SEPTEMBER 5-11, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 36
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BY MUSIC
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PHOTO BY THEO WELLING
“ St. Louis, I think you can do a lot with it. It’s not like New York where there’s no place to build. I like cities with opportunity. That’s kind of my thing. .... We got this lot from the city for $1,500.” Zachary James Kraft, photographed with claire Beeman at their home under construction on newstead near delmar on august 19
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE
14.
Title Mine
How Wash U woke up to the sexual assault problem on campus Written by
ALISON GOLD
Cover illustration by
EVAN SULT
NEWS
ARTS
DINING
CULTURE
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The Lede
Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera
Calendar
Seven days’ worth of great stuff to see and do
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Cafe
Plantain Girl Mandy Estrella puts down roots at the Alphateria, with delicious results
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Criminal Justice
Side Dish
Bob McCulloch’s remarks in Oregon earn him a walkout
Thu Rein Oo was a refugee who rose to run the kitchen at one of St. Louis’ best restaurants
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City Hall
A new social media policy has activists crying foul
LouFest
Staffers offer their picks for 10 can’t-miss acts at this year’s LouFest. Plus, Kevin Bowers headlines a new locally focused stage and Tank and the Bangas brings soul-funk success from New Orleans
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Reunions
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Nineteen has gotten the punk band back together for Pü Fest
DeRienzo’s Pizza and Pub brings classic St. Louis-style pizza to St. Peters
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Hidden Gem
Out Every Night
The best concerts in St. Louis every night of the week
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This Just In
This week’s new concert announcements
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Savage Love 6
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Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Sarah Fenske E D I T O R I A L Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writers Doyle Murphy, Danny Wicentowski Restaurant Critic Cheryl Baehr Film Critic Robert Hunt Contributing Writers Mike Appelstein, Allison Babka, Sara Graham, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Joseph Hess, Kevin Korinek, Bob McMahon, Nicholas Phillips, Tef Poe, Christian Schaeffer, Lauren Milford, Thomas Crone, MaryAnn Johanson, Jenn DeRose, Mike Fitzgerald Proofreader Evie Hemphill Cartoonist Bob Stretch
A R T Art Director Evan Sult Contributing Photographers Mabel Suen, Monica Mileur, Micah Usher, Theo Welling, Corey Woodruff, Tim Lane, Nick Schnelle P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Steve Miluch Production Assistance Jack Beil
M U LT I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Sales Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell, Erica Kenney Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Michael Gaines Event Coordinator Grace Richard 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 RO 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 S U B S C R I P T I O N S Send address changes to Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $78/6 months (Missouri residents add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (Missouri residents add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member
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NEWS Prosecutors Walk Out on McCulloch Written by
DANNY WICENTOWSKI
E
ver since the August 7 election, it’s been Wesley Bell this and Wesley Bell that — how about we check in with St. Louis County’s soon-to-beformer Prosecuting Attorney, Bob McCulloch? McCulloch is just a few months away from concluding a remarkable 27-year career. Yet one of his final public appearances as St. Louis County’s top prosecutor will go down as the time he delivered a speech so offensive to his audience that an entire county’s worth of Oregon prosecutors walked out and later shunned his subsequent keynote address. The brutal reception to McCulloch’s speech took place August 16 at the Oregon District Attorney Association’s summer conference. Willamette Week reports that McCulloch had been the conference’s keynote speaker. McCulloch has become a divisive figure nationally due to his handling of the grand jury investigation into the killing of Michael Brown, which left Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson facing no prosecution. Yet McCulloch seems to have approached the Or-
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One attendee said McCulloch “showed a photo of four or five young black people standing together and said: ‘This is what we’re dealing with.’” Bob McCulloch’s schtick did not play well in Oregon. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI egon event like he would a police union meeting in St. Louis County, rolling out his usual shtick — according to the Week, McCulloch “mocked the American Civil Liberties Union for the role it played in criticizing the local officials who investigated the fatal police shooting that killed Michael Brown” and reserved some jabs for Black Lives Matter and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who led the DOJ’s investigation of Ferguson and the Brown shooting. One audience member, a county prosecutor, told the Portland altweekly that McCulloch “showed a photo of four or five young black people standing together and said: ‘This is what we’re dealing with.’” It did not go over well. McCulloch’s remarks during the plenary session, conducted at the conference opening, shocked some of the audience members into
leaving. Some told the Week they considered McCulloch’s remarks racially insensitive. That included Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, who criticized McCulloch’s speech as “offensive and unprofessional,” according to an email he later sent his staff. And not only did Underhill walk out, but his whole staff followed. Underhill then boycotted McCulloch’s address that evening. “Mr. McCulloch was the scheduled keynote speaker at the conference dinner that evening. I chose not to attend the conference dinner,” Underhill wrote in the email. “I am proud to say every member of the Multnomah County DA’s Office who attended the conference also declined to attend the dinner and chose, by their actions, like me, to repudiate the offensive message to which we had been subjected to
earlier that day.” In the weeks before his trip to Oregon, McCulloch also made remarks blasting the ACLU during his campaign and debate appearances. Perhaps, as one prosecutor suggested to the Week, the recent election loss made him “a little bit more candid than he would have been otherwise.” Maybe. Then again, this is definitely the McCulloch we’ve come to know. In St. Louis County, those “candid” remarks wouldn’t just be fodder for a keynote speech; they underlie actual policies promulgated by the prosecutor’s office. And that speech the Oregon prosecutors found so offensive? In past years, it may well have won McCulloch a standing ovation at a conference of Missouri prosecutors. Come January, though, it will be McCulloch leaving the room. n
STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch
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City Social Media Policy Has Activists Fuming Written by
SARAH FENSKE
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new social media policy at St. Louis City Hall that has activists crying foul began, ironically enough, with an effort to hold employees accountable for racist remarks online. Last November, after Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards was put in charge of a host of city departments, including police, fire and corrections, he says he quickly became aware of a flurry of racist and otherwise incendiary social media posts by city employees. “There was not one single things that precipitated this,” he says. “But people came to me early and were coming to me a lot, even before I understood some of the infighting in these departments, with concerns.” For Edwards, the posts were an eyeopener. “You can’t be racist and say derogatory things about Muslim citizens, and then say you’re going to protect them,” he says. “That is problematic to me.” Edwards asked the department of personnel to draft a city-wide policy on social media use. But the policy quietly
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Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards sought a city-wide policy. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI enacted in early July has since set off a tidal wave of criticism — with politicians, activists for police reform and the ACLU expressing concern. At a meeting last week at City Hall, a number of city officials, including Mayor Lyda Krewson and Edwards, sat down with Missouri Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis), Representative Bruce Franks (DSt. Louis) and a host of activists, including the Reverend Darryl Gray, a protest leader who now serves as a community liaison for the Ethical Society of Police, which represents black officers.
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Gray says the pushback began with concerns from Ethical and Nasheed, and quickly grew to include a broad coalition — including the St. Louis Police Officers Association. (That union, which has frequently stood on the opposite side of Gray and Franks, wasn’t at the meeting at City Hall but has been working with them, Gray says.) Both he and Nasheed agree that the policy may have begun with good intentions — but say nevertheless fear its impact. “They’re saying, ‘We don’t want to try to hurt anyone’s freedom of
speech,’” Nasheed says. “But even if they don’t want to, there are unintended consequences as a result of this.” The policy governs social media use both on and off the clock. “Employees may be subject to discipline if such speech is deemed detrimental to the city,” the policy notes. Gray also notes that, among its provisions, the policy restricts posts that could “cause disruption in the workplace.” He fears for outspoken city employees like Heather Taylor, the president of Ethical: “If you say there is racism in the police department, or sexism in the police department or homophobia in the police department, and it’s true, that’s going to cause disruption in the department. Does that mean you can’t say it?” And violating the policy can lead to discipline up to dismissal. Nasheed says the meeting was “a little hostile” in the beginning, but that attendees seemed to move towards common ground. Edwards confirms that the city agreed to hold the policy in abeyance, taking no action on any potential infractions, for ten days. During that time, city officials will look again at the verbiage, he says. They’ll reconvene the same group to discuss possible revisions. He believes they can find a solution that will work for everyone. “I am confident that we’ll get there,” he says. n
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TITLE
How Wash U
woke up
to the sexual assault problem on campus by Alison gold 14
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MINE N
o one was supposed to know she was there. On Tuesday, April 17, at midnight, Nat* quietly packed a bag of clothes, a few books, her backpack and, with permission from Washington University’s Office of Residential Life, the small shelter cat she felt she couldn’t leave behind. She would spend the remaining five weeks before her college graduation not in the off-campus apartment she had shared with friends for a year, but here, in a secure, secret suite on campus. Her new place was designed for two, so Nat had a lot of room to herself. It was a bare, white space, the walls devoid of the photographs and posters typical of a college dorm room. Just Nat, the cat and her few bags. That was, of course, barring the expansive collection of newspaper pages carefully arranged on a small entryway table. In her final weeks of college in this empty, foreign space, this display was what Nat clung to most. When Nat decided to anonymously publicize her story about surviving assault
in the campus newspaper, Student Life, she never anticipated that its pages for the remainder of the semester would brim with fellow survivors’ stories. As the drama of the ensuing weeks unfolded, the display served as a visual reminder that she had, almost accidentally, sparked one of the largest student movements the university had ever seen, one that would garner media attention, contribute to a national dialogue on sexual assault and culminate in a rally with hundreds of attendees. And when it started to feel sur-
* Editor’s note: Some students’ names have been changed to grant them anonymity.
In the spring of 2018, Washington University students protesting the way the university investigates sexual assault held a high-profile rally and papered campus with a list of demands. | ANNA WILSON
real to the mild-mannered, intellectual girl in the center of it all, that collaged entryway table was proof. “By the end of it, I had the entire [table] covered in different pieces of newspaper sitting there. There was something tangible about that,” Nat says. “I was like, ‘Look at this. Look at the effects of things. Look at the echo.’”
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at’s essay, “Not a Threat,” arrived in Student Life Editorin-Chief Sam Seekings’ inbox on April 10. He was in the midst of a busy semester studying psychology abroad in Copenhagen. “Obviously reading through it, looking at it, it was a very, very serious piece and I think we took it very seriously for that reason,” Seekings recalls. Seekings limited initial knowledge of the op-ed to himself and two managing editors. For the next six days, the three engaged in a series of tough discussions. “I was thinking about the same questions that a lot of journalists and journalism publications go through,” Seekings says. “Is this something we should publish? Is this something we should publish anonymously? Can we verify various things in this? If so, how are we going to do that? Is this feasible? The time frame, that kind of thing.” By the time Washington University’s almost 8,000 undergraduates woke up the following Monday, the 616-word account was live on Student Life’s website. In it, Nat alleged that there was a serial assailant on campus, one whom the
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Office of Residential Life, the Title IX Office and Washington University Police Department had all received reports on over the course of several months. She wrote that he’d physically attacked her, yet the campus bureaucracies seemed incapable of responding. She’d written the op-ed, she wrote, after learning that another female student had accused the young man of rape. On the day her story came out, Nat was eating lunch at a campus dining hall. She glanced at her phone. There was a message from a friend who knew she had authored the piece: “You should know there’s 200 people in a GroupMe organizing a rally about this. Do you want me to add you?” Nat rose from the table midconversation, her dining companion watching in confused silence as she walked to a nearby pile of Student Life copies and, returning to the table, flipped to the article, which she passed across the table to her friend. As she read, her friend’s eyes grew wide. Nat joined the GroupMe texting group, which had been started by women in the Alpha Phi sorority. That evening, the chat reached capacity at about 600 members. “People were just talking and it was great. It caught fire,” remembers Rachel*, then a sophomore. Between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., Nat, Rachel and more than a half-dozen other students gathered to organize the movement. They transitioned from GroupMe to Slack, a website often used to streamline workplace communication. Nat set up an anonymous profile
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TITLE MINE
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on Slack, officially adopting the moniker “Nat,” an acronym for “Not a Threat.” Within the next few weeks, Nat says, as many as twenty survivors reached out to her profile seeking advice and counsel. That night, the women committed to making the organization as inclusive as possible. They wanted to create a survivor-centered space where anyone would feel a call to action, a sense of agency and a right to claim the movement as their own. On Wednesday evening Nat and several others held their first real public-facing meeting. One leader estimates that at least 40 individuals came to the two-hour gathering. Luka Cai, then a sophomore international student from Singapore, is a member of Pride Alliance, a campus organization focused on LGBTQ educational, social and activism programming. “Monday I felt really helpless when the op-ed was published. It was really the first time in my life when one issue or one article took over my mind and I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Cai says. “And I was just walking around campus in this daze, in this cloud of like, something this horrible can happen on a campus where everybody just goes around doing their own thing not talking about it.” Cai found Wednesday’s meeting cathartic. Attendees split into smaller groups to discuss sexual assault at Wash U. In the next few days, the group chose a name: “Title Mine,” a riff on the federal Title IX laws that govern allegations of sexual assault. It scheduled an April 26 rally. And over the course of planning meetings that lasted up to six hours, the movement’s leadership shifted. A new crop of organizers became involved; Cai absorbed additional responsibilities a few weeks later. “The original leaders said, ‘OK, we started this movement but we acknowledge that we don’t know the most about these issues on campus and how they’ve been addressed. So we want to hand the reins over to people who have been fighting the fight for a longer time,’” Cai says. Group leadership is “porous,” Cai says — there are no specific roles and no set number of leaders (various members provide numbers between five and twenty). “I think one of my favorite things about the group is how open we are,” Cai says. “I feel like we’re not afraid to take as long as we need
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Student essays detailing experiences with sexual assault filled the campus newspaper for three weeks. | ANNA WILSON to exchange diverse perspectives.” Once the basics were set, discussions about public relations began. The group created a Facebook event and a Change.org petition, which gathered 1,000 signatures within days. Members also flyered campus, including the doors of the Title IX Office. And that was all before the second article hit.
