Riverfront Times - March 23, 2016

MARCH 23–29, 2016 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 12

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The Bootlegger whO took down the KKK Charlie Birger was a cold-blooded killer — but also a relentless foe to the Klan in southern Illinois. No wonder he haunts us still.

BY SCOTT PHILLIPS

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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The goal of this study is to use computerized imaging methods to evaluate gray and white matter structure and function in the brain of individuals with Bipolar Disorder.

THE LEDE

“Everyone’s downtown. There’s a little bit of everybody, so you never know what’s going to happen. I’ve seen fights and stuff down here. I’ve seen really cool stuff — just people being kind to each other. And drunk shenanigans.

5

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

Sometimes you just catch people going through life ... little kids and families at the Arch or riding horse-drawn carriages having fun. I try to be funny. What’s fun is you get to talk to someone different every fifteen minutes.”

—TOMMY HOWELL OF R.U.E. PEDICABS, PHOTOGRAPHED ON WASHINGTON AVENUE AND 8TH STREET ON MARCH 19

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE

13.

The Bootlegger Who Took Down the KKK

Charlie Birger was a cold-blooded killer — but also a relentless foe to the Klan in southern Illinois. No wonder he haunts us still.

Written by

SCOTT PHILLIPS Cover by

TIM LANE

NEWS

CULTURE

DINING

MUSIC

5

19

23

33

The Lede

Calendar

Your friend or neighbor, captured on camera

Seven days worth of great stuff to see and do

8

20

A Termination at City Hall

Bob Kraiberg speaks up after getting fired by the mayor

8

Film

City of Gold examines LA through the eyes of food writer Jonathan Gold

A Master in Doughnut Diplomacy

Faizan Syed’s Krispy Kremefueled journey to the heart of darkness

21

Galleries

Art on display in St. Louis this week

Great Expectations

Cheryl Baehr dines at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken — and questions whether it’s worthy of the hype

26

Side Dish

Boundary chef Rex Hale is finally home sweet home

26

First Look

Gaslight brings Cha Cha Chow, craft cocktails and a recording studio to the Hill

37

Homespun

Damon Davis LOA: Act I

38

Out Every Night 39

Food News

riverfronttimes.com

B-Sides

The South Broadway Athletic Club keeps swinging

Alex Cupp has big plans for Super’s Bungalow

Kerry Soraci gets her I Scream Cakes truck back

MARCH 23-29, 2016

36

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

31

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Thomas Crone reports on John McVey’s journey to St. Louis

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Coming Soon

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Straight-Up Town

This Just In

This week’s new concert announcements

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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NEWS

After 30 Years, a Sudden Termination at City Hall

B

ob Kraiberg’s not even a minute into describing his untimely departure from the city’s Excise Commission, which he ran for three decades before being fired by the mayor March 4, when he catches himself speaking in the present tense.

“My office is down two investigators...” he says, before a quick, nervous laugh. And then he picks up the story of how his six-person division, the agency in charge of liquor licenses throughout the city, has been halved with his termination, since two of his field agents had previously left the office without replacement.

Kraiberg was the definition of a City Hall lifer, spending 30 years as excise commissioner, dating back to Vince Schoemehl’s tenure as mayor.

As with any high-profile role lasting that long, his job won him praise as a responsible, affable, maybe-a-bit-eccentric sort who knew how to negotiate the system of granting and administering liquor licenses across 28 wards and countless neighborhoods. It also earned him critics, though they mostly speak off the record, describing him as “distant” or not active enough in day-to-day office affairs, a claim he says “is baloney,” claiming that his isn’t a nineto-five job thanks to the hours kept by his body of licensees.

“Fifty percent of the people might’ve seen me a wise, just guy,” he says, in the course of a 90-minute interview. “The other 50 percent see me as an asshole. You can’t please everybody.”

Kraiberg contends that, although he enjoyed civil service protection, Mayor Francis Slay’s Public Safety Director Richard Gray unceremoniously fired him on Friday, March 4. The reason, he says, was his decision to issue a lengthy continuance to a liquor license hearing on the Continued on pg 10

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

Faizan Syed, director of CAIR-St. Louis, chose to meet Trump supporters with doughnuts, not protests. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

An Expert in Doughnut Diplomacy

O

nly minutes after embarking on his mission of doughnut diplomacy, Faizan Syed stumbled into a showdown.

On one side, furious Donald Trump supporters chanted “USA! USA!” On the other, just a few feet away from the crowded line snaking around the Peabody Opera House, a masked protester wearing a Fuck the Police shirt stomped and dragged an American flag. Syed, the bearded and affable director of St. Louis’ chapter of CAIR, the Council on American—Islamic Relations, clutched his box of doughnuts as the two sides hurled invective.

This was no spontaneous act of pastry goodwill. It was March 11, the

MARCH 23-29, 2016

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day that Trump’s campaign arrived in St. Louis to find not only thousands of supporters, but also a battle-tested protest community ready to mobilize against the Drumph circus act. That day, 30 protesters would be arrested inside the Peabody after bringing Trump’s speech to a standstill.

Protest wasn’t Syed’s goal, although he’d momentarily entertained the idea of a leading a sidewalk demonstration against Trump. Instead, he grabbed 300 Krispy Kreme doughnuts and marshaled a group of approximately two dozen Muslims and interfaith activists. They walked down the line of supporters waiting to enter the rally, proffering doughnuts and introducing themselves as Muslims.

Out of the crowd, a bearded man approached Syed. He was wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood up, and the back bore an illustration of a cigar-chomping, gun-toting patriot

draped in an American flag, along with the admonishment, “Careful with that flag son/Obamacare doesn’t cover an ass whoopin.”

The man approached one of Syed’s doughnut-wielding counterparts.

“You’re from the Muslim community, right?”

They shook hands. The man explained that the young boy with him was his grandson.

“His dad died in Afghanistan,” the man continued. He asked Syed if he disagrees with “the ones who are over there killing, killing your people too” — meaning, likely, ISIS. Absolutely, Syed said, quickly adding, “If fact, if you go to Arlington cemetery, you’ll see Muslims buried there as well.”

The exchange lasted less than two minutes, but it provided a remarkably comprehensive tour of the talking Continued on pg 10

IT’S NOT JUST SOME BALL CLUB...

OFFICIAL BEER © 2016 Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser® Beer, St. Louis, MO Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. Visit MLB.com

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DOUGHNUT DIPLOMACY Continued from pg 8 points deployed by those who view Muslims with suspicion bordering on paranoia.

“You’re not saying what they need to hear,” said the Trump supporter, urging Syed to openly denounce the aforementioned killers. “You need to say that, ‘We don’t agree with what they’re doing.’ The doughnuts is a good way to do it.”

Attempting to get a word in edgewise, Syed told the man that he hoped Trump supporters would similarly assist the Muslim community in opposing the hatred that led a troubled Iraq War veteran to burn down an Islamic center in Joplin.

But Syed didn’t get the chance to connect his point directly to Trump, because the Trump supporter did it for him.

“Wait a minute,” the grandfather interjected. “I don’t think that Trump is, I think what he’s doing is he’s trying to protect America. I understand if some of the rhetoric he says scares you. But if you really look into it, he’s a really loving man. … But we can’t be offended by everything. I’m not offended by everything. I came up to you and said, ‘Hey, I’ll talk to you. That’s what we need.’”

As far as cathartic moments go, this one was somewhat lacking. Trump has made numerous statements targeting Muslims — among other things, he once told Anderson Cooper that “Islam hates us.” At the very least, evidence suggests the mogul-turned-politician is more than willing to play to his audience’s prejudices if it means a bump in his poll numbers.

But at least they were talking — and for the Trump supporter, it was a chance to meet a real Muslim, to see “the other” as something more than an abstraction.

That was Syed’s goal: By way of doughnuts and conversation, he hoped to cut through the haze of prejudice and fear that’s festered since the 9/11 attacks.

By day’s end, Syed and his colleagues distributed their entire cache of doughnuts.

Six days after Trump departed St. Louis, Syed agrees to sit down with Riverfront Times (over Krispy Kremes, natch) to discuss the rally. The videos produced from Syed’s doughnut outing have reached millions of viewers and yielded plenty of digital goodwill, but the 27-year-old CAIR director says he was saddened by the actions of some Trump supporters.

“A lot of people told us to go away, 10

RIVERFRONT TIMES

The bar at the Ready Room, which found itself at the center of a controversy between the mayor’s office and the city’s excise commissioner. | JASON STOFF

Ready Room, a Grove concert venue looking to secure a 3 a.m. license.

Though the popular club had secured the necessary signatures to attain the extra 90 minutes a night, some neighborhood residents spoke against the proposal, largely over noise issues.

In general, the city has been cooler to 3 a.m. licenses in recent years. But Kraiberg believes that the mayor wanted this license to go through. (The mayor’s spokeswoman, Maggie Crane, declined our request for interviews.)

Kraiberg, who has filed a lawsuit challenging his termination, as well as an appeal through city administrative channels, says he was more skeptical about the Ready Room’s request for extended hours. Kraiberg believed that the noise concerns were real and suggested a continuance, rather than a “yes” or

“no” vote.

“Signatures are absolutely a main factor,” he says. “But it’s not the only factor I can consider. Loud noise is one of those factors. I was trying to work out a problem here.”

Mike Cracchiolo, managing partner of the Ready Room, tells RFT that the continuance was frustrating, as were Kraiberg’s concerns about the business. “All he would have had to do was walk down there and listen to know that we were not creating a detriment or a nuisance for these residents, but he didn’t seem to have any interest in that,” he writes in an email.

Cracchiolo believes that Kraiberg was conflating complaints about another Grove bar he’s a minor partner in, the Demo, with the Ready Room. “By the end of the hearing it wasn’t even clear if he understood the difference between the two businesses,” he writes. “The entire time we’ve been dealing with Kraiberg his attitude has basically been, ‘Go

or go back home. Some people came to us and basically said, your people want to infiltrate the country and destroy America.”

Along with a guy who declared “Allah is a Pig,” Syed’s videos also feature a man telling the Muslim group that they wouldn’t be welcome at his business.

“That goes against everything that American stands for,” Syed says. “That is literally a whites-only counters at a diner.”

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Syed’s family immigrated to America — to Kirkwood — when he was four years old.

Syed later enrolled in Drake University, where he spent two years studying astronomy, physics and math before switching to political science. He attributes the change to witnessing the rising tide of American Islamophobia.

Trump, Syed believes, is tapping

into fear to shore up his own political fortunes. It’s a time-honored gambit. “That is what a nationalist leader does,” Syed says. “That’s what they’ve done in the Middle East, that’s what they’ve done in Latin America, that’s what they’ve done all across the world.”

Fighting that message, Syed continues, requires waging war on multiple fronts. If Trump’s fear-mongering connects with people who have never interacted with Muslims, then it’s incumbent on Muslims themselves to remedy that situation.

“A portion of the hate that exists against Muslims is because we’re not doing enough to outreach to these people,” Syed observes. “We are Americans who live in this county. But you cannot expect other people to change if you don’t do the bare minimum of trying to get them to change. You can-

BOB KRAIBERG Continued from pg 8

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

fix it.’ The problem with that is there was nothing to fix, except maybe for a perception issue among the residents that he himself helped to propagate. So nothing got resolved, and neither side was happy.”

He adds, “We had the necessary signatures, which we gathered from residents and property owners personally over a period of several months. We operate within city ordinance regarding noise levels, we pay our taxes, we conduct our business in a responsible fashion.

If these things weren’t true, our application would have been denied outright. What I don’t understand is why Kraiberg refused to take a more active role in finding a resolution rather than issuing a twomonth continuance. Typically a continuance is two weeks, maybe a month. Two months is a long time to leave a situation to fester.”

Cracchiolo confirms that he did reach out to the mayor’s office over Kraiberg’s handling of the situation.

But, he says, the commissioner’s removal creates more problems for him than it solves.

“The only reason we reached out to City Hall was to avoid the potential of filing a suit against the city. I don’t know what happened after that point, but I do know this: if the Office of the Mayor’s purpose here was to aid our business, they would have let Kraiberg remain in office until after our application had been resolved. So there had to (be) other factors in play with his dismissal.”

He adds, “As frustrating as the current excise system has been throughout this process, at least it Continued on pg 11

not expect people to be better if you do not at least engage with them.”

A Trump presidency is terrifying for Muslims, Syed acknowledges, not to mention other immigrants and minorities. And he says it will take every resource, major and minor — protests and doughnuts — to disrupt Trump’s beguiling momentum.

“Within that four hours, I spoke with almost 1,000 people. We had a lot of people who gave us hugs, they gave us high fives. They gave us handshakes.

One random guy donated $5. He said, ‘I love what you’re doing, here’s five bucks.’”

Syed’s eyes seem to twinkle at the memory, the pitch-perfect Americanness of that gesture. He grins over a box of fresh doughnuts.

“I took that money and donated it to the Islamic center.”

— Danny Wicentowski

BOB KRAIBERG Continued from pg 10 was familiar; we knew the lay of the land. The truth is that we would have eventually obtained our 3 a.m. license had Kraiberg remained in office; it may have required an appeal or a lawsuit, but it would have happened.

“With Kraiberg gone, the future of Excise seems uncertain, to me at least. I don’t know the status of our application; we’re not even sure if we will continue pursuing it at this point.”

The club owner is right about one thing: Big changes are almost certainly afoot for the department that handles the city’s roughly 1,200 liquor licenses.

Insiders speculate on a temporary replacement, potentially from the ranks of Mayor Slay’s loyalists (maybe former Alderwoman Jennifer Florida?); a possible shift to ward-based, aldermanic oversight for new licensees; or, most dramatically, a longer-range merger into the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Any of those, of course, would require legislation and would bring a dramatic new look to the department.

