TH E T HREAD
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our m i s s i on Thread is just a tool. It’s nothing special, and it can’t do much on its own. But oh boy what it can accomplish when paired up with the right material and a little creativity. This little project is a humble attempt to explore our city and its peoples. Finding those interesting materials that make up our communities, that creativity which provokes, instigates, and inspires. We want to tie it all together and see what happens. We want to ask around and see what’s up. If something is happening that people should know about, we want to make sure they do If something isn’t happening that should be, we want to help make it happen We want most of all to hear from you! What are you up to? What are you seeing? What are you doing? What are you thinking? What is life like out there, and how can we all share in it? Help give us a chance to tie it all
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together, and let’s see what can happen.
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c on t ac t : t h et h r ead s fl d @ g m ai l on l i n e at fac eb ook. c om /t h et h r ead s fl d & i s s uu. c om /t h et h r ead s fl d
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& t h et h r ead - s pr i n g fi el d t um b l r
City Watch
Potential big changes with Springfield Public Schools.
The Springfield Public School system is the second largest in the state. It manages almost 50 buildings and nearly 25,000 students, with an annual budget nearing 260 million dollars. This year the district has developed a proposal that would see major renovations throughout their buildings and, if it went as planned, the district would combine several middle and elementary schools, create new schools, and cut four elementaries. The plan includes renovations at many other schools, including all high schools. The cost of the planned projects could be expected to top 310 million dollars, in accordance with the plan (which was developed by consulting organization MTG America) the District would be expected to ask for 350 million in bonds to pay for two stages of work divided over the next 10-12 years. The cost of the bond would be passed on (also in stages) to Springfield property owners via their annual property tax. It would add 24 cents to our 55 cent debtservice levy. According to the News-Leader this change would increase the “property tax bill on a $100,000 house by $46 a year.” The Springfield Public School system has faced a number of public criticisms of its infrastructure in recent memory. Schools have been described as “crumbling”, and complaints of mold have come regularly. At the same time, obvious disparities between schools has sewn resentment, and rumours have circulated widely regarding nepotism and poor oversight at administrative levels. The district received a “Fair” rating on a 2006 audit, but took some flak this year after hiring a new director of finance: Kim Mulvaney, a former finance administrator from the St. Joseph, Missouri school district, which recently received the lowest possible rating in an audit specifically citing poor financial oversight. This year’s proposal has also recalled a $96.5 million dollar bond approved by voters in 2006 on the pretence that it was for renovations to schools, of which ultimately $10.8 million was used to help pay for a completely new Hickory Hills middle school building. The school was moved to help with congestion, while many felt more pressing needs could have been found elsewhere. It has also called forth 2004’s building of the Wilson Creek school, during which only one contractor bid on the project. In a News-Leader article from the time several city contractors explained their unwillingness to bid on the project, as they were critical of the School’s contract and its expectations. The district has not announced whether or not they will bring the bonds, and therefore the renovation plans, to a vote in our April election or sometime further in the future. If and when they do, it will force our community to consider the balance between adequately supporting our public school system and holding the administrators of the district accountable. The district has grown by 1,000 students in the last decade, and the technical needs of teachers and students have by all accounts outgrown what the current buildings can support. At the same time, the district has failed to appropriately budget for regular maintenance and renovations over the last several decades, and it is hard to trust that they would do so in the future.
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C om m un i t y/B ei n g Every Monday 1 0-11 am: Job Club at Mo Job Center Theology Talk in the Tasting Room! (5:30 Every Wed. @ Mothers Brewing) Thursday Night Game Night (7pm @ Metagames Unlimited...every thursday) City Council Meeting (6:30 @ City Hall...second and fourth monday each month) OTC Equality (every 1 st, 3rd, and 4th Friday 1 pm @ the Creative Services Building) Springfield Contra Dances (1 st & 3rd Saturday @ Doling park $6) every wednesday bingo, 7-9pm @ Calgaro’s pizza...$5 1 2/4 Pickwick Place Holiday Bazaar 11 -4pm @ Pickwick Neighborhood 1 2/5 Saving for Retirement (Q & A) 6-8pm @ the Fairbanks 1 2/5,1 9 Career Exploration 9-11 am @ Mo. Job Center 1 2/6 Adult Coloring Circle 5-7pm @ Park Central Library 1 2/7 Ladies Graphic Novel Club: Angel Catbird Vol. 1 7pm @ Boomarx 1 2/7 Christmas Carols w/ the St. Agnes Elementary School Choir (+ snacks) 11 am
@ Park Central Library
1 2/8 Rose O’Neil and the Kewpie Doll (a local history presentation) 7pm
@ Library Center
1 2/8 Drone Compliance Q&A 11 :45-1 pm @ Real Estate School of the Ozarks
(all welcome)
1 2/9 Community Benefit (Yoga at 6 entertainment after) for Standing Rock 6-9pm
@ Sangha Studio
1 2/9 Ozark Greenways Holiday Open House & conversation 7-9am
@ Environmental Resource Center
1 2/1 0 Memorial Luminary Driving Tour 5pm @ Wilson's Creek Battlefield 1 2/1 0 Springfield Xmas Parade 2pm @ Park Central Square 1 2/1 0 Springfield LGBT Community Roundtable with PROMO 11 am @ Hurts Donut 1 2/1 0 Mead & Merriment: Holiday Shopping 2-6pm @ Leaky Roof Meadery 1 2/1 0 Festival of Lights: Figure Skating exhibition 1 -3pm
@ Mediacom Ice ParkO$5
1 2/1 3 Donuts & Death Book Club: Salem’s Lot 6pm @ Hurt’s Donut 1 2/1 4 Holiday Celebration w/ Greene County Chorale 1 2:1 5pm @ Midtown Library 1 2/1 8 3rd Annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day 6pm @ The Gathering Tree 1 2/22 Fairbanks Christmas Party 5:30pm @ the Fairbanks 1 2/29 Jump Start Your Job Search 9:30-1 2:30pm @ Mo. Job Center
Zi n e & I n fo N i g h t
Wednesday 1 2/1 4 at 7-1 0pm. Come hang out at the Zine Library & Info Shop at Harvest House (1 836 n. weller). This month's topic: radical publishing. <3
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1 2/3 End of Prohibition Party w/ Cherry Bomb Burlesque and Clawhammer 9pm
@ LindbergsO$5
1 2/6 Snake Church, Joy Boy, Tuf & Mattford 8pm @ the Outland...$5 1 2/9 KSMU presents: Studio Live Social Hour w/ Juanita Lee & Kenny Key 5-7pm
@ Barley, Wheat and Rye
1 2/1 0 1 2x1 2 LP Release Show (a Wee Rock Records compilation release) 8pm
@ the OutlandO$8
1 2/1 6 House ShawMcBrawlashaw: Gigantic, Boreal Hills, Mouton, and Chris Gnarly 9pm
@ *ask a punk*
1 2/1 8 The Theorists 2-5pm @ Copper Run
C r eat i n g /Ar t Queen City Ukulele Club (6:00-8pm@ Springfield Music every 1 st and 3rd tuesday) Comedy nights: every Friday/Saturday at Billiards... Every Sunday at Lindbergs MO Poetry Writing Workshop (7pm @ The Creamery...every 1 st thursday) Painting Workshop (9:30am-11 :30 @ The Creamery...2nd & 4th wednesday, $1 0) Moon City Jam (7pm @ Big Momma's...every 1 st thursday) Weekend Walk-in Theater (6:30pm @ Park Central Library...saturdays) 1 2/2 Nature Photographer Tim Ernst 5-6 & 7-8pm
@ Springfield Conservation Nature Center
1 2/3 Art Inspired Presents the play: Journey Thru The Jungle 2pm @ Drury 1 2/1 0
Book Reading & Signing: Southern Gothic by Dale Wiley 7pm @ Bookmarx
1 2/11 Queen City Voices Classic Christmas Concert 2-3:30pm
@ the Springfield Art Museum
1 2/11 Sunday Concert Series: bluegrass from Roger Matthhews & Dan O’Day 2pm
@ Library Center
1 2/11 -1 4 Do Not Resist (documentary) tbd time @ the Moxie CinemaO$9 1 2/1 5 Poetry Slam 7pm @ Springfield ImprovO$5 1 2/1 6,1 7 The Never Ending Story 4:30pm, 1 0:00am @ the Moxie Cinema....free 1 2/22 Bookmarx Holiday Author Reading 7:30pm @ Bookmarx
Fi r s t Fr i d ay Ar t Wal k 1 2 /2
"Jean Fouquet’s Competing Styles in the Melun Diptych." & art by Doug Erb @ Park Central Library, 6-9pm Stories in Ink: the Art of Eric Ray @ Obelisk Home 6-1 0pm MSU Students' BFA Exhibit @ Brick City 5:30pm Best of the Midwest HS Competitive Exhibit @ Pool Art Center 4-7pm $1 00 & Under Bazaar Exhibit @ Creamery Arts Center Sharing Smoke: art by Natalie Yost 4-7pm @ Drury on C-Street Art by Chad Woody 5-1 0pm @ Rosette Studios: Arts & Letters 5-1 0pm
Listening in on Springfield with Wee Rock Records' "12 x 12"
Jason and Justin Kearbey started putting Wee Rock Records on labels for home-dubbed tapes back in 1996. They spent the next 20 years building on that experience, helping local and regional bands record and release material on tapes and cdrs before moving onto vinyl. This December they’ll release their label’s 6th full-length LP:
12 x 12: A Springfield Compilation
It’s a wide-ranging sketch of the here and now of local music. The Wee Rock team, which since its founding has also picked up local musician Dan Johnston, tells me it’s something they’ve considered and discussed off and on for most of their run. One of their first releases in the late 90s was a local punk compilation tape (Noise with a Beat), and they speak fondly of another compilation put out from time to time by a local skate park (65sk807). After floating in and out of the Springfield music scene in the 2000s, they’ve spent the last several years settling back in. This last year, they put all their energy behind the compilation project, bringing to fruition an impressive (literal) record of an amazing collection of bands. “We wanted it to be a true cross-section,” Dan tells me, and it is. The tunes range from the folky bounce of Clawhammer, to the rolling back-beat of Cole Ray, the hefty doom of Weedemon, and the voracious punk-punch of C-Rex. With both seasoned music vets like Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and relative youngins like Paddlefish, the tracklist weaves a proud collage of Springfield music, replete with the sounds of a vibrant and diverse music scene. It’s an awesome achievement, especially considering the whole thing was not just put together, but recorded from the ground up by Wee Rock. Jason tells me each band had three hours to do their track. The only rules for the compilation were that the songs be previously unreleased, and that the chosen bands have no overlapping members. It all worked out, and now every band from the record is playing the release show, almost one year after the project kicked-off. The logistics of that are near as impressive as the record. After giving it a listen, it’s important that it’s been recorded and mixed by the same people, over the same time span, and on the same equipment. The consistency of the sound and intention connects the songs. You’ll notice the record and case themselves too, with art by local artist Beatle Mike, design by Justin, and translucent green and red vinyl. With this record, each piece is a work of care as much as any other. You see it, and then you hear it in track after track. Putting together records is a labor of love for this crew, and it’s awesome to have them putting that labor towards a celebration of Springfield.
