Riverfront Times, October 9, 2019 by Riverfront Times

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

RIVERFRONT TIMES AND mo Y’S PRESENT

3rd a ual

mo ys in sOULARD 11:30AM-2:30PM Grilled Oysters • Raw Oysters • Oyster Shooters Open Bar • Additional Food & Music

Celebrate your favorite briny bivalves at Riverfront Times' 3rd Annual Shuck Yeah! This party on the patio will bring together oysters from both coasts for a celebration of all-things-oyster and other bites from your favorite local restaurants at Mollys in Soulard. Plus enjoy craft cocktails and beer and live music from Funky Butt Brass Band.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“Most of the pieces are from transgendered people who still had their old clothes but no longer present [as] feminine or masculine. So I cut them up and wove them into this tapestry, and it’s on this gold platform as kind of an homage.” HANNAH STEWART, PHOTOGRAPHED AT ARTICA WITH HER PIECE “BOUND TOGETHER” ON OCTOBER 6

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publisher Chris Keating Interim Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Managing Editor Liz Miller Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writer Danny Wicentowski Restaurant Critic Cheryl Baehr Film Critic Robert Hunt Columnist Ray Hartmann Contributing Writers Mike Appelstein, Allison Babka, Thomas Crone, Jenn DeRose, Mike Fitzgerald, Sara Graham, MaryAnn Johanson, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Joseph Hess, Kevin Korinek, Bob McMahon, Lauren Milford, Nicholas Phillips, Tef Poe, Christian Schaeffer Proofreader Evie Hemphill Editorial Interns Ella Faust, Caroline Groff, Ronald Wagner

COVER

Gimme Shelter A fired director, allegations of racism and ‘manipulation’ of euthanasia stats. Is St. Louis County ready to give up on its problem animal shelter?

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

Cover photo by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

WELCOME TO BURB-CITY!

Gallery Villas, coined BurbCity-is the FIRST of its kind in St. Louis! At a time when St. Louis is bursting at the seams with innovation and progress, Gallery Villas raises the bar! This unique luxury living concept features private garages and entrances within a mid-rise building. Indulge in luxurious finishes, such as: farmhouse sinks, oversized walk in showers with multiple heads, heated bathroom floors, 12 ft. ceilings with floor to ceiling windows, sliding balcony doors leading to glass balconies and more! Building amenities include a pool, hot tub, fitness center, conference center, game lounges, 24 hour security, and more! Enjoy the convenience of living near highway access, and within walking distance of Washington Avenue, MX movie theater, Busch Stadium/Ballpark Village, Enterprise Center, and tons of fine dining options. The Gallery Villas redefines urban upscale living and adds suburban vibes. Be among the FIRST to call BurbCity your home! Sign your lease before November 1st and receive one months FREE rent. Visit www. stlluxury.com and schedule a tour to see your new home. #WeAreBURBcity

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

INSIDE

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

The Lede Hartmann

News Best of St. Louis update Feature Calendar Film

Take the reins, young’ns, it’s high time

Joker

Stage

Cry-Baby

Cafe

Prime 55

11 12 24

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Short Orders

Culture

Out Every Night

Matt Wynn at Taste | Grace Chicken + Fish | LemonShark Poke | Wild Olive Provisions

KDHX | Le’Ponds | STL at A3C

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HARTMANN Forever Old Planning St. Louis’ future needs to include people who will be around to experience it BY RAY HARTMANN

t. ouis needs to find itself a fountain of youth. The thought creeped into my aged mind when ayor yda Krewson and County Executive Sam age each released their lists of nine citizens who will convene as a Board of reeholders to consider structural changes to the governance of the city and county. They will be joined by a nineteenth member — a resident of neither jurisdiction — to be appointed by the governor. To cut to the chase, this group will be tasked with considering whether the city should reunite

with St. ouis County in some fashion. This would correct a rather significant mistake — known as the reat ivorce of 18 6 — which put in motion 14 years and counting of governmental dysfunction. es, there are other options of consolidation and wonky things the freeholders can ponder. But the essential question is whether the city and county divide can somehow be bridged. To the extent that boils blood on either side of the border wall, residents can be placated with the knowledge that it’s all just advisory: The extent of the freeholders’ power is to propose changes that must be approved, separately, by both city and county voters at the ballot box. Those who travel to Illinois to wager on a merger will find long odds on the prospect. Still, this is about the future. It’s about city and county relationships and governance in the decades ahead. It’s the nerdish, localgovernance equivalent of climate

change. And that caused me to wonder about a question seldom asked in these parts: Where are all the young people when you need them? I took it upon myself to use the arguably creepy tools available online to determine the ages of the eighteen individuals selected by Krewson and age. The exercise was intended neither to second guess nor criticize their choices, but rather to confirm a suspicion I had, which is that we as a community aren’t doing enough to involve young minds in planning our future. Consider it confirmed. The average age of the eighteen people selected to plan the city-county future was 55.6 years old 58.2 years in the county, 5 years in the city . ost significantly, only two of the eighteen freeholders are younger than 40 and none are younger than 0, while two-thirds are 52 years or older. Remember: This is about planning the future.

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or perspective, grizzled Blues captain Alex ietrangelo would have been the youngest freeholder had he been chosen. Even more grizzled Cardinals legend adier olina would have been the second youngest. I suspect neither was available, and to that point, all eighteen of the individuals participating should be commended for their willingness to donate their time — and endure what is certain to be a torrent of pressure and, in some cases, criticism and abuse — for an arguably thankless civic endeavor. ine is an observation, not a criticism, and it’s also tempered by an assumption that neither the mayor nor county executive were overwhelmed with applications from young people. Still, I’m happy to speak from the comfort of my glass house. At 6 , I’m older than all but three of the freeholders who I’m suggesting are collectively a bit too old. As I stated on our T show Donnybrook,

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you can basically stick a fork in me. On the other hand, I founded The Riverfront Times at the age of 24. Harkening back to my days as a young entrepreneur — and there were lots more like me — I think there’s a role for people in their 20s and 0s, and I think today we’re not doing enough as a region to tap into their talents and potential. We need more young people at the table of movers and shakers. Based upon nothing more than a gut feel, I’m thinking that in growing places such as Austin, Orlando, as egas, ashville and the like, a group of people assembled to plan the future would not average nearly 56 years in age. To be clear, there’s an essential role for people with the experience and institutional memory that generally comes with age. A group of freeholders exclusively in their 20s and 0s would lack that experience. But the freeholders themselves aren’t the issue: They’ll do what they’re going to do and hopefully advance at least some proposal for voters to consider. But I think it’s a teachable moment that we instinctively look to older perspectives when it comes to planning our future. It’s a mindset that needs changing. We in St. ouis need to start thinking younger. In particular, we need to embrace and activate the energy, enthusiasm, optimism and idealism of younger people in our midst. es, many young people are doing important things in politics and in entrepreneurship and activism — and when you look at areas like the Cortex and the rove and rand Center, you see all sorts of promise and enthusiasm, but when it comes to big-picture solutions, I get the sense that it’s all about old differences and the way things have always been and will always be. This is, for example, the sixth attempt to do something meaningful through a formal freeholders process, dating back to October 1926, when city voters supported annexation of the county by a whopping -to-1 margin. The much smaller St. ouis County, happily enjoying a lower-cost existence than the city which with more than 0,000 residents was the sixthlargest in America at the time said “no thanks” by a 2-to-1 mar-

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We in St. Louis need to start thinking younger. In particular, we need to embrace and activate the energy, enthusiasm, optimism and idealism of younger people in our midst. gin of their own. Indeed, the only time a freeholders process has been successful was when it resulted in the formation of the etropolitan Sewer istrict in the 1950s. That was a good thing, to be sure, but if memories of that make you mistyeyed, you really are old. But let’s be clear about this much, regardless of age or any other demographic factors: St. ouis city and county really need to be open to change. The structural status quo is not working in either the city nor the county, and even if we’re somehow able to take the baby step of ending the psychological barrier between city and county that literally can be traced back almost a century and a half ago, the freeholder process would be a significant landmark. Then again, loving landmarks is a thing mostly for old guys like me, so maybe we can cast this in a different, younger light. on’t think of it as a merger, or re-entry or even a reunification. Think of the need for a new, younger outlook for St. ouis. es, that’s it: a new St. ouis. And if you really must have advice for an old codger, consider this one that’s stuck with me since college: I still don’t trust anyone over 0. Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

NEWS Francis Howell School District Sues Juul

Boy Killed When Driver Hits Stroller Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

t. Charles school district Francis Howell is suing embattled vaping company Juul Labs, joining other school districts in Missouri and the United States in the ongoing legal fight over the company’s alleged responsibility for teen nicotine addiction. In an interview, Clayton-based attorney Cindy Ormsby tells Riverfront Times that the Francis Howell lawsuit is part of a coordinated package of litigation filed by school districts across the country, each dealing with a similar crisis of students addicted to nicotine. rancis Howell’s suit was filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri. “School districts are having to help kids not be addicted, and they don’t have the resources to to deal with these issues,” Ormsby says. Ormsby says the district’s complaint takes a similar position as that of states suing opioid manufacturers, making the case that companies which profited are responsible for the vast health costs associated with addiction. Francis Howell, Ormsby adds, is just “trying to get some relief for the cost they’re having to devote to this issue, which is taking money out of the classroom.” In an 81-page complaint, the district alleges that Juul intentionally marketed its products to children, created a public nuisance by getting kids addicted to nicotine and also endangered its underage customers’ health. According to the lawsuit, the district’s statistics for student “tobacco-related infractions” — what Ormsby tells RFT are disciplinary cases related to e-cigarettes — skyrocketed at the same time Juul products hit the market. In the

Juul at school? Not cool, says school. | VIA FLICKR/VAPING 360 two school years running from 2015 to 2017, the district recorded 113 tobacco infractions. In 2018 alone, that number hit 270. The 2019 school year may top that, as the number now stands at 248 — including several cases where elementary school students were busted with vapes. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and legal fees. Rampant Juul use among students has resulted in huge costs to Francis Howell, Ormsby says. Compared to only a few cases of disciplinary issues related to nicotine in the past, the school recorded more than 200 such cases in the 2018-2019 school year. Complicating matters, Ormsby notes that vaping is virtually “undetectable,” meaning that students are vaping in the classroom, in bathrooms and hallways. She argues that simply throwing kids in detention isn’t going to address the root problem, which is the chemical dependency puffed through the easy-to-procure vapes. After all, you’re not going to cure addiction with after-school assignments. “ ou can’t blame the kids all that much,” Ormsby says, “because they’re addicted to nicotine, because of Juul’s advertising to youth.” Indeed, Juul has recently come under fire for the way its product

keeps winding up in the hands of kids, as well as a recent spate of a mysterious and sometimes fatal lung illness observed in people using black-market vape products. Last month, Juul announced that it would halt all advertising in the U.S., replace its CEO and discontinue its sale of non-tobacco and non-menthol-flavored Juul “pods,” as critics argued that the candy and fruit flavors were enticing teens and children. The Francis Howell School District, which enrolls more than 17,000 students, is just one of multiple planned lawsuits filed as a part of a “mass tort” against Juul, Ormsby says. The litigation, which is not class action, is being led by Kansas City-based firm Wagstaff & Cartmell. Last month, two Kansas City school districts — Goddard and Olathe — announced they were working with Wagstaff & Cartmell to prepare lawsuits against the vape manufacturer. Responding to the announcement of the Kansas City-area lawsuits, Juul defended its product in a statement to Education Week, “Our product has always only been intended to be a viable alternative for the one billion current adult smokers in the world. We have never marketed to youth, and do not want any non-nicotine users to try our products.”

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hit-and-run driver slammed into a stroller on Friday night, killing a four-year-old and injuring the boy’s twoyear-old sibling, St. Louis County police say. O cers were called at 9:24 p.m. to the intersection of Chambers Road and Clairmont Drive in Ferguson Township. The four-year-old, Tavares Chisholm, and the younger child were both rushed to the hospital. Bones in the two-year-old’s legs were fractured, but he is expected to recover. Tavares, however, died shortly

Demetrius Cole is charged with second-degree murder. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE after arriving at the hospital. Police did not report any physical injuries to kids’ the mother, who was pushing the stroller in a crosswalk when the Nissan barreled through. Police later arrested 27-yearold Demetrius Cole of Florissant. St. Louis County prosecutors on Saturday issued charges of one count of second-degree murder, one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury. Investigators say Cole was

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speeding with his headlights off when he crashed into the kids. ideo showed the issan didn’t stop or even brake after the collision, according to a probable cause statement. But Cole claimed he was not behind the wheel. He told police that the car had been stolen before the crash, and he got it back after. Skeptical detectives noted in the probable cause statement that Cole had never reported the supposed auto theft and couldn’t tell them where the car had been stolen or who might have taken it. Police say there is video that shows the issan at 9:44 p.m. on Friday in the same location where

they seized it. Additionally, the footage shows Cole at 9:51 p.m. walking to a gas station near the scene of the crash and buying gas for another vehicle. The video clashes with what Cole told investigators, authorities say. Cole’s driver’s license had been revoked, and he has a long history of vehicular crimes, including driving while intoxicated and driving without a valid license. He has a pending WI case in county court following an arrest in February, court records show. Cole had also been previously convicted of a federal felony for illegally possessing a gun and was sentenced in 2016 to serve two years in prison. In the hit-and-run case, he was held in lieu of $250,000 cash-only bond.

Investigators recovered this .40-caliber handgun from the scene, police say. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE

Maryland Heights Police Kill Man During Confrontation Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

aryland Heights police killed a man on Sunday morning following a call at his former home. Three officers fired on 42-year-old Bradley Arning after he pulled a gun on them, according to St. Louis County police, the agency now conducting the investigation. The Maryland Heights cops had responded at 10:34 a.m. to a report of a disturbance in the 2800 block of Briarcote Lane. After arriving, they were con-

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fronted by Arning, county police say. Arning’s current address was in the 4400 block of El Paulo Court on the northern edge of Oakville in south county, according to police. However, court records in an April misdemeanor case in which Arning admitted violating a Missouri conservation law showed him living at the same home on Briarcote Lane where he was shot. None of the names of the officers who shot Arning were released, but county police described them as a 62-year-old sergeant with 40 years experience in law enforcement, a 63-year-old officer with 43 years experience and a 29-year-old officer with five years experience. Arning was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. On Monday, police released a photo of a Hi-Pointe .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun that investigators recovered from the scene of the shooting, police say. The shooting is still under investigation.

IN OUR RUSH to get out our selections for the very best of St. Louis, some of the Readers Choice awards were left off the page. Here are the missing ten, presented with full honors:

FFF

People & Places FFF

BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE

Forest Park

5595 Grand Drive, forestparkforever.org Runner up: City Museum

750 North 16th Street, 314-231-2489

BEST PLACE FOR A LAST DATE

City Diner

3139 South Grand Boulevard, 314-772-6100

Runner up: John D. McGurk’s Irish Pub

and Garden

1200 Russell Boulevard, 314-776-8309

BEST OLD BUILDING

The Fabulous Fox 527 North Grand Boulevard, 314-534-1111

Runner up: Cathedral Basilica of

BEST PLACE FOR A KID’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

City Museum

750 North 16th Street, 314-231-2489

Runner up: The Gentle Barn

Missouri

9171 State Road Y, Dittmer; 636-285-7686

BEST PLACE FOR A GROWN-UP BIRTHDAY PARTY

Saint Louis

4431 Lindell Boulevard, 314-373-8200

BEST RENOVATED BUILDING

City Museum

FFF

Sports & Recreation FFF

750 North 16th Street, 314-231-2489 Runner up: The Last Hotel

BEST BOWLING ALLEY

1501 Washington Avenue, 866-752-7700

Tropicana Lanes

BEST PLACE TO MEET MEN

7960 Clayton Road, Richmond Heights; 314-781-0282

Just John Club

Runner up: Saratoga Lanes

The Gentle Barn Missouri

Runner up: Fast Eddie’s Bon Air

9171 State Road Y, Dittmer; 636-285-7686

1530 East Fourth Street, Alton, Illinois; 618-462-5532

Blueberry Hill

Brewery and Bierhall

BEST PLACE TO MEET WOMEN

6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-727-4444

Runner up: Urban Chestnut Grove

4465 Manchester Avenue, 314-222-0143

4112 Manchester Avenue, 314-371-1333

Fast Eddie’s Bon Air

1530 East Fourth Street, Alton, Illinois; 618-462-5532 Runner up: The Whiskey Ring

2725 Sutton Boulevard A, Maplewood; 314-645-5308

BEST DARTS

Runner up: Civil Life Brewing Co.

