Riverfront Times December 5, 2018

DECEMBER 5-11, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 49

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— Bruce Levin, photographed at Levin’s on Washington avenue on novemBer 24 riverfronttimes.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Sarah Fenske

E D I T O R I A L Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writers Doyle Murphy, Danny Wicentowski Restaurant Critic Cheryl Baehr Film Critic Robert Hunt Editorial Interns Tom Hellauer, Desi Isaacson, Dustin Steinhoff Contributing Writers Mike Appelstein, Allison Babka, Sara Graham, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Joseph Hess, Kevin Korinek, Bob McMahon, Nicholas Phillips, Tef Poe, Christian Schaeffer, Lauren Milford, Thomas Crone, MaryAnn Johanson, Jenn DeRose, Mike Fitzgerald Proofreader Evie Hemphill Cartoonist Bob Stretch

COVER Help Wanted Restaurants in St. Louis’ affluent suburbs desperately need workers. But there’s a catch: you have to get to west county

A R T Art Director Evan Sult Contributing Photographers Mabel Suen, Monica Mileur, Micah Usher, Theo Welling, Corey Woodruff, Tim Lane, Nick Schnelle

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INSIDE The Lede News

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The soccer stadium speeds ahead | Will police abuse of an undercover officer lead to more charges for more cops?

Feature Calendar

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Living Arts Studio | WinterMarkt | A Perfect Arrangement | Les Miserables

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Short Orders

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NEWS STL Soccer Stadium Plan Rolls On Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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f you’re representing an ownership group of millionaires and asking city officials for tens of millions of dollars of tax exemptions in order to build a soccer stadium, it’s a pretty good sign when the president of the Board of Aldermen goes up to give you a high-five after a critical vote passes. Even better if the passage was unanimous.

Both of those things happened at the end of last week’s threeand-a-half hour meeting of the St. Louis Board of Alderman’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee. By an 8-0 vote, the committee’s members approved a non-binding resolution that lays out the broad terms of some $40 million in tax incentives. It’s a step that backers say is vital to fund construction on a soccer stadium that could attract Major League Soccer to St. Louis.

On Friday, the full Board of Aldermen gave the resolution a second nod – and while not unanimous, it wasn’t even close to failing. The measure passed 26-2, with the only opposition coming from two alderwomen, Ward 15’s Megan Green and Ward 1’s Sharon Tyus.

Carolyn Kindle Betz, director of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, is backing a soccer stadium proposal. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI The lack of nays reflects the tone of the HUDZ committee hearing, which rarely veered into even a hint of critique. Supporters, many wearing soccer jerseys and scarves, packed the hearing room and lent their energy (and occasional applause) to the ownership group’s presentation.

The ownership group is pledging to construct a 20,000-seat stadium without any public funding, and at a cost that would top $230 million even before dealing with MLS’ franchise fee — and that

little item will cost at least $150 million.

Fronting the ownership group is Carolyn Kindle Betz, director of Enterprise Holdings Foundation. In her opening remarks, she emphasized that this proposal is backed by two St. Louis families with a track records of philanthropy in the region: The group is composed of the Taylor family, which founded car rental giant Enterprise Holdings, and World Wide Technology chief executive Jim Kavanaugh.

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“We believe this is a golden opportunity for the city,” Betz told the Board. “St. Louis is a three professional sports town, and realistically there will not be another opportunity like this again.”

That line — about how there won’t be another opportunity — is virtually identical to the sales pitch that failed to woo city voters in 2017. That plan was anchored on diverting millions in new tax revenue to build the stadium, but voters ultimately rejected the proposal.

In retrospect, it turns out that argument that a stadium simply could be not be built without public funding was indeed bullshit.

In a way, this latest proposal from the Taylor/Kavanaugh group appears to vindicate the public criticism lobbed at the 2017 ownership group’s grab for tax revenue and TIFs. But the tenor of criticism was largely absent during Wednesday’s hearing. No members of the public signed up to speak against it. When the Alders got their turns to speak, many noted that this deal was a clear improvement over the 2017 attempt, and several went out of their way to thank the Taylor family and add their own enthusiasm for the project’s terms.

“This is a great day,” gushed Deputy Mayor for Development Linda Martinez. “We are being presented here at the city with an amazing proposal.”

Even St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams called the project a “no-brainer” — which is significant, as the city Continued on pg 10

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

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SOCCER STADIUM Continued from pg 9

school system is dependent on property tax revenue. With the proposed suite of tax abatements, that revenue would not come out of the proposed stadium for 30 years, if ever. Incidentally, the Taylor family has donated millions to the city school system, a fact the superintendent himself acknowledged in his remarks.

But beneath all the praise and promises of private financing, the basic problems of running profes-

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sional sports team remain: Bold claims about economic impact of stadiums are difficult to back-up, and existing research into the local economic effects caution that, rather than creating new economic growth, building stadiums merely diverts existing economic activity in the direction of sporting events.

It may not even be that great of a deal for the ownership group, if you believe the remarks from the group’s own lawyer, Thompson Coburn attorney Bill Kuehling. During Wednesday’s hearing, Kuehling said the ownership

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group anticipated facing additional costs in the first years of the franchise’s lifetime.

“It is an extremely long-term investment. There are no shortterm major returns envisioned,” Kuehling said. He added that the assorted tax breaks would keep the new soccer franchise afloat in its first years.

Apparently, that is the reason an ownership group with the resources to marshal hundreds of millions of dollars for stadium construction and the franchise fee is also seeking a break from $27 million in city property taxes.

“The property tax, if that had to apply, could be one of the tipping elements toward making this team financially unviable,” Kuehling warned the Board.

Of course, the ownership group and supporters argue that the land being eyed for the stadium, located west of Union Station, is generating zero property tax at the moment, the same amount that it has added to city coffers for decades.

But that argument, essentially “We’re getting something from nothing,” doesn’t sit with John Ammann. A law professor at Saint Louis University, Ammann is a longtime critic of stadium deals, and in 2015 he unsuccessfully sued the city in hopes of putting a new NFL stadium for the Rams to public vote.

“Why are we letting rich people not pay their property taxes?” Ammann said in a phone interview on Wednesday. He believes the city is giving too much away with 30 years of tax write-offs, and he suggested that a shorter abatement, perhaps only ten years, would give the owners breathing room during the early stages of the franchise’s lifetime.

Ammann also dismisses Kuehling’s notion that the ownership group can’t operate a viable business while still paying property taxes. He acknowledges the the ownership’s group’s efforts to privately finance the stadium, but he remains skeptical. Despite the promises made by the ownership group, he cautions that the details of the future stadium deal between the city and ownership group are still vague.

“We haven’t seen the details of the financing agreement, there are a lot of open questions,” he said.

There are also additional legislative steps, and the resolution that passed the full Board of Aldermen on Friday doesn’t create the actual laws needed to make the tax incentives a reality. That hurdle will require further legislation.

But before that can happen, one major question must be resolved, and that is whether MLS will ultimately grant St. Louis one of its two expansion slots for a team that would make its debut in the 2022 season. While previous comments by the league indicate St. Louis is a front-runner, it’s still a waiting game.

It’s a game that the ownership group says it can win.

“I believe that by the end of this calendar year, our application will put us above everybody else,” Betz told the committee. “I just don’t think anybody can offer what we can offer. “ n

More Indictments for St. Louis Riot Police?

Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

A

s news spread Thursday about the indictment of four St. Louis cops, city officials began to make the “a few bad apples” case.

Officers Dustin Boone, Christopher Myers and Randy Hays are accused of beating an undercover cop whom they mistook for a protester in September 2017. Officer Bailey Colletta, who dates Hays, lied to a grand jury to cover for them, according to the charges.

Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards, who oversees the police department, described the officers as “outliers” among dedicated professionals.

Police Chief John Hayden said he was “disappointed” in their alleged actions, though the chief still added, “however, it is in no way reflective of the hard work and dedication exhibited by the men and women of our department who serve the community on a daily basis with integrity and honor.”

But for the many non-cops who were also bloodied and bruised the same night by the city’s police force, those statements ring hollow.

“The idea that these officers are outliers, as the city says, is ridiculous,” attorney Javad Khazaeli of Khazaeli Wyrsch told the RFT. Khazaeli, along with the nonprofit civil rights law firm ArchCity Defenders, is representing more than twenty people who are suing the city, alleging cops beat, wantonly teargassed, illegally arrested or otherwise abused them during the protests that followed the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley on a murder charge in the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith.

Attorneys for roughly two dozen plaintiffs tied to the protests told the RFT they see the indictments as a good first step — and they’re cautiously optimistic more indictments will follow.

“I think it would be a huge mistake if that were the only case to be prosecuted, because we know that many people were abused that night,” ArchCity Executive Director Blake Strode says.

City police made more than 300 protest-related arrests during weeks of demonstrations that followed the Stockley verdict. One of the ugliest clashes happened at the end of the third day — Sept. 17, 2017 — as the demonstrations began to wind down for the night. More than 120 people were arrested, most of them surrounded at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard by police who stood shoulder-to shoulder on all four sides and refused to let them leave.

Videos of the “kettle” show police in

For the police story: St. Louis deployed ‘riot police’ to confront protesters in September 2017 following the Jason Stockley verdict. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI helmets beating their shields with clubs in unison before arrest teams swarmed in, showering the crowd with pepper spray even as people complied with orders to get on the ground.

Husband-and-wife filmmakers Drew and Jennifer Burbridge of Kansas City said in their lawsuit that officers targeted them because they had been recording police.

“Do you want to take my picture now, motherfucker?” one officer asked Drew Burbridge before they knocked him unconscious, according to the suit. “Do you want me to pose for you?”

In an ACLU suit, plaintiffs claimed police homed in on people with cameras and tried to destroy cell phones in hopes of erasing any record of the abuse. The judge in that case issued a temporary injunction, writing in her order that officers had “exercised their discretion in an arbitrary and retaliatory fashion to punish protesters for voicing criticism of police or recording police conduct.”

The allegations in the civil suits mirrored those in Thursday’s indictment.

Federal prosecutors claim Boone, Myers and Hays knocked undercover officer Luther Hall to the ground, beat him and then tried to mutilate his phone, even though he complied with their orders.

Whether that’s a sign federal prosecutors will pursue charges against additional officers remains to be seen. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The four indictments are “an important” first step, but they don’t cover the abuse suffered by numerous protesters, ACLU of Missouri Legal Director Tony Rothert says.

“While these officers have been indicted for illegally abusing an undercover officer they mistook for a protester, there has still been no real accountability for the individual officers who engaged in the same behavior toward protesters,” Rothert said in a prepared statement.

“St. Louis officials must address this rampant lawlessness by its police.”

The Ethical Society of Police, an orga-

“[The police department] should have a vested interest in identifying rogue officers who are assaulting people.

Instead, they’re involved in a massive cover up.” nization that represents minority officers, was among the first to call for an investigations as reports of abuse rolled in from the first days of the protest. On Friday, the group issued a statement saying any officers found to have covered up misconduct should be fired and charged with crimes.

Plaintiffs in the civil suits say officers assigned to the Civil Disobedience Team, better known as “riot police,” tried to conceal their identities by removing name tags from their uniforms. In one of the text messages federal investigators recovered from Boone’s cell, he makes it clear that anonymity was important.

“It’s gonna get IGNORANT tonight!!” he wrote on September 15, 2017. “But it’s gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these shitheads once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!”

Two nights later, he was one of a hundred or more officers involved in the kettle. Protesters, journalists and even an Air Force officer and his wife who live in the neighborhood were rounded up and, according to the lawsuits, brutalized by cops who celebrated the mass arrests with cigars and chanted “Whose streets?

Our streets.”

