Riverfront Times, November 20, 2019

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“We don’t have a need for ... trying to fit in, so to speak. Culturally speaking, I think that’s why we experience all different cultures. Whether it’s food or music or environment or theater — you name it, we do it all.”

TORRE DILWORTH, PHOTOGRAPHED WITH GIRLFRIEND JESSICA ARCHIE AT SOULARD FARMERS MARKET ON NOVEMBER 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

Caught in the Divide In the age of Trump, refugees in St. Louis see the door closing behind them

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

Cover photo of Angerus Imaniriho and niece Elvine Igeno by

P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Haimanti Germain

JEN WEST

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 The Lede Hartmann News Feature Calendar Film Cafe Short Orders Culture Out Every Night Savage Love

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C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Creative Director Tom Carlson www.euclidmediagroup.com N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com 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.

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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

CORRECTION: In last week’s issue, the cover story about former weatherman Bob Richards included a photo of former RFT writer Richard Byrne, incorrectly identifying Byrne as Richards. We regret the error.

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HARTMANN A Trip Down Memory Lane Impeachment sure ain’t what it used to be for Republicans Written by

RAY HARTMANN

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n 1998, Missouri Republican Senators John Ashcroft and Kit Bond voted to remove President Bill Clinton from o ce for lying about oral sex with an intern and obstructing justice when he got caught.

At the time, there were 55 Republican and 45 Democratic senators. All the Democrats voted to acquit. Ten Republicans joined them on the perjury count and five on the obstruction count (including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine), and

Clinton remained in o ce, the needed two-thirds Senate majority not having been approached.

While I’m not a fan of whatabout-ism, it’s hard not to consider that history as we sit around waiting — not at all breathlessly — to see if Republican senators such as Missouri’s Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley think bribery and extortion in an arms-for-political-dirt shakedown of a foreign ally is as serious as lying about oral sex. As a congressman from Springfield, Blunt voted for Clinton’s removal.

The same might be asked of Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, or retiring Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville. Shimkus voted to remove Clinton, as did then-Rep. Jim Talent, who held the 2nd district in Missouri, roughly the one Wagner represents now.

Having been around awhile, I was trying to remember what I thought in the Clinton days. Then I remembered that I wrote about it in this space. No Pulitzer was won, but I think it offers some

worthwhile perspective as Congress wrestles with whether to tolerate the criminal conduct of our current president: Well, of course Bill Clinton lied.

First he lied about sex. Then he lied about lying about sex. Now he’s refusing to admit either that he lied or that he lied about lying, and that refusal arguably constitutes another lie.

Placed on the hot seat, he’d probably lie about his refusal to admit the lies and the lies about the lies, and if that didn’t satisfy the inquisitors, he’d lie about lying about his refusal to admit the lies and the lies about the lies.

This could go on forever and, in a sense, has. The Republican majority in Congress keeps chirping its endless impeachment song, a twisted “Twelve Days of Christmas” knockoff.

“Eight lies about Monica. Seven lies about Betty. Six lies about lying. Five lies under oath …” Over and over and over again.

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Now, if we can take them at their word, almost all of the Republicans seem to believe that lying under oath is an impeachable offense. That is, a president should be removed from o ce if it’s proven he has lied, say, during a grand-jury investigation into his conduct.

Fine. For the sake of discussion, let’s say the Republicans are right — that any lie told under oath, in any circumstance, is grounds for removal from the presidency.

But wait. Many of the same Republicans who solemnly swear that the Constitution requires them to fulfill their solemn duty to suffer through — with grim reluctance — the impeachment trauma also tell us that they might be willing to forget about it all if Mr. President would just kindly come forth and admit he’s a liar.

Where, dear constitutional scholars, is it suggested a president can remedy his “high crimes and misdemeanors” by publicly

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HARTMANN

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admitting to them? If Clinton lied to a grand jury — and if that act of lying gives Congress no choice but to impeach — why should anything he does or says now have anything to do with anything?

If the president suspected a general of disloyalty and shot him (the sort of act that our hardly celibate forefathers no doubt had in mind by “impeachable”), do you suppose that his confession to murder would make things OK? It’s the high crime that matters, not the high road in its aftermath.

One could argue that murder and perjury differ widely in degree, but the only sliver of a prayer that the Republicans have for convicting Clinton in the Senate hangs on a literal up-or-down, strict-constructionist verdict on the perjury or obstruction charges. If degree mattered to Congress — as it does to the large majority of Americans rightfully opposed to impeachment — then we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all.

Or would we?

As the Republicans’ willingness to bargain with Clinton suggests, this attempt to bring him down with a no-confidence vote isn’t constitutional at all. Nor is the Democrats’ fairly unified defense effort, for that matter.

On both sides of the aisle, the entire “crisis” isn’t solemn, and it isn’t constitutional. It’s political.

So then, what are Republicans (and some Democrats) really doing when they speak so loftily about fulfilling their constitutional duty? Why, they’re lying.

Yes, Republicans and Democrats, acting in their o cial capacity in the halls of government (don’t know whether that technically constitutes an oath, but it’s in the ballpark), are saying one thing when they mean another.

Perhaps they’d prefer to call it fudging or hedging or shading or coloring or spinning the truth.

But it’s all in the family of lies.

Some of these are white lies, such as when they tell us how sad they are to be appearing on Larry King Live or Nightline or Crossfire in such troubled times, but more often the lies are big old whoppers, the kind only the likes of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (the erstwhile lying, pink-Cadillac-buying adulterer) can deliver with a straight face.

“The solemn duty that confronts us requires that we attain a heroic level of bipartisanship and that we conduct our deliberations in

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I was trying to remember what I thought in the Clinton days. a fair, full and independent manner,” Hyde told the world, presumably without crossing his fingers, on receipt of fellow partisan Kenneth Starr’s report on Clinton on Sept. 9.

“The American people deserve a competent, independent and bipartisan review of the Independent Counsel’s report,” Hyde said.

“They must have confidence in this process.

“Politics must be checked at the door, party a liation must become secondary, and America’s future must become our only concern. I will not condone, nor participate in, a political witch hunt.

“If the evidence does not justify a full impeachment investigation, I will not recommend one to the House. However, if the evidence does justify an inquiry, I will fulfill my oath of o ce and recommend a fuller inquiry.”

Now then. Henry Hyde didn’t seem to lose control of his committee during all those weeks of inquiry, and he didn’t seem too upset with its work at the end, so one can only assume that he feels the direction he set out in that Sept. 9 statement has been followed.

Thus, after weeks of “fair, full and independent” deliberations, after reaching that “heroic level of bipartisanship,” after “checking politics at the door” and casting aside party a liation, it just happens — by strange coincidence, presumably — that all of the Judiciary Committee’s 21 Republicans independently decided to impeach and all of its 16 Democrats independently decided not to impeach.

Believe all that? Then you probably also believe that Henry Hyde and his colleagues would “neither condone nor participate in a political witch hunt.” If not, believe this: Bill Clinton, the guy who cheats and lies and always gets away with it, shouldn’t be the target of all those lying Republican politicians.

He oughta be their hero. 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 Papa John’s Shooter Acquitted in Killing Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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St. Louis judge has ruled that Missouri’s expansive “stand your ground” law protects a former Papa John’s worker from conviction for involuntary manslaughter for shooting a man who had used a cinder block to break through the store’s front window.

The acquittal of Clinton Eckenrodt comes more than a year after he shot and killed Ollice Upchurch outside a now-closed Papa John’s location on South Grand Boulevard.

The case outraged Upchurch’s relatives at the time, but with the verdict from Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser in the books, now appears to highlight the broad scope and consequence of Missouri’s self-defense laws, even in a scenario where a shooter went out of his way to confront a perceived threat and later bragged about the shooting, using a racial slur.

The threat, as defined by Missouri law, must reach the level of a “forcible felony,” which includes crimes like murder, rape and assault, but also robbery and burglary. In the ruling, which was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the judge concluded Eckenrodt had been “reasonable” when he decided to shoot Upchurch, who had attempted to enter the store on June 2, 2018, seemingly in an attempt to buy pizza.

But at 1:30 a.m., that particular Papa John’s was only making deliveries and had closed its doors to walk-ins. That didn’t stop Upchurch.

According to a summary of the incident included in the ruling, Upchurch “pulled his car onto the sidewalk in front of Papa John’s... exited his car, knocked on the door and put his credit card on the glass.”

Inside the store was Eckenrodt, who initially opened the door and

Ollice Upchurch, shown in his Twitter profile photo, was fatally shot last year. | VIA TWITTER told Upchurch they were closed.

From there, the situation quickly escalated. Upchurch tried to block Eckenrodt from closing the door, and then remained outside the store “yelling something at the workers.”

Eckenrodt called 911 and described Upchurch as a “belligerent drunk” who was “confused” and “[did] not know what the hell he [was] doing.” A second 911 call came in, this time from Eckenrodt’s manager, who similarly described Upchurch as belligerent.

In the ruling, Sengheiser wrote that Upchurch left the store, but then returned several times to continue yelling at the workers and that he “seemed more agitated each time he returned.”

The last time Upchurch returned, he did so after parking “in the middle of Grand Boulevard.”

He also had a cinder block with him, which he threw at the store’s front window.

The window held. But for Eckenrodt, this appeared to have been the breaking point. He fled out a side door and, the judge wrote, confronted Upchurch just as he was throwing the cinder block into the window for a second time.

Eckenrodt fired three rounds, hitting Upchurch once, “causing him to spin and fall down.”

“All of this is happening within a very short time-span of a couple seconds,” the ruling noted. “After that Eckenrodt did not fire any more shots. Mr. Upchurch got up, went back to his vehicle, drove southwards on Grand Boulevard

The judge justified the acquittal by citing Missouri’s self-defense laws, which were expanded in 2017 as part of a statewide bill that also eliminated the need for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. and collided with a light pole a short distance away.”

That’s where police would find Upchurch, dead from a gunshot wound. Police then arrested Eckenrodt and attempted to question him later that morning, but the shooter seemed capable only of “rambling somewhat unintelligently to himself about what he just experienced.”

In those ramblings, though, were statements that the judge described as “a lot of inappropriate things.” At a bench trial last month, the Post-Dispatch’s Joel Currier reported that those “inap-

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propriate things” had been quoted at length by city prosecutors and that they included a racial slur directed at Upchurch, who is black.

Eckenrodt is white.

Citing a recording of the police interview, former Assistant Circuit Attorney Morley Swingle referenced the comments while arguing for Eckenrodt’s guilt.

“You straight shot that (slur),” Eckenrodt reportedly said, before seeming to reenact the dialogue and events before he shot Upchurch. “Give me all your pizza.

Pow, pow, pow. That was (expletive) sweet. That was like watching a movie, man. … Still think he’s a (expletive) idiot. Pow, pow, pow pow. (Expletive) you. I did everything right. Pop, pop pop. And then he goes down. This guy is a piece of work. Pop, pop, pop.”

But those racist “ramblings,” Sengheiser wrote in his ruling, “did not alter [the Court’s] belief that he was acting in self-defense at the time of the incident.”

Sengheiser justified acquitting Eckenrodt by citing Missouri’s self-defense laws, which were expanded in 2017 as part of a statewide bill that also eliminated the need for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. That bill strengthened what’s known as Missouri’s “Castle Doctrine,” which states a person has no “duty to retreat” when they “reasonably believe” that deadly force is needed to protect their lives or their property.

The issue, then, comes down to whether Eckenrodt’s actions were reasonable in the moments leading up to the shooting. Sengheiser wrote that, at the time, police had not yet arrived after multiple 911 calls and that Upchurch had “continually escalated his threats” and attempted to enter the store.

Although Sengheiser discounted Eckenrodt’s “inappropriate statements” recorded by police, the judge added, “It is also notable” that the same Papa John’s had been robbed only days before the shooting, during an incident in which a robber had put a gun to the manager’s head.

In that case, the judge wrote, Eckenrodt was in a walk-in cooler and had not tried to intervene. Sengheiser concluded that prosecutors had not proven that Eckenrodt had acted unreasonably, and therefore acquitted him of the charge of involuntary manslaughter. n

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Jennifer Rothwell disappeared early last week. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE

County Woman’s Husband Charged With Murder Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

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he husband of a St. Louis County woman bought cleaning supplies and tried to scrub her blood out of the couple’s carpet the day before he reported her missing, authorities say.

Beau Rothwell, 28, is facing charges of second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Police say he killed his wife Jennifer Rothwell on Monday, November 11. He was videotaped the same day buying carpet cleaner, bleach and gloves, according to court records.

