Riverfront Times, November 29, 2023

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Owner and Chief Executive Officer Chris Keating Executive Editor Sarah Fenske

E D I T O R I A L Managing Editor Jessica Rogen Editor at Large Daniel Hill Staff Writers Ryan Krull, Monica Obradovic Dining Critic Cheryl Baehr Theater Critic Tina Farmer Music Critic Steve Leftridge Contributors Aaron Childs, Max Bouvatte, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Cliff Froehlich, Eileen G’Sell, Reuben Hemmer, Braden McMakin, Tony Rehagen, Mabel Suen, Theo Welling Columnists Chris Andoe, Dan Savage Interns Alexia McCullison, Peter Cohen

A R T

COVER

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P R O D U C T I O N

Art Director Evan Sult Creative Director Haimanti Germain

The Cop Who Wouldn’t Testify A retired St. Louis detective says he’s too sick to testify at murder trials. Now those cases are falling apart.

Graphic Designer Aspen Smit

M U L T I M E D I A

A D V E R T I S I N G

Publisher Colin Bell Account Manager Jennifer Samuel Directors of Business Development Tony Burton, Rachel Hoppman

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

B I G

Cover illustration

L O U

H O L D I N G S

Executive Editor Sarah Fenske Vice President of Digital Services Stacy Volhein

ALEX BANDONI/PROPUBLICA

Digital Operations Coordinator Elizabeth Knapp

(Source images: B Brown/Shutterstock and the state of Missouri)

Director of Operations Emily Fear Chief Financial Officer Guillermo Rodriguez Chief Executive Officer Chris Keating

INSIDE Front Burner News Missouriland Feature Calendar Cafe Short Orders Reeferfront Times Culture Music Film Stage Out Every Night Savage

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N A T I O N A L

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FRONT BURNER

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20. In the most St. Louis move ever, officials acknowledge that they forgot to fill out the paperwork that would allow the city to tax cannabis — so now City Hall has to wait until January to start tacking on its taxes.

Happy days are here again (unless you care more about municipal revenue than getting high). Everyone’s up in arms about the trash around the railroad tracks north of downtown after former KMOV reporter Chris Nagus tweets video he filmed while riding the Polar Express. Perhaps next Nagus will film all the trash along the highways and someone will care about that?

Finally, St. Charles County leaders want to remove Bang Like a Porn Star: Sex Tips From the Pros from their libraries because people in St. Charles should instead bang like boring suburban yuppies.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21. It only took months of pressure, but Metro Transit now promises to fix its embarrassingly bad Call-A-Ride service — great news for riders with disabilities. There’s a tem-

Previously On LAST WEEK IN ST. LOUIS porary ceasefire at long last in Gaza but not in Dutchtown; a shooting suspect kills himself after a long standoff with police.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22. The whole world seems to have taken off work today, but not Fox News: They’re all wound up about a “terror attack” near Niagara Falls. Alas for ratings: It’s only a married couple in their $200K Bentley, touted to accelerate to 60 mph in just four seconds … which perhaps suggests mechanical failure as the reason for the car’s explosion. Never mind that, though: GOP pols immediately blame Biden and demand we close the borders.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23. The weather

is sunny and near-perfect. Happy Thanksgiving! The cherry on top is apparently Dolly Parton’s midriff, which the 77-year-old unveils at AT&T Stadium for the DallasWashington game to universal acclaim.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24. Derek Chauvin has been stabbed in prison, and while we decry prison violence, this couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Back home, the Post-Dispatch reports that former St. Louis Lambert International Airport Director Leonard Griggs has died. The guy built the $1 billion runway to nowhere and insisted on living in Chesterfield in defiance of city ordinance.

A classic St. Louis story. The paper also reports that a rising star GOP lawmak-

er has been accused of choking his girlfriend back when he was 17. Perhaps the only thing raising eyebrows in Jeff City is that these alleged transgressions by State Rep. Justin Hicks (R-Lake St. Louis) are a decade old. What’s he been up to lately? At Enterprise Center, the Blues are the turkeys; they get clobbered 8-3.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25. A hotel manager in Hazelwood is shot after trying to get two feuding patrons to leave the premises. Victor Fooks, 52, dies after being rushed to the hospital; both suspects now face multiple felonies. Meanwhile, the TV weather guys are hyping snow, but it looks like we’ll instead see a near-miss. (Phew!)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26. It’s one of the busiest days at the airport since 2019, but Lambert rises to the occasion. Not so the weather greeting returning St. Louisans: While there’s no snow, the wind is fiercely cold! Does this mean winter is finally here? We won’t allow it.

5 QUESTIONS for the Loop trolley’s documentarian Most people see the Loop trolley as a nuisance. For Webster University sophomore Carter Reeves, the little engine that never could is his muse.

Reeves started making a documentary about the trolley for a documentary production class, but soon found the topic deserved more than what he could pack into a 10-minute assignment. The budding filmmaker hopes to release a longer video, currently called “A Trolley Problem,” to the public sometime within the next few months.

We spoke with Reeves about all things trolley — and the challenge of understanding the full scope of one of the region’s most hated projects.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why make a documentary about the trolley?

I’m originally from southern Illinois and had no idea that there even was a trolley and no idea how many people had a problem with it. I was trying to find a topic for my documentary production class, so I did more research. The rabbit hole just kept getting deeper.

I’ve been doing interviews and trying to get a sense of all the opinions on this, what the history of this project is and how I can put that into a documentary.

What stories have you heard so far?

So far I’ve talked to Mark Loehrer, who works at the Missouri History Museum and colorizes black and white photos. From him and Emery Cox from the National Building Arts Center I got more of a historical side of things. I’ve learned a lot about the history of streetcars in St. Louis and public transportation. They also talked about how different the trolley is from the original trolley system in St. Louis.

It’s not for public transportation; it’s more of a tourist draw. Which is crazy, considering how much money has been put in the project. I think that’s a big reason why people have such an issue with it.

But I’ve heard good things, too. I recently interviewed the owner of Subterranean Books and she was very much in favor of the trolley.

Her sales doubled — which is much different from other stories I’ve heard. I have an interview coming up with Big Shark Bicycle Company, who used to be in the Loop. One of the main factors of them

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Carter Reeves’ school assignment turned into something bigger. | AUGUST CHISHOLM leaving was because of the trolley. Lots of differing opinions.

Well, what’s your opinion? Or are you trying to keep it neutral?

I’m definitely trying to keep it neutral. I’m very much just trying to soak up all the information.

What would you say is the central story of this documentary?

The story is something I’ve definitely struggled with finding. Usually with documentaries you have to have a beginning and an end.

The trolley is still an ongoing thing.

My plan is to go year by year and see how the project unfolded.

I’ve done research all the way to the 1800s, when St. Louis had omnibuses and horse-drawn trolleys. That’s my plan now — to divide it up by year.

Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you.

This project has been a huge undertaking, but I’m excited about it.

I’m realizing this is a very important topic to bring up in St. Louis.

Do you think you’ll get an A? I certainly hope so.

—Monica Obradovic

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WEEKLY WTF?!

This discarded car is just waiting for someone to claim it. | RYAN KRULL

BULK TRASH WATCH Where: an alley behind Spring Avenue near Wyoming, Tower Grove South When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday, November 5 What: a child’s car, outgrown and discarded yet still showing its partisan

loyalties Seriously, though: It’s like a dream from a more purple time.

Alas and alack: This car has been out of gas in Missouri for a few years now.

15 SECONDS OF FAME VIGILANTE OF THE WEEK

Shane Richmond

Another day, another St. Louisan turning to firearms when fisticuffs would do. Last week, an apartment building manager named Shane Richmond became the latest example of a guy ruining both his life and another man’s by opting for a gun.

Richmond told St. Louis police that he found a couple in a vacant unit in the building he manages in the city’s Carondelet neighborhood. He acknowledged the man was kneeling with his hands up. But then, in contradiction to the surviving eyewitness, Richmond alleged the man started moving toward him — and made “aggressive comments.” Only then, Richmond said, did he kill the guy.

Police didn’t buy it, not only because the survivor said Richmond shot “immediately,” but also because the forensic Shane Richmond. | COURTESY SLMPD evidence shows the victim, a 36-year-old Black man, was shot in the side. Richmond is now charged with murder.

Moral of the story: Especially if you’re a big, menacing-looking dude, you have options other than bloodshed. And Missouri law does not allow you to kill someone just to defend your (or your employer’s) property. Stand down!

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NEWS

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A Bad Bathroom Situation Made Worse Francis Howell students are pushing back on a proposal requiring them to use restrooms that align with the sex on their birth certificates

Student protestors have made their voices heard at board meetings. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

Written by

MONICA OBRADOVIC

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he names of school board members representing the Francis Howell School District weren’t familiar to some queer students in the district. Then a new board policy sought to control where they went to the bathroom.

The policy, proposed by board treasurer Jane Puszkar, would require students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with the sex on their birth certificates.

Supporters of the policy, including a conservative PAC that helped elect Puszkar, feel that the policy respects the privacy preferences of students and staff of all genders by mandating each school in the district to provide single-use restrooms.

But the people who the policy would directly affect feel far differently. They have spoken out to say the bathroom situation they face at school is already difficult — and that the new policy would make it much worse.

“It’s incredibly discriminatory, and it’s going to cause a lot of harm,” says Alexander Collins, a transgender senior at Francis Howell High School.

Where queer students can safely and comfortably go to the restroom has been a problem for years. But students say the new policy purporting to handle that problem, as well as resolve any issues their cisgender peers may have, is indicative of a larger cultural issue — one the policy would only exacerbate.

For the past month, the students, many of them younger than 18, have spoken to the school board during livestreamed meetings. It’s an odd situation to be in: Addressing adults from a podium to explain not only where they should have the right to go to the bathroom, but how difficult it already is to relieve themselves at school.

Collins, 18, says he’s dealt with medical issues in the past because he feared using the bathroom at school. Previously, Collins, who now only attends in-person schools for half days, says he would refrain from using the restroom for the entire school day. Sometimes, he says, he’d be at school from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. for theater activities and not go to the bathroom the entire time.

Doing so led to urinary tract issues.

“It’s definitely led to a couple medical issues for me and a couple other trans kids I know,” Collins says. “It’s pretty common for trans people to not use public restrooms whatsoever.”

Collins also says he’s received threats from other students and even was once assaulted in a women’s restroom at the high school (the same restroom the new policy would require him to use). Collins says he reported the incident, which involved a female student, but says it was mostly ignored.

“So the fact that they care about theoretical people being assaulted when real people have been assaulted, reported it and then basically told to go away is kind of horrendous,” Collins says.

Levi Hormuth, a junior at Fran-

Treasurer Jane Puszkar has led the charge on the bathroom proposal. | MONICA OBRADOVIC cis Howell High School, says he typically uses the restroom during class when there’s a high chance no one would be inside, but there have been times he just “couldn’t bear” to step inside a restroom, he says, out of fear that he’d get harassed or make someone uncomfortable.

“I’m currently being taught to just not care, but before, like in middle school or my freshman or sophomore years, I would have just held it. All day. All seven hours,” Hormuth says.

So-called exclusionary bathroom policies and laws have long been a point of focus in school board culture wars. That’s despite widespread guidance saying schools should allow gender diverse students and workers to use

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Alexander Collins shares his story. | MONICA OBRADOVIC facilities that match their gender identity.

The American Medical Association opposes preventing transgender individuals from accessing public facilities, including restrooms, that are in line with their gender identity. The American Academy of Pediatrics also encourages gender-affirming practices in regard to restrooms.

In addition to barring students from using bathrooms that do not match their birth certificates, Francis Howell’s proposed policy would mandate each school have at least one single-use restroom available to any sex or gender. It also makes a point to condemn any harassment or discrimination any student would face for choosing the singleuse restrooms. But it does allow administrators to discipline students if they “abuse” the restrooms and are chronically late to class.

There’s currently one single-use restroom at Francis Howell, according to students who spoke to the RFT. It’s in the nurse’s office on one end of the school — where it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get there and back to class during the school’s five-minute passing periods.

“I don’t have time to go to the bathroom,” Collins says. “If I do go to the bathroom during class, I’m missing like 10 minutes of instruction time, which isn’t fair to me when other students can miss two or three minutes.”

School buses also leave five minutes after school lets out, ac-

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FRANCIS HOWELL Continued from pg 9

cording to Hormuth. So there’s no time to go after class either.

Even if students had time to reach the one single-use restroom, it presents a dilemma for students who aren’t “out” yet, says Elaine Brune.

Brune spent 25 years in the Francis Howell School District as a teacher and administrator before they retired in 2013. Brune, who is nonbinary, says the district was generally accepting of queer people by the end of their tenure.

And a lot of the students are more open now, Brune says, “but to be singled out by having to use or not use a specific restroom is kind of distressing.”

That’s part of the reason why some LGBTQ+ individuals just avoid using the restrooms

altogether.

“Trans and nonbinary students, and even just some regular students, don’t eat and don’t drink during the entire school day so they don’t have to use the restroom,” Brune says.

Francis Howell’s proposal follows a letter that state Senator Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) sent to St. Charles Board of Education members in September. Schroer, along with 12 other St. Charles County lawmakers, urged St. Charles County school districts to adopt policies that would require students to use bathrooms that align with their biological sex or single-stall restrooms.

There are seven members of the Francis Howell School Board.

Five, including Puszkar, were elected in April 2022 and April 2023 with backing from Francis Howell Families, a Republicansupported PAC.

