Email Author Alex Weir

2012 Stories by Alex Weir

• Helping Birds Is the Word

  published December 20, 2012

  The St. Louis metro is a populous, sprawling place, but fortunately it's not so big that we don't have lots of green space. This means we also... More >>

• Southie Bound

  published December 20, 2012

  Boston is colonial-old and seems so familiar to the national consciousness, it's easy to forget that it's an often stunningly beautiful place with... More >>

• Mariachi Christmas

  published December 13, 2012

  Mariachi bands are one of those cultural signifiers that's used to shill everything from Mexican foods to Baja beachfront condos to tequila --... More >>

• An Old-Fashioned Christmas

  published December 13, 2012

  Maybe you need a break -- and who doesn't -- from all the dulling pressures of the daily grind compounded by the Christmastime-craziness factor... More >>

• Lights! Car! Action!

  published December 13, 2012

  Winter Wonderland in Tilles Park (9551 Litzsinger Road, Ladue) is one of those St. Louis traditions you hear so much about, one of those... More >>

• Season's Greenings

  published December 6, 2012

  Though we're landlocked and routinely overlooked or outright ignored or misunderstood (or all of the above) by the bi-coastal cultural powers that... More >>

• Unsilent, But Holy, Night

  published December 6, 2012

  What's interesting about St. Louis is that it's possible to live here a long time and never avail oneself of the grandeur of our Cathedral... More >>

• A Wales of A Show

  published December 6, 2012

  Circus Flora has been going strong in St. Louis since its inception in 1987 and this year the performance troupe is climbing new heights -- with a... More >>

• Whiskey, By George

  published December 6, 2012

  You might associate George Washington with many things but perhaps not with whiskey. Our first president owned a distillery and was also the first... More >>

• A Christmas Tree Grows in Maplewood

  published November 29, 2012

  We're not going to take the predictable Christmastime cheap shot at malls (and those whose livelihoods depend on them). Hey, malls are fine and... More >>

• A Hermann German Christmas

  published November 29, 2012

  What sounds better than getting out of the city for a little while on an easy day trip? Not much. If you're of like mind, pile in your vehicle of... More >>

• Love and Other Follies

  published November 29, 2012

  Sally and Matt have some mighty external forces pressing against them, but it's their internal truth that carries the day. They're in love. Sally... More >>

• Homes for the Holidays

  published November 22, 2012

  It's a facet of our city quickly observed (and appreciated) by visitors, but often taken for granted by natives. What's "it"? Our architecture. In... More >>

• Candle Parties Are Bach

  published November 22, 2012

  Light a candle or several and put on some favorite music-- genre's no matter -- at home; a great listening experience is virtually guaranteed.... More >>

• Gotta Catch 'Em All

  published November 15, 2012

  E-books are here to stay but they're never going to entirely supplant physical editions. There's an unbeatable perfection of design, sense of... More >>

• The Grandpa Gang Rides Again

  published November 15, 2012

  Older gentlemen of retirement age in Alton evidently stay very active. How much so? Try more than two and a half million Christmas lights' worth... More >>

• Holiday Wreath Auction

  published November 15, 2012

  Christmas season is a blur but there's a way out of the commercial maze of madness. Some focused attention on the quieter, more traditional and... More >>

• Till Death...

  published November 8, 2012

  Maplewood is a neat place. It's full of beautiful vintage frame houses and it supports an intriguing and broad variety of small businesses, live... More >>

• Ready, Set, Lights!

  published November 8, 2012

  Christmas probably means as many different things to different people as there are dollars to be made by selling parking spaces for Super Bowl... More >>

• Riding the Wind

  published November 8, 2012

  November occupies a nebulous meteorological space: Not yet winter, but late enough in the fall that nicely crisp, picture-postcard days begin to... More >>

• Victorian Japan

  published November 1, 2012

  Just as so many in contemporary Japan have a full-on fascination for all things American as refracted through the loopy prism of our pop culture,... More >>

• Exit Music

  published November 1, 2012

  Some of the greatest music Western civilization has produced has come at the close of certain composers' careers: Beethoven's late string... More >>

• Sun Strings

  published October 25, 2012

  Most of us in the Midwest saw much more of a particularly brutal sun (and practically no rain) than we'd bargained for this summer, but it'll be... More >>

• The Big Decision

  published October 25, 2012

  In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain immortalized not only the plight of a boy, Huck, on the run from an abusive father, but... More >>

• Aping the Masters

  published October 18, 2012

  You've no doubt known someone in your life — for our purposes let's call him Uncle Schlep — whose inflexible opinion of modern art is... More >>