Riverfront Times - December 6, 2017

DECEMBER 6–12, 2017 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 49

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A Time To Grill When it’s 5 a.m. in Brooklyn, Illinois, Chef Nell will get you fed

BY THOMAS CRONE

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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THE LEDE

“I work three jobs. I’m a six-year U.S. Air Force veteran. I came out here to protest. It’s actually my first time really protesting out here. I just don’t want everyone in America to forget about Puerto Rico, because Puerto Ricans have been fighting for America and dying since World War I. I think that that’s important, you know? With POWs and MIAs, we don’t leave people missing. We don’t forget about anybody. So why are we forgetting about Puerto Rico?”

—Ashley sAlAzAr, photogrAphed outside the st. ChArles Convention Center protesting president donAld trump’s visit on november 29 riverfronttimes.com

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

12.

A Time To Grill

When it’s 5 a.m. in Brooklyn, Illinois, Chef Nell will get you fed

Written by

THOMAS CRONE

Cover photography by

NICK SCHNELLE

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

MUSIC

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39

The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

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23

Riot King’s Missing Paperwork

A controversial cop has conflicting answers for why St. Louis’ license collector can’t find records for his security firm

Stage

Paul Friswold checks out two very different plays: Steel Magnolias and A Behanding in Spokane

Hit-and-Runs Get New Attention

A St. Louis woman is forming a non-profit to aid survivors like herself

A consultant who has raised money for Stenger and Slay allegedly terrorized an Amoco clerk

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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Side Dish

Homespun

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Justin Bell’s love of foraging landed him the job of a lifetime

riverfronttimes.com

Kevin Renick Clear the Way

Out Every Night

Hambuger Mary’s is plotting its triumphant return

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

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Sarah Fenske visits Poke Doke, while Jessy Kinzel checks out the Dapper Doughnut

Fundraiser Faces Charges

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First Look

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Playing It by Ear

X Ambassadors’ Casey Harris doesn’t need to see in order to rock

Nightlife

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Better and Better

Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria is among the city’s best Italian restaurants, writes Cheryl Baehr

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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NEWS

Riot King’s Paperwork Is Missing Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

T

he company owned by controversial St. Louis Police Sgt. Brian Rossomanno has been in business since 2010. But has it ever paid the city’s earnings tax?

After the Riverfront Times began raising questions about 0311 Tactical Solutions’ licensure with the city — and what staffers in the city license office say is a lack thereof — Rossomanno insisted to us that the company has filed the necessary paperwork and paid the required taxes.

But Rossomanno refused to provide any paperwork or even the license number that would back up his claims. And, records show, the police supervisor filed in the last month paperwork creating two new private security and consulting firms, including one immediately after the RFT raised questions with the city about his ventures.

Known as “The Riot King” for his role in protests around St. Louis, Rossomanno has long run 0311 Tactical Solutions as a side business, offering militaristic training and providing security to some of the city’s most prominent institutions, including Busch Stadium and the Muny theater, according to the company.

But 0311 Tactical Solutions has become almost as controversial as its leader in recent months. Activists protesting police brutality claimed that the combat-ready mentality taught in some of the company’s courses bled into the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s response to demonstrations following the acquittal of a white ex-cop accused of killing a black man.

Rossomanno, who helps command the department’s Civil Disobedience Team, or “riot police,” has often been on the front lines of Continued on pg 9 the protests,

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Tiffanie Stanfield, left, founded a non-profit to support the survivors of hit-and-run drivers. | PHOTO COURTESY OF TIFFANIE STANFIELD

Effort Aims to Tackle Hitand-Run Deaths Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

T

he last thing Jameca Stanfield ever did was try to cross a street.

But shortly after midnight on April 13, 2016, a red Lexus ES350 speeding along North Grand Boulevard fatally struck the 39-year-old — and kept going.

“I was grieving,” recalls her sister, Tiffanie Stanfield. “But I also wanted to know, who killed my sister? Working both those at the same time, it was not an easy task.”

At the time, Stanfield tried to look for a victim’s support group geared toward the survivors of hit-and-runs. When that search came up empty, an idea planted itself in her head: If such a group didn’t exist, she’d create it herself.

The result is a new registered nonprofit, Fighting Hit and Run Driving, or Fighting H.A.R.D. Though still in its early stages of fundraising, its founder envi-

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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sions the group eventually providing the resources she wished she’d had during the year-long investigation into her sister’s killing.

The search eventually led police to arrest the driver of that speeding Lexus, Alice McClure, in May of this year. Yet during the investigation, Stanfield remembers feeling “lost in the shuffle.”

“I want this organization [to provide] that compassion and understanding.

But most important is the guidance,” she notes. “If you’re feeling apprehension about calling the police department, or contacting the detective directly, I want you to feel comfortable in being persistent. Because that is your loved one.”

Being a pedestrian in St. Louis can be dangerous. According to a KMOV tally of available data, more than 720 crashes involving cars hitting pedestrians or cyclists were recorded in 2015 in St. Louis and St. Louis County, a 30 percent jump from the previous year.

The rash of hit-and-runs around St. Louis continues to produce new victims.

In July, a woman was killed while pushing a stalled car in Ferguson; in September, an 86-year-old was killed in St. Louis by a

pickup truck that police believe may have been drag-racing. And on Thursday night, a man was injured and transported “urgently to the hospital” after being hit on North Grand, only about a mile south of where Jameca Stanfield was killed last year.

As for Tiffanie, she hopes to build the burgeoning organization into both a resource for survivors and a vehicle for advocacy. Along with a scholarship fund in her sister’s name, Tiffanie says she’d like to see the state legislature pass increased punishments for hit-and-run killers.

Tiffanie is also awaiting the trial of her sister’s alleged killer. The 57-year-old McClure, who lives in the north-county suburb of Black Jack, is currently facing two felony charges, for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash, in addition to a misdemeanor charge of making a false report to police.

According to a probable cause report, McClure had initially claimed that her car had been stolen in a robbery before the crash, but “an investigation into the defendant’s robbery report revealed that no such robbery incident took place.” n

RIOT KING Continued from pg 8 heaving canisters of tear gas at activists and blitzing them with pepper spray. His staff at 0311 Tactical includes multiple city police officers.

In early November, following activists’ complaints about Rossomanno, Alderwoman Heather Navarro told the RFT that she had been informed by Mayor Lyda Krewson’s staff that city police officers had been temporarily barred from moonlighting for 0311 Tactical. Krewson and police refused to confirm the order, describing it as a “personnel” matter. (They also didn’t attempt to refute it.)

But in the days after Navarro publicized the city’s apparent order, Rossomanno began registering new businesses with the city.

Records show that on November 7, five days after our story quoting Navarro was published, the state granted a license to a new company called C3 Services Group, a limited liability company with a stated purpose to “provide security and safety training and consultation.” The organizer was listed as Rossomanno’s older brother, a mechanical designer named Brett Rossomanno. But where the form asks for a contact, Brian Rossomanno’s 0311 Tactical Solutions email is listed.

C3 Services Group was granted a city business license on November 21. And while the company owner is listed as the elder brother, the paperwork again bears the fingerprints of Brian Rossomanno, the police sergeant. The home address listed for Brett Rossomanno actually belongs to Brian Rossomanno, and the same goes for the phone number, according to public records. A second phone number listed on the form for Brett Rossomanno is the number for 0311 Tactical Solutions.

Strangely, what the city doesn’t have is a business license for 0311 Tactical Solutions. Three separate employees for the city’s license collector office looked at the request of the RFT, and each came up empty.

Lee Goodman, legal counsel for the department, says that all but a

Sgt. Brian Rossomanno has formed two new companies in recent weeks. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

When the license collector’s field unit reached Rossomanno on November 27, it was told 0311 Tactical Solutions had ceased to operate. specific set of exempt companies doing business in the city are required to have a license, and 0311 Tactical Solutions doesn’t seem to qualify for an exemption.

“They would need a business license based on what I see,” Goodman says.

Off-the-books businesses are sometimes difficult to find, especially if they don’t have a physical storefront, Goodman says, but the department dispatches its field unit to investigate when they get inquiries. In response to the RFT’s questions, he said he would have the unit check out 0311 Tactical Solutions.

Should inspectors discover a business operating without a li-

cense, the city would typically go after them for unpaid fees, he said — a move that could escalate to a lawsuit or being cited by police.

One of the reasons for a city business license is to ensure companies are paying the required city earnings tax. The RFT asked Rossomanno whether 0311 Tactical Solutions had paid that tax. In response, we received an email from the company’s general email account that was attributed only to the company.

“Our business license with the city is valid and our earning tax is paid in full, several months early we might add, since we fulfilled our contract schedule for the year,” the email reads in part. “Thanks for the concern though.”

In our email, we’d asked about the formation of C3 Services Group.

But the company’s reply claimed that 0311 Tactical Solutions had not formed any other companies and wouldn’t comment on what “other companies do or how they do it.”

In follow-up emails over the next two days, 0311 Tactical Solutions continued to insist the company was fully licensed, with taxes paid, although it refused to provide any documentation or a business license number. riverfronttimes.com

“And last we checked, we aren’t required to give you anything,” an email reads. “You’re [sic] obsession with this topic is concerning. There is so much going on in this city these days, and this is your focus.”

A supervisor in the earnings tax office says that tax records are not subject to open records law and declined to provide any information about whether the company had paid the earnings tax.

However, Goodman says the license collector’s field unit did reach Rossomanno on November 27 and was told 0311 Tactical Solutions had ceased to operate.

The next day, records show, Rossomanno filed paperwork for another new company, the similarly named Tactical Solutions.

Rossomanno didn’t answer our questions about Tactical Solutions, but in a follow-up email from 0311 Tactical Solutions, the company acknowledged being contacted by the city — or at least someone claiming to be from the city.

“Sorry for the multiple emails, but we’d also like to know how you claim to know the content of a phone conversation between Mr. Rossomanno and someone claiming to be calling from the license office who used what we have reason to believe was a fictitious name,” the email says.

The company ignored our question about why Rossomanno would think the caller used a “fictitious name.” It did, however, eventually concede to knowing something about C3 Services Group, claiming that it was allowing the new firm to “use our space until such time they have their own.” And it offered a vague explanation for the paperwork that appears to show heavy involvement from Sgt. Brian Rossomanno.

“Again, separate companies, separate owners, different missions,” the email reads. “Them being hesitant to use their personal information is understandable since a clerk in the city’s license office is clearly using his official position to disseminate information.”

Throughout the email exchanges, the company has continued to insist it has a valid city business license, despite what the city says, and that it has paid its taxes in full. n

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Democratic Party Fundraiser Arrested

music

Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

A

political fundraiser with ties to some of the Metro’s most powerful Democrats was charged last week with multiple felonies, accused of shouting racial slurs and firing a handgun out of the window of his Mercedes on November 28, Mathew Lieberman, 38, was jailed on a $250,000 cash bond following his arrest. The veteran party operative has raised money in the past for St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and former city Mayor Francis Slay.

On Tuesday, he was cruising around the southwest edge of the city, terrorizing people, according to court documents. A worker at the Amoco gas station near Skinker Boulevard and I-64 called police to report a terrifying confrontation.

He told investigators Lieberman, a regular customer, bought a pack of cigarettes and then gave him what police described as an “offensive hand gesture.”

The clerk walked out of the kiosk to question Lieberman, who pulled out a handgun, pointed it at him and called him the n-word, according to the account. The clerk scrambled behind the kiosk door and heard two shots. Lieberman, who was back behind the wheel of the Mercedes, pulled around and fired twice more into the kiosk before he took off, police say.

Investigators later learned of a second incident from the same day. Maintenance workers at the Jack in the Box at 1242 Hampton Avenue told police a middle-aged white man in a brown Mercedes was irate, shouting racial slurs and firing a handgun multiple times.

Police say they have identified the man as Lieberman. He was charged with two counts each of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

“The defendant’s conduct and use of epitaphs indicate his actions to be motivated by race,” police wrote in the court papers.

read more at Mathew Lieberman has raised money for Steve Stenger and Francis Slay. | IMAGE VIA SLMPD RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM

According to his LinkedIn account, Lieberman operates a pair of political fundraising and consulting business: RAL Strategic Investment Group and Majority Strategies.

He’s worked for a number of bigname politicos. In September, he helped organize a ritzy dinner for Stenger donors at Cafe Napoli in Clayton, an event with minimum donations ranging from $100 to $2,500, according a flier obtained by the Riverfront Times.

At the time, there were already reports circulating that Lieberman had become a loose cannon, prone to solving disputes with a pistol.

In fact, activists believe Lieberman pulled a gun in response to protesters during a frightening exchange on September 16.