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The next day, September 18, Boone texted, “We reloading these fools up on prisoner busses [sic]. As they got on we all said in unison ‘OUR STREETS’ haha.”

Lt. Col. Larry O’Toole, then the interim chief, bragged to reporters after the kettle arrests that police “owned the night.” But as reports of widespread abuse became public, he moderated his tone, jointly requesting with Mayor Lyda Krewson that the FBI investigate claims of out-of-control officers.

Hayden, who was later selected over O’Toole to lead the force, said on Thursday the department had fully cooperated with federal investigators.

“I want to ensure the community that this department will continue to be open, honest, and transparent in our commitment to make the City of St. Louis a safer place for all to live, work, and visit,” Hayden said in the written statement.

The Burbridges’ attorney, Talmage Newton of Newton Barth, says if the police department was serious about rooting out bad officers, they would have helped him identify the three who assaulted his client. The St. Louis attorney says video obtained through discovery in the case confirms his clients’ story, but it was only through enlarging and enhancing the footage that he was able to identify the cops.

He plans to turn over the information to the FBI and federal prosecutors. “[The police department] should have a vested interest in identifying rogue officers who are assaulting people,” Newton says. “Instead, they’re involved in a massive cover up.”

None of the three officers accused of assaulting the filmmaker are among the four indicted by the U.S. Attorney.

The suits filed by Khazaeli and ArchCity also name other officers. ArchCity’s Strode says there is a clear pattern of widespread abuse by police that goes far beyond Boone, Myers, Hays and Colletta.

“This is behavior we see time and time again,” Strode says. “This is not about a few bad apples.”

The text messages in the indictment, which appear to include other, unnamed officers as recipients, extended over weeks. In October 2017, Hays wrote that “going rogue does feel good” and gave Boone some advice for the evening: “Remember we are in south city. They support us but also cameras. So make sure you have an old white dude as a witness.”

Khazaeli says the messages confirmed what many suspected was going on behind the scenes.

“The idea that the officers expressing this type of disdain for constitutional rights haven’t been doing it for years to other people is laughable to me,” he says.

He suggests the department should investigate more of its officers’ messages; he plans to.

“We look forward to reviewing the text messages, emails and other communications of all the officers involved in the Stockley protests as part of discovery in our cases,” he says. n

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Desperately Need Wotyrkers *

Restaurants in St. Louis’ affluent suburbs

*

But there’s a catch: You have to get to west coun

BY ERIC BERGER

W

hen Steve Marzette arrives at a Maple-

wood bus station on a cold weekday October morning, he has already been in transit for more than an hour.

First, the 95 MetroBus from Penrose Park to the Central West End. Leaves at 6:58 a.m. Then the westbound MetroLink from the Central West End to Maplewood.

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Leaves at 7:26.

He’s going to catch the bus from Maplewood to Ellisville at 8:05.

By the time he arrives at his job at the Pasta House there, Marzette

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will have been on the road for two hours. On the way home, he catches his first bus at 3:26 p.m., and gets to his doorstep at 5:30.

Six days each week, Marzette, 59, spends four hours on public transportation.

It gets to him, he admits. But, he says, “I can’t do nothing about it.

Ain’t got no car.”

He makes $9 an hour as a dishwasher.

Once he gets home, Marzette says, “I relax, look at the TV, be with my lady. Don’t come outside until the next morning. I live in a pretty rough neighborhood.”

He chuckles. Penrose Park is lo-

cated in a part of north St. Louis that has a high rate of violent crime. In May, two children were among four people wounded in a shooting just blocks from Marzette’s home.

“Bullets go flying. It’s something else. Everybody got a gun now,” another passenger volunteers.

When the bus leaves from Maplewood, each seat is filled. The majority of passengers, including Marzette, are black and 90 percent of them work in fast food, Marzette posits. You can tell by the black pants.

They are part of a workforce that travels from the city to restaurant

Steve Marzette spends more than 20 hours on the bus each week to get back and forth from his job at Pasta House in Ellisville. | ERIC BERGER jobs in west St. Louis County — a workforce that is too small to keep the restaurants adequately staffed.

Some restaurants have closed or shortened their hours. Owners and managers have met to try and come up with solutions.

In the meantime, they rely on people like Marzette. And he relies on his job for the paycheck.

Nevermind that it requires a fourhour commute for what economists say is not a livable wage. It’s a strained arrangement that’s not ideal for either side.

I

n July, the owners of the Greek Kitchen, a popular Ellisville restaurant, posted on Facebook that they were closing the business.

“We have worked very hard to make our restaurant a cozy and inviting place for all to enjoy but for the last year we have had a very difficult time getting staff to help in the kitchen,” wrote co-owner Joe Kandel. “As recent as the last couple of months Lisa and I have been very short staffed having to be on grill, make the food, and trying to take care of the day to day business.”

People left 169 comments and

The National Restaurant Association reports that 52 percent of restaurant operators consider recruitment and retention of employees to be their top problem — compared with less than 5 percent in 2009. shared the post 41 times. “The food, hospitality, and service are terrific,” one wrote, “but the best part has always been how much your food makes me feel like I was at my Nana’s table!!!!”

Ellisville is a suburb about a 30-minute drive west of St. Louis.

Its median household income of $74,074, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compares to $40,346 in the city. Ellisville Mayor Adam Paul has been a vocal opponent of a proposed merger between the city and county. He told St. Louis Public Radio that residents of Ellisville don’t want “a socialism-type government on the local government.” The non-binding measure

Paul put on the April municipal ballot to oppose such a merger drew 81 percent support. The city also hired a lobbyist in Jefferson City to oppose such a merger.

Like it or not, though, Ellisville is dependent on the broader metro region for at least one critical thing: hourly workers. After closing, Greek Kitchen co-owner Lisa Nicholas told St. Louis Magazine, “I think the reasons why we — and many businesses in Chesterfield, Wildwood and this west-county area — can’t get restaurant help is that a lot of restaurant workers come from the city and farther east. They are taking buses or driving 45 minutes to work,

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and it’s just not worth it for them.

There are lot of kids out here, but they just don’t want to work in a restaurant.”

Enough restaurant owners in the area acknowledged having the same problem that the West St. Louis County Chamber of Commerce decided to hold a forum to discuss the shortage. More than twenty people in the restaurant industry attend the meeting, held in late August at the St. Louis County library branch in Ellisville. Many of them point to lack of public transportation as a primary reason for the shortage.

A recent Apartment List study relying on U.S. Census data found that more than 24,000 St. Louisarea residents travel more than 90 minutes to get to work daily — an 89 percent increase from a decade ago. Those commuters are far more likely to be users of public transit. While 95.8 percent of commuters drive to work in the St. Louis area, only 68 percent of so-called “super commuters” do so. In many cases, these appear to be residents of the city, and of less affluent suburbs, relying on buses

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Continued on pg 15

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HELP WANTED Continued from pg 13

to get them to jobs in west county.

“We have a guy who works at Circa STL who it takes two and a half hours, one way,” Tim Walsh tells people at the chamber of commerce forum. Walsh is managing officer of the Des Peres restaurant, which focuses on classic St. Louis dishes. “When he’s working nights and I’m there doing whatever, I offer to take him home ... It’s out of the way but it saves him two and a half hours of riding the bus, and hopefully it gets to where he realizes we’re trying to do something to help him stay at the restaurant.”

Lori Kelling, president of the chamber, relays that the owner of Walnut Grill in Ellisville told her he has an employee whose car went kaput and who now spends six hours on the bus each day.

The other source of labor for the restaurants, many say at the forum, is local teenagers. One person suggests a job fair at the schools. Another person says schools should give out awards to students for their paid work rather than just for grades or involvement with clubs or sports.

But Walsh says Parkway South High School already asked him to participate in a job fair for students. The restaurant made toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake, he says, “in the hope that some of the kids at the school would say, ‘Hey, we want to come there and work for you.”

“Not one person came to the restaurant,” he says.

The meeting to find solutions quickly devolves into a conversation about how things aren’t the way they used to be.

“The kids today, there is no need to have a job because mom and dad take care of them,” says Walsh. He turns to a representative from the Philly Pretzel Factory in Ballwin. “You mentioned how some kid pulls up in a Maserati to work at your restaurant —” “To get pretzels,” the rep clarifies.

“To get pretzels,” Walsh says.

“They don’t need a job.”

W

alsh is right. Fewer people do need jobs at restaurants. In August, the hospitality industry across the U.S. had 762,000 openings, according to the Bureau of

Steve Marzette has never been late to work at Pasta House in Ellisville despite a two-hour commute, his manager says. | ERIC BERGER

“Unfortunately, I think corporate America makes it a little difficult to do the right thing. It makes it harder to hire people, so you end up with warm bodies, and that usually doesn’t work out very well.”

Labor Statistics. That compares with fewer than 200,000 openings during the Great Recession.

The National Restaurant Association reported in October that 52 percent of restaurant operators consider recruitment and retention of employees to be their top problem. Again, that compares with less than 5 percent in 2009.

The main reasons that people say they like working in restaurants, according to the restaurant association, are that the jobs provide flexibility and are close to where they live.

“So in a tight labor market, there are some operators that have stepped up their transportation solutions,” says Hudson Riehle, the association’s senior vice president of research.

Boloco, a fast-casual burrito chain, started offering a transpor-

tation benefits program in 2012.

Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, cities where the average restaurant worker can’t afford to live near the high-end restaurants, have ordinances that require businesses with a certain number of employees to offer commuter benefits.

Sam Garanzini, senior vice president of Pasta House, says he is considering offering bus passes to employees making the commute from the city to its locations in west county.

But the company would only offer it to employees in particular scenarios, he adds.

“It’s not a policy that I’m going to wave in front of everybody,” says Garanzini, who has worked for the local Italian chain for 50 years. “Because the next thing you know you’ll have somebody tak-

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ing a bus two blocks to get to work just so they can have a bus pass in their pocket. So it’s going to be a policy that’s used on an individual basis, as needed.”

And even if Pasta House begins offering free bus passes, that only solves part of the equation for employees. Long commutes are still a problem.

In 2019, Metro Transit, which operates buses and rail in St. Louis and parts of southern Illinois, will launch its “Metro Reimagined” plan, which aims to offer “shorter waits. Faster trips. Better connections.” Metro is thinking about food-service employees traveling from the city to the county, says executive director Jessica Mefford-Miller.

“While there are routes that get someone from the city to the west county for a job, depending on the attractiveness of that job, the pay, the schedule, if it’s a parttime minimum wage, individuals may be hard-pressed to spend in excess of an hour to get there,” Mefford-Miller says.

For the Maplewood-Wildwood route that Marzette uses, Metro is proposing to operate every 30 minutes until 9 p.m. For the most part, that would increase the frequency by ten minutes from the current schedule.

DECEMBER 5 - 11, 2018

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HELP WANTED Continued from pg 15

It’s also planning to pilot a “microtransit” program featuring minibuses that operate based on demand, with customers requesting rides on an app.

The microtransit “could potentially operate in west county — though that’s a pretty large geographic area,” says Mefford-Miller.

A more dense jobs center like Hazelwood is more likely. Even if the program gets implemented, it might not make a difference for Marzette or Pasta House.

S

teak ’n Shake is typically open for 24 hours a day. Except, that is, in Ellisville, where it’s only open until midnight.

“Even the restaurants [in west county] that are scheduled to be open for 24 hours, aren’t always open,” says Mike Niblett, who has been a district manager at more than six Steak ‘n Shake locations and now is a franchisee for one.

A lack of easy public transportation is a primary reason for the labor shortage, he agrees. Ninety percent of his employees in Ellisville come from the city, he says.

And the large majority of them take the bus.

Niblett would like to offer better benefits and pay to his employees.

