1. Art

St. Louis Arts Capsules

Malcolm Gay encapsulates the St. Louis arts scene.

Published: January 23, 2008

All Systems Go and Meditations on Limitations/One-Hour Sculptures White Flag Projects exhibits two young artists from out of town. In the main gallery is All Systems Go, a suite of...

2. B-Sides

Digging Your Scene

B-Sides takes a pull of Earthworms' Burbon and rocks out to...Tetris?

Published: January 23, 2008

Some hip-hop acts sound dope on their records but fall flat on stage. Others complain about the St. Louis scene but do little to actually improve or support it. And then there's the...

3. Cafe

Grub Street

Gastropub, shmastropub. Newstead Tower Public House is Ian's kind of bar.

By Ian Froeb

Published: January 23, 2008

On the first day of the art history class I took in high school, the teacher asked us to define "art." I assumed this was a rhetorical question and we'd spend the next 40 minutes debating...

4. Critics' Picks

Coyote Bones

6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 24. Creepy Crawl,3524 Washington Boulevard.

By Shae Moseley

Published: January 23, 2008

After their former band Jet By Day called it quits, David Matysiak and Mason Brown wasted no time forming Coyote Bones. Following a move from Athens, Georgia, to the band's current...

5. Critics' Picks

Lucy Kaplansky

8 p.m. Friday, January 25. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

By Roy Kasten

Published: January 23, 2008

The therapeutic obsession inherent in the singer-songwriter genre is enough to send listeners straight to the crack pipe (if not the razorblade). Solo strummers often forget that music...

6. Critics' Picks

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

9 p.m. Saturday, January 26. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.

By Brooke Foster

Published: January 23, 2008

The boys of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin present a bit of a conundrum. They create such foot-stomping, genuinely fun rock music that one feels inclined to yell "Woo!" and...

7. Critics' Picks

Armor for Sleep

7 p.m. Saturday, January 26. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois.

By Jonah Bayer

Published: January 23, 2008

It's hard to hate on New Jersey emo sensations Armor For Sleep, even if the band's latest single calls this writer's own personal neighborhood "the blueprint for Hell." But with its...

8. Critics' Picks

The Dillinger Escape Plan

7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 26. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

By Ryan Wasoba

Published: January 23, 2008

Once upon a time in 1999, the Dillinger Escape Plan made a record called Calculating Infinity — and subsequently wrote the book on modern technical hardcore. In the years since,...

9. Critics' Picks

Mandisa

6 p.m. Sunday, January 27. Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles.

By Kristyn Pomranz

Published: January 23, 2008

It may seem hyperbolic to call Mandisa's ninth-place American Idol ousting a shocker, but fans were invested in her fate. After all, she was the woman who humbled Simon Cowell. (After...

10. Critics' Picks

Scary Kids Scaring Kids

7 p.m. Monday, January 28. Creepy Crawl, 3524 Washington Boulevard.

By Julie Seabaugh

Published: January 23, 2008

Way back in January 2006, MySpace competitor Purevolume.com's very first exclusive video premiere — Scary Kids Scaring Kids' "My Darkest Hour" — was big news in certain...

11. DVDish

Super, Thanks for Asking

By Robert Wilonsky and Jordan Harper

Published: January 23, 2008

Confessions of a Superhero (Arts Alliance) As one of those quoted on the package ("A more beautiful documentary you're unlikely to find"), I can only reiterate my earlier praise: Matt...

12. Feature

Ghost Boat

Four people disappeared from the Joe Cool. They may never be found.

By Tamara Lush

Published: January 23, 2008

Two hours before sunset this past September 23, sailors aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter spotted the Joe Cool. The 47-foot fishing boat bobbed atop the waves, its white hull glowing...

13. Film

You Kill Me

Following Untraceable's lame-brained argument, we're all to blame for this massively dumb movie.

By Nathan Lee

Published: January 23, 2008

Regarding the irrelevance of Untraceable: First of all, torture is so 2007, and just because this drab little thriller with a flashy love of pain imagines itself a "critique of violence"...

14. Game On

Axes to Grind

The Guitar Hero frenzy careens toward overkill.

By Chris Ward

Published: January 23, 2008

There's a point at which every fad overstays its welcome. Could it be that Guitar Hero is already just a sour note from being booed out of America's living room? For evidence, look...

15. Homespun

Council on Fidelity
Fight! Fight! Fight!

Reach and Frequency EP
(self-released)Our Sister's Jeans Ain't As Tight As This EP
(self-released)

Published: January 23, 2008

The keyboard-drenched reveries of those early Eels albums are revisited on Council on Fidelity's debut EP. The trio takes a low-key/lo-fi approach to these indie-pop confections, with...

16. Keep It Down

Jin Yang Silkworm Pupa

This week: Silkworm pupa out the Jin Yang.

By Malcolm Gay

Published: January 23, 2008

You may not know this, but most likely, you stink. Don't feel bad about it. I probably stink, too. You see, we're meat eaters, and according to a recent study, the world's vegans...

17. Music

Queen of the Kings

Soul-survivor Sharon Jones and her crack backup the Dap-Kings finally bring their '60s retro-cool to the Lou.

By Dave Wallen

Published: January 23, 2008

Sharon Jones doesn't sugarcoat her words. "I've been to six funerals [recently]. I've sang at four," she says. The 51-year-old soul singer has seen tough times lately, from her brother's...

18. News Real

Phantom Punch

Milton "Skip" Ohlsen had big plans for mixed martial arts in St. Louis. Now it seems he’s down for the count.

By Chad Garrison

Published: January 23, 2008

Milton "Skip" Ohlsen dreamed of being the Don King of ultimate fighting in St. Louis. In 2006 the then-34-year-old promoter formed the company Genesis MMA (mixed martial arts) and...

19. News Real

Bowling for Dollars

Bowling alley owners hope to be spared from what they call an unfair tax.

By Kathleen McLaughlin

Published: January 23, 2008

For years, bowling alley owners fought the state Department of Revenue over collecting sales taxes on shoe rentals, only to end up throwing a gutter ball. To them, the tax is as unjust...

20. Stage

All Talk

Sitting through The Vertical Hour is a tall order.

By Dennis Brown

Published: January 23, 2008

In 1883 Oscar Wilde returned to England after a yearlong tour of America. Upon arrival in Liverpool, the bon vivant summed up his journey by quipping to reporters, "The English and...