The Best Steak House: The Diner Review

Soooo...what is the best steak house in St. Louis?  Mortons? Ruth’s Chris?  Flemings? 801 Chophouse?  Prime 1000?  J. Gilberts?  Annie Gunns? Certainly they all have much to offer but for lunch?  For 20 Bucks for a steak, salad, potatoes and...TEXAS TOAST!  There is only one choice and it is the obvious choice.  The Best Steak House!

So there are those in my little silo that eschew meat consumption.  I have always insisted on eating meat at every meal.  The evidence is monumental and incontrovertable that this diet is not good for you and my gut is likely living proof but the science says avoid meat.  I politely disagree and am hitting and age where I can look and see that I would have missed a lot of good food and lot of pleasure and if that has been the cost for meat… well it has been a price worth paying.  But meat cannot be good for you.  It tastes too good.  Let’s not even discuss the ethics of consuming piece of one of God’s creatures. I generally agree with the Reverend Horton Heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQynViAF6Ds

Midtown and Grand Center and the SLU campus have certainly been brought back by Father Biondi, the resurgent FOX, KWMU, KDHX, Channel Nine, Jazz St. Louis and for God’s sake Pappy’s and now Southern.  Many good things but there is only one place that has been doing the work at Midtown, day after day since 1964.  Three years after I was born!  One of the Kennedys (one of the better ones anyway) was still alive when they opened.  52 years! More!

http://www.beststeakstl.com

This place is awesome.  Their peak time according to Google (Google knows all) is 3:00 in the afternoon.  They are only open from 10-9 so you cannot count on them for late night elegant dining or really elegance of any kind but what you can find is a unique steak and chicken cafeteria experience.  There is normally street parking on Grand with a meter and if not there is surely parking within one block.

So…. You walk in and go through the line.  Normally when you are about 10 people away from the counter the man grilling the meet calls for your order.  Your choices are steak, chicken, hamburger and shrimp in several different forms.  I think I normally go for the 12 oz sirloin but they also offer rib eye.  I have never tried the burgers or the chicken or the shrimp but I think on my next trip that there is a steak and shrimp option.  The shrimp is of course as God intended...fried.

Each meal comes with a salad, baked potato and Texas toast.  They will fry some potatoes on the griddle for you and normally have a mess of them sitting on the counter and they will of course cut up onions in them and melt some cheese on them… because that is the way you like it.  But the baked potatoes look pretty good too.  The salad is a parsimonious affair of iceberg head lettuce with a tomato slice.  When you reach the counter you can chose Italian, Russian or 1000 Island dressing. By the time you have made it past the salad dressing your meat should be cooked and you check out.

Their drink selection is my only real complaint.  No brewed iced tea, only fountain drinks and fountain tea so bring your own or opt for bottle water because… fountain soda is really just carbonated cancer.  That might be editorializing a little.  I think the price is about 12 bucks so with a dew bucks in the tip jar it is a $15.00 dollar lunch and it looks like this.

Now this is not my wife’s idea of a food steakk.  I like the taste fat gives meat but don't enjoy a lot of gnawing so you need to put the steak knife to work.  Most of the regulars get their steaks well done but I cannot cotton to that and so go medium rare and the steak is nothing if not delightful.  A healthy dose of salt and pepper and it is a really nice break from your regular lunch.

The clientele are eclectic and delightful and generally pull me out of my bubble of Clayton professional people.  I always feel like I am the one who has never been there as the crowded place seems full of regulars.  There is an older man and woman who walk table to table clearing trays and picking up glasses.  You will need to set aside 45 minutes to an hour for the lunch but take a break from your usual affair and treat yourself to a quick steak served by nice people.  Fresh cooked food, pretty fast.  It is not Ruth’s Chris, or Morton's and for that I think midtown can be grateful. You also get change back for your $20.00 which will not get you a salad at any of those places mentioned.  Bring a friend!

The Kingside: A Diner Review

Sooooo….If Only I felt that these had been missed but it is time for an actual DINER REVIEW!  Places open, places close and sometimes they open and close without comment but it shall not be the case with The Kingside Diner.  The Central West End has long been underserved by decent breakfast places.  For most of my extensive adult life you could choose between Koppermans and The Majestic.  Koppermans has always been an interesting choice but with limited seating and a staff that was and is...eclectic in regard to their service (sometimes fabulous, often dismissive) it became harder and harder and once I was denied the pleasures of a bagel and cream cheese with smoked trout (due to celiac) to choose.  The Majestic was of course the classic Greek diner, bustling, average food prepared sometimes carelessly but great ambience and alas, now closed.  You could grab a hotel breakfast at the Chase (pricey) and occasionally other places would offer breakfast service but it was always a half hearted effort.

