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THE LEDE
“If I was to give it to you on a thumbnail I would say right now I’m disgusted with both political parties. They don’t try to work with each other. They’re too partisan in their approach. It’s time to try and work this stuff out. We’re not gonna get that until we get the right leadership in there.” TIM SPOHR, PHOTOGRAPHED IN LINE TO VOTE ABSENTEE FOR DONALD TRUMP IN ST. LOUIS COUNTY ON OCTOBER 29 4
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THE LEDE
“Well, we’ve already had four years of ‘What if a Republican takes office?’ So I’m ready for the next four years, whatever way it goes. I think that both of the options we have suck, to be quite honest. But it is what it is. … It already feels like we’ve lost, so to say, because of our options. I’m just bracing myself for the worst.”
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REBAKKAH JOHNSON, PHOTOGRAPHED IN LINE TO VOTE ABSENTEE FOR JOE BIDEN IN ST. LOUIS ON OCTOBER 29 riverfronttimes.com
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FROZEN IN TIME
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t was strange putting together this issue. We sent the paper to the press while people were still at the polls voting in an insanely important election. So this is already a time capsule from a different world, but one of the worthy challenges of a high-speed era is to hold onto the important stories, even as a supercharged news cycle threatens to obliterate them. For this week’s cover story, the RFT’s Cheryl Baehr grabbed one of those stories and wouldn’t let go. She has spent the past several months looking into serious claims of sexual abuse in the Grove, talking with brave women who discovered they have disturbingly similar stories of being drugged and attacked. I hope you’ll make time to read it, because even in a busy world, not everyone has the luxury of forgetting the past. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief
TABLE OF CONTENTS CAN’T
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WO N’T
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Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy
E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Interim Managing Editor Daniel Hill Contributors Trenton Almgren-Davis, Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Judy Lucas, Noah MacMillan, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Christian Schaeffer, Theo Welling, Danny Wicentowski, Nyara Williams, Ymani Wince Columnist Ray Hartmann Interns Steven Duong, Riley Mack, Matt Woods A R T
& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain, Evan Sult Production Manager Haimanti Germain
COVER A Tragic, Familiar Story of Abuse When a former St. Louis woman posted allegations of rape, she became a magnet for sex abuse survivors — including those who knew her story all too well.
M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy Digital Sales Manager Chad Beck Director of Public Relations Brittany Forrest 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 R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein 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 (MO add $4.74 sales tax) and $156/year (MO add $9.48 sales tax) for first class. Allow 6-10 days for standard delivery. www.riverfronttimes.com
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The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member
INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News Feature Short Orders Culture Savage Love 8
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HARTMANN Chasing Greatness Can a newly formed partnership steer St. Louis back on track? BY RAY HARTMAN
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ason Hall has his work cut out for him. Hall was named last week as CEO of Greater St. Louis Inc., an amalgamation of five business and advocacy groups most notably including Civic rogress into one organi ation that at last can speak with clarity and diversity for the business community. It represents a serious step forward, not ust for business types, but for the community. No doubt it will take more than restructuring to turn St. Louis
around. The systemic problems related to crime, education, racism, elitism, urban sprawl, transportation, the environment, an inept political class, a declining corporate base and a lack of civic cohesion are not getting fi ed overnight. I’m sure I left something out. or perspective, consider that from 1850 through 1970, St. Louis was a top 10 American metropolitan area or city, when that was the metric . Today, it’s 21st and sinking. And it’s not ust a matter of population decline. It’s everything. “ e’ve got to up our game here,” said Andy Taylor, founding chair of Greater St. Louis Inc. “It’s very apparent that some of these other cities (in the Midwest) are ahead of us.” That admission by the region’s premier civic leader was astonishing to those of us old enough to remember a generation of Taylor’s predecessors with no such humility. Taylor, e ecutive chairman of nterprise Holdings, seems to get it. That shows with the CEO selec-
tion of Hall, who at 45 doesn’t look or sound anything like any key player before him from St. Louis’ stodgy and aristocratic business elite. He’s a city resident whose willingness to stand up to e Sinuefield as an economic development guy opposed to airport privati ation is good enough for me. ore conventionally, Hall has had a meteoric career as a young lawyer at ryan Cave and then a technology and entrepreneurship guru before co founding and heading up Arch to ark, an investment group now part of reater St. Louis. He’s dynamic to the point of seeming out of place here. Like it or not, American cities rise or fall based upon the uality, character and performance of their respective business elites. That’s doubtlessly annoying to those resentful of the disfigured capitalism of our times, but it is real. And our team hasn’t been so good. I have been whining about this for four decades in St. Louis. In the early years of the RFT when one
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of my roles was to define the mission of an alternative newsweekly via public speaking I talked about uestioning the assumptions of the mainstream media. I must have spoken the following words a thousand times as a prime e ample of what that meant “ hy should 2 old rich white guys in Civic rogress call all the shots in St. Louis ” I would chirp. “Can you imagine what this town would look like if 2 young poor lack women called all the shots Do you think our biggest priority would be funding stadiums?” sually, I would add, “They ought to change ateway to the est’ to ather nows est.’” And yes, I reali e that reference is as dated as I am, now being as old as the old guys were back then. The core problem, I’ve always felt, is that the elites haven’t respected the power of diversity and engagement and teamwork in growing a metropolitan region. That might sound pollyannish, but it’s true.
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Another phrase for this would be “not being Atlanta.” Here’s what I wrote 30 years ago in the RFT, after it was announced that Atlanta had won the prize to host the 1996 Olympics. I had taken the liberty on September 26, 1990 of contrasting their $3.48 billion achievement with our having a Dog Museum. OK, so I was a little cynical. But it was remarkable to observe, in real time, the divergent paths of the two cities. “The parallel between Atlanta and St. Louis is too striking — it’s a tale of two cities of almost identical size (Atlanta at 2.7 million population, St. Louis at 2.5 million and both with core urban area of about 400,000) with about the same number of educational institutions, hospitals, cultural institutions and the like,” I wrote. “In fact, no other metropolitan area in America is as close in size to St. Louis as Atlanta.” Not so much today. Just three decades later, Atlanta is more than double St. Louis’ size with 6 million residents in its metropolitan area (as compared to 2.8 million here). Atlanta was half St. Louis’ size in 1970 and the same size, as noted, in 1990. It was especially striking, I thought, since Atlanta was becoming the third American city to host the Olympic ames. The first had been St. Louis in 1904. Atlanta had done it with attitude. Here’s a little more from that piece, citing a celebratory editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It had noted that the two key figures were the “salt and pepper” team of Billy Payne a white civic leader and Ambassador Andrew Young, a Black civic leader. “Atlanta was selected, not in spite of its biraciality, but in important part, because of its biraciality,” the newspaper wrote. “When’s the last time you heard the word ‘biraciality’ mentioned in St. Louis?” I wrote. I still believe what I believed in 1990 in discussing the decline of St. Louis. Ours stood mired in mud, in such contrast to a city that had learned to think more progressively and strategically. I wrote: “It’s going to keep going in the wrong direction until the powers-that-be in St. Louis recognize something that their counterparts in Atlanta figured out a long time ago: that the sharing of power — racially, economically, politically and culturally — can create a
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What if 28 young poor Black women, not 28 old rich white men, called all the shots in St. Louis? spirit, and unleash an energy, that as the fellow from Atlanta put it, is ‘just about unbeatable.’ “They don’t think of doing things from the top down in Atlanta, like they do in the rich-white-male-only Civic Progress elite in St. Louis. They talk about unity and spirit and biraciality. We bicker and make jokes about East St. Louis. “Corny as it sounds, Atlanta had a torch passed to it last week largely because its citizens believe in each other. Unity and civic spirit mean something in a world-class city. “In St. Louis unity doesn’t ever seem to extend beyond one’s own limited circle of activity, beyond one’s economic or ethnic or political sphere. We have as many people as Atlanta does…but we don’t have its spirit and we don’t have its will. And we don’t have anything resembling the 1996 Summer Olympics.” We didn’t, and we don’t. Maybe that will begin to change with a civic reset. Hall, a native of Granite City, sees St. Louis through a much more regional lens than most. More important, he seems quite serious about diversity of all sorts in the process and about focusing on the future with respect to growing the economy through an emphasis on new technologies and the like. Perhaps St. Louis can develop the needed attitude to become more like a growing Atlanta than a shrinking St. Louis. That would be nice. Then again, in the very week they rolled out Greater St. Louis, a nasty story was emerging about how some business leaders had secretly decided to try a new policing experiment on the city of Jennings without the courtesy of involving that city’s leaders and residents, nor county government officials, nor pretty much anyone else. Just like in the bad old days. Good luck to Jason Hall and company. This isn’t going to be easy. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).
