Riverfront Times - June 14, 2017 by Riverfront Times

JUNE 14–20, 2017 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 25

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Introducing

the STL-77

Meet the 77 artists and bands who made St. Louis sing in 2017

DON’T MISS SHOWCASE STL THIS WEEKEND! rftshowcase.com

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Friday, June 23 – Vote For Pedro Saturday, June 24 – Concoction Friday, June 30 – Paint The Earth Saturday, July 1 – Coco Soul Saturday, July 8 – Trixie Delight Saturday, July 15 – Queen’s Boulevard Satruday July 22 – Joe Dirt Saturday July 29 – Superjam

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“I view the world differently. And I want to change it. I want to understand the world too. That’s why I come out to events like this.” —HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR ANDREW MYERS, PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR METROLINK’S NEW CORTEX STOP ON JUNE 8

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

13.

Introducing the STL-77

Meet the 77 artists and bands who made St. Louis sing in 2017 Written by

RFT STAFF

Cover illustration by

RADOMAN DURKOVIC

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

NIGHTLIFE

The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

The Chickens Are Coming

A new aldermanic proposal would allow St. Louis households up to eight chickens or rabbits

The Man Behind the Bot

Film

Robert Hunt is seriously annoyed by Band Aid

Stage

Paul Friswold finds resonance in The Sweet Smell of Success and Title and Deed

Arch de Triomphe

Allison Babka reports on the clueless efforts of a St. Louis “comedian” briefly plucked out of obscurity by Vess Soda

Side Dish

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

First Look

Twitter has a new darling, invented right here in St. Louis

Food News

Sister Cities is back in business after a very long year

A 21-year-old man is killed in south city after police raid his home

Bars

Lynch Street Tavern brings new life to a Soulard spot that’s suffered more than its share of turnover 6

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Out Every Night

Cheryl Baehr gets to know the new pack leader at Lion’s Choice

Sara Graham sees what David Kirkland is cooking at Turn, now open in Grand Center

SWAT Team Firefight

Not Funny

Miles from her native France, Clemence Pereur has created a marvelous cafe that’s just like Like Home

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements

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NEWS

Born in STL: A Twitter Bot Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

here is a universe where, each morning, the president of the United States confers with a well-briefed cadre of communications professionals before drafting policy statements to the American people. Of course, we do not live in that universe, because President Trump has the temperament of a piss-soaked kitchen sponge with daddy issues — and unfortunately for American foreign policy, this piss-sponge-in-chief has access to a Twitter account. But! Through the simple magic of an automated Twitter bot, St. Louis educator and software developer Russel Neiss has cast Trump’s infamous Twitter tirades into something resembling a presidential mold. And people are loving it. Launched June 4, the Twitter bot @RealPressSecBot pulls Trump’s tweets and repackages them on the official letterhead of the hite House press office. In just two days, the account drew more than 84,000 followers and a slew of press coverage from national outlets, including the Washington Post and the Atlantic. (By press time, the follower count was up to 102,000.) The timing couldn’t have been better, as Trump spent last Monday morning on a remarkable tear of shit-posting, starting with a misrepresentation of statements by the mayor of London following a terrorism attack, and then progressing to insisting that yes, he really, really wants to institute a travel ban. “His tweets can move markets, his tweets can create political issues both at home and abroad,” Neiss tells Riverfront Times. “These aren’t just tweets. These are presidential things at their core, and they should be treated as such.” The idea, he says, was inspired by former Obama staffer Pat Cunnane, who tweeted a mocked-up Continued on pg 11 version of

Amy Van Donsel visits with her chickens in Tower Grove East. A new proposal would allow city residents up to eight birds. | KELLY GLUECK

Here Come the Chickens?

bill introduced at the Board of Aldermen last week would allow St. Louis families to keep up to eight chickens or rabbits on a normal-sized city lot — a sizable increase to what’s currently permitted. Under existing city ordinances, St. Louis residents are allowed no more than four pets total, and chickens and rabbits have no special classification. If you have three dogs and one chicken, for example, you’ve reached the cap. But the new bill, sponsored by Alderwomen Cara Spencer and Christine Ingrassia, carves out a framework for small farm animals, namely chickens and rabbits, that

is separate from pets. It would also allow one Vietnamese potbelly pig per household, although other large farm animals and roosters both remain expressly prohibited. The new regulations are part of a broader effort to encourage urban farming within St. Louis. The alderwomen worked with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, seeking to bring the city’s ordinances that affect urban agriculture in line with best practices in other cities. The coalition’s survey, which involved more than 850 people, found broad support for such reforms locally. An additional proposal from Ingrassia and Spencer would allow St. Louis residents to sell eggs, honey and produce from the property where they are grown, without costly busiriverfronttimes.com

ness licenses. Says Ingrassia, “It’s all about letting people have easier access to food, and to make the city more sustainable.” Selling home-grown produce won’t make anyone rich, she acknowledges. “But if you can make a few extra bucks, that’s a good thing.” Last year, a proposal to increase to six the number of chickens owned by city households couldn’t attain passage at the Board of Aldermen. Spencer, for one, believes this year may be different. “With the new energy on the board and more progressives on it, we should be able to get this passed,” she says. She urges all of those interested in the issue to contact their alderman or woman to seek their support. —Sarah Fenske

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DOYLE MURPHY

t. Louis city police officers stormed a south city home last Wednesday and killed a 21-year-old inside, authorities say. Acting police chief Lt. Colonel Lawrence O’Toole tells reporters Isaiah Hammett opened fire with high-powered rifle on members of the SWAT team, who shot back. “I can descri e it only as eing a firefight that was inside the residence,” O’Toole says. “Numerous rounds were fired.” When it was over, Hammett was mortally wounded. None of the officers was hurt. But neither Hammett’s mother, Gina Torres, nor some friends of Hammett believe the police version. Torres says her son was home with his grandfather, who uses a wheelchair, when they heard someone smashing through the door. She says Hammett pulled his grandfather to the oor to protect him. “They thought someone was trying to break in,” Torres says. Toole says officers in the city s first district were in estigating allegations that Hammett was selling drugs and weapons at the house, which is located in the 5400 block of South Kingshighway, just south of Christy Park. Eight members of the city SWAT team swarmed the single-story bungalow at about 11:20 a.m., forced open the door and tossed

a flash bang explosive inside, O’Toole says. The acting chief says Hammett egan to fire almost immediately as they entered. At a news conference, O’Toole described Hammett as a man with a record, who put officers’ lives in danger. The acting chief hypothesized that Hammett had spotted the SWAT team through surveillance cameras mounted on the house and was lying in wait as officers approached. “I can tell you this suspect fired numerous shots at police officers,” O’Toole says. The allegation that Hammett was a shoot first drug dealer conicts with the man descri ed y friends and family, and Hammett’s record shows only a misdemeanor conviction for possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana, according to online court documents. Julian Cobb says he was a video game collector, a guy who seemed the least likely of any of his friends to get in trouble, much less shoot at police. “ ll I know is he s a really good dude,” Cobb says. “He didn’t deserve this.” When Cobb’s older brother was murdered along with another friend in 2015, Hammett and his mother joined the family to mourn. Now Hammett’s death has reversed those roles. Torres says someone shot up her son’s car a couple of weeks ago on Delor Street, and that police had hounded him and his friends for years. She was waiting for more information when a chaplain in a white SUV arrived and ushered her and a handful of relatives inside. Friends said they were headed to the morgue. n

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Russel Neiss found a way to make Trump tweets appear presidential. | COURTESY OF RUSSEL NEISS

TWITTER BOT Continued from pg 9 one of Trump’s tweets and suggested that all of the President’s missives deserved the same treatment. Neiss instantly saw a way to assist. “This is the sort of thing that I like to do,” explains Neiss. His previous work included the automated Twitter account @Stl_ Manifest, which was designed to commemorate the Holocaust victims who were killed after the U.S. forced their ship, the MS St. Louis, to return to Germany in 1939. For Neiss, @RealPressSecBot represents another effort to contextualize a piece of history through the Twitter platform. He says building the bot took all of 40 minutes — the length of his kids’ nap on Sunday afternoon. What Neiss couldn’t have known that Sunday, however, was that the very nature of Trump’s tweets would become a cable news talking point the following day, as the president’s surrogates attempted to argue that media was “obsessing” over Trump’s social media use, seemingly in the attempt to separate the president’s Twitter statements from his presidential actions. (After all, the lawyers forced to defend the “travel ban” can’t be happy that the president is single-handedly destroying their carefully crafted legal arguments in 140-character Tweet bombs.) But, as Neiss observes, that ar-

gument gets wrecked by Trump himself on a near-daily basis. “You have a press secretary, Sean Spicer, who could say one thing on the podium one day and then be overruled by the Twitter account the next day,” he says. “If you want to ask about what the president is actually thinking, an actual presidential statement, the only thing you’re left with is the Tweets themselves.” Neiss doesn’t consider @RealPressSecBot inherently anti-Trump, and he rejects the idea that he’s constructed a platform for parody. These are simply Trump’s words, and any dissonance of seeing them neatly typed on White House letterhead isn’t the fault of the bot — it simply shows Trump being Trump. Normally, we’d wonder how the president feels about something like this — but hey, this is Trump. We don’t have to wonder. We’ve got an official statement addressing just that ... and even though he originally issued it on Twitter, we somehow found a version on the official presidential letterhead. “The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media,” @RealPressSecBot tweeted June 6. “They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out.” As Sean Spicer would say, the tweets speak for themselves. And so we can only surmise that Trump absolutely loves that the half-formed ideas he stole from Fox News morning shows now look so presidential. n

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Introducing

the STL-77 T Meet the 77 artists and bands who made St. Louis sing in 2017

his weekend, the RFT’s ShowcaseSTL kicks off in the Grove — the biggest all-local music festival in St. Louis history. For the first time this year, we’ll be rocking out for two days, with three venues and a dozen acts Friday evening in addition to the nine stages and more than 90 acts playing throughout the day Saturday. That’s a lot of music! And that’s not all. For the last two months, we’ve been counting down our inaugural list of the STL-77. Rather than attempting to shoe-horn bands into categories in some sort of weirdass Music Olympics, this year we eliminated the “competition” part of our music awards and just went with the “award” component. So this year’s list isn’t a readers’ poll and it’s not a contest. It is, simply, a celebration of the 77 artists and bands that have done big things in the last twelve months. From groups that just formed in the last year to local acts who’ve hit the big-time to living legends like Kim Massie, our list shows the breadth, depth and astonishing talent based in St. Louis. Read up on all three categories of honorees, from up-and-coming artists to buzzworthy acts to heavy hitters. Then visit rftshowcase.com for the showcase schedule — because the only thing better than reading about St. Louis’ top performers is watching them in action. —Sarah Fenske

UP AND COMING ARTISTS

Relatively new or newly reactivated, these acts are rapidly making a cannonball-sized splash in St. Louis’ local music pool.

The Gaslight Squares Imagine, for a moment, the life of British trumpeter/banjoist TJ Muller. Mad about the riverboat swing music of 1920s America, he jumps aboard Pokey LaFarge’s traveling musical revue in 2013, and together they criss-cross the globe. Eventually he departs LaFarge’s band to cast his lot with St. Louis, legendary home of the traditional jazz and blues Muller loves most. Along with locals Matt Sellers (piano/accordion), Jacob Alspach (banjo/guitar), Jon Weiss (tuba) and the occasional snare drummer or trombonist, Muller forms the Gaslight Squares — and if the bricks of south city could sing, this is what they’d sound like. Merrily rustic trumpet leads, while barroom piano, choppy banjo, old-timey radio harmonies and the rustle and whoosh of dancing skirts swing through the air. Charismatic and easy on the eyes (especially with the city’s swing kids on their side), the members of the Gaslight Squares evoke more than just history: They express timeless city pride. Recommended if you like: W.C. Handy, Charlie Creath, Pokey LaFarge, bowties Continued on pg 14

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The Bobby Dazzlers released two stellar EPs in the last year, Champion and Crusher. | ALAN PALMER

STL-77 Continued from pg 13

Find him: On Bandcamp at maxcorpindustries.bandcamp.com —Kevin Korinek

Find her: On Bandcamp at lepondsmusic.bandcamp.com —Evan Sult

Find them: On Facebook at facebook. com/thegaslightsquares —Evan Sult

LéPonds

The Bobby Dazzlers

Gently bent notes and reverb-heavy acoustic guitar hang thick as humidity on Heat, LéPonds’ 2016 debut, so it’s a fitting soundtrack for warm summer nights. Lisa Houdei is LéPonds’ lyricist, guitarist and voice, and though she occasionally plays with a band, her solo performances reveal the heart of the project: ethereal melodies and intimate, emotional lyrics that show fragments of narrative while shifting others out of view. On the album, the production is subtly layered with synthy pulses, muted percussion and whimsical added harmonies, all of which intensify and focus Houdei’s breathy, restrained vocal approach. In “Charmed,” her strongest song to date, she employs an instantly memorable melody to sketch the arc of a romance, from giddy meeting through childbirth to betrayal and separation in less than three minutes. Whether Houdei is live or on record, her declaration, “I’d rather raise my son alone” is enough to make the hairs on your neck stand up. Recommended if you like: Jessica Pratt, Ingrid Michaelson, Bon Iver, Julie Doiron

Nothing goes with gnarly distorted guitar quite like fuzzed-up distorted vocals to conjure fantasies of a basement party running wild. The Bobby Dazzlers keep their songs short, fast and reckless, laying timeless rock rhythm and lead riffs under singer Chad Rogers’ surprisingly satisfying melodies. The group’s two EPs, Champion and Crusher, supposedly showcase the band’s pop and heavy sides, respectively, but they both surf their way through the lo-fi pop tradition with big-league confidence. Live, the band has charm to match its shredding — honed in prior acts including the Breaks, Hibernauts and Dear Vincent — and its members have figured out that the best way to make sure the crowd has fun is to have fun themselves. They’re a hard band to catch these days, so don’t miss your chance when it arrives. Recommended if you like: The Strokes, the Replacements, the Orwells, MC5 Find them: On Bandcamp at thebobbydazzlers.bandcamp.com/album/ champion-ep —Evan Sult

Kingston Family Singers IDM? EDM? IDK. Who cares about labels when you’re an artist? When it comes to experimental musicians taking risks and trying to do something different, you’d best not be so judgy. Open up your horizons with Kingston Family Singers — and don’t let the name fool you. This is no apple-cheeked choir of Sunday school boys. The Belleville-based act is less a band and more a solo passion project by Chad Hickman, which vacillates between tin-foil proto-punk and ambient white noise, complete with hollowed-out bass, crashing rhythm and the occasional abrasive guitar riff that’s just off-kilter enough to either make your ears grateful or make you grate your teeth. With a slew of home-recorded EPs and tracks that average in the twenty-minute range, this is the soundtrack the matrix jams to. Recommended if you like: Radio Berlin, Fugazi, Aphex Twin, when you pick up the phone but your dad is using the fax machine 14

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Eric Donté He calls it “ghetto trance” music; you might call it dark, twisted, honest and minimalist. Donté, who also goes by the name Fadda Vampire, creates hip-hop confessions that sound cinematic, even without the benefit of his stylish videos (he’s also a model). Donté’s stream of consciousness flows in an eerie mist, but it also reverberates, like Tricky arriving strung out and late to an underwater séance in St. Louis. The 23-year-old native St. Louisan released the haunting God Don’t Like Ugly EP last year, and his current releases, notably “World War E,” take a hard political turn even as the beats sound even more clubready. Keep your eye on Donté. He’s just getting started, but he’s got talent that sounds built to last. Recommended if you like: Tyler the Creator, Tricky, J. Cole, Childish Gambino Find him: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/eric-donte —Roy Kasten