Last November, Kraiberg says, he spoke up against efforts to move his office to police headquarters, as the shift would’ve sent clients to two different buildings, with liquor license paperwork currently running through multiple City Hall offices on Tucker.

“The police department would like to influence (licenses) as well,” Kraiberg believes. “They wanted to move the excise department over to there. You see that language on the mayor’s webpage, regarding future crime-fighting proposals. They wanted to put Excise under police supervision, which is absolutely contrary to the city charter. I’m supposed to be independent: of the mayor, the police, all that. Since most of the offices we deal with are at City Hall, (applicants) would be going to multiple offices, in two buildings.

They didn’t consult me on that, they just told me one day.”

He continues, “In one month, over 300 people are at our counter. That means all those people would drive to City Hall. Park. Then go over to the Police Department. Park. Be personally escorted in and out. Then come back to City Hall. Park. They realized it was a terrible mistake.

But they wanted to put (Excise) into some sort of box.”

Kraiberg’s office, like many others

at City Hall, needed technological innovation — it’s an outpost of notecards and fax copies in a digital age. But most of the dozen people contacted for this story suggested that his office was run in sync with Kraiberg’s stickler-for-the-rules personality.

Cracchiolo, for example, writes, “While I don’t think Kraiberg handled our case in a particularly responsible way, I like Bob a great deal and don’t have any hard feelings towards him. I’ve held a liquor license in St. Louis for eight years and in all that time I never witnessed any improper behavior from Excise, nor do I believe there ever was any sort of outside influence over Kraiberg’s decisions. If there’s anything you can say about Bob, it’s that he was independent. For better or worse.”

As for Kraiberg, he’ll now be focusing on appealing the termination, both in the courts and through the City’s civil service procedures; it will take lawyers to unknot whether he enjoyed that protection (as he believes) or was an “at-will” appointee.

His case, he says, will highlight two issues: his personal loss of the position and a wider concern about independence within City Hall offices.

“There’s the loss of pension, the loss of my last few years of work,” he says. “I’m 67 and clearly on the third-base side of my career. I’ve only got a few working years left. My retirement package, my insurance is gone, most importantly. Something allowed them to think they could get rid of me without saying why. That’s exactly why civil service rules were instituted. Now, they could point to my smoldering corpse and say, ‘Look at this guy. After 30 years and fired abruptly.’”

He adds, “Under all the different mayors and directors I’ve served, I’ve never seen the kind of meddling I have with this administration. And I’m independent; I’m supposed to be.

My day could be like: I have a hearing and the majority of the neighborhood is in favor. There are vocal people against it. The alderman is for it and the police department is against it. And what I deal with is the facts and the law. A director of public safety told me years ago to follow the law. If made truly political, every four years could bring a different mayor, different aldermen, different friends, different enemies. You could be whipsawed all over the place. So I try to follow the law and balance the needs of small businesses and neighborhoods.”

Said in present tense. Like some of Kraiberg’s other noted habits, that’ll be a hard one to break.

—Thomas Crone

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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Charlie Birger shown just before his public hanging in Benton, Illinois. | COURTESY OF THE FRANKLIN COUNTY HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY

The Bootlegger Who Took Down the KKK Charlie Birger was a cold-blooded killer — but also a relentless foe to the Klan in southern Illinois. No wonder he haunts us still.

H

e was the most notorious bootlegger in the rural Midwest, and with the help of some gangster peers and an arsenal of Tommy guns he broke the back of the Ku Klux Klan at a time when that organization was a force to be reckoned with in southern Illinois.

A household name in this part of the country in his day, he inspired terror and love in equal measures, and nearly

BY SCOTT PHILLIPS a century after his death, his restless soul still calls out for our attention.

Some facts still resist untangling. He was either born in Russia in 1880 (by his own account), or in 1881 (so writes Wikipedia), or in what’s now Lithuania in 1882 (his sister’s version) or in 1883 (according to his gravestone). His name at birth was Schachna Itzik Birger, but everybody called him Charlie. His hideout, the Shady Rest, was situated on Route 13 somewhere between Marion, Illinois, and Harrisburg, Illinois, but there’s no agreement among historians

and aficionados as to the exact location of the site.

What’s not in dispute is that he was hanged outside the Franklin County Jail in Benton, Illinois, on Friday, April 13, 1928, for the murder of Joe Adams, the mayor of West City, Illinois, and that he lies buried in Chesed Shel Emeth, a Jewish cemetery on Olive Boulevard in University City, Missouri.

Charlie Birger’s defunct state notwithstanding, on a cold, dry February night close to 90 years after the last public hanging in the state of Illinois, a cheerful cohort is gathered riverfronttimes.com

at the former jail-turned-museum where Birger spent the last year of his life to see if the old bootlegger has anything to say for himself.

Benton is a city of about 7,000 people, located roughly an hour-and-a-half drive east of St. Louis, just south of Rend Lake, right off Interstate 57. Its town square, dominated by the Franklin County courthouse where Birger was tried, is also home to an antique row, and a few blocks away is a vintage auto museum. In the early 1960s, George Harrison’s sister Louise lived here, and when

MARCH 23-29, 2016

Continued on pg 14

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CHARLIE BIRGER Continued from pg 13 the Beatle spent two weeks in Benton in 1963 — already famous in the U.K. but unknown here — Harrison played with a local band at a nearby VFW and gave an interview on WFRX radio in which he played a 45 of “She Loves You.” (WFRX had earlier, thanks to Louise’s persistence, become the first station to play a Beatles record on American airwaves.)

At the outset I’d intended to write a straightforward piece about Birger, but I’d made a trip to Benton the week before to take some pictures, and museum volunteer Bill Owens mentioned that a group of ghost hunters were coming the following Saturday. I asked if I might come and talk to them.

The Franklin County Jail Museum’s reputation for being haunted sprang partly from a series of electronic voice phenomena (or EVP, in the parlance of that subculture) that a ghost hunter recorded at the jail in 2013. Also, an infrared photo taken from the exterior of the building at that time revealed what looked to some like an image of Charlie Birger himself peering out the window of his cell at the street below. (His supposed face, it must be noted, materialized in a window of the sheriff’s living quarters at the front of the building, an area that would presumably have been off limits to him in life. It’s understandable, though, that his ghost might prefer that window to the one adjacent to his cell, which offers a view of a full-scale replica of his gallows, built after the jail was decommissioned in 1990.)

At one point in a ten-minute video the ghost hunter posted to YouTube in 2013, a disembodied voice whispers “Should I stand by the screen?” while the camera is pointed at the screened window overlooking the gallows. At various points in the video other such breathy phrases as “Help me,” “Tell me a story” and “I can’t help it” can be heard, although in fairness they sound to some ears like currents of air blowing over the windscreen of a camera microphone. The video has been viewed more than 20,000 times.

I’ve been in the building several times in daylight and found the vibe unnerving; at night, of course, it’s considerably eerier. As for my own attitude toward such things: A movie producer once asked me, apropos of a script I’d collaborated on about a haunted restaurant, whether or not I believed in ghosts.

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The gallows, top, and jail, bottom, where Charlie Birger spent the last days of his life. | SCOTT PHILLIPS

“No,” I said, “but I’m scared of ’em.”

The movie never got made, but I stand by my answer.

Tonight’s ghost hunters call themselves 618 Paranormal, an affable group of sincere, youngish men and women who cheerfully answer my questions as they busy themselves setting up video cameras and audio recording equipment in the cellblocks, the old jail kitchen and the long-unused basement, which

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features a door to an underground tunnel that, according to legend, once led to the county courthouse a few blocks away and then further on into downtown. It was through this tunnel that Charlie would have been led from his cell to the courthouse to stand trial.

Bill Owens opens the door and I peer in to see mops and empty bleach jugs. I take a few flash photos of the deeper part of the tunnel,

but all I capture are some old soda bottles. Owens points out that the basement was where new prisoners were brought for intake and also for interrogation; for that reason, tonight’s group has placed a remote camera down here. Gloomy and dusty as it is now, in Birger’s day it certainly saw some grim business.

All kinds of ghosts might be down here, or none at all.

This raises the question of why

Charlie Birger’s phantom in particular should haunt this building, or why anyone might care one way or the other. He hasn’t been forgotten, precisely, though his legend has dimmed somewhat over the decades. Older residents of the region still remember stories told by parents and grandparents about the biggest, baddest bootlegger agrarian Illinois ever saw, and there may even remain a handful of elderly witnesses to the hanging, which was so well-attended that spectators climbed nearby trees to get a better view of the grisly affair.

Lurid pencil illustrations with descriptive typewritten captions of some of the Birger gang’s doings, posted around the walls of the two cellblocks, may help to explain his continuing relevance. They were made years after the events they depict by one Harvey Dungey, a former member of the gang. He was a talented but untrained artist, and the drawings have a wonderful naïve quality, vivid but stiff, as though Grandma Moses had decided to document armed robberies, bombings and wanton murder. He intended to travel around the region showing the drawings and telling the story of the gang, but the lure of perfidy was stronger than that of art; in 1958, Dungey attempted to rob a tavern and was shot to death by a night watchman, leaving behind this remarkable trove of firsthand visual accounts.

In early childhood, Charlie Birger, along with his parents, had followed an older brother from Russia to St. Louis (where for a time young Charlie was a Post-Dispatch newsboy) and later to southern Illinois. This was coal country, then as now, and as Jews and immigrants, the Birgers represented everything a certain element feared and hated about the changing nature of rural America.

Formerly Protestant towns like Herrin, Benton and Marion found themselves home to immigrants from the Appalachians, from southern and eastern Europe as well as Ireland and Wales, all come to work in the coal mines. These new citizens’ dietary and religious customs did not always jibe with the local norms. Nor, significantly, did the taste of some of these communities for alcohol.

In the years before 1919, when the Volstead Act banned the production and sale of “intoxicating liquors” across the nation, Charlie was already running a small coal country vice empire. Following stints as a miner, a soldier and a

cowboy, he had returned to Illinois, married a woman from East St. Louis (he had three wives in all, and two daughters) and settled down in Harrisburg. There he opened up a saloon called the Near Bar, which also served as a casino and brothel.

But it was Prohibition that really made Charlie, turning him from a small-time country operator into a full-fledged gangster.

In the modern imagination Prohibition tends to figure as an urban phenomenon, with rough speakeasies in Chicago and Manhattan sophisticates drinking bathtub gin in suites at the Algonquin. Rural Illinois, though, like most of America, was never going to go without its booze. Charlie and his quickly expanding gang joined forces with the notorious Shelton brothers of neighboring Williamson County to distribute alcohol throughout coal country.

For a few years things went swimmingly for the Birger and Shelton gangs. Charlie was a remarkably charismatic man, good-looking and charming, and he was seen as a hero by many, particularly in Harrisburg, where he made sure the crime rate stayed close to zero. Apart from the vice operation and the occasional shooting, the Birger gang committed the bulk of its crimes elsewhere.

But by late 1925 things had started going south for Charlie, and when they did, the end came at an astonishing rate of speed.

By then, the nativist locals had had it, and membership in the newly reactivated Ku Klux Klan was surging. Klansmen were going door to door to confiscate liquor and arrest — or abduct, since they had no legal standing to do so — anyone caught with it. Officeholders seen as soft on bootleggers were replaced

by Klan members.

Law enforcement in Saline County, home to Harrisburg, was no longer as friendly to Charlie as it had been, so he crossed the line into Williamson County to open up a combination speakeasy, barbecue joint, gas station and hideout: the Shady Rest. There was live music, dancing, gambling and, out back, cockfights and dogfights.

Troubles with the Klan worsened and the bootleggers were faced with the prospect of losing large sums of money where it operated. Though Birger’s relations with the Sheltons had deteriorated considerably, the two gangs managed to join forces one last time in April 1926 at a township election in Herrin, Illinois, a notorious hotbed of Klan activity.

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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Rumor on both sides had it that the day would see trouble, and when Catholic voters were turned away from the polls by a prominent local Klansman named John Smith, fistfights broke out.

Later in the day Smith was shot at on the street by an unknown assailant and his garage was sprayed with slugs from Tommy guns.

The bootleggers had come to defend their customers — and their own economic interests.

Bullets flew from passing cars and hotel windows, and the National Guard was called in. At the Herrin Masonic Lodge, Birger’s men pulled up and exited their vehicles, confronting and disarming the Klansman who had replaced Smith as poll watcher. A nearby Klansman shot Charlie’s man, another Birger ally shot the Klansman, and all hell broke loose. By day’s end three of Birger’s men and three prominent Klansmen lay dead.

The body count may have been even, but the dead Klan members were higher-ups, and it had become clear that the Tommy-gun-toting gangsters had the advantage in armaments. Herrin and its surrounding countryside were traumatized, and the KKK’s local organization dazed and demoralized. John Smith even left town for good. The consensus was that the gangsters had prevailed.

The Klan’s defeat notwithstanding, relations between the Birger and Shelton gangs were worse than ever, and in the following months that tension erupted into all-out war. As the bodies started piling up, Charlie took to wearing a bullet-proof vest (it’s in his cell at the museum) and started driving an armored car. The Sheltons had one of their own, and they needed it.

The Shady Rest has the distinction of being the site of the first aerial bombing attack in the United States. The war between gangs had intensified by November 1926, with a bomb thrown at the compound’s barbecue stand. Shortly thereafter the home of Joe Adams — Stutz automobile dealer, mayor of West City and staunch ally of the Sheltons —

was machine-gunned, though no one was injured.

