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THE LEDE
“What I think a lot of people don’t realize is that we human beings have only been here for a short time. We’re just passing along for the ride. So the Latin people are taking over Cherokee for the next ten to fifteen years, and then there will be somebody else who will come work here. Then the Spanish people will shoot off to different areas.
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“The world belongs to all of us. We have to think of it that way. We all migrate. Just like the bird, just like the butterfly, just like the salmon, just like everything else here on Earth that goes around in a circle.”
Muralist Gonz Jove, photoGraphed at Cherokee street’s CinCo de Mayo Celebration on May 5
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE
12.
Fool for a Client When accused abusers play lawyer, they can take their victims down with them Written by
DOYLE MURPHY
Cover photo illustration by
TOM CARLSON
NEWS
ARTS
DINING
CULTURE
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24
31
40
The Lede
Calendar
Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera
Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do
With Billie-Jean, Zoe Robinson unveils her masterwork
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27
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Pot
For dueling medical marijuana initiatives, to the swiftest goes top ballot placement
Film
Tully is simply terrific, writes MaryAnn Johanson
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Side Dish
Homespun
The Mighty Pines’ new album showcases the band at its best
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In Memoriam
Joshua Johnson stopped through Missouri on his way to Nashville. He’s still here
R.I.P. Bruce Cole of the Screamin’ Mee-Mees
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Bars
Media
Openings
Jamie Allman is suing his former employers
Tropical Liqueurs is ready, at long last, to open in the Grove
Blank Space re-opens as arcade bar RKDE
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First Look
Drugs
Out Every Night
A methadone clinic has its eye on Bevo Mill
The Bao is all about the buns
The best concerts in St. Louis every night of the week
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Takeout
Police
Sides of Seoul offers just that in Overland, plus hot dishes to go
Surveillance cams are everywhere in St. Louis. Now some aldermen are pushing back
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(314) 961-0644 | ExperienceOpera.org All performances sung in English and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
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NEWS Pot Petitions Filed for 2018 Ballot Written by
ERIC BERGER
F
or two groups aiming to place medical marijuana initiatives on the 2018 ballot, Friday was a race against the clock — and each other. They were two days away from a deadline to file petition signatures. Both had hoped to turn in signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State first. For one of the groups, New Approach Missouri, the petitions are a chance to move past a near-miss in 2016. The organization, which aims to change the state’s constitution to allow medical marijuana, thought it had collected enough signatures to place a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot then, but election officials declared more than 10,000 signatures invalid, ruining its hopes of making the presidential ballot. Friday morning, the group turned in more than 370,000 signatures — even though it only needs about 170,000 — and tried to “obtain a five percent buffer” on signatures in each congressional district, says Michael Hill, a New Approach board member. The organization also used a different company, FieldWorks, to gather signatures this year. The company is “very conservative when they review signatures,” Hill says. “We feel very confident with the company we hired,” he adds. New Approach appears to have gotten its signatures in before Find the Cure, a medical marijuana ballot initiative financed by Dr. Brad Bradshaw, a Springfield physician and personal injury attorney. It also takes aim at the state’s constitution. A Find the Cure spokesman said Thursday that the group planned to turn in its signatures on Friday afternoon. (A third initiative supported by former state lawmakers — and pushed by a lobbyist group funded by conservative Rex Sinquefield
New Approach Missouri, whose backers include Jeff Mizanskey, says it’s filed more than enough signatures for the 2018 ballot. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI — would change state statutes. Complicating things even further, the Missouri House also this week approved medical marijuana legislation that now goes before the Senate.) If the various initiatives all collect enough valid signatures — they will not find out until August — the group that files first would be higher on the ballot. And if both constitutional amendments receive 50 percent of the vote or more, the one that receives the most votes would become law. Both New Approach and a rival group acknowledged Thursday that whoever files first today could have an advantage. Studies have shown that ballot order can influence the outcome of an election, with voters more likely to vote for the first candidate rather than the second if they don’t know or have a strong feeling about either. New Approach thinks the same could apply for competing medical marijuana initiatives.
“The odds are that if they are going to vote yes on only one of them, they are going to do it for the top one,” Hill posits. On Thursday, a Find the Cure spokesman sounded confident that its initiative would be first on the ballot. He said they planned to turn in their signatures at 4 p.m. Friday and questioned whether New Approach had actually collected enough signatures this time. After all, it doesn’t help to get in first unless you actually have the signatures to qualify. “Everyone claims they have 250,000, 300,000 signatures,” says Find the Cure spokesman Marcus Leach. “But none of them have done what we have done, which is hire two independent companies to validate the signatures, so I wouldn’t be surprised if New Approach does what they did last time. We are 100 percent certain that we will be the first medical marijuana effort ever on Missouri’s ballot.” n
riverfronttimes.com
Poker Boast Was No Threat, Allman Argues Written by
DANNY WICENTOWSKI
F
ormer 97.1 FM radio host Jamie Allman is plotting his comeback. In addition to a morning podcast dubbed Radio Free Allman, he’s also filed suit against station owner Entercom Communications, alleging wrongful termination. In the lawsuit, which was filed April 27, the conservative radio host claims that Entercom violated his employment contract when it fired him two weeks before. Allman’s termination came only four days after Riverfront Times first reported on an uncomfortably graphic tweet written by the radio host on March 26. The tweet, which concerned Allman’s interest in applying a hot poker to the ass of Parkland
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Methadone Clinic Eyes Bevo Written by
DOYLE MURPHY
A
cheery marketing banner in the window of a vacant former bank in Bevo Mill suggests to potential investors it would make a perfect tap room. “This could be ... a microbrewery,” the sign reads. A nice idea maybe, but it is more likely to be a methadone clinic. A Florida-based company that operates a network of drug treatment centers has filed for an occupancy permit to put a new facility in the building. Colonial Management Group’s application is still pending. The company has yet to submit anything to the state Department of Mental Health, which would have to sign off. But opposition among neighbors is already building. “I don’t know what else worse they could have there,” says Tony Zanti. Zanti owns twenty properties along Bevo’s main drag. After years of working with others to revive the neighborhood, it seems to be taking off. The former bank sits amid a cluster of new Mexican restaurants and the district’s signature structure, the Bevo Mill, has reopened as Das Bevo, a desti-
ALLMAN
Continued from pg 9
shooting survivor David Hogg, sparked a boycott and national media coverage. Post-firing, Allman insisted he never intended the tweet to represent a literal threat of sexual assault. But regardless of intent, a grown man tweeting about his desire to “ram a hot poker” up the ass of a teenage school shooting survivor brought swift action from Allman’s employers. On April 9, Sinclair Broadcast Group cancelled his TV show, and one day later, Entercom announced that KFTK-FM had “parted ways” with the embattled host. As we’ve reported previously, Allman contests the “parted ways” narrative. He argues that he never signed the company’s paperwork to make the termination official. The suit doesn’t try to argue that Allman was never actually fired. But it does
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Colonial’s application for the New Season St. Charles Treatment Center, it was later given permission to open. A state spokeswoman says New Season was granted a standard six-month provisional accreditation and certification in St. Charles and will undergo a review in September for full accreditation. A petition was started in Bevo to fight the Gravois facility, but A former bank in Bevo Mill could become a the creator apparently drug treatment facility. | DOYLE MURPHY took it offline when tempers flared. Opponents have cited lawsuits and regulatory nation once more. Zanti is worried an opioid treat- citations targeting Colonial faciliment facility will increase crime ties in other states. In North Caroand undo the neighborhood’s lina, for example, one of the company’s facilities was fined by that progress. “It’s pretty bad,” he says of the state’s health department, which possibility. “We’re starting to get found staff failed in its oversight things going pretty good, and then of a patient who died. In a statement, Colonial defendthis pops up.” St. Louis has a booming and ed its record, and noted the need complex opioid addiction prob- in south city: “[T]here are 1,000 lem, as detailed in a 2017 Riv- people affected by opioid addicerfront Times cover story. More tion disease that live within twenthan 250 people died of overdoses ty miles of the site.” Alderwoman Carol Howard, in 2016 in the city. In the region, whose ward includes Bevo, says more than 700 died. That has not made the prospect she has spoken with representaof new treatment facilities any tives of the company. She says she more popular. When Colonial is remaining neutral as she gathmade preparations to open a facil- ers more information. “Is this the ity last year in a St. Charles strip highest and best use [of the buildmall, the city council passed a res- ing]? I don’t know,” Howard says. olution to ask the state to block it. “I understand both sides of it.” Legally, the neighborhood But while the Department of Mental Health initially rejected might not have much say either make claims against Entercom and the station’s former ownership group, Emmis Radio, which is also named as a defendant. Essentially, Allman is arguing that while he was ostensibly fired “for cause,” his bosses never actually had proper cause. As outlined in excerpts from Allman’s employee agreement included in the lawsuit, his employers could have fired him for “actual or threatened violence against another employee” and “sexual or other prohibited harassment of others.” But, the lawsuit insists, Allman did neither. “On or about April 10, 2018, Defendants Entercom, Entercom Missouri, and Entercom License breached said contract for employment by terminating Plaintiff,” the lawsuit reads. “Said termination of Plaintiffs employment by Defendants Entercom, Entercom Missouri, and Entercom License was without cause.”
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The lawsuit also notes that, as an onair personality, Allman was “required to maintain an active social media presence on and participate in various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.” Later, the suit describes Allman’s March 26 tweet about Hogg as “part of [Allman’s] mandated social media duties.” The lawsuit also argues that Entercom’s decision to fire Allman violated an existing program agreement with Emmis. That agreement, suit contends, gave Emmis “full authority, power and control over the policies, programming and operations of the Stations and over all persons working at the Stations.” Similarly, the suit targets Emmis for breach of contract, alleging it violated the same program agreement by permitting Entercom to fire Allman. Allman is now seeking a judge’s order to reinstate him to his old job and to force the radio station’s owners to compensate him for lost salary or, alternatively, to force the station owners to com-
way, Howard says. The property is zoned for commercial use, which would permit a clinic. The building has been vacant for years. Once a U.S. Bank branch, it was briefly a Quick Cash payday lender but now has concrete barriers blocking its parking lot. Max Coric says he and his father have tried for more than three years to buy the building. They had hoped to move their business, C&C Quality Printing, up the street to the space, but the owner jacked up the price each time they thought they had a deal, he says. (The owner, Bakir Avdagic, didn’t respond to the RFT’s request for comment.) Told that a drug treatment facility might move in instead, Coric seems surprised. He says another drug treatment facility briefly moved in between his shop and the old bank on Gravois, and it was a disaster: Cars lined up along the curb with people drinking, arguing and hooking up. “I personally have seen outrageous acts of lunacy in front of our building,” Coric says. Colonial said that it has begun the process of obtaining an occupancy permit from the city. “[I]f we determine to open a facility at this location, we will do so in the same manner and means that have allowed us to operate in over 70 other communities. Our company prides itself on creating secure facilities and processes that not only meet national standards, but go beyond the requirements to provide the best experience for our patients and neighborhoods alike.” n
Jamie Allman is suing Entercom. | SCREENSHOT pensate Allman with the projected total earnings between the time he was fired and the expiration of his most recent contract, which had been set for August 2020. The lawsuit also seeks a declaratory judgment to strike down the non-compete clause in Allman’s contract with the station. n
As Cameras Spread, Push for Rules Written by
MEGAN ANTHONY
A
new effort by members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and a group called Privacy Watch STL aims to regulate the use of surveillance technology across city departments. The city’s use of surveillance is on the upswing, the group says. The city launched the Real Time Crime Center in May 2015, allowing police to monitor activity throughout the city in, yes, real time via surveillance cameras, including license plate recognition systems, which scan traffic for stolen cars. Police say the privately funded center has increased safety for both citizens and police officers. However, as the number of cameras continues to grow, many individuals have begun to voice concerns about their privacy rights. “This could not come at a more important time,” says Alderwoman Cara Spencer. “As we start to implement mechanisms of surveillance, we have got to make sure that we are safeguarding the public and their rights to their own privacy.” Spencer and the other aldermen at the press conference Friday stated that they have all heard concerns from constituents about the surveillance cameras. In 2016, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 500 surveillance cameras located throughout the city connect to the Real Time Crime Center. John Chasnoff, a member of Privacy Watch STL, says that number could easily have grown by 200 over the last two years based on reports the group has seen. Currently, the cameras are heavily concentrated in areas like the Central West End, where businesses and restaurants line the streets. But steadily, residents are beginning to see the cameras dotted throughout parks as well. “We’re not seeing many go into the neighborhoods, but we’re afraid it’s right around the corner,” says Chasnoff. The cameras have a direct feed into the Real Time Crime Center, which allows the police department to tap into information gathered by cameras bought and maintained by various city neighborhood associations. And yet, those at the press conference say, the whole system has been implemented without a regulatory framework to safeguard citizens’ rights. “Any time a government involves itself in the surveillance of its citizens, we must make sure that it is done in both an equitable and fair manner,” says Alderman Terry Kennedy, co-sponsor of the Surveillance Accountability Bill. During the 2017-2018 session, Ken-
Hundreds of surveillance cameras now feed into a system monitored in real time by St. Louis police. | FLICKR/ANDREAS LEVER
Police Chief John Hayden. | DOYLE MURPHY
nedy and co-sponsor John Collins-Muhammad introduced Board Bill 66. It called for regulation of the use of surveillance technology and for the submission of Surveillance Program Plans, which would be reviewed by the Board of Alderman before being implemented. (The bill did not pass.) “We recognized then that there were other things we needed to add,” says Kennedy. “This bill is not an attempt to stop the use of surveillance equipment in the proper places.” Attempting to straddle the line between privacy and safety, the new bill will require many of the same things as Board Bill 66, along with accountability reports for both installation and continued use of any surveillance equipment. It also will clarify some confusing language and definitions about what surveillance equipment is. Residents in areas with high crime are requesting more cameras, Kennedy says, while others are afraid that the footage could be used in an unfair way. The point of the legislation, he says, is to help strike a balance between protection and privacy. Some of those concerned with the us-
age of surveillance equipment are local activists and immigrant communities. Kendra Tatum, an organizer with the Organization for Black Struggle, says one camera is pointed directly at MoKaBe’s, a frequent meeting spot for activists. “You can conclude that police are using surveillance cameras as an intimidation tactic against First Amendment rights,” she says. Tatum points to other tactics, such as tearing down vacant houses and transforming the land into parks, as successful ways to reduce crime, rather than singling out members of a community. Caroline Fan, executive director of the Asian American Action Fund, says many immigrant communities are afraid to talk to the police because of the surveillance cameras. She points to the history of Japanese-Americans, who were under surveillance by the U.S. government during the 1930s and eventually placed in internment camps. “Surveillance can lead to really horrible policies like this,” she states. At the moment, there are no requirements for the police to supply any citizens with information about the data the surveillance equipment collects. Supporters of the bill say they recognize the importance of public safety and law enforcement’s ability to respond to emergencies quickly. What they hope to implement are regulations regarding how long data can be stored and the ways in which it can be used, as well as starting conversations among the public, city lawmakers and law enforcement about how to best protect all citizens. Policymakers and community supports are encouraging others to lobby in support of the Surveillance Accountability Bill until it is passed. “Anytime government uses this type of technology to surveille on a consistent basis, its citizens” says Kennedy, “we must make absolutely sure their rights have not been transgressed.” n
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WHEN ACCUSED ABUSERS PLAY LAWYER, THEY CAN TAKE THEIR VICTIMS DOWN WITH THEM
Fool for a Client BY DOYLE MURPHY
O
n a mid-April afternoon, two teenage girls wait on the twelfth floor of the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse to testify against a man accused of sexually abusing them. The man will be there, of course. The U.S. Constitution guarantees his right to confront his accusers, and the former pastor has made it clear that he plans to take full advantage. Not only will he be in the courtroom, he has decided to act as his own lawyer, a surprise he unveiled just nine days before trial when he shucked aside his private attorneys. Going pro se, as the courts call it, is almost surely a bad move in terms of legal strategy, but it allows the man certain freedoms. Specifically, he now has the power to personally cross-examine his alleged victims. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Winfield had previously raised concerns with the judge about what he might do. The nature of the child pornography case was sure to be hard enough on the teens without their alleged abuser standing in front of them, firing questions. As a way of blunting any possible intimidation, she asked that the man, 49-year-old Loren Copp, be ordered to stay in his seat
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on the other side of the courtroom while the girls are on the stand. “The government is just hoping to avoid any type of harassment,” Winfield said during a pretrial hearing, later adding, “The issue is traumatizing the victims all over again.” Courts and lawmakers across the world have struggled with this type of situation and come to a variety of conclusions. British courts, for example, forbid defendants in sex assault cases from directly questioning people they are accused of harming. In this country, the courts have found that defendants have a right to cross-examine witnesses in all but the rarest of circumstances. Still, the majority of states have passed laws limiting the ability of pro se defendants in sex crime cases involving kids to cross-examine young witnesses. Missouri has not. Michael Wolff, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, says the responsibility for safeguarding a vulnerable witness typically falls to the trial judge, who is in charge of decorum in the courtroom. “What you’re really talking about is setting up a victim to be traumatized or victimized in the courtroom, and we rely on the trial judge get ahold of the situation,” says Wolff, now dean emeritus of Saint Louis Continued on pg 14
RFT PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION BY TOM CARLSON. SOURCE IMAGERY: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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Loren Copp lived with underage girls before an October 2015 raid at Dojo Pizza. | STEVE TRUESDELL
“Now, this monster of their early lives had come back, and they had to face him again.”