3714 Holt Avenue, thecivillife.com

2651 Cherokee Street, 314-669-5817

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GIMME

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SHELTER A fired director, allegations of racism and ‘manipulation’ of euthanasia stats. Is St. Louis County ready to give up on its problem animal shelter? BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ould anyone like to adopt the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center? It is about eight years old, filled with adorable animals, and its current owner, the county’s Department of Public Health, is looking more and more like it doesn’t want the hassle that comes with directing one of the largest open-admission animal shelters in the region. Outside the low-slung building in Olivette, dog walkers crisscross the sidewalk on their way out of the shelter parking lot. The dogs strain on their leashes, noses to the ground, their legs set at eager angles as they use this brief time outside their kennels to investigate odd rags and interesting leaves. In a typical month, the shelter takes in more than 300 animals. Staff members say the shelter often reaches double its effective capacity, but, until recently, o cials and shelter board members defended the facility’s operation by pointing to the only statistic that seemed to matter: the euthanasia rate. In 2011, when the shelter opened, pounds were being phased out in favor of an animal control model that emphasized adoptions rather than the quick and fatal disposal of strays. At first, the shelter euthanized about half the animals in its care every year. But that rate was down to 22 percent by 2017. At the beginning

of 2018, the rate hit single digits, a venerated benchmark in the animal welfare world that is often associated with “no kill” shelters. It was a notable achievement — and it had political ramifications. Then-County Executive Steve Stenger had made the county’s euthanasia rate a key issue in his 2014 election campaign. After he won, he moved the Animal Care & Control division under his o ce, adopting the shelter — and the credit for its plunging euthanasia rates — as his own. And indeed, the euthanasia rate kept falling. Or, at least that is how it appeared. The last two years have seen the shelter staggered by scandal. First, its once-heralded director was fired after she was accused of bullying staff and making racist comments. Her termination was followed by the release of an audit that exposed the misleading nature of the shelter’s past euthanasia reporting. Today, the shelter’s celebrated, euthanasia-lowering successes have been revealed as a statistical sham. Stenger is in federal prison for separate crimes. The future of the department of Animal Care and Control is uncertain. The shelter is at a crossroads. All paths seem to pass through crisis. Even in the shadow of scandals, multiple shelter employees who spoke to the Riverfront Times in-

After years of instability, St. Louis County’s animal shelter is at a crossroads. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

sist that hiring a competent director and stabilizing a staff that is fearful of losing jobs would make all the difference. Instead, the Department of Public Health is toying with the idea of ditching the whole mess through privatization of the shelter. If that happens, it will not be without a fight over who is responsible for the dysfunction. In interviews with the Riverfront Times, employees, volunteers, and county o cials offer clashing viewpoints of who deserves the most fault, with staff blaming county o cials, volunteers blaming staff and county o cials blaming both everyone and no one. or all the finger-pointing, the question is: Where does the shelter go from here? “We’re the redheaded stepchild of the county,” one shelter staff member tells RFT, summarizing the predicament. “ o one wants us.”

hree tiny letters — “ORE” — were the key to a statistical smokescreen that concealed the true numbers of animals killed at the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center. The letters appeared innocuously above one of the many boxes on the shelter’s intake forms. Most people seemed to barely notice as they said their emotional goodbyes in 2018 to their suffering pets. “I think 5 percent of the people who came in were not thinking straight,” recalls one former shel-

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ter employee, who spoke to the Riverfront Times on condition of anonymity to describe his time as an intake worker. “These were people upset about having to give up the dogs. They would sign whatever you asked them to sign.” But that one box, floating off on the right side of the page, was crucial. The staffer says a supervisor pointed the ORE box out to him during the training, specifically directing him, to “get them to initial this” during the intake process. “I was being told about 0 different things that day,” he says, “so I didn’t question it.” He did get people, lots of people, to sign it. Like other employees, though, the ORE proved impossible to ignore forever. It stood out even among the other issues, like the horrible rumors heard about the last director, Beth escoock, who had been fired shortly before his hiring. The shelter had “chronic understa ng,” he says, an obstacle made worse by a group of shelter volunteers who, in his view, “only wanted to complain.” “ eople were there because they loved animals, which was great,” he recalls, and it was that force that united the shelter’s factions, bonding them to an overriding goal: “To euthanize as few animals as possible.” As he’d later come to understand, though, that goal had twisted the shelter’s intake procedures

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in strange ways. When he finally asked his supervisor about the ORE box, and why he was being pressured to get it signed in every intake, he wasn’t prepared for the answer. He was informed that ORE meant “owner requested euthanasia.” “I wasn’t thrilled about it,” he says now. “Because they weren’t all requesting it. I went to my supervisor, and she told me, ‘Oh it’s just a policy, you don’t have to do it.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’” There are conflicting accounts of how and when the shelter’s ORE policy originated. At times, it seems it was applied inconsistently. A second shelter staff member, who worked in various departments since 2018, recounts that she knew of intake representatives who simply ignored the ORE requirement or allowed people to decline initialing the box. “If someone really had a problem with signing the ORE, we were like, ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to sign it,’” she says. “Because we can’t force them to sign it.” They would be ordered, though, to try. After the firing of the shelter’s director in March 2018, multiple employees tell RFT that the shelter’s leadership, helmed in the interim by a Stenger policy advisor, continued to aggressively push the ORE policy. When intake representatives complained about the ORE to their supervisors, they were given a new directive. “Our supervisors were saying, ‘We have to do it. You do it or you lose your job.’” It wasn’t until July 2019 that an independent audit exposed the ORE policy for what it really was: a strange kind of fraud, one that obscured — and, in a way, laundered — the shelter euthanasia rate that was reported monthly to the county executive and shelter advisory board. The ploy hinged on abusing the “ORE” intake category, one intended for animals whose age or medical conditions left only one option. Typically, ORE cases are rare: The audit, conducted by Californiabased Citygate Associates, surveyed 28 other government-run animal shelters across the country, and found that ORE cases made up just 2.8 percent of total outcomes. St. Louis County’s animal shelter had five times that rate, with 14 percent of all animals passing through the front doors being marked for “owner requested euthanasia.” It was more than the shelter data

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The shelter’s annual intake has fallen sharply in recent years, from 6,300 in 2016 to 4,400 in 2018. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI that convinced auditors something was amiss. One dog, a husky mix designated for ORE at intake, “was surrendered by his owner on 1/16/19 due to a noise ordinance violation,” and then euthanized after 27 days in the shelter, auditors found. Another ORE dog, a pit bull returned for being “disobedient,” stayed in the shelter 55 days before being euthanized for “behavioral reasons.” In at least one case, the audit noted that a woman turning in a dog specifically asked that her dog would not be euthanized. “She checked and initialed the ORE box as directed by staff, but Citygate did not hear her being told what the ORE initials actually meant.” It was this category of animals — dogs and cats whom the shelter seemingly tried to adopt out, and then, failing that, moved to euthanize — which did not belong as ORE. That was critical: The shelter reported only its “shelter decision” euthanasias to its higherups. ORE cases, though, are not considered “shelter decision,” and so became the shelter’s statistical dumping ground. The ORE scheme was brilliantly effective. The audit found that while the shelter reported 602 “shelter decision” euthanasias to its advisory board in 2018, its ORE euthanasias had climbed to 645 cases — in other words, the majority of the shelter’s euthanasias that year. Some staff members complained, others put their head down, fearful of making waves. “That was why the policy was put in place, so it didn’t look like you’d done euthanasias,” the former intake staffer says. “Their desire to keep animals from being

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Spring Schmidt, acting director of the Department of Public Health, argues that privatizing the shelter isn’t a “dodge,” but a solution to dysfunction. | DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

euthanized, which is a good desire, was taken to very odd extremes.” n September 19, eight members of the St. Louis County Animal Advisory Board take their seats for its monthly meeting, the same one that has been convened every month since 2015. Empowered only to advise the county executive, the present members have no direct control over the shelter, and so they play the dual roles of watchdog and supporter. At this meeting, the board faces the truth of the shelter’s euthanasia policy. The place of the shelter within the structure of county govern-

ment has shifted. In late 2018, Stenger returned the department of Animal Care & Control to its former home, the Department of Public Health. The change brought a new acting director, Spring Schmidt, who had just been promoted, in yet another acting role, as director of the entire St. Louis County Department of Public Health. And it is Schmidt who has the task of answering for the shelter’s dysfunction. She begins by delivering updates about the shelter audit released in July. The final report, which came to 184 pages of scathing analysis, shook the shelter. The shelter, according to the au-

Beth Vesco-Mock, pictured at her previous shelter director job in New Mexico, came to St. Louis in 2017 with high hopes. She was fired after seven months. | JOSH BACHMAN/LAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS dit, “is so crowded at times that no empty cages can be found in the regular intake/stray rooms,” requiring “healthy new animals” to be housed along with the sick. Errors during the intake process, led to “incorrect hold periods, ages, breeds and sex.” The audit found that the basic movement of animals through the shelter “is currently a confusing, haphazard process,” observing that “not only was there no sense of urgency observed to move animals out of the shelter expeditiously but numerous bottlenecks, problems, and issues existed that made animals stay in the shelter much longer than necessary.” The auditors corroborated many of the worst rumors and offered more than 150 recommendations for the shelter to implement. So far, according to a packet handed out at the meeting, the shelter has completed around 50, including ending the ORE policy, eliminating the use of bleach and hiring a contractor to split an outdoor play area into two yards. Schmidt’s remarks on the audit are blunt. Supervisors have to be retrained, she says, “on what it means to be a supervisor.” She blames the recent “disinvestment in the chain of command,” and the fact that the shelter is on its third director in three years. A career government manager, Schmidt spent most of the last ten years in the county’s Department of Public Health as a health education supervisor. As acting director of public health, she’s in charge of more than 70 divisions and a budget in the tens of millions. Her duties also include running the embattled, audit-targeted animal shelter.

Some things changed quickly, like the ORE policy, which Schmidt refers to as “statistical manipulation.” After she was alerted to the issue, she says her o ce put a stop to requesting euthanasia as a default part of the intake process. ollowing the audit’s recommendation, the shelter updated the intake paperwork to remove the much-abused ORE box. But that also meant, of course, that the shelter would update how it counted its euthanasia statistics, meaning that, for perhaps the first time in years, the advisory board would see an unmanipulated number next to the spreadsheet field for “Euthanasia Rate — Shelter ecision.” Indeed, the August 2019 euthanasia number is high. Very high. It is unlike anything the advisory board has seen in two years, with the “shelter decision” euthanasia rate coming in at just over twenty percent. That was double the previous month’s tally. It is the highest euthanasia rate reported since 2017. “This is the first time that we really see a change in the calculation as far as our euthanasia rate going up,” Schmidt informs the room. “That is the shelter decision, not a manipulation of ORE. The number is higher, and I did expect it to be higher.” Schmidt repeats that the shelter remains committed to lowering its euthanasia numbers while, again, avoiding “statistical manipulation.” “We can continue to drive it down, and not through statistics,” she says. “We can drive it down through the actions that we take for the animals that are here.” But if the board members are Continued on pg 17

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The shelter has endured unstable leadership, having been led by eight different directors and program directors in the past four years. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

GIMME SHELTER Continued from pg 15

reassured by Schmidt’s confidence, it dissipates in a wave of frustration. The audit’s mountain of recommendations cover every corner of shelter operation, from record-keeping practices to sanitation to infrastructure. Again and again, Schmidt responds to questions with variations of that most frustrating answer: “It’s going to take time.” “ ou don’t get audit recommendations like this without systemic breakdowns in culture and process and procedure,” she says, and then, as if that wasn’t clear, adds, “And everything else, too. It’s really all of it. You don’t get results like this unless it’s breaking down at all of those levels.”

bout 40 minutes into the meeting, Pamela Hill, a professional cat behavioralist who now chairs the board, has heard enough about the virtues of patience. She has spent more than four years waiting for the shelter to right itself. Hill wants to know what they can do “today” to ensure that fewer animals are euthanized. “Where is the urgency?” Hill asks Schmidt from across the table. “Is today the day? Is tomorrow

the day? Is it next Wednesday?” ot for the first time, the issue of the staff failures takes center stage. If she were a shelter employee, Hill says, she would be coming into work five minutes earlier each day, “trying to make it less likely that some animal will be euthanized for behavior, aggression or whatever it is.” Board member Allison Burgess, who also sits on the board of Carol House Pet Clinic, charges that some employees lack the “compassion” needed to make the shelter a real “no-kill” force for animals. “We talk about culture,” Burgess says. “I worry that it’s not going to happen until we have a leader in place. We need someone that is going to extol the virtues of putting compassion first, to put the animals first. That is just totally missing.” Roughly two years ago, in that same meeting room, the advisory board thought it had met just such a leader. She was experienced, had glowing references and was willing to move her family to Missouri from ew exico to take the job. Her name was Beth escoock.

hen it comes to the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Shelter Center, no person is more demonized and defended than Beth Vesco-Mock. Hired by Stenger in September

After a scandal over euthanasia statistics, the shelter has halted its controversial “ORE” policy. DANNY WICENTOWSKI 2017, Vesco-Mock had spent the previous decade as the director of the Animal Service Center of the esilla alley in ew exico, where she had turned heads with her impressive results lowering euthanasia rates. As she told one local newspaper there, she had transformed a shelter from a “slaughterhouse” to one with “a culture of life.”

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From certain angles, Vesco-Mock was the perfect candidate for St. Louis County. She also seemed to tick the important boxes for Stenger, who sought to fulfill his 2014 campaign promise to lower euthanasia and thereby wring more political capital from his supporters in the animal welfare community. or members of the shelter’s advisory

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As an open-admission facility, the county shelter turns no animal away. But it struggles with overpopulation. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

GIMME SHELTER Continued from pg 17

board, who yearned for a director with genuine animal shelter experience, escoock was exactly the sort of “animals first” leader they’d been waiting for. At first, she seemed just as advertised: Almost immediately, the euthanasia rate plummeted, making Vesco-Mock allies on the advisory board. But the new director made a disastrous impression on the staff, and the accounts of one particular racist incident would follow her for months, ultimately sealing her termination. Starting in early 2018, shelter volunteers and staff began contacting RFT to complain about Vesco-Mock. Amid allegations of mismanagement and overcrowding, multiple sources referenced details of an incident in which escoMock, they said, had told a group of black employees to get back to work and to stop “gangbanging.” One employee, who requested anonymity to protect his current position in the shelter, claims he witnessed the incident, which he says occurred during a kennel staff meeting “not long” after esco-Mock’s hiring. “I was part of that group,” the staffer tells RFT. “We was all in the hallway, and she said, ‘Stop gangbanging in the hallway.’ She just said it. It was the wrong thing to say.”

