Vox Magazine September/October Issue 2022

CH-CH-CH-CHCHANGES

To quote Ratatouille: Change is nature. During Vox’s summer break, so much change took place. Images from the Webb telescope changed the way we see the universe. The makeup of the Supreme Court changed when the first Black woman justice was sworn in. One of the most longstanding monarchies in existence saw a change in ruler.

And even at Vox, there’s been a changing of the guard.

Being the first Black editor-in-chief of Vox comes with a change in my mindset. There’s that pressure that comes with being the first of anything and that excitement about how much positive change could be possible during my tenure. I find myself moving from follower to leader and recognizing how much weight my opinion holds. It’s a shift that comes with growing pains. Trusting yourself is a much more arduous task when you remember that what you say goes, and it affects a team of people whom you care for. I

adjust to the newness as I go, and I try find my ground as it keeps shifting.

In the face of so much change, we hold tight to the things that stay consistent. One of the many things I love about Vox is how it champions the ever-present joy and passion in this community and its people. Love for the state of Missouri runs through the pages of a young author’s debut novel (p. 9). A local unit of citizens dedicated to protecting victims of domestic violence works tirelessly (p. 18). Comfort lives in Columbia kitchens from birria (p. 23) to biscuits (p. 25). Not one of these people puts less than all of themselves into what they do.

The legacy of a leader has been top of mind, and I should hope mine upholds the standard set by Columbia’s people: acting with love, empathy and enthusiasm. Looking forward to serving you, CoMo.

Behind the Issue

For this year’s Roots N Blues issue, we examined what Americana means in the first place. The term is meant to encompass music that pays homage to the “roots” of the American musical imagination. However, with its failure to properly embrace musicians of color and its arbitrary inclusion of certain genres over others, it has historically fallen short. Roots N Blues is working to correct this by diversifying its lineup. In the following pages, you’ll find a piece on the broadening of Americana and a few profiles of artists from this year’s festival whose roots lie in Columbia. — Austin Woods

Janae McKenzie Editor-in-Chief

Nikki Lane performed at the 2021 Roots N Blues, which emphasized women-fronted acts.

Photography by Madi Winfield and Bradford Siwak

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JANAE MCKENZIE

MANAGING EDITOR ABBEY TAUCHEN

DEPUTY EDITOR REBECCA NOEL

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR MARISA WHITAKER

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR KATELYNN

MCILWAIN

ART DIRECTORS HEERAL PATEL, MOY ZHONG

PHOTO DIRECTOR MADI WINFIELD

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR HALLE JACKSON

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

CULTURE SOPHIE STEPHENS, AUSTIN WOODS

EAT + DRINK JULIA EASTHAM, GRACE LEYDEN

CITY LIFE KARLY BALSLEW, JORDAN THORNSBERRY

STAFF WRITERS JESSE BERLIN, LAUREN BLUE, KARA

ELLIS, ATHENA FOSLER-BRAZIL, TATEN JANES, JACEY

JOHNSON, EMMA LINGO, CHLOE LYKKEN, JOE

MILLER, GRACE ANN NATANAWAN, MARJAI NEAL, AMILEE NUZZO, PETRA RIVERA, SYDNEY SCALIA, KHALIA SMITH, JANE STEINBRECHER, ABBY STETINA

DESIGNERS SIREEN ABAYAZID, CAMPBELL BIEMILLER, GRACE LEYDEN

SOCIAL & AUDIENCE DUVONTE’ ANTHONY BEARD, ANNA TIERNEY LEGGAT, MELANIE OLIVA, DAVID

LYNN TALLANT, MADI WINFIELD

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR HEATHER ISHERWOOD

EXECUTIVE EDITOR LAURA HECK

SENIOR EDITOR JENNIFER ROWE

OFFICE MANAGER KIM TOWNLAIN

FOLLOW US

Vox Magazine @VoxMag

@VoxMagazine @VoxMagazine

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ADVERTISING 882-5714 | CIRCULATION 882-5700 | EDITORIAL 884-6432

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022

VOLUME 24, ISSUE 8

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

MAGAZINE MAGAZINE

Design: Moy Zhong

Boone County utilizes the Domestic Violence Enforcement Unit as an alternative model of supporting victims in our community. By its nature, domestic violence is hidden, and there is no one face who can represent survivors’ stories, though there are discernable patterns. Art director Moy Zhong set up a symbolic photo shoot in her basement to illustrate our feature about the DOVE unit (p. 18). Domestic violence doesn’t have to be phsyical or visible, but the disarrayed dinner scene evokes the intimate, private pain survivors can face in their own homes – Jordan Thornsberry, feature editor

Photo: Sam Koeppel

Photography by Sam Koeppel

Making

FEATURES

Putting down roots

The Roots N Blues Festival is diversifying its lineup, showing the true meaning of American roots.

18

Picking up the pieces

23

More than club food

The Social Room offers an elevated food service with a Mexican-American fusion menu.

25

The biscuit man

Scott Pass embraces his Southern roots by opening a quick-stop breakfast joint. CITY

27

Space to live and werk

Nclusion Plus builds community by presenting drag shows at venues across mid-Missouri.

29

Fall into these trends (Pumpkin) spice up your apartment with these fall decorating tips.

Boone County’s DOVE Unit supports survivors through a team of law enforcement, victim advocates and legal counsel. 27

Photography by Sam Koeppel and Haley Singleton/Archive and courtesy of Como Beach and illustrations by Heeral Patel and Moy Zhong

The hero CoMo needs

Local YouTube comic book sensation Drew Stuart details his channel’s rise.

It was the summer of 1989, and a young Drew Stuart stood in his local grocery store, scanning the back half of the magazine rack. That day, he went home with a graphic adaptation of the 1989 sci-fi Ghostbusters 2. It was his first comic book purchase ever.

Stuart attended the C2E2 Comic Convention in Chicago in August. He represented his YouTube channel, CoMo Comic Books, which is nearing 9,000 subscribers.

Stuart began his YouTube channel in January 2020 as a way to reconnect with the local comic community after Rock Bottom Comics’ beloved manager and co-owner, James Cagle, died in 2019. “James was the glue that held the community together,” Stuart says. “With him gone, that changed, and we weren’t just chilling out at the shop as much. But I still had to scratch that itch. It finally clicked for me — I love talking about comics. I’ve lost my place to talk about comics. Why don’t I turn

Now, he publishes about one video per week, all of which he carefully plans in advance. Most of his videos are about collecting and investing in comics, with special attention paid to back issues, which are any comic older than the current issue. He focuses on older comics because their values are more established. The value of the most recent

comics, on the other hand, is largely driven by speculation. Stuart also keeps the community in the know on his website, comocomicbooks.com.

What’s next?

One of Stuart’s goals is to hit 10,000 subscribers, an important milestone for YouTube creators. “It’s kind of a vanity metric at this point, but I’m not going to have a [montage] of Rocky getting to the top of the stairs and music plays or anything,” he says. “You hit the point you’ve been after, and you’re like, ‘OK, I’ve made it. Now, let’s go to the next one.’ It’s just onward and upward.”

Stuart is especially proud of the local fan base he has built. Fans regularly show up amid the chaos of conventions to see him at his table of comics, not knowing what hidden treasures they might find in his stacks. “At a show, somebody will come up and say, ‘I heard you before. I saw you on YouTube,’ ” he says. “The fact that people know my voice — weird isn’t the right word, but it’s a new thing. It’s very humbling. I

Drew Stuart bought his first comic 31 years ago, sparking his passion. “That Ghostbusters issue is kind of what started it all,” he says.

HIS COVETED COMICS

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles No. 1: a first printing Journey Into Mystery No. 83: the first appearance of Thor Incredible Hulk No. 1: the first appearance of Hulk Daredevil No. 1: the first appearance of Daredevil Tales to Astonish No. 27: the first appearance of Ant-Man

appreciate it when people tell me how much they like the channel or enjoy it.”

