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HONORS & AWARDS: • Charles Shaw Trial Advocacy Award • Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers • St. Louis Magazine, Best Lawyers in St. Louis DWI • Riverfront Times Best Lawyer • Best Lawyers in United States • 10 years of law enforcement training, including time as a narcotics agent • Invited to speak nationally on the topic of DWI defense • A proven record of successfully defending difficult DWI cases • A graduate of the National College of DUI Defense at Harvard
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THE LEDE
PHOTO BY THEO WELLING
“This is the first summer that I’ve not been able to bring my kids to the park once. And they love coming over here. They love playing on the equipment. My daughter keeps asking me, ‘Mommy, when can we go to the park?’ ‘When it’s not flooded and they clean it!’” KATIE SELLMEYER, PHOTOGRAPHED NEAR THE FLOODWATERS AT LEMAY PARK ON JUNE 9 riverfronttimes.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Sarah Fenske
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 Katie Counts, Joshua Phelps
COVER Disappearing Ink
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
The Post-Dispatch’s print edition is shrinking. What’s a newspaper carrier to do? Written by
P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Haimanti Germain
ERIC BERGER
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 Sales Manager Jordan Everding Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell, Erica Kenney Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Chris Guilbault, Drew Halliday, Jackie Mundy
Cover illustration by
DMITRI JACKSON dmitrijackson.com
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 Creative Director Tom Carlson www.euclidmediagroup.com
INSIDE The Lede Hartmann
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News Feature Calendar
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Stage
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Cafe
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Short Orders
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Music + Culture
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Lambert: Some people just can’t resist the urge to make public money their own
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The St. Louis Anthology | Fire Shut Up in My Bones | Thom Wall | etc. The Coronation of Poppea Sahara Mediterranean Grill
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 (Missouri residents add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (Missouri residents add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member Riverfront Times 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103 www.riverfronttimes.com General information: 314-754-5966 Fax administrative: 314-754-5955 Fax editorial: 314-754-6416 Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977
Daniel Sammons of Polite Society | The Bellwether | Chateau Maplewood
Rock Paper Podcast | Matt F Basler | Sunwyrm
Out Every Night
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The Opera Bell Band | Fister | Will Varley
Savage Love 6
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HARTMANN Political Baggage Airport privatization belongs on the no-fly list BY RAY HARTMANN
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f they awarded a Stanley Cup for government chicanery, the city of St. Louis might be preparing for two parades this week. While we all pray for the Big One, let’s not overlook the dazzling skill with which the city’s political ruling elite is skating around and through the safeguards of accountability, landing thunderous checks to anyone trying to play defense against Team Airport Privatization. Privatizing Lambert, either
through sale or an effectively eternal lease, is an idea former Mayor Francis Slay sprung on St. Louis almost literally as he walked out the door. Slay served 5,844 days as mayor, from 2001 to 2017. On day 5,818 of that tenure came the first bombshell public report that the city was applying for a federal pilot program on privatization, apparently without the knowledge of anyone outside of Slay’s inner political circle. Slay would later reveal (to this newspaper) that he began working on the idea quietly after having been approached in late 2015 by David Agnew, a former Obama administration official who had moved on to an Australia-based investment firm. Slay said he became convinced St. Louis needed to do “something big and bold” for the airport, but knew the city could not afford the costly process of moving the idea forward. Yet it appears that not even his respected airport director, Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, whom
Slay appointed and has rightly praised, was in the loop. Think about that for a minute: You’re mayor, and some guy whose left the federal government for a private-sector airline industry job comes to you with this complex idea, and you don’t engage your key expert on it? You just wing it and start the application process yourself? Really? Is it any wonder the timing of Slay’s bombshell was so clearly designed to be kept out of the 2017 mayoral election? It came two weeks after the candidate endorsed by Slay, Lyda Krewson, won the Democratic primary that effectively elected her. In the ensuing two years, we’ve learned that Slay and some associates stand to reap untold personal windfalls should privatization become reality. And, of course, the process is being bankrolled by Slay’s chief political benefactor, billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has kindly invested millions in a bevy of consultants for the
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purpose of advising the city as to whether it should proceed. Sinquefield recoups his kind gift to the city only if the answer to the “question” of privatization is “yes,” earning this project the coveted “Boss Tweed Civic Achievement Award” annually presented on Riker’s Island. Slay’s narrative is that Sinquefield was simply the passive benefactor who agrees to support this wonderful effort only because, as Sinquefield’s righthand lobbyist, Travis Brown, previously told the RFT, he’s “the patron saint of St. Louis.” Turns out it’s just coincidence that St. Rex wants to use the proceeds of a sale to fulfill his sacred mission of eliminating the city’s earnings tax. (Slay admits that Sinquefield happily noted that the windfall from leasing the airport would mean eliminating the tax, which Sinquefield hates with all his being.) It might also facilitate Sinquefield’s goal of ramming “Better Together” down our
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HARTMANN
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throats — a civic zombie whose death has been greatly exaggerated, by the way. If you believe anything that Slay or Brown — or for that matter, Krewson or aldermanic president Lewis Reed — has to say on this subject, you need not line up to buy the airport. Just see me: I’d like to offer a better deal selling you the Gateway Arch. Make no mistake about this much: The skids are greased. The city’s political class, dutifully owned by King Rex (he has the receipts), is not pondering whether to privatize the airport. It may still be pondering whether the deal can be pulled off, but the focus is on how, not why. The most recent example came last week from city Counselor Julian Bush, who argued that a bill requiring a citywide vote on airport privatization — sponsored by Alderwoman Cara Spencer — would constitute an unlawful delegation of power. Bush did allow that voters could pass a charter amendment requiring voter approval of privatization, which would in turn be followed by still another vote on a privatization plan. And even as he dispensed advice, ush noted that his office hadn’t gotten around to a “complete review” of one of the most weighty legal issues in city history, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know. The charter-amendment process, conveniently, would almost certainly amount to slamming the barn door shut long after all the horses were running freely to safety. As Spencer pointed out, privatization could be a done deal well before voters were afforded two elections to weigh in on whether to allow it. The city might as well schedule a ballot measure for 2069 to ask future voters whether their grandparents’ generation was wise to try to cash out the airport half a century earlier. Spoiler alert: The results would be ugly. The airport is not broken. The fact that the bottom dropped out of passenger counts after 2001 is due to a complex stew of population trends, corporate headquarters migration, the vagaries of airline economics and more. Sad as it is to see the passenger decline and our mostly unused white-elephant billion-dollar runway, privati ation isn’t fixing any of that. And the airport’s managers are
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not the problem. Lambert itself is financially healthy, generating some $6 million annually in net proceeds. That money goes to the city in a way not permitted of its counterparts (thanks to a federal exemption in this regard). Its revenue-bond rating was just increased to “A” by S & P Global Ratings. Its long-term debt is substantial but manageable. Comptroller Darlene Green, one of the only city leaders with the courage and decency to stand up to this nonsense, is refinancing city debt effectively, including a refunding of 2009 airport bonds that she projects will save $20 million in interest. Even more importantly, Lambert has vast potential if the region could get its economic act together: It could anchor a development complex known as an aerotropolis, an assemblage of business facilities near an airport that can capitali e on its efficiency in serving customers and suppliers across the nation and world. The aerotropolis concept has become quite the juggernaut in Chicago, Atlanta and other such cities that we are too smart to emulate. If, as privatization advocates claim, selling or leasing Lambert represents an enormous pot of gold to would-be international investors, it’s almost certain that the airport’s real estate and economic development potential is part of the mix. If that weren’t true, the only way a private entity could maximi e more profits would be to squeeze airlines, which, in turn, would pass higher costs to the ying public. hat’s us. The world of airport economics is an extremely complex subject, far above the pay grade of almost any of us, city politicos included. But here are three broad principles that are more accessible: One, get-rich-quick schemes don’t get you rich; two, if sophisticated investors are willing to shell out $1 billion or more to buy something from a government, it’s worth far more than $1 billion or more; and three, often the best deals are the ones you don’t do. No other major city in the continental U.S. has a privatized airport, for good reason, and St. Louis has no reason to be the first. f Slay and Sinquefield get their way, we’ll be singing the blues. 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 Cops Not Welcome, Pride Says
Nature Called. Then a Ferguson Cop Swooped In Written by
SARAH FENSKE
Written by
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DOYLE MURPHY
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ride St. Louis already announced plans to move transgender marchers to the front of the parade this year. Now, it’s going a step further — kicking out the police. In a major change in policy, uniformed St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers will not be welcome to march in the June 30 procession, Pride revealed Saturday. The move answers a long-running request from members of the trans community, many of whom cite a painful history of antagonism and indifference from cops. In a statement, Pride cited the events of the Stonewall Uprising, which has its 50th anniversary this year: Pride St. Louis Inc. Board of Directors has asked, and they have agreed, that the St Louis Police Department and St. Louis County Police Department will not march in uniform or official entries in this year’s Pride Parade June 30th out of respect to the honoring of Stonewall 50. Pride St. Louis is part of an international organization of Pride organizers (Interpride) which has globally acknowledged the symbolism of this year’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and not having officers in uniform marching in pride parades. We value our strong and important relationship with all officers and the city of St Louis and St. Louis County. Pride St. Louis welcomes LGBTQIA officers and their families to participate in the parade, however, not in uniform. Interpride has disputed that it is behind the change, saying it has no stance on police participation in local festivals. What is not in dispute is that the landmark Stonewall uprising began when cops raided the eponymous reenwich illage gay bar, manhandling patrons and arresting more than a dozen people.
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As it celebrates Stonewall’s 50th anniversary, Pride asks cops not to march. | THEO WELLING Six days of riots and protests followed; Pride marches across the nation typically fall on or near the uprising’s June 28 anniversary. In recent years, trans leaders of the Stonewall riots have begun to be recognized for their roles. “Stonewall was a movement based on police raiding a gay bar and arresting us and brutali ing us,” says Sayer Johnson, executive director of the Metro Trans Umbrella roup, adding, e have a complicated, if not fragmented, relationship with police.” That has included what many have seen as an antipathy by police tasked with investigating crimes against trans people. In a 2015 survey, the National Center for Transgender Equality found that more than half of respondents reported mistreatment by police, who often misgendered them or assumed they were sex workers. Of those surveyed, just 57 percent said they would feel uncomfortable asking police for help. Distrust spiked in St. Louis in August 2017 after Kiwi Herring, a 30-year-old trans woman, was fatally shot by officers. olice originally described erring as a male suspect and said she slashed a neighbor with a knife and then cut a responding officer before she was shot. Relatives say Herring and her partner were targeted for bigoted harassment by the neighbor and felt threatened. bsolutely that’s still fresh in our mind,” Johnson says. “We are not tended to properly when we are
need in support.” Herring’s killing sparked vigils, including one in the Grove that was interrupted when a driver barged into the crowd. he driver later pleaded guilty to careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation. Excluding police from marching is just part of putting the trans community front and center this year. MTUG and the St. Louis metro transgender and non-binary community were named as the parade’s 2019 grand marshal, marking the first time a community has been so honored. The distinction comes at a time when hard-won protections for trans people are under attack, including bathroom bills and a Trump administration policy limiting the ability of trans soldiers to serve in the military. Terry Willits, a St. Louis author and artist who will help judge the parade this year, says that trans people are routinely overlooked or targeted for abuse and violence. illits, who wrote about the 2019 parade for the RFT, says murders of trans women across the country, along with Herring’s death and suicides locally, are felt deeply through the community. The decision of parade organizers regarding police is an acknowledgement of trans people’s concerns — something that happens too rarely, he says. “It’s a grand gesture in a grand year,” Willits says. n
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n June 3, 2014, Walter and Ritania Rice were finishing up an outing at Ferguson’s Forestwood Park when their two-year-old announced he had to pee. Seeing no restrooms nearby, Walter Rice helped the boy to an area hidden between the family van and a bush, and let him urinate. The boy’s four-year-old brother took advantage of the moment, and pulled down his pants to urinate too. Walter Rice quickly pulled his son’s pants back up. He wasn’t fast enough for Ferguson Police Officer Eddie Boyd III. Spotting the children, the officer yelled at Walter Rice and told him it was against the law for a child to urinate in public. When Rice explained that he hadn’t realized that law applied to children, Boyd grew infuriated. He ended up arresting Walter Rice and having him charged with two counts of parental neglect. And things only got worse from there. When Ritania Rice followed Boyd’s police car in the couple’s van, directing their ten-year-old to film Boyd as he took Walter Rice away, Boyd turned on the children’s mother, too — arresting her for a series of traffic violations and yelling that he’d have to call the Department of Social Services to remove the children. Their grandmother came to pick them up, sparing that nightmare. But Ritania Rice, who’d only driven briefly outside the parking lot while following the police cruiser, was charged with driving on the wrong side of the road, following a vehicle too closely, failing to signal, financial responsibility required, intersection obstructing and interference with an officer. Both parents were hauled off to jail and not released for nine hours. And when Ritania Rice finally got her purse back, she discovered that the Ferguson Police Department “had deleted the video from her unlocked cell phone.” Adding insult to injury: Ferguson Municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer actually found both Rices guilty (Walter of parental neglect, Ritania of intersection obstruction and interference with an officer). Officer Boyd was the city’s only witness. All of those details are from the federal lawsuit the Rices filed against the police department, and Boyd, last week. But you don’t have to take the suit’s word Continued on pg 10
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The Rice family’s day at the park turned ugly. | COURTESY OF THE RICE FAMILY
FERGUSON
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for it. The Rices’ story is also commemorated in the U.S. Department of Justice report on policing in Ferguson, cited as an example of Ferguson’s penchant for violating First Amendment rights. Only now, however, are the Rices taking legal action. Attorney Javad Khazaeli, who is representing the Rices, says the couple was initially too busy fighting the claims in court, and then too shaken up, to even think about a lawsuit. “They were trying to put this behind them,” he says. When they were contacted recently related to a different matter involving Boyd, they began to think about the incident all over again. They ended up reaching out to Khazaeli and his partner, Jim Wyrsch, at Khazaeli Wyrsch LLC. Their suit against the city of Ferguson and Officer Boyd alleges violation of their due process and First Amendment rights, as well as negligent infliction of emotional distress. For years after the incident, the suit says, the couple’s younger children nervously reached for their parents upon seeing law enforcement or mall security. And even today, the suit says, “Mr. Rice tears up every time he thinks about his children weeping in the back of that van.” Although the couple didn’t know it when their case went to trial, Boyd has a long track record. As a St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer, he was accused of physical abuse in four separate incidents, the suit alleges. In one, the department found he pistol-whipped a twelve-year-old girl and falsified a police report. In another, separate incident, he pistol-whipped a sixteen-year-old.
