Riverfront Times, May 20, 2020 by Riverfront Times

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 6-12, 2019

riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

THE LEDE

“I felt kind of quarantined about two years ago when I first became a single mom, because I just happened to be in a new city, and I didn’t know anyone. I mostly relied on friends through social media to comfort me. So this reminds me a lot of that. But I think it’s made me a lot more appreciative of coming back to St. Louis, because I have a community with work, and I’ve had women in my life who have sent food over to us because it gets hectic trying to make meals every single day. Three times a day is insane. I think the community of sisterhood has brought me a lot closer [to] friends and gives me hope that that will continue and we will continue to be family even though we’re not blood related.”

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

— LAUREN KIRKWOOD WITH HER CHILDREN RIVERS FOURWOOD, 7, AND ZELLA FOURWOOD, 3, PHOTOGRAPHED IN FOREST PARK ON MAYCH 16 riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Thanks for Supporting the RFT THE LAST TWO months have been humbling. We laid off most of our newsroom staff and hacked off whatever expenses we could in hopes of surviving the economic ruin of COVID-19. But you can’t just cut and expect to live on. You have to start building at some point. One of the pieces we’ve built, with your help, is the Riverfront Times Press Club. We weren’t sure how it would go. After six weeks, I’m happy to report that nearly 900 people have signed up. Some dropped into our hat whatever they could afford at the moment. Others pledged monthly donations, almost like a subscription to a paper that’s been distributed for free for 43 years. All together, they’ve now donated or pledged nearly $38,000 and counting as of this writing. That is money that has helped us as we’ve rehired two laid-off staffers, continued to print every week through the pandemic and delivered important stories. Our staff and loyal freelancers have worked — often for free or almost free — to keep bringing this paper to you. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re building up the RFT again. So think about joining the Press Club (details on our site) if you haven’t. If you already have, thank you so much: Know that you’re helping keep this weird, loudmouthed, but ultimately dedicated St. Louis institution going. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS CAN’T

STO P

WO N’T

STO P

E DITIO N

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Hero In A Hot Dog Suit Daniel Hill Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Trenton Almgren-Davis, Jenna Jones, Monica Obradovic, Andy Paulissen A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain 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 Advertising Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy

COVER

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

Still Life As the city ground to a halt under lockdown, photographer Nate Burrell went looking for his community

N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com S U B S C R I P T I O N S Send address changes to Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $78/6 months (MO add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (MO add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com

Cover photo of Tonina Saputo by

NATE BURRELL

The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News Feature Short Orders Culture Savage Love 6

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

Riverfront Times 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103 www.riverfronttimes.com

5 7

General information: 314-754-5966 Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977

9 12 19 25 29

Riverfront Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1.00 plus postage, payable in advance at the Riverfront Times office. Riverfront Times may be distributed only by Riverfront Times authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of Riverfront Times, take more than one copy of each Riverfront Times weekly issue. The entire contents of Riverfront Times are copyright 2020 by Riverfront Times, LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the expressed written permission of the Publisher, Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Please call the Riverfront Times office for back-issue information, 314-754-5966.

HARTMANN Wrong Page The St. Louis County Executive hopped off his white horse for big donors and a secretive payout BY RAY HARTMANN

think I just had a Steve Stenger flashback. Ah, for that golden age of St. Louis County government scandal, when a hardly working journalist like me would have something interesting to talk or write about weekly. Do you remember this story? “The county executive received a $15,000 PAC campaign contribution from a city law firm months after it was awarded a no-bid contract by the county executive’s handpicked county attorney. The firm was enlisted to investigate

conduct of a St. Louis County Council ally who had been accused of sexual harassment by a female employee. The woman was paid $60,000, despite the county’s determination that the councilman broke no policies or laws. All parties signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and declined further comment.” Pretty scandalous, eh? But if you remember this as a Stenger scandal, you are mistaken. It reads like something Stenger might have done, but he fittingly resides in federal prison and not in this episode. The campaign money recipient here is Democratic County Executive Sam Page, the man who helped lead the charge against Stenger and who proclaimed last year, “We’ve made it clear that pay-toplay politics is dead forever in St. Louis County.” The Page ally on the hot seat is south county Republican Councilman Ernie Trakas, who, had supported him on most

matters. After Trakas was accused of sexual harassment by a former aide last summer, County Counselor Beth Orwick rightly decided her office faced a conflict of interest given its potential obligation to defend Trakas. She enlisted Thompson Coburn, a top downtown law firm, to investigate. Orwick had been selected by Page in July. All of that was prim and proper. So was the fact that Thompson Coburn LLC chose on February 18 to donate $15,000 to the Page PAC. The donation is tied for the fourthlargest received by Page so far in the campaign and is dramatically larger than that of other law firms. The PAC is a perfectly legal vehicle for candidates like Page to circumvent the $2,600 campaigndonation limits enacted through Charter Amendment 1 in 2018. But Page had hailed the amendment’s passage by a 74 percent margin as “another milestone in the county council’s efforts to rein in an out-

riverfronttimes.com

of-control county executive.” After that victory lap, it takes real chutzpah for Page to rake in hundreds of thousands through his PAC, mostly in amounts exceeding the limits he had championed. Nothing to see here, unless you enjoy viewing irony. Just because a politician portrays himself as too pious to descend into the mud of the campaign finance swamp doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy rolling around in it on occasion. Technically, Thompson Coburn giving $15,000 to Page after getting business from his administration is not “pay-to-play.” It might meet the less commonly cited standard of “play-then-pay,” or perhaps it’s nothing other than total coincidence. The county hasn’t disclosed what the law firm was paid. At Page’s first news conference last April he promised new levels of “accountability, transparency and professionalism,” by which he meant to