Community response

Local industry members feel the same way about Stuart’s channel. Layne Wolters of Capital City Comics in Jefferson City calls the channel a “great resource for beginning collectors and a time-saver for longtime ones.” Bryan Gordon, owner of Bry’s Comics in Paradise, California, and a YouTube personality himself, has collaborated with Stuart on some of his videos. Gordon says Stuart’s knowledge and community-building are unmatched in the comic book world. “He’s honest, he shoots straight and he

has no hidden agenda,” Gordon says. “He may be a comic book dealer, but he is a collector first, and he puts the interest of the community before anything else.”

Even casual fans such as Columbia resident Andrew Seal are made to feel welcome. On Stuart’s channel, the viewer doesn’t have to be an expert to be part of the community. In a text message to Vox, Seal says he appreciates that the channel caters to collectors of any budget and that Stuart isn’t shy about his local pride.

“I love that Drew is a local Columbian and mentions that on his channel name,” Seal says. “Gotta rep the hometown!”

Photography courtesy of David Bitterbaum

Politics and passion

Karlee Seek finds her calling in the world of Boone County politics.

BY JOE MILLER

As a 22-year-old student, Karlee Seek is more immersed in Boone County politics than your average undergraduate. She is the president of Mizzou College Democrats, was campaign manager for Barbara Buffaloe’s successful Columbia mayoral run, and is currently managing Kip Kendrick’s campaign for Presiding Boone County Commissioner.

Seek says she works for candidates who share similar values. She focuses on running grassroots campaigns that engage with voters. “It’s really stressful to manage all of us out on the field,” says Tana Mistler, one of Seek’s interns for the Kendrick campaign. “But I really admire how she goes about it. She’s so organized and on it all the time.”

Seek moved to Columbia from St. Joseph in 2019 to attend MU. spoke with her about her entrance into politics.

What was your life like when you were growing up?

My family was not really a family. My dad wasn’t really in the picture. My mom wasn’t really support ive of me. My mom passed when I was 16, and then my sister took care of me from high

school going forward. But that home was also not a very safe environment for me to grow. So, family is a very disconnected thing for me.

We were dirt poor. I was on food stamps for most of my life. I’ve had bed bugs twice. I had lice for a very long time as well. There’d be summers where my AC wouldn’t work and there would be winters where my heat wouldn’t work.

How has your background influenced you since coming to MU?

I have always been extremely passionate about wanting to help people. When I came to Mizzou, I came in undeclared because I honestly was not sure what I wanted to do. I thought about doing something like documentary journalism, law or something with social services, but I just truly did not know. Then I stumbled upon Mizzou Democrats my first weekend. And I realized that one way I can directly help people is through

What does politics mean to you?

As someone who deeply cares about people, I want policies in place that will help people. Policies like having food stamps, Social Security and Medicaid as a kid are what got me to eat, go to school with clothes on my back, and to be able to go to the doctor whenever I was deathly sick. Without these social programs, I would not be alive.

Was there a moment when you realized you wanted to work for campaigns?

I wanted to be doing something that mattered more to me. So I signed up for this program called LeadMO, which is a program that teaches young, progressive people how to work on grassroots political campaigns. This program gives you all the tools you need in your toolbox, and that’s the program that ended up connecting me to Barbara Buffaloe. She and I met at the capstone for my graduation of this program.

She’s just an overall amazing person. She and I just really connected because it was my first time doing this, and it was her first time doing this. It was kind of a bond that we got to create, which made that the passion package as well. That was the part where it really started to be like, “Oh, we’re both in this together.”

What do you like about campaigns?

I like the energy they have. I think they’re obviously a fast-paced environment. They require you to be thinking a lot and think through a lot of different things. You also have to have a lot of different strategies, which is really interesting to me. Campaigns have to become your passion project or something that you are wanting to wake up and do every day, something you find interesting, and they scratch that itch for me.

What do you want to be most remembered for?

Helping people.

Photography by Bradford Siwak

Karlee Seek is earning her undergraduate degree with a major in political science and minors in film studies and women’s and gender studies.

Picks for SEPT/OCT

curates a list of can’t-miss shops, eats, reads and experiences. We find the new, trending or underrated to help you enjoy the best our city has to offer.

Dance…

Through the night with former My Chemical Romance keyboardist and songwriter, James Dewees, performing alongside local DJ Requiem and DJ Danny Maloney for The Blue Note’s 18+ Welcome to the Black Parade Spooky Emo Dance Party. Say that three times fast then grab your girls, ghosts and ghouls for a DJ set that will get your bones rattling. 9 p.m. Oct. 20, The Blue Note,17 N. Ninth St., $8 online, $10 at the door, $15 tables

Watch…

apples at $8 a peck. Hickory Ridge Orchard, in Mexico, offers U-pick apples, pumpkins, seasonal baked goods and a corn maze. Lloyd’s Family Farm, located in Ashland, is celebrating over 120 years of business with

The musical story of a love triangle gone wrong to the extreme. Talking Horse Productions presents the musical-drama Murder Ballad, a show sure to draw in true crime junkies. Murder Ballad follows Sara, a woman forced to choose between her husband and her former boyfriend — and it gets messy. See what happens when a bat gets into the wrong hands but with plenty of song and dance. 7:30 p.m., Oct. 14-15 and 20-22, 2 p.m. Oct. 16 and 23, Talking Horse Productions, 210 St. James St., $17, $15 seniors and students

Talk…

With the dead at Britney Buckwalter’s show, An Evening With Spirits. Buckwalter, who dubbed herself “the uncensored medium,” performs comedy while utilizing her sixth sense. Just in time for Halloween, Buckwalter is bringing spirits with her to The Blue Note for an 18+ night of emotion, mystery and humor. Can ghosts perform stand-up? This might be the show to find out. 7 p.m. Oct. 30, The Blue Note,17 N. Ninth St., $30 online, $35 at the door

Photography courtesy of James Jean, Pixabay

Local author Audrey Dae Bush wants to be an inclusive Missouri author. That’s why her debut novel, What You’re In For, centers around a diverse cast of characters.

Audrey Dae Bush gives Missouri its own queer love story.

BY EMMA LINGO

Missouri native Audrey Dae Bush was enchanted by the hills and lakes of the Ozarks during a family trip to Branson. She knew she would one day write a story set along the Show-Me State’s back roads. She even knew it would be magically romantic — but she didn’t know her book would be queer.

After years of plotting and one year of writing, her daydreams became the paperback What You’re In For, released in June.

With the Ozarks as the backdrop, a seemingly normal coming-of-age story turns into a whimsical goose chase with a romantic cherry on top. Bush’s main characters, Ruth and Esther, navigate growing up, facing unfriendly competition and questioning their purpose in life. Bush says she hopes to establish herself as an inclusive Missouri author because of her diverse set of characters.

Unlike her characters, most people Bush knew growing up in Washington, Missouri, were white and conservative.

So when Bush realized she was queer, she says she doubted whether her home community would be supportive of her work. “It felt revolutionary to write about two girls falling in love up against the Bible Belt,” Bush says. “I was scared because I’m queer, and I know I have homophobic relatives, and what if they rejected my book because of that?”

Bush says she was happily surprised by her family members’ reactions to her book, which reaffirmed her pride in her home state. “My friends and I felt like we

WEAR

THE WAVE P.

were the only people in our town who weren’t like everyone else,” Bush says. “But I’m pretty sure everyone in a rural town thinks that. I wanted to reclaim Missouri for us; it’s a beautiful state, and we live here, too.”

Bush is currently earning a bachelor’s degree in English at MU and is planning to attend graduate school. Bush has previously published short fiction in the East Central College Literary and Art Review, and scholarly essays in MU’s MOSpace Institutional Repository. Bush plans to continue her path in traditional publishing with her second novel, and will continue to intern with The Missouri Review in the process.

Izabella Gamez, who went to high school with Bush, experienced what Bush intended with the book: Midwestern pride and representation.

Gamez says she discovered Bush’s book through former classmates and decided to give it a chance. Gamez, who is half Mexican, gushed about how Bush captured the energy of small town Missouri. The Missouri setting hooked her, but seeing her own experiences on the page through Antonio’s character kept her reading. Antonio, one of the secondary characters in the book, is a Hispanic character dealing with burnout who represents golden child and model minority stereotypes. “Hispanic culture in Missouri being a prominent aspect of a story isn’t something you ever see,” Gamez says. “It felt nice to be represented.”

