"If the story goes like that, there'll be a lawsuit against you and the RFT, and when I get back on the air I'm going to destroy you," the exiled sports-talk radio host's voice seethes from the telephone. "I'm telling you righ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/kevin-slaten-s-head-is-about-to-explode-the-exiled-sports-talk-radio-ranter-needs-to-get-some-things-off-his-chest http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/the-cover-of-the-august-28-print-edition Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/the-cover-of-the-august-28-print-edition http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/kevin-slaten-a-nasty-man The Bottom Line on KFNS (590 AM "The Fan"). Duncan's assertion that Slaten put him on the air without his knowledge led to Slaten's dismissal.<...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/kevin-slaten-a-nasty-man http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/continuing-education-unreal-signs-up-for-a-dog-massage-class-and-gets-schooled-by-a-pastor Ah, back-to-school season: Wheth-er you're eight and it means getting a haircut and new pair of shoes or eighteen and it consists of finding the right place to hang a beer bong in your new dorm room, it's a glorious time of the year.

In fact, upon seeing the packed yellow school buses rol...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/continuing-education-unreal-signs-up-for-a-dog-massage-class-and-gets-schooled-by-a-pastor http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/hear-that-whistle-blow-readers-react-with-sound-and-fury-over-blood-on-the-tracks FEATURE, AUGUST 21

Tracking Crime

Don't blame MetroLink: I know crime is up in the city ["Blood on the Tracks," Chad Garrison]. Reports of multiple shootings in a night are often too frequent, almost night after night. Teenagers seem to have fun by jumping a...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/hear-that-whistle-blow-readers-react-with-sound-and-fury-over-blood-on-the-tracks http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/amazing-facts-and-beyond-leon-delves-into-the-tangled-world-of-dysfunctional-anthropo-romantic-polygons usscatastrophe.com...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/amazing-facts-and-beyond-leon-delves-into-the-tangled-world-of-dysfunctional-anthropo-romantic-polygons http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/the-mexican-answers-preguntas-about-of-defensive-driving-donkeys-and-zoot-suit-riots-riots Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans paint stripes on their donkeys in Tijuana?
Avenida Revolución Reveller

Dear Gabacho: Same reason we put worms in tequila bottles, celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and star in Beverly Hills Chihuahua: to cheat gabachos out of cas...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/news/the-mexican-answers-preguntas-about-of-defensive-driving-donkeys-and-zoot-suit-riots-riots http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/with-a-new-u-s-tour-with-aimee-mann-and-a-fresh-look-at-their-greatest-hits-u-k-pop-geniuses-squeeze-are-reunited-reinvented-mdash-and-rejuvenated When it comes to pop songwriters from the UK, several names always crop up as inspirations: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Andy Partridge. But one of the most enduring influences on melody-makers is a pair few would suspect: the Squeeze songwriting team of Chris Diff...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/with-a-new-u-s-tour-with-aimee-mann-and-a-fresh-look-at-their-greatest-hits-u-k-pop-geniuses-squeeze-are-reunited-reinvented-mdash-and-rejuvenated http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/diamonds-in-the-mud-a-preview-of-the-big-muddy-blues-festival-and-a-look-at-some-niches-in-need-of-some-neil Though budget constraints and the changing development landscape of Laclede's Landing will once again limit the 2008 edition of the Big Muddy Blues Festival to two days and three stages, organizers say the free event will continue to offer a wide variety of music from the blues diaspora.

