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Recent Articles By Roy Kasten

  • The Campbell Brothers
    8 p.m. Friday, February 15 and 11 a.m. Saturday, February 16. Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Boulevard
  • Nina Nastasia
    8:30 p.m. Saturday, February 9. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Richard Thompson
    8 p.m. Monday, February 11. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard
  • Parachute Musical
    9 p.m. Friday, February 1. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Giant Bear
    9 p.m. Wednesday, February 6. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

Recent Articles By Paul Friswold

Recent Articles By Dean C. Minderman

  • B.B. King
    7:30 p.m. Wednesday February 13. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles.
  • Chris Botti
    8 p.m. Friday January 18 and Saturday January 19. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard.
  • Smooth Operators
    Schoolhouse Rock's songwriter celebrates a few special birthdays in St. Louis while we pit Kenny G vs. Trans-Siberian Orchestra in a fight to the holiday death.
  • Preservation Blues

    Local niche labels keep the music coming.

  • Backstoppers Benefit
    7 p.m. Sunday November 4. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Recent Articles By Andrew Miller

  • Tesla
    7 p.m. Saturday, February 16. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois
  • Oh, Sleeper
    6 p.m., Monday, January 7. Creepy Crawl, 3524 Washington Boulevard.
  • Light This City
    6 p.m. Monday, November 26. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois.
  • The Action Design
    8:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 28. Cicero's, 6691 Delmar Boulevard, University City
  • Xasthur
    Defective Epitaph

Recent Articles By Alison Sieloff

Recent Articles By Christian Schaeffer

Recent Articles By Brooke Foster

Recent Articles By Annie Zaleski

  • Sleep State
    8 p.m. Saturday, February 9. Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, 3301 Lemp Avenue.
  • Soft
    9 p.m. Tuesday, February 12. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Lloyd Dobler Effect
    9 p.m. Monday, January 14. Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Career (Remix)
    The trials and tribulations of R. Kelly.
  • The Aviation Club
    9 p.m. Friday, January 4. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

Recent Articles By Jaime Lees

National Features

  • Phoenix New Times
    Canine Crusaders

    That drug-sniffing dog up ahead? He may not be your best friend.

    By Ray Stern
  • Broward-Palm Beach New Times
    The Muscle Men

    Thanks to a string of Florida "anti-aging clinics," baseball's steroid scandal isn't limited to superstars.

    By Michael J. Mooney
  • Miami New Times
    Picked On

    Farm workers earn nada in America's green-bean capital.

    By Janine Zeitlin
  • Village Voice
    "Why I'm No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal"

    An election-season essay from one of America's greatest playwrights.

    By David Mamet


Eric Hall
www.myspace.com/ehallstl
 Eric Hall describes himself as a producer, performer, improviser, DJ and installation artist. Unsurprisingly, elements of all these titles reveal themselves in his music. Using field recordings, percussive metals and various electronic devices, Hall coaxes ambient sheets of sound from various sources, and the results are both soothing and unnerving. His drones and tones mutate and overlap, creating dissonance and percussive patterns that linger for a while before flittering away. While Hall's been involved in many projects over the years (most notably the experimental music collective Grandpa's Ghost), his own recordings contain multitudes of styles, from ethereal arias to gritty dirges and everything in between. — Christian Schaeffer Halo Bar, 12:30 a.m.


Skarekrau Radio
www.skarekrauradio.bizland.com
 This collective lands somewhere between a psych-rock house party and a religious cult, an imprecise balance that the band has cultivated for more than a decade. Celebrated for its skin-baring, anything-goes live shows and endless stream of boutique CD releases, Skarekrau Radio continues to redefine noise-rock and serve as a template of off-kilter creativity for this city's knob-twiddlers. This year's The One Eyed Swine Is Queen found Skarekrau Radio touching on twisted folk, ambient dub, two-chord punk and screeching minimalism, among other sounds. What comes next is anyone's guess. (CS)


Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship
www.myspace.com/superfunyeahyeahrocketship
 Corey Goodman packs no shortage of energy, humor and weirdness into his one-man electro-spaz show. As the captain and sole crew member of Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, Goodman has delighted (and confounded) crowds in senior-citizen centers and indie-rock clubs with his mix of jokey raps, cheesy drum-machine beats and rave-ready keyboards. With a manic, elastic voice and boundless energy and enthusiasm, Goodman has done the rare trick of turning shtick into substance. (CS)



Best Funk/Soul/R&B


Dogtown Allstars
www.myspace.com/dogtownallstars
 To witness the Dogtown Allstars perform is to observe the power of the groove, that vital (if elusive) musical element. Luckily, the Allstars possess buckets of funky, high-stepping grooves, many of which are propelled by Nathan Hershey and his spitting, crackling organ. Adam Wilke's guitar figures favor a more jazz-oriented approach, while Andy Coco and Drew Weiss hold down the rhythm section with funky, bubbly grace. The Dogtown Allstars may not have invented the groove, but they carry it on expertly. (CS)
Delmar Restaurant & Lounge, 8 p.m.


Lamar Harris
www.myspace.com/lamarharris
 Somewhere between smooth jazz, disco and the Star Wars cantina house band, the sound of Lamar Harris' trombone, trumpet and tuba funk is like nothing else in St. Louis — if not planet Earth. Manipulating all manners of electronic effects and hip-hop hip-beats, he makes horns speak in strange tongues, click and bleat like bent circuits, and yet somehow express the improvisational spirit of heroes like Miles Davis and Gil Scott-Heron. (RK)
Brandt's, 10 p.m.


