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The Ten Weirdest Members of Congress

Slideshow: The 10 Weirdest Members of Congress

Unfit for Print: An angel investor pitches in to salvage the reputation of a St. Louis publisher

Ernie Hays, Longtime Organist for St. Louis Cardinals, Dead at 77

Local legend Ernie Hays has passed away at the age of 77. Hays manned the stadium organ for the St. Louis Cardinals for 40 years before retiring prior to the 2010 season. In an age when more and more ballparks use recorded pop songs to entertain fans, Hays was an outlier who insisted on playing show ... More >>

The Demonization of Chief Keef and Lil JoJo

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis City. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

50-Plus St. Louis Hip-Hop Artists You Should Know

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis City. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

The 2012 RFT Music Showcase Lineup for June 2

Tyler Greene Still Tremendously Tantalizing, But Still Terribly Troubling Too

I've written about Tyler Greene before; he's kind of a pet obsession of mine. Actually, not really an obsession; I don't care enough one way or the other to characterize it in that manner. But I will admit to finding him fascinating. Greene is an enigma, and as such invites far more specul ... More >>

One Nation, Under Tacos: How Mexican food conquered America

Doug Melvin is a Whiny (Brewer)

​Doug Melvin is the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers are a baseball team in the National League Central. The Milwaukee Brewers have had a rather heated rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals the last couple of years. The Milwaukee Brewers played the Cardinals in ... More >>

Kings for a Moment: The feds attack online poker, killing a $2.5 billion industry

Keith Law Really, Really Likes the Cards' System

Get it? 'Cause he's a PROSPECTor? Yeah, I know. I'll try harder next time. Promise. ​Keith Law, prospect guru extraordinaire over at ESPN.com, has released both his top 100 prospect list and his overall organizational rankings over the past few days. The Cardinals, formerly relegated to the lower ... More >>

Q & A: Local Author Breaks Down New Book About Mexican Drug War

A few years ago while living out West, Sylvia Longmire, a retired U.S. Air Force captain and former special agent with the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations, noticed that the news media often bollixed its coverage of the Mexican drug war -- a topic she'd been tracking closely for Californ ... More >>

The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll: An Interview With Author Preston Lauterbach

​The story of American popular music is forever being told and yet there's always more to tell. Just published by W.W. Norton, The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll, written by Preston Lauterbach, traces, in precise and dirty detail, the shadowy history of financiers, club owners, ... More >>

Brent Farris: St. Louis Fugitive Eluded Capture Like "Catch Me If You Can"

U.S. Marshal's Service via Houston ChronicleBrent Farris traveled under the alias Michael Royston.​Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Catch Me if You Can has nothing on 49-year-old Brent Farris. Farris, the former owner of Farris Gallery in St. Louis, was sentenced today to fourteen months in prison ... More >>

Cal Ripken Jr. to Honor St. Louis Native Kevin Kline For Cancer Research Fundraising

Kevin Kline and Chelsey Campbell ​Chelsey Campbell's brown hair was long. On the cold morning he met her, that's what Kevin Kline noticed first. During an on-location broadcast at the Texas Children's Cancer Center in 2005, the morning radio host was idle in the time between the show's 5:30 a. ... More >>

"You can't drink when you're dead": An interview with Steve Earle

Photo: Ted Barron​"I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" is the title of a beloved Hank Williams Sr. song. It's also the title of Steve Earle's new novel, as well as his newest album, and if it's not the motto tacked to his New York City apartment door it damn well should be. We reached Ea ... More >>

RIP Jay Landesman, Founder of Crystal Palace Nightclub, Mayor of Gaslight Square, Writer and All-Around Hep Cat

David Edmunds​Jay Landesman, who founded the Crystal Palace nightclub, which became the linchpin of the Gaslight Square hipster/entertainment district, and wrote the novel The Nervous Set, which became the basis for the world's first (and only) beatnik musical, died Sunday in London. He was 91 ... More >>

R.I.P. Jay Landesman, Founder of Crystal Palace Nightclub, Mayor of Gaslight Square, Writer and All-Around Hep Cat

David Edmunds​Jay Landesman, who founded the Crystal Palace nightclub, which became the linchpin of the Gaslight Square hipster/entertainment district, and wrote the novel The Nervous Set, which became the basis for the world's first (and only) beatnik musical, died Sunday in London. He was 91 ... More >>

Return to Sender: What would comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds got moving?

