Riverfront Times - March 21, 2018 by Riverfront Times

MARCH 21–27, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 12

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The Cha n g e Iss ue They moved. They had kids. They changed jobs. Meet some St. Louisans mixing things up in big ways — and living to tell about it

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THE LEDE

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“People always said, ‘Why do you keep that long name? Why don’t you shorten it to something?’ I said, ‘Hell no! That’s my business! That’s my name! They’ll remember that!’”

—Ted PiekuTowski, PhoTograPhed aT PiekuTowski’s sausage shoP in hyde Park on March 15

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

11.

Courage to Change

Meet some St. Louisans mixing things up in big ways — and living to tell about it

Written by

RFT STAFF

Cover photography by

TRYAM PHOTOGRAPHY

NEWS

ARTS

DINING

CULTURE

The Lede

Calendar

Cafe

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

Frankly on Cherokee is frankly brilliant, writes Cheryl Baehr

Courts

Jessica Estes was shamed by a crisis pregnancy center. Now she’s speaking out against them on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court

Film

Robert Hunt enjoys the hilarious palace intrigue that follows The Death of Stalin, now at the Tivoli

Side Dish

Natalie DuBose went for her dream — and then saw her pain go viral

Food News

Chef Pepe Kehm is returning to Dogtown with a new concept inside Arena Bar

Media

Hacker Man gave St. Louis ‘a parody of a good website.’ Then the lawyers shut him down

First Look

In the Loop, Guerrilla Street Food has a hot new look and new recipes, too

Homespun

Bunnygrunt celebrates 25 years with a new record and a blowout weekend of partying

Good Deeds

Pianos for People is teaching next-gen musicians on Cherokee Street

Art

Belleville resident John Wegrzyn, whose work is now on display at the National Blues Museum, finds beauty in the cemetery

Out Every Night

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

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements 6

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NEWS

Shamed at 16, She’s Now Fighting Back Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

hen she was sixteen and worried that she was pregnant, Jessica Estes wound up at a Birthright clinic in St. Louis. It was free, for one

thing. “It looked just like any other clinic,” she recalls. But it wasn’t. Rather, Birthright is a “crisis pregnancy center,” and the organization’s services — as well as its funding from the state — are tied to its efforts to dissuade women from seeking abortions. As a teen, Estes thought she was talking to medical professionals, doctors and nurses. It’s likely that she wasn’t. That sort of ambiguity is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case known as NIFLA v. Becerra, which had oral arguments on Tuesday. The case pits a national pro-life group against a California law mandating that crisis pregnancy centers inform clients about their stance on abortion services and also disclose whether there is a licensed medical professional supervising the facility. The clinics say the law violates their First Amendment rights. “There’s this illusion that it’s a clinic,” says Estes, now a statewide organizer for NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. Along with other Missouri abortion rights activists, Estes made the trek to the nation’s capital this week to speak at a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court. Her speech covered her own experiences with Missouri crisis pregnancy centers, particularly how these clinics market themselves to women of color. “It’s preying on women who are vulnerable,” she says. “I was a young black girl sitting across from an older white woman, and I remember a lot of shaming about be-

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Jessica Estes traveled from St. Louis to D.C. to speak about her experiences on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. | COURTESY OF JESSICA ESTES

The state’s 2018 budget allocates more than $6 million to pregnancy centers; of that total, about $4 million is diverted from federal welfare funds. ing sexually active, a lot of shame about the purpose of sex, which is to have a baby.” (She says they gave her a pregnancy test, but it was negative.) It wasn’t until more than a decade later, when Estes joined NARAL, that she says learned how these “fake clinics” operate. NARAL, in fact, provided the key research cited by the California legislature as it crafted the law now being fought over in the Supreme

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Court. The organization has faced a more hostile audience in Missouri. Last year, during a special session ordered by Governor Eric Greitens, Missouri’s legislature passed a law that did just the opposite, banning municipalities from enacting laws that seek to adversely affect “an alternatives [sic] to abortion agency or its officers’, agents’, employees’, or volunteers’ operations or speech.” “Missouri is in a particularly bad spot,” Estes says. The state’s 2018 budget allocates more than $6 million to pregnancy centers; of that total, about $4 million is diverted from federal welfare funds. As a condition for receiving the funding, the centers are prohibited from providing abortions or referring women to an abortion clinic. And while the state continues to toy with additional cuts to welfare for individuals and families, the money keeps pouring in to clinics that often represent themselves as medical facilities, even when they’re not. For now, the Supreme Court’s deliberations over the California law

won’t change that. But NARAL Missouri director Alison Dreith points out that a Supreme Court decision in California’s favor could impact local abortion laws in the future. “It would certainly give other states the authority to pass a similar policy that California did,” she says. And even if a law like that can’t pass the Missouri legislature — and realistically, with the General Assembly’s current composition, it can’t — St. Louis’ Board of Aldermen could pass its own ordinance to force crisis pregnancy centers like Birthright to disclose their medical bonafides and stances on abortion services. Sure, that would put the city in conflict with Missouri state law, but Dreith says the city could then point to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in its defense. “The First Amendment doesn’t give you the right to lie to women,” Dreith argues. “If a crisis pregnancy center or other entity wants to exist, they can be a resource, but they shouldn’t be able to lie shame and stigmatize women in a really vulnerable time of their lives.” n

A Parody of a Good Website Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ast week, attorneys for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were in a lather over “Lite PD,” a hack that allowed users to read the newspaper’s online stories without the usual photos, videos and long load times. And while the man behind the hack insists his creation is a parody of the Post-Dispatch’s website, he acknowledges that it is a parody only in the sense that Lite PD is not a stuttering, browser-crashing mess. The stories are all the paper’s. The man, an IT consultant, agreed to talk to the RFT but wouldn’t provide his name. We’ll call him Hacker Man. First, here’s how Lite PD worked: Open any story on stltoday.com, change the URL from .com to .site, and then hit “enter.” That was it. Thanks to Hacker Man’s magic, the browser would navigate you to the PD Lite version of the story, offering plain text in a mobile-friendly format. It was an ingenious hack, though it did have its limits. As Hacker Man notes, Lite PD can’t be used as a tool to browse the newspaper’s content; there are no tabs for sections or a search bar. You must always start with the stltoday.com version of a story.

Beyond that, clicking the Lite PD homepage will bring up a message that asks users to first buy a subscription to the newspaper, adding, “This is not intended to be a discovery tool but rather a service that allows you to visit a speedier less buggy version of the P-D after you’ve hit one of their articles you like.” An avid reader of the paper’s journalism, Hacker Man says he got fed up with webpages stuck in infinite load times and a mobile experience that he says not only crashes his browser but, unforgivably, redirects him away from stories and traps him on outside pages. “I’d open a story on Twitter, I’d hit the page, wouldn’t touch anything, and it would kick me to some ad that it thought I’d clicked on,” he says. “I couldn’t read an article for two days straight.” And he wasn’t alone. The tipping point, he says, came after he saw a February 28 tweet from Richard Callow, a longtime information broker among city journalists. Callow too had run into similar problems with the Post-Dispatch’s website, and that day he’d tweeted at the newspaper, “Yes, @stltoday, I would pay more for a version of you that just had the news, didn’t auto-play video, and didn’t crash my browser every 2 hours.” The tweet got Hacker Man thinking. “I figured, this is the guy whose job it is to schmooze with journalists and be nice to them, and even he is OK with kind of giving them trouble about this,” he says. “I knew I wasn’t alone, and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do

something about this.’” Days later, he quietly launched Lite PD. But just a few days after that, Hacker Man got a stern email via the website from the newspaper’s attorneys at Lane & Waterman LLP. The March 8 letter claimed that Lite PD was violating the newspaper’s intellectual property rights and that its illegal use of the Post-Dispatch’s trademark tricked consumers and “unfairly capitalizes on our client’s goodwill and reputation.” The law firm demanded that Lite PD transfer the domain name stltoday.site domain name to Pulitzer Inc., which owns the Post-Dispatch, and to remove “all infringing material from the website.” Hacker Man replied with a letter of his own. Lite PD, he wrote, was actually a parody that existed because the Post-Dispatch couldn’t get its shit together. “The only reason for a user to access stltoday.site after visiting stltoday.com,” Hacker Man quipped, “is to experience the parodic bliss that is a usable website.” From the letter: As of the latest visit to stltoday. com, it took 13.75 seconds to load the page and the website made 221 independent requests, many of which are to different servers all around the world, to compile the webpage. In contrast, stltoday.site makes 7 requests and loads in approximately .4 seconds. This is all delivered over a secure and encrypted https connection whereas the stltoday.com site is insecure. This massive discrepancy in site performance and security is laughable and parodic in nature, satirizing the sad state of affairs that is

your client’s digital offerings. Post-Dispatch journalists say that the best way to get a better experience is simply to buy an online subscription. At that point, the user gets a version that skips the Google surveys and loads more quickly. Tracy Rouch, a spokeswoman for the daily, made it clear that Hacker Man’s complaints were not going to lead to the paper backing down: “We take all infringements on our intellectual property very seriously. We will continue to pursue this matter through the legal process.” Hacker Man acknowledges that his site was potentially a problem for the newspaper, which needs revenue from digital ads to pay its journalists. But he contends that he’s providing a service: He’s calling attention to the fact that the website is in dire need of improvement. The problems, he says, should concern potential advertisers. “I think that the way they have their website set up currently is hurting them more than it’s helping them. It’s providing a bad user experience,” he says. “Quite frankly, I don’t think their advertisers would be happy with the results they’re getting.” Still, on Thursday, after getting another letter from the Post-Dispatch’s lawyers — this one threatening damages for willful copyright infringement, including “statutory awards of up to $150,000 per infringement (per article) as well as costs and attorney’s fees” — the parody stopped feeling so funny. That very afternoon, Hacker Man n took down the hack.

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

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COURAGE TO CHANGE When I first got to know Adam Lough, he was bartending at Brennan’s, and I was spending enough time there that I thought I was friends with the bartenders. It was a depressing time in my life. I’d landed in the Midwest after nearly six years in Arizona, and not only was I blue over the breakup with my Phoenix boyfriend, I was lonely. And don’t even get me started on winter; turns out six years in Arizona will destroy your tolerance for gray days and ice storms. Brennan’s — and booze — were a respite. But Adam, too, seemed a bit depressed. And that’s why I was so surprised when I ran into him a few months ago (at, yes, Brennan’s) and he simply looked happy. I was happy too. Since my days as a regular, I’d moved to Los Angeles and moved back, gotten married and had a baby. It took a ridiculous amount of chaos (two cross-country moves, three jobs, five domiciles), but I now appreciated that without a few big steps back, I could never have taken the most important steps forward. Adam, too, had made some big changes. He explained that he’d become a hairdresser — and that he positively loved his work. He

actually looked years younger, and I could have sworn I saw a literal spring in his step. After our conversation, I found myself mulling just how much we fear change, even though it’s often both necessary and good. I thought of the changes I’ve made, the changes I’ve resisted. And I contemplated the prayer I say daily, even as I still continue (sigh) to tipple at Brennan’s: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” In this special issue, we ended up talking to a number of St. Louis residents about the changes they’ve made — good, bad and sometimes difficult. We talked to Adam, and we also talked to a rock star who became a dad, an observer who became a leader, a funeral services director who started a restaurant group, a woman who moved to St. Louis from San Francisco even as she’s nearing 70. We found much to learn, and we hope their stories will galvanize you to consider your own life. What things should you accept? And what things should you move mountains in order to shake up, right here, right now? —Sarah Fenske

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Taking the Lead

First Lashell Eikerenkoetter filmed protests. Then she started organizing them BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

MAGALI ECHEVARRIA / BY MONICA MILEUR

New Life in Old Age

At 68, Magali Echevarria left San Francisco for St. Louis BY MEGAN ANTHONY

hen Magali Echevarria moved from Cuba to the U.S., it was the 1950s and relations between the two countries were growing cold. Her family moved to New York City in January, and she had never known true winter. In fact, the only idea the sevenyear-old had of the United States was an image printed on a greeting card of children on a red sled. Since then, Echevarria has lived in all corners of the country — and in notably warmer climates. From New York she moved to Miami and then Puerto Rico, with her next stop San Francisco. Then, last July, she finally landed in the middle, in St. Louis. When she made the decision to move to St. Louis, she had only previously been to the city to visit a friend. But money was a powerful motivation; she knew that being on a fixed income would not

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sustain her in San Francisco. In her late 60s she decided to make one more move, to have one more adventure. Of her new home in Southwest Gardens, she says, “I love my neighborhood; I like the art.” She also loves the brick architecture. Still, there are things she misses. “Everything is spread out here, in San Francisco places are closer together.” Change is at the core of Echevarria’s being. After moving to Miami at nineteen, she decided it wasn’t the place for her. She then stayed in Puerto Rico for eight years, but soon grew bored. “It’s an island, and islands become pretty small,” she says. She moved to San Francisco in 1981, and its vibrant art scene captured her. She began working in hospitality and eventually transitioned into managing the Cadillac Hotel, a single-room occupancy hotel in the Tenderloin, which housed thousands of low-income adults with no other place to go. At the Cadillac, Echevarria was responsible for running 158 units with a staff of fewer than ten. “I’m good at dealing with different demographics of people,” she says. Often, the people who walked through her hotel were undocumented,

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homeless and/or dealing with mental health issues and addiction. “It was never boring,” she says. And as an immigrant herself, she found it easy to empathize: “I consider it a privilege to know people from all over the world.” Echevarria had planned to stay in San Francisco for a month but ended up staying for 36 years — the longest she has lived anywhere. However, at 68, she got the itch for one last move. “I thought I was done with that part of my life but I thought, ‘What the heck! One more change,’” she says. She settled on St. Louis after a friend informed her that she could get a nice apartment for $600/month. Without hesitation she said, “OK, let’s do that.” In the year since her move, Echevarria has enjoyed simply decompressing. As a lifelong lover of art, she spends her days painting, writing and reading. Retirement suits her at age 69. She claims the adjustment was easy and that the timing was right. However, when you’ve lived your life on the go, it can be hard to flip the switch. Recently, Echevarria has begun thinking about volunteering with immigrants in the city, explaining, “I’m ready to do some good again.” Until then, she is enjoying her cats and the quiet. n

n the protests that swept St. Louis last year after a judge acquitted former city cop Jason Stockley of murder in the line of duty, it was impossible to ignore Lashell Eikerenkoetter. Along with a core group of organizers, she was at the front of the crowd day after day, refusing to let the not-guilty verdict go by unopposed or unmourned. Demonstrators looked to the 28-year-old St. Louis native for news of the next action via the striking invites she created for social media. But even more than that, it was her voice — sometimes projected through air, sometimes magnified by a bullhorn, and sometimes by the mic on her smartphone as she broadcast the activities of a movement on the march to people around the world. A police line. A new protest chant. A cloud of pepper spray. Each moment was captured with Eikerenkoetter’s running commentary. But Eikerenkoetter wasn’t always on the frontlines of that movement. “This has been a long progress for me to get comfortable with my own voice,” she says. In fact, when she first showed up to a protest, she wasn’t there to organize, but to help clean up the damage wrought by rioters. Having grown up in Jennings, right next to Ferguson, Eikerenkoetter was shocked when people burned her neighborhood QuikTrip after the August 2014 death of Michael Brown. At first, she says she was mad — at the community. “Y’all burned up my QuikTrip!” she remembers thinking. “That’s my area that I walked up and down since I was a little kid.” But the longer she spent watching the crowds gathering alongside the wreckage, the more she saw beyond the destruction, noticing how the police responded to a peaceful gathering with force. A recent college graduate working a corporate job as a videographer, she suddenly she found herself reevaluating the world around her, and her place Continued on pg 13 in it.

