Riverfront Times, May 15, 2019

1 MAY 15-21, 2019 I VOLUME 43 I NUMBER 19

A n d RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM I FREE

J u st i c e Deborah Pier ce stole $375 ,000 from We bster Univer sity – and wa s sentenced t 0 w r i t e a d i a r y. E v e r y d ay , j u d g e s g r a p p l e with an impossible qu estion: w h at p u n i s h m ent fits the c rime?

By DoYle Mur phy

fo r A ll riverfronttimes.com

MAY 15-21, 2019

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THE BEST LOCAL MUSIC WEEKEND OF THE YEAR!

PRESENTS

FRIDAYJUNE21+SATURDAYJUNE22,2019

Tonina • T-Dubb-O • The Lion’s Daughter • The Knuckles • Midwest Avengers • Sleepy Kitty • Shady Bug • Looprat Collective • Shana B • Najii Person • Dracla • Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals • DJ Alexis Tucci • Le’Ponds • Janet Evra Ryan Koenig • Paige Alyssa • Scrub and Ace Ha • Rec Riddles • Sorry, Scout • Starwolf • Bizy Jay • Devon Cahill • Jon Bonham and Friends • Golden Curls • Agile One • SAYLOR • We Are Root Mod • Jr. Clooney • Glued • The Vincent Scandal Mammoth Piano • Yuppy • Drangus • Huht • Frankie DoWop • Stephanie Stewart • Ryan Wasoba’s 19 Second Songs • Jesus Christ Supercar • Mother Stutter • Samantha Clemons • DJ Kimmy Nu • Voidgazer • The Uppers • The Stars Go Out Teacup Dragun • Suzie Cue • Ellen Hilton Cook • The Opera Bell Band • Crystal Lady • Let’s Not • KDHX’s Crim Dolla Cray • Little Cowboy • P. Brown The Aeon • Zach Sullentrup • Whiskey Raccoons • Syna So Pro • The R6 Implant • Justin Ra The Hollow Ends • The Ragged Blade Band • Zak M • Sloopy McCoy • Nibiru • Banana Clips • JoAnn McNeil • Dcupp • Prime Time Soap • Biff K’narly & the Reptilians • Neil and Adam • The Mound City Slickers • We Are Warm • Bounce House • C Is For Cadaver • Brian McClelland’s No Thunder • OnlySound • St. Villagers Plus a special appearance by the National Blues Museum Jam Band and a 2-hour opening showcase on Saturday by School of Rock

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Trops • HandleBar • Firecracker Pizza • Atomic Cowboy • The Bootleg BEAST Butcher and Block • Parlor • Gezellig • Ready Room • The Gramophone

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Passion!

Knowledge is her passion!

She knows the scene. She knows who’s who.

And she’s going to let everybody else know, too.

She’s going to help them market their start-up.

She’s starting a new job at the RFT! Is this you?

Let US know RFT is hiring Advertising Sales Executives Email your resume to hr@riverfronttimes.com 4

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“I just started walking her on a leash two weeks ago. She would always scream when you go to put it on her; now she handles it. She’s very curious. Him, he loves everyone.

I’ve had him since he was a little baby. He was ten pounds when I got him.”

CHRISTOPHER MUSE, PHOTOGRAPHED IN BENTON PARK WEST WITH MR. WIGGY AND PEPPER LAPEW, ON MAY 10 riverfronttimes.com

MAY 15-21, 2019

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c e

erce stole $3 75,000 from W ebster Unive rsity – and w as sentenced t 0 w r i t e a d i a r y. E v e r y d ay , j u d g e s g r a p p l e with an impossible qu estion: w h at p u n i s h m ent fits the c rime?

By DoYle Mur phy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Sarah Fenske

f o r A l l

E D I T O R I A L Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writers Doyle Murphy, Danny Wicentowski Restaurant Critic Cheryl Baehr Film Critic Robert Hunt Columnist Ray Hartmann Contributing Writers Mike Appelstein, Allison Babka, Thomas Crone, Jenn DeRose, Mike Fitzgerald, Sara Graham, MaryAnn Johanson, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Joseph Hess, Kevin Korinek, Bob McMahon, Lauren Milford, Nicholas Phillips, Tef Poe, Christian Schaeffer Proofreader Evie Hemphill Editorial Interns Ryan Gines, Chelsea Neuling, Benjamin Simon

COVER

And Justice for All

Deborah Pierce stole $375,000 from Webster University — and was sentenced to write a diary.

Every day, judges grapple with an impossible question: what punishment fits the crime?

A R T Art Director Evan Sult Contributing Photographers Virginia Harold, Tim Lane, Monica Mileur, Zia Nizami, Andy Paulissen, Nick Schnelle, Mabel Suen, Micah Usher, Theo Welling, Jen West, Corey Woodruff P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Haimanti Germain

M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Sales Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell, Erica Kenney Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Drew Halliday, Jackie Mundy

Written by DOYLE MURPHY Cover design by

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

EVAN SULT

E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Creative Director Tom Carlson www.euclidmediagroup.com

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann

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News Feature Calendar

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St. Louis still hasn’t cleaned up its mess

U.S. Women’s National Team | Nina Simone: Four Women | Paul Mgapi Sepuya | Show Me Burlesque | etc.

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The White Crow

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Out Every Night

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HARTMANN It Sounded So Simple Victims of contamination at Coldwater Creek scored a major victory this spring. It’s high time they got the help they’ve sought for decades

BY RAY HARTMANN

O

ne of the first lessons an of us learn in life comes in the form of the sim le directive, lean u our mess o ened m RFT column with those words ears ago, on ugust , The column accomanied our cover stor , headlined anger n ur wn ac ard a ardous aste rom ombs ives on in t ouis t was

good ournalism b ron lemens, a staff writer who would go on and continues to be among the finest activists in our town’s histor own contribution was minor at best, although there is something ironic about the fact that ears ago, was referencing events that ha ened ears before that n m stor , titled a ardous waste dis osal t’s reall rather sim le, did ma e a oint that believe withstood the test of time There is absolutel no e cuse for the dangerous b roducts of orld ar ’s militar effort to be threatening a ma or o ulation center ears later omeone should be res onsible for seeing to it that radioactive waste be e t safel stored awa from such centers and the waterwa s that serve them That someone’ is unmista abl the federal government t ma not have ha ened often over m decades as a ournalist, but this is one time was right The aforementioned ha ardous waste had been the b roduct of

the infamous anhattan ro ect, wherein the militar secretl contracted allinc rodt hemical or s in downtown t ouis to enrich uranium for the world’s first controlled nuclear chain reaction in The government new that the b roduct of this wor was countless tonnage of waste nown to it as oisons ut that didn’t ee it from secretl trans orting these vile contagions over the ne t fifteen ears to a series of sites throughout our region, including an es eciall lethal site near ambert ir ort, as well as eldon ring and its uarr , and est a e andfill, among others nd, of course, there were the initiall contaminated downtown sites at and around allinc rodt This would create, without doubt, the most catastro hic ublic health traged in the histor of t ouis, ran ing with an in the nation t has resulted in a scourge of deaths and horrendous rare illnesses and birth defects for un-

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told thousands of our citi ens nd ma e no mista e about this t’s a ublic health crisis and traged that lives on toda round ero for this horror show was oldwater ree , a beautiful tributar winding through lorissant, a elwood, t nn, er ele , erguson, lac ac and anish a e, among others The cree was a source of o for thousands who built their merican dream homes and ar s around it in the ’ s and ’ s in the suburbani ation of the region ids la ed and swam in the cree li e a bunch of ie Ta lors, catching fish and crawdads, s i ing roc s and en o ing all sorts of innocent fun nd ha families tilled and ate from their bac ard gardens, unaware that when the cree flooded those gardens, it was a not ust an inconvenience ou see, the oisons dum ed irres onsibl b our government at that air ort site had see ed and blown into the cree o, in addi-

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HARTMANN

Continued from pg 7

tion to those beautiful waters and wildlife, the innocent children were immersed in lovel substances such as uranium , with a half life of billion ears, and thorium , with a half life of billion ears The conse uence of that contamination is un nown and almost unimaginable t also might have remained unnown if not for the heroic efforts of a grou of citi ens who grew into a force of nature to fill the void of government inaction with sanit ven after the government finall started getting around to cleaning u some of its oisons in the ensuing decades, it too a cadre of saints to ush it into real action few ears after c luer orth igh chool’s ha twentieth ear reunion in , some alums started noticing that a shoc ing number of their classmates had become severel ill or were d ing ed b enell odden right, im isintine and iane chanenbach, the created a aceboo age in to s read the word and assemble stories, testimonials, case studies and data about what was ha ening to them That grou has , members now Their age is filled with heartbrea ing stories of death and suffering, of macabre e amles of rare cancers, birth defects, multi le cases of con oined twins and babies born with one ear and no e eballs, and instances of infertilit , multi le sclerosis and l m homa, man of them in statisticall im ossible numbers These women have for the ast eight ears ushed and ca oled and badgered reluctant state and federal officials to brea from their bureaucratic inertia and bring some common sense and com assion into investigating this traged nd at last the ma have a real brea through n ril , the genc for To ic ubstances and isease egistr issued a final re ort concluding that residents who regularl la ed or lived along the cree for man ears in the ast ma have an increased ris of lung cancer, bone cancer, or leu emia esidents who lived along the cree more recentl ma have an increased ris of lung cancer a be the cra activists at the little nown alternative newswee l ears ago weren’t so cra , after all The T also su orted ongoing cleanu of the oldwater

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ree sediments and flood lain soils, which ama ingl is still not com leted nd it recommends, in effect, that otentiall e osed residents share their residential histor with medical rofessionals at the first sight of trouble The re ort did sto short of recommending additional disease screening for ast or resent oldwater ree residents ut it is a critical iece of one u le ith it, there is at last a chance that issouri’s congressional delegation can now move forward to get some form of federal hel for the victims erha s resources from a downwinders rogram in some estern states that has set the recedent to bring federal relief to those affected b fallout from nuclear testing nd closer to home, if the new count e ecutive who is, after all, Doctor am age wants to create a legac , can thin of no better lace to start than having his health de artment enact a ma or ublic education cam aign alerting otentiall affected residents to get earl screening when the suffer even innocuous s m toms, such as fatigue or minor ains nd erha s the count could coordinate a communit effort involving t ouis’ man outstanding universities and medical institutions to heighten the awareness of doctors that this is a real world medical crisis f local and state health officials could muster a fraction of the resolve and urgenc of the heroes of oldwater ree ust the acts, it would be a great thing a be that sounds too sim le, but sim le is what ’m all about ere’s how concluded m column ears ago t’s not so com licated, after all The dar and m sterious challenge of getting rid of ha ardous waste can be reduced to the elemental rinci le which an two ear old can understand lean u our mess omeone should send the e artment of nerg to its room a be we can let them out now ut onl if the romise to bring victims some tangible relief with the sense of urgenc the ’ve failed to su l to cleaning u their mess This crisis can’t wait another ears

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m.

Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

NEWS

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Sweeney Cops Plea in Corruption Case Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

O

ne of Steve Stenger’s top allies pleaded guilty Friday to a felony, just hours after a major campaign donor to the former St. Louis County executive was arraigned in an ongoing pay-to-play public corruption case.

Sheila Sweeney, 61, admitted in federal court that she not only knew her boss was trading favors for bribes, but that she also helped make it happen and covered his tracks.

Starting in 2014, Stenger was groping for a way to steer a count em lo ee benefits contract to John Rallo, the owner of an insurance company who had helped underwrite his campaigns for county executive.

The only problem was that he couldn’t figure out how to do it A department head and the commission that had oversight of the coveted insurance contract twice blocked Stenger’s attempt to give the business to Rallo’s company Cardinal Insurance.

In text messages and recorded conversations, Stenger clumsily tried and failed for more than two years to hook up Rallo. That changed after Sweeney got involved.

She had been appointed in August 2015 as CEO of the St. Louis County Economic Development Partnership at Stenger’s recommendation. She was also the executive director of the St. Louis County Port Authority and sat on the board of the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.

At Stenger’s direction, she pushed a $100,000 consulting contract through the Port Authority for Rallo, ostensibly to help boost the county’s image following protests in Ferguson.

It was a weird plan. Rallo is friends with Montel Williams and

Businessman John Rallo is accused of bribing former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger. | DOYLE MURPHY

Former St. Louis County Economic Development CEO Sheila Sweeney leaves federal court Friday after pleading guilty. | DOYLE MURPHY was supposed to enlist the television personality in the marketing campaign, prosecutors say.

Rallo had run bars and nightclubs before going into the insurance business, but he had no marketing experience and created a new company, Cardinal Creative Con-

sulting, to apply for the contract.

The deal was for six months, with the idea it would be renewed for another $100,000. Sweeney padded it with another $30,000 for another Stenger booster without the Port Authority board’s approval.

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Rallo was arraigned Friday on three felony counts of theft of honest services bribery and pleaded not guilty. They’re the same charges that Stenger pleaded guilty to the previous week.

Federal prosecutors say Sweeney coached Rallo through the process of applying for the consulting contract and, once he got it, advised him how to clean up the progress reports he was required to submit to make it less obvious that he was doing nothing under the sham contract.

“Can you send me a different contract report for the last period?” Sweeney asked in one text message recovered by investigators. “The last two read exactly the same and that’s not good.”

In court Friday, Sweeney pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony — a charge that means she knew about a crime, didn’t report it to law enforcement and took steps to cover it up. The maximum sentence is three years in prison with a , fine One of Sweeney’s four attorneys, Justin Gelfand, emphasized after the hearing that his client had not pleaded guilty to fraud.

