Riverfront Times - April 4, 2018

APRIL 04–11, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 14

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN YOUR BEST FRIEND MAMA CRY

LA4SS COULD BE THE BIGGEST ST. LOUIS RAPPER IN A GENERATION — IF HE SURVIVES

By Ben Westhoff

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St. Louis American

THE LEDE

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PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“I love that there’s diversity here, and not just in race, but in attitudes and colors and food! As you can see, this is a vegan restaurant; you don’t get that everywhere.”

—Maria Sevier, left, photographed with devonta thoMaS at Sweetart BakeShop & Cafe’S pop-up in grand Center on MarCh 31

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

12.

Have You Ever Seen Your Best Friend Mama Cry LA4SS could be the biggest St. Louis rapper in a generation — if he survives

Written by

BEN WESTHOFF

Cover photography by

CHRISTOPHER HAWKINS

NEWS

ARTS

DINING

CULTURE

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The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

Cheryl Baehr wants you to get in line at the Clover and the Bee

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Police

The civilian oversight board rarely disagrees with Internal Affairs. But is that a bad thing?

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Film

With Moving Forward in Time, Ryan Marquez is going back to his roots

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Comics

Ny Vongsaly isn’t classically trained, but that hasn’t slowed his ascent

When arch rivals meet under the Arch, St. Louis gets its closeup

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Food News

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Tory Sanders’ mom blasts Attorney General Josh Hawley after he declines to charge anyone in her son’s death

Galleries

Art on display in St. Louis this week

Courts

Never mind that Janice Duffner is allergic to grass; a judge rules that St. Peters can compel her to plant it

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STL Showcase is back, and bigger than ever

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Out Every Night

Alpha Brewing Co. is now open in Tower Grove South

The best concerts in St. Louis every night of the week

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Milestones

Mauhaus celebrates its 100th cat adoption

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Festivals

Doughocracy is another Loop closure

Beer

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Side Dish

Homespun

This year’s QFest shows how far depictions of the LGBTQ community have come, Robert Hunt writes

Black Lives

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Cafe

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements

Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Sarah Fenske E D I T O R I A L Arts & Culture Editor Paul Friswold Music Editor Daniel Hill Digital Editor Jaime Lees Staff Writers Doyle Murphy, Danny Wicentowski Restaurant Critic Cheryl Baehr Film Critic Robert Hunt Editorial Interns Hayley Abshear, Megan Anthony Contributing Writers Mike Appelstein, Allison Babka, Sara Graham, Roy Kasten, Jaime Lees, Joseph Hess, Kevin Korinek, Bob McMahon, Nicholas Phillips, Tef Poe, Christian Schaeffer, Lauren Milford, Thomas Crone, MaryAnn Johanson, Jenn DeRose, Mike Fitzgerald Proofreader Evie Hemphill

of Natural Connections Limit 1 bag. Expires 5/2/18

A R T Art Director Kelly Glueck Contributing Photographers Mabel Suen, Monica Mileur, Micah Usher, Theo Welling, Corey Woodruff, Tim Lane, Nick Schnelle P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Evan Sult

M U LT I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Sales Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Michael Gaines C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers E U C L I D M E D I A G RO U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein Creative Director Tom Carlson www.euclidmediagroup.com N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com S U B S C R I P T I O N S Send address changes to Riverfront Times, 308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $78/6 months (Missouri residents add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (Missouri residents add $9.48 sales tax) for first class.

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NEWS

For Oversight Board, Dissent with City Is Rare Written by

RYAN KRULL

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ince January 2017, the St. Louis Civilian Oversight Board has reviewed nearly 40 allegations of police misconduct, including allegations of police planting drugs on suspects, beating handcuffed suspects at Ballpark Village, shooting a dog, misplacing a detained person’s car keys, stealing money and making a man dress in women’s clothing for purposes of humiliation. In nearly all cases the board has unanimously agreed with the findings of the police department’s own Internal Affairs Division.

In fact, in reviewing records of the board’s meeting minutes from last year, the RFT found only two civilian complaints in which the board’s ruling differed from Internal Affairs. Neither case resulted in any recommendations of major discipline against a St. Louis officer.

Contention surrounded the creation of the board in 2015. That January, an aldermanic public safety committee meeting turned into a melee between protestors and police when officers spoke against creating the oversight board. Given that, it may be a surprise to some that the board and police Internal Affairs are so often on the same page.

However, Rick Rosenfeld, a criminologist at UMSL, said that this level of agreement is “not unusual.” And rather than making outsiders question the oversight board, he suggests it should give us faith in the Internal Affairs Division.

“Generally speaking, Internal Affairs operate fairly independently and, in my view, objectively,” he says. “They’re not prone to support bad behavior, especially ille-

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Annie Smith, the mother of the late Anthony Lamar Smith, at the center of a protest through downtown St. Louis on September 25. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI gal behavior. Officers in the wrong tend to regard Internal Affairs as their enemy.” And for the oversight board to find a complaint to be unfounded, he notes, is “not to say the complaint was frivolous. It simply means there was a disagreement on the facts.”

In open meetings in 2017, minutes show, the board discussed 37 complaints.

The first disagreement with Internal Affairs came in March when the board reviewed an allegation that officers “used excessive force causing injury to complainant” who “was not resisting arrest at the time.” In a rare split vote, the oversight board voted 4-2 to disagree with Internal Affairs. The board then approved a motion 5-1 that the officer “used more than the least amount of force reasonably necessary” in the arrest. The board voted that the officer review the video of the arrest “with his/her

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supervisor, and the officer undergo reinstruction on the use of force continuum.”

The second instance of disagreement concerns what appears to be allegations of poor record-keeping by officers. During the board’s October meeting, members discussed five allegations filed by the same person, who reported being harassed by a neighbor because of their religious beliefs. The complainant said they called 911 on numerous occasions to report the harassment and that “on each occasion SLMPD responded to the calls but never wrote a police report to document the issues.” The complainant claimed that on four separate occasions the police failed to properly document calls.

Internal Affairs in all four allegations (as well as a fifth, related allegation) cleared the officers, but the oversight board disagreed on two of the four, essentially saying

that members believed police did fail to properly document calls for service. There appear to be no disciplinary or procedural recommendations put forward by the board directly related to this case.

The board is part of the city’s Division of Public Safety and is comprised of seven members, each representing four of the city’s wards. The members include a municipal judge, a registered nurse, a small business owner and multiple lawyers, both retired and still practicing. (One member, Stephen Rovak, according to his law firm’s website, defended Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg when the pair were accused of plagiarizing the 1996 film Twister.)

Nicolle Barton, the oversight board’s executive director, tells the RFT, “We do agree with Internal Affairs about 80 to 85 percent of the time.” But, she says, in many instances, Continued on pg 10

Mom Blasts Hawley Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

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he mother of Tory Sanders blasted Attorney General Josh Hawley’s decision not to file murder charges against a rural Missouri sheriff.

Quinta Sanders says someone needs to be held accountable for the death of her 28-year-old son, who sought help from authorities in Mississippi County after getting lost and running out of gas in the Bootheel — only to die after being tased repeatedly in a jail cell later that day.

“I hate that police continue to get away with murder,” Quinta Sanders told the Riverfront Times in a phone interview from Nashville.

“That’s the sad part. They left the word ‘accountability’ out.”

Hawley announced Wednesday that his investigation found there was not enough evidence to charge Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson or anyone else with murder in Sanders’ death. The attorney general had previously filed multiple criminal charges against the embattled sheriff in unrelated cases.

Sanders, who suffered from depression, was apparently trying to drive from Nashville to visit relatives in Memphis in May 2017 when he veered off course and became stranded in southeast Missouri. He eventually landed in

the Mississippi County Detention Center on a protective hold when authorities determined he was undergoing a mental health episode.

He had voluntarily told authorities he had a warrant for his arrest back in Tennessee. But when the Missouri authorities ran a check at the jail and told him it wasn’t enough to hold him on, he refused to leave, according to Hawley’s account. Sanders was never arrested or charged with a crime in Missouri.

Jailers and police quarreled with Sanders off and on through the day. In between, he spoke to his mother by phone. In one of those conversations, he told her that deputies were “electrocuting” him, apparently a reference to being stunned with a Taser.

“They’re trying to kill me,” he said, according to his mother.

Hawley now says medical examiners believe he was in the early stages of “excited delirium,” a condition that led him to become combative and fight with law enforcement agents at the jail until his heart gave out. During a final showdown, Hutcheson led a team of at least six into Sanders’ cell and swarmed him, according to Hawley.

Sanders went into cardiac arrest shortly thereafter and died.

Three medical examiners, including one requested by Sanders’ family, agreed on the diagnosis. Quinta Sanders says she doesn’t believe it, echoing a large number of skeptics who see “excited delirium” as a term made up to explain away police abuse.

The diagnosis is often cited in police-custody deaths of people

Tory Sanders. | COURTESY OF JUSTICE FOR TORY SANDERS FACEBOOK

who are mentally ill or on drugs. It is controversial in part because it is not recognized as an actual condition by the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association or World Health Organization.

Quinta Sanders is equally skeptical of Hawley’s announcement Wednesday that he is planning a “broader criminal and civil review” of practices at the jail, even though he wasn’t charging Hutcheson with murder.

She says the attorney general is “talking out of both sides of his mouth,” essentially giving the jail a pass on her son’s death while simultaneously admitting there are serious problems there.

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it — but they know darn well it’s broken,” she says.

Even without the murder charge,

Sheriff Hutcheson is still fighting a multi-front legal battle. He is facing a raft of state and federal-level charges from incidents that include the alleged robbery of a 77-yearold hairdresser and the illegal monitoring of cell phones belonging to state troopers, the former sheriff and a sitting judge.

He is also fighting civil lawsuits related to the ghastly stillbirth of an inmate’s baby and the overdose death of a young mother in her jail cell as staff allegedly mocked her.

He was indicted last week on eleven federal identity-theft charges for the alleged cell-phone monitoring.

Hutcheson has denied all wrongdoing.

Quinta Sanders says she and her family have not given up. “We will continue and continue,” she says.

“Missouri has not heard the last of n us.”

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

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OVERSIGHT Continued from pg 8 Internal Affairs is in fact taking action against officers: “Internal Affairs’ findings can be anywhere from the complaint was unfounded to the complaint was referred to mediation … to the complaint was sustained.”

Individuals who feel they’ve been a victim of police misconduct can file a complaint through a Joint Civilian Complaint Form with the board. The complaint is then forwarded to Internal Affairs, and Barton says it is Internal Affairs that “does all the initial investigation, collecting witness statements as well as audio, video and medical reports, and then they turn that information over to us.”

The board does have the authority to do a separate outside investigation, but unless it’s granted subpoena power, it can’t compel anyone to give testimony or evidence.

The board meets once a month, first in a closed session then in a session open to the public. The open sessions are often sparsely attended by the public, according to one activist who often goes to the open meetings. (In fact, the activist was the only other member of the public at the March meeting aside from this reporter; no other journalists were present.)

In several cases in the past year, the oversight board has urged that the city change policies and procedures in response to an incident, even when it found no wrongdoing by the officers in question.

In September 2017, for instance, the board discussed a complaint from an individual who alleged being beaten, tased and hit in the face by the barrel of a rifle as police executed a search warrant. The complaint also alleges officers shot the individual’s dog.

Internal Affairs found the allegations not sustained, and the oversight board unanimously agreed.

However, board member Stephen Rovak motioned, in regard to this incident, that if a person in police custody “is tased three or more times that the subject be taken to the hospital for evaluation” before going to jail. The board unanimously approved the motion. Recommendations like this one are sent directly to Police Chief John Hayden as well as Director of Pubn lic Safety Jimmie Edwards.

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She’s Allergic.

The Judge Doesn’t Care Written by

SARAH FENSKE

A

federal judge in St. Louis ruled last week that Carl and Janice Duffner can be forced to plant turf grass in their yard — even though Janice Duffner has severe grass allergies.

If the Duffners fail to plant the grass, under the ruling, the city of St. Peters can sock them with fines that have potentially grown to well over $200,000 — or even have them sent to prison for several decades.

David Roland of the Freedom Center of Missouri, who is representing the Duffners, said the ordinance is so absurd, and the possible punishments so over the top, the case could ultimately end up with the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It is so outrageous,” he says.

“This is a couple with health problems facing gross penalties for what they’ve chosen not to plant on their personal property.

If ever there was a circumstance where the court should intervene, it would be these facts.”

St. Peters passed an ordinance in the last decade requiring that homeowners cover at least 50 percent of their yard areas with turf grass. And that was a problem for the Duffners, who’ve owned their home in the well-heeled St. Louis suburb since 2002 — and, upon moving in, had planted a lush flower garden that contains no turf grass, thought it does have other ground cover.

In May 2014, the Duffners got a letter from the city saying their yard was not in compliance. The couple applied for a variance, and in July 2014, they were granted one.

However, it didn’t give them a free pass; it still required them to plant at least five percent turf grass. Absent that, the St. Peters ordinances suggested, they would face fines of at least $10 a day, and potentially much, much more.

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Carl and Janice Duffner. | COURTESY OF DAVID ROLAND The couple refused — and, that September, filed a lawsuit.

The litigation has taken a long and torturous route. After the Duffners filed in state court, an adverse ruling sent them to appeals court, where they earned a partial victory. But the ruling sent the case back to the lower court.