MAY 20-26, 2020

Continued on pg 8

RIVERFRONT TIMES

HARTMANN

Continued from pg 7

say, “it’s apparent that you’ll need to proffer transformational ability to hold us to account.” I’ll grant you there’s not a trace of criminality in any of this, but that doesn’t mean a fellow can’t long for the days of Stenger time when the writing was easy. So, let’s hear it for Ernie Trakas. From the day he first sought office in 2016 running for yes Stenger’s old council seat, Trakas was news waiting to happen. A July 2016 St. Louis Post-Dispatch questionnaire asked for three reasons candidates were running. Ernie’s answer 1) to give constituents a strong voice 2) to prevent a city-county merger and ) to keep etrolink from ever reaching his south county district. Sure, whistling numbers two and three might make your dog howl a bit, but it signaled good stories were coming when Trakas won by a razor’s edge margin. This unremarkable man had remarkable media potential. Along the way, Trakas fired his first assistant, Carmen Wilkerson, former mayor of St. George. She claimed he had forced her to torment the owners of a Bosnian Muslim cemetery with all manner of nonsense and that when asked if he would meet with the funeral director, Trakas said “No, I’m not meeting with any Muslims.” He called this “an absolute falsehood.” A recall effort ensued, which Trakas survived. But the man was established as a news machine. He also became known as a man prone to outbursts and attacks. Last August, Trakas fired another assistant, Annette Read, and she accused him of sexual harassment. Orwick enlisted Thompson Coburn to investigate. Said Trakas, “I categorically deny every piece of it, and I’m confident that when the investigation is concluded, I will be exonerated.” In November, Thompson Coburn concluded that Trakas violated no county policy or applicable laws, and the Post-Dispatch headline proclaimed “Trakas cleared of misconduct.” Trakas beamed, “I am happy that the result of the independent investigation confirmed that I did not do anything wrong.” The firm’s report “did identify instances in which employees, irrespective of gender, believed that the tone of [Trakas’] communications was harsh. Although you are an elected official, we encourage you to maintain a professional environment and a respectful work-

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

place for all County employees.” That was that, until last week. The Post-Dispatch reported that the transparent Page administration had somehow forgotten to mention that the NDAs signed by Trakas and Read had come at a cost of $60,000 to the taxpayers. If Trakas is telling the truth and did nothing wrong, why was Mr. Taxpayer Watchdog willing to waste $60,000 of tax money to settle a false charge? He doesn’t work for Orwick or Page. e didn’t have to sign the NDA. If he did something wrong, he’s a liar. Either way, he should resign. From a media standpoint, even more damage was done by the NDAs. This was a catfight between two die-hard Trumpers (she has more than 10,000 Twitter followers). Can you just imagine these right-wingers duking it out over sexual harassment? There was one other angle I couldn’t understand Why were the council’s four Democrats not uttering a word about news of the settlement, which apparently caught them off guard, even in Page’s world of transparency? Sunday night, council Chairwoman Lisa Clancy broke the silence in response to my inquiry: “I was alarmed and concerned to learn just last week that St. Louis County must pay out a $60,000 settlement in response to a sexual harassment complaint against Councilman Trakas by his former assistant,” Clancy wrote. “I thought this case was over, but now unfortunately taxpayers are on the hook for a Council member’s bad behavior. Councilman Trakas should consider paying this settlement with his own money so that taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill. “Further, it’s not lost on me that Councilman Trakas currently sits as the Chair of the Ethics Committee,” Clancy said. “I am currently assessing the future of this Committee, including its leadership.” That doesn’t sound promising for Trakas. Still, it’s hard to imagine a world in which Ernie Trakas isn’t in charge of ethics for the county council. e’s such a good fit with the transparent Page administration, the one that hides hushmoney payments from the public and council alike, and which keeps that PAC handy for the big hitters. I’m still having flashbacks. n 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

[HEALTH]

‘Pink Tax’ Pushback A years-long effort to cut taxes on feminine hygiene products may finally be gaining traction Written by

MONICA OBRADOVIC

hen Saint Louis University professor Anne Sebert Kuhlmann saw the numbers, she almost couldn’t believe the results. Nearly two thirds (64 percent) of low-income women in St. Louis who Kuhlmann surveyed could not afford menstrual hygiene supplies at some point in the last year. About one fifth of those women (21 percent said they faced that problem every month. Kuhlmann’s study, published February 2019 in the medical journal, Obstetrics and Gynecology, defined period poverty in St. Louis. Kuhlmann serves on the board of Dignity Period, a nonprofit that provides menstrual hygiene products and education to girls in Ethiopia. Period poverty isn’t as profound in first-world countries such as the United States, Kuhlmann says. But that doesn’t mean the problem isn’t here. “We expected to find some need, but the extent of the need and the magnitude of the need shocked us,” Kuhlmann says. The key to any real change, she says, can only come through legislation.

A Legislative Issue

Not much has changed for women in Missouri since Kuhlmann’s study was published — and the reason is money. During her time in the state legislature, Rep. Gina Mitten, D-Richmond eights, has sponsored five bills all with the same objective: to lower the tax levied on feminine hygiene products to no greater than the tax levied on food. Some of the bills have called for a decreased tax on diapers as well.

Diaper Bank warehouse specialist Prasamsa Dhakal packing kits. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS ALLIANCE FOR PERIOD SUPPLIES

Under Missouri law, feminine hygiene products and diapers are not considered “essential goods.” Tampons, pads, liners and cups are taxed at 4.2 percent. The state tax on food is 1.2 percent. The extra tax makes no sense to Mitten. “These are products required for women to be effective in the workforce and to just live their lives,” Mitten says. “Why is it that women are paying additional sales tax on a product that they need just to get through their dayto-day lives?” itten raised her first child as a single mother. She says she understands how hard it is to make ends meet. “Every little bit counts.” She started her push to lower the tax on feminine hygiene products in 2016 with House Bill 2483. That bill was referred to a committee and was never brought up again. Mitten proposed three different bills with the same objective during the next three years, but all met the same fate. For each bill, Mitten says she was given the same reason why it didn’t pass: It’s too expensive. Most bills in Missouri’s House of Representatives come with a fiscal note. It gives representatives an idea of how much the bill will cost the state if it passes. Accord-

ing to the fiscal note attached to Mitten’s most recent bill, the state would lose $17 million to $27 million if it decreased the sales tax on feminine products and diapers. By national standards, Mitten’s call to lower the tax on feminine hygiene products and diapers by three percentage points is by no means outrageous. Massachusetts exempts these products completely from sales tax. Several states, such as New Hampshire, Illinois and California, require schools to provide menstrual products for free in women’s bathrooms. Lowering the tax isn’t a partisan issue, according to Mittens. She’s received support from both parties in the past. Legislators just can’t look past the glaring fiscal note. “These products are to women the same as food is to any human,” Mitten says. “This is not a political issue, it’s an issue of equity and fairness to women.” It wasn’t until this year, with HB2065, that Mitten’s quest began to make progress. HB2065 made it further than any of itten’s five previous attempts. It was replaced earlier this year with a substitute bill HB1306 that was sponsored by Rep. Jim Neely, R-Cameron, and

riverfronttimes.com

called for the same decrease in taxation. This time, the committee voted to move the bill forward, although it failed to cross the finish line before the state’s legislative session ended Friday. Neely — who is running in the August primary for governor — calls the Missouri’s unwillingness to pass the bill “backwards.” He cites a bill Gov. Mike Parson signed last year that gave General Motors a $50 million tax break. “Are we more interested in taking care of General Motors than we are people who go to the store every day? Nuts,” Neely says. “That’s a theme that’s wrong here in Jefferson City. We’re more interested in taking care of those ... well, you come up with your own opinion.”