He added that she was “profoundly remorseful” and was taking full

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Brentwood Cop Faced Rape Claim Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

O

n February 4, veteran Brentwood olice fficer an Retzlaff faced a disciplinary hearing conducted by the department where he’d served nineteen years. By then, he’d already spent two months on administrative leave after a woman accused him of rape.

But the hearing didn’t concern what a Brentwood spokeswoman would later describe in a statement as “off-duty sexual misconduct ather, the official interview was intended to allow Retzlaff to explain why he’d spent virtually an entire twelve-hour shift, spanning October 20 and 21, 2018, sending more than 90 video messages to a woman he’d recently met on a dating app.

Those videos made the local news on May 2, as KSDK reported that several clips featured Retzlaff touring the Brentwood Promenade and a nearby parking structure and describing “ideas for the places where I would like to have sex.”

That story seemed to have a tidy ending: Rather than attempt to answer for his on dut flirtations, Retzlaff stormed out of his February 4 disciplinary hearing and resigned.

But that wasn’t the entire story.

After the Riverfront Times published a blog post based on the videos and disciplinary report released by KSDK, we were contacted by the woman at the center of the controversy — the recipient of the videos and the person who’d set the stage for the disciplinary hearing that effectively ended et laff’s career as an officer Behind the videos, she explained, was a much more serious allegation.

As the St. Louis County Police Department would later document in its investigation, less than one week after Retzlaff sent the woman the videos — including one in which he described “a nice little dark parking lot, it’s a good place to hop on the lap of the driver” — the two met for drinks at a local bar. It was their second date.

The woman, who spoke to RFT on condition of anonymity, alleges she later woke up without her pants on

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The officer sent a woman he’d met on a dating app 90 videos. In one, he toured a parking garage, one of several “places where would I like to have sex,” he told her. | FLICKR/DAVID ACKERMAN in the front seat of Retzlaff’s SUV. She says she had no memory of how she’d gotten that way.

“Dan confessed to touching me, and confessed to knowing that I was too intoxicated,” she says.

“It’s been six and a half months, and I’m no closer to getting accountability.”

Calls and messages left at the number listed beneath Retzlaff’s name on the county police report were not returned earlier this week, and neither were messages left with the attorney representing him in a pending divorce.

Retzlaff has never been charged with a crime connected to the incident. On January 8, the St. Louis County Police Department applied for a warrant to charge et laff with first degree sodom , a felony. According to the report, a detective met with an assistant St. Louis County prosecutor that same day. “After a review of the facts and circumstances of the case,” the report concludes, “charges were refused based on lack of evidence.”

In an emailed statement, Brentwood city spokeswoman Janet Levy says that the county police investigation was followed by Brentwood’s own “non-criminal investigation to determine whether our officer violated an cit or de artment policies and procedures.”

At that point, the statement continues, Retzlaff was “removed from duty pending completion of our internal disciplinary investigation.”

Brentwood’s statement appears to contradict KSDK’s story, which described Retzlaff being on ad-

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After the RFT published a blog post based on the videos and disciplinary report, we were contacted by the woman at the center of the controversy.

Behind the videos, she explained, was a much more serious allegation. ministrative leave at the time for “an unrelated matter.” In reality, it was Retzlaff’s accuser who supplied the videos to Brentwood, as she believed they showed Retzlaff describing the very circumstances — public sex, and sex in a car — in which she had found herself on the morning of October 27, 2018.

But she says the St. Louis County detective investigating her complaint refused even to watch the videos.

Brentwood, meanwhile, made

Retzlaff’s on-duty video sexts the focus of its disciplinary investigation.

It left the off-duty sexual assault allegation to the county police. n official interviews with a t Louis County police detective, both the accuser and Retzlaff described meeting up for a date on October 26. The woman told detectives that she had drunk several airplane-sized bottles of liquor prior to the date because she was nervous about the first iss The accuser now contends that the detectives highlighted her alcohol consumption and used other details of her work and sexual history against her to discredit her account.

“My past was laid out there like it was a horrible thing I should be ashamed of,” she says. “It didn’t include anything about [Retzlaff] talking about this fetish about sex in public.”

And the two versions of that night diverge in significant wa s In the detective’s report, the accuser describes going to the bathroom and returning to find a drin waiting for her, though she didn’t recall ordering it. After drinking it, she said the two left the bar.

The next thing she can remember is waking up naked from the waist down in Retzlaff’s passenger seat.

When Retzlaff was presented with her account, the St. Louis County detective noted, “Daniel seemed surprised and stated there was no way it happened like that.”

Retzlaff denied putting anything in her drink. In his interview with the detective, he described the two leaving the bar around 12:30 a.m. to go to his car, where they made out and “touched each other a lot,” with both of them rubbing each other’s genital areas through their clothing.

The report continues, “They made out until [she] sat up, opened the door and ‘puked’ out the door.’ ... After [she] threw up they both fell asleep.”

Retzlaff described both of them waking up, fully clothed, around 4:30 a.m. Then, he says, he drove the woman back to her house.

The report also includes a description of text messages they exchanged in the following weeks, as well as a “summary” of the detective’s impression of the texts: ome of the messages were flirtatious and extremely explicit. Both [the accuser] and Daniel appeared to be willing participants.”

But the texts also showed the accuser’s stance toward the night in question changing. She started asking Retzlaff about bruises on her thigh and why her “clit was sore.”

Continued on pg 13

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Asked to address the injuries, Retzlaff suggested to the detective that his date had sustained the injuries from “spinning and moving around inside his car because she kept hitting things and leaning over the center console and armrest.”

“He attributed her clit being sore,” the report notes, “due to him rubbing her genital area over her pants.”

The accuser does not accept Retzlaff’s explanation. She says it took time to get through her own sense of denial that a olice officer would sexually assault me,” but her concern about her injuries, coupled with his lack of response to her questions, eventually led her to believe that something terrible had happened to her in the front seat of the car.

The St. Louis County investigative report includes the last text message she sent Retzlaff before making her criminal complaint against him: “No more putting it off and ignoring me,” she’d written. “We are meeting and you are going to tell me what happened when we left the bar.”

Beyond interviews with the county detective and associated text messages, the investigative report mentions no additional evidence that could corroborate or refute the accuser’s key allegations. Bar staff apparently told the detective that they did not have a surveillance system.

St. Louis County’s refusal to prosecute shocked the accuser.

She felt strongly that Retzlaff’s admission that he’d engaged in sexual conduct with a woman he knew was drun would be sufficient to bring charges. She also wondered if there wasn’t a conflict of interest inherent in having the same rosecutors investigate an officer who li el testified in criminal cases handled by St. Louis County.

So she reached out to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesle ell, whose office too action he designated the office of t Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar to review the case as a special prosecutor.

In an interview, a spokeswoman for ohmar’s office, eslie night, confirmed that the office had ta en the case — and come to the same conclusion as St. Louis County.

“Our prosecuting attorney did review it,” Knight says. “He did not issue charges based on lack of evidence.” n

responsibility for her crime.

Rallo, who now lives in Salt Lake City, is apparently going to fight the charges against him e a eared briefl rida and entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney, John Rogers. They left court, trailed by reporters, without answering any questions. n court files, rosecutors include numerous text messages between Rallo and Stenger, and Rallo and Sweeney, as the busi-

Continued from pg 9

Continued from pg 9

nessman repeatedly checked in on various deals. f the five schemes laid out in Stenger’s guilty plea, four involve Rallo. In addition to the marketing contract, Sweeney helped him make deals for two pieces of land Rallo planned to develop through yet another of his companies, Wellston Holdings.

In December 2017, Sweeney instructed Rallo to clean up the paper trail in the consulting contract, telling him to have his name ta en off filings with the ecretary of State.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch report-

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ers were growing suspicious of the connection between Rallo and the county executive, and Sweeney wanted to protect Stenger.

“Got to cover him,” she wrote in a text. “And me too!!!!”

Rallo promised to take care of it.

“I know,” he responded. “I’ve got you covered.”

Sweeney is due to be sentenced on August 16. Stenger is set for August 9. No new court date has been scheduled for Rallo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith declined to comment, saying the investigation was ongoing. n

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A n d J

Deborah Pier ce stole $375 ,000 from We and was s bster Univer entenced s to write a d i a r y.

Outrageo u s ? M ay b e . But ever y d a y, t h e justice syste criminal m grapples w ith hard ques tionS ABOUT HARD T IME

fo r A ll Nothing about Deborah Pierce’s background suggested she was a crook.

Then again, that’s how it works. White-collar thieves are able to steal a lot of money, because they seem trustworthy enough to oversee lots of money.

Pierce, now 63, was hired in 2007 as the director of the Confucius Institute at Webster University after nearly 30 years as a foreign languages professor at Mississippi College, her alma mater. It wasn’t just that she was res ected in her field students and colleagues loved her for her generosity and nurturing ways outside of class. In letters written on her behalf and collected in a federal court file, the credit her with ee ing them afloat with homemade dinners, tuition mone and motherly support when they needed it most. first wee at ebster met ebbie ierce, writes one former student, who came to study in St. Louis after surviving the Rwandan genocide That was the luc iest da of m life Continued on pg 16

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J u st i c e

ersity –

By DoYle Murphy

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The fallout was swift.

Pierce resigned even before her arrest. She pleaded guilty to one count of transporting goods across state lines and was scheduled for sentencing.

All of that led to the inevitable question:

And so it came as a shock to many when a federal indictment revealed that the beloved academic, a daughter of Southern Baptist missionaries, had been embezzling money from her employer for more than two years.

The institute was a partnership, jointly funded by the university and Chinese government to promote research and exchange of cultures. Pierce had set up a secret bank account in September 2013 to divert payments from the Chinese Ministry of Education and used them to pay her bills and those of her family.

She was caught in 2016 when an internal audit by Webster uncovered problems with the institute’s books. That led to an investigation by the FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Federal authorities would eventually tally the amount of missing money at $375,000.

The fallout was swift. Pierce resigned even before her arrest in November 2016. Her husband, who also worked for the institute but was not implicated in the fraud, resigned as

What would be a j well. She pleaded guilty to one count of transporting goods across state lines the following September and was scheduled for sentencing in March 2018.

All of that led to the inevitable question: What would be a just punishment?

Every day across the country, versions of that question are taken up by judges, jurors, prosecutors and defense attorneys in an endless stream of cases. They are debated by criminal justice reformers, victims’ advocates, law enforcement and the elected officials tas ed with rotecting or reshaping key components of our system, such as mandatory minimums or whether felons should be allowed to vote. This August, they are sure to be front and center when former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger gets sentenced in his pay-to-play case. Stenger’s case has more than a few things in common with Pierce’s, from his status as a first time offender to his guilty plea. Stenger and Pierce are even represented by the

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same law firm erha s you’ve heard of Rosenblum Schwartz & Fry, home to prominent defense attorney Scott Rosenblum?)

Often, the outcomes hinge on almost random variables: the jurisdiction where the case is being handled, the attorneys or judges involved, even shifting attitudes toward punishment. Penalties are generally more severe in federal court, but not always.

Mary Fox, who leads the t ouis office of the state public defender, says we have grown comfortable as a society with long prison sentences, nearly oblivious to the extreme act that is locking a human in a cage.

vanced much from those da s, she sa s e still don’t know how to deal with people we’re mad at Missouri is one of the few states in the country that has seen its prison population continue to grow in recent years.

The Sentencing Project — a research and advocacy organization working against mass incarceration — looked at state and federal prison populations across the nation, comparing each state’s number of people locked up in 2016 to its highest-ever totals. All but eight states had seen at least minor decreases from their peak years.

But Missouri’s prison population was larger than ever.

In 2016, it had increased by a little more than five ercent over the revious five ears Legislation has been introduced in Missouri that would reduce the prison population, says Nicole Porter of the Sentencing Project, such as eliminating sentences of life without parole. But other than some minor reforms with limited impact, the bills have so far hit political walls in the

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“For 95 percent of the people that come through the criminal justice system, it’s a spur-of-the-moment bad decision, she sa s e respond to that moment with a ver length sentence Often, those bad decisions are made by men so young their brains are still developing, Fox adds. And yet those moments can freeze them in place with long-running prison terms. Curious one day, Fox researched the origins of jailing people who break societ ’s rules t first, it began as a way to hold people until violent punishments, such as death, could be administered. But it soon became the punishment itself, a progressive alternative to lynchings or beatings. The English are often credited with creating the modern prison system in the 1700s and 1800s. It has evolved some in the past two or three centuries, but Fox finds it odd that it has not been supplanted with something better.

“We really haven’t ad-

legislature.

That has kept the state from moving resources from prisons to prevention, Porter says.

“In order for Missouri to ass significant changes that would lower the number of people in prison and open up resources to crime prevention, there would have to be a significant shift, she sa s Even so, St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar, who is the president of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, says he has seen a change over time in the way prosecutors approach sentencing, especially when it comes to drug cases or lowlevel offenses.

“Fifteen years ago, I think a lot of prosecutors and the judiciary wouldn’t think twice about sentencing a person without a prior offense to prison, he sa s Assistant prosecutors in St. Charles County will still start with a recommendation of prison for the most serious felonies, he says, which include violence and crimes

In making any recommendation on sentencing, he says he considers unique aspects of the case, such as the age of the defendant, the need for closure for victims and what combination of conditions — possibly including prison — could prevent defendants from repeating their crimes.

In the end, however, prosecutors are only one voice in the process.

Former U.S. Attorney Tom Albus prosecuted Deborah Pierce, the Webster embezzler. Going into the sentencing, he weighed a number of factors before recommending prison time. For one, it was not a violent crime, and Pierce had no criminal record. Also, the risk of recidivism was low, if for no other reason than her plea had almost certainly ended her career — and with it, the opportunity to embezzle from her employer.