When investigators searched the couple’s home on November 13 at 12644 Northwinds Drive, north of Creve Coeur, they discovered a section of carpet that was still wet with bleach. Underneath, was a carpet pad soaked in blood. Police were able to match the blood to DNA samples from Jennifer’s parents, court records show.

Jennifer, a 28-year-old chemical engineer at DuPont, didn’t show up for work on November 12, and friends and relatives who typically heard from her every day couldn’t reach her. Beau reported her missing at 9:44 p.m. that night, but police suspect she was already dead.

They found her 2011 Hyundai Sonata abandoned near the intersection of Olive Boulevard and Fee Fee Road.

Before his arrest, Beau posted on Facebook about his wife’s disappearance and asked for help finding her.

Beau Rothwell was charged with second-degree murder. COURTESY ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE “Some of you may have heard already, but last night my wife Jennifer went missing,” he wrote. “I’ve filed a police report and the search is ongoing. Please, if you hear of anything or have any information it would be greatly appreciated.”

Within hours, police had taken the supposedly worried husband into custody and searched the couple’s house.

Along with the bleached, bloody carpet, investigators recovered empty bottles of cleaners, police say.

Beau was originally charged only with tampering, but St. Louis County prosecutors issued the murder charge on November 15 after the DNA analysis of the blood.

The search for Jennifer continued through the week until Monday, when Beau finally coughed up her location.

Through his attorney, he directed police to search north of Troy, about 45 minutes northwest of the Rothwells’ home along U.S. Route 61. About 11:15 p.m., police discovered a woman’s body. At press time, police were still trying to conclusively identify the woman as Jennifer.

Beau is being held without bail at the St. Louis County jail. n

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Caught in the In the age of Trump, refugees in St. Louis see the door closing behind them

BY DOYLE MURPHY AND MOHAMMED M. MUPENDA

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ngerus “Angelo” Imaniriho made it to St. Louis just in time.

After living nearly all of the first twenty years of his life in Congolese refugee camps in the central African country of Rwanda, he had been admitted in 2016 to the United States with his mother, brother, sister and young niece. They arrived with little, but with the help of the International Institute of St. Louis, they have begun to build lives in their adopted country.

On a recent morning, Imaniriho is up early to take the bus from the family’s three-bedroom apartment in Bevo Mill to St. Louis Community College-Forest Park, where he is studying to be a nurse. His mother, after working the second shift at a Moscow Mills cookie factory, makes porridge and tea with lots of honey and powdered milk for visitors while his now six-year-old niece sleepily gets ready for school.

“I like St. Louis,” Imaniriho, now 23, says. “For me, it’s a safe place. I think my life started over here.”

But even as he and his family settle into their adopted country, they worry about the door closing behind them. The same year they arrived, Donald Trump was barnstorming across the country, goading crowds into chants of “Build the wall ” and painting refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants as terrorists, rapist and gang members.

Trump has since presided over a crackdown on the immigration system at large. Refugees have proven a particularly easy target, given that they don’t have to be deported or caged in controversial camps on U.S. soil — they can be blocked before they ever get here simply by denying visas or setting restrictions unattainably high.

Since taking o ce, Trump’s administration has slashed the cap for refugees each year, driving it down to the lowest levels in four decades.

The maximum for 2020 is even lower.

“President Donald Trump has made it almost impossible to get into the U.S., unlike before, where it could be hard and take the longest process, but possible,” Imaniriho says.

It is something he pays attention to because he has dozens of friends and relatives, including his father and stepbrother, who still live in the camps and hope to someday move to the United States. Life in the camps is “miserable” and dangerous, Imaniriho says. He describes Continued on pg 14

From Left: Moustafa Nkingiye, Devote Murasira and Peruth Kadari. | DOYLE MURPHY 12

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he Divide

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Peruth Kadari peels yams three years after coming to St. Louis as a refugee. She worries about her daughter still living in Uganda. | DOYLE MURPHY

IN THE DIVIDE “President Donald CAUGHT Continued from pg 12 Trump has made it tents riddled with holes and the to find food. almost impossible struggle “Sometimes, they don’t have he says. “In the rain to get into the U.S., enough,” times, it’s too hard.”

They survived by banding tounlike before, gether.

Even now, he and his family in St. Louis send as much monwhere it could be ey as they can spare to aid those on the other side of hard and take the languishing the world, money that would stay if the recipients were allongest process, here lowed to come to the United States and start working. but possible.” “We believe in groups,” he ex-

plains. “In a group, when you help somebody you do great, but when you are alone, you can only do a few things.” *** nna Crosslin, president and CEO of the International Institute, prefers to take the long view of this moment in history.

It is a good time for that. Just this week, the institute turned 100 years old, which invites a certain amount of contextualizing. The nonprofit, now the largest resettlement center in the state with facilities in St. Louis and Springfield, was started on November 19, 1919 by a group of young St. Louis women led by philanthro-

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pist Ruth Holliday Watkins, who modeled it after the original International Institute created eight years earlier by the YWCA in New York City. Those early founders sought to help women and children who had fled war and in Europe, and they operated in an era of particular hostility toward immigrants, Crosslin notes.

“The issue of the ‘other’ isn’t new,” she says. “It has gone on and on and on.”

Over the years, the International Institute has grown into a hub of activity, not just for refugees but immigrants arriving from across the globe. In a former Catholic girls school in Tower Grove East that serves as the institute’s headquarters, people stream in and out for language classes, help with the citizenship process and a variety of programs that assist new arrivals find work and set up small businesses. As a result, people from all corners of the world have settled in St. Louis. They celebrate every year with a huge party called the Festival of Nations, attracting 100,000 visitors to Tower Grove park for food and performances.

Crosslin has led the institute for 40 years. In that time, she has learned that attitudes toward newcomers from foreign lands are not so much a linear progression as a cycle. The fear and animos-

ity rises and falls and rises again.

When she was hired as the executive director in 1978, the Vietnam War had ended just three years before, and beleaguered Vietnamese were fleeing their country in ramshackle boats, chancing dangerous, pirate-infested waters of the South China Sea in hopes of escaping destroyed landscapes, extreme poverty and unresolved conflicts.

The majority of U.S. citizens polled on the subject were not eager for an influx of Vietnamese refugees. In Missouri, resettlement wasn’t even an option. Under then-Governor Kit Bond, Missouri had become the only state in the nation to drop out of the federal refugee program, Crosslin notes in an article she penned for the Missouri Historical Society.

Truth be told, resettling refugees has almost always been contentious. A review by Pew Research of public polls during various humanitarian crises found the majority of Americans were at least initially opposed at the time. Two-thirds of the country wanted to keep out Germans and Austrians in the late 1930s. In the 1950s, 55 percent opposed resettling Hungarians who had fled the Soviets. The idea of admitting thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians was similarly unpopular in the 1970s.

Over the years, that has left the fate of millions of desperate people in the hands of U.S. presidents tasked with balancing hostile public sentiment and U.S. resources with humanitarian need and this country’s self image as a nation that welcomes the tired, the poor and the “huddled masses.” Faced with the dilemma posed by the “Vietnamese boat people,” thenPresident Jimmy Carter ultimately chose to double the numbers allowed into the United States to 14,000 people each month. It was wildly unpopular. A CBS/New York Times poll conducted in 1979, a month after he announced his decision, found 62 percent of Americans surveyed thought it was the wrong move, but Carter persisted.

“Let me remind you that the United States is a country of immigrants,” Carter told a skeptical town hall audience in 1979 in Iowa. “We are a country of refugees.”

Through the efforts of Crosslin and others, Missouri eventually reopened the state to refugees.

The International Institute has resettled more than 4,000 Vietnamese refugees over the years. Today, there are third and fourth generations of those early arrivals living in St. Louis, so thoroughly integrated into the landscape that it is

Anna Crosslin, CEO and president of the International Institute of St. Louis. | DOYLE MURPHY hard to remember the controversy of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

St. Louis has a similarly short memory for the angst caused by the arrival of Bosnian refugees in the 1990s and early 2000s. The International Institute and Catholic Charities resettled about 10,000 people who escaped genocide, and that number multiplied as Bosnians originally placed in other parts of the country made their way to the Midwest to join the community here. The numbers have since dwindled as families found their feet and dispersed to the suburbs and beyond, but an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Bosnians filled south city at one point.

With the benefit of time, St. Louisans have come to see the influx as a boon to struggling neighborhoods, particularly Bevo Mill, and the city as a whole. The Bosnians built businesses, rehabbed houses and generally injected life and commerce into a city that had battled decades of declining population. But Crosslin remembers tense neighborhood meetings in the beginning and a flood of calls to the International Institute from native-born St. Louisans who complained about their new neighbors, everything from fast-driving Bosian teens to backyard smokehouses. At their height, the gripes descended into urban legends of neighborhood pets barbecued on spits and alleyways running red with the blood of butchered dogs.

The Bosnians and the International Institute weathered the bogus stories and venom in what has become a familiar pattern throughout this country’s history.

“In the end,” Crosslin says of the fear of refugees and immigrants, “it’s all about concern that these newcomers are somehow going to destroy the idea of the American way of life.”***

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f Jimmy Carter saw widespread hostility toward refugees and immigrants as something to overcome, Donald Trump has treated it as possibly his most powerful political weapon.

Along the campaign trail, Trump began performing dramatic readings of a poem called “The Snake” to illustrate the way he saw the issue.

The poem — bizarrely, it was written in the 1960s by a black social activist singer and had nothing to do with immigration — has been twisted by Trump into a warning on the dangers of allowing foreign-born people into the United States.

“I thought of it having to do with our borders and people coming in,” he told a crowd in 2017 by way of an introduction. “And we know what we’re going to have — we’re going to have problems.”

The story is about a woman who finds a snake freezing in the cold.

She saves his life by bringing him into her home. Once revived, the snake turns on his host, viciously biting her. The stunned woman, now doomed to death, cries out for an explanation. Trump always gets louder as he reaches the punchline, reading the part of the snake: “‘Oh shut up, silly woman,’ said the reptile with a grin. ‘You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.’”

He will often shrug or hold his hands at his sides, palms up, at this point, as if the lesson is obvious and indisputable — the United States is the generous woman, and the refugees and immigrants are the dangerous, ungrateful snake.

That worldview has played out in long-running court battles to ban refugees from Muslim-majority countries, crackdowns on families crossing into the United Continued on pg 16

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The Festival of Nations is the International Institute of St. Louis’ signature event, attracting 100,000 people every year to Tower Grove Park. | DOYLE MURPHY

CAUGHT IN THE DIVIDE Continued from pg 15

States from Mexico in search of asylum, and a preference for the applications for entry of people from European countries. Recently, the state department has tried to justify the ever-shrinking cap on refugees by claiming it needs to divert resources toward a crisis along the southern border.

But the scarcity-of-resources argument seems like a diversion to Crosslin. All across the country, resettlement centers are finding themselves with excess capacity in the age of Trump. President Obama set the cap for the 2017 fiscal year at 110,000 refugees as he left o ce, but Trump slashed it to 50,000 during his first year in the White House, followed by 45,000 in 2018 and 30,000 in fiscal year 2019, the lowest total since Congress passed the United States Refugee Act of 1980, creating the country’s modern refugee resettlement program. The Trump administration has dropped the ceiling ever further — to 18,000 refugees — for 2020.

In St. Louis, the effects have been drastic. The International Institute resettled more than 1,100 refugees in 2016 during Obama’s last year in o ce. In 2019, that number was just 177. To keep up with the shift, the institute has reduced the staff dedicated to refugee resettlement to the equivalent of five full-time positions from more than 22 three years ago.

Crosslin says they have cut the

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The International Institute resettled more than 1,100 refugees in 2016 during Obama’s last year in office.

In 2019, that number was just 177. number of English classes and are considering other ways to reconfigure their offerings if the trend continues. But smaller providers with less variety in their services are starting to drop away and others won’t last much longer. The effect has been a rapid eroding of the infrastructure, both in the United States and abroad.

“The bottom line is this,” Crosslin says at a conference for immigration researchers. “The purpose is they want to squeeze the immigration program.” *** n the apartment off of Gravois, Imaniriho tells of four families who were supposed to come in October to the United States — three to St. Louis and the fourth to Arizona. They had made it through the final steps of the process, paying for medical

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treatments and vaccinations and moving out of the camps, only to be told the United States was not ready to receive them. Now, they’re in limbo, left with few options beyond renting temporary housing with money they don’t have.

Trump didn’t sign the presidential determination — the annual order that sets cap on refugees each fiscal year, ending in September — until November 1, which delayed any refugees who planned to move to the U.S. in October. Crosslin expects any refugees affected to be rescheduled for the coming months, provided that their security clearances don’t expire during the delay.