The incident is eerily similar to the episodes reported on Tuesday, although it did not result in shots fired. Thousands of activists were marching from the Delmar Loop following the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley on murder charges the day before.

But around 7:30 p.m., in the midst of a peaceful demonstration, a Mercedes sedan rolled into the middle of the crowd, witnesses say.

Liz Gerard, who joined the march that evening, says she heard someone shout, “He’s got a gun!”

Gerard, 25, says she did not see a gun, but she and others hurried away from the car.

“The main emotion was just kind of panic and fear,” Gerard says.

A video she took of the incident is dark, but it shows people near the car, including state Rep. Bruce

Franks (D-St. Louis), ushering others away as someone shouts about a gun.

Gerard was able to photograph the license plate before the driver pulled away. The plate number — 0028 — matches the one listed for Lieberman in the police reports from last week’s incidents.

Franks says he does not know Lieberman but remembers the September confrontation.

“I can’t remember if somebody yelled ‘gun’ or somebody said he had a gun, but when I got next to the window, sure as hell he had a gun,” Franks tells the RFT. Franks says the driver, now believed to be Lieberman, looked “paranoid” but eventually laid the gun down and raised up his hands in what Franks interpreted as a calming gesture. The crowd parted and the Mercedes drove away.

Lieberman lives near where the September 16 incident took place, in the 5600 block of Pershing Avenue in the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood. He and his wife split up in March, and court records show he kept the apartment and a 2011 Mercedes E350 in their division of property.

The former couple had previously sued Barnes-Jewish Hospital, his former doctor and Washington University in September 2016, alleging he was over-prescribed multiple opioids for chronic back pain. He suffered a disastrous addiction as a result, forcing him to go to rehab, according to the suit.

The case was contested, and Lieberman and his now-former wife eventually dismissed. n riverfronttimes.com

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WRITTEN BY THOMAS CRONE PHOTOS BY NICK SCHNELLE

t’s a couple of minutes after midnight as Chef Nell preps his grill just outside the Pink Slip. No matter if patrons are coming to the long-running Brooklyn, Illinois, club for a lap dance or a nightcap, the sidewalk chef — real name, Yarnell Sampson — is ready to provide them with nourishment or a good word, either one with a side of potato salad.

Nell has occupied the slim patch of grass and asphalt outside the Pink Slip for two years.

The spot where he parks his tenfoot, three-chamber smoker puts him in front of a narrow, crowded parking lot and within sight of the front door of the “world-famous” adult entertainment spot, as well as its neighbor, Bottoms Up. The pair of clubs have a symbiotic relationship; it’s not uncommon for patrons to walk the few dozen yards from one room to the next, along the cracked-asphalt alleyway between their parking lots.

If they were to walk from Bottoms Up to the Pink Slip, they’d pass the stand presided over by a friendly grillman named Ghost, who serves up his own BBQ menu just about 50 yards to the east of Nell. That’s ground owned by Ed “the Parking King” Johnson, whose heavily attended lots ring the clubs.

Before reaching the Pink Slip, though, they’d probably hear Nell, who keeps up a nightlong incantation on a small, handheld microphone/bullhorn. “Baah-arebe-cuuue,” his sing-song goes.

“Hot and ready.”

That’s the basic call, but he varies the message all night, shouting out to individuals and groups as they make their way from the outer lots to the club’s fortified front door. His voice blends with the unmistakable aroma of ganja hanging in the warm, strange, mid-autumn air.

“Looking good, pretty lady, we got jerk chicken, turkey legs. Hot and ready.”

“Hey, fam, we got chicken-on-astick, pork steaks. That’s the only swine we do.”

“Cuzzo? You need a Polish?” He alternates it with a more emphatic version: “Cuzzo, you need a Polish!”

If this tiny village (daytime population: 700 souls) is the epi-

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center of the region’s after-hours’ vice, Chef Nell’s voice is part of its soundtrack, a siren call for those hungry for their fourth meal or just desperate to sober up before making the drive home to St. Louis.

Sometimes his shout-outs get an immediate response, his small menu of $5 and $8 items passed off to customers by Nell or by his spotters, who run to nearby cars to take or deliver orders. Other times he has to work a customer for an extra beat or two. He can sense when he’s got a live one; on these, customers bend back from their trips to cars, sometimes negotiating prices as they go. Over the course of a shift, even a “dead-ass slow one” like this Friday, there seem to be a hundred idiosyncratic moments, one for every exchange of cash for food.

An example: Around 4:30 a.m.

Saturday, a pair of cousins cross the street, moving about as steady as rubber ducks in a bathtub. Nell sees them suffering and offers jerk chicken and Polishes at “hood rate, two for five.” They finally agree.

When the order’s up, Big Cousin shouts at Slim Cousin to eat, though the smaller man is barely standing and looks at the food in his hand like it’s landed there by magic. Big Cousin’s a touch rocked himself, knows it.

Big Cousin drops his Polish foil pack onto the table, rubs his knuckles into the plastic and prays a fast one. “Lord, help us get home on this night.”

“I know that’s right,” Nell says, and off the cousins go, cutting through the weedy trees and potholes towards a pay lot to the west.

The chef figures that in cases like this, the pair might spend a few minutes eating in the car, drinking the bottles of water that he hands out all night for free. If he’s a capitalist, he’s an altruist, too, and he frequently talks about the family vibe that this lot culture has created, how his role is to keep people fed, happy, hydrated, coming back to the zone safely on another night.

He’s talking about the cousins, sure, but as he talks, Big Cousin’s already taking off for home, peeling a slick, late-model sedan out onto Fourth Street, running the first stop sign at Jefferson on his way back to the city.

Says Nell, “Guess the Polish didn’t work that time.”

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A Time to Grill When it’s 5 a.m. in Brooklyn, Illinois, Chef Nell will get you fed

Yarnell Sampson, center, better known as Chef Nell, cracks a laugh with a customer in the early hours of Sunday, November 19.

Brooklyn’s Barbecue Man leads a life that would tax the hardest worker you know.

Chef Nell works for a construction company during the week, a day job that runs from 8:30 a.m. ’til 5 p.m. or so. A lot of his job involves the rehab of houses and apartments into affordable residences.

He’s big on the idea that he’s helping people in need; he dreams of his own company, someday, but for now he’s good with the job he’s got.

Two years ago, he took on a side

job as the grillman of the Pink Slip — an enterprise that he says was started more than ten years ago by someone he calls Big Lisa, who was succeeded by a guy named Quan.

After Quan died, Nell took over.

Each of the three grill bosses did his or her own thing, with the basics always the same: a short menu, a grill planted in place 24/7/365 and a chef who works the wee hours of the morning, serving an audience that’s directly tied to the clubs across the street.

The job requires working weekends from midnight until 6 a.m., just after closing time at the Pink Slip. But there’s also a Tuesday night shift, since the Pink Slip hosts a “$2 Tuesday” promotion that draws enough audience to make Nell’s street-food operation a want and a need. He doesn’t get a lot of sleep, and he’s honest about that: “It’s what it is. When you have the work, you take it, for real.”

Nell veers between fairly talkative and interestingly quiet. Even riverfronttimes.com

dressed in his work coveralls and a sock hat, the 40-year-old gives off the sense that he was a solid athlete in younger days, which is true, having played basketball as a young man with up to nine former NBA players, in both organized and playground settings. He’s got an everyman look, and those coveralls reflect the fact that he’s often going from one gig to another; if he’s lucky, there’s a short nap somewhere in between.

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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ALL MIZZOU GAMES

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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Pork steaks are placed on the grill in the early morning hours. Nell also serves Polish and jerk chicken, among others.

AContinued TIMEfrom TOpgGRILL 13 The shift begins even before it begins. Back home in Granite City, he preps the meat, his jerk chicken marinating for eight hours, and then packs up his Chevy Impala, taking up every bit of space with buns, condiments and flesh. He gets his products from Cionko’s Market in Granite City. “I buy half a cow and they cut it up for me, the sirloin tips, the burgers, the custom brats. I’m a regular, so they keep the meat there for me and I pick it up when I need it.”

The car also serves as a sound system for the three-man grill crew: Zo, who may speak all of 100 words on his shift, sticks close to the grill for security, while Davian, Nell’s nephew, is in constant motion as a food runner and packs a lot of personality into a slender frame. Nell keeps the music bumping until after 3 a.m. or so, with an upbeat, hip-hop soundtrack that reflects the music played inside.

There’s no doubt Nell’s the boss, no matter who is working with him on a given day. His goal, he says, is to hire young people from the immediate community, but also ex-convicts, folks working their way back into the economy. With short instructions, he offers cooking tips or sends a runner to solicit a car that’s lingering on the periphery. He chats with cops, as their rounds take them by the stand every fifteen minutes or so, and with customers, lot workers and his own small staff, sometimes seeming to know everybody in sight, at ease with all kinds of humans.

Even though the location of his business may seem unlikely, it makes a lot of sense. This is classic street food, simply presented at the people’s price point. It’s the kind of spot that you could imagine exciting the senses of an Anthony Bourdain, with a degree of authenticity (and effort) that’s hard to comprehend without spending a few hours here. It all looks deceptively simple. But, as Nell says, “you gotta always think about the seasonings, you gotta think about the smoke, you gotta think about the flavor.”

If there’s an end game, Nell suggests it may come in the form of Munchies Truck, which he describes as a truck that would be outfitted with cooking gear and driven to communities in need of, well, munchies. If this sounds suspiciously like a food truck, you’d be right. A restaurant, too? Maybe, Nell says, down the road. As the night turns to morning, different ideas come up, get explored, get pinned as more customers pop into or out of the Pink Slip.

When that happens, conversation with a reporter (“that’s my white guy, right there!”) becomes secondary to the job at hand.

“Baah-are-be-cuuue! Hot and ready!”

We pause to discuss that line — “my white guy.” Earlier in the night, Davian is blunt, saying, “You don’t see a lot of you, standing here and writing things down.”

It’s a fair point, reinforced by Nell, who notes the presence of a reporter and photographer to some Brooklyn cops who’ve dropped by:

Above, a customer waits while Chef Nell and an assistant administer condiments. Left, patrons chow on some late-night hot dogs and rib tips.

“You might see some white guys walking around. They’re cool.”

If St. Louis’ racial dynamics are frequently complicated, in some moments they can seem remarkably simple. In Brooklyn, the strip clubs have become primarily African American concerns, including their ownership. The Pink Slip’s audience is 95 percent black (and, interestingly/unofficially, roughly 40 percent female, if eyes are to be believed this Saturday morning). Bottoms Up, its neighbor, has a similar demographic feel; Brooklyn’s overall strip club culture skews African American — or in modern marketing terms, “urban.”

It wasn’t always this way. Brooklyn’s scene used to be not only livelier, but also more racially diverse. P.T.’s Brooklyn, also known as P.T.’s Classic, rebranded as Black Magic just one year ago, only to later close its doors. Its primarily white sister club, Roxy’s, is still hanging in there, though at reduced hours, with a multi-hued clientele and worker base. Meanriverfronttimes.com

while, the S&L Rub, an erstwhile massage house, is now an empty lot, the same fate that befell Brooklyn Books after a fire. The ’roundthe-clock Mustang Sally’s, up the road a piece, became a clearance house for, of all things, outdated hotel furniture; it’s now empty, the same status as the nearby club last known as C-Ro’s. Many a dollar has been made — and lost — along this short, winding, weedy stretch of highway.

The Pink Slip survives. Built in 1975, it made its turn to adult programming in 1993. Bottoms Up was built in the 2000s, while the newest concern, a metal shack known as Pleasure Palace, features a large theater and DVD shop as well as a bar. In between and around all are more-or-less vacant parking lots, giving the place a scattered and inconsisent feel.

To the east, however, is a town, a place where people live and surely sleep for at least part of the night, despite the traffic, the music, the general sense of activity. The feel

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

Continued on pg 16

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15

white gold, fea carat tantalizin Topaz with an

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VS quality dia AContinued TIMEfrom TOpgGRILL 15

1 Call, 1 Visit, 1 Plan for YOU.

is summed up by Red, who works at the Pink Slip as a DJ, host and security man. Popping out of the club to greet Nell, he says, “I was born and raised right here in Brooklyn. It’s a small village, a small town, a loving community.

That’s how we do it here.”

In fact, there are nine houses Call Planned Parenthood or visit of worship in Brooklyn, several of CoveredNoMatterWhat.com which are within sight of the Slip’s today to find the one health front door. (The club, which normally opens at noon, stays closed insurance plan for you. ’til 3 p.m. on Sundays. “Guess you gotta balance the holy with the sin,” Nell notes.)

The themes of community are stressed by a pair of longtime adult-industry observers and parPlanned Parenthood offers free one-on-one assistance with ticipants, who freely chat with a a qualified expert who will answer your health insurance reporter by Nell’s stand as long questions and guide you through the process. as they won’t be quoted by name.

