Riverfront Times, August 19, 2020

2

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

THE LEDE

3

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“I felt like I just, I found my mama. We had been looking for her. My sisters and them, they’re in their 70s, and they haven’t been to my mom’s grave. And now we know where she’s at.”

ANTHONY CAGE BRISBY, PHOTOGRAPHED AT HIS MOTHER’S NEWLY REDISCOVERED GRAVE SITE IN THE WASHINGTON PARK CEMETERY DURING A CLEAN UP ON AUGUST 15 riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

3

The Future Homeless

F

or all the hand wringing about whether $600 per week for unemployed workers during a pandemic was too generous, the payment clearly kept massive numbers of people in their homes as the worst public health/economic crisis in generations hit.

Now that those payments are gone — and politicians can’t seem to compromise on more federal aid or long-term eviction moratoriums — we’re on the cusp of reckoning.

For our cover story this week, reporter Mike Fitzgerald dug into the looming eviction crisis, interviewing tenants, housing advocates and lawyers facing an unimaginable problem. They come at it from different angles, but reach the same conclusion: Lots more people will be forced onto the streets. It’s an important story and one that Mike tells well. Hopefully, it’s a wakeup call for anyone who hasn’t dared to take a hard look at what’s in store if nothing is done.

— Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS CAN’T

STO P

WO N’T

STO P

E DITIO N

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Hero In A Hot Dog Suit Daniel Hill Contributors Trenton Almgren-Davis, Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Judy Lucas, Noah MacMillan, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Christian Schaeffer, Chris Ward, Theo Welling, Danny Wicentowski, Nyara Williams, Ymani Wince Columnist Ray Hartmann A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain Production Manager Haimanti Germain M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy

COVER

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

On the Edge of Homelessness

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

Housing activists fear a surge of evictions will hit thousands in St. Louis

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

Cover photograph by

MIKE FITZGERALD

The Riverfront Times is published weekly

by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News Feature Short Orders Culture Savage Love 4

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

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

3

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

5 7 10 17 25 29

Riverfront Times is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1.00 plus postage, payable in advance at the Riverfront Times office. Riverfront Times may be distributed only by Riverfront Times authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of Riverfront Times, take more than one copy of each Riverfront Times weekly issue.

The entire contents of Riverfront Times are copyright 2020 by Riverfront Times, LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the expressed written permission of the Publisher, Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Please call the Riverfront Times office for back-issue information, 314-754-5966.

HARTMANN The City That Gets No Respect State Republican leaders are all for local rule, except in St. Louis

BY RAY HARTMANN

I

f you follow the news, you probably have heard that there’s an effort afoot in Jefferson City for politicians to scorn the city of St. Louis and its voters by disregarding their autonomy regarding policing and crime.

But I have a hunch you didn’t notice this item from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The Board of Police Commissioners today assailed the proposed investigation of the

Police Department by a state legislative committee, asserting it would be ‘highly destructive to the morale’ of the entire department,” the daily reported. “In a letter to State Rep. Jennie Walsh (D-St. Louis), committee head, the board said it felt that ‘any unauthorized investigation would establish a dangerous precedent.’”

Also, there was this unrelated item: “The legislature would be asked to amend state law to permit the board to recruit policemen from anywhere in the state, and also to allow officers to live in St. Louis County. Department rules, which are based on state law, require that candidates for appointment as policemen have lived in St. Louis one year and they continue to live in the city after appointment.”

The article was dated September 20, 1955.

These issues have been with us awhile. I would have tried to contact Walsh for an update, but were she alive, she’d be 130 years old.

Apparently, there’s nothing new about the state legislature looking down its nose at the city. The uniforms have changed: Democrats dominated state government with an iron fist in that era, and they weren’t afraid to use Jefferson City’s authority to infringe upon the city’s presumed autonomy.

And that was back in the day when the city shouldn’t have been so easily abused. Its population of 850,000 ranked eighth in the nation and represented more than 20 percent of Missouri’s 3.95 million people. Today, the city’s estimated 293,000 citizens constitute less than 5 percent of Missouri’s 6.1 million.

It’s no wonder state officials feel empowered to push the city around today. But Governor Mike Parson has taken the time-honored practice to tyrannical heights with his public attempts to disregard the very existence of democracy in the city of St. Louis.

Parson has proposed two autocratic moves that in a normal

riverfronttimes.com

5

world might prompt calls for his impeachment. One is for the state government to eliminate the city’s police residency requirement — the one referred to in that 1955 article — less than three months before city voters are going to vote on this very question, one that affects them exclusively.

Sexier politically is a proposed “concurrent jurisdiction” imposition that would enable the attorney general to seize control of violent-crime prosecutions under certain conditions in the city. The key point: It could do so over the circuit attorney’s objections, an insult that would never be perpetrated on the other 114 counties in the state.

As to the police residency issue, it is a breathtaking attack on democracy that Parson would impose the state’s will on city voters like this. I say that as someone who has been opposed to those very residency rules for decades, previously as a city resident.

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

Continued on pg 6

RIVERFRONT TIMES

5

HARTMANN

Continued from pg 5

What I think about police residency doesn’t matter. What Parson thinks doesn’t matter. Same for Mayor Lyda Krewson, who wrongfully requested this intrusion over the expressed opposition of the elected Board of Aldermen.

The people of St. Louis are voting on this November 3, you know, like as American citizens?

It’s worse than a “dangerous precedent” that the state would trample city residents’ rights like this.

Just as egregious is the proposed encroachment upon Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who was effectively reelected August 4 in a Democratic primary landslide of historic proportions. It largely escaped public notice, but Gardner won with more votes than any circuit attorney in city since the rollicking days of Circuit Attorney George Peach in the 1980s. ardner defeated a ualified opponent, former Assistant Circuit Attorney Mary Pat Carl, by 43,425 to 28,031 votes — a 21.5 point differential. The turnout was the largest in decades in a circuit attorney’s primary race.

But that’s not all: Gardner received more votes than the entire four person field got , votes in , her first win. or perspective, Jennifer Joyce, the city’s longest-serving prosecutor of sixteen years, never received more than the 35,259 primary votes she tallied when unopposed in 2012. Gardner received more than twice as many votes as Joyce needed to win her first, contested primary election, against Jerryl Christmas in 2000.

It was an overwhelming reelection mandate for Gardner and her criminal-justice reform agenda, but not to the governor. In a folksy Trump impersonation, Parson declared barely a week later that Gardner wasn’t getting the job done, as if the election had not happened. And then he suggested usurping her authority.

As state Rep. Justin Hill, R-Lake St. Louis, a conservative former police officer, suggested hursday on my KTRS show, can you imagine the outrage if, say, some future Attorney General Kim Gardner tried sei ing an officer involved shooting case from a rural prosecutor to toughen it up?

Even the conservative Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys called out Parson for this disrespect. But there’s this other voice, whispering in his ear, saying, “I may never get red meat like

6

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

this again.”

We’ve seen this act too many times. When the city decided in 2015 to raise its minimum wage to $10 per hour, the state was able to overrule it with a preemption law.

In a similar vein, but with a different technique, the state electorate prohibited cities like St. Louis from maintaining desperately needed gun-control laws.

Missouri Republicans formerly prided themselves as opponents of big-brother government and advocates of local control. Instead, GOP politicians now advance the utterly patronizing notion that St. Louis is too important for the state economically to let “those people” in the city drag down the rest of the state.

See “whistle, dog” for more information.

In this bizarre exercise, a coalition of outstate residents and metropolitan area conservatives in places such as St. Charles and Jefferson counties convince themselves that they actually care about St. Louis by outwardly acknowledging it generates a big chunk of the state economy. It is then viewed as too big to fail, so they must come to its rescue.

As someone who respects rural people, it’s painful to see Missouri devolve into this mindless culture war. It’s no secret that many outstate have regarded city slickers as condescending elitists. Sometimes they had a point, I’m sure.

