Riverfront Times, July 17, 2019 by Riverfront Times

1 JULY 17-23, 2019 I VOLUME 43 I NUMBER 27

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“Meditation [is] breathe in, breathe out. Happiness [for] everyone. In the morning, meditation. Evening/afternoon, meditation. Sitting meditation, standing meditation, walking meditation, sleeping meditation. Watering the flowers, meditation.” PHRAKHRUVJITTARA-SIAKHUN VIJIT, PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE CHEROKEE STREET BUDDHIST TEMPLE ON JULY 13 riverfronttimes.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Interim Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writer 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, James Pollard

COVER

The Package Killer In 1990 a serial killer with a horrific M.O. stalked south St. Louis. There is still a chance for justice Cover design by

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

EVAN SULT

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 story by

RYAN KRULL with additional reporting by

STEPHANIE DANIELS

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 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

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann

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The Blues are bleeding our city dry

News Feature Calendar

Cafe

Short Orders

Culture

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BrainWorks | World Naked Bike Ride | Paul Gaugain: The Art of Invention | etc.

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HARTMANN Welfare on Ice As the Blues score another fat public subsidy, the scorecard is clear: Taxpayers lose BY RAY HARTMANN

n May 15, those of us who bleed blue were worried about the fate of our hockey team. That night. our Blues lost 5-4 in overtime to the San Jose Sharks to fall behind 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals. The big story was that officials had blatantly failed to stop play for an illegal hand pass that led to the Sharks’ winning goal, one of the most famously terrible non-calls in NHL history. It felt like our 51-year

curse was living on. “It was so unfair that the game ended that way. The wrong way,” NHL Executive Vice President Colin Campbell said, with stunning candor. The league took the extraordinary step of removing all four on-ice officials for the rest of the playoffs. As perhaps you’ve heard, we eventually won the Stanley Cup. It’s all good now. But something else unfair happened May 15 with regard to the St. Louis Blues. That was the night Missouri’s inept General Assembly made a horrific hand pass of its own: It dished out $70 million in taxpayer dollars over a twenty-year period to the Blues — along with $60 million in handouts to the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals sports franchises. “It was so unfair that the legislative session ended that way. The wrong way,” said no one. Actually, within the minuscule next-day coverage, Representative Bruce DeGroot -Chesterfield did have the courage to denounce

it as a “welfare-for-the-rich bill.” But DeGroot was outvoted, with quite a handful of Democrats voting for the rich as well. And his voice was drowned out by civic types in St. Louis and Kansas City blathering about the exciting economic benefits that would trickle down to the masses. Mostly, the story was eclipsed by larger dramas, and most people — myself included — missed the news entirely. (I’m not proud of that, in my case, since being in the media, it’s my job to have noticed it, but ironically an obsession with the Blues’ playoff run was preoccupying my waking hours. Last week, Governor Mike Parson signed the bad bill into law, and cash-strapped Missouri continued to participate in the disgraceful national tradition of transferring public wealth to the private hands of multi-millionaire — and sometimes, billionaire — owners of local sports monopolies. Yes, most other major cities are doing this, but that doesn’t

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make it right. Not even remotely. For the next ten years, the Enterprise Center will receive a nostrings-attached gift of $2.5 million annually, and that number will grow to $4.5 million annually for the decade after that. As bill opponent Representative Tracy McCreery D-Olivette points out, the politicians who scored local points making the handout will be long gone — if for no other reason than term limits — while their gift keeps on giving. This is wrong. Missouri has one of the most underfunded state governments in America. State employees not long ago ranked dead last in the nation in average salaries (one study did put us all the way up to 46th recently . State per capita health spending ranks 48th, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Missouri needs more money. The St. Louis Blues do not need more money, nor do the St. Louis Cardinals nor the Kansas City

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HARTMANN

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Chiefs nor the Royals. These are extraordinarily successful businesses owned by extraordinarily wealthy and powerful people. They neither require nor deserve a dime of public assistance. The St. Louis Blues are not villains here: They’re simply fortunate recipients of a corrupted system, just like the Cardinals and the others. The Blues have already extracted more than $100 million from a city that cannot afford to keep its streets safe, among other minor problems. The Cardinals have surely received more. I say “surely” because there’s so little critical coverage, the adoring public has only gotten an overview as to what the city and other public and quasi-public entities are giving these teams. I’m a lifelong Cardinal fan and have gone nuts (usually in the stands over eleven World Series. As a teenager in 1968, I was in the nosebleed seats singing “When the Saints Go Marching In” the very first season the Blues embarked on what even then felt like a magical playoff run. Seeing us win the Stanley Cup this year was an emotional high for me, to put it mildly. So I apologize to no one for pointing out a couple of business details here. The current ownership group of the Cardinals, headed by Bill DeWitt Jr., paid roughly $55 million for the team in 1995 after the sale of parking garages . Today, less than a quarter of a century later, the team is valued by Forbes at $2.1 billion. Yes, that’s with a “B.” A stake worth $27,000 in 1995 would be worth roughly $1,000,000 today. Think of that in the context of, say, your car. Not quite as dramatically — but still amazing — is the success of the Blues’ ownership group headed by Tom Stillman, a bonafide local hero. Stillman is an admirable man, not nearly as billionairewealthy as many sports-owner counterparts (and unlike many of them, he didn’t hog the stage after the Blues’ victory . I’ve shaken hands with him a dozen times, not as a media guy but as one of the thousands of fans he personally greets at games (including when times were bad . e, like so many of his players and others in the organization, is wonderfully charitable in the community. But there’s this: Stillman and a group of wealthy investors reportedly paid $130 million for the Blues just seven years ago, at a time when Forbes put the franchise’s value at

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$150 million. Today, thanks mostly to better TV deals, that value skyrocketed to $465 million almost overnight. And that was before the Blues won the Stanley Cup. The windfall from that will certainly mean Stillman and company will have increased their net worth by more than half a billion dollars in about seven years. Not bad. Teams make much ado about the loyalty of their fan base, which is real and important. But understand that in 2019, fan support is necessary but not sufficient. Teams don’t rise or fall on ticket sales, as they did in the 1960s when the Solomon family took a chance on the Blues.

Missouri needs more money. The St. Louis Blues do not need more money. Today, revenues and attendant values are generated by enormous broadcast and digital revenues. Sports teams are in the advertising and merchandising businesses. Busch Stadium and the Enterprise Center are gigantic advertising delivery systems, wherein fans are passive recipients of literally thousands of commercial messages in a three- to four-hour period. The revenues that flow from that and, of course, from television — are what make these businesses so amazingly lucrative. In this context, teams like the Blues hardly need a dime of public subsidy. But not only do they get it, they benefit from obscene public assistance deals that include not only direct handouts like the one in the state bill, but also sweetheart leases, most of which are shielded from public view. Consider the Blues’ good fortune with the Enterprise Center. They don’t own the deed to the building, which means no annoying property taxes. I’m told the team eventually will be making some Payments In Lieu Of Taxes known as ILOTS to help local schools, but that’s one of many details fuzzy to the public. And the team does enjoy various incredible revenue streams as if it were the owner, including the lucrative naming rights from Enterprise. (It was announced as a fifteen-year deal in 018 for an “undisclosed” amount, even though in many other cities the

numbers — ranging from $3 million to $10 million annually for L arenas, are publicly known. Yes, the city technically “owns” the building. But the Blues own almost all of the money it generates. The Blues get the gargantuan advertising revenues in and on the building — including incredible revenue streams from a scoreboard built for it by the public — along with concessions and merchandising. They also get rental fees when there’s a concert or sporting event in the building, even though they’re unrelated to the hockey team. All the near-bankrupt city gets is its share of the ticket and sales taxes, and parking revenues, which pale in comparison. And now two levels of government are going to help the poor guys maintain the building for several decades going forward. It’s awful, but it’s real. But in the euphoria of having won that Stanley Cup, I’m guessing this might rank as one of the least popular columns I’ve written in the past four decades. Speaking of that, I’d like to address one point that really drives me nuts: All the civic propaganda about what these teams and stadia mean to St. Louis is in terms of jobs and revenue. By the dubious measures always cited in civic propaganda, the RFT has directly and indirectly created thousands of jobs and raised millions for good causes since I started it in 1977. Do you know what the public owes us? Nothing. Just like it owed nothing to a fine company like Creve Coeur Camera, which just announced, sadly, that it’s closing its doors after four decades of good service to our community. Just like the former Streetside Records and Mississippi Nights and thousands of good restaurants that have come and gone over the years. It’s called risk-and-reward capitalism, and it’s a system I still believe in, through good times and bad. To succeed, you need a good product and the loyalty of your customers and followers, and given the changing world we live in, you also need some good luck. But you neither need nor deserve government handouts. Unless, of course, you are a wealthy sports monopolist. 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 Cease ‘Gloria,’ Philly Bar Demands Written by

JAMES POLLARD

LAY GLORIA.” In the months since the St. Louis Blues began their miraculous — some might say glorious — championship run, Laura Branigan’s 1982 hit has been bumped in the locker room, featured on cocktail mixes and even had a baby zebra named after it. But now the phrase “Play Gloria” is featured in a cease-anddesist letter from the Philadelphia bar where St. Louis Blues players first began to chant it, Missouri Lawyers Weekly reports. Arch Apparel, a St. Louis-based company, has marketed shirts with the phrase and received 5,000 orders for them within 24 hours of advertising them online. That’s when Philly-based the Jacks NYB, which is selling its own shirts featuring the phrase, contacted it,

A Home For Jazmin Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

little more than a month ago, Jazmin did the unimaginable — she moved into her own apartment. The 22-year-old had been homeless in St. Louis for nearly three years. The Riverfront Times profiled her in a cover story in November 2018. At the time, she told us she did not believe she would survive another winter on the streets. She was spending frigid nights huddled under donated blankets on downtown sidewalks, steam grates or bus shelter benches. Her days were an exhausting cycle of panhandling, chaotic encounters with an abusive ex-boyfriend and hunting down enough K2 to toler-

The ‘Play Gloria’ rallying cry is now a trademark dispute for T-shirt makers. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI Missouri Lawyers Weekly reports. In a July 12 Facebook post, the bar defended itself, saying while it loves the Blues and their fans and was proud to play a role in the historic run, the clothing company’s move was “greedy” and “unethical.” It claimed that other groups stopped using the phrase once the bar trademarked it, but Arch Apparel “ignored us and thrived.” “When we found out that other companies were using [the] PLAY GLORIA trademark to make money off of it, we reached out to them ate another few hours. She had been beaten, jailed, harassed and propositioned. And she did not see much hope for the future. “The way things are going, I think I’m finna to wind up dead,” she told us back then. But that’s not what happened. A social worker employed by the city contacted Jaz’s attorneys at ArchCity Defenders after reading about her. During the next seven months, a team of organizations, including Gateway 180, St. Patrick Center and Places for People worked to help her. Z Gorley of ArchCity Defenders says there was an enormous amount of red tape the groups had work through. “It took so many people, a team of people, including Jaz, to get to this point,” Gorley says, noting that many people who are homeless don’t have the same support. Jaz stayed for a time in a Gateway 180 women’s shelter, and then she moved into her a one bedroom in south city. Another nonprofit, ome Sweet Home STL, helped her fur-

to try to make a deal with them,” the post reads. “If they are going to profit from it, why shouldn’t we get a small piece of the pie. Wouldn’t you? Why should they keep all of the profits?” But some experts think the bar will have a tough time making their case in court. Mark Sableman, a partner at Thompson Coburn who specializes in trademark and copyright law, says a trademark is something that makes consumers think of a particular provider of goods. “I suspect that Jacks NYB would

have a tough time proving that when people hear ‘Play Gloria,’ they think that it refers to Jacks NYB, in the same way, for example, that people think that golden arches refer to McDonald’s,” he says in an email. Arch Apparel has kept the link up and plans to keep selling the shirts, Missouri Lawyers Weekly reports. But this isn’t the first property penalty the clothing company has been accused of since the Blues won the cup, as it acknowledged. After the Blues’ victory, the company began selling blue shirts with “Finally.” emblazoned in yellow across the front, and an image of the Stanley Cup replacing the letter “i.” Then the National Hockey League got in touch, and the company dropped any Stanley imagery. But in a July 12 Facebook post, Arch Apparel owner Aaron Park says cease-and-desist letters are “par-for-the-course” in the world of content creation. He emphasized his company has a “completely fine” relationship with the Philly bar. The Jacks NYB agreed in its own post. And while Park disagreed with the characterization of his company as “greedy,” he says it’s “all good, all love” between the small businesses, even hinting at a potential collaboration. n

