Calendar of Events in St. Louis

Monday, May 20
• 
  Gateway to the Stars -- Ghosts of the Arch Grounds
  Gateway Arch

  St. Louis is chock-full of urban legends and ghost stories: The Lemp Mansion is haunted by a cadre of family ghosts, the spirit of Molly Crenshaw lingers in St. Charles county, and "Zombie Road" spooks generations of teens in West County, just to name a few. Decide for yourself if its spiritualism or speculation tonight, when the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial presents Gateway to the... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Speedwolf
  Fubar

  Denver's Speedwolf plays ripping thrash metal with heaps of Motörhead influence, from the gravelly vocal delivery down to the dirty thrash-rock riffage. Speedwolf is no tribute band, however; d-beat-style intensity and impressive technicality set Speedwolf apart from the cookie-cutter bands. Have you seen the cover of last's year's full-length, Ride With Death? Half-man, half-wolves... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Contemporary German Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection
  Washington University-Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

  The art world loves to categorize artists by their style or "school," particularly if the artists all hail from the same part of the world in the same era. But that's simplistic at best; art is an individual endeavor, and no two people go about creating in the same way. Contemporary German Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection, the new exhibition at the Mildred Kemper Lane Art Museum... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The Civil War in Missouri
  Missouri History Museum

  Here in Missouri we're accustomed to being considered a bellwether state in national elections. The Show-Me State is pivotal -- no presidential candidate wants to be shown the electoral door here if he or she wants a good shot at winning. But our complicated present is small potatoes compared to our past, especially in the period before and during the Civil War. Coveted by both the Union and... Read more about this event >>

• More Monday Events >>

Tuesday, May 21
• 
  Poor Puppets of Paris
  The Sheldon

  It's hard to believe, but Bob Kramer's Marionnettes are celebrating 50 years of pulling the strings in this town. To mark the occasion, the group teams up with Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris for a special night of music and puppetry, The Poor Puppets of Paris. Kramer and company have crafted a series of marionettes representing the great singers Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf, as... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Soundgarden
  The Pageant

  “I’ve been away for too long,” growls Chris Cornell on Soundgarden’s 2012 album King Animal. It’s certainly been too long since Soundgarden has visited the Gateway to the West. Sure, Cornell has been here a few times with Audioslave, as well as on his own, but Soundgarden? Freaking full-on Soundgarden? That hasn’t happened since flannel shirts and hair dyed... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The Band of Heathens
  Off Broadway

  Neither blues nor Southern rock, neither a jam band nor a bar band, the ensemble of Austin, Texas songwriters, singers and guitar-slingers known as the Band of Heathens have drawn buckets of inspiration from all the wells of American music. Its two core songwriters, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist (co-founder Colin Brooks left the group in 2011), seem intent on following the tracks of the only other... Read more about this event >>

• 
  da Vinci Machines II
  Bank of America Building

  Long before Dan Brown's half-baked conspiracy theories sullied his good name, Leonardo da Vinci dazzled people with his knack for invention and skill as an artist. The touring exhibition DaVinci Machines II brings the maestro's creations to the people once again. This show is different than the one that visited St. Louis in early 2011 (hence the "II" ), and it features replicas of more than... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Edward Curtis: Visions of Native America
  Saint Louis Art Museum

  In 1900 Edward Curtis was in his early thirties and already a highly respected and successful photographer when he forsook the easy road and set out on a far riskier path, the one he devoted the rest of his life to: chronicling on film the real lives of the imperiled Great Plains and Southwestern Native American tribes. Curtis knew things were changing fast for the first Americans and wanted... Read more about this event >>

• More Tuesday Events >>

Wednesday, May 22
• 
  Andrew W.K.
  The Firebird

  w/ The Fuck Off and Dies - From "Andrew W.K. is Coming to the Firebird May 22:" It has been years since W.K. came to St. Louis on a non-Warped Tour stage. His appearances at Pop's in the early aughts were rather rambunctious affairs -- at that time his debut album I Get Wet had just been released and droves of faithful partiers worshipped the man's every move. Now I Get Wet is ten years old... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Donald Judd: The Multicolored Works
  Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

  Color, or lack thereof, is a constant contemplation in all works of art. Artists often have complicated relationships with and views on the presence of each hue, and American sculptor and painter Donald Judd certainly considered elements of color throughout his 40-plus-year career. His later pieces showcase his thoughtful exploration of the "multiplicity" of color, as he called it, and in the... Read more about this event >>

• 
  New Media Series -- Hiraki Sawa: Migration
  Saint Louis Art Museum

  apanese-born artist Hiraki Sawa's 2003 video installation Migration is set in Lilliputian scale, and is simply delightful. Seven minutes of itty bitty people, horses, elephants, and camels cross the oversize terrain of Sawa's London apartment while airplanes roam through the air. The movement of the animals, specifically the horses and humans, is borrowed from Eadweard Muybridge's intense... Read more about this event >>

