July 31, 2008
Urban Spelunking
Just saw a note on our neighborhood listserv about Diane Toroian Keaggy's piece in Sunday's P-D on urban exploration, which features Ecology of Absence's Michael Allen and our own Thomas Crone, who is humble and not wont to boast about such things (so I'll do it for him - I rather liked the piece). Having visited the Armour Meatpacking Plant last winter with brilliant painter Cindy Tower, I can say it is a doozy of an urban exploration site. Speaking of which, Bruno David Gallery opens a group exhibit, OVER_VIEW 08, tommorrow night, and it features some of Cindy's work. Not sure if there will be canvases of Armour, but if so, it's a chance to get a painterly perspective on the site. Definitely check out her site for a peek at those paintings, though nothing can replace seeing them in person.
Idaho Avenue Film Festival: Details Announced
From IAFF organizer Brian Spath:
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The time is almost here - time for another Idaho Avenue Film Festival. This year is the most diverse yet, with films from all over St. Louis and all over the creative map. As always, the screening is free and open to whoever can make it out. There will be free popcorn and punch, but you can bring another snack if you like (and hopefully enough to share). Also remember to bring a lawn chair or blanket. We're expecting a big crowd this year, our biggest yet, so get ready to sit back, enjoy some shorts, and meet all sorts of new and exciting people.
See you soon!
September 13, 2008 @ 8pm
Idaho Avenue Film Festival
5229 Idaho Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63111
www.myspace.com/idahoavenuefilmfestival
Brooklyn
An interesting site on Brooklyn, IL, was passed along today, featuring maps and information on the village. Worth a peek, for fans of history.
July 30, 2008
You Need This Shirt
Ordinarily, I wouldn't say this, but: you need this t-shirt even more than, say, a 52nd City kit.
The Daily Jerome is offering "Follow Me to the Colony" tees.
I am stunned by the brilliance of this idea. Really. I am.
Dr. Dog
Dr. Dog –
Back when there use to be a band called The BaySayBoos (which I was the drummer for) Mr. Matt Pace (now of Rats and People fan) handed me a copy of Dr. Dog’s album “Easy Beat”. Mr. Pace said to me, “ my brother lives in Philadelphia and he loves this band.” I spent the next 3 years listening to that CD. “Easy Beat” is one of those records that comes along and becomes the soundtrack to a certain period of your life. Every song on that album is perfection. Simple, to the point good pop songs like bands use to make back when bands made good pop songs. My love affair ran deep with that Dr. Dog record, telling everyone who would listen that they have to buy that album. I even went so far as to try and book the band at the now closed Radio Cherokee for the sole purpose of having them perform at a small venue in a town they had yet to play. That show fell through but as fate would have it they played St. Louis the next year at Mississippi Nights opening for The Black Keys. This was one of the best shows I had ever been to at Mississippi Nights not to mention the last show I attended before it closed down. I’m sure I looked like a fool dancing around taking photos of the band performing, singing the words to all their songs while everyone on the floor wondered to themselves who is the great band playing and how does this strange guy know all their tunes? Their next show in St. Louis was at the Creepy Crawl and by then you could see the wear and tear of touring had taken a toll on The Dog but they still put on a great show promoting their album at the time “We All Belong”. And that brings us to today. You can be entertained by them two times and hear tunes from their new record “Fate”. First at Vintage Vinyl at 5pm (FREE) and then at The Blue Bird ($12/$14).
Dr. Dog at Mississippi Nights 2006
Dr. Dog at Creepy Crawl 2007
photographs by Dana Smith
To Be a Billiken
Somehow, the web keeps giving.
I've come across what's surely the vaguest and strangest description of college athletic opportunity ever put forward. It's also possible that I'm the only person who'll find this completely hilarious.
July 27, 2008
Jim Utz Knows Comedy
And he says:
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That's right, you don't have to travel outside the city limits for some live stand up comedy.