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y decision was a no-brainer,” Rachel says on publishing her piece, “Consider This a Warning.” Then a sophomore, Rachel had previously contemplated making her story public. Several survivors had come forward in Student Life’s pages over the preceding years. But Nat’s piece perhaps gave a final push. That week, in addition to serving as a core organizer for Title Mine, Rachel estimates she poured twenty hours into writing “Consider This a Warning.” It ran on April 19. “I was like, alright, I have to keep this fire going, I have something worth telling,” she says. In the piece, Rachel shared her personal experience after she made a sexual assault complaint
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against an ex-boyfriend: When the Title IX Office refused to add a clause to her no-contact order to bar him from Greek life parties she was at, she wrote, she called a meeting with the leadership of his fraternity. They told her that their international organization’s policy held that they couldn’t help her unless she handed over her confidential Title IX documents. When she called the fraternity’s national headquarters to factcheck, the executive director was horrified, saying that even allegations could put a member on inactive status. Rachel says her assailant manipulated and abused her for the duration of their seven-month relationship, until she broke it off in August 2017. A week later, she says, he showed up at the club she was at. “He went to the club, he found me, and he just attacked me from behind and he started groping me and kissing my neck and he fingered me really aggressively,” she remembers. The entire interaction was non-consensual, she emphasizes, and occurred as he held her tightly despite her attempts to escape. “I was bleeding,
that’s how aggressive it was, and a friend who was in my vicinity pulled him off of me, pulled him into the men’s restroom, told him off.” She says he emerged from the restroom and assaulted her again as witnesses nearby attempted to intervene and told him to back off. In January, Rachel went to Washington University’s Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center and met with Director Kim Webb. Rachel opened a Title IX case on February 7. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education said the Title IX process should last no longer than 60 days, according to Jessica Kennedy, Wash U’s Title IX office director. Yet during her first conversation with RFT in mid-July, Rachel was more than six months into her case. It was another month before her assailant was found responsible. Wash U has never completed an investigation in 60 days, Kennedy says. In general, she says, the process lasts around six months. Last year, one case lasted nine. A 1972 federal civil rights law promoting equal opportunity between genders in education, Title
IX leaves procedures for implementation up to individual institutions — and in recent years, many universities have come under fire for failing to live up to its ideals. Students at Boston University, Harvard University and Swarthmore College are among those who have led campus rallies or protests in the past year or so. Title IX had a national moment last September when Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos changed Obama-era guidelines to the law. She eliminated the suggestion of the 60-day investigation period and also raised the burden of proof from “preponderance of the evidence” (meaning an allegation more likely than not is true) to either “preponderance of the evidence” or “clear and convincing evidence.” At the time, Wash U released a statement reestablishing its commitment to the Obama-era guidelines. “I think that when we look at the national climate, our students are coming with an activist and a social justice lens, and so I think this is something they can get on board with, that everyone wants to rally around survivor protections and survivor rights,” Webb says. Wash U’s current Title IX process took form in 2013, Kennedy says. Under it, a Title IX report begins when a complainant makes a report alleging sexual discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence. If the Title IX office determines that the reported behavior would not violate the University Student Conduct Code, administrators will meet with the complainant to discuss alternative options. If the behavior alleged may be a code violation, the respondent receives a formal notice of complaint. A contract investigator then interviews both parties and any witnesses and reviews other evidence. A three-person panel, chosen from a pool of 110 trained university faculty, staff and students, reviews the initial report and can ask for further information, which the investigator uses to create a final report. Both parties are allowed to provide a written response. The panel reviews the report and responses, and interviews both parties and any useful witnesses. From there, it writes a decision determining whether the student more likely than not violated the judicial code. The discipline it orders can go up to expulsion. Kennedy says students’ most common qualms with the process are that it takes too long, and that those involved in the investigation
may use victim-blaming or trauma uninformed-questions. And while Rachel brings up both of those concerns in her case, her issues with the process go much deeper. “The Title IX process is a second assault,” she says. “I don’t think anyone would go through it if they knew better at first.” First, Rachel notes a discrepancy between the types of witnesses she and her assailant provided. Her witnesses, she says, were unbiased individuals who all happened to witness the public assault. On the other hand, the eight people who testified on her assailant’s behalf were his good friends, she says. Much of that part of the report, she says, explained that her assailant is an “ROTC scholar,” a “best friend” and “really respects women.” “For fifteen pages, I was slutshamed and my personality was attacked, even though these people don’t know who I am and don’t know me at all, nor were they present at the incident,” she says. Many of his witnesses, Rachel alleges, were dishonest about being present. “Easily proven-wrong lies, but the fact of the matter is that he was allowed to lie and he did it and he did it everywhere in his case,” she says. “I wondered, why is this even worth it? Like the only bit of truth you’ll see is gonna be from the survivor, because there’s nothing in it for us. There’s literally nothing in it. And for him, on the other hand, he has an ROTC scholarship [to protect].” In part because he had provided many witnesses, the initial investigative process didn’t end until April 24. As it trudged forward, Rachel feared for her safety. She and her alleged assailant were enrolled in two of the same courses. “I actually failed my first exam in one of those. I had prepared, I tried to feel good about myself that day,” she remembers. “And I just went in and just like every other day, he just stared me down, stared into the back of my head. It was intimidating and not OK. And I felt very threatened.” The Title IX Office’s initial solution, Rachel says, was a modified seating arrangement. After hours of meeting with the dean, her assailant was eventually moved to a different class. (Once he was out of her class, she says, she began earning near-perfect scores again.) Still, his new class was directly after hers, and he would make a point of sitting outside the classroom, she says. For the first time in her life, Rachel began experiencing Continued on pg 18
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“Washington University failed. They failed to protect its students, and my rape is a direct consequence. If they had taken action earlier, this would not have happened to me.”
TITLE MINE
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panic attacks. Rachel moved to an off-campus apartment to reduce potential contact. But when she told the Title IX Office she wanted to ensure he wasn’t allowed at parties she was at, she says, she was told it was not possible. That became the subject of her op-ed. “They will keep you safe in the classroom, but it’s stupid, because it’s not like I’m going to get assaulted in the classroom,” she says. “I’m going to get assaulted in a dark room with alcohol where the risk is higher.” That wasn’t Rachel’s only frustration. In one instance, Rachel says the Title IX office tried to give her assailant access to her health records, including psychiatric history, medications and birth control information. She says she wasn’t clearly told that by sharing them with investigators, her assailant could see them too, and she had to fight to pull them back after learning he’d have access to them. “[The Title IX Office] will release your private and protected health records without your consent to your assailant and without your knowledge, which is horrific,” she says. (Kennedy emphatically denies this: “Washington University does not, under any circumstance, provide access to or share an individual’s personal health records of any kind without the consent of the individual.”) And Rachel balks at the idea that the burden of proof falls on the survivor. Even after she won her case, she wonders how anyone ever does. She felt it was hard to provide the evidence the panel wanted because she didn’t send a text or give a friend a play-by-play right after it occurred. “It takes a while to open up about assault, not necessarily saying that you were assaulted. I was able to say that within the first day, within the first week, I was telling people I was assaulted,” she says. “But it takes much longer to say, and be comfortable with saying, ‘His fingers were in my vagina, they were scraping me, he was aggressive and I bled.’ That was something that took me a long time to be able to say.” Once she finally made it to the panel interview, she grew even more frustrated. “They just asked me really intrusive, borderline victimblaming questions,” she remembers. “The first thing they asked me too was physically how
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Title Mine organizers had a loose structure, but a well-organized game plan. | ANNA WILSON he assaulted me, and I was just floored, because they already have an audio recording of it from my interview with the investigator, they have seen me write it out in three different forms and they wanted me to say it again.”
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n “Not a Threat,” Nat described her concerns about the lack of communication between the many offices tasked with ensuring student safety on campus. Her nightmare began in February of her junior year. Her friend’s ex-boyfriend, someone she’d considered a friend, drank too much at a bar. When she tried to take take his drink, he grabbed her hand and twisted her wrist until it was sprained. Later that night, he refused to leave her apartment until she dialed the police. Still, they fell in and out of contact, and in October, she says he sat on her at a party, choking her until she passed out. She reached out to his residential advisor, who she believes reported his dangerous behavior to a superior, but Nat never heard anything about it again. In February, Nat’s friend, his ex, overheard
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him plotting Nat’s murder. The Washington University Police Department was summoned. Over the next few days, Nat says that she and several other individuals went to the Title IX Office. Nat also gave a statement to the campus police. The Title IX Office informed her that her case constituted physical, not sexual, assault. Both Title IX and the campus police indicated the case was a more appropriate fit for the Office of Student Conduct. A week or so later, she says, she received a phone call saying that Student Health Services had evaluated him and deemed him “not a threat.” She says the campus police told her that her file had been passed along to Student Conduct. Nat says she called Student Conduct several times over the next few months, but never heard back. This April, she learned that an underclasswoman had accused the same man of rape. That was when she decided to go to the Student Conduct office. Yet when she inquired about the status of her case there, she says they’d never heard about it.
“It was a major failure in communication,” she says. Exasperated at this disjointedness, distrustful of the offices she had sought out for support and wanting immediate answers, Nat began writing her article that night, April 10. “The day that article came out, I got a notification that he had been removed from campus,” she says. “The day that article came out. Not a day before. Not when I went into the Office of Student Conduct. That day.” But the movement she’d unexpectedly launched didn’t stop with Nat’s case. In the coming weeks, other students’ personal essays flooded Student Life’s editors’ inboxes. “We knew that there was still work to be done and we regularly assess the process, assess how our investigations are going, we seek feedback, so that was some very pointed feedback we received in those op-eds,” Kennedy says of the outpouring. The essays were harrowing. The day after Nat’s piece was published, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori White wrote about her own sexual assault in “My Heart Sank ... Because I Understand.” “On Staying Quiet” was about a girl who wondered if she’d been drugged before her assault at a fraternity from which she was later blacklisted. “Survivors Are Students Too” tackled systemic difficulties students faced after assault on campus. Then, the day of the rally, “Three Weeks Later” debuted, written by a freshman who alleged that Nat’s assailant had raped her. “While I only found out about
his history afterwards, Washington University had multiple reports about this student and was aware of his violent tendencies long before my assault,” the young woman wrote. “He was the subject of the Student Life article ‘Not a Threat,’ and I am the freshman that he raped. Washington University failed. They failed to protect its students, and my rape is a direct consequence. If they had taken action earlier, this would not have happened to me.” Part of the problem, Nat believes, is that everyone knows the Title IX Office is ineffective. If survivors know how difficult and frustrating the reporting process is, why would they bother to make a report? In the 2015 Association of American Universities Campus Climate survey, 22.6 percent of Wash U’s female undergrad respondents said they’d been subject to some form of nonconsensual sexual contact. Between 2014 and 2016, 62 reports of rape were made to the Washington University Police Department. Yet in the 2014 to 2015 school year, only five Wash U students opened Title IX investigations. In those cases, three respondents were found responsible. In 2016-17, that number jumped to thirteen, with six found responsible (one case was withdrawn by the complainant). Hannah*, the author of a May 1 op-ed, “Victim of the Gray Area,” chose not to report her incident. The junior says she had never previously met anyone via Tinder, but in January, decided to meet up with a fellow Wash U student she’d swiped on the app. The first date, she recalls, was enjoyable. The two watched a movie and kissed. Eventually, the relationship progressed into a sexual one. The two decided to keep it at the “friends with benefits” level. One night, after going to a party, Hannah went to her Tinder connection’s fraternity. All she remembers is talking, with clothes on. Yet she woke up naked next to him that next morning. She rushed to class, but that night, she stayed in and cried. Hannah believes there was a lot of “gray area” in her case; they had had sex and been on dates previously, and she was drunk. Plus, she points out that hookups are almost “expected” at fraternity parties. Had she consented that night? She wasn’t sure if what happened was “real assault.” “It took me a little bit to realize that I was uncomfortable with what happened,” she says. It was only after a friend told her the situation was not OK that she began to process it. “It was only after
she said it to me, I realized, ‘I don’t feel comfortable.’” Hannah contacted the boy two days later, and he walked her through his recollection of the night. He wasn’t sure why she was uncomfortable — they’d had sex before. “He said that I was apparently too drunk to walk home so that’s why he had me stay there, but according to him, I was saying that I wouldn’t stay unless we had sex,” Hannah says. Just as Nat fears, Hannah felt deterred by the Title IX reporting system. Hannah remembered reading in Student Life about a
freshman who reported assault right as winter break began. In the piece, published in May 2017, a freshman wrote that the director of the Title IX office suggested they delay the reporting process until spring so that her rapist was could “enjoy his winter break.” “That story stayed with me,” Hannah recalls. “I was like, ‘If they didn’t take that seriously, why would mine be taken seriously?’” Even if she wanted to report, Hannah says, she wouldn’t know how. At the time of her assault, Hannah was seeing a university counselor for unrelated issues. When she mentioned the inci-
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dent, she says, the counselor said she didn’t know much about the process and would have to look into it. She told her counselor not to bother; the therapist didn’t press further. Of her Tinder boy, Hannah says today, “I just don’t know if he did this maliciously or not, so I don’t know if I want to classify it as sexual assault, even though I know the definition of it doesn’t need to have any sort of intent on his part. But I still kind of struggle with that.” When the op-eds began pouring in, Hannah saw an opportunity
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for closure. “I felt guilty about not reporting it because of how many people experience sexual assault on campus. And me not reporting means another case that goes uninvestigated, another one slips through the cracks and gets away with it and doesn’t have repercussions,” she says. “So I felt like this was my way of doing something I was comfortable with, where I’d be able to remain anonymous but still put it out there and let it be known to the community that this happened.” In her piece, “A System Where You Can’t Win,” junior Maddy Yaggi chose to use her real name. She was tired of hiding. Published May 3, the op-ed divulged her experience living on campus just after her rapist was expelled. Yaggi says she was raped after a Super Bowl party during her freshman year, by someone she had been casually dating. She woke up the next morning, confused and bleeding from both her vagina and her anus. After later talking it through with friends, she says, she concluded that she was either unconscious, asleep or blackout drunk during the assault. “I’m still not positive which of the three it was,” she says. She had memories of her head hitting against things (the wall, a shelf, a dresser). “When my head hit, I would snap back into it for a second and I would have a couple seconds [awareness] of what was happening,” she says. “And then I would be blackout or asleep or too drunk again and then not come to until my head hit against something else.” Yaggi wasn’t sure what to make of the incident until others explained it could be rape. After a semester of trying to cope — running for miles on end, drinking and partying more than she ever had, avoiding romantic and sexual relationships — she contacted the university’s Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center and got a no-contact order. When she returned to school in the fall, she decided to report. It was a nightmare, she recalls. In one instance, after she and her assailant provided their responses, she received no warning other than an email saying the responses would be available for viewing in 30 minutes. Yaggi had no time to get into the right headspace. Although she had a biology exam just an hour later, she read the response anyway. She had to know what it said.