Bush’s editor, Andrew Marty, says he was grateful to explore his home state while reading about the characters speeding down I-70 to escape to Jefferson City then racing through Springfield.

Marty was proud to have been involved in the project. “Knowing that people beyond your circle are reading (your book) is everything,” Marty says.

Bush isn’t finished with all of her What You’re In For characters yet. She says she plans to write a second book featuring Antonio that takes place in Victoria, which is the fictional version of Columbia in the book.

She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick and Rachael Lippincott

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Crier’s War by Nina Varela

MORE QUEER YA BOOKS

Dr. Brandon A. Boyd Dr. Maya C. Gibson Dr. Jolie Rocke Marques Jerrell Ruff Piano Narrator Soprano Bass Baritone

Columbia designer is making waves

Local creative Matt Warren creates a slice of paradise in Missouri with gender-neutral clothing brand Como Beach.

BY AUSTIN WOODS

While going to school in sleepy Hallsville with its modest population of 1,662, Columbia seemed like the big city to Matt Warren. But it was more than the big city to him — as a shy, artsy kid and one of the few Black students at Hallsville Elementary, it was a wonderland. A paradise. An oasis. Hence the name of the clothing brand that he’s operated since 2012: Como Beach.

Warren views the brand not just as a creative outlet but as a way to spur pride in the community he treasures so much. His family has always lived in the Hallsville school district of Columbia, but he moved closer to the heart of the city in 2006, where he was surprised to find its longtime denizens craved the glamour and intrigue of a larger city. “Bigger cities like K.C. and St. Louis are all driving distance from Columbia, and it gives us a bad rap,” he says. “But I feel it has something for everybody. You just have to find it.”

A palm tree, Como Beach’s logo, adorns many of the brand’s products, including T-shirts, hoodies and fleece blankets. Warren says the uninitiated often mistake these for souvenirs from an

actual beach, but the logo is really meant to evoke a state of mind. His philosophy is simple: Who needs expensive coastal cities when we have our own little paradise right here in central Missouri?

His pride in Columbia doesn’t stop at clothing designs. He only photographs local models (often in front of CoMo landmarks) and partners with local businesses to sell products in-person, in addition to selling them online. Como Beach is inclusive with gender-neutral designs.

Art and design

Warren’s artistic side was evident from an early age. He started taking photographs as a child after being introduced to the art form by his grandfather, whom he considers his biggest inspiration. Later in high school, he started rapping, leading to gigs at Rose Music Hall and The Blue Note. He says he launched Como Beach in 2012 because fashion seemed like the next unexplored medium for his artistry.

However, it took a while for the brand to gain traction. For the first 8 years, Warren only dropped pieces sporadically to keep Como Beach relevant. In 2020, he expanded production and

began partnering with local businesses. Crunch Fitness occasionally hosts the brand’s pop-up shops, and Hempriety carries its clothing year-round. Warren credits these partnerships with shifting people’s perception of the brand and causing them to take it more seriously.

Working in the community

Hempriety owner Alexander Aklan says he decided to carry Como Beach alongside the store’s collection of Supreme, Palace and A Bathing Ape because he felt it accurately represents the culture of the city.

To boot, Warren has a uniquely hands-on approach to business. “He comes in all the time and checks up to make sure it’s going well,” Aklan says. “If anyone needs a certain size, he’ll come in on the same day (to deliver it).”

Joshua Williams, a longtime friend of Warren’s and the owner of Papadoo’s Soul Food and BBQ and Voodoo Daddy’s, says he believes the brand’s success can largely be attributed to his commitment. “He stays dedicated,” Williams says. “A lot of people start something and never finish it.” Furthermore, Williams says Como Beach never comes off as faceless like so many brands do, since Warren prioritizes acting personable instead of conventionally businesslike.

WHERE TO FIND COMO BEACH

Store: Hempriety, 809 E. Walnut St. Online: como beachclothing.com

Pop-ups: Next event scheduled at Meet in the Middle car and bike show, Oct. 1; future events announced on the @comobeach Instagram

Aklan sees their relationship as an opportunity to work together to reach an audience while helping each other grow. Thanks to the brand’s commitment to staying gender neutral, he sees a wider variety of faces coming to the store to purchase clothing.

For Warren, this is only the beginning. He wants to expand Como Beach’s influence by frequently dropping new pieces and catering to even more people, from casual dressers to hardened hypebeasts. His ultimate goal? To put Columbia on the map. “People who have never been are going to want to come,” he says.

Photography courtesy of Como Beach

“ I FEEL LIKE (COLUMBIA) HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY. YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND IT.

— Matt Warren owner, Como Beach

Putting down

Roots

This year’s lineup at Roots N Blues boasts classic crooners and rising stars whose connections to Columbia run deep.

Design by Heeral Patel

What is Americana anyway?

This year’s Roots N Blues festival will feature diverse musical talents in effort to expand the definition of American roots music and celebrate the true origin of this genre.

BY AUSTIN WOODS

Since 2007, Columbia’s annual Roots N Blues festival has brought the community together to celebrate American roots music, or Americana. This broad term encompasses music that pays homage to the “roots” of America’s musical imagination, such as blues, country and folk. Americana music often sounds distinct from those original genres, yet is still unmistakably “roots-oriented,” according to the Americana Music Association.

Shay Jasper, one of the festival’s owners, says a current goal is to create a more diverse festival environment. Last year’s festival featured only women-fronted acts, and this year’s lineup features artists of color such as Jon Batiste and Chaka Khan, female artists including Brittney Spencer and Liz Cooper and artists in the LGBTQ+ community such as Jen Norman.

The issues Jasper is addressing aren’t unique to Roots N Blues. The American roots music community at large has caught flack over the years for its lack of diversity, namely its failure to embrace musicians of color. In 2013, music critic Giovanni Russonello penned an essay for The Atlantic about the white-washed nature of the genre, arguing that it “erases the history and diversity of its influences.” In 2017, out of the 300 acts showcased at that year’s AmericanaFest in Nashville, 90% were made up of only white members. Black contributions are crucial to American popular music. The banjo, a staple of country music, was brought to America by enslaved people from West and Central Africa. The blues genre was developed in Black communities, originating from spirituals and field hollers, and directly led to other American styles, such as rock ’n’ roll and jazz. The fact that Americana prides itself on

Shay Jasper, co-owner of Roots N Blues

For Shay Jasper, American roots music encapsulates more than just subgenres of rock. She believes plenty of other styles, such as hip-hop and certain strains of pop, are just as much a part of America’s musical family tree, hence their inclusion in this year’s festival. “American roots music is America,” she says. “It’s what America is listening to, what America has created and contributed to the world of music,” she says. “All these genres that sound so different share roots.”

channeling our country’s musical roots while simultaneously neglecting musicians of color is patently absurd.

This reflects something deeper — that genre, our goto organizational tool, is a reductive, often arbitrary way of understanding music.

Take the folk genre, for example. Listeners and music historians are prone to drawing a sharp distinction between “folk” and “pop” music. However, many of the songs embraced by folklorists during the 1940s through 1960s American folk music revival were, in fact, the equivalent of pop songs. “Street balladry, the roots of traditional American music, was pop,” says music writer Nick Tosches. “The purest mountain airs, lustily pursued by sweaty, obsessive folklorists and concerned young things, were once the pop junk of urban Britain.”

Genre boundaries are perceived as being more rigid than they actually are; Americana’s failure to incorporate hip-hop is just one example.

Thankfully, work is being done to broaden Americana’s parameters. In 2021, the Americana Music Association — the group responsible for doling out the awards and organizing AmericanaFest — established a diversity and inclusion committee to address the issue and started holding panel discussions on diversity during its annual festival. And of course, this year’s Roots N Blues festival will continue the goal of featuring more musical styles and a more diverse lineup in an effort to expand the definition of American roots music. Vox spoke with several people involved in this year’s festival to find out what American roots music means to them and where they see themselves in the American musical tradition.

