52nd City: January 2007

Finn's Motel: "Recent Linear Landscapes"

The sometimes-reclusive local supergroup Finn's Motel has released a video of the band's first single "Recent Linear Landscapes," with editor Bill Boll at the knobs, er, keyboard. The vid - which features, we confess, a member of the 52nd City editorial team - is available at YouTube, on a page that also features a handful of other fun projects, compliments of Boll:

www.youtube.com/profile?user=billboll

"Curtis Joseph grabs Cheveldae!"

I'm aware that the St. Louis Blues have emerged from their recent doldrums, but I'm still existing - happily, overall - in a 15-year removal from being any sort of a hockey fan. As a kid, I may've gone to 10-25 hockey matches a year at the old Arena, but these days... meh.

Between high ticket prices, the relativel tepid environment of the Scottrade Center and the richey-riches in the lower bowl, I suffered from the usual factors that lead folks away from the game.

Luckily for those us jonesing for a fix of the good old days, there's YouTube. After surfing around this morning, I ran across this nugget, with the since-deposed Blues announcer Ken Wilson absolutely giddy in describing the host of fights taking place on the ice, including the classic goalie fight between the Blues' Curtis Joseph and the Red Wings' Tim Cheveldae. In honor of last night's Blues victory over Detroit, enjoy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBC8CcHuhks

Ten Jens!

For those of you who walked away as newly-minted poetry fans after the "Rockin' Robins" reading at Schlafly Bottleworks last month, prick up your ears...

Yes, folks, a week from tonight (February 1), ten poets named Jen will fly in from points all over the map and head to Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest) to read (at 8 p.m.) for Aaron Belz's Observable Poetry series (always free and open to the public). Then they'll commence to poeticizing in all their fierce Jennifer-esque glory. How Aaron managed this hat trick ... well, it's a testament to Mr. Belz's charisma and fine work ethic. I've been really pleased with all the readings this year - never a dull moment, which is not something you can often say about a poetry-reading series - and this will be sort of the apex of the season. Some of the Jens are local, including Jen Gaby (from our own Contemporary Museum) and Jen MacKenzie, who teaches at UMSL. Also, Jen Woods, sister of Eric Woods (of Firecracker Press, who prints our fine mag covers) will be coming in from Louisville.

This is going to be a long list, but I feel I need to post their details here to give you an idea of the weight of what Aaron has pulled together here, not to mention the quality of the poetry that'll be read next week:

Jen Hofer's recent publications include Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003) and slide rule (subpress, 2002). Her work can be found in recent issues of 1913, Bomb, Bombay Gin and Primary Writing.

Jen Bervin is the author of A Non-Breaking Space (uglyducklingpresse.org), Nets (Ugly Duckling Presse 2004) and Under What Is Not Under (Potes & Poets 2001),. Bervin is an editor of the literary journal, jubilat, and teaches at Pratt Institute and New York University.

Jen Chapis has published poems with Barrow Street, Hayden's Ferry Review, Hotel Amerika, The Iowa Review, McSweeney's, Quarterly West, and Best New Poets, and is an Editor with Nightboat Books (nightboat.org).

Jen Coleman is a poet in Brooklyn, NY and co-editor of PomPom magazine (pompompress.com). She's also co-author of the chapbook Communal Bebop Canto with CE Putnam and Allison Cobb.

Jen MacKenzie teaches literature and writing at UM St. Louis. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, among them The Literary Review, Feminist Studies, The Christian Science Monitor, Unitarian-Universalist Poets, and, locally, River Styx, Delmar, and Sou'wester.

Jen Robinson is the author of For Conifer Fanatics (Soft Skull, 1996) and the chapbooks What Solitary Ocean and Late Night Clanging (with artist Elizabeth Zechel). She serves as puzzle editor for Lungfull! magazine and makes her home in Queens, New York.

Jen Woods is a poet and short fiction writer from Louisville, Kentucky. She serves as an editorial and marketing assistant for Sarabande Books, an independent literary press (sarabandebooks.org).