This Monday night (July 28th) the stand up comedy group Clap For Joan (www.myspace.com/clapforjoan) will be performing at Off Broadway. Clap For Joan is Josh Arnold, Mikey Manker, Joe Murray, Mark Feigenbutz and my favorite local amateur comedian Jeff Wesselschmidt. (Josh & Mark are two of the better local open mic guys as well.)
The Off Broadway site lists doors at 7:00PM and show at 8:00PM, cover is $5.00 and I will be in attendance.
July 26, 2008
Paint smears on everything I own
Jessica and I saw this personalized plate while idling at a red light on Jameison. I guess 'Ms. Unique' was already taken, but if, in fact, the title 'Ms. Unique' is gracing someone else's license plate, isn't there a lesson to be learned? Jessica suggested the plate read 'Ms. Eunuch,' which actually is kind of unique.
P.S. Rifling through the request-off book at work, I noticed two of my co-workers had requested the evening off in order to attend a Slipknot/DragonForce concert. Time to find a new job?
Not Quite the Moonlight Ramble
Thom Fletcher, he who almost convinced me there was a zebra park in Alton where the children don hay-beards to be nibbled off by baby zebras, informed me today that there will be a naked bike ride in Tower Grove Park next weekend. Naturally, I was a bit skeptical, but it's true! The World St. Louis Naked Bike Ride, organized to protest oil depenency while promoting body acceptance, is part of a worldwide movement; CAMP's screening a doc on the subject tonight at 9pm. Though I salute both causes, I can tell you right now that I'm probably too Utah-ish to attend such a thing, though Mr. Fletcher suggested shaving a cat and sending it in my stead. Of course, teaching a cat to ride a bicycle (and it can be done - I've seen exactly that at the Circus Circus Casino floor show in Vegas!) is probably easier than shaving it, unless you relish the idea of losing an eye.
July 24, 2008
Chippewa Chapel: Hiatus After Tonight
From the organizers, a long note about the short-term history of STL's critically-acclaimed opne mic.
Continue reading "Chippewa Chapel: Hiatus After Tonight"Lumberyard # 2
straight from the desk of the one and only Eric Woods -
RELEASE PARTY - 08-08-08 -
AT the FIRECRACKER PRESS
August 8th, 2008 6pm - 10pm
the Firecracker Press
2838 Cherokee St.
StLMO 63118
The Lumberyard issue #2 is hot off the press. If this issue looks innocentdon't be fooled - peek under the covers and you might be surprised. Hot dog!We'll be hosting a release party with a live DJ, multimedia projections of poetry and imagery all over the place, and plenty of magazines for sale. Stop by to support local artists and have a great time doing it.
t|h|e| |F|I|R|E|C|R|A|C|K|E|R| |P|R|E|S|S|+-+-+-
2838 Cherokee St. - StLMO 63118
Tel (314)776-7271
Web www.firecrackerpress.com
Better than noodle necklaces
I was at Schlafly's farmer's market last night, picking up a loaf of applesauce bread when a woman handed me a flyer advertising 'The Art of Food,' a sort of culinary gala, including platters stacked high with hors d'ouvres as well as a silent auction featuring food-themed art and gift baskets. My friend Bailey loves food art - things that look edible but are made out of like, fiberglass; she has paper mache hamburgers, a glass grape bunch paperweight, a toothbrush holder covered in decals that look like wedges of citrus fruit, a fake cake on display under a glass dome and a toothpick holder shaped like a giant cupcake.
The Art of Food will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. July 26 at the Mad Art Gallery (2727 S. 12th St.). Tickets cost $30 if purchased in advance and $35 at the door. For more information, visit www.ArtOfFood.org or www.madart.com.
July 23, 2008
Eulogy for Radio Cherokee
On July 23, 2006, Radio Cherokee hosted one final show before permanently closing its doors.
