Riverfront Times - July 12, 2017

JULY 12–18, 2017 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 28

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THE LEDE

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

“I used to make a lot of money before I did this. But I learned that money’s not everything. I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do. It was a cutthroat business: nine to five, suit and tie routine. And I wasn’t having any fun. When I decided to do this I found my passion.

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—JEAN HAFFNER, OWNER OF RECORD EXCHANGE, PHOTOGRAPHED AT HIS STORE ON JULY 8

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

14.

From Bud Light To (Legal) Bud Former AB exec Mitch Meyers finds a challening new calling: medical marijuana Written by

MIKE FITZGERALD Cover by

SARA BANNOURA

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

MUSIC

5

27

37

51

The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

9

30

Pride Restored

Film

With a record-setting PrideFest, Pride St. Louis erases a sixfigure debt

Robert Hunt enjoys Spider-Man: Homecoming

9

Books

Fake News in Columbia

A columnist blasted the sheriff’s office for putting his life in danger. Only problem: It wasn’t true

10

Op-Ed

Sarah Fenske inveighs against a big problem at City Hall: aldermanic courtesy

32

Evie Hemphill writes about a new e-book featuring the nation’s first mug shots

34

Stage

Paul Friswold finds much to enjoy at the kickoff of this year’s LaBute Fest

Veggie Tale

Cheryl Baehr has a rave review for Vicia, which is bringing vegetable-first cuisine to Cortex

44

Side Dish

Sardella’s Phil Ingram is happy to be back serving cocktails

47

Sweets

JULY 12-18, 2017

Smidley Smidley

58

Out Every Night

47

60

Sandwiches

Salume Beddu sandwiches at Parker’s Table are a great new lunch option

49

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Homespun

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

First Look

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With Clementine’s second outpost, De Mun gets the naughty — and the nice

Tin Roof brings the party downtown

6

Guitar Heroes

Howard Hardee writes about DragonForce, the cheesy (and talented) metal band coming to Fubar

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements

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ST LOUIS RFT THURSDAY, JULY 13

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NEWS

9

Ol’ Clark Makes a Bad Call Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

I

f you’re going to write a column bashing local cops over a minor traffic ticket while melodramatically suggesting your life was danger, even when a dashcam video exists to proves otherwise — maybe just don’t? A longtime columnist for the Columbia Tribune recently learned that lesson, and although we’re just as sick of the term as anyone, this really is a very dumb case of fake news run amok.

Last Thursday, Columbia Tribune managing editor Charles Westmoreland announced that he’d placed columnist Bill Clark — also known as Ol’ Clark, a writer whose byline first appeared in the paper in 19 1 — on indefinite suspension.

Clark’s offense? A June 0 column entitled, “Ol’ Clark has run-in with the law.”

In the column, Clark describes how he was pulled over by two Boone County sheriff’s deputies for failing to signal a right turn at a stop sign on June 20. And while no one should be expected to welcome ticky-tacky traffic tickets — they’re the worst — the columnist’s narrative jumps the shark almost immediately.

“I’m lucky I didn’t get shot,” Clark huffs. “Sirens wailed and when I stopped, two officers were out of the sheriff’s vehicle. When I reached over to turn off the radio and then take my wallet out of my pocket to produce the driver’s license and insurance card, I realized my hands were not at the top of my steering wheel. Danger lurked and official arrogance was to follow.”

Clark’s annoyance apparently stemmed from the fact that his car was alone at the intersection when he made the turn — who, he questioned, was he endangering? Still, though he wasn’t happy about it, he ultimately relented and accepted the ticket.

But instead of just ending the column there, Ol’ Clark then clumsily Continued on pg 11

This year’s PrideFest set new attendance records, drawing nearly 300,000 people. | SARA BANNOURA

PrideFest Triumph Wipes Out Debt

F

or Pride St. Louis, this year’s PrideFest was a winner in more ways than one. Not only did the organization attract a record number of attendees — but it managed to wipe out its debt.

Landon Brownfield, secretary for the board of directors for Pride St. Louis, says the organization entered the year with several years of debt, owing more than $160,000. But in addition to the usual event revenue, including sponsorships, the organization was able to raise $40,410 through direct donations, about four times the amount raised last year.

Thanks in part to that influx of money, Brownfield says, “obligations for previous years and this year have been met.”

Earlier this year, Pride St. Louis an-

nounced that it would be charging a $5 admission fee — but backed off in the face of public criticism. After nixing the fee, the organization encouraged those who had the means to donate upon admittance.

“Sponsorship is our biggest source of income for the festival, but sponsorship can only go so far. We depend on the community to support us as well,” Brownfield says. “Donations like those at the entry gates this year really do help us. We did see many people who said, ‘Well, I would’ve given $5 as an entry fee, but I’ll give you more because it’s a suggested donation now — I’ll cover someone who isn’t able to pay.’”

The funds raised by the organization help pay for PrideCenter (a new community center that opened in January), scholarships, educational programs, outreach and the festival.

Last year, Pride St. Louis gave eighteen scholarships, totaling $21,000, to LGBT community members and riverfronttimes.com

their families pursuing higher education.

In addition, the organization hosts many educational events, including Teachable Tuesdays, a bi-weekly program to learn anything from financial literacy to reproductive assistance to Trans 101. Though the organization now has the means to support these initiatives, Brownfield stresses the value of keeping them up and running throughout the year.

“Pride St. Louis will continue to ask for donations so that our programs such as the community center, educational outreach, and programs can continue in earnest,” Brownfield says. “While all our bills have been paid and we are debt-free, we need to remain active in fundraising for our programs to continue year-round.

The leadership of Pride St. Louis is cautiously optimistic about our financial future, but acknowledge that fundraising must continue.”

— Sabrina Medler

JULY 12-18, 2017

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The Trouble with Aldermanic Courtesy

JULY 12-18, 2017

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ast Wednesday, at City Hall, Alderman Joe Roddy called a colleague to the carpet — in a really unfair way.

Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia was standing before the Housing and Urban Development Committee, which Roddy chairs. Ingrassia was seeking committee support on a tax plan benefiting a new business in her ward — Charleville Brewing Company, which recently opened a brewpub in partnership with Paul and Wendy Hamilton, who own PW Pizza, Vin de Set and other successful city eateries.

Unlike other businesses seeking tax deals — say, the Starbucks that has its own special taxation district, or the $19 million grocery store/gas station Paul McKee promises to build in north city if only taxpayers sweeten the pot just a little bit more — this deal was not totally embarrassing. Charleville already has a successful operation in Ste. Genevieve, yet they’ve invested in Downtown West, with an operation that will eventually include not just the restaurant and brewery, but a market and butcher shop. And it’s all happening on a once-forgotten stretch of Chouteau, part of a longstanding city-ordained “Enhanced Enterprise Zone.” Ingrassia’s resolution would merely allow Charleville to tap into the incentives laid out for that zone.

Now, you could certainly question whether the brewery needs a tax cut. It’s already opened its doors and is off to a great start. Beyond that, the Hamiltons have made big strides in revitalizing that part of Chouteau.

The zone could well be unnecessary to attract business in 2017.

But that wasn’t where Roddy was going when he called out Ingrassia.

Not at all.

Basically, he was pissed that she’d voted against some tax incentives in his ward. And so before he would allow the Charleville plan to move

forward, he demanded to know whether she’d support a proposal he’s working on to create more uniform guidelines for developers.

The demand was patently unfair.

There is no proposal, at least not one Roddy has revealed to colleagues.

And yet, as a video of the meeting makes clear, Roddy flat-out refused to move forward on Charleville’s plan without Ingrassia signing on — not just to the idea of guidelines, but to whatever particulars he comes up with.

“If we adopt those guidelines, are you going to be comfortable supporting those for projects that are in other people’s wards?” he demanded. “Because my concern is, I’ve had projects down there that you’ve voted against that I’ve found inconsistent with views on other projects in your own ward.”

Having a set of guidelines, Roddy intoned, “may require you to vote for projects that you aren’t necessarily completely enamored with. Are you comfortable with that?”

“I think that’s a difficult question for me to answer with specificity today,” Ingrassia told him. “I’m definitely in favor of the reform and all the work that you —” Roddy cut her off. “Well, why don’t we go ahead and hold this resolution until we get all the —” “Can I finish the answer?” Ingrassia interjected. “I appreciate the work that you and the committee are putting in, and I look forward to having a comprehensive structure and something we can all follow, but without having something in front of me today —” “OK, what we’ll do, we’re going to try to get something in front of you before we come back,” Roddy cut in. “So we’ll hold this, and ... then you can go ahead and make a decision.” Gavel down, discussion over.

No vote for Charleville.

The moment was stunning in its pettiness. Maybe Roddy was angry that he couldn’t get unanimous approval for the projects in his ward.

But now Charleville can’t get a committee vote until its alderwoman agrees to support a plan that doesn’t even exist yet?

These are the sorts of things we all know go on at City Hall. But it’s still shocking to hear them put so baldly in an open meeting.

Indeed, watching Roddy lecture Ingrassia, seemingly fuming in righteous anger, one thing is apparent: He’s so used to business as usual that he thinks anyone observing the meeting will assume it’s Ingrassia Continued on pg 12

COURT Continued

who’s in

It’s pr Ingrass ruefully Aske acknow

by Rodd allegian make th confide ultimate “I do problem “It’s a c my lesso upsettin on hold because This is t politics, And i ails St. L We m dermen politicia scenes. arena — quotes i especial floor — represe merest a reaso that the board ra — most they do, That’s concept tesy.” Ye big one or wom their ow to give a street, o ders fro suppose mind w whole. “ else vote plans.

That’s side gro TIF, to c for blin to deve our rep deal afte coffers, man wa their wa afford to sponsor Nobody grassia the lawy

BAD CALL Continued from pg 9 tries to link the incident to a grander lesson about police discrimination.

He writes “I’ve just come to appreciate even more the words of those minorities when they speak of harassment and police arrogance. I had a good dose of arrogance on this evening and, in my rear view mirror, the image of the second officer out of the car, his hands ready in case I made the wrong move. My life seemed to be in danger.”

Clark’s column quickly found its way to the desk of Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey — and Carey, in turn, pulled up the dashcam footage of the actual traffic stop. And what he saw didn’t fit with with the column’s narrative.

On Wednesday, July 5, Carey posted a strongly worded refutation to Clark’s column “The law has a run-in with Ol’ Clark.”

Even though the columnist claimed he was lucky he wasn’t shot, the sheriff writes, the traffic stop was in every way routine.

“There is never a weapon drawn, the deputies don’t take a position of cover, there are no loud verbal commands, no panic or anything else for that matter by the deputies,” Carey writes. “Would you agree this is sensationalism at its best? I say yes ” Carey also upbraids Clark for attempting to connect a traffic stop to the harassment minorities face from law enforcement. It was Clark, not the deputies, who was argumentative and arrogant, writes Carey “How was he in the shoes of minorities as an elderly white male?

Was he saying minorities don’t follow traffic laws or was he saying they are argumentative when stopped by law enforcement? I don’t know, but Ol’ Clark was guilty of both. If he believes this is how minorities are treated, then minorities can be assured from this video that they will be treated professionally by Boone County deputies.”

Carey also posted the eleven-minute video of the traffic stop to Facebook, where it’s since racked up more than 500,000 views and 1,500 shares.

The story was also picked up by several law enforcement blogs, and Clark’s original column was inundated with hundreds of angry comments. This being 2017, the Tribune also started fielding calls demanding Clark be fired.

In his July 5 announcement, the Tribune’s managing editor wrote that the video showed glaring inconsis-

tencies with the column.

“I cannot defend Clark’s column or the facts as he presented them,” Westmoreland wrote. “In the video I saw two professional deputies performing their job by the book, and a somewhat confused and irritated motorist, unaware of what he had done to draw the attention of local law enforcement. It certainly wasn’t worth writing a scathing column about, and the Tribune should not have published it. For that I apologize to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department and readers who feel they were misled by Clark’s column.”

Westmoreland wrote that he confronted Clark about the inconsistencies. The veteran columnist apparently admitted that “he’d made a mistake in taking out his frustrations in his column, and for blowing certain aspects out of proportion,” but still stood by the piece.

“He’s not apologetic for how he felt at the time or the way he perceived certain things,” Westmoreland wrote. (And, in fact, Clark’s “apology column,” which ran in the paper’s Saturday print edition, didn’t really apologize.)

Westmoreland concluded his an-

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nouncement by noting that while he couldn’t unpublish Clark’s column, “I will rebuke it.”

“I personally don’t believe Clark was threatened by the deputies in any way,” Westmoreland writes, “but I wasn’t inside his head and can’t say he didn’t feel threatened. I saw a deputy standing behind the car with his hands on his hips. Clark saw a deputy in his rear view mirror with his right hand next to his firearm. Perspectives differ from one person to the next. The dash cam video (and those of us who watched it) clearly had the n better view.”

JULY 12-18, 2017

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11

forward, he demanded to know whether she’d support a proposal he’s working on to create more uniform guidelines for developers.

The demand was patently unfair.

There W I N E R Y & E V EisNno T proposal, V E N U E at least not one Roddy has revealed to colleagues.

And yet, as a video of the meeting makes clear, Roddy flat-out refused to move forward on Charleville’s plan without Ingrassia signing on — not just to the idea of guidelines, but to whatever particulars he comes up with.

Written by “If we adopt those guidelines, are you going to be comfortable supSARAH FENSKE porting those for projects that are ast Wednesday, at City Hall, Al- in other people’s wards?” he dederman Joe Roddy called a col- manded. “Because my concern is, league to the carpet — in a really I’ve had projects down there that unfair way. you’ve voted against that I’ve found Alderwoman Christine Ingras- inconsistent with views on other sia was standing before the Housing projects in your own ward.” and Urban Development CommitHaving a set of guidelines, Roddy tee, which Roddy chairs. Ingrassia intoned, “may require you to vote was seeking committee support on for projects that you aren’t necessarF R EaE new COLO R L I N E N P Aily C Kcompletely A G E U P G R Aenamored DE a tax plan benefiting business with. Are in her ward — Charleville Brewing that?”

BARTENDER / P O R T A B L you E B Acomfortable R F E E W A I V E with D Company, which recently opened a “I think that’s a difficult question F R E E A D D I T I O N A L H O U R F O R YO U R E V E N T brewpub in partnership with Paul for me to answer with specificity and Wendy Hamilton, who own PW today,” Ingrassia FOL LOW US ON S O C I A Ltold M Ehim.

D I A“I’m defiPizza, Vin de Set and other success- nitely in favor of the reform and all 17 8 0 E A S T S TAT E R T 15 B E L L E V I L L E , I L 6 2 2 21 ful city eateries. the work that you —” W W W. T H E W E I N G A R T E N . C O M • 618 - 2 5 7 - W I N E Unlike other businesses seeking Roddy cut her off. “Well, why tax deals — say, the Starbucks that don’t we go ahead and hold this has its own special taxation district, resolution until we get all the —” or the $19 million grocery store/gas “Can I finish the answer?” Instation Paul McKee promises to grassia interjected. “I appreciate the build in north city if only taxpay- work that you and the committee ers sweeten the pot just a little bit are putting in, and I look forward to more — this deal was not totally having a comprehensive structure New 2017 Tacomaalready SR New 2017 we 4 Runner SR5 but embarrassing.