On its website, the PAC expressed broad support for the bathroom policy, saying that it ensured the preferences of transgender students would be respected by mandating single-use restrooms in every school.

“Policy 2116 also defends the privacy and safety of everyone else who abides by the biological sex on their birth certificate,” a post on Francis Howell Families’ website reads. It continues, referencing the debunked idea that some schools have provided litterboxes for students who identify as animals, “It mandates that only toilets and urinals can be used to dispose of human waste (in other words, no cat litter-boxes for staff to clean up).”

The board originally planned to vote on the policy on November 16. The matter was tabled, however, in order to provide board members more time to “obtain

SLU Speeds Up Demo Plans Preservationists cry foul, but the university seems determined to raze two historic Midtown buildings Written by

SARAH FENSKE

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he days appear numbered for two historic buildings in the heart of Midtown — and preservationists blame Saint Louis University for speeding up the timeline to demolish them.

The buildings at 3223 and 3221 Olive Street have garnered significant attention as among the only remaining vestiges of Mill Creek Valley, the African American enclave that flourished in early 20th century St. Louis. Vivian Gibson, a former resident of the neighborhood and author of the acclaimed memoir The Last Children of Mill Creek, previously told the RFT that the 130-year-old buildings sit just across the street from the area that was razed as part of a “redevelopment plan” that scattered neighborhood residents across the city.

In September, Saint Louis University confirmed that they’d applied for demolition permits for the site, but also suggested their plans were flexible, saying, “[T] he University is also seeking to engage parties interested in acquiring and redeveloping the properties.” A spokesman more recently confirmed that the city issued those permits on November 13.

But Andrew Weil, executive director of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, says that SLU’s plans to seek out a new buyer for the site appear no more than

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This colorized print shows the buildings in their midcentury heyday. | MARK LOEHRER “lip service” — and says the Jesuit university has made it all but impossible for an interested party to acquire the buildings before what he’s been told is now a deadline of just a few weeks.

In a letter to SLU President Fred Pestello November 20, Weil blasted the university for violating what he says was a “gentleman’s agreement” between Pestello and a Landmarks Association board member, Julius Hunter, to hold off on demolition until at least January 1.

As Weil explains it, Pestello and Hunter met on October 25. After that meeting, Hunter relayed that Pestello agreed to give the preservationists until January — and also agreed to let them tour the site to see its current conditions.

Originally, that tour was scheduled for November 3, Weil says. But SLU pushed it back until November 15. Then, while on site, SLU’s vice president for facilities said that “they wanted to have any

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kind of deal completely settled within 20 days” — a full month before year’s end, and, thanks to the interruption of the holidays, a seemingly impossible timeline for most real estate deals to close.

In his letter last week, Weil refers to the agreement with Hunter and begs for more time.

“We ask you to honor that agreement and not demolish the buildings prior to January 1, 2024. Landmarks Association implores you to see the forest rather than the trees and to change course,” he writes. “These buildings have stood for more than 130 years. During that time they have served many different purposes and survived periods of vacancy.

They can be revitalized for the benefit of students, visitors and Midtown at large.”

After the RFT first reached out for a comment two weeks ago, a Saint Louis University spokesman confirmed the timing of the permits being issued by the

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any additional information they deem applicable in making decisions around this issue,” Bertrand, the board president, wrote on Facebook.

Collins has just one semester of high school left in high school, but says he’s still scared about what this policy could do. Earlier this month, he testified against the policy at a school board meeting even though it wasn’t on the agenda.

“I’m terrified for them,” Collins says of his younger schoolmates.

“I’m mostly here just to make sure that they survive to graduate.”

Hormuth’s family plans to take legal action if the policy gets approved. His mom, Becky Hormuth, is a literacy coach at an elementary school in the district, and plans to take her son out of the school by the end of the year.

She says, “I do not want him back in the halls of Francis Howell.” n city, but did not provide additional context despite several follow-up attempts.

Weil notes at least one of the buildings is eligible for the Register of Historic Places, and says that his nonprofit has offered to write the nomination to get them listed pro bono, which would open up any project to tax credits. Even so, he says SLU has done nothing to market the site to developers beyond finally taking down the signage suggesting the buildings were for lease.

After Hunter’s meeting with Pestello, he reported back that it was the president himself who wanted action on the buildings, suggesting that Pestello sees them every day because they sit across from the parking garage he uses and that he considers them an eyesore. SLU seems to have no actual plans for the site.

“For now, they’ll just grade and seed — god knows, they have plenty of grade and seed,” Weil says.

Indeed, Weil notes that SLU has a long history of demolishing buildings near its campus, going all the way back to the 1950s and, yes, the Mill Creek neighborhood where Vivian Gibson and her siblings once lived. “Everybody thinks this was federal money that cleared Mill Creek, but SLU was responsible for a large part of it,” Weil notes.

That legacy continued under Father Lawrence Biondi, president of the university from 1987 to 2013.

“When I started at the Landmarks Association in 2007, he was attempting to tear down a large part of what we now know as the Locust Business District,” Weil says, referring to what’s currently one of St. Louis’ hottest neighborhoods for both tech companies and restaurants. “He succeeded with a number of buildings, and the only reason SLU didn’t succeed with more is that developers had snatched them up.” n

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MISSOURILAND

Let the Dames Begin Crack Fox patrons enjoyed both a burlesque game show and a dance party earlier this month Photos by

BRADEN MCMAKIN Words by

SARAH FENSKE

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t was a double bill of fun on Saturday, November 18, at the Crack Fox in downtown St. Louis. The burlesque game show All Fun and Dames kicked off the night at the inclusive bar, historically known for its goth patrons but now bringing in a young and diverse mix of St. Louisans of all affinities. Host Auralie Wilde kept the audience titillated, with the crowd participating in games between standout performances from the sexy Immodest Proposal troupe.

The T&A was followed by Sound Soiree, a soulful celebration of Chicago house music. Resident DJs Marquez Antonio, Larry Lust and Saylor Surkamp kept the dance floor full into the wee hours of the night. People drank, danced and channeled their energy into movement and laughter. n

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A C E L E B R AT I O N O F T H E U N I Q U E A N D FA S C I N AT I N G A S P E C T S O F O U R H O M E

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The Cop Who Wouldn’t Testify A retired St. Louis detective says he’s too sick to testify at murder trials. Now those cases are falling apart B y J E R E M Y KO H L

E R a n d RYA N

KRULL

with the problem head on, using did with Murphey’s.

Prosecutors routinely find ways to get key de- asInthey a city struggling to solve mur- their subpoena power to force

tectives to testify in criminal trials, even when they are retired, sick or otherwise reluctant. Some fly retirees in from Florida or other retirement locales when necessary. Others have said they use subpoenas to force detectives to take the witness stand.

But prosecutors in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office have been unable to get retired homicide detective Thomas W. Mayer Sr. into a courtroom, even though some of the cases Mayer investigated involved the murders of children — the sort of high-profile cases cops say they especially want to win.

Over the past two years, Mayer has told prosecutors he is unable to testify against two men he arrested after the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager; those cases crumbled. Prosecutors said he told them he’s not available to testify in the case against a teen accused of driving a car from which at least one passenger allegedly shot another teen who was in his own vehicle. And court records say Mayer has been unavailable to testify against a teen charged with the murder of a nine-yearold boy shot while riding in his family’s SUV while they were delivering food to his grandmother.

Mayer, who served as the Missouri president of the Fraternal Order of Police from 1998 to 2006, contends retired police officers should not be expected to testify, because “retirement is meant to be retirement.” And he said his doctor told him he’s too sick to testify,

though it’s not the first time Mayer has claimed illness has prevented him from carrying out his duties — and not the first time those claims have been questioned.

“If I were to be dragged back to court, with the stress level and heartbeat level — blump,” Mayer, 66, told a reporter during an interview at his home in rural southeastern Missouri, mimicking a collapse. “I don’t want that.”

Mayer’s position is in some ways similar to that of another retired St. Louis homicide detective, Roger Murphey. ProPublica and Riverfront Times reported last month how Murphey has refused to testify in at least nine murder cases because he was angry over policies of former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Unlike Murphey, Mayer said he was not holding out for political reasons. Still, prosecutors are facing the same challenges to keep his cases viable

ALEX BANDONI/PROPUBLICA (SOURCE IMAGES: B BROWN/SHUTTERSTOCK AND THE STATE OF MISSOURI)

ders in the first place, the refusal of police to take part in routine court proceedings compounds St. Louis’ criminal justice challenges and leaves victims shortchanged.

Mayer and Murphey also expose a vulnerability in how St. Louis police approach homicide investigations: They frequently rely on a single detective. But former prosecutors and homicide investigators in other jurisdictions said most police departments use multiple officers at every critical juncture of a case to reduce such vulnerabilities.

“When a homicide case is properly investigated, ideally there should be redundancies built into the investigation so you shouldn’t be reliant on a single police officer for any fact,” said Matt Murphy, who was a prosecutor in Orange County, California, for more than two decades and now works as a defense lawyer and legal commentator.

Mayer said departments should be prepared for retired detectives to be unavailable. “I regret that cases fell by the wayside, but there should be some kind of safety net,” he said in one of a pair of lengthy interviews. He said he believed prosecutors understood his health issues and said they have assured him that “they’re going to go on with other witnesses.”

How Mayer and Murphey have responded to their old murder cases raises questions about why city prosecutors have not dealt

them to court.

Doing so might result in messy trials, with Mayer or Murphey potentially becoming hostile witnesses. But forcing their hands would send a message to the police department that “there are police policy issues that have to get fixed,” said Brendan Roediger, a professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and director of its civil advocacy clinic.

The St. Louis police department did not respond to questions about Mayer and his cases. Marvin Teer, Circuit Attorney Gabriel Gore’s chief trial assistant and the prosecutor who has handled three of those cases, said he had to take Mayer at his word and didn’t have the authority to force him to reveal his medical records. He said Mayer’s health information was protected by privacy laws.

“Our biggest fear,” Teer said, “is he’s already indicated he doesn’t remember the cases because his medicine interferes with his ability to recall accurately. Why do I want to put a guy like that on?”

Teer also acknowledged, “In hindsight, I might have done things differently.”

St. Louis has one of the highest homicide rates in the country, with about 1,000 murders since the beginning of 2019. And some families of those who were killed say the refusal of two detectives to testify has compounded their pain.

Continued on pg 17

This story was produced in partnership with ProPublica

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WOULDN’T TESTIFY Continued from pg 15

After Jonathan Cruz, 19, was shot to death in 2021 by passengers in two separate cars, police arrested the alleged driver of one of those cars, Neptali Mejia. Court records show that Mejia provided a videotaped confession to Mayer, and that prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder. Mejia has pleaded not guilty and is currently under house arrest.

Cruz’s brother Ivan said he hoped Mejia’s arrest would lead the police to others involved in the crime. Mayer, he said in an interview, “gave me hope there was going to be justice and everyone responsible was going to be behind bars.”

Now the case is in trouble. Because prosecutors have said Mayer won’t testify, Mejia’s lawyer said he plans to ask the judge in the case to block the video recording of Mejia’s statements to Mayer from being admitted at trial.

Ivan Cruz, who said he has moved to another state out of fear of the people who shot his brother, said he was aware that prosecutors were having trouble reaching Mayer. Mayer, he said, “can bring a lot of peace and closure to the families that are suffering from all of this violence.”

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he notion that officers would not follow their cases to trial is anathema to many homicide detectives and prosecutors. They said retired police officers, despite generally not being paid for testifying in their old cases, hold a legal and ethical duty to participate at trial, the same as anyone with knowledge pertinent to a court case.

Retired Seattle homicide detective Cloyd Steiger said he belongs to a Facebook group of retired police officers. “I get messages from them sometimes saying, ‘Hey, I got a subpoena for this murder trial. Do I have to go?’” he said.

“And my answer is, ‘Yes, it’s unambiguous. Sorry, yeah, you gotta put your big-boy pants on and go down there and do it.’”

John Skaggs, a retired Los Angeles homicide detective who trains homicide squads around the country, said the thought that a homicide detective would refuse to testify for any reason “is foreign to me.”

He said he has brought witnesses into court in wheelchairs and even hospital beds because their testimony was so important.

He said he would do the same if

Joseph Renick is scheduled to be released in August 2025. | COURTESY SLMPD he was ill and his testimony was needed. “I’d come in with a medical doctor and a paramedic team, and they can revive me if I go out,” he said. “If I’m needed, I’m coming.”

Brian Seaman, the district attorney in Niagara County, New York, said he had to track down seven retired police officers — including two who had moved out of state — to testify in a 2021 trial over the strangling murder of a 17-yearold girl nearly three decades earlier. He won a conviction.

Seaman said that bringing back the retirees was a “logistics puzzle” but that his office “took great pride in their work and wanted to see the case through” to a trial.

He said if a retired officer is the only witness who can provide testimony about evidence, “it’s just expected that they be available.”

Officers do sometimes have legitimate medical reasons for missing court, experts noted. Or, particularly in cold cases, they may even be dead by the time a case comes to trial. That’s why it’s important that departments have multiple police witnesses for each piece of evidence collected in the investigation.

But in St. Louis, perhaps because the two detectives are alive and their absences cannot easily be explained to jurors, local prosecutors have tried to salvage what they can from them.

Some legal experts took issue with the circuit attorney’s office’s decision not to compel Mayer to court. Murphy, the former Orange County prosecutor, said it would be a “cop-out” for a prosecutor to say they couldn’t proceed with a case because a witness said they were sick. He said prosecutors can subpoena a witness to determine whether they have a valid medical reason not to testify.

Brian Potter was found not guilty of ordering the shooting of a 15-year-old. | COURTESY SLMPD

I

n the early morning hours of a Sunday in August 2019, Sentonio Cox became the 12th child that year in St. Louis to be killed by gunfire — and the third that weekend. The 15-yearold had been roaming around a south side neighborhood with a cousin, who was about the same age. The cousin told police later that someone had come out of a house and yelled at them to get off their property. He fled when he heard a gunshot.

The cousin guided the family to the last place he saw Sentonio.

Just after sunrise, they found Sentonio’s body in a vacant lot across the street with a gunshot wound to his head.

Mayer led the investigation, which culminated in the arrest of Brian Potter, who lived in a house across from the vacant lot, and Joseph Renick, who had been staying with him. Police and prosecutors alleged the men had confronted the teens after using a surveillance camera to spot them trying to break into a vehicle parked in front of the house.

According to police and court records in the murder cases, Mayer alleged that Renick pointed a revolver at Sentonio as the teen was backing away with his hands up.

Potter ordered Renick to “shoot this piece of shit,” and Renick fired one shot into Sentonio’s head. Renick and Potter pleaded not guilty.

Emails obtained through a public record request showed that prosecutors contacted Mayer several times to update him on the case as they prepared for the Renick and Potter trials. Mayer acknowledged in October 2021 that he had received a subpoena, according to the emails.

In January 2022, prosecutor Srikant Chigurupati emailed Mayer to say the trials were coming up

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and “we’ll obviously need you as a witness.”

Weeks later, prosecutors requested new trial dates, telling Judge Christopher McGraugh that Mayer was on leave from the department and they were unable to get him to testify. The judge denied the requests.

To buy more time to try to get Mayer to court, the Circuit Attorney’s Office in March 2022 dropped the cases and refiled them. Potter’s attorney said the move violated his client’s right to a speedy trial; Renick’s said it was an abuse of the criminal justice system.

By then, Mayer was approaching retirement and using his accumulated sick time. Mayer said he called in sick for several months in 2022, a common practice among St. Louis officers to maximize their payout for unused sick days, and left the department in September of that year, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65.

The trial of Potter began in August 2022. Without Mayer, the case against Potter rested on a single eyewitness who had told Mayer she heard Potter give the order to shoot. Potter had told Mayer he didn’t know Renick had a gun, and that the shooting had surprised him, according to testimony at the trial.

Potter’s attorney, Travis Noble, sought to undermine the credibility of that witness, according to the transcript. Noble’s questions during cross-examination revealed that the eyewitness had lied under oath in a previous case and suggested a possible hidden agenda for her implication of Potter: that Mayer had showered her with compliments, called her a hero and promised to intercede with her parole officer. She was on parole for drug trafficking.

Noble also challenged parts of the investigation as unethical and incomplete. In his opening statement, he noted that Mayer, the detective who wrote all the reports, wasn’t there in court but that jurors would instead hear testimony from another detective, Benjamin Lacy, who hadn’t written the reports.

In an exchange with Teer in court, Noble said he would reveal the reason for Mayer’s absence to the jury, insinuating there was more to the story. Out of earshot of the jury, Noble told the judge that he’d heard rumors that Mayer simply “doesn’t want to come back” to testify and said he wanted to ask Lacy about it on the stand, according to the trial transcript.

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WOULDN’T TESTIFY Continued from pg 17

“He said, ‘F the city of St. Louis,’” Noble told the judge. “He’s riding out, burning his sick time until he can retire.”

The judge said he was wary of derailing the trial by allowing the jury to hear questions about Mayer’s absence. He pointed out that another prosecutor had vouched for Mayer’s medical condition, and he had to accept it as fact. The judge told both sides to say Mayer was “not available.”

In cross-examination, Noble pressed Lacy for details that Mayer had not recorded in his report.

“I know this is not your investigation,” Noble said. “I’m not saying you were derelict the way you did it. This ain’t you. This is Mayer’s investigation, right?”

Lacy answered: “It is.”

The jury acquitted Potter after less than a day of deliberation.

“There was no evidence presented that seemed credible,” the jury foreman, Adam Houston, said in an interview. “Maybe the detective could have made the difference if he had been a credible witness, but it was just some really crappy pictures, a lot of hearsay and random people who are not trustworthy saying things you don’t feel were unmotivated by the things they might be getting out of testifying.”

A week before Renick’s murder trial was set to begin in June, Teer struck a deal for him to plead to involuntary manslaughter; under what’s known as an Alford plea, Renick maintained his innocence even as he conceded prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Renick was sentenced to 10 years in prison; under parole guidelines, he is scheduled to be released in August 2025.

While the judge said he didn’t typically discuss plea deals, he described Renick’s sentence as “extremely favorable.” If the case had gone to trial, he said, Renick could have faced life in prison.

Teer said he was “incensed” over how Mayer affected his cases.

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ayer lives far from where he once tried to solve some of the city’s most brutal crimes, in a home set in woods off a dirt road about 100 miles south of St. Louis. Reporters from ProPublica and the Riverfront Times interviewed him in front of his home in June and again in October, each time for about 90 minutes.

Mayer has told prosecutors that

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Prosecutor Marvin Teer has seen the outcomes of trials affected by Detective Thomas Mayer’s unwillingness to testify. | POOL PHOTO ROBERT COHEN he suffers from a heart condition, according to Teer. During the interviews, he said his physical decline should be plainly visible, and he repeatedly apologized for seeming groggy or forgetting key details, which he blamed on the medications he takes. He declined to share his medical records.

This is not the first time Mayer has claimed to be sick for extended periods, but he said that allegations he has abused sick time are false.

Before joining the St. Louis police force in 2005, Mayer worked for 24 years in the police department in St. Charles, a major St. Louis suburb. He also took on leadership roles with the FOP, and eventually became its statewide president, representing some 5,000 officers.

In 1995, the St. Charles chief, David King, wrote in an internal memo that Mayer had developed an attitude that “may be counterproductive to police efforts” after his work shift was changed, according to court records.

Mayer then called in sick for four and a half months, producing doctor’s notes that said he had shortness of breath and vocal cord spasms, according to court records. In a memo in January 1996, King noted that Mayer had been seen at an FOP dinner dance and was attending union-related meetings.

In 2003, some St. Charles City Council members wanted to trim Mayer’s benefits, including the 200 hours a year of paid leave he received to do union work. He filed a workers’ compensation claim for stress-related illness from the “constant and pervasive harassment” of the city council members, then called in sick for five months. His doctor noted that while Mayer was too sick to work,

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The murder case against Neptali Mejia is still working its way through the courts. | COURTESY SLMPD he was able to carry out his FOP duties, which carried “minimal stress,” according to medical records in court papers.

In May 2004, Mayer sued the city, the city administrator and all 10 council members, alleging they were harassing him and causing him health problems. The city countersued with a host of charges against Mayer, including repeated sick time abuse. It pointed to his work for the FOP and claimed that he was physically active.

Mayer was fired in April 2005, according to court records, then months later hired by the St. Louis police department. Mayer and the city of St. Charles agreed to drop their lawsuits, with the city agreeing to pay Mayer $57,000 and describe his departure in personnel records as a retirement, according to news reports.

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ourteen months into his retirement, Mayer recalled how he used to relish testifying in court, a task he called the “crowning jewel” of police

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work. He said he particularly enjoyed the results of his testimony: helping to send a defendant to prison.

But Mayer said he doesn’t want to think about the horrors of his old job. “That city was just a toilet, and the violence put on other people is just horrendous,” he said. “I don’t really want any involvement anymore,” he added. “I’m retired, you know — aging — and I have my kids and my grandkids.”

That attitude comes with a cost.

In the case against Neptali Mejia for the murder of Jonathan Cruz, Mayer’s reluctance to testify casts doubt on the prosecution’s ability to get a murder conviction.

Ivan Cruz said he fears the people involved in his brother’s death will become emboldened if Mejia is not convicted of murder.

He said he believes that potential co-defendants have seen Mejia on house arrest and “laugh about it and say the system is not going to do anything.”

In February, Judge Katherine Fowler granted a motion by Mejia’s lawyer, Mark Byrne, to exclude Mayer from testifying because prosecutors had not made him available for a pretrial deposition. Byrne noted in the motion that the prosecutor had told him and the judge months before that Mayer “has not been cooperative with prosecutions of cases in the City of St. Louis.”

Mayer was the only detective present when Mejia allegedly made statements that prosecutors say implicated him, and prosecutors have not disclosed any witness who could provide evidence against his client, Byrne wrote. It’s not clear if a prosecutor would be able to use the recording of Mejia’s statements at trial without Mayer appearing in court to testify about it.

Byrne said if the case were to go to trial, he would ask the judge to bar the recording because he would not have a chance to crossexamine Mayer about it.

“Any evidence they would try to put on and not have the lead detective is problematic,” he said.

“The lead detective has his hands on everything and directs people to do things as part of their investigation.”

Two weeks before publication of this story, Teer said he’d been “troubled for quite some time” about Mayer’s absence from the Mejia case. “You can expect that he’ll receive a subpoena from us,” Teer said.

“And if I have to arrest Tommy Mayer to bring him in,” he added, “then I will.” n

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CALENDAR

BY RIVERFRONT TIMES STAFF

THURSDAY 11/30 Get Lit One of St. Louis’ most beloved holiday traditions is back this month, as Brewery Lights at AnheuserBusch Brewery (1200 Lynch Street, 314-577-2626) brightens the night sky. This year, St. Louis’ premier purveyor of sudsy intoxicants is promising some exciting new features, including a 50-foot digital tree (there’s also a 22-foot tree if that’s more your speed). A new “dazzling light show” will take place multiple times each night and last for 10 minutes at a time, and Yule Groove performances take place twice nightly. Also, naturally, a new “state-of-the-art light display” extends the length of the brewery. But who are we kidding?

New features, old features — the true joy of Brewery Lights is participating in the same 38-year tradition that you enjoyed as a kid, marveling at the million colorful lights and the impressive brick buildings of one of America’s historic breweries. And here’s the kicker: Now that you’re an adult, you can drink while you’re doing it. The fun runs through December 30 with hours from 5 to 10 p.m. nightly. Tickets are $12 for adults 21 and older, and include one free beer. Kids under 5 get in free; attendees from ages 5 to 20 pay only $5. Parking is included with your ticket. And if you’d rather drive through the brewery, that’s totally free. You can do that every Monday through Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m. (Note that the drive-through is closed on November 29, December 4, 6, 12, 13 and 25.) Tickets and more info at brewerylights.com.

Slay Belles Nothing says “let’s celebrate the birth of the babe born from a virgin” more than a drag show. Right?

Alright, granted, a certain Missouri candidate for governor whose name starts with “Bill” and ends with “Eigel” would definitely disagree. But if he comes after this event again this year (as he did last year, the scrooge), you’re at least guaranteed a seat if you’re 18 or older. So fear not the inscrutable whims of authoritarian state ac-

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Cirque du Soleil’s first-ever Christmas show, ’Twas the Night Before, will bring its high-flying holiday antics to the Big Top this week. | MICHAEL LAST tors and grab yourself a ticket for this week’s A Drag Queen Christmas, hitting the Pageant (6161 Delmar Boulevard, 314-726-6161) this Thursday, November 30. The St. Louis stop is part of the longest-running drag show in America and features some of the country’s biggest queens, including host Miz Cracker and special guest Todrick Hall. The show starts at 8 p.m., and ticket costs vary depending on where you sit, ranging from $43.50 for general admission to $350 for the super close-up views. For more details, visit thepageant.com.

Fly Like a Flash The world’s highest-flying, most extravagant circus is coming to one of our best venues just in time for the holidays. ’Twas the Night Before is Cirque du Soleil’s first-ever Christmas show, kicking off this week at the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard, 314-534-1111).

Based on Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” from whose first line it takes its name, the show runs Tuesdays through Saturdays up through December 10 and features a “festive

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flurry of love and cheer created especially for families.” Showtimes vary by day; most start at 7:30 p.m., but there are also matinée performances on weekend afternoons.

Tickets start at $30. More details at fabulousfox.com

the National Blues Museum (615 Washington Avenue, 314-925-0016).

Come early and have a drink at the special pop-up bar — Club Fezzy, named for Scrooge’s jovial antithesis, Mr. Fezziwig, naturally — running alongside the show.

Hip-Hoppy Holidays SATURDAY 12/02 If you enjoyed the Walking XMas Carol that St. Louis Shakespeare Festival mounted in the Central West End during the pandemicplagued Christmas season of 2020, you’re going to absolutely love this year’s Q Brothers Christmas Carol. The walking version involved a self-guided tour of a series of evocative store window displays that included Q Brothers’ tracks spitting the highlights of Dickens’ classic novel. This time, the Shakespeare Fest is actually bringing us the Chicago-based Q Brothers in the flesh — the talented hip-hop duo’s very first time taking its show on the road. The fast-moving 80-minute play kicks off at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday nights through December 23. Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased at stlshakes.org.

This time, all the fun goes down at

riverfronttimes.com

Bizarre Bazaar With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, we’re thoroughly in the frenzy of the holiday season, which means one thing for just about everyone: It’s shopping time.