Jazmin sees a future for herself after moving off the streets and into an apartment. | DOYLE MURPHY nish it. She has a couch, kitchen set and a mattress. On a recent morning, the wall-unit air conditioner is running full-blast while Jaz relaxes in a recliner. “I’m able to take showers,” she says, ticking off some of the ways life has

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changed. “I’m able to get sleep. I can come and go when I want to.” She is wearing one of her wigs, giving her long, shiny black hair. She picks at her nails as she talks about her plans. There was a

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JAZMIN

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time when everything she owned fit into a backpack, but now she has a growing collection of clothes piling up in her bedroom. “I’m going to start designing my own jeans and doing nails, hair and makeup,” she says. Her apartment is not fancy. She complains about a wide gap under the front door, and a clacking box fan that sounds like it could rattle apart at any moment. But moving here has allowed her to redirect her focus from the minute-to-minute demands of panhandling to a broader world. She has become interested in activism, particularly in regard to the perils faced by transgender women. A couple of weeks ago, she joined the Trans & Gender-Free March in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

She was also a featured speaker, describing her experiences on the streets, at an ACLU-sponsored event. When she was homeless, she was often alone and fearful of men, who might proposition or attack her or both. She knew of only one other homeless transgender woman, and then only briefly, because that woman found an apartment and left the streets. Now, Jaz goes to a weekly meeting at the Metro Trans Umbrella Group. She says she is making friends there. “I like it,” she says. “I like it a lot. They’re very respectful and a lot of fun.” Moving into the apartment has not solved everything. She says she is still hooked on K2, but having a stable place to stay has helped her use less often, and she is progressively weening herself off. She says she is more confidence now. Her whole life is different. “I can walk in and walk out,” she says of her new home. “I have some place to go.” n

St. Louis cops spent hours in a standoff with a murder suspect in Tower Grove South. | DOYLE MURPHY

Standoff Ends with Arrest Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

man wanted for murder in Washington state held St. Louis police and U.S. Marshals at bay for five hours on July 12 in Tower Grove South before he and two others were taken into custody. The 27-year-old suspect, Kyle Johnson-Clark, is also wanted for questioning in several violent crimes in the city and for violating his Missouri parole, St. Louis Police Major Eric Larson told reporters. The city’s police intelligence officers and marshals learned Johnson-Clark was hiding in the 3900 block of Utah Street and likely armed, Larson says. Law enforcement agents swarmed the area shortly after 10 a.m. Johnson-Clark barricaded himself inside with a man and woman, police say. Officers heard him fir-

ing rounds inside. He also shot at an armored police vehicle, authorities say. No one was injured. Police crisis negotiators contacted Johnson-Clark and spoke to him off and on throughout the day, but he refused to come out, police said. As the standoff continued, police blocked off surrounding blocks as SWAT team members gathered around a mobile command center at the intersection of Roger and Humphrey streets. A spokeswoman says they evacuated nearby buildings. Shortly after 3 p.m., the SWAT team cleared the house, taking all three people into custody. Officers recovered an assault rifle and a handgun from inside, police say. Larson says they’re still trying to determine the connection between the suspect and the two adults. He says investigators aren’t sure whether the other two played any role in the standoff. Police in Richland, Washington, say Johnson-Clark killed a man on May 3. He was also wanted in Missouri for violating his parole on a domestic violence conviction. n

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BY RYAN KRULL

n a cool October morning in 1990, a man jogging along Basston Drive in Maryland Heights noticed an odor so foul it warranted alerting the two municipal workers cutting weeds nearby. The workers tracked the odor to a 35-gallon plastic trash bin sitting out of place in the grass between Basston and Page Avenue. The bin had no lid and was instead covered in trash bags secured with wire. The municipal workers attempted to load the bin into their truck only to find it was exceptionally heavy. Inside they found a body decomposed to such an extent that it wasn’t until later in the day police were certain the victim was a woman. She was somewhere between eighteen and 40, police said, wearing a turquoise sweater. Her hands had been bound, a man’s shirt wrapped around her head. Police determined she’d died of asphyxiation. On a concrete wall near where the trash bin had been sitting, someone had written in graffiti, “Sorry ym.” The media and the police quickly connected the Maryland Heights Jane Doe to the case of Robyn J. Mihan, an eighteen-yearold whose body had been found six months prior. Mihan’s body had been discovered bound be-

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tween two mattresses in Silex, Missouri. Both women had been discarded on the side of highways — Jane Doe 20 miles west of the city, Mihan about 60 miles northwest. Both had shirts pulled tight around their faces and their hands tied together. Traces of dog hair had been found on both bodies as well. Four months after Jane Doe’s discovery, a security guard in O’Fallon, Missouri, found a third body — also a woman. She was in a homemade wooden box and was also badly decomposed. “ e was smart about where he

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WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY dumped the bodies,” says oe Burgoon, who was a St. Louis police detective in the early ’90s and now works cold cases for the department. “ e knew to spread them out across jurisdictions to make things harder for us.” Between March 1990 and February 1991, one man abducted at least three women from the same area in south city, raped, mutilated and murdered them before leaving their bodies along highways outside of town. Because he discarded all the bodies in some sort of receptacle — a trash bin, a pair of mattresses, a homemade wooden box the few people familiar with the murders refer to him as the package killer. These killings made the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but generally with scant information about the victims. When the killing stopped, the story quickly and completely faded, both from the newspapers as well as the city’s collective memory. Barb Studt, a stepsister of one of the victims, put it this way: “For about ten years afterward, if I said, ‘My sister was the one they found in the box on ighway 70,’ people would say, ‘Oh yeah, I heard about that.’ Now they have no idea what I’m talking about.” Criminologists say the package killer likely killed more than three people. But no one has ever been

STEPHANIE DANIELS

charged in any of the three linked cases. The first two victims left police little evidence to follow up on. The mattresses Mihan had been bound between were tied together in the same manner that stacks of newspapers are bundled before delivery. All four corners were meticulously tied with Conex cable, Burgoon says, the sort of material an electrician would use to wire a house. Jane Doe had been stuffed into a trash can with a Biener Hardware sticker affixed to it, and cable had been found at that scene as well. Maybe the guy was a construction worker or a contractor, police thought. But how many of those were there in the area? It didn’t help that the second victim hadn’t even been identified. At least with the first victim, Robyn Mihan, police had a name.

ROBYN M IHAN

t’s very important to Saundra Mihan, Robyn’s mother, that you understand this “ eople are different things to different people. Robyn’s life did mean something. She was loved.” Saundra is understandably wary of the media, who in 1990 printed that Robyn was a prostitute and murder victim and pretty Continued on pg 14

Sandy Little. | COURTESY BARB STUDT

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THE PACKAGE KILLER Continued from pg 12

much left it at that. For all the interest in the case at the time, no one seemed particularly invested in understanding who had been killed. The Post-Dispatch even got her age wrong, printing that she was nineteen when she was still six months shy of that. Robyn lit up a room when she walked in, Saundra says. When she smiled her cheeks dimpled in six different places, a bit like rings around a planet. She talked with her eyes. Everyone who met her liked her. In high school, she was involved in the ROTC program. Later, she enrolled in beauty school. Says Saundra, “ ou don’t know what these women would have been, what they’d have gone on to do, if they had the chance, if their lives hadn’t been taken from them.” Robyn grew up with her mom in Tower Grove East and later in Bevo. She went to Cleveland High School, a public school that is now abandoned, in Dutchtown. Saundra worked in health care and still does. Hearing about Robyn’s childhood and teenage years, you get the sense they were quintessential south city: equal parts hardscrabble and unsupervised fun. When Robyn was a teenager, both she and her older brother Tom got heavy into crack cocaine. A lot of St. Louisans did. Though the crack epidemic is often associated with the 1980s, it didn’t stop at the end of that decade. In the early ’90s, a packet of crack in St. Louis cost as little as $5. Newspaper coverage at the time stated that police busted individuals with four or five pounds of the stuff several times a week. At Lambert Airport, federal authorities intercepted over 50 pounds of cocaine and more than $1 million in drug money in a single year. In 1 88, when obyn was sixteen, she had a daughter and named her after her mother. Baby Saundra was born three months early but healthy. When Robyn was seventeen, she became pregnant again. “ ou’re already a baby taking care of a baby,” Saundra told Robyn at the time. She encouraged her daughter to put the second child up for adoption. Robyn agreed. The baby, another daughter, was born in March 1990. Tom Mihan went to the hospital to visit his sister after the delivery; Saundra stayed home. She believed adoption was the right choice, but “I knew that if I went up there, I’d be taking that child

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Robyn Mihan was a mother at sixteen and murdered at eighteen. | COURTESY SAUNDRA MIHAN home,” she says. ot going to the hospital that day is now something Saundra deeply regrets. Within two weeks, on March 22, Robyn would be reported missing. Four days after that, she’d be found dead.

he night she was abducted, Robyn was with her brother Tom in the Shaw neighborhood. The escort service Robyn worked for operated out of the house, and the siblings frequently hung out there. For Robyn, the escort service was a safer way to make money than walking the street. But that night no calls were coming in. She, Tom and their friend Faye had exhausted their supply of crack, and Robyn was going through withdrawal. “I told her to take a alium and come down, crash. Tomorrow’s another day,” Tom says. “Instead, she went to the Stroll.” At the time, the city’s red-light district, called the Southside Stroll, ran along South Jefferson between Broadway and Chippewa on the south and Cherokee to the north, a block from what is now Sump Coffee. In the early 1 0s, the Mexican immigrants who would later revitalize Cherokee Street had not yet arrived in numbers sufficient to make much of mark; the hipsters were even further away. “These women were easy victims,” says an officer who worked

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the area at the time. “And they were easily victimi ed.” Robyn and her friend Faye left Shaw and went to the Stroll looking for a customer. They parked on Texas, a block from efferson, facing Cherokee, right next to the Fortune Teller Bar. As a rule, when one of the women got in a man’s car, they made him circle the block once so the other could get a look at the car and its driver. This provided a measure of security. Robyn went around the corner onto Cherokee, and Faye sat in the car, waiting for the usual drive by. But that never happened. After two hours, Faye went back to the house on Shaw. “We figured, with our lifestyle at the time, that she got in a car with somebody, and they went and partied,” Tom says. “Still, I was worried. I was upset.” Four days later, police knocked on Saundra’s door in south city. “The only reason I was at home and not at work was because my daughter was missing and I was watching my grandbaby,” Saundra says. “I knew they weren’t going to tell me anything good. They weren’t there to chit chat.” They peppered her with questions. When was the last time she’d seen Robyn? Who had she been with? The detectives seemed uneasy and avoided telling her why they were there. “Look,” Saundra eventually said. “I’ve tried to accommodate you by answering your questions.

ou haven’t told me anything. What is it you’re not telling me?” They asked Saundra if her daughter had any distinguishing marks. “Am I going to have to tell you that’s what you came here for?” she replied. Saundra finally asked if her daughter was dead. The detectives told her about a two-lane country highway an hour north of St. Louis. Saundra had never before heard of Silex, Missouri. The previous day, a driver who traveled the same route every morning had spotted a pair of mattresses, bound together, that hadn’t been there the day before. He stopped to investigate. Detective Burgoon says that Mihan’s body was found with quite a bit of blood, signs of strangulation around the neck. There was a stab wound to the head that pierced the scalp but didn’t go through, contusions on her face, cheek, wrist and feet. Some of these were defensive wounds, implying a struggle. Others were postmortem. “My guess was she was in pain,” Burgoon adds. A few weeks after Robyn’s murder, Tom says he was picked up by the police and wound up in the same room as members of the Major Case S uad. One of the officers threw a rolled-up wad of cash on the table. “Tell us who did it, and you can keep it,” the officer said. “I don’t fucking know who did it,” Tom replied. Implicit in the detective’s offer were a world of assumptions: that Tom knew the killer, that he wanted to profit from his sister’s death, that he’d only want to see justice if it meant a payday for him. In the reporting of this story, Tom was generous with his time, talking for two hours about his sister and his life in the early ’90s. Only one time, when he talked about police offering him a roll of cash, did he cry.

aundra Mihan says that not long after her daughter’s death, the police told her they’d searched a suspect’s apartment and found candle wax, which had also been found on Robyn’s body. The Post-Dispatch would later report that St. Louis police were ready to make an arrest, but because Robyn had been found in Silex, it was up to Lincoln County’s prosecuting attorney’s office to bring the charges. It was reluctant to do so. The assistant prosecuting attorney gave a quote to the Post-Dispatch that seemed to imply that the city police were hoping to arrest the suspect simply to gather more

conclusive evidence on him. Saundra was quoted in the same article “If you got enough evidence on him, what does it matter what county it’s in?” Today, Saundra says she’s still appreciative of some of the officers, like Burgoon, who treated her humanely. But in the months after the killing, she often felt left in the dark. A lot of the cops, she says, acted as if the murder of her own daughter was none of her business. In an effort to identify the Maryland Heights Jane Doe, police released to the media a clay cast of what experts believed her face had looked like. This yielded nothing. Her body had been so badly decomposed, only a print from her ring finger could be of any use, and a computer database search found no matches. Police followed up with Biener hardware, since the body had been found in a 35-gallon trash can marked with its name. Biener had two locations at the time, one in Webster Groves and the other in north St. Louis County. The store said that thieves often stole their cans in the middle of the night. Saundra grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress. In the days after the discovery of that second body, Saundra asked local

news stations to come to her work and interview her there. Wanting to light a fire underneath investigators, she appeared on the front page of the Post-Dispatch holding a photo of Robyn. She wanted the city to know her daughter’s life mattered. “I’m sorry other girls had to be killed like this,” Saundra said. No one knew at the time that the third victim had already been missing for more than a month. “ e had two people,” Burgoon says. “Whoever it was had a couple of bodies at the same time.”