Jen Gaby studied Creative Writing at University of Indiana and is a fierce advocate for the literary arts in St. Louis. During daylight hours, she serves as the public relations manager for the Contemporary Art Museum.

Jen Scappettone's Abluvion Almanac will be out imminently from Outside Voices. Poems, translations from Italian, and prose have appeared lately in Bay Poetics, P-Queue, The Canary, The Brooklyn Rail, Chicago Review, and other places. She lives in Chicago.

Jen Lyons is from Kansas City and is currently attending the Washington University MFA program; she has had a poem published in Cimarron Review.

Jen Mueller's new collection, Bonneville, comes out this spring from Elixir Books. She teaches poetry and fiction writing at McKendree College.

Pasta Set to Music

And to video:

www.mayorslay.com/stlouistraffic/mangiapastanight.asp

Mind you, if watching at work - or if simply feeling drowsy - the music does come at you with a blast. Set your machinery as needed.

Zen Master Clown

I hate this time of year--winter doldrums. It takes me 20 minutes just to walk from my kettle of hot tea to the cush of my couch and settle in for a nice hour of nothingness. Meanwhile this Tom Brady guy is going to be doing about eleventy kinds of cartwheels over at Mad Art Gallery this weekend.

According to his press release…

“A talented composer, designer, sculptor, photographer, stylist, and performer, Brady conceives, designs, builds, and musically accompanies the installations in which he places himself. He then becomes an acrobat, a zen master, a clown, a body behind a mask, or a nucleus of whirling lights and images. Any of these reduces you, the audience, to a level of helplessness where you can only watch and be drawn into Brady's world. Constantly playing with the level of information that the audience receives, Brady's work sculpts light and shadow to create magical images and reflections on the state of being.”

Maybe he could give me a kick in the pants while he’s at it.

Friday, January 26th and Saturday January 27th, 2007
Doors 7pm / Show 8pm
Admission: $22 for adults; $15 for students.
Tickets available at the door or reservations may be made by calling 314-503-8441.
More info at http://www.madart.com/Exhibitions.htm

South Side Mouse Races

On Saturday, I found myself at a youth basketball game at Ephiphany Parish, that delightful complex over on Ivanhoe, just south of Arsenal and I-44. The place has everything for kid sports competition, including a small soccer field, a very functional gym (with concessions stand) and even a bowling alley. No wonder some South City parishes view them with a bit of non-Biblical envy.

Well, they're working for the money. On Saturday, Feb. 10, Epiphany's gym will host the Sixth Annual Night at the Races, a mouse race event that apparently draws quite the crowd. The ticket price is $12 in advance, $17 the night of the event. Admission includes beer, se-ups and snacks. Info: Don Ferguson, 314-644-0912.

The thought of securing a mouse racing track for the 52nd City "Sporty" issue release has now officially gone from back-burner status to the most important thing I need to think about between now and July. Beyond the above event, any leads?

New Life for the Double Bogey ...

Okay, I can't say I went into the Double Bogey a lot. In fact, I think I was in there exactly twice (but girls with glasses look out of place in sports clubs, even little neighborhoodish sports in South City). But to see the place empty - just a door down off South Grand, 3613 Juniata to be exact - bummed me out. As a resident of the neighborhood, it pains me to see *any* empty storefronts. After the Bogey closed, there was rumor that it was going to be a pet shop. A friend threatened to open a steak house there. And then it sat and sat, with no apparent prospects on the horizon.

Then, a few weeks ago, I saw some guys tinkering with the pipes out back. I didn't want to be too hopeful, because tinkering with water pipes might just mean one of 'em had busted during the cold weather. But lo and behold, on the morning before our "Stuff" party at Snowflake a few weeks ago, I was sitting in a chair at Verve, getting a badly needed haircut, when I learned that there was a new tenant slated to move into the space. That tenant, in fact, is Verve! They should be in the new space long before the spring thaw, though I don't have an exact date (but I have another haircut scheduled for February 10, so I am assuming they will be in the new digs by then). So let your hair grow a little long around your collar and welcome them to their new corner by sitting in a chair and getting a haircut ... or an eyebrow tweeze, as the case may be. No word yet as to what will be going into the Verve space on South Grand, but I do know that the street-facing storefronts will probably be easier to fill than the little side pocket space on Juniata. So ... things are on the move over here in lovely Tower Grove East.