The show coincided with my boyfriend's brother Sean's 19th birthday, and before leaving for Radio Cherokee, I surveyed my room for a last-minute birthday present and wound up stuffing my copy of Alabama Wildman by Thurston Moore in my purse. (Short of a narrative in which Thurston moves to New York, develops a crush on a girl with a Bratmobile patch and has alternate run-ins with Richard Hell and Lydia Lunch, the book is just Dadaistic tripe, Lawrence Ferlinghetti with a hangover from after-hours Hell, and I could bear to part with it.) Later, during the show, we posed as Myspace groupies and had members of So Many Dynamos (who were either on the bill or just in the crowd) autograph the book's title page.
I spent the majority of the night sitting in the courtyard behind Radio Cherokee, drinking, chain smoking and tottering to the bathroom and back. Everyone crowded in the courtyard, waiting for Bunnygrunt's set, was seemingly drunk beyond drunk and floating somewhere in that realm of free-associative genius that comes right before blacking out, where every conversation sounds like a Vast Aire freestyle.
Whispered word went around that Bunnygrunt was about to play, and the courtyard emptied as everyone spilled into the venue, vying for a spot near the stage. I don't remember a lot about the actual performance ('cause it's been two years and I was more than a little woozy at the time, okay?), but at the end of the show, Radio Cherokee's staff distributed the old-timey radios that decorated the venue to people in the audience. My boyfriend got one; it's sitting on a shelf in our kitchen.
Leaving the venue, we spotted Beatle Bob and chased him down an alley shouting 120 decibel demands that he give us all his cocaine. Wild summer, wow!
Dana Carvey on Hulu.com
And the point of mentioning Dana Carvey's extemely short-lived sketch show here? Well, the small cast included St. Louis' own Bill Chott, along with Carvey and a couple of well-known-in-the-future folks like Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. The whole run of the show - all eight episodes - are now available at Hulu.com. I need to kill cable and jump all the way into this site.
Helmet: Venue Change
Dang the luck. I cannot attend this show. Ouch.
New venue, same bands. Compliments of our pal Matt McInerney:
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Helmet
LucaBrasi
Vampire Moose
Avex
Friday, July 25th
Rockstar Nightclub
8658 S. Broadway
St. Louis, MO 63111
$15 in advance | $18 day of show | Doors @ 7p | www.rockstarnightclubstl.com for more info
July 22, 2008
Time Out Chicago, Giving STL Props
Wow. So we see that Chicago is STILL sore about losing the 1904 Olympics to us, yet is still willing to give us some nice ink? It's so. See it for yourself on Time Out Chicago's website.
"No-helmet motorcycle blitz through the life and times of Hunter S. Thompson"
I once read that the late, great Hunter S. Thompson was so enamored with F. Scott Fitzgerald that he handcopied all 120-odd pages of The Great Gatsby just to get a sense of Fitzgerald's syntax.
But Thompson, who developed a style far zanier and more crazed than Fitzgerald's, is a writer worth emulating in his own right.
In the documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," director Alex Gibney explores the ups and downs of Thompson's career, a career as chaotic as his writing. Often seen slouching around in his trademark Bermuda hat, cigarette and holder dangling precariously from the corner of his mouth, Thompson was a cartoonish champion of the counterculture about which he wrote. Narrated by Johnny Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the 1998 big screen adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and including interviews with Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Carter and Jimmy Buffett, the documentary plays July 11 through July 25 at the Tivoli. To buy tickets and see a list of showtimes, visit http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/St.Louis/St.Louis_Frameset.htm.
July 21, 2008
STL Style in NYT
I know this piece has been floating around for more than a week - a virtual forever in blogging terms - but it's just come to me, thanks to a reader.
The Vines brothers of STL Style were recently featured in the New York Times, discussing their STL-centric shirts, which, it seems, are part of a national trend of city-based designs. Good for them.
St. Louis Motion Picture Company
Was alerted to an interesting IMDB listing this morning, belonging to the St. Louis Motion Picture Company, which, according to IMDB, was in the business of producing western short films during 1912-1915. Among their works are films of slightly-peculiar naming, such as "Flossie Visits Bar U Ranch" and "Maya, Just an Indian."
