Email Author Christian Schaeffer

2011 Stories by Christian Schaeffer

• Holiday Lights, the Easy Way

  published December 15, 2011

  If we're being honest, the joy at beholding a light-strewn house is rarely worth the hassle of untangling light strands, replacing those tiny... More >>

• George Bailey = Hater

  published December 15, 2011

  In all the Yuletide sentimentality and hard-earned feel-goodery associated with Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, viewers of the... More >>

• Homespun: Ransom Note

  published December 29, 2011

  Punk rock is fast and visceral, seen as the raw, beating heart of real rock music. Soft rock is syrupy and sentimental, the provenance of... More >>

• Not Waving but Drowning

  published December 29, 2011

  Holiday reunions are always a mixed bag: For every warm fuzzy and soulful hug you get, there are just as many awkward pauses and buried feelings.... More >>

• Krumpet's Revenge

  published November 24, 2011

  They may be loath to admit it, but cynics have their own Christmas traditions too. While the tinsel-lovers and popcorn-stringers are reading... More >>

• Homespun: This City of Takers

  published December 22, 2011

  With a Steno pad full of heartland noir and a few sturdy and dependable chords, This City of Takers launches into nine songs of doom and... More >>

• Funky Butt Brass Band Holiday Brasstravaganza: Voodoo Christmas

  published Dec 16, 2011

  The Funky Butt Brass Band, St. Louis' finest purveyors of second-line struttin', is about to unleash its annual holiday throwdown on Saturday night at Off Broadway. Now in its third year, the Holiday ... More >>

• Can musicians find new audiences through tribute nights?

  published December 15, 2011

  This upcoming holiday season, a few thousand music fans will celebrate an annual tradition, and it has nothing to do with Christmas carols or... More >>

• Alabama Shakes

  published December 15, 2011

  Alabama Shakes can thank some famous fans with a few thousand Twitter followers for the band's recent spike in popularity — both... More >>

• Bob Seger

  published December 8, 2011

  He's been a Michigan garage-band pioneer, an AM rock god and a Chevy pitchman, but Bob Seger is now, simply, a survivor. A new record is rumored... More >>

• Homespun: Teddy Presberg

  published December 8, 2011

  Funk music has always been about the groove but rarely about the message. Still, even the most cursory pass of the genre shows a consciousness... More >>

• The Trip Daddys

  published December 1, 2011

  Call the Trip Daddys a rockabilly band at your own peril. Pigeonhole the band as a one-shot, one-note act, and guitarist, singer and head Daddy... More >>

• Killer Shakespeare

  published November 3, 2011

  Artistic rivalries are the stuff of high drama -- look no further than the one-upsmanship of Mozart and Salieri, or the decades-long back-biting... More >>

• Homespun: Britches

  published November 24, 2011

  Britches, a local trio of sound-manglers and song deconstructionists, is in the midst of an EP spree. This August the band released the... More >>

• Ha Ha Tonka

  published November 24, 2011

  Call it a case of Show-Me State pride, but plenty of St. Louisans have wondered why the boys in Ha Ha Tonka, from Springfield haven't broken into... More >>

• Fakespeare?

  published November 3, 2011

  Roland Emmerich, the director best known for allowing Will Smith to cold-cock an alien during Independence Day, has recently set his sights... More >>

• Homespun: Rusty Nail

  published November 17, 2011

  Given St. Louis' deep Irish roots and love for rousing drinking songs, it's a wonder a band like Rusty Nail hasn't surfaced sooner. The septet... More >>

• Katie Herzig

  published November 17, 2011

  Katie Herzig is a good example of how the music machine works in these days of crumbling record labels and multi-tentacled forms of media... More >>

• Mister Heavenly

  published November 10, 2011

  Supergroups are a dinosaur rock novelty best left in the '70s or '80s — bands such as Asia and Bad English proved that the whole is often... More >>

• Homespun: Indiana Rome

  published November 10, 2011

  In an interview with Tef Poe on the RFT music blog earlier this year, the local rapper outlined some of his friendships and associations... More >>

• Dr. Dog

  published November 3, 2011

  A band of tuneful hippies for which sad songs hold no sway and harmonies know no bounds, Dr. Dog has never been a tough sell. The Philly-based... More >>

• The Campfire Club

  published November 3, 2011

  In the press materials accompanying the release of the Campfire Club's LP Tin Can Telephone, the band extols the merits of old analog... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Tony La Russa Retires: A Farewell Playlist

  published Nov 01, 2011

  It's been an emotional roller-coaster for St. Louis Cardinals fans: a heart-stopping Game 6 and a World Series victory are now slightly softened with the farewell of skipper, architect and game-change... More >>

• Rockathon

  published October 13, 2011

  Here's a fact a lot of runners won't readily admit: Running kinda sucks. Sure, the health benefits are great and that occasional "runner's high"... More >>

• Homespun: Volcanoes

  published October 27, 2011

  If Alec Empire and the B-52's had a child, and that child required ADHD medication, you'd be left with noise-rock duo Volcanoes. Jon Ryan and... More >>