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FOOL FOR A CLIENT Continued from pg 12
University Law School. The St. Louis case, which is waiting on a verdict after testimony wrapped up in federal court two weeks ago, is an ugly one. Copp, who lived in a converted church where he ran a karate studio and restaurant called Dojo Pizza, is accused of abusing young girls who moved in with him when they had nowhere else to go. Their mothers were on drugs, homeless or incarcerated. Yet instead of protecting the girls, prosecutors say Copp photographed and videotaped them when they were naked. He relied on twisted methods of manipulation, going so far as to create a fake Facebook profile of a thirteen-year-old, which he used to catfish the girls and lure them into sexualized games of truth or dare. In some cases, according to prosecutors, he molested girls or coerced them into sex acts. Two sisters had lived with Copp so long they called him dad, and he told people they were his daughters. The eldest, now nineteen, claims he started coercing her into sexual intercourse when she was maybe eleven. The nineteen-year-old is one of the girls who has agreed to testify against her former father figure. U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig has taken steps to protect her identity (anyone who witnesses her testimony is forbidden from publicizing her name under
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threat of contempt of court) but there is little to be done about the cross-examination. Fleissig has a duty to protect Copp’s Sixth Amendment rights and ensure he receives a fair trial. As a compromise, Fleissig orders him to stay at his table during questioning, but she does allow him to stand. When the nineteen-year-old enters, she avoids looking in Copp’s direction as she makes her way up a ramp to the witness stand. Copp follows her with his eyes and stares while Winfield runs through 30 minutes of questions. The teen turns away from him. During a break, the U.S. Marshals lead Copp out of a side door on her end of the courtroom. She keeps her chin to her chest, glancing up just once as he shuffles within a few feet of her, the shackles around his ankles clinking together. When they return, it is Copp’s turn. n 2010, a vicious child rapist named Salvador Aleman Cruz Iwas on trial in Seattle. Whereas
Copp is accused of using manipulation and grooming to abuse his victims, Cruz used violence and sheer terror. The 40-year-old used to force the daughters of a girlfriend to have sex with him, and he beat and threatened to murder them if they told. Prosecutors said it was part of a pattern and that Cruz raped an unknown number of children over the years. The abuse covered in the trial happened more than a dozen years before. The victims were
now adults and had not seen Cruz for years by the time he was finally arrested and hauled into court. But they were still terrified. “Now, this monster of their early lives had come back, and they had to face him again,” recalls King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Val Richey, who prosecuted the case. Like Copp, Cruz decided to represent himself. Given his sadistic history, the victims anticipated an excruciating cross-examination if they testified. Richey says they agreed to do so anyway because they knew it was the only way to keep him from hurting more little girls in the future. As the time to take the stand approached, one of the women seemed especially unsettled. The resurrection of years of childhood terror was so traumatizing for the 21-year-old that Richey made the game-time decision not to put her on the stand. As he prepared for court that day, she texted him that she was on the roof of the courthouse. A photo she sent in a follow-up message showed her feet dangling off the edge. Richey raced up the stairs and found her threatening to jump. He talked with her until a police negotiator took over. After three hours, the woman finally agreed to come down and was taken to the hospital for an evaluation. While she never testified, her sisters did. Cruz was predictably merciless. “He would cross-examine them for hours and hours,” Richey recalls. Continued on pg 16
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“The trial was seven weeks.” Ultimately, his cruelty did him in. “The reality is, for the jury, all his actions were sealing his fate,” the prosecutor says. It is the paradox of a vindictive pro se defendant: Their tactics can hurt their defense, but they inflict pain on their way down. Cruz was convicted of multiple counts of child rape and sentenced to 53 years in prison. The case motivated Washington lawmakers to propose a bill that would limit the ability of defendants in sex assault cases to crossexamine alleged victims. The legislation, which extended beyond child victims to adults, would have been the first of its kind in the U.S. Richey, a supporter, testified in favor of the bill in front of state legislators. He says abusers can manipulate the system to terrorize victims one last time. “You commonly see pro se defendants that are interested in exercising control over their victims,” he tells the Riverfront Times in a phone interview. The bill never passed into law. State judges convinced lawmakers they would set their own rules to deal with the situations. Seven years after Cruz’s conviction, Richey says he is still waiting. eople decide to represent themselves in court for all sorts of Preasons.
UL IN SO
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Some, like Cruz, are clearly wicked, and like the idea of toying with their victims. Others may be simply overconfident — a condition that affects even people who should know better. This spring, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach brazenly (and disastrously) decided to defend himself when the American Civil Liberties Union sued over his legally questionable voter ID law.
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Michael Barrett. | STATE OF MISSOURI
Kris Kobach. | ALICE LINAHAN/VOICES EMPOWER
Kobach, an occasional Trump adviser, is seen on the right as the scholarly architect of hardline immigration policies. In court, however, he and his legal team struggled in cringe-worthy ways with the basics of evidence and crossexamination. In one lowlight that made the rounds on Twitter, Team Kobach filed what was apparently a draft of a motion complete with typos (a note next to one of his points read “PROBABLY NOT WORTH ARGUING”). In the end, the ACLU lawyers not only whipped him on his signature voter ID law, they won legal fees from Kobach when he was found in contempt of court during a follow-up skirmish. Missouri State Public Defender Director Michael Barrett says the pro se defendants his staff sees tend to be of a less grandiose variety. They are almost always poor and doing their best to fight their way out of bad situations. In Missouri, like other states, criminal defendants facing felony charges can qualify for a free lawyer if they meet certain income standards. The problem for a lot of would-be clients, Barrett says, is that they aren’t quite poor enough to qualify under Missouri’s guidelines, which are among the stingiest in the country. Judges also have wide discretion over appointing lawyers, and practices vary widely from one jurisdiction to the other. Some judges think public defenders pick up too many cases. Others only want a lawyer there to speed defendants through clogged dockets, Barrett says. “They want an illusion where they want the cardboard cutout of an attorney sitting next to him,” he says. Choosing just one jurisdiction, Barrett’s staff reviewed nearly 50 cases over three years in Warren County to see what happened to defendants who were denied public defenders because they did not meet Continued on pg 18
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FOOL FOR A CLIENT Continued from pg 16
state income qualifications. Few appear to have found another attorney, and an overwhelming majority pleaded guilty. The informal review did not find a single defendant who was acquitted. “They are definitely falling through the cracks,” Barrett says. Edward “Texas” Moore, a homeless man charged in a bloody hammer attack in St. Louis last year, considered his limited options for attorneys and decided he would prefer to go it alone. In a brace of motions filed since he was locked up in July, the 62-year-old argues that public defenders have too many cases and too few resources to properly work his case. He is facing eight felony charg-
nounced within months of his arrest that he was ready for court and now says the delays are hurting him. He has put on 30 pounds because of the starchy jailhouse meals. His witnesses and evidence could be disappearing. And he is in chronic pain because he cannot get the pain relievers and digestive aids he was prescribed on the outside, he says. “Moreover, March 15, 2018 the jail delivered sleep-deprivation the coup de grace,” Moore writes, “by moving into Defendant’s cell inmate Phillip Cutler, a notorious world-class snorer, both in terms of frequency and volume, thus insuring that Defendant never gets more than an hour or two of uninterrupted sleep and quite possibly not more than an hour or two of sleep altogether during any given 24-hour period.” He now has a trial date in June. uring his trial, Loren Copp occasionally claims he is reviewing Dinformation he has just received
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Susan McGraugh. | COURTESY OF SLU es. St. Louis police say Moore attacked three other homeless people who were sleeping in the crumbling Carr School north of downtown because he thought they’d ransacked his belongings. When another man tried to intervene, Moore smashed him, too, according to authorities. Moore says he will need an investigator to gather depositions and at least two experts — one to testify about the effects of getting hit with a linear object and the other about how alcohol and drug use affect memory. “Furthermore, the State’s failure to make available to Defendant one red cent of the millions of dollars appropriated for the defense of indigents accused of crimes is an obvious denial of the equal protection of the law,” he writes in a motion filed last fall. More recently, Moore has argued the case should be dismissed because the courts have ignored his right to a speedy trial. He an-
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and will need a little extra time to process. When prosecutors invariably point out that the video or record was turned over to his prior attorneys and has probably been in the case files for months or even years, he says this is why he had to become his own lawyer. “These things happen when you decide on the eve of trial to represent yourself,” Fleissig tells him after one such episode. Because Copp signed away his right to a jury, asking Fleissig alone to rule on his fate, the judge can be forgiving of his slipups without worrying a juror will hear something inadmissible. Multiple times, she allows Copp to proceed with unsupported information and simply tells him she will give it the weight it deserves. He is not completely on his own. He has hired a computer expert to analyze files seized during the investigation. Fleissig also appointed attorney Nathan Swanson of Rosenblum, Schwartz & Fry as standby counsel, basically a legal adviser who can help with technical questions and other tasks, such as exchanging evidence with prosecutors and filing subpoenas. Saint Louis University law professor Susan McGraugh has acted as standby counsel in a number of pro se cases. Even in the handsoff role, she says it is important to make sure prosecutors are not taking advantage of a defendant’s inexperience. She tries to ensure they get all the evidence they are entitled to and that they understand their legal options, such as filing a Batson objection if prosecutors start Continued on pg 20
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Edward ‘Texas’ Moore represented himself following his arrest in an attack at Carr School. | ST. LOUIS POLICE/DOYLE MURPHY
FOOL FOR A CLIENT Continued from pg 18
knocking all the black people out of the jury pool. “You have to work really hard to protect the rights of a pro se client, because everyone tends to treat them with disdain,” McGraugh says. The famous saying about the defendant who represents himself is that he “has a fool for a client.” But while McGraugh says she would not recommend anyone represent themselves, they are not all doomed. She served as standby
counsel for a “sovereign citizen” (one of a group of people who do not recognize the U.S. government as legitimate) who was accused of first-degree robbery. During the trial, he was able to speak directly to the jury and spin out his narrative of what happened. “He did a good job with it,” McGraugh says. “It was like the jury got to know him and like him.” The man was still convicted but on the lesser charge of seconddegree robbery, she says. “I don’t think I could have got him robbery second.” Copp similarly seems to be going for a folksy charm. At trial, he
repeatedly references his rural accent from small-town Indiana and apologizes for his often winding tangents, blaming his past as a preacher. But he needs more than charm. He must persuade Fleissig that prosecutors’ evidence painting him as a prolific, unrepentant child abuser is not what it seems. As a do-it-yourself lawyer, Copp is not great. He gets flustered trying to figure out how to phrase his questions. He calls the biological mother of the two sisters to testify about his busy schedule (the theory being that he never had time to operate the fake Facebook profile prosecutors alleged he used to manipulate the girls), but she ends up mentioning how much time he seemed to spend back in his bedroom with his computer. He testifies about losing his cell phone when he was incarcerated even though he knows prosecutors have a recording of a jailhouse phone call where he had a friend read through his cell phone text messages. And yet, he manages to sketch out the outlines of his case. The defense he offers Fleissig is that he is the victim of an extensive conspiracy. In his telling, he was a freelance crime fighter who cleaned up a dangerous pocket of the Bevo Mill neighborhood. He
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must have pissed off the wrong people, he contends. The connection is a little hazy, but he surmises that young gang members he ran off had their hooks into a city detective who sought revenge for Copp’s meddling in their criminal affairs. That led to someone, probably in law enforcement, implanting hundreds of images of child pornography on hard drives seized during raids on Copp’s building. They would have additionally framed him for the fake Facebook profile and created an email account for a bogus school enforcement officer, who sent threatening notes to the nineteen-year-old, warning that she would be taken away if she did not perform sexual favors for Copp. Whoever was behind this would have used Copp’s own email addresses and phone numbers to create these fake accounts. The frame job likely included Photoshopping pictures that prosecutors say show Copp engaged in sex acts with the nineteen-yearold going back years. And the culprit (or culprits) would have meticulously swept through the hard drives, resetting time stamps and erasing their digital fingerprints, Copp suggests. The master Continued on pg 22
Celebrate hip hop with a week of free events, including the Not So Quiet! concert featuring local rapper Bates, Beatboxing with Mentor vs. Apprentice and Hip Hop Storytelling. Visit the Events calendar at slpl.org for a full list of events.
