Swtizer's Last Stand

St. Louis - May 5, 2007 027, originally uploaded by binkle_28.

The Historic Switzer Building on Laclede's Landing. Taken May 5, 2007, just about a week or so before demolition.

Stone and Steel

June 25, 2008 (93), originally uploaded by binkle_28.

Snapped June 28, 2008 while down on the St. Louis Riverfront

Two Bikes, One Rider

June 25, 2008 (106), originally uploaded by binkle_28.

Saw this interesting sight down on Memorial Parkway this summer.

Its a miracle

June 25, 2008 (10), originally uploaded by binkle_28.

Snapped during the flood of 2008. I love this pic....

Urban Spelunking

A couple of years ago- May of 2006 to be precise- I was sitting at the bar at the late, great Hi Pointe Cafe reading a copy of The Riverfront Times. There was a fascinating article in that particular issue dedicated to the hobby of Urban Spelunking. I was at the time unfamiliar with Urban Exploration of any kind, and this story by Randall Roberts really intrigued me.

I recently found the story again, and was captivated even more by the possibilities and sights that lay beneath out fair city. I'm posting this here today so that anyone who may have missed it the first time around can check it out and possibly get goose-bumps like I did the first time reading it over.

Enjoy.

Urban Exploring Film To Be Screened

Thomas Crone over at 52nd City posted an entry today telling of the screening of a film about Urban Explorers. I've seen bits and pieces of it on YouTube, and it really looks fascinating. Here's the skinny:

On Thursday, September 11, 52nd City is proud to co-present "Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness" at the Webster University Film Series. The film, by noted documentarian Melody Gilbert, follows urban explorers in a variety of settings, throughout America and Europe. A visual treat, the project does a wonderful job of introducing the UE "hobby" to the uninitiated, while serving as a call-to-travel for those already taking part in the scene.

The film will screen at the Winifred Moore Auditorium at 7 p.m.

I spin some tunes at The Trade on Wednesday night...

Delmar streetscape: update

I was down at Vintage Vinyl yesterday and after making a purchase of vinyl (Electric Six, Cheap Trick, Black Diamond Heavies & Aerosmith) I decided to take a walk east through the Loop. The streetscape project seems to be moving along at a nice pace. The old-timey streetlights going up look very nice and add a bit more character to an already colorful area. They're placed about every 50 feet or so, and are rather nice looking.

After doing a little more exhaustive research, I found a few blogs and a Fox 2 news article on the project. The project started in May and is scheduled to run through November, but it appears as if it might be done sooner. The trees that were cut down (mostly on the north side of Delmar) were almost all either sick, dying, dead or damaged in some fashion. Some trees, like the ones in front of Blueberry Hill are coming down because they produce an unpleasant odor. I'm assuming that more will eventually be planted, but they will be ones that won't get out of hand as they grow.

The Loop is now almost shadeless, save for the umbrellas of various cafes that dot the sidewalk from Kingsland to Eastgate, but in all actuality, its also let the beauty of the buildings come through. For so many years, these interesting buildings have been shrouded behind the canopy of leaves. Now, even though a majority of the trees are gone, The Loop still maintains an element of beauty that I'm slowly getting used to. The biggest difference is in front of Fitz's. The old bank building's facade is a beautiful piece of architecture, and is now completely exposed for everyone to see.

Additionally, some sidewalks are being replaced and wheelchair cuts in the corners are also getting a makeover. Once this project is completed, and additional redevelopment is done east of Skinker, The Loop will start to really come together as a whole, aesthetically. This is a far cry from what the place looked like 20 years ago, and with any luck, it will continue to grow and thrive.

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Interestingly, the Riverfront Times ran a piece this last week about the recent violent attacks that occurred at Metrolink Station in The Loop. Its an interesting story, and one that I'm sure is going to generate a lot of controversy. There's no doubt that a bad element has used the transit system as a way of getting from one locale to another, but I think what is failed to be addresses is the reasons behind the violent behavior and what can be done by local officials, parents and the schools to stem the tide of delinquency. The Loop has always been a magnate for teens and young people, but its only recently that an uptick in violence has become a problem. Address the reasons behind that, rather than put questionable laws in to place, and maybe we might get somewhere. At least that's my take on it.

Sunrise on the Riverfront

A few months ago, I had a supper fun evening with my relatively new friend, Halley. I met Halley- after years of knowing who she was but never getting to talk to her- when she auditioned for The Tin Ceiling's 24 hour play festival 7/24. I was one of the directors this year, and was fortunate enough to be able to cast Halley in the play I was helming. After that, we became fast friends and did our share of partying. One night, after a particularly long night at The Trade, we went to her house to grab more beer and headed down to the riverfront. We sat there watching the high water, the ships on the river and, eventually, the sun coming up. It was one of those really great evenings that you never want to end. It sucked that I had to work that day. At 9:00am....