In retaliation that same day, an airplane flew over the Shady Rest and dropped three packages of dynamite. The historic moment was a bust; only one package detonated, and with no injuries. (Though, according to Gary DeNeal’s biography, A Knight of Another Sort: Prohibition Days and Charlie Birger, the explosion killed a bulldog and a bald eagle.)

About a month later Joe Adams answered his door one Sunday afternoon to two men, one of whom handed him a letter, purportedly from the Sheltons.

While the mayor read the note, one of the men shot him dead. That murder would become the crux of Charlie’s downfall.

The disappearance of a young, pretty schoolteacher on maternity leave caused an uproar.

On display in one of the front rooms of the Franklin County Jail Museum is the wicker coroner’s basket in which Joe Adams’ body was placed the day he died. It was reported that, as Charlie Birger was being led to the scaffold, he spat into a similar basket intended to carry his own body back to St. Louis for burial.

Charlie was still a free man when, a month after the Adams murder in January 1927, a series of explosions hit the Shady Rest. It burned to the ground with four people inside, presumably associates of Charlie’s, though positive identifications were never made.

Another Birger associate, a crooked Illinois motorcycle cop named Lory Price who patrolled the patch of Route 13 that passed by the Shady Rest, became concerned that Charlie had turned against him.

Price then made an ill-advised attempt to collect a $2,500 reward offered for information regarding a recent bank robbery in the area, and Charlie got wind of it.

On January 17, Price and his wife Ethel vanished. Ethel Price had been a young, pretty schoolteacher on maternity leave, and her disappearance caused a local uproar. The activities of the gangs had grown increasingly violent, and for a wellknown and well-liked member of the community to fall victim to the bloodletting was a shock.

Lory’s corpse was found on February 5, but his wife’s body was not found until June 13. She had been shot and dumped into a mine shaft shortly before her husband’s execution.

When the shooter confessed that June, he explicitly named Charlie Birger as the man who ordered the hit. By that time Charlie was in custody, and public opinion, which had long cut him considerable slack for his charm and the good will he’d built up since he’d opened the Near Bar all those years past, had turned resolutely against him.

He had been arrested shortly after the Adams murder and released on bond. He was arrested again a day before one of the triggermen in the Lory killing confessed and fingered him. He was kept separately from the other prisoners, in a larger cell where he was allowed certain luxuries, such as a gramophone and a collection of records (the gramophone is in the cell today.)

In July 1927 he stood trial for the murder of Joe Adams alongside the two men he’d ordered to commit the crime. The other two received prison sentences, but Charlie was sentenced to hang. He spent the next nine months in the Benton jailhouse, pending appeals and waiting.

When the day came, it was noted by many in the crowd that Charlie was smiling as he climbed the steps to the scaffold. This may have been bravado, or it may have been the effect of the morphine shot administered shortly before leaving his cell.

Accompanied by a rabbi, Charlie had a black hood placed over his head (he had requested it, rather than a white one, so as not to be taken for a Klansman) and the executioner prepared the noose. Known as “the sympathetic hangman,” as a boy Phil Hanna had been witness to a bungled hanging that resulted in a prisoner’s agonizing, fifteen-minute death by strangulation, and he had taken up the trade determined to prevent such atrocities.

“It’s a beautiful world” were Charlie Birger’s last words.

I don’t know if Charlie haunts the jail, or somebody else’s ghost, or anything at all. But it’s a scary, lonely place at night. If there is an afterlife, maybe this is an appropriate place for him to remain, stuck alone in the same miserable spot he spent the last year of his existence.

Two weeks after Paranormal 618’s investigation, I call Seth Clark.

Yes, he, tells me, they did get “a few

last words” out of Charlie.

The actual gallows, along with the thick rope used to hang Charlie, was found in a barn in 2013 and purchased by the museum. It lies unassembled, with the rope coiled on the stacked beams, in the old women’s cellblock on the second floor, its cell walls long ago painted pink, paint now curling away in strips from the bars and walls. Next to the noose Seth and Mike placed several cameras and what they call a spirit box. The notion behind this device is that by rapidly scanning radio waves, certain sounds will pop up through the white noise as intelligible words.

Late in the night of the investigation, several members of the team gathered in the women’s cellblock and were startled by the squawking of the spirit box, which began making intelligible sounds. The resulting scene was captured on video, which can be watched on the group’s YouTube channel.

When the group starts discussing who should remain up there alone, the box says quite plainly “MIRANDA.” One of the group present at that moment is a young woman named Miranda Stewart.

“Charlie, do you want me to stay?” she asks. The box replies in the affirmative. When she asks if someone else can stay with her, the box says “THEY HAVE TO GO.” But the voices stop, and after a few minutes it’s decided that Mike and Seth will stay and Miranda will go. Over her shoulder as she leaves the cellblock, Miranda calls out “Bye, Charlie.”

The box replies: “RECONSIDER.” ——Scott Phillips is a novelist and screenwriter. His novel The Ice Harvest was made into a movie directed

by Harold Ramis and starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton and Connie Nielsen. He is also the editor of St. Louis Noir, an anthology due out in August from Akashic Books.

Southern Illinois poet and publisher Gary DeNeal’s superb biography of Charlie Birger, A Knight of Another Sort: Prohibition Days and Charlie Birger, is still in print and well worth your time. Most of the biographical facts above come from that book, though some of it I gleaned from visits to Franklin County Jail Museum and other relevant southern Illinois locales. For more on Birger, please see www.heritech.com/soil/birger/birger.htm and www.carolyar. com/Illinois/Govern/Birger.htm

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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18

CALENDAR WEEK OF MARCH 24-29

Gloria Korpas in the Slaughter Project’s Caravan \ JONATHAN R WHITE

BY PAUL FRISWOLD

THURSDAY 0324 Rednecks + Culchies It’s no secret that many St. Louisans are just scraping by, paycheck to paycheck. But for those whose jobs are seasonal or uncertain, the gaps in between are more familiar than the paychecks. Irish national Tony Monaghan came to America to escape the classism and prejudice of his homeland but found a subtler, more pernicious form of class warfare here. He runs a St. Louis construction company that employs workers with criminal records and drug problems who live 18

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in persistent poverty. Both shocked and intrigued by his employees’ combination of obvious craftsmanship and inability to escape their conditions, Monaghan joined forces with filmmaker Christopher Gibbs to document their lives. The film Rednecks + Culchies (an Irish term equivalent to redneck) shows how the working class lives in a city that ignores them at best and dismisses them at worst. Rednecks + Culchies screens again at 7 p.m. tonight at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; www.facebook. com/rednecksandculchies). Admission is a suggested $12 donation, which benefits Sisters Helping Each Other Reach a Higher Height and its mission of assisting low-income women.

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FRIDAY 0325 Kevin Harris and Alex Cunningham: Octarrarium Kevin Harris and Chad Eivins created the Octarrarium as an interactive performance space. The installation, currently on display at the Regional Arts Commission (6128 Delmar Boulevard; www.racstl.org), utilizes eight projectors of live-streaming video to respond to movement and sound within its confines. The full capabilities of the Octarrarium will be put to the

test tonight when Harris and Alex Cunningham perform improvised music (on violin and electronics, respectively) at 7 and 8 p.m. inside its dimension. Both performances are free, courtesy of HEARding Cats Collective and the arts commission.

Slaughter Project: Caravan The Slaughter Project explores the space between alienation and togetherness in its spring dance concert, Caravan. The title piece is inspired by the culture of the nomad, which depends on close family bonds to provide a shared culture and societal center even as the group exists outside the main-

sician. Finch discusses and signs copies of Home by Nightfall at 7 p.m. tonight at St. Louis County Library Headquarters (1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard, Frontenac; 314-994-3300 or www.slcl.org).

Admission is free, and Left Bank Books will be selling copies of the book at the event.

TUESDAY 0329 In Their Own Words: The Tuskegee Airmen

Alê Abreu’s dazzling Boy and the World. | ©GKIDS, INC stream world. The other eight dances are built around the idea of the shared experiences that define a group. Caravan is performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (March 25 and 26) at Washington University’s Edison Theatre (6445 Forsyth Boulevard; 314-935-6543 or www.edison. wustl.edu). Admission is $15.

SATURDAY 0326 Boy and the World Few filmmakers can shed their adult mindset long enough to depict accurately the way the world appears to a child, but Alê Abreu has no such problems. The Brazilian director’s animated film Boy and the World (O Menino e o Mundo) captures both the wonder and the fear that children experience in the world of adults. Young Cuca lives happily with his parents in the Brazilian countryside, but only until his father reluctantly heads to the city to find work. Cuca follows him and discovers a realm of monstrous machinery and noisy cityscapes filled with people that stretch out forever. But there is also music — much of it new and exciting — which accompanies him on his search. Boy and the World is a multi-colored fantasia about family, adventure and hope.

The film screens at 7:30 p.m. Fri-

day through Sunday (March 25 to 27) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; 314-968-7487 or www. webster.edu/film-series). Tickets are $4 to $6.

Andréa Stanislav: Convergence Infinité Chicago-born artist Andréa Stanislav draws inspiration from the history of the American Midwest, particularly those junctions where the natural world and civilization meet. For her new exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Andréa Stanislav: Convergence Infinité, she created a four-channel video installation using camera drones.

Each of the drones started from a fixed point marking one of the cardinal directions and then completed a choreographed dance along its journey before ending at the Apotheosis of St. Louis (the statue that watches over Art Hill).

The cameras filmed culturally significant sites such as the Cahokia Mounds and the Mississippi, as well as more transitory elements of the region, such as bald eagles and river bluffs. The four films are shown together to reveal the seams where city and country come together. Also on display are Stan-

islav’s mirrored sculptures and taxidermied animal installations, which contrast the artificial and the natural in puzzling ways. Andréa Stanislav: Convergence Infinité is on display in galleries 250 and 301 at the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park (314-721-0072 or www. slam.org). The work remains up through Sunday, June 19, and the museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free.

MONDAY 0328 Charles Finch Gentleman-detective Charles Lennox is in the thick of not one but two mysteries in Charles Finch’s new novel, Home by Nightfall.

All of Victorian London is atwitter about the disappearance of a brilliant foreign pianist. It’s the sort of case that’s comfortably within Lennox’s bailiwick, but he’s suddenly called home to Sussex by his bereaved brother. Once ensconced at the ancestral country home, Lennox is apprised of a series of mysterious thefts and break-ins in the village. Together the Lennox brothers work on solving this string of seemingly petty crimes, but Charles quickly surmises that as grave a danger is lurking in Sussex as in London -- and that city has yet to disgorge the missing muriverfronttimes.com

The Tuskegee Airmen fought on two fronts during World War II: They took on the Nazis in the skies over Europe and North Africa, even while battling America’s racism. As the first fighter group comprised entirely of black combat pilots in U.S. history, the men of Tuskegee had a lot to prove to the segregated army air corps — so they became the best unit in the sky. The Red Tails (named for the distinctive red paint scheme on their P-51 Mustang fighter planes) flew more than 1,500 missions as bomber escorts and boasted of never losing a bomber under their care — they may have had a few shot down, but before long white pilots were requesting the 332nd unit for protection. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Tuskegee Airmen. To mark the occasion, Fathom Events presents the special documentary film In Their Own Words: The Tuskegee Airmen at 7 p.m. at Wehrenberg Ronnies 20 Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www.fathomevents.com).

The film features sixteen airmen, including Lt. Col. George Hardy, and uses first-person accounts, archival footage and GCI recreations to honor their achievements. Tickets are $14.

Planning an event, exhibiting your art or putting on a play? Let us know and we’ll include it in the Night & Day 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 200, 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.

MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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FILM

[REVIEW]

Johnny Got His Lunch A documentary about revered food critic Jonathan Gold is more amuse-bouche than main course Written by

ROBERT HUNT City of Gold

Directed and written by Laura Gabbert.

Starring Jonathan Gold, David Chang and Roy Choi. Opens Friday, March 25, at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 South Lindbergh Boulevard; www. landmarktheatres.com).

S

o far as we know, humans have always taken an interest in food and expressed opinions on why they prefer one combination of proteins and carbohydrates to a slightly different mixture of the same. Millions of words are written and read about the preparation and appreciation of our meals, and if you happen to own at least a small assortment of cookbooks, chances are good that they are the oldest books in your home. (My personal favorites are the two volumes of Ann Thomas’ The Vegetarian Epicure, their bindings literally crumbling away after 40 years of use).

Only in our current narcissistic age do we pretend that this long-standing interest in food has become “the next big thing,” even creating a new term – an F-word I will decline to use – to claim an identifying space in the shadowy ground between novelty and conformity that defines so much of our culture. There have always been food fads, but today we have an entire industry of theme restaurants, celebrity chefs and reality TV programs in which traditional notions of cuisine have been replaced by contests and competitions.

City of Gold is about Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold, who serves in the film as a surrogate for the current food faddism. Gold began writing about

20

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Jonathan Gold in Laura Gabbert’s City of Gold. | COURTESY OF GORO TOSHIMA. A SUNDANCE SELECTS RELEASE. Los Angeles restaurants in the mid-’80s while also working as music editor for the LA Weekly.

Unlike traditional food writing, Gold’s column “Counter Intelligence” turned away from fivestar restaurants and explored the hundreds of hole-in-the-wall counters and exotic cuisines that had cropped up within the multicultural metropolis of southern California. Combining diligent research with boundless curiosity, he learned to enjoy and explain styles of cooking that few Angelenos outside of the cook’s own neighborhood had ever sampled.

Over the last three decades, Gold has developed something of a cult following, as well as picking up a Pulitzer Prize for his work at the Weekly – the first ever awarded for food criticism.