The Duffners chose to instead file in federal court in 2016.

On March 28, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Ross issued a ruling that was mostly in favor of the city.

He found that even if the facts as presented by the Duffners were true, it wasn’t enough to win the case. And with that, he granted summary judgment for St. Peters.

Roland says there are some strategic benefits to Ross’ decision, and said he’s glad to have clarity, more than a year after St. Peters moved for summary judgment.

But, he says, the decision cannot be allowed to stand.

“My estimation is that this is one of the most important property rights cases in the country right now,” he says, suggesting that advocacy groups that care about property rights will likely choose to join the Duffners’ fight. “We’re going to go all hands on deck.”

Rather than prohibiting certain plants that might be harmful, Roland notes, St. Peters’ ordinance instead forces homeowners to proactively plant others. “It’s a huge leap conceptually, and that’s why it’s so dangerous,” he says. “By this principle, a city could require you to put in a swimming pool and pay to maintain it. That’s the same thing we’re talking about here.”

He adds, “The courts have long found that people have the right to use their personal property in a lawful, harmless way — and have the right to exclude things from their property they don’t want n there.”

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HAVE YOU EVER SEEN YOUR BEST FRIEND MAMA CRY LA4SS COULD BE THE BIGGEST ST. LOUIS RAPPER IN A GENERATION — IF HE SURVIVES

S

By Ben Westhoff

t. Louis rap ruled charts in the early 2000s, with Nelly and Chingy’s platinum hits revolving around hotel rooms, shiny jewels, tight jeans, slurred “rrr”s and lots of hometown pride.

But the party ended a decade ago. Chingy’s fallen off, Nelly’s facing sexual assault charges and today’s St. Louis rappers don’t have much in the way of national hits or media coverage. No one buys records anymore, and so instead the local scene is centered mostly around YouTube. It’s much darker. Drenched in blunt smoke, these videos are filmed in front of crumbling brick buildings. The production values are high, the verité quality disturbing. Artists still in high school point actual guns at the camera, threatening rival gangs. The subject matter is often not fictionalized, instead depicting trueto-life neighborhood rivalries and personal beefs.

These videos lead to actual killings. “In St. Louis, when you make a diss song, you have to be ready to die off of it,” says rapper Kosta Longmire, of the St. Louis group Gold Heart Family. That’s a big reason St. Louis hip-hop has been without breakout stars in recent years. The good ones 12

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keep getting murdered.

After a long drought someone is finally set to break nationally, a young rapper from the city named Antonio Harris, also known as LA4SS. Growing up in a family waterlogged with despair, legal trouble and tragedy, he’s found an artistic voice — equal parts brutal and enchanting — that’s captivated north city, north county and beyond.

Only twenty years old, he’s already done time in federal prison and seen the people closest to him murdered. Rumors abound that he’s got major, pressing beefs he’s not anxious to squash.

Under the mentorship of a famed local promoter, he still might have a chance. He blew the roof off of Chaifetz Arena last month, and major labels are circling. But to some observers of the scene, the most amazing thing about LA4SS isn’t his rise.

It’s that he’s still alive.

T

he nickname “LA4SS” is hard to parse; it’s pronounced “L.A. Fours” or just “L.A.” That doesn’t reference Los Angeles, but rather “Little Antonio.” “He had a friend named Lil A who killed himself, so he called himself LA to keep the name alive,” rapper Swagg Huncho, a collaborator, explained three years ago. “4” references his neighborhood set, and the SSs at the end are so it sounds cool.

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It’s a name as cryptic as Harris’ own story, one he doesn’t like to talk about.

Though he’s spoken with this reporter in the past, he declined to be interviewed for this piece. His manager says he’s wary of self-incrimination, perhaps understandable considering Harris is on probation and due back in court later this month on a charge of resisting arrest. Interviews with a wide array of friends, collaborators and close observers paint him as someone who’s short on trust. It makes sense; he’s faced chaos since his first days.

Harris raps about the drug dealing and violence that enveloped his childhood growing up on the “West Side” near Page and Union, a part of the city known to some as 51 Skan. According to statistics compiled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the surrounding Academy/Sherman Park neighborhood has a higher crime rate than 62 other neighborhoods in the city, out of 77, with 59 incidents of violent crime in the past six months, including two homicides. By all accounts Harris’ upbringing was rough. “Unfortunately, he was exposed to a lot of criminality at a young age,” his lawyer Andy Sottile said at Harris’ January 2017 sentencing in federal court, revealing that his client was diagnosed with depression at a young age.

“He really come from it,” says rapper Lil St. Louis, who over the years has shared management with Harris.

“His daddy still in the street.

Ever since I been knowing 4SS I been worried about him.

The way he lived; the way he came up.”

At an age when most boys are entering high school, meeting girls and studying for driver’s tests, Harris was getting gold fronts on his teeth and tattoos on his chest, and engaging in caustic disputes with adversaries. He began making music in earnest around age sixteen, finding unexpected success after performing a verse posted to a friend’s Instagram.

“I didn’t even think it would get a hundred views,” he told the St. Louis American in 2015. “But after that they were like, ‘You might as well rap.’ They put me in the booth. We dropped the first song, and it just got a buzz from there.”

Even among hard-edged rappers, Harris stands out for his intensity. It’s unnerving. Don’t expect comic relief or syrupy odes to girlfriends in his songs; he’s 100 percent serious, focused on life and death in the streets. And it’s been that way since the start.

In his 2015 video “Intro,” he stands shirtless on an Illinois riverbank, the Arch in view across the Mississippi. Over a simple, naked beat, he squints in a series of extreme close-

ups, pouring out his darkest agony in staccato bursts.

Have you ever seen your partner get hit with a 9?

You man’s leaking everywhere, you know he ’bout to die Have you ever seen your best friend mama cry Because her son was the one in that homicide?

Harris’ music doesn’t glorify black violence for the entertainment of white audiences, a charge often levied against gangsta rap. Instead, it’s an unflinching expression of the deep suffering many residents north of Delmar know so well.

Harris’ manager Slim Cunningham, a veteran St. Louis impresario known as LooseCannon, has worked with the most popular rappers in the country. He says he knew immediately that LA4SS was a major talent.

“When I looked at his videos I was like, ‘This dude got it,’” Cunningham says. “Some people got it in their eyes, man. It’s like magnetism. The way people crowd around you. It’s that star shit.”

Harris’ journey to the top of the St. Louis heap would not be a simple one, however. Though his charisma was never in question, a hundred other factors seemingly contrived to try to take him down. To survive he was forced to embark upon journeys both figurative and literal, descending into a pit of despair seemingly without bottom.

I

n 2014, LA4SS teamed up with a north county group called 3 Problems, whose local fame was already swelling. Known for street rhymes

paired with melodic hooks, like LA4SS, the group’s musical talents developed absent any formal training.

The members also inhabited dangerous neighborhoods; one of them, called Relly Rell, would soon be sentenced to ten years for second-degree murder.

Their collaborative track “For a FCKNIGGA” is as rough and raw as its name. Though it’s a rousing singalong with a video that’s been seen nearly two million times, something about it is downright terrifying: young boys strutting before an abandoned, rusting shipping container, flaunting enough weaponry to take down a small infantry. Harris, who had just turned seventeen, pulls a pistol from his sagging pants with a sinister smile and points it haphazardly at the camera.

The list of murdered local rappers is too long to list here. Their deaths are sometimes rap-related, sometimes not. It’s shocking, but it makes sense considering that, demographically speaking, young black men are the most frequent homicide victims (and perpetrators) in St. Louis. Notable rappers killed in recent years include City Stylez, a rising star shot dead in Baden in September 2015. One of his mentees — 3 Problems member Swagg Huncho — was murdered execution-style just a few months later. A rapper who was publicly sparring with 3 Problems named Blenda Boy Boo also went down in January 2017, the victim of a drive-by shooting outside the Hooters downtown. According to the police department’s public information division

and the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, a suspect was arrested in City Stylez’s murder, but the case was dismissed for “evidentiary reasons.” All three slayings remain unsolved.

Members of the hip-hop community have long derided the local scene for its “crabs in a barrel” mentality; anyone on the rise is pulled back down before they can break out. The situation was so dire that, as soon as LA4SS began to gain local fame— as his YouTube spins rose from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands — people feared for his safety.

“LA4SS is the guy everyone thought would be killed, even before Swagg Huncho and City Stylez,” says rapper Kosta Longmire.

“It’s terrible,” says Cunningham. “His fame was growing so rapidly. You’re going to have people who hate you, just because of what you’re doing.”

The young man still known in the legal system as Antonio

Harris wasn’t making things easy for himself. In December 2014 he was charged with stealing a motor vehicle (later amended to “receiving stolen property”) and resisting arrest. He made bail, and Cunningham soon pulled him out of St. Louis, taking him down to Miami, where Cunningham had a place.

The manager set him up in a South Beach apartment of his own, along with Harris’ close friend Dominick “Boosie” Chambly.

Beyond protecting his personal safety, Cunningham believed a change of scenery would fuel LA4SS’ art.

“You see the same thing, smell the same thing, look at the same thing, you can only limit your growth,” says Cunningham. “In order to grow, you have to see different shit. Travel will unlock your mindset.”

Indeed, it did, and Miami was the setting for Harris’ star turn, “Get It In,” which earned more than a million

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LA4SS, center, appeared in 3 Problems’ “For a FCKNIGGA” in 2014. Today one member of the group is dead; another is doing time for second-degree murder. | YOUTUBE.COM

Continued on pg 14

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LA4SS Continued from pg 13 YouTube views and inspired plaudits from national rap writers. Featuring a slow, minor-key beat from St. Louis producer Brady Luciano, LA4SS’ auto-tuned lyrics are particularly dark and cynical. Don’t hold your hand out to me blood, you is not my friend / And please don’t claim me, little folks, ’cause you not my fam, he raps.

The song’s chilling power could not be denied. Its accompanying album, Hood Hottest Youngin, seemed sure to catapult him to stardom, buoyed by tracks like “Jayson Tatum,” which shouted out the Chaminade alum and emerging Boston Celtics star. It was already blowing up on Spotify when Harris appeared on stage in January 2016 with Southern hip-hop kingpins Lil Wayne and Birdman in Miami Beach. Rap royalty seemed ready to crown him the next big thing.

W

ith each step forward, however, the West Side kept pulling him back.

In July 2015, Harris was again charged with resisting arrest; the case will be adjudicated later this month. “It was an unmarked car,” says Cunningham, explaining why his protege didn’t stop when he was pulled over. “In his neighborhood, where you got people who don’t like you, when you see a car driving fast, you gonna run.”

A few months later, tragedy struck Harris’ brother, Montrel “Fat Rat” Williams.

The details are murky and confusing: According to county police, on the evening of October 8, 2015, cops pulled over a car for speeding at Lucas-Hunt Road and Natural Bridge Road, only to find Williams shot in the back seat. He was pronounced dead at the scene. “An early [sic] investigation leads to a robbery and struggle that occurred inside the vehicle, which led to a shooting,” reads the county police’s media summary. The investigation appears to have stalled, however, and no one has been charged.

The murder shook Harris to his core. He’d just turned eighteen and returned to St. Louis to see his brother buried. And back in his hometown, he again found himself in trouble with the law. That fall, he was charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, for allegedly brandishing a weapon during a July 2015 attempt to steal someone’s PlayStation.

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LA4SS appeared at Chaifetz Arena earlier this year, performing in front of photos of his younger self. | BEN WESTHOFF

“I ain’t never killed anybody.

Never shot anybody.

It’s just for entertainment.”

Harris wasn’t arrested for the incident until four months later, when he was about to go on stage at the Washington Avenue club Lux. Then something strange happened: A police captain named Ryan Cousins intervened, telling city officers to remove Harris’ handcuffs. “[He feared there would be a disturbance should Harris be taken away before the performance,” reads an account of the incident in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“He told them, ‘Nah, let him do his show; they’re going to riot in

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there,” Cunningham recalls today.

Cousins and a police sergeant began yelling at each other, but Harris was allowed to perform.

He was successfully arrested a few days later, before posting $100,000 bail; the case was later dismissed after the alleged victim “indicated he didn’t wish to prosecute,” says prosecutor’s office spokesman Ed Magee. (Cousins, meanwhile, was fired following an internal affairs investigation mainly focused on another incident, though his dismissal was overturned in 2017 by the city’s Civil Service Commission.)

Harris’ life seemingly couldn’t have gotten any more tragic and surreal, until it did: In January 2016, his close friend Boosie, with whom he’d previously been living in Miami, was murdered, apparently the victim of collateral damage during a shootout involving the theft of a hoverboard near Delmar Boulevard and Clarendon Avenue.

Harris subsequently plunged further into darkness. In April 2016, still under indictment on charges of motor vehicle theft and resisting arrest, he was charged with receiving a firearm — a federal crime — and promptly locked up in Clayton with no possibility of bail.

And thus concluded a year of pure hell: The horrendous murders of his brother Fat Rat, his close friend Boosie and his collaborator Swagg Huncho, along with several arrests.

At his sentencing in January 2017 — in which he received ten months in federal prison, served in Marion, Illinois — U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Autrey scoffed while displaying stills from LA4SS’ videos.

“Are you volunteering to serve in the military? Are you going to hunt down ISIS? Are you playing cowboys and Indians?”