Striking an interesting tone of Financial assistance is available for those who qualify. civic pride, one boasts that the For more information or to make an appointment clubs “are feeding a lot of people.” visit findlocalhelp.covermissouri.org He says, “The Pink Slip itself is a or call 314-531-7526 community stalwart. The number of people it employs, the money GET ENROLLED IN HEALTH INSURANCE BETWEEN it puts back in the community …

NOVEMBER 1 AND DECEMBER 15. tonight, it has between 25 and 30 Mikki Jones - mikkijuptown@gmail.com dancers alone.” plannedparenthood.org/stlouis | 800.230.PLAN (7526) There are jobs, of course, and then there are jobs-jobs, and while we don’t get into the specifics of, say, offering dental insurance for the independent contractor dancers, our onlooker is quick to pitch a variety of places where the cash-fueled operation helps out.

“Sparkling” Since 1946 He sees the money flowing to the “hair care industry, the clothing “Sparkling” Since 1946 industry, the daycare industry, the hotel industry. You might say that Magnificent masterpiece in 18K these clubs are the economic enMagnificent white Magnificent gold, featuring a 17.49 of the area.” in 18K masterpiece in masterpiecegines Explains Nell, “We keep the carat tantalizing Blue 18k white gold, white gold, Electric featuring a 17.49 money moving in a circle. It’s like featuring a 17.49 Topaz with tantalizing an unparalleled cut.

“Sparkling” Since 1946 family carat Electric Blue here.” His part of the circarat tantalizing cle involves food. He adds, “If you Topaz with an unparalleled don’tcut. have money, we’ll still get Electric Blue Topaz Magnificent masterpiece in 18K Accenting this incomparable you something to eat.” with an unparalleled white gold, featuring a 17.49 At one point, he spots someone piece of artistry are two cut. Accenting this twenty incomparable who appears to be an employee carat tantalizing Electric Blue VS quality diamonds weighing of the piece of artistrycut. are twenty twoPink Slip. “Hey, Mike Mike!

Topaz with an unparalleled Accenting this You straight? I see you got the sad .40 carat.

VS quality diamonds weighing incomparable face, come over here.”

Accenting this incomparable Mike Mike ambles over, and .40are carat. piece of artistry twenpiece of artistry are twenty two Nell hands him a foil pack from ty two VS quality diamonds VS quality diamonds weighing the grill, no need for payment. It’s weighing .40 carat.

7348 Ave. a scene that repeats itself, in difcarat.

7348 Manchester Ave. (in the.40Heart ofManchester Maplewood) ferent forms, all the way through 7348ofManchester Ave. close.

7348 Manchester Ave. (in the Heart Maplewood) After 5:20 a.m., with rain be7348ofManchester Ave. ginning to fall, Nell all but aban7348 www.paramountjewelers.com Manchester Ave. (in the Heart Maplewood) dons the grill to Zo. He’s walking 314.645.1122 www.paramountjewelers.com dancers to cars as he offers them www.paramountjewelers.com foil-wrapped burgers, handing allbeef sausages through police car

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windows, generally dispensing of the last of the night’s stock without cash exchanged.

With everything distributed, he pops the hood on the first lid and finds exactly nine more pieces of meat. The treasure comes with a heartfelt “ah, shit.” The process begins again, more protein-in-foil handed out until a reporter winds up with the very last burger.

He says, “Somebody smiling, when they eat my food, is the single greatest thing in the world to me.”

Inside the Pink Slip, the night has crested by 5:20 a.m.; that much you can tell right away. Or, at least, right after you’re actually, really, truly inside. First comes a cover charge, waived for a reporter by a sharp-looking security chief with a bowler, shined shoes and walking stick. There’s a pass through a fullsized metal detector, then a quick, personal pat-down for good measure. A quick Google search shows the reason for this caution, with newspapers reporting occasional gunfights taking place outside and, more rarely, inside. It’s not a regular thing, but it happens, and if you believe the Evening Whirl, Brooklyn seems like the best place in St. Louis to catch lead in the buttocks.

In theory, there’s a party happening here, even deep into the 5 o’clock hour. The music’s loud, but the dancers have abandoned the multiple stages criss-crossing the room. Those left are hanging out with the few remaining customers, most of whom are either making a play for continued fun off premises or are tucked away in the club’s nooks and crannies.

A dancer approaches, realizes that her pitch for a personal dance isn’t going anywhere; no money means no conversation which means nothing personal. Nearby, a gent’s stock-still in a chair; he’s upright, but sleeping, despite the rumble of bass everywhere. The bathroom attendant is still on duty, dispensing mints and toiletries for an expected $1 tip.

It’s an odd scene with no dancers on stage, despite the club boasting between two and three dozen performers on weekend nights. It’s maybe the thing that catches your eye the most, save the adult cinema playing on the overhead TV monitors. In some respects, it’s all strangely unerotic by this hour.

But the dancers aren’t necessarily the show, at least not totally.

With the city of East St. Louis’

.40 carat.

314.645.1122 314.645.1122

16

RIVERFRONT TIMES

7348 Manchester Ave.

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

riverfronttimes.com

7348 Ma

downtown nightlife, legendary for just shy of forever, slowly dwindling over the past decade, after-hours drinkers from St. Clair County use the Pink Slip and Bottoms Up as an after-hours club, the $10 cover accepted as the simple cost of partying here. And partying in Brooklyn is a hobby with history.

In 2004, a writer named Scott Eden wrote a lengthy piece about the four communities in southwestern Illinois offering adult entertainment: Sauget, Washington Park, Centreville and Brooklyn.

That the piece, “Fantasies Made Fresh,” ran in a Montreal-based lit magazine named Maisoneauve is odd enough. Written by a non-local, it’s also a sprawling bit of Hunter Thompson-style travel/ economics journalism, sprinkled with major doses of local color.

And while some of the facts have changed since 2004, the piece’s general dissection of the Brooklyn club scene remains spot-on.

At one point, Eden writes of the East Side’s specific appeal: “For years, since at least Prohibition, the east side has been the site of a roisterous nightlife. Brooklyn, always the focus of the action, was once known as ‘Little Las Vegas.’ Gambling and whoredom, in that order, were then the chief attractions. Only in the late nineteen-seventies did striptease, a natural new input, gain a foothold. Connoisseurs of the region’s more recent entertainments say that the Illinois strip-club scene reached its raucous, lurid apex in the late nineteen-eighties, before riverboat gambling siphoned off the clientele. Nonetheless, a level of permissiveness endures, and it can only be ascribed to the status the clubs enjoy within the municipal hegemony.”

But the idea of “heading to the East Side” has gone through many societal shifts, and “hall pass” and “boy’s night out” mentalities aren’t as accepted today as in the past. In a time of fallen-and-falling media/ political icons, in an age of a deep questioning over gender roles and behaviors, the idea of a binge at strip clubs seems dated — something belonging in the deep past of, say, 2014.

And the bookstores, selling way more VHS tapes than books back in the day, were supplanted over the decades by on-demand adult programming (the lone shop that remains in Brooklyn is the exception proving the rule). It doesn’t help that, thanks to the pervasive

“Things can happen out here. We all wanna go home safe. All of us,” says Chef Nell. surveillance of cameras and cellphones, even the private, back rooms of Brooklyn now have an uncertain claim to anonymity.

The Rust Belt economy surely factors into Brooklyn’s general vitality, too. An example is Fantasyland. Dead for more than a decade, its weather-beaten sign still hangs along Route 3, while the building itself is long since imploded, a giant dust pile in the nightlife zone’s center, mature weed trees springing out of the combo-club/theater’s rubble. Metaphor is where you look for it.

Outside a light rain has just begun again, more of a mist, really; even ten minutes inside the club is enough time that you feel you’re re-entering the real world with a single step onto the sidewalk.

By this hour, there is less than a half-hour of commerce left, and more people are departing than arriving in Brooklyn, cars slowly (and quickly) leaving the lots. For most intents and purposes, it’s the end of what’s known as Friday night in Brooklyn, and what’s looking a whole lot like Saturday morning for the rest of the world.

At 5:30 a.m., everything feels a little heavy and exhausting. But damn, if Nell ain’t still out there hawking those Polish to many a Cuzzo.

It wasn’t really a good night in Brooklyn, though Johnson, “the Parking King,” announces that he did OK. You “can never put down a night that helps pay the bills,”

he says.

Mind you, he says this from the back seat of his golf cart, which is customized with wind sheets and the classic vanity plate “WEEKENZ”; from this ride, he oversees a small force of lot attendants.

At one point, relatively early in the evening, one of them engages in a strange, mostly wrestling altercation with a muscle-shirted patron about 200 feet from the grill. Whatever this dust-up is, whatever it’s about, goes right past Nell. He’s seen a few of these moments. He knows better than to get excited. “It is what it is. Things can happen out here. We’re all trying to keep the same approach. We all wanna go home safe. All of us.”

When Nell does finally go home, it’s a bit after six, the rain finally falling steadily. So the next night gets a bit later start; he doesn’t fire up the coals until closer to 1:30 a.m. or so. Hey, it’s still early in the rush, and at some point, a man has to nap.

Nell is somehow able to juggle it: working a day job, working an overnight job, living a life outside of this immediate block. It doesn’t seem like a recipe for a long-term lifestyle. But Nell’s good with it, with all of it. The cooking, the feeding, the employing, the industry: “For real, if you gotta work, you gotta work.”

And when Nell’s not cooking, he’s talking, he’s directing traffic, he’s pointing out the oddities of the place with hints of humor. He indicates a building just a few dozen riverfronttimes.com

feet away, a shabby, white-framed building with a broken window that, of all things, is the Brooklyn Police substation. You can stand there all damned night and not realize that this is the building’s purpose, but, suddenly, when you realize that purpose, you see the dozen cameras. “Those are how they solve the crimes that do get committed,” he says.

It’s a detail that’s right out there in the open, but hidden to an outsider’s eyes — a reminder that there are pockets of a life all around us that we simply don’t see, hear or experience. Like, there’s probably a corner of your brain that realizes a stripper is getting a ride home from her cousin at 5:45 a.m., handed a free turkey leg by a construction worker who happens to specialize in overnight grill mastery, but you usually don’t pay much attention to that corner of your brain.

Every night, Nell oversees this scene, barking “we got the fresh hot baah-are-be-cuuue” on his battery-powered microphone. He’s out here feeding people, his simple sandwiches the chaser for nights filled with liquor and libido. He’s the philosopher, decked out in a plaster-spackled jumpsuit. He’s the guy who proves that we’re all unique, some more unique than others, and some cut from a thicker, tougher cloth.

“It’s not the life for everybody,” he says.

Not for the first time this evening, he’s right. n

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

17

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CALENDAR

19

WEEK OF DECEMBER 7-13

The Gateway Men’s Chorus is ready to welcome Christmas. | COURTESY OF THE GATEWAY MEN’S CHORUS

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

FRIDAY 12/08 The Flick Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama The Flick is an atypical play. There is no action to speak of, and much of what occurs is limited to three ushers mopping the floor of a rundown movie theater. In between bouts of mopping, the trio discuss the job and films, and reveal tiny bits of themselves through nothing but naturalistic dialogue. If you enjoyed the playwright’s Circle Mirror Transformation, which Repertory Theatre St. Louis produced a few years back, you’ll likely find The Flick similarly enchanting. R-S Theatrics

closes out its season with The Flick at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 6:30 p.m. Sunday (December 8 to 23) at the Kranzberg Arts Center (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.r-stheatrics.com). Tickets are $18 to $20.

Remnant Theater companies often present Christmas-themed plays during December, but you rarely see one as alien and yet familiar as Ron Reed’s drama Remnant. The play takes place after the end of the world, in the cramped home of Barlow Sho’r and family, who live surrounded by the electric detritus of the pre-apocalypse world.

Despite the cataclysm that has bro-

ken society, memories of Christmas still linger for the survivors — and Barlow fervently believes that if they properly perform all the Christmas rituals tonight, the world will spontaneously rejuvenate. When a mysterious stranger arrives seeking shelter, Barlow has a tough decision to make. Does Christmas require him to kill a man to make its miracle work?