Charleville and something can all follow, has a successful having something Double operation Cab 4x4 V6in Ste. without Premium 4x4 V6 in front Genevieve, yet they’ve invested in of me today —” Downtown West, with an operation “OK, what we’ll do, we’re going to that will eventually include not just try to get something in front of you MSRP $32,253 • STOCK #30452 MSRP $39,517 • STOCK #30669 the restaurant and brewery, but a before we come back,” Roddy cut market and butcher shop. And it’s in. “So we’ll hold this, and ... then all happening on a once-forgotten you can go ahead and make a decistretch of Chouteau, part of a long- sion.” Gavel down, discussion over. standing city-ordained “Enhanced No vote for Charleville.

Enterprise Zone.” Ingrassia’s resoluThe moment was stunning in its tion would merely allow Charleville pettiness. Maybe Roddy was angry to tap into the incentives laid out for that he couldn’t get unanimous apNew 2017 Highlander LEhis Plus that zone. proval for the projects in ward.

V6 AWD 8 Passenger Now, you could certainly question But now Charleville can’t get a comwhether the brewery needs a tax mittee vote until its alderwoman cut. It’s already opened its doors and agrees to support a plan that doesn’t MSRPyet? $37,844 • STOCK #30656 is off to a great start. Beyond that, the even exist Hamiltons have made big strides in These are the sorts of things we all "Rebuilding in the City City" revitalizing that part of Chouteau. knowfor gothe on at City Hall. But it’s still The zone could well be unnecessary shocking to hear them put so baldly EXP. 7/31/17 *WITH APPROVED CREDIT. EXCLUDES TAX, TITLE LICENSE + 199 ADMIN FEE. to attract business in 2017. in an open meeting.

But that wasn’t where Roddy was Indeed, watching Roddy lecture going when he called out Ingrassia. Ingrassia, seemingly fuming in righNot at all. teous anger, one thing is apparent: Basically, he was pissed that she’d He’s so used to business as usual voted against some tax incentives in that he thinks anyone observing the his ward. And so before he would meeting will assume it’s Ingrassia allow the Charleville plan to move Continued on pg 12 [OP-ED]

The Trouble with Aldermanic Courtesy

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COURTESY Continued from pg 10 who’s in the wrong.

It’s pretty blatant, right?”

Ingrassia says later, laughing a bit ruefully.

Asked about the meeting, she acknowledges she was blindsided

by Roddy’s demands for a pledge of allegiance (and a bit surprised he’d make them so publicly). Still, she’s confident the Charleville deal will ultimately move forward.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem to get it passed,” she says.

“It’s a case of I just need to ‘learn my lesson’ type of thing. But what’s upsetting is that this project gets put on hold not because of its merits, but because of how he feels about me.

This is the reason people don’t like politics, or politicians.”

And it’s a bigger symptom of what ails St. Louis City Hall.

We may think of the Board of Aldermen as a bunch of squabbling politicians. But that’s only behind the scenes. When it comes to the public arena — discussions at meetings, quotes in the newspaper, and most especially the rare “no” vote on the floor — far too many of our elected representatives are troubled by the merest hint of dissension. There’s a reason the RFT found last year that the mayoral candidates on the board rarely voted “no” on anything — most aldermen don’t. And when they do, it’s treated like a scandal.

That’s thanks to a troubling little concept called “aldermanic courtesy.” Yes, we’re one city, and not a big one at that. But each alderman or woman is treated as the king of their own little fiefdom. If they want to give away tax dollars, or close a street, or a take their marching orders from a developer, everyone is supposed to defer to them — never mind what’s good for the city as a whole. “Courtesy” means everyone else vote “aye” on even the dumbest plans.

That’s one reason it’s taken an outside group of rabble-rousers, Team TIF, to challenge the city’s penchant for blindly giving away tax dollars to developers. For the most part, our representatives vote yes on deal after deal that starves the city’s coffers, simply because every alderman wants to bring development to their wards — and the others can’t afford to get on the bad side of their sponsoring colleague by voting no.

Nobody wants to be Christine Ingrassia on July 5, upbraided before the lawyers and developers who rely

on them to carry the ball forward.

In this set-up, critical thinking isn’t just frowned upon; it’s punished. Numerous aldermen and women note that the president of the Board of Aldermen, Lewis Reed, tends to assign two types of members to important committees: those who favor the status quo and clueless newbies. If the clueless newbies grow up, and start to question the way things are, they rapidly find themselves reassigned to Siberia. The only way to get any power at City Hall, apparently, is to march in step.

Alderwoman Megan Ellyia Green, herself no stranger to Siberia, says that with fresh faces getting elected to the board in recent years, the split is growing between those who defer to ward parochialism and aldermanic courtesy and those who believe the city needs a bigger-picture view.

“The younger generation in particular thinks we have to be looking at these issues as citywide issues,” she says. “Otherwise you’ve got 28 wards, each with their own mayor.

And that doesn’t create an effective city.”

To that end, Roddy’s idea to craft city-wide guidelines to restrict tax incentives has real merits. Looking at these giveaways holistically is one important step in figuring out how to restrict them — and curb aldermanic courtesy run amok.

But the devil may well be in the details. And until there is a plan on the table, it’s ridiculous to start forcing people to promise allegiance to it. Beyond that, it’s downright embarrassing to tell entrepreneurs trying to do business here that City Hall is only open for business if their alderwoman voted the “right” way on a committee chair’s pet project — or pledges allegiance to a reform plan that doesn’t even exist yet.

And as for those reforms.

The best plan isn’t going to come from Joe Roddy huddling with the St. Louis Development Corporation and developing guidelines that they then foist on everyone else. Like it or not, they’re going to have to engage with their critics who’ve taken on this issue with a passion. And they may even end up with some “no” votes on the final package, or the tax incentive plans that later result.

That isn’t an insult. It isn’t discourtesy. It’s democracy, and wouldn’t it be nice to see a bit more of it in action? n Sarah Fenske is the editor in chief of the Riverfront Times. Email her at sarah.fenske@riverfronttimes.com

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JULY 12-18, 2017

R I V E R F R O N T6/22/17 T I M E1:29 S PM1 3

FROM BUD LIGHT

TO (LEGAL) BUD Former AB exec Mitch Meyers finds a challenging new calling: medical marijuana

F

Written by MIKE FITZGERALD Photography by SARA BANNOURA

or many years, Mitch Meyers was a heavy-hitter in the intensely competitive world of marketing and product branding. If you were living in St. Louis three decades ago and didn’t know Meyers, you at least knew her work.

After a stint at 7UP, she worked for Anheuser-Busch during its glory days in the 1980s. Meyers dreamed up the Spuds MacKenzie mascot to sell Bud Light. Later, as a partner at St. Louis-based Zipatoni, Meyers worked on major campaigns for Miller Brewing, Motorola, Energizer and Ralston. By the time Zipatoni was acquired by advertising titan Interpublic Group of Companies in 2003, the firm had more than $40 million in annual sales, offices in six states and 350 employees.

After the sale, Meyers left the rat race to become a full-time mom to her kids and enjoy the family’s second home in Aspen, Colorado. But now Meyers is back in St. Louis to take on perhaps the biggest challenge of her career: Missouri’s fledgling medical cannabis industry.

In the three years since Missouri greenlit a limited form of medical cannabis, only two firms have received licenses to grow and sell medical weed: Noah’s Arc Foundation, of Chesterfield, and BeLeaf, of Earth City, where Meyers serves as CEO. Under the state’s current laws, both facilities may only use cannabis oils containing cannabidiol, or CBD, for patients

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 12-18, 2017

with seizure conditions. That group represents only about two percent of the patients who experts believe could benefit from medical cannabis — fewer than 1,000 people in Missouri. BeLeaf began cultivation operations in January 2016, and treats 48 patients so far.

That patient base could vastly expand if state lawmakers followed the lead of other states, such as Illinois, where medical cannabis is allowed to treat a wide range of medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, cancer and AIDS. But Missouri lawmakers have kept that door firmly shut.

During an interview at her Earth City facility, Meyers acknowledged the steep roadblock she faces in getting the cannabis skeptics in the Missouri general assembly to change their minds.

What compounds her frustration is the fact that public opinion polls consistently show that nearly two-thirds of Missourians support across-the-board legalization of medical marijuana — something that will almost certainly remain a fantasy until at least November 2018, when supporters hope to gain ballot access, and approval, for a statewide initiative.

An earlier campaign to put medical cannabis on the November 2016 ballot failed after backers did not gather enough valid signatures.

“The people who live in Missouri want access,” Meyers says. “We get desperate people wanting access to this, who are buying on the black market and who are driving out of state to get it. And that’s Continued on pg 16 ridiculous.”

riverfronttimes.com

Mitch Meyers, a former AnheuserBusch executive who today runs BeLeaf Company, examines one of the hundreds of cannabis plants growing at BeLeaf’s Earth City facility. The plants contain cannabidiol, or CBD, which contains only trace levels of THC. BeLeaf uses the plants to make CBD oil for patients who suffer from seizures.

riverfronttimes.com

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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Some of the hundreds of cannabis plants growing inside the cultivation center at BeLeaf Company, which is located in a former Verizon customer care center. At the facility, special lights and precisely controlled injections of nutrient-laced water ensure the plants are harvested on schedule after a twelve-week growth cycle.

LEGAL BUD Continued from pg 14

Y

es, it’s 2017, and 60 percent of Americans have access to some type of legal marijuana: medical cannabis in 29 states, and recreational weed in eight states and Washington, D.C. The spread of legal cannabis is accelerating. Last November, eight states legalized marijuana for either medical or recreational marijuana. More than half — 33 total states — have now legali ed marijuana in some form.

Meanwhile, Americans spent nearly $7 billion on legal pot last year — a 3 percent increase from the previous year, itself an all-time high (pun intended).

Even so, the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, the most tightly restricted category, reserved for drugs that have “no currently accepted medical use,” placing pot in the same category as cocaine and heroin.

What’s more, after years of “Just Say No” propaganda about the dangers of cannabis via publicly funded school programs like DARE, Cheech-and-Chong stoner stereotypes persist about anything to do with legal hemp.

Meyers and John Curtis, BeLeaf’s production director, shatter those stoner stereotypes instantly. They are serious and focused, as well as brutally realistic about the obstacles they face.

Both Meyers and Curtis wear business casual attire, and look and sound about as counter-culture as any pair of middle-aged business people you’d find lurking in in a typical St. Louis corporate office. The difference is the passion behind their words: They’ve found their calling in life, and they’re certain that other people’s lives depend on it.

Which is why the roadblocks they’ve faced in the General Assembly have proven so frustrating.

“We’re working on that as hard as we can to help that,” says Meyers, 61. “Because we’ve seen enough in the last two years of the legislation to know it’s not going to happen there. It’s not.”

A former journalist, Curtis opened his first medical cannabis dispensary in Denver in 2010. He

returned to his native St. Louis in 20 5 to be closer to his ids. By then Missouri had begun allowing limited CBD oil production.

Wanting to stay in the cannabis industry, Curtis gave Meyers a call. He soon joined her team as the man in charge of BeLeaf’s cultivation and production programs.

Curtis compares the campaign to legalize medical cannabis to the issue of gay marriage.

“You see a very bright line between generations,” says Curtis. “Where above a certain age there’s people on both sides, and then above that there is almost universal opposition, but below a certain age there is almost universal support.”

And when voters are allowed to weigh in, they tend to be much more open to change than their

representatives.

“Again, this is just something where the people are going to have to lead because their elected leaders are educated to the degree their constituents are,” he says.

BeLeaf is housed in a former Verizon customer care center at one end of an office par in arth City. ithin its 5,000 s uare foot home, BeLeaf both grows hemp plants and makes Noah’s ReLeaf, the CBD oil it markets to its clients. The oil contains tiny levels of THC, but not enough to get users high.

From the outside, it looks about as nondescript as any office in any one of countless office par s. nside, however, it is a marvel of lights, water and plant science technology. n indoor hydroponic flower

room contains row upon row of hemp plants in the final stages of their twelve-week growth cycles.

Each plant rests on a sponge-like pad attached to a narrow tube.

An automatic irrigation system shoots nutrient-laced water to each plant at precisely timed intervals. The wastewater is caught, recycled and reused.

Overhead are 1,000-watt, orange-colored lights that click on and off at twelve-hour intervals to mimic the light of autumn.

But while BeLeaf has lots of oil to sell, it still has too few patients — partly because of the restrictions of Missouri law, but also because of a paucity of physicians in the state willing to recommend medical cannabis.

Neurologists at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, in St. Louis, have been helpful, but riverfronttimes.com

otherwise it has been difficult to find physicians willing to recommend a drug that, technically, is still illegal under federal law.

The irony is that medical cannabis could make a huge difference in dealing with some of America’s biggest health problems, Meyers says.

“The interesting thing is people tend to come to cannabis almost when it’s too late,” she says. “When a doctor says, ‘We can’t help you any longer, we’ve done all the chemo we can, go home, get your affairs in order.’ People who don’t want to throw in the towel tend to turn to cannabis because they are online and they are researching, and they’re seeing this plant can kill tumors and especially certain kinds of cancers that it is incredibly effective on.”

JULY 12-18, 2017

Continued on pg 18

RIVERFRONT TIMES

17

Gregory F.X. Daly

LEGAL BUD Continued from pg 117

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T

he states that have opened their doors to cannabis legalization, such as California and Colorado, are experiencing what some observers are describing as a Green ush — an economic windfall that Missouri could join if the hoped-for ballot initiative passes in 2018.

A Washington Post analysis found that legal cannabis had grown to a $700 million industry in Colorado by 20 5.

Colorado retailers sold $386 million of medical marijuana and $313 million for purely recreational purposes. The two sides of the market generated 3 million in tax revenue, along with $13 million collected in licenses and fees alone. The Marijuana Industry Group estimated in 2014 that the legal cannabis business also generated 10,000 direct jobs.

What’s more, Colorado’s legal weed industry grew rapidly, but without any of the terrible consequences that opponents of legalization had predicted. Deadly car accidents remained flat and reports of crime had actually gone down in Denver and the surrounding area, the Post reported.

Meyers has seen for herself how the legal cannabis industry helped transform Denver.

“It’s real estate, it’s jobs,” she says. “I cannot believe how it has helped transform that city. There were neighborhoods that were terrible that are now completely vibrant with housing and work and restaurants. And a lot of it has to do with this industry.”

Both Meyers and Curtis are enthusiastic about hemp’s vast potential for creating new jobs for thousands of rural Missourians — a vision powered by the state’s near-perfect climate and soil for commercial hemp’s cultivation cycle and the fact that St. Louis is home to some of the brightest minds in plant sciences, at both Monsanto and the Danforth Plant Science Center, in St. Louis County.

Commercial hemp, which contains virtually no THC,

the psychoactive ingredient in recreational cannabis, has a long history in America.

Hemp is an incredibly versatile plant that humans have been consuming in some form for 18,000 years or so.

