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RIVERFRONT TIMES AND mo Y’S PRESENT
3rd a ual
this sunday! 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.
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HONORS & AWARDS: • Charles Shaw Trial Advocacy Award • Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers • St. Louis Magazine, Best Lawyers in St. Louis DWI • Riverfront Times Best Lawyer • Best Lawyers in United States • 10 years of law enforcement training, including time as a narcotics agent • Invited to speak nationally on the topic of DWI defense • A proven record of successfully defending difficult DWI cases • A graduate of the National College of DUI Defense at Harvard
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THE LEDE
“Honestly, it’s all about happiness for me and friends and family. We take that for granted a lot. Recently, I was thinking about it: I started doing this thing with my parents where I say ‘I love you’ more, because I realized I wasn’t doing that that often.”
PHOTO BY THEO WELLING
JOE ORDOÑO, PHOTOGRAPHED IN TOWER GROVE PARK ON OCTOBER 9
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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
His Side of the Mountains
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
Joshua Rowan travels to places few others see by making choices few others make Cover photo by
P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Haimanti Germain
JOSHUA ROWAN
M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy
INSIDE
C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers
The Lede Hartmann
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News Feature Calendar
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Airport privatization is brilliant! ...Right?
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Coming Out Play Festival | The Lifespan of a Fact | Dutch Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt | Halloween party listings
Film
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Stage
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Cafe
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Short Orders
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Culture
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Where’s My Ray Cohn?
The Who’s Tommy
Chao Baan
E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Creative Director Tom Carlson www.euclidmediagroup.com N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com S U B S C R I P T I O N S Send address changes to Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $78/6 months (Missouri residents add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (Missouri residents add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group Verified Audit Member Riverfront Times 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103 www.riverfronttimes.com General information: 314-754-5966 Fax administrative: 314-754-5955 Fax editorial: 314-754-6416 Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977
Trisha Zimmer Ferguson of Kaldi’s Coffee Soda Fountain | St. Louis Cricket Challenge
Sam Golden | Nate Burrell | Nadine
Out Every Night
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New Mastersounds | Cass McCombs
Savage Love 6
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HARTMANN The Greatest Idea Ever If airport privatization is so smart, why not let voters decide? BY RAY HARTMANN
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ust imagine if privatizing St. Louis Lambert International Airport were the greatest idea ever. We’d be going Stanley Cup Parade nuts in St. Louis. Just think of it: We’d be the national leader in a iation po i y, the first ma or metropolitan area to exert the genius and creativity to monetize its tired old airport by leasing it to private investors in perpetuity. Turns out controlling airports is a great private business for some reason, and these guys would pay
mighty sums of cash to take over operations of our airport. And even better, because no other American city has had the smarts to recognize the greatest idea ever, it turns out that the smart business guys might pay a premi m to the first ig ity i ing to convert its runways to cash. We’d be getting in on the ground floor and, as they say in the or d of airports, the sky’s the limit. We’re talking billions here. Easy money. At least that’s what some people — experts — are telling us. And we know they’re experts because they can fetch millions advising cities like St. Louis on matters like this. And we know they can fetch millions because we’re paying them that via our own hado ayor e in efie d. What’s the catch? Why, there would be no catch, not if this were the greatest idea ever. And whether we’re talking $1 billion or $2 billion or $3 billion doesn’t matter. The point is St. Louis could get rich quick — and at least stop
being poor overnight — and we’d be rolling in dough and shrieking ith oy ike a ottery inner at the Dollar Store. Assuming the greatest idea ever were even mostly true, or even partly true — and assuming you were a voting resident of a city that e eryone kno s fa es ma or financial challenges and some say future bankruptcy — what possible reason would you have not to embrace it? Short answer: There wouldn’t be any. Put the greatest idea ever on the ballot and St. Louis would set some kind of record by voting in the 90-percent-plus range for embracing it. Conversely, any p i o ia standing in the ay of this sort of progress might be ise to find another profession. Funny thing, though. It turns out that the very people most enthused about privatizing Lambert Airport are even more enthusiastic about another mission: Keeping the people of the city of St. Louis from having a say in the
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matter. At every turn, every call for transparency and accountability has been ignored or brushed aside as unnecessary. Isn’t that interesting? You’d think proponents of the greatest idea ever would be downright bullish about enlisting the citizens of St. Louis to bless this once-in-alifetime opportunity to save their city by giving it their overwhelming approval at the polls. So why are Mayor Lyda Krewson, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and a quietly growing group of a dermen and other ity o cials so allergic to the idea of taking this to the voters? Why are they so committed to the same secrecy and anti-accountability that Mayor Francis Slay displayed — to the destruction of his legacy — when he allegedly stumbled on this greatest idea ever in 2015, declined to consult with one of the nation’s leading airport experts ho st happened to e the airport director he hired (Rhonda
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GALLERY VILLAS SALUTES OUR HOME TEAM
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HARTMANN
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Hamm-Niebruegge), revealed the idea to an ns spe ting in efie d (who apparently didn’t know that his own Show-Me Institute had advocated for it before Slay presented it to him , got in efie d to privately bankroll the complex privatization application process and then accidentally forgot to mention publicly that the city was pursuing the greatest idea ever for more than a year, revealing it on Day 5,818 of a 5,844-day administration, conveniently after Krewson’s election as mayor was secured. Then, by incredible coincidence, it turned out that Krewson herself liked the idea. As I suggested in this space four months ago (June 12), “the skids are greased” for ramming through airport privatization, not only for the p eas re of in efie d, t for nto d finan ia gains for private interests, possibly including some individuals who helped facilitate it while working on the public dime. Let me be clear about something: In four decades of dealing with news topics in St. Louis, I have never seen a proposal that represents as much potential for misuse and abuse of public resources — all perfectly legal, I would assume — than this “greatest idea ever.” It is important to stipulate that all the “i’s” are dotted and all the “t’s” seem crossed with respect to airport privatization. I’m neither stating nor implying that any of this isn’t totally legal. To the contrary, the only hint that any laws might be broken came when City Counselor Julian Bush provided the strange and extraordinary opinion that it would be unlawful for the Board of Alderman to require that city voters be allowed to vote on cashing out their city’s largest asset. That’s rich. So, no, this is not a corrupt, pay-for-play scheme like the one that sent County Executive Steve Stenger to prison, and which tore up the county for months on end. The airport privatization movement, however secretive and shady and consultant-enriching and disingenuous and unaccountable it might be, is nothing like the criminal scandals we saw in the county. t st e a se it s ega doesn t mean it’s not scandalous. And oh, by the way, it’s larger, much larger. That s e a se the pro e t has a “B” in front of its number, as in “billion.” Most of us can’t comprehend how
You’d think proponents of the greatest idea ever would be downright bullish about enlisting the citizens of St. Louis to bless this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. much a billion dollars represents. One of the more unseemly county scandals involved a bogus $100,000 contract. If you spent $100,000 every day, it would take more than 25 years to spend $1 billion. Do not underestimate the scope and scale of this thing. And don’t underestimate how fast it’s moving. On October 4, the Airport Advisory Working Group — ironically named since it’s designed to e e te a rai road o oted to iss e a re est for a ifi ations, or RFQ, for a private operator of a leased airport. Comptroller Darlene Green who, along with Treasurer Tishaura Jones (also a privatization opponent), is one of the few honest brokers at a high level in city government, had the right response: “The process exploring privatization of St. Louis Lambert International Airport has been designed by and for special interests. Unsurprisingly, this RFQ is shaped by assumptions to appease those interests, and I have no onfiden e that this pro ess will yield an outcome supportive of public interest. “Requiring a binding public vote on any selected proposal would go a long way in alleviating the public’s concerns about special interests. The citizens of St. Louis are smart enough and informed enough to make important decisions about one of t. o is ma or assets.” Especially if it involved the greatest idea ever. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).
NEWS Actor Accused of Scams Is Back as Singer Written by
DANNY WICENTOWSKI
The Loop Trolley has struggled, but is it headed off the tracks for good? | DANNY WICENTOWSKI
Trolley Folly Written by
DOYLE MURPHY
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he Loop Trolley, born out of fantasy and nostalgia, is in danger of returning to that ethereal plane. The agency behind the circuitous streetcar has told St. Louis County it needs $200,000 to stay solvent through mid-November, followed by another $500,000 shortly after to keep operating into 2020. The trolley has struggled from the start of the $52 million project, opening years behind schedule. It then bumbled through permitting issues, occasional collisions with cars (some parked) and a variety of other miscues. Still, the trolley might have overcome its growing pains if it wasn’t for one much larger problem: Not many people have wanted to ride it. Projections for the number of riders turned out to be wildly overestimated. The St. Louis Business-Journal reported last week that ticket sales totaled $32,456 — not quite the estimates of more than $400,000 in fares. The Loop Trolley Company’s requested bailout was publicly revealed over the weekend when St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch posted on Twitter a letter
from County Executive Sam Page, outlining the situation. Page described the trolley as “an ambitious idea” and sums up its potential collapse in this way: “Allowing such an expensive project to fail so quickly would be a disappointment and could have a wide-ranging impact on future transportation projects.” That’s because the federal government kicked in $33.9 million, and if all that money goes to waste, St. Louis is going to have a harder time persuading the feds to trust it with funding for other projects. Loop Trolley Company Board President John Meyer Jr. confirmed the street ar o d sh t down as early as November 15 if it doesn’t get the requested money. “This decision was not made lightly,” he said in a written statement. Meyer claims the cash infusion would let the trolley roll out its third car seven days a week and operate at its full potential for the first time. “It will allow us to reach our full capacity and put us on track to deliver the service and achieve the goals we originally planned for,” Meyer said. Page says in his letter he wouldn’t support spending the money unless other stakeholders, such as the city, kick in cash as well. But age says tro ey o ia s aim the city is not interested. n
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tephen Martines, a former heart-throb actor on the soap opera General Hospital, is striking out on a new career as a solo country artist, complete with impressivesounding Nashville credentials. The St. Louis native is also accused by multiple women of using them for loans he never payed back (among other alleged abuses) — but he’d rather not talk about that part of things. Those allegations, revealed in an award-winning Riverfront Times story by reporter Robert Langellier, described how Martines spent years courting and exploiting women he’d met through online dating. In some cases, the women made loans in the thousands, and sometimes tens-of-thousands, with none of it repaid. In other cases, the women who dated Martines claimed their relationships with the dazzling Hollywood star became abusive.
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However, two years after RFT first do mented the i arre tangle of alleged fraud and betrayal around Martines, the actor’s pivot to country music — which includes the banjo-heavy summer jam “Alright” released in May — has taken him back to the t. o is area, spe ifi a y the modest venue at Sky Music Lounge in Ballwin. o, s e to say that artines isn’t tearing up a stadium with Garth Brooks. But in a press release announcing an October 12 show, the soap-star-turned-alleged-scammer-turned-countryartist is described only in the most glowing of terms. According to his bio, Martines is a “singer/songwriter/ actor” who was recognized for his ta ents e en efore finding stardom in Hollywood, including being drafted to play professional soccer for Kansas City’s MLS team and embarking on “a successful stint as a nationallyrecognized model.” “Along the way,” the press release continues, “[Martines’] passion for songwriting called him to Nashville where he became a songwriter in the Warner-Chappell stable. This contact gave him the opportunity to write and hone his craft with mega-talents like Jon Nite, Ross Copperman, Jay Brunswick, Nicole Gallyon, Josh Hoge, Josh Dunne and Brandon Ray, just to name a few.” Of course, the press release doesn’t mention the women Martines is accused of using for free loans, or the grieving Continued on pg 11
Stephen Martines has been accused of conning multiple women for money. | CONTRIBUTED
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Embezzler Admits $3.8 Million Scam
STEPHEN MARTINES Continued from pg 9
Written by
DOYLE MURPHY
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ard-partying executive Bryan Vonderahe will have to turn over his pricey SUVs and Kirkwood McMansion after admitting he embezzled $3.8 million from the waterbed, mattress and real estate company where he worked for more than decade. The 45-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court to three felony counts of wire fraud. As part of the plea, he’ll have to forfeit a GMC Acadia Denalia, a Range Rover Sport and his house at 1943 Windy Hill Road, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He also faces a maximum prison sentence of twenty years for each felony and will have to repay the stolen money. Vonderahe made a salary about $90,000 per year as the chief financial officer for the Boyd Group, the parent company for Royal Waterbeds, the Bedroom Store and other brands. But investigators discovered Vonderahe had been illegally supplementing his income for years by writing himself roughly 500 checks from his employer’s accounts.
Bryan Vonderahe, shown in a 2016 mugshot, skimmed money from his employer’s accounts. | COURTESY MARYLAND HEIGHTS POLICE He used some of the money to vacation in Florida, ski in Breckenridge, Colorado, and gamble in Las Vegas. In the St. Louis region, he spent big at the Casino Queen on the east side (investigators uncovered a $2,000 withdrawal at the casino) and drove drunkenly enough to rack up four convictions for driving under the influence. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hal Goldsmith and Kyle Bateman. n
father who claims the actor took him for $15,000 by fraudulently promising to develop a book project about the blue-collar dad’s dead son. However, these accusations were apparently not mysteries to Chuck Bonano, the managing partner of 40West Records. During a conference call with a reporter, Bonano acknowledged that the 2018 RFT story on Martines was “very damaging” and asked that any interview with Martines stick to music. When RFT persisted in questioning Martines about the allegations of fraud and harassment, the call was terminated. t s not the first time that artines has declined to address the allegations against him directly. He also dodged calls from KSDK, which ran its own follow-up story on the saga in March 2018. The KSDK story featured a St. Louis woman who had taken out a restraining order on Martines after he allegedly locked her in a garage, threw golf clubs at her and fraudulently started a $46,000 line of credit in her name.
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Not everything about Martines is a lie. But while his acting credits — including roles on Guiding Light, Supernatural and Burn Notice — are well documented, less so are the claims in the press release’s bio. For instance: The website for Warner-Chappell Music does not list Martines’ name in its online list of songwriters, and a Nashvillebased representative contacted Wednesday told RFT he was not allowed to comment on employee status. And while Martines did in fact play soccer for the Webster University Gorloks in 1995, the press release’s claim that he was “drafted into MLS for the Kansas City Wizards” prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1998 appears to be refuted by the team’s draft history. A spokesman for the team — which is now named Sporting Kansas ity onfirms that no p ayer by Martines’ name was drafted during the two seasons the team existed prior to 1998. It’s one more strange note in the already very strange story of Martines. For the full telling of that tale, check out Langellier’s 2018 cover, “The Pool Repairman and the Hollywood Hustle.” n
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JOSHUA ROWAN travels to places few others see by making choices few others make BY DOYLE MURPHY
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tranded near the northern tip of Alaska, Joshua Rowan knew what he had to do. “I stripped down to my boxers and a T-shirt, in the Arctic, fully expecting what was about to happen,” the 44-year-old recalls. “Luckily, it went relatively quick.” He had been lured astray by a herd of musk oxen. Rowan, a longtime St. Louis photographer and artist who spends months at a time traveling and living out of a high-top van, had in the previous days followed a desolate Alaskan road called the Dalton Highway to its northern terminus near the unincorporated oil town
of Deadhorse. He was now on his way back south, eager to make it through the mountains before the late summer snows could trap him uncomfortably close to the Arctic Ocean for the winter. He had seen reindeer, caribou and grizzly bears on the trip, but the otherworldly sight of the shaggy-haired musk oxen per-
suaded him to pull over and grab his camera. It had been a while since he had spotted any of the tractor-trailers that are the main travelers of the Dalton, hauling oil alongside the Trans-Alaskan ipe ine ystem. o an fig red it o d e fine to ea e his m d caked Ford Transit parked on the road and walk down the slope from the highway into the tundra for a better view. “Sure enough, inside of a minute, here comes this eighteen-wheeler, great big oil truck,” he says. He hopped back behind the wheel of the Ford and tried to edge off the road to make room, but quickly felt the van sliding down the steep shoulder. Continued on pg 14
Clouds crash and pour over the ridges of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. | JOSHUA ROWAN
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A group of peaks in Canada’s Banff National Park caught Rowan’s eye. He thinks of them as somewhere between “three kings” and “curmudgeonly old men...watchers of the fields.” | JOSHUA ROWAN
JOSHUA ROWAN Continued from pg 12
“The more I tried to get back onto the road, the more it was slipping down off the road into the boggy tundra,” Rowan says. “I’m like, ‘Crap, let’s hope somebody comes along before too long.’” He was in luck. After a short wait, another tractor-trailer stopped to help. The driver instantly recognized the problem and set a o t finding a to hain. Rowan’s task was to crawl down in the muck and somehow get far enough under the sunken van to find a p a e on the frame to hook the chain. It was messy, and he did not want to ruin any more clothes than necessary. After stripping down to the essentials, he went to work. “I got like half of my face and the back of my head down in this mud to get up underneath my vehicle, and I’m just so freaking dirty, but we got it right back up on the road ithin ike fi e min tes,” o an
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says. “But it was about a day and a half from anywhere to get to wash off properly, so I just had to have a half face of mud going back up over the mountains.” He tells the story on a recent afternoon in the comparatively bland surroundings of a Panera Bread in Fairview Heights, Illinois. He has been home a few weeks and will leave in three days for Scotland. He is dressed simply t ni e y in a gray flanne and dark jeans. His longish salt-andpepper hair is pulled back. The resta rant dining room is fi ed with the low din of a couple dozen other customers. Over the years, Rowan has begun executing a plan that lets him spend less and less time in places like this and more time in the wilder spaces of this country and others. The goa , simp ified, is to travel more. He would like to spend as much as half of his life on the road. There remain practical challenges to making that happen, but he is making progress. He has twice driven the length
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of the southern border wall to see and document the land and communities there in case the president gets his way, and they are separated by a matte black wall. He has walked among the ethereal rock formations of Goblin Valley, photographed motorcycles ilminated in the fl ores ent g o of a pool hall in the Dominican Republic and captured the ghostly green light of Icelandic nights. Lots of people dream of doing this, and probably have ever since the majority of humanity gave up the nomad life and settled down. They feel the wanderlust and imagine ranging freely across the land, but they do not actually go. They have car payments and mortgages, o es here they are expected and children to drop off at school. Rowan, who is not so different from them, can detect their yearning in their reactions to the photos he posts online from his travels. What is it that makes him go, and the rest of us stay? “I heard from more people on this trip than I ever did before
that I could just tell they were tired of their jobs, they were tired of relationships, they were tired of whatever system or situation they had built up for themselves,” Rowan says, sitting in a corner of Panera. “They were looking for something new and looking for something more, and thought I could give them some sort of piece of advice to make their life better. And I don’t know what that is.”
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hen he was a kid growing up in rural southern Illinois, Rowan and his family did not travel. “We never really went anywhere,” he says. A subscription to National Geographic was about as close as he came to seeing anything more exotic than St. Louis. He remembers that his uncles once took a cross-country motorcycle trip. He did not have any experience with anything like that, but he knew they were out exploring in a place that was different from southern Illinois.
The saguaros of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument stand tall beside the road that runs between Lukeville, Arizona, and Puerto Penasco, Mexico. | JOSHUA ROWAN
Joshua Rowan’s home office away from home: a rugged and well-traveled Ford van. | DOYLE MURPHY “One of them had taken a Polaroid camera with them, and they showed me this photo of a mountain,” he says. “I know that somewhere that ended up resonating through me. I don’t remember consciously going, ‘When I grow up, I want to take that trip and see that
mountain or go chase that thing down,’ but just that one little act planted a seed somewhere in me.” However, it still would be years before it grew into anything more. After a short stint in community college, Rowan became a tattoo artist. He had always been inter-
ested in art, and tattooing spoke to his creative impulses. He developed a particular talent for creating “flash,” the designs that shops post on their walls for customers to consider before committing ink to skin. In his twenties, Rowan moved to St. Louis and worked at shops around the city where his coworkers were a crop of other ambitious artists. “We were all drawing our butts off and making flash,” he says. The reasons he first started to branch out to other cities are a little hazy. A slight competitive streak may have had something to do with it, but he says he was motivated primarily by the need to make some quick cash. He recalls wanting some extra money to take a girlfriend on an outing at one point and scrambling to cover a tax bill at another. Traveling was just the means to an end. Whatever the reason, he took a quick trip to Florida in the early 2000s, carrying a sheaf of his work in hopes of selling designs to tattoo shops there. He was not
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sure what to expect. “It was scary,” he says. “Tattoo people are scary sometimes.” Ultimately, however, they were fellow artists — and they liked his work. “I found out I could take off and drive around the country and spend a couple days dive-bombing tattoo shops ... get a chunk of money in my pocket and then disappear for a couple of week out in national parks,” he says. That is how he started traveling. In 2003, he managed to stay out on the road for three months, traveling up the West Coast from San Diego to Seattle with pit stops at Kinko’s or FedEx stores to make more copies of his artwork to sell in shops. “Really, by the time you’re out for a month, you notice something is happening to you. You’ve really settled into the ways and the mode of what traveling and being out there requires.” In the beginning, Rowan had many of the same tethers that keep
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Repairmen attend to a section of the border wall near Naco, Arizona. | JOSHUA ROWAN
JOSHUA ROWAN Continued from pg 15
most people from straying too far from home. But he has slowly, consciously stripped much of that away. He no longer tattoos. It did not make sense to keep a chair at a shop if he was going to be gone much of the time. He initially shifted entirely to freelance design and illustration work. Along ith the flash he so d at shops and through a catalogue company (he estimates he had designs in fully half of the tattoo parlors in the United States at one point), he maintained a roster of maybe 40 clients for whom he drew posters or labels or whatever was needed. He could do a lot of the work on the road, but it also required an incredible amount of coordination. In 2012, he started illustrating and designing on a contract basis for 4 Hands Brewing Co. The St. Louis beermaker was looking for someone with a tattoo artist’s flair, and o an as that g y. o
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have seen his work if you’ve ever picked up a 4 Hands can or bottle. Among the dozens of beer designs are little chocolate peanut butter monsters for the Absence of Light stout, a grinning skull for a red IPA called Snake Oil and midway performers advertising the brewer’s annual Lupulin Carnival. It soon turned into enough work that he could pull back from the chaos of handling dozens of ients. t simp ified things, and that made it possible to travel more. These incremental steps get him closer to his goal. He makes a change, which frees up time and resources to travel. He makes another change and travels a little more. He calculates that in the past four years he has spent a total of one year on the road. His newest strategy is selling $12 monthly subscriptions to books of his travel photos. They are about the same thickness as a National Geographic, and he imagines a collection of them building up on bookshelves, just as the yellow spines of the magazines had in his youth. Ideally, he would travel
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and then return home to ship a new edition every two months. He is not there yet, but he can imagine it.
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t times in his traveling life, Rowan had thought a lot about going to Mexico for different projects. But he worried about safety. Much of the news coming out of the country focused on gangs and fearsome cartels, highlighting kidnappings and murders. The reported violence loomed in his mind until one day he was driving a Missouri highway and noticed a blinking sign warning people to buckle their seat belts, because hundreds of people had died in crashes that year. He wondered why he worried so little about driving that road where people were killed at an alarming rate and worried so much about Mexico, where the odds of anything happening to him were actually far less. “This wave of realization come over me,” he says. That simple reframing persuad-
ed him to fina y make the trips he had put off. In May 2017, he drove the so thern order for the first time from the Gulf of Mexico to the a ifi ean, passing thro gh eighteen border towns as he zigagged for fi e eeks a k and forth between the United States and Mexico. He found scenes different than any he had heard about — farmlands that extended across the line, rafting companies along the io rande for re reationa float trippers, impenetrable canyons. In some stretches, he was stopped three or four times per day by border agents who were suspicious of a guy driving deserted back roads in a large van, he says. “More times than not, whenever the border guards realized that I was telling the truth and I was down there to do just what I told them I was doing, they were up for talking about places along their routes that they knew of that might not be on the map or I might not be aware of that I might want to go photograph,” he says. He made the drive again the
North of Terrace, British Columbia, along the Nisga’a Highway toward the Native American reservation town of New Aiynash, the waters of the Drowned Forest glow bright blue with glacial runoff. | JOSHUA ROWAN next year, in November 2018, when talk of a migrant “caravan” dominated the news. He went expecting to see razor wire being installed, troops converging and onfli t. “I traveled the entire border and saw none of that,” Rowan says. Instead, he found a quieter, calmer reality and left with a sense that the supposed crisis had been mostly manufactured and that trying to wall off the two countries was a “ridiculous idea.” It also reminded him that we can scare ourselves away from chasing a dream. He applies a simple test: “The ultimate question is, ‘Am I going to die from trying to live this other way that all the forces are telling me are stacked up against me?’ More than likely not,” he says. “I might have to downgrade to a smaller car or lose some sort of comfort in my life, but ultimately I’m not going to die. Everything should be fine, right o hy not try it ”
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eventeen or eighteen years have passed since Rowan’s first trip to orida to se flash. n that time, he has changed his life so fundamentally that he feels more natural living out of his van than he does staying still in St. Louis. He is not fully nomadic. He still feels the pull of seeing family and friends throughout the St. Louis region and southern Illinois, and he builds his trips around rough outlines that have a natural conclusion — drive the Dalton Highway to its end, follow the southern border from east to west. (“You have a reason to go, but you also have a reason to come back.”) And although he says he is tota y fine ogging days at a time without seeing anyone — without even hearing the sound of his own voice — he has noticed changes in his behavior that suggest a creeping loneliness somewhere in his subconscious. e finds himse f ingering at gas station counters, conversing a little longer in grocery store lines while re-stocking his supplies and chatting up the occasional stranger he
meets while hiking in the woods and mo ntains. e fina y ga e p his apartment of eight years in the ArtLofts downtown a few months ago, but now his thoughts drift to buying a place to establish more of a home base. He wonders whether he i find a re ationship gi en this lifestyle, or if that will always be a tradeoff for his compulsive wandering. Still, the alternative of staying in one place long enough to become rooted once again feels intolerable. “I actually physically ache if I go too long without seeing a mountain,” he says. On this latest stretch at home, staying in a converted horse barn on his family’s land in southern Illinois, he has struggled with something almost like withdrawal from the landscapes he ingested on his latest trip to Alaska and British Columbia. “It was so majestically beautiful. I’m surprised I didn’t see a unicorn, you know, some of the places I was on, because it was so overwhelmingly beautiful on a day-today basis, seeing these incredible
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places every single day,” he says, sitting in the corner of the Panera. “All of a sudden you have to come home, and yo find yo rse f st kind of sitting inside, and there’s no more places to go and nothing to do like that. To me, it got me a little bit. Several times, if there wasn’t certain obligations I had, I would have just packed up and left again.” His van is outside in the parking lot. The Ford is his third van after a couple of Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, and maybe you would expect it to look like the photos from those #vanlife Instagram accounts, like a little cabin designed by Ikea. But it just looks like a work truck. He has a repurposed restaurant booth bench and a litt e s are ta e ith a amo flage o e hair. sma nk stret hes across the back with a little bit of room for gear beneath it. He has a hot plate, but no kitchen. There is no running water. And yet, it feels as much like home as anything in his life right now. “Give me twenty minutes,” he says, “and I’m on the road for a month.” n
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BY PAUL FRISWOLD lifestyles) but a whole lot of singing about hotness and being brave enough to live out your dreams. Oh, and not to be too spoilery about a 40-plus-year-old movie, but Meatloaf fans: His name is taken very literally here. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is shown at 11:55 p.m. Friday and Saturday (October 18 to 26) at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www. landmarktheatres.com) as part of the Reel Late series. The Samurai Electricians return to perform the essential role of “shadow cast,” which recreates the movie while it screens. Tickets are $11.
THURSDAY 10/17 Get It Out The Q Collective’s Coming Out Play Festival invites playwrights to explore the myriad ways the LGBTQ community reveals their true selves to friends, family and strangers. This year’s plays include the story of a closeted young man on the fence about telling his grandmother the truth about himself (“Catching Lemons”); a woman coming out to her woman’s group (“1Like Summer on the ea h” and a fi tiona girlfriend becoming a real person (“The Home for Retired Canadian Girlfriends”). The Coming Out Play Festival takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday (October 17 to 20) at the Monocle (4510 Manchester Avenue; theqcollective.theater). Tickets are $20 to $75.
An Artful Opening
FRIDAY 10/18 Sight Unseen Cayce Zavaglia’s artworks appear to be hyper-realistic painted portraits when viewed from a distance; it’s only when you move closer that you realize that they’re embroidered. Zavaglia eventually noticed that the backside of each work contained a second portrait, one whose knotted and blurred features were just as beautiful and perhaps more psychologically interesting than the front. Recently she’s returned to her roots as a painter by recreating these “hidden faces” in painted portraits. Unseen, a solo exhibition of Zavaglia’s work in both paint and embroidery, goes on display at the William Shearburn Gallery (665 South Skinker Boulevard; www. shearburngallery.com) on Friday, October 18. The show opens with a free reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Unseen remains on display through November 27.