Mustard Seed Theatre made its debut with Remnant way back in 2007. It mounts its second production of the show — one even closer to the end of the world — at 8 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday (December 12 to 23) at Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre (6800 Wydown Boulevard; www. mustardseedtheatre.com). Tickets are $15 to $35. riverfronttimes.com

GMC: Hark, How the Bells The Gateway Men’s Chorus starts its 31st season at the end of the calendar year with its always popular Christmas performance. This year’s show Hark, How the Bells offers the popular favorites and Christmas carols you’d expect, as well as a special treat: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. The piece comprises five meditations on the nature of spiritual love for a baritone soloist; Dr. Robert McNichols Jr. will be doing the honors. Also joining the GMC is the Trinity Presbyterian Church Handbell Choir, which will provide the bells for the harking. Hark, How

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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DID YOU KNOW:

1.3 MILLION PEOPLE READ

EACH MONTH

CALENDAR Continued from pg 19 the Bells is performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (December 8 and 9) at Union Avenue Christian Church (733 North Union Boulevard; www. gmcstl.org). Tickets are $20 to $25.

SATURDAY 12/09 Christmas at the Cathedral If you like your Christmas songs with a dose of wonder and awe, not just all that ring-a-ding-ding ho-ho-ho jolly crap, you might want to celebrate Christmas at the Cathedral this weekend. The St. Louis Archdiocesan Choirs & Orchestra promise to perform the music of Advent and Christmas in one of the most glorious spaces in the city — beneath the gorgeously mosaic-filled dome of the Cathedral Basilica. For both performances, mezzo-soprano Johanna Nordhorn takes the solo parts in John Rutter’s Magnificat. Christmas at the Cathedral is performed at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday (December 9 and 10) at the Cathedral Basilica (4431 Lindell Boulevard; cathedralstl.org). Tickets are $24 to $49.

ArtWorks Sale If you’re looking for a gift that no one else could possibly duplicate via Amazon (or even a trip to the mall, how exhausting!), you’d be wise to check out the ArtWorks Sale held today at St. Louis ArtWorks. A total of 60 young artists will be selling their work, including a printmaking group that’s incorporated cartography into their pieces and those working with the Batik textiles program, which makes brightly colored and handdyed fabrics. Hey, it’s a whole lot better than that fast-fashion sweater from H&M that’ll be pilled beyond recognition in a month. The sale is held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at St. Louis ArtWorks (5959 Delmar Boulevard; www.stlartworks.org).

Admission is free.

Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the calendar section or publish a listing on our website — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (308 N. 21st Street, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63103, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted.

Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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St. Louis ArtWorks’ apprentices show and sell their work this Saturday. | COURTESY ST. LOUIS ARTWORKS

SUNDAY 12/10 Lafayette Square Parlor Tour Some people don’t decorate much THE ARTSfor the holidays, because how much can you spruce up a two-bedroom apartment that’s mostly held together with cat hair?

For those desirous of holiday beauty, any number of tours in town feature beautifully decorated homes.

Perhaps the loveliest among them is the Lafayette Square Parlor Tour, which stars eleven homes in the city’s grandest neighborhood that have been properly decked out for the season. Their owners open the doors today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to welcome admirers. Interested parties should meet at Park House (Mississippi and Lafayette avenues; www.lafayettesquare.org), where you’ll pay for your tickets ($20 to $25) and tour book. If you want to make the tour in style, free carriage rides are offered; there’s also a holiday market and kids’ crafts (from 1 to 3 p.m.).

Wintermarkt No one does Christmas quite like the Krauts, and if your idea of celebrating the season involves both the delectable gingerbread Lebkuchen and the rich meatloaf Leberkäse, you’ve got a marvelous option in Midtown at Urban Chestnut’s Wintermarkt.

The market includes both vendors on site for holiday shopping and

live music, as well as beer specials, traditional Eastern European food and warm drinks. Drink hot cocoa if you’re trying to maintain sobriety — or do it like the Germans do and brace yourself for the cold and drear with a nice warm Glühwein.

Wintermarkt is held Sundays in December (December 10 and December 17) from 2 to 6 p.m. at Urban Chestnut (3229 Washington Avenue; urbanchestnut.com). Admission is free, although you’ll pay for food, drink and your purchases.

WEDNESDAY 12/13 Residents of Craigslist Putting on a show to raise some much-needed money is a time-honored tradition. Local theater company Equally Represented Arts takes this route for its first fundraising gala. The centerpiece of the evening is The Residents of Craigslist, an original show created from real posts found on Craigslist. Each performance opens with a silent auction at 7:30 p.m., followed by the play at 8 p.m. At 9:30 p.m., musical guests take the stage to perform. The entire extravaganza is reproduced across four nights, Wednesday through Saturday (December 13 to 16) at the Centene Center for the Arts (3547 Olive Street; www.eratheatre.org), with the musical act changing each night.

Tickets for the evening are $25, and the dress code is “yard sale formal.”n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

THE ARTS

23

[REVIEW]

Hand Across America The St. Louis Actors’ Studio handles Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy with verve Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD A Behanding in Spokane

Written by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Wayne Salomon. Presented by St. Louis Actors’ Studio at the Gaslight Theater (358 North Boyle Avenue; www.stlas.org) through December 17. Tickets are $30 to $35.

A

n older white man stands in a dingy hotel room. Something in the walls scratches furiously.

Exasperated, he opens the closet to reveal a nervous black man who bursts into tears when he spots the older man’s gun. The gun fires and the black man slumps still.

Then the shooter sits on the bed and anxiously telephones his mother, who hasn’t been returning his calls.

This is the opening scene of A Behanding in Spokane, Martin McDonagh’s first play set in the U.S. It reveals the Anglo-Irish playwright’s usual obsessions: casual and abrupt violence, desperate people and unexpected sentimentality. McDonagh doesn’t paint a pretty picture of America, but after this past year it’s difficult to argue with the finished portrait.

The current production at St. Louis Actors’ Studio is a pretty picture, full of unexpected comedy and as sleek and lethal as the old man’s well-maintained pistol — not to mention as ugly as the stump where his left hand should be. That missing hand is the play’s subject, and by the end of the show’s 90 minutes, you may believe it’s the only innocent in America.

Carmichael (Jerry Vogel), the former owner of that absent appendage, is the one with the gun. He’s here in this small Indiana town trying to get his hand back. He’s been tracking it across the U.S. for 47 years, and his thus futile search has made him mean and wildly inventive when it

Carmichael (Jerry Vogel) tells the story of his lost hand to Marilyn (Léerin Campbell) and Toby (Michael Lowe). | PATRICK HUBER comes to devising nasty deaths for people who cross him.

Toby (Michael Lowe) is the young man in the closet, and it turns out he’s survived that opening gunshot.

He and his girlfriend Marilyn (Léerin Campbell) have a left hand they’re willing to sell to Carmichael, whom they’ve seriously misjudged. They thought him just a crazy man with too much money, when in fact Carmichael is dangerously crazy and far smarter than they are. How much smarter is revealed when they try to sell him a black man’s hand.

Carmichael is furiously racist, even for an old white guy. His Tarantino-style use of the N-word is exacerbated by Toby being named Toby.

(Did McDonagh see Roots? Does he know how foul that word sounds in an American theater, especially

when paired with that name?) Marilyn doesn’t stand for it, even when Carmichael holds a gun on them, while Toby frantically tries to calm down both her and the man now holding them hostage.

What follows is a tense race against time and death as Marilyn and Toby try to escape the room. The odds aren’t great; she’s prone to fixating on personal offenses rather than the big picture, and Toby has a habit of crying when he’s stressed. Their ace-in-the-hole just might be the hotel’s sole employee, Mervyn (William Roth), who shows up to ask Carmichael dumb questions. Mervyn has bizarre daydreams of being a hero, but he bears his own grudge against the couple.

The cast, under the guidance of director Wayne Salomon, wade into riverfronttimes.com

this dark story with gusto. Vogel is excellent as Carmichael, a true creep possessed by his dream of getting back what’s his. Campbell and Lowe are great as the co-dependent smalltown hoods whose relationship problems prove their undoing. But the sneaky star might be Roth, who gives Mervyn an unsettling looniness. What sort of man fantasizes about both being Die Hard’s John McClain and having a meaningful relationship with a monkey?

So, this is how McDonagh sees the U.S. We’re vengeful, gun-crazy, racist, willing to take insane risks for a quick buck, terrified of taking responsibility for our actions and yet despite it all, we still fancy ourselves the heroes. Broad generalizations, sure, but it’s hard not to see ourselves in there somewhere. n

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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Ouiser (Andra Harkins, center) lets loose on the regulars at Truvy’s. | JOHN LAMB

[REVIEW]

Southern Comfort Truvy’s beauty parlor is still the place to be in Stray Dog’s moving Steel Magnolias Steel Magnolias

Written by Robert Harling. Directed by Gary F. Bell. Presented by Stray Dog Theatre through December 16 at Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; www.straydogtheatre.org).

Tickets are $25 to $30.

M

idway through Stray Dog Theatre’s current production of Steel Magnolias I decided Robert Harling’s play felt quite a bit like a double-size episode of Designing Women. That’s not a criticism; I have happily watched entire seasons of the smartly written sitcom. And beyond the superficial similarities — both feature Southern women gathering to gossip and support each other through tough times — it’s more a feeling that an evening with these characters, so immediately familiar and comfortable, is time well-spent.

That’s thanks to director Gary F. Bell and his strong cast of six, who collectively keep the mother/daughter relationship of M’Lynn and Shelby Eatenton (Jenni Ryan and Eileen Engel) front and center. That relationship is tested in ways small and large, but never found wanting. Bell’s eye for character and detail, and the fine work of Ryan and Engel, result in a show that progresses with delicacy toward an astonishing finale, even if you already know how it all ends.

When the play opens, M’Lynn and Shelby are preparing for the latter’s wedding day with a last-minute trip to Truvy’s beauty parlor, the social center of Chinquapin, Louisiana. The regulars filter in, all close friends of many years and all excited about the impending wedding. Truvy (Sarah Gene Dowling)

24

RIVERFRONT TIMES

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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is brassy, Clairee (Liz Mischel) is the football-mad widow of the former mayor and tart-tongued Ouiser (Andra Harkins) is the wealthiest and most curmudgeonly person in town. Only Truvy’s new assistant Annelle (Alison Linderer) is an outsider, a quiet young woman who’s hiding some secrets.

While Truvy works on Shelby’s hair (a Princess Grace up-do wreathed by baby’s breath, over M’Lynn’s objections), Shelby discusses her dream of growing old with her husband and having lots of grandkids. M’Lynn stares into the distance at this point, unexpectedly troubled by Shelby’s imagined future.

We learn that Shelby is severely diabetic, and her doctor has warned her that giving birth will be very dangerous — but what Shelby wants, Shelby gets.

Throughout the two years covered in the play, the women get a little older, a little wiser and much closer. Truvy comes to view Annelle as the daughter she never had, Clairee and Ouiser find new and ever more hilarious ways to antagonize each other, and Shelby has her baby, bringing more worry for M’Lynn. Jenni Ryan gradually compresses M’Lynn to a guarded smile and cautious speech as she attempts to function in a world in which her beloved, aggravating daughter blithely flaunts all common sense. When Shelby’s kidneys fail she treats the whole ordeal as a minor inconvenience, while M’Lynn becomes practically a shadow from worry.

But M’Lynn also has a mother’s strength. In a last-ditch attempt to save Shelby, she risks her own life. It’s here that Bell, Engel and Ryan bring Robert Harling’s memorial to his sister Susan — the inspiration for Shelby and the entire play — to life once again. M’Lynn and Shelby, surrounded by their closest friends, marvel at one another in a long, quiet moment. The profound love that Engel and Ryan project is both humbling and empowering.

—Paul Friswold

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Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria offers (clockwise from top) several marvelous burrata preparations, lemon strozzapreti pasta, Neapolitan-influenced pizza and fried artichokes. | MABEL SUEN [REVIEW]

Better and Better Forget our previous assessment: Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria belongs in the roster of St. Louis’ best Italian restaurants Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria

14171 Clayton Road, Town and Country; 636-220-3238. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

W

hen Katie Lee-Collier opened Katie’s Pizza with her father back in 2008, she was a true novice. It took her seven tries to get the

first order for a Margherita pie good enough to serve to a customer.

She didn’t even know how to fold a pizza box. In fact, she didn’t know much of anything about running a restaurant, she admits, outside of her passion for cooking and an unyielding commitment to putting out good food.

If you ask Lee-Collier, she didn’t feel much more prepared when she and her husband, Ted Collier, opened the first Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria four years ago in Rock Hill. At the time, she and Collier were both climbing out of low points in their lives: She had just gotten sober and had been living in a halfway house when she pitched him her idea for the restaurant; he had lost everything in the real estate market and was looking for a fresh start. The day she opened the doors, Lee-Collier honestly wondered whether or not they would be able to pay back the investors.

These days, with the Rock Hill restaurant a big success, a meal

delivery company launched and a second location of Katie’s now open in Town & Country, it’s hard to imagine such growing pains characterizing Lee-Collier’s ascent to St. Louis restaurant royalty.

Her beginnings, however, tell a different story, one of a kid who struggled with school, ultimately dropping out at the age of fourteen, and got into the industry because she didn’t know what else to do.

Describing herself as so shy that she was nearly mute, she says her mom suggested restaurant work as a way to break out of her shell. She got a job at her aunt Zoe Robinson’s restaurant, Café Zoe. At first, she was too scared to pour water for tables, but her confidence gradually increased and she fell in love with the business. For the first time in her life, she says, she’d found a way to connect with people.

If her experience at Café Zoe, and another early gig at Crazy Bowls & Wraps, gave her words, the time she spent in Italy gave Lee-Collier her voice. After her riverfronttimes.com

initial forays into the restaurant business, Lee-Collier found herself in Florence where her mom was running a study-abroad program.

Seeing how food permeated every aspect of community and culture, Lee-Collier immersed herself in the culinary world, teaching herself how to cook by studying with the locals in their home kitchens, going to the market and trying to recreate what she’d learned.

When she returned to the U.S., Lee-Collier knew she wanted to open a restaurant but quickly realized she did not have the resources to do it on her own.

After persuading her father to go into business with her, the pair opened the original Katie’s Pizza on Clayton Road and ran it together for roughly five years before she and her husband struck out on their own in Rock Hill.

My review of the Rock Hill location, shortly after it opened, was tepid, informed by what I saw as a failure to execute on a concept

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

Continued on pg 28

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KATIE’S PIZZA & PASTA Continued from pg 27 that had enormous potential. In the years that followed, I’d heard chatter that things had gotten better — much better, in fact — and that Lee-Collier and Collier were now responsible for running one of the city’s most charming and satisfying restaurants.

I don’t typically re-review restaurants, but the new Town & Country location, which opened this past August in a former Einstein’s Bagels near the intersection of Clayton and Woods Mill, offered an opportunity for a second look at Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria. What I found was not only a much better restaurant than the one I’d checked out almost four years ago in Rock Hill, but a restaurant that is easily in the conversation for one of the best spots for Italian food in the city.

Aesthetically, the new osteria carries on the Rock Hill location’s tradition of turning a basic stripmall space into a bastion of stylish comfort. Here, the room is painted white and accented with blonde wood. Mismatched tables and chairs and a see-through partition of succulents create a warm feel, while abstract paintings by Collier (he is also an artist) give the space a modern vibe. The room’s most prominent feature is its brass and mirrored bar, lit by large, round, vintage white bulbs. The light dances off these surfaces, making the entire room seem as if it is twinkling.

Like those good looks, the concept for Katie’s Pizza and Pasta Osteria has not changed since my 2014 visit. What has changed, however, is how much the Colliers have stepped up their game, serving thoughtful, approachable food with near-flawless execution.

The dining room is a stunner, with succulents providing pops of green in a light, white space. | MABEL SUEN An appetizer of mussels, steeped in a ’nduja-infused broth, tastes as if the classic Belgian preparation took a Sicilian holiday. The kitchen is restrained in its use of the fiery sausage; it’s evident, but does not overpower the broth’s tomato and white wine flavor. “ K a t i e ’s Fa m o u s F r i e d Artichokes” also dazzle. Instead of the breaded version you’re likely expecting, Katie’s fries the artichokes sans coating. They are tender (no stringiness whatsoever) and beg to be sopped up with the accompanying concoction of creamy stracciatella cheese and balsamic vinegar.

Brussels sprouts, perfectly charred and glazed in an Italian sweet and sour sauce, are balanced

with salty pancetta and a pop of sweetness from currants. Even the most steadfast sprout skeptic would be wooed by this dish.

Not content to limit itself to just one burrata preparation (why should anyone be?), Katie’s nods to the mozzarella bar concept with five different burrata and crostini plates. A classic preparation of the luscious, cream-filled cheese is surrounded by figs and prosciutto; another dish sees the cheese breaded, deep-fried and accompanied by grape tomatoes, which have been roasted in the oven to the point that they pop in the mouth. It’s the most luxurious take on mozzarella sticks and marinara known to man.

Lee-Collier has perfected her

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www.porterschicken.com 28

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riverfronttimes.com

Continued on pg 31

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The potato version pairs thinly sliced fingerlings with speck, the Italian cured meat similar to prosciutto; the fat from the meat gilds the tubers, which are set into a bed of scamorza cheese. White onions, rosemary and black sea salt accent the pie with salt and perfume.

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KATIE’S PIZZA & PASTA Continued from pg 28

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Katie’s Margherita is topped with San Marzano sauce, basil and mozzarella. | MABEL SUEN “Ted’s Meatball” is the gold standard of meatball pizzas. Not only are the halved meatballs tender and perfectly seasoned, they are evenly scattered and small enough that you can enjoy one in every bite. Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and pine nuts adorn what is basically a meatball sandwich in pizza form.

If Lee-Collier has perfected her pizza, then she should be teaching a master class in pasta. Ribbons of silken pappardelle spin around rich wild boar ragu that is kissed with the brightness of lemon gremolata. Wavy strips of arugulainfused reginette pasta serve as the backdrop for a celebration of mushrooms. Forest mushrooms, porcinis and shaved truffles bob in a porcini cream sauce that tastes like brown butter. It could seem too rich, but the sauce is spiked with enough black pepper to cut through the decadence.

An off-the-menu special of truffle risotto was flawless and surprisingly restrained. Rather than hitting you over the head with a truffle oil bomb, the creamy rice derives its subtle earthy flavor from the shaved white truffles sprinkled over the top. It looks, and tastes,

like luxury — though the dish that has been haunting me ever since my visit is the lemon strozzapreti, a citrus-scented elongated cavatelli noodle tossed with cream, cauliflower and pistachios. The pasta is tossed in lemon zest, making it at once decadent and bright, two descriptors not often seen together.

Though dessert might seem like an impossible undertaking after such a feast, Katie’s ricotta doughnuts proved too tempting to pass up. The warm fritters don’t ooze cheese; instead there’s just enough there to take the dough from fluffy to rich. Likewise, the vanilla gelato is an understated pleasure, topped with reserve olive oil and black sea salt.

The sweets don’t scream at you to impress. Neither do the entrees.

If Lee-Collier’s experience in the restaurant business proves one thing, it’s that you don’t need to be loud to have an impact. You just have to find your voice — and after much growth and a lot of hard work, it’s clear she’s found hers. n

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SHORT ORDERS

33

[SIDE DISH]

He Foraged His Way to a Dream Job Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

G

rowing up in rural Missouri, Justin Bell of Squatter’s Cafe (3524 Washington Avenue, 314-925-7556) didn’t have a lot of options for exploring his love of food. There was McDonald’s, where he worked as a teenager, and his mom’s kitchen, where he watched her make her legendary biscuits and gravy. But for Bell, the most foundational part of his food education came from the woods.

“I grew up off a dirt road in the middle of the woods, and as a kid I would go morel mushroom hunting with my dad,” Bell recalls. “We’d go sassafras hunting and make our own sassafras tea. It’s something that has always been there with me.”

After high school, Bell left the woods for the city, relocating to St. Louis where he worked at Saint Louis Bread Co. Though he loved cooking, he did not consider it a career path and instead enrolled in trade school for heating and cooling. He graduated from the program in 2009, just as the economy tanked, and found himself unable to secure employment in his field.

He began working at CVS as a shift manager, a job he immediately realized was not for him. “I hated it.

I thought I hated food service, but I hated this even more,” Bell says.

“I knew this wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

Bell could not shake the feeling that his passion for food was actually a calling, so he left CVS and enrolled in culinary school at L’Ecole Culinaire. While still in school, he got a job at the Racquet Club Ladue where his cooking style was molded by executive chef Joe Mueller.

There, he got a foundation in classical techniques and was exposed

Justin Bell (pictured) hit up Rob Connoley after learning of their shared interests. Now he’s the top chef’s right-hand man in two ventures. | SARA BANNOURA to all different kinds of cuisines.

At the club, Bell would do everything from wine dinners to bar food, an experience that was like night and day from the side gig he eventually picked up doing prep for the vegan fast-casual restaurant Lulu’s Local Eatery.

The juxtaposition of concepts would serve him well when he began talking with chef Rob Connoley, a St. Louis native who had recently moved back home to open a restaurant. Noting their mutual passion for foraged and wild foods, Bell asked Connoley if he had any interest in foraging together. He did, and eventually Connoley offered him a job, too.

Originally, the job offer was to be Connoley’s right-hand man at his forthcoming tasting menu concept, Bulrush, and the pair began doing a series of monthly pop-ups around town under that name. However, they got restless waiting for the real estate part to come together and opened a small breakfast and lunch spot, Squatter’s Cafe, so they could get started serving their food on a regular basis.

Though Squatter’s Cafe and Bulrush could not be conceptually any more different (one is fast casual, the other is tasting-menu-only), Bell emphasizes that the philosophy is the same. “The ethics of what we are doing is what holds the two concepts together,” Bell explains.

“Seasonality is important, as is using ingredients from local farms.

Produce, grains — everything is coming from as close as possible, and we make as much as we can in-house.”

Bell laughs when he gives an example of the extremes to which he and Connoley go to honor their commitment to preparing the food from scratch whenever possible.

“We make our own yogurt. We even make our own wonton wrappers,” he says. “I remember being in culinary school and they told us not to worry about it because no one makes their own wonton wrappers.

Now, here I am.”

Bell took a break from Squatter’s Cafe to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage scene, his guilt-ridden love of Totino’s party pizzas and why he thinks he’s a little riverfronttimes.com

bit Cajun.

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

I think I’m Cajun at heart. I grew up a little country, hunting and fishing, and Cajun cuisine just hits an emotional chord with me.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Coffee. I’m sure that’s a cliché answer for a chef, but it really is a necessity to get my day going.

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

Probably the ability to control time. Who couldn’t use a few extra hours a day?

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

A return to native ingredients.

Along with what Rob and I are doing with our Bulrush pop-ups, I’ve noticed a lot of restaurants and farmers using/selling foraged and wild foods. I think this is a very important step for our food culture.

What is something missing in the local food, Continued on pg 34

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

33

JUSTIN BELL Continued from pg 33

[NIGHTLIFE]

Drag Spot Plans Triumphant STL Return Written by

SARAH FENSKE

T

hree years after the closure of St. Louis’ Hamburger Mary’s franchise, the LGBT nightlife favorite is coming back — and how.

Michael Dutzer, one of three coowners of the new venture, said he and his partners had secured the 10,000 square-foot-space at 400 Washington Avenue. The space’s huge footprint is not just big enough for the restaurant and the drag shows it will be hosting — it will be big enough to become the new home for Miss Gay America and Mr. Gay America, two pageants owned by Dutzer and his husband Rob Mansman.

“Miss Gay America has a lot of ties to St. Louis,” Dutzer says.

“It’s where we saw it for the first time, and it always [had] good attendance and a big following here.” He adds, “It seemed like a good place for it.”

Previously the home of a catering company, the space at Washington and Fourth Street is getting a striking new look, but Dutzer says it didn’t need major renovations. He believes the restaurant could be open as early as January, depending on when they get their liquor license.

“We’re in the process of hiring now,” he says.

That won’t just mean kitchen staff, of course. Six queens are in the cast — with three of them moving here specifically for the opportunity. Dutzer says there will be numerous chances for locals to strut their stuff as well.

Hamburger Mary’s was founded in San Francisco, and for years had a successful location in Midtown.

But then local nightclub owner Mark Erney was charged with stealing from his partners in the franchise (he eventually pled guilty), and the bar’s landlord lost the building to foreclosure.

34

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Nina DiAngelo is one of three queens moving to St. Louis for Hamburger Mary’s. | COURTESY OF NINA DIANGELO Enter Dutzer and Mansman. The Baltimore couple originally built a successful pediatric dentistry business before branching out into other ventures, Dutzer says.

They were looking for a home for their two newly acquired pageants when they found themselves chatting with David Pardue, who is based in St. Louis.

Pardue said he’d been wanting to bring Hamburger Mary’s back to St. Louis — and the Baltimoreans said they were interested in investing, on two conditions.

“It has to be a large enough space to hold 300 to 500 guests, and it has to be high enough caliber to host these pageants,” Dutzer recalls telling Pardue. He got immediate agreement to both, he says. “And that’s how Hamburger Mary’s started up again in St. Louis.”

Dutzer says he and his partners considered the Grove, which has historically been the home to the city’s LGBT nightlife (although it’s

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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increasingly become a destination for straight partygoers as well). But they couldn’t find what they were looking for there — in particular, “a space that was big enough, with high enough ceilings, for what we wanted to do,” Dutzer says.

But Dutzer is sanguine about the restaurant’s chances downtown.