But, today, we see a reverse narrative: Outstate residents and their suburban allies are seen as smarter people who know what’s best for the city, and they have a right and duty to impose their political will on residents in the name of economic self protection.

This resembles arguments of 65 years ago. At least then, city police were governed by police commissioners appointed by the governor pursuant to ridiculous laws dating back to the Civil War. If nothing else, there was legal justification for outside interference It was baked into the cake.

St. Louis shouldn’t stand for this anymore, and by St. Louis, I mean the entire region, because their time could be coming next. The message to Jefferson City should be clear: Stop disrespecting us.

It wasn’t right in 1955. It isn’t right today.

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 School Losing Confederate Soldier’s Name Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

T

he Confederacy loses again.

After a years-long battle, Kennard Classical Junior Academy will become Classical Junior Academy, losing the reference to the Civil War lieutenant for the southern army, Veiled Prophet founder and St. Louis businessman Samuel Kennard.

The school will eventually be

renamed to honor a different figure, apparently one without a racist past or involvement in a weird and creepy pageant that sends a bizarre message to students. Betty Wheeler, the pioneering Black education leader who founded Metro High School, was a popular choice on a previous petition in 2018, but that part hasn’t been settled yet. But Samuel Kennard is out — news first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kennard served in the Confederate Army as aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest, who served as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. In St. Louis, Kennard took over his dad’s carpet company J. Kennard & Sons and built a fortune. He moved in St. Louis’ circles of wealth and privilege, which manifested in the Veiled Prophet, the exclusionary secret society that chose for its early imagery a figure that loo suspiciously like an armed klansman.

Kennard’s legacy has long been a problem for the Northampton magnet school. The Post-Dispatch

The sign still says Kennard, but the magnet school is getting a new name. | DOYLE MURPHY wrote about the controversy in 2015, and the RFT reported on a petition drive in 2018.

Schools Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams suggested temporarily changing the named to Classical Junior Academy for the 2020-21 school year while a permanent

Mark McCloskey to Speak at RNC, Of Course Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

I

t was inevitable. The circle of bullshit that began when a rifle-toting Mark McCloskey yelled at a group of protesters in the Central West End to “Get the hell out of my neighborhood!” has arced through cable news, tabloids and the city prosecutor’s office, and it has finally come to lodge itself where it belongs: next week’s Republican National Convention.

Indeed, the fact that Mark and Patricia McCloskey — the now-infamous “St. Louis gun couple” — initially tried to play themselves off as supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement is just one more punchless punchline in the joke that is 2020.

“The Black Lives Matters movement is here to stay, it is the right message, and it is about time,” one of the McCloskeys’ attorneys, Al Watkins, said in a statement released June 29, a day after the scene of the couple pointing guns at protesters went viral and made national news.

Two months later, on Monday, Watkins confirmed to Wake Up to Politics creator

Mark McCloskey defended his home from peaceful protestors this June. | THEO WELLING Gabe Fleisher that Mark McCloskey “will be in full oratory splendor at the RNC.” Oh, how the worms turn.

In the weeks after the couple’s armed confrontation, the case became yet another noxious node of the culture war, as Republicans (including President Donald Trump) showed just as little trigger discipline as the McCloskeys in jumping to support the couple’s noble stand

7

against, you know, unarmed people standing in the street.

It didn’t matter that the couple’s claim of a gate-smashing horde was refuted by video evidence; it didn’t matter that the couple had, as the St. Louis PostDispatch revealed, waged a decadeslong legal war on their neighbors, or that Mark McCloskey had pulled a gun in a previous circumstance where he was

riverfronttimes.com

name is being decided, according to the Equity and Inclusion Committee, a group comprising parents and teachers at magnet school. he issue finally made it to last week’s school board meeting for approval. n not in danger, but rather establishing by force what he believed were the bounds of his property (sidewalks be damned) in the ultra-wealthy and private enclave of Portland Place.

Let’s also not forget about the Rosh Hashanah beehives, which in 2013 had the misfortune to be placed by a synagogue near the McCloskey mansion and which Mark McCloskey destroyed in a rage of entitlement.

“The children were crying in school,” Rabbi Susan Talve recounted to PostDispatch reporter Jeremy Kohler. “It was part of our curriculum.”

Those bees deserved better. And St. Louis certainly deserves a better representative at the national political gathering.

Still, Mark McCloskey is the guy the Republicans want on stage: an entitled lawyer who, like his wife Patricia, is facing a felony charge for unlawful use of a weapon; a guy who has demonstrated himself as an easily flustered boomer with an overcompensating arsenal and an underdeveloped sense of empathy, a guy who sees other people as a threat to his cavernous edifice to unfathomable wealth.

Huh. You know, it suddenly makes a kind of sense. The McCloskeys are perfect representations of Trump’s Republicans, and we wish them the best.

Have a great convention, y’all. Don’t come back too soon. n

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

7

Opera Big Resigns After Arrest Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

L

ast week, little more than a year after Opera Theatre of Saint Louis announced the hiring of Damon Bristo as its director of artistic administration, the rising star in St. Louis’ opera community quit his job and has all but disappeared from the company’s web presence after it was revealed he’d been arrested last month on suspicion of child sex trafficking.

The arrest appeared to catch the opera company by surprise.

“Upon learning of the arrest, the employee was immediately placed on unpaid administrative leave and later resigned,” said company General Director Andrew Jorgensen in a statement.

It was on that same day — more than two weeks after Bristo’s arrest — that the opera singer and industry watchdog Zach Finkelstein posted Bristo’s mugshot as it appeared on STLMugshots.com, a site that pays for access to official repositories of arrest data and then publishes that information, including mugshots, online and in print.

St. Louis County police confirmed

8

RIVERFRONT TIMES

that Bristo had been arrested July 22 and released, KSDK reported. A search of online court records shows no formal charges filed in connection to the arrest.

RFT reached out to the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney last week, but our questions were not answered by publication.

Without charges from the county prosecutor, the charge listed with Bristo’s arrest — for second-degree child sex trafficking — represents allegations from the arresting officer.

According to the Missouri statute, the charge of second-degree trafficking can apply to someone who benefits from or causes by “any means, including but not limited to through the use of force ... a person under the age of eighteen to participate in a commercial sex act, a sexual performance, or the production of explicit sexual material.”

If someone is convicted, the charge carries a ten-year minimum sentence.

Bristo’s hiring as artistic director in August 2019 made him the successor to Paul Kilmer, who had served in the role for more than 35 years. Previously, Bristo had been a vice president at Columbia Artists, where he’d represented opera singers including mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, bass-baritone James Morris and soprano Amanda Majeski, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story about his hiring.

This summer, like much of St. Louis’ performing arts scene, the company

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis parted ways with an administrator after his arrest. | GOOGLE MAPS has suffered a complete cancelation of its scheduled season, including performances of Carmen, Die Fledermaus and the world premiere of Awakenings (based on the memoir by Oliver Sacks).

Instead, the company produced a series of virtual events that featured performers and staff, including its Tent Talks; Bristo himself was featured in coverage of the company’s virtual season in the Post-Dispatch.

As of last week, the Tent Talk videos appear to have been removed from the company’s Facebook page.

Reached by email on August 13, a

spokeswoman for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis did not answer questions about when the company learned of Bristo’s arrest. She referred inquiries back to the company’s earlier statement attributed to Jorgensen, which concluded, “We have a strict code of ethics and strong values that we expect our employees to uphold inside and outside of the workplace.”

In comments to St. Louis Public Radio, soprano Angel Azzarra said the news of Bristo’s arrest and resignation came “out of left field.”

“I mean we’re all devastated,” she said. “It’s a horrible blow.” n

A Jeep is pulled upright after a crash on Monday afternoon at Tucker Boulevard and Clark Avenue in downtown. No serious injuries were reported. | DOYLE MURPHY

Restrictions Planned for Downtown Streets Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

S

t. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson says the city will make changes to downtown streets in response to a string of crashes and late-night drag racing.

During her regular briefing on Monday, Krewson said the situation has gotten out of hand.