NEWS Victims Wait On State to Clear Rape Kit Backlog
DNA Index System (CODIS). The attorney general’s initiative has led to eleven CODIS hits, which searches DNA profiles obtained from crime scenes to link to convicted offenders or arrestees. MSHP Public Information Officer Collin Stosberg says they have received 25 backlogged SAFE kits as of this month out of the first two batches of about 120 kits that were sent to the private lab. CODIS hits are referred to local law enforcement and prosecutors to be further investigated and potentially prosecuted. Not all SAFE kits go to MSHP after being tested in Virginia. Many are not eligible for CODIS testing because the only DNA found was the victim’s or other varying reasons according to Nuelle. Allsup awaits a response on the results of her kit’s testing. One of the reasons police did not charge the man Allsup alleges sexually assaulted her was the lack of lab testing needed to search for DNA, according to a February report from KMOV-TV. Allsup says waiting for the test results reminds her that the fight isn’t over. “Three years and some odd months and justice still isn’t served,” she says. “Am I that much of a bother?”
Written by
MATT WOODS
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auren Allsup had been waiting more than 1,000 days, since May 2017, for her rape kit to be processed. Three years and 37 calendar turns later, her faith in getting justice was all but lost. Allsup received a phone call in July from an investigator at the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. Her rape kit had finally been processed. It took about 100 calls, a trip to the circuit attorney’s office and an interview with a local news station to see progress on the case. Allsup says she doesn’t think her rape kit would have been processed if she did not go to all that trouble. “I kind’ve lit a fire under the circuit attorney to kick it in gear,” Allsup says. “And I think they honestly wanted me to shut up.” Allsup was at a south city karaoke bar, The Haunt, when she says a man approached her and offered her a shot. The next thing she knew, she says, she woke up in his house with him on top of her. Allsup filed a police report and underwent a rape examination following the situation. In addition to grieving over the experience, Allsup says she was billed $1,600 in hospital bills for Plan B and STD shots. The backlog Allsup’s rape kit was one of more than 6,000 backlogged cases in Missouri that were recorded in the state attorney general’s Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Kits Initiative Inventory Report from November 2019. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt vowed to clear the backlog after the findings. Nearly a year later, 1,500 of the 6,189 untested SAFE kits have been sent to a private lab to be tested according to the attorney general’s
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Lauren Allsup’s SAFE kit went untested for years, part of Missouri’s backlog. | STEVEN DUONG
office. The office has been able to send more than the expected 1,250 SAFE kits with a $2.8 million grant received in 2018 from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. Half of the money went to testing SAFE kits, and the other half went toward creating an electronic tracking system to keep tabs on cases and prevent future backlogs from occurring. Missouri Senate Bill 569, which went into effect on August 28, requires all entities involved with the handling of SAFE kits to participate in the tracking system. The system is still under development according to Missouri Attorney General Press Secretary Chris Nuelle. Backlogged cases like Allsup’s sat on the shelves of health care providers or law enforcement agencies untouched, some dating back as far as the 1980s. The current backlog in testing starts from
the newest kits and works backward toward the oldest. “Victims (from newer cases) are more likely to be available and willing to move forward with law enforcement action,” Nuelle writes in an email. “And the DNA evidence is more likely intact.” Nearly 70 percent of all backlogged cases came from 2008 or after according to the Missouri attorney general’s inventory. Allsup’s case was among 1,100 of the newest kits in the backlog. The testing process Clearing the state’s backlog means sending kits to the Bode Technology testing lab in Lorton, Virginia. Nuelle says sending kits to a private lab ensures the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) isn’t overwhelmed with cases. Once kits are tested at the Virginia lab, they may be sent to MSHP to be run through the FBI’s Combined
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The road ahead The Missouri Attorney General’s Office received an additional $2 million from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance to test sexual assault kits, the bureau announced on October 13. The new grant could result in 2,000 more kits being sent for testing. Nuelle says it costs about $1,000 to test each backlogged kit. Nuelle did not give a timeline for the backlog to be cleared completely. He promised that the attorney general’s office will continue to dedicate efforts to clear the backlog. “One of the attorney general’s top priorities since entering office has been to clear the backlog of untested sexual assault kits and bring justice on behalf of survivors,” Nuelle writes in a statement. Allsup says she will continue to be a voice in an attempt to help other sexual assault survivors. “Hopefully because of me others will speak up and be heard and finally get their kit tested,” Allsup says. n
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Ever the Underdog, League of Women Voters Keeps Fighting Written by
RILEY MACK
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t was during a twenty-minute Zoom call with the RFT last month that Nancy Miller, co-president of League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis, found out part of her organization’s lawsuit against Missouri was rejected by the courts. As an off-camera coworker told her about it, her face dropped. Taking a beat to absorb the information, she sighed and said, “That’s sort of been the name of the game.” “We haven’t lost hope,” she added. “I’m sure we’ll try again.” This was not the first time Miller has received such news. In fact, hearing that a judge has rejected her organization’s hard work has become second nature to her. Since the organization’s inception in 1919, it’s filed countless suits against the state. Usually, the organization comes up empty. But this has never impeded the league’s members before. At their office, calls poured in from St. Louis residents every few minutes in the lead up to the election, papers and law books were stacked up high on desks, and vol-
Cori Bush: Trump Is ‘Current Father of Racism’ Written by
DOYLE MURPHY
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fter a roller coaster four-plus years and three grueling campaigns, Cori Bush found herself in an unfamiliar position on the eve of Election Day — the favorite. Bush famously upended incumbent U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay three months ago in the Democratic primary. In Missouri’s solidly blue 1st Congressional District, that all but ensured her path to Washington, D.C. All that was left was to step over a Republican candidate and a Libertarian candidate — two young men whose most notable presence in the campaign has involved them arguing that they are not in fact white supremacists — but the real dogfight of the race ended in August when she toppled Clay. “It’s a strange place,” Bush says of campaigning as the favorite. “But it’s a humbling place. It’s also a rough place,
The League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis never quits. | COURTESY LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS unteers had started to come in on the weekends to help answer calls and assist voters. There was no time to dwell on the ways that the court has failed them. In what the league considered a victory for Missouri residents, the state decided to make the voting process safer this year through introducing mail-in voting. However, the state saddled this decision with the burden of a notarization requirement. That’s when the league decided to take action. The organization, in conjunction with the NAACP, sued Missouri over the requirement for mail-in ballots to be notarized. The requirement, Miller says, is an unnecessary burden to place on voters
because while trying to help others, we’re also trying to run our own race.” Her final days of the campaign were a whirlwind of working to persuade as many people as possible to vote and supporting Democratic candidates across Missouri while also finishing strong in her contest. She pushed hard for state Auditor Nicole Galloway, who was trying to unseat Gov. Mike Parson. And she used a little of her star power to highlight not only statewide races (Alissia Cannady for lieutenant governor, Yinka Faleti for secretary of state, Vicki Englund for treasurer and Rich Finneran for attorney general) but on down the ballot to lesser-known candidates such as Derrick Nowlin, who ran in the Springfield area to replace Elijah Haahr, the term-limited speaker of Missouri’s House of Representatives. She began Election Day by casting her own ballot at sunrise in a south city union hall and began a long day of socially distanced campaigning. Throughout the race, she’s encountered supporters who were dying for a Democratic sweep that begins with the presidential election, but who were also worried about what would happen if Republicans lost. In recent weeks, Trump-backing militias have been caught in plots to kidnap prominent Democrats, they have popped up around the country in armed displays of intimidation. A caravan of
in these stressful times. With COVID-19 cases still flourishing, many chose to vote by mail-in ballot. But with the added step of notarization, some worry that restricted voter turnout or even caused an increase of COVID-19 through in-person contact that could have been avoided. The rules were also complicated, with different requirements for absentee and mail-in voters. The only exceptions for the notarization requirement were for those absentee voters who are incapacitated, inhibited due to disability or illness, or if someone is a caregiver for a person with these limitations. The league argued that there were many more issues to consider than these.