“I just took over in March, and I have been fighting the battles to pay more, and I’ve won the battles, but it takes emails and talking to the boss ... unfortunately,

I think corporate America makes it a little difficult to do the right thing,” he says. “It makes it harder to hire people, so you end up with warm bodies, and that usually doesn’t work out very well.”

That doesn’t mean he supported Proposition B, the statewide ballot measure to increase Missouri’s minimum wage over time to $12 an hour. The initiative sailed to victory, with 62 percent approval.

Beginning next year, the minimum wage in Missouri will see small but steady increases from its current rate of $7.85 per hour.

“In the short run, it would help fast-food workers and such; in the long run, I don’t think it will help because those jobs will go away for automation, kiosks,” Niblett says in the month before the vote.

“There’s a place for minimumwage jobs if you are first starting off in the workforce.”

The West St. Louis County Chamber of Commerce, which organized the restaurateurs’ meeting, did not take a stance on the ballot measure, says Kelling, the president.

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fter closing the Greek Kitchen in Ellisville, co-owner Joe Kandel ran a test ad seeking servers on Indeed.com and Craigslist for a new restaurant in Kirkwood, which happens to be significantly closer to the city and its labor pool. The response would determine whether he and Nicholas would actually reopen in the mid-county suburb.

Continued on pg 18

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After struggling to find workers, Greek Kitchen owners Lisa Nicholas and Joe Kandel moved their restaurant closer to the city and found a “50-fold” increase in job responses. | TOM HELLAUER

HELP WANTED Continued from pg 17

He received more than 90 responses. And so in August, the partners decided to open a new Greek Kitchen at 343 South Kirkwood Road.

So far, they say, it’s been a big success. “There are nights where people can’t get in because it’s so crowded,” Kandel says.

As to the staffing side of the equation, Kandel says, the response to any job ad is “50-fold” what he got in Ellisville.

“We have a great core. We just need one more person, but they are doing great,” he says.

Like the Pasta House, the Greek Kitchen also had an employee, Faith, who made a two-and-a-halfhour trek to Ellisville from the city.

Her commute is now 30 minutes shorter.

“She is still with us and a very loyal employee,” Kandel says.

D

espite the low pay and the long commute, Marzette says he likes his job at Pasta House. He has been with the restaurant for three years; prior to that he did tuckpointing and worked at the Steak ’n Shake in Chesterfield.

The environment at the restaurant, he says, is “real pleasant, real nice.” He has received “employee of the month” awards a number of times.

“He’s a good guy, works hard,” says Paul Reynolds, a chef at the Ellisville location who has been with Pasta House for 30 years.

Some days, Marzette gets a ride to work from a coworker, which shortens his commute by a full 90 minutes.

On the seventh day, he cleans his house. Still, he seems to savor small things, like the fact that the bus stop is right outside his house. “It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing,” he says.

Sitting on the bus leaving Maplewood that October morning, it’s almost silent. Marzette says that’s unusual; it gets loud. It’s one of the first cold days of the year, so that may have something to do with it.

Or it may be something else.

A fellow passenger says to Marzette, “Don’t you know that big lady who used to drive the bus?”

Marzette nods.

“Yeah, she died,” the passenger says. Other passengers have also heard the news, but they are unsure of her name.

Crystal Chrisp, 46, had spent eighteen years as a Metro bus driver. She was battling cancer and committed suicide, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A few weeks earlier, she sent a letter to Stray Rescue of St. Louis, asking them to adopt her dog.

“I’ve been fighting cancer for a few months, and if you’re reading this I lost my battle,” the letter stated.

Marzette estimates he rode on her bus a thousand times.

The passenger who broke the news says, “She shot herself, man.

It shows you can have a good job and still have problems.” n

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

THURSDAY 12/06 Blockheads Unite The holiday season is a tough time for some people. There’s less daylight, and it there’s always a busybody urging you to “be jolly” and get into the “festive spirit.” Hectoring doesn’t make people happy — but what often does work is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown is one of those guys who has trouble finding his Christmas spirit when surrounded by crass commercialism. Greedy siblings, a school play heavy on spectacle and low on meaning, and constant criticism from his peers only send Charlie further into despair.

And yet, when Linus reminds everybody of the reason for the season and the group comes together to apologize and sing carols in the yard, that’s when joy resounds.

The heartwarming holiday pickme-up is recreated on stage by actors in A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage. The show features the Vince Guaraldi score and an audience sing-along, and it takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, December 6, at the Stifel Theatre (1400

Market Street; www.stifeltheatre. com). Tickets are $20 to $55.

FRIDAY 12/07 T-Factor The Living Arts Studio (2814 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; www. livingartsstudio.org) is dedicated to the idea that art is a human necessity. It offers classes, workshops and open studio time to artists with and without disabilities. Members of the studio work on their own and participate in group projects, experiencing both personal growth and the social benefits of the open studio format. While the studio receives funding from several state and national organizations, there’s always a need for more resources — and you can help. The group’s annual talent show takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, December 7, at the Living Arts Studio. Members will provide all the talent, performing comedy routines, singing and doing their best to entertain you. Tickets are $40 and include a handmade cup or bowl, soup to put in it and drinks.

The cast of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. | COURTESY OF STRAY DOG THEATRE

Les Miserables is back, in all its glory. | MATTHEW MURPHY

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WEEK OF DECEMBER 6-12

On the Down Low Bob and Norma work for the U.S government, a good job in the 1950s. They’re friends at work and after hours, a happy little foursome with the addition of Millie (Bob’s spouse) and Jim (Norma’s husband). Then Bob and Norma get a new assignment: Root out and expose any homosexuals working for the government. Senator Joseph McCarthy has denounced gays and lesbians as perverts, and at the time he got what he wanted. It’s bad news for the duo, because they’re living a lie. Bob and Jim and Norma and Millie are committed couples living under the cover of two fake marriages and a real friendship, and now it’s all endangered. Can they betray their fellow homosexuals to protect themselves? Topher Payne’s play A Perfect Arrangement draws from the tropes of TV sitcoms and the real-world Lavender Scare, which destroyed hundreds of lives because of one paranoid, power-hungry toad of a man.

R-S Theatrics presents the play at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday (December 7 to 23) at the Marcelle Theater (3310 Samuel Shepard Drive; www.r-stheatrics. com). Tickets are $20 to $25.

SATURDAY 12/08 Markt it Down In its continuing efforts to become your favorite local craft brewery, Urban Chestnut presents its WinterMarkt. The German-style Christmas market features more

What Day Is It? The Nebraska Theatre Caravan has been performing Charles Jones’ stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol since 1979. The world has changed greatly since then, but the show continues because of its timeless message that even the

SUNDAY 12/09 Parlor Tricks The homes of Lafayette Square are renowned for their old St. Louis beauty, and that’s just on the outside. Once a year a select number of residents welcome people into their homes to see the first-floor interiors, which are decorated for the holidays. The Lafayette Square Holiday Parlor Tour features access to ten homes and the holiday market, which features handmade goods and treats. You may have heard that trolleys are all the rage now, and one will be running a circuit of the participating homes to help you see all ten homes in the allotted time. The tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, December 9, in Lafayette Square (Mississippi and Lafayette avenues; www.lafayettesquare. org), and tickets are $20 to $25.

TUESDAY 12/11 Wanted Man

A Gay Old Time Paul Rudnick reimagines and recasts Genesis (the book of the Bible, not the band) with his comic play The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Adam here is joined by his partner Steve in the Garden of Eden, and also by Jane and Mabel, the lesbians next door. Overseeing it all is a mysterious being with a headset and omnipotence (imagine the universe’s most competent stage manager) who directs all action, including the two couples’ eviction, the Great Flood and a lesbian wedding in modernday New York. Stray Dog Theatre always mounts a December show that serves as an antidote to the sickly sweet cheer of the holiday season, and Most Fabulous Story is no exception. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (December 6 to 22) at the Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; ww.straydogtheatre. org). Tickets are $25 to $30.

Sunday (December 6 to 9) at the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; www.fabulousfox.com).

Tickets are $20 to $49.

The Living Arts talent show helps working artists. | LARRY EISENBERG than 30 vendors selling everything from flowers to beads to photography at the midtown location of Urban Chestnut Brewery and Biergarten (3229 Washington Avenue; www.urbanchestnut.com). There will be beer specials, hot chocolate and German Glühwein (a seasonal favorite), as well as food and fire pits. The next WinterMarkt takes place from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, December 8, and admission is free. There will be one more markt on Saturday, December 15, with a whole new roster of vendors.

worst of us can change our ways.

Ebeneezer Scrooge is a terrible excuse for a human being, berating and penny-pinching his employees to near starvation despite his considerable means. How does a man become so greedy and vicious that he mistreats even himself on sheer principle? Charles Dickens’ beloved story warns that cutting yourself off from other human beings is a fate worse than death.

The play is performed at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6 p.m.

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Valjean, a man of prodigious strength and moral character, has finally been paroled from prison, but he can’t escape his past. No one wants to hire an ex-con, and only the genuine kindness of another frees him to start over with a new identity — but inspector Javert is still out there looking for him. In the Paris of the early nineteenth century, Valjean’s promise to save a dying woman’s daughter, political unrest and the unshakeable Javert all collide. And all because Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving nephew more than twenty years ago. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s blockbuster musical Les Miserables returns to St. Louis with new staging and scenery, but the same songs and story. Performances are Tuesday through Sunday (December 11 to 16) at the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; www.fabulousfox.com). Tickets are $25 to $150. n

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FILM

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Lazarro (Adriano Tardiolo) drifts happily through life. | SIMONA PAMPALLONA/NETFLIX

[REVIEW]

The Most Happy Fella Happy as Lazzaro is a dreamy slice of magical realism, but with a bite Written by

ROBERT HUNT Happy as Lazzaro Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher.

Starring Adriano Tardiolo, Luca Chikovani and Alba Rohrwacher. Now streaming on Netflix.com.

T

here is such an unplaceable quality to Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro that one is reluctant to probe it too deeply or give away too much, as if it were a dream you want to leave undisturbed. At once frankly naturalistic yet blissfully ethereal, it’s one of the few films for which the term magical realism seems accurate. Watching the film, which has bypassed American theaters and taken the increasingly common detour directly to Netflix.com, you’re less aware of a plot than of the film playing out at its own pace. I sus-

pect that repeated viewings would only enhance its dreamlike nature and the way it engulfs the viewer in its own world.

The unfixed quality is deliberate, a sly play on the unchangeability of society even over a span of decades. There is a strange — and as it turns out, deliberate — air of timelessness at work (or at play) here, a sense that its title character, like Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim, has come unstuck in time as he strolls innocently through life. The film itself is a kind of Pilgrim’s Progress, although a closer comparison could be made to the Arthurian knight Percival, who wandered through the Wasteland and failed to recognize the Holy Grail when he encountered it. Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo) is very much a holy innocent, a selfless and unquestionably decent soul who is so wonderstruck by the world that the people around him mistakenly assume that he’s simple-minded.

When the film begins, Lazzaro is one of many workers on Inviolita, a struggling tobacco farm somewhere in Northern Italy. History hasn’t quite caught up to Inviolita; although the film seems to take place somewhere close to the present (the Marchesa’s son Tancredi has a cell phone), Lazzaro and his fellow workers appear to be living in serfdom, unable to

leave the estate and kept in a constant state of indebtedness due to the calculations of the fast-talking farm manager.

Amid the toil of everyday life, Lazzaro remains distantly in awe of everything that passes by. He strikes up a friendship with the dissolute Tancredi, who drags him into a dubious kidnapping plot.