SA N D Y L I TTL E

andy Little had a lot of suitors in her late teens and early twenties. When the phone rang, she’d answer “ i ” then pause for a beat. Depending on whose voice was on the other end, she’d very likely continue, “ ou have reached Sandy Little. I can’t come to the phone right now but if you leave a message .” The men never got wise. When Sandy crashed with her stepsister, Barb Studt, friends and hangers-on materialized in the living room, drinking, having a good time. Studt usually had to work the next morning and would go to

bed with the motley, ever-shifting crew around Sandy still going hard. But under Sandy’s watchful eye, in the morning nothing had ever been stolen, everything was intact. During that period of her life Sandy could shut the party down as effortlessly as she got it going. Sandy almost certainly did not inherit this social nature from her mother. Multiple people who knew Sandy’s mother, Carolyn Little, say that she was intellectually disabled in some way, had the intelligence of a thirteen-year-old. She was profoundly self-centered, ill-suited to raising her three children. Carolyn had trouble pronouncing Sandy’s name. It came out like Candy, and throughout childhood that nickname had stuck. A stabili ing influence entered the Little children’s lives when Robert Talbott married Carolyn. Studt, Talbott’s daughter from his first marriage, was mystified by her father’s attraction. “I wondered what my dad saw in this woman,” Studt says. Later she decided her dad married Carolyn because of the kids. “ e felt like she couldn’t take care of them, and he was absolutely right. As soon as he was gone, she lost custody of them.”

Robyn’s mother Saundra Mihan and brother Tom Mihan have waited decades for an arrest in her vicious murder. | JEN WEST

After Talbott died in 1980, Sandy, her brother David and half-siblings Geneva, James and Robert Jr. bounced around in the foster care system. At one point they were adopted by a family in Homer, Alaska, but free-spirited Sandy was too much for those parents. They offered to keep the other children but couldn’t deal with her. Perhaps Sandy, the oldest of the siblings and approaching her teens, couldn’t handle Homer, Alaska (population 2,209). Back in Missouri, Robert Jr., who was four years younger than Sandy, remembers being picked on by an older kid at a Presbyterian home for children in Farmington, Missouri. In the lunchroom one day Sandy told him to point out the bully. She knocked him out in his chair. “She was like that,” obert says. “She protected us.” Sandy and her siblings eventually wound up back in south St. Louis, near Cherokee Street, living with their mother and her new partner. Their stepsister Studt lived nearby, and Sandy often crashed in her spare bedroom. On nights when Sandy stayed with Carolyn, Carolyn charged her $20 a night as rent. “I always used to worry about the drugs,” Studt says. “She and I would talk about it. That’s why I let her live with me, because she didn’t do them with me. But when she went back to her mom’s, they were all on drugs there, and they hung with a bunch of drug heads.” Sandy walked the South Side Stroll to fund her habit as well as to meet daily expenses and her mother’s demands for rent. She lived for a time with her aunt Diane Little, who kicked her out for using hard drugs. Diane understood that prostitution was her niece’s way of providing for her baby. “If she had stuck to prostitution [but] stayed away from the hard drugs, shooting dope, she could have continued living with us,” Diane Little later told the Post-Dispatch. At twenty, Sandy got pregnant. It was a boy. She moved in with the baby’s father and his mother, a place that brought with it some measure of stability. “That boy was her world,” Studt says. “She was so excited to have him. She was so happy.” In 1990, Sandy was raising her child, supporting a drug habit and trying to get clean. She made earnest attempts to get steady work, taking a job at a fast food place, but continued to walk the street. It was dangerous. That May, her good friend Sandra Cain, who also Continued on pg 17

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Left: The Little siblings. | COURTESY BARB STUDT Right: Sandy Little often crashed in the spare bedroom of her stepsister, Barb Studt, while navigating a chaotic home life in south St. Louis. | JEN WEST

THE PACKAGE KILLER Continued from pg 15

worked the Stroll, was found dead on Highway 44 near the Compton overpass. According to the PostDispatch, police at the time didn’t know “whether Cain had been chased onto the highway, thrown out of a car or thrown off the Compton overpass.” Sandy Little had been the last person to see her alive. The following month, the body of another woman who walked the Stroll was found in a trash bin in Laclede Park in south city. That August, Studt saw Sandy walking the Stroll. “What are you doing?” Studt asked. Sandy said she needed money to buy formula. On the Tuesday after the long Labor Day weekend, Sandy’s boyfriend’s mother reported her missing. Sandy would be officially missing for nearly five months.

andy’s boyfriend Chris Day, the father of her child, has two dates seared in his brain. “September 4,” he says. “February 17.” “Those months were unbearable,” he says. On February 17, 1991, a security guard at the General Motors plant in Wentzville was headed to work, driving on I-70 through O’Fallon, Missouri, when he saw a strange box on the side of the highway. It was odd looking, clearly homemade. The security guard stopped, picked it up and put it in the back of his truck. Apparently, he was a

bit of a pack rat and regularly did this sort of thing. “That morning he’s driving to work and he starts smelling something,” Burgoon says. By the time the security guard got to the GM plant, fluid was coming out of the box. The security guard called the police. The Wentzville police there asked the man where he found the box. When he said along I-70 in O’Fallon, the police decided it was O’Fallon’s case, not theirs. “[O’Fallon] was working what they could on it,” says Burgoon. “But all they were trying to say is that it’s a prostitute from St. Louis, and they tried to dump it on St. Louis.” According to the rules of the trade, however, O’Fallon remained the lead agency. Says Burgoon, “Whoever’s got the body got the body.” When detectives opened the box, they found that decomposition had set in. The body was mostly bones, one detective says. A doctor could only identify the remains as Sandy’s based off a rib she’d broken and had x-rayed before her abduction. The most important piece of evidence was a sock cap with a logo stitched onto it for Ticor Title, the title insurance firm. “Sandy would never have worn that sort of thing,” Studt says, meaning that it must have belonged to the killer. Ticor Title has long left St. Louis, but at the time a representative said only about 100 of the hats were made and given out as promotional items. The hat was tested for DNA to no avail. Studt remembers when she heard about the discovery of San-

dy’s body. She was in her kitchen, the local news on in the background. She sensed her stepsister’s body had been found before she processed the newscaster’s words. What remained of Little’s body wore the uniform of the fast-food restaurant where she worked. She’d been abducted after work, though it’s unknown if she was walking the Stroll or walking home. “She was someone who you loved to be in the room with because she would just brighten it up,” Studt says. “She had a lot of demons, but you never would have known it if you’d just seen her.” “I think of her all the time,” says Sandy’s younger sister Geneva. “It stays with you. She’s stayed with me.”

BRE ND A JE AN PRU I TT

hree weeks after Little’s body was found, police finally identified the Maryland Heights Jane Doe. Her name was Brenda Jean Pruitt. She was 27, and her family had reported her missing nine months before, in May 1990. More than 21 weeks passed between the discovery of her body and her identification. After the police’s computer system failed to find a match for the single ring-finger fingerprint taken off the badly decomposed Jane Doe, a police fingerprint examiner named Janet Majors meticulously compared it with the prints already on file. One by one she compared the single print with more than 1,800 others before finally coming across a match. Pruitt had no record of prosti-

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tution. Police were quoted in the Post-Dispatch saying that other women who worked the Stroll didn’t know her. She had been arrested previously for a handful of minor offenses, which is why her prints were on file, but of all the victims the least is known about her. She had a friend in a senior living facility near Cherokee Street, Burgoon says. But whereas it’s easy to understand the circumstances under which Little and Mihan got in a car with their killer, the picture is hazier for Pruitt. The more you think about the way in which the bodies were left, particularly those of Pruitt and Little, the more bizarre the picture of the killer becomes. If a body is decomposed beyond recognition, why not leave it in the woods or in one of the city’s thousands of vacant homes? To put the remains in a receptacle along the highway ensures they are found in short order and leaves no doubt of foul play. Pruitt’s family declined to speak to the media at the time, and extensive efforts to locate them in recent months yielded no contacts. Brenda is buried at Calvary Cemetery, the space and burial expenses donated by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The plot is unmarked, with nothing to indicate it is anyone’s final resting place.

THE M IS S ING M IS S ING

enna Quinet is a professor of criminal justice, law and public safety at the University of Indiana-Indianapolis and one of the few academics who study serial killers. She has

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THE PACKAGE KILLER Continued from pg 17

appeared as an expert in A ’s The Killing Season and, among many other works, published “The Missing Missing” in the academic journal Homicide Studies. Despite a career studying serial killers, and sex workers as victims of serial killers in particular, the package killer’s murders were entirely unknown to her. She finds them intriguing. “ ou have the three known victims,” uinet says. “But then you probably have some number of missing women from the same area whose bodies were never found and who might also be victims. Then you have the ‘missing missing,’ women who were never reported missing, even though they went missing and their bodies were never found. They’re not on anybody’s radar. That number of three could grow pretty uickly.” Depending on who you ask, there are anywhere from 100 to as many as 2,000 active serial killers in the country right now. And although serial murder in the U.S. has declined overall, it has declined much less for prostitutes. If you are a victim of a serial killer, Quinet says, it is highly likely you’re also a sex worker. And that, in many cases, allows these killers to stay off law enforcement’s radar. Says Quinet of these victims, “It turns out, nobody gives a shit.” Quinet notes that serial killers who stay in the public’s consciousness, like Ted Bundy or Charles Manson, tend to kill white, a uent women or college students or men. arlier this year, the Oxygen network released an entire docuseries about the Smiley Face iller, in which a pair of former New ork City detectives investigate the deaths of college-aged men who drowned over the course of two decades, across several states, allegedly all at the hands of the same individual. Nevermind, Quinet says, that a lot of these guys were drunk when they drowned and the only connection between the cases was a smiley face spray painted somewhere in the general vicinity. uinet finds it “ridiculous” that at a time when the public is interested in true crime stories, media companies are manufacturing farces like the Smiley Face iller and “redoing the Bundy case for the millionth time.” “Good luck getting the public to pay attention to a serial murder case happening now involving

prostitute victims, much less to an unsolved case from the 1 0s,” she says. “Good luck with that.” et despite the lack of public awareness in the package killer case, tantalizing clues have left some people convinced they know who did it.

SUSP ECT # 1

t’s a myth that serial killers don’t stop,” uinet says. “There’s some interesting work that’s been published on serial murder as leisure activity. If you look at serial killers, it really is their hobby. People get really immersed in their hobbies for a time and then just wander off.” Discussing the case, Burgoon mentions numerous persons of interest but only names one suspect by name, a man who was in his thirties at the time and lived on Miami Street. Saundra Mihan, not knowing what Burgoon shared, also names this man and says that she knows he killed her daughter. Chris Day quickly volunteers the same name as Sandy Little’s killer as well. This man had come to the police’s attention a few months before the series of killings began. According to Burgoon, one night a naked woman ran up Cherokee Street screaming that the man was trying to kill her. Other women who worked the South Side Stroll told detectives this man had tortured them. He had previously been booked on suspicion of attempted rape. At the time of the killings he owned a station wagon, the sort of vehicle that would have been necessary to transport a body. Burgoon says that after the first murder, of Robyn Mihan, he and other detectives questioned this suspect for several hours, holding him overnight. After the discovery of Jane Doe in Maryland Heights, the suspect was at home waiting for the police. He’d seen on the news about the body and figured the police would be paying him a visit. During the discovery of Sandy Little’s body, in February 1991, the suspect was in California, a fact confirmed by San Diego police. However, it’s not clear if this suspect was in California in September when Sandy disappeared. er body “was basically bones,” Burgoon says, meaning she had likely been killed not long after being abducted. An accomplice could have dumped the body. The specifics of obyn’s case also bring to mind an accomplice. Think about the last time you carried a mattress. ou likely had help. ow imagine carrying two mattresses with a body in between.