Shady Bug Rainey twins Hannah and Delia have always been magic creatures, spinning fairy tales, acoustic guitar and warbly intuitive harmonies into shadow-dappled metaphors via their band Dubb Nubb. Shady Bug is Hannah Rainey’s more earthbound iteration, expressing her experiences in the

heart of STL’s bustling DIY scene. On the concept’s debut album, tbh idk, it’s thrilling to hear the capacities of an already impressive songwriter expand dramatically with the addition of creative, rocket-fueled drums and distortion in the classic loud-quietloud tradition. Endearingly weird bent notes abound, and the project doesn’t sound like Dubb Nubb electrified — it’s a true meshing of styles with her bandmates, who seem to be channeling equal parts Mac DeMarco and K Records. The band’s occasional vocal harmonies are as crucial to the sound as the chorus effect on Hannah’s guitar, and the whole thing rolls comfortably between casual and epic, a surprisingly polished sound from the underground. Recommended if you like: Spinanes, Meat Puppets, Mac DeMarco, Mirah Find him: On Bandcamp at shadybug. bandcamp.com/ —Evan Sult

Seashine In its infancy, shoegaze music sprang forth from the heady mixture of disaffected British youth with access to both an arsenal of guitar effects and a medicine cabinet full of pills. But in the 25 years since My Bloody Valentine cut new territory with a Fender Jazzmaster, the form has become malleable enough to contain bands of many stripes. In Seashine, a relatively new foursome, a reverence for the past mingles with an of-the-moment energy. The band’s four-song demo has a polish and assuredness that belies its home-recorded origins. “Shangri La” kicks things off with a propulsive, stutter-stepped snare roll before settling into a stratospheric dreaminess that carries through the rest of the set, with singer and guitarist Demi Haynes able to cut through the haze with force and grace. Recommended if you like: Ride, Beach House, Lush, Echo & the Bunnymen Find them: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/seashineband —Christian Schaeffer

Skins Tags Skins Tags is a very punk name, which is fitting because this band is punk as fuck. Guitarist Mabel Suen (also a photographer for RFT) burns through riot-infused chords, while Shelly Koesterer bangs her drums into oblivion. Bassist Lucy Dougherty pulls double duty for the tumultuous Skin Tags as well as Little Big Bangs, but despite the groups’ different styles, she doesn’t seem out of place in either act. Together these three kick ass like no other trio in town, turning distorted, crunchy squalor into catchy transcriptions of youth. Equal parts hardcore

and gutter grunge, Skin Tags is just as ferocious and rabid on stage as on its 2016 demo — which means once you start listening, you won’t be able to stop. Recommended if you like: Jawbox, Bad Brains, Rites of Spring, publishing zines Find them: On Bandcamp at skintags. bandcamp.com/ —Kevin Korinek

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Bagheera Ted and Heather Moll spent well over a decade chiseling away at the songs on Shooting Rockets Towards the Sun, the first record they’ve released as Bagheera since 2004’s Twelves. It was time well spent: Released on the local label Skeleton Fur, Shooting Rockets Towards the Sun is an ambience-filled album where textured sounds — razor-filed guitars, alien-invasion synthesizers, Doppler-effect percussion — flit in orbit like gorgeous space junk. The Molls’ harmonic collisions add to the shoegaze-in-a-distant-galaxy atmosphere. On “Martian Influence,” the pair’s voices combine like John Doe and Exene Cervenka; meanwhile, the standout title track boasts clarion, sturdy hollers. With bassist Julie Gibbs on board as a steadying influence, Bagheera has also started performing live once again — signaling all systems go for a career reignition. Recommended if you like: Rainer Maria, New Pornographers, Cocteau Twins, Hum Find them: Online at www.bagheeramusic.com/ —Annie Zaleski

REAT BARS

Dracla At first glance, Dracla appears to be a drunken Halloween lounge act similar to Bill Murray’s “Nick the Lounge Singer” character from his early years on SNL — but it only takes about five seconds into a performance for that image to switch to one of a street-fighting vampire overlord. Bass high on the hip, the pale-faced Ray Kannenberg seizes the helm with a startling command of “SILENCE,” ordering and acquiring obedience from the crowd even as he sets the tone for the next half-hour of riff-laden vampire metal. Skillfully backed by Bug Chaser’s Jake Jones and Kevin Insinna, as well as Nathan Dick and Nick Kampen, the band has all the meat and darkness implied by its name, a seriously heavy package tied up nicely with a dirty black bow (the one holding Kannenberg’s cape on, naturally). Sabbath beware; Dracla has risen. Recommended if you like: Black Sabbath, Bug Chaser, vampires Find them: On Bandcamp at dracla. bandcamp.com —Melinda Cooper

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Blight Future performed at last year’s showcase. | THEO WELLING

The Strange Places

STL-77 Continued from pg 15 Thor Axe While the spelling of the name calls to mind a hatchet-wielding maniac, wordplay artists will giggle at the pun. Labeled as instrumental metal (which is undoubtedly in its DNA), the band seems to best be described as mid to late ‘70s metal — the kind we all know and love and karaoke to when we’re drunk out of our minds. Thor Axe is something of a local super group, composed of members of So Many Dynamos, the Gorge and Black Fast. Together they hold the stage and take no prisoners with thundering bass and drums, driving synths and triple-harmony guitar leads. When all these elements combine, a chemical reaction transpires in your brain, and you’re forced to pump your fist in the air over and over again. Just make sure you’re not actually holding an axe — you might dismember the hipster next to you. Recommended if you like: Diamond Nights, Thin Lizzy, Natty Light, Trans Am (the band or the car), ‘80s video game soundtracks Find them: Online at thoraxeband. tumblr.com/ —Kevin Korinek 16

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The Strange Places is the Krazy Kat dreamscape of the man sometimes known as Chris Baricevic but nowadays going by Kristo. He’s got a few names because he’s got a few roles, including running Big Muddy Records, one of the region’s deepest wells of weird Americana, and playing in a host of bands. He’s a player who seems to have sprung fully grown from the head of his guitar like some desert-rock Athena, with a virtuosity and comfort that isn’t meant to be accessible to someone his age ... so the whole band seems to have sped up their lives, living extra hard to catch up. The only signs of the Strange Places online are recordings made as Kristo, and while those are pleasingly porchy, the full band brings the spacedust, sawdust and desert wind that lets Kristo truly cut loose on guitar — and when that happens, even the moon begs for an encore. Recommended if you like: Country Teasers, Giant Sand, Bob Dylan, Meat Puppets Find them: Online at www.bigmuddyrecords.com/artist/kristo —Evan Sult

Other People

Local rock & roll trio Other People is a bargain — listeners get two bands for the price of one. OK, that’s a bit of an

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overstatement, but co-frontmen Bob McMahon (a Riverfront Times contributor) and Jeremy Goldmeier take their individual permutations of pop music down different pathways. McMahon’s guitar-driven contributions are indebted to quirky pop referents like XTC and mid-period Of Montreal, while Goldmeier pounds his piano with the conviction of a tunesmith who knows his Ben Folds from his Badfinger. This year’s Other Songs by Other People found the band consolidating 40 years of errant pop songs into something two-headed but still cohesive. Recommended if you like: Spoon, Squeeze, the Shins, Elvis Costello & the Attractions Find them: On Bandcamp at otherpeoplestl.bandcamp.com —Christian Schaeffer

Joan of Dark Like its revolutionary French namesake, Joan of Dark is here to rescue you — from mediocre rock, that is, not from English domination. The band’s four members are all veterans of of the local music community, with pedigrees from Née, Arson for Candy, the Skekses, the McGees and more, and they’ve been racking up the accolades for their relatively new supergroup. Formed just a little over

a year ago, Joan of Dark already has become a must-see act, with songs that veer into punk, haunting pop and straight-up rock & roll. Wielding tunes as sharp as a sword, Joan of Dark deserves its local sainthood. Recommended if you like: The Muffs, the Donnas, the Runaways, Veruca Salt Find them: On Facebook at www. facebook.com/Joanofdarkstl/ —Allison Babka

Vernacular String Trio It can be a rare thing to find a free improvisation group that packs a house these days, but the Vernacular String Trio is one unit capable of such a feat. And for good reason: It’s one hell of a compelling experience to be present when Tracy Andreotti, Alex Cunningham and Josh Weinstein join forces on their respective instruments. Armed with only a cello, violin and bass, they manage to conjure the dynamic variation of a piano, the subtle beat of a drum and even the fullness of a small orchestra, when the spirit moves them to do so. These three work together and complement each other so well that it’s hard to believe pieces of the performance are actually improvised. With its new album Parlance released in early 2017, the group has been performing frequent-

ly in recent months — much to the delight of local showgoers. Recommended if you like: Arrington di Dionyso, Musica Elettronica Viva, Spontaneous Music Ensemble Find them: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/alexcunningham —Melinda Cooper

Shark Dad Emerging from a short hiatus with half of its lineup changed, Shark Dad is an evolved animal. The quartet still makes garage rock with distorted guitar tones and vocals that recall ‘90s indie titans, but on new EP Almost, Pink, its songwriting has hit a new level. The hooks are stronger, the tunes have better structures and the often nostalgic lyrics cut deeper. Even the occasional dad jokes are improved. New guitarist Jeremy Essig (also an RFT contributor) once jokingly likened the group to “sloppy Cheap Trick,” but recent shows have found Shark Dad tightening its performance into sharp bursts of fist-pumping rock. And between stage-crossing leaps and frontman Jason Robinson’s gregarious stage presence, Shark Dad is as fun to watch as it is to hear. Recommended if you like: The Replacements, the Refreshments, Cheap Trick, Veruca Salt Find them: On Bandcamp at wearesharkdad.bandcamp.com —Bob McMahon

Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror released its first album Extra Credit in April 2016, and with it came some of the best dirty-pop punk rock St. Louis has seen in a minute. No frills necessary, the album was recorded by drummer Leo Jalipa at the band’s practice space in the Lemp Brewhouse Studios, and produced by Jalipa and guitarist/vocalist Aurora Schmidt. The end result is nothing short of a lo-fi masterpiece. Taylor Bour rounds out the lineup with solid basslines that add a touch of serious snarl to the band’s low-end offering. Mirror Mirror has the melodies and the hooks that keep a crowd not only engaged, but bouncing and singing along. Recommended if you like: Coathangers, Priests, Bratmobile, Free Kitten Find them: On Bandcamp at mirrormirrorstl.bandcamp.com —Melinda Cooper

Golden Curls Warm Fiction, the debut EP from Golden Curls, came out in 2012, but that probably feels like a decade or two ago to Sarah Downen. She’s been the steady presence in the

band, which grew from a duo to a trio in recent years and saw drummer Philip Zahnd and guitarist Stephen Favazza (also of Hands and Feet) serve to fill the contours of Downen’s gossamer, fluttery and substantive material. Performances around town suggest the new trio’s latest songs are more beat-driven, and as such they hit a little harder and smarter than the group’s EP. With any justice, listeners will have a new album to keep them company on the kind of starlit, witchy nights that Downen channels in her music. Recommended if you like: Bat for Lashes, Mazzy Star, Broadcast Find them: On Bandcamp at goldencurls.bandcamp.com —Christian Schaeffer

The Vigilettes If Hollywood’s endless onslaught of superhero movies has taught us anything — that’s a big “if” — it’s that a little collaboration among super-powers can have world-saving, box-office-breaking effects. For south city quartet the Vigilettes, a little superhero schtick goes a long way to describing their all-for-one appeal; the four women in the band share singing and songwriting duties, creating a sound that’s indebted to Breeders-style guitar rock while leaving room for some experimentation. The group’s debut 4,3,2,1 came out in the fall, but guitarist and singer Caitlin O’Toole was teasing new material in conversation as early as last year. “We already have a lot of new songs that we’ve already been playing live,” she said. “There is definitely gonna be another release — maybe an EP.” Recommended if you like: The Pretenders, Sleater-Kinney, Alanis Morissette, Weezer Find them: On Facebook at facebook.com/thevigilettes —Christian Schaeffer

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DANCE PARTY EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY

DU E S BALCONY BAR 00 DJ DAN C WHERE IT’S ALWAYS A PARTY!

Super Hero Killer You have to hand it to Super Hero Killer. As the soul and funk revival continues to gain steam, both nationally and locally, the quartet — led by singer and bassist Donald Williams and featuring keyboardist Jesse Gannon, guitarist Jay Summers and drummer Grover Stewart — has continued to explore a harder-edged sound, indebted to Galactic at its tightest or Prince at his most guitar-slingingest, but very much its own brand of rock & soul. Its recent hookup with St. Louis’ Farfetched imprint/collective, the single “And Then You Came Along,” shifts smoothly from R&B crooning to pure fury, and bodes well for one of the toughest, funkiest bands in town. Continued on pg 18

2001 Menard (corner of Menard & Allen) 314-833-6686 Facebook: dukesinsoulard riverfronttimes.com

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The most recent release from Stan Chisolm, a.k.a. 18andCounting, came in the form of an actual brick. | MABEL SUEN

STL-77 Continued from pg 17 Recommended if you like: Sly and the Family Stone, Vintage Trouble, Prince, the Dirtbombs Find them: On Bandcamp at superherokiller.bandcamp.com —Roy Kasten

Looprat St. Louis is enjoying a nice bump in quality hip-hop lately, and Looprat is leading the charge. A bang-up year saw the band performing for SoFar Sounds and releasing the nine-song EP How We Live, which lets the eleven-piece collective show off its members’ individual talents as one dynamic, powerhouse ensemble. Jazz, hip-hop, soul — all styles are combined with dope rhymes from some of the best lyricists the city has to offer. Let’s be honest: “Rumble In the Jungle” needs to be the theme song for our entire city, if not your daily commute. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel/ never restin’ on your laurels, staying humble / caught up in the cycles of the concrete jungle / better rumble, young man, rumble.” Get it, son. Recommended if you like: Talib Kweli, Oddisee, Jazzmatazz, Jurassic 5 Find them: Online at looprat.com —Kevin Korinek 18

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BUZZWORTHY ACTS These artists have the goods and are putting in the work necessary to go far — and music lovers are paying attention.