Cori Bush spent the last days of her campaign trying to help other Democrats. | THEO WELLING pickups sporting Trump flags surrounded a Joe Biden bus in Texas in what the Biden campaign said was an attempt to run it off the road. In a phone interview on Monday, Bush says she’s heard from people who are fearful of what will happen if Trump’s supporters don’t get their way. “I have already talked to people who say, ‘I’m going to the store. I’m going to stock up, because I don’t know what is going to happen. I won’t come outside if I don’t have to,’” Bush says. “People are really worried. So what do we do about that? Number one, we need to make
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“There’s no logic to it whatsoever,” Miller says, “It targets a group that would face some hurdles getting to the ballot box, whether it’s their language, their transportation, their work schedule.” When asked why she believes legislators are holding onto the need for notarization, Miller says, “Well, the judges obviously don’t think it’s difficult to notarize anything. They don’t have much empathy.” The league is not the only group working to change the voting system. On top of their case, Missouri faced two other lawsuits similarly centered around voting access, each taking issue with the complicated nature of mail-in voting. More could be coming in the future. In the League of Women Voters’ case, the court decided against eliminating the notarization requirement, or making any changes to the voting system before Election Day. The organization’s case made it all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court, which delivered its decision late last month. But the league hasn’t given up, pushing beyond the state’s high court with a federal appeal. Today, the case sits at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, awaiting a decision once again. In the meantime, the organization’s 550 members plan to continue working on voter access in Missouri. Even after a decision is made, Miller expects another lawsuit in their future. “It’s the only thing we can do in Missouri,” she says through laughter, “We’re never out of a job.” n
sure we turn out this vote, but turn out the vote in such a way there is no question — he cannot question the results.” Bush says Trump, whom she calls the “current father of racism” has inflamed bigots and inspired others to follow his bad example. After the Texas incident, Trump shared a video of the trucks surrounding the bus and tweeted “I LOVE TEXAS!” He has enthusiastically endorsed the rolling supporters’ tactics, calling them “patriots” and chastising the FBI for investigating them. “Donald Trump carries himself as if he is a four-year-old child and has been told he can’t have his favorite toy in the store, so he’s just going to scream,” Bush says. That’s encouraged others to do the same, “to throw a tantrum and react violently,” she says. Asked if that has led to threats or other problems directed at her or her campaign, Bush chooses her words carefully. “We have some people who are not happy, but we don’t give it light,” she says. “We pay attention just enough to make sure we stay safe. But we don’t give it light. We don’t add fuel to that. We just keep our message strong.” She promises she won’t be deterred. “If we didn’t let tanks stop us in Ferguson, if we didn’t let rubber bullets and everything else that happened — this won’t stop us.” n
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A terrible, familiar story of abuse BY CHERYL BAEHR
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manda Cleary Spiller had no idea the reckoning she was about to foment when she fired off a acebook post on June 18 before she went to bed.
That night, St. Louis’ bar and tattoo communities were a ame with allegations of se ual assault against several of its prominent scenesters. Reading through the details online, Cleary Spiller felt a simmering fire within. It had been si years since she says she was drugged and raped by a well-known member of the city’s craft beer scene. The pain was something she’d buried after trying in vain to get justice at the time, and she thought that’s how it would remain. Until that night. The e plosion of allegations blowing up on social media triggered something in her. urious, she typed out a detailed account of what she says happened to her, posted it to what she thought was a comment thread on a private acebook post, hit “reply” and went to sleep. “To be perfectly honest, I thought I was sharing
it in a private group,” e plains Cleary Spiller, who now lives out of state. “It was really late here when I did it, and when I woke up the ne t morning, I reali ed I had posted it publicly when I had 2 friend requests and so many message requests thanking me for speaking out. I had no idea, but it opened the oodgates. I said to myself, ell, I guess we are doing this.’” Scrolling through those hundreds of friend reuests, direct messages and comments on her acebook post that following morning, Cleary Spiller was horrified by what she saw Not only were there dozens of accounts of abuse within the St. Louis bar (in particular, those in the Grove) and tattoo scene, multiple women claimed they had been se ually assaulted by the same man. In her original post, Cleary Spiller said a (now-former) sales rep for 4 Hands Brewing Company named Steve Salas assaulted her after she encountered him at a bar in 201 . One by one, several other women contacted Cleary Spiller with similar stories — encountering Continued on pg 16
Amanda Cleary Spiller became a clearing house for survivors’ stories after she posted her own. | BRETT SPILLER riverfronttimes.com
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Cleary Spiller was horrified: Not only were there dozens of accounts of abuse within the St. Louis bar and tattoo scene, multiple women claimed they’d been sexually assaulted by the same man. ABUSE
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Salas, becoming drunk beyond what would be expected from the amount of alcohol consumed, blacking out and, ultimately, waking up in bed with Salas and no recognition of the night’s events. Salas has not been charged with any crimes in connection with any of the allegations, and police have not released any information indicating he is under investigation. He and his attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In reporting this story, the Riverfront Times interviewed five women, including Cleary Spiller, who say they were abused by Salas, reviewed sworn affidavits the women provided in a child custody case involving the ex-beer rep and interviewed four of Salas’ former coworkers at 4 Hands. Like Cleary Spiller, those interviewed came forward as the tsunami of allegations against figures in St. Louis’ overlapping nightlife and tattoo scenes surfaced in June. The accounts of abuse stretched across the city but centered on the Grove neighborhood. Once known primarily as a safe space for the LGBTQIA community with a concentration of the metro’s oldest and best-known gay bars, the southcity stretch of Manchester Avenue has transformed over the past decade into a heteronormative party neighborhood, increasingly dominated by themed bars and restaurants, trendy shops and new highrise apartment complexes catering to the young and financially comfortable. The Grove’s shifting identity has long been a source of controversy, but on the night of Cleary Spiller’s post, a series of allegations ripped through its adult-playground reputation to reveal something far darker than the culture clash. It began with a post by Twitter user @karaxlorraine alleging sexual assault by some of the owners of Grove hot spots Parlor and