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Wash U’s Title IX Office came under fire in numerous student essays. | ALISON GOLD “There was really no regard for how traumatic the reporting process actually is,” she says. “That really solidified it for me. I bombed that test. I couldn’t focus at all.” Another exam fell a day or two away from the release of the final panel decision. She asked for an accommodation, but her professor refused. Ultimately, he gave Yaggi a zero on the final. She now has to retake the course. The crux of Yaggi’s piece, however, is what happened after all that. When her rapist was finally expelled, he had two weeks to file an appeal. He waited until the last minute, granting him another two weeks on campus. Because he had received the highest punishment, expulsion, Kennedy told her the university could not punish him further for any actions he committed during the appeal period. During that month, Yaggi wrote in her op-ed, she feared he would retaliate. When she expressed this worry to the Title IX Office, she wrote, she was told that if she felt unsafe, she should call the campus police. The offer simply felt like the function of the police: You feel unsafe, you call them. In reality, he was living off campus that entire terrifying month, but Yaggi was never informed. The Office of Residential Life was aware he had moved out, but the Title IX Office wasn’t, Yaggi wrote. She saw it as evidence of poor communication between different university offices. Yaggi’s op-ed came at the end of the wave, after the rally. “I was just so inspired by everyone else who was coming forward and saying their stories and what they went through, but what I thought was missing from that was that even if they made the changes
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they were advocating for, there are still fundamental problems with the system,” she says. “So a lot of what I saw calls to action for were ‘We need to fire Jessica Kennedy’ or ‘we need to get more cases reported or settled in favor of the survivor,’ which seem to me like simple answers that wouldn’t get at the root of the problem. So I wanted to tell what happened to me even after I won my case, even after he was expelled. It’s not one person’s fault or a statistical issue. They need to fundamentally rethink this whole thing.”
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t 3:45 p.m. on April 26, ten days after the publication of “Not a Threat,” cries of “WHOSE SCHOOL? OUR SCHOOL” broke out in the student-center courtyard. “The first thing I noticed was the sheer number of people at the rally, including faculty members and administrators,” Cai says. Organizers distributed flyers with chants on them as well as a final list of demands. One leader read a short statement by Nat, who’d chosen to maintain her anonymity. She was among the crowd that day. “I didn’t feel the need to take up space at the rally when there were more than enough other voices to fill in,” she says. “So I just wrote a little bit of an introduction, because I thought it would be weird if I didn’t have any presence.” Organizers then turned over the mic. Student after student after professor stood up to share their experiences. Others submitted anonymously through a Google form and had their stories read by Title Mine members. The rally continued for more than two hours.
Cai broke down in tears at its conclusion, overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion. For Rachel, the rally was an opportunity to deliver an impassioned address. For Yaggi, the rally was a final push to write her story down. And for Hannah, still struggling to determine if she had experienced a “real assault,” the rally provided something she’d been searching for all along. She realized, she says, that even if she can understand the gray areas, “I am still validated in feeling like something happened that was wrong. And at the end of the day he did do something wrong and it wasn’t my fault. It was really emotional.” Chancellor Mark Wrighton, Webb and Kennedy were among the administrators present. “It was very hard to listen to the students talk about their experiences and how it has affected them in negative ways, and not just their experiences here, but their experiences growing up,” Kennedy says. “But I was really glad they had the forum in which to say what they did.” The next day, the entire student body received an email from Wrighton. “It was a heart-wrenching two hours. Hearing the personal stories and knowing that we have fallen short in effectively supporting victims of life-shattering sexual assaults is very difficult,” he wrote in the email. “I am deeply troubled that even one of our students would be assaulted by another student. It was extremely important to me to hear firsthand from you, and I appreciated the opportunity to be present.” Wrighton made four commitments to be acted upon by the start of the fall semester: develop a plan to streamline the Title IX process, invest more in survivor resources and mental health services, create a peer-advocacy program to assist those going through the Title IX process and create accountability measures. White, he wrote, would supervise this work. The week after the rally, six Title Mine organizers sat down with White and Webb. “You hear such amazing things about both women on campus, but just getting to sit down with both of them and have what I felt was a very open dialogue where I was able to feel comfortable specifically speaking to how students on our campus deserve to be better accommodated,” says Candace Hayes, one of the student organizers. Cai says that White seemed open to the suggestions the organizers Continued on pg 22
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“We were all a little bit apprehensive Continued from pg 20 because we had been taking this made. Hayes recalls White taking antagonistic destructive stance against detailed notes. “We were all a little bit apprethe administration, but they were hensive and we didn’t really know what to expect because we had extending good will toward us.” been taking this antagonistic deTITLE MINE
structive stance against the administration, but they were extending good will toward us,” Cai says. “So on one hand, I felt like we wanted to grab the opportunity and be able to work with the administration, but we didn’t want to betray the original destructive angry message the movement was meant to send.” In the fall 2017 semester, university administrators had co-hosted three Title IX listening sessions. The administrators say they found them helpful in understanding students’ perspective. “I think one of the other things we discovered in the listening sessions is, we have to think about better ways to help students understand the process,” White says. Often, she says, it’s not until students file a report that they learn about the process. “And in the midst of a traumatic experience, that’s really overwhelming.” Today, both the student organizers and the administrators
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emphasize the importance of collaboration. In addition to working with the administration on its five core demands, Title Mine has worked to keep the momentum going. They hope to make better training mandatory for student groups that host large social events. They are negotiating a relationship with local nonprofit Safe Connections to ensure training and therapy. They also plan to provide a platform where students can select training options that fit their organization’s needs. Perhaps the most visual manifestation of the group’s continuing efforts was its Red Tape Initiative. As commencement approached, Title Mine set up shop outside the bookstore where seniors pick up their caps and gowns. There, members distributed strips of red tape for seniors to place on their gradu-
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ation caps, either as a strip or in the shape of “IX.” The idea, says Cai, was to let graduates “show their solidarity with survivors of sexual assault.” Cai adds, “And we thought it was particularly important to show the privilege that certain perpetrators at Wash U have been given by being allowed to graduate and the burden being placed upon survivors to have to graduate with their perpetrators and see their perpetrators at graduation and commencement.” As her case is still pending, Nat cannot say whether her assailant was among the sea of green-andblack robes May 20. What she does say, with slow, careful words and a tight voice, is this: “If there is a case currently pending against someone, they don’t graduate.” At her academic division recognition ceremony, Nat displayed
red tape. But when it came time for the university-wide commencement ceremony, she was running late. Plus, it was raining. She never put on her tape. And so, in her commencement photos, Nat looks like any other student: no red tape. And in a lot of ways, she feels like one too. “As life-encompassing as this was, the big part of the story is the last three weeks of my senior year…” she says. “But I don’t think it was by any means a bad four years. I have made some of the best friends that I have ever had. I have had some of the greatest memories ever.” And when it was time to move out of that sterile temporary dorm, she threw away the newspapers she’d painstakingly collected. “I felt like I needed to move to different things,” Nat says. “I said, ‘OK, I had this space and I focused on this. And this was like my project, this was my life while I was here.’ But I still have a life outside of this. And I need to be part of that.” Alison Gold is a junior at Washington University studying psychology, writing and design. She is the director of online content at Student Life. This summer, she interned at Riverfront Times.
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CALENDAR
BY PAUL FRISWOLD
Basquiat in the apartment, 1981. | ALEXIS ADLER
Pink Seated Warrior, 2017. Antique futon cover, various textiles, sequins, 58 x 39 inches. Courtesy the artist; Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen; and Massimo De Carlo, Milan/London/Hong Kong. | © SANFORD BIGGERS
FRIDAY 09/07 Black Art, Then and Now The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis opens some of the most ambitious and vital shows in its history this month, with a series of exhibitions by, and about, black artists and the black experience. Sanford Biggers works directly with the materials of his forebearers — quilts and African sculptures — only he reshapes and re-
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purposes them as contemporary statements about black identity, history and trauma. Biggers gives found quilts new life with new handwork, encoding personal messages into their original pattern. The fact that the work of an anonymous black craftsman or woman now appears in galleries and museums around the world, even in Biggers’ modified form, is both subversive and celebratory. With wooden sculptures, some of which are copies, he dips them in wax and then works them over with firearms. What begins as a statue of a human or human-
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shaped supernatural being becomes obscured, disfigured and unrecognizable through the violence wrought upon it. In addition to Biggers’ work, CAM presents a show of the private photos of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat emerged from the New York City hip-hop/punk/graffiti scenes in the 1970s as one-half of the graffiti duo SAMO, along with Al Diaz. The pair together tagged buildings with cryptic phrases denouncing the establishment, politics and religion, always signed “SAMO” (an acronym for “Same Old Shit”). When the duo broke up, Basquiat performed in the noise rock band Test Pattern (later named “Gray”) with Vincent Gallo and Michael Holman. He lived on the streets, sold drugs and experimented with Xerox art, painting and drawing. Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street, 1979-1980 will showcase everything the artist made while living in a small East Village apartment with his friend Alexis Adler before he hit the big time. It’s a treasure trove of paintings, sculptures and works on paper, as well as Adler’s photographs of his friend. Both exhibitions open with a free reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 7, at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard; www.camstl.org). The shows continue through December 30.
Put a Hat On Yolanda’s older brother has just been slain on the streets of Brooklyn by a random act of violence. Before she can fully process the murder, her mother ships her off to family in South Carolina in hopes of saving at least one child. The transition is jarring, to say the least. Yolanda doesn’t understand country living or the culture of the South, and she certainly doesn’t understand her relatives’ fascination with hats. But for this older, more religious generation, chapeaus are both a sartorial expression of style and grace and an absolute necessity if you’re going to church — and you are going to church. As Yolanda begins to know her relatives — especially her grandmother, Mother Shaw — she learns about dressing well, history and her own culture. And with that knowledge comes the realization that you earn as much pride as you give yourself. The Black Rep throws open the doors on its 42nd season with Regina Taylor’s play Crowns. Performances take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (September 7 to 23) at Washington University’s Edison Theatre (6445 Forsyth Boulevard; www.theblackrep.org). Tickets are $15 to $45, and now more than ever, dress to impress on opening night.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 5-12
SATURDAY 09/08 You Must Love Her The Repertory Theatre St. Louis opens its new season with a bang — the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, Evita. It’s the incredible, somewhat true story about the meteoric rise of Eva Duarte and her even swifter fall. Born into poverty, Eva pursued a career in show biz and rose above her humble beginnings, but a chance meeting with general Juan Perón altered the direction of her life. When Perón is elected president of Argentina, Eva chooses to help the poor, becoming a folk hero and cultural icon. The Repertory Theatre St. Louis presents Evita Tuesday through Sunday (September 7 to 30) at the LorettoHilton Center (130 Edgar Road; www.repstl.org). Tickets are $29 to $102.
Motorcycle Marvels Now in its fifth year, the Cycle Showcase STL returns to celebrate the art of the motorcyle. More than 50 hand-built bikes will be displayed from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (September 8 and 9) at 3300 Washington Avenue (www.cycleshowcase. stl.com). The cycles are chosen both for their aesthetic appeal and historical significance, and have been loaned by museums and private collectors. In addition to the vehicles themselves, motorcycle-themed artworks will be displayed in a gallery-like atmosphere. Admission is $10 (free for kids 12 and younger), and if you’re feeling fired up to ride after seeing all the bikes, a charity ride for the Aidan Jack Seeger Foundation takes place Sunday morning. Registration for that begins at 9:30 a.m. on the day of the ride.
homa!, and the show remains as fresh and popular as ever. Farm girl Laurey Williams has two suitors — cowboy Curly and farmhand Jud Fry. When Curly waits too long to approach her, she agrees to go to the dance with Jud. He’s the type of broody loner who brings a knife to the social, just in case he gets a crack at Curly, but all Curly wants is to convince Laurey he’s ready to get serious. Can true love win? The show is packed with songs that have long been considered classics, from show opener “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” to the frequently covered “People Will Say We’re in Love.” And then there’s the boisterous title number, which is so irresistible that within a decade it became the state song of Oklahoma. Stages St. Louis presents Oklahoma! Tuesday through Sunday (September 7 to October 7) at the Robert G. Reim Theatre (111 South Geyer Avenue; www. stagesstlouis.org). Tickets are $41 to $63.
MONDAY 09/10 Avast, Pirates The St. Louis Cardinals are surging, and what seemed like another lost season is now an all-out assault on the Central Division’s wild card slot, if not a first-place
finish. What happened? Mike Shildt happened. Since taking over for ol’ whatshisname, Shildt has the Cardinals playing disciplined baseball, with timely hitting and solid pitching. The Cards host a three-game set against Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that’s scuffling around the .500 mark. Games start at 7:15 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 12:15 p.m. Wednesday (September 10 to 12) at Busch Stadium (700 Clark Avenue; www.stlcardinals.com). Tickets are $5.90 to $250.90.
WEDNESDAY 09/12 Symphonic Sneak Peek The St. Louis Symphony is on the precipice of a new season, but if you’ve been paying attention you know what needs to happen first: the annual free concert in Forest Park, now in its 50th year. Conductor Gemma New will lead the orchestra through a greatest hits program of classical works, from “The Star-Spangled Banner” to Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” with excursions into the popular music catalog in the form of The Sound of Music and a couple John Williams’ hits. The show starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 12, at the bottom of Art Hill in Forest
SUNDAY 09/09 It’s OK It’s been 75 years since Rodgers and Hammerstein transformed the Broadway musical with Okla-
Park (www.slso.org). Admission is free, and following the concert is a display of fireworks.
The cast of the Repertory Theatre St. Louis’ Evita. | PATRICK LANHAM
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Journalist Stephen Fried. | COURTESY OF LEFT BANK BOOKS
Forgotten Father Politicians and pundits beat us over the head with the idea of America’s “Founding Fathers.” We’re told that these men believed in a certain version of America — a country that demands fealty to God, guns and white men and has no room for anyone or anything else. Don’t believe it. Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence and helped forge our nation, would find those ironclad ideas uncoscionable. Rush was a physician who wanted to create a form of national healthcare and revolutionized the treatment of the mentally ill. The good doctor believed both slavery and capital punishment were morally wrong, as was any sort of discrimination based on gender, religion or race. Now there’s a Founding Father to believe in. Author and journalist Stephen Fried has used unpublished documents to craft a biography of this mostly unknown early patriot, whom contemporaries called “the American Hippocrates.” Fried discusses his new book Rush at 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 12, at St. Louis County Library Headquarters (1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard, Frontenac; www.slcl.org). Admission is free. n
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CAFE
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[REVIEW]
Wandering Star The once-nomadic Plantain Girl, Mandy Estrella, puts down roots at Alphateria, with delicious results Written by
CHERYL BAEHR Alphateria 4310 Fyler Avenue (inside Alpha Brewing), 314-578-8789. Mon. 4-9 p.m., Wed.-Thurs. 4-9 p.m.; Fri. 3-11 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (Closed Tuesdays.)
