TALK OF THE TOWNS

the metro

The ‘interwebs’ are rife with rabbit holes that will suck you in and have you believe the 1969 moon landing was filmed on a Hollywood sound stage or that COVID-19 is nothing more than an annoying case of the sniffles. The online experience overall, some say, is designed for the unsuspecting and the intellectually weak. The rest of us—you and I—are just curious, of course. Which brings me to cat videos. I’ll bet you’ve watched a few yourself, perhaps at work while trying to ignore a looming deadline. Maybe you have more discipline, but even the person averse or allergic to cats can get into a little feline humor. Cats are just funny on their own. We took a few videos of our late Dame Edna, none of which likely will turn up in time to meet the March 20 submission deadline for a contest we’re about to detail here. (But first: I dubbed her ‘Dame’ Edna because she wore a

snap-on pearl necklace until she went to her reward in March 2019. The photo shows her waiting for a thawed cocktail shrimp to move.) You don’t have to be a crazy cat lady to enjoy ‘Cat Clips: A Competition in Cuteness,’ brought to you by Animal House Cat Rescue & Adoption Center and Cinema St. Louis. Reprising this event is a sure bet for frivolity, because thank heaven for our cats during lockdown—or somebody else’s cat videos. Otherwise, we’d surely have gone mad. Sold out in years past, Cat Clips features an exclusive screening of curated cat videos judged by a panel of St. Louisans we’ll call the kitty cognoscenti. Juried clips will be screened and judged April 7 at Third Degree Glass Factory. Your clip could win the $250 grand prize, so get scratchin’! Visit filmfreeway.com/catclips for full details.

talk

OF THE TOWNS

by bill beggs jr.

lemay

Baby Boomers got to see the cool bands: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who. Many still follow the remains of the Grateful Dead, even without psychedelics. If so inclined, youngsters can still see the geriatric Rolling Stones in concert. My friend, a mere lad, has dropped thousands to see those 1960s relics for years all over the country. I snort with disdain. In 1975, I took a date to see The Who for probably $50, including parking. But to pay for a single ticket to a 2022 show, I’d probably have to put this laptop in hoc, plus my wife’s—and yours, too. The band’s vocalist, Roger Daltrey, sang, “Hope I die before I get old.” He just turned 78, and ticket prices for the band’s current tour should pay for skilled nursing care. Talk about inflation—concerts are expensive! Well, if you can’t spring for freshly churned butter, why not margarine? There’s any number of Led Zeppelin and Beatles tribute bands, Allman Brothers cover bands and so on, all working hard to play their idols’ catalogs note for note. A number of these bands have been at the River City Casino & Hotel in Lemay, and four more are coming up in the months to come. The Queen tribute band concert March 25 has sold out. (Thunderbolt and lightning / Very, very frightening!) RTP, the Rush Tribute Project, will appear there Nov. 18. The power trio of Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee performed for more than 40 years. Reportedly, RTP has the chops. If that’s rocking a little too hard for your taste, an ABBA tribute takes the River City stage April 15 and a Neil Diamond tribute on April 16. Meanwhile, in between rock and a softer place is Mr. Blue Sky, a tribute to symphonic rockers Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), coming up March 28 at The Loop at Delmar Hall.

st. louis

Who says public libraries are dinosaurs? Nowadays, does anyone even have to know or even care what the Dewey Decimal System is… or was? No worries. Our city and county public libraries are combining all the materials available for check out on their websites into a new shared online catalog, which will launch March 25. Users of city library (SLPL) branches will have access to two million more books, movies and music. Some SLPL services will be unavailable until the online catalog launch, including credit card payments. As of March 8, customers haven’t been able to place holds, update library cards, apply for passports or pay fees. Staff won’t be able to check in returned materials or remove them from customer accounts. On March 17, all SLPL branches will be closed to test the new software, check in materials and prepare for expanded services. (Since that’s St. Patrick’s Day, the library will be the last thing on your mind.) SLPL branches will reopen March 18, and although the online catalog won’t be available, staff will be able to place holds for anyone eager to order materials. On March 25, the shared online catalog will go live and customers can begin accessing the catalog and accounts—the upgrade, however, means PIN numbers will have been reset and saved reading lists cleared from customer accounts. Questions? Call 314-241-2288 or email customerservice@slpl.org.

TT trivia WHAT DO LED ZEPPELIN, THE WHO, RUSH, THE ROLLING STONES— AND SPINAL TAP—HAVE IN COMMON?

LAST ISSUE’S Q&A

There are 269 area codes in the United States. What cities do these represent: 212, 301, 202, 303, 415, 312, 215, 504, 213 and 259 Many NYC residents boast they’re from ‘the 212.’ Baltimore is ‘the 301;’ D.C., ‘the 202;’ Denver, ‘the 303;’ S.F., ‘the 415;’ Chicago, ‘the 312;’ Philly, ‘the 215;’ NOLA, ‘the 504’ and L.A., ‘the 213.’ Frequent long-distance callers know many area codes by heart. But who’s proud of ‘the 259’? Horsey people, that’s who: 259 is the area code for Lexington, Kentucky.

st. louis

Many Americans may have to screw up their faces or hold their mouths a certain way to work chopsticks. Even then, unable to get that optimal pressure and balance between thumb and first two fingers, they keep picking up and dropping the peanuts in their Kung Pao Chicken, give up and just use a fork. If you just take a glance at “Tisha UnArmed,” a YouTube channel Letisha Wexstten started 10 years ago, you’ll see that she’s more coordinated with chopsticks than the average American, using the toes of her right foot. Wexstten doesn’t have the benefit of opposable thumbs, hands or arms—and not only was she born without arms, one of her legs is longer than the other. But she’s never been one to feel sorry for herself. She wasn’t mollycoddled when she was growing up, her siblings had chores and so did she. An accomplished artist, she paints with her feet and enjoys working in watercolor, oils and acrylic. A 2005 grad of Mehlville High School, Wexstten went on to earn a graphic design degree from UMSL. But it was her somewhat tongue-in-cheek social media presence that led her in the direction she’s headed today. At present, she has 163,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel. Some have physical disabilities; others are simply curious. And a few years ago, while watching the numbers climb ever higher, she had a flash of inspiration. “I’m just one person,” she remembers thinking. “How could I help more people?” Graphic design work is, essentially, a problem-solving enterprise. “Before I knew it, I was an entrepreneur!” She developed a LinkedIn-style job-search program called V15Able (15 represents the 15% of the global population with disabilities) at UMSL through the university’s first Entrepreneurial Quest Accelerator (EQ) program, a six-week course that culminated in a competition for a $15,000 grant. V15Able (pronounced Visible), took home the win, and Wexstten used the grant to create a business plan and research the concept further. V15Able then won a $50,000 St. Louis Arch Grant to put toward building the online platform. In 2020, V15able partnered with St. Louis startup studio Sigla to build the first iteration of its platform, which debuted in March 2021. Approximately 60% of all disabled people in the United States of working age are unemployed, and yet seven million job openings annually go unfilled. V15Able aims to solve both problems. “I’m really excited to see what the future holds for V15able,” Wexstten says. Her enthusiasm is palpable. “We think that this platform to truly express your capabilities is going to change the world.” Visit v15able.com for more, including details on how you can get involved. Many of her paintings are for sale on the site, and all income will go toward tweaking the platform. But an angel investor or two wouldn’t hurt. & BEFORE I KNEW IT, I WAS AN ENTREPRENEUR!

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