If, as the oft-quoted remark has it, writing about music is like dancing about architecture, imagine how even more awkward a task it must be to try filming about writing about cooking. There’s not much in the way of taste or smell that a film can convey (the great

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

documentary filmmaker Les Blank tried to solve this problem by suggesting that exhibitors should cook in the auditorium when his films were screened). The best that City of Gold can do, following the lead of Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip, is dwell lovingly over the preparation of meals at the various places Gold visits. Warning: this film contains scenes of graphic sautéing.

Laura Gabbert’s film is a friendly portrait of Gold, content to ride shotgun as drives around LA pointing out favored establishments and chatting with a few of the restaurateurs along the way.

We learn a bit about his past (he played cello in a punk band), peek in on a few family gatherings and endure a few uncomfortable moments with guest star food writers, who appear to have brought in solely to add a touch of variety: Calvin Trillin looks a little puzzled, while Ruth Reichl obnoxiously proclaims that anyone who doesn’t eat grasshoppers “is an idiot.”

As short on substance as your typical food-centered reality TV

series, City of Gold is held together, for better or worse, by the slightly acerbic personality of its subject.

We don’t get much sense of what his writing is like until very close to the end, so the reduced soundbites and throwaway lines frequently come off as a bit pretentious (at one point he describes something by stating “there really is a thereness between a thereness.” A rebuke to Gertrude Stein?).

But despite its noticeable lack of conflict, City of Gold is oddly charming as a love letter to the Los Angeles area. Gold, an LA native, clearly and explicitly loves the city, and Gabbert shares his affection, capturing the sights and streets of the region with unabashed affection. Though the film fails completely in its efforts to convert those of us who are perfectly happy to leave grasshoppers hopping in the fields rather than on our plates, it is, for much of its 89 minutes, an entertainingly laid-back travelogue, the most enthusiastic celebration of the City of Angels since Randy Newman declared his love back in 1983. n

ART GALLERIES

21

ART

Fanfare Fireball. | AARON KARP

James Marshall — Aaron Karp

Carmon Colangelo: Theory of Nothing

Duane Reed Gallery

Bruno David Gallery

4729 McPherson Ave.| www.duanereedgallery.com

3721 Washington Blvd. | www.brunodavidgallery.com

Opens 5 p.m. Fri., Mar. 25. Continues through Apr. 29.

Opens 6 p.m. Fri., Mar. 25. Continues through May 21.

James Marshall and Aaron Karp work in vastly different media: Marshall is a ceramicist and Karp a painter. But both men evince a strong interest in texture and the surface quality of the finished piece. Marshall’s asymmetrical forms are fueled by his interest in liminal states; his glossy wedges of color appear to emerge from a primordial well, still dripping with the stuff of creation. Karp’s canvases are crowded with gem-like, multi-colored orbs. Their surfaces are stippled and flecked with regular patterns that give them weight and depth in the picture plane.

For his eighth solo exhibition at Bruno David Gallery, Carmon Colangelo gathered the off-cuts and scraps produced during the manufacture of laser-cut architectural models. These bits were then inked and used to print on canvas and paper. The process is inspired by the idea of connectivity and chance, and by Colangelo’s own interest in the studio as a place for playful exploration. The installation comprises prints, drawings and mixed media work that reflect this spirit.

Robert Sagerman: Monochromatic Paintings

Ajay Kurian: The Childhood of Jesus White Flag Projects 4568 Manchester Ave. | www.whiteflagprojects.org

Philip Slein Gallery

Opens 7 p.m. Sat., Mar. 26. Continues through May 7.

4735 McPherson Ave.| www.philipsleingallery.com

New York artist Ajay Kurian returns to White Flag Projects for a new solo exhibition of sculpture. Kurian’s work in The Childhood of Jesus combines pop culture with a strong sense of craftsmanship. Comfort Zone #2 (Enlightenment) depicts a space-age bachelor pad decorated with miniature paintings, delicate lighting accents and a bespoke, four-armed White Power Ranger seated in the lotus position on a floating red cushion. Pink moss, toy dragon balls and custom M&Ms surround the meditating figure, blending East and West in sly fashion.

—Paul Friswold

Opens 5 p.m. Fri., Mar. 25. Continues through Apr. 30.

Eschewing a brush in favor of the paint tube as mark-maker, Robert Sagerman builds monochromatic pools of pigment and shape out of carefully measured dabs of paint. His process requires him to count each dollop of paint; it’s a form of meditation through counting derived from Judaism’s kabbalastic tradition. The total number of paint dabs gives each finished piece its title, but these numbers also measure his dedication in pursuit of the divine.

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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THREEKINGSPUB.COM

CAFE

23

[REVIEW]

Great Expectations Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken is good. But does it live up to the hype?

Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken 7434 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314899-9899. Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

S

quint your eyes as you approach Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, and you might confuse the tiny building off Maplewood’s main drag with the original, a little fried chicken shack outside of Memphis. The iconic yellow and red sign with a chicken silhouette, the Styrofoam plates, the 40-ounce bottle of Busch served in a paper bag — add these to the scent of the deep-fryer and you’re instantly transported to Mason, Tennessee.

When you open your eyes fully, though, grease gives way to polish as you notice the little details that would have been as out of place as white linen tablecloths at the original Gus’s. Sure, there are rough, wooden walls, but they are planks that hang as accents on freshly painted drywall. Modern ductwork straight out of a Washington Avenue loft hangs from the ceilings, and flat-screen televisions play the game du jour.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this. I’m sure folks in the old days would’ve killed for a television as they waited in the seemingly endless chow line. But it does hint at a larger question about Gus’s: How far can a hidden-gem, hole-in-thewall phenomenon progress before it becomes more about the hype than the food? When we go to Gus’s, are we buying the bird or the idea of what the bird used to be?

As for that bird: I wouldn’t be musing about paint jobs and nostalgia had I eaten the best chicken of

In addition to its chicken plates, Gus’s serves up some excellent desserts and fried pickles. | MABEL SUEN

The chicken’s coating is thin and crisp, with enough of that dull heat to make your nose run — cayenne-heavy, it comes without the sweetness found in many of our town’s recipes. my life at Gus’s. It is, for the most part, good chicken, but I couldn’t help but think of how much better I would have found it had I happened upon it at a dive in, say, Bellefontaine Neighbors rather

than waded through throngs of hungry diners eager to get a taste of the hype.

I would have probably felt more like the patrons who stumbled onto Maggie’s Short Orders, which was Gus’s name until 1983. When the restaurant first opened in the 1950s, Maggie’s was no more than a small soul food joint operated by husband and wife Napoleon and Maggie Bonner. Word of Mr. Bonner’s spicy fried chicken recipe spread, and the place became a roaring success. When the elders passed, their son and his wife, Vernon and Gertrude, took over the place and renamed it Gus’s after Vernon’s nickname.

Under their son Terry and his wife, Anne, Gus’s began a franchise-based expansion that now boasts fourteen locations in eight different states. Along the way, they’ve received accolades from the national press, including the number 58 spot on Yelp’s 2016 list of the Top 100 Places to Eat in the United States.

That’s just one spot below the French Laundry. riverfronttimes.com

As such, I had high expectations for the St. Louis outpost of this legend. Apparently, so did just about everyone else in town: When franchisees Jim and Jane Zimmerman opened the restaurant last December, the place was completely overwhelmed.

The Zimmermans seem to have worked out the service kinks, and the lines have since died down, though the place still does a brisk business. Whether or not they have worked out the food depends on what you order.

This is a place where it is imperative that you get the dark meat.

Thighs, wings and drumsticks are plump, juicy and blanketed in a white-peppery batter whose recipe is guarded more closely than the dossier on Roswell. The coating is thin and crisp, with enough of that dull heat to make your nose run — cayenne-heavy, it comes without the sweetness found in many of our town’s recipes. It’s the quintessential, Southern Baptist church picnic chicken.

MARCH 23-29, 2016

Continued on pg 24

RIVERFRONT TIMES

23

Fresh Pressed Sandwiches Homemade Soups Wood Fired Pizza Local Beer • Local Wine Ice Cream • Snacks

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Chocolate chess pie: like a half-baked brownie coupled with cornbread. | MABEL SUEN

GUS’S CHICKEN Continued from pg 23 Unfortunately, the glory of the dark meat doesn’t translate to the white meat. Breasts benefit from the same excellent coating, but the meat is dry, and at times chewy.

Tenders are even worse. On one visit, they were dry and stringy. On another, they were so tough as to be inedible.

The sides here are quintessential soul food: rich mac & cheese flecked with paprika for a hint of smoke; sweet, mayonnaise-based coleslaw minced just like the Colonel does it (let’s be honest – KFC’s slaw is pretty darn tasty); and mouth-watering collards, which taste as if they’ve been stewed for days with honeyed ham. Baked beans are amongst the best I’ve had: thick with molasses and studded with pork. Give me these with a thigh, drumstick and a Busch and I’m as happy as a hen scratching in the dirt.

Gus’s offers two straightforward 24

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 23-29, 2016

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starters: deep-fried dill pickle spears and cornmeal-crusted green tomatoes. Both are fair, though if it were a question of appetizers or dessert, I’d opt for the latter. The pecan pie’s filling could pass for maple crème brulee, and the chocolate chess pie tastes like the result of an amorous encounter between a half-baked brownie and a slice of cornbread.

It’s touches like these that make you understand just how special the original Gus’s must have been.

Its offshoot may not quite live up to the initial hype, but it gives a decent enough window into the past to capture an echo of the magic.

It’s a past where I surely would’ve waited in that hour-long line and not cared about whether I could catch the score of the game. In Maplewood, I’m glad they had the televisions. n Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken

Fried green tomatoes ................... $6.50 Three-piece dark plate.................. $9.50 Chocolate chess pie (slice) .......... $2.95

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26

SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

Chef Rex Hale Is Home Sweet Home Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

C

hef Rex Hale of Boundary (6300 Clayton Road, Richmond Heights; 314-647-7300) has cooked all over the world — Dallas, Ojai, Antigua, South Africa — but his culinary roots are firmly planted in Marshfield, Missouri.

“My mom’s family had a farm in Marshfield, and we would spend every summer working there,” Hale recalls. “From a young age, I was milking cows, slaughtering chickens, picking vegetables from the garden and going down to the pond to collect frogs for frog legs.

It’s where I grew up.”

Hale and his family were able to spend those lengthy periods at the farm because of his father’s job as a high school chemistry teacher. At first, Hale thought he would follow in his dad’s footsteps and pursue a career in science, but he quickly discovered that he needed to find his own path. “In school I loved chemistry and biology — because of my dad,” says Hale. “The further I got in school, though, I felt like I was disconnected from the rest of the world.”

Realizing that the kitchen was his calling, Hale boldly marched into the iconic Tony’s. “I figured that if this is what I wanted to do, why not go to the best,” he says. He told the owners his career plans, got the job, and eventually moved on to a string of high-profile gigs — alongside such revered chefs as Paul Bocuse, Emeril Lagasse and Stephen Pyles.

After twenty years away from St. Louis, though, Hale felt the call to return home.

“I had three young kids, and I wanted to raise them here,” says Hale. “I thought I’d surely be able to get a job somewhere, but then

26

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Chef Rex Hale is a pro at standing on his head. | HARLAN MCCARTHEY I came back and was blown away by places like Baetje Farms. Every day, I’d be more and more impressed with the ingredients and commitment to quality here. I still am every day.”

Hale took a break from the Cheshire Hotel’s new restaurant, Boundary, to share his thoughts on the St. Louis food and beverage community, his in-home taqueria and why standing on his head daily is non-negotiable.

[FIRST LOOK]

THE HOTTEST NEW SPOT ON THE HILL Written by

SARAH FENSKE

M

any bars in St. Louis do one thing well — they serve excellent cocktails, or they have really good food, or the music is jumping. Gaslight (4916 Shaw Avenue) aims to do all three.

And it’s even more than that.

The striking new bar on the edge of the city’s Hill neighborhood doesn’t

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

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

I love to teach children about food and cooking.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Stretching every morning for a lifetime and doing yoga and standing on my head. Drinking a green breakfast drink followed by black coffee.

If you could have any superjust include a space for live music performances — the area is also a fully soundproofed studio, with high-end equipment for recording.

On one side of the glass, the musicians enjoy perfect acoustics; on the other side, a live audience enjoys cocktails, with music piped in from the adjoining studio at just the right volume.

“When people tell me they’ve never seen anything like it, that’s when we knew: Either this isn’t going to work, or we’re just the first people to think of it,” says co-owner JB Anderson. So far, based on the huge response the place is getting, he’s pretty sure it’s the latter.

power, what would it be?

To fly, to be able to travel quickly and visit all the places I’d like to see.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

The St. Louis community of food bloggers who are able to eat, photograph and write about what they enjoy.

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

Mark Hinkle at Olive + Oak. He is such a great person and restaurateur.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Fresh ginger root. It’s a little spicy and very flavorful with lots of layers.

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

Biological research or farming.

Name an ingredient never allowed in your kitchen.

I love food, and I really do not dislike any ingredient, except green bell peppers which I really do not care to eat.

What is your after-work hangout?

Home. I’ll be there eating tongue, potato or chicken tacos or quesadillas.

What’s your food or beverage guilty pleasure?

Pistoles Bittersweet Chocolate — 72 percent, right out of the box.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Whole fish on a beach, cooked over an open fire and either roasted or stewed. n The bar is the brainchild of co-owners Anderson, a construction company owner, and Matt Stelzer, who also owns the much-loved Amsterdam Tavern on Morgan Ford Road. For a culinary component, they recruited the food truck Cha Cha Chow. Sam Burke, a former manager of the truck, is now the sole owner of the concept’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant. (Kandace Davis, who owns the truck, will be using Burke’s space as a commissary for the mobile operation.)