Yes, you could wait until the last minute and pay a high delivery fee to order something generic online that your giftees could have picked up for themselves at half the price.

Or, of course, you could get them a beautiful piece of art made by a St. Louisan at the Print Bazaar on Cherokee Street. The event, which is now in its 16th year, brings print artists of all stripes — as well as their woodcuts, etchings, letterpress, screen prints, lithography and printed fabrics — to St. Louis’ most artful street. There will be

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 6

Todrick Hall is one of the stars performing at A Drag Queen Christmas. | VIA MN2S MANAGEMENT

Das Bevo’s White Christmas Sing-A-Long will bring the 1954 classic to life. | POSTER ART

Cherokee Street’s Print Bazaar is a one-stop shop for all your gift-giving needs. | DMITRI JACKSON more than 30 venues hosting 100plus artists along the street, so you can pop into everything from a brewery to, say, a garden store, and walk out with a cool piece of unique art and also a monstera, making the day a double win.

But the joy isn’t just in the convenience. Walking down the street and popping in and out of stores is an event in and of itself, one that reminds you that you’re blessed to live in a city affordable enough to draw a large artist population but big enough to support nifty neighborhoods. The event begins at 11 a.m. this Saturday, December 2, and runs until 6 p.m. Admission is free. More information at

cherokeeprintbazaar.com.

SUNDAY 12/03 (Warm) Welcome to the Jungle Whether it is the existential threat of current global wars or the very real anxiety of the holiday season, there is a lot to be stressed about right now. Lucky for all of us, the Center of Creative Arts, a.k.a. COCA (6880 Washington Avenue, 314-7256555), is hosting a group meditation event at its Eternal Jungle art exhibition to relieve us of the tension we’re all surely feeling. If not

for the immersive installation by artist Jasmine Raskas, come for the tranquil sounds of jungle life that will offer a unique opportunity for self-reflection and tranquility. Participants will also have a chance to meet Raskas before and after the meditation to further engage with this local artist. Raskas will be available to meet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and meditation sessions will run from 11:30 a.m. to noon on Sunday, December 3, and the following Sunday, December 10. The event is free and open to all ages and experience levels. For more information on Raskas and her COCA exhibit, visit jasmineraskas.com/eternal-jungle.

WEDNESDAY 12/06 Windmills Sing, Are You Listening?

If the delights of 1954’s White

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Christmas put you in the mood for a cozy lodge with a roaring fireplace and beautiful people singing tunes like “Sisters,” “Snow” and of course the title track, you’d best head to Das Bevo (4749 Gravois Avenue, 314-832-2251) this Wednesday, December 6. During the White Christmas Sing-ALong, the Busch family’s old windmill ought to beautifully evoke the Vermont ski lodge commandeered by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye — and here, Vera-Ellen’s legs will again get the big screen they deserve. Sing along to all of Irving Berlin’s bangers with your neighbors and soon-to-be-friends beginning at 7 p.m. (Kitchen opens at 6 p.m.) We’re assured no one will blame you if you get up and start hoofing it during “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” so that’s a relief. Purchase your $10 ticket in advance at dasbevo. com/events/white-christmas-singa-long-2. n

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CAFE

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GOTham and Eggs offers a selection of classic breakfast and lunch options developed from its owners’ long history of frequenting and loving diners. | MABEL SUEN

Zap, Pow, Smash GOTham and Eggs answers South Grand’s bat signal for outstanding diner fare Written by

CHERYL BAEHR GOTham and Eggs 3139 South Grand Boulevard, 314-8338355. Mon.-Tues. 7 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

S

hani Knight likes to joke that the real reason she agreed to open GOTham and Eggs with her husband, Jason, is because she wanted her house back. Prior to opening the

South Grand superhero-themed diner, the only venue for Jason’s massive, mostly Batman-themed collection was their home. When you see the restaurant, you understand why their rooms were overflowing. The space is as much a museum as it is a diner, with every last inch covered in comic books, figurines, posters, a lifesized Batman figure, artwork and any other collector’s item you can dream of. It’s a passion that’s been a part of Jason’s life for years, and one that’s grown over time to include some sort of daily Batman nod in his wardrobe. If she’d only let him open a superhero-themed diner, Shani figured, she could reclaim their home and bask in all the extra space.

For all of her joking, Shani was actually excited when Jason came up with the idea to open a restaurant together. As she recalls, it was New Year’s Day 2023, and

the pair were enjoying breakfast at one of the diners they frequented when Jason, seemingly out of nowhere, looked at her and said, “We could do this.” Pressed on what he meant by “this,” Jason began dreaming out loud about what they could do with a space of their own. Having spent most of his career working in fast-casual restaurants, he was ready to do his own thing, and because of his and Shani’s longstanding tradition of going out to breakfast on the weekends, he knew they had a good reference point for what would work. Before they knew it, they were coming up with menu ideas, sketching out a concept and looking at places to bring their vision to life.

The South Grand storefront where GOTham and Eggs is located was particularly attractive to the Knights thanks to its longstanding history as the be-

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loved City Diner. The restaurant, which closed without warning in August of 2022, was their regular haunt, and they felt it was important to make sure that the building’s legacy as a community gathering spot remained intact. When they first looked at the space, the landlord was planning to subdivide it into two different businesses, but even though it was a stretch for their budget, Knight and Jason felt it was important to the diner’s history to keep it whole. They signed the paperwork in March and welcomed their first guests in August.

Even so, the Knights do not see their restaurant as a continuation of City Diner; they believe that, despite some rough spots during its last few years in business, it was a special place that should stand in its patrons’ memories.

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GOTHAM AND EGGS Continued from pg 23

In that spirit, they see themselves as stewards of what the original owners created: a daytime gathering spot for the neighborhood where people can come as they are for straightforward yet thoughtfully prepared breakfast and lunch dishes. Though they understand there will be comparisons, the pair have been excited to put their own touch on things, and in the process, have created a new restaurant that is destined to be as beloved as its predecessor.

Consider the Robin’s Nest, a GOTham and Eggs breakfast signature that starts with a bed of crispy, seasoned waffle fries that are smothered in diced bell peppers and onions, seasoned milk gravy and crumbles of sage-scented breakfast sausage. It’s then topped with an over-easy egg, and the yolk mixes in with the gravy, forming a rich melange that coats every bite of a dish that can be best described as a fry-based version of a slinger.

For slinger purists, GOTham and Egg’s version is shocking in that it balances being deeply satisfying without making you feel disgusting. Credit goes to Knight’s recipe for vegan chili, a rich concoction chock full of various beans and vegetables that has the rich flavor profile of chili without the grease.

You can keep the dish completely vegetarian, paring the chili with cubed potatoes, bell peppers, onions and an egg, or you can add beef to it. Either way, it’s mindblowingly delicious and does not require you to immediately take a nap.

GOTham and Eggs’ country fried steak, on the other hand, is a hearty dish, featuring a thinly pounded beef cutlet coated in crisp, peppery breading and deep-fried. The restaurant’s signature milk gravy, infused with a hearty amount of thyme and black pepper, coats the deepfried steak. A side of biscuits and gravy, covered in optional pork sausage crumbles, adds to the decadence.

Pancakes are exactly what you want from a diner — golden, slightly fluffy and crisped up around the edges. The restaurant’s signature sweet breakfast option is the French toast rolls, which, on my visit, were stuffed with cream cheese and strawberries, rolled up, deep-fried and coated in cinnamon and sugar. The result is a glorious handheld offering that’s like a fruit- and cheese-stuffed

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No diner would be complete without a selection of decadent shakes and smoothies. | MABEL SUEN

Jason and Shani Knight are the co-owners of GOTham and Eggs. | MABEL SUEN churro. However, you don’t need the fillings to make GOTham and Egg’s French toast exceptional.

The kitchen amps up its version by deep-frying it and coating it with cinnamon sugar the moment it comes out of the fryer so that it clings to every surface. This is the one recipe the Knights carried over from the original City Diner, and it’s clear why they were insistent on keeping it around.

GOTham and Eggs offers sev-

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eral lunchtime dishes as well, including a surprisingly wonderful quinoa bowl, which pairs the lemon-dressed grain with avocados, onions, cucumbers and blueberries. It’s a refreshing counter to the restaurant’s heartier items, such as the Philly cheesesteak, which is more like grilled cheese stuffed with chopped steak and onions.

Served on buttery griddled sourdough, the sandwich is over-

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stuffed with gooey provolone and mouthwatering seasoned, chopped steak, which caramelizes around the edges like the lacy edges of a perfect smashburger.

And the restaurant’s actual smashburger? Such a flawlessly executed sandwich is the embodiment of everything you want from the form. Perfectly seasoned meat that is juicy in the center and crispy around the edges, gooey American cheese that oozes into every crevice, a pillow-soft bun — it’s no wonder that a gentleman who was uncannily reminiscent of Sam Elliott’s “The Stranger” from The Big Lebowski declared to me and my dining companion that it’s the best burger he’s had this side of Dodge City, Kansas.

Something about his comment, his cowboy hat and his gravelly voice made me feel like I was in a film. Then again, I think the fact that I was surrounded by a Comic-Con’s worth of vintage superhero memorabilia made the scene all the more surreal. I suppose I can understand, then, why Shani Knight wanted a different vibe for her house. And thank goodness she did: South Grand is all the more delicious for it. n

GOTham and Eggs Robin’s Nest ��������������������������������������$12�50 Peter’s French Toast Platter �������������$10�50 Double smashburger�������������������������$10�50

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[FIRST LOOK]

Coffee Community Vegan coffee shop Looking Meadow Cafe builds upon its sizable following at its new Maplewood brick and mortar Written by

KASEY NOSS

L

ooking Meadow Cafe (2500 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; lookingmeadowcoffeeco.com) might have only opened its doors in late September, but owner Jamie Herman served her first cup of coffee long before that.

The road to Herman’s brickand-mortar venture has been full of twists and turns. From October 2020 to July 2021, she ran a popup vegan coffee shop under the name Looking Meadow Coffee Co. out of a remodeled vintage camper. Herman’s original intention was simple: to sell coffee. She had never considered herself a baker and, as a registered nurse, had no professional culinary experience (though she’d logged plenty of time cooking for her family of six).

But Herman has never been one to limit herself: After witnessing the high demand for the vegan baked goods she had begun to resell from the camper, she decided to dabble in their creation herself. Today, a coffee from Looking Meadow would be incomplete without one of her vegan apple fritters or frosted donuts.

After the camper was wrecked in July 2021 — and its replacement unfortunately wrecked just two months later — Looking Meadow set up shop every Saturday at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.

Herman’s plant-based creations became so popular that she finally decided to open the storefront in Maplewood, nestled on the corner of Lyndover Boulevard and Sutton Place.

“The funny story that everyone knows is that I found a new camp-

Work from local artists lines the walls at Looking Meadow Cafe. | KASEY NOSS er in September of that year, and I brought it home from Kansas City that night, and we were going to move it in the morning for storage, and a young person ran right into it and totaled it within a few hours with me owning that,” Herman recalls. “So I just did the farmers’ market, festivals, that kind of thing, while I figured [things] out.

I knew I probably wanted a cafe.”

The process of opening the cafe has been a “whirlwind,” Herman says, but a gratifying one. An avid animal lover, Herman went vegetarian as a preteen; as time went on, she grew more invested in animal rights and made the leap to veganism. In Looking Meadow Cafe, Herman combines her love of cooking and her passion for “all things vegan,” with delicious results.

“It just feels awesome to have people in here eating my food and saying they enjoy it,” Herman says. “Hopefully, some people who aren’t vegan are choosing a vegan meal over eating an animal or eating meat for that meal.”

One of her favorite dishes to cook — and one of her most popular — is her biscuits and gravy, just one of the many menu items at Looking Meadow Cafe that got their

start at Herman’s dinner table.

“It’s just surreal. Like, ‘Oh, wow, this dish I’ve made at home so many times for friends and family — people are paying me for this!’”

Herman says.

Other notable lunch platters include plant-based versions of a French dip, tuna melt and Cobb salad. Herman says her quiches are also hard to keep in stock.

Aside from brunch, sweet treats and the usual coffee-house beverages, Looking Meadow Cafe offers seasonal specialty lattes crafted with house-made syrups: Right now she’s offering a Sweet Potato Pie, Oatmeal Breakfast and Blueberry Coffee Cake.

Herman’s love for community — of her own family and friends and of St. Louis at large — shines through in every aspect of Looking Meadow Cafe. The emeraldgreen walls were painted with the help of one artist friend, while another helped her redesign the logo and another pitched in her woodworking skills. Another, local artist Holly Meinert, painted the delicate pattern of strawberry vines that covers one wall and the elaborate wildflowers that decorate the bathroom; her paintings, as well as those of other local art-

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ists, are on display throughout the cafe. In one room, a small stage is set up for the local musicians Herman occasionally brings in. Many of the customers are Tower Grove Farmers’ Market regulars whom Herman knows by name, and a new band of regulars is already forming around the cafe itself.

“It’s so cool that people can be so kind and loyal to us,” Herman says. “It’s especially cool when they’re not even vegan, either.”

Meanwhile, Herman tries to give back to the community by sourcing her raw materials locally where she can — something she says has been difficult in the colder months. She also hopes to join a food-share program where the cafe could donate its leftover food.