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TAKING THE LEAD Continued from pg 12 She began showing up to protest. Even then, she was taking short videos and uploading them to Instagram (a much more cumbersome process than would be possible three years later). Four days in, she experienced her first arrest. “The treatment in jail, it was the first time I was opened up to this system,” she says. “I knew from that moment I had to keep coming out, and keep recording, keep supporting and keep broadcasting these things.” After near-daily protests in Ferguson became less frequent actions, she found herself connecting with activists who weren’t ready to meld back into everyday life. Eikerenkoetter began streaming subsequent protests, town hall meetings and political debates. Her Facebook Live videos garnered thousands of shares. Still, she saw herself as a participant-observer, not among those shaping the burgeoning movement. “I didn’t feel like I was important enough or that I was knowledgeable enough, or that I had something to offer to the conversation,” she says. That reticence changed, however, around the time she learned about the impending trial for the cop accused of murdering Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011.

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Smith, she says, was portrayed as “somebody insignificant, a thug, a drug dealer.” In the established media narrative, Officer Stockley had chased a drug dealer, the criminal pulled a gun and the cop fired back. The truth, of course, was much more complicated. “I knew that it was time for me to do more than just stand behind the camera. I had to be a voice for him,” she says. “So many wanted to throw him away already, because of the picture they painted of him. That kind of pushed me more into organizing.” In the weeks that followed the verdict, Eikerenkoetter pulled double duty, assisting in organizing protests even while broadcasting from the streets, explaining to her audience why Smith’s death should never have happened, and why his life mattered. No longer just a livestreamer, no longer just a protester, Eikerenkoetter embraced the fullness of her roles, and more than that. She found her voice as a leader. “This movement — it’s not about me or any one of us, it’s about liberation as a whole, and what that realistically looks like,” she says. “That means being able to stretch and be whatever that somebody needs at the moment. Support, participation, leading protests, photography, videography. No matter what is needed in this movement, n I’m there.”

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Death Didn’t Become Him

Joel Crespo quit the funeral industry to launch one of the city’s hottest restaurants BY CHERYL BAEHR

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JOEL CRESPO / BY MONICA MILEUR

t wasn’t supposed to be a permanent thing — just a pit stop somewhere between figuring out his next move in film and television production and helping his mom recover from the loss of his father. But one day, Joel Crespo looked up from his desk and realized he’d been working in the funeral business for seven years. “The whole notion of a career at the funeral home terrified me,” explains Crespo. “They even offered to pay for me to become a funeral director and I was like, ‘No, no, no.’ It was a good job. I had full health insurance, paid vacation, and it was the kind of job where I had the comfort of not having to take it home with me, so I got roped in. But at what point do you accept your destiny that this is what you’re meant to be?” Though it’s difficult to imagine Crespo as destined to be anything but a culinary superstar, there was a time when the restaurant industry was not even in the cards. The man who would eventually cofound Guerrilla Street Food always had a passion for food. However, in college, he found himself making other plans. He went to school for film and television production, then promptly moved to Los Angeles where he got a job working on The Drew Carey Show for three seasons, as well as music videos and the TBS concepts “Dinner and a Movie” and “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies.” Crespo had already been contemplating whether he wanted to stay in the entertainment industry when fate made the decision for him. In 2002, his father passed away from cancer and Crespo decided to return to St. Louis to take care of his mother and help her navigate this difficult time in her life. “I was at a crossroads then,” Crespo recalls. “I’d been in LA for four years, and I needed to reevaluate what I wanted to do. It was a tough business, and it was expensive living there. I saw this as an opportunity to both take care of my mom and see if it was really my calling.” Back in St. Louis, Crespo did

temp work, always looking for an opportunity to make some extra money. When a staffer at the funeral home that buried his father came to their home following the service to finalize some details, Crespo randomly asked if the company had any jobs available. The next thing he knew, he was hired, quickly moving from parking attendant to office director to funeral services coordinator. “I’d talk to families about prayer cards, how they wanted their memorial book to look, what the obituary should say,” recalls Crespo. “After about five years they asked if I wanted to design headstones. I’ve engraved headstones all over St. Louis, including my mom and dad’s — they got this really unique engraving on there because I got to do it myself.” Crespo is circumspect about the inertia that comes from simply falling into an opportunity, and how time can catch up with you without your even knowing it. That’s how he let seven years pass. It’s not that he was afraid of changing his situation — he wasn’t even really aware it was happening. But when he started thinking about it, his restless spirit would not go quietly. Still, it took friendship to kickstart the project that would come to define him. “Brian saw that I was desperate, and I was serious,” Crespo says of his business partner and friend Brian Hardesty.

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Though they had several mutual friends growing up, the pair did not connect until shortly after Crespo returned to town from Los Angeles. They bonded over many shared passions — skateboarding, comic books, science fiction and, above all, food. Crespo, who had no formal training, was thrilled to learn from Hardesty, a professional chef. But could their collaboration be more than a hobby? In 2010, they decided to go for it, quitting their jobs to launch a food truck just like the ones they’d seen in other cities. At that point, the scene was brand new in St. Louis, and they wanted to get in on the ground floor. If Crespo was in an established career — albeit an accidental one — Hardesty’s situation was much more intentional. As executive chef at one of the city’s foundational modern restaurants, Terrene, Hardesty was in a good professional position doing what he loved and supporting his family too. That’s why Crespo didn’t flinch when it was time for his own departure. “The hardest part of leaving a job is mentally accepting that you can do it,” Crespo explains. “Once Brian put in his notice, I knew this was serious. He had a child to support. It was harder for him. For me, I realize I had the privilege of not having attachments, so I had the freedom to make that life change. I wasn’t affecting anyone but myself, so I was able to more easily make a bold, rash decision.” However, Crespo would have

probably taken the leap regardless of his circumstances. “Maybe I am a product of the romanticized culture we live in, but I feel like you should have a passion for what you do,” Crespo says. “For me, it was a matter of not wanting to hate my day-to-day routine and be stuck in this grind. Maybe that’s me being a movie person, but I didn’t want to be like Joe Versus the Volcano losing my soul under fluorescent lights.” Almost a decade after taking that leap, Crespo is still awestruck by the success he and Hardesty have enjoyed with Guerrilla Street Food. What started as a food truck has grown into one of the city’s most recognizable and respected restaurant brands with two brick-andmortar locations and more on the way. With the benefit of such hindsight, Crespo recognizes that it is easy for him to muse about facing change with fearlessness. However, there is still that part of him that viscerally remembers sitting behind that funeral home desk, desperate to try something new. That’s the part of him that can’t resist giving others the nudge. “Humans are pretty resilient creatures, so you shouldn’t underestimate your ability to adapt to a situation,” Crespo says. “There could be a great reward, but if you don’t take the chance, it will haunt you. And if it doesn’t work out, there’s always something else to try — change is inevitable, right?”n

Jason Holler left St. Louis a rock star — and found himself plunged into a nightmare BY DANIEL HILL

hen Jason Holler and his wife Kate packed up and moved to Austin in late 2014, they knew they were in for some big changes. Just months before, Holler had performed with his group, Kentucky Knife Fight — a St. Louis favorite, and recipient of many music awards from this publication — for the last time. A south-city lifer, Holler knew that moving some 800 miles away was sure to take some adjusting. And, of course, there was the baby on the way, whose impending arrival served as the impetus for a move closer to Kate’s family. “The band was done and we came here, and I was kind of going through a bit of a crisis, like an identity crisis, kind of existential,” Holler, 34, says. “You know, ‘Who am I now that I’m no longer in this group?’ That’s how I was often identified by, living in St. Louis. My friends aren’t here, my family isn’t here, I feel very alone. I don’t have a job really, I don’t know what I’m going to do now and I have a kid on the way. Who am I creatively? Because I’ve always been a creative person; I’ve always identified that way.” On March 25, 2014, that uncertainty melted away with the birth of the couple’s daughter, Rowan Splendoria Holler. Says Holler, “It just was no longer important.” It’s a common thread among new parents, who suddenly realize at the sight of their new child that they’re no longer alone in the world, no longer looking out primarily for number one. It’s beautiful, really. But in the Hollers’ case, there was an additional reason to drop those more trivial concerns. Within only a few days, Jason and Kate began noticing blisters on Rowan’s body. They brought the wounds to the attention of the attending pediatrician, who was concerned enough to send the child to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. There, a slew of medical professionals including a children’s dermatologist and an infectious disease doctor crowded

around the newborn, trying to determine what was wrong. The dermatologist was the first to mention something called “E.B.,” but she cautioned the new parents not to Google it. Five sleepless days later, a preliminary diagnosis came back positive for an extremely rare disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa. “Which is a mouthful when you first hear it,” Holler says. “Then it just rolls off the tongue.” Only about 200 babies are born with the disease each year. Such is its rarity and severity that the condition is often referred to as “the worst disease you’ve never heard of.” Those who suffer from E.B. have abnormally thin, tissue-like skin that tears easily, causing severe pain and leaving blisters on up to three-fourths of a patient’s body. Babies who are born with it are often called “butterfly children,” as their skin is said to be as thin as a butterfly’s wings. At present there is no cure, and those with the disease have a life expectancy of about 30 years old. Just like that, Holler’s identity crisis promptly came to an end. “I found an identity as Rowan’s dad,” he says. “As somebody who’s gonna advocate for her and all these other kids like her.” On a typical day, Holler works at the airport (he’s a ramp agent for Southwest Airlines), often pulling twelve-hour shifts and clocking out near 2 a.m. before heading home and catching some rest. At 7 a.m. he gets up and begins Rowan’s day with a round of medication and breakfast, which is administered through a feeding tube — E.B. affects even the inside of the mouth and esophagus, resulting in painful blood blisters that used to cause Rowan to refuse to open up for medicine or food. The tube solved that. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a nurse helps Kate with the arduous process of bathing Rowan and changing the bandages that cover nearly her entire body. Holler is often tasked with switching out all the bedsheets in the house while Kate and the nurse attend to the bath. “We have to keep things very clean to cut down on the risk of infection,” Holler says, explaining that infection can be fatal for children with E.B. “Infection is always something that’s on our minds. She’s probably been hospitalized maybe ten times in the last three years.”

JASON HOLLER/ COURTESY OF THE FAMILY

Rebel With a Cause

The bath and bandage process can be grueling, Holler says. “It can be really brutal, just at this age right now, because she’s three years old,” he says. “So trying to get a toddler to cooperate with you when you’re doing something that they’re afraid of and they really don’t want to do, and they’re thrashing about and moving around — it actually injures them more. “I remember saying the first time that it’s like a nightmare, and I had felt bad about calling it that because it’s the world that my daughter lives in,” he adds. “But any dream that you would have where your kid’s skin would just come off their body — I mean, you would call that dream a nightmare.” Rowan sees six or seven different specialists each month, Holler says, and is currently on more than a dozen medications. So frequent are her doctor visits that the family moved to an apartment within walking distance of Austin’s Children’s Hospital as a time-saver. The home is also near a children’s museum, some parks and a public library. On Tuesdays and Thursdays — off days from the bath and bandage routine — the couple often takes Rowan somewhere to have fun. Though he remains a staunch advocate of St. Louis, one with frequent Southwest Diner cravings, Holler says that the health services and overall arts scene in Austin are riverfronttimes.com

ideal for Rowan. “I love that my daughter is growing up in Austin, just to give her that kind of experience,” he says. “I think in a lot of ways it’s just such a different environment, a different place than just about anywhere else.” That’s not to say he doesn’t miss parts of his life in St. Louis as a regional rock star. But with Rowan, his priorities have shifted entirely. Sometimes, the change you get is not the one you were expecting — and that’s OK. You find the strength when you need it, and what may have once seemed unfathomable becomes the life you live. “I was joking with Curt [Brewer], who used to play in Knife Fight — he was our other guitarist — and I said, ‘You know, there was a time where the biggest concern in my life was whether or not you’re gonna make it to the van on time,’” he laughs. “You know, for us leaving for tour or whatever, like, ‘Is Curt gonna be here late again’ and all these concerns I had in regards to the band. “A lot of luxury problems, a lot of very narcissistic things that I kind of toiled with for a while with the group — it just seems so funny now.” For more information about Epidermolysis Bullosa, or to donate money toward a cure, visit ebresearch.org.

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ADAM LOUGH / BY SARAH FENSKE

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO

Hair of the Dog MONDAY, MARCH 26 7:00 P.M.

Adam Lough was a frustrated bartender until he found his calling right down the street BY SARAH FENSKE

PLEASE VISIT WBTICKETS.COM AND ENTER THE CODE dRygr19782 TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASSES! RATED PG-13 FOR SEQUENCES OF SCI-FI ACTION VIOLENCE, BLOODY IMAGES, SOME SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL, PARTIAL NUDITY AND LANGUAGE. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.