So there was a need… there is a need and based on my first trip I think The Kingside is going to fill those needs.  Although I generally despise the politics and am suspicious of the motives of Rex Sinquefield (our very own, home grown Koch brother) he has done something very interesting and possibly fascinating with his St. Louis International Chess gambit and the devil, indeed must be paid his due… but do not loose sight of the likelihood that he is indeed the devil….but I digress.

The Kingside is a relentlessly interesting, high quality place to grab a little breakfast.  It sits next to the Chess club in the place formerly operated by Lesters (an interesting gambit for a BBQ sports bar location) and Lester Miller did spend some money on a nice build out, a great deal of which still remains.  High quality lighting, televisions, a full bar and modern bathrooms are part of that legacy.  The place over all is very pleasing to the eye and seems very clean and well maintained.  You could do a business breakfast here or bring out of town guests and be very confident of the choice.  You can also sit at the bar which serves as a de facto counter if you want to dine alone and do not want to take up a table.

I visited on Labor Day and it was quiet but several people were availing themselves to the outdoor seating which seemed perfect on a hazy, holiday Monday.  I would imagine it picks up pretty heavy traffic for brunch and certainly for lunch but, breakfast it our thing here at the Diner Review. My server was very polite and paid good attention though he might have had slight Brit affectations.  I think my wife would have found him charming.  I was seated by the window with a view of the street and sidewalk and watched a lot of dog walkers and morning people putting on the CWE show which is just different than anywhere else in the Lou.  They quickly brought me my iced tea and it was properly brewed and delightful.  The menu for breakfast is ample…

http://www.kingsidediner.com/menu/

...including a Piggies in Blanket Sandwich, Bagels and Lox and Quinoa Pancakes and “Cheddar Drop Biscuits” all of which seemed interesting.   They also sport the:

Kingside Slinger

Hash

chorizo chili, your choice of toast $10

I will definitely give that a try some morning.

But I was there to same my breakfast staple of two eggs over easy, hash browns (crisp) and sausage or bacon. The over easy eggs are always a good test and these were perfect.  Also, their hash browns were shredded (as God ordained for “hash browns”) and properly browned.  The portion was pleasingly small leaving me satisfied but wanting more.  The sausage was frankly like the relatively bland but unobjectionable sausage of the old Majestic (small tear in my eye).  The whole plate was hot and delicious and I think if you can do this meal well it bodes well for the rest of the menu.

I am going to urge you to try this place.  Bring a date, bring a friend and come before the parking on Laclede goes to hell (so come early).  There is a paid lot next store but it increases the breakfast cost dramatically.  Tip well and become a regular, I am considering doing the same.  I think with the quality of food and service and the deep pockets of the owner that this has the possibility of becoming a long St. Louis tradition.  We need more them.

Taco Circus!

Sooooo….Long time no hear and I know...probably not missed.  I have been lazy and distracted and probably too opinionated to be doing my job and keeping the world safe for diners in St. Louis.  There have been a LOT of great developments in town in the last year on the low and intermediate “culinary” spectrum.  Today we discuss and disect Taco Circus.

If you had the pleasure (because it a delightful town for food, music and weather) and or misfortune (because it has become a city replete with traffic jams and angry Republicans) of going to Austin in the last few years you will hopefully availed yourself of the pleasures of their two GREAT taco chains.  Those are Tacdeli http://www.tacodeli.com/ and Torchys http://www.tacodeli.com/.  It is a matter of fighting words to chose one over the other but the fact is that they are both….absolutely fucking great.  Mexican street tacos… fanccified up for the family and made simple and exotic at the same time.  I would like to have the local franchise but… no one has called me and of course… I dont have any money.

So I eat a LOT of tacos in town.  Most of them are nice mexican places on Cherokee, up in Overland or over in beeeeeeutiful Fairmont City.  So when a culinary expert (Commissioner of my Fantasy Football League) told me about Taco Circus...on Morganford… I was intrigued.  Morganford by Bevo Mill has lapsed from its Germanic heritage and now is a bastion of Bosnian culture.  I dont know anything about Bosnian food but have not been impressed with my limited culinary tastes but tacos? In Bevo?  So I went.

I was… not impressed with the location.  It seems neither smart, nor particularly well thought out. I assume one of the partner’s mother must own the building.  It is slightly omantic just because it is positively off beat but… that front porch is positively not up to code.  