Afterward, the employee says, black staffers in the group discussed the incident, and “took offense.” “We all had this confused look. We weren’t angry, but confused. We’re colored people, and what she said, we just don’t do that. That’s how I took it. After that, people started quitting left and right.” In a matter of weeks, the “gangbanging” comment had hit the shelter’s grapevine, and volunteers began emailing reporters and showing up at county council meetings to complain about the new director. Harmony Collender, an animal caregiver at the shelter who was hired in early 2018, says her first impression of the workplace was that “no one liked” escoock. Collender claims she witnessed the director going out of her way to “act disrespectful” to a supervisor, “just putting him down, in front of me, when he hadn’t done something as quickly as she wanted him to.” Eventually, employees filed complaints against Vesco-Mock, leading to meetings with representatives of the county HR department. Similar complaints became weekly features at the county council meetings, where a core of activists and volunteers not only pleaded on behalf of the animals, but begged the county to save the staff from Vesco-Mock’s racism and shelter mismanagement. But Vesco-Mock had the support

of Stenger, who seemed entirely pleased with his director’s impact on the shelter. In January 2018, the shelter reported a dazzling live-release rate of 9 percent, a newsworthy announcement that brought a KT I Channel 2 reporter and camera crew to document the shelter’s animal-saving successes. The story featured Stenger praising the adoption numbers, with escoMock taking credit for changing the shelter’s “culture.” “We made a culture change here,” she explained, “from a culture of keeping them comfortable until they were euthanized, to keeping them comfortable until they find a home.”

here was another side to Beth Vesco-Mock, a history she likely hoped to have left behind when she arrived in St. Louis. But news travels, and one week after Stenger and Vesco-Mock made their televised victory lap around the shelter’s live-release rate, RFT became the first local outlet to publish details on VescoMock’s scandal-scarred career as shelter director in Mesilla Valley, about 50 miles from the border in southern ew exico. In July 201 , after nine years running the Mesilla Valley shelter, Vesco-Mock surprised local o cials by tendering her resignation. According to local news reports, the decision followed

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months of conflict, which had spilled into emotionally charged hearings before the city council. Earlier that year, a former employee had leaked photos of the Mesilla Valley shelter to local media, showing filthy conditions and sick dogs. Two weeks later, escoock was caught in a different scandal, admitting that she had allowed a drug company to administer experimental diarrhea medication to some of the shelter’s dogs. She insisted it was standard practice and that no animals were harmed. And as in St. Louis, Vesco-Mock was accused of racism. According to the minutes of an April 2017 hearing held by the Las Cruces City Council, a former shelter employee charged that Vesco-Mock was a “racist, bigoted pig” who had driven away sixteen employees. The summer of 201 would be escoock’s last in ew exico. One month after tendering her resignation at the Mesilla Valley shelter, she packed up her family and moved to Missouri. For both for Vesco-Mock and St. ouis County’s shelter, it was an opportunity to do something different. That opportunity ended in dramatic fashion when Steve Stenger fired her.

n February 27, 2018, Beth Vesco-Mock, accompanied by her private attorney, faced a hearing over her leadership of the shelter. or weeks, county council members had listened to volunteers and staff members describe a shelter struggling with overcrowding, disease and human dissatisfaction. ow they wanted to hear directly from her. escoock was not without supporters. At the hearing, two advisory board members spoke on her behalf, including Ellen awrence, who had previously emailed RFT to defend Vescoock’s success in lowering euthanasia rates, an accomplishment that, awrence wrote, “should be cause enough for celebration.” At the hearing, though, VescoMock’s defense faltered under the grilling from the council. Though she had earned a degree in veterinary science from Ohio State niversity, at one point she was forced to correct her introduction as “veterinarian,” acknowledging that she had actually never been licensed as a veterinarian in either ew exico or issouri. That may have been the least of her issues. According to coverage of the meeting reported by Call Newspapers and the St. Louis Post-

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Dispatch, Councilwoman Hazel Erby put the question of racism directly to escoock, saying, “We have had complaints that you have made some racist statements, and that concerns me.” This was the first time escoock had ever been asked to publicly address the alleged “gangbanging” comment, as well as a related accusation that she had been known to express a preference for “crackers” over black people. In response, escoock’s lawyer reportedly whispered something in her ear, and she declined to answer. Instead, she responded to Erby, who is black, saying only that, “I can guarantee you, ma’am, that diversity has never been an issue in my life.” Three weeks later, citing “inappropriate conduct” and “a number of matters relating to the current management of the shelter,” Stenger announced he had fired Vesco-Mock. Stenger didn’t release specific reasons for the termination, but he still said enough for staff to recognize the echoes of their complaints to the county’s HR department. In a later interview with St. ouis ublic Radio, Stenger commented of Vesco-Mock’s behavior, saying, “Racist or discriminatory behavior is not going to be tolerated by this administration.” But escoock wasn’t rattled, and she didn’t back down from Stenger. In fact, this wasn’t the first time she had come under serious fire: In 2015, prosecutors in o a Ana County, ew exico, had charged her with multiple misdemeanors for refusing to hand over a dog’s microchip to an animal control o cer. In the end, the charges were dropped mid-trial, and Vesco-Mock turned around and sued the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s O ce for “malicious abuse of process and defamation of character.” The sheriff’s o ce settled the case, agreeing to pay escoock 90,000. In St. Louis, things once again shook out in Vesco-Mock’s favor. Two months after her termination, her lawyer filed an employment complaint against Stenger, alleging escoock was the victim of gender discrimination. In January 2019, the county announced that it would pay 150,000 to settle the complaint with its fired shelter director. either the county nor Vesco-Mock admitted wrongdoing and both agreed not to disparage the other. She agreed never to work for St.

Louis County again. Reached by phone in September, escoock’s attorney, Edwin C. Ernst, said both he and his client were bound by a confidentiality agreement and could not discuss the shelter. ast year, however, in an interview with St. ouis ublic Radio, Ernst did admit that his client had told a group of shelter employees, “ uys, we can’t have any gangbanging in the hall here” but he insisted that she had not intended it as a racist statement. To RFT, Ernst noted that Vescoock has lost much since her firing. “This was her life, she loved working with animals, she got caught up in the whole thing, and unfortunately today she’s not able to do that anymore. This was very sad for her, very traumatic for her.” Vesco-Mock still lives in the St. Louis area, Ernst says. She has taken a new job as a corrections o cer.

esco-Mock may have been traumatized by her firing, but for the shelter employee who had been among the group she called out in the hallway for “gangbanging,” the firing was a relief. The shelter, he says, couldn’t take any more of Vesco-Mock. “We didn’t put animals down. We held animals for months, almost a year. It was getting too full, and that’s when diseases start breaking out,” he recalls. “When she left, we were happy. We started to change things back to the way things were. It’s taken us a while to get back.” And yet, it also appeared that Vesco-Mock’s policies didn’t end with her firing. After the dust had settled, Stenger appointed as interim director one of his own policy advisers, Katerina tz, who had no experience running a shelter. Although escoock was gone, employees who protested the ORE policy say their supervisors were still unable to get tz to shut it down. The ORE policy persisted throughout the rest of 2018 and into 2019, halting only after auditors witnessed people initialing “ORE” on animal intake forms, even though they had no idea what it meant and didn’t ask for their animals to be put down. ot everyone cast escoock as the villain of St. Louis County’s shelter. Ellen awrence, the advisory board member who defended escoock before her firing, blames Stenger for the pressure to deliver impressive euthanasia statistics, no matter the cost. “I felt she really was treated really unfairly,” awrence says in an interview. She claims that esco-

With a full-time staff of more than 400 registered volunteers, the St. Louis County Animal Shelter is one of the largest shelters in the region. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI ock had in fact opposed the ORE policy and wanted it stopped but had never been allowed to make organization-wide changes. awrence, who serves as an elected councilwoman in Creve Coeur, acknowledges that escoock had also brought “a lot of baggage” to the shelter. “She wasn’t a perfect director, which is an incredibly di cult position,” she says. “She wasn’t given the support she needed.” Even Pamela Hill, the advisory board member who lambasted the shelter’s director for the staff’s lack of “urgency,” says in an interview that escoock is miscast as a shelter wrecker. To Hill, the shelter’s problems existed long before she arrived from ew Mexico as director. Hill notes that, beyond Vescoock’s firing, the details of the damning audit changed little about the way the shelter holds itself accountable, in the sense that it still does not. o one else at the shelter has been fired or disciplined. “ ut the blame where it belongs,” Hill says. “The only name people say is, ‘Beth did this, Beth did that.’ She was in place all of seven months, and we’re talking about four-and-a half years of downfall of the shelter. ow, we’re being told that these things happened to us because of ‘dysfunction,’ so no one gets held responsible.” About a year after firing escoock, Stenger was also gone. ederal prosecutors who had been tracing political donations to the county executive charged him with three federal felonies, and he quickly pleaded guilty. He’s now serving a 46-month sentence in a federal penitentiary in South Dakota. When the indictment against Stenger was unsealed in April, es-

co- ock shared a local news story of the case in a public post to her Facebook page. She added only one word of heavily punctuated commentary: “BITTERSWEET ”

uring a recent visit to the St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center, the volunteers are out walking the dogs, the routes taking them past the large metallic paw prints that decorate the brick wall leading to the entrance. Inside, the kennels are filled with noisy dogs, most of them pit bulls with names like “ olph” and “ arco.” A staff member, acting as tour guide, notes that the shelter’s adoptable animals — 62 dogs and 40 cats as of October — represent only a fraction of the shelter’s current population. She sees goats, pigs, even exotic animals brought in by animal control officers. That’s the “control” part of the county’s department of Animal Care & Control. As an openadmission municipal shelter, the shelter has to take everything that comes through the front door. The challenge of meeting both goals, care and control, has stretched the county’s patience, and one solution to the problem, privatizing part of the operations, has split the shelter’s supporters. But from the perspective of the county, there is a good case to be made for giving up on the government running a shelter. Spring Schmidt says the time has come for the county to recognize that it’s not doing the shelter any good to keep a broken system in place. In an interview at the Department of Public Health’s administrative headquarters in Berkley, she says it is true that the Continued on pg 23

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advisory board, volunteers and staff all show genuine passion for animals. But they have yet to prove that the shelter can become more than a revolving door for upper management. “We’re caught between the functions the community expects of us [and] the need for credibility from the community to believe that we have the capacity to do it.” It’s a bind that’s led Schmidt and other county o cials to consider privatizing the “care” part of the county’s Animal Care & Control. The model would be similar to that of St. Louis City, which in 2019 signed a 694,000 contract with a nonprofit to take over adoption services, though the city kept its own force of animal control o cers. It is likely that a contract to take over the county’s adoption services would be even larger. In 2018, the county shelter took in more than 4,000 animals, four times the amount of intake reported by the city. The county’s 2019 budget reserved $1.7 million for Animal Care & Control, with most of the funds going to shelter staff and services. Around 50,000 is reserved to pay the salaries of ten animal control o cers. It was the audit that first suggested a new direction for the shelter. A section buried on the audit’s second-to-last page featured a list of “other models” for operating municipal shelters, a list that included “All ield Operations rovided by ocal overnment; All Shelter Operations Provided by on- rofit.” uring the September 19 advisory board meeting, Schmidt announced that the county had begun drafting plans to identify bidders through a formal request for proposal, or R . After that, Schmidt estimated, “a good scenario is six months to contract completion,” adding that “a nightmare is everything past that.” During the meeting, Schmidt told the board that she expected the Department of Public Health to present its R proposal during the county council’s September 24 meeting. However, the status of the department’s privatization push is suddenly murky. The meeting came and went without action on the shelter. So did the next meeting. In an October 2 email, Department of Public Health spokeswoman Sara ayley told RFT, “ o R has been released currently and DPH does not yet have a time-

line for such.” or the shelter staff, however, the impact has already hit home. Some have already taken new jobs in other county departments. If a nonprofit does take over, employees may soon find themselves, at best, forced to reapply to their own jobs, or seek their fortune elsewhere in non-animal care. Dr. Christine Schultz decided not to wait around to find out. Hired as a veterinarian for the county shelter in late 2018, she tells RFT that she quit in August to take a job with the nonprofit Stray Rescue, “directly because of Spring telling us they were going to privatize.” “I love shelter medicine, and I can certainly deal with the outside frustrations,” she says. “But if you’re going to tell me you’re going to give away my job? Once they started talking about privatization, I knew. If there’s any possible way to do it, they will do it as fast possible.” The county shelter has long struggled to maintain a full-time veterinary staff, and Schultz’s departure left a patchwork system even patchier, with one part-time vet conducting spay and neuter surgeries, and a second vet signed under an “emergency contract” which makes them available for surgery only a couple times per week. oing more with little, though, is nothing new for the county shelter. When Schultz began her duties there in 2018, she says the crowding was so high that on some days she would be required to check on more than 400 animals — which gave her about 80 seconds per animal. Schultz says the shelter’s outreach efforts aren’t doing enough to curb overpopulation, but she still bristles when asked about criticism directed at staff by the shelter’s advisory board members, especially the critiques aimed at the employee “culture” and lack of “compassion.” “When the population is this high, I know staff members who get to work an hour early,” she says. “That’s what everybody does there to get things done.” The underlying tensions threaten to strangle the shelter, and Schultz says that while the board and county o cials have put thought into an exit plan, they could still do something to fix the situation on the ground — hire a director, improve the outreach, provide job security. Anything. “That’s just what they say at these meetings — that animal control is a blemish,” Schultz says, “That’s how the epartment of ublic Health sees it.”

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

FRIDAY 10/11 Can You Hear the Music?

Drive; www.newjewishtheatre. org). Tickets are $47 to $54.

Eight years ago, Stray Dog Theatre unleashed its glorious production of The Who’s Tommy. It was a knock out. Associate artistic director Justin Been took the lead on staging the production, revealing his prodigious talents for arranging actors in ever-shifting tableaux. The result was a beautifully kinetic production that made pinball an exuberant celebration of life. At long last, Stray Dog will once again present Tommy in all his deaf, dumb and blind glory, with Been overseeing the production. The show is performed with a live band, as it should be, at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (October 10 to 26) at the Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; www.straydogtheatre.org). Tickets are $25 to $30.

Leonard Slatkin remains a beloved figure in St. ouis for his work with the St. Louis Symphony, of which he is the conductor laureate. Slatkin returns to town to celebrate his 75th birthday by — what else? — leading the orchestra through a selection of music that finishes with Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). Despite the piece’s modern popularity, it was originally greeted with critical approbation, which Strauss was very familiar with. It’s a musical journey through the life of a stylized hero (often presumed to be Strauss himself ), who appears, then fights his adversaries and retreats to the comforts of home and his unnamed companion. He returns to battle, earns a hardfought piece and then retires. The piece is performed at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (October 12 and 13) at Powell Hall (718 North Grand Boulevard; www.slso.org). Tickets are $15 to $85.

The Hero Returned

More Cakes and Ale Fraternal twins Viola and Sebastian have gone overboard in a terrible storm off the coast of Illyria, and when Viola alone crawls onto shore, she assumes her brother has drowned. She sets about rebuilding her life, disguising herself as a young man named Cesario and entering the employ of the handsome Duke Orsino. When Orsino uses Cesario as a messenger to win the love of the reclusive Olivia, the noblewoman instead falls for the wellmade messenger. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is rife with romance, mistaken identities and laughs, thanks to Olivia’s hardpartying uncle Sir Toby Belch and his ne’er-do-well friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The Saint Louis University Theatre opens its season with the multilayered romantic comedy. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (October 10 to 13) at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square; www.kranzbergartsfoundation.org/the-grandel). Tickets are $6 to $9.