Arvell Keithley
www.arvellmusic.com
 If you're going to do the corporate cover-band thing, you might as well go all the way. Arvell Keithley isn't just a frontman — he's an industry. His bands frequent gala events and weddings, from Boeing to Busch, offering up note-perfect simulacra of the Four Tops; Earth, Wind and Fire; the Gap Band and Elvis Presley. A rousing master of ceremony, with a surprisingly supple voice, he's done more to get white people dancing than all the Jell-O shots and Jägermeister in St. Louis combined. (RK)


Kim Massie
www.kimmassie.com
 Thrifty R&B fans are in luck every Tuesday and Thursday, when both Kim Massie regulars and curious weekday drinkers cram into Beale on Broadway for her bi-weekly residency. Walking into one of these nights is not unlike the blues-club scene in Adventures in Babysitting, where the uninitiated are moved to participate while simultaneously feeling overwhelmed by the talent and charisma on stage. Massie's sassy stage presence isn't even the best part. No, that's her thick, sonorous voice, which remains commanding through her own songs and blues standards alike. (JL)


Nite Owl
www.myspace.com/nitroowlious
 Nite Owl lives up to his moniker in a few senses of the word. An early-morning RFT interview took place after he had worked all night at his "day job" as a resident counselor at a children's shelter — and as a musician he's seen around town almost constantly, performing his unique brand of soulful hip-hop to anyone who will listen. And people certainly are: Legendary New Jersey hip-hop label Select Records signed him to a record deal, while last year's Now You Can Boo Me has earned him some serious attention from the city's movers and shakers. — Annie Zaleski
Blueberry Hill's Elvis Room, 9 p.m.



Best Garage Band


The Gentleman Callers
www.myspace.com/thegentlemancallers
 For a time these Nuggets-obsessed garage rockers seemed more like the Gentleman Stalkers. Two years ago, with the release of Don't Say What It Is, their slashed and slurred Kingsmen-esque sound was omnipresent on the south-side — and beyond — scene. Kevin Schneider sang with a boozy yelp and guitarist Mike Virag sprayed and scattered all the right and wrong notes, which went a long way toward rewriting the Brit Invasion formula. With the recent departure of drummer Matt Picker, the Gentleman Callers are giving their dance card a break. When they return to performing, they'll surely remain mod but not trendy, trashy but melodic, danceable and more than a little off-kilter. (RK)


Johnny O & the Jerks
www.myspace.com/johnnyoandthejerks
 Johnny O & the Jerks are everything you could want in a young trashabilly band. They're dirty, adorable and chaotic, and they play sexed-up, unrestrained rockabilly music with the urgency of a punk band. While barely old enough to drink, these kids sure seem like they'd know a thing or two about getting down and dirty. Apart from their coltish appeal, the Jerks' contribution to the St. Louis scene can't be overestimated. Drummer Chris Baricevic has started his own successful record company (Big Muddy), and the band itself regularly contributes to both live shows and recordings by its friends and labelmates. Rock on, you dirty little Jerks. (JL)
Market in the Loop Outdoor Stage, 4 p.m.


The Nevermores
www.myspace.com/thenevermores
 Finally, a garage-rock band with an Edgar Allen Poe fetish! The Nevermores (as in, "Quoth the raven...") write songs like "I Lost Lenore" and "Tell Tale Heart" and favor the color black, but their crunchy, sneering songs are more punk than poetry. Composed of former members of Tomorrow's Cavemen, the Fuzztones and Thee Lordly Serpents, this quartet cruises through fast-paced, fuzz-bombed tunes with a nod to the Sonics and the Pretty Things. (CS)


Long John Thomas & the Duffs
www.myspace.com/longjohnthomas
 It sounds like Long John Thomas & the Duffs took the title of Chuck Berry's St. Louis to Liverpool to heart. This trio takes the mod/garage revival to its logical conclusion by playing Mersey-Beat-era songs and like-sounding originals with British accents and twangy, Duane Eddy-inspired guitars. This year's Presenting... found the Duffs completing the '60s mod circle by imitating British guitar groups — who were themselves imitating American R&B combos. (CS)


The Vultures
www.myspace.com/thevulturesmusic
 Ryan, Ashley and Joey have moved from young, fresh-faced punkabilly upstarts to leaders of this city's garage-rock scene in the time in takes most bands to write their first album. Two years of constant gigging have turned the Vultures from an occasionally shambolic opening act into a tight, consistently thrilling headliner. The band's recent split seven-inch with labelmates Johnny O & the Jerks gives a taste of a new full-length that's in the works. (CS)
Market in the Loop Outdoor Stage, 2 p.m.



Best Hard Rock/Metal


Cross Examination
www.myspace.com/crossexamination
 Like the old-school thrash bands of yore, Cross Examination takes strident stands on serious problems plaguing the scene. Take "Mortal Kombat," which addresses the mosh-pit martial artists whose freewheeling feet have turned hardcore shows into athletic-shoe gauntlets: "Careless ninjas in the place/That kick me right upside the face." Those karate kids can't keep up with Cross Examination's insanely fast riffs, basslines and backbeats, which are re-created live with startling accuracy. — Andrew Miller

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