• 
  TwelfthNight
  Forest Park

  Secret love, laughter and much music will ring out in Forest Park this summer, when Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents Twelfth Night. A comedy about Viola, who starts as a castaway young woman, then disguises herself as the male Cesario in order to search for her twin brother, Sebastian, and ends up working for the Duke Orsino. Orsino believes he's in love with the countess Olivia, and... Read more about this event >>

• More Wednesday Events >>

Thursday, May 23
• 
  Walter Mosley
  St. Louis Public Library, Central Branch

  Much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes, Walter Mosley apparently killed off his iconic detective, Easy Rawlins, almost six years ago in the novel Blonde Faith. And much like in Doyle's case, Rawlins' fans were not pleased with this final development. Mosley wasn't quite done with Rawlins yet, however; in his new novel, Little Green, Easy is seemingly back among the living... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Chelsea vs. Manchester City
  Busch Stadium

  English Premier League clubs Chelsea (never met a trophy they didn't try to buy) and Manchester City (also-rans for years until they married a billionaire) meet for a friendly here in St. Louis at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Busch Stadium (Broadway and Poplar Street; www.cardinals.com/soccer). "Friendly" means it's a non-competitive game played in the spirit of goodwill; goals will be scored but... Read more about this event >>

• 
  El Ten Eleven
  The Firebird

  From this 2009 show preview: The danceable, hypnotic loops created by the Los Angeles electro-rock duo El Ten Eleven are a very 21st-century, post-everything artistic expression that borrows very little from the past. But the pair's real strength is its live show, where its mastery of looping techniques and full exploitation of effects-pedal manipulations set it apart from most of its peers.... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The River Between Us
  Laumeier Sculpture Park

  History runs deep between St. Louis and New Orleans, two cities connected, divided and built on the banks of the Mississippi River. This spring, Laumeier Sculpture Park (12580 Rott Road, Sunset Hills; 314-615-5278 or www.laumeier.com) teams with New Orleans art gallery Longue Vue House for the second time to present a new exhibition, The River Between Us. In a series of indoor and outdoor... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Talking Heads
  Gaslight Theater

  It's too bad Alan Bennett isn't a beloved household name here, as he in his native UK. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine his brand of gentle humor and quiet, unforced drama ever appealing to a broad American audience; yet he has his admirers stateside -- a loyal bunch we are, too. The Yorkshire writer, comic and playwright traffics in wry subtleties and extends an unfailing, humane compassion... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Shlemiel the First
  Jewish Community Center-Wool Studio Theatre

  Isaac Bashevis Singer's Chelm stories are rife with laughter and insight on the nature of humanity. Chelm is populated by foolish people; nonetheless, these fools often stumble on the truth -- sometimes tuchus first, but it doesn't always matter how you get there, it's where you end up. In Robert Brustein's musical adaptation of these stories, Shlemiel the First, the shlemiel in question is... Read more about this event >>

• More Thursday Events >>

Friday, May 24
• 
  Drive-By Truckers
  The Pageant

  w/ Old 97's - For a band that's been hard at it for more than fifteen years, one would think Athens, Georgia's Drive-By Truckers would start phoning it in or churn out some sort of reenvisioned half-baked version of its former self. Not this band. After holing up in the studio throughout 2009, DBT crafted a canon of swampy, Southern-fried sizzlers and emerged with two damn sturdy albums:... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Charles Walker & the Dynamites
  Blueberry Hill

  From his highly-prized recordings for the Excello label — cut in the late '50s when he was just sixteen — to his stint with Chess Records, to his leadership of Little Charles and the Sidewinders, Charles Walker is the greatest living soul man you probably haven't heard yet. The Nashvillian's recent work with the Dynamites – the tightest funk group south of the Dap-Kings... Read more about this event >>

• 
  An Iliad
  Kranzberg Arts Center

  Homer's Iliad is one of the cornerstone works of Western civilization, which means generally everyone knows what it's about ("the story with the big wooden horse"), but nobody reads it anymore. Which is unfortunate, but understandable; it's a work that was meant to be heard, not read. Upstream Theater gives you the chance to experience this bit of our shared culture when it presents Lisa... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Mika Taanila: Tomorrow's New Dream
  Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

  The work of Finnish film director and visual artist Mika Taanila asks more questions than it answers. Through a skeptic's lens, Taanila explores our modern age of ever-evolving, innovative technology, always equally concerned with what's been lost to progress as with what's been gained. A major recurring theme in Taanila's work is the widening gap between the modern and natural worlds, and... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Mrs.Mannerly
  Center of Creative Arts (COCA)

  As inhabitants of a civilized society, we should -- nay, must -- uphold certain standards of living. For example, let's all make a commitment to return our shopping carts to the corral, hmmm-kay? And how about we all stand firm and properly wait our turn in line, rather than attempt to skip ahead? And would it kill anyone to try and walk around and be generally pleasant, at least once in a... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Talking Heads
  Gaslight Theater

