify listings.
Jay Farrar: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Rocky Votolato: w/ Dave Hause, Chris Farren, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350353, www.firebirdstl.com. SIFASIC CD Release: w/ Slow Down Scarlett, the Edgefield C. Johnston Duo, Jamie M. George, Grass & Stone, Sat., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226, www.theheavyanchor.com. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue: Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $11-$25. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com. Vanilla Fudge: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720, www.popsrocks.com.
S U N DAY T H U R S DAY Diarrhea Planet: w/ Bruiser Queen, Brother Lee and the Jackals, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Fireworks: w/ Weatherbox, Dry Jacket, Welcome Home, Thu., Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m., $13-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www.firebirdstl.com. PopNation Summer Tour 2015: w/ Round 2 Crew, Sweet Suspense, Carson Lueders, the Food Conspiracy, Chris Miles, After Romeo, Frankie, KATELYN JAE, the Bomb Digz, Thu., Aug. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$30. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Smiling Politely: w/ Riot For Violet, Ramona Deflowered, Thu., Aug. 6, 9 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. WEEED: w/ Sole Loan, Rip Rap, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/.
F R I DAY Andre Moore: w/ VG, Lizzie Webber, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www. fubarstl.com. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: w/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Dom Chronicles: w/ Farout, DJ Mahf, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thedemostl.com. Fister: w/ Cathedral Fever, Hell Night, Anodes, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Ha Ha Tonka: w/ Craig Finn, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $17-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. I Actually Album Release Show: w/ Fumer, Durango, Mike Pennekamp, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., T H IS C O D E $5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www. RIVERFRONT TIMES firebirdstl.com. IPHONE/ANDROID APP Jason Michael Carroll: Fri., Aug. FOR MORE CLUBS OR VISIT 7, 8 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, riverfronttimes.com 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom.com. Taking Back Sunday: Fri., Aug. 7, 6 p.m., $10.57-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com.
SCAN
S AT U R DAY El Monstero: A Tribute to Pink Floyd: Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., $20-$45. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation. com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-tickets-Maryland-Heights/venue/49672. Ferguson Rocks: w/ Tom Morello and the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, the Coup, the Outernational, Steffanie Christian, Jessica Care Moore, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom. com. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: w/ Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm Band, Torrey Casey & the Southside Hustle, Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, Festus, www.cityoffestus.org.
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Charli XCX: w/ Bleachers, Børns, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $31$36. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161, www.thepageant.com. Every Time I Die: w/ Real Friends, Counterparts, Gnarwolves, Brigades, Gatherers, Sun., Aug. 9, 5:30 p.m., $19-$22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: w/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Rasputina: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505, www.oldrockhouse.com. Ryan Bingham: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl.com. Safe to Say: w/ Young and Heartless, WATERMEDOWN, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Tim McGraw: w/ Billy Currington, Chase Bryant, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation.com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-ticketsMaryland-Heights/venue/49672.
M O N DAY American Idol Live!: Mon., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $33-$63. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-2411888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com. Campdogzz: w/ Dutch Courage, Mon., Aug. 10, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/. Exotype: w/ Kingdom of Giants, Brightwell, Like Vultures, Ends of Infinity, Mon., Aug. 10, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
T U E S DAY All About a Bubble: Tue., Aug. 11, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Brian Wright: w/ Caleb Caudle, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-7274444, www.blueberryhill.com. Girlpool: w/ Frankie Cosmos, Strong Force, Posture, Tue., Aug. 11, 7 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100, foamvenue.com/. The Jukebox Romantics: w/ Powerline Sneakers, Murphy and the Death Rays, Black Tar Heroines, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
W E D N E S DAY Callaghan: Wed., Aug. 12, 9 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444, www.blueberryhill.com. Drag the River: Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. The Few: w/ Hodera, the Winks, Silverfern, Wed., Aug. 12, 6 p.m., $7. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. KMFDM: w/ Chant, Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $25-$28. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Live Like Glass: w/ Dismantling the Silence, Alive/Alone, Unforgiven Amore, Wed., Aug. 12, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. My Morning Jacket: w/ Hippo Campus, Wed., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m., TBA. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com.
NOW HIRING PH OTOGRAPH E RS
savage love High Times Hey, Dan: Does a person who acts loving only when high on weed really love you? My live-in boyfriend of three years acts sweet, loving, and caring when he’s high, but when the weed runs out, he’s mean, angry, hurtful, and horrible to be around. I’m so confused! Without weed, he’s intolerable. Should I just make sure he’s always well stocked with his drug? He’s a relatively functional BY stoner, even though technically it’s not allowed at his job. I’ve DAN told all my friends he is no lonS AVA G E ger the mean asshole he was when I wanted to leave him (but didn’t), and now I’ve convinced everyone that he transformed back into the amazing catch I always knew he was. So basically, in order to save face over not leaving him (and now I can’t for financial reasons), I burned the bridges. Tensions Highlight Concerns That Relationships Aren’t Perfect
Someone who can be nice only when he’s high isn’t someone you should be fucking, living with, or starting a grow-op on your roof for, THCTRAP, he’s someone you should be dumping, dumping, and dumping. And to be clear: Your boyfriend’s problem isn’t weed, THCTRAP, your boyfriend’s problem is that he is an asshole. And the fact that you’re covering for him is a very, very bad sign. If being with someone isolates you from the support of your friends, that’s not someone you should be with. Does he love you? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t — but even if he does, do you want to be loved by someone who treats you like shit when he isn’t fucked up? No, you don’t. My advice: DTMFA. But let’s get a second opinion, shall we? “It’s not unusual for people to complain that they feel a little cranky when they run out of weed,” said Dan Skye, editor in chief of High Times magazine. “I know a lot of people who prefer to be high all the time — but if his personality is that different when he runs out of weed, this woman’s boyfriend has problems other than not being high.” Now, there are people out there who selfmedicate with pot — in good ways, not bad ways. “I know many people who have dumped their pharmaceuticals for pot,” said Skye, “because pot is a better substance for easing their pain and anxiety. We are hardwired as humans to hook up with this plant, and some people hook up with this plant in profound ways. It makes them feel better, it makes them more compassionate and more creative — it makes them better human beings.” But Skye doesn’t think your boyfriend is one of those people, THCTRAP.
“If this guy is such a prick when he’s not high, I’d get rid of him,” said Skye. “Putting your girlfriend in a position where she feels like she has to become your dealer — that she has to supply you with pot — is not acceptable.”
The Riverfront Times is looking for outgoing, enthusiastic photographers to join the Riverfront Times Street Team. Team members promote the Riverfront Times at local events and take photos, gain e-mail addresses to build our database, and hand out free stuff! If you are interested in part time work (5-10 hours per week- nights and weekends are required) and want to attend the best events St. Louis has to offer, send your resume to emily.westerholt@riverfronttimes.com. Must be 21 years old!
Hey, Dan: I’m a man who is married to a woman. In our twelve-year relationship, our sex life hasn’t ever been really active, but after being married, my wife’s sex drive decreased noticeably. She had promised things would improve once we tied the knot. She explained that her upbringing was conservative and she felt guilty about having sex before marriage. But marriage didn’t help. We’ve gone to couples’ therapy, only to abandon it because she doesn’t feel any progress, and our pantry has barely used natural remedies for low libido. Currently, she can last having sex for nearly half an hour before feeling exhausted and stopping, regardless of me reaching orgasm or not. On the other hand, we enjoy each other’s company and we’ve got each other’s backs whenever things are rough, so I can’t say she’s uninterested in me. I can’t remember the last time I had fulfilling sex. Whenever I bring it up, she breaks down, saying she’s not enough for me. My need for sex is killing me. Unsexed Grumpy Husband
Maybe your wife’s religious upbringing ruined sex for her and her for sex. Maybe your wife is one of those low-to-nolibido women who sex therapists and counselors whisper about: a woman with no desire for sex, a woman whose marriage is hanging by a thread, a woman who sincerely wants to save her marriage — but nothing seems to help, her marriage collapses, and she winds up divorced. And three months after the divorce, the woman who was weeping to her therapist about the possibility that she might be asexual? She wants to fuck every cute bartender, personal trainer, and waiter she sees. Turns out she wanted sex all along. She just didn’t want it with her husband, or she didn’t want it with only her husband, and her newfound freedom to fuck other people — freedom that might have saved her marriage — reawakened her libido. Maybe your wife is asexual. Here are your non-divorce options, UGH: (1) You can get sex elsewhere without her okay, aka “cheating.” (2) You can ask your wife for permission to get sex elsewhere, aka “not cheating.” (3) You can resign yourself to a sexless marriage, aka “cheating inevitably.” P.S. Never once has a conflict over too little sex in a long-term relationship been solved by a marriage ceremony. On the Lovecast, Dr. Vy Chu on some nastiness that can happen to one’s bottom: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter riverfronttimes.com riverfronttimes.com
M ON TH 0X R R ER FO RO IM E S 491 AU GU S TX 5X–X - 1 1X, ,2 2001 5 I VI V ER FR NN T TT IT M ES
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100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools
THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
DWI/Traffic from $50/Personal Injury.
Mark Helfers, 314-862-6666 Choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
Personal Injury, Workers Comp, DWI, Traffic 314-621-0500
ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising.
530 Misc. Services
WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
800 Health & Wellness 805 Registered Massage
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
500 Services 525 Legal Services
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DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE: R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
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Ultimate Massage by Summer!!!! Relaxing 1 Hr Full Body Massage. Light Touch, Swedish, Deep Tissue. Daily 10am-5pm South County. 314-620-6386 Ls # 2006003746
810 Health & Wellness General ARE YOU ADDICTED TO PAIN MEDICATIONS OR HEROIN? Suboxone can help. Covered by most insurance. Free & confidential assessments. Outpatient Services. Center Pointe Hospital 314-292-7323 or 800-345-5407 763 S. New Ballas Rd, Ste. 310 SUNRISE DAY SPA *SPECIALS* $30-Therapeutic Foot Massage $50-1 HR Full Body Massage See display for coupon! 9441 Olive Blvd. St. Louis, MO 314-993-0517 www.sunrisedayspa.com
600 Music 610 Musicians Services MUSICIANS Do you have a band? We have bookings. Call (314)781-6612 for information Mon-Fri, 10:00-4:30 MUSICIANS AVAILABLE Do you need musicians? A Band? A String Quartet? Call the Musicians Association of St. Louis (314)781-6612, M-F, 10:00-4:30
100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
SOUTHERN MISSOURI TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL Are You Addicted to Pain Are You Addicted to Medications or Heroin? Pain Medications Suboxone Can Help. or•Confidential Heroin? Outpatient •Convenient
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5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 763SAINT S. NEWLOUIS, BALLASMO RD.,63128 STE. 310 ST LOUIS, MO 63141 314-842-4463 After hours 314-292-7323 or weekends 800-345-5407 or 5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 ST LOUIS, MO 63128 314-842-4463
After hours or weekends: 800-345-5407
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888-323-6917
THE GENTRY’S LANDING
More than you’d expect for less than you’d imagine. The Best Views in St Louis overlooking the Arch/Riverfront. Spacious studio’s, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments-Fully Furnished Apt’s and short-term leases also available. Rooftop pool, two fitness centers, community room and business center w/WiFi. Penthouse Suites Available. www.gentryslanding.com DOWNTOWN Cityside-Apts 314-231-6806 Bring in ad & application fee waived! Gated prkng, onsite laundry. Controlled access bldgs, pool, fitness, business ctr. Pets welcome GRAVOIS-PARK $550 636-230-0068 3300 Miami- 1st floor all new 1BR/1 BA, ADT security system, off street parking, & w/d included, locked basement storage area. KINGSHIGHWAY! $450 314-309-2043 2 bedroom 4-plex, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, plush carpet, enclosed back porch, recent updates! rs-stl.com RGSCU NATURAL-BRIDGE! $575 314-309-2043 Family size 3-4 br, central air, big basement, fenced yard, appliances, w/d hookups, off street parking! rs-stl.com RGSCX NORTH-CITY 1-bedroom-apts 314-921-9191 4008 Garfield $315/mo $415 deposit. 5071 Ruskin $375/mo $475 deposit. Credit Check Required. NORTH-COUNTY $500 (314)606-7868 Senior Community: 2Br, Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher, C/A, W/D Hkup. NORTH-COUNTY! $399 314-309-2043 Budget 1 br, cold a/c, fitness room, sauna, flexible deposit, deck, pool access, kitchen appliances, pets allowed! rs-stl.com RGSB5
WESTPORT/LINDBERGH/PAGE $525-$575 314-995-1912 1 mo FREE! 1BR ($525) & 2BR ($575 specials) Clean, safe, quiet. Patio, laundry, great landlord! Nice Area near I-64, 270, 170, 70 or Clayton
320 Houses for Rent BEVO-MILL $795 636-230-0068 3920 Schiller -all new 2+BR, off street parking, fenced yard, w/d included, c/a, beautiful semi-finished basement. CHIPPEWA! $725 314-309-2043 Large 3 bed, 2 bath house, finished basement, extra storage, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, pets welcome, rent to own! rs-stl.com RGSC3 DELOR! $750 314-309-2043 Updated 3 bed, 1.5 bath house, central air, walkout finished basement, hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, pets welcome!, rs-stl.com RGSC4 HALLS-FERRY! $405 314-309-2043 All-electric 1 bedroom house, full basement, fenced yard, frosty a/c, all kitchen appliances, pets allowed, easy move in! rs-stl.com RGSC0 MARYLAND-HEIGHTS $1100 314-443-4478 1557 Redcoat: All elec. 3 bdrm, 2 bath house. Parkway Schools. NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 2, 3 & 4BR homes for rent. eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome PAGE! $700 314-309-2043 Ready to rent 3 bed house, full basement, central air, all kitchen appliances, ceiling fans, w/d hookups, off street parking! RGSC2 SOUTH-CITY $790 314-223-8067 2 BR house,some wood floors, stove/fridge, W/D hkup in bsmt, new C/A, garage, porch. No Sec. 8. SOUTH-CITY! $475 314-309-2043 Cute house, full basement, central air, garage w/opener, fenced yard, all appliances, built-ins, only $200 deposit! rs-stl.com RGSC1 U NIVERSITY-CITY! $850 314-309-2043 Charming 4 bedroom house, big basement, central air, beautiful hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, covered porch! rs-stl. com RGSC6
RICHMOND-HEIGHTS $515-$555 (Special) 314-995-1912 1 MONTH FREE! 1BR, all elec off Big Bend, Metrolink, 40, 44, Clayton SOUTH CITY $400-$850 314-771-4222 Many different units www.stlrr.com 1-3 BR, no credit no problem SOUTH ST. LOUIS CITY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1, 2 & 3 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome SOUTH-CITY
$495 314-707-9975 813-815 Courtois St: 2 BR, hdwd flrs, C/A.
SOUTH-CITY $530 314-481-6443 6429 Gravois- Apt. 2 BR, C/A, Carpet, Draperies. $530 deposit
SOUTH-CITY
$475 314-397-2388
1BR near Grand & Gravois area. Totally rehabbed, close to everything, all appls incl, hdwd flrs, thermal wins. $400 Dep.
SOUTH-CITY
$430-$440
314-277-0204
3841 Gustine 1BR; $40 Per Adult App Fee. SOUTH-CITY $450-$495 314-707-9975 Grand & Bates: 1 BRs, hardwood flrs, all electric, C/A. SOUTH-CITY $475 314-223-8067 Move in Special! Spacious 1BRs, Oak Floors, Ceiling Fans, Stove & Refrigerator, A/C, W/D Hook-Up, Nice area SOUTH-CITY $500 314-731-0840 4239 Tholozan. 2BR, Eat in Kitchen, C/A, W/D hkps, Application req.
SOUTH-CITY! $625 314-309-2043 Roomy 3-4 bedroom, central air, hardwood floors, nice deck, all appliances, w/d hookups, recent upgrades! rs-stl.com RGSCY
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
or SERVICES OUTPATIENT
317 Apartments for Rent
SOUTH-CITY 314-504-6797 37XX Chippewa: 3 rms, 1BR. all elec exc. heat. C/A, appls, at bus stop
Suboxone Can Help. 314-292-7323
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SOUTH-CITY $675 314-221-9568 2br duplex, hdwds, central air, private basement, Carondelet area, $25 app fee, no sec 8.
•Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
Outpatient - Confidential - Convenient 763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 Covered byLOUIS, most insurance SAINT MO 63141 Free & confidential assessments
ST. JOHN $495-$595 314-423-3106 Special! 1BR.$495 & 2BR.$595. Near 170 & St.Charles Rock Rd
300 Rentals
IF YOU DESIRE TO MAKE MORE MONEY AND NEED A NEW JOB EARNING $45-$50 thousand the 1st year, great benefits, call SMTDS, Financial assistance available if you qualify. Free living quarters. 6 students max per class. 4 wks. 192 hours.
SOUTH-CITY! $725 314-309-2043 Big 4 bedroom, full basement, hardwood floors, central air, all kitchen appliances, w/d hookups, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RGSCZ ST. CHARLES COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1 & 2 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome
• More driving time than any other school in the state •
riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
RIVERFRONT TIMES
51
Are You Addicted to Pain Medications or Heroin ?
R 314-754-5966
Suboxone Can Help.