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He later left the department and went to St. Ann, only landing in Ferguson after that. He’s mentioned in three incidents in the DOJ report on Ferguson — and “has been accused of at least three other incidents that closely parallel” what he did to the Rices, the lawsuit alleges. Among the accusers: Navy contractor Fred Watson, who filed his own federal lawsuit over Boyd’s shocking behavior during a confrontation at, yes, Forestwood Park. To Khazaeli, Boyd brings to mind the South Park episode where Cartman pretends to be a cop and goes around screaming at people for failing to respect his “authori-tay.” “That episode has been going through my head over and over again,” he says. “This is an officer who violates people’s constitutional rights because he demands they genuflect to him and respect his authority.” Even with numerous complaints against him, Boyd remains with the Ferguson Police Department. He’s actually suing the department, alleging that racial bias has stopped him from being promoted. (Boyd is black.) But as Khazaeli notes, Boyd wasn’t solely responsible for the Rices’ torment. “This case made it from a police officer to a supervisor to a prosecuting attorney to a judge,” he says, and no one stopped it from proceeding all the way to two guilty verdicts. It’s almost unbelievable — unless, of course, you’re familiar with the pattern and practice of policing in some northcounty suburbs. Says Khazaeli, “There’s not a person who can read the facts of this case and not have eyes jump out of their head — unless they are either corrupt or holding up a system meant to oppress people.” n
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Late Edition
high hot and muggy, St. Louis: Today, sk with huge mo thic t, igh Ton . 103 Yeshigh 107, low 85. , quitoes, still air, oes nad possible tor terday, windy, A20. map is on Page high 66. Weather
ONE DOLLAR 2019 SDAY, JUNE 13, ST. LOUIS, THUR
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VOL. CLIV
HE T O D O S , R E H T WI S R E P A P S W E N ER V I L E D AS DAILY O H W S R IE R R A C E H T F O houlder S CAREERS s r e r e v li e D n r Mode nger Routes o L t, s o C r e h ig H By ERIC BERGER
” her does in a year. has a harder pitc ort, Christeff tra ex e th ite Andy Christmann Desp e St. th ng wi ght around ro ni th at ys s n still swerve time these da an m it at th ch so of south St. Louis Post-Dispat e darkened streets th ga e th ar ne ay livering papers lands on the drivew Louis County, de rban with more rage door. from a Chevy Subu er few adds far s ha r 0 miles on it. He The newspape rted than 300,00 ar, sta ye he ch en ea s wh d ile di m her 40,000 pages than it ot an nd A o. -m ag cades his 25 ile as a carrier three de ost from driving m e in ag Im t. weigh (His trip to and that means less route each night. pa a to ll ba se ba pick up the paswitching from a from the depot to her 25 miles.) per airplane. ur pers adds anot yo st ain ag gs slightly e rc fo “There is no ristmann’s car swin Ch ,” at th e ng it lik drives. With arm, so you can’t sli t and right when he lef u yo se wi er “Oth s on, he presses says Christmann. the interior light d an ow elb ur yo s, looks at a binder are going to burn t lightly on the ga lo a e bers ak m e W dresses of subscri 14 your rotator cuff. any with the ad ed on pg an nu th t nti gh Co ni y er ev more pitches
Illustration: DMITRI JACKSON. Post-Dispatch building photo: FLICKR/PAUL SABLEMAN
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DISAPPEARING INK Continued from pg 12
and rolls and stuffs the papers in plastic bags that hang from the rearview mirror. urious police officers have tailed him and pulled him over. New Year’s Eve is the worst night of the year for carriers. “All the amateurs drunks are out. Professional drunks are OK,” he jokes. But on other nights, Christmann enjoys having the road to himself. He keeps his stereo tuned to Christian Radio St. Louis (1320 AM). “Once you learn the route, you can put it on cruise control, which in this business means driving with your knees, listen to the radio, and in the winter, it’s just beautiful when the snow is drifting. It’s just you and the deer and the rabbits running around,” he says. The job doesn’t pay as well as it used to. He once had 900 subscribers. He still has to drive the same distance but there are about half as many customers along the way, he says, owing to the fact that younger generations don’t subscribe to the print newspaper anymore. The paper had an average of 238,000 subscribers to the Monday through Friday print edition in in the first quarter of this year, there were 70,543, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. Still, that’s more than 70,000 people throughout the metro area interested in breakfast and coffee and stories about the St. Louis Blues or former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger. They like to ip through paper rather than move their thumb on a tiny machine. And they are the ones keeping newspapers like the PostDispatch in business. While Lee Enterprises, which owns the PostDispatch, has placed an increased emphasis on its digital presence, advertising in print products — which is driven by circulation numbers — still accounted for almost 70 percent of total advertising revenue in fiscal year 18, according to financial filings. The problem is that some people who still are willing to pay for the paper don’t have reliable carriers like Christmann. They wake up in the morning to find an empty driveway, and they’re not happy. The Post-Dispatch is fighting an uphill battle on several fronts: against young people’s online reading preferences, against advertisers’ migration to the internet and against all the other publications offering their content for free. The difficulty of finding, and retaining, good carriers is just one pressure
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Newspaper delivery has been good to Andy Christmann, but changes to the industry keep making his job harder. | ERIC BERGER point in a stressed system. But since print subscribers serve as the paper’s lifeblood, ensuring reliable delivery is absolutely critical. The Post-Dispatch may not be able to survive without people like Andy Christmann.
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hristmann, , first got into the newspaper business after his second son was born. he baby spent the first eighteen months in a bubble in the hospital because his immune system wasn’t working. To bring him home, they had to create a sterile bedroom plastic oor, plastic on the beds, plastic everywhere,” he says. Christmann or his wife had to stay with him at all times. Christmann had been working as a civil engineer. On his own time, he built a home addition for a newspaper carrier. As partial payment, the carrier offered Christmann half his delivery route. The night job allowed Christmann to spend the days with his son. It was a “really good business,” he says. Carriers like Christmann owned their own routes, which meant they were contractors who purchased the day’s papers from the Post-Dispatch at a wholesale price and then sold them to customers. They kept the difference — minus expenses for gas, car maintenance and insurance. But in the early aughts, the paper increased efforts to buy routes from home delivery carriers and distributors who delivered to vending machines and retail establishments for single-copy sales. “This enables us to go with one price for home delivery as well
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as single-copy promotions and allows us to more aggressively market our newspaper,” Matthew Kraner, then the general manager of the Post-Dispatch, told the St. Louis Business Journal after a round of acquisitions in . “Secondly, it lets us expect more consistency of service to home subscribers and retail outlets.” In 2005, the Pulitzer family sold the Post-Dispatch and its other newspapers to Iowa-based Lee Enterprises for $1.46 billion. Its route purchases had helped increase the value of the company, the Business Journal reported. Some carriers accepted the offers; others, including Christmann, did not. “I don’t know that I could have found a job with as little pressure and as easy as what I had,” he says. ut his profit has continuously decreased. “I’m not making as much this week as I did last week.” In 2015, a group of carriers sued the Post-Dispatch and Lee Enterprises for damages in excess of $25,000. They claimed that the newspaper had violated its contract with them by, among other things, not sharing additional revenue from a rate increase to weekend subscribers. Some carriers, including Christmann, settled in January 2018 for an undisclosed amount. A jury trial for the remaining plaintiffs is scheduled to begin in September, according to court filings.
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decade or so after the PostDispatch started purchasing routes back from carriers, in 2015, its owners contracted with ACI Last Mile to man-
age its distribution. Instead of working for Lee, carriers who did not own their own routes now worked for ACI, based in Long Beach, California. ACI found itself in the news in 1 , coming under fire over delivery problems at the Boston Globe. After the Globe switched from Maryland-based Publishers irculation ulfillment to , thousands of subscribers did not get their Sunday papers. More than 1 drivers quit in the days after the switch because of “badly sequenced delivery routes, which forced drivers to crisscross neighborhoods repeatedly, making their shifts far longer than expected,” the Globe reported. The Globe and quickly parted ways, with the newspaper returning to Publishers Circulation ulfillment for its deliveries. ACI’s experience in St. Louis, at least initially, was much less fraught. In fact, in coverage of the problems in Boston, ACI executives held up the company’s takeover of Post-Dispatch routes the year before as an example of how it could successfully manage newspaper delivery. Jack Klunder, president and chief operating officer of , told Editor & Publisher, “Virtually every newspaper carrier who was under contract with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch came under contract with ACI, on [his or her] existing route because we had the cooperation of the newspaper to facilitate that. That’s the ideal transition format to go through. So you have full cooperation and full access to the carrier infrastructure, the routing and the cur-
rent management team.” Since then, however, subscribers have begun complaining publicly about its services in St. Louis. survey of social media finds complaints among Post-Dispatch subscribers that mirror those in Boston. “I have a Sunday-only P-D subscription. I have contacted them no fewer than ten times since September for missed deliveries. I am planning to go digital access only,” one person wrote on the Tower Grove South Facebook page in February. “I subscribed at the end of November and after a month had yet to see a single paper. Ended up cancelling,” another person replied. In January, Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson tweeted a Washington Post column urging readers to stick with local newspapers despite the fact that their new hedge-fund owners are “drastically cutting newsroom staffs and squee ing profit from these operations with no apparent regard for journalism or their future viability.” Still, the columnist argued, quality ournalists continue to work at those papers. In response, Carson heard complaints from readers who still liked the paper but couldn’t get it delivered. “I tried, 30-plus year subscriber,” one replied. “Delivery guy changed, went from 6-6:30 to 8:30 being the earliest, most times well past 9. I contacted several times, nobody cared. Eventually cancelled. I miss starting my day that way, miss the feel in my hands. Read online but not the same.” The delivery issues don’t surprise Klunder. The “labor force that typically is available to handle newspaper deliveries in the early morning hours,” ACI’s president tells the RFT, started to “shrink dramatically” in January 2018. “People were leaving for betterpaying jobs in the daytime hours,” he says. In 2018, the Post-Dispatch typically had between ten and fifteen routes that were “down,” meaning they had no driver assigned to them, in its Fairgrove district, which covers much of St. Louis city and county, according to lunder. nother five to ten routes were down in its St. Peters district. That meant existing carriers had to expand their routes or other staff had to fill in. In an online job posting, ACI advertises that drivers can earn $600 per week and a $250 signing bonus after 30 days for routes that typically “take three to four hours to complete.” At that rate, for seven days, it would break down to
between $24 and $28 an hour. The catch, perhaps, is that those hours fall between 2 and 7 a.m. And there are no days off. The paper comes on Christmas, on New Year’s. It’s supposed to come rain or shine, and even when the rest of the city works from home after a big snowfall. “There is no secret sauce to managing a distribution system. It comes down to the continuous effort to recruit drivers,” says Klunder. “You have to make sure compensation is fair to the people delivering those papers. You try not to have them drive too many miles.” But those carriers must also pay for gas and wear on their cars, adust their sleep schedule, find substitutes when they are out of town, and memorize addresses and learn how to drive routes efficiently. nd sometimes the papers come off the presses late or a delivery truck breaks down or it’s windy and pouring rain while you’re trying to ing a bag out the window. And then there are the inevitable hiccups. Christmann has startled himself when he misfires and hits the door jamb with a newspaper rather than fresh air. “It’s like a shotgun going off,” he says. Mary Dorn and her husband, Ed, owned a route. They “didn’t take a vacation together for the first twenty years of delivering papers, she says. “One thing I’d say about being a paper carrier is you are committed seven days a week. Our life revolved around newspaper delivery.” When Christmann started, the person who sold him the route spent a month training him on how to deliver the papers as efficiently as possible. carriers largely have to learn on their own, he and others said, which means the route might take longer than ACI advertises. “Once you learn the route, a lot of houses still don’t even have numbers on them, so it takes a lot of figuring things out, says orn. About a year ago, she sold her route to Lee.
