1. Feature

Grudge City

O’Fallon, Missouri: Home to petty feuds, poisonous politics – and prickly postcards.

By Kathleen McLaughlin

Published: October 31, 2007

When Louis Blechle opened Blechle's Inn around 1950, state liquor laws required a town have at least 500 residents before its taverns could serve full-strength beer. At the time, O'Fallon,...

2. News Real

Wet Painters

Grad students in Wash. U.'s art school contend with a rainout.

By Kristen Hinman

Published: October 31, 2007

Every now and then, students at Washington Universitys Graduate School of Art would feel a few wet drops as they worked in their studios in the Lewis Center. Then they began to notice...

3. Unreal

See Spot Ascend

Unreal hunts for ghosts, gets right with God and tails Fido into Heaven.

Published: October 31, 2007

What's the best thing about God? One word: Heaven Why is this immortal reward so dope? First, it's big — a full 1,500 miles in circumference. Second, it's got plenty of bling:...

4. Ask a Negro Leaguer

Devlin's (Not) in the Details

Joe sounds off about Michael Devlin's plea bargain.

By Prince Joe Henry

Published: October 31, 2007

Hey Joe: What's do you think of the Michael Devlin's plea deal? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Devlin's misdeeds won't come to light? Catherine Hanaway, St. Louis My favorite...

5. Letters

Ray Hartmann: I Love You!

Ex-staffers share glowing recollections of their old boss.

Published: October 31, 2007

Unreal asked for stories about RFT founder Ray Hartmann — and you delivered. Now, in commemoration of 30 years in print, we proudly present some of the glowing testimonials we...

6. Ask a Mexican

Special Día de los Muertos Edition

Don't let not a little thing like not being Mexican stop you from buying those sugar skulls!

By Gustavo Arellano

Published: October 31, 2007

Dear Mexican: How do I go to the Mexican grocery store and bakery to buy supplies for our Día de los Muertos party without looking like I'm doing the kitschy-goofy thing I'm...

7. Music

Loud Fast Rules

Shame Club: Too loud, way proud.

By Annie Zaleski

Published: October 31, 2007

Even on a Sunday night, Utopia Studios — a sprawling warehouse full of practice rooms tucked away in a neighborhood near Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital — is bustling....

8. B-Sides

The Mad Professor

Kooky rock legend Robyn Hitchcock takes a gander back at his career, and Ian MacKaye takes on new venues.

Published: October 31, 2007

One couldn't blame pop eccentric Robyn Hitchcock for feeling nostalgic lately. On November 13, Yep Roc records will release a five-CD boxed set, I Wanna Go Backwards, containing three...

9. Critics' Picks

Frankie Beverly and Maze

7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 1. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles.

By Dan Leroy

Published: October 31, 2007

Lots of acts call themselves the music industry's "best-kept secret," but Frankie Beverly and Maze make a convincing claim to the title. After thirty years, the Bay Area R&B collective...

10. Critics' Picks

Tigercity

7 p.m. Saturday, November 3. 2 Cents Plain, 1114 Olive Street.

By Shae Moseley

Published: October 31, 2007

To craft the slick disco-pop on Pretend Not To Love, it feels like Tigercity attended Quincy Jones' estate sale and bought the equipment he used to record Michael Jackson's early solo...

11. Critics' Picks

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Saturday, November 3. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

By Roy Kasten

Published: October 31, 2007

Grace Potter has jammed the anti-war streets enough to get arrested. But if she shows any politics on this year's This Is Somewhere, the protest is mostly veneered by the Nocturnals'...

12. Critics' Picks

Meat Puppets

9 p.m. Saturday, November 3. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City.

By Jaime Lees

Published: October 31, 2007

Long regarded as lucky metalheads with a psychedelic soul (after all, Kurt Cobain invited them to perform on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged session), the Meat Puppets have since outgrown...

13. Critics' Picks

Casper and the Cookies

9 p.m. Tuesday, November 6. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.

By Jaime Lees

Published: October 31, 2007

We're sorry, but some music is just too Cute to be called anything else. Yes, that's "cute" with a capital "C," especially when Casper & the Cookies is involved. The Athens, Georgia,...

14. Critics' Picks

Headlights

9 p.m. Wednesday, November 7. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.

By Shae Moseley

Published: October 31, 2007

After spending most of the last year and a half crisscrossing the United States. and visiting Europe, Headlights spent the past summer at home in Champaign, Illinois, recording the...

15. Critics' Picks

Backstoppers Benefit

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

By Dean C. Minderman

Published: October 31, 2007

LOCAL MOTION The idea began with Don Wolff, who each week on his now-cancelled KMOX radio program would dedicate a different recording of the standard "Someone to Watch Over Me"...

16. Homespun

Quief Quota

Chattin' with Quief Quota (Self-released)

By Christian Schaeffer

Published: October 31, 2007

While you can't always judge an album (or book) by its cover, sometimes the liner notes give you a pretty clear impression of the music inside. Quief Quota's portrait features the...

17. Cafe

Battle Cupcake!

Ian binges on cupcakes from Jilly's and the Cupcakery -- and lives to write about it.

By Ian Froeb

Published: October 31, 2007

By happy coincidence, this week's review is published on Halloween, a holiday that I've grown to despise (since when, exactly, has this stopped being a day for kids to dress up and...

18. Drink of the Week

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

Seamus McDaniels
1208 Tamm Avenue
314-645-6337

By Kristie McClanahan

Published: October 31, 2007

Lemon drop, buttery nipple, kamikaze, mind eraser. Three wise men. Cement mixer, prairie fire, lunch box, purple hooter. Tequila. Jäger bomb. Rumple Minze. These are all shots...

19. Keep It Down

All American "Fun" Burger Mallow Giant Size Burger

Price and provenance unknown

By Malcolm Gay

Published: October 31, 2007

Say it ain't so! Sugar, that purest, most stable of foodstuffs, grows mold? I can accept that tomatoes grow mold. Bread? That seems reasonable, too. But I cannot accept that the...

20. Film

Harlem Knight

Ridley Scott's portrait of a 70s dope CEO may not be epic, but it's still super-fly.

By J. Hoberman

Published: October 31, 2007

American Gangster is a movie with obvious gravitas and a familiar argument: Organized crime is outsider capitalism. As archetypal as its title, Ridley Scotts would-be epic aspires...