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FOOL FOR A CLIENT Continued from pg 20
stroke of this alleged conspiracy was turning his girls against him. he nineteen-year-old takes the stand late on the afternoon of TApril 12. She has not been in the same room with Copp in more than two years, not since October 15, 2015, when police raided the old church in Bevo Mill and removed all the children. Copp is sharp enough to know that attacking her like Cruz did his victims in Seattle is likely to back-
fire. Instead, he seems to be trying to win her back. “You were talking about when he met,” he begins. She was eight or nine years old when her mother lost the family’s home and decided to send the girl, her younger sister and older brother to live with Copp, who was married at the time and the pastor of their church. “When you came, she told us she couldn’t take care of us anymore,” the teen says, recalling the day her mom handed her over to Copp. He reminds her that she had nowhere else to go when he took her
in. Her mother was supposed to reclaim the girl and her siblings, but the woman landed on the streets instead. The girl’s brother moved out. “And time just kept going on — is that correct?” Copp asks. “Yes,” the teen says. He enrolled her in church school. He taught her karate and took her on trips to compete in tournaments. “Did you get to be pretty good?” he asks. “Yeah.” Copp grins a little as if they are just reminiscing about the old times. Throughout the trial, pros-
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ecutors have painted his brand of abuse as manipulation rather than physical force. They claim he used mind games to groom his victims. These were girls with no homes, no consistent father figure. Copp used their vulnerability as leverage to coerce them, authorities say. In court, he hands the teen old Facebook posts she wrote when she was sixteen. Some are from Father’s Day. Others celebrate a day they called “Gotcha Day,” to mark the anniversary of Copp taking the girl’s guardianship. They include gushing messages of thanks to her “dad” for taking her in when she and her sister had nowhere to go. “Is that the way you felt at the time?” he asks. The girl refuses to look at him. She has physically turned in her seat so she is facing the opposite wall. “At the time,” she concedes. The questioning pauses on a Thursday afternoon, and resumes on a Friday morning. Copp continues to probe these old memories, reaching back. He needs her help if he is to beat these charges.
“Is that the way you felt at the time?” Copp asks his alleged victim. “At the time,” she concedes. And still, he never asks her directly if he abused her. He never says, Did I do these things to you? Did I hurt you? The closest he comes is asking about a set of the photos investigators found on his hard drive. They show the round-bodied torso of a man sexually assaulting the girl more than four years ago. The backdrop is the master bedroom of Copp’s old house. The teen previously identified herself and Copp in the pictures. “Do you know that those photos are real?” Copp asks. “Yes.” “So those photos couldn’t be fake or made up?” There is a note of pleading in his voice. They have a decade of history together, and maybe she will save him. “No,” she says. “I was there.” n
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BY PAUL FRISWOLD
THURSDAY 05/10 A Streetcar Named Desire The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis returns with the second of Williams’ great plays, A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBois, a woman in her thirties, is forced to move in with her younger sister Stella. Stella’s husband, Stanley, isn’t keen on Blanche (her sense of superiority grates), but refuses to let her cramp his rough style. Close quarters soon lead to conflict, but Blanche remains convinced that Stanley’s pal Mitch will sweep her off her feet and take her away to a life more her liking. She doesn’t count on anyone discovering the secret that drove her to her sister’s house, though. A Streetcar Named Desire is performed at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday (May 10 to 13) and 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday and Thursday (May 16 to 17), with additional shows at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 19. The opening night includes a New Orleans-style parade down Grandel Square at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $45. For information on the festival’s discussions and other performances, visit www. twstl.org.
FRIDAY 05/11 15 Minute Mozarts The stereotype about opera is that it’s loud, it’s long and it’s overly dramatic. Oh, and then someone, usually a woman, dies, and it’s all over. In truth, operas come in many flavors. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Da Ponte operas — Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan Tutte — all feature libretti by Lorenzo Da Ponte and exemplify the possibilities of the form. Figaro is a comedy about a count trying to bed his servant’s fiancée before their marriage while his other servants attempt to embarrass their master for his temerity.
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Gateway Opera lives its life a quarter-hour at a time in in 15 Minute Mozarts. | CAETLYN VAN BUREN
Don Giovanni is about ladies’ man Don Juan, whose carnal lust leads him to a fateful meeting with a choir of devils; it’s half comedy, half melodrama. The third is another comedy about a pair of noble friends who attempt to trick their fiancées into swapping partners through disguise and deception. All three remain popular among modern audiences for their beau-
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tiful music and their comic turns. And all three will be performed in one night by Gateway Opera on May 11 — but there is a twist. The company’s 15 Minute Mozarts will condense each opera down to fifteen minutes, courtesy of adapter Caetlyn Van Buren. As Gateway’s development and marketing manager Michaeleh Metz explains, this wasn’t an easy task.
“Every time I saw Caetlyn over the last few months she’s said, ‘I cut five more minutes. I cut another eight minutes, but I’m keeping this scene mostly intact.’ It’s definitely been a challenge,” Metz says with just a hint of understatement. For several seasons now, Gateway Opera has gravitated toward short opera written by contemporary composers. These have
WEEK OF MAY 9–15
Great Rivers Biennial artist Addoley Dzegede at work in her studio. | COURTESY OF CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST. LOUIS
El Circo Cheapo Amy Sherald, A clear unspoken granted magic, 2017. Oil on canvas, 54 × 43 inches. | COLLECTION OF DENISE AND GARY GARDNER. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY, CHICAGO. ranged from 2016’s GO Showcase, which featured “LOLCATS teh Opera” and “Star Trek the Opera,” to last season’s “Snow White Turns Sixty” and the absurdist politically charged murder mystery “A Shell of a Troll.” Why go short rather than long? “I think there’s a couple reasons,” Metz answers. “It’s been somewhat accidental. We stumbled on operas we liked and that were good for our audience. But also, these shorter works are punchier and more exciting and bring in a crowd. Also, it’s part of our mission statement to support emerging composers, singers and directors; the shorter ones give us more opportunities to do that.” As for 15 Minute Mozarts, even if you’re intimately familiar with the Da Ponte trio, Metz promises
a very different experience from the standard staging. “Our costumes are fairly traditional, and the setting is fairly minimal,” Metz offers. “But this is Mozart like you haven’t seen before. They’re funny, and they have contemporary references for the modern audiences.” Doubters should be aware that Van Buren is the person behind the internet-famous kahnandkittens.tumblr.com, a site where Van Buren Photoshops cat heads on the bodies of Star Trek, Star Wars and Benedict Cumberbatch characters. She definitely has an eye for the ridiculous moment. 15 Minute Mozarts is performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday (May 11 and 12) at the Chapel (6238 Alexander Drive; www.gatewayopera.org). Tickets are $25 to $30.
Long after the aerialists have stopped spinning and the learned pigs are snuggled up in their blankets, there’s another circus that takes place in the Circus Flora Bigtop (3401 Samuel Shepard Drive; alofttenttakeover.bpt.me). Tonight at 10:30 p.m., Chicago’s Aloft Circus Arts takes over the tent and performs its punk-cabaret circus show, El Circo Cheapo. This is the circus for adults; the Ringmaster has a dirty mind and an even filthier mouth, and the aerialists perform nervy feats that use power and the element of surprise to brush up against the safety envelope. Tickets for this one-night-only show are $15.
Amy Sherald If you think you’ve never seen Amy Sherald’s work, you’re wrong. Sherald painted Michelle Obama’s official portrait, an image that was broadcast around the world and back. Sherald’s portraits are of everyday black people
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(Mrs. Obama excepted, of course) with serene expressions standing against featureless monotone backgrounds, done in the largesize format once reserved for royalty and the wealthy elite. By portraying her subjects realistically and in vibrant color, Sherald liberates the black image from the traditional narrative; there are no sociological clues that hint at the status of her people. They are their own context, their eyes taking in the viewer with majestic calm. Amy Sherald, the first solo exhibition of the artist’s paintings, opens with a free reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 11, at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard; www.camstl.org). The exhibit remains up through August 19, and admission is free.
SATURDAY 05/12 Maifest In Bavaria the transition from winter to spring is celebrated with Maifest, an outdoor festival with food and bock, a strong German beer. The Continued on pg 26
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hallmark of a bock is that it’s just as refreshing in cool weather as it is in warm. Maifest is celebrated from noon to 10 p.m. today at Urban Chestnut’s Midtown Brewery and Biergarten (3229 Washington Avenue; www.urbanchestnut. com). In addition to the release of UCBC’s new collaborative beer, Mondo Maple Maibock (brewed in conjunction with London’s Mondo Brewing Company), the fest will boast a range of experi-
mental beers such as Mint Julep Barrel-Aged Draft, and Tamarind Thai Basil Schnickelfritz. The festival package is $18 and includes three beer and food tickets and a commemorative glass. Individual beer and food tickets are $6 each.
Great Rivers Biennial As part of its mission to present work by modern artists, the Contemporary Art Museum supports local artists through the Great Rivers Biennial. A team of es-
teemed jurors from the art world work through more than 150 applications to select three artists who live in the metro area for a high-profile exhibition. Addoley Dzegede, Sarah Paulsen and Jacob Stanley are the recipients of the eighth installment, and all three should be well known to gallery habitues. In Ballast, Dzegede uses patterned textiles, sculpture and video to explore the hidden and forgotten history that creates a sense of “unified” identity. Paulsen combines consumer campaigns, immigrant narratives and stop-motion animation in an
installation of single-channel videos to create a multi-part story about the invisible framework that supports and reinforces racial oppression. Stanley’s sculptures are constructed to explore the nature and passage of time. His piece Accretion is a quarterinch-thick steel sheet; visitors can each place one sheet on top of it. As time passes and the weight increases, the steel will bend. The Great Rivers Biennial opens with a free reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 11, at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard; www. camstl.org). The artists and jurors will hold a panel discussion at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 12. The show continues through Sunday, August 19, and admission is free.
SUNDAY 05/13 Laumeier Art Fair As you and your mother age it can become more difficult to find suitable gifts for each other. Mother’s Day happens to be Sunday, May 13, which coincides rather neatly with the Laumeier Art Fair. It’s a nigh-perfect gift for mom. The two of you (let your siblings fend for themselves) can enjoy a nice day outdoors looking at the excellent work of more than 150 artists, much of which would make excellent gifts. Jewelry, beautiful ceramics, lush textiles and fibers, photography and painting will all be on display; it’s part gallery walk, part shopping excursion. And the best part is that even if your mom refuses to let you buy her something, you’ll still have given her what she really wants: time spent with her favorite child. The Laumeier Art Fair takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday (May 11 to 13) at Laumeier Sculpture Park (12580 Rott Road, Sunset Hills; www.laumeier.org). Admission is $10, but free for Laumeier members. Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the calendar section or publish a listing online — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314754-6416) or mail (308 N. 21st Street, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63103, 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
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[REVIEW]
Wonder Women Tully is a simply terrific look at the burdens placed on mothers — and women in general Written by
MARYANN JOHANSON Tully Directed by Jason Reitman. Written by Diablo Cody. Starring Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis and Mark Duplass. Opened Friday, May 4, at multiple theaters
I
have no children. I am not a mother. I am perfectly happy with this decision. So when I tell you that Tully moved me profoundly — to laughter and to tears — it has nothing to do with any firsthand experience in that arena, or with any regrets for not having had that experience. I tell you this because Tully isn’t about motherhood in the 21st century. It’s about womanhood in the 21st century. Of course Tully is about motherhood. I don’t mean to diminish the incredibly important bravery of this movie in that aspect in any way. We only rarely see movies that deal with the difficult, complicated realities of motherhood — with the physical, emotional and psychological impact it has on women’s bodies and minds — and we have never seen a movie about motherhood like this one. When someone tells the hugely, uncomfortably pregnant Marlo (Charlize Theron) that she’s glowing, it lands with all the sincerity of a sappy greeting card. This is a movie that rolls its eyes and barks out snark in the face of all the clichés about motherhood. Many films in which characters are pregnant look exactly like what has been done to achieve this effect: an extremely thin actress has been fitted with a fake baby belly. For Tully, Theron gained 50 pounds: She looks pregnant, and then she looks like a woman who has just given birth and is too exhausted, mentally and physically,
Marlo (Charlize Theron) is exhausted by trying to be a perfect mother, but perfect mothers don’t ask for help. | © 2018 TULLY PRODUCTIONS, LLC
to do a damn thing about “getting into shape.” Even more realistically, Theron embodies, in a beautifully worn-out way, Marlo’s utter personal devastation. There’s an extraordinary sequence, just after the birth, a montage of night after night of sleep deprivation and of her entire existence, just about, given over to the insistent demands of the squawling infant. The baby’s bawling cuts right through you. We don’t think of a movie like Tully, a small domestic dramedy, as one in which sound design is essential. But that newborn’s crying is as aurally violent as anything you’ll hear in a disaster flick or an action movie. It’s after a while of this that Marlo reluctantly accepts the offer of her wealthy brother (Mark Duplass) as a baby present: He’ll pay for a “night nanny,” who will come and babysit overnight, so Marlo can sleep, with only brief wakeups for nursing. (Tully is also brutally realistic about breastfeeding. It can be a nasty, messy,
painful endeavor for new mothers.) Enter Tully (Mackenzie Davis). She’s young, eager, vastly knowledgeable about many things and vastly empathetic to Marlo’s predicament. And this is where Tully becomes all about the condition of women today, and an even more extraordinary cinematic depiction of womanhood. Or at least of the big slice of womanhood that is overachieving, fiercely independent — which is true of Marlo even though she is married, to Drew (Ron Livingston) — and proud of her own smarts and abilities. Screenwriter Diablo Cody’s brilliantly wise and funny script recognizes how difficult it can be for women like Marlo to accept help ... to even admit that we need help. It’s tough for women like Marlo to even be kind to themselves. To ourselves. We know we’re supposed to be able to cope, to Have It All and Do It All, and it becomes a failure of modern womanhood to admit that we
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can’t. Not a failure of the world to admit that our ideas about womanhood are fucked up. A personal failure: We have failed to be the superwomen we’ve convinced ourselves we are supposed to be. Tully director Jason Reitman is deeply, intimately sympathetic to Marlo in a way that I have never seen on screen before when it comes to a female protagonist. But the film is also deeply critical and fully enraged at all the unseen burdens that women place upon ourselves, even as it suggests that we are merely getting a jump on those burdens getting loaded on us by the world. Instead of getting angry at how we are never good enough and perfect enough in the eyes of others, we place impossibly high standards and expectations on ourselves. Tully takes the term “self-care” and tosses it away as another one of those impossible expectations, and tells us it’s OK to accept help. Which is a very radical thing to say to women. n
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YOUR SANDWICH PUB IN THE GROVE
20 BEERS ON TAP PLUS A ROTATING SELECTION OF BOTTLES & CANS POOL TABLE • GIANT PAC MAN • BOARD GAMES • DJS THURS-SUN @ 10:30PM
OPEN FOR LUNCH AT 11AM • SAMMIES TILL 2:30AM 4 2 4 3 M A N C H E S T E R AV E N U E • 3 1 4 - 5 3 1 - 5 7 0 0
THIS WEEK THE GROVE SELECTED HAPPENINGS
IN
Day or night, there’s always something going on in The Grove: live bands, great food, beer tastings, shopping events, and so much more. Visit thegrovestl.com for a whole lot more of what makes this neighborhood great.