“I’m sure some of those changes will be inconvenient for some folks who are used to driving a particular route,” the mayor said. “I’m sorry about that, but this

Say Hello to St. Louis City Soccer Club Written by

JAIME LEES

S

t. Louis’ new soccer team finally has a name — and it’s St. Louis City Soccer Club.

Bringing Major League Soccer to St. Louis has been a long, long process.

There were huge hurdles to get over, including who was going to pay for all of this and where in the heck these games would happen.

But St. Louis worked out the details, and we’re in the process of building the team a brand new stadium on prime real estate right next to Union Station.

With all of our established local sports teams taking hard hits during the pandemic, all eyes were on the announcement last week. There are big hopes is that St. Louis City SC will bring not just excitement, but an economic and public

something we have to get under control.”

Earlier that morning, a teenage girl was killed in a violent crash at the corner of 10th Street and Washington Avenue. Police say Sierra Ward, seventeen, of De Soto was riding in the back of a 1998 Chevrolet Silverado with others when it was hit by a speeding 2014 Dodge Charger, throwing her to her death, police say. Four others, including another seventeen-year-old girl were injured and taken to the hospital.

St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards told KMOV the changes would include blocking some sections of downtown roads with barricades and narrowing lanes.

Throughout the pandemic, traffic stops have been way down. In late March, all the members of the police department’s traffic unit were temporarily quarantined after a sergeant tested positive for COVID-19.

boom to downtown. Those hopes exist alongside longstanding concerns about the equity of publicly financed stadiums and whether a new sports team deserves millions in tax credits.

Still, it’s indisputable that the game of soccer is so important to many people in St. Louis. In addition to being loved by our large Catholic population who grew up playing it in school, the Beautiful Game is also close to the hearts of our beloved immigrant populations, who often carried their love for the sport from their home country all the way to St. Louis.

Soccer is unique among sports because, essentially, all somebody needs to play is one ball and a little bit of space.

That makes the game a hit in varied territories across the world and in all economic conditions. From lush lawns to dusty deserts to wet alleyways to warm rooftops, anywhere in the world can become a soccer field if you have a ball.

St. Louis’ stadium is still little more than giant, intricately built pit at this stage of construction. But when it’s finished it’s expected to have room for 22,500 fans. It’s scheduled to open in 2023. n

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

9

10

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

A storm is gathering over St. Louis, and Janica Washington stands at its edge.

Washington, a resident of the long-troubled Southwest Crossing apartment complex in the Carondolet neighborhood of St. Louis, is unemployed and facing eviction because of missed rent payments.

“They’re going to take me to court when the courts open,” Washington, 41, tells the Riverfront Times a few weeks ago while talking to friends in the apartment complex’s parking lot.

“And I guess the judge will give me some time to move,” she says.

As for where she and her four young children — ages seven, ten, eleven and fourteen — would live, Washington is still searching for an answer.

“I just don’t know,” she says.

Washington is getting ready to join tens of millions of fellow Americans in a housing crisis unprecedented in scope and intensity. Together they are staring into a widening abyss that has cut a jagged line through virtually every town and city in the nation.

A history-shattering tsunami of evictions is expected to strike in

the months ahead — a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 170,000 Americans and triggered the worst economic crash since the 1930s.

More than 30 million Americans have filed for jobless benefits. ens of millions more have reported lost income because of pandemic-related business and government shutdowns.

A recent U.S. Census Bureau survey reported that more than 20 percent of American households do not expect to meet their monthly rent or mortgage payment.

That translates into somewhere between 30 million to 40 million Americans who find themselves at risk of losing the roof over their heads before year’s end. In contrast, only 10 million Americans lost their homes during the three years of the Great Recession of 2008 to 2010.

The scale of this human catastrophe is about to get worse: The $600 weekly unemployment benefit paid through the federal CA Act — which ept many finan-

Janica Washington is one of potentially thouaands facing eviction in St. Louis. | MIKE FITZGERALD

cially strapped families in their homes — ended last month.

Meanwhile, Congress’ efforts to work out a new relief package remain stalled over partisan roadblocks and deep disagreements over the size and nature of another aid package.

As for President Donald Trump?

By all accounts he’s sidelined himself, splitting his time between gaslighting America on Twitter, watching countless hours of rightwing TV, issuing meaningless executive orders and taking long weekends to polish his golf game at one of his resorts.

In early August, after it became clear Republicans and Democrats could not reach a deal on an aid package, Trump signed an executive order that bypassed Congress to use money set aside for natural disasters to pay jobless Americans a $400 weekly stipend.

Aside from widespread agreement from legal experts that the move violates the Constitution, it has been denounced as ineffective and unworkable because Trump’s maneuver required cashstrapped states to pay $100 of the weekly stipend —- putting them

riverfronttimes.com

on the hook for billions of dollars their governors say the states don’t have. After a week of criticism, Trump’s executive order has been roundly condemned as little more than a stunt.

The same goes for his “executive order” ordering a “moratorium” on tenant evictions. Turns out, it’s no more than a memorandum that directs the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at ways an eviction ban could stop the spread of COVID-19. he e piration of CA Act funding coincided with the end of another federal program that kept Americans in their homes: a nationwide moratorium on evictions.

As a result, housing activists across the St. Louis region are bracing for a record-setting upsurge of evictions, which in turn is expected to explode the region’s unhoused population with no fallback plan in place if Congress fails to pass a second multi-trillion-dollar relief package.

“We’re looking at a level of displacement that’s just unprec-

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

Continued on pg 13

RIVERFRONT TIMES

11

12

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

HOMELESSNESS Continued from pg 11

edented,” says Glenn Burleigh, community engagement director for the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council. “You can’t really put it in terms of normal times. Because in normal times none of these numbers look like this.”

H

ow many St. Louis residents will lose their homes?

Of that number, how many possess the financial resources to find new homes And how many will wind up on the streets, joining St. Louis’ already burgeoning ranks of the unhoused?

No one can answer any of these questions with precision. But the baseline numbers of potential evictions have already set off alarm bells for tenant rights activists such as Burleigh and those who work directly with unhoused people.

In Missouri — which never imposed a statewide moratorium on evictions — nearly 600,000 people face eviction, according to a recent Aspen Institute report.

In t. ouis, . . Census figures show nearly 82,000 households consist of rental units. If national trends are applied to St. Louis, then up to 24,000 households are housing insecure. Multiply that number by 2.5 — the size of the average American household in 2019 — and somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 people in St. Louis have reason to fear they are in danger of eviction.

Unless Congress and the White House pass a second COVID-19 bill that pays enough to allow financially strapped tenants to stay in place, thousands of residents in the St. Louis region could find themselves living on the streets by the end of the year — a situation that will only exacerbate the health impacts of the current pandemic, according to Lee Camp, a senior staff attorney who specializes in tenant rights for ArchCity Defenders.

“We absolutely have to prepare for an impending ood of evictions that is going to be a ood of people into the streets in a way that we likely have never seen before in this country,” Camp says.

What especially concerns him, he says, is not just the sheer number of evictions that are expected, but the accelerated time frame in which they will occur.

“The scariest piece is those are people who face eviction in terms of months, not years like we saw in the foreclosure crisis,” Camp says.

The impact of so many people losing their homes in such a short period of time will be felt for decades, according to Camp.

“It’s a ripple in the water that actually continues,” he says. “It never has to phase out. And we will be trapped in that for years to come, almost certainly.”

There is no formula for calculating how many of the estimated St. Louis residents who face housing insecurity will wind up on the streets.

But if only 10 percent of the 50,000 to 60,000 under threat of eviction lose their homes, then that’s at least 5,000 people — or between five and ten times the city’s maximum capacity for providing emergency beds for the city’s unhoused population.

Housing activist Tim Huffman estimates that between 1,000 and 1,200 unhoused people already live in the city. The coming eviction crisis could easily add another 1,000 people to the unhoused population, in his view.

“It’s terrifying,” says Huffman, who teaches communications at Saint Louis University.