“It was all a prop for entertainment,” Harris responded.

“So these are fake guns?”

“No. I ain’t never killed anybody.

Never shot anybody. It’s just for entertainment. But I realize it paints a bad picture.”

“He fled the police in a car, then he fled on foot,” continued the prosecuting attorney. “He had a .40 firearm and a drum magazine with 23 rounds. Why would he need that?

This bump in the road is just going to be credibility for Mr. Harris — he can rap about it.”

Harris was now at the pinnacle of his fame, yet he could only enjoy it from behind bars, where he sat for the bulk of 2016 and 2017 while his Continued on pg 16 fans dutifully

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LA4SS Continued from pg 14

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Slim Cunningham worked with Nelly before their falling out. | BEN WESTHOFF posted “#Free4ss” on social media.

But despite the prosecutor’s ironic suggestion that incarceration could aid his career, Harris knew full well that the shelf life of a hot young rapper is only so long.

T

he prosecutor at the federal sentencing noted that Harris’ glock actually belonged to his manager Cunningham — who was sitting just a few feet away in the downtown courtroom. The judge seemed to slag him as well. “If you sincerely want to be an entertainer,” Autrey told Harris, “you need to do it without people who want to punk you, because they will suck you dry.”

The city of St. Louis, however, feels differently about Harris’ manager. “[T]he illustrious James (S.L.I.M.) Cunningham has worked tirelessly to promote HipHop and homegrown St. Louis music for well over a decade,” reads a June 2016 resolution presented by Aldermanic President Lewis Reed.

Projects including Cunningham’s celebrity basketball tournaments, it continues, “have been focused on bringing jobs and economic vitality to the City of St. Louis.”

“Slim” refers both to his frame and his hometown allegiance: “St. Louis Is Mine.” He’s one of the most

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successful hip-hop promoters in the country, having thrown shows featuring Lil Wayne, P. Diddy, Drake and many, many more.

After his parents split he lived in both the city and the county at times, spending summers with his dad, who lived near Harris’ father on Enright Avenue. Cunningham attended (and was kicked out of) high schools all over the metro area, which helped him amass a wide rolodex. Mentored by older brothers who threw parties, he began putting on events of his own in earnest after a stint in Atlanta. This was the early ’00s; Nelly was blowing up, and they hosted parties and played against each other in Cunningham’s charity basketball tournament. “It was beautiful,” says Cunningham.

“I figured out my niche, and everybody else figured out their niche.”

The pair fell out publicly in 2011, however, with Cunningham accusing the rapper of spending his “whole fortune” on drugs, steroids and gambling. Nelly denied the charges, referencing S.L.I.M. on Twitter as a “S_hady L_ame I_gnorant M_uthaf#cka.”

“He’s my brother; we just don’t talk,” Cunningham says. “I’m just mad at him, he’s mad at me. I’m over it.”

Continued on pg 18

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LA4SS Continued from pg 16 Cunningham has worn many hats over the years. In the late ’00s he co-owned a Midtown club called Karma and in 2011 released a rap album featuring Gucci Mane and 2 Chainz. He’s thrown parties catering to women called “Slimulus” — where women receive money just for walking through the door — and celebrity affairs with basketball stars like Carmelo Anthony. In 2004, when Anthony was found with marijuana while boarding the Denver Nuggets’ team plane, Cunningham took the rap, claiming the backpack harboring the weed was actually his. “Melo don’t even smoke,” Cunningham told Denver’s Westword, in a piece that called him “either one hell of a friend or one hell of a promoter.”

Cunningham’s LooseCannon Entertainment still puts on big events, but Cunningham says he’s bored with concerts these days — “I can do them in my sleep” — instead leveraging them to promote his hip-hop label, for which LA4SS is the main artist. This tactic was on display at Cunningham’s recent Chaifetz Arena show, the fifth in a series called State of Emergency, which he began throwing as a way to bring attention to St. Louis’ spiraling violence.

The show was March 14, just one month after Harris returned from prison. News of LA4SS’ release spread quickly across social media.

After all, when he went away he was the hottest rapper in the city; now, this “314 Day” concert would double as both homecoming and comeback attempt. It could put his career back on track, or demonstrate definitively that his fans had moved on.

T

hey’re turnt tonight at Chaifetz Arena for State of Emergency 5, all 5,000 of them — not a packed house, but loud. Cunningham promises this will be the show’s final iteration, and it’s headlined by two of the South’s biggest names, Migos and Lil Boosie.

Still, a massive portion of the crowd has arrived specifically for LA4SS, if the amount of festooned swag is any indication — from tees shouting out his slain brother to LA4SS headbands. Whole families are decked out, not to mention packs of high school girls, guys with their girlfriends, even moms and toddlers, who shake to (and from) earth-shaking gunshot sounds

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played by the warm-up DJ, which double as bassy percussion.

Around 10 p.m. Cunningham takes the stage, imploring attendees out of their seats and down into the lower tiers, where they crowd the aisles in anticipation. The fire marshal is not going to be happy.

And then, he’s there on stage.

Louis Vuitton backpack. Diamond necklace. Balmain long-sleeved black T-shirt with zippers on the sides.

“I’m back!” says LA4SS. The stadium roars. But they’re not sure exactly what they’re looking at. As he launches into his songs the video screen behind him shows old clips from before he went away, when he was still a teenager. There he is in Miami, a skinny kid with a chip on his shoulder; there he is mean-mugging before the Arch.

The guy on stage now is stockier.

His muscles are bigger, his youthful glow is gone.

“All my street niggas make some noise. Where my trap queens at?”

Pandemonium ensues as he plays his hits. Not radio or chart hits, of course, but St. Louis hits, songs shared on YouTube and spread across the city one phone at a time. Everyone here knows them.

Pull up, shoot, Jayson Tatum My money talk, Jayson Tatum I’m balling on you boys, I think I’m Jayson Tatum!

Rapping for about fifteen minutes, he’s not the most seasoned performer; jail time will do that to you. Yet for a young man who has every reason to resent the world — for someone who makes his living unearthing the pain that most people like to keep buried — he’s uncharacteristically elated by this moment. His rare smile delights.

After everything he’s been through, he’s still standing.

A few days later, Cunningham notes that LA4SS has new music on the way: soon, a single called “Misbehavior” — an “apology to the city” for his crimes — and a mixtape or album this summer.

They just flew out to LA to negotiate with labels. For now, they’re leaning toward Atlantic Records.

“I was there through Chingy, Nelly, everybody,” Cunningham says. “With Nelly, they didn’t go crazy until after he got the deal.

But there’s never been an organic force like this in the history of St. Louis.”

Cunningham gets paid to say things like this. Still, when it comes to LA4SS, it rings true.

“There’s never been a vibe like n this, ever.”

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CALENDAR

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

THURSDAY 04/05 Cardinals Home Opener

FRIDAY 04/06 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

T

om Stoppard’s tragicomic play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is considered a classic of the modern stage, and yet it’s rarely produced. Perhaps that’s because of its reputation as an absurdist farce (naysayers would go with “ridiculous nonsense”). And yet it remains in the canon of great English plays after more than 50 years of changing tastes and rapidly modernizing audiences. What is its secret?

Suki Peters, the artistic director of St. Louis Shakespeare, is deep in rehearsals for the company’s imminent production of the play (she’s directing), and deeply in love with Stoppard’s first major work. For her, the appeal is twofold.

“It’s underproduced; that’s why we wanted to do it,” she offers. “It’s hard, but maybe that’s the problem. People don’t want to open themselves up to the conversations that will happen. There have been lots of Hamlets produced lately, so people have it in the top of mind, and this will make more sense.”

Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern fit together like a mortise and tenon joint. Bit players in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are old friends of the melancholy Dane who show up to visit, but then agree to murder Hamlet at the behest of his stepfather. In their minds, a dead friend is worth being in the good graces of the new Danish king.

In Stoppard’s play, these two terrible friends are less mercenary and more confused by what’s going on around them. All of the action in Hamlet is repeated, but in this version Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the stars, always on stage while the “supporting cast” of king, queen, acting troupe (and its mysterious leader, the Player) and various courtiers appear suddenly for

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Guildenstern and Rosencrantz (Ted Drury and Robert Thibaut) are baffled by the Player (Isaiah Di Lorenzo) and life in general. | AUTUMN RINALDI a short interaction with the boys, and then disappear — often to die, because everybody dies in Hamlet, including our heroes. One play is a reflection of the other, but which is the real play?

Oh, and this is a comedy — even though, like Hamlet, the ultimate subject is death.

For Peters, the play’s comic moments only deepen her love.

“The thing about Stoppard is that he has this writing style that makes heavier topics more palatable,” she explains. “It is a comedy, but you want the audience to have conversations after it ends. Is it all for nothing? What is the meaning of death? Is there hope?”

A comedy riddled with darkness, extended silences, confusion and the characters’ foreknowledge of their own deaths is asking a lot of the audience, but it works because of the interplay between the two main characters.

“I think Rosencrantz has one of my favorite lines,” Peters says.

“It’s, ‘Be happy. If you’re not happy what’s the point of surviving?’ He’s very zen about his death. And then you have Guildenstern who struggles with their purpose and is upset about dying.”

In an interesting twist, Peters admits that if some audience members leave thinking that the play is ridiculous nonsense, she’s OK with

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that, with one caveat.

“I hope that audiences take away that their viewpoints are valid,” she says. “But I hope it inspires them to talk about death, and purpose, and why? Why are we here? And I hope they find some peace, I think.”

Peters has seen the effect Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can have on a receptive audience.

“Every day at rehearsal people come in excited about something new they’ve found in it,” she relates. “It’s sparking conversations. Every good actor will come in having done their homework and found something new. But for this show, we’ve had some really good conversations about death and purpose and where we are.

We’ve opened up ourselves to each other. Everybody’s learned a little bit about themselves. All of us seem to relate to one of the main characters.”

She knows exactly why this is happening.

“With Stoppard, it’s absurdist, but it’s hopeful,” she says.

St. Louis Shakespeare presents Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (April 6 to 15) at the Ivory Theatre (7620 Michigan Avenue; www.stlshakespeare.org). There is a 7:30 p.m. show on Thursday, April 12. Tickets are $15 to $20.

The slightly new-look St. Louis Cardinals have home-field advantage for the first time this season tonight at Busch Stadium. What does 2018 hold for the team that last year missed the playoffs (again)? No one knows and, on opening day, no one really cares. Win today and it’s a good omen for the rest of the year; lose and it’s only the seventh game of a very long season. The Cardinals start a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at 6:15 p.m. (games two and three are at 1:15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 7 and 8). Tickets for the home opener are scarce, while remaining tickets for Saturday and Sunday are $15 to $375.90.

FRIDAY 04/06 Big Muddy Dance Company Spring’s finally sprung and dancers are popping up everywhere. This weekend Big Muddy Dance Company celebrates a subject near and dear to most people reading this: St. Louis. The company’s new concert Meet Me in... tells the stories of some of the region’s heroes through the choreography of artistic director Brian Enos, company dancers Robert Poe and Thomas Jackson and internationally renowned choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams. Meet Me in... is performed at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday (April 6 and 7) at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square; www.thebigmuddydanceco.org). Tickets are $25 to $35.

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SATURDAY 04/07 Norm Lewis Singer/actor Norm Lewis moves comfortably from stage to big screen to small screen and back again. He’s played the titular Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Javert in Les Miserables (at the Muny in 2013), and he was just on your TV as Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. Even with all that, Lewis still makes time to perform his cabaret show, which he does this evening at 8 p.m. at the Sheldon (3648 Washington Boulevard; www.thesheldon.org).

He has a powerful voice, and he knows how to marshal it in service of the song, singing with force and precision where others would belt.

Tickets are $40 to $100.

and the role of man in the universe, Spinoza was breaking that covenant, potentially putting his own community at risk. So his former congregation put him on trial, with expulsion being the penalty if he was found guilty of “monstrous deeds.” David Ives’ play New Jerusalem dramatizes this trial, which saw Spinoza’s former teacher called to testify against his beloved student. The New Jewish Theatre presents the play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (April 4 to 22) at the Jewish Community Center (2 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Coeur; www.newjewishtheatre.org). Tickets are $41 to $44.

New Jerusalem

SUNDAY 04/08 Cardboard Piano

Baruch de Spinoza has been called “the prince of philosophers,” but in his own time his thoughts about God (he believed the deity was indifferent to humanity) brought him nothing but trouble. In seventeenth-century Amsterdam, the Jews had an arrangement with the local government: They kept their own laws and guaranteed that all Jews were observant to their faith.

By espousing radical ideas about God, the nature of good and evil,

Love can blossom in the unlikeliest places, even a war zone. Such is the case in Hansol Jung’s play Cardboard Piano. The white daughter of a missionary falls in love with a local Ugandan woman, and they hope to get married and then escape Uganda’s civil war for a happy life together. But during their secret ceremony, a wounded child soldier interrupts. The women’s love may have grown among the bullets and kidnappings, but can

it survive there? Cardboard Piano is a story of love and forgiveness told by the West End Players Guild.

The company performs the show at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (April 6 to 15) at the Union Avenue Christian Church (733 North Union Boulevard; www.westendplayers.org).

Tickets are $20 to $25.