I was espcially intrigued however because they advertised “BREAKFAST TACOS!”  So I went and found their egg and chorizo was unstoppable.  Small and easily edible and easy to eat two.  They claim to have good coffee but I cannot speak to that.  There is on the other hand a slight problem with their brewed iced tea and their styro-foam cups but… the breakfast tacos were worth overlooking.  I cannot speak to the rest of the tacos in the morning but…

Everything they make is cooked right behind the counter.  There are normally two guys.  One cooking and the other taking orders and doing a little bit of prep.  Everything seems very fresh and they after several visits I believe they have good quality control as they turn out a consistent product and it is a nice quality product.I think breakfast tacos are only served until 10:00 and they dont compromise.  

Lunch...lunch is excellent at well.  They make their bones on a pork steak taco.  Obviously the pork steak taco is a St. Louis favorite and they sell a ton but I have a strong CHRISTIAN bias against the St. Louis pork steak.  There is always a tough bite and I have NO patience for anything tough in my tacos.  They were really good but… I also have a bias against ground beef tacos (I think Taco Bell) but these are to die for.  They reminded me of Delta Hot Tamales and i dont think they use Frank’s hot sauce but they make a hot sauce that goies on the ground beef tacos that make me eat 3 of them and three equals a belly ache… but damn their good. The chicken fajita taco is also excellent and flavorful as well.  

I have not tried the burritos because they flour tortillas (of course) but every taco is offered on soft corn, soft flour and hard corn.  They also seem pretty “clean” from a gluten free/celiac front.  I have not had any bad reactions other than the one brought on by eating 3 ground beef tacos.  

The place is not perfect.  It is small.  It has two picnic tables outside and likely seating for about 6-8 comfortably inside.  It is hot.  No airconditioning or weak air conditioning but over all, this place is a gluten free winner and I strongly reccomend!  

Additionally… here is a picture of my daughter with our late and much lamented rooster.

Fear and #Ferguson

Soooo it is the day after Black Friday, coming close to closing out a week joyously that we might all well just want to forget as we continue our hope that things “just get back to normal”.  We seem to hope that everyone just returns to their place, away from our place and stops complaining and protesting.  Al Sharpton can fly out to Philly where some poor rookie cop made a gruesome mistake and take the tourist protesters with him and we can get back to good old fashion St. Louis segregation (economic and racial) and be safe by empowering an underpaid group of primarily white males (whose lives are at risk every day) to profile and “broken windows” police the rest of us to peace and safety and bliss.

http://www.thenation.com/article/177842/its-time-end-broken-windows-policing

We are so afraid of the questions that have been raised…. again.  Forget about Michael Brown (with my apologies to the Brown family for their loss) and forget Officer Wilson (who whether he knows it or not will be haunted for the rest of his life).  Michael Brown is inevitable in our society.  Over and over again Michael Brown will continue to be gunned down.  Not every day.  Not every week, but certainly every month, year after year and the fact is that we as a society have decided we don't give a shit.  Let our underpaid police worry about it and take of it.  If they make a mistake we can crucify the poor cop and feel better about ourselves  and if they don’t make a mistake then killing people to keep us safe is just their job.

It is 2014 and the “wrong side of the tracks”, or highway still prevails in St. Louis and every adult who pays attention knows where the borderlines are.  We stay on our side of the tracks and the poor and the non assimilated stay on their side. If they kill each other or occasionally one of our policeman kills one of them… it is what Richard Nixon would have called “acceptable losses”.  We pay our police better on our side.  Our kids occasionally take their parents high powered automatic weapons and go on a killing spree. Then and only then our police need to shoot them down but otherwise God and only God can protect the officer that kills one of our fair and precious children.

We self identify as the most Christian nation on earth.  “In God We Trust” emblazoned on our money (think, just for a second how wrong that referencing God on our money should be for a Christian), the Ten Commandments chiseled into our courthouses, but we have totally rationalized the existence of an underclass that lives mired in cycles of poverty, violence and lack of education.  How can this be?  And don’t, PLEASE DON’T, for all that is Sacred quote Matthew 26:11 “The poor will always be with you.” as some kind of justification.  READ YOUR SCRIPTURE IN CONTEXT!  Christ was admonishing the law observes that since they had a brief opportunity to spend some time with their God incarnate, that perhaps they should take an opportunity to do so.

So we are afraid.  We say we are afraid of violence.  We say we are afraid of lawlessness.  We say we are afraid of REVOLUTION!  So we buy guns, we board up windows and we call out the National Guard.  We berate our politicians and leaders for not keeping us safe.  We cancel parades.  We don’t go “downtown” because it might not be safe.  

