Riverfront Times - January 31, 2018

JANUARY 31–FEBRUARY 6, 2018 I VOLUME 42 I NUMBER 4

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Your Guide to

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OFFICERS FRIENDLY

Cherokee tries a new — but still age-old — experiment: beat cops

BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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“The Granite City Art and Design District is a place that is not familiar to a lot of people on the other side of the river. But it’s this free play of buildings and cars and vacant lots. There’s nothing like this anywhere else, except maybe the City Museum is a parallel. The chance to have a venue, as a writer, scholar and sometimes public artist, to be able to play like this with a car and a new format, this is the only place you could do it in St. Louis without doing it in your own backyard or in a vacant lot in your own neighborhood. I think more people should come over and check it out.”

—Michael allen, photographed during a perforMance of his one-Man show Democracy Is overrateD in granite city, illinois, on January 27

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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6

TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

11.

Officers Friendly

Cherokee tries a new — but still age-old — experiment: beat cops

Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Cover photography by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

NIGHTLIFE

5

17

27

37

The Lede

Calendar

Cafe

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

Cheryl Baehr raves about Ari Jo Ellis’ butchery at the Cut

8

19

31

Immigration

Doyle Murphy meets a Liberian immigrant seeking to bring her offspring to the U.S.

8

Film

A Stupid and Futile Gesture focuses on the man who shaped comedy in the 1970s — and beyond

For William Mabrey, Yolklore’s attention to breakfast was a revelation

20

First Look

Community

The woman behind that Cartman-style beanie on Compton brings warmth through knitting

Todd Allen’s new book focuses on what happened at Kirkwood City Hall during a mass shooting — and its aftermath

32

Stage

Sara Graham checks out Louie, now open on DeMun

Paul Friswold ponders The How and the Why at the New Jewish Theatre

21

9

Crime

Side Dish

Galleries

32

Twisted Roots prepares to open in Midtown

Photographer Dave Moore created a set of 63 trading cards to highlight St. Louis artists

22

Mardi Gras 2018

Your complete guide to this year’s festivities 6

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Food News

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33

Foodstuffs

The Impossible Burger comes to St. Louis

Comedy

Thomas Crone profiles Reena Calm, who’s returning to town after headlining the Flyover Comedy Festival

40

Homespun

Necessities Be Kind Simulacra

42

Out Every Night

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

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This week’s new concert announcements

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314-622-BLUE | stlouisblues.com JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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NEWS

After 14 Years, She Dreams of Family Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

O

ver the years, Mary Tugbah tried to get things ready for her family to join her in St. Louis.

She got a job in the laundry room at the old Millennium Hotel downtown and an apartment off Morganford Road in south city.

When the hotel closed, she moved on to cleaning another hotel, and when that one closed too, she started cleaning yet another one.

“She saved every penny,” Sister Paulette Weindel says.

Originally from the African country of Liberia, Tugbah had survived two civil wars and arrived in St. Louis in 2004, figuring she could establish herself and bring her three grown children along shortly after. Much of her family died during the conflicts in her home country, and she had hoped to regroup in the U.S. “My mom died,” Tugbah says, sobbing hard as she describes a tragic history.

“My pa died. My sister died, too.”

Yet bringing her family back together has been more difficult that she had thought. Because her children were older than 21, immigration family reunification rules make it harder to gain permission

Mary Tugbah is trying to bring her grown kids to St. Louis from the Ivory Coast. | DOYLE MURPHY for them to join her in St. Louis. Tugbah has kept saving, hoping she will someday make enough money to sponsor them. She became a citizen in 2011. She now has two grandchildren. She collects stuffed animals to give them when they finally meet.

Along with Sister Paulette, who has shepherded generations of immigrants and refugees through her work at St. Pius V Catholic Church, Tugbah has a network of allies. It includes Melissa Elliott of New City Fellowship in Tower Grove South, where Tugbah is part of a multicultural, multinational congregation.

Jeannine Cole, an employment specialist with the nonprofit Bilingual

International Assistant Services, has helped her find new jobs through a string of bad luck with hotel closures. There is also Sister Kate Reid, who is a nun as well as an immigration legal advocate with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

Together, the group has tried to help Tugbah bring her children and grandchildren to St. Louis. Lately, they feel like they’re getting closer.

Her offspring, who now live across the border from Liberia in the Ivory Coast, are gathering their paperwork and could have interviews with the U.S. Consulate this year.

“The ideal is for them to come all together,” Cole says.

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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However, it looks more likely that they will have to come individually. Tugbah, 66, is now working part-time after yet another hotel closure and makes only about $200 per week. If the 2018 guidelines to sponsor a family member remain the same, she would be required to make more than $15,000 a year — nearly $5,000 more than her current income. The minimum salary increases with each additional sponsorship. Tugbah needs to show she is capable of supporting each person she brings to the U.S., although her allies point out her grown children would probably be the ones taking care of their mother as she grows older.

They’re hoping to find other citizens willing to sponsor one or more of Tugbah’s children, who are in their 40s. A sponsor would need to meet those income requirements, plus show they could support members of their own households.

If they can’t bring all her children and grandchildren at once, Tugbah’s supporters have suggested that just bringing Tugbah’s middle son, Peter, to St. Louis, would go a long way, since he could go to work and eventually help bring the others. He has already passed his security clearance and is trying to collect the rest of his paperwork, some of which he’ll need to return to Liberia to pick up in person. Nothing about trying to immigrate from a war-torn country is easy.

It’s been nearly fifteen years since Tugbah has seen Peter. Even though there are still significant barriers, she smiles when she thinks of finally having some family in St. Louis.

“I be happy,” she says. n

A ball at the intersection of Shenandoah and Compton is cozy, even on cold nights. | BROOKE ROSEBERRY

A Giant Hat for a Giant Ball

I Todd Smith, right, with his husband David Kaplan. | COURTESY OF TODD SMITH

Shot Twice, He Takes Aim in a New Book Written by

SARAH FENSKE

T

he first time Todd Smith got shot, he’d just gone to 7Eleven for a Slurpee. The shop was in a not-so-great neighborhood, and he ended up being confronted by gunmen on his way home. He ran; they shot him in the leg.

The second time came ten years later. On February 7, 2008, Smith was covering the Kirkwood City Council for the Suburban Journals, the community newspaper group affiliated with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when a gunman opened fire at the meeting.

The man, Charles “Cookie” Thornton, had been a regular presence at council meetings, ranting about corruption. He killed two police officers, the public works

director, two council members and the mayor. Smith, who was shot in the hand, was the only victim who survived.

Rehabilitation wasn’t easy — Smith says he needed extensive physical therapy — and it was made even more difficult by what happened next: The paper laid him off just fourteen months later.

Still, he’s philosophical.

Explaining that he worked for a few years after that at the State JournalRegister in Springfield, Illinois, before being laid off there too, he seems to shrug almost audibly.

“The newspaper business,” he says.

At 47, Smith has now survived twenty years after the first shooting and ten years after the second — which could make 2018 seem like a particularly ominous year.

If you’ve been shot in 1998 and shot in 2008, what do you in 2018 but spend the year hiding under the covers — especially in a nation (and a city) where random gun violence seems all too common?

But rather than let the incidents stop him, Smith has turned them into literature. His soon-to-bereleased book, Murder, Romance and Two Shootings, is a lightly fictionalized memoir of the tragic events and his love affair with his partner, David Kaplan, who stayed

by his side as he recovered after the second shooting. They married in 2009 and now live in Edwardsville, Illinois, where they are raising their young son (he’ll be three in March).

The book is being released by Nine Star Press, an Albuquerquebased publisher specializing in gay and lesbian themes. Smith says he worked on it on and off for years, finishing a first draft during National Novel-Writing Month in 2011. Becoming a dad slowed his progress — “I spent a couple years at home taking care of him,” he says. “I kept talking about getting the book done, and I finally did it when he went to daycare.”

For Smith, writing the book was “somewhat therapeutic,” but he acknowledges that the violence he’s experienced has left him somewhat cynical about the concept of “safety” in modern America. Of mass shootings, he says, “I try my best not to watch too much coverage of [them], or it just brings me back to it. There haven’t been any congressional bills to slow any of that down, and so I now live in the reality where it doesn’t surprise me.”

He adds ruefully, “Life is a war zone, in my viewpoint. I can’t go back to thinking things are safe.” n riverfronttimes.com

f you’ve driven around St. Louis’ 6th Ward lately, you’ve probably noticed the prodigious concrete balls stationed at six intersections along Compton. Intended to encourage drivers to slow down at intersections and stop signs, the balls have also drawn grumbles from motorists and locals.

Brooke Roseberry is one of those locals, and she readily admits that she’s not the biggest fan of the balls.

But she’s also grown weary of the negativity surrounding the controversial spheres, and so she decided to add something cozy to the picture: a ginormous hat.

And when we say “ginormous,” we mean ginormous.

Roseberry tells Riverfront Times that she started crocheting the adorable and monstrouslysized head-piece during a meeting of the monthly Stitch’n Bitch knitting group held at the nearby Kitchen House Coffee.

“I had all this wool from a blanket that I never finished, and I wanted to get rid of it,” she says. All told, the work took around three hours to complete.

So far, only one ball, at the corner of Shenandoah and Compton avenues, is rocking a Cartman-style beanie, but Roseberry hopes her cozy artwork will encourage more.

“I’m really hoping that more people will do them, to decorate all the balls,” she says.

Painting, she warns, would likely raise the hackles of city officials. Hats seem like the safest route. “If anyone wants to do one, they definitely should feel like they can. The more the merrier.”

You hear that, knitters and crocheters of St. Louis? We’ve got some balls that need hats! Top hats! Derby hats!

Bowlers! Ten points to the first crafter who sticks a fez on there.

—Danny Wicentowski

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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OFFICERS FRIENDLY

On duty on a cold night, officers Devin Guajardo (left) and Jazmon Garrett serve as the department’s anchors on Cherokee Street.

Cherokee tries a new — but still age-old — experiment: beat cops STORY AND PHOTOS BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI

C

herokee Street wakes up slowly.

It is a cold Friday morning in December, and the business district is basically deserted, its stasis disrupted only by the passing traffic and a bitter, whistling wind.

Crunching their fingers inside thin gloves, two St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers walk west along the sidewalk.

The embroidery on the front of their uniform jackets says, incorrectly, “Downtown Bike Unit.” Although Devin Guajardo and Jazmon Garrett also work assault investigations and pull overtime patrols all over the city, the two officers actually serve in a unit all their own. They belong to Cherokee Street.

Day to day, nine to five — or two to ten at night — they traverse a three-quarter-mile stretch populated with bars, restaurants, music venues, Mexican groceries, furniture stores, resale shops and antique emporiums.

The pair represent a throwback to days of yore, back when the department had manpower to spare. They are “community policing” in action.

This stretch of Cherokee bustles with a potent mixture of family businesses, entrepreneurial energy and youth culture. At the same

time, the area has seen more than its share of violent crime, so much so that, starting in 2015, the department plunged resources into Gravois Park and the surrounding area, with the intent to topple the crime rates that were leading the district.

Eventually, those resources would include two newbie officers, neither more than two years out of the academy, but who both showed a knack for a certain set of policing skills.

The taller of the two, Guajardo, has her eyes hidden behind slender black aviators.

She clangs through the metal door to the Cherokee Market, in the midst of describing the duo’s work on the assault team — “We’re like part-time detectives,” she says — when she’s greeted by the man behind the register.

“I haven’t seen you for a while,” he says.

“We’ve been busy,” says Garrett. She slides off her earmuffs. “They’ve got us doing so much.”

Today, though, Guajardo and Garrett are back on the beat. They will return here several times over the next eight hours, not just to warm up, but to trade crucial gossip — about past crimes, new faces and potential signs of trouble. In the afternoon, Guajardo will post up near a rack of cheap snacks and stoically evaluate the crop of teenagers who start to flood the area when school lets out.

One teen will take one look at the glowering riverfronttimes.com

cop and turn tail, bounding at a full sprint out of the shop.

Indeed, you work in one place long enough, and people will start to recognize you. Work as a cop in one place long enough, and people will start to depend on you, confide in you and maybe even befriend you. Others will try to avoid you, knowing they can’t pull anything while you’re around.

The radio on Guajardo’s shoulder squawks.

It’s an incident on Ohio Avenue, just a few blocks away. “Male and female fighting ... male is making threats toward the female ... caller is also irate that police have not arrived yet.”

Someone else is on their way to check out the altercation. On this morning, the officers have nowhere to be but where they are. Beyond this street, the regular patrol officers in District 3 bounce from crime to crime, taking incident reports and passing cases to detectives before driving by SUV to the next mugging, car theft, assault or domestic disturbance. The Cherokee beat officers stay put.

The dispatcher on Guajardo’s radio interrupts with another loud alert — “Three 911 calls to the same address … suspect known to carry a gun” — just as the two officers are saying goodbye to the shop owner and walking back into a blast of wind.

