NIGHT LIGHT

These days, if you see local singer/songwriter luminary Bob Reuter at a club, he's just as likely to be brandishing a camera as an acoustic guitar. For the past few years he's been at gigs -- mainly those at the Hi-Pointe, the Way Out Club and Frederick's Lounge -- popping off photos and documenting the lifestyles of the rock and the roll. His first fancy-shmancy show (he's had his share of coffeehouse openings) is hanging in the Renaissance Gallery at the Midtown Arts Center. It's called Dark End of the Street and features work by both Reuter and Edward Barron. (Note: Because this is a music column, we're concentrating on musician Reuter's work, which consists mainly of music-related photographs -- no slight intended toward Mr. Barron).

Reuter seems to love the nooks and crannies of a space -- basements, corners and hideaways. He concentrates solely on the people who exist in these places, and they're at the center, usually surrounded by an oppressive pall that threatens to overtake them. The best of them feature Way Out Club regular Micco and capture a certain magic (that, or maybe it's Micco's shiny shirt) and innocence. "After the Fall," a tender shot of Fred Friction, replete with gouged black eye, is similar. It's a painful shot, but Reuter, as he does in his songs, uncovers softness in it.

The show runs through Nov. 10. For more information, contact the Midtown Arts Center at 531-2787.

Send all local tapes, tips, discs and detritus to "Radar Station," The Riverfront Times, 6358 Delmar Blvd., Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130; e-mail: [email protected] rftstl.com.