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hen Adam Lough was in his mid-30s, he found himself feeling annoyed with his life as a bartender. There was a lot to like about the work, but he faced a growing unease. “I was making friends left and right,” he says. “But I was frustrated that I was still at a bar. The thing that was stymying me: ‘Are you really going to be at a bar forever?’” He daydreamed about working at a barber shop. But when he floated the idea of quitting the bar to cut hair, his live-in girlfriend had a flat answer. “No, I don’t think so.” He shelved the idea. Months passed. He and the girl eventually broke up. He remained frustrated. Just a block from his bar, he kept seeing the sign for the Paul Mitchell school in the Central West End. It felt like it was beckoning him. He did some Googling and learned Paul Mitchell had a barber program in Oregon. “I’m going to move to Portland and get

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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it done,” he decided. When he called Paul Mitchell, however, he learned he couldn’t get financial aid in Portland, but he could, instead, in St. Louis’ cosmetology program. The catch was that he’d have to learn everything: women’s hair, men’s hair, nails, eyebrows. At that point, he realized something big. He didn’t need to leave St. Louis. (He’d done that before — it hadn’t cured his ennui.) He could go to the school in the Central West End. He could learn men’s, women’s, eyebrows. But he needed to do it now. “I thought, if I wait and try to save up the money to go to Portland, it’ll be eight months from now,” he recalls. “And that means spring and summer. Things aren’t as disgruntled then. I’m on the patio more than I’m saving up money.” He concludes, “I put a gun to my head. And I said, ‘Do it now so you don’t jump out.’” In May 2016, Lough started Paul Mitchell the School St. Louis. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy. But one year later, he was trained and ready to go — and he landed a job immediately, thanks to a regular from his bartending days. At Lemon, the stylish salon in the heart of the Central West End, he doesn’t just cut men’s hair but does a little bit of everything. He still bartends two nights a week,

but now he’s doing it to pay off his school loans, not a career. And he’s happy. Seriously happy. “It doesn’t feel like work at all,” he says. “It’s no stress, all challenge.” To Lough, cutting hair combines all the things he liked about bartending (the chance to talk to people, the chance to make them feel better) with some new benefits (helping them look better). And he loves the challenge of each head that comes before him. To his amazement, he finds himself studying up on the job outside of work. He never did that while bartending. “I always just tried to master that on the time clock,” he says. “Maybe I shouldn’t have.” Now that he’s been at Lemon nearly a year, he looks back on his former angst with appreciation. He remembers how he felt embarrassed to begin again at 36, but he knows now his life experience is what allowed him to take his classes seriously. “Other times I tried to go to school I thought I knew everything,” he muses. “I needed that frustration, needed to be at that age to pay attention.” And sometimes, when he’s clocking in at the salon, still amazed to be working during daytime hours like a real adult, he thinks back on the changes he made and the changes he didn’t. He’s glad he didn’t flee St. Louis. “I didn’t have to leave,” he says. “I just had to change my attitude.”n

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

THURSDAY 03/22 St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were once a great baseball team. In the 1920s the Browns were Mound City’s favorite team, routinely out-drawing the Cardinals — so what happened? How did a baseball-crazy city fall out of love with its team, and did that alienation of affection lead to the Browns’ slide down the standings, out the door to Baltimore and into baseball obscurity? St. Louis Browns — The Team Baseball Forgot is a documentary about the star-crossed “other team,” narrated by Jon Hamm and based on a book produced by members of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society. The film screens at 7 p.m. tonight at the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Branch (1301 Olive Street; www.slpl.org). Admission is free, and Reedy Press will be on site selling copies of the source book, St. Louis Browns — The Story of a Beloved Team.

FRIDAY 03/23 Karlovsky & Company Dance Memory is a slippery thing. What sticks in your brain about an event or a person is not always what you’d expect or want to remember. Choreographer Dawn Karlovsky explores the strange terrain of memory in her new longform dance Remembrance. The piece draws on personal accounts of the past and historic documents to show how the past affects the present. Remembrance is the centerpiece of Karlovsky & Company Dance’s spring concert, and it’s performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (March 23 and 24) at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square; www.karlovskydance.org). Also on the bill is a dance by French choreographer Marie Christine Dal Farra inspired by Paul Cézanne’s paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Tickets are $15 to $20. 18

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SATURDAY 03/24 St. Louis Beard and Mustache Competition The beard has surged back into fashion after decades of being viewed as the sign of an untrustworthy man or a flat-out villain. On any street in St. Louis you’re liable to see a Donegal, Garibaldi or Bandholz on the faces of men young or old. For the members of the St. Louis Beard and Mustache Club, the follicular revival has been good for business, and that business is fostering pride in one’s facial hair, beard culture in general and performing charitable works. To hear current SLBMC president Ben Rumpell tell the story, it all started with a wild hair. “Richie Darling, it was his idea,” Rumpell recalls. “He suggested we start a beard and mustache club back in 2012, so we had a meeting and a few people showed up. We decided to try again, and about twenty people showed up to the next meeting. It’s grown from there to about 80 regular members.” Members are required to attend at least one of the club’s scheduled monthly meetings and pay $5 dues. The club maintains an active social life, with special events such as “Beard Prom” and “Beards in the Woods” sprinkled amongst the regular meetings and charitable drives. For Rumpell, it’s the community work that drives the club, not the number of members with bushy ’stache or a well-formed beard. “Our treasurer is a woman, and we have a few women members,” he says. “If you pay your dues and do enough charity work, you’re in.” The organization has nonprofit status with the IRS. “We’ve collected toys for kids, coats for the homeless, food for local pantries, and we’re an active Missouri Stream team,” Rumpell says. “We tried to adopt a highway, but they’re all taken, so we have a stream out in Jeff County we keep clean. We just raised funds

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Bring your glorious facial hair to the St. Louis Beard and Mustache Competition. | MATT SEIDEL

for Got Your Six Support Dogs, who matches support dogs with vets and first responders struggling with PTSD. I’m trying to lay it out where we have one event every month, or every two months.” Out of all of the charity work the group does, the big event is its annual Meet Me in St. Louis Beard and Mustache Competition, which happens this Saturday, March 24. Members and non-members alike will compete in one of thirteen categories, which includes two categories for ladies in fake beards, a.k.a., the Whiskerinas, and one surprise category that will be announced at the event. It’s a stand-alone event, not affiliated with the National Mustache and Beard Competition. But winners won’t leave empty-handed. Wood-ring trophies will go to the top three in each category. Over four years of competition, the club has raised more than $10,000 for charity, Rumple says. This year’s

proceeds will go to the Covering House, a local organization that aids survivors of domestic sex trafficking. If you’re not sure which category you should compete in, don’t worry. The club will have people stationed at the door to measure beards and ’staches to determine whether you’re a Business Beard or Under Eight Inches beard. But be forewarned: If you’re hoping to compete in the Natural Mustache category, you may be a long shot. “I don’t know if he’s coming this year, but we have a guy named Taxi Phil who comes from Cincinnati,” Rumpell warns. “He wears a shirt that says ‘it’s not a ’stache unless you can see it from the back.’ And his, you can.” Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at the Old Rock House (1200 South Seventh Street; www. stlbmc.com). The competition begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $10, and $20 to compete.

WEEK OF MARCH 22-28

Susan Graham sings about relationships on Sunday. | BENJAMIN EALOVEGA. COMMISSION BY MATTHEW COSGROVE @ ONYX Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue; www.cityofmaplewood.com/coffee). The stele of Thonis-Heracleion being raised out of the waters of the Bay Aboukir, Thonis-Heracleion, Aboukir Bay, Egypt; National Museum, Alexandria (SCA 277), IEASM Excavations. Photo: Christoph Gerigk © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

Stout and Oyster Festival Oysters can really divide a crowd. If you’re on the side that favors the glistening beauties, you owe it to yourself to be at Schlafly’s 19th annual Stout and Oyster festival. This year’s party is the largest in Schlafly’s history, with more than 80,000 oysters and at least twenty shuckers from both coasts performing in “the Shuckerdome.” The brewery has worked up some special limited-edition stouts exclusively for the fest, with fifteen total stouts on offer. Live music, stout tasting bars and oyster tasting bars round things out. The biggest-ever Stout and Oyster festival takes place from 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday (March 23 and 24) at the Schlafly Tap Room (2100 Locust Street; www.schlafly. com). Admission is free, but you’ll need funds to underwrite your beer and oyster intake.

SATURDAY 03/24 Maplewood Coffee Crawl Coffee, or the elixir of life, is the main motivator of many early risers. It’s imperative to get a pot going as early as possible, so as to avoid the dreaded no-coffee headache. The good news is that nine Maplewood businesses will have the deep brown delight brewing early today for the first of two sessions of the Maplewood Coffee Crawl. Vom Fass, Mauhaus Cat Cafe and seven other participating businesses will have a different roaster’s product going from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. You’ll learn how the beans get processed, sample coffee and see some demos, all for $11. There’s a second session in the afternoon (from 12:30 to 5 p.m.) if you’re a late riser. Both crawls are self-guided, and check-in is at

SUNDAY 03/25 Susan Graham Love is one of the few remaining mysteries we have. Where does it come from? What makes two people suddenly notice each other in a crowded world and decide to spend their remaining days together? Robert Schumann was under the influence of love when he composed his song suite Frauenliebe und -Leben (A Woman’s Love and Life), which is based on the cycle of poems of the same name by Adelbert von Chamisso. They’re about the life cycle of a relationship from first sight to marriage to the death of a partner. It’s a romantic and contemplative exploration of the mystery of it all, and at 7 p.m. tonight at the 560 Center (560 Trinity Avenue, University City; www. edison.wustl.edu), mezzo-soprano Susan Graham performs it with pianist Malcolm Martineau. Also on the program are songs with similar themes by Grieg, Mahler, Debussy and Tchaikovsky. Tickets are $15 to $40. riverfronttimes.com

Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost World The ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion was Egypt’s main Mediterranean port from 664 to 332 BC, or roughly 100 years longer than the country of America has existed. It was a thriving, international metropolis — and then a string of natural disasters wiped it off the map. Archeologist Franck Goddio and his team of underwater archeologists rediscoverd Thonis-Heracleion 1,000 years later, four miles off the coast of present-day Egypt. It was more than 30 feet below the surface of the sea, its colossal statues of gods, pharaohs and ritual animals resting in the ruins of a world long gone. Three of these massive statues comprise the heart of the new exhibition Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds, which will be on display at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive; www.slam.org) Tuesday through Sunday (March 25 to September 9). Alongside the trio of statues are more than 200 ceremonial and commercial artifacts (bronze vessels, coins, jewelry) found both on the sea floor and on loan from museums in Cairo and Alexandria. Admission to the exhibit is $8 to $20, and free on Friday. n

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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FILM

[REVIEW]

The Red Menaces Armando Iannucci pokes fun at the chaos and tumult after a dictator’s fall Written by

ROBERT HUNT The Death of Stalin

Directed by Armando Iannucci. Written by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows. Based on the comic book by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin. Starring Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale and Adrian McLoughlin. Opens Friday, March 23, at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre.

ying, back-stabbing, manipulating and even betraying your associates to gain power: These are common practices in many political circles. Despite their occasionally grim overtones, such behavior can also be a source of savage political satire, as Armando Iannucci demonstrates in his latest film, The Death of Stalin. Iannucci has long reveled in exposing the excesses of political power in film (In the Loop) and in TV series (The Thick of It and Veep). Here he turns to historical events, giving the gleeful vulgarity and all-around reprehensibility that marked his earlier characters a deeper and darker resonance. (Perhaps not surprisingly, the film has been banned in Russia. Too soon?) Based on a non-comedic French comic-book adaptation of historical events, The Death of Stalin is set in Moscow in early 1953, when the 72-year-old Stalin died after roughly 30 years of control over the Soviet Union. With the seat of power suddenly vacant, those closest in command — most of whom had lived in fear of becoming the next victim of the premier’s ideological whims — connived and collaborated to find their new place in the Kremlin hierarchy. In Iannucci’s version, Stalin’s

From left, Dermot Crowley, Paul Whitehouse, Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor and Paul Chahidi jockey in a house of cards. | NICOLA DOVE, COURTESY OF IFC FILMS death creates an uneasy bond, equal parts alliance and power struggle, between the four men closest to him, each of them fully aware of his own complacency in the regime’s torture and mass arrests, and each fearful that a slip of the tongue could add his name to the list of victims. The ruthless head of the secret police, Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale), swoops in first, quickly securing files from Stalin’s office that will allow him to manipulate the others. Meanwhile, the politically savvy party leader Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) tries to counter Beria’s plans for his own profit. Caught in the middle, the dull-witted Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) is named Stalin’s temporary replacement at Beria’s insistence. Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin) is an easily manipulated figure and a victim of Stalin’s policies, and he tries to convince himself of his unequivocal loyalty. (After watching an order of execution being signed, he pipes up cheerily: Stalin would love this!) Poking fun at the pretzel logic, knee-jerk ideology-shifting and nervous patriotism of Soviet bureaucrats is a staple of political

satire nearly as old as the Revolution itself — think of the jovial Communists of 1939’s Ninotchka — but Iannucci’s version plays for grimmer laughs, more brutal than playful. Thanks to an unexpected but rewarding strategy of allowing his cast to retain their British and American accents, Khrushchev and his fellow schemers come off as barely competent hoods who just happen to have a foot in the door of a global superpower. They’re reckless and inept, but their desperate grasping for control reflects the unsteady and inconsistent methods of the totalitarian state — which only makes them act more desperately. As Kruschev runs (literally) to Stalin’s daughter Svetlana, hoping to enlist her support, he is asked: “How can you run and plot at the same time?” For all of its dark humor and, I’m assuming, historical deviation, The Death of Stalin offersa compelling view of life under Stalinism and the extraordinary contrivances that keep a dictator (and his cronies) in control. Iannucci immerses us so deeply in the pageantry and empty grandeur of the Soviet elite (complete with a richly ambitious pseudo-Shostakovitchian score by Christopher Willis) that we almost riverfronttimes.com

feel the shifting sympathies and unstable social climate that fires the ambition in Khrushchev and reduces someone like Molotov to an unstable wreck. Kruschev and his crew are aware of the worst sins of the government, but still have a certain respect for its rigor, a kind of nostalgia for the rituals that kept everyone in their place. Anyone with even a mild acquaintance with twentieth century history will know where The Death of Stalin and its wicked crew are headed. The brilliance of the film comes not in the form of narrative surprises but in the sheer exuberance of the writers and the cast and their willingness to throw themselves so uninhibitedly into such an odd, vulgar and fearless project. The cast is uniformly excellent, and while the frantic behavior of Buscemi and Beale dominates the film, it’s Monty Python veteran Palin who offers the most complex and shaded performance. His best moment is a monologue during a procedural vote, his colleagues unsure with each new sentence exactly where his political sympathies lie. No match for the whirlwind of greed and deceit blowing around him, he’s the film’s broken n moral compass.