“We’re trying to train to keep money that we’re spending on vendors as local as we reasonably can,” Herman says. “We want to make sure that if we are profiting off the community, we are giving back as well.” n Looking Meadow Cafe is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m Wednesday through Monday. For more information, visit lookingmeadowcoffeeco.com or @ lookingmeadowcafe on Instagram.

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[DRINKS NEWS]

The (Not So) New Kid Goodwood Brewing returns to Missouri with a location in downtown O’Fallon Written by

TONY REHAGEN

T

here’s a new brewery coming to metro St. Louis. Goodwood Brewing and Spirits says it plans to open its doors at 108 South Main Street in downtown O’Fallon, Missouri, in late January 2024.

Well, Goodwood isn’t actually “new.” The company has been around for almost 20 years and has six restaurants/taprooms in cities as far-flung as Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Kentucky cities Lexington, Frankfort, Owensboro and its headquarters in Louisville. But Goodwood isn’t a chain like Rock Bottom, RAM or Gordon Biersch; it’s as independent and centrally owned as any other craft brewer. In fact, it once distributed its beers in stores here in Missouri.

Goodwood’s launch of a satellite location on the west side of the Mississippi River is just the latest example of a model that has been gaining momentum in the craftbeer business in recent years. Instead of growing its name via the traditional route of only shipping cans and kegs to retail outlets in other states and hoping drinkers will take note, more and more brewers are taking matters into their own hands. They’re trying to gain “share of mind” organically by familiarizing locals with their brand and brews by serving them straight from their own taps.

“Shelf space at the grocery store hasn’t increased; it’s actually decreased,” says Ted Mitzlaff, Goodwood CEO. “Everyone is competing for the same spot. It’s become harder as an out-of-state brewery to get a foothold.”

Goodwood has learned this lesson through experience. The company started in 2005 when Mitzlaff and four partners bought the production arm of Bluegrass Brewing Company, or BBC, which had been running a chain of Louisville brewpubs since 1993. Mitzlaff and company brewed, bottled and

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Goodwood Brewing will open a location at 108 South Main Street in O’Fallon, Missouri, early next year. | COURTESY GOODWOOD BREWING

The new location will include a spacious patio, like this one. | COURTESY GOODWOOD BREWING kegged BBC beers for distribution.

But after a decade of cultivating a brand they didn’t own, the group decided to rebrand as Goodwood in 2015. Soon, Goodwood beer was in stores and bars in 16 states (including Missouri), and its new bourbon was in three.

Then, in 2014, Goodwood started doing some light food service at its Louisville tasting room and noticed that its revenues quickly tripled. “Basically, the lesson was bar grub keeps butts in seats,” Mitzlaff says. “It was a big learning experience for us.”

Full-service brewpubs followed in Frankfort and a second Louisville location. COVID-19 hit pause on the expansion strategy, but Goodwood’s packaging experience and infrastructure ensured its survival by getting beer to

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drinkers hunkered down at home.

And when the shutdowns lifted and thirsty patrons emerged, there were plenty of abandoned restaurants and taprooms that had not been so lucky in cities such as Lexington (a closed Mellow Mushroom), Indianapolis (an old RAM Brewery) and Columbus (a former Gordon Biersch) just waiting for Goodwood to claim them.

At the same time, the company scaled its packaged beer distribution back to only eight states, including pulling out of Missouri.

(Meanwhile, it expanded to 16 states with the bourbon.) “With beer distribution, everyone went hyper-local,” Mitzlaff says. “Distributors decided they were only going with local craft, certainly nothing from out of state.”

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So essentially Goodwood decided to become local in the places it wanted to reach.

Yes, the parent company is based in and named after cooperage from Kentucky. The beers on tap, such as the crisp Louisville Lager and the oaky Bourbon Barrel Stout (because, of course, Kentucky), will be familiar to beer geeks who’ve sojourned to the Derby City and will be brewed in other states, at least for the time being. And granted, there are sister locations serving the same brews and food in other cities.

But Mitzlaff says that the St. Louis brewing community and, perhaps more importantly, its civilian neighbors, have been welcoming.

The latter is due in part to the fact that Goodwood is fixing up a downtown O’Fallon institution, the old red-brick mercantile building that dates back to the 1860s and most recently housed McGurk’s Irish Pub. In addition to historic surroundings, the location features a spacious patio for al fresco dining, and Goodwood is outfitting the interior with new lighting, a modern audio system and TVs for sports. Upstairs, there will be Airbnb/Vrbo units for beer tourists, with discounts for brew and grub downstairs. And Mitzlaff says the basement is ideal for a two- to five-barrel brewing system that could one day produce small-batch beers exclusive to the O’Fallon market.

But until then, this is a chance to meet (or get reacquainted with) the (not exactly) new beer in town. n

Dirty 20 Nerd Bar is taking over the space that previously held a Hotshots franchise. | COURTESY JASON MOUGHTON

CROCE PLAYS CROCE

[FOOD NEWS]

A D&D Hub

Written by

SARAH FENSKE

F

or as long as Jason Moughton can remember, he wanted to open a restaurant. But it wasn’t until 2019 when that dream kicked into high gear — because that’s when Moughton found Dungeons & Dragons.

In falling in love with the tabletop game, Moughton and his wife, Ruth Camburn, were just a bit ahead of a very big curve. The nearly 50-year-old game saw a big resurgence of interest after COVID-19 shut down large-scale events. Just about everybody seemed to be playing Dungeons & Dragons, and the couple saw a business opportunity.

“We talked to other people who play Dungeons & Dragons, and one of the great struggles is a place to play specifically,” Moughton says. “People may be living at their parents’ home or have a small apartment. You need room for miniatures and maps. There’s an exciting aspect to see it all laid out.”

While businesses such as Fantasy Shop or Miniature Market allow players to set up at tables on site, the food options are limited, to say the least. “If there is access to food, it’s vending machine food — chips or a soda,” he says.

They thought they could do better. And early next year, they hope to open just that gaming mecca, a “nerd bar” they’ve named Dirty 20. They’ve taken over a space that previously held a Hotshots franchise, at 14051 Manchester Road in Ballwin, and are doing some remodeling.

(It’s mostly cosmetic, Moughton notes, though he allows that “the cooler was straight out of a horror movie.)

Their plan is to offer customizable

FEATURING A.J. CROCE

OF IMPRACTICAL JOKERS

Y98’S DECK THE HALL BALL

COUNTESS CABARET STARRING LUANN DE LESSEPS

sUN, DEC 3

Dirty 20 Nerd Bar will offer games, customizable mac-and-cheeses, a full bar and more in Ballwin

Jason Moughton and his wife, Ruth Camburn. | COURTESY JASON MOUGHTON mac-and-cheeses — “you pick the cheeses, the proteins, the vegetables,” Moughton says. There will also be standard bar fare and salads, along with a full bar.

Mead is apparently huge with the D&D crowd, so that will be one of the drink options. But Moughton is quick to say that Dirty 20 will not only be about D&D. “We’re not going to discriminate,” he says. “We had someone ask, ‘Do you mind if I brought my friends and played bridge?’ If you want to play bridge, if you want to bring mah-jongg tiles, you can play anything you want.”

That said, he’s hopeful they can provide one thing that feels lacking at Pieces, the board game cafe in Soulard he otherwise considers one of his favorite places: “There’s not really a space to spread out if you want to play bigger board games.

We’re going to offer that.”

Moughton has spent years preparing for this moment, including 12 years at QuikTrip and his current stint as a bartender at Bristol Seafood Grill in Creve Coeur. Even so, he’s being practical about the bar’s opening; he’ll keep his bartending job initially, while Camburn focuses full-time on the restaurant. “The plan is to keep that job until we can afford to pay me a salary,” he says.

He hopes to be open by March, and who knows from there. “We’ve been working on this hardcore for about two years now,” he says. “It’s definitely exciting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” n

JAMES “MURR” MURRAY

FEAT. TRAIN, PHILLIP PHILLIPS, AND JP SAXE

SAT, DEC 9

THU, DEC 7

OF REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY

SUN, DEC 10

HOLIDAY SHOW!

SAMARA JOY: A JOYFUL HOLIDAY TUE, DEC 12

HOLIDAY SHOW!

KENNY G THE MIRACLES HOLIDAYS & HITS TOUR

WED, DEC 13

HOLIDAY SHOW!

HOME FREE

KARLOUS MILLER SAT, DEC 16

Thu, DEC 14

ON THE PROWL WINTER HOLIDAZE TOUR

STEEL PANTHER

PLUS MOON FEVER

SUN, DEC 17

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CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA NYE WEEKEND

ZEDS DEAD

PLUS RUSKO & HEYZ

FRI, DEC 29

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REEFERFRONT TIMES

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[REVIEW]

High Rate The Connoisseur Pack pits top flower from local cultivars in a blind test for the best Written by

AARON CHILDS

T

his October, I unveiled a new initiative from my company, Cannabis Cult, a sampler dubbed the Connoisseur Pack, at Greenlight’s Underground event in Independence. I’d first gotten the idea to put together a sampler pack in September, and I then approached some of the best local cultivators — Greenlight, Local Cannabis Co., VIBE Cannabis, Vivid — about contributing their flower to the effort. The idea was to craft an experience that fostered pure, unbiased feedback, ensuring that cultivators could genuinely align with the impressions of their audience. To that end, at the event, attendees judged the pack blind using our Cannabis Cult rating system: structure, bud size, moisture, stickiness, aroma, flavor, smoothness and effects. But I couldn’t let them have all the fun. I decided I would take part and review each strain included exclusively for the RFT. The first entry, Strawberry Gary

by VIBE, is a beautiful cultivar — a fruity strain with a predominant berry flavor nuanced by a hint of gas. Aroma-wise, this was one of my highest-rated strains, a delight among a collection of impressive contenders. Originating from Exotic Genetix, this hybrid of Gary Payton and Red Pop genetics delivered an experience reminiscent of an indica-dominant hybrid, with a smooth, almost citrusy taste. It was relaxing without tipping into lethargy, making it versatile for both day and evening activities, depending on dosage. Visually, the buds were a spectacle — drenched in trichomes and boasting vibrant hues of purple and green. The prominent terpenes of this strain are caryophyllene and limonene.

Next was Vivid’s Florida Kush — a strain that has quickly become one of my personal favorites, es-

Attendees at an event at Greenlight Marijuana Dispensary in Independence judged the strains using Cannabis Cult’s rating system. | AARON CHILDS pecially for nighttime use. Echoing sentiments from my colleague Graham Toker’s RFT review, this indica-dominant strain was both gassy and OG, with sweet, earthy undertones enhancing its flavor.

While not outwardly flamboyant compared to the other submissions, its true prowess was revealed in its texture — sticky, dense and perfectly moist. Florida Kush’s top terpenes are limonene, linalool and caryophyllene. I also tried Vivid’s unique strain-specific rosin gummies created from Florida Kush before leaving after the event in Independence, and ended up sleeping for nearly the entirety of the three-hour drive back to St. Louis. It was definitely a testament to the sedative properties of this strain, and why I would recommend it for sleep troubles.

Local Cannabis’ Ice Cream Cake was the third sample, a frosty strain that not only clinched the highest rating in the Connoisseur Pack but also boasts dual victories at Northern California’s Emerald Cup in 2019 and 2021. The aroma and flavor profile was an enticing

I wanted to craft an experience that fostered pure, unbiased feedback, ensuring that cultivators could genuinely align with the impressions of their audience.

for nighttime relaxation as it was for daytime stress relief, offering a euphoric lift in smaller doses.

Greenlight’s Motorbreath made an impression with its intricate scent profile and color, weaving together notes of pine and earth with a potent kick of chem and fuel, living up to its name.

The buds, tinged with a striking light-green shade, have the dominant terpenes caryophyllene and myrcene, which contribute to the strain’s uplifting effects — a highlight for me. Perfect for daytime enjoyment, it provided a mood boost and a sense of relaxation without any hint of sleepiness.

Those who experience Motorbreath frequently speak of feeling “happy,” “relaxed” and “uplifted,” and I can see why. n

mix of sweet cake with gassy notes, a combination that also earned it the highest jar appeal and structure rating. Linalool and limonene are the most relevant terpenes to this cultivar, similar to Florida Kush, with caryophyllene present as well. This strain was as effective

The Connoisseur Pack is for sale at special events at participating dispensaries for $120. The next will be on Friday, December 15, and Saturday, December 16, at Greenlight (1729 East Seventh Street, Joplin).

Individual strains are also available at area dispensaries.

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CULTURE

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Elena Jenkins began painting seriously in 2018 and hasn’t looked back. | JESSICA ROGEN

[VISUAL ART]

Nursing an Artistic Spirit Elena Jenkins is both a full-time health care worker and a painter whose large-scale portraits dazzle Written by

JESSICA ROGEN

I

t’s impossible to miss the painting when walking into Tower Grove South’s Drip Community Coffeehouse. It’s not just that it’s large. It also exudes power — which is really what catches the eye.

It’s a portrait of a woman from the shoulders up. She’s Black, wearing a green hoodie and gazes out at the viewer with serious but seemingly calm eyes. Her mouth is covered by an American flag contoured to the shape of her face.

Titled “They May Tame The Flesh, But They May Not Tame The Spirit: We Will Not Be Silent,” the painting is by St. Louis artist Elena Jenkins, and the model is her daughter.

She says the painting was inspired by the MeToo movement and the women’s rights activism she witnessed around it. “Just watching what was happening

around me and thinking about my daughter — I have three daughters,” she says. “I know her eyes so well, but they speak volumes like, she’s being muzzled but is not going to be silent.”