2 4 R RI VI VE ER RF RF RO ON NT T T IT MI ME ES S MF EJAUBRNRCEUHA2R104Y- -22680,-, M220A0R118C8 H r5ri,ivve2er0rf1frr8oonnt trt ti ivmmeeersfs.r.coconomtmt i m e s . c o m 28 RIVERFRONT TIMES MAY 9 - 15, 2018 riverfronttimes.com
WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 CHEROKEE MOON, OLD SOULS REVIVAL $3, 8PM AT THE READY ROOM
THURSDAY, MAY 10 THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS, GREYHOUNDS $17, 7PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY
FRIDAY, MAY 11 NERDS OF PREY BURLESQUE SHOW $10, 8PM AT THE MONOCLE
THE BUG-OUT: A STRAIGHT-UP CLASSIC HIP-HOP JAM WITH WILLPOWER, G-WIZ, JAMES BIKO $5-10, 8PM AT THE READY ROOM
MIKE ZITO CD RELEASE
8PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY
SATURDAY, MAY 12 10 YEAR THROWDOWN!
TRACKSTAR THE DJ, OLD SALT UNION 2PM AT THE GRAMOPHONE
SRČANI UDAR
$30-35, ALL AGES, 8PM AT THE READY ROOM
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choW sliDers ............................................ 3 for $3 French Fry BasKet ......................... $3 hUMMUs .................................................... $3 KrisPy Kale ............................................ $3
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|
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THE MIGHTY PINES LIVE ALBUM RELEASE WITH TIM CARBONE, GINSTRINGS $12-15, 7PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 TUNE-YARDS, MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND
$18-21, ALL AGES AT THE READY ROOM
THURSDAY, MAY 17 BIG BOI, THE THIRD LEG, KP THE GREAT
$20-25, ALL AGES, 7PM AT THE READY ROOM
FRIDAY, MAY 18 THE REVEREND PAYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND $17, 7PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY
SATURDAY, MAY 19 HEARSKRA-Z& CAPO’S RELEASE PARTY $10, 8PM AT THE MONOCLE
JUNE 16 & 17
SHOWCASE STL
IN THE GROVE
ST. LOUIS HIP-HOP & R&B SHARK TANK, HOSTED BY MO’LYRIC $15, ALL AGES, 6PM AT THE READY ROOM
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25 29
Tacos & Ice cream are breaking
the rules!
2738 Cherokee Street •St. Louis, MO 63118
9 South Vandeventer Ave. Saint Louis, MO 63130 • 314-391-5100 • blkmkteats.com 30
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CAFE
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A flavorful soup featuring lemongrass and lime-leaf pork along with shrimp dumplings exemplifies Billie-Jean’s elegant fusion cuisine. | MABEL SUEN
[REVIEW]
Dance on the Floor in the Round With Billie-Jean, the queen of St. Louis’ restaurant scene has unveiled her masterwork Written by
CHERYL BAEHR Billie-Jean 7610 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton; 314-7978484; Tues.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-10:30 p.m. (Closed Sunday and Monday.)
A
ll you need to know about Billie-Jean can be found in this one detail: Zoe Robinson puts ribbons around the toilet paper. Underneath the sink, almost completely hidden from eyesight, the extra rolls that
would be merely utilitarian at any other establishment are imbued with dignity in Billie-Jean’s powder room, wrapped in a shiny black satin ribbon and stacked neatly next to the wastebasket as if they are part of the décor. You might not even notice they’re there, which is what makes their elevation to a thing of beauty all the more significant. It gives you a peek into Robinson’s world, one that has been filling the St. Louis dining scene with class for the past thirty years. From Café Zoe to Zoe Pan Asian, from Bobo Noodle Company to I Fratellini to Bar Les Freres, Robinson has made her mark opening restaurants that are not only delicious but also impossibly stylish, with fastidious attention to every last detail. For anyone else, it might seem crass to write about their restaurants through the lens of the restroom. For Robinson, crass isn’t even in the vocabulary. However, Billie-Jean’s style is not a substitute for substance. In fact, it embodies it. That little detail is just one of a million that conspire to make Billie-Jean a
flawless restaurant — and one that feels more “Zoe Robinson” than anything she’s ever done. Robinson herself will say as much. After entering the industry at eighteen, owning her first restaurant by 23, her career has been a zig-zagging line leading to this moment. As she has matured, so has her confidence and point of view. It’s no shock that her most personal restaurant — one she describes as the culmination of everything she has ever done — is also her best. Because it is so biographical, Billie-Jean should be named after Robinson, but alas, she’s already had two restaurants that bear her first name. This time, she went with Billie-Jean as a nod to her mother and father and not, as everyone jokes (usually in song form), a certain 1980s hit by a certain King of Pop. Robinson is in on the joke, however, and even had the staff’s stylish all-black uniforms emblazoned with phrases including “lover” and “not my lover.” At a restaurant that looks so sleek and serious, it’s a dose of humor that lets you know Robinson is having a grand time.
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And what a grand time it is. Billie-Jean feels kind of like a midcentury Manhattan supper club, complete with matchboxes and dice on the bar and servers who encourage you to sip vermouth. A black-and-white photograph of her parents is presented on a postcard with every check, a touch that adds to the old-fashioned ethos. But that is where the vintage details end. Billie-Jean is thrillingly modern. Outfitted almost entirely in black, it includes walls, ceiling and banquettes darker than Mick Jagger’s door, lightened only by white tablecloths, black-andwhite photographs, green fern fronds and wooden barstools and chairs. Even the entrance to the shotgun space is dark, making it easy to miss if you are a casual passer-by, though the recently added patio tables make it stand out more. That modern feel goes hand in hand with the menu of contemporary American cuisine, buttressed with southeast Asian influences courtesy of Laos-born chef Ny Vongsaly, Robinson’s longtime collaborator. He Continued on pg 32
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NOW OPEN
SUNDAYS 10AM-8PM
SERVING BRUNCH 10AM-1PM
618-307-4830 www.clevelandhealth.com 106 N. Main | Edwardsville, IL
Chef Ny Vongsaly, executive chef for Zoe Robinson’s restaurant group, shows his roots in Billie-Jean’s Asian-inflected dishes. | MABEL SUEN
BILLIE-JEAN
Continued from pg 31
St. Louis’
#1 Steakhouse 20 Years In A Row! 1998-2018 RFT Readers Restaurant Polls HISTORIC SOULARD 2117 South 12th St. 314-772-5977
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and Robinson did not know what kind of restaurant they were creating when they sat down to write Billie-Jean’s menu, but when they finally did so, it flowed naturally. Part retrospective, part fresh and new, they developed an assemblage of dishes that fuse their personalities seamlessly. This results in modern fusion fare like crispy spring rolls, filled with duck, rice noodles and fresh herbs. Sweet chile-soy dipping sauce electrifies the rich meat with spice. Prosciutto-thin slices of yellowfin tuna crudo the color of cherry blossoms are simply dressed with fresh herbs, lime juice and Fresno chiles. You’ll want nothing more than this bright, slightly spicy accent to the melt-in-the-mouth fish, but you also want nothing less: The citrus and heat are a delicate counter to the rich tuna. It tastes like springtime. Sesame-lacquered Japanese eggplant and crispy tofu hint at the “hot braised” sauces associated with certain genres of Chinese food without being sticky sweet. The fiery caramelly glaze coats the perfectly cooked eggplant and tofu and leaves a trail of spice on the palate. It’s so warmly satisfying you’ll wish it was an entire entree.
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The dining room at Billie-Jean is both sexy and modern. | MABEL SUEN
If the eggplant makes the case for the kitchen’s expertise, the lobster delivers the verdict. Though the shellfish is grilled, its succulent flesh will make you think it was poached instead. A drizzle of Thai basil butter and fresh cilantro tastes as if drawn butter was sent on vacation to Phuket. It’s paired with a scallion corn cake that plays up the lobster’s natural sweetness. This is not just the best lobster in town; it may be the best preparation I’ve ever tasted. God bless our server, Elena,
who suggested we pair a dish of baked quail eggs with the morels that the restaurant had just gotten in for the season. The result was pure luxury: Creamy, soft-baked eggs lined the bottom of a copper serving dish. In addition to the morels, plump blistered tomatoes just waiting to pop and a savory eggplant-and-caper relish rested on top. As Elena suggested, we spooned the eggs over the slices of griddled brioche that were served on the side, placed the eggplant relish on top of Continued on pg 33
BILLIE-JEAN
Continued from pg 32
that, pierced the tomato to let the juice soak in and garnished it with the morels. By the time we had devoured every last morsel, other guests around us were begging to follow our lead. Just when you think you’ve maxed out on enjoyment with the small plates, the grilled swordfish arrives, an expertly cooked filet of meaty fish paired with olives, lemon and parsley. A touch of fennel infuses with the lemon, perfuming the swordfish with what tastes like licorice and flowers. Together with the subtle salt of the olives, it’s ethereal. You might wonder if you were somehow transported up the
Vietnamese coffee crème brulee and an apricot bread pudding as creamy as custard. Its texture is mind-boggling, somewhere between cream and fluff, almost like a quiche. Slivers of almonds and coconut add crunch to this luxurious sendoff. But as good as its food and as lovely as its atmosphere, what made the night at Billie-Jean was the hospitality, in particular on one visit from our delightful server Elena. She is responsible for that outstanding morel and quailegg pairing, but her skill goes beyond her palate. With a gentle confidence, she confiscated our menus and encouraged us to let her take the lead, filling our evening with one surprise after another and attending to our every whim with a genuine touch. That
A showstopping roasted quail is stuffed with with golden raisins, pine nuts and cornbread, then served with baby-root vegetables. | MABEL SUEN street to Bar Les Freres when the strip steak arrives, a behemoth cut of beef encrusted with salt and pepper. Melted shallot butter drips over the meat and mingles with its jus, soaking into the accompanying crispy frites like a Parisian poutine. Still, it’s the quail that’s the showstopper, a golden raisin, pine nut and cornbread-stuffed game bird that fills the table with the nutty scent of brown butter when it’s placed before you. The skin is perfectly crisped and the meat so tender it slides off the bones. It’s a nod back to the quail Robinson and chef Vongsaly served at their first restaurant some 30 years ago — a mouthwatering tribute that proves some things have staying power. Billie-Jean carries its perfection through dessert, with silken
she could do so shows she not only has a commanding knowledge of the restaurant but that she knows how to read her guests perfectly, giving them what they want even before they know what it is. It was quite possibly the best service I have ever experienced. Elena was the one who flagged that detail about the restroom. “Just go in there and look,” she told my table. “You’ll see something in there that is totally Zoe.” When I came back, she asked if I’d found it, and I nodded. In fact, I’d found it in just about everything I saw throughout that dazzling dinner. And clearly, Robinson has found it too.