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lunder says that the “level of problems has been greatly reduced” in recent months. In February, he says, the company fired its idwest market director, who had been connected to the Post-Dispatch’s circulation and distribution since 2002. (He did not respond to a request for comment. The company is now consolidating routes to make the job more lucrative for carriers, Klunder Continued on pg 17
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DISAPPEARING INK Continued from pg 15
says, claiming there have been fewer missed deliveries in the last two months. The company, which also manages distribution for newspapers like the Orange County Register and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has had similar issues in other markets, he acknowledges. “I feel bad for the readers because I know they have been dealing with this,” he says. “We have been working with the Post-Dispatch management and working with our own people to get these problems corrected. It’s been very frustrating.” In a statement, the Post-Dispatch says that the “newspaper distribution process is complex and labor-intensive. As the economy has improved, it has been increasingly difficult to hire and retain newspaper carriers. We’ve been working with our distribution partner on recruitment and retention and have seen improvements in staffing and service over the past several months.” The problems don’t just affect Post-Dispatch subscribers. Newspapers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, too, rely on the Post-Dispatch’s carrier system (and ACI) to get their paper printed and in the hands of customers in St. Louis and other cities. These bigger dailies have signed up new subscribers coast to coast, many of them digital, in part because they can offer the national and cultural coverage that cashstarved dailies in smaller cities no longer afford. But while they’ve seen their footprint increase due to their local partners’ woes, their printing and delivery models have been complicated by them. After Gannett sold the Tennessean’s building and recently moved printing from Nashville to Knoxville, the New York Times could no longer get its newspapers to Memphis in time in order for them to be delivered with a local newspaper’s carriers. The Times then had to find its own carriers. f an area becomes unprofitable, my bosses will make a decision as to whether they are going to print there or not,” says Jason Birket, regional production manager for the Times. For now, the Times has yet to pull out of a market. And ACI hopes to make its routes more lucrative, and less dependent on newspapers like the PostDispatch. It is trying to expand into the delivery of magazines and small parcels, which would
otherwise be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. (That could mean companies like Dollar Shave Club, although Klunder declined to provide specific names. “If the delivery systems are going to have to make it solely on the delivery of newspapers, that entire infrastructure is going to be under tremendous cost pressure going forward as revenue continues to decline, as volume continues to decline,” Klunder says. Christmann says ACI has asked him to deliver small packages. “We were kind of shy about taking them on because you don’t want to get out of your van and
walk up to someone’s front porch at 2 o’clock in the morning. You’re liable to get shot,” he says. “I just said, ‘No, thank you.’” These days, Klunder adds, being a carrier is not a full-time job. It’s just one more piece of the gig economy, and arguably a betterpaid one than some competitors. The average Uber driver makes $9.21 an hour after deductions for Uber fees, vehicle expenses, payroll taxes and the cost of a “modest benefits package, according to a 2018 report from the Economic Policy Institute. But those drivers are able to pick their own hours. While Christmann is unsure
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what the future holds, becoming a carrier largely worked out for him. Despite years of medical problems and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, his son has earned a college degree in mechanical engineering and now works for a construction company. Christmann considers himself retired but plans to continue to deliver papers for as long as possible. “It is a dying business; we have to acknowledge that,” Christmann says. “The younger generation lives off their iPhones and iPads. But for me it doesn’t really matter at my age. The way I look at it is, it’s easy money for a retired person.” n
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CALENDAR
BY BY PAUL PAUL FRISWOLD FRISWOLD
Poet Maja Sadikovic writes about the Bosnian experience in The St. Louis Anthology. | COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
FRIDAY 06/14 St. Louis in Profile
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yan Schuessler didn’t set out to edit an anthology. nstead, it was the byproduct of a bit of defensiveness toward his hometown. wrote for elt ublishing’s maga ine a couple years ago, Schuessler explains. elt has a city anthology series, and out of curiosity asked why they didn’t do a St. ouis one, and they said they hadn’t found an editor. hat started the conversation. Schuessler is a hicago-based freelance ournalist whose work has been in The Guardian and the St. Louis Beacon, but he grew up in irkwood. s a kid, he followed the standard progression of going to the city to visit the elmar oop, see shows at the ox and go to ardinals games, which he confesses yields a very narrow view of the city proper. didn’t really discover the city until was an adult, and regret that didn’t really find out about
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it until was doing this book, he admits. his was my first anthology, and it was a labor of love. The St. Louis Anthology is divided into three different sections istory, emories and Realities and features poetry as well as prose. ontributors run the gamut from St. ouis lifers to transplants to immigrants, and the book re ects that wealth of experiences and voices. Schuessler of course is proud of every contribution ’d say all of it is the best, but that’s cheating but when pressed, he will admit that a few stories left a deeper impact. he Shimamoto brothers’ contribution stands out, he says, referring to d, ave and ick Shimamoto’s history of their parents’ drive to create the apanese arden and estival at the issouri otanical arden. t was a way to celebrate their culture and offer a very public thankyou gift to the city that became their home following their release from the apanese internment camp after orld ar . hat’s not all. love ivian
JUNE 12-18, 2019
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ibson’s Sun p to Sundown,’ Schuessler raves. She’s in her s and never been published before, but she’s working on her memoirs. ibson’s story recounts her childhood memories of her grandmother, who worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family in an unnamed suburb. t touches on poverty and the sundown laws that kept black people out of entire swaths of the county after dark. he poems by a a Sadikovic, about the osnian immigrant experience and the trauma that inspired it, are also very moving, Schuessler concludes. think everybody in St. ouis lives in their own silos because it’s still such a segregated city, Schuessler muses. here are so many versions of St. ouis that we probably wouldn’t recogni e the city if we put them all together. nd yet The St. Louis Anthology does put all those different cities in one place. s you read these stories, all of these foreign St. ouises come into focus. hat includes a piece originally published in the RFT by Robert angellier, telling the story of Syrian refugees’ tough ad ustment to St. ouis, as well as occasional RFT contributors aitlin ee and lark Randall’s nside the Rent Strike of 1 , which brings to light a mostly forgotten slice of still-recent history. eanwhile, bro Sul ics’ heartbreaking poem, ear ather, shows how the immigrant experience can break a family even as it gives the next generation a new life. his city riven by politics, money, geography, perceived class, it’s all of ours and it is re ected, warts and all, in The St. Louis Anthology. Schuessler claims he didn’t aim toward that point, that the only purpose was to get a wide range of voices writing on the topic of St. ouis. Retaining those voices was what wanted to do. only edited for consistency, punctuation and clarity. Schuessler and several contributing writers will read from the anthology and perform at p.m. riday, une 1 , at arthbound rewing herokee Street www.left-bank.com . dmission is free. n
FRIDAY 06/14 She Gave Him a Pen Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything... redefined romance for disaffected en- ers spoiler alert it involves boom boxes and some light stalking . loyd obbler ohn usack is an aimless high schooler who hangs out with female friends orey and . . and kickboxes for fun. hen he encounters class valedictorian iane one Sky and decides to pursue her, despite her disapproving father the great ohn ahoney . loyd is an eternal optimist, and he won’t quit now, where did he put that boom box he ouhill erforming rts enter on the niversity of issouri-St. ouis campus presents Say Anything... at p.m., with ohn usack in attendance. fter the film, usack will talk about the making of Say Anything... and his long and varied career. ickets are . 5 to . 5.
SATURDAY 06/15 Coming Home harles low has made it out of his small ouisiana hometown and is in college working toward his future when he learns that a figure from his past has blown back into town. ust like that, harles is in his car and driving toward home so he can settle things once and for all. ill he abandon everything he’s worked for to return to that grim town he finally escaped he new opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones takes its name and sub ect matter from a memoir by New York Times writer harles low, and features music by a musician erence lanchard and a book by Eve’s Bayou screenwriter asi emmons. pera heatre St. ouis presents Fire Shut Up in My Bones at 8 p.m. Saturday, une 15, at the oretto ilton enter 1 dgar Road www.opera-stl.org . ickets are to 1 , and the show is performed four more times in repertory through une .
WEEK WEEK OF OF JUNE JUNE 13-19 13-19
Up in the Air orld uggling ay is Saturday, une 15, and for a special treat, the arpenter branch of the St. ouis ublic ibrary South rand oulevard www.slpl.org welcomes Thom Wall. he St. ouis native’s uggling skills brought him to the attention of irque du Soleil. ow his one-man show n the opic of uggling has been performed across the nited States and exico, earning a sixteen-show run at the Smithsonian. ollowing all’s p.m. performance, the uggler extraordinaire will answer questions and sign copies of his new book Juggling: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages. dmission is free.
Night Under the Stars ooking to drink spiked punch legally and dance the night away without the bad high school memories ad rt is giving St. ouisans a second chance with A Starry Night: The Adult Prom on Saturday, une 15. he incent van ogh-inspired event features live performances from ’8 s and ’ s cover band edestrians, drinks and appeti ers, as well as a selfie station operated by ad rt owner Ron uechele. ttendees will vote for the best dressed, the best couple and prom king and queen. ad rt’s dult rom South 1 th Street 1 - 1-8 runs from noon to p.m. dmission is 15 and tickets can be purchased at bit.ly ad rt rom. lus, 1 from each ticket sold goes to support the Soulard neighborhood and its istoric Signage ro ect. —Joshua Phelps
SUNDAY 06/16 Party Brazil e’re heading into the sweatiest part of the year, but countries south of the equator are preparing for winter. n ra il, this seasonal change is marked by the Festa Junina, a celebration of rural life. amilies gather to perform the quadrilha, which is a square
Juggler Thom Wall will demonstrate his skills on Saturday. | COURTESY OF THOM WALL dance accompanied by ra ilian country music. verybody dresses in the stereotypical garb of rural ra ilians red-checked dresses and shirts, pigtails for the women, straw hats and painted-on freckles are the hallmarks . iva ra il invites you to get in on the action at its esta unina, held from noon to p.m. Sunday, une 1 , at the irkwood ommunity enter 111 South eyer Road, irkwood www. vivabrasilstl.org . here will be folk music and dancing, traditional railian food and drinks, and carnival games. ickets are 5 or 15 for a family of up to five members.
WEDNESDAY 06/19 Shoes Make the Man harlie inherits the family shoe
factory, and with it the headaches of a changing market, the constant demand for lower prices and a resentful staff. chance encounter with drag performer ola makes harlie reali e that there’s an untapped market for well-made women’s footwear in men’s si es. is girlfriend, icola, would rather he shut down the factory and enter the lucrative world of real estate, but harlie is starting to feel a sense of kinship with ola they’re both sons who disappointed their fathers in different ways. he musical Kinky Boots deals with drag fashion and the father-son bond, with songs by pop music legend yndi auper and a book by roadway legend arvey ierstein. he uny presents Kinky Boots at 8 15 p.m. ednesday through uesday une 1 to 5 at the uny in orest ark www.muny.org . ickets are 15 to 1 5. n
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THE BEST LOCAL MUSIC WEEKEND OF THE YEAR!
