National Public Radio

Brad Pitt Regrets Dropping Out of Mizzou

Brad Pitt wishes he did not drop out of the University of Missouri. Why? Because who would do such a foolish thing? What kind of guy would just give up on academics? Pitt, who grew up in Springfield -- where his parents still live -- opens up about his loneliness and his unfinished academic caree ... More >>

Deep Covers: Bhi Bhiman re-imagines rock favorites on Substitute Preacher

Released Today: New Budweiser Can Shaped Like a Bow Tie

Let it be known that Gut Check is always on the cutting edge of technology. Especially when said technology involves beer. Today, St. Louis' own classic American lager, Budweiser, is loosing upon humanity a new beer can -- not simply an updated label or artwork, but quite literally an entirely new ... More >>

The Six Indie Rock Songs That Sound Most Like Ska Songs

Indie rock is the vaguest of all genres, sort of the "none of the above" of rock and roll. There are no hard and fast rules. In rare cases, the result sounds an awful lot like ska. Here are the six indie rock songs that sound most like ska songs. Let us know your favorites in the comments. Oi.

SXSW 2013: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Phosphorescent, Natalie Maines, Richard Thompson, China Rats and More: Review and Photos

This happened: Laura Cantrell, a New York-based country singer and songwriter, shared a stage with two friends, Rosie Flores and Kristi Rose, backed by Fats Kaplin and Mark Spencer, two of the finer musicians in a town that, on this or any week, affords some stiff competition. The trio of voices fil ... More >>

The 20 Most Overused Terms In SXSW Band Bios

By Craig Hlavaty Before I take any trip to Austin and SXSW, I always take more than a few days to peruse the schedule and check out a few of the hundreds of names on the roster and read their bios. Some years there are more bands with "wolf" and "space" in their monikers than usual, and some year ... More >>

New and Self-Improving: This Week's Bestseller List

Here's your weekly St. Louis bestseller list for the week ending January 13, as compiled by the St. Louis Independent Booksellers Alliance and based on sales at Left Bank Books, Main Street Books and Subterranean Books. Just as January is the time for eating brown rice and kale and going back to t ... More >>

Should Indie Bands be More Like Nickelback?

I follow sportswriters and music writers on Twitter, but I also follow business and economics writers--and generally when one of the people from the latter class writes about one of the subjects from the first class I'm skeptical. Generally when people write about Nickelback I'm skeptical. Which is ... More >>

No MO Money For a Former Bellwether

Once upon a time, Missouri was the bellwether of the Presidential elections. You could always count on us to pick the winner. Remember 2008 when Barack Obama rallied beneath the Arch and even John McCain paid a few visits here? Oh, those glorious days. But then, by just .1 percent of the popular vot ... More >>

The Six Best Songs About Ohio

If you are a human with access to the news, you are probably sick of hearing about Ohio, the swing state that will likely determine the shape of today's Presidential election. Luckily, Ohio sounds better out of some musician's mouths than it does coming out of Rush Limbaugh's. Here are the six best ... More >>

KDHX: Not Playing the Hits for 25 Years

Jon Hardy on his Hard Year and the Public's Return to the Stage

In late 2010, Jon Hardy & the Public released an EP titled A Hard Year. The band couldn't have known what kind of year lay ahead of it. In September of last year, a few weeks after the Public's well-received performance at LouFest, Hardy took a tumble out of a tree and landed on his head, fracturing ... More >>

Illegal Downloading Is Wrong, But I Do It Anyway

Art and life co-habitate, informing, imitating, and enriching each other constantly. Each week in Better Living Through Music, RFT Music writer Ryan Wasoba explores this symbiotic relationship. Question: If you were in the middle of a riot, streets overrun with people freaking out, smashing windows ... More >>

KDHX Co-Director Nico Leone Has Accepted a Job as General Manager at KCUR in Kansas City

KDHX (88.1 FM) Co-Executive Director Nico Leone will be leaving his post here to take a job as the General Manager of KCUR (89.3 FM) in Kansas City. He'll start on August 1 and remain at KDHX until then. Leone has been with KDHX for eight and a half years. He started as Music Director and has been ... More >>

Six Best Bands Named Black _____

The Black Keys headlined the first day of Coachella. Black Sabbath is about to play Lollapalooza. Local metal phenom Black Fast just wowed a crowd at Euclid Records for Record Store Day. These are all reminders that black is the official color of rock & roll. Here are the six best "Black ______" ban ... More >>

Jack White Featuring Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three: Listen Now

Jack White's solo record, Blunderbuss, comes out next week, but it's streaming on iTunes right now. It's his first as a "solo" artist, though he is backed by a litany of past collaborators and friends, including St. Louis' own Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, who act as White's backing band on ... More >>

Blind Pilot started out in the saddle

Ayad Akhtar Talks About American Dervish, The Invisible Hand, Bacon and Seinfeld

Ayad Akhtar is a lucky man. His first novel, American Dervish, came out in January and has received extravagant praise from the likes of the New York Times and NPR; you can hear him read from it this Wednesday, February 29, at Left Bank Books. Next month, for a few days anyway, he will have two play ... More >>