Billie-Jean Grilled lobster tail ..................................... $17 Grilled swordfish ....................................... $32 Roasted quail ............................................ $34
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34
SHORT ORDERS [BARS]
Ready, Set, Slushie Written by
SARAH FENSKE
T
Joshua Johnson got hooked on bartending at an Orange County beach bar. He’s since learned the finer side of things as well. | MONICA MILEUR
[SIDE DISH]
The SoCal Bartender Who Stopped in Branson Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
W
hen Joshua Johnson was 21, he wandered into a Huntington Beach bar called Baja Sharkeez in search of some beer money. He didn’t realize it at the time, but slinging Jager Bombs for SoCal beachgoers would in turn lead him down a path to his true calling. “I needed a gig to pay for beer, bills and girls,” Johnson laughs about his time at the raucous bar. “This place was a block away from the beach, with fish tacos,
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burgers, Long Island ice teas and vodka Red Bulls. It was a party atmosphere. I wasn’t exactly doing craft cocktails there.” But those conditions didn’t stop Johnson from catching the restaurant bug. Though he’d gone to school for professional baseball marketing, he found himself drawn to the dynamic nature of the bar industry — a place where every day is filled with new people and new experiences. That burgeoning passion prompted him to get a job in a casino bar where he got to see the other side of the industry. There, he filled his weekends making upscale drinks for suited-up highrollers; weekdays were spent pouring shots for the partygoers at Sharkeez. It was the perfect setup for a carefree twenty-something, but it couldn’t last forever. “I moved to Texas to be with my family because I needed a breather from bartending,” Johnson explains. “When I moved back to California, I still needed a break, so I took two years off from the industry.” During that two-year period, Johnson worked for Luxotica, the sunglasses brand, and was
MAY 9 - 15, 2018
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responsible for overseeing seventeen stores in the San Diego market. He jokes that selling sunglasses in California was the easiest job on the planet, but it was also the most time-consuming gig he’d ever had, one that involved numbers, sales, financial analysis and spending a lot of time in a cubicle. He became restless. It wasn’t just work; Johnson knew he needed a change of scenery as well. He decided to move by spinning the globe and seeing where his finger landed. Nashville was it, so he packed up and began a cross-country road trip. He never made it. “My cousin managed a bar in Branson and said, ‘Hey, you don’t have anything going on. Why don’t you stay?’” recalls Johnson. “I said that I would give it a month. I ended up staying a year.” Johnson laughs about the culture shock he experienced going from Southern California to Branson, but he actually liked his new digs. The cost of living and change of seasons were positives for him. So were the connections he made. He began making friends with distributors and importers and the next thing he Continued on pg 35
he slushies are mixed. The kitchen is prepped. Everything is all ready at the new, long-awaited Grove location of Tropical Liqueurs (4104 Manchester Avenue) — everything except an occupancy permit from City Hall. But once that’s in place, promises Billy Thompson, who co-owns the bar with siblings Bradlee Thompson and Connie Vaughan, those doors are opening. “We’re looking forward to getting back to providing slushies to our fans,” he says. It’s been a long and winding road for Trops, which built a huge and intensely loyal following over decades near the Mizzou campus. The bar first opened in 1985, followed by an expansion and a second Columbia location, as well as one in Springfield, Missouri. But the family’s plans to serve up slushies in St. Louis have proven more complicated. A Soulard location opened in 2015 to lines around the block, but its location in a largely residential block led to tensions with neighbors, complaints to the city and suggestions of racism. A city hearing officer ultimately revoked its liquor license, and though a judge granted a reprieve, Trops decided to cut its losses. In May 2016, it announced it was heading to the Grove. At the time, the owners suggested they’d be open by August. That didn’t happen. Instead, nearly two years later, the bar is getting ready to open for business. Billy Thompson said there was no one reason for the delay, just a series of complications that led to other complications. At 8,000 square feet, the space is triple the size of other Trops locations and required a full build-out. (It was previously used for storage.) “When you’re doing a project like this, you just have to stay malleable,” he says. With skylights and subtle tropical touches along with exposed brick, the new location manages to look both a bit like New Orleans and totally like St. Louis. There’s a sizable patio out back that would be right at home in the French Quarter; Continued on pg 35
Monthly RafFLe Prizes JULY
MAY
10th Anniversary
TO CELEBRATE OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE’RE HOLDING A RAFFLE EVERY MONTH THROUGH NOVEMBER ENDING WITH A GRAND PRIZE WINNER! RAFFLE TICKETS ARE $5 EACH OR 5 FOR $20. Tickets available at Pappy’s, Bogart’s, Southern, Dalie’s and Adam’s. Winners receive a complimentary meal at Pappy’s for four with a bonus SpeedPass. (no waiting in line) and tickets to one of our city’s notable attractions.
OCTOBER
Year Long Family Membership Year Long Membership to Year Long Festival Membership with 4 Adventure Passes plus The Saint Louis Science Center to the Missouri Botanical Garden extras to the St. Louis Zoo which includes The Butterfly House AUGUST & Shaw Nature Reserve JUNE Year Long Family Membership NOVEMBER Year Long Family Membership to The City Museum to Grant’s Farm/VIP tour $300 Gift Card for the SEPTEMBER and The Magic House Peabody Opera House 4 Tickets to The Gateway Arch and the VIP Brewmaster Tour at Anheuser Busch
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La Vallesana CHEROKEE STREET’S ORIGINAL DESTINATION FOR TACOS & ICE CREAM TW O L ARG E PAT I O S • I ND O O R & PAT I O B AR HA P P Y HO U R 2- 6P M M O N- T HU RS 2801 CHEROKEE STREET • 314-776-4223
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[FIRST LOOK]
The BAO Is All About the Buns Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
I
f you’ve ever had traditional Chinese dim sum, chances are you are familiar with bao, or steamed buns typically filled with barbecue pork, shrimp or even sesame paste. But a bao hamburger? That’s a new one. RJ Xu is hoping to change that. With his new restaurant, the BAO (14 North Central Avenue, Clayton; 314-899-9098), Xu wants to expand diners’ perceptions of what is possible with the Asian staple. He’s taking flavors that are already familiar to the American palate but presenting them in a different way — namely, tucked inside a delicious bun. Think lobster rolls or bacon-and-egg breakfast sandwiches, only instead of being served on a crusty deli roll or English muffin, they are paired with a fluffy, sticky and slightly crunchy Asian-style bun. Xu, who formerly owned Sushi Station in Webster Groves, tapped his longtime family friend Nisa York to help him develop the BAO’s menu. York brings with her
JOSHUA JOHNSON Continued from pg 34
knew, he was living in St. Louis as a brand ambassador and educator, working for high-profile spirits companies from around the world. That was five years ago, and Johnson has never left. In in addition to his brand work, he got back behind the bar for a while at the Preston in the Chase Park Plaza hotel, then branched out on his own to co-found Cocktail Collective, a food-and-beverage consulting firm. In a way, he can see elements of his marketing work with his company, though cocktails are much different to him than sunglasses — they’re his passion. “People say, ‘Oh, bartending, is that your real job?’ and it is,” Johnson says. “It’s not just an inbetween gig anymore. It’s a real profession and a lifestyle and ca-
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a wealth of experience honed over the years working at her family’s Thai eatery, the Blue Elephant. The pair, who are both Thai, explain that bao is everywhere in their native country, and though they have noticed the dish growing in popularity throughout Asia and Europe, they have yet to see the concept in the American heartland. They wanted to change that, and in the process, to create a new kind of fusion. In that spirit, they settled on a menu of what could be described as classic American daytime comfort fare — biscuits and gravy, avocado toast, burgers — to pair with their homemade bao. As general manager Ben Bauer, a longtime friend of Xu, explains, “Nobody is doing this style. They are putting American twists on the dishes. Really, it’s classic flavors and sandwiches, just presented differently.” But it’s not just Americana. The restaurant also honors classic bao flavors such as char siu, or Cantonese-style barbecue pork, and kakuni, or pork belly with pickled greens, peanut and cilantro. Xu and York are particularly proud of their housemade bao recipe. The buns are made daily from flour flown in from Thailand. Fresh from the oven, the buns are pleasantly spongy, slightly airy, and have a soft, almost sweet taste. And they are not only steamed; Xu and York griddle and fry their bao as well. They even stuff a fried version with greentea ice cream for a fun twist on an reer. I’ve realized that I love being in the food-and-beverage industry and just went for it. When you’re passionate, that’s what you do.” Johnson took a break from Cocktail Collective to share his thoughts on the St. Louis foodand-drink scene, his love of tiki and how he satisfies his love of architecture by building cocktails. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I’m pretty much an open book, but I must leave some things to the imagination. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? My morning coffee and daily dose of vitamins. I’ve realized the older you get, the more you must take care of yourself. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Omnilinguilism: the ability to understand any form of language.
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Char-siu bao is one of the classic bao offerings at the Bao. Others mix it up. | CHERYL BAEHR ice-cream sandwich. Currently, the BAO is open for breakfast and lunch only, though that will expand in the coming weeks. Next week, the restaurant will add a happy hour that will run until 7 p.m. and feature drink specials and additional small plates. Not too far down the road, the plan is to expand the hours throughout the evening, transitioning from a fast-casual daytime eatery into an Izakaya-style dining concept by night. “We didn’t want to do it all at once,” Bauer explains. “We wanted to focus on the Clayton lunch crowd first, then add to it. We want to be a place you can pop into for lunch, have some evening cocktails and small plates, or even
somewhere to grab breakfast in the morning. We serve our full menu all day, so if someone wants a burger at 7 a.m., I’ll get it for them.” Bauer, who has garnered acclaim as a bartender, will also be putting those skills to work at the BAO as its concept expands. Look for an ambitious cocktail menu, a wine list focused on really good whites and an extensive sake selection. By day, he is focused on the restaurant’s coffee and tea offerings, serving a variety of options from the city’s premier roasters as well as tea from Chicago-based Spirit Tea. Currently, the BAO is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. n
I could travel around the world and never have to worry about a language barrier. Plus, ace every language class in school. What is the most positive trend in food or drink that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Tiki cocktails. They are fun, delicious, gorgeous and can use a wide base of ingredients. Contrary to popular belief, a tiki cocktail doesn’t have to be just rum based. I love rum/r(h)um, but I love all spirits. You might say that I’m a spiritual. For example: The “Singapore Sling” is gin-based, “Pinky Gonzales” is tequila-based, “London Sour” is Scotch-based, “Chi-Chi” is vodka-based and “Port Light” is bourbon-based, just to name a few. Most tiki cocktails are a blend of spirits. What is one thing missing or that you’d like to see in the local food-and-beverage scene? I’d really like to see the use of molecular gastronomy in the food-and-beverage scene. I’m a
science geek, and I love the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in cooking. Molecular gastronomy is social, artistic and technical. If innovative bartenders didn’t push traditional boundaries then we wouldn’t have remarkable experiences like you find at the Aviary in Chicago, the Bazaar in Los Angeles or the Pass in Houston. Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? Beamer Eisele and Ronnie Fink of Modern Brewery. Those guys constantly make great beer! And they’re awesome dudes as well. I love seeing more and more of their tap handles pop up around the Lou. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis food-andbeverage scene? To limit it to only one person is very hard, so I have three. As far as chefs go, I’d keep an eye on Nathan Sandknop and Zach Siecinski at the Preston and Chase Club,
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NOW OPEN! The slushies at Tropical Liqueurs now include a frozen rose, perfect for brunch. | SARAH FENSKE
DINE IN, CARRY OUT AND DELIVERY
read more at
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both inside the Chase Park Plaza, who are constantly using and making housemade ingredients and continually being innovative. For beverages, Zach Stout at Frazer’s. He has one of the best flavor palates in this town and excellent hospitality. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? I would say tequila. You can sip it, shoot it or make a great cocktail with the delicious 100 percent blue agave spirit. When a bottle of tequila shows up you know you’re going to have a good time, and I always like to have a good time. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ foodand-beverage climate, what would you say? It’s constantly growing. Every year there are great new bars and restaurants popping up and more James Beard nominees. If you were not tending bar, what would you be doing? I’d be an architect. I love to plan,
design and create. It’s how I’m wired. There’s a form of architecture that goes into making great cocktails and composed dishes as well. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Artificial flavors and Malört. Malört is only good for when you need to unfriend someone in person. What is your after-work hangout? Usually home, but I’ve been to the Scottish Arms once or twice for a tipple or two. What’s your edible or quaffable guilty pleasure? Sour Patch Kids and Green Chartreuse. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks, of course. In-N-Out double cheeseburger with grilled onions, French fries (animal style) and a bottle of Booker’s Rye. It’s the simple things in life that I enjoy. n
Continued from pg 34
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on a sunny day, it’s hard to imagine a better place to be. And unlike other Trops locations, this one has a full kitchen, courtesy of Guerrilla Street Food. Co-owner Brian Hardesty says the fast-casual Filipino restaurant group designed its menu to pair well with Trops’ coastal Louisiana vibe, as well as work for a day of drinking. In addition to Filipino twists on bar classics, like adobo chicken jerky and mung bean hummus, Guerrilla Street Food will be offering a large assortment of handheld items, including a Filipino Crunchwrap stuffed with chorizo and refried mung beans. A riff on the beloved Taco Bell menu item, Hardesty says it was a huge hit when they tried it out at another location earlier this year. “We ran it for a week and sold 400 of them,” he says. Other menu items, like the grilled pimento-cheese sandwich, are just meant to be easy and fun. And, he promises,
“We’re going to have a few more surprises along the way.” Trops, too, is offering some items you can’t get elsewhere. Because of the food component, this Trops will be open for brunch, and that means frosé, Thompson says. You can also get a “Tiger Paw Mimosa,” a morning-friendly riff on the Columbia location’s signature drink. For Thompson, who lives in the Grove, the whole project feels fated, and in the best possible way. The complications that got the siblings to this point, he says, were a “blessing in disguise.” “We were able to land right where we should have been in the beginning,” he says. Once opening day dawns, Trops plans to be open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 1:30 a.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. until midnight. Guerrilla Street Food is still figuring out its hours but plans to be open about 90 percent of the time Trops is. “We’re going to try to be very flexible and organic,” Hardesty says, suggesting that if there’s demand, the kitchen will stay open. n
TROPS
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[ TA K E O U T ]
Sides of Seoul Offers Banchan for the Road Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
I
f you’ve had the pleasure of dining at a Korean barbecue restaurant, you know that the banchan, or side dishes that accompany the feast, can be the best part. Those dishes are finally getting the top billing they deserve at Sides of Seoul (10084 Page Avenue, Overland; 314942-8940), a new prepared foods market that opened in Overland this past January. Owned by Wol Kim, the Korean takeout spot is both a commissary for
of two large refrigerated cases that are filled with a variety of Kim’s specialties, already packaged and ready to take home. Kimchi of all styles, such as cabbage, radish strips or cucumber, can be found in either single-portion containers or large glass jars that could feed a large family for a week. Other side dishes include braised lotus root, pig trotters with spicy shrimp paste, and even a white kimchi that is fermented but not infused with chile, giving it that delightful mouthpuckering flavor without the spice. Though the name suggests otherwise, Sides of Seoul offers more than just side dishes. Kim also stocks her case with several main courses, including spicy soft-tofu soup, beef-bones soup, shrimp pancakes and salted mackerel. She is also willing to entertain special requests with advance notice. On weekdays, Sides of Seoul offers a handful of hot lunches available for take-