HOW MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE FERGUSON RIOTS!?  

I am not perfect about it and I could be wrong but I do read the paper every day and I think a strong case can be made that the number is zero.  I pray for the business owners and people of ferguson who have lost property and might lose their businesses.  It is a tragedy, but no lives have been lost despite all the burning and looting and protesting.  But we, in Clayton are afraid.  There is also no reason that our police should be subjected to bricks, bottles and batteries being thrown and fired at them and I pray for their safety as well because they are our mercenaries in an undeclared war against whomever threatens our status quo.

I think if we would pause and be honest with ourselves we are afraid of the questions raised by the situation.  

Why are we comfortable with an underclass?

Why is it OK when they kill each other as long as they don't do it on our streets?

Why are their deaths only memorialized in the Law and Order section of the Post Dispatch?

Why hasn’t the privileged Christian Community lent their time and attention to their brothers and sisters?

Could the government do things differently to assist the suffering?

Why can’t we change the situation?

Why is it so hard?

Why can’t they just be like us?

Why do we want them to “be like us”?

Why do we need so many guns in so many hands?

What am I supposed to do as a Christian?

Are the government programs making it worse?

Why can’t the black community raise up leaders that are not self promoting?

Why can’t the white community raise up leaders that are not self promoting?

As a Christian, as a human, what am I supposed to do?

Sorry, these are my questions.  I pray that you have your own set and I pray it is not a set of questions about why “those people” are causing so much trouble.  As a Christian I beg you to remember that those people are God’s children and we are called upon not to turn our backs.  I am an old man (in my head I am perhaps an old Jewish man but that is neither here nor there but I am old enough to remember not only when Dan Fogelberg was alive but I remember when he was relevant.

“You better change, before the sun goes down.

You better leave, before you are, the last in town.

You better raise your fortresses, or tear them down,

tear them down.”

What a difference it makes when a community steps up. On South Grand they actually had property damage. They had protesters. They got out of hand and broke windows...a LOT of windows. They didn't board up in the face of loss that never happened, but when it happened they came out and made something beautiful. Something... thoughtful.  

I am not asking for anything other than we not accept a return to the status quo,  Think and pray about what God is calling you to do in response to the pain and suffering that he is showing to us.  Talk with people about it and stop being afraid of violence and looting and burning and property damage and start being afraid of why we cannot seem to work together and pray together to find answers.

PEACE!

The Buttery Revisited

Sooooo…. The Buttery.  I “discovered” (like I am  Columbus or something) the Buttery well over 20 years ago.  It is on the part of South Grand no one goes to anymore and everyone is hoping is just about to come back and in my life is has been a trash heap with pockets of brilliance.  It is the area between Gravois and Carondelet Park.  My dad’s “people” used to live around here.  The formidable castle that is Cleveland High School is a dominating part of the area along with the iconic Ted Drewes (the other one) and Giuseppe's which is sometimes still open.  On the North side of Gravois their is the bustling Tower Grove South/So-Gra hipster/ethnic collective where people sometimes get murdered but is otherwise a bastion of decent food, cocktails and music and the original, hated, hipster City Diner.  When I head south on Grand I have to pass it and their big banner “VOTED #1 DINER!” banner but I pass it and I curse the RFT under my breath….But I digress.

The Buttery, (I love that name) is the iconic, shotgun diner.  Exposed kitchen and counter with stools overlooking the action and then a scattering of booths flanking the counter.  It has a jukebox.  The bad kind with CD’s you can flip through.  It has a no smoking sign but it looks (and feels) like you should be smoking when you are in there.  The booths are the original faux wood veneer and always look as if the veneer is just about to peel off but is not quite peeling off.  

While doing the extensive research that you have come to expect from this fine, fine, journalistic, intellectual endeavor I found this on line.  Dont watch it with small children.  I only tend to visit these fine establishments at around 6:00 A.M. when things are pretty quiet but any Diner worthy of the name is open all night long and personally I thank the lord that they are because people like this don’t come to my house.  They have a place to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1bBdA79dw

In the hopes of being a more diligent reviewer I visited the Buttery twice in the last month.  On my first visit I pulled up about 6:30.  there are a few parking spots in back and there is street parking on Grand but in any kind of off light it feels sketchy.  You can also park in the rent A Center lot next door which warns you it is for Rent A Center customers only.  The door advises you of a lot of things:

1. CASH ONLY

2. NO SMOKING

3. NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS.

I think these are all excellent disclosures.

1. DONT TRY AND USE YOUR CREDIT CARD HERE!  WE DONT LIKE IT TO

CUT INTO OUR MARGINS And WE DON'T REPORT ALL OF OUR INCOME!