Because There's No News to Report in Kansas City, Royals Blogger Makes Some Up

image viaYou can't tell, but there's a passage from Of Plymouth Plantation under the brim of Crawford's cap.​This is, to put it kindly, not an especially exciting time of year to be a journalist. Especially if you cover baseball. So naturally, it's the perfect time for Kansas City Royals blogg ... More >>

Kevin Jackson wrote the book on how to win (white) friends and influence (black) people

U2 Coming to Busch Stadium in 2011 [Updated]

Annie ZaleskiA rendering of what the U2 360 stage will look like in Busch Stadium​As hinted at on Friday, U2 today announced a show at Busch Stadium on July 17, 2011. Capacity of the concert is expected to exceed 50,000, with 90 percent of tickets priced at under $100, according to today's pre ... More >>

Asylum Denied: Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum.

Rapper Huey looks to shake off the past with a mature outlook and a new album

Interview: Eyehategod Bassist Gary Mader Talks Phil Anselmo, Addiction and the Louisiana Oil Spill (Hint: "Fuck BP.")

Eyehategod​Underground sludge legends Eyehategod have pulled it together for what could be a breakout tour. The New Orleans band has been grinding it out since 1988, and it's been a rough, broken road. As documented in the group's lyrics, things such as addiction, incarceration and probation h ... More >>

Walt Jocketty and the Reds' Renaissance

Walt Jocketty in his days at GM of the Cardinals.​The Cincinnati Reds welcome the Cardinals into town this weekend for what is, to this point, probably the biggest series of the season for both clubs. The series in Philadelphia was the one I had been looking to as the big test for the Cards e ... More >>

What Treme Gets Right

An exclusive excerpt of author Steve Almond's new book, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life

An Exclusive Excerpt of Steve Almond's Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, Part One

Austin singer-songwriter/musician Bob Schneider will perform at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room on Wednesday, March 24. To go along with this appearance, we're going to run an exclusive excerpt from author Steve Almond's new book, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, which Random House will publish next mo ... More >>

What Are We Supposed to Do About All Those MetroLink Freeloaders?

Tunrstiles work just fine at San Francisco's BART, but then, that's a heavy rail system​One argument wielded by Proposition A opponents of hiking the St. Louis County sales tax a half cent to restore and expand Metro transit services is that there's too many  f ... More >>

Founder of BetonSports Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Forfeits $43 Million to Government

​Gary Stephen Kaplan, the subject of a Riverfront Times investigation in '07, has pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges of fraud for running an illegal offshore sports wagering business.As part of a complex plea agreement, Kaplan, 50, entered pleas of guilty to charges of conspiracy to violat ... More >>

The Unsolved Murder of Ernie Brasier: A Clayton attorney's death nearly two years ago continues to mystify police and colleagues

Being Darryl Strawberry

Baseball's bad boy is now doing the Lord's work in O'Fallon, Missouri. How long will that last?

What If . . .

A cadre of Missourians stand at the vanguard of the 9/11 "truth movement." Just don't call them conspiracy theorists.

Won't Be Worried Long

Hunter Brumfield III: 1974-2005

Letters

Week of September 15, 2004

Raggedy Dandies

The fashion-forward minds behind Rock Star Rags, St. Louis' invite-only vintage clothing warehouse

Potato Peeled

Who bumped Frank "Couch Potato" Weltner from the Internet? Blame it on the Jews.