He wanders into a nearby city where he falls in with a group of indentured workers who are just as exploited as his country cousins. (The more things change... ) Rohrbacher’s screenplay, an award winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is so subtle that the film almost seems unscripted — until it jolts you with one of its sharp observations on class differences or economic struggle. She casually recalls the work of other Italian filmmakers who have explored the same countryside — a hint of Pasolini here, a Felliniesque broadness there, a political observation by way of Bertolucci and the Tavianis — but retains her own unshakeable vision, grounding the film in realism even during its most fantastic moments. In Lazzaro, she (and Tardiolo, who is hypnotically brilliant) have created a great modern figure, a virtuous hero who remains unshakeable, retaining his faith in the world even as it betrays him in a devastating climax. n

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NOW H IR IN G

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CAFE

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[REVIEW]

Lost in Translation DeMun Oyster Bar’s new identity as Barrio came with good intentions, but doesn’t always succeed in the execution Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Barrio 740 De Mun Avenue, Clayton; 314-725-0322.

Mon.-Sat. 11-1:30 a.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-midnight.

W

hen DeMun Oyster Bar starting serving “backdoor burritos” out of the kitchen entrance during its Saturday morning farmers markets, they were supposed to be a low-key, underground thing.

Instead, they ended up becoming the spark that would transform the restaurant.

The oyster bar used to set up a small market in its dining room, and the burritos proved an easy breakfast offering for guests browsing it. The kitchen had fun with the concept, creating a playful burrito of the day for those lucky enough to be in the know, similar to the secret menus at places like In-N-Out Burger or Starbucks.

Eventually, however, word got out, and the “backdoor burritos” became the market’s biggest draw.

Owner Alan Richman sensed an opportunity. As he watched the soaring cost of fresh seafood wipe out profit margins at the sevenyear-old oyster bar, he found himself at a turning point. He refused to sacrifice the quality that his patrons had come to expect, but he could no longer offer signature items, like oysters, at a price they would pay.

The “backdoor burritos” gave him an idea: Instead of continuing to wrestle with rising oyster costs, why not shutter completely and open a Latin-inspired restaurant instead? Richman, who also owns Sasha’s Wine Bar just down the street on De Mun, as well as Sasha’s

Barrio’s street corn is worth the price of admission, and the ribeye steak steals the limelight from their tacos and chile relleno. | MABEL SUEN on Shaw and Scarlett’s Wine Bar, is particularly passionate about Mexican cuisine, a taste he developed during regular travels to the country. Pairing that personal affinity with the kitchen’s demonstrated success at executing Latin-inspired fare seemed like a win.

It also seemed like the right fit for the area. While DeMun Oyster Bar was popular with the datenight set, it wasn’t the type of place you’d just wander into while taking a stroll through the charming, tree-lined neighborhood, especially if you had kids in tow. You need only watch the strollers gliding up and down the main thoroughfare or parked at DeMun Park to understand just how family-oriented the neighborhood — smack-dab in the prestigious Clayton School District — has become. If Richman wanted a neighborhood gathering place, he’d have to create a space that made everyone in the neighborhood feel welcome.

Richman shuttered DeMun Oyster Bar early this past April and reopened as Barrio not two weeks later. The quick turnaround meant nothing more than some cosmetic changes to the space: a fresh coat of teal paint; new wooden tables and chairs; and an indented portion of the wall that now serves as a display case for

the restaurant’s tequila and mezcal selection.

The menu, however, represents a complete overhaul, transforming the restaurant from a stylish seafood-oriented concept into a casual Latin-inflected small-plates spot. Initially, the oyster bar’s chef oversaw the transition; now chef Nicholas Jackson is in charge of executing on Richman’s vision.

As a place to sip margaritas while overlooking the rolling greenspace of Concordia Seminary after chasing the kiddos around the park, Barrio succeeds. It’s the sort of place that the neighborhood, with its close-knit, almost small-town feel, seemed to be begging for.

But if the idea for Barrio hits the mark, the food component is still finding its way. There are some high points. Street corn, for instance, is an outstanding take on the form. Cilantro and lime aioli coat the pleasantly charred vegetable, which is served on the cob.

What makes the offering positively transcendent, however, is the coating, a dusting of crispy corn chips that taste like deep-fried Fritos. It infuses the street corn with a deep nutty flavor and showcases corn’s two best flavor profiles: sweet and roasty. It’s the best thing on the menu.

Chicken taquitos are a close

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second. The simple pleasure of marinated chicken and cheese wrapped in a deep-fried corn tortilla is impossible to deny. Barrio’s housemade play on the ubiquitous straight-from-the-freezer bar food shows how a little extra care can turn a throwaway item into something beautiful.

A chile relleno presents as the expected gooey, spicy mess, with a mild poblano pepper filled with molten cheese curd, charred until its exterior caramelizes and then smothered in a piquant tomato sauce and rich chipotle cream. It’s a warm, satisfying dish, something you’d order at the kind of Mexican restaurant where you have to worry about overdoing it on the complimentary chips and salsa.

You won’t have that problem at Barrio. Here, the chips and salsa are $7 — a hefty price tag for a basket of chips and three small ramekins of salsa with varying degrees of heat. All three versions were thin and unremarkable, save for the fact that the spiciest was so fiery it overwhelmed the palate. You are much better off going with the guacamole-and-salsa combination so as to experience the excellent avocado dip. Bright, kissed with cilantro and lime, and pleasantly rustic in texture, it’s

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Continued from pg 29

well worth the extra $5.

Empanadas, which can be filled with chorizo or, in the version I tried, roasted vegetables, have a thick, flaky crust that crisps up around the edges, but retain a soft, pillow-like texture across the rest of the surface area. Inside, the well-seasoned vegetables and black beans remained al dente, giving each bite layers of texture.

I was also impressed by the simple cheese quesadilla, a dish my daughter ordered but I devoured after she announced it was too cheesy. I respectfully disagree with her assessment; the wonderfully flaky flour tortilla was griddled to a golden brown and filled with a rich, mild cheese blend that was so generously portioned it oozed out the edges. Salty, cheesy and warm — what more can you ask for?

Some of Barrio’s low points, however, were very low indeed.

Just one of the four tacos I tried was successful. That was the chicken version, a small flour tortilla stuffed with juicy meat covered in a mildly seasoned crema.

The highlight was the garnish of finely crushed corn chips that

gave the taco a nice contrast of texture and imbued it with nutty flavor. It was a far superior item to the pork and carne asada tacos, both of which were dried out and tough. And though the mushrooms featured in the “Hongo” were tender and succulent, they lacked seasoning and came across as bland.

The enchilada was the night’s biggest disappointment. I opted for the “Supreme” version, which brims with chorizo, chicken, potatoes, corn, black beans and caramelized onions, simmered in a rich red chile sauce. But the tortillas, which should have served as a wrapper for the contents, bobbed loosely alongside them in the serving dish. Instead of softening and absorbing the meat’s flavor, they were tough and chewy.

It made the enchiladas a mess of textures and difficult to eat.

Barrio also serves two large entrees, designed to feed two to four people. One, the half-roasted chicken, had a delicate crispy skin, but lacked seasoning. It was also overcooked, resulting in tough, dried-out meat.

The ribeye, however, was a thing of beauty. The massive, bone-in steak was flawlessly cooked and delectably seasoned

with an earthy rub. The kitchen boldly slices the meat into strips before serving it; it came out as a flawless medium-rare, showing that whoever was working the grill knows how to properly rest his steaks. This is the sort of expert execution you get at a steakhouse. In fact, our server joked that the ribeye is so good, the restaurant should be renamed “This Steak.” He had a point.

Chef Jackson has a background in pastry, and it showed in the one dessert being served the night of my visits: the churros.

Granted, it’s difficult to mess up fried dough coated in sugar and cinnamon, but these were especially delicious. The dough had a hearty crunch impressive when paired with light-as-air texture.

The churro melted in my mouth, leaving just a whisper of cinnamon sweetness. The accompanying chocolate glaze was delicate enough that it enhanced the flavor but did not overtake it. It was a crowd-pleasing sendoff.

The only thing sweeter than the churros was the service. Though there were some lags here and there, our servers went out of their way to make us feel welcome. It’s Barrio’s biggest selling point — well, that, the location

and the shockingly stiff margaritas. If you have two, you might want to call a ride.

But while the food has its moments, it also shows the trouble with opening a place that features a storied cuisine when you have only a limited background in it. I understand the allure of Mexican food. Not only is it absolutely delicious, but it has become so interwoven into the American culinary fabric that it seems familiar — enough so that we risk assuming that anyone who knows his way around a kitchen can cook it. And maybe he can, but only with some serious research into its history and techniques. Being an enthusiast is only the first step in a long journey. In this regard, Barrio has a way to go.

I am hopeful that it finds its way. Barrio has a committed staff, a great location and some good dishes. Most importantly, it has the right idea for what the neighborhood needs. That could be the bones of a solid spot. If Barrio can fill those in, it will become the success it intends to be.

Barrio Street corn .................................................. $5 Empanadas .............................................. $12 Bone-in ribeye (market price) ................. $42

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SHORT ORDERS

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[SIDE DISH]

Lesson Learned For Kemoll’s Don Tadlock, a job in the kitchen was his best birthday gift Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

D

on Tadlock will never forget his fifteenth birthday. His dad wasn’t one to make a fuss out of holidays or going out to dinner, but that day, he told Tadlock there was somewhere he wanted to take him.

Tadlock was ecstatic when they pulled up to the local Italian restaurant, anticipating a fun birthday meal. However, when they walked through the front doors and up to the hostess desk, he realized his dad had other ideas.

“I thought he was going to ask for a table, and instead he asked if they were hiring,” Tadlock recalls.

“They told him they had an opening in the dish room, so he dropped me off later that day. I worked until 1 a.m. that night. On my birthday.”

It may have been jarring at the time, but Tadlock looks back at the incident fondly, seeing it as one of the sparks that lit his culinary career, one that has spanned everything from cooking for Michael J. Fox and celebrities at the Kentucky Derby to his current job as executive chef at Kemoll’s Fine Dining Restaurant (211 North Broadway; 314-421-0555).

Though he was just fifteen, he was already comfortable cooking — a skill he had learned from watching his mom around the kitchen. He was also inspired by his grandfather. A Granite City firefighter, Tadlock’s grandfather was in charge of cooking for all the fire stations in the district, and would also regularly cook for the area’s churches. Tadlock was often by his side, watching as his grandfather prepared meals for up to 500 people at a time.

At the Italian restaurant where Tadlock’s father got him started,

For his fifteenth birthday, Don Tadlock was given the gift of cooking. | JEN WEST the owners had a rule that anyone who wanted to cook must spend an entire year washing dishes. Tadlock diligently completed that requirement and impressed the owners with his commitment to his job.

Eventually, they moved him up to do catering work, then to cooking on the line and finally sous chef.

When he graduated from high school, Tadlock knew he wanted to go to culinary school. There was just one problem: He did not have the money to pay for it. His parents were firm in their rule that their children must leave the house and support themselves the day they turned eighteen, so Tadlock found himself with little means to pay for the program he’d found in Louisville, Kentucky.

He might never have gone to that program — or culinary school at all — were it not for one of the country’s most celebrated chefs: the late Charlie Trotter. Tadlock had heard that Trotter gave out one scholarship a year to an aspiring culinary student. He penned a letter for the chef explaining everything from his life story to his dreams to his

current economic situation. One week later, he got the check from Trotter and his wife.

Culinary school opened an entirely new world of food to Tadlock, and he soaked in every last bit and got mentored by chefs with impressive connections. He also worked for Famous Dave’s, cooking at its flagship location and eventually helping expand the brand throughout the region.