Technically, the food and bar are two separate spaces, but much like Continued on pg 28

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27

[FIRST LOOK]

Barbecue Is Coming to Super’s Bungalow Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

A

lex Cupp has stepped away from his job as pit master at Adam’s Smokehouse, but he’s not staying away from the smoker for long.

Cupp, who learned the art of barbecue from none other than Mike Emerson and Skip Steele of Pappy’s fame, is opening a new concept, the Stellar Hog at the Bungalow.

Described by its chef/owner as an “upscale barbecue restaurant,” the Stellar Hog tentatively plans to open this summer on the site of the beloved south-city bar Super’s Bungalow (5623 Leona Ave., 314-481-8448). Though he’s making extensive renovations to the property, Cupp insists that no changes are in store for the beloved bar and biergarten, beyond the addition of a serious food component.

“This is such a historic place that’s been around for like 90 years and has been operating as a bar for 80-plus years,” Cupp explains.

“There’s such a rich history here — some nights we have three generations come in and sit at the bar telling stories. I’m not going to change that. We have to keep that the same. I’ll just be doing my barbecue project out of here.”

Though Cupp has not yet fully worked out the details of his menu, barbecue will be a major component. “We want to offer something that the other barbecue restaurants in town aren’t really doing,” says Cupp. “Nice sides, more upscale dinner items — we’re going to fancy it up a little.” Some of the dishes he’s planning include smoked cassoulet, smoked and fried wings and spoon bread, alongside traditional selections like pulled pork and brisket.

While the building is undergoing its renovations, Cupp has partnered with chef Ben Grupe (a culinary Olympian and the face behind the Soigne pop-up dinners) on a project called St. Louis Sammiches. The pop-up project will allow Cupp to play around with recipes and experiment before he can fully immerse himself in the Stellar Hog’s kitchen. “Our first one will be at Tower Grove Market,” says Cupp.

“We’re planning on doing them all around town — at the Schlafly farmers market, Tower Grove — pretty much anywhere people want some good, fat-boy sandwiches.”

Cupp credits his time at Adam’s, and in particular his experience learning from Emerson and Steele, as giving him the know-how to step out on his own. “I learned so much working there,” he says. “Those guys really paved the way for me, and now, it’s just time to go out n on my own.”

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 23-29, 2016

GASLIGHT ON THE HILL Continued from pg 26 Amsterdam and the Dam, they feed off each other. A huge chalkboard just inside the bar shows off Cha Cha Chow’s menu; the shared entryway shows an arrow to the right for the drink and to the left for food.

The food side is utilitarian — just a simple counter with a big kitchen behind it. You’ll want to get your food to-go or eat it on the bar side.

And as for that bar side, it takes its theme from Gaslight Square, the neighborhood near the Central West End that was hopping during the days of the Beatniks. Framed photos of the neighborhood hang on the walls, while cocktails take their names from its most famous nightclubs.

Anderson says the bar seeks to capture the spirit of the neighborhood in its heyday — and live music is a key component. “Technically, this is a 24/7 studio,” he says, proudly showing off the recording equipment. “We want to integrate creative ideas during the day — we’ve got everything here so people can just plug and play,” including two in-house engineers.

Then, at night, artists can feed off the energy in the bar area. He promises, “People are going to be sitting in that room having a cocktail and listening to music, but they’ll actually be able to talk, because we control the volume.”

The space that holds all of this innovation used to be an appraiser’s office. At 6,600 square feet, perched just west of the corner of Shaw and Kingshighway, it’s much bigger than you realize driving by. Anderson and his crew did a full rehab to the space; you’d never realize that any inch of this sprawling complex (complete with a huge warehouse/workshop in the back) used to be a dull warren of cubicles.

At Cha Cha Chow’s counter, the menu is substantially the same as on the food truck — mostly tacos, with a wide variety of tasty options, from beef short rib to curried sweet potato. Tacos come a la carte or as platters; you can get your riverfronttimes.com

The bar, top. Tacos from Cha Cha Chow, bottom. | SARAH FENSKE platters with fries, black beans, or corn salad.

The brick-and-mortar location does have one addition, though: pupusas. A south St. Louis native, Burke lived in El Salvador for five months (“I wanted to learn how to surf, but I tried it and it turns out I was not very good at all”), where he developed an appreciation for the Central American staple. He cautions that his are not “authentic” pupusas per se — in El Salvador, they tend to be only beans and cheese, while he has a meat option. But the inspiration is real.

Burke credits his stint in El Salvador for one other thing: “It made me want to go back to work.”

Not having a job, he adds, wasn’t quite as fun as it sounds — “you need to have something going on, or it gets really boring.”

He adds, “It was definitely time to come back and start making money.” And based on how busy its first few weeks of business have been, Cha Cha Chow should be the perfect way to do that — and stay plenty busy too. n

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MARCH 23-29, 2016

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[FOOD NEWS]

STOLEN TRUCK RETURNED TO CHEROKEE Written by

DOYLE MURHPY

A

n ice cream truck swiped on Cherokee Street is now safe and sound.

Kerry Soraci, owner of I Scream Cakes, was reunited with her oneof-a-kind “trucklet” one night after a pair of cold-hearted crooks snatched it from in front of her store at 2641 Cherokee Street.

Soraci was serving a big group of kids — some as young as eight or nine, some more like fourteen or fifteen — on Wednesday night when the thieves struck, she says.

While Soraci doled out free samples and quizzed a couple of the young ones with math problems, an older kid snagged her keys from behind the counter and slipped out the door. Once outside, he handed them off to two young men, who hopped in the brightly painted SUV and sped off.

Soraci didn’t even know it was gone until the youngest of the kids turned to leave, and she looked outside at her empty parking spot.

“If this wasn’t real life, it would be funny — ‘kids steal an ice cream truck,’” she says. “But it is real life.”

But as depressing as it is to think of kids dabbling in grand theft, what happened next is one of those heartwarming St. Louis stories.

Hundreds of people rallied on so-

cial media to help Soraci, spreading pictures of the missing SUV and its telltale “ICE CREAM” paint job to the masses. The owner of the neighboring Whiskey Ring bar scoured his surveillance video and found footage of a teen passing over the keys to the actual car thieves, who’d been lurking nearby. Soraci hadn’t even seen the men.

Finally, shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, a guitar-playing video editor living a block off Cherokee spotted the post and called Soraci with some good news: He’d seen her truck parked behind a vacant house in the 3300 block of Oregon. Soraci jumped in her rental car and set off to see for herself, steering into the alley between Utah and Cherokee. There it was, barely worse for the wear.

The crooks had stolen her front license plate, and they drained the battery by leaving the dome light on. Her keys were nowhere to be found. But the rest appeared just fine.

Matty Coonfield, who plays bass for local bands Bug Chaser and Black Panties, is the one who first contacted Soraci. He says he first saw the van Thursday morning but didn’t realize it had been stolen until he saw the Facebook posts.

“I should have put two and two together,” he says. “I’ve never seen a car there — let alone one that looks like it’s from the circus.”

Police crime scene techs dusted the ice cream truck for prints, and Soraci gave them a thumb drive with the footage from the Whiskey Ring’s cameras.

She was thrilled to get the truck back, pissed at the guys who stole it, sad they used a kid to help them and proud of her neighborhood, all at once. It was n quite a busy night.

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thur. mar. 24 9PM Gorilla Theory, Lusid and Squid Parade

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10PM

Aaron Kamm & the One Drops

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MUSIC

33

Straight-Up Town Bluesman John McVey left his wild Texas days behind for a bright future in St. Louis Written by

THOMAS CRONE

T

hey’re a little bit hazy now, these memories. They stretch back nearly 50 years. But for John McVey, an ace blues guitarist who has called St. Louis home since last August, they remain his first ties to the city.

“St. Louis goes all the way back to my childhood,” McVey says. “My dad was from Marthasville, Missouri. Several times, when I was a child growing up, we’d come up and visit, and every trip we’d come in for a couple of baseball games. I saw the old Cardinals play, with Bob Gibson and Lou Brock.

And every time we’d drive by the Budweiser brewery, it’d look like a castle on a hill. We’ve bought a house right across from it; we can see it from our front door. That’s just a thrill that connects me right back to my childhood.”

A storyteller by nature, McVey’s got the look of a Texas bluesman (the wide-brimmed hat, the leather vests and boots, the full goatee) as well as the pedigree. After coming of age in Arkansas, where he also discovered his musical abilities, he spent twenty years as a professional in the clubs of Austin, hitting the road with a variety of name acts. That was followed by ten years in another part of Texas — Houston — moving from a music-rich town with dozens of live blues venues to one with exactly three.

“Houston’s not a music city,” McVey says directly. “And as my wife and I were closing in on 60, with her kids grown, we thought, ‘What do we want to do with the last third our our life? Let’s have an adventure.’ I wanted to live on the Mississippi. Memphis has more of a studio scene. I knew St. Louis had a happening music scene

“St. Louis goes all the way back to my childhood,” McVey says. | STEVE TRUESDELL

“At almost 60, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been. And being in St. Louis has contributed a lot to that feeling. And it’s a wonderful feeling.”

— I played in a lot of road bands, back to the early ’80s. I knew that there was a good scene here. We researched the heck out of it on the Internet. And I had some friends up here, already: John Logan, Preston Hubbard, Hudson Harkins. So I didn’t come in here completely cold.”

He did come without a band, but he solved that problem quickly. After spending time in the open mic scene, McVey found kindred spirits in the form of an experienced, tal-

ented rhythm section: Joe Meyer on drums and Tom Maloney on bass.

“That’s my basic, core group right there,” McVey says. “We’re at Hammerstone’s every Wednesday night. Those guys, well, I got very fortunate being introduced to them. We played a couple of impromptu things, hit it off and now we’re doing this thing. It’s inspired me to write songs again. I go in waves, and when you get inspired — pal around with new people, all that shit — you write new songs.”

Meyer muses that a lot of bandleaders “say that they want you to play like yourself,” but then pull back from the promise. But Meyer insists that McVey follows through on that. (“He and Tom both have room to create,” McVey agrees.)

Meyer and McVey work so well together, in fact, that both have now joined the Soulard Blues Band for its decades-old Monday night jam at the Broadway Oyster Bar. Asked into the fold, McVey accepted — with one friendly caveat.

“I’m a straight blues guitarist,” he says. “I haven’t had to join a classic-rock cover band. I don’t do R&B very much. And when I’m hanging out with musicians, I put riverfronttimes.com

it right out on the table that blues is my love. I don’t wanna piss anybody off. One of the reasons I’m with the Soulard Blues Band is that they tailor the set to me playing blues songs, and there are so many good guitarists here that can play the R&B, have been playing that their whole lives. I told Art [Dwyer, bassist] that ‘I’m a really good blues guitarist.’ That’s our agreement.

“When Art was kind enough to give me the gig for Monday nights, I said, ‘Cool, thanks,’” McVey remembers. “So I have two regular residencies every week. When we first moved here, it was the end of summer. Everything was booked and I didn’t expect to play much until after the first of the year. By the end of December, I was playing more gigs than I was in Houston. We decided to not push, to let things happen organically and to become a part of the community.

That’s what I wanted, to be part of a family. And things have been rolling along really well.”

As he speaks, McVey is trading quips with Vinnie Valenza, the owner of Blues City Deli, who is manning the register. Here, McVey is at his home away from home. It’s

MARCH 23-29, 2016

Continued on pg 34

RIVERFRONT TIMES

33

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4199 Manchester Ave in The Grove 314-202-8300 A wizened bluesman, singing the praises of St. Louis, the land of opportunity. | STEVE TRUESDELL

JOHN MCVEY Continued from pg 33

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 23-29, 2016

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a place where he can spin stories at leisure. Even after a couple months of shows, Meyer observes, “He’s like an onion. I keep learning new things about him, I keep hearing new stories.”

Stories like the time, as a college baseball star, that McVey blew out the rotator cuffs on both arms within a five-minute period. (“I spent a couple years as a drunk and a fry cook after that.”) About how an old girlfriend tossed a beat-up acoustic guitar on the front lawn when he was being, um, relocated from their apartment. (“I picked it up and starting playing; turned out I had a real knack for it.”) About how he came to sing. (“In 2004, when I had my first record deal, someone had to sing. And I was the only one who could sing even a little bit.”)

“People who play with me have to play with passion and power,” McVey says. “Down in Texas, none of us are laid-back. It’s a pedal-tothe-metal thing. I prefer having cats that can kick ass and keep up.

If they can’t, it’s been nice to meet ya.”

He adds, “I’m always very friendly and positive to musicians, if they’re young or just starting or playing for years. The world is full of negativity, and I’ve learned to look on the positive side of things.

In the music business, especially, it’s real easy to get super cynical.

And that took me a long time, to

change myself.

“I went through a bunch of changes,” he continues, “after going through an addiction phase and coming through that — and I’m not ashamed of that. I came out of the other side, which some of us don’t. Things seem against you in that situation. I imagined a better life and a better person.

I had to do that slog and I did it.

I left Austin one step ahead of exwives and two steps ahead of the police. I was attracting too much attention due to partying. And I had to change my ways. Going down to Houston was about getting my life back on track. I met my wife, and she’s helped me clean up and I’ve been rocking and rolling ever since. At almost 60, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been. And being in St. Louis has contributed a lot to that feeling. And it’s a wonderful feeling.”

A wizened bluesman, singing the praises of St. Louis, the land of opportunity. Nice. Let’s rewind that tape and hear just a bit more.

“Touring was fun in its time; partying was, too,” McVey says. “But there’s a space and time for everything. Now, I play three nights a week and sleep in the same bed every night, right next to my wife.