A Local Issue

For Jessica Adams, the founder and former executive director of the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, Kuhlmann’s research was a call to action. The National Diaper Bank Network invited Adams to join the National Alliance for Period Supplies about the same time Kuhlmann published her research early last year. A year later, the

MAY 20-26, 2020

Continued on pg 11

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

Nearly two thirds of low-income women in St. Louis have reported not having enough money to buy period supplies. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS ALLIANCE FOR PERIOD SUPPLIES

PINK TAX

Continued from pg 9

St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies officially launched. Adams says the response has been overwhelming. “Access to basic hygiene products was completely unaddressed in the St. Louis community until we stepped into the game,” Adams says. “It’s shocking to us that these needs have flown under the radar for so long.” uhlmann’s study found that many of the women who couldn’t afford menstrual hygiene supplies made do with rags, clothes, tissues or toilet paper. Some reported using children’s diapers or paper towels from public restrooms when they couldn’t afford to buy pads or tampons. “Women figure out a way to make do, but it really affects one’s sense of self and dignity to not be able to take care of themselves,” uhlmann says. This year, Adams estimates the alliance will distribute half a million period products to its partners who give the supplies to those who need them. That will help 10,000 to 12,000 women, but that only nicks the 64 percent of low-income women in the St. Louis area who cannot afford period products. There’s still a long way to go, Adams says. One of the alliance’s partners is Affinia ealthcare, a health services provider with locations in the city and county, including health centers at schools such as Lift for Life and Normandy igh School. endra olmes, Affinia’s vice president, noticed a need for period products through these schoolbased health centers. irls came to

the centers or their schools’ nurses for period supplies. “Some younger girls’ families unfortunately just don’t have the funds for these products,” olmes says. “We were told some girls had to resort to using socks, towels or whatever they can find.” olmes says she’s seen an influx in need for diapers and feminine hygiene products during the pandemic. Some of the food drives Affinia hosts have lines three blocks long. She’s heard young girls say their moms don’t have pads or tampons for them. “When you have to make a choice between, do I pay food, do I pay rent or do I buy period products for my daughter,’ sometimes that’s just not a priority,” olmes says.

Progress and Persistence

itten’s term expires this year, but she says her colleagues will continue trying to lower the tax on feminine hygiene products. Adams says she’s proud of issouri’s state legislature. There are members in the Republican majority who get it, she says. There are signs a shift is finally underway. Other bills besides itten’s have sought to weave their way through the state ouse. A bill filed by Rep. artha Stevens, D-Boone County, calls for school districts to provide period supplies at no cost to the schools. The St. Louis County jail started offering pads and tampons to inmates for free last year. “I think an increasing number of places are starting to realize the need,” uhlmann says. “There’s so many directions we could go to make sure people who need these products get them. It’s just a matter of persistence.” n

Growing marijuana put Steven Sutherland in prison for ten years. He survived less than one. | MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

[PUNISHMENT]

Death Sentence Missouri man in prison for growing marijuana dies in less than a year Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ranklin County put Steven Sutherland behind bars for growing marijuana. This weekend, just under eleven months into his ten-year prison sentence, the 59-year-old passed away. Sutherland had been recently diagnosed with lung cancer, his son tells the Riverfront Times. But even before that, Sutherland had entered prison with an array of health problems: The June 2019 mugshot that guards snapped of him showed the convicted drug offender — who had been charged in 2015 for possessing all of 110 grams of marijuana and 21 plants — wearing an oxygen tube under his nose. As the RFT reported last summer, the case against Sutherland spent years winding its way through the court system. By the time it came to trial in 2019, Sutherland’s public defender argued for leniency, noting that the state had legalized medical marijuana in the intervening years and that it stood little to gain from imprisoning a seriously sick man.

riverfronttimes.com

Among other things, Sutherland suffered from chronic seizures that resisted medication. The seizures had been treated by a Mercy Hospital neurologist who, in a letter to the court, wrote, “I believe medical use of marijuana may help.” Despite Sutherland’s failing health, and his insistence that he was merely growing the cannabis for his own medical use, the case ended in a lengthy prison sentence. His own past came into play. A previous drug felony in 1997 meant Sutherland was a “prior offender,” which enhanced his possible punishment. In May 2019, a judge sentenced him to ten years behind bars. On Saturday, May 9, one month shy of his 60th birthday, Sutherland died while in hospice at Tipton Correctional Center. In an email, Karen Pojmann, director of communications for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Sutherland died of “natural causes not related to COVID-19.” Sutherland’s son, Dakota Sutherland, said that his father had suffered a high fever in his last days and had been given antibiotics. Dakota claimed the case was under consideration for medical parole, “but he passed before the parole board released a decision.” Dakota added that his father “wasn’t able to get up to use the phone. They did bring it to him the last time we heard from him.” The family has started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for Sutherland’s memorial and funeral expenses in South Dakota. You can find that at gofundme. com/f/steve-sutherland-funeral-costs. n

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Photographer NATE BURRELL is documenting his community’s life under lockdown BY DANIEL HILL

hen COVID-19 initially reared its ugly, industry-destroying head, the live music business was among the first in its sights. The concert cancelations kicked into high gear by mid- arch. Pearl Jam was one of the first to cross off its St. Louis show a sensible move, given that the band’s members had witnessed just how bad this virus can get as it ravaged their hometown Seattle, one of the early epicenters of outbreak in the nited States. ore acts soon followed, in a steady trickle that gave way to a colossal wave. alactic canceled its tour, as did Anna Burch. The ac Brown Band, Arlo uthrie and Bob Weir were more early St. Louis cancelations. Soon enough, as the World ealth Organization upgraded the coronavirus crisis to an official pandemic on arch 11, virtually all national tours were put on hold. Locally focused shows were next. Lo-Fi Cherokee, the annual takeover of Cherokee Street spearheaded by St. Louis filmmaker Bill Streeter, was postponed. A planned memorial show for Brandon Arscott, a longtime fixture in St. Louis’ hardcore punk scene who died unexpectedly in November, likewise had its plug pulled by organizers. Then, on March 23, the local live music scene was dealt a crushing blow as city officials enacted stay-athome orders that shuttered businesses and limited the Continued on pg 14

