52nd City: Digital & New Media

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.

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.

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.

A ham hock in your cornflakes

In case you're sitting in a cubicle somewhere performing boring, white-collar chores and collecting paper cuts, here's a link to St. Louisan Joe Stumble's mp3 blog Last Days of Man on Earth. Stumble, who sometimes pops up on KDHX's Scene of the Crime, uses Last Days of Man on Earth to share tracks from his favorite out-of-print punk records. Download a Black Randy and the Metrosquad album, and make filing invoices fun again.

New site: The Vital Voice

Yup. A new site.

Clicky-click for a peek at the VV's new digital digs.

Kentucky Wine

We don't normally post up thoughts on the wines of Kentucky, but today there's a special reason for doing so. Gabe Bullard, a recent grad of Webster University and now a reporter withthe public radio affiliate in Louisville, is in possession of his first national clip with Marketplace. The topic, as no doubt guessed, is in our title line.

You can find it here.

Lumberyard Reviewed

If we can't claim Lumberyard as our sister publication - it's published by Eric Woods of Firecracker Press and his sister Jen Woods, of Sarabande Books and a contributor to 52nd - we can claim it as at least a cousin.

So with cousinly love, we note that the publication's gotta a nice chunk of play recently, at Luna Park Review. Click the link, yo.

http://lunaparkreview.com/LumberyardInterview.htm

Jaimeville.com

Jaime Lees is online here.

The Helium Tapes - "Magnolia Bloom"

David "Wraith" Dandridge was kind enough to send along word of a recent video project of his, a music video for The Helium Tapes' "Magnolia Bloom."

Here 'tis:

Museum Mutters: Avail. for Download

James Weber Jr., noted pinball fan, songwriter and man in possession of South City's greatest shock of hair, sends along word of his band's newest album, available for download on the world wide web.

The info:

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Here's the g00diez

Ok kids, it's done and mastered and then de-mastered (hah!) into some
highest-of-fi 192 bit mp3 filez.

You can download the whole kit'n'caboodle right here:

http://www. mediafire. com/?wwn1ecmfjob

Enjoy in good health and good spirts and *with* good spirits. Share with your friends, your family, your enemies and your awkward, "I Don't Even Know *What* The Hell We Are" make-out budz.

We love you, all of you, each and every god damned one of you, so thanks and stuff for the last year of completely satisfying rock.

We'll be playing the RFT Showcase on June the 1st at the Delmar Lounge. Times to be posted yet, but we'll let y'all know.

New Blogs: Cinema STL, KWMU reformers

We've been tipped to the arrival of two new blogs.

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Cinema St. Louis executive director Cliff Froehlich sends along that Friday, May 16 will see the debut of The Lens. The blog will be accessible through two sources: the St. Louis Beacon and the Cinema St. Louis homepage. Either one will send you to the site, which Froehlich hopes to populate with a variety of correspondents, many of whom date back to his days as a film critic and editor at the Riverfront Times and the Post-Dispatch.

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In light of this week's cover story in The Riverfront Times, a new blog's been created to stimulate some changes at KWMU. The site's located at http://helpimprovekwmu.blogspot.com/. A tipster notes that comments are welcome and we're assuming that some interesting and colorful conversations will take place about station management and the oversight given by licensee UM-St. Louis.

Enter Harptallica

Caught a few minutes of Harptallica at Vintage Vinyl yesterday afternoon. As you surely know, Harptallica is America's greatest harp duo tribute specializing in the music of Metallica.

They played this one, The Unforgiven. Sweet.

Yellow Pills: Online Love

Our friend Jordan Oakes, a contributor to the current SEXY issue of the magazine, is given a nod online, in the form of a blog review of his old Yellow Pills fanzine. If not mistaken, the issue photo-highlighted on the Power Pop Criminals, Issue #8, has a piece by moi, on Dramarama.

Anyway, enjoy powerpopcriminals.

Thanks to a reader for the pass-along.

Little birdy say...

... that STLtoday.com will be rolling out a major redesign in the next couple days. If this has been well- and widely-reported in recent days, please allow me this opportunity to bask in the potential glow of having gotten some secret, inside information. Please DO NOT link stories in our comments section, from weeks back, suggesting the same. Okay?

Anyway, I've been on the site a couple times today and ran into major tech glitches, which says to me: change is imminent, change is nigh. I'm curious to see how the end result will look and function.

Rybarczyk = Farked

The story aggregating Fark website linked to a column by STLtoday.com's Bob Rybarczyk today, as noted by a fine reader of our site. (And co-worker of all parties involved.) The piece in question was a jihad against Bluetooth-wearers, with the STLtoday.com humor columnist getting tagged with the "Obvious" button for his efforts. Perhaps "Obvious," but certainly well-read. As of this evening, Fark readers had commented 595 times to the piece. Yikes.

Smokin' and Eatin'

Ran across a couple of, er, fun reads about smoking in restaurants.

At Joe's on STLtoday.com, a huge rumble has broken out over (but not limited to) the carryout policy at O'Connell's, which digresses into passionate arguments about smoking, server rudeness and authenticity in pubs. Hilarious.

Thanks to a link over at the ACC, I found a link to Bill Hannegan's Keep St. Louis Free, which seems principally dedicated to the notion that smoking and eating should be allowed at all costs. If this cat ain't getting some cigarette company money, then he don't know the value of viral marketing.

Calvin Cox on RFT blog

I've had a student in class this semester, two classes actually, who is just starting a freelance gig with the Riverfront Times. Calvin Cox's first piece has appeared on the RFT's blog pages and here's a link to his review of the Roots.

Oh, it's nice when they work hard and care!

Hipsterati Debate Smoking

I know everyone in this video. Or, at the least, they ring me up for tea.

The hipsterati debate smoking here, compliments of Carson Minow and MayorSlay.com.

As for me... thanks for not smoking!

ToastedRav.com... Really?

Truth be told, I had not heard of ToastedRav.com before this morning. Not a word. Not a single, passing reference. But lo-and-behold, there's a whole, deeply-populated site at just that place, seemingly underwritten by a trio of local radio stations, along with advertisers.

The tip about the site came this morning via a friend of the blog, noting the online appearance of the Gaslight Theatre/St. Louis Actors Studio/West End Grill and Pub.

The clip is here.