Factional John D’Agata is a literary essayist whose latest piece is a magazine article — more of a classicist’s ru-
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Rachel Ruysch, Dutch, 1664–1750, Still Life with Flowers, 1709. oil on canvas. 30 × 25 3/16 inches. Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. mination, perhaps — on the Las Vegas suicide of a teenager. The problem is his fact-checker, Jim Fingal, who insists on precision of language and detail. D’Agata’s not interested in details; he’s trying to convey the sweep of symbolism inherent in the death of a young man in Sin City. Through emails and eventually in person, both men wage what is increasingly a very personal war over language, intention and fact. Can facts be molded to better get at D’Agata’s meaning? Is the truth of anything in fa t antifia e and an it be done on a very tight deadline? Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell’s comic play The Lifespan of a Fact is about the struggle to get the truth in print, a feat made more di t by that peculiar habit of men, taking all criticism as an attack. The Repertory Theatre St. Louis pres-
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ents The Lifespan of a Fact Tuesday through Sunday (October 18 to November 10) at the LorettoHilton Center (130 Edgar Road; www.repstl.org). Tickets are $20 to $94.50.
SATURDAY 10/19 There’s a Light Would Halloween even happen if The Rocky Horror Picture Show didn’t screen in the Delmar Loop? Richard O’Brien’s immortal love story tells the tale of decent American couple Brad and Janet (a couple of squares) who break down on the road and seek help at the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter on the same night he’s about to bring his greatest, most virile creation to life. There’s very little horror (uness yo re terrified y a ternati e
For fourteen years now, Open Studios STL has arranged for tours of working artists’ studios in order to demystify the art-making process. This year more than 120 artists are participating in Open Studios Weekend, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (October 19 and 20). Saturday is reserved for artists west of Grand Boulevard and Sunday is for everything east of Grand, although some artists participate both days. Artists will answer questions, discuss their methods and in some cases sell their work directly to interested parties. (Many will also be working on something, because to work is the nature of an artist.) Maps of the studios that are open are available at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard), and online at openstudios-stl.org. Admission is free.
SUNDAY 10/20 Let’s Go Dutch The Netherlands gained independence from Spain during the brutal and grueling 80 Years War, which was followed by the Dutch Golden Age. Its ports, wind power and sailing prowess kind ed a finan ia engine that po ered the new country into the forefront of banking and trade; and with that windfall of money came the rise of the Dutch school of portrait painters. Rembrandt
WEEK OF OCTOBER 17-23
Emmylou, 2019. Hand embroidery. | CAYCE ZAVAGLIA van Rijn, Frans Hals and Aeltje Uylenburgh all created masterpieces in this period of prosperity. Dutch Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt, the new exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive; www.slam. org), showcases 70 paintings on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that demonstrate the Dutch mastery of portraiture, landscape and genre painting (paintings depicting stories with a moral). The exhibit opens
Sunday, October 20, and remains on display through January 12. Tickets are $6 to $15 (but free on Friday), and the museum is open every day except Monday and major holidays.
TUESDAY 10/22 You Will Be Found Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s musical Dear Evan Hansen caused a
The musical Dear Evan Hansen starts at the Fox this Tuesday. | MATTHEW MURPHY, 2019
national stir on Broadway, thanks to its ultra-contemporary plot. Evan Hansen is a high schooler with social anxiety being raised by his working mom, who’s rarely at home. When a pep-talk letter he wrote to himself ends up in the pocket of a fellow student who commits suicide, Evan becomes involved with the grieving family. This gets him closer to Zoe, his longtime crush who’s also the younger sister of the deceased. A white lie he tells to comfort the boy’s parents spins out of control but also brings him closer to Zoe. Of course, Evan also is throwing out more lies all the time to keep his story afloat, and he s doomed to come back to the truth eventually. The Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; www.fabulousfox. com) presents Dear Evan Hansen at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday (October 22 to November 3). Tickets are $45 to $150.
WEDNESDAY 10/23 Shady Times Pete Souza has worked as a photojournalist, shot for National Geographic and Life, and has been the hief o ia hite o se photographer for former President Barack Obama, but he’s currently most popular for his weaponsgrade trolling of Donald Trump on his personal Instagram. Souza’s mockery relies on his large stash of Obama photos, which he repurposes with cutting captions that underline the differences in governing style, humility and humanity between Obama and Trump. If you’re wondering, Trump doesn’t look very good in comparison. These photographic arguments formed the basis of Souza’s book Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents. The paperback edition has 60 new pages of Souza’s commentary on Michael Cohen, Brett Kavanaugh and the immigration crisis. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 23, Left Bank Books presents Pete Souza at the Grandel (3610 Grandel Square; www.left-bank.com) with the new edition of Shade. The event requires tickets ($22.13) and comes with a signed copy of the book. n
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Black Cat Ball:
Pride St. Charles hosts a drag show, creepy costume contest, silent auction and dancing. 21+, advance tickets $31, $40 at the door. Fri., Oct. 25, 7-11 p.m., info@pridestcharles.org, www.pridestcharles.org/black-cat-ball. Memorial Hall, Blanchette Park, 1900 W. Randolph St., St. Charles.
Boo-Lesque Halloween Burlesque Show: The Boom Boom Bombshells bring your favorite Halloween characters to life at this burlesque show. Wear your best costume and compete for fun prizes. A Top 40 dance party follows the show. Thu., Oct. 31, 9-11:59 p.m., $20. 314436-7000, www.theboomboomroomstl.com. The Boom Boom Room, 500 N. 14th St, St. Louis.
Cedar Lake Cellars’ Halloween Party in the Barrel Tomb: The evening features DJ Rob Cutler in the winery’s Barrel Room and prizes for costume and dance contests. Fri., Oct. 25, 7-10 p.m., free to those 21 years of age and older, 636745-9500, www.cedarlakecellars.com. Cedar Lake Cellars, 11008 Schreckengast Road, Wright City.
The Creepshow Peepshow Festival: The biggest and brightest spooky shows in town are collaborating on this city’s first Halloween festival with Boolesque Bingo, Theatre Undead, The Devil’s Cabaret, Little Bo’s Creepshow & Greta’s Gory-Hole. It’s one giant weekend of burlesque, drag, pole, bellydance and variety acts. Thu., Oct. 17, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.; Fri., Oct. 18, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.; Sat., Oct. 19, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., $20-$45, 314621-6900, booking@crackfoxbar.com. The Crack Fox, 1114 Olive St.
Creepyworld: America’s longest haunted Screampark features thirteen haunted attractions, including the new Brigantine Asylum and the Monster Midway. Ride the haunted hayride through the scariest neighborhood in town. Zombie Axe Throwing, Zombie Paintball, a Tomb Escape, corn mazes and haunted houses. Hours and days vary, $25, CreepyWorld, S. Old Highway 141 and 13th St., Fenton, 314-631-8000. Continued on pg 4
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HALLOWEEN
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The Darkness Haunted House: Named America’s Scariest Haunted House, the two-story haunt is filled with high-tech scenes and live monsters. Multiple attractions include the new Horror Party Room with horror-themed arcades, pinballs, electric chair, three-minute escape room, Zombie-themed haunt The Hive and the Outdoor Scare Zone and monster selfies. Hours, days and prices vary, www. scarefest.com. The Darkness, 1525 S. Eighth St., 314-631-8000.
The Forgotten: Leverage Dance Theater invites audiences to follow the performers during an immersive dance experience through the mazes, hallways and stairwells of the Intersect Arts Center. Audience members are encouraged to dress in theme for the Halloweeninspired show, preferably in something black, dark, creepy or decaying. Thu., Oct. 24, 7 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 25, 7 & 9 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 26, 7 & 9 p.m.; Thu., Oct. 31, 7 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 1, 7 & 9 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 2, 9 p.m., $25-$35. Intersect Arts Center, 3630 Ohio St.
The Legendary CWE Halloween: Festivities kick off with daytime activities for the whole family. The party continues as the sun sets with an adults-only bash and costume contest, featuring $6,000 in cash and prizes. Sat., Oct. 26, 11 a.m.-11:59 p.m., free, 314-305-4012, www.cwehalloween.com. Euclid and Maryland avenues.
Locked In: Craft Beer Cellar’s Halloween Party is an adults-only lock in. Imbibe on unlimited draft beers. If you leave, there’s no coming back. Admission includes three hours of unlimited pours, chances to win cool merch and giveaways, as well as games, scary movies and spooky surprises! Costumes and snacks encouraged! Tickets available online and in store. Sat., Oct. 26, 10p.m. - 1 a.m., $30, 314-2220333, craftbeercellar.com. Craft Beer Cellar South City, 5760 Chippewa St.
Magic, Mystics & Mayhem: Join the vintage soiree at Mad Art Gallery and party in the jail cells of an old haunted police station with 3 Girls in the Dark, your favorite local paranormal team! Free parking across from venue. Appetizers, drink specials and multiple DJs. Cashprize costume contest. Readings by Big Cat Tarot. $15 pre-sale tickets available now! Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., $20, 314-771-8230, info@madart.com. Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St. Masked Halloween Ball: The Masked Halloween Ball is a multimedia omnielectric party experiment in real/past/future times. HEARding Cats Collective artists will design a cohesive experience and platform for live sound and video improvisation. Video process-
ing, recording and projecting will use the costumed attendees as subject matter. It is vital to the event’s success that you wear your most elaborate and otherworldly costumes. Admission is free for those in costumes. Sun., Oct. 27, 8 p.m., $10-$20, 314-436-3325. William A. Kerr Foundation, 21 O’Fallon St.
Soulard Hayride Pub Crawl: The crawl features horsedrawn hayride trailers and tractor-drawn trailers ready to take you through Soulard. Twenty-two establishments will offer drink or food specials to the participants. Half the proceeds after cost will be donated to the St. Louis Area Food Bank. Hayrides run from 6 to 10 p.m., but the crawl goes all night! Thu., Oct. 24, 6-11:59 p.m., $15, 314-436-3045, GreatGrizzlySTL@gmail.com. Nadine’s Gin Joint, 1931 S. 12th St.
Spookapalooza: The Cherokee Street pub crawl includes over 60 perfomances through the day and night at multiple venues and features productions by Farfetch and Nightchaser ($10 at the door, $5 with wristband). Limited tickets. VIP tickets include complimentary karaoke, food and beverages at Artist Art (3-9 p.m.). Sat., Oct. 26, 3-11:59 p.m., $15 - $25, 636-3461764, mammothmandp@gmail.com. Cherokee Street, Lemp Ave. and Cherokee St., St. Louis. Storm Area 314 Halloween Party: Join the crowd at Ballpark Village for the biggest Halloween party in the galaxy presented by Johnnie Brock’s Dungeon. Over 2,000 people plan to storm Area 314 as UFO-BPV lands in the heart of downtown. Orbit around five venues. Live entertainment by Breakdown Shakedown band and DJ Nune, with an epic costume contest, offering $7,000 in cash and prizes, hosted by Todd Thomas! Sat., Oct. 26, 7 p.m., $10-$35. 314-345-9481. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave.
Urban Chestnut Presents Nosferatu: Enjoy this cult classic with live musical accompaniment by the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra and food & beer specials, including Count Orlok, Urban Chestnut’s Black Pumpkin Wheat Ale, as well as a few other surprises! Free, family-friendly event. The movie will begin after sunset. Wed., Oct. 23, 6-10 p.m., free, 314222-0143, events@urbanchestnut. com, urbanchestnut.com. Urban Chestnut Midtown Brewery & Biergarten, 3229 Washington Ave.
Witch Please!:
GutterGlitter is celebrating queer and trans babes that this society hasn’t been able to burn. Bring your coven, or come stag! Just be ready to party at this underground, queer dance party. Basics are subject to a $15 up charge; come in costume! Fri., Oct. 25, 9 p.m.-3 a.m., $5-$15, 314-6216900, gutterglittertillyoudie@gmail.com. The Crack Fox, 1114 Olive St. n
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FILM [REVIEW]
The Puppet Master Roy Cohn counseled America’s most self-serving politicians, even after death Written by
ROBERT HUNT Where’s My Roy Cohn? Directed by Matt Tyrnauer. Opens Friday, October 18, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cine.
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ow would Roy Cohn react if he knew that one of his greatest claims to posthumous fame would come as a character in Tony Kushner’s award-winning play Angels in America? Would the man who never shied away from a television camera still believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity, or would he be shocked and enraged by the depiction of his battle with AIDS (which led to his death in 1986) and his homosexuality, which he always denied? Angels in America isn’t mentioned in Matt Tyrnauer’s Where’s My Roy Cohn?, but it’s a minor omission. His theatrical afterlife aside, the fi m is a thoro gh, informative portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most repellent political footnotes. It’s a story about political events both distant (the Red Scare and the McCarthy era) and relatively recent (the sexual politics of the ’70s and ’80s), and the rise of a certain carrot-hued e ork rea estate on man figures prominently as well. If you’re interested in postwar history, you on t find a etter or more oncise account of Cohn’s power and infl en e in meri an po iti s. It’s a strange story spanning several decades and historic moments, with Cohn lurking in the sidelines as a malevolent force. He was born into a well-off fami y sed to e erting infl en e His mother was considered a less than desirable matrimonial partner, but her family promised a prominent attorney that if mar-
Good friends Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn during the 1950s. | © 2018 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ried her, he’d be named a judge. e did and as. ohn first attracted attention, just out of law school, as one of the more aggressive prosecutors in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg spy case. Despite fla ed dgments and estionable decisions, the Rosenbergs were executed; Cohn bragged about his role in their sentencing for the rest of his life. Moving up the political ladder, a young Cohn was hired as counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy and became a key player in one of the strangest episodes of American history, the Wisconsin senator’s 1954 attempt to take on the U.S. Army with vague accusations of subversion. Cohn had developed a friendship (some say a romance) with fellow antiCommunist G. David Schine, heir to a hotel chain. When Schine was drafted into the army, Cohn badgered military commanders to give his friend special treatment and light duty. When these re ests ere ignored, ohn onvinced McCarthy to open an investigation of the military establishment. The resulting hearings were a grand political spectacle, a media train wreck of threats and innuendo, with rumors of Cohn’s sexuality surreptitiously coming to light. (For a deeper look at the Army-McCarthy clash, see Emile de Antonio’s Point of Order, one of the greatest po iti a fi ms e er made.) Cohn was, by almost all ac-
Roy Cohn was, by almost all accounts, a loathsome human being — one associate recalls that when you saw him, “You knew you were in the presence of evil.” counts, a loathsome human being — one associate recalls that when you saw him, “You knew you were in the presence of evil” — but neither his personality nor his dubious ethics prevented him from rising in society. He was a freent presen e in the gossip o mns, and riefly engaged to arbara Walters. He rose in political circles as well. According to the almost e a y odio s oger tone, ho orked in the same a firm, Cohn’s manipulations were responsible for the 1980 nomination of Ronald Reagan and also helped discredit the vice-presidential bids of Thomas Eagleton in 1972 and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
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It was during the Reagan era that the man whose motto was “Never admit you’re wrong; Never apologize,” fell from grace as rapidly as he had risen. He was disbarred for stealing from clients and coercing a dying and barely conscious man to appoint him as estate executor. His friends — many of whom claim that they always knew he was corrupt — turned away and his career crumbled. If not for his second life in Kushner’s play, Cohn’s death might have pushed him into the shadows of American history. Why, then, is his story worth hearing more than 30 years later? One compelling reason, documented in Tyrna er s fi m, is the ompany he kept. n , ohn a ired a ne client who would become one of his closest friends. That client would also eventually become President of the United States. Donald Trump, along with his father, had been accused of violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to rent apartments to black applicants. Under Cohn’s advice Trump neither apologized nor denied but reached an out-ofcourt settlement and claimed it was a victory. Donald Trump regarded Cohn as a mentor and, despite claiming to have broken ties with him in the ‘80s, still felt his infl en e de ades ater. st t o months into his term, irritated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation of Russian electionmeddling, he allegedly asked his staff, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” One of the many virtues of Tyrnauer’s carefully selected historical footage (which includes the only color images I’ve ever seen of the Rosenbergs and McCarthy) is that e see ohn s fla s and foies firsthand. or a of his gifts for lying and obfuscation, he’s revealed as a remarkably self-aware monster. In a taped interview, he s asked to name his fla s and i k y admits to “a tota fai re to sympathize with the emotional element in life.” Tyrnauer’s fi m is a ski f s mmary of the fla s and the man, as e as of the times he infl en ed and the trouble he raised. It ends with a strong, cautionary message about the reckless and arrogant pursuit of power. Now whom do you suppose that warning is about? n
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[REVIEW]
See It, Feel It Stray Dog’s brilliant Tommy argues for communion in our isolated age Written by
PAUL FRISWOLD The Who’s Tommy Written by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff. Directed by Justin Been. Presented by Stray Dog Theatre through October 26 at the Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; www.straydogtheatre.org). Tickets are $25 to $30.