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s a whitebread Midwesterner cooking Caribbean food, Mandy Estrella understands that she will raise some eyebrows. The depth of that skepticism was revealed to her one day when a Colombian woman came in to Estrella’s food counter, the Alphateria, and gave her a grilling. Unconvinced that the St. Louis native could do justice to Caribbean cuisine, she insisted that Estrella come clean and tell her who was really doing the cooking, even while quizzing her on techniques, ingredients and the nuances of each island’s cuisine. After devouring Estrella’s take on the Caribbean braised flank steak ropa vieja, the woman was so impressed that she asked to speak with Estrella again. As she gushed about how authentically the dish was prepared, she gave Estrella a sly smile and asked one final question: “OK, who really cooks the food?” Estrella, the self-styled “Plantain Girl,” is indeed the culinary force behind her Dominican-inflected food counter, the Alphateria. And from the taste of that ropa vieja, you would think that she had been cooking Caribbean food her entire life. In fact, Estrella’s foray into the cuisine began about fifteen years ago in Orlando. Though she had attended culinary school at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park with a plan to be a ban-
Alphateria’s jibarito features steak, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and garlic mayo on twice-fried green plantains. | MABEL SUEN quet manager, her time in Orlando made her realize she would not be successful at that job in a resort community. Instead, she switched gears to the front of the house, where she found that serving and bartending provided a more lucrative living. While working in Orlando, Estrella met a Dominican man, now her ex-husband, who introduced her to his native country’s cuisine. Though she had tried Caribbean food before, she was blown away once she got a taste of truly authentic cooking. She wanted to explore every aspect of it. Estrella returned to St. Louis with eyes wide open to the city’s lack of proper Caribbean food, even with a tight-knit Latin community to support such a scene. At first, she cooked out of necessity to sate her and her family’s cravings for the flavors they’d enjoyed in Florida. As she became increasingly confident in her abilities, however, she sensed a business opportunity. She began catering to the local Latin community and exploring the idea of opening an eatery. Estrella didn’t have the funding for a full-scale restaurant, but the
rise of food trucks, counters and pop-ups made it possible to get her food in front of diners. After forging a connection with the owner of the Crafty Chameleon in west county, Estrella began doing regular pop-ups at his restaurant and then at Six Mile Bridge Beer and ANEW test kitchen. Pleased with the response she was getting, Estrella built the Plantain Girl brand as she worked on figuring out the next steps. Her path would become clear when she was approached by Alpha Brewing’s owner, Derrick Langeneckert, about running the food service at his brewery’s new Tower Grove South digs. Feeling as if she was being gifted the perfect opportunity, Estrella took him up on his offer, and this past March, opened the Caribbeaninflected Alphateria inside the spacious new brewery. Much like a food truck, Alphateria is a walk-up operation where guests order at the window, grab a table flag, then wait for their food to be delivered as they sit either inside the brewery or on its large outdoor patio. The kitchen is tiny, no larger than a concession stand,
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but what Estrella and her team do within the small space is nothing short of magical. Consider the empanadas: two golden, flaky pillows that on my visit were filled with succulent ground beef. Somehow, the deepfried pocket manages to contain both a heaping quantity of meat as well as its seasoned cooking liquid; when pierced, the latter drips out like savory gravy, waiting to be soaked up by the empanada’s crispy, pie-like edges. Just as the empanadas change regularly, so do the tacos; on one occasion, juicy shreds of roasted chicken thigh filled soft flour tortillas. Ripe tomatoes and crisp lettuce served as a garnish, and a smoky spiced cream mingled with the chicken jus to form a mouthwatering sauce that could not be contained by the tortilla. I was so enraptured by the taste that I didn’t mind the mess. Hush puppies, flecked with herbs and fried, are dense but not tough; dunking them in the accompanying Cajun remoulade sauce evokes the quintessential side dish you’d get at a dockside
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RIPE, THE BROOK & THE BLUFF $12, 7PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY
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ALPHATERIA
Continued from pg 27
restaurant in south Florida. Estrella’s tostones and maduros orient those thoughts even further south. Both deploy Plantain Girl’s namesake fruit. In the former, they’re smashed and fried, tart like an unripe banana but not at all sweet. The sprinkle of sea salt and accompanying spicy aioli underscores the savory flavor profile. The latter, a ripe style of plantain, might as well be an entirely different food; creamy and sweet, the rich fruit caramelizes around the edges when fried, giving it a brown sugary character. It’s dessert. As authentically Latin as her cooking may be, though, Estrella cannot help but add a bit of south city to the menu. There, in all of its Super Bowl party glory, is the positively addictive “Fire Drill Chicken Dip,” more commonly known as Buffalo chicken dip. Perhaps, as Estrella’s partner Bradley Payne says with a half-embarrassed tone, it’s a bit “hoosier,” but I have no shame. This luscious bowl of searing hot chicken and cheese burns with its Frank’s Red Hot base, then tempers the heat with rich cream cheese. Salty tortilla chips make the perfect dipper
for this unexpected treat. Dress me in a pair of jorts and hand me a Schlitz; it might be my favorite thing on the menu. Then again, it’s difficult to top the pork grilled cheese, in which butter-griddled, thick-sliced bread layered with cheddar and Swiss serves as a canvas for hunks of tender roasted pork. A slick of tangy mango-barbecue sauce cuts through the richness, adding just enough sweetness to offset the rich, salty taste of pork and cheese. Estrella further proves her Caribbean sandwich-making prowess on the jibarito. In place of bread, two patties of smashed plantains, sprinkled with coarse salt, serve as the sandwich’s base. Chopped marinated steak covered with melted Swiss cheese evokes a Dominican-style Philly cheesesteak; a chiffonade of crisp iceberg lettuce, sliced ripe tomatoes and rich garlic mayonnaise only add to East Coast vibe. It’s as if Tony Luke’s opened an outpost in Santo Domingo. Estrella stands behind both the quality and authenticity of all of her food, but if she is especially proud of one dish, it’s the ropa vieja, a quintessentially Caribbean dish of flank steak that is braised like pot roast and served over white rice and black beans. A gar-
Alphateria chef-owner Mandy Estrella, better known as the Plantain Girl. | MABEL SUEN nish of pickled red onions brightens the deeply savory meat, which is so tender you could spread it on bread. The excellence of that dish made me think again about the skeptical patron who was so dazzled by Estrella’s ropa vieja that she simply refused to believe a St. Louis native got it right. Nor could she believe that any place outside her native Colombia could provide such authenticity. But with Estrella dedicating so much of herself to the cuisine she
both loves and respects, it seems impossible she could get it wrong. In fact, when she visits Caribbean restaurants on her various travels, she’s now the one asking questions. She’s not often impressed, but when she is, she can’t help but be the skeptical one, asking the owners one very important question: OK, who really is cooking this food?
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FEATURED DINING
6 RESTAURANTS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT...
THE BLUE DUCK
THURMAN’S IN SHAW
314.769.9940 2661 SUTTON BLVD, MAPLEWOOD, MO 63143
314.696.2783 4069 SHENANDOAH AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110
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.
In January, Doug Fowler made big changes to Thurman’s in Shaw, and it’s paid off big time. A year and a half after taking over the old Thurman’s Grill location, Fowler switched from burgers and traditional bar fare to hearty handheld Mexican grub to great acclaim. Everything on Thurman’s menu now is designed for maximum portability – perfect for both full dinners and light bites on the go. The street tacos and giant burrito have earned love from Shaw residents, with tortillas bursting with a choice of mouthwatering meats, fish or vegetable mix plus all the fixings. Looking to scoop up deliciousness? Try Thurman’s chips with frijoles dip (traditional or vegetarian), spicy salsas, queso (chorizo or vegetarian) or smooth guacamole. Polish off a meal with churros sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and served with warm chocolate dipping sauce. Don’t forget drinks! Thurman’s goes well beyond its tasty margaritas, with plenty of craft cocktails, wines and beers available.
STONE TURTLE
J. SMUGS GASTROPIT
STONETURTLE.COM
JSMUGSGASTROPIT.COM
314.349.1933 6335 CLAYTON AVE, ST. LOUIS MO, 63139
314.499.7488 2130 MACKLIND AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110
At Stone Turtle, a classic American gastropub menu finds a way to fit right in with Dogtown’s Irish history. Principal owner and general manager Nick Funke drew on his years in the restaurant business in both St. Louis and New York and on Stone Turtle chef Todd Bale’s expertise to develop the signature menu. In a neighborhood known for burgers and drinks, Stone Turtle instead offers elevated dinners that are perfect for date night. Fried burrata serves as a much-lauded appetizer, exploding when a knife cuts into the breadcrumb-coated molten cheese. Mushroom gnocchi continues the cheesy goodness, mixing marsala mushrooms and garlic alongside spinach and goat cheese in tiny pasta curls. The highlight of the menu is the savory pork chop, cut thick and served with jus and creamy grits. But true to Dogtown roots, whiskey does take a star turn, with the Smoked Old Fashion appearing on many “must-try” lists in St. Louis.
Housed in a retro service station, J. Smugs GastroPit serves up barbecue that can fuel anyone’s fire. Married teams of Joe and Kerri Smugala and John and Linda Smugala have brought charred goodness to the Hill neighborhood, nestled among the traditional Italian restaurants, sandwich shops and bakeries. Part of St. Louis’ ongoing barbecue boom, the J. Smugs’ pit menu is compact but done right. Ribs are the main attraction, made with a spicy dry rub and smoked to perfection. Pulled pork, brisket, turkey and chicken are also in the pit holding up well on their own, but squeeze bottles of six tasty sauces of varying style are nearby for extra punch. Delicious standard sides and salads are available, but plan on ordering an appetizer or two J. Smugs gives this course a twist with street corn and pulled-pork poutine. Several desserts are available, including cannoli – a tasty nod to the neighborhood. Happy hour from 4 to 7pm on weekdays showcases half-dollar BBQ tastes, discount drinks, and $6 craft beer flights to soothe any beer aficionado.
CARNIVORE STL
BLOOM CAFE
314.449.6328 5257 SHAW AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110
314.652.5666 5200 OAKLAND AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110
Carnivore fills a nearly 4,000-square-foot space on The Hill with a dining area, bar lounge, and adjoining outdoor patio gracefully guarded by a bronze steer at the main entrance. Always embracing change, Joe and Kerri Smugala, with business partners Chef Mike and Casie Lutker, launched Carnivore STL this summer. As the Hill’s only steakhouse, Carnivore offers a homestyle menu at budget-friendly prices appealing to the neighborhood’s many families. Steak, of course, takes center stage with juicy filet mignon, top sirloin, strip steak and ribeye leading the menu. Customize any of the succulent meats with sautéed mushrooms, grilled shrimp, or melted housemade butters, such as garlic-and-herb and red wine reduction, on top of the flame-seared steak. Other main dishes include a thick-cut pork steak (smoked at J. Smugs) and the grilled chicken with capers and a white wine-lemon-butter sauce. St. Louis Italian traditions get their due in the Baked Ravioli, smothered in provel cheese and house ragu, and in the Arancini, risotto balls stuffed with provel and swimming in a pool of meat sauce. With an exciting new brunch menu debuting for Saturday and Sunday, Carnivore should be everyone’s new taste of the Hill.
A new restaurant with a meaningful cause has sprouted up near the Saint Louis Science Center. Bloom Café is a breakfast and lunch spot with a mission – empower people with disabilities through job training while providing a tasty menu full of sandwiches and sweets. An endeavor from Paraquad, a disability resources nonproft, Bloom Cafe makes good on its promises. Trainees work under culinary director Joe Wilson to prepare a variety of fresh dishes (including plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free options) that are perfect for a lunch date, a business meeting or a family meal before fun in Forest Park. For a morning jolt, try the breakfast burrito, stuffed with sausage, egg and pepperjack cheese and topped with tomato salsa. At lunch, the reuben stands out, making mouths water with a smoky, juicy corned beef brisket, sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese and tangy Thousand Island sandwiched between swirl rye bread and toasted. A rotating array of pastries is available daily, but you’ll definitely want to pick up the cinnamon roll – cinnamon and sweet glaze make their way into every nook of the light dough for a delight in every bite.
BLUEDUCKSTL.COM
THURMANSINSHAW.COM
CARNIVORE-STL.COM
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[SIDE DISH]
He Learned English — and Cooking — at the Crossing Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
T
hu Rein Oo laughs when he thinks back to his disastrous first night working the fish station at the Crossing (7823 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-721-7375). “I’d been watching the fish station every day, and when it wasn’t busy, I would practice,” Oo recalls. “One day, [owner Jim Fiala] asked me if I thought I was ready, and I said yes. It was a crazy busy Friday night, and I got an order for tilapia that I made the best I could. Everyone was teasing me, saying, ‘This is supposed to be pan-seared, not poached.’ I didn’t know. I went back to the salad station and the regular fish guy had to come in and take over. It’s been many years since that, but people still tease me about it all the time.” Oo has come a long way since that fateful day, but the journey is nothing compared to the one he took to get to the Crossing in the first place. Born in Myanmar (previously Burma), Oo fled civil unrest for Malaysia when he was fifteen years old. He lived there for two years before being accepted as a refugee into the United States in 2007. Oo and his uncle made the journey from Malaysia to Indiana, where they lived for about a year before moving to St. Louis. Oo needed a job, and his uncle knew someone who worked at the kitchen at the Crossing. He encouraged his nephew to apply. “They needed a dishwasher, and Jimmy asked me if I was sure I could do it,” Oo recalls. “I said, ‘Sure, I’ll work any job. I don’t
Thu Rein Oo went from being a refugee new to the U.S. to executive chef at an acclaimed restaurant. | COURTESY OF THE CROSSING care.’ I didn’t speak any English back then. In fact, I learned English at the Crossing.” At first, Oo admits he was put off by the unfamiliar style of cooking, especially the smells produced by the liberal use of wine and other alcohol in dishes. Still, even amidst that initial aversion, he was mesmerized by what was going on in the kitchen and took it upon himself to soak up every bit of knowledge that he could. “I’d go around to all the stations, and on slow days I would watch and learn,” Oo says. “It started with the salad station, then desserts. I finally learned the fish station and did that for two years before I learned the grill station, which is where all of the grilled dishes and pastas come from. I was scared, but I would watch
and learn every night until Jimmy asked if I was ready. Finally, I said yes.” As he worked his way along the line, Oo was tasked with creating the evening’s specials for his stations and became a trusted and valuable employee who knew the ins and outs of the Crossing’s kitchen better than anyone. It was natural, then, that when Fiala needed to find an executive chef, he would look to Oo. “I’m not a trained chef, so I was a little surprised when he asked me,” Oo admits. “However, I was already doing the job, so Jimmy knew I was ready to step up. I was worried that I don’t speak English very well, but he told me, ‘Don’t worry about that. You take care of the kitchen and I can take care of that.’”