Cautious Clay, musician

Cautious Clay, born Joshua Karpeh, primarily draws from the sense of immediacy and rawness found in American roots music. “Improvisation, that element of expression, is incredibly important to me, especially during live shows,” he says. “I think so much of the tradition of American music is ‘figure it out as you go, take chances and create something on the spot.’ ”

Jen Norman,

musician

Jen Norman began her career as a country musician, recording and performing other people’s songs in St. Louis and Nashville. She eventually began writing her own material, characterized by a fusion of American roots music and indie/alternative stylings. “It doesn’t matter to me what category I fall under. It’s not something I put on myself. It’s things other people have said,” she says. “I like to think that genres are pretty fluid and that, as artists, we can all cross over into other genres.”

Photography courtesy of Shay Jasper, Julia Remache and Jen Norman VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022

Since her last performance at the Roots N Blues Festival in 2021, Bihomora has recognized the depth and extreme importance of mental health. Last fall, she was diagnosed with a temporary schizophrenic form disorder that she says allowed her to see the beauty in hardships and resilience.

Even though she feels like she is a different person from that moment in time, Bihomora is confident that, in the future, she will remain true to herself and continue to follow her progressive path.

Sifa Bihomora isn’t slowing down

The Columbia local uses music to speak her mind and uplift other artists from underrepresented groups.

BY CHLOE LYKKEN

There is no turning back for Sifa Bihomora, a 24-year-old musician and entrepreneur, whose passion is to use her music and voice to promote positive influence around the world.

After starting her music journey in Columbia six years ago, Bihomora returns for her second year at Roots N Blues before following the calling to her next stop in New York.

At a young age, Bihomora noticed that she learned differently than those around her. Growing up with a learning disability, music became her tool for honest, personal expression. “Music was the door that opened it for me,” Bihomora says. “If I didn’t have singing, I would have never known that I was intelligent. If I didn’t have singing, I would have never known I had worth. If I didn’t have singing I would have never known I was driven.”

As a first-generation American, Bihomora never thought she would go to college, but music changed that.

As the daughter of Rwandan immigrants, Bihomora was introduced to

traditional Rwanda music at a young age and loved exploring the genre. Bihomora also grew up listening to a lot of radio, and immersed herself in a plethora of different styles of music and artists early on, including Ingrid Michaelson, Regina Spektor and Hiatus Kaiyote, musicians she says resonated with her immediately when hearing them.

“Music has just always been there for me” Bihomora says. “Music has always made sense for me. Music was the only thing that my soul spoke to.”

One of six kids, Bihomora was limited to the musical opportunities offered in public school education. However, Bihomora found an opportunity to explore her passion while attending Berklee School of Music, where she became the vice president of the African Club. Bihomora also worked with the African Music Scholars Foundation, aiding in the foundation’s outreach program.

Bihomora plans to continue devoting her talent and perseverance to helping those around her, and the young artist says the sky is her limit.

Sifa Bihomora got her musical start in Columbia six years ago. Music has been a way for the musician to communicate more personally and honestly.

“The core of me is always going to stay the same,” Bihomora says. “Which is love, positive, pushing through, resilience.” Bihomora realized how much music can be used to communicate.

Audrey Roloff, who met Bihomora eight years ago, has experienced her musical style and empowering personality firsthand. “Her music comes from the soul,” Roloff says. “I’ve never really heard anything like it. It doesn’t stick to one genre. It’s very emotional, and it just comes from within, and she is able to encapsulate how she is doing in that time period into a song and into an album.”

Bihomora’s authenticity and openness has kept her captivating audiences. According to the Roots N Blues Festival Local Legend blog post about her, “wise beyond her years and full of genuine joy, Sifa is not only looking to express her own feelings through her music, but also to change the world with it.”

As the music video director of Bihomora’s songs, “Moon Villa” and “Tiny,” Roloff says she sees something in the musician that is different from the rest.

“When you meet her, you feel her energy, and you feel how positive she is,” Roloff says. “It’s just really amazing because she’s so resilient. She’s gone through a lot in her life, and she is still able to bring that energy to the table and is willing to share it with others.”

SIFA

1 p.m. Oct. 8, MU Health Care Stage

Follow along on Instagram @__sifa.b_ and find her music on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube.

“(Festival goers) should be prepared for something very different and something that is special to Columbia,” Roloff says. “They should be prepared for a big last performance by Sifa. It’s gonna be something that she’s never done before, but I know that she can pull it off, and I can’t wait to see it.”

Photography by Irynka Hromotska

Meredith Shaw sings about small town life

Coming from a farm in Gorin, Missouri, the Columbia-based singer-songwriter imbues her music with details harvested from her Midwestern background.

BY GRACE ANN NATANAWAN

Meredith Shaw began cutting her teeth at local open mics and venues in 2018. For a relatively fresh-faced artist like her, a spot in the Roots N Blues lineup seemed like an achievement for the distant future.

But in late March, Shaw opened her email and found a life-changing invitation to perform at this year’s festival.

“I just screamed and cried,” Shaw says. “It was amazing. My goal was Roots N Blues in four or five years. And now that’s happening in a month.”

Previously, Shaw has performed in Nashville at the iconic Bluebird Cafe. Her music started gaining traction online in 2020 with the song “Whiskey Situation,” produced by her high school friend David Browning. Browning, who is based in Nashville, has almost 30 years of music industry experience and has worked with chart-topping artists including Katy Perry and Amy Grant. He attributes the success of Shaw’s music to its emotional rawness.

“It’s not manufactured music,” Browning says. “It’s very much from the heart, and that’s what makes her so infectious. People can relate so easily to what she’s writing and performing.”

While she currently lives in Columbia, Shaw grew up on a farm in the small town of Gorin in the Northeast corner of the state, where her family has raised beans and corn for over 100 years. She describes Gorin as a “disappearing” town, as it seems to get tinier with every visit. This is where her passion for music began.

As the youngest of eight siblings, Shaw would often put on performances for her family, singing along to her sister’s

MEREDITH

SHAW

4:30 p.m. Oct. 7, MU Health Care Stage

Follow along on Instagram @meredithshawmusic and find her music on Spotify and Apple Music.

Olivia Newton-John cassettes and songs she heard on the radio. When there were no humans to sing to, Shaw would go outside and sing to the cows and cats.

Shaw often visits her family farm and reflects on her relationship with her hometown. Her mother’s failing health, and her death this past summer, inspired a period of songwriting focused on her childhood.

“Even if you don’t end up writing about that, it opens up a big bucket of emotions,” she says of her mother’s death.

Her music is inspired by the Midwest, an incandescent blend of country, rock and blues permeated with lyrics about the quirks of small-town life. One of her songs, “Drove It Like He Stole It,” is largely based on the true story of a Boone County man who stole a tractor.

“I’ve lived my entire life in Missouri — a 120-mile block of Missouri — so it’s very much part of who I am,” she says.

Shaw bought her first guitar at a mall in Joplin, during her sophomore year at MU. As she taught herself to play using various guitar books, she played small shows for her sorority sisters on the side of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority house, singing song parodies and lighthearted ditties about frat boys to make her friends laugh, along with more serious material.

In 2018, after years of letting the guitar collect dust under her bed, Shaw began exploring Columbia’s open mic scene at venues such as Cooper’s Landing and later began to book more serious gigs at Rose Music Hall and Capital Region MU Health Care Amphitheater in Jefferson City.

“I loved the way she approached everything, and I really enjoyed her songwriting,” says Richard King, owner of Cooper’s Landing. “Not everybody can do this. She handles herself really well onstage.”

Roots N Blues is just the beginning for Shaw, as she plans to use her performance at the festival as a launching point for future career opportunities.

“I’m excited to see what happens after Roots N Blues; it’s already opened tons of doors,” Shaw says.

Meredith Shaw’s live shows are full of humor and stage banter. She will perform with a full band at Roots N Blues, playing a mix of rockers and breezy country songs.

Photography courtesy of Meredith Shaw VOX MAGAZINE •

Roots Songbook inducts Jeff Tweedy

The Wilco frontman will be presented with the honor onstage at this year’s festival.

