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Sins of the Father Alesia Rivera would have done anything for her dad – but did that include murder? BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

11.

Sins of the Father Alesia Rivera would have done anything for her dad – but did that include murder?

Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI Cover by

DANCHA ALEXANDROVA

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

MUSIC

The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

“Baboon” Slur at SLU

Things got ugly on a group messaging app for Saint Louis University pitchers a year ago. Danny Wicentowski looks into the racist talk only now coming to light

Film

Turkish Delight

Sheesh Restaurant is one of the most charming places to open in St. Louis in recent memory, writes Cheryl Baehr

Aleksandr Sokurov argues in Francophonia that the Louvre is civilization — and Robert Hunt is buying it

Matt Osmoe of Blood and Sand is a bartender with a past

Game Over

Dojo Pizza’s Loren Copp is facing hard time on child porn charges, Doyle Murphy reports

Stage

Paul Friswold ponders the new St. Louis Actors’ Studio production of Ivanov

Side Dish

Top 10 List

The greenest restaurants in St. Louis get their due

Serious Business

Andrew Bird gets personal on his new album, Are You Serious

Healin’ the World

St. Louis Earth Day Festival boasts an impressive local music lineup, Jaime Lees reports

Homespun

Miss Molly Sims: Bottled or Sold

Out Every Night

The best concerts in St. Louis every night of the week

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NEWS

“Baboon” Blast Against Obama Puts SLU on Edge Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

baseball player at Saint Louis University called Obama a “fucking watermelon eatin baboon” in a private group chat — and now, one year later, his teammates’ failure to condemn that racism has landed the club in hot water. And that’s because what happened in response to the comment was nothing. No one replied to suggest the language was inappropriate or upbraid the player. Instead, one player at the Jesuit university quietly took a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to a former student manager, who is black. And now that screenshot has triggered an official complaint to the university — followed by an investigation, calls for the team to be barred from postseason play and, last week, allegations of retaliation against the student manager. The team’s coach, Darin Hendrickson, did not respond to our requests seeking comment Friday. The group chat took place in May 2015 on a trip to Washington, D.C. Members of a pitchers-only chat on the group messaging app GroupMe exchanged a series of messages about grabbing some food. But the thread morphed into a discussion that wouldn’t feel out of place in a minor-league Klan meeting. “The kfc in the White House?” one player joked. Another added, “They got rivers of the grape kind there.” It only got worse. Another message queried, “I heard they got a colored running the country.. This Tru?” The response: “Unfortunately... It is.” That was followed by, “Fucking watermelon eatin baboon.” One pitcher took a screenshot

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and texted it to his roommate, senior Brenden Twomey. Twomey had recently decided to leave his position with the team. He wasn’t all that surprised. “I had an opportunity to be around these players and was able to see the culture that was present in the baseball organization,” says Twomey. “I think him sending the screenshot to me was kind of a reassurance of, look at them, they’re back at it again.” Nearly a year passed, however, before Twomey acted to expose that culture. On April 4, his girlfriend filed a formal bias incident report with the university. She also included an unredacted version of the screenshot. Last week, the screenshot went public. A redacted version was posted to Facebook by the incoming

president of SLU’s Black Student Alliance, Jonathan Pulphus. “What kind of value-driven campus is this where people think they can represent the university and spew this awful hatred?” Pulphus wrote. Two days later, Twomey says he awoke to discover his roommate had sloshed chewing tobacco spit on the floor outside his bedroom door, as well as the kitchen sink. Fingernail clippings had been prominently placed on the towel Twomey uses to clean his glasses. (In a Wednesday Facebook post from Pulphus, Twomey’s roommate was identified as SLU pitcher Brett Shimanovsky — in fact, Shimanovsky appears to be the very player/roommate who earlier provided Twomey with a screenshot of the racist chat thread.

Twomey declined to answer questions about his roommate’s identity, but says the roommate has since voluntarily moved out. Shimanovsky did not respond to a message seeking comment.) Twomey documented the mess on video, concluding, “I consider this retaliation for filing a bias incident report.” The SLU student newspaper, University News, reported last week that an investigation into the original group-messaging incident was closed on April 7. Since the offensive messages had been sent within a private group chat, rather than directed at one person, Dr. Mona Hicks, associate vice president and dean of students, said that the school could not punish the students. (The student newspaper’s report Continued on pg 9

For Dojo Pizza, the Jig Is Up

ojo Pizza owner Loren Copp hoarded photos of underage, naked girls in hardcore sex scenes — at least some of which he filmed himself, authorities say. The 47-year-old former pastor was indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of making and possessing child pornography. Prosecutors claim Copp photographed or videotaped five girls during a six-year span that ended in October when law enforcement officers raided the former Bevo Mill church where he taught karate, operated a pizzeria and took in a handful of teens whose parents were in jail, addicted to drugs or just couldn’t take care of them. The four-count indictment bumps up the number of victims from the single “Jane Doe” listed in the complaint when Copp was arrested on April 7. Investigators recovered the disturbing images from a pair of Hitachi hard drives following raids in October and November, authorities say. The pictures included a shot of a prepubescent girl bound with rope and a collage of photos of a girl wearing a spiked collar and crying as she engaged in a variety of sex acts with a grown man, according to the indictment. The court records didn’t specify whether the bound girl

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Loren Copp once protested his innocence. Now he’s looking at hard time. | STEVE TRUESDELL or the girl in the collage were one of the Jane Does. Copp was the subject of a Riverfront Times cover story in December. In interviews, he had claimed the law enforcement investigation — originally described in a search warrant affidavit as an inquiry into labor trafficking — was the result of a biased cop and a bitter feud with a woman who had been forced to leave Dojo Pizza. The city shut down his building in October for a series of code violations, including allegations he was running an illegal rooming house. Copp insisted there was no rooming house — just a home he shared with two teens whom he called his

“daughters” and two others he was helping out. He has maintained his innocence in the months since. He held a community meeting in February to dispute allegations of trafficking and abuse, and he has frequently turned to Facebook to rail against what he claimed was a serious injustice. On April 5, less than 48 hours before he was arrested, he posted a long message, describing the good he could have been doing if it weren’t for the investigation. “These people can say, do, make me into what ever they want but at the end of day I will go to my maker knowing I was doing right,” he wrote. — Doyle Murphy

SLU RACISM Continued from pg 8

Now Open! Free admission

This screenshot shows the offensive group chat, with the players’ names redacted. was written by SLU senior Emily Higginbotham, who is also an intern with the RFT this semester.) “If I were to directly state to you, ‘You suck because of all of your social identities that God gave you,’ that would be wrong. That would require some adjudication,” Hicks told University News. “We also need to respect laws. This was a private conversation, or at least the perception of private between in-group parties.” And so instead of disciplinary action, the baseball team has held meetings with school administrators and has “begun a process of addressing bias, biased language and biased incidents within the baseball team,” says Dr. Jonathan Smith, who wields the lengthy title of special assistant to the president for diversity and community engagement. The players’ messages ran counter to the “fundamental premise” of what the Jesuit institution stands for, Smith tells RFT. “Statements that are racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic are statements that absolutely do not reflect our values or our mission.” Although the team hasn’t released a formal statement, the team’s four captains issued an apology of their own. “We, too, are frustrated, and we feel that the comments do not accurately reflect the values that we hold. In light of the incident, the SLU baseball program and athletic department are working to

actively address and thwart any action that threatens our inclusive community,” said the letter, which was signed by students Michael Bozarth, Josh Bunselmeyer, Matt Eckelman and Braxton Martinez. Twomey is frustrated by the lack of action on the part of the school. He considers the captains’ letter — which was sent only to the school newspaper, and not to him or other offended students — an insult. He believes the team should be punished by having to forego the conference tournament. However, Twomey says the team’s head coach, Darin Hendrickson, called him last week to discuss the incident. “He said he was aware there was a culture problem on the baseball team, a culture problem of entitlement, privilege and immaturity. He also said it was one of his biggest regrets that he hadn’t recruited more diverse players.” Adds Twomey, “There are racial issues in the SLU community that need to be confronted.” In 2014, after protesters occupied part of the campus, the university agreed to promote diversity and increase resources for black students in an agreement called the Clock Tower Accords. “It started a dialogue and frankly it needs to be continued,” Twomey says. “Hopefully,” he adds, “this issue will light a fire under the university and get them to really dedicate themselves to the SLU mission of n diversity and inclusion.”

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Sins of the Father Alesia Rivera would have done anything for her dad. But did that include murder?

hen Alesia Rivera was 22 years old, the man she thought was her father showed up drunk at her house, took her aside, and slurred the words that would change her life. He said she was old enough to know the truth about where she came from. He told her to talk to her mother. When she did, Rivera discovered the identity of her true biological father — Doyle Brant. It made a lot of sense. Born in 1969, she had grown up hearing jokes at the skating rink about how she and the Brant kids could pass for siblings. The fact that Brant was among the richest and most privileged citizens in Buchanan County made the revelation all the more dramatic. She was living a fairy tale. Rivera tried reaching out, of course. But when Brant answered the phone, he told her to never call again. Brant had been separated when he got involved with Rivera’s mother, and after her birth, he’d returned to his wife. He had made an agreement with Rivera’s mother to cut all contact, for the good of his marriage, he explained. And then he hung up.

But that wasn’t the end. Soon after, Brant’s wife died. He arranged a meeting with Rivera and, in another storybook turn, they reunited the two sides of their families. Even after Brant remarried, he still made time to attend events and holidays. Brant took Rivera to lunch and to horse races. After two years, he got divorced and found another wife. Something changed. The fairytale ended. “We waited one year for him to come to Christmas and he never showed up,” Rivera says. “He never came back.” Two decades passed. In February 2013, Brant’s life collapsed. A felony complaint filed by the Buchanan County prosecutor alleged that the multi-millionaire had sexually abused a fourteen-year-old girl in 2006. In the probable cause statement, an officer noted that Brant had demonstrated a “history of continuing harassing behavior” against the now 21-year-old woman, “calling, texting and arriving at the same locations after crime victim has attempted to break all contact with suspect.” Brant, then 69, was charged with second-degree statutory sodomy. A conviction could put him prison for up to four years.

BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

And that was just one count. Prosecutors eventually added three counts of statutory rape and another for statutory sodomy. News of Brant’s arrest landed like a bomb in Buchanan County, setting in motion events that ultimately cost the trucking mogul not only his freedom, but his marriage and wealth as well. Brant’s family turned on him, Rivera says. His wife took everything in the divorce, leaving him with a dwindling sum to be devoured by lawyers’ fees. She remembers feeling outraged. “For all their lives they’d been pampered, well taken care of, and now they just walked away? Everything that that man had done for them kids, and for them to just walk away because he’s looking at a rape charge that nobody knows for sure if he’s guilty or not guilty?” But if Brant’s wife and the kids abandoned him, Rivera did not. Soon after his arrest, they reunited in the Buchanan County Jail visitation room. She returned to visit week after week, and she talked to him constantly on the phone while he cooled his heels waiting for trial. She wanted to be there for him, to be a good daughter. It turned out to be the biggest mistake of her life. Continued on pg 12

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SINS OF THE FATHER Continued from pg 11

oyle Brant and Sue Rivera both married young, and both went through early rough patches with their respective spouses. While separated, Brant fathered two daughters with Sue. Alesia was the younger of the two. Brant eventually went back to his wife. Sue Rivera opted for divorce, and then became Sue Lieffring. She married a trucker, a good-hearted man who knowingly raised Alesia and her sister as his own. Over the years, Brant’s trucking and freight operations filled his bank accounts and made him rich. He bought vacation homes in Missouri and Florida. Like her mother, Rivera dropped out of high school before senior year. She started using meth in her late twenties, a habit she would maintain for some twenty years as a functional addict. She spent nearly a decade working for the Missouri Department of Transportation, plowing snow and painting roads. After leaving MoDOT in 2002, she bounced from job to job, finally settling for a bartending gig at the pub her mother owned. She never stopped thinking about Brant. Over the six months that Brant was in jail awaiting trial, he and Rivera forged a new relationship. They met every weekend at the prison. He called her four or five times a day. They were like father and daughter again. Along with phone banks, the Buchanan County Jail was outfitted with webcams for offenders to talk face-to-face with family members. Rivera and Brant’s video chats would regularly feature other inmates peeking into the frame, waving hello or seeking favors. One such inmate was Jeremy Smith. A career meth dealer, Smith was serving six months on a sexual misconduct charge. Smith didn’t know how to get a webcam set up himself, and he asked Rivera for help. On September 4, 2013, Rivera invited Smith’s longtime girlfriend to her house to use the webcam. Smith’s two young children came, too. “I showed her how to set up the account. I played with his kids and gave them popsicles,” Rivera says. She remembers stepping out of the room to give Smith and his family their space. The tears come flowing down her cheeks. “I felt sorry for them.” On a recent weekday visit, Rivera

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“Everything that that man had done for them kids, and for them to just walk away because he’s looking at a rape charge?”