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A year into his role, Oo is thrilled with his unlikely journey into the world of classic Italian and French fine dining, one he feels infinite gratitude for having the opportunity to pursue. And even though he has now mastered the food that once seemed so unfamiliar, he can’t help but bring a little bit of his homeland into the dishes he cooks for the staff, like his soon-to-be-famous Burmese fried rice. “I make it for Jimmy and his friends and they all tell me it is the best in the world,” Oo laughs. “When I make it here, everyone is happy.” Oo took a break from the kitchen to share his thoughts on Burmese sports, his not-so-hidden musical talent, and his plea for a
SEPTEMBER 05 - 11, 2018
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BREAKFAST. LUNCH. OPPORTUNITY. O RD ER O N L I N E F O R PI CK U P O R D EL I V ERY 5200 Oakland Ave. in St. Louis 314-65-BLOOM | thebloom.cafe Open Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
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A social enterprise program of
Bloom Café serves a fresh take on casual dining while helping people with disabilities grow their independence through a unique job training program. Just steps away from Forest Park and the St. Louis Science Center, Bloom Café serves breakfast and lunch six days a week.
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dining
[HIDDEN GEM]
DeRienzo’s Brings Back STL Pizza History Written by
LEXIE MILLER
J
read more at
RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM
oe and Ada DeRienzo opened the original DeRienzo’s Pizza on Virginia Avenue in south city in 1961. Now their son Tim and his wife, Amy, have brought the family pizza joint back, with a restaurant that honors its traditional recipes: DeRienzo’s Pizza and Pub (1267 Jungermann Road, St. Peters; 636317-1034) Back in the day, DeRienzo’s was one of a few St. Louis-style pizza restaurants in the city. Its popularity led to an expansion to south county, and the family business became a staple in the local pizza scene for almost 30 years. After “Big Joe” died, the family decided to close the restaurants. But last year, after Tim DeRienzo retired, he decided it was time to bring back his parents’ famous recipes. “They’re why I work so hard at this,” Tim DeRienzo explains. “It’s not just pizza, it’s the hard work they put into it.” After renting the kitchen at the Jungerman Road space from a previous bar owner for a year, the DeRienzos bought the space in March and now are in full control. The restaurant is serving up
THU REIN OO
Continued from pg 35
good Burmese restaurant in St. Louis. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? I play a sport called sepak takraw. It’s kind of like volleyball. It has a net but we use our feet, legs and head to score. It’s very physical. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Working, then going home and
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DeRienzo’s pizza was the big winner at least year’s St. Louis Square Off. | LEXIE MILLER classic appetizers, salads, sandwiches and classic St. Louis thincrust, Provel-covered pizza. DeRienzo is committed to giving his patrons the best ingredients in town. He gets Fazio bread, meats from the Hill and imported Parmesan cheese. “It’s worth every penny,” he says. And they’re not the only ones saying that. Last year, DeRienzo’s won the first-ever St. Louis Square Off, which pitted eight pizza-makers against each other in a competition to determine the best St. Louis-style pizza in town. It was, DeRienzo says, a huge surprise, but one the family is very proud of. The winning pizza is the “Don Vito,” topped with sausage, hamburger, bacon and pepperoni, just like the elder DeRienzos used to make. “The only difference is that I put the pepperoni on top of the cheese and [my parents] put it under,” Tim says. “I, of course, got mom’s approval.” (At 87, he says, Mom Ada even still oversees the kitchen when she can.) Other hits at DeRienzo’s include the Chicago sandwich ($10),
which is Fazio’s bread filled with Italian sausage, house-made roast beef, pepper and Provel. The most popular pizza is the seven-topping Big Joe’s Deluxe ($21), which is stacked high with sausage, hamburger, pepperoni, bacon, onion, green pepper and mushroom. Unique Italian favorites from back in the day include the “Original DeRienzo’s Burger,” a burger topped with Provel, marinara sauce and parm. “Tim’s Taste of The Hill Gabagool” is also popular: Volpi salami, Volpi Capocolla, and roast beef with Provel, lettuce, tomato and red onion on top. Tim DeRienzo hopes to expand within the next year, dreaming of possibly a small carry-out store in another location as well as an expansion of his current space. He also plans to expand the menu eventually to include pasta dishes. “It’s been one hell of a ride and we’re not done yet,” he says. DeRienzo’s is open Sunday through Tuesday 11 a.m. to midnight and Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. The kitchen closes between 10 and 11 every night. n
playing guitar. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Working super-fast! What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see? A Burmese restaurant! What ingredient is most representative of your personality? Turmeric. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? I would play guitar for my church. Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.
Porcini mushrooms. I am highly allergic. What is your after-work hangout? Home, watching movies with my wife. What is your food or beverage guilty pleasure? Shan noodles. It’s a Burmese dish with noodles, broth, chicken and a few veggies. What would be your last meal on earth? Pork, cooked Burmese-style, which we call “sipyan.” It is made with garlic, ginger, onion, lemongrass, turmeric and chile powder, cooked in peanut oil. n
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DINE-IN, TAKEOUT OR DELIVERY MON-SAT 11AM-9PM
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MUSIC & CULTURE click on the one with the avatar of two people on a dark stage. The interaction you see there, between Ms. Musgraves and the living subject of her song “Burn One with John Prine,” will loosen up your suspicions about this pretty young star, and then the song itself will dissolve your scorn and melt your objections. Musgraves knows her fine-tuned, classic country songcraft, and she comes across as sweet as Dolly Parton (if Dolly had a thing for weed). By the end of the video you will both grudgingly admit that a few good country writers are still out there, and adjust your LouFest plans to see her for yourself. —Evan Sult
[ F E S T I VA L S ]
10 Can’tMiss Acts at 2018 LouFest Written by
RFT STAFF
L
ouFest is upon us again, and with it comes a lot of tough choices. Sure, it’s great that Forest Park will be overflowing with musical talent on September 8 and 9, but with more than 40 acts on this year’s lineup, the whole affair can be a little daunting. Never fear! We’ve compiled a list of ten stellar acts performing at LouFest 2018 that are surely worth your time. And this lineup doesn’t even include the newly launched, all-local Jazz & Heritage Stage (see the following page for info on that). Here are ten can’t-miss acts performing this year.
The Burney Sisters 11:45 a.m. Saturday at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Stage
Olivia and Emma Burney are prodigious prodigies. They’re so young — thirteen and ten as of this writing — that it’s too soon to determine which one will turn out to be the tallest. They’re writing and posting new songs constantly, and Olivia’s lyrics complement a natural sense of melodic hook even as their harmonies lock in with that unreal, enviable sisterly connection. But just as impressive is their stage presence: The two Columbia, Missouri, natives interact with the crowd like seasoned pros, never breaking into kiddie giggles or losing command of the show. It’s clear that they’re both ambitious and truly enjoying themselves. As will you. —Evan Sult
Durand Jones & the Indications 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Main Stage
The classic soul sound of Durand Jones & the Indications serves as a not-so-gentle reminder that soul music was meant to be heard and recorded live, and that wellappointed session guys are rarely
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Grace Basement 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Stage
Guitar virtuoso Gary Clark Jr. will perform at LouFest on Sunday. | JOEY MARTINEZ a substitute for a great fucking band. This band’s self-titled debut album evolved out of all-night and all-day jam sessions in an Indiana basement, and it retains that gloriously messy, working-it-on-out feel, as Jones, a Louisiana-born and church-bred singer, calls and responds to the band with a true sense of urgency. Fans of Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley and Leon Bridges would be crazy to miss his Saturday set. —Roy Kasten
Margo Price 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the main stage
Margo Price may never make it to the top of the country charts, but she’s pretty much on top of the world. The Aledo, Illinois, native seemed to emerge out of nowhere with her debut album for Jack White’s Third Man label in 2016, when in fact she’d be slugging it out as a singer and occasional drummer for years before anyone recognized her talent. Her stonedat-the-jukebox outlaw image belies a songwriter who can cut anyone to the quick with feminist, working-class tales that never feel like tropes. Plus she’s an underrated singer with a twang that will melt the coldest of indie hearts. —Roy Kasten
SEPTEMBER 05 - 11, 2018
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White Reaper 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the BMI-Tunespeak Stage
Things have changed for White Reaper since its last St. Louis show in 2015. Back then the Louisville band was a quartet refining the ferocious garage-punk attack of its 2014 self-titled EP. At that time, newer material was beginning to flirt with the occasional slower tempo and new-wave keyboard riff, but many songs stayed in the mold of Jay Reatard. Fast-forward three years later and White Reaper has evolved into a swaggering classic-rock quintet. Tony Esposito’s bratty sneer is still here, as is his penchant for catchy major key melodies, but they are now more likely to be delivered via Thin Lizzy-style parallel twin guitar leads over swinging rhythms. Still, whether it’s in this mode or playing old setlist staples, White Reaper is fist-pumping rock & roll through and through. —Bob McMahon
Kacey Musgraves 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Main Stage
You may think you have a final opinion on the dismal state of modern country music, but hang on and trust us here. Google “kacey musgraves john prine live” and
If there’s any justice in the world, when the annals of St. Louis in the early 21st century are written, Grace Basement will figure at least as prominently as Wilco. Yes, Jeff Tweedy has more recognition at the moment, but Grace Basement mastermind Kevin Buckley can match him song for song on lyrical details and aching nostalgia. This year’s Mississippi Nights album is a hot summer evening with the windows down and a warm breeze to lift your heavy heart and maybe save your life. This being LouFest, the band will likely be at its tightest and most dazzling. Make sure you see it now so you can tell your kids about it later — those annals aren’t gonna write themselves. —Evan Sult
Liz Cooper & The Stampede 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the BMI-Tunespeak Stage
Boredom may be one of the defining themes of modernism (just ask Proust and Beckett), but it has no place in rock & roll. Or does it? Liz Cooper cut an entire album (her debut no less) about l’ennui, and somehow never once sounds bored doing do. Window Dressing has a spacey and spacious feel, with airy twang and hints of psychedelia lilting through some of the sweetest surf-swept garage rock in recent memory. Cooper isn’t one of LouFest’s marquee acts, but make room on your schedule for her and her band — boredom is not on her setlist. —Roy Kasten
[HOMESPUN]
Super Nova Kevin Bowers headlines the new Jazz and Heritage Stage at this year’s LouFest Written by
CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
W
hen Kevin Bowers takes the stage at LouFest, he and his bandmates will headline Saturday’s lineup at the new-this-year Jazz and Heritage Stage. He’ll have one of the biggest entourages of the festival, with bandmates numbering well into the teens, and together they’ll recreate much of the magic from Bowers’ 2016 record Nova. That album, and the past two years’ worth of live shows, have transmuted Bowers’ love of Brazilian music into a jazz-rooted, polyrhythmic collection of songs that showcase his competence as a bandleader as well as a songwriter. There will be a rotating cast of lead singers, a horn section, several percussionists and a pair of dancers wearing little more than colorful feathered costumes and a smile. If all goes as planned, it will be a both a transportive and a deeply local experience: a collection of St. Louis’ best musicians creating music to conjure a faraway land. This won’t be Bowers’ first time
Michael McDonald 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Main Stage
Native son of St. Louis (Ferguson, to be precise) Michael McDonald has all the yacht-rock cred of anyone not named Kenny Loggins (who co-wrote Smooth Mac’s single greatest song, “What a Fool Believes”), but he’s also just a flatout great singer. Just ask Steely Dan, Carly Simon and Bonnie Raitt, all of whom (along with dozens more) enlisted him for background vocals that defined their tracks and shaped the sound of FM radio as the ‘70s cruised into the ‘80s. Yeah, he’s got a slew of Grammys and sold a kazillion records. But that ineffably warm,
Bowers, who helped spearhead LouFest’s tribute to Chuck Berry in 2017, returns with his own music. | NATE BURRELL playing LouFest. Last year, he was tasked with serving as bandleader for the all-star Chuck Berry tribute that saw the likes of Valerie June, Huey Lewis, Pokey LaFarge and members of Spoon and Cage the Elephant paying homage to rock & roll’s founding father. Reflecting on it a year later, Bowers simply says, “You can’t repeat something like that. “It was a once in a lifetime experience, for sure,” he says. “Especially having all of the those top musicians walk in and leave their
ego at the door, too. It was a monumental achievement for LouFest to have these St. Louis musicians playing with national artists.” The Chuck Berry tribute was a major recognition for Bowers, who has long been known as a first-call drummer around St. Louis but who has more recently honed his skills as a bandleader. It was Nova that brought more attention to his skill set — the album’s ambition and execution spoke to his musical chops, and the people behind LouFest took notice. After
a Nova set at Jazz at the Bistro last year, LouFest’s Mike Van Hee approached Bowers. “I think originally he was trying to get us to do something at LouFest, but that fell through,” Bowers says. “He then said, ‘We’re thinking about doing this Chuck Berry thing; would you like to be the musical director and put a band together?’” For the 2018 edition of LouFest, Bowers will be back behind the kit and he and the group, formally
smoothly stoned, blue-eyed-soul tenor is a national treasure. —Roy Kasten
and the hip-hop and the smooth soul when the mood strikes him. Once saddled with the inevitable “the new Hendrix” tag, Clark Jr. has found his own voice, largely on stage, where he builds a bluesrock temple and then burns it all down. —Roy Kasten
the planet. His latest incarnation matches him with a gang of experimentally minded musicians — including, but not limited to Justin Adams, Billy Fuller, John Baggott and Liam “Skin” Tyson — whom he has christened the Sensational Space Shifters. It’s a goofy name. The band’s music is anything but. As featured on last year’s Carry Fire and documented on this summer’s run of festival dates, this ensemble is among Plant’s most exciting, not least because they can match the resounding force of Plant’s voice. He’s still got it, and he has a band to prove it. —Roy Kasten
Gary Clark Jr. 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Main Stage
Guitar gods are the least interesting of gods, and “let there be fiveminute solos in otherwise perfectly good songs” is the worst of Bible verses. We can make exceptions for Hendrix, Thompson and Allman, but rock gods are best served by the concision of their true father, Chuck Berry. Gary Clark Jr. is a different kind of rock god. For a jam-the-fuck-out-of-the-blues dude, he’s a musical omnivore, a shredder who can bring the psych
Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Main Stage
Against considerable odds, Robert Plant has created a long and rewarding solo career out of the ashes (still smoldering decades on) of one of the biggest bands on
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WE’RE FAMOUS FOR OUR BOTTLED SPRING WATER. WITH A FEW NOTEWORTHY ALTER ATIONS. L I V E F R E E L Y. D R I N K R E S P O N S I B L Y.
