Vox Magazine September 2019

SHAKING UP THE LOCAL IMPROV SCENE

COMO’S OWN CHESSMASTER

CHAMPIONS OF BREAKFAST

29

GETTING FLEXIBLE WITH FIDO PAGE 31

Country’s New Queen

A Classic Comes Back A Classic Comes Back

Root s N Blues 2019

Up close and personal with acts from this year’s music and BBQ fest

Twice the Heart

TINY DANCER

Iam entirely convinced that my earliest memory is of music.

When I was about 3 or 4, my dad would pick me up and dance me around our living room, singing along to his favorite Billy Joel and Elton John songs. I remember him holding me in his arms, rocking back and forth, the sound of his voice and the repetition of his movement putting me to sleep. I grew up on these classics; I knew

every word of “Piano Man” and “New York State of Mind” before I could read. And to this day when I hear Billy or Elton croon, I feel the comforting presence of my father. I feel like a little girl again.

Music is powerful like that. It can transport you through time and space. It can provide solace in times of pain, and it can bring people together. On Page 15, you’ll find stories about musicians sharing their art with the world. I hope they inspire you to turn up a song you haven’t heard in a while and maybe get lost in a memory.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF E LIZABETH ELKIN

DEPUTY EDITOR CARY LITTLEJOHN

MANAGING EDITOR CATHERINE WENDLANDT

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR

CAMERON R. FLATT

ONLINE EDITOR GABY MORERA DI NUBILA

ART DIRECTORS MITCHELL BARTLE, MADISON WISSE

PHOTO EDITOR DEREK RIEKE

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR SAM MOSHER

ASSISTANT EDITORS

CULTURE SARAH EVERETT, MORGAN SPEARS

EAT + DRINK MEG DONOHUE, XIYUAN ZHANG

CITY LIFE KRISTIN BLAKE, ADRIAN BURTIN, ELENA K. CRUZ

MAGAZINE

Cover Design: Madison Wisse

DIGITAL EDITORS LAUREN BROCATO, KE YI KHAW, EMILY LENTZ, MEREDITH LEHMAN, HANNAH MUSICK, DANIELLE PYCIOR, NICHOLE SCHROEDER, VICTORIA TRAMPLER, TAYA WHITE

MULTIMEDIA EDITORS FIONA MURPHY, MAGGIE MADRO, EMILY POWERS, CHLOE THORNBERRY

DESIGNER LAURA JONES

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS SIOBHAN CONNERS, EMMY LUCAS, HANNAH MCFADDEN, ABBY MONTEIL, CLARE RALEY, ELIZABETH UNDERWOOD

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR HEATHER LAMB

DIGITAL DIRECTOR SARA SHIPLEY HILES EXECUTIVE EDITOR JENNIFER ROWE

ADVERTISING 882-5714

CIRCULATION 882-5700

EDITORIAL 884-6432, vox@missouri.edu

CALENDAR send to vox@missouri.edu or submit via online form at voxmagazine.com

TO RECEIVE VOX IN YOUR INBOX sign up for email newsletter at voxmagazine.com

ELIZABETH ELKIN Editor-in-Chief

Correction: In the July/August issue, the article “Your summer YA LGBTQ” misstated the name of the novel Leah on the Offbeat

Cover Photos: Courtesy of David McClister, Rett Rogers, Jamie Nelson, Joey Martinez

SEPTEMBER 2019 VOLUME 21, ISSUE 8

PUBLISHED BY COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN 320 LEE HILLS HALL, COLUMBIA, MO 65211

Photography by Derek Rieke

p.15

Roots N Blues

New owners. New headliners. Same sound.

BY VOX STAFF

p. 22

Checkmate

A former MMA fighter, Romanian grandmaster Cristian Chirila is conquering MU’s next big game: chess.

BY TYLER KRAFT

Photography by Jason Vance VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019

DEPARTMENTS

IN THE LOOP

9 Seeking higher ground

As flood waters recede, local businesses bounce back for fall.

12

Mugs Up keeps up

Restaurant is a Columbia staple. Manager Brandon Kewley reflects on 30 years in the burger biz.

CULTURE

13

Horsin’ around

The Ponies, a local improv team, brings a bit of unpredictability to Talking Horse.

EAT + DRINK

29 Breakfast Club

Bacon fan seeks breakfast sandwiches. CoMo’s best bagels and more.

CITY LIFE

31 Old MacDonald had a yoga mat

Relax among pets. Animal yoga gives new meaning to downward dog.

Photography by Armond Feffer, Liv Paggiarino, Lia Waldrum and Emmalee Reed

YOU ARE THE GENERATION THAT WILL BE STEPPING FOOT ON MARS.

TIERA FLETCHER STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS ENGINEER, BOEING

GIRLS IN STEM BECOME WOMEN WHO CHANGE THE WORLD.

LEARN MORE @SHECANSTEM ON INSTAGRAM

Seeking higher ground

As the summer’s floods recede, three mid-Missouri hotspots are bouncing back.

BY EMILY LENTZ

If you weren’t in Columbia this summer, you missed the worst flooding the area has seen since 1993. Beginning in May and continuing into July, rising water along the Missouri River took its toll on places such as the Katy Trail and inundated Cooper’s Landing. Residents of Rocheport came together to build a 33.4-foot sandbag barricade, only 1 foot taller than the predicted river crest.

Here’s a closer look at the extent of the damage and what you can do to help.

Photography by Ethan Weston VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019

Drone footage gives a bird’s-eye view of a field flooded by the Missouri River south of Easley, Missouri.

Katy Trail

What happened: Roughly 100 of the trail’s 240 miles were flooded, trail coordinator Melanie Smith says. The trail is popular among hikers and cyclists across Missouri. “We’ve been getting a lot of phone calls and emails asking about

closures,” she says. Standing water and bridge damage made some of the trail impassable. Along with daily closures, several events were canceled, including the 19th annual Katy Trail Ride. How to help: To fund rebuilding efforts, Missouri State Parks is taking donations

Cooper’s Landing, a summertime staple, suffered the same problem after the flood of 1993, after which Mike Cooper’s original store had to be rebuilt.

and offering T-shirts to those who donate $100 or more. More information can be found on the Missouri State Parks Katy Trail Flood webpage. Thirty miles of the trail are still closed, and there are no predictions as to when the trail will be operating at full capacity. Smith encourages anyone interested to frequently check the Missouri State Parks advisory webpage to find out which areas of the trail are open.

Rocheport

What happened: In Rocheport, another popular stop for cyclists, businesses have seen a marked decrease in their number of customers. Christa Holtzclaw, marketing director of Les Bourgeois Winery, says that while the winery suffered no damage to its A-frame picnic pavilion or bistro, the road blocks and Katy Trail closures led to a drop in traffic, especially from bikers.

Decreased traffic also impacted the Meriwether Café & Bike Shop. “With frequent and long-term trail closures, we

There’s always a great show coming up next at MU Theatre. See our schedule online at theatre.missouri.edu

Performances at the Rhynsburger Theatre and at Studio 4.

Tickets Rhynsburger Theatre box office (573) 882-PLAY (7529) or online at theatre.missouri.edu

By Adrienne Kennedy

Obie Award Lifetime Achievement Winner and Theatre Hall of Fame inductee.

Directed by Dr. David Crespy

Two dazzlingly experimental, dreamlike plays, by one of America’s most adventurous playwrights, which explore the uncomfortable divide between black and white America through the eyes of a young African-American women in a gorgeous, furious burst of poetry, imagery, and sound.

7:30p, Sept 25 - 28 and 2:00p, Sept 29 Studio 4, 672 Hitt St. Columbia, MO

facebook.com/MizzouTheatre

Photography by Amanda Lee

weren’t able to generate bike rentals,” owner Brandon Vair says. “We certainly experienced a downturn in traffic and, by extension, sales.”