Hey, Archy!

As someone without cable (an SWC), I watch a fair bit of localized TV. And, of late, I've noticed tons for play for the "St. Louis search engine, AskArchy.com," compliments of KSDK. After punching in a variety of interesting local organizations and individuals (inc., oh, 52nd City) and coming up empty on most, I'm wondering if the site needs to be drydocked in beta testing for a bit, before being trumpeted in heavy-rotation ads.

If you have better luck, lemme know below.

Free Candy: Sunday

Not on the topics list are a couple of interest: Amanda Doyle's concert recap of this week's Barry Manilow show at Madison Square Garden; and Tom Weber's discussion of his upcoming humanitarian pilgrammage to India. The following though has been listed at FreeCandy.net, pimping this weekend's show at Hartford Coffee:

Guests? Yeah, we got guests: like Catherine Neville, the editress-in-chief of Sauce Magazine, to do some restaurant dishing with us.

If that's not enough to sate your appetite, we'll also be joined by Bill Keaggy, who is, let us just say, a Renaissance man of a thousand obscure and delightful projects. Like, he collects and interprets grocery lists , for one thing...

Plus, hosts Amanda Doyle & Tom Weber will offer up all our regular features: chat, gossip, music, accusations, recriminations and making up. And it's all FREE! Be there early to get your seat.

Just Don't Call Me Sweetheart

A combination musical/documentary event will be given life a couple times in upcoming weeks, as Kristy Guttmann, a former member of the band Maid Rite shows a short doc on the group, "You Can Call Me Sweetheart," at a pair of venues. Here's the note from the producer:

I hope you all can make one of the upcoming screenings of my documentary about Maid Rite. This Saturday at Off Broadway we will screen around 9 p.m. before Maid Rite performs. On Valentine's Day at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, I'll show it twice - 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. - with music by Maid Rite (all dressed in red) from 9-11 p.m. in the Crown Room. See you soon.

The Deserters Online

You've gotta share the music of your favorite new bands, yes?

Well, a few weeks ago, I ran across the Deserters, after seeing/hearing the name around town for a bit. After catching them twice in a week - and after getting a fellow fan note from my music bellweather, Dana Smith - I wrote a profile for next month's Sauce, which I hope you pick up.

Part of the fun in interviewing them was the obvious disagreements that they had on all types of topics, including myspace. It appears that the pro-myspace contingent won out, though the site's still fairly spartan:

www.myspace.com/thedesertersstl

Enjoy the demo's.

Castro in Action this Week

Thanks to Brett Underwood for tipping us to this event, held on, wow, this Thursday. (Is it already that late in the month? Whoa.)

---

The St. Louis Writers Guild presents a reading Thursday, January 18th at 7pm, at the Barnes & Noble Ladue Crossing Store featuring poet and translator Michael Castro and New Mexico poet John Brandi. The store is located at Ladue & Highway 170 (taking the Ladue exit you can go straight across the street into the Ladue Crossing Shopping Plaza where the store is located).

MICHAEL CASTRO is well known locally as the founder of the River Styx Literary
organization and the host of the long-lived Poetry Beat radio program. He is
the author of ten books of poetry and translations. He will be reading from his new book of translations, A TRANSPARENT LION: SELECTED POETRY OF ATTILA
JOZSEF. Attila Jozsef (1905-1937) is Hungary's greatest twentieth century poet.