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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CAFE

Frankly on Cherokee’s highlights include pork-trotter sliders, rabbit sausage, a signature burger, lamb sausage and (be still our critic’s heart!) raclette cheese fries. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

Totally Tubular What happens when a classically trained chef applies his skill to the humble sausage? At Frankly on Cherokee, pure magic Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Frankly on Cherokee

2744 Cherokee Street, 314-325-3013. Tues.Thurs. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-11 p.m.; Fri.Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (Closed Sundays and Mondays.)

hen Bill Cawthon got into cooking a little over a decade ago, there was really only one way to enjoy quality, thoughtful cuisine: in a hushed room with white tablecloths that felt more like a museum than a place to eat. So that’s where he went. Right out of high school, the St. Louis native enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, worked at high-end restaurants around Manhattan and dove headfirst into the world of fine dining. Even after he moved cross-country to breezy Los Angeles, he continued down that path as sous chef at the elegant Culina, inside the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. There, he worked under an old-school chef who had led the kitchens at some of the world’s top properties. It seemed like a cut-and-dry gig, albeit a prestigious one — but it proved transformative.

Indeed, looking back from the perspective of his four-month-old restaurant in south city, Frankly on Cherokee, Cawthon feels like it all began with Culina. It’s an unlikely origin story for a fast-casual sausage shop, but he says Culina chef Vic Casanova taught him everything he knew about running a kitchen. Casanova became a mentor, instilling in Cawthon an appreciation for the beauty in simple, straightforward cooking. Today it underpins his entire culinary philosophy. That ethos — use only the best ingredients you can find, don’t mess them up and let the food speak for itself — is what defines Frankly on Cherokee. These days, as fine dining is being mourned in an endless series of obituaries, no one bats an eye at a talented chef doing thoughtful cuisine in such a downscale format. That wasn’t the riverfronttimes.com

case when Cawthon started out, which shows just how much the restaurant business has changed in the last few years. And if Frankly on Cherokee is an indicator, that change is not just welcome, it’s thrilling. Cawthon didn’t set out to become a champion of the current culinary zeitgeist; he was simply trying to help out some friends. After returning to St. Louis from Los Angeles, he was hired as sous chef at Gerard Craft’s hotspot, Pastaria, and then went to work as Bill Cardwell’s chef de cuisine at Cardwell’s on the Plaza. But when his friends Ryan and Linda Sherring of Six Mile Bridge Brewery enlisted his help with food for their new brewpub, he jumped at the chance to do something out of the box. Though the idea of artisanal sausages had been marinating in the

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

Continued on pg 26

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THIS WEEK THE GROVE SELECTED HAPPENINGS

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

24 RIVERFRONT TIMES MARCH 21-27, 2018 riverfronttimes.com

FRIDAY, MAR 16 BIG K.R.I.T, CYHI THE PRYNCE

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FRIDAY, MAR 23 MAMMOTH PIANO VIDEO SHOOT WITH HANDS AND FEET

THURSDAY, MAR 22 KYLE COOK OF MATCHBOX 20

SATURDAY, MAR 24 JENNIFER HARTSWICK

$5, 7PM AT THE READY ROOM

$12, 8PM AT ATOMIC COWBOY

JORDAN DAVIS: WHITE WINE AND WHISKEY TOUR, JILLIAN JACQUELINE

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NOW OPEN

SUNDAYS 10AM-8PM

SERVING BRUNCH 10AM-1PM

618-307-4830 www.clevelandhealth.com 106 N. Main | Edwardsville, IL Chef-owner Bill Cawthon cut his teeth at fine-dining restaurants in Los Angeles. Now he’s applying his skill on Cherokee Street. | MABEL SUEN

FRANKLY Continued from pg 23

RIVERFRONT TIMES

back of his mind for some time, Six Mile Bridge provided a format to finally develop and launch the concept. Instead of opening as a standalone spot inside the brewery, Cawthon and his wife, Jamie, decided that a food truck would give them the freedom to take their food around the city. Their truck, Frankly Sausages, was such a hit, it quickly prompted the Cawthons to look for a brick-and-mortar location. In the meantime, Cawthon did double duty, working part time for Cardwell and using that kitchen as his commissary (a generosity Cawthon praises as the reason he was able to get his concept off the ground). When they found the space on Cherokee Street that used to house Calypso Café, the couple signed a lease and got to work transforming the small, shotgun room into a showroom, not just for Frankly Sausages, but for the full extent of what Cawthon can do with charcuterie. In this sense, Frankly on Cherokee does not replace the food truck; it builds upon it. You’ll still find all MARCH 21 - 27, 2018 riverfronttimes.com

of the truck’s fan favorites, but they are accented with gourmet touches that require a more permanent kitchen. That includes the chicken liver crostino, which pairs crusty bread with luxuriously silken chicken liver mousse. Balsamic caramelized onions cut through its offal notes with a sweet acidity, something like pairing foie gras with Sauternes. That it’s served on a rustic wooden table inside a fast-casual storefront proves that fine dining no longer has the market cornered on exquisite flavors. Sausages, however, remain the main event and Cawthon shows what a wonderful canvas they can be for culinary exploration. An Italian fennel version pops with both the snap of the casing and the punch of the black-licorice-flavored herb, which infuses the coarsely ground pork with almost menthol sweetness. The green and red bell peppers piled on top are cooked to the point of slightly softening while still retaining their exterior crunch. It’s a simple flavor combination that shows why it’s become a classic. Cawthon’s beer brat is another example of how a quintessential flavor combo can be otherworldly

when made with quality ingredients. The brat has the straightforward taste of sweet pork and light beer — reminiscent of backyard cookouts, but done as well as if that cookout were on the lawn of a luxury villa. Housemade sauerkraut marries coarse mustard, adding a zing of tang that again calls to mind the familiar while making it extraordinary. If the brats are a gourmet version of lower key foods, Frankly’s lamb sausage is an accessible dish that evokes Cawthon’s time in the world of white tablecloths. Here, Cawthon shows his skill with texture: The lamb is not at all mealy but instead presents as a composite of a finely cut-up chop. Bitter grill char infuses the meat with flavor, as does just a dash of fresh oregano and grilled red onion. Add a sprinkle of tangy feta cheese, and this exquisite sausage is like a rustic barbecue on a windswept cliff in Santorini. Cawthon does not delight solely with sausages, though. His chicken sandwich gentrifies a basic fried offering with crispy cucumbers, green apple slices and romaine. The accoutrements are dressed in buttermilk sauce, and a slice of Ha-

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The dining room takes a winsome approach to pig products. | MABEL SUEN varti cheese melts onto the griddled sourdough bread, melding all the components together. It’s a window into what he can do when he’s not confined to one particular genre. Frankly on Cherokee does not have a full bar, but it expands on its ability to do simple things well with a thoughtful beer list and, most notably, a handful of bottled cocktails that Cawthon and crew prepare in advance of service. They’re exceptional, if not dangerous. His gin and tonic is so easy-drinking it’s been known to get people accidentally inebriated on their way to work (he won’t name names). I’d have that same trouble with his manhattan, a version of the drink that is smoother than Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana at a Barry White concert. Cawthon’s cocktails may be enough to get you sauced, but there’s one thing on the menu that is even more intoxicating: The raclette cheese fries. They’re the first thing you encounter when you walk through the front doors; the smell of the Swiss cheese immediately warms your soul with its funky siren song. The gooey topping could make even fries from the Sysco truck sing,

but that wouldn’t be Cawthon’s style. Instead, he goes through an arduous process, cutting potatoes into thick fries, blanching them and then freezing them. After they’ve frozen, he fries them at a lower temperature than is normally used, allowing them to develop a crunchy, golden salt-crusted exterior while the inside remains soft and creamy, like deep-fried mashed potatoes. Befitting such beauty, Cawthon ceremoniously scrapes raclette from a halved cheese wheel with a large knife within eyeshot of the dining room. The pomp and circumstance evokes sabering a bottle of fine champagne — and it’s no less luxurious. Cawthon jokes that the fries are a massive pain in the rear end to produce — the sort of laborious task that calls to mind chefs in toques toiling away in three-star kitchens. Still, he couldn’t imagine doing them any other way. That’s the classically trained fine-dining chef inside him still speaking — only now, there’s more of us who can afford to listen. n Frankly on Cherokee

Raclette cheese fries ��$8 Lamb sausage ��$9 Fried chicken sandwich ��$9

Frankly on Cherokee

Raclette cheese fries $8|Lamb sausage $9|Fried chicken sandwich $9

Authentic MexicAn Food, Beer, And MArgAritAs!

2817 cherokee st. st. Louis, Mo 63118 314.762.0691 onco.coM www.tAqueriAeLBr riverfronttimes.com

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28 28

SHORT ORDERS SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH][SIDE DISH]

SheShe HasHas HerHer Cakes, andand Cakes, EatsEats Them TooToo Them Written Written by by

CHERYL BAEHRBAEHR CHERYL

bout five years Natalie bout fiveago, years ago, Natalie DuBose DuBose was on the drivwasjob, on the job, driving her usual route from thefrom the ing her usual route hotel to the airport, when she hotel to the airport, when she had an “aha” moment. had an “aha” moment. “I was driving to the airport “I was driving to the to airport to pick up pick someuphotel guests some hotel when guests when this lightbulb just came on,” recalls this lightbulb just came on,” recalls DuBose.DuBose. “I thought to myself, ‘Ei“I thought to myself, ‘Either youther need to need figuretoout what you figure out what you areyou going do that follows aretogoing to do that follows your passion you are to going be to be your or passion or going you are driving driving a hotel shuttle toting a hotel and shuttle and toting luggage luggage for the rest of your for the rest life.’” of your life.’” It’s difficult to imagine DuBose DuBose It’s difficult to imagine as beingasanything but the but facethe of face of being anything Natalie’s Cakes and More Natalie’s Cakes and(100 More (100 Natalie DuBose’s was bakery vandalized protests in Ferguson. the community her back. Nataliebakery DuBose’s wasduring vandalized during protests inBut Ferguson. But the had community had| MONICA her back.MILEUR | MONICA MILEUR South Florissant Road, Ferguson; South Florissant Road, Ferguson; 314-801-7064), the Ferguson bak314-801-7064), the Ferguson bakery thatery was thrust theinto na- the naUnable to affordtoa afford place right offright several people interested in the in the DuBoseDuBose left herleft home that was into thrust Unable a place off several people interested her and home and tional spotlight in the chaos bat, the DuBose had to start building, so DuBose had to grab down todown the store, only to only to tional spotlight in thethat chaosthe that bat, DuBose had small, to start small, building, so DuBose had to headed grab headed to the store, followed the killing Michael first baking for friends landlord’s attention. She putShe find shethat describes as followed the of killing of Michael first cakes baking cakes for and friendsthe and the landlord’s attention. puta scene find athat scene she describes as Brown by a Ferguson police offiher confidence grew, she together a business plan by plan doingby doing being out of the film Independence Brown by a Ferguson policefamily. offi- As family. As her confidence grew, she together a business being out of the film Independence cer in 2014. And indeed, growinggrowing looked into renting a booth aatbooth the at research at the library. Day. Decorations the community cer in 2014. And indeed, looked into renting the research at the library. Day. Decorations the community up, DuBose seemed seemed destineddestined to be flea market hernear home, to only“The business-plan books books had worked to put uptowere strewn up, DuBose to be fleanear market heronly home, to only “The only business-plan had worked put up were strewn a baker,ashadowing her father be discouraged by the cost. were medical-office busiin the street, with shards baker, shadowing herinfather in be discouraged by the cost. they hadthey had were medical-office busiin thetogether street, together with shards the kitchen and trying unlock “It was $75, but$75, at the go-time, nesses,” DuBose DuBose recalls. “So I took broken Onglass. her right, a pothe kitchen andto trying to unlock “It was buttime, at the go- nesses,” recalls. “So Iof took of glass. broken On her right, a pothe secrets his recipes. ing through a divorce, having two words office,” office,” lice car lice burned; to her left a store the of secrets of his recipes. ing through a divorce, havingout twothe out the “medical words “medical car burned; to her left a store “My dad was anwas old-school kids in daycare and having pay to subbed in “bakery,” and putand pic-putwas got close to close to “My dad an old-school kids in daycare and to having pay subbed in “bakery,” pic-on fire. was When on fire.she When she got baker. baker. He dumped things and much for me,”for Du-me,” tures my cakes where her shop, sawshe thesaw furniture He dumped thingsrent, andit was rent,too it was too much Du- oftures of myincakes inthere where there hershe shop, the furniture never measured, and I was “But I decided that were of office of equipment.” from the neighboring law office never measured, andfasI wasBose fas-explains. Bose explains. “But I decided thatpictures were pictures office equipment.” from the neighboring law office cinated cinated by how by he how couldhedocould that doifthat I made worth product, it DuBose beat outbeat 23 competitors sticking sticking out of her window. if $75 I made $75ofworth of product, it DuBose out 23 competitors outfront of her front window. and have it turn perfect would be like fronting the money for the building and seemed to be to“I cry, and someand haveout it turn out every perfect every would be like fronting the money for the building and seemed bejust started “I just to started to cry, and sometime,” says DuBose. “He wouldn’t to myself, I did so it. I did wasit. scared well onwell her way. Then, twojustone upcame to me asked I time,” says DuBose. “He wouldn’t to so myself, I was scared on her way.just Then, twocame one upand to me andifasked if I tell me how to do it,to sodo I just foltofoldeath.” weeks later, in out wasinOK,” DuBose recalls. “I didn’t“I didn’t tell me how it, so I just to death.” weeksunrest later, broke unrestout broke was OK,” DuBose recalls. lowed him around and watched DuBose DuBose sold outsold of everything Ferguson that would her realize but that wasthat a reporter lowed him around and watched out of everything Ferguson thatchange would change her it, realize it, but was a reporter and tried to guesstimate.” dayfirst at the market. The life. who hadwho just had snapped my picture.” and tried to guesstimate.” on her first on her day at the market. The life. just snapped my picture.” GrowingGrowing up and into adulthood, next week, she soldshe outsold again. “All throughout, a woman who That photo viral,goin-viral, inup and into adulthood, next week, outShe again. She “All throughout, a woman who Thatwould photo go would DuBose DuBose found solace baking decided to increase production and seemed to be leading the movespiring an outpouring of support foundinsolace in as baking as decided to increase production and seemed to be leading the movespiring an outpouring of support she worked three jobs andjobs went selling every- everyment in ment the area promised me that mefrom country. The nextThe next she worked three and still wentkept still kept through selling through in the area promised that across fromthe across the country. throughthrough personal difficulties, in- thing. success was thewas pushthe nothing would happen my shop. morning, she went into herinto shop personal difficulties, in- That thing. That success push nothing would to happen to my shop. morning, she went her shop cluding a terrible car accident that she needed take the leap.the leap. I believed her,” DuBose recalls. recalls. only to find of peopleofwho cluding a terrible car accident that she to needed to take I believed her,” DuBose onlybusloads to find busloads people who nearly killed her. Herher. recovery felt One day when was outwas“Then the Icall a neighbor had arrived from allfrom over all to help nearly killed Her recovery felt One day she when she out I got “Then gotfrom the call from a neighbor had arrived over to help like a second pushed grocerygrocery shopping, DuBose DuBose saw a saw that a the shop hadshop beenhad broken They’d come like a chance second and chance and pushed shopping, that the beeninto. brokenwith into. cleanup. with cleanup. They’dwith come with her to be more of livingof living “for lease” in one spirits crushed. I was just trashcans and brooms; two elderly her to bemindful more mindful “forsign lease” signof inthe onewinof theMy winMywere spirits were crushed. I was just trashcans and brooms; two elderly life to itslife fullest. meant dows ofdows the south Florissant Road flooding tears and knew I needed women women even presented her withher a with a to itsThat fullest. Thatgoing meant going of the south Florissant Road flooding tears and knew I needed even presented for her dream opening a bakery.a bakery. commercial district.district. There were get down there.” trashcantrashcan full of baking telling for herofdream of opening commercial There to were to get down there.” full ofpans, baking pans, telling