But Imaniriho and his family don’t know what to think. The delay puts an extra burden on those in the United States, who feel responsible to send money to their loved ones.

“Life in the camp is miserable, painful, and as a relative who experienced it, I cannot avoid helping,” Imaniriho explains.

The longer their friends and relatives are stuck in limbo, the longer it keeps families on both sides of the ocean waiting. One of Imaniriho’s neighbors, 53-yearold Peruth Kadari, came to the United States in 2016 after living in a camp in Uganda. She works and takes care of her four children, while also sending money back to Africa to help family there. She is grateful for the support of the United States and her new life here, but it is di cult.

She suffers from diabetes,

which she says affects her physically and mentally, because of the added stress. She still has a daughter living in the camp, whom she thought would finally be able to join her a year ago. But after going through the majority of the years-long process, the daughter was ultimately sent back the camp, Kadari says.

“I send $100 every month to sustain them,” she says. “Considering the situation in the camp, the money I send to them is not enough. I am optimistic that she will be allowed to travel someday.”

As she talks, she and Imaniriho’s mother, 62-year-old Devote Murasira, peel giant white yams and sort pinto beans into a giant pot. Their families in the camps are dependent on them, and both women say everyone — their relatives and the United States — will be better off once those who are stuck in the camps are able to move here and start working. For now, Murasira sends 500 a month ($700 if it’s a month she has to pay tuition) to sustain about 50 family members in Uganda and Rwanda.

It’s not just the money, but also worry over their health.

“Sometimes, I don’t eat, because of their concerns coming to me, whenever they are troubled with hardship, hunger and poverty,” she says.

They are frustrated with Trump, but they also know that he could unclog the pathways for refugees again — if he chooses.

“I’m pleading with President Donald Trump to enable the refugees to travel to the country of peace and employment,” Murasira says. “This could help them work toward self-reliance and sustainability. They are suffering and living in harsh conditions.”

Increasingly, Americans are on the side of people like Murasira.

As Trump has choked the resettlment program, polls show more and more support for the refugees. In the latest Pew Research poll on the subject, released last week, 73 percent of those surveyed said taking in refugees who were fleeing war or violence was an important goal.

Imaniriho echoes the pleas of his mother and neighbors, and he adds a line that maybe Trump would appreciate.

“All of us,” he says, “we do something to help this country be great.” n Mohammed M. Mupenda is a news correspondent and freelance reporter, who has written for publications in the United States and abroad. He is also a French and East African language interpreter.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

FRIDAY 11/22 Fugly Duds

SUNDAY 11/24 Illuminated Flora

The rise of the ugly Christmas sweater is almost complete. Hip brands annually produce oddball sweaters to warp the idea of what ugly is — everything from Motorhead’s Warpig to a sweater patterned after the carpet in the Overlook Hotel has gone on the market in recent years — and it has become fashionable to flaunt those glitzy and shitzy sweaters older relatives have long given as well-intentioned gifts. Shark Bar at Ballpark Village (601 Clark Avenue; www.stlballparkvillage.com) wants you to flaunt ’em if you got ’em at its Retro Friendsgiving Ugly Sweater party at 6 p.m.

Friday, November 22. There will be drink specials, retro Christmas gift giveaways and of course an Ugly Sweater Contest with $300 in cash and prizes — wear several and keep peeling them off until you win something. Tickets are $5 to $45, and you must be 21 or older to get in.

Everybody’s favorite gift for moms is back on the market this weekend: Garden Glow returns to the Missouri Botanical Garden (4344 Shaw Boulevard; www. mobot.org) for another holiday season. Experience hundreds of thousands of light within the showy grandeur of nature, with occasional pit stops for snacks along the 1.3-mile trail. It makes for a lovely night out in one of the city’s most lovely places, and you don’t even have to wrap it. Garden Glow hours are 5 to 10 p.m. daily (November 23 to January 4, but closed December 9, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Tickets are $3 to $16, and include admission to the Gardenland Express train exhibit.

Tyrannosaurus Wreck Tammy and the T-Rex, the first film for both Paul Walker and Denise Richards, would be entirely unknown if it weren’t so terrible.

Instead it’s remembered as a bizarre car crash of a film, thanks to its nonsensical plot. Evil scientist Dr. Wachenstein implants the brain of the murdered teen Michael (Paul Walker) into the brain of a mechanical Tyrannosaurus rex he just happens to have. Michael-Rex escapes to reunite with his girlfriend Tammy (Denise Richards), while the scientist tries to recover his project. The effects aren’t great, the acting is subpar and the film looks like it was shot all in the same neighborhood because it was. Tammy and the TRex has recently been restored to its former glory by Vinegar Syndrome, which took pains to restore all the gory violence that had been trimmed to secure a PG-13 rating.

This “gore cut” of the film is the one the Webster Film Series will screen at 9 p.m. Friday, November

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The Mississippi River Frozen Solid, February 1905. Photography by Oscar C. Kuehn, 1905. Missouri Historical Society Collections. Courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society.

22, at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue www.webster.edu/filmseries). Tickets are $5 to $7.

SATURDAY 11/23 A River Runs Through Us St. Louis is a river city, its very existence being predicated on early Americans using the Mississippi as a superhighway from the vast interior to New Orleans.

Of course, European immigrants weren’t the first to use the river this way — the mound-building Mississippian culture built their vast empire here for the same reason. The Mississippi River has seen civilizations rise and fall, has frozen solid and flooded and even flowed backward after the great earthquake of 1811. For many of those events people have lived alongside the great river and been shaped by it even as they have shaped it. Mighty Mississippi, the new exhibition at the Missouri History Museum (5700 Lindell Boulevard; www.mohistory.org), features more than 200 artifacts from the river, many dating back more than a millennium ago. The display comprises

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the largest display of Mississippian culture artifacts in more than three decades, alongside more contemporary objects such as cannons and photographs.

Mighty Mississippi is open daily from Saturday, November 23, to April 18. Admission is free.

MONDAY 11/25 The One With All the Friends Episodes

Rinky, Not Dinky

Friends ran for eleven seasons, which means there were a lot of episodes inspired by Thanksgiving. The eight best turkey episodes are screened during the two days of Friendsgiving, at 7 p.m.

Sunday and 4 and 7 p.m. Monday (November 24 and 25) at the AMC Creve Coeur 12 (10465 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur; www.fathomevents.com). Do you want to see that infamous football game episode, in which Ross and Monica battle it out once again for the Geller Cup (replicas of which you can actually buy on etsy.com)?

Maybe you prefer the episode where Chandler tries to win over his future in-laws, Jack and Judy Geller, and Rachel makes an illfated old English trifle They’re both on the schedule, along with the episode with Rachel’s other sister (played by Christina Applegate), and the one where that dummy Ross makes a list of Julie and Rachel’s flaws to help him figure out who to date. Tickets to Friendsgiving are $13.56.

If you haven’t heard yet, this January’s NHL All-Star Game is played right here in the city of champions.

There will be a week of fan-friendly events leading up to the game, and the earliest of those events is the Winterfest Ice Rink in Kiener Plaza (500 Chestnut Street; www. archpark.org/winterfest). The outdoor skating rink opens at noon Saturday, November 23, which coincides with the Ameren Festival of Lights and a fireworks finale — skate rentals are free all day. During regular hours (4 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through January 26), skate rentals are $6 to $12. If you have your own skates, you can skate for free. If you’re planning to make a day of it, you can rent an igloo (it’s really an upscale warming tent), with seats, blankets, table service from the onsite Sugarfire Winterfest Café and up to six free skate rentals. Lace ’em up and get out there.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 21-27

TUESDAY 11/26 The Nutcracker Breaks You’re gonna see a production of The Nutcracker this year — it’s impossible to avoid Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic. But if you have a say in the matter, choose The Hip Hop Nutcracker. Jennifer Weber and Mike Fitelson have recast the holiday fairy tale about a young girl dreaming of holiday adventures as a hip-hop romance set in Brooklyn. Here Maria-Clara is whisked away with her Nutcracker Prince by the magic of Drosselmeyer to a certain New Year’s Eve in 1980s Brooklyn. In a nightclub on the last night of the year, her parents will meet and fall in love.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker features b-boys, an electric violinist and a DJ remixing the beloved tale right before your eyes. If that’s not enough, Kurtis Blow, a founding father of hip hop, is the guest MC of the tour, and will perform a short set of his classic songs before the show. The Hip Hop Nutcracker is performed at 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 26, at the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; www.fabulousfox.com).

Tickets are $25 to $65.

WEDNESDAY 11/27 Fight for the Survivors Tonight, Budweiser’s Guns ‘n’ Hoses once again pits city and county firefighters and police o cers against each other in three-round boxing matches. There’s no malice here — the combatants are fighting for a good cause, after all. Proceeds from Guns ‘n’ Hoses go to the St. Louis BackStoppers, the group that provides financial support to the families of police o cers and firefighters who die in the line of duty.

Bouts start at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 27, at the Enterprise Center (1401 Clark Avenue; www. stlgunsnhoses.com). Tickets are $17 to $22, and going very quickly — the first round of tickets sold out last week, but keep an eye on the website if more become available (you can always donate directly at www.backstoppers.org). n

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FILM

21

[REVIEW]

Man of the Century Martin Scorcese’s epic The Irishman is a shadowy rumination on memory, guilt and aging Written by

ROBERT HUNT The Irishman Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Charles Brandt and Steve Zaillian. Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Anna Paquin, Kathrine Narducci and Ray Romano. Opens at multiple theaters Friday, November 22, and on Netflix Wednesday, November 27.

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n the 1990s, Martin Scorsese made two films about mob culture, Goodfellas and Casino, each of them an encyclopedic display of cinematic technique from a supremely confident filmmaker who used every scene to show off his mastery of the medium: sweeping camera shots, meticulously busy long takes and daring, flashy editing that could flip his stories through time and space or recreate the scattered thoughts of a man on a cocaine binge. Goodfellas was a Horatio Alger tale turned corrupt, depicting the seduction and near-destruction of a young man drawn into the underworld. Casino was more melancholy in comparison, the story of a middle-aged mobster becoming disenchanted by the gaudy life he’s chosen. Significantly, Scorsese drew inspiration not from other crime films but from Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, a film about a failed marriage and disappointment.

The Irishman will inevitably be categorized as the final entry of a trilogy begun by those earlier films, but while there is common ground between all three, the new film is a more reflective work, an aging man’s summation of a life in the mob, having long abandoned the na vet of youth and the dissatisfaction of middle age. The pyrotechnics and cinematic wizardry are abandoned, replaced by a sense of sober reassessment. It’s a vast, ex-

Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) and Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) debate Hoffa’s next move. | (C) NETFLIX pansive film, spanning more than half a century, but it’s marked by a solemn acceptance, a sense that its protagonist views his past not with regret but with resignation.

Based on Charles Brandt‘s book I Heard You Paint Houses in a curiously Godardian touch, Scorsese flashes the book’s title onscreen as the sole opening credit , The Irishman is the story of Frank Sheeran Robert De Niro , a truck driver who found himself in the good graces of Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino Joe Pesci in the 1950s. With the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960, the underworld began to solidify their influence in politics and Sheeran was placed in the service of Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa Al Pacino during the latter’s most turbulent years as a labor leader.

Hoffa’s rise and fall provide the dramatic structure of the film, but they’re shown with detachment.

As played by Pacino, Hoffa is too mercurial to tell his own story, so Scorsese pieces it together from other angles, from the mob bosses who keep a careful eye on him and from Sheeran, who can keep an emotional distance from him even while acting as a close friend. One of the hardest things about organized crime, the film suggests, is the damage it does to loyalty and friendship.

Specialists on the Hoffa case

have argued that Sheeran was a self-serving con man whose explanation of Hoffa’s death simply fails to match up with the facts.

They may be right, but their argument is irrelevant. The Irishman is a film about memory and guilt, and Frank is telling his story, flaws and inaccuracies notwithstanding, the way he remembers it. It’s his confession, a mea culpa from a man who had a privileged view of the secret history of postWWII America as he tries to sort out the fragments of his past.

Much has been written about the digital de-aging that allows the cast to play younger versions of themselves, but the results with the exception of De Niro in his earliest scene are never a distraction. In theory, the technique could be a gimmick, but in Scorsese’s hands, it adds depth and mileage to the characters, letting the actors form an emotional bond as they interact at multiple ages and over decades.

It’s also a reunion of sorts for a group of actors whose careers have been tied in with the gangster film for more than 40 years.

