Riverfront Times - February 7, 2018

FEBURARY 7–13, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 5

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Your Guide to

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Maybe Baby

For pregnant women hooked on opioids, WISH Center is a godsend

BY MIKE FITZGERALD

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FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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THE LEDE

“I was doing a little seminar for a bunch of school kids, and I was showing them how I make violins. One little kid goes, ‘What do you like best about your shop?’ And I said, ‘We make people happy.’ That’s my story right there. That’s what keeps me in here, because this is not easy. It’s hard. That’s why we keep our thank you post-its up here. That’s a victory, a life victory.”

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—Violinmaker Geoffrey J. Seitz photoGraphed in hiS nameSake Shop at louGhborouGh and morGanford on february 2

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FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

13.

Maybe Baby

For pregnant women hooked on opioids, WISH Center is a godsend

Written by

MIKE FITZGERALD

Cover photography by

VALENTINA RAZUMOVA

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

MUSIC

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21

29

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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24

Buzz

Film

Cafe

Pig & Pickle has big ambitions, but comes up short, writes Cheryl Baehr

34

Side Dish

41

RIP

Get a load of the “Pepto pink” couch that had St. Louis freaking out

Robert Hunt surveys this year’s class of Oscar-nominated short films

Nate Larson went from the lumber mill to a coffee shop to, yes, cooking

The city says goodbye to its EDM godfather

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25

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44

Politics

Danny Wicentowski ponders the Roy Moore-shaped shadow looming over Missouri’s Senate race

11

Animal Welfare

Galleries

At the Luminary, Mane ‘N Tail looks at black haircare

27

Mardi Gras 2018

Your complete guide to this year’s festivities

A new county hire left behind controversy in New Mexico

Food News

Milagro is looking for a new home

39

First Look

Court Louie is St. Louis’ first food truck-driven eatery

37

Travel

Tampa gets a taste of Provel at Jake’s Pizza

6

Music

Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman is coming to St. Louis for the first time, Roy Kasten reports

RIVERFRONT TIMES

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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Homespun

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Out Every Night

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

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NEWS

Pretty in Pepto Pink Written by

ALLISON BABKA

T

wo weeks ago, a gigantic pink sofa from the 1950s set St. Louis hearts aflutter.

Claude Denis, who owns the St. Louis Hills vintage store the Future Antiques (6514 Chippewa, 314-865-1552), posted photos on Facebook on January 25 of his staff ’s newest acquisition: what he calls a “Pepto pink” sectional sofa. Made of solid wood with tufted cushions covered in bright bubblegum-colored vinyl, the eye-catching but slightly flawed ’50s piece was a steal at $299.

“Fortunately for the people in the Midwest, they’re in the area where mid-century modern is the most affordable,” Denis says. “Get into New York, Chicago, L.A. or any of those high-end markets, and things cost a lot more money than what we charge. For that sofa in New York, put another $1,000 on it, if not more.”

Was St. Louis ready for a statement piece that bold? As the Facebook post quickly demonstrated, the answer was “absolutely.”

People in the Gateway City and beyond were mesmerized by the colorful couch, with hundreds of the store’s fans tagging friends to the post and commenting “OMG I need this.”

Denis tells the Riverfront Times that his Facebook posts typically have a “reach” of several hundred (including views, likes, shares and comments), but the sofa post — comprised of three photos showing off the three-piece sectional from different angles — racked up 23,000 hits in just 24 hours and is still going strong more than a week later.

“We couldn’t have planned for that kind of exposure. That’s just crazy,” Denis marvels. “We knew it was cool, but it was going to take that special person to decide to live with a Pepto pink sofa.”

But the glorious bright pink color is exactly what caught Sarah

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Sarah Rodhouse and her friend Luna are loving their new bold sectional. | COURTESY OF SARAH RODHOUSE Rodhouse’s eye. After talking with her boyfriend about how to build their decor around the sofa once they combine households, the Dutchtown resident headed to the Future Antiques the next day before the store opened, hoping to beat other buyers to the punch.

“One of the guys was coming out of the building and I said, ‘I’m really sorry to bother you early, but I’m just chomping at the bit to buy that sofa,’” Rodhouse recalls.

“I felt like I won the lottery! I hit the jackpot!

“And right after I paid for it, there was a younger gentleman who came in asking about it,” Rodhouse continues. “We chit-chatted a little bit, and I felt kind of guilty.

I was like, ‘I’m really sorry! You missed it by two minutes!’”

Rodhouse now is weighing whether to reupholster the piece; though the decades-old sofa is made of durable wood and the three pieces have held up well, the vinyl has a number of rips and is missing a few buttons. It certainly is functional today, but she’s thinking about covering it with new vinyl in a similar pink or another vibrant color.

“You can put the elbow grease into it and really clean it up, but I’m also getting quotes on what it would cost to have it reupholstered,” Rodhouse says. “I’d still try to keep it as authentic as pos-

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

sible and even make it pinker, if that’s possible. It commands a lot of attention.”

For now, the sofa is safely stored in the Webster Groves garage of Rodhouse’s boyfriend until the couple figures out what’s next.

But no matter what, the sectional will have a sister vintage sofa in a similarly unforgettable hue and size.

Four years ago, Rodhouse says, she bought an equally huge gold sofa from “a really artsy vintage picker” named Anchovy.

“My furniture’s pretty unique,” Rodhouse says.

And there’s one more thing that serves as a memorable footnote to the now-famous sofa’s story: it once belonged to a funeral parlor. Denis says that the Future Antiques — a frequent winner for “Best Vintage Store” in the RFT’s annual “Best of St. Louis” awards — acquired the sectional from the estate of a man who had owned it for many years, and the sofa had snazzed up an undertaker’s establishment years before that. Denis shared the history with Rodhouse when she visited the store, and she tells RFT that it made her even more enchanted with her haul.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, I want that sofa that much more,’” she says. “That must have been the happiest funeral home in the n world!”

A ROY MOORE-SHAPED SHADOW CREEPS PAST

T

he fight over Claire McCaskill’s U.S. Senate seat is already one of the most-anticipated races of the 2018 midterms, and, so far, her Republican opponents are stumbling out of the gates.

When it comes to money, McCaskill (D-Missouri) is rolling in it, to the tune of $11.8 million, according to her most recent campaign filings.

Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, presumed to be McCaskill’s most potent Republican challenger, is holding just $1.2 million. However, Hawley’s campaign seems poised to benefit from the $2 million raised by a political action committee, or super PAC, called the Club for Growth Action Missouri.

The only stumbling block is that every cent of the $2 million in the PAC came from Chicago-area businessman Richard Uihlein, the same man who in November was revealed to be the top donor to the political action committee backing failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.

So far, the Missouri super PAC has made only $4,500 in contributions — all to Hawley. It’s likely that much more money is on its way, and that could leave Hawley vulnerable to attacks similar to those leveled at Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner,

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whose 2014 campaign accepted millions from Uihlein. (Eric Greitens’ campaign also took in $360,000 from Uihlein during his run for governor.)

Indeed, last week, the Missouri Democratic Party jumped on the new campaign finance numbers, announcing, “Roy Moore’s Top Funder Bankrolls Josh Hawley SuperPAC.” The specter of Roy Moore isn’t just a problem for Hawley. Courtland Sykes, a Republican Senate hopeful whose campaign is indistinguishable from parody, actively stumped for Moore, traveling to Alabama during the election cycle’s home stretch and making sure to take plenty of photos along the way.

Sykes went to remarkable lengths to position himself as among Moore’s defenders even after accusations mounted that a 30-something Moore had pursued teen girls and sexually assaulted a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old. Just weeks before the election, Sykes’ campaign released a 40-minute “documentary” that strung together multiple conspiracy theories to try to discount Moore’s accusers. In the film, Sykes compared the women to prostitutes, called them “floozies” and mocked their physical appearances.

Even after the Alabama senate seat went to Doug Jones, the Sykes campaign — if that’s what it is, and

not some elaborate cosplay marathon engineered by the living ghost of Andy Kaufman — never backed down from its defense of Moore.

For McCaskill, her opponents’ weaknesses must feel familiar. She managed to ride Todd Akin’s infamous statement about “legitimate rape” to reelection in the Senate in 2012, despite tough odds. She’s now facing off against two Republicans with ties to Moore, a candidate whose toxicity became legendary the moment he lost to a Democrat in Alabama.

Not only that, but Hawley and Sykes seem to be tripping over themselves to give McCaskill new fundraising fodder. Hawley is presently getting hammered for a speech he made in December that blamed the sexual revolution for the rise in sex trafficking. Sykes’ view of women’s rights, meanwhile, seems to begin and end at his dinner plate.

We’d question how McCaskill keeps landing these hapless opponents, but we remain not fully convinced that either is an actual person and not just a cyborg she’s invented to hold a safe seat. A guy who’s floundered through barely a year as Missouri Attorney General and a guy who calls women “career-obsessed banshees” — and they both have ties to Roy Moore?

She couldn’t have written this better if it were fiction.

—Danny Wicentowski

Photography by JENNIFER SILVERBERG

Photography by JENNIFER SILVERBERG

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County Hire Saw Conflict Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

S

t. Louis County seems to suit Beth Vesco-Mock. Hired in September 2017, the director of county’s department of Animal Control & Care recently appeared in a feel-good Fox-2 spot alongside her boss, County Executive Steve Stenger, where together they touted the lowered euthanasia rate at the county’s adoption center — a success that was credited to Vesco-Mock’s leadership and her efforts to bring a “cultural shift” to the shelter.

By comparison, the conditions Vesco-Mock presided over as director of the Animal Service Center of the Mesilla Valley in New Mexico, a position she held for nearly a decade, also drew TV coverage. But not the good kind.

“It is absolutely the worst shelter I have ever seen in my career,” Frank Bryce, president of the Humane Society of Southern New Mexico, tells the RFT. Bryce and Vesco-Mock clashed frequently over her handling of the shelter, particularly the problems related to a building that he says had an intended capacity of 200 — yet received more than 800 animals per month.

“I call it hoarding,” Bryce says.

Bryce concedes that the high intake numbers can be traced to the community around the shelter — after all, the people who live nearby are the ones returning or abandoning the animals. But he faults Vesco-Mock for not finding

solutions. In fact, he blames her for making things worse.

“If you’re running the worst shelter in the state, it would certainly appear that the responsibility falls on the director, the staff and the board that’s supervising the whole operation,” he says.

Controversies exploded in Vesco-Mock’s final year running the New Mexico shelter. In July, a local TV station, KFOX14, ran a story publicizing a cache of photos it said had been supplied by a former shelter employee; the photos showed cages covered in filth and dogs living amid their own waste. One photo, according to the report, “shows a dead dog, with a leg ripped off by its kennel mates.”

Vesco-Mock confronted negative stories head-on. She led a TV news crew on a tour of the shelter, which appeared in far better condition than the photos suggested. Vesco-Mock explained that the photos were “very old,” and she said that the shelter had instituted new protocols to address animals fighting.

But just two weeks later, Vesco-Mock’s name was back in the news. This time, the local ABC affiliate confronted her with claims that she had allowed a drug company to administer an experimental diarrhea medication to some of the shelter’s dogs in 2013 and 2014. Vesco-Mock confirmed it. In return for providing the dogs as test subjects, the shelter had received $1,200 per dog treated, the station reported.

Vesco-Mock insisted that no animals were harmed by the experimental usage.

Despite the bad press, Vesco-Mock enjoyed the support of the shelter’s board, which defended her leadership while still bemoaning the overcrowding and high intake numbers.

But a month packed with negative

news spilled into the proceedings of an April board meeting, which was interrupted multiple times by audience members. During the portion of the meeting reserved for public comments, minutes show, a woman claiming to be a former shelter employee accused Vesco-Mock of being “a racist, bigoted pig” who drove staff away.

In July, Vesco-Mock announced her resignation. Two months later, she arrived in St. Louis.

Her new bosses are aware of the past controversies and toxicity she left behind in New Mexico. Although St. Louis County declined to make Vesco-Mock available for an interview, her supervisor, Director of Operations Glenn Powers, defended her hire, saying the county is “lucky to have her.” Powers went so far as to say that her hiring was based “in great part on her outstanding record of lowering euthanasia rates and increasing adoption rates in New Mexico.”

Powers’ statement also touched on a previous controversy: In 2015, Vesco-Mock was criminally charged

by Doña Ana County on three misdemeanor counts in connection to the shelter’s handling of two dogs suspected of killing livestock. The charges, filed by Doña Ana County’s animal cruelty supervisor, accused her staff of refusing to release one of the dog’s microchip information to a county animal control officer.

According to reports at the time, Vesco-Mock was also charged with resisting, evading or obstructing an officer.

However, in July 2015, the charges were abruptly dismissed mid-trial.

Vesco-Mock later sued the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office for “malicious abuse of process and defamation of character.” The parties eventually settled for $90,000.

In his statement, Powers noted that the accusations that Vesco-Mock faced in 2015 “had been proven false in a court of law.”

Along with Powers, the St. Louis County Animal Care and Control Board has thrown its support behind its new director. In an email, the board’s vice chair, Ellen Lawrence, praised Vesco-Mock for presiding over a significant decline in the shelter’s reliance on euthanasia. According to data she provided to RFT, the shelter’s euthanasia rate dropped from 43 percent in October 2016 to 8 percent in December 2017.