Blight Future Punky and mathy, with a bit of poppy metal thrown in just for the hell of it, Blight Future brings a sharp, but never overbearing, activist edge to the post-hardcore scene. The foursome has clear targets — consumerism, racism, sexism, pretty much how-fuckedeverything-is-ism — but its socially conscious messages derive physical force from just how hard, free and unpredictably the band plays. Featuring songwriter and singer Stephen Inman along with drummer Jesse Kornhardt, bassist Johnny Gabbert and guitarist Emily Hoover, the band’s 2016 full-length debut, Love & Strategy, is absolutely trenchant. More importantly, it rocks a lot harder than even the tightest intersectional podcast. Recommended if you like: Refused, So Many Dynamos, Fugazi, Gang of Four Find them: On Bandcamp at blightfuture.bandcamp.com —Roy Kasten

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18andCounting Pigeonhole Stan Chisholm at your peril. You may have heard him spin at spaces ranging from the Royale to word-of-mouth warehouse parties, or you might have seen his expansive murals at the City Museum. But as a multi-disciplinary artist who performs under the aegis 18andCounting, Chisholm spent much of 2016 working on TheBirdsAtThisHour, the contents of which he doled out over a series of shows last fall. The document itself shows his versatility as a performer, and here he leads TheOnlyEnsemble — a hodge-podge of percussion, violin and didgeridoo — and manipulates beats and synths while laying a sometimes spare, sometimes opulent backdrop for his meditative verses. Chisholm is a hip-hop lyricist at heart, but his collaborative, curatorial spirit elevates 18andCounting into something unique and of a piece. Recommended if you like: Sprawling and difficult to define art, bricks Find him: Online at 18andcounting. com —Christian Schaeffer

Bug Chaser Any given Bug Chaser album is a little like being trapped in a room full of TVs, each blasting a different episode of MTV’s 120 Minutes while a guy in an

orange denim vest yells in your face. Why would anyone want that? Well — fair question. And yet: The band is mighty. It is undeniable. And it rocks like you wish more bands would, or even could. The two drummers sweat together like they’re casting tribal spells, while the keys and two guitars and the tall guy on “auto granny” weave contradictory cast-off pop music histories into swirling spacetime wormholes, through which singer Pat Grosch steps, all silver pants and flying hair. Why does it work? They’re all great players, but the truth of Bug Chaser is the universal truth of punk rock: the bass. THE BASS. If you want to know the future, know Bug Chaser. This concludes your orientation. See you at the show. Recommended if you like: Can, the Stooges, Lil B the Based God, the Monks Find them: On Bandcamp at bugchaser.bandcamp.com —Evan Sult

Lamar Harris Of late, Lamar Harris has been working steadily and creatively as DJ Nune, the only turntablist in town who can blow a mean trombone between even meaner remixes. But while his sets have put him in the first rank of local DJs, it’s his band vision that remains

most impressive. This year, Harris is set to release a jazz-funk fusion EP, The Mothership Chronicles, which reimagines the sound of Parliament Funkadelic in a full band setting. All the while he’ll continue to work as a DJ on old-school R&B station 95.5 FM, as a solo music educator and as a contributor to the St. Louis Low Brass Collective, a non-profit that offers training and performing opportunities for students of the trombone, euphonium, baritone horn and tuba. Few St. Louis musicians have as diverse and potent an impact on the community. Recommended if you like: George Clinton, Trombone Shorty, DJ Needles, the Roots Find him: On Bandcamp at djnuneislamarharris.bandcamp.com/ —Roy Kasten

Lumpy and the Dumpers Who in the world would ever release an album titled Huff My Sack? And what’s with the cover art? A grinning monster/goblin whose skin appears to be made entirely of sores sits, legs akimbo, presenting an avocado-shaped mass at the front and center of its body — the titular “sack,” if we’re to believe monster anatomy is similar to that of humans — ripe and ready for huffing. Who in their right mind would want to own such a thing? The answers to all of these questions are as follows: 1. Lumpy and the Dumpers, of course. 2. It’s gross and that’s the point, you simpleton. 3. Who said anyone involved here is in their “right mind” anyway? Since bursting on the scene in 2012 with a demo menacingly warning listeners of the day they’d inevitably “face the meat,” the brainchild of St. Louis punk Martin Meyer has emerged as one of the city’s most disgusting exports. Huff My Sack, the band’s first LP, has been released by labels in Australia and Europe as well as the U.S., meaning that the depravity found therein has gone international — spreading the gospel of slime and goo and gnats and sacks across the globe. Recommended if you like: ‘80s-era Ramones, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, Gauze, that gross ring of filth in your toilet bowl Find them: Online at spottedrace. bigcartel.com —Daniel Hill

DJ Kimmy Nu DJ Kimmy Nu is on a tear lately. A member of local legend DJ Charlie Chan’s 24 Scientists collective, she was voted Best Hip-Hop DJ in the annual S.L.U.M. Fest awards earlier this year. Since then she’s performed at a string of high-profile shows. Hiphop heads caught her with the vaunt-

ed Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in May, bounce fanatics saw her open for Big Freedia at the Ready Room, bookworms were treated to a set as part of the St. Louis Public Library’s recent hip-hop appreciation week, and she even turned up on the Fox 2 (KTVI) morning show to give the station’s talking heads a taste of wax with their morning coffee. Nu specializes in hiphop, neo-soul and R&B, making her position as the Knuckles’ live DJ as seamless as her breaks. Recommended if you like: The Knuckles, DJ Charlie Chan, Big Freedia, real hip-hop Find her: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/djkimmynu —Daniel Hill

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Brothers Lazaroff Last year, Brothers Lazaroff released the fuzzy and stormy Dangerous Times, its response to the rise of Donald Trump and the decline of decency in public discourse. To its credit, the band takes no cheap shots and indulges in no conspiracies. The music distills the Brothers’ longstanding love of psychedelic rock and country blues into its densest and most cinematic sound yet. Its recent gigs — including a winter-long residency at the Tick Tock Tavern and a symphonic set up at the Chesterfield Amphitheater featuring a cadre of classical musicians — have been as freewheeling and focused as St. Louis roots rock ever gets. Recommended if you like: Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Leonard Cohen, the Byrds Find them: Online at www.brotherslazaroff.com —Roy Kasten

The Gorge Follow the post-apocalyptic mood of the current news cycle and it’s not hard to imagine that we’re in year one of the fabled Thousand Year Fire that adorns metal quartet the Gorge’s latest LP. There’s certainly enough of-the-moment portent in Phil Ring’s vocals and delivery, and on the song “Pedestals” he takes a swing at the corrupted humanity of our elected leaders. But what separates the Gorge from its fellow metal bands comes from the musicians’ dexterity and willingness to tinker with the formula; Ring and fellow guitarist Joe Bowers engage in a regular tug of war with their axes, while bassist Chris Turnbaugh and drummer Jerry Mazzuca aren’t afraid to use their jazz tutelage to give these songs unexpected contours. Recommended if you like: Mastadon, Refused, Meshuggah, Fister Find them: On Bandcamp at thegorge.bandcamp.com —Christian Schaeffer Continued on pg 20

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STL-77 Continued from pg 19 The Knuckles The collaboration of Rockwell Knuckles and Aloha Misho was never a foregone conclusion; both artists have been on the grind for the better part of the last decade. Each made their individual marks on the scene — he with square-shouldered hip-hop, she with powerful, socially aware R&B. But as the Knuckles, they bring out new textures in each other’s style, creating a two-person supergroup in the process. On the pair’s first slew of releases, it’s a joy to hear the singers dip and dive around each other. On “So Much To Say,” Misho takes the lead on the piano-led intro while Knuckles punctuates her lines in his deep, studied baritone. And it’s his singing chops that shine on the clicky, pulsating “Ugly People,” allowing Misho to prop up his bars with smart harmonies. The result is a true synergy that elevates the individual artists while creating something bright, bold and necessary. Recommended if you like: Alicia Keys, Tupac, Lizzo, Arshad Goods Find them: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/theknucklesband —Christian Schaeffer

Mathias and the Pirates Out on the sea, with a singular shared goal and limited resources, a ship’s crew becomes family; each member syncs up to swing the oars, raise the sails, stoke the coals. So it goes with Mathias and the Pirates, whose members expertly build beats, grooves and lyrics into songs that can withstand any wave. Music scene veterans DJ LB and Grover Stewart lay down the sonic foundation along with a rotating circle of guests, while Mathias James and Ms. Vizion trade lyrics and harmonies in a rhythmic cadence that will leave you shouting “ahoy!” With equal parts funk, soul and pop, the Pirates’ version of hip-hop gives every listener something to enjoy. Batten down the hatches, because we’re going sailing. Recommended if you like: Common, De La Soul, Digable Planets, the Roots Find them: Online at mathiasandthepirates.net —Allison Babka

ICE Before she was ICE she was Black James, and before she was Black James she was Jennifer James McDaniel. Whatever the handle, McDaniel continues to plumb the weird,

Technicolor depths of her subconscious, with an artistic vision that encompasses dance parties, pixelated artwork and social activism. A pair of 2016 releases, Scream Club and ICY2K, showed that, as ICE, McDaniel is rooting her musical output in glitchy, hyperspeed rhythms and mutated, candy-coated vocals. McDaniel prefers to use the term “underwater” to describe her work — a fitting description for the murky, blurred dance music she creates. No one element of ICE’s output contains all of McDaniel’s reach. It’s best to keep one ear to the ground and one ear underwater to track her next move. Recommended if you like: Big Freedia, sun-warped cassette tapes, Casiotone beats at maximum BPM Find her: Online at blackjames.carbonmade.com —Christian Schaeffer

Bassamp and Dano In its nascent days, punk thrived on throwing up its middle finger and upending established political or corporate regimes. While that certainly continues these days, the genre has also grown to embrace pop riffs and good old-fashioned fun — and nobody has more fun than Bassamp and Dano. With speedy songs filled with lyrics about beer, boobs and being a goddamn American, the party punkers bring joyous insanity to a style that otherwise can be intimidating to the uninitiated. When Bassamp and Dano lament their explosive diarrhea on stage, it’s clear that everyone’s welcome to the fun poop-punk party. Check out their newly released split with the Queers, The Queers Regret Making a Record with Bassamp and Dano. Recommended if you like: The Ramones, the Queers, Screeching Weasel, America Find them: Online at www.failurecore.com —Allison Babka

John Henry John Henry has the harmonies, he has the songs, and he has the sounds to cover a multitude of genres. His most recent album, Dark City Dark Country, received accolades from a variety of music media outlets including the vaunted No Depression, which deemed it “firstclass heartland rock.” That high praise was well-earned: The album has tinges of pop, blues and Americana, with a significant helping of rock & roll driving the mix. John Henry has surrounded himself with an arsenal of St. Louis rock stars, giving a supergroup vibe even while proving himself capable of standing alone when necessary. Songs as

solid as his always translate well — regardless of the setting. Recommended if you like: Hozier, The Lumineers, Joseph Arthur, the Head and the Heart Find him: Online at www.johnhenryandtheengine.com —Melinda Cooper

David Beeman Pay attention to that cold tingle sliding down your spine as you listen to David Beeman’s handful of new songs. It may be partly shock that this full-strength, major-label grade material was written and produced right here in St. Louis. But it’s also probably a trickling sense of shame and pain from a breakup you thought you’d gotten over and are now viscerally re-living. Beeman is a masterful pop classicist on technical grounds — instantly memorable vocals and melodies, evocative instrumentation, highly stylized production — but it’s the lyrics that raise his songs to the rock heavens, transmuting painfully intimate lived experience into pop breakthroughs. Not that it all sounds “sad”: Taking cues from Father John Misty, for whom he works as soundman, Beeman’s newest material is confident, lush, even sometimes jaunty. And the effect is ultimately catharsis — for the listener, at least. What it brings the singer is less clear. Recommended if you like: Father John Misty, Big Star, Angel Olsen, the Shins Find him: On Bandcamp at davidbeeman.bandcamp.com —Evan Sult

Jeremiah Johnson If Jeremiah Johnson’s music were any greasier he could retire and open a one-stop soul food and oil change joint. The fully electrified blues and Southern rock of last year’s Blues Heart Attack belongs in the collection of any fan of contemporary guitar-slingers, though Johnson also has a killer way with honky-tonk shuffles and boogie woogie grooves, not to mention New Orleans-flavored dancefloor starters like “Everybody Party.” Yet for all the hot guitar work, inthe-pocket rhythms and slinky organ and horn charts, it’s Johnson’s voice that makes him such a compelling performer and recording artist. His twang is lived, just like his blues, and he never sounds less than convincing. Recommended if you like: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Black Crowes Find him: Online at thejeremiahjohnsonband.com —Roy Kasten Continued on pg 22

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STL-77 Continued from pg 21 Ghost Ice You might notice that the web presence for Ghost Ice is approximately nil, an odd bit of technophobia for an act built around the measured unpredictability of digital and analog signals seeking communication and discord with one another. Jeremy Kannapell regularly trots out his suitcase full of knobs and wires for Ghost Ice sets, but don’t look for a packaged, recorded set of music anytime soon; Kannapell thrives on subtlety, manipulation and chance, creating a neverthe-same-show-twice experience with each appearance at underground and D.I.Y. spaces. Given Kannapell’s gift for booking challenging, engrossing bills that stretch across the noise and new music spectrums, it’s no shock that he’s both an apt collaborator and egoless entity, but his hardto-define style stands on its own. Recommended if you like: Ghost Ice Find him: Good luck with that —Christian Schaeffer 22

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The Vanilla Beans Plying its trade since 2006, the Vanilla Beans has been a model of consistency. The band has refined its mix of bright parallel twin guitar leads, bubbly keyboards and sparse but stiffly funky electronic beats into a sleek sound with instant appeal. Perched atop the layers of catchy instrumental riffs is the charming interplay between singers Andrew Garces and Ani Kramer, who shuffle from call-and-response to harmonies to doubled lead vocals. Their earnest delivery and peppy melodies perfectly suit their direct approach to lyrics, rendering simple statements sung from one character to another anthemic. Over the course of three full-length albums, two EPs, a monthly singles collection and assorted b-sides, the Vanilla Beans has never experienced a dip in quality — only built on its strengths, to the point that a hookless, charisma-free Vanilla Beans release is unimaginable. Recommended if you like: Daniel Johnston, Anamanaguchi, Postal Service, Hot Chip Find them: On Bandcamp at thevanillabeans.bandcamp.com —Bob McMahon

Syna So Pro Syna So Pro can be a profoundly disorienting experience, especially if you catch the one-woman band behind the moniker doing songs from her current album, Vox, composed entirely for voice. But “voice” sounds so singular, and Syrhea Conaway is so multiple, thanks to her looping pedals — she may start with a simple, spoken “boom boom kick, boom kick,” and soon she’s backed by lush, complexly shifting choral arrangements that include everything from soprano to bass (represented by her own octave-shifted voice). It spins from absurdly ambitious into delightfully unreal with “Fengyang Song,” a Chinese traditional, sung in Mandarin, that uses syllables and tones you’ve probably never encountered. Live, it’s sometimes like watching one person try to sail a three-masted galleon, but that’s part of the appeal. In seeing the effort, especially when something goes awry, we’re engaged by just how beautifully impossible the task is. Recommended if you like: Petra Haydn, Kishi Bashi, Tune-Yards, Johann Sebastian Bach Find her: Online at synasopro.com —Evan Sult Syna So Pro doesn’t need a band — or even instruments — to create a symphony of sounds. | FPE RECORDS

J’Demul Despite being only 21 years old, St. Louis rapper Trevon McRay — better known as J’Demul — has developed a truly unique voice, one he’s already used prolifically, releasing three albums and a handful of one-off tracks in roughly three years. McRay released his most recent mixtape #STLAVE in April 2016 with almost no promotion or build-up, though a set of of music videos produced by the always-stellar Louis Quatorze helped bring it recognition. While it’s McCray’s unshakeable flow and intensely (sometimes, discomfitingly) honest lyrics that form the focus of the recordings, an uncanny knack for choosing the perfect tracks to compliment his distinctive style makes for some of the freshest hip-hop in St. Louis’s already vibrant scene. J’Demul’s next release, Downtown Certified, is set to drop later this year, though an official release date hasn’t been set. Recommended if you like: Scarface, Saba, Isaiah Rashad, 2Pac Find him: Online at jdemul.stereoassault.com —Nick Horn

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Pat Sajak Assassins Long-running St. Louis prog-punk institution Pat Sajak Assassins has been on the scene so long that even the newest incarnation of its many lineups is older than most bands. The decade-plus chemistry between bassist Brian Fleschute and drummer Harold Covey shines in their aggressive attack, which combines harshly distorted, occasionally polyphonic melodies with jerky but precise math-rock drumming. Christopher Eilers and Syrhea Conaway mix in winding keyboard melodies that take shape in everything from clean piano and organ sounds to squelching synths and sweeping theremin. Conaway’s vocals are similarly versatile, ranging from pretty choir-like singing to furious lower-register bellowing as she weaves sci-fi tales. All of these elements combine in multi-segmented songs with sometimes abrupt stylistic changes and the occasional odd time signature. But Pat Sajak Assassins is remarkably accessible: The hooks are there, cutting through grooves that may be busy, but are never cluttered. Recommended if you like: Battles, Hella, Yes, Explosions in the Sky Find them: On Bandcamp at patsajakassassins.bandcamp.com —Bob McMahon Continued on pg 24

