So, yeah, the alluded-to pieces for the STLBeacon.com are up. One on the St. Louis Actors’ Studio, the other on the West End Grill and Pub. They’re here.

Always nice to have new outlets. Yes.

Yo, it’s June. Wow.

Classic rock, STL AOR: I’ve been kinda quiet about this project for a little bit, but it’s as good a time as any to mention that I’m working on a documentary about St. Louis AOR bands Mama’s Pride and Pavlov’s Dog (with a pinch of Head East in the stewpot, as well). The director and co-producer is Mike Steinberg and Jon Scorfina will be the associate producer and all-around tech support(er). We’ll have the film done by the end of the calendar year, with generous financial support from CALOP, which has spawned so many local films. While I wouldn’t have believed this a few years back, there really is a thrill listening to say Steve Scorfina of Pavlov’s Dog, or Pat Liston of Mama’s Pride, as they play their decades-old tracks in the comfort of their own homes. A treat, actually. Updates to come.

Reality show, “Deadliest Catch“: Five crab boats, working choppy seas. Greenhorns getting yelled at by… everyone. Crab “pots” coming out of the sea empty. Crew members sleeping at any hour, in seemingly any physical position. The first couple segments of “a” confused the hell out of me. A reality show. About crab fishermen? Yup. And it works. Thank you, Discovery Network.

Book, “The Cult of the Amateur“: Though I don’t agree with big chunks of the premise, an intriguing and up-to-date reading on blog culture is found with Andrew Keen’s provocative “The Cult of the Amateur,” which rails against our instant, hyper-culture and the very form we’re writing in/reading at this moment. More than a cranky, Andy Rooney-styled rant, the book dissects something that many of us probably muse on: the dumbing down of American culture. And Keen’s thought is that blogging plays a role in that general, civic stupidity. Worth the read.

English football team, Hull: Truth be told, I am getting just a bit tired of the English soccer giants like Man Utd., Chelsea and even Arsenal, a team I greatly admire thanks to Nick Hornby, as much as the squad itself. My team in the Premiereship next season, though, will be Hull, a side that climbed into the highest ranks of English soccer thanks to a goal by a 39-YEAR-OLD by the colorful name of Dean Windass. Good for him. Good for Hull City. Good for all 39-year-olds. Good for those of us looking to a find an underdog team to support in 2008-09.

52nd City call, “Food”: So, yeah, the 52nd City magazine you’ve been seeing is undergoing a transition. And, yeah, the next issue will be different. The good news is that our blog had its busiest month ever, with three of the five major tracking points at new highs. The other news is that we could still take some “Food” contributions for the next issue, with pieces due, oh, let’s say today. But for you, we’ll go a few extra days. I’m planning on writing about fish, as in eating fish, as in eating fish for the first time in 20 years. Just need to get past that psychological hurdle, is all.

Blog, B.E.L.T.: I don’t think I’ve ever pointed towards Toby Weiss’ B.E.L.T. blog, which I should’ve done some time back. It’s neat. Go there. By the by: it’s not about belts.

Band, The Knife: Was just turned onto this Swedish group and I’d be hard-pressed to attempt to explain their sound. I can say that their track “Lasagna” gets caught in my head for hours-at-a-time, which is nothing to complain about.

St. Louis lore, “The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery”: This story was captured in a film of the same name, a 1959 joint that starred Steve McQueen. Who, apparently, spent a good chunk of his time hanging out in Gaslight Square’s The Dark Side. But I digress. Channel 9’s “Living St. Louis” recently did a nice overview of the story, available via streaming video here. Clink the link and scroll down to Bank Robbery. Ah, streaming video.

Night Ranger classic, “When You Close Your Eyes”: So the terrible storm that struck during Night Ranger’s set at the Rib America Festival was a real drencher. But it also stopped the group from plucking the real classics from the catalog. (They were rained out while playing the theme song to “The Secret of My Success.” Did not know they did that song. Or that such a song existed.) Among the tracks not played, “When You Close Your Eyes,” as perfect a piece of ’80s pop-metal as you could reasonably want.

Articles, STLBeacon.org: A month back, I noted a fandom for the STL Beacon, and within a day/two, I wound up with an assignment for the new online news source for St. Louis. Love when that happens. The first pieces I’m doing for the site aren’t live today, but should be tomorrow. A piece on the St. Louis Actor’s Studio and an affiliated sidebar on the West End Grill and Pub. Check back obsessively here.

Flickr user, Greening08: I gotta say, this flickr user needs some views and some contacts. My understanding is that lots of pics will be uploaded real, real soon. But there’s a bit to start you out today.

Things to do, The 48 Hour Film Project: Next weekend is the 48HFP. For days, I thought it was this weekend. But it’s not. It’s next weekend. Byron Kerman writes about it at the STL Mag site. And we’d invite you to dip into the ridiculously deep pool of films collected at 48.tv

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Drinking, not: So, like, despite spending some reasonable amount of my waking hours in bars, I’m not going to be drinking for the next three-six months. Long story, don’t ask. If you see me drinking, please feel free to needle me, though not with real needles, since I’ll bleed to death. Thanks, in advance, for smacking that Bud Light Lime out of my hand. I felt silly ordering it, anyway.