2. YOU CAN NO LONGER LIGHT UP IN HERE!  OSTENSIBLY GOOD NEWS

FOR THE SENSITIVE BUT PEOPLE SMOKED IN HERE FOR 40 YEARS

AND OUR CEILING TILES ARE STAINED WITH IT. ALSO, THERE IS NO

VENTILATION AND BECAUSE WE USE OIL AND BUTTER WHEN WE

COOK THERE IS ALWAYS A “SMOKY’ SMELL….GET OVER IT.

3. IF YOU ARE NOT EATING HERE YOU CANNOT POOP HERE.

On the first visit there was one gentleman eating at the counter but when I walked in the employee who appears briefly in the video above came in.  We exchanged pleasantries and he brought me an iced tea.  A pitcher of it was sitting on top of the ice machine and it was fresh brewed.  He offered me water as well which I declined.  On my second visit there at about 7:30 on a Saturday the place was hopping with about 7 patrons and two woman working the place.  In each case their ended up being a diverse group of people in the place which I added to.  You have the feeling when eating there that you are eating with “the people” rather than hated City Diner feeling that you are eating with the hipster/privileged.  

The waitress came quickly and took care of my iced tea and was very pleasant when taking my order.  In my celiac phace I can no longer partake of the chicken fried steak and such I ordered what is sadly becoming my standard of two eggs over medium, suasage and hash browns.  No toast (for religious reasons).

On the first trip it came it came quickly and looked like this:

The second time it looked like this.  Pretty nice consistency with different cooks.  The hash browns properly shredded (as God intended) and cooked as you can see to a light golden brown.  While not being certain I believe their staff could crisp them up for you very easily.  On both trips they had similar consistency.  The sausage was standard grade and nothing special but had a nice flavor and the eggs were cooked nicely for over medium.  If you can no longer enjoy the pleasures of toast, over easy is just too sloppy so...over medium it is.

The Bathroom

The Menu at the Buttery is simple, no frills laminated.  Breakfast on the front, and lunch on the back.  Everything is numbered which I assume would assist me when ordering drunk at 2:00 A.M. (Maybe on the next visit).  The menu items are “unremarkable” yet solid providing everything that a true connoisseur would demand.

The next time I am in I am ordering a steak and a pork chop and as always...I will report on my findings.  

Jukeboxes should be mandatory for all diners.  There is a romance to them and once again there is the drunk at 2:00 A.M. factor when you just need to hear some Bad Company.... and not feel particularly embarrassed about it (you should be embarrassed by it, by the way). I like it because it has CD’s in it still.  Not quite as cool as the really awesome ones with 45’s but still… and although I love “Touchtunes” and being able to pull down a lot of songs from “the cloud” there is something about flipping through that limited selection of CD’s to find “the good one”.  When I came in Hank Williams was playing…”Your Cheating Heart”.  Perfect.

There is a bathroom and you can use it if you are a patron.  You go through an unmarked door in the rear and there is a door to the ladies room, a door to the mens room and an open door to the back part of the kitchen.  It also is warm and unventilated.  But it was clean and very serviceable.  A little graffiti on the hand drier but other than that probably cleaner than my bathroom at home.  The door had a serviceable lock and if nature was making its ever more incessant demands, I believe I could find solace there for a few minutes and not feel like I was at risk for Ebola.  Good bathroom.  Please wash your hands.

Additionally I always enjoy the deep history of a place like this and indeed, although we do not know if St. Louis greats like Lou Brock or Stan the Man ever used this bathroom, we are certain that BJ did!

The Staff really is what makes the place.  Seriously.  On both visits, totally different staff.  They probably alternate Saturdays.  You do not get the feeling that they just drove in from Wildwood.  Nor do you get the feeling that they are “artists” living in the SoGrand “walk up” (pretending they live in Brooklyn) that their parents are helping to pay for.  This is their job.  They do it competently, politely and professionally.  There is a reasonable amount of age and tattoos on the staff and they might look gruff, but they are not.  Polite and professional they have a demeanor which says I am here to get whatever you want but please do not give me a lot of shit because I work hard.  At least that is what I got.  I like this place.  The Buttery is St. Louis South Side at its best.  Unpretentious.  Not a lot of money.  Trying to make it day after day.  Not ashamed of anything.  Not asking anyone for a handout.  Trying to get along and not spread any grief in the world and certainly not trying to pretend for the benefit of anyone to be anything other than what it is.  A place to eat.  Maybe to talk.  read the paper.  Gather your thoughts, and get some food that is quick, and hot, and good.  Long live the Buttery!  