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STL-77 Continued from pg 23 Little Big Bangs Nokia just released an updated version of their first phone. Remember when cassettes were all the rage? They’re both back, yo. Technology is cyclical, and Little Big Bangs is in on the action. A callback to grunge-era sensibilities, minus the excessive flannel, these tunes remind us that maybe those sounds left a little too soon. Even on the band’s latest release (which incidentally came via cassette), the artwork looks like something that would’ve arrived in the late ‘90s from your favorite wise-cracking motley crew. All time travel aside, these guys (and gal) still make great rock for modern times. The south city band has been busting eardrums for a few years now, with only a few releases to show for it, leaving fans crying for more — in whatever format we can get it. Recommended if you like: Sonic Youth, Breeders, Pavement, Bully Find them: On Bandcamp at littlebigbangs.bandcamp.com —Kevin Korinek

CaveofswordS CaveofswordS is a synthesizer-based group with a warm beating heart at

its center. Led by vocalist Sunyatta McDermott, the band harkens back to the days when Wasp synths and LinnDrum machines were new, futuristic pleasure items, but it subverts those electronic sounds to its own ends. On Sigils, its most recent album, CaveofswordS alternates between upbeat, dubstep-influenced tracks such as “Aviation Administration” and “Lately,” and the darker, more dystopian approach of “Lately” and “Cruel Harvest.” Combined with McDermott’s floating, double-tracked vocals, the result is a spotless mix of engaging songcraft and atmospheric, retro-futurist production. It also makes for a powerful live set. Recommended if you like: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, early Human League, CHVRCHES Find them: Online at www.caveofswords.com —Mike Appelstein

Dubb Nubb Since high school, twin sisters Delia and Hannah Rainey have been playing their exuberant brand of folk/ country/indie as Dubb Nubb. Once again St. Louis-based after a spell at Mizzou, they continue to play the city’s clubs, basements and backyards with abandon. They’ve also branched out a bit over the past year: Hannah leads Shady Bug,

which specializes in loud-soft melodic crunch and bittersweet lyrics, while Delia is one-quarter of “all girl climactic pop rock” act Berry Barbie. Thankfully, however, they haven’t neglected Dubb Nubb, whose intimate, friendly live shows are as St. Louis as a backyard game of washers and a few cans of Stag on a hazy midsummer evening. Recommended if you like: Frankie Cosmos, Jonathan Richman, Girlpool Find them: On Bandcamp at dubbnubb.bandcamp.com —Mike Appelstein

Middle Class Fashion Led by singer/songwriter Jenn Malzone, Middle Class Fashion has now gone through several phases. There was the Ben Folds piano pop of 2012’s Girl Talk, the A.C. Newman/ Scott Miller power pop of 2014’s Jungle, and most recently, the twilight electronic tones of last year’s iii. The group seems to have settled into the latter mood for now. The video for its latest single, “Turquoise Heart,” features Malzone’s usual smart lyrics (no one can capture the moment a relationship falls apart like she can) in the context of a near-deserted Union Station, complete with interpretative ballet. It bodes well for EGO, the band’s fourth album, due

this fall. Recommended if you like: The The, New Pornographers, Nite Jewel Find them: Online at www.middleclassfashion.com —Mike Appelstein

Anthony Lucius Metro East native Anthony Lucius Walker Jr. has been making music in some capacity since his days as a student at O’Fallon Township High School, but it wasn’t until a few years after his 2011 graduation that Walker decided to get serious about it. Five years, a few abandoned monikers and a move to Columbia and back later, the rapper/producer released his 2016 debut under the name Anthony Lucius, entitled Please Do Not Feed the Rappers. This year, he demonstrated the continuing development of his assertive — though often soft-spoken — style with Welcome to St. Lucius, released April 21, and preceded by a Louis Quatorze-produced video for the album’s first single, “Bridge.” Recommended if you like: Mick Jenkins, Hawthorne Headhunters, Curren$y, Isaiah Rashad, the Knuckles Find him: Online at anthonylucius. com —Nick Horn Continued on pg 26

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STL-77 Continued from pg 25

Find them: On Bandcamp at towncars.bandcamp.com —Evan Sult

Town Cars

Mt. Thelonius

There are plenty of reasons why Town Cars’ 2014 debut, Hearts and Stars, should be in every decent indie rock collection in America. It has all the form’s strengths: a strong voice that doesn’t get too clean but knows how to harmonize; the ability to leap from strum to roar and back again; and most importantly of all, lyrics that channel your own heartbreak and hope more eloquently than you could express them yourself. Bandleader Melinda Cooper, also an occasional RFT contributor, is a one-person musical collective, consistently inventing new voices — but she also multiplies the effect by finding excellent collaborators and building on their strengths. Town Cars has many classic cuts, whether the rest of the world knows it or not. Check out “Circumstances” for proof, or “Everything,” where Jenn Malzone’s harmonies haunt, with a final fournote guitar phrase that is a song unto itself, distilling regret, determination, hope and anger into a single crashing phrase. Recommended if you like: Sebadoh, the Breeders, Waxahatchee, Veruca Salt

Neo-bluegrass, neo-folk, neo-jam bands are the scourge of open mic nights and Tiny Desk concerts, but when a fresh take on the fiddling and strumming comes around, the labels really do peel away. Enter Mt. Thelonius, a trio led by singer and guitarist Ian Lubar and featuring violin and bass from Alyssa Avery and Mark Wallace, who combine boot-slapping rhythmic drive and old-time melodies with more than a little spirited and well-honed musicianship. The band’s minimalism lets each instrumental voice shine through, while Lubar’s songwriting, sometimes darkly fatalistic, sometimes delicately personal, continues to mature. Heading into its fifth year together, Mt. Thelonius is far from its musical peak, but well on the way. Recommended if you like: Nickel Creek, the Lone Bellow, Ivan & Alyosha, River Whyless Find them: Online at www.mtthelonious.com —Roy Kasten

Hell Night You might think that the dyed-in-thewool metal lifers in Hell Night would scoff at the heavily made-up, overt-

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ly glammified strand of hair metal that filled MTV screens with visions of Spandex and AquaNet, but you’d be so, so wrong. For its latest EP Hell Night Songs, the band takes a heavy swing at Cinderella’s “Night Songs” as the lead-off track, coating it in a sludgy, crunchy slurry. The rest of the set is a bit more corrosive and reliant on the quick-turn riffs that guitarist Andy White, bassist Eric Eyster and drummer Adam Arseneau churn out with hive-mind dexterity. Singer Brian Fair is a relatively recent addition, but he’s wasted no time in establishing a fulcrum in Hell Night’s pneumatic machinery. Recommended if you like: Dead Kennedys, Shadows Fall, Poison riffs at double speed, chainsaws Find them: On Bandcamp at hellnightstl.bandcamp.com —Christian Schaeffer

Prairie Rehab You’ve seen the signs along the highway near the patchy grasses, weeds and wildflowers: “Prairie Rehab.” It’s oddly comforting to know the land still has a chance, regardless of MoDOT’s protracted misadventures. The band Prairie Rehab, led by the husband and wife team of Lacie Williams and Scott Swartz, finds its own hopeful juxtaposition of the ur-

bane and the earthy in a pop, folk and rock-tinged take on Americana. Revolving around Williams’ impressionistic wordplay and literary nuances, the band has recently stretched out on a double-disc set called Conformateur/Idiomatic, exploring Latin and atmospheric sounds that somehow suit Williams’ delicately trilling voice as well as Swartz’s classic pedal-steel licks. Recommended if you like: Joanna Newsom, Emmylou Harris, the Byrds, Vetiver Find them: Online at prairierehabmusic.com —Roy Kasten

The Leonas Distilling its music to a pure acoustic folk essence, the Leonas not only prove that less can be more, but that less can be a foundation for wholly surprising musical possibilities. The core duo of Steph Plant and Sarah Vie has found a sound that’s as familiar to anyone who discovered the tradition through the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack as one who grew up singing and playing gospel hymns and fiddle tunes. The group’s latest album, Forbidden Fruit, has a mythic, feminist theme that never detracts from the cello and violin-drenched songs. The Leonas’ calling card may Continued on pg 28

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be its extraordinary vocal harmonies, but its thoughtful and passionate take on Americana makes it one of St. Louis’ most promising acts, regardless of genre. Recommended if you like: the Indigo Girls, Gillian Welch, the Be Good Tanyas, Iris DeMent Find them: Online at www.leonasmusic.com —Roy Kasten

Whoa Thunder If aliens ever land in St. Louis à la Rick and Morty and demand we produce one pop act to represent Earth in an intergalactic battle of the bands, we can all breathe a sigh of relief: They came to the right place. Brian McClelland’s Whoa Thunder is a pop prodigy project — songs like “Bottlehands” and “No Girls Laugh at Me Now (HA HA I Laugh at Them)” are equal parts Newman and Numan, bristling with New Wave synths and high-caliber pop chords. Like all truly great pop, it simply overwhelms any

Black Fast’s relentless thrash metal assault will make you bang your head clean off your neck if you’re not careful. | RKNPHOTO

The Maness Brothers

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potential objection by leaping right over the rational mind to stomp on your lizard brain’s repeat button. Luckily for us all, the lyrics keep up with the rest, so when you find yourself still singing, “Allison left school today for the outer planets’ charm” days later, at least it’s not “Poker Face.” Take that, Cromulons! Recommended if you like: New Pornographers, the Cars, the Rentals, LCD Soundsystem Find them: Online at whoathunder.com —Evan Sult

The Maness Brothers’ new self-titled album is the kind of record that activates multiple senses. As the Southern-fried blues riffs enter your ears, you can almost smell the sweat and spilled bourbon of a loud show on a hot night somewhere in Alabama. But before you confuse this for some type of modern-day Molly Hatchet, Jake Maness’ biting drums and brother Dave’s aggressive vocals and blues-indebted guitar provide a beautiful side of danger — imagine if Iggy Pop had moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to record Raw Power. Together since 2012, the band could be looking at its biggest year yet, with another album set to record this summer and a tour that Jake Maness says will dwarf the band’s initial 30show run in 2013. Recommended if you like: The Stooges, Ten Foot Wizard, King of the North, Ume Find them: On Bandcamp at themanessbrothers.bandcamp.com —Jeremy Essig

Gene Jackson While he isn’t a household name in the blues and soul scene, Gene Jackson remains one of the city’s finest singers. His voice stands up to comparisons to the greats of Motown and Chess, and with this year’s album, 1963, he lays down straight-ahead soul, with lush horns and spritely rhythms. His soul is classy and classic. It’s hard to believe this is Jackson’s first official release. Working with producer and multi-instru-

mentalist Paul Niehaus IV, Jackson, a regular performer with Power Play and Soul Reunion, seems at the top of his game, turning in a set of poignant and catchy originals that would have sounded very much at home on the radio in 1963 — or just about any year, for that matter. Recommended if you like: Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Charles Bradley, Bobby Womack Find him: Online at www.bluelotusrecordings.com —Roy Kasten

Kevin Bowers Working behind the kit for the likes of the Feed and Big Mike Aguirre, drummer Kevin Bowers has long made an impression on both rock and blues audiences. But Bowers’ 2016 album Nova impressed in wholly new and unexpected ways. A deep foray into Brazilian music — from pop to jazz to folk to genres he and his collaborators seem to be creating on their own — the album was both accomplished and completely refreshing. The array of percussive textures and rich rhythms inspire the musicians — more than a dozen — that Bowers gathers together, creating a narrative that sounds timeless. Bowers has even endeavored to share his Brazilian journey on stage. Performances are rare, but by all accounts absolutely stunning. Recommended if you like: Paul Simon, Sérgio Mendes, Jorge Ben, Seu Jorge Find him: Online at www.kevinbowersmusic.com —Roy Kasten riverfronttimes.com

HEAVY HITTERS St. Louis’ absolute must-see acts — powerhouses in the music community’s highest weight class.

Mvstermind These days, Muhammad Austin, a.k.a. Mvstermind, may well be among St. Louis’ most visible artists on the national level, both in and out of the hiphop scene. Following appearances at festivals including A3C, SXSW and MCA Day alongside the likes of G-Eazy, Ab-Soul, Oddisee, Travis Scott and Chance the Rapper — not to mention getting the video for his single “Mali Moolah” in rotation on MTV, BET and Fuse — you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a St. Louis artist commanding more attention across the country. While impressive, that steadily increasing notoriety isn’t especially surprising if you’ve heard Mvstermind’s one-of-akind production style and thoughtful, probing lyrics. Recommended if you like: J.Cole, Drake, Little Dragon, Anderson .Paak, Vince Staples Find him: On Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/mvstermind —Nick Horn

Black Fast Like many a heavy metal band before it, Black Fast wears its dark fascination with Catholicism on its leathery sleeves. Named for a form of extreme Lenten fasting, the band plays a punishing, riff-heavy, growling and refresh-

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STL-77 Continued from pg 29 ingly raw form of thrash metal, replete with creepy images of annihilation and doom that never quite sink into ridiculous clichés. This band — led by shredding vocalist Aaron Akin and even more shredding guitarist Trevor Johanson, and driven by the rhythm section of Ryan Thompson and Ross Burnett — knows that metal is meant to be a sweaty, moshy, relentless catharsis. And that’s the kind of metal Black Fast feasts on every time it takes the stage. Recommended if you like: Death, Megadeth, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide Find them: Online at www.blackfastmusic.com —Roy Kasten

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Son Volt With the latest incarnation of Son Volt, Jay Farrar continues to push his songs into new sonic territory by transforming

the musical history he knows so well. The sound of the blues, always his foundation, growls, stomps and moans on the album Notes of Blue, released this spring and quickly followed by a round of touring with the loudest and hardest rocking band he’s ever fronted. On the road, guitarist Chris Frame (who replaced St. Louis veteran Gary Hunt) joins multi-instrumentalist Mark Spencer and drummer Jacob Edwards (who has taken over for Dave Bryson) along with longtime bassist Andrew Duplantis. The musicians know how to make Farrar’s eclectic and electric version of the blues an incandescent, thrilling experience. Recommended if you like: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Jack White, the Jayhawks Find them: Online at sonvolt.net —Roy Kasten

Beth Bombara It’s been a decade now since Beth Bombara arrived in St. Louis, announcing

Find them: On Bandcamp thesleepyrubies.bandcamp.com/ —Jeremy Essig

Tef Poe

With the election of you-know-who, St. Louis’ most outspokenly activist hip-hop star isn’t about to start pulling punches. The cover of Black Julian, his blistering 2017 collection, features Tef reading a copy of the now-defunct St. Louis Globe-Democrat sporting the headline “President Shot Dead” above a picture of JFK. It’s a visual threat; the music makes that threat sonic. “Raised in the slums and every day I come back,” he spits on “Best Rapper Alive Like Weezy,” as the guitar-andnoise-scarred backing track sounds hell-bent on reinventing the trap style. Even on darker, low-throttled tracks like “Die High” and “Genocide,” Tef’s verbal skills cut damn close to the bone. “I pray that they don’t murder me,” he wails. “My enemies should just let it be.” Tef Poe knows that’s not likely; he also knows how to use music to fight back. Recommended if you like: Tupac Shakur, Lil Wayne, Rockwell Knuckles, Outkast Find him: Online at tefpoe.com —Roy Kasten