Godfather veterans Pacino and De Niro, who have rarely worked together before most notably in the overrated Heat bond like an old couple who have been together so long that they can predict each other’s movements, but the film is

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stolen from them by Joe Pesci. Pesci, largely absent from the screen for the last twenty years, plays his power-broker role like an elderly grandparent, exuberant with tenderness but with a ruthlessness that he never has to bring to the surface Bufalino was known as “the uiet Don” . The supporting cast is equally impressive, with Harvey Keitel making a quick appearance and Anna Paquin providing a severe, censorious presence as Sheeran’s daughter.

In The Irishman, Scorsese follows his characters through half a century. We see them mature and weaken with age. We see their children grow into adulthood. We see partnerships and betrayals, successes and failures. The film keeps its sights on Sheeran and his passage through the intrigues and power struggles of his era, remaining intimate yet throwing light on the larger events along the sidelines. In its wide range and complexity, it merits comparison not just with Scorsese’s early studies of mob loyalty but with the grandest epics of its genre, the Godfather films and Sergio Leone’s underappreciated Once Upon a Time in America. With these films, the gangster genre abandons its early “crime doesn’t pay” tradition and takes the proportions of an epic, rewriting American history from its darkest corners. n

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FEATURED DINING SEDARA SWEETS

SPONSORED CONTENT

6 RESTAURANTS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT...

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

J. SMUGS GASTROPIT

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314.833.5900 8 S EUCLID AVE ST. LOUIS, MO 63108 314.553.9440 6316 DELMAR BLVD UNIVERSITY CITY, MO 63130

Housed in a retro service station, J. Smugs GastroPit serves up barbecue that can fuel anyone’s fire.

Married teams of Joe and Kerri Smugala and John and Linda Smugala have brought charred goodness to the Hill neighborhood, nestled among the traditional Italian restaurants, sandwich shops and bakeries. Part of St. Louis’ ongoing barbecue boom, the J. Smugs’ pit menu is compact but done right. Ribs are the main attraction, made with a spicy dry rub and smoked to perfection. Pulled pork, brisket, turkey and chicken are also in the pit holding up well on their own, but squeeze bottles of six tasty sauces of varying style are nearby for extra punch. Delicious standard sides and salads are available, but plan on ordering an appetizer or two J. Smugs gives this course a twist with street corn and pulled-pork poutine.

Several desserts are available, including cannoli – a tasty nod to the neighborhood. Happy hour from 4 to 7pm on weekdays showcases half-dollar BBQ tastes, discount drinks, and $6 craft beer flights to soothe any beer aficionado.

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

JSMUGSGASTROPIT.COM

BLK MKT EATS

CRAWLING CRAB

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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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

23

[REVIEW]

Raising the Game The best bar food in town is being served inside a Bevo pinball dive Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Party Bear Pizza and Tiny Chef 4701 Morganford Road, inside the Silver Ballroom. Wed.-Thurs. 4-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 4- 11 p.m.; Sun. 4-9 p.m. (Closed Monday and Tuesday.)

C

hris Ward always knew his pizza was good, but it didn’t get to next-level good until one night when he was sitting around Party Bear Pizza and Tiny Chef’s kitchen with his girlfriend and business partner, Melanie Meyer. The two of them often bounce ideas off one another at their small, counter-service operation inside south-city pinball dive the Silver Ballroom, and on this particular night, Meyer had a revelation.

“Why not spread a layer of garlic purée on the crust before putting on the sauce?” Meyer suggested, prompting Ward to immediately begin experimenting with the idea. Their combined efforts resulted in Party Bear Pizza’s signature punch of roasted garlic that infuses every bite with an earthy, pungent flavor. It mingles with the piquant, subtly sweet pizza sauce, transforming this base from regular marinara into a marvelous bomb of the stinking rose — a perfect foundation that made all the difference for Ward’s pizza recipes.

Meyer’s pizza sauce idea, a stroke of absolute genius, is just one of many ways she and Ward have turned a place that could come off as totally bizarre into something that makes sense. The pair are fully aware that, unlike their garlic purée idea, a restaurant that serves both pizza and Korean street food is an unlikely concept. They also knew that if anyone was capable of pulling it off, it was them.

That Party Bear Pizza and Tiny

Party Bear Pizza and the Tiny Chef serve Korean food and pizza out of the same window at the Silver Ballroom in Bevo Mill. | MABEL SUEN Chef has been so well received has everything to do with Meyer and Ward themselves, two earnestly warm and charming people who are clearly having a great time exploring their own culinary paths while cooking together. For Ward, his journey to the kitchen began when he was an eighth-grader in Rushville, Illinois, and his parents decided to buy a pizzeria. From the get-go, Ward caught the pizza bug and always dreamed of opening a place of his own one day, even though he first pursued a career in journalism.

His break into the pizza business came when a friend sent him an off-handed email with a link to a Craigslist advertisement that stated: “For sale: A party bear.”

The joke escalated to the point that Ward and his friend found themselves the owners of the humansized, Hawaiian shirt-clad stuffed bear that became the inspiration for Party Bear Pizza.

Meyer’s journey started both earlier and later than Ward’s.

Born in South Korea, Meyer was

adopted as a baby by a family who lived in Missouri. After cooking at several restaurants around town (including Lulu’s Local Eatery and the Restaurant at the Cheshire), she felt a calling to explore her Korean roots through food and began teaching herself how to make everything from kimchi to bibimbapto tteokbokki, and hoped she’d be able to open a restaurant of her own one day.

That chance came when she and Ward heard that the Silver Ballroom had an opening for someone to take over its food service, a window-service operation that had previously been home to Devil Dogz. The pair decided that, rather than choosing who would take over the space, they’d go into business together, coining the name Party Bear Pizza and Tiny Chef in the same spirit as all such great duos, like Batman and Robin or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Meyer and Ward can now comfortably add themselves to that list of legendary partnerships. To his credit, Ward’s Party Bear Pizza

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does a great job reinterpreting St. Louis-style pizza for the non-Provel set. His crust is thin, but not cracker thin, and crisps up magnificently so that there is no soggy center as is often the case with St. Louis-style pies. It can handle toppings quite well — a good thing considering the pizzas are slathered with about a quarter-inch thick layer of garlic and sauce and a generous sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

Party Bear’s menu is not huge, but what it does, it does well. The Garlic Sticks are pure comfort, a mix of garlic, cheese and dough that is like the pizza version of garlic cheese bread. It’s simple, but a showstopper, as is Ward’s favorite pizza. Billed as the Hoosier, this fun combination of ham, mushroom and onion somehow evokes the city’s famous ham-ongarlic bread Gerber sandwich. It’s no wonder Ward speaks so highly of it: It’s Party Bear’s best offering.

While Party Bear offers the easy comfort you want out of a pizza counter in a bar, Tiny Chef’s Ko-

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

THIS WEEK THE GROVE SELECTED HAPPENINGS

IN

Day or night, there’s always something going on in The Grove: live bands, great food, beer tastings, shopping events, and so much more. Visit thegrovestl.com for a whole lot more of what makes this neighborhood great.

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JEREMIAH JOHNSON W/ GHALIA VOLT

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24

COMPLIMENTARY TASTING

$10, 8 PM AT THE READY ROOM

JOSH HEINRICHS & FRIENDS

4:30 PM AT INTOXICOLOGY

$12, 7 PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY

MIDWEST AVENGERS 27TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

$15, 8 PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY

DJ SHEBEATZ + $5 SHOT & BEER

$10, 8 PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY

10 PM AT HANDLEBAR

RANDY ISLAND

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25

$10, 8 PM AT THE IMPROV SHOP

IMPROV SHOP OPEN MICROPHONE

JAMES BIKO THAT 90S JAM | PRE-THANKSGIVING EDITION

8 PM AT THE IMPROV SHOP

8 PM AT THE READY ROOM

BJ THE CHICAGO KID $35-45, 7 PM AT THE READY ROOM

ONE FOUR FIVES: AN IMPROVISED MUSICAL $10, 8 PM AT THE IMPROV SHOP

BIG CHONKIN 2: FRIGGIN HECK

10TH ANNIVERSARY AND THANKSGIVING POTLUCK 6 PM AT THE IMPROV SHOP

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22 55

PARTY BEAR & TINY CHEF Continued from pg 23

rean fare pushes the boundaries of the sort of food you’d expect from such humble digs. Meyer cooks with purpose; this is not simply a parade of excellent dishes but a journey of self-discovery.

This passion is evident in her outstanding bibimbap, a bowl of warm, sticky rice covered in a flawlessly-cooked over-easy egg with fragrant pickled carrots and shockingly crunchy kimchi. The dish is served with your choice of protein, but there’s no real choice: The char sui pork belly is so delicious she could open a restaurant that serves only it and be a roaring success. Sticky from a soybased glaze, the meat is scented with flavors of peppercorns, Chinese Five Spice and anise and is so wonderful it will haunt you until your next visit.

Kimchi fried rice is another of Tiny Chef’s revelations. More than simple fried rice, Meyer’s tastes as if it has been enhanced with the funky spice of gochujang, a fermented Korean chile-soybean paste. The rice has a deep, subtle heat, but it’s topped with kimchi, which gives it a jolt of fiery bright-

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Chris Ward and Melanie Meyer creatively satisfy very different palates in one place. | MABEL SUEN ness as well as crispy texture.

Meyer shows off her culinary prowess in other dishes as well.

Her Korean tacos, topped with succulent soy and garlic-kissed bulgogi beef, are accented with kimchi, jalapeños and the restaurant’s signature spicy Dragon

NOVEMBER 20-26, 2019

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sauce or orange-ginger-plum Pixie sauce I opted for both . The result is a dish that is a perfect balance of sweet, salty and spicy.

She’s generous with her fillings, too, though this causes the soft flour tortilla wrapper to break up as you bite into it. A double layer

of tortillas would help.

Her nachos, made with fried wontons, are positively smothered in Dragon and Pixie sauces, jalapeños, kimchi, cilantro and, on one of my visits, char sui tofu — bar food, but the best bar food you’ve ever had. Even a hummus special was an unexpected surprise. Here, Meyer infuses a chickpea base with Korean chiles, then tops it with sesame oil and kimchi. In place of plain pita for dipping, the flatbread is accented with gochugaru chile flakes, adding an extra dimension of spice to this magnificent dish.

Although not a fusion restaurant by a long shot, Tiny Chef’s hummus, or the garlic spread on Party Bear’s pizza, shows the beauty that can come from a simple conversation and a little experimentation with someone you respect.

It’s clear that Meyer and Ward are having a great time working together at this gem of a place and that their mutual admiration inspires each other to be better at what they do — and thankfully, we all get to reap the results.

Party Bear Pizza and Tiny Chef Hoosier ........................................................ $7 Bulgogi taco ............................................... $4 Bibimbap .................................................. $10

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SHORT ORDERS

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[SIDE DISH]

How The Tamale Man Became a Farmers’ Market Mainstay Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

D

oug Marshall understands that there might be some raised eyebrows from the fact that he calls his business the Tamale Man (901 North U.S. Highway 67, Florissant; 314456-1339). However, as he explains, the moniker does not come from a place of hubris, but one of nostalgia that he traces all the way back to his youth in north St. Louis.

“When you say you’re ‘the man’ in anything there is this icky reaction,” Marshall admits. “But the name actually is meant to pay homage to the guy who used to sell tamales on the weekends when I was growing up on North 20th Street. My cousins and I would get as excited seeing him come down the street as we did about the ice cream man. On cold days, he’d whip open the door of his pushcart and the steam would come out like Mt. Vesuvius erupting. He’d pull one out and wrap it in newspaper. It’s a super fond memory of my youth.”

Looking back, the man with the pushcart was just one of the many masa-inflected memories that put Marshall on his current path to his business, the Tamale Man. Though he is keenly aware that his surname does not reflect his Latin heritage, Marshall’s mother was Mexican, and her mother was a fantastic cook who would regularly cook for the family. Tamales were one of her specialties, but because they are so labor intensive, she’d only make them on

Doug Marshall, a.k.a. the Tamale Man, found himself in the restaurant business as soon as he was legally able to work. | ANDY PAULISSEN special occasions. When they were around, it meant there was a celebration.

Marshall’s mother passed away when he was nine years old, and for a period of time, he and his father lived with his maternal grandparents. Eventually, his father remarried a woman who was half-Cuban, half-Mexican, and her mother’s influence on his cooking would prove profound. He’d often find himself over at her house, called upon to do chores like cleaning windows, until that work was done and he was allowed to help her cook. Tamales were one of her specialties.

“Neither side of the family was wealthy, so food was always the gift,” Marshall recalls. “I was never a kid who got socks for Christmas; I got tamales. Every year, Grandma Inez would pack some up and send them home with me for my present.”