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In Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, a young man deals with puberty and an overbearing mother. | GREG LAZERWITZ

SATURDAY 10/12 A Close Family All Eugene Jerome wants to do is eat ice cream and see a naked woman, preferably at the same time. At the moment, all he has to do is go get another quarter pound of butter from the store every morning and afternoon because of his mother’s strange shopping habits and keep the noise down (there’s a cake in the oven). The Depression is dragging on in 1937, and his aunt and her two daughters — one of them the beautiful Nora, who’s close to Eugene’s age — have moved in out of

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necessity. Eugene’s dad is working two jobs to support everyone, his older brother faces a moral dilemma at his own job, and poor Eugene gets buffeted about by the whims of his mother and the various intra-family squabbles. Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical play Brighton Beach Memoirs is a trip back to the simpler days, when a family could drive each other crazy and no one tweeted about it. The New Jewish Theatre opens its new season with Brighton Beach Memoirs. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (October 10 to 27) in the Wool Studio Theatre at the Jewish Community Center (2 Millstone Campus

MONDAY 10/14 Hail to Haig Rob ombie’s deranged irefly family returned to the big screen this past September with the highly anticipated 3 From Hell, and the fans came out in droves. So large were those droves that the horror film will be rereleased to select theaters this October. The screening was planned before the passing of prolific actor Sid Haig, who plays Captain Spaulding in the series. The rerelease gives you one more chance to see Haig on the big screen in one of his final roles. 3 From Hell is shown at 7 p.m. Monday, October 14, at the arcus Ronnies 20 Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents. com). Tickets are $16.31, and the first 100 people receive a free commemorative poster while supplies last.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 10-16

The Who’s Tommy brings the rock opera to the stage. | COURTESY OF STRAY DOG THEATRE

TUESDAY 10/15 Dog Party Oktoberfest has come and gone, and yet there’s quite a bit of October left — how will you enjoy this month of beer and German-style bonhomie now? The Humane Society of Missouri’s Barktoberfest is here to rescue you and your dog from boredom. This fundraiser welcomes well-behaved and thoroughly socialized dogs and humans to Urban Chestnut Brewing Company’s midtown location (3229 Washington Boulevard; www. hsmo.org/barktoberfest) from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 15. The evening includes a costume contest for dogs with prizes for best costume, funniest costume, most Barktoberfestive (think lederhosen and dirndls) and best dog/ owner duo. Tickets are $25, and include a T-shirt, one beer and treats for people and pooches.

cycle where their film is next to be recast and remade, the two hightail it to the West Coast to either break it up or horn in on the action. Will the pairing still work if Jay can’t crack jokes about Bob’s girth? Only one way to find out. Jay & Silent Bob Reboot gets a special screening thanks to Fathom Events at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 15, at the arcus Ronnies Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com), with a special introduction from Kevin Smith. The film plays again at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 17, at the same theater as the back half of a double feature with the original Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Tickets are $16.16.

Jersey Boys Redux Writer/director Kevin Smith is newly slimmed down after a serious heart attack and re-energized. After lo these many years, he returns to his stoned-bozo version of Rosencrantz and uildenstern with Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. Jay is Jason Mewes, Smith’s heterosexual life partner who does all the talking, swearing and snoochy-booching. Silent Bob is Smith, the enigmatic man in the trenchcoat who acts as balance to the energetic Jay. When the two Jersey boys learn Hollywood has reached the point in the reboot

Jay and Silent Bob fight the reboot trend. | COURTESY OF FATHOM EVENTS

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 20 MOLLY’S IN SOULARD YOUR FAVORITE BRINY BIVALVES ARE BACK TO PARTY THIS MONTH FOR THE 3RD-ANNUAL SHUCK YEAH! PARTY AT MOLLY’S IN SOULARD. 10 OYSTERS, PLUS ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT FOOD SAMPLES AND BOTTOMLESS BOOZE. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW BEFORE THEY RUN OUT! 26

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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FILM

[REVIEW]

Joke’s on You Todd Phillips’ Joker is a flaccid whoopee cushion of a film Written by

ROBERT HUNT Joker Directed by Todd Phillips. Written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz. Now playing.

id you ever watch The Godfather and think that it would be a much better film if, instead of having Michael Corleone struggle with the responsibility of living in a crime family, it was about Robin the Boy Wonder trying to decide if he wanted to stay in the Teen Titans? If that line of thinking strikes you as unlikely or irrelevant or — let’s be blunt — just plain stupid, then I’m afraid Todd Phillips’ Joker is not for you. Joker arrived in theaters carrying a substantial collection of baggage, from speculation about its potential to incite violence to director Todd Phillips’ self-pitying and semi-articulate remarks about his inability to make comedies in our contemporary cultural climate. (My only previous exposure to Phillips’ work is The Hangover, but I won’t expect any social movement to take the blame for that profoundly witless mess.) These concerns prove to be largely irrelevant. Whatever expectations one might have had, Joker doesn’t rise to them. It’s a silly, self-indulgent film whose pretensions outweigh its modest ambitions. As you’ve probably heard, Joker is the backstory of the already overexposed Batman villain, here named Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a mentally unstable man working as a party clown in a hellish metropolis of garbage strikes, street crime and political unrest. He’s already clearly disturbed, but a series of violent events and personal losses push him over the brink. Narrative details are somewhat fuzzy (Phillips is very fond of exposition by way of pho-

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and BRON Creative’s “JOKER,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. | NIKO TAVERNISE/ © 2019 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TM & © DC COMICS tographed journals, letters, news stories and other oriented items without actually allowing for more than a few words to be read), but roughly 5 percent of the film is a beat-for-beat imitation of the structure of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, presented in the pompous and self-important shorthand style of a comic book. The remainder is a variation on Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, here represented by Robert De Niro as a shallow talk show host who serves as a frequent subject for Arthur’s show-biz fantasies. (There are also two additional but unnecessary subplots, the first a completely incoherent thread about angry protesters wearing clown masks, which I’m tempted to regard as the director’s addled take on the antifa movement, and the second a nod to the fanboys by depicting the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents for the umpteenth time). The problem with Phillips’ wholesale mimicry of Scorsese is that there’s nothing connecting the beats, no attempt to provide a narrative to match them. You may recognize the reference points (De Niro’s gun-to-the-head gesture from the climax of Taxi Driver is made by a neighbor who may or

The film plays like a two-hourlong trailer, showing off its brasher moments while carefully withholding the details that hold them together. may not be interested in Fleck, for no apparent reason) but they’re nothing more than a check-off list of plot points. The film plays like a two-hour-long trailer, showing off its brasher moments while carefully withholding the details that hold them together. Much has been said about Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, but this too is stronger on self-conscious showmanship that on substance. Phoenix has evolved into one of the finest contemporary

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actors, but Joker’s choppy style reduces his role to a catalog of flamboyant tricks and tics. He laughs, contorts himself, bangs his head against the wall and busts clownish dance moves with an excess of energy, but if you’re looking for a clue to the character behind all the frenzy, you’re out of luck. I’m tempted to call Joker an ambitious film, especially in its technical details, but much of what looks like ambition is merely a combination of ersatz and excess masked in edginess, from the retro design (vaguely reminiscent of the 1970s, even using that Saul Bass-designed Warners’ logo, but scenes near the end reveal that it’s actually set in 1981) to the dark but choppy musical score by Hildur Guðnadóttir. Whatever thought might have gone into these elements has been forced through the sieve of Phillips’ barely developed story and delivered with the finesse of a gorilla firing a T-shirt cannon. or all its pre-release bluster, it’s a lazy film — even by the standards of comic book movies — a half-baked piece of juvenilia hoping to coast on an undiscriminating fan base and the reputation of a far greater film from four decades ago.

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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PING PONG TABLE • POOL TABLE • BOARD GAMES WEDNESDAY TRIVIA • LIVE MUSIC / DJS 5 DAYS A WEEK

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STAGE

[REVIEW]

Beware of the Squares Cry-Baby is as entertaining — and timely — as ever Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD Cry-Baby Book by Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan. Songs by David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger. Based on the film by John Waters. Directed by Scott Miller and Mike Dowdy-Windsor. Presented by New Line Theatre at the Marcelle Theater (3310 Samuel Shepard Drive; www.newlinetheatre.com). Tickets are $20 to $30.

think it’s important to mention upfront that New Line Theatre’s current production of Cry-Baby is one of the most flat-out entertaining musicals you’re ever likely to see. In fact, it’s such a rambunctious good time that it’s easy to overlook its sharper points about the dangers of blindly following the rules, the perils of failing to question why things are the way they are and the absolute mortal peril of settling for a stable sort of unhappiness when you could have true joy. That’s a great deal of very serious subtext for a show that is essentially about a greaser and a good boy fighting over the same girl. New Line Theatre has been doing this exact sort of musical for 29 years, and if you think co-directors Scott iller and ike owdyWindsor can’t hide any number of satirical razor blades inside a delicious caramel apple, you haven’t been paying attention. New Line’s Cry-Baby is as intelligent as it is beautiful. Allison ernon-Williams race angford meets hard-luck drape it’s Baltimoreese for greaser Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker Caleb iofsky at an anti-polio picnic thrown by her grandmother, the stern and yet slightly warm Cordelia ernon-Williams the great Margeau Steinau). Allison and Cry-Baby are both orphans, and they feel an immediate kinship, which rs. ernon-Williams

Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker (Caleb Miofsky) and Allison Vernon-Williams (Grace Langford) learn you can fight the system, if you have a whistleblower. | JILL RITTER LINDBERG immediately tries to quash; In 1950s Baltimore high society, one doesn’t date the lesser classes. Allison and Wade are immediately smitten, and together they launch into the heights of one of the 1950s greatest rock & roll infatuation songs, “I’m Infected.” The pair deliver a jaw-dropping performance, riding the tune’s insistent piano and little sax riffs to a chaste just barely ecstasy. The fact that Miofsky is still in high school only makes it more impressive. Full marks also go to co-music director/keyboardist icolas aldez and his four-piece band, who perform the show’s old-school rock & roll with power and grace. Their romance is blocked by both rs. ernon-Williams, who reassures Allison that she can meet new people on her wedding day, and enora Aj Surrell . The latter is a mentally unbalanced young woman who believes she and Cry-Baby are in love, despite his angry protestations. Surrell gives a truly bonkers performance as the screwy enora. Keep an eye on her when she’s in the background or you’ll miss her brilliant physical comedy.) Allison has her own hanger-on in Baldwin Blandish Jake Blonstein , a square who even dances smugly. Baldwin has more than smugness in his corner. Because he’s so square, authority figures who are just grown-up squares immediately believe him no matter how ridiculous the things he

says are, a gift he uses to break up the young lovers. Blonstein plays Baldwin’s sense of entitlement to the hilt. His Baldwin is every incel windbag puffed up with the belief that he’s been wronged by the world because he’s made himself unlikable. With his straight-laced glee club The Whi es, Baldwin sings the insipid — and insidious — “Thanks for the ifty Country.” It’s a song praising the Founding Fathers for passing down the power and privilege from white man to white man all these years. It makes Paul Anka sound like fucking Slayer, and it’s perhaps the only song in the show Mike Pence would applaud. And that’s what the John Waters is warning us about. The “good old days” guys like ence fantasize about are full of stiffs like Baldwin sending people like Cry-Baby to prison on trumped-up charges and sexually liberated women to reform schools, all in the name of staying on top. Of course, Waters arranges for a patriotic and loving whistleblower to reveal the truth about Baldwin to the world. By the end of the show Baldwin is out of the picture, Allison and Cry-Baby are free to love and all of Baltimore has learned a valuable lesson about giving strangers a chance. The show ends with the very tongue-in-cheek song, “ othing Bad’s Ever onna Happen Again,” which is the sharpest arrow in Cry-Baby’s quiver. Nobody ever learns nothing anymore, a fact we keep confronting.

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

FEATURED DINING SEDARA SWEETS

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6 RESTAURANTS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT...

CLUSTER BUSTERS

SEDARASWEETS.COM

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314.297.8846 3636 PAGE BLVD ST. LOUIS, MO 63113

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

Located on both Page Avenue, as well as the upcoming location in the Saint Louis Galleria, Cluster Busters hopes to provide Saint Louis with high quality seafood at affordable prices. Cluster Busters offers both dine in and carry out seafood, with recipes from Chef Deion Woodard. You will find all your favorites dishes such as seafood, pasta, gumbo, and fried fish. Whether you want to try their flagship “Cluster Buster” or the Lobster Mac and Cheese, Cluster Busters offers something for everyone. Since 2017, Cluster Busters continues to grow as part of a staple of the North Saint Louis community, and is very excited to bring their offerings to the Galleria. Keep an eye out for menu additions as well as daily specials. Cluster Busters is also available for catering and private events, so consider them for your next event. At Cluster Busters, you’re invited to come catch this drip!

POKE DOKE

POKEDOKESTL.COM

J. SMUGS GASTROPIT 314.499.7488 4916 SHAW AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63110

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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.

Poke Doke offers St. Louis their energized recipes intertwined in a fast-casual model. Best part is every bowl is customizable to the patron -- whether you know what you want and can come up with your own flavor pairings — but it’s certain your heart will be content with the rich, high-quality seafood. Customers choose a size, a base, (such as rice, greens, or soba noodles) and choose from proteins (such as salmon ahi tuna, spicy tuna, shrimp or tofu), then add as many toppings and drizzles as they wish. If you’re less interested in the simple pleasures of fish and more in playing around with accoutrements, both the shrimp and tofu are neutral enough that they benefit from the enhancements. The menu also offers appetizers such as pork-filled pot stickers, miso soup, and crab rangoon, along with an assortment of bubble milk teas and soft serve ice cream. With locations in both the Central West End and the Delmar Loop, Poke Doke is the perfect spot to grab a quick bite!

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BLK MKT EATS

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BLKMKTEATS.COM

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

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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

CAFE

[REVIEW]

Prime Time A new Delmar Loop spot is full of surprises Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Prime 55 6100 Delmar Boulevard, 314-553-9595. Wed.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.-midnight. Sun. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. (Closed Monday and Tuesday).

rime 55 has a warm, sexy vibe. The upscale steak and seafood spot, lit by candlelight, is the sort of place where it feels entirely appropriate to order champagne by the bottle — just because. Yet as I sat in the dining room on a recent Friday night, a large bowl of Cajun kale soup sitting before me, I may as well have been cozied up in my grandmother’s kitchen. Steam, rising up from the dish, delivered a savory perfume that was at once utterly intoxicating but as comforting as an electric blanket. Breathing it in, and glancing down at the vibrant, red-orange tomato broth brimming with white beans and kale, I was sure of its greatness before even taking a bite. Once I dug in, however, I wasn’t just convinced; I was hooked. The warmly spiced broth was a master class in texture, hitting the lips with a delicate mouthfeel, then taking on a magical, viscous quality as it lingered on the palate. It’s the sort of richness you get from bone broth, but the chef was able to coax this deeply umami flavor and texture from tomatoes and layers of seasoning. It’s a breathtaking dish that envelopes you in pure comfort. A soup this good would be a pleasant surprise even at a daytime cafe. From Prime 55 — a restaurant that bills itself as a sexy, sophisticated evening destination — it’s wholly unexpected, especially from two entertainment industry veterans who have never owned a restaurant. Owners Tony Davis and Orlando Watson have made their careers about as far

Clockwise from top left: shrimp and grits, Steak 55 and triple chocolate mousse cake. | MABEL SUEN from the stockpot as it gets. Watson, an entertainment mogul and founder of Rockhouse Entertainment, has worked with artists like Akon and Kelly Rowland and counts Interscope and Warner Brothers records as past collaborators. Davis has also had a successful career in the music industry, including his high-profile gig as Nelly’s manager. The childhood friends’ paths in the music business would regularly cross, but they never actually worked together. This would change when they were approached by a chef friend of theirs who wanted their help in opening a restaurant. At first, they declined, but as they got to talking, they realized that they liked the idea of collaborating and felt that a restaurant would be a natural progression from their experience in the music business. After researching the St. Louis dining scene, Davis and Watson came up with the idea for Prime 55 as a way to fill a void that they saw in the community, namely, the lack of upscale, black-owned restaurants that cater to an evening crowd. Though they’d been impressed with several of the

black-owned food businesses in St. Louis, they couldn’t help but feel that there were few options in the fine-dining genre. ost, they noted, tended to be daytime, soul food or barbecue spots — excellent in their own right, but not the sort of place you could go to for a glass of wine and a fancy datenight experience. The pair knew they had the know-how to create that sort of atmosphere their first step was finding the space. After searching around town, they settled on a corner storefront on the eastern edge of the Delmar Loop that has seen more than its fair share of restaurants over the years. ost recently, the space was the former Rebel @ VStyle; before that it was VietNam Style, Cabana on the oop, odai Sushi ounge and H2 Horseshoe House. The wake of failed businesses at the address did not deter Davis and Watson. Instead, they dug in, determined to finally turn the place into the concept it was meant to be. They spared no expense to achieve their vision. The transformation from a cavernous, neon green dining room into a warm, sophisticated space is stunning.