On the other hand, this was not a spur-of-the-moment mistake. Pierce had taken

some prison time, if only as a deterrent to others pondering similar schemes.

“It’s not simply a matter of, ‘Alright, I got caught. I’ll give it back, and I’d like to go home now,’ lbus sa s However, that is essentially what happened.

Rather than prison time, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey ordered Pierce to write a 65-page journal over 60 days, reflecting on her crimes he must also repay the $375,000 she stole.

The disgraced academic sold her Compton Heights

just punishment? against children. One of the first riorities is to ee the public safe from dangerous people. People who continue to re-offend and have shown themselves unlikely to change also merit prison sentences, in his eyes.

After that, though, Lohmar says the general policy in St. Charles is to seek other alternatives for people convicted of mid-level felonies or lower.

“We’re looking to keep peole out of ail, he sa s Still, he balks at some of the bills proposed by reformers.

Lohmar says the best way to reduce the prison population is not by limiting sentences on the front end, but by allowing the state parole system to continue to determine which inmates have proven themselves worthy of release. ou’re utting a significant amount of responsibility on the inmates to demonstrate good behavior, he says.

deliberate steps over time to set up the account and then steal the money in one transaction after another. Examples cited in the indictment included a $10,000 check she wrote to herself, payments totaling $9,500 that she made on her son’s student loans and $20,619.91 transferred to her husband’s retirement fund. She helped to conceal her thievery by ensuring the bank statements were sent to her home, instead of the institute or university.

Pierce was obviously well educated and seemed to have been law-abiding until this episode. But maybe those factors made her crime that much more offensive, Albus reasons. She clearly had other options.

“In some ways, it makes it worse to steal that mone , says Albus, who is now with the state Attorney General’s ffice Any sentence was likely to include an order to repay the money, but prosecutors felt like there should be at least

house — for $375,000 — after her arrest. She is now serving five ears robation with her family in Mississippi, where she cares for her ailing mother and babysits her granddaughter.

The punishment certainly raised some eyebrows.

Pierce’s own attorney, Adam Fein, had suggested a sentence of twelve months would be adequate. In an editorial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called it a “prime example of skewed racial ustice The news a er pointed out that Judge Autrey had told Pierce he planned to show her journal to participants assigned to his gang court, so they would know that people who aren’t “poor, from the hood and blac also commit crimes.

“What Pierce’s sentence will really show them is that justice is not color blind, the editorial said. “It will show them that white privilege equals a get out of ail free card The Riverfront Times asked Autrey if we could read Pierce’s journal, but he re-

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fused in a message relayed by an assistant, saying it was for his eyes only as part of her post-conviction supervision.

The judge also declined to discuss the case with the RFT, saying that doing so would violate judicial ethics. It is not clear whether he ever showed the journal to the people in gang court.

Pierce did not respond to our interview request. Her attorney, Fein, declined to comment.

Autrey had access to information that the public does not. Pierce’s pre-sentence report — one of the mini biographies assembled by probation officers has been sealed, which is typical.

Albus says he respects Autrey, whom he described as thoughtful The longtime prosecutor spent seventeen years with the U.S. Attorney’s ffice and learned earl on that every person plays their role. His job was to present the government’s case. Autrey’s job was to impose whatever sentence he thought best.

“I would say I was surrised, lbus sa s ut again, you’re comfortable with our role Pierce’s case stood out in part because it appeared to be a step outside of norms — a seemingly law-abiding academic who turns to crime late in life is given a surprise reprieve through an unexpected sentence. But determining what is normal is tricky business when it comes to the justice s stem and, s ecificall , sentencing.

The RFT culled a dozen cases from news stories and court records in recent years. Some were in state court, some in federal. Some of the defendants had long criminal histories, some didn’t. They committed all types of crimes and received all types of sentences.

Overall, they provide a fascinating snapshot of the way the justice system doles out punishment — and the way each case can have a logic of its own.

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Defendant: Joniesse Redmond Age at time of arrest: 17 Crime: Involuntary Manslaughter (Two Counts), Second-Degree Assault (Two Counts) Sentence: Six years in state prison Synopsis: Redmond was a sixteen-year-old, unlicensed driver in November 2016 when she slammed into a tree, killing two of her five passengers: a fifteen-year-old and a sixteen-year-old. The teen reportedly said she “was gonna at least try to hit 120” miles per hour but lost control of the car going around a curve in Jennings. She was tried as an adult.

Defendant: Sydney Cates Age at time of arrest: 19 Crime: Tampering With a Motor Vehicle Sentence: Three years in state prison — suspended in favor of five years probation Synopsis: Sheriff’s deputies in Fairview Heights, Illinois, learned that a stolen vehicle was probably across the Missouri state line in the small town of Union. Franklin County sheriff’s deputies responded and found both the stolen vehicle and their suspect — Cates. As long as she complies with probation terms, she will not have to serve her prison sentence.

Defendant: Rey Hernandez Age at time of arrest: 18 Crime: First-Degree Murder (Two Counts) Sentence: Life without parole Synopsis: Hernandez ambushed 23-year-old James Cobb and Cobb’s best friend, 22-year-old Haris Hajdarevic, during a fatal shooting in 2015 in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. Hernandez was dating Cobb’s ex-girlfriend, and he had been arguing with Cobb online before the killings.

Defendant: David Lopez Jackson Age at time of arrest: 35 Crime: Second-Degree Arson (Two Counts) Sentence: Five years in state prison Synopsis: Jackson was arrested in October 2015 following a string of church fires, mostly in north St. Louis County. He underwent a mental health evaluation and was found competent to stand trial. He eventually admitted in his guilty plea to setting two of the fires.

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Defendant: Cory Hutcheson Age at time of arrest: 34 Crime: Identity Theft, Wire Fraud Sentence: Six months in federal prison, four months house arrest, five years probation Synopsis: Hutcheson was the former jail supervisor and then the elected sheriff of Mississippi County, Missouri. He was facing 28 charges in federal and state court for a wide range of crimes, including robbery and assault, but pleaded guilty in November 2018 to identity theft and wire fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors. The remaining charges result from Hutcheson illegally tracking the cellphones of multiple victims, including state troopers and a judge.

Defendant: Sylvester Caldwell Age at time of arrest: 54 Crime: Extortion Sentence: 33 months in federal prison Synopsis: As mayor of Pine Lawn, Caldwell shook down local businesses, including a towing company, for bribes. The owner of the towing company was cooperating with the FBI and recorded the politician asking for “green Mountain Dew in a cup” — code for cash in the kickback scheme.

Defendant: David Politte Age at time of arrest: 29 Crime: First-Degree Robbery (Three Counts) Sentence: Thirteen years in state prison Synopsis: Politte was arrested in 2018 after a pair of bank robberies in Creve Coeur and Normandy. He also robbed a cab driver, reportedly threatening the victim with a flare gun. He was arrested in Normandy after his last heist — a U.S. Bank branch — and still had the money when he was caught.

Defendant: Rodney Gardner Age at time of arrest: 52 Crime: Hobbs Act Robbery Sentence: Seven years in federal prison Synopsis: Gardner viciously beat a worker at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in the Central West End, breaking her nose before he snatched the cash register and ran. He was captured after a short foot chase and tussle with city cops. The ex-con had previously served prison time for two counts of first-degree robbery in 1998.

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Defendant: Terri Owens Age at time of arrest: 55 Crime: Bribery Sentence: Five years probation, 40 hours community services, restitution of $78,000 Synopsis: Owens was one of four former St. Louis police officers charged in a federal indictment with taking bribes from a crooked chiropractor and his wife and giving them accident reports in exchange. She had been a city cop for 26 years.

Defendant: David “Super” Cox Age at time of arrest: 33 Crime: Unlawful possession of a firearm, property damage (three counts), resisting arrest Sentence: Ten years in state prison Synopsis: “Super” graffiti was all over St. Louis, but few knew the identity of the man behind the tags until city cops tracked down Cox using a Walmart receipt left behind at a tagged apartment building. When they went to arrest him in April 2016, he fled in a truck but was later captured, authorities say.

Investigators recovered spray cans and a pistol that he wasn’t supposed to have, thanks to his previous felony conviction for stealing a credit card.

Defendant: Robert Maurer Age at time of arrest: 52 Crime: Statutory Sodomy, Failure to Register as a Sex Offender Sentence: Life without parole Synopsis: Maurer sexually abused a twelve-year-old girl in 2013 and 2014 in St. Louis County and was found guilty in 2017. He had previously been convicted of similar charges in the early and late 1990s. Adding to his latest crime was the fact that he had not notified law enforcement when he moved back to the city from Florida.

Defendant: Demarcos Bolden Age at time of arrest: 30 Crime: Use of Interstate Facilities to Promote and Facilitate Prostitution Sentence: Ten years in federal prison Synopsis: Bolden and a partner, 24-year-old Alex Coleman, pimped out three prostitutes, one of them a minor. He advertised them online, arranged paid-for sex meetups and collected the money. He kept them under control with heroin, withholding it if they didn’t do as told.

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

THURSDAY 05/16 Fourpeat?

St. Louis soccer legend Becky Sauerbrunn returns home this week for a tune-up game on the road to the FIFA Womens’ World Cup. Sauerbrunn and the United Stations Women’s National Team take on New Zealand at 7 p.m.

Thursday, May 16, at Busch Stadium (700 Clark Avenue; www. mlb.com/cardinals/ballpark). You may recall that these same two teams met at the same location four years ago. (The home team won that outing 4-0 on the way to a third World Cup championship.)

Four years is a long time in sport, but the American team has many returning veterans (Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Ali Krieger, Megan Rapinoe), all of whom know what it takes to deliver on the big stage.

Remaining tickets are $35 to $150.

FRIDAY 05/17 Soundtrack of the Struggle In recent years, the mainstream media began reassessing the career and impact of musician Nina Simone, with documentaries exploring her personal life and rereleases of her works. Playwright Christina Ham knew there was more to Simone than her musicianship – after the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and the assassination of Medgar Evers, Simone gave voice to the shared anger and outrage of the black community in her surprisingly jaunty song “Mississippi Goddamn.” Ham’s play Nina Simone: Four Women (inspired by Simone’s namesake song about the plight of black women in a racist society) explores how the arts helped drive and inspire the civil rights moment, as well as the ways women were shunted to the side of that same movement. The Black Rep closes its season with Nina Simone: Four Women. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (May 17 to June 2) at Washington University’s Edison

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The U.S. National Women’s Team once again plays New Zealand in St. Louis. | STEVE TRUESDELL Theatre (6465 Forsyth Boulevard; www.theblackrep.org).

Tickets are $15 to $45.

Ears and Hands The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis’ summer exhibitions open at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17, and there are some heavy hitters involved. Lawrence Abu Hamdan is a finalist for this ear’s Turner Prize for his exhibition Earwitness Theatre (which CAM cocommissioned with several other institutions), which incorporates the artist’s audio analysis of Saydnaya prison in Syria, site of numerous humanitarian abuses, a soundbooth and groups of objects Abu Hamdan uses as mnemonic devices to facilitate reenactments of crimes. Photographer Paul Mgapi Sepuya receives his first major museum survey thanks to CAM. Sepuya’s images jumble and reorder the human body, while also revealing the mechanics of photography. Cameras are often a central figure in his wor , while

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tripods, backdrops and lighting show up in his collages. Avoiding digital manipulation, Sepuya’s work is about the importance of touch and contact, both between his subjects and his materials.

Both shows remain on display at CAM (3750 Washington Boulevard; www.camstl.org) through August 18, and admission is free.

SATURDAY 05/18 Delicious Maplewood We’re in the delightfully comfy middle of spring now, which means the festivals come fast and frequently. The Taste of Maplewood is one such street festival that has everything you could possibly require. Neighborhood restaurants Pie Oh My, the Maya Cafe, Blue Duck and the Dubliner are all participating, which means you’ll eat well, while Tommy Wasiuta & Friends and Ribtip and

Rodgers provide the entertainment. Taste of Maplewood takes place from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 18, along Sutton Boulevard south of Manchester Avenue in Maplewood (midcountychamber.org/programs-events/tom).

Admission is free.

The Perfect Ten Ten years ago Lola van Ella founded the Show Me Burlesque Festival to showcase the new wave of burlesque and related performances. That same festival has grown to be the largest in the Midwest, and it includes acts from the vaudeville revival, circus and variet entertainment fields, all spread across three nights and multiple venues right here in St. Louis. The tenth Show Me Burlesque Festival kicks off at 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 16, at the Ready Room (4195 Manchester Avenue), then moves to the Thaxton Speakeasy (1009 Olive Street) at 10 p.m.

Friday, May 17, for the Sordid Speakeasy, and brings down the

WEEK OF MAY 16-22 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Coeur; www.newjewishtheatre. org). Tickets are $42 to $45.

MONDAY 05/20 War Redux

Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Mirror Study for Joe (_2010980), 2017. Archival pigment print, 45.36 x 34 inches. Courtesy the artist; DOCUMENT, Chicago; team (gallery, inc.); and Vielmetter Los Angeles. curtain at 9 p.m. Saturday, May, 18, at with Spectaculaire! at the Casa Loma Ballroom (3354 Iowa Avenue). Featured performers include Bibi Dazzle, Dixie Denier, Abigail Rhys and Eros Sea. Tickets for each event range from $12 to $60, while a three-day pass costs $75. There are several afterparties and VIP options as well, so check out www.showmeburlesque.com to get the most bang for your buck.