Because of the key role that food played in his life, Marshall found himself in the restaurant busi-

ness as soon as he was legally able to work. At that time, Grandma Inez was working at the legendary downtown St. Louis cafeteria, Miss Hulling’s, and she got Marshall a job washing dishes. When someone failed to show up for work one day, he was promoted to prep cook and got his first taste of cooking professionally.

After Miss Hulling’s, Marshall worked at several restaurants around town — Old Mexico, a few locations of Casa Gallardo — before leaving to go to school on a football scholarship. After getting injured, he had to figure out what to do, so he decided to get more serious about finishing up school and landed a job at Chrysler.

Marshall would be pulled back into the food business in 1986, when his father-in-law decided to sell his Florissant mainstay, Ruiz Mexican Restaurant, to Marshall and his wife, Marissa. All the while, he’d been making tamales for the restaurant, but he didn’t see it as an independent opera-

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tion until about five years ago.

In addition to Ruiz, the Marshalls own a certified organic farm, and they were trying to get into area farmers’ markets. Most had waitlists for vendors, so they wanted to make sure they got their foot in the door while they waited for their farm to get certified. Marshall suggested tamales.

“I told her that we can’t have a tent and a table and not sell anything, so let’s do tamales,” Marshall says. “At first, everywhere turned us down, but eventually, Schlafly Beer said yes and there was instant buzz. Doing tamales was supposed to be a bridge until we got our produce going, but it turned into its own thing and is now beyond anything we could have expected.”

Five years later, the Tamale Man is a beloved farmers’ market mainstay with legions of fans seeking out Marshall for his food. Since that first year, he has revamped his recipes, added vegetarian and

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THE TAMALE MAN Continued from pg 29

vegan tamales and has gotten busy with a robust catering business. (For the winter season, he’s at Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and Lake St. Louis Farmers’ Market and hosting pop-ups at Goeke Produce Stand in Florissant and the Fruit Stand in Manchester.)

Currently, he’s still cooking out of Ruiz’s kitchen, but he hopes that one day he will have a brick-andmortar of his own with a commissary kitchen, order counter and market. He admits that this dream is still somewhat down the road, but it’s a goal worth working toward if for no reason other than increasing joy for his customers. “One of the best gifts you can give somebody is something that you put your heart into,” Marshall says. “I’ve been in the business a long time, but it still gives me the best feeling when I provide something elemental like food to someone and get that immediate positive feedback. I really do get a kick out of what I do.”

Marshall recently took a break from making tamales to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, the local restaurant that brings back childhood memories for him and why there is nothing closer to heaven than a muffuletta.

What is one thing that people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I’m not as scary as I look. I love to laugh and tell stories with lots of embellishments (purely for entertainment value, of course).

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Transcendental meditation. After 45 years in the food-service industry and reaching cortisol levels never before seen in humans, it relaxes me and helps me focus on each new day’s tasks.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

It would definitely be -ray vision. I would be the first person in history to win all of the events at the World Series of Poker.

What is the most positive thing in food, wine, and cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year?

I am so impressed by the number of collaborations that occur between chefs, restaurants, food trucks, et al. That was not the case in my early years in the business.

A new restaurant opening was merely viewed as increased competition. Now they are embraced

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and supported by their fellow restaurateurs. I think that’s amazing.

What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene?

I may be wrong, but I’m not aware of any cuisine or culture that isn’t represented in the St. Louis restaurant scene. We also have phenomenal breweries, distilleries, coffee roasters, bakeries and pastries, etc. I think we have all the bases covered.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

I love to eat (that’s the understatement of the year). Balkan Treat Box and Mayo Ketchup are incredible. Loryn and Edo Nalic at Balkan are people who are as genuine and authentic as the food they prepare. Mandy Estrella ’s food at Mayo Ketchup brings back loving memories of my Grandma Inez. I have a tostones addiction.

Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene?

I’m biased for personal reasons, but I would have to say executive chef Sean Turner of Louie. Quiet and unassuming, he won the “U.S. Master of Pasta” in Barilla’s Pasta World Championship and represented the U.S. in France this October. More impressive are the skills he displays while executing the menu at Louie on a daily basis. The sky’s the limit for this young man.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Chorizo, because I’m complex, spicy and contain an ample amount of fat.

If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?

I would be a professional poker player (but only if I had the aforementioned -ray vision . If no superpower, then a woodworker.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Anything with the words “artificial” or “substitute” in its description or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.

What is your after-work hangout?

That time for me has passed. I just go home now.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Guinness and gooey butter coffeecake, but not together, unless I have too many Guinness. Then all bets are off.

What would be your last meal on Earth?

I’m a huge sandwich guy, so a whole muffuletta (with extra olive salad) from Blues City Deli with a bag of salt-and-vinegar chips.

That may be as close to heaven as I’ll get. n

HAPPY HOUR

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[FOOD NEWS]

Bob Brazell Takes the Reins at the Tenderloin Room Written by Wednesday November 20 9PM

LIZ MILLER

Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players Tribute To The Allman Brothers

D

ecember is going to be a historic month for the Tenderloin Room (232 Kingshighway Boulevard, 314-361-0900), already one of St. Louis’ most storied restaurants.

Located inside what’s now known as the Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis, the Tenderloin Room was sold to new owners in June, as first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The restaurant temporarily closed on November 4 for light interior and kitchen renovations and will reopen in early December with a refreshed menu that respects the core of what’s made the steakhouse famous since 1922.

New owners Ben Strake, Rick DeStefane and Bob Brazell, the same partners who operate Byrd & Barrel and Tamm Avenue Bar, purchased the Tenderloin Room from longtime proprietors Dino and Jules Karagiannis. Brazell says the Karagiannis family approached him and his business partners about a year ago and finally closed on the sale in June.

That interim period has allowed Brazell and partners the time to take a hard look at the restaurant and make thoughtful changes and updates moving forward.

“We took a lot of time to get to know each other — they’ve owned the restaurant for like 30 years, so it’s that family’s life,” Brazell says. “We worked out a good deal for them; we kept on Dino and his two daughters, Eleni and Mary, and the whole staff as well. There are so many people who live inside the Chase, and [the Tenderloin Room] is like their living room; they know the family so well and we didn’t want a big change.”

Brazell, who came up in the local restaurant scene working in fine-dining kitchens like the late, great Monarch, says he’s most excited to get into the kitchen at the Tenderloin Room. He’s working with Jonas Janek of Henley Forge in Alton, Illinois, to build a custom grill with a rotisserie, grill plates that can be moved around on the rig, hooks for hanging meat and sausages and more — think a GrillWorks rig on steroids. The buildout will also add a dry-aging chamber onsite to age steaks and whole primal cuts in-house.

“My whole career was fine dining before I became ‘the Chicken Guy,’” Brazell laughs. “It will be nice to cook something other than fried chicken again. I’ve been meeting with a lot of different purveyors and I’ll be touring some ranches in Colorado; we want to put a lot of thought

Thursday November 21 9PM

Roland Johnson and Soul Endeavor Bob Brazell is also the co-owner of Byrd & Barrel and Tamm Avenue Bar. | COURTESY BOB BRAZELL

Friday November 22 10PM

Cycles

Psychedelic Rock Fusion from Denver

“There are so many people who live inside the Chase, and [the Tenderloin Room] is like their living room. We didn’t want to make a big change.” into where we’re sourcing beef from.

And then Jonas is making me my dream grill — basically a custom rig that will sit above the charbroiler inside the Tenderloin Room, where I can hang sausages, cook whole ducks and more.”

Brazell says he and his team are also expanding the countertop or kitchen pass surrounding the open kitchen to offer a chef’s table for up to six guests.

“People will be able to sit right at the pass, and we’ll design some special payahead menus where you can come in and have a five- or six-course dinner right there at the pass.”

Interior changes will be similarly subtle and in the spirit of the St. Louis dining institution. Local woodworker David Stine is crafting a new bar-top and large dining-room table for the revamped restaurant. Some of the interior touches have been inspired by the venerable steakhouse’s past, while others, like a new jade fireplace surround, realize Brazell’s own ideas for the space.

“I found the restaurant’s original logo from the 1950s, and I’ve got Top Coat Sign Co. out there to paint the original logo in 24-carat gold-leaf on both of the doors. It looks gorgeous,” Brazell says. “That’s our

big, in-your-face way of saying that we’re keeping it the Tenderloin Room.”

“As for the interior, we’re doing a lot in a very short amount of time: all-new carpet, chairs, the custom dry-age chamber. The showpiece of the room is the big fireplace, and I’m wrapping that whole fireplace in mosaic jade tiles.”

The project comes at an already busy time for Brazell: Soon, Tamm Avenue Bar will debut Nomad, a sandwich shop led by chef Tommy Andrew. This fall also marked the second year that Brazell’s Byrd & Barrel has operated a stall at Enterprise Center. “Within two years we got Byrd into a major sports arena and now we’re in what I think is the most iconic hotel in the city; it’s just been cool, man,” Brazell says.

“I’ve been lucky with Ben and Rick as my partners; we’re like family.”

Brazell adds that he and his business partners are still on the hunt for a second location of Byrd & Barrel, scouring St. Louis County for a larger space that can provide more seating than the flagship on Jefferson Avenue. “The original location has been awesome and has built the brand, but it’s just tough; we can’t even take an eight-top down there and we’re ready to expand,” Brazell says. “There are elements that we want to add [to Byrd]. I really want a large bar and a live-fire grill.

We’ve been looking from St. Peters to Des Peres to Creve Coeur, but it’s harder to find because we want to own it.”

For now, though, Brazell is primarily dedicated to getting the Tenderloin Room ready for its December reopening date. He says he and the crew are aiming for a December 1 debut but will share progress updates along the way.

“We’re going to work extremely hard and quickly to be done and open in December, because holiday parties there are a huge thing,” Brazell says. “The word we keep using is ‘refresh,’ not ‘remodel,’ because the layout and the guts are staying the same; there’s so much beautiful woodwork in there that we’re not touching. I’m excited.” n

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Sunday November 24 8PM

Soul, Blues and Pop Diva Kim Massie Monday November 25 9PM Soulard Blues Band Hosts

The Longest Running Blues Jam in America

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[FIRST LOOK]

Winslow’s Table Now Open in University City Written by

LIZ MILLER

J

ust in time for the holiday season, a beloved local restaurant and market has been revived with a refreshed concept in a redesigned space. On Thursday, November 14, Winslow’s Table (7213 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-725-7559) opened its doors in University City.

Located in the former Winslow’s Home space, the renamed and reimagined concept comes from Michael and Tara Gallina, the husband-and-wife team behind acclaimed restaurant Vicia (4260 Forest Park Avenue, 314553-9239). The restaurant power couple first announced the purchase of the space in August under their Rooster and the Hen Hospitality Group.

“It’s really cool to have a space that can be so many different things,” Tara says. “To be a spot where you can pop in, grab something really delicious to fuel your day or sit down with friends and family for a great meal and being able to bring your kids. It’s more casual, less fuss, but still top-level service. Switching over to a fullservice model will hopefully allow us to make that experience feel a little more seamless for folks and bring the spirit of Vicia in a much more casual setting.”

“That’s been my favorite thing,” Michael adds. “I think Vicia is a lot like that, where you could bring your family or your kids and there’s an experience there for you, but it’s just never going to be looked at like that kind of restaurant. So I’m excited that we have another platform to share that.”

Winslow’s Table is currently only open for breakfast and lunch, with plans to add dinner service by the end of 2019. The restaurant offers both table service in the dining room and a robust carryout menu, including an assort-

Beet salad with Fuji apple, yogurt vinaigrette, pistachios, toasted seeds and sunflower shoots. | LIZ MILLER ment of pastries and desserts and grab-and-go options such as pesto, soups and grain salads.

When the restaurant soon gets its liquor license, you can expect to find a range of approachable and affordable wines and local craft beers. For now, Winslow’s Table is serving a selection of nonalcoholic cocktails developed by Vicia bar manager Phil Ingram Weaver as well as a robust coffee program that aims to give the neighborhood a new destination for a cup of joe.

Longtime Vicia sous chef Alec Schingel will be leading the kitchen at Winslow’s Table, serving a menu inspired by the seasons and combining the casual atmosphere of Winslow’s Home with the seasonal fare that’s made Vicia famous. Dishes will range from pastries and breakfast tacos for breakfast and brunch to soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch.

A handful of dishes are available as “half and half” options, allowing guests to pick two items as half portions for just $12.