BY KARA ELLIS

Jeff Tweedy’s roots in Columbia run deep — so deep, in fact, that they predate Wilco, his most successful project. Tweedy first established himself in Columbia in the late 80s with his former band, Uncle Tupelo. To complement his headlining slot with Wilco at this year’s Roots N Blues Festival, he was honored by the Missouri Roots Songbook, a tradition started by the festival in 2018. He will be presented with the honor on Oct. 7 during Wilco’s festival set.

The Missouri Roots Songbook recognizes artists who are originally from Missouri, or have spent a significant part of their career in the state, and have

made major contributions to music and popular culture. Past honorees include Chuck Berry, John “Blind” Boone and Sheryl Crow.

Tweedy first appeared in Columbia with Uncle Tupelo, an alt-country outfit formed on the Illinois side of St. Louis in 1987. The band reached out to Richard King, former owner of The Blue Note, to book a gig, after which they became a fixture at the venue and even got to know some of the people of Columbia.

Tweedy’s impact on the city is still felt today. King partially credits the popularity of The Blue Note to the band’s shows. Tweedy himself told the Columbia Daily Tribune in 2012 that, to him,

Columbia feels like “where everything kind of started.”

After the dissolution of Uncle Tupelo in 1994, Tweedy formed Wilco with his former bandmates (sans fellow frontman Jay Farrar). With Wilco, Tweedy broke new ground, letting his experimental side flourish. For example, the song “Less Than You Think,” from their fifth album, A Ghost Is Born, includes 10 minutes of feedback and electronic noise meant to aurally reflect Tweedy’s migraines.

“I think that (Wilco displays) some of the traditional side of the Midwest in their work, but they also show that the Midwest can be a place for innovation,” says Aarik Danielsen, art and culture editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune

Greg Kot, the Chicago-based music critic and author of Wilco: Learning How To Die, says the band is more than quintessentially Midwestern. Rather, he says, its appeal is far more idiosyncratic.

“I think they’re very much their own game,” Kot says. “The goal of good songwriting is to be able to say something in a distinctive fashion, and yet still speak to a wider audience that understands what you’re saying and finds their own voice in those songs. (Tweedy) has definitely done that over and over again.”

King also attributes Tweedy’s influence on the music world to his singular style of songwriting. “It was just something that you weren’t hearing a whole lot of,” King says of Uncle Tupelo. “And after those guys started, you seemed to hear more and more bands come out like that.”

Because of his vast influence and his close Missouri ties, Danielsen says Tweedy’s Missouri Roots Songbook honor is well deserved, and reflective of the values of Roots N Blues.

“Roots N Blues started as a bit more of a traditional festival,” he says. “(Now) they’ve really done a good job of exploring how music doesn’t have to be this very pure thing. It can be something that branches out in a lot of directions. And that’s what (Tweedy) has done his whole career. In that sense, who better to be inducted?”

Photography courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

Jeff Tweedy (standing, front) and Wilco will take to the Roots N Blues stage. Music critic Greg Kot says Tweedy is “inventive, and continually challenging himself to do new things.”

WILCO

8:30 p.m. Oct. 7, EquipmentShare Stage

Good vibrations

Not sure which acts to see this year? Vox created a matrix of the festival lineup to help guide your experience.

BY KARLY BALSLEW AND AUSTIN WOODS

LOCAL ROOTS

J.ARTiz & The MO’ Soul Collective Poetic songs will have you swaying and head nodding

Jen Norman St. Louis-based singer-songwriter who previously played on the Nashville circuit

Meredith Shaw Performs songs inspired by life in Missouri

Kassi Ashton Passion-filled ballads infused with rock and soul

Wilco Chicago-based alt-country titans

The Kay Brothers Lively fiddle, banjo and harmonica compels crowds to dance

Sifa Known for her energetic, danceable performances

Old Crow Medicine Show

Enjoy a set of twangy classics from Virginia

Tanya Tucker

Boasts 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top-40 singles

Tank and the Bangas Irresistible groovy tunes

Houndmouth Blues rock band called a “must-see” act by Esquire

Liz Cooper Released Hot Sass, a punktinged album, last year

Larkin Poe Raunchy, soulful blues rock reflective of Southern roots

Chaka Khan R&B legend renowned for her dynamic vocal range

The Steeldrivers

Boot-stomping jams for grabbing your partner and spinning around

Jackie Venson

Killer riffs and solos sure to please guitar enthusiasts

Jon Batiste

Brittney Spencer A taste of East Coast country

Former bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Jaime Wyatt Back road outlaw country songs

Check out our curated playlist of 2022 Roots N Blues artists.

Cautious Clay

Has songwriting credits with artists such as John Legend and Taylor Swift

NATIONAL ACTS

The Dip Hard-rocking R&B from this Seattlebased seven-piece

The Heavy Heavy Lighthearted harmonies from the U.K.

Hippo Campus Light, feel-good melodies Bleachers

High-energy New Jersey beats

A team of detectives, prosecuting attorneys and victim advocates, known as the DOVE Unit, provides a holistic approach to domestic violence responses in Columbia.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in four women and one in nine men experience abuse at the hands of a romantic partner. One in 15 children are exposed to violence in their homes each year, and most of those witness it firsthand. Domestic violence is like living on a fault line, awaiting the next tremor in the floorboards. In the aftermath, the shards of normalcy are scattered. Survivors face impossible choices. In order to escape the abuse, they often must leave their homes, their jobs, their communities, their money, keepsakes and memories. They must decide whether to leave someone who could hurt them for trying to break free, or to divorce their abuser only to share custody of their children and leave them unprotected, or merely to find somewhere else to go. In each case, they are doing whatever it takes to survive.

It takes a village to unravel the knots of domestic violence. Police officers, guardians, employers, teachers, lawyers, advocates — intimate partner violence ripples through the lives of more than survivors and abusers.

In Boone County, the Sheriff’s Department’s Domestic Violence Enforcement Unit (DOVE Unit) is one key support for Columbia survivors and families who experience domestic violence. The DOVE Unit is a cooperative effort between the county’s law enforcement, legal teams and victim advocates to prevent victims from falling through the cracks. Representatives connect survivors with legal counsel, housing, safety planning, educational resources, support groups and hospital advocates. Constructing a shared safe space for survivors is paramount. “Creating that rapport and that trust relationship is extremely important, especially when you’re working across disciplines,” says MU assistant professor of social work Kathleen Preble.

Since 2020, there have been national discussions around police reform in the wake of high-profile cases of police brutality. Many advocates identify domestic violence cases as examples of instances where additional support and resources are needed, as opposed to solely a police response. The DOVE Unit is Boone County’s attempt to equip survivors with resources and guidance in moving forward and finding peace. This story explores the DOVE Unit by the numbers.

No two cases of domestic violence are the same, but the patterns of power and control are consistent. Threats don’t need to be physical, like broken plates.

911

It starts with a call. Survivors, concerned neighbors and others will call police for help when a situation escalates. In many communities, that call is also where it ends. Police are tasked with responding to any number of emergency situations, including those involving domestic violence, without the necessary training and resources to best meet the needs of victims. Domestic violence is a unique crime, and it requires training to identify symptoms and avoid giving more leverage to abusers. According to research conducted by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 24% of domestic violence survivors who have reported abuse to the police say they wouldn’t report it again. Another 62% say they are unsure. The DOVE Unit, instead, involves legal professionals and trained advocates in helping survivors access the comprehensive help they need from the beginning.

1,297 complaints

When police respond to domestic violence incidents, it’s somewhat rare for criminal charges to follow. Because domestic violence often lives behind closed doors, it can be hard to recognize the patterns fueling each incident. “A lot of times when there’s smoke, there’s fire,” says Brian Grove, a former detective in the Columbia Police Department. “If we get called back to the same place several times, then there’s probably something wrong there.”

In 2020, 1,297 domestic disturbance complaints to the Columbia Police Department turned into 525 cases assigned to the DOVE Unit detectives for follow up.

525 cases

The details of each of the 525 cases from the 2020 reports are unique, but the underlying power dynamic is the same, and when that dynamic is the foundation of someone’s reality it can be nearly impossible to escape. When victims break free from an abusive household, the DOVE Unit is often met with thanks for hanging in alongside them and for helping them set a new course in life. Other times, abusers have so tangled victims in systems of control, it can feel impossible to escape. According to RESPOND Inc., the second-oldest domestic violence agency in the country, it takes an average of seven times for a victim to leave an abuser. The DOVE Unit aims to provide survivors with the resources they need to escape the power dynamic their abuser created.