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Takashima Records. The claim spread like wildfire, prompting others to come forward with disturbing stories about their experiences in the Grove nightlife scene and the larger St. Louis-area tattoo community. Internally, the accusations created a ragged split among the ownership of Parlor and Takashima. The bars announced temporary closures as the estranged partners denounced each other in the press and on social media. Sean Baltzell, a tattoo-artistturned-entrepreneur who is an owner of both bars as well as Tower Classic Tattoo, warred openly with other owners after he was targeted by some of the barbs on social media, filing a multi-million-dollar defamation lawsuit against three of the partners. His attorney also sent letters threatening legal action against Cleary Spiller over an Instagram account, SurvivingSTL, that she started as a platform for victims to share their stories. In a statement issued through his attorney, Baltzell said he supported victims but was “falsely and un ustifiably named by several of his business partners” during the social media firestorm. In an interview with KMOV, he again denied any wrongdoing and promised to reopen at some point in the future. The controversy surrounding the bars has rocked the Grove, but Cleary Spiller says she never set out to be a voice for victims when stories about Parlor and Takashima Records began spreading across social media. She simply felt that she could no longer stay silent about her own story. Salas had been a prominent member of the neighborhood’s nightlife scene and she says the details coming out in June triggered painful memories. A bearded 39-year-old with a “wolfpack” tattoo across his round torso, Salas first introduced himself to Cleary Spiller in February 2014 at the Grove hotspot Atomic Cowboy, she says. According to her, she was at the bar after a work event and was drinking a PBR. That
4 Hands Brewing Company cut ties with a sales rep after allegations of sexual assault surfaced. | STEVEN DUONG sparked a conversation with Salas, then a sales representative for 4 Hands, about her beer preferences. Salas then went behind the bar with the bartender, she says. She recalls thinking it was weird that both men were at the tap to pour her drink, but she didn’t dwell on it and accepted the beer. That’s when everything went blank. “The next thing I knew, I was blackout drunk,” Cleary Spiller says. “People tell me I was out on the dance oor dancing, which is not me at all. From what I’ve heard, he told one of my friends that he knew where I lived and was going to give me a safe ride home. I came to for a second in his car with him taking a custom-made ring off my finger, blacked out again, and came to again with him in my bedroom on top of me and some other guy in the corner. He told me, ‘Let me finish, then it’s his turn.’ That’s when I started screaming for him to get out of my house.” Cleary Spiller says she immediately went to the hospital, where she had a rape kit administered and spoke with staff about her assault. After leaving the hospital, she says she went to the St. Louis police department to file a report but never heard anything else about the case and doesn’t know if it was investigated. Contacted by the RFT, a police spokeswoman says she could find no record of a report. Cleary Spiller says she was distraught about the ordeal and lack of ustice, but ultimately filed
The scene that four former 4 Hands employees paint is one in which Steve Salas’ behavior was beyond an open secret at the brewery: It was well-known and tolerated. away the pain and went on with her life — until she came forward with her experiences this June. After posting her story, she was inundated with allegations that mirrored her own. As she read through them, she created the SurvivingSTL Instagram account to serve as a clearinghouse for so many stories of assault and survival throughout the St. Louis bar and tattoo community. She became increasingly disturbed, not just by the thought of an alleged serial predator abusing women throughout the entertainment district but, according to several of his former associates, that his actions might have been known, at least in part, by those in his orbit. In a sworn affidavit given to the Riverfront Times and used with her permission, Nicole Casper describes a similar situation involving Salas. She says in the legal filing that she encountered him at a south-city bar one night after getting off work. Casper, who knew of Salas through the area bar scene,
says he was sitting at the end of the bar with an off-duty St. Louis police officer. She left her drink unattended to use the restroom, and when she returned to it, she quickly “started feeling funny,” she says. Dizzy and unbalanced, she knew she could not safely get home via the bicycle she’d ridden to the bar, and she vaguely recalls asking if someone would give her a ride home. From there, she says, things went blank until several hours later, when she came to, vomiting over the side of a bed she’d never seen before. Salas was in the room, and she immediately asked him to take her home, she says. As he dropped her off, her statement reads, he laughed at her and told her to “call him sometime.” Casper says in her sworn statement that she believes she was drugged by Salas based on the severity of her hangover; she describes feeling nauseated and like her skin was not connected to her body, uncontrollable shaking and
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a pounding headache, with her symptoms lasting for two days. Like Casper, Cleary Spiller shared her account in a sworn affidavit, also obtained by the Riverfront Times, as part of a custody dispute involving Salas and Elizabeth Hely, who have a child together. In the pleadings, Hely describes being repeatedly assaulted by Salas. She claims he coerced her into sexual acts after their relationship ended by leveraging her housing arrangement. That ended after Hely began participating in services with Safe Connections, a local nonprofit that helps victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. After learning of one another’s allegations against Salas, the women now believe he is a serial abuser who was allowed to prey upon women for nearly a decade without ever being held to account. Those who know Salas suggest he was provided cover through his business and personal relationships with bar owners throughout the Grove, as well as his now-former role as a beer salesperson at 4 Hands, one of St. Louis’ most prominent breweries. The gig regularly placed him in unofficial positions in which he encouraged bar patrons to drink, which his accusers allege gave him the ability to drug drinks and prey on women. The situation is particularly vexing to several of Salas’ former coworkers at 4 Hands, who claim that he was known throughout the company as a drunken embarrassment, even if coworkers and supervisors weren’t aware of the severity of the allegations that would later surface. “He was not anybody that was trusted, and there was a big wave of ‘Steve is creepy,’ and that’s where you left it,” says Tayler Barnett, a former 4 Hands employee who worked at the brewery with Salas in 2018. “That’s generally where you left it: ‘Steve is a sleazeball.’ But none of us said anything because it was par for the course. That’s who he was, and it was easier to be ignorant of that and not consider the circumstances that were enabling him to hold him accountable.” In recent two months, four former 4 Hands employees, including Barnett, have come forward to the Riverfront Times to share similar concerns about Salas. One of them, Alex Leonard, describes Salas as being inappropriate above and beyond the industry’s notoriously loose norms. He also notes that Salas would regularly get drunk at 4 Hands promotional events he was attending socially, then go off on his own.