Platform = Beacon

A couple weeks back, we noted the beta version of the St. Louis Platform, the new website created by a team of former P-D writers and editors. Within a day, or two, of that, word began circulating that the online publication would be changing names, due to a conflict with a newly-registered blog via the Post-Dispatch. Interesting, to say the least. The full details are here, but this li'l bit is the nut of the matter:

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The St. Louis Platform is about to become the St. Louis Beacon. Within a few days, you will find us at stlbeacon.org. If you come here to our original address, we'll send you automatically to our new home.

We're taking this step to avoid any confusion that might result from the recent appearance of a new blog created for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial page. We were surprised to discover that the blog's name is The Platform and that the name appears in print announcements with a trademark symbol next to it.

Jim Breuer: Partying at Mizzou

Or so says The Onion.

That is some funny stuff.

Classic

Remember that big storm? The really big one? Me, too!

Say goodbye to 19-seconds of your life. Ohhhh. Hooooooooo-hooooooooo.

St. Louis Platform: Beta is Live

Just tipped to this.

The effort, lead by former P-D staffers, is online.

Additional details on the launch here.

Media Makers: Medical Report

Photographer and KDHX host Bob Reuter discusses his upcoming open-heart surgery (set for Wednesday) at his Myspace blog. Link here.

Urbanreviewslt.com's Steve Patterson has a video update on his site, produced by Antonio D. French, detailing his recovery for a recent stroke. That vid's here.

Our best to all parties involved.

New Lo-Fi Debuts

The first video in the relaunched Lofistl.com season is now up, a look at the annual Blab Magazine.

Arts Note 1: McElwee

Van McElwee's back at SLAM with some work, detailed in a note from the famed video artist himself:

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SYNAESTHESIA
Van McElwee and friends
Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 – 7:30 p.m.
St. Louis Art Museum
One Fine Arts Dr.
Tickets: $5, free for NMC members

"The term synaesthesia…refers to patterns that underlie all time-based ideas… the artists and composers in this program approach their work in ways…that go beyond image and sound. They think in terms of form in time; they create gestalts" (Van McElwee).

Multimedia artist Van McElwee's career in experimental video projects span more than 30 years and three continents. Currently professor of Electronic and Photographic Media at Webster University, McElwee's body of work encompasses more than forty video installations and single channel works. McElwee has received The American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award; Seven Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts Independent Production Fund; a travel grant from the Government of India and two production grants from Media Arts in Missouri.

Commissioned through New Music Circle's CAMA initiative (which seeks to provide more exposure to local artists), Synaesthesia is a four-part concert of original compositions created by some of St. Louis' most innovative musicians and set to experimental video works by artists Van McElwee, Peter Rose, and Roy Zurick. The Semi-Acoustic Noise Ensemble (S.A.N.E.) will create exotic musical expression during the relentless kinetic energy of The Geosophist’s Tears (Rose) and Zurick’s Stop. Local digital synthesis expert and frequent New Music Circle performer James Hegarty will provide musical accompaniment to
McElwee's hypnotic video work, Vat. New York composer and former St. Louisan Tom Hamilton will showcase a score for McElwee's new film, Aperspectival House. The evening will also feature McElwee's new work, Diagonal Drift, a melting American landscape complete with a toy jazz sound track. The show will climax with the world premier of Wavicle, a video work of pure color created by McElwee specifically for Rich O’Donnell’s percussion genius. For more information, please visit www.newmusiccircle.org.

Euclid's Blogging

Well, the clerks are.

Music and more.

Prince

Former 52nd City contributor T.R. Raber is a man who consistently confounds. Just this morning, another one-time coworker of the pair of us sent along a video from Harrah's, part of the "Lucky Break" show that airs on Saturday nights on Channel 4. And, lo!, there's T.R. Raber with a somewhat unlikely song choice.

Head to YouTube for Head East

Face it, you need some Head East in your life:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HeadEastMusic

Tom Vize Alert

I remember Tom Vize as the bass player of the Nukes, the Barking Aardvarks, Jonny Quest and other groups of STL's rock past. I did not realize that the man had become the tour manager of Kathy Griffin.

In honor of her upcoming performance at the Fox, we offer this YouTube clip, compliments of a regular reader:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuCKU6cypa0

Curmudgeon's Home

Rob Levy, KDHX and Royale DJ and writer-about-town, sent along a link to a recent column, found a site that I didn't know existed. I'm happy, then, to know about both the column and the site. Yes.

Here's it:

http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/01/17/curmudgeon-jan-2008/

The Comedy Stylings of Patrick Clark

In the mood for bit of political humor? Our man in LA, Patrick Clark's in just that mood and he passes along a couple bits of poly-tomfoolery:

Democrats click:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e427c4ce76

Republicans click:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ccf20d4bdc

Look for the Arch, yeah?

Celebrating Joe Besser!

After just noting the new show at the Pulitzer, I don't mind engaging in a little bit of lower-brow bloggery, noting that KETC's "Living St. Louis" has uploaded a video chronicling the life-and-times of Three Stooges member Joe Besser.

You can find the video at the "Living St. Louis" blog, which I also just recently came to find. A smart resource for a smart show. Here's Joe Besser:

http://livingstlouis.wordpress.com/

"Creating Media for Social Change" @ SLU

Personally, I have zero interest in this topic (no... wait... I do!) and the event's taking place on the quick, but... there may be some in our reading audience that will enjoy this topic and will have some time free on Saturday morning for a bit of new media action. At the very least, it's something to think about while waiting for the post-ironic return of the rotary phone.

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"Creating Media for Social Change" Workshop Planned

Event Details: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., January 26, Tegeler Hall, 3550 Lindell Blvd., Carlo Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 63103

Saint Louis Justice and Peace Shares will hold a media workshop, Creating Media for Social Change, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, in the Carlo Auditorium of Saint Louis University's Tegeler Hall, 3550 Lindell Blvd. The event, sponsored by the University's Doerr Center for Social Justice Education and Research, is free and open to the public and all members of the SLU community.

The workshop will begin with a look at tools individuals can use to gather news from alternative sources. Other items on the program include:

* Introductory show-and-tell overviewing new technologies.
* Basics of audio and video, photography, podcasting and RSS feeds.
* Integrating media into Web sites.
* A list of software, hardware and equipment to consider for your group's media production.
* Local sources of media production support.

Participants are encouraged to bring cameras, camcorders, laptops, recording devices and posters that show something they have created.

Continuing education units are available for the workshop.

For more information, visit www.jps-stl.org or call (314) 723-4991.