  It's too bad Alan Bennett isn't a beloved household name here, as he in his native UK. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine his brand of gentle humor and quiet, unforced drama ever appealing to a broad American audience; yet he has his admirers stateside -- a loyal bunch we are, too. The Yorkshire writer, comic and playwright traffics in wry subtleties and extends an unfailing, humane compassion... Read more about this event >>

• More Friday Events >>

Saturday, May 25
• 
  Fifth Annual Crawfish Boil
  Off Broadway

  w/ The Monads, Fattback, The Deadstring Brothers - As it turns out, you can go home again. Two of this town’s most raucous rock-and-roots bands resurrect in the name of Memorial Day, music, and mudbugs. The Monads and Fattback will both reconstitute themselves for the Fifth Annual Crawfish Boil (and beyond, if rumors prove true). The bands have shared stages before; anyone who claims to... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The Schwag (Final Show)
  2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center

  Jimmy Tebeau, the dread-locked frontman of St. Louis' long-running Grateful Dead cover band, the Schwag, will be reporting to the Yankton Federal Penitentiary in South Dakota on May 28. Calendar experts will note that this show takes place a mere three days prior, marking a farewell (for now, the band says) to the 21-year-old veteran group. Tebeau and his trusty band of fellow deadheads have... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Spring to Dance
  Blanche M Touhill Performing Arts Center

  Dance aficionados are already well aware that St. Louis is both home to and host of a year-round cycle of dance performances. But if your schedule is tight, or you just want to cram that year's worth of entertainment into one weekend, mark your calendar now for the Spring to Dance Festival, which returns Thursday through Saturday (May 23 to 25). The brainchild of Dance St. Louis artistic... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Talking Heads
  Gaslight Theater

  It's too bad Alan Bennett isn't a beloved household name here, as he in his native UK. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine his brand of gentle humor and quiet, unforced drama ever appealing to a broad American audience; yet he has his admirers stateside -- a loyal bunch we are, too. The Yorkshire writer, comic and playwright traffics in wry subtleties and extends an unfailing, humane compassion... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Shlemiel the First
  Jewish Community Center-Wool Studio Theatre

  Isaac Bashevis Singer's Chelm stories are rife with laughter and insight on the nature of humanity. Chelm is populated by foolish people; nonetheless, these fools often stumble on the truth -- sometimes tuchus first, but it doesn't always matter how you get there, it's where you end up. In Robert Brustein's musical adaptation of these stories, Shlemiel the First, the shlemiel in question is... Read more about this event >>

• More Saturday Events >>

Sunday, May 26
• 
  Rockabration III
  Off Broadway

  w/ The Ottomen, Aquitaine, Picture Day, Andy Hyland, Suzie Cue, The Defeated County - From "Homespun: The Ottomen:" It's been a few years since singer and guitarist David Stevenson released a record with his bizarro rock outfit, the Ottomen. However, the band hasn't matured at all in that time: The trio is still obsessed with scary monsters, weirdo nightmares and the occasional heartbreak.... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Gridiron Glory: the Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
  Missouri History Museum

  St. Louis is such a diehard baseball bastion, sometimes we natives have to remind ourselves of a basic reality: Football is the number one sport in North America. Some may rue that truth and some may cheer it; where you stand on that point says a lot about what you look for in a sporting contest. But in contrast to the endless spring, summer and fall of a long baseball season, football offers... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Ann Coddington Rast: flock
  Craft Alliance Grand Center

  Inspired by the synchronous movements of large flights of birds, as well as by the language of symbol and meaning we ascribe to birds, Ann Coddington Rast brings a flock indoors for our enjoyment. flock, her new installation at the Craft Alliance in Grand Center (501 North Grand Boulevard; 314-534-7528 or www.craftalliance.org), comprises a flight of 1,100 slipcast ceramic birds dangling from... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Talking Heads
  Gaslight Theater

  It's too bad Alan Bennett isn't a beloved household name here, as he in his native UK. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine his brand of gentle humor and quiet, unforced drama ever appealing to a broad American audience; yet he has his admirers stateside -- a loyal bunch we are, too. The Yorkshire writer, comic and playwright traffics in wry subtleties and extends an unfailing, humane compassion... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Shlemiel the First
  Jewish Community Center-Wool Studio Theatre

  Isaac Bashevis Singer's Chelm stories are rife with laughter and insight on the nature of humanity. Chelm is populated by foolish people; nonetheless, these fools often stumble on the truth -- sometimes tuchus first, but it doesn't always matter how you get there, it's where you end up. In Robert Brustein's musical adaptation of these stories, Shlemiel the First, the shlemiel in question is... Read more about this event >>

• More Sunday Events >>