Marquise Knox

American Wrestlers went from a set of selfrecorded demos straight to the vaunted Fat Possum Records. | PITCH PERFECT PR

her debut with the EP Abandon Ship in 2007. Over that time, local music fans have been treated to five releases showcasing a style that falls somewhere on the edges of Americana without tipping completely into revivalist folk. Her newest release, Map and No Direction, continues that trend – mixing upbeat pop numbers with slower pieces that suggest contemplation. The key, as always, is Bombara’s voice – strong and calming regardless of the subject matter, like a captain ready to face whatever storm might be on the horizon. Her new album was picked up by European label At the Helm Records, and Bombara is currently planning a tour of Europe to complement her North American shows — including a stop at LouFest this year. Recommended if you like: Neko Case, Beth Orton, Natalie Merchant, Aimee Mann Find her: On Bandcamp at bethbombara.bandcamp.com —Jeremy Essig

The Sleepy Rubies For a band that’s only technically been together for a little more than a year, the Sleepy Rubies has managed to accomplish quite a bit. Its debut EP, Great Big Love, was released last July, and just a few months later, the group found itself performing at LouFest. The key to the band’s productivity may lie in the bond within its songwriting core — sisters Emily Wallace and Ali Ruby. The vocal interplay between the two, a central charm in the Rubies’ harmony-rich acoustic folk, has been developed since they were in high school together. Still, it’s not only the melding of their two voices that stands out on Great Big Love, but also Wallace’s and Ruby’s individual tones. More big things are on the way: Wallace says the band is finishing up a second EP and will both tour and release a music video in support this summer. Recommended if you like: The Jayhawks, First Aid Kit, Lily and Madeline, the Weepies

The annual Baby Blues Showcase has been going on long enough that local blues fans have been able to watch those fresh-faced singers and guitar-slingers grow up practically before their eyes. Marquise Knox made his name on that stage — and went on to burn down many others. Now in his mid-twenties, he’s no longer a baby and has logged thousands of miles at home and abroad preaching the gospel of the blues. Knox certainly pays homage to his forebears — his latest, Here I Am, includes versions of a few Muddy Waters songs — but his age and enthusiasm has helped keep local blues music fresh and vibrant over the past decade. Recommended if you like: Albert King, Muddy Waters, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy Find him: Online at marquiseknoxblues.com —Christian Schaeffer

American Wrestlers American Wrestlers doesn’t know the definition of a sophomore slump. In November, the group unleashed its second LP for Fat Possum, Goodbye Terrible Youth. A full-band affair — in contrast to 2015’s self-titled effort, which was basically a collection of guitarist/vocalist Gary McClure’s demos — Goodbye Terrible Youth riverfronttimes.com

derives tension from duality: It’s a mighty melodic roar dominated by grungy distorted guitars, atmospheric keyboards and piano, and keening vocals. McClure emerges from the fray as a conspiratorial voice of reason, as he grapples with knotty topics such as faith, politics and growing up. Ever prolific, American Wrestlers quietly released the gem “Making A Difference,” a Replacements-reminiscent meditation with wistful-sounding organ, in February as an Amazon Music exclusive. Recommended if you like: New Order, Swervedriver, ‘90s guitar rock, R.E.M. Find them: On Bandcamp at americanwrestlersband.bandcamp.com/ releases —Annie Zaleski

Foxing With its sophomore album, Dealer, the indie-rock quintet Foxing threatened to raise expectations to bringon-the-backlash levels. With glowing notices from Pitchfork and Alternative Press and successful tours of U.S. and Europe (even if that did include being assaulted in Chicago and having a head-on collision in northern California last year) the band earned the right to coast for a while. Earlier this year, however, Foxing released the glowing, eerie and exquisite single “Two,” which it calls “a new spin on old classics,” featuring two radically reinterpreted songs from Dealer. “Indica Two” offers harrowing vocals and the band’s moodiest take on post-rock slow burn. And the flipside, “Redwoods Two,” is even better, a showcase for singer Lena Woods, who delivers the refrain “find a reason not to leave” with prophetic grace, even as the band swells to orchestral force. With its bold arrangements and inspired songwriting, Foxing deserves every second of its current success. Savor this moment with them. Recommended if you like: Bright Eyes, Okkervil River, Sufjan Stevens, Foals Find them: Online at foxingtheband.com —Roy Kasten

Trauma Harness A band built on the very capable backs of several other local champs (Shaved Women, Egg Chef, etc.) Trauma Harness has brought forth a perfect union of hardcore punk and frenzied pop. After roughly six years, give or take, and many tours, the band seems to have skillfully harnessed its own chaotic versatility and forged it into a signature sound. Josh Jenkins brings fast, unrelenting riffs together with a dreamy,

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STL-77 Continued from pg 31 sweet tone that can be confusing in the most pleasant way, while Andy Peterson’s bass lines bring out the beautiful backbone in each track. Trauma Harness’ sound is definitely as edgy as it gets, but John Birkner’s powerfully direct and dominant drumming drives the band right past the edge and straight off the cliff. Recommended if you like: Vats, Lush, Nation of Ulysses Find them: On Bandcamp at traumaharness.bandcamp.com —Melinda Cooper

Bates Bates came out swinging with her 2015 release The Great DeBates, taking on radio and various other news outlets for their lack of female representation, especially in the hiphop community. As co-founder of the group Femcee Nation, Bates believes that gender equality within music begins with women supporting other women, both in their respective scenes as well as everywhere else. Equal parts artist and activist, Bates brings a throwback feel that somehow simultaneously summons the sound of the 32

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future. On 2016’s For Colored Folk, She unapologetically points out various layers to inequality and discrimination with issues of gender, class and race, and forces the listener to find their way to the truth in all of it. Bates’ beats hit hard, her words hit harder, and her presence will knock you off your feet. Recommended if you like: Young M.A, Bahamadia, M.I.A., Kendrick Lamar Find her: Online at www.bates-stl. com —Melinda Cooper

Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra A score can make or break a film or TV show; just imagine how different The Godfather or Lost would have been without their characters’ recognizable leitmotifs. But what about films that weren’t scored in the way we expect today? The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra has carved out a unique niche, composing original orchestration for silent films and performing it alongside the movies during film festivals and special events. But sonic storytelling doesn’t end there; the St. Louis band also has scored poems and Shakespearean plays to bring something new and

Brian Owens is a soul-singing powerhouse just as comfortable covering Johnny Cash as Marvin Gaye. | JARRED GASTREICH

Funky Butt Brass Band may sound like New Orleans, but its spirit is all St. Louis. | COREY WOODRUFF engaging to well-loved pieces. Its mix of traditional orchestral tools such as violins and trombones combines with modern electric guitars to give people a completely different, fully immersive way to experience classic screenplays and literature. Recommended if you like: Belle and Sebastian, Tindersticks, the Decemberists, Grizzly Bear Find them: Online at theratsandpeople.com —Allison Babka

Funky Butt Brass Band Outside the Pageant after the memorial service for Chuck Berry, a brass band played “St. Louis Blues” as Berry’s coffin was lifted into the hearse. The musicians, of course, were the Funky Butt Brass Band, an ensemble that’s become, like Berry himself, an emblem of this city. Though its core sound belongs to the tradition of the New Orleans second line, its spirit is 100 percent St. Louis. The sextet is our hardest working jazz-funk fusion band, and its omnipresence at street parties, festivals, Soulard bars and classy nightclubs remains, after all these years, well worth celebrating. The sound of St. Louis just wouldn’t be the same without them. Recommended if you like: Re-

birth Brass Band, Oliver Sain, Dumpstaphunk, Kermit Ruffins Find them: Online at funkybuttbrassband.com —Roy Kasten

Sleepy Kitty As St. Louis has come to learn, Sleepy Kitty is anything but a yawn. Partners in every way, guitarist Paige Brubeck and drummer Evan Sult (himself an RFT contributor) have been entertaining the Gateway City (and the country!) with their bright, jangly noise-pop for nearly a decade, and we’re still craving more. With fuzzy notes of grunge, surf and punk tempered by both indie sweetness and angst, Sleepy Kitty’s tunes pack all kinds of emotions within its instrumentation, to say nothing of the duo’s lyrics. Brubeck tackles gender issues, adulthood woes and even what it feels like when your van is stolen. With Cherokee Street serving as the band’s home for both rehearsal and its screenprinting enterprise, we’d wager that Sleepy Kitty will have a lot more autobiographical songs in the years to come. Paws up for that! Recommended if you like: Sleigh Bells, Belly, Dum Dum Girls Find them: Online at sleepykittymusic.com —Allison Babka

The Bottle Rockets It’s weird to think that the Bottle Rockets had its only hit 22 years ago: “Radar Gun” peaked at No. 27 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart, hanging in there for a solid three-month run. The song remains a live staple, but the band was always more than a one-hit wonder. Its last album, South Broadway Athletic Club, proved it still had sounds, tones, stories and hooks to burn, and still knew how to throw and roll with the rock punches, even if the mainstream is now unrecognizable to its cagey style. The band has gotten smarter with the years, booking memorable national tours with like-minded rockers Chuck Prophet and Marshall Crenshaw, reaching new audiences and somehow sounding as vigorous as ever. Recommended if you like: DriveBy Truckers, Tom Petty, Steve Earle, Crazy Horse Find them: Online at www.bottlerocketsmusic.com —Roy Kasten

Brian Owens The type of soul that Ferguson native Brian Owens channels in his music has a clear and undeniable source — Owens’ background is in riverfronttimes.com

gospel, and he proudly holds that tradition and faith as his musical core. But what makes Owens such a rare talent is the mutability and spread of his soul tradition; he regularly performs tribute shows to both Johnny Cash and Marvin Gaye, an odd Venn diagram that somehow makes perfect sense thanks to Owens’ expressive and stirring performances. He’s been busy promoting his own music as well, including last year’s Beautiful Day EP and this year’s The Soul of Ferguson, which features guest vocals from fellow Ferguson native Michael McDonald. Their partnership goes beyond their shared hometown: Both vocalists know soul music was a feeling before it was ever a genre. Recommended if you like: Marvin Gaye, Staple Singers, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash Find him: Online at www.brianowenssoul.com —Christian Schaeffer

Roland Johnson Spend enough time at the blues bars along that little strip of Broadway — BB’s, Broadway Oyster Bar, Beale on Broadway — and you’ll come away with a university-level education in the city’s blues and soul heritage.

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It is your civic duty as a St. Louisan to spread the gospel of Kim Massie far and wide. | VIA THE ARTIST

STL-77 Continued from pg 33 Lifelong musician Roland Johnson has long been its professor emeritus, and his weekly gigs with his group Soul Endeavor are etched in stone on Beale’s calendar. Last year Johnson did something for the first time in his 68 years: He released an album of original material, writing songs alongside producers and musicians Paul Niehaus and Kevin O’Connor. Together, the three turned Johnson’s Imagine This into one of the must-hear local albums of 2016. On it, the singer shows his range, from the tender and heartfelt “Mother” to the sly grooves of “Ain’t That Loving You.” The album is a rare late-in-life gift from a performer with a whole lot of music left to give. Recommended if you like: Syl Johnson, Otis Redding, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields Find him: Online at soulendeavor. net —Christian Schaeffer

Yowie Listen: You’re either gonna love Yowie and marvel at the instrumental trio’s prowess with producing tones, textures and rhythms that seemingly don’t compute, or you’re gonna cross the street to avoid them. There’s little in between, and that’s OK with Yowie. The band’s brand-new LP, Synchromysticism, conjures a lot with two guitars and a drum kit, and drummer Shawn O’Connor sees the album as a continuation of the band’s seventeen-year evolution. “I think a lot of our music in the past was ‘intellectually interesting’ whereas [this time] we 34

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really went for emotionally evocative,” says O’Connor. “We wouldn’t allow the seams to be conspicuous; we wanted to sand them down and make it look like one continuous process.” Recommended if you like: Dazzling Killmen, Grand Ulena, the Meters Find them: On Bandcamp at yowie. bandcamp.com —Christian Schaeffer

Bruiser Queen Through sheer persistence and hard work, Bruiser Queen has emerged as one of the area’s most consistent (and most fun) live acts. Equally inspired by Goner Records-style garage rock, heavy metal and ‘60s girl groups, this group has steadily refined its raucous, deadly catchy sound. Consider, for instance, 2016’s “Telepathic Mind,” Bruiser Queen’s most recent release. Dominated by Farfisa-style organ and Morgan Nusbaum’s ecstatic vocals (“I’m freaking out tonight!” goes the chorus), it comes across like a lost Go-Gos outtake as updated by the Julie Ruin. (The B-side? A raw cover of Dio’s “Rainbow In The Dark.”) Bruiser Queen doesn’t play as many local shows as it used to; don’t miss it when you get the chance. Recommended if you like: The Muffs, Sleater-Kinney, Lesley Gore Find them: Online at www.bruiserqueen.com —Mike Appelstein

Pokey LaFarge Manic Revelations, Pokey LaFarge’s second album for the Rounder label, may update the hot pre-war jazz and blues sound that he’s made a signature, but it certainly doesn’t leave

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it behind. The horn lines are sharper, the guitars bolder, the rhythms swampier yet punchier at the same time. The history of American music churns through this collection — from rhythm & blues to honky-tonk to swing, of course, but also sweet country soul and even garage rock & roll — and song-for-song it’s his best to date. To some, the album’s first single, “Riot in the Streets,” seemed a rather jaunty take on the Ferguson protest movement, but sue him for being catchy. For years, LaFarge’s music was a St. Louis treasure; it still is, but it now belongs to everyone who loves the craft of American songwriting and the thrill of a great band driving every song home. Recommended if you like: Bob Dylan, Nathaniel Rateliff, JD McPherson, Jimmie Rodgers Find him: Online at pokeylafarge. net —Roy Kasten

Jack Grelle As a college student, Jack Grelle began mixing his political beliefs with music, and the results were what you might expect from someone leaning toward anarchy: The young Grelle fairly destroyed his voice singing in hardcore bands. As he grew older he found his tastes running more toward country and folk, but his politics didn’t grow more conservative. As one of this city’s foremost purveyors of classic country and honky-tonk swing, Grelle and his band aren’t afraid to get topical. “Changes Never Made,” from last year’s Got Dressed Up to Be Let Down, addresses the roots of Michael Brown’s murder and the un-

rest that resulted in Ferguson and across the U.S. Elsewhere on the disc, Grelle handles more typical fare — heartbreak, nostalgia, whiskey — but he’s able to inform an old form with new ideas. Recommended if you like: Doug Sahm, These United States, Waco Brothers, Lavender Country Find him: Online at jackgrelle.com —Christian Schaeffer

Kim Massie When you have dear friends coming to town, you have a few duties as a good St. Louisan. They might involve a variety of architectural wonders or delectable eats, but one is non-negotiable: catching a Kim Massie set at Beale on Broadway. Massie has gained the reputation that most musicians travel the country to accrue by letting the mountain come to her. Presiding from her throne at Beale on Broadway, surrounded by her Solid Senders, she commands the room with an old-school combination of chops, charm, humor and pure character. Her voice is powerful, expressive, and seemingly effortless — though the prominently placed tip jar before her is a reminder that it ain’t without cost. The stories between songs are every bit as compelling as the music and the catalog is equally satisfying and surprising. This is the rare show that’s as suitable for the casual visitor as for the life-long blues hunter. Recommended if you like: Gladys Knight, Ann Peebles, Sharon Jones, Stevie Wonder Find her: Online at kimmassie. com —Evan Sult

W TH EE IS KE ND

BIGGEST SHOWCASE TO DATE! P R E S E N T E D BY

P L E A S E D R I N K R E S P O N S I B LY riverfronttimes.com

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Photo: Paul Sableman

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THIS WEEKEND

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JUNE 14-20, 2017

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OVER 100 BANDS PERFORMING FRIDAY KICK-OFF EVENT

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TAHA’A 4199 Manchester 5:30 PM ..................................... LETTER TO MEMPHIS 6:30 PM ................................................... HONEYDEW 7:30 PM ...................................... ZAK MARMALEFSKY 8:30 PM ................................................... DUBB NUBB 9:30 PM ..................................... THE VANILLA BEANS 10:30 PM .................................................... LE’PONDS 11:30 PM ....................................................SUZIE CUE

THE GRAMOPHONE 4243 Manchester 2 PM ...................................................OTHER PEOPLE 3 PM ..................................................... DJ MAKOSSA 4 PM ........................................................SHARK DAD 5 PM ..................................................JOAN OF DARK 6 PM .................................CREE RIDER FAMILY BAND 7 PM .......................................... GRANDPA’S GHOST 8 PM .......................................THE STRANGE PLACES 9 PM ................................................WHOA THUNDER

5:30 PM ............................................ GOLDEN CURLS 6:30 PM .......................................... CAVEOFSWORDS 7:30 PM .......BROTHER LEE & THE LEATHER JACKALS 8:30 PM ............................................ BRUISER QUEEN 9:30 PM ..............................................THE KNUCKLES 10:30 PM ...........................................................BATES 11:30 PM ..18ANDCOUNTING & THEONLYENSEMBLE 12:30 AM ........................................................TEF POE

GEZELLIG 4191 Manchester 3 PM ................................................ELLEN THE FELON 4 PM ....................................................... THE LEONAS 5 PM ........................................................... THE GOES 6 PM ..........................................................PAPERKITE 7 PM .................................................... SYNA SO PRO 8 PM ............................................................ DJ MAHF 9 PM ...............................................HANDS AND FEET 10 PM ........................... KINGSTON FAMILY SINGERS

HANDLEBAR 4127 Manchester 2:30 PM ...................................................PRAIRIE REHAB 3:30 PM .....RATS & PEOPLE MOTION PICTURE ORCHESTRA 4:30 PM .............................................. DAVE STONE TRIO 5:30 PM .................................................THUMPY STICKY 6:30 PM ................................................MT. THELONIOUS 7:30 PM .......................................................HILLARY FITZ 8:30 PM .................................................... RIVER KITTENS 9:30 PM ................................TORY STARBUCK PROJECT 10:30 PM ....................................................NADIR SMITH

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ATOMIC COWBOY PAVILION 4140 Manchester 2 PM .......................................... CARA LOUISE BAND 3 PM .............................. SHARON HAZEL TOWNSHIP 4 PM ...................................................THE VIGILETTES 5 PM .......................................................ANDROBEAT 6 PM ...........................................SUPER HERO KILLER 7 PM ..................................... LOVE JONES THE BAND 8 PM .............................. MATHIAS AND THE PIRATES 9 PM ............................................................LOOPRAT 10 PM ...................... ANTHONY LUCIUS & THE BAND

THE BOOTLEG 4140 Manchester

THE READY ROOM 4195 Manchester

With featured DJ Kimmy Nu spinning between acts!

2:30 PM .......................................... CONCENTRATOR 3:30 PM ................................................TRUE FRIENDS 4:30 PM ......................................................BEAR CUB 5:30 PM ................................... THE BOBBY DAZZLERS 6:30 PM ..................................................TOWN CARS 7:30 PM ..................................................... SUNWYRM 8:30 PM .................................................. KENSHIRO’S 9:30 PM ............................... THE MANESS BROTHERS 10:30 PM ...................................................... DRACLA 11:30 PM ............................................THE STRANGER 12:30 AM ..............................................BASS AMP AND DANO

11:30 PM ............................................................HYLIDAE

2:30 PM ...................................... MISS MOLLY SIMMS 3:30 PM .................................................. DINOFIGHT! 4:30 PM ....................................................... MARINER 5:30 PM .................................................... BAGHEERA 6:30 PM ............................................ PATH OF MIGHT 7:30 PM ........................................TRAUMA HARNESS 8:30 PM ....................................................GHOST ICE 9:30 PM ............................................................YOWIE 10:30 PM ............................................. NATO CALIPH 11:30 PM .................................. THE DOMINO EFFECT 12:30 AM ................................................ ERIC DONTÉ 1:30 AM.................................................................ICE

SIAM 4121 Manchester 2 PM .......................................................OXHERDING 3 PM .....................................................TOEFIRE TRIBE 4 PM ....................................................MOTHER BEAR 5 PM ......................................................... ISABEL REX 6 PM ........................................................SHADY BUG 7 PM .........................................A LEAF IN THE STREET 8 PM ............................................... MIRROR MIRROR 9 PM ................................................... FRAGILE FARM 9:45 PM ........................................................... GLUED 10:30 PM ...................................................SKIN TAGS 11:15 PM .......................................LITTLE BIG BANGS 12 AM ...................................................... JANE WAVE 1 AM ...................................................DEMON LOVER

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CALENDAR

WEEK OF JUNE 15-21

THURSDAY 06/15 RiffTrax Summer Shorts Beach Party

Paul F. Tompkins joins RiffTrax Live for its Summer Shorts Beach Party. | COURTESY OF FATHOM EVENTS

The gentlemen of RiffTrax are throwing a Summer Shorts Beach Party, and everybody is going. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, the stars of the second iteration of Mystery Science Theater 3000, are joined by original MST3K mad scientists Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff, and Trace’s TV mom Mary Jo Pehl, to verbally de-pants a hand-picked selection of educational shorts. And at no added cost to you, the best-dressed man in entertainment, Paul F. Tompkins, will show up at some point to add his two cents. The RiffTrax Summer Shorts Beach Party is broadcast live to select movie theaters at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 15, and then repeats at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 20. You can see both showings at the Marcus Wehrenberg Ronnies 20 Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com). Tickets are $14.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore Wee Thomas might be the most important living being in Inishmore. The black cat is the only loyal companion of Mad Padraic, the most feared member of the Irish National Liberation Army. When Padraic is informed that someone killed Wee Thomas, he drops everything to track down the killer — and Padraic’s methods of investigation are astonishingly brutal. He carves a bloody path through Inishmore’s underworld, never stopping long enough to question why his beloved cat was killed. That just might be a mistake. Martin McDonagh’s grisly The Lieutenant of Inishmore is the debut production for Theatre

BY PAUL FRISWOLD Macabre, a new group with a penchant for the darker side of life. The Lieutenant of Inishmore is performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (June 14 to 25) at the Kranzberg Arts Center (501 North Grand Boulevard; www. kranzbergartscenter.org). Tickets are $20.

FRIDAY 06/16 Mayhem à la Femme Opera is often perceived to require a large time commitment, as shows commonly stretch to three or fi e hours (looking at you, Wagner). But it needn’t be that way. St.

Louis’ own Gateway Opera makes a practice of mounting shows that may only run for twenty minutes. The company’s new show Mayhem à la Femme blazes through three operas in the time it takes most operas to get to the second act. D. Jasper Sussman’s A Shell of a Troll is an absurdist take on murdermysteries that tells the story of one Sunday afternoon in the life of the wealthy troll, Senator Pompe. Caetlyn Van Buren’s update of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon is about a would-be political activist who is forced to take care of her useless sisters and father when she wants to be enacting social change in the streets. She resorts to sending political screeds to the palace, which eventually catch the attention of the Prince. Dale Trumbore updates a dozen fairy tales in her opera Snow White riverfronttimes.com

Turns Sixty, which sees familiar characters learn something new about their own well-worn stories. Mayhem à la Femme is performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (June 15 and 16) at the Chapel (6238 Alexander Drive; www. gatewayopera.org). Tickets are $20.

MASL International Challenge The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is currently on summer break, but that won’t stop them from taking to the pitch. The MASL International Challenge is the league’s all-star game, which uses a USA versus the World format. The St. Louis Continued on pg 41

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201 Montelle Drive | Augusta, MO 63332 | 888.595.WINE | www.Montelle.com 40

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with Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which was something like the Frozen of its day, only wetter. Ariel is a mermaid princess who is fascinated by the world above water and its strange people — particularly, the handsome Prince Eric. She makes a bargain with the sea witch, Ursula, to transform her tail into human legs so she can meet the man of her dreams. But Ursula’s bargain requires Ariel to win his love in just three days, or her soul is forfeited to the sea witch. The Little Mermaid is suitable for young theatergoers, and makes a good introductory show for kids. The Muny performs The Little Mermaid at 8:15 p.m. nightly, Tuesday through Thursday (June 20 to 29) at the Muny in Forest Park (www.muny.org). Tickets are $15 to $95.

Eat your fill at Taste of Downtown STL this Saturday. | STEVE TRUESDELL

CALENDAR Continued from pg 39 Ambush’s own Victor France will play for the World Team, and he won’t have to travel far to get to the game — it takes place at 7:35 p.m. tonight at the Ambush’s home field, the amily rena rena Parkway, St. Charles; www.familyarena.com). Tickets for the game are $12 to $22. If you think you have what it takes to play, you can try out at the Player Combine from 2 to 6 p.m. Select players will receive invitations to preseason camps, and the four most skilled players will be asked to participate in the International Challenge game.

After Orlando It’s been one year since the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Does it seem longer ago than that, or is it still fresh in your mind? Memory is a tricky thing, and it becomes easier to forget what happened as we move farther away from the incident. After Orlando is a collection of short plays written not long after those 49 people were gunned down while dancing. These works were written to fix the massacre in our collective memory and to commemorate the lives that were cut short. That

Uppity Theatre Company, R-S Theatrics, St. Louis Pride Festival and St. Charles Pride Festival have joined forces to present a staged reading of excerpts from After Orlando tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard; www.camstl.org). Admission is free, but you’ll need to go through CAM’s website to reserve a seat.

SATURDAY 06/17 Taste of Downtown STL Kiener Plaza (Seventh and Market streets; www.tasteofdowntownstl. com) is back in commission, and the summer festivals planned for the site are stacking up. The Taste of Downtown STL takes over the newly-refurbished plaza today from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. This celebration of downtown restaurants and retailers features live music, local artists and food and beverages from a double handful of eateries. On the menu are Drunken Fish, Bootleggin’ BBQ, Porano Pasta, the James Beard award-winning Gioia’s Deli and many more. Admission is free, but you’ll need money to buy food and drink tickets. Your best bet is the chla y I pass 6 , which

gets you four chla y eer tickets, eight food tickets and several other treats that, a la carte, would add up to $100.

Stop Making Sense The late Jonathan Demme caught the Talking Heads at the height of the band’s powers in his 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense. He also forever cemented frontman David Byrne in the public’s memory as “the guy who can t find a suit his size,” which speaks to the lasting power of the film. ut forget yrne and his sartorial woes; the real star is criminally under-appreciated bassist Tina Weymouth, who drives the band’s nervous take on funk and twitchy new wave music with her inventive playing. The Webster Film Series screens Stop Making Sense at 8 p.m. tonight at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; www. we ster.edu film series as part of its Jonathan Demme tribute series. Tickets are $5 to $7.

TUESDAY 06/20 The Little Mermaid The Muny continues its season riverfronttimes.com

WEDNESDAY 06/21 Make Music Day If you’ve ever dreamed of going on the road to follow a band but couldn’t pick just one, today is the day your dreams come true. St. Louis celebrates its second Make Music Day with free concerts all over the city all day long. As just one possible itinerary, you could start in the Central West End at Strauss (302 North Kingshighway) with the standards and classical music of the Gateway Festival Orchestra, which will be performing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Trek on down to the National Blues Museum (615 Washington Avenue) for the jazz stylings of Sharon Hazel, who starts at 3 p.m. Hustle back to Grand Center by 7 p.m. for Raw Earth, which performs its take on Celtic and Middle Eastern music at 7 p.m. Almost 40 artists have signed on to perform; visit www. makemusicstl.org to see the full slate and to plan your day. Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the calendar section or publish a listing on our website — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 300, 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.

JUNE 14-20, 2017

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FILM

[REVIEW]

Ben and Anna can’t see the world beyond their living room because they’re too busy wearing their Gen-X credentials of casual indifference and irony like armor.

Starved for Attention Band Aid is a self-absorbed mess about self-absorbed messes Written by

ROBERT HUNT Band Aid

Written and directed by Zoe ListerJones. Starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Adam Pally, Retta and Fred Armisen. Opens Friday, June 16, at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre.

t sounds like an uninspired sitcom version of a thirtysomething couple: A man and a woman arguing about dirty dishes talk around the subject. They pretend to be righteously outraged by each other’s remarks (she calls him “legally retarded”; he compares her to a Nazi), the conversation degenerates into a sexual complaint, and finally stand by, Standards & Practices, we’re about to get “edgy”), they just chant “fuck you” into each other’s faces. If that sounds irritating, consider this: That s ust the first seconds of Band Aid, a new romantic comedy about love between two members of Generation X as they slide deeper into adulthood. Zoe Lister-Jones, who also wrote, directed and produced the film, as well as co-writing its songs, plays Anna. She and Ben (Adam Pally) are having all-too-obvious relationship problems. Ben sits around all day playing video games and bemoaning his lack of creative work (a few lines of dialogue suggest that he’s designing someone’s business logo, but we never see evidence of it). Anna, who had some kind of book deal fall through (the content of said book is never mentioned), is now an Uber driver. She’s unfulfilled in the most cliched of relationship ways. All of her friends have better jobs and are having babies, but she and Ben are reluctant to start a family after suffering a miscarriage. Instead,

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Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally) start a band so they don’t have to talk to each other. | PHOTO BY JACQUELINE DIMILIA. COURTESY IFC FILMS they fight. After an improvised musical number played on toy instruments as a child’s birthday party, the couple hit on the idea of turning their squabbles into songs. Ben conveniently remembers that he has two guitars in the garage that he hasn’t played since high school, and so a band is formed, with their weird neighbor Fred Armisen eventually joining in on drums. Lister-Jones seems to think that songwriting is nothing more that two people trading off improvised rhymes, but it seems to work,

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because within days they manage to transform their misfortune (yes, they improvise a song about her miscarriage) into the kind of treacly music you hear in commercials that feature people like Ben and nna making important financial decisions on their smart phones. By their second open mic, they’re on the verge of a recording deal. The “let’s form a band” plot turns out to be a red herring; it’s more or less forgotten for the film s final third. It’s simply a lead-in to the film s ig esson The ifference Between Men and Women,

delivered first in a monologue from Ben’s mother, then in a solo number from Anna. Although the film s ideas a out gender ha e een mostly banal up to that point (the first song they perform live is a variation on the old “do these pants make me look fat?” quandary), the climactic overkill is just a string of pop-psychology cliches that could have been pulled from an old issue of Cosmopolitan. Though Lister-Jones almost reluctantly gives Band Aid a few seconds of absurdist comedy (the official en style ook e idently decrees that every film must have a conversation about the zombie apocalypse), they only serve to underscore how insular its subjects are. Everyone around them — Anna’s Uber clients, a cultish drum circle they cross in the park, Armisen and his ex-stripper roommates — is either unpleasant or odd. And while these moments may be good for a mild joke, they’re merely distractions from Ben and Anna’s only real interest: themselves. Ben and Anna can’t see the world beyond their living room because they’re too busy wearing their casual indifference and irony like armor. They fluctuate between two tones: one whiny, the other narcissistic. Band Aid wants to seem open and honest, but it’s more like Once for the incurably n self-absorbed.