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FRI., JUNE 21 & SAT., JUNE 22
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JUNE 12-18, 2019
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KIM MASSIE • TONINA • THE LION’S DAUGHTER • T-DUBB-O THE KNUCKLES • MIDWEST AVENGERS • SLEEPY KITTY
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The Devil’s Elbow
C Is For Cadaver
TAHA’A TWISTED TIKI ALL AGES THE READY ROOM
Prairie Rehab
GEZELLIG
JoAnn McNeil
HANDLEBAR
4:30
5:00
Lobby Boxer
5:30
6:00
The Ragged Blade Band
6:30
7:00
The Fighting Side
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Mother Stutter
8:30
9:00
The Vincent Scandal
9:30
Syna So Pro
Zach Sullentrup
DJ Crim Dolla Cray (of KDHX)
Samantha Clemons
Ellen Hilton Cook
Jesus Christ Supercar
Starwolf
Thames
Little Cowboy
Sleepy Kitty
Shana B
Stephanie Stewart
Sloopy McCoy
Justin Ra
Zak M
Kids Huht
Aida Ade Nibiru
Caroline Steinkamp Bounce House
The Opera Bell Band
Two Cities One World
Jenny Roques
Banana Clips
Frankie DoWop
The Hollow Ends
School of Rock Ballwin
School of Rock Kirkwood
National Blues Museum Jam Band
Soulard Blues Band
Sorry, Scout
We Are Root Mod
Midwest Avengers
Jon Bonham and Friends
FIRECRACKER PIZZA
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Tonina
OnlySound
The R6 Implant
Crystal Lady
Bizy Jay
Scrub and Ace Ha
St. Villagers
John Hawkwood's Blackfoot Sun
Prime Time Soap
Let’s Not
Suzie Cue
Biff K’narly & the Reptilians
Leslie and Mike
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TEAM COFFEE MUGS
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STAGE
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Nerone (Brenton Ryan) and Poppea (Emily Fons) are two very good reasons to see Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ Poppea. | ERIC WOOLSEY
[REVIEW]
Best Sex They Ever Had Gripping and stylish, The Coronation of Poppea brings a very old opera into modern times Written by
SARAH FENSKE The Coronation of Poppea Music by Claudio Monteverdi. Libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. English translation by Tim Albery. Directed by Tim Albery. Presented through June 28 by Opera Theatre of St. Louis at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road, Webster Groves; 314-9610644). Tickets $25 to $129.
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rump as Nero? It works in a way; the Roman emperor is associated with tyrannical behavior and extravagance, derided as an impulsive rich kid who didn’t care about his own supporters. Historians called him both compulsive and corrupt — although those historians may have been more partisan than objective. Did Nero actually set hristians on fire to light his garden at night? Fake news! Nero is front and center in The Coronation of Poppea, which had its Opera Theatre of St. Louis premiere on Sunday. Watching it, you may not think of Rome so much as the White House. This Poppea — directed by Tim Albery, originally
for Leeds’ Opera North, in 2014 — has set the 1642 opera in the late 1950s. Somehow, in this smartly staged production of the 400-yearold opera, the events of the year 65 feel current. And why not? It’s a tale as old as time: Nerone (Brenton Ryan) is desperate to shed his stodgy wife Ottavia (Sarah Mesko) so he can marry sexy Poppea (Emily Fons). Along the way, he’ll kill Seneca (David Pittsinger), because that’s what you do if one of the greatest philosophers of all time disapproves of your mistress. Hey, at least Seneca greets death stoically. Albery has brought the musicians out of the pit; they form two string quartets on opposite ends of the stage, heavy on the harpsichords. They are joined by the performers in what looks a bit like an empty swimming pool, complete with a metal ladder up; this allows the gods Virtu, Fortuna and Amore to watch the action from above, but also makes for a versatile set that could be a high-walled garden, could be a banquet hall after the party’s over. The lighting (by Christopher Akerlind) brilliantly transforms the space from weary dawn to violent night, and the costumes (by Hannah Clark, who also did the set) have a late ‘50s style. If the show gets off to a rather slow start, it proves surprisingly gripping once you can get past the gods and into the human action. Opera Theatre of St. Louis has been using the rah-rah sisterhood to market Poppea. “Well-behaved women seldom make history,”goes the tagline goes on one mailer. It’s
a bit of a stretch (the only women helping women here are also helping themselves), but it’s hard to blame the organization for going outside the box on this one. Somehow, touting Poppea as one of the earliest operas hardly feels like a selling point to 2019 St. Louis, nor does the ancient Roman milieu. Maybe they should have just touted the sex. You never doubt for a minute that Nerone and Poppea are having a lot of it, and that it’s ridiculously hot. Ryan is simply terrific. ith his youth and slicked-back hair, he may resemble Eric Trump more than his corpulent father, but his Nerone is no joke; the emperor is dangerous. Fons, too, is formidable. Her Poppea is way too smart to be the Marla Maples to Mesko’s Ivana. That doesn’t mean things will ultimately end much better for her — just Google “Poppea” if you’re into salacious rumors, and you’ll find plenty involving both her death and its aftermath — but that’s another story for another opera. This Poppea ends with a wedding. Indeed, the libretto seems to suggest that love conquers all; Amore (Michaela Wolz) proclaims herself ascendant, and there’s little Virtu or Fortuna can do to argue. Has Nerone not moved mountains for his beloved? Yet the staging never lets us forget the terrible human cost. Sex seduces, sex sells, sex kills. So it was even back in 65. Without a single false step, The Coronation of Poppea will take you there and remind you that while it’s good to be queen, it’s a dangerous thing to marry the king. Heads roll. Maybe someday yours. n
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JUNE 13
Pettybreakers Tom Petty Tribute
JUNE 14TH
Erin Bode
performs the new American songbook
JUNE 15
Liston Brothers 2pm & 7:30PM
JULY 18
10,000 Maniacs JULY 20TH
Greg Warren
Comedy Special Filming
AUGUST 2 & 3
John Mayall
AUGUST 23 Popa Chubby
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CAFE
25
[REVIEW]
The Son Also Rises At the terrific Sahara Mediterranean Grill, Andrew Abdeen brings back a north county favorite Written by
CHERYL BAEHR Sahara Mediterranean Grill 472 Howdershell Road, Florissant; 314395-0221. Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Closed Sunday.
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o one is surprised when they walk into Sahara Mediterranean rill and find ndrew bdeen behind the counter not his former teachers at Hazelwood West and Central, who taught him when he was just starting out in food service not the veteran lorissant police officers who got know his family over years of frequenting their restaurant and especially not his mother and father, who knew early on that their son was meant to work in the business. veryone knew bdeen was destined for restaurants. e grew up around food, the son of Palestinian immigrants who landed in north county in 1 and immediately got into restaurant work. Since he was old enough to remember, bdeen was cooking and helping out with the family businesses and he loved it. s soon as he was old enough to get a ob, he landed one at the reat Steak hilly cheesesteak counter at the old amestown mall. ithin two years he was managing the place by , he was the owner. nd bdeen set his sights much higher than fast-food cheesesteaks. is mom and dad owned the original Sahara Mediterranean Grill in Bridgeton, so he umped into the family business, where he was able to apply his skills to more thoughtful, homemade cuisine. hen that restaurant was forced to close in 1 owing to the airport’s runway expansion, dbeen figured it was time to push himself even further.
Sahara’s mixed grill is joined on the menu by, clockwise from top left, baklava, falafel, hummus and “Sahara fries.” | MABEL SUEN e enrolled in culinary school with an open mind as to where it would lead him. t turned out to be alifornia. fter closing the ridgeton restaurant, bdeen’s father had moved to San Diego to open a new Sahara there. pon finishing culinary school, bdeen oined him, helping to build a successful restaurant that is still going strong today. bdeen might still be in alifornia were it not for a family crisis His mother was diagnosed with cancer. e returned to St. ouis to take care of her. ecause he also wanted to help support her, shortly after he got back to town, he scouted space for a restaurant of his own, settling on a strip mall off Howdershell Road on the northwestern edge of lorissant. aturally, he named it Sahara Mediterranean rill. or two years, bdeen has been running the place, viewing the restaurant as a sort of homecom-
ing to the community he loves so much. nd that community loves him back, packing the tiny storefront and keeping him busy with carryout orders and a robust catering business. ecause of its size, Sahara has to rely on those components for the ma ority of its business most of the restaurant’s real estate is the open kitchen and order counter. our small tables provide the only seating, making it less a dine-in destination than a place to call in takeout if you can even find it. Sahara sits so tucked away in a corner of the strip mall that it’s hidden from the street. Fortunately, that strip mall is undergoing a major renovation, and so is Sahara. t’s not ust a cosmetic facelift the restaurant is gearing up to expand into the adacent space where it will become a full-service, sit-down concept finer digs to match its already fine food.
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hat food includes a simply wonderful hummus, a silken, tahini-heavy rendition of the classic chickpea dip. ere, you’ll find bdeen’s penchant for adding nontraditional pops of avor in the form of minced pickled alape os that sit in a pool of olive oil. he peppers provide a welcome backbeat of heat to an otherwise rich dish. Sahara’s baba ganoush hews closer to tradition, though is dressed with more lemon than usual. his mouth-puckering touch of acid almost made up for sparse seasoning, though I would still have welcomed more salt. tahini salad was much fuller- avored and, surprisingly, proved to be one of the meal’s standouts. he simple salad consisted of little more than tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley tossed in tahini and lemon uice. owever, that combination of citrus and rich sesame
JUNE 12-18, 2019
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314-343-0294 1900 ARSENAL STREET ST. LOUIS, MO 63118 Like pizza? Nobody does it better than Café Piazza, a Sicilian Café & Bar in Benton Park & a stone’s throw from Anheuser-Busch (enjoy this iconic St Louis vista from our patio). Our “Big Momma” (a 4-ton laser wood-fired pizza oven) has been firing out pizzas since 2017. Try the original 11” Italian style: bestsellers include our Pizza Bianca (garlic infused alfredo sauce, grilled chicken, bacon and parmigiana) or Queen Margherita (fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil). Prefer a deeper dish? Try our Sicilian pizzas baked in Extra Virgin Olive Oil & tomato fillet sauce with your choice of toppings. Heard of our famous graffiti mural which covers the entire ceiling? Created by legendary artist Paco Rosic, it depicts famous St Louis luminaries: kudos to those who can name all eleven! If pizza isn’t your thing, our appetizers, paninis, and salads definitely will be. Open for lunch & dinner daily. Brunch served Saturday, Sunday 10am – 2pm. $7 original 11” Italian pizzas all day every Monday! Happy Hour 4pm – 6pm weekly ($3 draft beer), all-day Sunday. Open until midnight Friday & Saturday. Group catering also available.
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314.449.6328 5257 SHAW AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110
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.
THE CHOCOLATE PIG
Carnivore fills a nearly 4,000-square-foot space on The Hill with a dining area, bar lounge, and adjoining outdoor patio gracefully guarded by a bronze steer at the main entrance. Always embracing change, Joe and Kerri Smugala, with business partners Chef Mike and Casie Lutker, launched Carnivore STL this summer. As the Hill’s only steakhouse, Carnivore offers a homestyle menu at budget-friendly prices appealing to the neighborhood’s many families. Steak, of course, takes center stage with juicy filet mignon, top sirloin, strip steak and ribeye leading the menu. Customize any of the succulent meats with sautéed mushrooms, grilled shrimp, or melted housemade butters, such as garlic-and-herb and red wine reduction, on top of the flame-seared steak. Other main dishes include a thick-cut pork steak (smoked at J. Smugs) and the grilled chicken with capers and a white wine-lemon-butter sauce. St. Louis Italian traditions get their due in the Baked Ravioli, smothered in provel cheese and house ragu, and in the Arancini, risotto balls stuffed with provel and swimming in a pool of meat sauce. With an exciting new brunch menu debuting for Saturday and Sunday, Carnivore should be everyone’s new taste of the Hill.
MORRISON’S IRISH PUB
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314.272.3230 4220 DUNCAN AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110 Located inside the Cortex Innovation Hall in midtown St. Louis, The Chocolate Pig’s fun, unique location perfectly complements the interesting fare offered up by this well-regarded new entrant to the local dining scene. Open every day, The Chocolate Pig’s primary restaurant space offers salads, sandwiches, burgers, elevated comfort foods such as shrimp and grits and intriguing daily specials inside the attractive dining room and bar. The Market component, meanwhile is a “quick grab kitchen,” allowing those with limited time a chance to order a coffee and sandwich quickly, while offering an elevated set of expectations than the normal “grab & go” concept; it’s open from 7 am-5 pm daily and provides a great option for Cortex workers. Destination diners, though, are going to want to sit and savor the fare from The Chocolate Pig during lunch and dinner service, the restaurant serving moderatelypriced entrees that are heavy on locally-sourced ingredients. Though the menu items featuring proteins (especially pork) are among the most-popular, a variety of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items complement them. All items are offered up in one of the most-unique, thoughtfully-stimulating restaurant environments in town.
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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.