Breakfast service begins at 8 a.m. and lunch service starts at 11 a.m., but both menus will be served until closing time at 3 p.m. For breakfast, choose from plates such as the Winslow’s Pancakes with preserved blueberries, maple syrup and whipped butter or the buttermilk biscuit sandwich with a fried egg, applewood smoked ham, cheddar and apple mustard.

On the lunch menu, sandwiches

include a braised brisket sammie with provolone, horseradish, dijon and pickled banana peppers with a side of chips or a green salad and a grilled cheese with cheddar, gruyere and tomato sofrito served with your choice of chips or a green salad. Other lunchtime menu items include a beet salad with Fuji apple, yogurt vinaigrette, pistachios, toasted seeds and sunflower shoots, and shakshuka made with a base of tomato and pepper stew, poached eggs, harissa, feta, marinated cucumbers and herbs served with sourdough flatbread.

“I’m really excited about largeformat dishes like the shakshuka,” Michael says. “I think of it like how Tara and I cook together every Sunday, which is our day off together, and sometimes its with flavors and things I couldn’t execute with two or three cooks at Vicia for lunch . We do a smaller format with our pick two or three lunch menu at Vicia , so I’m excited to have a little more fun here and go a little outside of my comfort zone.”

To complement the breakfast and lunch menus, Winslow’s Table is also serving four flavors of fresh ice cream from Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Creamery, with a dedicated “dip station” set aside for the frozen treats. When dinner service is added in early or mid-December, the Gallinas plan to introduce an expanded selection of grab-and-go meals as well.

As at Vicia, Winslow’s Table pri-

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oritizes sourcing fresh ingredients and produce from local farms, including Winslow’s Farm, owned by former Winslow’s Home owner Ann Sheehan Lipton. In fact, that’s how the Gallinas first met Sheehan Lipton — as clients buying in her produce at Vicia.

The redesign of the space was overseen by Sasha Malinich of R/5 and Casco Architects and includes new tables from Martin Goebel of Martin Goebel Design. The striking new space features a navy, gold and white color palette that retains the coziness of the former dining room while brightening up and modernizing it.

Fans of Winslow’s Home will be happy to find an updated retail selection and market inside Winslow’s Table, including locally made products from Big Heart Tea Co., Kaldi’s Coffee, Marcoot Jersey Creamery, Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Creamery, Brian Severson Farms, Rolling Lawns Farm and many more. Retail products are divvied up on shelves across the space, including coolers with cheese, ice cream and dairy products. Winslow’s Table will also sell fresh baked bread; Michael says that 80 percent of the bread featured on the current menu is being made in-house. “ The market is going to allow us to show off more farmers and artisans with being able to sell some of these great retail products and our team can grow our bakery program and show off breads and all these beautiful pastries,” Tara says. “There’s just more room for that here, which is really cool. This is just the starting place and we’ll figure out what people want.”

In addition to refreshing the dining room, Winslow’s Table will make smart use of the building’s existing private event space, which will function as both an event space and a more formal dining experience reflective of Vicia.

For now, however, the Gallinas are just excited to get the doors open and start sharing what they’ve built at Winslow’s Table with the community.

“We’ve only been here a short while, but I think this neighborhood has a lot of very passionate and committed people, and that’s not an experience we’ve had at Vicia because it’s not in a neighborhood in that way,” Tara says.

“I’m excited to have those regulars who you get to know because they’re here four times a week, hopefully, and you get to know their life story.”

Winslow’s Table is open Tuesday through Sunday for breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. n

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MUSIC + CULTURE

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[HOMESPUN]

A Fantastic Voyage St. Louis soul and R&B singer Katarra releases solo debut LP Cocoa Voyage Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

K

atarra Parson grew up surrounded by music. She absorbed her parents’ funk and soul records and kept her ears perked for classic rock from Led Zeppelin to Uriah Heap.

But it was after a Sunday service that a young Parson had her first real musical awakening.

“My family is a big religious family, so I grew up in church,” Parson says. “I remember being seven or eight and my mom would stay after church and talk to everybody.

I would walk up to this brown upright piano and play. As time went by, I was able to make seventh chords — it sounded like the music I had been surrounded by at church.”

Her father indulged Parson’s nascent talent with the gift of a beginner’s keyboard — the kind with built-in demo recordings of famous songs. Soon enough, she had taught herself Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca” by ear. Save for some woodwind tutelage in school, Parson’s knowledge of music has all been self-taught, and her approach to the keyboard — her main instrument, along with an expressive, elastic voice — remains a synthesis of her influences, which stretch from Roy Ayers to Deep Purple to Lauryn Hill.

Despite that passion for music, Parson kept her musical light hidden under a bushel for much of her life. “I had horrible stage fright — for years, I just stayed in the house, secretly recording,” she says. But in 2015, Parson got the courage to perform as part of UrbArts open mic program Lyrical Therapy. She recalls that her hand was shaking so badly that she could barely play the piano.

Katarra says her first performance brought such stage fright that she was literally shaking, but she’s since come into her own. | VIA THE ARTIST That experience broke the dam; soon enough she was performing regularly with the Lyrical Therapy band and exploring the city’s soul, jazz and hip-hop communities.

“Next thing I know, I was doing festivals; next thing I know I’m signed to [local label] FarFetched; next thing I know I’m doing a residency,” Parson says. “This all happened just last year.”

Performing simply as Katarra, she is ready to drop her solo debut LP Cocoa Voyage on November 29. The album sounds like a synthesis of a short lifetime of musical influences: rich gospel piano chords, jazzily scatted vocal runs and propulsive hip-hop beats fade in and out.

Many of those textures pop up on standout track “Conversation Golden” — silky synths swirl against a squelchy bass line, but only after a clacky upright piano and a virtual choir of Katarras introduce the song with a celestial air. Production work from Najii Person and Muhammad “Mvstermind” Austin help the song move along with the energy and promise of a Jill Scott mash-note.

Mvstermind and Najii Person are a few key collaborators — Illphonics guitarist Kevin Koehler and Katarra’s FarFetched labelmate Wes Ragland contribute

as well. Much of Cocoa Voyage sounds like a self-contained, selfactualized vision of an artist able to hopscotch across genres while using her voice and lyrics to maintain a consistent energy.

Parson talks about “the variety of human emotions” she channels in these songs and the intensity with which she writes and composes. “When you put words with music, which also evokes feelings, it’s a way that people are able to relate to the lyrics that causes them to feel triggered by the lyrics, if that’s the right word for it,” she says. “My music and lyrics put people in a different room — it takes people away from the present moment.”

The music on Cocoa Voyage doesn’t fall into easy categories — it is, broadly speaking, an R&B record from someone with gospel chops, or a soul record that’s not afraid to slip into some slippery psychedelic byways. And as of late, Parson has been performing at the Dark Room through her inclusion with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s residence program, whose 2019 class includes Andrew Stephen, Janet Evra, Kaleb Kirby and Ryan Marquez. The bulk of her cohort has deep roots and significant chops in traditional jazz music, which makes Katar-

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ra a little bit of an outlier.

“The ironic thing is that I struggled with imposter syndrome for a while, but they booked me because that’s exactly what they wanted,” she says. “I get along well in the indie community, the underground hip-hop community, but that jazz community intimidated me. But they welcomed me with open arms — I feel encouraged in that space.”

To wit, the album release show takes place at the Dark Room on November 29. Working in that environment, and as part of the Kranzberg residence program, has already influenced the next crop of songs, Parson says. “It’s taught me to take composition more seriously. Me being self-taught, I’m used to doing improv, which is awesome, but I want to compose and write sheet music to be taken more seriously by professionals.”

As Cocoa Voyage is set to be released, Parson looks at her own journey as ongoing, but she remains cognizant of the benchmarks she has hit along the way.

“That girl who has stage fright is still there, but I am able to be in the present moment,” she says.

Katarra Record Release 10 p.m. Friday, November 29. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square. Free. 314-776-9550.

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[PROFILE]

A Very Noisy XMas St. Louis’ Janet XMas bridges noise music and performance art to provocative effect Written by

ELIZABETH WOLFSON

A

young woman slowly rotates around a neon green, nylonbristled broom pressed into the center of a ragged pink towel taped to the floor. As she revolves around it, a scraping noise crackles from a speaker set somewhere off to the side. After a long minute of methodical rotation, she picks up the broom and begins smoothing it across the towel in long strokes, as if sweeping away invisible particles. The amplified scrapes and whooshes shift with her movements, a sonic mirror to her careful choreography.

The performer creating this surreal vignette is St. Louis-based noise and performance artist Grace Smith, a.k.a. Janet XMas, a.k.a. JANET. Dressed in a sheer negligee, thong underwear, black combat boots and a leather dog collar and bracelet, Janet reads as a twisted version of those stock characters of heteronormative fantasy, the sexy maid or oversexed housewife. Yet, wielding her sexuality as she does her broom when performing, Smith appropriates the tools of domestic reproduction to her own, unproductive ends: non-narrative performance art and abstracted, grating noise.

It is exactly this melding of performance art with noise music that makes Janet such a compelling — and, for the St. Louis art and music scenes, unique — project. Both noise and performance are notoriously di cult genres at their best, each can challenge audiences’ fundamental ideas about what qualifies as “music,” “art” and “performance,” while at their worst they can be obnoxiously self-important and pointlessly obtuse.

By combining a sense of humor and playfulness with spiritual ritual and queer sexuality, however, Smith draws the viewer into the ephemeral scenes she conjures, crafting spaces of pleasure as well as sonic dissonance. Another of

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Grace Smith, a.k.a. Janet XMas, describes her art as “Dada noise burlesque.” A more apt descriptor would be hard to find. | VIA THE ARTIST her oft-performed pieces features Smith tap dancing with a metal folding chair connected to contact mics that she variably straddles, scoots across the floor and jumps up and down on, all to a background soundtrack of static. While the amplified metallic banging is undeniably harsh, it is equally di cult to not be charmed by her joyful soft shoeing or find humor in her appropriation of a piece of o ce furniture as a musical prop.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Smith got her start in the noise scene attending, and eventually booking, house shows in Beloit, Wisconsin, where she went to college. Used to seeing bands in more traditional settings like the Pageant, she says “it blew my mind that you could be on the same level, just stand on the same floor as the musicians and … actually talk with the performers afterwards and build a friendship if you want.”

When a show she booked during finals week failed to draw a crowd, the performer, grindcore violinist Joey Molinaro, asked if she wanted to help promote an upcoming show he had booked in St. Louis at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. Rather than just putting up fliers, Smith, who had already realized she wanted to do more than book shows, decided to perform as well, to provide extra incentive for folks to turn out. It was from this opportunity that Janet was born.

For that first performance Smith wasn’t exactly sure what she’d do.

“But I found this name tag in my friend’s abandoned building, and it just said ‘Janet’ on it, for the Grabber School of Hair Design, so

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I just started wearing it,” Smith says. “I had just turned 21 so I was going to bars and introducing myself as Janet and pretending like I was in hair school, just as a social experiment.”

After this fortuitous find, Smith got to work creating a costume for the character.

“I wanted to make a soundsuit because I’ve always loved dancing, I’ve always been a dancer,” she explains. “So I knew for the performance I wanted to dance, [in] a Nick Cave soundsuit thing.”

Smith made her own Cave-esque soundsuit by sewing a bunch of costume jewelry onto a pillowcase. “I had a portable cassette player, and I had a leotard on,” she says. “So I took off my pedestrian clothes and then I put on the soundsuit, and I put in the earphones and I wore a plastic bag as a mask and I just danced for the entirety of a cassingle.” (Classic ’90s banger “The Sign” by Ace of Base, to be precise.)

Except when it came time for the performance, Smith belatedly realized that the batteries in her Walkman were dead.

“So for that first performance I faked it and I just danced to no music,” she says.

While this technical mishap could have easily killed the show, Smith went for it anyway and totally sold the audience on her performance.

“Nobody knew!” she recalls, laughing. “Everyone was like, ‘What were you listening to?!’”

It was Molinaro who first described Janet as “Dada noise burlesque,” a label that instantly resonated with Smith and has since served as a guiding principle for

the project.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that sounds so good, that’s everything I want to be! If I saw that on a bill, I would definitely want to go to that show,’” she recalls. “So I started crafting the performance around that idea. I was like, ‘How can I make this a visceral thing? How can I fit this description ’” Using the “Dada noise burlesque” descriptor as a prompt, Smith created the first performance she toured, a piece she calls “the ladder dance,” in which a folding ladder became a kind of cell in which she writhed, blindfolded, for several minutes, accompanied by noise soundtrack.

Through this early performance, Smith worked out the defining aspects of a Janet piece.