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The room has been painted cream, save for one orange-red accent wall that matches the leather on the barstools and napkins. It gives a bright yet warm pop of color in an otherwise earth-tone space. Reclaimed wooden panels soften the vibe, as do the warm glow of the light fixtures and candles scattered throughout the room (the restaurant also has a downstairs dining room and bar, which matches this aesthetic, but is even sexier given its more intimate, almost speakeasy feel). To lead the kitchen, Davis and Watson brought on chef Tyler Wayne after their original chef friend had to back out of the business due to health reasons. Wayne, who was formerly the executive sous chef at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Clayton, was tasked with executing their vision and creating dishes of his own. Wayne’s time at the high-end, Cajun-inflected steakhouse is evident on Prime 55’s menu; like the outstanding kale soup, many of the restaurant’s dishes have a ouisiana influence, like the Cajun Grilled Street Corn, a wonderful riff on the exican street

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Continued from pg 33

food. Wayne’s version features a whole cob, pan-fried so that it caramelizes to a golden brown on the outside, giving it a wonderful nutty flavor. He lightly coats it in a mildly spiced chipotle aioli that is accented with lime juice to cut through the richness before finishing it with cotija cheese and cilantro. It’s rich but restrained, a testament to his skill. The lobster fries are also well executed. Here, Wayne takes crispy shoestring fries and smothers them in a velvety lobster cheese sauce. And though I was prepared for only minimal morsels of the shellfish, I was surprised to find large pieces throughout the dish. It was a preview of the shockingly generous amount of crab Wayne uses in his crab cakes. Three mandarin orange-sized discs are little more than composites of crabmeat. There is surprisingly little breading, some flecks of onion and fresh parsley, a tiny drizzle of lemony aioli and pickled red onions to break up the richness. Otherwise, it is pure crab — massive pieces of it. I’d quibble that they could have been cooked a touch

longer, but finding something so close to aryland-style cakes here in St. Louis makes this a minor point. Prime 55’s green chili is another unexpected delight in how much it evokes the wonderful ew exican green chile soups rarely done right outside of the Southwest. ore a chile soup than a beef and bean Texas-style chili, Wayne’s dish is a brothy blend of rustic-chopped poblano and Anaheim chiles and tomatillos that is both fiery and piquant. I found myself sweating but unable to stop eating it. Prime 55 may not be a fullfledged steakhouse, but it takes its cues from that genre. The Steak 55 is a simply grilled twelve-ounce strip, delivered to the table at an impeccable, juicy medium rare, even though it had been sliced into strips and fanned out on the plate for presentation (any steak cook knows what a bold move this is; if not properly rested, the juices will spill out, leaving the meat dry). Potatoes, rustically mashed with the skin on, and chimichurri-dressed zucchini and yellow squash rounded out the plate. The Surf & Turf featured a twelve-ounce ribeye and a coldwater lobster tail (you can also

choose a strip steak or shrimp) lightly dusted with Cajun seasoning. The steak was beautifully marbled and perfectly cooked, but the lobster tail was overdone. Though flavorful, it was on the dry side. Wayne’s cauliflower steak is a thoughtful dish that reveals a different flavor with every bite. The “steak” consists of a halved head of cauliflower, grilled so that it is tender and develops a light layer of char around the edges. ushrooms, carrots, confit tomatoes and quinoa surround the cauliflower, and preserved eyer lemon acts as a bright riff on hollandaise sauce. However, the most interesting part of the dish is what the menu describes as hummus, though it is more tahini-forward than most versions. The result is a silken, intensely nutty dipping sauce that makes this vegetarian offering feel robust and hearty. rime 55’s Cajun influence is most apparent in its shrimp and grits. The large, plump shellfish are lightly blackened and well cooked so that they remain tender. The grits themselves were not as creamy as I would have hoped; fortunately, the shrimp’s buttery cooking jus acted as a sort of gravy, infusing them with fla-

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vor — I just wanted more of that delectable liquid. Although Wayne proves his chops as a savory cook, his desserts give the impression of a pastry pro, especially the triple chocolate mousse cake. Here, layers of dark, milk and white chocolate are stacked atop one another, formed into a round disc and frozen so that they are the consistency of ice cream. Wayne then tops the cake with candy-like bruleed bananas — alone a wonderful garnish, but he doesn’t stop there. The mousse is surrounded by peanut butter powder, an interesting fluff that gives the dessert a hint of nuttiness without being overwhelming. It’s a delightful mix of texture, temperature and flavors. That peanut butter powder was such an unexpected surprise on a dish that bills itself as a triple chocolate mousse cake. But, just as the comforting kale soup was an unanticipated delight at a restaurant that wants to be seen as a sophisticated evening destination, Prime 55 shows that it is full of surprises.

Prime 55 Cajun kale soup .......................................... $8 Shrimp and grits ....................................... $17 Steak 55.................................................... $38

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

Matt Wynn’s Evolution as a Chef Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

att Wynn recalls being utterly confused when the person on the phone from Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak Foxwoods asked him to bring a knife roll and chef whites to his internship. A business school student, he’d assumed he was going to be working in the front of the house at the swanky steakhouse, so he simply rolled with the requests and figured it would get settled once he arrived for work. And it did — just not the way he thought it would. “I had absolutely no experience in the kitchen, but when I got there, I was greeted with a whole sink full of chicken backs to clean,” Wynn recalls. “When the garde manger guy didn’t show up, they yelled for me to go over there, and I didn’t even know what garde manger was. About a month after hiring me, they realized that I never went to culinary school. All that time, they thought I’d just went to the worst culinary school ever.” Although a misunderstanding set off the chain of events that led him to his current role as executive chef at Taste (4584 Laclede Avenue, 314-361-1200), Wynn can’t help but feel like he’s exactly where he’s meant to be — and on a path that, left to his own devices, he may never have ventured down. He’d always had a slight interest in food, but he never really cooked until he was a young adult, and even then, his culinary experience involved little more than throwing some spices into canned chili or seasoning steaks. He’d worked a few restaurant jobs — a salad bar attendant gig at Ruby Tuesday, a serving position at Old Chicago — but nothing prepared Wynn for the intense education he’d get at Craftsteak. He describes the experience as

Taste’s Matt Wynn came to the kitchen by accident, then never left. | ANDY PAULISSEN nothing less than brutal, pushing him to his limits and driving him to wonder why he was even there. Still, he kept coming back. “I got destroyed there,” Wynn recalls. “During the internship, they were hitting with gloves. When I actually started, the gloves came off, and they started picking up bats. I remember thinking, ‘This is awful. Why did I do this?’” However challenging the experience was, something told Wynn to keep pushing forward and pursue cooking as a career. After Craftsteak, he decided to move to New York City, where he planned to stay for two years. He ended up staying for four, relishing his chance to learn in the city’s high-pressure kitchens and soak up the culture. Eventually, though, he realized that the expense of living in the city was too much for him to create the life he wanted, so he returned home with the goal of finding a kitchen job in St. Louis. Wynn first landed at the former Niche and worked at the acclaimed restaurant until it closed in 2016. After a stint at Basso, he took a three-week sabbatical that allowed him the headspace to question what he wanted his next move to be. Still figuring that out, he ended up at Mac’s Local Eats for a short time before being faced

with a decision that would determine what direction he wanted to take his career. “I was offered a line cook position at Louie and the sous chef job at Good Fortune,” Wynn recalls. “Louis is this great place, but I decided that I’d been doing Italian food all this time and wanted to branch out and do something different. It failed, and that’s fine. There are certain techniques I learned there that made me better. The concept didn’t pan out, but it made me a better cook. Sometimes, it’s good to lose because you have to bring yourself back.” A few months before Good Fortune closed, Gerard Craft invited Wynn out for coffee to see if he would be interested in coming back to work for Niche Food Group, this time as executive chef at Taste. Though Wynn still felt emotionally attached to the team at Good Fortune, he knew Taste was the place he was meant to land. He accepted the offer and has never looked back. “When I first came back to St. Louis, I was really missing how in New York you could walk to the subway at 4 a.m. and get pizza. Then I went to Taste after this dinner we were doing, and it was 11 p.m. and we were hanging out upstairs in this swanky lounge eating kimchi salad and bacon-fat corn-

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bread and having cocktails. I was like, ‘Hell yes. This is awesome.’ When I got the [executive chef] offer, I realized this was the perfect job for me.” Having now led the kitchen at Taste for about a year, Wynn has been able to capture that metropolitan, late-night vibe he loved during his time in New York while embracing the pace and cost of living that comes with being in the Midwest. And he’s also been able to bring everything he has learned over the years about running the back of the house to a kitchen he lovingly describes as a pirate ship. “Taste is definitely not as formal of a kitchen as Niche was or Brasserie is,” Wynn explains. “It’s always been a bit of a pirate ship. And it still is, but it’s a very tight-knit one — like if Baptists were running a pirate ship.” Wynn recently took a break from captaining his kitchen to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant scene, the reason for his newfound daily ritual and why his dream destination would be free of tru e oil and Kid Rock. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? Even though I’m fairly picky and tend to micromanage sometimes,

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MATT WYNN

Continued from pg 37

I’m very much a big-picture guy. I think a good experience is like a Monet painting; lots of precise dots that take time and patience to place, but the end result is stellar. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I’ll be honest, I hate rituals and I hate routines to the point where sometimes I’ll even take a different route to work. That being said, I just adopted my first dog, and her ritual involves me walking her every day. This is, of course, non-negotiable — otherwise I have to bust out the Rug Doctor when I get home. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Time travel. I’m a big history buff. I would love nothing more than to travel around to some of the world’s most important moments in humanity and see how everyone actually reacted. That and I want to solve the age-old question [of] if dinosaurs actually had fur or if they were exactly as reptilian as Steven Spielberg made them out to be. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that

[FIRST LOOK]

Grace Chicken + Fish Now Open Written by

LIZ MILLER

ate nights in the Grove just got a lot tastier thanks to chef Rick Lewis. On Friday, October 4, Lewis debuted the grandopening service of Grace Chicken + Fish (4270 Manchester Avenue) from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., operating out of a walk-up window connected to the chef’s Grace Meat + Three. Focused on grab-and-go latenight eats, Grace Chicken + Fish offers five proteins — fried chicken tenders, wings, cornmeal-encrusted fried catfish, buttermilk fried shrimp and crispy tofu — with 10 signature sauces for dipping.

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you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? The amount of diversity has been awesome. Italian cuisine is still predominant, but people are opening up to other cultures. Loryn and Edo Nalic of Balkan [Treat Box] are introducing people to Bosnian food and it’s all the rage now. Nick Bognar of Indo is reminding people that raw fish with careful Japanese preparation and delicate flavors is some of the most delicious food you can find. elanie eyer has used her passion for Korean street food to bring some of the most under-theradar food in St. Louis to a local dive bar, the Silver Ballroom, and is crushing it. I’m also very excited to see what Tello Carreon will bring to the table with Alta Calle. What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see? I guess the amount of latenight food for night owls such as myself. If there’s one thing I miss about living in New York City, it’s being able to go and get amazing yakitori or Korean barbecue with about ten other people from work, passing around dumplings and pitchers of Kirin Ichiban or Sapporo. Who is your St. Louis food crush? I’ve followed Matt Daughaday

“You can mix and match any of the sauces with any of the proteins,” Lewis says. “We wanted to fun it up for the people who have been out late and make it more than just, ‘Here’s a three-piece tender hot.’ We wanted to be able to make it a little more fun, so we started thinking about different foods we like to eat when we go out and what are things we can take to the next level.” Sauces range from a tangy Ssam to top the crispy tofu to a Thaiinspired red curry to coat the catfish a dish ewis is calling ut the Lime in the Coconut) to a sweet and spicy Southern Jezebel-style sauce that Lewis loves with the crispy shrimp. “Southern Jezebel sauce is typically apple jelly, pineapple jelly, horseradish and mustard combined,” Lewis says. “We took pineapple and habaneros and cooked them down into a pineapple-habanero jelly for our Jezebel sauce.” Another highlight is the cacio e pepe sauce, made with a bechamel base that’s enhanced with a whopping two quarts of garlic and then mixed with a blend of pecorino, grana padano and armesan cheeses and fin-

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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for a while; Reeds [American Table was my first dining-out experience in St. Louis, and I freaked out over how good everything was. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene? There are tons of names to mention, but I’m going to name Michael Gallina for this one. I’m very interested to see what him and Tara [Gallina] are going to create over at Winslow’s Home. We’ve seen how well they source at Vicia and how much integrity they harness in their product, but being able to take that Dan Barber aspect of farm-to-table and really getting to put it in motion at that space will truly give St. Louis a very unique experience. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Basil. It’s bold, but finicky. ery eclectic but sometimes doesn’t play well with others. Sometimes you have to mask its flavor a bit to calm it down. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? The real estate bug bit me pretty hard when I was house hunting — maybe something involving that. If not real estate, then maybe marketing. Name an ingredient never al-

lowed in your restaurant. Tru e oil. I can’t stand the smell. What is your after-work hangout? I just bought my first house, so lately it’s been there. Hospitality is nice, it’s dog friendly, food is solid when the chef is feeling motivated and there’s always either sparkling water or Busch beer around. But if I’m not in a hurry to go home, it would be either Wildflower in the Central West End (Will Sinon, the bartender, was actually the one who sold me my house!) or there’s also iTap Central West End (which is also dog friendly!). What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? Frozen fried calamari with marinara sauce. I never tell people this, until they put it in front of me and realize I’m not sharing any with them. What would be your last meal on Earth? Last meal on Earth, as in I’m not dying, instead I’m leaving Earth tomorrow and relocating to planet Gloria, where they’ve never heard of Kid Rock’s remake of “Sweet Home Alabama” and truffle oil is banned. What am I going to eat right before my Space Force shuttle departs Cape Berube? Raw yellowfin tuna prepared by Jiro Ono (or his son, Yoshikazu).