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
Outpatient • Confidential • Convenient •Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
DATING MADE EASY... LOCAL SINGLES! Listen & Reply FREE! 314-739-7777 FREE PROMO CODE: 9512 Telemates
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63141
314-292-7323 or
5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63128
314-842-4463
After hours or weekends 800-345-5407
DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE:
R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
DWI/Traf $50+/Personal InjuryMark Helfers, 314-862-6666- CRIMINAL former Asst US Attorney, 32 years exp
www.HelfersLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
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ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
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“Back in Portland, we all spent a lot of time on the Willamette River. I feel like people have a very specific image of Portland these days, but when you take in the city from the river, you don’t see bike lanes and leafy neighborhoods—you see crumbling piers and enormous barges. It’s like you’re in a totally different city, or like you’re encountering some weird alternate-reality version of it. Out here on the Mississippi, it’s been the same thing. If we were driving in on the freeway and hopping off at the downtown exit, we’d get a super distinct image of St. Louis, we’d get chrome and glass and pretty red brick buildings. Instead, we anchored to a rusty pier, tiptoed through a bunch of poison ivy and shin-deep mud, biked past junkyards and sewage treatment plants and only then did we find our way to the Arch.” –BRIAN BENSON, SPOTTED ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH OF DOWNTOWN, AUGUST 2.
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14 WITNESS 101 Dorian Johnson’s life changed irrevocably when he saw Michael Brown shot to death in Ferguson. One year later, he’s still grappling with the fallout. BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI
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10 Ferguson: The Movement By Tef Poe
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SAIL: A New Approach to Long Prison Sentences
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.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig has known for years that long prison sentences don’t solve a criminal offender’s problems. “They’re expected to come out and have a better life than they had before they were in prison for ten to fifteen years,” she says. “Whatever was going on in their life before they were imprisoned is probably at least as bad now. Their family structure has probably been totally decimated, if it wasn’t before.” In addition, long sentences cost money: $28,893 per federal inmate per year, according to a 2011 statistic in the Federal Register. So last March, Fleissig, along with her colleague Judge E. Richard Webber and several others who work in the Eastern District of Missouri’s criminal court, launched an alternative: the Sentencing Alternatives for Improving Lives program, a.k.a. SAIL. SAIL looks like this: Anyone charged with a federal offense — whether related to fraud, firearms, drugs, etc. — would first plead guilty. They then sign a contract pledging to not commit any more crimes and to follow SAIL rules, which include agreeing to drug tests, house visits and counseling sessions with Pretrial Services officers and the SAIL team. Instead of going to prison, the offender spends a year in SAIL — not just to avoid getting locked up, but also to genuinely improve their lives. Participants receive a detailed handbook outlining the expectations, phases and various people available to help out, including pretrial services officers; Judge Webber and Judge Fleissig; two assistant U.S. attorneys; and two assistant federal public defenders. The program has also enlisted the help of Gateway Legal Services, Saint Louis University and Washington University’s law-school clinics — in case participants need a hand resolving warrants and other legal issues. Participants must complete the three phases to pass the program, remove their guilty plea and have their charges dismissed. If they fail, they will spend time behind bars. “They have a tremendous incentive,” says Judge Fleissig. Judge Fleissig first heard about post-plea diversion programs when she attended a na8
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Empty cells could be a good thing, says a federal judge.
tional judges’ conference in 2014. A judge at the meeting asked if any district had a post-plea diversion program. No one spoke up and everyone went on with their other discussions, she explains. But the question struck a chord. She brought the idea back to the Eastern District of Missouri. Fleissig was aware of the many other reentry courts in the Eastern District, but she still felt something was lacking. She wanted to find a solution for more serious offenders. Judge Fleissig spent months meeting with Judge E. Richard Webber, the Pretrial Services Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Public Defenders Office, all of whom wanted to help with the program. They launched SAIL last March. It consists of several phases. Phase One is the assessment and intensive supervision phase, which takes a minimum of two months to complete. In this phase, participants must meet with the SAIL team weekly; begin to identify problems and ob-
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stacles in their lives; set personal goals; meet with the Pretrial Services office weekly; begin engaging in weekly Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT); comply with random drug tests and house visits; begin a job search, community service or schooling program; among other things. “We assign them tasks at every session, and we need to hear from them at the next session how did they do on their tasks and how did their week go,” she explains. “And they’re going to get more tasks to do, and a reward or perhaps a sanction based upon how well they performed those tasks. So the feedback is immediate.” As participants progress from Phase One, each phase allows the participant more and more responsibility and independence. Phase Two is primary treatment and learning stability with SAIL support. This phase takes a minimum of six months to complete. Participants meet with the SAIL team twice monthly; meet with Pretrial Services every
other week; remain in counseling; continue with MRT, random drug tests and house visits; and continue developing an ongoing support network. Phase Three is healthy life maintenance and beginning transition to community support, which takes a minimum of four months. This phase requires even fewer meetings with the SAIL team and Pretrial Services, and it allows the individual more independence and responsibility in their own life. The entire program will take a minimum of one year to complete. So far, SAIL has taken on eight participants, but it’s ready to take on more since many of the fi rst eight participants have already graduated into Phase Two. Although the program has a broad base, some defendants are excluded from the program: people with immigration offenses, violent offenders, non-local offenders, offenders with state probation charges, and sex offenders.
“The way we designed the program was to have a focus on individuals who, without this program, are likely to receive prison sentences, some of them significant prison sentences, who we believe have some kind of problem or problems in their lives that have contributed to them being in the criminal justice system, and [who have] problems we believe we can address through an intensive supervision and intervention program,” she explains. Judge Fleissig emphasizes that this program is not for the weak-willed. “The people have to be willing to do that kind of work, because it’s beyond what would be required of them if they were on probation.” Because each participant is dealing with very different personal problems, the SAIL team received training from Saint Louis University on such things as the effects of trauma and how it can manifest itself. “What if their problem is a mental health problem? What if instead they just fell on really hard times at some point in their life? Or what if there’s been a failure to launch?” Fleissig says. “Or maybe they’ve been abused and they’ve become very dependent upon somebody who’s manufacturing metham-
phetamine, and they’ve been running around trying to help them manufacture methamphetamine because they’re very dependent on that person. There are so many different scenarios that can cause someone to land in the criminal-justice system.” Although SAIL is only a few months old, Judge Fleissig is already looking for a better ways to gauge its impact. “I think we need more than anecdotal evidence to properly assess this program. If we can get it and if it works like I think it does, then it’s much easier to make the case to other districts, and to the public,” she explains. Out of the 94 federal districts in the United States, 22 of them will have their own postplea diversion programs by the end of the year, Fleissig says. “It can work,” she continues. “I believe that most people, if given the right support, services and moral support, then they can change their lives I believe that to be true,” she says. “Locking up people forever, letting them out with minimal supports doesn’t work. And we can’t afford it anymore. Prisons are overcrowded. We simply cannot afford it anymore.” — EMILY MCCARTER
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Feds: Area Tech Firm’s Employee Expensed Online Strippers
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n employee of World Wide Technology Inc., a Maryland Heights-based IT firm, was indicted in federal court here last week for secretly using his company credit card to shower online strippers with tips and gifts, and to buy himself a “sexual device” made by Fleshlight, a brand of male masturbation tools. John David Berrett of Gilbert, Arizona, started working at WWT in 2004. His job was to meet with clients both in the U.S. and abroad to offer training and support. Berrett would submit expense reports to WWT detailing what he’d bought with his company credit card — stuff like training materials and computer cables. But in reality, prosecutors allege, Berrett was using the money for other things. He would go to the online stripper website MyFreeCams.com and buy virtual “tokens” to tip the dancers. Berrett tipped them 2,200 times, according to the indictment, for a whopping total of Protip: Don’t charge online strippers to work. $100,000. He also befriended some of the stripto October 2014, Berrett is accused of diverting pers and used his WWT credit card to buy more than $476,000 of company funds toward them “chocolates, flowers, electronic equip- his own purposes. ment, wine, a television, handbag, laptop com(And, yes, one of his purposes was a $131.08 puter, iPod and shoes.” item that he claimed was a “training guide,” To one stripper he allegedly sent $26,800 but was in fact a “sexual device” made by in cash so she could pay for her college tuition Fleshlight, which — well, feel free to visit the bill, new tires for her car and her parents’ util- website.) ity bill — all on WWT’s dime. Berrett now faces five counts of federal wire All told, for the period from September 2013 fraud. —NICHOLAS PHILLIPS riverfronttimes.com
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We Are No Longer Afraid ONE YEAR AFTER MICHAEL BROWN’S DEATH, A RAPPER-TURNED-ACTIVIST TAKES STOCK OF THE MOVEMENT FORGED IN FERGUSON BY T E F P O E
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he best way to start this story is with the truth. So here it is: Michael Brown Jr. did not deserve to die. I have nothing but animosity in my heart for anyone who would dare argue with this statement. And here’s another truth: Today in America black people are not liberated. We are not free, and Ferguson shows us that we must fight like hell to reject any notion that equality has entered into our lives through Barack Obama and his stagnant calls for hope and change. A year after Michael’s Brown’s death and the protests that followed, my perspective has shifted. I can no longer force myself to chant the words “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot.” We chanted this phrase assuming that white supremacy actually gave a damn about our humanity. We were ignorant to the ways of the world. Now things are different. Our youthful exhibition of peaceful protest has changed the dynamic. They fear us — and our growing lack of fear of them.
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he violence in our city a year after the Ferguson Uprising has snowballed, centered on the devaluing of African American life. As the murder rate climbs, it is black people who are terrorized. When the rapists and the murderers are released from prison, they come home to north St. Louis and live in the same apartment buildings as we do. Nothing in this world can describe the psychiatric trauma attached to being born in the ghetto. And yet, as a black man living in Missouri, I can die by the gun of a police officer just as quickly as I can die by the gun of a rogue “criminal.” No one is as affected by the fears of white police officers patrolling our impoverished neighborhoods as we are. In terms of protecting our lives and preserving our human dignity, there is no safe haven from either party. After Ferguson, some things have indeed changed for the better. Now that the community has openly challenged the racism of every police department in the region, a slight paradigm shift has occurred. A very small contingent of us has decided we believe in ourselves. Black people in St. Louis have often been treated as if we can be quarantined, contained to very limited spaces. The history of this city is deeply rooted in the subjugation of African Americans. Blacks in Missouri were essentially reduced to staying in our place and understanding that we must never step out of line when dealing with a white person. Michael Brown Jr. died because he dared to challenge that practice and refused to stay in line when approached by a white male authority figure with a loaded gun and a heavy trigger finger. Because his story is not unique, his death resonated with thousands. I remember seeing the multitudes of people from Left: Tef Poe leads a protest march through downtown St. Louis.
are capable of voting it into oblivion. When the slave ships arrived with human cargo from Africa onboard centuries ago, the discussion of freedom was also connected to “voting rights.” But we have attempted to vote ourselves off the plantation for centuries years now, and it still has not worked. In fact, Ferguson did not occur under the order of a white president. Barack Obama, our beloved first black president, is also the first president in my adult lifetime to sit on his hands as a potential race war becomes the underlying narrative of America today.
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year later, we still believe — more than ever — that Darren Wilson is a stone-cold racist killer cop protected by a system that offers zero accountability for his actions. The racism that extinguishes black lives in the present day — the lives of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Cary Ball Jr., VonDerrit Myers Jr., Kimberlee RandleKing and so many more — is the same racism that shackled black people and sold us to the slave merchants in the early 1600s. After all of the marching, chanting, singing and praying, the reality of fighting back when you are unjustifiably targeted must become a universal theme. A community that is often fragmented currently stands united in the pursuit of a radical theory of change. We may each have a different method of operation in mind, but we all agree it is time to move. Once a month we gather in O’Fallon Park to host Books and Breakfast, an event mimicking the now-defunct 1960s Black Panther Free Breakfast for School Children Program. This event won’t bring killer cops like Darren Wilson to justice, but God willing, it will help us implant a village mentality inside the hearts and minds of the children and adults who attend. There is a chance we will further extend the art of resistance by leaving its importance chiseled in the spirits of these children as they grow older. My organization, Hands Up United, has started a tech program to teach black children to code as a means of being victorious through technology and education. We also have embarked upon a campaign to declare war continued on page 12
A man exhales a cloud cigarette smoke in the direction of heavily armed officers stationed on West Florrisant Avenue on August 18, 2014.
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neighborhoods that were once rivals standing in solidarity for Brown on West Florissant as we gathered in the name of resistance. The world paused momentarily while we stood there and steadfastly endured the treacherous heat of the sun upon our backs last August. This is what happens when the black community no longer fears the power of its ordained police force. Thousands of black people nationwide are demanding inclusion into a system that was never designed to include us. In this generation, the fight our ancestors embarked upon was rekindled and sparked by St. Louis-area youth and their allies. The movement, as many like to call it, was reborn in Ferguson after being incubated in St. Louis for many years. Then Freddie Gray’s untimely murder caused the city of Baltimore to go up in flames as cries for justice filled the East Coast and beyond. Many would say this is a story about how we as a community have continually suffered defeat, but I beg to differ. See, many people watching from afar did not realize how personally black people in St. Louis took Trayvon Martin’s murder. Mike Brown’s death triggered a collective voice of people, saying, “This is wrong, and we will not take it.” The sleeping giant has now risen, and the result is a movement for black lives that has spread across the world. Your system does not have to embrace us; we are simply asking to be released from the confines of your jaded perspectives. We do not want your food stamps or supplemental handouts. Hillary Clinton and the multitudes of white presidential candidates do not represent us — and we do not seek representation within this government if it is only for symbolic value. Claire McCaskill suggested on national TV that young black leaders like myself should run for office. We say very candidly to people like Senator McCaskill that to work and fraternize with devils is to become one. I stood at the Ferguson Police Department on August 10 and listened with my own ears to local authority figures attach the issues of police brutality to the issues of the ballot. Racism is evil, and I reject any notion that would suggest we
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Above: A woman and child look on as officers block sections of road near interstate 70 on September 10, 2014, during an organized protest. Below: Dozens of protesters held a “die in” outside the Edward Jones Dome to confront football fans with the message of “Black Lives Matter” on October 13, 2014.
No Longer Afraid against the food deserts plaguing our communities by starting a food pantry to help families in need. Groups like the Lost Voices, Tribe X, Black Souljahz and the Ferguson Freedom Fighters — all molded from the fires of Ferguson — adamantly push civil disobedience as a module of political self-expression against the angst black people in St. Louis are forced to live with. Today’s generation of freedom fighters refuses to allow victimization to be our calling card. My parents do not completely understand, because they believe the racism they experienced has been dethroned. But my friends are still virtual moving targets for the police — and anyone else who deems it acceptable to murder a black person. I believe I speak for myself and any true organizer from the Ferguson movement when I say that we realize yelling at buildings and being abducted by the police while protesting is not a sustainable plan. The oath of the badge is so powerful that police officers will neglect the obligation they have to the human race once they put on their uniform. In response, the oath of the people must be created and reaffirmed by our love and admiration for freedom. If you live in the city and you’re black, you’ll agree that things are out of control at the moment. St. Louis has never been a safe place for us to live, and right now it’s more dangerous than it’s ever been. Many of the movement’s most visible individuals are growing increasingly more paranoid. I am, too. I fear for not only my own safety, but also for the safety of many other people I have grown to know and admire over the course of the last 365 days. We are all under some
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form of surveillance, and spending a night in jail has now become a regular occurrence. I fear any interaction between the police and the people I ride with will result in one of us eventually sleeping in a casket. We have no desire to do anything violent, but our arrests are growing more and more aggressive. I personally feel that one of my arrests will result in my funeral — at home in St. Louis, or maybe abroad in a different city. Either way, I do not feel comfortable interacting with any form of law enforcement, as this fact still remains: All of the cards are always stacked in their favor. The police unions in America are arguably the most powerful criminal organizations in the world when dealing with minorities. There are hundreds of thousands of wonderful human beings working for law enforcement, but unfortunately, they are nothing more than a tool being used to maintain the lopsided power
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of the empire. Look at Sandra Bland. She was recently stopped in Texas on a routine traffic violation. Illegally arrested by the police, now she is dead. The story they tried selling us is that she killed herself in jail. We know this isn’t the truth. And if this movement were not alive and breathing, Bland’s death would equate to the finale of her story. Yet there is this movement. People are questioning Bland’s death. The official police narrative has not been allowed to stand. Our lives do indeed matter, and when we fight for ourselves we should be mindful that we are fighting for the basic freedoms of every man and woman in this society, regardless of their skin color, gender or sexual preference. When the establishment has proven that it is not capable of ruling the people it governs fairly and justly, revolution is the only option.
The Tea Party and other radical groups don’t realize it, but we have more in common than meets the eye. Every human being on this planet has a right to preserve their existence. The challenge for any self-respecting citizen of any functioning society is to be bold enough to speak when everyone else is silent. America is different from many other places on this planet because this is a country founded primarily on action and imagination. When we combine these elements, we quickly discover that almost anything is possible. As young people, we seek to change the world in which we live for the better. This is our only goal. We can not correct centuries years of oppression in one year. We will not outgun the police, and we do not desire to try. We simply search for the golden idea that will set us on the path of freedom and liberation. These are our peers and siblings being murdered at a rate that mimics an intentional genocide. We believe we are smart enough to defeat this evil and substitute its dominion over planet Earth with all-encompassing love and togetherness. I don’t fear the badge, a bullet or any other power mechanism of law enforcement. They can only kill us or lock us up. Going to jail for what you believe in is often embarrassing — my mother has called plenty of times and questioned why I continually find myself in jail. But in this movement we wear each and every arrest on our chests as badges of honor. We are proud of each other, and we are supportive of any initiative that will add value to our hardships. We believe we are the generation that will create the energy that gives birth to an idea that will change the entire world. We remain committed to the gospel of love. We invite you to join us. ■ Tef Poe is a rapper/activist based in St. Louis who has spent much of the last year on the frontlines of the protest movement in Ferguson. His activism has taken him to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the United Nations with the family of Michael Brown; he has penned pieces for publications including Time and the Huffington Post; and he’s been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, BBC and BET. As a regular Riverfront Times contributor, Tef was honored in 2014 with a Salute to Excellence Award by the National Association of Black Journalists. His most recent musical effort, War Machine III, was released by Delmar Records in July and is available on iTunes.