Stephen Conway, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s chief of staff, says the city has about 1,100 emergency beds.

But John Boncorsi, a staff attorney for ArchCity, says the true number of beds for the unhoused is about 551.

Normally, there are a total of 516 beds in the various shelter locations across the city. But 169 were lost to accommodate social distancing demands because of COVID-19. This loss was slightly offset by the addition of 204 beds brought online through city contracts with several motels and the former Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home — for a total of 551 beds, according to Boncorsi, a Skadden Fellow.

Boncorsi calls the disparity between the city’s current shelter capacity versus the expected demand “terrifying.”

Which is why, he says, “it’s so important that the courts don’t start opening up in a way where people are being evicted from their homes, particularly if the rental assistance fund from the federal government isn’t reaching those folks yet.”

In any event, there are not enough shelter beds available citywide to meet the surging demand caused by the number of evictions that will occur citywide, according to Bishop Michael Robinson, the CEO and founder of City Hope St. Louis.

“We will have a severe shortage if Continued on pg 15

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

13

14

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

HOMELESSNESS Continued from pg 13

we don’t open a couple larger facilities that will be able to accommodate this in u , obinson wrote in an email. “I believe that we will see a huge number of first time homeless individuals this winter.

Conway says the city is doing all it can — and far more than most cities — to help residents remain in their homes.

Conway notes the city has already disbursed $5.4 million in federal CA money to fourteen service providers, including the nited ay, which will provide direct housing assistance of up to , to struggling city residents. o far , city households have applied for the grants.

And just last wee , rewson announced that she had requested $2 million more had been added to this housing assistance fund.

Conway declined to say how many t. ouis residents he e pects to end up homeless.

“But I know one thing: It’s not going to be , people out on the streets, he says. “ he bottom line is we do not e pect , people to be put out. here are a number of safeguards that are in place.

City leaders foresaw the eviction crisis months ago and planned accordingly, according to Conway.

“We made all the efforts and all the resources available to us to mitigate the impending housing crisis, he says. “And the reason we did such a good job is that we prepared for it in advance. or his part, Camp sees a grim picture ahead. “ helter beds and temporary housing are not sustainable solutions, even to deal with this housing crisis, he says. “ hen the evictions occur, we’re absolutely going to see people become homeless, street homelessness as a result of this.

Camp chided the city for not doing enough to help the unhoused population even before the pandemic hit. “ ith that being the lan A, I don’t even know how you have a lan , when your first plan has completely failed, he says. “And now you’re looking at a severe shock to the population of unhoused individuals.

M

ichelle anger, who also lives at outhwest Crossing Apartments, says she has missed two payments of her monthly rent and e pects to be evicted. i e fellow tenant anica ashington, anger says she doesn’t know where

Attorney Lee Camp of ArchCity defenders says an eviction crisis will force people out of their homes and into the streets. | MIKE FITZGERALD she will live ne t. “ hey’re saying you got to move, anger, , says. “ hey’re sending maintenance men to do it. im ansone, vice president of the ansone roup which recently acquired the apartment comple through receivership, did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

Hanger acknowledged she is growing desperate.

“At this point I’m not sure where I would go, she says. “It’s hard.

It makes you want to commit suicide. he options for t. ouis tenants in anger’s predicament are, by most accounts, in u .

In early August, at the re uest of housing activists and city heriff ernon etts, t. ouis Circuit udge e urlison agreed to a citywide eviction freeze to last until ept. . urlison ’ed the free e on the grounds that tenants will have more time to apply for and receive help with rental and mortgage bills through the $5.4 million in city CA Act funding.

And what will happen beyond ept.

Conway, the mayor’s chief of staff, says he’s “comfortable that for the ne t or days I’ll have enough funds to help people who haven’t been able to pay their rent. y that point Conway e pects

Congress to work out a deal on a second pandemic relief package. “ here’s too much pressure on both parties not to come up with a deal, Conway says. “I’m confident they’ll come up with a different style of unemployment, because no one, emocrat or epublican, can allow that to go.

But what if no deal happens over the ne t two months “ ow if I get days out, and they haven’t accomplished anything, then we’ll have to re evaluate, Conway says. “ ut if we don’t have the resources, we don’t have the resources. arlier this spring, the city bro e up four encampments for the unhoused near the city’s center.

Many of the camps’ residents were sent to three motels and a former nursing home for Catholic nuns. he city has e tended its contracts with those facilities, but according to people who work with the unhoused — and willing to speak on background — these facilities are not taking in new residents. hat’s more, many of the people sent there had a hard time adhering to the rules and left on their own, finding shelter either in abandoned buildings or near the t. ouis riverfront.

But even if the motels and the former nursing home had worked perfectly, it would represent a tem-

riverfronttimes.com

porary fi at best, according to housing activist ennard illiams.

“We’re at the point where people don’t have anywhere to go, Williams says. “You see a coordinated push to remove the population from people’s eyes. hat doesn’t address the problem. illiams’ group, M — Missourians rgani ing for eform and mpowerment — is calling for a new eviction moratorium of at least days.

“What are people supposed to do illiams says. “ here are no jobs to go back to. Places are closed.

Williams notes the federal government has the funds to send a cadre of federal law enforcement agents to t. ouis for peration egend.

“But we don’t have the money to get people off the street, he says. “ hings are not adding up here with where all the money is going.

Williams praised Burlison’s decision to free e evictions until ept. but says it does not go far enough. “ here’s no clear way for people to plan their lives, he says. “ r go about their lives, because so much about this is disrupting people’s lives.

In large part, the housing emergency the city and the nation are both facing are unnecessary, according to Williams.

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

Continued on pg 16

RIVERFRONT TIMES

15

“What are people supposed to do?

There are no jobs to go back to.

Places are closed.”

HOMELESSNESS Continued from pg 15

“We do not have to have a mass eviction crisis,” he says. “Like, we do not have to do this. It doesn’t need to happen.”

I

n a typical year, about 3.7 million evictions are filed in America.

But, because of the looming housing crisis, up to 28 million Americans face eviction between now and the end of September, according to the Princeton University Eviction Lab. The consequences of even one eviction filing — even if filed wrongfully — could haunt a family and set back its members for generations.

Housing experts cite research that shows that eviction is not just a result of poverty — it is a major driver of it.

People kicked out of their homes lose their communities and suffer traumatic psychological and physical health effects. Research shows they move to cheaper neighborhoods with less access to fresh food and regular health care, and poorer-quality schools.

People who are evicted suffer higher rates of divorce, mental health problems and are more likely to wind up homeless.

Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond, who cofounded the Eviction Lab, calls an eviction the “Scarlet E” because it follows tenants the rest of their lives, making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to get loans for cars and homes and to obtain leases for new apartments, forcing them to pay overpriced rents to slumlords.

Evictions disproportionately affect women and children and people of color, penalizing society’s most vulnerable populations.

And evictions — especially a massive wave of them — will worsen

16

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

the effects of the region’s already chronic racial segregation, according to EHOC’s Burleigh.

“It means it’s going to limit African American housing choices in our region going forward,” Burleigh says.

The pandemic and the job losses caused by it have the potential “to further segregate us, because you will have a disproportionate number of African Americans who will have these evictions on their records, limiting their choices, and frankly, pushing people to pay too much for substandard housing,” Burleigh says.

The coming eviction crisis is causing area leaders to face the reality that they never really devised a long-term, sustainable solution for serving unhoused people, according to Camp, of ArchCity.

What’s more, even though no St. Louis residents are being forced out of their homes, thanks to Judge Burlison’s eviction freeze, eviction judgments are still being issued, Camp notes.

“There are more judgments stacking up, more families facing the threat of displacement,” he says. “When the evictions resume, we’re going to see another shock on our community as those things start to happen in another couple months down the road.”

Modern America has never faced the scale of the housing crisis about to hit in the next few months — a catastrophe that’s guaranteed to happen unless lawmakers in Washington end their deadlock and cut a deal robust and ambitious enough to allow tens of millions of Americans to keep a roof over their heads in the months ahead.