Guajardo and Garrett have a different job to do.

Continued on pg 12

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

hen Shawn Dace took over as captain of District 3 in 2015, he took special note of the communities surrounding Cherokee Street. His reasons were not the ones that have made the district a destination for food lovers and other young creatives.

Cherokee itself may be one of the city’s biggest success stories, but get one block off the street and things sometimes feel downright dangerous.

“I have thirteen neighborhoods, and when I started, they told me that two neighborhoods, Gravois Park and Dutchtown, drive crime in District 3,” he says. “So we focused a lot of attention there.”

Judging by the available crime stats, the attention has paid off.

Compared to 2016, total crime in Gravois Park was down sixteen percent in 2017, while the informal collection of “Cherokee neighborhoods” (Gravois Park, Marine Villa, Benton Park and Benton Park West) has seen an overall drop of around eight percent. During the same period, homicides citywide surged past 200 — largely thanks to a concentration of murders in a handful of northern neighborhoods — and so the trend in south city is a notable bright spot.

That boost of attention, though, has a real cost. Dace’s back office in Central Patrol headquarters on Jefferson Avenue sits opposite a bulletin board listing patrol officers and their respective car numbers.

At full strength, District 3 should field 104 officers across south city.

Dace only has 92, and five of them, he says, are on extended sick leave.

Four are detached to other units.

Practically, that leaves the district 21 officers short.

“That was my biggest concern with putting Jazmon and Devin on the street; we’ve sacrificed a lot to have them down there,” Dace admits. But, he adds, “we’re going to continue to have them down there as long as we can sustain it.”

Packing neighborhoods with patrol cars takes bodies, which the SLMPD simply doesn’t have.

Presently, the department’s 1,184 commissioned officers — more than 100 short of its optimal strength — are spread between patrol duties and support staff. In his own district, Dace estimates, only seven to ten officers on average are patrolling during any given shift.

In more affluent corners of the city, community improvement districts

riverfronttimes.com

and business associations have turned to private security companies, staffed by off-duty St. Louis cops, to increase patrols. Aside from Soulard and parts of South Grand, District 3’s neighborhoods are largely without that luxury.

The staffing shortages are nothing new. Still, Dace remembers that it wasn’t long after he took command of the district in 2015 that business owners on Cherokee Street began lobbying for foot patrol officers. They complained that the departure of regular patrols from the street had created a safe zone for crimes both petty and serious.

“The more I attended meetings, that would be the thing, every time,” he says. “And I got to realize that a lot of the issues we were having down there were from some of the juveniles. My thought process was, although I am forfeiting two officers, the possibility that these officers could get to know who the juveniles were, the ones who were possibly creating issues, would outweigh us losing a two-man car. I started to think about who would be good for that area.”

In the summer of 2016, Dace found himself passing through a crowd on Cherokee during the year’s National Night Out celebration, a block party that brought residents into the street to eat, drink and let loose. The air thumped with music. He spotted two blue uniforms: Jazmon Garrett and Devin Guajardo.

“I saw them out dancing with some young kids. I thought, ‘They got a good rapport with the community,’” he recalls. He’d found his beat cops for Cherokee.

G

uajardo and Garrett met on their first day of police academy in 2014, and they partnered intermittently on patrols until Dace assigned them to Cherokee in September 2016. At the time, the street was grappling with a spike in crime, including a string of robberies and a brazen daytime assault that put a shop owner in the hospital (he later died). Sixteen months later, the crime stats tell a different story, and to the officers, that change is apparent on the street.

“It’s been quiet lately,” says Guajardo as they survey the street that cold December morning.

“It has been,” concurs Garrett.

“Fingers crossed.”

It turns out to be a very quiet day on Cherokee. No armed robberies, no muggings, no car chases.

Above: With many cases involving juveniles, shop owners become crucial sources.

Left: The officers witness the flow of life on Cherokee. “We see a lot of businesses come and go,” says Garrett.

Not even a shoplifting call. Instead, there is the steady labor of basic policing: building contacts, following up on leads, noting the location of newly installed surveillance cameras that may have recorded an assault that took place last week, making endless small talk with the people who cross their path.

These aren’t special skills.

“That’s not central to just being a Cherokee cop, that’s any beat cop,” explains Guajardo.

She and Garrett are carefully modest describing the difference between their roles and those of officers taking 911 calls in patrol

cars. But there are some significant differences at play. In their twelveblock territory, from Nebraska Avenue to Lemp Avenue, they aren’t responding to urgent demands for help. They are, instead, getting to know people. Getting them to open up. Getting them to talk about things they might have written off, and thereby solving the crimes that never got a 911 call to begin with.

It’s just past noon, and Bridget Weible, the proprietor of Flowers to the People, is leaning on a vase near the register, recounting how she once alerted Guajardo to a woman in her shop acting

strangely. That same woman later robbed an antique shop down the street, and Guajardo was able to help make the ID for an arrest.

“My intuition was correct about that, but I never, ever would have called 911. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” Weible says.

She’s reflecting one side of a longstanding philosophical split among local business owners. Some see 911 as the go-to answer for every suspected shoplifter. Others are hesitant to involve the authorities, motivated perhaps out of mercy or simply to avoid the hassle.

“There’s plenty of people crying wolf on the street about every expired license plate,” Weible says.

“But instead of bringing in strangers, I know these officers, and we have a relationship. It just makes me so comfortable.”

The exchange jostles something in Weible’s memory, another instance where she didn’t “want to make a big deal” by involving the cops. “My door got kicked in two days ago,” she tells the officers. The thief had cleaned out her register.

She’d also heard someone had

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similarly broken into Kevin’s Pizza down the street. Garrett promises Weible she’ll follow up with the burglary squad, and the officers continue their way east down the section of Cherokee known as Antique Row. Both cops grew up in the region, Garrett across the river in East St. Louis and Guajardo in the Walnut Park neighborhood of north city.

Both, too, took their time coming to the force. Garrett, 30, is the mother of one and had been a medical technician. She joined the force after tiring of her job at a plasma donation clinic. Guajardo, 26, had once studied to be a teacher.

Both are now filling multiple roles. “Teacher, cop, counselor, social worker,” says Guajardo, repeating a common insight about the life of a 21st-century police officer.

“Sometimes the babysitter,” Garrett cracks. “It’s the nature of the job.”

But being on the same street day after day gives them an advantage most St. Louis cops don’t have.

“We have more time than a regular car would have,” Garrett says.

“We can sit down and talk for an hour if we wanted to. Someone patrolling the streets in a vehicle has so many calls pending that they just get the basic information, and they’re gone. They don’t have that luxury.”

That extra time is also vital when it comes to dealing with the usual suspects behind property crimes along the street. Far from hardened adult criminals, the officers say, it’s juveniles, some as young as gradeschool kids, that are behind most of their workload on Cherokee.

And when dealing with youth, most of a cop’s normal playbook gets thrown out the window. Kids can’t be questioned like adults, and they can’t be detained easily, let alone jailed for 24 hours. Most of the time, even juveniles caught red-handed are simply returned to their parents, reappearing back on the street soon after, returning to the area and hanging with the same bad crowd.

“Hey Keyon!” It’s just after three in the afternoon when Guajardo spots a short, hoodie-wearing figure walking toward a juice and sandwich joint. Her tone is cheerful, but built on a bedrock of stern.

“Out of school already?”

They follow Keyon into the store, where he’s joined a table of sullen boys who seem none too pleased by the sudden company. The cops and kids banter, though, and Guajardo advises one, pointedly, to stay away from a Continued on pg 14

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13

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certain group of friends.

Outside the shop minutes later, Guajardo explains that the kid was hanging with a group of troublemakers. She’d told him that even if FROM he “didn’t do anything,” he would do better to avoid that sort of company. “He might take it or leave it,” on the Banks of the Colorado River she says. “You got to get into their bubble. There’s a basketball court at Cherokee and Nebraska that we AIR & ROOM PACKAGES frequent; we go up there and play Sunday–Thursday ( INCLUDES ALL TAXES & FEES ) basketball with them, play jump FOR RESERVATIONS rope with them.” They also show up to the kids’ schools and make 1.800.227.3849 efforts to pair at-risk students with RiversideResort.com programs, especially when the parents are too busy for supervision.

“Try to get to know them,” adds Garrett. “Get their names, make it seem that we’re there for them and not trying to mess with them or make them think we’re just looking for reasons to lock them up.”

It’s some of the hardest work on Cherokee, and for the beat officers, it’s the most rewarding when it * Prices are per person. Based on double occupancy. Single occupancy proves effective. All too frequently, $50 additional charge. Includes roundtrip airfare, taxes, fees, ground transfers and hotel lodging at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino. Prices though, Guajardo and Garrett find are subject to change, are not retroactive, and may not be available on the window for intervention has certain departures or at time of booking due to limited space. Tickets are non-refundable. Must be 21 years of age or older. Change penalties apply. already narrowed. The smartphone Scheduled air service provided by Sun Country Airlines. the Cherokee cops use almost like a radio dispatch — a phone that was donated by a Cherokee electronics 1/24/18 10:02 AM store, Communications Depot — regularly buzzes with calls from their Cherokee contacts reporting new misbehavior, seeking help.

And as for the kids, do they reach out for help as well?

Garrett starts to say “no,” but Guajardo interjects over her.

She says, “We’re not there yet.”

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uajardo and Garrett may have landed on Cherokee Street with a unique assignment, but it’s not like the department showered them with extra resources.

Or basic ones, even. In addition to the donated cellphone, another Cherokee business, Spoked Bikes and Stuff, repaired two SLMPD bikes that had been issued in rough shape. The officers’ space at Nebula was donated by the co-working concept’s owner, Cherokee developer Jason Deem.

“For a long time,” Deem says of the police department, “I thought that maybe they were using lack of resources as an excuse to not provide additional security on Cherokee Street. But it became clear that resources very much are, or have been, tight in the police department.”

Everyone involved acknowl-

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edges that the assignment that’s put the two cops on Cherokee is hardly set in stone. Deem is worried about what their absence would mean for the street. It would leave the option of shelling out for additional security patrols, but there’s really no replacing Guajardo and Garrett.

Even if Cherokee’s business owners hired off-duty cops, it wouldn’t be the same ones daily building relationships on the street. Guajardo and Garrett have spent more than a year building their presence.

“The burden is shifting toward ‘fend for yourself’ kind of thing, to business districts paying for police,” says Deem. “I think that’s really unfortunate. I would argue that police are something that’s paid for by the city.”

It’s worth noting that local beat patrols aren’t unheard of in St. Louis. Some probationary officers are assigned to foot patrols with veteran cops, and the department will regularly send “directed patrols” to areas of high crime. Those officers might hang around for a few days before deploying elsewhere.

What’s not common, says Rick Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, are “old style” beat patrols. Cherokee Street, with its relatively restricted geographic area, and residential and commercial density, is a perfect place for it.

“The Cherokee Street experiment is an ideal way of thinking of how to deploy additional police resources,” he notes. That doesn’t mean foot patrols could work for every neighborhood. In certain hard-hit areas of north city, by comparison, cops on foot would be at a disadvantage amid the long stretches of depopulated streets.

As opposed to the general label of “community policing,” Rosenfeld calls the Cherokee patrol an example of “problem-solving policing” done right: “It’s police being responsive to the self-identified problems in an area. They engage with residents, business owners, landlords, and the police response need not include arrest. It’s quite effective in crime reduction that doesn’t alienate community members.”

Effective, perhaps, but it’s not a replicable model, even for neighborhoods needing a flood of additional resources. St. Louis’ newly appointed police chief, John Hayden, has touted his commitment to “community policing,” but his immediate focus has remained trained on the crisis of homicides in north city. The department doesn’t have the resources to do everything.

Above: A beat patrol gives the officers freedom to investigate cases. “We actually have the time to get more deeply involved,” Garrett notes.

Left: Talking to kids is a big part of the officers’ afternoons and evenings. Fewer after-school resources means more potential trouble on Cherokee Street.

A

What that means for the future of Cherokee Street’s beat patrol is unclear. Questioned about the possibility of expanding patrols to other neighborhoods, a department spokesman reiterates Hayden’s encouragement for “officers to get out of their vehicles to talk with members of the community during their tour of duty.”

“In regards to expanding regular foot beats throughout the six districts, like Cherokee Street in District 3, that will have to be examined as a special enforcement need,” the spokesman writes.

The indicators may not bode well for 20th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer, who lobbied the de-

partment for years to bring beat patrols back to Cherokee.

“I know there’s pressure to move them on to other things, and that makes me frustrated,” she says. The success of the patrol doesn’t necessarily show up with impressive arrest numbers or high-profile cases, but police work doesn’t have to be flashy to make an impact.