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THE ARTS

[ S TA G E ]

Gossip Guy With The Sweet Smell of Success, New Line once again gives new luster — and relevance — to an old musical Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD The Sweet Smell of Success

Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Craig Camellia. Book by John Guare. Directed by Scott Miller and Mike DowdyWindsor. Presented by New Line Theatre through June 24 at the Marcelle Theater (3310 Samuel Shepard Drive; www.newlinetheatre. com). Tickets are $15 to $25.

cott Miller and Mike DowdyWindsor, the artistic directors of New Line Theatre, have some sort of prophetic gift for selecting timely shows. The duo’s pick for the third show of New Line’s 26th season is The Sweet Smell of Success, a Broadway also-ran in 2002. It’s a jazz musical inspired by the career arc of 1950s gossip-monger Walter Winchell — and came across as old-fashioned to the point of uaintness fifteen years ago. But now, in Miller and DowdyWindsor’s hands, The Sweet Smell of Success is a string of firecrackers that detonates at dangerously close range. It’s dark, it’s dirty and it somehow tricks you into believing in the petty dreams of an ambitious scumbag, at least for a little while. And the best part? While those little explosions are still ringing in your ears, you realize exactly how you were duped — and your own complicity in the game Sidney and J.J. play with other people’s lives. Our hero is Sidney Falcone (Matt Pentecost), a struggling PR flack who represents an underperforming nightclub. He’s promised the owner he can get the club a positive mention in J.J. Hunsecker’s newspaper column, which is read by 60 million people. Sidney has no real plan for doing so other than calling in endless fake tips to J.J.’s secretary, and maybe persuading the beauti44

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J.J. (Zachary Allen Farmer) loves his sister Susan (Ann Hier). Maybe too much, and too deeply. | JILL RITTER LINDBERG ful starlet at the other end of the bar to sign on as a client with the immortal bad advice, “Smile — that’s the first rule for a chick.” What he lacks in brains, Sidney makes up for with luck: That starlet is J.J.’s sister Susan (Ann Hier), and the gossip columnist shows up in person to bring her back home. Susan is there to see her secret lover, the club’s piano player, Dallas (Sean Michael). She convinces Sidney to back up her cover story when J.J. (Zachary Allen Farmer) wonders why she’s in such a rundown place, and just like that, Sidney has an in. Of course, Sidney knowingly lied to acquire that point of entry. The lie will build up to the point that it eventually crushes Sidney between J.J. and the truth. Matt Pentecost plays Sidney as a single-minded social climber with a constant, easy smile. Pentecost has a soaring, heroic voice, but Sidney is no hero. His dream is to be J.J., and the more you learn about J.J., the more you realize Sidney’s moral barometer is seriously damaged. Zachary Allen Farmer uses every inch of his imposing frame to dominate his scenes, and he makes J.J.’s love for his much-younger

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sister feel cloying and unwholesome. During his solo number, “For usan,” he sings of e ery gift he s given her, as if their sibling relationship has been nothing but a long courtship. Ann Hier turns in on herself during the song, embarrassment and fear in her eyes. It’s no surprise, then, that when J.J. discovers Susan and Dallas’ relationship, he turns on Sidney with murder in his balled fists and drops his voice down to a gravelly whisper. (It might be too low; there were several complaints at intermission about not being able to hear him at this point.) But like the schmuck he is, idney figures out a new lie and starts a conspiracy with J.J. to break up the two lovers — because how could anybody’s happiness outweigh Sidney’s ambitions? Of course this all ends horribly for all involved. Our protagonist would, and does, prostitute his girlfriend to get an edge, the most powerful man in New York has an unnatural romantic attachment to a blood relative and the only thing that really matters to either of them is hot gossip. The only saving grace is that J.J. isn’t on Twitter.

Well, that and the score by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Camellia. Hamlisch has a gift for accurately recreating the sound of bygone eras, and The Sweet Smell of Success comes with beautiful sounds. His pre-bop jazz tunes have a convincing and propulsive swing, and his love song “I annot Hear the ity” is a lush pocket symphony that should have been a hit in any era (Sean Michael sings the hell out of it). Musical director Jeffrey Richard Carter makes the show positively sweat the grime of New York’s nocturnal underbelly. And as the show sweeps along, the seaminess of it all pulls you in. J.J.’s lavish lifestyle and the endless streams of gossip he wades through satisfy our baser urges. Our American fascination with wealth and the personal lives of celebrities seem harmless; famous people know what they’re signing up for. But when J.J. steps over a dead celebrity while singing “ on t ook Now,” the scales fall from your eyes. All the gossip, lies and self-aggrandizement can no longer mask the merciless venality of a little man with a big mouth. Even a self-centered moron like Sidney can see clearly by that n point.

FINAL 10 DAYS OF THE SEASON! GIACOMO PUCCINI [ S TA G E ]

JUNE

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY A smart new one-man show resonates for those who’ve lost

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“SIMPLY SUPERB.

YOU’LL LOVE IT!” - Broadway World

Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

tions. It’s as if we’re seeing many versions of the man … or perhaps he’s left a little bit of himself behind in his former stops, and they’ll never catch up to him. What has caught up to him recently is regret. He explains that he moves around because he holds out hope that a change of scenery will change him. The memory of a lost chance at love leads into his recollections about the deaths of his parents. With the hint of a smile, he offers, “Maybe you’re doing what I’m doing — making something into something else, and then killing the first thing.” In the hands of a lesser actor, this gnomic dialogue could lull you into glassy-eyed torpor. Hanrahan spools it out like Theseus with his ball of twine, leading us into the heart of the labyrinth. When the man draws his mop handle, we’ve found the beast’s lair. He sets his jaw and his eyes fix on his secret foe as he lashes his right thigh with his weapon. A pause, and he crashes his sword against his thigh again. “This is for her!” Except what I heard was, “This is for him.” Hanrahan dedicated the show to his late son Travis, who died in February. But I also felt my own personal history echo in those words. I was sitting in one of those shadows that Hanrahan’s figure cast on the back wall, beating myself up for a dead sibling I couldn’t save and never mourned, lost in memories of a home that no longer exists. And then Hanrahan, or Will Eno, or one of those shadows, smiled that queer half-smile and signed off with the good advice, “Don’t stay lost for too long — they stop looking for you after a while.” n

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“IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A BETTER CAST… A FORCE OF NATURE” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch RICKY IAN GORON & MICHAEL KORIE

JUNE

ill Eno’s one-man show Title and Deed is part monologue, part mystery. It’s rife with clever wordplay, which is delivered by a lone philosopher preoccupied with his own wanderlust. The more he talks, the more you realize he’s not wandering so much as he’s running away from home. It’s a prime vehicle for Joe Hanrahan, St. Louis’ reigning king of the thinking man’s one-man show. It’s no surprise that Hanrahan’s own Midnight Company would mount it with himself in the lead. It’s also no surprise that Hanrahan would nestle into the discursive role like a hand in a glove. Still, there is something at work in this production that feels like an exorcism — if not for Hanrahan, definitely for his audience. The unnamed protagonist walks into the performance space carrying a valise with a cut-off mop handle laid across its opening. Behind him is a white wall marred only by prismatic whorls cast by the heavy-duty lights. For the next hour he talks about home — both the physical place and the psychic sense of it — and occasionally brings out a treasure from his bag. There is a definite arc to the man’s conversation, which begins with the friendly plea, “Don’t hate me, if you don’t mind,” and repeated promises that “I’m not really this gloomy, it’s just my voice.” His probing questions about the place he finds himself in are answered by his descriptions of his home; it’s different than here, but also the same in many ways. Avatar Studios’ back wall gently curves into the floor with no sharp angles, so the shadows cast by our protagonist take on fun-house distor-

Joe Hanrahan muses on home and heartache in Title and Deed. | LIZ HENNING

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“OUTSTANDING...HAUNTING... SENSITIVE AND AUTHENTIC.” - St. Louis Magazine PHILIP GLASS & CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON

JUNE

Written by Will Eno. Directed by Sarah Whitney. Presented by the Midnight Company through June 24 at Avatar Studios (2675 Scott Avenue; www.midnightcompany. com). Tickets are $15.

JUNE

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CAFE

[REVIEW]

Arch de Triomphe Miles from her native France, Clemence Pereur has created a marvelous café that’s just Like Home Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Like Home

3855 Lindell Boulevard, 314-319-0099. Wed.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (Closed Monday and Tuesday.)

y the time she was fourteen, Clemence Pereur knew she wanted to cook. The owner of Midtown’s three-month-old café Like Home enrolled in a culinary program right out of high school in her native France and put her nose down, learning everything that she could about cooking. Her commitment to her studies paid off in the form of a spot in the kitchen of a restaurant. Pereur was sailing toward her dream — until it turned into a nightmare. Not long after she reported for duty, Pereur was confronted with a horribly unpleasant workplace dynamic. Her direct superior was a chauvinistic chef who made it very clear that he believed the only kitchen a woman belongs in is the one in her home. Though she tried to suffer through and prove her worth, the chef’s mistreatment proved too much to bear. Pereur left the restaurant — and cooking. She assumed it was for good. Pereur returned to school, this time to study communications and business, but she could not shake her calling. An idea began to take shape: Why not combine her new degrees with her culinary background and learn how to open her own business? Not only would it allow her to earn a living doing what she loved, it would afford her the opportunity to do it on her own terms — misogynists be damned.

Like Home’s classic café fare, including a cheese plate and a croque madame, will make you feel like you’re lunching in France. | MABEL SUEN It’s a compelling story, but the real kicker is this: Despite her French background, and her eventual graduation from Alain Ducasse’s prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie, Pereur decided to open that business in St. Louis. The catalyst for that decision was a one-year stint a few years ago as the assistant pastry chef at the Saint Louis Club. Even though Pereur had worked throughout France, from chocolate shops to Disneyland Paris, it was her time in St. Louis that made a powerful impression. After recruiting her mother — a hairdresser-turned-baker/pastry chef — to assist in her trans-Atlantic adventure, Pereur returned to Missouri, determined to make her dream a reality. That dream is Like Home, the delightful café, bakery and chocolate shop that opened on the corner of Vandeventer and Lindell in Midtown in February. True to its name, the space evokes both the

quaint charm of the sort of French patisserie you d find in the ereurs’ hometown, as well the comfort you d find in your own li ing room. Modern green couches with stylish accent pillows, a couple of cozy chairs and whimsical artwork dot the light filled space, while a handful of bistro tables make up the remainder of the seating. When you enter Like Home, you’re greeted by the pastry case, a dazzling display of goodies that look like props for a gourmet magazine photo shoot. The beautiful wares might tempt you to head straight for dessert. Don’t, because you’d be a fool to miss out on the café’s excellent lunchtime fare. That includes the prosciutto tartine, a crispy baquette spread with cream cheese, then sprinkled with walnuts and goat cheese. Paper-thin slices of luxurious prosciutto lay across the open-faced sandwich like ower petals. Like Home’s other sandwiches are equally worthwhile. The riverfronttimes.com

salmon tartine pairs pieces of the hot-smoked fish with tomatoes and artichoke hearts. For the veggie sandwich, avocado, artichoke hearts, cucumber, tomato and cream cheese are placed between slices of brioche like a beautifully amped-up tea sandwich. Roast beef on baguette is shockingly good — the tender meat the uality you d find on the uintessential French dip, the onions so caramelized and translucent they melt the instant they touch the tongue. Melted American cheese and au jus make this a satisfying knife-and-fork endeavor. Though I appreciate that there are many different ideas of the perfect quiche, Like Home’s version is not my preference. The luscious egg custard is the ideal setting for both the ham and gruyere and the tomato and goat cheese filling, and the crust was appropriately aky. However, on two different occasions, the top of the quiche was

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Continued on pg 49

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Pereur’s pastry skills are evident in her macarons. | MABEL SUEN

LIKE HOME Continued from pg 39 blackened, leaving me to believe that this is intentional. I assume they are going for caramelization, but it ends up reading as overcooked. As such, the top becomes a toughened layer, making it difficult to navigate without sawing at it with a knife and fork. The Croque Madame, however, is everything that is right in a sandwich. Gruyere is bruleed so perfectly onto white toast, it’s impossible to know where the cheese ends and the bread begins. Slices of the cheese are placed inside the sandwich as well, melting into the slices of ham. An over-easy egg is placed on top, presenting its liquid yolk as a decadent sauce. It’s the perfection of the form. Lest you’ve forgotten about those pastry offerings, a bittersweet chocolate croissant that doubles as a butter sponge will shake you out of your savory reverie. Its glamorous sister, the chocolate and almond croissant, is a case study in how much beauty can be heaped onto layers of buttery dough. Though the pastry looks like it would be

ust too much, the a or remains surprisingly understated, balancing the bittersweet chocolate with a whisper of almond sweetness. The Pereurs add to their parade of delights with cinnamon croissants, lue erry muffins, pistachio brioche and a confection made from a link of open-faced macarons crowned with dollops of pastry cream and fresh berries. Every day, their offerings change, though one thing remains constant: They sell out of many items well before they close their doors. Clearly, Pereur, with the help of her equally talented mother, has what it takes to make it in the restaurant business. Of course, she doesn’t need the validation of critics saying that — she never has. Her talent speaks for itself. But the success she’s experiencing in St. Louis is her best answer to that smug chef who thought women couldn’t hack it. He tried to put her in her place, but the joke’s on him: He didn’t realize that place was in the kitchen. n Like Home

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SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

The Pack Leader at Lion’s Choice Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ong before being recruited to lead the pack as CEO at Lion’s Choice, before helping to oversee Panera’s exponential growth and before his studies at the Wharton School and MIT became a reality, Michael “Kup” Kupstas was just a kid who fell in love with food. “My mother was a wonderful cook. She could create wonderful dishes out of the things most people would toss out,” Kupstas explains. “My brothers and I started watching her at an early age. It’s where I learned the importance of creativity in the kitchen.” For Kupstas, the meals of his youth were celebratory events, even those that weren’t on special occasions. Every Sunday, the family would gather for a 1 p.m. meal — “The Meal,” as he calls it. Loved ones would engage in robust conversation over what seemed like a feast. As soon as he was old enough to get a job, Kupstas looked to the restaurant business, landing a gig at McDonald’s, where he ultimately became one of the chain’s prestigious brand ambassadors. “I was an All-American Bun Boy,” Kupstas laughs at the title. “It was a competition to see who could toast the best buns — you know, get that perfect caramelization.” Kupstas put himself through school by cooking at McDonald’s and bartending at a pub. He’d planned on graduating with a marketing degree and getting a high-profile job outside of the restaurant industry, but he soon realized that wasn’t the way things worked. “I realized that people don’t get hired straight out of col-

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lege for those ‘great marketing careers,’” Kupstas says. “So I went back to what I knew.” What he knew was food. So Kupstas began his post-collegiate career working for the General Mills restaurant group, first for its Betty Crocker Pie Shop concept on the East Coast, then relocating to Minneapolis to help the brand develop its Nature Valley granola bars. From there, he went on to work in menu planning and strategic marketing for Red Lobster and Long John Silver’s — until he saw an opportunity with a relatively small company looking to expand. That company was Panera Bread. Under Kupstas’ leadership as senior vice president and chief franchise officer, the rand known locally as Saint Louis Bread Company) grew from 52 to 1,600 locations across the country. All the while working for large, national chains, however, Kupstas retained his passion for food at the personal level. He built a pizza oven in his backyard, formed a competitive barbecue team called the Wizards of Hog and even wrote a cookbook with his brother-inlaw, Boys That Cook for the Ones They Love. Kupstas left Panera in 2012 to open the upscale bistro Forks in the Air in Rangeley, Maine. His retirement was short-lived. He soon found himself partnering with Katie Lee and Ted Collier as they were about to launch their wildly successful Katie’s Pizza and Pasta. “We started out just chatting, but after a few months, we decided to do something together,” Kupstas explains. “I began helping them right after they signed the Rock Hill lease and we’ve been partners for almost four years now.” Kupstas was content in his post-corporate life. But then the newly minted chief operating officer of ion s hoice, ecky ine, came calling. A longtime colleague of Kupstas from his days at Panera, Fine wanted Kupstas to join the leadership team of the St. Louis-based roast beef chain as it looks toward its future and eyes possible expansion. Though he was at first hesitant to get out of semi-retirement, Kupstas couldn’t say no. “Here is this