After the RFT reached out to the county with questions about VescoMock’s history in New Mexico, this reporter and his editor both received numerous unsolicited emails pushing back against the yet-unpublished story — and VescoMock’s critics in New Mexico.

The executive director of the Doña Ana County Humane Society Inc. was particularly critical of Bryce.

“I helped organize a couple of big fund-raisers for Frank’s organization, the Humane Society of Southern New Mexico, before realizing what his goal was: to take over the municipal shelter and discredit the person who got the job over him,” wrote Kathy Lawitz. “He lost the bid to Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, and has been on a quest for revenge ever since.”

She added, “The fact that he is sending this information so far after the fact, and in such great detail, speaks volumes about his character.

He might be better served to figure out how to raise money for his own organization in ways besides picking up cans on the side of the road; maybe put the heavy artillery away for a while and seek some sort of income and set up a long-term strategy for his group other than pursuing personal vendettas.” n

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

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Maybe Baby T For pregnant women hooked on opioids, WISH Center is a godsend

Rio Clemens’ original doctor seemed frightened by her pregnancy, she recalls: “Like, ‘What do I do with you?’” But Clemens has gotten help at the WISH Center at St. Mary’s. Her six-month ultrasound shows a healthy baby.

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STORY BY MIKE FITZGERALD PHOTOS BY NICK SCHNELLE

hey stride purposely down the hallway, three generations of the Clemens clan eager to meet their family’s newest member. Rio Clemens, 27, hooks little fingers with her five-year-old daughter, Kylie, who can barely throttle back her excitement. Forging behind them is Linda Clemens, Rio’s mom.

The walking cane cupped in one hand — a souvenir of Linda’s recent knee surgery — thuds softly on the hallway carpet.

Dr. Jaye Shyken, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond Heights, leads the way. Shyken, the medical director of the hospital’s Women and Infant Substance Help Center, known as the WISH Center, is a busy woman these days.

The St. Louis region is one of the hardest hit in the nation’s raging opioid epidemic.

Opioids comprise a class of highly addictive narcotics that include powerful painkillers like OxyContin and illegal drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic form of morphine that is up to 100 times more powerful than heroin. Shyken’s practice deals exclusively with pregnant women, new moms and newborns either addicted to opioids or enduring the symptoms of withdrawal.

Time can feel like a precious resource when you’re one of the only physicians in the nation specializing in the combination of opioids and prenatal care. But on this Friday morning right before Christmas, Shyken seems happy to give the Clemens all the time they need.

Rio, who is six months pregnant with her second child, is about to begin her latest ultrasound test. For Kylie, the next minutes will mark the first time she sees her new sister.

Rio sits on a bed, swings her legs up and stretches out. Shyken pulls up her shirt.

Then the physician starts rolling what looks like a plastic wand across Rio’s swollen belly.

All eyes focus on a large TV monitor mounted on the far wall. Shadowy smudges and blobs give way to the outline of an arm, a foot, the contours of a tiny skull. A heart, at first barely perceptible, flutters like the wings of a moth.

“I’m so excited, Mommy,” Kylie says. “Oh, I see her.”

“There you go,” Shyken says, pointing to a moving blur on the TV monitor.

“Whooooa,” Kylie says.

“They didn’t have all this when I was having kids,” Linda says.

Shyken points out the baby’s bottom, heart and chest. “And right here, over the cervix, is the sort of behind,” the doctor says. “The baby is sort of crossways right Continued on pg 14 now.”

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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MAYBE BABY Continued from pg 13 That’s not a problem; Rio isn’t due ’til mid-March, and the baby should have plenty of time to right herself.

Overall, Rio says, things are going well. “I don’t get sick anymore,” she says. “I keep things down. It’s good.”

She glances up at the monitor one more time.

“And the baby’s face is up, so it’s a little harder to see,” Shyken says.

“She’s always so low, it’s like she’s trying to find her way out,” Rio says, laughing.

For Rio Clemens, the past months seem almost surreal.

Clemens has struggled for about a decade with an addiction to prescription painkillers and heroin.

After serving nearly a year in a Missouri women’s prison on a drug-possession charge, she returned to her hometown of Festus, about 35 miles south of St. Louis.

Once back in Festus, Clemens started using drugs again. And then, just weeks later, she learned that she and her boyfriend were going to have a baby.

Clemens did not know what to

do. Neither did her regular OBGYN. “When I told my doctor what was going on with me, I mean, she almost looked like a deer in the headlights,” Clemens recalls. “Like, ‘What do I do with you?’”

Luckily, her physician knew about the WISH Center and Dr. Shyken, and sent Clemens there for the specialized help she would need. Shyken immediately placed Clemens on a drug called Subutex, which is also known generically as buprenorphine, to begin weaning her off opiates.

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Shyken’s goal is to get her pregnant patients on Subutex as soon as possible to reduce the risk of their newborns going through Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, or NAS, a condition that results from exposure to drugs in the mother’s system. Its symptoms include respiratory and feeding problems, jaundice and seizures.

Subutex belongs to a class of drugs known as opiate agonists.

Like heroin and other morphine-derived narcotics, buprenorphine contains chemicals that cling to opioid receptors in the brain, reducing pain and triggering feelings of well-being. The drug helps keep at bay the cravings that push recovering opiate users into relapse; Clemens also began an intensive program of almost daily counseling and group programs.

The WISH Center has been a literal lifesaver, she says.

“I think a lot of people stereotype drug-addict moms who get help,” she says. “They look down upon them, that their child is born addicted to something.”

As the nation’s opioid crisis worsens with no letup on the horizon, it has led to record numbers of babies suffering from NAS. Every 22 minutes, on average, a child is born in the United States with NAS. An estimated 24,000 babies — a five-fold increase since 2000 — were born in the U.S. in 2013 with the syndrome, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile, the number of overdose deaths continues to set new records, with almost 64,000 Americans dying from drug overdoses in 2016, though many experts think the true number is much higher. At least 250 people in St. Louis alone died that year from opioid overdoses — also a record.

In large part because of overdose deaths linked to the opioid crisis, life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen for the second year in a row, the first time it’s dropped for two consecutive years in more than half a century according to figures released in December by the CDC. The WISH Center is the only place of its kind nationwide. No other program does the work it does — providing detox services for pregnant women while helping them through pregnancy and caring for their babies afterward.

As such, it serves as a template for similar programs being set up in other cities.

The WISH Center officially began as a full-time, freestanding fa-

Rio Clemens sits with her daughter, Kylie, while talking with Dr. Jaye Shyken.

cility fifteen months ago. Today it serves an average of 120 patients per week and employs a staff of twelve full-time workers or their equivalents, including nurse practitioners and pharmacists. It offers the equipment, trained staff and resources to provide prenatal care, substance-abuse treatment and relapse-prevention help for up to two years after birth.

The center, which is led by SLU maternal-fetal medicine physicians, also provides financial counselors to help patients apply for Medicaid, the federally funded health-insurance program for low-income families, and it connects them to social-service programs to provide job training and other aid, according to Donna Spears, SSM Health’s director of maternal services.

“Because the goal is to keep mom in sobriety into the next pregnancy, hopefully for a lifetime,” Spears says. “That’s why we had to engage with organizations that really have more experience and resources in that area.”

Shyken came up with the idea for the WISH Center more than three years ago. At the time, it was just a half-day-a-week pilot project.

“And it was pretty clear that we

were way over-subscribed,” she says. “We didn’t do any advertising. Just taking existing people and using word of mouth.”

The board at SSM Health St. Mary’s soon bought into Shyken’s vision and made a $1.2 million capital investment, locating the facility in a nearby medical office building in Richmond Heights. A satellite is set to open in Carbondale, Illinois,

by April 1.

For St. Mary’s, the decision to open the WISH Center was straightforward, says Spears. Still, she knows the type of medicine the WISH Center practices is not easy, which helps account for the dearth of competitors.

“Many folks don’t exactly want to take this on,” Spears says.

Of patients, she adds, “They have many other conditions related to their illicit substance abuse. And a lot of physicians don’t have the training or the time needed to work through all the different social aspects and all the things that go along with training these patients.”

Women with opiate addictions sometimes present with infections in their blood or skin abscesses from using dirty needles to inject drugs, Shyken says. And often her patients need antibiotics for long

periods of time.

“This is not a population you can send home with an IV to get home antibiotics,” Shyken says. “Not going to send an IV drug user out with an IV. So they’re sort of in the hospital for six weeks.”

Underlying mental-health conditions, such as depression, severe anxiety or dealing with the aftereffects of childhood abuse — conditions that might have contributed to patients abusing opiates in the first place — can also present a complication.

“We know drug use associated with anxiety and depression and hopelessness that just comes as a result of the changes in their lives because they’re using drugs,” Shyken says. “But some of this occurred before their drug use, and the drug use is really self-medication, and their best chance of prolonged sobriety is going to be treatment of both.”

Still, a central part of the WISH Center’s vision is to make its patients feel welcome and at ease, to feel like any other pregnant woman at an OB-GYN office.

“Because until we normalize this as much as possible, people won’t seek treatment or they’ll fear the criminal part of it,” says Spears. riverfronttimes.com

“That’s the whole reason we created this center and put it in the area we did.”

That fact that WISH Center is in a medical office building, not a hospital, is intentional. “We put it in the same area as other physician offices because you need to feel like that,” Spears says. “It needs to feel like you’re doing any other routine OB visit that you encounter. It can’t feel like a heroin treatment facility.

People aren’t going to go to that.”

But there are important differences from other OB-GYN offices.

For instance, WISH Center offers women who are in withdrawal handheld showers in rooms with special drains. “The reason why is if that mom gets sick and vomits on herself when she’s going through induction of buprenorphine, we wanted her to be able to take a shower,” Spears says. “Because that’s a dignity issue. We keep clothes there. So she could change and not have to leave in vomity clothes.”

Pregnant women addicted to opioids often feel an intense sense of shame and stigma, which is a big reason many don’t come in for treatment, Spears says.

“They’re committing the worst

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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MAYBE BABY Continued from pg 15

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offense against humanity in many people’s minds,” Spears says. “That’s what people are so judgey about.

Let’s not judge them. Just open the door, be so glad that they sought out help and take it from there.”

Chad Sabora, the co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery in south St. Louis, says that Shyken and the WISH Center are doing “amazing, crucial work.”

The WISH Center “is a piece of the puzzle that needs to be in every state. And we need to keep families together,” Sabora says.

Sabora contrasts the thinking behind the WISH Center with punitive attitudes in places like Tennessee, which in 2014 passed a law that empowered local law enforcement to lock up pregnant women who abuse drugs.

“You got a pregnant woman?

Lock her up,” Sabora says. “There’s no prenatal care in jail. It’s the most absurd, ass-backwards solution to helping a pregnant woman with an opioid disorder. Tennessee is a shining example of the mentality of a lot of this country. ‘Get that woman in jail.’”

The WISH Center’s emphasis on preserving the mother’s dignity is why she keeps coming back after initial misgivings, Clemens says.

“They are this good and this professional,” she says. “Because most people, when they think drug-addict mother on Medicaid, they’re going to go to some clinic. They’re going to sit there for five hours, nobody really gives a damn. It’s so nice to be able to come to a place like this.”

Shyken has been a huge part of what keeps her coming back.

“When I very first met her I was definitely overwhelmed and scared,” she says. “But she talks to you, she explains everything to you, she walks you through everything. I mean, she just makes you feel comfortable. Like, ‘You can do this and get through this.’”

Shyken did not begin her career thinking she would be working with pregnant women addicted to opioids.

After graduating from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1972, she majored in music at Indiana University. She then attended the University of Missouri for medical school and Washington University in St. Louis for a fellowship in high-risk obstetrics. Today she’s

Dr. Jaye Shyken, right, discusses a patient follow-up with women’s health nurse practitioner Brandy Friemel, left, on January 16.

an associate professor at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, department of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health.

A lover of vigorous exercise, Shyken, now 63, is a dedicated cyclist and yoga practitioner and instructor. This month, she’s launching a yoga class for recovering addicts modeled on 12-step recovery groups.

Shyken began working with chemically dependent women in the late 1980s, a time when the crack-cocaine epidemic was in full swing. The current opiate epidemic is something different. It has hit harder, across all aspects of society.

“It’s not just middle-class kids with helicopter parents,” Shyken says. “It’s all of us. It’s reached all aspects of our society. Nobody is safe. This is an equal-opportunity disease.”

Shyken blames its reach in part

on her fellow physicians.

Two decades ago, Purdue Pharma, the company responsible for OxyContin, deluged both physicians and consumers with marketing appeals that falsely described OxyContin as safe and non-addictive if prescribed properly. It was neither.

At the same time, many American physicians bought into the idea — which was heavily promoted by Purdue Pharma and other drugmakers — that pain was being under-treated. So doctors too often over-prescribed opiate painkillers to too many patients for long periods of time, inadvertently getting them hooked.

As a result, while America represents five percent of the world’s population, it consumes 95 percent of the world’s opiates.

“There are just a lot of opioids out there, through the over-pre-

scribing of opiates,” Shyken says.

“I think that we operated under a misimpression that opioids, when used legitimately, did not result in a high risk of addiction. And we were wrong. Dead wrong.”

About a decade ago, as states like Colorado and Washington began legalizing medical and recreational cannabis, Mexican drug cartels switched their resources from weed to heroin and fentanyl. The result: a glut of very powerful street drugs at historically low prices.