There is also the matter of where he kept these women and their corpses for a combined 308 days. How does someone do that without anybody, a roommate, a neighbor, noticing? Today, the man lives in St. Louis. A sign on his front door states in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t want visitors. He did not respond to a note with a brief summary about the story, asking him to call. Quinet says that even though it’s a myth serial killers never stop, sometimes they don’t stop on their own accord. Maybe they’re killed. Maybe they’re put in jail for something else.

SUSPECT #2

n July 15, 1993, a nude woman escaped from the basement garage of a duplex in High Ridge, Missouri. The woman told police she had been working a stroll in East St. Louis when Frederick Brown forced her into his car at gunpoint. Later, Brown raped her, tied her up and gagged her before locking her into a plastic luggage container, the kind that sit atop cars. It was a space of three square feet and in his basement. When Brown left for work, the woman managed to escape, sliding between the space where the two pieces of plastic came together. Jefferson County police arrested Brown when he came home later that day. He is now serving life in prison for kidnapping, armed criminal action and rape. One police source who would only speak on background says that, to his mind, this is the man who most likely killed Robyn Mihan, Brenda Jean Pruitt, Sandy Little and perhaps others. Brown was described in media reports at the time as a cabinet maker, a craftsman, which would explain the precise wiring of the mattresses in Mihan’s case. He had also worked off and on as a long-haul truck driver. He’d claimed to be in the Northeast during the time of the previous murders, but police could put him at a truck stop along I-70 the same night Little’s body was dropped along that highway. Brown operated his woodworking business out of a building in ock ill, next door to one of only two Biener Hardware locations in St. Louis. It was a Biener ardware sticker that was affixed to the plastic trash can Brenda Pruitt’s body was found in. A man named Gene irkpatrick later occupied the same Rock Hill work space as Brown. irkpatrick says that he knows next to noth-

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ing about Brown, though he does remember Brown owned a black Labrador. The bodies of the three women all had traces of animal hair on them. The woman who escaped Brown’s home was working a different area than the other victims, but as uinet says, “The idea that serial killers don’t change their M.O., another myth. They change their M.O. all the time. They want to kill as many people as they can for as long as they can. They don’t want to get caught.” However, there is this: The homemade box Sandy Little was found in had been jury-rigged together, imprecise cuts marked with a pen rather than with a woodworker’s pencil. It’s hardly the sort of object that would be made by someone who worked with wood professionally. The evidence is entirely circumstantial, but that may not always be the case. Sergeant Jodi Weber of the O’Fallon Police Department recently re-examined the Sandy Little case. She says that right now, physical evidence recovered with Sandy’s body is at the St. Charles County crime lab being tested for DNA. Earlier this year, police testing physical evidence for DNA led to charges being brought in the murder of Angie Housman, who was killed in 1993. At the time, the case led to countless hours of police investigation, but no closure. This June, police announced that clothing found at the scene had yielded DNA belonging to a convicted child molester already in prison for another crime. Brown and I emailed back and forth in the lead up to the publication of this story. He’s currently in a medium security facility in Licking, Missouri, and says he has been denied parole three times due to the “circumstances and seriousness surrounding the crime.” We talked in a general way about his 1993 case before I brought up Mihan, Pruitt and Little. I asked him directly if he had anything to do with their murders. “To answer your uestion as simply and concisely as possible, no,” he says. “I had absolutely nothing to do with any of those murders. Though I sincerely feel for the families and friends of those individuals. I know what it’s like to seek closure for the loss of a loved one, I lost a son at the young age of 15, and not only couldn’t I be there for him, there was nothing that could be done, if this matters to anyone.” e adds, “I owned the cabinet shop next-door to Biener hardware,

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THE PACKAGE KILLER Continued from pg 19

that whole block (property and buildings) was owned by one family, and two of the family members had businesses in the back of my shop along with access to my shop and equipment. So, did the police do their due diligence and investigate them?...Or, and here’s a thought outside the box, maybe there’s no connection what-soever between the three cases and they just might want to consider the more difficult task which is, treating them all on an individual basis, looking for motives other than similarities? nowing how the justice system works, including law enforcement, they’re more interested in closing a case than actually having the person responsible.”

NO CL OS UR E

obyn Mihan, Sandy Little and Brenda Jean Pruitt represent three of St. Louis’ 4,567 homicides since 1990. Of course, when you add to that number the ones left behind, the number of victims becomes impossible to tally. It’s hard to say how many of those homicides went unsolved. Establishing a clearance rate for the past 30 years is tricky, but the Washington Post found that during one of those decades, from 2007 to 2017, fewer than half of the homicide investigations in St. Louis led to an arrest. In this case, the lack of closure doesn’t seem to be for a lack of police trying. Detectives crawled into the AC in the building where Brown worked, looking for dog hairs to compare to those found on Mihan and other victims. They traveled south to St. Petersburg, Florida, and north to Michigan when similar killings happened in those states. Last year, when the media reported that a man in prison in California confessed to killing scores of people throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, one retired detective says the first thing he did was call the cold-case division and make sure they were following up. Requests for police reports and investigative files in these cases were mostly denied by local police departments, who cited the fact that those documents are part of an investigation that is still ongoing. With the exception of oe Burgoon, it was difficult to get law enforcement to speak candidly on the record. The families of victims, however, were eager to tell the stories of

the loved ones they’d lost. “They meant something to someone,” says Geneva Talbott, Sandy Little’s sister. “ egardless of the demons on their backs.” Several of the family members say that in the wake of losing a loved one they became voracious readers of true crime books, ones about serial killers in particular. ou can’t help but wonder if they’re looking in other stories for the closure that’s been denied to them in their own.

n the morning of March , 1 0, the police finished with their questions, delivered their grim news and left Saundra Mihan’s house. At that moment Saundra knew exactly what she had to do. Just weeks earlier she’d encouraged her daughter Robyn to give up her second child for adoption. Now that Saundra had lost her own daughter, she had to have her grandbaby back. “I basically lived over at the Department of Social Services,” Saundra says. “ verybody over there knew me very well because I was trying to find this girl.” Despite Saundra’s efforts, the state refused to provide information about the family that had adopted her. Saundra knew the child’s birthday but not the name she’d been given. She thought of her constantly, every Christmas, every birthday, every family gathering. ears turned into decades, and Saundra raised her older granddaughter, also named Saundra, and told her bits and pieces about Robyn. There were things the younger Saundra discovered on her own, but she never knew she had a sister. The elder Saundra figured she’d already put enough on the young woman she was raising. In 2014, young Saundra was in her mid-twenties, working her way toward a nursing degree, when she got a Facebook message. She called her grandma. “This girl says that if my mother’s name is Robyn, then she’s my sister,” she said. Robyn Mihan’s two daughters, born just one year apart, are now reunited. And if you sit down with Saundra Mihan — grandmother, great-grandmother and the mother of a woman murdered far too young — she’ll show you pictures. For now, it is her only happy ending.

Ryan Krull is a freelance journalist and assistant teaching professor in the department of communication and media at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

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BY PAUL PAUL FRISWOLD FRISWOLD BY

WEE WEE

FRIDAY 07/19 More Fresh Plays The first half of this year’s LaBute New Theater Festival was absolutely outstanding. Can the second set of plays top it? There’s only one way to find out. eil LaBute’s funny and scathing “Great egro Works of Art” closes this half of the fest, which also includes ichard Curtis’ “ redilections,” oseph rawc yk’s “ enrietta” and “Sisyphus and Icarus a Love story” by William Ivor Fawkes. All four plays are performed and directed by working St. Louis actors. The second half of LaBute fest runs 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at p.m. Sunday uly 1 to 8 at the Gaslight Theater 8 orth Boyle Avenue www.stlas. org . Tickets are 0 to .

Theater of the Mind The technical aspect of neurological diseases such as a stroke can be hard to understand. A new play called BrainWorks, which premieres Friday, uly 1 , at the Loretto- ilton Center, aims to help its audience understand what goes on inside our heads when something’s not right. Created by Barnes- ewish ospital in partnership with the ine etwork, BrainWorks features four one-act plays revolving around Al heimer’s, meningioma-class brain tumors, epilepsy and strokes, all explained by neurosurgeons Albert im and ric Leuthardt and acted out by a cast. “Albert and I always like having conversations about the brain,” Leuthardt muses. “The whole thesis was, Let’s bring people into this conversation.’” And so they did. From creating the Brain Coffee odcast that expands on health and wellness to evolving the BrainWorks concept into a play and a future BS television show, friends im and Leuthardt are brain geeks at heart. They began working on the theater version of BrainWorks around four years ago. im calls the play a 0 experience about what goes on in the brain and the human stories that follow each experience.

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From left, doctors Albert Kim and Erick Leuthardt discussing BrainWorks. | JAMES BYARD/WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY “This is where we really try to interweave the human stories in compelling, interesting, sometimes sad, sometimes funny stories on what it is to be human and what it’s like to get sick with specific diseases,” says im. Beginning initially with what could be described as a T D talk, im and Leuthardt approached

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Seth Gordon, the former associate artistic director for the epertory Theatre St. Louis and current head of the Oklahoma niversity school of drama, to adapt it into a theatrical event. “One of the things we’re focusing on is having this be a play about doctors not knowing what they need to know, but who are

trying to figure out how to solve each patient’s problems,” says Gordon. BrainWorks was ultimately written by four ew Dramatists playwrights, each of whom have had personal experiences with the conditions discussed in the play. The scenes, Gordon promises, are as “dramatically moving as they are inspirational.” “It’s a play about people who are struggling and the challenges that their lives will have and moving with as much fortitude and dignity through that period of life as they can,” Gordon says. “That’s the part of their life that we see in each of these plays.” Both im and Leuthardt acknowledge that it’s difficult to explain medical scenarios to a general audience, but say they’ve had some experience even before getting involved with theater. “It’s something we do every day with our patients,” im says. “It’s super tough to figure out how to translate this into something everybody can understand.” While Leuthardt says the play entertains the audience, he doesn’t want that to distract from how these diseases affect patients and those around them. “ ssentially,

WEEK WEEK

OF JULY JULY 18-24 18-24 OF cism, which was gifted to the museum by actor and art collector incent rice. The Art of Invention is on display in the main exhibition gallery Tuesday through Sunday uly 1 to September 1 . Admission is to 1 , and free on Fridays.

MONDAY 07/22 Gotta Dance

No one’s ever over-dressed at the World Naked Bike Ride. | SARA BANNOURA it’s kind of like this window into people’s minds as they’re experiencing this disease,” he says. BrainWorks will be performed Friday to Sunday uly 1 to uly 1 at the Loretto- ilton Center for the erforming Arts on the campus of Webster niversity 1 0 dgar oad, Webster Groves www. ninenetwork.org brainworks . Tickets are to 7 . BrainWorks will be recorded for broadcast in St. Louis on TC Channel , and, potentially, air on public television stations across the country in 0 0. —Joshua Phelps

don’t race ahead. ew Orleans’ T ole Shine provides the music for the after-party, which officially runs until 11 p.m. It’s free to ride, although donations are welcome.

The bigger the original’s special effects budget, the funnier the Magic Smoking Monkey version becomes, thanks to cardboard sets, dollar-store props and the actors’ wild-eyed willingness to try anything for a laugh. erformances of Jaws: The Parody are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and p.m. Sunday uly 1 to 1 , 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday uly 4 and and at 8 0 p.m. Friday and Saturday uly to 7 . The egional Arts Commission 1 8 Delmar Boulevard www. stlshakespeare.org stands in for the beach town of Amity Island, and tickets are 10 to 1 .