This Motion Picture Company made dozens of short titles? Really? Methinks a cyber imp is up to some pranking! You judge.
July 17, 2008
Crispin H. Glover
The eclectic one is back at Webster University's Film Series from August 22-24. New and old slide shows. New and old films.
Wow. Let's go!
Kopper on KWK
What a post. Multi-faceted local rocker Kopper has put up quite a story about his fandom of the old KWK, which includes a pair of home-recorded MP3s from John Hutchinson's "Freeform" show. If you're a radio, records or local history nerd (ideally, you're all three), this one, will give you a some minutes of real enjoyment.
Not exactly a high class concern, but ...
Don't ask why, but earlier this week, I watched about three-fourths of the series premiere of "Brooke Knows Best." I guess VH1 dreamt up this ridiculous spin-off of "Hogan Knows Best" when Terry "Hulk" Hogan was implicated as the person who purchased alcohol for his 17-year-old son Nick right before the drunk driving accident that landed Nick behind bars and his passenger John Graziano in a vegetative state, and it became obvious Hogan doesn't know best.
Hulk appears in the first episode of "Brooke Knows Best" to help his daughter settle into her Miami apartment. During his visit, the former professional wrestler grills Brooke's gay male roommate, asking him to rank his homosexuality on a scale of one to ten. It's as though Hulk suspects the roommate is masquerading as gay in order to fly under his radar and get into Brooke's gaucho pants. Later in the episode, Hulk presents his daughter with a stockpile of rape preventatives: a rape whistle, pepper spray and even a taser. Hey thanks, patriarchy! The way Hulk keeps vigil over Brooke's virginity is creepy; like one whole lobe of his brain functions as a chastity belt. Maybe if Hulk had been as overly-cautious with his son, John Graziano wouldn't be eating through a tube, and Nancy Grace would have one less thing about which to kvetch.
Open Studios this weekend
The Open Studios project put on by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is in it’s third year and each year it gets bigger and bigger with more artists participating. This project is open to any and all artists living in the general St. Louis area and encourages people to visit artists studios to see completed works, works in progress and to get an idea of an artist’s working environment. There’s been a little controversy with certain aspects of this years event but overall it serves a great purpose in promoting local art by a well respected institution. It’s clear by the growing number of artists who are participating that the art world in St. Louis is booming and let’s hope this boom is cultivated into an everlasting growth that will only benefit our great city.
OPEN STUDIOS –
Saturday, July 19
Sunday, July 20 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Map of participating artist’s studios
Below are a list of some personal favorites who are participating along with links – a full list of artists can be found here.
Josh Crow – Lafayette Square
Sarah Giannobile - Tower Grove West
William LaChance – Maplewood
Jonathan Lisenby - Lafayette Square, Open Lot
Carmelita Nuñez- Tower Grove South
Jeremy Rabus – Maplewood
Kim Richardson – Benton Park West
Daniel Shown - Tower Grove South
Cindy Royal - Soulard, Soulard Art Market
Amy VanDonsel – Benton Park West
Each manicured hand was a two-foot eel
Tonight, Michelle, James, Matthew and I crowded onto the couch and watched the season premiere of "Project Runway," hoping for a designer with [season two finalist] Santino Rice-caliber sass. Tonight's challenge involved making outfits from materials found at a grocery store; the winning design was a dress made out of bleach-spattered vacuum cleaner bags and burnt coffee filters.
I've decided it's too early in the season to start memorizing designers' names, but the girl who won had bleach blonde hair, red lipstick and a sleeved arm. I totally called that a male contestant would lose the first challenge, and sure enough a portly Asian man, who fashioned a shapeless raincoat out of like, toilet paper was sent home. Still, his raincoat wasn't nearly as awful as the dominatrix dress made entirely from garbage bags, for which the only appropriate accessory would be a dwarf on a leash. Ugh.