Throughout St. Louis, for instance, a “button” of heroin costs as little as $10, while the average waiting period to get treatment for a substance-abuse addiction can stretch several months or more. For opiate abusers and their families, a grim truth inevitably emerges: It is much easier to get high than to get help.

“You know some people come

to their addiction because of peer pressure, particularly kids,” Shyken says. “Some people come to an addiction because the first time they try an opioid it makes their problems go away. They feel awesome.

And they probably have a genetic predisposition. That’s another piece of the issue: It’s hard to measure prevention. And it’s hard to know what in terms of prevention really works.”

Something else has happened to turn opioid use into a crisis. And that’s a shift in the way American society deals with problems, Shyken theorizes.

“I think we’ve become a society that tolerates very little and expects instant relief in the way of a pill,” she says. “So we’ve marketed ourselves into this situation. Whatever the situation is.”

Married to a primary-care physician, Shyken is herself the mother riverfronttimes.com

of three grown children. Like any other mother, she worries that her offspring might get into drugs. She lectures them all the time, she says.

“And the message is, ‘Not even once,’” she says. “You think I’m not curious? And knowing who I was when I was a teenager? By the grace of God.” Despite all the painful stories she’s heard and seen up close, Shyken says she feels optimistic about her patients’ ability to move forward with their lives.

“This is unbelievably rewarding work,” she says. “Somebody comes in as an addict and they’re pretty desperate and they’ve done some pretty awful things to support their habit, and then you put them on MAT [medication-assisted treatment] and then the real person comes through. And they’re so grateful.”

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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MAYBE BABY Continued from pg 17

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Interstate 55 snakes southward from St. Louis parallel to the Mississippi River. The highway rolls through the hills of Jefferson County, through towns named Imperial and Herculaneum, before bringing the traveler to Festus, with a population of slightly more than 11,000.

On a recent evening, the town is quiet, a postcard of small-town America. But Tim Lewis, the town’s police chief, sees a different side — the human toll of the opioid crisis that hit his town going on six years ago.

“I’ve been a policeman for a long time, but I’ve never seen the heroin as big or as long-lasting as it’s been the last few years,” Lewis says.

“It just took off. Overdoses of opiates. Prescription drugs. Fentanyl.

They’re all part of the problem.”

The purity of the product has gone up while the price has gone down in Jefferson County, he says.

“I’ve been a policeman a long time.

When I first started, a button of heroin would cost you $20 or $30. And it might be ten or fifteen percent pure heroin. Now a button costs you $5, and it’s 90 percent pure heroin. So the market’s flooded.”

This is the world Clemens returned to after her release from prison in September 2016. She’d done ten months for drug possession, but quickly started taking Percocet after her release — a mistake she blames on the decision to hang out “with the wrong people,” she says.

About six weeks after she began using drugs again, she found out she was pregnant.

“And I caught myself. Because I refuse to let other people influence me anymore,” Clemens says.

“Because I used to be so, ‘I want you to like me, I want you to hang out with me,’ type of person. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I don’t have one friend. Because at the end of the day I have my kids and I have my family.”

She’s been using drugs for a long time. Linda Clemens thought of her daughter as a star member of the high school softball team and remembers being horrified to find Rio passed out in her bedroom at nineteen, a syringe nearby on the floor.

“I was shocked because I never dreamt she’d do anything like that,” Linda says.

Since then, she adds, “the whole family’s been through hell. Because

Dr. Jaye Shyken, right, performs an ultrasound scan on Rio Clemens as Clemens’ daughter and mother watch.

the first few years I tried to hide it from them. And then I just couldn’t anymore. Because financially she drained me. Between buying drugs and paying for lawyers, I had to file bankruptcy a few years ago.”

Even getting pregnant with Kylie didn’t change things for Rio, not in a permanent way. Rio recalls that her physician at the time “didn’t know much.”

The doctor “knew the basics of addiction and pregnancy, but I was never monitored or prescribed medication through him,” she says.

“He did the minimum when it came to the addiction part of being pregnant.”

In addition, Rio had to find a different doctor to get on Suboxone; her OB-GYN didn’t handle it.

Her pregnancy allowed her to move ahead of the long waiting list of patients seeking prescriptions for

the drug used to wean addicts off opioids. But after Kylie’s birth, she ended up using again. Linda had to take custody of the little girl while she was in prison.

Rio knows she will one day have to explain her drug problems to her daughters.

“I mean, this is the one thing I get emotional about,” she says, tearing up. “They say, ‘Get clean for yourself.’ But I did this for myself so I could take care of them because I’ll be damned if they end up like me.

I will be damned if these kids go through what I had to go through.”

Opiates are big problem in Jefferson County, Linda says.

“I know a lot of people she went to school with who are dead, they’re gone, they ODed,” she says. “I actually think it’s because there’s not a lot for them to do down here.

There’s no place for them to hang

out or go. In the beginning drugs are cheap. Because all there is to do down here is people get together, they drink, they have parties.”

Linda says she didn’t even mind the ten months that she took care of her granddaughter full time.

“I was just happy she was still alive,” she says of Rio. “Because so many people that I know that she was friends with aren’t.”

After the ultrasound test ends, the Clemens clan follows Shyken to another examining room to talk over Rio’s progress in staying sober and getting ready for the birth of her second daughter.

Shyken praises Rio for her compliance. “And there are some people who are not as easy to take care of as you are,” Shyken says.

“She wouldn’t have been a couple years ago,” Linda says.

“I know,” Shyken says, turning to Linda. “I know I’m reading your mind here, because I can do that, you know. I mean, you’re probably less optimistic than Rio is.”

“I never want to get my hopes up, you know,” Linda says. “I have so many times.”

“This is part of the dynamic. But there are family members who really sabotage you,” Shyken says. “Either because they’ve been using or they’ve been hurt too many times.”

“I try always to be there for her,” Linda says. “I got her to come back here, because I read about it online and I didn’t know where else to go. I said, ‘You need to go back there. I will take you. You’re going back.’”

“I was just overwhelmed,” Rio says. “I honestly didn’t think I could do it, and it’s just scary, you know.

You just have to think to yourself, ‘If I could do half the things in my life, I riverfronttimes.com

could do this.’”

“I’m so proud of her, I can’t even put it into words,” Linda says. “I’m thrilled. This place is a godsend.”

Rio turns to her mother. She collects her thoughts, thinking hard about what she wants to say. The words tumble out slowly, with difficulty, and her voice shakes.

“Mom’s always been there for me.

She’s never left. She’s never kicked me out. She’s never told me I am not allowed in the family,” Rio says. “She’s never sat there and talked down on me. She just kind of accepted it.”

Linda shifts her weight and looks on as her daughter sums up the past decade.

“Even though she was helpless and she couldn’t do much until I wanted it, you know,” Rio says. “She just kind of cradled me and tried to make sure nothing happened to me to the best she could.” n

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WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8-14

THURSDAY 02/08 Red Scare on Sunset No real American will be surprised to learn that the local Method acting class is actually a recruiting tool of those godless communists — except for Mary Dale. As cinema’s leading lady, Mary depends on the studio’s star system to maintain her career and top billing. When she discovers her husband is learning the Method, she realizes it’s up to her to stop the commies and emotion-driven acting in order to save her country. Charles Busch’s comic play Red Scare on Sunset mixes the McCarthy era with A Star Is Born, with a touch of Reagan-era conservatism. Stray Dog Theatre presents Red Scare on Sunset at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (February 8 to 24) at Tower Grove Abbey (2336 Tennessee Avenue; www.straydogtheatre.org). Tickets are $25 to $30.

FRIDAY 02/09 Infected Albert Ostermaier’s drama Infected centers on a lone day trader. He’s under quarantine, and his mental health is swiftly deteriorating under his protracted isolation — or maybe it’s his mysterious malady that’s eating away at his brain? Whichever it is, he’s definitely slipping free of reality; he’s begun to think he caught his virus from the stock market itself, as he explains in a frantic monologue about his life, his work and his disease. Upstream Theater presents the American premiere of Infected, translated by Philip Boehm from Ostermaier’s original German.

Performances take place at 8 p.m.

Thursday to Saturday and 7 p.m.

Sunday (February 9 to 24), with an additional 2 p.m. show on Sunday, February 25, at the Kranzberg Arts Center (501 North Grand Boulevard; www.upstreamtheater.org). Tickets are $25 to $35.

St. Louis Ballet celebrates Valentine’s Day this weekend with Love Stories. | PRATT KREIDICH

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

Blackbird Old lovers reunite in David Harrower’s play Blackbird, but this get-together is far from a happy one. Una shows up at Ray’s office and demands to speak with him about the way things between them ended. Ray would rather not, because he’s made a new life for himself and doesn’t want to ruin it. Una feels she’s owed something from Ray, however — he did leave her when she was just twelve years old, and as an adult he should have handled it better. Blackbird is a tense (and potentially upsetting) play about uncomfortable subjects, and a happy end is not in store. St. Louis Actors’ Studio presents Blackbird

at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday (9 to 25) at the Gaslight Theater (358 North Boyle Avenue; www.stlas. org). Tickets are $30 to $35.

SATURDAY 02/10 Mardi Gras Grand Parade It’s been a while since everybody gathered in Soulard to celebrate the onset of the season of self-denial and contemplation, but St. Louis never forgets the big day: Saturday, February 10, is here, and so is the Bud Light Grand Parade. At 11 a.m. at Busch Stariverfronttimes.com

dium (601 Clark Avenue; www.stlmardigras.org), the parade starts its march toward Soulard and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The theme is “Celebrating #Muny100,” so expect the various krewes to show-biz it up in their best musical-theater flair. As always, watching the parade is free, and you just might catch something while you’re there: More than 10 million strands of beads will be flung from floats along the parade route. The party in Soulard will have already started by the time the parade steps off — it’s gonna get crowded and loud before it’s all over. Will it be as cold as February normally is? If you’re worried, you have options. The Bud Light Party Tent, which is in fact two

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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DID YOU KNOW:

CALENDAR Continued from pg 21

1.3 MILLION

log all the stars revealed on the telescope’s photographic plates, while men pursue the business of discovery. Women are capable of seeing what men cannot, and in those plates Leavitt found something no one else had noticed and broke new ground in astronomy.

Lauren Gunderson’s play Silent Sky charts the lives and work of early twentieth-century female astronomers, and how they defied the odds to do great work in an age when society mostly demanded they stay out of the way and procreate. West End Players Guild presents Silent Sky at 8 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (February 9 to 18) at the Union Avenue Christian Church (733 North Union Avenue; www.westendplayers.org). Tickets are $20 to $25.

PEOPLE READ

EACH MONTH

Everybody cuts loose on Saturday as the Mardi Gras Grand Parade rolls through Soulard. | MICAH USHER climate-controlled tents, will have a lunch buffet, open bar and DJs from 9 a.m to 6 p.m., and tickets are $125. If your ideal Mardi Gras includes hanging out with some of the most famous and personable St. Louis Blues players in team history, you want to buy tickets for The Blues Alumni Party Tent. It also sports an open bar and lunch buffet, but adds a bubble-hockey tournament and hobnobbing with some local hockey legends. The Blues Alumni Party Tent is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is $110.

St. Louis Ballet: Love Stories Not only is Saturday Mardi Gras in St. Louis, it’s also the unofficial observation of Valentine’s Day this year (the actual day is Wednesday, which is a tough break for a romantic holiday). To mark the occasion, St. Louis Ballet returns to the stage with Love Stories. The program matches ballet to the music of the Romantics. Christoper d’Amboise uses the music of Franz Schubert for his pas de deux Pandora’s Box, while Miriam Mahdaviani’s Between the Lines requires 22

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the talents of the entire company performing to George Gershwin’s “Three Preludes.” Gen Horiuchi provides two dances for the show: Love Stories is a world premiere set to St. Louis contemporary composer Barbara Harbach’s Transformations for String Quartet and Carondelet Caprice for Chamber Ensemble, while Horiuchi’s La Vie uses the music of Claude Bolling.

Love Stories is performed at 8 p.m.

Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday (February 10 and 11) at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus (1 University Drive at Natural Bridge Road; www.touhill. org). Tickets are $24 to $59.

SUNDAY 02/11 Silent Sky Henrietta Leavitt has questions about deep space and Earth’s place and role in the universe, so she gets a job at the Harvard Observatory in hopes of finding satisfying answers. Instead, she’s confronted by the very unsatisfactory reality that women aren’t allowed to use the telescope. Her dream job turns out to be grunt work, as she’s expected to cata-

WEDNESDAY 02/14 The Humans Brigid Blake has invited the family to her place for Thanksgiving, despite her place being a basement apartment in New York’s Chinatown. Her older sister is distracted, her parents are worried about the economy, her grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease and drifts in and out of the gathering, and her trust-fund boyfriend is strangely attracted to all of these new people and their various real-world problems. Stephen Karam’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Humans shows a regular working family come together, drive each other slightly crazy again and also realize what they have in each other.

The Repertory Theatre St. Louis presents The Humans Tuesday through Sunday (February 9 to March 4) at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road; www.repstl.org). Tickets are $18.50 to $89.

Planning an event,? 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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FILM

[REVIEW]

The Big Shorts This year’s Oscar-nominated animated shorts and live-action shorts showcase big ideas in small packages Written by

ROBERT HUNT Oscar Nominated Short Films 2018 Multiple directors and stars. Both programs open Friday, February 9, at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre.