JOHN BRANDI's dozens of publications include poetry, travel vignettes, essays, modern American haiku, translations of contemporary Mexican poetry. He has given innumerable readings in the U.S., France, England, Switzerland, India, and Mexico. Painter and collage master as well as a poet, he has exhibited in galleries in cities in the United States and is in several major collections. His books include: HEARTBEAT GEOGRAPHY: SELECTED & UNCOLLECTED POEMS
1966-1994, A QUESTION OF JOURNEY; VISITS TO THE CITY OF LIGHT, WEEDING THE COSMOS, and RELFECTIONS IN A LIZARD'S EYE. He is also the editor of THE UNSWEPT PATH, a collection of haiku by modern American writers.

New Web Issue is Live

A nice, well-rounded batch of stuff on Stuff. Click over to our main site at: www.52ndcity.com to read and view these:

Galen's Stuff | Jess Dewes
Photo Essay

Streetside Pick Up | Elie Gardner
Photo Elie Gardner

The Gift and Burden of Possession | Ari Holtz

Franklin Visits eBay! | Franklin Jennings

The Book| Luby Kelley
Illustration Matt Kindt

Killed By Their Own Art | Byron Kerman

Liberation | Julie Newberry

Bless This Mess | Claire Nowak-Boyd
Photos Michael R. Allen

Best of Mississippi Nights | Jim Utz

Jenna Bauer & Cindy Tower at Bruno David Tonight

Opening tonight at Bruno David Gallery: Jenna Bauer's "Thunder Fields" - a large-scale abstract work on canvas, and Cindy Tower's "Workplace Series," which is hung in the project room. I've watched Jenna's show take shape over the months but haven't seen it whole, but the pieces I've seen make me excited to see it hung up in a room ... and I've talked to Cindy about her work but haven't seen it in person yet. She's been driving to Brooklyn, Il. to paint the warehouses and empty buildings there. Follow the link for some images to get a taste of what's in store - good stuff! Bruno David is on Washington, straight across the street from the Contemporary. If you can't make it tonight, the gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment.

Rockers for Gondolfi

Apparently, all participating bands have members living in the 20th Ward. Here's the lineup, compliments of David Early at Snowflake:

-----

fri. jan 12 7:30 pm @ typo/tin ceiling 3159 cherokee
20th ward bands band together - fundraiser -
GONDOLFI FOR ALDERMAN
-walkie talkie usa
-the adversery workers
-the beating
-bravo company
-bloodletters
please drop a $5 or $5000 cash donation at the door

Haunted STL Locations

Sent along by our art director, Caroline Huth, a list of the most-haunted St. Louis locations. Have been to more than a few of these spots, but not all. A mixed bag of lists and annotations to be sure, but fun browing, all the same:

http://www.strangeusa.com/viewcity.asp?city=St.%20Louis&state=MO

Avalon

According to a piece in the Suburban Journals - pointed at today at www.eco-absence.org, the Avalon Cinema might be looking at demolition in the near future. The shuttered moviehouse, near the intersection of Chippewa and Kingshighway, has certainly known better days, though it'd be interesting - and probably impossible, considering the intractability of owner Greg Tsevis - to hear the results of a thorough study on the viability of the structure.

Alas. For the moment, we can still peer at the CLO E sign on the marquee.

STUFF IT

This Saturday 52nd City Magazine will celebrate our one year anniversary and the release of our latest print issue, STUFF, at a swinging little party at SNOWFLAKE (3156 Cherokee).

MYSTERY SACKS OF STUFF
Free mystery sacks of stuff to all who attend—while they last!

SHOW & TELL STUFF
Bring your favorite stuff or interesting collection and share a story...sort of an open mic night show-and-tell for your marbles, matchbooks, and memorabilia. You may even get a sneak peek at some of our own STUFF, hear some STUFF-like music, eat a little STUFF.

MAGAZINE STUFF
Get the latest edition of 52nd City magazine, which is entirely devoted to STUFF—prose, poetry, and artwork by local talent exploring the mysteries of why we just can't seem to let go of our material things. Only $8 and something worthy of piling up around the house! And don’t forget that while the print edition and online edition explore the same theme, the content is entirely different. Pick up a hard copy!