Retro Weekend

Well, I just had the strangest, music-driven retro weekend. Like, ever. Between interviewing Angelo Moore, receiving dozens of St. Louis CDs in a lump batch, sifting through two years of late-'90s RFTs and the occasional bit of live music and e-mail, it was all a bit much.

1. Caught Aviation Club at Off Broadway. They were fantastic. Really, really great. There was a moment, too, when they had three female dancers on the floor. All were affecting a dance style that I haven't seen since the last time I watched "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion." Which I totally dug. Turns out, one of the groups that spun out of Aviation Club, the Lettuce Heads, will be performing soon: Friday, March 14 at the Focal Point, for an 8 p.m. show. Promised: 23 new songs and seven that were only played once, according to the group's impeccable press kit.

2. The AC show was sponsored by Jet Lag Magazine, celebrating a year on the web at www.jetlagmag.net. Though I love having the zine available in that form, much better is the act of reading originals. I bought 12 copies, in bundled six-packs, from founder John the Mailman. Despite all the years I've known of John Korst, I'd never met him; and, come to think of it, I didn't say "hello," so we're still that way. Love the issues, of which only one was already in my possession. Buying more soon.

3. The same day, I got a note via Myspace from Korst, who has a page for the classic piece of STL wave, "Test Patterns." If you don't have this piece of vinyl, check Record Exchange and plunk down whatever the cost might be. For the life of me, I could swear that I okayed the Myspace friend request, but I can't find it, at all. Please pass along the page, if you would.

4. Lastly, I got a note from Larry Dersch, who played with a classic band from St. Louis, Common Ailments of Maturity. They moved to Boston right around the point that I found myself at clubs, but I enjoyed their vinyl output and still spin a bit of it, for sure. Dersch notes that he has a new band, A.K.A.C.O.D. With two of the group's three members as alumni of Morphine, you can get a quick sense of them through that namecheck. You find more precise info on them at either: www.myspace.com/akacod or www.akacod.com. There's a good chance the band will be in town during mid-February, with one Midtown club a distinct possibility. We'll certainly punch that info up here, when known.

Eric Hall and Fred Friction channel Neil Young

I'd heard about the post-Christmas night Neil Young tribute at Off Broadway, but only just that. Didn't go. Didn't see and hear. At least, not until tonight, when Eric Hall sent along a YouTube video of his performance with Fred Friction.

It's... interesting. And, now, I can kinda, sorta understand why the soundman killed the power. Kinda. Sorta.

Here are Eric's liner notes and a link:

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here is the video of "sample and hold" fred friction and i did for the neil young tribute show at off broadway the day after christmas. everyone else at the show played very faithful guitar-based versions of his better known tunes, so i picked something from "trans", which might be his most hated album. in that environment, i think we stole the show, fred in particular. im playing a qchord (electronic autoharp) through distortion pedals and doing some processing on freds vocal with a little digital delay (sampling, holding) and a vocoder. he had never heard the song, so we duct taped the lyrics inside the classifieds from the paper. that way hes looking through the classifieds for something to sample and hold, which ties perfectly with the subject of the song. then he used a toy cell phone for the customer service section of the lyrics. off broadway is a non-smoking venue and james weber jr put a cigarette in the fake hand in freds jacket pocket. after that jason hutto lit it, causing the audience to cheer and the bartenders to yell and throw coasters at us, to which fred responded by turning towards the bar and spraying yellow foam out the fly of his pants. that was right about the time the soundman turned us off. nonetheless, the booker loved it and asked me to put together a longer set for the bowie tribute next month. im thinking the labyrinth soundtrack... enjoy, or just scratch your head. eric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6xz6V0ibE

T. Weber Blogs

If you read this blog now, you'll be among the first to do so. You'll also not have to commit a whole lot of time, since there's only one post.

http://tweber79.blogspot.com/

Highway 40 Site Launched

Amanda Doyle and I are still fielding submissions for The Wire, our old, locally-focused talk show, which means some good, interesting, local ideas can't be entertained. Doesn't mean that press releases can't be shared in other forms. One Joe Passanise e-mailed us about an effort to pause/stop the Highway 40 shutdown, with a website offered for info.

We pass along the word below:

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You probably believe that that stopping the closure of Highway 40 is a dead issue. MODOT has successfully marketed the need to close Highway 40 to government and business leaders. Unfortunately, when I talk to people about the complete closure of Highway 40 for two consecutive years, they are surprised. Why is this?

They are surprised because it really defies common sense. In all of the construction history that regular Highway 40 motorists have experienced, an
interstate highway has never been completely closed longer than a few hours and only during the late evening/early morning hours. So when you tell people that Highway 40 is going to be completely closed for two years, it just doesn’t register.

However, unless there is an 11th Hour emergency action, after January 1, 2008, these same regular users of Highway 40 will experience “culture shock” with the closure of Highway 40. I say culture shock because that is exactly what it will be.

Motorists looking for north-south roadways to get to alternate east-west roadways will be shocked to see that all these roadways are stacked with traffic.
These roadways are filled to capacity NOW even with Highway 40 open. The culture shock will then extend into their lifestyle because they will spend more time traveling to and from work and less time in their personal/family environments. Cost of travel will add to the shock because their funds will have to be shifted from other personal needs to pay for the additional cost of travel when Highway 40 is closed.

So, this is my 11th hour effort to stop the closure of Highway 40 to prevent culture shock for about 160,000 motorists – including my wife - who currently travel Highway 40 on a daily weekday basis.

Check out my website: stophighway40closure.com
Joseph Passanise

Our Man in Iraq

South City's own, Adam Allington, one of the jewels of the KWMU reporting staff, is logging time in Iraq. Yes, that Iraq.

His reports can be heard online, here:

http://kwmu.org/news/iraq/stories.php

Was just alerted to some photos, as well. They're here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21486668@N03/

Another Public Radio Raid on St. Louis

Okay, thecommonspace scooped us on the still-buzzy Tom Weber e-mail announcing his departure to Minnesota Public Radio. But in our blog rounds tonight, we found this alarming notice at Highway 61 - all while looking for some info on the project, Fake Radio (on the Internet):

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Where I've Been and Where I'm Going
December 1, 2007 at 9:04 pm | In Gabe Bullard, Podcasts, meta | 2 Comments

I'm sure that many a loyal reader sees a null Highway 61 RSS and thinks, "Where's Gabe?"

Well, I'm over here: www.fakeradioontheinternet.com.

Hop over and enjoy some podcasts. We're also listed in iTunes.