I

t’s been a long time since short films were a regular part of a typical night at the movies (along with B-features, newsreels and the latest Bugs Bunny cartoon). I wonder if our current age of Netflix and YouTube and 24-hour entertainment systems carried in nearly every pocket or purse has again created a place for shorts. This year’s Academy Award-nominated shorts certainly deserve a shelf life long beyond their limited theatrical release.

What they have in common is that they are relentlessly contemporary. Though different in style and subject, these films share perspectives on the world as we know it in 2018, dealing with issues of religious difference, inclusion, racism and violence. This is front-line, upto-the-minute filmmaking, tackling real ideas in short, powerful blasts.

For the cartoons, the 2018 nominees are a mixed bag of styles and sensibilities, from the odd “Negative Space,” a French film in which a knack for packing suitcases becomes a means of bonding between a father and son, to the Pixar-produced “Lou,” a fantasy about schoolyard bullying.

My favorite was the hyper-realistic “Garden Party,” in which frogs take over a mansion after a decadent celebration. The LA branch of the International Animated Film Association split its awards between the remaining two, “Dear

24

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A group of frogs take over a mansion in the animated short “Garden Party.” | COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES Basketball,” a heartfelt rendering of NBA star Kobe Bryant’s retirement letter, and “Revolting Rhymes,” an inventive mash-up of Snow White, Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and based on a Roald Dahl book. I suspect the Academy voters will be impressed by the latter, but with most of the ballots coming from the heart of Lakers territory, who knows?

As for the live-action shorts, though topicality rules the day, there is one brief exception. The Australian film “The Eleven O’Clock,” the sole comedy in the batch, offers the dilemma of a psychiatrist trying to come to terms with a patient who thinks that he’s a psychiatrist.

Performed with deadpan skill, it’s like a downplayed Monty Python sketch, carefully avoiding a Pythonesque sense of imminent panic.

It’s pleasant, but slightly irrelevant compared to the remaining nominees.

A more topical issue is addressed by “Watu Wote,” a chilling drama based on real incidents along the Kenyan border. A bus full of Christians and Muslims is attacked by Muslim extremists, but the Muslim passengers defy the threat and help protect their fellow passengers. It’s brief, intense and, most importantly, an optimistic story of

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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tolerance in the face of extremism.

“The Silent Child” is a beautifully photographed drama about a frantically preoccupied family living with (but barely acknowledging) a deaf daughter. With the appearance of a new social worker (played insightfully by Rachel Shenton), young Libby begins to learn sign language, but the child’s progress only increases the family’s tension.

As the film’s writer, Shenton, an advocate for sign language after her father became deaf, has achieved something profound and commendable, taking the material of a PSA about education and shaping it into a disturbing and melancholic drama.

If you know twentieth-century American history, the title and the setting of “My Nephew Emmett” will already tell you what to expect, but familiarity in no way diminishes the force of this powerful story. It’s a slow, understated piece, focusing on the quiet desperation of Mose Wright, a 64-year-old sharecropper who watches helplessly as his young nephew Emmett Till unwittingly sets off a chain of events that would soon shake the entire nation. L.B. Wilson is stunning and tragic as Wright, and director/writer Kevin Wilson Jr. creates tension masterfully, cap-

turing the uneasy sense of living in a time and place where racism and violence were as common as a sunrise.

Reed Van Dyk’s “DeKalb Elementary” is essentially a two-character drama, filmed in a straightforward style and (more or less) in real time.

Cassandra Rice (Tarra Riggs) shows up for a typical day’s work in the office of an elementary school. A few minutes into her day, a young man (Bo Mitchell) comes to the counter and asks to use the telephone. As Cassandra steps away, the man pulls an automatic rifle from his backpack and begins to wave it around. Based on a real event, Van Dyk’s film captures the anxiety of what has become an alltoo-frequent occurrence in America as Cassandra, on the shooter’s orders, calls 911 to negotiate with the police. The film becomes a wary face-off between the two protagonists, and the school setting creates an ironic background, recasting the two as a calm parent and a headstrong child. The film ends with an emotional sucker punch, convincing but unexpectedly draining. It’s the highlight of the program and a great example of the sheer emotional power a talented filmmaker and cast can put into a mere twenty minutes. n

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M

odern black hair care has roots in St. Louis. Sarah Breedlove Walker, better known as Madam C. Walker, was the first woman in the U.S. to become a self-made millionaire.

More than 100 years after her heyday, she’s still regarded as one of the most successful black business owners in history. Her claim to fame? A series of beauty supply and hair products specifically created and manufactured for black women.

Women at the time were burning their scalps and losing their hair trying to treat it. Walker’s product was created to help women combat many of the issues she saw in her brother’s barber shop in St. Louis.

Black women have been finding products and swapping new techniques at beauty-supply stores and salons since Walker’s time. With Mane ’N Tail, the new show that opened at the Luminary (2701 Cherokee Street) last month, artist and curator Kat Simone Reynolds explores the culture surrounding those places. The mixed-media show features ten female artists from around the country.

Reynolds’ photography in the show focuses on the relationship between roots and authenticity. “I’m really interested in exploring the products as well as the ritual of beauty for black women,” she says.

The show’s theme came together when Reynolds saw the work of Caribbean textile interdisciplinary artist SHENEQUA. SHENEQUA’s piece is an intricate wall-hanging made of synthetic hair,

black cotton and foam rollers. SHENEQUA says the piece brings her back to when her sister would do her hair. “It was a kind of therapeutic, in a way,” she explains. “To me it was about more than hair — though I wouldn’t trust just anyone with my hair. It was about the process, sisterhood, black hair culture and womanhood.”

Reynolds says she hasn’t seen a lot of similar programming in art shows around St. Louis. “I thought that there should be some type of space that was showcasing black beauty, but not just the surface of black beauty,” she says.

“It’s more about every woman and feeling confident in your beauty.”

Noting that she’s been working her way through the 2017 book of essays by performer Juliana Huxtable, Mucus in My Pineal Gland, she says, “It’s really something I think people will benefit from talking about in this type of setting.”

Reynolds discovered the book through the Citizen Book Club. Now the club will host a discussion tied to the show.

Detroit artist LaKela Brown makes sunken reliefs of the faux-gold bamboo earrings often found in beauty supply shops. Her work is inspired by the Romans and Egyptians, with a little help from LL Cool J’s “Around the Way Girl.”

“It’s bringing together different angles of similar ideas. I hope my piece can bring some dimensionality to the show with my work,” Brown says. “I’m happy to have my work alongside the beautiful work of these other great artists.”

Mane ‘N Tail is showing at the Luminary through March 8. There will be a free film screening of A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy on Friday, February 9, at 7 p.m. and Citizen Book Club #4, discussing Mucus in My Pineal Gland, on Tuesday, February 13 from 6:05 to 9:05 p.m.

—Kelly Glueck

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Your Guide to

Mardi Gras 2018

M

ardi Gras weekend is finally here. But there’s more to Mardi Gras in St. Louis than the parade Saturday and the bacchanalia of drinking that surrounds it.

“Like what?” Glad you asked.

St. Louis is a dress-down town, and there’s no shame in that. You try wearing a three-piece suit or, worse, pantyhose and pantsuit in July in this city and you’ll quickly embrace the shorts and sandals look sported by the well-hydrated St. Louisan. But at least one night each year, people take high fashion very seriously. The Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball is your excuse to dress beautifully (black tie is the standard) and enjoy a glamorous party in the St. Louis City Hall Rotunda (1200 Market Street; www. stlmardigras.org/events/mayors-mardi-gras-ball). Doors open at 7 p.m. Friday, February 9, and tickets start at $150 per person and go as high as $3,250 for a table of ten on the second floor of City Hall. All price points come with valet parking and an open bar in addition to dinner, dessert and dancing. Music is provided by the Funky Butt Brass Band, Sean Canan’s Voodoo Players, DJ Mahf and some top-secret Muny performers.

And then along comes Saturday, February 10, and the event that has all the revelers revved up: the Bud Light Grand Parade. At 11 a.m. at Busch Stadium (601 Clark Avenue), the parade starts its march toward Soulard and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The theme is “Celebrating #Muny100,” so expect the various krewes to show-biz it up in their best musical-theater flair. As always, watching the parade is free, and you just might catch something while you’re there: More than 10 million strands of beads will be flung from floats along the parade route. The

party in Soulard will have already started by the time the parade steps off — it’s gonna get crowded and loud before it’s all over.

Naturally, if you would rather put some money down to guarantee a warm spot on the parade route, easy access to restroom and the majesty of a Cajun lunch buffet (courtesy of Joanie’s Pizzeria) and the all-important open bar (beer and cocktails), say hello to the Bud Light Party Tent, which is in fact two climate-controlled tents.

For just $125 you get all this plus music from Rockstar DJs from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. Saturday, February 10. The Bud Light Party Tents are set up in Soulard Market Park, and you can buy your passes at www.stlmardigras.org/events/ bud-light-party-tent.

Or you may want to visit the RFT-sponsored Mardi Gras Experience at Mollys in Soulard. Enjoy nine hours of a premium open bar with seven different bars, six DJs and, yes, plenty of beads. Tickets start at $85; see mollysinsoulard. com to purchase yours.

But what if your ideal Mardi Gras includes hanging out with some of the most famous and personable St. Louis Blues players in team history? Oh, there’s a tent for that. The Blues Alumni Party Tent (South Seventh Street and Ann Avenue; www.stlmardigras.org/events/blues-alumini-experience) is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, February 10, and sports an open bar (beer and cocktails), a lunch buffet from Joanie’s To Go and even an air bubble hockey tournament.

When the parade wraps up, head outside of the climate-controlled tent for more fun and games (and beverages). Tickets for the Blues Alumni Party Tent are $110 (the Blues point total at the end of this season? May-beeee).

—Paul Friswold

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CAFE

29

Chef Ryan Lewis’ skill is on display with dishes like his signature cheese curds (bottom left) and flavorful carrots (bottom right). Other dishes aren’t always as successful. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

Great Expectations At Pig & Pickle, a talented chef with big ambitions is still finding his way Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Pig & Pickle

5513 Pershing Avenue, 314-349-1697. Tues.Fri. 4:30-9:30 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-9:30 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Closed Mondays.)

R

yan Lewis does not shy away from doing big things on his own terms. He chucked a communications degree to pursue a career in cooking, opened his own restaurant when he felt he’d progressed beyond the caliber of available employers and shuttered that successful spot when he became restless for more.

“If you tell him he has to do things one way, he’ll find a way to do it another,” laughs Carina Flesch, Lewis’ partner and the general manager at his latest restaurant, Pig & Pickle. And indeed that ambition has gotten him far. A native of Bethalto, Illinois, Lewis began his culinary career as a teenager in need of a job, working his way up from dishwasher to line cook.

Though he moved to Springfield armed with a degree after graduating college, he could not resist the pull of the kitchen. He dabbled in

cooking classes but ultimately decided to get his culinary education through on-the-job experience and self-directed research.

Lewis felt restricted by the lack of opportunity in Springfield’s culinary scene, but instead of wallowing in that negativity, he decided to forge his own path. He opened his debut restaurant, Driftwood, in 2014 as a way not only to push himself but to elevate the city’s dining options. He and Flesch ran Driftwood for three years, until Springfield could no longer contain his ambition. He wanted more, and he knew just where to find it: the ascendant food city right across the river from his hometown. When Flesch and Lewis found the old Atlas Restaurant storefront in the DeBaliviere Place neighborhood, they closed Driftwood, packed their belongings and moved to St. Louis, opening Pig & Pickle this past Sepriverfronttimes.com

tember.

For Lewis, Pig & Pickle is a test — a way to plant his feet and see how good he really is in a much larger scene. The menu’s breadth and depth is a direct reflection of his eagerness. Clocking in at nearly 30 small plates, each one more complex than the next, it reads like the work of someone with something to prove. And though Lewis at times makes a compelling case, in others his aspirations overtake his execution.

Lewis, who describes his style of cooking as elevated Southern with a hint of Japanese influence, is at his best when he’s more restrained. A dish of rustic carrots with Middle-Eastern spices makes one of the most persuasive cases for veggie-forward cooking in recent memory. The expertly cooked vegetables are simply roasted

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

Continued on pg 30

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PIG & PICKLE Continued from pg 29 and served alongside luxurious whipped goat cheese and a square of honeycomb. The pungent earth from the carrots, funk from the cheese and sweetness from the honey create a symphony that is positively ethereal.

Brussels sprouts are equally successful, their bitter char balanced by chile honey. Crumbles of soft goat cheese add depth and creaminess, while spiced pecans give a sweet crunch. It’s a fun presentation for the trendy vegetable.

Though Lewis does not consider Pig & Pickle to be Driftwood Part Two, he carried over his signature cheese-curds dish to the new restaurant. It’s clear why. The creamy spheres of white cheese are coated in a razor-sharp mustard barbecue sauce that cuts through the deep-fried richness.

The sauce is flecked with whole mustard grains, giving each bite a pop of tanginess. The curds rest on silken buttermilk dressing, which provides a layer of creaminess under the sauce. It’s the sort of appetizer you find yourself eating hypnotically, only realizing you’re

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stuffed as you contemplate the next courses.

Lewis may be from a landlocked state, but he knows how to cook shrimp and grits. His version features plump, blackened shrimp nestled atop gouda-infused grits that are so creamy they are almost a fondue. That they are studded with hunks of pork only adds to the decadence.