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Witness 101 DORIAN JOHNSON’S LIFE CHANGED IRREVOCABLY WHEN HE SAW MICHAEL BROWN SHOT TO DEATH IN FERGUSON. ONE YEAR LATER, HE’S STILL GRAPPLING WITH THE FALLOUT. BY DA N N Y W IC E N TOWS K I
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Dorian Johnson, 23, says his own life was put on hold after Michael Brown’s death last year. Now he’s looking to the future.
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sk Dorian Johnson what happened on August 9, 2014, and he’ll tell you that the story begins just past noon. He’ll say that he and Michael Brown Jr. had been walking down Canfield Drive in Ferguson when they were stopped by a police officer in an SUV – and that the last thing Brown ever said to him was, “Keep runnin’, bro.” As the officer moved to exit the SUV, something happened. Witness accounts differ: Maybe Brown blocked the door and began punching and throttling the officer through the open window. Then again, maybe it was the officer who violently slammed the car door into Brown and instigated the struggle. What we do know is that two gunshots went off inside the vehicle, and one struck Brown in the hand. That’s when Brown and Johnson took off running. Johnson says he ducked behind a stopped gray Pontiac and watched as Ferguson officer Darren Wilson pursued his six-footfive, 280-pound friend down the street. Seconds later, Johnson saw bullets tear through Brown’s body. The eighteen-year-old crumpled onto Canfield Drive as the life drained out of him, staining the pavement red. The August 9 shooting brought the weight of the world’s scrutiny on the modest north county suburb of Ferguson, but a significant portion of that burden fell on the narrow shoulders of Dorian Johnson. The wiry college dropout with a checkered past and mismatched eyes – one blue, one brown – became a national lightning rod almost overnight. To a grieving community seeking answers and justice, Johnson, then 22, was the key witness to the reality of both Brown’s death and the black experience in Ferguson, and his emotional testimony became the gospel of a burgeoning protest movement. The “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” mantra was based, in part, on Johnson’s account of how Brown raised his hands and told the advancing Wilson, “I don’t have a gun,” before the final shots rang out. But Johnson also drew the ire of people skeptical about the movement taking hold in Ferguson. They combed through his statements, drawing jagged circles around the inconsistencies and omissions. They blogged, tweeted and commented that Johnson was no truth-teller – in their view, he was an accomplice, a proven liar, just another young black thug claiming victimhood and angling for a payday. For a time, Johnson’s face appeared in newspapers and on television across the world, but for the past eight months he’s mostly avoided direct contact with journalists. Last week, however, he sat down with Riverfront Times for a 60-minute interview, describing the months of secrecy and strain that followed Brown’s death – as well as the surprising silver lining to his recent, highly publicized arrest by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He’s currently suing the City of Ferguson, its police department and the now-retired officer Wilson. He says he lives in fear of retaliation from vigilantes and law enforcement. It’s been almost a year since Michael Brown was shot to death on Canfield Drive, and the shockwaves of those frenzied moments are still pushing Johnson toward an unknown destination. Try as he might, he can’t escape what happened that day. Michael Brown told him to run. In some ways, Dorian Johnson has been running ever since.
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he first day after the shooting was pure panic. Johnson’s own family didn’t know his whereabouts, and early news reports of a dead body discovered near a Domino’s fueled rumors that the witness to the Brown killing had himself been killed. Johnson’s brother, Damonte, remembers their mother obsessively clicking through social media feeds and Twitter, searching for updates on her son. Even the police couldn’t locate him. Two days later, on August 11, Dorian walked through the door of his family’s small St. Louis apartment. He was accompanied by two male friends acting as security. “I had never seen my brother so shook up,” Damonte Johnson says. “This was the first time we saw him after the shooting. Everybody was sitting on the floor, on the windowsill, sitting around like it was story time. He was telling the story, he was shaking, sweating bullets, telling us step by step.” As Johnson tells it, he went into hiding immediately after Brown’s death. He fled his Canfield Green apartment and says he was contacted by Adolphus Pruitt, president of St. Louis NAACP, who immediately arranged for “protective custody.” His life became a series of hotel rooms shared with his girlfriend and young daughter. He watched TV compulsively. The images of looters, tear gas and violence overwhelmed his waking moments. “I was crying,” Johnson says. “It was so real to me, but it was unreal at the same time. It was almost like, every time I stepped away from the TV, it was like a dream. But when I go back to the TV, it made it more real.” Johnson would ultimately move in with a family member in late October. By then, he’d been interviewed on local TV stations and cable networks. Each time, he told the same story: That Wilson initiated the confrontation with Brown, grappled with the teen through the driver’s side window, pursued Brown down Canfield Drive and fired bullets into his body. Johnson insisted that Brown had never threatened Wilson or reached for the officer’s gun. He told KSDK (Channel 5) that Brown had been shot “like an animal.” He told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Wilson shot Johnson in the back. But Johnson’s character quickly became part of the story. By August 14, media had discovered his criminal history, which included a guilty plea for making false statements in 2011, when he was a college student in Jefferson City. (He’d been busted stealing a backpack and told a cop his name was “Derrick Johnson” and that he was 16. The officer found Johnson’s ID, complete with his real age, 19, tucked away in his sock.) The other shoe dropped a day later, on August 15. Ferguson police released surveillance footage showing Michael Brown stealing cigars from a Quik Trip minutes before his fatal confrontation with Wilson. Johnson, who accompanied Brown but did not appear to participate in the robbery, had never mentioned the crime in his initial media interviews. “Isn’t that lying through omission?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked Johnson’s lawyer, former St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., later that day. “Not at all,” Bosley Jr. answered. “Lying is when you say something that’s not true. Nobody asked him, ‘What you all did before you came in contact with the officer?’ If he [Wolf Blitzer] had asked him, we would have told him. But we had the duty to tell that to the FBI and they got the full story.” In media appearances, Johnson was almost never seen without his lawyers, Bosley Jr. and the New Orleans-based James Williams. One (and sometimes both) would accompany Johnson to TV interviews. When Johnson’s cabin fever reached a boiling point, it was Williams who drove him to Ferguson so he could watch the protests from the safety of the passenger seat. “I met Dorian for the first time in one of those hotel rooms,” Williams says. “One of the things Dorian would always say to me is how he wanted to get out there. Just for his safety we had to limit it. One night we rode down there, just so he could get out there and see what was going on. But it was still a very dangerous environment.”
Indeed, various conspiracy theorists and right-wing blogs had latched onto Johnson, fixating on his testimony and his role in the creation of the “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot” narrative. His TV interviews were collected and uploaded as YouTube compilation videos, which users picked over for proof of his deceptions. He was dubbed a “serial liar,” and much worse. His Facebook inbox filled up with apoplectic rants and veiled threats. He stopped Googling his name. He’d become a public figure, merely by virtue of what he’d witnessed. In December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Johnson had landed a temporary job with St. Louis city, as a forestry worker. The story was published before he could even log his first day on the job. “At the time I was working there, there were incidents where cars were following me to work,” Johnson says. “I can’t walk out of my house without someone I don’t know knowing me. They ask me for autographs, pictures, hugs, can I come to their church. I’ve been invited to meet people’s families. I speak to anyone who speak to me, and it’s good and bad. You can’t really trust someone you don’t know.” After the temporary city job ended, Johnson landed a full-time gig as a server in The Kitchen Sink, a cajun restaurant in the Central West End. Things seemed to be getting back to normal. It wasn’t until the spring of 2015 that he suddenly found himself back in the spotlight — for something that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of his detractors.
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“I HAD NEVER SEEN MY BROTHER SO SHOOK UP. HE WAS TELLING THE STORY, HE WAS SHAKING, SWEATING BULLETS, TELLING US STEP BY STEP.”
ohnson grew up in the northwest St. Louis neighborhood of Walnut Park, which is almost entirely black. It’s there, he says, that he learned how police and black males interact in the real world. “When you’ve been born in an urban environment, you don’t have to be taught,” he says. “That’s kind of been my life St. Louis, head on a swivel. You see with your eyes how the police handle somebody else.” Raised by a single mother, Johnson grew up in a house his mother shared with his aunt and her children. It was a chaotic childhood, but instead of joining a gang, Johnson took his competitive streak to the football field — as a member of the St. Louis recreation division’s Junior Rams. Despite his small stature (he’s now a slender five feet seven inches”), Johnson reveled in showing off his speed on the field. He traveled across the country with the team. But in 2007, a shootout erupted as Johnson was getting off a school bus. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet embedded near a vein in his leg. That was the end of his football career. Johnson graduated high school. But his continued on page 16
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first year at a historically black college in Jefferson City, Lincoln University, ended with his 2011 arrest for stealing a backpack. After returning to St. Louis, Johnson landed a job with MetroLink and proudly moved into his own apartment in Ferguson, in the Canfield Green apartment complex. That’s where a mutual friend introduced him to Michael Brown in March 2014, just five months before his death. Dorian’s younger brother Damonte had a different upbringing. Damonte spent much of his early years living with godparents in St. Louis County. He attended Chaminade College Prep, an elite Catholic high school in suburban Creve Coeur, and at eighteen moved to Maryland to attend the University of Baltimore, where he says he excelled academically. Both brothers, though, watched things fall apart in 2012, after D’Angelo, their youngest sibling, died in a drag-racing accident. He was sixteen. After his little brother’s death, Damonte’s grades plummeted. He says he couldn’t focus on his classes. After a disappointing semester he moved back to Missouri. “A part of me died with our little brother, and that’s been the main thing myself and my family has been trying to overcome,” says Damonte. “Dorian and I had always
The spot where Michael Brown died became a memorial and a gathering place for protesters. been close, but after that no one knew how to behave or how to react or how to treat an everyday situation. We were at each other’s necks and just going at it, and it could be over the smallest thing.” The intervening years softened the tension between them, but didn’t heal the rift. That wouldn’t happen until nearly a year after Brown’s shooting made Dorian Johnson a national name – on May 6, when Damonte, Dorian and their half-brother, Otis McRoberts, were arrested during a block party in north city. According to court records, someone called the police to report that a group had gathered on the 5700 block of Acme Avenue, and that they might have guns or knives. When the first patrol car arrived, the two Johnsons and McRoberts were part of a crowd of about fifteen people hanging out on the sidewalk. “They came like they already knew somebody was going to jail,” Dorian Johnson says. “Me and my brothers just standing there, like, ‘OK, we’re not doing nothing, so I’m not finna run and make it seem like we’re doing something.’ So we just stood there.” Dorian and Damonte Johnson both say at least five more patrol cars pulled
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up, but it wasn’t until an officer grabbed McRoberts — investigating “a bulge in his waistband which I believed could possibly be a concealed gun,” as the officer would later write in his report — that things got out of hand. “That kind of sent a shock to my brother Damonte,” Dorian Johnson says. “He wasn’t used to seeing police do stuff like that. I’m used to it, but Damonte grabbed both of them.” What ensued was a kind of tug-of-war between Damonte Johnson, the officer and McRoberts. More officers arrived to pull Damonte off. “After they put the handcuffs on me,” says Damonte, “Dorian became more irate. They slammed him on the ground, ripped his pants and messed up his shoulder.” In the end, all three brothers were hauled off to the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis. No weapons were found in McRobert’s waistband. But the arrests were leaked to the media immediately, and Dorian and Damonte’s mugshots were blasted over the internet. Citing anonymous police sources, the Post-Dispatch reported that officers had also recovered “cough medication mixed with what police believe to be an illegal narcotic” from a cup Dorian Johnson had supposedly discarded at the scene. It only took a day for the rumored drug possession charge to evaporate. The cup tested negative for drugs. “A drug charge was brought to our office,” Lauren Trager, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney’s office, said at the time. “It was refused by our office.” The brothers weren’t home free. Both Johnsons were hit with a charge for resisting arrest, and Damonte faced an added charge of third-degree assault against a police officer. In the Justice Center, word quickly spread: Dorian Johnson — yes, that Dorian Johnson — was locked up. “We had gang unit come down and take pictures of us, and it started a kind of a buzz. So now we get umpteen different officers coming down,” Dorian Johnson remembers. “We had two officers come down and look through the window and smirk and laugh. We had a couple officers just coming and pointing. I was telling my brothers, ‘Don’t pay them no mind, we’ll be alright.’ “There was this young officer, he said, ‘I had to buy new guns because of you and Mike Brown. You guys ruined my whole vacation, and my whole summer.’” Damonte Johnson also remembers a parade of curious officers approaching the holding cell. “The first two days we were in there, it was absolutely horrible. It wasn’t an inmate that was a problem, it was all the [corrections officers]. It was this constant, ‘This ain’t Ferguson, you ain’t get no money out of here, fuck you, we’re going to fuck you up.’
Brothers Dorian (top) and Damonte Johnson accuse police of using excessive force during the May 6 arrests. “It was vulgar and in your face,” he adds, “almost like they were trying to bait us.” Although McRoberts, the youngest of the three brothers, was released on bond after a few days, the Johnsons were left to stew in an eight-by-ten cell with more than a dozen other men. One night, Damonte says, around 3 a.m., one of their cellmates woke up vomiting and defecating all over himself. When the guards took him away, they left the puke and shit behind in the cell. Dorian objected, asking one of the guards to clean up the mess. “At this point Dorian gets off the floor, walking toward the C.O. Dorian is just standing there, and that made the C.O. even more mad,” Damonte says. “The guard was screaming out our home address, ‘I’ll be waiting outside your continued on page 18
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house, I’m going to take my badge off and beat you.’” But along with the tension came a chance for reconciliation. More than three years after the fact, D’Angelo’s death still hung between the pair. “We had one of those big brother-tobrother talks, letting all our feeling out in this cell,” Dorian says. “We both wanted to be good for our mom. We both want to take care of our family. We were trying to do it on our own.” After D’Angelo died, the brothers had sparred over who would step up, be the man and fix the wounds in their family. Damonte wanted to take more responsibility, and he felt disrespected by Dorian’s overbearing attitude as the family’s eldest son, the protector. “We found each other in that place, we found what it meant to be brothers again,” Damante says. “Both of us had been just wrecks after losing our little brother, always doubting ourselves, just messing up and being real tough on ourselves. When we sat down and talked, it was crazy how much we saw eye to eye. He wanted the same thing that I did. He wanted to make it, to do something, to bring the family up and out of this.” Damonte left the Justice Center after five days, while Dorian was shipped to City Workhouse jail for another two days before
his own release. A few days later, Dorian lost his job at The Kitchen Sink. The staff, he says, disliked his notoriety and the attention the recent arrest had brought him. “This whole incident was excessive use of force against Dorian’s brothers,” says attorney Williams – who says the treatment only escalated once the officers realized who Dorian was. But both Dorian and Damonte say the time spent in Justice Center brought them closer. “The surprising thing was that we said we loved each other, for the first time in maybe five years,” Damonte says. “Now we always get off the phone with ‘I love you, bro. Stay safe.’”
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orian Johnson has found little peace in the year since Brown’s death. He lost his apartment, his job and his independence. He also became a national whipping boy after a U.S. Department of Justice report concluded that physical evidence and witness testimony supported Wilson’s version of events, rather than his own. In a column titled “‘Hands Up; Don’t Shoot,’ was built on a lie,” Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, who is black, wrote that the DOJ report made him ill. “Wilson knew about the theft of the cigarillos from the convenience store and had a description of the suspects,” Capehart wrote. “Brown fought with the officer and
“IT SEEMS LIKE THE PROSECUTOR GOT WHAT HE WANTED — A NON-INDICTMENT, AND SLOWLY EVERYTHING IS QUIETING DOWN, KIND OF JUST BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG.” 18
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Dorian’s Story
tried to take his gun. And the popular handsup storyline, which isn’t corroborated by ballistic and DNA evidence and multiple witness statements, was perpetuated by Witness 101. In fact, just about everything said to the media by Witness 101, whom we all know as Dorian Johnson, the friend with Brown that day, was not supported by the evidence and other witness statements.” Similar arguments metastasized across social media and blogs. And while Capehart concluded his column by emphasizing the serious issues raised by Brown’s death and the Ferguson protests, a vast array of naysayers used the same argument to dismiss the entire Black Lives Matter movement as a lie. As for Johnson, the only major change in his testimony occurred during the grand jury hearings, when he clarified that he did not actually see Wilson shoot Brown in the back, only that Brown appeared to jerk and halt in the same instant that Wilson fired a shot at the fleeing teenager. Otherwise, Johnson remains steadfast in his testimony — that Brown was murdered on that street with his hands raised. Unsurprisingly, he’s still bitter about the grand jury decision. “It seems like the prosecutor got what he wanted — a non-indictment, and slowly everything is quieting down, kind of just being swept under the rug,” he says, and the hurt is clear on his face. “People are out here trying to get to the bottom of it still, trying to get the clear, correct story. The story that’s going to add up, because the story that Darren Wilson told does not add up.”