...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/diamonds-in-the-mud-a-preview-of-the-big-muddy-blues-festival-and-a-look-at-some-niches-in-need-of-some-neil http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/nels-andrews As peripatetic, post-Townes Van Zandt troubadours go, Nels Andrews is convincing and compelling, less obsessed with his own journal keeping than he is with record making, which can be synonymous with soul making. On this year's Off Track Betting, he gives songs with titles like "Fev...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/nels-andrews http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/ratatat Maybe it's just the shrieking panther samples, but listening to Ratatat can make a person feel like he's creeping through a jungle and a dance party's about to pounce. The group's exotic mash-up of rump-shaking beats, autoharp, video-game blurts and dual-lead-guitar shredding is instantly ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/ratatat http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/lil-wayne When New Orleans' Hot Boys formed in 1997, few foresaw teenager Lil Wayne — the youngest of the four — as the group's eventual superstar. In a field of overbuilt masculinity, Wayne's punishingly scrawny frame projects a bizarre range of excitable flows, featuring slurred runs, ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/lil-wayne http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/damien-dempsey Looking like a working-class brawler and singing like Luke Kelly, Damien Dempsey is one of the more inspiring trad-Irish balladeers to step up in recent years. The Pogues' Shane MacGowan has praised Dempsey for describing, in his songs, things as they really are — "which is a pile of...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/damien-dempsey http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/these-united-states Whenever Jesse Elliott and his sister would begin to bicker in the back seat on family car trips, their mother would threaten them with participating in campfire sing-alongs. Though the harmonica-led tunes were intended to be a creative form of discipline, Elliott (who records as These United ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/these-united-states http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/nas-talib-kweli-jay-electronica With all the controversy surrounding the title of Nas' ninth studio album, Untitled (previously named Nigger) has become one of the most talked about albums of the year. Nas reportedly changed its name due to pressure from various sources; Wal-Mart said they would not sell th...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/nas-talib-kweli-jay-electronica http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/don-caballero Punkgasm, the seventh studio album released by Pittsburgh math-rock godfathers Don Caballero is affirmation that lone founding member (drummer Damon Che) made the right decision in reforming the band with new members in 2003. Since then, Don Cab has released two solid albums and tou...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/don-caballero http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/tom-waits-for-no-one When Tom Waits had his long-awaited return to St. Louis earlier this summer, he put on a hell of a show: There was laughter, a few tears and even a smattering of glitter. But in his infinite wisdom, Waits skipped over all of his early songs, bypassing his boho/jazzbo persona and running straight ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/tom-waits-for-no-one http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/the-educated-guess In the press materials for Beautiful Strangers, the piano-based quartet the Educated Guess swears allegiance to wall-of-sound pioneers Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and Roy Orbison — not a bad trifecta, although it sets the bar impossibly high. And while no amount of reverb or studio tr...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/music/the-educated-guess http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/seriously-old-school-bartolino-s-hauls-its-venerable-vibe-to-a-new-location The caesar salad at Bartolino's Osteria is an impressive sight: a wedge of romaine lettuce standing upright atop a large, discus-shaped crouton, the wedge itself topped with both shaved and lacy, pan-crisped Parmigiano-Reggiano as well as a few anchovy fillets curled into commas. A tangy d...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/seriously-old-school-bartolino-s-hauls-its-venerable-vibe-to-a-new-location http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/gut-check-will-the-snoopy-snow-cone-machine-turn-ian-s-crank In my review two weeks ago of local snow-cone and snowball stands, I mentioned my childhood obsession with the Snoopy Snow-Cone Machine. I wanted it, but my parents said no.

Imagine m...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/gut-check-will-the-snoopy-snow-cone-machine-turn-ian-s-crank http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/drink-of-the-week-tennent-s-of-scotland Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/dining/drink-of-the-week-tennent-s-of-scotland http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/film/hard-knock-life-frozen-river-may-lay-it-on-a-bit-thick-but-melissa-leo-nails-the-role-of-a-struggling-single-mom When I heard that Quentin Tarantino handed the Grand Jury Prize for best feature to Courtney Hunt's Frozen River at this year's Sundance Film Festival, telling the audience that the movie "put my heart in a vise and proceeded to twist that vise until the last frame," my jaw went slack. A s...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/film/hard-knock-life-frozen-river-may-lay-it-on-a-bit-thick-but-melissa-leo-nails-the-role-of-a-struggling-single-mom http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/meet-our-first-masterminds-the-rft-rewards-four-outstanding-young-st-louis-based-artists-in-the-categories-of-film-video-visual-arts-literary-arts-and-performing-arts ...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/meet-our-first-masterminds-the-rft-rewards-four-outstanding-young-st-louis-based-artists-in-the-categories-of-film-video-visual-arts-literary-arts-and-performing-arts http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/himmel-can-wait-rivercity-s-grace-ain-t-easy-to-watch-but-it-s-well-worth-the-work Would you willingly go to a play that fiddles with the accepted notions of linear time, one in which performers act out a scene, then return to their marks and act out the same scene again? Would you attend a play that uses one set for two locations simultaneously, resulting in three actors sitti...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/himmel-can-wait-rivercity-s-grace-ain-t-easy-to-watch-but-it-s-well-worth-the-work http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/do-not-inter-and-other-misconceptions-about-tennessee-williams-relationship-with-his-brother-dakin With the death of Dakin Williams in May at age 89, the final candle on the cake of St. Louis' most celebrated literary family has been blown out. Dakin's big brother Tom, known to the world as Tennessee, drew more heavily on their mother Edwina and sister Rose as models for the valiant-if-misguid...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/do-not-inter-and-other-misconceptions-about-tennessee-williams-relationship-with-his-brother-dakin http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/local-st-louis-theatre-is-reviewed-in-short Carmen Union Avenue Opera's artistic director, Scott Schoonover, conducts this Georges Bizet favorite and gets a deliciously juicy sound out of his orchestra. He has also come up with young singers for Carmen's eight prime roles, and they shine in UAO's intimate space. As love-ravag...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/local-st-louis-theatre-is-reviewed-in-short http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/malcolm-gay-encapsulates-the-st-louis-arts-scene Ongoing
Dan Flavin: Constructed Light Limiting his palette to mass-produced fluorescent tubes of varying lengths and colors, Dan Flavin, who died in 1996, made a career distilling these ubiquitous artifacts of bureaucratic life into their purest form. The result: a body of reserved...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-08-27/culture/malcolm-gay-encapsulates-the-st-louis-arts-scene