His best dish, however, is a simple plate of braised lamb shoulder, which commands attention with only a whisper. The meat is almost stew-like in its tenderness and sits in its own simple jus, accompanied only by roasted radish, pickled onion and a cumin-and-orange yogurt sauce. Though the radish was an afterthought and the yogurt could have been thicker, the flavors and expertly cooked meat were positively radiant. If Lewis wants to prove his worth as a chef, it will be through a dish like this.

As much promise as Lewis shows on some offerings, however, others are not as successful. The “NOLA Charred Cauliflower,” for instance, was overly charred and bitter, a factor exacerbated by an astringent Worcestershire butter.

An overwhelming thyme flavor

added to the assault on the palate.

The seared kale was also unfortunate. Leaves of the limp leafy greens – not quite warm, not quite room temperature — looked depressed as they lay pooling in a large quantity of preserved lemon Caesar dressing. Parmesan crisps were not; instead, the crouton stand-ins were tough and chewy.

Rather than elevating a classic Caesar, this knocked it down a notch.

Barley risotto was loose and oddly tasted like egg-salad porridge, a funkiness derived from the over-easy egg that capped the dish. And a pork loin inspired by the “everything bagel” was dehydrated and sliced so thin I thought it might be charcuterie.

That wasn’t the worst take on an everything bagel I found on the menu, however. That came courtesy of the house burger, which was a heaping mess of steak sauce, goat cheese crumbles, pickles, fried onions and a thin, overcooked patty of beef forced onto an undercooked bagel the way I force myself into a pair of Spanx — very uncomfortably. One bite and the entire contents of the sandwich slipped out the opposite side. Lewis says he did not want to Continued on pg 32

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put a burger on the menu. If he feels that strongly, he shouldn’t.

His contempt is palpable.

Fortunately, I was able to drown any lingering burger disappointment with excellent cocktails courtesy of Jeffrey Moll, the rising-star bartender who made a name for himself at the now shuttered Randolfi’s. There, Moll had a penchant for the esoteric; he is toned down without being dumbed down at Pig & Pickle. That man can make a daiquiri.

And for dessert, Lewis can make a chocolate cake. Like his best dishes, the dessert is simple: a rich, chocolatey cake served à la mode with chocolate-malt ice cream and a dusting of candied pecan dust. As much as his knack for preparing such a straightforward, comforting dessert, too, Flesch shows her skills with the front of the house.

The servers at Pig & Pickle have a beast of a job memorizing and then translating to diners a menu that is both massive and complex. On every occasion I visited, they did so warmly and without skipping a beat.

It’s the simple things like this — warm hospitality, good drinks, a perfectly braised lamb — that make for a good restaurant. Pig & Pickle can be that; it’s just not

Pig & P

Like Lewis’ best dishes, the chocolate cake is simple: rich, chocolatey and served with chocolate-malt ice cream and candied pecan dust. quite there yet. As my dining companion for one visit remarked, if Lewis would have cut out half the menu and spent the time and effort he saved on perfecting the lamb’s yogurt sauce, it would have been the best dish he’d eaten in a year.

With something that good up his sleeve, Lewis doesn’t need to go overboard. He proves his goodness when he’s not trying too hard to prove anything. n Pig & Pickle

Pretzel-crusted cheese curds $8 Carrots $12 Braised lamb shoulder $18

Pretzel-cr $12|Brai $18

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34

SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

His Cooking Started With Coffee Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

I

f you’ve ever tasted the flaky, pepper-flecked biscuits at Living Room (2808 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood; 314-899-0173), you might presume co-owner and kitchen manager Nate Larson is a longtime baking master. However, Larson admits he wasn’t all that interested in cooking — or even food in general — for most of his life.

“I was picky as a kid, a French-fries-and-cheesesticks vegetarian in my adolescence, and a burgers-and-beer kind of person in college,” Larson says. “It wasn’t until the food scene in St. Louis really started to take off about ten or fifteen years ago that I saw food as something more than you can stuff in your face.”

While he did a brief stint as a teen at Brentwood’s Sonic Drive-In, Larson never dreamed of a career in the restaurant business. His career path seemed pretty clear. A creative-writing major in college, Larson got into the nonprofit world after graduation, working with adults with disabilities. His parents owned their own business in that field, and Larson planned to open an art center to serve organizations like theirs.

When Larson’s art-center plans came to an abrupt end, he had no idea what he wanted to do. But while he took a job working at a lumber mill in St. Charles, his father, Barry Larson, and his friend Chris Phillips had begun roasting coffee under the name Arthouse Coffee. Arthouse was going to farmer’s markets and had created a cold brew coffee that was being served at Southwest Diner; Larson could feel the momentum building.

When the old Black Cat Theater in Maplewood became available, Lar34

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Nate Larson was working at a lumber mill when he felt the coffee business calling. That ultimately led to a whole new life in food. | MONICA MILEUR son joined his father and Phillips in moving Arthouse’s operations there, initially conceiving of the retail space as a tasting room. They quickly saw a demand for more.

“We realized we had to sell cups of coffee; there was no way around it,” Larson explains. “And then when we were selling coffee, people would want to know if there was a cookie to go with it. I was like, ‘OK, how can I make a banging cookie? And that’s where my focus really branched off from coffee to food.’”

Larson began with cookies, then added breads, butters, spread and cinnamon rolls to his repertoire.

When customers saw that he had breads, they asked if he had eggs. The next thing he knew, he was making breakfast sandwiches.

“I just made some boiled eggs, put some bacon on there and it turned out to be good,” Larson recalls.

“From there, it was just one thing after another.”

Larson explains his ability to put out good food with minimal training not as natural culinary talent, but as a tenacity in figuring out things by

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

reverse engineering. It’s a skill he honed at the lumber mill.

“So much of building is sizing things up, measuring twice and relying on the tradition of established ways to do things,” Larson explains.

“It’s like making a beurre blanc: There is a way to do it and you don’t stray from that at first, but then you can add to it.”

Larson also credits neighbor Chris Bolyard of Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions as being a godsend. “He is the nicest person and is so giving with his knowledge,” says Larson. “In the beginning I had no clue. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and I’d go over and tell him I bought four cases of lettuce and didn’t know how to keep them fresh. He never made me feel untoward for asking such questions.”

These days, Larson still has quite a few questions for Bolyard, but he is holding his own, putting out a completely from-scratch menu of breakfast and lunch dishes and even the occasional special-occasion dinner here and there. As he looks back at how much has changed since

taking over the space in 2014 — significantly, his father is now out of the daily operations, replaced by his sister, Hannah, who keeps the place humming — he can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment at how much he’s achieved simply by being willing to figure things out as he goes.

“I’m a project guy,” Larson explains. “If you want to build an amusement park in Ellisville and no one else knows how to do it, you come to me. My most passionate pursuit is figuring out a new thing, which is why the food industry is a source of constant enjoyment. There’s always the question of ‘what’s next’ and figuring out how to deal with it.”

Larson took a break from making Living Room’s scrumptious biscuits to share his thoughts on the St. Louis restaurant scene, his musical side project and why he’d love to put the bad guys in a slippery situation.

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

I’m an avid musician and performer under Continued on pg 37

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35

[FOOD NEWS]

[FIRST LOOK]

MILAGRO’S LONG (TEMPORARY?) GOODBYE

Meet Court Louie, a Truck-Driven Eatery

M

Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

P

aul Listenberger, owner of Steak Louie, has been studying the food-truck scenes around the country for some time now — and as far as he can tell, his new collaborative venture, Court Louie (4001 Utah Street), is the first of its kind.

“I’ve done a lot of research, and I think I am the first one in the country to serve inside a building,” Listenberger says. “There are other food-truck courts out there, but from what I can tell I am the only one to offer it inside.”

Listenberger dreamed up the idea for Court Louie when he was out and about with the Steak Louie truck and interacting with other food truck proprietors. All had a common problem: When the weather was good, sales were good.

When the weather was bad, so was business. Not content with a fickle business model, Listenberger wondered if there was a way to generate sales even on cold and rainy days.

An inside concept, he realized, was an ideal solution.

“It’s always great to be out on the streets with other trucks and hanging out with other operators, but when it rains or it is cold there is nowhere to go to make sales,” Listenberger explains. “So I thought it would be really cool to get everyone from the commissary to sell together inside.”

Listenberger owns the building at 4001 Utah Street that was the former home of Annie Moon’s bakery. He has been using the space as a commissary for Steak Louie since February 2015. In addition to his business, Farmtruk, Go Gyro Go! and Locoz Taco have been preparing their wares in the on-site kitchen before hitting the streets over the course of the past year.

Because the building had ample seating space, Listenberg thought it also made sense to use it to ac-

36

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Court Louie offers one-stop shopping for some of the city’s favorite food trucks. | DOYLE MURPHY

commodate customers who might be interested in a truck’s food but didn’t want to brave the elements to get it. Listenberg presented the commissary team with the idea for a venture inspired by a mall food court, and they all eagerly signed on to the plan, figuring that banding together on such a venue would benefit them all.

The concept is straightforward.

On Fridays and Saturdays, guests can walk into Court Louie and head to a main counter where four different registers are manned by employees from each of the four food trucks. After placing an order, patrons then proceed to a table and wait for their food to be delivered.

If this sounds like a regular food court, it is not; all cooking is done on the trucks, which are parked outside the building. In other words, the food-truck experience is still there, just with the comfort and climate predictability of inside dining.

Guests seem to appreciate these creature comforts. Since its opening January 19, Court Louie has been warmly welcomed by its Tower Grove South neighbors.

“So far it’s been a really good reception,” Listenberger says. “People are really happy to see us, and the Tower Grove South community is really supportive of neighborhood businesses in general. Even Alderwoman Megan Green has been going out of her way to support us.”

The support is welcome after a rocky start. A spate of theft and

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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vandalism had pushed back initial opening plans. Listenberger was forced to repair several broken windows before the city would allow him to open for business, a process that took nearly five months.

Now that he is open, Listenberger is confident Court Louie is on the road to success. However, even if it is successful, he has no plans to expand the current location, noting that there is simply no space for any additional trucks to take up permanent residence. He says to expect to see a guest truck pop up here and there in the parking lot. If that isn’t enough variety, other trucks will be able to rotate into one of the permanent spaces if the regular tenant is off that particular day.

“That way there will be selection and variety,” he explains.

Listenberger hopes to have Court Louie’s liquor license secured very soon and notes that, when that happens, beer and wine will be available for consumption on site, as well as the option to grab a sixpack of beer to go. He and Farmtruk owner Samantha Mitchell have even discussed the idea of a bloody-mary bar for their weekend breakfast-and-brunch service.

“This is a family place, so we won’t be slinging shots or anything,” Listenberger notes. “It’s a family-friendly place. We just want to be a destination place and a place for the neighborhood.”

Court Louie is open on Fridays from 3 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from n 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

ilagro Modern Mexican (20 Allen Avenue, Suite 130, Webster Groves; 314962-4300) is on the hunt for a new home.

The acclaimed eatery announced in January it would not be renewing its lease after eight years in Old Webster Groves — and will be closing its doors to the public after dinner service on March 24.

Owners Jason and Adam Tilford, who also own the wildly successful Mission Taco Joint chain, say they are looking for a new space for Milagro — either in Webster Groves or in the surrounding area.

“Milagro is an amazing restaurant in a terrible location, and eight years later people still have a hard time finding us. We’d love to grow the Milagro concept alongside Mission Taco Joint, but to do so we need to be more accessible to the casual diner,” Adam Tilford said in a press-release statement.

“It’s sad to have to end this run at Milagro in Webster Groves, but I’m excited to find a new location and revitalize this concept we started eight years ago,” Jason Tilford, co-owner/ executive chef, added.

The restaurant’s landlord, Novus Development, also owns the Market at McKnight, “a newer, highly visible development on Manchester Road, not far from Milagro’s current location,” as the release notes.

“We thought we had a space lined up to move Milagro to the Market at McKnight and have a seamless transition,” Adam Tilford explained. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as we anticipated, leaving us to make this very difficult decision to close without a new space lined up.”

The Tilford Restaurant Group owns five Mission Taco Joint restaurants in St. Louis and Kansas City, the Mission Taco Truck and the Cater al Fresco catering company. The brothers say they hope to place Milagro employees at their other restaurants until they find a new location.

Oh, and the Tilfords says they are working with Mark Brennan of the Cozad Commercial Group — so, hey, you know what to do if you’ve got a space you’re seeking to fill.

—Sarah Fenske

NATE LARSON Continued from pg 34

[ T R AV E L ]

A Taste of Provel in Tampa

W

hen St. Louis restaurateur George Lane moved to Florida, he had no idea that he would find a huge community of Cardinals fans hungry for Provel cheese.

But that strong St. Louis base is what inspired Lane and his wife Toni to open Jake’s Pizza in Palm Harbor, introducing Provel-topped pizza to the Tampa area even while giving transplants from the Gateway City a taste of home.

“It’s unbelievable, the response.

You’d think they won the lottery!”

Lane says of his St. Louis customers. “I have people come in all the time who say they’re from St. Louis and want to know how things are going. ‘We were waiting for this for so long and want you to stay,’ they say. I keep saying we’re not going anywhere!”