“You’d think Hamburger Mary’s would cater more to LGBT people, but really it caters to everybody,” he says. “They get a lot of bachelor parties. It draws a much more diverse crowd than catering to one aspect of the city. And that location is right on Wash Ave., only two to three blocks from the Arch, right by the casino, only blocks from the baseball stadium — there’s a ton of foot traffic and hotels all over the place down there. It’s just a great location.”

For more info, and to keep an eye out for that opening in the new year, check out Hamburger Mary n St. Louis’ Facebook page.

wine or cocktail scene that you’d like to see?

On a recent trip to Lexington, Kentucky, I went to the Pepper Distillery, which is actually not a distillery but a collection of restaurants, a brewery, an ice cream shop and a couple of bars all occupying an old distillery’s campus. All the businesses were separate but shared an outdoor space. The energy was just really great, and I had the best meal of my trip at a spot called Middle Fork.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

Lauren Loomis, the co-owner, with her husband Robbie, of Lulu’s Local Eatery. They are the most supportive, awesome people I have ever worked for.

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

This is a shameless plug, but I have to say Rob Connoley. Even though Squatter’s just opened, we also still have Bulrush on the horizon. I’m excited to get to work with him on these projects.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

A morel mushroom. Down to earth.

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

I would love to be a park ranger. To spend all that time in nature would make me very happy.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Cool Whip or Reddi-Wip. If you can’t whip fresh whipped cream, get out of the kitchen.

What is your after-work hangout?

The Silver Ballroom. It’s been my Cheers since they opened.

I absolutely love that bar and its staff.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

I still love Totino’s party pizzas. I have caught some flak for admitting this before, but there is just a lot of nostalgia attached to them.

What would be your last meal on earth?

My mom’s biscuits and gravy.

No question. But they have to be made by her out of the same cast-iron skillet she has used since before I was around. n

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JUSTIN BELL Continued from pg 33 ays!

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he newest franchise to hit the St. Louis metro area, the Dapper Doughnut (11600 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur; 314-2275544), offers something the city already has lots of — doughnuts.

But even if you think we’ve hit saturation point, you may still want to find room in your heart (and stomach) for these stunning little treats. With flavors like S’mores, lemon-meringue-blueberry, chocolate-covered strawberry and pumpkin pie spice (the list goes on — and on) these tiny handcrafted doughnuts are cake-style with a soft, warm inside and a crispy outside. They’re delicious.

Greg Markovitz, who is native to St. Louis, born and bred, wanted to do something fun that represented community and brought people together. What better way, he thought, than doughnuts? He started working on getting a franchise last January and finally had his soft opening two weeks ago.

The response has been overwhelming; people have come by to eat these miniature pastries all hours of the day, he says.

While the Dapper Doughnut franchise was established in early 2015, this is St. Louis’ first outlet. It won’t

be the last, if Markovitz has his way.

“My personal dream for the future is to expand greatly and open several locations all over the St. Louis area,” he says.

Though the bakery seems like your typical sweet shop, Markovitz’s family and staff is working hard to craft each order as it is made; the dough is fried fresh for each customer. And unlike most bakeries that do catering, the Dapper Doughnut actually brings its doughnut machines to events to make doughnuts on the spot. “I would like each person that visits the Dapper Doughnut to leave feeling they have had a unique experience,” Markovitz says. “I am even willing to go outside the box and say if it can be found, I am willing to top a doughnut with it.”

A variety of unusual coffees are also specially made on site. Dapper’s current blends include a medium-bodied floral, nut and fruit blend and its traditional house blend, Red Rock, a medium-bodied bean. If coffee is not your thing, maybe you would like to sip on a handmade doughnut milk shake.

Vanilla ice cream is blended with your choice of doughnut flavor and topping and garnished with both whipped cream and, yes, a doughnut, served up on the straw.

The Dapper Doughnut is offering its seasonal pumpkin pie spice doughnut until January; then it will be replaced by the “Cinn City,” which promises to taste like a freshbaked cinnamon roll.

Regular business hours are Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. n

St. Louis’

#1

Steakhouse 19 Years In A Row! 1998-2017 RFT Readers Restaurant Polls Poke topped with avocado, fried onions, wasabi sauce and roe. | SARAH FENSKE

[FIRST LOOK]

CWE GETS A POKE STOP

P

oke bowls are nothing exotic on the West Coast. The cubes of raw fish, combined with spices or fresh veggies, originated in Hawaii, have become ubiquitous in LA and the Bay Area.

But is St. Louis ready for a restaurant serving that — and pretty much only that? Andrew Shih thinks so. Last month, he and his three siblings opened Poke Doke (8 S. Euclid Avenue, 314833-5900), a counter-service spot that aims to do for poke what Chipotle did for the burrito. Guests can choose their base (lettuce, rice or wonton chips), their protein (salmon, tuna or octopus) and then from a host of veggies and sauces.

It may not be the meat and potatoes that your parents are used to. So far, though, it’s a hit.

Says Shih, “The amount of fish we’ve gone through — even my suppliers are in awe.” And that volume has its benefits, he adds. “It give me buying power.

They’ve got to send me the best of the best!”

Shih, who is the managing partner for the venture, comes from a restaurant family. His parents, who are Chinese/Korean immigrants, own Hot Wok in Chesterfield. His aunts and uncles also have eateries.

Shih took over running Hot Wok about eight years ago. But after frequent trips to LA, he and his siblings (Leon, Annie and Steve) decided their entrepreneurial vision was different than the family’s classic Chinese, full-service restaurant.

Shih began researching poke-bowl spots across the country on his days off at Hot Wok. “Whenever I had free time, I’d get on a plane,” he says. “I did a lot of restaurants in Chicago. I flew out Sunday morning, visited two poke places, and came back that night.” He also persuaded a friend of a friend to let him work the line

at their place so he could capture the rhythm of the experience.

Back in St. Louis, the siblings homed in on a spot, the former home of Oasis Restaurant. At first they’d assumed the Central West End would be too pricey; they were delighted when the building proved a good fit. “It’s so close to the hospital and the schools,” he says. They enjoy a lot of foot traffic, with a busy lunch crowd and even more business at night.

Unfortunately, Poke Doke opened its doors just a few weeks after another concept offering poke bowls, BLK MKT Eats — which is coincidentally just a few blocks east. But Shih is zen about the potential competitor. For one thing, BLK MKT Eats specializes in sushi-style burritos; poke is only part of what it’s doing.

For another, he believes it’s far enough away that the two shouldn’t impact each other’s business.

“I haven’t gone over there yet myself, but I’ve heard nothing but good things,” Shih says. “We’re not in the same neighborhood. It’s good.” (Also helping, perhaps: BLK MKT Eats is tiny, without much room to dine in; for a more leisurely meal, diners would be wise to choose Poke Doke.)

But while poke is clearly having a moment — its first real moment! — in St. Louis, Shih, for one, is not resting on his laurels. He says the restaurant is also beginning to explore the idea of offering other items for people who just aren’t ready for a bowl of cubed raw fish yet.

They’re looking at both wings and bowls that will feature chicken, beef and other cooked proteins.

“It’s something we’ve already started playing around with in the kitchen,” he says. “We’ve had a very good response with seafood, but we know that in St. Louis, they like their meat.”

Poke Doke opens at 11 a.m. daily, with hours ’til 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sunday.

—Sarah Fenske

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MUSIC

39

[PREVIEW]

Playing It by Ear X Ambassadors keyboardist Casey Harris doesn’t need to see in order to rock Written by

HOWARD HARDEE X Ambassadors

8 p.m. Wednesday, December 13. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $30 to $35. 314-726-6161.

C

asey Harris believes good musicians should be able to get together in a pitch-black room and make good music, and that when rock musicians seem to be taking visual cues from each other on stage, they’re actually doing it mostly for show.

“You know, it’s cool and dramatic when the singer and guitarist stand face to face; it’s part of the performance,” he says. “But I guarantee that 99 percent of the time they can coordinate the same way just by ear.”

Harris knows all about playing in the dark. The keyboardist and backup vocalist in the New Yorkbased rock band X Ambassadors was born blind due to Senior-Loken syndrome, a rare condition that affects his vision and kidneys. While he can’t see the huge festival crowds the band plays to now, he knows audiences are responding to the music when they make enough noise to overpower his ear monitors. And he usually feels like he doesn’t miss anything — that is, until they get off stage and everybody starts talking about, say, some girl who was freaking out in the front row.

“They’re always like, ‘Did you see that?’” he says, laughing. “My brother [singer Sam Harris] likes to rub it in.”

X Ambassadors occupies a pop-forward, radio-friendly space on the rock spectrum and is best known for its infectiously catchy hit “Renegades.” The group formed in 2009 and spent several years per-

Casey Harris, left, was born with a rare condition called Senior-Loken syndrome, rendering him blind. | PHOTO VIA THIS FICTION MANAGEMENT forming in New York bars and clubs but gaining little traction, often playing to practically no one. The band’s big break came when an acoustic version of the equally catchy “Unconsolable” caught the attention of Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, who urged record label Interscope to sign the band.

Harris spoke to Riverfront Times from Los Angeles ahead of X Ambassadors’ show at the Pageant on December 13. He explains that, prior to the band’s success, he used his highly sensitive ear to make a living as a piano tuner. In fact, he completed a two-year program at a now-defunct school in Vancouver, Washington, which specifically trained blind and visually impaired people to tune, repair and build pianos.

“At the end of the program, I could have pretty much built a grand piano,” he says. “I don’t think I still could — my skills are a little too rusty at this point — but they taught me every aspect of pianos.”

After graduating, Harris and his brother moved to New York to start the band in 2009. But Harris found the streetscapes hectic and difficult to navigate as a visually impaired person, which motivated him to

work as a piano technician in a store rather than as an independent contractor making house calls.

He held down that gig for about five years while the band got off the ground.

“We were playing music pretty much the moment we moved to New York City,” he recalls. “It was a situation where we’d all go to our day jobs and then on evenings and weekends we’d go to the rehearsal studio and write some songs or jam.

Eventually, we had enough songs where we started playing out and around New York.”

Harris believes that most anyone can develop a fine ear with practice.

“But sadly, from my perspective, a lot of piano tuners these days don’t even do it by ear — they have one of those little machines with the needle and they wait for it to hit the right level,” he says. “I mean, they work and sound alright, but in my mind a piano is meant to be listened to.

Tuning it by ear makes more sense; you want to make sure the intervals sound good, not that they’re perfectly digitally aligned.”

Sounding good is the whole point, Harris says. That’s why X Ambassadors makes no bones about playing riverfronttimes.com

along with a metronome and pre-recorded tracks during its live shows.

About two years ago, the band’s members got tired of squabbling about the tempo and became unwilling to sacrifice the full sound on their 2015 album, VHS. Each member tries to generate as much noise as possible — Harris often plays two keyboards simultaneously, for instance — but he estimates about twenty percent of the group’s live sound is pre-recorded. According to Harris, that’s typical on the festival circuit.

“It’s one of those things where most bands do it but won’t admit it,” he says.

In terms of his own performance, Harris says his impairment doesn’t hold him back whatsoever. He’s extremely familiar with the tactile knobs on his synthesizers and the songs themselves, and it helps that the band’s sets are planned out meticulously, with only a handful of unstructured and improvisational sections — and zero visual cues.

“I know the songs front to back,” he says. “We’ll have some jams in between songs when we play live, and for those I just play along by ear.” n

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

39

40

HOMESPUN

KEVIN RENICK Clear the Way kevinrenick.com

I

t was one of the sweetest, most surprising success stories to come out of the St. Louis music scene in some time. Kevin Renick, a soft and sensitive singer-songwriter most often found in coffee-shop corners and open mic nights, found his music used in the credits of a major motion picture when Jason Reitman used Renick’s song “Up in the Air” to close out his 2009 film of the same name.

The tone of that George Clooney-starring film, which was partly filmed in St. Louis, echoed much of the unmoored and displaced feeling of Renick’s lyrics, and the pairing of the film and the song felt like an odd but fitting bit of synchronicity for a songwriter who was just getting his start in his early 50s.

And while acclaim and opportunity followed the Up in the Air soundtrack — national press, a memorable show at the Sheldon Concert Hall — Renick’s personal life took a number of dark turns. In the ensuing years he dealt with a breakup, periodic bouts of homelessness and the deaths of several close friends and collaborators. As suddenly as it appeared, his Hollywood moment was eclipsed.

“I just slowly felt like that rug was being pulled out from under me,” Renick says. “It felt like the universe was going, ‘OK dude, we’re gonna kick your ass for a while.’

“It was not fun,” Renick says with a little laugh.