A family photo of Dorian (right) and Damonte Johnson during their teen years. Johnson’s testimony lives on, however, in the form of lawsuits. In April, Michael Brown’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Ferguson, Wilson and former police chief Thomas Jackson. The suit draws heavily from Johnson’s statements, including how Wilson allegedly yelled “get the fuck off the street” before reversing his vehicle to block Brown from walking, and how Brown “raised his arms in a non-threatening matter” before Wilson’s fatal shots. Johnson has his own lawsuit pending against the same plaintiffs. He’s seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for “psychological injury, severe emotional distress, medical expenses, lost wages, living expenses [and] incurred additional expenses.” The prospect of a monetary windfall, however, seems small comfort in light of how things have shaken out. No matter how much Johnson has shunned the spotlight in the last eight months, the nation’s interest in him continues to border on tabloid obsession. And that, he believes, is in stark contrast to the third man on Canfield Drive that hot day last August – the man he believes bears responsibility for his friend’s death and everything that followed. “It does sadden me that it seems like Darren Wilson just fell off the face of the earth,” he says. “I mean, I can pick my nose and it’ll be on the news. Who’s to say what Darren Wilson is doing right now?” ■
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JUNE 10 FATPOCKET
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THREE PEDROS
AUG 12 MADBEATS
YOU HAD ME AT “DRINK SPECIALS”!
SEPT 9
GRIFFIN AND THE GARGOYLES
5:00-8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE | DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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NIGHT + DAY ®
MARK DETHROW
WEEK OF AUGUST 06–12
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[THEATER]
SPELLBOUND! A MUSICAL FABLE
Stray Dog Theatre’s current season comes to an end with the world premiere of Spellbound! A Musical Fable. Written by artistic director Gary F. Bell with Robert L. White, the play is an all-ages tale about a young woman named Arabella. She undertakes a hero’s journey to the land of Samaren, where she encounters shape-shifting beasts in the service of Layla, an enchantress. These are the obstacles that block Arabella’s path to discovering the value of her own worth, but she has the strength to triumph. While the kids are sure to enjoy it, don’t dismiss Spellbound! as “only for children”; Stray Dog has a long track record
of presenting thought-provoking and entertaining musicals, so adults will have a good time, too. Spellbound! is presented at 8 p.m. Thursday through T H IS C O D E Saturday (August TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES 6 to 22) at Tower IPHONE/ANDROID APP Grove Abbey FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT (2336 Tennessee riverfronttimes.com Avenue; 314-8651995 or www. straydogtheatre.org). There are two additional shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday (August 12 and 19). Tickets are $10 to $25. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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FiftyOneBowie revisits the many face of David Bowie.
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[ART EXHIBIT]
SOUND & VISION
Sound & Vision is a synthesis of music and art spread throughout several venues at Grand Center’s First Friday. The Kranzberg Arts Incubator (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.kranzbergartscenter.org) hosts Mark Dethrow’s exhibition FiftyOneBowie, an installation of 51 portraits of the chameleonic performer. Eric Hall and Kevin Harris present “Turn and face the strange,” an audio/visual piece comprising electronic remixes of the Main Man’s music and live analog video, in the Black Box Theater.
Downstairs the Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design presents Heavy Metals, an amalgamation of metal-arts demos and a punk-rock performance. Sound & Vision takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ N O VA N I G H T S ]
NASA NEW HORIZONS: PLUTO
The PlayStation 4 may be the most powerful home video game console on the market today (according to its manufacturer), but when NASA launched the 2006 New Horizon probe for a mission that would take it 3 billion miles from Earth, it went with the tried-and-true decades-old CPU that powered continued on page 22
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From the left: Get Spellbound!, buy art at Scratchfest, bask in Zardoz’s strange beauty and learn about early St. Louis breweries.
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Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 1 over any bleeding-edge tech. The mission’s flabbergasting findings on the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons are the focus of NASA New Horizons — To Pluto!, this month’s Nova Nights at the St. Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Avenue; 314-289-4400 or www.slsc.org). Attendees can test upcoming video games created by area developers, play with robots in the Maker Garage and take in a lecture about NASA’s mission to Pluto. At 10 p.m. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar screens for free in the theater (but not in the IMAX format; regular style only). Admission is free, as are mostsoulardconcertsseries_qrtr_pg_aug.pdf of the activities. — MARK FISCHER
S AT U R D AY |08.08 [ART SALE]
SCRATCHFEST: AN ART & DANCE FESTIVAL
The problem with most fine art is that once you’ve finished paying for it, you can no longer afford the home you were going to hang it in. But Scratchfest: An Art & Dance Festival Honoring the Life & Work of Bob Reuter changes that. The open-portfolio show features numerous printmakers who craft original and striking art that is surprisingly easy on your wallet, thanks to the black magic of mechanical reproduction. Most of the Outlaw Printmakers gang will be present, as will numerous Printbangerz workshop attendees — you buy straight from the artist and cut out the middleman. There will be live music and a couple of surprises — you’ll have to go to find out what that entails. Scratchfest runs from 6:50 AM August 8, at Atomic 61p.m.7/22/15 to 1 a.m. Saturday,
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Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue; www. evilprints.com). A portion of the proceeds benefit the Cowboy Angel Foundation in memory of photographer and musician Bob Reuter. Admission is free. — ROB LEVY [ C U LT C L A S S I C ]
ZARDOZ
John Boorman’s sci-fi brainmelter Zardoz is more commonly known as “that film where Sean Connery runs around in a red diaper and pirate boots.” And it’s true — he does, and that’s a big part of its appeal. Connery plays Zed, a primitive man from the Brutal caste who’s only skill is killing. When he infiltrates the secluded world of the Eternals, the ruling elite, Zed finds himself studied, feared and used as a weapon by various factions. It’s crazier than you think — a flying stone head issues weapons as needed, and the Eternals use naked mud wrestling to fight erectile dysfunction — but it’s also thoughtful and inventive despite
the cheesy bits. The Reel Late film series presents Zardoz at midnight Friday and Saturday (August 7 and 8) at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-727-7271 or www. landmarktheatres.com). Tickets are $8. — PAUL FRISWOLD
S U N D AY |08.09
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[HISTORY]
DRINKING UP ST. LOUIS
St. Louis has a long history as a beer town and a baseball town. The Brown Stockings, the team that eventually became the modern St. Louis Cardinals, was an original member of the founding class of the National League in 1875. That’s also the year the Compton and Dry map of St. Louis was created — clearly, drinking and baseball are cornerstones of the city. Numerous breweries, taverns and pubs were immortalized in the Compton and Dry
map (the Cardinals have done pretty well, too), currently on display as the centerpiece of the exhibition A Walk in 1875 St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard T H IS C O D E and DeBaliviere TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Avenue; 314-746RIVERFRONT TIMES 4599 or www. IPHONE/ANDROID APP mohistory.org). FOR MORE EVENTS OR VISIT riverfronttimes.com Today at 2:30 p.m. during Drinking Up Compton and Dry’s St. Louis, Cameron Collins of Distilled History discusses the brewing centers of interest visible in the map, and reveals tidbits about the history and fates of the noble structures. Admission is free. — PAUL FRISWOLD
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[DOCUMENTARY]
[MUSICAL]
ENCHANTED KINGDOM
OKLAHOMA!
The natural-history documentaries produced by BBC Earth are widely regarded as the best in class, but their crowning achievement may be their latest, Enchanted Kingdom 3-D. The film places viewers deep within the wilderness of Africa, using state-of-the-art 4K 3-D cameras. This new dimension of BBC Earth’s storytelling is further enhanced with high-definition time-lapse photography and micro and macro 3-D lenses. The film examines not only the critters that populate Africa’s densest jungles, but takes audiences on a journey from the bottom of the continent’s secretive seas to the tip of its ice-capped mountains. Enchanted Kingdom screens at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (August 10 and 11) at Ronnies 20 Cine with IMAX (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com). Tickets are $15. — MARK FISCHER
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Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! paved the way for the modern musical, thanks to the duo’s insistence on using the songs as a means both to expand the story and to explain the motivations of the characters. Not a bad trick for the duo’s first collaboration, eh? It’s a classic, and the songs are part of America’s cultural heritage. Cowboy Curly McLain rides into town one last time to propose to his long-time gal, Laurey. She thinks he’s put it off too long, and goes to the dance with menacing farmhand Jud just to spite Curly. Curly can’t tolerate that, the same way cowboy Will Parker can’t tolerate Ado Annie’s relationship with the peddler Ali Hakim. Both cowboys have to fight for their respective gals, and this being Oklahoma!, that means singing and dancing are the weapons of choice. The Muny
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in Forest Park (314-361-1900 or www.muny. org) closes out its season with Oklahoma! Performances are at 8:15 p.m. Monday through Sunday, and tickets are $14 to $87. — PAUL FRISWOLD
Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.
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film
The Sharper Image Catalog as Film IN THE LATEST MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE STARS ARE THE GADGETS AND STUNTS. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames. Now open at numerous theaters.
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hile I have generally enjoyed the Mission: Impossible series, if you were to ask me what any of the films were about four days after I saw them, well...that information is kept in an airtight BY “dark tunnel” under six levels of encryption and accessible ROBERT only after presenting a thumbprint, a retinal scan and the HUNT name of my high school mas24
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cot. But that’s okay! Profundity is not the point of a Mission: Impossible film; logic, consistency and plausibility are equally discounted. These films deal in chaos and deliver it well. The latest, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is no exception, and although it may be almost too much of a good thing, it promises — and provides — two hours of continuous action. As in previous M:I outings, the film involves super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) looking for an international ring of terrorists known as the Syndicate, with help from his sidekicks on the Impossible Mission Force, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). They’re joined by British double agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may not be trustworthy — not that such things matter. There’s also a sub-plot in which CIA man Alan Hunley (Alex Baldwin) has the IMF disbanded and gives orders for Hunt’s arrest, while keeping Hunt’s former boss (Jeremy Renner) under his control. The action jumps from London to Vienna to Morocco, staying in each place just long enough to unload a new carton of gadgets and head into an extended series of stunts and action sequences before jumping off to the next location. For all of their globe-trotting heroes, terror-
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ist cells and world-threatening weapons, the Mission: Impossible films are, at heart, technophilic fantasies about men (and women) who live like real-life Jetsons and have better phone service than you can even dream about. Technology has been central to the series from the beginning, but much has changed since 1996, when Tom Cruise had to type in MS-DOS commands to break into CIA headquarters and arch-villain Vanessa Redgrave worried about transmitting a file before her Wi-Fi connection failed. In the first film, technology was a sometimes unreliable tool; with Rogue Nation, it is the whole point. The suspense of waiting for a particular bit of high-tech trickery to go off or the clockwork timing of some of the IMF capers are what passes for dramatic development here. Without them, Ethan Hunt is a cipher. Unlike James Bond, there’s no hint of a personal life or even much of a personality. His existence depends on having some kind of task to keep him occupied. You can’t imagine him ordering a drink, let alone worrying if it was shaken or stirred. Which is fine, because he’s just a vehicle for Tom Cruise and the elaborate stunt work which pulls the film closer to the semicomic terrain of Jackie Chan circa 1990 than
Tom Cruise (and uncredited motorcycle) star in the new Mission Impossible.
to the macho ruthlessness of Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just as CGI effects would dilute the pleasure one gets from the motorcycle chases and endurance tests, so would having to believe that Ethan had any emotions or thoughts which might distract him from the action at hand. The filmmakers dutifully try to build up some kind of reason for all of the running around, but in this case, the ineffectual supervillain behind the complicated plot barely makes an impression. This isn’t a movie about good and evil; it’s about solving puzzles. Alliances shift as easily as trusts and characters are judged not by their ideology but by their usefulness. The filmmakers only lose sight of this once, near the end, when Hunt starts to make a statement about the necessity of the IMF bringing down the bad guys. (I’ll blame writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed Cruise in the heavy-handed Jack Reacher) It’s not just out of character; it’s disappointing. The last thing anyone wants from a Mission: Impossible film is for Cruise to start giving speeches. ■
MICAH USHER
STILL ROLLING OUR ONGOING, OCCASIONALLY SMARTASS, DEFINITELY UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO WHAT’S PLAYING IN ST. LOUIS THEATERS
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We’ve all seen the wedding-cake topper of the
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bride grabbing the groom by the collar, dragging him away from a life filled with sexy funtimes and toward the altar of imprisonment, where all that’s left is monogamy and arguing over how to properly squeeze the toothpaste tube (from the bottom up, always). In Trainwreck, it’s beer-slamming, bed-hopping Amy (Amy
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Schumer) who’d rather order another round of shots than order fine china. Until, of course, she meets Aaron (Bill Hader) who reminds her that, in the words of British philosopher Samantha Fox, naughty girls need love too. Sure, it gets
“What’s important about Tangerine is that it’s so
a little formulaic in places, but it’s a hell of a
CATHARTICALLY HILARIOUS.” Jonathan Kiefer, SF Weekly
“ONE OF THE
MOST EXCITING FILMS OF THE YEAR. It may not be the summer comedy we asked for, but it just might be the summer comedy we need.” Peter Macia, Vogue
“IT JUMPS OFF THE SCREEN AND
WOWS YOU LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS A VISUALLY INNOVATIVE KNOCKOUT THAT GRABS YOU FROM THE FIRST FRAME.”
.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
★★★★★
“THIS MOVIE IS EVERYTHING.” David Ehrlich, Time Out New York
“A TOUGH YET TENDER, GRITTY YET GORGEOUS MOVIE MADE WITH INGENIOUS SKILL. A DIZZY, OFTEN EXUBERANT, DOWN AND DIRTY ROMP.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
lot more fun than most actual weddings. ●
INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE
Almost every day we hear about the death of another pop-culture touchstone: “The inventor of the Hula-Hoop died? Sad,” we think. And just as quickly: “Can you super-size that?” Very few deaths hold our attention even minutes after we learn about them. And then there’s Amy Winehouse. Watching a fierce natural talent disintegrate in real time, her death four years ago at 27 wasn’t a complete shock — but the failure of anyone to successfully save her from herself was. Asif Kapadia’s Amy is already be-
MONDAY, AUGUST 10 7:00PM
ing called one of the best music documentaries ever made. It reveals the root of so many of her ills — eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse,
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manic depression — and how the wrong people in wrong places at the wrong times only sped up a frantically ticking clock. ● If your vacation week has come and gone, if you’re in the grips of the summertime blues, if you’re feeling old and irrelevant with the reappearance of back-
RATED PG-13 FOR ACTION VIOLENCE, SOME SUGGESTIVE CONTENT, AND PARTIAL NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.
to-school things, Pixels is for you. After an old VHS tape of a video-game tournament is broadcast into space (go with it), Pac-Man,
tangerine A film by
Sean Baker
magpictures.com/tangerine
STARTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Q*bert and their alien ilk believe they’re under attack...and are pissed. Fear not: This is a world where Donkey Kong prowess saves the universe, Kevin James can be president and, of course, Adam Sandler gets the girl. In other words, it’s
IN THEATERS AUGUST 14
“ageless” in the sense that every other Sandler flick has been since about 1995. Don’t you feel younger already?
— Kristie McClanahan
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Still the Big Man CAROL REED’S THE THIRD MAN REMAINS HAUNTING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. The Third Man Directed by Carol Reed. Written by Graham Greene. Starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Opens Friday, August 7, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; 314-995-6285 or www.landmarktheatres.com).
Keep the Receipt JOEL EDGERTON’S THRILLER THE GIFT HAS SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT WOMEN. The Gift Directed and Written by Joel Edgerton. Starring Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Opens Friday, July 7, at multiple theaters.
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h, but The Gift is an infuriating movie on so many levels. It can’t decide if it wants to be serious drama or a salacious thriller, and so it’s nowhere near enough of either, and each aspect seems to be laughing at the other. It touches on sensitive, tangled emotional matters that could easily be the basis for either sort of movie — how the effects of bullying in childhood linger into adulthood; how stress and grief can render us unable to function in daily life; how even the most intimate of relationships can be tinged by a lack of trust; and more — but it fumbles all of them so badly that it contradicts itself constantly, as 26
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death but immediately disappeared pull Martins into a noir-ish journey through Vienna’s backstreets and sewers, accompanied by Anton Karas’ relentless zither score. It’s not a great film, but it is memorable, driven by the casual charm of Cotten and the enigmatic draw of Welles. Graham Greene’s screenplay is uneven (there’s a particularly bad scene where Cotten is forced to address the local literary club, a roomful of grotesques if it doesn’t really understand the pain it is attempting to appropriate. It wants you to doubt who the villain is but doesn’t have the nerve to do anything meaningful with that gambit. I’m trying not to spoil. Suffice to say that The Gift, after descending into emotional idiocy and insufficient intrigue, ends up in a disgusting place that presumes its audience will be horrified at the repulsive suggestion that a medieval notion about marriage has been contravened. Granted, this notion remains something that some real people in the real world still believe, and it’s an awful trope that movies like this one frequently trot out. But it is a trope that deserves to die, not be perpetuated. I cannot even say that The Gift — written and, in his feature debut, directed by actor Joel Edgerton — starts out promisingly. Almost from the get-go, we are led down a path that treats Robyn (Rebecca Hall) as an appropriate battleground for a war of wills between her husband, Simon (Jason Bateman), and an old school friend of his, Gordo (Edgerton). (The movie is totally on board with the idea that women are properly pawns in games men
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who grill him on modernism. What literary grudge was Greene indulging here?), but just atmospheric enough to cover up the plot’s holes, and with just enough Hitchcockian elements to keep the story from being drowned by the atmosphere. But Hitchcock may not be the only source of inspiration. It used to be commonly believed -- although evidence has since proven it unlikely -- that Orson Welles directed his
Orson Welles leads the way in The Third Man.
own scenes in The Third Man (Welles himself always emphatically denied it). It is now often presumed that even if Welles stayed in front of the camera, Reed’s dark settings and odd compositions were inspired by the innovative look of Citizen Kane and The Lady from Shanghai. While there may be something to this -- there is a startling cut involving a
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arol Reed’s The Third Man has straddled the line between high and low art for so long that it’s hard -- no, impossible -- to watch it in innocence. One inevitably approaches the film under the influence of memory or nostalgia if you’ve seen it before, or under the long shadow of its reputation if you haven’t. In an otherwise enthusiastic review for BY the New York Times in 1950, ROBERT Bosley Crowther felt obliged to warn his readers that the HUNT film was essentially a firstrate contrivance in the way of melodrama -- and that’s all. The description still holds. It’s either a serious film with a lot of pulpy elements, or a genre piece with an air of self-importance. And yet it works, for the most part. Its contradictions are what holds it together. For those who haven’t seen it, The Third Man is a crime story set in post-war Vienna, when the city was run by international peacekeeping forces and black marketeering was rampant. Western author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten, in a rare leading role) has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), but upon arrival he learns that Lime has just been killed under slightly mysterious circumstances. Questions about Lime, his business interests and, most of all, a mysterious “third man” who witnessed his
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Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall in The Gift.