Above: Alesia Rivera, 47, has spent more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to a murderfor-hire plot. She claims her plea was coerced. Below: Doyle Brant, 72, had no interest in raising Rivera, his illegitimate child. Their reunion in 2013 would be brief and tragic. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

sits in a blue plastic chair inside an otherwise empty visitation room in the Chillicothe Correctional Center. She has spent the last twoand-a-half years in prison. Her skin has shed its former tan. Her face has filled in somewhat from the meth-induced gauntness evident in her arrest mugshot; her strawberry blonde hair is now white as bone. For the first time in two decades, she’s sober. She says she spends a lot of time crying. It was two days after she met Jeremy Smith’s kids that she first met Smith himself, she recalls. When a muscular stranger knocked on her front door that Friday, at first he looked only vaguely familiar. Then she realized he was the guy who’d been on the jail webcam, the guy whose girlfriend and kids she’d

just helped. “Hey, trouble!” he said. “How did you get out?” she asked. “I got out earlier today,” he said, laughing at Rivera’s open astonishment. “I finally bonded out this afternoon.” Rivera turned to her mother. “You know what he got arrested for? He was peeing in the back of his truck and a lady had walked by and accidentally caught him peeing. And they pressed charges on him.” “Exposing the male genitalia,” Smith said dryly. “Can you believe that?” Rivera said. “And they gave him six months.” This wasn’t completely true, although in her defense Rivera was simply parroting what she’d heard from Smith’s girlfriend that

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Wednesday. But that was just a little white lie compared to the lies that underpinned Smith’s visit on September 6. As it turns out, Smith had never made bond. He was not “out.” Under Smith’s shirt, a small black recorder tugged at the layers of adhesive tape clenching the device to his waist. A wire ran up his ribs to his armpit. He was drenched in sweat. Outside the house, a detective sat behind the wheel of a truck, waiting. Smith and Rivera’s conversation comes from an audio file later submitted to the court as evidence of their conspiracy. “Hey,” Smith interjected. He’d been grousing about being ordered to register as a sex offender, and that had sent Continued on pg 14

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SINS OF THE FATHER Continued from pg 13 Rivera off on a tangent. “Did Doyle tell you why I’d be getting ahold of you, what’s going on?” Rivera said she didn’t know. “He’s sending you some money? Did he tell you about that?” Again, Rivera answered in the negative. She sounded incredulous. “Why is he doing that?” Brant was going to send her $5,000, Smith explained. “Four of it’s for you. A thousand of it’s for me,” he said. “The thousand’s going to my mom.” Rivera told Smith she didn’t want any of Brant’s money — and she added that she’d said the same thing only two days before. She’d gotten a call from a secretary at the law firm representing Brant, following up on their client’s instructions to send Rivera several thousand dollars. She told them she didn’t want the money. Now, Smith was insisting that the funds were still coming Rivera’s way. “Either tomorrow or Monday, at the latest Tuesday, you’re supposed to have five grand,” Smith said. “Four of it’s for you to pack away, he said for you, and … then a thousand of it is to take to help him on his other deal.” That was as specific as anything got. If Rivera noticed that Smith had changed the purpose of the extra thousand — Brant’s “other deal” replacing the plan to give the cash to Smith’s mom — she didn’t react to it. They chatted for another fifteen minutes, and then Smith told her he had to leave. Rivera made him promise to have his girlfriend call her, because she wanted to hear the reaction to Smith’s surprise return. Rivera would never get the chance to talk to her. But she would see Jeremy Smith one more time, three days later, right before her arrest for conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.

n late 2012, while Jeremy Smith was running a small-time meth operation to support his own habit, he was charged with sexual misconduct. A felony complaint accused Smith of posing nude while a fourteen-year-old girl sat in his lap wearing only a bra and underwear. To this day, he maintains his innocence. (Smith offers a lengthy explanation for the circumstances leading to the criminal charge, but it’s impossible to describe without exposing the identity of the alleged

victim. Basically, Smith’s story boils down to: The girl lied.) Smith was no stranger to Buchanan County police. His rap sheet included a 2002 conviction for drug manufacturing and a 2007 guilty plea for misdemeanor domestic assault. But he thought he had a good case on sexual misconduct charge and fought it in court. A jury found him guilty. In late August 2013 Smith began serving his six-month sentence in the Buchanan County Jail. On his first day, he remembers sitting on the edge of his bunk, praying for a sign from God, when he looked to his cell doorway and saw an old man with weathered brown skin. It was Doyle Brant. For about a week, Brant and Smith shared a wing, or “day room,” in the Buchanan County Jail. In the outside world, Brant wouldn’t have given Smith the time of day, but behind bars, the formerly respectable businessman and unrepentant drug dealer bonded over their shared anger at conniving young girls. According to probable cause documents, Brant tried to hire Smith to murder the victim in his own statutory rape case — since the victim was also the prosecution’s key witness, the case against Brant would conceivably fall apart with her death. Brant offered Smith $2,000 for the job. Instead, Smith went right to the Buchanan County police. It was the detectives who ended up broadening the case to include Brant’s daughter, Rivera. They thought she had to be in on it. After all, not only was Brant instructing Smith to get the payment from her, but Brant had been talking with Rivera continuously for months. After combing through hours of recorded video chats, detectives noted that, during a previous session, Rivera had written the victim’s name on a piece of paper and held it up to the camera. She asked Brant if she had spelled it correctly. Buchanan County investigators were suspicious of Rivera’s contact with Brant, as well as her apparent interest in his victim. After obtaining recorded conversations between Smith and Brant, they commissioned their snitch to approach Rivera, too. Ironically, Smith says he first said yes to Brant’s murder plot in part because he was so grateful that Rivera had helped set up the webcam so he could see his kids. “That night, I agreed to do the murder, just for what he’d done. That was a lot for me, just to see my

kids for a minute,” he says. “There was also an anger coming out inside of me, it was like, I will be happy to take another little lying kid out of this world who wants to cause people trouble.” But Smith says he quickly came to his senses. And in any event, he was cooperating with the cops within just a few days of his girlfriend’s visit with Rivera — and trying to help them trap the woman who’d assisted his family.

t the behest of investigators, Smith was deployed twice into Rivera’s home while wearing a wire, the first time on September 6. The recording of that visit, however, contains scant evidence of Rivera’s nefarious intent. The 27-minute audio clip features Rivera repeatedly rejecting Smith’s offers of Brant’s money. She also never reacts to Smith’s oblique references to the “business” he was handling for Brant. The words “kill” or “murder” are never mentioned. Jeremy Smith, 40, says Doyle Brant offered him $2,000 to commit murder. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI At one point on the tape, Smith can be heard telling Rivera, “I think financially he’s setting it up, you’re Smith was instructed to go back. On cally instructed him not lead her going to be well off.” September 9, a deputy transported on with details of the murder. Now, “Why?” Rivera responds. “I don’t Smith from a holding cell to a park- they were pressuring him to do just want that. I just want him to be a ing lot near Rivera’s home. There, that. dad. I just want him to be my friend, Smith met with detectives to go over The detectives dropped him off to see my kids, grandkids.” some details. outside Rivera’s house. He banged But that September 6 tape also But before departing, a detective on her door until she answered. revealed Rivera’s anger at Brant’s handed Smith a phone. On the other Rivera came to the door wearing victim, whom the RFT is identifying end was a furious juvenile officer. pajamas. Despite it being the late afonly as C.H., which are not her ini- She asked Smith to explain why his ternoon, she’d been asleep for more tials. Rivera believed C.H. had been baby girl had just tested positive than ten hours. She was coming a willing participant in a relation- for meth. down from a three-day meth binge. ship with Brant for years. According to court documents, This time, Smith spelled out exRivera vented to Smith that Fri- Smith’s two children had been taken actly what Brant had asked him to day, at times using harshly vulgar into protective custody the day be- do. This tape, only about five minlanguage. At others, Rivera’s state- fore, after tests found methamphet- utes in length, seems to begin in the ments veered into darker territory. amine, amphetamine, ketone and middle of a conversation. “God,” Rivera told Smith later acetone in the nine-month-old girl. The first voice on the tape is Riin the tape, “I wish fucking [C.H] The child’s mother — who just days vera’s. would have her fucking life fucking before had been happily chatting “Is it, is it bad on her? Or is it just handed to her on a fucking…” (On with Smith over a webcam from a threat?” the tape, the end of Rivera’s sen- Rivera’s living room — told the offiThe sound of a TV show plays in tence is garbled. The audio file was cers she didn’t know how the infant the background. acquired by Rivera’s family from had ingested the drugs. Smith replies, “Well, disappearher former attorney. It was then Hearing the news, Smith flew ing. To kill her.” provided to RFT.) into a rage. He says the detective Rivera doesn’t respond immediThe detectives had provided tried to calm him down, promising ately. Four seconds pass. Smith a physical photo of C.H., that he’d be allowed to call the chil“I think it’s all a setup anyway,” printed from her Facebook account. dren’s mother — just as soon as he she says, and launches into a theory Smith had been instructed to show finished up with Rivera. about how C.H and Brant’s ex-wife Rivera the picture. “They say ‘listen, let’s finish this must have cooperated to separate “That’s this one, isn’t it? Is that deal, go in there, let’s get this done Brant from his money. her?” Smith asked Rivera, holding and we’ll get you on the phone with “Once she’s dead,” Smith continup the picture. the old lady,’” Smith recalls. “They ues, “then he should be good to go. “Yeah,” Rivera snapped. “Fucking knew I’d be furious, that I’d hurry But like I told him, I said, I wanted nasty cunt.” up and go in there and say, ‘Hey I half of it upfront. And I told him as The conversation provided need to kill this fucking bitch.’ And soon as I got out, I would be focused plenty of evidence that Rivera that’s exactly how it went down.” on nothing but that.” didn’t like her father’s victim, but It didn’t make any sense, says The recording is unclear at many it hardly seemed to show evidence Smith. Before his first meeting with points, but it includes a few stateof a murder plot. And so, days later, Rivera, the detectives had specifi- ments that, seen in the wrong light, riverfronttimes.com

might have convinced the cops that Rivera was in on the plot. Smith’s wire picked up Rivera asking him if he “had the right one,” which they took to mean the correct target. They also talked about C.H.’s job and boyfriend. For Rivera, the nail in the coffin came when she assured Smith she would get him a payment. “I’ll get it all; I’ll get money then,” she said. Less than a minute later, Rivera asked Smith if he needed a “different vehicle” for the job, and offered to lend him a pickup truck. “I just need the money,” Smith answered. The tape ends before Smith says goodbye. There would be no evidence of any money changing hands, no directive from Rivera to Smith, no mention of any prior planning on the part of Rivera and Brant. If the audio on the first visit is vague, the second is downright confusing. But it was enough for the Buchanan County Police. Smith left Rivera’s home and was immediately driven by a detective to another staging area several blocks away. Fifteen minutes later, Rivera was arrested on charges of a conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.

hanks to the new murder-forhire charges, Brant was facing a total of six felony counts spanning two heinous crimes. Rivera was accused of helping a rapist engineer his victim’s death. The fairy tale had become a grotesque horror story. News of the father-daughter murder plot moved in waves across Missouri, a perfect tabloid package of salacious crime and family drama. An anchor for the local Fox affiliate gravely informed viewers that “an online video chat between a jailed inmate and his daughter helped police in St. Joseph foil an alleged murder-for-hire plot,” before cutting to clips of reactions from Rivera’s neighbors. Rivera’s immediate family was shocked. Her daughter Jessica Skeen was 25 at the time and eight months pregnant. She remembers asking her mother in a call from jail why she’d been arrested, if it was true that she was involved in some crazy murder scheme with Brant. Rivera didn’t have an answer; she just cried. “They took that little bit of her opening her fucking mouth, like she always does, and they ran with it. They really did,” Skeen says. She occupies the Continued on pg 16

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SINS OF THE FATHER Continued from pg 15 corner of the dining room table in her grandmother’s home. “Doyle had a big enough name in this town,” offers Rivera’s mother, Sue Lieffring. She still talks to Brant every now and then, despite the fact that he left her to raise the two children he fathered. “They wanted him, and to take him down they didn’t care who they took with him.” Although Lieffring had agreed to raise her kids without help from Brant those many years ago, she broke that agreement after Rivera’s arrest. A widow, Lieffring didn’t have the means to pay for her daughter’s defense. She called Brant’s Kansas City attorney. “I told the lawyer, you speak to Mr. Brant and you tell him that he’s never paid a dime for this child, and now he can pay for her attorney. And he did.” They hired James Nadolski, a criminal defense attorney with nearly three decades of experience. Skeen acted as her mother’s chaperone and mediator, attending meetings between Nadolski and an increasingly impatient Rivera. When he came on the case, Nadolski seemed confident that the charge would never stand, Skeen says. He would take it to trial. And really, what had Rivera actually done? Nothing but talk. Nadolski soon changed his tune. On October 16, Nadolski, Skeen and Rivera convened in a conference room inside the Buchanan County prosecuting attorney’s office. There, they listened to tapes of Rivera and Smith. This was the first time Rivera was able to hear her own voice calling C.H. a nasty cunt and promising to bring Smith his money. The stress was too much for her. She broke down and asked to leave. She was escorted in leg shackles across the street to the Buchanan County Jail. That night, Rivera called her daughter. Skeen said that the county prosecuting attorney, Dwight Scroggins, had approached her and Nadolski after the meeting. (Scroggins declined to discuss the case on the record, citing Rivera’s attempts at appeal.) Scroggins laid out the options: Rivera could plead guilty and take a deal, or go to trial and face a class-A felony carrying a potential sentence of 25 years to life. “He said he didn’t believe my mom is a bad person, but unfortunately she was in this position,” 16

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Alesia Rivera’s family members say her lawyer guaranteed a short prison stay — but only if she would plead guilty. (From right to left: Jessica Skeen, Rivera’s daughter; Sue Lieffring, her mother; Gary Grable, her fiancé.) | DANNY WICENTOWSKI recalls Skeen. “He told me that, ‘As a family, we should make a smart decision.’” The “smart decision” that Nadolski eventually presented, says Skeen, was a plea agreement for seven years in prison. With her family’s support, Rivera decided to take the deal. Skeen and Lieffring say Nadolski promised Rivera that she’d be paroled after 18 to 24 months. But when Rivera went before the parole board soon after her sentencing, those promises evaporated. Rivera’s family says that Nadolski assured them repeatedly that Rivera would be sentenced as a non-violent offender, making her eligible for parole after serving onethird of her sentence. She had never been charged with so much as a misdemeanor before her arrest in this case; it must have seemed like a good bet. Instead, the parole board deemed Rivera a violent offender. She must serve at least 40 percent of her sentence before she’s eligible for consideration. Instead of 18 to 24 months, Rivera would likely spend the next four to five years behind bars.

am Henderson is still confounded by Rivera’s guilty plea. An attorney with the St. Louis-based Arch City Defenders, Henderson took Rivera’s case in 2014 and is now helming her appeal. “It’s an uphill battle to get these kinds of cases overturned, but innocent people do plead guilty,” he says. He adds, “Especially if they’re facing pressure of 25 years, and if

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someone makes a promise that you’ll get out quicker.” That, he believes, is what happened with Rivera. And he believes there’s plenty of evidence that she never was consciously a part of any murder plot — evidence from her very own plea hearing. The process of pleading guilty, after all, encompasses more than the words “I did it.” The facts of the case must be established, as well as intent, and it’s the judge’s responsibility to determine whether the accused is actually admitting to guilt or trying to play the system. That didn’t happen for Rivera, says Henderson. “It seemed like everyone in that room except Alesia was pushing for that guilty plea,” he says. “There must be an agreement between the parties to commit murder, and she said, ‘I never had an agreement, I never intended to do this.’ That should have been the part where the judge said, ‘I can’t accept your plea.’” Indeed, the hearing transcript from October 2013 is telling. When it came time for Rivera to admit her role in the conspiracy to murder C.H., she fumbled again and again. From the bench, Judge Weldon Judah directed a series of questions at Rivera, with the purpose of laying the factual basis for the guilty plea. He wanted to hear Rivera admit to the crime. The first: “Did you and Mr. Brant discuss him making arrangements with another person to do some harm to or kill the person who was named as an alleged victim in the charge that’s filed against Mr. Brant?”