But in the midst of these setbacks, Renick was never far from his guitar. A week or so after his relationship dissolved, he was in a studio in Springfield, Missouri, working out the song “Bites” from his new record Clear the Way. “I knew I still wanted to write songs and take a different direction,” he says. “It was a cathartic thing — I’m going down but I’m gonna preserve them somehow. Sometimes this thing just takes over inside me — there’s still this jukebox playing in my head. It’s playing these songs that I’m feeling. When a song comes to you, you let it come.”

The songs on Clear the Way are emotionally honest, sometimes uncomfortably so. As a songwriter, Renick doesn’t dress up his stories in metaphor or narrative distance; some songs use diary-level detail and specificity to outline, as he sings on one song, “a patch of bad luck.”

“I knew it was sad and wouldn’t be much fun, but it was therapy,” Renick says. “I don’t know how people are going to react to that sadder stuff.”

To be fair, the material on Clear the Way does not dwell on sad-sack mopery; much of the early part of the album shows Renick’s love of pop and rock forms.

Early track “Promise Man” rides on a shuffling groove, while the sometimes-snide “Girlfriends” marries its kiss-off tone with some synthy flourishes.

One of the most vitriolic tracks, “These Things Happen,” channels one of Renick’s most enduring influences: Neil Young. He takes the lead role in a local

40

RIVERFRONT TIMES

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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tribute to Young called Shakey Deal, and on his own compositions he is able to summon some Crazy Horse guitar work to chop down the triteness of how people sidestep grief in favor of clichéd platitudes.

“I started writing that within days of Bowie dying,” Renick says. “It was sparked by a guy at work that I was not very fond of. This guy literally said to me, ‘These things happen.’ It was the most glib response; it got me thinking of what a glib society we are. I just get tired of the lack of compassion and the depth of understanding, and that’s what I was trying to get in there.”

Clear the Way opens with a twelve-minute soundscape that mixes train sounds, song snippets, philosophical musings and at least one Beatles riff; it ends with the title track, an ominous storm cloud of a song that leaves the album in a kind of emotional borderland.

“With ‘Clear the Way,’ there’s an ambiguity in that: Is life worth it? Can you survive?” Renick says. “I don’t think I answer it, but maybe you can find another way and go in another direction.”

These days, Renick spends his time teaching adult education classes at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, including a course called “Singing with Impact.” The course is less focused on music theory or classical technique and more on how to harness the power of expression. It’s a fitting course for a singer whose approach is used most fully as a conduit for emotion and experience. “I’m talking to people about using the qualities of their own voice to express something meaningful,” Renick explains.

Asked if these songs, most of which were written between 2014 and 2015, are either still too close to the bone or too much a relic of a painful past, Renick asserts the long shelf life of an honestly sung song.

“Once you make a soundtrack of your life that’s genuine,” he says, “you can always relate to it.”

–Christian Schaeffer

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wed. december 13 URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS

THE VOODOO PLAYERS TRIBUTE TO THE HIGHWAYMEN 9pm

THUR. december 14

AARON KAMM AND THE ONE DROPS 10pm

thur. december 21

ALEX RUWE BAND CHRISTMAS SHOW 9pm

VOTED ST. LOUIS’

fri. december 22

MIA BORDERS TRIO FROM NEW ORLEANS 10pm 2017 BEST OF ST. LOUIS Readers Poll

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43

44

OUT EVERY NIGHT

THURSDAY 7 BETH BOMBARA: w/ Adrian+Meredith 8 p.m.,

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

[CRITIC’S PICK]

6989.

$10. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave.,

OWLS IN THE ATTIC: w/ Anima/Animus, peace

St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

in entropy, Sleeper Hold 7 p.m., $10-$13. The

BILLY BARNETT BAND: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

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

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

SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO: 7 p.m., $39.75-$150.

5222.

Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St.

CAM’RON: w/ Bo Dean, A-Game, T Dubb-O 8

Louis, 314-499-7600.

p.m., $20-$22. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto

SHANGRI-LA: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar & Grill,

Ave., East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

3979 Mexico Road, St. Peters, 636-441-8300.

JOE METZKA BAND: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-

SUNDAY 10

5222.

BLUES SOCIETY IBC SHOWCASE: 3 p.m., $10. BB’s

KIM MASSIE: 10:30 p.m., $10. Beale on Broad-

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

way, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-7880.

314-436-5222.

KOO KOO KANGA ROO: 6 p.m., $15-$16. Fubar,

CELIA’S YULETIDE EXPRESS: 1 p.m., $10. The

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

Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave, St. Louis,

SNAILS: 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161

314-925-7543, ext. 815.

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

DAYSHELL: w/ Eyes Set To Kill 6 p.m., $15.

TIA MCGRAFF AND TOMMY PARHAM: 7 p.m., $10.

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

Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton,

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

618-462-5222.

Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222.

FRIDAY 8

NEVER SAY GOODBYE: THE KSHE DOCUMENTARY: 2 p.m.; Dec. 17, 2 p.m., $12.95-$15. Delmar Hall,

21 SAVAGE: w/ YoungBoy Never Broke Again 8

6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

p.m., $40. Pop’s Nightclub, 401 Monsanto Ave.,

Western Medication. | PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO

East St. Louis, 618-274-6720.

ALTER BRIDGE: w/ All That Remains 8 p.m., $30$35. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

BREAKING GROUND: w/ Floor Nine, Surviving Nightfall 6 p.m., $10-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

LEROY JODIE PIERSON: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314436-5222.

LUCKY OLD SONS: 9 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

MATISYAHU: w/ Common Kings, Orphan 8 p.m., $27.50-$30. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SANTA JAM: w/ Lee Brice, Midland, Easton Corbin 7 p.m., $9.37-$93.70. Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St. Louis, 314-499-7600.

SORRY, NO SYMPATHY: 7 p.m., $12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SPORTS: 8 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

Western Medication 9 p.m. Friday, December 8.

The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway. $5. 314-3282309.

Shoegazers with a jangle jones as tenacious as their hooks don’t come around often. And they’re even less likely to emerge from Nashville with their sense of humor intact. Western Medication pulls it all off with last year’s weirdly dreamy ‘90s throwback The Entertainers’ Secret, an album that sometimes sounds like R.E.M. covering Echo and the Bunnymen or a stoned Oasis goofing off with a cartoonish

SALEM CHRISTMAS: w/ BeBe Winans, Divine Hours, Salem’s Chancel Choir 7 p.m., free. The

text-to-speech program. Mostly, though, Western Medication finds inspiration when looking up from its pedals and letting it all rip in a swirling, charging, fuzzily melodic wall of sound. These dudes would rather rage than drone.

Sometimes they even dance their blurry asses off.

More Than a Hole in the Wall: If you’ve been waiting for the right show to check out the Sinkhole, one of the most fun little rock clubs in St. Louis, this is your chance. Openers Sundowning and MOM offer an extra-noisy DIY incentive.

–Roy Kasten

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

SAUCE SUNDAYS: 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SOUL REUNION: 10:30 p.m., $7. Beale on Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-7880.

MONDAY 11 MUTTS: w/ Backwash, Emily Wallace 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811.

TUESDAY 12 DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL: 8 p.m., $35-$40.

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314726-6161.

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

JAMAICA LIVE TUESDAYS: w/ Ital K, Mr. Roots, DJ

STUDEBAKER JOHN & THE HAWKS: 10 p.m., $10.

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

Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles,

Witz, $5/$10. Elmo’s Love Lounge, 7828 Olive

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St.

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

636-896-4200.

Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

Louis, 314-436-5222.

DAN RUBRIGHT’S WIREPILOTS HOLIDAY SHOW:

KODAK BLACK: 9 p.m., $45-$75. The Pageant,

KIM MASSIE: 10:30 p.m., $10. Beale on Broad-

WAX FRUIT: w/ Hands and Feet, Nth 9 p.m.,

8 p.m., $20. The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Dr,

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

way, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-7880.

$7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St.

Clayton.

LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: 7 p.m., $5.

SEETHER: w/ Shaman’s Harvest 8 p.m., $35-$40.

Louis, 314-352-5226.

DAVID DEE: 9 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S.

BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St.

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

9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

Louis, 314-436-5222.

314-726-6161.

EUGENE & COMPANY: 9 p.m., $3. Hammer-

LOW WEATHER ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: w/ The

3 OF A PERFECT PAIR: 8 p.m., $5. Hwy 61

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

Longshot 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226

WEDNESDAY 13

Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave,

FIVEFOLD – THE FAREWELL SHOW: w/ Ashland,

Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

AQUEOUS: 8 p.m., $10-$13. The Bootleg, 4140

Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

Modern Gold 8 p.m., $15. Delmar Hall, 6133

MATHIAS & THE PIRATES / 18AC & THEONLY-

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

THE ATOM AGE: w/ Bruiser Queen, Murphy and

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

ENSEMBLE EP RELEASE PARTY: 8 p.m., $10-$12.

BOB “BUMBLE BEE” KAMOSKE: 8 p.m. Beale on

the Death Rays, The Dive, Joshua Braden and

HUSH LITE: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-

Dead Format 8 p.m., 10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St,

9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

Louis, 314-833-3929.

7880.

St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JINGLEFEST 2017: w/ Old Dominion, Locash,

ORPHAN WELLES EP RELEASE SHOW: w/ The

SHARK DAD: w/ Sorry Scout, Turtle Club 8 p.m.,

BIG GEORGE BROCK & THE HOUSEROCKERS:

Walker Hayes, Delta Rae 6 p.m., $40-$63.

Fade. Pono AM, Polyshades 8 p.m., $10. Off

free. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

SATURDAY 9

44

RIVERFRONT TIMES

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

riverfronttimes.com

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Orphan Welles EP Release 8 p.m. Saturday, December 9.

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-4986989.

New-ish local trio Orphan Welles calls itself a “baroque pop” band, a genre designation that will have fans of the Zombies, the Association and the Left Banke licking their chops. It’s better to say that the band updates some of those signifiers — there’s not a harpsichord in sight on the band’s demo record or lead single “Shattered Love” — but swooning synths paired with sweetly heartbroken vocals will

be a winning combo for fans of smart, precise power pop. Brandon Creath leads this group with assists from Christopher Bachmann and Chris Bennett, and Orphan Welles’ debut EP gets its release with a multi-band bill this weekend alongside the Fade, Polyshades and Pono AM. Demo Derby: While you wait for the EP to surface, the band’s Bandcamp page (orphanwelles.bandcamp.com) offers some spare but sharp demo recordings, including a winning cover of Lindsey Buckingham’s “Trouble.”

–Christian Schaeffer

314-498-6989.

K.D. LANG: Fri., March 16, 6 p.m., $39.50-$95.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT JAZZ CRAWL: 5 p.m. contin-

Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St.

ues through Dec. 27, free. The Stage at KDHX,

Louis, 314-499-7600.

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

THE LACS: Thu., March 1, 8 p.m., $20. Delmar

ext. 815.

Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-

X AMBASSADORS: 8 p.m., $30-$35. The Pageant,

6161.

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

LEEWAY: Thu., Jan. 25, 7 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108

THIS JUST IN

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

! u o y ank

Th

VOTED ST. LOUIS’

2017 BEST OF ST. LOUIS Readers Poll

BEST PLACE TO SING KARAOKE

Karaoke Thursdays with KJ Ray Ortega

KJ Kelly’s Saturday Night Karaoke Dance Parties

MAC SABBATH: Tue., Feb. 13, 8 p.m., $20-$25.

ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS &

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Lou-

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

is, 314-833-3929.

blood, Wed., April 11, 7 p.m., $35. The Pageant,

MISSIO: W/ Morgan Saint, Wed., April 11, 8 p.m.,

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

$15-$17. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester

BEN WENDEL: Thu., March 15, 8 p.m., $25-$30.

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

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Lou-

NEW POLITICS: W/ Dreamers, The Wrecks, Fri.,

is, 314-833-3929.

Feb. 23, 7 p.m., $25-$27. The Ready Room, 4195

BIG K.R.I.T.: Fri., March 16, 8 p.m., $25-$125. The

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

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

ODESZA: Thu., April 26, 7 p.m., $40. The Pag-

314-833-3929.

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

BILL MAHER: Sat., Aug. 25, 8 p.m., $45-$125.

6161.

The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis,

THE OH HELLOS: W/ Lowland Hum, Fri., March

314-534-1111.

9, 8 p.m., $18-$20. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar

CHIEF KEEF: Sun., Dec. 17, 8 p.m., $30-$40. The

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

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

OUTCOME OF BETRAYAL: W/ Autumn Tint,

6161.

Doomed To Burn, Stormrazor, Lights Over

THE EAGLES: Sun., March 18, 6 p.m., $99.50-

Arcadia, Sat., Jan. 6, 6 p.m., $5-$10. Fubar, 3108

$229.50. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St.

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

Louis, 314-241-1888.

PEDRO THE LION: W/ Marie/Lepanto, Thu., Feb.