How to help: Vair says that normality is returning to Rocheport, and the village is gearing up for its annual wine stroll on Sept. 21. The event will have live music and vendors across town.

Cooper’s Landing

What happened: Cooper’s Landing was submerged in nearly 4 feet of water, according to a June report from the Columbia Missourian. Residents had to evacuate the riverside campgrounds. The marina needed be cleared out and renovated to repair the damage.

How to help: After a few weeks of hard work, the patio is now reopened and hosting live music events, such as Coopfest on Sept. 21, according to the Cooper’s Landing Facebook page. To encourage people to come, food trucks are cooking up tasty dishes until the Landing’s kitchen is open again.

This summer, flooded streets, such as Highway 240 in Rocheport, prevented patrons from visiting businesses for weeks.

Photography by Kate Seaman

Mugs Up keeps up

Over the course of decades, Brandon Kewley has continued the legacy of this local business through age-old recipes and a loyal fan base.

BY CLARE RALEY

For Mugs Up manager Brandon Kewley, every part of his business holds a piece of his childhood. So when the ice-cream freezer at the original building on Business Loop 70 broke down after more than 50 years of use, Kewley had to leave the premises as it was torn out. “I was like, ‘They’re taking a chainsaw to my childhood!’” he says. “It was distressing for me.”

Kewley manages Columbia’s only locally owned drive-in, where he has worked since age 12. His grandfather Ray Kewley bought Mugs Up on July

2, 1955, when it was part of a chain of 60 restaurants. Now, it’s one of only two original locations still standing.

If Kewley has learned anything over the past 30 years in the business, it’s how to run the joint the right way. “He’s not just one to demand people do things,” assistant manager Jessica Pollock says. “He puts in the work himself and expects everyone to follow him. He’s a good leader.”

Kewley shares what’s kept Mugs Up going all these years.

IF YOU GO

Where: 603 Orange St.

When: Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

As a kid, did you know you wanted to keep working at the restaurant later in life?

I did. I grew up in this place, so it’s like home to me. My parents actually met here. They went to Hickman. She was a carhop, and he worked here. They were friends through high school and ended up getting married in 1974. I’ve worked other jobs in the winter when we’re closed, but I couldn’t imagine not coming here.

What’s your bestseller?

Well, it’s a toss-up. The chili cheese dog is really popular, but then the cheese dip is, too. I like the Zip. But I do like the chili on Doritos. When I was a kid, the hot dogs were the thing that I ate almost every day. I just can’t do it anymore; I ate too many of them.

What makes Mugs Up unique to the Columbia community?

There’s a kind of timelessness here. It is like a time warp in itself almost because I’ve been here all these years. I’ve had so much fun with so many of these people for so long. It’s hard work, and it’s demanding, and it’s consuming, but there’s a comfort in knowing that a familiar face will be there every day.

The restaurant has been around for decades. Has the menu changed at all?

The food never really changes. The recipes are the same ones handed down by the grandparents. We’ve added a couple items, but that’s about it.

What’s the secret to your success?

The customers. They really are very loyal and devoted. That’s why we all feel kind of a connection with all of them. We get to know them over the years, and I still have customers who will send messages to me through the carhops. I think people like that nothing much changes here.

Photography by Beatriz Costa-Lima

Horsin’ around

Talking

BY LAUREN BROCATO

Photography by Emmalee Reed

The Ponies members Mary Shaw and Brennan Holtzclaw mime

When Gregory Brown first tried improvisational comedy in 2017, he anxiously sat in the parking lot for 20 minutes before walking into the audition. Afterward, Brown realized there was nothing to fear and fell in love with performing. In February 2019, he and Adam Brietzke co-founded The Ponies, a 13-member, multi-generational improv troupe that’s part of Talking Horse Productions. The

group began performing once a month (most months) in July. With improv, actors perform games and scenes for an audience without any true preparation.

Brietzke and Brown founded the troupe to grow the improvisational comedy presence at Talking Horse and to allow actors to experiment with new bits, develop their acting chops and entertain the community. The shows are modeled after the show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, so the troupe relies heavily on audience interaction to lead the actors into an improvised scene. “Doing improv allows actors to let their guard down to try new things,” Brietzke says. “Who knows what they might do? ” In Columbia’s scarce improv scene, Talking Horse corners the market with The Ponies and The Stable Boys, Talking Horse’s other improvisational group. “There’s a real hunger for this kind of entertainment in Columbia,” Brown says.

The shows aren’t scripted, but in order to prepare for the scenarios that might occur onstage, the group holds

practices (not rehearsals, Brown notes) to go over the order of the games and to test out possible scenarios. Each week, the troupe relies on its book of about 40 games, which Brietzke has dubbed “The Bible,” and thinks through possible story lines, characters and suggestions the audience might throw at them. For example, “World’s Worst” is one of the games played where an audience member yells something like “dentist” and the members of the troupe then assume the character the of world’s worst dentist. The actors use the audience’s suggestions to help inspire them.

Brown says that once all of the possibilities are laid out during practice, it’s easier for the actors to focus more on developing their characters and less on the nuts and bolts of the show. “It’s a blast,” Brietzke says. “You just get into a place where it doesn’t matter what happens next.” And that is why people keep coming back each month — to experience the unpredictability of improv comedy.

Photography by Emmalee Reed

Dr. Maya C. Gibson

Dr. Jolie Rocke

Dr. Brandon A. Boyd

The Ponies perform on most First Fridays from 6–9 p.m. at Talking Horse Theatre.

Roots N Blues N BBQ 2019 Roots N Blues N BBQ 2019

GROWING NEW ROOTS

Under new ownership, the fest welcomes fresh headliners and local artists.

BY ELIZABETH UNDERWOOD

Roots N Blues returns to Columbia Sept. 27-29 with new owners. In May, Jamie Varvaro, Tracy Lane and Shay Jasper bought Thumper Productions and Roots N Blues N BBQ .

Varvaro, Lane and Jasper are not new to the festival itself. Jasper began as an intern in 2014 and was brought on as assistant director of festival operations in 2017. Lane served as director in its inaugural year and then left the Ragtag Film Society last year to take up that mantle again. Varvaro started as a volunteer, then a consultant and then took on the role of marketing and development.

With new leaders come subtle changes, but this year’s fest includes many ingredients that CoMo natives and visitors have come to know and love.

John Prine is back as a headliner, joining allstar newcomers Maren Morris and Ben Harper. The fest has come a long way since planting its roots — and blues and barbecue.

It began in 2007 as a barbecue festival and celebration of Central Bank of Boone County’s 150th anniversary. Thumper Productions, then-owned by Richard King, purchased and continued the festival while making additions over the years.

The festival became a ticketed event in 2009. In 2017, Roots N Blues established the Betsy Farris Memorial Run in honor of its longtime director Farris, who died in 2016 from cancer. Roots N Blues also went cashless that year. Today, attendees pay for food by loading money onto wristbands and double tapping them at different stalls.

However, Varvaro says the biggest change in Roots N Blues history was the 2013 move

from downtown to Stephens Lake Park.

This year’s changes are mostly behindthe-scenes, such as overhauling the website to make it ADA-compliant. This is a subtle way to improve the festival experience, Varvaro says.

“Even significant changes to us that improve our festival goer’s experience might go undetected, but not necessarily unnoticed, in our patrons’ overall experience,” Varvaro says. “Meaning that it’s not just one thing that sticks out; it’s about looking back at the weekend and being blown away.”

Varvaro says this year’s lineup is diverse. Eight performers are Grammy winners, including Amanda Shires, Patty Griffin and Del McCoury. Almost a third of the acts, including The Mavericks and The Mighty Pines, are Roots N Blues veterans.

Several Missouri-based acts will perform. Local artist Violet Vonder Haar of Violet and the Undercurrents says she is excited about the local feel of this year’s fest. Pat Kay of The Kay Brothers says he is, too. This is the second year his band has performed.