In fact, the first recorded hemp crop in the state was planted in 1820, one year before Missouri achieved statehood. Twenty years later, Missouri hemp farmers had produced 2,500 tons of the crop, with much of that shipped through St. Louis en route to New Orleans. It was a key ingredient in both rope and textiles.

Today commercial hemp is used as both an insulator and as construction material in homes. The auto industry makes plastics from hempbased oils to shave weight off luxury cars. BM imports hemp grown in Kentucky to make the fabric for car seats and plastics for door panels of its cars built at its assembly plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. A Canadian company is even building small airplanes out of the hemp plant. And researchers at the University of Connecticut are experimenting with hemp biodiesel fuels to power cars and airplanes.

Yet, despite the potential upside of hemp in all its uses, making a go in the cannabis industry in Missouri is “frustrating because a lot of times you’re going backwards or sideways and it’s hard to plan,” Meyers says. “But it’s also exciting because it is the beginning of a new industry and you can be part of it, and you can be part of the team that’s trying to help the people get what they want. And they’re ultimately going to get it.”

M

issouri wasn’t the first state Meyers targeted for her cannabis-based business plans. First she looked to her home state — llinois.

Meyers grew outside Carlyle, about an hour’s drive east of St. Louis. Her grandparents raised corn, soybeans, some chickens and a few cattle, and she helped out on the farm.

Continued on pg 20

Human beings having been using cannabis for an estimated 18,000 years. Missouri farmers first started growing commercial hemp, a variety of cannabis with virtually no THC, in 1820 and used it for making rope and textiles. Hemp provides oils used in plastics, body care products and dietary supplements, while hemp fiber serves as the source material for biofuels, fabric for clothing and sails, and construction and insulation materials.

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JULY 12-18, 2017

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A close-up photo of a cannabis plant at BeLeaf. Meyers is hoping that a measure aiming for Missouri’s November 2018 ballot will dramatically expand the number of Missourians eligible to consume medical cannabis.

LEGAL BUD Continued from pg 18 In 1977 Meyers earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and then in 1980 a master’s degree in finance.

She started her career at Emerson Electric. Growing bored with finance, she moved on to a marketing job at 7UP. After some upheaval there, she found a home at Anheuser Busch, where she flourished, eventually becoming director of marketing for the beer giant. At that time, in the late 1980s, she was the highest-ranking woman in AB’s corporate marketing division.

But it was after those years at B, and then fifteen years at Zipatoni, that Meyers found her current calling.

She’d said goodbye to corporate life for a while and began spending time at her family’s second home in Colorado. It was the early 2000s, and the state had recently legalized medical marijuana. A friend of hers who lived nearby had become certified to serve as a cannabis caregiver.

“And a caregiver can grow a certain number of plants based on patients they have,” she says.

“I was fascinated that someone without a medical degree can really be treating people with brain cancer and prostate cancer and lupus and Crohn’s. I was always peppering her with questions and watching her.”

What struck her, Meyers says, was how her friend was using her knowledge of pot to “truly help people, extend their lives, keep them alive.”

By 2012, Illinois had passed a law setting up a pilot program for medical cannabis. Meyers,

who has a home in Glen Carbon, watched in fascination as the new plan took shape. It allowed for a series of cultivation centers and dispensaries across the state.

An investor approached Meyers to see if she wanted to get involved.

“I said I absolutely would,” Meyers recalls. “I said I’ve seen firsthand how it wor s.

Meyers became the public face of the investor group seeking to build a cultivation center outside Marissa, Illinois, about 40 miles east of St. Louis in St. Clair County. In this role, she had to speak to community groups concerned about what would happen to their town if the cultivation center got built.

“It was very controversial, very controversial,” she recalls. “I was not prepared for the pushback. But you know, having never done it before, nobody says, ‘Here’s the road map, go do it.’” t was an expensive education. By late 2014, Meyers’ Nature Care Company LLC had already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into a potential cultivation center and dispensary. A first-year registration fee to the state added another $200,000 in start-up costs.

But in February 20 5, when Governor Bruce Rauner granted the first set of cultivation and dispensary licenses, Nature Care was passed over.

Meyers’ company did win a license to open a dispensary in Rolling Meadows, outside Chicago. But the roll-out of Illinois’ pilot program has moved more slowly than expected.

So far the Illinois Department of Public Health has approved medical cannabis applications for 20,600 qualifying patients riverfronttimes.com

since it began accepting applications for the program in September 2014. Trouble is, investors had expected that by this point in the pilot program Illinois would have more than 120,000 qualifying patients.

One of the reasons for the relatively low patient base in Illinois is the paucity of physicians willing to sign off on recommendations for patient qualifying cards. Also, insurance companies refuse to cover the cost of legal cannabis, which means patients must pay hundreds of dollars per month for medicine entirely out of their own pockets.

“Nothing’s moving in Illinois,” Meyers says.

T

hings are at even more of a standstill in Missouri, which began its nascent medical cannabis program in July 2014, under a bill sponsored by state Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Bridgeton), whose son, then nine, suffers from epilepsy.

The measure, which then-Governor ay ixon signed into law, allows the use of cannabidiol oil extracted from marijuana to treat epileptic seizures that can’t be effectively treated by pharmaceuticals.

But since then, the Republican-controlled statehouse has shown little interest in overcoming the fierce opposition of state Senator Bob Onder (R-Lake t. Louis to any further expansion.

Earlier this year Onder, a physician, successfully blocked a Senate bill that would make it easier for families to obtain the CB extract, expand the list of serious medical conditions for which it can be prescribed and boost its potency by increasing allowable Continued on pg 22

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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LEGAL BUD Continued from pg 21

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THC levels.

Much of Onder’s opposition stems from the fact that the federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved CBD products as a treatment or cure for any disease.

“And I do have some problems with the state eventually usurping the FDA approval process and endorsing the use of anything for a non-approved medication,” he told the Riverfront Times in May, just before the end of the legislative session.

For her part, Meyers has tried to educate cannabis skeptics in the Missouri statehouse, but it’s been to no avail.

“That’s why I’m so frustrated with Missouri,” she says. “It’s as if they never travel out of the state or never read anything in the cientific merican or the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

Meyers has a hard time masking her frustration with the legislative process.

“We’re not asking for recreational cannabis to be approved,” she says. “We’re asking for a few little things to change so that seriously affected people can get access.”

I

n the best case scenario, Meyers’ efforts to succeed in the legal cannabis trade form the latest link in a long chain of entrepreneurs who, after many trials, struck it rich in St. Louis over the centuries: Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau, the “mother” of St. Louis, who in the mid1700s made the city a center of fur-trading; Samuel Cupples, who in the 50s made a fortune in wooden matches; and of course Adolphus Busch, who in the 1870s revolutionized the beer industry by being the first American brewer to keep beer fresh by using pasteurization and refrigerated railroad cars.

But the viability of Meyers’ business could mean things that transcend economics for people like Jen Lewis, of St. Louis.

Lewis’ son Michael, eighteen, began using BeLeaf’s CBD oil about a year ago. As a result, he is suffering far fewer seizures, even while being weaned off the

BeLeaf’s main product is Noah’s ReLeaf, an oil made from the CBD harvested from cannabis plants.

prescription anti-seizure medications that forced him to spend much of his life asleep, Lewis says.

“It’s been good. He’s sleeping better. He’s becoming vocal again,” Lewis says. “Everybody that knows him says, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s awake.’ And getting to know him again.”

For Lewis, it is vitally important that BeLeaf keeps its door in open.

“Because Missouri is tough,” Lewis says. “It’s the Show Me State, right? You have to stay constant and persistent.”

Many experts also believe that legal cannabis could help ease America’s epidemic of opioid overdoses. n 20 5, for instance, more than 52,000 mericans died of drug overdoses, with almost two-thirds of those deaths linked to powerful opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, xyContin and Percocet. (Ironically, the latter two drugs enjoy FDA approval.)

More people are dying today of drug overdoses than any other point in U.S. history. Indeed, drug overdoses kill more mericans than firearm homicides (more than 36,000) and during its pea in 5

M

“This is not about money.

She’s got a big heart.

And she thinks she can help people.

That’s what she’s doing.” (more than 43,000).

States that have approved legal cannabis have seen opiate deaths drop by 25 percent, Meyers notes.

“So people began to use cannabis as a substitution for some or maybe even all of their opioids,” she says. “And we’ve talked to patients who have completely weaned off of opioids and are using medical cannabis.”

Meyers remains undaunted by the obstacles before her company, including the fact that in U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced that he plans to ask Congress to dismantle federal medical-marijuana protections that have been in place since 2014.

Still, she acknowledges the recent setbacks have been tough to bear.

“Some days it’s pretty bleak around here,” she says, “but then a patient shows up and you see the progress they’re making and that’s worth everything.”

To those who’ve worked with Myers in the past, there is little doubt that she will succeed in the end.

Jack Thorwegen, who founded the Zipatoni agency and hired Meyers, said he has no doubt she will prevail.

“She’s a very determined per-

son,” Thorwegen says. “She never gives up.”

Thorwegen points to Meyers’ many years of experience as a marketer.

“Marketers are risk-takers,” Thorwegen says. “To some degree you never know when your next paychec is coming. nd it all relies on you. And you’re only as good as your last job.”

Back in the 1980s, during her Anheuser-Busch years, Meyers stood out for her “attitude and self confidence, Thorwegen recalls. “In the beer world, back then, it was really a boys’ club, in all honesty. It was unheard of for a woman at Anheuser-Busch to get to the level she got to.”

And the growing popularity of cannabis means “the genie is out of the bottle,” Thorwegen says.

More and more states are growing dependent on the jobs and tax revenue generated by legal weed.

“More importantly, everybody knows somebody that medical cannabis will help. And that’s what started the laws changing,” says Thorwegen, who adds that medical cannabis helped his wife through cancer treatments and wean his son off painkillers taken for back pain.

Regardless of what happens at the federal level, Meyers is pin-

ning her hopes on the success of a statewide initiative in Missouri.

John Payne, the campaign manager of New Approach Missouri, the petition sponsor, says he is confident enough valid signatures will be collected for the 20 ballot — around 250,000 — to withstand the kind of legal challenges that doomed a similar effort in 2016. Should it get on the ballot, the measure should pass, Payne says.

Public opinion surveys show that between 62 and 64 percent of Missouri voters approve of medical cannabis, Payne says.

“What we do know from the polling is that having a medical marijuana program does sort of change the way people see the plant as a whole,” he says. “They start to realize that this is something that has some benefits for people. So it brings people that were formerly opposed to it to a less hostile position. So it does change the way people think on the issue.”

That wouldn’t necessarily mean efforts to legalize recreational marijuana would soon follow in Missouri. But it is a fact that all states with legal recreational cannabis began with measures to legalize medical cannabis, Payne says. riverfronttimes.com

eyers’ decision to forge a career in legal cannabis is part of of a national trend that is redefining the burgeoning industry. As the New York Times recently reported, women in their 50s, 60s and 70s are playing major leadership roles in the cannabis industry.

“Inspired partly by their own use of the drug for pain relief, or by caring for others who use it for their own aches, these women see viable business opportunities and view their work as therapeutic for their customers,” the newspaper notes.

And women account for about 3 percent of executives in the legal marijuana industry, says Marijuana Business Daily, compared with 22 percent holding top roles in other industries.

Bob Goughenour, who retired as an AB vice-president in 2000 and who worked closely with Meyers developing the Bud Light brand, says her involvement with cannabis makes sense.

“I think she likes a new challenge,” Goughenour says. “I think that’s a good descriptor of her. This is not about money.

She’s got a big heart. And she thinks she can help people.

That’s what she’s doing.”

Meyers herself believes her gender is a plus, both in her current role’s caregiving aspects and its risk-taking.

“The skill sets that are required are something that women are totally capable of,” she says. “So you’re managing people who are managing patients. And that whole collaborative spirit, collaborative nature — women ind of uniquely embody that.”

Pot may be big business in Colorado, but these days in Missouri, it’s still unchartered territory. That’s something that suits Meyers just fine.

“We don’t have the big corporate rich white guys telling us what to do,” she says. “It’s us kids deciding, ‘Let’s go for a license.’ We get it, and go, ‘Crap, now what are we going to do ’ e got to find a facility, hire people.” And then they wait for the politicians to catch up — or the people to ta e the

lead.

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

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Late Nights &Live Music

SATURDAY, JULY 15

1-5pm • Dawn Turlington Duo 6-9pm • Terry Beck

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10 PM: LATE NIGHT SHOW 500 N. 14TH STREET

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CALENDAR

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W E E K O F J U LY 1 3 - 1 6

THURSDAY 07/13 Mystery Science Theater 3000 Cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 has risen from the grave and returned to the serious business of making fun of bad movies, thanks to a very successful Kickstarter campaign and the streaming giant Netflix. This revival is poetic justice: How many films did hosts Joel, Tom Servo, Crow and Mike drag off Hollywood’s scrap heap and then make inordinately popular thanks to wry comments about bad special effects and wisecracks about plot holes big enough to drive through? Now the fans who obsessively recorded and traded tapes of the early years have dragged their heroes from the void.

The refurbished MST K still has robots Crow and Tom (Joel serves as executive producer and occasional on-screen talent), but there’s a new human host in Jonah Ray, and the hijinks are as sincerely delightful as they were in the show’s golden years. The new crew visits the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus (1 University Drive at Natural Bridge Road; www.touhill.org) at 8 p.m. tonight for a live screening of fan-favorite horrible monster movie Eegah, with encouraged audience participation. New mad scientists Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt) will beam in through the magic of liquid video transmission. Tickets are $ 9.50.

FRIDAY 07/14 Craft Alliance Faculty Show The faculty of the Craft Alliance Center of Art Design ( 0 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www. craftalliance.org) are artists as well as teachers. Once every two years they gather to show their work

The Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design’s Biennial Faculty Exhibition opens Friday. | DAMIA SMITH

BY PAUL FRISWOLD where they work at the Craft Alliance Faculty Show. More than 0 artists participate, including Maxine du Maine, Shweta Sarraf and Jeff Hornung. This year’s exhibit opens with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Craft Alliance Center of Art Design ( 0 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www.craftalliance.org). The show remains up through August 1 , and the gallery is open every day except Monday.

Amy Granat In the nineteenth century the American Dream was tied up in Manifest Destiny. We would spread across the continent from the East to the West on foot, by wagon or train. Once the West was won, the dream changed and became nice home, a fast car and an open road. But what is the American Dream today, when we cover the land from to sea to sea and all frontiers are gone? Amy Granat’s Cars, Trees, Houses, Beaches is a silent 1 mm film loop of Hawaiian beaches, muscle cars and modernist homes, among them Kirkwood’s

own Russell and Ruth Goetz Krauss house, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The film ruminates on these conquered frontiers, many of which are once again the stuff of dreams for many Americans. The Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive; www.slam.org) presents Granat’s film as part of its long-running New Media Series. It shows on an endless loop from July 1 to November 12 in gallery 01.