SUNDAY 05/19 Man and Wife? icole and dam are finall ta ing the matrimonial plunge, but it seems like fate – and a friend or two – is against them. When a

key member of the wedding party keels over dead, the ceremony is halted before completion. Adam’s groomsman Dave uses this respite to convince Adam that monogamy and marriage is a trap that’s not worth the trouble. Nicole’s bridesmaid ichelle, who’s going stag, figures this would be a good time to find a date before the end of the night, while the other bridesmaid tries to get this trainwreck back on schedule. Tasha GordonSolmon’s I Now Pronounce is a good old-fashioned farce. New Jewish Theatre ends its current season with the comedy. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday (May 18 to June 1) in the Jewish Community Center’s Wool Studio Theatre (2

Sergei Bondarchuk’s ambitious film ada tation of eo Tolsto ’s War and Peace gets another showing courtesy of the Webster Film Series. Bondarchuk spent six years making the four installments of his film ada tation and suffered two heart attacks during the process. He emerged with a truly monumental seven-hour film that em lo ed thousands of actors (12,000 alone in the epic Battle of Borodino set piece), as well as valuable artifacts and props loaned by Russian museums, all of which give the film a sweep and verisimilitude worthy of the source material. War and Peace, Part I, is shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, in Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; www.webster.edu/film-series).

Parts II through IV will be shown on successive nights through Monday, May 20. Tickets are to er film, and a punch pass good for all four installments is also available.

Eros Sea will perform at this year’s Show Me Burlesque Festival. | ROY GUSTE PHOTOGRAPHY

TUESDAY 05/21 The Hero We Need a anese filmma er a ao iyazaki’s concern for the ecology and the future of the planet suffuses all of his films, but is on grand display in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. A thousand years in the future, all living things are slowly being consumed by a vast Sea of Decay.

One of the few remaining patches of unspoiled earth is tucked away in the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaä is a young woman who ignores the warnings of the elders and ventures out into the world on her small powered glider so that she can observe the changes happening all over the planet.

Threatened by giant insects, warring clans and the slow march of destruction, she learns there may be a way to restart the life cycle of the planet. Nausicaä is a swee ing film about a hero who believes in life more than she fears death. Fathom Events puts it back on the big screen for a limited time. It’s shown locally at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (May 20 and 21) at the Marcus Wehrenberg Ronnies 20 Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www. fathomevents.com). Tickets are $13.47. n

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FILM

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Dancer Oleg Ivenko brings sheer confidence to his portrayal of Nureyev. | JESSICA FORDE / COURTESY SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

[REVIEW]

Gotta Fly Now As peerless ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, Oleg Ivenko gives The White Crow its wings Written by

ROBERT HUNT The White Crow Directed by Ralph Fiennes. Written by David Hare. Inspired by Rudolf Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanagh. Starring Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Opens Friday, May 17, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

W

idely regarded as the greatest male ballet dancer of the twentieth century, Rudolf Nureyev took possession of the stage with an energy that seemed almost supernatural. When he leapt on stage, he seemed weightless, almost levitating midair before finall giving in to the demands of gravity. Fifty

years have passed since he performed at the Muny with Margot Fonteyn and the Royal Ballet of London, but I still recall him as one of the most charismatic performers I’ve ever seen on a stage, his only major competition being Ziggy-era Bowie.

Trying to recreate Nureyev’s commanding presence on screen is no small task, but Ralph Fiennes and writer David Hare face the challenge with considerable success in The White Crow, a dramatization of the dancer’s early years that culminates with his decision to leave the Soviet Union in 1961 — an event one of his teachers calls “an explosion of character.”

According to most accounts, Nureyev came from a humble bac ground as the film shows, he was born on a train, the youngest of four children in a military family). He started his dance training fairly late, but quickly rose to a prominent position in Leningrad’s irov allet n the film’s account, Nureyev found his own meteoric rise both completely predictable and a bit too slow for his taste.

The White Crow is less the story of Nureyev’s struggle than of his

ambition, and his impatience with any person or institution that failed to recognize his talent.

The film fli s through different periods in Nureyev’s life from his childhood to the start of his career in eningrad to, finall and most significantl , his first tri to the West, when the Kirov troupe begins a tour of Paris and London.

The shifts in time aren’t always clear, and sometimes the only hint as to which period we’re in comes from a subtle color scheme (saturated, almost colorless shades for his childhood, earthy browns and greens for his performing youth and gaudy pastel blues for Paris), which helps set the tone for the dancer’s emotional journey. n onl his third film as director, Fiennes (who also plays one of Nureyev’s teachers) shows a strong eye for creating dramatic landsca es uch of the film simply follows Nureyev as he walks alone through the streets of Paris, enjoying his solitude and the environment. The back-and-forth time zones threaten to become trivial, but Fiennes and Hare ultimately let them settle down, turning the film’s last half hour into a ind of

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old ar sus ense films in which all three threads collide.

Fiennes is also well-served by his lead actor. Trying to duplicate Nureyev’s imposing demeanor is no small task, and if Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko can’t entirely match Nureyev’s physical magnetism, he makes up for it in sheer confidence is ure ev is disarmingly self-absorbed, never showing a shred of doubt about his talent. In Hare’s script, Nureyev’s passion for dance manifests itself as a kind of stubbornness, an indifference to others. As he’s seduced by the glamor and decadence of Paris, he becomes increasingly irrational and unpredictable.

By the time Nureyev faces the emotional crisis that leads to the film’s climactic confrontation, Ivenko has let his guard down, allowing the film to reveal a wea er side behind the dancer’s cockiness aced with the difficult of duplicating one of the most forceful personalities of the modern era, Ivenko, Hare and Fiennes recreate enough of Nureyev’s character and emotions to remind us why he mattered. n

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Diners can order the entire menu inside the speakeasy-feeling lounge, upstairs in the spacious dining room, and now on the beautiful New Orleans-style patio dubbed “the Veranda”. Chef Stephan Ledbetter and crew create new dishes each menu using the finest available ingredients while keeping past winners. This time around includes Duck Breast with charred Cabbage; Ratatouille with Spaghetti Squash and Vegan Burrata; and the housegem - Wild Mushrooms served with Duxellé, Truffle and Mushroom Tea. OAKED ensures their menu includes several vegan and gluten-free options so everyone can savor their evening. OAKED also has one of the better curated wine list in town alongside a selection of whiskeys and craft cocktails. It even has a small cigar bar outside on “the Gallery”. Offering Happy Hour specials from 4-6 daily. Music in the lounge Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Ample parking. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended.

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314.821.2601 223 S KIRKWOOD RD KIRKWOOD, MO 63122 Spencer’s Grill is a historic diner in the heart of downtown Kirkwood. Bill Spencer opened the Grill on Route 66 back in 1947. Over 70 years later a lot has changed but the diner is still a timeless staple cherished by locals. These days Alex Campbell is the owner and the road goes by S. Kirkwood, but the old grill lives on. Known for its breakfast, Spencer’s cooks up crispy pancakes, from scratch biscuits and gravy, omelets, hash browns, and other traditional breakfast favorites. For the after breakfast crowds, Spencer’s offers a variety of lunch options including sandwiches as well as some of the best burgers in town. Jake Sciales (previously head chef at Farmhaus) runs the kitchen at Spencer’s and creates delicious off-menu specials daily. His culinary excellence makes even the most familiar dishes divine.The charming breakfast bar is welcoming and the service is friendly and fast. Mornings can be busy but the lines move quickly and breakfast comes out fast. Looking for a new breakfast spot? If you haven’t tried Spencer’s yet, you need to check it out. Spencer’s Grill is open 6AM until 2PM seven days a week.

BLK MKT EATS BLKMKTEATS.COM

314.391.5100 9 S. VANDEVENTER AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63108 The fast-fresh, made-to-order concept has been applied to everything from pizza to pasta in St. Louis, but the sushi burrito surprisingly had no Gateway City home until BLK MKT Eats opened near Saint Louis University last fall. It was worth the wait, though, because BLK MKT Eats combines bold flavors and convenience into a perfectly wrapped package that’s ideal for those in a rush. Cousins and co-owners Kati Fahrney and Ron Turigliatto offer a casual menu full of high-quality, all-natural NOT AVERAGE SPOT ingredients that fit everything you love about YOUR sushi and burritos right in your SUSHI hand. The Swedish Fish layers Scandinavian cured salmon, yuzu dill VANDEVENTER slaw, PersianDINE-IN, cucumbers andORavocado forMON-SAT a fresh 11AM-9PM flavor ex9 SOUTH TAKEOUT DELIVERY plosion. Another favorite, the OG Fire, features your choice of spicy tuna or salmon alongside tempura crunch, masago, shallots, jalapeño and piquant namesake sauce; Persian cucumbers and avocado soothe your tongue from the sauce’s kick. All burrito rolls come with sticky rice wrapped in nori or can be made into poké bowls, and all items can be modified for vegetarians.

J. SMUGS GASTROPIT JSMUGSGASTROPIT.COM

314.499.7488 2130 MACKLIND AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110 Housed in a retro service station, J. Smugs GastroPit serves up barbecue that can fuel anyone’s fire.

Married teams of Joe and Kerri Smugala and John and Linda Smugala have brought charred goodness to the Hill neighborhood, nestled among the traditional Italian restaurants, sandwich shops and bakeries. Part of St. Louis’ ongoing barbecue boom, the J. Smugs’ pit menu is compact but done right. Ribs are the main attraction, made with a spicy dry rub and smoked to perfection. Pulled pork, brisket, turkey and chicken are also in the pit holding up well on their own, but squeeze bottles of six tasty sauces of varying style are nearby for extra punch. Delicious standard sides and salads are available, but plan on ordering an appetizer or two J. Smugs gives this course a twist with street corn and pulled-pork poutine. Several desserts are available, including cannoli – a tasty nod to the neighborhood. Happy hour from 4 to 7pm on weekdays showcases half-dollar BBQ tastes, discount drinks, and $6 craft beer flights to soothe any beer aficionado.

STAGE

27

[REVIEW]

Stayin’ Alive Mustard Seed’s latest production tells the tedious story of an old woman fighting for her life ... or at least fighting to screw over her daughter Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD Death Tax Written by Lucas Hnath. Directed by Bess Moynihan. Presented by Mustard Seed Theatre through May 19 at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre (6800 Wydown Boulevard; www.mustardseedtheatre.com). Tickets are $15 to $35.

M

axine is dying. Laid out in a nursing home bed, she laments not just the unfairness of death but the injustice of dying rich. She’s certain her estranged daughter is paying the nurse to kill her to circumvent the new estate tax law that goes into effect on the first of the year. If she can stay alive until then, Maxine is convinced she’ll have spited her daughter one last time.

Lucas Hnath’s Death Tax, currently being mounted by Mustard Seed Theatre, begins with this rather unpleasant set-up and remains steadfastly unpleasant in both characters and plot until the bitter end. It might be worth it if Hnath had anything original to say about greed, death or mother-child relationships, but that is not the case. Despite good work from the cast and crew, Death Tax offers no insight and little in the way of drama.

Kim Furlow’s Maxine is believably enfeebled and cantankerous, furious that she can’t take it with her or spend it all before her unnamed daughter inherits it. When she confronts Nurse Tina (Jeanitta Perkins) with her knowledge of the supposed murder plot, Tina denies it. But Tina has her own problems. She’s an immigrant who wants full-time custody of her son, who remains in Haiti with her ex-husband. When Maxine proposes paying Tina more

Maxine (Kim Furlow) and Tina (Jeanitta Perkins) argue about Maxine’s care. | JILL RITTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Todd (Reginald Pierre) gets roped into Tina’s plans. | JILL RITTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Maxine’s daughter (Kristen Strom) wants something, but what is it? | JILL RITTER PHOTOGRAPHY

money to keep her alive than she believes her daughter is paying Tina to kill her, Tina is tempted — she could get her son back.

The only complication is Tina’s supervisor Todd (Reginald Pierre), who will have to be an ally and partner if Tina’s going to keep the exchange of funds hidden from the nursing home administration.

Tina, formerly sweet-natured and patient, becomes manipulative and domineering as she struggles to keep it all together and keep

Maxine alive so the money keeps coming.

Tina’s transformation comes after a revelation about her past that implies she’s not becoming bad so much as she is reverting to her true nature. Perkins plays bad very well, and Pierre is quite good as the weak-willed Todd, who suffers the brunt of her abuse. As Maxine’s unnamed daughter, Kristen Strom portrays a similar transformation, going from desperate young mother to seemingly emo-

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tionally manipulative gold digger.

Despite the quality of the performances, it’s difficult to care about any of the characters or their problems. Maxine may be old and deluded, but she’s definitely nasty. Tina is revealed as a monster, Todd has his own flaws, and even the mysterious daughter seems to be angling for an advantage. The story takes place across five scenes, all set against the moveable white walls of a nursing home, which is not all that visually interesting.

There’s a similar blandness to the characters. Everybody speaks in the same expansive paragraphs that state, restate and restate again a point, a story, an example. As they each become embittered and paranoid, they mirror each other in action as well as in dialogue. All of it — desires, fears, conversation — blurs together.

Everyone is corrupted, venal and rotten. Now what?

Hnath is one of those modern playwrights who reject conclusions. As a result, the end is ambiguous to the point of opacity. A stray line hints at the possibility of Tina’s fate, and Maxine remains on the brink of death, but that’s all we get. Death Tax is not so much a journey as it is a ramble to nothing in particular. n

MAY 15-21, 2019

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CAFE

31

[REVIEW]

Raising the Bar Fortune Teller’s new food window, the Spice of Life, offers a tantalizing first bite from a talented twosome Written by

CHERYL BAEHR The Spice of Life 2635 Cherokee Street (inside the Fortune Teller Bar). Mon. 4-9 p.m.; Wed.-Thurs. 4-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 4 p.m.-midnight; Sun. 4-9 p.m.

(Closed Tuesdays.)