After "Project Runway," we walked to Mr. Wizard, where I'm quickly becoming a fixture, and I got a s'mores concrete, vanilla custard with marshmallow creme and graham cracker, and James tried to convince me that, despite what I've heard on "The O'Reilly Factor," my cellphone will not give me brain cancer. When we were full up on custard, we went back to my house to hang the 'Gorlok Grill' sign I pilfered from Webster. On it, the gorlok is decked out in an apron and chef's hat, holding a spatula in his paw and looking totally pissed. While we were nailing the sign into the wall, James tripped on a cord and tore my DSL filter clean out of its jack, but as you can tell from this here blog post, my Internet remained unscathed by his clumsiness.
P.S. In tenth grade, I wrote an essay titled "Why women play bass" (Read: Sean Yseult, Kim Gordon, Lorna Doom, Kira Roessler and Tina Weymouth to name a few), and now there's some serious scholarship being published on the subject.
July 16, 2008
rBar: Out
From one of the partners, Corey Lawson:
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To our friends and customers - On August 10, 2008 rBar will be closing for business. We will be shut down for a couple weeks of renovations and reopen a new concept in late August! Some of the familiar faces will be sticking around while others are moving on to see what life has in store for them next (we'll cheers to that!). Over the next month we will be celebrating each week/weekend with different food/drink specials with the final blowout, the White Hot Party #2, on August 9 (more info to come). We hope you can stop in for one more round or two!
Thanks to all those for supporting us and rBar.
July 15, 2008
R.I.P. Slobo
For a certain generation of St. Louis sports fans, invoking the simple name "Slobo" means a lot. While it might be cliche, he died doing what he loved. Best to his family and friends.
July 11, 2008
Like dumpster diving, minus the garbage
Need to clear the clutter from your shelves? Toss it in a box and haul it to Schlafly's urban thrift sale, where you can either rent a booth and sell your wares or donate them to a Goodwill collection committee. There's room for 100 vendors, and all rental fees ($25 per booth) benefit Goodwill. To rent a booth, go to http://www.schlafly.com/schlaflea/. There's beer and barbecue, to boot, so honor the old adage "one man's trash is another's treasure" and visit the SchlaFLEA Market.
Billed as the "most unusual garage sale this side of the Mississippi," the SchlaFLEA Market will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 in the Schlafly Tap Room's parking lot (2100 Locust Street).
Where's the thermal?
I need the long-sleeved, winter-ready version of this.
C'mon, KSHE. Embrace your heritage.
July 10, 2008
Pale Divine Reunion?
So suggesteth the World Wide Web.
If true: December 29, 2008.
Update: Annie Zaleski of the RFT confirms this most intriguing news.
We're STILL 52
Today, a headline in the St. Louis Post Dispatch claims, "We're 52".
Um, here at 52nd City, we've known this for a while.
From the article, "The latest estimates for municipalities released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that St. Louis is sandwiched between Wichita, Kan., and Santa Ana, Calif., holding a rank of 52."
I'd rather be sandwiched between Austin, TX and Madison, WI...but that's just me.
July 08, 2008
Maplewood : Friday : Organized Fun
Amy VanDonsel was kind enough to send along word of Friday's "Let Them Eat Art" event, taking place throughout the Maplewood business district. We enjoy what's going on over there and like to support our friends and supporters, so here's the note (which does mention "dream interpretation" for the confused sleepers among you):
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This Friday, July 11, I'll be painting "live" and selling work at Maplewood's "Let Them Eat Art" event from 6PM to 11PM.
You can find me at the Well Body Clinic at 2716 Sutton Blvd.
Check in locations for a map of artists and entertainment located at various Maplewood businesses are:
Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Manchester
Downtown Maplewood, 7300 Manchester
Studio Altius, 3518 Greenwood Blvd.
Attractions include belly dancing, dream interpretation, spinning tops, face painting, live music, DJs, gallery openings, a fire-shooting ice cream truck, silent auctions and who knows what else.
Gumbohead (7PM) and New Punk Hippies (9PM) will play at the Mill on Sutton, with Scott Kaye and the Continentals at Schlafly Bottleworks and Harvest Band at Studio Altius. Also: Terri Langerak, Jane Godfrey, Maple Jam, and Elliot Ranney.