13 members

The DOVE Unit has grown since its 1998 conception and has, give or take, 13 members. There are two detectives from the Columbia Police Department. True North, a local domestic violence service program, provides the team with two victim advocates. Through the prosecutor’s office, there are three victim specialists, one investigator and a rotation of four or five attorneys. With so many moving pieces and so many voices in one conversation, situations have the potential to go awry. “You have to have the right combination of personalities,” associate professor Preble says. “Sometimes it takes a while to find that in a multidisciplinary team.”

Columbia’s DOVE Unit members seem to have struck the right balance. Detectives Maggie Franks and Brian Grove of the Columbia Police Department (though Grove recently retired) riff off each other every chance they get. Their interactions alternate in an organic pattern of teasing remarks and genuine respect for one another. They can list their teammates’ names off the top of their heads. They’re flexible, willing to build their day-to- day investigations around what the legal side of their team requires for cases. The process of getting in touch with these members is different for every survivor. At the scene of a police response, victims are given a domestic violence information card that provides information on how to get an order of protection and community resources. From there, the victim may go to True North or the case will go directly from the patrol officer to the detective, and then to the prosecutor’s office. The victim specialist becomes the victim’s first point of contact there on. “The thing about it is there’s no cookie cutter for this,” Grove says. “Each situation is different.”

52 meetings

“The goal is weekly,” Grove says. For one hour almost every week, all active members of the team come together to discuss the current caseload. The subjects of the meeting vary. Members update each other on victim statuses, prosecutors request detectives find more information for certain cases and detectives follow up on cases that they have since passed along to other members. “It’s an open dialogue, really, so that we can be on the same page about things,” Grove says. “Make sure cases are moving along and no one falls through the cracks.”

This open dialogue is what makes the DOVE Unit effective. “I think that team is a particularly good example of professionals being able to collaborate, troubleshoot and make sure that everybody is held accountable within that particular target issue,” Preble says.

1998

Before Columbia’s establishment of the DOVE Unit, Missouri had no government-funded coordinated community responses to domestic violence. The federal passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 inspired the creation of the interdisciplinary DOVE Unit model. Professor Preble researches violence, focusing on human trafficking, sex trafficking and gender-based violence. “VAWA really made sure that there was a way to help interdisciplinary teams function better together and collaborate on these cases,” Preble says. “So that people aren’t siloed and so survivors aren’t getting shuffled from here to there.”

4 hours

Before Grove worked for the Columbia Police Department, he worked in law enforcement in Hallsville. During his time there, the Columbia Police Department visited and delivered a four-hour training block on the best practices in domestic violence cases. Working for the Columbia DOVE Unit, he continued that tradition for other Missouri cities. This training broaches subjects such as victim blaming, stalking, evidence collection and many others.

$0

That’s how much it costs locations around Missouri to attend these training sessions. The same grant that funds the DOVE Unit funds the detectives’ training administration, making it accessible to any law enforcement organization in the state.

“Our unit’s been able to impact other agencies with that (training),” Grove says. “From us starting this unit here in Boone, there are a lot of other cities that have DOVE Units now. So there are a lot of people writing these grants now to get these systems.”

For the last two decades, Boone County’s DOVE Unit has served as a role model for other regions in applying for funding to put toward a uniform response to domestic violence. “This work has been happening in Missouri and across the nation for a long time on grassroots levels,” says chief public affairs officer of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Matthew Huffman. “But to actually have designated funding to build a formal partnership and unit for response is incredibly important.”

3,070 people

According to the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, in 2020, the 17 counties of central Missouri fulfilled 3,070 requests for domestic violence services. With only 265 people reporting their needs as unmet, those counties addressed 92% of domestic violence victims’ requests for services.

Meanwhile, Missouri regions with similar sized caseloads didn’t experience the same rate of administered resources. For example, the northeast region filled 73% of its 2,509 requests for service and the southeast region filled 51% of 4,012 requests.

The factors determining the rate at which services can fulfill victims’ requests for assistance are numerous, but Huffman says coordinated responses such as the DOVE Unit certainly have a hand in the higher rate.

“Whenever you have those long standing relationships, those established organizations that are visible in the community and are very credible with community stakeholders, then I do think you have more opportunities to fulfill those requests,” Huffman says.

However, even with the connection provided by the DOVE Unit, the county’s caseload is, at times, still overwhelming. “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to triage cases,” Detective Franks says. Even on a team as large as Boone’s, there still aren’t enough people to take on all the cases.

The DOVE Unit does what it can to combat the imbalance. For example, in 2014, the law enforcement side of the team hired a part-time assistant with the aid of a grant. The assistant handles the tedious details of this work such as sending out contact letters, picking up jail calls and tracking cases as they move through the chain of resources. This frees up time for the detectives to take on additional cases and spend their efforts elsewhere.

1 person

In a whirlwind of detectives, advocates, attorneys and investigators, there’s only one person that really matters through all of this: the victim. “One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is to accept that I’m just a tool in the toolbox to help a victim of trauma deal with their situation,” says Grove, who is now a volunteer and training coordinator at True North.

Franks echoes her former partner’s sentiment without hesitation. “It’s not about us,” she says.

Looking to the future, Franks and Grove, like most domestic violence service workers, say they hope that the toolbox continues to expand in both the variety of options available and the reach of their resources. Multidisciplinary responses are just one possible solution, but for Columbia, it’s a long-standing one built on communication and collaboration.

Survivors

HERE TO HELP

If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence, there are resources available to help.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

More than club food

The Social Room serves up good Latin eats with a side of dancing.

BY ATHENA FOSLER-BRAZIL

On a typical Saturday night in Columbia, a long line of people eager to dance stretches down the block outside of The Social Room. Known for its vibrant, eclectic interior and crowded dance floor, the club is a favorite among college students and locals. But the establishment, which opened its doors in 2015, is more than a place to drink and dance. The Social Room’s kitchen serves high-quality Mexican-American fare, perfect for the midnight walk home or a quick dinner when you’re craving a good taco.

Head chef Louis Marrero has been cooking at The Social Room since 2020. Marrero, a longtime friend of owner Jesse Garcia, started full-time earlier that year when the club began relying on its kitchen service to stay open.

Before the pandemic began, Garcia says The Social Room’s food service consisted of macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and microwaved pizza. “It was allowed to stay open because we had a food license, but our food kind of blew,” Garcia says. “So we set our sights on making a better version of it, and we did, I think.”

Marrero has cooked at a number of restaurants in Columbia including Addison’s, 44 Canteen, Sycamore and Cherry Street Cellar. His fine-dining background guides the technique he uses to make the dishes at The Social Room. “It’s really different from working in any kind of restaurant because we’re not a restaurant, really,” Marrero says.

Photography by Sam Koeppel and courtesy of Unsplash VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Chef Louis Marrero adds spices to an order of the club’s signature fries. Marrero prepares the fries in a large bowl, mixing the spices before serving to customers with special sauces.

With the kitchen renovation this past spring, the club is making more room for its elevated food service, which draws heavily on Marrero’s and Garcia’s Latin roots. “(Garcia) is Mexican, and I’m Puerto Rican, so we both love Latino food,” Marrero says. “It’s spicy, it’s wild, it’s a little bit unconventional, but everything is made fresh, so I’m pretty much using a lot of fine-dining techniques I’ve learned.”

With a new smoker in the kitchen, Marrero and the chefs at The Social Room specialize in smoked and cured meats, which are featured in almost every dish on the menu. Because The Social Room is primarily a nightclub, Marrero says he uses his skills in brining, braising and sauce-making to elevate traditional club food that can be eaten with just your hands.

The menu is a Mexican-American fusion of burgers, tacos and quesadillas. They have a Pinche Quesadilla, which includes meat, beans, pico de gallo and salsa and a Gringa Quesadilla, which, as the online menu states, is “literally just

melted cheese on a tortilla … we are in the Midwest after all.”