I'll keep posting here, but only until 2007 ends. After that, I'll be moving to Louisville to start a new job as a Public Radio reporter.

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Public radio stations: stop stealing our talented young people!

Music Links A'plenty

Got hit by an absurd (in a good way) amount of links to music on the web this weekend. I mean, wow.

Here's a rundown.

Didn't know about the locally-written music blog Music Sucks, but Joe Williams of the co-op site was kind enough to send a top-10 local show list, which lead me to the wider site. It's here:

http://www.musicsucks.net/2007/12/01/best-shows-of-2007/

Bill Streeter was at the Fishbone show, along with a pair of additional cameramen. The results of all that shooting are available here:

http://www.podtech.net/home/4651/fishbone-part-1

Local songwriter Geoff Kessell (ol' schoolers will remember him as the co-owner of the wonderful Whiz Bam!, as well) has entered the web world, with some tracks on his Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/geoffkessellsounds

Joe Thebeau of Finns Motel noted that a few videos from his old band, The Finns, along with one track by my fave band from back in the day, The Treeweasels, all were produced/directed by Scott Roever. The first two below are the Finns cuts, the third is by the 'Weasels.

"She Wears Black": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4CEpnSHWz4
"Perspective": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjVM8AHQ5dU
"Cornerstone": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwDGMCFkLz0

And while it's not music, per se, former STL bandleader TV guy Patrick Clark sends along a bit of web improv, which sees PC in cameo form:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LcMAxu0zsc

52nd City on KissAsylum

It was a matter of time, but 52nd City's finally represented on the KISS fanpage KissAsylum.

Jim Ousley's piece from the current web edition of 52nd City can be found there. Though, it must be said, there's no small amount of activity on the page, and Jim's piece has already, in a matter of days, fallen down the front page.

Wow.

Kirkwood Singles?

While driving through Kirkwood today - something of a rarity, at that - I noticed a sign on a city right-of-way, simply stating: "Single? www.kirkwoodsingles.com." Hmm. Okay. Is there something happening in the suburb that we don't know about?

An odd media message to say the least, and worthy of immediate follow-through. The site features a graphic of Downtown St. Louis and a long, personal questionnaire (uh, no thanks), along with non-clickable graphics offering "parties, trips and introductions." I couldn't make out any reason why Kirkwood was the hook for this site, but I imagine my inbox will soon be filled by curiously-worded, spam-my promotions featuring the city's name.

Alas, curiosity can kill the inbox.

New Site for Cinema St. Louis/SLIFF

Cinema St. Louis and the upcoming St. Louis International Film Festival can now be viewed in a new light, with the long-awaited new website launched today.

The SLIFF calendar for November 8-18 can be accessed. And you - yes, you - can find out about fabulous volunteer slots at the Fest. Did I mention recently that I'm the volunteer coordinator for this year's event? No? I am!

Enjoy the site and the fun process of sorting out where to be, when.

Sharesleuth in Wired

Former Post-Dispatch business writer Chris Carey is featured in a recent edition of Wired. Been meaning to link this for a week now, but, boy, time sure does fly. At any rate, it's an interesting read and points to some coming trends in the convergence of new media and specialty journalism:

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-10/mf_sharesleuth?currentPage=all

Photos: Chicago, Gary

Though they're not St. Louis-based, I think a lot of folks who dig the whole 52nd City aesthetic will enjoy the photos of flickr user Metroblossom, who really crafts some remarkable photos of the urban landscape of Chicago and Gary, IN, among other places and things. The "Isolated Buildings Series," in particular, will resonate with some folks. Check it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metroblossom/

Records on Video

Bill Streeter went to the Record Show so that I didn't have to. And I thank him for that.

http://lofistl.com/2007/09/15/episode-193-record-show/

Mickey Carroll Online

In a sort of worlds-colliding meoment, I was contacted today by Chicago Public Radio, through my flickr account. They'd produced and run a story of famed munchkin Mickey Carroll and wondered about using the photo. Well, sure. But within seconds of granting use, I noticed that the pic was up. Quick! Also, I a few seconds later, I noticed that the piece was produced by the one-and-only Tom Weber, of KWMU, a frequent 52nd City contributor.

In reality, I only snapped the shot, because I've become hopelessly addicted to The Fan Show on CW11 and Mickey basically called me over to take his photo. That little action has boomeranged around and now I claim a photo credit for CPR. So, Mickey, thanks for thinking of me, I guess.

Here's a link to the piece on St. Louis most discussed munchkin:

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Default.aspx

Water Films Sought by PFA and Cinema St. Louis

In these modern times, all type of calls-for-video-and-film are placed, with varying degrees of, let's say, "interest factor." A new call, though, has a variety of interesting twists, with the Pulitzer Foundation and Cinema St. Louis combining for a really neat project involving silent films that incorporate water. Let's allow CStL to explain the event:

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Call for Entries: Water Works

Cinema St. Louis and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts invite St. Louis-area filmmakers to project their imaginations on the Pulitzer building by creating short silent films that employ water as a key element.

In conjunction with the upcoming exhibit "Water," which opens July 20, the Pulitzer will hold an event in September 2007 that features locally created, water-related short films. These "water works" will be digitally projected on several exterior surfaces at the Pulitzer Foundation.

Cinema St. Louis will then choose one of the films to screen as part of the AT&T St. Louis International Film Festival, held from Nov. 8-18, 2007. The film will be part of a silent-film program and receive live musical accompaniment.

"Water" Exhibit Info

This exhibition engages the prevalence of water in the Pulitzer building and addresses the range of responses that water has elicited from modern and contemporary artists. Works will be exhibited in relation to the building's prominent watercourt and the space itself, which was conceived by Tadao Ando as a fluid substance directed by walls. Specific juxtapositions within the exhibition will encourage the visitors to think about the artwork in different and unexpected ways. Artists include Alvar Aalto, Max Beckmann, Robert Gober, Roni Horn, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Long, Henri Matisse, Claes Oldenburg, Cy Twombly, and more.

Contest Details

St. Louis-area filmmakers interested in participating must create silent shorts that meet the following three criteria:

Incorporate water as an important aspect of the work.
Run a maximum of 5 minutes (no minimum running time).
Exclude ALL sound, including music, effects and dialogue.

Experimental, narrative, animated, and documentary approaches are all acceptable. The shorts can be shot in any film or video format, in either color or black-and-white.

Filmmakers must live within a 120-mile radius of St. Louis .