Admission is free, and the museum is open every day except Monday.

ortified David Nadelberg somehow persuaded regular people to stop sharing stories and photos from their embarrassing teen years on social media — and instead reveal them to a crowd of strangers. Even odder, people have embraced his quest and now voluntarily participate in Nadelberg’s traveling show of profound shame. His Mortified program is now both a book and a TV show, with celebrities providing some of the revelations in the latter. Nadelberg will be at riverfronttimes.com

the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis ( 750 Washington Boulevard; www.camstl.org) at 7 p.m. tonight to discuss the dark art of baring your teenage soul to random people. He’ll also participate in an audience Q & A and share tidbits from his own teenage years.

A pre-selected group of volunteers will read from their old journals and tell their tales of embarrassing dates. Tickets are $20 to $50.

SATURDAY 07/15 World aked Bike ide Tonight marks the tenth running of t. Louis’ orld a ed Bi e ide. The grassroots mission — to raise awareness of alternative transportation and decrease oil dependency, while also promoting positive body consciousness — seems to be making progress. Auto giant Volvo recently announced

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that all its cars will be electric by the end of this decade, and every day comes a new story of body shamers being publicly derided for their stinkin’ thinkin’. But there’s work yet to do. A vast horde of cyclists of all shapes, sizes, colors and ages will begin gathering in the Grove at the intersection of Kentucky and Manchester avenues (www.wnbrstl.org) to disrobe to their personal level of comfort. At 7 p.m., they will then ride freely through the streets of the city along a predetermined route before returning to the Grove for an after-party. You don’t need to register or pay any fees; just show up, drop trou and get cycling.

Chasing Trane John Coltrane wasn’t always the leading light of jazz. The saxophonist had serious alcohol and heroin addictions, which left him functional enough to play with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk — but only barely. When Davis sacked him for his unreliability, Coltrane quit everything cold turkey and rededicated himself to his art. He reinvented jazz several times over after that, drawing on his deep spiritual beliefs and experiences in the Jim Crow South to create music that is personal, revelatory and thrilling, even 0 years later.

John Scheinfeld’s Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary seeks to tap into Coltrane’s past and his inner drive in an attempt to understand what powered his indelible music. Using old print interviews read by Denzel Washington (Coltrane was never interviewed on tape or film) and archival footage, as well as the memories of contemporaries and admirers such as Sonny Rollins, Benny Golson and former president Bill Clinton, Chasing Trane attempts to capture Coltrane’s inner light.

Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Calendar section or publish a listing in the online calendar — for free! Send details via e-mail (calendar@riverfronttimes.com), fax (314-754-6416) or mail (6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63130, attn: Calendar). Include the date, time, price, contact information and location (including ZIP code). Please submit information three weeks prior to the date of your event. No telephone submissions will be accepted. Find more events online at www.riverfronttimes.com.

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The original (and best) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film screens this Friday and Saturday. | © 1990 NEW LINE CINEMA ( 50 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www.landmarktheatres. com). The non-Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles screens at 11 55 p.m. Friday and Saturday (July 1 and 15). Tickets are $8, or two bucks a turtle.

SUNDAY 07/16 Palacios

The World Naked Bike Ride rolls on unfettered this Saturday night. | STEVE TRUESDELL The documentary screens at 8 p.m.

Friday through Sunday (July 1 to 1 ) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium ( 70 East Lockwood Avenue; www.webster.edu/filmseries). Tickets are $5 to $7.

Teenage Mutant in a Turtles The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a pile of contradictions.

Turtles are famously slow-moving creatures, but these four boys caper and leap about while performing high-flying martial arts.

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And while ninjas are notoriously silent, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo are constantly clamoring for pizza — and shouting “Cowabunga!” when they get it. Perhaps the Turtles are not to be analyzed, but merely enjoyed for what they are: a group of goofy teens fighting for their place in the world. These heroes in a half shell have delighted three generations of children with their good-time superheroics and can-do attitudes, and so of course their first film will be shown yet again as part of the Reel Late Film Series at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre

Holly has been alone and drinking steadily since her husband died.

She’s surprised to find a black teen outside her window one morning, mostly because she lives on the top floor of a multi-story building. Eugene is in some sort of trouble; he climbed up to hide while he figures out what to do next. The two spend the Fourth of July figuring each other out and waiting for the inevitable fireworks display. But Eugene’s problems are still waiting for him on the streets, and Holly’s husband isn’t coming back. Robert T. Herrera’s Palacios is the director’s first narrative feature. It screens at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 1 , at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre ( 50 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www.landmarktheatres. com) on the first day of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, which runs through Thursday, July 20. Tickets are $1 .

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FILM

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) saves some people, and his own film. | PHOTO BY CHUCK ZLOTNICK - © 2017 CTMG INC. [REVIEW]

An Untangled Web The new Spider-Man film is fun, but not great. And that’s pretty good Written by

ROBERT HUNT Spider-Man: Homecoming

Directed by Jon Watts. Written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei. Now showing at multiple theaters.

T

he great novelty of SpiderMan when he first appeared in comic books more than half a century ago was that he was the antithesis of invulnerable superheroes like Superman. Peter Parker’s super powers — leaping about and clinging to walls and ceilings, as well as shooting powerful webs from an apparatus of his own creation — were inseparable from, if not secondary to, the hassles of his everyday life

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as a teenager. He was short on cash, limited in social skills and simply trying to fit in. Those spider powers made him unique, but sometimes they were as unwelcome as a bad case of acne.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the sixth theatrical film to feature the angsty hero in fifteen years, and the first to present the character as an actual teenager, specifically a fifteen-year-old boy as acutely aware of his weaknesses as he is of the new responsibilities that come with putting on a brightly colored costume and patrolling the streets for signs of villainy.

Directed by Jon Watts, the new adventure places Spider-Man somewhere between the consumerist teen fantasy of a Disney Channel sitcom and the soap opera pathos of Gilmore Girls. It’s closest in tone to a John Hughes teen scape, with an assortment of Breakfast Club friends — and Peter himself stuck somewhere between the cockiness of Ferris Bueller and the awkward eccentricity of Pretty in Pink’s Duckie.

Watts smartly forgoes the origin stories that waste so much time in comic book movies. Parker is already Spider-Man when the film begins and the filmmakers waste no time telling us how he got there.

The film begins with a home-video version of Spider-Man’s brief cameo

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in last year’s Captain America: Civil War. I haven’t seen that film, but apparently Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) recruited the unknown teenager to help his cause in the fighting among the now-feuding Avengers. Once the battle is over, Parker, played with a great deal of simple charm by Tom Holland, is thrown back into his old life, waiting for a call from Stark and trying to exercise his web-slinging abilities.

The irony is that Spider-Man is a disaster as a crime-fighter. Sure, he finds dangerous criminal activity on nearly every corner, but he’s so inexperienced that he nearly outdoes the professional hoods in creating havoc (on a school trip, he comes close to destroying the Washington Monument). Where other super heroes ooze self-confidence, Holland slides between naive innocence and outright bumbling. Where other comic book movies pompously flaunt their elaborate fictional universes, Spider-Man: Homecoming is simple, unpretentious fun, playing with heroic myth-making just to deflate it.

In keeping with the hero’s downto-earth roots, the villain, played brilliantly by Michael Keaton, is a working-class guy who just happens to wear a flying vulture suit. Keaton’s Vulture steals alien artifacts left over from the first Avengers

film to create high-tech weaponry, which he sells to criminals. A guy has to make a living, right?

Keaton is, as always, perfect in the kind of role he deflated so well in Birdman, and it’s one of the film’s virtues that the final conflict between Spider-Man and the Vulture seems to be as much a clash between two real people (albeit mismatched by age and ability) as it is a contrived fight between two CGI creations.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Homecoming, given the massive scale and rigid demands of the Marvel franchise, is that Watts and his cast aren’t overwhelmed by the comic-book theatrics, the special effects or the careful ground-laying required to etch the film’s place in the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe. They even make fun of one of the MCU’s most labored traditions, the now-standard post-credit scenes that sometimes try to set the stage for the next entry in the series, but are just as often equal parts gimmick and time-waster. Homecoming’s parting shot, in the form of a PSA starring Captain America, is the best to date.

It’s not a great film or even a particularly ambitious one, but it’s content to have fun with its characters, not just wink at the fanboys and drop hints about the next three sequels. n

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THE ARTS

[BOOKS]

Ye Olde Crooks A century and a half since they were taken in St. Louis, America’s first mug shots come into focus Written by

EVIE HEMPHILL

S

hayne Davidson has always spent a lot of time among old photographs and records. But when she happened across an especially mysterious portrait several years ago, her longtime interests in history and genealogy grew into something more.

The image — a woman who lived in Belleville, Illinois, in 18 1, featured in Charles van Ravenswaay’s history of early St. Louis — wasn’t a happy one. In fact, the expression on the subject’s face evoked anger and fear.

“She didn’t look like anyone I had ever seen in a mid-nineteenth century photo,” says Davidson. “I was intrigued by her, and I wanted to know why someone had made the portrait of her.”

That question eventually led Davidson to the Missouri History Museum’s Library and Research Center, where she examined the original ambrotype up close.

“Mrs. Wohlman, Shop Lifter, 29 years of age,” the script on the back of the photo began. It made mention of the woman’s brown hair, gray eyes and German background — a detail that deepened Davidson’s curiosity. Her own greatgreat-grandmother, also born in Germany, had been a newcomer to St. Louis around the same time.

Davidson soon found herself combing through newspapers, court and prison records, and city directories to learn more. Piece by piece, the story behind Elizabeth Wohlman’s troubled face became visible: She’d been accused of attempting to steal gold lockets from a jewelry store along the riverfront and would serve ten months in the

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Missouri State Penitentiary.

Meanwhile, three other individuals arrested alongside her — each more established than Wohlman, who had arrived in the U.S. just two years prior — would go free.

But Davidson’s research surrounding the Wohlman portrait was only the beginning. Nearly 200 additional photographs round out the museum’s St. Louis Rogues’ Gallery Collection, and Davidson has since managed to bring dozens of untold stories and long-forgotten faces to light in her new e-book Captured and Exposed: The First Police Rogues’ Gallery in America (Missouri History Museum Press, 2017).

All taken between 1857 and 18 7, the photos were originally commissioned and displayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department as a way to identify people

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suspected of committing crimes. As obvious a tactic as that may seem today, there was nothing else like it in the U.S. at the time.

“That’s what my research uncovered,” Davidson confirms, “that it was the first gallery started by a police department.”

Captured and Exposed presents these early mug shots — carefully preserved in archival envelopes since the 1950s — in their full color and with as much context as possible over 300 zoom-friendly pages.

The photos have sparked interest sporadically over the decades.

In 1891, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat announced the discovery of hundreds of rogues’ gallery photos, which even then were considered extremely fascinating and old. And some of the mug shots, Davidson notes, probably made an appear-

ance as part of the police department’s educational exhibition at the 190 World’s Fair. But they’ve never before been gathered in such an exhaustive and readable way.

Along with suspected shoplifters such as Wohlman, there are counterfeiters, pickpockets and even a likely wife murderer in the mix.

And their appearances vary as much as their alleged crimes.

James Manley, a teenager facing charges of assault and battery, looks at the camera vacantly. Worn garments hang heavily on his young frame. Dave Marshal, suspected of “picking ladies’ pockets on streetcars,” appears dazed or deeply bored. Yet dashing New York native Chas Jamison in his “unfashionably large” bowtie seems positively self-assured — perhaps with good reason, Davidson notes in her nar-

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A N

rative, as she never found mention of a conviction in his case.

Notably absent from the collection are people of color. Davidson isn’t sure why, but guesses that the department simply “may not have bothered.” Also striking is the predominance of Irish and German immigrants. With renewed turbulence around issues such as immigration and police reform in the U.S., Davidson sees lessons for today.

“It can teach us how, depending on the time period, we target different people,” says the author.

“We target different groups and we discriminate against them.”

A native of St. Louis, Davidson left for college at eighteen and now resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she makes a living in the field of medical illustration. But her maternal roots continue to draw

E V E N I N G

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W I T H

Mug shots from Captured and Exposed: The First Police Rogues’ Gallery in America by Shayne Davidson. | PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MISSOURI HISTORY MUSEUM her back to her birthplace, and she says she has lots more exploring to do. As challenging as the Captured and Exposed project proved to be, it’s obvious that Davidson — a trained artist and vintage photography enthusiast — relishes the hunt.

She compares it to the thrill of spotting a seashell on a vast shore.

“I loved looking at the photos,” she says, “and the thing I enjoyed the most was when I actually found something out about someone.”

On July 20, Davidson will speak at the Missouri History Museum’s Lee Auditorium at 7 p.m. The e-book is available in the iBooks Store and for Kindle on Amazon. n

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[ S TA G E ]

Master’s Class The LaBute festival delivers once again, with edgy, topical one-acts and great performances Written by

PAUL FRISWOLD The LaBute New Theater Festival

Presented by St. Louis Actors’ Studio through July 30 at the Gaslight Theater (358 North Boyle Avenue; www.stlas.org). Tickets are $30 to $35.

I

look forward to the LaBute New Theater Festival every year. It promises new plays, great actors and an eager, attentive audience of people there not only to be entertained, but challenged as well.

The festival format’s shorter running time forces writers to hone their works to the bone. Plays move fast, hit hard and get out.

The four plays that open this year’s run are Neil LaBute’s “Hate Crime,” Ron Radice’s “Waiting for the Erie Lackawanna,” “Sacred Space”

by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, and Carter W. Lewis’ “Percentage America.” It’s a mixed bag that mostly impresses.

“Hate Crime” opens with two men (Chauncy Thomas and Greg Hunsaker) meeting in a hotel room. An argument ensues about whether Thomas has lost his key, and then another follows about the requirements for a pastry to be considered a Danish. The reason for their prickliness becomes clear: They’re plotting to kill Thomas’ fiance so the two schemers can be together.

Hunsaker’s character will do the dirty work, and as they discuss the details of their plan Hunsaker gets a dreamy look and flexes his hands, imagining the murder with somber delight.

There is something about the removed nature of Thomas’ performance that suggests he may be planning to doublecross his lover. It’s the distance he keeps, and the cold way he watches as Hunsaker sinks into his bloody reverie. Maybe that distance is because he cannot allow any physical evidence of Hunsaker on his person; maybe not.

On opening night the ending came with such suddenness that no one clapped; I (and I suspect many others) believed there would be more coming.

Not that it needed more. LaBute’s economical scenario and director John Pierson’s delicate staging gave

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Above, two men (Greg Hunsaker and Chauncy Thomas) plan a murder in Neil LaBute’s “Hate Crime.” Right, two men (Spencer Sickmann, Ryan Lawson-Maeske) have an existential crisis in “Waiting for the Erie Lackawanna.” | PATRICK HUBER us everything we needed to predict the outcome of the plan, although no two people might agree on its success.

“Waiting for the Erie Lackawanna” also opens with a dispute, and is also directed by Pierson. Ryan LawsonMaeske stands between Spencer Sickmann and Reginald Pierre on a train platform, all three garbed in similar dark suits and carrying identical briefcases. Lawson-Maeske’s co-stars both tower over him, and they stand annoyingly too closely. An innocent bump from one sets off a circular fight that is driven by the madcap antics of Sickmann and the unsettling way Pierre calmly warns Lawson-Maeske about what Sickmann’s character will do next. All the while Sickmann and Pierre stealthily replace LawsonMaeske’s briefcase with their own.