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MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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DuBose that they were too frail to help with cleanup but they wanted her to know that she should keep baking. Then her phone rang, and the woman on the other end of the line had seen her picture in the paper and wanted to help. She asked if DuBose had ever heard of GoFund Me. She hadn’t, and thought the woman might be calling as part of a scam when she began asking for personal information. However, she felt she had nothing to lose, and she gave the caller everything she needed. That GoFund Me campaign would collect a staggering $125,000 by the very next day, allowing DuBose to not only rebuild but provide funding to several other neighboring businesses. It was, in her words, a “domino effect of opportunity”: First, she was approached by the CEO of Schnucks to do one of her signature cakes for their stores. Then came Wash-

ington University, which requested cookies for the university food service. However, nothing prepared her for when Starbucks, including CEO Howard Schultz himself, visited her store and ask her to produce cakes for five of the company’s locations. “It’s only recently that I was driving by a Starbucks and realized that I am actually selling cakes there,” DuBose laughs. “I didn’t know how we were going to do it at the time, but one of the people from there named Jason told me that you say yes first and figure out how to do it next. That is the best advice I ever received.” These days, DuBose is still baking, but she sees herself in a much larger role. Because she was the recipient of such generosity, she feels she has a responsibility to give back, coordinating with several community programs meant to help young people find their paths.

As busy as she is, she doesn’t often have time to stop and reflect, but when she does, she can’t believe that just a handful of years ago she was driving a shuttle bus, and now she is a community leader — and doing what she loves. “I tell everyone that if I can do it, you can do it,” she says. “You have to put your mind to it, be dedicated and be focused, but if you do, blessings will come your way. You just have to find a way to do what you love.” DuBose took a break from preparing her signature caramel cake to share her thoughts on the St. Louis food-and-beverage community, her passion for roller skating and why there is little she loves more than a good tuna noodle casserole. What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did? That I love to roller skate. If you

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come into my shop you’d know that, but if you’ve never been in, you wouldn’t know that’s my other passion. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Saying a prayer in the car on the way to school. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? You know that television show where the girl could stop time? I would love to be able to just put my fingers together and do that. I’ve been going so fast I haven’t been able to sit down and absorb all that’s happened. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? I’m seeing a lot of new business, and I’m excited because it means people are finally taking that step of faith. It’s great you can go to these different places like Stix & Ice. I love Continued on pg 32

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ALL KILLER. NO FILLER. HAND-CRAFTED SMOKED MEATS AND BREWS

JJ Jaggers, left, and Pepe Kehm will be opening Dogtown Soul within Arena Bar. | SARAH FENSKE

[FOOD NEWS]

A CHEF RETURNS TO DOGTOWN

P Photography by JENNIFER SILVERBERG

Photography by JENNIFER SILVERBERG

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MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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epe Kehm is back in Dogtown. Last weekend, the prolific restaurateur gave a sneak peek at his forthcoming restaurant in the south-city neighborhood. Called Dogtown Soul, it will be located within Arena Bar (5760 West Park Avenue), adding food service to a bar that’s gone without it in recent years and serving up “twisted classics and hoodie goodies.” JJ Jaggers, a recent transplant from Memphis, will serve as chef for the venture. Kehm’s family has a long history in Dogtown. In fact, his late brother Michael was Arena Bar’s original owner. Before that, it was a grocery run by his grandmother; Kehm’s mother grew up next door. Kehm himself ran several restaurants in the neighborhood, including Corky’s and Spaghetteria Mama Mia. Most recently, Kehm opened the well-reviewed Peno Italian Soul Food in Clayton, which continues to do brisk business. But he’s looking forward to a return to his roots. “For the most part, I really have stayed in my neighborhood when opening my restaurants,” he says. Kehm and Jaggers opened the restaurant for one day only in March, serving St. Patrick’s Day revelers. The day’s proceeds were earmarked to the Denny Fahy Foundation, aiding St. James the Greater School. One month later, on April 20, they plan to open for good, kicking things off with a grand 4/20 celebration. While the menu is still being fine-

tuned, the pair envision serving a half-dozen bar favorites that put a twist on soul food. “Snitch Puppies (’cause every neighborhood has one!)” will be made with cornmeal, jalapeno and a touch of Provel, while the “St. Louis Hoosier” is an openfaced sandwich topped with chopped pork steak, hard-boiled egg, onion, pickles and Provel. They also intend to offer Kehm’s trademark wedge salad, which he pioneered at Corky’s more than a decade ago, a burger and a daily lunch special, with everything from meatloaf to catfish or jack salmon. Oh, and for dessert? Jaggers plans to serve his “Memphis Mafia,” a peanut-butter-and-jelly bread pudding. It sounds like it might be heavy, but it’s actually heavenly. Kehm grew up eating both his family’s Sicilian food and the soul food cooked by his mother’s best friend; with every restaurant he opens, he says, he’s playing with those influences. Jaggers’ Southern roots have only swung him further in a direction that he was already dabbling in. The setup is one that’s becoming increasingly common within St. Louis bars, with the food concept owned separately from the bar one, and then embedded within (think: Mac’s Local Eats at Tamm Avenue Grill, the Cut at Fortune Teller Bar). “A lot of people open taverns and say, ‘We’re going to get rich on the bar. But you have to have the food to run with the liquor,” Kehm says. And that he knows he can provide. “This the right partnership, the right location, the right food style.” As for Jaggers, he says he can’t wait to start cooking at Arena Bar. “I fell in love with it instantly,” he says. “It reminded me of a lot of places in Memphis.” —Sarah Fenske

dining read more at

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NATALIE DUBOSE Continued from pg 29

Guerrilla Street Food has completely transformed what used to be a Pita Pit franchise, with unique dishes and custom artwork. | KELLY GLUECK [FIRST LOOK]

Now Open in the Loop: GSF No. 4 Written by

SARAH FENSKE

hen Joel Crespo and Brian Hardesty first launched their Guerrilla Street Food truck, they included a numeral “1” in its branding. “We knew it was the first of many,” Crespo says, laughing a bit at their confidence. But even they had no idea just how much of a juggernaut the Filipino-inspired concept would become in a few short years. From that lone truck in 2011, Guerrilla Street Food has grown to include restaurants, a food-service program inside 2nd Shift Brewery and a similar arrangement slated for the Tropical Liqueurs’ location opening this spring in the Grove. Oh, and that truck is still truckin’. With the truck as No. 1, last week’s opening — their second stand-alone brick-and-mortar, located at 6120 Delmar Boulevard, practically across the street from the Pageant — was supposed to be No. 5. But the eatery came together so quickly, Crespo says, it actually

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lapped the Trops project. “We basically did everything we needed to do to this space in February,” he marvels. You’d never know it to look at the property today. What used to be a Pita Pit franchise now looks both cool and utterly distinctive. Walk in past the bar and order at the counter all the way in the back of the sunny, wide-open room. Then they’ll bring your food to the table — a table that just so happens to be covered with a custom-made design inspired by traditional Filipino tribal tattoos. (Credit Long Beach tattoo artist Aleks Figueroa.) On one wall is another piece of custom art, a mural by Kristian Kabuay of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s inspired by the ancient Philippine script baybayin. As you might guess based on that attention to detail, the Guerrilla Street Food menu pays genuine respect to the Philippines’ culinary traditions. But that doesn’t translate to being slavishly “authentic.” Instead, the restaurant is serving a modern riff on the age-old cuisine, one they were startled to learn on a recent trip to the archipelago is very much in step with the way modern Filipinos are eating. “Brian and I turned to each other and said, ‘We could do Guerrilla Street Food here exactly like we’re doing it in St. Louis, and they’d be on board,” Crespo marvels of the trip. “That was a really cool affirmation that we’re on the right track.” Each of the Guerrilla Street Food

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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locations has a different menu, thanks in part to each having a real chef, not just someone copying the original menu. The restaurant’s greatest hits are here (chicken adobo, the “Flying Pig”), but so are some recipes unique to chef Heidi Hamamura and the Delmar team. Hardesty says he’s particularly proud of the sour fried chicken, which puts a Filipino spin on the heartland favorite. Inspired in part by the beloved Philippine soup sinigang, it brings the acid flavors of calamansi and tamarind to what’s traditionally spicy. “Instead of hot, it’s all sour,” he promises. Other newcomers include the “Crispy Pata,” a braised and fried pork shank served with a garlic confit puree, and kinilaw, an appetizer featuring scallops, watermelon radish, green mango and coconut milk vinegar. Add a side of the coconut-infused cornbread for just $2; it’s terrific. Prices are incredibly reasonable, especially considering the skill and fresh ingredients that go into these dishes. Nothing on the menu is over $12; most things are under $10. As yet there is no alcohol, although they intend to get a license for beer and wine. For now, you can choose from a variety of intriguing beverages, including a juice made with calamansi, hibiscus iced tea and a sparkling cucumber water. Guerilla Street Food’s Delmar location will be open from 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. n

that place! I love that people are taking a chance and bringing to life their own little creations. What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see? I think we have a lot of variety out here, but what’s missing are 24-hour places that aren’t chains. Who is your St. Louis food crush? Crushed Velvet. Their story is phenomenal. It’s these two ladies who went beyond all odds to start their own restaurant. I never eat all the food on my plate except for there. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene? This strip of Ferguson. We just received a letter that we’ve been accepted as a main street, and I want to see how that will come together. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Butter! It’s a little sweet and a little salty and will make you blow up and be fat, haha. If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing? I would still be driving the hotel shuttle with my former manager, Shawn — whatever hotel he was managing. Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant. Salt. Most baking ingredients already have salt in them. Also, I use only butter. You shouldn’t put oil in anything when you are baking. What is your after-work hangout? I’m at the shop sixteen to eighteen hours a day, but I love to go to the skating rink. When I put skates on and I’m on floor I don’t see anyone else and am in tune with music and just do my thing. It’s a release. I can let everything go for that one hour. What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure? Tuna noodle casserole. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You have to make it right though. I can’t eat everyone’s! What would be your last meal on earth? Tuna noodle casserole with a strawberry-mango margarita.n

NOW OPEN!

DINE IN, CARRY OUT AND DELIVERY

Sat Mar 31 2 PM & 7:30 PM THE GRANDEL

All tickets $35 314.534.1111 metrotix.com dancestlouis.org

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MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

CULTURE

[HOMESPUN]

Birthdaygrunt Bunnygrunt celebrates 25 years with a new record and a blowout weekend of partying Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

s a twenty-plus-year employee of Vintage Vinyl, Matt Harnish knows a few things about the buying and selling of vinyl records. Behind the shop’s buying counter, he’ll nicely leaf through your great-aunt’s moldering copies of LPs by the Carpenters and Herb Alpert before they are inevitably relegated to the dollar bin, and he’s seen the most recent wax explosion seduce new converts into spending $30 on a repressing of Dark Side of the Moon. So, when it came time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his band Bunnygrunt’s formation, he decided to goose the market a little with the release of My First Bells. The LP compiles the group’s earliest EP recordings, demos and a few rare tracks. The band’s 1993 and 1994 output found the trio at its most jangly and innocent, a sound that would harden and grow muscle over the years. But some of the tracks on the comp — “Criminal Boy,” “Mississippi” — distill the elements that made the band a favorite of underground pop aficionados all over the world. Bells offers a one-stop fix for fans who don’t want to go scrounging for the original EPs, though, as Harnish notes, the 300-run edition of the new LP likely won’t be around forever. “It’s weird; we actually made more copies of some of those [seven-inches] than we are making of this thing,” he says. Still, the band’s silver anniversary offered the band a chance to take stock of its past. “Over the years there have been a lot of people who got into the band later on and then knew about all these early recordings but didn’t have them or didn’t want to shell out for them,” says Harnish of the impetus behind the compilation. “They aren’t super rare, but it’s just the hassle of sending some dork $20 on Discogs.”