STLIFE, 12

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

E, INTERriverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

number of people who could gather in a crowd. Suddenly, even the small local shows were canceled and the venues closed, with thousands across the city — from venue employees to promoters to the musicians themselves — suddenly out of luck and out of options. But Nate Burrell decided to keep working anyway. A prolific photographer with a keen eye and an instantly recognizable style, Burrell has spent the majority of his career shooting musicians and live concerts. His portfolio includes shots of

some of music’s biggest names — Kendrick Lamar, Outkast, B.B. King, Fiona Apple, Beck, Neil Young, Questlove, the Black Keys and even the late John Prine, who died of COVID-19 in April. But Burrell is also equally well known for working with musicians involved in St. Louis’ music scene on a local level. He’s shot album covers and promo art for such local luminaries as Pokey LaFarge, David Beeman, Beth Bombara and the Maness Brothers. e even served as the official photographer for LouFest before

its demise. The pandemic put a sudden halt to all that, but Burrell knew that he wanted to keep shooting. And so, the COVID Days project was born. “Well, everybody knew that this was going to be a historic event,” Burrell tells RFT of the pandemic, “and something that we may not see again — and hope to not see again. But as a photographer, it’s something that you want to point your lens on if possible, in the most respectable way.” So Burrell decided to photograph members of his community

that were navigating this perilous and uncertain time together. And, for a change, not all of his subjects would be musicians — he was interested in documenting those in fragile industries that were sure to be hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. Restaurants, coffee shops, music venues — businesses that live on razor-thin margins even in good times, and whose future was more uncertain than ever. But first, he says, he wanted to let the new reality sink in for all parties involved. “And so I sat there for a little

RUPTED 14

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

while and let a month set in, to be honest with you,” Burrell says. “I wanted the ‘we’re off of work’ feeling to not be there; I wanted it to feel as real as it is.” So Burrell let a month pass, then shot the entire project — consisting of 79 people across 46 photos — over the course of two weeks in April. “I chose to shoot the project in a two-week timespan so the images had some kind of uniformity, in the sense of not just that it’s business owners and community members, which it is. It’s basically everybody in an industry that’s fragile and was already probably pretty difficult to make their way in it, but going forward is likely to be vastly different,” Burrell explains. “But I wanted all those photos to share that two-week timespan in the sense of having that same level of experience of the reality of the situation. So that’s kinda what it was.” The results are striking. Shot in Burrell’s usual black and white, the series features its subjects posing in front of their businesses and places of employment, all clad in masks (save for one small child). Burrell has long been adept at capturing not just the imagery at hand, but what feels like the soul of the subjects of his work, and his COVID Days project reveals those souls as restless and uncertain, resolute but shaken, down but not out. Dozens of familiar (though masked) faces and businesses are represented, many but not all of them housed on Cherokee Street, where Burrell lives. The Whiskey Ring, the Mud House, Earthbound Brewery, Yaqui’s, Flowers and Weeds, the B-Side and more are all part of the series. For those, Burrell says, it was as simple as stepping out of his house.

“I wasn’t at first sure who to shoot, and then in thinking about the reality of logistics and things, I started out with people right here in my neighborhood, steps outside my door on Cherokee Street,” he says. “So, you know, 70 percent of those photos are images of places I see community all the time congregating and people coming into the neighborhood to congregate at these places, whether it be bars or record shops or coffee houses or pizza parlors. So that was the easiest, just from a familiarity standpoint, as far as getting people to be willing to do it.” From there, Burrell says, he started thinking about the community at large and how many businesses and people were going to be hit hard by the challenges presented by the virus. He started reaching out to people across town, and the vast majority of those he tapped to be part of the series were on board. “I just kinda thought about my community as well outside of [Cherokee street] and institutions and fields that were going to be different,” he says. “The dining experience is going to be different going forward, and how does that impact, from servers to chefs to line cooks to dishwashers and to owners? So I tried to reach out to different fields and just kind of went with people I knew or people where I go and spend my money. Places I respect.” From a logistical standpoint, interacting with 79 people over two weeks during a pandemic presents challenges, to say the least. Burrell used a telephoto lens in order to properly keep his distance, and he wore a mask and gloves. Most subjects would stand in place for the photo, and then Burrell would shoot eight or so frames, moving Continued on pg 17

Opening page: (from left) Samantha Pounders, Jessica Douglass and Madyson Winn of Flowers & Weeds. Opposite page: artist Cbabi Bayoc at his studio. This page, inset: Nate Burrell, photographed by Esther Rose. From top: Kaveh Razani of Blank Space; musicians Kellie Everett and Ryan Koenig; Dead Wax’s Jake Kamp and Jeremy Miller; (from left) John Messbarger, Bob Guzman, Ray Reinneck and Lucas Yarbrough of PeaceMaker. riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

STLIFE, INTERRUPTED Continued from pg 15

around them and adjusting his camera settings accordingly until he had the shots he needed. From there, it was a quick goodbye, and onto the next one. “It’s not like I hung out there shooting the shit,” he says. Burrell has put the complete set of photos from the series on his website, nateburrell.com. He plans to keep the series live on his site for the foreseeable future, and in five years, he wants to do a showing at an art gallery, though he’s not yet sure what that will look like. “Initially I was thinking ten years would be a cool retrospective, but in reality a lot can change in a business from now until then, regardless of COVID,” he says. “So maybe revisiting it — not having a show while it’s fresh or anything like that; that seems senseless. But maybe revisiting it, and whether that be showing these photos in a gallery or whether that be doing another round of photos with these folks and doing a cross-comparison, I’m not quite sure. But everybody that is involved is aware that there’s going to be something after this,

whether it be a show or something. I imagine it will come out in print form in some fashion for sure.” Going forward, Burrell intends to keep shooting — and St. Louis will remain his focus. He says he’s been working on a Polaroid series of the city’s architecture, using a box of long-expired Polaroid Spectra Softone film “some of the shittiestselling film in Polaroid’s history,” as Burrell describes it — to capture unique images of the city that a lesser photographer would surely never be able to pull off. And, of course, he plans to get back to shooting musicians and live music as soon as possible. “As far as music goes, honestly, I just have to wait,” Burrell says. “I’m still gonna do it. Everything is gonna change, but I work in collaboration with the bands. And they’re gonna be moving forward; it’s just gonna be at a different speed and with different variables. I’m not gonna abandon that just because their industry changed. Especially here, you know? I take pride in being asked to help a lot of bands present themselves to the wider world. And I’m gonna continue to do that, whenever bands start having the chance to do that again.” n

Top: Hector Medina, Oscar Medina, Cesar Medina at El Torito Supermercado. Above: Rob Engelhardt at B-Side. riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

SHORT ORDERS [SIDE DISH]