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her robust catering business and a place to grab a variety of Korean-style items such as kimchi, soups, salted fish and condiments, as well as hot lunch takeout platters on the weekdays. Kim, speaking through her daughter and translator Susanne Kim, says she decided to open the market after her catering business showed there was a demand for her cooking. A longtime home cook, Kim garnered a reputation among her friends as the go-to person if they needed food for gatherings, parties or just because. She’s been informally catering for friends and extended family for years, but decided to make her business professional, opening a storefront that caters to both passersby hungry for lunch and those looking for large-scale catering. There is no seating available at this strictly takeout operation. The bulk of the sparsely appointed space consists
out. Look for bulgogi, bibimbap or stirfried spicy pork, which are all served with rice, seaweed salad, kimchi and sweet black beans. In addition to offering her wares at Sides of Seoul, Kim uses its kitchen space to prepare items for Pan-Asia Market, an international grocery store in west county. She emphasizes that demand for her food comes down to the fact that she makes everything from scratch using only quality, fresh ingredients. Kim opened Sides of Seoul with a built-in catering business, but she has been heartened by the number of curious passersby who have come into the market. Her daughter Suzanne seemed equally surprised, noting just how many people in the area like Korean food. Sides of Seoul is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. n
LUNCH BUFFET 11AM-2PM D I N N E R M E N U, A N D S U N DAY B R U N C H 11A M-2:30P M
WWW.BRASILIASTL.COM • 314-932-1034 3212 SOUTH GRAND BLVD riverfronttimes.com
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40
CULTURE
[HOMESPUN]
Pining Away The Mighty Pines release a new live album showcasing the band at its best Written by
CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
O
n most Sunday afternoons, the Shaw neighborhood’s Fiddlehead Fern Cafe is a hive of activity. Most patrons show up for the caffeine and carbs — pour-over coffee, spinach-andfeta croissants and 2018’s generational signifier, the avocado toast. But this week, more than a few people are invested in the live music occupying one glass-and-whitewood corner, where Gerard Erker, Neil Salsich, John Hussung and their instruments are positioned around a single microphone. Toward the end of the trio’s noon-to-two gig, the group is working its way through a spate of covers. Erker, on mandolin, rips through some speed-runs during a breakneck pass at Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” (“for those of you who didn’t go to church this morning,” upright bassist Hussung later quips) and a harmony-sweetened take on Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie.” The trio hasn’t exactly fixed on a name — Hot Corn is its current moniker — but fans of bluegrass and jam-band music will recognized the musicians as threefourths of the Mighty Pines. “It’s really become a way for us to practice, which is important,” says Salsich, who plays guitar and sings lead on most tracks. “We try out new songs, and a lot of the good stuff makes its way into the Mighty Pines eventually.” And while an 11 a.m. load-in on Sunday morning may not exactly be the witching hour — the band had gotten home from a Saturday night wedding-reception gig at 3 a.m. — the early afternoon gig offers a relaxed, no-frills environment to work on material that may or may not fit within the Mighty Pines’ purview. “We realized that after a few
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The Mighty Pines operated under the moniker Acoustics Anonymous prior to a name change in 2016. | BRIAN O’SHAUGHNESSY months, you haven’t been doing anything fresh, and you’re bored,” says Hussung. “We’re better at trying to avoid that by pushing ourselves to move our sound forward all the time.” “Musically, this scratches an itch for us that we really love, but we can’t put it on big stages,” adds Salsich. “This acoustic, unplugged thing would be what we were doing if we turned out to be more of a folky trio, but that’s just not where our band went. We’ve grown into a rock band, really — we have a drum kit and there’s a total rock & roll musical experience, not a seated, hushed acoustic thing.” In the six years that these musicians have been playing together — first as Acoustics Anonymous, re-christened as the Mighty Pines in 2016 — that movement from folksy strummers to a jamand groove-oriented music has been strengthened over a steady stream of hometown and out-oftown gigs. (Mike Murano completes the quartet on drums and, as a veteran of several funk-andsoul groups, gives the band a supple backbone for its groove-driven moments.) The band estimates that the Mighty Pines played around 100 shows in 2017, a number that nearly doubles when pri-
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vate parties, one-offs and unofficial gigs like the Fiddlehead Fern residency are factored. So it’s fitting that the band is burnishing its live-band bonafides with The Mighty Pines Live, its first live album. And while the band continues to make inroads in other markets, the album is a love letter to its hometown: The recordings are taken from two St. Louis shows from last July. The first was at Delmar Hall, where about 500 people were on hand to celebrate the release of the then-new Lonesome Blues album. “It was a big moment for us,” Erker says of that show. “I think we were viewed more professionally after that.” An even bigger crowd was on hand for the album’s other source: a late-July set at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Whitaker Music Festival, where the Mighty Pines played to an estimated 5,000 people. Salsich notes that the Whitaker gig in particular helped solidify the band’s move away from its acoustic-folk roots toward a rockdriven sound. “People saw us on way bigger stages and things just changed a little bit,” he says. Hussung says that while the band has its “studio thing,” its onstage chemistry is at the group’s core.
“We’re very much a live band, so capturing that and putting it on an album and letting people experience that was beneficial,” he says. Toward the end of Hot Corn’s set at Fiddlehead, Salsich introduces the group’s last tune, a new song that Erker wrote called “Farmer Song.” At least four cell-phone videos begin recording as the band begins. Would-be bootleggers need not worry: The band is releasing the song concurrently with its live album as a standalone single. It was recorded with Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone, who will be on stage for the Mighty Pines’ album-release show this weekend at Atomic Cowboy. “It’s a tribute to farmers and raising animals humanely,” Erker says of the song. The band recently completed a small tour of organic farms, playing as musical backdrop to a slew of farm-to-table dinners while giving a signal boost to a pet cause. “The tour is very much to raise awareness about healthy soil and pesticidedrift control, as well as helping out the local community and shining a little bit of a light on them.”
The Mighty Pines Record Release 7 p.m. Saturday, May 12. The Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue. $12. 314-775-0775.
Bruce Cole (left) and one of his Screamin’ MeeMees releases (above). | VIA JASON ROSS
[IN MEMORIAM]
R.I.P. Bruce Cole Written by
DANIEL HILL “Does it sound like we rehearsed? Hell no, we didn’t rehearse. We just turned on the tape and did it. We never really rehearsed. We were just down there drinking and messing around.” —Bruce Cole
T
he world is a little less weird this week, with news that Screamin’ Mee-Mees guitarist and vocalist Bruce Christopher Cole passed away at age 67 on Thursday, April 26, after suffering a massive stroke at his home the day prior. Cole leaves behind a legacy as a pioneer of DIY home recording, and the early music made by his two-man act with lifelong friend Jon Ashline, who passed in 2012, can be counted as some of the earliest (and strangest, most irreverent) proto-punk on record. The duo spent decades playing music together, beginning in the late sixties — but never in front of a crowd. Instead, the Mee-Mees carved
out a niche as one of the most prolific home-recorded acts of its time. In the basement of Cole’s childhood home in Ferguson, which Cole would occupy until his death, the two would record songs with irreverent titles like “Hot Sody,” “Psycho Ward Reunion,” “Disco for Drunks” and “Green Cigars from Mars” onto recycled quarter-inch reel-to-reel tapes. The songs were almost always improvised on the spot, and the lyrics were predictably goofy. (“Riding on my spaceship one day/Hit something and I looked at it/It was a green cigar from Mars/I turned around and ate it.”) Their output was often unlistenable. In a 2005 RFT cover story, for example, Cole said that one of the tapes they’d recorded was just a huge collection of his and Ashline’s farts. “How long it took to fill up the reel depended on what we had to eat,” Cole explained. As years went on his basement would grow to contain dozens and dozens of tapes — hundreds of songs’ worth — as well as a trove of Cole’s own hand-drawn art and handwritten lyrics. Most of it was never heard or seen outside that basement. “The stupider, the better,” Cole told RFT in 2005. “I think everything we do is pretty fucking stupid.” But despite its decidedly unserious approach, the band’s
goofy charm was infectious and its songs at times brilliant, and a clutch of dedicated record collectors around the world have made Screamin’ Mee-Mees recordings sought-after gems. Live From the Basement!, released in 1976, with “PLAY LOUD ON CHEAP STEREO” scrawled in xeroxed sharpie across its cover, is particularly treasured. To those who knew Cole, his passing is sad but unsurprising. “He’d been drinking between a twelve-pack and a case of beer a day since like 1969,” explains Rerun Records’ Jason Ross, whom
Cole called his manager. “Smoking three to four packs a day, smoking a lot of weed on top of that — which I contributed to, I’ll admit, but sometimes that was the lubrication you needed to get Bruce to do anything.” When Ross moved to St. Louis from Wisconsin in 1998 he was already aware of the Screamin’ Mee-Mees, and he promptly tracked Cole down. As the years went on he formed a close friendship with Cole, frequently visiting him in Ferguson, the two drinking Busch beers and combing through stacks of tapes. About five years ago, Ross started archiving Cole’s many boxes of music and art, which had begun to mold in the basement of that house. “I started asking if I could borrow that stuff, just to scan it in before it got lost,” Ross says. “After the second time I tried to return a box of stuff Continued on pg 42
Jon Ashline and Bruce Cole. | VIA JASON ROSS
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BRUCE COLE
Continued from pg 41
to him he was like, ‘Just keep it. I don’t want it. I have no use for it anymore; it’s just gonna get thrown away when I croak.’” Ross estimates he’s managed to save and archive 60 percent of Cole’s master tapes; an unsorted stack of Cole’s art at Ross’ home stands four feet tall. He’s been talking with Cole’s family as well, and has arranged to rescue the rest of the vault from being tossed in a dumpster. “I got in touch with his brother right away and explained the situation,” Ross says. “We had a few very lengthy conversations since [Cole’s passing], and he completely understood. So I’m gonna help clean out his house, and he’s given
[OPENINGS]
Blank Space Re-Opens as Arcade Bar Written by
DANIEL HILL
B
lank Space is changing its game up. The Cherokee Street spot that first opened its doors as an open-ended art space has, after six years, assumed a new identity: the home of RKDE (2847 Cherokee Street, 314-300-8831), the arcade bar previously located on the second floor of 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center. “It’s gonna be RKDE x Blank Space, I guess,” says founder and co-owner Kaveh Razani, 33. “I think we think of the venue as Blank Space, we think of the spirit and the bones of the building as
me permission to take all the rest to create this archive that I’ve been working on. So that’s great — I know the stuff is safe and it’s gonna be in my possession.” Still, he admits, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with most of it.” But that’s OK. Cole had really only been creating this stuff for his own amusement, anyway, Ross says — a true outsider artist. That his work was able to reach people around the globe was just a happy bonus. “There were three different Japanese bands that had covered his songs and had sent him tapes or records,” Ross says. Cole had also gotten letters from the likes of Thurston Moore and members of Pink Fairies, who counted themselves as fans. “A bunch of other bands had covered his songs and Blank Space, but we think of the business that’s occupying Blank Space as being RKDE.” Razani, who is also a co-owner of 2720, explains that he and his partners were finally able to buy the building at Blank Space outright about two months ago. “So we own the joint,” he says. “We purchased it in conjunction with an investor a few years back, but unfortunately that relationship soured, so we bought the building outright two months ago.” Since then the Cherokee Street storefront has been completely remodeled, with a gorgeous hardwood floor and a bar made from cedar sourced from Such and Such Farm in De Soto. Always Hard Concrete and Construction, run by Bryan Bedwell and Johan Sebastien Dudré (the former a founding member of KHVT, the local nonprofit that has constructed multiple skate parks in the St. Louis area), handled all the work, even cutting down the trees at the farm themselves. If you’re standing in the front doorway of the first floor and facing in, you’ll see
SUNDAY BURLESQUE BRUNCH TWO SEATINGS EVERY SUNDAY 10AM & 1PM STARTING MOTHER’S DAY 5 0 0 N . 1 4 T H ST. D OW N TOW N ST. LO U I S 42
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General manager Luc Michalski and co-owner Kaveh Razani at RKDE. | DANIEL HILL
Thursday May 10 9pm
Jazz Fest STL with
New Orleans Suspects, Honey Island Swamp Band, Cole on the floor. | VIA JASON ROSS
and Jazz Fest Oriented Food Specials. plan to call in sick on Friday! Friday May 11 10pm
stuff, and he became pen pals with some, but he kept that stuff separate just to show people, like, ‘Look, somebody does care about
my music.’” Probably more than you even knew, Bruce. Rest in peace to a true St. Louis original. n
the newly constructed bar to the right. Lining the walls are arcade consoles including Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat II, Walking Dead pinball, the Simpsons, NBA Jam, Time Crisis II, Galaga, Tetris and Ms. Pac-Man. To the left you’ll see a bookcase where you might swear there was once a doorway to the basement; Razani is cagey about his potential future plans for that portion of the building, but the word “speakeasy” comes up more than once. Up on the second floor is a second pool table and a handful of imported Japanese Sega Blast City cabinets. A portion of this space will be set up similar to a living room and will host weekly Nintendo 64 tournaments; Razani says they will use a projector for those at first, but he hopes to get his hands on a large flatscreen TV down the line. The shuffle comes as an indirect response to Razani and his partners grabbing the reins of 2720 in April 2016. “We were interested in bringing on a managing partner to run Blank Space as it was before, but we realized it might be way more fun and timely and cost-effective and good for the street to just move the arcade down the street,” Razani says. “Given the architecture of 2720, the arcade was never really able to flower on its own. It was only really ever open five hours a week on Wednesday nights.” Though he says it will still host live music, implicit in the new plans for Blank Space is a loss of its identity as an openended, untouched canvas that allows the community to determine its purpose. Interestingly, though, that aspect of Razani’s empire seems to be just moving down the street to the second floor of 2720. Essentially, they’ve simply swapped. “The one thing that we lost in moving the arcade to Blank Space is the ability to do art shows and gallery openings and that kind of thing,” Razani says. “So we’re gonna focus a lot of the sec-
ond floor at 2720 on those things. Being more intentional about running an art gallery up there. We’re gonna do a lot of smaller concerts that don’t necessarily fit the main stage, so a lot of the programming that we have been doing up there is gonna stay, and then we’re gonna build a really nice bar setup up there that we never really did get to, and do a lot of private events. “The irony is, in a lot of ways, the second floor of 2720 is gonna embody a lot of the concept of what Blank Space was, in the sense that it’s a space that you can do a lot more in,” he continues. “It’s not boxed in by the capacity of it; it’s not boxed in by the fact that there’s a bar over here, a stage over here. I mean, those things are there, but it’s a lot more open space.” It’s all part of a bid to keep Blank Space open seven days a week — a longstanding goal for Razani that had been difficult to achieve because most people thought of the spot as simply an event space. Bringing the arcade there, it seems, is the game-changer, and the bar will now be open daily from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. “I think what Blank Space always strived to be was an accessible space for people of all walks of life, from all different classes, socioeconomic backgrounds, that kind of thing,” Razani explains. “What we’ve been striving to be for six years is that kind of space. But what we also don’t think about in terms of accessibility is literal accessibility — like, ‘When are you open, when can I get there, when can I hang out.’ “Moving the arcade there kind of gives us the perfect impetus to be open seven days a week as a whole new business — with the same values, with the same ownership, with the same ethos about our place on the street. And just giving us a good reason to be open every day.” n
Jazz Fest STL continues with
Sidewalk Chalk
Hip Hop, Funk and Soul from Chicago and Special Guests
Love Jones the Band
You’re well rested from sleeping all day Friday! Saturday May 12 10pm
Jake’s Leg
Friday May 18 10PM
Wild Adriatic with Special Guests
Brother Lee & The Leather Jackals
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44
OUT EVERY NIGHT
[CRITIC’S PICK]
Sarah Shook. | JILLIAN CLARK
Sarah Shook and the Disarmers
in the South,” all of which might appeal
Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $15 to $18. 314-773-3363.