Take a random attack — a “knockout incident” — near Foam several weeks ago, captured on surveillance. “You can show that to a regular 3rd District officer, and they’ve never seen that kid in his life,” Spencer points out. “But the beat cops know him.”

fter taking the weekend off, Guajardo and Garrett are back on Cherokee the following Monday. Temperatures climb into the 50s during the day, bringing kids onto the basketball court. At night, the cold gusts return.

Behind the wind, a series of sharp cracks echo through the air. “Those were shots,” Guajardo remarks. The radio on her shoulder crackles to life.

“3700 block of Compton … we got about ten gunshots going on … shots being fired in an alley …”

It’s just after 7 p.m., and with most the businesses closed on Monday, the night has proven uneventful. The officers run into the same group of middle school kids from Friday; this time they’re out by California Avenue. One kid is hanging off a stop sign. Guajardo tells them to go home.

Further down the street, a man — a known drug addict — runs down the sidewalk, arms pumping like he’s running a 100-yard dash. It’s not immediately apparent whether he’s running from or toward something. His hat flies off in the wind, and a nearby barfly shambles into the street, picks it up and hands it to the officers. (Later that night, the

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officers are able to reunite man and hat when they spot him panhandling a pedestrian.)

“At the end of the day, we’re still officers,” says Guajardo. She and Garrett are sharing a table inside the Taco and Ice Cream Joint, and both pick at generous portions of fruit piled in plastic cups, an unsolicited offering from the restaurant staff.

Neither cop has any illusions about staying on the Cherokee beat forever. Guajardo says she eventually wants to join the sex-crimes unit.

Garrett is interested in homicide.

“We are aware that any day we could be removed from Cherokee.

It’s permanent, but it’s not permanent,” Garrett muses. “We could get a new captain tomorrow and we’ll be back in the district.”

Suddenly, they stop eating and talking. Guajardo grins and looks to her partner. From the restaurant’s stereo comes a telltale island rhythm, a familiar chorus asking, “Whatcha wanna do, whatcha gonna do …”

“Is that—?”

“Oh, they got us,” says Garrett, laughing into her fruit cup as “Bad Boys” blasts through the restaurant.

“They got us good.” n

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CALENDAR

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1-7

THURSDAY 02/01 Bus Stop There is something deceptively simple at work in William Inge’s play Bus Stop. There’s little-to-no action in this slice-of-life drama, which captures one night in a small Midwestern diner where a busload of passengers are marooned during a snowstorm. Instead, Inge crafts miniature portraits of people who don’t often appear in modern drama: a pair of lonely cowboys, a hillbilly girl escaping her old life in hope of a singing career, a young waitress who dreams of romance and literature but finds a lecherous older man who’s only interested in one thing (and it’s not her mind).

These people are everyday folks, but in this small diner they encounter unwanted attention, a moment’s hope, a temporary end to loneliness and the realization that love can be an unlooked-for aggravation as well as a force that brings people together — sometimes only for a short time. Clayton Community Theatre presents Bus Stop at 8 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday (February 1 to 11) at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (6501 Clayton Road, Richmond Heights; www.placeseveryone.org). Tickets are $15 to $20.

FRIDAY 02/02 Postwar Prints and Multiples Like many collecting institutions, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (1 Brookings Drive; www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu) houses more art than it can easily display. As part of its continuing mission to bring stored pieces out for the public to enjoy, the Kemper presents its new exhibition, Postwar Prints and Multiples: Investigating the Collection. The exhibit draws on the wealth of printed artwork by a range of artists who rose to prominence during the twentieth century from

Yaakov Agam, Forme Lignes, from the portfolio Suite 3 (1974). Screenprint, 30 3/4” x 30 1/4”. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. Gift of Arthur and Sheila Prensky, 1984.

BY PAUL FRISWOLD a host of artistic movements. Among the artists represented by key works are Ellsworth Kelly, Claes Oldenburg, Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, Roy Lichtenstein and La Monte Young.

Postwar Prints and Multiples opens with a free reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, February 2, at the museum. The show remains on display through April 16, and admission is free.

Cut-Outs and Stop Motion Mainstream animation has largely embraced computer-generated graphics as the means of produc-

tion, but just because it’s the new method doesn’t mean it’s the only method. Artist Sarah Paulsen and Pulitzer Arts Foundation assistant curator Stephanie Weissberg together host Cut-Outs and Stop Motion, a screening of animated short films created by women. The nine films feature traditional methods such as cut-outs, stop-motion animation and the classic hand-drawn technique that once dominated the field. Films from ShiShi Yamazaki, Martha Colburn and Faith Hubley (mother of Yo La Tengo drummer Georgia Hubley) are scheduled to be shown during the program, which starts at 7 p.m. tonight at the Pulitzer (3716 Washington Boulevard; www. pulitzerarts.org). A discussion of the

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techniques used and the evolution of the art form will follow the screening. Admission is free.

SATURDAY 02/03 Wizard World Wizard World St. Louis returns for another weekend celebration of comic books, pop culture, genre film and cosplay. This year’s celebrity guests include Marvel’s legendary writer, editor, publisher and movie star Stan Lee (he’s the godfather of Irving Forbush!), Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols, Lucy Davis

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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Gary Oldman (second from left) stars as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy. | © METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER

CALENDAR Continued from pg 17

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10

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$10 PER PERSON BUS & BREAKFAST 4944 CHRISTY BLVD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63116 (314) 351-6000 KEETONSDOUBLEPLAY.COM 18

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(star of the original The Office and Etta Candy in the Wonder Woman film), the professionally handsome John Barrowman, valiant Sean Bean and the Lord of the Rings’ hobbit heroes Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee). There will be seminars for fans of everything: the films of Hayao Miyazaki, the rise of black heroes in pop culture and magical girl heroes. There’s even a session on dealing with crown-induced anxiety while cosplaying.

Wizard World St. Louis 2018 takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday (February 2 through 4) at America’s Center (701 Convention Center Plaza; www.wizardworld. com). Single-day admission ranges from $39.95 to $44.95, and a threeday pass is $79.95 (each admission level includes free admission for two kids ages ten and younger).

The Sound of Music Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music has won over fickle audiences for more than 50 years, cementing its status as a classic with each new revival. But what’s the secret of its success? Is it the actual music, which is recognized even by people who have never seen the whole thing? Is it the winsome love story of a young nun educating children and winning over a staid military man that packs them in? Is it the memory of Julie Andrews spinning in that Alpine meadow as she sings the praises of love and music to a field of wild flowers that does it? As unlikely as

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it seems, the obvious answer is that all three reasons combine to create a show that satisfies audiences on multiple levels (and don’t discount the whole “foiling and humiliating the Nazis” element; everyone loves when a Nazi is publicly shamed).

The Sound of Music returns to dazzle again at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6 p.m.

Sunday (February 2 through 4) at the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; www.fabulousfox.com).

Tickets are $25 to $125.

WEDNESDAY 02/07 Sid and Nancy The toxic and ultimately fatal relationship of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen is the inspiration for Alex Cox’s cinematic biography Sid and Nancy. Written by Cox and University City native Abbe Wool, the film stars Gary Oldman as the musically inept and heroin-addicted Sid, with Chloe Webb as Nancy. Pistols singer John Lydon hates the film for its romanticized final scene (he feels it glamorizes heroin), but then he doesn’t like much of anything. Sid and Nancy mostly succeeds on the strength of Oldman’s phenomenal performance and Webb’s portrayal of Nancy’s grating, drug-hungry personality, in addition to its pretty great soundtrack (courtesy of Joe Strummer, the Pogues and the film’s version of the Sex Pistols performing the band’s original music). Sid and Nancy is shown at 8 p.m. tonight at the Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood; www.webster.edu/film-series) as part of the Strange Brew film series.

Tickets are $5. n

FILM

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[REVIEW]

A Lampoon Is Born A Futile and Stupid Gesture focuses on the man who shaped comedy in the 1970s (and beyond) Written by

ROBERT HUNT A Futile and Stupid Gesture

Directed by David Wain. Written by Michael Colton and John Aboud. Based on the book

by Josh Karp. Starring Will Forte, Martin Mull, Domhnall Gleeson and Matt Walsh.

Now streaming on Netflix.

N

early three decades ago, postmodern political theorists caused a bit of a stir by announcing that society no longer defined itself by a sweeping vision of history. The “grand narrative” of the past was gone, replaced by a new sense of individualism: We all carry our own history now.

I’m in no position to argue for or against such a lofty position, but I have noticed this idea manifest itself in how movies now re-package our past. Historical films haven’t completely disappeared, but they’re few and far between, and even those that tackle recognizably “big” subjects — Lincoln, Jackie and Dunkirk, to name a few recent titles — tend to favor a few days from a life rather than the whole biography, a single battle rather than an entire war. These films are less history than they are a kind of historical tableaux, a stream of colorful figures fleshing out the personal moments behind the big headlines.

If you’re willing to forgo the finer points of historical accuracy, they give a strong sense of how we’ve chosen to refine or re-edit our collective memory once we’re decades down the road.

The latest scrapbook of pop history, A Futile and Stupid Gesture is a pleasant ramble through the brief reign of 1970s counter-cultural com-

Doug Kenney and Henry Beard (Will Forte and Domhnall Gleeson) lampooned America when America needed it most. | JOHN P. FLEENOR/NETFLIX edy as it sprang through and from the life of Doug Kenney (played by Will Forte). Although he may be less than a household name, the film assures us that he is “the man who changed comedy forever.”

Kenney was one of the founders of National Lampoon — not the tired brand of today that joylessly pumps out on-demand fratboy comedies, but the magazine that for most of the 1970s was a fierce, crude satiric force, skewering Baby Boomer sacred cows from high school yearbooks to The Lord of the Rings. And by making the magazine, Kenney helped create a multi-media empire that launched the careers of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, Harold Ramis, Gilda Radner and many others. (The filmmakers realize that their story lends itself to a lot of name-dropping and even make a joke out of it.)

Directed by David Wain, this Gesture is simultaneously a biography of Kenney, an anthology of his comedic style and an attempt to revisit the Lampoon years through the satiric worldview he helped invent. Images from his works spill over into the real-world narrative.

We see young Doug looking out at the bland, Eisenhower-era suburbia that will later feed the Lampoon’s best-selling High School Yearbook.

We see his Harvard years hinting at the toga parties he would enshrine in Animal House. We see Belushi and Murray stuck in their Animal House and Caddyshack roles, while Chevy Chase (played by Joel

McHale) can’t make a move without stumbling over his own feet.

Sometimes the life-imitates-Lampoon moments are contrived (did Kenney really solve so many awkward social situations by starting food fights?), but others are quite effective, as when the end of Kenney’s marriage is recreated in the format of the magazine’s popular Foto Funnies. Because the Lampoon staff so blatantly exploited and promoted their own personalities, it’s hard to separate the jokes from real life. That was part of Kenney’s talent and also a bit of a burden.

By 1976, Kenney was a 29-yearold millionaire, having sold his share of the magazine (he’d grow even richer a few years later with the success of Animal House). But with wealth came that great perpetual motion machine of insecurity and drugs.

If Kenney didn’t quite reach the excesses of a long-haired, non-violent Tony Montana, you can’t say he didn’t try. The film gives wide berth to the cocaine-fueled excesses of Kenney’s Hollywood years but doesn’t really seem to judge him too harshly for them (which is just about right for a film about the late ‘70s). There are hints of psychological motivation (he’s an outsider at Yale, a Midwestern boy among the Ivy League elite, and he can never get his father to respect him), but the film carefully avoids making a serious stumble into bummer territory.

The story of Kenney and the Na-

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tional Lampoon and their joint influence on comedy is, admittedly, a relatively minor historical footnote (and those who want a more verifiable account can find it in the 2015 documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead). The makers of A Futile and Stupid Gesture understand that. They’re not trying to draw a lesson from Kenney’s rise and fall, perhaps because that’s exactly the sort of thing the Lampoon would have eviscerated; they’re just trying to show the world from his point of view.

Like A Futile and Stupid Gesture, most of the slices of pop history made into films these days avoid pithy lessons or definitive conclusions. Many of them end with footage comparing news footage of their real subjects with their movie counterparts or showing the figures as they are today, long after their nine days or fifteen minutes of fame has passed.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture skips that part, but the message is the same. This happened. We witnessed these things — the media circuses surrounding Tonya Harding and Bobby Riggs, the paranoia of the Nixon years or even simply, in the case of this film, the cultural landscape we’ve come to call “the 70s” — and they helped make up the backdrop to our lives. We don’t need the grand sweep of the nation’s history; we just want to revisit something we cared about, or even laughed at, once when we were young. n

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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THE ARTS

[ S TA G E ]

What Women Want New Jewish Theatre explores biology and destiny in a new twocharacter show Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD The How and the Why

Written by Sarah Treem. Directed by Nancy Bell. Presented by New Jewish Theatre through February 11 in the Wool Studio Theatre at the Jewish Community Center (2 Millstone Drive; www.newjewishtheatre.org).

Tickets are $41 to $44.