And I like that. Coming here’s given me a place to play the blues and not be on the road. I’m a working-class kid and a working-class guitarist.

This is a straight-up town. Working class, blue collar, no-bullshit. I’m straight with the people here and I really dig that.” n

®

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ON SALE TUE. 5/24 SUNDAY 3/203.25 AT 10AM

ON SALE 3.25 AT 10AM SUN. 6/12 WEDNESDAY 3/23

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WEDNESDAY 3/23

THURSDAY 3/24

SATURDAY 3/26

SUNDAY 3/27

THURSDAY 3/31

UPCOMING SHOWS 3.25 TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS 4.1 THE WOOD BROTHERS 4.2 DANNY LISTON & FRIENDS 4.9 YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND 4.13 WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE 4.15 CHARLES KELLEY 4.16 JIM NORTON 4.17 FLOETRY 4.19 LUPE FIASCO 4.22 ANDREW BIRD 4.23 CHRIS D’ELIA 4.26 RECESS MUSIC & IDEAS FESTIVAL/TOREY LANEZ 4.27 THE ARCS 4.29 NAHKO & MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE 5.3 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE 5.4 AMON AMARTH

5.7 LAUGHTER & LYRICS FOR LIFE 5.12 LAMB OF GOD 5.13 ANDERSONPONTY BAND 5.18 EMBLEM3 5.20 JOSH RITTER 5.22 BOYCE AVENUE 5.23 MIIKE SNOW 5.26 BLOC PARTY 5.28 TECH N9NE 6.1 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 6.3 MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK 6.7 RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS 6.8 LEON BRIDGES 6.25 BLUE OCTOBER 7.15 COREY SMITH 7.22 GLASS ANIMALS

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

riverfronttimes.com

MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

35

36

B-SIDES

Stick and Move The South Broadway Athletic Club keeps swinging, with some homegrown talent in its corner Written by

KEVIN KORINEK The Bottle Rockets

8 p.m. Saturday, March 26. The South Broadway Athletic Club, 2301 South Seventh Street. $20. 314-776-4833.

K

evin Wilkins is a small claims lawyer who focuses on personal injury work by day.

But by night, he’s the newly elected, and already outspoken, president of the South Broadway Athletic Club.

The Kinmundy, Illinois, native’s law practice in Lafayette Square takes up most of his time, but he’s dedicated to breathing new life into the troubled Soulard club, which has suffered a slew of financial difficulties in recent decades. (In 2015 the place was even in danger of closing outright, after more than a century in business.)

And though he’s only been a member for a year, Wilkins is planning a litany of events on site, both to grow its membership and get the community more involved, including music performances and a monthly antique market that first took place in January.

“The first one was a huge success,” Wilkins says. “We had 25 vendors out here with some really cool stuff — vintage clothing, records. It was packed.”

Recently, Wilkins booked a March 26 benefit show for the space, featuring St. Louis alt-country act the Bottle Rockets. The club has a special connection to the group — it’s where the band’s lead singer, Brian Henneman, first met his wife.

“It was where we went on our first date,” Henneman reminisces.

“Instead of going to the movies, we’d get drunk and watch wrestling. It was good fun.”

But the club became even more

36

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Kevin Wilkins, president of the South Broadway Athletic Club, wants you as a member. | DREW SHEAFOR important to the Bottle Rockets last summer, when the band used its name as the title of its latest album.

“We were taking publicity photos in south city and just happened take one in front of the club with the neon sign behind us,” Henneman says. “And it looked like album art. And we just had it — we had the title, the artwork and everything.”

The South Broadway Athletic Club has been in operation since 1899 — well over 100 years. It started as a debate club before transitioning to boxing, Legend says (if you think about it, boxing

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

is sort of like debating, but with your fists).

Over time, the club came to host amateur wrestling matches and saw the likes of Ric Flair, Rocky Johnson and the Million Dollar Man pass through its doors. It still hosts a wrestling match once a month, typically packing the place.

Wilkins initially became a member of the club last year, thinking that he might try out boxing. But the club had other plans for him.

“I had only been here for a few months, but I helped them sell the gym property they owned and that helped keep the club afloat,” he explains. When election time came

around, Wilkins was asked to run for president, winning by a wide margin.

“I think one of the reasons I was able to become president is because I’m straight with people — I don’t bullshit. And people are pretty receptive to that,” he says.

Once elected, Wilkins went to work finding ways of bringing the club closer to solvency, focusing on event planning to draw more revenue. Wrestling and youth boxing still help pay the bills, but what the club really needs is more membership.

“At one point, we used to have 300 active members, but we just don’t have those kind of numbers now,” he says. “And we need new members. We need their help, we need them to be active and involved with ideas and energy on how to grow the club.”

With any luck, a packed house at the Bottle Rockets’ performance will give the club a much-needed boost. Henneman and his bandmates only wish they could do more.

“We realized we never even asked them if it was OK to name the album after the club,” Henneman says. “And then we learned that they were having financial trouble. We decided we wanted to do as much as we could to help them out.”

And it seems like St. Louis’ music community is starting to get wise to the club’s benefits. Wilkins is optimistic about the future. “We had swing dancing back in the fall and it went until dawn. Pokey LaFarge was in here and they’re coming back here next year. The Maness Brothers are interested in bringing their Whiskey War Festival music fest from St. Charles County to the inner city,” he says.

“We’ve got the space to do some really great things.”

If you’re thinking of joining, yearly memberships are a scant $25, which gets you discounted rental fees and cheap beer and cocktails.

“If you go out a lot, you’ll save hundreds of dollars a year drinking here as a member,” Wilkins boasts.

At the very least, you might end up learning a few wrestling moves. n

HOMESPUN DA M O N DAV IS LOA: Act 1 (farfetched.bandcamp.com)

I

n voodoo culture, a “loa” is an intermediary spiritual being — a kind of go-between for humans and the principal deity. Much like the Catholic conception of a saint, a loa is often human in form but has more than a touch of the divine.

For Damon Davis, an artist, musician and filmmaker raised in East St. Louis and reared in the Catholic church, his fascination with voodoo comes from his mother’s heritage. “My mama is Creole, she’s from Louisiana. I wanted to study where that culture comes from.”

That collision of cultures and faiths animates his latest release, the brief but sprawling LOA: Act 1, a four-song EP that serves as the initial entry in a planned trilogy.

The story of LOA is hard to summarize — more on that in a minute — and the music follows suit, as Davis and his collaborators use spacey hip-hop beats, florid strings and pitch-shifted vocals to tell a story at once cosmic and human.

Founder of the Farfetched collective, Davis has certainly put forth his fair share of music — as one-half of the hip-hop duo Scripts ’N Screwz, as a performer with the live rhythm-and-rap band Blank Generation, and as a ready collaborator on many Farfetched productions. For this project, though, Davis decided to plant his flag.

“It’s my first musical release under my own name,” says Davis.

“My subject matter is a lot more adult; the shit I gotta deal with is more real.” That simple act is a bold choice, but for Davis it is merely the clearest way to communicate his message. “I don’t want people to get confused about who’s saying what and what they’re saying,” he says.

The listener may only pick up broad strokes of what Davis is saying across these four songs; as a stand-alone EP, Act 1 can only hope to set the stage for what is to come. If it feels a bit premature to write about one third of what will eventually become an album, Davis’ work — always collaborative, border-crossing and holistically

political — is consistently engaging and challenging.

The story behind LOA is knotty by design, but Davis gamely describes his vision in our conversation, referencing David Mitche l l ’s n o v e l Cloud Atlas as similar in scope and construction.

“It’s a story of two souls being bound in time and space,” says Davis.

“These eternal forces are in a dance with each other. One force is love, one force is jealousy. One force that is love is black people; one force that is jealousy is white supremacy. The goal is to destroy love because it can’t experience it.”

Sure enough, race is a major preoccupation in these songs, as it is with much of Davis’ recent work across disciplines. The EP opens with “The Vessel (Siren’s Song),” as Davis takes the point of view of a captive shackled within a slave ship. Sunyatta McDermott of CaveofswordS takes the role of a narrator, outlining the story’s broad trajectory. Later in the EP, Loren D, Ciej and 18andCounting contribute as well, at times making Davis appear like a tertiary player on his quasi-debut. That’s by design; Davis says he approached LOA more as a film director or fiction writer than a performer.

Rather than address the local and national conversation of race head on, this project takes an approach based in science fiction. For Davis, that decision is informed by fiction’s ability “to get people awake on a subconscious level,” he says.

Moreover, sci-fi allows Davis to create a more representational, and ultimately more hopeful, space for people of color.

“Black people do not get the opportunity to indulge in the future; the writers of sci-fi don’t seem to think that we’ll make it there,” says Davis. “I think it’s important for

37 “St. Louis pioneers of craft beer and live music” THURSDAY, MARCH 24 TH

Doctor Delia, The Dawn Drapes, Great Plains Rock - Doors at 7pm - $10

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 TH

Muddy River Ramblers and Scrambled - Jam Grass Doors at 8:30pm - $7 adv/$10 door

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 TH

JPS Presents: The Many Colored Death, The 45, Bald Eagle Mountain- Rock - 8pm - $10

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 TH

brokeNCYDE, Challenger, Justina Valentine, and Fly Method - Hip Hop - Doors at 7pm-$12 adv/$15 door

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 TH

Geeks Who Drink - Trivia - 8:30pm- FREE creatives to take back that idea of the future. You can make up your own world or country or city and live outside of this system that has been destroying you from day one.”

Davis aligns this project under his ongoing interest with Afrofuturism — “reimagining the past and wondering what is to be,” as Davis explains it. He says, “Let’s come up with a whole new beginning.”

“I concentrate more on alternative blackness,” Davis says of the aesthetic and its potential impact on young listeners. “You don’t have to worry about your morale and fighting for basic necessities.

If you can take them out of today and that tomorrow can actually be better, that will get them through today. I think that’s a serious and dire thing.”

Much of Davis’ art is rooted in the here and now — look for Whose Streets, his post-Ferguson documentary made with Sabaah Folayan, to be released later this summer — but LOA, at least in its initial installment, tells a story on an epic scale.

“Artists and scientists are the only two types of people who can see something in their heads and make it happen,” says Davis. “You have to be able to believe in yourself and the idea that you make it a reality. Those are the vanguards of the species; they push the species forward. That’s the job of the artist.”

—Christian Schaeffer riverfronttimes.com

EVERY Beer of the month: Free glass with every TUESDAY NEW HOLLAND Belukus purchase.

6691 Delmar

In the University City Loop

314.862.0009 • www.ciceros-stl.com

MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

37

38

OUT EVERY NIGHT

THURSDAY 24

[CRITIC’S PICK]

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

Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis, 314-977-

The Blackstar All-Stars’ Tribute to David Bowie

5000.

8 p.m. Friday, March 25.

0505.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD: 7 p.m., $46-$76. Chaifetz

CHON: w/ Polyphia, Strawberry Girls 7 p.m. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis, 314-535-0353.

EXCISION: w/ Figure, Bear Grillz 8 p.m., $25$32. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

IAN FISHER & THE PRESENT: w/ Curtis J Brewer, Cowboy Ryan 8 p.m., $10. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

YOU HAD ME AT POSTERS: w/ Brainwaves, Variorum, Aitch 7 p.m., $7. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

FRIDAY 25 THE BLACKSTAR ALL-STARS’ TRIBUTE TO DAVID BOWIE: w/ 7 Shot Screamers, Karate Bikini,

$12-$15. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314289-9050.

BILL LAURANCE GROUP: 7 p.m., $17-$25. Old

The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Avenue. $10.

314-833-3929.

Can it be two months already since David Bowie shuffled off this mortal coil and went full-on supernova? The profundity of his influence on modern music was immediately recognized, celebrated and eulogized, both at home and abroad. St. Louis has hosted a handful of Bowie tributes, performed by teenagers in the School of Rock program as well as established bands,

but this weekend’s Blackstar All-Stars’ Tribute to David Bowie aligns nearly a dozen local acts in celebration of the Thin White Duke’s ever-changing personae. Look for contributions from everyone from synthesist and noisewrangler Eric Hall to neo-soul artist Lamar Harris to the recently resurrected 7 Shot Screamers.

Starbuck, Meet Starman: If you go, make sure to catch Tory Z. Starbuck’s contributions; more than anyone on the bill, Starbuck has internalized and synthesized Bowie’s gifts throughout his decades-long career as a local underground icon. –Christian Schaeffer

ADAM CAROLLA: 8 p.m., $42.50. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

ARES KINGDOM: w/ Shards of Humanity, ThorHammer, Melursus 9 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

BIB: w/ Blood Froth, the Bubbleheads 8 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

CONCERT FOR CANNABIS: w/ Woofshürts, Break Night 8 p.m., $10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

HOME & AWAY REUNION SHOW: w/ the Few, Talk to You Never, the Cinema Story, Better Halves 7 p.m., $7. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

INKO: w/ Golden Curls, Hands and Feet 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

KWUR LOCAL SHOWCASE: w/ The Brainstems, Hardbody, Hylidae, Maximum Effort 8 p.m., $5.

Tory Z Starbuck, Giant Monsters on The Hori-

Gargoyle, 6445 Forsyth Blvd, University City,

zon, Lonely Mountain String Band, Aquitaine,

314-935-5917.

Eric Hall, Dave Grelle, CaveofswordS 8 p.m.,

[CRITIC’S PICK]

$10. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave,

MAN EATING TIGER: w/ Made in Waves, Hidden Hospitals, Ashland 8 p.m., $10. The Firebird,

St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

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

DUBIOZA KOLEKTIV: 8 p.m., $40-$45. The Fire-

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS: 8 p.m., $12. Off

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

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

ELI PAPERBOY REED: 9 p.m., $15-$17. Off Broad-

3363.