All films must be submitted on DVD.

There is no entry fee. Deadline is Aug. 31, 2007.

Submission of a short does not guarantee its use at the Pulitzer event.

To view the Pulitzer building, visit the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts Web site at www.pulitzerarts.org.

For more information, call Cinema St. Louis at 314-289-4150

DVD and entry form should be sent to: Cinema St. Louis

Yay! Judge Nothing on Myspace

One of the great bands of St. Louis during the 1980s and 1990s, Judge Nothing, is now found on myspace: www.myspace.com/judgenothing.

Music, trivia, links and the rest. Alton's finest, 10 years gone. Nice to see and hear from them again.

(The last time I of thought of the band Skin Yard? Or Corndolly? Prior to just now? Wow... uh... the internet is weird.)

Peter E. Parisi for The Walk

It's always a pleasure to see former students taking on the ills on the world, through media engagement. So, I couldn't be more pleased to note that the late Peter E. Parisi's cause has been taken up by a two-time, former student of mine at Webster, Jim Varagona. The young man's working to assure PEP a place on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

There's a petition and info here:

www.diabetoboy.com

Now, a few thoughts:

1. Joe Edwards - an advertiser in and subscriber to 52nd City, it must be noted - has generally stated that he doesn't like petition drives and public campaigns, ala this one, or that of famed Munchkin Mickey Carroll.

2. He's also implicitly stated that he wants the recipient to be well-known outside of St. Louis, as much as in. PEP may have a cult following in the STL, but outside... hmm. Harder to figure.

3. We'd love to see PEP get recognition, even if this effort to land him on Delmar with his own bronze star proves a non-star(ter). The site already gives a nod to the warped genius of the late videographer.

4. Since members of this town have a habit of, let's say, requisitioning ideas as they own, I have long thought of spearheading an effort to get Lou Thesz the same honor, a Walk of Fame star. If you don't have a knowledge of Thesz, start out with a look at his Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Thesz. To emphasize that we would like like to work on such a thing, I WILL GO WITH ALL CAPS TO SAY THAT WE ARE INTERESTED.

Okay, back to PEP: check Jim's site, read up on PEP, enjoy the memories (and that catchy theme song) of "World Wide Magazine," sign a petition if you wish. Have a good day.

Yourstandardlife.com

Typical. A website featuring music I like - or, assumedly, will come to like - published right here in St. Louis and I'm blissfully unaware of it. Luckily, a myspace note about Ministry ("retiring," boo, sniffle) was enough to get to the site, thusly: "Your Standard Life is for people that still love mixtapes and discovering new music. No music snobs here. Quick, straight and to the point. It's all about sharing the love."

Keaggy on National Sandwich Month

"Experience collector" Bill Keaggy celebrates National Sandwich Month every August with a great, daily sequence of photos on his flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bk/

You didn't know it was national sandwich month? Shame!

"Bodybagman: The Movie"

Typewriter Tim Jordan's always up to something.

Witness:

http://www.youtube.com/user/thebodybagman

STL vs. Chicago, Round 826

Read this one, in part, because I'm heading up to Chicago for a couple days, later this week. Also read it because it's a storyline that's rewritten by mid-twenties St. Louisans on a fairly regular basis. That's not a knock on writer Katie Cook of insidestl.com, just a realization that this piece will be penned and re-penned, as every sub-generation of young St. Louisans are faced with the choice of packing up their goods and heading up I-55:

http://www.insidestl.com/stlladies/index.php?storyid=325

If only those stock-house railyards would've...

STL Expats in NYC

Two completely divergent bits about STL expats in New York.

1. LJ Lindhurst's show at Mad Art Gallery, "Flight Risk," will open on Friday, August 3 with a reception. You can check out work by my college pal at her website: www.ljlindhurst.com.

2. Forgot to check into a recent David Letterman show featuring Morrissey, but our town's chief Morrissey watcher (and, no, that's not me) noted that STL native Kristeen Young was featured in the song "That's How People Grow Up."

Sure enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH2WidSqTYg

If you know other St. Louis-to-New York women doing something in the cultural field, please note them below.

Beatle Bob on InsideSTL.com

Don't think I need to describe who Beatle Bob is, or why he's known about town. And there's a better-than-decent chance you've gone to InsideSTL.com, even if only to spy your neighbor in a drunken bar pic.

But the merger of Beatle Bob and Tim McKernan's website? Well, I wouldn't have predicted such a thing:

http://www.insidestl.com/stlmusic/index.php?storyid=181

ARRG on Wiki

I am most amused by this. It's actually kinda true!:

"Known mostly as a sporting organization, recent developments have revealed that the organization is actually a cult. It is a scientific fact that the average derby girl references the derby 4.7 times during an average six minute conversation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Rival_Rollergirls

He's Blake Ashby. He's Running for President.

Only 42 views when I came across this tonight. Let's drive some numbers toward our Independent Presidential Candidate homeboy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DXFk8Vb-Dw

(If the hotlink don't work... well, that would be typical.)

"Milk Eggs Vodka" on The Wire

Owing to a last-second scheduling snafu (for which I bear full responsibility), we were left minus a guest for tonight's edition of The Wire on KDHX. Luckily, Bill Keaggy of the Post-Dispatch was able to help us out, for reasons outside of his day job a the paper of record.

Bill has just seen the release of his book of found grocery lists, "Milk Eggs Vodka," which you can learn about at his ridiculously deep and entertaining website, keaggy.com. Or you can listen to him explain the project tonight at 7:30 on 88.1 fm. Or you can stream or podcast the show for the next month at kdhx.org.

The choice is yours.

Your Thoughts on the P-D Editorial Page Sought

Eddie Roth, a longtime St. Louisan who moved to Ohio a while back to take a job with the Dayton Daily News, is working on a project discussing the role of newspaper editorial pages in today's new media climate. With the opening up of the P-D's editorial page editor slot, he sent a note to Dave Drebes of the Arch City Chronicle and to 52nd City, asking readers of our blogs to contact him and/or comment on their views re: the P-D's editorial page. I'll note below a goodly chunk of the text that Eddie sent us earlier this week:

----------

I have been thinking a lot for the past two years about what's next for newspaper opinion pages -- on how they can harness new media and collaborate with the alternative press and citizen journalists and draw closer to readers (audience) and become more useful in helping to solve local problems, make democracy work better, and promote the quality of life in the community.