St. Charles Location learn from scratch recipes that are everyday staples across the pond and easy enough to do yourself to kickstart a healthier (and tastier) lefestyle. call to register Central West End 115 N Euclid (314) 367-6457 St. Charles 617 S Main St. (636) 724-8282

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TUESDAY 04/10 The Cold Year Longyearbyen is north of here; it’s pretty much north of everywhere.

The remote town is about 300 miles from the North Pole and has more polar bears than people. Those people are the subject of Darren Mann’s documentary This Cold Life, which introduces you to some of the residents. Their lives include the coal mine (the main source of jobs and quickly going broke), depression, three months of total darkness every year and the lack of women. But the 2,200 hardy souls who call Longyearbyen home stay for some reason. Is it the isolation, or a side effect of the heavy drinking everyone seems to use as a coping mechanism? This Cold Life is shown for free at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; www.webster. edu/film-series). n riverfronttimes.com

April 18-22, 2018

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FILM

A new relationship with Braeden (Zachary Booth), right, forces Sam (Allan Cumming) to reassess his life in After Louie. | COURTESY OF CINEMA ST. LOUIS [REVIEW]

“Q” Is for Quality This year’s QFest shows how far depictions of the LGBTQ community have come — and how fragile that progress is Written by

ROBERT HUNT QFest

Becks (directed by Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Dan Powell) screens at 7 p.m. Wed., April 4. After Louie (directed by Vincent Gagliostro) screens at 5:30 p.m. Sun., April 8. The Lavender Scare (directed by Josh Howard) screens at 1:30 p.m. Sun., April 8.

All screenings are at .ZACK.

O

ver the last 50 years, gay characters in films have gone from novelty (the eccentric but ultimately unhappy neighbor who befriends the straight protagonist, à la Murray Melvin in A Taste of Honey) to stereotypical images of decadence, if not outright villainy (think Shelley Winters in Cleopatra Jones), to proud (but often

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still tragic) political mouthpieces. It’s a sign of just how much things have changed in the last generation that the characters in the films of this year’s QFest aren’t zany novelties, over-the-top caricatures or ideological straw figures. They’re simply gay characters with stories worth telling, and they’re refreshingly diverse even within the context of a festival where diversity is a given.

Take the titular heroine of the opening film Becks. Played by Lena Hall, she’s an aspiring singer-songwriter whose life takes a U-turn when she leaves an unfaithful partner and returns to the safety of her childhood home. Goodbye New York; hello Maplewood! Living with her not entirely open-minded mother (Christine Lahti), she reluctantly rediscovers a life she thought she’d outgrown — and even starts to like it, thanks to a weekend singing gig at an old friend’s bar and a chance to give guitar lessons to Elyse (Mena Suvari), the wife of an old high-school enemy.

Suvari and Lahti are good, but Hall, a Tony Award nominee, carries the film with her singing and her endearingly laid-back performance. St. Louis audiences, though, may be more impressed with the mostly on-target bits of local color.

Written and directed by former locals Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Dan

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Powell (who also plays Becks’ bartender friend), Becks is a portrait of someone who feels like an outsider even in her own hometown. It’s not because she’s gay; it’s because she’s stuck in a place where people can’t stop talking about Cardinals baseball and where they went to high school.

Becks represents a generation of gay women and men coming out in a time where their sexuality is relatively accepted, even in God-fearing Cardinal Nation. For Sam Cooper, the neurotic hero of After Louie, that’s a difficult thing to accept. As played the incomparable Alan Cumming, Sam is a veteran of the 1980s AIDS scare, and he’s a little resentful of younger men who didn’t share those dark days. An artist, he’s nostalgic for his time as an activist, obsessing over a memorial to a friend who died three decades earlier, and frustrated by friends who no longer dwell in the past.

When he begins a purely physical relationship with Braeden (Zachary Booth), his bitterness and sense of mortality escalate, alienating his friends and forcing him to re-evaluate a lifetime of political awareness.

After Louie is a spotty but ambitious film, a digest of four decades of gay culture held together by Cumming’s irresistibly cranky charm (and New York accent).

Finally, for a valuable lesson in American history, The Lavender Scare describes how homosexuals were systematically removed from government jobs and the military for being “security risks” during the Cold War era, despite not a single case of a gay man or woman ever being accused of turning over government secrets or being blackmailed over their sexuality.

Directed by Josh Howard and based on a book by David Johnson, it’s a fast-paced, disturbing depiction of small-mindedness turned into political edict. Told in the Ken Burns style, with letters and diaries read by Cynthia Nixon and Zachary Quinto, among others, The Lavender Scare is a capsule history of Cold War hysteria and a classic example of a political witch hunt. Stories of careers cut short and loyal Americans driven to suicide are recounted by those who suffered the sanctioned persecution, as well as by the bureaucrats who wielded the brooms.

And if you think these stories of ruined careers and lives are just tales from a less enlightened time, stick around to the very end for a footnote about how the State Department — and the current White House — have addressed this chapter of history.

Short answer: a dignified apology from one administration, a typically crass response from another. n

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ART GALLERIES

Misbah, 2006–07. Brass lantern, metal chain, light bulb and rotating electric motor, dimensions variable. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Mona Hatoum. Image courtesy of Fondazione Querini Stampalia Onlus, Venice. Photo: Agostino Osio.

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO

Mona Hatoum: Terra Infirma I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Peace Now Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design

3716 Washington Blvd. | www.pulitzerarts.org

6640 Delmar Blvd. | www.craftalliance.org

Opens 6-9 p.m. Fri., Apr. 6. Through Aug. 11.

Opens 6:30-8:30 p.m. Fri., Apr. 6. Through May 13.

Palestinian-born installation artist Mona Hatoum brings together more than 30 of her works for this show, her first exhibition in America in more than two decades. Hatoum’s sculptures and installations often evoke domestic settings, but subvert the attendant ideas of comfort and safety into something more menacing. Dormiente takes the shape of a seven-foot-long cot, but one made from an upsized cheese grater.

Misbah appears to be the sort of highend light projector you might install in a nursery so that bears and bunnies dance on the walls at night; instead armed figures stalk each other through the darkness. The vocabulary of her work is minimalism and surrealism, but it’s filtered through her feminist perspective, further shaped by her own sense of dislocation in a world that doesn’t recognize her native country. Hatoum discusses her work at the museum at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 7.

Boris Bally wanted to have a conversation about guns in America, so he turned to his craft. He asked his fellow metalsmiths to transform guns into works of art while still respecting the craft inherent in each weapon’s manufacture. All of the guns came from community buy-back programs, and all are still recognizable as guns. Some are integrated into another object, such as the petite handgun that became a link in the chain handle of a handbag. Others are transformed into something else — a pistol swathed in layers of colored twine until its recognizable outline blurs into something unfamiliar, or the pair of doll’s legs topped by a cloud of pink and black tubes that we suddenly realize are gun barrels and bullet casings.

— Paul Friswold

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YOUR SANDWICH PUB IN THE GROVE

20 BEERS ON TAP PLUS A ROTATING SELECTION OF BOTTLES & CANS POOL TABLE • GIANT PAC MAN • BOARD GAMES • DJS THURS-SUN @ 10:30PM

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WEDNESDAY, APR 4 CAT CLIPS: A COMPETITION IN CUTENESS 5PM AT URBAN CHESTNUT

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CAFE

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The Clover and the Bee’s sea scallops are accompanied by a pea risotto, tomatoes, pea shoots, mint and olive oil. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

Get in Line Like Olive + Oak, the Clover and the Bee is a treat worth waiting for Written by

CHERYL BAEHR The Clover and the Bee

100 W. Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves; 314-942-1216; Mon.-Tues. 7 a.m.-2 p.m.; Wed.-Fri. 7 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m.; Sat.Sun. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-9 p.m.

S

everal months ago, my husband and I were out and about, looking for a dinner spot to celebrate our anniversary. We

wanted something low-key but nice — a place where we could get a good burger and an even better bottle of wine — and Olive + Oak ticked those boxes.

We weren’t fools, though. The chances of getting a table in the dining room were nonexistent; the place books up months in advance.

Instead, we asked for a seat at the bar, which, to our dismay, was not only completely full but on a wait.

A two-and-a-half-hour wait. It was 6 p.m. on a Wednesday.

No one begrudges owners Greg Ortyl and Mark Hinkle for Olive + Oak’s success. In fact, the personal hell they’ve been through — the loss of their sons to congenital heart defects is how they got to know each other in the first place — makes you root for them more than just about any other restaurateurs in town. Considering that Olive + Oak is a living memorial

to their boys, it’s fitting that the restaurant has shot to the top of the city’s restaurant scene like a rocket that refuses to come back down to earth, even two years into its run.

It’s also not their fault that the restaurant is so damn popular.

Hinkle and chef Jesse Mendica spent a good deal of their restaurant careers at the esteemed Annie Gunn’s as general manager and chef de cuisine, respectively; they were seemingly destined to open a place where everyone wanted to eat. However, it’s possible that the restaurant is a bit too successful. The wait times and impossible reservations are so legendary, they are the first things people mention when they speak about the restaurant, often with an eye roll. It’s like the cool kids in high school: popular, but resented for that popularity all the same. riverfronttimes.com

Hinkle and company are keenly aware of this, which is why they knew they had to figure out a way to serve more guests, lest they run the risk of having mobs rush Olive + Oak’s doors (which really isn’t that far removed from current reality) or alienate would-be diners with the lack of available reservations.

When news hit that the neighboring Webster Bookshop was closing its doors after 50 years, Hinkle jumped on the space, seeing it as the answer to the restaurant’s lack of capacity.

However, he smartly did not use it to expand Olive + Oak, which had already maxed out its operation.

Instead, he opted for a different format — one that would allow would-be diners to simply walk in.

If reservations were the problem with Olive + Oak, the new place would solve that by eschewing reservations altogether.

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

Continued on pg 28

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NOW OPEN

SUNDAYS 10AM-8PM

SERVING BRUNCH 10AM-1PM

618-307-4830 www.clevelandhealth.com 106 N. Main | Edwardsville, IL A floral mural provides visual appeal on the restaurant’s back wall, while a green velvet banquette provides seating. | MABEL SUEN

CLOVER & THE BEE Continued from pg 27

dining read more at

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The resulting restaurant, the Clover and the Bee, opened this past December on the corner of West Lockwood and Gore, adjacent to Olive + Oak. The concepts share not just a hallway (though you can’t see that from the dining room) but also a cohesive chic aesthetic of blonde wood and tufted banquettes. However, the Clover and the Bee feels much more whimsical, adorned as it is in jewel-colored velvet and brass and outfitted with earthy succulents. Its design centerpiece is a bright floral mural, which takes up the entire back wall space. If Anthropologie had a cafe inside its stores, it would look a lot like the Clover and the Bee. Originally, the Clover and the Bee was envisioned as a breakfast-and-lunch, fast-casual concept, but, go figure, the restaurant was so jam-packed that counter service became a logistical nightmare. Now it’s full service, a format that seems more appropriate for the thoughtful fare on offer, which does not deviate that far from its sister restaurant’s el-

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evated yet approachable playbook.

Chef Mendica translates her cooking to the daytime with dishes like the impeccable “Biscuit Sand,” a mammoth breakfast sandwich that layers a large rectangle of fennel-kissed pork sausage and an equal-sized slice of egg (akin to a frittata) with white American cheese on a buttery biscuit that tastes like flaky shortbread. Two people could share this breakfast masterpiece and be satisfied. Splitting the sandwich means you’ll have more room for the terrific breakfast potatoes. Chimichurri dresses these roasted beauties, giving them a punch of garlicky tang that brightens their salty flesh.

Lunch is no less thrilling. The pistachio dip features a tapenade of nuts and fresh herbs that garnishes velvety whipped goat cheese. Razor-thin sliced radishes punch through the cheese’s richness. For a counter to this dish’s decadence, a salad of shaved Brussels sprouts, apples, cherries and pecans is bright and crisp; an optional pancetta add-on contrasts the sweet overtones with the rich, salty pork.

Sandwiches include a heap of luscious burrata, accented with pine nuts and broccoli pesto, that soaks into a crusty ciabatta roll. Its luxury is matched by a seemingly simple pastrami on rye that is anything but: Piles of the smoky cured meat are slick with rendered fat, which is made even more indulgent with the addition of fonduta, a molten Italian cheese. The fonduta and drippings from the pastrami form an unctuous glaze that seeps into every crevice of the rustic rye bread. Its caraway-seed crust and some yellow mustard cut through the fat like a smack across the face.

Both the pastrami and burrata sandwiches are simple enough, but their flawless execution and thoughtful details elevate them beyond casual cafe fare.

The Clover and the Bee added dinner service in January, right around the time it changed to a full-service format, because — shocking to no one — demand necessitated an additional seating.

There is a good deal of crossover between the dinner and lunch menus (sandwiches, soups, salads, some appetizers) with a few

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E X P E R IE

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“Thanks for voting us Best Greek Restaurant 2017”

“Biscuit Sand,” spiced flatbread and pistachio dip are daytime options. | MABEL SUEN nighttime additions. A succulent roast half-chicken tastes like Thanksgiving in Provence with its herbed stuffing and tarragon gravy. I would have liked the skin to be crisper, but it was otherwise a solid offering.

Mendica’s white-cheddar grits are deservedly becoming one of the Clover and the Bee’s signature dishes. At dinnertime, she pairs the creamy cornmeal concoction with shrimp that is grilled so that its skin picks up just a whisper of bitter char. A sweet-and-chunky tomato ragout complements the briny shellfish and softens the smoky char for a delightful contrast.