Eric Von Damage, Matt Harnish and Karen Ried form the core of Bunnygrunt. | THEO WELLING Bunnygrunt has seen many permutations, and just as many stops and starts, over its 25 years, but the musical relationship between Harnish and Karen Ried has been the band’s engine that whole time. Ried began on drums before moving to bass in the late ’90s; after a five-year hiatus the band re-emerged in the early 2000s with a louder, morerock-less-pop edge, with a lineup that could occasionally reach five or six members. In listening back to the band’s baby steps, Harnish notes that while these songs don’t make modern-day Bunnygrunt set lists, he’s happy how they’ve held up. “When we re-formed in the early 2000s, when Karen was the bass player, that was a good excuse to not re-learn those songs,” says Harnish. “We like them — I’m surprised at how much I like this record. I thought it was gonna be a little more embarrassing to listen to.” While My First Bells offers fans a physical artifact, the band offers St. Louis fans a fairly immersive way to celebrate. The Bunnygrunt 25th Birthday Weekender finds the band members playing five different locations over three days alongside a host of old and new friends. Since Ried lives in Portland, Oregon, Bunnygrunt shows are few and far between these days. But last year,

when he was touring as his one-man cover-song show Matt Harnish’s Pink Guitar, Harnish, Ried and drummer Eric Von Damage strung a few shows together in Ried’s part of the country. That lit the fire under Harnish to celebrate the band’s longevity in style. “We hadn’t played together in two years, I think, when we played those shows, and everything just clicked back into place. It just reminded me why we did it all those years,” he says. “We’d play with these great bands and I’d think, ‘I should bring these bands to town! I should bring these bands to town for our 25th anniversary! I should make it a festival!’ It’s the things your mind wanders into on an eight-hour overnight drive through the desert.” Among the bands coming to town for the Weekender will be the Omaha-based Wagon Blasters. Two of that band’s members were in Frontier Trust, which played St. Louis regularly and developed a kinship with Bunnygrunt.Other out-of-town guests have even stronger St. Louis ties: Beloved guitarist and one-time Phonocaptors frontman Jason Hutto returns with an ad-hoc band of local scene lifers; Mario Viele, the former guitarist for the Sex Robots and now an in-demand engineer in New York, brings his group the Passengers to town; and James Weber, whose Julia riverfronttimes.com

Sets used to feature Harnish on bass, returns home from New Orleans for a solo performance. “I essentially just texted them both and told them when the shows were and that they were playing,” Harnish says of Hutto and Weber. As Harnish looks back on his 25year relationship with Ried, he sees a bond forged over countless gigs, late-night drives and a shared musical vocabulary. “I guess Karen and I just found a musical partnership that worked,” he says. “Although we’ve both played with other people over the years, we both kind of couched that in terms of Bunnygrunt, just because we learned how to be in a band by being in a band together.” Would the band celebrate its 30th or 40th birthday in the coming decades? Harnish says yes. “As long as somebody will book a show for us, and we’re both in the same city, and we have a half-hour to practice, we’ll play a show,” Harnish says. Bunnygrunt’s 25th Birthday Weekender kicks off at 9 p.m. Thursday, March 22, at the Schlafly Tap Room and will wind its way across five venues over four days. For full information visit facebook. com/therealbunnygrunt.

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

[ D E A D F O R M AT ]

[SCHOOLED]

Dig These Graves

Ain’t It (Baby) Grand?

Written by

ALLISON BABKA

Written by

DANIEL HILL

hen Terry Hammer first got his hands on a Henry F. Miller baby grand piano valued at $10,000 from an estate sale three weeks ago, the St. Louis resident already knew that he wanted to donate it to a worthy local cause. His first choice was Confluence Academy, which is near his south city home. Alderwoman Cara Spencer helped connect him to the Cherokee Street-based nonprofit Pianos for People, which frequently refurbishes donated pianos and delivers them to new owners. Pianos for People, they thought, could help get the baby grand to its new home. There was only one problem: Confluence had no need for the pristine instrument. That’s when Sheena Duncan, executive director for Pianos for People, had an idea of her own. “Why don’t you come look at the school and see what we’ve got?” she said to Hammer. “And we could give it away. Or, you could consider giving it to us.” The piano was taken to a refurbished, detached garage that Pianos for People calls the “Piannex” (piano + annex), where pianos are brought back to life before being sent back out into the world. When Hammer came to check out the operation, he immediately knew it had already found its new home. “This was actually better, because it’s a not-for-profit and it just helps out so many underprivileged kids,” Hammer explains. “I stepped in here, seen the kids playing on the day that we were here, and met Sheena — Sheena’s just a wonderful person — and I thought, ‘Yeah, this is the perfect place for the piano.’” His reaction makes sense: Pianos for People is an impressive operation. The organization was founded to collect unused pianos and deliver to them to those in need. It delivered its first piano in December 2012. After a year and a half of fixing and redistributing pianos throughout the community,

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Piano’s for People student Hadassah Stone tickles the new ivories. | DANIEL HILL its board decided to get a piano school going to teach kids to play. That opened in November 2014, with 60 students signed up by the end of the year. Fast forward to today, and the operation has taken over the entire first floor of its Cherokee Street storefront, with a dozen or so pianos filling the first room you see when you walk in — this is the “group lesson” area, where up to eight kids at a time can learn in a class-like setting. Further back are two private teaching studios, akin to small offices, where more advanced students can hone their skills in a one-on-one environment. Then there’s the basement, which has recently been remodeled. “I was scared to come down here,” Duncan explains while giving a tour. “There was a doll’s head nailed to a column.” Now, instead of decapitated heads, the basement houses a waiting area with mid-century furnishings, where siblings or parents of students can wait for their family members to complete lessons. There are also a handful more pianos to play on and a library of donated sheet music that students can borrow or keep. Pianos for People has grown so much that it even opened a satellite location in Ferguson in October. The school currently teaches 130 students, with teachers paid in part thanks to a grant, and has delivered 220 pianos. One of those students is sixteen-year-old Hadassah Stone. She’s only been taking lessons for six months, but Duncan has her pegged as a budding piano prodigy.

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

Stone lives only a couple of blocks away on South Compton Avenue; her family was the recipient of one of the organization’s donated instruments. Stone signed up for lessons soon after. A home-schooled kid who lives with her parents, eight siblings, two dogs, a cat and a rabbit, Stone likes to come up to the shop to practice — not that it’s necessarily quieter here, what with the multiple musical instruments and all. “At least it’s a different kind of noise,” Stone laughs. “At my house it’s just a bunch of talking and lots of just chaotic noise. Here it’s music, so it’s different.” In the Piannex, where that new baby grand sits in a corner, five smaller pianos are in the process of being refurbished. They’re joined by six or seven more that are already in a fully playable state. Keen to show off one of her rising star students, Duncan encourages Stone to play something. Stone sits down at the piano and opts to play a composition of her own that she’d come up with just last night. Her performance leaves all the adults in the room wide-eyed. Some of that is the instrument itself, capable of richer tones and greater dynamics than a lesser piano could provide. But it’s mostly Stone. Hammer, for his part, is beaming as Stone’s performance goes on — it is plain to him that he made the right move. “I just wanted to do something good for the community,” he says. As Stone’s fingers dance across the keys, filling the room with beautiful music, it is clear that he n did.

ou expect to see certain people in cemeteries. The mourners. The lovers. The pranksters. The guy with the big graphite pencil, however, is a bit more unusual. But John Wegrzyn doesn’t mind standing out when it means honoring long-gone music legends in his own way. For the last ten years, the Belleville resident has been documenting the final resting places of blues musicians around the country by tracing their engraved stone markers onto vintage album sleeves. Now the public can get a taste of Wegrzyn’s travels, thanks to a new exhibit at the National Blues Museum (615 Washington Avenue, 314925-0016). “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” showcases Wegrzyn’s gravestone art for blues trailblazers Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Memphis Minnie and dozens more. Wegrzyn had previously shown his work at a small exhibit in the University City Public Library in 2015, but this is the first time many of his grave tallies will be on display. “I don’t think anyone else is doing this — at least on record sleeves,” Wegrzyn tells Riverfront Times. With gravestone transfer, Wegrzyn covers influential musicians’ headstones with thin record sleeves and rubs over the letters and designs with graphite. But what today is considered art had been simply a matter of convenience a decade ago, when he found himself grave hunting in Kansas City without any paper for transfers. “I’m always going to record stores and thrift stores. So I pulled over my truck to see what I had to use, and pulled out one of my records and its record sleeve. I go, ‘Uh oh, wow! That’s a great idea, doing these on records!’” Wegrzyn says. “Had I had some paper with me that day, I probably would never have thought to do it on records.” Wegrzyn began traveling to musicians’ graves in 1992 after talking with friend who had transferred Doors singer Jim Morrison’s Paris grave to parchment and later becoming inspired by the documentary Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads. Immersing himself in a blues festival in Clarks-

736 S Broadway • St. Louis, MO 63102 (314) 621-8811

THUR. FEBRUARY 15

backup planet (from nashville)

736 S Broadway •9pm St. Louis, MO 63102 (314) 621-8811

FRI. february 16 Friday March 23 10PM clusterpluck THUR. FEBRUARY 15

The Monolithic backup planet 10pm

736 S Broadway • St. Louis, MO 63102 (314) 621-8811

sat. february 17 (from nashville) Saturday March 24 10PM 9pm leg jake’s

FEBRUARY 15 10pm nolaTHUR. supergroup 736 S Broadway • St. Louis,16MO 63102 FRI. february backup planet The New Orleans wed. 21 (314)February 621-8811 clusterpluck (from nashville) 10pm PRESENTS URBAN CHESTNUT Suspects 9pm THUR. FEBRUARY 15 voodoo players

backup planet

Some of the pieces on display at the new exhibit. | DANIEL HILL dale, Mississippi, Wegrzyn then took a detour that would lead to the hobby of a lifetime. “I was talking to this other guy who was a blues writer, and he needed a ride back to Memphis. I said, ‘Why don’t you just come with me, because I’m heading that way anyway,’” Wegrzyn explains. “Then I said, ‘Hey, would you want to visit Fred McDowell’s grave in Como, Mississippi?’” Wegrzyn says that the duo excitedly set out to find Mississippi Fred’s plot but didn’t have much to go on in those pre-Google Maps days. After finding a cemetery but no grave, Wegrzyn talked to a groundskeeper who offered to take them directly to the site. “These backroads of Mississippi, some of them weren’t even paved at that point. But he took us a good six or seven miles outside of town, and we went up this little hill and there was Fred’s grave,” Wegrzyn remembers. “Later I learned that his gravesite was paid for by Bonnie Raitt. My first experience going to a gravesite turned out to be such a cool adventure that I kept going.” Since then, Wegrzyn has planned grave excursions around his travels for work and family vacations, hitting Kentucky, Florida, Washington and more. “We saw Paul McCartney in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I was like, ‘Well, who’s buried there?” Wegrzyn laughs. He’s even roped a nephew into nabbing transfers of John Lee Hooker and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s graves when he couldn’t be there himself. “When he was in the seventh grade, I gave him the instructions, and he did a really nice job on them,” Wegrzyn says. “It’s probably a nuisance to him, but he gets a kick out of it. He saw the last exhibit and thought it was really cool.”

“These backroads of Mississippi, some of them weren’t even paved at that point. But he took us a good six or seven miles outside of town, and we went up this little hill and there was Fred’s grave.” In “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” at the National Blues Museum, Wegrzyn groups each grave rubbing with a corresponding album and a Rolodex card from the 1970s that shares information and anecdotes. “I knew in my mind what I wanted it to look like. The day I set it up, within minutes I looked around and said, ‘Yep, this is what I imagined a year and a half ago,’” Wegrzyn says. “It really was a nice feeling to get it all done exactly how I wanted.” Though it’s been twenty years, Wegrzyn isn’t finished chronicling the graves of musicians just yet, no matter if they’re known for the blues, rock or country. He still intends to capture the graves of Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, Miles Davis, the Ramones and more. “My quantity right now is at about 100. I figured I’d go to about 300 and maybe put a book together or something,” Wegrzyn says. “We’ll see.” “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” is on display at the National Blues Museum through May 19.

sat. february 17 tribute to rolling Sunday March 25 FRI.the february 16 stones 10pm jake’s leg Leah Osborne at 2MOPM63102 & clusterpluck 736 S Broadway •10pm St. Louis, (from nashville) 10pm (314) 621-8811 9pm Thur. at February 22 FREE! Alex Davis 6PM Both wed.CHESTNUT February 21 URBAN PRESENTS sat. february 17 Monday March 26 9PM THUR. FEBRUARY 15 FRI. february 16 URBAN CHESTNUT wine PRESENTS alligator

jake’s leg Band clusterpluck voodoo players Soulard Blues 10pm TRIBUTE TO the grateful dead 10pm to the9pm rolling thetribute Longest Running Blues Jamstones in America 10pm (from nashville) wed. February 21

backup planet 9pm sat. february 17 Thursday MarchPRESENTS 29 9:30PM URBAN CHESTNUT Thur. February 22 jake’s leg Urban Presents voodoo players FRI. Chestnut february 16 10pm URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS

tribute to the rolling stones Alligator Wine’s clusterpluck 10pm alligator 10pm wine wed. February 21 Tribute tograteful The Deaddead TRIBUTE TO the URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS 9pm Thur. February 22 sat. february 17 Friday March 30 10PM voodoo players URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS jake’s leg tribute to the rolling Band stones Jeremiah Johnson 10pm 10pm alligator wine TRIBUTE wed. TO the grateful February 21 dead Thur. February 22 9pm URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS

voodoo players alligator wine tribute to the rolling stones 10pm TRIBUTE TO the grateful dead 9pm

Thur. February 22 URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS

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riverfronttimes.com

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

OUT EVERY NIGHT 314-276-2700.