“There’s always this ritual aspect to [a Janet performance],” she says. “I used to start by playing a singing bowl or have some kind of objects of power or meaning, candles or incense, or bells.” The purpose of these rituals, she explains, is to make the performance “something sacred, to make it feel sacred for me and the audience, an intimate [experience].”

Her performances also always include some form of dance. “[Janet] has always been very dance driven, I’ve always wanted to dance and move my body, and I’ve always been inclined to charge things sexually,” she says. “Someone called me a sex symbol, and I was like, ‘Whoa, cool, I really respect you, that’s kind of cool.’”

Smith is incredibly active as Janet, frequently going out on the road for weeks at a time and performing as part of noise music and performance art festivals all over the country. She even recently had a live TV performance on the Adult Swim variety show William Street Swap Show. While in other cities she plays all kinds of venues, from metal clubs to DIY spaces to art galleries, in her hometown of St. Louis she reports feeling somewhat overlooked, because venues and promoters here tend to book shows around a single sound or musical genre.

She encourages those who might hesitate to depart from standard booking practice to “add something spicy!” to their lineups.

“My act is like ten minutes long, and it’ll instantly add variety to any show,” she points out.

Like any good spice, Janet is sure to bring that sting that keeps you reaching for one more hot wing or handful of wasabi peas even though your mouth’s on fire.

Couldn’t we all use a little more spice in our lives? n

The mirrored ceiling at Talayna’s lets you see twice as many bad decisions happening. | RYAN GINES

Your Guide to Skanksgiving Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

O

h, St. Louis, we are closing in fast on the most magical night of the year.

It’s the night when you can confirm in-person your suspicions that your high school rivals have been Photoshopping their Instagram selfies. The night when all those friends who’ve moved to the coasts return to tell of their glamorous lives (and a year or two before they get married and move back). The night when you set out in search of that teenage crush — and about a half-dozen Fireball shots.

Skanksgiving is once again upon us.

Just in case you’ve forgotten your way, or those Fireball shots come early, we have a few suggestions for the nightbefore-Thanksgiving debauchery.

Blueberry Hill (6504 Delmar Boulevard, 314-727-4444) is the epicenter for all this foolishness, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s big and loud, with plenty of weirdness spilling out from the edges.

Make your own metaphor here, but in practical terms, you’ll be able to see whoever you want, but it will be too chaotic for a long conversation. That gives you just enough information to decide the rest of your night: Make the hasty retreat or shout over the noise to say you’ll be heading to Pin-Up Bowl (6191 Delmar Boulevard, 314-727-5555) for the Skanksgiving nightcap.

John D. McGurk’s (1200 Russell Boulevard, 314-776-8309) is another fine place to spend an evening of nostalgic rambling. It gives the appearance of be-

ing slightly more grown up than whatever dollar-pitchers mess of a college bar where you all last hung out, but is also very much a place to make terrible decisions under low lighting.

If you like the idea of beginning the holidays on a full-scale bender but don’t necessarily want to see everyone from high school, Friendly’s Sports Bar & Grill (3503 Roger Place, 314-771-2040) is a good bet. For next to nothing, you can sample the finest buckets of domestic beer and an array of fried foods while testing your skill in pool, video games, bags and about a half-dozen other pursuits. We can’t guarantee no one from your high school has figured this out, but there’s basically four sections of this place, giving you plenty of hideouts.

But if you’re looking for that spot that everyone likes and — crucial for the county set — can easily find, the Royale (3132 S. Kingshighway Boulevard, 314-7723600) is your bar. Impress with the maturity of your favorite cocktail as you crowd in front of the long, long bar or cozy up in a booth. As a bonus, you’re across from Courtesy Diner in case it turns into one of those nights. Let’s be honest, it’s going to be one of those nights.

And because Skanksgiving is definitely the night to prove you still party, you’ll need a 3 a.m. bar destination. If you don’t make it to the aforementioned PinUp Bowl, wrap up your night at Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue, 314775-0775) among the wild hearts of the Grove. Sing the soundtrack of your last high school dance at Mike Talayna’s Juke Box (1115 Hampton Avenue, 314647-7600). Or hit River City Casino (777 River City Casino Boulevard, 314-3887777), if that’s your thing.

If you haven’t made your Skanksgiving connection by then, it’s not going to happen. But don’t worry, there’s always next year. n

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

BJ the Chicago Kid. | ALEX HARPER

BJ the Chicago Kid 8 p.m. Friday, November 22. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $35 to $50. 314-833-3929.

It’s kind of a shame that BJ the Chicago Kid is best-known for the people he’s collaborated with, but at the same time it is understandable. When you’re regularly bumping elbows with the biggest acts on one of the hottest labels in the country — in this case, Top Dawg Entertainment rappers Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock — it can be easy to be relegated to the background. But

THURSDAY 21

BLACK & WHITE BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

BROTHER JEFFERSON DUO: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

ELEKTRO DINOSAUR: w/ We Party Portugal 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

JIRARD THE COMPLETIONIST: 8 p.m., $24.2881.66. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

KEN HALLER: 8 p.m., $25-$30. Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

OAK, STEEL & LIGHTNING ALBUM RELEASE PARTY: w/ Julian Davis 8 p.m., 15. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

SHARPTOOTH: w/ Limbs, Wristmeetrazor, Dead Wolves 6:30 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SISTER HAZEL: 8 p.m., 25- 28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

ST. LOUIS STEADY GRINDERS: 8:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

TANYA TUCKER: 7:30 p.m., 29.50- 49.50. River

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BJ’s silky smooth voice and laid-back, determinedly chill approach to songwriting deserve better. With the July release of 1123, BJ’s excellent sophomore LP for Motown, the R&B singer-songwriter proves that his work deserves to be seriously considered in its own right, even as he continues to nab high-profile names including Offset, Anderson .Paak and JID as collaborators.

Will There Be Cake? This Friday night affair is being billed as an extra special event, as the date of the show is also the promoter’s birthday — and BJ’s b-day is the following day. Come ready to party.

—Daniel Hill City Casino Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

TIM MONTANA: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

FRIDAY 22

AL HOLLIDAY & THE EAST SIDE RHYTHM BAND RECORD RELEASE SHOW: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

ANTHONY GOMES: 8 p.m., 15- 18. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

BJ THE CHICAGO KID: 8 p.m., 35- 45. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

GIANTS CHAIR: w/ Ashes and Iron, MotherFather, Seashine 8 p.m., 12. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

HOBO JOHNSON & THE LOVEMAKERS: 8 p.m., 30- 32.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND: 8 p.m., 19. River City Casino Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

MONOLORD: w/ Blackwater Holylight 8 p.m., 18.

Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

OUT AMONGST THE MASSES: w/ Divide The Empire, The Scatterguns, Sixes High, L.T.H 7 p.m., 5- 8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East

St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

RICO! LATIN ROCK: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

ROCKY MANTIA & KILLER COMBO: 7 p.m., $10.

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

SLOAN: 8 p.m., 22- 25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SON VOLT: 8 p.m., 25- 28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

STEVE BRAMMEIER: 8 p.m., $25-$30. Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

SWEETIE & THE TOOTHACHES: 9:30 p.m., free.

The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

SATURDAY 23

A.L.I.: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

ALL ROOSTERED UP: 8 p.m., 5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

THE ALLUSIONIST: 8 p.m., 20. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

BIG MIKE AGUIRRE: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

BRIDGING DA GAP: w/ Vanguardz, Bell, Geo Davis, Kimmy B, Rhino, Smooth Beats, The Rise of the East, Murkk Da Monsta, Certified Connection 8:30 p.m., 8- 12. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

THE GROOVELINER ALBUM RELEASE: w/ The Provels 8 p.m., 10. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

JACK HARLOW: 8:30 p.m., TBA. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JOE PARK & THE HOT CLUB OF ST. LOUIS: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

KIM MASSIE BAND: 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE MAIN SQUEEZE: 8 p.m., $14. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER: 7 p.m., $35-$102.50.

The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111.

SON VOLT: 8 p.m., 25- 28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THAMES RECORD RELEASE SHOW: w/ Le’Ponds, Drangus, Little Cowboy 8 p.m., 7- 10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

UVEE HAYES: 8 p.m., $25-$30. Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

SUNDAY 24

JAZZ & COMEDY WITH LOVE JONES: 6 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

JESS HILARIOUS: w/ Jovan Bibbs, Maurice G, JuJu 7 p.m., 35- 45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MUSIC UNLIMITED: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS DOWN HOME CHRISTMAS: 7:30 p.m., 29.50. River City Casino Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

ROCK 4 RELIEF: 5 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

MONDAY 25

DJ DELIGHT: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

DREAMERS: 8 p.m., 18- 20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

HARLEY POE: w/ The Homeless Gospel Choir 8 p.m., 15- 18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

THIRD SIGHT BAND “SPECIAL EDITION”: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

TUESDAY 26

BLACK MOUNTAIN: w/ Ryley Walker 8 p.m., 20- 25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

HELMET: 8 p.m., 20- 25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

OTHERWORLD/GALAXY/CLUB FETISH 26TH-ISH REUNION PARTY: 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THE STL SHED: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE SUPERVILLAINS: 8 p.m., 12- 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

WEDNESDAY 27

14TH ANNUAL LAST WALTZ & THE BAND CELEBRATION: w/ The Stag Nite All-Stars 7 p.m., 15.

South Broadway Athletic Club, 2301 S. Seventh St., St. Louis, 314-776-4833.

THE ANNUAL TURKEY TOSS: w/ Bassamp Dano, the Keymasters, the Savage Kind, Powerline Sneakers, the Bitter Ends 8 p.m., 7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

“BORN IN THE USA” 35TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE: 7:30 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE FOGGY MEMORY BOYS: 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

LISA ST. LOU: 8 p.m., $25-$30. Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

MUSIC UNLIMITED: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

ROGERS AND NIEHAUS: 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

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

SONGBIRD CAFE: w/ the Burney Sisters, Missouri Mile 7:30 p.m., 25. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778.

THANKSGIVING EVE: w/ Shiver, Sex Kills Marry 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

THAT ‘90S JAM: w/ DJ Nico, Agile One, James Biko 8:30 p.m., 6- 15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THIS JUST IN (HED) P.E.: Sun., Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m., 20- 22.

Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

100 GECS: Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m., 15- 18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT: Wed., June 3, 8 p.m., 25- 30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

AJJ: W/ iu iu, Emperor , Fri., June 5, 8 p.m., 20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

ASEETHE: Fri., Jan. 3, 8 p.m., 12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BACH’S ST. JOHN PASSION: Sun., March 22, 3 p.m., 10- 45. Webster Groves Presbyterian Church, 45 W. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, 314-962-9210.

BAD OMENS: W/ Oh Sleeper, Betraying The Martyrs, Sat., Feb. 22, 6:30 p.m., TBA. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BASTARD SQUAD RECORD RELEASE: W/ Bassamp Dano, Kristeen Young, Redbait, Brute Force, Sat., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., 10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Son Volt. | VIA HIGH ROAD TOURING

Son Volt 8 p.m. Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Boulevard. $25 to $28. 314-726-6161.

The plain-spoken, elusively poetic spirit of Woody Guthrie has long animated the songwriting of Jay Farrar. Politics is a matter of life and death and of rock & roll for Farrar and his band Son Volt, which celebrated its 25th year together (loosely speaking, as the lineup has seen various iterations) with the declamatory manifesto Union. The album plays like a whirlwind of Wobbly broadsides and poignant

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 41

BEN NORDSTROM: Sun., Dec. 15, 7 p.m., 30- 35.

Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

BILLY PEEK: Sat., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., 5. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

THE BOTTLESNAKES: Sat., Dec. 21, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THE CHRISTMAS PARTY: W/ Matty Woods, Jerei, T-Krak, ergiobay, Kelby, Adam, DJ Krader, Fri., Dec. 20, 8 p.m., 10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING: Tue., March 17, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

DAVE & THEM: Tue., Dec. 31, 8:30 p.m., 10. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

THE DEAD ROSES: W/ Brad Noe, Jason Boyd, Thu., Dec. 19, 8 p.m., 8. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

DJ DELIGHT: Mon., Nov. 25, 10 p.m., 10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: Fri., Aug. 14, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

ELTON JOHN: Tue., July 7, 8 p.m., 66.50- 221.50.

Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

GOST: Fri., Feb. 7, 7 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

GRIEVES: W/ the Holdup, Sun., March 22, 7:30

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portraits of conscience keepers and was recorded in part at the Mother Jones Museum in Mount Olive, Illinois, and at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Farrar’s union is both a class-conscious movement and an impossibly hopeful call to transcend division by any rock, folk and blues means necessary.