The Firecracker Press will printing at Schlafly and Ben Goeke will be making t-shirts at Bugaloo. Other featured artists include Charlie Houska, Fern Taylor, Jaxon Noon, Emily Hemeyer, Jeffery Sass, Kate Duncan, Carmelita Nunez, St Louis Craft Mafia, Michael Bolton, Jeff Kapfer, Jessi Cerutii, Henryk Ptasiewicz, and Solomon Thurman.
Light Project @ PFA
We're reminded that one of our sponsors is engaged in an interesting project. It's a continuance of a current show, with some new adaptations. From the Pulitizer Foundation, this note:
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In conjunction with the Flavin exhibition, on September 4th we'll be opening "The Light Project", which will include 4 outdoor light installations around Grand Center. I've attached the press release which has further details about each artwork and the collaboration between the Pulitzer and the Contemporary, SLAM, and White Flag.
One of the installations will take place in that burned-out church on Spring Avenue. Two artists will be recreating the roof with lamps, lanterns, and lamp shades donated by the St. Louis community. We're currently collecting donations. It's been an interesting process so far - we've been documenting the collection and stories behind each lamp online: http://lamp-collection.pulitzerarts.org/
Interesting: U. News in the News
The long-simmering battle over the University News at SLU has been given an interesting treatment in the Post-Dispatch. It's here.
July 07, 2008
An author with a papermate, spitting paperweights
Via Lo-Fi St. Louis: Darkest Dreams a Lighted Way, an exhibit featuring work by 21 different "artists that have suffered mental, emotional, and/or physical abuse," opens 6 p.m. July 11 at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts (3151 Cherokee Street). For more information, call (314) 576-7155 or visit http://www.ddalw.com.
Described by organizer Aunia Kahn as "not for the faint of heart," the artwork displayed in Darkest Dreams a Lighted Way is meant to illuminate the problem of abuse in the United States as well as in other countries. "Darker art, or art that has deep emotional effects on its viewers, can be the most healing, but often, it is not shown at venues or given the opportunity to be shared," Kahn said on her web site. "We need to use our voices both for ourselves and for those unable to speak out."
July 06, 2008
The farmer takes a wife
With new Whole Foods Markets cropping up daily, buying "organic" and "free range" is all the rage. But in an article titled "Is Whole Foods Wholesome?," Slate magazine reporter Field Maloney urges that grocers like Whole Foods have profited from the widespread misperception that "organic" means "small family farmers." Indeed, a banner hanging in Whole Foods proclaims that "Buying Organic supports the small, family farmers that make up a large percentage of organic food producers." Still, Maloney contends that the bulk of organic food in this country comes from five or six farms in California - not from farmers in the immediate area. He writes, "There are a lot of small, family-run organic farms, but their share of the organic crop in this country, and of the produce sold at Whole Foods, is miniscule."
Oftentimes, it seems that slapping an "organically-grown" sticker on produce is just a clever ruse to charge more. Translated loosely, the word "organic" means "expensive." I've even heard people quip that Whole Foods is "the wholesome healthy for the wholesome wealthy." Shouldn't healthier eating options, fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides, be available to everyone - not just status enjoyers who can afford to buy organic?
Support area farmers by shopping for fresh produce at your local farmers' market. Workers don't usually want to pack up and haul home unsold produce, so if you stop by a few minutes before close, they might make you a deal.
For recipes and ideas on how to best use your produce, visit the Vegan Lunch Box.
July 05, 2008
St. Louis on Waxidermy
While obsessing over the website Waxidermy recently, I decided to pull the ultimate civic vanity move: typing St. Louis into the site's search engine.
Strangely, no Jules Blattner to be found, though a couple of STL-related church recordings from the 1970's were tracked. If you enjoy a touch of soul, click.