“Unlike a lot of other festivals in the country that have sort of risen to national attention, I feel like Roots N Blues has always done a fantastic job of including great local artists,” Kay says. “They’ve just done a really great job of maintaining that tether to the local music community.”

IF YOU GO

Stephens Lake Park

Sept. 27-29

$70 and up

Gates open 3:45 p.m. Friday, 11:45 a.m. Saturday and Sunday

Illustrations by Madison Wisse

MAREN MORRIS STAYS REAL UNDER HER COUNTRY CROWN

The singer-songwriter heads to Roots N Blues and brings her aspirational anthems and a pop flair.

BY EMMY LUCAS

Maren Morris is not just a country singer. Like one of her heroes, Dolly Parton, with whom Morris shared a stage at the 2019 Grammys, the singer has forayed into pop. Like she sings on the titular song of her new album, GIRL, Morris doesn’t want to wear anyone else’s crown but her own.

“I’ve always kind of made moves in my career that were risky but my heart was telling me to do it,” Morris told

NPR in March. “I think in my deepest soul, I am a little bit of everything.”

Morris’ powerful anthems and lyrics stem from her passion to stand up for what she believes in. She sings about relationships and independence and her experience as a woman in the male-dominated country industry. “I wanted to be the sassy voice of reason,” Morris told Playboy in June.

Armed with versatile vocals, the 29-year-old Arlington, Texas, native be-

gan playing in venues around Dallas when she was 11. For the next decade, Morris toured around Texas. Occasionally, she got the chance to open for singers such as Pat Green and Bob Schneider. “I couldn’t tell you all the ends of Texas I’ve seen. All the places you didn’t know existed; I played all over,” Morris told the Dallas Observer in 2017.

As she got older, she auditioned for competition shows such as American Idol and The Voice but was rejected from every one. Eventually, Morris moved to Nashville in her early 20s. She spent time as a songwriter, working with artists such as Tim McGraw and Kelly Clarkson, before releasing her first studio album, HERO, in 2016.

The album’s singles topped charts nationwide. “My Church” went Platinum, and “80s Mercedes” and “I Could Use a Love Song” turned Gold-selling.

Morris received even more fanfare after her electro-pop collaboration with DJ and producer Zedd and dance-pop duo Grey with the hit “The Middle.” The song broke the record for most weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart upon its release in August 2018. Morris was the first country artist to accomplish the feat. This brought more traffic to her solo music.

“It’s good for our genre to cross-pollinate, because it makes for better music,” Morris told Playboy. “It’s keeping everyone on their toes and not regurgitating the same kind of art on the conveyor belt.”

GIRL comes three years after HERO, shattering the record for the largest debut streaming week for a female-made country album with 23.96 million streams in its first week, and the title track, “GIRL,” wins the highest debut on Billboard’s Country Streaming Songs chart and the highest weekly streams by a female artist.

Morris has won awards at the Grammys, Billboard Music Awards and Country Music Awards. At the 2018 Grammys, she received five nominations, including Record of the Year.

Through it all, Morris has tried to stay true to her musical roots. “I loved Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline,” she told NPR. “Then the ‘90s part of me is with Dixie Chicks, Shania, Lauryn Hill and the Spice Girls. I mean, there were all of these phases. So I just try to write a good song.”

Photography courtesy of Jamie Nelson

Maren Morris, 9:15 p.m. Sept. 27, Missouri Lottery Stage

LUKAS NELSON WANTS YOU TO GET OFF YOUR PHONE

BY ABBY MONTEIL

How do you make a name for yourself in music when your father is country icon Willie Nelson? According to Lukas Nelson, simply go out and do it. This philosophy, along with having country rocker Willie Nelson as a father, serves as the basis for Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real’s newest album, Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)

“Turn off the news and build a garden, just my neighborhood and me,” the band sings in a smooth, easy drawl on the titular track. “We might feel a bit less hardened, we might feel a bit more free.”

A breezy homage to the West Coast folk music of the mid-20th century, this release comes during a breakthrough in the band’s experimental 10year career.

In 2007, Nelson moved to Los Angeles to attend college, and a year later, he met Anthony LoGerfo, who would become the band’s drummer. Nelson quit school, and Promise of the Real was born with fellow musicians: LoGerfo, Corey McCormick, Tato Melgar and Logan Metz. Their

original songs expand on Nelson’s father’s signature style, mixing the sound of ’60s R&B with soul, folk and more.

“We wanted these songs to be fun and upbeat,” Nelson told Rolling Stone in May. “But we also wanted to have something to say. Rock & roll began as a countercultural movement, so in the true spirit of rock & roll, we’re trying to encourage a lifestyle where people can be active in their local communities, rather than glued to a device.”

Much like Willie Nelson, Promise of the Real has spent much of its time hitting the road. They’ve played hundreds of shows across the world, barely slowing down to release their 2012 LP, Wasted, and their 2017 self-titled debut album. As if that weren’t enough, Nelson often appears as Neil Young’s lead guitarist and on stage with his father in Willie Nelson and Family.

“He’s not passed from his father’s shadow, but rather found a vibe he can easily inhabit and is using it as a base to shoot rockets in every direction,” Chris Parker wrote in a June review of Turn Off the News for Variety

Perhaps their biggest commercial

Awards Won by A Star is Born Academy Award for Original Song in 2019

BAFTA for Film Original Music in 2019

break came when Promise of the Real backed Bradley Cooper’s on-screen country rocker Jackson Maine in the 2018 remake of A Star is Born Cooper first recruited Nelson as the “authenticity consultant” for the film, developing his character with the singer. With Cooper and Lady Gaga, Lukas Nelson co-wrote much of A Star is Born’s soundtrack, which won an Academy Award as well as an award from The British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

As for after the festival, Promise of the Real is back on the road, bringing their new album’s message to a handful of venues across the country.

“I’m not saying, ‘Don’t be informed,’ but the news can debilitate you with hopelessness,” Nelson told Go London.

He encourages people to take part in their communities; he says that’s the only way we’ll survive.

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, Missouri Lottery Stage

Photography courtesy of Joey Martinez

This folk star and his band Promise of the Real are bringing their breezy sound to CoMo.

COMING HOME TO ROOTS N BLUES

Many local artists play it close to home at this year’s festival.

BY ELIZABETH UNDERWOOD

Where does the heart of the captain go when he’s lost at sea? Columbia-based band Violet and the Undercurrents poses this question on its most recent album, The Captain, which was released in January.

The daughter of a riverboat captain, band leader Violet Vonder Haar says her father was gone for half of her childhood. When he was home, he instilled in her a love of folk music. But then every other month, he’d head back down the river, leaving his wife and daughters behind.

Vonder Haar says her father inspired the new album. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen more of the parallels between his life and mine being a musician,” she says. “This character who is ambitious and really passionate about something. But with that passion and with that ambition there comes, you know, lots of things that you’re going to have to learn how to balance.”

Vonder Haar and drummer Phylshawn Johnson formed the band in 2011. Bass guitarist Linda Bott joined five years ago, and lead guitarist Lizzy Weiland came three years ago.

Rooting itself in a “shape-shifting indie rock” genre, the group works to appeal to a variety of different venues and audiences, Vonder Haar says.

“Some of our sets are a little more smoky, more rooted in my roots, which is in folk music, but then we can also easily play a show with another rock band,” she says. “We don’t really try to box ourselves into a certain genre or sound or style; just kind of let the creative process happen.”

In January, a Glide Magazine article compared the band’s sound to Fleetwood Mac. “The songs and their accompanying videos offer desolate, organic reconciliations of fable and reality,” it reads.

Aarik Danielsen welcomed the band’s indie-pop and neo-folk twists on classic rock in a Columbia Daily Tribune article. He described them as “an underdog Greenwich Village group that got hip to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and decided to unleash its inner guitar goddess.”