When it’s in stock, Marrero’s favorite dish is the birria, which is traditionally made with goat but also with beef. “I love our birria beef,” Marrero says. “It took me three-and-a-half to four months to actually get it to where I wanted it. That’s the longest I’ve ever spent on a dish. And birria is not a new thing, it’s an old Mexican style of meat.”

Its popular Mexican street-style tacos are made with onion, cilantro and your choice of meat. The nacho fries are smothered in queso, your choice of meat and pico de gallo, and it offers a number of sauces to choose from.

Hannah Keith, a Social Room regular who sometimes stops by for dinner, says the food goes above and beyond the typical bar food offerings in town.

“The meats themselves are really cool because they smoke their own meats, and I think a lot of the other bars that have food in Columbia either close earlier or they’re, like, pizza,” Keith says.

Fries sprinkled with pico de gallo are made with fresh ingredients.

THE SOCIAL ROOM

220 N. Eighth St. 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Wed.–Sun.

One of their most popular menu items is the house-made macaroni and cheese, which Marrero says requires 10 quarts of cheese every day to make. “It’s so exciting when you can get a giant bowl of mac and cheese after being out for several hours,” Keith says.

Marrero says that if the kitchen sells out of a dish, it’s because they don’t compromise on quality and make everything fresh. Whether you’re there to dance or just stopping in for dinner, the Mexican-inspired fare at The Social Room never disappoints.

Photography by Sam Koeppel

Do you know the biscuit man?

Scott Pass learned how to make a Southern staple for Midwestern breakfast-goers.

BY REBECCA NOEL

On his morning commute to work as a corrections officer, Scott Pass was hungry for breakfast options. He wanted something tasty that was also quick, but runof-the-mill fast food didn’t cut it. “My commute was 45 minutes at the very least, and there was really nowhere to get breakfast from,” he says. Years later, he opened The Biscuit Center.

Pass wanted a biscuit that was reminiscent of the ones from his home state of North Carolina at regional favorites such as Bojangles and Biscuitville — one that was fluffy, layered and wouldn’t fall flat (literally).

He had never made them before, but he did know his way around the kitchen. “At that point, I’d been cooking close to 10 or 15 years, so I’d been around the oven a few times,” Pass says. “So I just decided, ‘Hey, I’m going to start teaching myself.’ ”

What followed was a process that took, off and on, about 7 years. “When I first started making them, they looked like mud pies,” Pass says. “They had no shape.” He tried different ratios of what he says are the foundational ingredients to a basic biscuit: buttermilk, flour, butter and salt, depending on the consistency and flakiness he desired.

He would test them out on his friends and family. “When there was no talking and people were just scarfing them down, I knew they were good,” he says. “That’s when I thought ‘OK, I have something here.’ ”

Pass founded The Biscuit Center in May, and since then, it has expanded beyond that first recipe. It boasts savory

Pass keeps his biscuits consistent.

“The dry mix is measured down to the gram,” he says. “There are no shortcuts.”

options such as Cheddah Biscuits and The O.G., which has sausage bits and cheese in each layer. Meanwhile, sweet offerings include a cinnamon roll-flavored biscuit and the Pink Delight, laden with real strawberry pieces and topped with cream cheese icing, which happens to be the shop’s most popular flavor.

Pass started his business, in part, with help from CoMo Cooks, an organization that assists local culinary entrepreneurs in getting their visions off the ground. “CoMo Cooks is a place where people can prepare food to sell elsewhere or lay the groundwork for eventually opening a brick-and-mortar

Photography by Maya Morris VOX MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

WHEN THERE WAS NO TALKING AND PEOPLE WERE JUST SCARFING THEM DOWN, I KNEW THEY WERE GOOD.”

and take their business to another level,” says Jamie Davis, kitchen manager at CoMo Cooks.

The organization has a scholarship fund for underrepresented groups to help recipients jump-start businesses in Columbia, allotting them with time in the CoMo Cooks kitchen as well as additional funding for six months. Pass was one of two people to receive the scholarship, which helped him reduce some of the overhead costs in starting The Biscuit Center.

The Biscuit Center was designed to cater to people such as Pass who want an easy breakfast on their morning commute but don’t want to sacrifice quality or flavor. “It’s really designed for people who don’t have much time in the morning like me; I have three kids,” Pass says. “A lot of people don’t have time to sit down and make something in the morning, so what I want to do for people is make it for them.”

You can order for pick-up or delivery from The Biscuit Center at thebiscuitcenter.com.

Photography by Maya Morris

EAT + DRINK BREAKFAST

Scott Pass bakes and serves biscuits during the Art Walk at the North Village Arts District in Columbia.

– Scott Pass, baker and owner of The Biscuit Center

Nclusion Plus produces drag performances at venues throughout mid-Missouri, including one at Twaddle Orthodontics in February 2021. This helps bring queer experiences to new places and audiences.

Space to live and werk

Nclusion Plus fosters drag shows and community in mid-Missouri.

BY ADAM RYERSON

When the Yin Yang Night Club put on its final show via Facebook Live in April 2020, it was the fifth gay bar in Columbia to shutter in the past decade, including its predecessor, SoCo Club. Since then, one of those closures, Arch and Column has reopened. But with Yin Yang’s closure, the drag community lost a performance home, and the LGBTQ+ community lost a safe space. That’s why regulars created the group Nclusion Plus in May 2020.

Nclusion Plus produces drag shows at venues throughout mid-Missouri and provides community and support to the LGBTQ+ community. Since its inception, the group has rebuilt a platform for local drag queens, expanded drag shows to new locales and invested resources in education.

“In every bad situation, there’s some kind of silver lining,” says Brandon Banks, the director of sales and marketing and a board member of Nclusion Plus.

Adding safe spaces to communities

One of those silver linings is bringing queer experiences to new places and new audiences. “It took us all from being in the dark in one location to really showcasing that the world is a more safe space for us and that people care about the LGBTQ community,” Banks says. “Being very in-your-face about the drag scene has shown us that while gay bars are closing, every bar is a gay bar.”

The group’s goal isn’t to make a profit, but its finances have evolved since its

Photography by Haley Singleton/Archive VOX MAGAZINE •

start. At first, Nclusion Plus was funded solely through the group’s founders. Now, it has a membership program with different monthly packages, which includes benefits such as merchandise, tickets to shows and access to online content.

Producing shows also gives drag queens the opportunity to make money through tips. Even with Arch and Column reopened, it does not hold regular drag shows, leaving performers without a place to, well, werk.

For drag queens such as 26-yearold Liz Anya, the price to perform can be costly. On average, Liz spends $40 on one wig. Costume fabric is another cost — $130 of fabric will make three or four outfits. And then there’s the cost of makeup, crowns and jewelry. Drag queens can expect to make $75 for appearances and from $40 to $300 in tips.

With no set location, Nclusion Plus can be flexible with how it holds events. “If we open up a location in Columbia and solve the drag bar situation here, that still leaves Moberly without a support structure for its LGBTQ scene; it leaves Warrens-

burg without a support structure for its LGBTQ scene,” Banks says.

A beacon of support in rural Missouri

For the queer residents in rural towns, such shows can be monumental. Nclusion Plus aims to be there for the people who need it most. “We’re giving them joy and giving them a safe space to be themselves,” says Anthony Plogger, a board member of Nclusion and the director of club content.

This is vital given the frequency of mental health challenges and suicidal ideation among the LGBTQ+ community, especially young people. According to a 2022 survey from The Trevor Project, nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide over the past year. But those who live in accepting communities report significantly lower rates of such thoughts.

Dr. Addison McGuire is the director of education for Nclusion Plus and has an outpatient focus on LGBTQ+ medicine, health and preventative awareness. “I think exposure goes a huge

UPCOMING DRAG SHOWS

Fright Brunch @ Selfie Love

10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Oct. 1, 804

Locust St.

Sunday Social: Tea Dance at the Social Room

4–8 p.m. Oct. 2, 220 N. Eighth St.

Trivia & Brunch

(A Family Show) –Halloween Edition

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Oct. 9, Dogmaster Distillery, 210 St. James St.

