Email Author René Spencer Saller

2002 Stories by René Spencer Saller

• Tradition's Slave

  published December 25, 2002

  Radar Station's a slave to tradition, and one of our favorite annual rituals is to devote the year's final column to the highlights in local... More >>

• Christmas Sweets

  published December 18, 2002

  The season of our Lord approaches, and Radar Station's seriously digging the onslaught of warm fuzzies. The weather outside is frightful, but... More >>

• Christian Science Monitor

  published December 11, 2002

  Brainwashing: The Art of Hip-Hopera is an unusual record, certainly the most unusual record we've ever heard from a local rapper. It's a... More >>

• Pointed Criticism

  published December 4, 2002

  As promised last week, here's our track-by-track critique of Pointessential 7: Did you pick up a copy of the CD so you can play along?... More >>

• Point Return

  published November 27, 2002

  Hands down, the best thing about Pointessential 7 -- the most recent installment of the local-band CD series compiled and marketed by... More >>

• For Whom the Belle Tolls

  published November 20, 2002

  After ten years of steady gigging, local roots-pop veterans Belle Starr are calling it quits. The band released its third CD, Notes From... More >>

• Mann Power

  published November 13, 2002

  Beyoncé and her bootylicious sistren might claim survivor status, but time will tell. Twenty years down the line, when Ms. Knowles is Aimee... More >>

• Shoot, Nelly

  published November 13, 2002

  On Tuesday and Wednesday last week, the Delmar Loop was either a hideous nightmare or a glorious spectacle -- or maybe a little of both.... More >>

• Yankee Hotel Hoopla

  published November 6, 2002

  Music writers are lazy and predictable bastards, always on the lookout for a nice fat column-padding backstory, especially if said backstory also... More >>

• Let's Have a Berger

  published November 6, 2002

  A clever guitar-strumming swain made our day recently when he dubbed Radar Station "the Jerry Berger of the local-music scene." We were... More >>

• Chuckie and Johnny

  published October 30, 2002

  On October 21, U.S. District Judge Donald Stohr dismissed piano legend Johnnie Johnson's lawsuit against Chuck Berry,... More >>

• Nelly and the St. Lunatics with the Big Tymers, Lil' Wayne, Fabolous and Amerie

  published October 30, 2002

  Like most megaplatinum crossover acts, Nelly gets a lot of grief from people who should know better: the ones who say he's a sellout for... More >>

• Border-Jumpers

  published October 23, 2002

  Named for a border town straddling California and Mexico, the Tucson-based collective Calexico is both sonically and thematically a kind of... More >>

• Hot House Flower

  published October 23, 2002

  Exciting news from the Hot House Sessions: The fabulous Afro-house/jazz fusion collective has just signed a record deal with Chicago's... More >>

• Grand Illusion

  published October 16, 2002

  St. Louis-based noise-rock contrarians Grand Ulena might live here, but they're not, repeat not, a local band. Aside from their... More >>

• Fine for Littering

  published October 9, 2002

  The Litterthugz, St. Louis' most consistently entertaining DJ crew, are creeping closer and closer to complete scene domination. Nobody's... More >>

• Local Hokum

  published October 2, 2002

  Radar Station recently had the pleasure of serving as a panelist at a local-music seminar called "In the Mix: Connecting the Professional Music... More >>

• Requiem for a Dream

  published September 25, 2002

  The underground hip-hop community was stunned and saddened by the sudden death of Cornelius "Katt" Davis, one-half of the popular local rap... More >>

• Fresh Fruit

  published September 18, 2002

  Peaches has just flown from Berlin to New York City, where she was supposed to meet up with rapper Lil' Kim for a recording session.... More >>

• Call to Attention

  published September 18, 2002

  No matter how many times we swear that we're gonna start doing regular local-release roundups, no matter how many Black Panels our... More >>

• Slugging It Out

  published September 11, 2002

  MC Slug, the voice of Minneapolis underground rap group Atmosphere, is a slippery cipher, a quagmire of contradictions. He says he's ugly, but... More >>

• Red, White and Bleaaaah

  published September 11, 2002

  If clones of Radar Station could somehow take over the country, the first thing we'd do is destroy all the jingoistic shit songs, all the earnest... More >>

• Red Rum! Red Rum!

  published September 4, 2002

  After this Saturday, the Red Rum Room's monthly reign at the Kastle (3207 Washington Avenue) is no more. For the past few months, on... More >>

• Can't Beat It

  published August 28, 2002

  The never-ending construction on Washington Avenue is certainly a pain in the ass, both for club owners, whose business suffers when their... More >>

• Whole Lot of Love

  published August 21, 2002

  August plus St. Louis plus asphalt adds up to "omigod, it's hot as all fuck," but don't let that foreordained formula keep you away from The... More >>