Violet and the Undercurrents will perform at Roots N Blues for the first time this year. “It’s not like we’re going to another city to play this big festival,” Vonder Haar says. “We’re playing this big festival for our friends and our community.”

Violet and the Undercurrents, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 27, Missouri Lottery Stage

The Kay Brothers

For The Kay Brothers, Missouri is in their blood. Growing up in California, Missouri, the musicians toyed with bluegrass music, but Pat Kay says that type of music didn’t come naturally to them. So they created their own Ozark stompgrass genre, that is “this hybrid of old time music and front porch blues music,” Kay says, “and that’s really what we strive to encapsulate in our arrangements.”

2:15 p.m. Sept. 29, Missouri Lottery Stage

The Daves

Dave Angle and Dave Dearnley have been playing together for the better part of a decade, but Angle says their band, The Daves, is just a group of musicians with a collective appreciation for Mississippi Delta blues. He says the band tries to create its own sound while keeping true to what he calls the foundation of American music. “It still has a real swampy feel to it,” he says, “but it also has, perhaps, a more modern arrangement to it.” 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29, Great Southern Bank Stage

The January Lanterns

Columbia residents Andrew and Kristen Camp share something more than a life together; they share music. The couple started their band, The January Lanterns, in 2017 after marrying several years prior. “Ever since then, it’s been a ton of hardship mixed in with a ton of just beauty,” Kristen says. “We felt like people really connected to the stories that had impacted our lives.” 12:15 p.m. Sept. 29, Great Southern Bank Stage

The Burney Sisters

Olivia and Emma Burney might not be old enough to drive, but they’re old enough to rock the Roots N Blues stage for the second year in a row. The indie-folk sister duo grew up playing music, but they only began performing professionally two years ago. They released their first EP, Running Away, in 2017, and their second, Where We Stand, in 2018 during Roots N Blues. 12:45 p.m. Sept. 29, Missouri Lottery Stage

Kent Burnside & The Flood Brothers

Grandson of legend R. L. Burnside, Kent Burnside is making a name for himself in the blues scene as well. Sometimes playing on his own, Burnside also plays with the Columbiabased trio The Flood Brothers. Together, the group has played all over the country, including at legendary venues such as House of Blues in Chicago and Ground Zero in Clarksdale, Mississippi. 1 p.m. Sept. 28, Missouri Lottery Stage

THE WAR AND TREATY’S MUSICAL MARRIAGE

The husband-and-wife duo is raw and honest on its 2018 album, Healing Tide.

BY HANNAH McFADDEN

In the mid-2000s, while stationed as a soldier in Iraq, Michael Trotter began playing a piano that somehow had survived in what was left of one of Sadam Hussein’s palaces, where Michael was stationed. A captain heard and encouraged him to pursue music.

After that captain was killed, Michael began to write. His superiors charged him with playing and singing tributes to fallen soldiers, according to the band’s website. This was Michael’s first experience in providing comfort through music.

After Michael’s time in Iraq, he met fellow musician Tanya Blount at a festival where they both were playing. They exchanged numbers, but Michael was hesitant to call. Luckily, Tanya wasn’t. Now, Michael and Tanya Trotter are married. They’ve released music together as The War and Treaty since 2017.

They are two confident performers who belt out honest, love-filled lyrics with a southern, soulful feel. Their ability to work together makes the band even stronger.

“Tanya follows me on the stage. I follow her in life, and that’s how this works,” Michael says. “We’ve learned to play to each other’s strengths, and we’ve learned that when we do that, we don’t see any weaknesses.”

The goal is to provide relief and hope for their listeners, Michael says. The War and Treaty’s second album, Healing Tide, taps into raw emotion and stays true to Michael’s roots. “If It’s in Your Heart,” pays tribute to a friend of Michael’s who died by suicide after experiencing sexual trauma while in the military, according to a press release from the band’s publicist.

Michael says honesty and perspective are part of The War and Treaty’s healing mission.

“I think the key to that is putting yourself last, being reminded that there are people out there with real issues and real struggles, and they’re coming to get real relief,” Michael says. “That’s what’s so beautiful about

being an artist. You really get a chance to touch people.”

The War and Treaty also relishes in the new adventures they have while making music. One of Healing Tide’s tracks, “Here is Where the Loving is At,” features Emmylou Harris, who performed at Roots N Blues in 2017. Michael says that they were recording music on his birthday when Harris showed up during their lunch break.

“This lady dressed down in a jumpsuit, hair pulled back, sun shades on, comes walking up my buddy’s porch

with a batch of homemade brownies,” he says. “She was so relaxed I didn’t know who she was, you know. Relaxed, just chill. She opened her mouth and said, ‘Michael, I made these for your birthday,’ and I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s Emmylou Harris.’”

The band will release a new album in 2020 and bring new messages to the table. “We’re not holding anything back,” Michael says.

The War and Treaty, 5:45 p.m. Sept. 28, Missouri Lottery Stage

IF

Photography courtesy of David McClister

Roots N Blues 2019

PATTY GRIFFIN’S LYRICS UNRAVEL THE CHAOS OF ORDINARY LIFE

The iconic folk artist will perform songs from her new self-titled album at the Roots N Blues Festival.

BY ABBY MONTEIL

Patty Griffin purchased her first guitar for $50 when she was 16 years old. It wasn’t until her marriage crumbled in the early ’90s that, with a new interest in songwriting, she began performing in Boston’s coffeehouse scene. This path would lead her to becoming a Grammy-winning musician and perhaps one of the most respected folk singer-songwriters of the 21st century.

Since her commercial debut in 1996, Griffin has released 10 albums — with her most recent self-titled, Patty Griffin, in March of this year. She’s been nominated for six Grammys, winning one: Best Traditional Gospel Album in 2010.

One of the artist’s qualities is her tender, unpretentious insights into the often turbulent personal lives of everyday people. With her soulful performing style and ethereal curls, Griffin can easily turn experiences such as parting ways with a lover (“Let Him Fly”) or struggling with the worries of motherhood (“Mama’s Worried”) into poignant folk stories.

The New York Times hailed Griffin for writing “cameo-carved songs that create complete emotional portraits of specific people.…(her) songs have independent lives that continue in your head when the music ends.”

Shortly after she started writing Patty Griffin, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. With treatments affecting her singing voice, she set to work on a deeply personal meditation on mortality and the state of America today. The result is a 13song album that blends her traditional Americana sound with an experimental blend of gospel, Celtic and more.

“I felt like I still needed to write, and I had to figure out ways to write around [treatments],” she said in an interview with Cowboys & Indians

magazine.“I just didn’t have my full tool kit, so it’s a more vulnerable place to come from. And it’s actually, ultimately, really good for me to write from that way.”

The album received strong reviews upon its release, with Cowboys & Indians magazine describing Patty Griffin as “deeply personal and penetrating, shining with intricacies of songwriting and honest reflections of human

emotion, struggle and triumph.”

“I hope it makes people happy, but it’s not party animal music,” she told Entertainment Weekly in March. “I think it makes people happy-sad, actually: but, to me, that is my personal favorite happy.”

Patty Griffin, 6:15 p.m. Sept. 27, Great Southern Bank Stage

Photography courtesy or Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival

PRINE’S MIDWESTERN SOUND

BY SIOBHAN CONNERS

In 1970, 23-year-old John Prine was a mailman who sang his original songs on open-mic night at a Chicago folk club called The Fifth Peg. The first three songs Prine sang on stage were “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and “Paradise.” No one in the audience applauded. They simply stared.

Fifty years later, those songs have become some of Prine’s most famous, and he’s had no shortage of applause throughout his decadesspanning career. He has won two Grammys, written countless iconic country songs and been inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone goes as far as to call him “the Mark Twain of American Songwriting.”