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cockatoo, recalling one of Kane’s most jarring transitions -- it’s a superficial homage, entirely ignoring the in-depth staging and innovative sound design of Welles’ films. There are many vivid and evocative shots, but quite a few that seem to be set at harsh angles solely for a calculated effect. It’s not a particularly personal work, but Reed wasn’t a particularly personal director (although he inserts himself into the film as narrator of its oddly chatty prologue sequence). Maybe that’s why he indulges himself in the off-kilter angles; they act as a filter between the characters and the viewer. And yet Harry Lime has unmistakeably become one of cinema’s most memorable villains, a remarkable feat considering that he appears for less than ten minutes, and only after more than an hour has passed. His appeal, if you can call it that, can be attributed almost entirely to Welles, who was so taken
with the character and his amorality that he spun it into a radio series, The Adventures of Harry Lime. What’s most unique about Lime is that he doesn’t really seem to be villainous at all; he’s seductive, charming in a way that’s as irresistible as it is condescending, and though Martins -- and the viewer -- can see through Lime’s desperate need to win him over, he can’t turn away from it either. All things considered, The Third Man may be less than the sum of its parts — but those parts — a great villain, a personable hero, that impossible-to-ignore music and an exotic heroine (Alida Valli as Lime’s mistress) — do linger. No, The Third Man is not a great film, but 65 years after its premiere it remains a haunting one. ■
play.) The couple have just moved back to Los Angeles — to one of those masterpieces of mid-century architecture faced with huge glass windows, all the better for creepazoids to loom into view from the darkness beyond — when they run into Gordo in a shop. Simon doesn’t remember the guy at all, except that he was a bit of an oddball, which seems proven when Gordo shows up at the house without invitation (and clearly having obtained the address in some nefarious way, because they didn’t give it to him) several times, bearing increasingly and inappropriately extravagant gifts, and only when Robyn is home alone. Still, Robyn thinks that while Gordo may be a little socially awkward, he seems okay...but Simon is increasingly weirded out and wants to break off the new forced friendship. There are several intriguing directions this basic scenario could have gone in: The Gift ignores all of them and chooses one that has no ring of emotional truth at all...but which, I suspect, it thinks is incisive and subtly smart. Even though Simon was the one who didn’t want anything to do with Gordo, and rather condescendingly informs others that Robin
only struck up a friendship with the other man because she’s “too nice,” Robyn is the one who gets cast in the role of the fragile irrational when she begins to see that Gordo might actually be pretty creepy after all. But of course she’s delicate and unreasonable and probably not to be trusted! She lost a baby at some point prior to the beginning of the story here, and went through a “rough patch.” We’re meant to wonder if Simon is now gaslighting his wife, trying to deflect her from getting suspicious about his long-ago high-school relationship with Gordo. But it’s the movie that is gaslighting Robyn, seemingly positioning her in the center of the story when what is meant to be the significant stuff is happening elsewhere. And The Gift gaslights the audience, too. It sets itself up in a way that seems to be a preemptive attack on detractors by borrowing hot-button and even feminist issues but then treating them in implausible ways. Of course some women suffer in the wake of a miscarriage, but not like this. Of course marriages can have trust issues — but not like this. Of course bullies deserve their comeuppance — but not like this. —MARYANN JOHANSON
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E M
cafe
Clockwise from the left: White Fish Fillet, Twice-Cooked Pork and Short-Rib Black Pepper Beef.
Top Chef FOR AMAZINGLY FLAVORFUL FOOD, GO TO CHEF MA’S — AND SURRENDER TO THE CHINESE TASTING MENU Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet 2336 Woodson Road, Overland; 314-395-8797. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
“C
hef Ma, five people.” My friend — a native Mandarin speaker — had beat me to Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet and was busy securing our table from the eponymous chef. As the tiny older man scrambled to arrange the BY chairs and place settings, we noticed that one thing was noC H E RY L tably absent — a menu. “No menu. I cook for you,” BAEHR Chef Ma said, then disappeared into the kitchen. If you visit Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I suggest you proceed as we did, though your first instinct may tell you otherwise. The small, unassuming restaurant sits just off a busy inter-
section in suburban Overland, housed in what used to be a Taco Bell. From the outside, it could easily be dismissed as just another Americanstyle place whose food is about as authentically Chinese as the San Francisco invention of chop suey. Dig a little deeper, however, and your perception quickly changes. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, it turns out, is a bastion of authentic Chinese cuisine owned by a man whose culinary pedigree is far more impressive than his bare-bones fast-casual restaurant would suggest. Ma has been cooking professionally for roughly 40 years, beginning his career with Marriott in his native Hong Kong. He traveled with the company, opening properties in Singapore and Malaysia before landing in Hawaii in 1979. He eventually moved to the mainland United States, first to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles, before arriving in St. Louis in the early ’90s to work for Mandarin House. After overseeing the palatial restaurant’s banquet operations for years and helping to open its satellite location on Olive Boulevard, Ma decided it was time to strike out on his own. He chose the space in Overland, figuring its close proximity to Mandarin House would encourage his loyal customers to visit the new venture.
He was right. Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet appetizers — but then I would have missed peralready has a small word-of-mouth following, haps my favorite course. “This is what we have its clientele divided equally between American for lunch,” our server told us as she ladled a diners looking for something beyond sweet and still-simmering fish stew into our bowls. The sour chicken, and Chinese expats in search of broth was delicate and understated, like a spring the food of their homeland. onion consommé. Small filets of flaky whitefish Ma is eager to share the more traditional and pork meatballs bobbed alongside cabbage, side of his cooking with diners, especially those onions, snow peas and exotic mushrooms in the willing to let him take control of the wheel. steaming broth. One of them, a high-altitude Minutes after we sat down, a server delivered fungus that looked like an eggplant-hued sea an overflowing appetizer platter to the table. Pot creature, had a light umami flavor and silken stickers filled with pork and onion and pan fried texture. It was positively ethereal. to a golden brown sat alongside no less than ten If the fish stew was the embodiment of deliexcellent handmade egg rolls. The rolls were cate, understated cooking, the twice-cooked overstuffed with pork, carrots pork was decadence inand mushrooms, and piled into a carnate. Slices of creamy, Chef Ma’s Chinese paper-thin shell. A mouth-puckmelt-in-the-mouth pork Gourmet ering sweet and sour sauce (the belly, caramelized around Fish stew .............$15.95 difference between Ma’s homethe edges, were paired with Twice made version and the stuff that thin charred tofu strips, eggcooked pork ...... $11.95 comes out of a jar is astounding) plant, onions and green bell Hot braised chicken ............... $7.95 and soy-based dumpling sauce peppers. A sugary soy and were there for dipping, though chile-spiked glaze coated the I couldn’t get enough of the acingredients. companying chile-oil paste. It was fiery, burnMa continued with the hearty theme for the-back-of-your-throat hot, but so savory and his next course, black pepper beef. Bone-on nuanced the heat didn’t obscure the flavor. slices of short ribs, red and white onion petals I would have been satisfied had I left after and hunks of celery were continued on page 30 riverfronttimes.com 1 riverfronttimes.com MAOUNGTUHS TX X–X 5 - 1 1X, , 2200105X R RI IVVE ER RF FR ROONNT T T TI IMME ES S 29
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3265 S . Jefferson Avenue St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 776-5700
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smothered in black-pepper gravy. It was like a Chinese grandmother’s version of a hearty pot roast — so warm and comforting that we forgot we were in public and tore into the savory meat with our hands. “These taste like shrimp doughnuts,” one of my dining companions astutely observed as she bit into the pumpkin shrimp course. The battered and deep-fried shrimp rested atop a pumpkin brown-butter sauce — a savory shellfish pastry. The dish was heavy and intentionally on the salty side to cut through the richness — wonderful, though I was maxed out at two. Ma reeled in the richness for his next two dishes. His house specialty, Hainan chicken, is a boiled, skin-on bird, served room temperature and hacked into large pieces. The ginger-spiked cooking liquid gently infuses the meat with subtle sweetness; its flesh is like silk (though I must admit I preferred it skinoff ). Ma recommended pairing it with the accompanying ginger sauce and whole salted peanuts to enhance its flavor, then went to the back to show us the medals he won for his interpretation of this Singaporean classic. He served it alongside a simple, buttery sautée of assorted vegetables, the highlight of which was the tender, zucchini-like Chinese long squash. Our feast ended with a warm peanut, almond and sesame soup — a subtly sweet dessert that evoked the starchy liquid part of oatmeal, only seasoned with nuts and warm spices. Though we’d said we were too full for dessert, everyone at the table cleaned their bowls. Chef Ma’s impromptu and unadvertised Chinese-style tasting menu is the clear highlight of the restaurant, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the Americanized stuff too. The restaurant’s main menu (it sits directly above the ordering counter, as if Ma expects most of his diners to order from it) consists of the dishes most people have come to expect from a Chinese restaurant in the middle of America. What differentiates Chef Ma’s Chinese Gour-
Stew with fish fillet and assorted vegetables
Ma is eager to share the more traditional side of his cooking with diners, especially those willing to let him take control of the wheel. met, however, is that he approaches these dishes with the same respect as he does the traditional fare. He could just as easily order his food out of cans or frozen and ready for the deep fryer. Instead, the chef gets to the kitchen by 7 a.m. daily so that he can make from scratch things we are inclined to dismiss: sweet and sour, hot braised glaze, Mongolian beef sauce. The care is evident. On an earlier visit, I gave in to my not-so-guilty pleasure and ordered the hot braised chicken. Like Ma’s sweet and sour, the fact that the chef makes the sticky hot sauce in house and hand cuts and breads his chicken makes this a far better dish than what is peddled at greasy chop-suey joints. The pork Mandarin was equally enjoyable. Thin, breaded and fried pork cutlets were smothered in piquant sweet and sour then finished with soy-caramelized onions. And let’s be honest: Who doesn’t love crab Rangoon, especially on those all too rare occasions when it’s made with real crabmeat and scallions as it is at Chef Ma’s? The menu offered to Americans is in no way authentic Chinese cuisine, but it’s of good enough quality and flavor to make it worth a taste. But really, it doesn’t matter what’s on his board of fare. The next time I am at Chef Ma’s Chinese Gourmet, I won’t even look at what’s on the menu. “Chef Ma, three people” is the only guide I’ll need. ■
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[RESTAURANT NEWS]
short orders [DISTILLER CHAT]
Meet St. Louis Distillery’s Dr. Vodka
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C O M P L E M E N T S O F S T. LO U I S D I S T I L L E R Y
’ll be honest — I was escaping a Pampered Chef party,” Dr. Bill Schroer laughs when asked about the origins of St. Louis Distillery. “I was with two of my neighbors at one of their houses while their wives were down at mine. We got to drinking and talking about how there are a lot of people who open breweries and wineries, but not many who open distilleries. Then it came to us: We could do that.” Schroer is about as unlikely a distiller as they come. A respected orthopedic surgeon who spends his days doing knee replacements, Schroer has yet to quit his day job. It’s unlikely that will come anytime soon (he does hundreds of surgeries a year and lectures around the country on the procedure), though the success of St. Louis Distillery’s Cardinal Sin vodka could make that possible. What started out as a little more than a hobby has turned into a major, high-tech opT H IS C O D E eration that produces a TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RIVERFRONT TIMES spirit even he and his IPHONE/ANDROID APP partners (Steve HerberFOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT holt and Greg Deters) riverfronttimes.com are surprised by. “We came to market about three years ago,” Schroer explains. “I remember going to our first tasting at Lucas Liquors. It was the first time anyone but our wives and us had tasted the vodka. We were so nervous — we didn’t know if it was actually good or not. The manager took one sip of it, looked at us, and said, ‘This is incredible!’” The words of encouragement led Schroer and his partners to enter Cardinal Sin into four different contests. They came away with the gold medal at all of them. Schroer was content making the vodka until a patient with a bum knee gave him an idea. “We got to talking about her business,” Schroer recalls. “She said that she owned a cooperage, but that I probably wouldn’t know what that was. I laughed and told her that she would be surprised.” Their conversation led to an arrangement whereby her company would provide St. Louis Distillery with brandnew Missouri white oak barrels where the vodka could age. “We came up with the idea for our Starka barrel-aged vodka to do something a little different,” Schroer says. Though Starka has been around Eastern Europe since the 15th century, it has only recently become popular in the United States. Schroer isn’t surprised
Local Takes Missouri Barbecue Flavors to Colorado
St. Louis Distillery partners Steve Herberholt, Bill Schroer and Greg Deters.
that people are catching on. “It’s like bourbon but smoother. Put it over rocks with an orange slice — there’s nothing better.” Schroer took a break from distilling vodka and replacing knees to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, being a morning person and which local chef he’d love to spend the day with. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I wish more people knew that we have an award-winning vodka distillery right here in town! What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I have to get up early and get working early. If I don’t have something accomplished by eight o’clock, I’m a wreck. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To be able to work and play without sleep — seems to be a terrible waste of time. What is the most positive trend in food, beer, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Local quality — moving away from national chain restaurants and breweries to local eateries, microbreweries and artisan distilleries. Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? Gerald Craft [Niche] — I would love to spend a day to see how this guy puts it all together. I bet he doesn’t sleep much either. Who’s the one person to watch right now in
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the St. Louis food and beverage scene? Ron Buechele, owner chef of Capitalist Pig and Mad Art Gallery. It’s the most inventive food and location in town. Tell Ron, “Doctor Vodka” sent you. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Cinnamon — can be sweet or hot. And just like the challenge, a little is great, but too much will make you yack. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ food and beverage climate, what would you say? Inventive and creative. I’m amazed by the creativity I witness in bars and restaurants in pairing unlikely ingredients. We are so lucky to have so many original and diverse options right in our back yard. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Cheap booze — life is way too short to drink poorly. What is your after-work hangout? My back patio with friends drinking Starka mules. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks, of course. An award-winning chef presenting a tasting menu with wine flights. I love to indulge in the best of the best where a chef puts his or her talent and vision on full display. — CHERYL BAEHR
ason Ganahl, a 1994 graduate of Webster Groves High School, is taking St. Louis barbecue to Colorado. The St. Louis native has fond memories of his father grilling in the back yard with his Weber grill and Maull’s sauce at the ready — such flavors and experiences, he believes, are missing in much of the West. Although Ganahl is a long-time barbecue fan, his path to restaurant ownership began when he actually left St. Louis. At the age of 30, he packed up his bags for a job in California. Though the sunshine was great, the smoked meat was not. He missed good barbecue, so he signed up to become a barbecue competition judge with the Kansas City Barbeque Society. As a judge, however, he was eating as much bad barbecue as good. Granahl thought he could do it better himself, so he started competing...and winning. Work took him to Colorado where he continued to compete, but once again he was unsatisfi ed with the local restaurant offerings. Hence, GQue is under construction about fifteen minutes northwest of Denver in the suburb of Westminster. Its grand opening is scheduled for mid-October. Ganahl considers himself a meat-andpotatoes kind of guy who used to eat at Bandana’s a few times a week. In competition circles, Ganahl is best known for his brisket, which will likely be the star of GQue. He’ll serve prime brisket: “The best I can get my hands on.” In addition to the barbecue staples, Ganahl plans to serve “lots of fun stuff, too.” Ganahl is planning a number of daily specials that will stretch the imaginations of traditional barbecue lovers — similar to what you might find at St. Louis outposts such as Sugarfire Smoke House. Though Ganahl eats a ton of barbecue, he doesn’t have a particular St. Louis favorite. When he’s home, he heads to Farotto’s and Nachomama’s. The Rib House, located nearby Longmont, Colorado, has its walls covered with Denver Broncos memorabilia — that’s the ultimate stab in the back to anyone from Kansas City (such as the Rib House’s very owners). But Ganahl iinsists he will never turn his back on his beloved Cardinals or Missouri Tigers. Owning a restaurant in Colorado won’t dampen the pride of this self-proclaimed rabid fan. The 2,500-square-foot space will be set up for fast-casual service. GQue will feature a Missouri-made Ole Hickory Pits smoker. — JOHNNY FUGITT
Authentic MexicAn Food, Beer, And MArgAritAs!