“I think we’re kind of at the crest of a waterfall,” Camp says. “We’re very much teetering on the edge.

And I’m surprised we haven’t fallen off yet.” n

HAPPY DANCES AND HOME INSPECTIONS!

H

e’s the hero we didn’t know we needed. Up in the sky (or, rather, a computer-generated sky)— Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a grownass man flying on a carpet, and he’s here to give you the home inspection you deserve.

You might’ve seen him on Facebook. Bob (a name which he’ll frequently remind you with a tyke-like snicker that he spells backwards: boB) Madewell posted a video on Facebook earlier this summer. Of him riding a carpet over the St. Louis’ skyline, much like Becky ‘Queen of Carpets’ Rothman did in her iconic 90’s commercials for her tile and carpet superstore. It started as a way to promote his business, Madewell Inspections LLC, but since the video was posted in late July, it has been viewed over 20,000 times.

Madewell remembered watching Rothman’s commercials as a kid and marveling at them. He had several goals when he sat down five years ago to plan out his home inspection business. But one goal stood out more than the others, one which he wrote down in his business plan: To become as famous as Becky ‘Queen of Carpets.’

“I want to be locally famous like Becky, the Slyman Brothers, and as memorable as that catchy ‘Cheap, Cheap - Fun, Fun’ Dirt Cheap Chicken,” Madwell says.

“But we never want to be known as the dirt-cheap inspection company.”

Although the video has racked in lots of new business, Madwell says the response hasn’t been entirely

positive. Some other local home inspectors hate it, according to Madewell, since the carpet-flying has nothing to do with home inspections. To that, Madwell says, “Oh, well,” and dances on. Yes, he dances too.

Madewell boasts how Madewell Inspections is 100% referral based. In his video, he says every time someone refers a friend or family member, “someone does a little happy dance. It’s me,” Madewell says, “I do the happy dance.” He then breaks out into a corny but utterly endearing dad dance he calls “The Bobbalooee,” which Madwell says he actually does every time his business receives a new referral, and even when they don’t.

He’s danced the bobbalooee all over Illinois and Missouri. He has danced the bobbalooee from the Midwest to the East Coast. Once while traveling to visit his oldest daughter where she’s stationed at a military base in North Carolina, he stopped at rest stops in every state on the way there to make TikToks of him dancing the bobbalooee in front of state signs.

that doesn’t mean we can’t make you giggle a bit. I will always tell a joke and try to make you smile.”

Five years ago, before Madewell became a home inspector, one of his daughters bought a house after what he said was a lousy inspection. The house was a “money pit,” what Madewell calls homes that have numerous costly repairs, and ended up costing his daughter more money than she had planned.

“I promised myself that once I became a home inspector, that I would never let that happen to another kid again if I could help it,” Madewell says.

To ensure that, Madewell Inspections does what other inspection businesses don’t. They send two inspectors out on each inspection, they form bonds with customers. In five years Madewell has become a certified master inspector, he and his team have inspected thousands of homes in the Metro St. Louis area, he’s done inspections for parents and then done inspections for their kids.

But in all seriousness, the dancing, the TikToks, the silly commercials, and carpet flying, are all tactics to serve what Madewell says is his biggest goal: to comfort people.

Madewell has lived in Granite City, Illinois his whole life. He says he wants to provide quality home inspections as much as we hope to give people a laugh.

“When you’re buying a home, you’re already stressed,” Madewell says. “It’s the biggest purchase you’re ever going to make. You have to worry about financing, you have to worry about the appraisal, you have to worry about the inspection. The Madewell Inspections Team is going to do a good job for you, but

“Even though the commercials are silly, I want people to know we are part of a community,” Madewell says. “We don’t want to just inspect your home, we want to help you in any way we can—whether that’s checking your plumbing or putting a smile on your face.”

ADVERTORIAL

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

17

18

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

SHORT ORDERS

weeks, the restaurant was forced to completely change its business model to takeout-only, something that alic admits was a difficult learning curve. He describes the experience as one of sleepless nights as he and Loryn would lay awake, working out the kinks as they figured out how to transition to a new way of doing business.

As hard as it’s been, Nalic can’t help but be filled with a sense of gratitude when he thinks of the support he and the Balkan Treat Box team has received from their customers. Though there have been a few dissatisfied guests, most people have approached them with kindness and grace — something that gives him hope even in the midst of such a challenging time.

“It’s hard seeing a whole day crumble away into a bad service,” Nalic says. “All you can do is hope that people will not nail you to the wall but be understanding.

And really, they have. We have so many regulars, and they have all been cheering us on and have been so supportive. We really love them.”

Nalic stepped away from the restaurant’s wood-burning bread oven — he still bakes their signature pide fresh every day — to share his thoughts on maintaining a sense of normalcy, the importance of his daily coffee ritual and what it’s like to live in uncertainty.

[SIDE DISH]

Outside the Box Kindness and coffee help Balkan Treat Box’s Edo Nalic make it through the pandemic Written By

CHERYL BAEHR

E

do Nalic doesn’t hesitate when asked about what he misses most about the way things were at Balkan Treat Box (8103 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves; 314-7335700) before the COVID-19 pandemic turned life on its head.

“I miss the lines,” Nalic says.

“Every day it was busy. I’d see a line of tickets, and it was just fun.

It was stressful, but it kept us on our A-game. I’d take that kind of stress any day rather than the stress of worrying whether or not anybody is going to come in.”

For Nalic and his wife and business partner, Loryn, lines were an everyday part of their lives since opening the brick and mortar storefront for Balkan Treat Box in February of 2019. But even before that, the pair had amassed an army of regulars for their food truck of the same name, which first hit the streets in late . Inspired by the food of Nalic’s Bosnian homeland, Balkan Treat Box has garnered local and national acclaim and earned numerous accolades, including a Best Chef: Midwest James Beard nomination earlier this year for Loryn.

Perhaps more importantly to Nalic than all the awards, however, is the way he and Loryn have shone a spotlight on Bosnian cuisine as an integral part of St. Louis’ culinary heritage. For Nalic, Balkan Treat Box is a way for him to share his home country with his new one, bringing to life the experiences he had as a kid growing up in pre-war Sarajevo.

“In Bosnia, I remember how we always ate meals at home together as a family,” Nalic recalls. “There was nothing uic fi everything

17

Edo Nalic credits supportive patrons for helping Balkan Treat Box stay afloat through the pandemic. | SPENCER PERNIKOFF took time to prepare and was made with care and passion and love.

Then the war began, and we ended up as refugees in Germany. We still ate our food at home, but we couldn’t go out to restaurants and eat it, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it. It too us five years to return to Bosnia, and when we did, I remember thinking, ‘This is what I’m going to eat this is what I am craving.’ Food kept bringing back all those memories.”

Though Nalic never let go of those memories after moving to the United States, he never really thought of opening a Bosnian restaurant until he met Loryn. At the time, he was managing Taft Street Restaurant & Bar, and she was one of his food sales representatives.

They fell in love, and Nalic introduced Loryn to Bosnian cuisine by

taking her to restaurants in and around the Bevo Mill neighborhood. Loryn was hooked, and before they knew it, they were married and talking about opening a Bosnian-inspired restaurant.

“Loryn had always talked about opening her own place, and I knew it was going to take someone like her to popularize Bosnian food to the masses,” Nalic explains. “She’s dedicated, passionate and respected, and knew we didn’t want to Americanize it. I’ve seen that backfire so many times when people totally underestimate the curiosity and welcoming nature of American people to try new things.”

Four years later, the Nalics were riding high, running one of the most successful restaurants in town, until the pandemic hit the area this March. In just a matter of

riverfronttimes.com

As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through?

The uncertainty. You dream about something for so long, and you go all-in. Then, it might all be squandered away, and it doesn’t have anything to do with ourselves and our food — it’s other circumstances. That’s really scary.