Prine was born in Maywood, Illinois, a working class suburb of Chicago. Those first few awkward open-mics at The Fifth Peg led to performances at the saloon the Earl of Old Town, the epicenter of Chicago’s folk scene. In the 1960s at the Earl, the folk scene thrived, and many artists got their starts at the Earl.

It was there that Kris Kristofferson, who by then was already a prominent figure in the folk music scene, first heard Prine’s music. Soon after, he invited Prine onstage at a show in New York, and Prine was offered a contract the very next day.

His career took off fast; he released his first, self-titled album two years later in 1971. In 1981, Prine’s label, Oh Boy Records, was launched. His often humorous, always poignant lyrics have cemented him as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation. His writing is nothing short of storytelling; many of his songs

use real people and places from his life to form social commentary.

In “Sam Stone,” Prine sings of a veteran who becomes addicted to drugs during his service: “There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm where all the money goes / Jesus Christ died for nothin’, I suppose,” he sings. In a 2009 Huffington Post interview, Bob Dylan said his favorite Prine song was “Lake Marie,” in which a vacationing couple, a Native American tale and a murder intersect at Lake Marie, located on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, where Prine would visit as a child. “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism,” Dylan said. “Midwestern mind-trips to the nth degree.”

The lyrics on his latest album, The Tree of Forgiveness, are a product of this rich career. The album is Prine’s first new material since his 2005 album, the time in between marked by collaborations with other artists, covers of old favorites, festivals, tours and a battle with cancer.

Some songs have been in the works for decades. One example is “God Only Knows,” a co-write with record producer Phil Spector. Some tracks on the album are silly and lighthearted while others are more sobering. The songs have characters and social commentary that make them hard to forget.

“I kept saying when I was doing this album, it’s going to be my last one,” Prine said. “But if things go really good with it, I can’t see why I wouldn’t do something else.”

This is Prine’s third year at Roots N Blues.

John Prine, 8 p.m. Sept. 27, Great Southern Bank Stage

With a mix of lighthearted humor and somber social commentary, John Prine’s lyrics have a literary feel.

Photography courtesy of Danny Clinch

A chess G r A ndm A ster’s n ext m ove

How an elite Romanian chess player plans to build MU into a collegiate chess powerhouse.

STORY BY TYLER KRAFT • PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLAIRE HASSLER

Cristian Chirila’s voice gives him away.

Without the knowledge that Chirila has dominated chess tournaments across the globe, one could easily mistake him for an athlete from his second favorite sport: mixed martial arts. Standing a couple inches shy of 6 feet, Chirila is a clean-cut 28-year-old with dark brown hair, a full-but-clean beard and soft green eyes. He has an athletic build with veins running up his biceps, which almost seem like overkill when you know their main purpose is not to curl dumbbells the size of your head but to move rooks to E4 and follow with a knight to F3.

Chirila practiced MMA from 2015 to 2018 but has fallen away from it. “I’m content not doing it because I was really enjoying kickboxing a lot, and I don’t want to get hit in the head too much,” Chirila says. His voice is crystal clear in each of his answers, calm and thoughtful despite Romanian being his first language. He speaks deliberately, just as you’d expect of a chess grandmaster whose games are won by calculated steps.

Despite chess and MMA appearing as a Jekyll-and-Hyde split on the surface, Chirila sees similarities between trapping an opponent on a board and in the octagon. Both, in his mind, are thinking man’s sports, dedicated to searching for mental and physical cues to indicate when and how to exploit a foe.

In August, Chirila began teaching the next generation of chess talents to defeat opponents as the head coach of MU’s first-ever chess team. It is MU’s

second opportunity in the past year to welcome a generation of students interested in competitions away from traditional playing fields this fall, along with its new eSports squad.

As one of only a handful of schools offering scholarships specifically to play on its chess team, MU will be taking a leap that is uncommon for universities of its size. Texas Tech is the only other university in the country with a student population over 30,000 that also offers scholarships for chess. Yet, despite heading into uncharted waters, Chirila has no doubt his team will impact the university positively. Before he even notched his first recruit, Chirila already had his eyes set on reaching the pinnacle of collegiate chess. “The main goal is to win championships,” Chirila says. “That’s why I’m here.”

Opening moves

As a child living in Bucharest, Romania, Chirila knew from the start that kindergarten wasn’t for him. “I hated it,” Chirila says. “They forced us to sleep.” To divert his son’s energy, Chirila’s father gave him an exit: he could skip kindergarten if he would train under his father’s eye. The choice was easy. Almost immediately, Chirila fell in love with chess. One year after playing with his father, he started training at the Central Club of Bucharest and was quick to make friends over the game — and quicker to begin his ascension toward chess prodigy status. Just 2 1/2 years after he started, Chirila won his first national championship in the under-10 category as an 8-year-old. With the backing of the Romanian Chess Federation, Chirila started competing in both European and World Youth Championships. His tournament list eventually grew to include ones in countries such as Serbia and Hungary.

In 2007, he traveled to Antalya, Turkey, and became just the second Romanian ever to be named the under-16 World Youth Chess champion. His success meant opportunities to play in more tournaments. Chirila usually only went to about four months of school per year, with the rest of his class time being excused for travel.

Two years later, Chirila achieved

Before Chirila turned 9, he had already won a national youth chess championship and was competing internationally.

grandmaster status, the highest title a chess player can obtain, as an 18-year-old. Like a black belt in martial arts, grandmaster represents the most esteemed status. Despite all of his successes, the constant pressure of playing in high stakes chess tournaments was starting to weigh on him. “I was kind of fed up with chess,” Chirila says. “I wanted to do other things as well.” But when he was 19, a pathway Chirila had never considered presented itself. The University of Texas-Dallas chess coach, Rade Milovanovic, contacted Chirila and offered him a scholarship to play on the UT-Dallas chess team.

After scrambling to take entrance exams, Chirila became a college student in 2010. Only this time instead of mandated naps, Chirila would be mandated to represent UT-Dallas in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

Chirila’s history of traveling for tournaments alleviated the culture shock that came with living in America for the first time. It did not ease the

transition back into school, however. Instead of class coming second to traveling for chess, Chirila had to worry about his GPA to ensure his scholarship wouldn’t be revoked, but by his second year, Chirila rediscovered his drive for chess. Despite playing up to three games a day in tournaments, as opposed to a game a day in Europe, Chirila became a mainstay of his team until he graduated in 2014. “He’s a very good grinder kind of player,” says Arun Sharma, who met Chirila during a tournament in Philadelphia in 2014 and has faced Chirila six times, “in that he’s very good, with players that might be weaker than himself, he’s very good at squeezing and winning against them in situations where most people think it should be a drawn game.”

“What I admired about (Chirila’s) games was they were always fighting games,” says Jim Stallings, the director of the UT-Dallas chess program. “He wasn’t going to lie down and take an easy draw, give somebody a draw. He would want to duke it out with them.”

From pupil to teacher

After graduating with a degree in international political economy, Chirila made the choice to remain in the U.S. and continue playing professional chess. Chirila was on his own to decide where he should go next. He decided to hunker down in California’s Bay Area with fellow player Sharma, whom he had become closer with after their run-in in Philadelphia. The home provided a temporary solution as Chirila took a few months to decide where to establish permanent residence.

The few months turned into close to four years.

In between tournaments, Chirila took a coaching position at Bay Area Chess, where he worked with elite youth chess players as they prepared for either college or professional careers. He tried his hand as a broadcast chess commentator as well, working to cover the U.S. Championship in St. Louis. The latter would lead Chirila to the Saint Louis Chess Club in 2016.

IF YOU GO

2019 Midwest Collegiate Championship and Blitz Championship

Oct. 3–6 Reynolds Journalism Institute, Palmer Room 401 S. Ninth St.