A Brief History of Wee Rock Jason : throughout high school we really liked Subpop and we were like ‘well we’re in a band’ … it was maybe a little bit of a joke, at first, but we would record cassette tapes and design covers and put our logo on it, because they had a logo. Justin : it was like, let’s put a label name on it, even though it’s only us. Jason : then we started playing shows, and we made like 100 copies of a tape. The first real thing we did was a compilation, just Springfield and Joplin bands (called “Noise with a Beat”) and it was just on cassette, that was all we did back then. And that was a first experience. We started playing shows, started meeting people in bands and I started getting into recording. [We thought,] well we can record them, and just copy the tape for them, and still put our little logo on them. Justin : we didn’t actually record people for a long time. Jason : that’s true. Justin : we recorded Signal Seven for that comp. Jason : it was always like, we made 100 copies or 50 or whatever. So, we got into playing in bands more and we wanted to put out a record. Our parents listened to records all the time, so it was pretty normal, though you didn’t see them in the late 90s as much. So in '99 we pressed our first record. It was a Fugue 7inch split with another band. Dan : was that Honeymoon Havoc? Jason : mhm, and leading up to that time we put out cdrs. Usually we put out a cassette and cdr version of a release, just really small numbers, and then if they wanted more we just kept making them, if not, that’s ok. Jason : then we faded out the tapes and just did cdrs, then we did 7inches and cdrs Justin : and then we faded out cds.
Thread : is it weird to have seen that in just a couple decades? Dan : Yeah, it’s fucking weird. Justin : and people are making tapes now too. Dan : the Wee Rock Records policy is no tapes. Jason : Other people are doing that, and doing a good job. We don’t need to go back there. We counted, this is our 20th or 21st record we’ve pressed. Find info and records at weerockrecords.com Go to the 12 x 12 release show at the Outland Dec. 10th...$8, 12 bands
C an y ou feel it?
The Reacharounds are gems in the craggy ozark hills. Snotty, quick, and impulsive punk rockers brewing up a wicked stew of dismissive hu nter gather er jolting groove-ridden songs in the placid authoritarianism of the bible belt. That’s a mouthful, but it’s what it takes to unpack the dense sound they shove into every moment of their new record: Hunter Gatherer. From song one (Welcome to the World) the tone is set. Fat bass intro into shredding guitar and tight vicious drums overlaid with the dark sarcastic bawl: “Welcome to the world, you might have some questions to ask.” Front person Steve leads the band through flexes of somber introspection and riotous moments of anger and honesty, the band diving and writhing succinctly along with growling shouts and exhausted near-spoken word. It is an expressive sound, craftily channeled at high-pace between four players in unison. This continues throughout, taking unique forms in each track, showcasing the ambition of the band and their ability to twist their talents together. At one point they soar to an anthemic level in the catchy chant of “dog blood, dog blood in my veins” (Dog Blood), at another they are unhinged between sudden snare blasts, doo-woppy backup vocals, and angry calls to “kill them all” (Status Tension). The lyrics come at you on the sly, between a sense of the cynical, revelatory, and vengefully humorous. Guitarist Joe is at home building riffs up towards cheering resolutions, grinding down with heft, and scratching away with near arrhythmic pluckiness; helping create landscapes of off-kilter noise as well as unified walls of energy. Pol and Garret maintain the groove and keep the group moving as the powerful backbone rhythm section, with inventive and surprisingly funky bass; and an explosive,consistently spastic taste for drums. The group’s skills are given room to run on this record, and each song is rich with ona-dime turns in mood and tense knots of aggression. This is a band at the cross section of maturity and creativity, thoroughly comfortable with themselves and their toolbox, but nonetheless excited to be unpredictable. They fit the pieces together well, as best as they ever have (or better), composing tapestries of conflict and agitation that re-engage the listener with each moment, filling up the minute or two each songs takes with incredible depth brimming with immediate gratification. a r ev iew of the new R eac har ou nds r ec or d
c hec k ou t the alb u m:
see The R eac har ou nds liv e Dec .