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irector Justin Been is well aware of the pitfalls in attempting to return to the past. In his program notes for Stray Dog Theatre’s current production of The Who’s Tommy, Been writes that he would “prefer not to return to shows he’s done before,” referring to the 2011 edition of the show he directed for Stray Dog. But Pete Townshend’s rock opera set up shop in his head, and he had to get it out. The urge to compare the earlier production (a steampunk-tinged, sepia-toned look at post-war England that was warm and highly emotional) to this new version is understandable but unfair. All we have now is this Tommy, which is a more intellectual, high-tech and sleek staging of the show. If Been’s creative vision is sharper and more thought out, it’s no less powerful a musical under his direction. The story of a boy who retreats into his own mind for years, and who eventually emerges as a young man who sees every living person as a mira e, fla s and a , is here cut loose from 1950s England and made more universal. Let them among us who has not emotionally retreated from the current world in a time of stress p ay the first game of pin a . Scenic designer Josh Smith helps contemporize the show with his stark white set of columns and walls; set dead center in the stage is the orchestra, who play a large role in the show. Costume designer Eileen Engel dresses the cast in ontemporary a k o tfits piped with neon colors and details, fur-
TOP: Young Tommy (Leo Taghert) is tormented by Cousin Kevin (Tristan Davis). BOTTOM: The ensemble with glowing pinballs. | DAN DONOVAN ther modernizing the setting. Kevin Corpuz is the fully grown Tommy, who appears on an elevated platform before the show even starts. This is his memory of what happens, and as the ensemble arrays itself on stage below, he fades into the darkness. The first fifteen minutes of the show blur by, an unbroken procession of vignettes that show the wedding of Captain and Mrs. Walker (Phil Leveling and Kelly Howe) an air raid and the presumed death of Capt. Walker in war-torn Europe. Been designed the projections, which include footage of paratroopers, a timeline projected on the lip of an overhang and falling snow. This is all aided by audio engineer Jane Wilson’s inspired sound design, which is best described as a cin-
ematic soundtrack. Corpuz haunts the set, moving through his memories and observing as his younger self (played by Alora Marguerite Walsby at age four and Leo Taghert at age ten) witnesses the violent return of his father, an event that traumatizes Tommy into deafness, muteness and blindness. In one stunning scene, Been zooms in on Tommy’s internal world as his mother tries to engage ith him m ed oi es and ashes of stati fi the stage. The ambitious technological element of the show is not without its problems. Music director Jennifer Buchheit and her band do excellent work, but one of the two guitarists seemed to suffer equipment tro e in the first a t, and his playing wasn’t always heard.
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In a guitar-driven show such as Tommy, the loss was evident. Several vocalists sounded like they were straining their voices, or perhaps the strength of their voices strained the headset microphones (Molly Marie Meyer’s searing turn as the Acid Queen rattled my brain; I suspect she’s never needed a microphone in her life). Whatever the reason, there were several instances of distorted high notes. Still, that’s rock & roll (and live theater) for you. The performance highs far outshone the technical issues. Cory Frank’s pervy Uncle Ernie and Tristan Davis’ brutal Cousin Kevin were both highlights, as were Kelly Howe’s increasingly desperate turn as Tommy’s mother. And then there was Kevin Corpuz and Leo Taghert’s joint performance of Tommy. They pass the role between each other, Taghert becoming the ghost in Corpuz’s memory. The younger Tommy watches Corpuz’s jubilant performance of “I’m Free,” as if part of Tommy is still hidden. The fina e of the een s se ond Tommy is essentially unchanged from the first. The ensem e sings “Listening to you, I hear the music/Gazing at you, I get the heat,” as they arrange themselves in the shape of an arrow, Tommy at the point, directed right at the audience. As one, they cease performing and instead sing to the audience directly, completing the circuit. It remains one of the singularly joyous endings in theater, this energy exchange between crowd and cast. No longer are we locked deaf and dumb in our seats — we’re free to join the show. n
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CLUSTER BUSTERS
SEDARASWEETS.COM
CLUSTER-BUSTERS.BUSINESS.SITE
314.532.6508 8011 MACKENZIE RD AFFTON, MO 63123
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
CARNIVORE STL CARNIVORE-STL.COM
314.449.6328 5257 SHAW AVE, ST. LOUIS, MO 63110 Carnivore fills a nearly 4,000-square-foot space on The Hill with a dining area, bar lounge, and adjoining outdoor patio gracefully guarded by a bronze steer at the main entrance. Always embracing change, Joe and Kerri Smugala, with business partners Chef Mike and Casie Lutker, launched Carnivore STL this summer. As the Hill’s only steakhouse, Carnivore offers a homestyle menu at budget-friendly prices appealing to the neighborhood’s many families. Steak, of course, takes center stage with juicy filet mignon, top sirloin, strip steak and ribeye leading the menu. Customize any of the succulent meats with sautéed mushrooms, grilled shrimp, or melted housemade butters, such as garlic-and-herb and red wine reduction, on top of the flame-seared steak. Other main dishes include a thick-cut pork steak (smoked at J. Smugs) and the grilled chicken with capers and a white wine-lemon-butter sauce. St. Louis Italian traditions get their due in the Baked Ravioli, smothered in provel cheese and house ragu, and in the Arancini, risotto balls stuffed with provel and swimming in a pool of meat sauce. With an exciting new brunch menu debuting for Saturday and Sunday, Carnivore should be everyone’s new taste of the Hill.
BLKMKTEATS.COM
314.328.3421 6730 PAGE AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63138
314.391.5100 9 S. VANDEVENTER AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63108
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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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!
BLK MKT EATS
CRAWLING CRAB
26
314.833.5900 8 S EUCLID AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63108 314.553.9440 6316 DELMAR BLVD UNIVERSITY CITY, MO 63130
OCTOBER 16-22, 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
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[REVIEW]
Family Afar Regional Thai fare shines at Chao Baan Written by
CHERYL BAEHR Chao Baan 4087 Chouteau Avenue, 314-925-8250. Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m.; Sat. noon-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m.; Sun. 5-9 p.m.
C
hao Baan should not exist — at least no more than a combination south Florida/ Cuban lunch counter meets New England clam chowder shack should exist. If you’re the average American diner, this most likely will not register, but as co-owner Shayn Prapaisilp explains it, there is no reason such diverse regional cuisines are offered on the same menu; they coexist at Chao Baan because his parents happened to fall in love in Chicago many decades ago. Prapaisilp says his father, Suchin, moved to St. Louis from the far-southern part of Thailand in the 1970s and, not long after he arrived, opened Jay International Food Corp market on South Grand Avenue. Suchin regularly traveled to Chicago to purchase product for his store, and over the course of his trips there, his path would cross with that of Prapaisilp’s mother, Sue, who had moved to the Windy City from northern Thailand. The two fell in love, married and settled in St. Louis, where they opened the King and I on South Grand in 1981. Back then, their restaurant was the only Thai eatery in town, so the Prapaisilps designed the place to be accessible to Midwesterners who were trying the cuisine of the couple’s home and for the first time. This meant a menu heavily reliant on Chinese-American staples and approachable dishes from central Thailand, the region that popularized such mainstays as pad Thai and pad see ew and has gone on to be a template for what most American diners associate with Thai cuisine.
Spiciness features heavily on the menu, such as in the khao tod nam sod, given extra complexity with curry paste. | MABEL SUEN The Prapaisilp family enjoyed tremendous success with the King and I and Jay International and eventually went on to open Global Foods Market, United Provisions and Oishi Sushi and Steakhouse. Their talent in the local food industry was well known in town, so when the developers of the brandnew Chroma development in the ro e ere ooking to fi their restaurant space, they reached out to Prapaisilp to see if his family would be one of the tenants. The developer — as well as Prapaisilp’s mom and dad — had in mind a King and I 2.0 of sorts. Prapaisilp, however, approached the opportunity differently. He’d always wanted to showcase the food that his family cooked and ate at home, a fusion of northern and southern Thai representing the esser kno n regiona fla ors of the country’s diverse culinary heritage. He’d seen the St. Louis dining scene embrace more regional and traditiona fla ors o er the past few years, and he thought the time was right to take a chance. Although his parents were extremely nervous about the idea, they let him take the lead on the project to
realize his dream. Chao Baan, which means “of the people” in Thai, opened in June in the mixed-use Chroma building near the intersection of Chouteau and Sarah on the eastern side of the Grove. The restaurant space was sleek and industrial before the Prapaisilps took it over; with the help of SPACE Architecture + Design, they were able to create an environment that honors the contemporary feel of the room while still feeling warm. The vibe is sophisticated and features blonde wood tables and banquettes, gray-blue walls and striking basket-like chandeliers that cast a warm glow over the dining room. The gleaming open kitchen runs along the back of the restaurant, and a small bar area serves as an intimate cocktail lounge toward the front. Prapaisilp’s mother and father may have been unsure about how their traditional (and, at times, breathtakingly spicy) dishes would be received, but they need not ha e orried. The first ite of the mieng kham green leaf wraps pro ides da ing onfirmation that this is a welcome detour from
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the standard Thai playbook. Sesame ea es, as erdant in fla or as in color, are topped with a mix of dried shrimp and toasted coconut that’s accented with pieces of ime and one s i er of a fiery red chile. When you wrap the mixture in the leaf and bite into it, it’s like fire orks going off in yo r mo th Heat cooled by mouth-puckering lime; brininess softened by toasty coconut; a tamarind dipping sauce that ties everything together with s eetness. The m ange of fla or and texture is positively electric. If the green leaf wraps light up the palate, the Thai pork sausage, sai grog, coats it in a rich blanket. The lemongrass- and chile-perfumed meat is coarsely ground, which allows you to experience the bliss of biting into individual pieces of meat and fat. Outside, the casing is grilled just enough to give it a slight char; its bitterness complements the natural sweetness of the pork. Riblets are another outstanding use of pork at Chao Baan. Here, small, breaded and fried pork nuggets are marinated in soy, garlic and Golden Mountain sauce (a
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PING PONG TABLE • POOL TABLE • BOARD GAMES WEDNESDAY TRIVIA • LIVE MUSIC / DJS 5 DAYS A WEEK
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8 PM AT THE IMPROV SHOP
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CHAO BAAN
Continued from pg 27
Thai sauce made from fermented soybeans), which imbues the meat with umami. The result is an intense, porky fla or that is good on its own, but when paired with the garlic crunchies on the bottom of the plate (think Long John Silver “crumbs,” but not shameful) is otherworldly. Larger plates are equally impressive. Grilled eggplant, glazed in hoisin and garlic, is a masterclass in cooking the vegetable so that it’s softened, but not to the point of becoming mushy. It feels satisfying and decadent when ordered alongside the vibrant yum woon sen, a cold salad of beans, nood es and shrimp e e trified y ime i e, hi es and fish sa e. At once sweet, sour, spicy and funky, the dish leaves your head spinning. And that feeling doesn’t end there. Chao Baan’s beef nam tok, the lime-juice-kissed sliced steak dish, is dusted in toasted rice powder that thickens the citrus glaze, giving it a richer texture than other versions. Pad sataw, a dish consisting of bitter beans, ground pork and shrimp, is intensely
Shayn Prapaisilp’s parents, owners of the King and I, inspired Chao Baan’s menu. | MABEL SUEN spicy, but is balanced with a little emongrass and fish sa e to gi e it a complex — and craveable — fla or. The gaeng kiew green curry
underscores the Prapaisilp family’s ability to hold such different fla or profi es in this ase pungent and soft — in the same bite. Here, tender chicken, mush-
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rooms, green bamboo and green tomatoes bob in a lemongrassscented coconut and green chile roth that seems mi d at first, t sneakily warms the mouth with each additional bite. There is nothing sneaky about the kua kling’s heat. Steak, glazed with a lemongrass-forward curry, has a heat that quickly envelops the entire mo th in fiery spi e. It’s not an abrasive burn, though — more like sitting extra close to a fire rather than thr sting yo r arm into the flames. t i make your nose run and brow sweat, t it s so fla orf , yo on t e able to stop eating it. Prapaisilp admits that just as his parents predicted, he’s gotten a lot of feedback about the spice level. However, contrary to their fears, the response hasn’t been a request to turn down the heat. “They just ask for extra water,” Prapaisilp laughs. Indeed, a dinner at Chao Baan necessitates a bit of a palate cool-down. Yet it’s a small price to pay for one of the most thrilling — and unlikely — Thai experiences in town.