CARNIVORE STL
J. SMUGS GASTROPIT
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618-433-8900 200 STATE STREET ALTON, IL 62002 Several, long-beloved Irish pubs have staked a claim to being the most-authentic in town, though a strong case be made for one of the newer entrants. Located in the historic and scenic Alton, IL, Morrison’s Irish Pub brings all the elements of a great Irish pub under one roof - which, in this particular case, dates way back to 1865. Live music’s on-hand, with a strong selection of the area’s finest Irish and Irish-tinged groups and solo performers, heard from Thursday-Saturday nights. The selections of whiskey and beer reflect just the right touches of domestic and imported options, with plenty of favorites on-hand, including a wide-and-deep selection of Irish whiskeys that’d rival any other spirits menu in town. But it’s the menu that really solidifies the deal, with corned beef and cabbage, leek soup, Irish stew and Irish soda bread all available on a daily basis, along with rotating specials. Fare such as burgers, salads and wraps add to the traditional Irish fare, giving families a host of options. Open every day but Monday, Morrison’s offers a legit Irish pub feel without any artificial ingredients.
SAHARA MEDITERRANEAN Continued from pg 25
paste mingled to form a powerful dressing. found myself using the salad as a condiment on all of my other dishes. lso impressive is a beet salad, which pairs perfectly cooked slivers of the earthy vegetable with red onions, walnuts, parsley and feta cheese. he mildly funky feta and beets play off one another particularly well, a avor that is only intensified by the lemony house dressing that ties the components together. Sahara offers solid takes on several iddle astern sandwiches. hicken and beef shawarma are seasoned exactly the same in a warm, almost masala-like spice blend that is more like a wet marinade than the usual dry rub. his delightful interpretation allows the marinade and meat’s cooking uices to mingle, forming a light glaze that soaks into the pita wrapper. Slivers of pickle spears are also tucked inside the pita and kiss the meat with pungent perfumed sweetness. s delicious as the shawarma is, Sahara’s gyro is its standout sand-
Chef/owner Andrew Abdeen was destined for a career in restaurants. | MABEL SUEN wich. bdeen makes his own mix of beef, lamb and veal and slices it thicker than is typical. his results in uicier, more intensely avorful meat, which he overstuffs into a pita with lettuce, tomato and t at iki. t’s one of the best gyros in town.
Sahara’s entrees mainly consist of a variety of kabobs, including a tender lamb kabob, not at all gamey and beautifully singed with lines of bitter grill char. preferred it to the beef and chicken versions, which, while adequate, were underseasoned. owever,
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the kofta, or ground beef kabob, is outstanding. Seasoned with onions and parsley, it’s infused with the same charred avor as the lamb, only more intense. However, Sahara’s most impressive entree — and most impressive dish in general — is its falafel, a rustic, herbaceous fritter that is both uffy and crunchy at the same time. he interior chickpea concoction, heavily seasoned with garlic and onions, is coarser than usual and loosely bound together, allowing the tahini sauce to soak into every crevice. he avor is powerful. bdeen is talented, for sure, but he’s not the sole person in the kitchen these days. ver the past several months, his mom’s health has improved enough for her to help out. She stops in a few hours here and there to work side by side with her son, just like when he was a kid in her kitchen all those years back and ust as it was back then, there’s no question bdeen is exactly where he is supposed to be.
Sahara Mediterranean Grill Tahini salad ............................................ $5.99 Gyro ........................................................ $5.99 Falafel platter ....................................... $9.99
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JUNE 12-18, 2019
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SHORT ORDERS
31
[SIDE DISH]
A Chef Who Found Himself Again in STL Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
D
aniel Sammons has been cooking since he was a young boy — so young, in fact, that his kitchenwork got him into hot water. Literally. “I started cooking with my mom when was five or six years old, Sammons recalls. “I remember burning myself when I was really little because I saw the bubbles in a pot of boiling water and put my hand in it. Sammons has learned over the years — with a nearly twodecades-long career that has led him to his current role as chef de cuisine at Polite Society (1923 Park Avenue, 314-325-2553). From humble beginnings working as a dishwasher at an all-you-can-eat buffet to staging at Charlie Trotter’s when he was in culinary school in Chicago, the southern llinois native says he has taken something from every place he’s worked, honing his skills along the way like it’s what he was born to do. owever, Sammons was not always so certain that he’d find his path in the kitchen. t was never my intention to create a future out of it. I just always thought it was fun to cook with my mom and stepmom, Sammons says. “It was just a hobby, but after my first year of college, I found myself in a basement staring at a computer screen, and decided to go to culinary school. Culinary school was a big departure from his original plan to go into computer programming. His father was an electrician, and Sammons thought he would follow that lead and work in digital voice and data installation or selling computer networking. How-
Daniel Sammons is now running the kitchen at Polite Society. | JEN WEST ever, once he was in school, the field failed to inspire him. Reali ing that sent him into a panic. remember laying on the oor of my basement not knowing what wanted to do with my life, Sammons recalls. “My parents were telling me that needed to figure it out when a friend suggested cooking. I didn’t think it was a career, but decided to apply. Sammons admits that, while his mom and stepmom were supportive, his dad was apprehensive. hat changed, however, when father accompanied son on a culinary school tour in Chicago and saw how much the younger man lit up when he talked to the chefs and learned about the program. Once Sammons made good grades and hustled in kitchens outside the classroom, his dad was convinced. After graduation, Sammons worked at a handful of properties around the country, including hotels in Las Vegas and Chicago. From there, he decided to go the corporate route and got on with McCormick & Schmick’s for a few years before leaving for a noseto-tail restaurant and butchery in Berkeley, California. Though he loved the ob, he decided to move back to St. Louis for personal rea-
sons — an arrangement that was supposed to be temporary but has already lasted four years. One of the reasons he decided to stay was Rex ale, chef at what was then the Restaurant at the Cheshire. Hale not only took Sammons under his wing, but also opened his eyes to all that had been going on in the city’s restaurant scene while he was away. It was the right relationship at the right time. “My life had fallen apart, and I was trying to put the pieces together, Sammons says. e was the mentor I needed. I was able to re-find myself in the kitchen. fter the Restaurant at the heshire, Sammons moved on to the now-shuttered Demun Oyster ar and rand avern. n need of a change but unsure of what to do, he reached out for advice to homas utrell, the executive chef at Polite Society and now also the newly opened Bellwether (see the following page for a first look . He ended up with a job offer. t’s an ama ing group of people to work with who want you to express yourself with what you are doing, Sammons explains. homas and have a similar palate. Plus, all chefs are a little off,
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but we are off in ways that complement each other. As for his family, they are still cheering him on, happy he is closer to home so they can enjoy his food on a regular basis even his once-skeptical dad who has had a major change of heart. “He has an autographed menu from every restaurant ’ve worked at, Sammons says. e’s my biggest fan. Sammons took a break from the kitchen to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant scene, the importance of constantly growing and why good things can happen when you leave a op art un-iced. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I feel like I am constantly a student. If I’m not listening or watching a how to or cooking video, I’m reading. It comes from a chef I worked for who told me that if you want to become an expert in something, read or try to learn two hours a day. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? very morning when swing my feet off the bed, I say, “Play music. t doesn’t really matter
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DANIEL SAMMONS Continued from pg 31
what it is. I really enjoy waking up to music. It is kind of like a cup of coffee to some people they have to have it. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? would have to have the power over metal. ould you imagine seeing Magneto as a chef? That would be pretty cra y a oneman kitchen. ans ipping, knives cutting and only one guy standing there doing it all. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? How St. Louis chefs, and the industry as a whole, have each others’ backs. It really feels like, while we are separate in our own restaurants, we really try to support each other and push each other in order to make us all better as a whole. What is something missing in the local scene that you’d like to see? ate-night taco delivery and not Taco Bell! Who is your St. Louis food crush? il elly. ’m so excited for Rockstar aco cannot even put it into words. il is an ama ing chef and comes up with some ama ing food, and I will eat it all. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene? Sierra aves. She is with uerrilla Street Food and comes up with some ama ing food. ook for her to do great things. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? ’d have to say an egg. ery versatile. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? I really enjoy working in a wood shop. It is something I do with my dad, and if I wasn’t cooking, I’d like to build furniture. Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant. Rocky ountain ysters. ot a fan. What is your after-work hangout? I like hitting the Gramophone for a sandwich and a drink. What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? An un-iced Pop Tart with peanut butter on it. Don’t judge until you’ve tried it. What would be your last meal on earth? full-on hanksgiving meal, whole nine yards. And then a turkey sandwich for good measure. n
[FIRST LOOK]
Now Open: The Bellwether Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
O
n May 31, the old City Hospital Power Plant Building fired up again, this time as the Bellwether (1419 Carroll Street, 314-380-3086), a new restaurant from the team behind Polite Society. And if, as the name suggests, it’s a harbinger of what’s to come, the far eastern edge of Lafayette Square is about to become the city’s latest hotspot. The Bellwether is the second restaurant from proprietors Jonathan Schoen and rian Schmit , executive chef homas utrell and bar manager ravis ebrank, the foursome who brought Polite Society to life in the heart of Lafayette Square ust over two years ago. With business going well, and plans to open a new concept in the forthcoming City Foundry in 2020, the men had no plans to open another restaurant anytime soon. owever, as ebrank explains, they got an offer they simply could not refuse. It came courtesy of their Polite Society landlord, who is also part of the ownership group of the Power Plant Building a few blocks east on the other side of Truman. ome to lement for five years, it was ready for something new. “Our landlord approached us late last year and asked us informally if we’d ever thought about the lement space, ebrank says. “We started thinking about it; the space is so gorgeous and historic, and it’s exactly the sort of place we’d be interested in. A few weeks passed, and Jonathan and Brian came to me and said it looked like we had a great opportunity there. e figured, let’s ride the wave of Polite Society while we can, take on some risk maybe earlier than we should and move forward. lement had been spread over two oors of the massive building, dividing the restaurant and bar business. he second oor was an open kitchen and the third oor was a cocktail lounge. The Bellwether team decided to do things differently. They combined the restaurant and bar on
Mushroom and ginger dumplings are among the small plates at the Bellwether. | CHERYL BAEHR
“We figured, let’s ride the wave of Polite Society while we can, take on some risk maybe earlier than we should and move forward.” the third oor, using the second oor as the kitchen and a stillunder-construction private event and over ow dining space called the Reference Room. he reconfiguration is ust one of many differences guests will find between the new restaurant and the former occupant. Unlike Element’s sleek, industrial feel, the Bellwether has a soft, sultry vibe, with metallic oroccan lanterns, plush, plum-backed booths, eggplant-colored walls and luxe silvery-purple curtains that separate the dining room and elegant, back-lit bar. he vibe the team was aiming for drove the food, ebrank says. “Food-wise, if the space told us anything, we interpreted it that the food should be more delicate and fine, ebrank explains. e were interested in testing the waters of fine dining we like eating well and drinking nice and fancy things, but we also abhor the stuffiness that comes with that sometimes. We’re trying to strike a balance of fine and delicate without the lack of fun.
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Hebrank describes the food as falling under the general umbrella of ew merican a term, he says, that “means we can let Tom come up with whatever he wants and, as long as we think it tastes good and is worth the money, we put it on the menu. ook for items like prime steaks, elegant small plates and an elevated wine and spirits selection. Futrell is also particularly excited about the ellwether’s handmade pastas, including ravioli with peas and chicken and, on the small-plates side of the menu, mushroom and ginger dumplings. In addition to the dining room and bar, the Bellwether takes advantage of the building’s impressive outdoor space. he third- oor patio offers the full dining-room menu, while the second- oor outdoor space will be available for the Reference Room private events. With the Bellwether only three blocks away from Polite Society, Hebrank acknowledges, there may be questions about how the restaurants compare. Though there is some continuity between the food and drink components, he describes the Bellwether as being more upscale and more of a destination. “Because Polite Society is on the main strip of Lafayette Square, we get a lot of foot traffic, ebrank explains. he ellwether is more separated from other retail in the area, so we have to draw people in. We are also just south of downtown, and there hasn’t really been a strong happy hour in the area. e want to capture that. Currently, the Bellwether is open seven days a week, from until 1 p.m. he Reference Room is expected to open in the fall, with several wine dinners, chef collaborations and pop-ups currently in the works. n
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Chateau Maplewood owner Brian Hobbs is keeping the price point low. | CHELSEA NEULING
[BARS]
Maplewood Shop Wants to Keep Wine Easy Written by
CHELSEA NEULING
M
aplewood’s only wine bar and shop held its grand opening last month in the space that previously held ’s ffice ity. Chateau Maplewood (7326 Manchester Road) is owned by the former general manager of Bar Les Freres, Brain Hobbs. With Maplewood’s restaurant scene only continuing to grow, Hobbs hopes to offer a place to enjoy a glass of wine before or after dinner. The wines are all affordable because obbs believes that wine should be something you drink to make you happy and relaxed. e wants to build regular customers and make the shop a place to come and enjoy yourself. s a wine expert, obbs assures you won’t be left guessing which wine to buy. He’s there to guide customers into a selection, and promises that the wines come from real winemakers and farmers with little to no manipulation.