Rivera answered, “No, sir.” Judah tried again, and this time walked her through the basic details of the case. Did she know Jeremy Smith? (“Yes, sir.”) Did she know of Brant’s alleged victim, C.H.? (“Yes, sir.”) Judah asked, “Did you agree with Jeremy Smith and Doyle Brant that one or more of them would arrange for the murder of” C.H.? “Yes,” Rivera said. Now they were getting somewhere. Judah advised her that she was under oath. He repeated the question. “Did you agree with Jeremy Smith and Doyle Brant that one or more of them would arrange for the murder of” C.H.? This time, Rivera answered, “No, sir.” Judah went back to pressing her on the basics. Did Brant ever request that she help make arrangements to murder C.H.? “No, sir.” Rivera said. In a transcript of the hearing, Judah sounds somewhat harried — not only by Rivera’s conflicting responses, but by his inability to follow the chronology of the various phone calls, video chats and recorded conversations at play. At one point Judah huffed, “I don’t know what we’re talking about.” The judge ended up letting Nadolski explain the details of the recorded conversations. “Ms. Rivera,” Judah said, finally returning his attention to the woman in leg shackles at the witness stand. “When Mr. Smith came down to your residence the second time, was there further talk about money?” Rivera said yes. “Did you come to understand during your conversation with him that he was going to take this $1,000 and himself or with someone else make arrangements to kill” C.H.? Another yes. “Did you agree to assist in that by way of getting money to him or by way of giving him a car or anything else?” A third yes. For Judah, this was enough factual basis. “To the charge that you committed the felony of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, how is it you wish to plead, guilty or not guilty?” Rivera responded, “Guilty.” Henderson says he’s identified other problems with Rivera’s plea. Nadolski never contacted Smith or investigated the circumstances behind his cooperation with police. He never interviewed Brant.

In addition to any unethical promises of a shorter prison sentence, Rivera’s appeal hinges on proving Nadolski provided insufficient legal counsel. So far, her appeals have been roundly rejected. Her last hope is to convince the Missouri Supreme Court to hear the case. “Mr. Nadolski failed to represent her interest or advocate her cause,” Henderson argued in a motion to the court filed last week. “Mr. Nadolski failed to contact Mr. Smith after Ms. Rivera repeatedly requested that Mr. Nadolski put Mr. Smith on the stand. Further, Mr. Nadolski failed to investigate defenses after Ms. Rivera inquired into entrapment. Mr. Nadolski focused more on entering the guilty plea even after Ms. Rivera repeatedly asserted her innocence.” (Citing the active appeal and allegations of professional misconduct against him, Nadolski declined to discuss Rivera’s case on the record.) In his own defense, Nadolski testified in May 2015 before the same judge who accepted Rivera’s guilty plea. He rejected Rivera’s claims that he’d pressured her into pleading guilty. “I mean, the best evidence was the tape, to me. You just had to listen to the tape and you realize that she made at least four or five commitments of things she was going to do, get the money, provide a car,” he said. “Once we listened to the tapes, at an early stage, Ms. Rivera’s wishes to me were for me to investigate a plea agreement. And so I tried to get that expedited as quick as I could.”

n November 2013, two months after his daughter’s high-profile arrest, Brant himself pleaded guilty to all six felony charges he was facing — three counts statutory rape, two counts statutory sodomy and one count for conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. A judge sentenced him to 38 years in prison. Brant says he was worth $2.3 million before his arrest. But at the Crossroads Correctional Facility in Cameron, the only numbers that matter are those of his court dates and his Department of Corrections-issued ID sequence. By now, he’s virtually broke. His public defender is appealing his conviction for the same reason as Rivera — insufficient legal counsel. Brant is hoping a judge will overturn his guilty pleas. He knows it’s a long shot. He keeps busy by attending religious classes and assisting elderly inmates in the prison’s in-

tensive care wing. In all likelihood, this is where Brant will spend his final time on Earth. Smith is a liar, Brant says. He alleges that Smith was among a halfdozen cellmates who approached him, and all thought they could offer him a “solution” to his problem, if only he would pay their bonds. Brant hasn’t listened through all the taped recordings, but he flatly denies that his remarks to Smith were part of any real plan to kill his victim. “He did all this stuff to get out three months early,” Brant says of Smith. And despite Brant’s protests, Smith got Rivera involved the tangled web of jailhouse lies. “I feel responsibility for her,” Brant says. “She didn’t have a damn thing to do with it.” That’s the one thing Brant and Smith agree about: “I hate that she’s in there. It eats at me every day,” Smith says. Asked if he’d have anything to say to Brant, Smith laughs and says, “I’d tell him — you don’t trust motherfuckers in jail.”

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or Alesia Rivera, the story never makes any more sense, no matter how many times she retells it. As she talks, she crushes a wad of tissue in both hands. “Supposably they had enough on me, so why would they have to send a snitch in my home? I never handed him money, I never handed him car keys, I didn’t ask him to come to my house to collect money or for him to go kill this girl.” Rivera’s had a long time to think about those meetings with Smith. She claims that she wasn’t in her right mind during the second visit on Monday, that she was bleary from a weekend of partying and meth use. But she acknowledges that she used a “poor judgment of words” when she told Smith she’d get his money. She accepts that. She hasn’t spoken to Brant, her alleged co-conspirator, since the quick September 6 phone call after Smith’s first visit. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever be allowed to see or speak to him again. She knows that he will probably die in prison. “At first I hated him,” Rivera sobs. “I thought, why? Why did you do this to me? I was the only one there for you, and you’ve taken me from my family. Why? But then I realized he didn’t do this. The Buchanan police department created this crime.” Her voice steadies. “They created it,” she says. “I just got arrested for it.” n

Joe Pug

April 27 at 8 p.m.

Presented in partnership with KDHX. Sponsored by the Engelhardt Family Foundation.

Cyrus Chestnut African Reflections

May 7 at 8 p.m.

Welcomed by WSIE 88.7 The Jazz Station.

Call MetroTix at 314.534.1111 or visit THESHELDON.ORG Visit the Sheldon Art Galleries one hour before each concert!

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6pm to 8pm FREE Museum’s Front Lawn

TWILIGHT

Lindell & DeBaliviere in Forest Park

TUESDAYS

mohistory.org

Tuesday, April 26—Infrared Rockers (reggae) Tuesday, May 3—Marquise Knox (blues) Tuesday, May 10—Dr. Zhivegas (rock and party)

N AMERECONCERT SERIES

SPRING 2016

Tuesday, May 17—Anita Jackson (jazz) Tuesday, May 24 A Tribute to Babyface by the Gerald Warren Unit featuring Will Robinson (rhythm and blues)

MISSOURI HISTORY MUSEUM

Tuesday, May 31—Dirty Muggs (funk)

Featuring STL’s best food trucks! No barbecue grills, tents, large umbrellas, or unauthorized solicitation In the event of inclement weather, call (800) 916-8212 after 3pm, or listen to iHeartMedia radio stations.

TICKETS START AT $25!

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2015/16 PRESENTING SPONSOR

SEASON FINALE Friday, April 29, 8:00pm

STORYTELLING David Robertson, conductor Celeste Golden Boyer, violin

BERNSTEIN Candide Overture PONCHIELLI Dance of the Hours VITALI Chaconne HUMPERDINCK Hansel and Gretel Prelude DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice FREUND Cyrillic Dreams WAGNER Ride of the Valkyries WHITAKER FOUNDATION MEDIA SUPPORT PROVIDED BY RIVERFRONT TIMES AND KLOU PRESENTED BY THE

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Saturday, April 30, 8:00pm Sunday, May 1, 3:00pm

BEER & PRETZEL CONCERTS: SCHUBERT “GREAT” David Robertson, conductor Shannon Wood, timpani

KRAFT Timpani Concerto No. 2, “The Grand Encounter” SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9, “The Great” PRESENTED BY THE

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Friday, May 6, 8:00pm Saturday, May 7, 8:00pm Sunday, May 8, 3:00pm

THE PLANETS David Robertson, conductor Christine Brewer, soprano Kathleen Mattis, viola St. Louis Symphony Chorus Amy Kaiser, director

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Flos campi (Flower of the Field) BERG Altenberg Lieder HOLST The Planets PRESENTED BY

AND

CALENDAR

WEEK OF APRIL 20-26

THURSDAY 0421 Dining Out For Life You’re probably going to eat something at some point today, so why not do something so that it benefits someone other than yourself? Dining Out for Life is today, and more than 100 restaurants take part in the fundraiser for Saint Louis Effort for AIDS. All you have to do is pick a place to eat from the list and order. Each participating restaurant donates 25 to 100 percent of its proceeds to the AIDS-focused nonprofit. The full list of eateries and each one’s level of participation is at www.diningoutforlife.com/ stlouis — it’s a long one, too. Handle Bar, Scottish Arms, Planter’s House — they’re all on the list for lunch or dinner (or both). Hartford Coffee Company and Kopperman’s both cover all three meals.

FRIDAY 0422 The Quay Bros in 35mm Stephen and Timothy Quay — better known as the Brothers Quay — create some of the most imaginative and unsettling films ever seen. Their stop-motion animated films are shot with looming shadows and unidentifiable sounds that enhance the otherworldliness of their partially-disassembled puppet actors. Director Christopher Nolan was so inspired by their work, he’s curated a touring package of three of their films. The Quay Brothers in 35mm includes “In Absentia,” “The Comb” and their brilliant “Street of Crocodiles,” which is based on Bruno Schulz’s short story of the same title. Nolan’s own short film “Quay,” which takes you into the brothers’ studio, rounds out the program. The Quay Brothers in 35mm is screened at 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday (April 22 to 24) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; 314-968-7487 or www.webster.edu/film-series). Tickets are $4 to $6.

The Ozarks version of As You Like It returns to Shake 38 on Friday. | JOEY RUMPELL

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

As You Like It Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble brings back its delightful adaptation of As You Like It for the Shake 38 Festival, and you should see it. This version of the comedy is set in the Ozarks during the 1929 farm buyouts. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy for safety and heads out to the forest with her friend, Celia. She meets the handsome Orlando, a displaced farmer, and feels an immediate attraction to him. Orlando feels something too, but is puzzled because he’s not normally attracted to men. Don’t worry, they work it out — and along the way Rosalind learns to love country life, with its handsome farmers and all-

night dance parties, courtesy of local band the Foggy Memory Boys. This bucolic, bluegrass version of As You Like It is performed at 9 p.m. at Urban Chestnut’s Midtown location (3229 Washington Avenue; www.sfstl.com). Admission is free.

SATURDAY 0423 Cry Havoc Soldiers feature prominently in Shakespeare’s plays, from the histories (Macbeth) to the comedies (Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing). When the characters’ respective wars ended, Shakespeare riverfronttimes.com

had the luxury of deciding whether to allow them to transition easily back into society or to have a rough go of adjusting to peacetime. For real-world soldiers, the re-entry to society is something that must be navigated alone. Stephan Wolfert’s one-man show Cry Havoc blends the speeches of Shakespeare’s soldiers with his personal experience to offer insight into the difficulties soldiers endure when they become civilians again. Cry Havoc is performed at 2 p.m. today at the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Branch (1301 Olive Street; www. sfstl.com) as part of the Shake 38 Festival. Admission is free, but reservations are requested as seating is limited. Continued on pg 20

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CALENDAR Continued from pg 19

29TH ANNUAL Presented by

St. Louis Earth Day Festival

mother’s day weekend may 6–8, 2016

LAUMEIER SCULPTURE PARK ANNUAL ART FAIR Friday, May 6 / 6:00–10:00 p.m. Saturday, May 7 / 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. Sunday, May 8 / 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. $10 / Ages 12 and up $5 / Ages 6 to 11 FREE / Ages 5 and under

12580 Rott Road / Saint Louis, Missouri 63127 314.615.5278 / www.laumeier.org

SAINT LOUIS ORCHESTRA 2015-2016 CONCERT SERIES ROBERT HART BAKER Conductor

Theatrical Tales Friday, April 29, 2016, 8:00 p.m.

Skip Viragh Center for the Arts, Chaminade

The orchestra is the star of the show when it takes the stage for stories of drama and comedy.

King Lear Overture, op. 4 Berlioz Our Town Copland Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, op. 28 Strauss Symphony No. 6 in D major, op. 60 Dvorak FOR TICKETS OR INFORMATION

(314) 421-3600

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Embrace nature at St. Louis Earth Day on Sunday. | THEO WELLING

Twisted Melodies Donny Hathaway had everything going for him. He left St. Louis’ Carr Square housing project for Howard University and became tight with Roberta Flack, but abandoned school to work for Curtis Mayfield’s Custom Records as an arranger, writer and producer. In four short years he released a massive single (“Where is the Love?” — a duet with Flack), a revered live album and co-wrote and sang the Christmas standard “This Christmas.” At the peak of his professional career Hathaway began to suffer from crippling depression and paranoid delusions, which were eventually diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Medication helped, but only when he took it regularly. Playwright Kelvin Rolston Jr.’s drama Twisted Melodies is a fictionalized journey into Hathaway’s mind during the time he was trying to navigate his way through schizophrenia, the music industry and his home life. The Black Rep closes its season with Twisted Melodies. Performances take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (April 22 through May 1) at Washington University’s Edison Theatre (6445 Forsyth Boulevard; www.theblackrep.org). Tickets are $30.

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As an earthling, it’s up to you to celebrate your planet at the St. Louis Earth Day Festival. This year’s celebration takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today on the Muny grounds in Forest Park (www.stlouisearthday.org), which will be accessible by foot, bicycle and biodiesel shuttle buses. Entertainment options include all-day yoga sessions, an environmental education center, a farmers market and two stages of live entertainment. Restaurants and food trucks that have been certified by the Green Dining Alliance will handle the concessions, which are served on recyclable and compostable materials to comply with the festival’s zero waste initiative. You can do your part by bringing a refillable water bottle and reusable bag to cut down on waste. It’s a nice planet we got here; be a shame if something bad happened to it. Admission to the St. Louis Earth Day Festival is free.

SUNDAY 0424 The Washington University Fashion MONDAY 0425 Show Upstairs Inferno The Washington University Fashion Show is the only final exam we know that can draw a paying crowd (no offense, mathletes). The 87th installment of the show takes place at 7 p.m. at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue) and features work from more than twenty sophomore, junior and senior designers. In addition to the ready-to-wear designs that will be tomorrow’s wardrobe workhorses, models will wear conceptual and sculptural garments that incorporate wood, silicon and digital fabrication in their construction. Additionally, students in the pattern-making program present dresses inspired by the Missouri History Museum’s current exhibition, Little Black Dress: From Mourning to Night. Tickets are $25 to $100, and are available by phone (314-935-6543) or online (www.edison.wustl.edu).

Director Robert L. Camina delves into a dark and almost forgotten corner of gay history with his documentary Upstairs Inferno. In 1973, the New Orleans gay bar Upstairs Lounge was firebombed during Pride Weekend. Thirty-two people were murdered in the attack, which the New Orleans media and city leaders ignored. Some of the victims remained unidentified because their families did not want the shame of being linked to a gay person; their burials were paid for by anonymous donors. The police never charged anyone in the attack. Camina’s film uses interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses to recount the night of the attack and its aftermath. Upstairs Inferno screens at 9 p.m. tonight at the Hi-Pointe Backlot (1002 Hi-Pointe Place; www.cinemastlouis.org/qfest) as part of Qfest, Cinema St. Louis’ LGBTQ film festival. Tickets are $12.

C W A L R W A L CCR N O T Y A L N C CLAYTO E C E CA S AU US

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popularity has only grown since its 1957 debut? A new production of The Sound of Music, directed by Jack O’Brien, is currently touring America. The show is presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday (April 26 to May 1) at the Fox Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@ riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.

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FILM

[REVIEW]

For the Louvre of Art Aleksandr Sokurov makes a beautiful argument that art, culture and the Louvre are civilization. Written by

ROBERT HUNT Francofonia

Directed and written by Aleksandr Sokurov. Starring Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Benjamin Utzerath, Vincent Nemeth and Johanna Korthals Altes. Now screening at Landmark Plaza Frontenac Theatre (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www. landmarktheatres.com).

n 2002 Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov made Russian Ark, a history lesson in the form of a continuous, 96-minute-long Steadicam shot that traveled through the halls of the Winter Palace museum in St. Petersburg. As the camera passes from room to room — 33 in all — figures from the past appear and the artworks on the walls become the backdrop to a history of Russia from the tsars to the twentieth century. Although museum directors are notoriously protective of their holdings, it is easy to imagine any of the directors of the world’s other great museums watching Sokurov’s film and wishing they could get the same kind of attention. Sokurov’s new film Francofonia is an extension of, and in some ways a sequel to, Russian Ark, this time with the cooperation of the Louvre. Instead of the flowing Steadicam of the earlier film, however, this is a film of fragmented images, playing with different formats and aspect ratios as it tries to align the continuous stream of history/culture with our broken and disjointed perception of it. Sokurov is playing with the pieces of history, hoping to create continuity from them. The Louvre is, of course, more than just a museum. With just under fifteen acres of exhibition

Marianne and Napoleon take a trip through the Louvre. | COURTESY OF MUSIC BOX FILMS space, the 223-year-old institution is a city unto itself, complete with its own underground traffic system. More than just the storehouse of culture, it is, in Sokurov’s view, the very heart of culture, the living proof of civilization. “I wonder what would have become of European culture if portraiture had not emerged,” he muses, and as his camera passes across centuries of painted faces, he makes a convincing point that history and art are inseparable. To illustrate the point — as if the thousands of paintings and sculptures on site aren’t enough — Sokurov brings the past into the galleries in the form of Marianne, the national symbol of liberté, egalité et fraternité, and Napoleon Bonaparte, the latter trying to take credit for every piece of art by peering closely at it and proclaiming “C’est moi!” Narrator Sokurov expresses irritation with the Emperor, but concedes the inescapable link between a national museum and a nation, which is especially obvious in the case of the Louvre: Much of its collection, especially its Egyptian

antiquities, resulted from France’s empire-building days. “The whole universe defines a world,” Sokurov notes, “and war alone decides where it ends up.” Most of Francofonia centers on a brief period when politics and culture came head-to-head right at the Louvre’s doorway — the years of Vichy France, when most of the country was occupied by German troops. Sokurov tells of the awkward alliance between Louvre director Jacques Jaujard and German officer Franz Wolff-Metternich, assigned by the Nazis to ensure that European culture remained safe even as its nation states were being destroyed. Their ability to work together kept the museum functional but resulted in a strange compromise in which the museum remained open, but the majority of its holdings were moved throughout the country for safety. Recreating the wartime Louvre, Sokurov blends historical images with contemporary ones to illustrate the process which, in a sense, created two Louvres: The physical Louvre still stood in Paris, while the spiritual Louvre, its collecriverfronttimes.com

tion, went undercover. (Not every cultural monument was quite as fortunate; in a bitter digression, Sokurov reflects on the siege of Leningrad and suggests that the accepted definition of “European culture” had its geographical limits.) Sokurov has a reputation — not unjustified — as a somber and austere filmmaker, but Francofonia is accessible, lively, even playful. Though he tries to maintain his dour image (there’s a bizarre and mostly incomprehensible subplot involving an art-filled boat in stormy seas), he is outdone. He’s delighted by the Louvre, by its architecture (a beautiful 360-degree shot of the grounds alone makes the film worth seeing), and by its history and traditions. (This is a museum so intertwined with the history of art that there are paintings of its own galleries within its galleries!) Sokurov understands the importance of images, and Francofonia provides him with a vast resource, an infinite library of beautiful things to be approached with joy, respect and astonishment. n

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THE ARTS

[ S TA G E ]

What’s Eating Ivan Ivanov? St. Louis Actors’ Studio delivers a smart, funny take on Chekhov’s classic Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD Ivanov

Written by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard Directed by Wayne Salomon Presented by St. Louis Actors’ Studio through May 1 at the Gaslight Theatre (358 North Boyle Avenue; 314-458-2978 or www. stlas.org). Tickets are $30 to $35.

vanov is the most irritable man in Russia, and perhaps the planet. He rails at his employee Borkin (David Wassilak) for interrupting his reading, he barks at his wife Anna (Julie Layton) for politely asking if he could perhaps stay home tonight just this once, and he even snarls at dear old Count Shabelsky (Bobby Miller) for being too negative in his assessment of the neighbors. And yet all these people evince a definite fondness for Ivanov, who they claim was once an easy-going gentleman farmer destined for greatness. Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov is a puzzling play. The main character is either terminally depressed or neck-deep in a mid-life crisis that can’t be solved by a sports car, but only because it’s 1889. What the hell happened to him? Even Ivanov can’t puzzle that one out, and it’s killing him. In the new production by St. Louis Actors’ Studio, Drew Battles plays him with an enervated lassitude. He never sits but sprawls, eyes fixed on nothing in particular, as he struggles to understand the void inside himself. Ivanov has his reasons for depression. His marriage is a shambles, he owes a fortune to Zinaida (Teresa Doggett), wife of his best friend Lebedev (B. Weller), and his farm is falling apart. Rather than do something to forestall any of these disasters Ivanov chews

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The cast of St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s brilliant Ivanov. | JOHN LAMB

What’s most remarkable about the play as a whole is how modern it feels. over the issue of his ennui and self-loathing, creating a black hole of doubt and self-destruction that he’ll never escape. But Ivanov’s black hole draws you in as surely as it attracts the characters in the play, making him appear mysterious to the young and a figure of fun for his peers. Director Wayne Salomon and set designer Patrick Huber fix Ivanov at the center of everyone’s universe. The intimate Gaslight Square stage is walled with naked timbers and blue neon light tubes; cast members line these walls when not in a scene, watching from a safe distance as Ivanov destroys himself. It is a production that is compelling and accomplished, driven by

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outstanding performances from the whole cast and a propulsive sense of inevitability. Chekhov’s gun is hidden in plain sight so you know how this will end, but you still can’t look away, even for a second. It sounds grim, but it’s not. Borkin is an endless font of criminal schemes that he believes could ease Ivanov’s financial burden, and Wassilak declaims them with the pompousness that only a man who wears jodhpurs can possess. The Count is a wild-eyed crank who insults everyone with equal glee, much to their embarrassment (but never his). Lebedev is a happy, rich drunk who fears his mercenary wife and doesn’t understand his daughter, Sasha (Alexandra Petrullo), who is infatuated with the brooding Ivanov. With these as his peers, is it any wonder Ivanov is miserable? In fact, Ivanov could be a comedy if not for Anna, who is tragedy incarnate. A Jew who abandoned her faith and family for a dynamic man who no longer exists, Anna is now dying of tuberculosis and she doesn’t even know it. Ivanov won’t tell her, and her doctor (Reginald Pierre) is a pompous prig who doesn’t think it’s his place to

break the news to her. Instead, the good doctor endlessly berates Ivanov for not doing more to comfort Anna, which Ivanov agrees is another of his moral failings. Things only get worse when Anna catches Ivanov kissing Sasha in her own home. Layton drops like she’s been pole-axed — audience members leaned forward protectively, fearing for her safety. And even after death claims her, Anna is put-upon by Ivanov: When Sasha changes into her wedding gown, it’s Anna who helps her into it. Poor Anna. Ivanov really is a shit. What’s most remarkable about the play as a whole is how modern it feels. Characters warn about the dangers of bankers speculating on the economy, the older generation complains about the younger generation, the wealthy members of society do nothing but gossip at parties, and Ivanov — the economic engine of the community — can’t pay his bills and can’t make a decision about anything. Whatever is broken inside Ivanov is as familiar and as ravenous as the banality of evil. Drew Battles’ Ivanov may eat himself in slow motion, but he makes an incredin ble meal of it.

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CAFE

[REVIEW]

Turkish Delight An Iraqi businessman-turnedrestaurateur has opened one of the year’s most charming restaurants Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Sheesh Restaurant

3226 South Grand Boulevard; 314-833-4321. Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11a.m.11 p.m.

f the sunlight from the windows facing South Grand catches one of the tables at Sheesh Restaurant just right, you are likely to be blinded. Fashioned from ornate copper from base to top, the round, low-profile stunners are the first thing you notice when you walk into this four-month-old Turkish spot. Then you notice the chairs, squat, angular and decked with red and black Turkish fabrics. The same fabric hangs from the walls, as do some colorful, Turkish-inspired paintings and an abstract black and white print of the Bosphorus. And the copper is not limited to the tables. Décor, platters, pitchers, serving dishes — even the flatware, cups and plates given to every diner are made from the stuff. If King Midas’ powers worked in copper rather than gold, you’d swear he’d touched just about every corner of this showpiece of a restaurant. With enough of the metal to overwhelm a large-scale smelting operation, you might assume that owner Safa Marmarchi has his roots in the copper business. That assessment isn’t all that far off. Before moving to St. Louis, the first-time restaurateur owned what he says was the largest marble company in Iraq. In the violence that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein, Marmarchi and his family fled to Afyon, Turkey, where they continued to operate the company.

A selection of dishes from Sheesh, including lamb biryani, baklava and the “Sheesh Special” salad. | MABEL SUEN As part of the United Nations’ refugee program, Marmarchi and his family were relocated to St. Louis in 2007. He continued to travel to Turkey on a monthly basis to manage operations, but his biggest customers were in Bagdhad and Benghazi — needless to say, business went south, and Marmarchi needed to find another way to earn a living. He enrolled in a Turkish cooking course and set out to rectify what he saw as a gaping hole in the St. Louis dining scene. Marmarchi opened Sheesh Restaurant last December in the storefront on the corner of South Grand and Humphrey that formerly housed New St. Louis Wok. The changes to the place are stunning, not just in aesthetics but also in the caliber of food. Gone are the Americanized fried rice and sweet and sour chicken, replaced with a menu of authentic Turkish food, interspersed with a handful of Middle Eastern dishes that show up throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Meals begin with a complimentary bowl of ezogelin soup, a tomato soup laden with lentil, rice and bulgur that features a deceptive

amount of heat on the back palate. The soup arrives with a flourish, in an ornate (you guessed it) copper serving bowl capped with a lid that has a small crescent moon as its handle. It’s a gorgeous piece of serving ware, but you’ll probably forget about utensils as soon as you taste this delectable spiced soup. Hummus and baba ganoush stand as idealized examples of their forms. The former is shockingly creamy and spiked with a dusting of paprika. The latter is rich and smoky, laden with tahini and garlic. Both portions (which were admittedly a bit small) were gobbled up almost immediately. Lebne, the thick, Lebanese-style yogurt dip, is as decadent as heavy cream whipped with cream cheese. Dipping into it with the fluffy, house-fired pita bread was one of the meal’s most pleasurable moments. Likewise, the tabouleh salad is an understated show-stopper. Sheesh’s version of this quintessential Middle Eastern salad of bulgur, tomato, cucumber, onion and parsley is generously dressed with olive oil and lemon juice — it’s tart enough to make your mouth water. riverfronttimes.com