I

f ou find ourself at the ice of ife, the new food counter inside the ortune Teller ar, ou ma want to start with dessert That’s not sim l because the signature cheeseca e is utterl delicious but because it’s wh the lace e ists in the first lace The cheeseca e is the catal st, sa s co owner il aren of artner aniel icer’s culinar calling card nli e most versions of the sweet treat, icer’s eschews a graham crac er crust in favor of crushed ha elnuts accented with almond and whole wheat flours, local hone , turbinado sugar and ghee t’s a subtl sweet, wonderfull te tured base for a cloud li e cheeseca e filling that is crowned with a cr me fraiche li e concoction of double strained ogurt, irschwasser and almond e tract little bit tart from the ogurt and cherr brand , the to ing cuts through the decadent cream cheese and ties all the flavors together in beautiful balance i e man of his reci es, the cheeseca e is something icer had been erfecting for ears, develo ing a small but assionate fan base for the dessert that includes his friend hris c enie The two formed a fast friendshi a few ears ago when icer was the lead line coo at T raft hen icer heard that c en ie was o ening ac’s ocal ats in earl , he went

The Spice of Life’s small menu includes various hand pies, nachos, wraps and a magnificent cheesecake. | MABEL SUEN in with sam les of his magnificent dessert and as ed if c enie would be interested in selling them ne bite was all it too for ac to agree c en ie was so im ressed with icer’s cheeseca e that he urged him to ta e an even bigger ste e’d heard that the ortune Teller ar was loo ing for someone to ta e over its food counter after ri llis closed the ut to o en a restaurant of her own c en ie suggested aren and icer use the s ace as a home base for their small catering coman , ice of ife, or aren and icer did not hesitate, not onl because the susected it would be a good fit, but because the were more than read to ta e the ne t ste in their business fter meeting a few ears bac while wor ing together at alance offee Tea in elleville, llinois, the air bonded over a shared assion for food and the hos italit industr or

aren, it began when she was a little id, hel ing her ste mom at a coffee house, and it grew into a successful front of house career or icer, his love for the business develo ed through a combination of gigs in the bac of the house and la ing around with reci es in his home itchen The air dreamt of o ening a restaurant together, and eventuall founded as a catering com an owever, after a few small gigs, the new that in order to ta e their business to the ne t level, the needed a dedicated s ace Tal ing to ortune Teller’s owner, att Thenhaus, the reali ed his itchen was e actl what the were loo ing for fter a trial run hel ing out with the ortune Teller’s anniversar art , the sealed the deal to ta e over the bar’s food counter, develo ing a menu that married their favorite foods with the needs of the bar’s atrons ice of ife o ened last ovember

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i e its redecessor, the ut, is no more than a tin window with an almost as tin itchen at the bac of the ortune Teller more concession stand than actual restaurant nd, li e the ut, it’s an absolute delight aren and icer intentionall named their business to reflect their insistence on offering a variet of dishes without being inned down to one articular genre owever, there is a cohesion to their small menu, which reads li e a marriage of thoughtful bar food and barbecue aba ganoush, for instance, ma be a iddle astern sta le, but the dee wood smo e on the egg lant and liberal s rinle of a ri a give the cream di the t e of earth flavor ou’d find at a smo ehouse liced alamata olives imbue the egg lant uree with a leasant brininess that brightens the dish, and the accom an ing cris ed naan is so laden with garlic it’s wonderful

MAY 15-21, 2019

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SPICE OF LIFE Continued from pg 31

even on its own ’s nachos are a significant u grade from standard bar nachos, starting with the chi s themselves a er thin, cris and erfectl salted, the are so delicate, ou’d thin the would buc le under the heft of the to ings The don’t, instead roviding a crunch base for sliced and saut ed russels s routs, fresh ala e o slices none of that canned nonsense , cilantro and ositivel lu urious, housemade beer cheese sauce icer t icall offers a smo ed meat as an add on on m visit, it was succulent ulled chic en, issed with smo e and ust a hint of s ice rub That wonderful chic en also made an a earance on a sim le, but successful, chic en wra The uic meat was wra ed in garlic naan, slathered in cheese sauce and s rin led with verdant cilantro The chic en’s rub mingled with the cheese, forming an almost cream barbecue sauce that made the dish The onl dish that was a bit flat was the un u s, mushrooms stuffed with beer cheese

Co-owners Lily Sparen and Daniel Spicer first opened SöL as a catering company. | MABEL SUEN and ta enade The mushrooms were over ba ed, ma ing them chew , and a dri le of talian dressing over the to , while welcome in the sense that it balanced the rich cheese filling, diluted the cheese sauce and made it too thin still ate them all, but com ared to some of the other dishes, the

were lac luster ou’d be better off saving room for ’s savor hand ies, a housemade riff on a hot oc et that is destined to become the restaurant’s signature dish aren and icer var their selection ever da , offering ever thing from rich broccoli and cheddar and

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tender braised beef and onion to an outstanding e eroni i a ins ired version that airs the i uant salami with cheese and sweet marinara sauce o matter which variet the serve on a articular da , the common theme is their terrific crust, a fla , butter shell, ba ed golden brown, that melts in the mouth li e shortbread t a iece, these ies are an absolute steal etween that hand ie crust and the cheeseca e, it’s clear that icer has a nac for ba ing, and it will be e citing to watch what he and aren can achieve as the continue to get their footing The fun thing about their conce t is that it allows them to la around with different dishes and get their food in front of eo le with minimal investment i e the ut before them, the ortune Teller arrangement could be a good launching ad for icer and aren to hone their business and develo a following Then again, if the do nothing more than o en a cheeseca e sho , we’ve all won

The Spice of Life Pepperoni hand pie......................................$4 Nachos with chicken....................................$8 Cheesecake..................................................$4

SHORT ORDERS

33

[SIDE DISH]

Jeff Friesen Is Feeling Zen at Taco Buddha Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

J

eff Friesen found inspiration for his career path from his physician father. However, it had nothing to do with medicine.

“My dad was a physician, but he loved to cook,” Friesen recalls.

“My mom cooked most of the time, but he always made time once or twice a week to cook at home. I remember watching The Frugal Gourmet with him and learned how to do pasta and risotto from and with him.”

Friesen, now executive chef and general manager at Taco Buddha (7405 Pershing Avenue, University City; 314-502-9951), felt an undeniable passion for cooking from an early age, but he did not entertain it as a career path. Instead, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, heading off to Truman State University for pre-med.

There, he earned a degree in biology with plans to attend medical school, but something told him it wasn’t the right fit Friesen knew that he needed to find a new ath, but he wasn’t sure what it would be. He worked for his father for a time, gave teaching a tr and even briefl pursued an MBA. All the while, he continued to question what his long-term plan would look like.

Then, his cousin gave him an idea.

“My cousin had been talking about going to culinary school in Italy, and I was like, ‘You can do that?’” Friesen says. “It woke me up.”

Friesen looked at overseas culinary programs but decided to stay in the for financial reasons, opting to attend the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

The program was accelerated

Jeff Friesen leads the kitchen at the newly reopened Taco Buddha. | JEN WEST and hands-on, and he found himself immersed in a professional kitchen from the get-go. He was hooked.

After beginning his career in New York City, Friesen felt the pull to come back to St. Louis. He began working with John Perkins, then an up-and-coming chef who was doing a series of underground dinners, as well as Josh Galliano at Monarch. Through Galliano, he met Kevin Willmann, who was just getting ready to open Farmhaus, and got hired on, rising to the role of sous chef during his five ear tenure at the restaurant “Kevin is a really good cook, and he knows how to make things taste really good,” Friesen says.

“My learning curve was steep, but I had a lot of creative freedom there. I got to explore and make mistakes, but learn from them.”

After Farmhaus, Friesen briefl wor ed for ugarfire mo e ouse, but felt drawn bac to fine dining. He ended up reconnecting with his old boss, Perkins, at Juniper. Friesen worked there for two years. It was a gig he loved, and

he threw himself completely into it, even helping Perkins plan the restaurant’s big move to a new location. However, while they prepared for the move, he began to get that unsetting feeling he felt back in college — that something wasn’t quite right with the direction he was headed.

“I began to start questioning whether or not I wanted to be a chef,” Friesen explains. “I was working long hours and weekends and didn’t get to see my family or friends. I was having all of these questions, and the move was such a big deal for John [Perkins] and the restaurant that I didn’t want to go into it being so unsure. It didn’t seem fair to them if my heart wasn’t in it.”

Friesen left Juniper and spent the next year taking gig work. He taught cooking classes and even thought about pursuing that full time. However, a chance meeting with the owner of Taco Buddha, Kurt Eller, would put everything in perspective for him.

“We got to talking, then met up a few weeks later and just hit it off,”

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Friesen explains. “He’s a great business mind and really wants to take care of people. He loves making people feel happy and at home. His hospitality really resonates with me.” t first, ller thought riesen would simply help out here and there owever, after a fire shuttered Taco Buddha in January, Eller had time to reevaluate the concept — and he wanted Friesen to be a part of its new incarnation.

Friesen joined Taco Buddha as executive chef and general manager earlier this spring and helped Eller get the place ready to reopen on April 25. It’s been nonstop ever since, as throngs of loyal customers have packed the place, eager to get a taste of what they missed during the four months the restaurant was closed.

Though he’s barely had time to look up since the reopening, Friesen is thrilled with his life at Taco Buddha. As he beefs up his kitchen crew, he will step out more into the front of house, serving as a hybrid executive chef and

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JEFF FRIESEN

Continued from pg 33

general manager, though he’s not keen on titles. He simply wants to take care of people, interact with guests and have the work-life balance that he’s realized is his priority.

“At this point in my career, I’m just looking to be a part of a successful restaurant that makes people happy and that I can make a decent living at and have time with friends and family,” Friesen says. “That’s what I want.”

Friesen took a break from making burnt ends tacos to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food scene, his daily ritual and the

chefs he most admires.

What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

My tattoo is not of a leek, or a green onion. It is a ramp, and it’s totally my favorite.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Drinking coffee in bed while watching The Daily Show from the night before.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Total control of time.

What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year?

Have you heard that Taco Bud-

dha reopened?

What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see?

An abundance of hungry, hardworking cooks.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

I have two. One is Nick Bognar of Nippon Tei, and I haven’t even eaten his food yet. Also, Rob Connoley. I just ate at Bulrush, and it was fantastic.

Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene?

I just wanna know what Chris Bork is gonna do next. Vista Ramen was crazy tasty.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Science.

[ N E W LY N O T E D ]

Mann Meats Goes from Bus to Brickand-Mortar Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

I

n January, Bob and Holly Mannecke were down on their luck and not sure how they would pay their bills. Down to the last $3.54 in their bank account, the husband and wife had to sell their boat to make ends meet. Still, that was only a temporary solution.

Then they got the call that would change their fortunes: The owner of a shack-style building in Old Town Florissant wanted to know if they were interested in leasing his building.

“He’d heard about us from the previous tenants and wanted to know if we would take over from them,” Holly Mannecke says. “We never thought we would have a restaurant this fast.”

The Manneckes were no strangers to the food business. For the past year, they had been operating a food truck called Mann Meats as a side project, serving up their signature brats and burgers out of a converted school bus as a supplement to their lawn care business.

However, without a brick-andmortar space, they were unable to take the concept to the level they

Bob and Holly Mannecke followed their dream to a food truck and then a restaurant. | CHERYL BAEHR wanted.

That changed with a chance encounter between Bob Mannecke and the owner of Sho-Me BBQ, then located at 300 St. Ferdinand treet t first, their conversation centered around an old tree at the back of the building; Bob suggested that his lawn care company could remove the tree. Then the chat turned toward smoking meat. The pair exchanged numbers, and Bob didn’t think of it further until he got the call from the landlord — not for tree removal, as he thought, but asking if

he wanted to take over the space.

The Manneckes were ready to jump on the opportunity because they knew they had a good product. For years, Bob had been experimenting with his bratwurst recipe, which began as a joke with his father-in-law. The two men had been making brats together, and Bob threw ketchup, mustard and sugar on the leftover product as a way to razz his in-law.

“We’d been making deer sausage together for twenty years, and then we started making brats,” Bob says. “My father-in-law was a

riverfronttimes.com

If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing?

I’d be a teacher or physician.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Closed-mindedness.

What is your after-work hangout?

Home or anywhere with people I love.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Nashville hot chicken; whiskey sours at home.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Cheeseburgers. And fried chicken. And Union Loafers pizza. Tacos and margaritas. And then ice cream until I die. n

penny-pincher, and he wanted to save the little bit of leftover pork for the next week. I started throwing stuff on it to make him mad, and he asks me, ‘You’re not going to eat that, are you?’ I did, just to be arrogant, and realized, ‘Hey, this is pretty good.’”

Bob used that impromptu experiment as a starting point in his quest to make the perfect brat.

He expanded his R&D to include hamburgers, then brisket, and before he knew it, he was buying a school bus and converting it into a mobile smokehouse.

Now, that bus is parked in the lot of Mann Meats (300 St. Ferdinand Street, Florissant; 314-942-7000), the couple’s brick-and-mortar eatery in the heart of Florissant.

Though the counter-service restaurant offers mostly carryout, a handful of tables — converted oak barrels with bar stools — also provide seating. Its bright colors mimic the look of the bus that kicked off the entire venture.

In addition to brats, burgers and brisket, Mann Meats offers such smokehouse classics as ribs, pulled pork, Polish sausages and hot links, and a riff on pork steak.

Sides include their signature smoked sweet corn, potato salad, slaw and baked beans.

Open since February, Mann Meats has already developed a loyal following; it’s not uncommon for the restaurant to sell out.

For Bob Mannecke, it’s the validation he always knew he’d get, even when others doubted.

“Everyone told me I was crazy when I bought the school bus,” Bob says. “But that only pushed me to do more.”