Bread Faith KNEAD’s Kirsten Brown bakes hope into her COVID-19 strategy Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

irsten Brown has a great analogy for describing the way she and her husband, AJ, felt when they were trying to figure out what they needed to do at KNEAD Bakehouse (3467 Hampton Avenue, 314-376-4361) as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold. “It was like limbo,” Brown says. “My husband and I were on the phone at least once every hour leading up to deciding to go curbside, and there was a lot of tension and distress, but we would make a decision, and then it would feel like limbo — like we’d barely get under and touch our nose to the pole, and they would change the rules and lower the pole. They’d change it every twelve to 24 hours, and I would keep thinking, ‘How quickly can I get under this pole and not touch?’ It was a game I had to win.” The Browns have certainly seen their share of uncertainty and stress since opening KNEAD Bakehouse in November 2017, but this is unlike anything they’ve ever experienced. Like all of their fellow restaurant peers, the pair have seen their personal and professional lives thrown into utter chaos since March when COVID-19 gained a foothold in the St. Louis region. However, they have continued to push through, changing their business model and reinventing themselves continually in an effort to sustain their bakery and cafe. Their efforts have involved new technology, new ways of providing hospitality to their guests and new products — and, as Brown explains, it’s pushed them to be better. “It’s allowed us to be more creative and think outside the box,” she says. “Something has been sparked in us, thinking about

KNEAD Bakehouse’s Kirsten Brown says they’ve had to be flexible to keep going. | COURTESY OF KIRSTEN BROWN families being home together, and that will probably be a part of what we do when we reopen. Curbside is working; pizza and pancake kits are working. There have been things we’ve had on the back burner ever since we opened — jams, salad dressings, butters — that we always said we’d get to when we had the time. It’s super cool we’re now able to do them, which speaks to the creativity of our kitchen and team that we can roll out things on the fly and make them work.” That creative fire has been wonderful, but it has not made up for the pain they’ve experienced from having to furlough most of their beloved staff. For Brown, that’s been the worst part of the virus-induced situation, because she and AJ consider their staff as family. However, she and her husband have already been able to bring back three employees thanks to their involvement with Meals for Meds. The effort, started by Juniper’s John Perkins and expanded with the help of Brown, facilitates meal donations to hospital work-

ers through a partnership with local restaurants. Diners donate money to restaurants that goes to the program, and this money allows the restaurants to provide food and pay their staff. Now that Meals for Meds has partnered with celebrity chef Jose Andres’ Frontline Foods, the program has the potential to expand and put even more employees back to work. For Brown, finding this sort of beauty in this midst of despair is what gets her through. “I did not want to be a person or a business that acted out of fear and anxiety,” she says. “I figured I’m going to try this and maybe fail, but at least I will try rather than fail from beginning. There were a lot of sleepless nights in the beginning but had to call it what it was; it doesn’t determine what I am doing. There has been a lot of trial and error figuring it out, but I’ve been having a lot of peace in recent days. I don’t want to say the light is at the end of the tunnel, but it’s getting closer I hope.” Brown took a few minutes to

riverfronttimes.com

share her thoughts on how she is navigating the COVID-19 uncertainty and remaining confident that the storm shall pass. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? This is tough. There is a lot of stress. Sleepless nights. Doubt. Fear. Anxiety. What ifs? I don’t think any industry is immune to these emotions right now. And yet, I am confident. AJ and I have experienced difficulty before, and we are on the other side of those hardships. I look forward to the day that we are on the other side of COVID-19. I hope you don’t hear a naiveté in my voice but a voice of experience and expectation. I am expecting KNEAD to change, develop and grow. If we didn’t, I think we’d miss a huge opportunity to reset and refocus. We are going through change. A lot of changes. Change is hard but necessary. Thank God we can change, be flexible, “pivot” otherwise, we would be closed. What do you miss most about your job as it was before COVID-19? I sorely miss our team and customers — our tiny spot bustling with customers and employees, with my favorite alt-J song playing in the background. I miss the in-person hello-ing, seeing a customer I know from across the room and being able to go check on how their meal is. What’s new? How are they? I miss connecting with others in a tangible way. What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy? Sometimes these things all happen at the same time, throughout the day or even in the car, but every day I pray, I sing in the car, [and] I make sure I drink my coffee and smoothie and have my (gummy) vitamins. What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately? AJ and I have been exploring some new beers we haven’t tried before; we’ve been able to pick up a few each week from local restaurants and shops. Small joys! Oh and sweets! Bring on the chocolate! What are the three things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper? Oat milk. Coffee. Hand soap.

MAY 20-26, 2020

Continued on pg 21

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

KIRSTEN BROWN Continued from pg 19

You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick? My husband, AJ, and our baby girl, Adley Emalyn. The third is hard. I miss our families, and I can’t just choose one over the other! But because you’re forcing me to answer the questions: We are busy making KNEAD happen, and I haven’t been able to pay much attention to our house right now. So, since I already have a live-in chef (AJ), I guess I’d quarantine with a live-in butler/ maid. A girl can dream, right?! Once COVID-19 is no longer a threat and people are allowed to go back out and about, what’s the first thing you’ll do? To protect our team and customers, we’ve kept our circle very small. I want our baby girl to spend time with my parents and in-laws. So I would love to have them babysit while AJ and I go on a double date with some of our best friends! What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? The experience has to change in some instances. Physically, it will have to look different for a period of time. That will differ from restaurant to restaurant. Overall, I think people will be more grateful for what they have specifically, the experience of eating and drinking with friends and family. I am grateful for a business where I can hire a team of people that become a little family. I look forward to being in a place where we can rehire, to purchase more from our local purveyors, farmers and vendors. I look forward to the bustle of the restaurant. I hope people, restaurant owners, employees, restaurant vendors and purveyors and customers can remember this season and be grateful for the space to gather and commune with one another. If that isn’t the biggest change in the hospitality industry I would be surprised. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? Hope wins! That this is not the end. It is only one part of our story. I have peace in knowing that things will work — maybe not the way AJ and I planned, but things have a way of working out for the better. There have been many times of heartache in my life that I couldn’t see the silver linings while I was in it. This one I can. This is a season. This too shall pass. n

Gerard Craft and his team at Niche Food Group bring a wealth of culinary experience to City Foundry. | JENNIFER SILVERBERG

[SHORT ORDERS]

