The dog days of summer have ended and autumn has hastily joined us. Sadly, the lazy, hazy days of summer included some pretty nasty storms. While the flooding in my neck of the woods was not awful, the high winds did knock some trees down. But what got to me was the humidity. I hate how cruddy you feel when it gets humid here in the big city.
But no matter the weather, I have spent time over the last few months mostly sequestered inside. This is mostly because I have had deadlines for outlets and radio shows to record for The Face Radio and Louder Than War Radio.
However, being mostly inside has made me mopey. It’s weird. I am a social person, but the stupidity of folks over the last few years has made me more secluded. There are a lot of dumb folks out there. So, rather than be around throngs of crowds, I am happy to stay in, have a sulk, some tea, and a book.
I have tried to remain upbeat. I have had an uptick in writing projects on my plate from Broadway World St. Louis, St. Louis Magazine, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I also had music and book stuff to write to. It’s been great getting some work from these outlets.
Theater season is in full swing. So, I am reviewing a lot of stuff as year winds down. St. Louis has so many independent theater companies doing amazing work. Please, go see a play!
I also wrote a bunch of opera reviews. I love writing those, but it sucks when the performances run exceedingly long. Mercifully, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis programmed a slate of productions this year that did not run over two and a half hours.
There is a lot of great music out right now, The The, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The The, Bug Club, Pixies and Cold Cave have all dropped new music. Here are some samplings.
I am beyond excited to hear the new album from The Cure.
On March 16th I saw The Dandy Warhols at Delmar Hall. They loved strobe lights. They were everywhere in their set. Dropping textured layers of feedback and psychedelia their set was tight. The band’s first stop here in seven years featured Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth, Godless, along with new jams like Summer of Hate and I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem. It was a good show.
The Slowdive concert at The Pageant on May 4th was a highlight of the spring. The band didn’t say much to the audience but didn’t need to.
They opened with Shanty and moved deeper into their catalog. Catch The Breeze was incredible as was Kisses, my favorite cut from their latest album. They closed with a textured and spacious cover of Syd Barrett’s Golden Hair that blew everyone away.
The band had never played here before and were clearly moved by the response they received. I last saw them in 1991 when they played a CMJ showcase with Blur.
Khruangbin played here on October 2nd and 3rd. I didn’t see them on the second night, but they were fantastic on the first one. From start to finish their set mesmerized.
Staged on a minimalist stage with video projections, they ripped through a tight set that featured a wide range of songs from their catalog, including Pon Pon, Les Petis Gris, A Love International, Shida, and May Ninth.
I expected them to be great, but they were astounding. It is a bummer that they played way the heck out in Chesterfield though. It would have been nice if they played closer to the city.
The return of Thievery Corporation on October 3rd was also a mesmeric night of music. The last time they played The Pageant was a fantastic night of music and this one also did not disappoint. They did a cool acoustic set featuring songs from Saudade. Lebanese Blonde was a personal highlight.
They adeptly mixed reggae, Brazilian, soul, and electronic vibes throughout the evening, creating a musical tapestry that had everyone energized.
Air streamed their Royal Albert Hall show. They played all of Moon Safari and a few other tracks. It was incredible.
Visually it was stunning. The modular set design really fit their musical aesthetic. They also did a great job of incorporating lights and projections. La Femme d’ argent, Remember and Ce matin-la were my favorites.
I hate Iron & Wine. They are boring.
More people need to use the word “gizmo.” It covers so many things.
I have started watching Zang Yimou’s films again. Most of them are not easily available on streaming services. Thankfully, the libraries here have a few of them. I saw 1991’s Raise the Red Lantern recently.
It had been over a decade since I saw it last. I knew Gong Li was terrific in it, but I forgot how great the entire ensemble was. Like his Fifth Generation compatriots, his films are gorgeous. The cinematography is fantastic. Zimou was a pretty big deal in the 1990s and early 2000s. There should be a proper remaster of his films, but the rights are in limbo.
I also saw The Outrun which stars Saoirse Ronan as Rona, a young woman who lived a rowdy life life on the edge in London. She’s a mess.
An alcoholic with a messed up family life, she returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, where she grew up, hoping to heal. There she takes up a job working in isolated places. This allows her to reflect and heal.
It is a very intense film with beautiful shots of bleak and cold places, in the Orkneys. It’s a good vehicle for Ronan, whom I had not seen recently on film.