2817 cherokee st. st. Louis, Mo 63118 314.762.0691 onco.coM www.tAqueriAeLBr
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Beer, Wine, & Full Bar Now Available! Breakfast Served All Day! CHEAPEST DRINK PRICES IN TOWN! St. Louis’ New Cajun-Creole Restaurant
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P H OTO S B Y M A B E L S U E N
106 main st. • edwardsville, il 618.307.4830 www.clevelandheath.com
–Restaurants 2014
La Vallesana’s frozen treats come in a dizzying array of flavors, all made with fresh fruits. [SUGAR HIGH]
La Vallesana’s Paletas, a Tasty Frozen Treat To Beat the Heat
B
efore La Vallesana (2801 Cherokee Street; 314-776-4223) expanded into the fullservice, multi-patio Mexican-food mecca it is today, it had humble beginnings as a simple frozen-treat stand. According to manager Marco Vargas, whose father owns the business, the restaurant originally opened in 2003 selling ice cream. The addition of tacos, tortas, burritos and more came in years following. To this day, La Vallesana still offers some of the desserts that started it all: paletas. “To a lot of people, it’s different,” Vargas says. “It’s all homemade. We use all fresh fruit and don’t use preservatives.” 34
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The Latin American-style popsicles known for their utilization of fresh fruits come in two different varieties: water-based and milk-based. Family recipes scaled to proper proportions feature simple mixtures of milk or water with sugar as well as fruit or nut flavorings. Bestsellers include pistachio, pecan, strawberry and spicy mango. Look for a dozen or more options on any given day out of a pool of 50-some options established over the years — each for less than a few bucks bucks a pop. In addition to paletas, La Vallesana also offers a selection of agua frescas and ice creams. Like the paletas in the next cooler over, look in the dipping cabinets for sixteen or so flavors of ice cream out of a total of around 50 rotating options. These, too, are a bit different than similar traditional American treats. The texture of the housemade ice creams is a bit denser and milkier, according to Vargas. Beat the heat by cooling down with any one of these refreshing sweets. — MABEL SUEN
Craft Beer Week - Llywelyn’s Webster
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Look for the RFT Street Team at the following featured events this week:
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Friday, 8.7.15 What: Taking Back Sunday & Greek Fire Concert When: 5 - 8:30 PM Where: Ballpark Village
Thank you St. Louis!!!
Voted #1
BEST FRIED CHICKEN
by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Readers
Grill em All - Heavy Riff
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Saturday Sessions When: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM Where: Tower Grove Farmer’s Market
Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Grub and Groove 2015 When: 3 - 10:30 PM Saturday Sessions Tower Grove
Where: Francis Park
Saturday 8.8.15 What: Trombone Shorty Concert When: 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
Where: Ballpark Village
114 W Mill St, Waterloo, IL 62298 (618) 939-9933 • gallagherswaterloo.com
For more photos go to the Street Team website at www.riverfronttimes.com. riverfronttimes.com
Alice in Chains at The Pageant
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dining guide The Dining Guide lists only restaurants recommended by RFT food critics. The print listings below rotate regularly, as space allows. Our complete Dining Guide is available online; view menus and search local restaurants by name or neighborhood.
Happy Hour M-F 3-7PM 25% Tapas & Wine $
1 off domestic beers
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7344 Manchester Rd
3 1 4-645-4803
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Price Guide (based on a three-course meal for one, excluding tax, tip and beverages): $ up to $15 per person $$ $15 - $25 $$$ $25 - $40 $$$$ more than $40
SOUTH CITY Adam’s Smokehouse 2819 Watson Road, St. Louis, 314-875-9890. You can’t spell barbecue without “cue,” but the lines haven’t formed outside the door at Adam’s Smokehouse — yet. The slow-smoking barbecue joint in Clifton Heights opened in October and serves as a sister store to well-renowned, consistently packed restaurants Pappy’s Smokehouse and Bogart’s Smokehouse, so it seems like only matter a time before all of St. Louis stands in line to try a bite. Co-owners Frank Vinciguerra and Mike Ireland spent several years working at Pappy’s with barbecue master Skip Steele before embarking on their own venture. With the blessing of their barbecue brethren, the two put together a small but substantial menu of smoked meats and traditional sides done well. $$ Athlete Eats 2837 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, 314-9325566. Tucked amid the bodegas and indie record stores of Cherokee Street sits Athlete Eats, a polished little café that is all about healthy eating. Owner Simon Lusky started the business as a nutrition service, providing meal plans and prepared foods to healthconscious clients, including some of the St. Louis Cardinals players, and expanded to include a breakfast and lunch counter. Athlete Eats offers a variety of juices, smoothies and guilt-free fare, including Carolina-style barbecue; a juicy, locally raised grass-fed beef burger; and hearty salads. One of the more creative offerings, the bibimbap bowl, T H IS C O D E replaces the traditional sticky TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE rice with caulirice — grated RIVERFRONT TIMES pieces of roasted cauliflower IPHONE/ANDROID APP that resembles small rice FOR MORE RESTAURANTS OR VISIT grains. Tossed with edamame, riverfronttimes.com shiitakes and thinly sliced spiced beef, it’s as good, if not better, than the traditional, rice-based Korean staple. Athlete Eats only serves breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays — a shame because it’s where some of the restaurant’s best items are showcased. The gluten-free pancakes, laden with cinnamon and topped with coconut cream and maple orange syrup, are so tasty that one doesn’t miss the flour. And do not leave without trying Athlete Eats’ breakfast take on the Gerber sandwich: a garlic-studded waffle is topped with shaved ham, Provel cheese, béchamel sauce and a sunny-side egg. It’s one of the best uses of waffles in town. $ Corvid’s Cafe 5001 Mardel Avenue, St. Louis, 314-481-1522. Tucked into the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood of south city, Corvid’s Café is the quintessential neighborhood café — a place to gather, have a light meal or grab a cup of coffee to go. Owners John and Cindy Panian had been operating a catering company next door for eight years, and when the adjacent restaurant space (formerly World Café) became available, they jumped at the chance to put their own stamp on the place. The menu features light, classic café fare, such as tarragon-infused chicken salad and a spinach salad topped with dried fruit, sunflower seeds and Gorgonzola. The signature item is the “Crabwich,” a fried crabcake fritter served with oven roasted tomatoes, arugula and ancho chile sauce on a pretzel croissant. Other offerings include housemade pizzas and dressed-up baked potatoes. It’s the perfect place to sink into an overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace, sip a cup of coffee and snack. $ Gooseberries 2754 Chippewa Street, St. Louis, 314-5776363. Gooseberries is a Dutchtown South-Cherokee Street gathering place where locals and passersby can go to grab a meal, a snack or just a cup of coffee. Out of a cozy, re-
SCAN
4144 S. Grand
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 875-9653
Tuesday-Sunday
11am-9pm
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habbed storefront, owners Kim Bond and Ross Lessor serve an eclectic mix of breakfast and lunchtime items, including several vegan and vegetarian dishes. Bond is a pastry chef, so Gooseberries’ baked goods are highly recommended — especially the hand pies, filled with everything from gyro meat to chicken and waffles to broccoli-cheddar. Sandwiches include a vegan beet Reuben, pulled pork, and a Gouda and cheddar grilled cheese that can be made with waffles instead of bread. The restaurant’s signature dish is “KFT”: “Krispy Fried Tofu” made with a savory blend of thirteen herbs and spices that is so tasty, it could make one forget the Colonel. $ Grapeseed 5400 Nottingham Avenue, St. Louis, 314-9258525. Chef Ben Anderson’s Grapeseed serves seasonal American cuisine in the SoHa neighborhood of south city. Anderson sees the restaurant as a canvas upon which to feature locally sourced ingredients, the wares of the city’s artisans and even paintings by local artists. The menu is eclectic yet approachable, with offerings as varied as a Cuban sandwich to Chinese five-spice salmon. Though the menu changes frequently, some dishes remain as his signatures, such as the smoked turkey nachos — a platter of sweet potato chips topped with smoked turkey, spiced cranberries, micro greens, red peppers, buttermilk dressing and house brewed sweet and sour firecracker sauce. Dine at the bar next to the SoHa regulars, or grab a table in the warm, contemporary dining room for a feast that celebrates the best of the season. $$$ Leonardo’s Kitchen 2130 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis, 314-664-1410. Leonardo’s Kitchen is a quaint sandwich and pizza shop, located in a converted gas station. Characteristic of its Hill neighbors, the restaurant specializes in St. Louis-style Italian dishes, such as pastas, sandwiches and pizzas. Meatballs are the house specialty, and Leonardo’s Kitchen and Wine Bar gives diners several opportunities to enjoy them — on the “Hey Bauly” pizza, “naked” with a variety of sauces or as the must-try meatball sandwich. For this version, Leonardo’s packs the moist, tender meatballs between two slices of garlic bread, smothers them with fresh tomato sauce and basil pesto then tops them with melted provolone cheese. The hot Italian beef sandwich is another signature dish: Gravy-drenched roasted beef and giardiniera are served atop a soft roll, like an Italian version of a French dip. Pizzas fall between St. Louis and New York style — handtossed and thin, but with heft and crunch. Leonardo’s piles on the toppings. Its veggie pizza gives diners two days’ worth of vegetables. This cozy little spot may no longer be filling up cars, but diners will leave overstuffed with tasty casual Italian food. $ Lulu’s Local Eatery 3201 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, 314-357-7717. St. Louis food-truck-goers are already familiar with the name Lulu’s Local Eatery; these mobile peddlers of vegan cuisine have been rolling around town since 2012. Following the success of their truck, husband and wife owners Lauren “Lulu” Loomis and Robert Tucker expanded their operations to include a brick-and-mortar corner storefront on South Grand, featuring the dishes that diners came to love from their food truck. Lulu’s may be vegan, but patrons are treated to hearty, satisfying cuisine that appeals to even the most committed carnivore. Buffalo cauliflower bites are like vegetarian boneless buffalo wings, complete with ranch dressing. Another appetizer, the avocado boat stuffed with Mexican-style quinoa, is satisfying enough to be a meal unto itself. The buffalo veggie burger and sweet potato falafel are also excellent sandwiches, but the star of the menu is the Buddha bowl, filled with stir-fried vegetables and thick, silky udon noodles. Dine on the patio, amidst the organic herbs and vegetables — you just might be sitting next to tomorrow’s special. $-$$ Old Standard 1621 Tower Grove Avenue, St. Louis, 314-8999000. Acclaimed chef Ben Poremba adds to his Botanical Heights restaurant flock with Old Standard Fried Chicken. Located in a converted horse stable, this casual chicken and bourbon shack draws crowds for its sustainably raised fried birds and Southern-style dishes. Poremba’s chicken recipe involves brining the bird, then cooking it in a pressure fryer to lock in the juices and give it a crisp exterior. Fried chicken is the only entrée at Old Standard, but the menu is filled with such downhome snacks as creamy pimento cheese dip, boiled peanut hummus, and sweet and spicy chicken wings. The restaurant’s standout snack, the smoked whitefish croquettes, is like eating a sweet and savory cream puff. Classic side dishes, such as smothered greens, creamed corn and mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, complement the fried chicken, and the bread board, served with housemade butters and jellies, makes for a hearty feast. $$-$$$ The Purple Martin 2800 Shenandoah Ave, St. Louis, 314898-0011. Long-time Fox Park residents Brooke Roseberry and Tony Lagouranis dreamed of creating a neighborhood gathering place. They’ve finally gotten their wish with the Purple Martin. Located in a rehabbed corner storefront, the restaurant is a quaint, casual bistro with Mediterranean and North African fare. Appetizers such as skordalia, a tangy garlic dip, and zeal, a lima-bean-based Berber specialty, serve as zesty starters, while the lamb shank with roasted tomatoes and potatoes is a satisfying entree. Make sure to save room for dessert. The Napoleon, layers of buttery puff pastry, sweet cream and macerated blackberries is a decadent end to a meal. For those who prefer an adult beverage as a nightcap, the Purple Martin boasts a creative cocktail menu. Its namesake drink, a concoction of Fitz’s grape soda, Malibu rum and lime juice, is a sweet and refreshing treat. $-$$
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music
B-Sides 40 Critics’ Picks 44 Concerts 46 Clubs
The Good Fight FIFTEEN YEARS INTO HIS CAREER, ROCKY VOTOLATO REFUSES TO BE KNOCKED DOWN Rocky Votolato 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street. $12. 314-535-0353.
ocky Votolato, the Seattle-based, Texas-born singer-songwriter, has always been workmanlike as an artist — and it shows. Throughout his fifteen-year-plus career, songs about making ends meet (or failing to) and laboring fingers to the bone have always shared time with more genre-typical matters-of-the-heart fare. Take, for example, the aptly titled “St. Louis,” a recently released B-side from 2012’s Television of Saints. Inspired by a gig in town a few years BY back, Votolato sings, “Taping JAMES up your knuckles and climbing back into the ring/For a KANE workman’s wages slugging it out in St. Louis/Your life is not your own without the chances that you take.” “Maybe just because my name is Rocky, I relate to a boxer, and each night is kind of getting in the ring when I go do a show,” Votolato says, speaking from Washington, D.C., after three nights of sold-out shows. “Some nights you get your ass kicked. Other nights, you know, you put up a good fight.” Votolato has been waging that battle in countless cities throughout the United States and Europe, playing earnest folk, rock and Americana tunes from his eight full-length studio albums. His latest, Hospital Handshakes, came out in April on No Sleep Records, recorded by former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla. “We’re old friends,” Votolato says of Walla. “He did Suicide Medicine [Votolato’s 2003 breakthrough], so we already knew each other. He just recently left Death Cab — that basically happened while we were making the record. There was a lot of good creative energy around, but it was also kind of tough because we were both at a point of transition. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but I don’t know any record that ever is.” Votolato, his brother Cody (a long-time collaborator and member of the post-hardcore band the Blood Brothers) and Walla scoured their contacts to find a veteran group of friends and musicians to fill out the full-band studio
AMBER ZBITNOFF KNECHT
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Rocky Votolato.
lineup. The group included Eric Corson of the Long Winters, who played bass, and Casey Foubert, now on tour with Sufjan Stevens, who filled in on various instruments. “It’s always different every time for me because I’ve never had a set, solid band. It’s a solo project, so I like it to be flexible,” says Votolato. “Basically, it was a group of super pro, super experienced guys who’ve done a lot of records.” The album came together at a breakneck pace. “Because I trusted them all, I just let it happen. There wasn’t a lot of cerebral overthinking of the process,” Votolato says. “It was more kind of a punk approach to it. I wanted to make this record in two weeks, which we basically did. And it was live to tape, which is really fun. It felt impulsive and urgent.” Votolato explains that overthinking his process had caused problems for him in the past. “I went through some trouble the last couple years, sort of getting writer’s block. You can shut down the creative process pretty
quickly, being too critical or too perfectionist about things,” he says. “But I got through that. Hospital Handshakes has been great for just getting back to work, man. I’m super proud of this album; it’s going to be one in my catalog that I always look back on and feel good about. I think it will stand up.” It does. As the former frontman of a punk band, Votolato’s new studio lineup finds him as energized and uptempo as ever. Cody Votolato’s muscular electric guitar provides the forward momentum (see “White-Knuckles,” “A New Son” or the Foo Fighters-inspired “Rumi”) while his bandmate in several other projects, Andy Lum, plays drums with abandon. Votolato’s vocals are as full-throated as they were in his days with Waxwing, though perhaps tinged with a bit more Americana influence — casual listeners could be forgiven for mistaking several new songs for Ryan Adams tunes. There are notes of resignation, too, as Votolato chants, “Trust that everything happening is perfect/I’ll trust you if you trust me,” almost echoing his thought process, swaying as, say, a like-named champ in the fifteenth round would. riverfronttimes.com
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Handshakes also marks Votolato’s return to a record label proper. After making his home at Barsuk Records for three albums (and Second Nature Recordings for three before that), 2012’s Television was a strictly crowd-funded endeavor. Votolato considers it a learning experience. “After I did a Kickstarter, I realized how much extra work there is on the back end to get that done,” he says. “I wanted to have a label this time around. It’s nice having a team of people helping.” The tour he built around that album was a social-media-driven effort, consisting of fanhosted-living room shows across the country. Votolato continues that tradition today. “A company called Undertow Music does [the living room shows] for me. Basically, it’s sort of like crowdsourcing the houses. Anybody who wants to host one of the shows gets in touch, and fans send in pictures of their living rooms,” he says. “We sell a very limited number of tickets, between 30 and 50 tickets, and they’re just these really intimate shows. I love doing those tours. The people that are there really want to hear me sing. It’s the most organic way you can do it. It just cuts down on all the bar talkers and distractions, and just makes it all about the songs.” Speaking of bar talkers, a digression: More than a decade ago, this writer witnessed Votolato dismiss a particularly obnoxious kilt-wearing heckler in a room of otherwise reverent fans in Kansas City. After several polite requests to quiet down, Votolato silenced him: “C’mon, man, I don’t go to your job and knock dicks out of your mouth!” He issues a belly laugh when reminded of this memory. “That is a classic from my past,” he sighs. “I learned that from my dad. He was a bit of a rough character. And I was pretty fiery as a young man, making all kinds of mistakes in life. I don’t think I’d ever say that to someone now. I’ve grown up a little bit.” How so? For one, he’s gotten better at traveling. But Votolato also says that committing to music full-time was a major step for an artist who, six albums ago, plaintively sang, “I should be singing/To earn my keep by now.” “I think we all have some kind of singing to do,” he says, referencing that line. “I think that’s a big part of figuring out life, if you really want to be happy — finding what you really love to do, then finding a way to make it into your job. I hear stories all across the country all the time of people who are struggling to do that. That’s just a real challenge, so I’m super grateful now to be in a place where, for now, I have a balance. I kind of made my mind up: This is all I do. This is all I do.” ■
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Shooting a Scene ART SHOW AT BLANK SPACE FEATURES MORE THAN 500 PHOTOS DOCUMENTING THE PAST TEN YEARS OF ST. LOUIS MUSIC More Loves than Stupids: The Past Decade of the South St. Louis Music Scene in Photos 7 p.m. Thursday, August 13. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee Street. Free. 314-300-8831.
