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.

Web article, “Transmigrated Duck Heart“: It’s hopefully no knock on anyone ever affiliated with the 52nd City project, but the story featured on our current, web-only issue, “Food,” might be the one that I enjoy reading more than any other. The inimitable Thom Fletcher gives a recipe for duck that makes me smile with each line. It’s a piece that I wished I’d written. Funny, smart… oh, I have to stop laying on the compliments, but I do love it so.

Magazine, “Mass Appeal“: Another month, another magazine nod. I don’t think I’m in the exact demo of the Mass Appeal ad director’s dreams. I don’t own possess much hip-hop in the record collection and my range of athletic shoes is minimal. I’m not living on the coasts and I’ve never gone on a bombing run with my multi-ethnic graffiti crew. And, yet, I find something very much to like about Mass Appeal, which is a sharply-designed, wink-and-nod look at street culture, with enough good writing to augment the hot designs. Me like, no matter what that does to the ad man’s ideal charts.

Corner bar, Frank’s First Alarm: On a recent weekend evening, I walked into Frank’s First Alarm, after a night of wholesome fun playing Scrabble. At Frank’s… there was no Scrabble. But there were three women in pirate costumes, dancing on the bar. That is all I have to write about Frank’s First Alarm, other than “see you there, soon.”

Songs, Part I: Three great tracks, but current, relevant artists, or those with possible hiatus-statuses. Sunny Day Real Estate, “Television,” from “The Rising Tide.” The New Pornographers, “These are the Fables,” from “Twin Cinema.” And The Long Winters, “The Commander Thinks Aloud,” from the “Ultimatum (ep).” Totally addicted to each, and have been for the majority of summer.

Quotes, Chief Wiggum: Worth a quick laugh.

Cafe, Local Harvest: Finally made it into the spot, the new branch of the expanding Local Harvest empire. Breakfast/lunch was quite tasty, especially as someone else was paying for it.

MMA fighter, Wanderlei Silva: There’s something inherently interesting about the tragedy of a aging fighter, hanging around the game for too long, suffering brutal victories along the way, while registering just enough wins to stay active as a trial horse. Used to be boxing provided these storylines, but now it’s MMA and Wanderlei Silva, with his flattened nose, widened ears, tattooed skull and general sense of pathos embodies the weary warrior. Cable would be missed for his fights alone. (Must kill cable, must kill cable…)

Artist, Terrance Hughes: This STL expat is showing at Mad Art tonight and will be on Topic A, on Monday, August 4. His work is quite interesting, indeed. Enjoy.

Film, “Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness“: May’ve noted this film previously, but the Melody Gilbert documentary on urban exploring will get a St. Louis on-screen debut, at the Webster University Film Series, on Thursday, September 11. May seem a random date, but the events of 9/11 actually impacted the UE movement in the years following it, so it seemed a good date to play this fun, interesting look at the subculture. Mark yo’ calendars.

Comic, “The Daily Jerome“: STL-centric, but not STL-only. Been reading this on-and-off for awhile and I enjoy catching up in bulk, reading multiple entries at once. You may like the daily dose. There’s no right answer to how to read online. And remember to buy the Colony t-shirt.

Bicycle, unknown: Does anyone have an opinion on a good, solid ride? Cheap would be okay, too, though it’s not essential. As someone’s borrowed by bicycle for what’s assumed to be an indefinite period of time – they didn’t leave a note in my garage indicating a return date – I need to secure a new two-wheeler. Any thought on the Raleigh One-Way? Hearing good things about it, but open to other suggestions.

Site, Oddee: Someone was kind enough to pass along the site Oddee, specifically when it featured a list of the world’s greatest abandoned towns. Wow. The whole site, though, dedicated to curiosities around the globe is perfect for those looking for an site dedicated to oddball lists. Sweet.

Browser, Flock: I wasn’t aware that there was a blogger-friendly browser until last night, when I was introduced to Flock, which has software and applications that are expressly built in for blogging ease. That’s certainly true for those who are blogging, themselves, though it’s also got some easy bits for those wishing to social network around to clock, or those wanting to spy on their favorites. Good stuff, if slightly daunting to learn all the new tricks. Next month, this nonsense will probably be generated from Flock.

How many times can you say “situation” or “situations” in a 30-second soundbite?

Don’t know? For me, the answer is: three times!

Thanks to Michael Allen, Diane Toroian Keaggy and Emily Rasinki for a fun Tuesday morning.

So sayeth Belz:

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This Friday at the Contemporary Art Museum is the third installment of the Observable Summer Series, part of the Contemporary’s “Playground of the Ridiculous” – http://www.contempo rarystl.org/ playground. php?month= 3&year=2008

I will be in L.A., but Observable STILL ROCKS!! -Aaron+
Friday, July 25, 2008

Aaron McNally is the author of Out of the Blue (Caveworks, 2008). His collaborations with Friedrich Kerksieck have been published widely.

John Gallaher is the author of Gentlemen in Turbans, Ladies in Cauls and The Little Book of Guesses. Recent work appears in Field, New American Writing, Iowa Review and The Best American Poetry 2008. He lives in rural Missouri and co-edits The Laurel Review.

Stefene Russell is a co-editor of 52nd City magazine (52ndcity.com) and a member of the arts collective Poetry Scores (poetryscores.com) which is dedicated to translating poetry into other media, including music, art, film and dance.