A selection of menu items on offer at Grace Chicken + Fish. | LIZ MILLER

ished with freshly ground black pepper. “The cacio e pepe is really tasty, and it’s really good on the chicken tenders,” Lewis says. “It’s like chicken Alfredo tenders or cacio e

pepe tenders.” Lewis adds that many of the ten sauces draw from flavor profiles not common at Grace, yet he’s excited to expand into new areas Continued on pg 39

GRACE CHICKEN + FISH Continued from pg 38

and sees the late-night window as the ideal place to experiment and have fun. “I’m always driving to make it better,” Lewis says. “This is kind of out of my comfort zone — these are flavors I enjoy but don’t normally serve here. This is like the Grace staff went out and had too many beers and then went into the kitchen and started cooking.” Other menu items are inspired by Lewis’ own favorite snacks, including the hot honey mustard and onion wings topped with crispy fried shallots, a spin on Synder’s of Hanover’s honeymustard-flavored pretzels. Another favorite is the loaded fries, which can be ordered as a small or large portion and top crinklecut fries with Magic Seasoning, beer queso, house-cured bacon bits, house-pickled jalapeños and green onion. “We’re topping the fries with our beer queso, which is basically fondue made with Busch beer, white cheddar and gouda,” Lewis says. “And then we drizzle a little of our buttermilk-lime dressing on top and add house-cured bacon bits, house-pickled jalapeños and green onion. It’s just everything you want in loaded French fries. They’re good; I think they’re firing on all notes and pretty delicious. It’s kind of the same story: It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but we’re just paying attention to the details.” ressed to pick his favorite item from the late-night menu, Lewis shared his current top three dishes. “I really like the Thai curry catfish, the Ssam tofu is really good, the hot honey mustard [wings] really get me going — they’re all good.” Sides include Grace favorites such as the mac ‘n’ cheese, Napa cabbage slaw and housemade pickles. Customers can pair their protein and sauce of choice with a selection of non-alcoholic beverages, including Kaldi’s Cold Brew, Queen City CBD Seltzers and Topo Chico. Lewis adds that the latenight window also offers a Feed the Crew section, perfect for large parties or even local bar staffs after closing time. “If you’re feeling really frisky and you’re with your crew, we have a Feed the Crew section of the menu where you just order everything by the pound and you mix and match sauces,” Lewis says.

[FIRST LOOK]

LemonShark Poke Focuses on Fresh Fish and Seafood Written by

LIZ MILLER

t LemonShark Poke (33 North Central Avenue, 314-300-8890), which debuted in Clayton in late July, owner Lauren Adler takes great pride in serving the freshest fish and seafood possible. In fact, that’s where the national fine-casual chain gets its name: Lemon sharks, which live off the coasts of North and South America as well as Africa, are thought to have more selective feeding behavior than other sharks. “In nature, lemon sharks don’t just eat whatever is in front of their face — they only eat fish of a certain maturity and nutritional value,” Adler says. “Basically they feed finely, hence our tagline, and they’re one of the only sharks that roam in pools, which is why we’re very much about the open space and community tables so that people can come in with friends, family, co-workers, and introduce them to the concept as well.” Based in California, LemonShark now boasts 17 locations nationwide, including the Clayton outpost, which is the first in Missouri. A St. Louis native, Adler was first inspired to open the poke (pronounced POH-kay) concept four years ago while living in California. Having eaten a pescatarian diet for years, Adler loves LemonShark’s focus on fresh fish and seafood (although proteins of all stripes, including tofu, are served here). “The franchise did a lot of due diligence to find the right vendors to make sure the food is fresh and meets our quality standards,” Adler says. “We go with vendors that have the most ethical practices that we can; like our tuna, for instance, is line-caught by hand instead of net-caught so it can’t harm other sea life. The various vendors that they’ve chosen have been nothing but positive; I have zero complaints.” Located in the Ceylon building in Clayton, LemonShark features a sleek and modern interior with decor and accents that reflect the poke focus in fun ways, including wall coverings in a scale pattern and coastal artwork. The menu features signature poke bowls; Pokerittos (burritos packed with your choice of two poke options); Hawaii Katsu bowls with grilled fish, seafood and other proteins; and build-your-own bowls, which can be made with raw fish or a grilled protein. Adler says customers can sample any protein, topping or sauce before placing their order; her goal is to introduce new flavors while also making

A build-your-own poke bowl with ahi tuna, herb tofu, spicy salmon, edamame, seaweed salad, ginger, red onion, pineapple, watermelon radish and corn. | LIZ MILLER sure every guest loves their meal. “For some people it’s almost too many options; they don’t trust themselves to maybe make the best combination or they’re a little overwhelmed, so that’s why we have the signature creations,” Adler says. “I think the fast-casual format with this particular cuisine is exciting to people because it’s like more approachable sushi, and a better value for your money, and I think people wanted that.” House signatures include the Aloha Tuna, with ahi tuna, spicy tuna, edamame, cucumber, seaweed salad, red onion, ginger, crispy garlic, spicy mayo and eel sauce, and the Power Bowl, with spring mix salad, quinoa, ahi tuna, avocado, edamame, cucumber salad, pineapple, green onion and spicy ponzu sauce. “I always tell people that if raw fish isn’t their thing, no worries: We have hot bowls with coconut curry chicken, teriyaki chicken, or hot plates with coconut shrimp or other chicken options,” Adler says. “And then our small bites, like the Spam musubi and the spicy tuna crispy rice are good intros to poke to try and get you started.” To complement its quick and healthy eats, LemonShark serves a menu of craft beer, wine and saki. Local options include Full-Life Lager and Incarnation IPA from 4 Hands Brewing Co., blueberrylavender and Ace pineapple ciders from Brick River Cider and three canned cocktails from 1220 Artisan Spirits: Gin Boogie, cucumber-hibiscus and lavenderlemonade. Two canned wines are also offered (Ava Grace Pinot Grigio and rosé) as well as Nigori unfiltered sake and Zipang sparkling sake. “Before I got into [LemonShark], I was living in California and working as a brewery sales rep and California breweries, and that was one of the reasons I went with LemonShark over other poke franchises: One, they’re options for fish and toppings

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were more expansive, and two, they’re really into craft beer. I’m from St. Louis, and I was really big on having craft beer here.” Although Adler freely admits that poke is no longer as uncommon in town, she believes that LemonShark offers an expanded and different kind of experience for diners. “When I started this process there weren’t any poke places in St. Louis,” Adler says. “It’s been fun to introduce people to something new that they haven’t tried and give them something that’s so customizable.” To that end, Adler hopes to add a selfservice tap option soon so that customers can pick and pour their own beers and ciders. LemonShark also serves a range of creative non-alcoholic drinks, including two flavored housemade lemonades — hibiscus and herbal mint — as well as craft sodas from Stubborn Soda in flavors like lemon-berry-açai and blackcherry-tarragon. Since opening earlier this summer, Adler says the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. “The lunch crowd [in Clayton] is so good, and it just seemed like something that was needed in the area,” Adler says. “And the residents [of the Ceylon building] have been awesome; we can’t ask for anything better than to be at the base of a residential building where people come see us all the time. We’re very lucky that we’ve had so many great repeat customers, both residents and otherwise; we’re at like a 50:50 return rate right now, and to have that in the first two months is awesome. It’s been very exciting to see people come back so frequently.” LemonShark Poke is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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[FOOD NEWS]

Wild Olive Provisions to Open in Shaw Written by

LIZ MILLER

aise a glass, Shaw residents: In just a few weeks, the neighborhood will have its very own dedicated wine store and artisan food shop when Wild Olive Provisions (2201 South 39th Street) celebrates its grand opening. Wild Olive rovisions is a longtime dream for husband-andwife team Nerida Wilbraham and Scot Martin, who share a passion for wine — and specifically, have history in two well-known winemaking regions. Wilbraham, an Australia native, and Martin lived in San Francisco for many years before buying a home in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis about a decade ago. At their new shop, the pair will focus on Australian and California wines, drawing from their personal experience and knowledge to curate their selection. “When we lived in California, we were frequently up in wine country, and each year we go back, and we go back to Australia

The wine and artisan food shop is slated to open in Shaw this fall. | ROGERSMJ/FLICKR as well,” Wilbraham says. “The wineries that we really love tend to be family owned and more like farms, because that’s what they really are, right? And so we’ve found that over the years more wineries, especially the familyowned ones, are very focused on sustainable practices and growing varietals that are best paired with the climate and environment there. We will rotate the wines, and every now and then we’ll have wines outside of Australia and California, but we’re trying to stick with what we know.” Although Wilbraham and Martin will mostly stock Australian and California wines, they’re aiming to offer something at every

price point — Wilbraham says the goal is to offer affordable wines ideal to serve with weeknight dinners as well as higher-end (and higher-priced) wines for those wanting to spend a little more or celebrate something special. The couple are in the process of renovating the space, which formerly housed the St. ouis o ces of Chicago-based Omega Yeast. Wilbraham says the original concept for Wild Olive rovisions was smaller in scale, but when the storefront at 2201 South 39th Street became available, it was too tempting to resist. As such, the scope of the shop was expanded to include dine-in dishes, more artisan cheese and gourmet food options,

local craft beer and possibly also craft spirits. “Our space is so big that we thought, ‘How will we fill it? Where am I going to put everything?’” Wilbraham says with a laugh. “We’re looking at some artisan craft distilleries and craft beer. My husband and I have done all the work on it ourselves, and we’re proud of it.” The shop will also sell graband-go boxes perfect for picnics at nearby favorites including the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower rove ark, or just a ready-made meal to take the work out of dinnertime for folks in the neighborhood. “When there’s events at the [Missouri Botanical] Garden where people can bring in a picnic, we’d like to be seen as the go-to for that, and just make it easy for people to pick up some really tasty artisan cheeses, wines and beers to go,” Wilbraham says. To start, Wild Olive rovisions will offer limited seating inside for its dine-in menu items, with plans to add patio seating next year. For now, Wilbraham is just excited to share her passion for Australian and California wines with St. Louis and, of course, see her and Martin’s dream become a reality. So far, it seems that Shaw residents are sharing that feeling as well. “The excitement in the neighborhood is just great; people are knocking on the windows and saying how excited they are,” Wilbraham adds. “The support so far has been phenomenal.” Wild Olive rovisions is planning to celebrate its grand opening during the last week of October.

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

DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK

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

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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MUSIC + CULTURE

[RADIO]

Tuned Out KDHX abruptly cancels public ‘Listen’ forums amid internal strife Written by

DANIEL HILL

pair of public meetings that were set to take place at KDHX (88.1 FM) to address recent allegations of racial insensitivity and mismanagement by the station’s top brass were canceled less than 24 hours before the first was set to take place. The public forums, which were announced at a meeting of the station’s board of directors on September 16 and were to be facilitated by the National Conference for Community and Justice, were scheduled for Wednesday, October 2, and Monday, October 7. In an invitation sent to donors on September 20, the station wrote, “Over the last year, KDHX has been deeply engaged in a conversation about who we are, what it means to fulfill our mission of building community, and what our future holds. We want to hear from our community. On behalf of the Board of Directors, we invite you to participate in upcoming Listen Sessions.” The message included a link through which would-be attendees could RSVP and stated that just 50 slots were available for each meeting. The form within asked for a name and email address, and it displayed a public tally of the number of slots remaining. As of October 2, all of the slots were spoken for. Despite the obvious show of public interest, KDHX’s leadership opted to cancel the forums at the last minute. A form email sent out on October 1 to those who RSVPed states that the station had “concluded that these sessions may not be the best forum to gather feedback. Therefore, the Listen Sessions have been canceled at this time.” A second email, sent to KDHX associates by board president Paul Dever and obtained by the

KDHX’s September 16 meeting of the board of directors included an open forum to address recent allegations of racial insensitivity and mismanagement by top leadership. | DANIEL HILL RFT, uses similar language but includes a little more detail: “[W]e concluded that the sessions will not be the best way to gather constructive feedback, so we’ve canceled them,” Dever writes. “The board has heard all the complaints from ex-employees and we have looked into them. Kelly’s dismissal is not on the table.” The “Kelly” in question is KDHX executive director Kelly Wells, who has been at the center of a series of complaints by current and former employees and volunteers who alleged instances of racial insensitivity, mismanagement of funds and an overall culture of dysfunction at the station in an anonymous whistleblower email delivered to media earlier this year. KDHX leadership, including Dever and Wells, have pushed back strongly against the email’s claims and hired a law firm to investigate them. They claim the nowcompleted investigation cleared the station of nearly all the allegations. Meanwhile, several of the ex-employees whose experiences were included in the whistleblower email’s claims say that investigators never contacted them. KDHX’s September board meeting included a public forum in which members of the community

were invited to speak for three minutes each about matters related to the station. Approximately 30 people, including listeners, donors, DJs, volunteers, and current and former employees, were in attendance. The forum focused nearly exclusively on the whistleblower email and its claims. Some expressed support for Wells and the board, most criticized both, and some even called for Wells to be fired. KDHX leadership had little to say in response to anyone who spoke at the forum. Upon arrival, attendees were asked to provide their names and email addresses, and during the forum, Dever explained that the board would be listening at this meeting but not commenting. He said the comments from the public would be compiled with those that came out of the (now canceled) public “Listen” forums, and that if anyone wanted a response to their specific remarks they should say so and expect an emailed reply. RFT reached out to multiple people who spoke at the forum; all say they have not gotten any reply from KDHX since the meeting. Meanwhile, that silence has crossed over into internal communications within the organization as well. In an email thread

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obtained by RFT, several of the station’s “associates,” who have their own regular meetings and even the power to elect board members according to the station’s Governance page, repeatedly pressed for answers from Dever and Wells as to the specifics of the now-canceled public forums and were met with total silence. The first email in that thread was sent on September 18. It reads: “Other than giving the dates (October 2 and October 7) at this week’s board meeting, has their sic been an o cial announcement with time and location of the meetings, Paul D.? Advance notice time is rapidly decreasing.” More than a week later, on September 28 — following a lot of back and forth and confusion between the associates but no response from Wells, Dever or anyone on KDHX’s board — Jeffrey Hallazgo, better known as Dr. Jeff, longtime host of KDHX’s The Big Bang program and former KDHX board president, took to the thread with a lengthy screed. It reads in part: “This thread is now 11 days old. Numerous e-mails have been posted. Numerous questions have been posed to both the board president and the executive director.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

Wednesday October 9 9:30PM

Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players

Tribute To The Beatles and John Lennon’s Birthday

Thursday October 10 9PM

Al Holliday and The East Side Rhythm Band Friday October 11 10PM

One Way Traffic

with Special Guests Spillie Nelson

Saturday October 12 10PM

Funky Butt Brass Band Sunday October 13 8PM

Blues, Soul and Pop Diva Kim Massie Wednesday October 16 9:30PM

Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players Tribute To Bob Weir

Thursday October 17 9PM

Chase Makai Trio

Undique Album Release Show Friday October 18 10PM

Cas Haley

Saturday October 19 10PM

New Orleans Suspects NOLA’s All Star Band

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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[HOMESPUN]

KDHX

Continued from pg 43

Timing Is Everything As Le’Ponds, Lisa Houdei releases her most personal album yet with Lean To Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

n tight typewriter font, Lisa Houdei has the phrase “take time” tattooed along her left wrist. For the singer, guitarist and songwriter who performs under the name Le’Ponds, the phrase has nothing to do with engaging in meditative breathing or stopping to smell the roses. The tattoo serves as a command: Take time. Don’t be shy; take it. The phrase animates Houdei’s work with Le’Ponds — a band name that serves both her solo sets and her full-band performances. She has just released the six-track Lean To, her third collection of songs in as many years. That recording schedule comes amid her regular gigging schedule, which finds her opening for touring acts as well as performing on local bills. “It’s so weird how fast days go by now, as I’m getting older. It’s a super weird feeling,” says the 29-year-old. The bulk of Lean To is largely reflective and acoustic, allowing Houdei’s voice to rise and fall against circular guitar patterns and bucolic images. She has settled into a lower register than on her first recording, Heat, and has — for the moment, at least — retreated from the full-band thrum of last year’s I Was Dancing with My Dream Team (recorded with members of Jr. Clooney). “Timing, Timing” serves as a woozy bookend to the EP: The opening track finds Houdei’s voice stretched and sped-up over clacky acoustic picking and a mournful pump organ. “The timing isn’t perfect,” she says. The closing track spins it all in reverse, but with a chorus of Houdeis wordlessly intoning over the sucking, whirling drones. “I just felt like nothing was very clear to me and everything was not going the way it should go,” she says of her headspace when writing and recording the song. But, with a cos-