J A CK D A NIE L’ S A ND OL D NO. 7 A R E R E GIS T E R E D T R A DE M A R K S. ©2 015 J A CK D A NIE L’ S T E NNE S S E E W HIS K E Y 4 0 % A L C OHOL B Y V OL UME (80 P R OOF ). DIS T IL L E D A ND B O T T L E D B Y J A CK D A NIE L DIS T IL L E R Y, LY NCHBUR G, T E NNE S S E E. J A CK D A NIE L S.C OM
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[PREVIEW]
Bang On Tarriona Ball’s soul-funk band Tank and the Bangas, set to be featured at LouFest, is all grown up Written by
SARA BARRON
S
ince winning NPR’s Tiny Desk contest in 2017, Tank and the Bangas frontwoman Tarriona Ball has seen her life change drastically. The soul-funk band’s media success catapulted it into the spotlight and onto the road, resulting in a tour spanning the entirety of North America and taking the group all the way to Europe and back. Ball, who will be performing with the band at LouFest this weekend, says this hectic lifestyle is made palatable by the small but precious moments in between the bad food and cramped vans, moments when she’s on stage and hundreds — or thousands — of strangers sing the words she wrote back to her. “That’s when you get your reward and things become a little magic for you,” she says. The New Orleans native has been manipulating language from a young age. Listening to the band, Ball’s singing voice and quick-witted lyricism almost seem to be one and the same — her myriad styles of voices acting as different personalities, telling a range of stories within a single song. Ball says she’s been experimenting with different voices since she was a child, and it all probably goes back to playing Barbies with her sisters.
KEVIN BOWERS Continued from pg 41
known as Kevin Bowers’ Nova, will seek to recreate the live sets that it performs semi-regularly around town. Just getting all the musicians in the same room is a task: Lead vocals are split among Sleepy Kitty’s Paige Brubeck, guitarist-about-town Jimmy Griffin, El Monstero backing vocalist Erminie Cannon and blues singer Mike Aguirre. Members of the Funky Butt Brass Band fill out the horn section, and Bowers’ longtime bandmates from the Feed fill in on guitar and piano. His set will come as part of the newly launched Jazz & Heritage Stage, sponsored by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation and featuring a host of like-minded St. Louis acts: Anita Jackson, Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet, Jesse Gannon, the
Vocalist Tarriona Ball got her start musically at an open mic in a church. | VIA HIGH ROAD TOURING “We did a lot of pretending,” she says. “You watch a lot of Disney and you watch a lot of Nickelodeon, all these childhood shows, and my sisters, they really fed my imagination. That’s the only way I can describe it because I don’t know when I started doing this, I’m not going to lie.” Things really started when a cousin enlisted her to read the poem “A Great Somebody” by Adrienne Hardesty at her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. “I practiced it all night. I had it in my heart. I was so ready. Then when it came down for me to do it, I choked so bad,” says Ball.
Even with that mess-up, though, Ball says that her grandmother saw a potential for writing and performing in her, and had her start reading poetry before her grandfather’s sermons in the church. “Children would be laughing at me and everything, but every time I did it, I became more and more confident,” Ball says. “And that kind of became the love… I didn’t know what it could do for your confidence.” Ball’s journey as a poet continued. She wrote her first poem at age twelve and participated in poetry slams at school before becoming a part of HBO’s
Ptah Williams Trio, the Bob Deboo Trio, Kasimu-tet, the Owen Ragland Quintet, Mo Egeston AllStars and Tonina will all perform. Bowers and company will headline the stage on Saturday; the fact that Ferguson native and first-call trumpeter Keyon Harrold — who has worked with Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Common, 50 Cent and countless others — serves as his headliner counterpart for Sunday just speaks to the level of confidence LouFest’s organizers have in Bowers to deliver. Bowers says that the group has worked out some new material over the past year, but for this set they will lean on the material from the record. “As far as LouFest goes this year, we’re probably going to play to our strengths,” he says. “With a band like this, with fourteen to sixteen people, you have really limited time to rehearse. And I’d
rather really rehearse the show. There will be two or three tunes that aren’t on the album, but over 90 percent of the people at LouFest won’t have heard us, so I really want to put my best foot forward with this group.” That’s not to say that Bowers has been sitting still since Nova dropped. This summer, he spent five days in Havana, Cuba, with the primary purpose of studying Cuban song forms — clave, son, rhumba and salsa. He studied with percussion master Jose Eladio, an experience that left Bowers (himself a music teacher) temporarily befuddled. “He’d show me this rhythm, and then he’d leave the room. I’d think, ‘Where’s he going?’,” Bowers says. “And he’d come back in ten minutes and I’m playing this same rhythm over and over. That’s the thing with Cuban music and that African influence
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Brave New Voices, and finally, a regular at an open mic where she met some of the musicians who would make up the core of her musical project. Ball says the open mic was much more than a chance to perform; it was a sacred space. “It was our church, it was a place you had to be,” she says. “No matter where you were you would make your way to that open mic; you just knew that’s where all the feels were, that’s where all the good vibes were.” This particular open mic was a fusion of poetry and music that led Ball to perform her metered words to music for the first time, backed by the Black Star Bangas. It’s hard to believe after hearing Ball’s captivatingly strong voice that she didn’t originally think of herself as a vocalist. “I’d been in choir since I was a little girl, but I believed way more in my words than my singing voice, so I nurtured that more,” she says. “But now I kind of love them both equally.” Though Tank and the Bangas has been riding the success of its incredibly versatile debut album, Think Tank, Ball assures us that the band has squeezed some time for recording in between a packed tour schedule. While a date hasn’t been announced yet, Ball says a new album is very close to being released. “We’ve been surviving off of one album for so long,” says Ball. “Fans are like, ‘That’s their baby,’ but I’m excited to see this baby. This thing is a teenager now, this thing has breasts, and I’m ready to wear a low-cut top if you understand what I’m saying. We’re ready to put this music out.” Tank and the Bangas will perform on Saturday, September 8, in Forest Park as part of LouFest.
— you’re not playing for three minutes, you gotta keep going. Finally when I’d get it, he’d bring in his sticks and start jamming with me.” Bowers has no plans to record a new album at the moment and, still fresh off his trip, he can’t say exactly how his trip to Cuba will color his music. “That’s sort of the unknown — I really don’t know,” he says. “I don’t think I’m gonna put on the Ry Cooder hat and produce a Buena Vista Social Club record or anything like that. But I think the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people will eventually seep through the cracks of my songwriting, eventually. But right now I’m just really interested in getting better as a musician.” Kevin Bowers will perform Saturday in Forest Park at 7:30 p.m. as part of LouFest.
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[REUNIONS]
Getting the Punk Band Back Together Nineteen was poised to break out, but then it broke up. Now it’s reuniting for Pü Fest Written by
DANIEL HILL
O
n Tuesday, August 20, 2003, the Lemp Arts Center was completely packed, wall-towall. The space had yet to acquire an air conditioner, and the heat of the sweltering St. Louis summer combined with heat from the 150 or so bodies in the small space made for an atmosphere so thick, you felt as if you could lean up against the air itself. Forty minutes into the last-ever show by beloved St. Louis punk band Nineteen, every human being in the building was drenched from head to toe and bordering on heat stroke. Even the building’s support beams were wet, dripping. When Stephen Inman, Nineteen’s bassist, approached a microphone, asking the obviously exhausted crowd what they wanted to do, a voice shouted, “Intermission! Who wants an intermission?!” “Do you guys want to go sit outside for five minutes?” Inman replied. “How about we all meet back here in five to ten minutes? Let’s go!” The entire audience filed outside. August in St. Louis is not often described as “refreshing,” but compared to the sweat-soaked nightmare inside, the courtyard behind the space felt like a jump into a pool. After about fifteen minutes, the show resumed. Nineteen’s mohawked guitarist and lead vocalist Mat Wilson, then known primarily as “Doormat,” stepped up to the mic. “OK everybody, I have one last crusty speech for you,” he began, but the crowd had no interest in parting thoughts and no mercy. Before Wilson could go any further, someone in the crowd shouted out, “Play already!” With nary another word, the band launched
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Nineteen performing in its prime, with Mat Wilson sporting a mohawk. | VIA THE BAND into its next song. Twenty minutes later, Nineteen — arguably the most promising and most vital punk band to exist in St. Louis around the turn of the century — was relegated to the past tense. The night was one of the best-attended shows in Lemp Arts Center history, with many people actually turned away at the door — a rarity. It made sense. The band had a unique sound: one part ‘90s East Bay punk a la Operation Ivy or Rancid and one part ‘80s hardcore à la Black Flag or Minor Threat, or as venerated punk zine Maximum Rock and Roll put it, “punk as fuck Midwestern hardcore with Filthesque vocals and enough melody to keep things interesting.” It earned a considerable following in the St. Louis area after the release of its 2002 album Tearing Me Apart!, with members of national punk bands the U.S. Bombs and the Distillers counting themselves
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as fans. At one point it seemed reasonable to think that the band might soon be signed to Hellcat Records, founded by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. The only other band of that era to pack Lemp this full was Gainesville’s Against Me!, touring on its breakout album Reinventing Axl Rose. To this day, fifteen years later, Inman finds the huge turnout nothing short of bewildering. “I booked the last Nineteen show on a Tuesday at the Lemp Arts Center,” he says. “That was the only day available in August. I was like, ‘I dunno, maybe 50 people will come.’” Wilson and Inman are now 33 and 34, respectively, and contemplating the band’s reunion as part of this year’s Pü Fest, closing out day one of the two-day affair. They were supposed to meet a reporter in a Cherokee Street practice space, but since Inman
Mat Wilson and Stephen Inman as they appear today. | DANIEL HILL
neglected to bring his keys, the conversation takes place on the sidewalk. Luckily, unlike fifteen years ago, this particular August evening is blessedly mild. In the years since disbanding, the members of Nineteen — Inman and Wilson, plus drummer Tim Ridlin, who all met in middle school — have found considerable success. Wilson is a working musician best-known today as guitarist of the pre-war blues band the Rum Drum Ramblers, which shares members with Pokey LaFarge’s band (and actually pre-dates it), as well as his work with the Loot Rock Gang and with his new band, Devil’s Elbow. Inman, who has been politically minded since he was a teen, moved to the north side, got involved in urban farming and gardening projects and started doing social justice work in matters of race and homelessness, as well as playing in post-punk act Blight Future and dance-punk band So Many Dynamos. Ridlin is the only member of the group who hasn’t continued to play music over the years. His 2003 move to Chicago for school served as the impetus for Nineteen’s final show; today, he has a Ph.D in art history and lives in San Diego after spending time in New York, Canada and even the West Bank, where he taught. He’s opted not to be a part of the reunion, making way for longtime St. Louis punk drummer Tom Valli to sit in his stead. For Inman and Wilson, even as their lives have changed, Nineteen has never been all that far from their minds. But Wilson says he’s been saying “no” to a reunion for years. “I’ve been trying to do a reunion since like 2004,” Inman says with a laugh. “Yeah he’s been trying, working on me and working on me,” Wilson says. “I’ve been saying ‘no never, no never,’ just because [punk] just isn’t my medium of expression anymore. But I backed Bob Reuter for a long time, so a lot of the old Doormat came out in that. To me, when I got into blues, it was punk rock to me. It was punk as fuck to me. So anything that has that aesthetic, that ethic, that feeling — I go for it, because I consider it all the same shit, whatever it is.” Fifteen being a relatively round number and all, some nostalgia for the old days has started to creep in, Wilson says. Maybe that’s why when Pü Fest organizer Luc Michalski reached out to ask if Nineteen would play this year’s fest, he encountered little in the Continued on pg 45
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NINETEEN
Continued from pg 44
way of resistance. “I sent Stephen this long text, like, ‘Hey maybe, I know it’s silly, sorry, but if you would consider it, let’s talk about the possibility,’” Michalski says. “And then right away he was like, ‘Yeah we’re in.’ And I kinda didn’t know what to do, because I really thought he would at least wanna think about it for a while. But I guess he and Mat had already loosely discussed it, just being fifteen years later.” Michalski, 30, never managed to see Nineteen while it was active — he was a high school kid, and his relatively strict parents wouldn’t allow him to attend their shows. He was supposed to make it to the last one, at Lemp, but his folks changed their minds at the last minute. “So this is kind of my way of cheating my parents,” he explains. “That’s what it’s all about.” A musician himself and one of the most prominent bookers of DIY shows in St. Louis, Michalski says Nineteen was the group that first made him understand the idea of “doing it yourself” as a band. “They were the band that showed me that you really can just do it,” he explains. “You don’t have to be some big rich person. You can just be some person, and you can go out and have a band and do it. They were the first local band that had an influence on me. They were the first band that really showed me the accessibility and energy of punk, if you will, and of making music yourself.” And so it makes sense that Nineteen’s reunion would take place at Pü Fest. Now in its fifth year, the annual event brings together dozens of acts from across St. Louis and the country who are dedicated to that DIY mindset, including Pryss, Bib, 18andCounting, Dead Rider and the Conformists. Nineteen will headline the show’s first night and is slated to hit the stage at 12:30 a.m. Told of Michalski’s remarks, Inman says he feels the same way about the band. Growing up in St. Charles, he and Wilson started playing music together when they were just twelve. Their shared musical experiences helped mold the people they became. “Meeting Mat and Tim and joining the band, and then finding out about punk rock, it was totally the first time where it was like, you could make a life of your own creation,” he explains. “You don’t just have to follow the trajectory that
your parents and suburbia and your very limited white suburban lifestyle allowed you. And that’s why, punk rock, I just latched onto it. Because we could just do it ourselves, and then we’d go play shows and there would be other people my age who are also making their life themselves. And we would make our lives together.” “It’s not like we started a rock & roll band to get chicks,” Wilson adds. “This was a totally different thing.” Asked what they would tell their seventeen-year-old selves if given the opportunity, Inman and
Wilson each make clear that they have no regrets. “Whenever I want to look into the parallel dimension where we stayed together or got a different drummer and got on Hellcat and put an album out, toured, you know, I really think our lives would be very similar to what they are right now,” Inman says. “I’m painting houses with an old punk rock buddy and Mat’s in a great blues band and we’re playing together, you know? I think things might have landed in a similar spot. The thing about punk rock — [to my] seventeen-year-old self, I would
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just be like, ‘Let this lead you where it wants to take you. And it can take lots of forms. You’re right, keep at it, go harder. Be more radical.’” Wilson’s advice for his younger self is simpler. “I definitely would have told my seventeen-year-old self that Pom-Aid will expedite hair loss,” he says with a laugh. “But I can’t think of anything else.”