[WEEKEND]

ATMOSPHERE: w/ Evidence 8 p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-

BEST BETS

726-6161. BUNNYGRUNT’S 25TH BIRTHDAY: w/ Joan Of

Four sure-fire shows to close out the week

Dark, Gloom Balloon, The Passengers 8 p.m.,

FRIDAY, MARCH 23

COREY DENNISON BAND: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

Earthless w/ Kikagaku Moyo, JJUUJJUU

436-5222.

$7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314CTHULHUTHON: w/ Ending Orion, Jake’s Mis-

8 p.m. The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $18 to $20. 314-727-4444.

takes, Close to Zero, Dirty Bombshell, Doom & Disco, Old Hand, GG Jim, The Nokturnal 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-

Depending on the angle, any band on this bill could be looked at as a “headliner.” Kraut rock powerhouse Earthless was founded by former pro skater Mario Rubalcaba, who also drums for hardcore supergroup Off!. The band is a rare export of the Gravity Records label, an early ’90s purveyor of post-hardcore and what would later be considered “noise rock.” The fact that Kikagaku Moyo is coming all the way from Tokyo to play a basement bar on Delmar should be enough to motivate even fairweather fans of psychedelic rock. After this show, LA’s JJJUUJJUU has an insane 2018: Its debut LP Zionic Mud will release in April, followed by the Desert Daze Caravan II tour with Ariel Pink, DIIV and Acid Mother’s Temple. And how does the west-coast outfit plan to top what looks like an unbeatable spring season? By opening for Mastodon and Primus all summer long.

Eyehategod

New Orleans’ Eyehategod is legendary in the underground for the sheer nihilism the band generates on record and on stage, and rightfully so. Its members play slow and low, only to explode into chaos and bile, and then play even slower and lower. What makes it all work is the band’s propulsive swing, which is buried under an

acre of grief and rage and self-loathing, but still present all the same. You could almost dance to it, if you’re the sort of rager who enjoys a bad mood made worse. They Should Call It “A Night of Bad Feelings”: It’s a loaded bill, with local doom merchants Fister and hardcore blasters Hell Night opening, followed by some version of the Cro-Mags, the seminal NYHC band that’s been at war with itself since the early ’80s. –Paul Friswold

Atmosphere w/ Evidence, Plain Ol’ Bill

THURSDAY 22

773-5565.

ASHES TO STARDUST: THE MUSIC OF DAVID

8 p.m. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Boulevard. $25 to $30. 314-726-6161.

ERIC JOHNSON: w/ Arielle 8 p.m., $40. The

PAUL THORN: 8 p.m., $35. Delmar Hall, 6133

BOWIE: 8 p.m., $15-$17.50. Delmar Hall, 6133

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

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

6161.

THE THING: GUSTAFSSON, HÅKER FLATEN AND

BONES: 4 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St.

EYEHATEGOD: w/ Cro-Mags, Fister, Hell Night 7

NILSSEN-LOVE: 8 p.m., $10-$20. Off Broadway,

Louis, 314-289-9050.

p.m., $20-$25. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

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

BUNNYGRUNT’S 25TH BIRTHDAY WEEKENDER: w/

314-289-9050.

TORREY CASEY & SOUTHSIDE HUSTLE: 10 p.m.,

Wagon Blasters, Rose Ette, Town Cars, Karen

JEREMIAH JOHNSON ACOUSTIC DUO: 4 p.m., free.

$10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

Meat 8 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226

Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-

St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

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

773-5565.

YOU VANDAL: w/ Breakmouth Annie, Daytime

CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO: w/ Silvana Estrada 8

JOE METZKA BAND: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

Television 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226

p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St.

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

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

Louis, 314-498-6989.

The duality that makes up Atmosphere – rapper Slug a.k.a. Sean Daley and his longtime producer Anthony “Ant” Davis – has held a dedicated audience for close to 30 years. It’s easy to see how the pair’s brand of hyper-sensitive hiphop has grown with the internet, evolving from early web-sharing on forums and chat rooms to today’s ubiquitous state of social media. Atmosphere’s eight studio records and long line of EPs surely have their place in the American rap canon, but the group’s greatest contribution Continued on pg 48

RIVERFRONT TIMES

9050. EARTHLESS: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Blueberry Hill The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444. JOE LEWIS BAND: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-4365222. LUH HALF: w/ Dayomurda 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

314-833-3929. MAMMOTH PIANO VIDEO SHOOT: w/ Hands and

Eyehategod. | DEAN KARR

7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 22. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $20 to $25. 314-2899050.

5222.

Feet 7 p.m., $5. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-935-7003. MICHAEL DAVES: w/ Kaia Kater, Steve James 8 p.m., $20. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900. PAPERKITE: w/ Kevin Lux, Digital Gnosis 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. RADNEY FOSTER: 8 p.m., $17-$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505. ROLAND JOHNSON & SOUL ENDEAVOR: 9 p.m., $3. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565. TELLA FRIEND TO TELLA FRIEND SPRING BASH: w/ P.R.E.A.C.H, E-Hype 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

SATURDAY 24

DEVIN THE DUDE: 8 p.m., $20-$25. Fubar, 3108

JORDAN DAVIS: w/ Jillian Jacqueline 8 p.m., $15-

FRIDAY 23

$45. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

3 OF A PERFECT PAIR: 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61

EMERGING COMPOSERS CONCERT: 3 p.m., free.

Louis, 314-833-3929.

Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave,

Webster University Community Music School,

KYLE COOK: 8 p.m., $12-$25. The Bootleg, 4140

Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

535 Garden Ave., Webster Groves, 314-968-

Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

AARON KAMM & THE ONE DROPS: w/ Roots of a

5939.

PAUL BONN & THE BLUESMEN: 8 p.m., free.

Rebellion 8 p.m., $10. 2720 Cherokee Perform-

GOODBYE OLD FRIEND: w/ Lights Over Acadia,

Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-

ing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St. Louis,

Obsidian, The Underground Lemon Experience

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

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

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Brent Cobb 8 p.m. Sunday, March 25.

Twang and funk aren’t always the most likely of bedfellows — each genre demands a certain stance from its players where looseness and tightness are often out of phase. And while Brent Cobb is, first and foremost, an Americana singer, there’s a little gut-bucket funkiness in his new single “King of Alabama”: The song’s shuffling backbeat, lithe bassline and whistling

organ are just as prominent as the jangly acoustic and barbed lead guitars. The song heralds the late-spring release of Cobb’s latest, Providence Canyon, and this week’s show will give fans a chance to hear the new tracks live and loud before the album drops. Perfect Vision: Savannah Conley, whose latest EP Twenty-twenty pairs her smokekissed vocals with ethereal atmospherics, opens the show. –Christian Schaeffer

7 p.m., $7-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

314-436-5222.

Louis, 314-535-0353.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

THE HILLBENDERS: 8 p.m., $25-$35. The

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

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

436-5222.

314-533-9900.

SOMO: w/ Caye 8 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar Hall,

JENNIFER HARTSWICK & NICK CASSARINO: 8

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

p.m., $10-$13. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester

THE ST. LOUIS UNDERGROUND HIP HOP TOURNA-

Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

MENT GRAND FINALE: 7 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar,

JUDAH & THE LION: w/ Colony House, Tall

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

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $12. 314-7733363.

Heights 8 p.m., $23.50-$25. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MONDAY 26

MIKE MATTHEWS PROJECT: 9 p.m., free. Night-

DARK WEB: w/ Shitstorm 9 p.m., $5. Foam

shift Bar & Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters,

Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis,

636-441-8300.

314-772-2100.

RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES:

PAT BENATAR AND NEIL GIRALDO: 7 p.m.,

3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St.

$39-$99. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts

Louis, 314-773-5565.

Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road,

SKEET RODGERS & THE INNER CITY BLUES BAND:

Normandy, 314-516-4949.

10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

THE SCARS HEAL IN TIME: w/ Divine Sorrow,

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

Thieves to Kings 7 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108

SONGS OF FREEDOM FAMILY SING-ALONG: 2 p.m.,

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

free. Tick Tock Tavern, 3459 Magnolia Ave, St.

THIRD SIGHT “SPECIAL EDITION”: 9 p.m., $10. BB’s

Louis.

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

TAIKOZA: 8 p.m., $25. Blanche M Touhill Per-

314-436-5222.

forming Arts Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949.

TUESDAY 27

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

DYLAN LEBLANC: w/ The Artisinals 8 p.m., $12-

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

$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

TRIGGER 5: 4 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

314-498-6989.

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

ETHAN LEINWAND & FRIENDS: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s

SUNDAY 25

with KJ Ray Ortega

KELLY’S FRIDAY NIGHT DANCE & KARAOKE PARTY OUR FOOD IS AWESOME

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

THE ANCHOR: w/ Lo And Behold, Anima/Ani-

HATEBREED: w/ Crowbar, The Acacia Strain,

mus, Bridges, Out Of Orbit 6 p.m., $10-$12. The

Twitching Tongues 8 p.m., $25-$28. Delmar

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

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

BRENT COBB: w/ Savannah Conley 8 p.m., $12-

6161.

$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

KOFFIN KATS: w/ The Goddamn Gallows,

314-498-6989.

Against The Grain 7 p.m., $15-$17. Fubar, 3108

ELECTRIC SIX: w/ Superfun Yeah Yeah Rock-

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

etship 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck

LADY RE “JUST FOR LAUGHS”: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s

Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City,

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

314-727-4444.

314-436-5222.

JUSTIN HOSKINS & THE MOVIE: 5 p.m., $5. BB’s

MATT AND KIM: w/ CRUISR, TWINKIDS 8 p.m.,

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

Karaoke Thursdays

Continued on pg 41

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WHAT IS THE NAME OF WES ANDERSONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM? This film is rated Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some violent images. No purchase necessary. Supplies are limited. One pass per winner. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed and is on a firstcome, first-served basis.

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THIS WEEKEND Continued from pg 38

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 39

might be through the founding of its label, Rhymesayers Entertainment, which has pushed the likes of Aesop Rock and MF Doom among countless others, including support act Evidence (of Dilated Peoples).

$30-$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SOULARD’S HOTTEST

THE VICTOR WOOTEN TRIO: 8 p.m., $32. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

WEDNESDAY 28 BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

St. Louis Folk and Roots Festival

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

Kicks off at 8 p.m. March 22 at the Stage at KDHX, continues through March 25, KDHX and the Sheldon. See folkandrootsfestival.com for full information.

Pollution 8 p.m., $15-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust

By taking the quality-over-quantity approach, KDHX offers up a premium string of concerts that seek to educate and entertain in equal measure. This collaborative fest pools bluegrass luminaries, prolific composers and dynamic players for shows set across KDHX and the Sheldon. There’s a barrier of entry here – the full festival package is set at $60, though tickets for individual shows are also available – but it’s an investment worth making. Between the workshops and square-dancing on Saturday and the two evening shows at the Sheldon, this is an event built with an all-inclusive vision in mind.

SATURDAY, MARCH 24

CHROME: w/ Vela Uniform, Bug Chaser, Human St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. CO-OP: 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353. AN EVENING WITH THE AUTHORS: 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226. THE LOW ANTHEM: 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. MARTY SPIKENER & ON CALL BAND: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222. OPPOSITION: 7 p.m., $10-$20. World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Ave, St. Louis, 314367-9243. SONGBIRD CAFE: w/ Ben Bedford, Erin Enderlin, Kyle Nachtigal, Stephanie Lambring 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St.

DANCE PARTY

Louis, 314-560-2778. TWIN PEAKS: w/ the Districts 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

THIS JUST IN AMERICAN DISCHORD: W/ Captain Dee and The

The Conformists w/ Drew Gowran, Huht

Long Johns, Powerline Sneakers, Antithought,

8 p.m. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $7. 314-772-2100.

ANIMAL YEARS: Sat., June 9, 8 p.m., $10-$13.

Sat., April 28, 8 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis,

St. Louis is little more than a home base for the Conformists, a band which has taken an odd trajectory with its distinct and deconstructionist rock. The group’s last three records were recorded in Chicago by Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black), and most of the Conformists’ major touring is done in Europe, not America. With wiry riffs that run atop groaning bass, songs are propelled by a buoyant sense of rhythm through drums that slink in between the narrow spaces left by the guitars. Mike Benker’s low, bellowing voice works to connect that set of gears with poetic duct tape. The result is an alien sound piloted by the human element.

314-775-0775.

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

Louis, 314-498-6989.

AWOLNATION: W/ Lovely the Band, Irontom, Wed., June 27, 8 p.m., $29.50-$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161. BOMBA ESTEREO: Mon., Aug. 6, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB: W/ The B-52’s,

FRIDAY & SATURDAY NIGHT DJ DAN-C

9 PM - CLOSE

Tom Bailey, Thu., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., $49.50$129.50. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111. THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS: W/ Greyhounds, Thu., May 10, 7 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775. CHUCK PROPHET AND THE MISSION EXPRESS: Tue., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989. COMPANY OF THIEVES: Sun., May 13, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. CRACKER: Sat., June 2, 8 p.m., $25-$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161. CRAIG WEDREN: Fri., July 13, 8 p.m., $20-$25.

Continued on pg 43

COLLEGE NIGHT - THURSDAY $2 Tall Boy (16 oz) Cans Neon Beer Pong DJ Ryan - 9 PM to Close

2001 MENARD (AT ALLEN) IN THE HEART OF SOULARD LIKE & FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: @dukesinsoulard riverfronttimes.com

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 21 - 27, 2018

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NCAA Sweet Sixteen THIS WEEK & Elite Eight Games University City, 314-727-4444.

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 41

EMERGING COMPOSERS CONCERT: Sat., March 24, 3 p.m., free. Webster University Commu-

3 OF A PERFECT PAIR: Fri., March 23, 7 p.m.,

nity Music School, 535 Garden Ave., Webster

free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old

Groves, 314-968-5939.

Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

ERIC JOHNSON: W/ Arielle, Thu., March 22, 8

AARON KAMM & THE ONE DROPS: W/ Roots of

p.m., $40. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

a Rebellion, Fri., March 23, 8 p.m., $10. 2720

Louis, 314-726-6161.

Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Chero-

ETHAN LEINWAND & FRIENDS: Tue., March 27, 7

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

p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broad-

THE ANCHOR: W/ Lo And Behold, Anima/Ani-

way, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

mus, Bridges, Out Of Orbit, Sun., March 25, 6

AN EVENING WITH THE AUTHORS: Wed., March

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

28, 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois

Louis, 314-535-0353.