Living the old axiom about writing on whatcha know, I’ve done two pieces for the West End Word over the years. The first was on Gaslight Square. The second, which appears in this week’s paper, is on STL United FC.

Here’s a link, which won’t go “hot”: http://www.westendword.com/NC/0/434.html.

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A person, or two, have indicated that they’ve been amused by some musings about the youth soccer team I coach, and there’s been a little uptick in posting over the last week, due our having a soccer camp over at McDonald Park. The teams will also start their league play this coming weekend.

Don’t know how amusing the posts are, but they are on the worldwideweb here: http://stlunitedfcyouth.blogspot.com.

For the early part of summer, at least, I have a new project to work on, a blog and additional new media content for the Greening the Heartland Conference, which will take place at the America’s Center during June 22 – 24. During the event, other folks will come into the picture, but for now, I’m writing most of the content and am asking you this: if there are particular things in-and-about St. Louis that I should point towards on this blog, I’d appreciate links and tips.

Consider an out-of-town attendee in this. Any interesting new, WiFi-enabled coffeehouses near America’s Center? Any place to rent a bike Downtown? Any local environmental efforts that deserve a plug? Seriously, please let me know.

The conference site: www.greeningtheheartland.org
The blog: http://greening08.blogspot.com
The Myspace page: www.myspace.com/greening08
The Flickr page: registered and coming shortly

Forgive the seriously meta nature of this post, but these two notes struck me as too ridiculous to not share.

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I’m laying in a hospital bed on Monday night, desperately trying to not pay attention to the flickering image of Dateline NBC above me, dedicated as it was to a maudlin, 90-minute special on a woman’s watery demise. My nurse, a male Polynesian with seemingly no “indoor voice,” marched in around midnight for his rounds, loudly announcing “I knew you looked like somebody when I saw you before.”

I braced myself for the inevitable punchline.

“You’ve got that Jack Osbourne thing going on!”

Of course. Of course I do.

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Everyone in St. Louis was watching Channel 9 on Sunday evening, after midnight, though some of them didn’t know they were watching Channel 9, thinking, instead, that they were watching the Food Network. I base on this on three people at the UEFA Champion’s League match at Barrister’s today stopping me to say that they’d seen me on “Sandwiches That You Will Like,” a PBS special that seems to have an unlimited lifespan. (Misidentifed by a couple as “some Food Network thing from a couple years ago.”)

Already this week, other people had said the same thing,* a weird pace for a late-night PBS showing. But to have another trio chime in today was almost too much. The kicker was a guy who had me sign the back of his business card – I’m not making this up, really – with an inscription to his girlfriend, who is, apparently, now obsessed with eating a St. Paul sandwich. As goofy as I felt, I obliged and suggested that she’d become hooked with her first bite.

Either that, or she’ll suffer from wrenching, day-long stomach cramps, a fact that I didn’t scribble on the card.

* Number now at 15. Need to contact producer Rick Sebak to tell him how popular his work is in St. Louis.

The “Topic A” radio programme’s family has grown by one, with the addition of Milo Henry Marston to the world’s human population. Born yesterday to my longtime radio associate Amanda Doyle and her dancing machine husband Brian Marston, Milo’s said to be doing well, as are the parents.

Mondays won’t be the same for the next few weeks, but I look forward to being back on the air with Amanda, in all good time. ‘Til then, much happy, healthy bonding!

Update: hey, he’s got his own website, www.milomarston.com.

I was at my local pub last night, to pass-off of some print materials and to tilt a pint before the ride home.

The bartender, a mainstay of the South Grand scene, both at and behind the bar, welcomed me, saying that “it’d been forever,” even though I’d only seen him the week prior. Maybe that was a joke, but an onrushing cold kept my funny bone from getting the quip. It was otherwise the usual kind of night at that place: the Cards game on the TV; the regulars cursing at the pinball game; the smell of pizza dust in the air.

Sitting at Mangia this afternoon, clicking away and leeching the Wifi, word’s gone around that said bartender hung himself last night, that the owner of the venue found him this morning. The usual, “I saw him when” talk’s broken out and phone calls are already being made and received.

Damn.

Wish you well in rest, man. Wish you well.

(Update: link to STLtoday.com.)

Compliments of Tyson Blanquart, I’m reminded by this note that I signed on for duty with the NonProphets and that the time is nigh. Beyond the embarrassingly kind words, here’s the pertinent info for your Sunday, May 18 plans.

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St Louis, MO– The NonProphet Theater Company, after rounding out its second theatrical season of critically acclaimed productions, gets back to what they do best: making people laugh.

The NonProphets bring their award winning sketch comedy show- The Militant Propaganda Bingo Machine- back into the city of St. Louis with two special appearances at legendary music club Off Broadway on Sunday, May 18 and Saturday, June 14. The show, which is now celebrating its eleventh year, takes 24 original sketches and pits them against the backdrop of a twisted bingo game in which the audience controls the order of the show and prizes are won by a lucky few. The show is a non-stop evening of break-neck comedy that will leave you exhausted and hoarse by night’s end.