Midwest Collegiate Blitz Championship, Oct. 3, 4–9 p.m.

Midwest Collegiate Championship, Oct. 4, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Oct.5, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

When Chirila was 5, his dad said he could skip kindergarten if he learned to play chess instead. Chirila says the choice was easy.

In May 2018, Chirila moved to Columbia to be with his girlfriend, who works as part of the production team that broadcasts the Saint Louis Chess Club’s tournaments. Chirila’s move to mid-Missouri was something completely different for the Romanian. He found himself in the center of America’s heartland where he had to drive two hours to prominent chess clubs. But instead of traveling again for chess, Chirila formed another idea. He would make the chess come to him.

The endgame

Chirila’s notion of creating a collegiate chess program first started with a Bay Area target: Stanford.

Chirila knew the prestigious school already had a number of prominent chess players, so building a team there would not require much groundwork. When Chirila moved to Columbia, his target shifted to the city’s — and the state’s — largest school, but first he needed help from St. Louis. The city has been called the chess capital of the U.S. by Rex Sinquefield, president and chairman of the Saint Louis Chess Club, in a 2017 article by FiveThirtyEight. It’s home to two collegiate chess teams that run on scholarship bases at Saint Louis University and Webster University. The latter has won the past seven Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships.

Chirila took his idea to Sinquefield, and the idea soon became a reality. The club pitched the idea to MU and granted the university almost $800,000 upon its acceptance to support the creation of the team.

The team’s academic home will be through MU’s College of Arts and Science. The placement was not always a given, as the College of Arts and Science’s dean, Patricia Okker, had to explore the plan proposed. There were questions as to whether the school should include the chess team in its athletics department or another school.

Eventually, Okker and other officials concluded chess could operate in a way similar to Marching Mizzou, which is housed in the same College of Arts and Science.

“It wasn’t an idea where I immediately said, ‘Oh, that’s a fabulous idea,’” Okker says. “I just didn’t know enough about the chess world.” Okker took a tour of the Saint Louis Chess Club as she began to dive into the game’s presence in St. Louis. It was there she realized just how big of an impact chess could have on the university.

With MU drawing more students from St. Louis than any other city in America, Okker sees the benefits of forming a chess program as greater than simply winning tournaments and championships. “We’re in the business long term of what’s going to attract students five years from now and 10 years from now,” Okker says. “Those fifth graders who are loving chess right now, we have to be prepared for them.”

Okker and Chirila say they hope the chess team will grow the popularity of the game and the team’s advent will give way to the school hosting chess camps and possibly future tournaments.

Chirila’s vision extends beyond raising the popularity of chess locally, but bringing his team into national and international prominence. He recruited across the globe to find players looking for an experience like the one he had as a collegiate player. On a local scale, he says, chess is already a big topic of discussion in Missouri, and the game will attract students to MU. “At the same time,” Chirila says, “I think it’s going to bring a lot of international recognition and interest because we’re going to have an international team.”

The coach has run into some roadblocks in his first foray into recruiting. With a juggernaut in Webster sitting 130 miles away on I-70 and several other well-established programs including his alma mater vying for a small pool of players considering collegiate chess,

Chirila is at a beginner’s disadvantage. However, Chirila says he doesn’t believe it will take long to turn his program into a powerhouse. He holds an advantage of being an international player in collegiate chess and has the backing of the Saint Louis Chess Club. He also represents one of the only universities to offer chess scholarships and the college experience that comes with being a large school. “I’m focusing very much on the experience, the college experience you’re going to get with Mizzou,” Chirila says. “I think it’s very exclusive and different than you can get with other schools.”

The combination of having access to the Saint Louis Chess Club and representing a large school has given Chirila the belief that his goals will be reached sooner rather than later.

“We want to win championships first and foremost, and with that, we’re going to be able to grow the image of chess,” Chirila says.

Chirila is confident his team will be able to follow in his footsteps and add trophies to its name. He just needs some time to get his pieces in position.

CHECKMATE: A BREAKDOWN OF THE 2019 MIDWEST COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP AND BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP

When MU’s chess team moves its first piece, will you know what’s going on? Here’s a beginner’s guide to this October’s collegiate chess tournament, happening on the MU campus.

Blitz: Speed is the name of this game, with each player’s move punctuated by the slap of a time clock that stops their his or her and starts the opponent’s. Each player has only three minutes to complete the game. The entire tournament of nine rounds will be completed in roughly three hours.

Championship: Don’t let the slower pace fool you; these matches are wars of attrition, lasting upwards of five hours each. Players complete two rounds a day. A win earns the player a point, a draw earns a half-point, and a loss earns zero points. Individual performances are recognized with awards, and the top four individual results from each team make up their school’s team score.

“I think (the MU chess team is) going to bring a lot of international recognition because we’re going to have an international team.”

– Cristian Chirila, chess grandmaster and MU chess team head coach

One Read Author's Talk: Jessica Bruder

Tuesday, September 24 • 7-8 p.m.

Launer Auditorium, Columbia College, 1001 Rogers. St.

Hear One Read author Jessica Bruder talk about her bestselling book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” and discuss her research and writing process. After her remarks, she’ll answer questions from the audience and sign copies of the book. This presentation will also be streamed live to the Callaway County Public Library in Fulton.

Community-Wide Reading Program 2019 www.oneread.org

Raffle benefits 16,417 Special Olympics Missouri athletes!

photo by Todd Gray

Boone Regional Library

The Breakfast Club

Dear cholesterol levels, I am so sorry. Welcome to Columbia’s best in bacon, bagels, biscuits and way too much cheese.

BY MEG DONOHUE

Argue all you’d like, but it’s an established fact that New York is home to the best bagels on the planet. What you might not know is that the Empire State also boasts the best breakfast sandwiches, at least in the opinion of this New York native.

When I first moved to Columbia as an MU freshman, I made it my quest to find a dish that could fill the bacon-, egg- and cheese–shaped hole in my heart. I gave up after numerous disappointing attempts.

But I was younger then. I was weak in spirit. Three years later, I am fortified and ready to try again. So here it is: A list of Columbia’s four best breakfast sandwiches tested by a New Yorker (now happily landlocked in Missouri).

Photography by Lia Waldrum VOX MAGAZINE •

The B&B Bagel Company Egg’wich makes the “best of” list for its fluffy eggs.

4 B&B Bagel Company

The sandwich: Egg’wich, $3.75 without meat, $4.42 with meat. Your choice of accompanying meat and bagel.

My thoughts: I went with bacon and an “everything” bagel, which I recommend because it adds a nice dose of saltiness. The eggs are fluffed to perfection, and the ingredients are well-proportioned. But the bagel itself? There’s not enough!

I was craving another 10 bites after the sandwich had already disappeared. I guess that’s a sign B&B knows what it’s doing.

124 E. Nifong Blvd., Mon.–Sun., 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; 904 Elm St., Mon.–Sun., 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ernie’s Cafe

The sandwich: No. 1 Egg Sandwich, $5.99. Your choice of meat, cheese and bread.

My thoughts: A pleasant surprise. I opted for bacon, cheddar cheese and white toast. This was the biggest and most filling sandwich of the bunch. The buttery toast gives it a home-cooked taste. And, of course, everything is more delicious when eaten in a diner setting.

1005 E. Walnut St., Mon.–Sun., 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Broadway Diner

The sandwich: Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, $6.30. It’s all in the name.

My thoughts: This actually comes with two small biscuit sandwiches and hash browns, so it’s the best value meal. I’m normally not a fan of biscuit sandwiches (too messy), but there was something special about these. They stayed intact in your hands but melted in your mouth. Plus, the meat, egg and cheese were all cooked to perfection.

22 S. Fourth St., Mon. –Tues., 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wed.–Sun., 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Cafe Berlin

The sandwich: Biscuit and Egg Sandwich, $9. Your choice of meat. (Cafe Berlin has a couple breakfast sandwiches on the menu, but this is the most classic iteration.)

