Oprah Winfrey

Tony LaRussa's Wife: Huge Metalhead?

Lita Ford, Doro Pesch, Elaine LaRussa. Names that come to mind when thinking of the top heavy metal babes of all time? Not exactly, but it seems the wife of the man who led this city's baseball team to two World Series championships may prefer the mosh pit over the dugout herself. See also: - The 2 ... More >>

Please Don't Write A Song About Sandy Hook

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. Nobody truly knows how to cope with something as disturbing as the Sandy Hook massacre. But please don ... More >>

Surveying Whitney Houston's checkered film career

Rodney King and The Psychotic World We Live In

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 Five Best Spots for Comfort Food in St. Louis

Selecting Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we are chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists a ... More >>

Subterranean Books Lives!

Jennifer SilverbergSubterranean's owner Kelly von Plonski and her little reader Henry.​If you've been following our coverage of Subterranean Books, you may recall that owner Kelly von Plonski was planning to decide in June whether her store would remain open. And the answer is yes! "Sales ha ... More >>

St. Louis Art Capsules

Jessica Baran encapsulates the St. Louis art scene

Lubeley's Bakery: Special Dog Treat Edition!

image viaThis is Dale, big famous pooch and dog treat taste tester.​Your typical Fight Club Sandwich throwdown pits one thingie against another thingie. You know: cupcakes. Hot dogs. Designer beer in cans. Trouble is, when you're talking dog treats -- and today we're talking dog treats -- you ... More >>

New Release Highlights For November 30: Eric Benet, The Black Eyed Peas, El Debarge, Ron Isley, Chrisette Michele 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.) Eric Benet's Lost in Time​*Eric Benet, Lost In Time Soultracks.com reviewed Lost in Time, saying "Now, over a decade into his solo career and nearly a decade ... More >>

Jonathan Franzen Comes to Town, Gets Adulation and a Marriage Proposal

No photos were allowed while Franzen was reading (Kris Kleindienst threatened violence), but imagine, if you will, him standing behind this podium in a dark gray checked shirt and jeans.​All hail the Mighty Franzen, who finally returned to his hometown last night, just days after his anointmen ... More >>

Daily RFT Aids in Emperor Franzen's Quest For World Domination

image via​Last week, Daily RFT reported on literary feud in which the authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner joined forces to fight the white male literary Establishment, impersonated by Jonathan Franzen whose new book Freedom, in a single week, received not one, but two rave reviews from the Ne ... More >>

Once Again, Franzen Offends Powerful Literary Women

Jonathan Franzen's new book, Freedom, isn't out until Tuesday, but he's already pissed off some pretty prominent women in literary circles. This time, however, it's not Oprah. And he hasn't really done much besides exist and be the recipient of a rave review in the New York Times from another powerf ... More >>

Even Obama Loves Jonathan Franzen

image viaDon't look so grumpy, Jon.​We already know that everyone loves St. Louis local-boy-made-hella-famous-author Jonathan Franzen, but we didn't know that "everybody" extended even to el presidente, Barack Obama. Obama is currently on a ten-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard with the First ... More >>

From Mark Twain to Jonathan Franzen, St. Louis has been home to a surprising number of great writers

House Foreclosure, Now With Extra Butter!

Beverly Davis EnterprisesCrib Cornbread - the home Beverly Davis hopes to save with cornbread.​In 2006 Beverly Davis, with her good credit and stable job, purchased her first home, a modest three-bedroom ranch in Fairburn, Georgia. In a tale all too familiar, fourteen months later that stable jo ... More >>

Wash. U. Prof Joins Obama and Lady Gaga on Time's Most Influential List

Image sourceA Time artist's rendering of Michael Sherraden.​Although, according to various stupid media-generated lists, St. Louisans/Missourians are ugly and stressed and spend too much time sitting in traffic and have few job prospects, we now have one thing to be proud of. Or, rather, one p ... More >>

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

Jonathan Franzen's New Novel (and Oprah-Snubbing?) Due Out in September

courtesy Farrar, Straus and GirouxPlease, oh please let not the presence of the bird mean this will be as awful as Franzen's New Yorker essay about birdwatching. Thank you.​Webster Groves native Jonathan Franzen's first novel since 2001's The Corrections will be out this September. Titled Freedom, ... More >>

Whitewash: Some fairy tale! Disney's first black princess can't escape the ghetto.

Diary of a Sad Black Woman: Precious pushes the limits of taste, but locates the heart — and hell — of its heroine's struggle

Moping at the Moon: Too much angst, not enough saga in the wholesome Twilight 2

Miracle Man: Darryl Burton forgives St. Louis. He just doesn't trust it.

Minimal techno wizard Richie Hawtin celebrates Independence Day with a St. Louis appearance and a new Twitter application

Heather Raffo's Nine Parts of Desire applies a modern-day twist to Scheherazade

Who's Going to be Obama's White House Chef?

Men Will Be Boys: With Step Brothers, Ferrell, Reilly, McKay & Co. still don't wanna grow up. And thank God for that.

Belgium to St. Louis: We're Not So Different, Are We?

Unreal puts "Jorts & Mandals Day" initiative on the back burner, weighs in on Saint Louis Fashion Week

Unreal News Challenge 2007

Week of December 27, 2007

Mormons: They're Just Like Us

La Lohan elevates — but can't save — Georgia Rule.

King's Cups

Unreal gets tipsy on premium cocktails, then asks a bunch of questions about beer bellies and white weddings.

2006: The Year in Music

Week of December 28, 2006

Built to Spill

Middle-class malaise meets inner-city despair in The Architect.

Opportunity Knocks

Great performances keep this Door from slamming shut

Oh Grow Up

Failure is McConaughey's perfect movie, and a pretty good one for us

Whatever Happened to Lady Jane?

Fonda's humiliation is only one reason this Monster is such a dog

* Power

Unreal wanders into an un-bear-ably raucous party, plans a Missouri escape and visits a local blogger who's worried about Sheryl Crow; plus, our fantastic suggestion for the Mark McGwire Highway

The Edge of Treason

Bridget Jones is betrayed by a dumb, dull sequel

Finest Workshows

A Michael Stipe speech actually tugs some heartstrings

Nasty Girl

In this Little Black Book you'll find a lot of mean people

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Week of February 25, 2004

Film Openings

Week of December 24, 2003

Wild Is the Wind

The fierce and uncompromising Nina Simone could never be contained

Man in the Mirror

Michael Jackson proves he's even weirder than we imagined

Grand Dames

The big-screen gals of cinema 2003 will keep you watching

Best St. Louisan of 2002

Bob Jamerson

STL by Southwest

Local heroes Nadine drove hundreds of miles to perform at SXSW, the music industry's biggest clusterfuck. Was it worth it?

Mr. Fix-It

The American belief in progress, and the resultant failures, makes for high comedy in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections

Where the Heart Is

Directed by Matt Williams

TEACHING MRS. TINGLE

Written and directed by Kevin Williamson