Pü Fest 5 5 p.m. Saturday at Foam, 3359 Jefferson Avenue, 314-772-2100, and 4:30 p.m. Sunday at RKDE, 2847 Cherokee Street, 314-669-9240. $20 to $30.
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OUT EVERY NIGHT
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Duke’s Sports Bar Where the Games Begin
[CRITIC’S PICK]
Duke’s Photos by Big Stu Media
Mt. Thelonius. | VIA ARTIST BANDCAMP
The acoustic-folk trio Mt. Thelonious introduced itself to St. Louis audiences with a fun little collection called Other People’s Music in 2014. The covers of songs by the Police, the Pixies and Elvis Presley showed the trio’s skill at recasting rock staples for acoustic guitar, upright bass and violin. The band’s 2015 full-length debut A Little More Time is
even more telling, setting Ian Lubar’s words and voice against ornamentation that alternates between spare and robust. This week’s Mt. Thelonious show also serves as the release show for its latest, as-yet-unnamed EP, allowing Lubar, Mark Wallace and Alyssa Avery a chance to show off new tunes both on stage and on record. The Magic Number: This three-band bill will be rounded out by fellow locals Tristaño and Brotherfather. —Christian Schaeffer
THURSDAY 6
FRIDAY 7
Mt. Thelonious 8 p.m. Friday, September 7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-773-3363.
ALEXANDRE DOSSIN: 7 p.m., free. The 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-421-3600. BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB: w/ The B-52’s, Tom Bailey 8 p.m., $49.50-$129.50. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. BRENT FAIYAZ: 7 p.m., $20-$25. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775. DAVE STONE TRIO: 6 p.m., free. Element, 1419 Carroll St., St. Louis, 314-241-1674. ED SHEERAN: w/ Snow Patrol 6 p.m., TBA. Busch Stadium, 700 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9600. JUNIOR BROWN: 8 p.m., $25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. NPR’S ASK ME ANOTHER: w/ Matt and Kim 7 p.m., $25-$55. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SONNY FALLS: w/ Waterproof, American Poetry Club, Frankie Valet, Fragile Farm 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. THY ANTICHRIST: w/ Nevalra, Bleed the Victim, Summoner’s Circle, D.R.E.A.D., Casket Robbery 6 p.m., $13-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. TWO CITIES ONE WORLD: w/ Fresh Heir 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. WILLIS: w/ The Vanilla Beans 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.
duke’s VOTED ST. LOUIS’ FAVORITE BAR & BEST SPORTS BAR AT THE CORNER OF MENARD & ALLEN IN THE HEART OF HISTORIC SOULARD
NFL FOOTBALL
ARIANNA STRING QUARTET: 8 p.m., $29. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. ART RUPRECHT ALBUM RELEASE: 7 p.m., $10$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. ASHES TO STARDUST - THE MUSIC OF DAVID BOWIE: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. GUY MORGAN: w/ the Haddonfields, IDC, Scatterguns 8 p.m., free. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. KID ROCK: w/ Brantley Gilbert, Wheeler Walker Jr. 6 p.m., $39.50-$129.50. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. LOUFEST U: 5 p.m., free. Forest Park, 5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis. MONTANA OF 300: 7 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. MT. THELONIOUS EP RELEASE: w/ Brotherfather, Tristaño 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. RINGO STARR: 8 p.m., $40-$195. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. SOLID AS A ROCK: 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. THE HOMEWRECKERS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW: w/ Sisser 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.
WATCH EVERY GAME
#PUTUPYOURDUKES SATURDAY
7/9 pm
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
Wednesday Sept. 5
9:30PM
Urban Chestnut Presents
The Voodoo Players Tribute To Neil Young Friday Sept. 7
10PM
Pre Lou Fest Party with
Andy Frasco and the UN
Saturday Sept. 8
Ryley Walker. | EVAN JENKINS
10PM
Cha Wa Mardi Gras Indians
Ryley Walker 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 11. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $12 to $14. 314-773-3363.
from NOLA
Wednesday Sept. 12
It took Ryley Walker all of one album to exorcise the Bert-Jansch-meets-TimBuckley marketing strategy that fit him as comfortably as an iron lung. His debut album Primrose Green may have been Britfolk-revival gorgeous, but Walker, whose roots were in noisy DIY music, breathed less purist air. This year’s Deafman Glance shows his chops on meandering,
9:30
Urban Chestnut Presents
The Voodoo Players Tribute To The Rolling Stones
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THE MOON ZINE’S 3RD B-DAY CELEBRATION: w/ Frankie Valet, Sunsulking, Camp Counselor 8 p.m., free. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. VOODOO TOM PETTY: 6 p.m., free. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775.
SATURDAY 8
Sept 8 ....................................................... The Darrells Sept 15 ................................................................ keokuk Sept 21-23 ................... OKTOBERFEST / details to come Sept 29 .....................................................Karate Bikini
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‘90S HOUSE PARTY: w/ Vanilla Ice, Naughty By Nature, Coolio, Tone Loc, Montell Jordan, Rob Base, All-4-One, Young MC 6 p.m., $20-$149. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. AMERICAN DADIATORS: w/ Mürtaugh, Even Then, Giants In The Sky 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. ASHES & IRON: w/ Not Waving But Drowning, Slow Damage, Rover, End World 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BOXCAR: w/ Tim Leavy, Kvar Black Blues 8 p.m., free. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis. BREWTOPIA: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300. CLOTHING SWAP: 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. COVEN: DARK ENTRIES: w/ DJ Dorian Dolore, DJ Skeletal, DJ Digital 8 p.m., free. Red Fish Blue Fish, 7 Hawks Nest Plaza, St Charles, 636-947-4747. DAN RUBRIGHT GROUP: 8 p.m., $10-$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. THE DARRELLS: 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. FLATLAND CAVALRY: 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. LOOGEY & JORDAN BAUMSTARK: 9 p.m., $5-$10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.
obtusely tuned guitars, and makes the case for a more elusive beauty: flutes, guitars and electronic effects all skitter after melodies like dogs chasing cars. There’s still the haunting whisper of his voice, but Walker improvises lines as strongly as the jamming of the musicians around him. It’s heavy stuff, but Walker makes the departure seem effortless. Drone Zone: Walker’s live shows are as challenging and often thrilling as his records. Surrender to the drone, and he’ll take you to wholly new sonic places. —Roy Kasten
LOUFEST MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018: noon; Sep. 9, noon, $95. Forest Park, 5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis. NAME IT NOW EP RELEASE: w/ the Kaiju Killers, An Unfortunate Trend, Lysergik 7 p.m., $8-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. PUNCH BROTHERS: 8 p.m., $37-$79. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. SUPER WHATEVR: w/ Beach Goons 7 p.m., $10$12. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. YOUTH AND CANVAS: w/ Matt F Basler, Jacob Vi 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.
SUNDAY 9
COUNTING CROWS: w/ Live 6 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. DIESEL ISLAND: noon, free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. LOUFEST MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018: Sep. 8, noon; noon, $95. Forest Park, 5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis. SHINYRIBS: w/ the Cordovas 8 p.m., $15-$29. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ZULA: w/ Feels 2 Reel, Dingus 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
MONDAY 10
BADFLOWER: w/ Bleach 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT: 8 p.m., $36.50$57. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. MUSIC UNLIMITED: 8:30 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $7. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.
[CRITIC’S PICK]
Kid Rock 7 p.m. Friday, September 7. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 14141 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights. $39.50 to $129.50. 314-298-9944. Ever since the election of that guy with the long ties who yells all the time, reporters from national publications on both coasts have been tripping over themselves to parachute into the so-called “real America” and stick microphones in the faces of farmers and tradesmen to hear them talk about “economic anxiety,” or some shit like that. It’s a largely useless exercise — especially when they could have gotten all the information they could possibly need about the people fueling Trump’s ascen-
TUESDAY 11
DEAD SARA: 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. GREG LASWELL: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. MICAH SCHNABEL: w/ The Wilderness, Fred Friction 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. RIPE: w/ The Brook & The Bluff 7 p.m., $12. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775. RYLEY WALKER: 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SALES: 8 p.m., $15-$17. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. WHITE DENIM: 8 p.m., $15-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.
WEDNESDAY 12
CAPSIZE: w/ Ghost Key, Bardock 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. FOZZY: w/ Adelita’s Way, Stone Broken, The Stir 7 p.m., $20-$22.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. HOUNDMOUTH: 8 p.m., free. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. JOSHUA HEDLEY: 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SHONEN KNIFE: 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. SHOOK TWINS: 8 p.m., $12-$15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.
THIS JUST IN AARON GRIFFIN: Fri., Sept. 28, 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. AFROJACK: Sat., Oct. 6, 9 p.m., $25-$70. Ameristar Casino, 1 Ameristar Blvd., St. Charles, 636-949-7777. AMERICAN DADIATORS: W/ Mürtaugh, Even Then, Giants In The Sky, Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. ANTHONY GOMES: Fri., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. ART RUPRECHT ALBUM RELEASE: Fri., Sept. 7, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. THE ATARIS: W/ the Eradicator, Cuban Missiles, Horror Section, Sat., Oct. 20, 7 p.m., $15-$17. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BAT HOUSE: W/ Tonina, Wed., Sept. 26, 9 p.m., $6. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. BIG FREEDIA: Fri., Dec. 14, 9 p.m., $35. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-535-4660. BIG JON ATKINSON: Sat., Sept. 15, 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Or-
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dancy simply by attending a Kid Rock concert. The American Badass has himself spent time in the Oval Office since Donald Trump was inaugurated, and the majority of his fans are living, breathing MAGA hats hell-bent on owning the libs as a matter of national policy. In other words, if you really want to see the face of America today, don a shirt with an American flag on it, rip the sleeves off and try to blend in, Jane Goodall-style. It’s pretty much a guarantee you’ll learn more than you ever wanted to know. Radio Edit: Unfortunately, Kid Rock will be performing his music at this show, hindering your learning experience. Maybe bring earplugs. —Daniel Hill
STL’s Hottest DJ Dance Party! THURS - FRIDAY - SATURDAY
[WEEKEND]
BEST BETS
Five sure-fire shows to close out the week
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 ‘90s House Party w/ Vanilla Ice, Naughty by Nature, Coolio, Tone Loc, Montell Jordan, Rob Base, All-4-One, Young MC
6 p.m. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 14141 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights. $20 to $149. 314-298-9944.
Forget the nostalgia hook for this show if you can, and imagine for a minute that all these acts are fresh up-and-comers. Sure, 40something is a little long in the tooth for a rapper like Vanilla Ice to be breaking into the game in 2018, but just look at the lineup for what it is: a stacked deck of exemplary artists capable of moving a crowd with golden-era hip-hop. Really, the only thing to complain about here is the name of the event. “House party” is a little contrived — and anyway Kid ‘n Play claimed it long ago. “Backyard BBQ” would better fit the giant sloped lawn of the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.
Duke’s Photos by Big Stu Media
Always Fun and Games on the Patio
Name It Now EP Release Show w/ the Kaiju Killers, An Unfortunate Trend, Lysergik, NeoRomantics 7 p.m. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street. $8 to $10. 314-535-0353.
Name It Now’s new EP Songs from the Shed belongs on the soundtrack for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. And we’re not talking some new iteration — though the band would surely like that royalty check. We mean someone needs to retroactively drop the single “Halfway Happy” into the very first game for Playstation One. Its Continued on pg 50
AT THE CORNER OF MENARD & ALLEN IN THE HEART OF HISTORIC SOULARD FIND OUT ALL THAT’S GOING ON @DUKESINSOULARD
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THIS JUST IN
Continued from pg 49 chard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. BILLY PEEK: Sat., Sept. 22, 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. BLANKY: W/ Beau Diamond and the Collective Dream Band, Display-Only, Sunsulking, Sun., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. COFFEE BREAK COMEDY SHOWCASE: W/ Brendan Olson, Fri., Sept. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. DAN RUBRIGHT GROUP: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $10$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. DUO KLAVITARRE: Sun., Sept. 30, 3 p.m., $32. Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 314-533-0367. THE FADE ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: W/ Tok, the Mindframes, Sat., Oct. 6, 7 p.m., $6-$8. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. THE FLORISTS: W/ The Sigmund Frauds, the Boy, Sun., Sept. 16, 6 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. HALLOWEEN PAJAMIE JAM: Thu., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. HORSE CULTURE: W/ Shitstorm, Sunwyrm, Thu., Sept. 13, 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. JOLLYS: W/ The Jag-Wires, Tit for Tat, Captain Jane, Mon., Sept. 24, 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. KAONASHI: W/ Nolia, Wed., Sept. 26, 8 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. KARIMA WALKER: W/ Honeydew, Kelly Latimore, Tue., Sept. 18, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. KEITH SWEAT: W/ Blackstreet, Fri., Nov. 9, 7 p.m., $48-$128. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton
BEST BETS
Continued from pg 49
indie-chic songwriting builds to a polished punk vibe that would be perfect for grinding a digitally rendered rail. Of special note at this show is NeoRomantics, a melodic freight train of alternative rock by way of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Pü Fest 5 5 p.m. Saturday at Foam, 3359 Jefferson Avenue, 314772-2100, and 4:30 p.m. Sunday at RKDE, 2847 Cherokee Street, 314-669-9240. $20 to $30.
Getting its start as a subversive alternative to LouFest, Pü Fest has since come into its own. Silly name aside, the event was never really about opposing its big brother in Forest Park — Pü’s DIY weirdo vibe attracts a wholly different crowd. For 2018, Pü Fest takes a multivenue approach, splitting its Saturday and Sunday lineups between Foam and RKDE, both on Cherokee Street. With Timeghost from New York and Moodie Black from Los Angeles, the fest brings in acts from all around the U.S., but the core remains St. Louis.
Youth and Canvas w/ Matt F Basler, Jacob Vi 9 p.m. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Avenue. $7. 314-352-5226.
