Frank Zappa

The Top Ten Douchiest Drummers of All Time

By Nate Jackson What would music be without a beat, a rhythm or a backbone? Though they qualify as the first instruments ever created, the drums are probably the last thing most music fans can live without. And while we worship plenty of drummers in modern music, there are some Gods of Thunder who ... More >>

The Six Best Namedrops In Song

Musicians frequently reference each other, consciously or otherwise. Usually the reference is something subtle, like a chord progression or a melodic phrase. For those less subtle moments, here are the six best name-drops in song. Let us know your favorites in the comments, but make sure that your p ... More >>

The Fixer: Dave Anderson's one-stop guitar shop

Pussy Riot and Four Other Bands That Lost the Battle with Authority But Won the War

If there's one thing the Pussy Riot trial has taught us, it's that protest music can still be a dangerous, subversive tool. By performing an anti-Putin "punk prayer" during a guerrilla action at a Russian Orthodox church, Pussy Riot intended to provoke and offend. Many saw their action as blasphemou ... More >>

Vaclav Havel's Four Biggest Musical Influences

​This weekend, two world leaders passed. One, North Korea's Kim Jong-Il, is remembered as an eccentric but dangerous dictator, a man who suppressed dissent and kept his people in a perpetual state of war and famine. The other, Vaclav Havel, played a key role in freeing Czechoslovakia from Comm ... More >>

Frances Bean Cobain And The Other Nine Hottest Offspring Of Musicians

Rocky Schenck​Today is Frances Bean Cobain's 19th birthday. Time flies, right? In celebration of Miss Frannie, we've compiled a list of hot rock 'n' roll spawn. These people have at least one rock star parent and their moms are frequently models. (Figures.) They are all totally bangable, and m ... More >>

Interview: Ellen Cook, a.k.a. Local Piano Songstress Ellen the Felon, Opens Up About Her Songs and Playing with Amanda Palmer

Image via​Those fans who will flock to the Pageant on Sunday night for Ben Folds' sold-out concert should consider staving off the start of the work week a little longer and stick around for Ellen Cook's after-show concert at the Halo Bar. Cook, a pianist and singer, performs around St. Louis ... More >>

Captain Beefheart in St. Louis -- With Styx?

Frank Xavier WeyerichCaptain Beefheart and Tom "Papa" Ray​On Friday, Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, died at the age of 69. Tributes and remembrances have been pouring in since Friday, from a reprint of a 1980 Lester Bangs story on the man to a moving LA Times piece by ex-RFT staffer ... More >>

Zappa Plays Zappa

8 p.m. Wednesday, December 8. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Head Trip

Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa Talks Gaga, Van Smells, Hip-Hop and the Band's New Album

LA's Warpaint play tonight at the Luminary Center for the Arts. From left, Theresa Wayman, Jenny Lee Lindberg, Stella Mogzawa, Emily Kokal(front).​The Los Angeles four-piece Warpaint crafts haunting dreampsych with iridescent harmonies and filmy reverb, but don't label them as an all-girl band ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Freezerburn's Ben Stegman on Album Reviews, New Bands and How Consuming Music Has Changed

(The number of chain-record stores nationwide has dwindled. However, St. Louis has become an unlikely safe haven for indie record shops -- and for DJs who prefer to spin the black circle instead of scrolling their iPods. In this new weekly column, we'll focus on personal portraits of St. Louis' reco ... More >>

The Beertender Fights the Man with Lagunitas Brewing Company

Something I'd like to do more often in the future is spotlight individual breweries that sell their wares in the St Louis area. To that end, let us talk today of a new arrival, the pride of Petaluma, California: the Lagunitas Brewing Company.Robert Campbell, Wikimedia CommonsPetaluma, California, t ... More >>

Little Feat/Madahoochi

6 p.m. Saturday, July 18. Live on the Levee, Gateway Arch and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Future Perfect: Max Tundra's world goes pop

Voluntary Mother Earth

8 p.m. Tuesday, March 24. Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, 3301 Lemp Avenue.

We made you a mixtape! 2008: The year in music.

Concert Review: Glenn Branca's Symphony Number 13 and the Premiere of Number 14

Writer Ryan Wasoba participated in the 100 Guitars performance at the Pageant last night, which also featured the world premiere of the first movement of Glenn Branca's Symphony Number 14. Here are Wasoba's thoughts on the night and an analysis of the performance. Read more about the concert here an ... More >>

Glenn Branca

8 p.m. Thursday, November 13. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard.

Second Spin: Sweetbottom, Angels of the Deep

MP3 Weekender: James Jackson Toth and Ohtis

Ohtis

9 p.m. Saturday, September 13. Billiken Club, in the Busch Student Center on the campus of St. Louis University, 20 North Grand Boulevard.

Cellar Beware

Frank Morey

9 p.m. Monday, December 18. Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Avenue).

Deck the Halls with Christmas Albums

B-Sides reviews the year's crop of holiday cheer and talks to Dweezil Zappa about his dad's legacy.

Toot Sweet

Opera Theatre proves that less really is more with a brisk Jane Eyre

Les Claypool

Tuesday, October 11; Mississippi Nights (914 North First Street)

The Caribbean Jazz Project

Wednesday, November 17, through Saturday, November 20; Jazz at the Bistro

Nice Peter

Friday, November 5; Frederick's Music Lounge

Classics Meet the Cults

All at Euclid Records

Ready to Rumble

A Loop Battle of the Bands gathers steam

Best Rock Band

Riddle of Steel

Series/Festivals

Week of June 16, 2004

Smashed Mouth?

A band with some redacted words for Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Support the Scene

Radar Station surfs the Web instead of going outside

Old News

Reissues of classics are the gifts that keep on giving

Scene Creamers

I Suck on That Emotion (Drag City)

Mother of Reinvention

St. Louis native Ike Willis brings Zappa home

Project/Object

Tuesday, October 22; Cicero's

Money Shot

9/11 was supposed to sound the death knell for irony -- so what's gonna happen to Money Mark?

The 2002 RFT Music Awards Showcase

The name has changed, but the song remains the same

Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove, John Patitucci and Brian Blade

Friday, Sept. 28; Powell Symphony Hall

The Masochism Musical

K's Theatrical Korps resurrects the tunes of Dr. Demento fave Tom Lehrer

Champing at the Bit

The Fucking Champs wage their solitary war on the wuss hegemony, the indie-rock cabal, the bass and soundmen

Bang the Drum Repeatedly

Composer Philip Glass and timpanist Jonathan Haas move the kettledrums to the front of the Powell Hall stage

Hit Parade

New St. Louis music crosses the "Radar"

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Four new releases don't tell all of the Captain Beefheart story

TOUCH TONES

Local band Fingerpaint Diary starts painting itself out of a corner

THE INN CROWD

Checking into Hotel Faux Pas

Frank Zappa