One year or two years from now this all might look different. It’s a scary thought. I don’t like to think about it too much. The fear of going from a dream to “What am I going to do now?” is real.

What do you miss most about the way things were at your job before COVID-19?

The line and the casual talk with people. Seeing familiar faces, our wonderful staff of food runners — they were the best. It was amazing. It was like walking into a place, and we all got to a point

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

Continued on pg 19

RIVERFRONT TIMES

19

20

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

Drink Your Rice Written by

THOMAS CRONE

D

uring the lunch hour on a recent weekday, a driver pulled into the parking lot of Rockwell Beer Company with a few questions.

He asked if this was a brewery (“it is”), and whether the place was open (“at this moment, it is open, every day of the week”), and if the brewery’s beer was for sale on-site (“it is”), and if there was food available (“once again, yes”). atisfied with these affirmations, the gentleman suggested that he’d be back for a visit soon, then popped back into his sedan.

Retail sales is sometimes about getting that one new customer, and Rockwell Beer Company may have just scored a new one — a prospective one, at the very least.

It’s a good time for breweries to make those small gains as they, as much as any industry, have had to adapt to the COVID-19 buying practices of their clientele.

RBC’s beers are available in stores, yes, as well as through a curbside pickup system that at least ept some money owing in while the tasting room was closed. As noted above, it’s since reopened, with reservations made for small parties, limited walk-up availability and 1.75-hour slots the general rule.

That kind of time frame would give fans, new and old, a chance to work through at least a fraction of the sixteen tap lines in-house, which offer some items not available in stores, created in small

EDO NALIC

Continued from pg 17

that if it looked like it would be a busy day, we’d know we would have fun and good energy.

What do you miss least?

Absolutely nothing. I can’t think of one thing.

What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy?

Coffee. Back home, it’s meant to be a social thing, not something to crank you up to go about your day.

Whether I am alone having coffee or with my brother or Loryn, it’s almost like a zen moment. I feel energized afterward, not because

batches for consumption on-site.

And the brand’s most recent offering is one of the best they’ve yet created: Crisp Chinos, a jasmine rice lager that comes in at 5.2 percent ABV and packs a whole lot more avor than a lot of the summertime lagers and pilsners hitting the local craft market of late.

Jonathan Moxey, head brewer at Rockwell Beer Company since its inception, says that Crisp Chinos came about as the nextgeneration kin to a beer called Straphanger, from Kings County Brewers Collective in New York.

When KCBC’s Zack Kinney came to St. Louis for a beerfest, he and Moxey went to work to put “a Rockwell spin” on the original.

Moxey eventually settled in on a beer that scored solid points with RBC regulars during appearances in the taproom over the last year.

Presuming a normal summer ahead, Moxey put work into making Crisp Chinos, a lager that he imagined could have a heavier presence in St. Louis stores “just in time for baseball season.” Though that didn’t go exactly to plan, the beer has gone out on distributor Craft Republic’s trucks, hitting local stores this month.

In some respects, the rice component is key. Moxey says that puffed brown rice and puffed jasmine rice were used to bring avor. In addition, the beer calls on equal parts Crystal hops from Michigan and German Saphir hops, used for brewing and dry hopping, along with Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner malt.

“This particular batch,” Moxey says, “lagered for three months.

Typically, we lager for six or seven weeks. We lightly dry hopped it along the way to brighten it up, make it interesting as well as crushable. We get a lot of our hops from Michigan — the Crystal hops

have a very fruit-forward character. acific orthwest hops are great but can have a perfume-like character that I wasn’t looking for here, so the Saphir, a newer German hop, brought a bright character, a lime zest.”

Having a new beer to share with the world in cans is a big win, through Moxey notes that “85 percent of our beer goes out of the tasting room. And shutting that down for a couple of months really threw a hammer into things.

We put a lot of beer down the drain. With having sixteen taps at our disposal here, we can rip off small one-offs, play and experiment a little more. Lately, we’ve had to be a lot more calculated, as

in, ‘What happens if we get shut down again?’ You don’t wanna dump more down the drain.”

It’s a notion that chills the blood of any proud beer drinker, be they a longtime fan of Rockwell Beer Company or someone just driving by, wondering what that brewery’s making in there.

Crisp Chinos is available at select local stores as well as via online purchasing at C’s official website — as 16-ounce singles, fourpacks, cases and sixth barrels.

of the caffeine, but because it puts me in a state of calm. Coffee time does that for me.

What have you been stress-eating/ drinking lately?

For me, I can eat pizza all the time, but also, there are three restaurants we go to when we feel stressed. We really look forward to Louie, Yolklore and Mai Lee. It’s not just about supporting your friends. Those are my places.

What are some things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper?

Dog food and bananas. I eat a lot of them.

You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick?

Loryn, Carmen, our general

manager, and our CPA, Lloyd.

Once you feel comfortable going back out and about, what’s the first thing you’ll do?

Go back home to Bosnia. It was all taken for granted — family friends. I miss the nature, lakes, rivers, smells, everything.

What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels?

I believe it all depends on leadership and communication. If people have a sense of trust and faith, and if information is relayed properly and not with different opinions with one message and one purpose, we will get back to normal sooner than later.

I think a huge part of where we are is because there is such conicting messaging. If people trust science and follow guidelines, sooner than later we will be back to normal. If people are in conict, we will be in big trouble. It all depends on what the message is going to be going forward.

What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis?

When I see how people are supporting us — and that is the majority of people — there is a sense of sticking together and rising above together. I often see in comments people saying that they make sure to support us. You feel that somebody is thinking about you, and that gives me hope. n

RBC’s latest, Crisp Chinos, is available at select local stores as well as via online purchasing at the company’s official website. | COURTESY ROCKWELL BEER COMPANY

riverfronttimes.com

Thomas Crone is a longtime Riverfront Times contributor. He reports on a weekly basis about new releases from local distilleries and craft breweries.

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

21

22

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

23

24

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

CULTURE [WRASSLIN’]

The Fore Horseman St. Louis wrestler Warhorse is on the rise after making his national TV debut Written by

JUSTIN POOLE

T

hroughout this nightmarish hellscape we refer to as the COVID-19 pandemic, one live professional sports extravaganza has refused to yield. Professional wrestling has been running television and pay-per-view events from empty arenas weekly with industry leaders All Elite Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment hosting shows from their respective home bases of Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida.

Independent wrestling, however, has ground to a halt. In a business of independent contractors, stable employment is hard to come by. Most professional wrestlers not employed by one of the few large companies prefer to spend their time freelancing — traveling from city to city, state to state, and country to country in pursuit of bookings, working seven nights a week at times just to keep the lights on.

But with smaller-scale shows around the world put on hold due to the pandemic, these bookings have largely run dry. And with those shows vanishing, so have the dreams of many independent professional wrestlers.

But that isn’t the case for St. Louis native and eight-year wrestling veteran Jake Parnell, better known to fans as Warhorse. At a time when others are throwing in the towel and getting “real jobs” something arhorse brie y tried), Parnell instead decided to focus his attention on the thing he’s wanted since he was a young child: pro-wrestling stardom.

On July 29, after months of intense online lobbying from the heavy-metal maniac and his legion of fans, Parnell went head

Jake Parnell, better known to fans as Warhorse, wrestled on TV on July 29 as part of the TNT Title Open Challenge. | SOPHIA VASQUEZ to head with legendary superstar Cody Rhodes on national television as a part of the TNT Title Open Challenge.

Rhodes, a performer and operating partner with All Elite Wrestling, instituted the open challenge as a way to share the national television spotlight with unsigned independent wrestlers at a time when they are struggling to get on shows. The matches give not only a nice payday but also a chance to connect with new fans who can support these independent wrestlers by purchasing their merchandise or videos featuring their matches. But most importantly, as has been the case with both Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston, these matches sometimes lead to fulltime contracts with AEW. The July 29 match, much like most of life, was back and forth.