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“The big part of it is, if he would have done that to me — someone who is part of the 4 Hands family — what would he have done with other women?” ABUSE
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“There were a handful of times when we’d be trying to get him to go home, and people would call him a cab or an Uber, but he’d get in his car and drive somewhere else,” Leonard says. “When he’d go off on his own, people weren’t going off with him because we wanted to be safe ourselves and re ect well on the brand we represented.” What disturbs Leonard so much about the situation — in addition to the horrible allegations — is that he believes Salas’ behavior was known around the brewery. Though Leonard stops short of saying that anyone at the brewery suspected Salas was assaulting women, he is adamant that it was widely known that Salas regularly engaged in behavior that was off-putting, inappropriate and reected poorly on the brand. “I’ve been talking with people who still work there and used to work there, and there is an air of shock and people were surprised [by the sexual assault allegations], but that’s mind-boggling to me,” Leonard says. “I can’t speak to other people’s impressions and the exact allegations in depth, but I can see how this is something he could have done.” One of those former colleagues, who asked the RFT to withhold her name, says she not only witnessed Salas’ behavior, but was on the receiving end of it over the course of their seven-year work relationship. In both a sworn affidavit as part of Hely’s lawsuit and interviews with the RFT, the woman describes a pattern of ongoing harassment, ranging from inappropriate comments to physical intimidation that included trying to trap her in the walk-in cooler, cornering her, aggressively verbalizing his desires for sexual encounters and pressuring her to sleep in his bed after a night of drinking. Though these incidents happened in isolation, her sworn affidavit notes two e periences in which her Hands colleagues were present: one in
which she told the sales manager, Nick Kanter, that Salas tried to take her home and another where Salas lifted his shirt to show his “wolfpack” tattoo and shook his belly at a woman at the bar. According to her affidavit, Hands president Kevin Lemp was present at the latter incident, though he immediately excused himself from the situation. The scene that the four former Hands employees paint is one in which Salas’ behavior was beyond an open secret at the brewery: It was well-known and tolerated. However, Lemp is adamant that he had no knowledge of Salas’ behavior, and that, once the assault allegations became known, he took immediate action to terminate Salas. In response to the accusations, Lemp issued the following statement this summer: “We were shocked and saddened this week to learn on social media of sexual assault allegations against a former employee of our company. As members of the St. Louis community, we want you to know the person referenced in those allegations is no longer with Hands rewing Company, effective June 23.” Lemp’s statement continues: “We have high standards for the behavior of employees. I was not aware of the allegations regarding this former employee until June 22. We take issues like this very seriously, and we reacted immediately upon becoming aware of these allegations. Within 15 hours of learning of these allegations, the person at issue no longer worked for my company. If I had been made aware of these allegations earlier, we would have acted at that time. The alleged abusive behavior of this former employee is completely at odds with our company’s values. To those who have come forward, we hear you and applaud your strength and bravery.” None of the former employees or women accusing Salas allege that Lemp, or any other employees of Hands, knew of the rape and sexual assault allegations
Parlor (top) and Takashima remain closed as partners in the business battle. | STEVEN DUONG against Salas. All, however, are emphatic that his lewd behavior was common knowledge, not only at Hands but throughout the beer and bar community, and it was simply accepted as part of who he was. Like the former coworker who claims she was harassed by Salas, arnett says she had an uncomfortable encounter with Salas while the two were Hands colleagues. In addition to observing his inappropriate actions on multiple occasions, arnett says, she woke up to Salas in her bed following the 2018 World Naked ike ide. Though he told her that nothing happened, arnett is not sure what to believe since she was intoxicated and unable to recall the events of the evening. ecause of this, she says she has blamed herself for what did or did not happen and decided not to come forward because of what she describes as the “mental gymnastics” she had to do to get through the incident. It’s stuck with her.
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“The big part of it is, if he would have done that to me — someone who is part of the Hands family — what would he have done with other women,” arnett says. “If he would’ve done that with me knowing that I would’ve said no, how much further would it have gone? That’s something that really bothers me.” To Cleary Spiller and the other women, named and unnamed, who have come forward, it’s a frightening but valid question. “To have the same situation that happened to me happen to Nicole Casper ten years ago and there was a four-year time frame from me to Nicole — makes you wonder what had been going on,” Cleary Spiller says. “ e’ve already compiled over ten women who have come forward saying he raped them, too, and that’s only the women who have spoken up. You have to think about those who are too afraid to talk, because if we have ten now, who knows how many there are?” n
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[SIDE DISH]
A Good Egg For Yolklore’s Mary Bogacki, the decision to remain open through a pandemic is about community Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
M
ary Bogacki will never forget the conversation she had with one of her regular guests about the choice of dinnerware at Yolklore (8958 Watson Road, Crestwood; 314-270-8538). It was four years ago, and she and her husband, John, had just opened the daytime concept, hoping to change the conversation around quick-service dining. Her guest understood what they were going for, but she still had one suggestion. “She told me that we won’t be taken seriously unless we have real plates,” recalls Bogacki. “I want to ask her, ‘Now that we’ve gone through a pandemic, how do you feel about that?’” In many ways, Yolklore is the perfect restaurant for the times because it was ahead of them when it opened in July 2016. Though the Bogackis both had experience in fine dining, they saw a need for casual food done really well and set out to fill it in a small spot off Watson Road in Crestwood. The storefront they found happened to come with a drivethrough — not necessarily part of their vision when they were conceptualizing the restaurant, but one they immediately embraced as an alternative to the mass-produced fast food typically served out of a pick-up window. “From the beginning of our concept four years ago, that was something that I saw lacking,” says Bogacki. “We had an opportunity to bring to life what people didn’t know they were lacking. Screw fast food. They’re serving shit food out of a window, and you don’t need to do that. I think the general public understood that, but there were no choices. fficiency and convenience are important, but people want qual-
To Mary Bogacki, Yolklore has tapped into a need for quality, quick-service dining that is here to stay. | RONALD WAGNER ity in their bag. I think people will wait the extra two minutes to feed farm eggs and local sausage to their kids, still out of a window without getting out of their car.” Business proved the Bogackis right. Over the last four years, Yolklore amassed a following for its thoughtful and delicious, yet uick and efficient, breakfast and lunch fare, with guests lined up both at its drive-through and in its small dining room. The energy from the latter animated the space and filtered into the open kitchen, filling ogacki with oy until this March, when it went silent. Bogacki knew that things were going to get bad when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered dining rooms the week of March 15. Though her first priority was to keep her family, staff and guests safe, she also felt that she had a responsibility to continue to operate, since so many people counted on her for food and paychecks. Though she considered closing down completely, she sat down with her staff to weigh their options, ultimately coming up with a plan to remain open for drivethrough and takeout service. “I think there were two ways of
looking at it — either shut your doors completely and furlough everyone, or thinking of how you live with this, manage and adapt in order to survive what’s going on,” Bogacki says. “I was on the side of let’s make this work, let’s try to adapt and make the safest choices for us and our families. It came down to sitting down with everyone to gauge their levels of comfort. We had to have that conversation, because it’s the only way we are all going to be comfortable coming to work.” Bogacki feels lucky that she had such options. Because Yolklore was already used to drive-through and carryout service and used eco-friendly disposable containers throughout the restaurant, she believes she and her staff were better set up to transition to to-goonly business than others. It hasn’t been easy, and she admits that she and her team have had to hustle, but she’s confident that she’s providing a necessary service to the community — one that will be well received for the long haul. “This has ust solidified what we saw from the beginning,” Bogacki says. “That’s why it’s important for us to stay open. We have a drive-
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through, and people still need to eat and don’t cook at home. We’re able to serve a need for the community. We feel like we have a level of responsibility to them.” Bogacki stepped away from the drive-through window to share her thoughts on what it’s like to be in the industry in the midst of a pandemic, the daily ritual she’s had to let go and the one thing she hopes people take away from these challenging times. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? We miss seeing all of you more than you know! The people are why we do this every day. Not being able to see everyone makes our jobs more challenging and less fulfilling. What do you miss most about the way things were at your job before COVID-19? The sound of everyone in the dining room laughing and talking. It’s like being at the baseball game with no crowd. Even they put fake crowd noise in, because they know it does something for everyone’s psyche. It’s the same in