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Hobbs has been working with wine for fifteen years and has long wanted to open his own wine bar. When he found out that this location was on the market, he says, he had to have it. “Maplewood is a place near and dear to my heart. There are so many independent businesses and it is a great community with walkability, he says. lived in ew ork for seven years and there is something special about walking down the street and meeting people. aplewood feels ust right. Chateau Maplewood sells a handful of food items including cheese, meats, charcuterie, salads, desserts and more. hen we visited, goat and pork meatballs were featured. Still, the food is not the focus obbs wants to avoid competing with local restaurants. ar seating is available, as well as tables that come down from the wall almost like murphy beds. he shelves displaying the wine are made from maple wood — naturally. Hobbs says the space is still a work in progress, saying communal tables will be installed in the middle of it. The tables will seat about twenty people and are perfect for get-togethers for many occasions. He also plans to host wine tastings with food pairings and other special events. magical experience doesn’t have to be expensive if it is done well. We want to be authentic and we want to have fun, says obbs. Chateau Maplewood is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m to 9 p.m and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. n
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[HOMESPUN]
Podcast Covers Rock Rock Paper Podcast celebrates five years of local music interviews with a show at Broadway Oyster Bar Written by
CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
Y
ou can never accuse Shane Presley of slacking. He works as a custodian for the Wentzville School District (“I’ve seen it all,” he says, thankfully without elaborating) and, in addition to his day job, he works a few nights as a doorman at the Broadway Oyster Bar. In whatever spare time that schedule leaves, he also hosts the locally focused Rock Paper Podcast and stands tall, literally and figuratively, as a dedicated local music fan. “Dedicated,” though, may be too light a word. As of this writing, Presley has released 722 episodes of Rock Paper Podcast in five years. That’s 722 conversations with local musicians, comedians and people of interest, with very few repeat customers. It’s a staggering number for that short a time. And so Presley is celebrating Rock Paper Podcast’s fifth birthday with a blues-heavy show at his sometime-employer, Broadway Oyster Bar, on Saturday, June 22, with sets by Kansas City bassist and singer Amanda Fish and St. Louis artists Tony Campanella and Odds Lane. His conversations are casual and largely unedited, and they serve as a way for both new and established acts to introduce themselves to a larger audience. Presley’s podcast has become a routine stop for bands promoting their work, and it serves as a valuable tip sheet on local happenings. “I guess it all started by being a music fan,” Presley says. “I had friends from high school playing original music at Pop’s and started going to a lot more shows. As I started to go to shows and meet-
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Shane Presley, center, interviews Inimcal Drive. | COURTESY OF SHANE PRESLEY ing more people, I started a blog and was doing music review type stuff.” Writing, Presley found, wasn’t as much fun as listening to music — or listening to musicians talk about music. “I always wanted the music to speak for itself,” he says. “As podcasting started to grow in popularity, it seemed like a good fit. Rock Paper Podcast began the way most podcasts do — with a couple of dudes sitting around an entry-level microphone and a laptop. Episode one consisted of Presley and Chris Bumeter (his co-host for the first year chatting back and forth; saying the early episodes were more of “a cool, hang-out thing,” Presley sees it as an introduction for what was to come, and subsequent editions were more interview-focused. y episode five, resley and umeter landed their first musical guest, and reeled in a pretty big fish Steve wing, solo artist, hot dog kingpin and lead singer of legendary ska-punk outfit the rge. “That helped make it legit, having an endorsement from someone like him,” Presley says of Ewing’s visit. From there, Presley has interviewed hundreds of local artists from all corners of the region, including a few national acts. Doing
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“I like pressing record and seeing what happens.” these interviews so often, Presley is conscious of avoiding a set format or pat list of questions. That informality makes listening to Rock Paper Podcast a bit more like eavesdropping on a barroom chat than a traditional Q&A. “As far as prep, I don’t do a ton,” he says. “I like pressing record and seeing what happens. If someone new is coming on the show, I’ll do my homework on what I’m getting myself into. I have an idea of where I want to go — I have a pretty good idea of who the artists are. But as of late, the show is doing a lot of the work for me. I’m having people on the show who are coming to me.” Presley’s recording rig is simple and mobile — he can throw all of his gear in a backpack and has recorded episodes in basements, tour buses, rehearsal spaces and Taco Bells. He lets the interview subjects pick a spot that they like,
which helps with the mood of the conversation. “Most of the people feel comfortable around me, especially when we’re doing the show,” Presley says. “A few have said it’s therapeutic. Sometimes I don’t ask a ton of stuff and let them tell their story. I did one with a guy and he cried twice sharing some very personal stories. I was taken aback; it was crazy that we had just met and he was sharing his life story with me.” Presley says that Rock Paper Podcast had no grand ambitions when it began, but its success has prompted him to think about larger questions of visibility and support for local artists. “A lot of it is just fun for me; I thoroughly enjoy doing the show,” he says. “But I think over the years the mission has been to educate people, even myself. “I have goals I want to accomplish with this; I want to keep growing or keep evolving,” Presley continues. “I just keep putting in the hard work and it continues to pay off, making lifelong friends and listening to a lot of great music.”
Rock Paper Podcast Fifth Birthday Show 9 p.m. Saturday, June 22. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 South Broadway Avenue. $8. 314-621-8811.
[HOT ONES]
Outside of Time and Gravity Pushing joke to its limit, local musicians will play “Smooth” twenty times this weekend Written by
DANIEL HILL
I
t’s possible that Matt F Basler has finally gone too far. The local musician, known for his work with the rock band Tok as well his solo output and namesake podcast, counts another notable notch on his belt his is the madman who, two years ago, packed Off Broadway for a tribute to Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas’ blockbuster 1999 hit “Smooth,” enlisting a cadre of top-notch local artists to perform it live — and exclusively — no less than ten times in a row. (Twelve, in fact, if you count the encore the masochistic crowd demanded when the night’s scheduled program wrapped up.) So how do you top that Simple by playing “Smooth” twenty times, one for each year that has passed since its release. “I think everybody could do ten, right? Everybody can do it ten times,” Basler muses. “It’s time to truly test the limits that people can accept for number of ‘Smooth’s.” Basler’s curiosity as to just how far he can push this joke is understandable. As absurd as it is, the 2017 show nearly brought Off Broadway to its capacity. And despite Basler’s early theories that interest would wax and wane throughout the show — he guessed that the third time “Smooth” was performed would be the funniest, with the audience filtering out for smoke breaks afterwards before returning for nine and ten — the crowd instead stayed and enthusiastically sang along to every word all twelve times. “I think it was a really wonderful evening of everybody being a part
Two years ago, Matt F Basler tested the city’s good humor by performing “Smooth” ten times in a row. This year he’s doubling down. | CHRIS WARD
“John Parker’s gonna eat a hard-boiled egg for every ‘Smooth’ we’re gonna do. It’s too many. I’m interested. I wanna see how it goes.” of a fun, silly joke,” Basler says, looking back. “There were people requesting ‘Smooth’ between ‘Smooth’s. Everybody was playing along; everybody there really got it and was a part of it, right? It wouldn’t have been as funny if they didn’t ask for an encore. It’d be cool if we can do that again. “But I’m trying to not have those same expectations,” he continues. “Maybe when you were at three you didn’t wanna walk out because you knew it ended at ten. Maybe when you know that there’s seventeen more to go it’s a differ-
ent story. But I’m willing to see. I think it’s important that we learn our ‘Smooth’ tolerance level.” The show will take place at Off Broadway on June 15, twenty years to the day since Santana’s Supernatural was released. Joining asler on this quest for scientific knowledge of late-’ s atin-in uenced pop music is, once again, a crack team of St. ouis’ finest musicians — some of them alumni from the last go-around. Jenn Malzone (Middle Class Fashion) will reprise her role on the keyboard, Dylan Clubb (the Langaleers) returns on guitar and Matt Sawicki (My Posse in Effect) will again be handling percussion. With them will be Seth Donnelly (Dance Floor Riot) on drums and Khamali Cuffie-Moore (Owen Ragland Quintet) on trumpet. Basler tried to assemble the same team from the last run, but scheduling con icts kept some members from participating. “There were a couple people that had gigs,” Basler explains. “Because of course the thing I think is very funny is to get musicians together that are too good for this.” In addition to that murderer’s row of musical talent, Basler has a number of additional goodies on deck for attendees. There will be T-shirts with all of the lyrics to “Smooth” printed on them. There will be spiked smoothies courtesy
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of the Juice. Artist Vince Puzza will draw caricatures of you with either Rob Thomas or Carlos Santana (take your pick!). The Knuckles will open the show. ne fan and local music fixture is even lending a unique, er, talent to the festivities. “John Parker’s gonna eat a hardboiled egg for every ‘Smooth’ we’re gonna do,” Basler says. “I announced the show and he said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna eat an egg for every “Smooth.”’ And then I went, ‘Sure, yeah, OK, sounds great.’ It’s too many. I’m interested. I wanna see how it goes.” And that’s more or less Basler’s approach to this entire harebrained scheme ust put it out there and see how things go. Asked how he intends to top himself in the future, he makes clear that even the nuclear option is on the table when it comes to finding the limits of “Smooth” tolerance. “I think knowing the number makes it easier for people to go, ‘All I gotta do is get to twenty.’ So maybe like two years from now we’ll just play ‘Smooth’ until we stop,” he suggests. “I’ll do a dumb joke as many times as people want me to.”
Matt F Basler Presents “Twenty Years of Smooth” 8 p.m. Saturday, June 15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-498-6989.
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Wednesday June 12 9:45PM
Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players Tribute To Little Feat/ Post Phish Party
Friday June 14 9:30PM Grammy Award Winning
Zydeco From Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band Sunday June 16 8PM
Soul and Blues Legend
Kim Massie
Wednesday June 19 9:30PM
Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players
Tribute To Soul featuring the Laren Loveless Review
Thursday June 20 9PM
Roland Johnson and Soul Endeavor Friday June 21 10PM
St. Boogie Brass Band Saturday June 22 10PM
Rock Paper Podcast
Featuring Amanda Fish and Tony Campanella Bands
John Forrest and Zack Broeker form the core of psychedelic metal/punk band Sunwyrm. | VIA THE BAND
[PROFILE]
Cinema Obscura John Forrest’s love for B movies fuels his songwriting in metal act Sunwyrm Written by
G.M.H. THOMPSON
J
ohn Forrest is a self-confessed movie addict. Since he was eleven, maybe even before, he has consumed them voraciously and always hungered for more, enjoying a wide variety of genres — Westerns, the classics, foreign films and, especially, horror movies. “I love all kinds of films,” he enthuses. “I would say that my always go-to is gore films, like the films where it’s just some over-the-top, gruesome, nasty stuff, but it’s all fake, and you can look into Tom Savini and Rick Baker and these guys and see how they did it, you know? Like The Thing and Society.” Forrest, now 24, is up to a lot more nowadays than just taking in timeless cinematography, although he still makes plenty of time for that (he’s turned down at least one gig because he had to catch a flick instead). He’s a guitarist, drummer, songwriter, singer and sometimes producer involved in a number of projects; most notably, he plays guitar, shares writing duties and sings as frontman of the heavy metal/punk outfit Sunwyrm. He met bandmates Zack Broeker and Zac Strickland in 2013 while the three were still in high school. (Strickland has since left the band; Jason Huffman is now Sunwyrm’s drummer.) “I think that subconsciously we were like, ‘OK, what we need to be is the Mid-
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western, mutant cousin of the Grateful Dead,’” Forrest offers about the band’s inception. “‘We need to be this epic, evil psychedelic band that just ruins lives and makes men, women and children weep.’ And that’s, like, literally what we became.” If that statement of intent sounds lifted straight from one of the horror flicks Forrest so enthusiastically enjoys, there’s a reason for it. Sunwyrm has played many dramatic, theatrical shows in the years since, including opening for the Pack A.D. at the Ready Room last spring, when the band had a friend of theirs play rhythm guitar dressed as a demon, ornamented head to foot in black leather, black lipstick, black nail polish and red body paint. But the band’s true stomping grounds are gritty, down-toearth DIY house venues. One such basement spot is the Void in the north-county area, home base to Broeker’s other band, Voidgazer. Sunwyrm, in fact, played the first show at that subterranean venue just over a year ago. “I had this Miller High Life Stratocaster, and it was the guitar I learned to play on. And I figured like it’s time for me to destroy this thing — we’re opening this new venue, it’s gonna be a big show. It was a free show, and the whole place was packed,” Forrest says. “So I went to Walmart and got myself this KISS Tshirt, tie-dye; I got myself the biggest case of Miller High Life, and I’m like, ‘Alright, we’re gonna do this.’ Then I kicked the whole case at the whole crowd, and then when they opened it, I was kicking it around so much, it all like fizzled all over the place, you know. So then finally during our big, noisy outro, I take the [guitar], while it’s still plugged in and everything, and like, ‘BAM, BAM, BAM,’ destroyed that thing, and everybody was like, ‘Whoa, what’s happening now?’ It was one of the best experiences — just total karma.”
