TCB > March 2006

Wanna see the home of anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly? Yeah, you know you do: she has a spinning wheel! There's more scoop from the NY Times visit...

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Thu., Mar 30, 2006 at 1:39 PM
Link & Discuss (2 comments) | STL in the News

As announced from the stage at tonight's Undertow Records showcase at Blueberry Hill: the family of John Horton--regular or fill-in guitarist for seemingly every group in town--has welcomed a baby girl (Grace) to the fold. Congrats and remember: it's never to early to start a child's musical education!

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Sun., Mar 26, 2006 at 12:59 AM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

That's "new day" to you, or more to the point, the new year as celebrated by thousands in the diaspora who yearn for Kurdish independence.

So, the tangential hook here is that on today's public radio program "The World," a story about Kurdish musical phenom Sivan Perwer was undertaken at the suggestion of a listener, Ghodar Soufi, a Kurd from northern Iraq now living right here in the Lou.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Mar 21, 2006 at 5:07 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | STL in the News

Local boy Peat Wollaeger has an entry in the international K-Swiss shoe design competition. Somehow, he managed to stencil an intricate piece of artwork on a pair of all-white tennis shoes.

You have to register to vote for the winner. Peat is currently in first place by four votes.

Posted by Brian Marston on Tue., Mar 21, 2006 at 2:19 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

Add a weekly recipe to an improvisational cook, mix with good measures of wry editorial comment, and what ensues is hilarity...plus some pretty great-looking dishes! That's the formula over at OMGSNAX! (a subsidiary, along with OMGBOOX!, of puhleez.net), the online home of the extracurricular musings of one of the suits over at Maplehood Rekkids. Good fun. Check the archives, too.

Here's a sample of the chef's commentary, this for apple crisp:

"DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
again with the baking pan size issue -- well, 9x9 is approximately the same as 11x7, right? let's hope so, b/c that's all i've got that's even close.

& deep breath, b/c for such an easy recipe, i made a shocking number of omissions, starting with: cardamom. b/c $12 a bottle = no. especially for a measly quarter of a teaspoon. i'm sure it adds something, but sing it with me: $12.

i used pink lady apples b/c they were the only appropriate baking apples i could find at dierberg's last night around 9pm. totally ignored the merest hint of a suggestion of walnuts, as it's been established previously that i apparently can't stand them. & the irish whiskey? i don't even know where to start. so i didn't. i'm not too broken up about it b/c i generally can't stand the taste of liquor in desserty things, but i just thought i should put it out there that i really screwed around with the recipe a fair amount.

so let me start by saying that there's no way this so-called "20 minutes" of prep time could be accurate in any universe that involves peeling 2 pounds of apples unless it's a magic universe where apples have skins like bananas. but here on earth, they don't, & so 20 minutes of prep time is more like an hour when you factor in all the tedious peeling. which, fine. i'm just saying."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Mon., Mar 20, 2006 at 2:53 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Fun Links

Maybe it's a homegrown response to the only other major music awards in town, but area fans may be cheered to hear that KDHX and Playback:STL are teaming up to produce The St. Louis Music Awards, to be handed out later this spring.

A quick check of the KDHX page devoted to the awards shows 30 categories (including "noise" and "producer--hip hop"), with instructions to nominate up to five of your faves in each category...but then no real clear explanation of how to do that? Once the kinks get worked out, we bet it'll be a hotly contested undertaking, with all those music geeks at both the radio station and the magazines joining forces.

UPDATE: new information on the awards: "awards ceremony will be held on May 2 at Mississippi Nights with live performances from local talent."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Sun., Mar 19, 2006 at 4:22 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | The Media

Have you ever wondered how many CSB complaints have been filed about the problem property on your block? Or what permits were pulled for your house before you bought it? Or how many employees work within a quarter mile of a certain address? Or how much residents within a one-mile radius of a business district spend on entertainment in a year? Or how many restaurants are within a half mile of your office? Or what percentage of people who live within a one-mile radius of your house leave for work between 8 and 8:29 a.m.?

All this information and much more is available on Geo St. Louis, part of the city's Community Information Network. Most of the hot info porn is in the Parcel Data section.