W

hat do women discuss when there are no men present?

Sarah Treem’s two-character drama The How and the Why pulls back the curtain on the gory, savage truth about “girl talk.” And the short version is that men are not equipped to be part of the conversation — our constitutions are just too delicate.

Currently on stage at the New Jewish Theatre, The How and the Way is a tense affair. Zelda Kahn (Amy Loui) and Rachel Hardeman (Sophia Brown) begin each of their two meetings off-balance, and then push each other until one topples over. Maybe it’s because I’m biologically male, but each time a combatant crumbled, I was surprised by who was left standing; perhaps women could see the fissures forming far earlier. It’s not who falls that matters, though. It is their difficult, fractious relationship that takes center stage, and watching the two break it and reforge it over the course of 85 minutes is fascinating. The title refers to a biologist’s mission to discover not just how our bodies function, but why these functions happen, evolutionarily speaking.

The how and why of Zelda and Rachel’s relationship is that one couldn’t exist without the other, but neither can they exist together.

But all is not lost: They can respect one another as people and scien-

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Rachel (Sophia Brown) and Zelda (Amy Loui) share a fraught relationship — and very little else. | ERIC WOOLSEY tists, which in their world, is as precious as it is rare.

Zelda is an established evolutionary biologist who developed a theory that revolutionized her field. Rachel is younger and working toward making her mark in the evolutionary biology game. To that end, she’s arranged a meeting with Zelda in hopes of duping the older woman into getting her a presentation slot in an impending conference (Zelda’s a member of the selection board).

Things go badly from the beginning. Zelda is clearly more excited about meeting Rachel than the other way around, and Rachel seems set on confounding her host’s every expectation. Chitchat is a minefield when Rachel is involved; a conversation about the office’s decor somehow becomes a snub, and when Zelda tries to switch to the more neutral topic of Rachel’s research, Rachel coldly informs her that her work is “not neutral. Not to me.”

The source of all of this tension is a turning point in the plot, and better discovered than revealed here. But rest assured, it’s not because either women is frigid or a “bitch.” During the course of

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Rachel and Zelda’s two conversations, it’s clear that both women are highly intelligent, principled and competitive — and all of that feeds their conflict. Women are thin on the ground in evolutionary biology labs, which has fueled a paranoia in Rachel that Zelda left behind long ago. From her secure position, Zelda wishes to help Rachel. Rachel is not sure she wants that help — at least, not from Zelda.

And sometimes the distance between them closes. Rachel’s radical new theory about the purpose of menstruation receives an enthusiastic response from Zelda, even though it would discredit Zelda’s own career-making theory. They excitedly discuss the known science of menstruation, what Rachel’s theory gets right and what is possibly wrong. But even when they’re rapturously lost in theory and methodology, they suddenly bump into one another and realize how alien the other is.

Zelda came of age in the free-wheeling ‘70s. She doesn’t care if rivals tell their students she slept her way to stardom, or if they don’t even teach her theory — “Theories are mortal, just like

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their creators,” she assures Rachel.

A true Darwinian, Zelda expects to rise as high as she can and then be destroyed (ideologically speaking) by a young contender — someone like Rachel would do nicely.

Rachel thinks supremacy matters, but can take neither criticism nor effusive praise. She’s prone to panic attacks, denounces Zelda’s feminism and, while she doesn’t believe in marriage, wants a happy home life with a man and children — after massive success, of course.

Treem’s script reveals their conflicts slowly, sometimes by hint more than outright expression. Director Nancy Bell underlines these clues with physical action. While Rachel cries after a setback, Zelda stretches forth a timorous hand to comfort her, but withdraws it before Rachel notices. Zelda argues that Rachel is foolish to share credit for her work, using the language of parenthood: “Don’t give it away, it’s yours! Keep it! Own it!

Take care of it!” If they were men, someone would get punched here; because they are women, they file this advice away to wield it like a dagger in a later conversation. n Biology is ruthless.

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Basil Kincaid is one of 63 local artists featured in a new card set. | COURTESY OF DAVE MOORE

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Trading Cards Feature STL Artists — Gum Included

T

he inspiration for Dave Moore’s new art project, which debuts this Saturday at Intersect Arts Center (3636 Texas Avenue), might seem a little unusual in the gallery context — but it’s something many St. Louis kids could relate to: baseball cards.

“Growing up, baseball cards were a way for me to connect with the players,” Moore, 36, recalls. “I’d probably never meet any of these guys. But I’d pull out someone from my cards and think, ‘That’s my guy’ and ‘this is my team.’”

Now the photographer hopes that the set of trading cards he’s created honoring 63 St. Louis artists — the subject of a show he’s calling Ebb/Flow: Artists of St. Louis — will have a similar effect. “For people who may not know these artists, it’s a way to connect with them,” he says. Plus, Moore adds, “People like to collect things.”

Indeed, while jumbo versions of the cards will be displayed at the gallery show, the idea of a trading card isn’t just a clever conceit. Moore intends to compile groups of seven to cards in a package, available for purchase. And yes, there will be a stick of gum in each package, just like you used to get from Topps. Moore is still figuring out the details on that, though he thinks he might use Bubble Tape.

“I figure I can just buy five or six rolls and strip it into little pieces,” he laughs.

A graphic designer who also moonlights as a professional photographer, Moore grew up in Florissant and lives in Tower Grove East. He got the idea for Ebb/Flow nearly two years ago. After getting funding from the Regional Arts Commission, he began working on it in earnest in December 2016, emailing artists and researching the various people in the scene. He started shooting his subjects in July, finishing up just before Halloween.

The hardest part, he says, was limiting the roster of artists to a manageable number. “I thought I was done about three times,” Moore says, “and then someone else’s name would come up.

‘I’ve got to get this person in!’”

The show, which kicks off with a party from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 3, will be the first at the gallery since its renovations. Moore says he plans to display not only large-scale versions of the trading cards, but also some examples of some of the artist’s work. Want more info about a given artist? As with a baseball card, you’ll be able to flip to the backside for some details — although batting average is unlikely be included.

And, yes, you should bring money to purchase a set. Moore says he plans to have 150 or so packets on hand. Didn’t get the artist you really, really wanted?

Isn’t that what trading with your friends is for?

For more about Ebb/Flow: Artists of St. Louis, check out the project’s website or Moore’s professional site at davemoorephotography.com.

—Sarah Fenske

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ardi Gras is imminent, which means a large chunk of the metro area’s population is putting the finishing touches on their costumes and stockpiling beads. But there’s more to Mardi Gras in St. Louis than parade Saturday and the bacchanalia of drinking that surrounds it.

“Like what?” Glad you asked.

The Missouri Lottery 5K Run for Your Beads starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, February 3, at South Eighth Street and Lafayette Avenue (www.stlmardigras. org/events/5k-run-for-your-beads). Fun runners and serious athletes alike compete for not just the best time in the race but also the best costume, so dress appropriately. Most of the fun runners are less concerned about winning than the fun part: Pit stops along the course are stocked with beer and hurricanes for those who like to refuel with a higher-octane beverage than your standard sports drink. Registration is $30 and available until race day.

Mardi Gras’ culture of excess is not limited to alcohol. Fat Tuesday is the last stop before the restrictions of the Lenten season take effect, so people avail themselves of these final days to indulge their sweet tooth, meat tooth, Cajun tooth, etc. Taste of Soulard, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (February 3 and 4) throughout the Soulard neighborhood (Allen Avenue and Menard Street), allows revelers to sample Mardi Gras-inspired delights from local restaurants. Your $25 pass gets you one drink voucher and six food vouchers. You’re free to use them in any combination you choose at participating businesses. The menu is already online (www.stlmardigras.org/events/taste-of-soulard), and it’s broad and deep. Whether you go traditional (Duke’s crawfish-and-shrimp gumbo) or favor fusion (“Alligator Rangoons” at Mollys), you won’t leave the event hungry or thirsty.

The costume traditions of Mardi Gras are not just for humans, and the Beggin’ Pet Parade is the proof. Beloved dogs who are comfortable wearing

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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clothes, costumes or exotic outfits gather with their people at South Twelfth Street and Allen Avenue (www.stlmardigras.org/events/beggin-pet-parade) for the 1 p.m. parade of pooches on Sunday, February 4. It’s free to watch, and if you believe your dog has the charisma and “wow” factor to be named one of the best-dressed pets on parade, it’s only $10 to register a single canine; the judges will select the most gloriously attired dogs for the Court of the Mystical Krewe of Barkus at the Coronation Pageant, where the King and Queen of Barkus will be anointed with their crowns. Registration fees help the Open Door Animal Sanctuary. Dogs helping dogs is the hope our nation needs now.

But perhaps you’ve wisely chosen a dachshund as your companion, one who is as fast as greased lightning and thrives on competition. In this case, you should consider registering your dachsie in the Wiener Dog Derby.

For a $10 fee, your dog can compete against five other dogs on the 30-footlong track at Wiener Stadium in Soulard Market Park (South Eighth Street and Lafayette Avenue; www.stlmardigras. org/events/wiener-dog-derby) starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, February 4. The race uses the elimination format (winning dogs in each heat move on to the next round, while the also-rans are done for the day) and dogs are sorted into one of four classes based on age. The ultimate winner will be crowned champion, although all other competitors will be winners in their own right — no dog is ever a loser in anything, because dogs are awesome.

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-mardigras-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.

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. To sweeten the pot, a group of pre-selected St. Louis Blues legends will share stories from the good old days of the NHL, when the Norris Division was king and the Blackhawks were the whipping boys. 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 sea—Paul Friswold son? May-beeee).

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CAFE

27

At the Cut, chef (and butcher) Ari Jo Ellis is doing big things in a small space on Cherokee Street. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

Cocktail Wieners From a humble kitchen inside a bar, chef Ari Jo Ellis elevates the sausage to a thing of culinary beauty Written by

CHERYL BAEHR The Cut

2635 Cherokee Street, 314-250-6007. Wed.Sat. 5 p.m.-midnight; Sun. 4-10 p.m. (Closed Monday and Tuesday.)

T

echnically, the Cut is a total sausage fest — a temple to tube-shaped meat inside Cherokee Street’s Fortune Teller Bar that offers more balls, belly and wieners than you’d find at the Pike House on Natural Bridge Road. In other words, it’s perhaps the last place you’d anticipate being a bastion of culinary feminism, but chef Ari Jo Ellis is doing her best to change that.

Ellis never planned to take a sledgehammer to the glass ceiling of butchery, a male-dominated trade in a male-dominated field.

When she opened the Cut last September, she was simply looking for a concept that would fit in the bar’s limited kitchen space, which was formerly home to the Little Dipper sandwich shop. Sausages made sense, especially in light of Ellis’ background in whole animal butchery, a skill she learned from

James Beard award-nominated chef Rick Lewis at Quincy Street Bistro.

Ellis’ tenure at Quincy Street actually predates Lewis. Before he turned it into a renowned bastion of from-scratch country-style cooking, Ellis worked there as a fry cook, preparing standard barand-grill fare at what was then a basic south-city bar. New to the industry and impressionable, Ellis was captivated by Lewis’ penchant for bringing in whole animals and breaking them down.

Ellis quickly realized that she had a knack for the process, which she likens to the muscle memory involved in playing a sport. An athlete for most of her life, Ellis was drawn to butchery’s physicality and repetition, and she took every chance she could to practice.

Her education continued when she left Quincy Street to work with

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Lewis at Southern, and it became a master class when she got a job working at Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions, the well-respected Maplewood butcher shop.

Ellis knew that she eventually wanted to own her own business, so she reached out to Bob Brazell of Byrd & Barrel for some advice.

Though she’d previously thought she was at least two years away from pulling the trigger on a venture, when Brazell told her about the opportunity to replace the Little Dipper at the Fortune Teller Bar, she simply could not let it pass.

Armed with little more than her knowledge of butchery and the support of friends, she came up with the concept for the Cut and opened her window for service on September 1.

Tailoring her concept to the Cut’s space limitations was not a

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Continued on pg 28

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www.TuckersPlaceSTL.com The “Curry Brat” infuses Middle Eastern spices into bratwurst for Ellis’ take on a traditional currywurst. | MABEL SUEN

THE CUT Continued from pg 27

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matter of comfort; it was a matter of necessity. The tiny kitchen has no hood system and therefore no fryer, grill or griddle, and the “restaurant” is nothing more than a window in the back of the dimly lit bar. Guests place an order at the counter, where they’re given a flag to set on the table while they wait.

Usually, it’s a one-person show, with Ellis taking orders, cooking and delivering food. That she can do all of this — and at times break down a whole hog — in a space the size of a generous walk-in closet is an impressive feat.

What’s even more impressive, however, is what she’s putting out of that kitchen. Though her menu is tiny and the main dishes are entirely pork-based, her talent makes up for lack of breadth.