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

ASHES TO STARDUST: THE MUSIC OF DAVID BOW-

EYEHATEGOD: W/ Cro-Mags, Fister, Hell Night,

IE: Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $15-$17.50. Delmar

Thu., March 22, 7 p.m., $20-$25. Fubar, 3108

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

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

6161.

GOODBYE OLD FRIEND: W/ Lights Over Acadia,

ATMOSPHERE: W/ Evidence, Fri., March 23, 8

Obsidian, The Underground Lemon Experi-

p.m., $25-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd.,

ence, Sat., March 24, 7 p.m., $7-$10. The Fire-

St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

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

THURS - FRIDAY - SATURDAY - SUNDAY

[CRITIC’S PICK] Dylan LeBlanc. | PHOTO VIA RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

Dylan LeBlanc 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 27. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $12 to $15. 314773-3363.

Dylan LeBlanc’s voice comes out of nowhere, or more specifically, the same nowhere everybody knows in early Neil Young or in any of the most uncanny of American voices — all the elusive denizens of the “invisible republic,” as Greil Marcus called it. The son of a major Muscle Shoals session player, LeBlanc has been visible enough: Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes recorded his earliest demos, and he’s gone on to release three richly arranged, some-

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & THE RHYTHM RENE-

HATEBREED: W/ Crowbar, The Acacia Strain,

GADES: Wed., March 28, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

Twitching Tongues, Tue., March 27, 8 p.m.,

Like & Follow us times hauntingly orchestrated albums on Facebook Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, and lent his voice to recordings by Steve 314-436-5222. @dukesinsoulard Cropper, Grayson Capps and Ellis Hooks. Understandably, as nobody anywhere sounds like LeBlanc: His voice and songs won’t just stop you in your tracks. They’ll lead you down a new path of musical, even spiritual, discovery. Craft Crew: Though hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, the Artisanals make bittersweet, sun-dappled, Southern California-styled rock. Catch the band’s sailing and shining harmonies during its opening set. –Roy Kasten

$25-$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BONES: Sat., March 24, 4 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108

THE HILLBENDERS: Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $25-

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

$35. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St.

BRENT COBB: W/ Savannah Conley, Sun., March

Louis, 314-533-9900.

25, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp

JENNIFER HARTSWICK & NICK CASSARINO: Sat.,

Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

March 24, 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Bootleg, 4140

BUNNYGRUNT’S 25TH BIRTHDAY: W/ Joan Of

Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

Dark, Gloom Balloon, The Passengers, Fri.,

JEREMIAH JOHNSON ACOUSTIC DUO: Thu., March

March 23, 8 p.m., $7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp

22, 4 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St.,

Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

BUNNYGRUNT’S 25TH BIRTHDAY WEEKENDER: W/

JOE LEWIS BAND: Fri., March 23, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s

Wagon Blasters, Rose Ette, Town Cars, Karen

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

Meat, Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $7. The Heavy

314-436-5222.

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

JOE METZKA BAND: Thu., March 22, 7 p.m., $5.

5226.

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

CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO: W/ Silvana Estrada, Sat.,

Louis, 314-436-5222.

March 24, 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509

JORDAN DAVIS: W/ Jillian Jacqueline, Thu.,

DUKE’S IS THE SPOT

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS: W/ Rivals, Sat.,

Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

March 22, 8 p.m., $15-$45. The Ready Room,

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

May 26, 6 p.m., $16-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St,

CHROME: W/ Vela Uniform, Bug Chaser, Human

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

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH: W/ Breaking Ben-

St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

Pollution, Wed., March 28, 8 p.m., $15-$18.

JUDAH & THE LION: W/ Colony House, Tall

jamin, Nothing More, Bad Wolves, Tue., Aug.

REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND: Fri., May

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

Heights, Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $23.50-$25. The

7, 7 p.m., $29.50-$99.50. Hollywood Casino

18, 7 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic Cowboy Pavilion,

CO-OP: Wed., March 28, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The

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

Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Mary-

4140 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-

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

6161.

land Heights, 314-298-9944.

0775.

COREY DENNISON BAND: Fri., March 23, 10 p.m.,

JUSTIN HOSKINS & THE MOVIE: Sun., March 25, 5

G-EAZY: W/ Lil Uzi Vert, Ty Dolla $ign, YBN

ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON: Sat., July 14, 6

$10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broad-

Nahmir, P-LO, Murda Beatz, Sun., Aug. 12, 6

p.m., $29.50-$125. Hollywood Casino Amphi-

St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

way, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre,

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

CTHULHUTHON: W/ Ending Orion, Jake’s Mis-

KOFFIN KATS: W/ The Goddamn Gallows,

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

Heights, 314-298-9944.

takes, Close to Zero, Dirty Bombshell, Doom &

Against The Grain, Tue., March 27, 7 p.m.,

314-298-9944.

RYAN MARQUEZ TRIO ALBUM RELEASE: Sat.,

Disco, Old Hand, GG Jim, The Nokturnal, Fri.,

$15-$17. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS: Tue.,

March 31, 7:30 p.m., $12. Kranzberg Arts Cen-

March 23, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St,

289-9050.

June 26, 7 p.m., $43-$58. River City Casino &

ter, 501 N Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

KYLE COOK: Thu., March 22, 8 p.m., $12-$25.

Hotel, 777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis,

SMILE EMPTY SOUL: W/ Flaw, Eve To Adam,

DARK WEB: W/ Shitstorm, Mon., March 26, 9

The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis,

314-388-7777.

Talia, Wed., May 30, 6 p.m., $16-$18. Fubar,

p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson

314-775-0775.

KANSAS: Sat., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $45-$125. The

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

Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

LADY RE “JUST FOR LAUGHS”: Tue., March 27,

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

SRČANI UDAR: Sat., May 12, 8 p.m., $30-$35. The

DEVIN THE DUDE: Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $20-

10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

314-534-1111.

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

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

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

KOE WETZEL: Wed., July 25, 8 p.m., $12. Off

314-833-3929.

9050.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., March 25, 9 p.m.,

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

TRAPT ACOUSTIC SHOW: W/ Easyfriend, Tue.,

DYLAN LEBLANC: W/ The Artisinals, Tue., March

$10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

6989.

May 22, 7 p.m., $15-$18. The Firebird, 2706

27, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp

St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

MC LYTE: W/ Big Daddy Kane, Fri., May 11, 7

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

Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

THE LOW ANTHEM: Wed., March 28, 8 p.m., $15-

p.m., $20-$30. Ballpark Village, 601 Clark Ave,

TYPHOON: W/ The Fourth Wall, Sat., June 16, 8

EARTHLESS: Fri., March 23, 8 p.m., $18-$20.

$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

St. Louis, 314-345-9481.

p.m., $16-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.,

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

314-498-6989.

MIKE ZITO CD RELEASE: W/ Jeremiah Johnson

St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

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

LUH HALF: W/ Dayomurda, Fri., March 23, 8

Band, Fri., May 11, 7 p.m., $17-$20. Atomic

VOODOO PRINCE: Fri., May 4, 7 p.m., free.

Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester Avenue,

Atomic Cowboy Pavilion, 4140 Manchester

IN 25, THE HEART OF SOULARD ter Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929. ship, Sun., March 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry

St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

Avenue, St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

BLUES & EVERY NHL GAME CARDINALS & EVERY MLB GAME COLLEGE & PRO BASKETBALL UFC FIGHTS & SHOWTIME BOXING

2001 MENARD (AT ALLEN) p.m., $10-$12. The Ready Room, 4195 ManchesELECTRIC SIX: W/ Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocket-

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)

SAVAGE LOVE ACE & THE HOLE BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a 26-year-old cis queer woman. My best friend has identified publicly as asexual for the past two years. She constantly talks about how since she doesn’t “need” sex, this means she is asexual. She does have sex, however, and she enjoys it, which I know isn’t disqualifying. But she also actively seeks out sex partners and sex. But, again, she insists that because she doesn’t “need” sex the way she presumes the rest of us do, she is asexual. I have an issue with this. I’ve never had partnered sex and never really felt the need or desire for it. I’m plenty happy with emotional intimacy from others and masturbation for my sexual needs, and I do not particularly desire a romantic or sexual partner. My friend gets offended if anyone questions her label, which occurs often in our friend group as people try to understand her situation. I usually defend her to others since she’s my friend, but as a person who is starting to identify more and more as asexual, I’ve grown annoyed at her use of “asexual” as her identifier, to the point that this may be starting to affect our friendship. I’ve kept silent because I don’t want to make her feel attacked — but in the privacy of my own head, I’m calling bullshit on her asexuality. I don’t particularly want to come out as asexual to her, given the circumstances. Am I just being a shitty gatekeeping asexual? Do I need to just accept that labels are only as useful as we make them and let this go? Actually Coitus Evading Asexuality — it’s a real thing. “Several population-level studies have now found that about one percent of individuals report not feeling sexual attraction to another person — ever,” Dr. Lori Brotto writes in the Globe and Mail. Dr. Brotto has extensively studied asexuality, and the data supports the conclusion that asexuality is a sexual orientation on par with heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality.

“[Asexuality] is not celibacy, which is the conscious choice to not have sex even though sexual desires may endure,” Dr. Brotto writes. “Rather, for these individuals, there is no inherent wish for or desire for sex, and there never has been. They are asexuals, though many prefer to go by the endearing term ‘aces.’” Asexuality — it’s a point on a spectrum and it’s a spectrum unto itself. “There is a spectrum of sexuality, with sexual and asexual as the endpoints and a gray area in between,” says whoever wrote the General FAQ at the Asexual Visibility and Education Network website (asexuality. org). “Many people identify in this gray area under the identity of ‘gray-asexual’ or ‘gray-a.’ Examples of gray-asexuality include an individual who does not normally experience sexual attraction but does experience it sometimes; experiences sexual attraction but has a low sex drive; experiences sexual attraction and drive but not strongly enough to want to act on them; and/or can enjoy and desire sex but only under very limited and specific circumstances. Even more, many gray-asexuals still identify as asexual because they may find it easier to explain, especially if the few instances in which they felt sexual attraction were brief and fleeting. Furthermore, [some] asexual people in relationships might choose or even want to have sex with their partner as a way of showing affection, and they might even enjoy it. Others may want to have sex in order to have children, or to satisfy a curiosity, or for other reasons.” As for your friend, ACE, well, according to the Protocols of the Elders of Tumblr, we’re no longer allowed to express doubt about someone’s professed sexual orientation or gender identity. So if Republican U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho gets caught trawling for dick in an airport bathroom — which he did in 2007 — and insists it was all a misunderstanding because, you know, he’s 200 percent straight, well, then he’s straight. (And if Jeffrey Dahmer says he’s a vegetarian…) So

even if your friend pulls the cock from her mouth and/or the pussy off her face only long enough to shout, “I’M ACE,” before slapping her mouth back down into someone’s lap, then she’s ace, ACE. Maybe in the same way Larry Craig is straight, your friend is asexual — or, hey, maybe she’s asexual in the “gray-a” sense, i.e., under certain circumstances (awake, aware, conscious, alert, sentient), she experiences sexual attraction. Or maybe she’s not a gray-a who identifies as ace but an actual asexual who is having sex for “other reasons.” A person doesn’t have to be celibate to be asexual or to identify as asexual, ACE, and until there’s an asexual accreditation agency — which there never will be and never should be — we’ll just have to take your friend’s word for it. But just as asexuality is a thing, ACE, so too is bullshit. Denial is a thing, and sex shame is an incredibly destructive thing. Like the guy who has a lot of gay sex but refuses to identify as gay or bi, it’s possible your friend is just a messy closet case — a closeted sexual, someone who wants sex but doesn’t want to be seen as the kind of person who wants sex since only bad people want sex. Some people twist themselves into the oddest knots so they can have what they want without having to admit they want it. But even if it sounds to you (and me) like your friend’s label is suspect, you should nevertheless hold your tongue and allow her to identify however she likes. Ask questions, sure, but challenging her label will only damage your relationship (or further damage it) and make you feel like a closeted, gatekeeping ace. And if you find yourself getting annoyed when your ace-identified friend starts in on how she doesn’t really “need” all the sex she’s having, ACE, do what I used to do when I had to listen to guys I knew for a fact were having tons of gay sex (because they were having it with me) go on and on about how they didn’t really “need” cock: smile, nod, roll ’em over and fuck ’em in the ass again. (Feel free to swap “change the subject” for “roll ’em over” and “leave the riverfronttimes.com MARCH 21

room” for “fuck ’em in the ass.”) Hey, Dan: Settle a dispute between friends? I’m a straight man who gets hit on fairly often by women, mostly at the gym. I usually respond with a variation on “I would be interested but I’m married.” Some of my friends argue that by saying, “I’m interested but I’m married,” I’m telegraphing an interest in some sort of affair. That isn’t my intent. I mean it as a compliment. What I’m trying to communicate is “You’re an attractive person who put yourself out there and I don’t want to crush your spirit with a curt ‘No.’” What is your take, Dan? Mutual Attraction Rarely Results In Erotic Dalliances Which is it, MARRIED: “I would be interested but I’m married” or “I am interested but I’m married”? Because there’s a difference between “I would” and “I am” in this context. When you say, “I would be interested but I’m married,” you’re shutting it down: We could fuck if I wasn’t married, but I am so we can’t. But when you say, “I am interested but I’m married,” that can be read very differently: I’m down to fuck but — full disclosure — I’m married. If that’s OK with you, let’s find a stairwell and do this thing. “Would be” politely shuts the door, MARRIED, “am” opens the door a crack and invites the sweaty woman at the gym to push against it to see if it’ll open all the way. Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org Want to reach someone at the RFT? If you’re looking to provide info about an event, please contact calendar@ riverfronttimes.com. If you’re passing on a news tip or information relating to food, please email sarah.fenske@riverfronttimes.com. If you’ve got the scoop on nightlife, comedy or music, please email daniel.hill@riverfronttimes.com. Love us? Hate us? You can email sarah. fenske@riverfronttimes.com about that too. Due to the volume of email we receive, we may not respond -- but rest assured we are reading every one.

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