Craftwork City Foundry taps acclaimed chef Gerard Craft and team as culinary director Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ast week, City Foundry announced a major development in its quest to bring to St. Louis a premier culinary experience: The forthcoming food hall and multi-use complex has tapped chef Gerard Craft and his team at Niche Food Group to serve as its culinary director. In a press release announcing his involvement, Craft underscores the opportunity he sees in City Foundry to serve as much more than a collection of eateries but as a way to connect the city. “We think that City Foundry is such an important puzzle piece to connect the city together,” Craft says. “From downtown and Midtown to the Central West End and Cortex, City Foundry has the opportunity to bring all of those communities together. We see so much potential with the project that we wanted to be a part of

making it succeed.” First announced in 2016, City Foundry is an ambitious development spearheaded by Steve Smith and his ownership group, FoPa Partners LLC and the Lawrence Group, that will consist of a mixed-use retail, office, dining and entertainment complex. The food hall, which will be the Foundry’s centerpiece, is modeled after similar concepts in New York and Philadelphia and is touted as a celebration of the local hospitality industry that “defines the current culture and uniqueness of our city.” Since 2016, City Foundry’s food hall has generated significant buzz and brought on board many local chefs and restaurateurs as tenants. However, as the Riverfront Times’ Liz Miller reported in February, City Foundry has struggled to maintain momentum for a variety of reasons, including delays, rising costs and communication breakdowns that have led some concepts on its original roster to back out. In Craft, Smith has an opportunity to regain a significant amount of buzz for the project. A James Beard Foundation Award winner, celebrated restaurateur and industry leader, Craft has the potential to take City Foundry into the direction it had always wanted to go — and then some. “First of all, the bones of the building are so cool so the space

riverfronttimes.com

already tells a story, but we see an opportunity to paint a bigger picture about all the things that touch the restaurant world,” Craft says. “Food halls in the U.S. have traditionally been solely focused on the consumption of food, but we have a collective vision for City Foundry STL to be seen as more than a food hall, but also as a public market, a place that supports food-focused entrepreneurs. In addition to emerging restaurant concepts, we want to celebrate the people who have helped connect us to food — the farmers and butcher suppliers, the potter who makes restaurants’ plates, or maybe even a cookbook stand or teaching kitchen that inspire chefs.” Though City Foundry’s website lists a spring 2020 projected opening date, the project has been delayed, not the least reason being the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis has been a trying time for the development and the restaurants and chefs it hopes to partner with, but Smith hopes that when it does open, City Foundry will serve as a source of hope and inspiration for an industry that will need to rebuild. “Our hope is that City Foundry can be a place for ideas to incubate and grow into a viable business; a place where new concepts will be surrounded by industry leaders to learn from and succeed,” Smith says. n

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

CULTURE [VENUES]

Set, Go Ready Room’s current location for lease as owners seek a new space Written by

DANIEL HILL

he Ready Room’s current location has closed permanently, the RFT has confirmed, and the building it is housed in is currently listed for lease as the venue’s owners seek a new space. After a listing on a real estate website began making the rounds last week, RFT reached out to Ready Room co-owner and founder Mike Cracchiolo, who says the

venerated venue is indeed shuttering operations in the space while he and his team seek a more viable location. And naturally, because what would a news story about a shuttered business in 2020 be without a reference to coronavirus, Cracchiolo says blame for the closure lies squarely on the shoulders of COVID-19. “Without knowing how long it’s going to take for the touring music industry to recover, it’s just not financially viable for us to stay in an expensive space and try to run shows under quarantine conditions,” Cracchiolo tells RFT. The real estate website lists the cost for leasing the space at $9,912 per month. The Ready Room initially announced it had closed its doors due to coronavirus on March 18, but the move was meant to be temporary. “We have no target date,” read a statement on Facebook, “but the earliest we foresee

Of Montreal helped christen the Ready Room in 2014. | JASON STOFF re-opening is June 1st.” But as it has become clear that the COVID-19 crisis isn’t going away anytime soon, Cracchiolo

[ A P O C A LY P S E S O U N D T R A C K ]

Pande-Mix: An End of the World Playlist Each week, former KDHX DJ Chris Ward examines a song from his quarantinebased playlist dealing with isolation, loneliness, hope and germs. This song and more can be found on the Spotify playlist “Pande-mix: An End of the World Playlist.” “I Get Lonesome” - Beck - One Foot in the Grave - 1994 “I stomp on the floor just to make a sound.” I bought a scratched copy of Beck’s Mellow Gold in the back of a school bus when loneliness was a hobby. It was the time of the chimpanzee, 1994, and I had a five-disc CD player with money I’d saved from working in a cornfield all summer. If any album was worth getting up a 5 a.m. and getting your arms sliced open by rows of soaking wet, abrasive corn tassels, this was it. Beck was a revelation to a kid who was on a steady diet of Aerosmith and smalltown radio — and already looking for reasons to isolate in his room and be weird. Early Beck was a solitary listening exercise. Largely hitless and hobo-core, jarring, ramshackle, trailer park poetry

Beck’s One Foot in the Grave. | ALBUM ART punctuated with white-noise jump scares. “Debra” and “Sexx Laws” it was not. The derelicts and degenerates that populate Beck lyrics are pretty funny when you’re in eighth grade. But I think if you live long enough in Illinois or Missouri, you become a character in an early Beck song. Washin’ dishes in a ditch for a soul-suckin’ jerk. Listening to

your truck-driving neighbors throw beer bottles. Taking bad acid, eating a rancid taco and throwing up on a Ferris wheel. Gettin’ fast at bein’ the last. In your truck. Smelling gasoline. Going no place. I look around my lockdown hovel, and now I’m living in an early Beck song, too. Specifically, “I Get Lonesome.” I got thoughts and dirty socks piled in the cor-

riverfronttimes.com

says they were forced to make the closure of the building permanent. That’s not to say the team behind the venue is throwing in the towel altogether, though. Cracchiolo seems optimistic about the future, and says they plan to find a different space before the end of 2020. “We’re treating this as an opportunity to retool the business and ideally we’ll land in a spot that’s a better fit for us later this year,” he tells RFT. The 800-capacity Ready Room first opened in 2014, and its first show was by indie-pop act Of Montreal. In the years since it has played host to the likes of Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, SZA, Built to Spill, Big Freedia, Run the Jewels, Earl Sweatshirt and countless others. Its upcoming show calendar included stops by the Darkness, the Sword and Surfer Blood before the venue closed its doors. n

ner. Getting fat on my own fear, I’m on my way to gaining the quarantine fifteen. I stomp on the floor just to make a sound. With an out-of-tune guitar, a few chords and time to kill, “I Get Lonesome” is the sound of lumbering around an apartment with a fucked-up couch and making up a song just to hear yourself hum it back. Twenty-six years ago, Beck also predicted the post-internet age of navelgazing loneliness after all the emptiness of a Care React has dried up. “Well there ain’t nobody left to impress, and everyone is kissing their own hands.” I am 39 years old, and I pace from room to room in a Beck lyric sheet existence. There’s cat food on the floor, and I’ve been like this before. Patiently waiting like an ashtray for the butt. Witnessing the forces of evil in a bozo nightmare. Alone in the new pollution. And my time is a piece of wax, falling on a termite that’s choking on the splinters. I am thirteen years old, digging my head into carpet and kicking my feet carelessly, I go nowhere and I’ve seen nothing. I’m surrounded by jewel cases. Five CDs’ worth of alternative rock in a storebought Sam’s Club stereo, and someone going “I miss the comfort in being sad.” It switches over to Beck, and I am alone by choice for hour after glorious hour, not yet confined to a life in the liner notes. This song and many more can be found on Chris Ward’s Pande-Mix playlist on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/2WZGTJZ . n