Tiger Stadium: Demo
On a brief daytrip into Detroit last year, I had to marvel at the old Tiger Stadium. Given up as a functioning venue for a new ballpark downtown, the ancient structure was... just... sitting there. The shell of the building hadn't been demo-ed and there was still some talk of saving the space, though the businesses that surrounded the old warhorse had obviously moved on themselves. A strange, museum-like quality to Tiger that Sunday afternoon, with nary a person in sight within block of the historic ballyard.
Though we ordinarily focus our energies on STL-related things here at 52nd City, those of you frustrated by the progress at Ballpark Village might have some passing interest in the demolition of a ballpark in the upper midwest, as Tiger Stadium's demo has commenced.
A couple of links:
Some recommendations for today
Baby, you don't have to be a picture in a magazine: Comedienne Amy Sedaris, best known for her role as 46-year-old former "user, boozer and loser" Jerri Blank on Comedy Central's Strangers With Candy, graces the cover of Bust magazine's June/July issue. The issue, which marks Bust's 15th year of publication, also features an interview with Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, a peek into the studios of sewn art seamstresses, a brief history of women in magic and summer fashion tips.
Viva Zapata!: In the early '90s, Seattle punk band The Gits was starting to attract mainstream attention when its singer Mia Zapata was raped and murdered on her way home from a friend's house. The band dissolved, and Zapata's murder remained unsolved until 2004. Director Kerri O' Kane's 2008 documentary, aptly titled The Gits, follows the band's formation, rise to stardom and tragic ending, even capturing the conviction of Jesus Mezquia, Zapata's killer. For more information on The Gits, a documentary worth watching, visit www.thegitsmovie.com or www.myspace.com/thegitsmovie. To read a review of The Gits documentary, visit http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-06-25/news/getting-the-gits.php/full.
Revisiting Green Gables: I'm re-reading the books I loved growing up, particularly the 'Alice' series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, the 'Weetzie Bat' series by Francesca Lia Block, the 'Ramona Quimby' series by Beverly Cleary, Anne of Green Gable by L.M. Montgomery, Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade by Barthe DeClements and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I'm, like, 11 years old, but at least, I haven't started writing Babysitters' Club fan fiction or dreaming up alternate endings to Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
"Stick a fork in it": For unique barbecue recipes (Ever think to grill a peach? How about a banana leaf burrito?), visit the best food blog on the Internet, Girl on Grill Action.
July 03, 2008
How NASA mooned America
On Tuesday, I had lunch at Schlafly Bottleworks with my boyfriend and his mom. I wanted to order the sardine sandwich but went with the more plebeian choice of smoked turkey, because I didn't want to stink up our table with a sandwich that smells like locker room grout. We talked about our fourth of July plans and the Georgia teenager who was decapitated by a Six Flags roller coaster.
Later that night, Michelle came over and proposed a trip to Ted Drewes, but at the last minute, we decided to walk to Mr. Wizard instead.
In between spoonfuls of my Black Forest concrete, I borrowed all of Bill Kaysing's most convincing arguments and told Michelle how the 1969 lunar landing was probably faked. And she told me about the time she was in second grade, and Jodie Sweetin, the actress who played middle child Stephanie Tanner on Full House, came to the West County mall. I mean, Jodie wasn't shopping for stirrup pants to wear under her BUM Equipment t-shirts; she was actually at the mall signing autographs, which is a pretty weird way to spend your afternoon. Apparently, Michelle's mom, tired of waiting in a long line of rabid Jodie Sweetin fans, told Michelle she would have to content herself with a photo of the child star. So, while Jodie's head was bowed over the Reebok she was autographing, Michelle snapped a picture. She said the next time she came over she'd bring me a copy of the photo (and an Eartha Kitt album). Since Jodie's 1993 mall appearance, she's developed and kicked an addiction to crystal meth; I've gone to San Francisco and walked in the wrong direction for hours in search of the Full House house; and Michelle has forgotten the name of the Tanner family's beloved golden retriever. I had to remind her on the walk back from Mr. Wizard.