SATURDAY 07/20 Bohemian Grove

SUNDAY 07/21 A Life’s Work

ou’re going to see it all at the World Naked Bike Ride St. Louis. Odd tattoos, wrinkles, body hair, scars, tan lines and happy people. They’re riding to protest America’s oil dependence, and also because with St. Louis’ humidity, the best thing to wear is as little as possible. iders will start gathering in the Grove between Sarah Street and entucky Avenue along Manchester Avenue www.wnbrstl. org at 4 p.m. Saturday, uly 0, for body painting and pre-ride mingling, with the first riders departing at p.m. This year’s route is a ten-mile loop out and back to the starting point it’s suggested you ride leisurely with the group and

While aul Gauguin is perhaps best known for his lush paintings of Tahiti, he was an inveterate experimenter as most artists are . Gauguin’s prodigious output in all media is showcased in the new exhibition at Saint Louis Art Museum 1 Fine Arts Drive www.slam.org , Paul Gauguin: The Art of Invention. Built around a loan of pieces by Danish institution y Carlsberg Glyptotek, The Art of Invention includes examples of Gauguin’s early Impressionist works, woodcarvings, prints, sculptures and writings. It includes a rare edition of the artist’s manuscript Modern Thought and Catholi-

You’re gonna need a bigger banana. | MICHAEL PERKINS

Toothy Theater Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was the first of the huge summer blockbusters, which is why it’s perfect for the intentionally low-budget paws of Magic Smoking Monkey. The theater company speciali es in recreating sorta a film live on stage in about 0 minutes.

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All new kid in town en McCormack wants to do is dance, but that’s not allowed in the small town of Bomont, thanks to the everend Moore. Moore’s daughter, Ariel, is intrigued by this brash hoofer, but her loutish boyfriend Chuck likes that even less than her father does. What’s a kid from the big city have to do to break free? Footloose the Musical is based on the teen flick from the 1 80s, and features several of the big hits from the film “Footloose,” “ oldin’ Out for a ero,” “Let’s ear it for the Boy” . The Muny presents Footloose at 8 1 p.m. Thursday through Wednesday uly 18 to 4 at the Muny in Forest ark www.muny.org . Tickets are 1 to 10 .

TUESDAY 07/23 What Was the Word? The im acobs Warren Casey musical Grease is a loving tribute to the music of the 1 0s and the golden age of teenage hijinks. The T-Birds are all about girls, cars and some light troublemaking. The ink Ladies are their gals of choice, but that changes for de facto leader Danny uko when his summer crush, Sandy, enrolls in ydell igh with him. Danny pretended to be sophisticated and mature with Sandy, and the TBirds aren’t. Will Danny change to win back Sandy? The T-Birds hope not, but stranger things have happened. Stages St. Louis presents Grease Tuesday through Sunday uly 1 to August 18 at the obert G. eim Theatre 111 South Geyer oad www.stagesstlouis. org . Tickets are to . n

JULY 17-23, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

FEATURED DINING SEDARA SWEETS

BLUEDUCKSTL.COM

314.532.6508 8011 MACKENZIE RD, AFFTON, MO 63123

314.769.9940 2661 SUTTON BLVD, MAPLEWOOD, MO 63143

In May of 2019, Sedara Sweets joined the community of Affton. Sedara serves a variety of baked goods including fifteen types of baklava—both Iraqi and Turkish. Just like the name says, Sedara sells ice cream, using products from Wisconsin-based Cedar Crest, and milkshakes. The cafe offers a small savory menu featuring breakfast bread, falafel and shawarma sandwiches, with rotisserie versions of beef or chicken both on offer. Whether you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth, or a new option for lunch and dinner, Sedara has you covered. “We want to have something for everybody” Sedara Sweets is both family owned and operated. They offer dine in and take out food services, as well as an amazing Baklava gift box that can be ordered online, or even delivered! Owners George and Esraa Simon look forward to meeting their new neighbors and sharing some of their favorite dishes with the community!

THE CHOCOLATE PIG

There aren’t many businesses named after Adam Sandler movies, but at the Blue Duck, the food is as whimsical as its “Billy Madison” reference. Originally founded in Washington, Mo., owners Chris and Karmen Rayburn opened the Blue Duck’s Maplewood outpost in 2017, bringing with them a seasonal menu full of American comfort-food dishes that are elevated with a dash of panache. Start the meal with the savory fried pork belly, which is rubbed with coffee and served with a sweet bbq sauce and root vegetable slaw. For the main event, the Duck’s signature DLT sandwich substitutes succulent smoked duck breast instead of the traditional bacon, adding fried egg and honey chipotle mayo along with lettuce and tomato on toasted sourdough. Save room for dessert; the Blue Duck’s St. Louberry pie – strawberries and blueberries topped with a gooey buttercake-like surface – is a worthy tribute to the Gateway City.

CAFE PIAZZA

THECHOCOLATEPIG.COM

CAFEPIAZZA.COM

314.272.3230 4220 DUNCAN AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110

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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.

Like pizza? Nobody does it better than Café Piazza, a Sicilian Café &amp; Bar in Benton Park &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; Saturday. Group catering also available.

OAKED

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

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6 RESTAURANTS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT...

THE BLUE DUCK

SEDARASWEETS.COM

SPONSORED CONTENT

JULY 17-23, 2019

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

CAFE

[REVIEW]

Home Run Derby Led by a food and drink dream team, the Midwestern swings for the fences — and hits every pitch Written by

CHERYL BAEHR The Midwestern 900 Spruce Street, 314-696-2573. Mon. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Wed.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (Closed Tuesdays.)

ou don’t even need to bite into the Midwestern’s double cheeseburger to know how good it is. That fact hits you over the head the second this glorious, messy beast is placed in front of you — a realization informed not by what’s between the pillow-soft egg bun, but what sits alongside it. Made from aged brisket, the meat is coarsely ground and loosely formed into a crumbly, impossibly juicy burger that’s more like a composite of beef than a tightly bound patty. As a result, charred bits of seasoned, well-marbled beef crumble off the bun, acting like bite-sized meat crunchies. These tiny nuggets are so gilded with fat, they glisten as the light hits. Seeing them is all you need to know that this is no ordinary burger. But you’ll want to know more, much more, for these meaty bits only whet your appetite for the main attraction. Because it’s aged, the meat takes on a mouthwatering tangy funk, acting as a shot of brightness through all of the fat — an effect generally reserved for high-end steakhouses that can absorb the high cost of dry-aging beef. Homemade pub cheese, molten like tempered butter, covers the burger, soaking into every crevice so that each bite is an explosion of fat and goo. Combined with the mayonnaise-heavy fry sauce, the burger might be overthe-top indulgent, but a tart tomato jam walks it back, offering a burst of electric sweetness that

The double cheeseburger is a showstopper, but the pastrami, sides and fried burrata toast can easily steal the scene. | MABEL SUEN cuts through the decadence. It’s purely, utterly transcendent. Ben Welch has only been making this thing of beauty since March, but he is no newbie to the business. A veteran chef whose career began 32 years ago as a dishwasher at Two Nice Guys in Webster Groves, the Johnson & Wales-trained Welch has made his rounds throughout St. Louis’ kitchens as a chef, culinary instructor and consultant. It wasn’t until 2016, though, that Welch’s star truly began to rise. That was when he and his father, Bennie Welch, opened Big Baby Q and Smokehouse in Maryland Heights. In no time, Welch’s outstanding barbecue garnered him a reputation as one of the city’s top pitmasters, thrusting him into the limelight throughout the smokehouse’s not-quite-three-year run. When Welch plotted his departure from Big Baby Q, he initially thought he might open an elevated soul food concept. Last May, he launched a pop-up series named for his grandmother, Lucy Quinn, and began looking at a restaurant of that name as his next move. He put those plans on hold last fall after being approached by a former culinary school student, who’d gone on to co-found the Wheelhouse and Start Bar. The two wildly popular bars regularly

pack in young revelers in the shadow of Busch Stadium, and the ownership group planned to take over the adjacent space that previously held Flying Saucer. This time, instead of another bar where food was an afterthought, they wanted to open a barbecue restaurant. Welch seemed like a natural fit for the gig, and he agreed to come on board as both chef and managing partner even while he continued to developing the Lucy Quinn concept. In late December, he shuttered Big Baby Q and turned his attention to the new place. The Midwestern opened March 1, with big expectations for both its food and drink. In addition to Welch, the Wheelhouse group brought on Tony Saputo, one of the city’s top bartenders, to run the beverage side of the operation. Together, Saputo and Welch represent a dream team, tasked with the challenge of applying their craft to an often-high-volume concept. It’s a challenge — and one they succeed at with every turn. Part of Welch’s success has to do with the creative freedom afforded by larger digs and a full-service restaurant. While he was able to work magic with barbecue at Big Baby Q, the Midwestern has allowed him to expand on barbecue basics to offer a more comprehen-

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sive, Southern-inflected menu. That includes a full appetizer menu, with such Southern staples as deviled eggs, a creamy take on the original, thoughtfully garnished with turkey crackling that infuses them with salt and smoke. In that vein, fried green tomatoes are an elevated version of the classic, paired with sweet tomato jam that balances their tartness. Tomato aioli and luscious ricotta cheese garnish the dish for a flourish of decadence. Welch’s chicken wings show how his attention to detail elevates a ubiquitous bar staple into something memorable. The whole-wing pieces are dry-rubbed in a sweet, Red Hot Riplet-style seasoning blend he calls “Love Rub.” They are then smoked so that they soak up the deep cherry and oak wood flavor, fried to give them a crispy exterior, again coated in “Love Rub” and finished with tangy Alabama white barbecue sauce. The multistep process results in a wing that is layered both in texture and flavor. The Midwestern offers several thick-sliced toasts served with a simple petite gem salad, which can either serve as a meal or a sharable first course. For the smoked trout toast, Welch places the flaked fish atop a rich concoction of smoked

JULY 17-23, 2019

Continued on pg 31

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THE MIDWESTERN Continued from pg 27

egg yolks that are accented with preserved lemon, radish and dill. Together, the toppings form an egg salad so wonderful you’d think you were in a Jewish deli. Burrata toast is no less spectacular. A thick slab of the creamy cheese the size of a paperback book is battered and fried like a gigantic mozzarella stick. When pierced, the crunchy exterior reveals molten contents that spill out over the toast, mingling with the accompanying pesto and tomato jam and becoming an ethereal, herbal cheese spread. It’s a haute cheesy bread. So is the grilled cheese, which pairs fried green tomatoes, tomato jam and loads of pimento cheese, sandwiched between two slices of buttery sourdough. There is so much cheese and butter, they ooze out the sides with every bite, resulting in a beautiful mess that is the mark of a good sandwich. If Big Baby Q introduced the city to Welch’s barbecue genius, the Midwestern underscores it and adds an exclamation point. His St. Louis-style ribs, smoked competition style to give them

appropriate chew and pull, taste of cherry-wood smoke, but it’s not overwhelming or acerbic. Instead, it gently brings out the natural sweetness of the pork, to the point that reaching for sauce seems pointless. Welch’s turkey breast is shockingly juicy, its tender flesh encased in a ring of dry rub that gives it a gentle, yet noticeable, kick. Just as impressive is the turkey leg, a mammoth, Henry VIII-style poultry club suitable for clobbering your dining companion, were it not so tender. On the outside, the crispy skin has a gentle, chile-inspired warmth, amped up by piquant Alabama white sauce. Inside, the meat is fork-tender, pulling apart with the slightest prodding. If Friar Tuck’s at Six Flags is your gold standard, you are missing out. The burger is not the Midwestern’s only good use of brisket. Welch’s pastrami is otherworldly; thick-sliced and brined, the meat has an exotic backbeat of cinnamon and cardamom, and a charred exterior that rivals the best Texas barbecue. I preferred it to the regular brisket which, to this Texas brisket snob, was not sufficiently fatty or tender. I want to be able to butter my bread with it. This is exactly what I could do

with the beef ribs. Sating my desire for fatty brisket, this magnificent specimen of meat is nothing less than breathtaking. The beef is smoked and well-seasoned on the outside, forming an intensely flavored bark; underneath, luscious beef is so tender and marbled it jiggles when you shake the plate. The best part is when you get a little pocket of char that is equal parts meat and marbling that positively melts on the tongue like marrow. Welch only offers the beef ribs on the weekends, which means you can only eat them 104 times a year. So unfair! It’s a common complaint that the sides you get at barbecue restaurants tend to be throwaways. This is not the case at the Midwestern. Standouts include pit beans that are brown sugary and enriched with meat drippings. Collard greens, seasoned with ham hocks, have a lovely sweetness and acid to them, and mac and cheese is rich and decadent, seasoned with enough black pepper to cut through the cream. Saputo, whose genius drinks pair beautifully with Welch’s food, went bourbon-heavy on the Midwestern’s cocktail menu, with flawlessly executed classics. You may be getting an Old Fashioned, but it’s

the best Old Fashioned of your life; the same goes for the Manhattan. His skill lies in his ability to make these timeless drinks his own — adding, for instance, chamomile and allspice to a whiskey sour for a “Gateway Sour” — without fundamentally altering everything that makes them beloved. That all of this glory is served with outstanding hospitality and efficiency only adds to the Midwestern’s success. On every occasion I’ve visited, service was not just prompt — which is essential because of the baseball crowd the place draws — but surprisingly friendly and accommodating. On one night, we rolled in with six hungry kids in tow; within minutes they had water and French fries without us even asking, and never once did our servers bat an eye at the demands of a bevy of frazzled parents. Then again, our server could have smacked me across the face, and I’d still go back for that burger. I might not even notice the hit. Something so special makes everything else fade away.