Jake’s Pizza, named for Lane and Toni’s youngest son, offers a variety of pizza options, including the traditional mozzarella cheese and hand-tossed crust you’d find across the nation. But the St. Louis-based menu has become the Gulf Coast restaurant’s main attraction, with locals gobbling up “the St. Louis Experience,” a full meal of goodies made famous under the Arch. With toasted beef ravioli, the “Pasta House Salad,” thin-crust Provel-topped pie and gooey butter cake, the spread hits a Yadi-style home run.

“We get a lot of response on the gooey butter cake, and we make those in-house,” Lane says, whose father worked for years for the Affton-based Haas Baking Co., famous for its version. “We have a lot of people who aren’t from St. Louis who don’t know what it is, but just the words ‘gooey’ and ‘butter’ and ‘cake’ all together sound good, you know?”

Lane, who went to Lindbergh High School, previously owned Caleco’s Bar and Grill in downtown St. Louis. Since he opened Jake’s Pizza last summer, he says it has be-

1.3 MILLION

the stage name True Friends.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

A nightly snuggle with my kids and wife is a necessity.

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

I’ve always told people I’d choose to be able to become black ice at any time I wanted. I could slip up criminals and keep them on ice until the police arrived.

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

Places are super chill about my wife and I bringing our kiddos out to eat with us. That has been a nice surprise.

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

There’s good stuff here already, but more shawarma, please.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

The biggest name in all St. Louis freelance food photography — my boy Spencer Pernikoff. He is super gracious and a spectacular dancer.

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

Ari Ellis at the Cut. She is highly perseverant and super hardcore.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Cake. But cake is no ingredient, you say? Well, it’s an essential ingredient for happiness and love, so I’m like cake.

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

Maybe still working at a lumber mill in St. Charles.

What is your after-work hangout?

My after-work hangout is my basement where I write and rehearse my myooosic. It’s a true disco escape.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

I am not sure I’ll ever give up my sweet, sweet Diet Coke. Man, oh man.

What would be your last meal on earth?

If I get to choose my last meal on earth, does that mean I’m departing soon to the greatest and final frontier — SPACE?? In that case, give me the best food to prepare my body, mind and spirit for interstellar travel. n riverfronttimes.com FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

PEOPLE READ

Written by

ALLISON BABKA

DID YOU KNOW:

St. Louis faves, including Provel-topped pizza, are on offer at Jake’s. | COURTESY OF JAKE’S PIZZA come a gathering spot for displaced St. Louisans in the Sunshine State.

During a recent four-hour shift, he estimates that nine customers from the Gateway City dropped by, and many exclaim the same thing: “I didn’t know there were any St. Louis folks around here!”

“I’m like, ‘See that table over there? They’re from St. Louis. That table’s from St. Louis, that one, that one,’” Lane laughs. “We actually just started a Facebook group for St. Louis transplants in Florida, and we’re going to keep putting people in there who say they haven’t met anybody.”

But it’s not just St. Louisans who are digging the Provel magic at Jake’s Pizza — people with no connection to the Arch have learned to love the chewy cheese, too.

“I had my IT guy who’s from Chicago try the pizza, and he said, ‘Yeah, it’s alright,’” Lane recalls.

“But he called me a week later and asked what I’d put in the pizza. He said, ‘I’ve got to get more of it, I’m addicted to it, and I’ve been thinking about that pizza for the last three or four days.’”

Six months into Jake’s Pizza, Lane knows he’s tapped into a hungry market, and now he’s looking at opportunities for additional locations.

He says he’ll always include both traditional and Provel pies on his menu, but he’s also thinking about introducing a few more St. Louis items — like Pasta House’s pasta con broccoli — to Florida.

“I expected our thin-crust Provel pizzas to be about twenty percent of our business when we opened, and they are 68 percent of our business.

The business on the St. Louis stuff that we do increases every month,” Lane says. “That’s what’s cool down here — to see people trying it from other areas.”

For more info, check out www. n jakes.pizza.

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®

FRIDAY 2/9

SATURDAY 2/10

WEDNESDAY 2/14

THURSDAY 2/15

SUNDAY 2/18

TUESDAY 2/20

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4/25 THE DECEMBERISTS AT PEABODY OPERA HOUSE

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FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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MUSIC

39

[PREVIEW]

Know Your Mission Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman brings his DIY pop to St. Louis for the first time Written by

ROY KASTEN Jens Lekman

8 p.m. Saturday, February 10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $15. 314-498-6989.

T

he paradox behind most DIY pop is straightforward: A young artist endeavors to emulate the advanced studio genius of Phil Spector or Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney, and does so with a bunch of Radio Shack microphones in a bedroom or a basement or a closet. Most often, the go-it-alone sonic fantasies wind up charming but stand no chance of connecting with an audience that is not the aspiring auteur’s cats.

Jens Lekman, a 37-year-old Swedish songwriter and home producer, has rewritten the paradox with a sequence of homemade, low-budget recordings that never sound coy or lo-fi or pretentious, even when spinning up hyper-sampled parables of a blind girl and a boy suffering from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia (inspired by a film by Peter Bogdanovich), a near-death experience in a closing-time cab or a misheard expression of unrequited love. “Rocky Dennis’ Farwell Song,” “Black Cab” and “Maple Leaves,” singles written, recorded and largely performed

by Lekman in the early 2000s and released on the vaunted Secretly Canadian label, still sound magical, still have the power to create timeless, utterly personal sonic worlds, just as Pet Sounds or “Da Doo Ron Ron” did (and still do).

With the exception of a few years in Melbourne, Lekman has spent most of his life in his native

The Secretly Canadian musician comes to the United States only occasionally — and never before to Missouri. | ELLIKA HENRIKSON Gothenburg, Sweden, though at times he didn’t have a home in the city, preferring to store his stuff at his parents’ house. His elaborately orchestrated and sampled songs are populated by the outsiders of his city, the dreamers and fabulists who feel forever homeless even when they’re in the only home they’ll ever know.

“Every country has a Stockholm and a Gothenburg,” Lekman says on the phone from the latter.

“They are archenemies, opposites, like London and Manchester, Melbourne and Sydney. One is the flashy façade of the country, where you go as a tourist, and the other place is working class, with more industry. That was Gothenburg when I grew up. It was known for the Volvo factory, industrial landscapes, the harbor. It was the place where people worked. There wasn’t a lot of music or culture coming in.”

Lekman’s intricately looped, lilting homages to the city and its poetic underbelly have chronicled the changes that have befallen any

number of cities targeted by raider capitalism. When his characters head to the outskirts of town to hotwire a ferris wheel, they do so as a last stand for economic and creative hopes that are slipping away.

“So much has changed in the last fifteen years,” he says of his hometown. “It’s become a more cool place. There was a beauty in the old Gothenburg. It’s an interesting political and economic story. It’s fascinating but also sad.

A lot of things have been lost.

There’s a pursuit of fast money, rather than investing in the city.

Right now they’re demolishing rehearsal spaces for musicians to build a skyscraper with luxury flats. I don’t have a place to work right now. I can’t pay the rent.”

It would be wrong to say that Lekman clings to his cult status, though he relishes the intimacy it gives him with his small fan base. He lets slip the occasional EP and single, and paces full-length albums at about one every five years. In 2012 he had grand hopes riverfronttimes.com

for his most accomplished and personal recording, I Know What Love Isn’t; to understate matters, the album underperformed, and the artist drove boxes of unsold copies to a landfill. eBay didn’t seem worth the trouble. And yet those songs, all of his songs, have a luster that outshines their relative obscurity.

“I remember making the song ‘Maple Leaves’ one morning in 2000 or 2001,” he says of that early, creative breakthrough. “I set my alarm for 7 a.m. because my voice is dark in the morning, and I wanted that sound. Instead of singing, I worked on these samples and loops. I was done with it before lunch. I struggled to find that sound but I was happy with it. There’s that feeling when something comes together and you don’t know where it comes from. You listen and think, ‘This sounds amazing.’ But I am going to go to sleep now, and probably it will sound like shit in the morning. And then you wake up and it sounds even Continued on pg 41

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

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JENS LEKMAN Continued from pg 39 better. ‘My God, did I do that?’ I’ve had a few of those moments.”

For last year’s Life Will See You Now, his first album after the failure of I Know What Love Isn’t, Lekman did the last thing he ever imagined doing: He surrendered his songs to a producer and abandoned his home studio for a state of the art joint. Working with electronic producer and DJ Ewan Pearson, known for programming and remixes of the likes of the Depeche Mode, the Rapture and Gwen Stefani, Lekman finally found the eclectic yet danceable sound he hoped for.

“I picked Ewan because of his work with Tracey Thorn,” Lekman reflects. “She also came from a songwriter background and then moved into a dancy direction with Everything But the Girl. He found a good middle ground for her. I’ve always loved music that’s somewhere in between dance music and songwriter music, where it feels someone is writing the song on a piano or guitar, and then there’s the beats under it.”

Life Will See You Now could have been a disaster, just another failed attempt by Lekman to be something he’ll never be: a pop star made in someone else’s image.

“It was one of the most frustrating experiences in my life,” he says of making the album. “I hate letting go of control. I’ve tried to work with producers in the past; they were failures that I had to abandon. But this time I just let go completely. And that was the key.

But I couldn’t always hear what Ewan was hearing. We spent a lot of time recording a session bassist playing all these funky licks.

I thought, ‘Why are we wasting our time?’ Then he sent me a mix where he edited things together.

And I heard it. I’d never worked in a studio before. It was terrifying.”

Lekman has toured the states from time to time, but he’s never tapped into smaller markets like St. Louis. This week marks his first show in the city; he’ll be performing solo at Off Broadway, but fans of his beautiful bedroom pop need not worry. This will be more than a stripped-down acoustic night.

“It starts out as a storytelling evening,” he says, “but then I have a sampler with me, and it becomes a full-on dance party at the end. So bring your finest dancing shoes.”n

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[B-SIDES]

REQUIEM FOR A MENSCH Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

S

t. Louis is mourning the loss of a key figure in the city’s music scene: Tu Tien Tran, owner of the Upstairs Lounge (3131 South Grand Boulevard, 314358-2004), has died.

News of Tran’s passing began circulating on Facebook on January 31. No details as to the cause or circumstances are currently available.

Called by some “the Godfather of St. Louis EDM,” Tran was best known in the South Grand community for creating the Upstairs Lounge and making it a place welcoming to musicians and music fans who felt they had no other place to go.

“Now, you look around and see so many different music scenes, but when he was in his teens and early twenties back in the ’90s, places didn’t exist,” says Rachel Witt, executive director of the South Grand Community Improvement District.

“He felt like he needed to do something to change that. He was one of the pioneers who provided a place for people who were interested in underground music to go to.”

Tran was the son of Tai and Chi Kim Tran, Vietnamese immigrants and owners of the South Grand mainstay Mekong Restaurant. His sister, Bay Tran, later opened Tree House, which has earned acclaim

for its vegetarian dishes. wed. february 7 An avid music lover, Tran took URBAN CHESTNUT PRESENTS over Mekong’s upstairs space, THE VOODOO PLAYERS naming it the Upstairs Lounge and TRIBUTE TO PHISH 9pm turning it into a small club and bar.

More than just a venue, however, thur. february 15 the Upstairs was a platform for muPBR PRESENTS sical self-expression and a place for BACKUP PLANET FROM NASHVILLE up-and-comers and young artists to 9pm explore their craft in a welcoming and inclusive environment. It frequently played host to underground events, allowing EDM to continue to flourish in the city.

Tran held court over the Upstairs Lounge for more than two decades.

He is remembered for not just his contributions to the St. Louis music scene but his willingness to open up his business, and even home, to anyone who needed a place to go.

Alexis Tucci, an event producer, promoter and DJ, recalls Tran’s influence on the city’s music community. “He provided the first opportunities for so many people, and he never said no to anybody,” Tucci says. “His biggest contribution was that he passed no judgment on people’s musical preferences or their lives.”

She continues, “He never encouraged mainstream, and he never told anyone to play something outside of their personal interests.

You were always welcome to be who you were in that space.”

Witt echoes Tucci’s sentiment on Tran’s welcoming and open-minded spirit.

“What I loved most about him was his passion and his energy for the community,” says Witt. “He was so filled with life and possibilities.

He was the biggest dreamer. We need people like that.” n riverfronttimes.com FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018 RIVERFRONT TIMES

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FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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HOMESPUN

GRACE BASEMENT Mississippi Nights gracebasement.bandcamp.com

Grace Basement

7 p.m. Friday, February 16. Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Delmar Boulevard. Free. 314-721-4096.

I

n the promotional literature, Grace Basement is referred to as Kevin Buckley’s “side project.” It’s an apt enough designation; Buckley spends most of his professional life, and makes most of his money, playing traditional Irish music. He’s held down the Monday night slot at McGurk’s, that Soulard godhead of Irish music and fare, for longer than he can readily recall, and he routinely plays trad-music sessions and shows at home and abroad.

“This is just what it is; it’s literally something I do on the side,” Buckley says of Grace Basement. “I also feel like I’ve got so many other things going on too that it’s honestly hard to say it’s number one. Even though in certain ways it is a priority, artistically or whatever.”

But “side project” hardly gives the proper due to Grace Basement, his rootsy rock band that has just released its fourth album, the provocatively titled Mississippi Nights. The combination of Buckley’s many gifts — an inviting and occasionally yearning voice, control of simple and direct rock & roll dynamics, an intrinsic understanding of guitar-driven song craft from the Beatles to Sonic Youth — has helped make Grace Basement one of the most consistently accomplished bands in town. In other words: What Buckley does on the side is better than many, many people’s main gigs.