to antifa honky-tonkers (both of them)
The appeal of alternative country music
but wouldn’t matter if she and her band
lies in the subversion and celebration of
didn’t have the songs or chops. They do,
grounding traditions. You could argue
and loud, fast, smart country music has
that the best country music has always
rarely sounded so fiercely rooted.
been alt in some way, and Buck Owens
Coup d’twang: Headliner Robbie Fulks
and Kitty Wells would have your back.
made a name as country music bomb
Sarah Shook and the Disarmers have
thrower; he’s now among the most be-
made a mission statement out of genre
loved of left-of-center Americana song-
sabotage, from the group’s punkish de-
writers. And he’s still one of the most
but Sidelong to this year’s slicker but
entertaining acts on the twangy circuit.
no less compelling Years. Shook identi-
—Roy Kasten
THURSDAY 10
FRIDAY 11
BASSMINT PROS: w/ Casey McBailey 7 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314289-9050. THE BEL AIRS: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues &
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rights activist, female in a country band
8 p.m. Friday, May 11.
ANVIL: w/ Shadowside, The Nokturnal, Axeticy 7 p.m., $15-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BONES OWENS: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS: w/ Greyhounds 7 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. COUNTERFEIT.: 7 p.m., $13-$65. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314833-3929. IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE SUFFERS: 8 p.m., $12.50-$15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. TORREY CASEY & THE SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. TRAVIS MEADOWS: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. WHOA THUNDER: w/ Zigtebra, Giant Monsters On The Horizon 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.
44
fies as a “vegan, bisexual, atheist, civil
Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-4365222. DAVID DEE & THE HOT TRACKS: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JIMMY EAT WORLD: w/ The Hotelier, Microwave 8 p.m., $29.50-$32.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. KC COMEDY SHOW: w/ Joe Nunnink, Aaron Naylor 9 p.m., $5. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. MC LYTE: w/ Big Daddy Kane 7 p.m., $20-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314345-9481. MIKE ZITO CD RELEASE: w/ Jeremiah Johnson Band 7 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-7750775. ROBBIE FULKS: w/ Sarah Shook and the Disarmers 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROOFTOP HAPPY HOUR: w/ Huht, Makossa, Lord Soul 5 p.m., $5. TechArista, 4818 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, 314-898-0933. THE BUG OUT: A STRAIGHT-UP CLASSIC HIP-HOP JAM: w/ James Biko, DJ Willpower, The Original G-Wiz 8 p.m., $5-$6.50. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. TREVOR NOAH: 7 p.m., $45-$95. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. THE WAY DOWN WANDERERS: 8 p.m., $10-$12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-
Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314588-0505. YOUNG ANIMALS: w/ Biff K’narly and the Reptilians, Mariott 8 p.m., $8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.
SATURDAY 12
AERACO: 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. APEX SHRINE + ORPHAN WELLS: w/ Daytime Television, Ashley Byrne 8 p.m., $10. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. BIG MIKE & BLUE CITY ALL-STARS: 10:30 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BRIAN CULBERTSON: 8 p.m., $39.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. DAVID HYLLA AND THE GOOD TIMES BAND: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. FLYING HOUSE: w/ Bella & Lily, Melissa Russell, Sean Garcia,Rebecca Ryan 7 p.m., $10. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. THE GREAT KICKBACK: 8 p.m., $7. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. HALL & OATES: w/ Train 7 p.m., $30-$139.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. IKE REILLY: 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.
KALEB KIRBY: 9 p.m., free. Sophie’s Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club, 3224 Locust St second floor of .Zack, St. Louis, 314-775-9551. LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LOKEY: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300. THE MIGHTY PINES: 7 p.m., $12-$15. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. POINTFEST 2018: w/ Alice in Chains, Shinedown, Stone Temple Pilots, the Struts, Blue October, Candlebox, the Glorious Sons, Brookroyal 4 p.m., $29.50-$149. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. SOMA: w/ Altamira, Giants In The Sky, Accelerando 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SRČANI UDAR: 8 p.m., $30-$35. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. STL FREE JAZZ COLLECTIVE: 7 p.m., free. 14th Street Artist Community, 2701 14th St, St. Louis. THE GRAMOPHONE 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: 2 p.m., free. The Gramophone, 4243 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-531-5700.
SUNDAY 13
BASEMENT: w/ Citizen, Pronoun, Souvenirs 7 p.m., $18-$23. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd.,
[WEEKEND]
BEST BETS
Five sure-fire shows to close out the week
FRIDAY, MAY 11
of the late nineties and early aughts. That
The Bug Out: A Straight-Up Classic Hip-Hop Jam w/ Willpower, G-Wiz, James Biko
era continues to define the genre twenty
8 p.m. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $5 to $6.50. 314-833-3929.
The two groups seem to be connected at
Unless you’re already immersed in
Miners) serving as engineer for several
hip-hop, it can be easy to forget that
Unwed Sailor releases, including 2001’s
it’s more of a culture than a genre.
The Unfaithful Anchor. In addition to shar-
The Bug Out brings the four original
ing stages, the pair is also intertwined in
elements of that culture, which are,
the soundtrack for Stateless, a short by
for those not in the know: deejaying,
filmmaker Chris Bennett. The members of
breakdancing, graffiti and emceeing.
opener Staghorn are no strangers to story-
Of course the last has become, for
telling themselves, as they add in spoken-
the most part, what we call rap today.
word pieces to drive a heavy activist narra-
Yet this night proves that the whole
tive throughout their abyssal metal.
is greater than the sum of the parts by bringing out the b-boys and b-girls, with sounds by James Biko, a.k.a. Nappy DJ Needles, alongside Willpower and G-Wiz. For those hitting the MC Lyte and Big Daddy Kane show over
FRIDAY NIGHT
years on, but both bands here still strive to shape their own subtle reinventions. the hip, with Daniel Burton (of Early Day
SATURDAY
NIGHT
SATURDAY, MAY 12 Seth Graham w/ Diamond Soul, Blank Thomas, Carter Frerichs, Fluke Nukes 7 p.m. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $7. 314-772-2100.
at Ballpark Village earlier in the night,
Seth Graham offers a heady deconstruction
consider this a mandatory afterparty.
of classical music with a rhythmic sense
& SOULARD’S HOTTEST FRI & SAT DANCE PARTY
that seems to wrap around and tighten.
Unwed Sailor w/ Early Day Miners, Staghorn
Experimental is the only term to dress the
8 p.m. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $8 to $10. 314-772-2100.
short just how canonically taut the songs
Unwed Sailor and Early Day Miners are two
other traditional instrumentation. In the live
key exports from the post-rock tidal wave
Continued on pg 46
general sound in, but that word really sells are, drawing from woodwinds, brass and
2001 MENARD (AT ALLEN) IN SOULARD FACEBOOK @DUKESINSOULARD riverfronttimes.com
MAY 9 - 15, 2018
RIVERFRONT TIMES
45
46
RIVERFRONT TIMES
MAY 9 - 15, 2018
riverfronttimes.com
[CRITIC’S PICK]
Mike Zito
rather than a dusty relic in a museum. Zito has been playing and singing the
8 p.m. Friday, May 11.
blues for a few decades, and his skill
The Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue. $17. 314-775-0775.
allowed him membership into the Royal
St. Louis music fans need few remind-
that includes Cyril Neville and Devon All-
ers of St. Louis’ pride of place in the
man. But on the brand-new First Class
blues world — the National Blues Mu-
Life, Zito steps back into his solo career
seum downtown all but cemented our
with a varied set of modern blues music
status a few years back, and our regu-
that nods to tradition while zapping it
larly packed blues clubs underline the
with an electric current.
music’s continuing appeal. And it’s lo-
Double Trouble: Jeremiah Johnson, a
cal players like Mike Zito who keep the
fellow St. Louis-based guitar-slinger, will
form alive, vibrant and ever-changing
open the show. —Christian Schaeffer
St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BIG GEORGE BROCK & THE HOUSE ROCKERS: 4 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BRIT FLOYD: 7 p.m., $29.50-$59.50. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314499-7600. COMPANY OF THIEVES: 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-4986989. DONELL JONES: w/ Corey Allen, Music Unlimited 5 p.m., $22.50-$45. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. LITTLE STEVEN AND THE DISCIPLES OF SOUL: 7 p.m., $35-$55. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. R&B LEGENDS: MOTHER’S DAY EDITION: w/ Evelyn “Champagne” King, Tony Terry, Kim Massie, DJ Kut 6 p.m., $25-$55. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd, North St. Louis County, 314-869-9090. UNDESIRABLE PEOPLE: w/ As We Are, An Unfortunate Trend, Name It Now, Relyness 7 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.
M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314516-4949. SPOON: 8 p.m., $35-$37.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.
MONDAY 14
BOTTOMS UP BLUES GANG: 6 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811. GNARLY DAVIDSON: w/ Spacetrucker, Boreal Hills, Shitstorm 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. MUSIC UNLIMITED: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-4365222. OWEL: w/ Plans 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811.
TUESDAY 15
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE: 8 p.m., $22-$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314498-6989. DRINKING WITH DRE DAY: A STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW: 9 p.m., free. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. FLEET FOXES: 8 p.m., $35.50-$71. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. I AM HIP HOP: A SALUTE TO WOMEN IN HIP HOP: 6 p.m., free. St. Louis Public Library, 1415 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-241-0478. MUTOID MAN: w/ Lazer/Wulf, The Armed 8 p.m., $16-$19. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222.
WEDNESDAY 16
BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MARTY SPIKENER & ON CALL BLUES BAND: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MUSIC CITY HIT-MAKERS: 8 p.m., $36. Blanche
Always a Great Time in the Neighborhood
Southern Brotherhood, a supergroup
THIS JUST IN AMERICAN IDOL LIVE! 2018: W/ Cade Foehner, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Catie Turner,Gabby Barrett, Jurnee, Maddie Poppe, Michael J. Woodard, Fri., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $29.50-$99.50. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. BATTLE OF THE DADS: Sat., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $5. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES: Wed., May 30, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-4365222. BLACK PUSSY: W/ Spark Thugs, Custom Black, Rover, Sat., June 9, 9 p.m., $12-$14. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BLIND WILLIE & BROADWAY COLLECTIVE: Tue., May 29, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BOONDOGGLE: A TWO-MAN COMEDY SHOW: Wed., June 13, 9 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BRETT ELDREDGE: W/ Devin Dawson, Fri., Oct. 5, 7 p.m., $32-$72. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. THE BUTTERTONES: Sun., Nov. 25, 8 p.m., $15$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. CASPA: W/ iLL.Gates, Spankalicous, Lusid, Sat., May 19, 8 p.m., $30. 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700. CUPCAKKE: Tue., June 12, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DEAF POETS: W/ Free Thinker, Apex Shrine, Thu., June 28, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. DIG THE WELL SHOWCASE: W/ New Heart, Lowered A.D., Decline, Devil’s Den, Contrast, Forced Impact, Transgression, Pryss, Terminal nation, Death Card, Wits End, True Self, Better Days, Polterguts, Give Up, Time & Pressure, Sat., Aug. 4, 2 p.m., $15-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND: Thu., July 12, 8 p.m., $18-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. DRINKING WITH DRE DAY: A STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW: Tue., May 15, 9 p.m., free. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222. ETHEL + ROBERT MIRABAL: Sun., Feb. 24, 7 p.m., $32. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. AN EVENING WITH THE AUTHORS: Wed., June 20, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. FINAL VEIL: W/ Paperkite, Archdragon, Fri., June 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226
! u o y hank
T
VOTED ST. LOUIS’ FAVORITE OUTDOOR/PATIO DINING!
#patiolife 1818 Sidney (at Lemp) @truemansinsoulard riverfronttimes.com
MAY 9 - 15, 2018
RIVERFRONT TIMES
47
WEEKEND Continued from pg 45 space, Graham comes off as a shaman of sampling and sonic manipulation as he bends tone and texture to achieve a spiritual connection between the two. His latest, Gasp, was just released through Graham’s own Orange Milk record label, best known for last year’s breakout Soft Channel by Giant Claw.
Drew Gowran Album Release Show 9 p.m. HOEL, 2714 Cherokee Street. Free. No phone.
On a typical day, Drew Gowran can be found at a shuttered storefront on Cherokee Street or on the riverbank playing pot lids and bells. He could be drumming for only himself and the occasional passerby or he might livestream the pop-up show to Facebook. By bouncing from quick polyrhythmic flutters to long and resonant tones, the 30-year-old blends the world of busking with quiet, contemplative performance art. His new release, Dismantle, shows the drummer doing just that — breaking down his rock roots to a sound that’s more innate and esoteric.
Pointfest 2018 5 p.m. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 14141 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights. $29.50 to $149. 314-298-9944.
Through no fault of the Point’s, 2017’s iteration of KPNT’s flagship festival ended on a somber note. Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell died only two days before the band was set to headline the event, leading to the entire day being canceled out of respect for Cornell and his family. But this year, it’s back in a big way. Abandoning the two-weekend approach of previous years, this year’s show all goes down on a single day, with a long line of returning favorites in Alice in Chains, Shinedown, the Struts, Blue October, Candlebox and Brookroyal. Alternative rock legends Stone Temple Pilots join the relatively fresh-faced Glorious Sons for their first Pointfest appearance. —Joseph Hess Each week we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the weekend. To submit your show for consideration, visit riverfronttimes. com/stlouis/Events/AddEvent. All events subject to change; check with the venue for the most up-to-date information.