How could you want for anything more than the “OG,” a classic German-style bratwurst with the exterior snap and luscious filling that only comes from a quality, handmade sausage made from non-commodity pork? Just a suggestion of black pepper and beer infuses the sweet meat, which

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

can be topped with everything from molten cheese to vegan chili but begs for the simplicity of the house’s zingy mustard, popping with whole seeds.

Ellis takes that same brat base and infuses it with Middle Eastern spices for her “Curry Brat,” a gently spiced take on the traditional currywurst. She garnishes the sausage with housemade curry ketchup; the addition of the Indian spice blend adds depth and warmth to the tang of traditional ketchup. My only complaint — and I found this on all the sandwiches I tried — is that the bun was too crusty and got in the way of enjoying the pure sausage bliss.

I found myself discarding it so I could cut to the chase.

Her skills are not limited to sausages. Because Ellis gets in whole hogs, she has to utilize as much of the animal as possible, and her dishes reflect whatever she has on hand. On two of my visits, that was pork belly, which she opted to cure with pastrami spices, then smoke and slice thinly. The fatty meat is infused with peppery flavor that cuts through the richness.

However, Ellis does not shy away from decadence, using the pork

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pastrami as the main event for her riff on the Reuben sandwich.

Pungent sauerkraut is softened by the sweetness of green apples, which mingle with tangy 1000 Island dressing to form a delicious condiment. Sharp Swiss cheese melds it all together onto griddled rye bread. It’s breathtaking.

Her meatballs are no less extraordinary, a case study in why pork should be considered essential in any meatball worth its salt.

Hers are made entirely of it, resulting in a gloriously fat-flecked sphere of meat with a shockingly creamy texture. Ellis balances the fattiness with Italian-spiced marinara and housemade giardiniera that not only gives zest but also crunch. It’s the gold standard of meatball subs.

Though the Cut is meat-centric, Ellis makes all of her side dishes vegetarian or vegan in an effort to appeal to the high concentration of vegetarians in the Cherokee Street area. If they are skeptical about what a butcher can do with plant-based recipes, they need to try her vegan chili, a warm, rich bowl of beans and assorted vegetables that is like a hybrid of traditional chili and minestrone. There

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The pork pastrami is topped with 1000 Island dressing, braised cabbage and Swiss. | MABEL SUEN is no heat to the dish. Instead, Ellis opts to let the vegetables, like celery and carrot, shine through with just a dash of chiles and salt. It’s so rich, you would swear she threw some pork scraps in it, though this is not the case.

Other standout side dishes include slices of roasted sweet potatoes, liberally sprinkled with scallions and smashed, and a warm salad of roasted savory potatoes tossed in creamy mayonnaise and flecked with black pepper. And for the late-night crowd, she does pulled-pork nachos, smothered in a creamy white cheese sauce evocative of a classic mornay.

It’s clear that Ellis’ talent will outgrow the Fortune Teller Bar’s space. Already she supplies a few restaurants around town with what’s left over from the week’s whole-hog breakdown as well as wholesale sausages, and it makes sense that she would want to offer the same products to consumers in the form of her own storefront.

If her friendship with famed Cochon butcher and fellow lady badass Leighann Smith foreshadows anything, Ellis could find herself opening a bona fide butcher shop

For the late-night crowd, Ellis offers pulled-pork nachos, smothered in a creamy white cheese sauce akin to a classic mornay.

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of her own one day, ideally in the not-so-distant future.

Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy her wares at the Fortune Teller Bar, where her tiny operation can barely contain such a large talent. For a self-described tomboy who has spent her life pursuing male-dominated endeavors, Ellis’ freshman effort proves that she doesn’t just run with the boys; she can win the race. n The Cut

Pulled-pork nachos �����������������������������$7 “The OG” ��������������������������������������� $8�50 Pork belly ����������������������������������������� $11

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SHORT ORDERS [SIDE DISH]

Mabrey took a break from the kitchen to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food-and-beverage scene, why he likens himself to an artichoke and the decidedly southern way he begins his day.

Engineering His Future Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

C

hef William Mabrey, the kitchen manager at Yolklore (8958 Watson Road, Crestwood; 314-270-8538), was two and a half years into a structural engineering program when it hit him: He was on the wrong path.

Mabrey began his restaurant career working at a pizzeria in coastal South Carolina when he was just sixteen. He was hired as a dishwasher, but quickly worked his way up to the line dressing pizzas and eventually manning the main oven. He enjoyed his work, and probably would have stayed past his four-year tenure, but the pizzeria closed when chains like Pizza Hut and Papa John’s came to town. Out of a job, he decided to focus on his studies, though he wouldn’t stay away from the industry for long.

“The owner of the pizzeria was friends with the executive chef of a resort in South Carolina, and he got me a job there as a prep guy cutting fruit,” Mabrey recalls.

“That’s where it struck me that I didn’t want to be an engineer.

Seeing everyone in chef coats and toques and seeing all the camaraderie made me realize that this is where I wanted to be.”

Mabrey left engineering school but stayed on at the resort, working his way up to banquets and odd jobs on the line. He was professionally content, but he and his then girlfriend (now wife) wanted a change of scenery. They moved to St. Louis, where he quickly landed a job at downtown’s Flying Saucer Draught House.

“That’s where a lot of my line skills come from. I was thrust into a leadership role and had to learn on the fly,” Mabrey explains.

“And I learned how crazy Cardi-

31

Yolklore’s William Mabrey is like an artichoke: “It takes some work to get to know me.” | MONICA MILEUR nals games are really quickly. We would do 1,200 covers on game day. I think on one opening day we went through 300 pounds of ground beef.”

Mabrey enjoyed his time at Flying Saucer, but his favorite part of the job was the opportunity to do occasional, small-scale beer dinners. On one occasion, Flying Saucer brought in a guest chef, Chris Vomund, who was the former executive chef of Herbie’s, and the two saw how well they collaborated.

Vomund told Mabrey about an opportunity to join him as his sous chef at Herbie’s, and he accepted.

He worked there for two and a half years, starting in the Central West End and then helping the restaurant move to Clayton.

Mabrey was later introduced to Mary and John Bogacki of Yolklore who were looking for a kitchen manager. At first, he was skeptical.

“Coming from a place that does beef Wellington and roast chick-

ens and Dover sole, I didn’t know what to expect,” Mabrey says. “I first walked into Yolklore and saw the drive-through and thought, ‘Oh man,’ but within two hours of working there, I was in love.”

Though Yolkore is a daytime-only concept, Mabrey has been impressed with the level of thoughtfulness and creativity the Bogackis apply. “Everything we do here is farm-to-table,” he says. “We know where our produce and eggs and milk come from. We make our own mayonnaise. It reminds me of my days back at the resort where our thought was, ‘If we can’t make it, we don’t serve it.’”

Mabrey is proud of what he’s been able to do at Yolklore, including bringing classic, evening dishes to daytime, such as braised short ribs and grits with chimichurri or a reuben benedict. “Breakfast doesn’t have to be a microwaved sausage biscuit from QuikTrip,” he says. “Here, we’ll farm-to-table you from the drive-through.”

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What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Every morning I have a glass of tea to start my day, iced or hot depending on the weather.

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

I would like the ability to control time because, as a chef, sometimes you just need an extra minute or two.

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

The continued growth of the industry and how many great places continue to open.

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

I would have to say us as a family at Yolklore. We put our all into everything we do, and I think it really shows. Everyone should come give us a try and have a great breakfast.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Artichoke. It takes some work to get to know me.

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

I was in college to be a structural engineer before I fell in love with the industry, so I would probably be behind a desk somewhere.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your restaurant.

Processed foods. If it’s not worth the time for you to make, then it’s not worthy to be served to your guest.

What is your after-work hangout?

Honestly, I’m a homebody.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Rye whiskey, either in an old fashioned or with a splash of water.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Braised short ribs. n

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[FOOD NEWS]

NEW BREWER PUTS DOWN MIDTOWN ROOTS

T

Louie aims to be a neighborhood trattoria with a focus on fresh ingredients and an inviting feel. | SARA GRAHAM [FIRST LOOK]

Louie Comes to DeMun Written by

SARA GRAHAM

M

att McGuire envisioned his new restaurant, Louie (706 DeMun Avenue, Clayton; 314-300-8188), as a neighborhood trattoria offering simple, approachable dishes.

“Simple food becomes more about ingredients and execution rather than complex recipes,” he explains. “You have to know how to cook to prepare simple food well and let the ingredients shine.”

Many fondly remember McGuire’s previous restaurant, King Louie, which had a thirteen-year run, and have been eagerly anticipating this new venture. That includes McGuire himself, who has taken what he’s learned from more than two decades of opening restaurants in St. Louis and Chicago and opened Louie as a study in restaurant design and operation.

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The small menu features authentically inspired Italian dishes prepared in modern American style with a focus on fresh ingredients, sourced locally when possible. It’s divided into small plates, vegetables, pizza, pasta and main courses.

McGuire and his executive chef, Sean Turner, worked on the menu for more than a year. They compared the process to creating a band’s set list — an extensive list of dishes was systematically tested and edited into the modest roster that made the final cut.

Turner, who returned to St. Louis to work with McGuire after working at Lincoln in New York City’s Lincoln Center, describes the menu as sophisticated Italian.

The secret to preparing good food simply, he says, is “top-quality ingredients and bringing in the best staff to prepare them.”

Exemplifying this approach is a bright and satisfying winter salad composed of farro grains, sunflower seeds, pomegranate seeds, blood orange slices and sweet delicata squash.

Neapolitan pizza is made from scratch in a commanding woodfired oven imported from Naples (placed so its cozy fire is visible from the street). The broccolini

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

pizza contrasts crispy, just-softened broccolini with creamy ricotta flavored with fresh lemon and chili pepper. Meanwhile, a unique twist on hummus is made with white beans, topped with fresh mint and served with fresh hearth-baked bread.

The cocktail list was created by bar manager Henry Brown, previously of Taste. It offers classic cocktails that have been tweaked to reflect Louie’s modern food menu. An exception? The negroni Sbagliato, a classic that proved “too good and too striking to touch,” Brown says.

The inviting space showcases an understated, elegant aesthetic with a warm wood bar. Tables were designed by David Stine, wallpaper came from a Dutch designer and personal touches from McGuire include cuttings from famous Renaissance paintings placed in surprising places, a bar-back made from old post office sorting bins, and deer horns from his farm in Hermann, Missouri. The result is a comfortable, chic restaurant that feels like it’s always been there.

Louie is open for dinner Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 to 11 p.m. n

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wisted Roots Brewing Company plans to stick to tradition. The brewery, expected to open next month at 3690 Forest Park Avenue, will be the fourth to take up residence in the small brick building in Midtown, following Falstaff Beer, Six Row Brewing Company and Pappo’s Pizzeria. Co-owners Kris Wangelin and Adam Patterson wanted to respect the place’s history, but also knew they needed a twist.

And that, they say, will mean focusing on the bar first and the brewing part second. “We want people to feel like they’re at their corner bar,” says Wangelin.

“We’re a bar first, not a brew club first.”

Although “brewers by trade,” according to Wangelin, they will offer classic bar food with a twist, as well as vegetarian options.

Both partners are from the Belleville area and have experience locally.

Wangelin has been an intern at 4 Hands and served as head brewmaster at Peel Wood Fired Pizza. Patterson has been the head brewmaster at 4204 Main Street Brewing Company in Belleville.

The growing St. Louis beer market now features several dozen craft breweries. Competition can be tough, as a short history of the space proves. The well-loved Six Row Brewing Company shut down its operation there after six years of business. Pappo’s Pizzeria, a product of Springfield, Missouri, opened on site in January 2016, hiring the head brewmaster from Six Row Brewing Company to help them launch their new products. However, the restaurant closed after less than two years.

But Wangelin feels confident Twisted Roots can succeed where the others have failed, citing the changing nature of its neighborhood. The Midtown neighborhood is set to undergo a transformation with plans to build the City Foundry, a public marketplace housing everything from retail to the city’s first food hall.

Wangelin hopes that the evolving neighborhood and the friendly, familiar atmosphere they have planned for Twisted Roots spell out a promising future.

To honor the building’s roots, Wangelin says they plan to feature Falstaff paraphernalia, but largely the brewery will have a new theme to mark its new beginnings. Most importantly, Wangelin says, the goal is simply for people to come in and enjoy themselves.

Follow Twisted Roots’ Facebook page for more info about its opening.

—Megan Anthony

[FOODSTUFFS]

Impossible Burger Says Hello to STL Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

T

homas Futrell, the executive chef of Polite Society (1923 Park Avenue, 314-325-2553), doesn’t hesitate when asked if the Impossible Burger is as good as it sounds. The answer is “yes,” and he even has a foolproof anecdote to prove it.

“One of our servers didn’t fully explain the burger to some guests, and it wasn’t until after they ate it that they realized it was a veggie burger,” says Futrell. “They had no idea until after the fact.”