Lucero/The Ready Room

Lucero and Murder by Death

The Ready Room/St. Louis Missouri

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Murder by Death and Lucero the other night.

They were playing “The Ready Room” which I had not attended a show at prior to this performance.  They have been hosting more and more quality acts lately including my fav’s The Old 97’s.  I had never seen Murder by Death before and they cut right into it with twangy, mounrful Flannery O’Connor soundtrack music about alcoholism, death and of course murder.They are not Chatty Cathies but their lead singer, keyboardist, and guitarist Adam Turla told the crowd.”

According to “Andreina Byrne and KC’s “The Pitch”, “Murder By Death has been riding the wave of dark western for years. Their sound is a haunting one - moreChildren of the Corn than back-porch Americana, but still graceful and wistful at the same time. Cellist Sarah Balliet’s orchestral elements brought some sentimentality to songs that might otherwise drop heavily as morbid tunes. Keyboardist Scott Brackett would often switch things up for a mandolin or trumpet riff, driving tracks “The Curse of Elkhart” to thrilling - and slightly creepy - heights. Turla’s voice was so eerie and enchanting, you either fell in love with him or avoided his eyes for fear of him casting a curse.”  

I quote her because i thought she was brilliant, right on and said it better than I could.  This is a band worth seeing.  They will make a living but never kill it but music is better for bands like this making great music because… it is all they can do.  Their show in St. Louis was just too loud.  The mournful jello was not mournful and the volume was deafening.  The room was packed and the cinder blocks and warehouse roof made me have to move around to find a place with listenable sound.  It was a good opener and the crowd clearly loved them but this is a band I would recommend listening to their music at home rather then take the time and cash to go to their show.

I have seen Memphis-based Lucero at least 7 times.  The first was in the long gone and not much lamented “Fred’s Music Lounge” that was on Chippewa across from Paul's bait and Tackle.  In between I have seen them at the pageant, the Duck Room, Lou Fest and Austin City Limits.  Lead singer and guitarist Ben Nichols drinks too much and he seems to do it...every night.  That boy is placing quite a bit of his pain in the bottle but what does not go there moves with his pen and his guitar to bleed out everywhere for the rest of us and it is…. beautiful and sad and… beautiful again but…

Nichols is a bad and sad drunk and he often puts on shitty and unprofessional shows and frankly, this was one of them.  The volume was toned down from the opener and I waded up front and I got the great high that I always get when I am five feet from the stage and able to catch all the nuance, or lack of nuance that is exhibited.  I have to admit that I was a little shamed by the audience up front.  Everyone knew all of the words to every song.  It was inspiring and made me remember when I was that kind of crazy fan for every band I went to see.  Humbling (again God… with the humbling.  Really?) Nichols was hung over which he announced upon arrival (which made sense based on the review from the night before in KC) and then proceeded to drink whatever was brought to him.  He was slightly critical of the rumple mint.  Now I do not mean to ne one to criticize because I drink too much but this guy… who I love… put on a really bad show.  He was not always in time and worst of all, he kept forgetting and fucking up the verses of songs.  Last time when I saw him at Lou Fest he claimed the flu, came out and tried to sing and puked… but this was just kind of sad and stupid.  I was still happy to be there.  I still got the high that I get form thrumming live music and beautiful lyrics.  I was

The band consisted of Jim Spake on sax, Rick Steff on keyboard and accordion and Scott Thompson on trumpet.  Being an asshole I do not like their more recent stuff as much.  It is great music and his lyrics resonate but it reminds me of Texas Swing or Delbert Mc Clinton (and I say that with respect not disdain) and I am just more of a fan of gritty, jangly, twangy darkness that Nichols does better than anyone else.  That boy… he has a lot of ink.  Songs like “Sweet Little Thing.” Songs like “Raising Hell” become group sings that feel more like going to a dying but grace filled church more than anything else.  A church with a great deal of booze.  My kind of church, were I asked to build one.

Nichols was engaging and he has clearly been around the block since their brilliant debut back in the early 90s.  There are some bands that it is a pleasure to watch age but, I am not sure off this in regard to Lucero.  Nichols drinks so much on stage it is hard to imagine him still being alive but despite the bad show, I am powerfully pleased that he is.

Soooooo…. it would appear that I have been absent for some period of time.  I have many apologies… travel...work… what not.  They are lame but indeed, that is what we have come to expect from these halting pages.  But I have not been idle.  Half way through, despite all the issues and some mist steps it has been… quite year.  