I've been working on these questions with some really smart, progressive, energetic opinion editors and writers from large and small dailies through the National Conference of Editorial Writers (NCEW).

The Kettering Foundation is located here in Dayton. Last fall I began conversations with them about the future of newspaper opinion pages

This has culminated in their hosting a meeting at the foundation on 6/26-6/27 organized by the NCEW how to move forward.

I see where the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will be appointing a new editorial page editor, the first such change in ten years -- a decade that has seen dramatic changes in the news industry and in how information and opinions are shared.

Here is a link to Lee Enterprises ad for the job:

http://www.lee.net/shared-content/topads/showad.php?adid=4994468

Here's what I would be interested to learn from you, your readers, and the larger community of St. Louis readers and audiences:

Would you add, omit or change anything in the job announcement to get what you would like to see in daily (mainstream) opinion journalism in St. Louis? If so, how would you rewrite the ad?

I know some people would have fun with this. Which of course is fine.

But please know this a serious inquiry, and the responses would be shared widely in the newspaper industry and could have an impact.

I would collect the comments you and your readers post and offer them for discussion at the Kettering conference (at which I am serving as "meeting reporter"). I also would share with you to pass on to your readers the reactions I receive.

City Museum Seeks Youth Filmmakers

It's official. I'm not convinced that all media efforts will soon be undertaken by teenagers and that those of us on the other side of 30 need to leave the media field as quickly and orderly as possible. On the other hand, it's a great time to be a kid with a video camera, as evidenced by this City Museum blog entry:

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

It’s official. The first-ever City Museum Film Contest has been announced. If you will still be 18 years old or younger by July 24, have access to a camera, and love City Museum, this is for you. We’ll be voting for the winning films American Idol-style, so all of America—or at least anyone who looks at the CM website—will see your handiwork. Sounds pretty cool, huh?

If you’re interested, be sure to log on to http://www.citymuseum.org/julyspecialeventsfilm.asp. There’s a link to the application form on the page, so print it out and bring it in while you’re filming. The rest of the rules and regulations are on the site. Start brainstorming—you only have about a month and a half!

New Blog: Hwy61.wordpress.com

So, wow.

Two of the bloggers at the ol' Websterbloggers.com site, Matthew Hurst and Gabe Bullard, are rowing together in a new blog forum: hwy61.wordpress.com. Half the team was located at Mangia Italiano's lunch today and reported that the domain name might shift soon, but the blog's up-and-running, as is, with several posts popping up since the May 21 debut.

Here's a brief description of the site from the first post: "Welcome to Highway61.com (domain pending), your online crossroads between St. Louis' cultural heritage and what otherwise might be called youth culture. Formed using the remnants of WebsterBloggers.com, this site expands upon that legacy to offer a unique take on the happenings in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Earth. That being said, you might expect to find any matter of concert reviews, local events, pictures, interviews, and general drunken revelry here (see also: this initial post). In the meantime, please look forward to posts almost totally unlike this rather akward first post (spelling errors, warts, and all)."

Sniff, sniff. These two make me feel that my springtime Wednesday afternoons were well-spent. Go get 'em, boys.

Pods

Pods
Originally uploaded by AkitaSan.

Matt Fernandes' Blog Machine

My goodness. I've spent virtually the entire semester in one of my Webster U. classes dissecting the new media directions of the Post-Dispatch, and I've someone missed that Matt Fernandes has been blogging away on a pair of new endeavors, including one of particular interest. Thankfully, I ran into him at a South Kingshighway nightspot over the weekend and he was a good enough enough to tell me about Rock Candy, his new local music blog. There's also a Presidential Buzz blog, but I've got some time before that gets serious. Rock'n'roll news, I need to know now.

Will be reading.

Much New @ Lofistl.com

Earlier today, Bill Streeter of lofistl.com dropped by a class of mine at Webster University, discussing both his website and the ideas and theory of video blogging/podcasting. Unbeknowst to me prior to today is that Bill's site is now a sponsored, pro entity, with lofistl now underwritten, in part, by podtech.net, an arrangement which allows him to vlog about two pieces a week.

If you've not checked the site in a bit, there are new features on Mad Art Gallery (and the Radio Hour at the same venue), Firecracker Press and Tower Grove Park, along with the usual allotment of garage-y rock'n'roll.

Do drop by.

Jet Lag Online

Only hours ago, I posted about mags, thinking "hmm, something's slipping my mind." Well, it was noting that the late, lamented STL music zine "Jet Lag" is starting to go into the online form. Ol' pal Daniel Durchholz wrote about this for the P-D and the results are starting to show at: www.jetlagmag.net.

By hook, crook, theft, purhase, or fogotten borrowing, I managed to secure a bunch of these over the years, including two of of the first five editions, which are now online.

Amazing to look back on these and the world that was zine publishing in the 1980s. All power to this format, but I miss the old one.

Mags on the Move

The most-recent edition of the St. Louis Journalism Review - labeled for February, but coming out now - is eye-opening for two reasons. One, it's the last one run under the auspices of Webster University, a story that's been playing out over the past year-and-change. More notably, the publication's gotten a facelift, with (for SJR, certainly) a radical redesign, the first for the venerable publication in nearly a decade.

And Boots Contemporary Art - which I finally visited this past weekend; a quirky stop, at that - is launching its "Boot Print" mag, both online and in print. Here's the story, direct from the source:

Boot Print Volume 1 | Issue 1 Available On-line Now

Early in 2006, Boots Contemporary Art Space launched the idea of Boot Print, a publication dedicated to contemporary art and published by artists, that would serve as a non-commercial publication of cogitations, initiatives and information. Boots Contemporary Art Space is now proud to present the inaugural Issue of Boot Print. Volume 1, Issue 1 covers Boots exhibitions and happenings; looks at five different models of artist-run spaces in Mexico, Iceland, Turkey, and the United States; discusses forms of arts publishing and distribution; features Adelheid Mers insightful diagrammatic chronicle alongside Vilem Flusser's Crisis of Linearity (1988), the first translation into English; and last, speaks with established curatorial voices about their practice, the local and international art scene, as well as the debutant Destroy Athens Biennial.

Boot Print will reach 2000 art professionals in print form via postal mail in the United States and abroad; 3000 via email in its electronic form. It will be available at Boots Contemporary Art Space and can be downloaded here and from the Boots Contemporary Art Space website, www.bootsart.com.