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an open kitchen. What do you miss least? The loud crowd. We can’t hear anything we’re saying to each other over the laughing and talking! And of course not being able to yell obscenities was always challenging. What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy? or the first few months, I always kept the tables lined up straight, the chairs at each seat and the table décor placed just right. After I reali ed we weren’t going to be opening the dining room for a while, I gave up the fight. What have you been stress-eating/ drinking lately? Hmmm, I actually have been trying to give up refined sugar. I was eating dessert every night, no matter what it was. It was having some negative effects on my brain and waistline Time to get healthy and not let this virus take us down with it! What are the three things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper? ggs, because that’s the ma ority of our two-year-old’s diet right now, fruit strips same reason , and a bottle of wine in any variety. You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick? Alive David laine, Dave Chappelle, arack Obama. Dead rank Sinatra, Stephen Hawking, im Massie. Once you feel comfortable going back out and about, what’s the first thing you’ll do? o get a full body massage. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? hen we first opened, we had a guest tell us that if we were going to be taken seriously we needed to serve our food off of real plates. I think it’s safe to say that most everyone’s mindset about getting ama ing food from very serious establishments has debunked that theory in the restaurant industry. Eco-friendly paper plates all the way, people What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? hat gives me hope is that there has been a shift in mindset of work-life balance for our society and our industry. I hope that taking time to slow down and be together has given a new perspective on our lives and what’s truly important. n
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Ben Grupe’s debut restaurant draws on the celebrated chef’s classic technique while reinterpreting familiar foods. | VIRGINIA HAROLD
[FIRST LOOK]
Ben Grupe’s Tempus Now Open Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
F
or years, chef en rupe has been da ling the culinary world with his talent. He has cooked at some of the most prominent private clubs in the country, served as captain of the .S. Culinary Olympics team and was a second place finisher to represent the country at the prestigious ocuse d’Or. Now, St. Louis diners will finally get to experience Grupe’s talent in the form of his debut restaurant, Tempus (4370 Manchester Avenue, 314-349-2878), which opened last Thursday in the Grove. Roughly a year and a half in the making, Tempus opens with a focus on at home dining, consisting of individual food and drink options. ventually, this will e pand to more family style meals and outdoor dining at the restaurant. Though proud of his background, rupe sees Tempus as somewhat of a departure from the elite culinary competitions he’s spent much of his career doing. While it is elegant and rooted
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The menu focuses on dishes that are “craveable and comforting.” | VIRGINIA HAROLD in classic techni ues, rupe has created Tempus to be a welcoming, approachable restaurant that serves thoughtful interpretations of familiar dishes. “ verything about Tempus is designed to bring a sense of what is familiar, craveable and comforting at a time when everything seems uncertain,” says rupe. To that end, Tempus’ opening menu consists of such comfort classics as a beef rib with “dumplings,” beets and cabbage, black cod with kombu clam broth, potatoes and trout roe and gnocchi with maitake mushrooms, celery root and parmesan reggiano cheese. Grupe is also offering sandwiches, such as a chicken sandwich and a lamb belly version. Sides include everything from an iceberg wedge to dinner
rolls with sorghum butter and country ham. Though Tempus’ dining room remains closed due to the COID 1 pandemic, diners can e pect a stylish, 0 seat space when the timing is right to open it. “I’m proud to offer a new dining option in my hometown that I believe will complement the e isting St. Louis culinary scene, and specifically help nourish and bolster the rove community and surrounding neighborhoods,” says rupe. “Our goal is to create spectacular food that includes in uence from the many cultures that make up American’ cuisine, accompanied by thoughtful service and genuine hospitality, without the dine in e perience. Locals can en oy everything Tempus has to offer from their living rooms.” n
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[OPENINGS]
A New Industrial Age 3,000-capacity Chesterfield venue the Factory set to open in May 2021 Written by
DANIEL HILL
I
n a year of nonstop cancellations and closures comes a rare piece of good news for local fans of live music: A big, shiny new venue called the Factory is coming soon to Chesterfield. Well, “soon” might be overstating things (although in an age of lockdowns, what is time even, anyway?) — the 52,000-squarefoot space is set to celebrate its grand opening on ay 1. According to a press release, the Factory will be an anchor for the District, a project being undertaken by local developer the Staenberg Group, which it describes as “a dynamic entertainment and dining destination” at the intersection of I-64 and Boones Crossing in the space that is currently home to the Chesterfield Outlets. “This marks the beginning of a new era for the music scene in the St. Louis region,” says ichael Staenberg, founder of the Staenberg Group and partner in the actory. “ e are creating a new standard in the industry. There is nothing else like it in the idwest.” The Factory will have a maximum capacity of 3,000 people, but it will use movable, modular panels to offer e ibility in the overall size of the room in order to cater to different types of events. In addition to hosting large concerts featuring national touring acts, the space will also be used for trade shows, corporate events, ban uets and even weddings. Renderings of the space show an interior that takes its cues from factories and manufacturing plants, with a lot of exposed brick, polished concrete and metalwork stairs. The space will also feature a 0 foot stage and balcony seating.
The Factory, shown in a rendering, is being designed to be the anchor of a new entertaiment destination called The District. | VIA THE FACTORY
A rendering shows the 52,000-square-foot venue. | VIA THE FACTORY Booking will be handled by Steve Schankman, founder of Contemporary Productions, a longtime player in St. Louis’ live entertainment industry that previously owned Riverport (back when it was still called Riverport, although let’s be honest, we still call it Riverport), and who was formerly a partner at the Pageant. Dan erker, former vice president of touring with Outback Presents, will work alongside Schankman on the talent-buying side of things. oth bring a trove of industry experience that shines through in the pro ect’s impressive attention to detail. “As specialists in the art of pro-
ducing unforgettable concerts and events, we know the Factory will attract music lovers from all across the region,” Schankman says. “ or the artists, every amenity has been included, featuring five dressing rooms, private production office, catering room with outdoor deck, stage level load-in, four loading docks and space for three tour buses.” Also on the team is Brian Carp, who will serve as the actory’s chief operating officer. Carp brings “decades of expertise to the project,” according to the release, having held management positions at several venues across the .S., including oulder, Colorado’s o Theatre
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and the House of Blues locations in both Anaheim and Dallas. “Michael [Staenberg] and I took all of the elements that worked exceptionally well in venues across the country and incorporated them into the actory,” Carp says. “There will be seven full-service, high-capacity bars throughout the venue, two outdoor smoking decks, plus the great location and ample free parking will make the Factory one of the preeminent venues in the country.” The conversion of the Chesterfield Outlets into a nightlife destination will mean that the retail aspect of the area will be phased out in favor of bars and restaurants and, of course, live music. In some ways the ambitious project has something of a Ballpark Village feel to it, with music serving as the main attraction rather than baseball. ut no matter the specifics, the team behind the Factory clearly has high hopes — and any hope at all is welcome in the hell year known as 2020. “The group is envisioning a nightlife experience that concertgoers will want to enjoy before and after the show,” says Staenberg. “ ith the fantastic restaurants coming to the District, we know guests will make an entire night of enjoying a great meal and a show at the Factory and easy access to I-64 after the performance!” n
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[CLOSINGS]
Open Concept Closed For Winter Written by
DANIEL HILL
O
pen Concept (2712 Cherokee Street, 314-504-5246), the Cherokee Street bar that made a big splash when it opened last year due to its all-you-can-drink, pay-by-the-hour business model, is now closed for the winter. The bar closed its doors on Sunday and will stay that way until May. Owner Michael Butler tells RFT that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is the reason for the decision, citing safety and financial concerns. “As COVID cases rise we’re closing for the safety of our customers, staff and finances,” Butler says. “Our family and friends have been affected by this virus, and we don’t want anyone to go through what we’ve experienced. We are anticipating another bar shutdown, and have decided to get ahead of things by shutting our doors on November 1, 2020, until May 2021.” It’s worth noting that Butler is also St. Louis’ recorder of deeds. It’s easy to see how operating a bar during a pandemic
Open Concept will be a closed concept for the winter. | THEO WELLING while simultaneously serving in government could be a fraught idea that could draw ire from critics. Open Concept had already drawn some early criticism from within the ranks of local government when it first opened, most vocally from former 7th Ward Democratic Committeewoman Marie Ceselski, who resigned her position upon the announcement that a presidential debate watch party would be held by the city and state Democratic parties at the bar.
Ceselski believed that the bar’s business model would encourage excessive drinking, but an exhaustive and hotdog-costume-clad RFT investigation of the matter showed that you were more likely to be overserved at a standard-fare north-county dive bar or even an Applebee’s than at Open Concept. The concern regarding finances in the winter months is easy to understand too, and one apparently shared by multiple local bars and restaurants as we head
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into the slower, colder part of the year. Just a couple weeks ago, Benton Park mainstay Venice Cafe announced that it would be closing until April. And in early October, Bogart’s Smokehouse and Southern, two eateries in the Pappy’s Smokehouse family of restaurants, each closed their doors for the colder months as well, citing financial concerns. Open Concept, Butler says, is using a similar calculus with its closing plan. “Our concept always required volume to be successful,” Butler says. “We’ve been very blessed by the outpouring of support and increase in return customers at our Cherokee Street location since bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen in May. But, the COVID restrictions, while absolutely necessary for public health, have made it almost impossible for our business model to turn a profit. We know we can be successful post-COVID. That’s why we’re hibernating for the winter, and looking to come back bigger and better in the spring.” It’s a trend that is likely to continue absent another round of stimulus money to help businesses weather the COVID-19 storm. In some ways the establishments that are able to make the decision to close for only a portion of the year are the lucky ones — others, such as Grove bar and venue the Monocle, have had to close up shop for good due to the virus. Here’s hoping that luck holds. See you all in spring. n
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Post-Election Selections In pandemic times, it’s challenging to find things to do that don’t put yourself or those around you in danger. And while we’re inclined to suggest that the safest event is no event, we also know that sounds a lot like abstinence-only sex ed, and you guys are probably gonna fuck anyway. So consider these recommendations your condoms: not foolproof, but safer than other options. We only recommend events that take precautions, but ultimately you’re in charge of your own health, so proceed with care. We also list live-streamed events, which are the safest of all, though admittedly not the same. Live-streamed events are the masturbation of events in this way, because — you know what, we’re gonna go ahead and abandon this metaphor before we get in over our heads.
RED FLAG MOVIE NIGHTS 9 p.m. Wednesday, November 4, and Wednesday, November 11. Red Flag, 3040 Locust Street. Free. No phone. Red Flag, the new venue brought to you by Fubar owner Bob Fancher and located just across the street from the long-running, now-closed venue, is absolutely staggering in its ambition. A huge space with a top-of-the-line sound system, multiple bars and a balcony incorporating several shipping containers redesigned for human comfort, the new space looks like it could give the likes of the Pageant a run for its money — and that’s some of the highest praise a venue can get in this town, considering the accolades the Pageant regularly pulls locally and even nationally. It also comes along at one of the worst possible times, with a concert calendar that was absolutely decimated as the coronavirus pandemic took no prisoners in the world of live entertainment and resulted in the cancellation of, well, pretty much everything. And so, Red Flag has sat and sat, patiently awaiting the day that it could finally open to the public and let its wonders be known to the world. That day is finally here. ed lag opened this month for a few small socially distanced events — including at least one concert — and pretty much everyone who has stepped through its doors has been gobsmacked by what they saw. The venue has already begun adding small shows featuring mostly local acts to its calendar, operating in a reduced capacity to comply with COVID-19 guidelines. In the meantime it has opted to host regular movie nights on Wednesdays as well, and this week has some good ones on the books. November 4 will see a showing of Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sequel to the 1982 classic, and on November 11 the venue will show 2018’s part revisionist war drama, part zombie thriller Overlord. Both movies are worth your time, but more than anything stopping by will allow you something of a sneak peek into what’s sure to
be a game-changing new St. Louis venue as soon as this damned pandemic is in the rearview mirror. Speaking Of: For its movie nights as well as the smaller shows it currently has on the books, Red Flag will be operating at a reduced capacity, as well as requiring masks, doing temperature checks and encouraging social distancing in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. Plan accordingly.
JEREMIAH JOHNSON 6 p.m. Friday, November 6. The Grandel, 3610 Grandel Square. $10. 314-533-0367. 2020 has been something of a mixed bag for St. Louis’ Jeremiah Johnson. On the one hand, the album he released at the start of the year, March’s Heavens to Betsy, had the distinct honor of reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s blues chart in April. On the other hand ... well, you know the rest of the story. Johnson’s career was suddenly kneecapped at about the same time, thanks to that damned coronavirus epidemic, and he watched in dismay as all of his touring plans — including a four-week European run — evaporated in almost an instant. But not one to rest on his laurels, the blues rocker kept finding gigs wherever he could, including a performance at one of the first live music events to take place in St. Louis since the start of the pandemic, as part of the drive-in movie and concert series in the parking lot of the closed St. Louis Outlet Mall that took place in May and June. “I just felt like it was something that we needed,” he told RFT about the show. “That if I could be a part of it, I thought it was a good idea.” He’s since taken his frustration at the state of the world — and that of his own career — and channeled it into a new album, Unemployed Highly Annoyed, released in late October. Johnson has been able to book some smaller, regional events in recent weeks, but this will be the first show in his
Jeremiah Johnson. | ANGELA RENEE hometown since the new album’s release — let’s make it a good one and see if we can alleviate some of that annoyance. Open for Business, Safely: The Grandel’s Open Air series, presented by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, has been consistent about safety for its events. In keeping, this show will take place in a socially distanced fashion in the heated tent behind the venue. Reservations and masks are required, and parties are limited to six people per table. For more info, visit kranzbergartsfoundation.org/covid-19/open-air-mitigation-policies.