A carryover from its brief life as a fast-casual concept, the Clover and the Bee has a large pastry case filled with everything from breakfast treats to full-on desserts. Though your server will bring you a menu with a handful of the offerings, you’re better off getting out of your seat and taking a gander at the display of croissants, muffins, buttercream-covered cupcakes, bread pudding and cookies — the brown-sugar cookie is particularly noteworthy for its deep, molasses flavor.

In addition to being a vibrant visual aid, the pastry case serves another important end: It can provide you with a quick snack if you grow faint waiting for your table. And there will be a wait, especially at breakfast and lunch time during the weekends, though the restaurant uses the NoWait reservation app which is an absolute godsend. Ninety minutes for the next table? It’s much less of an annoyance when you can determine that from the comfort of your own home and plan accordingly.

But just the fact that you can get into the Clover and the Bee within 90 minutes of deciding it’s where you want to eat is a small miracle — one that Hinkle and company should be commended for facilitating with the restaurant’s format and reservations policy. At this rate, he and Ortyl will have to hope that the entire block becomes available to lease.

No matter how much they keep giving us, we can’t help but want more. n The Clover and the Bee

“Biscuit Sand” ������������������������������������$7 Burrata ��������������������������������������������� $10 Roast chicken ���������������������������������� $18

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30

SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

The Refugee Who Rose to the Top Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

N

y Vongsaly likes to joke that he was a child when he met restaurateur Zoe Robinson 30 years ago at the old Empire Cafe in Lafayette Square. But the experiences that got him to St. Louis, all the way from Laos, were far from child’s play.

“He swam across the Mekong River with people shooting at him to escape to Thailand,” Robinson explains of Vongsaly’s harrowing 1979 journey out of the war-torn country.

It’s not something that Vongsaly focuses on, however. The part of his journey that he likes to recall, in fact, is more amusing than awful.

“I was the ringleader,” Vongsaly recalls of his time in a refugee camp in Thailand. “There were these buildings, and I would tell people they had to put the supplies here or there. I was the one in charge of ordering, and I was only twenty years old. See, even then I was always the boss.”

Today, Vongsaly is indeed the boss: As the executive chef of Robinson’s acclaimed restaurant group, including its latest effort, Billie-Jean (7610 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton; 314-797-8484), Vongsaly is in charge of overseeing an eclectic portfolio that includes everything from authentic Italian to classical French.

Though never professionally trained as a chef, Vongsaly learned about food by watching his mother and sisters. He picked up their techniques and traditional Laotian recipes well enough to impress Robinson and his other co-workers when they worked together at Empire Cafe.

“Zoe would say, ‘Hey, this is what I want — salty, spicy big flavors,’” Vongsaly says, recalling how he would bring in traditional Laotian dishes for his colleagues. “They

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Ny Vongsaly, the executive chef of Zoe Robinson’s restaurant group, isn’t classically trained. That hasn’t slowed his ascent. | SUZY GORMAN would all say that they wanted more of this for lunch.”

Robinson was so impressed that she brought Vongsaly on board when she bought Empire Cafe and renamed it Cafe Zoe. After a few months, he became the restaurant’s executive chef, creating a menu of dishes influenced by the food he’d grown up eating in Laos, as well as what he concocted while experimenting as a home cook.

Vongsaly and Robinson worked well together, becoming, as they describe it, like brother and sister. But it wasn’t just a friendship that was forged at Cafe Zoe: The pair achieved success beyond what they had expected with Cafe Zoe and realized that they had a knack for the restaurant business and, for Vongsaly, for cooking.

Though he was enjoying his newfound career as a chef, the pull to

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reconnect with his real-life brother and sister was strong. Vongsaly departed Cafe Zoe and St. Louis for Modesto, California, to join his family, where he worked as a mechanic for several years.

His then-wife, who had family in St. Louis, wanted to return, so Vongsaly found himself again in the Midwest and looking for a cooking job.

He got one with Patty Long Catering, where he worked until Robinson came calling with another idea: She was getting ready to launch a new concept and wanted his help.

That concept, Zoe Pan Asian, was a huge success in the Central West End and solidified Vongsaly’s and Robinson’s relationship as collaborators — no matter what the concept.

That’s why there was no one else she could tap when she wanted to open her Italian concept, I Fratellini.

Though he’d never really cooked

Italian food, a culinary trip to Italy made Vongsaly realize just how much it shares with Laotian cuisine.

“Italian food is so similar to Asian food,” he explains. “Dumplings are stuffed pasta; we both use a lot of noodles.”

After the success of I Fratellini, Robinson again asked Vongsaly to push out of his culinary comfort zone when they opened the French-inspired Bar Les Frères.

This time the chef — a fluent French speaker whose native Laotian cuisine is steeped in French flavors and techniques — was far more proficient.

Now, at Billie-Jean, Vongsaly feels like he is back to his restaurant and culinary roots with Robinson. The menu, which draws quite a bit of inspiration from the fusion flavors of Cafe Zoe and Zoe Pan Asian, is Continued on pg 34

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[FOOD NEWS]

ANOTHER LOOP CLOSURE

D

Alpha Brewing Co.’s new tap room has an industrial look far different than many brick-walled breweries in the city. | SPENCER PERNIKOFF

[BEER]

Beer Nerds Have a New Home in TGS Written by

ELLEN PRINZI

T

he newly crowned best beer city in the country (thanks, USA Today!) just got even better: Alpha Brewing Company (4310 Fyler Avenue, 314-621-2337) opened its Tower Grove tap room on March 24, three months after closing its Washington Avenue location. The brewery, known for its sours and limited-edition small-batch brews, is back in a much larger, spruced-up space, with a food program run by Plantain Girl Mandy Estrella.

The new 13,000-square-foot location is made up of three distinct areas: the tap room, a private event room and the production brewery.

The space was once occupied by a rake-and-shovel company that went out of business years ago, and head brewer and owner Derrick Langeneckert has had his eyes on it ever since.

“I live in this neighborhood, and

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I love it here,” he says. “The opportunity to expand from 35 seats to 200, and to do it my neighborhood, was too good to pass up.” The energy and foot traffic from nearby Tower Grove Park have him excited for warmer weather, as does a patio space Alpha plans to unveil in the coming months.

When you enter the brewery, you are greeted by a massive mural from St. Louis artist Jason Spencer (also known as Killer Napkins), high ceilings, wooden booths and a center bar with TVs. The space is clean and modern, with the beer as the focal point. This is all by design, as Langeneckert explains: “All the breweries are starting to look the same with the exposed brick and concrete beams.

We wanted to be different, and focused on creating a simple, refined space.”

Alpha has had its share of local controversies (most recently, the company faced criticism for what some said was a misogynistic grand-opening Facebook invite). But among beer lovers, it’s best known for its sours like the Delphian, a chardonnay-barrel-aged sour blonde, and the Hop, Lock & Drop It, an American pale ale. The beer menu is constantly changing as the brewery comes up with new and exciting flavors like the Apocrypha, a sour black ale, aged in pinot noir barrels.

Aside from the more exotic offerings reserved for the adventurous, Alpha

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also offers easy-drinking blondes, stouts and IPAs. With passion and attention to detail, Langeneckert, who has his master’s degree in biology, comes across as part mad (beer) scientist and part proud father.

But he also knows his limitations.

Langeneckert says, “I know how to run a bar and make beer, so we wanted to partner with a pro when it came to serving food.” That pro is Estrella, chef and owner of Plantain Girl. She’s been serving her Puerto Rican- and Caribbean-inspired food all over town for years, but always in a pop-up setting. Now she has a space (and more importantly, a kitchen) to call home. Pro move: Order the jibarito, a Puerto Rican-inspired sandwich full of steak and cheesy goodness that uses plaintains instead of buns.

Alpha’s five-year anniversary party is slated for April 14. Like last weekend’s grand opening, it will feature live music and a few special brews. Fans of the downtown location will delight in the new space, the addition of the food program and upcoming biergarten.

Alpha Brewing Co. is open on Friday and Saturday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m.

Ellen Prinzi is our bar-and-nightlife writer; she likes strong drinks and has strong opinions. You can catch more of her writing via Olio City, a city guide app she started last year.

oughocracy (6394 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-833-4277), which aimed to do for pizza what Chipotle did for the burrito, closed its doors for good on March 25.

Co-owner Mimi Hurwitz confirmed the closure. “I am hopeful and feel very positive that we’ve got a party that’s extremely interested in the space to do their own concept,” she says. “I’m very optimistic that this won’t become another vacancy in the Loop.”

The fast-casual pizzeria opened its doors in November 2015, occupying the storefront that previously held the women’s clothing store Ziezo. The owners put a good deal of money into the space, adding a conveyor-belt-style pizza oven and a sharp new look.

While it was always intended to become part of a chain, the St. Louis location was the first in the U.S. The RFT’s Cheryl Baehr praised its fast and creative pizzas, which were assembled before customers in a line and then sent through a blazing hot oven. Pies typically took less than five minutes and still managed to achieve a perfectly charred crust, just like they do it in Naples.

But the Loop has weathered hard times in recent years, with closures including both chains (Chipotle, Noodles & Co.) and indies (Joy Luck Chinese Express, Cicero’s, $8 Deli).

Just three weeks ago, Snarf’s shut the doors of its Loop location after an eight-year run. At this point, all six of those storefronts remain empty.

Business owners are holding their breath, waiting for the trolley to begin serving passengers two years after major construction ended.

Hurwitz praises the small-business owners in the neighborhood whom she’s gotten to know during Doughocracy’s run. “When you see past the vacancies, it’s a really cool street with good people,” she says.

“People who come to work every day and try to make things work.”

She adds, “It’s been unfortunate what’s happened the last few years, both with the construction and the negativity around it. Everybody here is trying to make a living, and unfortunately they got caught in the middle of it. Hopefully the trolley will start running very soon.”

—Sarah Fenske

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NY VONGSALY Continued from pg 30

Inca now has a forever home. | DANA HUTH/BEN TRIOLA [MILESTONES]

Mauhaus Celebrates Cat No. 100 Written by

SARAH FENSKE

S

ixteen months ago, the St. Louis region welcomed its first cat cafe, Mauhaus Cat Cafe and Lounge (3101 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; 314-384-2287). And on March 25, Mauhaus celebrated a huge milestone — its 100th cat adopted out to a forever home.

But it wasn’t all joy as Inca left the cafe with her beaming new owner. In some ways, says co-owner Ben Triola, it was bittersweet.

“She’s the kind of cat you love when you really get to know her,” he says. “She’s kind of a troublemaker, in the best possible way.”

Indeed, Triola admits that the black-and-white charmer’s ninemonth stay might have been a bit shorter, had not the cafe’s manager fallen head over heels.

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“Our cat manager is already very, very selective. We don’t just adopt cats willy-nilly,” Triola explains. “You’ll see cat cafes open far less than a year who’ve adopted more than 100 cats. But we don’t do same-day adoptions, and we do background checks.

You have to be a pretty awesome person to get one of our cats. And being that this is our manager’s favorite cat ... we’re confident she’s going to a truly awesome home.”

Mauhaus has been jampacked since almost the first day it opened. While visitors no longer need to book their appointments a full month in advance, Triola admits that it can still get pretty nuts on the weekends — and with waits that can stretch to several hours, the cafe continues to encourage reservations.

He says, “We hate having to turn people away.”

But it’s not just about volume, or about selling pastries and coffee and letting cat lovers visit with the lovely residents.

Co-owners Triola and Dana Huth, as well as their staff, are focused on a mission: to save cats from death’s door.

All the cats they adopt out come from Stray Haven Rescue, Triola says. And Stray Haven adopts all its cats from kill shelters. He says, “These are cats

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

who are literally next in line to be killed. They get a second chance because Stray Haven chooses them.” And on Mauhaus’ website and in person, the cats get a spotlight — and a direct connection with feline fanciers just waiting to fall in love.

It can be a literal lifesaver.

Triola recalls Cowboy, whom he describes as “a humongous tan cat.” Such a big guy might not be an easy sell at a shelter; at the cat cafe, his sweet personality allowed him to get past that first impression. “He would have been euthanized,” Triola says. Instead, these days, Cowboy is purring happily in his new home. (Get a look at the 100 cats Mauhaus has adopted out in its new book, now available for pre-order on its website.)

Still, not every cat who’s come to Mauhaus has been adopted out. Two of the first kitties to come to the cat cafe were a sibling pair, Taylor and Lorelei. And in this case, it wasn’t just the cat manager who was smitten. The co-owners lost their hearts.

“Dana and I both fell in love and said, ‘We’ve got to keep them,’” Triola admits. The pair remain more than a year later — the “resident cats” in a cafe with no small amount of turnover.

Says Triola, “They just kind of n belonged.”

his way of getting back to not just what set his career in motion, but what inspired his collaboration with Robinson in the first place — and, of course, his culinary heritage.

Still, his real motivation is much more external.

“I just want to make sure the food is good, and I don’t really think about anything else,” Vongsaly says.

“When people come in, eat my food and say, ‘Oh my god,’ that’s what makes me proud.”

Vongsaly took a break from his three kitchens to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food-and-beverage scene, the talent that comes in handy working in a professional kitchen (apparently, he can repair a refrigerator like a pro) and why his last meal on earth would be a taste of home.