Le’Pond’s latest EP is largely reflective and acoustic. | VIA THE ARTIST mic wink of poetic justice, Houdei’s performance inadvertently mirrored the song’s message. “Then I played that song, but I didn’t do it to a metronome. I didn’t want to redo it, so that timing is not perfect on that track — and in my life,” Houdei says with a laugh. She calls Lean To her most personal record yet; previous songs were largely drawn from fictional vignettes and character sketches. But don’t expect diaristic entries or lucid soul-bearing. Houdei remains a songwriter who works best with impressionistic flashes and image-rich scenery but without clear message or moral. But the prevailing feeling of solitude, especially in the album’s first half, speaks to Houdei’s state of mind as she wrote the songs. “It was winter and I was very confused at the time,” Houdei says. “I just felt very cooped in; usually during winter I like to go out, and I don’t feel as wintry as most humans would, but that winter I did.” “Quail Ridge” comes early on the EP and mixes a bit of biography with wishful projection. “I grew up in efiance, issouri, and I grew up on Quail Run Drive — I changed it to Ridge because it sounded better than Run,” Houdei says. “And ‘Quail Ridge’ is about a woman and a dog living near a mountain somewhere. That is persona in the way that it’s not necessarily about me, but I grew up in the woods, and it’s about where I want to be one day. Maybe not alone with a dog near a beautiful mountain, but to have land and be in a house that I build. That’s

just the mood I wanted.” Houdei’s mood modulates throughout the rest of the album, from the bossa nova bounce of “Love, Passion, Amour, Mania” and the hazy beatbox jams on “The Hollywood Baby.” As in albums past, she worked with Tim Gebauer and his Electropolis Studio to record these songs. It’s a friendship that Houdei values, and one that is central to her freedom to create as often as she’d like. “I think I’m really in a lucky, lucky position because the person I’ve made all these albums with is a dear friend, and we hang out a lot and will be there at the studio and I’ll say, ‘Hey, can I track something really quick?’” she says. “I’m aware of how to use all of this equipment and can record my stuff now. I haven’t had to pay a whole bunch of money to get my stuff recorded, and I think that’s a big part of it.” Houdei continues to heed the words tattooed on her wrist: In the same week that she threw a release party and art opening for her paintings at the Royale, she was set to open for Becca Mancari and DJ at the Grove’s sandwichand-beer emporium the Gramophone. Lean To has only just been released and she’s already planning her next set of songs. “As soon as one’s done, I wait until I can start writing again. I’ve already recorded a song that will be on the next album, but that will be another year,” she says. “I don’t have any concept albums, I don’t have any concepts of anything. Every album is random but it’s still me, so it’s cohesive.”

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To this point, there has been no response whatsoever, which is very atypical and somewhat disturbing. “In the past, when there have been questions asked regarding much lesser issues, correspondence has been punctual, responses have been prompt, and issues have been addressed if not completely resolved. However, at such a crucial juncture in our organization’s existence, there has been absolutely no communication from anyone in positions of management with regards to this thread. “It does not seem to be too much to ask for any kind of response to a question from the president of the board or the executive director. The board president is the responsible officer of the organization, and as such there is a certain obligation to respond to the people in your organization. (As a reminder, I was not only the longest standing board member in the history of the organization but also the previous board president, am well familiar with the obligations that come with the position, and can not fathom not responding to any type of correspondence for such an extended period of time as this.) The total lack of response is, at best, disappointing and, at worst, infuriating.” Hallazgo goes on to add that the station’s DJs, who work on a volunteer basis, have been bearing the brunt of the public’s outrage in regard to the station’s current strife and leadership’s response to it. “I myself have received calls in the studio and have encountered people outside the studio asking what is ‘wrong’ with KDHX,” he writes. “In one instance, one DJ told me that he/ she was approached by someone and asked if he/she worked at KDHX; when he/she responded yes, the response was ‘F*ck You, KDHX!’ So, even though we supposedly met goal during the last drive, all is not as rosy as you may think it is. Outside the walls of the station, the perception of this radio station and this organization at this time is not good.” RFT reached out to Dever and Wells for comment but had not received a response as of press time.

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

[HIP-HOP]

The New Lou KVtheWriter, Roisee and pinkcaravan! head to A3C in Atlanta to prove St. Louis women can rap Written by

KE LUTHER

n almost every corner of American life, the battle of the sexes is heating up. With Missy Elliot becoming the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Lizzo at the top of the charts and Megan Thee Stallion declaring 2019’s warmest months Hot Girl Summer, women are finally ascendent in hip-hop. This is equally true in St. Louis, where a trio of female musicians are preparing to represent the city at one of the biggest events in the industry. Earlier this year, St. Louis artist Kayla Thompson — better known as KVtheWriter — moved to Atlanta to expand her creative horizons. When she applied for the A3C Conference and Festival, the hip-hop equivalent of SXSW, she was hoping to land her first major show in her new hometown. Initially, she was passed over for the showcase of her choice. But a friend told her, “Don’t trip. I got a feeling you’ll be performing at that festival anyway.” Less than two months later, Thompson was contacted by another St. Louis native living in Atlanta, Fatimah Hunter. The founder of Austin Hunter Management Group and sister of local hip-hop artist Mvstermind, she was producing her own showcase at A3C and wanted St. Louis’ top talent to participate. In addition to a number of male rappers, she invited Thompson and two other high-profile women — pinkcaravan! and Roisee. The event, The New Lou: St. Louis Back on the Map, took place Tuesday, October 8, at Smith’s Olde Bar. The three women caught the attention of Hunter’s team through a slate of new releases. And while each project is distinct, they collectively represent the full spectrum of hip-hop in the city. At the brightest end of the scale, pinkcaravan! makes rainbow-colored, bubblegum rap. The artist drew on her encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, endless references to iconic toys and an impressive selection of schoolyard chants to create the deeply eccentric, instantly nostalgic tracks on last year’s 2002. As she notes, “Being a kid, I miss it. So I always like to talk about it.” On the other hand, Roisee — the nom de guerre for St. Louis artist Uriel Bush — creates some of the most hardcore, metal-influenced tracks in hip-hop. “I’m so into the end of the world,” she laughs. “Just everyone surviving and getting in

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Clockwise from left: pinkcaravan!, Roisee and KVtheWriter each represented for St. Louis at A3C. | VIA AUSTIN HUNTER MANAGEMENT touch with themselves.” Earlier this year, she released her first full-length album, Summon the Roisee, a collection of intricately layered, guitar-driven songs that sound a little like System of a Down if the band was fronted by Rico Nasty. Thompson, who experiments with a number of styles, occupies the middle ground between these extremes. As KVtheWriter, she dropped two EPs this year — Love Sucks! in April and The Ratchet Tapes in July. The first is a typically St. Louis production with airy beats and laidback flows, while the second embraces trap music and sexual empowerment in the vein of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Both albums are part of a larger trilogy, which Thompson describes as “a romcom, a movie that starts off with a person getting their heart broken, then this phase where they kind of wile out, and then they find true love in the end.” While the three artists are distinctive, their music shares some common objectives. Like many young women, they are challenging the traditional notions of gender — especially the narratives around sex, money and power. In one of the clearest examples, “B.A.N.” from The Ratchet Tapes, Thompson flips the usual script and tells her male counterpart, “I see the bitch in you.” Bush, who expresses a similar sentiment on her record, says that she “created Roisee, because she’s a badass. She can say anything.

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She can do anything.” And it takes that kind of confidence to succeed in a maledominated industry. Though pinkcaravan! takes a more subtle, introspective approach to the issue, she achieves an equally powerful effect. Other than a few oblique references, she ignores men altogether — focusing instead on a unique juxtaposition of childhood indulgences like candy and toys with serious issues like depression and suicide. “When I talk about dark subjects,” she says, “I kind of like to make it not so in your face, to make it hidden. For me, it’s just fun to do that.” The A3C Conference and Festival allows emerging artists to connect with hip-hop legends like Mos Def, Big Daddy Kane and Tip “T.I.” Harris. A model of resilience, Thompson got her elevator pitch together early. “Because I really want to network,” she says. “I really want to meet some people in the industry.” Bush, however, mostly looked forward to spending more time with her fellow St. Louis musicians. “We were talking about having a tour bus,” she says, “where everyone is together and bonding.” But all three women agreed that they were excited to showcase their work on the national stage. It’s an important step for these highly ambitious artists. “I’m trying to get more music out there, more visuals,” pinkcaravan! states. “I gotta keep going.” She plans to drop her next project in 2020.

But in the meantime, the former Webster University film student is directing videos — like the wistful, neon-soaked piece she created for Meela Li’s “Dinero.” Bush wants to use her work to show other women “that you can be honest with yourself through music,” she says. “I have songs that talk about depression, anxiety, self-image. Girls shouldn’t feel like they have to change to be loved.” To that end, she is already back in the studio, recording another full-length album for release this year. And aside from planning an elaborate rollout, Thompson is done with the final installment in her trilogy of EPs. Eventually, she wants to collaborate with the biggest names in music, like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar. But Thompson, who published a book of poetry in 2017, considers herself a writer above all else. She recently finished her first novel, a work of science fiction, and hopes to turn it into a movie — then produce the score for the film. Thompson says of herself, though it applies to all of these artists, that her projects show that women live complex lives. “We’re not just sexual beings,” she says. “We’re not just having our hearts broken or breaking hearts. We live and we exist in these stories.” She concludes, “This is the new Lou. There’s some great music coming out of this city.”

OUT EVERY NIGHT

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Amy LaVere. | JOSHUA BLACK WILLIAMS

On her latest record, Painting Blue, Amy LaVere takes a swing at Elvis Costello’s pensive and existential song “Shipbuilding.” His 1983 version has the grand sweep of an operatic elegy, with clangorous grand piano and a heartbreaking Chet Baker trumpet solo; LaVere’s casts the song in miniature with a tinny acoustic guitar and sweetly wheezing

accordion to ask questions of war, duty and family. That’s a good snapshot of her gift at taking big concepts and shrinking them to fit her rootsy, occasionally bluesy songs, delivered with a voice best heard up close in an intimate setting. This week, Foam should fit that bill nicely, with LaVere joined there by regular collaborator in marriage and music Will Sexton. Strangs n’ Thangs: Local string-abusers the Hobosexuals and Aught Naughts will open the show. —Christian Schaeffer

THURSDAY 10

SINKANE: 8 p.m., 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

Amy LaVere 8 p.m. Friday, October 11. Foam, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $7. 314-772-2100.

THE CLINIC: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE DAMMIT JANETS: w/ Noisemakers & the Silent artners 8 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337. A DAY WITHOUT LOVE: w/ Darling Skye, Vince Puzzo, Dylan Mitchell 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. EMBRACER: 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. FATHER BRAN MISTY: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. HOODIE ALLEN: w/ Jake Miller 8 p.m., $30-$35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JUSTUS & THE EXPERIENCE: 9 p.m., free. Stagger Inn Again, 104 E. Vandalia, Edwardsville, 618-656-4221. KID QUILL: 8 p.m., 1 - 50. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. THE LIZARDTONES: w/ Bear Call, The indframes 8 p.m., . The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: WERQ THE WORLD 2019 TOUR: 8 p.m., 58- 181. The ageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

FRIDAY 11

AMY LAVERE: w/ the Aught Naughts, the Hobosexuals 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. CHEVY’S PUNK RAWK BIRTHDAY SHOW: w/ An nfortunate Trend, ostal odern, the Centaurettes, the Cinema Story 7 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. CHRIS O’LEARY BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. DISTURBED: w/ In This oment : 0 p.m., $49.50-$89.50. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000. GRAVEYARD: 8 p.m., $25-$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. IAN NOE: 8 p.m., 10- 12. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., niversity City, 314-727-4444. JOHN MCEUEN: 8 p.m., 0- 40. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. LUNA: 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. OBITUARY: w/ Abbath, Devil Master, Midnight 7 p.m., 26- 0. The Ready Room, 4195 anchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. RED, ROCK & BLUE BENEFIT CONCERT: w/ Blue

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Luna. | LUZ GALLARDO

Luna 8 p.m. Friday, October 11. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $25 to $30. 314-773-3363. Since reforming in 2015, Luna has often revisited the hallowed ground of Penthouse, its third and most haunting and cohesive album. Recorded in 1995 in New York City, the album defines an urban and urbane sound that was archly counterposed to both the ironic college rock and grunge-driven trends of its day. It’s a guitar lover’s slowburn fever dream, filled with sounds and textures that even the band’s heroes, the Velvet Under-

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October 8 p.m., 2- 60. The ageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER: w/ Gumm, Prevention, Blight Future, Brute Force 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 42 South Broadway, St. ouis, 314-328-2309. ROCKTOBERFEST: 6: 0 p.m., 10. ubar, 108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. THIRD SIGHT BAND: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

SATURDAY 12

BIG WRECK: 8 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE BOULET BROTHERS DRAGULA TOUR: 8 p.m., 22.50- 112. The ageant, 6161 elmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BRET MICHAELS: 6 p.m., $25-$93. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. BROJOB: w/ Inferious 7 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS: w/ Esther Rose 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. DAYBRINGER RECORD RELEASE: w/ Alan Smithee, The isappeared, ystic Will 8 p.m., 10. The Sinkhole, 42 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. DEVIL’S ELBOW: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. HY-C & THE FRESH START SHOW BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JUSTIN RA: w/ Ellen Hilton Cook, Derrick Streibig 8: 0 p.m., . oam, 59 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. KIM MASSIE BAND: 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

ground and Television, hadn’t explored. Songwriter Dean Wareham channels a prowling, desperate sense of mystery, much like Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine, but with his own droll wit and decadent sense of wonder. Alienation has rarely sounded so sublime as on Penthouse. The band will revisit the album (and much more no doubt) for this St. Louis date, which means this will be one of the rock shows of the year. Pay Now or Suffer Later: Luna’s last St. Louis show, in November 2017, sold out quickly, with ticket resellers reaping the benefits. Don’t get burned this time. —Roy Kasten

LOKEY: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 exico Road, St. eters, 6 6-441-8 00. SPENCER CRANDALL: p.m., 5. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400. SYNTHFEST IV: w/ Stacian, Kudzu, Voltage Control, Wolf the usician, Trauma Harness, WXJL, Wax Fruit, Ethik’s Mind, JoAnn McNeil, Captured lanet p.m., 15. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. WHO UP NEXT: 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SUNDAY 13

CHUCK FLOWERS & ACOUSTIC SOUL: 5 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE DISTILLERS: w/ Death Valley Girls 8 p.m., 0. The Ready Room, 4195 anchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE NATIVE HOWL: 7 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. RALPH BUTLER BAND: 2 p.m., free. Mount Pleasant Estates, 5634 High St., Augusta, 800-467-9463. SENSUAL SUNDAYS: w/ Kenny Black 4 p.m., free. oce, 212 S. Tucker Blvd., St. ouis, 14-4 5- 956. STOP THE MADNESS: 1: 0 p.m., free. Kiener Plaza, 500 Chestnut St, St. Louis.