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

FEATURED DINING

SPONSORED CONTENT

6 RESTAURANTS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT...

BLK MKT EATS BLKMKTEATS.COM

THREE MONKEYS

314.391.5100 9 S. VANDEVENTER AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63108

THREEMONKEYSRESTAURANT.COM INFO@THREEMONKEYSRESTAURANT.COM

314.772.980 3153 MORGANFORD RD. ST LOUIS, MO 63116 Under new ownership, Three Monkeys has transformed into one of the best neighborhood restaurants & whiskey pubs in the area. With an ever-growing list of over 60 whiskeys, 16 craft beers on draft, specialty cocktail & an exciting new menu of gastro pub favorites - they have something for everyone. The menu is ample with offerings, including some of St. Louis’s best hand-tossed pizza, great shareable appetizers, burgers, vegetarian options, pasta, steaks & more. Embracing the price point of other south city pubs, Three Monkeys offers a great happy hour! Come enjoy $6 select appetizers, including the best fried Brussels sprouts in town, $5 Manhattans, Sazeracs & Old Fashions, as well as discounts on wine & craft beer. Sunday features one of the most extensive brunch buffets in the city, loaded with your favorite breakfast items, an omelet & pasta station, plus seafood, appetizers, desserts, & many other goodies. Located in Tower Grove South, it’s the perfect place to have dinner, share a pizza with family, or just belly up to the bar with your favorite drink.

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 ingredients that fit everything you love about sushi and burritos right in your hand. TheNOT SwedishYOUR Fish layers Scandinavian cured salmon, yuzu dillSPOT slaw, AVERAGE SUSHI Persian cucumbers and avocado for a fresh flavor explosion. Another favorite, the OG Fire, features your choice 9 SOUTH VANDEVENTER DINE-IN, TAKEOUT OR DELIVERY MON-SAT 11AM-9PM 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.

CRAWLING CRAB CRISPY EDGE

314.328.3421 6730 PAGE AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63138

CRISPYEDGE.COM

Looking for the best seafood in St. Louis or the Midwest—don’t fret, Crawling Crab is now open! Here, we drizzle everything in garlic butter and then sprinkle on our magic dust! In a fun and casual atmosphere, you’ll enjoy fresh, hand-cleaned seafood ranging from lobster, shrimp, and of course crab legs. All platters come with corn sausage potatoes and Cajun boiled eggs and shrimp that won’t disappoint. For those pasta and veggie lovers out there, there is a spot for you here too! Enjoy our double dipped garlic butter rolls along side with your meal. And if you are still not stuffed, we have homemade dessert on the menu too! Have a big family coming in or an event coming up? Enjoy our family meal options and our beautiful seafood tables. As we continue to grow, we are excited to add new items to the menu, get creative with new recipes, and give back within the community. Join us on the first Tuesday of the month for $20 platter specials, and $5 appetizers on every Wild Wednesday! Open Tuesday thru Saturday 4pm-10pm, currently located in the 24:1 Coffee House Cafe.

314.310.3343 4168 JUNIATA STREET ST. LOUIS, MO 63116 What began in 2013 as a passion project in the founder’s kitchen has now grown into a retail and wholesale potsticker manufacturing facility located right in the heart of Tower Grove South. Crispy Edge believes that potstickers are the perfect vehicle to explore authentic global flavors from breakfast to dessert: handheld, wrapped in dough, and CRISPY! The restaurant features indoor and dog-friendly outdoor seating, private dining room, and a café lounge. The full bar and hot beverage program highlight local specialty coffee, cocktails, and beers. All products are made in-house and sourced from the finest ingredients. From Ordinary to Extraordinary - Crispy Edge is a global community for those who want something fun, tasty, social and exciting to eat.

J. SMUGS GASTROPIT JSMUGSGASTROPIT.COM

THE KICKIN’ CRAB

314.499.7488 4916 SHAW AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63110

THEKICKINCRAB.COM

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 halfdollar BBQ tastes, discount drinks, and $6 craft beer flights to soothe any beer aficionado.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

314.888.8688 9616 OLIVE BLVD OLIVETTE, MO 63132 The Kickin’ Crab has joined the Crustacean Nation and is here to satisfy your taste sensation. The Kickin’ Crab is a fun-filled Cajun seafood destination where patrons come and escape into flavor paradise. Offering a distinct ambiance to enjoy the finest and freshest Cajun seafood around! Kickin’ Crab is a great place to hang out with friends, family, or both! No plates... no utensils! Just your hands, a bib, and our unique and absolutely irresistible KC sauces - a combination of spicy, sweet and tangy flavors - over freshly prepared seafood that will give your taste buds satisfaction unlike anything else you’ve ever tasted. Join us and partake in the festivities and quality of seafood that The Kickin’ Crab has to offer.

riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE POWER PLAYERS BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: Here’s a non-COVID question for you: I’m a queer white female in a monogamish marriage. I vote left, I abhor hatred and oppression, and I engage in activism when I can. I’m also turned on by power differentials: authority figures, uniforms, hot guys doing each other. Much to my horror, this thing for power differentials plus too many World War II movies as a kid has always meant that for my brain (or for my pussy) Nazis are hot. Fuck me, right? Other maybe relevant bits of info: I’m not interested in roleplaying with actual partners, I’m fairly sure this proclivity is not reflective of any deeper issues, and I’m both sexually and emotionally fairly well sorted. Not perfect but fine working order and all that. And I get it: People like what they like, don’t judge yourself for your fetishes, just get off without being an asshole to anyone. The problem is that my usual way of getting off on/indulging my fantasies is to read erotic fiction on the Internet. I’d love your input on whether seeking out Nazi porn is problematic for some of the same reasons that porn depicting sex with kids is problematic. Am I normalizing and trivializing fascism?

Freaking About Search Histories Seeking out child porn — searching for it online, downloading it, collecting images of children being raped and sexually abused — is problematic (and illegal) because it creates demand for more child porn, which results in more children being raped and sexually abused. The cause-and-effect is obvious, FASH, the victims are real, and the harm done is incalculable.