ELECTRIC SIX: W/ Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocket-

8, 8 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.,

ship, Sun., March 25, 8 p.m., $15. Blueberry

St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

PETER MAYER GROUP: Thu., Dec. 21, 7 p.m., $15-

University City, 314-727-4444.

$30. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St.

FOREIGNER: W/ Whitesnake, Jason Bonham’s

Louis, 314-533-9900.

Led Zeppelin Evening, Wed., July 18, 6 p.m.,

PHAT BUDDHA 2017 HOLIDAY BALL: W/ Ol Skool,

$20-$350. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre,

Zion, Nite Owl, The Scandaleros, Fri., Dec. 22, 8

I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights,

p.m., $5. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St.

314-298-9944.

Louis, 314-775-0775.

JIMMY EAT WORLD: W/ The Hotelier, Microwave,

POKEY LAFARGE SOLO PERFORMANCE: Tue., Dec.

Fri., May 11, 8 p.m., $29.50-$32.50. The Pageant,

26, 8 p.m., $25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.,

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

St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

JOHN OATES: W/ The Good Road Band, Fri., Feb.

POPPY: Sat., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., $18-$20. The Ready

16, 8 p.m., $35. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.,

Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-

St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

3929.

Continued on pg 46

RUNNER-UP

2017 BEST OF ST. LOUIS Readers Poll

ST. LOUIS’ BEST WINGS

200 N. MAIN, DUPO, IL riverfronttimes.com

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

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

45

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 45

THIS W [CRITIC’S PICK]

21 SAVAGE

Fri., Dec. 8

Monsanto

3 OF A PER

Hwy 61 Ro

chard Ave

ALTER BRI

8, 8 p.m., $

Blvd., St. L

AMBASSAD

p.m.; Sat.,

7 p.m., $3

Arts Cente

Road, Nor

AQUEOUS:

18andCounting & the Only Ensemble. | PHOTO BY NATE BURRELL

18andCounting & TheOnlyEnsemble/Mathias & the Pirates EP Release Party 8 p.m. Saturday, December 9.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $10 to $12. 314-833-3929.

St. Louis’ renowned FarFetched Collective comes out in force this weekend, with EP releases from two of its finest affiliated acts. First off, Stan Chisholm, who performs with his backing band as 18andCounting & TheOnlyEnsemble, will release Animal Skins, their first since last year’s TheBirdsAtThisHour. That release came in the physical form of a stenciled brick with a download code; this year’s EP has a similarly interesting format, comprising a download code and a 40-page booklet of photos and

Bootleg, 4 775-0775.

THE ATOM

lyrics. The only track released so far is a rap re-imagining of Bjork’s 1997 song “Hunter.” And if you think it’s weird that a hip-hop artist would cover Bjork, you clearly need to better familiarize yourself with Chisholm’s genre-bending work. As for Mathias & the Pirates, its album, much like its music, will be available in a more conventional form, delivering 25 minutes of unabashedly ‘90s influenced, golden-era hip-hop — “so basically the kids will hate it,” as the group promises in a press release.

Each act demands your full attention.

Best of the Fest: Both bands releasing EPs at this show performed earlier this year at LouFest, and each put on a great set. If you missed them then, here’s another chance.

–Daniel Hill

the Death

Dead Form

3108 Locu

BETH BOM

Dec. 7, 8 p Jefferson

BIG GEORG Dec. 9, 10

700 S. Bro

BILLY BARN BB’s Jazz,

Louis, 314

BLUES SOC

3 p.m., $1

Broadway

BOB “BUM

p.m. Beale

Louis, 314

BREAKING Nightfall,

3108 Locu CAM’RON:

Thu., Dec.

401 Monsa 6720.

CELIA’S YU

46

RIVERFRONT TIMES

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

riverfronttimes.com

PROPAGANDHI: W/ Iron Chic, La Armada, Thu.,

Charles Jones, Pokey Bear, Calvin Richardson,

p.m., $10.

March 8, 8 p.m., $20. The Ready Room, 4195

Bobby Rush, Nellie Tiger Travis, Latimore, Fri.,

Ave, St. Lo

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

April 6, 7 p.m., $55-$78. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S.

DAN RUBR

RODNEY CARRINGTON: Sat., Feb. 24, 7 & 9:30

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

Sat., Dec. 9

p.m., $49.50-$59.50. River City Casino & Hotel,

STEVE WINWOOD: Wed., Feb. 28, 7 p.m., $47.50-

ander Dr,

777 River City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-

$125. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St.

DASHBOAR

7777.

Louis, 314-534-1111.

p.m., $35-

RON WHITE: Sat., March 3, 8 p.m., $46.75-$56.75.

TERENCE BLANCHARD AND THE E-COLLECTIVE:

St. Louis, 3

Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St.

Sun., May 20, 7 p.m., $30-$60. Grandel Theatre,

DAVID DEE

Louis, 314-499-7600.

3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, 314-533-0367.

stone’s, 20

SMINO: Sat., Dec. 23, 8 p.m., $21-$26. Delmar

THE LONE BELLOW: Sat., March 17, 8 p.m., $20-

DAYSHELL:

Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-

$99. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

6 p.m., $1

6161.

Louis, 314-833-3929.

314-289-90

SONREAL: Wed., Feb. 28, 8 p.m., $15-$85. The

TOM HALL: Thu., Dec. 14, 4 p.m., free. Hammer-

EUGENE &

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

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

Hammers

ST. LOUIS AMERICANA FESTIVAL: W/ Zack Sloan,

UNCLE ALBERT: Sat., Dec. 16, 9 p.m., free.

773-5565.

Nick Gusman, Elliott Pearson & the Passing

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

FIVEFOLD

Lane, Cole Bridges, Les Gruff and the Billy Goat,

773-5565.

Modern G

Christy Hays, River Kittens, Cara Louise Band,

VICTOR RUGGIERO: Tue., Jan. 2, 8 p.m., $10-$12.

Hall, 6133

The Sleepy Rubies, The Dock Ellis Band, Fri.,

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

6161.

Jan. 19, 6 p.m., $12. The Bootleg, 4140 Manches-

VUNDABAR: Wed., April 4, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Blue-

HUSH LITE

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

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

stone’s, 20

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

University City, 314-727-4444.

JAMAICA L

SAVAGE LOVE WHAT HAPPENED

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I used to be a fan of your column, Dan, but something happened to you. Maybe it’s stress, the current political climate, or some other issue — I don’t know. I used to look forward to your columns because they were fun, smart and helpful — but I don’t enjoy what I’m seeing now. If something did happen to you, reach out for help. You’re on the verge of losing a loyal reader.

Reader Enquiring About Dan’s Enervating Responses I’ve been getting letters like yours at this time of year, every year, for the last 25 years, READER. Maybe I get moody when the weather gets gloomy and that spills into my column annually. And perhaps the current political climate is making my seasonal grumping worse. Another possible factor…

I’ve been writing this column for a long time. And back before the internet came along and ruined everything for everyone, I used to get a lot of how-to/ what’s-that questions about sex acts and sex toys. A column explaining butt plugs to readers who knew nothing about them was as much fun to read as it was to write. But every sex act and every sex toy has its own Wiki page now, which means I don’t get to write fun columns about butt plugs anymore, READER, and you don’t get to read them. Now the questions all revolve around someone being deeply shitty or someone deluding themselves about how deeply shitty they’re being.

Those are never going to be as delightsome as those butt plug columns of

yore.

But thank you for your concern, READER, and rest assured that nothing truly terrible has happened to me — besides Trump, of course, but Trump happened to all of us, not just me.

Hey, Dan: My significant other and I rarely have sex. A while ago, I had a sexual encounter with her daughter.

We continued to have sexual encounters for some time. Now my significant other and I may be getting married. Her daughter and I broke it off, but it started up again after a week. I am attempting to break things off with my significant other’s daughter again, but I’m having a hard time. Please advise.

Restraining Urges Is Necessary Ugh. Do you see what I mean, READER? It’s hard to come through with jokes, erudition and uplift when you’re responding to questions like this one.

Okay, RUIN. Marrying a woman whose adult daughter you can’t keep your dick out of… yeah, that’s a bad idea. (And her daughter is an adult, right?!? You’re not Roy Moore’ing it, are you?) Sooner or later, your significant other is going to discover what’s been going on, and your relationship with both of these women will be destroyed. You’ll be able to move out and move on, RUIN, but your former significant other isn’t going to be so lucky.

Because while you won’t always be her SO, her daughter is always going to be her child. My advice: Pull up your pants, cancel the wedding and get as far away from your SO and her daughter as possible.

Hey, Dan: I’m a middle-aged married dude. Sex life with my wife is good, but I

also masturbate because, you know, I’m a person. Sometimes I masturbate while surfing through pictures on Facebook of attractive women I know. These aren’t stolen nudes off of someone’s phone; they’re public pictures. I’m progressive when it comes to politics and gender issues. Face-to-face, I’m respectful and would never do anything to make these women — or any other woman — feel uncomfortable. I don’t leer, and I’m not a creeper. I know what I’m doing is pervy, but is it pervy bad? Am I crossing a line?

Peering Is Creepy, Sometimes This one’s a little better, READER. It’s a little squicky, sure, but it’s not boilyour-eyes-after-reading squicky.

Okay, PICS. Masturbating to someone is fine; masturbating at someone is not. Our erotic imaginations are free to roam — and that includes roaming through Facebook. No one needs our permission to fantasize about us or anything else, and we can’t control when, where and how the pics we share on social media will be enjoyed.

Provided you aren’t doing or saying anything to make your Facebook “friends” uncomfortable (no supposedly-friendly-but-transparently-thirsty comments, no tongue-hanging-out emojis), you’re doing something no one wants to think about, PICS, but you’re not crossing a line.

Hey, Dan: A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend and I were engaging in mutual masturbation when she squirted all over my hand — a large amount — and she was completely mortified. It was the first time it happened for her, and it’s happened several times since. She is upset. I’ve been with a couple of other

47

women in the past who squirted, and I am absolutely fine with it. I love it, in fact! I did my absolute best to reassure her that I think it’s great and there’s nothing to be ashamed of, but she’s really embarrassed every time. The last time, she was close to tears with fears that she’d urinated. My question: How can I help her feel OK about this?

Sincere Questioner Understands It’s Really Terrific This one’s pretty good, READER. It’s an old-school, pre-internet Savage Love question. Sexy and playful — charming, even.

OK, SQUIRT. You can help her feel okay about this by continuing to use your words (“I love this, it’s so hot!”), by sharing those articles with her (she needs to hear from and about other women with her superpower, not just from her boyfriend) and by lapping that shit up. Swallow, SQUIRT. And so what if it is piss? (And many argue it isn’t.) Piss isn’t sterile. There are a lot more bacteria and whatever else in saliva, and we dump spit into each other’s mouths like it’s maple fucking syrup. If you guys are swapping other fluids regularly, why not swap a little of this one, too?

And remember: It’s only been two weeks — it may take her some time to learn to love her new superpower.

Maybe watch some X-Men movies (it’s a superpower, not a mutation!), and keep being upbeat and positive about the way your girlfriend’s body works.

Good luck!

Listen to Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

riverfronttimes.com

DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

47

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The City of St. Louis, Department of Health (DOH), Bureau of Communicable Disease Grants Administration is requesting proposals from local organizations, community agencies, universities, local governmental entities and other interested parties eligible to receive federal funds to provide the following service(s): (Part A) Housing Services, Benefits Administrator, Fiscal Intermediary (IL), Fiscal Monitoring Services, Food Bank and Home Delivered Meals, Health Education and Risk Reduction Services, Medical Case Management, Mental Health Services, Psychosocial Support, Other Professional Services, Referral for Health Care and Support Services (MAI) Early Intervention Services, Housing Services, Medical Nutrition Therapy, (HOPWA) Housing Services Interested parties are encouraged to respond to the solicitation for proposal beginning Friday, November 17, 2017. An RFP packet may be obtained from Phillip Johnson, Secretary I, DOH, 1520 Market Avenue, Room 4027, by either calling 314-657-1556 or via email JohnsonP@stlouis-mo.gov. Interested parties may also download the RFP from the City of St. Louis website at http://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/procurement.cfm. If interested parties have downloaded the proposal from the website, they must register with Mr. Johnson; in order to be notified of any changes or amendments to the RFPs. The deadline for submitting proposals is 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

49

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

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AUDIO EXPRESS!

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MEDICINE HEALS THE body, MUSIC HEALS THE soul More than 1,000 kids with cancer and other blood disorders–or whose loved ones are battling cancer–have found joy and healing by creating over 800 songs through Maryville’s powerful music therapy program: Kids Rock Cancer.

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DECEMBER 6-12. 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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