1. Art

St. Louis Art Caps

Malcolm Gay encapsulates the local art scene.

Published: April 2, 2008

Openings The Annual Juried Photography Exhibit Each year Webster University presents a juried show featuring the work of its photography students in the School of Communications....

2. Feature

John Ray used to own a tavern in Benton Park. Now he lives in Quincy and dabbles in conspiracy theory.

By Ellis E. Conklin

Published: April 2, 2008

The brother of the man most people believe killed Martin Luther King Jr. lives in a miniature brick house near the languishing downtown of Quincy, Illinois. Inside, the brown carpet...

3. B-Sides

Inspiration: For Justin Vernon, it comes from solitude. For others, Morrissey

By Shae Moseley and Annie Zaleski

Published: April 2, 2008

When his former band DeYarmond Edison called it quits in 2006, Justin Vernon moved from North Carolina to his home state of Wisconsin, in order to clear his head and be near family....

4. Cafe

Want Boba with That?: Fast and good Vietnamese food at BBC Banh Mi, Boba Tea & Crêperie

By Ian Froeb

Published: April 2, 2008

They are laughing at me. I'm sure of it. Two young women. College students, I think, home for spring break. They are looking at me — not even trying very hard to be furtive about...

5. Critics' Picks

The Everybodyfields

8 p.m. Thursday, April 3. Lucas School House, 1220 Allen Avenue

By Roy Kasten

Published: April 2, 2008

The Everybodyfields hail from the high and lonesome terrain of Johnson City, Tennessee, which sits 100 miles east of Knoxville in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. With some of Lambchop's...

6. Critics' Picks

Blue Man Group

8 p.m., Friday, April 4. Scottrade Center, 1401 Clark Avenue

By Julie Seabaugh

Published: April 2, 2008

A wise frog once said, "It's not easy being green." Blue, however, is another story — at least for the bald-headed, cobalt-covered trio of percussionists known as Blue Man Group....

7. Critics' Picks

The Safes

9 p.m. Saturday, March 5. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street

By Jaime Lees

Published: April 2, 2008

The Safes groove a familiar sound that is wholly unoriginal but entirely excellent, by nodding to Brit-garage, Mod and all kinds of power pop. (Think early Kinks spliced with any bubbly...

8. Critics' Picks

Cursive

8 p.m. Sunday, April 6. The Gargoyle, on the campus of Washington University at Forsyth and Skinker boulevards

By Christian Schaeffer

Published: April 2, 2008

Tim Kasher rivals his Saddle Creek Records homeboy Conor Oberst for the title of the hardest-working man in indie rock. When he's not busy writing concept albums about drunken nights...

9. Critics' Picks

Mark Pickerel

8 p.m. Sunday, April 6. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue. $10. 314-773-3363

By Roy Kasten

Published: April 2, 2008

If you're the original drummer for the Screaming Trees, you either resign yourself to being the answer to a trivia question, or you do what umpteen ex-punks and alt-rockers have done...

10. Critics' Picks

Eisley

7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8. Pop's, 1403 Mississippi Avenue, Sauget, Illinois

By Shae Moseley

Published: April 2, 2008

The Tyler, Texas, pop-rock quintet Eisley is exclusively a family affair. With three female siblings (Sherri, Stacy and Chauntelle) lending their voices, and a brother (Weston) and...

11. Critics' Picks

Musiq Soulchild

8 p.m. Wednesday, April 9. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard

By Kristy Wendt

Published: April 2, 2008

Musiq Soulchild's only complaint about three 2008 Grammy nominations for Luvanmusiq (including one for Best R&B Album) appeared to stem from semantics. "Personally, I call what I do...

12. Drink of the Week

Budweiser

Booches Billiards Hall
110 South Ninth Street, Columbia
573-874-9519

By Kristie McClanahan

Published: April 2, 2008

We're unsure if Booches' walls are yellow by design or are yellowed from decades of smoke that's accumulated here since it opened in 1884. The dank residue lurks between layers of...

13. Film

Leatherheads, George Clooney's ode to screwball comedies of yore is sooooo close. But yet.

By Scott Foundas

Published: April 2, 2008

When Time recently featured George Clooney on its cover accompanied by the headline "The Last Movie Star" — note not even a question mark at the end — you didn't have to...

14. Game On

Guinness writes the book on gaming, but doesn't shatter any records

By Chris Ward

Published: April 2, 2008

As a kid, I spent countless hours thumbing through a dog-eared copy of The Guinness Book of World Records, determined to find just the right stupid human trick to vault me into freak-show...

15. Homespun

Beth Bombara

Abandon Ship
(self-released)

By Christian Schaeffer

Published: April 2, 2008

The songs on Beth Bombara's Abandon Ship EP don't mess with the standard singer-songwriter fare — stories of busted love, personal perseverance and romantic hopefulness pop up...

16. Keep It Down

Jellied whitefish sets Malcolm to thinking about a nuclear winter white-out

By Malcolm Gay

Published: April 2, 2008

"To maximize the enjoyment of this product, chill for 30 minutes." That's it. That's the only advice my 8.8-ounce can of International Fish Whitefish in Jelly offers about this foreboding...

17. Letters

Rick Majerus: Have You No Decency?

Published: April 2, 2008

STLOG, MARCH 25, 2008 blogs.riverfronttimes.com unloads over Rick Majerus' take on Mormons — especially their underwear. Rick Majerus: Have You No Decency? I lived in Utah...

18. Music

Feeling Gravity's Pull: R.E.M. hurtles toward the future on Accelerate

By Annie Zaleski

Published: April 2, 2008

At what point in a band's career is it impossible to evaluate its new album without referencing its back catalog? Just ask R.E.M., whose albatross is its past — at least, every...

19. News Real

The 75-year anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition is upon us. Let us toast.

By Aimee Levitt

Published: April 2, 2008

In the annals of American history, there have been few days as momentous as April 7, 1933. As August A. Busch Jr. (better known as Gussie) of Anheuser-Busch informed his fellow citizens...

20. Stage

Eire Apparent: A pair of Irish productions reign over soggy St. Louis

By Dennis Brown

Published: April 2, 2008

It poured ferociously last week during the opening-night performances of two current productions that are both set in Ireland, a land known for incessant rainfall. The unrelenting...