Going forward, he adds, “We told our servers after that that they have to be very clear with guests about what this burger is. We’re not trying to fool anyone.”

Still, fooling guests may be hard to avoid with a veggie burger so meat-like in appearance, texture and taste that it elicits nothing less than shock from even the most hardcore carnivores. A mere “veggie burger” this is not: The Impossible Burger is a plant-based food revolution.

If you haven’t heard of the Impossible Burger, chances are you’ve seen one — at least a larger-than-life-sized photo. Images of the meatless wonder have been popping up on billboards across the city over the last few weeks as its parent company, Impossible Foods, prepares to launch what it’s touting as a wonder product to the mass market.

To the unsuspecting eye, these billboards might look like advertisements for Hardee’s latest “Thickburger,” with photos of juicy patties, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise piled onto a golden bun.

In actuality, they are about as far from fast-food, conventional meat as you can get. Entirely plant-derived, the Impossible Burger is the result of years of research by Patrick Brown, a Stanford biochemist who has figured out a way to simulate meat using modified yeast to create a compound called heme.

Polite Society is one of only two places in the state where you can eat the Impossible Burger. | KELLY GLUECK Through his research, Brown isolated heme as the substance that makes meat what it is. Heme gives meat its taste, its texture, and it’s what makes meat, for lack of a less macabre term, bleed. It also happens to be found in soy, which makes it possible to produce the same effect using entirely plantbased ingredients, though the amount of soy you need to produce a burger is astronomical.

Brown found a way around this problem. Wired did a deep-dive on the science of the Impossible Burger last fall as it began to take the country by storm, and the CliffsNotes version goes like this: Take the genes found in heme-producing soy roots, insert them into yeast and feed it sugar, then add it to a mix of ingredients such as wheat protein, potato protein and coconut.

The result is a product that not only mimics the texture and taste of meat, it also sizzles, releases aroma and makes the same sounds as it cooks as if it were an actual patty of ground beef — only one that, according to Impossible Foods, uses 95 percent less land and 74 percent less water for production and creates 87 percent less greenhouse gas emissions.

Currently, the Impossible Burger

is available at two places in St. Louis: Polite Society and Frida’s, the stylish vegetarian spot in University City. Though they are the only two restaurants in the state carrying the in-demand product right now, that will almost certainly change as Impossible Foods prepares to increase production and expand its footprint.

Natasha Kwan, owner of Frida’s, is no stranger to plant-based burgers and has won accolades for her bean-and-vegetable-based “Frida Burger.” However, she sees the Impossible Burger as a welcome addition to her menu not just for vegetarians, but for meat-eaters who might want to start making healthier and more environmentally conscious choices.

“We already have a custom burger menu, and this is just one more thing we are putting on there,” says Kwan. “But this is a great transitional product for people who are looking to eat less meat. If I can get someone to eat less beef twice a week, then I can have an impact on their overall health.”

Because Frida’s is entirely vegetarian and does not fry or use butter or sugar in its cooking, the Impossible Burger’s realism is almost too decadent for Kwan. “It’s a

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beef-like burger. It’s juicy and oily; it’s the oiliest thing in our kitchen.

Personally, I prefer the ‘Frida Burger,’ but to each their own. I’ve been a vegetarian for years, but if you are a meat-eater and are craving that sort of juicy burger but want to be healthier, then this is a good transitional product.”

As for Polite Society, Futrell is all about the decadence. The chef has been obsessing over the Impossible Burger since he heard about it being served in New York. He was eager to bring it to Polite Society but quickly found out that doing so would be no short order. His quest began with several months of email exchanges with Impossible Foods, after which he was allowed to apply to serve the burger.

“It took hours for me to put together the application,” Futrell says of the process, which even included a three-page statement.

When he finally got his hands on the product, Futrell was impressed with how much the burger mimicked actual beef, to the point that he decided that a patty melt preparation was the best way to showcase it. “It just seemed like the right way to treat the product,” Futrell says. “When you think of a patty melt, you think of simplicity of ingredients; it’s the burger, cheese, grilled onions, griddled bread. We do ours Steak ’n Shake style with our own version of ‘Frisco’ sauce.”

As impressed as he has been with the Impossible Burger, Futrell is equally impressed with the response. “Between Wednesday and Sunday we sold 110 of them,” he says. “The response has been incredible.”

For now, though, Futrell is excited to have the opportunity at long last to serve such a game-changing food to his guests. “To me, when you think about the name ‘Polite Society,’ it means that we want to be as inclusive as possible in what we serve,” says Futrell. “To be able to offer this is a way of increasing that inclusiveness and making sure people have choices.”

For her part, Kwan is just hopeful that the Impossible Burger can be a first step toward healthier bodies and a more sustainable food system, and she is bold in her vision. “At the end of the day this is a good way to get people to get a little healthier and take those steps that can have a big impact on a local, national and even international level.” n

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

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NIGHTLIFE

37

[COMEDY]

Calm on Down Chicago comic Reena Calm returns to St. Louis after hilariously headlining the Flyover Comedy Festival Written by

THOMAS CRONE Reena Calm

8 p.m. Thursday, February 8. Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $10. 314-727-4444.

W

hen the Flyover Comedy Festival’s debut weekend was coming to a close this past November, the last comic standing was Reena Calm, performing to a small audience inside of Gezellig’s side room. She was headlining a long, hilarious bill, hosted by St. Louis fave Chris Cyr, with five comics taking the stage before her. Calm delighted with a wide-ranging, amusing set heavy on relationship material and featuring, as she says, “the absolute dirtiest joke I do — which is based in St. Louis. So it’s one I usually do when there.”

From a seat in the back row, her twenty-minute set seemed to kill. But the funny thing is, Calm doesn’t recall much beyond being there.

“That particular night, I was actually pretty sick when I got [to the venue],” she says. “I wasn’t 100 percent for that show, and I don’t remember it well. I was losing my voice — probably shouldn’t have even been there.”

In a sense, the evening fits neatly into Calm’s St. Louis performance history, which is far from usual.

The Chicago-based comedian has performed at a house show and at rock & roll venues, at benefit shows, a roast and, yes, inside a space at Gezellig that normally features ping pong. She’s never played a straight-up comedy room

Reena Calm hopes to build a strong fan base here in the River City. | COURTESY OF THE ARTIST here, and that unorthodox streak continues with her next appearance in St. Louis.

On Thursday, February 8, Comedy Here is presenting a night of multiple entertainments at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room, a $10-perticket fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Also performing comedy will be Lael O’Shaughnessy and Tina Dybal, with music and hosting compliments of Neil C. Luke and Zackary Matthew Sloan. The evening will double as Comedy Here promoter Kelsey McClure’s 30th birthday party, ensuring the night will be a lively one. As McClure writes,“The twohour show will run more like a variety show than what you’d find at a traditional standup comedy club. Think variety, but as in ‘the spice of life’ and not a haphazard talent show.”

Calm initially wasn’t looking to book a St. Louis date so soon after Flyover, but the appeals

were many: the chance to support Planned Parenthood, the opportunity to reconnect with McClure, with whom she worked during the latter’s stint living in Chicago, and the ability to establish St. Louis as a strong market for her ascending standup career.

“These shows were a little bit close together,” Calm acknowledges. “But the festival brought in a different crowd and everybody’s marketing to different people. I would say that just because of location, I’d like to go there a few times a year; I don’t think it’s oversaturating to come back a few times a year. The times I’ve been in St. Louis, I see some of the same faces, but some new faces, too. The local comics there are super supportive, and I feel that something’s being built up there.”

Part of that is McClure, who Calm says “is a really good producer. Whatever she’s got in store will be great. My first time in St.

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Louis, I was at a going-away roast for Kelsey, which was the first time I met her, and she gave me some time on that show. When she moved to Chicago, we became close. And now that she’s back in St. Louis, this is the second time she’s brought me down. Kelsey’s my key to St. Louis.”

While McClure may be the key, Calm’s equally strong writing and delivery is what’s creating her buzz — not just here, but around the country. Her sets seem understated, clear, free of theatrics and gimmickry, fitted with a bit of self-deprecation and unafraid to toss in material that’s brandnew. Whether she plays a town once annually or many times, she knows that it is on her to come up with the material.

“I honestly don’t think I’ve ever done the same set twice,” she says. “Maybe once in a while on a five-minute set, but I’m usually throwing Continued on pg 39

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something new in there to keep things fresh. I don’t have anything that’s set in stone, and I can do any amount of minutes up to 60. I kind of keep things grouped together, so that I can do a 60-minute set, then do a 10-minute set that might be a very quick version of the 60, with some of the same touches, but without going into any one thing as much. This isn’t an exact science, either. Some jokes are really short; some take a few minutes to set up. What you choose depends on the show — and the crowd is a huge, deciding factor in that, too.”

Of late, comedy as a topic has been on Calm’s mind a lot, as she’s just begun teaching at Chicago’s vaunted Second City, where she herself studied.

“I teach the Level 1 standup course there and have a couple of classes going now,” she says. “I’ll do workshop and private lessons, if enough people show interest. It’s awesome for me, in that I’ve just met a bunch of people that I get to talk to about my favorite thing for three hours a week. I help them build a set and experiment with different writing styles. There’s no ‘right’ way to do this, no one way. So I help them to find their own voice.”

These days, Calm’s got that Chicago home base, frequently tackling a couple of shows per night in what’s arguably the most robust comedy scene in America.

The Second City gig is a natural, and as McClure notes, Calm has become “one of the most respected and requested comedians in the Midwest.” But there are still some career choices making themselves known: one calling from the East, one from the West.

“I’ve had to change some things up recently, as last-minute opportunities have come my way,” she says. “And really great opportunities keep coming my way, instead of my having to chase them all down. I’m waiting to see. I love staying in Chicago and I’m not anxious to move to New York, but if the right opportunity came up, I’d move there. Same with LA, though more things seem to be happening in New York. This is all speculation on my part, but I just feel there are a lot of possibilities right now, that anything might happen. I’m just waiting to see what the universe brings next.” n

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40

HOMESPUN

NECESSITIES Be Kind Simulacra necessities.bandcamp.com

T

here may be no science to fully predict the half-life of a local band, but a few metrics can be used to measure a group’s overall stability. Bands can get scuttled by normal life events (marriage, children, the long-delayed arrival of adulthood) or interpersonal dynamics, but a number of bands call it quits after having achieved a measure of success while stalling on shifting into the next gear.

Necessities, a spiky trio that finds a foothold between harmony and cacophony, formed from the ashes of three beloved and promising local bands. Stephen Baier led the indie-pop/glee-club mashup Dots Not Feathers; Chris Phillips sang lead in polyrhythmic pop trio Bear Hive; and Jon Ryan was half of the abrasively danceable duo Volcanoes. But with Necessities, the three musicians have merged their interest in spindly, kinetic guitar riffs and jerky but propulsive rhythms.

More importantly, it’s a project informed more by the bonds of friendship and the thrill of creation rather than any big-eyed dreams of indie-rock stardom.

“I think all three of our bands had gone down the route of which you’re supposed to — we had all made full-length records, we had all talked to labels and tried to do the touring thing,” says Phillips. “We were all around the same age of 27 when it was stopping.

We were pretty fatigued by part of that process.”

A few years away from steady gigs and a lot of time in the band’s practice/hangout space served to refresh these musicians and reorient their priorities. “We have hung onto the idea that if it’s not fun and enjoyable at all times, it’s not worth doing,” says Phillips.

For Baier, whose time at the helm of Dots Not Feathers burnished his abilities as a nuanced pop songwriter, Necessities is a pronounced pivot away from his old group. As this new band was getting its legs, he found inspiration in another local trio known for wrangling guitar tones and rhythms into something unfamiliar.

“In that early state I had a deep revelation moment at a Yowie show where I was thinking of how and why to be a band,” said Baier, “and the end goal was just to be the best band you can be.

“When Dots Not Feathers was ending, I was still writing, but for some of it I wanted to do something completely new,” continues Baier. “I really wanted to be a guitar hero — I want to embrace writing a bunch of riffs. That culminated in a moment of leaning into bands like Don Caballero and Fugazi — it all came together in one moment when I was just in love with being an angular guitarist.”

Baier’s riffs drive most of the material on the Be Kind Simulacra EP, a five-song introduction that finds the band pushing against the interplay between interlocking patterns and the sometimes-ethereal detachment of Phillips’ voice. The EP’s second track, “Opti-Mystic,” demonstrates this balance best; the song begins in

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medias res, as if we’ve walked into the middle of a practice session, where Phillips’ voice traipses along a riff that hits like pneumatic rockabilly. Its pop-forward, one-for-all chorus finds all the pieces aligning, for a moment, before unspooling again.

“The sound is what really leads the body of work,” says Phillips. “I think the three of us found that it sounds like its own thing. Off of that we wrote songs very collaboratively and do the arranging together.

We all three had a very defining place in the process.”