MONDAY 14

MUDHONEY: w/ Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MUSIC UNLIMITED: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SKILLET: w/ Alter Bridge, Dirty Honey 7 p.m., 9.50- 59.50. The ageant, 6161 elmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Masked Intruder. | VIA DESTINY TOURBOOKING

Masked Intruder 8 p.m. Wednesday, October 16. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $18 to $22. 314-773-3363. Take the Ramones, ditch the leather jackets in favor of colorful ski masks, and rewrite the band’s oeuvre to focus more specifically on the criminal aspects of love and relationships, and you’ve got Masked Intruder. Since 2010, this group of dedicated pop-punkers have built a fervent following via hooky earworms for days and a hilarious gimmick that paints the band as criminals on parole, with their parole officer, Officer Bradford,

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TUESDAY 15

CORTÉGE TX: w/ Bastard and the Crows, ISH 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. JIDENNA: 8 p.m., 25- 0. The ageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. KOO KOO KANGA ROO: 6: 0 p.m., 15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. TIGER ARMY: w/ Sadgirl, Kate Clover 8 p.m., $25$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. TRASHCAN SINATRAS: 8 p.m., $22-$25. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

WEDNESDAY 16

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MASKED INTRUDER: w/ The Bombpops, Tightwire 8 p.m., 18- 22. Off Broadway, 509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. PLAGUE VENDOR: 8 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ROCKIN’ JOHNNY BURGIN BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. RUSTON KELLY: w/ Donovan Woods 8 p.m., 15- 18. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. SCOTTY SIRE: w/ Toddy Smith, Bruce Wiegner, Chris Bloom 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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always in tow. The band’s lyrics can border on terrifying — “No one in the world can make me feel the way you do / That’s why your ADT security can’t keep me away from you” — but their saccharine-sweet delivery and tongue-in-cheek intent assure that the joke always lands. The band’s latest, III, released in March on Pure Noise Records, doubles down on everything Masked Intruder does best, resulting in a glossy, smooth production of poppy tracks sure to be entered as evidence in a court case one day. Co-Conspirators: Like-minded punk acts the Bombpops and Tightwire will open the show. —Daniel Hill SMOOTH HOUND SMITH: 8 p.m., 12- 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. WAGE WAR: : 0 p.m., 18.50. ubar, 108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. WIZARD FEST: ST. LOUIS’ WILDEST HARRY POTTER THEME PARTY: p.m., 10- 5. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THIS JUST IN 2019 OFFICIAL HALLOWEEN PRE-PARTY: W/ Elektrodinosaur, Cheapest Chimp, Dad Jeans, Little eague ep Talk, Wed., Oct. 0, : 0 p.m., free. The Sinkhole, 42 South Broadway, St. ouis, 314-328-2309. THE 75S REUNION SHOW: W/ Bruiser Queen, the Jag-Wires, Sat., Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ALARM WILL SOUND: Sat., ov. 9, : 0 p.m., TBA. The 560 usic Center, 560 Trinity Ave., niversity City, 314-421-3600. AMERICAN SPIRIT HANDBELL CONCERT: Sun., Nov. 3, 4 p.m., free. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 2 Woods ill Road, anchester, 636-381-6685. ANAMANAGUCHI: Tue., ov. 5, 8 p.m., 2 .50. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ANGAD SUNDAY ROOFTOP PARTY: W/ Laka, Sun., Oct. 20, 6 p.m., free. Angad Arts Hotel, 6550 Samuel Shepard Dr, St. Louis, 314-561-0033. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: Wed., Oct. 16, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BILLIE EILISH: Sat., March 28, 7 p.m., $39.50$129.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. BJ THE CHICAGO KID: Fri., Nov. 22, 8 p.m., $3545. The Ready Room, 4195 anchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

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OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 50

BLUE FALSE INDIGO: W/ Allie ogler, Thu., Oct. 1 , 9 p.m., . The Heavy Anchor, 5226 ravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. BRUTE FORCE EP RELEASE AND VIDEO SHOOT: W/ Prevention, Chalked Up, Soul Craft, Fri., Oct. 18, 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. CHADWICK STOKES AND THE PINTOS: W/ Mihali, Sat., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., $26-$30. Blueberry Hill The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., niversity City, 314-727-4444. CHRIS KNIGHT: Fri., Dec. 13, 8 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. CHRIS O’LEARY BAND: Fri., Oct. 11, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CHUCK FLOWERS & ACOUSTIC SOUL: Sun., Oct. 13, 5 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE CLINIC: Thu., Oct. 10, 10 p.m., 5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CLITERALLY SPEAKING: THE PODCAST: Fri., Oct. 25, p.m., 20. The onocle, 4510 anchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-932-7003. CORTÉGE TX: W/ Bastard and the Crows, ISH, Tue., Oct. 15, 8 p.m., . oam, 59 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. THE DAMMIT JANETS: W/ Noisemakers & the Silent artners, Thu., Oct. 10, 8 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 ocust St., St. ouis, 314-241-2337. DANCING WITH THE STARS: Fri., Feb. 14, 8 p.m., 6.50- 6.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 arket St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. A DAY WITHOUT LOVE: W/ Darling Skye, Vince uzzo, ylan itchell, Thu., Oct. 10, 8 p.m., . Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. DAYBRINGER RECORD RELEASE: W/ Alan Smithee, The isappeared, ystic Will, Sat., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., 10. The Sinkhole, 42 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. DEVIL’S ELBOW: Sat., Oct. 12, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. DOGS OF SOCIETY: THE ULTIMATE ELTON ROCK TRIBUTE: W/ Billy the Kid: The efinitive Billy Joel Tribute, Sat., Jan. 25, 8 p.m., 20- 25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. EMO NITE: ri., ec. 1 , 9: 0 p.m., 15. The Ready Room, 4195 anchester Ave, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. THE ERADICATOR: W/ the Cuban Missiles, the Haddonfields, uy organ, Sat., Jan. 18, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE: W/ Shamarr Allen, Sun., Jan. 12, 8 p.m., $29.50-$30. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. GARY GULMAN: Fri., Jan. 24, 8 p.m., $30-$35. The ageant, 6161 elmar Blvd., St. ouis, 314-726-6161. GLASS MANSIONS: W/ A Sunday Fire, Name it ow , Redwood, Inerpersonal, atrick uinlan, Sat., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. HALLOWEEN 2019: Thu., Oct. 1, 9 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. HY-C & THE FRESH START SHOW BAND: Sat., Oct. 12, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: Thu., Oct. 10, p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JACOB BRYANT: Thu., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., 12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. JIRARD THE COMPLETIONIST: Thu., ov. 21, 8 p.m., 24.28- 81.66. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. JUSTIN RA: W/ Ellen Hilton Cook, Derrick Streibig, Sat., Oct. 12, 8: 0 p.m., . oam, 59 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

KIDS’ BLUES BOOGIE FAMILY DAY: Sat., Oct. 26, 10 a.m., free. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis. KILL THE CREATURE: W/ Whiskey & Thunder, Witch Doctor, Sons of Vulcan, Sat., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., 5. Just Bill’s lace, 254 Woodson Road, Overland, 314-427-2999. KIM MASSIE BAND: Sat., Oct. 12, 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MAKE THEM SUFFER: Sun., Oct. 2 , : 0 p.m., 15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. MURDER BY DEATH: Wed., Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $22.50$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. MUSIC UNLIMITED: Mon., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. NATO COLES & THE BLUE DIAMOND BAND: W/ the Wilderness, Grave Neighbors, Fight Back Mountain, Sun., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. NIKKI GLASER: Sat., eb. 22, p.m., 5. The ageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE OAK RIDGE BOYS DOWN HOME CHRISTMAS: Sun., ov. 24, : 0 p.m., 29.50. River City Casino & Hotel, River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. PERT NEAR SANDSTONE: W/ Arkansauce, Thu., ec. 5, 8 p.m., 10- 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER: W/ Gumm, Prevention, Blight Future, Brute Force, Fri., Oct. 11, 8 p.m., 10. The Sinkhole, 42 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. RIVER CITY OPRY: Sun., Oct. 20, 1 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROCKIN’ JOHNNY BURGIN BAND: Wed., Oct. 16, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE SADIES: Wed., Nov. 13, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SAINTS IN THE CITY STL: A TRIBUTE TO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND: W/ Another Mystery, Fri., Nov. 29, 8 p.m., $11-$13. Old Rock House, 1200 S. th St., St. ouis, 314-588-0505. THE SCHWAG: ri., ov. 1, 9 p.m., 12- 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. SENSUAL SUNDAYS: W/ Kenny Black, Sun., Oct. 1 , 4 p.m., free. oce, 212 S. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, 314-435-3956. SINK IN: W/ Last Youth, Malibu ‘92, the Monocles, the Howl Twins, Wombmates, Sat., ov. 9, 6: 0 p.m., 10. ubar, 108 ocust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: Tue., Oct. 15, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THANK YOU SCIENTIST: W/ Bent Knee, Tea Club, Thu., ov. 14, : 0 p.m., 20. ubar, 108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. THAT ‘90S JAM: W/ DJ Nico, Agile One, James Biko, Wed., ov. 2 , 8: 0 p.m., 6- 15. The Ready Room, 4195 anchester Ave, St. ouis, 314-833-3929. THEO KATZMAN: W/ Rett adison, Wed., arch 4, 8: 0 p.m., 20- 25. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., niversity City, 314-727-4444. THIRD SIGHT BAND: Fri., Oct. 11, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. TRIGGER HIPPY: Thu., ec. 19, 8 p.m., 20- 25. Blueberry Hill - The uck Room, 6504 elmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. UADA: W/ Blackwell, Tue., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., 1 . Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. VOODOO JGB: W/ Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players, ri., ov. 8, 9 p.m., 10- 12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. WAGE WAR: Wed., Oct. 16, : 0 p.m., 18.50. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. WAX: W/ UBI, Lance Skiiiwalker, Wed., Nov. 6, 8 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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SAVAGE LOVE THREE CITY SWING BY DAN SAVAGE

e brought Savage Love Live to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, and the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis over three nights. As is always the case at live shows, the crowd had more questions than I could possibly answer in a single night. So in this week’s column, I’m going to tear through some of the questions I wasn’t able to get to. Hey, Dan: If you use food for vaginal play, is there any type you should definitely avoid? Lasagna makes for a lousy insertion toy. (Food doesn’t belong in vaginas; there could be bacteria on the food, even after washing, that results in a nasty infection. #FuckFirst #EatAfter) Hey, Dan: How do you feel about relationships that have a timeframe or defined end point? For example, one person is going away for school or a new job? I’m fine about relationships with seemingly set end points, as relationships don’t have to be open to or become long-term in order to be a success. (Did you meet a nice person? Did you have some good sex? Did you part on good terms? Success And the world is filled with couples that met at a time in their lives when school or work commitments meant they couldn’t be together — and yet, years or even decades later, they’re still together. You never know. Hey, Dan: Is it okay that I always seem to hate my partners’ mothers? Is this normal? It isn’t and it’s not. When you’re the common denominator in a lot of high-stress, high-conflict relationships, you’re most likely the problem. Hey, Dan: Why do straight guys like anal so much? Superhero movies, bottled beer,

watching sports — there are lots of things straight guys like that I just don’t get. But I get why they like anal: Done right, anal feels amazing. And not just for the person doing the penetrating. When it’s done right, it is also great for the person being penetrated. And sometimes the person being penetrated is a straight guy. Hey, Dan: After a year of dating, my boyfriend told me he is polyamorous. I don’t know how to proceed. Any tips? If he meant, “Polyamory is my sexual orientation, and you have to allow me to date other people, and you can’t break up with me over this because that would amount to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” that’s bullshit and this relationship is over. But if he meant, “Polyamory is a better relationship model for me than monogamy,” that’s not bullshit and the conversation is just getting started. If you prefer monogamy but you’re willing to consider polyamory to be with him, i.e., if that’s a price of admission you’re willing to pay, it could work out. But if you aren’t open to polyamory, and monogamy isn’t a price he’s willing to pay to be with you, it won’t work out. Hey, Dan: I work in secondary education and I’m in an open marriage. My job is awesome, but I’m so afraid of a student or a parent seeing me when I’m out with a different partner. What should I do? You could hope people would mind their own business and continue to make out in public with your other partners — or whatever it is you’re doing in public that makes it clear you’re fucking/ dating someone who isn’t your spouse — or you could be discreet. Since antidiscrimination statutes don’t offer protections to people in open relationships, and since people regularly freak out about teachers having sex at all, you really have no other choices besides discretion (when out with others) or shouldering the risk (of losing your job). Hey, Dan: My poly friend has started bringing her flavor-of-theweek partners to social events instead of her awesome wife. How do

I tell her I’d rather hang out with her and her wife than her and her (usually boring, always temporary) new fling? Maybe your poly friend’s wife doesn’t want to hang out with you. Wait, I can say that in a nicer way: Maybe your poly friend’s wife is an introvert who would rather stay home and she’s only too delighted that the flavor-of-the-week is willing to escort her wife to the box social. But if you miss your friend’s wife, maybe give her a call and invite her to lunch? Hey, Dan: My former lover cheated on his current live-in girlfriend with me. She has no idea. Should I tell her what a narcissistic cheater her boyfriend is? Vengeful former affair partners don’t have much more credibility than narcissistic cheaters — indeed, people view both with similar contempt. But you do you. Hey, Dan: My husband and I are swingers. For him, it’s who he is. For me, it’s something I do (and like!). We argue over how often we go out or have sex with other couples. Any suggestions for finding a happy medium? More often than you’d like, and less often than he’d like — call it the bittersweet spot. Hey, Dan: What tips do you have for lesbians in long-term relationships who want to keep sex fun and interesting? My advice for lesbians who want to keep their LTRs hot is the same as my advice for gays, straights, bis, etc. who want to keep theirs hot. At the start of the relationship, you were the adventure they were on, and they were the adventure you were on. That’s why it was so effortlessly hot at the start. But once you’re not each other’s sexy new adventure anymore — once you’re an established couple — you have to go find sexy adventures together to keep it hot. And that requires making a conscious effort. Explore your kinks, buy some sex toys, have sex someplace other than your bedroom, invite very special guest stars, etc. Hey, Dan: How do I create a sexier

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bedroom for even better sex? Bedrooms are overrated, if you ask me (which you did), whereas basements, o ce stairwells, clean single-seat restrooms in upscale restaurants, dark corners of public parks, the space underneath banquet tables in hotel ballrooms, etc., are all underutilized. Hey, Dan: Can you explain why male chastity is such a popular kink? I’m not offended by it, just curious about its sudden widespread popularity. “I think a big factor is that people are enjoying the heightened mental connections that tend to develop with chastity play,” said Christopher of Steelwerks Extreme, makers of the Rolls-Royce of male chastity devices. “Frequent business travel and long-distance relationships also make chastity an increasingly popular kink as the cage-wearer and key-holder can maintain a playful dynamic without needing to be in the same room.” Hey, Dan: I’m 99.975 percent sure I don’t want kids. My boyfriend of almost four years has a vasectomy scheduled for the end of the year. Should we go through with it? My boyfriend is really fucking sexy, hence the .025 percent doubt. Vasectomies, like pregnancies, are reversible. Your boyfriend could also go to a sperm bank and put a load or three on ice. Hey, Dan: Female, 32, straight, and very pregnant. I’m about to pop! Do you have any postpartum sex advice? Explore outercourse for a while and try to have (or try to fake) a positive attitude about it. Hey, Dan: Your thoughts on transmasculine folks who don’t necessarily identify as men using the word “faggot”? Fine, so long as they put the emphasis on the second syllable. Thanks to everyone who came to our live shows! Savage Love Live comes to Toronto and Somerville on October 11 and 12. For info and tickets go to savagelovecast.com/ events.

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

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OCTOBER 9-15, 2019

RIVERFRONT TIMES

HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS HAPPY HOUR

CARNIVORE A PLACE TO MEAT

Located in the historic Hill neighborhood of Saint Louis, Missouri, Carnivore STL is a flame-grilled steakhouse for the people of casual American dining from the esteemed Italian families of the Hill. Carnivore is one of St. Louisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; most popular new restaurants and brings something unique to the Hill, a steakhouse. They take pride in their steak, and offer a few different cuts along with delicious house made butter. Whether it was required to be part of the group of restaurants, or they just felt obligated, Carnivore offers some Italian dishes that could compete with anyone in the neighborhood as well. Part of their unique offering is their fantastic happy hour, offered every Tuesday through Friday from 4-6 pm. Carnivore offers $ domestic beers, $4.50 house wines, $5 premium rail drinks,