Heartless Bastards at the Firebird, 2/8/12: Photos

Heartless Bastards has moved from Dayton to Austin in the course of a career making dusty rock. Its newest release, Arrow, is its most refined work to date. You can listen to it now a week ahead of its proper release through NPR's First Listen series. The band stopped by the Firebird last night, a ... More >>

RIP St. Louis Soccer Legend Harry Keough

Harry Keough, the soccer great who was a defender on the legendary 1950 U.S. World Cup team and who went on to become the longtime coach at Saint Louis University, died yesterday morning at home in St. Louis. He was 84. Keough was one of five St. Louisans on the U.S. national team that beat 500-1 o ... More >>

Happy Birthday to Jazz Virtuoso Julius Hemphill

Julius Hemphill may not have resided in St. Louis for his entire life. But it didn't take long for the jazz legend to make his mark in the Gateway City. Hemphill -- who was born on this day in 1938 -- was an jazz virtuoso who unleashed a string of groundbreaking music over his career. Born in Texas ... More >>

The Six Abandoned Songs Most Worth Reevaluating

Sometimes we just need to take a break from a song. One can only hear the same words and melody so many times until it loses all meaning, like saying "sandals" or "popcorn" a few dozen times. Unfortunately, some great songs are never revisited -- maybe because of overkill, maybe because of the stigm ... More >>

40 Best St. Louis Releases of 2011: Part Eight

​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace Part Five: S ... More >>

Missouri State Band Reignites Debate Over "Dixie"

Image via"Dixie" came out of blackface minstrel shows in the mid-19th Century.​The song "Dixie" was born from the blackface minstrel shows of the mid-19th century. The lyrics take the perspective, and exaggerated dialect, of a free slave who aches to return to his days of plantation bondage. The f ... More >>

Washington University professor Paul Shaw is cracking the mysteries of sleep

LouFest Interviews: Lost In The Trees' Ari Picker On Classical Music And More

​ Ari Picker is as genuine and unfailingly heartfelt as his music would have you believe. His folk orchestra project Lost in the Trees is winsome and soft, but imbued with wrenching emotion and cathartic release. Picker composes symphonic ballads out of pure necessity, to deal with the tragedi ... More >>

Dems Demand Explanation from Peter Kinder

The Lt. Gov is allegedly so bad, Werner Herzog should make a movie about him!​Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder still hasn't gotten back to us with any sort of denial, rebuttal or explanation for the allegations coming from ex-stripper Tammy Chapman, who told Daily RFT that the Republican offered t ... More >>

How the Rams "Snookered" St. Louis: Details of the "Most Scandalous" Stadium Deal in History

The Rams could leave the Edward Jones Dome if the stadium isn't a top-tier facility come 2015.​Neil Demause, author of the book Field of Schemes, penned an article last week on his favorite subject: stadium-financing. The story, which originally ran in The Nation and was re-purposed on NPR, begins ... More >>

Missouri Senate Race Narratives Emerge from Debt Ceiling Debate

Getcha popcorn ready: campaign season is heating up.​The narratives for one of the most high-profile senate races in America have begun to form. With the public's eyes on Capitol Hill for last couple of weeks, the major players -- Senator Claire McCaskill, Congressman Todd Akin, and former Sta ... More >>

Tef Poe On What The Scene Needs, Where He Is In Life and His New Song "Satellite" (Listen)

Courtesy of Tef Poe​"I'm trying my best to introduce a new Tef Poe sound every time I release something. My goal is to make some of my misplaced aggression sound beautiful," says Tef Poe. His undiluted honesty and clarity of vision have always made Tef one of the most arresting rappers in St. ... More >>

Hear The New Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three Album On NPR's First Listen

Jo Mccaughey ​In case this was still unclear: The world, and NPR in particular, has officially embraced Pokey LaFarge. Just a couple months after posting a Tiny Desk Concert featuring LaFarge & the South City Three, everyone's favorite dulcet-toned public news outlet has posted the band's upco ... More >>

Tupac Shakur's 40th Birthday: Lessons in Police/Community Relationships

Happy birthday, Pac.​Today would have been Tupac Shakur's 40th birthday. In the fifteen years since his death, his songs still slap, and his words still reverberate. He remains an enigmatic figure, whose name rings out from street corners to NPR. Proof of that? Yesterday St. Louis Public Radi ... More >>

Hayes Carll and Elizabeth Cook at the Pageant, 6/8/11: Twangfest Night One

Hayes Carll. Photo by Jason Stoff​ Twangfest Night One Hayes Carll | Elizabeth Cook | Kentucky Knife Fight The Pageant June 8, 2011 The first of this year's 15th installment of Twangfest took on the feel of an old-time variety show, with a well-mannered crowd and KDHX personalities announcing ... More >>

Everything You Need To Know About UMSL, UMKC Fake Video Debacle In One Easy Sitting