Chao Baan Pork riblets ................................................ $8 Gaeng kiew .............................................. $13 Kua kling (with steak) .............................. $17
OCTOBER 16-22, 2019
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SHORT ORDERS
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[SIDE DISH]
Committed to Giving Back Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
T
ricia Zimmer Ferguson didn’t set out to be in the coffee business, but looking back at her java-fueled youth, she realizes it was probably her destiny. “I have this picture from back when I was in high school with my now-husband, and we both have coffee cups in hand,” Zimmer Ferguson recalls. “He would pick me up for school, and I would have travel cups for us every morning. I’ve been a coffee lover since I was fourteen. So much of what we’ve done has been brought to us by coffee.” As co-owner of the local coffee powerhouse Kaldi’s Coffee (multiple locations including 700 Demun Avenue, Clayton; 314-727-9955), Zimmer Ferguson certainly draws upon her love for brew every day. However, as she explains it, it was her love of business which put her on the path she’s on today. Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Zimmer Ferguson recalls being surrounded by business when she was little, starting with her grandfather and continuing with her father and brother, who were both in the radio business. en tho gh she sa firsthand the struggles that came with owning a business, she knew that was what she wanted to do and pursued it in college. After graduating, she landed a job working for d ard ones in the finan ia services sector, a position that alo ed her to get her finan ia icenses and live in Toronto. Zimmer Ferguson enjoyed her role at Edward Jones and may not have left were it not for a meeting between her husband, Josh Ferguson, and former Kaldi’s owners Suzanne Langlois and Howard Lerner. The three were working together on another business venture, and their conversation switched
Looking back on her java-fueled youth, Tricia Zimmer Ferguson says the coffee business was probably her destiny. | ANDY PAULISSEN toward a potential collaboration between the Fergusons (including Zimmer Ferguson’s father, Don Zimmer, and brother-in-law, John erg son and a di s. t first, anglois and Lerner passed on the idea, but as the four got to know each other, they had a change of heart. “That was an important time in coffee,” Zimmer Ferguson recalls. “People were learning more about it, new places were coming up and the timing was just right. They came back to us and said that they felt our family was different than other people they’d thought about partnering with, and that maybe it was time to work together so we could help them do something bigger and better. We partnered with them, and the rest is history.” That as . n the fifteen years since getting involved with Kaldi’s, Zimmer Ferguson has been a key factor in turning Kaldi’s from a small cafe and roaster into a powerhouse coffee company that has become one of the city’s best-known brands. While those efforts have involved a great deal of expansion, it was important to Zimmer Ferguson that the growth
not come at the expense of the brand’s identity — something she feels she and her team have been able to achieve because of their St. Louis roots and love for the city. “I take a lot of pride in our hometown, am on a lot of local boards and try to stay engaged,” Zimmer Ferguson explains. “At the end of the day, if we are doing this to enefit here e i e, e ha e to make sure we are giving our resources back to the community. All of us feel important about that.” Commitment to giving back has many meanings for Zimmer Ferguson. Creating a positive culture that honors its employees’ growth and development is something she takes every bit as seriously as the coffee part of the job — if not more. She is also especially proud of the relationships Kaldi’s has built with coffee farmers around the globe and the company’s commitment to ethical and sustainable farming practices. As she sees it, a coffee company can serve the tastiest cup of joe on the planet, but if it’s not serving a larger purpose, it will not be successful. “I don’t want to say the coffee
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is the easy part, but if you aren’t helping the people in the supply chain and the people along the way, why are you doing this?” Zimmer Ferguson asks. “Improving lives through sustainable business — whether that’s the farmers or the people roasting in St. Louis — that is why we do this.” We recently caught up with Zimmer Ferguson to learn more about her thoughts on the St. Louis food and drink community, her not-sosecret love of Sonic Drive-In and the one thing yo ne er find in her coffee shops. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? y first o o t of o ege as working for Edward Jones in Toronto for an assignment at their Canadian headquarters. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Coffee, of course! If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To take all of the calories and gluten out of pizza, because I would eat it every night if I could.
OCTOBER 16-22, 2019
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[FIRST LOOK]
Soda Fountain Breathes New Life into Union Station Written by
ELLA FAUST
N
ostalgia was in the air recentlay as the highly anticipated Soda Fountain (201 South Eighteenth Street, 314923-3939) celebrated its soft opening at St. Louis Union Station in downtown St. Louis. Located in the space formerly occupied by the Hard Rock Cafe, Soda Fountain is a kitschy, 1950sstyle diner, complete with wait staff o tfitted in retro niforms, an old-fashioned soda counter and a fully stocked candy shop. Upon stepping inside, you’re immediately immersed in the colorful decor and odes to decades past. A cheery server in a powder-blue apron and Chuck Taylors leads you to a puffy monochromatic booth where, while you peruse the menu, songs like “Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes blast in the background. Although most customers will probably show up to the Soda Fountain looking for malts or giant milkshakes, the menu also offers more upscale takes on diner classics to balance the ice cream and candy on offer. The smash burger, for example, stacks perfectly cooked patties with American cheese, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes between a deliciously soft brioche bun. If burgers aren’t your thing, you can choose from other menu items such as the sixcheese grilled delicacy, an authentic Chicago-style hot dog and fried chicken tenders for kids (or just the young at heart). The main event, however, is undeniably the Freak Shakes: colossal, stacked, how-can-oneperson-consume-this-much-food milkshakes that are both intimidating and mouthwatering. Freak hakes are defined on oda o ntain’s menu as “1. noun. A very unusual and unexpected improvement to your everyday milkshake.
The “A Very Happy Un-Birthday” Freak Shake at Soda Fountain. | ELLA FAUST 2. verb. The dance you’ll do when this thing arrives at your table.” These massi e desserts definitely deliver on that promise: The “A Very Happy Un-Birthday,” for example, attempts to stuff the entire contents of a birthday party — including a vanilla-frosted rim with rainbow sprinkles topped with a Funfetti cupcake, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, a snickerdoodle cookie, cherries and a rainbow candy pop — into a single glass, and it’s absolutely delicious. If you order one of these, make sure you come with a friend or two to help yo finish the o . oda o ntain is the first ne restaurant to open at Union Station in many years, but it isn’t arriving alone — it’s one of three concepts opening at the St. Louis institution as part of its revival. Along with Soda Fountain, a railway-themed cocktail bar, the Train Shed, and an aquatic-themed cafe to complement the forthcoming St. Louis Aquarium are also in the works. All three concepts are being developed and will be managed by St. Louis-based Lodging Hospitality Management. Additionally, the highly anticipated t. o is hee is fina y open to the public as well, as is mini golf, a carousel and a slew of other family-friendly attractions. For any St. Louis local, watching Union Station slowly come alive after sitting empty for quite a few years is an exciting thing. Russel Cunningham, executive chef at Union Station, worked with a team to research and de-
sign the concept and menu behind the Soda Fountain. Cunningham believes that the restaurant, along with the rest of the new spaces planned for Union Station, will bring a whole new crowd, both locals and tourists, to the historic St. Louis space. “Just location-wise, where Union Station is at, we’re downtown, and close to the Enterprise Center where the Blues play,”
ZIMMER FERGUSON Continued from pg 33
What is the most positive thing in food or beverage that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? More national recognition and collaboration among local companies. What is something missing in the local food and beverage scene that you’d like to see? More kid-friendly and casual places with good food and drink quality. What is your St. Louis food or drink crush? AO&Co. market by Ben Poremba. I think every St. Louis neighborhood needs a market like this. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis food scene? Tara Gallina. She’s a new mom really killing it on the home and work fronts, and we can’t wait until they put their spin on the
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Cunningham says. “We’re right in the middle of everything. And of course, the new Union Station is all family attractions. If tourists check into the 600-room [Union Station] hotel, they’d never even have to leave the property for the weekend. It’s going to be huge for downtown.” The new restaurants also include nods to the rich history of nion tation, spe ifi a y the ro e it played in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, more commonly known as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Sipping a milkshake at Soda Fountain while staring out at the towering St. Louis Wheel, it’s hard not to feel like you’re seeing St. Louis history come full circle. “All of the old, retro spaces that used to be here, our team is going back to that by playing into the history of Union Station,” Cunningham says. “This place really was a Gateway to the West, and the train station was the hub where everyone met.” It looks like the new and revived Union Station might be exactly what downtown St. Louis needs — an exciting large space where families and friends alike can gather together, grab a meal and ha e f n. oda o ntain s first night drew a huge crowd of all ages, and it s the first time in years that Union Station has felt like the hip place to be. Soda Fountain is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. n new Winslow’s Table [in the former Winslow’s Home space]. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Coffee, of course. I drink so much [of it]; it’s a part of who I am. And I have a lot of energy. If you weren’t working in the coffee business, what would you be doing? Working in the wine or fashion business perhaps. Name something never allowed in your roasting facility or cafes. Negative attitudes. Life is too short to be unhappy. What is your after-work hangout? At home with a glass of wine chilling with the kids. What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? Sonic [Drive-In] happy hour. Those who know me well will get this. What would be your last meal on Earth? Mom’s pasta and meatballs with all of my friends and family and lots of wine! n
OCTOBER 16-22, 2019
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[FOOD NEWS]
Bite Into the St. Louis Cricket Challenge Written by
LIZ MILLER
D
uring the month of October, arah h afly is on a mission to get St. Louisans to eat ri kets spe ifi a y her Mighty Cricket pure cricket protein powder. To be fair, as the chief executi e o er of ighty ri ket, it s a ays h afly s goa to in rease awareness and consumption of cricket protein, but this month she’s launched the St. Louis Cricket Challenge, a partnership with 50 local restaurants. For one month only, St. Louis diners an find dishes ike pista hio i e cream at Rooster on South Grand (3150 South Grand Boulevard, 314772-3447) and pizza crust at PW Pizza (2017 Chouteau Avenue, 314241-7799) made with, you guessed it, cricket protein powder. “We’re kind of tying it into Halloween, but not really — it’s more about conquering your fears with crickets, so we don’t want to play p the s ary g thing,” h afly says. “What we’re trying to do with the challenge is really normalize it, so that when customers start seeing it in pizza, on top of frozen yogurt or in crêpes, it’s just as another source of protein. It’s not a one-off novelty buy or a scary thing, it’s a powder that can be used to supplement all sorts of different foods.” h afly says the p rpose of the challenge is threefold: “to put St. Louis on the map as an innovative city leading the nation’s future of food, to normalize entomophagy [the practice of eating insects] and to measure the environmental impact St. Louisans made by replacing a conventional protein with this clean source — and then share this story with national audiences.” The idea for Mighty Cricket took shape almost two years ago, h afly says, as a ay to find a more sustainable protein source. From a sustainability standpoint, cricket farming uses far fewer resources than both livestock farm-
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Pistachio ice cream made with pure cricket powder at Rooster on South Grand. | COURTESY BAILEYS’ RESTAURANTS ing and producing plant-based proteins. “It requires a fraction of the water, feed, land and emits way fewer greenhouse gases than other animal-based proteins,” h afly says. “ t a so re ires ess water and land than plant-based proteins. A pound of almonds requires 2,000 gallons of water to produce, and a pound of crickets only requires one gallon of water. And a pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water.” Although the environmental enefits of farming ri kets for human consumption may seem o io s, h afly says that most consumers are currently more interested in the nutritional value of Mighty Cricket’s products. “ n y a o t fifteen per ent of Americans right now make buying decisions based on sustainability, so we’re really winning them o er first on the n trition side,” h afly says. “ e a se crickets are such a lean protein source and they’re so high in Vitamin B12, those are the two biggest selling points. Someone can get 100 percent of their daily Vitamin B12 in a serving of crickets, which is really cool; it’s a really good energy food. And then they also have Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium and iron.” h afly partners ith a fe cricket farms around the world to source crickets for her protein
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powder, including farms in Canada and Thailand. She says Mighty Cricket would ideally like to identify one partner farm to ensure onsistent fla or and te t re, t the company is still experimenting ith pri e point, fla or profi e and apa ity. ent a y, she adds, Mighty Cricket would like to bring production home to St. Louis. “That’s our ideal two years from now,” she says. nd speaking of fla or and te t re, h afly says those fa tors depend on the type of cricket used to make the powder. She adds that some chefs have described notes of sesame seeds, pistachio and other earthy fla or profi es. “The texture is powder, and depending on the grind size, it can be from ery fine, ha ky po der to more of a oarse te t re,” h afly says. “The fla or profi es depend on what the crickets eat; we have a couple of different crickets that we’re working with, and one tastes very mild and slightly nutty, and then the other has a stronger aroma that’s also very nutty with notes of chocolate.” h afly says that se era of the restaurants participating in the St. Louis Cricket Challenge have expressed interest in using the cricket powder in dishes beyond October, as well. For example, SymBowl (11215 Manchester Road, Kirkwood; 314-315-4421) in Kirkwood is already using the
powder in its bottled sauces available for retail sale. “We’re hoping that a good number of the people who try it will actually go on to learn more on our website, read more articles about it and rea y dig deeper,” h afly says. “The first step to rea y doing that, we think, is to sell them on it being delicious. The goal is to really drive people to try it the whole month as much as possible so that these venues are incentivized to keep [the dishes] on longer.” Mighty Cricket wants St. Louisans to share their experiences trying the cricket dishes, too: Diners who order one or more cricket dishes during the challenge are encouraged to share a photo or video of the menu item on social media with the hashtag #CricketChallenge for a chance to win a gift card to participating restaurants. “That will incentivize St. Louisans to share this and really embrace this protein as a homegrown, St. Louis leader in this protein,” h afly says. If the challenge is a success, h afly p ans to e pand it into other cities, as well, with the hope of making the St. Louis-based company an example of the future of food across the country and the world. For a full list of restaurants and venues participating in the St. Louis Cricket Challenge, visit www.cricketcereal.com. n
[FIRST LOOK]
Knockout BBQ Opens on South Grand Written by
LIZ MILLER
D
avid and Kara Bailey’s latest concept is bringing a new punch of flavor to South Grand. Knockout BBQ (3150 South Grand Avenue) debuted last week in a shared space with Rooster, one of the couple’s six St. Louis restaurant concepts. The menu draws from a range of regional barbecue traditions, including sauces such as South Carolina mustard and Alabama white. Kansas City and St. Louis are also represented, of course, with a thicker, sweet and tangy sauce and another sweetened with Dr. Pepper, respectively. Reached by phone, David Bailey says that he and his team experimented with close to fifteen sauces before landing on the final lineup of six. “We wanted different regional sauces that are distinct from one another; we like having those options for people,” Bailey says. “St. Louis barbecue sauces are thicker, pretty sweet and definitely tomato-based with not much smoke or vinegar flavor. We wanted a version of that sauce, and we had made another one with Dr. Pepper that we cut, so we migrated that to be our St. Louis sauce. We were gonna use a cola of some kind, but Dr. Pepper, with its particular flavors, worked really well.” Which sauce you choose, of course, likely depends on what protein you order. The smoked chicken wings, for example, from the Things to Share section of the menu, are served with that tangy Alabama white sauce, which complements the smokiness of meat. Other favorites from the shareable menu include the Texas Twinkie, a bacon-wrapped poblano filled with brisket and cream cheese and the cornmeal-breaded fried green tomatoes with bacon ranch. Meanwhile, the loaded pulled pork sandwich gets a kick from the fiery Texas sauce. Living up to its name, the sandwich balances that spice with a mélange of other ingredients, including chicharrones, sweet pickles and queso. It’s one of six signature sandwiches served at Knockout, including a Cuban, brisket Philly and smashed burger. If you want a less stacked sammie, Knockout also serves plain pulled pork and chicken; turkey and jackfruit; and brisket options. Yes, you read that correctly: Knockout serves a vegan-friendly jackfruit sandwich, as well as a current smoked jackfruit plate special served with sweet potato and hominy succotash. “We wanted to have fun and do variations on the different meats we have,”
Loaded pulled pork sandwich with chicharrones and sweet pickles, plus mac ‘n’ cheese. | LIZ MILLER Bailey says of the signature sandwiches. “You’ve got chicken, pork, turkey and brisket all represented in those sandwiches and done in a more composed dish way. We’ll play around with those and change them over time. Barbecue is universal across the country and around the world, but the styles vary dramatically, and we wanted to represent that.” Of course, as at most barbecue joints, the real joys at Knockout are the combos and plates. Combos come with your choice of two, three or four meats, including pulled pork, pulled chicken, turkey and brisket. Ribs can be substituted for one meat for an additional charge. Plates offer either pork steak or a half chicken (or both if you have a truly large appetite). Both the combos and plates are served with slaw, bread, pickles and your choice of two sides. For Bailey, a St. Louis native, having the pork steak be a signature menu item at Knockout was especially exciting. “It’s sentimental for me; I grew up in St. Louis eating pork steaks,” Bailey says. “I didn’t realize that it wasn’t a thing all over the country until I was much older. We always want to nod to St. Louis [at our restaurants], and I love pork steaks; we’ve had them on other menus, and this is a perfect opportunity for that. We also wanted it to be a really good pork steak, so it’s a one-inch thick pork steak before we put it in the smoker, and it’s super tender — you can eat it with a fork and no knife.” Portions here are big, so plan to box up some leftovers so you have room for dessert — after all, you’re at one of Dave Bailey’s spots. Choose from three current offerings: jalapeño-blueberry cornbread, gooey butter cake or Ko Kobbler, with blackberries, blueberries and a lemony biscuit crust. In addition to the eats on offer, Knockout serves a full bar. The highlight here are the seven house cocktails. On our visit, we loved (maybe a little too much)
the Whiskey Before Breakfast, with bonded bourbon, a smoked sugar cube and rib rub bitters. A thoughtful addition to the menu are three nonalcoholic cocktails, such as the Bonfire S’more, with hot chocolate, smoke, cinnamon, marshmallows and graham cracker. The bar program was overseen by Justin Austermann, executive director of operations for Baileys’ Restaurants. “Justin came up with all the drinks, and the conversations we had were about taking inspiration from certain items on the menu and making the drinks a perfect counterpoint for the barbecue — boozy, outdoorsy, having a fun night with friends,” Bailey says. “The Lucky Strike [cocktail] is like a Paloma, but with smokiness and spice. We were thinking about things that will enhance the experience and fun factor of the barbecue.” And if you still have room after barbecue, Knockout offers two boozy shakes: one flavored like sweet potato pie with spiced rum and whiskey and another modeled after Key lime pie with white and dark rum. The drink list also features several wines and ten local craft beers and ciders on tap, including pours from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, 4 Hands Brewing Company and Civil Life Brewing Company. For Bailey, the opening realizes a longtime dream of running a barbecue restaurant — and even though Knockout’s first location is on South Grand, Bailey hopes it won’t be its last. “It’s great — I don’t want this to be the only Knockout we open, and we still have plans for downtown, but it’s satisfying and exciting to actually be a place where people can come and enjoy themselves finally,” Bailey adds. Knockout is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday It’s open for dinner from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. n
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MUSIC + CULTURE
“I wanted to write a really sexy song about being sad and lonely. I wanted to write the most lush harmonies possible, with these lush string pads.”