My thoughts: They say you’ll fall in love when you least expect it. Suffice to say, I didn’t expect Cafe Berlin to be my favorite, but here we are. I recommend bacon and white cheddar as your sandwich fixings. The cheese is melted and folded into the scrambled eggs — pure art. The side potatoes were so well-seasoned that I didn’t need ketchup or hot sauce. In summary, life-changing.

220 N. Tenth St., Mon.–Sun., 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

READ MORE

Meg Donohue noshed then ranked her way through nine Columbia breakfast sandwiches. Read her thoughts on all of them at Voxmagazine.com.

Photography by Lia Waldrum

Old MacDonald had a yoga mat

Copy your cat pose from the real kitten next to you, or fold into the cow pose as puppies scamper at Columbia’s animal yoga classes.

BY ABBY MONTEIL

Yoga routines make a dull workout entertaining, so why not go further and add a few furry friends to the mix? Since goat yoga first went viral in 2016, the wellness trend has inspired a host of animal-filled classes for you to try here in Columbia. Yoga Gives-CoMo brought its puppy yoga classes in 2018, and the local animal yoga scene has expanded to cats and goats since.

Photography by Liv Paggiarino VOX MAGAZINE

G.O.A.T.

The goat yoga phenomenon landed in Columbia on a peaceful farm about 15 miles from downtown, thanks to Goat Yoga of Missouri. The owners say their goats’ gentle nature makes them prime workout companions. Although fall sessions are sporadic due to football games and the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival, look forward to new and relaxing classes such as Sunset and Happy Hour Yoga. When and where to go: Goat Yoga of Missouri, 11805 E. Judy School Road, dates vary, 1 hour, $35, goatyogaofmissouri.goatyoga.net

The Cat’s Meow

On the first Thursday of every month, Papa’s Cat Café turns its space into a yoga studio with 20 adoptable cats. Sessions include a complimentary drink from the cafe and 30 minutes to pet the fluffy felines after class. Participants must be at least 13 years old to attend. When and where to go: Papa’s Cat Café, 14 S. Second St., first Thursdays, 90 minutes, $20, papascatcafe.com

Mo Taylor and Cilla Conrow participate in charity puppy yoga at the MU Human Performance Institute. About 70 people did yoga while puppies circulated the room.

Downward Dog

Unchained Melodies Dog Rescue developed an enjoyable way to help the puppies delivered to its door — take them to yoga! The shelter partners with local charity Yoga Gives–CoMo to find homes for new litters. If this wasn’t motivation enough, the class also takes

place at a brewery, so you can cuddle, feel energized and buy a beer. Check the Yoga Gives Facebook page for upcoming dates to enjoy a puppy and a pint. When and where to go: Yoga Gives–CoMo at Bur Oak Brewing Company, 8250 Trade Center Drive, dates vary, 1 hour, $20, facebook.com/CoMoYogaGives

Photography by Jennifer Mosbrucker

TO-DO LIST

Your curated guide of what to do in Columbia this month.

ARTS

Rumors

Moments before a party, the deputy mayor is found dead, and his lawyer and wife are left to deal with the aftermath. This Neil Simon play adopts a comical approach to this show. Sept. 5–8, 8 p.m., Maplewood Barn Community Theatre, $10 adults; $3 children, 227-2276

Travelers: One Read Art Exhibit Reception and Gallery

Explore the themes of journey and transition at the Daniel Boone Regional Library’s One Read art exhibit. Enjoy refreshments, listen to live music and

DON’T MISS IT

Heritage Festival & Craft Show

Rewind the clock to the 19th century, and nosh on a turkey leg and funnel cake or two. Artisans dressed in 1800s garb will demonstrate their trades, and more than 70 vendors will host the handmade craft show. Sept. 21–22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nifong Park, Free, 874-7460

discover art during the North Village Arts District’s First Fridays. If you can’t make it to the reception, the art will be on display until Sept. 28.

Sept. 6 reception, 6–9 p.m., Orr Street Studios, Free, 875-4370

Ad Hoc Film Series: The Lady in the Van

Grab a snack and come watch the mostly true story of British playwright Alan Bennett and how he dealt with a woman who lived in his driveway for 15 years. Sept. 8, 2–4 p.m., 707 Mizzou North, Free, 882-3591

Explorations in Color

Come uncover how color can transform art with endless possibilities and convey emotion and meaning. Montminy Gallery is highlighting the work of painters Jenn Wiggs and John Fennell and photographer Scott Patrick Myers as they use nature to inspire their work dedicated to color. Sept. 7 to Nov. 3 gallery open; Sept. 12 opening night

Photography by Kholood Eid VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019

reception, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Boone County History and Culture Center, 443-8936

Mamma Mia!

Calling all dancing queens, this Brew ‘N View of the famous musical featuring all the ABBA hits takes the stage, and this time, singing is encouraged. Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m., The Blue Note, $6 in advance; $8 day of, 874-1944

Silent Book Club

Whether it’s penned by Charles Dickens or Toni Morrison, grab that book you just haven’t had time to read yet. Join other local book lovers for some quiet time and warm beverages. Sept. 10, 6–7:30 p.m., Columbia Public Library Reading Balcony, Free, 443-3161

Docent-Led Theme Tour: Travel, Transition and Nomadic People

Follow guides Andrea Allen and Valerie Hammons along a tour of galleries to discuss art and how it can affect travel, cultural adaption and nomadic people. Sept. 15, 2-3 p.m., Museum of Art and Archeology, Free, 882-3591

One Read Author Talk: Jessica Bruder

Hear author Jessica Bruder discuss Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, her book about the life and struggle of a new kind of traveling American workers. Bruder will talk

about her writing process, answer questions and sign copies for attendees. Sept. 24, 7–8 p.m., Launer Auditorium, Columbia College, 1001 Rogers St., Free, 875-8700

Felt Flower Workshop Gather Sign

Prepare your home for fall as you learn how to make a wreath decorated with felt flowers and leaves. Your pre-bought ticket includes all necessary materials as well as a cupcake and drinks. Sept. 27, 10 a.m., Plume, $49, 356-0867

CIVIC

Loop Maker Fair

A grassroots festival in a pop-up park, the Loop Maker Fair celebrates art and design. Stop by to learn about new industry endeavors, design concepts, discoveries and human-made creations, and browse handmade products by local artisans. Sept. 6, 5–7 p.m., The Loop Pop-Up Park, 807 Business Loop 70 E., Free, 443-5667

Fall Bridal Showcase

Hear the wedding bells a-ringing when you walk down the aisles — of the Columbia Expo Center. Vendors will line the arena to showcase wedding services and products. In one stop, learn where to buy your gown, cake, flowers and more so you can plan for the big day. Sept. 8, noon to 4 p.m., Columbia Expo Center, $5, 446-3971

Movies in the Park

Under the starlit sky, lying on the grass, you can enjoy the night as summer comes to an end. Incredibles 2 will play at Cosmo Park for people of all ages, so bring your blanket, sit back, and relax. Sept. 13, 7:45 p.m., Cosmo Park, Free, 874-7460

Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride Day

Nineteen years after the first ever Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride Day festival, the event continues to spread tolerance and to educate the community about paganism. Wander through booths selling prints of pentacles, vendors such as Wenchy Wonders Spiritual Adventures and listen to readings by novelist Delia Remington, author of the Blood Royal Saga Sept. 15, noon to 6:30 p.m., Peace Park, Free, 314-328-9801

Family Fun Fest: Creative Kids

Make some art, crafts and family memories at Family Fun Fest: Creative Kids. The outdoor event offers face painting, balloon art, shaved ice, dancing and more. Sept. 18, 6–8 p.m., Cosmo Park, Free, 874-7460

