Spinning around town in the next month:

Tonight, 10 p.m. – 1:15 a.m., The Royale

Tuesday, September 2, 10 p.m. – 2:30 a.m., The Halo (after-set of Squeeze and Aimee Mann!)

Friday, September 12, 6 – 10 p.m., The Royale

Friday, September 26, 10 p.m. – 1:15 a.m., The Royale

And (most) every Friday on KDHX, from noon – 2 p.m. with Silver Tray.

Plus: a fill-in for Rob Levy on Juxtaposition, Wednesday, September 24, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. An all-’80s/wave special.

Okay, admittedly still learning about how to use this whole “digital video thing” over at the YouTube website. Nonetheless, the past weekend’s mood is captured in full, vivid color below. At the very least, in slightly-pixellated, grainy color.

Great term. Love it and hope it makes it in common usage.

Been trying to inculcate myself into National Sandwich Month project for years.

Finally, success. Yes!

What delicious irony: to have a piece on the Beacon and a namecheck on the Platform. On the very same day.

For the Beacon, it’s a piece on hookah bars, including one located about 100-yards from the homestead. Lesson: those young people are always up to something.

For the Platform, I’m cited by Eddie Roth, now a prolific editorial page blogger for the P-D. The piece is really about Archbishop Burke, but I’ll go ahead and claim the article as, mostly, about me.

Feeling oh so digital.

It’s in the books. Or the web pages. Or something.

Looking at my flickr account, I realize that I haven’t posted anything since April 13, 2008. That’s owing to a few reasons.

1. My camera was broken for a time, after taking six, equidistant bounces across the Record Exchange parking lot. After repair (executed in Honduras? Pakistan? Kokomo, IN?), the camera’s still not fully, consistently operational, a problem that’ll be dealt with shortly.

2. I have a second camera, but don’t like it. My theory is that the $250 price-point on electronics is the one at which you begin to make mistakes.

3. All my photos of a recent vintage have been of desolate, abandoned, ravished places. To look at my photo set, you’d think that St. Louis has little more than: half-demolished industries and youth soccer players of color. As a civic-minded person, this imbalance has vexed me.

And 4. Because of the pressure of posting flickr photo #1,000 (pressure? by whom? how do I imagine these things?), I simply sat at photo #999 until the perfect image came along. Which it didn’t, because of item #1 above. Yow. Painful.

Anyway, after combing the archives, I’ve decided to post up a little piece that reminds me of item #3. After walking around the (edit:) St. Louis Southwestern Freight Depot a few months back, I came across a group of gentlemen, who seemed to be ambling from the nearest St. Louis City Correctional Department facility, just up Broadway. After clutching my gear a bit tighter, I offered a “hello” and they offered the opportunity for a photo. I didn’t sense that I had a choice, per se, so “click, click” went the camera. Two shots. Then outta there.

I have a feeling I’ve told this story on this blog before. I suppose I could check. But I won’t. I’ll simply post. Here. And at flickr.

Photo #1,000. Done. Whew.

It’s been up for a just a touch, but it’s still fresh.

The Food issue of 52nd City has arrived, but unlike past issues, it’s online exclusively. Long story short, this one’s serving as the transitional element between our quarterly offerings and the new form from here-on-out, a twice-annual release. The current, online issue, though, suffers no harm in shifting delivery systems, as we’ve got, arguably, one of our strongest and most-enjoyable collection of pieces yet. (The Thom Fletcher piece, for me, is a highlight, of our entire run.) Click some links:

Exactly one week from now, I’ll start a new venture on KDHX, my first music show there in well-nigh a decade. Yikes, time does fly. The program’ll be called Silver Tray and will air from noon – 2 p.m. on Friday afternoons. As I have mock playlists for at least three weeks worth of shows already drawn up, I can assure you that it will be a rock show of considerable quality. I do hope you get a listen to the show, live or via podcast, which I understand to be a more-and-more popular form of personal entertainment.

My intent is to start a more comprehensive blog for the show, which would be my 13th such effort. Sweet.

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In the meantime, I’m also scheduled for a variety of club sets, which dovetail nicely into the end of summer dreamstate that I’ve seemingly slipped into:

Tonight, Royale, 6 – 10 p.m.

Wednesday, August 20, Halo Bar, 10 p.m. – 2:30 a.m.

Friday, August 22, Royale, 10 p.m. – 1:15 a.m.

Tuesday, September 2, Halo Bar, 10 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. (post-Squeeze, Aimee Mann @ Pageant)

Always like to self-promote. Always!

Here’s a clip, then, from the Beacon, about author Lou Dersch and his very entertaining book, “Beer, Bubbles & Bucks,” a personal memoir about his life in the brewing industries of Baltimore and St. Louis. Hopefully, the book gets published, as anyone involved in either advertising or the service industry will hoot at some of his stories about life in the brewing ad game, especially the roaring ’50s.