Posted by Brian Marston on Thu., Mar 16, 2006 at 3:35 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | Fun Links

Also reported recently in the St. Louis Business Journal: Metro is in negotiations with an unnamed vendor to provide short (5-20 minute) helicopter sightseeing rides, originating on a barge to be located 100 feet north of the north leg of the Arch. Five minutes hardly seems worth it, no? Maybe it's more then plenty, though; the few times I've been in a helicopter, it required a bottle full of ginger tablets and some serious visualization to keep from tossing my cookies.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Tue., Mar 7, 2006 at 4:10 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | Business District

St. Louis has suddenly discovered Cbabi! Since we hosted one of his art openings at The Commonspace, of course, we couldn't be prouder to add to the accolades his current show ("Our Family Portrait," on view at the stellar Portfolio Gallery) is getting. Here's a story from stltoday.com -- you gotta dig a dude who can paint with a baby strapped to his back!

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Mon., Mar 6, 2006 at 9:27 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | People

You go ahead on, Playback:stl magazine! The March issue, out now (and now, seemingly, getting $2.95 a pop for its bad self wherever it ain't free) is shiny, happy paper all the way through, and full-color, and pretty substantial.

Not bad for a project editor Laura Hamlett once described as resembling "the birth of a monster."

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Mon., Mar 6, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | The Media

The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group is presenting a series of four free workshops aimed at potential rehabbers.

All of the sessions are on Saturdays from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. at 2800 N. 14th St. Here's the schedule:

Session #1 - March 4, 2006: The Buildings and the Scope of Work
Session #2 - March 18, 2006: Funding, Financing & Other Money Matters
Session #3 - April 1, 2006: It's Historical! The challenge of restoring Historic Properties & How to take advantage of Historic Tax Credits
Session #4 - April 22, 2006: Managing Your Project

Due to limited space, advance registration is requested. Contact Irvetta Williams-Toler at 314-241-5031 to RSVP.

I'm registered for sessions 2 and 4.

Posted by Brian Marston on Mon., Mar 6, 2006 at 1:04 PM
Link & Discuss (0 comments) | Other

From today's edition (March 3-9) of the St. Louis Business Journal, a study in the problem of young-people retention: an ad, on page 9, for Jefferson Wells, a Clayton financial firm, reads as follows:

"They've got the new suits. We've got the old pros. Some firms hire right off the college campus, dress their new hires in nice suits, and put them on your critical assignment. Not us. Jefferson Wells only hires experienced professionals...On-the-job training is fine. But not when it's your job."

Is it any wonder that Anna Navarro's career advice column, about fifty pages later, addresses how "Young workers encounter age discrimination, too"?

Young people! Stay in St. Louis! No, wait: get the hell out.

Posted by Amanda Doyle on Fri., Mar 3, 2006 at 3:42 PM
Link & Discuss (1 comment) | The Media

Home Eco, St. Louis' first environmentally friendly home goods store opens this month in South St. Louis. The retail store and showroom brings St. Louisans a new way to shop for planet-friendly products for home and garden.

Located at 4611 Macklind Avenue in the South Hampton neighborhood, just four blocks south of Chippewa at Devonshire, Home Eco offers a range of renewable, sustainable, recycled and just plain good-for-the-earth goods for the home.

Native St. Louisans Terry Winkelmann and Phil Judd conceived of the idea after discovering many of the products the couple needed for their new home were not available in St. Louis stores.

"There are a lot of virtual 'green' stores on the web and mail order catalogs," notes Winkelmann, "but I don't always want to try things sight unseen, or pay for shipping heavy items like a compost tumbler. I guess I'm a Show-Me Stater, but I have to see something to know if I really need it."

National news media like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal call retailers who embrace the concept "Green General Stores," "Eco Boutiques," or "Sustainable Living Stores."

A sampling of Home Eco's selection of sustainably made products includes: composters, bamboo and cork flooring, bioplastic trash bags, recycling bins, organic cotton sheets, hemp apparel, soy candles, kenaf cards, and soon, solar panels and other renewable energy products.

Store hours are Tuesday through Friday 11 to 7 and Saturday 10 to 4.

Winkelmann, a writer and real estate agent who grew up in the neighborhood, manages the store, while Judd, who also owns Acme Information Technology, brings his technical expertise to the renewable energy side of the new business. Both are members of Green Drinks, Co-op America, and Heartland Renewable Energy Society.

For more information, contact Terry Winkelmann or Phil Judd at 351-2000 during store hours.

Posted by Brian Marston on Thu., Mar 2, 2006 at 2:37 PM
Link & Discuss (4 comments) | Business District