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

THE WHO: 7 p.m., TBA. Scottrade Center, 1401

HE RAPS HE SINGS: w/ Young Kano, Nemo,

Clark Ave., St. Louis, 314-241-1888.

Rich Porter, Lou Kang, Ism Records, AGS, GSP,

THE WILD FEATHERS: w/ Bird Dog 8 p.m., $15-

S.M.G., Spann, ILL Bleed, Da Mob 9 p.m., $10.

$17. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis,

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

314-588-0505.

INSTINCT CONTROL: w/ Zarzutzki, Riverbody, Jaded Evil Lambs 9 p.m., $5. Kismet Creative

SUNDAY 27

Center, 3409 Iowa Ave., St. Louis, 314-696-8177.

BIG MIKE & THE BLUE CITY ALLSTARS: 8 p.m., $5.

JAMES MCMURTRY: 8 p.m., $22-$27. The

Beale on Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis,

Sheldon, 3648 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

314-621-7880.

314-533-9900.

THE EASTER SUNDAY EXTRAVAGANZA: w/ Words

MAGIC CITY HIPPIES: w/ The Free Years 10 p.m.,

Shannon and the Clams. | NADIA LEE COHEN

free. The Bootleg, 4140 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314-775-0775.

THE MELODONTS: w/ Kenshiro’s, Tubby Tom, Chalked Up 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

MUDDY RIVER RAMBLERS: w/ Scrambled 8 p.m., $7-$10. Cicero’s, 6691 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-862-0009.

OLD SALT UNION: w/ Whiskey Shivers, Greg Silsby 9 p.m., $10-$12. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St. Louis, 314-588-0505.

STAR & MICEY: 9 p.m., $10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS: 8 p.m., $20-$22.50.

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

VAN BUREN: w/ Pat Sajak Assassins, Mariner 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

SATURDAY 26 ‘68: w/ Idlehands, Conman Economy 6 p.m.,

38

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Shannon and the Clams 8 p.m. Saturday, March 26.

Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp. All ages: $12. 314-7733363.

Like Southern Culture on the Skids before them, Shannon and the Clams have smudged (if not obliterated) the line between schtick and sincerity, mess and musicianship. The band’s surf, rockabilly and obscure soul are all so raucous and uncompromising that the well-reverbed sound becomes poignant in its twisted affections. On its fourth album, Gone By the Dawn, the Oakland, California, trio digs for inspiration from the likes of Timi Yuro,

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

Like Daggers, Forgetting January, Inner Outlines, A Sweet Goodbye, Set Aside, Pebble 7 p.m., $10. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St.

Roy Orbison and ELO. What all those sources have in common is a grand, melodramatic pop sensibility, which just happens to be the reason for the existence of Shannon Shaw’s voice. She and her band will make you swing and shake, sure; more importantly they will make you feel.

Pet Rock: This year marks the 50th anniversary of a little record called Pet Sounds. That may seem an unlikely inspiration for the Clams’ skewed pop, but the band turned in a sublime version of “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” one of Brian Wilson’s most underrated compositions.

–Roy Kasten

Louis, 314-535-0353.

JERKAGRAM: w/ Hylidae, Boreal Hills, Hardbody, $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, 314-772-2100.

JOE METZKA BAND: w/ Love Jones “The Band” 5 p.m., $5. BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-436-5222.

RICK ROSS: 8 p.m., $55-$75. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, 314-726-6161.

SOUL REUNION: 10:30 p.m., $5. Beale on Broadway, 701 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314-621-7880.

MONDAY 28 BOTTOMS UP BLUES GANG: 6 p.m., $5. Broadway Oyster Bar, 736 S. Broadway, St. Louis, 314621-8811.

HOLLOW EARTH: 6:30 p.m., $13-$16. Fubar, 3108 Locust St, St. Louis, 314-289-9050.

SOLID STATE DISASTER: w/ See More 9 p.m., $5.

Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson Ave., St.

Louis, 314-772-2100.

wood Casino Amphitheatre, I-70 & Earth City

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

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

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

CASEY PRESTWOOD & THE BURNING ANGELS: W/

621-8811.

Oak Steel & Lightning, Cree Rider Family Band,

TUESDAY 29

CELTIC THUNDER: Sat., Oct. 8, 7 p.m., $45-$75.

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

mar Blvd., University City, 314-862-0009.

314-534-1111.

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

CITY OF GHOSTS: Sat., June 4, 7 p.m., $10. Fubar,

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

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

Blvd, University City, 314-282-5561.

CRACKER: W/ Whiskey Gentry, Fri., May 13, 8

JAMIE LONO: w/ Andrew Tufano, Joe Marson 7

p.m., $25. Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd.,

p.m., $6-$10. The Demo, 4191 Manchester Ave,

University City, 314-727-4444.

St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

DJ ARMIN VAN BUUREN: W/ KHOMHA, Zach

JEFFERSON STREET PARADE BAND: w/ Sunday

Jennings, Fri., April 1, 9 p.m., $40-$65. Amer-

Candy 9 p.m., $5. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359

istar Casino, 1 Ameristar Blvd., St. Charles,

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

636-949-7777.

JOEY MUHA: w/ Elijah Stavely 7 p.m., $13-$15.

DOCTOR DELIA: W/ Post Modern, 8 Dollars Off,

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

Will Deely, Jack Goodman, Sun., April 24, 7

LE1F: 8 p.m., $17. The Luminary, 2701 Chero-

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

kee St, St. Louis.

289-9050.

MAC SABBATH: 8 p.m., $15. The Firebird, 2706

FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE: Sat., July 9, 8

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

p.m., $25. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester

Pipes • Locally Crafted Jewelry Detox • Vaporizers

SPRING FEVER SALE! 20% OFF HAND BLOWN PIPES AND JEWELRY!

Voted Best Smoke Shop 2015

READERS CHOICE 2015

6163 EAST DELMAR LOOP | 314.863.8860

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

FISHBONE: Sun., June 5, 8 p.m., $25. Blueberry

ANNE TKACH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: w/ Rough

Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd., University City, 314-

Shop, Baby Baby Dance With Me, The Good

727-4444.

Griefs 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room, 2100

FLAG: W/ Off With Their Heads, The Dirty Nil,

Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

Mon., June 6, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Fubar, 3108

BABY BABY DANCE WITH ME: w/ the Good Griefs,

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

Rough Shop 9 p.m., free. Schlafly Tap Room,

FREE THINKER: W/ Brainwaves, Dylan Brady

2100 Locust St., St. Louis, 314-241-2337.

featuring Robel, Sat., April 23, 8 p.m., $8. The

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

Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis,

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

314-833-3929.

7880.

THE FREEZE: W/ Ultraman, Sat., April 23, 8 p.m.,

BOOMBOX: 9 p.m., $15-$18. Old Rock House,

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

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

9050.

INTERVALS: w/ PLINI, Angel Vivaldi, Save Us

FROM PARTS UNKOWN: W/ the Costanzas, Life

From the Archon 6 p.m., $16-$18. Fubar, 3108

on Mars, Powerline Sneakers, Sat., April 9, 8

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

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

KITTEN: 8 p.m., $12-$15. The Firebird, 2706

314-289-9050.

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

FY5: Sat., April 9, 8 p.m., $12. The Stage at

LISTENER: w/ Ursa Major 8 p.m., $12-$14. The

KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-

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

925-7543, ext. 815.

MAMIFFER: w/ Jon Mueller, Alex Barnett, Ghost

GALLOWS BOUND: Sun., June 19, 9 p.m., free.

Ice 8 p.m., $10/$12. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359

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

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

773-3363.

RUN RIVER NORTH: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Off Broad-

GLENN KOTCHE AND THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHO-

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

NY: Wed., April 20, 7 p.m., $20. Pulitzer Arts

SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE: 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.; March 31,

Foundation, 3716 Washington Blvd., St. Louis,

7:30 & 9:30 p.m.; April 1, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.; April

314-754-1850.

2, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $40. Ferring Jazz Bistro,

THE GREAT AMERICAN GHOST: W/ Caught Dead,

3536 Washington Ave, St. Louis, 314-571-6000.

Antithought, Reaver, Tue., April 12, 7 p.m., $10.

SHEER MAG: w/ Laffing Gas, Lumpy & the

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

Dumpers, Veil 9 p.m., $10. Blank Space, 2847

GREEN JELLY: W/ First Jason, Hung Like A Mar-

Cherokee St., St. Louis.

tyr, Fri., April 22, 7 p.m., $15. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-3929.

GREGG ALLMAN: Fri., July 15, 8 p.m., $50-$65.

ABSU: W/ Bastard, Melursus, Angelust, Xae-

River City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino

mora, Sun., April 17, 7 p.m., $15. Fubar, 3108

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

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

JEFF RADFORD: Sat., May 7, 9 p.m., $10. Off

BIG MIKE & THE BLUE CITY ALLSTARS: Sun.,

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

March 27, 8 p.m., $5. Beale on Broadway, 701 S.

3363.

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

KRISTO AND THE STRANGE PLACES / AL SCORCH RE-

BLACK STONE CHERRY: Mon., May 23, 8 p.m.,

LEASE SHOW: Sun., May 22, 9 p.m., free. Off Broad-

$20-$22. Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., St.

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

Louis, 314-588-0505.

MERCYME: W/ Citizen Way, Zealand Worship,

BCARNIVAL OF MADNESS TOUR: W/ Shinedown,

Sat., April 30, 7 p.m., $20-$55. Family Arena,

Halestorm, We Came as Romans, Shaman’s

2002 Arena Parkway, St Charles, 636-896-4200.

Harvest, Sat., July 23, 7 p.m., $25-$55. Holly-

All-American

Smoke Shop

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

Fly Method 7 p.m., $12-$30. Cicero’s, 6691 Del-

THIS JUST IN

Glass

Designs

Sun., May 1, 7 p.m., free. Off Broadway, 3509

BROKENCYDE: w/ Justina Valentine, Challenger,

WEDNESDAY 30

TNT

Continued on pg 40

riverfronttimes.com

MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

39

FIND ANY SHOW IN TOWN...

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK: W/ Have Mercy, Let

SCREAMING FEMALES: W/ Aye Nako, Tue., May

It Happen, Fri., June 3, 8 p.m., $25-$27.50. The

24, 8 p.m., $12. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave.,

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

St. Louis, 314-773-3363.

6161.

TED NUGENT: Sun., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., $45-$55. River

[CRITIC’S PICK]

Rick Ross. | CREATIVE COMMONS

Rick Ross

William Leonard Roberts II has come a long way in the last decade. Since shedding his somewhat regal legal moniker and replacing it with that of real-life reformed cocaine kingpin “Freeway” Ricky Ross, Roberts has released eight high-charting studio albums and nabbed four Grammy nominations.

The corrections-officer-turned-rapper has done so by shrewdly marketing himself as something he isn’t — everyone knows Ross’ criminal-mastermind mythos is pure fiction, but still they

gobble it up. The fact that he doesn’t need to ground his backstory in truth actually makes him one of the more interesting rapper-turned-mobster archetypes, enabling him to creatively incorporate whatever fresh fantastical elements he desires into his largerthan-life persona.

Also Known As: A legal battle with the real Ricky Ross saw the rapper employing a plethora of amusing nicknames for a while, including the Teflon Don, Ricky Rozay, the Bawse, Big Meech, Larry Hoover and Officer Ricky. Many have stuck around, despite the fact the lawsuit was ultimately dropped in 2010.

–Daniel Hill

MRS. SKANNATO: W/ Snooty and The Ratfinks,

City Casino & Hotel, 777 River City Casino

Mon., May 9, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Fubar, 3108

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

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

THE 95.5 SPRING JAM: W/ Anthony Hamilton,

NIGHT DEMON: W/ Visigoth, Mon., May 9, 8 p.m.,

Angie Stone, Lyfe Jennings, Sun., April 24, 7

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

p.m., $45-$125. The Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand

289-9050.

Blvd., St. Louis, 314-534-1111.

THE PAJAMA JAM: W/ Frost Money, Hittamane,

THE EDUCATED GUESS CD RELEASE SHOW: W/

Coopa Gold, Dani Swan, Mane Be Thugging,

Rough Shop, Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $10. Off

Poetiq, Chris Matthews, Cardinal B, Mookie,

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

RIP James, Saint Shane, Thrush, Dorian Sane,

3363.

Slym Corazon, Khazmo Bliss, Dorty Henry,

THE TOASTERS: Sun., June 12, 8 p.m., $13. Off

Wed., April 6, 8 p.m., $10. Fubar, 3108 Locust

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

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

3363.

R. KELLY: Fri., April 29, 8 p.m., $68-$108.

TRAPT: W/ Super Bob, Mon., April 11, 7 p.m.,

Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., St. Louis,

$15-$17. The Firebird, 2706 Olive St., St. Louis,

314-977-5000.

314-535-0353.

RIO STAR: W/ Nicole Bonura, Beaven Waller,

WAXAHATCHEE: W/ Allison Crutchfield, Tue.,

Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., $7. The Demo, 4191 Man-

June 14, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Off Broadway, 3509

chester Ave, St. Louis, 314-833-5532.

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

8 p.m. Sunday, March 27.

The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard. $55 to $75.

314-726-6161.

PHOTOGRAPHER: TODD OWYOUNG BAND: SLEEPY KITTY

R R

erts/

THIS JUST IN Continued from pg 39

40

With our new and improved concert calendar! RFT’s online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. You can even buy tickets directly from our website—with more options on the way! www.riverfronttimes.com/concerts/

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 23-29, 2016

riverfronttimes.com

SAVAGE LOVE FIXATIONS, ORAL AND OTHERWISE

BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a 24-year-old male, married three years, monogamous.