What began as a solo studio project has morphed into a few incarnations over the past decade and has comfortably settled into a nuanced, harmonically sophisticated rock band. Along with drummer Jill Aboussie, bassist Greg Lamb and relatively new addition Marc Schneider on guitar, Buckley leads Grace Basement back into the realm of electric guitar-driven music after 2013’s acoustic, folk-oriented Wheel Within a Wheel. He says his inspiration for Mississippi Nights was to create “a super-local record,” one named after the late, muchlamented rock club formerly located on the Landing.

“I wanted to make, in my mind, what typifies St. Louis rock & roll,” Buckley says. “That’s where the title came from — of course the club, I saw so many great shows there. I thought it was an apt symbol.”

That symbol, Buckley says, speaks to “a romance behind everything” on many of these songs, a cycle of idealization, actualization and disintegration that permeates not just love but art, music and even the rock & roll venues of our youth.

The shuffling, insistent “Summertime is Coming” best displays Grace Basement’s knack for wrapping something bittersweet in a shiny pop coating — a soaring melody that places hopeful expectations against the inertia of everyday reality.

Later, Buckley takes liberty with another name that carries well-known implications in the St. Louis music community. It may be happenstance that “Maybellene” was released within a year of Chuck Berry’s death, but

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Grace Basement’s version owes little to Chuck’s motorvatin’ original; this one is a slow, syrupy blues track buoyed by whirring organ, a three-piece saxophone section and Aboussie’s backing vocals.

Buckley says the connection to Berry wasn’t intentional: “It’s one of those writing devices — just start with a woman’s name,” he says with a laugh.

Buckley says that “Maybellene,” like several songs here, dates back to the same sessions that produced many of the tracks on his last, folk-tinted album. He and his friend, the New Orleans-based musician Joe Kile, still occasionally challenge each other to write a new song a day for 21 days. What comes out day after day is often a stylistic hodge-podge, and that has left more than enough grist for the next few records.

“I’ve been playing the long game with Wheel Within a Wheel, this record, and then the next one, whatever happens with that,” Buckley says. “I was kind of writing these songs and thought it would be cool to do an acoustic, stripped-down, kind of poppy record, and then do a rock & roll one, and then do a crazy one — like a more eclectic, White Album-y, They Might Be Giants thing.”

He also has plans for a true solo record in the future, one that is more acoustic and meant for the immediacy of live performance. That may be an odd designation coming from the leader and sole continual member of this band — would it be a side project of a side project?

— but the experience of self-recording this new record has Buckley thinking of how to peel back.

“It’s more a performance thing and a spatial thing — something that is performed and listened to in a more intimate situation,” he says. “Mississippi Nights is very much a studio record, even though it’s a little raw. After I got done with it, [I realized] I need to do things a little differently. I think I wasted a lot of time on it.

“You can really second-guess yourself making these records — how do I stop that?” Buckley asks. “That shit’s gotta be done live.”

–Christian Schaeffer

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Corner of Mendard & Allen riverfronttimes.com

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OUT EVERY NIGHT

THURSDAY 8

[CRITIC’S PICK]

BLASTAR: 9 p.m., $3. The Ready Room, 4195

6161.

JENS LEKMAN: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509

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

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

CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF

KENNY “BLUES BOSS” WAYNE & THE RENEGADES:

NATHAN JATCKO: w/ the Catch Crew, Yankee

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

Racers, Cat Jump, Kentucky Knife Fight,

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

Liberation Organ Trio, the Van Ella Band,

LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: 6 p.m., $5.

Naked Rock Fight, Brotherfather, Pavlov’s

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

Dog, John Henry, Sleep Stages 8 p.m., $10.

Louis, 314-436-5222.

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

PETTY CASH JUNCTION: 8 p.m., $15-$17.50.

314-498-6989.

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

FRUITION: 9 p.m., $13-$16. The Bootleg, 4140

314-726-6161.

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

POPPY: 8 p.m., $18-$20. The Ready Room, 4195

IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s

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

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

THE WLDLIFE: w/ Hardcastle, TREY 7 p.m.,

Louis, 314-436-5222.

$10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis,

JEREMIAH JOHNSON ACOUSTIC DUO: 4 p.m.,

314-535-0353.

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

SUNDAY 11

KENNY “BLUES BOSS” WAYNE: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s

“ORIGINS” CHAMBER PROJECT ST. LOUIS’ 10TH

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

ANNIVERSARY PARTY: 7 p.m., $5-$15. Schlafly

Louis, 314-436-5222.

Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-

KEYON HARROLD: 7 p.m., $30. Jazz At the

2337.

Bistro, 634 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-

GRANT ARGENT & KARA MCATEE: 11 a.m., free.

534-3663.

The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside

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

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

Mac Sabbath. | PAUL KOUDOUNARIS

way, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-6217880.

PEDRO THE LION: w/ Marie/Lepanto 8 p.m., $20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

RICH MCDONOUGH AND THE RHYTHM RENEGADES: 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

THE WILDERNESS: w/ Vagittarius, Holy Crow 9 p.m., $7. The Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

FRIDAY 9 CHRIS BANDI: 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

DR. ZHIVEGAS: 8 p.m., $7. Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

THE GRIPSWEATS: w/ DJ Hal Greens 10 p.m., $10-$12. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

IVAS JOHN BAND: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

PECTS: 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

Mac Sabbath 8 p.m. Tuesday, February 13.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $20 to $25. 314-833-3929.

Without the costumes, Mac Sabbath would be, simply, a pretty OK Black Sabbath cover band — nothing more. But in costume, singer Ronald Osbourne, guitarist Slayer MacCheeze, bassist Grimalice and drummer Catburglar form one of the most surreal live shows this side of McDonaldland. With lyrics that inject fast-food themes into Sabbath’s music — “Pair-a-Buns” (“Paranoid”), “Frying Pan” (“Iron Man”), “Sweet

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

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

Beef” (“Sweet Leaf”) — and a host of fitting stage props, Osbourne leads the group through a primary-colored fever dream of burgers and riffs that has delighted audiences across the country since 2014. Just remember: If you’re coming to the show expecting serious musicianship and faithfully executed Sabbath songs, you may leave disappointed. But if you’re there to laugh at some clowns, you’re in for a great night.

Order Up: Locals Breakmouth Annie and Brother Lee & the Leather Jackals will open the show.

—Daniel Hill

SATURDAY 10

5222.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND” & THE USUAL SUS-

NOTHING MORE: 7 p.m., $20-$25. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SMILE EMPTY SOUL: 7 p.m., $13-$15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

SOUL REUNION: 10:30 p.m., $7. Beale on Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-7880.

MONDAY 12 BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB: w/ Night Beats 8 p.m., $26. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

LOVEFEST, REVIVED: 7 p.m., $38. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-5339900.

MUSIC UNLIMITED BAND: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

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

KENNY “BLUES BOSS” WAYNE & THE RENE-

OLD TIME ASSAULT: 9 p.m., $5. The Haunt,

BLUE WATER HIGHWAY: 8 p.m., $12. The

GADES: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

5000 Alaska Ave, St. Louis, 314-481-5003.

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

TUESDAY 13

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

SLEEPING BAG: w/ Daytime Television, Á

775-0775.

ETHAN LEINWAND & FAT TUESDAY PARTY: 8

KEY GRIP: w/ Paperkite, Fragile Farm, neb-

Bientôt 9:30 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer,

BOB CASE & THE WILD ACCUSATIONS: 2 p.m., $5.

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

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

3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

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

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

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

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: 9 p.m., $25-$35. The

Louis, 314-436-5222.

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

MY SUNNY VALENTINE: ERIN BODE WITH DAN

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

FATPOCKET: 8 p.m., $7. Kirkwood Station

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

RUBRIGHT’S WIRE PILOTS: 8 p.m., $15-$20.

726-6161.

Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson Ave, Kirk-

Olive Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis,

YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND: 8 p.m.,

wood, 314-966-2739.

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

314-560-2778.

$30-$35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St.

HOLY CROW: w/ Slow Down Scarlett, Angelhead

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

OF MICE & MEN: w/ blessthefall, Fire From

Louis, 314-726-6161.

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

621-7880.

The Gods, Cane Hill, MSCW 7 p.m., $23.50-

ZAIUS: w/ Ashes And Iron, Dodecad 8 p.m.,

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

LOVEFEST, REVIVED: 7 p.m., $38. The Sheldon,

$27. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave,

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

JACOB SARTORIUS: 5 p.m., $25-$30. The Pag-

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

St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

314-289-9050.

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

9900.

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FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Keyon Harrold 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8.

The Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue. $30. 314-571-6000.

In the years since Ferguson went from one of many St. Louis suburbs to a byword for unrest and the ongoing pursuit of civil rights for all, the city’s legacy as a birthplace of rock, soul and jazz musicians has only been elevated.

Michael McDonald remains the O.G., but last year’s Soul of Ferguson found gospel-trained soul singer Brian Owens taking on bigger stages, while native son Keyon Harrold’s The Mugician found the trumpet player playing host

to a variety of vocalists against a trippy, beat-driven jazz background. Having toured with and performed on tracks

by Beyoncé, Gregory Porter and Mac Miller, Harrold has long showed his range, but The Mugician was a timely reminder of his vision as a writer, arranger and collaborator. Harrold comes home for a midweek two-night stand the Bistro this Wednesday and Thursday.

Mean Mugging: The Mugician features vocals from Gary Clark, Jr., Robert Glasper and Big K.R.I.T., though there’s no telling who he’ll bring on stage with him this week.

—Christian Schaeffer

MAC SABBATH: 8 p.m., $20-$25. The Ready

BEN KRONBERG: W/ Tina Dybal, Max Price,

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

Kenny Kinds, Tue., Feb. 27, 8 p.m., $10. The

833-3929.

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

PNB ROCK: w/ Lil Baby 8 p.m., $29.50-$32.50.

314-833-3929.

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

BIG LOVE: Sat., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., $7. Kirkwood

314-726-6161.

Station Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson

WILD RIVERS: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509

Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

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

BLASTAR: Thu., Feb. 8, 9 p.m., $3. The Ready

WEDNESDAY 14

Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314833-3929.

BAHAMAS: 8 p.m., $18-$23. Delmar Hall, 6133

BOB CASE & THE WILD ACCUSATIONS: Sat., Feb.

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

10, 2 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

EXCISION: w/ Dion Timmer, Monxx 8 p.m.,

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

$35-$40. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

THE BONBON PLOT: Sat., Feb. 24, 8 p.m., $10.

Louis, 314-726-6161.

Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton,

HACKENSAW BOYS: w/ Andrea Colburn, Mud

618-462-5222.

Moseley 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Bootleg, 4140

BOSTON MANOR: W/ Free Throw, Homesafe,

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

Hot Mulligan, Save Face, Sun., April 15, 6

JOSH GARRETT BAND: 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

p.m., $15-$17. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Lou-

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

is, 314-289-9050.

314-436-5222.

CHICAGO, REO SPEEDWAGON: Sat., June 23, 7 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre,

THIS JUST IN

I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

AFTER 7: W/ Rhoda G, Sun., April 1, 7 p.m.,

CORY BRANAN: W/ Two Cow Garage, Sun.,

$37.50-$67.50. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry

March 4, 7 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509

Rd, North St. Louis County, 314-869-9090.

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

ALT-J: Wed., June 6, 7 p.m., $53.50-$73.50.

DARKNESS DIVIDED: W/ Charcoal Tongue,

Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market St, St.

Sun., April 8, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108

Louis, 314-499-7600.

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

AMZY: Fri., March 9, 8 p.m., $10. Blueberry

DAVE DICKEY BIG BAND: Sun., March 11, 5

Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

p.m., $20. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel

University City, 314-727-4444.

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

AUDRA MCDONALD: Sun., May 6, 7 p.m., $39-

DEVIN THE DUDE: Sat., March 24, 8 p.m.,

$125. Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts

$20-$25. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

Center, 1 University Dr at Natural Bridge

314-289-9050.

Road, Normandy, 314-516-4949.

DR. ZHIVEGAS: Fri., Feb. 9, 8 p.m., $7. Kirk-

BANDTOGETHER ANNIVERSARY CONCERT 2018:

wood Station Brewing Company, 105 E.

Sat., March 17, 8 p.m., free. The 560 Music

Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

Center, 560 Trinity Ave., University City, 314-

DYLAN MOIR: W/ Holy Posers, Heavy Weather,

421-3600.

MARDI GRAS’ BEST PARTY IS ... FREE

HUGE HEATED TENT ... CASH BARS ... BATHROOMS NON-STOP ENTERTAINMENT ... CATCH BEADS

Continued on pg 48

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THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 47

Abbey, 6500 W. Main St., Belleville, 618-3983176. Tue., April 24, 7 p.m., free. Nadine’s Gin Joint, 1931 S. 12th St., St. Louis, 314-436-

Sat., March 3, 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423

3045.

South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

REVEREND HORTON HEAT: W/ Big Sandy, Lara

EARTH GROANS: W/ This Is Me Breathing,

Hope & The Ark-Tones, Sat., June 9, 8 p.m.,

Dead Ends, Cavil, Mon., March 12, 6 p.m.,

$22-$25. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St.

$12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

Louis, 314-588-0505.

314-289-9050.