Created in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was Jenkins’ first oil painting; she had worked mostly with acrylics since picking up painting seriously in 2018. Like most of her work, it’s imbued with meaning drawn from Jenkins’ life and passions: a labor and delivery nursing manager at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, she’s ardent about everything from the fight to improve Black maternal health to protecting young, Black men from the violence in the U.S. She mostly paints portraits, and her subjects tend to stare out at the viewer with eyes filled with meaning. You can see this in Jenkins’ “Broken Promises,” which depicts a young Black woman set against a fire-filled background with a tattered American flag behind her. She’s frowning, and her eyes are fierce, a brown-red that seems to reflect the blaze behind her.

Jenkins painted this during COVID-19 as wildfires seemed poised to overtake the country.

“It just felt like everything was just going nuts,” she says. “Everything that we took for granted in this country was being turned on its head, so that’s why the tattered flag and wanting that resilience to come through. I feel like that’s a lot of what shows in the eyes.”

Oftentimes, Jenkins starts with

Jenkins painted this portrait of her daughter during the MeToo movement. | COURTESY THE ARTIST an idea and then might tap a family member or friend as a model.

But she also finds inspiration wherever it strikes. Recently, as she worked on a series for a local nonprofit, Jenkins came across a woman holding her baby at the bus stop and asked permission to take her photo for a future painting. She did the same after seeing another mom holding her daughter in the park.

“I can see the painting in my head before I take the picture,” Jenkins says. “So it’s really easy to pick the subject.”

Recently, she’s been working on a series about maternal health for Black mothers and hopes to help raise awareness of the issues and elevate those who are working to decrease disparities.

This overlap between art and health-care advocacy might be surprising — until you hear that they’ve been twin passions for Jenkins almost her whole life.

Ever since she was 14 growing up in Seattle, Jenkins has been “dead set on” being both a nurse and an artist.

She comes from a family of health-care practitioners, but her formative moment came after her cousin shared experiences of working as a candy striper, as teenage hospital volunteers used

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to be called, and holding a newborn withdrawing from substance use. That certainty held through nursing school and clinicals and even after Jenkins entered the workforce.

It was in Seattle that Jenkins met her now-partner LaTosha Baker, who is the driving force behind the couple’s recently opened coffeehouse in Tower Grove South.

Helping run Drip Community Coffeehouse, painting and working as a nurse is a lot — especially because Jenkins is also working on her doctorate of nursing practice at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“It’s pure comedy,” she says of balancing it all. “But I like challenges, and I’m really passionate about a lot of things.”

When Jenkins wraps up that degree, she has another challenge in mind: She’d like to open a birth center and step back from the bedside to become an administrator after 20 years of working in labor and delivery.

Plus, she says, that might give her more time to work on her art.

“That’s my passion,” she says. n See more of Jenkins’ work at cobygallery.net. Prints of her paintings are available for purchase and begin at $150.

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MUSIC

[BRASS BANDS]

Top of the Second Line For 19 years, Funky Butt Brass Band has been St. Louis’ go-to act for classic New Orleans party vibes Written by

STEVE LEFTRIDGE

T

he members of the Funky Butt Brass Band are drinking whiskey at a table in the back of a south city dive bar.

As soon as I arrive, trumpeter Adam Hucke hops up to order a little Tennessee mouthwash for me, too.

With five members of the band on hand — Hucke, trombonist Aaron Chandler, drummer Ron Sikes, sousaphonist Cody Henry and guitarist Jim Peters, with only saxophonist Bryan Fritz missing — I mention that this might be my biggest interview to date, as in, largest number of people at once.

The Funky Butt boys pounce, with a round-table joke frenzy that seizes on “biggest” to mean everything from the band’s celebrity stature to the group’s collective dad-bod girth to the sizes of their sexual endowments.

Such boisterous banter is indicative of the lively camaraderie and spirit that, along with mountains of musical talent, have made the Funky Butt Brass Band one of the top draws in St. Louis and its individual members among the busiest musicians in town. The band is currently preparing for this year’s Brasstravaganza, the annual Christmas bash they have been throwing since 2008. This year’s edition takes place December 15 and 16, and will again feature two evening performances and a kids’ matinee.

The band dates back to 2004.

At the time, Sikes, a public school band director by day, was a member of Gumbohead, a local outfit that mixed up zydeco, funk and blues into spicy Louisiana dance

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The Funky Butt Brass Band has a huge following in St. Louis and is garnering big audiences in places such as Kansas City as well. | ERIC NEMENS music, ideal for crawfish boils and the beads-and-boobs scene. The idea for the Funky Butt Brass Band grew out of requests for Gumbohead to play in the “second line” tradition, referring to brass band parades where the second line is made up of people who revel and dance to the march-style rhythms and strutting brass boogie, like a traveling block party.

“Because there really weren’t any other bands in St. Louis doing New Orleans music, anytime they wanted second line stuff, they’d come to [Gumbohead],” Sikes remembers. Seeing a place for a straight-ahead brass band in the mold of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Rebirth Brass Band, Sikes recruited the original Funky Butt lineup of Chandler, Hucke, Gumbohead saxophonist Ben Reece, sousaphonist Matt Brinkman and guitarist Tim Halpin.

When it came to finding a name, the band leaned on New Orleans history, which is steeped in Funky Butt references, from the legendary Funky Butt Hall to cornet player Buddy Bolden’s signature

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song, “Funky Butt Blues.” The topic of the band’s name once again sets off a lightning round of jocular banter. “I remember I used to have real problems with butt words,” Hucke says. “He’s worked through it,” Sikes shoots back.

Things clicked right away. Members of the newly formed Funky Butt would bust out Bonerama covers in rehearsal and realize they had a special chemistry that brought something new and unique to the music. Part of that formula was in having players who come from diverse traditions — jazz, rock, funk, classical, blues, Cajun — that create a fresh musical alchemy out of familiar sounds.

Music lovers were all in. Cardinals fans would spill into Broadway Oyster Bar after games to dance to Funky Butt’s horn-drunk swing and punch. The band soon learned that hijinks tend to follow brass bands around. “We did a second line for a wedding at the Ritz that was aborted by a fire alarm,” Chandler recalls. “They emptied the entire hotel, and we

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started playing outside amid all the police and firetruck lights.”

Indeed, the ability to pump out unplugged revelry anywhere at any time has created a long list of mirthful memories. “We have saved some gigs during blackouts and power outages,” Hucke says.

“A brass band is a handy thing to have.”

St. Louis proved to be a fertile market, as Funky Butt typically plays around 100 shows every year, peaking with Brasstravaganza and, of course, Mardi Gras week. “One year, we did four Mardi Gras gigs in one day,” Sikes remembers. It’s a pace that is both exhilarating and exhausting, as the Funky Buttsters are all now family men with full-time day jobs. Plus, each member stays head-spinningly busy with side projects and cameo appearances; hit a Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players or a Playadors show, and you’re likely to see a Funky Butt player or three on stage.

“For everyone, it’s an insane amount of juggling,” says Peters, who took over guitar duties for

Funky Butt three years ago. Peters is familiar to St. Louis rock fans as one of the scene’s most versatile and tasteful guitarists, a veteran of the Javier Mendoza Band, Sleepy Rubies, Street Fighting Band, Celebration Day and more.

Other lineup changes brought Fritz and Henry on board.

“Cody doesn’t miss,” Hucke says of Henry’s virtuosity on the sousaphone. “Aaron and Bryan and I play horn lines. Cody’s playing bass lines for four minutes or however long the song is, and he never misses a note. We know the best bass players in town, and when they come to see us, they’re, like, ‘Cody’s a badass bass player!’”

Like the others, Henry writes original songs for Funky Butt.

“I hear something in my head and try to develop it,” Henry says of his writing process. “I am a trombone player originally, but when I learned the tuba, I started writing songs based on a bass line.

I bring it to rehearsal, and let that process elevate the tune.”

The band has accumulated a ton of such original material, mixed with their singular interpretations of covers, as heard on 2009’s Cut the Body Loose, 2014’s Sugar Sugar Whomp Whomp and 2020’s Onward, as well as a collection of their Christmas favorites, 2017’s A Funky Butt Family Christmas.

After being the only brass-band game in town for years, Funky Butt now has some company in the Red and Black Brass Band and the Saint Boogie Brass Band.

They’ve welcomed the groups and have collaborated with both for the last two years in Cherokee Street’s Brass Band Blowout. “I love it,” Chandler says. “They’re all fantastic to work with.”

However, with its electric guitar and full drum kit setup, the Funky Butt crew does distinguish themselves from the other brassers as bringing a more rock-oriented show. After all, these guys know they’re playing in KSHE country, so you can expect pivots from New Orleans jazz to rock & roll at any moment, pulling out everything from Prince to the Who to Peter Gabriel.

In fact, the band has recorded four new rock covers set for release soon: Van Halen’s “Finish What Ya Started,” Terence Trent D’Arby’s “Wishing Well,” ELO’s

“Don’t Bring Me Down” and Albert Collins’ “Travelin’ South.”

Still, they mold popular songs into their own image. For instance, with the Van Halen cover, Peters says, “We tried it like it is on the record, and it just wasn’t moving anybody. Then we tried it with a second line groove, and the whole song just fell into place. Now, it’s become a prominent song in our setlist.”

They have no shortage of tools to rock out. Hucke and Chandler are both soul-shouting vocalists, with a go-for-broke style that also translates to their horn solos, on which they (and Fritz) often blow with such brain-vessel-bursting force that they put the “ouch” in embouchure. “We’re not playing with jazz groups,” Hucke says of the band’s thrill-a-second soloing style. “We’re playing with people like Jimmy Griffin on guitar. He’s not turning down, so you gotta bring the heat.”

This year’s Brasstravaganza continues a Christmas tradition of two evening performances and a children’s matinee that for 10 years was held at Off Broadway before jumping to Delmar Hall in recent times. The boys are even taking the show on the road this year, with Brasstravaganza events in both Kansas City and Omaha.

For the hometown edition, the band will have plenty of special guests on hand, including guest vocalists Steve Ewing, Emily Wallace, Javier Mendoza and more.

Longtime collaborator Dave Grelle will be back on keys, and, for the first time, fiddler extraordinaire Allie Kral, formerly of Yonder Mountain String Band, will join in the festivities.

According to Peters, who has contributed a new original Christmas song, “Live It Like It’s Christmas,” “It takes a special group of players with the right chemistry for this stuff to happen. It has to be battle tested. This kind of teamwork is really special. This band can play anything.”

And with even more original songs set to be recorded, more traditions to continue, more memories to make, 2024 looks to be another big year for the band — maybe even, like my group interview, the biggest.

“Funky Butt is a machine that you can’t stop,” Chandler says. “If we tried to stop it, we couldn’t.” n

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FILM

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Joaquin Phoenix plays Napoleon like a gamer always on the edge of rage quitting. | APPLE TV

[REVIEW]

The Joker Is Riled Joaquin Phoenix and Ridley Scott turn Napoleon into a violent epic starring a petty brat Written by

CRAIG D. LINDSEY Napoleon Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by David Scarpa. Opened November 22.

A

t one point in Ridley Scott’s new biopic Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte yells, “You think you’re so smart just because you have boats!

You wouldn’t expect something so bratty and petulant to come out of the mouth of the legendary French commander and leader. But you would expect something so bratty and petulant to come out of the mouth of Joaquin Phoenix, the guy who’s playing him in this film.

Having Phoenix, that prankish loose cannon (his Best Actor Oscar win for playing the Joker almost seems like it was prophesied), assume the role of Bonaparte feels like another one of Scott’s crazy casting moves, adding some chaos to an otherwise stodgy true story. Lest we forget, he brought Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino and a ridiculous-looking, cuckoo-bananas Jared Leto (another scenery-

chewing Oscar winner who once played Batman’s archnemesis) together a couple years ago for House of Gucci and had them overact their heads off. While some might’ve thought that movie was a campy clusterfuck, I was quite amused by how Scott refused to rein in these A-listers, letting them add more absurdity to that insane story of ’80s-era greed and murder.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense for Scott to link up again with Phoenix (who also served as a producer) to play Bonaparte. More than two decades ago, Scott had Phoenix play the power-mad emperor antagonist in Gladiator. The one-time “rapper” went all in on making his character the sort of petty, pervy, swole-in-the-chest tyrant whose ass you just couldn’t wait for Russell Crowe to slide his foot way up.

Phoenix is still a petty, pervy, swolein-the-chest tyrant in Napoleon. But this time, he injects his performance with empathy. Bonaparte may be a stubborn son of a bitch, engaging in bloody battle after bloody battle like a man staging an intense, neverending game of chess with his opponents. But he’s always a dedicated, determined warrior, fighting even when things clearly aren’t gonna go his way.

It is fascinating watching Phoenix play Bonaparte like he’s a gamer who’s constantly on the verge of rage quitting.

While he’s surrounded by actors (Rupert Everett, Swimming Pool’s Ludivine Sagnier, A Prophet’s Tahar Rahim) who at least are acting like they’re living in the time the movie is set, there’s practically nothing French or noble about Phoenix’s

look like a rabid dog in heat during love

There’s practically scenes), the pair are two broken people who are clearly made for each other, even when they have to divorce because nothing French she can’t give him a son.