My wife and I are religious and were both virgins when we got married.

I’m sexually frustrated with two things. (1) How can I get her to give me oral sex? (She has never given, and I have never received, oral sex.

I regularly give her oral sex.) She is afraid to try it, saying she’s not ready yet. About every six months, I bring it up and it leads to a fight.

She is a germaphobe, but I think she believes fellatio is done only in porn.

(I used to look at porn, which nearly ended our then-dating relationship.)

(2) I feel like I’m always giving and never receiving any type of affection: massages, kisses, caresses, you name it. It’s like having sex with a sex doll—no reciprocation. How do I broaden our sex life without making her feel like we’re in a porno?

Sexually Frustrated If you don’t already have children — you don’t mention kids — please don’t have any, SF, at least not with your first wife.

You’re a religious person, SF, a lifestyle choice I don’t fully understand. But you’re also a sexual

person, and that I do understand.

And if you want a lifelong, sexually exclusive and sexually fulfilling relationship, then you must prioritize sexual compatibility during your search for the second Mrs. SF. Because your next marriage is likelier to survive for the long haul if you’re partnered with someone who is attracted to you physically and is aroused — roughly speaking — by the same sex acts, positions and fantasies you are.

In other words: Don’t marry someone and hope she likes sucking your dick. You tried that, and it didn’t work. Find someone who likes sucking your dick and marry her.

Hey, Dan: I’m a straight woman in my early 30s, and I just don’t like receiving oral sex. I love giving blowjobs and can orgasm from PIV sex, but I seem to be one of the few women who don’t enjoy guys going down on me. I’m not uncomfortable with it, but it doesn’t get me off. I also get wet easily, so it’s not like I need it as foreplay. As I’ve gotten older, and the guys I sleep with have gotten older, it seems like most want to spend a great deal of time down there. I’ve tried being up front about not liking it in general, but guys either get offended or double down and do it more because they assume I’ve never been with a guy who “could do it right.” Any ideas

on how to handle this?

Needs Oral Preference Explainer The observation you make regarding older straight guys — older straight guys are more enthusiastic about going down on women — is something I’ve heard from other female friends. They couldn’t get guys to go down on them in their 20s, and they can’t get guys in their 30s and 40s to stop going down on them. (SF, above, is clearly an outlier.) The obvious solution to your dilemma, NOPE: Only fuck guys in their 20s.

Hey, Dan: I am a 26-year-old guy and I have an overwhelming foot fetish. I cannot help but think about the male foot every hour of every day. I often find myself pushing boundaries with attractive male friends and acquaintances to satisfy my urges, which has caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I’m obsessed with the idea of offering some of my friends and acquaintances foot massages, but I just don’t know how to bring up the subject, given my mixed experiences. While I’ve been lucky on very random occasions, I’ve had some fuckups. I asked a gay friend whether he would like a foot massage, but he declined — and while he was polite about it in the initial exchange, he has since ignored me. I asked a straight guy, and he considered it but never followed through,

riverfronttimes.com

41

and I feel weird about asking him again. I told another straight guy who was shocked that I would ever ask him such a thing, but he still talks to me and makes light of the incident. Whereas another guy unfriended me on Facebook after I messaged him and told him I liked his feet. What should I do? Is there a proper way to ask to rub someone’s feet? It’s not like I’m asking to suck on people’s toes.

Crazed About Lads’ Feet You remind me of those straight guys who send unsolicited dick pics to women they barely know—they don’t do it because it never works, they do it because it works on rare/ random occasions. But you have to ask yourself if those rare/random instances when an attractive male friend allowed you to perv on their feet are worth sacrificing of all the friendships you’ve lost.

Foot rubs are a form of intimacy, particularly when performed by foot fetishists, and you’ve gotta stop pestering your hot friends about their feet. There are tons of other foot fetishists out there — most male, loads gay, tons online.

Go find some fellow foot pervs and swap rubs with them.

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

MARCH 23-29, 2016

RIVERFRONT TIMES

41

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100 Employment 105 Career/Training/Schools THE OCEAN CORP. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. *Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance.

Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298

120 Drivers/Delivery/Courier ! Drivers Needed ASAP !

Requires Class E, B or A License.

S Endorsement Helpful. Must be 25 yrs or older. Will Train.

ABC/Checker Cab Co CALL NOW 314-725-9550

145 Management/Professional Business Objects Administrator. Analyze, test, maintain, support using skills in BO XI 3.1 and business mgt & reporting sols. Min Reqs: Bachelor’s degree/foreign equiv. in CSci., MIS, CIS, any Engg. or closely related field + at least 3 years of work exper. Resume to SSM IHT, Attn T Battle; 7980 Clayton Rd Ste 101; St. Louis MO 63117.

No Calls.

155 Medical Research Studies Sr. Pharmaceutical Chemist.

Conduct chemical analyses & experiments. U.S. Bach. degree or foreign equiv.

(Pharmacy) req’d. 2 yrs’ exp. in chemist posn(s) w/ pharmaceutical company(ies) req’d. Prior exp. must incl. establishment of procedures for cGMP and SOP compliance. S&B Pharma Inc., d/b/a Alkem Laboratories, Fenton, MO. Send resumes to: Recruiting, PO Box 641152, Chicago, IL 60664.

167 Restaurants/Hotels/Clubs HIGH-END HOTEL SEEKING Servers, Cooks, Dishwashers & Housekeepers. Background Check req. 314-863-7400

190 Business Opportunities Avon Full Time/Part Time, $15 Fee. Call Carla: 314-665-4585 For Appointment or Details Independent Avon Rep.

ESTABLISHED WEST COUNTY BAR & GRILL FOR SALE Turnkey Operation!

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500 Services 525 Legal Services

File Bankruptcy Now!

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Personal Injury, Workers Comp, DWI, Traffic 314-621-0500

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The choice of a lawyer is an important decision & should not be based solely on advertising.

530 Misc. Services WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests.

Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201

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305 Roommates CENTRAL-WEST-END $485 314-541-4125 Seeking roommate for large apt, own entrance, bedroom and bath. Pay half electric bill (>$100).

OVERLAND/ST-ANN $535-$575-(SPECIAL) 314-995-1912 1 & 2BRs-garage. Clean, safe, quiet. Great loc-near 170, 64, 70, 270 RICHMOND-HEIGHTS $525-$565-(SPECIAL) 314-995-1912 1 MONTH FREE! 1BR, all elec off Big Bend, Metrolink, 40, 44, Clayton.

312 Lofts for Lease CENTRAL-WEST-END $855 314-631-3306 4100 Lindell -1 bdr loft, CA, appls, w/d in unit, rehabbed.

317 Apartments for Rent BATES! $425 314-309-2043 Recently remodeled 1 bedroom, cold a/c, all appliances, hardwood floors, extra storage, utilities paid! rs-stl.com RHDDC CENTRAL-WEST-END! 314-309-2043 All Utilities Paid! Nice apartment, redonehardwood floors, cold a/c, kitchen appliances, flexible lease term! rs-stl.com RHDDI

SOULARD $800 314-724-8842 Spacious 2nd flr 2BR, old world charm, hdwd flrs, yard, frplcs, off st prk, no C/A, nonsmoking bldg, storage. nprent@aol.com SOULARD! $599 324-309-2043 All-electric 1 bedroom, w/finished basement, custom hardwood & tile. all appliances, w/d hookups, pets welcome! rs-stl.com RHDDF SOUTH CITY $400-$850 314-771-4222 Many different units www.stlrr.com 1-3 BR, no credit no problem SOUTH ST. LOUIS CITY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1, 2 & 3 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com.

Sec. 8 welcome

CLAYTON-RD! $650 314-309-2043 Newly updated 2 bedroom, central heat/air, attached garage, hardwood floors, all appliances, some utilities paid! call rs-stl. com RHDDH

SOUTH-CITY $400 314-707-9975 4321 Morganford: 1 BR, all electric, hdwd flrs, C/A.

DOGTOWN! $550 314-309-2043 Quiet 1br duplex, kitchen appliances, hardwood floors, central heat/air, some utilities paid, recent updates! rs-stl.com RHDDE

SOUTH-CITY $475-$525 314-223-8067 Spacious 1BRS, Hdwd floors, A/C, stove, fridge, W/D hookup, fenced yard, near bus and shopping. Clean, quiet.

DOWNTOWN Cityside-Apts 314-231-6806 Bring in ad & application fee waived! Gated prkng, onsite laundry.

Controlled access bldgs, pool, fitness, business ctr. Pets welcome

SOUTH-CITY $499 314-707-9975 Jamieson & Nottingham: 1 BR, all electric, hdwd flrs, C/A.

GRAVOIS-&-CHIPPEWA! $550 314-309-2043 Loaded 2 bedroom, newer carpet, all appliances, storage, washer/dryer included, single carport! rs-stl.com RHDDD HAMPTON! $675 314-309-2043 Roomy 2 bedroom, full basement, thermal windows, hardwood floors, all appliances, plenty of storage, call for details! rs-stl.com RHDDG LAFAYETTE-SQUARE $685 314-968-5035 2030 Lafayette: 2BR/1BA, appls, C/A, Hdwd Fl MORGANFORD! $385 314-309-2043 Redone 1 bedroom, all kitchen appliances, central heat/air, pets allowed, w/d hookups, plenty of storage! rs-stl.com RHDDB

1-800-PACK-RAT (6101-ST. LOUIS) 13886 CORPORATE WOODS TRL. BRIDGETON, MO 63044 314-739-4496

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NORMANDY $425 314-395-8800 Studio with C/A & Heat, all appliances. Near UMSL, Close to MetroLink

300 Rentals

NOTICE OF SALE TENANT:

UNIT #:

Fuesting, Mary Beth or John Keel, Kevin Mohammad, Cedreca Montgomery, Janet Montgomery, Janet Standridge, william Wells, Valerie

800221 351108 355959 355080 706673 353838 356020

1-800-Pack-Rat (6101-St. Louis), 13886 Corporate Woods Trl., Bridgeton, MO 63044, has possessory lien on all of the goods stored in the units above. All these items of personal property are being sold pursuant to the assertion of the lien on 4/5/2016 at 10:00AM in order to collect the amounts due from you.

The sale will take place on www. strangeauctionservices.com from 4/5/2016 to 4/12/2016 at 6:00p.m..

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SOUTH-CITY $600 314-707-9975 Gravois & Pennsylvania: 2 BR, all electric, hdwd flrs, C/A. SOUTH-CITY 314-504-6797 37XX Chippewa: 3 rms, 1BR. all elec exc. heat. C/A, appls, at bus stop SOUTH-CITY OPEN-SUNDAY-2-4pm 314-518-4645 4919A Murdoch-Lovely 1 br w/enclosed sunporch, appl, no pets.

Immediate Occupancy.

ST. CHARLES COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 1 & 2 BR apts for rent. www.eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome WESTPORT/LINDBERGH/PAGE $525-$575 314-995-1912 1 MO FREE!-1BR ($525) & 2BR ($575) SPECIALS! Clean, safe, quiet. Patio, laundry, great landlord!

Nice Area near I-64, 270, 170, 70 or Clayton

www.LiveInTheGrove.com 320 Houses for Rent BATES! $850 314-309-2043 Huge 3 bed, 2 bath house, walk-out basement, all appliances, central heat/air, flexible deposit, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RHDDP BENSON-PARK $750 314-223-8067 Beautiful, large 1 plus BR, original Wood fls, high ceilings, huge closet, new Electric CA/Furn, kitchen Appls, 1st Fl, W/D hookup.

GRAND! $675 314-309-2043 Newly updated 2 bed house, big basement, garage, fenced yard, central heat/air, appliances, covered porch, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RHDDL MERAMEC! $700 314-309-2043 Updated 2 bedroom house, full basement, fenced yard, kitchen appliances, central heat/air, hardwood floors, pets ok! rs-stl.com RHDDM NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY 314-579-1201 or 636-939-3808 2, 3 & 4BR homes for rent. eatonproperties.com. Sec. 8 welcome NORTH-CITY! $500 314-309-2043 No Deposit! 2 bedroom house, walkout finished basement, central heat/air, hardwood floors, fenced yard, covered porch! rs-stl.com RHDDK NORTH-COUNTY! $600 314-309-2043 Nice 3 bedroom house, central heat/air, appliances, hardwoods, family room, walk-out basement, thermal windows, large yard! rs-stl.com RHDDJ PAGE! $1000 314-309-2043 Gigantic 6-7 bedroom house, full basement, central air, toasty fireplace, great hardwood floors, large fenced yard! rs-stl.com RHDDR BATES! $850 314-309-2043 Huge 3 bed, 2 bath house, walk-out basement, all appliances, central heat/air, flexible deposit, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RHDDP BENSON-PARK $750 314-223-8067 Beautiful, large 1 plus BR, original Wood fls, high ceilings, huge closet, new Electric CA/Furn, kitchen Appls, 1st Fl, W/D hookup.

GRAND! $675 314-309-2043 Newly updated 2 bed house, big basement, garage, fenced yard, central heat/air, appliances, covered porch, ready to rent! rs-stl.com RHDDL

MARCH 23-29, 2016

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ENTER TO WIN! THE CARPET AND THE CONNOISSEUR The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs

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FOR SALE

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HUGE Selection of School Uniforms RedKap Work Shirts & Pants 9261 Halls Ferry Road (314) 436-1340

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HAZELWOOD 233 Village Square Cntr • (314) 731-1212 FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS 10900 Lincoln Tr. • (618) 394-9479

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. © 2016, Audio Express.

MARCH 23-29, 2016

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