Abraham Lincoln

Al Johnson is Decent: A Conversation with the Host of This Weekend's Skin Graft Records Homecoming

Skin Graft Records emerged in the early '90s amidst the rise of music cross-genres noise-rock and math-rock. Being an early proponent of such salty sounds, label owner Mark Fischer saw fit to combine records and comics in an unholy union of visual and audio debauchery. Early art featured Rob Syers, ... More >>

Brad Paisley's "Accidental Racist": Why This Song Sucks

Monday, Brad Paisley, a white man, joined hands with LL Cool J, a black man, and attempted to end racism with a song called "Accidental Racist" (below), wherein Paisley addressed the debilitating dread of being an affluent white male in America and LL panthered around in the background, high-fiving ... More >>

The Best Shows in St. Louis Week: March 4 to 10

Welcome to March, aka insane show season in our fair city of St. Louis. Bands from all over begin to defrost from winter weather and warm up to the road once more, loading up vans and booking mini tours to Austin's South by Southwest fest and beyond. Catch some in the act as they swing through in co ... More >>

Too Much Candy in Hansel & Gretel

Debates Got You Bored? 7 Badass Feats of Strength from Politicians

As the general election approaches, candidates try harder than ever to court voters (except not really in Missouri). If you're like Daily RFT, you've grown weary of the debates and heated verbal sparring. Back in ye olde days, when brains fell short, candidates seeking public office courted the publ ... More >>

Eclectic Ensembles: Embrace the strange and the scandalous

When General Grant Expelled the Jews: A Lost Story From the Civil War

On December 17, 1862, nearly 150 years ago (minus six months or so), General Ulysses S. Grant expelled the Jews from the Department of the Tennessee, the war zone under his command, which stretched from northern Mississippi to Cairo, Illinois, between the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. Within th ... More >>

Your Weekly St. Louis Bestseller List

Here's your weekly St. Louis bestseller list for the week ending April 15, as compiled by the St. Louis Independent Booksellers Alliance and based on sales at Left Bank Books, Main Street Books, Pudd'nhead Books, Subterranean Books and Sue's News. Maybe it's the beginning of baseball season, or the ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Wednesday 3/14/2012

​If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving musi ... More >>

The Six Best Presidents Of The United States Of America Songs

Just as Thanksgiving was a reminder of Irish rock band the Cranberries, today's national holiday is a celebration of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and quirky Seattle alternative rock trio the Presidents Of The United States Of America. For your Presidents Day, enjoy this list of the six best PO ... More >>

Missouri State Band Reignites Debate Over "Dixie"

Image via"Dixie" came out of blackface minstrel shows in the mid-19th Century.​The song "Dixie" was born from the blackface minstrel shows of the mid-19th century. The lyrics take the perspective, and exaggerated dialect, of a free slave who aches to return to his days of plantation bondage. The f ... More >>

First Prairie Chickens, Now Elk: A Look at the Dept. of Conservation's Latest Project

courtesy the Missouri Department of ConservationThe majestic elk...sort of like the ones that will be arriving in MIssouri next week.​Elk have not lived in Missouri since Abraham Lincoln was president. (Since 1865, for those of you keeping score at home.) For mere humans, that's a really, re ... More >>

Dr Pepper Test Markets Manly Diet Soda

Across the state, Dr Pepper's trying to appeal to men who enjoy diet soda but hate how drinking it makes them look oh so very girly. The Kansas City Star reports that the company's test marketing their new product, Dr Pepper 10 to the beef-loving cowboys in Kansas City. The newspaper says, "Accord ... More >>

So Now You Want to Read Some Yaoi

Jennifer SilverbergRussia from Hetalia, embodied by Elise Z. See? Yaoi's totally harmless!​You've read this week's feature on Bishie Con and now you want to read some yaoi. Where to begin?Sarah and Anna, custodians of the Bishie Con manga library, recommend you start by searching the Internet. The ... More >>

Josh Kinney v2.0: Now 65% More Awesome

To this point in the 2009 season, the Cardinal bullpen has been one of the most consistent strengths for Tony La Russa's squad. The offense was brilliant early, then fell apart completely at the seams. The starting rotation has been mostly strong, but injuries and less than sterling performances fro ... More >>

Unreal takes back the Big Red, talks to a Steeler, and dances the inaugural night away

Unreal Parties Like It's 1799

Unreal could not help but notice that the number of inaugural parties here last night far exceeded that of National Day of Service work sites on Monday. And who are we to complain? Apologies to our new President, but who would want to celebrate his glorious, glorious inauguration by working?And so w ... More >>

Debate Fever

Get excited about the politics of yore

Obama in Missouri -- Independence, Missouri

Last Night: David Sedaris at Left Bank Books in the Central West End

Smokers' Olympics

Stuff Unreal likes! Plus: We smoke and run and picture Abe Lincoln on a Segway.

Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton: A Perspective Worth Reading

Dust Buster

Untidy masterpiece: The Rep Studio's production of The Clean House.

Rediscovering Brooklyn

Come, senators, congressmen, please heed Joe's call.

Bring Back Juneteenth!

Curtis Faulkner wants to throw a $2 million party celebrating the end of slavery — and he wants you to pay for it.

Don Imus, Slander and the American Way

Racism takes many forms, some more obvious than others.

So, Joe, why do we need preachers?

Week of February 15, 2007

Hand It to Him

The Science of Sleep

Why is "Kramer" more offensive than Mel?

Week of December 14, 2006

Hanks You Very Much

Ask a Negro Leaguer Column

Week of March 9, 2006

Ask a Negro Leaguer Column

Week of February 2, 2006

Current Shows

Ivy Cooper encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Current Shows

Ivy Cooper encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Current Shows

Ivy Cooper encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Week of October 26, 2005

Blade Run

"It's easier to get your genitals pierced than to get a good shave in St. Louis"

Big Girl Raspberry Sex on the Beach

Freddie's Bar, 4112-4114 Manchester Avenue; 314-371-1333

By Georges!

The Missouri History Museum gets all presidential on ya

Fortunate Son

Sahara has no reason to exist, until you see who made it

Play It Again

The Crucible and Marat/Sade resonate anew in the Lou

Hot Ship

Columbus' Niña seduces Alton

Letters

Week of March 31, 2004

A New York

From an old story

Epic Proportions

The Black Rep assays August Wilson

Kiss Me, Sons of God

Gigantic nearly deifies They Might Be Giants -- and why not?

The Battle of the Paddle

Loot dreams, pre-teen stars, Russian immigrants and (cough) very old men have the St. Louis table-tennis scene popping off

A Loot in the Attic

Discovering the value of Chubb's Antiques Roadshow

The African Company Presents Richard III

By Carlyle Brown (St. Louis Black Repertory Company)

ANNA AND THE KING

Directed by Andy Tennant