As such, I had high hopes for the “Sheesh Special” salad, described as a fried eggplant alongside chickpeas, tomatoes and fried bread. Instead, we were presented with a platter that mostly consisted of iceberg lettuce. The squares of bite-sized pita were enjoyable, but there was so little eggplant its presence was barely detectable. Compared to the tabouleh, this dish was forgettable. Sheesh’s entrée menu features many iterations of ground lamb kebab, including an especially tasty pistachio version. Ground lamb meat is mixed with crushed nuts, garlic and herbs, then grilled. The exterior is crisped and imbued with pleasantly bitter char from the grill; the interior is juicy and tender. The kebab lays on a bed of parsley that has been lightly dressed in lemon and olive oil — anything more would take away from the kebab’s nuanced flavor. The “Alinazik” is a straightforward variation of the ground lamb kebab, this time minus the pistachios. In place of the parsley, this version sits atop baba ganoush and is served with a side of

APRIL 20-26, 2016

Continued on pg 28

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Servers wear striking costumes, which include elaborate embroidery. | MABEL SUEN

SHEESH Continued from pg 27 yogurt sauce. The smokiness of the eggplant pairs well with the simply charred lamb, and the yogurt cuts through the richness with razor-sharp tang. Flavor-wise, it’s not all that different from the “Sheesh” kebab; this well-executed dish has a similar, Middle Eastern-spiced profile, though the meat is cut into cubes rather than ground and served over rice. It earns its place as the restaurant’s namesake dish. A lamb shank, simply seasoned in warm spices and braised until the meat falls off the bone, is the ideal match for biryani rice. Raisins, chickpeas and fragrant spices marry the meat, creating an aromatic experience. The chicken version of the biryani dish is no less excellent. Though the white meat was not as juicy as the lamb, it had a rich, curry glaze that made up for it. We ordered the chicken and beef doner as plates, though they would be better as sandwiches. For both, the meat is lightly spiced, cooked on a rotisserie and sliced off into small hunks. This works well for the chicken, but the beef was slightly chewy — it would have been much better stuffed into a pita and smothered in tahini and garlic sauce. Doners are the Turkish version of fast food, really, and I realized belatedly that the gussied-up platters were no improvement on the grab-and-go version. The standout entrée is the iskender kebab, a heaping platter of thinly sliced, marinated lamb mixed with melted butter. A rustic charred tomato sauce, enlivened

with fragrant spices, covers the lamb; on the other side of the plate a baseball-sized mound of thickened yogurt is there to counter the lamb’s full flavor. The mix of flavors is not the only highlight — the cool yogurt mingles with the warm meat and sauce, giving the dish interesting contrast. Desserts at Sheesh are no less impressive. The restaurant’s Baklava is one of the better versions around: light, flaky and heady with the flavor of cherry. Knafeh, a Turkish version of a cheesecake, takes fifteen minutes to prepare but is well worth the wait. The syrup-soaked cheese pie, the texture of flan, is coated in shredded phyllo for crunch. I was most surprised, though, by the sutlac, or Turkish rice pudding. This dish is shockingly decadent and has more in common with vanilla crème brulee than the mushy, ill-textured stuff that so often gets peddled. I’m still speechless that rice pudding can have such a transcendent effect. There’s much to love about Sheesh — the rice pudding and tabouleh alone make this place a gem. It’s not the cheapest spot on town, a fact Marmarchi defends with vigor when pressed. “Do you see these plates?” he asks, pointing to the standard entrée dish. “It is imported directly from Turkey and costs $140 dollars.” Would anything less befit such delectable food? n Sheesh Restaurant

Tabouleh salad ............................. $4.99 Chicken doner plate ...................$14.99 Iskender kebab ........................... $19.99

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

Matt Osmoe Is a Bartender with a Past Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

nless you count his dad’s DIY blackberry wine, Matt Osmoe of Blood and Sand (1500 St. Charles Street; 314-241-7263) did not have his first drink until he was 22 years old. He probably could have waited even longer, but catastrophe struck. “I was living on campus, and the building I was staying in burned to the ground,” Osmoe recalls. “My belongings, my work — I lost everything I owned. My friends told me I needed a drink, but they took me out for a round of skunky lager. I didn’t understand why people drink this stuff. But then I discovered whiskey and my world changed.” A computer scientist by training, Osmoe had no plans to work in the service industry. During college, he worked a variety of jobs — fast food, a brake parts factory, tearing down and building houses. He even had a performance shop where he did race car modifications. After graduation, Osmoe worked in the IT business for ten years. “I had a good job, a 401K, vacation, health insurance,” says Osmoe. “I found myself thinking about what I would do in retirement to make me really happy, but finally I said ‘Screw it. Why not make myself happy right now?’” Osmoe initially got turned onto cocktails at the Royale, where he would get into the weeds with bartender Robert Griffin about every last detail of his drinks. That led to enrolling in an “Introduction to Bartending” course with Planter’s House’s Ted Kilgore, which gave him a jumping off point for teaching himself. “I started doing it at home, and eventually, my kitchen table was

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Osmoe, at Blood and Sand, has high praise for his fellow bartenders at the members-only cocktail bar. | HARLAN MCCARTHY covered in bottles,” Osmoe says. “I signed up for the bartender’s guild and started doing competitions. One of them got me some notice from Blood and Sand.” As a regular at the members-only restaurant and bar, Osmoe was already known to Blood and Sand’s owners and bartenders. When they had an opening behind their bar, they asked Osmoe if he wanted to join the team on a trial basis. “At the time, I was consulting for the Navy, but I said ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’” The career change was a big move, and Osmoe admits it’s something his coal-miner dad would not necessarily approve of. “He always told us to get a job that provides for the family and doesn’t wreck the body,” he says. “But when you’re doing something that doesn’t make you happy, there’s an emotional toll. Thinking about what I’m going to do when I retire — I feel like I am already retired.” Osmoe took a break from the bar to share his thoughts on St. Louis’ vibrant food and beverage scene, why his mustache necessitates a firm handshake and his prediction for the essential hipster gear of 2018. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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did? I like a good old-fashioned handshake. Why are you trying to do a hand grasp with a pull away and a fist bump with me? I have a mustache mainly because I want people to see me and just assume that a handshake is the most appropriate manner in which to greet me. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? I function far better with art in my life: some music, poetry, an old book. Without art, the day can feel lonely and unfulfilling. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? A rationality ray. I could fire it at people and in an instant they would be like, “Wait, why am I wearing this Trump shirt?!” On a side note, “Make America Great Again” shirts will be THE hot hipster item of 2018. What is the most positive trend in food, beer, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? The long slow slog away from vodka-tini drinks. We get it. You want to go from one to drunk in four glasses of vodka and chocolate syrup, and that’s fine. Just don’t make us be an accessory to your crime against societal progress.

Who is your St. Louis food or drink crush? John Stefanski of Blood and Sand. If I were to make a top ten list of cocktails I’ve tasted, his would take up most of that list. His has an amazing sense of balance, terrific creativity and never-failing consistency. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis food and beverage scene? Everyone! Give local bartenders a chance to make something unexpected for you. Go see Kenny Snarzyk at the Crow’s Nest for a reassuringly tall pour of Old Crow. His bar presence is phenomenal. You’ll feel like you’ve been a regular for years. Stop in at the Libertine and drop your finger randomly upon the cocktail menu and have Ben Bauer make you whatever it may be. Grab something an old man wouldn’t shake his cane at you for ordering from Kyle Harlan and Tyler Baublitz at Mission Taco. Let Keyan Still or Ted Kilgore make you something classically booze-forward at Planter’s House. Visit my Amaro-loving compatriot Jeffrey Moll at Randolfi’s for a few glasses of joy. Visit Tim Wiggins at Retreat for a philosophical conversation as to the nature of cocktails. Then there’s Taste and the Continued on pg 35

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

THE 10 GREENEST RESTAURANTS IN ST. LOUIS Written by

SARA GRAHAM

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE

he St. Louis culinary scene is growing almost exponentially these days — the incredible talent and diversity on display at restaurants in the city is unprecedented. This month, as Earth Day approaches, we’ve partnered with the St. Louis Green Dining Alliance to celebrate another recent development — green dining. This isn’t new, of course, but the organization is the first independent non-profit in St. Louis dedicated solely to the certification of, and ongoing training in, practices such as conserving energy, reducing waste and sourcing locally. (Full disclosure: The author is a steering committee member of the Green Dining Alliance.) Since it was founded in 2011, the alliance has certified 96 restaurants locally. Here, in no particular order, we share the story of ten who have made a particularly significant impact through their commitment to the health and well-being of their customers and the local community.

1. Vin De Set

MONDAY, APRIL 25 7:00 PM PLEASE VISIT WBTICKETS.COM/RSVP AND ENTER THE CODE RFTKEANU TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASSES! RATED R FOR VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT, DRUG USE AND SEXUALITY/NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.

IN THEATERS APRIL 29 #KEANU

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2017 Chouteau Avenue, Lafayette Square Vin de Set (along with sister restaurants Eleven Eleven Mississippi, Moulin and PW Pizza) has focused its sustainability efforts on growing much of its own produce in order to reduce demand on large-scale farming and also to ensure quality and freshness for their kitchens. A quarter-acre organic urban farm, twenty aeroponic towers and three bee hives provided 5,000 pounds of produce — over 50 percent of the kitchen’s usage — for the restaurant last year. All crops are heirloom and started from seed. Other sustainable practices: a 50 kilowatt solar panel array; 100 percent kitchen scrap composting; paper, glass and plastic recycling; fish from Missouri’s Troutdale Farms; pork, lamb and additional produce from Eat Here St. Louis; bike racks to encourage car-free travel and participation in Ameren’s alternative energy research program Pure Power.

2. Urban Chestnut

4465 Manchester Avenue, The Grove Urban Chestnut’s second location, which achieved LEED Silver certifi-

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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The solar roof at Eclipse

Reusable Ball jars at PuraVegan

Lettuce at Schlafly Gardenworks (left) and a Vin de Set beehive (right) | PHOTOS COUTRESY OF THE RESTAURANTS cation from the U.S. Green Building Council, was repurposed from its previous life as a paper manufacturing plant. In addition, as water usage is a significant component of any brewery operation, the owners benchmarked usage in 2014. Just a year later, they had realized a reduction of 21 percent as a result of the capture and reuse of water used for heating and cooling processes and the streamlining of brewery cleaning procedures. Other sustainable practices: 96 percent waste recycling and composting (including 600 tons of spent grain donated annually to cattle farmers), a largely locally-based menu and energy reduction from daylighting and efficient lighting and equipment.

3. Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions

2810 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood The owner and head butcher of Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions, Chris Bolyard, describes the shop’s “pasture to plate” offerings as animal-friendly, small-farm-raised, whole-animal butchery. Beef, chicken and pork are delivered whole and broken down by hand in-house so that each animal is utilized completely, from premium cuts to deli meat, sausage and pate. Lard and tallow are turned into soap and hand balms, bones are used for stocks and sipping broths, and trim is made

into dog treats. Nothing in the shop is wasted. Other sustainable practices: meat sourced from farmers whose animals are 100 percent pasture-raised and antibiotic- and hormone-free.

4. Eclipse

6177 Delmar Boulevard, The Loop A rooftop solar panel array in view of Eclipse’s iconic moon harvests enough solar energy from that other celestial body in the sky to power both rooftop bars and the top two floors of the Moonrise Hotel. Bonus: The solar panel also serves as a beautiful semi-transparent ceiling. Other sustainable practices: food waste composting; recycling of glass, paper and plastics; an electric car charging station; the use of non-toxic cleaning products; support for the research for and generation of wind energy.

5. Schlafly Bottleworks

7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood Schlafly Bottleworks’ sustainability initiatives are centered on community. Not only does the facility’s 25 kW solar array offset its energy usage, but a kiosk in the lobby walks customers through the process and shows real-time energy data. Schlafly Gardenworks, the brewery’s on-site urban Continued on pg 34

Two Locations! St. Louis’ New Cajun-Creole Restaurant Breakfast Served All Day! CHEAPEST DRINK PRICES IN TOWN!

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Art Hill

El Cassico

A Double Layer of Blackened Chicken, Nachos with a Pepper Jack Cheese sauce. Topped with lettuce, tomatoes, & fried Jalapenos. 255 Union Bl vd. St. Louis, MO 63108 314.454.1 551

A Steak Quesadilla w/two eggs over easy, hash brown, Pico de Gallo, Pepper Jack and White Cheddar Cheese All on the inside w/a side of sour cream. 626 N. 6th St. At the corner of 6th & Lucas 314.241.5454

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

GREENEST A 1920’s Speakeasy - Modern Twist THE Continued from pg 32 Dining • Cocktails • Burlesque Shows Corporate & Private Events

Located in downtown St. Louis www.TheBoomBoomRoomSTL.com - 314-436-7000 500 N. 14th Street, St. Louis Mo. 63103

farm, produces thousands of pounds each year for use at the Bottleworks and the Tap Room, as well as serving as a catalyst for a year-round community farmers market, free educational events and seed swaps. Other sustainability practices: high-efficiency heating, cooling and lighting systems; a reflective white rubber roof to mitigate the urban heat islands and kitchen scrap composting.

6. PuraVegan

307 Belt Avenue, Skinker-DeBaliviere PuraVegan has made great strides in reducing the ubiquitous single-use disposable waste within the food industry. Juices, smoothies and coffee for the shop’s popular juice subscription service and its three-day detox programs are packaged in vacuum-sealed re-usable Ball jars (returnable for store credit) and delivered in reusable bags. Glass straws are available for purchase in the café. Other sustainability efforts: an all-vegan menu; the use of a bicycle delivery service; a highly efficient order system to almost eliminate food waste; and a “candy” machine with bulk items such as cashews, golden berries and chlorella tabs.

7. Sidney Street Cafe

2000 Sidney Street, Benton Park Sidney Street Cafe was one of the first restaurants in St. Louis to strongly emphasize a menu that rotates with the seasons and is sourced primarily from local farmers. That commitment supports the local community, ensures the highest nutritional value and flavor, and reduces carbon footprint. Part of the restaurant’s local produce comes from its 100-yard organic urban garden, which grows more than 50 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Benton Park neighbors help to maintain the garden and are welcome to harvest for their own kitchens. Other sustainability efforts: organic meats and dairy, a white roof to mitigate the urban heat island and educational tours for local elementary schools.

