1. B-Sides

Punk's Not Dead

Against Me! Plays anarchist punk rock for the masses.

By Jonah Bayer and Andy Vihstadt

Published: November 21, 2007

It's been a pretty crazy past five years for Gainesville, Florida's Against Me! Although the band is currently headlining theaters, it wasn't that long ago that it was playing house...

2. Cafe

Don't Go Takin' My Bacon

Sometimes nothing but a good deli sandwich will do.

By Ian Froeb

Published: November 21, 2007

When I die, an autopsy will find two pounds of bacon where my heart should be, so I was taken aback by a recent report from the American Institute for Cancer Research. Buried within...

3. Critics' Picks

Suzanne Vega

9 p.m. Saturday, November 24. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room

By Christian Schaeffer

Published: November 21, 2007

Beauty & Crime is Suzanne Vega's first record in six years and her first for the venerable jazz imprint Blue Note Records. But don't let the label fool you: Vega still turns out...

4. Critics' Picks

Vertigo USA

7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 24. Pop's

By Ryan Wasoba

Published: November 21, 2007

Vertigo USA refers to itself as "A Celebration of the Music and Spirit of U2." With this in mind, what can I (the writer) tell you (the reader) about them that you don't already know?...

5. Critics' Picks

The Locust

7 p.m. Sunday, November 25. Creepy Crawl, 3524 Washington Boulevard

By Kami Arnold

Published: November 21, 2007

The Locust is edging toward punk superstardom, if not infamy. From accusations of drug abuse and critiques of its image, the San Diego band has been surrounded by controversy and rumors...

6. Critics' Picks

Light This City

6 p.m. Monday, November 26. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois.

By Andrew Miller

Published: November 21, 2007

Fronted by iron maiden Laura Nichol, Light This City plays mesmerizing dual-guitar harmonies that recall power-metal's prime. This San Francisco band combines the type of drum-driven...

7. Critics' Picks

Bring Back the Guns

9 p.m. Monday, November 26. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.

By Shae Moseley

Published: November 21, 2007

"One, two, three, four, five/Keep the dream alive" are the only lyrics on "Dry Futures," the title track to Bring Back the Guns' first full-length release. (Whether this infectious...

8. Critics' Picks

The Action Design

8:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 28. Cicero's, 6691 Delmar Boulevard, University City

By Andrew Miller

Published: November 21, 2007

After Tsunami Bomb's 2005 split, bassist Matt McKenzie and vocalist Emily "Agent M" Whitehurst formed the Action Design, a project that allows for experimentation beyond TB's pop-punk...

9. Critics' Picks

The Blakes

8 p.m. Wednesday, November 28. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard

By Roy Kasten

Published: November 21, 2007

The members of the Blakes aren't punks, but the brothers Keim (Garnet and Snow) and drummer Bob Husak (who's heard a Stooges record or seven) teeter on the dirty, babbling gutters...

10. Drink of the Week

Pearberry

Del Pietro's Ristorante, 5625 Hampton Avenue; 314-351-1700.

By Kristie McClanahan

Published: November 21, 2007

A Beefeater on the rocks is staring at us from our table. The pair of pimento-stuffed green olives that sit atop the ice look like the eyes of an unblinking cross-eyed frog or a pair...

11. DVDish

Jungle Fever

By Robert Wilonsky and Jordan Harper

Published: November 21, 2007

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse At last available on DVD, Eleanor Coppola's 1991 documentary about her husband's tumultuous trek downriver remains, easily, the best film...

12. Feature

Pen & Inc.

Comic-book artists are drawn to St. Louis.

By Aimee Levitt

Published: November 21, 2007

The life of a comic-book artist is quite glamorous, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. If you're Chris Samnee, you spend most of your time in an extra bedroom of your Fenton...

13. Film

One of Us Must Know

The elusive Bob Dylan, masterfully considered, in I'm Not There.

By Scott Foundas

Published: November 21, 2007

Something about that movie though, well I just can't get it out of my head/ But I can't remember why I was in it or what part I was supposed to play. —Bob Dylan, "Brownsville...

14. Game On

The New Face of Evil

Call of Duty 4 might hit a little too close to home.

By Gary Hodges

Published: November 21, 2007

The unsettling tone is established early in Call of Duty 4, when the president of a Middle Eastern nation is publicly executed on the world stage, and you, the player, experience the...

15. Homespun

The In?

An American Cocktail

By Christian Schaeffer

Published: November 21, 2007

The In? plays a mish-mash of musical styles that sounds tailor-made for the local barroom. There are traces of electric blues, some ramped-up Americana, a little touch of dub and a...

16. Keep It Down

Palmer Santa Claus Solid Milk Chocolate Flavored

$2.00
Walgreens
3631 Gravois Avenue

By Malcolm Gay

Published: November 21, 2007

If nothing went as planned, you're not sitting down with friends or family. You're not tucking into an impossibly fat turkey breast flanked by a side of mashed potatoes and requisite...

17. Letters

Tony, With a Twist

One reader recaps a brawl, another gives St. Louis a big ol' hug.

Published: November 21, 2007

Feature, October 5, 2006 Twisted Facts Vinny sets the record straight: Recently, I read Ben Westhoff's article, "Twist of Fate," about Tony Twist. Seems Ole Tony gets himself...

18. Music

The Brits Are Alright

With a new four-CD retrospective, Rhino Records captures the agony and ecstasy of the golden age of Modern English rock.

By Annie Zaleski

Published: November 21, 2007

Fans of deafening reverb and swirling guitars rejoiced when enigmatic My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields announced last week that his band (which has been dormant since 1995)...

19. News Real

Taser Show

Wash. U.'s concert melee ends with a promise to investigate and one very sore butt. What went wrong?

By Kathleen McLaughlin

Published: November 21, 2007

Washington University officials promise a top-to-bottom review of the rowdy November 9 concert at the campus' Gargoyle club that ended with police blasting an intoxicated, nude student...

20. Rotations

Serj Tankian

Elect the Dead

By Michael Gallucci

Published: November 21, 2007

System of a Down is one of the trickiest bands making music these days for one reason: It's not shy about letting its freak flag fly. Artier and politically sharper than any of its...