The Midwestern Double cheeseburger ............................... $11 Burrata toast............................................. $13 Pastrami platter........................................ $17

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SHORT ORDERS [SIDE DISH]

Pastry Chef Finds His Sweet Spot Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

f you look at the pastries made by Tyler Davis, you’d think he spent years training at the world’s most elite pastry schools. But as this self-taught chef explains, he only stumbled into the craft about three years ago as a favor for a friend. “My friend Josh Charles was the chef at Element, and he needed people to work,” Davis recalls. “I told him I would be there in any capacity he needed and ended up working the line and garde manger. The sous chef was doing desserts at the time, and he was overwhelmed doing the regular menu and desserts. I told him I wanted to help, and at first they were like, Are you sure?’ and I was. That’s my jam — being thrown out of my comfort zone. It’s where I do my best.” For Davis, the world of pastry was the creative outlet he’d been seeking for quite some time. For as long as he can remember, he was drawn to the arts. He combined that passion with his love of the outdoors and began drawing the pictures he’d find in nature books, eventually moving on to medical illustrations when he was in high school. Davis thought he’d pursue medical illustration for his career but instead decided upon musical performance once he got to college. Around the same time, he got into modeling, a gig that landed him on runways across the country. However, as much as he loved both paths, he still felt like he was waiting to find his way. e received a glimmer of clarity around 2015 when he began working at the wine bar, cafe and art space Tavern of Fine Arts. Though the setup was challenging — Davis was a one-man show tasked with putting out an ambitious menu with just a convection oven, a few

Tyler Davis’ Chocolate Pig desserts drew raves. Now he’s ventured out on his own. | MABEL SUEN hotplates and a microwave — he thrived in the environment and began to see the kitchen as a viable career. “It was a position where I was comfortable and not comfortable all at the same time,” Davis explains. “It was familiar food, but I had creative freedom, which led me to get a little bit more confident in myself. It was challenging, but it was a different kind of experience that made me grow up real fast. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the culinary world.” After the Tavern of Fine Arts closed and he found himself at Element, Davis took those possibilities to the next level, learning everything he could about pastry. He did research, read books by the field’s best of the best and experimented, finding his voice along the way. “I began looking at the aesthetic of the fine-dining pastry world, and it just blew my mind,” Davis says. “I thought, That’s what I need to be doing right now.’” While at Element, Davis competed on the Food Network’s Halloween Baking Competition, which confirmed his status as a rising star. It landed him the job of executive pastry chef at the Chocolate Pig in Cortex, where he developed an envelope-pushing dessert menu that received critical ac-

claim. But he still wanted more. This May, he left his job at the Chocolate Pig to venture out on his own, a decision he admits is terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. Under the umbrella brand Tai Davis, he has launched three separate concepts at the intersection of art, design and culinary. Alchemy Bakery is his high-end pastry company, specializing in chocolates, macarons and avant garde event cakes. Ether is the consulting side of his business, where he offers his services to independent restaurateurs who need help with menu concept and execution. Finally, Sacred Geometry serves as his artistic platform, where he crafts cakes for exhibitions and art installations and showcases his food photography. It’s also the platform through which he is publishing a coffee-table book of food and art that will be out in the fall. “It’s been a crazy move, but I feel that I have this fire burning underneath me and I have to do it,” Davis says. “I read all these books that say you won’t know until you try something. It’s terrifying and probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but that’s what makes you grow as a person. When you push yourself to tell your story, you are pushing

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and inspiring others.” What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I don’t think a lot of people know how much of a classical music junkie I am. Baroque harpsichord, Shostakovich and anything with a dab of French Impressionism gets me going. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Every morning, I wake up to an inspirational song, meditate for about ten minutes to clear my head and make a list of things to do for the day. Lists are everything. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Oh, I think about this all of the time, and I usually flock towards flight or teleportation. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? People here are becoming a lot more adventurous. Their palates are craving new flavors, textures and cuisines, and I am here for it. The unsurmountable level of support from the community is awe-inspiring as well. I’ve seen so many people start from nothing and build successful businesses because people love what they do and what their brand encompasses. It’s

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DAILY LUNCH BUFFET : WEEKDAYS - $9.99 WEEKENDS - $10.99

DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK

MAKE YOUR DINNER SPECIAL WITH A BOTTLE OF WINE & GET OTHER 1/2 PRICE

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[FOOD NEWS]

New North City Eatery: Cafe 7even Written by

KATIE COUNTS

hen Fahime Mohammad was in his late teens, he lived in a small north-city apartment with his brother and uncle. Having just arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant from Afghanistan, he says it was “the only place where I could afford to live.” To pass time, he would walk down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive looking up at the buildings, observing a world that felt so alien to him. One building with beautiful red brick always stuck out. Many years later, during the 2008 housing crash, he bought it. Now, Mohammad plans to open an international restaurant, Cafe 7even (4729 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, 314-374-5270), in

TYLER DAVIS

Continued from pg 33

incredible. What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see? I love open marketplaces, and I really wish we had one superhub that features all that the Midwest has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the smaller farmers’ markets we have here. However, traveling to all of them can become overwhelming. I’ve also noticed a lot of really good producers and farmers do not get recognition or business because they operate out of some of the lesser-known markets. Just think about how inspiring and game changing it would be if St. Louis had its own Pike Place Market or Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. Who is your St. Louis food crush? Anyone here pushing boundaries or just creating really fantastic food. Loryn Nalic and her husband Edo at Balkan Treat Box, Rob Connoley [Bulrush] and Nick Bognar [Nippon Tei, Indo] would be my top three right now. Who’s the one person to watch

Sameem’s owner has opened a new international restaurant in Kingsway East. | KATIE COUNTS the building, which is located in the Kingsway East neighborhood. He hopes it will bring people together and bring something to the area. “I’m a stakeholder on that street, so what can I do as an investor, as a stakeholder, as an owner to make my contribution to make that neighborhood, that street back into a vibrant street,” Mohammad says. Along with his brother ayum,

right now in the St. Louis dining scene? I’d have to say Rob Connoley. We have so much talent here in St. Louis, but taking into account his aesthetic and originality, I’d say he’s going to do some epically delicious things this year. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Due to their versatility, I’d say eggs! If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? Professional cellist. Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant. ust one? a Iodi ed salt would have to be somewhere up there. That taste though! What is your after-work hangout? I love my alone time, so I’d say my couch with a glass of wine, or Castlewood State Park. I love hiking and being surrounded by nature. What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? TACOS What would be your last meal on earth? Tacos, LOL. Oh, or mole! n

Mohammad also owns Sameem Afghan Restaurant in the Grove. The brothers were inspired to open Sameem in 2005 to bring a sense of ashtun and Afghani hospitality to the area. Mohammad hopes to do the same with Cafe 7even. “This is a place where people can gather,” he says. The name comes from Mohammad’s fascination with the number seven and everything associated with it — days of the week,

colors in a rainbow, oceans of the world. Eventually, Mohammad plans to feature food from all seven continents — except maybe Antarctica. But Mohammad says opening this restaurant will have its own set of challenges. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive is witness to its fair share of poverty and abandoned buildings, and areas north of Delmar have struggled from disinvestment. “Dr. Martin Luther King should not look like this,” Mohammad says. “Dr. Martin Luther King should look like Wash Ave.” Mohammad says he wants to keep the restaurant’s prices low and the food relatively healthy. He says he wants the cafe to serve as a space for creators with a sort of market where people could buy and sell their goods. And despite having no prior experience with videography, Mohammad says he plans to make a documentary about the history and the people of north St. Louis. He’d like to release it around the same time as the grand opening of Cafe 7even, which he estimates will take place sometime in late uly or early August. But customers shouldn’t have to wait that long. Soft openings began on Monday, July 15. n

[BEER]

Busch Says ‘Bye’ to Beer Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

illy Busch, bad-boy beer heir and noted middle-school basketball court scrapper, is shutting down his brewing company. The William K. Busch Brewing Company is dissolving, which means the end of its Kräftig and Kräftig Light lagers, the business announced last week in a news release. Busch, who is the great grandson of Anheuser-Busch cofounder Adolphus Busch, started the brewing company in 2011 with hopes of replicating his famous family’s success. But it didn’t turn out that way. The company cited “market demand” for the failure of its ambitious plans. “I want to thank all of our customers, retailers, suppliers, and vendors who have supported us over the last eight years,” Busch says in the release. “I’ve always been passionate about brewing, because it’s in my blood. I hope to one day return to this great American-led industry.”

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Billy Busch is pulling the plug on Kräftig. | COURTESY OF WILLIAM K BUSCH BREWING CO. The company was a chance for the 59-year-old to prove himself as more than just a wealthy heir after a hell-raising youth, which included biting off another man’s earlobe in 1981 during an infamous bar brawl. But his image as a wizened corporate leader took a hit last year when the Riverfront Times broke the news that he had been charged in Creve Coeur with assaulting a sixth-grader who’d had a confrontation with Busch’s son. Busch was accused of bloodying the kid’s nose during the hands-on exchange. He denied roughing up the boy, but said the boy was bullying his son — something the boy’s father contested. Busch later pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace. Anyway, you can still buy Kräftig at the store until supplies run out. n

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MUSIC + CULTURE

[HOMESPUN]

Blossoming Forth As Bloom, R&B artist Kalyn McNeil embraces every facet of her personality with new album Colors Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

alyn McNeil, who makes invasive, sensual R&B under the name Bloom, knows how to set the mood. Her songs ripple like pinpricks across the skin, and the relatively unadorned production places due emphasis on her expressive, octave-spanning voice. In a Bloom song, feelings are magnified to the cellular level. It’s not surprising, then, that McNeil wanted to debut her new album, Colors, at an intimate showcase at the Monocle a few weeks back. She only made the date known to the public 24 hours in advance; her true audience was her family and friends, none of whom had heard the new songs yet. “I wanted to explain each song and where I was in my life when I wrote them,” McNeil says. “I really didn’t let anyone hear the album when I released it. Even my best friend, who I talk with every day, she hadn’t heard it.” McNeil says that the title of Colors was inspired by her desire to show “each color of my personality.” That personality is shown in full here, though McNeil admits that some artifice is an essential part of the Bloom experience. “Bloom is an alter ego of Kalyn; sometimes I speak about her in the third person because she is definitely more free and more open,” she says with a laugh. Surprisingly, given the emotional honesty of her music, Mceil says that people often find her somewhat cold and direct; it’s in her music where that alter ego taps into soul-deep expressions. “I would say that music is the

Bloom’s latest album Colors taps into soul-deep expressions through sensual R&B. | CALVIN JAMES LEWIS most emotional aspect of my being,” she says. “It’s my way of spreading love and feeling. I want to connect with people on an emotional level.” Her last album, [SIN]SES, was written over the course of a few years; the timeline for Colors was much more compressed. Inspired by the birth of her second son, McNeil worked at an accelerated pace and wrote the songs in a few months. “I met my new guy, so I was starting a new chapter with a new person: ending a relationship, beginning a relationship, becoming a mother,” McNeil says. “Pregnancy was different this time, postpartum was different this time, and my focus had shifted to cooking and doing the daily duty of what a mom does. I went through a lot of emotions and life changes.” The first song on Colors, an intense, bass-heavy track called “Go Crazy,” sprang from a trip she took to Bonnaroo as an artist with the Red Bull Music Academy. She had just stopped breastfeeding her son and was spending the first extend-

“Bloom is an alter ego of Kalyn; sometimes I speak about her in the third person because she is definitely more free and more open.” ed time away from him, an experience heightened by the musicfestival setting. McNeil recalls the feeling of regaining her individuality that week: “Shit, I’m me again!” “It’s like a rebirth all over again,” she says of the experience. “There’s so many things women go through after pregnancy.” That theme of rebirth, and of