Mann Meats is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. n

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[BARS]

Meet Zambu, the Shot That Tingles Written by

THOMAS CRONE

T

here are drinkers who walk into a bar with their minds made up, their orders mentally placed and their palettes set in stone. And then there are those open to new flavors and brands, or suggestions from the staff.

That distilleries and breweries regularly flood the world with products suggests that enough members of the “new experiences crew” exist to give products like Zambu a fighter’s chance.

First produced in 2017, Zambu is only distributed in Missouri — for now.

Though currently distilled in Louisville, this vodka-based shooter was born in the mind of St. Louisan Jared McClain after a chance encounter with a flower he calls “the Brazilian buzz button.” (Pause here for laughter.) In Zambu, the plant gives vodka a sizzling effect, with shots hanging out on your tongue for a few minutes after ingestion; the after-burn is a strange, but not unwelcome, visitor. The initial flavor, which the brain detects as a blend of a berries/citrus fruits, is pleasant enough, but it’s the obvious kick that influences the twin Zambu taglines of “taste the tingle” and “feel the buzz.”

Zambu’s website gives the product’s origin story a bit of a heaven-sent spin: “In 2012, Jared was on the road 48 weeks out of the year traveling as

Zambu was dreamt up in St. Louis and only retails in Missouri. | THOMAS CRONE a marketer and public speaker. One fateful evening, he found himself at a sushi restaurant in Colorado. Little did he know, this wasn’t your ordinary sushi joint. This place happened to carry a flower, indigenous to Brazil, that has an insanely unique property to it. When consumed, the lips, tongue, and mouth are flooded with a tingling sensation that is impossible to forget. Jared asked the waitress to bring him a flower from the back so he could see what the hype was about.”

McClain, the story continues, was told to give the flower a slight bite. Instead, he “chomped down on the whole thing in one big bite.”

From there things got really good, the

website explains: “The next three to four minutes were wild, as the active ingredients in the flower were released and ran across his tongue like a thousand packs of pop rocks. The experience would be seared into his brain for the rest of time.”

And, yes, it would inspire Zambu, “the tingle vodka made with a flower from the Amazon.”

Initially, McClain’s creation was offered in an oblong bottle, with an ’80sstyle logo stickered onto the front. Recently, that delightfully weirdo packaging was redesigned to more of an industry standard design, with a tactile-printed label and, even more importantly, a new recipe. (Allow us a moment to pour one out for the gone-but-not-forgotten old

bottle.) For a few weeks, the product was off market; once back, the updated version arrived in the new skin at 60 proof instead of 70, with a 30 percent ABV. Today’s Zambu is a touch milder than yesterday’s, with that buzz button bite dialed back, but not enough to lose the point of its appeal.

While Zambu offers bars a menu card of suggested cocktails, the product is typically ordered as a shot, whether served chilled or at room temp. Distributed locally by Major Brands, a bottle costs your local about $17, so shots should run a customer roughly $4, though prices vary.

It’s currently offered at a range of places, including Pagan Wine Bar, Lumiere Place, 1860’s Saloon, the Fortune Teller Bar, the Heavy Anchor and Earthbound Brewery.

McClain dreams of a national brand, with notions of opening a St. Louis production facility if/when things ramp up to that level. It’s not impossible to imagine this, as Zambu has a youthful appeal. If it’s able to elbow into college markets like Champaign, Carbondale or Lawrence, you could easily imagine the brand developing a quick-rise Midwestern following — and from there, the sky is the limit. There’s also talk of developing other flavor profiles with lemon and lime variants in stages of development, another path to growth.

Part of the fun of Zambu is that it will split your party’s responses into yes/no camps. Those who gravitate towards the fruity yet punchy sizzle will find it a whimsical alternative to night-ending shots of biting whiskey or harsh root liqueurs.

Those who don’t enjoy it, well, it sucks to be on the wrong side of history.

In addition to being a frequent contributor to the Riverfront Times, Thomas Crone is the liquor/beer buyer at the Tick Tock Tavern in south St. Louis. And yes, the Tick Tock’s part of “Zambu Nation.”

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[FIRST LOOK]

At Shiquan, Nothing Is Lost in Translation Written by

SARAH FENSKE

A

t Shiquan Wonton (6138 Delmar Boulevard), the newest Chinese eatery to open in the oo , ou ma find yourself tempted by familiar favorites like kung pao chicken or braised beef noodle — or you may find ourself ordering lac ungus” or “Fry Wavy Potato.”

In either event, there is absolutely no reason to be alarmed.

The potatoes prove to be merely crinkle-cut French fries, albeit a version topped with dried chiles.

And that scary-sounding fungus?

It’s just a delicious appetizer-sized plate of wood ear mushrooms,

38

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Get your wontons in a sour pickle broth. | SARAH FENSKE sauteed in oil until they’re perfectly tender. You won’t be able to stop eating.

Shiquan Wonton is the second outpost of a year-old eatery in Champaign, Illinois. The original has developed a following for its authentic Chinese cuisine, much of it coming from the southern parts of the countr wontons floating in Sichuan’s beloved Mala sauce (here called “spicy and mouthnumbing soup”), Shanghai-style fried shrimp and Mapo tofu.

MAY 15-21, 2019

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The menu at the Loop location is almost exactly the same, with the eponymous wontons offered in two main categories: in soup or with sauce. Just $7.95 will get you a heaping bowl of one of the two. Note that the soup descriptions are for the broth, not the filling we ordered the hinese sour pickle” and were delighted to find ic led root vegetables and seawood bobbing in a liquid that slowly turned pale green and emitted a lightly vinegary smell.

The wontons themselves were stuffed with ground pork.

The owners say they opened the Loop outpost two weeks ago, hoping for a bit of a soft opening while they get their sea legs. They took over the space that used to house Chinese Noodle Cafe (owner Peggy Hou retired after they reached out with an unsolicited offer) and while they’ve added new hardwood floors and a coat of paint, they’re eyeing more changes, including taking out the counter that breaks up the room to allow more tables and chairs.

Their space in Champaign is a bit prettier, they say, and they see themselves moving in that direction.

Even before that, though, you can stop by and get a bite. One of the owners will take your order at your table, though you’ll be asked to pay at the counter when you’re ready to leave. Their English is limited, so they’ll offer an iPad with photos so you can make sure you’re ordering what you really want.

What do you really want? Some wontons, certainly. And if “spicy and mouth numbing” is your thing, they’ll happily serve you that. If not, may we recommend the Chinese sour pickle? n

CULTURE

39

[HOMESPUN]

Blown Cover Voodoo Player Laren Loveless will trot out his soul-driven original songs in Off Broadway revue Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

L

aren Loveless knows how to put on a show. As the music instructor and performing arts teacher at City Academy, an independent grade school at North Kingshighway and Natural Bridge, Loveless’ last few wee s of a will be filled with a certain kind of drama. He’s helping his students stage a version of The Wiz and working with his classes not only on performing, but creating, their own art.

“I love to create with the students, so I want to create original content at all times,” Loveless says. “There’s something very special about going, ‘I’m not going to teach you how to sing that song, because you don’t care about that song. But if we wrote a song together, you can’t really fake that.’”

It’s a lesson that the teacher has begun applying to his own craft.

Over the past three years, Loveless has served as an occasional vocalist with Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players, a rotating cast of musicians who embody a variety of different musical acts, from the Beatles to Ween, each Wednesday night at the Broadway Oyster Bar. Loveless takes the lead on some of the group’s more soulful (and higher-octave) sets, including Van Morrison, Prince and Michael Jackson. Not unlike the school plays he helps stage, Loveless regularly brings qualities of drama, improv and impersonation to his sets with the band.

But this Friday night, Loveless, Canan and several of the Voodoo crew move the act from the Oyster Bar to Off Broadway for the Laren Loveless Revue. He’ll spend the first art of the show combining some greatest hits from Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Elvis Presley and more. The latter half of the set will focus on Loveless’

Laren Loveless’ set at Off Broadway this week will feature several of his as-yet unreleased songs. | VIA THE ARTIST original, soul-driven music.

“I wanted to do a night where we cover everyone we do in one sitting, but then also say, ‘Hey, this is my music as well. This is what we’re doing with Laren Loveless’ sound,’ at the end of the night,” he says. “This will be the first time for eo le hearing some of these songs.”

Loveless says that while he’ll be in a sort of musical costume (and in some cases, a literal costume) for the covers set, he looks forward to the end of the night when he gets to, as he says, “shed my heart a little bit to the crowd and say that these are the songs I’ve been writing knowing I was becoming a father, writing, for the first time, about shit ’ve been seeing in this city.

“It’s the most personal material that I’ve written,” he says.

Loveless has created plenty of original music before — as a singer, drummer and pianist, he’s led the groups Reeling Gilly and the Vintage Years (as well as playing drums with this author in an earlier incarnation of the local dream-

pop band Spectator). But a few recent life changes took him away from releasing his own music: Though he never stopped writing and recording, Loveless’ teaching, familial and Voodoo-related duties kept him busy enough.

“I’ve been sitting on some of these recordings, but I don’t want to do it the way I’ve always done, which is show up with the album and have a release show,” he says.

“I just want people to hear them live first and get to now them, sing along, fall in love with them, and then come out with the album.”

Even though his eventual album is still a ways off, Loveless knows what the first song will be “There’s a song called ‘Community Conversation’ — I’ve just been really confused about what the fuck is going on since Ferguson,” he says. “Having my own child I have to look at life with a new set of eyes. I have someone that I am responsible for — I have to have my feelers out there for what kind of world he’s growing up in.”

Loveless says that he’s struggled with getting overtly political in

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his music — he notes that his heroes always found ways to keep the message oblique but still powerful — but that for this song, at least, he had to embrace it.

“I’m done with how we’re treating each other t’s the ver first song that starts off the album — it’s a testimony to what I see and how I want to surrender to it,” he says. “I don’t care whose side you’re on — we can’t keep doing this to each other.”

Sharing that message is a part of the role that Loveless is becoming more comfortable in inhabiting.

“I was blessed to have the opportunity to take the mic, and in that I learned how to man the crowd,” Loveless says. “I’m not a drummer anymore; I’m not a piano player anymore. It’s you, so you have to conjure something out of it.

“I’ve learned to go, ‘You’re not gonna sing it like Michael. You’re not Prince,’” he says. “‘You’re you and you can do your own thing.’”

Laren Loveless Revue 8 p.m. Friday, May 17. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-498-6989.

MAY 15-21, 2019

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EACH MONTH

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MAY 15-21, 2019

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[HELL ON EARTH]

Riverport Traffic Is a Thing of the Past, Owners Claim Written by

DANIEL HILL

A

sk anyone who has attended a concert at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (better known to most in the area as Riverport) at any time in the last few decades what the worst part of the experience was and you’re sure to hear a familiar answer time and again. No, we’re not referring to the exorbitant price for a beer — though that’s a conversation dying to be had as well.

We’re referring to the nightmarish traffic snarl to which attendees are subjected at the close of each show.

Over the years, hundreds of encores have been missed by fans who are desperate to not spend several hours trapped in a parking lot. Horns have been honked, fellow concertgoers have been screamed at in frustration, and children and adults alike have been brought to tears by the sheer unfairness of it all.

[ B R I C K S A N D M O R TA R ]

SOHO Record Store Coming to Manhattan Antique Marketplace Written by

DANIEL HILL

S

ince opening its doors in December in a building that formerly housed a Kroger supermarket, the Manhattan Antique Marketplace (10431 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann; 314-7335285) has rapidly injected new life into a sleepy strip mall in St. Ann. With its 20,000 square feet of collectibles, indoor farmers market, cafe and event space — not to mention its proximity to beloved punk-and-pinball bar the

The venue previously known as Riverport draws huge crowds, and with them comes huge traffic. | VIA HOLLYWOOD CASINO AMPHITHEATRE It’s long been assumed nothing could be done to alleviate the situation — we’re talking about a 20,000-capacity venue, after all, with the vast majority of that crowd attempting to head to their cars and homes at roughly the same time upon the concert’s end.

For years, your choices have been to either bite the bullet or simply stay home.

But now, the venue’s owners say, that traffic is a thing of the ast In preparation for the 2019 concert season, Live Nation, owner and operator of Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, hired Kimley-Horn and Associates, which they identify in a press release as “one of the nation’s premier parking and transportation strategic planning and management consultants” (the Lord’s work, truly), tasking the firm with im roving the seemWaiting Room — MAM has already become a popular destination for St. Louisans willing to wander off the beaten path in search of a good score.

Now, with the announcement this week that a new record store is opening soon under its roof, things are set to kick into overdrive.

“We are very excited to open this new store and give vinyl fans a place to swap out their collections and find new treasures,” Lindsey Richert, marketing director at MAM, says in a statement. “Being an antique store, opening the record shop fits along with the theme of MAM, bringing vintage and classic pieces back, giving old things new life.”

Dubbed SOHO in keeping with MAM’s NYC theme, the store will open for business at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, and will feature more than 6,000 albums — vinyl only — for sale by multiple vendors.

It’s said to be the first of its kind in the area, taking stock from numerous collections to build its inventory. Customers

ingly hopeless situation.

They then took Kimley-Horn’s insights and partnered with the casino and city administration to implement its recommendations.

The new ar ing and traffic lan was unveiled on April 26 for the Zac Brown Band concert — and according to those involved in its implementation, the changes worked.

“We are very pleased with the initial results of the newly imroved traffic rocedures ut in place with the cooperation and assistance of the Maryland Heights Police Department last weekend,” Michael Jerlecki, vice president and general manager of Hollywood Casino, said in a statement.

“We think, going forward, these improvements will make for a much more pleasant experience for our concert guests.”

A press release spells out some

of the changes that were made.