JUNE 14-20, 2017

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CEO Michael Kupstas hopes to guide Lion’s Choice to expansion. | NICOLE GALLI MOHLER

50-year-old brand that has this fanatical customer base, and it seemed to represent everything that food means to me,” Kupstas explains. “This place is about memories as much as it is about the food. It’s so much more about a transactional way of feeding people. Everyone has a story about the place and their own special order. We have grandchildren coming in telling stories about their grandparents’ memories. It’s unbelievable to hear.” On May 31, the 25-restaurant chain announced his selection as its CEO. Though Kupstas won’t discuss whether Lion’s Choice has plans for a national expansion, he admits that the chain is reviewing its options while remaining fiercely

committed to honoring its legacy. “I feel humbled to be able to steer the brand into the next decade while respecting everything it means to people,” Kupstas says. “Food is my life. I’ve been fortunate enough to find all these different ways to use that in a way to in uence people’s lives.” Kupstas took a break from preparing his signature order — a regular roast beef sandwich with extra seasoning, horseradish and a side of au jus — to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant community, his love of Big Macs and bourbon, and why there’s no business like the restaurant business. What is one thing people don’t Continued on pg 54 know about

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you that you wish they did? I co-authored a cookbook. It’s full of short stories and recipes from guys who enjoy preparing food for family and friends. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? My mornings. Take the dog out, head to the Center of Clayton for a workout, coffee times two. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? I d link, snap my fingers and instantly end hunger in the world. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? Finally seeing the recognition of St. Louis chefs and restaurants on a national scale. What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see? Affordable and accessible local and sustainable foods. What is your St. Louis food crush? Lion’s Choice’s original roast beef with extra seasoning, horseradish, au jus on the side, please. Or Pappy’s ribs. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene? Katie Collier of Katie’s Pizza and Pasta. She’s one of the most talented and creative people in the food world that I know. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? moke especially from fruit woods). Maybe in that I’m distinctive and slightly sweet, while at the same time, you’ll know when I present. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? Is there another business? Name an ingredient never allowed in your kitchen. Provel cheese. I respect the history and the role it plays in St Louis, but it’s really not for me. What is your after-work hangout? I’m on the couch with my wife and our labradoodle. What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? Big Macs and great bourbons…. though I don’t think I’ve ever had those together… um. What would be your last meal on earth? o ster fi e ways n

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[FIRST LOOK]

A New Turn in Grand Center Written by

SARA GRAHAM

r a n d C e n t e r ’s n e w e s t restaurant, Turn (3224 Locust Street, 314-2405157), is inspired by several elements in chef and owner David Kirkland’s life. As chef and manager of Café Osage since its 2008 opening, he had grown accustomed to the hyper-fresh, just-harvested produce and herbs from Bowood Farms. Dishes and drinks changed often according to what was ripe that day. “Turn,” thus, refers to the turning of the seasons, as Kirkland’s new kitchen again sources from local farmers and producers for farm-to-table fare that also supports local businesses. “I loved what I was doing at Café Osage, but I was ready for the next thing, my own thing,” Kirkland says. “Turn” also offers a nod to Kirkland’s love of records. Its clever logo suggests a turntable, with the “t” as the playing needle. One wall of the restaurant includes a piece of art created with some of Kirkland’s favorite album covers. And the restaurant’s squareshaped menu includes an “A Side” reakfast and a “ ide lunch ,” calling to mind album liner notes. nd finally, “Turn” also references Kirkland’s twist on American traditional cuisine. This is irkland s first solo restaurant, and his playful approach to its name is carried through to his fresh and eclectic menu. Explains Kirkland, “This menu is inspired by things I couldn’t do at Café Osage and biscuits and arepa, foods my wife and I love.” At Turn, Kirkland is able to experiment, go off book, and respond to seasonal and even weekly produce availability. In fact, before formal menu planning had even begun, Kirkland already knew Turn’s first item — biscuits and gravy. The house-made biscuits are topped 56

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Arepas are topped with chorizo, over-easy eggs, cheddar, avocado and chile verde. | SARA GRAHAM

At Turn, chef David Kirkland is able to experiment, go off book, and respond to seasonal and even weekly produce availability. with a gra y a ored with sage and turkey sausage. Also on the menu is a iscuit ight that offers four different biscuits with seasonal house-made jam, honey and butter. The arepa, a grilled corn cake with chorizo, over-easy eggs, cheddar, avocado and chile verde, is already a customer favorite. Turn is located in .ZACK, the new performing arts incubator launched in 2016 by local philanthropists Ken and Nancy Kranzberg in Grand Center’s historic Cadillac building. Kirkland also runs a full-service catering company on the building’s fourth oor, a id irkland atering. The restaurant is open for

JUNE 14-20, 2017

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Turn’s logo suggests a turntable, an homage to its owner’s love of records. | SARA GRAHAM breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Vegetarian options are available. In the works, too, is a monthly weekend dinner pop-up series. Kirkland will partner with a new chef each month in a collabora-

tion that will yield a completely unique menu every time. The first event will feature chef Samantha Pretto of the Dark Room. It’s scheduled for June 29; with the possibility of dinner on June 30 being added as well. See Turn’s Facebook page for more n details.

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  

Sister Cities’ new home on South Broadway had been vacant for nearly a decade. | SARAH FENSKE [FOOD NEWS]

SISTER CITIES SAYS HELLO, AGAIN

lmost exactly a year after closing its doors on South Grand, Sister Cities Cajun & BBQ (3550 S. Broadway, 314-405-0447) is finally open in its new home — with a week of soft openings culminating in a grand opening on Saturday, June 10. It took quite a bit longer than anticipated to get to this point, acknowledges Pamela Melton, who owns the restaurant with Travis Parfait. “We have missed every deadline,” laughs Melton. “I’d stopped giving people an opening date or even an opening month.” And the couple couldn’t be happier. Says Melton, “When they handed me my liquor license, I almost cried.” The spot, which opened at 4144 South Grand in Dutchtown in 2013, hit a run of bad luck beginning last January. First a driver skidded through the snow, smashing into the storefront. Though the city condemned the building, they were able to reopen in a few days — but then got hit by a second car three months later. Tired of making repairs to a building they didn’t own in a location that could be problematic, they decided to move. Other than a brief pop-up in the former home of Melt, on Cherokee Street, they’ve been away from the kitchen for a year. During that time, Melton says, Parfait has labored over

renovations to their new building, which was vacant for almost a decade before they took it over. It’s a much bigger footprint, offering not just a full-service seating area, but also a counter for those in the neighborhood seeking a quick lunch. They’re also working on building a deck out back — with plans to add a “mini dog park” adjacent to it. “The idea is that you could put your dog in the dog park and watch him from the deck,” says Melton. “Here we are pipe-dreaming — we want to launch every idea we’ve ever had in this spot!” Located in south city’s Marine Villa neighborhood, the space was previously home to an establishment called the Great Gildersleeve, and, more recently, a restaurant and 3 a.m. bar called the Brick. “Everybody has a story about what happened to them at the Brick,” says Melton, laughing. This week, the couple plans to begin regular hours: Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And yes, those hours do indicate yet another new thing for Sister Cities — they’re adding brunch. The menu, though, is mostly as it was — expect a few new menu items, but the beloved Cajun nachos, po’boys, jambalaya and dry-rubbed smoked chicken wings are all making a triumphant return. So, too, is the house favorite “Dirty Chick,” a chicken breast smothered in gumbo. They’re thrilled to be serving those classics all over again. Says Melton, “We’re finally home.” —Sarah Fenske

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[BARS]

New Pub Grub Spot in Soulard Written by

SARAH FENSKE

he building that houses Lynch Street Tavern (1031 Lynch Street, 314-773-1890), which opened last month in Soulard, has many things going for it. There’s a wonderful patio out back — and a second-story deck that continues the open-air party upstairs. Inside the restaurant, a cool wrought-iron staircase provides visual appeal. But the space has suffered serious turnover in recent years. Fleur de Lilies, a Korean/Creole hybrid, drew raves but only lasted a year and a half. Before that, Gusto’s 314 lasted just over a year. And before that, Sage Urban American Grill had a six-year run after replacing Lynch Street Bistro. That makes this the fifth concept in the space in just over a decade. This time, the owners aren’t taking any chances. There are none of the creative oddities that filled age s menu or the intriguing fusion served up at Fleur de Lilies. This is a basic Soulard pub, with a menu that offers burgers, appetizers, sandwiches and wraps. Nothing is more than $11.99, and everything would pair pretty nicely with a bucket of ud ottles. Hey, the ta ern is

Gre

rP ice at

Drenched in queso, the nachos also feature everything from bacon to pork to corn. Yes, corn. | SARAH FENSKE

practically in Anheuser-Busch’s backyard — you wouldn’t want to insult the neighbors by drinking an import On the night we visited, the kitchen was slammed, but still did a great job with our “Black ‘n’ Bleu” burger. The eight-ounce patty was topped with blue cheese, carmelized onions and bacon; you get your choice of tots, seasoned fries or chips, although you can add onion rings for another $1.99. You should only order the loaded nachos, though, if you’re a fan of queso. Yes, that may sound self-explanatory, but the menu promised that these would

be topped with “melted shredded cheddar cheese ... & drizzled with queso.” “Drizzled,” though, turned out to be more like “drenched.” nd that was in addition to the promised chicken, pulled pork, chili, tomatoes, black olives, tomatoes, jalapenos, bacon and e en corn ... phew We preferred the “Crispy Green Beans,” which were just as described — and addictive with a side of ranch. Other appetizers include house-made fried pickles, chicken tenders or wings. For an intriguing lunch option, likely designed to lure those A-B workers, Lynch Street will begin of-

fering a lunch buffet as of June 13. For $7.99, you can chow down on all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, soup, salad and breadsticks. Inside, the walls have gotten a new paint job; instead of the soft yellows of Fleur de Lilies, they’re now a classic red, and the vibe is decidedly sports bar. Service is friendly, with TVs throughout both rooms tuned to the Cardinals. But why would you sit inside when you’ve got that patio? Go ahead, order a bucket and a burger. This is Soulard, and here the night is always young. And if you want a beer at lunch, is there anyone n around to stop you?

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NIGHTLIFE

[COMEDY]

Not Funny St. Louis comedian’s offensive posts are no laughing matter to Vess Soda Written by

ALLISON BABKA

here’s nothing like an ice-cold Vess Whistle Orange — or any of the brand’s nearly twenty other flavors — on a warm summer day. For many St. Louisans who grew up drinking the stuff, popping that soda can tab and hearing the fi e okes hardcore nostalgia. But some folks now are worried that their favorite soda is tainted with the taste of racism, misogyny and homophobia, thanks to an unfortunate association with a controversial Vess fan — a man with a history that includes defending the use of racial and homophobic slurs and making jokes about rape. On Instagram, local comedian Anthony Rogers recently posted a photo of himself holding a can of Black Cherry Vess. Rogers tells the RFT that Vess is his favorite soda, and he’s been drinking the brand “since I was a little kid.” “My grandfather used to buy them for me,” Rogers says. The Vess brand, which is manufactured in St. Louis and was locally owned until 1994, when it was purchased by Cott Beverages, frequently uses its own social media accounts to repost photos of fans enjoying its beverages. On June 5, Vess did just that, sharing Rogers’ photo on its Facebook and Instagram properties. “This was just one of many pieces of repurposed user-generated content that we use to connect with communities,” says Jason Sorvillo, vice president of marketing at Cott Beverages. “Fans share their photos with our brands, and we get their permission to post them.” But Rogers is no ordinary Vess fan. The comedian generated national controversy in August 2014

St. Louis’ homegrown soda company was not amused when it learned of Anthony Rogers’ past antics. | PHIL ROUSSIN/FLICKR for a piece he wrote for Thought Catalog, “Ferguson, Missouri Looks Like A Rap Video” — an article Gawker dubbed “the dumbest thing that’s been written about Michael Brown and the aftermath of his death so far.” Rogers kicked off the piece by observing “Michael Brown was doing hood rat shit with his friends” and continued in that vein long enough for Gawker to conclude, “Thought Catalog is now a white supremacist publication.” Writing for Funnyordie.com in , ogers also fantasi ed a out the first things he d do as a time tra eler Tell the Na is where nne Frank was hiding and “hit Marilyn Monroe with a shovel and drag her back to 2015 and rape her behind a tree.” In addition, a number of Rogers’ social media posts — some of which have since been deleted, but preserved in the form of screenshots — are insensitive at best, if not at out offensi e. ne example, from Rogers’ fan page on Facebook last year, reads as follows: If a word offends you, you are a

fucking idiot. It’s 2016, you were never a slave, other than to the banks. If “nigger” offends you, you’re a little bitch. And if you hate slavery so much, why are you using electronics to read this made by child slaves? In clothes made by child slaves? If you’re gay and someone says “faggot”... who the fuck cares? You have the right to suck 17 dicks, and people have the right to say words. Words have the power you give them. And I don’t have to cater to your ignorance and lack of balls. If “retard” offends you, I don’t care. You crying doesn’t give you some kind of edge or advantage in creating laws or rules. Rogers tells the RFT that he doesn’t agree with the notion that comedians — or anyone — should watch their words, no matter the topic. “I think if you can get past the naughty u words, it s a great argument,” Rogers says of his post above. “Whoever submitted that took that screenshot within the few hours that was online and has had that for a while. Which shows the riverfronttimes.com

power of words, and maybe they’ll one day understand the message beneath words that offended them.” A number of regional and national venues have declined or canceled Rogers’ shows over the years because of controversial posts and language, as illustrated in another screenshot featuring a Facebook conversation between Rogers and a venue in Columbia, Missouri. Broadway Brewery’s Facebook page canceled Rogers’ appearance at the club, writing, “I’ve read some of your posts and tweets about women being whores/sluts and that you think rape is funny. In addition someone else messaged us pointing this out as well. Not good. We just don’t agree with that humor.” The RFT obtained the screenshots from sources who wish to remain anonymous. Rogers confirmed that they are legitimate. Sorvillo says that Vess’ owner, Cott Beverages, did not have an official partnership with ogers, Continued on pg 62 and the

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UNFUNNY Continued from pg 61

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brand has since removed photos of him from Vess’ Facebook and Instagram accounts. Sorvillo also tells the RFT that Cott is working with its agency marketing partners to formali e a etting process that social media managers will use before sharing fan photos. “Consumers also have alerted us to things Rogers has said,” Sorvillo says. “The things he has posted do not align in any way with what Cott Beverages values.” Will St. Louis soda fans care about what’s happened between Vess and the comedian? For some brands, a situation like this one might not grab the attention of consumers; for others, they could develop into a crisis situation. Cathy Dunkin, a lecturer in management communication at Washington University’s Olin Business School, tells the RFT that preparing well is often the key to avoiding such contro ersies in the first place. “The most important thing when you’re going to do any campaign, whether traditional or social, is to plan carefully, think about who the spokespeople are going to be — the ones designated by the company as well as fans — and be ready for things that might happen where you would have to respond to protect the reputation of your brand,” says Dunkin, who has spent 30 years in reputation management. “That would include the messaging as well as what kind of response you would use, where you would use it and who would speak for you online and in person.” But despite the controversy surrounding his Vess endorsement, Rogers says that venues don’t back out of his comedy shows these days. He insists that he is not racist, misogynistic or anti-LGBT. “I think race, religion, sexual preference, gender and even down to sports teams are just used as methods to divide the human race and oneness of God,” Rogers says. Vess recently celebrated its 100th anniversary and has been featuring its “St. Louis Made” video series on its social media accounts. The company frequently shares photos of its products alongside other popular local brands like STL Style and Old Vienna’s Red Hot Riplets — which on May 23 posted a photo of Rogers eating the spicy potato chips to Facebook. As with Vess, Rogers’ Riplets photo has now been deleted. n

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