I
f you ask Jaime Lees to explain the body of work that will be on display in her one-night photography show at Blank Space next week, she might say, “It’s just my friends doing what they do best, and I have these crappy pictures of them.” She might tell you that she’s not a “real photographer.” But don’t let her fool you. Her photos are definitely the real deal. For more than ten years, Lees has been quietly documenting the St. Louis music scene, taking candid photographs and storing them away in her personal records. She didn’t initially plan on showing the images to anybody. But she has since had a change of heart, and on August 13, more than 500 of the photographs will be on display, offering viewers an intimate glance into the heart of the scene. Lees isn’t a musician herself, but she is every bit a part of the scene as the men and women in her photographs. In addition to being a regular contributor to RFT Music, she and Bunnygrunt’s Matt Harnish maintain HaikuLou, a minimalist music blog that
exclusively features show reviews in haiku form. Between the two of them, they have written more than 800 poems over the last four years. For Lees, St. Louis music is as important as family. “I’m not trying to document some scene; I’m just taking pictures of my friends,” Lees says. “There’s some kind of holy thing that these musicians are tapping into. I can’t do it, so the best I can do is document it. This is just how I show my appreciation.” While many of the images in the show are entrancingly beautiful, exploding with crisp light and deep contrast, what makes these photographs so captivating is the way that they capture the personalities and emotions in every moment. In one image, Lees’ favorite, local artist Dana Smith and musician Anne Tkach sit together at the bar at Ryder’s Tavern. The photo was taken in January of this year, just months before Tkach tragically died in a fire at her father’s house. Tkach faces the camera, but both of them seem completely oblivious to Lees, totally wrapped up in their conversation. They each smile thoughtfully, and look as if there is nowhere they would rather be. “That’s her at her happiest,” Lees explains. “It’s one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken because Anne looks so great in that picture.” These are the kinds of moments that Lees looks for when she is at a show. Although there are plenty of photographs of live music in this body of work, most of the pictures capture the musicians before and after they step onto the stage. Lees is more interested in people than performances, capturing her musician friends dancing in the crowd,
JAIME LEES
b-sides
A small sample of the photos that will be on display at Blank Space on Thursday.
loitering outside the venue or hugging and kissing one another. “With actual journalism it’s about capturing exactly what’s there, but with a photo it’s about capturing how the room feels, or the
HOMESPUN SI FASIC Basement Sessions EP facebook.com/Sifasic SIFASIC Record Release Show 9 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Avenue. $7. 314-352-5226.
J
oshua J. Grassle has a growling, gristley voice that’s well-suited for the low rumbles of melodic hardcore or the soul-scrapings of heavy metal. He’s proved as much over the years with a host of St. Louis-byway-of-Alton, Illinois, bands such as Foster Pilot and Elbow Through Hammer. His newest group attempts to soften some of the edges of his previous acts, though his vocal delivery has lost none of its heaviness. SIFASIC, a clunky acronym for “sometimes it’s foggy, and sometimes it’s clear,” had its genesis in Grassle’s musical partnership with vocalist and pianist Jamie Marie George, and the two have collaborated in a few projects prior to this one. Alongside guitarist Sean Stone, bassist Rich White and drummer Paul Sanders, the two singers lock into set roles — his gruff, hers honeyed — for this grayscale hard-rock EP. As the title suggests, Basement Sessions collects five home recordings as a way of introducing the group. The finished product is better than a demo tape and less convincing as a statement of purpose, and the suitably rough production is a good fit for a band with little 40
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love for polish. Most of these songs are minor-key and downcast, mining the strip of land between modern radio rock and bleak outlaw country, if more in mood than in genre signifiers. Opening track “Everything Changes” gives the clearest picture of what SIFASIC is after: A rangy lead guitar cuts a path early in the song, and George’s heavy piano chords add a different kind of gravity than that of the rhythm section. It’s also the best example of what Grassle and George can accomplish as a duo; her lines float above his with a plaintive sway, as if the characters in the song are speaking the same lines but still failing to communicate. That’s a useful tension that the best duet singers have relied upon, but too often the singers perform in tandem at a set interval that doesn’t explore the space of the songs. These feel like Grassle’s performances with George’s harmonies tacked on. “Right” shows a little more buoyancy thanks to some syncopated guitar interplay and plucky piano parts, and set closer “On and On” shows the band at its most muscular. As an introductory recording, Basement Sessions shows that SIFASIC can be a fine hard-rock band, but the group will have to leave room for nuance if it wants to create a new space for its sound. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space? Send music c/o Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130. Email music@riverfronttimes.com for more information.
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feeling of what’s happening in there,” Lees says. “Some things just want to be pictures.” The 560 photographs that will be on display at Blank Space on August 13 are just a small sliver of the many thousands of pictures that Lees has taken in the past ten years. For her, flipping through the photographs is a bit like reliving history. With each image, nights that would be otherwise forgotten flood back into her memory. “It’s a little disturbing to see ten years of your life condensed to 500 pictures,” she says. “I can see who I was hanging out with, where I went, what bands I saw. It makes you realize how much time has gone by.” Although she takes pictures almost every day, Lees sees herself as more of a documentarian than a photographer. She prefers an iPhone to a bulky camera, and isn’t particularly worried about having the highest quality images. For her, taking pictures isn’t so much about creating art as it is about recording the music scene that means so much to her. She shoots shows so that they will never be forgotten. “I have a very strong instinct to document. It’s like if I don’t get this, no one will — and then it will be gone forever. It’s sort of an anxiety to document,” Lees explains. “I don’t have kids; if I had a baby there would be ten thousand pictures of a baby. Music is how I prioritize my life.” –DEREK SCHWARTZ
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Bowling the way it is now– FUN!
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Delmar Loop
Saint Louis
SaturDaY 8/8
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friDaY 9/11
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UPCOMING SHOWS 9.12 THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE 9.18 KACEY MUSGRAVES 9.25 WARREN HAYNES 9.27 BEACH HOUSE 9.29 ZZ WARD 9.30 PARADOSIO 10.2 FUNK VOLUME TOUR 2015 W/ HOPSIN 10.6 GHOST 10.7 FATHER JOHN MISTY 10.8 BEN RECTOR 10.12 BRING ME THE HORIZON 10.15 FLUX PAVILION
10.16 LETTUCE 10.17 GRACE POTTER 10.19 PASSION PIT 10.21 LYLE LOVETT & JOHN HIATT 10.23 YELAWOLF/MEG MYERS 10.24 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS 10.28 ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS / NEW POLITICS 10.31 SOMO 11.6 TIMEFLIES 11.8 NEW FOUND GLORY / YELLOWCARD 11.23 GLEN HANSARD
visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL
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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161
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critics’ picks
Clockwise from the top: The Coup (Ferguson Rocks), Girlpool and Jay Farrar (Open Highway Fest).
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 5, through Sunday, August 9. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10 to $40. 314-773-3363. The brainchild of musician and promoter John Henry, the Open Highway Music Festival celebrates its fifth year with the kind of lineup that should make LouFest, if not Sasquatch, envious. Two major songwriters, Jay Farrar and Ryan Bingham, join Bob Schneider (who kicks off the five-night event on August 5), Ha Ha Tonka, Diarrhea Planet and Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. It’s been decades since Farrar has played Off Broadway, once a stomping ground for Uncle Tupelo, and Bingham ordinarily plays rooms three times the size of this club, so that should be incentive enough. But with not-quite-local heroes Ha Ha Tonka (the band hails from Springfield) and Finn, who will be debuting new material from his second solo album Faith in the Future, OHMF should tempt anyone who wants a festival experience without the increasingly corporate mega-festival bullshit. Local Rock Love: On August 6, the second night of OHMF, two local bands, Bruiser Queen and Brother Lee and the Jackals, test their mettle before Nashville, Tennessee’s Diarrhea Planet, widely hailed as one of rock’s wildest live bands. — ROY KASTEN
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run its course. Expect a good time shared by friends and fans alike, as well as sets from Fister, Anodes and the aforementioned Hell Night. Catch the Fever: [Editor’s note: Damn it, “Catch the Fever”? That’s, like, the easiest, most groan-worthy idiom ever. Let’s make sure not to print this or else people are going to accuse us of being lazy writers.] — DANIEL HILL
FERGUSON ROCKS 8 p.m. Saturday, August 8. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. Free. 314-833-3929. One day before the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the Ready Room will play host to a concert to raise awareness and benefit social activism. Organized by rapper/activist Talib Kweli’s Action Support Committee, the free show will feature performances by many artists who are passionate about social justice, including Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Boots Riley of the Coup, Street Sweeper Social Club and more. While the event is free of charge, donations are encouraged. The Nightwatchman Cometh: Morello has been outspoken about last summer’s events in Ferguson since the very beginning, even writing a song called “Marching on Ferguson” under his solo guise as the Nightwatchman. Safe to assume he will have a lot to say on the matter. — DANIEL HILL
CATHEDRAL FEVER FINAL SHOW
GIRLPOOL
8 p.m. Friday, August 7. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $8. 314-289-9050. Three-and-a-half years after forming, Cathedral Fever is calling it quits. Though that might not seem like a very long time, it is actually a pretty typical lifespan for a hardcore band, and the St. Louis group managed to release a matching number of records during that period (one demo, two EPs and a split with Hell Night, amounting to three-and-a-half releases, according to our crack team of math buffs). That actually puts the group a little bit ahead of the curve. Bonus points are awarded for the fact that each of those efforts was really fucking good. Members of the darkened hardcore act (“dorkened,” to hear them tell it) insist there is no bad blood or animosity behind the breakup, and that the group has simply
7 p.m. Tuesday, August 11. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 Jefferson Avenue. $5. 314-772-2100. You don’t have to dig too deep to pull out the adjective “child-like” to describe Girlpool. The drummer-less duo of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad titled its debut Before the World Was Big — its title track is a paean to uncomplicated youth — and the album’s cover art depicts a boy and girl making their own universe of Lego bricks. But the pair’s twinned vocals and open-hearted lyrics transmit a certain twee naivete that is matched with a keen eye for site-specific details and sharp ear for big-hearted, do-it-yourself pop. Star Power: Frankie Cosmos, the stage name of lo-fi folkie Greta Kline (daughter of St. Louis native Kevin Kline) will open the show. — CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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R OX Y C A M P O S
O P E N H IG H WAY M U SIC F E ST I VA L
tickets available at ticketfly.com for $10.57 GA only. VIP sold out. day of show tickets available $15. must be 18+ ($10 minor surcharge under 21 applies)
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concerts
JUNE 10 | JULY 8 | AUGUST 12 | SEPTEMBER 9
5:00–8:30 PM | CENTRAL AVE DOWNTOWN CLAYTON
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V I A W M E E N T E R TA I N M E N T
THIS JUST IN Aaron Kamm and the One Drops: W/ Spare Change Trio, Fri., Sept. 4, 6 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Allie Kral & the River City All-Stars: Thu., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Bad Taste: W/ Lumpy & the Dumpers, Shitstorm, Sun., Aug. 16, 5 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Bible Belt Sinners: W/ Blackwater ‘64, Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals, Sat., Aug. 29, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Broken Prayer: W/ Cruelster, Bitchin’ Reality, Fri., Aug. 21, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: W/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Burn Halo: W/ Heartist, Courage My Love, Against Himself, Wed., Oct. 7, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Chance the Rapper: W/ D.R.A.M., Towkio, Metro Boomin, Tue., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Cleric: W/ VII, Crawl, Sun., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Cop Circles: W/ Friendship Commanders, Bagheera, Sat., Aug. 15, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Crizzly: Wed., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Dana: W/ Dinofight!, the Ultraviolents, Mon., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Dead Horse Trauma: W/ Superpimp, Tue., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Deafheaven: W/ Tribulation, Mon., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $16-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Extravision: W/ Dubb Nubb, the Wilderness, Mon., Aug. 31, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Face Up & Sing: Celebrating 25 years of Ani DiFranco: W/ Suzie Cue, the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Genevieve, Wed., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: W/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: W/ Al Holliday and the East T H IS C O D E Side Rhythm Band, Torrey TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE Casey & the Southside Hustle, RIVERFRONT TIMES Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West IPHONE/ANDROID APP City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, FOR MORE CONCERTS OR VISIT Festus. riverfronttimes.com Floating City Reunion show: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. For All I Am: W/ A Promise To Burn, Torn at the Seams, Wed., Aug. 19, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. The Front Bottoms: W/ the Smith Street Band, Elivs Depressedly, Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m., $16.50-$20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Futurebirds: W/ Cara Louise Band, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Gary Clark Jr.: Sun., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., $33.50-$38.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. Health Problems: W/ the Crisis, Wed., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. I See Stars: W/ For the Win, Alive In Standby, Life On Broadway, Ecclesiast, Fri., Oct. 9, 6 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Idle Hour Club: W/ the Jans Project, Cave States, Sat., Sept. 19, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363. Idlehands: W/ Author, Sun., Sept. 20, 7 p.m., $12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis.
Gary Clark Jr. will perform at the Pageant on Sunday, February 28. Last to Show First to Go CD Release & Farewell Party: Fri., Aug. 14, 9 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Love Moon: W/ the Brainstems, Sun., Aug. 30, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. Lucas Jack: W/ Scarlet Tanager, Little Falcon, Aaron Krause, Sat., Aug. 22, 7 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Mat Kearney: W/ Parachute, Fri., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $27.50$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. Matisyahu: Fri., Oct. 23, 8 p.m., $27-$32. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. The New Mastersounds: Tue., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $20-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. Nick Moss Band: Fri., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., $10-$12. 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700. Nile: Mon., Jan. 25, 6 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Ought: Sun., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Pat Sajak Assassins: W/ Traveling Sound Machine, Hands & Feet, Fri., Aug. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. Pretty Little Empire: Fri., Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Rich Homie Quan: W/ K Camp, Justine Skye, Jacques, Diggy, Elijah Blake, Rawyals, Anthony Lewis, Chris Miles, 4EY, Star Mic, Sun., Sept. 27, 7 p.m., $26.50-$86.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. Rick Springfield: Thu., Oct. 1, 8 p.m., $45-$75. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. Rumpke Mountain Boys: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Sydney Street Shakers: Wed., Aug. 19, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-7722100. Tasi: W/ Lioness D Rasta, Da Bredren Band, Jay Spearman, Sat., Aug. 22, 8 p.m., $5. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tea Leaf Green: W/ Acoustics Anonymous, Belagroove, Sun., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$20. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Trout Steak Revival: Wed., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Tumbleweed Wanderers: Tue., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis. Tunic: W/ Skin Tags, Ish, Sun., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. The Twistin’ Tarantulas: Fri., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. Underground Styles Hip Hop Music Festival: W/ Preach, Bates, Beastmode, Sat., Aug. 22, 5 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Union Electric: W/ Drown Fish, Thu., Aug. 13, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100. The Way Down Wanderers: Fri., Sept. 11, 9 p.m., $8. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Weathered: W/ Quarrels, Oakwood Estate, Tue., Aug. 25, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
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PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way!
With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way! www.riverfronttimes.com/concerts/
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TNT Glass
out every night
Designs
All-American Smoke Shop
Wraps by Cody Custom Ordering Available Every Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday PIPES • VAPORIZERS • E-CIGS KRATOM • DETOX • JEWELRY 6163 Delmar Blvd. • 63112 Next to The Pageant on Delmar
314.863.8860
“Out Every Night” is a free listing open to all bars and bands in the St. Louis and Metro East areas. However, we reserve the right to refuse any entry. Listings are to be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail. Deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, ten days before Thursday publication. Please include bar’s name, address with ZIP code, phone number and geographic location; nights and dates of entertainment; and act name. Mail: Riverfront Times, attn: “Clubs,” 6358 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130-4719; fax: 314-754-6416; e-mail: clubs@ riverfronttimes.com. Schedules are not accepted over the phone. Because of last-minute cancellations and changes, please call ahead to verify listings.
Jay Farrar: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Rocky Votolato: w/ Dave Hause, Chris Farren, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350353, www.firebirdstl.com. SIFASIC CD Release: w/ Slow Down Scarlett, the Edgefield C. Johnston Duo, Jamie M. George, Grass & Stone, Sat., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226, www.theheavyanchor.com. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue: Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $11-$25. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com. Vanilla Fudge: Sat., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$35. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720, www.popsrocks.com.
S U N DAY T H U R S DAY Diarrhea Planet: w/ Bruiser Queen, Brother Lee and the Jackals, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. Fireworks: w/ Weatherbox, Dry Jacket, Welcome Home, Thu., Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m., $13-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www.firebirdstl.com. PopNation Summer Tour 2015: w/ Round 2 Crew, Sweet Suspense, Carson Lueders, the Food Conspiracy, Chris Miles, After Romeo, Frankie, KATELYN JAE, the Bomb Digz, Thu., Aug. 6, 6 p.m., $15-$30. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Smiling Politely: w/ Riot For Violet, Ramona Deflowered, Thu., Aug. 6, 9 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. WEEED: w/ Sole Loan, Rip Rap, Thu., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/.
F R I DAY Andre Moore: w/ VG, Lizzie Webber, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www. fubarstl.com. Brother Lee and the Leather Jackals: w/ the Free Years, Search Parties, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. Dom Chronicles: w/ Farout, DJ Mahf, Fri., Aug. 7, 9 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thedemostl.com. Fister: w/ Cathedral Fever, Hell Night, Anodes, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Ha Ha Tonka: w/ Craig Finn, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $17-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl. com. I Actually Album Release Show: w/ Fumer, Durango, Mike Pennekamp, Fri., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., T H IS C O D E $5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE St. Louis, 314-535-0353, www. RIVERFRONT TIMES firebirdstl.com. IPHONE/ANDROID APP Jason Michael Carroll: Fri., Aug. FOR MORE CLUBS OR VISIT 7, 8 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, riverfronttimes.com 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom.com. Taking Back Sunday: Fri., Aug. 7, 6 p.m., $10.57-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481, www.stlballparkvillage.com.