After graduating from culinary school, Tadlock returned to St. Louis to accept a position with the Chase Park Plaza hotel. There, he cooked on every single station at every outlet throughout the hotel — he got a chef-of-the-year award from AAA for being the youngest person to conquer such a feat — before settling in at the hotel’s then-flagship, Eau Bistro.

When his chef at the Chase left to open his own restaurant, Tadlock followed. Pepperstone Steakhouse was an ambitious concept that required Tadlock to sleep at the restaurant three nights a week to rotate bones used for stocks every four hours. But though

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he loved what he was doing, he couldn’t help but be curious when Mark Cusumano of Kemoll’s called to talk to him about a job.

Cusumano was looking to take the storied downtown restaurant in a new direction, and he had heard glowing things about Tadlock. Tadlock decided to come on board, ushering in a new era for a local landmark that has been around for nearly a century.

As the restaurant prepares to enter another era — it will move to Westport this coming January and rebrand as Kemoll’s Chop House — Tadlock can’t help but reflect on both the restaurant’s history and his place in it. He must maintain the balance of respecting the past while shepherding it into the future with his crew, whom he has come to see as family. It’s a role he feels that he was made for.

“I get to take care of everybody,” Tadlock explains. “I always wanted to be a missionary, but I got married and had kids, so I got away from that. Here, I feel like I get to do that.”

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DON TADLOCK Continued from pg 31

Tadlock took a break from the kitchen to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food-and-beverage scene, the importance of making your bed every morning and the old-school dining style he’d like to see make a comeback.

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

I always wanted to be a missionary.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

I always make my bed as soon as I get up every morning, and I always go straight to the shower every morning before doing anything else. I don’t even talk to anyone until I’m done with my shower.

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

I never really wanted superpowers, but if I did, it would be to fly.

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

New restaurants are opening up every month. It’s nice seeing all the new specialty small restaurants opening. There is more variety.

What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see?

Breakfast buffets and more table-side cooking.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

Kalbi Taco Shack and Sushi Ai. Who is the one to watch in the St. Louis dining scene?

Gerard Craft and Marie-Anne Velasco.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Butter or bacon.

If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing?

Something water related, like a lifeguard, having my own boatrental service or being a hunting guide.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Coconut. I’m deathly allergic. Or star anise because I hate licorice.

What is your after-work hangout?

Home, so I can see my kids.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Margaritas and beef jerky.

What would be your last meal on earth?

If it wasn’t my mom’s cooking, it would have to be slow-braised osso bucco with gnocchi. n

[FOOD NEWS]

Soon-to-Open DogHaus Will Serve Food from Plantain Girl Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

T

he DogHaus (1800 South 10th Street), the dog-friendly bar that will open in Soulard this coming January, is giving Fido’s owners another reason to celebrate: Not only will you be able to drink with your dog; you’ll have the option to feast on delectable food, too.

In a Facebook post from November 24, the DogHaus’ owners announced that they have partnered with Mandy Estrella, also known as Plantain Girl, to provide food for patrons of the soon-to-open combination dog park and bar.

The concept, called Good Bowl by Plantain Girl, is inspired by some of Estrella’s most popular dishes at her current restaurant, Alphateria, and will follow a similar walk-up, fast-casual model.

“Every other bar in Soulard has food, so we knew we needed to do something,” says Laurie Simpson, one of the partners in the DogHaus.

“Some food-truck ideas came up, but our ideas guy, Joe Schira, heard about Mandy and decided to check her out. After meeting her and trying her stuff, we were like, ‘Oh yes, we can work with this.’”

As Simpson explains, she and her partners, Kevin Simpson and Schira and Stephen Walters, faced special challenges when considering how they wanted to handle the food component of their business. Because dogs will be allowed throughout the DogHaus — guests will be able to eat and drink with their dogs both inside and outside of the building — they are required to follow strict rules regarding how and what they serve. For instance, they are not allowed to prepare food in their kitchen, but must instead have food brought in ready-to-serve, similar to a catering operation.

Estrella proved up to the challenge and created a menu of ca-

“Basically, it’s catering style, or a never-ending pop-up,” says Mandy Estrella. | SARAH FENSKE sual, Plantain Girl-inspired fare tweaked for the limited facilities.

“It’s a cold kitchen, and it’s very small, so we are limited to what we can pre-do,” Estrella explains.

“We had to get creative with the plantains because there is no fryer. Basically, it’s catering style, or a never-ending pop-up.”

Estrella, who has been given full creative control of the kitchen by the DogHaus partners, emphasizes that Good Bowl by Plantain Girl is not the traditional Latin food that she has become known for.

Dishes will draw upon some of the flavors you find at Alphateria, like citrus braised chicken, red beans and rice or tres leches cake, but they will not be traditionally presented. Instead, she describes what she is doing as more of a hybrid of her signature cooking style and approachable bar food that is quick and easy to execute.

Diners can expect items, all cleverly named following a canine theme, such as “Who Let the Queso Out,” a white cheese dip served with tortilla chips, “Blues Q’s,” a play on nachos, featuring quesocovered tortilla chips smothered with mango barbecue sauce, pico de gallo, black beans, jalapeños and chipotle cream, and the “Baxter,” a salad of mixed greens, chicken, bacon, egg, tomato, avocado and blue cheese crumbles. A separate brunch menu is also in the works and will be announced at a later date.

Estrella will continue to operate Aplhateria, which is located inside Alpha Brewing Company, without any changes. “If people want tra-

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ditional Latin food, they can come to Alphateria,” she says. And as for how she will serve food at the Good Bowl, Estrella is adamant that there will be no dog bowls for humans. “People have asked, but I just can’t serve food in dog bowls.

That bothers me,” she laughs.

Though there will be no dog bowls for humans at the DogHaus, there will be plenty placed throughout the space for its furry patrons. As Simpson explains, the venue will consist of an outdoor dog park and seating area, and two levels of indoor seating, including an upstairs space that can be rented out for private events.

The DogHaus will occupy the former home of the slushy bar Tropical Liqueurs, which closed in December 2016 after a troubled relationship with the neighborhood. Unlike the former tenant, Simpson expects the DogHaus to be a welcome addition to the dogfriendly neighborhood and hopes to be a family-oriented, community gathering place.

Membership will be required for dogs using the outdoor, off-leash area but is not mandatory for the indoor space. Simpson also notes that she and her co-owners are in talks to collaborate with the Frenchtown Dog Park, which is located across the street from the DogHaus.

However, Simpson emphasizes that you do not need to have a dog to enjoy DogHaus.

“We see ourselves as a familyfriendly sports bar and gathering place,” Simpson says. “You don’t have to have a dog or know a dog to come here.” n

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ALL MENU ITEMS ARE UNDER $10 Dan Tripp, left, with Alpha & Omega staffers. | TOM HELLAUER

[FIRST LOOK]

Alpha & Omega Combines Beer and Coffee in Defiance Written by

TOM HELLAUER

T

hree years ago, Matt Fair and Dan Tripp were making beer in Tripp’s basement. Today, they own and operate a brewery and a coffee house and are also opening a combination of the two in Defiance, Missouri.

Their meteoric entry into the industry may have taken a few by surprise, but for the pair it’s part of a straightforward formula that they think could be replicated anywhere. “Beer, coffee and pizza. It’s all about keeping it simple,” Fair says.

“Focus on a few things, don’t confuse customers. I hate going into restaurants and seeing a menu that’s like seven pages long,” Tripp says. “Let’s just put our best things forward.”

The pair opened Good News Brewing (330 Sonderen Street, O’Fallon; 636294-6593) last summer, but the popularity of several of their coffee stouts left Tripp and Fair wondering if they could be doing more. Tripp and his wife Annie, along with Fair, started looking at locations in O’Fallon to open a coffee house as well. They found their answer just half a mile from Good News Brewing.

The group settled on a cozy, quaint, yellow house off North Main Street, opening Alpha & Omega Roasting (111 North Main Street, O’Fallon; 636-294-7050) in late October. “You can’t have a coffee house without the house,” Tripp says.

While separate entities, both places show the touches of their owners.

Good News’ interior is a monochromatic, modern-looking gathering place. Walls lined with white-painted pallets contrast with a sizable black muraled logo, black tabletops and stools. “Not many places [in O’Fallon] have a vibe,” Tripp says of their

cool look. Wood-fired pizzas cooked just behind the bar are available with an everchanging variety of craft beers on tap.

“We want to have our flagship beers but also have something new every time you walk in the door,” Fair says. “Our goal is to turn everybody into a craft-beer drinker.”

The pair have concocted several “gateway beers” to get more conservative drinkers trying new flavors and moving up the craft-beer ladder. Ground floor is your domestic lagers, with hoppier, more fullbodied tastes filling out the top rungs.

The Good News bar is helmed by Mel James, formerly of BC’s Kitchen. She’s also a mixologist consultant to Alpha & Omega, helping to design the alcoholic coffee drinks served down the road, which include a classic Irish coffee and “Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Martini.”

While Good News looks contemporary and monochromatic, Alpha & Omega is retro and colorful. Vibrant vintage mugs, seating, light fixtures and more create a chic atmosphere for a caffeinated pickme-up or a savory cocktail.

The dichotomy of drink options makes Alpha & Omega live up to its name, meaning “beginning and end.” Annie Tripp thought of the name as a nod to patrons starting and finishing their days with the drinks.

Just as Good News hews to a menu of pizza, Alpha and Omega has one main food focus: gourmet grilled cheeses.

They’re available in an impressive array of options. The “Vampire Death Wish,” for example, is named for its garlic Parmesan sauce and also features spinach, white American and provolone cheeses.

Coffee beans from all over the globe are roasted right in the basement. Tripp tries to keep Honduran coffee beans in stock at all times (he previously did mission work in the Central American country).

Tripp and Fair tend to move quickly.

While Tripp was showing Fair the Defiance building for the first time, he told him to bring his checkbook. It came in handy.

And while they plan to take a breather after opening their third location, the pair may just be ready to take over St. Louis — or at least St. Charles County.

“Our plan is to keep going until we buy InBev or they buy us,” Fair jokes. n

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[BIG APPLES]

[HOMESPUN]

Peace Offering

Winter Jazz Fest Introduces NYC to STL’s Kevin Bowers

Devin LaRue’s largely instrumental debut record is as sprawling as it is ambitious Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

I

Written by

DANIEL HILL

J

ust two and a half years after releasing Nova, the breakout album that reintroduced the city of St. Louis to the musical force of nature that is Kevin Bowers, he and his band are being called up to the big city.

Bowers and Co. will perform at the vaunted Winter Jazzfest this January, alongside such luminaries as the Bad Plus, Ravi Coltrane, Meshell Ndegeocello and about a hundred more. Over the last fifteen years the New York-based festival has developed a reputation for gathering the biggest names in jazz alongside the hottest up-and-comers — and this year, Bowers’ name is included in that latter category.

“We were invited to perform — we’ve been talking with them and trying to get the band on the bill really this whole year,” Bowers says. “I’ve been to the last two festivals just as a fan. And finally we just heard about it last week that we are going to be playing at the Bitter End on Bleaker Street.”

It’s quite the development for a group that, despite checking off all of the usual St. Louis milestone boxes (landing a slot on LouFest’s lineup, earning multiple nods from this here publication), has yet to perform outside of the city.

“It’s our debut in New York City and outside of St. Louis too,” Bowers says with a laugh. “So we’re looking forward to it.”

Bowers’ show is a sprawling, theatrical affair involving a veritable murderers’ row of St. Louis’ finest musicians, including members of the Funky Butt Brass Band,

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With this show, Bowers and his band have officially broken into the national scene. | NATE BURRELL the Playadors, Cree Rider Family Band, Sleepy Kitty, Brothers Lazaroff and many more. With eleven people total filling out the group, it can be something of an unwieldy affair, especially in transportation terms. Bowers says that’s why he’s aggressively pursued the festival circuit, rather than packing into an Econoline and hitting some clubs.

