Branson

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers Coming to St. Peters

Time to cross another chain off the don't-have-yet list. Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, a Wichita, Kansas-based chain, will open its first area location at 1365 Jungerman Road in in St. Peters. Though Freddy's is new to St. Louis and its exurbs, the chain already boasts locations throughou ... More >>

Help Select St. Louis' Best Aspiring Comic

Answers to the Riverfront Times 2012 News Quiz

In January Riverfront Times published its annual "News Challenge" -- 78 multiple-choice questions testing how well readers paid attention to current events over the past twelve months. Within a week, more than 100 of you submitted your answers to us. A few weeks later a dozen readers e-mailed a simi ... More >>

[Updated with Winners] The Tweet 16: Vote Now in Round One of RFT's Standup Throwdown!

Updated at 5:23 p.m. March 20: Congratulations to Lisa Rimmert, Jon Venegoni, Nick Branson, Mike Szymanski, JR Moore, Emily Hickner, Conor Hovis and Evan Rowe for making the Elite Eight. Comics stay tuned; We'll be announcing the specifics of the next round very soon! Thanks also to everybody else ... More >>

Out Every Night: The Best Shows From December 17 to 23

Plenty of excellent shows this week; particularly as we enter the weekend -- local releases galore. We'll get into that in more detail on the weekend post though. Supposedly, the world is ending this weekend as well. I know what you are thinking, and I don't really buy it either, but then again the ... More >>

Another Mountain Lion Sighting - This Time Near Branson!

And so it continues. The Missouri Department of Conservation has just confirmed the fourth Mountain Lion sighting in the last two months. All have occurred in southern Missouri. The most recent photo was taken by a wildlife camera in Taney County, near Branson, on Halloween night. We know mountain l ... More >>

John Howard Now Has Two-and-a-Half Six Packs Worth of DUI Arrests

Branson man John Charles Howard, 50, has been charged with DUI fourteen times in Missouri and Kansas. Monday night in Overland Park, Kansas, he racked up lucky number 15. This one came with an increased degree of difficulty however: He was fleeing the scene of a suspected crime.

Joe Pastor Trio

8:30 p.m. Monday, February 20. BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, 700 South Broadway.

Nooooo! Yakov Smirnoff Ending Branson Performance

Photo: Jennifer SilverbergBranson is great, but America? "What a country!" And Yakov says it's time to see more of it.​After twenty years, Ukranian comic Yakov Smirnoff is winding down his live performance in Branson. Smirnoff will continue his act at his theatre through 2012. He then plans to tak ... More >>

Stomp Grapes for Charity this Weekend at Stone Hill Winery

Image via​When Lucy decided to go to work for a local vineyard in the famous grape-stomping I Love Lucy episode, she got into a bit of a tiff with a fellow stomper. But there will be only good-natured grape crushing in Hermann this Saturday when participants gather for Stone Hill Winery's annu ... More >>

Worst Breakup Souvenir Ever: Uh, I Kinda Infected You With H.I.V....

Image viaThis woman got much more than a broken heart. ​Call him callous. Or sick. Maybe a biological killer.Forty-two-year-old Jeffrey Scott Trumbo of Branson is going to the big house for 10 years after admitting to knowingly infecting his girlfriend with H.I.V. According to Taney County Prosecu ... More >>

Businessman Proposes 100,000-Seat NASCAR Track in Branson

Here's betting that NASCAR plays big in Branson.​Some things just go great together. Cookies and milk. Beach chairs and paperbacks. Captain and Tennille. Branson and Nelly. Err, we mean Branson and NASCAR. A month after St. Louis' Gateway International Raceway closed down after a decade of trying ... More >>

(Everybody Must Get) Stone Hill Vignoles 2009

Wine gets lost in the passionate "local" food movement. While locavores wax rhapsodically about farmers, cheesemakers, beekeepers and brewers, wine producers close to home are virtually ignored. With "Show Me Wine," Gut Check sets out to determine -- on a bottle by bottle basis -- whether we're miss ... More >>

Lost Old Lady from Branson Survives Two Nights in the Woods

flickr.com/photos/elsieWait...where the hell am I?​This is how sturdy Missourians are: Louise Edna Parker, 87, of Branson, went missing Monday but turned up Wednesday after 48 hours of wandering around lost in a forest. Writes the News-Leader of Springfield:she had gone hunting for flowers in the ... More >>

Interview: Nelly on Being a DJ, His New Album and Playing in Branson

Erin Kinsella​Starting yesterday, one of the city's most recognizable voices can be heard over the airwaves daily. Nelly is taking over as host for the afternoon-drive timeslot (from 3 to 7 p.m.) at Hot 104.1. The switch will only be a temporary arrangement, while regular host Staci Static is ... More >>

Nelly to Realize His Dream, Play a Concert in Branson

​We're not sure why Nelly is so dead-set on playing Branson, seeing how the town is an oasis for the dead-end acts of yesteryear. (Then again, Country Grammar did just celebrate its 10-year anniversary.) Anyway, it seems the St. Louis rapper will finally realize his dream of playing in the "Hillbi ... More >>

Nelly Will Be Getting Hot in Herre -- Er, Branson -- After All

Well, it appears that Nelly's Branson concert is on after all: According to Fox 2 (via the Associated Press): A promoter says the much-delayed concert by rapper Nelly has a venue in Branson. Concert promoter Paul Dunn said Nelly will perform indoor at the Mansion Theater on Aug. 21. According to t ... More >>

Newsflash: Gay People on Government Payroll

image viaKathleen's little black book.​In a daring act of citizen-journalism, Kathleen Branson of Pacific has published a letter to the editor of the Washington Missourian purporting to out all the gays who work in President Obama's administration. "The following names are people who now have ... More >>

Local Filmmakers Explore Currency Design as an Art Form in The Art of Making Money, Host Interactive Art Show Fundraiser

artmoney.orgart money by Elisabeth Maria Hansson Wejsflog​From its independent movie theater/DVD shop/cafe, the Ragtag, to its annual True/False Film Fest, Columbia, Missouri, is a college town known for supporting art-house cinema, especially documentaries. Nathan Truesdell, a Columbia res ... More >>

OK Go's New Video, "End Love," Has Regional Ties

One of these days, OK Go isn't going to be able to top itself when it comes to video concepts. That day is not today, however. The quartet premiered the video for "End Love" early this afternoon, and it's a typically quirky, visually engaging romp. Fun facts, though: "End Love" was executive-produce ... More >>

Silver Dollar City CEO Joel Manby To Fool Everyone on CBS's Next Undercover Boss

Image ViaJoel Manby​The premise behind Undercover Boss is that underlings don't know what the CEO of their company looks like. So if he were to just hang out among the staff, pretending to be a job applicant or new hire...ooh what's gonna happen?   Well, this Sunday, donning a disguise that s ... More >>

Medieval Castle Under Construction in Ozarks

Image sourceA castle in progress (projected).​In the Ozarks, land of mountains and rivers and Branson, only one thing is missing, and that's about to be remedied: A medieval castle.For the next 20 years, a group of men wearing authentic-type medieval peasant garb (apparently sewn from low thread-c ... More >>

RE: Sarah Palin's Book Tour of Bumblefuck U.S.A. Coming to Sam's Club Far From You

​Regarding my post yesterday on how Sarah Palin's book tour is avoiding major cities and Democratic strongholds in favor of discount retailers in podunkville...Yesterday the Springfield News-Leader reported a tidbit that supports my premise. Palin is in fact stopping in Missouri to promote her boo ... More >>

Choice Cuts: The St. Louis International Film Festival's eighteenth year brings together films shot around the world and in our back yard

Have you heard the one about the two cowboys at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre? Plus: Skeptical skeptics and pointless laws.

Holy Crap! Branson Theater Wins Award for Best Bathroom in U.S.

The ladies' room at Shoji Tabuchi Theatre. ​ The results are in and the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre has won the coveted "America's Best Bathroom Award." The Branson music hall features a ladies' powder room (right) boasting wainscoting, live cut orchids at every granite and onyx pedestal sink, stained g ... More >>

Ahh, Branson. Dolly Parton, Baldknobbers, Yakov and Honest-to-Goodness Human Slaves

Photo: Jennifer SilverbergBranson at night is a scary place. Especially when you're there against your will.Branson, to put it mildly, is an unusual place. As I reported back in 2007, the southwestern Missouri town is something like a '50s fantasy camp. Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff keeps the Cold ... More >>

Branson Entertainers Visit U.S. Troops Overseas (As If They Haven't Suffered Enough)

This just in from the media arm of Mansion Theatre, home of "Branson's biggest shows."A junket of Branson-based singers and a few Branson favorites (i.e. Tony Orlando) just returned from a trip to Iraq and Germany to visit and entertain U.S. troops. The group also handed out Crocs sandals to the Ira ... More >>

Harsh Memories Haunt a Missouri War Resister

And You Complain About Your $3 Bag of Trail Mix

courtesy Telegraph (UK)"It's your hamster, Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing."Do you remember the old days, when airplane travelers were always guaranteed free food, no matter how short the flight? Do you remember those tiny bags of honey-roasted peanuts that were impossib ... More >>

No BS: RFT Softball Squad Is Victorious

Unreal News Challenge 2007

Week of December 27, 2007

God. Country (and what a country!). BRANSON.

Join us on a guided tour of emigré comedian Yakov Smirnoff's adopted home, a veritable geezer's Shangri-La.

Outtakes: Son Volt

As the World Turns...to Branson.

Plus: Spicy sex games for the Christian couple.

Good Eatin'

Unreal tastes gourmet Ozarks cuisine and uncovers a strange collection — all from the comfort of our bathrobe.

Beat Happenings

Music news you can use

Roy Clark

Thursday, May 11, at 7 and 9 p.m. Ameristar Casino's Bottleneck Blues Bar (1260 South Main Street, St. Charles)

Stout Fellow

Unreal hoists (metaphorical) pints with Yakov Smirnoff and (real) pints with the Guinness brewmaster; then we try to get a deal on an empty Falstaff keg. Plus: RFT editor Tom Finkel makes some unbelievable hires!

Something Smells

We find the funk in Branson, ride along with a stunt pilot and check out the STL Zoo's new species; plus, a local Gephardt gaffe

Rock On and On and On and On

Make Sweet Meat proud in the KSHE 95 March Bandness: Tournament of Rock; plus, give us your juiciest Berger Bite, check out some cranky public art and a Branson Idol hopeful -- and don't pack heat in Dierbergs

Big Smith

Friday, January 9; Mississippi Nights

Shandi in Furs

Miss Missouri USA faces an ethical dilemma, Blake Ashby pontificates on the sweater vest, Unreal invents a surefire theft deterrent and Joyce Aboussie just gets scary; plus, the Sanford-Brown report and the reasons why the Lou is number two

Sports Trivia Saved Our Town

Speaking Frankly

Now That She's Been Indicted, What Should Be Done With Martha Stewart?

Week of July 9, 2003

Illinois Idol

Millstadt talent shows breathe farm air into an increasingly streamlined pop life

Ass in a Sling

Bob Cassilly's got far-reaching plans for visitors to the City Museum

Muddy Memories

The touristy Mesquite Charlie's will nonetheless satisfy those with a fondness for Old Man River

Side Dish

Negotiations for a new riverfront restaurant are going swimmingly

Strip Search

Looking for Ozark culture amid the neon, glitter and traffic of Highway 76 in Branson