The 4K restoration of Seven Samurai screened at the Hi-Pointe. The new restoration is fantastic. They also cleaned up the score, so the music sounds incredible now.
The new print makes the battle sequences even more impressive. It feels more immersive than it has before. After 70 years this film is still great!
Farewell Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. I had so many late nights there. Each and everyone was a freak show. They served everyone. It was cool because when you went you had an amazing cross section of St. Louis. Punks, club kids, truckers, drag queens, drunks, burnouts, sports fans, any combination of which could show up for a meal. It was communal and awesome.
The food was not always the best, but the atmosphere was out of this world. Their pancakes were always fluffy and the bacon was never too crispy or bendy. They also had the best straight-up black coffee in town.
The attitude of folks there was also hilarious. The front-of-house staff just didn’t care. They were grumpy and took no flack from everyone. They hated split checks.
Until m y last visit I was not aware that it used to be a steak house and lounge run by the Cheshire in folks. Also, four of its owners were named Bill.
If you want some outside-of-the-box Halloween reading, try Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India by Rakesh Khanna and professional exorcist J. Furcifer Bhairav.
The illustrated book is packed with stories, folktales, and real-life tales of the underworld from all over India, including Ladakh, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Naraka , Tuchenkwaka, and more!
New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein has authored a nifty new graphic novel about Albert Einstein’s time in Prague. Einstein in Kafkaland is set in 1911 as Einstein travels to the city to take up his new job as a professor of theoretical physics.
Teaching in the German section of what is now Charles University, Einstein has a lot going on. He has money issues, his family hates it there, and he must prove his theory of relativity. While in Prague, he crosses paths with a broad range of characters, including a young Franz Kafka.
Combining Krimstein’s unique illustrations with a clever narrative style, the book is a quick and informative read. You also don’t need to know much about physics to enjoy it.
The last season of The Bear was a nail biter. I did not like it as much as previous seasons, but I think it is still an amazing show.
I also watched Manhunt which is about John Wilkes Booth and his flight after he shoots Lincoln. The book was really good, the series is kind of meh. Tobias Menzies is good as Edwin Stanton, but he looks nothing like him in real life. The Secretary of War who hunted Booth had a serious beard and glasses. None of which we see onscreen. They also changed some things about Booth’s demise which bugged me.
Appliance News
A washer and dryer have mysteriously arrived in the basement. There is no clue as to whom they belong to, but so far, we have been able to do laundry without having to use any coins, which saves some money. Everyone has been chill about sharing it, and the landlord has not wigged out about using it. This is fantastic news, of course, because the coin-operated ones break all the bloody time.
An air fryer has arrived. It is an older model but it still works perfectly.
The biggest excitement however is the arrival of the ceiling fan. There has been a need for one forever, but it wasn’t until the centuries-old chandelier in the living room broke off from the ceiling that one game. Again, the property manager just said it was time to get one. Really, after a decade you decide this now? Anyway, the fan is pretty rad and it made a difference when it was super hot in the summer.
Fixture and Furniture News
The bathroom window was in sad shape. It had a hole in the frame and the wood was rotting. To repair it they built up around it. So now we can’t open the window. Plus, there have been issues with the new paint they put on it. The new pane is peeling off because they were stupid and didn’t use sealant. It has been two weeks since they came back again to work on it and so far everything is dry and not peeling.
A hinge on the vanity cabinet broke off and for a few days, the door was loose and wonky. The property overlord decided it was just better to get a new sink and vanity. This is a welcome relief. The only hassle is that they got a smaller one (24 inches instead of 30) so now there is some rearranging that is happening. While this experience has been a pain, the new facet is amazing.
The last bit of repairs (for now) was a step on the back stairwell. The stairs have been in sad shape for a while now. The black iron steps have had some rust eating away at them and subsequently, have been bolstered and reinforced over the last few years. But about two weeks ago the inevitable happened. One of the steps broke free from the foundation. Thus, the last rung of stairs is unusable. Luckily, the property manager had a contractor around who could fix it rather quickly.
I apologize for the long wait between posts. There is just so much out to see, hear and listen to. It is maddening. I cannot keep up.
When I set this up I was hoping to do it more frequently, but things keep popping up that keep me busy. I will endeavor to do better next time.
STLCurmudgeon 
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