“The thing is with this band, there’s so many musicians that make it what it is,” Bowers says.

“So I’ve been really trying to push this, trying to get this band on the festival circuit. And it’s tough. It’s tough to make it work, with all these musicians who play in so many different groups and that kind of thing. I think for us to all jump in a van and do the club circuit, it’s just not going to work that way right now.”

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With help from a grant from the Regional Arts Commission, the band gets to skip that headache altogether and head straight to New York. The group will be performing on the second weekend of the festival, January 11 and 12 — the “marathon” weekend, as it is known, wherein bands perform at every hour in venues throughout Greenwich Village.

Bowers is excited, and his band is ready.

“It’s a big deal for us because it’s one of the premier jazz festivals in the U.S., and just kinda puts us on the national level I guess,” he says. “I think this is our time to really shine. To show ’em what we got.”

For more information about the Winter Jazzfest, visit the official website at winterjazzfest.com.

n the long list of instruments and implements of rock & roll — from flying V guitars to double-kick drums to bandana-draped microphone stands — the euphonium ranks somewhere below the wood block and just above the triangle. Not as imposing as the sousaphone or as dexterous as the trombone, the valved brass instrument is most often lost in the scrum of spitvalves somewhere amongst its low-brass brethren.

But it wasn’t too many years ago that Devin LaRue was drafted to dust off his euphonium and join Charlie Brumley’s many-membered congregation in the Educated Guess; LaRue remembers playing a few Off Broadway shows with Brumley’s group, though it was a challenge to fit over a dozen performers on the venue stage.

On his debut record, Finding Peace, LaRue breaks out his euphonium once more, but it’s only one of many instruments he handles on the largely ruminative, mostly instrumental album. He also plays piano, guitar and banjo, and handles all of the arrangements of string and brass players. LaRue also sings a handful of songs in a soft, spare voice that often sounds on the verge of drifting away on the breeze.

LaRue’s music is hard to categorize; fans of Sufjan Stevens will recognize some of the confessional, banjo-limned songs, while other tracks vibrate with orchestral flourishes reminiscent of San Fermin. Mostly, though, the album finds itself in a liminal space outlined by grand piano, acoustic guitar and a string quartet.

The arc of Finding Peace isn’t exactly a straight line or even a concept album, but the song-suite certainly rewards a few close listens as it centers on one character’s spiritual journey. On the songs LaRue sings, he posits his main character as a man lost — drawn to the solitude of nature, confused by his relationship to God and others, a stranger to his own heart. Opening with dark-tinted piano chords and ending with synthdrums and a saxophone solo, Finding Peace feels a little like watching Dorothy

“I didn’t want to use too many words because I fear I’d run out of them,” LaRue says. | VIA THE ARTIST Gale move from black-and-white Kansas to technicolor Oz. And like Dorothy, a journey is part of LaRue’s intention.

“I was trying to arrange them in sort of an arc where you start here and end there,” he explains.

LaRue says that in writing these lyrics and arrangements, he found himself “considering both the beauty of nature and how beautifully complex everything is, but also acknowledging the danger of nature; a person can’t exist on their own without a community.” LaRue doesn’t claim these songs as his autobiography.

“As tempting as it is to be a recluse, I need people in my life as well,” he says.

LaRue also notes that his own Christian faith plays an undeniable factor as well; song titles like “Creation,” “Hardly Eden” and “After the Fall” don’t try to hide some of the more overt themes.

“It wasn’t important to be overt; it was more an epic vernacular,” LaRue says. “It is painting a very Christian message — I can’t skirt away from the fact that it was written with an overt spirituality in mind.

But I didn’t want to offend someone of a different faith or feel like they had to understand Christian theology in order to get it.”

Much of that purposeful opacity comes through the album’s largely instrumental composition, though LaRue’s lyrics remain impressionistic enough for the listener to hang individual experiences upon.

“A lot of the artists I like to listen to are really cryptic with their words, like Bon Iver,” he says. “I’m just not that good of a wordsmith. I didn’t want to use too many

words because I fear I’d run out of them.”

And because Finding Peace was composed with strings and horns in mind, the instrumental passages, be they propulsive or seemingly aimless, tell a big part of the story as well. “I also didn’t want my voice to be the showcase; I just wanted to give enough words and lyrics to put it on a track to get the listener started,” LaRue says. “The instrumentals allow the listener to add their own story to it. I wanted it to be a loose enough story that anyone could apply their life to it.”

This is LaRue’s debut recording, and it’s an ambitious entrance for someone whose day job as an audio engineer keeps him behind the scenes. And while there is no current plan to take this project onto local stages, LaRue felt that this sizable chunk of music (collected as a double-LP in the handsome vinyl edition) needed to exist as a solitary piece rather than dribbled out in tentative spurts of music here and there.

LaRue says that about eight years ago he had released a few songs online in a low-profile sort of way; he had no plans or desires to tour or promote the songs.

But he found that the breadth of his vision didn’t match the quick-hit style of streaming that many listeners were engaging in.

“It was difficult to sell people on my style just showing them one song. I couldn’t put my style into one genre, so I wanted all the styles I enjoy to speak to one style that was me,” he says. “If people listen as a whole, they would be able to understand my style better than with a single.” n

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[VENUES]

The Church of Cherokee Street FarFetched’s Darian Wigfall to run new music space out of an old church in south city Written by

DANIEL HILL

I

t only seems like it came together quickly.

On November 22, Darian Wigfall, director of operations and founding member of St. Louis’ FarFetched artist collective, launched a fundraiser in earnest on Facebook. Its goal? To raise $3,000 to help get a new music venue in the Cherokee Street neighborhood — one housed in the historic St. Matthews Church, built in 1888 at the intersection of South Jefferson and Potomac — off the ground. The fundraiser was set to run for two weeks and close on December 6.

Within just 36 hours, Wigfall watched as it smashed through its goal, with donations from 135 people amounting to $3,600.

“Every time I think I have a chance of failing, the universe is like, ‘No, keep going, keep going,’” Wigfall, 37, says. “Like the fundraiser — I was really hesitant about that. First of all I hate asking for money, generally. But also I was like, what if we don’t hit the mark and people are like, ‘Aw this is bullshit, you’re not gonna do well’ or whatever? And 36 hours later I was like OK, I need to keep doing this. Really like twelve hours later I was like holy shit, OK.” But the roots of the venture trace back further. St. Matthews Church closed its doors in 2014, and the building was acquired by Cherokee Street developer Jason Deem, who started renting it out occasionally as an event space under the name “Treffpunkt,” a German word for “the meeting point.” The FarFetched crew had a party there in June of this year; it was then that Deem approached Wigfall and told him he had the group in mind for a new venture: a full-time music venue housed in the building.

Wigfall at that time had been working as event coodinator at

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Wigfall’s reason for undertaking the venture is to preserve the offbeat culture of Cherokee Street. | DANIEL HILL the Stage at KDHX for more than a year. When he and KDHX parted ways this summer, Wigfall decided to take the leap and fully invest his time and money in the church.

“We were basically planning to move into leasing this space already as a group, and I eventually did it individually because some people fell out of the deal,” Wigfall says.

Wigfall is joined by Illphonics frontman Larry “Fallout” Morris in investing financially in the venture. The additional money from the fundraiser is meant to help cover the cost of renovations the building will need to function as a music venue, including sound treatment for the basement space where shows will be held.

“I just actually had Norm Kunstel in, who does sound at Jazz St. Louis and did Blank Space,” Wigfall says. “I’m talking to him and I’m gonna have a couple other engineers in here to talk about sound and stuff like that. So those kind of expenses. And just generally — we don’t have coffee, we don’t have glasses, we don’t have plates. So yeah, stuff like that.”

The basement space already has a stage and a kitchen off to the side, and has a capacity of about 150 people, Wigfall explains — 200 if they really push it.

He intends for shows to take place down here, whereas the building’s main floor, where the church’s congregation used to gather, will serve as a community center

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for the neighborhood — Wigfall imagines it will host yoga classes and the like. For the building’s second floor, he has a vision for a teen lounge by day that serves as a VIP area for the club at night.

He intends to have a bar built, attached to the kitchen in the basement, and hopes to partner with local restaurants and coffee shops to help peddle their wares.

The real catalyst for the venture — or at least Wigfall’s involvement — is the recent shuttering of longtime Cherokee Street venues 2720 and Blank Space. With the demise of those spots, the bustling arts districts suddenly found itself with a serious lack of places to host live music.

“That was really why I jumped in even though other folks in FarFetched didn’t want to get in financially — I still wanted to do it because we were gonna have a lack of spaces to perform out here,” Wigfall says. “So I was just like, somebody needs to do this.

Not just for us, but like, the people in the area won’t have a place to go to see dope shows, except for Foam. And Foam can only hold so many people.

“So I was just like, if both of those close and there’s nothing else out here, what option will come back around?” he continues. “Because the way development works it may or may not be here. It may be somewhere else. But I didn’t want it to leave, and it was like this is a way we can kind of keep that cul-

ture here. So I took a risk.”

For now, Wigfall says the space will primarily host DJ nights until the sound treatment is completed.

The first such public event since the building came under Wigfall’s purview will be Too Much Sauce on December 22, with DJ Nune spinning records and DJ Whiz hosting. Once the venue is fully up and running — Wigfall predicts this will happen by spring, with the venue really getting rolling by summer — he intends to book indie and mid-level acts of all genres.

In doing so, Wigfall hopes to preserve the artistic charm that makes the Cherokee Street neighborhood so unique.

“This is a space for the community to keep the hold that we’ve had on this area in St. Louis as a cultural hub where you can experiment and do pretty much whatever you want,” Wigfall says.

“I don’t want to lose the spot with this feel, because I think what’s great about St. Louis is we have different neighborhoods with different feels. When you go from the Grove to Old North to U. City to Cherokee, it feels different. And it can almost feel like another city.

“It’s weird how it’s like that,” he continues. “It’s like we have every other city in one city, depending on which neighborhood you’re in.”

For more information about Treffpunkt, visit its official website at treffpunktstl.com.

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Trippie Redd. | MATT KEANE

Trippie Redd 8 p.m. Friday, December 7. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Avenue, Sauget, Illinois. $45 to $99. 618-274-6720.

Trippie Redd has seen his star rise dramatically in recent months. The Canton, Ohio alt-rocker-turned-emo-rapper just released his debut LP in August, citing everyone from Jay Z and Beyonce to Kiss and Nirvana as influences, and has since already risen to the top of the facetattooed Soundcloud rap pack. Now, the nineteen-year-old counts Kanye West, Drake, Young Thug, Lil Wayne and Tra-

THURSDAY 6

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

BROTHER BIRD: 8 p.m., $13-$15. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

COMEDY NIGHT: w/ Scott James, Marquise Moore, Kate Barton, Nicholas Cuvar 8 p.m., $5-$8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

A NIGHT IN MARGARITAVILLE: w/ The Landsharks 7:30 p.m., $100-$150. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

OZOMATLI: 8 p.m., $22. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

STEVE HAUSCHILDT: w/ Temporal Marauder, DJ Negative Spaces 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

STOVE: w/ Complainer, Maneka, Glued 8:30 p.m., $8. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

TORREY CASEY & SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

UNPLUGG-ED AND UNBANDED SHOW: w/ Jeremy Essig, Shannon Lucas 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy An-

vis Scott among his fans, with his single “Dark Knight Dummo” going on to be certified platinum. Credit that success to his masterful handling of the woozy, syrupy flow and huge trap beats that lead the rap genre at this particular moment in time.