All three make excellent work of Ron Radice’s script, which is comic in a delightfully broad fashion. LawsonMaeske stands out for the stunned fear he displays when he finally opens “his” briefcase. He looks like a man who has just seen his world go up in smoke.

“Sacred Space” is directed by Nancy Bell, and is about two Jewish women (Sophia Brown and Kim Furlow) who ritually bathe and pray over a dead

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IN TIMES LIKE THESE, SEE A MOVIE ABOUT LOVE AND HUMANITY

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Above, Sophia Brown and Kim Furlow receive a message from beyond in “Sacred Space.” Left, Kelly Schaschl (left) is at the center of a story Nancy Bell and Chauncy Thomas attempt to unravel in “Percentage America.” | PATRICK HUBER body to help the soul ascend. Both women are shaken by the morning news, which is all about the Pulse Nightclub massacre that claimed the lives of 57 LGBT people. They are required by tradition to think only holy thoughts while they work, which is impossible for Furlow when text messages from one of the victims hang in the air before her eyes (and projected on the back wall for the audience). Brown sees them as well but resists distraction, at least for a while.

What starts promisingly with magical realism becomes emotionally manipulative. Any play about a national tragedy is on some level exploiting the event for drama. Playwright Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich leans into that, giving Furlow a flat and didactic speech and having Brown offer only token resistance.

The final reading of all 57 names is emotional, but not for anything the playwright has given us.

Carter W. Lewis’ “Percentage America” finishes the night on a high note, however. Nancy Brown and Chauncy Thomas are on a first date, and neither is what the other was promised by their dating profile.

Both agree to tell the truth about themselves, which they discover is a turn on. Their lust for truth leads the two to pick a story on the evening news and attempt to winnow out the broadcaster’s built-in bias and editorializing until they have a demonstrably factual report.

What follows is absurdity. They call in favors, research sources and question witnesses, doggedly

“Percentage America” is one of the best shows the LaBute Fest has ever mounted.

WED 7/12

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increasing the percentage of truth.

It’s foreplay, but it’s also a smart commentary on our new and terrifying regime of alt-facts and fake news. The closer they get to 100 percent truth, the more doubts they have about what they’re doing.

Somewhere near the end it dawns on them (and us) The government is lying to us, the media is complicit and President Circus Peanut is capable of keeping only one promise he made, and it ain’t that damn wall.

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“Percentage America” is funny, real and horrifying, and it’s one of the best shows the LaBute Fest has ever mounted. n

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Vicia’s “vegetable-first” cuisine includes “Naked Vegetables,” at center, as well as a “Goose Egg” and Berkshire pork belly. | MABEL SUEN

[REVIEW]

Veggie Tale Michael and Tara Gallina’s new restaurant will make you rethink food — and you’ll have a blast Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Vicia

4260 Forest Park Avenue, 314-553-9239.

Lunch Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; midday Wed.-Fri. 3-5:30 p.m. (bar and patio only); dinner Tues.-Thurs., 5:30-9:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5:30-10 p.m. (Closed Sundays.)

W

hat is the difference between Vicia’s “Naked Vegetables” and crudités? I find myself pondering this question as I tuck into my second meal at the four-month-old

darling of the local — nay, national — food press. Even before it had a name or a location, the place was already garnering hype, including a nod from Eater, which ranked Vicia among the most hotly anticipated restaurants in the entire U.S. I’m mindful of this as I stare at what is essentially a platter of raw root vegetables. There’s been no heat applied to the heirloom radishes, carrots and turnips. They haven’t been grilled or saut ed or even blanched, and not a dash of olive oil, butter or even salt dares to defile their pristine flesh.

Though this was my second time ordering the “Naked Vegetables,” billed on the menu as a “Snack,” I was just as perplexed. I found myself questioning whether my enjoyment was pure, or whether it had been influenced by the knowledge of how you’re supposed to feel about such a restaurant. Was chef Michael Gallina playing a trick? After all, we sat transfixed by an appe-

tizer that has a lot in common with the sort of veggie platter you’d find at a baby shower. With apologies to Freud, isn’t a carrot just a carrot?

This time, however, I’d brought with me a veteran chef, an elder statesman of sorts to help shine light on the situation.

“Every menu is a conversation,” he offers. “You have to think of this in terms of what the chef is trying to convey.” And when I take a bite of one of the knobby, twisted carrots, which taste of the earth from whence they came, it hits me. Gallina is indeed trying to tell a story, and these are the opening lines of an epic poem.

If you’ve ever been to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and experienced the way the simple act of pouring a cup of matcha can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention, then you have an idea of what it’s like to dine at Vicia. In these rituals, it’s not that the tea — or in this case, the carrot riverfronttimes.com

— is “better” than other teas, that the vessels are nicer or the setting is more elegant. Instead, the defining characteristic of such an event is that every last element of the experience is imbued with intention.

Gallina and his wife Tara know this. As chef de cuisine and service captain at the revered Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, the pair have been steeped in the ceremony of food and service.

In Michael’s native St. Louis, where the couple settled more than a year ago, the Gallinas began their conversation with diners through a series of pop-up dinners under the name Rooster and the Hen. Those events introduced the city to their vegetable-forward philosophy, even as they allowed the couple to observe the preferences of their future patrons.

Though those preferences helped to inform many things about Vicia, the Gallinas never lost sight of

JULY 12-18, 2017

Continued on pg 38

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37

VICIA Continued from pg 37 their vision. This is not a traditional meat and potatoes spot — something that should be clear by their description as “veggie-centric.”

Midwestern-sized portions are not the norm, entrees are not composed and traditional coursing is out the window. Instead, you choose from a selection of offerings and assemble your own tasting. (They also recently announced the addition of a more formal tasting menu, beginning this week.)

If their name — Latin for a cover crop that’s planted to replenish the soil — underscores their thoughts about food, their choice to locate in the Cortex district represents their desire for a restaurant that is about more than simply satisfying appetites. The “innovation community” is designed to be both a gathering spot and a testing ground for cutting-edge concepts. As Cortex’s flagship restaurant, Vicia fits right in.

That’s as much by its design as its philosophy. The building that houses Vicia flows seamlessly into the industrial slice of real estate between the Central West End and Midtown. The squat glass box sits near the corner of Boyle and Duncan avenues, looking from the outside more like a culinary museum than a restaurant.

Inside, however, the space has a warmth in spite of its sleek black and white color scheme. It feels like a contemporary farmhouse, with whitewashed exposed brick, pale wooden tables and white-framed windows that separate the bar from the dining room. Contemporary, plant-themed artwork — including a stunning black and white painting of echinacea and three-dimensional branches that hang from the ceiling at the back of the bar — give life to the space.

at e r G

The color scheme is black and white, but Vicia still has a striking warmth. | MABEL SUEN The restaurant has two cooking spaces a large wood-fired hearth that sits to the back of the massive covered patio and an indoor kitchen, which is partially separated from the dining room by a glass window. Through the clear partition, diners watch cooks gather around a central hub, where they seem to be in a perpetual state of discussion. The setup seems built to eschew the traditional hierarchy of the kitchen “line” in favor of a more collaborative approach.

The approach yields one stunning dish after the next. “Snacks,” like the previously mentioned nude veggies, are delightful in their simplicity — a carrot that makes you question if you’ve ever really eaten one before, a radish that snaps and coats the tongue with the sharp

s! e c i Pr

taste of pepper. The vegetables are accompanied by a selection of dipping sauces, including luscious goat cheese fondue, whipped lard flecked with vegetable pulp salt, pleasantly pungent vegetable-top pesto and creamy hummus. But Gallina’s talent is less in those simple accompaniments than in the way he invites you to experience plants we often take for granted with an almost Buddhist beginner’s mind.

That approach continues throughout the early courses. In place of a tortilla, purple turnip tops, sliced so thin they are translucent, serve as a wrap for either succulent pork shoulder or mushroom “tacos.” Sugar snap peas and charred vegetable mole give a bitter, earthy accent to the filling that is

offset by a tart strawberry sofrito.

Prosciutto-wrapped nectarines are grilled to soften their flesh and concentrate the flavor of both the fruit and the ham. It’s a lovely summertime appetizer, as is a salad of shaved squash, first-of-the-season cherries and day lilies, paired with stracciatella cheese that wraps the dish in luxury.

For Vicia’s “Goose Egg,” an appetizer destined to be the restaurant’s signature dish, Gallina stuffs the hollowed-out shell with a soft scrambled egg that’s so delicate it makes a sou seem hearty. Also inside the shell are pureed English peas, shiitake mushrooms and smoked butter. Whipped together, they form a concoction that is at once decadent and the texture of Continued on pg 41 seafoam.

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VICIA Continued from pg 38

Chef Michael Gallina, top, with cabbage charred on the wood-fired grill, below. | MABEL SUEN Gallina uses the outdoor wood grill for his main courses, making them feel both modern and primal.

On his selection of Berkshire pork (the shoulder, belly and jowl on my visit) he plays the same trick he does with the carrot — I find myself questioning whether I’ve ever actually feasted on pig before.

The meat itself is sublime, but a bright cherry compote, served on the side, adds a welcome sweet and sour snap to the rich meat.

On any given night, a dish like the pork will be one of roughly five mains, only two of which use meat as the centerpiece. The rest are indeed veggie-centric, using meat as an accent, if at all. That doesn’t mean you’ll leave hungry. Beets, glazed in beef fat and charred over

wood, retain their earthy flavor, though the fat and flame give it a richer, heartier dimension. A side of silken yogurt and tahini dipping sauce is so delightful (it somehow tastes like understated buttercream) you run the risk of dousing the beet in it.

Perhaps the evening’s biggest shock, however, came in the form of charred cabbage. A large hunk is grilled, then served atop a salami-infused lardo that acts like a gravy. Pungent sauerkraut cuts through the richness, showing off the cabbage’s versatility. It’s so heartily savory, you wonder why it’s been relegated to a supporting role all this time.

Talented pastry chef Summer Wright, who Continued on pg 42 riverfronttimes.com

JULY 12-18, 2017

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41

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Blackberry tart with bison grass custard, blackberry sorbet, oat crisp and flowers. | MABEL SUEN

VICIA Continued from pg 41 counts Daniel Boulud as one of her former employers, revels in her invitation to experiment alongside Gallina. A buttery tart shell filled with bison grass custard and mulberry sorbet is crowned with oat crisp and flowers — the rare “too beautiful to eat” dessert that is actually worth eating. For her “Strawberries and Cream,” a strawberry sorbet is paired with an equally mouth-puckering goats’ milk ice cream, crisps of meringue and herbaceous wood sorrel. The tastes are familiar, yet on each, Wright’s unexpected use of verdant herbs shows her command of flavor.

Vicia is open for lunch, when it transitions from a sit-down event to a counter-service setting. Though this service is decidedly less formal, it still retains the splendor displayed in the evenings. Dishes like a grain bowl, filled with wheat berries, corn, beans, charred cabbage and vegetable top pesto, or a mushroom quiche with the texture of cr me brulee, can be ordered la carte or mixed and matched in smallersized portions, allowing you to sample several items in one sitting.

Whatever you choose, do not miss the wonderful chilled cauliflower soup, pur ed and garnished with charred vegetable mole, or the salami and cheddar sandwich, topped with arugula and straw-

berry mustard on focaccia. Both exemplify the restaurant’s accessible approach to lunch, even while the food and the setting make this one of the most elegant places in the city to dine during the day.

Vicia’s elegance, however, is not found only in the food or the atmosphere. Under Tara Gallina’s watch, the entire restaurant staff embodies the nobility that can be found in professional service by providing detail-oriented, (seemingly) effortless and genuine hospitality. Everyone on the team appears invested in making Vicia what it is.

By everyone, I mean every last member of the staff. One busy service, we noticed that the entire back of the house had gathered around the central prep table in the kitchen for a tutorial on heirloom corn. It wasn’t just the chef and his right (and left) hand cooks Everyone in the kitchen was called to soak up the knowledge — even the dishwashers, who also participate in wine tastings with the rest of the service staff. This sort of inclusion and investment translates into a team that makes Vicia more than just a restaurant.

Which, in turn, makes a carrot more than just a carrot. n Vicia

“Naked Vegetables” ........................ $12 “Goose Egg”........................................$6 Berkshire pork ................................. $14

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44

SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

From the Food Desert to the Holy Land Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

P

hil Ingram, the head bartender at Sardella (7734 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton; 314-773-7755), moved to St. Louis from Chicago to further his education. He just didn’t expect he’d be doing that in a restaurant.

“I got accepted to Washington University’s business school, but it only took me a semester to realize that my heart wasn’t in it,” Ingram explains.

“Learning about how to make money for the sake of making money held no interest for me. I became that ‘lost in the world’ stereotypical college kid.”

As he gravitated toward the subjects that held more appeal — history, philosophy, literature — Ingram also found himself being pulled into the restaurant business. He’d gotten a part-time job at Riddle’s Penultimate Café & Wine Bar in the Loop, where he experienced a way of eating different than what he was accustomed to on the south side of Chicago.

“I grew up in a food desert, so this was a new experience for me,” says Ingram. “Plus, I love history, culture and travel, and I realized that one of the easiest ways to find out about different cultures was to find out about what they eat and drink. It really opened my eyes.”

Ingram, who calls his experience at Riddle’s a “baptism by fire,” worked his way up from bussing tables to managing the front of house and running the restaurant’s bar program. A budding interest in cooking led him to the prep kitchen, where he learned how to incorporate that knowledge into the bar. “They really gave me a blank slate there,” Ingram

44

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As Sardella’s head bartender, Phil Ingram loves to experiment on behalf of customers. | SARA BANNOURA laughs. “Basically, I was able to mess it up at my own pace.”

Ingram left Riddle’s to work at the Delmar Restaurant & Lounge, a bar he briefly considered buying before he had a daughter and realized that the 3 a.m. life wasn’t feasible for his new role as a father. He got into consulting work before landing at Basso, and then at two of Ben Poremba’s Botanical Heights eateries, Olio and the now-shuttered Old Standard.

When he left Old Standard to work at Niche, Ingram found himself back in wine-focused territory — something he’d picked up working at Riddle’s. He’s been enjoying the transition to Sardella and the way it has allowed him to branch out and have fun with cocktails.

“People just sit down and ask us to make them something,” says Ingram.

“I find out what they like, what they don’t like, and just go from there. It’s just cool to come up with something and see the glass come back empty.

When you see someone come in looking beat down and they leave with a smile on their face — that’s what ties everything together and

JULY 12-18, 2017

riverfronttimes.com

makes hospitality and service so meaningful.”

Ingram took a break from the bar to share his thoughts on the nobility of bartending, the virtues of sleeping upside-down and why you should just go ahead and make your own sour mix.

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

I don’t know that anyone needs to know this, but let’s call it “Fun Facts.”

I need the white noise of the city to get to sleep — traffic, random drunken neighbors playing loud music, sirens, trash trucks — and I prefer to sleep upside down on my inversion bed.

It helps me decompress.

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

Most of my favorite people are dispersed around the world, so teleportation. It seems like the most efficient way to travel, see friends and get back in time to set up for service.