ADMISSION
Free, but we'll accept spare change donations (in our legendary TRASH CAN OF CHANGE) and would be delighted if you purchased a magazine. You will be delighted as well.

Thanks to our contributors, advertisers, subscribers, and everyone who has helped make our first year a success and an especially big thanks to our party hosts from SNOWFLAKE.

WHEN: Saturday, January 13, 2007
TIME: 2:00-5:00 PM
WHERE: SNOWFLAKE, 3156 Cherokee, St. Louis, MO 63118

Print Edition: POETRY & PROSE: Andrea Avery, Diana Benanti, Thomas Crone, M. Davis, Heidi Dean, Amanda E. Doyle, Joe Esser, Chris King, François Luong, L.A. Ramsey, Stefene Russell, Steven Schreiner, and Erik Smetana. PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS : Andrea Avery, Thomas Crone, Bill Cable, Jess Dewes, Katy Fischer, Jane Godfrey, Dave Gray.
Online Edition: Jess Dewes, Elie Gardner, Ari Holtz, Franklin Jennings, Luby Kelley, Matt Kindt, Byron Kerman, Julie Newberry, Claire Nowak-Boyd, Michael R. Allen, Jim Utz, more...

The Summoning of Robins

Ordinarily, I'd not post twice here in a day, but this afternoon, while on a long walk through Tower Grove Park, I noticed something quite eye-opening. On a goodly patch of grass, between SCOSAG's brick gatehouse and the little baseball field at Morganford and Arsenal, about 150 robins were greedily worm-harvesting. And I might be underreprsenting the amount of them there. Every single two-winger was a robin, as well. What an odd sight.

I take this as some sort of totemic statement by the birds, fast on the heels of the "Rockin' Robins" reading at the Schlafly Bottlewoks, compliments of Observable Books. I can only, naturally assume a connection. That, there must be.

Art Films @ SLAM

On Friday evening, I accepted an invitation to catch the first selection from a series culled from the Prizewinners of the International Festival of Films on Art. That's a mouthful, but it well sums up the content of these movies, both features and shorts.

There was a pretty good bit of attendance at the Lee Auditorium, as well, though it should be noted that a good chunk of the youth in the audience left after the initial short, suggesting that a school assignment had been completed and the evening was now theirs. Too bad for the kis, since the main feature, "The Hermitage Dwellers," was an intense, fascinating glimpse at the people who work at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. A really wonderful piece.

Here's the lineup for this coming Friday:

Prizewinners from the International Festival of Films on Art
Auditorium
7:00 pm
$5 ($3 Members); includes both films

Paul Klee—The Silence of the Angel (2005, 52 minutes)
Directed by Michael Gaumnitz
Paul Klee (1879–1940), one of the most inventive artists of the early 20th century, revolutionized the notion of composition and the use of color. This profile uses Klee's canvases, extracts from his journal, pedagogical writings, and letters to family and friends to depict the artist's life. In French with English subtitles.

Traces, Women's Imprints (2004, 52 minutes)
Directed by Katy Lena Ndiaye
Confronting tradition with modernity, this film explores the world of three Kassena grandmothers in Burkina Faso and their "granddaughter," to whom they teach the ancestral techniques of mural painting, an exclusively female activity. In French with English subtitles.

Please don't tell Matt Strauss...

... but on more than one occasion recently, I've found myself in deep, meaningful conversations about the intent, meaning and chances of success for White Flag Projects. Which means I'm hanging out with people: a) really interested in modern art and the spaces that show it; or b) I'm developing an odd fixation on both Matt Strauss and people fixated on Matt Strauss.

But, again, let's keep this between us.

That said, here's an e-mail from Matt Strauss:

Please join us tomorrow afternoon from 2-6 PM for the opening reception
of:

modular: New Art from Los Angeles
Jan. 6 - Feb. 10, 2007

Featuring Hollis Cooper, Danny Jauregui, Nicole Van Beek, Louisa Van
Leer,
Kevin Wingate, and Bari Ziperstein

Curated by Dana Turkovic

Opens Saturday afternoon, January 6, 2-6PM

WHITE FLAG PROJECTS
4568 Manchester Ave
Just east of Kingshighway on Manchester.