[HOMESPUN]
Gold Standard Sam Golden’s many pursuits will come together at Off Broadway showcase Written by
CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER
Y
ou’ll forgive Sam Golden for leaning a bit heavily on his 24-carat last name. The singer, multi-instrumentalist, sideman and arranger wears several hats — many of them wide-brimmed — but his own projects use the family name to good effect. There’s the Fiddlin’ Sam & the Golden Bolo Band, his western-swing cover band making its debut this week; he also sells literal bolo ties through the Golden Bolo Company; and his latest project, the indie-leaning Vermilion Cliffs, used to play under the name Golden Hour. He’s reviving the Golden Hour name as the title of this Friday’s showcase at Off Broadway, which features his two aforementioned bands as well as the Brothers Lazaroff, with Golden playing keys as well as serving as co-producer on the group’s latest album Sisters & Brothers. And while Golden will certainly be busy hop-scotching across three pretty different bands, Friday’s show will be only a small piece of his musical life. Reached by phone recently, Golden was ending his nine-tofi e orkday, in hi h he tea hes piano, guitar and audio production at various schools and afterschool programs. “I am trying to phase out of teaching music, which I like, but my real passion is playing and arranging and playing,” he says. “I work exclusively in the music world.” After moving to St. Louis from Tucson, Arizona, in the summer of 2016, Golden quickly became a sideman and studio secret weapon. He’s played trad-jazz with T.J. Muller, scored silent
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Sam Golden has an upcoming show with two of his bands and Brothers Lazaroff. | ANNIE MARTINEAU fi m so ndtra ks ith the ats People Motion Picture Orchestra and strummed along with Jenny Roques’ project Desire Lines. Golden has also worked on production and arrangement for a number of local artists. “I did some string arrangements for Nick Gusman that I recorded yesterday, and I did the strings for Cara Louise’s new album,” Golden says. Part of his work on the Brothers Lazaroff record involved writing horn arrangements for trumpeter Adam Hucke and saxophonist en ee e, a pair of first call players and band leaders in their own right. “That’s been really cool, getting to write horn parts for two powerhouse players. It’s helped me hone my mind’s ear.” Vermilion Cliffs, which releases its self-titled debut at this weekend’s show, is perhaps the clearest distillation of the many moods and talents that Golden has leant to other bands around town. Performing largely as a four-piece with several guest musicians, the band’s eight-track LP moves from jammy indie rock to moody, jazz-
fle ked dirges to an honest to od slow jam. “I got a lot of help from a lot of talented people, from the Bros Laz world and the jazz world,” Golden says. “ t as definite y a a or of love. It was the only project where I wasn’t thinking about the bottom line; I wanted to make these songs really good and a work of art that hangs together as a whole.” Golden is joined by Jack Catalanotto on guitar and vocals, Andrew Warshauer on bass and Marty Aubuchon on drums, and together they are able to craft atmospheric, dexterous backdrops to Golden’s sweetly malleable voa s. “ a e o n” floats in ith the smell of sea breeze, and “San Carlos” brings in a bit of twangy desert noir efitting an ri ona native. But when the band opens its doors to guest musicians, the ho e fla or of the a m an change: Reece’s saxophone raises the barometric pressure of “AZ,” a song that Golden acknowledges as having “serious Blackstar vibes,” in referen e to a id o ie s final, darkly jazzy album.
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“Snakeskin,” with its silky, grown-and-sexy energy, calls on drummer Grover Stewart and pianist Jesse Gannon to summon some iet torm onafides. “That was a song with a really long gestation period,” Golden says. “I was listening to a lot of 95.5 [FM] and it morphed into a slow jam. I wanted to write a really sexy song about being sad and lonely. I wanted to write the most lush harmonies possible, with these lush string pads.” Despite — or because of — the album’s variety, Vermilion Cliffs gives as complete a picture of its creator across its eight songs. “I tried to make it feel like one solid object,” Golden says. “This is the first a m e anted to isten to after finishing it. think that s a good sign.” As he winds down a busy 2019, Golden is hoping to continue his own musical pursuits while helping others achieve theirs. “I’m looking forward to more arranging and getting my mind back in a creative place with my own music, because it’s just been in promotion and business mode for a while,” he admits. As for Vermilion Cliffs? The chameleonic Golden isn’t ready to predict its next steps. “I’ll have to see what happens,” he says of the band. “It might turn into something else entirely. “
Golden Hour II: Vermilion Cliffs, Fiddlin’ Sam, Brothers Lazaroff 8 p.m., Friday, October 18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $12. 314-773-3363.
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Through the Lens Nate Burrell reveals the music in photography Written by
ROY KASTEN
N
ate Burrell’s camera sees what the heart and body feel. His subject is principally music — live shots and portraits — but to say he’s a “music photographer” isn’t quite right. His photos don’t just capture moments of musical performance. They express the human feelings of those moments and their wider cultural resonance. In that way, they are deeply musical. Burrell has been working as a photographer in St. Louis since 2009. He’s a native Ohioan, born and raised in the farming community of Rootstown just outside of Akron. Over the last decade, he’s contributed to St. Louis’ musical evolution, documenting its live performances, from the smallest shows to the biggest festivals, and shaping the visual story of emerging artists like Pokey LaFarge, Beth Bombara, Middle Class Fashion, the Big Muddy label roster and the FarFetched collective. He’s also worked around the country and has won the trust of major-label artists like Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and Langhorne Slim. And he s prod ed definiti e on ert images of Willie Nelson, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, and, importantly, OutKast on stage at LouFest 2014, one month after the shooting of Michael Brown. The story of American music in the 21st century wouldn’t be the same without his eye. Burrell’s introduction to the St. Louis music scene came by way of fellow image-maker and videographer Bill Streeter, who introduced him to LaFarge, who in turn opened the door to a burgeoning Americana and roots revival. He has continued to work with LaFarge as tour and publicity photographer, videographer and producer of album art, including the artist’s last release, Manic Revelations. “He’s the most loyal man to me in the city of St. Louis — from the beginning,” says LaFarge via text message. “ o it s on y fitting that he be the one to capture me on many various stages literally and
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Lisa Houdei, a.k.a. Le’Ponds, is one local act who has been featured in Nate Burrell’s photography. | NATE BURRELL fig rati e y thro gh my areer from the beginning. Mostly shot in black and white, which a lot of times my life has been.” Burrell also credits early opportunities to shoot for KDHX radio, documenting the station’s live instudio sessions with national and local artists, and covering Twangfest events, before and after the station’s partnership with the festival, in both Austin at South By Southwest and locally. “That’s how it started here for me,” Burrell says from his backyard in the Cherokee District. “I learned all the things that are not inside the camera: how to be around artists, how to treat them as people and not be starstruck. At the same time, I try to treat our bands just like any national band.” Burrell works mostly in the digital medium, but his signature style is black and white, with an emotional minimalism that draws on negative space and the contextual settings of music. He is selftaught, and it shows in his work, which is far from technically perfect but which breathes with all the imperfections of life. He’s a craftsman who makes time every week just to shoot, regardless of assignment. “Early on, I asked questions of other photographers, read about it, but it’s the practice,” he says. “Basketball players practice foul shots, riters read to find ne ang age. I try to know every tool in the cam-
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As Pokey LaFarge’s frequent photographer, Burrell has spent a fair amount of time with Ryan Koenig and Jack White. | NATE BURRELL era, but there’s no point in buying the latest and greatest thing. I love to see analog everything coming a k, t e en if yo re a fi m photographer, a mediocre photo is still a mediocre photo, even if it has a light leak on it.” A year after moving to St. Louis, Burrell was in a serious accident when he was in Kansas City for an Ani DiFranco concert. He was on crutches for over six months. The injury and recovery changed his work. “Photography was my entire
social circle, so I kept shooting,” he explains. “To do it on crutches forced me to go back to an analog style. I had to position myself away from all the other photographers and think about every frame. I had to post up and anticipate every shot. It was miserable, but it really slowed me down as a photographer. “I still shoot like that. I take minimal shots and try to make them count.” In conversation, Burrell has that same thoughtful, patient focus.
Burrell has shot plenty of national acts, including Kentucky’s Cage the Elephant. | NATE BURRELL He’s an intense but never pretentious artist. When asked about his photography, the musicians he’s worked with over the years all recognize what separates his approach. “It is very interesting to watch Nate photograph a show,” says New Orleans musician Esther Rose. “He’s in the front row, totally absorbed in the music, but he’s still one step ahead, eyes wide, not a frame wasted.” Fellow Ohioan Patrick Sweany, a blues musician now based in Nashville, Tennessee who has a dozen albums in his catalog, invited Burrell to document his recent recording sessions in the legendary Sam Phillips studios in Memphis. Sweany echoes Rose’s sentiment: “What I admire about Nate is his absolute patience with and complete trust in the moment revealing itself in its own time. His perception of when the moment may happen is uncanny.” “Nate sees an angle or view in his own unique way that most of us typically would miss,” says local country musician Jack Grelle. “Then he is able to capture it in a timeless manner that may be standing still, but is often full of movement.” Kellie Everett, of the Sidney Street Shakers and the Southwest Watson Sweethearts (among other St. Louis-based groups), admires Burrell’s eye. “He has the special ability to see things that I don’t even notice are there,” she says. “He catches the perfect light
“I wanted the show to be inclusive and to show the breadth of how I work. I really wanted to show musicians here in town right alongside people who are or will be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” and shadows, the nuance, the expression. You can look at one of his photographs and feel the energy that was present at the time.” On Friday, October 18, Burrell will present ten years of that energy in a retrospective called “Sound Stands Still,” at Brennan’s Work & Leisure in Midtown. Along with a showing of over 100 images (all framed and for sale to the public), the event will feature DJ sets by 18andCounting and a live performance by blues pianist
Alexandra Sinclair. “It’s been a series of second guesses,” Burrell laughs as he discusses making choices for the show. “Of the 120 photos there are 101 artists. I wanted to show different styles of music, different instruments, different colors and genders. I wanted the show to be inclusive and to show the breadth of how I work. I really wanted to show musicians here in town right alongside people who are or will be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” Whether framing intimate portraits of the historic Lavender Country reunion, crafting experimental images for rock or synth-pop artists, or distilling the essence of an icon like B.B. King, Burrell believes photography isn’t just a way of documenting culture; it’s a way of understanding and creating it. “I like performance, knowing that something can go off the rails,” he says. “I studied anthropology in college, and I love subcultures. We might click and scroll through photographs, but they are part of the cultural perspective of a time period. It’s not just the musician. It’s the way the stages are set up and the clothing styles — all of that changes with time. I think about what these images will mean down the road. You are documenting future history.”
Nate Burrell: Sound Stands Still 7-11 p.m., Friday, October 18. Brennan’s Work & Leisure, 3015 Locust Street. Free. 314-620-3969.