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

People viewing bartending as an honorable profession rather than a means to an end. Not everyone tends bar to put themselves through school.

For a lot of us, food and beverage are where we’ve found our passion and what we’ve chosen to do.

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

I work nights (although not nearly as late as I used to), and I’m nocturnal by nature, so I’ve always wanted to open a really badass 24/7 diner with street food from around the world instead of slingers. Well, I did want to. Now, I want someone else to, and I will be there twice a week minimum.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

That’s tough, because there are a lot of talented people here. But one person that I constantly keep an eye out for is Natasha Bahrami of the Gin Room. I think that the passion she shows for her work is inspiring, and she’s done as much in the role of ambassador for the profession here in St. Louis as anyone I can think of.

Who’s the one person to watch Continued on pg 49

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[SWEETS]

DE MUN GETS NAUGHTY (AND NICE)

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The muffaletta at Parker’s Table uses Salume Beddu meats. | LAUREN MILFORD

[SANDWICHES]

On Oakland, A New Lunch Option Written by

LAUREN MILFORD

S

alume Beddu, local maker of artisanal European-style cured meats, opened its lunch service at Parker’s Table (7118 Oakland Avenue, Richmond Heights; 314-645-2050) in late May. After running their own storefront operation at their Hampton Avenue facility, the owners of Salume Beddu severed the two components. Now operations are based in a bigger space in Olivette and sandwiches are sold out of the Richmond Heights shop.

Tucked away on a quiet block near the intersection of Skinker and Clayton, Parker’s Table began as a wine and cheese boutique. Offerings now include everything from bloody mary mix to fresh pasta to beer and now, sandwiches.

Says Parker’s Table owner John Parker, “We’ve been friends for a long time and it just came up in

conversation. It was one of those things where two people are talking and both looking to make changes, and those changes happened to be mutually agreeable.”

Since opening six years ago, Parker’s Table has expanded, taking down walls and increasing the amount and variety of goods for purchase. Its latest addition, a full kitchen, enabled the collaboration with Salume Beddu. “Now we’ve hit the back wall,” John Parker says.

“There are no more walls to take down.” But Parker’s Table does plan to continue growing — the shop has purchased the space next door and plans to use it for events, possibly as soon as this fall.

Lunch is offered 11 a.m to 2 p.m.

Wine buyer and shop manager Cara Flaherty says that “people tend to congregate” around the one communal table on weekends, but they envision the lunch service to mostly be grab-and-go. Their sandwich boxes are priced around the $10 mark, and include Billy Goat chips (flavored with Salume Beddu spices, naturally) and a choice of sparkling water. If you’re feeling frisky, you could purchase a can of wine instead.

The small menu features just a handful of options: a prosciutto cotto sandwich, speck with gruyere, their take on the muffaletta, salami with provolone and a roasted veggie. Seasonal specials will also be n offer.

n July 4, Tamara Keefe opened the second outpost of Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Creamery (730 De Mun Avenue, Clayton; 314858-6100) — a storefront in the leafy De Mun neighborhood, alongside the De Mun Oyster Bar, Sasha’s Wine Bar and other local favorites.

Eager customers flocked to the ice cream shop. But on July 5, Keefe keyed in to the store to find every restaurateur’s worst nightmare — the air conditioner had broken. Unable to handle the demands of the creamery and its customers, it will need to be replaced.

But only a sadist (or maybe, considering the potential for profit, a masochist?) would keep the doors shut to an otherwise fully functional ice cream parlor on a hot week in July. On Friday, Keefe and her staffers were making do with smaller units and fans.

“We have no choice,” she says.

The good news is that the new shop remains cool enough to enjoy a frozen treat, and the parlor is a gem. It’s as good-looking as its older sister, which opened in Lafayette Square in 2015 — and significantly bigger.

The place is formerly a beauty salon, but you’d never suspect those humble roots today. White wainscoting pairs with soft blue-green paint, while black provides sharp accents. Large windows look out on De Mun, with Parisian-style sidewalk seating on a street-facing patio outside and another handful of tables inside.

As at the Lafayette Square flagship, customers can choose from naughty (meaning boozy) scoops like soju melon, maple bourbon and summer shandy, or nice (meaning alcohol-free), including gooey butter cake, Madagascar vanilla and “Salted Crack Caramel.” Keefe has built a big following by offering ice cream that’s significantly creamier than her competitors, with an average of sixteen to eighteen percent butterfat. And yes, it’s just as good here as at the original location.

So if you’re in the De Mun area, you might as well drop by and see what the fuss is about. Get a scoop to eat on that lovely sidewalk or a pint to take with you.

And unlike at the Lafayette Square original, you have the option to dine inside, too. Until that A/C system is replaced, though, don’t expect the temperature to be Arctic frigid. Hey, wouldn’t you rather have Clementine’s open and serving up –Sarah Fenske ice cream?

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8604 Olive Blvd - University City - (314) 801-8894 48

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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900 SPRUCE ST. ST. LOUIS, MO 63102 314-932-1456

PHIL INGRAM Continued from pg 44

Burgers such as “The Southern,” right, and a series of pub boards, lower left, are among the highlights at Tin Roof. | SARAH FENSKE [FIRST LOOK]

Tin Roof Brings the Party Downtown Written by

SARAH FENSKE

I

f you’re looking for a place to party before (or after) the Cardinals’ game, live music downtown or just some Southern-inflected food in a laidback atmosphere, Tin Roof (1000 Clark Avenue, 314240-5400) has you covered.

The Nashville-based concept quietly opened its doors June 23 in the space that previously held J. Buck’s — and it’s a beauty. Three months of renovations have left the space with a down-home retro feel, no less than three bars and three distinct areas for eating and drinking. It could easily become a nightlife destination.

Zachary Johnson, the Edwardsville native serving as the general manager for Tin Roof St. Louis, says the idea is “Margaritaville meets Cheers” — “When you walk in, we call out, ‘Hey, welcome to

Tin Roof, sit wherever you want!’

For everyone who’s here, we just want you feel ... normal.”

The place opens daily at 11 a.m. to serve the lunch crowd (10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for brunch). Live bands will go on stage two hours before any Cardinals’ home game or 9 p.m. on nongame nights. They’ll keep rocking all the way to closing time, which is currently 1:30 a.m., although Johnson says the bar will be pursuing a 3 a.m. liquor license in the coming months.

For the most part, those will be cover bands to get the party going.

But if DJs are more your style, don’t despair: Large garage-style doors separate one-third of the indoor space from the rest. On many evenings, a DJ will play one part of the room, with the band on the other side. There’s also a large outdoor patio with a bar of its own.

Under executive chef Nowell Gata, the food is more ambitious than you might expect. Burgers include “the Southern,” which is topped with pimento cheddar, fried green tomatoes, bacon and chow-chow and comes with a side of fries or tots for $12. Or try “the Rodeo” — a spiced patty topped with roasted poblano, Swiss cheese, ranch dressing and avocado.

Street tacos are on offer for $3 or $4 a pop with carnitas, chicken tinga, or even a “Korean-battered grouper” as the base. Or try the “Left Coast,” which begins with tempura avocado for vegetarians.

Starters include loaded tots or sloppy nachos, a pound of wings (buffalo, chili-brown, bourbon buffalo or teriyaki) or the chain’s famous “Dixie biscuits,” which are basically biscuit sliders featuring smoked brisket, bacon, peach jam and cheddar cheese.

Or try a “pub board” — options include everything from Nashville hot chicken (made famous locally at both Gus’s and Southern) to Voodoo shrimp. You can add two sides, including the house’s beloved mac & cheese, fried pickles or even “Street Corn,” an on-the-cob riff on the Mexican classic.

If all that sounds inviting, you might want to stop by this weekend, perhaps for a boozy brunch. At Tin Roof, they have themes — last week’s was called “Michael and Mimosas,” and featured a DJ spinning Michael Jackson hits along with $15 bottomless mimosas, available all the way ‘til 2 p.m. Expect those prices to stay each weekend even as the theme changes.

After a week of service, Tin Roof still didn’t have a sign and had done little to publicize its opening.

Yet downtown fun seekers had already been coming on in — giving the bar’s new management team a good sneak peek at just how much St. Louis loves to party.

Notes Assistant General Manager Tanner Huddleston, “We even got a great crowd for a Monday. We haven’t had a night yet where I haven’t seen people who don’t love to drink.” n riverfronttimes.com

right now in the St. Louis dining scene?

Every single time I’m in Taste or Brasserie I am utterly amazed at the scope and quality of food Brian Moxey and his crew are cranking out. Also, Cory King at Side Project has made some of the most ridiculously good beers I’ve ever had.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

I’d say vermouth. It’s kinda subtle, but not necessarily shy. It can play the background or take over.

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

The very first real job I had was working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I actually started working there in high school and worked there every summer while I was in college. I still remember stepping into a trading pit for the first time and realizing that everyone was screaming and jumping over one another, but there was a definite order of things inside that chaos, right down to who stood where. When the restaurant is packed and the noise level is at eleven, that’s when I’m most at home. There’s order in that chaos. I can’t imagine doing anything else. But you know, should I lose my sense of taste or something crazy, I’m still pretty good with numbers and analytics — I’d be proprietary trading maybe. Or farming.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your kitchen.

I like to think you can always make something out of nothing, so I wouldn’t rule anything out. But I think store-bought sour mix is just being lazy.

What is your after-work hangout?

I live in the Grove, so if I’m hanging out after work it’s usually at the Gramophone or the Ready Room.

But I love the energy on Cherokee and try to get to Blank Space whenever I can.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Sour Skittles. And I don’t feel guilty in the least. I f’ing love ‘em. I just probably shouldn’t eat as many as I do.

What would be your last meal on earth?

A shaved brussels sprout salad. A really good red curry (even though I’m allergic to coconut). A six pack of Tecate. A double pour of Pure Kentucky XO Bourbon. A pack of Dunhills. And bring on the Arman geddon.

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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®

MON. 9/11

ON SALE FRI. AT 10AM

TUE. 10/17

ON SALE FRI. AT 10AM

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ON SALE NOW

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ON SALE FRI. AT 10AM

TUESDAY 7/18

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UPCOMING SHOWS 9/24 BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

8/8 A DAY TO REMEMBER 8/12 LAVELL CRAWFORD

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8/15 CITY AND COLOUR

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10/4 ANGEL OLSEN

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10/7 THIEVERY CORPORATION

8/26 ARC ANGELS BENEFIT WITH MEMBERS OF LITTLE FEAT

10/7 THE AVETT BROTHERS AT CHAIFETZ ARENA

8/29 2 CHAINZ

10/12 THE HEAD AND THE HEART

9/1 & 9/2 UMPHREY’S MCGEE 9/12 SEU JORGE

10/12 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE AT PEABODY OPERA HOUSE

9/16 MIKE BIRBIGLIA

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visit us online for complete show information facebook.com/ThePageantSTL

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thepageant.com // 6161 delmar blvd. / St. Louis, MO 63112 // 314.726.6161

50

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MUSIC

51

Herman Li, third from right, with the other members of DragonForce, a band as ridiculous as it is talented. | PHOTO VIA METAL BLADE RECORDS [ M E TA L ]

Guitar Heroes DragonForce, the metal band playing Fubar this Saturday, is loud, fantastical and fun Written by

HOWARD HARDEE DragonForce

7 p.m., Friday, July 14. Fubar, 3108 Locust Street. $20 to $22. 314-289-9050.

S

ince the band’s early days, DragonForce has been built around the fretboard pyrotechnics of dueling guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman — but that doesn’t mean they

share much in common outside of their ability to melt audiences’ eardrums. The way Li tells it, his relationship with Totman has stayed pretty much the same since 1997, when they met in London.

“He thought I was just a complete nerd, and I thought he was a complete drunk,” Li recalls.

“He had two shopping bags full of booze and a guitar that was just totally falling apart. I had never seen a guitar in such bad shape before.”

Suffice it to say, the pair didn’t immediately hit it off. In fact, they parted ways before meeting again a few years later and joining forces for good.

“I guess nobody liked him and nobody liked me,” Li says, “and so we did the band together.”

The band, as the name suggests, is ridiculous. The England-based power metal group is perhaps best known for its minutes-long

guitar solos, cheesy hair-metal melodies courtesy of frontman Marc Hudson, incorporation of the odd video game noise and fantastic lyrical subjects. Indeed, DragonForce’s members stand apart from their speed-metal colleagues by never taking themselves too seriously.

Currently on a worldwide tour in support of new album Reaching Into Infinity, Li spoke to the Riverfront Times by phone ahead of DragonForce’s July 14 Fubar show.

Given that Li can totally shred — seriously, look up some videos — you’d expect him to be one of those child prodigies who grew up with a toy-sized guitar in his hands. But he was something of a “bad boy,” he says, and used to skip his grade school music lessons because he thought they were boring. On a whim, he picked up a six-string for the first time at sixteen. riverfronttimes.com

“It was sort of a random thing, to be honest,” he says. “I wanted to do something different, and I was into rock music. I thought playing the guitar looked like something fun to do, and it pretty much went from there. I never thought I wanted to be a musician, or that I would play guitar for my whole life.”

He soon regretted skipping lessons and never learning the difference between, say, sharp and flat notes. “I was a clueless guy with an electric guitar,” he says. But he made up for it by practicing a ton “The first year was tough, but I kept discovering more great musicians and bands out there that inspired me to keep playing and get better at it.”

In the early days of DragonForce, Li and Totman found that they complement one another as players and as bandmates. Li did most of the business and logistical

JULY 12-18, 2017

Continued on pg 55

RIVERFRONT TIMES

51

c o n c e r t c a l e n d a r

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53

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DRAGONFORCE Continued from pg 51 stuff, from trying to get record deals to making demos and buying recording equipment. Totman wrote the songs (and still does).

Stylistically, they also bonded over what became one of the band’s signatures sounds —t he old-school video game bleeps Li somehow coaxes out of his guitar.

And, of course, they shared the need for speed, having listened to and looked up to trash-metal bands such as Megadeath, Metallica and Slayer.

In 2005, the group’s power metal single “Through the Fire and Flames” on Inhuman Rampage became an unlikely chart-topper and Internet sensation thanks to its ’80s-themed music video, some unbelievable shredding and, perhaps most importantly, its placement on the mega-popular video game Guitar Hero 3. DragonForce was introduced to the masses. To this day, the song gets the strongest reactions during the band’s shows around the world.

Li, for one, has become somewhat resentful.

“I’ve never thought that song was better than any other songs we have,” Li says. “It just happened to be the right time and place — whatever is happening with trends and in the world. But I guess we’re lucky. Being in the music business, being a musician, you need some luck on your side.”

He speculates that, amid the less-is-more aesthetic of the grunge and nu-metal movements, not many bands were making room for extravagant guitar solos.

“It was almost like a lost art,” Li says, “and we go over the top on all our albums. When ‘Through the Fire and Flames’ came out, people said, ‘My God, this is insane. People are playing guitar solos again.’”

Also, unlike many of the band’s predecessors and peers, DragonForce is fun. Though the material on ing Into Infinity is extremely technically oriented, their stage shows are fast, loose and wild.

