TCB > May 2004

Well, it's a sad day, folks, but Linda Tucci (arguably the first lady of good STL dish, no disrespect to Peterson) is packing up her laptop and headed to Beantown.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., May 28, 2004 at 11:34 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Business District

Mon., Tues.: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Wed., Thur.: 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Fri.: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sat.: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sun.: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

We'll be closed on Memorial Day.

Posted by Brian Marston on Fri., May 28, 2004 at 10:25 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Commonspace

well, we're getting back in the game that ended badly when the Forest Park Shuttle Bug was discontinued a while back...Metro (formerly Bi-State) has unveiled its summer people-mover, the Zip2 shuttle, that will truck people (this is, of course, mainly aimed at visitors to town) from MetroLink to the various Forest Park attractions.

Hey, Schoemehl may wish we'd all just get over it, but we gotta milk this 2004/1904/1804 thing for all it's worth!

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Wed., May 26, 2004 at 4:13 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Other

Our parking lot was on TV! During a KSDK segment featuring Mary Strauss complaining that the Fox doesn't have enough surface parking (puh-leese!), our own little slab of asphalt took a star turn. The audio went like this: "Wednesday was a big night at the Fox Theater. Hundreds of students took the stage. Their parents packed the parking lot." The video showed the lot reserved exclusively for visitors to Gary's / People's Coffee / The Commonspace, which was indeed packed by Fox patrons. You can tell the cars' owners weren't at Gary's because there weren't any cars down the middle of the lot blocking in everyone else.

On the night of the recent David Bowie concert at the Fox, I counted 11 cars in our lot. Gary's and People's Coffee / The Commonspace were closed at the time. Gee, I wonder where those people were.

Posted by Brian Marston on Wed., May 26, 2004 at 12:58 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Commonspace

As reported by Linda Tucci in the Post, five (5!) French restaurants/bars are coming to the Continental Life Building in Grand Center. The complex will open under the umbrella name of Le Continental and cost about $1 million to build out.

When asked for a comment, Groundskeeper Willie had this to say: listen

Posted by Brian Marston on Wed., May 26, 2004 at 12:19 AM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | Business District

Zagat Survey's new "U.S. Family Travel Guide" ranked the Magic House in Kirkwood as the national attraction with the most child appeal, beating out both Disneyland (L.A.) and Disney's Magic Kingdom (Orlando).

It's a cliché, but it's true: St. Louis is a great place to raise a family.

How many of you who grew up here have a button featuring a picture of you touching that electrostatic ball thing with your hair standing on end? Can I get a show of hands in the comments?

Posted by Brian Marston on Tue., May 25, 2004 at 11:31 PM
Link & Discuss (2 comments) | STL in the News

Mad props to Martell for taping and editing a nicely done video of the 4/17/04 Breakin' @ The Commonspace session. Download it while you can; it's taking up 19 MB of disk space on our server, so I'm not sure how long I'll leave it up there. Put that broadband connection to work!

Update: I took the video off our server to free up some disk space. But don't despair — thanks to Danne, you can download it from DjESIGNS.com.

Posted by Brian Marston on Wed., May 19, 2004 at 8:33 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | The Commonspace

An interview with landscape architect Martha Schwartz in the 5/16/04 issue of The New York Times Magazine fits nicely with this month's From the Editor piece in The Commonspace.

Choice quote:

The problem is that our notion of the quality of life ends at our front door.

Posted by Brian Marston on Wed., May 19, 2004 at 8:00 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Commonspace

In addition to being a great writer and talk show host, Julia Smillie is also an accomplished webmaster. She's the Queen of All Media! Over on the Free Candy site, she's posted new photos from the first three episodes, complete with funny captions. Check them out, and be sure you're in the house for the next show on Sunday, May 23. Once you miss it, it's gone.

Posted by Brian Marston on Sat., May 15, 2004 at 2:20 AM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | The Commonspace

Yes, yes y'all: it's another video clip of Breakin' @ The Commonspace

Posted by Brian Marston on Fri., May 14, 2004 at 2:26 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Commonspace

Good read in today's NYTimes about the crossover between the hip hop and fashion worlds, including a mention of Russell Simmons' Phat Farm deal with St. Louis' global apparel giant Kellwood...but alas, no nod to the Apple Bottom-ed among us.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., May 14, 2004 at 12:24 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | STL in the News

In the May/June 04 issue of Art Papers magazine, St. Louis scores the cover story, with a feature written by Ivy Cooper called "Surviving St. Louis: Is there a good side to being an artist outside a first-tier city?" The conclusion, unsurprisingly, is yes!

Along with lots of good press for some of our favorite artists, galleries (hi, Urbis Orbis and Fort Gondo!), and St. Louis amenities, check this:

"Artists in St. Louis have their share of struggles, but no one I talked to wanted to leave. On the contrary, they feel that recent developments in the St. Louis art scene point to better days on the horizon. A number of community-based art organizations have opened up in the past few years, including Art Dimensions, The Commonspace in Midtown, the Art Coop downtown and Fort Gondo. Each of these organizations has one foot in the arts and one foot in urban revitalization, which appears to be the best recipe for success for any artistic undertaking in the city."

That's it, we can't talk to the little people anymore: we'll be too busy swilling Chardonnay with the art set.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Thu., May 13, 2004 at 2:37 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | STL in the News

Tune into KDHX 88.1 FM on Wednesday, May 19 at 7:50 p.m. to hear Nancy Kranzberg interview me about The Commonspace on her Arts Interview segment.

Posted by Brian Marston on Thu., May 13, 2004 at 2:13 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Commonspace

This is just too pathetic to pass up:

The front page of the Metropolis St. Louis website is sporting an announcement about a new series on VH1 (AKA MTV for old people). Aside from the questionable premise of the show in question (how many more of these stupid reality TV / American Idol shows can they pump out?), the contest is open only to people over the age of 25. Hello? I thought Metropolis was supposed to be the voice of young St. Louisans.

Of course, it stopped fulfilling that role long ago. The average age of a Metropolis member is 36.6 and only 29% are under 30 (compared to 61% five years ago). At least two Metropolis steering committee members are north of 40, and I'm not talking about the highway.

So much for providing leadership opportunities for young people. Once again, a bunch of old people are trying to figure out what these mysterious young folks like and what will attract them to our fair city. Hint: it's not VH1.

"Haven't you forgotten something, Gramps?
In order to feel something you have to be there
You have to be eighteen
You're not eighteen"
-- Words of Advice For Young People by William S. Burroughs

Posted by Brian Marston on Tue., May 11, 2004 at 1:16 AM
Link & Discuss (2 comments) | Other

Tim Boyle bought the house at 3539 Hartford on 5/4/2001 for $77,000.00 with the intention of turning it into a parking lot for the St. Louis Bread Co. During the ensuing demolition hearings, he argued that the building was not worth saving. Now he's got it listed for $134,900 (MLS ID#: 357422). As far as I know, he hasn't done any work on it, which is artfully spun on the listing flyer as "priced right and ready for Buyers' updates."

Can we vote this guy off the island?

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., May 10, 2004 at 7:41 PM
Link & Discuss (2 comments) | People

Calvin James Lackey joined us at 6:38 p.m. today. He's the first child of Kim (my sister) and Steve Lackey, and shares a May birthday with his dad, two great-grandpas, and Uncle Brian.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., May 3, 2004 at 11:27 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | People