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Ask a Mexican: Where can I find more info on ranchera music?

St. Louis Authors Share Their Kinks in Anthology of Local Erotica

A live reading of St. Louis erotica started down an appropriately dirty path Friday night when author Jade Melisande took the stage at Shameless Grounds coffee shop to share a story about hiking au naturel at Castlewood Park. "I leaned over to tie my hiking boots, making sure to bend far enough th ... More >>

What You Need to Know From Sundance

The fest's best are the films to watch in the year ahead.

Beer Book War! Updated Anheuser-Busch Biography Available as E-Edition

Last week Riverfront Times told you about Bitter Brew, the new biography of the Busch family that comes out this month from publisher HaperCollins. But Bitter Brew isn't the first book to examine St. Louis' first family of beer, nor is it the only book about the brewer to go on sale this fall. Under ... More >>

Gregg Gillis on Pittsburgh pride and what Grandma thinks

The Beach Boys' New Album Has Leaked; How Do I Be A Good Fan?

I saw it on the message board where I'd followed everything else, from the early interviews to the speculation over the song titles to the release of the 30-second Amazon and (more excitingly) 90-second iTunes samples, and where we'd argued for months over autotune in live performances and which vag ... More >>

Seven Sins: A True Crime Anthology Torn from our Headlines

Every week writers for Riverfront Times and our parent company, Village Voice Media, produce elegant magazine-style feature writing--a gritty portion of which comes in the form of true-crime stories. Now VVM has collected some of its best recent true-crime yarns into an ebook: Seven Sins: A True Cri ... More >>

Your Weekly St. Louis Bestseller List

​Here's your weekly St. Louis bestseller list for the week ending March 19, 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. Hunger Games! Hunger Games! Hunger Games! Are yo ... More >>

Jay Fay's Bonkers EP Goes True to its Title on Online Charts

It may have been said before, but it's worth mentioning once again: Jay Fay's musical achievements at such a young age and in a relatively short amount of time have been quite impressive. The artist - whose real name is Josh Fagin - has opened up for established acts with his brand of infectious el ... More >>

Blowfish: Like Menudo or a Waffle House Breakfast, in Pill Form

Image via​Brenna Haysom is every mother's dream: She had a Harvard degree and a lucrative job in finance -- which she then quit to develop, with no pharmaceutical background whatsoever, an over-the-counter hangover remedy called Blowfish. Gut Check was fortunate enough to receive a sample of ... More >>

Your Weekly St. Louis Bestseller List

​Here's your weekly St. Louis bestseller list for the week ending December 11, 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. Despite Amazon, e-books and the crappy e ... More >>

RIP Parasol Records: The Changing World of Independent Music Retail

When Champaign/Urbana, Illinois' Parasol Records announced this week that it was closing its retail store and suspending its mailorder operation, the general reaction seemed sad but not surprising. On Facebook, some former customers reminisced about ordering records through Parasol's service, and th ... More >>

Publisher Attempts to Limit E-Book Circulation, Libraries Fight Back

image via​It's a brave new electronic world we live in, where blogs like this one that you're reading have replaced daily newspapers, e-mail and Facebook updates have replaced letters and phone calls and the heavy stacks of textbooks that used to weigh down schoolkids may now be replaced with ... More >>

Borders Liquidation Sales Start This Weekend

image viaBorders wants your help to make its St. Peters, Chesterfield and Ballwin stores look this...clean and well-lighted.​It was only two days ago that the Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and published a list of the 200 stores doomed to extinction, but the chain mea ... More >>

Harold McGee Visits St. Louis Tuesday, 11.16

www.amazon.com​Few food books are as beloved and influential -- especially among chefs -- as On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. Subtitled The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, the book explains, in utterly lucid prose, what foods actually are, chemically speaking, and why they behave why they do ... More >>

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Alex Chilton's Missouri Ties: How the First Big Star Reunion Happened in Columbia

Big Star/Box Tops legend Alex Chilton's sad, unexpected death continues to reverberate throughout the music industry. Tributes are pouring in, from the LA Times and Rolling Stone to the NY Times and basically the entire SXSW music festival. Jason HarperThe cover of the Austin Chronicle's SXSW suppl ... More >>

Columbia Named 17th Most Romantic City in America

flickr.com/photos/ryangladstonephoto Stuff like this happens in Columbia every day! That's what makes it one of the most romantic cities in America.​Some shocking news from Amazon.com: The most romantic city in Missouri is...Columbia. Yep. The home of the University of Missouri ranks 17th i ... More >>

St. Louis Short Story Writer Joe Schwartz Now Giving It Up for Free

lulu.com​That's his work, you dirty-minded fools.Joe Schwartz, as some of you may recall, is an employee of the St. Louis Public Library who self-published his first short story collection Joe's Black T-Shirt: Short Stories About St. Louis last August. He planned to sell the book at readings aroun ... More >>

Curt Smith of Tears for Fears is "Head Over Heels" for a Missouri Democrat

Curt Smith (left) in his younger days.​File under news of the weird: Jake Wagman of the Post-Dispatch reported yesterday that political upstart Tommy Sowers -- a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Missouri's 8th Congressional District -- had a number of famous donors ... More >>

Local Fifth Grader Publishes Book About Elephant's Triumphant "Escape" to Saint Louis Zoo

For elephants, one would think the Saint Louis Zoo would be a place to escape from, not to. Earlier this year, In Defense of Animals, an animal rights organization, named the zoo to its "Hall of Shame" on its Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list. A month later, one of the elephants, Jade, contracte ... More >>

Interview: New World Spirits

NWS, back in the day, circa 1997​ On January 16, New World Spirits -- one of many St. Louis bands which earned a record deal in the '90s -- will be doing a reunion show at the Pageant. Tickets go on sale this Friday and are $20. Judging from comments at this reunion post, the return of NWS i ... More >>

Keep Your Wallet Far From Spazio's Westport Tonight

flickr.com/photos/31272503@N02​A Texas Internet-type company called iJango is holding a meeting at Spazio's in Westport tonight to attract St. Louis-area investors, and the Better Business Bureau is warning St. Louisans to be wary, the St. Louis Business Journal reports.More specifically, the BBB ... More >>

Video: I Blame Emily, "Facebook Friend"

Having a crush in the digital age is even more confusing than it was before we had Twitter, Facebook, text messaging and email. I mean, if someone doesn't respond to your direct message, is he not interested? That flirty Tweet directed to that one girl in California -- does it mean anything? A crypt ... More >>

William Stage is "Fool for Life"

Former RFT scribe William Stage is out with a new work of fiction titled Fool for Life. The novel chronicles the life of a St. Louis process server and freelance writer in search of both love and the parents who put him up for adoption fifty years ago. In other words, this fictional tale very much p ... More >>

Lost in the Supermarket: Jimmy Eat World, Lindsay Lohan, Enrique Iglesias

(Welcome to Lost in the Supermarket, an occasional blog recurring feature in which we discuss unexpected songs we've heard in unexpected places. This doesn't just have to be your local Schucks or Dierbergs, either; any weird pairing you've heard is fair game for the feature. Email the scenario to me ... More >>

Richmond Heights' "American Wife" Author Imagines Inauguration Day

There are plenty of writers this week who are trying to make George W. Bush appear likeable and, yes, even sympathetic. It is his last week in office, after all. But let it be known that Curtis Sittenfeld was there first, and before the Bushes have even left the White House, she's already moved on.T ... More >>

Historic Poplar Bluff: Bush Malapropped Here!

On Monday Slate.com's Jacob Weisberg posted his 25 favorite Bushisms of all time. Clocking in at number four was this gem (which Unreal thinks was given short shrift in the rankings):4. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with wome ... More >>

Ask a Mexican!: Beaner Counter: How do we know how many illegal immigrants are in the United States?

Eat Like Obama!

www.amazon.com The election of Barack Obama has apparently turned us into a nation of twelve-year-old girls, with Newsweek, the New York Times and 60 Minutes our Tiger Beat, YM and TRL (RIP). Here at Gut Check, we follow the reports on the new cabinet with interest -- OMG, is he really g ... More >>

The Dish: Boylan's Natural Cane Cola

Smokers' Olympics

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

The Raconteurs at the Pageant, Thursday, June 12

Nine Inch Nails Just Released a New Record, Ghosts I-IV

Doors Swing Both Ways

Mexicans like music that doesn't involve tubas?

Restaurant Tidbits: Special Everything Tastes Like Cough Drops Edition

Daily Web Crawl

Michael Ruhlman at Viking, Borders and Gut Check

Ask a Mexican a Question, Get a Book of Answers

Now you can snuggle up with the Mexican before bed!

B-Sides clears up any confusion between metalheads Celtic Frost and Irish folkies Celtic Woman.

Then we talk action and politics with Brooklyn Afrobeat aficionados Antibalas.

Won't Be Worried Long

Hunter Brumfield III: 1974-2005

Reese's Piece

Mira Nair's Victorian England bursts with sensuality but not impact

Our Fortunate Son President

He seems pretty proud to be one

The Man With No Brains

Remember when Steve Martin was funny? Apparently, neither does he.

Dream Weaver

Sandman author Neil Gaiman finds magic in the damnedest place

Shelf Life

A new chapter for Loop mainstay A Collector's Book Shop

Pot of Gold

Waxing nostalgic and enthusiastic over the offerings of the Sheldon's "Folk Music in the Melting Pot" series

SNAP CALL

City Hall makes a quick pick in an ugly battle over Internet and phone service. Prepare to pay the price.

Listening Post