But enough about Phoenix and his or noble about wacky ass. Napoleon has Scott once making an action epic (which his Joaquin Phoenix’s again old friend Stanley Kubrick wanted to make but never got around to doing) that Bonaparte. Even is equal parts majestic and bombastic. movie focuses on six major battles when he becomes AsthattheBonaparte fought, the battle sequences are vast, unpredictable and gory emperor of France, as hell. Even horses aren’t safe from the madness. he mostly acts like limb-shattering It’s almost like the 85-year-old Scott to make these vivid, violent, vihe’s in cosplay — continues sually voluminous movies because no one really does them anymore. (Scholars a Comic-Con king. else and historians be damned — he’s on his Bonaparte. Even when he becomes emperor of France, he mostly acts like he’s in cosplay — a Comic-Con king.

As with most period-piece biopics, this is really a love story. When dude isn’t in battle, he has quite the toxic relationship with his wife Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).

Napoleon is crazy about this gal, even when she’s creeping around with another guy while he’s abroad. (Napoleon also had side chicks, so she feels her creeping is justified.) Phoenix is at his nuttiest whenever he’s around Kirby and her icy-ass stare. Whether they’re engaging in bitter button-pushing or messy babymaking (Phoenix really makes Bonaparte

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David Lean shit!) While most blockbusters look like they’ve been cobbled together on somebody’s iPad, the practical effects, sweeping locales (captured by veteran cinematographer Dariusz Wolski) and minimal CGI/VFX that Scott works with on Napoleon almost feels like a middle finger to this age of AI. Considering how the movie will be shown on IMAX screens and in 70mm, he really wants you to get up close and personal with the colossal carnage that goes down, whether it’s on the battlefield or in the bedroom.

Basically, what Scott is saying with Napoleon is that, from the action to the acting, no computer program could ever come up with a movie this entertainingly batshit. n

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STAGE

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Cast members Garrett Young, Victor Musoni, Mo Shipley, Maya Vinice Prentiss and Mel Bady in Q Brothers Christmas Carol. | JOE MAZZA/BRAVE LUX

[REVIEW]

Dickens Remixed With Hip Hop St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Q Brothers Christmas Carol is a fun, lively show with all the holiday trimmings Written by

TINA FARMER Q Brothers Christmas Carol Written by the Q Brothers Collective, based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Directed by Q Brothers Collective.

Presented by St. Louis Shakespeare Festival at the National Blues Museum (615 Washington Avenue, 314-925-0016, nationalbluesmuseum.org) through Saturday, December 23. Showtimes vary, and tickets are $20 to $55.

S

t. Louis Shakespeare Festival brings all the fun and festivity of the holiday season to the National Blues Museum with a music-infused show suitable for all ages. The Q Brothers Christmas Carol pulls the characters, story and language from A Christmas Carol to create an incredibly entertaining and refreshed version infused with the history of hip-hop and the spirit of the Charles Dickens classic.

A single street sign, indicating our location as the intersection between Hip Hop and Dickens, and a cutout silhouette of the city are the sole set pieces in a room festooned with festive holiday lights and decorations. DJ Stank sets the mood for a holiday party with a pre-show mix that leans heavily into popular holiday songs. The DJ accompanies the show, providing in-the-moment reactions that mirror the audience’s while staying mostly in the DJ booth at the side of the stage.

Three performers slowly spill in, like kids coming together to play outside on a snow day; their banter is lively, and their spirits and energy are high and infectious. Suddenly, grouchy old Ebenezer Scrooge bursts in to break up their party. A man in love with money and greed, he berates his employee Bob Cratchit and spurns and dismisses charity workers before heading home (with his bag of cash held tightly at his side) on Christmas Eve. Considering the night almost as useless as the following day, he prepares himself for bed, but the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley interrupts his sleep. As in the original, Marley warns Scrooge that he’s on a path toward despair and informs his friend that three ghosts will visit him throughout the night to try to save Scrooge from his miserable fate.

The story is familiar, and the use of reggae and hip-hop music as an interpretative device works fantastically well. The clever script also incorporates multiple popculture and movie references that

add humor. You don’t need to be knowledgeable in Christmas trivia or hip-hop culture to enjoy the show; getting a reference is just a bonus gift in the quick-moving one act show. Victor Musoni, Maya Vinice Prentiss and Mo Shipley are a talented, flexible and fabulous ensemble, portraying multiple roles and effortlessly using reggae and hip-hop styles from multiple generations. The stylistic choices and musical icons are crisply and definitively referenced, and see if you can catch Tiny Tim’s nod to our very own Nelly.

Mel Bady is infectious and easily rouses the crowd as DJ Stank, and Garrett Young is near perfection as the comic curmudgeon who finally finds his heart and his groove. The choreography has an organic feel that’s grounded in hip-hop, with a little jam band, hip shaking thrown in for good measure. The result is a feel-good show with all the holiday trimmings.

Some stories are built on near universal truths that are so essentially immutable they resonate hundreds, even thousands, of years beyond their initial telling.

Though their customs may be unfamiliar, the characters and their motivations are instantly recognizable and easy to place in more contemporary settings. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of those tales and a perennial favorite during the holiday season.

The Q Brothers Christmas Carol gives the story an updated setting and soundtrack to deliver a fun holiday show for the whole family that may have you dancing in the aisles by the final bow. n

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OUT EVERY NIGHT

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ach week, we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the next seven days. To submit your show for consideration, visit https://bit.ly/3bgnwXZ. All events are subject to change, so check with the venue before you head out. Happy showgoing!

[CRITIC’S PICK]

THURSDAY 30

AARON KAMM & THE ONE DROPS: 9 p.m., $17.

Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

THE ALLEY OOPS: w/ The Loud Loud Crows, Kris Kringle & the Jolly Jingles, Boss Battle 8 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

DIRTY DANCING IN CONCERT: 7:30 p.m., $42-$92.

Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

HARBOUR: 7:30 p.m., $18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

JEFF CHAPMANN & JOHN LOGAN: 3 p.m., $5.

Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

JOSH MELOY: 7 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

KBA: 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541.

LA BLUES BAND: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

MISSISSIPPI CROSSING: 7 p.m., free. Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

SMOKING POPES: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

STELLA KATHERINE COLE NIGHT 1: 7:30 p.m., $30-$35. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

WYCLIFFE GORDON QUINTENT: 7:30 p.m., $40$45. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-571-6000.

FRIDAY 1

ALGAE DUST ALBUM RELEASE: w/ Ashley Byrne, Orange Foods 7 p.m., $12-$15. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

DOGTOWN RECORDS PRESENTS: 9 p.m., free.

Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

FACS: w/ Dianogah, Enemy of Magic 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY & EXODUS: 7 p.m. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

HONKY TONK HAPPY HOUR: 4 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

JAMES KENNEDY: 10 p.m., $15-$600. RYSE Nightclub, One Ameristar Blvd, St. Charles.

KINGDOM BROTHERS: 8 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

MAX & THE MAGICS: 5 p.m., $6. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 South Kingshighway Blvd., 2nd Floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

MR. BLUE SKY: A TRIBUTE TO ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: 8 p.m., $25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

PHILLIPALOOZA NIGHT 1: w/ One Way Traffic, the Scanaleros, Brother Francis and the Soultones, the Grooveliner 6 p.m., $15-$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

ROBBIE & THE ROCKIN’ FOOLS: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

SNOTTY NOSE REZ KIDS: 8 p.m., $25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

STELLA KATHERINE COLE NIGHT 2: 7:30 p.m., $40-$45. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

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Exodus. | VIA FREEMAN PRODUCTIONS

Exodus w/ Fit For an Autopsy, Darkest Hour, Undeath 7 p.m. Friday, December 1. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Avenue, Sauget, Illinois. $30 to $54.50. 618-274-6720.

In an alternate universe, Exodus is currently in the midst of a globe-spanning world tour that sees the legendary thrash metal act performing two shows in each city, packing the largest arenas in town multiple times per stop with rabid and diehard fans. In that universe, Exodus is regarded as one of the most successful metal bands of all time, an indelible mark on the history of heavy music that has spawned innumerable imitators. In our reality, it is Metallica that holds such honors

TANNER USREY: 8 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SATURDAY 2

ADAM LEVIN: 7:30 p.m., $20-$35. The 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-421-3600.

BLUE OCTOBER: 8 p.m., $36.50-$86.50. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

BROTHERS LAZAROFF HANUKKAH HULLABALOO: 8 p.m., $25-$60. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

CLIFFDIVER & ACTION/ADVENTURE: 8 p.m., $16.

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

DROPJA & FRIENDS WINTER 2023: w/ Aleon, Sneff, Babysox 8:30 p.m., $15-$20. Central Stage, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

FEELING THIS: A TRIBUTE TO BLINK-182: w/ Cover

NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5, 2023

— rightly so, sure, but if just a few things had been butterfly effected in a different direction it would have been that band’s Bay Area counterpart at the head of the pack. Perhaps if Dave Mustaine hadn’t been such an insufferable drunk, Metallica wouldn’t have poached Exodus’ thenlead guitarist Kirk Hammett to replace him. And maybe if the band’s debut LP, the timeless Bonded by Blood, hadn’t seen delays in its release, it would be properly regarded alongside Kill ’Em All as one of the seminal records that kicked off the wave of thrash metal that washed over the Earth in the early ’80s. As it stands, Exodus is thought of alongside Testament as one of the acts that just barely didn’t crack into the so-called “Big Four” of thrash, even as its members would pop into those bands’

membership from time to time (in addition to Hammett joining Metallica, fellow guitarist and principal songwriter Gary Holt replaced Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman when he died in 2013). And while it all seems a bit unfair considering Exodus’ innumerable contributions to the genre over its many years, there is an upside: In this universe, you can see one of the finest thrash metal bands to ever do it up close and personal at the considerably smaller Pop’s Nightclub this week rather than having to squint from the cheap seats at Enterprise Center.

Metal Command: Opening the show are Darkest Hour and Undeath, and Fit For an Autopsy is billed as a co-headliner. It’s not immediately clear if the latter will go on before or after Exodus. Plan accordingly.

—Daniel Hill

Letter: A Tribute to Fallout Boy, the Fabulous Killjoys: A Tribute to My Chemical Romance 8 p.m., $15. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JINGLEFEST 2023: 20TH ANNIVERSARY: 7 p.m., $20-$100. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

THE LISTON BROTHERS: 8 p.m., $29.95-$49.95.

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

NAJEE: 7 p.m., $50-$135. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

NEVA DINOVA: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

PHILLIPALOOZA NIGHT 2: w/ Funky Butt Brass Band, Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players, Alligator Wine, Madahoochi, Emily Wallace, Moon Valley 6 p.m., $15-$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

SKEET RODGERS & THE INNER CITY BLUES BAND: 7 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE STARS GO OUT: w/ The Bitter Ends, Mobile Alien Research Unit 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

STELLA KATHERINE COLE NIGHT 3: 7:30 p.m., $40-$45. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

T. GROHMAN & THE DREW PROJECT: 7 p.m., free.

Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

TERMS RECORD RELEASE SHOW: w/ Zantigo, The Conformists, Jim McGowin 8 p.m., $10.

The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

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SUNDAY 3

ANGEL DU$T: 7 p.m., $22. Off Broadway, 3509

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

AUBORY BUGG: 6 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

BROKEN JUKEBOX: 9 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

CROCE PLAYS CROCE: 7:30 p.m., $59.50-$99.50.

The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

GENESIS JAZZ PROJECT: 4 p.m., $20. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

GRIFFIN HOUSE: 7 p.m., $25-$30. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

MORBIKON: w/ Flesher, Chemical Dependency 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

SARAH JANE & THE BLUE NOTES: 11 a.m., free.

Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

SILVERSTEIN: 7:30 p.m., $29.50-$59.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

VIAL + JER: w/ Boy Jr. 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

ZAMĒLIA: 8 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Angel Du$t. | ELYZA REINHART

MONDAY 4

FROM ASHES TO NEW: 7 p.m., $32.50-$59.50. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $8. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

TIM ALBERT AND STOVEHANDLE DAN: w/ Randy 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

TUESDAY 5

ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS: 8 p.m., $35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BARRETT MARTIN: 7:30 p.m., $35. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

JAN SHAPIRO: 10 a.m., $20. Kirkwood Performing Arts Center (KPAC), 210 E Monroe Ave, Kirkwood, 314-759-1455.

NAKED MIKE: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PHONEBOY: 8 p.m., $18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

WEDNESDAY 6

ANDREW WALESCH SINATRA YOUR WAY: 7:30 p.m., $15. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

DREW LANCE: 4:30 p.m., free. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

JOHN MCVEY BAND: 7 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

LIGHTHEARTED: w/ Cave Radio, Dubb Nubb 8 p.m., $10-$12. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

MARGARET & FRIENDS: 3 p.m., $5. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PATTERSON HOOD: 7:30 p.m., $35-$45. City Winery St. Louis, 3730 Foundry Way, Suite 158, St. Louis, 314-678-5060.

ST. LOUIS JAZZ CLUB: 7 p.m., free. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-571-6000.

A VERY MANLEY HOLIDAY: w/ Jim. Manley’s Mad Brass and Rhythm 7:30 p.m., $25-$30. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-571-6000.

VOODOO NEIL YOUNG: 8:30 p.m., $14. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

NEXT WEEK 120 MINUTES: A NIGHT OF TRIBUTES TO R.E.M.,

Angel Du$t w/ Candy, Dazy, Steve Marino 7 p.m. Sunday, December 3. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $22. 314-498-6989.