But while it may discomfort someone to know a nice married lady who donates to all the right causes is furiously masturbating to dirty stories about hot guys in Nazi uniforms doing each other, FASH, no one ever has to know that. So you do no harm — not even the supposed harm of discomforting someone — when you privately enjoy the fucked up stories you enjoy. And while there are doubtless some actual Nazis who enjoy reading dirty stories about oth-

er Nazis, most people turned on by dirty stories about Nazis are turned on despite themselves and their politics. Transgressive sexual fantasies don’t arouse us because they violate societal norms and expectations (in safe and controlled manner), FASH, but because they allow us to violate our sense of ourselves too (ditto). Just as a feminist can have rape fantasies without actually wanting to be raped herself or for anyone else to be raped, a person can have sexual fantasies about hot guys in Nazis uniforms doing each other without wanting Nazis to come to power. I have to say it was easier to give anti-Nazi Nazi fetishists like you a pass — to shrug and say “you do you” but please keep it to yourself — before racist demagogues, white supremacists and anti-Semites started marching around waving Trump flags. But no one picks their kinks and being told “that shouldn’t turn you on” has never made a problematic or transgressive kink less arousing. And when you consider the number of non-erotic novels, movies and television shows the culture cranks out year after year — and how many actually trivialize fascism (I’m talking to you, Hunters) — it’s seems insane to draw a line and say, “Okay, this story about Nazis isn’t okay because that lady over there masturbated while reading it in private.”

Hey, Dan: I’m an apartmentdweller in a dense urban area. Last night I overheard my neighbors having sex — no big deal, right? I consider myself a sex-positive person and have always held and espoused the belief that if you can’t have loud sex in your own home, where can you have it? But the sex I overheard last night was fairly kinky. Someone I read as a cis man was dominating someone I read as a cis woman. They were in the apartment right across from mine — about twenty feet away — and my bedroom window faces theirs. There was a LOT of derogatory talk, hitting, name-calling, giving orders and some crying. I could tell it was consensual — she was very clearly having a good time — and I eavesdropped long enough to witness the post-coital return to equilibrium. Everything seemed great. But physically I experienced this as overheard violence. I was shaking and had a hard time getting to sleep afterwards. I’m glad I stuck

“Much to my horror, this thing for power differentials plus too many World War II movies as a kid has always meant that for my brain (or for my pussy) Nazis are hot.” around until the end. It helped me feel better. I guess what I’m saying is that I needed some aftercare. I’m still thinking about it this morning, and I’m concerned that being triggered by my neighbor’s sex is going to become a regular part of my life. I’m wondering about the ethics of the situation: Do kinky folks have an obligation to muffle potentially triggering sounds? Or is any overheard sex potentially triggering to someone and am I therefore applying a double standard here? What do you think? The Vanilla Neighbor You went from overhearing kinky sex to eavesdropping on it — meaning, you went from accidentally hearing your neighbors fucking to intently listening as your neighbors fucked. And you needed to do that. You heard something that sounded violent, but hearing more led you to guess it was consensual sex and listening all the way to the end — all the way through the aftercare — confirmed your guess was correct. So for you own peace of mind, TVN, you needed to keep listening. But you don’t need to listen next time. If it triggers you to hear your neighbors fucking, don’t listen. Close the window and crank up some music or go for a walk and listen to a podcast.

That said, TVN, you raise an interesting ethical question: Are kinksters

riverfronttimes.com

— particularly the kind of kinksters who enjoy verbal abuse and impact play — obligated to keep it down? While I think people should be considerate of their neighbors, people are allowed to have sex in their own homes, TVN, and it’s not like vanilla sex is always quiet. But if the sex a couple enjoys could easily be misinterpreted as abuse or violence by someone who accidentally overhears it, that couple might wanna close the window and turn up some music themselves — not only to avoid alarming the neighbors, but to spare themselves the hassle of explaining their kinks to a cop. For the record: I would tell person who enjoys a good single-tail whipping to find a soundproof dungeon to enjoy that in (because that shit is loud) but I wouldn’t tell a person who screams her head off during PI intercourse to find a soundproof box (even though her shit is just as loud). Instead, I would urge her fuck at 8 p.m., when most people are awake, rather than 2 a.m., when most people are asleep. (It can be annoying listening to someone screamfuck, but it’s even more annoying to have your sleep ruined by a screamfucker.) Is this a double standard? Perhaps. But it’s one I’m willing to endorse.

Hey, Dan: 1. Is it safe to hook up again? 2. Will it be safe to hook up again soon? 3. You’ll tell us when it’s safe to hook up again, right? Getting Really Impatient. Need Dick. Really. 1. It isn’t. 2. At some point. 3. I will. Hey, Everybody: Me and Nancy and the tech-savvy/at-risk youth will be doing a special Savage Love Livestream on Thursday, June 4th at 7pm PST. You can send your questions to livestream@ savagelovecast.com or ask them live during the event. I’ll answer as many as I can in one fun-filled Zoom meeting! Tickets are $10, and all proceeds from the Savage Love Livestream will be donated to Northwest Harvest, a non-profit that distributes food to more than 370 food banks in Washington State. Go to savagelovecast. com/events to get tickets! mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 20-26, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

MAY 20-26, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

THE GREEN DRAGON CBD

IS A ST. LOUIS, FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS THAT RECENTLY OPENED ITS FLAGSHIP LOCATION IN CHESTERFIELD Did you know that your body already produces cannabinoids every day as part of a key system that runs throughout your body and helps to regulate almost every part of your body’s functions? CBD is one of many natural cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, and is used to promote overall health and wellness, as well as to deal with many health challenges. Our company’s mission, and the physical store itself, was constructed with the intention of helping to educate both existing and brand new potential users on every aspect of CBD. The education center includes video, wall displays and printed material to help customers explore CBD and related topics. The inviting environment, much like a spa, is supported by knowledgeable and friendly associates. We are excited to have created an animal friendly establishment, where 5% of all pet product sales go to benefit Stray Rescue of St. Louis. When you are ready to buy CBD, you have the largest selection of top-quality, trusted brands and

products anywhere. Select from many product categories to find the best method based upon personal preference:Jack CBD Oils & Tinctures, CBD Flower or Pre-Rolls, CBD Topicals, CBD Gummies, Edibles, Drinks, CBD for Pets, CBD Vaping…and more! In addition to the store resources, the online presence, at www.thegreendragoncbd.com has dozens of blog posts covering many topics of CBD usage, CBD myths, and unique testimonials from CBD users. You can also place orders online for delivery at-home. 15% off for all first time customers in-store, or go online for special web offerings!

The Green Dragon CBD www.thegreendragoncbd.com 14856 Clayton Rd Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 220-7278 Open Mon-Sat 8am-9pm, or Sun 9am-6pm

Riverfront Times, May 20, 2020

Articles inside

Feature