GZA. | VIA BABYGRANDE RECORDS
GZA LIQUID SWORDS 25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW AT (LE) POISSON ROUGE 10 p.m. Friday, November 6. Livestreamed event. $16. lpr.tv. Greenwich Village’s celebrated underground music venue and multimedia art cabaret (Le) Poisson Rouge has been closed since March due to (you guessed it) COVID-19, but since early October it has taken on a new life as a livestreaming destination for some of the city’s best acts to share their art with the world. Cults was the first to kick off the series with a release show for its latest, Host, and since then such favorites as Jose James, !!! (CHK CHK CHK) and Too Many Zooz have all put in time at the space. That’s all well and good, but this week is special: Wu-Tang Clan founding member (and arguably its most mesmerizing lyricist) GZA will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of his 1995 solo album Liquid Swords, performing the classic album in its entirety. Landing with
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a massive thud upon its release (in the same year as Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s and Raekwon’s debut solo records, no less), Liquid Swords helped cement the Wu-Tang Clan as one of the most vital hip-hop acts of the ’90s, with its complex lyricism and cinematic imagery making it a classic that has since been cited by many as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. The show will feature full stage production and audio straight from the venue’s soundboard, and, if we had to guess, it just might feature some special guests, making this one a must-see affair. Save Our Stages: (Le) Poisson Rouge, like venues across the whole country, has been feeling the financial pinch since being forced to close, and live-streamed shows such as this one are meant to help bring some money in during a dire time. If you can afford it, consider dropping $19.99 for a monthly subscription to the venue’s live-streamed events, and know that the money is going to a good cause. n
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SAVAGE LOVE OLD TIMES BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a nearly 80 straight male, with undiminished libido. I have no problem with it, just a persistent curiosity. Like, why now? And why so various? And is it common among us old geezers? Male and female? I’m more sex-obsessed than ever before, including adolescence. Until my 60s, tits were my sexual focus, and other body parts were strictly subsidiary, whether I was looking, fantasizing, masturbating or fucking. Now butts, bellies, assholes, cunts, legs, arms, shoulders are equal turn-ons. Well, I do have one problem: Women aren’t interested in me “that way” anymore. The secret smiles in public are no longer complimentary or inviting or challenging. They’re just fond, polite smiles for a nicelooking old man. The availability of porn plays a big part in my obsessions. It primes the pump visually, mentally and physically, by showing more body parts and what can be done with them. Lack of a steady sex partner may also explain my obsession — but I was sometimes without a sex partner when I was younger and I wasn’t similarly obsessed. So is this the usual pattern? Does being relieved of the stress and distractions of work free all retired men — and women — to be perpetually horny or what? Geezer Energy Rocks Id And Titillates Retired Isolated Chap “I don’t have statistics for GERIATRIC, but I can tell him that wherever his libido falls on the ‘none’ to ‘yowza’ scale, he’s normal,” said Joan Price, author of Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex. “While it’s true that most seniors see their libidos decrease or at least mellow, I hear from people like GERIATRIC all the time — older folks who feel exuberantly sexy.” What explains the sudden surge in libido experienced by some seniors? “There’s a freedom to sex in our older years,” said Price. “We may still get those ‘at your age’ restrictive, shaming messages, but we’re happiest and most fulfilled when we ignore them. So I would advise
GERIATRIC to enjoy his charged libido and not to worry about whether it’s a ‘usual pattern.’ Who cares? It’s your pattern. You do you!” And Price says there are women who’d be down to do you, too. “As he sees it, his problem is that the women he desires ‘aren’t interested,’” said Price. “As I see it, his problem is that he’s not actively seeking out women who are.” Your days of picking up women on the street may be behind you, GERIATRIC, but they’re supposed to be behind us all. Instead of making women feel unsafe when they’re out in public by assuming a smile is a signal of interest, Price suggests looking for connections online. “GERIATRIC needs to polish his seduction skills and get on the dating sites,” said Price. “He needs to show a potential bedmate what he has to offer — and I don’t mean a dick pic. He needs to woo a woman with his words — at least to begin with — and, most importantly, he needs to show interest in who she is as a full person, not just the body parts that turn him on.” But don’t get on dating sites if your bullshit detectors were removed with your gallbladder. If someone seems too good to be true — if someone seems too young and too hot to be interested in a guy your age — they’re almost certainly a scammer. And if a irtatious e change becomes a sob story becomes a money beg, hit the block button. I’m a firm believer in intergenerational romance, GERIATRIC, but for safety’s sake you should stay in your generational lane. That means getting on Our Time and/or Silver Singles instead of Tinder and/ or Plenty of Fish. For while there might be a small handful of hot twenty-something gerontophiles in your area, the odds that you’ll find one are too slim to bother trying. And you’ll have better luck going after women closer to your own age. “Libidinous older women are out there, I can assure him,” said Price. But you’ll have to do the work, GERIATRIC, “since most will want to feel safe and appreciated as well as desired before they invite him into their beds.” Finally, GERIATRIC, seeing as the horny old man has been a cliché for as long as men have exist-
ed, I don’t think you should blame online porn for your predicament. Some people’s libidos ramp up as they age, like Price said, and it sounds like you’re one of those people. Maybe instead of seeing porn as the cause of all your problems, GERIATRIC, you could see porn as your friend. Solo sex can be good sex and porn is there to help you enjoy it. Follow Joan Price on Twitter oan rice. ou can find rice’s books and the educational film she made about senior sex with porn star and sex educator Jessica Drake at www.joanprice.com. Hey, Dan: Pre-COVID I was in the whirlpool at a hotel spa when an elderly gentleman asked if I wanted a foot massage. There’s only one reason a guy offers another guy a foot massage: He was gay and into feet. I’m straight and not into feet but I said, “You can rub my feet — but just my feet, no higher.” My wife insists this means I had a “gay encounter.” I say it was gay for the other guy but not for me. What say you? Fighting Over Our Terms .S. e’re not really fighting. Not all encounters with gays count as “gay encounters,” FOOT, but seeing as this was clearly an erotic experience for the elderly guy and you knew it — you weren’t being secretly perved on — I’m going to side with your wife. Even if you didn’t get off on it, even if you were just enjoying the massage, you knew the other guy was getting off on it. Hey, Dan: I’m a 45-year-old straight woman in a monogamous relationship with a 48-yearold straight man. One thing that keeps playing over and over in my mind is something he said to me three months into our relationship. He spent the night for the first time at my place. We were laying in my bed the next morning, just talking and enjoying each other’s company, when his phone beeped. He read a text and then said, “That was my friend Susan. I can’t wait for you to meet her. I think you’re really gonna like her — oh, and she sucked my dick 25 years ago at a rest stop in New Jersey.” It turns out “Susan” is his best friend. I had not met her yet and this was the first thing I knew about her. When I asked why he told me this, his re-
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sponse was that he was half asleep. He wasn’t. When I pressed further he told me it was something that happened a long time ago and that they laugh about it now but then told me it was none of my business! I agree! It’s none of my business! So why did he feel the need to tell me? Then he told me Susan can never know I know because she would feel humiliated. But that’s exactly how I feel! Are Susan’s feelings more of a priority to him than mine? I’ve hung out with him and Susan three times. I have asked if we can get together again, as a group, so I would feel less insecure about the times they get together without me, but there’s always some excuse for why it’s not possible. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a relationship and I’ve invested a year in this man. He is a decent guy otherwise, Dan, but this nags at me. Boyfriend’s Long-Ago Blowjob Your boyfriend was either playing head games — meaning he was fucking with you on purpose — or he lacked the emotional intelligence and/or impulse control to realize why sharing something like that, at a moment like that, was a bad idea. If he’s the kind of guy who enjoys tormenting the women he dates, BLAB, he would’ve done similar or worse things by now. (And a woman he dated a quarter of a century ago probably wouldn’t be on speaking terms with him, much less one of his closest friends.) Assuming he hasn’t done similar or worse — I’m guessing you would’ve included other examples in your letter if he had — perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt here He said something stupid and thoughtless, he couldn’t come up with a good explanation for why he said it, and doesn’t like to be reminded of it. As for Susan … he’s known her for 25 years. If he wanted to be with her, he’d be with her. And he may be reluctant to get together as a group because he worries — perhaps not without cause — that you might bring it up. If he’s given you no other reason to suspect he might be cheating on you, cram this ancient blowjob down the memory hole. mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com
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