Influenced by the Stooges, the MC5, Black Sabbath, the Pixies, Little Richard and even snatches of groups such as Parliament and Funkadelic, Forrest wields a zonked-out, psychedelic heavymetal guitar with Sunwyrm, his voice slashing recklessly through the muscular layers of bass, drums and guitar like a rusty meat hook. His songwriting themes are at times conventional (love, psychology, psychedelia), but are also frequently drawn from the silver screen and its deliciously spine-tingling underbelly of horror. “The Great Went,” for example, is an abrasive, raging cut off Sunwyrm’s first official release, 2016’s aptly named The First Cycle, that takes inspiration from David Lynch’s cult classic Twin Peaks. “Death of the Sun God,” “After Dark” and “Trip Into the Witch’s Eye,” all off of Sunwyrm’s latest album, 2018’s Doomshine, fall comfortably into this vein. Many of the songs on that same album are bookended by sonic samples from famous films. Another song from that LP, “Charlton Heston (Damn Dirty Apes)” is a hysterical take on Planet of the Apes, which ironically comments on alienation and intolerance in modern times. “That song came to me like a vision,” Forrest muses. “Sometimes I look back on that song and think, ‘Is that song really messed up? Is this song just all about racist white guys with guns?’ But then I think about it, and it’s more about literally just the movie Planet of the Apes and just the feeling of being some lost space traveler who has crash-landed on your own planet, but it’s just all different. And that’s how I feel sometimes: the feeling of being lost in your own world.” Forrest’s world has been expanding recently. He is tinkering with various side projects, including the noise-rock H. Smokeskull, and, inspired by the smash success of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” a country-trap project to be christened Huckleberry Yeller. Perhaps most excitingly, Sunwyrm is laboring tirelessly on both a split LP with a prominent local punk-rock band as well as the band’s third official LP, titled The Dark Cycle. The twelve songs of this aural archipelago will delve even deeper into the dark, cinema-inspired horror that so fascinates him. The title of one song, “You Will Never Again Feel Safe In the Dark,” is the tagline from the 1977 film Suspiria. “Dark Skies,” another track, is based on Spielberg’s E.T. The whole album has Exorcist undertones. Tickets to this show will be mandatory for anyone who loves B-movie magic. “The Dark Cycle is going to be an album that’s all about those alien feelings,” Forrest says. “That feeling of otherness, that feeling of being a maniac, that feeling of being a monster, that feeling of being possessed by demons. “This is what that album’s all about,” he adds. “It’s all about Pazuzu; it’s all about the demon that Robert Johnson met at the crossroads.” n
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
Cara Louise knows what’s up. | VIA ARTIST WEBSITE
Concert to Benefit Gateway Women’s Access Fund 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester. Free. (314) 833-3929 Remember how furious you felt when you first heard about the passing of Missouri’s absurdly restrictive abortion ban? You’re in good company: Tonina, Cara Louise, and Mammoth Piano felt the same way, and they want to help us all do something about it. Essential Knots’ Seth Porter quickly pulled together a fantastic lineup for the Concert to Ben-
THURSDAY 13
BOONDOX: w/ September Mourning 8 p.m., $10$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN: 6 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. DESIRE LINES: w/ Cole Bridges Trio, The Bobby Stevens and p.m., free. Schla y ap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337. DJ VTHOM: w Rooster ras, atty ice, atal entality p.m., 5. oam, 5 efferson ve., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. EVAN COLE: 6 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. GATEWAY WOMEN’S ACCESS FUND BENEFIT SHOW: w/ Tonina, Cara Louise Band, Mammoth iano p.m., free. he Ready Room, 1 5 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 314-436-5222. LIGHTNIN’ MALCOLM: 1 p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 1 -5 . MISS JUBILEE: 8 p.m., 15. oe’s afe, 1 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis. MONO: w mma Ruth Rundle 8 p.m., 15- 1 . lueberry ill - he uck Room, 5 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. PIERCE CRASK: 8 p.m., free. he risco arroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. SEPTEMBER MOURNING: 8 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis,
efit Gateway Women’s Access Fund, an organization that helps Missourians who need an abortion but can’t afford it. The bands are all in, and you can be too: every bit of the money spent at this show goes to GWAF. Abortion access affects all of our lives — male, female and otherwise — so get thee to the Ready Room to make your own impact! St. Lost: The city managed to keep its sole abortion provider open this week — the only one in the entire state! — but the attacks on abortion rights will keep coming. The money you spend at this show will be badly needed now and in the future. —Evan Sult 618-274-6720. TOMBS: w/ Chrome Waves 7:30 p.m., $12. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . WHISKEY MYERS: 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.
FRIDAY 14
120 MINUTES: p.m., free. Schla y ottleworks, 7260 Southwest Ave, Maplewood, 314-241-2337. AARON GRIFFIN BAND: 10:30 p.m., $10. BB’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 314-436-5222. THE BEL AIRS: p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CHUBBY CARRIER: 10 p.m., $10. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. DRUIDS: w Railha er, lan Smithee 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. THE FOGGY MEMORY BOYS: 9:30 p.m., free. The risco arroom, 811 ig end lvd., ebster Groves, 314-455-1090. GROOVY BUTTER CAKES: w/ Cronus 7 p.m., $5. Pop’s Blue Moon, 5249 Pattison Ave., St. Louis, 314-776-4200. JOHN FORD: p.m., 5. ’s a , lues Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LARKIN POE: 7 p.m., $20-$75. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. LEO RONDEAU AND JACK GRELLE: 8 p.m., $8-$10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
The Opera Bell Band. | VIA ARTIST WEBSITE
The Opera Bell Band 12 p.m. Saturday, June 15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $15. 314-773-3363. You can run out of adjectives and genres trying to describe the Opera Bell Band — a local quintet that mixes a hodge-podge of folk styles with theatrical tomfoolery — but consider “musical theater of the absurd” as a good starting point. Shane Devine heads up the group, which uses a battery of acoustic instruments to summon the good-time ghosts of ragtime,
314-498-6989. LIFE IN VACUUM: w/ Lumet, A New State 8 p.m., . oam, 5 efferson ve., St. ouis, 1 772-2100. MADAHOOCHI: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. MATTIEL: 8 p.m., $10-$12. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 5 elmar lvd., niversity ity, 314-727-4444. THE PAJAMA JAM: w/ Dirty Henrry, T Mali, Tony alentino, oopah asino, ar o, echdagod 8 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. SETHCON STL ROCK SHOWCASE: 7 p.m., $10. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . SNAP DOGG: p.m., . ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. A TRIBUTE TO JEFF WORM: w/ Cross Examination, the umanoids, od odder, light uture 8 p.m., 1 . he irebird, live St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.
SATURDAY 15
ACOUSTIK ELEMENT: 8 p.m., 15. oe’s afe, 1 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis. ALL ROOSTERED UP: noon, free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. THE AMBASSADORS OF HARMONY: 8 p.m., $24-$31. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts enter, 1 niversity r at atural ridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. THE BIG IDEA: w/ The Big Idea, The Devil’s Triangle 9 p.m., $5. Pop’s Blue Moon, 5249 Pattison Ave., St. Louis, 314-776-4200. BREWTOPIA: p.m., free. ightshift ar rill, exico Road, St. eters, - 1-8 . CAROLYN MASON BAND: p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 1 -5 . FISTER 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: w/ Thorlock, Slow Damage, Blackwell 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Ready Room, 1 5 anchester ve, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. FOG LAKE: p.m., 1 . ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. JELLY ROLL: w/ Steve O’Brien 8 p.m., $20-$25. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East
calypso and bluegrass, but the OBB’s presentation, complete with clownish grease paint, floppy hats and an emcee called Butternut the Pilot, turns a regular gig into an experience. And sure enough, its release show for debut album BellSlide doubles as a shrimp boil, a pie-eating contest and much more. Open Up: Ryan Koenig and the Chardonnays (one of his dozens of ad-hoc outfits) and psych-folk weirdos Mother Meat round out the bill. —Christian Schaeffer
St. Louis, 618-274-6720. MATT F BASLER PRESENTS “20 YEARS OF SMOOTH”: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. THE MIGHTY PINES: w/ The Kay Brothers, Handmade Moments 6 p.m., $12-$17. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. OPERA BELL BAND SHRIMP BOIL AND ALBUM RELEASE: w other eat, Ryan oenig and the Chardonnays noon, $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. OQ: w/ Motherbear, Brennan England, Blank homas, 18and ounting 8 p.m., . oam, 5 efferson ve., St. ouis, 1 - 1 . THE RIGHTLY SO: 8 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644. RIVAL SONS: w/ Wilderado 8 p.m., $26-$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. ROGER FROM THE DARK: w/ No Thunder, The Sparrows p.m., free. Schla y ap Room, 1 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337. ROLAND JOHNSON & SOUL ENDEAVOR: 7 p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE O’JAYS: w/ Stephanie Mills 8 p.m., $461 .5 . he ox heatre, 5 . rand lvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. TORREY CASEY & SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: 10 p.m., 5. ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE TROPHY MULES: p.m., free. he risco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. TWISTED HOUSE: 9 p.m., $5. Taha’a Twisted Tiki, 4199 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-202-8300.
SUNDAY 16
ACID WITCH: w/ Against the Grain 8 p.m., $14. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . HOWE GELB: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. JOHN D’AMATO BAND: 5 p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
Fister. | COREY WOODRUFF
Fister 10 Year Anniversary 8 p.m. Saturday, June 15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $10 to $12. 314-833-3929. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since Fister first unleashed its brand of Bronsonic doom metal on St. Louis’ unsuspecting music fans. Its early slogan (“If it’s too slow, you’re too young”) has held up nicely over the last decade, as
OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 41
Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. KIM MASSIE: 8 p.m., $10. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 8 p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 1 -5 . MALPRACTICE: 2 p.m., free. Mount Pleasant Estates, 5634 High St., Augusta, 800-467-9463. MYSTERY SKULLS: w/ Snowblood 8 p.m., $15. lueberry ill - he uck Room, 5 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. RIVER CITY OPRY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: w/ Old apital Square ance lub, he ighting Side, es ruff and the illy oat, ld Souls Revival, on onham and riends, he vening lories, Ruby eigh earson it’l iss ountry 1 p.m., $5. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SAWCE: w iff ’narly and the Reptilians, Little Cowboy, Young Animals 7 p.m., $10. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . THICK PAINT: w rism 1 p.m., . oam, 5 efferson ve., St. ouis, 1 - 1 .
MONDAY 17
ADAM CALHOUN & DEMUN JONES: 8 p.m., $25. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . CHON: w i, eck 8 p.m., - 5. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. ROCKY MANTIA & KILLER COMBO: 7 p.m., $10. ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.
TUESDAY 18
BLACKFOOT GYPSIES: 8 p.m., $10-$12. Blueberry ill - he uck Room, 5 elmar lvd., University City, 314-727-4444. CARRIE UNDERWOOD: w addie ae, Runaway une p.m., . nterprise enter, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. ERIC LYSAUGHT: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster
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Fister’s forte has proven to be the kind of creeping, suffocatingly slow audible death played at a volume that could even wake the likes of Matt Pike out of his soundest slumber. No longer a local secret, Fister has become one of St. Louis’ most vital metal exports. Here’s to ten more years. Metal Thrashing Mad: Opening the show will be likeminded metal acts Thorlock, Slow Damage and Blackwell. —Daniel Hill
Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. KYLE SHUTT: w Scu 8 p.m., . oam, 5 efferson ve., St. ouis, 1 - 1 . SET IT OFF: w marosa, roadside, i y arrall p.m., . ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: p.m., 1 . ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 1 -5 . SUN VOYAGER: w/ Spacetrucker, Cyanides 8:30 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.