SCAN
S AT U R DAY El Monstero: A Tribute to Pink Floyd: Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., $20-$45. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation. com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-tickets-Maryland-Heights/venue/49672. Ferguson Rocks: w/ Tom Morello and the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, the Coup, the Outernational, Steffanie Christian, Jessica Care Moore, Sat., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thereadyroom. com. Festus Blues & Funk Fest: w/ Al Holliday and the East Side Rhythm Band, Torrey Casey & the Southside Hustle, Sat., Aug. 8, 6 p.m., free. West City Park, 2200 Sunshine Dr, Festus, www.cityoffestus.org.
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Charli XCX: w/ Bleachers, Børns, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $31$36. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161, www.thepageant.com. Every Time I Die: w/ Real Friends, Counterparts, Gnarwolves, Brigades, Gatherers, Sun., Aug. 9, 5:30 p.m., $19-$22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Ferguson Is Everywhere Concert: w/ Talib Kweli, Kenora Ross, M1 from Dead Prez, Tef Poe, Bun B, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Needlez, Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Rasputina: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505, www.oldrockhouse.com. Ryan Bingham: Sun., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363, www.offbroadwaystl.com. Safe to Say: w/ Young and Heartless, WATERMEDOWN, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. Tim McGraw: w/ Billy Currington, Chase Bryant, Sun., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944, www.livenation.com/Verizon-Wireless-Amphitheater-St-Louis-ticketsMaryland-Heights/venue/49672.
M O N DAY American Idol Live!: Mon., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $33-$63. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-2411888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com. Campdogzz: w/ Dutch Courage, Mon., Aug. 10, 10 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314772-2100, foamvenue.com/. Exotype: w/ Kingdom of Giants, Brightwell, Like Vultures, Ends of Infinity, Mon., Aug. 10, 6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
T U E S DAY All About a Bubble: Tue., Aug. 11, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. Brian Wright: w/ Caleb Caudle, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-7274444, www.blueberryhill.com. Girlpool: w/ Frankie Cosmos, Strong Force, Posture, Tue., Aug. 11, 7 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100, foamvenue.com/. The Jukebox Romantics: w/ Powerline Sneakers, Murphy and the Death Rays, Black Tar Heroines, Tue., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com.
W E D N E S DAY Callaghan: Wed., Aug. 12, 9 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444, www.blueberryhill.com. Drag the River: Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www.thedemostl.com. The Few: w/ Hodera, the Winks, Silverfern, Wed., Aug. 12, 6 p.m., $7. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. KMFDM: w/ Chant, Wed., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $25-$28. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, www. thereadyroom.com. Live Like Glass: w/ Dismantling the Silence, Alive/Alone, Unforgiven Amore, Wed., Aug. 12, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050, www.fubarstl.com. My Morning Jacket: w/ Hippo Campus, Wed., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m., TBA. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888, www.peabodyoperahouse.com.
NOW HIRING PH OTOGRAPH E RS
savage love High Times Hey, Dan: Does a person who acts loving only when high on weed really love you? My live-in boyfriend of three years acts sweet, loving, and caring when he’s high, but when the weed runs out, he’s mean, angry, hurtful, and horrible to be around. I’m so confused! Without weed, he’s intolerable. Should I just make sure he’s always well stocked with his drug? He’s a relatively functional BY stoner, even though technically it’s not allowed at his job. I’ve DAN told all my friends he is no lonS AVA G E ger the mean asshole he was when I wanted to leave him (but didn’t), and now I’ve convinced everyone that he transformed back into the amazing catch I always knew he was. So basically, in order to save face over not leaving him (and now I can’t for financial reasons), I burned the bridges. Tensions Highlight Concerns That Relationships Aren’t Perfect
Someone who can be nice only when he’s high isn’t someone you should be fucking, living with, or starting a grow-op on your roof for, THCTRAP, he’s someone you should be dumping, dumping, and dumping. And to be clear: Your boyfriend’s problem isn’t weed, THCTRAP, your boyfriend’s problem is that he is an asshole. And the fact that you’re covering for him is a very, very bad sign. If being with someone isolates you from the support of your friends, that’s not someone you should be with. Does he love you? Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t — but even if he does, do you want to be loved by someone who treats you like shit when he isn’t fucked up? No, you don’t. My advice: DTMFA. But let’s get a second opinion, shall we? “It’s not unusual for people to complain that they feel a little cranky when they run out of weed,” said Dan Skye, editor in chief of High Times magazine. “I know a lot of people who prefer to be high all the time — but if his personality is that different when he runs out of weed, this woman’s boyfriend has problems other than not being high.” Now, there are people out there who selfmedicate with pot — in good ways, not bad ways. “I know many people who have dumped their pharmaceuticals for pot,” said Skye, “because pot is a better substance for easing their pain and anxiety. We are hardwired as humans to hook up with this plant, and some people hook up with this plant in profound ways. It makes them feel better, it makes them more compassionate and more creative — it makes them better human beings.” But Skye doesn’t think your boyfriend is one of those people, THCTRAP.
“If this guy is such a prick when he’s not high, I’d get rid of him,” said Skye. “Putting your girlfriend in a position where she feels like she has to become your dealer — that she has to supply you with pot — is not acceptable.”
The Riverfront Times is looking for outgoing, enthusiastic photographers to join the Riverfront Times Street Team. Team members promote the Riverfront Times at local events and take photos, gain e-mail addresses to build our database, and hand out free stuff! If you are interested in part time work (5-10 hours per week- nights and weekends are required) and want to attend the best events St. Louis has to offer, send your resume to emily.westerholt@riverfronttimes.com. Must be 21 years old!
Hey, Dan: I’m a man who is married to a woman. In our twelve-year relationship, our sex life hasn’t ever been really active, but after being married, my wife’s sex drive decreased noticeably. She had promised things would improve once we tied the knot. She explained that her upbringing was conservative and she felt guilty about having sex before marriage. But marriage didn’t help. We’ve gone to couples’ therapy, only to abandon it because she doesn’t feel any progress, and our pantry has barely used natural remedies for low libido. Currently, she can last having sex for nearly half an hour before feeling exhausted and stopping, regardless of me reaching orgasm or not. On the other hand, we enjoy each other’s company and we’ve got each other’s backs whenever things are rough, so I can’t say she’s uninterested in me. I can’t remember the last time I had fulfilling sex. Whenever I bring it up, she breaks down, saying she’s not enough for me. My need for sex is killing me. Unsexed Grumpy Husband
Maybe your wife’s religious upbringing ruined sex for her and her for sex. Maybe your wife is one of those low-to-nolibido women who sex therapists and counselors whisper about: a woman with no desire for sex, a woman whose marriage is hanging by a thread, a woman who sincerely wants to save her marriage — but nothing seems to help, her marriage collapses, and she winds up divorced. And three months after the divorce, the woman who was weeping to her therapist about the possibility that she might be asexual? She wants to fuck every cute bartender, personal trainer, and waiter she sees. Turns out she wanted sex all along. She just didn’t want it with her husband, or she didn’t want it with only her husband, and her newfound freedom to fuck other people — freedom that might have saved her marriage — reawakened her libido. Maybe your wife is asexual. Here are your non-divorce options, UGH: (1) You can get sex elsewhere without her okay, aka “cheating.” (2) You can ask your wife for permission to get sex elsewhere, aka “not cheating.” (3) You can resign yourself to a sexless marriage, aka “cheating inevitably.” P.S. Never once has a conflict over too little sex in a long-term relationship been solved by a marriage ceremony. On the Lovecast, Dr. Vy Chu on some nastiness that can happen to one’s bottom: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter riverfronttimes.com riverfronttimes.com
M ON TH 0X R R ER FO RO IM E S 491 AU GU S TX 5X–X - 1 1X, ,2 2001 5 I VI V ER FR NN T TT IT M ES
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100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools
THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
DWI/Traffic from $50/Personal Injury.
Mark Helfers, 314-862-6666 Choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
Personal Injury, Workers Comp, DWI, Traffic 314-621-0500
ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising.
530 Misc. Services
WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
800 Health & Wellness 805 Registered Massage
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
500 Services 525 Legal Services
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DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE: R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
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Ultimate Massage by Summer!!!! Relaxing 1 Hr Full Body Massage. Light Touch, Swedish, Deep Tissue. Daily 10am-5pm South County. 314-620-6386 Ls # 2006003746
810 Health & Wellness General ARE YOU ADDICTED TO PAIN MEDICATIONS OR HEROIN? Suboxone can help. Covered by most insurance. Free & confidential assessments. Outpatient Services. Center Pointe Hospital 314-292-7323 or 800-345-5407 763 S. New Ballas Rd, Ste. 310 SUNRISE DAY SPA *SPECIALS* $30-Therapeutic Foot Massage $50-1 HR Full Body Massage See display for coupon! 9441 Olive Blvd. St. Louis, MO 314-993-0517 www.sunrisedayspa.com
600 Music 610 Musicians Services MUSICIANS Do you have a band? We have bookings. Call (314)781-6612 for information Mon-Fri, 10:00-4:30 MUSICIANS AVAILABLE Do you need musicians? A Band? A String Quartet? Call the Musicians Association of St. Louis (314)781-6612, M-F, 10:00-4:30
100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298
120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP ! Requires Class E, B or A License. S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train. ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550
155 Medical Research Studies Washington University study seeks women 1449! Available services include birth control, GYN exams, & STI tests. 314-747-0800
190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.
193 Employment Information CDL- A DRIVERS and Owner Operators: $1,000.00 sign on, Company/ Safety Bonuses. Home daily/ weekly. Regional runs. Great Benefits. 1-888-300-9935
400 Buy-Sell-Trade 420 Auto-Truck
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
SOUTHERN MISSOURI TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL Are You Addicted to Pain Are You Addicted to Medications or Heroin? Pain Medications Suboxone Can Help. or•Confidential Heroin? Outpatient •Convenient
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5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 763SAINT S. NEWLOUIS, BALLASMO RD.,63128 STE. 310 ST LOUIS, MO 63141 314-842-4463 After hours 314-292-7323 or weekends 800-345-5407 or 5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 ST LOUIS, MO 63128 314-842-4463
After hours or weekends: 800-345-5407
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888-323-6917
THE GENTRY’S LANDING
More than you’d expect for less than you’d imagine. The Best Views in St Louis overlooking the Arch/Riverfront. Spacious studio’s, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments-Fully Furnished Apt’s and short-term leases also available. Rooftop pool, two fitness centers, community room and business center w/WiFi. Penthouse Suites Available. www.gentryslanding.com DOWNTOWN Cityside-Apts 314-231-6806 Bring in ad & application fee waived! Gated prkng, onsite laundry. Controlled access bldgs, pool, fitness, business ctr. Pets welcome GRAVOIS-PARK $550 636-230-0068 3300 Miami- 1st floor all new 1BR/1 BA, ADT security system, off street parking, & w/d included, locked basement storage area. KINGSHIGHWAY! $450 314-309-2043 2 bedroom 4-plex, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, plush carpet, enclosed back porch, recent updates! rs-stl.com RGSCU NATURAL-BRIDGE! $575 314-309-2043 Family size 3-4 br, central air, big basement, fenced yard, appliances, w/d hookups, off street parking! rs-stl.com RGSCX NORTH-CITY 1-bedroom-apts 314-921-9191 4008 Garfield $315/mo $415 deposit. 5071 Ruskin $375/mo $475 deposit. Credit Check Required. NORTH-COUNTY $500 (314)606-7868 Senior Community: 2Br, Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher, C/A, W/D Hkup. NORTH-COUNTY! $399 314-309-2043 Budget 1 br, cold a/c, fitness room, sauna, flexible deposit, deck, pool access, kitchen appliances, pets allowed! rs-stl.com RGSB5
WESTPORT/LINDBERGH/PAGE $525-$575 314-995-1912 1 mo FREE! 1BR ($525) & 2BR ($575 specials) Clean, safe, quiet. Patio, laundry, great landlord! Nice Area near I-64, 270, 170, 70 or Clayton
320 Houses for Rent BEVO-MILL $795 636-230-0068 3920 Schiller -all new 2+BR, off street parking, fenced yard, w/d included, c/a, beautiful semi-finished basement. CHIPPEWA! $725 314-309-2043 Large 3 bed, 2 bath house, finished basement, extra storage, fenced yard, all kitchen appliances, pets welcome, rent to own! rs-stl.com RGSC3 DELOR! $750 314-309-2043 Updated 3 bed, 1.5 bath house, central air, walkout finished basement, hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, pets welcome!, rs-stl.com RGSC4 HALLS-FERRY! $405 314-309-2043 All-electric 1 bedroom house, full basement, fenced yard, frosty a/c, all kitchen appliances, pets allowed, easy move in! rs-stl.com RGSC0 MARYLAND-HEIGHTS $1100 314-443-4478 1557 Redcoat: All elec. 3 bdrm, 2 bath house. Parkway Schools. NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 2, 3 & 4BR homes for rent. eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome PAGE! $700 314-309-2043 Ready to rent 3 bed house, full basement, central air, all kitchen appliances, ceiling fans, w/d hookups, off street parking! RGSC2 SOUTH-CITY $790 314-223-8067 2 BR house,some wood floors, stove/fridge, W/D hkup in bsmt, new C/A, garage, porch. No Sec. 8. SOUTH-CITY! $475 314-309-2043 Cute house, full basement, central air, garage w/opener, fenced yard, all appliances, built-ins, only $200 deposit! rs-stl.com RGSC1 U NIVERSITY-CITY! $850 314-309-2043 Charming 4 bedroom house, big basement, central air, beautiful hardwood floors, fenced yard, all appliances, covered porch! rs-stl. com RGSC6
RICHMOND-HEIGHTS $515-$555 (Special) 314-995-1912 1 MONTH FREE! 1BR, all elec off Big Bend, Metrolink, 40, 44, Clayton SOUTH CITY $400-$850 314-771-4222 Many different units www.stlrr.com 1-3 BR, no credit no problem SOUTH ST. LOUIS CITY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1, 2 & 3 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome SOUTH-CITY
$495 314-707-9975 813-815 Courtois St: 2 BR, hdwd flrs, C/A.
SOUTH-CITY $530 314-481-6443 6429 Gravois- Apt. 2 BR, C/A, Carpet, Draperies. $530 deposit
SOUTH-CITY
$475 314-397-2388
1BR near Grand & Gravois area. Totally rehabbed, close to everything, all appls incl, hdwd flrs, thermal wins. $400 Dep.
SOUTH-CITY
$430-$440
314-277-0204
3841 Gustine 1BR; $40 Per Adult App Fee. SOUTH-CITY $450-$495 314-707-9975 Grand & Bates: 1 BRs, hardwood flrs, all electric, C/A. SOUTH-CITY $475 314-223-8067 Move in Special! Spacious 1BRs, Oak Floors, Ceiling Fans, Stove & Refrigerator, A/C, W/D Hook-Up, Nice area SOUTH-CITY $500 314-731-0840 4239 Tholozan. 2BR, Eat in Kitchen, C/A, W/D hkps, Application req.
SOUTH-CITY! $625 314-309-2043 Roomy 3-4 bedroom, central air, hardwood floors, nice deck, all appliances, w/d hookups, recent upgrades! rs-stl.com RGSCY
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
or SERVICES OUTPATIENT
317 Apartments for Rent
SOUTH-CITY 314-504-6797 37XX Chippewa: 3 rms, 1BR. all elec exc. heat. C/A, appls, at bus stop
Suboxone Can Help. 314-292-7323
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SOUTH-CITY $675 314-221-9568 2br duplex, hdwds, central air, private basement, Carondelet area, $25 app fee, no sec 8.
•Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
Outpatient - Confidential - Convenient 763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 Covered byLOUIS, most insurance SAINT MO 63141 Free & confidential assessments
ST. JOHN $495-$595 314-423-3106 Special! 1BR.$495 & 2BR.$595. Near 170 & St.Charles Rock Rd
300 Rentals
IF YOU DESIRE TO MAKE MORE MONEY AND NEED A NEW JOB EARNING $45-$50 thousand the 1st year, great benefits, call SMTDS, Financial assistance available if you qualify. Free living quarters. 6 students max per class. 4 wks. 192 hours.
SOUTH-CITY! $725 314-309-2043 Big 4 bedroom, full basement, hardwood floors, central air, all kitchen appliances, w/d hookups, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RGSCZ ST. CHARLES COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1 & 2 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome
• More driving time than any other school in the state •
riverfronttimes.com
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
RIVERFRONT TIMES
51
Are You Addicted to Pain Medications or Heroin ?
R 314-754-5966
Suboxone Can Help.
BUYING JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & VANS 314-968-6555
Outpatient • Confidential • Convenient •Covered by most insurance •Free & confidential assessments
DATING MADE EASY... LOCAL SINGLES! Listen & Reply FREE! 314-739-7777 FREE PROMO CODE: 9512 Telemates
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
763 S. NEW BALLAS RD. STE. 310 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63141
314-292-7323 or
5000 CEDAR PLAZA PKWY., STE. 380 SAINT LOUIS, MO 63128
314-842-4463
After hours or weekends 800-345-5407
DWI/BANKRUPTCY HOTLINE:
R.O.C. LAW , A Debt Relief Agency, Helping People File For Bankruptcy Relief Under the New Bankruptcy Code. 314-843-0220 The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & shouldn’t be based solely upon advertisements.
DWI/Traf $50+/Personal InjuryMark Helfers, 314-862-6666- CRIMINAL former Asst US Attorney, 32 years exp
www.HelfersLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising
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ATTORNEY BRUCE E. HOPSON
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RIVERFRONT TIMES
AUGUST 5-11, 2015
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