Christofanelli: Wash U. senior allegedly edited the controversial video.​Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, had University of Missouri - Kansas City professor Judy Ancel on her show yesterday. As you likely know by now, Ancel and Don Giljum, a professor at University of Missouri - St. Louis, wer ... More >>

Governor Jay Nixon Gets Subtly Mocked on This American Life

Image viaMissouri Governor Jay Nixon, kinda laughed at by Ira Glass​Politicians love love love talking about job creation, reported Ira Glass over the weekend on NPR's This American Life. In fact, some pols are so crazy about new jobs, they'll hold a press conference when a government program crea ... More >>

Dengue Fever and tUnE-yArDs Highlight the Post-Record Store Day New Releases

Steve Pick with some of today's releases. Photo by Chrissy Wilmes.​Every week, we'll ask your local record store clerks to advise you on which new releases are worth your hard-earned pennies. Today, Euclid Records clerk (and KDHX DJ) Steve Pick fills us in on the post-Record Store Day crop. He ... More >>

Non-Racist St. Louis Tea Party Has Odd Way of Showing It

The handiwork of St. Louis Tea Party lobbyist Gary Wiegert's has been described as "race-baiting" -- and that's a Republican who said that.​We know. We know. Despite the findings of the NAACP and the curious links between its better-known mouthpieces and hate groups, the Tea Party is not a racist ... More >>

Review Setlist Photos: Eli "Paperboy" Reed Delivers at Off Broadway, Tuesday, March 22

Katie Moulton​Did Eli "Paperboy" Reed strike a deal with the devil? How else could this 27-year-old Massachusetts native sing like a soulman's screamin' dream, with all the sexy swagger of Wilson Pickett? Last night's performance at Off Broadway demolished all doubt: If you want music of the h ... More >>

Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know Coming to SIU Carbondale

Michael Feldman is bringing his shtick to southern Illinois.​One of NPR's funniest shows is coming to Southern Illinois University Carbondale for a live broadcast next Saturday, March 26, at 10 a.m.Whad'Ya Know, hosted by the very dry and very funny Michael Feldman, last broadcast from Carbondale ... More >>

Jane Muscroft of Queen's Cuisine, Part 2

This is part two of Deborah Hyland's Chef's Choice profile of Jane Muscroft of Queen's Cuisine (qconline.us). Part one can be found here. Part three, a recipe from Muscroft, will be published tomorrow. Deborah Hyland​Did your family cook when you were a child? Oh yes. My mum cooked dinner eve ... More >>

St. Louis Public Radio Sued For Racial Discrimination

stlpublicradio.orgSuit claims station manager Tim Eby didn't follow up on promotion promise of his predecessor.​A longtime employee of St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU 90.7) has sued the station's general manager and the curators of the University of Missouri on charges that she was passed over for pr ... More >>

The Ten Best Moments of the 2011 Grammy Awards

​Miss the Grammys telecast? Couldn't care less about the awards? Either way, A to Z watched the entire show - and even some of the pre-show -- so you didn't have to. Here are ten highlights from the night. Mavis Staples winning her first Grammy If you weren't watching the pre-show telecast, y ... More >>

Huck Finn Gets 21st-Century Makeover

image viaHuck and Jim as they appeared in the first edition of Huckleberry Finn in 1884.​You all remember Huckleberry Finn, right? That 1830s Missouri urchin who finds himself adrift on the Mississippi River with a black slave named Jim and learns to appreciate Jim's fundamental humanity and, ... More >>

Agi and Aaron Groff of 4 Seasons Baked Goods & Catering, Part 2

This is part two of Holly Fann's Chef's Choice profile of Agi and Aaron Groff of 4 Seasons Baked Goods & Catering. Part one is available here. Part three, a recipe, can be found here. Holly Fann​Did your family cook when you were a child? Agi Groff: My granny is Hungarian, so we ate a lot of ... More >>

Grammy-winning lyrical legend Loudon Wainwright III is as funny and biting as ever

Bring on the Sad Meals - San Francisco Outlaws Fast Food Toy Giveaways

Sorry kids, but San Francisco has outlawed fast-food toy giveaways. Reuters reports that the city's Board of Supervisors passed the law on Tuesday, making them the first U.S. city to pass a law - not just an ordinance - banning the toys. Toy giveaways stop on December 1. NPR visits with Lisa Johan ... More >>

New Release Highlights for November 2: Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Devin the Dude and More

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.) The Autumn Defense's Once Around​*The Autumn Defense, Once Around Consequence of Sound claims Once Around is "very much worth your time." "There seems to be ... More >>

Check Out RFT Contributor's New Book

Kevin HuizengaA panel from The Animal Kingdom.​Kevin Huizenga, part of the brain trust behind Amazing Facts & Beyond, which runs weekly in the Riverfront Times (the archives are online, though it looks better in print), has a new book out called The Wild Kingdom and if you have any interest in ... More >>

Rant Radio: RFT readers weigh in on the meltdown at KWMU

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