WEDNESDAY 19
BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: p.m., 5. ’s a , lues Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. NEW FOUND GLORY: w Real riends, he arly November, Doll Skin 7 p.m., $26-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. PRIMITIVE MAN: w/ Big Brave 8 p.m., $15. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . RANDALL KING: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SOJII: w oppies, anet, an the anipulator 8 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. VOODOO PLAYERS: 9:45 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. WILL VARLEY: 8 p.m., $13-$15. Blueberry Hill he uck Room, 5 elmar lvd., niversity City, 314-727-4444.
THIS JUST IN ASKING ALEXANDRIA: ed., uly , p.m., 5. he Ready Room, 1 5 anchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. BIG K.R.I.T.: Sat., Oct. 19, 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: ed., une 1 , p.m., 5. ’s a , lues Soups, S. roadway, St. ouis, 314-436-5222. BRETT YOUNG: Randy ouser, hu., uly , 6:30 p.m., free. Gateway Arch, 200 Washington Ave., St. Louis, 877-982-1410. CHRIS BROWN: ory ane , y olla ign,
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
Will Varley. | VIA THIS IS NOW AGENCY
Will Varley 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 19. Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $13 to $15. 314-727-2277. Four million spins on Spotify may not be a lot to Dave Matthews, but to Will Varley and his extraordinary song “Seize the Night,” it means $20,000 (give or take a grand after the usual suspects take their cut) and a hint that the future is not as fucked as the song (and his ouvre to date) would imply. “If you know where you are when you wake up, something’s wrong,” he sings on the refrain, with that
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oyner ucas, ella ree y, ed., ct. , p.m., TBA. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. COIN: W/ Dayglow, Tue., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., $25$27.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. DIONNE WARWICK: W/ Peabo Bryson, Deniece Williams, Sat., Aug. 17, 8 p.m., $70-$125. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. ERIC ANDRE: Sat., Oct. 5, 8 p.m., $35-$49.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE FLAMING LIPS: ertical ori on, Sat., uly , p.m., free. ateway rch, Washington Ave., St. Louis, 877-982-1410. GIRLS NIGHT OUT: THE SHOW: Sun., uly 8, 8 p.m., . he irebird, live St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. THE GROOVELINER ALBUM RELEASE: W/ The rovels, Sat., ov. , 8 p.m., 1 . ld Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. HELLO IT’S ME: A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF TODD RUNDGREN: Sat., Sept. 21, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. KEITH SWEAT: ohnny ill, ri., uly 5, p.m., free. Gateway Arch, 200 Washington Ave., St. Louis, 877-982-1410. KEKE WYATT: ri., une 8, 8 p.m., 5- 5. he Ready Room, 1 5 anchester ve, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. KEVIN JAMES: ri., ct. , p.m., . Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. LIBERA: on., uly , 8 p.m., 1 . athedral Basilica of St. Louis, 4431 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, 314-373-8200. MAXIMUM EFFORT DOUBLE EP RELEASE: W/ Dracla, Sat., uly , p.m., . he Sinkhole, South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.
instantly fetching Brit accent for which the former colonies remain suckers. That voice, backed mostly by just guitar, a little hopeful harmony, light percussion and electric licks, delivers songs of wonder and wandering, comic fatalism and cosmic insights that come with a bit of whiskey in a cup and a busker’s eternal earnestness. See him now in small club; he won’t keep playing them for long. RIYL: The Tallest Man on Earth, Sam Amidon and M. Ward may be better known than Varley, but as a songwriter he’s very much their equal. —Roy Kasten
PLAGUE VENDOR: Wed., Oct. 16, 8 p.m., $15. ubar, 1 8 ocust St, St. ouis, 1 - 8 - 5 . RHEA BUTCHER: Sun., Sept. 15, 8 p.m., $20. The Ready Room, 1 5 anchester ve, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. ROCK WITH YOU: AN MJ BDAY TRIBUTE JAM: W/ ame iko, Sat., ug. 1, 8 p.m., 5- 1 . he Ready Room, 1 5 anchester ve, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. ROCKIN’ CHAIR: ri., ug. 1 , 8 p.m., . randel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, 314-533-0367. SLAUGHTER BEACH, DOG: W/ Cave People, Early Animator, Thu., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., $13-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SOJII: oppies, anet, an the anipulator, ed., une 1 , 8 p.m., . he Sinkhole, South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SONGBIRD CAFE: hu., une , p.m., 8. he ocal oint, Sutton lvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778. THIS WILD LIFE: he appy its, on., Sept. 30, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 5 elmar lvd., niversity ity, 1 727-4444. TIGER ARMY: W/ Sadgirl, Kate Clover, Tue., Oct. 15, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. TROPICAL SUMMER BLAST: - ype, S , Rysk, urk oon, Sat., une , 8 p.m., 1 . he irebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. THE TUNGSTEN GROOVE: Sat., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., 1 - 1 . ld Rock ouse, 1 S. th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. VOODOO PLAYERS: ed., une 1 , 5 p.m., 5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. WHITE REAPER: W/ The Dirty Nil, The aranoyds, ed., uly , 8 p.m., 18. he irebird, live St., St. ouis, 1 -5 5- 5 . THE WLDLFE: Thu., Sept. 19, 8 p.m., $10-$12. lueberry ill - he uck Room, 5 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. n
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SAVAGE LOVE SHOP AROUND BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a straight cis woman in my early 40s and a single mother. I have not dated or hooked up with anyone in years. While I miss dating, the biggest issue right now is that my sex drive is off the charts. While watching porn and masturbating once my child goes to sleep helps, I really want to get well and truly fucked by a guy who knows what he’s doing. I could likely go to a bar or on Tinder and find a man for a one-night stand, but I’m hesitant to do that. To add to my complicated backstory, I have a history of childhood sexual abuse and have had only two partners in my whole life, one of whom was abusive. My past sexual forays have not been particularly satisfying, in part due to my lack of experience and comfort indicating what I do/do not like, as well as some dissociation during the actual act. I keep thinking it would be easier to find a sex worker to “scratch the itch,” as presumably a male sex worker would be more open, sexpositive and skilled. But I have no idea how I might go about it or what the procedure or etiquette is. And I am fearful that I could get arrested given the illegality of soliciting in my conservative Southern state. Getting in trouble could have devastating effects on my life, and I would definitely lose my job. I am trying to weigh the pros and cons, but I feel out of my depth. Any advice for a gal who wants to get fucked but is not sure how to make that happen in a safe-ish space? Single Mom Absolutely Stupid Horny “In the recent past, the answer would have been ‘Google,’” said John Oh, a Sydney-based male sex worker for women. “But in a postSESTA/FOSTA world, that route is now unreliable — especially in the United States, where advertising on the web is far more difficult. SESTA/FOSTA — the “Stop Enabling Sex raffickers ct ight nline Sex rafficking ct is a 2018 law that was crafted, backers said backers lied , to fight sex trafficking. t made it a crime for web platforms to knowingly or
unknowingly allow someone to post a sex ad. The law is so vague that platforms like Craigslist, Tumblr, and Facebook purged sexually explicit content in an effort to prevent sex workers from basically being online at all. SESTA/FOSTA’s backers claim they want to protect women—and only women—but in reality, pushing sex workers out of online spaces (where they could more effectively screen clients, share safety tips with each other, and organize politically) made sex work more dangerous, not less, and has led to more sex trafficking, not less. But one platform — one much pilloried but still popular platform — is bucking the anti-sexworker/anti-sexually-explicit-content trend. “Twitter is still a (mostly) safe place for sex workers, and I have not heard of law enforcement using it to entrap potential clients,” said John. “So I believe that it is a reasonably safe place to anonymously research male sex workers. Many of us advertise there.” Since no one knows how long Twitter will allow sex workers to use its platform, you might want to get started on that search now, SMASH. And while sex work is work, and it’s work many people freely choose to do, not everyone is good at their job. Since your experiences with unpaid sex weren’t that great, I asked John for some tips on increasing your odds of finding a skilled male sex worker. “Sadly, in places where sex work is criminali ed, it’s harder to find a suitable male sex worker,” said John, “especially for someone who needs extra special care due to trauma. I expect that for SMASH, traveling to a place where sex work is not criminalized would not be practical, but that might be an option for others.” “If traveling to Australia, where John lives and where he’s been doing sex work for nine years (legally, as sex work is decriminalized in his state of New South Wales, and legalized in much of the rest of Australia), is unrealistic, John suggests chatting with sex workers in your area — but not, at least at first, the male ones. “Her best option may be to talk to female sex workers on Twitter and ask them for a recommendation,” said John. “This has two benefits the first is that female
“Twitter is still a (mostly) safe place for sex workers, and I have not heard of law enforcement using it to entrap potential clients.” workers in her general area will have local knowledge. The second is that female workers are generally very careful about endorsing male workers. So if a few female workers suggest a male sex worker, there is a high likelihood that he will be safe, capable, and professional. But if SMASH goes this route, tipping the female workers who help her out would be polite — otherwise this would amount to asking for unpaid labor.” ou can find ohn h on witter @JohnOhOfSydney. Hey, Dan: An older guy at my gym tentatively inquired if he could ask me an “inappropriate question.” I told him he could. I’m straight, he’s pretty obviously gay, and I figured he was going to hit on me. Then he said the question was “sexual in nature” and was I sure it was OK? I said yes. He asked if he could buy the shoes I wear to the gym once they’re worn out. I know why someone would want my old shoes — he’s obviously masturbating with them — and that’s fine, everyone’s got their weird thing (myself included). Two quick questions: Isn’t what he did risky? (I could easily see some other guy reacting badly.) And how much should I charge? Smelling Nikes Entertains A Kinky Senior t was definitely a risky ask, SNEAKS, but you’re probably not the first guy he’s approached. imagine he has a hard-earned feel for who’s likely to react positively and who’s not (and a few canceled gym memberships along the way to show for it). And I’d say $20 would be fair. It’s not the full cost of replacing the shoes — he’s a shoe perv, not a fin sub but it’s enough to be worth your while and it re ects the
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value of your old shoes. Not on the open market, but to him. Hey, Dan: A straight couple I know that “dabbles” in kink recently visited a famous leather/fetish/bondage store with deep ties to San Francisco’s gay community (Mr. S Leather, not that it’s important). They purchased some simple bondage implements that they could just have easily ordered online from any number of stores that aren’t institutions in the gay BDSM subculture. I don’t think straight people should be barging into spaces that aren’t theirs to purchase items that were not created for them. I am not gay myself, but I try to be a good ally, and part of being a good ally is holding other straight people accountable. Respect Queer Space You’ve got to be kidding me with this shit, RQS. Donald Trump banned trans people from the military, the Trump administration has made it legal for doctors and EMTs to refuse to treat queer people, they’re allowing federally funded adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, and they just shut down promising research into a cure for HIV (much to the delight of religious conservatives, who have always and still want us dead). And heaping insult on injury, RQS, Donald Fucking Trump “celebrated” Pride Month with a tweet — and you’re not only worried about a straight couple buying a little gear in a gay leather/fetish/ bondage shop but you’re coming to me with this shit expecting praise? If a couple of straight people wandering into a gay-owned business that’s legally obligated not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation — a law that protects queer people, too — is what you’re wasting your time on right now, RQS, with everything that’s going on, you’re a shit ally and a worse human being. Just to make sure it was okay with Mr. S, I shared your letter with general manager Jonathan Schroder, who said e are owned by gay men and very explicitly market to gay men. But everyone is welcome here. We’re happy there are straight people who feel comfortable shopping here.” Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter
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HAPPY HOUR
CLUB TACO
SPONSORED CONTENT
Located in the heart of downtown Kirkwood, Club Taco is a staple on N. Kirkwood Rd. AKA Lindbergh Blvd. Club Taco is a modern, clean, fast casual spot to grab delicious food and drinks. Club Taco has a large outdoor patio and even some chic outdoor bar space. With over 25 wildly creative a la carte tacos, there is a perfect taco for every person and every time of day. Some of the creative and surprisingly delicious tacos include a taco with calamari and feta, a taco with crispy fried chicken and four pepper hot sauce, and even multiple vegetarian options. Gerard LaRuffa is the creative genius behind the delicious fare. Club Taco also serves breakfast tacos all day and is an excellent spot for brunch on the weekend. Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM-2PM Club Taco serves bottomless mimosas for those who dare to brunch. Try one of the seasonal fresh made sangrias to cool off while you hang out on the patio. Of course if you want a Margarita, Club Taco has some of the best in town. Happy Hour Tue-Fri 3-6PM, Late Night Happy Hour TueSat 9PM-Close. Happy Hour includes $2 off beer + wine by the glass, 2 for 1 house margaritas + sangrias (bring a friend!) and even $1 off tacos! Don’t limit your taco intake to just Tuesdays, there is a world of tacos waiting for you to discover it. CLUB TACO 200 N KIRKWOOD RD, KIRKWOOD, MO 63122 CLUBTACOSTL.COM