7344 MANCHESTER BOOGALOOSTL.COM 314-645-4803

8. Lulu’s Local Eatery 3201 South Grand Boulevard, Tower Grove

Lulu’s Local Eatery has been smart about finding passive solutions for typically energy-intensive processes. Solar-powered Halycon window 34

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

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Radishes from the garden at Sidney Street Cafe. COURTESY OF SIDNEY STREET CAFE shades assist with inside temperature regulation in the heat-retaining brick building. A living garden wall inside purifies the air naturally. An onsite garden provides 15 percent of the menu in the summer. Other sustainability efforts: locally sourced and vegan menu, preparation of just enough to prevent food waste.

9. Milque Toast Bar

2212 South Jefferson Avenue, Fox Park Milk Toast Bar provides a model for community sustainability, recognizing that every facet of running a business is an opportunity to practice conservation. The “Salad Days” feature allows neighborhood residents to “pay what you can or pay it forward,” with contributions going to provide food security in the Fox Park neighborhood. Restaurant furniture is created with repurposed materials. All food waste is composted for use in the cafe’s patio gardens, which are irrigated with captured water from rain barrels. Other sustainable practices: active engagement with the neighborhood garden McKinley Meadows, on-site preservation and local sourcing.

10. Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop

2201 Cherokee Street, Cherokee District Everything at Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop is recycled, including composted kitchen and consumer waste. The kitchen sources 90 percent of its produce locally, much of it from local resource Local Harvest Grocery, along with produce and eggs from Double Star Farms and pork from Geisert Farms. Other sustainability efforts: the use n of non-toxic cleaning products.

Please join us for MATT OSMOE

Continued from pg 30

as we celebrate Sunday, May 8th from 10am-2pm Adults $26.95 | Seniors (60+) $23.95 | Children (5-10) $14.95 (Holiday Gratuity of 18% applies)

FEATURING: Omelet Station Belgian Waffle Station Rosemary Roasted Breakfast Potatoes Buttermilk Biscuits with Country Gravy Hickory Smoked Bacon and Sausage Patties Quiche Lorraine Mom’s Famous Breakfast Casserole Zesty Tortellini Pasta Salad Strawberry Mandarin Spinach Salad Southern Style Baked Mac N’ Cheese Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia Roast Beef with Au Jus Carving Station Chicken Riggies Build Your Own Sundae Bar Chef Boyd’s Selection of Award Winning Cheesecakes Sugar-Free Apple and Peach Pie Strawberry Shortcake Build Your Own Sangria and MOMosa Bar

...AND MUCH MORE! CALL 314.892.3600 EXT. 185 FOR RESERVATIONS Holiday Inn South County Center 6921 S. Lindbergh Blvd. at 1-55 (Across from South County Mall)

Preston and Público and Olive + Oak and Reeds and Juniper and on and on. Explore what St. Louis has to offer. We have far too many empty bar stools in this town. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Akevitt. If someone asked you to describe the current state of St. Louis’ food and beverage climate, what would you say? Our bar scene punches above its weight. I’m ready for the day when people don’t come in from out of town, compliment me on how good the drinks are, then ask if I was a bartender in New York before coming to St. Louis. I’m ready for “Oh, you are going to St. Louis. The cocktails there are amazing!” If you were not tending bar, what would you be doing? I’d be a hermit living in the bluffs along the river, distilling and aging akevitt and gin with foraged ingredients. On most nights you’d find me sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair, whittling bar tools out of driftwood. I actually already have the rocking chair. Name an ingredient never allowed behind your bar. Anything artificial. What is your after-work hangout? We’ll go to Mission Taco Joint in Soulard for late-night eats. It’s nice to sit down at the bar across from Tyler or Kyle and just say “light” or “boozy” or “anything” and know they are going to take care of you. We go to Bridge sometimes too. I like that after a long night at work, exhausted, with a burnt-out palate, I can nurse a 4-ounce pour of some strong beer I’ve never heard of and the bartenders don’t raise an eyebrow. What’s your edible or quaffable guilty pleasure? Salty french fries and Busch beer. What would be your last meal on earth — including drinks of course. First, a La Quintinye Vermouth Royal and Nolet’s martini with some truffle gnocchi. Next, smoked herring, a nicely aged akevitt, and a Haandbryggeriet Haandbakk. Then pork and sauerkraut stew with sour cream, rye bread and a liter of Civil Life Vienna Lager. For dessert, pecan pie and a heavy pour of Bruichladdich First Growth Cuvée A: Pauillac (Chateau Lafite) sixteen-year. Lastly, I’d have a No. 88 (Amaro Lucano, Averna, Rye whiskey, a bit of turbinado sugar and S. Maria al Monte, and a winter savory tincture). n

BENEFITING LIFT FOR LIFE GYM HELPING CITY YOUTH FOR 28 YEARS FOOD VENDORS: Mission Taco Joint, The Dam, Sugarfire Smoke House EVENT SPONSORS: Goose Island Beer Co, Shock Top, Grant Thornton, Stella Artois, Urban Chestnut Brewing, Elysian Brewing, 92.3 WIL, Abita, Blue Moon, Bluepoint Brewing Co, 101 ESPN, Deschutes Brewery, Crispin Cider Co, Widmer Brothers, Crown Valley Brewing, Angry Orchard Hard Cider, Randall’s Wines & Spirits, Iron Barley, Samuel Adams, 10 Barrel Brewing, Riverfront Times, Kona Brewing, SLAM! Agency, Red Hook, Modern Brewing

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

ON SALE 4.22 AT 10AM

FRIDAY 4/22

SATURDAY4/23 4/9 SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY 4/13 TUESDAY 4/26

WEDNESDAY 4/13 4/27

FRIDAY 4/29

SATURDAY 4/30

TUESDAY 5/3

WEDNESDAY 5/4

FRI. 10/7

UPCOMING SHOWS 5.7 LAUGHTER & LYRICS FOR LIFE 5.12 LAMB OF GOD 5.13 ANDERSONPONTY BAND 5.14 THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE 5.15 THE “ICONS OF HIP HOP” BLOCK PARTY 5.18 EMBLEM3 5.20 JOSH RITTER 5.23 MIIKE SNOW 5.24 EAGLES OF DEATH METAL 5.25 HAIM 5.26 BLOC PARTY 5.28 TECH N9NE 6.1 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 6.3 MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK 6.6 SARAH SILVERMAN

6.7 RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS 6.8 LEON BRIDGES 6.11 HOUNDMOUTH 6.12 THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM 6.25 BLUE OCTOBER 6.26 THE JAYHAWKS 7.15 COREY SMITH 7.19 AWOLNATION/DEATH FROM ABOVE 7.22 GLASS ANIMALS 7.25 M83. 8.4 LAKE STREET DIVE 8.9 HIATUS KAIYOTE 8.23 KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS 10.8 BOYCE AVENUE

visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL

@ThePageantSTL

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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161

RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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MUSIC Serious Business Andrew Bird gets personal on his new album, Are You Serious Written by

JEFF NIESEL Andrew Bird

8 p.m. Friday, April 22. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $33.50 to $43.50. 34726-6161.

inger-songwriter Andrew Bird learned to play the violin at a very young age while growing up in Chicago. Initially, his formal training had a strong influence on the type of music he played. His 1996 debut, Music of Hair, commences with a gentle waltz and keeps things on the traditional side of the folk-y spectrum. Since then, Bird’s music has evolved. The songs on his new album, Are You Serious, come off as his most sonically dense to date. “My mom had this notion of her kids playing classical music,” says Bird via phone from his home in Los Angeles. “She actually learned violin with me, so I owe her a lot. I wasn’t a prodigy, but I took to it pretty well. I learned by ear and had a good ear, and my mom kept it from getting too high pressure.” Early on, he also learned to whistle. While that might not sound like a remarkable skill set, you haven’t heard whistling until you’ve heard Bird whistle. One YouTube video dubbed him the “whistling wonder.” Bird even wrote “The Whistling Caruso” for The Muppets. That talent has ties to his family as well. “I saw my grandmother whistling, and she showed me as best she could how it worked,” he says. “I whistle all the time. If you were to hang out with me, it would drive you crazy.” Bird says Music of Hair, which he started to record and write while still in college, shows the studious manner by which he initially approached recording. “I came from this trained background, and I saw how a bunch of friends

“I whistle all the time. If you were to hang out with me, it would drive you crazy.” | REUBEN COX from art school who had more talent for design, but could create this whole persona that worked better than some musicians,” he says. “I watched that phenomena. It’s more like film directors. I liked the idea of going beyond the music, which I was almost unhealthily focused on while playing this difficult instrument. It helped broaden everything to think about the artwork and the lyrics and how things are presented and your stage persona, everything. That really turned me on.” In 2003, his career took a turn as he unofficially disbanded his backing band, the Bowl of Fire. “I didn’t mean to disband Bowl of Fire,” he explains. “I just moved out to the middle of nowhere and no one had cars. Out of necessity I was living in this barn, and having nobody in the room with me led me to experiment more and see what I had going on inside of me. I started working on [what would become 2005’s] The Mysterious Production of Eggs, and I kept failing at that, so I did

[2003’s] Weather Systems, which didn’t sound like much else I had done.” Weather Systems caught the attention of folk singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who reissued the album on her Righteous Babe Records and took Bird on tour with her. DiFranco’s audience clearly didn’t know Bird’s work but quickly warmed up to him. “That was a period when no one was championing what I was doing,” says Bird. “I released Weather Systems independently, and she liked it and put it out. I toured with her, and she introduced me to her audiences. I never had anyone give me a leg up like that. I always like that phase when I do a lot of opening slots. I like the surprise attack. No one knows who you are, and I like that challenge, sometimes more than headlining. I like doing the hard things.” When Bird started writing the songs for his latest album, Are You Serious, he didn’t intend to make them about his own life. But the tunes poured out of him, and the album took that form. “It’s riverfronttimes.com

probably the most obviously autobiographical record I’ve done,” says Bird, who recently married and had a child with his wife. “I never considered myself a confessional variety of songwriter. That’s sort of what happened. Life got intense and kind of scary for a period of time. I guess I fell into that cliché.” Are You Serious saw another major change for Bird as well, in terms of professional help in the studio. “I had never worked with a producer, and I wanted a serious get-in-my business producer,” Bird says. “Songwriters can get away with murder in this medium, and I’ve gotten away with murder sometimes. That’s why I wanted to do a really tight record.” The new approach comes across right from the opening notes of “Capsized,” a song that, with its propulsive bass riff and a steady drumbeat, sounds something like a Talking Heads tune. “I’ve always been obsessed with the sound of a rhythm section,” Bird explains. “I still wasn’t prepared for the first song we turned out. I wasn’t expecting it to sound so tight. It just sounded evil.” Another highlight, “Left Handed Kisses,” pairs Bird with singer Fiona Apple, who brings a real intensity to the song with her woozy vocals. “It was indeed intense,” Bird says. “We went through a bunch of options of who we could get. I knew the voice had to have a real weight to it. Unless we’re going to somehow get PJ Harvey, it had to be Fiona. She completely threw herself into it. She brought a weight and heaviness and drama and performance.” At a time when record labels don’t have huge budgets, Bird has made an album that sounds like a big-budget endeavor — without the support of a label. “I wanted to do everything top-tier. I haven’t done that yet,” he explains. “I wanted to see what it sounded like, and one of the results is that it’s gotten really competitive — in a good way. Maybe like it was in the ‘60s when bands were checking out what other bands were doing. I started noticing Alabama Shakes and Spoon. They’re making outstanding records. I thought, ‘Maybe I should do an epic process of a record,’ which it was. I didn’t want anything to fall through the cracks.” n

APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

B-SIDES

Healin’ the World St. Louis Earth Day Festival digs deep this year for an impressive local music lineup Written by

JAIME LEES

oncert season in St. Louis has arrived. Each year as the temperatures rise, our fine city shakes off its deep winter sleep and blossoms into a hub of quality musical entertainment. At the first hint of spring we start looking forward to months of free outdoor public concerts: the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Jungle Boogie concert series at the zoo, the major headliners at Fair St. Louis and all of the wonderfully crappy cover bands featured at smaller local festivals and carnivals. This year the St. Louis Earth Day Festival is getting in on the action. Taking place this Sunday, April 24 in Forest Park, the musical talent for the event is decidedly local, original and diverse. Instead of offering just the usual expected Americana, folk or jam bands, the schedule features DJs, punk rockers, general weirdos and representatives of many different styles and genres of the St. Louis music scene. Scheduled to perform: Swear Beam, the Vanilla Beans, DJ Needles, CaveofswordS, Illphonics, Matt Wynn, Bruiser Queen, JOIA World Percussion Ensemble, the Griddle Kids, Steely James, Arson for Candy, Tortuga, Gary Schoenberger with Perfect Strangers and the Funs. The most common reaction from local music fans reading this lineup has been delighted shock. How, we wondered, did the St. Louis Earth Day crew manage to seek out and book some of our city’s best musicians and bands? Clearly, somebody with extensive knowledge of the local music scene had some sort of influence there. We didn’t have to dig long to find

RIVERFRONT TIMES

CaveofswordS, who will perform as part of this year’s Earth Day Festival lineup, enjoying the planet on a recent tour. | COURTESY OF THE BAND out that the little seed that grew this lineup was Jenn DeRose. In addition to being program manager of the Green Dining Alliance, DeRose has played many roles over the years in St. Louis music culture: She’s done time at Vintage Vinyl, been a DJ at KDHX, worked with Big Muddy Records and is an avid concert-goer. (And — full disclosure — an occasional RFT Music contributer.) DeRose says she simply suggested bands that she wanted to see and that she felt represented St. Louis as a whole. “Most of the bands that we contacted were very stoked to do it,” DeRose says. “If we would’ve asked these same kinds of bands ten years ago, I don’t know that they would’ve been as enthusiastic, but I think that everybody is kind of on board now. Global warming is real; climate change is real. It’s an important issue. We’re losing species like crazy. Also, it’s a really fun festival. And 50,000 people showed up last year, so I think the entertainers were really excited to jump on board.”