“If you’re recording, you’re not going to put your hand way up in the air and smash it down on the guitar to make the rhythm sound,” he says. “But you play differently on stage and really bring out the energy in the music.

You’re not going to catch DragonForce standing still on stage.” n

Pullquote

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO

MONDAY, JULY 17 7:00 P.M. PLEASE VISIT WBTICKETS.COM AND ENTER THE CODE RCIAY16446 TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASSES!

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RATED PG-13 FOR INTENSE WAR EXPERIENCE AND SOME LANGUAGE. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please.

Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early.

Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person.

Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.

IN THEATERS JULY 21 Soundtrack Available Now DunkirkMovie.com #Dunkirk

2001 Menard (corner of Menard & Allen) 314-833-6686 Facebook: dukesinsoulard riverfronttimes.com

ST LOUIS RFT THURSDAY, JULY 13

JULY 12-18, 2017

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56

HOMESPUN

SMIDLEY Smidley smidley.bandcamp.com

T

he story of Foxing’s ascent from local basements and D.I.Y. spaces to concert halls across the nation filled with passionate fans is well-known around St. Louis. Aside from Pokey LaFarge, no other local act has committed to as rigorous a touring schedule while finding some measure of critical and commercial success. And while the dividends are far from huge — most members of the band have day jobs when not on tour — Foxing has been the rare rock band to rep St. Louis on a national scale.

Yet when Conor Murphy, the quintet’s 24-year-old lead singer, had time to kill between Foxing’s album and touring cycles, he did what he’s been doing all his adult life: he made another record and went on tour. His solo project Smidley has just released its self-titled debut, and he recently got off a month-long stint opening for Tiger’s Jaw. After years of singing lead for a headlining act, Murphy relished the chance to play the relative newcomer.

“It’s the most freeing thing in the world,” Murphy says. “Opening where nobody knows who you are is something I didn’t realize I missed.”

He adds, “It feels so good to convince people to like you rather than keeping up somebody’s expectation.

It’s just so much easier, and because it’s easier you have so much more fun doing it. When Foxing tours, there are people that we are going to disappoint because we don’t play a song that they wanted us to. I think a lot people go into seeing a Foxing show and assume that they’re going to cry during it or something.”

That expectation — that a Foxing show will trigger some communal, soul-cleansing catharsis — stems as much from the band’s emo-revival roots as its ability to play up a song’s dynamics, both in instrumentation and Murphy’s full-bodied performance. Smidley is instead rooted in indie rock, and Murphy has matched the tenor of those songs in his live appearances for the project.

“I think it’s fun to perform in a serious way, in the same way that I assume it’s fun to perform Death of a Salesman,” Murphy says. “You have to really get into a state of mind. It’s an intoxicating feeling to perform in general, I feel like. Everybody feels that at some point — the mixture of stage fright and adrenaline.

It’s a fun thing in the first place. But I do think it’s more fun to blow it off and not take it seriously at all.”

When it came time to write the songs on Smidley, Murphy dug into his library for inspiration — he name-checks Belle Sebastian, Broken Social Scene and the New Pornographers as acts he sought to “rip off.” He channels some of the verve and kineticism of the best power-pop bands — “Power Word Kill” chugs along without shattering its crystalline haze — while a delicate acoustic guitar and chunky Mel-

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riverfronttimes.com

lotron chords are all the backing “Milkshake” needs to allow Murphy’s expressive, cigarette-stained voice to bend and break.

Murphy notes that Foxing’s songs are done in conjunction with his bandmates — primarily with bassist Josh Coll and, increasingly, input from all five band members. Smidley permitted him freedom to write without running his ideas by the committee.

“For the Smidley stuff, what I ended up singing were the drafts I originally wrote; I didn’t change them really at all. One of them” — lead single “Fuck This” — “was written when I was on acid, and I didn’t change it at all, so a lot of it doesn’t make sense,” Murphy says with a laugh.

“Every time I play that song now, I can picture the moment in my head,” he says. “I didn’t have to change anything; I didn’t have to compromise with anyone.”

Murphy sees Smidley as a brief detour from Foxing, a pressure valve or palate cleanser rather than a serious contender for his time, his voice or his songs.

In fact, Foxing is now diligently at work on its third LP, self-producing the songs at a local studio on what Murphy calls a fairly regimented daily schedule. The band hopes to have recordings wrapped up by the end of the year, aiming for a 2018 release date.

He’s less sure how Smidley will play into that schedule, but at the moment he’s relishing the opportunity to play his own warped, bizarro versions of pop songs.

“I think anytime that you’re in a place where you don’t feel like you don’t have the outlet, just go make a record,” Murphy says. “You’re not as much of a dick to everyone.”

–Christian Schaeffer Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space?

Send music c/o Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 300, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130.

Email music@riverfronttimes.com for more information.

DANCE PARTY EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY

music

DJ DAN C WHERE IT’S ALWAYS A PARTY!

read more at RIVERFRONTTIMES.COM

2001 Menard (corner of Menard & Allen) 314-833-6686 Facebook: dukesinsoulard riverfronttimes.com

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

57

58

OUT EVERY NIGHT

THURSDAY 13

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

MAXIMUS: w/ Burden Of The Sky 8 p.m., $10.

EDGEFIELD C. JOHNSTON DUO: 2 p.m., free. The

4 HANDS PRESENTS: CITY WIDE SOUNDS: w/

CROWN THE EMPIRE: w/ I See Stars, Palaye

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

Weingarten, 1780 E State Rte 15, Belleville.

Guerrilla Theory, BoomTown United 8 p.m.,

Royale, Out Came The Wolves 7 p.m., $20-$23.

0353.

JOHNNY KING: 4 p.m., $10. National Blues Mu-

$5. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis,

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St.

MIKE MATTHEWS: 9 p.m., free. Nightshift Bar &

seum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

314-588-0505.

Louis, 314-833-3929.

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

JUSTIN HOSKINS & THE MOVIE: 6 p.m., $15.

ANTICHRIST: w/ Bastard, Faustian Nihilist 8

DR. ZHIVEGAS PERFORMING THE MUSIC OF PUR-

8300.

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

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

PLE RAIN: July 14, 9 p.m.; 9 p.m., $15. Old Rock

ROBBING JON: w/ The Kaiju Killers, Name It

Louis, 314-436-5222.

314-289-9050.

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

Now 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St.

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz,

HARVEY LOCKHART & THE COLLECTIVE: 9:30

EMBRACER: w/ Chapters, Marriott, Biff K’narly

Louis, 314-289-9050.

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

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

and The Reptilians 7 p.m., $12-$15. Fubar,

TOM HALL: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups,

314-436-5222.

Square inside Grandel Theatre, St. Louis, 314-

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

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

MATTHEW SWEET: 8 p.m., $20. Delmar Hall,

531-3416.

EMPIRE: A TRIBUTE TO RAGE AGAINST THE

THE WILHELMS: 10 a.m., free. Tower Grove

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

JAMMIN’ FOR JUSTICE 8: w/ Nappy DJ Needles,

MACHINE: w/ The Jalepeno Poppers – Tribute

Farmers’ Market, Main Dr & Center Cross

MEGAN FLECHAUS: 6 p.m., free. Evangeline’s,

DJ Agile One 6 p.m., $5-$40. The Ready Room,

to RHCP, Stepped in Foo – Tribute to the Foo

Drive, St. Louis, 314-771-4410.

512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-367-3644.

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

Fighters 8 p.m., $10. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar

WOLF ALICE: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509

MT. EDDY: w/ Captains Courageous, This is our

JOE METZKA BAND: 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues

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

Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

dance 7 p.m., $8-$10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

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

FLEA BITTEN DAWGS: 6 p.m., free. Howard’s

5222.

in Soulard, 2732 S 13th St, St. Louis, 314-349-

SUNDAY 16

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

2850.

BLUE HYPERGIANT: w/ Absolute Zero, Patrick

lard, 2732 S 13th St, St. Louis, 314-349-2850.

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

FROM BAROQUE TO BROADWAY: 7 p.m., $5.

Cadaver, Mikey Medwin 6 p.m., $8-$10. Fubar,

PRIESTS: 9 p.m., $11-$13. Off Broadway, 3509

SAWYER FREDERICKS: w/ Gabriel Wolfchild

Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton,

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

Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

and The Northern Light, Haley Johnsen 7 p.m.,

618-462-5222.

BRONCHO: w/ Billy Changer 8 p.m., $15. The

RIVER CITY OPRY: 1 p.m., $5. Off Broadway,

$18-$20. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis,

GALAXYRED: 6 p.m., free. Greg Freeman Park,

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

314-535-0353.

Kingsbury Ave. and Des Peres Ave., St. Louis.

314-833-3929.

SAM LEWIS: 8 p.m., $10. Old Rock House,

FRIDAY 14

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

PEEWEE SALOON: 2 p.m., free. Howard’s in Sou-

[CRITIC’S PICK]

DAVEY SUICIDE: w/ Motograter 7 p.m., $12-$14.

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

THE DISTRICTS: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

DR. ZHIVEGAS PERFORMING THE MUSIC OF PURPLE RAIN: 9 p.m.; July 15, 9 p.m., $15. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

DRAGONFORCE: 8 p.m., $20-$22. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

EDGEFIELD C. JOHNSTON DUO: 9 p.m., free.

Seven Restaurant and Lounge, 7 S. High St., Belleville, 618-277-6700.

FLO RIDA: w/ AJR, Allen Gates 7:30 p.m., $9.63$78. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

KIP MOORE:

p.m., $20-$ 5. Chesterfield

Amphitheater, 631 Veterans Place Drive, Chesterfield.

LEROY JODIE PIERSON: 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

MARQUISE KNOX BLUES BAND: 10 p.m., $10.

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

Sean Rowe. | PHOTO VIA HIGH ROAD TOURING

Louis, 314-436-5222.

MATT “RATTLESNAKE” LESCH: 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard

Sean Rowe

Ave, Webster Groves, 314-968-0061.

8 p.m. Tuesday, July 18.

THE RENAISSANCE BAND: 5 p.m., $10. National Blues Museum, 615 Washington Ave., St. Louis.

WU-TANG TRIBUTE SPIN: w/ DJ Mahf, DJ VTHOM 10 p.m., free. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

SATURDAY 15 BIG GEORGE BROCK & THE HOUSEROCKERS: 10 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S.

58

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $15. 314-773-3363.

Sean Rowe finds hidden depths within his instruments — both his sonorous baritone voice and his acoustic guitar.

He treats the latter as much as a percussion instrument as he does a melodic one, and in solo performances he is able to wrest the wooden, steely tones so fully that you don’t miss a backing band. Rowe fleshes out his sound on this year’s New Lore, his first full-length in three years,

JULY 12-18, 2017

riverfronttimes.com

using stately piano and stentorian strings to evoke barren solitude and gospel warmth. That varied backing gives Rowe space to work his octave-spanning voice past its normal craggy depths; more often than not, he’s apt to throw falsetto atop some already-lovely coda in these rootsy, soulful tracks.

Ladies’ Man: Rowe spent time between albums with a few EPs including the lovely Her Songs, featuring covers of tunes by Neko Case and Sade.

—Roy Kasten

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

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

SOUL REUNION: 10:30 p.m., $7. Beale on Broad-

University City, 314-727-4444, blueberryhill.

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

com.

MONDAY 17

BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS: Mon., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., $45-$50. The Pageant,

SOULARD BLUES BAND: 9 p.m., $5. Broadway

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

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

thepageant.com.

621-8811.

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES:

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

Wed., July 19, 7 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues &

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

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

5222.

5222, bbsjazzbluessoups.com.

WHORES.: 9 p.m., $15-$16. Fubar, 3108 Locust

BLACKALICIOUS: Tue., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., $20-$22.

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

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

TUESDAY 18

588-0505, oldrockhouse.com.

BLUE HYPERGIANT: W/ Absolute Zero, Patrick

ALL TIME LOW: w/ SWMRS, Waterparks, The

Cadaver, Mikey Medwin, Sun., July 16, 6 p.m.,

Wrecks 6 p.m., $28.50-$32.50. The Pageant,

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

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

289-9050, fubarstl.com.

DJ CINDIASAURUS: 8 p.m., free. HandleBar,

CHON: W/ The Fall Of Troy, Hail The Sun, Tue.,

4127 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-652-2212.

Sept. 19, 7 p.m., $20-$23. Delmar Hall, 6133

HAIR JORDAN: w/ Sheevaa, Icaria 6 p.m.,

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

$10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

hall.com.

289-9050.

COMPANY OF THIEVES: Thu., Sept. 14, 8 p.m.,

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

$15-$18. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St.

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

Louis, 314-773-3363, offbroadwaystl.com.

Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

CONCERT FOR KIDS: A NIGHT BENEFITING SOUTH-

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

SIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: W/ Casey Ba-

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

zzell, A Bientot, After11, The Sneaker Bombs,

SEAN ROWE: 8 p.m., $15. Off Broadway, 3509

Fri., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., $10. The Ready Room,

Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

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

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

thereadyroom.com.

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

COREY SMITH: W/ Hudson Moore, Thu., Oct. 5,

314-436-5222.

8 p.m., $17.50-$20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar

WEDNESDAY 19

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

DAVE & THEM: Fri., July 21, 7 p.m., free. Hwy 61

BIG RICH MCDONOUGH & RHYTHM RENEGADES:

Roadhouse and Kitchen, 34 S Old Orchard Ave,

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

Webster Groves, 314-968-0061, hwy61road-

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

house.com.

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

DIVINE COUNCIL: W/ 4Deep, Kap$ule Flexxx,

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

DJJTR3Y, Sat., Aug. 19, 7 p.m., $15-$20. 2720

621-7880.

Cherokee Performing Arts Center, 2720 Chero-

EAST SIDERS REVIEW: 10 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz,

kee St, St. Louis, 314-276-2700, 2720cherokee.

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

com.

314-436-5222.

DJ CINDIASAURUS: Tue., July 18, 8 p.m., free.

GALACTIC EMPIRE: w/ Dangerkids 7 p.m.,

HandleBar, 4127 Manchester Ave., St. Louis,

$18-$20. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

314-652-2212, handlebarstl.com.

289-9050.

EAST SIDERS REVIEW: Wed., July 19, 10 p.m.,

MT. JOY: 8 p.m., $10-$12. Blueberry Hill - The

$5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University

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

City, 314-727-4444.

com.

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

ECHOSMITH: W/ Banners, Thu., Nov. 2, 8 p.m.,

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

$24-$29. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St.

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

Louis, 314-726-6161, delmarhall.com.

ext. 815.

ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS: Thu., July

THIS JUST IN

20, 8 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222, bbsjazz-

AL STEWART: W/ The Empty Pockets, Sun., Oct.

bluessoups.com.

15, 8 p.m., $40-$65. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar

EVA UNDER FIRE: W/ Clockwork Eclectic,

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

Saracoma, Sun., Sept. 10, 7 p.m., $10-$12. The

ALISON KRAUSS AND DAVID GRAY: Fri., Oct. 6, 8

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

p.m., $72-$122. Peabody Opera House, 1400

0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

Market St, St. Louis, 314-241-1888, peabodyop-

FIRST JASON: W/ Hung Like A Martyr, Fri., Aug.

erahouse.com.