In Ryan’s last band, he was only an occasional drummer and was normally stationed on bass and synth; so to prepare as Necessities’ beat-keeper, he sold off some old gear, bought his own kit and began woodshedding in earnest.

“In Volcanoes the drums were as loud and fast as possible — there was not a lot of technique involved,” says Ryan. “I wanted to do more nuanced, technique-driven kind of drumming rather than just smashing loudly. The songs are pretty complicated and have a lot of parts, but if you listen to the kick and snare pattern they will be the same throughout the entire song.”

For a band made up of players who were friends first and bandmates second, navigating the machinery of the local music scene is both new and familiar — but it is never the end goal of Necessities’ vision.

“We want to get piped back into some of the larger music community ... I feel like when I stopped gigging as much I became an old person,” says Phillips.

“Since we have that very open-ended goal of enjoying our time together, our band practices can evolve or devolve into awesome hangout sessions.”

Still, Phillips says, the band continues to write and record, despite having just released a cassette version of Be Kind in December. “There definitely will be new material at some point this year. I love the recording process; that’s where a large passion of mine exists.”

–Christian Schaeffer

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RORY SCOVEL: 8 p.m., $18. The Ready Room,

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

4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

773-5565.

SAMANTHA FISH: 8 p.m., $15. Old Rock House,

PETER MARTIN AND BRIAN OWENS: w/ Terence

1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

Blanchard 8 p.m., $45. Grandel Theatre, 3610

TOM HALL: 4 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S.

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

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

STEVE REEB & ROSS BELL: 3 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

FRIDAY 2

TIM ALLEN: 7 p.m., $46.50-$103. Peabody Opera

BADDAYDRE: w/ Blaack Thomas, Fooassvick, lil

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

tho, kapsule flexxx, echo shorty 7 p.m., $10-$12.

X-RAY MARY: w/ Dan Ryan, Comrade Catbox, Big

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

Tobacco 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359

0353.

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

CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO: 7:30 p.m., $35-$40. Jazz At the Bistro, 634 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-

SUNDAY 4

534-3663.

THE BONBON PLOT: 11 a.m., free. The Dark Room,

DANA MICHAEL ANDERSON RELEASE SHOW: w/

3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel Theatre, St.

Emily Wallace, the Funky Butt Brass Band 8

Louis, 314-776-9550.

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

FOSSIL YOUTH: w/ Born Without Bones, Angel-

Louis, 314-498-6989.

head, Flora 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359

Destroyer. | VIA MERGE RECORDS

DESTROYER: 8 p.m., $18-$20. Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-727-4444.

EARTH GROANS: w/ This Is Me Breathing, Cavil,

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

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

Destroyer

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

8 p.m. Friday, February 2.

436-5222.

Contemplating the music of Destroyer, one recognizes no analog on the American continent. Not even Dylan, a quasi-forefather, has produced anything like Dan Bejar’s experimental obsessions. Serge Gainsbourg, however, sports the same beguiling inscrutability, the same poetry and sex and crimedrunk jazz, the same voluminous sweaters. Last year’s ken struck

some fans as Bejar’s homage to the synthetic grooves of the Cure, but the Cure never strangled a saxophone or chanted a chorus in French. On stage, one shouldn’t expect Bejar to start making sense of it all; one must surrender to his sui generis fusion of rock, cosmopolitanism and darkly charismatic ambiance.

Foggy Bottom: Opener Erin Birgy leads Brooklyn-based Mega Bog through eerie, basement-looping workouts. Arrive early and let her lo-fi jazz pop sink in. —Roy Kasten

St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

BROOKROYAL: 6 p.m., $5-$8. Pop’s Nightclub, 401

Akilah Jae, Honey Kay, Cedes 5 p.m., $10. 2720

THIRD SIGHT BAND: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues &

THE SCATTERGUNS: w/ BaldEagleMountain 9

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

Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Chero-

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

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

CAVEOFSWORDS: w/ Sorry, Scout 9 p.m., $7. The

kee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700.

St. Louis, 314-352-5226.

Heavy Anchor, 5226 Gravois Ave., St. Louis,

HUHT: 9 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South

TUESDAY 6

SEAWAY: 7 p.m., $15-$18. The Firebird, 2706

314-352-5226.

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

BEARINGS: w/ Hold Close, Name It Now 6 p.m.,

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

CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO: 7:30 p.m., $35-$40. Jazz

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

$13. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-

THAT ‘90S JAM: w/ DJ Nico, DJ Agile One, James

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

II: w/ Lamar Harris, The Domino Effect, Monkh

9050.

Biko 9 p.m., $6-$10. The Ready Room, 4195

534-3663.

and the People, DJ Mahf, Former Members of

BOB KAMOSKE: 6 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar,

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

DAVE STONE TRIO: 9 p.m., free. Thurman’s in

Big Brother Thunder & the Master Blasters 7

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

WORLD WAR ME: w/ Oh Weatherly, Sunsleep 6

Shaw, 4069 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis, 314-

p.m., $10. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St.

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

p.m., $12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

696-2783.

Louis, 314-588-0505.

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

289-9050.

DRACLA ALBUM RELEASE SHOW: w/ Mom 9 p.m.,

JACQUEES: 8 p.m., $38-$58. The Pageant, 6161

Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

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

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

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

314-498-6989.

KEYS N KRATES: w/ Falcons, Jubilee 8 p.m., $26-

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

BLVCK SPVDE: w/ Civil Writes 9 p.m., $7-$10.

FEMFEST 4: w/ Bates, Apollo’s Daughter, Yodi

$28. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., St. Louis.

Slim, OG Rach, L Meezy, G.A. Barz, Mz. Tigga,

314-726-6161.

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

Dead Ends, Bridges 7 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

A GROUNDHOG DAY CELEBRATION: w/ Tumpt, Prairie Rehab, Voodoo Planet 9 p.m., free.

Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

JEFF AUSTIN BAND: 9 p.m., $17-$20. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

THE KENDRICK SMITH TRIO: 9 p.m., free. Thurman’s in Shaw, 4069 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis, 314-696-2783.

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

MØ: w/ Cashmere Cat 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-7266161.

THE PROVELS: w/ Zoofunkyou, The Grooveliner

The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City. $18 to $20. 314-727-4444.

8 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave.,

SATURDAY 3

42

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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

TORTUGA: 4 p.m., free. Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-721-4096.

MONDAY 5 FLESH MOTHER: w/ Kodiac, Terminal Island 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South Broadway, St. Louis, 314-328-2309.

O’SHAY’S SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: 7 p.m., free.

O’Shay’s Pub, 4353 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-932-5232.

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-6218811.

THAT RAT MONDAY: w/ Martha Mehring 10:30 p.m., free. Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

[CRITIC’S PICK]

FemFest 4 5 p.m. Saturday, February 3.

2720 Performing Arts Center, 2720 Cherokee Street. $10. 314-276-2700.

Every year since 2015, St. Louis rapper Bates has worked alongside hip-hop promoter Rob “Boo” Ford to put together an annual evening dedicated to showcasing the women of St. Louis’ music scene. The inaugural FemFest, held in the basement of Blank Space, featured sixteen of the city’s best female rappers; this year’s FemFest, the second held just down the street at 2720 Cherokee, will showcase 54 acts. They’ll be split between the first-

floor main stage and the second-floor RKDE stage, and while the festival is still centered around rap and hip hop performers, the focus now includes several singers, as well as avant-garde performance artists Whsky Janetor.

Let the Battle Begin: This year the festival will also feature a multi-round rap battle between some of FemFest’s featured performers. Always looking to add more to the event, Bates adds, “I wanted to do more than that; I wanted to do like a You Got Served type of dance battle and I wanted to do a beat battle... Maybe next year.”

—Nick Horn

WEDNESDAY 7

Louis Artists’ Guild, 12 N Jackson Ave, Clayton,

BROTHER LEE DJ NIGHT: 9 p.m., free. The Ready

314-727-6266.

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

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE: Tue., May 15, 8

3929.

p.m., $22-$25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St.

FRESH PRODUCE: THE BEAT BATTLE: first Wednes-

Louis, 314-498-6989.

day of every month, 9 p.m., free. The Monocle,

CHRIS STAPLETON: W/ Marty Stuart, Brent Cobb,

4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-935-7003.

Fri., July 13, 6 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Am-

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

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

634 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-3663.

Heights, 314-298-9944.

RON POPE: 8 p.m., $18-$22. Delmar Hall, 6133

CHROME: W/ Vela Uniform, Bug Chaser, Human

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

Pollution, Wed., March 28, 8 p.m., $15-$18. Fubar,

THIS JUST IN

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

DAVE STONE TRIO: Sat., Feb. 3, 9 p.m., free. Thur-

ACT OF DEFIANCE: W/ Shattered Sun, Shaping

man’s in Shaw, 4069 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis,

Motion, Tue., March 13, 6 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108

314-696-2783.

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

DAVID DEE & THE HOT TRACKS: Fri., Feb. 16, 9 p.m.,

AL HOLLIDAY AND THE EAST SIDE RHYTHM BAND:

free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis,

W/ Rastasaurus, Fri., Feb. 23, 9 p.m., $10-$13.

314-773-5565.

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

THE DEAD DEADS: Tue., Feb. 20, 7 p.m., $12-$13.

314-775-0775.

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

AMERICAN GRIM: W/ Ovtlier, Vices to Veils, Mon.,

0353.

March 19, 6 p.m., $12-$14. Fubar, 3108 Locust St,

DEAD HORSES: Wed., April 4, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Old

St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-

ANDREW W.K.: Thu., May 24, 8 p.m., $20-$25.

0505.

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

DEER TICK: W/ John Moreland, Mon., April 16, 8

726-6161.

p.m., $25-$27.50. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd.,

ASHES TO STARDUST: THE MUSIC OF DAVID BOWIE:

St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

Sat., March 24, 8 p.m., $15-$17.50. Delmar Hall,

ELTON JOHN: Tue., Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $46.50-$221.50.

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

Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-

BIG GEORGE JR. & THE NGK BAND: Sat., Feb. 24,

241-1888.

9 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St.

AN EVENING WITH BYRNE AND KELLY: Mon., April

Louis, 314-773-5565.

9, 7:30 p.m., $38-$228. Grandel Theatre, 3610

BOB KAMOSKE: Tue., Feb. 6, 6 p.m., $5. Broadway

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

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

EYEHATEGOD: W/ Cro-Mags, Fister, Hell Night,

8811.

Thu., March 22, 7 p.m., $20-$25. Fubar, 3108

THE BONBON PLOT: Sun., Feb. 4, 11 a.m., free. The

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

Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside Grandel

FLESH MOTHER: W/ Kodiac, Terminal Island,

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

Mon., Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $5. The Sinkhole, 7423 South

BRIAN CURRAN: Thu., Feb. 15, 4 p.m., free.

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

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

FOSSIL YOUTH: W/ Born Without Bones, Angel-

773-5565. Sat., Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m., $10-$15. St.

Continued on pg 44

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JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

RIVERFRONT TIMES

43

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 43

Louis, 314-775-0775.

SLEEP: Mon., April 9, 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

head, Flora, Sun., Feb. 4, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee

SLEEPING BAG: W/ Daytime Television, Á Bientôt,

& Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-

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

2100.

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

FRIENDS OF THE SHELDON BENEFIT CONCERT: W/

SMOOTH HOUND SMITH: W/ Forlorn Strangers, Fri.,

Arlo Guthrie, Fri., March 9, 9 p.m., $35-$55. The

April 20, 8 p.m., $12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th

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

St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

533-9900.

SOUTHERN OUTLAW MUSIC REVIEW: W/ Lewis

GENESIS JAZZ PROJECT: Sun., Feb. 4, 5 p.m., $5.

Brice, Jesse Kramer, Jake Shafer, Drew Dixon,

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

Tue., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., free. Tin Roof St. Louis, 1000

Louis, 314-436-5222.

Clark Ave, St. Louis, 314-240-5400.

GRANT ARGENT & KARA MCATEE: Sun., Feb. 11, 11

ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: Tue., Feb. 6, 8 p.m., $5.

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

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

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

Louis, 314-436-5222.

GRIFFIN HOUSE: Sun., June 24, 8 p.m., $18-$20.

STEVE REEB & ROSS BELL: Sat., Feb. 3, 3 p.m.,

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis,

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

HALLOW POINT: W/ Outcome of Betrayal, As Earth

314-773-5565.

[CRITIC’S PICK]

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW: Tue., May 22, 8 p.m., $25-$30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St.

Shatters, Broken Youth, We Are Descendants, Fri., March 9, 7 p.m., $8-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

Andrew Franklin. | THOMAS CRONE

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

INGESTED: W/ Bodysnatcher, Signs Of The Swarm, Sat., April 28, 6 p.m., 6pm. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

JEFF BECK AND PAUL RODGERS: W/ Ann Wilson, Sat., July 28, 6 p.m., TBA. Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON ACOUSTIC DUO: Thu., Feb. 8, 4 p.m., free. Thu., Feb. 22, 4 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON BAND: Thu., Feb. 1, 8 p.m., free. Thu., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

JONEZY’S BDAY JAM: Fri., Feb. 16, 8 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314775-0775.