What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I can fix almost anything.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Coffee and the news.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Making time stand still.

What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year?

More diversity in restaurants.

What is something missing in the local food, wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see?

Elevated Laotian food.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

Qui Tran of Mai Lee and Nudo House.

Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene?

Ben Poremba.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Papaya — in a spicy papaya salad.

If you weren’t working in the restaurant business, what would you be doing?

I’d be a builder or mechanic.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Artificial sweetener.

What is your after-work hangout?

Home.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Bud Light.

What would be your last meal on earth? n Spicy beef larb.

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riverfronttimes.com

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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36

CULTURE

[HOMESPUN]

The Torch Is Passed Ryan Marquez goes back to his jazz roots on Moving Forward in Time Written by

CHRISTIAN SCHAEFFER

F

or much of the past decade, keyboardist Ryan Marquez has played in a host of souland groove-oriented groups, including the pop-forward band Fresh Heir, the fusion-fried Toymaker and the organ-led funk quartet the People’s Key. But to make his latest album, Moving Forward in Time, he had to go back to his roots. The album finds Marquez embracing one of his original musical loves — the jazz trio, with Marquez’s piano taking the spotlight.

“I hadn’t done a lot of jazz work in the last five or ten years or so, and I think it was a blooming of feeling inspired to take my own crack at the jazz trio,” says Marquez. “I think I always saw myself as a jazz musician — as a kid, that’s what I always wanted to be — but then I got to college and there were all these ideas of ‘what is jazz’ and all this heady philosophy. To me, there’s always been two kinds of music: good music and bad music.

Along with bassist Ben Wheeler and drummer Steve Davis, Marquez has created a breezy and, at times, contemplative album.

His commitment is to the song’s melody (most clearly heard on the covers of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”), but Davis and Wheeler scurry like stagehands in the background to keep subtle but perpetual tension.

“I guess it was the beginning of last year where I got really inspired to just write original music in a jazz-trio format, which is really what spawned this whole

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Ryan Marquez is a man of many musical talents. | AMY REIS Moving Forward in Time project,” Marquez says. “It was really inspired by all the crazy energy that was around with the election and the events that were happening in the aftermath of Ferguson and the riots that were going downtown.”

But that “crazy energy” gets transmuted into something gentler in Marquez’s hands. He’s a charismatic and centered person — one of his many side-gigs involves playing music alongside guided meditation — and as he sips a mug of green tea, he explains his motivations behind the new album.

“Instrumental music is about conveying ideas through music, so my idea was to use the song titles as intentions,” he says. “So I used words like ‘serenity’ and ‘patience.’ And ‘Peace March,’ I actually wrote that on the day of the women’s march that happened downtown [on Inauguration Day in January 2017]. That’s kind of the direction that I started in, and it started unfolding.”

Marquez’s time in the jazz pro-

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gram at Webster University led him to embrace the expressive, occasionally unwieldy Hammond B3 organ. When Hammond wizard Dr. Lonnie Smith came to the school for a clinic with Lou Donaldson, Marquez caught the spark.

“After the clinic was over, a few of us huddled around Dr. Lonnie and played twenty questions with him,” says Marquez. “He was talking about how there’s a lot of piano players, but there aren’t a lot of true organ players left. He said, ‘The world needs more organ players.’ He looked me dead in the eye — I don’t even know if he knew I was a keyboard player. I thought, ‘You know what? I wanna play organ like Dr. Lonnie Smith.’

I still have miles to work to get to that level.”

His time at Webster led to several such moments, but none more transformative than studying with (and gigging alongside) adjunct professor and beloved tenor saxophonist Willie Akins.

“I got to play in his band for

about two years,” says Marquez.

“I got educated and schooled in his band, even though he was an educator at Webster — that’s how we met.”

Marquez used his time with Akins to inspire the writing of “Apparition,” which takes its bones from the Horace Silver tune “Pretty Eyes,” a song that was something of a theme song for Akins. But it was a slightly supernatural visit from Akins, who passed in 2015, that really spurred Marquez forward with the project.

“I actually had a dream where he came to me,” Marquez says.

“We were playing in a club, and he was playing his butt off. I don’t even remember what song we were playing, but he was playing it with everything he had. He just finished his solo and he turned to me to motion for my solo, and it was this moment — it was a look he gave me: ‘Alright, Ryan, whatcha got? Your turn.’

“So I felt like it was a passing of n the torch.”

[COMICS]

Arch Rivals Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

W

hen they’re not punching aliens through skyscrapers in fictional cities like Metropolis, comic-book superheroes generally behave like real-life coastal elites — doing most of their work in New York City and Los Angeles.

But on rare occasions, comic books do acknowledge the existence of other cities, and sometimes that city is St. Louis! When that happens, Martin Casas, co-owner of Apotheosis Comics (3206 South Grand Boulevard, 314-260-1689), takes special note.

“I’m a huge fan, obviously, of our city,” says Casas, who’s also active in local political circles. For years, he’s collected comic books featuring St. Louis, and he’s now highlighting some of those finds in weekly posts to the shop’s Reddit and Imgur accounts.

“I like to show my pride, and finding the comic books with St. Louis in the background or mentioned turned into a hobby of mine,” Casas explains.

He concedes that St. Louis-y comic books are few and far between. While New Yorkers can pick up any Spider-Man comic and see references to landmarks and neighborhoods, St. Louis has to make do with “little vignettes.”

Frequently, those small scenes involve St. Louis’ biggest landmark, the Gateway Arch. For instance, in 1976, the Fantastic Four found themselves atop the Arch battling both the Hulk and — gasp — their own brick-skinned chum, the Thing. On the issue’s cover, astonished sightseers gape from the Arch’s observation deck as the heroes slug it out.

More recently, in 2015, Aquaman grudgingly visited Missouri, which the king of Atlantis ruefully refers to as a “landlocked state,” in order to confront an interdimensional temple. Oh, and the temple’s first move is to devour people under the Arch with sludgy black tentacles. (Cool

Hulk slugs it out atop the Arch; a mutant is chastised for blowing out “every single window between Gravois and Grand.” | VIA APOTHEOSIS COMICS footnote: Casas points out that the Aquaman issue was written by actual St. Louis resident Cullen Bunn.)

The Arch isn’t always relegated to a background prop, though. In a late ’70s issue of The Human Fly, the eponymous hero — who had his skeleton sheathed in steel after a car accident, and subsequently vowed to use his daredevilry to raise money for charity — took a motorcycle ride up and down the legs of the Arch.

But for Casas, the fact that St. Louis is usually reduced to the Arch and little else feels like a missed opportunity.

“A lot of the comics missed the mark. They don’t really delve into the history of St. Louis or talk about the background of it,” he says. But at least the Arch is an instantly identifiable feature — when St. Louis made a couple of appearances in the early days of Action Comics in the 1930s and ’40s, “you can’t recognize it, because there’s no Arch there.”

Still, St. Louis is more than its Arch. In June 1944, Billy Batson,

a.k.a Shazam, stopped by Sportsmen’s Park to pal around with St. Louis Cardinals general manager (and eventual Hall of Famer) Billy Southworth. Notably, Casas also came across a 1989 issue of The Young All-Stars that managed to place its story in St. Louis without once mentioning the Arch, which makes sense, since the story is set in 1942 and involves Baron Blitzkrieg — he’s a Nazi, by the way — breaking into a Washington University lab to steal processed uranium.

In real life, that uranium was actually refined in the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works just north of St. Louis, and the resulting radioactive waste was later illegally dumped in a landfill in Bridgeton, and that landfill is currently on fire.

Another example of a comic book going beyond the Arch is a 1994 issue of X-Men that actually drops references to local street names. The issue follows a Blues-jersey-wearing mutant named Synch who gets told off by a cop for blowing out “every single window between Gravois and riverfronttimes.com

Grand.”

“It’s really cool,” Casas gushes, “because that’s my neighborhood.

I assume he was in Tower Grove East.”

Can you get more St. Louis than that? Absolutely. A 1989 issue of Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals — in which Archie and Jughead embark on a cross-country search for a stolen jalopy — is so remarkably local that it features none other than Joe Edwards, who makes his cameo with all the subtlety of, well, Blueberry Hill. (“My name is Joe Edwards!” says the long-haired Loop magnate, guitar slung on his back.)

While Casas continues to add to his collection, he’s still waiting for comic books to spotlight St. Louis in more than just a background role.

He’s holding out for a bona fide St. Louis hero.

“Given our recent history,” he says, alluding to protests in the region, “there’s plenty to write, good and bad, with characters in St. Louis. I think there’s certainly an n opportunity to create one.”

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FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018 | DOORS OPEN @ 7:30PM | SHOW STARTS @ 9PM

music read more at RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM

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Get ready for baseball!

Like & Follow us on Facebook @dukesinsoulard

IT’S A ST. LOUIS HOLIDAY

Brooke Candy is one of the headlining acts at this year’s ShowcaseSTL. | PRESS PHOTO [ F E S T I VA L S E A S O N ]

SHOWCASESTL RETURNS AND EXPANDS

A

re you a glass-half-empty or halffull kind of person? The answer won’t even matter when ShowcaseSTL hits the Grove neighborhood on Saturday, June 16, and Sunday, June 17. With more than 100 acts across two days and eight stages, all cups will run over.

You read right: The Riverfront Times’ annual summer music festival has expanded to two full days. This event can be a total sensory overload, so we thought it best to stretch the fun over 48 hours. That’s not to say we’ve skimped on the goods, though.

For the fifth year in a row, we will continue to offer St. Louis’ largest locally focused music festival, with well over 100 performances.

We also think that quantity is best served with quality. ShowcaseSTL has traditionally been the ultimate intersection of local favorites and unsung heroes in St. Louis music — that much has not changed. This year, however, we are adding in a few special guests from outside of town.

Guided By Voices has, in no uncertain terms, helped define the genre of indie rock across 20-plus years of recording and performing. With more than 2,000 songs across three decades, bandleader Robert Pollard might be one of the most prolific songwriters in America. Released on March 23, GBV’s new record Space Gun caps off a successful year of touring and festival dates, including Coachella 2017.

Brooke Candy rounds out this year’s lineup by toeing the line between pop and rap with an aggressive and sex-positive edge. As a featured

performer at LA Pride 2017, she stunned with her raunchy rap. After two weeks of touring Europe in May, Brooke will descend on ShowcaseSTL on Sunday, June 17.

Here’s the initial lineup for 2018: Guided By Voices * Brooke Candy * Black Fast * Bates * CaveofswordS * Eric Dontè * Bruiser Queen * 18andCounting & TheOnlyEnsemble * Tonina Saputo * Nikee Turbo * Le’Ponds * The Knuckles * Brothers Lazaroff * Illphonics * Shady Bug * DJ Mahf * Mt. Thelonious * Mathias and the Pirates * The Maness Brothers * The Domino Effect * Guerrilla Theory * Ryan Koenig * Lobby Boxer * Apollo’s Daughter * Jr. Clooney * Seashine * Shitstorm * Syna So Pro * The Defeated County * Little Big Bangs * The Vigilettes * Brian McClelland * Kid Scientist * Sister Wizzard * The Fade * Pono AM * Bloom * L. S. Xprss * DJ Nune is Lamar Harris * Town Cars * Karen Choi * Broke Poets * Glued * Sorry, Scout * Paige Alyssa * The Potomac Accord * Traveling Sound Machine * Subtle Aggression Monopoly * Ben Diesel * Mammoth Piano * The BonBon Plot * Daytime Television * Prospect * Rover * YOUPEOPL * Andrew Ryan & The Travelers * Crim Dolla Cray * Mom * Motherbear * Nibiru * Pineapple RNR * Shux * The Astounds * Zak Marmalefsky * Railhazer * Frankie Valet * The Opera Bell Band * nebulosa * Drew Gowran * Honeydew * Mad Keys * Alex Cunningham * Dee Bird * Huht * Jøsh. * Many more acts also have yet to be announced. If you can’t wait for all the ShowcaseSTL excitement, all-access wristbands are now available! Early-bird tickets start at $10 a day or $15 for the full weekend. (With more than 100 acts set to perform that’s less than 15 cents per act, in case you’re keeping track.)

Find more information on ShowcaseSTL at www.rftshowcase.com.

—Joseph Hess

THE PARTY IS AT DUKE’S ALL DAY & NIGHT MUSIC BY DJ DAN-C

duke’s

VOTED ST. LOUIS’ BEST BAR & BEST SPORTS BAR SATURDAY NIGHT

TWO MORE TITLE FIGHTS

LARA vs HURD

TRUAX vs DEGALE

2001 MENARD IN SOULARD

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40

OUT EVERY NIGHT NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS: 8 p.m., $25-$28.

[WEEKEND]

The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

BEST BETS

314-726-6161.

PAUL BONN & THE BLUESMEN: 8 p.m., free.

Five sure-fire shows to close out the week

Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314773-5565.

SPENCER BOHREN: 7 p.m., $10. Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave, St. Louis.

VINYL THEATRE: w/ Vesperteen 8 p.m., $15. Old

FRIDAY, APRIL 6

Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-5880505.

A Deer A Horse w/ Fragile Farm, Jr. Clooney

VOICE OF ADDICTION: w/ Local Access, A New State, Birds Of Squalor 8 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar,

9:30 p.m. Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $7. 314-772-2100.