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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Mike Leahy of Tortuga (and long-time St. Louis favorite 7 Shot Screamers) is one of those excited for a chance to perform. “I was shocked by how solid the lineup is for this festival,” Leahy explains. “Forest Park is such a beautiful place with such a great history — to be playing a well-organized festival there is an honor. Tortuga is stoked to play Earth Day Fest because it feels like a real homegrown event. It’s so much fun playing around St. Louis these days; so many great bands, organizers, venues and events like this. We’re a lucky town.” Also using the word “solid” to describe the lineup, musician Sunyatta McDermott of CaveofswordS says that she’s excited to “get the chance to see so many great artists in one day” while also supporting the cause. McDermott has carried a passion for environmentalism since she was a teenager, and she jokes that she even sacrificed her Aqua Net Extra Super Hold for the ozone. In addition to performing at the festival, she and the rest of CaveofswordS ex-

press their commitment to a more livable world through everyday decisions like recycling, embracing a plant-based diet, driving used cars and finding their clothes in thrift shops. Musicians as a group, in fact, tend to be fairly green naturally. They buy used instruments, they carpool frequently, they share practice spaces, they lend each other equipment and they DJ with previously owned records. This sharing of resources is not only essential to growing a scene, it also helps to keep the planet clean. According to DeRose, so does supporting your local scene. “I think promoting local music is an important part of sustainability,” DeRose says. “If a city is more dense, it is more sustainable. Which is maybe counter-intuitive, but with shared resources, our carbon footprint is lower. And the way to attract younger, active people to the city is through promoting local music and letting it thrive. That’s part of why we need to start including local bands — to really showcase what St. Louis can do.” n

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APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

thur. apr. 21 10PM Aaron Kamm & the One Drops with Special Guests Euforquestra

fri. apr. 22

10PM Southern Exposure

plays the music of New Orleans

sat. apr. 23

10PM

Brothers Lazaroff

with Special Guests Animal Years

wed. apr. 27

9:30PM

Voodoo Players

Tribute to Paul Simon

thur. apr. 28

9PM

MO Roots Pre Party with

Madahoochi

with Special Guests Surco

fri. apr. 29

10PM

Funky Butt Brass Band 736 S Broadway St. Louis, MO 63102 (314) 621-8811

“St. Louis pioneers of craft beer and live music” THURSDAY, APRIL 21 ST

Ocean Disco & The Driftaways- JamReggae 8pm - $10

FRIDAY, APRIL 22 ND

Under the Covers Featuring music by: FooFighters, Owl City, Senses Fail, Coheed & Cambria, and Saosin- Rock 7:30pm - $10

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 RD

“Evening Star Way Tour” Nate Millyunz with K.Dynasty, Lauren Cash & Dre Lee - Hip Hop 8:30pm - $12

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 TH

Geeks Who Drink - Trivia - 8:30pm - FREE

EVERY Beer of the month: Free glass with every TUESDAY SIERRA NEVADA Sierra Nevada purchase.

6691 Delmar

In the University City Loop

314.862.0009 • www.ciceros-stl.com 40

RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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HOMESPUN M I S S M O L LY S I M M S Borrowed or Sold missmollysimms.bandcamp.com

s both a musician and a music fan, Molly Simms understands the importance of physical media. Until recently, she worked behind the counter of Euclid Records, slinging CDs and, increasingly, vinyl records to a population not sated by mp3s or Spotify streams. Her stop-motion video for last year’s “Can’t You See” found the singer and guitarist physically overwhelmed by her record collection, as LPs by Edith Piaf, the Beach Boys and Alabama Shakes unmoored themselves from Simms’ shelf and arrayed themselves around her. It was an apt image for a musician who is herself omnivorous in her taste and, while still in her twenties, has already amassed a few albums that bear her name and her songs. The latest of these is the four-song Borrowed or Sold EP, and Simms chose to celebrate her allegiance to the musical artifact itself by releasing the CD at last weekend’s Record Store Day event back at Euclid. “First and foremost, those guys are my family even though I’m not working there anymore,” says Simms. More broadly, she sees the value in the community that is formed by a shared love of music: “The record store has always been a place to gather, and more people are shopping for vinyl and physical media.” Borrowed or Sold picks up where her last album, 2015’s One Way Ticket, left off, melding blues, rockabilly, country and rock in a simmering, sometimes surly package. Simms’ voice glints like burnished chrome on these tracks — she can be coy or strident, but she’s always at the center of these songs. Even on this brief EP, Simms offers a number of guises — the romantic, the defiant, the supplicant — without losing the essence of her musical identity. Once again Simms has partnered with drummer and producer Zagk Gibbons, who offers a clean, no-nonsense recording while finding space for lovely little filigrees like glockenspiel

pings and warm organ chords. Jamey Almond, Simms’ bassist since 2012, returns to handle the low end, and in lieu of a lead guitar, Zac Minor’s tenor saxophone takes the harmonic lead more often than not. Minor, who began playing with Simms in Al Holliday’s East Side Rhythm Band (in which Simms sings backing vocals), channels the strong, strident tone of early ‘60s rock & roll, undercut with a clear R&B background. According to Simms, the instrument’s prominence was

due in part to her relationship with Minor — the pair are dating and have begun writing music together — and part to her avowed limitations on guitar. “For me I feel like I’m not as able to come up with as much lead guitar stuff that I want to do, so that sax acts a lead through the record,” says Simms. Though the instrument has, for a long time, become a symbol of either rock classicism or cheese-pop excess, Simms found inspiration for incorporating the sax from her record collection. “I think a lot of rock & roll bands from the ‘80s used it,” she says. “Even Thin Lizzy had cool sax parts, and bands like the Waitresses — so

many cool bands used that sound.” The new line-up lends color to “Estella,” the EP’s lead-off track that shows Simms’ romantic, slightly wistful side. “It’s the character from Great Expectations,” says Simms of the song’s name, an archetype for the long-lost love. “A woman I know would always refer to the love of her life as Estella. That was what we called those people in our lives.” Simms mentions Tom Waits’ “Martha” as a similar composition, one that inspired her this time around. “I love those songs about old loves that try to come back.” Since Simms also has a long association with the Bible Belt Sinners, a more rockabilly-inspired quartet which she fronts, she’s learned to parse which songs will work with which outfit. “I feel like when you’re writing for a band and you’re the sole writer, you want to include everyone’s voice on that song,” says Simms. “I’d sit down and write something to write a Bible Belt Sinners song and ask, ‘How can I speak my truth in a way that’s not too sappy or lovedriven, so that my band won’t feel lame about it,’” she says with a laugh. “When I write a song and I wasn’t sure where it would go — I had to see if it could go that way, and be a bit rougher,” says Simms. “At their core those are country songs, but they work with either group.” Simms points to the track “Real Good Man” as emblematic of her writing process, one that is not dictated by genre. “I had an argument with my lover and as an apology I wrote ‘Real Good Man,’” she says. “I really liked the chorus, which started out as this kind of country thing. I messed around with the chorus and it turned into more of a Motown song.” The mutability of her songs speaks to Simms’ willingness to mesh her influences into one direct sound, one that is multi-hued but thoroughly American in its reference to blues, soul and country traditions. Simms and her band corral these energies well, but Simms remains resolute on her music’s prime directive. “No matter what I get labeled, bottom line, we’re a rock & roll band.” –Christian Schaeffer

riverfronttimes.com

APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OUT EVERY NIGHT

THURSDAY 21

The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar

FREE THINKER: w/ Brainwaves, Dylan Brady

RON WHITE: 7 p.m., $46.75-$56.75. Peabody

BILLY BARNETT BAND: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

featuring Robel 8 p.m., $8. The Ready Room,

Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-

& Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-

PUSCIFER: w/ Luchafer 7:30 p.m., $32-$52. Pea-

4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

241-1888.

5222.

body Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis,

THE FREEZE: w/ Ultraman 8 p.m., $12. Fubar,

TOM HALL: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

ISH: w/ Willis, Ryan Markovich and Drew

314-241-1888.

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

700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

Gowran 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100

RELICSEED: w/ Losing September, Blaming

FRESCO KANE: w/ Day Freshout Ent, Big Dude,

WOLFPUSSY: w/ Minorcan, the Union Electric 9

Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

Hollywood 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust

RIP James 9 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust

p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St.,

JOE METZKA BAND: 9:30 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz,

St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-

TACOCAT: w/ Boyfriends 8 p.m., $10. Off Broad-

HEAVY ANCHOR 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW PART

436-5222.

way, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

2: w/ DinoFight!, Scarlet Tanager, Soma, Tiger

SUNDAY 24

Rider 8 p.m., free. The Heavy Anchor, 5226

BILL MAHER: 7 p.m., $32-$96. Peabody Opera

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

House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

LA URSS: w/ Trauma Harness 9 p.m., $5. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis.

SATURDAY 23

OCEAN DISCO: w/ the Driftaways 8 p.m., $10.

BARBARA CARR BAND: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz,

LIDA UNA: w/ Money for Guns, Gemini Hustler

DOCTOR DELIA: w/ Post Modern, 8 Dollars Off,

Cicero’s, 6691 Delmar Blvd., University City,

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-

9 p.m., $5. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St.

Will Deely, Jack Goodman 7 p.m., $10. Fubar,

314-862-0009.

436-5222.

Louis, 314-833-5532.

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

SHINER: w/ Ring, Cicada 8 p.m., $15-$18. The

CHRIS D’ELIA: 8 p.m., $32.50. The Pageant, 6161

PROF: 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

HIT THE LIGHTS: w/ Seaway, Boston Manor, Can’t

Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

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

St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

Swim, The Weekend Routine 6 p.m., $15. The

THE SUMMER SET: 7 p.m., $17-$20. The Ready

THE ENGLISH BEAT: 8 p.m., $27.50. The Duck

RIVER KITTENS: w/ 4th City Rag, The Cara Louise

Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-

Room at Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

Band 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp

LIL STL: 8 p.m., $5-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St,

833-3929.

University City, 314-727-4444.

Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS: 8 p.m., $18-

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 8:30 p.m., $10. BB’s

$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis,

Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

314-588-0505.

314-436-5222. THE 95.5 SPRING JAM: w/ Anthony Hamilton,

FRIDAY 22

Angie Stone, Lyfe Jennings 7 p.m., $45-$125.

ANDREW BIRD: 8 p.m., $33.50-$43.50. The

The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis,

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

314-534-1111.

6161.

TIMBRE: w/ Staghorn, the Resounding 7 p.m.,

ANDY SOCIAL AND THE ANTIDOTES: w/ Eaten

$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Lou-

Back To Life, The Kuhlies, DEAD to begin with,

is, 314-833-5532.

Creature Illicit 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust

WHITE COLLAR CRIME: 6 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-

BILL BURR: 8 p.m., $45. The Fox Theatre, 527 N.

436-5222.

Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. THE DANAIDES: w/ Graham Negative, New Seeds

MONDAY 25

9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust

ANGEL PRESENTS SOUL SEARCHING: 7 p.m., $10.

St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

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

DJ DRAMA: 10 p.m., TBA. The Marquee

Louis, 314-436-5222.

Restaurant & Lounge, 1911 Locust St, St. Louis,

MU330. | COURTESY OF ASIAN MAN RECORDS

314-436-8889. DUNCAN TRUSSELL: 8 p.m., $20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. EARTH DAY PARTY!: w/ Tree One Four, DJ TapesOne 8 p.m., free. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. FEAR FACTORY: 6 p.m., $20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720. GREEN JELLY: w/ First Jason, Hung Like A Martyr 7 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. HEAVY ANCHOR 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW PART 1: w/ Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals, Tok, The Langaleers, I Actually, Kenshiro’s 8 p.m., free. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. JETLINER GYPSIES: 8 p.m., $8. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532. KILBORN ALLEY BAND: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222. LEROY JODIE PIERSON: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222. MU330: w/ the Haddonfields 8 p.m., $10-$12.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

$18-$20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

MU330

REV. MATT: w/ Adam Lee 9 p.m., free. Off

8 p.m. Friday, April 22. The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $10 to $12. 314-727-4444.

St. Louis’ MU330, our city’s reigning kings of ska-punk from the mid-’80s through that weird time in the ‘90s when the form dominated the airwaves, doesn’t play together much anymore. Well, not as much as its members used to, anyway: They say they played roughly 250 shows per year, totaling more than 1,300 shows, from 1988 to 2000. Conversely, this year MU330 has four dates on its calendar — one in St. Louis, one in Lawrence, Kansas, and two in California as a part of Asian Man Records’ twentieth birthday. Though much of

APRIL 20-26, 2016

KVELERTAK: w/ Torche, Wild Throne 7 p.m.,

riverfronttimes.com

the slowdown could be credited to singer Dan Potthast’s move to Santa Cruz, the band has never broken up, much to the delight of its numerous and dedicated local fans. “We are all friends and like to play music together, so why call it over? How many shows a year do we need to play to be called a band?” Potthast told us in a 2011 interview. “There are no rules.” Who Is Your Love? MU330 is probably our city’s biggest ambassador of St. Louis’ regional definition of the word “hoosier.” The band’s “Hoosier Love” was one of its most popular songs, and it didn’t have anything to do with the sports teams of Indiana. –Daniel Hill

Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-7733363. SMALL BLACK: 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811.

TUESDAY 26 DEAN MINDERMAN & SOUL SUPPLIERS: 9:30 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. DEERHUNTER: 8 p.m., $20. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. ENEMY PLANES: 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532. ETHAN LEINWAND & FRIENDS: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. JAMAICA LIVE TUESDAYS: w/ Ital K, Mr. Roots, DJ Witz, $5/$10. Elmo’s Love Lounge, 7828 Olive Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Get in The Grove for exciting Drinking, Dining, Dancing, & Shopping!

no hurry, no worry

4199 Manchester Ave in The Grove 314-202-8300

Mount Moriah. | COURTESY OF THE BAND

Mount Moriah 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 26. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $12. 314-7733363.