Warhorse got his shots in and Rhodes got his shots in. Both men gave their all to satisfy wrestling fans around the world watching from the safety of their own homes. And while Parnell came up just short of winning the TNT title, going toe to toe with Rhodes and inching that much closer to grabbing his dream was the greatest victory of his career. So far.

We hooked up with Parnell to discuss not only the biggest night of his life but also his love of pro-

wrestling, heavy metal and banging heads.

Where did you get your start in the business?

I trained with Dynamo Pro at the Lemp Brewery in St. Louis. I was trained by Dingo, Ricky Starks and the Hooligans. I had wanted to be a wrestler since I saw the Invasion ’92 tape and the image of Hulk Hogan was burned into my brain.

A lot of people say your character is a throwback to the larger-than-life era of the ’80s. Who were some of your favorite wrestlers growing up?

Sting, Macho Man Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and the Road Warriors.

You’re also well known for your love of larger-than-life heavy metal characters. Who are some of the bands that make the Warhorse head bang the hardest?

King Diamond, Kiss, Mercyful Fate and Megadeth.

When you first heard of AEW and the TNT open challenge, were you immediately interested in getting involved?

It started as fans requesting me, but snowballed into a huge movement that they eventually took notice of. Grassroots is a very real thing.

When did you really begin to understand the momentum of the Warhorse legions and feel this match

riverfronttimes.com

25

was actually going to happen?

When various wrestling news sites started to make articles and cover the momentum, I knew something might be up.

How did wrestling without fans affect your performance?

It made the whole experience a lot less nerve-wracking, but I do wonder what it would have been like wrestling in front of 10,000 rabid AEW fans.

Was it harder to go out and give 100 percent without the adrenaline boost of a live crowd?

It definitely too a bit to get in the zone, but once the pyro went off and my head started banging the adrenaline was right there where I needed it.

Were you required to take your temperature or agree to self-quarantine ahead of the show or anything of that nature?

They had us perform several tests. They also had mask requirements and specific ones for anyone who was awaiting tests to wait in before interacting with anyone on staff. The whole process was impressive to say the least.

Do you think more wrestling companies should try broadcasting shows without fans in attendance, or would you prefer everyone sit tight and try to wait this thing out?

I think it’s based on region. Some areas have been hit harder than others. And some smaller companies may not be in a position to test in the same manner that AEW does, so there would always be a bigger risk for outbreaks. For now I think the no-crowd events are a great way to go.

Do you have any upcoming bookings where fans can see you?

I have some shows and events coming up in Chicago, Dallas and several events for the rest of the year that are local. St. Louis Anarchy runs in Alton, and you can come see Warhorse smash some heads in on August 21st.

What is your next goal in wrestling?

As far as my future goes, I’m not sure. I have a comic book coming out (Warhausen comic), I’m featured in the new Retromania video game coming out soon (Retrosoft Studios) and I’ve had a documentary made by Kenny Johnson (Becoming Warhorse). I’ve wrestled in Canada and Mexico, so I suppose the next logical move would be to bang heads in Europe and Australia. n

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

25

A Late Summer’s Night Stroll keeps the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival alive during an era of social distancing. | NICHOLAS COULTER

[ S TA G E ]

A Walk in the Park St. Louis Shakespeare Festival celebrates its twentieth year safely with an ambitious Late Summer Night’s Stroll Written by

SHARON COULTER

T

he St. Louis Shakespeare Festival celebrated the opening night of its twentieth season last week with an open-air presentation of art, music and poetry interpreting A Midsummer Night’s Dream and taking the journey of its characters into a magical fairy woods.

The self-guided tour is billed

26

RIVERFRONT TIMES

as A Late Summer Night’s Stroll through Forest Park. Along the path are fourteen amazing twelve-foot high arches created by selected Painted Black STL artists, depicting different parts of the play and serving as venues for live performances. Quotes from the play can be found inside the arches along the path, adding to the interactive experience of the tour. A map clearly marks the way between arch venues, and an audio track is aligned with the performances at each numbered arch to assist with continuity of plot. Both can be accessed at stlshakes.org.

Naturally, the novel presentation was born of necessity. The festival’s main stage performance was originally scheduled to be Much Ado About Nothing, but as with most things this year, it was postponed due to the pandemic.

Tom Ridgely, producing artistic director of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, worked with the St. Louis Health Department to develop COVID-19 safety guidelines that include social distancing and

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

mask requirements, along with online pre-registration for small tour groups of less than ten. Preset groups can’t be changed or be added to, and family groups are suggested. he first arch was designed and painted by Jessie Donovan. The stage is set for a royal wedding.

Subplots begin to emerge of lovers, their desires and the complications that ensue. Actors from Shakespeare Squadron, a student branch of the Shakespeare Festival, handle this all-important introductory venue.

Then, as the lovers elope into an enchanted wood, we pass the second arch — created by Eugenia Alexander — and we experience the amazing Opera Theatre of St. Louis singers Leann Schuering and Gina Malone. The third arch was designed and painted

by Nicholaus Lawery. Here, two actors — Katy Keating and Alicen Moser from Poor Monsters, an experimental theater company that creates new works inspired by ha espeare — define the secretive bond of friends.

We then venture along the wellmarked path deep into the woods to see the fairy wood dancers, and become privy to the misguided plan of the fairy king to match the lovers. Big Muddy Dance Company handles this scene beautifully.

The venue is marked by the fourth arch design, created by Tielere Cheatem. As we continue our tour we see the balance of power between players and fairies change.

Christina Yancy and Brian McKinley of the Black Rep portray the scene with finesse beneath arch five, created by yla aw ins.

As we move through the next four arches the plot advances quickly — in keeping, these arches are placed in close proximity to one another. A series of magical missteps provide comic relief throughout and bring us to a point where a mischievous fairy tries to resolve all the romantic pairings so that things can return to normal. Consuming Kinetics Dance Company performs at both arch six (created by Sherelle Speed) and arch seven (designed by BriLynn Asia). Circus Flora and Ten

As part of this year’s format, audience members walk along a path to view scenes playing out under fourteen arches in Forest Park. | NICHOLAS COULTER

Directions provide comic relief at arch eight, designed by Tyler Harris, as a canoe scene advances us along the path.

The fairy mischief continues as Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble — featuring Rachel Tibbets, Ellie Schwetye, Eleanor Humphrey, Taleesha Caturah and Rae Davis — portray an amorous awakening at arch nine, designed by Ryean Clark.

We arrive to the sounds of Jazz St. Louis — featuring Benjamin Paille, Kendrick Smith, Bernard Taylor and Micah Walker — under arch ten, created by N’Dea Collins-Whitfield, followed by character actor Laura Coppinger at arch eleven, designed by Taylor Deed.

As all the couples are reunited, we arrive at arch twelve, designed and painted by LaShawnda Smith, and a performance by Mo Burns of the Improv Shop.

This all takes us to arch thirteen, designed and painted by Brock Seals to represent the uniting of the couples in marriage. “I looked at the parties as two different colors/shades,” Seals explains. “One side has blue shades and the red

shades represent the other party.”

The colors meet in the center under the arch that reads “most happy hour.”

It is the setting for a triple wedding, set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” played on violin by Ruth Christopher of the Preparatory Program of the Community Music School at Webster University. As the selfguided tour heads to the final arch, created by Dee Drenning, the play’s finale is delivered by the t. ouis Shakespeare Festival and features Britteny Henry, Mary Heyl, Carl Overly Jr. and Michael Tran.

As the sun sets over the Grand Basin we are left to ponder the experience of a truly innovative, artful and enriching experience — one spotlighting numerous local arts organizations and allowing their talents to thrive safely, even during these days of limited group activities and a global pandemic.