3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

FRIDAY 6

New York noise-rock outfit A Deer A Horse paints gloom with broad strokes and a heavy hand. By stretching screeching riffs over tuneful beats rife with ghost notes, the trio makes an audible tension that plays on listeners’ expectations. And it would all be for naught if not for Rebecca Satellite’s commanding voice, which comes straight from the gut with an alt-rock girth. The band’s St. Louis date lands right in the middle of a month-long trek from New York to the West Coast and back -- expect a tour-hardened band in peak form.

AARON GRIFFIN: 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

ANTHONY GOMES: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

BILLY STRINGS: 8 p.m., $16. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

THE BUTTERTONES: 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

COAST MODERN: 8 p.m., $18-$20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

DAVID DEE & THE HOT TRACKS BAND: 10 p.m., $5.

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THE EXPANDERS: w/ Dubbest, SensaMotion 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room,

Pale Waves w/ Inheaven

6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-

8 p.m. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $13 to $15. 314-833-3929.

Pale Waves’ video for “Heavenly” shows matriarch Heather Baron-Gracie strewn up as a puppet as she smoothly swerves and croons her way through the new single. Make no mistake, this is brightly colored goth pop -- if such a thing could exist -- made in some underground lab in the UK. The members of Pale Waves are young androids raised to be extras for Tim Burton films who lost their way and were later found mainlining Myspace-era emo in some back alleyway of Manchester.

Probably.

Primitive Man w/ Spectral Voice, Grand Inquisitor 8 p.m. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $15. 314289-9050.

There are few band names as literal as Primitive Man. The Denver trio cites nihilism as its top asset, slinging a burnt offering of black metal with grim and guttural undertones. This is less sludge Continued on pg 48

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

4444.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

KAYZO: w/ 4B, Dubloadz, Gammer, JSTJR 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

Sleep. | COURTESY OF THE BILLIONS CORPORATION

Louis, 314-726-6161.

LEROY JODIE PIERSON: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-

Sleep

436-5222.

8 p.m. Monday, April 9.

Legendary weedronauts Sleep make music for people who imagine the lives of the creatures who live in bong bowls. The band’s one-track album Dopesmoker is a mind-altering experience, a soundscape of craggy riffs (courtesy of guitarist Matt Pike) and sinewy bass work (that’s Al Cisneros’ forte) that lumbers toward the finish line in just over an hour. Following its dissolution

in the late ’90s, Pike and Cisneros reformed the band a few years back with Neurosis drummer Jason Roeder, and the YouTube footage doesn’t lie: Sleep sounds better than ever.

It Smells Like Otto’s Jacket: Opener SubRosa is a doom/sludge/folk band with two violinsts that hints at the wide-open spaces of Grails and Steve Von Till’s solo stuff. Enhanced brains might get lost in the depths, if you know what I mean.

–Paul Friswold

THURSDAY 5

p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St.

KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-

BILLY BARNETT BAND: 9 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

Louis, 314-498-6989.

925-7543, ext. 815.

& Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-

JEREMIAH JOHNSON ACOUSTIC DUO: 4 p.m., free.

ST. LOUIS BLUES FESTIVAL: w/ Willie Clayton, Sir

5222.

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

Charles Jones, Pokey Bear, Calvin Richardson,

BOONDOGGLE: KISS ME, KILL ME, KISS ME: 9

773-5565.

Bobby Rush, Nellie Tiger Travis, Latimore 7

p.m., $5. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave.,

NAUGHTY PROFESSOR: 9 p.m., $10-$13. The

p.m., $55-$78. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton

St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-

Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000.

CHRISTOPHER THE CONQUERED: w/ Le’Ponds 8

775-0775.

WONDERLAND: 8 p.m., $25-$100. 2720 Cherokee

The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $25 to $27.50. 314-726-6161.

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LOVE HZ DRUM & BASS: w/ John E Wink, Cold Fusion, SeamzLegit, Cryptonix 9 p.m., free. The Crack Fox, 1114 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-6216900.

MANDY PENNINGTON: w/ Little Falcon, Harrison Gorden 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

MELISSA NEELS BAND: 8 p.m., $3. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

PALE WAVES: w/ INHEAVEN 8 p.m., $13-$15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

PRIMITIVE MAN: w/ Spectral Voice, Grand Inquisitor 8 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

ROD PICOTT: 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Stage at

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Rob Magill 7 p.m. Saturday, April 7.

Listening to his recent release, February Paintings Series Vol. 2, it is not immediately clear if Rob Magill’s tenor saxophone literally becomes unfurled, liberating from its bent-neck and curved-horn shape, or if it merely sounds like it. But moving across a few woodwind instruments, the southern California resident can move from impish and pastoral in Prokofiev-like movements to

unbridled, brain-scraping tones in lightning speed. “Boats are Sailing” takes the natural sonorousness of the bass clarinet and lets it purr in a delicately reverbed space before summoning circular-breathing drones and all manner of conversational squawks and outbursts. He’ll explore the tonal range of his instruments at this solo show.

Three’s Company: Long-running local saxophonist Dave Stone and solo percussionist Drew Gowran will open the show with solo sets.

–Christian Schaeffer

Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee St, St.

University, 6800 Wydown Blvd., Clayton, 314-

Louis, 314-276-2700.

862-3456.

Foam Coffee and Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue. $5. 314-772-2100.

SATURDAY 7

OLD TIME ASSAULT: 6 p.m., $5. The Haunt, 5000 Alaska Ave, St. Louis, 314-481-5003.

BIG GEORGE BROCK & THE HOUSE ROCKERS:

ROYCE MARTIN: 6 p.m., free. The Dark Room,

10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre,

Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

THE BOOGERS: 1 p.m., $10. The Stage at KDHX,

STEVE REEB & ROSS BELL: 3 p.m., free. Ham-

3524 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-925-7543,

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

ext. 815.

5565.

BRIAN CURRAN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues &

THE F&F SHOWCASE: w/ Rhyme Royals, King

Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-

Bishop, Lil Dayo, WizeGuy Bosston Jeorge, Izzy

5222.

Tha Kidd, Bren Suarez and O.R.F 8 p.m., $7.

THE FADE: w/ Orphan Welles, North by North,

The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis,

Cara Louis Band 8 p.m., free. Off Broadway,

314-775-0775.

3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

TOMMY HALLORAN’S GUERRILLA SWING: 1 p.m.,

GLASSLANDS: w/ Glorious Than I, Neither Of

free. Wine Country Gardens, 2711 S. Hwy 94,

Me, Bridges, Eyes From Above 7 p.m., $10-$12.

Defiance, 636-798-2288.

The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350353.

SUNDAY 8

IN TALL BUILDINGS: 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Mono-

BRUCE KATZ BAND: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues

cle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-935-

& Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-

7003.

5222.

KUNG FU CAVEMAN: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar

DARKNESS DIVIDED: w/ Charcoal Tongue 6

& Grill, 3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-

p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

8300.

314-289-9050.

LARRY GWALTNEY: w/ the Sliders 9 p.m., $3.

GENESIS JAZZ PROJECT: 5 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

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

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

773-5565.

314-436-5222.

LITTLE BIG TOWN: w/ Kacey Musgraves, Midland

GURF MORLIX: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509

7 p.m., $28-$58. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton

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

Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-5000.

LIZA ANNE: 8 p.m., $12. Delmar Hall, 6133

MARK LETTIERI: 8 p.m., $15-$20. The Ready

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

Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 11 p.m., $10. BB’s

833-3929.

Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Lou-

MERCYME: w/ Tenth Avenue North 7 p.m.,

is, 314-436-5222.

$26-$66. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St

TONINA SAPUTO: 11 a.m., free. The Dark Room,

Charles, 636-896-4200.

3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre,

MO E TRIO: 10 p.m., free. The Dark Room, 3610

St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St.

with KJ Ray Ortega

KELLY’S FRIDAY NIGHT DANCE & KARAOKE PARTY OUR FOOD IS AWESOME

200 N. MAIN, DUPO, IL

Louis, 314-776-9550.

MONDAY 9

NOAH LEINER: w/ Matt Basler, Jared Baehr 9

AN EVENING WITH BYRNE AND KELLY: 7:30 p.m.,

p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave.,

$38-$228. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel

St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

Square, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

NOW AND THEN: 5 p.m., free. Fontbonne

Karaoke Thursdays

LIKE & FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK @GOODTIMES.PATIO.BAR

Continued on pg 42

riverfronttimes.com

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

41

THIS WEEKEND Continued from pg 40 than it is molten rock, as the songs move in a slow, unyielding kind of current. Last year’s Caustic cansound absolutely violent at times, driving home the darker-thanblack aesthetic that allows Primitive Man to stand out even on Relapse Records, one of the most prolific purveyors of metal in America.

St. Louis Blues Festival 7 p.m. Chaifetz Arena, 1 South Compton Avenue. $55 to $78. 314-977-5000.

The “insert city name here” Blues Festival wouldn’t be audacious in any other city, but in St. Louis the blues are serious business.

Chaifetz calls on the likes of Sir Charles Jones, Willie Clayton, Calvin Richardson, Bobby Rush, Latimore, Pokey Bear and Nellie “Tiger” Travis to offer a frills-free party with bluesmen (and women) who have made their own way throughout the last six decades. We’re talking hundreds of years of combined experience in dancehalls, hometown bars and packed clubs between the players on this single show, not to mention multiple hall-of-famers.

While not a single act is a native of St. Louis, artists from Chicago, Louisiana, even Canada and beyond will converge on the sacred ground that is the river city.

736 S Broadway • St. Louis, MO 63102 (314) 621-8811

THUR. FEBRUARY 15

backup planet

736 S Broadway • St. Louis, MO 63102 Thursday April 5 9pm (314) 621-8811 (from nashville) 9pm Cards Opening Day!

THUR. FEBRUARY Urban Chestnut Presents15 736 S Broadway • St. Louis, MO 63102 FRI. february 16 (314) 621-8811

Alligator Wine’s backup planet clusterpluck

10pm nashville) Tribute(from to The Grateful THUR. FEBRUARY 15 Dead 9pm

sat. february 17 backup planet Friday April 6 10pm FRI.jake’s february leg 16

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621-8811 10pm Tribute wed.

To(314) Widespread Panic February 21

FRI. february 16 THUR. FEBRUARY 15 URBAN sat.CHESTNUT february 17 Saturday AprilPRESENTS 7 10pm clusterpluck

voodoo jake’splayers leg backup planet MarquisE Band tribute to the Knox rolling stones 10pm 10pm 10pm sat. february 9pmApril 17 wed.

February 21 Wednesday 11

(from nashville) jake’s leg Thur.

February 22 URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS Urban Chestnut 10pmpresents FRI. february 16 voodoo players URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS The Voodoo PLayers’ Tribute clusterpluck wed.

February 21 stones tribute to the rolling alligator 10pm wine 10pm to Stevie Ray Vaughan URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS dead TRIBUTE TO the grateful 9pm voodoo players sat. february Thur.

February 22 12 17 9pm tributeThursday tojake’s theApril rolling stones leg URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS 10pm Grass10pm is Dead alligator wine Bluegrass Grateful Dead February 22 dead wed.

February 21 TRIBUTEThur.

TOMeets the grateful 42

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 C. Spencer Yeh and Andrew Lampert 8 p.m. The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee Street. $10 to $20. 314-773-1533.

The Brooklyn-based C. Spencer Yeh offers acute sensory connections through a spectrum of visual works alongside sound art. Multidisciplinary by nature, he bridges digital with analog in multiple mediums, presenting nuanced collisions in real time. His alias, Burning Star Core, is an especially prolific platform for drone and ambient work that has seen constant output since its start in 1998. Also a resident of Brooklyn, St. Louis ex-pat Andrew Lampert will join Yeh to expand disparate paths of sight and sound on this joint presentation by New Music Circle and the Luminary.

–Joseph Hess Each week we bring you our picks for the best concerts of the weekend. To submit your show for consideration, visit riverfronttimes. com/stlouis/Events/AddEvent. All events subject to change; check with the venue for the most up-to-date information.

9pm PRESENTS URBAN URBANCHESTNUT CHESTNUT PRESENTS RIVERFRONT TIMES APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

alligator wine voodoo players tribute to the rolling stones

riverfronttimes.com

[CRITIC’S PICK] Phoebe Bridgers. | COURTESY OF HIGH ROAD TOURING

Phoebe Bridgers 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 10.

Blueberry Hill Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard. $12 to $14. 314-727-2277.

On her stunning 2017 release Stranger in the Alps, Phoebe Bridgers covers a Mark Kozelek song. It’s easily the album’s cheeriest moment. The Pasadena, California native always sounds haunted beyond her 23 years, and she has a black sense of humor about it all. She sees smoke signals in burning trash, rips off an ex for $1,500 to see a hypnotherapist, gets off on imagining said ex as a corpse curled up on the couch and confesses that she

OUT EVERY NIGHT Continued from pg 41

faked it every time. Her minimalist arrangements — piano strokes, trembling percussion, all the roar and reverb of a wind tunnel — don’t just complement her ethereal voice; her sound and songs form an implausible but undeniable cold fusion of the heart. Bridgers is a singular force; a chance to see her in a small club like the Duck Room comes but once.