Youth and Canvas’ grimy garage rock
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Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000. LE’PONDS: W/ Seasaw, Mother Stutter, Sun., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. LIGHT BEAMS: W/ Necessities, Rightteen, Sun., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. LOBBY BOXER: W/ Jacob James Wilton, Magu, Big Tobacco, Fri., Sept. 21, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. MALI MUSIC: W/ Corey Allen and Music Unlimited, Theresa Payne, Sat., Oct. 13, 7 p.m., $25-$55. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. MATT “THE RATTLESNAKE” LESCH: Fri., Sept. 14, 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. MICKY AND THE MOTORCARS: Thu., Nov. 15, 8 p.m., $13. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MOUTON: W/ Boreal Hills, Pono AM, Wed., Sept. 19, 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. NICK GUSMAN ALBUM RELEASE PARTY: W/ Allie Vogler, Brother Francis and the Soultones, Fri., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. NIGHT MARKET: Fri., Sept. 21, 6 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. OLD WEBSTER JAZZ + BLUES FEST: Sat., Sept. 15, noon, free. Old Webster, W. Lockwood Ave and Elm St, Webster Groves. PIOUS FAULTS: W/, Tue., Sept. 18, 9 p.m., $5-$7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. PROF: W/ Mac Irv, Dwynell Roland, Willie Wonka, Tue., Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., $17. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. RABBIT EAR MOVEMENT: A TRIBUTE TO R.E.M.: Wed., Sept. 19, 7 p.m., free. Just John’s Club, 4112 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-371-1333. SCOTT YODER: W/ Danny Dodge & the Dodge Gang, Polyshades, Thu., Sept. 20, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
is like an over-caffeinated kid’s idea of a blues band. The Texas duo lives in a middle ground of fuzz pedals and shuffle beats, offering a steady diet of riffs with perpetual swing. While marrying tradition with cracked cymbals and blown-out speakers is nothing new, Youth and Canvas takes the reins with an abundance of grime and grit. Much has been said of late about local opener Matt F Basler, the architect of a legendary tribute to Rob Thomas’ “Smooth” that had St. Louis laughing its ass off last June. His own songs will only be overshadowed by whatever he comes up with next.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 Shinyribs w/ Cordovas 8 p.m. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $15 to $29. 314-498-6989.
That Shinyribs is an export of Austin, Texas, a city that seems overtaken by tech bros and indie-rock do-gooders, is proof that the South still has plenty of good bands to share with the world. Kevin Russell and company render a Rorschach test of American music; concertgoers can find the shapes of country, funk, soul and folk buried within. Nashville’s Cordovas makes a perfect dance partner for Shinyribs, playing sets of Americana that might even include a Grateful Dead song or two. —Joseph Hess
SICK THOUGHTS: W/ Trampoline Team, Mom, Mon., Oct. 1, 9 p.m., $7. RKDE, 2847 Cherokee Street, St. Louis. SINK THE BISMARK: W/ Company Retreat, Breakmouth Annie, Fight Back Mountain, Sat., Sept. 22, 7 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SMALL HOUSES: W/ Shaughn Uebinger, Andy Berkhout, Tue., Sept. 25, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SUBTROPOLIS ALBUM RELEASE: W/ R6 Implant, Buttercup, Sat., Sept. 29, 8:15 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SUMMER MAGIC RELEASE SHOW: W/ David Beeman, Golden Curls, Fri., Sept. 28, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. TECH N9NE: W/ Futuristic, Dizzy Wright, Krizz Kaliko, Sun., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $27.50-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE MOON ZINE’S 3RD B-DAY CELEBRATION: W/ Frankie Valet, Sunsulking, Camp Counselor, Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., free. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. TONKSGIVING 2018: Fri., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. UNEARTH: W/ Fit For An Autopsy, The Agony Scene, Traitors, Fri., Nov. 16, 7 p.m., $18-$20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. ZULA: W/ Feels 2 Reel, Dingus, Sun., Sept. 9, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.
THIS WEEK
‘90S HOUSE PARTY: W/ Vanilla Ice, Naughty By Nature, Coolio, Tone Loc, Montell Jordan, Rob Base, All-4-One, Young MC, Sat., Sept. 8, 6 p.m., $20-$149. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. AMERICAN DADIATORS: W/ Mürtaugh, Even Then, Giants In The Sky, Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. ARIANNA STRING QUARTET: Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., $29. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. ART RUPRECHT ALBUM RELEASE: Fri., Sept. 7, 7 p.m., $10-$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. ASHES & IRON: W/ Not Waving But Drowning, Slow Damage, Rover, End World, Sat., Sept. 8, 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ASHES TO STARDUST - THE MUSIC OF DAVID BOWIE: Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. BADFLOWER: W/ Bleach, Mon., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. BOXCAR: W/ Tim Leavy, Kvar Black Blues, Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., free. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis. BREWTOPIA: Sat., Sept. 8, 9 p.m., free. Sat., Sept. 8, 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300. CAPSIZE: W/ Ghost Key, Bardock, Wed., Sept. 12, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. CLOTHING SWAP: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. COUNTING CROWS: W/ Live, Sun., Sept. 9, 6 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. COVEN: DARK ENTRIES: W/ DJ Dorian Dolore, DJ Skeletal, DJ Digital, Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., free. Red Fish Blue Fish, 7 Hawks Nest Plaza, St Charles, 636-947-4747. DAN RUBRIGHT GROUP: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $10$15. Ozark Theatre, 103 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-7000. THE DARRELLS: Sat., Sept. 8, 7 p.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. DEAD SARA: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. DIESEL ISLAND: Sun., Sept. 9, noon, free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,
314-498-6989. FLATLAND CAVALRY: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. FOZZY: W/ Adelita’s Way, Stone Broken, The Stir, Wed., Sept. 12, 7 p.m., $20-$22.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. GREG LASWELL: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. GUY MORGAN: W/ the Haddonfields, IDC, Scatterguns, Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., free. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. HOUNDMOUTH: Wed., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., free. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT: Mon., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $36.50-$57. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. JOSHUA HEDLEY: Wed., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. KID ROCK: W/ Brantley Gilbert, Wheeler Walker Jr., Fri., Sept. 7, 6 p.m., $39.50-$129.50. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944. LOOGEY & JORDAN BAUMSTARK: Sat., Sept. 8, 9 p.m., $5-$10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. LOUFEST MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018: Sat., Sept. 8, noon; Sun., Sept. 9, noon, $95. Forest Park, 5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis. LOUFEST U: Fri., Sept. 7, 5 p.m., free. Forest Park, 5595 Grand Dr, St. Louis. MICAH SCHNABEL: W/ The Wilderness, Fred Friction, Tue., Sept. 11, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. MONTANA OF 300: Fri., Sept. 7, 7 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. MT. THELONIOUS EP RELEASE: W/ Brotherfather, Tristaño, Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. NAME IT NOW EP RELEASE: W/ the Kaiju Killers, An Unfortunate Trend, Lysergik, Sat., Sept. 8, 7 p.m., $8-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. PUNCH BROTHERS: Sat., Sept. 8, 8 p.m., $37-$79. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. RINGO STARR: Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., $40-$195. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. RIPE: W/ The Brook & The Bluff, Tue., Sept. 11, 7 p.m., $12. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775. RYLEY WALKER: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SALES: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. SHINYRIBS: W/ the Cordovas, Sun., Sept. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$29. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SHONEN KNIFE: Wed., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. SHOOK TWINS: Wed., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. SOLID AS A ROCK: Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. SUPER WHATEVR: W/ Beach Goons, Sat., Sept. 8, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. THE HOMEWRECKERS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW: W/ Sisser, Fri., Sept. 7, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. THE MOON ZINE’S 3RD B-DAY CELEBRATION: W/ Frankie Valet, Sunsulking, Camp Counselor, Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., free. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. VOODOO TOM PETTY: Fri., Sept. 7, 6 p.m., free. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. WHITE DENIM: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. YOUTH AND CANVAS: W/ Matt F Basler, Jacob Vi, Sat., Sept. 8, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. ZULA: W/ Feels 2 Reel, Dingus, Sun., Sept. 9, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. n
DJ DANCE PARTY FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC EVERY WEEKEND
200 N. MAIN, DUPO, IL @GOODTIMES.PATIO.BAR
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SAVAGE LOVE SHOOTING STARS BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a cis woman in my mid-40s, and my significant other has a cuckolding fetish. My first response was “Oh, hell no!” But if I’m willing to have a threesome, how much further of a stretch is it, really? He does have some experience with this varsity-level kink, so he knows what to expect. I’ve asked him some questions, but some things I prefer to research on my own. My questions for you: (1) I don’t get cuckolding. I’ve read all about it, but nothing about it resonates with me. My SO really wants me to be into his fetish if I am going to act on it, but what if I’m just into being GGG? Can’t that be enough? (2) How should I go about finding appropriate candidates who would be into sharing this experience with us? I’m not really sure that I’d want someone with experience as a bull, because I don’t feel good about this playing out the way I’ve seen it in porn. (3) We enjoy cross-dressing and chastity play. How do I find someone who will be cool about my SO sitting in the room in a cock lock and lingerie? (4) I kind of have a “type” (don’t we all), and I’m not certain my type plays into this kink. I prefer someone who is very dominant in public but submissive to me in the bedroom. This doesn’t seem to align with your typical bull behavior. However, I do not enjoy being dominated. Do you think this matters? Can’t Understand Cuckold Kink 1. Cuckolding isn’t that hard to understand: A cuckold gets off on their partner fucking other people and being humiliated or degraded by their partner and/or their partner’s playmates. Seeing as you already enjoy dominating guys and threesomes, CUCK, what’s not to enjoy about a cuckolding scenario? 2. Vanilla PIV intercourse rarely plays out in real life the way it does in porn. So whether you go with an experienced bull or find someone who’s unfamiliar with cuckold play but game, you don’t have to reenact whatever cuck-
old porn you’ve watched or read. Write your own script! 3. By using your words, CUCK. Tell any guy who’s interested in being your very special guest star (VSGS) that your SO is a cuckold and he’ll be there in lingerie with his cock locked up. If that turns a VSGS candidate off, then he’s not the right VSGS for you. 4. In most cuckold porn, the bull — the man who fucks the cuck’s wife or girlfriend (or boyfriend or husband) in front of him — is the dominant partner. But, again, you get to write your own script, and if you want your bull to be submissive, make that clear to your potential bulls. Hey, Dan: I’m a 54-year-old gay guy living in New York City. I’m into bondage, and I have a profile on Recon with plenty of pictures showing what I’m into. A guy visiting from San Francisco cruised me. He asked me to send a face pic, and I did. He invited me to his hotel. He didn’t have any gear with him, so I stopped at a hardware store and picked up $40 worth of rope and duct tape on my way to meet him. But after 30 seconds of small talk, he said he just wasn’t feeling it. I said OK, that happens, and I left. I’m totally confused. I’m a decent-looking guy, and the photo I sent is recent. I was freshly showered, so no hygiene or BO issues. Obviously, you can’t force yourself to be into someone, but could he have handled it better? Should he have followed up with a message apologizing? Should I reach out and ask him what happened, or is that just pathetic? Bondage Offer Not Delivered After Getting Evicted Typically when this happens — photos exchanged, hookup arranged, mind changed — it’s because the photos were out of date or were not representative. Since we aren’t always the best judge of our own photos, BONDAGE, you should ask a friend who won’t bullshit you to look at your photos and give it to you straight. If your no-bullshit friend clears your photos, then reach out to Mr. San Francisco. He had to make a snap decision when you arrived with that bag of rope and duct tape: Did he feel comfortable letting this stranger render him helpless? In a vanilla hookup, he
In most cuckold porn, the bull — the man who fucks the cuck’s wife or girlfriend — is the dominant partner. But you get to write your own script, and if you want your bull to be submissive, make that clear to your potential bulls. could give it a little time and back out after some foreplay — it’s a lot harder to back out when the foreplay involves rope and duct tape. So send him a message via Recon. Open by telling him you aren’t buttsore or angry, and he had every right to change his mind, even at the last minute — which means he has nothing to apologize for, so you aren’t owed an apology and you shouldn’t message him if you’re seeking one. Then ask if you said or did something that made him feel unsafe. If you did, BONDAGE, accept his feedback graciously — don’t argue with him or attempt to litigate what went down. Just listen. It may not have been your intention to freak him out by making, say, a few serial-killer jokes, but his impression is what matters, not your intention. And who knows? A sincere effort to get a little constructive feedback may leave him feeling better about you and up for playing the next time he’s in town. Hey, Dan: My wife has a fantasy where she’s blindfolded and restrained on our bed. She hears the front door open, followed by footsteps coming up the stairs, and then she’s ravished by... who? She won’t know, presumably, until it’s over. My question: In fulfilling this
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fantasy for her, where anonymity and surprise are part of the appeal, what do I tell her in advance? Do I discuss the entire scenario with her, so she knows exactly what’s going to happen, minus the identity of the very special guest star (who would be a semi-regular we’ve played with before, but she wouldn’t necessarily know that at first)? That seems to eliminate the surprise element of the fantasy. Is it enough to tell her, without mentioning the specific scenario, that I’d like to make one of her fantasies come true, and ask her to trust me? Ethical Thinking In Quite Unusual, Elaborate Tied Tight Enactment Presumably? There’s no room for “presumablies” when you’re arranging to fulfill a varsity-level fantasy. I’m guessing she’d rather not know who’s ravishing her before or during the big event, ETIQUETTE, and she may not want to know after. But you need to ask her what she wants — no presumptions — before you start making arrangements. She might want to know everything in advance — including the identity of that stranger — or she might want you to decide everything. But you need to check in with her first: “Honey, I want to help you realize that fantasy — you’re tied to the bed, a stranger arrives, you’re ravished by said stranger — but I need to know how involved you want to be in the planning. Clear everything with you — where, when, who, how — or just make it happen?” You may find that she wants to be surprised by who but not by when, ETIQUETTE, or by when but not by who — or by who but not by when, how, or where. Or she may want the whole thing to be a surprise. But you have to find out exactly what she wants before you make any plans. And here’s a bonus pro tip for you: Don’t reveal the identity of your VSGS immediately afterward. Because if it goes well, and your wife wants a repeat, you may be able to get a few more encounters out of your first VSGS. Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org
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Self-storage contents of the following customers containing household items and other goods will be sold for cash by CubeSmart 725 N. 23rd St., St. Louis, Mo 63103 to satisfy lien on September 19, 2018 at 1:00 P.M. at www.storagetreasures.com Cube # 1067, Michael Rahn
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•The BEST VIBE!
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