The NonProphets are also excited to announce that the two forthcoming shows will be guest-hosted by some of St. Louis’ finest home-grown talent:

Sunday, May 18, 2008 – Writer, blogger, DJ, photographer, professor and savvy many about town Thomas Crone will host the festivities. Thomas has written for the Riverfront Times, The Post-Dispatch and is part of the local publication and blog 52^nd City. You can also hear Thomas Monday nights on KDHX 88.1 FM’s show Topic A. A long time supporter of the NonProphets and St. Louis civic pride, the NonProphets are excited and honored to have him host. (Edit: the check is in the mail.)

Saturday, June 14, 2008 – The Chanteuse with the Sweet Caboose, the Mistress with a Derriere Beyond Compare, the Hostest with the Mostest, Lola van Ella, St. Louis‘ up-and-coming burlesque queen will host the second of the two shows. Lola is a regular performer with the Alley Cat Revue at Rue 13 on Washington Avenue, and has performed her delightful strip-tease and acrobatic abilities all over the city of St. Louis as well as all over the world. Lola brings a touch of class to an otherwise bawdy show, and the NonProphets are excited to have her return to their stage.

Each show begins at 8:00pm, and tickets are $10 at the door.

Off Broadway (located at 3509 Lemp in the Historic Cherokee-Lemp District in South City) is one of St. Louis‘ legendary music venues and boasts one of the best bar staffs in town. The venue, which recently went smoke-free, hearkens back the atmosphere created by the NonProphets’ previous home, the late, lamented Hi Pointe Café.

Directing the shows will be NonProphet founder and Artistic Director Robert A. Mitchell, and cast members include Nicole Angeli, Aaron Orion Baker, Tyson Blanquart, Paula Dean, Jonathan Ellison, Chris “Mr.” Jones, Theresa Masters, Ben Ritchie, Suzanne Roussin, B. Weller and Kirsten Wylder with special guests Brian Hyde and John Shepherd. The multi-talented Sarah Holt runs the show as Stage Manager.

Reservations are not necessary, but more info can be obtained by visiting their Web site at http://www.nptco.org or by calling 314-752-5075.

Off Broadway is a 21+ venue.

Tomorrow night, Amanda Doyle and I will be joined on Topic A (nearly typed in as The Wire, a second ago) by James Collier, who pens (as in writes and illustrates) a blog called Acting White. It’s an interesting read, for sure, and should yield some good conversation tomorrow, ‘tween 7:30 – 8:00 p.m.

The look at that site sent me on a strange run of web-reading, with some of the items well worth sharing. The first one’s got an obvious link to the above, the rest…

White people don’t like soccer, but like talking about liking soccer.

Bar admits to being gay. Some classic Onion, for sure.

Vegetarians aren’t all granola-chewing hippies.

And in a bit of video viewing, a trailer for a Michael Almereyda film that I wish would just go and get released already.

Share a link, pals.

About a week back, I thought to look at Ministry’s homepage, wondering if the group’s tour was still going; and, for that matter, was still skipping St. Louis. Turns out the answers were “yes” and “yes,” with a pair of shows added at Chicago’s House of Blues this weekend, a four-night stint including what’s reputed to be the group’s final (ever!) show tomorrow night. Gripped with the fear of missing my fifth-favorite band’s last gig, I tossed out a note to potential interested parties, getting a tepid response, for the most part. Though my main man, Jim Utz, did set me up with not only ticket-buying tips, but also an itinerary to get to get to Chicago-and-back for $42 via Megabus, with an 8:30 departure on Sunday morning and a 5:25 a.m. arrival on Monday.

For days, I debated this 20-odd-hour, turnaround trip, turning it into not only a matter of whether, or not, to see/hear a band I really wanted to see/hear. Instead, the decision became some type of strange, existential journey. I mean: I’m too old for floor-sleeping, too aged for six-in-a-Tercel jaunts to see bands, too poor to simply fling a C-note at a musical whim, etc., etc., etc. How easy it is to turn the easy into the difficult!

Woke up today, though, with a debit card ready, clicking away for the show ticket first. Turns out that sometime between last night and this morning, the gig sold-out. Oh.

Since I’m plunging for meaning here, two options seem likely.

* I didn’t really want to go, using the multiple days of hand-wringing to allow the final tickets to be snapped up by closer-to-the-show (and I dare say, lesser) fans. In this scenario, my actual fandom comes into great question, as well as my willingness to do things that are vaguely uncomfortable, things like sitting in a bus for 11-hours.

Or…

* The gods of fate were actually looking out for me. Had I bought the ticket and walked the .9-miles from the bus to the venue, I’d have plunked down my ticket, gone in, watched the two heavy metal openers, eventually dipping into Ministry’s pit, where I’d be sucker-punched by a roided-out, 22-year-old gym attendant in a Mushroomhead t-shirt, which would set off a melee, end-resulting in my chipping six teeth, which would amount to about $560 in resentful dental work. I like to think this is the more likely, if somewhat ethereal scenario.

Ugh. Guess I’ll just watch the videos, while I sort all that out.