From that release: • Police presence controlling traffic and lights at ighwa and Riverport Drive South., and at Riverport Drive North near the Mobil • Additional police presence on Riverport Drive South to keep cars from stopping to drop off passengers, prevent jaywalking and direct cars and foot traffic near the Magellan parking lot entrance/exit • Dedicated pick-up and drop-off area for Uber and Lyft with no exceptions • Additional directional, orange reader board signage on Highwa • Dedicated casino shuttle route that is unimpeded before and after the show and the controlled queuing of riders before and after the show • Dedicated police/squad car presence on heading towards I-70 to better facilitate getting cars onto I-70 It remains to be seen whether these changes will actually make a substantive difference or if, rather, we’re being misled by the hype of the venue’s owners and operators.

But if things are even 50 percent better than they’ve been in the past, that’s going to amount to a whole lot of happy St. Louis music fans.

“Our ultimate goal is to provide Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre guests with the best experience possible for the 2019 season,” says Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre General Manager Frank LoPresti.

Sounds great, Frank! Now while we’re at it, let’s talk about those drink prices ... n

In addition to its cafe, farmers market and dozens of vendors, Manhattan Antique will soon have a record store. | CHELSEA NEULING will be able to bring their own records in to sell or trade as well.

Prices will range from $1 to $30 per record, with the average being $5. The shop’s opening will coincide with food and drink specials in MAM’s cafe, and DJ Ben Bounce will be spinning records

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from 1 to 5 p.m.

“The culture that surrounds record buying and selling is a rich environment, and they’re a loyal group that we are excited to work with,” Richert says.

For more information, visit Manhattan Antique’s website at mamstl.com. n

MAY 15-21, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

41

[PREVIEW]

For the Cause Damon Johnson and the Black Moods headline a concert to benefit a new St. Louis amusement park for people with disabilities Written by

THOMAS CRONE

N

ot so long ago, a pair of former co-workers got together for lunch and a chance to do a little light networking. The conversation went well. So well, in fact, that a slot on Delmar Hall’s concert calendar stands as testimony to the discussion, with a May 22 show featuring Damon Johnson and the Black Moods. Of particular interest to local music fans is that Andy Schmidt, the singer-songwriter of Stir and a founding member of El Monstero, will be offering an acoustic set at the top of the night.

The show isn’t just a chance to see some guitar legends: All money raised will go to a unique charity called Spirit of Discovery Park, which aims to open a theme park in the St. Louis region designed for people with mental and physical disabilities.

The project is the brainchild of one of those coworkers, Jamie Peniston Vann. She is founder and president of the organization hoping to bring such a park to St. Louis.

That effort has honed in on three possible locations for its future home: Eureka, Maryland Heights and an area in St. Charles County near the intersection of and eeding a foot rint of at least acres, with larger parcels preferred, the organization behind it is in constant fundraising mode. Once complete, the park will be only the second of its kind in the U.S., alongside Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio.

“There are so many children, adults and wounded warriors across our country who don’t have access to a theme park where they can just let go and enjoy life because of their disability,” Vann says. “We want to give them a place where they can feel the wind in their face and have a fun time in a park without limitations.”

Which takes us back to that lunch meeting. Vann had worked with a guy named Dan Sokolik at

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 15-21, 2019

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The Black Moods will perform at Delmar Hall on May 22. | VIA FM MUSIC MANAGEMENT

Harrah’s twenty years ago. Finding himself between gigs after years of doing marketing and advertising for the restaurant industry, Sokolik had reached out.

At the lunch, Sokolik discussed how he’d always enjoyed music and how he’d thought of putting on a concert focused on guitar mastery. Vann talked about her work with St. Louis Recreation Development Group, the group that’s developing Spirit of Discovery Park. Relatively quickly, those divergent topics were merged into a show.

“I’ve got personal connections with all of the bands. It was the perfect storm of availability and trying to put something together for the charity,” Sokolik says.

“I’m friends with the guys in the Black Moods, have been for several years. They kinda gave me some dates to work with; coming off of a tour with Whitesnake, they were looking to pick up some shows on the way home. And I’d met Damon Johnson years ago. I’d always been a fan. I just reached out to him and lo and behold, it worked out.”

Adding Schmidt, Sokolik says, came of a desire “to not mess with a full band. We wanted a guy with a guitar to open the night.” Plus he’s been friends with Schmidt since Stir’s heyday. “I was around those guys all the time,” he says.

“It just took a phone call and a couple of plane tickets for he and his son to come back home for the

show.”

With a favorable rate from Delmar Hall and support from KSHE 95, the night’s been given over fully to old-fashioned rock & roll. The Tempe-based trio Black Moods melds electric guitars with anthemic hooks for a sound that wouldn’t sound out of place on that station. And if Damon Johnson is himself not a household name, the company he’s kept certainly would be: He’s co-written songs for Stevie Nicks, Carlos Santana, Steven Tyler and Sammy Hagar, and even played for a while with Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy.

It’s a solid lineup — especially for a first time romoter but Sokolik goes to some lengths to note that the night is not about him. It’s about supporting the mission of Spirit of Discovery Park.

Still, Sokolik is proud he was able to pitch in.

“Jamie was telling me to follow my dreams since I love music so much,” Sokolik says. “Well, I’m in m mid s and this is an industry in which you work for peanuts in your twenties to get anywhere.

But I wanted to help her and the cause.”

If it all works out, there’s another idea in his back pocket. Humbly and reluctantly, Sokolik may become a promoter after all.

A Benefit for Spirit of Discovery Park 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 22. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Boulevard, $22 to $75. 314-

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OUT EVERY NIGHT [CRITIC’S PICK]

Snarky Puppy. | STELLA K

Snarky Puppy 7 p.m. Sunday, May 19. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue. $35 to $65. 314-775-0775.

Jazz fusion has been stepped on for too long. Maybe it was a violent reaction to the tyranny of smooth jazz, which took the precision and technique of fusion and denuded it, but in the ’90s and 2000s, old Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever LPs were relegated to the realm of hi-fi salesmen and ignored or derided by all but the most pantheistic crate-diggers. Snarky Puppy owes a

THURSDAY 16

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debt to those fusion forebears as well as a host of funk and groove groups.

The group’s fluid membership keeps the sound shifting, and this year’s Immigrance benefits from founding member Michael Teague’s airtight compositions and his willingness to let his bandmates stretch out, as on “Coven,” where guitarist Chris McQueen holds the center on a shifting, amorphous groove.

Arrive on Time: Jazz singer Alina Engibaryan, whose latest album was created with several Snarky Puppy members, opens the show.

—Christian Schaeffer

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MAY 15-21, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

45

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Fireworks Display After Dark

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ashington ve , t ouis TIM ALBERT & THE BOOGIEMEN: m, merstone’s, th t , t ouis,

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 45 arroom,

ig end lvd ,

ebster roves,

OF MICE & MEN: m,T ubar, ocust t, t ouis, PARACHUTE: m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, PETER KARP BAND: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, REPTALIENS: w ol osers m, oam, efferson ve , t ouis, RETRONERDS: m, roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY: w ristmeetra or, Transgression, light uture, Tensions ising m, The in hole, outh roadwa , t ouis, THE TROPHY MULES: m , free The bbe , ain t , elleville, VIOLENT FEMMES, X: m, The ag eant, elmar lvd , t ouis,

SATURDAY 18

THE ABDUCTED: m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, ACOUSTIK ELEMENT: m, oe’s afe, ingsbur ve, t ouis ALL ROOSTERED UP: noon, free roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, BETTY WHO: m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, BIG GEORGE BROCK’S 87TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: m, mbassador, alls err d, orth t ouis ount , BLUE MOON BLUES: w ent hrhart m, free ammerstone’s, th t , t ouis, COLTER WALL: m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, DIAMOND RIO: m, iver it asino otel, iver it asino lvd , t ouis, ERIN BODE: m, The onocle, anchester ve, t ouis, FIONA BOYES: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, FUNKY BUTT BRASS BAND: m, road wa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, THE HIGH ROLLERS: m , free asino ueen, ront t , ast t ouis, HOLY HAND GRENADES: w The addonfields, the tars o ut m , free chlafl Ta oom, ocust t , t ouis, INTER ARMA: w ath of ight, an uren m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, JUSTIN RA: w the i ard Tones m, oam, efferson ve , t ouis, LIGHTBRINGER: w ead wa e, The mni scient, leshbore, edia, ndulge evour m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, MARQUISE KNOX BAND: a , lues ou s,

m, roadwa , t

’s ouis,

MULEMAN MASSEY: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, NEIL SALSICH: m , free The risco ar room, ig end lvd , ebster roves, THE NEIL SALSICH DUO: m , free ff road wa , em ve , t ouis, SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE: m,T ol l wood asino m hitheatre, arth it w , ar land eights, SKEET RODGERS & INNER CITY BLUES BAND: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, SPECTATOR ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: w e’ onds m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, ST. LOUIS LADY ARM WRESTLERS BRAWL: m, The eav nchor, ravois ve , t ouis, THE LADY J HUSTON SHOW & TRIBUTE TO ALBERT KING: m, ational lues useum,

am

SUNDAY 19

AL B. SURE: m, The ageant, elmar lvd , t ouis, BACKE YOU BENEFIT: m, roadwa s ter ar, roadwa , t ouis, THE GREAT ST LOUIS FOLK SCARE: w alter reiner the illbill oet, dam affne , ace illiams, ob amos e, aul iehaus m , free ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, JAMES CARTER WITH THE PETER MARTIN TRIO: m, The heldon, ashington lvd , t ouis, KALVIN DOBBINS & THE RIVER ROOSTERS: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, KIM MASSIE: m, roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, NICK GUSMAN AND THE COYOTES: m , free ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, ONE STEP CLOSER: w rafter, Time and ressure, oul raft, Tell ies m, The in hole, outh roadwa , t ouis, THE QUEERS: w orror ection, ntithought, the e masters m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, THE SH-BOOMS: m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, SLUSHII: m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, SNARKY PUPPY: m, tomic owbo avilion, anchester venue, t ouis, UNION SPECIFIC: w m, oam,

e’ onds, ister i ard efferson ve , t ouis,

MONDAY 20

BOTTOMS UP BLUES GANG: m , free road wa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, THE HUSSY: w hitstorm m, oam, efferson ve , t ouis, I PREVAIL: w ssues, ustin tone m, The ageant, elmar lvd , t ouis, RIVERSIDE: m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, SOULARD BLUES BAND: m, roadwa s ter ar, roadwa , t ouis, THIRD SIGHT REGGAE RHYTHM & GROOVES: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, WE ARE THE ASTEROID: w the onformists, ilvere m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis,

TUESDAY 21

ERIC LYSAUGHT: m , free roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, MERCURY TREE: w sh, The uman onster m, oam, efferson ve , t ouis, THE PIT STOP COMEDY: m, The eav n chor, ravois ve , t ouis, THE SHOWCASE TOUR: m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, THE HIVES, REFUSED: m, eant, elmar lvd , t ouis,

The ag

WEDNESDAY 22

A BENEFIT CONCERT TO SUPPORT SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY PARK: w amon ohnson, The lac oods, nd chmidt m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, BLACK & WHITE BAND: m, ’s a ,

Continued on pg 49

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Refused. | VIA EPITAPH RECORDS

Refused 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 21. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $35 to $37.50.

314-726-6161.

“We will not give interviews to stupid reporters who still haven’t got anything of what we are all about, we will never play together again and we will never try to glorify or celebrate what was.” So reads a particularly trenchant line in Swedish hardcore punk band Refused’s 1998 announcement that it was breaking up in the midst of a disastrous U.S. tour. The band had just released The Shape of Punk to Come to the confusion of the masses, who didn’t understand its inclusion of ambient, jazz and electronica ele-

ar

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 47 lues

ou s,

roadwa , t

ouis,

HIGH DIVE: w n nfortunate Trend, enned usic, atric uinlan, arling e m, The irebird, live t , t ouis, SONGBIRD CAFE: m, The ocal oint, utton lvd, t ouis, TAV FALCO’S PANTHER BURNS: m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, TEXAS HIPPIE COALITION: m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, VOODOO PLAYERS TRIBUTE TO STEVIE RAY VAUGHN: m, roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis,

THIS JUST IN

3 CROOKED MEN: Thu , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, ALISON SUDOL: ri , e t , m, lueberr ill The uc oom, elmar lvd , niversit it , ALLY VENABLE: at , une , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, AMERICAN AQUARIUM: on , ug , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, ANNIE & THE FUR TRAPPERS: at , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, BAD SUNS: un , e t , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, BIG EASY: at , une

,

m , free

ments. But if the band’s declaration later made it a liar — it has since reunited and even released a new album, Freedom, in 2015 — it was certainly vindicated for Shape, which became a blueprint for the wave of post-hardcore acts that followed and has been cited as an influence by Anthrax, Steve Aoki, Duff McKagan and countless more.

Breaking Out: This show is part of a coheadlining tour with fellow Swedes the Hives, who were just two years away from releasing their breakout record Veni Vidi Vicious when Refused split. It’s surely not the first time the two bands have performed together, but it’s definitely the first time they’ve done so in St. Louis.

—Daniel Hill

ightshift

rill,

e ico oad, t

eters,

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: ed , a , m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, BLACK & WHITE BAND: ed , a , m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, BLACK VIOLIN: at , ct , m, lanche Touhill erforming rts enter, niversit r at atural ridge oad, ormand , BLACKFOOT GYPSIES: Tue , une , m, lueberr ill The uc oom, elmar lvd , niversit it , BLUE GROOVE: at , une , m , free ight shift ar rill, e ico oad, t eters, BLUES CITY SWING: ri , une , m , free w oadhouse and itchen, ld r chard ve, ebster roves, BORIS: niform, ed , e t , m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, BRIAN CURRAN & ANDREW ADAMS: Thu , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, CHARLEY CROCKETT: Tue , une , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, CIGAR BOX GUITAR FESTIVAL: ri , m, at , une , am, oadhouse and itchen, ld ebster roves, CONMAN ECONOMY EP RELEASE: nimagined, the agb rds, Thu , m, ubar, ocust DANIEL SLOSS:

ed , ul

,

m,

a

, w rchard ve,

u ora, une , t, t ouis, The

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OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 49 ageant,

elmar lvd , t

ouis,

THE DISTILLERS: eath alle irls, un , ct , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, DOUBLE VISION REVISITED: avid anborn, ob ames and arcus iller, Tue , ug , m, The heldon, ashing ton lvd , t ouis, DREW HOLCOMB & THE NEIGHBORS: Thu , ct , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, EMPRESS OF: Tue , ug , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, ERIC LYSAUGHT: Tue , a , m , free roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, THE FELICE BROTHERS: Tue , ug , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, FIELD DAY: un , ov , m, ocust t, t ouis, THE FOGGY MEMORY BOYS: ri , une m , free The risco arroom, lvd , ebster roves, FOR KING & COUNTRY: at , ct , amil rena, rena ar t harles, THE GARCIA PROJECT: on , a , ff roadwa , em ve ,

ubar, , ig end m, wa ,

t

m, ouis,

JACOB JOLLIFF BAND: ooden uddin, at , ul , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, JIM BREUER: ed , ul , m, The ag eant, elmar lvd , t ouis, JOHN D HALE: at , une , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE: iver ittens, at , ug , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE: lutch, ro ags , Tue , ul , m, The ageant, elmar lvd , t ouis, KY-MANI MARLEY: Thu , ul , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, THE LONESOME BREAKS: ri , une , m, free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, MARK FARINA: ri , une , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, THE MELVINS: ri , e t , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, MICHIGAN RATTLERS: ld oc ouse,

ed , ul , m, th t , t ouis,

MIKE MASSE: ri , ug , m, ac , ocust t, t ouis, MIKE ZITO’S GULF COAST RECORDS REVUE: at , ul , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, MILES DAVIS DOUBLE CELEBRATION: un , a , m, ar Theatre, oc wood ve , t ouis, MINDA LYNN: the ictor rive, age , t omes in aves, un , une , m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, MISS JUBILEE: ri , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE: Thu , e t , m, elmar all, elmar lvd , t ouis, NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS: Thu , ug , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, ORVILLE PECK: ri , ct , m, lueberr ill The uc oom, elmar lvd , niversit it , THE PIT STOP COMEDY: Tue , a , m, The eav nchor, ravois ve , t ouis,

THE RIVER KITTENS: Thu , une , m, free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, ROB THOMAS: a rost, un , e t , m, tifel Theatre, ar et t, t ouis, ROGERS & NIENHAUS: at , une , m, w oadhouse and itchen, ld r chard ve, ebster roves, THE RUEN BROTHERS: un , une , m, free ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, RUSS MOHR RECORD RELEASE: rian wens the eacons of oul, ri , une , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, RYNE WATTS & FRIENDS: at , une , m, free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, SAWCE: iff ’narl and the e tilians, ittle owbo , oung nimals, un , une , m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, SCHOOL OF ROCK ALLSTARS: ri , ug , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, SETH WALKER: Thu , ul , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, SEVENTH PLANET: at , une , m , free ightshift ar rill, e ico oad, t eters, SHIVER: at , une , m , free ightshift ar rill, e ico oad, t eters, SILVERCREEK BLUEGRASS BAND: ri , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, SINKANE: Thu , ct , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, SMALL TOWN MURDER: ri , ct , m, The ead oom, anchester ve, t ouis, SMOOTH JAZZ CRUISE ON LAND: rian ul bertson, race ell , ric arius, at , e t , m, hesterfield m hitheater, eterans lace rive, hesterfield SOULARD BLUES BAND: on , a , m, roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, ST. LOUIS CHAMBER CHORUS: un , a , m, haare meth ongregation, adue, t ouis, ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: Tue , a , m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, ST. LOUIS STEADY GRINDERS: Thu , une , m , free The risco arroom, ig end lvd , ebster roves, STEVE MILLER BAND: ri , une , m, ibert an m itheater, iverfront rive, lton Townshi STEVE REEB: on , a , m , free ammerstone’s, th t , t ouis, THIRD SIGHT REGGAE RHYTHM & GROOVES: on , a , m, ’s a , lues ou s, roadwa , t ouis, TYCHO: oolside, Thu , e t , m, The ageant, elmar lvd , t ouis, TYRONE WELLS: un , ct , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, UNTURNED: ri , une , m, ubar, ocust t, t ouis, USO OF MO, INC. RED ROCK AND BLUE: lue ctober, ri , ct , m, The ag eant, elmar lvd , t ouis, VAN HUNT: ed , ul , m, ld oc ouse, th t , t ouis, VOODOO PLAYERS TRIBUTE TO STEVIE RAY VAUGHN: ed , a , m, roadwa ster ar, roadwa , t ouis, WHITEY MORGAN: ri , ug , m, ff roadwa , em ve , t ouis, WHITNEY: m, t ouis,

and abits, Tue , e t , elmar all, elmar lvd , n

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SAVAGE LOVE DISCLOSED

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: Garbage human here.

I’ve had herpes for about 15 years.

The first five years, I was in a relationship with a guy who also had it. The last 10 years, I haven’t been in a serious relationship. I’ve been a (rare, drunk) one-night-stand type of gal, and I don’t usually tell the guy because, like, everyone has herpes. (I get that one in five isn’t everyone, but if you count HSV-1? I’ve seen numbers as high as 80 percent.) Frankly, it seems about as significant medically as minimally contagious mild acne.

(Some risks to pregnancies and immunosuppressed people exist, and I know logically it’s not my call to determine what may be serious for someone else.)

I justify nondisclosure to myself these ways, even though I know it’s not ethical. On the occasions where I have disclosed, I’ve been made to feel like a leper by dudes who 10 minutes before were begging me not to have to use a condom. I obviously have a lot of resentment over having this stupid thing and over the guilt I have around nondisclosure, and I suspect my history of casual sex is influenced by not wanting to deal with this conversation.

Which brings us to now. What I thought was a one-night stand has turned into a months-long affair, and I’m amazed to report I find myself liking and respecting this guy.

(I know, I know: If I really respected him, I’d have told him before I ever knew I respected him.) What do I do? I have to tell him. But how? Is there any justification for what I’ve done? Can I just say, “Oh man, I noticed a thing and went and got tested and guess what?” That just adds to the lie. There’s no way I can have a relationship with this guy based on trust going forward, is there? I’ve fucked this up and I have to bail, don’t I? Am I going to be alone for the rest of my life?

Deserves To Be Alone You’re not a garbage human, DTBA. You didn’t share something you should’ve — the fact that you, like upwards of 50 percent of everyone, have herpes — but

weren’t obligated to. The problem with not disclosing, as you now know, is that casual sex partners have a way of becoming potential long-term partners. And by the time you recognize someone’s long-term potential, the stakes are so high that bailing looks like an easier option.

“We don’t think DTBA needs to bail,” Momo and Felix wrote in a joint e-mail after reading your letter. “And we don’t think she’s destined to be alone for the rest of her life.”

Momo and Felix are the cocreators of My Boyfriend Has Herpes (instagram.com/my_boyfriend_has_herpes), an Instagram account that has amassed more than 15,000 followers in just a few months. Using simple, direct prose and Momo’s charming illustrations, Momo and Felix educate others about herpes while sharing the story of their relationship — from how they met, to Felix’s disclosure, to Momo’s initial hesitation to get involved with someone who has herpes.

“Our stance is pro-disclosure, always, but we know this isn’t possible for everyone living with HSV,” said Momo and Felix. “Unfortunatel , one of the significant pitfalls of [not disclosing early on is the difficult it adds to the potential of a long-term relationship. And while we don’t agree with DTBA’s choice to not disclose to her partners, we understand why she might have made those choices. The stigma against herpes is terrible.”

Momo and Felix both feel — and I’m with them — that you need to be completely honest with this guy, even if it means the relationship could end. But it might not end, DTBA. He might have a disclosure of his own to make — he could have herpes, too — or the relationship could end for other reasons. You’ve been dating this guy for only a few months, and he could decide to end things for reasons that have nothing to do with the disclosure you’re about to make and/or your failure to make it sooner. Or you might learn something about him down the road that’s a deal breaker. (Have you searched his place for MAGA hats?)

So how do you broach this topic?

“She obviously cares about this person,” wrote Momo and

Some studies have found that more than two out of every three people have herpes. But most people who have herpes don’t know they do.

Felix. “She made a mistake and she wants to make it right. DTBA needs to acknowledge her actions (opting for nondisclosure) and their impact (putting her partner at risk without his informed consent). DTBA’s partner may very likely feel betrayed or deceived.

He might want to end the relationship, and his feelings would be valid. Unfortunately, all that DTBA can do is acknowledge her mistake, make herself vulnerable, and accept his reaction.”

“But whatever happens, she doesn’t deserve to be alone,” they said. “We all make mistakes, and we all have the opportunity to do better.”

Hey, Dan: I’m a 24-year-old bisexual female, and the new person I’m dating just disclosed their HSV-2 status. I really like them and was all set to get intimate with them.

But their disclosure made me change my mind. They are understanding but sad. But I feel terrible about it! They did the right, honest thing, and now they’re getting punished for it. Herpes isn’t dangerous, it’s usually not even symptomatic, and the social stigma (the chances of someone like ME saying no) is the worst part. I get all that, intellectually. And I’d still rather... just... not take the risk of becoming someone who has to have a slightly harder dating life, because of the stress of disclosing to judgmental people like myself. Have I perpetuated the stigma of having herpes because I’m scared of ending up in the “life is harder now” group?

Help A Reluctant Miss I shared your letter with Momo and Felix, HARM, and they want-

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ed to respond to you individuall ut first a uic download Herpes is caused by two different viruses and is commonly called “oral herpes” and is called genital herpes,” even though both are transmitted in similar ways — vaginal, anal, and oral sex, as well as simple skin-to-skin contact — and both can cause sores on the mouth or genitals. Herpes is incredibl common ome studies have found that more than two out of every three people have herpes.

But most people who have herpes don’t know they do — which means that you could already have herpes yourself, HARM. “It’s HARM’s right to choose not to sleep with anyone for any reason,” said Momo. “But I do think that she’s perpetuating the stigma by rejecting someone just because they have HSV. I totally understand her concerns, and I had the same concerns before deciding to be intimate with Felix. But after doing my research and contemplating, I decided that I’d rather contract HSV than feed into the stigma. I don’t expect everyone to share the same feelings as me, but that was my choice. Plus, if she walks away from this person and keeps on dating, there’s a very good chance that a future partner might have HSV and not know it.

So really, is she taking less risk by not dating them?”

“Like Momo said, everyone has the right to choose who they do or don’t sleep with, regardless of their reasons,” said Felix. “Is HARM perpetuating the stigma against HSV? A bit. But I think her feelings are super-understandable. It’s important for people to educate themselves and take action toward dismantling the stigma, but to potentially take on the burden of living with the stigma is a huge leap.

I don’t know if being concerned about becoming a victim of the stigma is the same as perpetuating it. But while HARM fears that contracting HSV will limit her dating life in the future, if she walks away from a relationship with potential, then her feelings have already limited her dating life.”

Listen to Dan online at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org

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HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS HAPPY HOUR

CARNIVORE A PLACE TO MEAT

Located in the historic Hill neighborhood of Saint Louis, Missouri, Carnivore STL is a flame-grilled steakhouse for the people of casual American dining from the esteemed Italian families of the Hill.

Carnivore is one of St. Louis’ most popular new restaurants and brings something unique to the Hill, a steakhouse. They take pride in their steak, and offer a few different cuts along with delicious house made butter.

Whether it was required to be part of the group of restaurants, or they just felt obligated, Carnivore offers some Italian dishes that could compete with anyone in the neighborhood as well.

Part of their unique offering is their fantastic happy hour, offered every Tuesday through Friday from 4-6 pm.

Carnivore offers $ domestic beers, $4.50 house wines, $5 premium rail

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drinks, and $6 martinis. Hungry? Try their steak medallions, arancini balls, luganiga sliders, and various flatbreads.

Every Tuesday, they like to put a spin on happy hour with Taco Tuesday featuring $ tacos, a specialty margarita of the week and a loaded taco flatbread. This deal lasts all night.

Speaking of drinking, Carnivore is offering some exciting new drinks just in time for winter including the Winter Paloma – Una Vida tequila, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, topped with club, or their Cocoa Martini – vanilla vodka, hot chocolate mix, cocoa liquor, topped with mini marshmallows, and finally the Carnivore Kringle – vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice.

Carnivore, a place to meat. See you there!

CARNIVORE | 5257 SHAW AVENUE | CARNIVORE-STL.COM

HAPPY HOUR @ BARCELONA M-F 3:30 – 6:30 •The ONLY place where you can get $12 Pitchers of SANGRIA in Town!!!

•The BEST Calamari!

•The BEST VIBE!

•The Usual stuff everybody else does!

314.863.9909 BARCELONATAPAS.COM 34N. CENTRAL AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63105

THE HAUNT

S t L o u i s ’ O ri g i na l H a llo w een B a r

Happy Hour Every Day 3-7pm $13 Domestic Buckets • $2.25 Rails

Ladies Night Every Wed 9pm to Close $1.50 Domestic Beer or Rail Drinks

K AR AO K E M AD N E S S

E v ery T h u rs d a y 9 pm to clo s e Check us out on FaceBook for upcoming live music and events

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