Takeover Fridays: Taylor Edition –An Interactive Dance Party

9 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Oct. 21, Pressed, 803 E. Walnut St.

way toward education,” McGuire says. “Being able to bring these incredibly loud, happy, queer people to the general community and allow them to be themselves creates this beautiful space where people are challenged on their preconceived notions and really have this opportunity to deep dive into their own expectations.”

Nclusion Plus also partners with organizations such as Burrell Behavioral Health, a Columbia-based mental health center, and collaborates with The Center Project, a volunteer-based LGBTQ+ organization in Columbia, to provide needed resources and support.

Banks has personally seen the positive impact of these LGBTQ+ spaces. “We’ve had people come up to us and say they were saved in a certain way, where they weren’t going to commit suicide,” Banks says. Members have been able to find community, friendship and a sense of belonging.

“Hosting drag shows, hosting small events, getting people together can be a life-saving activity,” he says.

Fall into these trends

Spooky season is back. Here are some subtle ways to decorate.

BY SYDNEY SCALIA

While some of us are already pulling out the jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkin-scented candles, others want less “Halloweenie” fall decor for their living spaces. The tips from local experts will bring just the right amount of spine-chilling fun for the season and spice up your home with small space-friendly fall interior design trends.

Bring on the shades (of color)

When it comes to the colors of fall, many think of orange and black. “I think of burnt oranges,” says Asha Saifullah, a design intern at interior design company Scout and Nimble. However, there are lots of alternative colors if you want a more subtle homage to autumn.“Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and bring in a deep burgundy or even plum,” Scout and Nimble co-founder Jesse Bodine writes in an email to Vox. Darker greens, like hunter green, Saifullah says, are a nontraditional color and a major trend this season.

Neutral color palettes are also easy to incorporate into any space. “Browns are coming back in a big way,” Bodine says. Add subtle items such as warmtoned blankets and pillows. “Adding in pillows in that colorway is an easy swap to make,” Bodine says.

Small pieces make a big difference

To avoid a pumpkin explosion in your home, Bodine advises selecting less obvious fall-themed accessories. “Adding a wood tray to your coffee table or a wood bowl to hold fruit in your kitchen can be a subtle way to showcase the season,” Bodine says.

If you don’t want to pump the breaks on pumpkins, Saifullah recommends

Collage by Sireen Abayazid and Heeral Patel

TOP SHOPS

Here are a few places to find fall decor in Columbia.

finding ceramic or glass pumpkins in neutral tones. Bodine also encourages incorporating fall colors or patterns, such as plaids, that portray the feeling of fall. Light can also invite a comfortable autumn glow. Switching to fairy lights and dim lighting “can make a huge difference in bringing fall inside,” Saifullah says. Of course, you can’t forget the candles. When thinking about scents to explore, Saifullah recommends vanilla. Another way to incorporate the smell of fall is potpourri. Boil a pot of water and “throw in some apples, oranges, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg and you will have it feeling like fall in no time,” Bodine says.

And for your inner witch

For the outside of your home or apartment, Jean Gruenewald, the owner of Coming Home in Columbia, recommends having fun, Halloween-themed doormats to greet guests with spooktac-

ular vibes. Kent Anderson, the owner of Kent’s Floral Gallery, suggests decorating your porch with a festive door wreath. “You can tell a lot about a person by their door,” Anderson says. “When you go home and you see that wreath on the door, you have a different feeling.”

For your interior, there are several different flowers for this season. “Sedum is a fall flower that I absolutely adore.” Anderson says. “Zinnias and marigolds are great flowers for this time of the year,” especially for those who prefer bright and warm colors. If you want a softer, more neutral look, there are several of-the-moment options.“Some of the trends of right now are really muted tones, like white hydrangeas, cream roses and tuberoses,” Anderson says. Dried flowers in pale pinks, creams, whites and browns are another trend Anderson suggests. Not looking for flowers? He recommends pampas grasses and broomcorn for fall without the florals.

with photography courtesy of Pixabay and Unsplash

The secret to fall decor is in the little details, especially for small homes.

TO-DO LIST

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

ARTS

Frederick Wiseman: Institutions

Ragtag Cinema and MU’s Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary

Journalism is hosting a weekly series of films by Frederick Wiseman. A prolific filmmaker, Wiseman explores spaces and roles that often go unexamined. Robert Greene, an MU professor and filmmaker, will introduce each film. Wednesday screenings through Nov. 2, Ragtag Cinema, $10 adults, $8 children and seniors, ragtagcinema.org

Jazz in the District

Following a five-year hiatus, pianist Amina Figarova is slated to perform as part of the “We Always Swing” Jazz Series. Join the iconic sextet including her husband, flautist Bart Platteau, for a night of smooth music. 7 p.m., Oct. 15, First Baptist Church, $40, 449-3009

Brew n’ View: Scream

The call is coming from inside the concert venue, and the voice on the other end is telling you to revisit this classic ’90s horror flick. Wait, are landlines still a thing? 8 p.m, Oct. 19, The Blue Note, $5, 874-1944

CIVIC

Fraud is Not a Trade Secret: a Conversation

with Theranos Whistleblower Tyler Schultz

The School of Accountancy at Robert J. Trulaske Sr. MU College of Business will host a conversation with Tyler Schultz, the Theranos whistleblower and current CEO and co-founder of Flux Biosciences, Inc. 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Oct. 14, Bush Auditorium in Cornell Hall, free, 882-9348

FOOD Chestnut Roast Festival

The annual Missouri Chestnut Roast

Festival is back for its 16th year. The family-friendly field day event will include tours of the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm, freshroasted chestnut samples and research presentations. Come for the wagon rides, stay for the demonstrations on tree sugaring. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Oct. 1, MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm, New Franklin, free, 884-2874

Caffeine Crawl 2022

Join in the caffeine-induced fun by hopping around to some of Columbia’s best coffee shops. With three different routes, each with four or five caffeine stops, you can visit shops such as Lakota Coffee Co., Bubblecup Tea Zone and Acola Coffee. 12-5 p.m., $21.50 to 25.50 per crawl, Oct. 15, downtown Columbia, 442-6816

MUSIC Indy Fest

For the first time in Columbia, the Kansas City-based Indy Fest will take place at Rose Music Hall. Concertgoers can anticipate a hip-hop showcase, a pre-party show and an open mic, ahead of a string of performances in an all-night celebration. 7 p.m., Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Rose Park, $1020, 874-1944

Tech N9ne

Kansas City-born rapper Tech N9ne is slated to perform at The Blue Note. The “Face Off” singer is currently on tour with various supporting special guests including King Iso. 9 p.m., Oct. 13, The Blue Note, $30, 874-1944

OUTDOORS

Puppy Yoga

Camden and his mother, Brandy Wadtananussorn, complete the corn maze during the 2019 Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival. The town of Hartsburg, with a population of about 100, expects thousands of visitors for the festival.

Why just do yoga when you can experience yoga infused with the joyful scent of puppy breath? Practice your downward dog during an hour-long session at DogMaster Distillery. All puppies will be available for adoption. Make sure to bring your yoga mat.

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Oct. 2, DogMaster Distillery, $25, 777-6768

Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival

Join Hartsburg for its 31st Pumpkin Festival. The event features over 175 booths to visit and a parade that’ll kick off the festival. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 8 and 9, Hartsburg, hartsburgpumpkinfest. com, free, 808-1288

Halloweenie

Join The District’s annual Halloweenie trick-or-treat event throughout downtown Columbia. District businesses will be handing out candy for this familyfriendly Halloween event until they run out. 4-7 p.m., Oct. 28, downtown Columbia, free, 442-6816

Photography by Hillary Tan/Archive

SUN’S OUT,

TONGUE’S

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIA WU

OUT

Across the country, animal shelters are filling up. Haile is one of three adoptable dogs that the Central Missouri Humane Society brought to the Treats Unleashed Pet Expo in Columbia on Sept. 10. The humane society brought the dogs to the expo to meet people and find their fur-ever homes. CMHS is the only open-door shelter in Boone County, meaning it takes every animal brought in. Shelters across the country are taking in higher numbers of animals because of the increased cost of raising a pet. According to the Humane Society of the United States, 72% of renters own pets, and as rent prices skyrocket, it is putting a strain on both new and longtime pet owners.

photo finish