BY MATTHEW JACKSON
Midway through her set, Portland-based Mirah advised aspiring performers that knitting, not a "shot of tequila," was the best pre-show preparation. I looked around to see if anyone was knitting at that very moment, but things were quiet -- except in the back half of the Billiken Club, where a serpentine bar line and two televisions competed with Mirah's engaging, meticulous folk-rock for most of the evening. It was also a good thing that the club still had tables and chairs:
Todd Smith was the only person wounded in the Kirkwood shootings to survive. In case you missed Deb Peterson's schmooze on Todd Smith, the former Suburban Journals reporter who was wounded in the Kirkwood City Hall shooting a year before being laid off by the employer he took a bullet for: Smith has been hired by The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois.Smith is now an editor and writer for the newspaper's medical website, BeHealthySpringfield.com. After being shot in the hand by C