I have seen a lot of music this year.  Much of it has been at Off Broadway and I am happy to report again, and again that this is becoming a treasured venue in town.  I have lived through the venue being the worst and stupidest of shit holes.  Back in the day… when i was a pup it competed rather unsuccessfully with Mississippi Nights and the old Cicero's.  But these venues eventually went on to not become a Jacques Cousteau museum or to become a lame incarnation of itself up the street from it’s former location.  But Off Broadway ambled on… trudged on...slowly… awkwardly and sometimes horribly.  Great bands but a really stupid room.  You would arrive at the front door and come in behind the stage into a “lobby”.  Then walk around and there was a cool long bar that extended down the side.  A “stage” was there, poorly lit.  The “room” had a beautiful wagon wheel chandelier which didn’t belong.  There was an upstairs which could have been funky but was instead awkward and vision was blocked by the over hang as well as… the chandelier.  Doors were at 8.  Bands started to play at 9 ish and there were often 3 of them.  On a school night you were always out till 1.  Too late for people with jobs and too random an experience for a “grown up”

But a few years ago new owners came on the scene.  Things started to happen.  Good things.  Happy things.  They started to experiment with:

Earlier shows

Afternoon shows

Shows that started on time

Tall boy beers

Professional employees

Redecorating

Losing the iconic chandelier

Peeling years of...shit of the walls

Painting

Shortening the bar

Bringing in seats for old people shows or partial old people shows.  What I am saying is that if you ever have an inclination to see some live music.  Hit their website and go out.  They bring in some of the most talented acts that are both breaking and established and when local bands play there it is because they are awesome.  Their website is:

http://www.offbroadwaystl.com/calendar/

So some of the shows I have seen recently.

Rhett Miller.  Rhett is lead singer and other than one song per album by their bassist sole lyricist for The Old 97s.  Rhett is… well… their is really no one else like Rhett.  I would assume he is about 40 (I am too bored to WIKI him).  He went to Sarah Lawrence (girls school) on a poetry scholarship.  Now remember he is from Texas.  He dropped out and moved back and started a band and they have turned out 8-10 CD’s and he has dated and married super models and he has long hair and my best friend’s wife loves to go to shows just to see him whip his hair.  And he does.  But when he comes to town for a show he normally just shows up with a guitar.  I think he has 5 solo albums out and he writes great songs.  He writes lines like:

“I was going through a hell of a time

When suddenly you showed up

You gave me hope but I lost mine

But hope is not enough

I loved you so hard

It broke my heart

And you weren’t like the rest

Until you left”

Seriously… that is “Dylanesque” which is the nicest thing I can say about a songwriter.

Frankly this show was the most fun.  Buy his newest album and buy the new Old 97’s album as well.  It is not poetry but is an album full of songs about getting drunk on bourbon and having sex.  What could possibly go wrong.

Steve Earle hit the Pageant and reminded us all what a grumpy, great, tuneful, deep, flawed, wonderful nightmare that he is.  He had a pretty set with a tight band featuring the husband and wife team “The Mastersons” who opened up the show with a tight swinging sound.  She has a sweet voice and he has good chops.  Together they ably backed Earle.  Steve Earle has had a checkered personal life but has always been a brilliant artist.  Sidelined by heroin and drugs it appeared he had straightened himself out after several marriages and had settled with the talented Allison Moorer in NYC.  This tour seemed to be about him working through that latest break up.  The bottom line with Steve Earle is that he is likely the most soul filled white man out there.  He bleeds through his songs and is constantly working out his thoughts in his songs whether it is personally or politically and… you should go see him.  The Pageant is not intimate enough for what he was doing on this tour but still… as I said...get off your dead ass and go see a show.

Twang Fest 38 returned this year with it’s normal panoply of touring and local acts.  I was only able to hit two nights of the four nights but each one was filled with great music.  KDHX does such a great job for my kind of tunes and the Fest gets better and more professional each year and the partnership with Off Broadway seems here to stay which… is good.

More  recently I hit Off Broadway to see the late great Robbie Fulks (not yet deceased).  Fulks, from Georgia via 20 years or so in Chicago does not come to town enough.  he was playing an early show opening for Chatham County Line who is the latest “thing” in Americana/Alt Country...whatever you want to call it.  But Fulks… I have seen 4-5 times.  I was able to reminisce with him briefly about his first show in the St. Louis at the old High Point...100 or so years ago.

Fulks has been keeping himself in Chicago at the Old Town Folk School up there and has helped them create a beautiful community that teaches a lot of people and promotes even more.  Fulks is a gem and no one knows about him who does not pay attention to great music.  He has a truly unique voice and I don't mean “unique” like Dylan or Niel Young.  I mean unique like...fucking beautiful.  There is something in the way he resonates that literally can make me tear up and there is both a joy and a mournfulness that he conjures which becomes stunning in a small venue like Off Broadway.