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reclaiming her body, has been a central thread ever since McNeil started performing as Bloom. Even the visual components of her music emphasize a bodily freedom and a comfort with showing skin that underscores McNeil’s sensual songs. “I was very much ashamed of my body most of my life; I think a lot of women go through that body-shaming period,” she says. For McNeil, that shame spread through much of her persona as a young woman. “I was afraid to sing, I was afraid to show my skin. I was afraid to wear shorts until halfway through high school!” Motherhood provided a viscerally new experience for McNeil, one that spread into her artistry and her self-image. “There was a shift in me after I had my first child it pushed me to be comfortable and confident,” she says. “One of my duties I have given myself as an artist is to help women be more free with their bodies. It’s something I have to work on every day. It’s been a process, and I’m so proud of myself.” n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

[PREVIEW]

R6 Implant to Release Debut EP Written by

THOMAS CRONE

ecently, the R6 Implant played a four-band bill at Fubar alongside the Conformists, Porcupine (featuring Hüsker Dü’s Greg Norton) and Flipper (on its 40th-anniversary tour and featuring David Yow on vocals). Something happened that night, and it’s been the case at a lot of R6 Implant shows. Namely, the band surprised an audience that was largely unfamiliar with its work with an absolutely crushing set. That surprise factor is understandable. Though the band’s inception dates back a full decade, a series of hiatuses, the presence of day jobs, a slowed-down album completion and other factors have meant that the R6 Implant has kept something of a low profile. In keeping, each time the band has reappeared on the scene, at least a portion of the audience is treated to a first-time introduction. The group’s membership is deep in experience. On vocals, it’s the unmistakable Scott Randall of longstanding local metal act Fragile Porcelain Mice, joined by fellow Fragile bandmate (and equally inimitable) Dave Winkeler on bass. On drums, it’s Shawn O’Connor (a.k.a. Defenestrator Stonecrusher) of the time-bending math-rock outfit owie. The guitarist and newest member has been aboard for a half-dozen years now; he’s the group’s in-band recording engineer/producer Tazu Marshall, known for his board work at both Utopia and Clayton Studios. “There are people who are surprised to see me and Dave there, being familiar with Fragile, or they know Shawn’s band Yowie,” Randall admits. “We first got together — Dave, Shawn and I — about ten years ago, during one of Fragile’s hiatuses. And then we would stop playing. Yowie’s toured Europe a couple of times, and Shawn’s gotta focus on that. We’ve taken our own hiatuses here and there. We started up again about a year ago. And while we had the record recorded back in 2015, it’s taken us a while to work on it.”

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The R6 Implant, first formed in 2009, finally has a record to call its own. | VIA THE ARTIST Winkeler’s cousin Jim Winkeler was playing in the Conformists, Randall explains, and knew Yowie from one of the many times the two likeminded acts had performed together. He introduced the band to O’Connor at a Jesus Lizard show in 2009. O’Connor and Dave exchanged numbers and got together, just bass and drums, and came up with the foundations for a few songs within just a couple of practices. Initially, the band played with guitarist Derek Yeager, who’d been with Sine Nomine, before Marshall took his place in 2012. Marshall, a well-known and highly regarded local musician who usually plays the bass, remembers answering a Facebook notice that sketched out the requirements for the guitarist gig: “a pro attitude and ability to count to nine.” The band, he found, suited his wants and needs perfectly. “Personality-wise, it’s a zerobullshit scenario, which is rare when dealing with people,” he says. “I love playing with Dave. He’s a bass hero to me, and it’s pretty cool to not be playing bass, with him in the group. I’ve always been a pretty huge Fragile Porcelain Mice fan, and this music is a more complicated, math-rock version of the same kinda thing, I’d guess. Some people have called it Fragile Porcelain Math. The skill level of those dudes is way up there, and I love doing this choppy, complicated stuff that can be confusing to some people.” The Fragile effect is for sure

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“Some people have called it Fragile Porcelain Math. The skill level of those dudes is way up there, and I love doing this choppy, complicated stuff that can be confusing to some people.” in play with R6 Implant. Says Marshall, “Scott and Dave have such distinct sounds that if you put them with any other people, they’d still sound like themselves. You can’t change that, nor would you want to.” Randall is characteristically self-deprecating in discussing the ways in which Fragile fans will find an immediate comfort one with R6 Implant. “I’m a one-trick pony,” he cracks. “We are playing something a little bit similar, and with me and Dave there’s been some concern about

that. At first, I wondered if I should try to sing differently. There are going to be comparisons due to my kidnap-victim vocals and Dave’s bass, but it really is different with Shawn and Tazu. Dave and I were looking into playing more music together, and whatever would come of that would be fine.” When the band started recording in 2015, it found itself rerecording and then mixing, and now the album is complete — and though the perfectionist in Marshall would like another crack at it, he’ll have to wait a little bit longer. The band’s nine-song, self-titled debut is set for release during a July 20 show at the Schlafly Tap oom alongside Buttercup and Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship. Then, after playing some of these cuts for the entirety of their time together, the band’s members will spend a good chunk of the remaining 2019 calendar in the woodshed, writing new material for Marshall to wrestle with in the new year. Select shows will also follow, though in moderation. The model offered by the Flipper show — in which the group supports a complementary, national act — might be what the band’s members pursue for the short term. That said, they’re open to challenges. “Obviously, everybody’s got day jobs,” Randall says. “Inasmuch as possible, we’re open to going out of town on weekends we definitely don’t want to wear out our welcome here. Yowie’s done European tours and stuff like that, and if that opportunity ever came up through his connections, we’d definitely consider it. We’ve got to write more, come up with more stuff, play whatever big sets we can.” Randall, discussing his motivation in playing music in tandem with a long career in teaching, says he still loves playing live after all this time — especially given that aforementioned surprise factor. “There’s a corny rush of playing in front of people, especially with this band, since not a lot of people know about us,” he says. “There’s that immediate reaction that you get, and it’s really, really nice to surprise people. And that’s still happening. I’ve done this most of my adult life. If I didn’t have this outlet to play music or create, there’d be something missing. That day’s going to come sooner than later, obviously, but as long as people aren’t like ‘This is sad,’ then I’d like to do it. If it is sad, it’s time to quit.”

The R6 Implant EP Release 9 p.m. Saturday, July 20, Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust Avenue. Free. 314-241-2337.

OUT EVERY NIGHT

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Snail Mail. | VIA GROUND CONTROL TOURING

Snail Mail 8 p.m. Thursday, July 18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $16 to $18. 314-773-3363. Teen angst has always been with us, but the data suggests worrying trends for Generation Z. From 2007 to 2012, the National Survey of Children’s Health found a 20 percent increase in anxiety for children ages six to seventeen; for college-aged women, the spike is more dramatic. Enter Lindsey Jordan, a.k.a. Snail Mail, a twentyyear-old singer and songwriter who turns angst into sublime and effortless songs of

THURSDAY 18

BOSCOMUJO: w/ RA Child, Man the Manipulator 7 p.m., $10. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. BRIAN CURRAN: 4 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. BRIAN HENNEMAN & KIP LOUI: 8:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. BROTHER JEFFERSON DUO: 5 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CASH BOX KINGS: 9:30 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. EVAN COLE: 6 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. GATEWAY FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA ENCORE: BIENVENIDO DARWIN: 6:30 p.m., free. Chesterfield Amphitheater, 1 eterans lace Drive, Chesterfield. HASH REDACTOR: w rism 1, Donny p.m., 7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. HOODS: w ill Their ast, Life Sucks 7 0 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. JAM SESSION AND MUSICIAN NETWORKING EVENT: 6 p.m., $5. Gaslight Lounge, 4916 Shaw Ave, St. Louis, 314-496-0628. KY-MANI MARLEY: 9 p.m., $30-$35. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. PAUL BONN & THE BLUESMEN: 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. RICKY NYE: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

heartache and confusion. Her sound owes as much to the uncanny urgency of Jeff Buckley as it does the inevitably namechecked Liz Phair, but there’s a shimmer around every guitar jab and sighing organ or French horn that makes her confessions, even when clichéd, real for anyone who knows loss can yield beauty. In other words, her songs are for any generation. Hypnosis Therapy: Best known as keyboardist for punk band Cherry Glazerr, Sasami Ashworth opens this sold-out show with soothing, synth-based shoegaze. —Roy Kasten RIVERS OF NIHIL: w/ Lorna Shore, Brand of Sacrifice, Summoning the Lich, Chaos eborn 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. SNAIL MAIL: w Stella Donnelly 8 p.m., 1 - 18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

FRIDAY 19

AUTOGRAPH: w Torchlight arade, A TIC 8 p.m., 0. Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. COWGIRL JORDY: w/ Sinwat, the Boy 9 p.m., $5. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. DAVID DEE & THE HOT TRACKS: 8 p.m., $3. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. ELLIOTT PEARSON & THE PASSING LANE: w/ Great eacock 8 p.m., 10- 1 . Old ock ouse, 1 00 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. THE ERIC PREWITT BAND: 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. ETHAN LEINWAND & MAT WILSON: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JEREMIAH JOHNSON BAND: 10 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. KARATE BIKINI: w/ Scout Shannon and the Willing Deceivers, Big State 8 p.m., 10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. KILBORN ALLEY BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Western States. | VIA ARTIST WEBSITE

Western States 8 p.m. Saturday, July 20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-773-3363. If you’re used to hearing Tim Lloyd’s voice, it’s likely that you’ve heard him on St. Louis Public Radio’s award-winning podcast We Live Here. But when he’s not probing the structures of race, class and power in St. Louis, he fronts the Americana band Western States, which takes a big-sky, red-dirt approach to the form on its debut album 314-436-5222. KIM MASSIE BAND: 4 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LLMANNY: w Bates, Darrein Safron p.m., 10$15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 39

LOSER’S CLUB: 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. LT. JOHNSON RECORD RELEASE: w BMI ico, GA Cooks, Turk Goon, Slim Beezy 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. THE RACKATEES: w/ Horror Section, Breakmouth Annie 9 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SISSER: w/ Jim Shorts, the Astounds 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. SWEETIE PIE & THE TOOTHACHES: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. THRAK: A KING CRIMSON TRIBUTE: 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry ill - The Duck oom, 04 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. TOMMO: w M o o d, Sollow T, o anguard, Man Of Destiny, G.A Bars, ah ositive, Slambino p exx, Fraedo, oung i y 8 0 p.m., - 10. op’s ightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., ast St. Louis, 18- 74- 7 0.

SATURDAY 20

3TEETH: w Author unisher, GOST 7 0 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BEN DIESEL FAREWELL SHOW: w/ Holy Hand Grenades, the Stars Go Out 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. BLUE MOON BLUES: w ent hrhart p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. THE BOTTLESNAKES: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

From the Center Out (which, coincidentally, would also be a good name for an NPR podcast about the Midwest). Lloyd cut his teeth as a member of the Columbia-based quintet the Doxies in the mid-2000s, but maturity and perspective has given his voice and songwriting a thoughtful rind. Wrecking Crew: Lloyd partnered with a few of St. Louis’ most versatile musicians, including guitarist Sean Canan and keyboardist Dave Grelle. —Christian Schaeffer

THE BOY BAND NIGHT: 8 p.m., 1 . Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 14-7 6161. COLEMAN HUGHES PROJECT FEATURING ADRIANNE FELTON: p.m., 10. Mount leasant states, 4 igh St., Augusta, 800-4 7- 4 . DREAMING IN COLOUR: 4 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE HIGH ROLLERS: 8 p.m., free. Casino Queen, 00 S. Front St., ast St. Louis, 18-874- 000. KINGDOM BROTHERS BAND: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LOU DOG: A TRIBUTE TO SUBLIME: 10 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. MARGO PRICE: w/ Cara Louise 6 p.m., $25-$30. Atomic Cowboy avilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. MARQUISE KNOX BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MIKE ZITO’S GULF COAST RECORDS REVUE: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. THE R6 IMPLANT: w Buttercup, Superfun eah eah ocketship p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337. ROCK FOR RESCUES: w Crystal Lady, Divine Sorrow, Ground Control 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. ROLAND JOHNSON AND SOUL ENDEAVOR: 6 p.m., free. Soulard Market ark, Lafayette Ave. S. 8th St., St. Louis. STL SUMMER BASH: w Tony e o 7 p.m., 1 . Dayspring School of the Arts, 08 Metro, Maryland Heights, 314-291-8878. SUMMERBASH ’19: w Starlito, Don Trip, Light Skin eisha p.m., 0- 4 . The ageant, 1 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 14-7 - 1 1. THE 2ND ANNUAL STLHC SUMMER KICK OFF BBQ: w Gumm, Overstep, Life Sucks, ill Their ast, Blight Future, ew Lives, Coffin Fit, Brute Force, Soul Craft, laceholder p.m., free. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis,

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JULY 17-23, 2019

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314-328-2309. TIM ALBERT & THE BOOGIEMEN: 9 p.m., $3. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. TREADING OCEANS FINAL SHOW: w/ Wombmates, The Cinema Story, Reeling 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. WESTERN STATES RECORD RELEASE SHOW: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. WHISKEY DRIVE: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 7 Mexico oad, St. eters, -441-8 00.