RICHIE DARLING AND THE DIAMOND CUT BLUES

ETHAN LEINWAND & FAT TUESDAY PARTY: Tue.,

BAND: W/ The Ex-Bombers, Fri., March 9,

Feb. 13, 8 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

9 p.m., $5. The Haunt, 5000 Alaska Ave, St.

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

Louis, 314-481-5003.

FABULOUS MOTOWN REVUE: Sat., Feb. 24,

S. CAREY: W/ Gordi, Wed., March 21, 8 p.m.,

8 p.m., free. Kirkwood Station Brewing

$15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis,

Company, 105 E. Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood,

314-498-6989.

314-966-2739.

SLAID CLEAVES: Sun., July 22, 7 p.m., $20. Off

FATPOCKET: Sat., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., $7. Kirkwood

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

Station Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson

498-6989.

Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

FRENSHIP: Wed., April 4, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Off

THE SLEEPY RUBIES CD RELEASE SHOW: Sat.,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

March 3, 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314498-6989.

The Weather Station. | VIA HIGH ROAD TOURING

GLASSLANDS: W/ Glorious Than I, Neither Of Me, Bridges, Eyes From Above, Sat., April 7, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

The Weather Station

Louis, 314-535-0353.

8 p.m. Wednesday, February 14.

GRIFFIN AND THE GARGOYLES: Fri., Feb. 16, 8

Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Boulevard. $18 to $23.

314-726-6161.

p.m., $7. Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 E. Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood, 314-9662739.

HARD LOSS EP RELEASE: W/ Scouts Honor, For the City, Man The Helm, Sat., March 10, 8 p.m., $12-$14. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE HILLBENDERS: Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $25$35. The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, 314-533-9900.

I CAN’T TURN YOU LOOSE: A CELEBRATION OF STAX RECORDS: W/ Kim Massie, Roland Johnson, Gene Jackson, Emily Wallace, Eugene Johnson, Sat., Feb. 24, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

IVAS JOHN & BRIAN CURRAN: Thu., Feb. 8,

Joni Mitchell casts a shadow over contemporary singer-songwriters that’s as long as it is fleeting. But few in the for-the-sake-of-the-song tradition have understood Mitchell as well as Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station. The Toronto native sings with haunting, jazz-scaled instincts, and her melodies, like Mitchell’s, transform the dream-like sounds of the Great North American songbook through existential acrobatics. On last year’s

self-titled album, Lindeman includes drums and pianos and string sections, the occasional crackling electric guitar, and shrewdly personal politics in songs such as “Complicit” and “Free.” Lindeman is a major talent; if her opening slot for Bahamas at this show marks your first encounter, you won’t forget it.

Canadian Crooner: Of late, headliner Afie Jurvanen, aka Bahamas, has been putting some distance between himself and the soft rock (if not Jack Johnson) comparisons with spare and tingling tunes that showcase his smooth and agile voice.

—Roy Kasten

SLOAN: Fri., June 22, 8 p.m., $22-$25. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

SONGBIRD CAFE: Wed., Feb. 28, 7 p.m., $15$20. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis, 314-560-2778.

SPOON: Wed., May 16, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50.

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

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES: W/ The Mastersons, Sat., March 17, 8 p.m., $30-$35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161.

TEXAS HIPPIE COALITION: W/ Kobra And The Lotus, Brand of Julez, Granny 4 Barrel, Sun., May 20, 6 p.m., $18-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

THAMES: W/ Mitchell Ferguson, Freethinker, Sun., March 4, 7 p.m., $5-$7. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

THE STORY COLLIDER: BEST LAID PLANS: Wed., March 7, 7 p.m., $10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

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

THROW THE THORNS: Fri., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., $7.

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

IVAS JOHN BAND: Fri., Feb. 9, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s

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

Fri., March 23, 8 p.m., $20. The Sheldon, 3648

Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 E.

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

LISA LAMPANELLI: Sat., May 5, 8 p.m., $29.50-

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

Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood, 314-966-2739.

Louis, 314-436-5222.

$49.50. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River

MIDDLE KIDS: Tue., June 12, 8 p.m., $12-$14.

THY ART IS MURDER: W/ Dying Fetus, Sanction,

JOSH GARRETT BAND: Wed., Feb. 14, 8 p.m.,

City Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

Rivers Of Nihil, Enterprise Earth, Tue., April

$10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broad-

LIZ COOPER & THE STAMPEDE: Tue., March 6, 8

Louis, 314-833-3929.

17, 7 p.m., $20-$23. The Ready Room, 4195

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

p.m., $10-$13. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE GLEE CLUB: Sun., March

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

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: Thu., Dec. 13, 7 p.m.,

Ave, St. Louis, 314-935-7003.

11, 4 p.m., $15-$50. Central Visual and Per-

TIMBER TIMBRE: Fri., April 13, 8 p.m., $13-

TBA. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND” & THE USUAL SUS-

forming Arts High School (Central VPA), 3125

$15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St.

Louis, 314-241-1888.

PECTS: Sun., Feb. 11, 7 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

S. Kingshighway, St. Louis, 314-771-2772.

Louis, 314-588-0505.

KAMIKAZE COLE: W/ JDK, Belli Beno, J Taime

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

MT. JOY: Tue., May 8, 8 p.m., $13-$15. Blueber-

TOWER OF POWER: Sat., Aug. 11, 7 p.m., $40-

the Saint, Del Broadway, Angelo, SiFu, Sat.,

314-436-5222.

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

$50. River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City

April 14, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust

LUCY ROSE: W/ Charlie Cunningham, Tue.,

University City, 314-727-4444.

Casino Blvd., St. Louis, 314-388-7777.

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

March 20, 8 p.m., $18-$20. Off Broadway,

MUSIC UNLIMITED BAND: Mon., Feb. 12, 8 p.m.,

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KENNY “BLUES BOSS” WAYNE: Thu., Feb. 8,

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

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March 2, 9 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Man-

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

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

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

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

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State, Birds Of Squalor, Thu., April 5, 8 p.m.,

GADES: Fri., Feb. 9, 10 p.m., $5. Sat., Feb. 10,

314-345-9600.

314-289-9050.

$8-$10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

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

LYFE JENNINGS: Fri., March 16, 8 p.m., $30-

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289-9050.

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

$50. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd, North

TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70

WEEDEATER: W/ Bask, Hyborian, Thu., March

LARRY GRIFFIN & ERIC MCSPADDEN: Sat., Feb.

St. Louis County, 314-869-9090.

& Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-

29, 8 p.m., $18-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St.

10, 6 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

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298-9944.

Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

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RAW EARTH: Tue., Feb. 27, 7 p.m., free.

WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY: Wed., April 18, 7:30

LINCOLN DURHAM: Sat., May 5, 8 p.m., $13-

Louis, 314-726-6161.

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p.m., $48-$123.50. Peabody Opera House,

$15. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504

MICHAEL DAVES: W/ Kaia Kater, Steve James,

314-436-3045. Fri., March 9, 7 p.m., free. The

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

48

RIVERFRONT TIMES

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE SHOWING UP

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: How does one get into the gay BDSM bottoming and leather scene?

Seeking Answers Concerning Kink One shows up, SACK. “Eighty percent of success is just showing up,” someone or other once said. The adage applies to romantic/sexual success as well as professional success, SACK, but showing up easily accounts for 90 percent of success in the BDSM/leather/fetish scene. (Being a decent human being accounts for the other 110 percent*.)

Because if you aren’t showing up in kink spaces — online or IRL — your fellow kinksters won’t be able to find or bind you. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

“The leather scene is a diverse place with tons of outlets and avenues, depending on how you navigate your life and learn,” said Amp from Watts the Safeword (wattsthesafeword.com), a kink and sex-ed website and YouTube channel.

“When I was first getting started, I found a local leather contingent that held monthly bar nights and discussion groups that taught classes for kinksters at any level. It provided an easy way into the community, and it helped me meet new people, make new friends, and find trustworthy play partners. If you’re a tad shy and work better online, these contingents have Facebook groups or FetLife pages you can join. And YouTube has a channel for everyone in the kink spectrum from gay to straight to trans to nonbinary and beyond!”

“Recon.com is a great option for gay men,” said Metal from the gay male bondage website MetalbondNYC.com. “It’s a site where you can create a profile, window-shop for a play buddy, and ‘check his references.’ Even better, if you can, go to a public event like IML, MAL, or CLAW, or to a play party like the New York Bondage Club, where you can participate in a monitored space with other people around, or just watch the action. Don’t forget the motto ‘safe, sane, and consensual,’ and be sure to have a safe word! And if you do want to explore bondage,

take precautions. Never get tied up in your own home by someone you don’t know. If you go to his or her place, always tell a trusted friend where you are going. And when hooking up online, never use Craigslist.”

“Be cautious,” said Ruff of Ruff’s Stuff blog. “There are people out there who view ‘kink newbies’ as prey. Anytime anyone—top or bottom—wants to rush into a power-exchange scene, that’s a red flag.

Always get to know a person first.

A good-quality connection with any potential playmate is achieved only through communication. If they are not interested in doing the legwork, they’re not the right person for you.”

Follow Metal on Twitter @MetalbondNYC, follow Amp @Pup_Amp, and follow Ruff @RuffsStuffBlog.

Hey, Dan: I’m a 28-year-old bi-curious female, and I ended a three-year straight LTR a month ago. It’s been tough — my ex is a great guy, and causing him pain has been a loss on top of my own loss, but I know I did the right thing. Among other things, our sex life was bland and we had infrequent sex at best. Now I want to experiment, explore nonmonogamy, and have crazy and fulfilling sex with whoever tickles my fancy. I met a new guy two weeks ago, and the sex is incredible. We also immediately clicked and became friends. The problem? I suspect he wants a romantic relationship. He says he’s open to my terms — open/fuck-buddy situation — but things have quickly become relationship-ish. I like him, but I can’t realistically picture us being a good LTR match. I’m hoping we can figure out something in between—something like a sexual friendship where we enjoy and support each other and experiment together without tying ourselves down—but I have found very little evidence of such undefined relationships working without someone getting hurt. I am sick of hurting people! Any advice?

Hoping Open Peaceful Experiences Feel Unlike Loss If “someone might get hurt” is the standard you’re going to apply to all future relationships— if it’s a deal breaker — then you shouldn’t date or fuck anyone else ever again, HOPEFUL, because there’s always a chance someone is going to get hurt. The fact

that hurt is always a possibility is no excuse for hurting others needlessly or maliciously; we should be thoughtful and conscientious about other people’s feelings. We should also remember that no one is clairvoyant and that someone can hurt us without intending to. But there’s no intimate human connection, sexual or otherwise, that doesn’t leave us open to hurting or being hurt.

So fuck this guy, HOPEFUL, on your own terms — but don’t be too quick to dismiss the possibility of an LTR. Great sex and a good friendship make up a solid foundation.

You’re aware that nonmonogamous relationships are an option — and couples can explore nonmonogamy together. If you can have this guy and have your sexual adventures, too — this could be the start of something big.

Hey, Dan: I’m a mid-20s, above-average-looking gay dude into spanking guys. The weird thing is, the only guys I can find to spank are straight. It’s not that they’re closeted — most of them go on to have girlfriends, and that’s when we stop — and they make it clear they don’t want anything sexual to happen. No complaints on my end! But why don’t they want a woman spanking them?

Seriously Perplexed And Needing Knowledge How do you know their new girlfriends don’t start spanking them when you stop? And how do you know they aren’t closing their eyes and imaging that you’re a woman when you’re spanking them? And how do you know they’re not bi — at least where spankings are concerned? (Also: There are tons of gay guys out there into spanking, SPANK. So if you aren’t finding any, I can only conclude that you aren’t looking.)

Hey, Dan: I’m wondering about the application of the term “bear” to a straight man, such as myself. I’m a bigger guy with a lot of body hair and a beard. I love that in the gay community there is a cute term for guys like me reflecting body positivity. For us straight dudes, however, being big and hairy means getting thought of as an ape — big, dumb, smelly oafs.

While I can be dumb, smelly and oafish at times (like anyone), I’d also like riverfronttimes.com

49

to have a way to describe myself that is masculine yet attractive. Bear is a great term, but I’m concerned about being insensitive in appropriating it.

I haven’t asked my gay/bear friends about it (though they’ve referred to me as a bear on occasion) because I’m afraid I won’t get a straight answer (no pun intended). Would it be OK for me to refer to myself as a bear or, as a highly privileged straight cis male, do I need to accept the fact that I can’t have everything and maybe leave something alone for fucking once?

Hetero Ape Inquiring Respectfully, Yup “If you want to be a bear, BE A BEAR!” said Brendan Mack, an organizing member of XL Bears (xlbears.org), a social group for bears and their admirers. “DO YOU! There isn’t anything appropriative about a straight guy using the term ‘bear’ to describe himself — it’s a body type, it’s a lifestyle, and it’s celebrating yourself. Gay, straight, hairy, smooth, fat, muscled — bear is a state of mind. It’s body acceptance.

It’s acceptance of who you are. So if you want to be a bear, WELCOME TO THE WOODS!” Matt Bee, the promoter behind Bearracuda Worldwide (bearracuda.com), seconded Mack. “The term ‘bear,’ like any other animal descriptor, is a pretty playful one to begin with. Please, by all means, use it and any other well-meaning word to describe yourself!”

* Math is hard.

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

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

FEBRUARY 7-13, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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