The state of North Carolina might as well contract Mount Moriah to operate as part of its board of tourism (and given the bashing the state has taken in light of its recently passed anti-LGBTQ law, it could use the boost). So much of the band’s latest album, the magnificent How to Dance, traces a line through the Tar Heel state. Take the lead-off track “Calvander” and trace its route through small towns and little-seen sights: Bogue Banks,

Carteret County, Jacksonville and the eponymous Calvander make up the landscape of the song, but it’s a testament to the power of singer and guitarist Heather McEntire that her home state becomes the physical backdrop for her cosmic and spiritual quandaries, which her bandmates prop up with vibrant, country-flecked rock & roll. Mathlete: Margaret Glaspy, whose ATO Records debut Emotions and Math will be released this summer, will open the show.

Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-

$12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

7880.

314-773-3363.

DEATH INDEX: w/ Trauma Harness, Sunday Can-

NATE MOORE: w/ Yun Jinx, DJ Blaze1, DJ Styles

dy, The Bubbleheads 9 p.m., $7. Blank Space,

8 p.m., $5. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

2847 Cherokee St., St. Louis.

314-289-9050.

DEVIL YOU KNOW: w/ Oni, Our Transfixion, Hal-

RECESS MUSIC AND IDEAS FESTIVAL: w/ Tory

low Point 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St.

Lanez 7:30 p.m., TBA. The Pageant, 6161 Del-

Louis, 314-289-9050.

mar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

GUIDED BY VOICES: 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Ready

TORY LARENZ: w/ BJ the Chicago Kid 7 p.m.,

Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-

free. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

833-3929.

314-726-6161.

JOE PUG: 8 p.m., $22. The Sheldon, 3648 Wash-

PEANUT BUTTER, JELLY, BACON, FRIED EGG, FUNYUNS

ington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. JOHN CRAIGIE: 7 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191

THE ARCS: w/ Mariachi Flor de Toloache 8 p.m.,

Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

$30-$32.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

MELISSA ALDANA: 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.; April 28,

Louis, 314-726-6161.

7:30 & 9:30 p.m.; April 29, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.;

BIG RICH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $5.

April 30, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $25. Ferring Jazz

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

Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-

Louis, 314-436-5222.

571-6000.

BOB “BUMBLE BEE” KAMOSKE: 8 p.m. Beale on

“THE HALF BAKED”

–Christian Schaeffer

MOUNT MORIAH: w/ Margaret Glaspy 8 p.m.,

WEDNESDAY 27

APRIL BURGER OF THE MONTH:

Now open for BRUNCH 10am - 2pm Sat & Sun $15 BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS AND BLOODY MARYS

4317 Manchester Rd in the Grove 314.553.9252 • laylastl.com

Continued on pg 44

riverfronttimes.com

APRIL 20-26, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

TNT The New York Times

Glass

Designs

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 43

All-American

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Smoke Shop

Joe Pug 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 27.

40% OFF ALL TUBES OVER $200 STARTS FRIDAY,25% APRIL OFF22ALL ELSE!

CREVE COEUR AMC CREVE COEUR 12 10465 Olive Blvd amctheatres.com

ST. LOUIS LANDMARK TIVOLI THEATRE 6350 Delmar Blvd in The Loop (314) 727-7271

O’FALLON, IL WEHRENBERG O’FALLON 15 CINE 1320 Central Park Dr (618) 624-7336

ST. LOUIS WEHRENBERG RONNIES 20 CINE 5320 S Lindbergh Blvd (314) 843-4336

Voted Best Smoke Shop

4.55" X 3.5" WED 4/20 ST LOUIS RIVERFRONT TIMES (MOVIEREADERS SECTION)CHOICE 2015 DUE MON 12PM ET 2015

The New York Times 6163 EAST DELMAR LOOP | 314.863.8860

HHHH!

“A WILD RIDE!”

The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Boulevard. $22. 314-533-9900.

Joe Pug is not a hipster with a banjo, a smarty pants with a computer, a naïf with a fake British accent singing in a fake forest. He is, rather, a serious songwriter — with his harmonica rack, dreadnought guitar and busker’s work ethic, he’s a throwback to Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie. Reaching even further back, he conjures role models such as Whitman and Thoreau, for whom the rhythms of the American

-Stephen Whitty, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THIS JUST IN

don cheadle ewan mcgregor

MILES AHEAD WWW.MILESDAVIS.COM WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM

CREVE COEUR AMC CREVE COEUR 12 10465 Olive Blvd amctheatres.com

STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 22

ST. LOUIS LANDMARK TIVOLI THEATRE 6350 Delmar Blvd in The Loop (314) 727-7271

O’FALLON, IL WEHRENBERG O’FALLON 15 CINE 1320 Central Park Dr (618) 624-7336

ST. LOUIS WEHRENBERG RONNIES 20 CINE 5320 S Lindbergh Blvd (314) 843-4336

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.MILESAHEAD-MOVIE.COM

4.55" X 2" WED 4/20 ST LOUIS RIVERFRONT TIMES (MUSIC SECTION) DUE MON 12PM ET

Jazz • Blues • Bossa Artist: (circle one:) Emmett Heather Ronnie

Steve

AE: (circle one:) Carrie Jane Maria

struct, Wed., May 25, 6 p.m., $12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BLACK LIPS: Fri., July 8, 8 p.m., $15-$17. The

MORGAN PAGE: Sat., July 23, 9 p.m., $15-$25.

Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

Ameristar Casino, 1 Ameristar Blvd., St.

CHEAP GIRLS: Tue., June 21, 8 p.m., $10-$12.

Charles, 636-949-7777.

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

MUSIC AT THE INTERSECTION: W/ Fresh Heir,

773-3363.

Good for the Soul, DJ Mahf, DJ Makossa,

CHIEFS: W/ Damned Holy Rollers, Tok, Pirate

M.M.E., Nato Caliph, Hazard to Ya Booty, DJ

Signal, Sat., June 11, 9 p.m., $8-$10. The Demo,

Siniman, Paige Alyssa, Theresa Payne, Andrew

4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

Franklin and the Sugar Kings, Fri., June 17,

CON BRIO: Thu., June 30, 8 p.m., $10-$12. The

5 p.m., free. Strauss Park, Washington & N.

Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-

Grand boulevards, St. Louis.

833-5532.

NEW EDITION: W/ Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds,

DREWSIF STALIN’S MUSICAL ENDEAVORS: W/

Thu., July 21, 6 p.m., $29.95-$129.95.

The Fine Constant, Aenimus, Thu., June 23, 6

S.L.U.M. FEST 2016: W/ Saint Oeaux, Bates,

ART APPROVED p.m., $12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. Josh AE APPROVED FRESCO KANE: W/ Day Freshout Ent, Big Tim Dude, RIP James, Sat., April 23, 9 p.m., CLIENT APPROVED

Miistro Freeyo, Feekee, Riley B, Legend Camp, Keem, Lyfestile, the Domino Effect, Bo Dean, Haiku, the Walkman, Allen Gates, Jonezy, Doorway, Indiana Rome, Jay Love,

$10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

Jskillz, Woo Child, Sat., June 25, noon, TBA.

314-289-9050.

2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720

GWEN STEFANI: W/ Eve, Wed., Aug. 10, 7 p.m.,

Cherokee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700.

$29.95-$149.95. Hollywood Casino Amphi-

SCARLET TANAGER: W/ Cara Louise Band, Fri.,

theatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland

May 13, 8 p.m., $7. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th

Heights, 314-298-9944.

St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

HIATUS KAIYOTE: Tue., Aug. 9, 8 p.m., $25-

SEARCH PARTIES: W/ Bruiser Queen, Fri., May

$27.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

6, 9 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.,

Louis, 314-726-6161.

St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

ICONS OF HIP-HOP BLOCK PARTY: W/ Jalil and

SILVER WINGS: A TRIBUTE TO MERLE HAGGARD:

Esctasy (of Whodini), Slick Rick, Dana Dane,

W/ Colonel Ford, Rough Shop, The River Kit-

Sun., May 15, 7 p.m., $35-$50. The Pageant,

tens, Sat., May 28, 7 p.m., $10-$12. Off Broad-

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

way, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

ILL NINO: W/ Bobaflex, Shattered Sun, Voodoo

SMILE EMPTY SOUL: W/ Romantic Rebel, Beit-

Terror Tribe, Thu., June 9, 7 p.m., $17-$18. The

themeans, The Everyday Losers, Fri., July 15, 7

Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

p.m., $15-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

JAMES BAY: Fri., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $27-$30. The

314-289-9050.

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

SUSTO: W/ Goodnight, Texas, Fri., May 6, 8

6161.

p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

KANSAS: Fri., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., $26.95-$96.95.

Louis, 314-535-0353.

Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St.

TWATER LIARS: Sat., July 9, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Off

Louis, 314-241-1888.

Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-

Bistro & Music House

KEITH SWEAT: W/ DJ Kut, Fri., May 20, 8 p.m.,

3363.

Sat 4/16, 5/28, and 6/25

Sun 4/24, 5/1 and 5/15

$35-$55. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Road,

WHOLE EARTH NUCLEAR UKULELE ORCHESTRA:

512 N. Euclid Ave • St. Louis

423 S. Florissant Rd • Ferguson

North St. Louis County, 314-869-9090.

Wed., June 8, 8 p.m., $10. Old Rock House, 1200

MANDROID ECHOSTAR: W/ Auras, Native Con-

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Confirmation #:

Fletcher Moley Group • Ben Wheeler - bass • Kyle Honeycutt - dums • Katie Turnbull - vocals • Dave Stone - tenor sax • Fletcher Moley - guitar and vocals

vernacular formed the hard, sacred core of art and whose politics were not a preening front. His best songs are American jeremiads, composed with images both fiery and fragile, calling down simple truths on his country and himself in his search for “a narrative that was ours.” Song by exceptional song, he’s finding it. Who Should Go: Anyone who believes, as Guthrie did and Pug surely does, that a songwriter’s job is to “comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable.” –Roy Kasten

RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 20-26, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE WOMEN ON THE VERGE BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’ve been aware of my emetophilia since a very young age and have always kept it private. No need to tell me about the health risks, I’m aware, and I’ve only ever indulged this kink through videos online. The actual substance doesn’t turn me on — I have no desire to be puked on. For me, the fantasy involves being with someone as they begin to feel sick, and then taking care of them as they puke. It has something to do with the buildup and release. Who knows? I’m married, and I told my husband about my kink exactly once, a few years ago. He wasn’t judgmental, but he never brought it up again. We have a great sex life otherwise, and I’ve always assumed I’d have satisfying, normal sex with my husband and masturbate to this kink in private. But recently, on a whim, I posted a message on a kink site. A few weeks later, a guy reached out to say the description exactly mirrored his own kink. We’ve been texting for a few weeks. He makes me feel like less of a freak, it’s been super hot, and we’ve talked about meeting up and role-playing for each other. It makes me go crazy just to think about this. In light

of the health risks — and the fact that I’m married — this would be a one-time thing. Do I have to tell my husband? I don’t want to have sex with this person; I just want to live out my fantasy for one night, which doesn’t necessarily involve getting naked. But obviously we will both get off, so there’s a definite sexual element. My husband and I have had threesomes, so he’s not a “strictly monogamous” guy, but it is new for me to strike out on my own. But more than that, I’m mortified at the thought of him knowing about the kind of night I’m having, asking me about it later, etc. I would just rather him not know. But is that cheating? A Lady Emetophile Meets Her Match The answer to your last question — is that cheating? — is obvious. If that wasn’t cheating, ALEMHM, or if you thought your husband wouldn’t regard it as cheating, you would be asking him for permission to meet up with your vomit buddy. So let’s just run with the assumption that getting together with your VB would constitute infidelity, if the low-grade, nonpenetrative, not-for-everyone kind. So do you have to tell your husband? You could tell your husband — and lots of people will insist you must tell your husband — but I’m sitting here, in this Star-

bucks on Lex and 78th, wondering if your husband would rather not be told. You shared your kink with your husband once, and he never brought it up again. We can reasonably assume that your husband isn’t interested in discussing, much less indulging, this very particular sexual interest of yours. Another reasonable assumption: Your kink may not be something your husband wants to think about. The awareness of your kink, to use Emily “Dear Prudence Emeritus” Yoffe’s phrase, could be a libido killer for him. If your husband worked at stuffing your disclosure down the memory hole because it interferes with his ability to connect with you sexually, asking permission to spend an evening with your VB could come as an unwelcome reminder. So you could make — as I’ve just made — an argument for sparing your husband the reminder, and sparing yourself the discomfort, by not telling and/or asking him, and then discreetly meeting up with your VB just this once. (The counterargument is also easily made: He never brought it up again because he picked up on your shame, he didn’t want to distress you, etc.) But if you decide to meet your VB, ALEMHM, weigh the risks (what happens if you

riverfronttimes.com

get caught?) against the rewards (scratching this off your kidney dish list!), meet up with your VB in public first, and let someone know where you are and who you’re with on the big night. Hey, Dan: I find myself in the most boring of straight white girl pickles: My boyfriend is dragging his feet on proposing. I’m 29, and he’s 31. We’ve been dating for three years. Things are great. We talk about our future a lot — buying a house, vacations, blah blah blah. Lack of proposal aside, we’re solid. But I would hate to waste another year in this city for this guy when I could have been working toward tenure somewhere else. (I’m in academia.) I’ve tried bringing this up to him several times with no concrete results. Really Into Not Going Solo Propose to him, RINGS. Don’t informally propose a formal proposal — don’t ask him to ask you to marry him — but go get a ring (for him) and ask him to marry you (for fuck’s sake). You have the power to pop the question and call it at the same time. Good luck, I hope he says yes. Listen’s to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

APRIL 20-26, 2016

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

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199

HAZELWOOD 233 Village Square Cntr • (314) 731-1212 FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS 10900 Lincoln Tr. • (618) 394-9479

Unless otherwise limited, prices are good through Tuesday following publication date. Installed price offers are for product purchased from Audio Express installed in factory-ready locations. Custom work at added cost. Kits, antennas and cables additional. Added charges for shop supplies and environmental disposal where mandated. Illustrations similar. Video pictures may be simulated. Not responsible for typographic errors. Savings off MSRP or our original sales price, may include install savings. Intermediate markdowns may have been taken. Details, conditions and restrictions of manufacturer promotional offers at respective websites. Price match applies to new, non-promotional items from authorized sellers; excludes “shopping cart” or other hidden specials. © 2016, Audio Express.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 20-26, 2016

riverfronttimes.com