SUNDAY 21

BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY: w Dirty Muggs 7 p.m., - 0. Ballpark illage, 01 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. BREAKING BENJAMIN: w Chevelle, Three Days Grace, Dorothy and Diamante p.m., TBA. ollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 arth City xpwy., Maryland eights, 14- 8- 44. EARTH, WIND & FIRE: 7:30 p.m., $43-$228. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 3 14-499-7600. GATEWAY FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA: A SUMMER CARNIVAL: 7:30 p.m., free. The 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-421-3600. THE GHOST OF PAUL REVERE: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. JAZZ BENEFIT FOR CWAH: 4 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & 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. LINDSAY BEAVER BAND: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SLAID CLEAVES: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SUNSET OVER HOUMA 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW: w Morning Mtn., the incent Scandal, Brother Francis and the Soultones, LS SS 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. THIRD SIGHT BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. WIFI’S FUNERAL: w Camp ola, Stoned 8 p.m., $22-$62. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

MONDAY 22

LOST DOG STREET BAND: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811. THE SPOON DOGS: w/ Bucko Toby 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. THIRD SIGHT BAND “SPECIAL EDITION”: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

TUESDAY 23

ARVELL AND CO.: 7:30 p.m., $15. Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle Ave., St. Louis. BLOOD: w opular ousing, of , ijani she 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. KILLSWITCH ENGAGE: w/ Clutch, Cro-Mags JM 7 p.m., . 0- 4 . 0. The ageant, 1 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SOULS: w/ Remain and Sustain, With Crows 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. STL SHED: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

WEDNESDAY 24

ASKING ALEXANDRIA: 7:30 p.m., $25-$40. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. BLACK & WHITE BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BOTTOM BRACKET: w/ Biff K’narly & The Reptilians, Distant yes, Overnighter 8 p.m., 7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT: 6:30 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

PAUL BONN & THE BLUESMEN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. VAN HUNT: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

THIS JUST IN ANACRUSIS: Sat., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., 10. Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 14-7 - 1 1. THE AUGHT NAUGHTS: W/ Opera Bell Band, Jenny Roques, Fri., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. BOTTOM BRACKET: W/ Biff K’narly & The Reptilians, Distant yes, Overnighter, Wed., uly 4, 8 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. BRUISER QUEEN: W/ Red Light Cameras, the JagWires, Sat., Aug. 17, 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MATT AMELUNG: W/ Fivefold, Story of the ear, Ashland, Greek Fire, Brookroyal, Discrepancies, Isabella, Westcott, ounds, Sat., Aug. 10, p.m., 0. Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 14-7 - 1 1. COM TRUISE: Wed., Nov. 6, 8 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. CURSIVE: W/ Cloud Nothings, The Appleseed Cast, Thu., ov. 7, 8 p.m., . Delmar all, 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 14-7 - 1 1. DIZZY ATMOSPHERE: Sat., Aug. 3, 6:30 p.m., $16. Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, 314-577-9400. FARSHID & DAVE BLACK: Thu., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., $15. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis. GASLIGHT JAZZ SERIES WITH KNEZ JAKOVAC: Tue., Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m., $15. Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle Ave., St. Louis. JUSTIN JOHNSON ALBUM RELEASE: W/ Town Cars, O’Ivy, enny o ues, Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER: Tue., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. KATARRA PARSON AND TONINA: Fri., Aug. 2, 7 p.m., free. ulit er Arts Foundation, 71 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-754-1850. LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS: Thu., Sept. 19, 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. LUDO: Fri., Nov. 1, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Sat., Nov. 2, 7 0 p.m., 0- 40. The ageant, 1 1 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. NOTES FOR HOPE: SUICIDE PREVENTION SHOW BENEFITING HOPE FOR THE DAY: W Down Swinging, Local Man, Darling Skye, Morning Mtn., Tom Kennedy, Sat., Sept. 7, 4 p.m., $7. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. POLYPHONY MARIMBA: Thu., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., $15. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis. RADKEY: Fri., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. RIVER CITY OPRY JULY EDITION: W Daniel “GhoSTLeg” amm, enny o ues, ric Barnes, llen ilton Cook, Otis Wheels, Sun., uly 8, 1 p.m., $5. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. RUM DRUM RAMBLERS: Sat., Aug. 3, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. RYAN KOENIG & THE GOLDENRODS: Thu., Aug. 15, 8:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. SAMUEL GREGG ALBUM RELEASE: W/ Ryan Spearman, Fri., July 26, 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SORRY, SCOUT EP RELEASE: Sat., Aug. 10, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. THIS WILL DESTROY YOU: Wed., Nov. 20, 8 p.m., $16-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. UNKNOWN HINSON: Fri., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $18-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314588-0505. VICE GRIP: W/ Mala Leche, the Noids, Thu., July 25, 9 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. n

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JULY 17-23, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 17-23, 2019

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SAVAGE LOVE DEEP CUCKS BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I am a bi, white, married man — 35 years old and living in a big Midwestern city. I’d like to know what’s going on in my psyche — from a sex-research perspective. I’ve been hung up on cuckold fantasies with my female partner for years now. I’m a creative person and I’m especially fond of creative fantasizing in bed, and my partner enjoys this as well. But 9 times out of 10, I’m spinning a yarn about her fucking other men, whether it’s a threesome, cuckolding with me watching, or her going out on dates and coming home a delicious mess. These fantasies took an unexpected turn when I asked her to share stories about people she fucked in the past. She obliged — and holy shit, was I turned on. The only unfortunate thing is that she did not have many great sexual experiences in the past, so she feels like there is not a lot to share. Anyway, we have an amazing sex life, obviously, and I feel no shame whatsoever about these fantasies or how turned on her memories make us. I’m just curious as to why it turns me on so much. I know others have similar kinks, but it seems so antithetical to the heteronormative expectations of what I should be turned on by. Any ideas? Fantasies Reliably Enhance Every Dalliance “‘Why am I like this?’ questions are always rabbit holes,” said Dr. David Ley, a clinical psychologist, author and sex researcher. “We create rich, satisfying stories that are really just a form of mental masturbation — no bust on masturbation — when the truth is, at least at this point, we really have no clear idea why people have any of the unique sexual fantasies they do.” (Dr. Ley literally wrote the book on cuckolding: Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who Love Them.) One popular explanation for why being cuckolded might turn a man on — why knowing his wife or girlfriend had fucked someone else (or was fucking someone else in front of him) might turn a guy on — was the “sperm competition”

theory. To quickly summarize: A man who suspects his female partner recently had sex with another male — and whose reptile brain believes the other man’s semen might be “present” inside her — will have a more powerful and voluminous orgasm when he next mates with his female partner in an effort to “flood out” his competitor’s semen. For a time, many sex researchers theorized that male swingers and cuckolds were subconsciously inducing “sperm competition” reactions — i.e., they were in it for the more powerful orgasms. “Unfortunately, much of the research into sperm competition is now suspect, due to a failure to replicate many of these findings,” said Dr. Ley. “So to a degree, we’re now saying, ‘You know, it’s complicated, everyone is different, and there are no simple answers.’” And now that we’ve said that, FREED, Dr. Ley, who has worked with many cuckold couples, has noticed patterns and he’s willing to put out some alternative theories of his own. “Many cuckolds have a desire to engage bisexually with other men, using their wife’s body as a sort of proxy,” said Dr. Ley. “Given that FREED is a bi male in a heterosexual relationship, these cuckold fantasies might be a way for him to express his bisexuality while including his wife. Additionally, vicarious erotic fulfillment is often a central component in many cuckold fantasies. This goes beyond simple voyeurism — and FREED’s comment about his wife’s regret at not having enough sexual experiences to share offers us a clue in this direction. Many cuckolds celebrate their partners being sexually unrestrained. FREED might just be turned on by the idea of his wife cutting loose and sharing that supercharged erotic energy with other partners — past, present and future.” Finally, FREED, I wanted to add a “ding, ding, ding” to something you mentioned at the end of your letter. The erotic power of doing something that seems antithetical to the heteronormative and/ or vanilla-normative expectations heaped on us by culture, religion, family, etc. should never be underestimated. While not everyone is turned on by the thought of transgressing against sexual or social norms, a significant percentage

is. So long as our normative-busting transgressive turn-ons can be realized with other consenting adults, we should worry less about the “why” and more about the “when,” “where” and “how.” (Now, in private and safely!) Follow Dr. Ley on Twitter @ DrDavidLey. Hey, Dan: I’m a 35-year-old married man with two beautiful small children. I knew I was a cuckold before I met my wife. As soon as things got somewhat serious, I made this very clear, as I had learned repeatedly that my desire for a cuckold relationship almost certainly spelled doom. While we were dating, she cuckolded me multiple times and seemed very accepting of the idea. I was in heaven, as I finally felt accepted for me. I remember very clearly on the day of our elopement discussing that this was more than a kink for me — it was central to my sexuality and I needed her buyin before committing for life. We played a time or two after we got married, but my wife’s interest in the lifestyle greatly decreased. After we had children (first child four years ago), her interest in cuckolding evaporated. It’s entirely gone. I accepted this for some time due to having young children. When I broached the subject recently, she expressed legitimate concerns around STIs, pregnancy and being “found out” by friends/ family. But this is something I need, as I made clear before we married. It’s not just a “kink” for me. I love my wife and I don’t want to pressure her into having sex with others, but I’m hurt and frustrated. I can’t help but feel like I had a bait and switch pulled on me. What do I do? Be thankful for the things I do have? Ask to go to a sex-positive therapist? Ask for a divorce? I’m lost, hurt, confused and angry. Cuckold Has Understandable Regrets Now Cuckolding may be something you need, CHURN, but it’s something you’re asking the wife to do. And the doing presents more risks for her — the risks of STIs and pregnancy fall entirely on her, as she pointed out. And if people were to find out or suspect she was sleeping around, the “shame” and potential social ostracism would fall entirely on her, too. Even if

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“I asked for stories about people she fucked in the past. She obliged — and holy shit, was I turned on.” you were to tell anyone who found out that it was consensual and/or that you were a cuckold, it’s not like she wouldn’t still be shamed or ostracized. Judgmental family and friends would just heap equal portions of shame on you, too. To your credit, CHURN, you acknowledged the legitimacy of your wife’s concerns. And I’m going to acknowledge the legitimacy of your frustrations: You told her before you eloped that you needed this to be happy, and she didn’t just agree to it, she was (or seemed) enthused about it. I might be inclined to see this as a bait and switch myself if you didn’t have children. Even the most adventurous people — sexual or otherwise — tend to become risk-averse when their children are young, and I imagine your wife is currently some combo of highly risk-averse and completely overwhelmed. (Hey, are you doing your fair share of the housework and childcare?) Instead of threatening to divorce her (which would amount to pressuring her), I would encourage you to find a sex-positive counselor who can help you two talk about what your sex life can look like once your children are a little older. If she can express it without being expected to act on it tomorrow, my hunch is your wife can see cuckolding you again once your kids are older. Since finding women who are into this isn’t easy, as you already know, it would be in your own self-interest to take the long view and be patient. In the meantime, CHURN, content yourself with hot memories of all the times the wife cuckolded you in the past and hot dirty talk about all the times she’s going cuckold you in the future. savagelovecast.com mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

JULY 17-23, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 17-23, 2019

riverfronttimes.com

JULY 17-23, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS CRISPY EDGE Located in the heart of Tower Grove South, Crispy Edge is St Louis’ first and only potsticker restaurant. Voted as one of St. Louis’ best new restaurants, Crispy Edge’s menu boasts an impressive list of internationallythemed dumplings seared to perfection. Many of its potstickers, like the savory and sweet ‘Chorizo Date’, are also available as vegan version. The restaurant is elegant, modern, and dark. Purple grow lights accenting a hydroponic living wall create warm mood lighting and an atmosphere worthy of date night. A dog-friendly