When Nick Gusman answers the door of his Tower Grove South bungalow, he's wearing a T-shirt from a writers' week festival for high school students that I booked him for back in 2019. Performing on stage in the high school auditorium, Gusman had been in solo acoustic-and-harmonica folkie mode, playing and singing songs from his then-new debut album, Dear Hard Times. Despite playing for an audience of teenagers who had never willingly listened to folk music much less had ever heard of Nick Gusman, the troubadour nonetheless won the kids over, one of whom later told me that he "didn't think he liked that kind of music" but that he loved the songs and sounds coming out of Gusman that day.
Police in Nashville, Tennessee, this morning recovered the body of a 22-year-old Mizzou student who was missing for the past two weeks. Police say Riley Strain was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville Friday morning, approximately eight miles from downtown. “No foul play-related trauma was observed,” the Metro Nashville Police Department said.
Legislation that would compensate victims of radioactive waste and U.S. nuclear bomb tests faces an uncertain future after it was left out of a federal appropriations bill Thursday, outraging members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation. But advocates for St. Louis-area residents exposed to World War II-era radioactive waste remain “extremely hopeful” as compensation remains closer than ever to passage. “We feel like we’re going to get RECA, guys,” Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, said in a live video on Facebook.
The late Shirley Chisholm is having a moment. The first African American woman elected to Congress, and the first woman to run for president of the United States, Chisholm, who died in 2005 at the age of 80, is the inspiration for Shirley, a compelling but dramatically stilted docudrama starring a superb Regina King. The Netflix film continues an unexpected small-screen Chisholm boon, beginning with Udo Aduba’s vibrant depiction of her in an episode of the Cate Blanchett series Mrs. America and continuing in Hulu’s recent History of the World: Part 2, which finds an exuberant Wanda Sykes starring in a sitcom called Shirley!
Rouge Bistro — the heavily meatball-themed restaurant inspired by the Meatball Shop in New York City — bounced into Midtown last month, claiming a space formerly occupied by Olive Bar at 3037 Olive Street. Owner Julian Davis has set a dazzling stage. Splashed in bright red paint, industrial-ceilinged and lit like a New York catwalk, Rouge Bistro is a gobsmacker even without the waterfall at the entrance.
A new cannabis seltzer created in St. Louis by two former students of the Washington University School of Business has made its debut. Triple THC-infused seltzers come in three flavors — lime, cherry-lemon and grapefruit — and contain 3 milligrams of THC per can. The company uses hemp-derived delta-9 THC, meaning it’s legal under the federal Farm Bill and can be purchased outside dispensaries.
The Missouri Republican Party filed a lawsuit yesterday trying to boot a one-time “honorary” Klu Klux Klan member off its primary ballot for governor. Darrell Leon McClanahan III has a history of racist and antisemitic associations and has been photographed attending what he called a “Christian Identity Cross lighting ceremony” — an event that, while it featured a burning cross, he insists was definitely not a cross burning. He filed to run for governor on the first day of filing eligibility last month, and earned a spot at the very top of the ballot.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland came to St. Louis today to announce new federal investments in the city’s national park. Overall, the city will see $17 million in new funding for the Gateway Arch National Park. Haaland and Mayor Tishaura Jones Thursday afternoon unveiled the spending plan at Kiener Plaza.Â
A St. Louis judge today allowed a lawsuit filed by critics of KDHX's leadership to proceed, rejecting the radio station's attempt to have it thrown out of court. At a 1 p.m. hearing at the 22nd Circuit Court, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser ruled that a group of associate members and would-be board members of the community radio station can proceed with their lawsuit. Lawyers for the Double Helix Corporation, KDHX's parent company, had argued unsuccessfully for the case to be dismissed.
A St. Louis man who sought refuge in a dumpster after careening his truck into a school bus full of children six months ago has now been charged for all of that and more. This morning, prosecutors filed charges of leaving the scene of an accident and possession of a controlled substance against 26-year-old Jeremy Mitchell. Last September, Mitchell was behind the wheel of a Ford truck when he hit the side of a school bus filled with students outside Cardinal Ritter High School in Grand Center.
Riverfront Times Founder Ray Hartmann announced his campaign for Congress last week. Yesterday, the only other Democratic candidate announced he was dropping out of the race. Hartmann announced his intention to retire from journalism and run against U.S. Representative Ann Wagner (R-Ballwin) on the March 14 episode of Nine PBS' Donnybrook.
A north St. Louis County mom who recorded a profanity-laced Facebook Live video threatening to "fuck up" the vice principal of Berkeley Elementary School now faces a felony charge. While streaming on Facebook Live, Tamika Stewart, 34, allegedly said, "I'm coming straight into that motherfucking school and I'm tearing that bitch up. Ya'll gonna see me on the news.
A judge ruled yesterday that the City of St. Louis may continue with their lawsuit against slumlord Dara Daugherty and her associates. The city has accused them of for years renting out dozens of properties throughout south city as illegal rooming houses — despite the properties being condemned for habitation.
Ever since I started smoking weed, hash has felt like an ancient, forbidden door. The first time I ever tried it, I felt like I was starting up the final challenge on Legends of the Hidden Temple and I upset Olmec. More recently, I've taken a modern academic approach filled with podcasts.
Alarm Will Sound w/ Damon Davis, Bora Yoon, Aloha Mischeaux, Rockwell J. Knuckles, Isaiah Taylor, Inversion Vocal Ensemble
7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22. Kirkwood Performing Arts Center, 210 East Monroe Avenue, Kirkwood.
There are only so many words for chewy. I looked them up. Coriaceous was one, leathery was another, so was rubbery and so was tough; I liked dry as old boots.
The Midnight Company has been packing the house with their recent series of cabaret theater productions and their latest offerings, Movie Music and Jacey’s Jazz Joint, are no exception. With interesting scripts by Joe Hanrahan and a varied selection of mostly familiar classic songs, the shows are a tribute to two popular genres that create an enjoyable night out. Both shows feature the multi-talented Eileen Engel, with composer and music director Colin Healy on the piano.
A Missouri man on death row failed to show that drug-induced psychosis left him innocent of first-degree murder charges — or that his attorneys' counsel was ineffective, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled today. The court's decision paves the way for Brian Dorsey to be executed in April as scheduled. Dorsey is today a model inmate (as the Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger has written, he's received support for his efforts to be saved from execution from no less than 60 employees of the Potosi Correctional Center, where he is incarcerated and works as a barber).
A 2-year-old boy injured himself last weekend with a gun that a St. Louis City Sheriff's deputy left unattended. The 2-year-old was reportedly wounded in the side but his injuries are not fatal. Ferguson Police Spokeswoman Pat Washington confirmed to the RFT that a 2-year-old accidentally shot himself with an adult's firearm on Saturday night at a home in Ferguson.
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