48
RIVERFRONT TIMES
Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. HA HA TONKA: W/ Bruiser Queen, Town Cars, Sat., Aug. 4, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. I AM HIP HOP: A SALUTE TO WOMEN IN HIP HOP: Tue., May 15, 6 p.m., free. St. Louis Public Library, 1415 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-241-0478. IAN FISHER: Sat., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-4986989. IVAS JOHN BAND: Sat., May 26, 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. J. RODDY WALSTON & THE BUSINESS: W/ *repeat repeat, The Wilderness, Sun., Aug. 5, 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. JOSH COCKS: Wed., June 6, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. KALEB KIRBY: Sat., May 12, 9 p.m., free. Sophie’s Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club, 3224 Locust St second floor of .Zack, St. Louis, 314-775-9551. KENNY G: Fri., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $49-$99. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314516-4949. LADY RE’S “JUST FOR LAUGHS”: Tue., May 29, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LIGHTRIDER: Sun., May 20, 7 p.m., $7-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. LIL XAN: Wed., Oct. 10, 8 p.m., $27.50-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. LIVE COMEDY DVD: Thu., June 28, 9 p.m., $5. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., May 27, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LUCIOUS SPILLER: Fri., May 25, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LUCY DACUS: Tue., July 24, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-4986989. MARTY SPIKENER & ON CALL BLUES BAND: Wed., May 30, 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MEN IN BLAZERS: Thu., June 14, 8 p.m., $20-$60. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. MIKE FARRIS: Thu., June 21, 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-4986989. MUSIC CITY HIT-MAKERS: Wed., May 16, 8 p.m., $36. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. NIGHT MARKET: Fri., June 15, 6 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. OLD 97’S: Thu., Aug. 2, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-4986989. THE PAUSES: Mon., July 23, 8 p.m., $7-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. PUNCH BROTHERS: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $37-$79. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. R&B ONLY: Sat., July 14, 9 p.m., TBA. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. RAMONA DEFLOWERED: W/ Aquaholics Anonymous, 9:09, Sun., June 3, 7 p.m., $7-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. REST, REPOSE: W/ Drewsif, The Home Team, Broken Youth, Conman Economy, Wed., June 13, 6 p.m., $13-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. RICH HOMIE QUAN: Sat., June 30, 9 p.m., $20$25. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. RIVER CITY OPRY: Sun., May 27, 1 p.m., $5. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROCKY & THE WRANGLERS: Sat., May 26, 4 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. ROKY ERICKSON: Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. ROOFTOP HAPPY HOUR: W/ Huht, Makossa, Lord
MAY 9 - 15, 2018
riverfronttimes.com
[[ CC RR II TT II CC ’’ SS PP II CC KK ]]
Mutoid Man. | NICHOLAS SAYERS
Mutoid Man
every word, but completely unsurprising
8 p.m. Tuesday, May 15.
that these members are able to push
Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $16 to $19. 314-289-9050
the genre to uncharted waters. Last
Brooklyn’s Mutoid Man thumbs its nose
year’s War Moans, released in June, is
at the expectations put on it thanks to
a tight twelve-song affair overflowing
its “metalcore” genre tag by embrac-
with metal riffs run through a rock & roll
ing melody and — gasp! — clean vocals.
filter that even at times brings to mind
Considering the band’s pedigree (it
the likes of Motorhead. Surely there can
includes members of Converge, Cave
be no higher praise.
In and other revered metalcore acts
Early Birds and All That: Atlanta experi-
that took the “barking-growl-noise” ap-
mental metal act Lazer/Wulf and De-
proach to vocals), it is somewhat sur-
troit hardcore punk band the Armed will
prising to be able to clearly understand
open the show. —Daniel Hill
Soul, Fri., May 11, 5 p.m., $5. TechArista, 4818 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, 314-898-0933. SECRETS: Wed., June 27, 6 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. SHAKEY GRAVES: W/ The Wild Reeds, Sun., Sept. 30, 8 p.m., $25-$28. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SHAUN MARTIN OF SNARKY PUPPY: Sun., June 10, 8 p.m., $13-$15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. SIGNS OF THE SWARM: Tue., June 5, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. SINK IN: W/ Malibu, Wed., June 13, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. SKEET RODGERS & INNER CITY BLUES BAND: Fri., May 25, 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SLLAW: ST. LOUIS LADY ARM WRESTLING BRAWL: Sat., June 2, 8 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SLUM VILLAGE: Tue., July 10, 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. SOMA: W/ Altamira, Giants In The Sky, Accelerando, Sat., May 12, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SON VOLT: W/ The Dust Covers, Karen Choi, Fri., Aug. 3, 8 p.m., $35-$40. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SONGBIRD CAFE: Wed., May 23, 7 p.m., $20-$25. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778. SORRY PLEASE CONTINUE: Tue., May 22, 8 p.m., $5. Wed., June 27, 8 p.m., $5. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-3525226. ST. LOUIS AREA FOODBANK ROCK OUT HUNGER CONCERT: W/ Dr. Zhivegas, Groovethang, Fri., June 1, 5 p.m., $10. Chesterfield Amphitheater, 631 Veterans Place Drive, Chesterfield. STATES & CAPITALS: W/ Forts Like Vana, Thu.,
July 12, 6 p.m., $12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. STINKY GRINGOS: Thu., June 21, 9 p.m., $5. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. STOKLEY WILLIAMS: Sun., June 17, 7 p.m., $45-$65. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. STORYTIME WITH UNCLE CHAD WALLACE AND FRIENDS: Wed., May 30, 9 p.m., free. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-3525226. STRAWBERRY GIRLS: Wed., July 25, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. THE BLACK & WHITE BAND: Sun., May 27, 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE GRAMOPHONE 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: Sat., May 12, 2 p.m., free. The Gramophone, 4243 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-531-5700. THE LION’S DAUGHTER: W/ Fister, Tyranny Enthroned, The Gorge, Slow Damage, Fri., July 20, 8 p.m., $10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. THE WILD & FREE: W/ Jay Putty, Sat., June 16, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. THIRD SIGHT “SPECIAL EDITION”: Mon., May 28, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. TOM HALL: Sat., May 26, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222. TORREY CASEY & SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: Thu., May 24, 8 p.m., $5. Thu., May 31, 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. UNSANE: W/ Dodecad, Dibiase, Tue., July 17, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. THE WILLIE AKINS JAZZ FESTIVAL: Sun., May 27, 3 p.m., $12-$150. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.
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THANK YOU! Co-Winner of Culinary Throwdown:
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SAVAGE LOVE Pedestrian AF BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: First let me say that I think you give excellent advice, even if it is a bit pedestrian at times. I have a small problem: Last fall, my penis bent up and to the left at an almost 90-degree angle. I know from Google that this is not an unusual problem. And at 59, I am thankful that things are working as well as they are. But I fly gliders, and the relief system is a “Texas catheter” with a drain line to outside the glider. I believe that the bending on my penis may be the result of trauma caused by removing the catheter. In your many years of dealing with penis problems — I know you are not a urologist, but still — have you run across problems of a similar nature? Is there a way to remove adhesive from the penis that will not cause trauma? Gliding season will be starting soon, and I dread using the same system if it will cause more damage. My partner is an amazing woman — 70, by the way, and by far the best partner I have ever had (oh, my brethren, do not look only to youth!) — but I dread further damaging my member. Hanging Under Nice Glider First let me say thank you for the qualified compliment — you sure know how to flatter a girl — and I’ll try to keep my trademark excellent-if-pedestrian advice coming, HUNG. Also, you’re right, I’m not a urologist. But Dr. Keith Newman is. He’s also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and my go-to guy for dick-related medical questions. “It is not likely that HUNG’s drainage system caused the problem,” said Dr. Newman. “His condition sounds like Peyronie’s disease, a possibly autoimmune disease thought to be related to microtrauma, though some penile fractures may result in similar deformity.” Men with Peyronie’s disease come down with, well, bent dicks. Sometimes the bend is slight and doesn’t interfere with reasonable penile functions. Sometimes the bend is severe enough to make erections painful and intercourse
impossible. “Most sufferers will return to within ten to twenty percent of their baseline curvature within two years without intervention,” said Dr. Newman. “Thus, it is considered best to defer therapy until such time has elapsed. Ninety degrees is quite a big bend, however, and less likely to resolve spontaneously, but its still worth waiting.” If your big bend doesn’t resolve spontaneously, HUNG, there are treatment options. “The only real therapies are Xiaflex injections and surgical repair,” said Dr. Newman. “The former is not approved for patients less than two years from diagnosis or with less than 35 degrees of curvature. The latter is fraught with increased complication rates due to scarring so near the tip. Both can straighten the penis, but at a cost of length in many cases. As for drainage alternatives while gliding, I suggest the following product: freedom. mensliberty.com.” Hey, Dan: I’m a 37-year-old male. I’ve been with my wife for fifteen years. I know that passion transitions in a long-term relationship, but I’m having a hard time finishing lately. Yes, I’m on SSRIs — antidepressants — but that has only exacerbated the issue. We all know that a lot of people who own a vagina enjoy foreplay to help the orgasms along. Will foreplay help people who own a penis get to the moment faster? I’m pretty sure I know the answer, and I figured you’re the one to ask what the best foreplay options are because your sexual knowledge is vast and you regularly deal with two penises at a time. As someone who pleasures a penis and who has a penis that is pleasured, what is the best preparation to get guys off before the insertion happens? Seeking Weapons Of Male Penile Satisfaction Foreplay isn’t just for vaginahavers, SWOMPS! Penis-havers have nerve endings all over their bodies — inside ’em, too — and while many younger men don’t require much in the way of foreplay, older men and/or men taking SSRIs often benefit from additional forms of stimulation both prior to intercourse and during intercourse. Like tit play. I know
some men can’t go there because that tit-play shit — like feelings, musicals, sit-ups and voting for women — could turn you gay. But if you’re up for it, SWOMPS, have the wife play with or even clamp your tits, and then shove a plug in your ass that stimulates your prostate while also remembering to engage what’s often called “the largest sex organ”: your brainz. Talk dirty to each other! If you’re already proficient at JV dirty talk — telling ’em what you’re about to do (“I’m going to fuck the shit out of you”), telling ’em what you’re doing (“I’m fucking the shit out of you”), telling ’em what you did (“I fucked the shit out of you”) — move on to varsity dirty talk: Talk about your fantasies, awesome experiences you’ve had in the past, things you’d like to try or try again with your partner. To get your dick there — to push past those SSRIs — fire on all cylinders (tits, hole, brain, mouth and cock) before and during insertion. Hey, Dan: I’m a 32-year-old English guy, and this morning I was diagnosed as HIV-positive. I’m in a bit of a state. I haven’t told anyone, and I needed to get it out. I’m in a long-term, mostly monogamous relationship, but my boyfriend is overseas for work at the moment, so I can’t really talk to him about it. So I’m talking to you. Diagnosed And Dazed And Confused I’m so sorry, DADAC. I hope you have a friend you can confide in, because you need a shoulder to cry on and I can’t provide that for you here. What I can provide is some perspective. I’m just a little older than you — OK, I’m a whole lot older than you. I came out in the summer of 1981 — and two years later, healthy, young gay men started to sicken and die. During the 1980s and most of the 1990s, learning you were HIV-positive meant you had a year or two to live. Today, a person with HIV is expected to live a normal life span — so long as they have access to treatment and they’re taking their meds. And once you’re on meds, DADAC, your viral load will fall to undetectable levels and you won’t be able to pass HIV on to anyone else (undetectable = uninfectious). Arguably, your boyfriend and your
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Foreplay isn’t just for vagina-havers! Penis-havers have nerve endings all over their bodies — inside ’em, too — and older men and/or men taking SSRIs often benefit from additional forms of stimulation. other sex partners are safer now that you know than they were before you were diagnosed. Because it’s not HIV-positive men on meds who are infecting people, it’s men who aren’t on meds because they don’t know they’re HIV-positive. I don’t mean to minimize your distress, DADAC. The news you just received is distressing and life changing. But it’s not as distressing as it was three decades ago, and it doesn’t mean your life is over. I remember holding a boyfriend on the day he was diagnosed as HIV-positive more than 25 years ago, both of us weeping uncontrollably. His diagnosis meant he was going to die soon. Yours doesn’t. You have a lot of time left, and if you get into treatment and take your meds, DADAC, you will live a long and healthy life, a life filled with love, connection and intimacy. Spend some time feeling sorry for yourself, feel the fuck out of those feelings and then go live your life—live it for all the guys who didn’t get to celebrate their 33rd birthdays. P.S. Don’t wait until your boyfriend returns to tell him. He needs to get tested right away.
Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org
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Self-storage contents of the following customers containing household items and other goods will be sold for cash by CubeSmart 725 N. 23rd St., St. Louis, Mo 63103 to satisfy lien on May 18, 2018 at 1:00 P.M. at www.storagetreasures.com Cube # 4091 Shanta Shumpert Cube# 4010 Gail Kennard
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Self-storage Cube contents of the following customers containing household and other goods will be sold for cash by CubeSmart 2661 Veterans Memorial Pkwy, St Charles, MO 63303 to satisfy a lien on May 16, 2018 at approx. 3:00 PM at www.storagetreasures.com Cube # 1270, Brian Metz Cube # 1197, Steven Schmidt
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If You Witness An Overdose DON’T RUN, CALL 911
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Mon. - Sat. 9 AM - 7 PM; Sunday Noon - 5 PM Unless otherwise limited, prices are good through Tuesday following publication date. Installed price offers are for product purchased from Audio Express installed in factory-ready locations. Custom work at added cost. Kits, antennas and cables additional. Added charges for shop supplies and environmental disposal where mandated. Illustrations similar. Video pictures may be simulated. Not responsible for typographic errors. Savings off MSRP or our original sales price, may include install savings. Intermediate markdowns may have been taken. Details, conditions and restrictions of manufacturer promotional offers at respective websites. Price match applies to new, non-promotional items from authorized sellers; excludes “shopping cart” or other hidden specials. © 2019, Audio Express.
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