The voice coupled with 30 years of songwriting proved too much for the normal 45 minute opener and he played for over an hour and left everyone wanting for more.

Georgia Hard

She said she was leaving

So I went to follow

Blind love and I-55 got me here

Dirty old salt truck

in the smog before me

And dear old Dixie, back in the rearview mirror

Got a third-story walk-up

With a view of the alley

A mailroom job that isn't all glamour and fun

The woman I came for

Is gone to another

Now my feet are just too planted to run

Chorus:

But there's no Carolina Moon over Chicago

No bluegrass growin' out in my backyard

No fields of sugarcane, no soft Virginia rain

But damn, if this livin' ain't Georgia Hard

Down on Halsted

The women walk by me

Like they can tell

I haven't got a dollar to spare

So it's into a side street

For a beer and a sad song

I guess some things

Are the same most everywhere

So please, Mr. Conwell

Could you except the charges?

When I told you "A cold day in Maacon", I lied

And if your pecan trees still need a-shakin'

I'll be back a-beggin' fast as the grey dog flies”

Chatham County seemed like they were going to be awesome after some awful sound problems.  They do 4 musicians, no drummer, and one microphone.  It is almost too cute but these guys are clearly killing it and a braver man would have stayed for more but… I am old.

Robbie Fulks/Chatham County Line

Most recently I went to Off Broadway to see the Felice Brothers.  The Felice Brothers became like gods to me with the release of their eponymous CD from 2008.  Songs like “Whiskey In My Whiskey”, “Scarecrow” and more made a CD that was so solid song to song, so lyrical and so filled with sad energy that it was far and away my best CD released that year.  But so what?  They came to town to the Firebird once since then and I missed them (out of town) which was clearly my bad but mistakes get made.  But I did not miss them this time and they were everything I had hoped and more.  They were brilliant.  Sad.  Emotional.  Funny.  Talented and… shit… they were beautiful.   Ian and James Felice even without their brother Simone play the kind of music that can only be played from playing together for life and loving and hating each other as only brothers can do.  The concert ambled, rambled, soared and swooped.  It was meticulous and it was a train wreck and it was everything rock and roll is supposed to be.  It is clearly for me the best show of 2014!                    

Songs of addiction and madness that when you read the lyrics they just make you ache… and cringe.

Scarecrow

Would you love me

If I told you I was born upstream

If I told you I come from money

White money

Would you love me

Would you love me

Well, I was born down

By a bad little river in a poor town

Where an indian-giver put a board out

It said "Boarding House"

Call him Scarecrow

He kept whores around

And I'd go there

I'd wait my turn on the broke stairs

And get me the girl with the gold hair

Aw yeah, leave your clothes there

On the folding chair

In that cold room

Your breath would twist just like ghosts do

You said, "Call me Dorothy in red shoes"

And the bed moved

The bed moved

The bed moved

Tracy, don't you wake that scarecrow tonight

Well, the man would come in

It's hard living right giving head when

The sad days of winter have set in

And the medicine for an addict is heroin

I'd find you there in the bath

We'd cook up your shit in a tin can

And you started calling me Tin Man

And we started making plans to begin again

Begin again

You saved a C note

Told me you felt like a seagull

Told me to meet at the depot

With the needle, then maybe we'd go

To Reno

Where you'd be my desert dove

And we'd find a way to make better love

Said, "Baby, that's how the West was won"

And the blood-red sun

Yeah, the blood-red sun

And the blood-red sun

Tracy, don't you wake that scarecrow tonight

Well, the man cries,

"Who gives a damn when a tramp dies?"

But I loved you there in the lamp light

With your bare thighs

And the halo of your hair alive

And all my lifelong

I'll never shake off your siren song

And all of your talk about dying young

With an iron lung and that crazy way

Would you love me

If I told you I was born upstream

If I told you I come from money

White money

Would you love me

Would you love me

And all my lifelong

I'll never shake off your siren song

And all of your talk about dying young

With an iron lung and that crazy way

You said, "Simon,

I think I might stay here with Scarecrow tonight

Simon, I think I'm gonna stay here with Scarecrow tonight."

                                  s

“I put some whiskey into my whiskey

I put some heartbreak into my heart

I put my boots on that ole dance floor

I put three rounds Lord, in my 44”

The Felice Brothers.

Quite a year indeed.

Go see some music.

Save your soul.