alway sgodown. b andc amp. c om
2nd at the Ou tland
There's a new station hitting the FM waves! Based out of Drury University, 98.1 KDRU expanded to FM at the end of September and promises to bring some muchÂneeded diversity to the Springfield radio scene. We at the Thread were excited to chat with student president Clayton Baumgarth! T: What was the greatest obstacle to getting the station going? CB: I'd say our biggest obstacle was on the equipment side. We've been going through the process to become an FM station for a year or two, and as we went through all that paperwork we kept finding that there was always another piece of equipment we needed. A new antenna here, a new transmitter there, those types of surprise things we had to upgrade in order to be a legal station. That all really came together when Kent Otto came on board and lent his expertise and connections to get the things we needed and to get them set up. T: What have your experiences with college radio been like? Did they contribute to your involvement with KDRU? CB: I've had one college radio experience prior to KDRU, and that is with listening to KCLC in St. Louis. It's a station at Lindenwood University, and they always did an excellent job of playing music that wasn't being played by other stations in the city. And it wasn't just songs that people never hear, they were hits from the past decade that have just been kind of forgotten. It planted the idea in my head that a college station can be completely different from anything else on the air, but it can do it in a way that doesn't alienate the audience with music they aren't familiar with. There's a balance between playing brand new stuff people don't hear and those nostalgic tracks that haven't been spun in awhile. T: Who staffs the station and how do they get involved? CB: The station is staffed by students, plus a faculty advisor and an alumni volunteer. To be on the air, students are required to take a course and learn all about what it means to be onÂair and other things of that sort. We also have a
growing volunteer team that handles all of the background stuff such as production, community outreach, and news. So it's open to all students at Drury to be involved and help the station, but to be onÂair there's a course requirement. T: What do you hope students will gain from working at KDRU? CB: It's probably a bit cliche, but I hope that working at KDRU teaches students how to work as a team to make things happen, and an understanding that every job is an important job. There's a lot of moving parts to a radio station, and if any of them fail then that affects so much of the organization. T: What do you hope listeners will gain by tuning in to KDRU? CB: We want to be the community radio voice of Drury and Springfield. The vision is that people will eventually tune in to KDRU not just for the music, but to hear programs and stories that really make them think. Springfield is a community that cares, and right now there aren't any stations that focus on that. We want to fill that gap in the airwaves, and we'd love for people to tune in and interact with us and be a part of that conversation. We hope that by tuning in, listeners will be more aware citizens. And if we can do that while playing music that simply isn't going to be played by any other station in town then even better. T: What kind of programming would you particularly like to hear on KDRU? CB: We have a few ideas on programming. One of our programs called The Weekly Buzz is going to evolve to become our flagship show featuring an event calendar, interviews with community leaders, and a ton of other things that are put together by other members of the team throughout the week. That'll be our signature KDRU program. I also want more weird stuff made by students. Before I was here, apparently we had a student do a show that revolved around playing music from different video games and then talking about them. I love that KDRU can be this empty canvas for students to make any show that their heart desires. And to be able to share that with all of Springfield now that we're FM is something special. And then there's the music side of things. Right now the music is pretty randomized and there's really no form to it. In the not so distant future, we'd like to play different genres throughout the day. For example, an acoustic set in the mornings to wake up to and an EDM set for late night parties. Something like that. T: What would be (or was) the first song you'd play on your own show? CB: Gosh I wish I remembered the first song I played on the radio. If I could do it again, it would probably be Everlong by Foo Fighters. I have a personal attachment to that song and band, and to share that with listeners from the get go would mean a lot to me. T: If you could interview any living person on air, who would it be? CB: Going off of that, if I could interview any living person, it would probably be Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters lead singer) for too many reasons to count. He just seems like the nicest dude and he's inspiring to me.
music, art, culture, community, things to do