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Wednesday October 16 9:30PM
Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players Tribute To Bob Weir
Thursday October 17 9PM
Chase Makai Trio
with Special Guests Guerrilla Theory
Friday October 18 10PM
Cas Haley
with Special Guests Spillie Nelson
Saturday October 19 8PM New Orleans Super Group
The New Orleans Suspects Sunday October 20 8PM
Blues, Soul and Pop Diva Kim Massie Wednesday October 23 9:30PM
Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players
OCTOBER 16-22, 2019
Tribute To Talking Heads
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South City Scooters @ the corner of Connecticut & Morgan Ford
314.664.2737
“FALL” IN LOVE WITH A WOLF FROM $1150 Hours: Tue-Wed-Thurs 10-7; Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4; Closed Mon 44
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OCTOBER 16-22, 2019
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One More Saturday Nadine returns to the Sheldon twenty years later for another performance of Downtown, Saturday Written By
THOMAS CRONE
T
wenty years ago, Nadine played the Sheldon, in support of a new album called Downtown, Saturday. As life and events would unfold, the band would achieve a degree of success with that album. They’d sign to a European label (“Glitterhouse, the SubPop of Germany”) and help anchor the Undertow music collective in their hometown. They’d gain and lose members, record more music and, as is the trajectory of many a group, cease operations. Once again, Nadine is set to play the Sheldon, in support of a now-seasoned album called Downtown, Saturday. It’ll happen on Tuesday, October 22, and will feature a no-frills evening in which the core members of the band get together, play a single release and, in the words of songwriter and vocalist Adam Reichmann, “I hope that people will find that satisfying in and of itself.” Reichmann says that he and key bandmates Todd Schnitzer and Steve Rauner had kept in touch over the years, even playing a one-off gig in front of friends not so long ago. But the idea of a fully realized, rehearsed, produced and promoted show didn’t come together until earlier this year. As the band kicked around the idea, “we could have let it drop and said, ‘Those were the good old days.’ But it came together nicely.” While the band collectively wrote other material, Reichmann feels that giving this particular album a featured evening is the right call. On many a level. “I think we were, musically, really excited to be where we were,” Reichmann says. “And we had a lot of music that we were excited about at the time — Beck’s Mutations, Wilco’s Summerteeth. There were a lot of things happening in the songwriter/Americana scene, and we were excited to have a part to play in that. Plus, that’s when the European press came and drew us over to play there. To feel like someone really wanted to hear what we were playing was great. Like a lot of St. Louis bands, we didn’t know if we’d be able to get out of town, or if anyone cared. Legitimately, that first time of feeling that it’s worthwhile was really exciting for us. “I think all of the stuff that we recorded for that record still has a huge place not just in my heart, but in Todd’s and Steve’s as well,” Reichmann says. “That’s when everything came together for us. I
Nadine took St. Louis by storm two decades ago with Downtown, Saturday, which the band will play in full this week at the Sheldon. | HALSKI STUDIOS still have memories connected to that time. It’s an interesting space, emotional time travel. It’s not like reading your own diaries, but you’re performing your old diaries in front of people. Having to inhabit the same body and to sing these songs has been pretty intense. All the music still feels relevant to me. There’s some righteous anger there that’s mellowed in time. It’s a pretty literary album, and a lot of the descriptions resonate with me. There’re certainly other songs that we’d written that I don’t feel as strongly about. But it’s a special record, and that’s why when Steve came in for his birthday this year, it was this one we were reminiscing about.” As Reichmann begins spinning tales about that time period in St. Louis’ rock & roll community, he drops the names of some familiar places and people and recalls a few quirks of that moment. At the time, for example, the 3600-3800 blocks of Utah, now featuring some of the most desirable real estate in St. Louis city, were populated by more than a couple “band houses,” and that’s where the members of Nadine shared a home, Monkees-style. After rehearsals, they’d decamp to the nearby Way Out Club, then at Compton and Cherokee, where they’d catch bands like the Highway Matrons, another band that called Utah home. Nadine recorded Downtown, Saturday, yes, downtown. There, inside the big, foreboding A.D. Brown warehouse at Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard, they’d string power lines from one floor to the next, in a guerrilla studio that made them feel all alone in the world, even as they were on the edge of the commercial district a couple years away from a complete reboot. It was a
“It was a tighter scene and bit dark. I think it was sort of a dark time. Or maybe I’m always thinking that life’s a little bit dark.” heady time to be a musician in St. Louis, and Reichmann feels, with a songwriter’s flourish, that “it was a tighter scene and bit dark. I think it was sort of a dark time. Or maybe I’m always thinking that life’s a little bit dark.” Musically, that time brought Nadine some challenges (see above: rogue power cords, empty warehouse) but also some freeing elements. Reichmann notes that in the pre-cell-phone age, he received a phone call from Schnitzer. The latter was “becoming interested in the intersection of rock with hip-hop and electronica” and had begun toying with drum loops. Over the phone, he’d play Reichmann the sneaky-cool percussive base that became the foundation of their album-opening cut “Closer.” While Wilco’s then-drummer Ken Coomer was a contributor to Downtown, Saturday, Reichmann says that “we were having fun recording. Moments like
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[Todd’s call], or working with Ken and really getting into the idea of multi-tracking … we didn’t have to always play live. Our music could be as big as our imagination. It was pretty liberating, a special time. Kids today can get a pretty nice-sounding studio together for cheap. At the time, we didn’t have that control. We had ADATs and other things that we’d buy at Guitar Center and then return. We scraped things together like that to make it work, right at the birth of self-recording.” For their Downtown, Saturday show at the Sheldon, the band is bringing in a friend, the well-regarded record producer Matt Pence, who’ll be featured on percussion. While he initially questions whether he should mention it, Reichmann does note that the band will record the show; after all, they’d developed a cult following not only in the States but in Germany, and plenty of folks won’t be able to catch the Grand Center show live. Plus, “we’re no longer a commercial entity,” Reichmann says, and the ease of digital sharing might allow the night to live beyond Tuesday’s gig. “Twenty’s a big number,” Reichmann says. “Not to be too grim about it, but it’s important to celebrate things along the way. You only live once, and for us to have another special night is more important for me now than ever. This’ll only happen so many more times. In twenty more years, who knows? More people pass on, bigger life events happen. If anything, this show reminds me how special things are, and I know I’ve used ‘special’ 14,000 times, which devalues the word, but you want to not take things for granted.”
Nadine 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 22. The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Boulevard. $12. 314.533.9900.
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
New Mastersounds. | VIA PARADIGM TALENT AGENCY
New Mastersounds 7 p.m. Saturday, October 19. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue. $20. 314-775-0775. With its twentieth anniversary tour underway, the New Mastersounds are beginning to stretch the “new”-ness of its name. That has been a conundrum for the Leeds, England-based band, which has spent the past two decades plumbing the depths of American soul, blues and funk music from the ’60s and ’70s. In tipping its cap to every-
THURSDAY 17
THE ALLMAN BETTS BAND: w/ Jeremiah Johnson, Tungsten Groove 7:30 p.m., food donation. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. ANTHONY ROSANO AND THE CONQUEROOS: 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BIG WILD: 7 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BLUE FALSE INDIGO: w/ Allie Vogler 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. BROTHER JEFFERSON DUO: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222. DREW HOLCOMB & THE NEIGHBORS: 8 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. HITCHCOCK & THE HITMEN: 8:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. JOSH WARD AND RANDALL KING: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MIKE DOUGHTY: w/ The Ghost of Mr. Oberon 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. SISTER WIZZARD: w/ Abram Shook, Prairie Rehab 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SOLOMON GEORGIO: 8 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,
one from the Bar-Kays to the MG’s to the Meters, the group has sought to revive the live energy of that music that most listeners only know from dusty records, and on the just-released Shake It, the core quartet links up with Atlanta-based vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. to add something truly new to its normally instrumental grooves. Midwest Soul: Nebraska-based quintet Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal — occasional collaborators with the Mastersounds — opens the show. —Christian Schaeffer
314-833-3929.
FRIDAY 18
BRUTE FORCE EP RELEASE AND VIDEO SHOOT: w/ Prevention, Chalked Up, Soul Craft 8 p.m., free. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DAVID SANBORN: 7 p.m., $45-$60. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. DINE & DASH FOR EDUCATION: 4 p.m., free. Southwestern Illinois College, 2500 Carlyle Ave., Belleville, 618-235-2700. FOGHAT: 8 p.m., $29.50. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. GENE JACKSON & SOUL REUNION: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. GOLDEN HOUR II: w/ Vermilion Cliffs, Fiddlin’ Sam and the Golden Bolo Band, Brothers Lazaroff 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. INGESTED: 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. IVAS JOHN BAND: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JAMFEST CONCERT FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER: 7 p.m., $75. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521. JESSE DAYTON: 7:30 p.m., $15. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-932-7003. LAUREN ANDERSON BAND: 5 p.m., $10. BB’s
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This sunday! 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!
RfTsHUcKYEaH.cOm
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[CRITIC’S PICK]
Cass McCombs. | VIA PITCH PERFECT PR
Cass McCombs 8 p.m. Monday, October 21. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. All ages: $18 advance, $20 day of show. 314-773-3363. Bay Area songwriter, producer and guitarist Cass McCombs is both annoyingly chameleonic and charmingly inscrutable. On the surface, his music seems calculated for the indie-move soundtrack du jour (and he’s landed more than a few film and TV gigs). His sound is atmospheric and roots-obsessed, his songs enigmatic yet somehow catchy, and he wears his San Francisco rock influences,
OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 47
Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MINIHORSE: w/ Foothold 7:30 p.m., $8-$10. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. NOBUNTU: 8 p.m., $20. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949. THE RACONTEURS: 8 p.m., $69.50-$89.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE SCANDALEROS: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. THE SCATTERGUNS: w/ Guy Morgan, Grave Neighbors 9 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN: w/ Bleach 8 p.m., $18-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. WORLD WAR ME: w/ w/ Never Better, Calloway Circus, Phantom House, Luxora, Amethyst 6:30 p.m., $10-$12. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.
SATURDAY 19
THE 2019 ARCH CLASSIC BEARD AND MUSTACHE COMPETITION: 4 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. A BASTARD HALLOWEEN: w/ Bastard Squad, Maximum Effort, Jay-Coast, The Power Company, The Curse 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. BIG K.R.I.T.: 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE BOTTLESNAKES: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090. BREWTOPIA: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.
from the Grateful Dead to Moby Grape, like a trippy badge of honor. His latest album, Tip of the Sphere, features some of his coolest and densest guitar riffs and easily some of his most expressive melodic and lyrical inventions. “I want to live in a day like today,” he croons in the album’s loveliest moment. “But not today.” Maybe not, but for a night in St. Louis, where he rarely performs, you’ll want to live his singular sounds with him. Low-key dose: Frontman for San Fran acid rockers Colonel and the Mermaids, Alex Koford kicks off this Monday night trip with a solo set. — Roy Kasten THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: w/ Norma Jean, Gideon 8 p.m., $22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. GLASS MANSIONS: w/ A Sunday Fire, Name it Now!, Redwood, Inerpersonal, Patrick Quinlan 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. KILL THE CREATURE: w/ Whiskey & Thunder, Witch Doctor, Sons of Vulcan 7 p.m., $5. Just Bill’s Place, 2543 Woodson Road, Overland, 314-427-2999. KINGDOM BROTHERS: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MARQUISE KNOX BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS: 6 p.m., $20-$25. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. REP YO DECADE PARTY: 8 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. SKEET RODGERS & INNER CITY BLUES: 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SKIZZY MARS: 8 p.m., $22-$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. THE FOUR HORSEMEN: METALLICA TRIBUTE: 8 p.m., $5-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.
SUNDAY 20
ANGAD SUNDAY ROOFTOP PARTY: w/ Laka 6 p.m., free. Angad Arts Hotel, 6550 Samuel Shepard Dr, St. Louis, 314-561-0033. BELLHEAD: w/ Gary Robert and the Community, the Cult Sounds 9 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. FANTASIA: w/ Robin Thicke, Tank, the Bonfyre 7:30 p.m. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000. FAYE WEBSTER: 8 p.m., $12. Blueberry Hill - The
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OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 49
Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. GODSMACK: 7 p.m., $38-$85. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 9:30 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MAXIMUS: w/ Ground Control, Crystal Lady 6:30 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. RIVER CITY OPRY: 1 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROCKY & THE WRANGLERS: 4 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SAWYER FREDERICKS: 8 p.m., $18-$28. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SNOW BURIAL: w/ Killing Fever, Kilverez 8 p.m., $8. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. TYRONE WELLS: 8 p.m., $17-$22. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. THE USUAL SUSPECTS: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. VARIALS: 7 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.
MONDAY 21
BERNHARD EDER: w/ Mari Mana, Le’Ponds 7 p.m., $5-$7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. CASS MCCOMBS: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MIKE WATT: 8 p.m., $20-$23. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. ROCKY MANTIA & KILLER COMBO: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SIDE ACTION: w/ Freon, the Yeasties 10 p.m., $5-$7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. UFO: LAST ORDERS 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: 8 p.m., $25-$60. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.
8205 GRAVOIS ROAD • ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63123 • (314) 631-3130 MIDAMERICAARMS.COM • FACEBOOK.COM/MIDAMERICAARMS
FALL IS COMING, TIME TO
GEAR UP
AND HEAD TO THE RANGE
TUESDAY 22
AMIGO THE DEVIL: w/ Twin Temple, King Dude 8 p.m., $15-$18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. BOB DYLAN & HIS BAND: 8 p.m., $56.50-$126.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. CLOSET WITCH: w/ Dryad, Redbait 7 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. COIN: w/ Dayglow 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. JESSE GANNON QUARTET: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE MIDNIGHT HOUR: w/ Loren Oden, Angela Munoz, Jack Waterson 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. SCOTTIE “BONES” MILLER: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SPAFFORD: 8 p.m., $20-$23. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. UADA: w/ Blackwell 8 p.m., $13. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.
WEDNESDAY 23
YOUR HOMETOWN FIREARMS RETAILER FOR OVER 15 YEARS!
VOTED BEST GUN SHOP OF 2015
-2015 RIVERFRONT TIMES BEST OF ST. LOUIS
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3.2: 7 p.m., $20-$25. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. ANTHONY BROWN AND GROUP THERAPY: 8 p.m., $25-$30. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. ROY ORBISON & BUDDY HOLLY HOLOGRAM TOUR: 7:30 p.m., $26.50-$96.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. SONGBIRD CAFE: 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. The Focal
Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778. TRAVIS TRITT: 7:30 p.m., $60-$300. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.