The festival is free to all and runs through September 6. For online reservations visit stlshakes. org and select a waiting-list date for your group. n

The festival incorporates artists from a variety of local theater companies. | NICHOLAS COULTER

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

27

28

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a 35-year-old woman. I recently discovered I’m a size queen. (Is it OK for me to use this term?) This has been brewing for a while as I have dabbled with purchasing larger and larger cucumbers and fucking myself with them after a good wash. I use a condom and tons of lube and it’s been amazing. Are there any safety or health concerns I should be aware of? I’m moving away from fucking produce and purchased my first sizeable toy. I see safety tips online for men who like large toys in their butts, but I wanted to know if there is anything I should be aware of as a vagina-haver. I mainly partner with men but am expanding to date women, and I’ve been fisted only once by a woman and absolutely loved it.

Finding I Lately Love Enormous Dildos So long as you’re taking it slow, FILLED, so long as you’re using lots of lube, so long as you’re playing with toys that have ared bases and were designed for insertion play, and so long as those toys are made of body safe materials li e silicone, then you’re doing everything right. And yes, I , you may use the term “size queen” to describe yourself Hey, Dan: I’m a longtime fan of your column and your podcast.

Recently a discussion came up on Facebook, and I was curious as to what your take on the situation was. It was about diaper play: A group of people seem to think that enjoying this kink is the same thing as being a pedophile or engaging in “pedo-lite” behavior. Another group — myself included — believes that it is simply an expression of a kink between two consenting adults and therefore isn’t the same as pedophilia at all. I was curious as to what your take on the situation was, or if you had any suggestions on how to approach this topic with the first group? Thank you, wishing you all the best!

Wandering Ethical Terrain Of Nappies Employed Sexually

Does fucking someone who’s wearing a dog collar count as bestiality? Of course not, WETONES, because dog collars no more turn consenting adults into dogs than diapers turn consenting adults into infants. And the disapproval of strangers on the internet not only won’t stop an adult who wants to wear diapers from wearing diapers, , that disapproval ma es wearing diapers all the more arousing because the transgression and “wrongness of wearing diapers ma es wearing diapers arousing — not for everyone, of course, but for most people who are into wearing diapers. hich means your disapproving friends are playing right into the pervy hands crin ly rubber shorts of all the diaper lovers out there. And while it’s true that some people who are into age play are also into diapers, , it’s not true that everyone into diapers is into age play. or most people who get off on diapers, it’s the humiliation of being a diapered adult that turns them on, not the fantasy of being a child.

hood sex advice columnist for help just the same!

Loves All Bodies Except Ladies

Hey, Dan: My husband and I recently watched the fantastic ’70s porn Alice in onderland An rated Musical antasy (we got to it by watching Meatballs). It was everything I’ve ever wanted in a porn. Perhaps you or your readers could recommend something similar to put in our rotation?

Likes To Watch

Hey, Dan: I’m a queer man who’s starting to bottom again after ten years of being on top. I have a butt plug that my anus keeps pushing out, even though I’ve tried relaxing and lots of lube. It feels great when it’s in, and then there it goes! I need tips! But not just the tip please.

Exciting XXX Toy Or Projectile?

Check out Caligula. This intermittently pornographic film probably isn’t as lighthearted as the version of Alice in Wonderland you stumbled over, , but it doubtless has a much more interesting bac story and far bigger stars. A young and se y Malcolm Mc owell as the mad oman emperor with eter ’ oole , ohn ielgud , and elen Mirren in supporting roles. ven better, this amazing train wreck of a movie is based on a screenplay by ore idal.

Hey, Dan: Here’s a quickie: If a woman is attracted to cis men and nonbinary humans (who can have either a penis or vagina) but that woman is not attracted to cis women ... would that woman be bi or pan? Labels are not super important to me, Dan, but I’m calling on my friendly neighbor-

hile bise ual was once commonly understood to mean “attracted to both se es, the uman ights Campaign’s online glossary now defines bise ual as, “emotionally, romantically or se ually attracted to more than one se , gender or gender identity. hat same online glossary defines panse ual as, “the potential for emotional, romantic or se ual attraction to people of any gender. hile on the first read there doesn’t seem to be much daylight between those two definitions, A , there actually is some difference between being attracted to “more than one gender and being attracted to “people of any gender. And while a lot of people use bi and pan pretty much interchangeably these days, the bi label is probably a slightly better fit for you, A , seeing as your libido dis ualifies all members of one gender — your own — from emotional, romantic or se ual consideration.

The butt plug you’re using is too small. Like other recovering tops before you, , you made the mistake of purchasing a small plug because you didn’t thin your ass could handle a medium or large one. ut butt plugs are held in place after the widest part slides all the way into your ass, past your anal sphincters, and then your sphincters close around the nec of the plug, aka the narrow part before the ared base. ut if the wide part isn’t much wider than the narrow part — if you bought a plug that loo s more li e a finger than a lava lamp —then the anal sphincters will push the plug back out. Or, even worse, they’ll send the plug ying across the room when your sphincters contract at the moment of orgasm. o yourself and your wallpaper a favor, , and get yourself a bigger plug.

riverfronttimes.com

29

Hey, Dan: I am an avid reader, and I incorporate much of your advice in caring for my patients. I have tremendous respect for you and your column. Nonetheless, I must raise a concern about a small comment in your response to COVET, the woman who was wondering about getting together with a new partner for sex despite social distancing: “Life is short,” you wrote, “and this pandemic is going to be long.” The lockdown is indeed difficult, Dan, but the concept that “this pandemic is going to be long” leads too many of us to feel as if the pandemic will never end. Impatience is driving some people to risky behavior that can be otherwise avoided. With attention to safety measures, we can reduce our risk of infection, as well as emotionally survive until a vaccine is available. Patience with the pandemic is analogous to the perseverance that Londoners used to get through the bombings of WWII. Practice All Necessary Deeds Especially Masks Isolating COVID-19 han you for sharing, A IC

M-

Hey, Dan: I got into my Lyft at 6 AM this morning to go to the airport. My driver was an older man with a southern drawl. The Savage Lovecast was playing on the radio when I entered his car, and I thought he was going to turn it off when he realized it was still on, and I was already planning to ask him to turn it back on if he did. I’ve had some heartfelt beautiful and rich conversations with my Lyft drivers, and I thought we would bond over our shared love of your show. I was literally sitting in the backseat thinking, “This is so great, we are so different, but we have at least one thing in common. I wonder how long has he been a listener, and could he be a Magnum subscriber too?” Then I realized the episode playing was the one I was listening to the previous night as I fell asleep ... and then I realized my phone was connected to his car’s Bluetooth. Oops. Love you, Dan! Sheryl In TEXAS! han you for sharing, I , and thanks for turning a new listener on to the avage ovecast mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

29

30

RIVERFRONT TIMES

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

riverfronttimes.com

riverfronttimes.com

AUGUST 19-25, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

31

THE GREEN DRAGON CBD

IS A ST. LOUIS, FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS THAT RECENTLY OPENED ITS FLAGSHIP LOCATION IN CHESTERFIELD Did you know that your body already produces cannabinoids every day as part of a key system that runs throughout your body and helps to regulate almost every part of your body’s functions? CBD is one of many natural cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, and is used to promote overall health and wellness, as well as to deal with many health challenges.

Our company’s mission, and the physical store itself, was constructed with the intention of helping to educate both existing and brand new potential users on every aspect of CBD. The education center includes video, wall displays and printed material to help customers explore CBD and related topics. The inviting environment, much like a spa, is supported by knowledgeable and friendly associates. We are excited to have created an animal friendly establishment, where 5% of all pet product sales go to benefit Stray Rescue of St. Louis.

When you are ready to buy CBD, you have the largest selection of top-quality, trusted brands and

products anywhere. Select from many product categories to find the best method based upon personal preference:Jack CBD Oils & Tinctures, CBD Flower or Pre-Rolls, CBD Topicals, CBD Gummies, Edibles, Drinks, CBD for Pets, CBD Vaping…and more!

In addition to the store resources, the online presence, at www.thegreendragoncbd.com has dozens of blog posts covering many topics of CBD usage, CBD myths, and unique testimonials from CBD users. You can also place orders online for delivery at-home.

15% off for all first time customers in-store, or go online for special web offerings!

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