Can’t Fight the Flow: Traditional hiphop fans may shake their heads, and to a point it’s understandable, but it’s also clear the brand of rap delivered by the likes of Trippie and his contemporaries (Lil Pump, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, etc.) isn’t going away anytime soon.

—Daniel Hill

chor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

FRIDAY 7

93.7 THE BULL SANTA JAM: w/ Carlton Anderson, Danielle Bradbery, Rodney Atkins, Maren Morris 7 p.m., $9.37-$93.70. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

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

FANGS: w/ Ex Oh Ex, Docere 9 p.m., free.

Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

THE GOOD DEEDS: w/ Mt. Thelonious, Prairie Rehab 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

JAKE’S LEG: 9 p.m., $7. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

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

LUKAS SIMPSON & FRIENDS: 9 p.m., free. The Frisco Barroom, 8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, 314-455-1090.

MEG MYERS: w/ The Blue Stones 8 p.m., $25$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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[CRITIC’S PICK]

Larkin Poe. | VIA RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

Larkin Poe 8 p.m. Sunday, December 9. Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street. $18 to $20. 314-588-0505.

The phrase “sister act” was already an anachronism when Whoopi Goldberg turned it into movie gold in the ’90s, but something about the co-mingling of singers who share the same DNA remains alchemical. Rebecca and Meghan Lovell

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 39

NIGHT MARKET: 6 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

SAN HOLO: w/ Chet Porter, Taska Black, BeauDamian 8 p.m., $22-$28. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SIERRA HULL: 8 p.m., $30-$35. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

TRIPPIE REDD: 8 p.m., $45-$99. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

WITH CONFIDENCE: w/ Broadside 7 p.m., $10-$12.

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

SATURDAY 8

BOXCAR: 8 p.m., free. Stone Spiral, 2500 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, 314-335-7388.

BREWTOPIA: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

CAAMP: 8 p.m., $13-$15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

CHAPTERS: w/ Embracer, Houseplant, Biff K’Narly and the Reptilians 7:30 p.m., $7. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

THE FADE: w/ Mene Mene, Let’s Not 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

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

JÉRÔME MOUFFE: 8 p.m., $24-$28. Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd, Richmond Heights, 314-991-0955.

JON WAYNE AND THE PAIN: w/ Rota 8 p.m., $12$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: 7 p.m., $5.

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

LES GRUFF AND THE BILLY GOAT ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: w/ Elliott Pearson and the Passing Lane

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perform as Larkin Poe, merging their voices and dexterity with guitar and dobro to make a fusion of roots and blues harmony-flecked folk. Their occasional turns as Elvis Costello’s opening act and singing partners hinted at the sounds on the group’s new album, Venom & Faith.

WhoFest?: Larkin Poe was one of many casualties of LouFest’s cancellation, so this date is a make-up set of sorts.

—Christian Schaeffer

8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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

MONOBODY: w/ Holy Posers, Lobby Boxer, Jr. Clooney 7:30 p.m., $5. El Lenador, 3124 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314-771-2222.

NEW COUNTRY 92.3 JINGLEFEST: w/ Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Lanco, Jordan Davis 7 p.m., $48$78. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

THE REVIVALISTS: 8 p.m., $39.50-$45. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SEAWAY: w/ Trophy Eyes, Microwave, Can’t Swim, Hot Mulligan 7 p.m., $18. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THOM YORKE: w/ Nigel Godrich, Tarik Barri, Oliver Coates 8 p.m., $52. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

SUNDAY 9

BLUES SOCIETY IBC FUNDRAISER: 4 p.m., $10.

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

BRUNCH WITH BOXCAR: noon, free. Webster Groves Garden Cafe, 117 E. Lockwood Ave., Webster Groves, 314-475-3490.

DAVE EAST: 8 p.m., $30. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

JASON MRAZ: w/ Gregory Page 6 p.m., $35$129.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

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

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

RIVER CITY OPRY: w/ Brandon J Karras as Father John Misty, The Bobby Stevens Band, Dan Hurt, Matt Maher & The Silver Dollars, Carondelet Guy 1 p.m., $5. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SISTER WIZZARD: w/ Shady Bug, Golden Curls, Drangus, Looprat 8 p.m., $10. The Ready Room,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

The War and Treaty. | VIA RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

The War and Treaty 8 p.m. Monday, December 10. Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $20 to $23. 314-727-2277.

Albion, Michigan, natives Tanya BlountTrotter and Michael Trotter Jr. are the War and Treaty, a wife-and-husband team that makes wild gospel-based soul music that’s somehow captured the imagination of Americana fans, including esteemed Nashville songwriter and producer Buddy Miller. Surprisingly, the duo’s loose and live 2018 debut Healing Tide sounds little like any known Miller-

[WEEKEND]

BEST BETS

Five sure-fire shows to close out the week

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 Lake Mary w/ Motherbear, Michael Williams, Alex Cunningham 8 p.m. Flood Plain, 3151 Cherokee Street. $5. No phone.

Whether Chaz Prymek is prying transient songs out of his guitar alone or he’s joined by a cast of collaborators, the Columbia, Missouri, native speaks through a six-string under the moniker of Lake Mary. An expanded approach to Prymek’s ambient folk can be heard on June’s River Ceremony, an album featuring the “Ranch Family Band” — a backing group with harmonium, cello, pump organ, banjo and additional guitar. And that’s just one drop in a deep well of records and releases on the Lake Mary Bandcamp page.

This show offers him and three of St. Louis’ more underrated artists Continued on pg 42

affiliated project. The duo wrecks the sanctuary of Americana and resurrects the country spirit of the blues with savvy nods to the strum and twang of the Carter Family, while remaining as funky as the first time you shredded your speakers to Delaney and Bonnie or Sly and the Family Stone. In person and on stage, the duo will take you all the way there.

The Gospel of St. Louis: If you don’t know opener Theresa Payne, you’ve missed one of the great artists of our R&B and soul scene. Payne preaches her own truths with a voice like nobody else in town.

—Roy Kasten 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

STEEL PANTHER: w/ Wilson 8 p.m., $25-$28.

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

TAVERN NIGHT OUT 2018: w/ Kid Capri 8 p.m., $25. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd, North St. Louis County, 314-869-9090.

THOR AXE: w/ Lazer Wulf, Double Ferrari 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MONDAY 10

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF ST. LOUIS’ 10TH ANNIVERSARY GALA: 7 p.m., $35.50-$265. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

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

PINK TALKING FISH: 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

THE WAR AND TREATY: 8 p.m., $20-$23. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

TUESDAY 11

ACOUSTIC HOT TUNA: 8 p.m., $50-$55. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BIRD STREETS: 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

DAVE KOZ & FRIENDS: w/ Mindi Abair, Jonathan Butler, Keiko Matsui, Shelea 7:30 p.m., $50$198. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

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

A DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY CHRISTMAS: w/ Sunny Sweeney, Brennen Leig, Bri Bagwell 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.,

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OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 41 St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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

WEDNESDAY 12

AQUEOUS: w/ Goose 8 p.m., $13-$16. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

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

CANNABIS CORPSE: 8 p.m., $12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

wednesday december 5 9:45 pm Urban Chestnut Presents

the voodoo players tribute to phish

friday december 7 10 pm

alex ruwe band with special guests the morels

THIS JUST IN ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO WITH DON ANTONIO: Tue.,

saturday december 8 10 pm

kim massie

BEST BETS

wednesday december 12 9:45 pm

Continued from pg 41

Urban Chestnut Presents

the voodoo players

for a night of solo performances inside the cozy confines of Flood Plain’s art gallery.

tribute to bob marley

thursday december 13 9 pm

miles over mountains from chicago

San Holo w/ Chet Porter, Taska Black, BeauDamian

saturday december 15 10 pm

8 p.m. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $22 to $28.

314-726-6161.

funk from nola

San Holo’s biggest claim to fame might be a remix of Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode,” but the Dutch DJ has accomplished far more in his young life as a producer. Take Bitbird, the record label he founded with the goal of being, in his own words, “the most fair and honest label there is.” It’s hard to argue that he’s not at least headed in the right direction, as he’s brought label mates Taska Black and BeauDamian along for a tour that’s been selling out across the country. Whether or not the Pageant hits max capacity is entirely up to St. Louis’ city-wide love (or lack thereof) of what San Holo has dubbed “future bass.”

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8 Caamp w/ Savannah Conley 8 p.m. Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $13 to $15. 314-727-4444.

Caamp makes the kind of music that you might imagine is made in attics across Ohio. Maybe it’s the band’s hearty diet of light beer and denim that sets it apart from the pack, but we like to think the sweet and soft folk — what the boys like to call “beautiful noise” — is the result of chops and solid songwriting. What’s so inviting about the trio’s minimalist sound is not in its barebones approach but rather the total mastery of volume.

You can’t hear a whisper in a crowded room — you have to lean in close to hear the words clearly.

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Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $25-$35. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

AMERICANA NIGHT: W/ Drifters Mile, Barnum Jack, Richie Darling, Sat., Dec. 29, 7 p.m., $5.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

ANDREA GIBSON: Tue., April 9, 8 p.m., $18-$20.

Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

BILLY BARNETT BAND: Thu., Dec. 6, 7 p.m., $5.

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

BLUES SOCIETY IBC FUNDRAISER: Sun., Dec. 9, 4 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

BRAVE COMBO HOLIDAY SHOW: Fri., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., $15. Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

COVEN: NIGHTMARE AFTER X-MAS: W/ DJ Ashes, Fri., Jan. 25, 8 p.m., $5. Red Fish Blue Fish, 7 Hawks Nest Plaza, St Charles, 636-947-4747.

DEAN MINDERMAN: Tue., Dec. 11, 10 p.m., $5.

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

Continued on pg 43

Monobody w/ Holy Posers, Lobby Boxer, Jr. Clooney 7:30 p.m. El Lenador Bar & Grill, 3124 Cherokee Street. $5 to $7. 314-875-9955.

By breaking up bouts of dense postrock with free-wheeling jazz, Monobody further magnifies just how sharp and expertly packed its songs can be. Polyrhythms fold unto infinity, which gives the sound a constant sense of progression while keys and guitar battle in a well-choreographed fight scene. Everything is just so tightly knit with an attention to texture that distracts from the fact that all players are absolutely shredding through the songs — but cocksure solos these are not. Requisite “jamming” is completely absent as every part has its place in the band’s amalgam of melody and scattershot percussion.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9 Looprat w/ Sister Wizzard, Shady Bug, Golden Curls, Drangus 8 p.m. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $10.

314-833-3929.

With five distinctly different acts and small strands of musical DNA connecting each band, this mini-festival binds a jazzy hip-hop infusion with indie and a spectrum of electronic music. It’s a tightly wrapped package ready to be pulled apart before the holiday season, with a sampling of south city’s most buzzworthy bands — whether they’ve been in the spotlight like Looprat or they’re approaching the release of a new full-length record like Shady Bug. Even the flier says “Fun times, cool tunes + friends,” giving the show a sense that this is an event by the musicians and for the musicians.

—Joseph Hess Each week we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the weekend. To submit your show for consideration, visit riverfronttimes. com/stlouis/Events/AddEvent. All events subject to change; check with the venue for the most up-to-date information.

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 42 St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

DONNA MISSAL: Fri., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., $15-$79.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

ELECTRIC SIX: Sun., March 17, 8 p.m., $15.

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

ETHAN LEINWAND & FRIENDS: Tue., Dec. 11, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

GHOST ATLAS: W/ Landon Tewers, Mon., Jan. 28, 7 p.m., $13-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

GOTHS ON WHEELS: W/ DJ Skeletal, DJ Dorian Dolore, Sun., Dec. 16, 6 p.m., $10. St. Louis Skatium, 120 E Catalan St, St. Louis, 314-631-3922.

GRANDSON: Sun., March 10, 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

HAYWYRE: Tue., March 12, 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

HIGH ON FIRE: Sun., Jan. 27, 8 p.m., $22-$25.

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

HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH: W/ Barenaked Ladies, Sat., July 13, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

JASON BOYD: W/ Jake Dowell, Jake Veninga, Tanner Qualls, Thu., Jan. 10, 7 p.m., $8-$10.

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

JASON COOPER BAND: Wed., Dec. 12, 10 p.m., $5.

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

JOE NICHOLS: Thu., Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m., $25.

River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

JOHN MAUS: Tue., Feb. 26, 9 p.m., $20-$23. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

JUDAS PRIEST: W/ Uriah Heep, Mon., June 3, 7:30 p.m., $55.50-$121.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

KILBORN ALLEY BLUES BAND: Fri., Dec. 7, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: Sat., Dec. 8, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE LATE NIGHT SHOW: W/ Spatula, Mammoth Piano, Sat., Dec. 15, 11 p.m., free. Mangia Italiano, 3145 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-664-8585.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

MANDOLIN ORANGE: Tue., April 9, 8 p.m., $20$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MARCHFOURTH: Wed., March 20, 8 p.m., $18.

Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

MATHEW SZLACHETKA BAND: Sat., Dec. 8, 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

MAX FROST: Tue., March 12, 7 p.m., $18-$20.

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

MIPSO: Sat., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., $13-$15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

MUSIC UNLIMITED: Mon., Dec. 10, 8 p.m., $10.

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

NEW MAYANS: W/ Little Cowboy, Le’Ponds, Cherokee Moon, Thu., Dec. 20, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

NEW WAVE MUSIC GROUP: W/ Tigg, DJ Gotti, Fri., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

NIGHT MARKET: Fri., Dec. 7, 6 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

NOVENA: W/ Current Year, the Centaurettes, Wed., Dec. 19, 7 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

PEN15: BOY BAND EXPERIENCE: Thu., Feb. 14, 8 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

PINEGROVE: Sat., March 2, 8 p.m., $20-$24.

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

POETIC JUSTICE OPEN MIC: Sun., Dec. 30, 7 p.m., $5-$40. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

PORTRAIT: THE MUSIC OF KANSAS: Sat., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

RIVERSIDE: Mon., May 20, 8 p.m., $25-$30.

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

ROME HERO FOXES: W/ Sensor Shake, American Basswood, Thu., Jan. 3, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

THE RUEN BROTHERS: Sun., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SARAH BORGES AND THE BROKEN SINGLES: Fri., March 1, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SCRUB & ACE HA AND TONINA: Thu., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., $10. Gaslight Lounge, 4916 Shaw Ave, St. Louis, 314-496-0628.

SHAGGY 2 DOPE: W/ Ouija Macc, Fri., Jan. 11, 8 p.m., $22-$25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SHINE ON: W/ El Monstero, Sun., Dec. 30, 5 p.m., $50-$1,500. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SILENCE THE WITNESS: W/ Wrecklamation, the Nokturnal, Cycle Of Ruin, Toddler Fight Club, Sun., Feb. 10, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

SNARKY PUPPY: Sun., May 19, 7 p.m., $35-$40.

Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

SORRY, SCOUT: W/ Fluorescent, Pirate Signal, Wed., Dec. 26, 8 p.m., $7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SOUTHERN AVENUE: Sat., Feb. 2, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ST. LOUIS BLUES AND SOUL REVUE: W/ Roland Johnson, Papa Ray, Gene Jackson, Eugene Johnson, Sun., Dec. 23, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

ST. LOUIS CHAMBER CHORUS: Sun., Dec. 23, 3 p.m., $10-$40. St. James the Greater Church, 1360 Tamm, St. Louis, 314-647-0167.

SURVIVOR: Fri., July 12, 8 p.m., $35. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

THAT ‘90S JAM 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: W/ DJ Nico, DJ Agile One, James Biko, Fri., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., $7-$13. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE: W/ Nick Gusman, The Red Headed Strangers, Richie Darling, Wed., Jan. 16, 8 p.m., $5. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THE MR. T EXPERIENCE: W/ The Fuck Off & Dies, Horror Section, The Haddonfields, Sat., Jan. 12, 9 p.m., free. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

TORREY CASEY & SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: Thu., Dec. 6, 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

TYLER HILTON: Sun., March 10, 8 p.m., $18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

VIOLENT J: W/ ESHAM, Wed., Jan. 30, 8 p.m., $22-$25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

WAITING FOR FLYNN: W/ Bleach, Thámes, Sat., Dec. 29, 8 p.m., $5. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

WE ARE WARM: W/ Synthetic Sun, The Monolithic, Fri., Dec. 28, 8 p.m., $5. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL: W/ Angel Du$t, Guardin, Mon., March 11, 8 p.m., TBA. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS: W/ Jim and Sam, Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ZHU: Wed., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., $30-$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. n

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SAVAGE LOVE CRINGE AND PURGE

BY DAN SAVAGE I’m a 59-year-old man in good health. For basically my whole adult life, I’ve had this problem during intercourse with a woman of (1) being very quick to come and (2) having a too intense “cringey” sensation when I come. This has led to often going soft at the prospect of intercourse. This too-intense feeling makes me stop moving when I come, which is not satisfying at all.

It doesn’t happen with hand jobs or oral sex—they feel fine and good.

Is this a known phenomenon?

And, most importantly, what can I do to get to a point where I can enjoy intercourse? This seriously messes up my enjoyment of sex and my confidence with women.

One time, and only one time (out of many with a particular girlfriend), I had intercourse and it felt fine when I came, still thrusting, so I know it’s possible. I have been practicing with a Fleshlight, but it’s still painfully “cringey” when I come. It is not fun and rather depressing.

He Always Really Dreads Penetration And Regrets This I shared your letter with Dr. Ashley Winter, a urologist in private practice in Portland, Oregon, and the cohost of The Full Release, a sex, health and relationship podcast. Dr. Winter wanted to note that her comments are a general discussion of a medical topic and NOT individual medical advice.

She wanted me to emphasize this point — which she also emphasizes at the top of her terrific podcast — because Dr. Winter is a responsible doctor and not a card-carrying member of the Amalgamated Advice Columnists of America. (Membership in the AACA entitles advice columnists to say pretty much whatever they want.)

“There are three issues at play here,” said Dr. Winter. “First, the pain or ‘cringey’ sensation only associated with vaginal and Fleshlight penetration. Second, being too quick to come. And third, erectile dysfunction. HARDPART insightfully suggests his ED may be related to his performance anxiety as well as anticipated

pain, and I would agree with this.

I would add that his quick ejaculation is most likely also caused by a mix of ED and pain — the body adapts to pain and erection loss by letting the swimmers off the hook early.”

But why do you experience this pain only during penetrative sex?

What is it about PIV (penis in vagina) or PIF (penis in Fleshlight) that causes those painfully cringey feelings?

“If he thrusts more during these activities than he does during oral or hand stimulation, I would expect that either pelvic floor muscle dysfunction or a nerve issue related to the lower spine could be causing the flares,” said Dr. Winter. “If he were my patient, I would want to know if he has less pain when his partner is on top, which would mean his pelvis is moving less. Also, does he have chronic low back pain? Bowel or bladder issues?”

Dr. Winter and I continued to generally discuss the medical topics raised by your question, HARDPART, and we generally discussed — this is not, again, individual medical advice, but a general discussion — two things someone with your particular issue might want to think about doing. First, a guy with your problem could try taking Viagra — or a related drug — while also using a penis numbing spray. And a guy with your problem should also have his pelvic floor checked out. A urologist can help a guy with a problem like yours determine if there’s something wrong with the complex web of muscles and nerves that crowd together around your junk and, if it is a pelvic floor issue, refer him to a pelvic floor physical therapist.

Finally, a suggestion from me, the person with the AACA card: A guy with a problem like yours — a guy whose dick works a certain way and has worked that way for decades — could save himself the hassle of physical therapy and the side effects of Viagra by accepting his dick and the way his dick works. There are women out there who prefer oral and outercourse to PIV, HARDPART, and you could bed those women with confidence.

Follow Dr. Ashley Winter on Twitter @AshleyGWinter, and check out The Full Release podcast, which she

“I don’t know if it’s a midlife crisis or what, but I’ve decided that I want to get fucked in the ass once in my life.” cohosts with comedian Mo Mandel, at thefullreleasepod.com.

I’m a mostly straight guy in my 40s and I’m married to a woman. I don’t know if it’s a midlife crisis or what, but I’ve decided that I want to get fucked in the ass once in my life. I will be visiting Hamburg soon, and it’s my understanding that sex work is legal in Germany.

I want your help sorting out the legal, ethical and practical issues.

1. Legal issue. Paying for sex in Germany is legal, right? But even if sex work is legal, that doesn’t mean every sex worker is doing it voluntarily. I prefer people closer to my own age, and I imagine a 40-year-old sex worker is less likely to be exploited, right? What else can I do to ensure that I’m not with a trafficked individual?

2. Ethical issue. After many years and many near-divorce situations, my wife and I have adopted a more tolerant (or more apathetic) posture toward each other. She has on several occasions told me that she doesn’t care who I fuck. While I haven’t acted on it, she has said it often enough that I believe her. We’ve talked about an open relationship, but she wasn’t enthusiastic. My best guess is that she doesn’t want to know if I do anything “gay,” while also not wanting me to form any emotional attachments. Do I ask her again if she really doesn’t care who I fuck? Or do her previous statements suffice?

3. Practical issues. Is a condom enough protection? How do I avoid things like herpes and crabs? Other than emptying ye olde bowels, what other steps should I take before asking a male German escort to fuck me in the ass? And how do I ask? Google Translate suggests

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“Fick mich in den Arsch,” which is an unappealing thing to say. Maybe there’s something sexier?

Legal, Ethical And Practical 1. Sex work is, indeed, legal in Germany. You can minimize your chances of hiring someone who may not be doing sex work of their own free will by avoiding agencies and finding yourself an independent escort. But seeing as how you’re looking to hire a male in his 40s, LEAP, your odds of hiring someone doing sex work under duress are very, very low.

2. The wife who lovingly and apathetically tolerates your soonto-be-fucked ass has already told you — and told you more than once — that she doesn’t care who you fuck. She also doesn’t want to know if you fuck someone else.

Asking if she meant it immediately before flying off to Hamburg — double-checking to make sure she really doesn’t care who you fuck — would basically mean telling her you know you’re going to fuck someone else in Hamburg (and fuck them all “gay” and shit), and she’s already told you she doesn’t want to know. Taking her at her word, i.e., allowing her previous statements to suffice, is the right thing to do.

3. A condom offers highly effective protection from HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia. For added protection, LEAP, ask your doctor about getting on PrEP, aka Truvada, before your trip. It’s a daily pill that, once built up to full strength (roughly a week), provides highly effective protection against HIV infection. While condoms do provide some protection against herpes, neither condoms nor PrEP will save you from crabs.

To make sure your one-and-only ass fucking goes well, empty ye olde bowels and then douche ye olde rectum. Since most German escorts, like most German everybodies, speak English, LEAP, there is no need for an English-to-German dictionary. Just say, “Fuck my ass, please.”

On the Lovecast, the Atlantic’s Kate Julian on why the kids aren’t having sex: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org

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HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS SPONSORED CONTENT

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Carnivore is one of St. Louis’ most popular new restaurants and brings something unique to the Hill, a steakhouse. They take pride in their steak, and offer a few different cuts along with delicious house made butter. Whether it was required to be part of the group of restaurants, or they just felt obligated, Carnivore offers some Italian dishes that could compete with anyone in the neighborhood as well.

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