THIS JUST IN 120 MINUTES: Sat., Nov. 30, 9:30 p.m., $5. Sky Music Lounge, 930 Kehrs Mill Road, Ballwin, 636-527-6909. THE 2019 ARCH CLASSIC BEARD AND MUSTACHE COMPETITION: Sat., Oct. 19, 4 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ALL OR NOTHIN: W/ GGM, MT & Only The Money, Major, Sensei Chanel, Big Ryo, Sat., Nov. 16, 9 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. ALL ROOSTERED UP: Sat., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. ANTHONY HAMILTON: W/ Eric Benet, Vivian Green, Sun., Dec. 1, 7 p.m., $54-$124. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. ANTHONY ROSANO AND THE CONQUEROOS: Thu., Oct. 17, 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. BELLHEAD: W/ Gary Robert and the Community, the Cult Sounds, Sun., Oct. 20, 9 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. BERNHARD EDER: W/ Mari Mana, Le’Ponds, Mon., Oct. 21, 7 p.m., $5-$7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES: Wed., Oct. 23, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. THE BONSAI TREES: W/ Young Animals, the Lizardtones, Sun., Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. BRAHMS’ 4TH SYMPHONY/KERNIS WORLD PREMIERE: Sat., Nov. 16, 8 p.m., $15-$83. Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 314-534-1700. BROTHER ALI: Sat., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., $22-$65. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. BROTHER JEFFERSON DUO: Thu., Oct. 17, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. CEDRIC GERVAIS: Sat., Jan. 11, 9 p.m., $10-$30. Ameristar Casino, 1 Ameristar Blvd., St. Charles, 636-949-7777. CHILLS AND THRILLS: the afira artet, Tue., Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. CLOSET WITCH: W/ Dryad, Redbait, Tue., Oct. 22, 7 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. DAN + SHAY: Fri., Sept. 18, 7 p.m., $36.50-$76.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. DANNY WORSNOP: W/ Starbender, Mon., Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m., $20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. DAVID SANBORN: Fri., Oct. 18, 7 p.m., $45-$60. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. DINE & DASH FOR EDUCATION: Fri., Oct. 18, 4 p.m., free. Southwestern Illinois College, 2500 Carlyle Ave., Belleville, 618-235-2700. DISCREPANCIES: W/ The Skagbyrds, Retro Champ, Bleach, Man The Helm, Taylor James, Sat., Nov. 9, 6:30 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. EL MONSTERO: Thu., Dec. 19, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Fri., Dec. 20, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m., $30-$150. Thu., Dec. 26, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Fri., Dec. 27, 8 p.m., $30-$40. Sat., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., $30-$150. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. FROST MONEY’S HALLOWEEN BASH: W/ 86 Family, Mike Milli, Double F Gang, 2 Eazy, Montega Rebel, ODDITY, Guiasybutta, Sollow T, Fri., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. THE FUNKY BUTT BRASS BAND: Fri., Dec. 20, 8 p.m., $20-$25. Sat., Dec. 21, 4 p.m., $10. Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. GENE JACKSON & SOUL REUNION: Fri., Oct. 18, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.
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OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 50
Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. GOO GOO DOLLS: Sun., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., $35-$60. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. HAYLEY KIYOKO: Sun., March 1, 8 p.m., $35-$40. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. IVAS JOHN BAND: Fri., Oct. 18, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JESSE GANNON QUARTET: Tue., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. KINGDOM BROTHERS: Sat., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. Sat., Nov. 2, 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. LAUREN ANDERSON BAND: Fri., Oct. 18, 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., Oct. 20, 9:30 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MARQUISE KNOX BAND: Sat., Oct. 19, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. MARSHALL CRENSHAW: Sun., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., $20-$30. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MINIHORSE: W/ Foothold, Fri., Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. NONPOINT: Sun., Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m., $15-$20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. OUT AMONGST THE MASSES: W/ Divide The Empire, The Scatterguns, Sixes High, L.T.H, Fri., Nov. 22, 7 p.m., $5-$8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. PAUL BONN & THE BLUES MEN: Sat., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. POLICA: W/ Wilsen, Wed., April 1, 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. ROB THOMAS: Sat., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., $35-$60. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-345-9481. ROCK U FEST 2019: W/ Guerrilla Theory, Divine Sorrow, The 45, Chasing Ginger, Rear Window Ethics, Evan Thomas, The Johnston Project, 33 on the Needle, Fast A Sheep, The PeaceLords, Mister Malone, Sat., Oct. 26, 4 p.m., $10. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. ROCKY & THE WRANGLERS: Sun., Oct. 20, 4 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. ROCKY MANTIA & KILLER COMBO: Mon., Oct. 21, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. ROGERS AND NIENHAUS: Wed., Nov. 27, 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061. THE SCATTERGUNS: W/ Guy Morgan, Grave Neighbors, Fri., Oct. 18, 9 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX: Mon., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $45-$65. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SCOTTIE “BONES” MILLER: Tue., Oct. 22, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SIDE ACTION: W/ Freon, the Yeasties, Mon., Oct. 21, 10 p.m., $5-$7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SISTER WIZZARD: W/ Abram Shook, Prairie Rehab, Thu., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., $7. Foam, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100. SKEET RODGERS & INNER CITY BLUES: Sat., Oct. 19, 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. SNOW BURIAL: W/ Killing Fever, Kilverez, Sun., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $8. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.
SONGBIRD CAFE: Wed., Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778. SUFFOCATION & BELPHEGOR: Thu., Oct. 24, 7 p.m., $22-$50. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. TRAP-O-WEEN: W/ T-Dubb-O, Indiana Rome, Fresco Kane, Bates, Bo Dean, The Domino Effect, Aye Verb, Eric Tha Red, Louie McDon, Fri., Nov. 1, 8:30 p.m., $10-$15. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. THE USUAL SUSPECTS: Sun., Oct. 20, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. WE BITE: A TRIBUTE TO THE MISFITS: W/ Stinkbomb, the Winks, Thu., Oct. 31, 8 p.m., $8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. WILLIAM ELLIOT WHITMORE: Sun., Dec. 29, 8 p.m., $18-$30. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. WORLD WAR ME: W/ w/ Never Better, Calloway Circus, Phantom House, Luxora, Amethyst, Fri., Oct. 18, 6:30 p.m., $10-$12. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.
UPCOMING 98 DEGREES: Sun., Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., TBA. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777. AJR: Sat., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $38.50-$43.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. ARTURO SANDOVAL WITH JANE MONHEIT: Sat., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $35-$45. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. BILLIE EILISH: Sat., March 28, 7 p.m., $39.50$129.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. CARA LOUISE EP RELEASE SHOW: W/ Bendigo Fletcher, Essential Knots, Fri., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. CASE AND ELLE VARNER: Sat., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $40-$65. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. CELINE DION: Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., $46.50$196.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. CHARLIE PARR: Thu., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314588-0505. CRUMB: W/ Divino Niño, Shormey, Sun., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $18-$21. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. DALE WATSON: W/ Amy Lavere, Will Sexton, Sat., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $22. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. A DAY TO REMEMBER: W/ I Prevail, Beartooth, Fri., Oct. 25, 7 p.m., $39.50-$59.50. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200. DIPLO: Fri., Oct. 25, 9 p.m., $55-$70. Ameristar Casino, 1 Ameristar Blvd., St. Charles, 636-949-7777. IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE: Tue., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. JACOB BRYANT: Thu., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT ROADSHOW: W/ Jay Mewes, Kevin Smith, Sun., Oct. 27, 8 p.m., $42.50-$50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. KISHI BASHI: Sat., Oct. 26, 9 p.m., $20-$23. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. SUFFOCATION & BELPHEGOR: Thu., Oct. 24, 7 p.m., $22-$50. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. SMALL TOWN MURDER: Fri., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $30$65. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. TRISHA YEARWOOD: Fri., Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m., $46.50-$124.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600. WAKER: Fri., Oct. 25, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. n
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SAVAGE LOVE STANDARDS BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a Seattle local who basically grew up reading your column. I think you’ve always given really sound advice, so I’m reaching out. My boyfriend and I have been together for two years. We started out poly, but I was clear from the start that when I fall in love with someone, I lose all attraction to anyone other than that one person. I fell in love with him, and we decided to be monogamous. But I know he’s still attracted to other people, and it makes me feel like ending the relationship. I love him like I’ve never loved anyone else, but because he doesn’t feel the same way I do on this subject, I don’t believe he loves me at all. I don’t feel like I can bring it up with him, because it will just make him feel bad for something he probably can’t control, and I don’t think I can make him love me. But I also feel like I’m wasting my time and living a lie. Help! Heartbroken Over Nothing This thing about you — how being in love with someone renders yo in apa e of finding anyone else attractive — that’s pretty much a unique-to-you trait. The overwhelming majority of even the blissfully-in-loves out there sti find other peop e attra ti e. And you should know that if you grew up reading my column. You should also know that a monogamous commitment doesn’t mean you don’t want to fuck other people, HON, it means you’ve promised not to fuck other people. We wouldn’t have to make monogamous commitments if sincere feelings of love extinguished all desire for others. Since no one is ever going to love you in precisely the same way you love them — since no one else is ever going to meet the impossible standard you’ve set — every person you fall in love with will disappoint you. Every potentia o e arri es pre dis a ified. You meet someone, you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, you are not attracted to others, they still are, you have no choice but to dump that person
and start all over again. Lover, rinse, repeat. Zooming out: People who create impossible standards for romantic partners — standards no one could ever hope to meet — usually don’t want to be in committed relationships but can’t admit that to themselves. We’re told good people want to be in committed relationships, and we all want to think of ourselves as good people. So someone who doesn’t want a long-term commitment either has to think of themselves as a bad person, which no one wants to do, or has to redefine for themse es hat it means to be a good person, which can be hard work. But there’s a third option: Set impossible standards for our romantic partners. And then, when all of our romantic partners fail to meet our impossible standards, we can tell ourselves we’re the only truly good person as we move through life breaking the hearts of anyone foolish enough to fall in love with us. So while my hunch is that it’s not your partner who is incapable of loving you, HON, but you who are incapable of loving him, you’re free to prove me wrong. One way we demonstrate our capacity to truly love someone is by believing them when they say they love us. That’s step one. Step two is accepting that someone’s love for us is legitimate even if they don’t experience or express love in precisely the same way we do. Hey, Dan: My father passed away recently. I received a contract to sell his house, and soon I’ll have to clean the place out. My question is this: What to do with a dead relative’s porn? I don’t want to keep it, I don’t want to waste it by just putting it in the trash, I can’t donate it to the library. There’s nothing especially collectible in it, so eBay is out. Maybe someone would buy the lot of it on Craigslist, but I’m not entirely clear what the legalities are for selling secondhand porn out of the back of a car, let alone what the potential market might be. I mean, how many folks are looking to buy a deceased elderly man’s former wank bank? I’m certain I’m only the most recent in a long line of folks to find themselves in this situation. Any advice for finding the porn a new home, or is it a bad idea to even
“I love him like I’ve never loved anyone else, but because he doesn’t feel the same way I do on this subject, I don’t believe he loves me at all.” try? Added difficulties: smallish town, Midwestern state, and I’m his only living family member. Rehoming Inherited Pornography You would be in the same predicament if you had lots of living family members. I have an enormous family — lots of aunts and uncles, countless cousins — and “Who wants the porn?” isn’t a question I’ve ever heard asked at an elderly relative’s wake. And that can’t be because none of my elderly relatives had porn stashes; the law of averages dictates that at least one and probably more dead Savages (RIP) had massive porn stashes, which means whoever cleaned out the apartment or house quietly disposed of the porn. And that’s what you should do. If you’re concerned about your dad’s porn “going to waste,” dispose of it in a conspicuous manner, e.g., drop it off at a recycling center in open boxes or clear bags. Maybe a worker or someone else making a drop-off will spot the porn and decide to rescue it from the pile. And, hey, my condolences on the death of your father. Hey, Dan: I went on Grindr just before Xmas last year, this handsome dude messaged me, and we ended up hooking up at his place. It was apparent from the get-go that this was no regular hookup. We didn’t even have sex. We just kissed and talked and cuddled for six straight hours. Sounds perfect, right? Well, at about hour five, in the middle of this surprisingly deep conversation, he said some-
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thing that made my head spin. I asked him how old he was. “Twenty-one,” he replied. Holy shit. He asked how old I was. “Fifty.” Neither of us had our age on Grindr. He looked about 30 to me. He said he thought I was in my late 30s. It was basically love at first sight for us. After nine months of trying to keep a lid on our feelings, he moved away and found a guy close to his own age, which I strongly encouraged. Before they became an official couple, we went on a goodbye walk, which was full of love and tears. We agreed to do the “no contact” thing for one month (he thought three was extreme). But here’s my issue: I’m in love with him. I’ve been incredibly sad since we last spoke about three weeks ago. It’s a week until the agreedupon day when we can say hi if we want to, and I don’t want to. I can’t. I have to let him go. I know he’s going to want to talk, but I’m afraid if I have any contact with him, it will set me back and I won’t want to stop. It’s taken all my willpower to not contact him so far. My question: How do I let him know I don’t want any further contact without hurting him? Impossible Love Sucks Call the boy, ILS, ask him to meet up, and tell him you made a mistake. Yes, you’re a lot older, and the age difference may be so great that you two aren’t going to be together forever. But maybe you’re perfect for each other right now. A relationship doesn’t have to end in a funeral home with one person in a box to have been a success. If you have three or four great years together before the window in which your relationship makes sense closes, ILS, then you had some great years together. People get it into their heads that they can’t enter into a relationship unless they can picture it lasting “forever,” when really nothing is forever. To quote the great James Baldwin: “Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” Check out Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org
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INFORMED, HONEST, EFFECTIVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCACY Primero Cannabis Clinics offers State compliant certifications to the program in a safe environment with physicians and advocates that understand how to help you through the process. We also offer certifications through Tele-Care for patients that are home bound or not available during our regular business hours, these certification visits are done by computer or your smart phone. wWe have physicians on staff 6 days a week with different hours to try and accommodate everyone’s schedule. Educated Alternative is a not-forprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization focusing on education and funding for the cannabis patients of Missouri. Currently through our partnership with Primero Cannabis Clinics we offer discounted rates to see the physician for Veterans and patients on SSDI (State disability). We are accepting donations and those funds
will go toward paying the State fees for the program, even fees to grow your own medicine. Once the dispensaries are open, mid-year 2020, we will start to offer free monthly cannabis to patients on our programs. We already offer educational programs on stretching your medicine out by making your own edibles, capsules and other products...all 100% free in our office or at different places we travel. We do personalized aftercare for patients that see the physicians from Primero Cannabis Clinics, offering guidance and advice as you continue your cannabis healthcare journey, and yes, this is completely free as well. You can always reach out for application assistance even if you didn’t see a physician in our office, our goal is to make sure no one struggles to get through the process. Check out our Facebook page for upcoming events!