25, 7 p.m., $12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

BANDITOS: Tue., Sept. 26, 8 p.m., $12. Blueber-

BIKES WELCOME

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: GOODTIMES.PATIO.BAR

200 N. MAIN, DUPO, ILLINOIS

Continued on pg 60

riverfronttimes.com

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

59

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 59

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Louis, 1 -5 5-0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

FLY METHOD: W/ Captains Courageous, Decedy, The Bad Haircuts, The O’Brien Effect, Sat., Sept. 9, 6 p.m., $10-$12. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 1 -5 5-0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

FRAMING THE RED: Wed., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $10.

The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350 5 , firebirdstl.com.

FRANKIE COSMOS: Tue., Sept. 26, 9 p.m., $15.

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314773-3363, offbroadwaystl.com.

FROM BAROQUE TO BROADWAY: Sat., July 15, 7 p.m., $5. Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton, 618-462-5222, jacobyartscenter.org.

GRIEVES: Tue., Nov. 21, 8 p.m., $12-$14. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-5350 5 , firebirdstl.com.

HERBIE HANCOCK: Thu., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., $40$65. Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd, St. Louis, 314-534-1700, stlsymphony.org.

IT’S A STRING THING!: W/ Leftover Salmon, The Infamous Stringdusters, Keller Williams, Sat., Oct. 14, 6 p.m., $30-$35. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505, oldrockhouse.com.

Eric Taylor. | PHOTO BY SEAN ROWE / FLICKR

JAY CRITCH: Fri., Aug. 18, 8 p.m., $20-$60.

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

Eric Taylor

JUSTIN HOSKINS & THE MOVIE: Sun., July 16,

7 p.m. Sunday, July 16.

6 p.m., $15. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222, bbsjazzbluessoups.com.

LEE DEWYZE: Fri., Aug. 18, 8 p.m., $15-$18. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314935-7003, themonoclestl.com.

LESS THAN JAKE: W/ Red City Radio, Protagonist, Sat., Oct. 7, 8 p.m., $20. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161, delmarhall.com.

The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Boulevard, Maplewood. All ages. $15 advance, $20 day of show. 314-560-2778.

You’ve heard the songs and stories of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Townes Van Zandt, and perhaps you wish you’d seen them in their prime. That chance may be gone, but you can still witness fellow Texan and fellow traveler Eric Taylor.

Like Townes and Lightnin’, Taylor sears the acoustic blues with a personal vision, weaves stories that have the force

of myth, and transfixes audiences with a voice that’s as raw as it is soul-searching. He’s never found the fame of a Jimmie Dale Gilmore or Steve Earle, but his talent and vast body of work stands up to an songwriter working today or just about any day. Go see him: You’ll stand on Townes Van Zandt’s coffee table in your cowboy boots and preach it.

Respect: Both Lyle Lovett and Taylor’s ex-wife Nanci Griffith have recorded Taylor’s songs. They know a touchstone when they hear it.

—Christian Schaeffer

LOVE JONES “THE BAND”: Sun., July 16, 9 p.m., $10. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway,

29, 6 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St.

3211 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314-696-2888,

isfunnybone.com.

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

Louis, 314-289-9050, fubarstl.com.

sanloo.org.

TODAY IS THE DAY- TEMPLE OF THE MORNING

com.

NICK LOWE’S QUALITY ROCK & ROLL REVUE: W/

SOCIAL REPOSE: W/ Hotel Books, The Funeral

STAR 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: Sun., Sept. 10,

MARY J. BLIGE: Wed., Sept. 13, 8 p.m., $55-$150.

Los Straightjackets, Tue., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., $30-

Portrait, Wed., Oct. 25, 7 p.m., $15-$18. The

8 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis,

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

$35. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

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

314-289-9050, fubarstl.com.

314-534-1111, fabulousfox.com.

314-726-6161, delmarhall.com.

0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

TWIDDLE: Sat., Oct. 14, 11 p.m., $12. Old Rock

MATT POND PA: W/ J Fernandez, Fri., Oct. 6,

PICKWICK: Thu., Oct. 26, 8 p.m., $12. Blueberry

ST. LOUIS SOCIAL CLUB: Tue., July 18, 8 p.m., $5.

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

8 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

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

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

oldrockhouse.com.

Louis, 1 -5 5-0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

versity City, 314-727-4444, blueberryhill.com.

Louis, 314-436-5222, bbsjazzbluessoups.com.

WHITNEY CUMMINGS: Tue., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., $45.

MEGAN FLECHAUS: Sun., July 16, 6 p.m., free.

THE REVIVALISTS: Sat., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $25-$55.

STARKILL: W/ Space Cadaver, Fri., Aug. 18, 7

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

Evangeline’s, 512 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 314-

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

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

726-6161, thepageant.com.

367-3644, evangelinesstl.com.

726-6161, thepageant.com.

289-9050, fubarstl.com.

WOOPSIE FEST 2017: W/ No Joy, Alomar, Better

MOBLEY: Tue., Sept. 5, 8 p.m., $10-$13. The

SHARK DAD: W/ DinoFight, Biff K’narley and

SZA: W/ Ravyn Lenae, Sun., Dec. 17, 8 p.m.,

Now, Black Nail, The Bronzed Chorus, CityCop,

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

the Reptilians, Thu., July 27, 9 p.m., free. Off

$25-$85. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester

Euth, Foxtails, Heavy Mantle, Jouska, Joy Boy,

935-7003, themonoclestl.com.

Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-

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

Old Sport, Pierre, Pleasures of the Flesh, Riala,

MONICA: W/ Dirty Muggs, Sat., July 29, 8 p.m.,

3363, offbroadwaystl.com.

com.

Salt Creek, Save Face, Secret Stuff, Skull Kid,

$25-$50. Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd,

SHERRI SHEPHERD: Fri., Sept. 15, 7:30 & 10

THE LIL’ SMOKIES: Thu., Sept. 21, 7 p.m., $10-

This City Called Earth, Alan Smithee, Anodes,

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

p.m.; Sat., Sept. 16, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $25. Helium

$12. The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave,

Ashes and Iron, Einsam, Family Medicine, Jr

newambassadorstl.com.

Comedy Club, 1151 St. Louis Galleria Saint

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

Clooney, Mariner, Royal Vessels, Seashine,

THE MONOLITHIC: W/ Hazard to Ya Booty, Slow

Louis Galleria Mall, Richmond Heights, 314-

com.

Smidley, Railhazer, Fri., Oct. 20, 5 p.m.; Sat.,

Down Scarlett, One Day, Fri., July 21, 8 p.m.,

727-1260, st-louis.heliumcomedy.com.

THIRD SIGHT BAND: Mon., July 17, 8 p.m., $5.

Oct. 21, 1:30 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 22, 1:30 p.m.,

$10. Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis,

SLAVES: W/ Secrets, Broken Youth, Thu., Sept.

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

$12-$60. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

314-726-6161, delmarhall.com.

21, 6 p.m., $16-$18. The Firebird, 2706 Olive

Louis, 314-436-5222, bbsjazzbluessoups.com.

289-9050, fubarstl.com.

NATE MOORE: W/ DJ Nuggs, Thu., July 20, 8

St., St. Louis, 1 -5 5-0 5 , firebirdstl.com.

TIM MEADOWS: Fri., July 28, 7:30 & 10 p.m.;

WU-TANG TRIBUTE SPIN: W/ DJ Mahf, DJ VTH-

p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-

SLIGHTLY LESS INFECTED CD RELEASE: W/

Sat., July 29, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $25. Funny Bone

OM, Fri., July 14, 10 p.m., free. The Ready

289-9050, fubarstl.com.

Stinkbomb, The Savage Bastards, Antithought,

Comedy Club-Westport Plaza, 614 Westport

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

NEOROMANTICS: W/ Luxora, jusTed, Sat., July

Banjo Rat, Sat., Aug. 12, 8 p.m., $5. San Loo,

Plaza, Maryland Heights, 314-469-6692, stlou-

833-3929, thereadyroom.com.

60

RIVERFRONT TIMES

JULY 12-18, 2017

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE SCRUBS

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a gay medical student with a medical fetish, and I can’t even open up to my therapist about this.

I think the fetish started when I was young; I was once in the hospital and given a suppository for a fever. Then one time I was given a Fleet enema. I don’t think the “butt stuff” turned me gay, but my fetish may stem from the aspect of being controlled. I’ve never been in a relationship, and I don’t know that I could have one while hiding what turns me on. In my profession, we have to be confident and even sort of “dominant” in our roles as providers, but underneath I’m incredibly submissive.

I didn’t go into medicine for this reason. We have very strict professional boundaries and ethical expectations, and I have no problem with that. But outside of work, I feel like my sexual desires need some kind of outlet.

Dilemma Of Conscience “Someone can have one persona at work and another at home,” said Eric the Red, a Florida nurse and a fellow medical fetishist. “DOC can be confident and dominant at work — his patients need someone confident and dominant to get them through their medical issues — and then find someone to spend his life with who brings out his submissive side and gives him the balance to make him feel like a whole person.”

In other words, DOC, when you do start dating and having relationships, you’re going to want to be open about your kinks. So long as you keep things

professional at work — which shouldn’t be hard, since it’s being the patient and not the doctor that turns you on — you have nothing to feel conflicted about.

“The one practical problem he will encounter is that since he actually knows how to give a physical, he may have less patience with fetishists who are not medical professionals in real life and don’t really know what they are doing,” said Eric. “Over the years, I have trained nonprofessionals who want to play doctor to give semi-realistic physicals, insert and irrigate catheters, use sounds and otherwise have enough technical expertise to do a medical scene that’s realistic enough that I can enjoy being their patient without screaming, ‘No, that’s not how it’s done ’ He may find himself doing the same.”

The good news?

“DOC won’t have any trouble finding like-minded people,” said Eric. “Just spend a few minutes on Google and he’ll find them.”

Hey, Dan: As a 56-year-old, 95-percent-straight woman, I’d like to think all y’all gay men can enjoy blowjobs without that dip in the degradation pool straight men always take. Maybe you could gaysex talk some sense into stupid straight men. On PornHub recently, I watched a fearless young woman use i o fi y n o t tt n times. This generation of women! Imi tt nI t n ig teen-year-old Russian woman with an equally beautiful black American man.

She sucked away on his dick and swalo t ti in fi in t I t thinking: She’s gonna get a break now?

Maybe a hug? A beer, a joint, a pay raise? o t ing o n o ogi

for spilling some cum at one point. Now I’m SAD. It’s the exact same shit I faced when I started in ’73. Gaysex talk some sense into straight boys! Y’all gay men do blowjobs without degradation. Tell straight men how it’s done!

Really Angry Gal Is Needing Gays There’s nothing inherently demeaning about giving someone a blowjob, and plenty of people give and receive blowjobs without splashing around in the degradation pool.

That said, RAGING, gay men are just as likely as straight men to “dip in the degradation pool” when they’re getting blowjobs — particularly when a blowjob is being filmed. No need to take my word for it: Head over to the gay aisle at PornHub. You’ll find lots of videos where the guys giving blowjobs are degraded, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find one in which the word “cocksucker” isn’t tossed around. But don’t feel bad for all those gay cocksuckers, RAGING: For many gay men, the taunts we feared most in high school become the dirty talk that gets us off in adulthood.

As for the video you saw, there must have been breaks that were edited out (no guy can come twelve times in five minutes), so hugs, beers and joints may have been made available when the cameras weren’t running.

Hey, Dan: I on in and I got Tinder to explore that. I tell guys it won’t get physical and that I’m interested only in text play and photo swapping. I matched with a cute, kinky g y n I n ying it i o tyo t t o o tt oy The issue is that I found out recently t t ng g I tty on i t

61

about this. He says that sex with her is goo t ni n t t n i ing to experiment. He also isn’t comfortable sharing his kinks with her. I understand t t o o ti onciling the dirty shit they want to do in bed with the sweet girl they want to marry, but he seems unwilling to try. Do I cut him off? Is he just doing what he has to do to make an otherwise good relationship work? Is it okay of him if she n fin o t n yon i y Playing Hurtful Over Text Only?

The odds that your sext buddy’s wife will never find out are slim. Spouses snoop, phones get left open, a dirty message or photo intended for one person (say, you) gets sent to the wrong person (say, her). If you’re not comfortable playing with someone who is deceiving his girlfriend and/or wife, you should end this, PHOTO. But it is possible to continue playing/texting/sexting with a semi-clear conscience: He may be doing what he needs to do to make this relationship work; he’s exploring his kinks without touching another woman; if this is cheating, it’s cheating lite; etc. Whatever you ultimately decide to do, PHOTO, you should encourage this guy to open up to his fianc e about his fantasies and kinks. It’s exhausting to spend your life with someone you have to hide from — exhausting and rarely successful.

If he doesn’t want the truth to end his marriage, he needs to tell her the truth now. Engagements are easily called off, marriages less so.

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

STREAK’S CORNER • by Bob Stretch

riverfronttimes.com

JULY 12-18, 2017

RIVERFRONT TIMES

61

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seeks a senior SAP ABAP Developer in Clayton, MO to develop software which will be used globally within a SAP environment. BA & 4 yrs. exp. or MA & 2 yrs. exp. or 8 yrs. exp. req’d. Reports to local company headquarters in Clayton, MO. Roving employee that will work at various unknown client sites throughout the US for up to 100% of the time. Must be willing to travel anywhere in the US and may be assigned to work at client sites across the US. For complete reqs and to apply, visit: http://www.strategicstaff. com/get-a-job.

Job ID: 135536

120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier

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SOUTH: 5616 S. Lindbergh • (314) 842-1242 WEST: 14633 Manchester • (636) 527-26811 HAZELWOOD: 233 Village Square Center • (314) 731-1212 Mon. - Sat. 9 AM - 7 PM; Sunday Noon - 5 PM Unless otherwise limited, prices are good through Tuesday following publication date. Installed price offers are for product purchased from Audio Express installed in factory-ready locations. Custom work at added cost. Kits, antennas and cables additional. Added charges for shop supplies and environmental disposal where mandated. Illustrations similar. Video pictures may be simulated. Not responsible for typographic errors. Savings off MSRP or our original sales price, may include install savings. Intermediate markdowns may have been taken. Details, conditions and restrictions of manufacturer promotional offers at respective websites. Price match applies to new, non-promotional items from authorized sellers; excludes “shopping cart” or other hidden specials. © 2017, Audio Express.

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JULY 12-18, 2017

AUDIO EXPRESS!

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Lowest Installed Price In Town — Every Time!

63

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-----------------------------

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-----------------------------

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major depressive disorder?

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Qualified participants should:

• Be a male or female at least 18 years old • Currently be treated with an anti-depressant • •

drug for at least the past eight weeks Have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder at least one year ago If female, should not be pregnant or about to become pregnant.

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The Changing Pointe at CenterPointe Hospital 4801 Weldon Spring Parkway St. Charles, MO 63304

w w w. C e n t e r Po i n t e H o s p i t a l . c o m 64

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JULY 12-18, 2017

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314.802.8822 joinaresearchstudy.com www.facebook.com/ St-Louis-Clinical-Trials

10330 OLD OLIVE ST. RD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63141