Local Union: Opening both nights at Delmar Hall is Old Salt Union, which hails principally from Belleville, Illinois, features Jesse Farrar, nephew to Jay, and possesses a relentless, daring way with the post-bluegrass string band sound.

—Roy Kasten

p.m., $25. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JOE RUSSO’S ALMOST DEAD: Sat., March 14, 8 p.m., 45- 50. Sun., March 15, 8 p.m., 45- 50.

The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

KAPOW!: Sat., Dec. 28, 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

KAREN CHOI CD RELEASE: Fri., Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MARK SAUNDERS EVERYTHING’S FINE: Fri., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., $20-$25. Blue Strawberry Showroom Lounge, 634 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

MIKE MATTHEWS PROJECT: Sat., Dec. 7, 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

MISS JUBILEE: Fri., Dec. 6, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

MOD SUN: Tue., March 10, 7 p.m., 20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

MU330: W/ Clownvis Presley, Sat., Jan. 11, 9 p.m., free with ticket. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

NATHANIEL RATELIFF: W/ Sam Evian, Hannah Cohen, Thu., March 19, 8 p.m., 32- 72. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-4997600.

NEIL SALSICH & FRIENDS: Thu., Dec. 19, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

OF MONTREAL: W/ Locate S,1, Fri., March 27, 8 p.m., 20- 23. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

ORCHESTRATING DIVERSITY HOLIDAYS CONCERT: Sun., Dec. 8, 3 p.m., 5. Pilgrim Congregational Church, 826 Union Blvd., St. Louis, 314-652-6800.

Continued on pg 43

[CRITIC’S PICK]

The Grooveliner. | MADISON THORN

While funk music has a long history of serving as a vehicle for social commentary and soulful expression, it is, first and foremost, party music. That come-one/ come-all spirit is the pulse that drives the local funk sextet the Grooveliner, and the

name of its second album, Join Me at the Bar, communicates that spirit of togetherness (along with a little alcohol-fueled revelry). The party has gotten bigger on the new LP (available digitally as well as on CD and vinyl) as guest singers Molly Simms, Emily Wallace and Ryan Stewart (of Hazard to Ya Booty) join in the fun.

The Easy, Greasy, Cheesy Ones: Fellow local funk outfit the Provels will open the show with its Meters-inspired approach to the form.

—Christian Schaeffer

POST MALONE: W/ Swae Lee, Tyla Yaweh, Fri., Feb. 7, 8 p.m., 50.50- 500.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

RAK THE CASBAH: Fri., Dec. 6, 8 p.m., 10. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-932-7003.

RENÉE ELISE GOLDSBERRY: Sat., March 28, 8:30 p.m., 40- 50. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

RIVER BEND BLUEGRASS BAND: Fri., Dec. 27, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

ROGERS & NIENHAUS: Sat., Dec. 21, 7 p.m., 5.

Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

RUM DRUM RAMBLERS: Thu., Dec. 26, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

RYAN HURD: W/ Adam Doleac, Joey Hyde, Sat., March 14, 8 p.m., 15- 18. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

RYNE WATTS & FRIENDS: Sat., Dec. 7, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

SHIVER: Sat., Dec. 14, 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

SLOW HOLLOWS: Thu., Feb. 6, 8 p.m., 12- 15.

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

ST. LOUIS STEADY GRINDERS: Thu., Dec. 12, 8:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

STEF CHURA: Sat., Jan. 18, 8 p.m., 12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

THE STUDIO SHOWCASE.: Fri., Nov. 29, 9 p.m., 15.

Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SUMMER CAMP: ON THE ROAD: Sat., March 14, 8 p.m., 15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

SUNNY SWEENEY: W/ Erin Enderlin, Sat., Jan. 25, 8 p.m., 20- 25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

TEDDY RILEY & BLACKSTREET: W/ Bobby Brown, Jagged Edge, SWV, El DeBarge, Doug E. Fresh, Fri., Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m., 52.50- 178. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000.

THIRD SIGHT BAND “SPECIAL EDITION”: Mon., Nov. 25, 7 p.m., 10. BB’s Jazz, Blues Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THREE CROOKED MEN: Fri., Dec. 20, 9:30 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

THREE PEDROS: Fri., Dec. 27, 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

TWIDDLE: Sun., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., 22- 24.50.

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

VALE OF PNATH: W/ Gorod, Wolf King, Thu., March 5, 6:30 p.m., 15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

VICKI LAWRENCE AND MAMA: Sat., July 11, 7:30 p.m., 28- 58. River City Casino Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

WE CAME AS ROMANS: W/ The Devil Wears Prada, Gideon, Dayseeker, Fri., March 6, 7 p.m., 25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE: Fri., March 20, 8 p.m., 30. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

WINTER JAM TOUR SPECTACULAR 2020: Sun., Feb. 9, 6 p.m., 15. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

THE WONDER YEARS: W/ Free Throw, Spanish Love Songs, Pool Kids, Fri., March 13, 7 p.m., 25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

YOLA: Fri., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., 20- 25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ZAC BROWN BAND: W/ Amos Lee, Poo Bear, Thu., March 12, 7 p.m., 36.50- 96.50. Enterprise Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888. n

The Grooveliner Record Release 8 p.m. Saturday, November 23.

Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street. $10. 314-588-0505.

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SAVAGE LOVE THAT PROFESSOR

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a fortysomething gay male professor at a small college. I try hard not to get attracted to students and usually succeed.

But it’s tough to resist temptation when you’re surrounded by hot, smart, fun, horny young guys in a rural area with not many other options. Over the past several years, I’ve ended up having sex with several students. None of them were students I was currently teaching or likely to teach, and two had graduated. I’m not actually violating college policy, which only bans faculty from getting involved with students they’re currently teaching. I haven’t ever done anything on campus or made the first move — and when one of them starts trying to hit on me, I’ve usually mustered the willpower to ignore him.

On rare occasions when I’ve ended up letting my cock do the thinking, I’ve treated my younger partners with kindness and respect and observed your campsite rule.

All of these younger guys solemnly swore to keep our extracurricular activities secret, but still, word might leak out, and I don’t want to become known on campus as one of “those” professors. Most important, I don’t want my queer male students — many of whom look to me for mentorship — to think I’m grooming them for sex after I’m no longer teaching them, and I don’t want my female and straight male students to feel like second-class citizens. On the other hand, I’m a sex-positive person who believes that happy, consensual banging has its own intrinsic value. I tend to be attracted to younger guys, and I think part of the attraction is that they’re less jaded about sex and more excited. Fucking them feels less transactional than the typical hi-bang-jizz-wipe-bye Grindr hookup that seems to be the norm with gay guys in their 30s and older.

I’m struggling with how I should feel about these off-campus romps.

We’re all adults, and we’re not breaking any rules. Obviously the behavior is professionally risky for me, probably foolhardy. But is it immoral? Above all, what should I do when future opportunities pres-

ent themselves?

Professor Horn-Dog Can we please not describe one adult subtly and perhaps unintentionally telegraphing their attraction to another adult as “grooming”? That term refers to adult sexual predators insinuating themselves into the lives of minors, slowly gaining their trust and the trust of their family members, so they can abuse them sexually. It means something very specific, PHD, and we shouldn’t confuse or cheapen its meaning by applying it to your behavior — which, while not criminal or immoral, is incredibly stupid.

Yes, these relationships are permissible, in the sense that the school where you teach permits them. They aren’t against the rules, those young men were all consenting adults, and you’re honoring the campsite rule (leave them in better shape than you found them). But this is an advice column, PHD, and you’re not asking me what’s permissible, but what’s advisable. And what you’re doing is crazy inadvisable for all the reasons you cite: the risk of promising and hot gay male students misinterpreting your interest in them as sexual, your straight students feeling like they may not be getting the full benefit of your attention and your mediocre and not hot gay male students — sorry, your mediocre and not conventionally attractive gay male students — interpreting their failing grades as sexual rejection.

I, too, am a sex-positive person who believes in happy, consensual banging, and I don’t think what you’re doing is immoral. But it is incredibly reckless at this particular moment on any American college campus. Power and consent are minefields that students, professors and administrators are tiptoeing through, PHD, but you’re humping your way across them. Becoming known on campus as one of “those” professors — because you are one of those professors — could wind up being the least of your problems. What if your college revises its rules while you’re balls-deep in a student? What if you have a fallingout with a student you banged and he files a complaint What if you want to move to a different school that has different rules and

“Over the past several years, I’ve ended up having sex with several students.” your reputation precedes and disqualifies you Finally, PHD, it’s fine to be attracted to younger guys. But if all your experiences with guys in their 30s have been dispiriting and transactional, well, it sounds like you were the common denominator in a lot of meh sexual encounters. Speaking from experience, I can say that plenty of guys over 30 are excited about sex and good at it. If every guy over 30 that you’ve been with has been underwhelming, well, it’s possible they were picking up on your lack of enthusiasm/attraction and reflecting that back at you.

Hey, Dan: I’m a 33-year-old woman in a nine-year LTR with another woman. Our relationship hasn’t been great in the intimacy department for a long time. We’ve talked it to death, with no real significant change. I started talking to a woman online a few states over who is married and in a similar situation with her husband. Things are great between us, but neither of us envisions a future where we would leave our partner. My partner is chronically ill and I support her financially, and my online GF and her husband have young children.

I’m wondering if you know anything about sustainability in a relationship with someone online. I’ll admit that sometimes it’s torture to not be able to be with her in real life. But then there’s the question of our significant others. Is it okay to keep this secret if things are good otherwise?

Making It Last Forever Your significant others aren’t questions, MILF, they’re people — and you don’t intend to leave your person, and your online girlfriend doesn’t intend to leave hers. So if you want to spare your chronically ill partner the anxiety of worrying you might leave her for this other person, then you’ll keep the

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online GF a secret. But you need to ask yourself — and your online GF needs to ask herself — if this online relationship/emotional affair is making you a better, more contented and more emotionally available partner to your IRL partner.

If it’s making you a better partner to the person you’re actually/ technically/physically with, then great. But if it’s a distraction that’s causing you to neglect or resent your IRL partner, MILF, then you’ll have to end it. If it’s harming your IRL relationship and you don’t end it, then you’re engaging in shitty, dishonest, slo-mo sabotage.

As for the sustainability of online relationships, there are people out there who’ve maintained online connections — intense friendships, romantic and/or sexual relationships — for as long as people have been able to get online. Sometimes online relationships run their course and come to an end, just like o ine relationships and sometimes the online platforms they began on. (There are people out there who are still involved with people they met on Friendster and Myspace.) But offline or on, MILF, there are always challenges and never guarantees.

Hey, Dan: I’m one of your straight male readers. I’ve been seeing a professional Dom for the last year, with my wife’s okay, and it’s been very good for our marriage.

I thought I could “give up” bondage when we got married, and then I found myself feeling resentful of my wife, even though it was a choice I made freely. This outlet — a wonderful pro that I see just for bondage, not for sex — solved our problem and even improved our sex life. I’m writing to say thank you. I don’t think we would have been able to discuss this calmly if we hadn’t been listeners of the Savage Lovecast. And, yes, I’ve told my wife if there’s ever anything she wants that I can’t do for her, she only has to ask.

Grateful Reader In Nevada Thanks for the sweet note, GRIN Check out Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org

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TWO EMERGENCY DOCTORS OPEN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLINIC

HOW CANNA THERAPY MD CLINIC IS CHANGING LIVES IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Dr. Khalsa and Dr. Rad are two boardcertified emergency medicine physicians who also specialize in cannabis medicine. Their medical marijuana clinic, Canna Therapy MD, is located in Clayton, Missouri.

Dr. Khalsa and Dr. Rad believe cannabis can be utilized as an alternative medication, under proper direction and care.

After many years of working in various emergency departments, Drs. Khalsa and Rad became frustrated by the lack of medication to treat chronic pain and certain chronic debilitating medical conditions. They have been in the trenches fighting the opioid epidemic, and are hoping to help patients us this alternative therapy to improve their quality of life.

Their goal is to help people who may benefit from medical cannabis not only get their physician certification and medical marijuana card, but also get started safely

with medical cannabis, and optimize their treatment plan.

In their clinic, they provide the evaluation and physician certification that is needed to get a Missouri medical marijuana card. They also provide each patient with personalized information and education on how they can optimize their use of medical cannabis.

They are also passionate about increasing awareness and education about medical cannabis, and provide the community with monthly talks on different aspects of medical cannabis.

Dr. Khalsa and Dr. Rad encourage you to reach out to them with any question, and to see if medical cannabis could be right for you.

Visit www.canna-therapymd.com, Call 314-229-6445 or email info@ cannatherapymd.com