Welcome: WebsterFilmSeries.com

After years of puzzling over the longish URL for the Webster University Film Series - so long that I've banished it from my memory forever - the almost-impossible has come true: www.websterfilmseries.com is live. Same site, newer (easier, much easier) way of getting to it.

Perhaps best of all is the fact that a fan of the Series bought the site name and linked to the Series homepage.

True story. Short story. As true as it is short.

STL on CNN

Caught some lengthy conversation about this topic on the KFNS morning show "The Morning Grind" a bit ago, with hosts and callers weighing in on the future of Downtown. The discussion centered on a piece from CNN.com, "St. Louis poised for entertainment upswing," which was linked to STLtoday.com a few days back. If you've not seen, I'd love to link to it, but my new version of Explorer won't allow me to cut URLs.

So, go to: www.CNN.com. Scroll half-way down the page to the Travel sub-section. The first piece there today is the story in question.

And as it's always interesting to see who's quoted in such things, we have: Tom Bussmann, co-owner of Philip Slein Gallery; Patrick Welch, economics prof at SLU; Cardinals' owner Bill DeWitt; and local AIA prez John Berendzen. Jim Cloar of Downtown STL Partnership is indirectly quoted.

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

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.

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.

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.

Mayor Slay on YouTube

Being a weekly visitor to the old Farmer's Market, I recognize a few faces from the latest video missive of Carson Minow's, found at MayorSlay.com and... now at YouTube, as well.

Here's a link to the SFM piece: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MayorSlay.

Rob Levy Is Going to the Movies...

... and is writing about them. His St. Louis International Film Festival blog can be found at Gatewayarts.net.

Finally caught a presentation myself at the St. Louis Art Museum last night, but I think I'll hit pause on that blog effort. Hmm. Quirky event.

Lofistl.com Takes a Vloggie

Bill Streeter's popular labor of love, lofistl.com, has taken a vloggie for Best Entertainment Vlog (Non-Ficiton) at last Saturday's Vloggie Awards. Check his site for details - and quite a photo from the event!

"Cardinals Clay"

Okay. Two things. One: I'm officially needing a little time-out from Cardinal championship talk. I'm all good with the title, but feel like I've enjoyed a large meal and need to push away from the media table for a bit, re: baseball. Two: I wasn't going to mention every new Carson Minow piece for Mayor Slay's site, but this week's entry, her second, is so old-school amusing I had to send you that way:

http://www.mayorslay.com/stlouistraffic/

Jeff Suppan says: "No on 2"

Wow. Every so often I wonder if there's an active, progressive pro athlete in this entire country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nguJQ_dRPXw

The Potato?

Okay, I'll take the bait.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Ms./Mr. Potato:

http://thepotato.wordpress.com/

Gotta confess, a couple of the "headlines" had me laughing out loud. Who under this little tent of St. Louis writer/wonks is up to this impish pursuit? (Some might blame Franklin Jennings, but 52nd City's confirmed that it's not him.) Hmm, very interesting.

Minow on Smith on Slay

Carson Minow's v-logging debut on MayorSlay.com is an impressive one, featuring the late blues musician Bennie Smith. Produced by local photographer Molly Hayden, the piece runs at just over four-minutes and can be found here:

http://www.mayorslay.com/stlouistraffic/

On Irish Anarchy and Social Ecology (and such)

It's been noted recently that this site has (intentionally or not) been consistently free of information on anarchist writings in the Irish milieu. In attempting to correct this problem, we note the recent penwork of CD Stelzer, longtime Riverfront Times staff writer and freelancer to many other publications, who's recently crafted a piece on the CIA, Irish airports and military prisons around the world. 'Tis here:

www.bluegreenearth.com

Carson Minow on MayorSlay.com

MayorSlay.com's newest add is Carson Minow, a filmmaker I happen to know through Webster University connections (along with the 48 Hour Film Project and maybe a trip, or two, to Mangia Italiano...). Her vlog will begin in October, according to a note posted to the site late this week:

Carson Minow is MayorSlay.com’s newest contributor.

Her on-going video project for MayorSlay.com, St. Louis Traffic, will begin in October 2006.

Firecracker Press on "Living St. Louis"

Missed the original broadcast, but caught the webcast. Our publication's cover designer, The Firecracker Press, was recently on KETC's "Living St. Louis," with a piece by producer Jim Kirchherr.

Not only is the Firecracker piece found in the Channel 9 archives, so are dozens of interesting new pieces.

Find 'em here:

http://www.ketc.org/productions/productions_livingSTL_videoArchive.asp

Good stuff.

Playback STL Goes Web-Only

Local storestacks will look a bit less busy in coming months, as Playback St. Louis will scale down to a web-only publication. Responding to some local conversation about the future of the pub, Jim Dunn, in an e-mail today, confirmed what'd been floating around town in recent weeks.

After transitioning over recent months towards a run at national distribution, the husband-wife publishing team of art director Dunn and editor Laura Hamlett will bring the mag solely back to the web, with both working on other efforts, in addition to the online publication. Hamlett, for example, has been doing PR work for bands, including Lorenzo Goetz, while Dunn will focus on web and graphic design.

The Lettuceheads: Online

One of the more highly-praised acts of the early-mid '90s music scene, the Lettucheads are inching back into live performance.

Their minimalist website: www.thelettuceheads.com.

Worth checking out are the old flyers. Some club names of yore there!

Vlogging Class Tonight

Everybody's got one. Or, at least, wants one. Learn to videoblog tonight, at KDHX, with local guru Bill Streeter of www.lofistl.com. If you've not been there in a bit, check out the piece on the Arch Rival Rollergirls.

Contact Korinne Fischer of KDHX @ 314-664-3955 for reservations. Believe a couple of slots are still open.

Recommended Surfing

Taking a cue from thecommonspace.org, here are a few sites, blogs and photo spreads that are taking up my comptuer time of late:

insidestl.com/mckernan/ - my new boss cracks me up
randomredhead.blogspot.com - don't know this person; feel like I should
midcenturydream.blogspot.com - Darren's back posting!
webster.edu/filmseries/ - new calendar out for Aug.-Oct.
flickr.com/photos/nickfindley/ - enjoying this cat's photos
justinvisnesky.com - ditto
www.flickr.com/bk/ - Post photo editor documents national sandwich month

Any recommendations out there for local content?

For All 52nd City Boxing Fans

I know there are many of you out there. Hundreds, if not thousands. Well, finally, here's a blip for you.