THE KENDRICK SMITH TRIO: Fri., Feb. 2, 9 p.m., free. Thurman’s in Shaw, 4069 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis, 314-696-2783.

KEVIN HART: Fri., April 13, 7 p.m., $38-$128.

Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-

I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends II 7 p.m. Saturday, February 3.

The Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street. $10. 314-588-0505.

The St. Louis music community said goodbye to Andrew Franklin more than a year ago; his death in July 2016, just shy of his 30th birthday, extinguished a bright flame in the city’s soul and funk community. But in keeping the generosity of Franklin’s spirit alive, the bassist’s family and friends are paying it forward. This weekend’s benefit show, I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends, honors his legacy while helping

Louis, 314-726-6161.

THAT RAT MONDAY: W/ Martha Mehring, Mon., Feb. 5, 10:30 p.m., free. Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

out others in need. The mother of Larry “Fallout” Morris, the lead emcee of Illphonics, was recently diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, the same bile duct cancer that claimed Franklin. To raise funds, awareness and spirits, a whole host of local acts will fill the Old Rock House to honor an absent friend and help out the family of another.

Many Friends: Performers include Lamar Harris, the Domino Effect, DJ Mahf and members of Drew Franklin’s former outfit Big Brother Thunder & the Master Blasters.

—Christian Schaeffer

THE TRAVELING SALVATION SHOW: NEIL DIAMOND ROCK TRIBUTE: Sat., April 21, 8 p.m., $15-$80. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-5880505.

THIRD SIGHT BAND: Mon., Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

THUNDERHEAD: THE RUSH EXPERIENCE: Sat., April 21, 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE TILLERS: W/ Pert Near Sandstone, Fri., April 13, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-498-6989.

TIM ALBERT & THE BOOGIEMEN: Sat., Feb. 17, 9 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis, 314-773-5565.

TINSLEY ELLIS: Thu., March 15, 8 p.m., $18. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-5880505.

TOM HALL: Thu., Feb. 1, 4 p.m., free. Hammer-

241-1888.

LAYNE: W/ Selfish Things, Sun., April 22, 7 p.m.,

RUBRIGHT’S WIRE PILOTS: Fri., Feb. 9, 8 p.m., $15-

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

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

$12-$14. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-

$20. The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St. Louis,

PATRICK SWEANY: Sat., March 31, 8 p.m., $12-$14.

TOMMY HALLORAN BAND: Sun., Feb. 18, 11 a.m.,

9050.

314-560-2778.

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

free. The Dark Room, 3610 Grandel Square inside

LECRAE: Mon., March 19, 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. The

NATE MOORE: W/ DJ Fourth Dimension, Thu., Feb.

588-0505.

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

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

22, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

PAUL BONN & THE BLUESMEN: Sat., Feb. 3, 9 p.m.,

TORTUGA: Sun., Feb. 4, 4 p.m., free. Vintage Vinyl,

6161.

314-289-9050.

free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis,

6610 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-721-4096.

LITTLE BANDIT: W/ Elise Davis, Oak Steel &

NEW LINGO EP RELEASE SHOW: W/ Ashland, Hard-

314-773-5565.

WATCH WHAT CRAPPENS: Fri., July 13, 8 p.m., $25-

Lightening, Sun., March 11, 8 p.m., $10-$13. The

loss, Steeples, Man The Helm, Cold Rooms, Sat.,

RICH MCDONOUGH AND THE RHYTHM RENEGADES:

$75. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-

April 28, 6 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

Thu., Feb. 8, 8 p.m., free. Sat., Feb. 24, 3 p.m.,

Louis, 314-833-3929.

935-7003.

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

free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St. Louis,

THE WERKS: W/ Break Night, Brother Francis and

LUCKY OLD SONS: Fri., Feb. 2, 9 p.m., free. Ham-

THE NEW OLD-SCHOOL REVUE: W/ Finn’s Motel,

314-773-5565.

The Soultones, Fri., March 9, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

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

American Professionals, Fine to Drive, Sat.,

RIVERS AND RUST: Thu., March 22, 8 p.m., $12-

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

5565.

March 3, 8 p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manches-

$15. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis,

314-775-0775.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: W/ Hank Williams Jr., .38

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

314-775-0775.

THE WLDLFE: W/ Hardcastle, TREY, Sat., Feb. 10,

Special, Sat., Aug. 18, 6 p.m., $29.50-$199.50. Hol-

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS: Thu., April 5, 8

ROLAND JOHNSON & SOUL ENDEAVOR: Fri., Feb. 23,

7 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

lywood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City

p.m., $25-$28. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd.,

9 p.m., free. Hammerstone’s, 2028 S. 9th St., St.

Louis, 314-535-0353.

Expwy., Maryland Heights, 314-298-9944.

St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

Louis, 314-773-5565.

WYE OAK: Fri., May 25, 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Ready

THE MANESS BROTHERS: W/ White Mystery, Wed.,

O’SHAY’S SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: Mon., Feb. 5,

ROSTAM WITH ARLIE: Fri., March 30, 8 p.m., $15.

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

March 7, 8 p.m., free. CBGB, 3163 S. Grand Blvd.,

7 p.m., free. O’Shay’s Pub, 4353 Manchester Ave.,

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

3929.

St. Louis.

St. Louis, 314-932-5232.

588-0505.

X-RAY MARY: W/ Dan Ryan, Comrade Catbox, Big

MURMUR: A TRIBUTE TO R.E.M.: W/ In Between

OKEY DOKEY: W/ Zuli, Mon., March 19, 8 p.m., $10.

SAXON: W/ Black Star Riders, Wed., April 4, 8

Tobacco, Sat., Feb. 3, 8 p.m., $7. Foam Coffee &

Days: A tribute to the Cure, Miserable Now: A

Blueberry Hill - The Duck Room, 6504 Delmar

p.m., $35-$40. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St.

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

Smiths tribute, Fri., March 9, 8 p.m., $10. Delmar

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

Louis, 314-726-6161.

THE YAWPERS: W/ Amy LaVere & Will Sexton,

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

OLIVIA GRACE: W/ Ella Fritts, Kenny Kinds, Thu.,

SILENT BUT SEXY III: A SILENT DISCO: Sat., Feb. 17, 9

Thu., March 1, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509

MY SUNNY VALENTINE: ERIN BODE WITH DAN

Feb. 15, 9 p.m., $10-$15. The Heavy Anchor, 5226

p.m., $10. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St.

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

44

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2018

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE LESBORAMA

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I am a 38-year-old lesbian, very femme, very out. I have a coworker I can’t figure out.

We’ve worked together for a year and gotten very close. I never want to put out the wrong signals to coworkers, and I err on the side of keeping a safe but friendly distance. This is different. We are each other’s confidants at work.

We stare at each other across the office, we text until late at night, and we go for weekend dog walks.

Her texts aren’t overtly flirty, but they are intimate and feel more than friendly. I’ve never had a “straight” girl act like this toward me. Is she into me? Or just needy?

Is it all in my head?

Workplace Obsession Roiling Knowing-If-Nervous Girl Five weeks ago, a letter writer jumped down my throat for giving advice to lesbians despite not being a lesbian myself.

Questions from lesbians have been pouring in ever since — lesbians apparently don’t like being told who they may or may not ask for advice. Three weeks ago, I responded to a man whose coworker asked him if he might want to sleep with the coworker’s wife — a coworker who was “not [his] boss” — and people jumped down my throat for entertaining the idea because it is NEVER EVER NEVER EVER okay to sleep with a coworker and/or a coworker’s spouse. And now here I am responding to a question from a lesbian who wants to sleep with a coworker. Farewell to my mentions, as the kids say.

Here we go, WORKING… Yo u r s t r a i g h t - i d e n t i f i e d workmate could be straight, or she could be a lesbian (lots of lesbians come out later in life), or she could be bisexual (most bisexual women are closeted, and others are perceived to be straight despite their best efforts to identify as bisexual) — and lots of late-in-lifers and/or closeted folks don’t come out until some hot same-sex prospect works up the nerve to ask them out. If your

coworker isn’t currently under you at work and you’re not an imminent promotion away from becoming her supervisor and your company doesn’t incentivize workplace romances by banning them, ask your coworker out on a date — an unambiguous ask for a date, not an appointment to meet up at the dog park.

And this is important: Before she can respond to your ask, WORKING, invite her to say “no” if the answer is no or “straight” if the identity is straight. Good luck!

she loves me, but we don’t have sex. She has given me a pass to sleep with whoever I like, but I’m one of those weirdos who requires an emotional connection to sleep with someone. The odd thing is that she vacillates between heavily making out with me every time we are alone together and saying, “No, I can’t, I’m straight!” Why does she do everything but sex if she’s straight?

Feeling Really Unsure Since This Remarkably Amazing Temptress Entered Domain

Hey, Dan: I’m a lesbian, and my partner recently reconnected with a childhood friend. At first I felt sorry for him, as he was having a health crisis. But he’s better now, and his pushy behavior really gets to me. He texts her at all hours — and when he can’t get in touch with her, he bugs me. When I refused to go on a trip with him and his husband, he guilt-tripped me for weeks. He constantly wants us to come to his house, but they’re chain-smokers. I’m going to Los Angeles to interview a celebrity for a project, and now he’s trying to insert himself into this trip because he wants go starfucking!

He also wants to officiate at our upcoming wedding! My partner won’t stand up for me when I say no to this guy. How can I get my partner to listen to me or get her jackass friend to leave me be?

Can’t Think Of A Clever Acronym

That nice straight lady from work is making out with you because she likes it (the thirst is real), FRUSTRATED, or she’s making out with you because she wants you in her life and believes — perhaps mistakenly — that this is the only way to hold your interest/fuel your obsession (the thirst is faked). If she likes it, then she’s a lesbian or bisexual but so invested in her heterosexual identity that she can’t “go there.”

(Alabama, you said? Maybe she doesn’t feel safe being out in your community.) If she’s making out with you only because she’s lonely and values your friendship and/ or enjoys the ego boost of being your obsession, then you don’t want to keep making out with her — for her sake (no one feels good after making out with someone they’d rather not be making out with) and for your own sake (those make-out sessions give you false hope and prevent you from directing your romantic and erotic energies elsewhere).

Burn it down, CTOACA. Call or e-mail your partner’s old friend and tell him you think he’s a pushy, unpleasant, smelly asshole and that you don’t want to hang out with him — not at his place, not on a trip and not at your wedding, which he not only won’t be officiating but, if you had your druthers, he wouldn’t be attending. That should do it.

You can’t tell your soon-to-be wife who she can’t have as a friend — that’s controlling behavior — but she can’t force you to spend time with someone you loathe.

Hey, Dan: I’m a 40-year-old lesbian in Alabama, and I work with a woman I find impossible to resist.

The catch is she’s 66, straight and has two children. I love her deeply,

Hey, Dan: I’m a woman in my early 60s with a healthy lifestyle and an even healthier libido.

I’ve had almost exclusively hetero relationships, but I’ve been attracted to women all my life and all of my masturbation fantasies involve women. The older I get, the more I think about a relationship with a woman. The thought of being in love with a woman, making love with her, sharing a life with her — it all sounds like heaven. The trouble is that it’s really hard to see how I’ll meet women who would be interested in me. There’s rarely anyone my age on dating apps. I

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45

don’t even know what age range is reasonable. What’s a reasonable age difference for women with women? Also, who is going to be interested in a rookie? Advice?

Energetic Lonely Dame Envisioning Relationship Emmy-Award-winning actress Sarah Paulson is 43 years old a n d E m m y - Aw a r d - w i n n i n g actress Holland Taylor is 75 — and Sarah and Holland have been girlfriends for almost three years.

Emmy-Award-winning talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres is 60 years old and Screen-Actors-GuildAward-winning actress Portia de Rossi is 45 years old — and Ellen and Portia have been together for thirteen years and married for almost ten. There are lots of non-Emmy/SAG-Award-winning lesbians out there in relationships with significant age gaps — and at least one lesbian in Alabama who desperately wants to be in one. So please don’t let the lack of older women on dating apps prevent you from putting yourself out there on apps and elsewhere, ELDER. As for your rookie status, the proof is right here on this page: There are two examples of lesbians pining over rookies in this very column!

And remember: If you put yourself out there, you might be alone a year from now — but if you don’t put yourself out there, you’ll definitely be alone a year from now.

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

Want to reach someone at the RFT? If you’re looking to provide info about an event, please contact calendar@ riverfronttimes.com. If you’re passing on a news tip or information relating to food, please email sarah.fenske@riverfronttimes.com. If you’ve got the scoop on nightlife, comedy or music, please email daniel.hill@riverfronttimes.com.

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

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