Fall Outdoor Flea Market

Find a new centerpiece or knick knack at the 14th annual shopping extravaganza. Munch on comfort food from Mrs. G’s A Touch of Soul as you stroll the stalls. Sept. 28, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Artichoke Annie’s Antique Mall, Free, 474-2056

National Alpaca Farm Days

Alpacas galore! People of all ages can spend the day interacting with these fuzzy friends. Local farmers will also sell products made from their fleece and share all the alpaca facts they have to offer. Sept. 28 & 29, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 6701 W. Gillespie Bridge Road, 819-4695

Educator Appreciation Night

Calling all educators! Teachers can shop and mingle at Skylark Bookshop to discover new materials and events to bring to the classroom. Register ahead of time to enter for prizes, and there will be a 20% off discount for anything purchased at the event. Sept 30, 6–7:30 p.m., Skylark Bookshop, Free, 777-6990

FOOD

Addison’s Pep Rally with Logboat Brewery

Who says you can’t tailgate a few days before the big game? Get in the Tiger spirit at an adult pep rally, and head downtown to Addison’s. Be one of the first to show up decked out in MU gear and get a brew courtesy of Logboat. Sept. 4, 9 p.m., Addison’s downtown, Free, 256-1995

Party on The Roof

Take in the views, and enjoy local art at the Party on The Roof. Hosted by the North Village Arts District in collaboration with The

Roof at the Broadway Hotel, the event is a fundraiser for First Fridays. With an appetizer buffet, a cash bar, raffles and live music, what more could you want? Sept. 15, 5:30–8 p.m., The Roof, $20, info@northvillageartsdistrict.org

Rocheport Wine Stroll

Explore the town while sipping free wine samples at the annual Rocheport Wine Stroll. Tickets include a commemorative wine glass that’s yours to keep. Sept. 21, 4–8 p.m., downtown Rocheport, $20 in advance; $25 the day of the event, rocheport-mo.com/events

Bike Ride & Boozy Breakfast

Take a cruise down the Katy Trail, and celebrate your ride at DogMaster’s bloody mary and mimosa bar, featuring waffles from Sweets & Eats by Jennifer. The ride kicks off at 8 a.m. at the distillery. Sept. 22, 8 a.m. ride, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. brunch, DogMaster Distiller y, 777-6768

MUSIC

Alec Davis

Alec Davis’ self-described “American Music” crosses country with rock n’ roll. The Missouri native and MU alum has two EPs, American Music and God, Guns, Girls, Guitars. Arrive early to hear two other local artists, Hunter Thomas Mounce and Jenny Teator.

Sept. 6, 7 p.m. doors; 8 p.m. show, The Blue Note, $10; $30 VIP, 874-1944

MoJazz Music Festival

The jazz fest, hosted for the second time in Columbia, will feature the Kansas-City sextet, The Sons of Brasil; the Columbia “future soul band”, Loose Loose; a progressive jazz-rock band from Chicago, Marbin; Ghanaian drummer Paa Kow, and a six-piece band that plays soul, funk, fusion and groove, Dawn Weber and Naked Rock Fight. Sept. 7, 2 p.m. doors; 3–10 p.m. music, Rose Park, Free, all ages, 635-6866

Visceral Disgorge with Signs of the Swarm, Cast the Stone, Bardock and Devourist

It’s Metal Monday at Cafe Berlin. Visceral Disgorge, “slithering forth from the bowels of Baltimore,” will bring their ferocity to Cafe B alongside Signs of the Swarm, a deathcore band from Pittsburgh. Cast the Stone, fresh from an appearance at extreme music festival, Full Terror Assault, will also be there, as will local bands, Bardock and Devourist. Sept. 9, 7 p.m., Cafe Berlin, $10, 441-0400

Reignwolf

Reignwolf, a rock n’ roll band from the Pacific Northwest, released Hear Me Out, its debut album, in March. A Coachella, Austin City Limits, Lolla and Glastonbury alum, the band has been touring

since then, opening for Wu-Tang Clan and The Who, playing festivals and headlining shows. Sept. 10, 7 p.m. doors; 8 p.m. show, Rose Music Hall, $15, 874-1944

Son Little

Aaron Livingston’s easygoing music is a hybrid of his influences: blues, soul, gospel and rock n’ roll. He’s a Grammy-winning producer and has toured with Leon Bridges, Mumford & Sons and Shakey Graves. His latest album, the laid-back and groovy New Magic, was inspired by an R&R trip to Australia. It’s smooth and “stripped down,” as Livingston describes, to the bare, authentic essentials. Sept. 14, 8 p.m. doors; 9 p.m. show, Rose Music Hall, $12 advance; $15 day of show, 874-1944

Christian French: Bright Side of the Moon

Join 21-year-old alt-pop singer-songwriter Christian French on his Bright Side of the Moon Tour, and meet the special guest, ASTN. Sept. 22, 7 p.m. doors; 8 p.m. show, Rose Music Hall, $12, 874-1944

Nevertheless: She Rocked

Support local up-and-coming artists at Nevertheless: She Rocked. Columbia guitar students Callie Brinkman, Allie Bruns, Lucy Bozoian and Jordan Taylor showcase their acoustic skills at Rose Music Hall. Sept. 23, 6 p.m. doors; 7 p.m. show, Rose Music Hall, $5, 874-1944

lovelytheband

Catch the indie pop group at The Blue Note on Sunday, Sept. 29. They’ll be joined by synth-pop trio Twin XL and alt-pop band New Dialogue. Sept. 29, 7 p.m. doors; 8 p.m. show, The Blue Note, $20, 874-1944

Gordon Lightfoot

The Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is celebrating his 80th trip around the sun with a tour, “80 Years Strong.” Over the years, Lightfoot’s songs have been covered by Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan, who calls Lightfoot one of his favorite artists. The show will include old favorites, like “If You Could Read My Mind,” as well as some new songs. Sept. 29, 8 p.m., Missouri Theatre, $36–96, 882-3781

SPORTS

Mizzou football vs. West Virginia

Although the 2019 football season officially started in Wyoming, the Tigers will play the West Virginia Mountaineers for the home opener. So gather up to support the gold and black. Sept. 7, 11 a.m., Faurot Field, $30–80, 884-7297

Freedom Walk 5K

Warmed up and raising funds! C2 Church will hold the annual Freedom Walk 5K with Central Missouri Stop Human

Trafficking Coalition this year. The goal: end human trafficking in one lifetime. Sept. 8, 2–5 p.m., 3300 S. Providence Road, $20 adults; $10 students age 4–18, 442-2258

Paws in the Park 5K 2019

Second Chance Animal Shelter and Girls on the Run are co-hosting the 16th annual Paws in the Park 5K. Bring your own furry friend, adopt a pet or rent a dog for $5. Sept. 21, 6–9 p.m., Stephens Lake Park, $20–30, (660) 882-5050

20th Annual Rhett’s Run Mountain Bike Race

It’s been 20 years since the first Rhett’s Run Mountain Bike Race. Once again, head over to Cosmo Park and spend the day zooming down the 5.2-mile loop. Sept. 22, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Cosmo Park, Free

Betsy Farris Memorial Run

Before hitting Roots N Blues Saturday, participate in the Betsy Farris Memorial Run, named for the long-time festival director who died in 2016. There will be a 5K, 10K and half marathon. The run will start from Academy Sports and end at Stephens Lake Park. Sept. 28, 7 a.m. to noon, 2651 Academy Sports + Outdoors, $35–70, rootsnbluesnbbq.com/run

Iridescent Pride

Musica Malone, an entertainer at Yin Yang Night Club, speaks at MidMO PrideFest at Rose Music Hall. Malone, CEO and co-promoter of Miss Gay City of Columbia America, has been performing for more than 20 years. The MidMo Pridefest began 14 years ago and aims to celebrate and support the LGBTQ community.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACOB MOSCOVITCH