Fuzzcore Collider: Nashville’s Daddy Issues has no twang, but it has waves of distortion and pretty melodies that make its opening slot more than a study in contrasts.

–Roy Kasten mandy, 314-516-4949.

THE LAST BANDOLEROS: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

FROGGY FRESH: 7 p.m., $18-$50. Fubar, 3108

LAVERNE COX: 7 p.m., $20. Webster University

Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

Grant Gymnasium, 175 Edgar Road, St. Louis,

GEORGE PORTER, JR.: 8 p.m., $17.50-$20.

314-963-5000.

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

LOW CUT CONNIE: 8 p.m., $15-$17. Off Broad-

314-726-6161.

way, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

HAMILTON’S CHRIS LEE: 8 p.m., $10-$12.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Blueberry

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

University City, 314-727-4444.

MUSIC UNLIMITED BAND: 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

RON GALLO: w/ The Naked Party, Twen 8 p.m.,

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

$12-$14. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester

314-436-5222.

Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

NAP EYES: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

WEDNESDAY 11

SLEEP: 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. The Pageant, 6161

ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS &

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

FRIENDS: w/ Allen Stone, Zac Clark, Bob Ox-

TUESDAY 10

blood 7 p.m., $35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES:

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES:

9 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

DRAKE BELL: w/ Tryon, Joe Kirk 6 p.m., $15-

MARTY SPIKENER & ON CALL BLUES BAND:

$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-

10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

9050.

Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

JOANNA MENDOZA AND FRIENDS: 7 p.m., $20.

MISSIO: w/ Morgan Saint 8 p.m., $15-$17. The

Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center,

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

1 University Dr at Natural Bridge Road, Nor-

314-833-3929.

NINA NESBITT: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Off Broadway,

St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

JOHN HENRY SINGLE RELEASE SHOW: Fri., April

PAPADOSIO: w/ Bluetech 8 p.m., $17-$20.

27, 7:30 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

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

314-726-6161.

JON BATISTE: Sat., Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $35-$50. The

THE QUEERS: w/ The Timmys, Sweat Shoppe,

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

Guy Morgan 7 p.m., $12-$14. Fubar, 3108

314-533-9900.

Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO: Sun., Feb. 24,

RAVYN LENAE: 8 p.m., $18-$22. The Firebird,

7:30 p.m., $30-$45. The Sheldon, 3648 Wash-

2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

ington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

RED MOUTH: w/ Dangerbird, Thumpy Sticky 8

MC50: Wed., Sept. 26, 8 p.m., $35-$149. The

p.m., $7-$10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

314-833-3929.

THIS JUST IN

SOULARD’S HOTTEST

MERKULES: W/ C The Gray, DJ Scotty Wu, Tue., June 5, 7 p.m., $20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

ANITA JACKSON: Sat., Feb. 2, 11 a.m., $12. The

St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

PETER CASE: W/ Paul Luc, Thu., April 26, 7:30

314-533-9900.

p.m., $20. The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washing-

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR: Thu., March 14, 8 p.m.,

ton Ave, St. Louis, 314-925-7543, ext. 815.

$30-$45. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd.,

SALES: Tue., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $15-$17. Blueber-

St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

ry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

AYO & TEO: Sun., May 27, 7 p.m., $28-$48. The

University City, 314-727-4444.

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

SCOTT KENNEBECK: W/ Emily Truckinbrod,

726-6161.

John Powel Walsh, Sat., Dec. 15, 11 a.m., $12.

BEN NORDSTROM & STEVE NEALE: Sat., May 11,

The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Lou-

11 a.m., $12. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington

is, 314-533-9900.

Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

SIERRA HULL: Fri., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., $30-$35. The

BEN REECE’S UNITY QUARTET: Thu., April 12,

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

9:30 p.m., free. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel

314-533-9900.

Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-

SOCIAL REPOSE: W/ Secret Tree Fort, Tue., July

776-9550.

10, 7 p.m., $15-$20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

BENIGHTED: Sat., July 28, 8 p.m., $14-$16.

St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SPIRIT ADRIFT: Wed., July 25, 8 p.m., $8-$10.

BETH BOMBARA: Tue., May 8, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave, St.

Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

Louis, 314-925-7543, ext. 815.

ST. LOUIS HIP-HOP & R&B SHARK TANK: Sat.,

BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY: Sun., May 20, 8 p.m.,

May 19, 6 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, 4195

$35-$55. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

Louis, 314-726-6161.

SUNDRESSED: W/ Northbound, Thu., June 21,

BRENDAN MAYER: Thu., June 7, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

6 p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

314-289-9050.

Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SUPERSUCKERS: W/ The Wilderness, Tue.,

BRUCE COCKBURN: Fri., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $40-

June 26, 8 p.m., $16-$18. Fubar, 3108 Locust

$45. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St.

St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

Louis, 314-726-6161.

TOMMY HALLORAN BAND: Sun., April 15, 11

CARRIE NEWCOMER AND OVER THE RHINE: Fri.,

a.m., free. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel

Jan. 25, 8 p.m., $30-$40. The Sheldon, 3648

Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-

Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

776-9550.

CHAOS CHAOS: Thu., May 24, 7 p.m., $12-$15.

TONINA SAPUTO: Sun., April 8, 11 a.m., free.

Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside

DAY26: Wed., May 9, 8 p.m., $20-$40. The Fire-

Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-776-9550.

bird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

TORY LANEZ: Tue., June 26, 8 p.m., $35-$40.

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER AND THE MEMPHIS

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

SOULPHONY: Sat., Nov. 17, 8 p.m., $30-$45. The

314-726-6161.

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

TREADING OCEANS EP RELEASE: W/ Conman

314-533-9900.

Economy, Wolves, But Wiser, Goaltender, A

DEL MCCOURY BAND: Fri., April 26, 8 p.m., $35-

Scarlet Summer, Fri., April 27, 7 p.m., $7-$10.

$45. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St.

The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-

Louis, 314-533-9900.

535-0353.

DIANNE REEVES: Sat., Feb. 9, 8 p.m., $30-$45.

WAITING FOR FLYNN: W/ Thames, Sat., April 28,

The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Lou-

8 p.m., $7. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St.

is, 314-533-9900.

Louis, 314-498-6989.

GILLIAN WELCH: Thu., Sept. 13, 8 p.m., $38-$40.

WITHIN THE GIANT’S REACH: W/ As Earth Shat-

The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Lou-

ters, Dr Dick Ramerez, Wrecklamation, Grays

is, 314-533-9900.

Divide, Sat., May 26, 7 p.m., $8-$10. The Fire-

JASMINE TURNER EP RELEASE: Sun., April 15,

bird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

7:30 p.m., $15. The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Wash-

ZAC CLARK: W/ Bob Oxblood, Wed., July 11,

ington Ave, St. Louis, 314-925-7543, ext. 815.

8 p.m., $15-$18. Blueberry Hill - The Duck

JOE BONAMASSA: Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $99-

Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City,

$179. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St,

314-727-4444.

DANCE PARTY

FRIDAY & SATURDAY NIGHT DJ DAN-C

9 PM - CLOSE

COLLEGE NIGHT - THURSDAY $2 Tall Boy (16 oz) Cans Neon Beer Pong DJ Ryan - 9 PM to Close

2001 MENARD (AT ALLEN) IN THE HEART OF SOULARD LIKE & FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: @dukesinsoulard riverfronttimes.com

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 4 - 10, 2018

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SAVAGE LOVE SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE I visited Royal Oak, Michigan, for Savage Love Live at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. I didn’t get to all of the questions submitted by the large and tipsy crowd — a crowd that skipped the Stormy Daniels interview on 60 Minutes to spend the evening with me (so honored, you guys!) — so I’m going to race through as many of the unanswered questions as I can in this week’s column. Here we go…

Is there a way of breaking my cycle of being totally sexual and into someone for the first six months and then shutting down to the point that I don’t want to be sexual with them at all? What’s wrong with me?

Breaking a long-established pattern may require the aid of a therapist who can help you unpack your damage — if, indeed, this is about damage. Because it’s possible this could be the way your libido works; you could be wired for a lifetime of loving, short-term relationships. While our culture reserves its praise for successful long-term relationships (think of those anniversary gifts that increase in value with each passing year), a short-term relationship can be a success. Everyone get out alive? No one traumatized? Were you able to pivot to friendship? Then you can regard that relationship as a success — or all those relationships as successes.

How common a kink is it to enjoy seeing your significant other having sex with someone else?

Common enough to have numerous different ways of manifesting itself — swinging, hotwifing, cuckolding, stag-and-vixen play — and an entire porn genre dedicated to it.

Cis, female, 33, poly, bi. I bruise easily, am into BDSM, and love to swim in my condo’s shared pool, where there are many seniors. Any advice for hiding bruises or getting over the embarrassment?

Don’t assume the senior citizens in the pool are as naive and/or easily shocked as our ageist assumptions would prompt us to believe. Some-

one who became a senior citizen today — who just turned 65 years old — was 35 in 1988. I happen to know for a fact that people were doing BDSM way, way back in 1988.

My husband is a sweet guy who is very good to me. But he is also a gun-toting right-wing conservative, and these days that feels like an insurmountable difference. We have been together for seven years and married for two. No kids yet. I love him — and the thought of leaving him is terrifying — but I honestly don’t know if this is going to work.

If you’re afraid to leave him because of those guns, you need to get out. If you’re afraid to leave him because you love him and couldn’t live without him, you might be able to stay. I wouldn’t be able to stay, personally, but you might. Maybe if you make “no political discussions about anything, ever” a condition of remaining in the marriage.

When you are entering into something new, how do you differentiate between infatuation and real feelings?

Infatuation is a real feeling. Only time will tell if other real but more lasting feelings — like, like like, love, lasting love — will surface when those feelings of infatuation inevitably fade.

I can easily have an orgasm with toys but I can’t have one with my boyfriend. What gives?

Your boyfriend could give you orgasms if you handed him one of those toys, showed him how you use it on yourself and then guided his hands the first few times he used it on you.

Why does my girlfriend enjoy anal sex more than I thought she would?

Because she does. Because anal is hot. Because the clit is a great big organ and most of it’s inside the body and anal penetration may stimulate the backside of your girlfriend’s great big clitoris in a way that’s new and different and highly pleasurable and — hey, wait a minute. You aren’t disappointed she’s enjoying anal more than you thought she would, are you?

Donald Trump has been impeached, and you get to decide the punish-

ment. So what sex toy gets used on him and who gets to use it?

Trump doesn’t deserve a sex toy.

Sex toys are for good boys and girls. All Trump deserves is a lump of the coal he loves so much shoved far enough up his ass to serve as a gag.

Is there EVER a healthy way to partake in sensual parties while in a monogamous marriage?

Yup. The Dirty Sanchez — actually a thing?

Nope.

I’m married and finishing my PhD while working full time. As a result, I don’t get to spend as much time as I would like with my wonderful husband. I know you’re a workaholic as well. How do you manage to make your husband feel he is getting the attention/time he deserves?

When I’m totally stressed out and working on several projects, and I don’t have the bandwidth to give my husband the attention/ time he deserves, I take a moment now and then to reassure him that things will settle down soon and we’ll have more time together. I’ve found he’s most receptive to this message when it’s delivered immediately after I’ve taken a few minutes to blow him.

Do you recommend specific prostate massage toys? Besides dick.

Forearm.

How do you approach people about a three-way without ruining friendships?

I think close sexy friends and thesex-was-great-but-everything-elsesucked exes make the best “very special guest stars.” But if you’re worried about ruining friendships, well, don’t hit on friends.

Hit on strangers. (And remember: A stranger is just a friend you haven’t had a three-way with yet. Or something.)

Do you think it’s unwise to give and/ or receive gay oral sex without a condom?

When we speak of gay oral without a condom — which is almost all of the gay oral out there — we speak of ones that sucked not wisely but riverfronttimes.com

45

too well.

Are anxiety-induced orgasms a thing? They must be, because I have them.

I’m glad there’s at least one person out there who’s managing to enjoy the Trump era.

I’m a 21-year-old, queer, poly, cis girl who recently got into this whole thing with a co-worker at my shitty fast-food job. Long story short, we were having a rad time fucking around in the freezer… until he bashed International Women’s Day on Facebook. I stopped getting him off by the frozen meat without an explanation, and I quit my job to go bind books instead. Is it too late to reach out and tell this dude that I dumped him because of his misogynistic online life? And how bitchy can I be?

The world would be a better place if (1) women refused to sleep with right-wing assholes (to say nothing of marrying them) and (2) women told right-wing assholes that right-wing assholery is the ultimate cock-block and they have only themselves to blame for it. So it’s not too late, and you should be as bitchy as you can be.

Thanks to everyone who came to Savage Love Live in Royal Oak — and to everyone who attended my shows at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis and the Barrymore Theatre in Madison over the same weekend. Savage Love Live comes to the Oriental Theater in Denver on May 10; find tickets at savagelovecast.com/events.

Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org Want to reach someone at the RFT? If you’re looking to provide info about an event, please contact calendar@ riverfronttimes.com. If you’re passing on a news tip or information relating to food, please email sarah.fenske@riverfronttimes.com. If you’ve got the scoop on nightlife, comedy or music, please email daniel.hill@riverfronttimes.com.

Love us? Hate us? You can email sarah. fenske@riverfronttimes.com about that too. Due to the volume of email we receive, we may not respond -- but rest assured we are reading every one.

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