Glenn McBrady, the fine fight writer of the St. Louis American, is part of a feature on maxboxing.com, without much argument the most comprehensive and roiling boxing website out there. Even if you're not a particular fan of the sweet science, but you do enjoy the written word, this piece may be for you, as it's all about "writers as fighters."

A fun read.

City Bar Reviews

Forgive the bit of shillery, but I've been doing bar reviews for a site called InsideSTL.com for a couple months now. Apparently, interested parties have not yet found themselves tripping over my columns there in large number, so I need to do a bit of URL-pointing today.

In the past couple weeks, I've typed up a ton of city locations, including: Mangia Italiano, the Royale, Atomic Cowboy, Kickers Corner, Throttle, Milo's, Kilroy's, the Great Grizzly Bear, the Shamrock Pub and AMP, among others. Today's is on the Iron Barley.

Here's the URL.

I - and my pocketbook - thank you.

Brick Blog

Christian Herman - once the proprietor of the missed RE:Generation on So. Grand - is photoblogging about bricks, St. Louis bricks:

http://stlouisbricks.blogspot.com/

New Web Content

Greetings. New web content is now available at 52ndcity.com, with our web magazine updated for the quarter. Content includes stories, poems and photos from: Andrea Avery, Katherine Bish, Joe Esser, Randy Grim, Chris King, Jane Linders, Christian Saller, Rob Thurman. We're truly pleased to present work by this exceptional group of contributors.

Note, too, that issue #2 of our magazine, "Faith," will be distributed throughout the weekend at our normal distribution points: Hartford Coffee Company, The Royale, Left Bank Books, Subterranean Books, Dunaway Books, Vintage Vinyl and Tension Head; or tonight at Mad Art Gallery. Thanks.

Vloggercue '06

Thanks to the efforst of famed STL vlogger Bill Steeter, the Vloggercue 2006 will be coming to St. Louis in August. The event will feature a barbecue for local, regaional and national vloggers, as well as a live screening at The Royale. There's a running event update here.

Also, Streeter will begin a twice-monthly vlog screening at the same venue, The Royale, beginning in the next month. Check his site for more info on "Bill Streeter's Media Ditch."

Building Arts Foundation: Flickr-ing

The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation is now adding some shots to flickr. Though it's a modest collection right now, a couple new images were added in the last two days. Looking forward to many more.

"Midwestern Goodness"

Stumbled across a site called MidwesternGoodness today that's quite enjoyable, and definitely a kindred spirit with 52nd City. In fact, they mention St. Louis on their "about us" page:

"MidwesternGoodness is based upon the principle of 'reppin where you’re from.' For far too long, the midwest has grown and cultivated talented people and groups from St.Louis to Cleveland, but then passed those individuals on to other regions. This site is about having pride in where we come from and developing our culture whether its the cornfields or the city. The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter where we come from in the midwest, it’s all goodness."

There's too much Chi-town in there for my taste, but I guess I'm sort of an extremist when it comes to boosting the Lou. I still say to them: Rock on!

Goin' to the Liquor Store

Should everyone be vlogging? Really? These are the questions that I find myself asking almost daily in June, 2006. Why, just today, I was sent the following note from www.stlhiphop.com:

A few werdz from our sponsor: Beer Run
http://www.youtube.com/v/mH1D8CjcRJI
It was a dark and stormy night when b-gyrl & Willaka Pimpjuice went on
a beer run on a mission to hit every liquor store in the Lou, buying
and consuming a drink each time, needless to say they were f'kd up by the
time they got to the home of pig feets & pickled eggs.

Mayor Slay is Pro-Tattoo

At the very least, his website is:

http://www.mayorslay.com/podcasts/

Which leads one to wonder: Is Hizzoner rockin' any ink? I'm thinking a little Arch or "STL" on the shoulderblade. That'd be tastefully civic.

Bill Streeter: Live x Two

Gaining an added dose of notoriety with a recent appearance on the cover of the Riverfront Times, Bill Streeter's been vlogging about St. Louis for a bit now, at his well-populated site www.lofistl.com. (And isn't it just fun to type, speak or even think about the word "vlogging"?)

This week, Streeter will be heard on the KDHX talk show "The Wire" on Monday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. And on Saturday, the 25th, he'll be playing about an hour's worth of material at Philip Slein Gallery, with KDHX's Kopper playing a DJ set prior to the video.

Da Mayor's Hip-Hop Podcast

Quite curious. Mayor Slay's website features a quartet of St. Louis-based acts in Potzee, Alisha Rene, Focus and P. Dub (the one-time Pretty Willie Suella of Rap Snacks fame), each putting their spin on a holiday tune.

Our favorite feature on the site, meanwhile, "The Big Picture" finds photographer Mike Defilippo in a seasonal mood, himself.

Mayoral Comix

It appears that the Mayor's page is adding some animation:

"This Sunday, MayorSlay.com will introduce a new feature. 'Field Trip,' drawn by cartoonist Steve Edwards, will offer a pint-sized perspective on the news of the week. Like all kids, the Field Trippers will have plenty of questions. Mr. Edwards, Mayor Francis Slay, and the staff of MayorSlay.com will have their hands full trying to answer them."

Hmm.

Q-and-A with: Lee Ranaldo

Had an opportunity to interview Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth this past week, in advance of his appearance in St. Louis with his side-project Text of Light at Webster University. On Saturday, the group will be performing alongside the films of experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage, at the Winifred Moore Auditorium. Tickets are $10 at: 314-968-7487.

This is the full version of the interview, granted because of a story written for the Post-Dispatch. That shorter version of this Q/A is running in today's "Get Out" section of the P-D and I thank Michael Steinberg of the WUFS and Cliff Froehlich for helping make this chance available to me. It was no small amount of fun.

By Thomas Crone

The opportunity to interview Lee Ranaldo was too appealing to even think of passing up. Coming to St. Louis as part of Text of Light, an all-star improv group dedicated to playing along to the films of Stan Brakhage, Ranaldo gave up 15-minutes of a recent Friday morning to discuss this single-outing gig. And we even snuck in a Sonic Youth question at the end. Part of this interview ran in the Thursday, September 15 edition of “Get Out” in the Post-Dispatch. The rest of the questions and answers, though, appear only here, in full text.

TC: How does this show fit into your schedule?
Ranaldo: We’re just coming out to do the one date. We do some touring, on occasion. We’ve toured Europe this year, with tours, for us, being four or five shows. More often that not, we’re playing cinemas and festivals. But not all shows are linked together.