Read David Bonetti's interview with the curator at:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/visualarts/story/
4F8A9E5D4E25AF5D8625725700836E5F?OpenDocument

Find more at:
www.whiteflagprojects.org

Bookending yesterday's post...

Tonight's the last epiosde of Brett Underwood's "No Show" on KDHX, airing at midnight. He notes an appearance at the Bottleworks this evenng, as well, prior to it, namely the Observable Readings event. Here're some details on the broadcast:

Hope you got some sleep between New Year's Eve and this morning because you're gonna wanna be up late tonight to hear the final episode of The No Show as it airs live on KDHX and streams live for the last time.
See the blog for the explanation about my resignation, but listen for:
The tape-Beatles
Kyle Bruckmann
Robert M
Dead Kennedys
Grandpa's Ghost
Realistic
Kahil El' Zabar
Free Range Human
Butt
Mclusky
Jeff McLeod
Thavius Beck
Helix Resonator
National Lampoon (can you say, "Deteriorata"!!)
Chris Chandler (playing at the Schlafly Tap Room with David Roe and Bad Folk on Saturday night)
Critters Buggin'
Charles Bukowski
K. Curtis Lyle (from a live reading at the Contemporary Art Museum)
Sheila Chandra
and
On Fillmore
...all during the mess tonight, and of course, the weekly dosage of Jim Hightower Radio and Media Minutes from Free Press just after the first set break so we can be more informed than the average dolt. ...and if you want delicious beer and a variety of poets brought to you from all over the nation, come see us at the Schlafly Bottleworks tonight. I'll be bartending.

Rockin' Robins

Here I am with my regular first-week-of-the-month poetry PSA to announce that this Thursday, for the next installment of the Observable Poetry Series, there will be Robins traveling in from all corners of the country and converging on Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest, in Maplewood). This month's reading is titled, appropriately, "Rockin' Robins," with some warm-up tunes provided by Farm Team (who you may've caught at the Art Market in December).

As usual, I defer to Mr. Aaron Belz, who always writes thorough, descriptive poet bios:

"Robin Behn's Horizon Note won the Brittingham Prize from the University of Wisconsin Press in 2001. She has authored two other books of poetry: Paper Bird (Texas Tech, 1988) and The Red Hour (HarperCollins, 1993). She directs the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama.

Robyn Schiff's first collection of poems, Worth, was published in 2002 and appeared on Fence magazine's list of Most Notable Books for that year. Originally from New Jersey, Schiff now lives in Chicago, where she is a
visiting professor in the English department at Northwestern University.

Robin Beth Schaer works at the Academy of American Poets and has taught writing at Columbia University and Cooper Union. Her poems have been
nominated for a Pushcart Prize and have appeared in Rattapallax, Small Spiral Notebook, Denver Quarterly, and are forthcoming in Spinning Jenny."

And now for my not-so-schooled, subjective take. I saw Robin Schiff read in the '04 series, with her partner, Nick Twemlow , and St. Louis' own Julie Dill (yes, I am a fan!) I bought Schiff's book (Worth), and was downright charmed by it. She writes about Finches and dresses, specifically old fashion houses. At the time, I was working for SKIF, and so I had a double appreciation for poems about fashion houses (and somehow, birds). Her poems are very vivid and clever. I don't know the other two Robins, but I know Rattapallax -- they put out a great issue that was dedicated purely to Brazilian poetry, which came with a CD of the poets reading their work. I don't know a lick of Spanish, but it was to the editors' credit that the poetry was very listenable anyway; that old idea of poetry being made up of pleasing sounds as well as sense. I gleaned no sense from it, but the music rang out bright & clear. So anyone who's published there, I am pretty sure I'll like her poetry. And Farm Team rocks. The other piece of info you need: the show starts at 8 p.m., and Schlafly's new No. 15 is a peculiar, spicy beer which will be an exceptionally great pairing with the poetry.