While Turnstile is most often credited with the mainstreamification of hardcore music in recent years, with 2021’s landmark Glow On even securing the band three Grammy nominations, its sister project Angel Du$t is arguably far more interesting. While none of Turnstile’s current members are currently in Angel Du$t, three of the four put in time with the group over the years before opting to focus full-time on their main act. But vocalist Justice Tripp, formerly of Trapped Under Ice, has remained a thoughtful steward of the band’s sprawling sound, which is characterized by big swings and a steadfast dedication to thinking outside of the box. The result is a band with few peers, one that mixes classic hardcore sounds with elements of pop, THE CURE & THE SMITHS: Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

97.3 THE BULL’S SANTA JAM: Wed., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m., $39-$289. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

AFTER WEDNESDAY: Fri., Dec. 8, 7 p.m., $10.

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

AL HOLLIDAY AND THE EAST SIDE RHYTHM BAND: Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541.

ARIANNA STRING QUARTET WITH ALLA VOSKOBOYNIKOVA: Thu., Dec. 7, 6 p.m., $25. World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-9243.

ARIEL REIGN & THE GREENERY: Sat., Dec. 9, 5 p.m., $6. The Attic Music Bar, 4247 South Kingshighway Blvd., 2nd Floor, St. Louis, 314-376-5313.

BEN DIESEL: W/ The Stars Go Out, The Holy

surf rock, soft rock and grunge, resulting in a unique musical melange that has earned comparisons to everyone from the Lemonheads to Elvis Costello to the Replacements. The band’s latest, September’s excellent Brand New Soul, continues with this curveball approach, with tracks varying wildly from one to the next while still feeling like part of a cohesive whole. Granted, it probably won’t get the attention of the Recording Academy, but since when did hardcore bands concern themselves with that sort of thing?

Spice of Life: Appropriately, the opening acts for this show vary wildly in approach.

Los Angeles singer-songwriter Steve Marino will deliver the indie rock jams, Richmond’s Dazy will serve up some impossibly catchy power-pop and Candy, whose members are spread across the country, will come heavy with some head-splitting, metal-tinged hardcore. All are well worth your time and attention.

—Daniel Hill

Hand Grenades, BadNames, Joe Roe, Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

CANDLELIGHT: A TRIBUTE TO COLDPLAY: Wed., Dec. 13, 8:45 p.m., $37.06. Majorette, 7150 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 402-249-2445.

CANDLELIGHT: A TRIBUTE TO QUEEN: Wed., Dec. 13, 6:30 p.m., $37.06. Majorette, 7150 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 402-249-2445.

CEMETERY GATEZ: THE PANTERA TRIBUTE: W/ Conquest, Sat., Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m., $15-$25. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE EXTRAVAGANZA 8: Fri., Dec. 8, 7 p.m., $20. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

CLARION BRASS + PERCUSSION: Sun., Dec. 10, 2 p.m., free. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 9 S. Bompart, St. Louis, 314-961-2393.

DAVID GIUNTOLI: Thu., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m., $20.

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Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

EMO NITE: Fri., Dec. 8, 10 p.m., $20. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

A GOSPEL CHRISTMAS: Fri., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $40-$70. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

JENNY OAKS BAKER: Fri., Dec. 8, 7 p.m., $25-$59.

The Dome at America’s Center, 701 Convention Plaza, St. Louis, 314-342-5201.

A KAT EDMONSON CHRISTMAS: Fri., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $30. Blue Strawberry Showroom & Lounge, 364 N Boyle Ave, St. Louis, 314-256-1745.

KENDRICK SMITH’S WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL ENSEMBLE: Thu., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., $15-$20. Joe’s Cafe Gallery, 6010 Kingsbury Ave., St. Louis, 314-862-2541.

KENNY G: Wed., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m., $49.50$99.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

KEVIN BUCKLEY: Sun., Dec. 10, 10 a.m., free. Das Bevo Biergarten, 4749 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-224-5521.

THE KUHLIES RECORD RELEASE SHOW: W/ The Frozen Headz, Pretty Pink Flowers, Fri., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., $10. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

MICHIGANDER: Thu., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., $22. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

MOTHERFOLK: Thu., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., $20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY: Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

PATRICK DRONEY: Tue., Dec. 12, 8 p.m., $25$100. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

PETER MAYER NIGHT 1: Wed., Dec. 13, 8 p.m., $28-$35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

PSALM THEATRICS: A SYNCOPATED CHRISTMAS A HOLIDAY JAZZ REVUE: Sat., Dec. 9, 7 p.m., $15.

New Awakening, 8000 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, 314-385-3000.

PUNK ROCK CHRISTMAS: Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $30$40. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

REDFERRIN: Sat., Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m., free. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000 Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400.

RHYTHM & PAINT WITH RHODA G.: Sun., Dec. 10, 6 p.m., $75. JACCK Art Studio, 20 Patterson Plaza, Florissant, 314-942-1355.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH EXPERIENCE: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN DENVER: Sun., Dec. 10, 6 p.m., $63. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SAMARA JOY: Tue., Dec. 12, 7 p.m., $43.50$153.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

T.3: Fri., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., $21-$31. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

VOODOO PHISH: Wed., Dec. 13, 8:30 p.m., $14.

Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-8811.

WELSHLY ARMS: Sun., Dec. 10, 8 p.m., $18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

THE WINKS EP RELEASE SHOW: W/ Native State, Misplaced Religion, Sat., Dec. 9, 8 p.m., $10.

Platypus, 4501 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, 314-359-2293.

WINTER WONDERLAND FAMILY EXPERIENCE: Sat., Dec. 9, 11 a.m., $11-$16. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

Y98’S DECK THE HALL BALL: W/ Train, Phillip Phillips, JP Saxe, Sat., Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m., $49.50$99.50. The Factory, 17105 N Outer 40 Rd, Chesterfield, 314-423-8500.

YOU VANDAL: W/ Fight Back Mountain, Silver Material, Stop.Drop.Rewind, Thu., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m., $10. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309. n

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SAVAGE LOVE What Was Lost

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey Dan: About 10 years ago, I was in a serious relationship with someone I loved more than I had ever loved anyone before.

I hoped to spend my life with her. But I was deep in the closet, and the process of coming out annihilated large parts of my life, including our relationship. I dumped her and tried to tell myself she wouldn’t understand.

In the years that followed, I came into my own as a proud and potent goddess, but I felt haunted by how I’d pushed my ex away.

The regret that marked her absence tinged all my emerging triumphs.

In the chaos of the early pandemic, I sent a simple email, curtailed into a modest how-are-you, and she sent a brief-but-cordial reply. I didn’t take offense. It was kind of her to reply at all. But some months later, she reached out, asking to meet. Apparently, her boyfriend had dumped her, and it reminded her of how I’d dumped her. Despite my nerves, we had a simple afternoon in a park gabbing about poetry and ethics, laughing easily. I didn’t make any overtures.

Regarding the past, I said only that I regretted how I’d left things. She replied quickly, “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s not like our relationship really had a future.” Yikes!

It’s been a few years, and she’s become a close friend. We go hiking, drinking, we go on double dates with our partners — me and my wife, her and her new boyfriend. And yet … I still think about her every day. Even my wife knows I’m crazy about her! (We’re poly, it’s not an issue.) I’m writing because I don’t know what to do. For almost 10 years I’ve tried to get over her, but I have proven stubbornly head-over-heels. I’ve tried separation, several types of therapy, even fiery rituals, but I still wake up with her name on my lips. I worry that if I were to broach the totality of my feelings, it would alienate her all over again. What’s a gal to do?

Confounded Heartfelt Amorous Damsel You mention coming out, you mention transitioning, you mention being an out-andproud goddess now — so you’re a trans woman who had to end what the world perceived to be a cis-het relationship before you embarked on your transition.

And based on your ex’s reaction when you reconnected and apologized for dumping her (“It’s not like our relationship really had a future!”), CHAD, along with the fact that your ex has only ever dated men (or people she had every reason to believe were men), it sounds like your ex is a straight cis woman. Which

means you couldn’t be the goddess you are now if you were still with your ex, CHAD because you couldn’t be her partner and yourself at the same time.

I’m going to crawl out on a limb and guess that however bumpy your transition may have been, the trade-off was worth it. You lost some things — including a romantic relationship with your ex — but you gained so much more.

If seeing your ex socially is too painful, well, don’t see her socially. If you want to tell her that you miss the relationship you once had and still have feelings for her, you can do that without blowing up the relationship you have with her now. Lots of people who are friends with their exes have said or heard variations on, “If things had been different, things could’ve turned out differently,” and remained friends.

You weren’t the person you thought you were when you were with your ex — or you weren’t the person you were coerced into pretending to be — but you had important and meaningful experiences before you transitioned. Feeling sad about what you may have lost as a consequence of transitioning takes nothing away from what you’ve gained. But the intensity of these feelings for your ex — waking up every day thinking about her — makes me wonder whether she’s a symbolic stand-in for everything else you lost. Maybe a few sessions with a good therapist could put your feelings for your ex into perspective.

P.S. If what you mean by, “We’ve silently agreed to uphold a narrative that we’re just old friends,” is, “I’m being shoved into a new closet,” that’s not good. If never acknowledging that you were in a relationship is the price of admission you have to pay for her friendship, it may be too steep a price a pay. Awkwardness is fine … shame is not.

Hey Dan: I’ve been going to the same barber (a woman) for almost eight years now.

We always have nice heart-to-heart conversations, and I’ve loaned her money in the past (single mom), and she’s called to ask for advice on some life stuff a couple of times. She’s also asked me about my dating life, my kid, work, etc. My concern is if I was to ask her out, it would most likely make things awkward, and I don’t want to lose her as my barber. We also have a big age gap, although I know for a fact that she’s dated men my age. I fear screwing up our professional relationship, yet I am so attracted to her it gives me butterflies.

I have risked dropping innuendos now and again, but she’s never picked up on them. I honestly can’t tell if she’s interested or not.

She says nice and courteous things, which make me feel good, but I understand this is a part of customer service. But I’m not sure it’s only that.

When someone confides in us about their love life, that’s usually a sign they don’t see us as a potential love interest.

Joe Haircut It’s only that.

When someone confides in us about their love life — particularly when that someone is a woman in a service industry — that’s usually a sign they don’t see us as a potential love interest. Women in service professions who rely on tips will sometimes share stories about disastrous dates, shitty exes and heartbreaks with male clients not to signal romantic interest, JH, but to signal romantic disinterest. Basically, if the woman who’s cutting your hair or pouring your beer treats you like one of her girlfriends, JH, she doesn’t see you — and doesn’t want you to see yourself — as a potential future boyfriend.

Which is not to say she doesn’t like you or doesn’t consider you a friend. She clearly does. But don’t confuse choosing to ignore your innuendos for failing to pick up on them; those stories about how dating clients always ended in disaster are an offramp if you ever do ask her out. (“I’m so sorry — I can’t date clients anymore after all those disasters I told you about. The usual?”) As dick-havers, JH, we have to be on our guard against motivated reasoning, a.k.a. “dickful thinking,” and this is definitely a case of motivated reasoning.

Hey Dan: I’m involved with a married man. No, I don’t think his wife knows. I’ve discussed ENM with him, but I can’t force him to tell her. Theirs is not a healthy relationship. At this point, he’s staying for the sake of their child. Once their kid goes to college he wants to separate/divorce. They stopped sleeping together years ago. Literally: They don’t sleep in the same room at night. They’re basically separated yet live under the same roof. They barely speak save when it comes to running the household or parenting. (I’m pretty sure their kid, a teenager, can sense the marital discord and might even prefer the parents to sepa-

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rate officially, instead of dragging this out for their sake.) But my lover, the kid’s father, is really scared that he might lose custody in a divorce. There’s probably no good way to break it to your spouse that you want to make it official, that living together but barely speaking, barely being roommates isn’t much of a marriage. I expect to really be with him after all this — so please keep in mind that I’m not looking to benefit here.

But I do want to help him get through this transition period. What can he say or do to end the marriage in an ethical and kind way?

Yet Another Other Woman All you know is what he’s told you.

I’m not suggesting — as others would — you can’t believe a single word this man says because he’s cheating on his wife. What I am suggesting is that his marriage may be less dysfunctional than he’s made it seem. He and his wife might not fuck or even sleep in the same room — they even may be on the same page about separating the second their kid heads to college — but their relationship sounds low-conflict. For all you know, YAOW, they may have successfully pivoted to a companionate marriage.

As for why he would play up tension at home …

Men who have affairs are seen as bad guys — even when they’re not cheating their wives out of anything their wives want — and he may be making his marriage sound more dysfunctional than it actually is to elicit your sympathy (and your pussy), YAOW, and because he doesn’t want to seem like the bad guy.

As for your plan to encourage him to end his marriage now ...

If your lover is planning to file for divorce once his kid is in college and his kid is already a teenager, well, then the end (of this marriage) is nigh. (Assuming he means it; that could be another line he’s feeding you — needlessly, as you don’t want to be with him.) If you’re comfortable fucking a married man — if you’re willing to help this man do what he needs to do to stay married and stay sane — go ahead and fuck this guy. But just as he shouldn’t make his marriage sound worse than it actually is to rationalize or justify the morally ambiguous choice he’s made (fucking you), you don’t need to talk him into broaching the subject of ENM with his wife and/or ending his marriage to rationalize or justify the morally ambiguous choice you’ve made (fucking him).

Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love!

Podcasts, columns and more at savage.love

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