Anyway, here are a few snaps of that fun night/morning.

















Good times....

The Loop Tree Massacre

This morning I went to Blueberry Hill for a job interview, and as I was walking from the parking lot behind Fitz's to Delmar, something seemed different. Upon further inspection, I realized that the trees in front of the root beer bottler were no longer there, thus revealing the old bank building facade that Fitz's now inhabits. At first, i was kind taken aback by the missing foliage, and as I looked up and down the street, I realized that several other trees that once lined the Loop are no longer standing, either. The only evidence of their prior existence were the presence of many tree stumps sticking about four inches or less out of the ground.

Even though I live in University City, I haven't been down Delmar in broad daylight in about two weeks. Usually when I make the trip through the Loop, its dark, and I have an agenda, not bothering to really look around. I had noticed several spots on the sidewalks this spring and early summer that looked like the genesis of new street lights, but that was about it.

Well, today, I put two and two together and realized that the Loop is undergoing a somewhat major face-lift. The trees are being cut down (presumably) to make way for the new street lights and to give better visibility to the businesses that line the street. When coming home from work this afternoon I took Delmar to Midland instead of traveling down Vernon- my usual route- I noticed that crews had installed nearly all of the light standards. They were still swaddled in cardboard and duct tape, and the tops weren't yet attached, but its pretty darn obvious that we're going to be getting better lighted sidewalks here pretty soon. The lights stand about 15 feet or so tall, but I can't yet determine what style they are.

While I think its cool that U City is investing some money in its storied section, I also think that the length of Delmar between Skinker and Kingsland now looks a little bare. I don't know why the city felt the need to completely eliminate nearly 90% of the trees that adorned the street. Most were healthy and robust, and most didn't really interfere with street or foot traffic. The canopies of most of the trees were over 15 feet anyway, so a majority of these new lights would still have been underneath the clusters of leaves. Couldn't they have simply trimmed them instead of felling them? The trees created a nice, symbiotic feel in The Loop. On one hand, you had a bustling urban center that attracts many consumers and businesses alike, but then you also had the greenery that gave it a nice soothing feel to the street-scape, not to mention a little shade.

I'm looking all over the internet for some mention of this, but have yet to see any. If you happen to know why the city made this decision, please share.

I'm playing music on Wednesday, August 13 at The Trade

Changes are a-comin'

Most of you probably already know this, but there has been a major overhaul on the KDHX radio line-up which will be implemented tomorrow morning, beginning at 5:00am. Some shows are going away, others are being moved and still others have been expanded or shortened.

I was kind of sad to see that Etiquette of Violence, The Grateful Dead Hour and Democracy Now! were getting the ax (although, to be fair, DN! is going to a ten-minute headline blast, so its not going away entirely). But I was excited to see that some new shows, such as Thomas Crone's new music show, were being put up.

Another thing that KDHX is doing is moving shows so that the "flow" is better. Meaning that you won't be hearing a show about books immediately following the Heavy Metal show. Now, each day has blocks that fit generally into broad genres, and each show sounds similar- yet still different- from the one before it.

Obviously, some people are going to have problems with these changes. Lets face it, we like routine. We fear change. But the programmers feel that this will make the station even more enjoyable and competitive in this saturated market. Additionally, KDHX will be alunching a new HD Radio station in the fall where some familiar favorites will get their day in the sun again. So stay tuned for that.

You can find the new KDHX schedule here in PDF format.

* By the way, I don't work for the station or anything. Upon rereading this, it kind of makes it sound like I'm speaking for them or something. Not so. I just love the radio station and thought this info was relevant. Carry on.

Friend or Foe?

I was riding the Metrolink today from Swansea, IL to my home in University City, MO, and as usual, I was taking a nap. Since I work in IL, I commute there every morning and back every afternoon via the light rail system that St. Louis so graciously presented to us about 15 years ago. The 45 minute commute leaves me with scant else to do aside from read, listen to my iPod or snooze for a bit. This particular day, I was feeling tired due to my going to bed at 5am, and thusly decided to hunker down for a bit and have a siesta.

Now, since this is nothing new (napping due to being tired from a lack of sleep), I almost always set an alarm on my cell phone to go off after 35 minutes. That gives me plenty of time to wake up and regain my senses before I deboard at the Delmar Station stop. However, I generally don't need to do so, as my internal clock seems to know precisely when to arise from my slumber. After all, I have been doing this for about three years now.

So today, after boarding in Swansea, I found myself in a throng of Cardinals fans who were traversing the Mississippi River en route to Busch stadium for the game against the Los Angle Dodgers this evening (as of this writing, top of the 10th, tied 4 to 4). After plugging my iPod into place, I selected a nice little jam by the Grateful Dead that would help facilitate my dreamy escape for the day. This scenario- being surrounded by Cardinals Fans- rarely allows me to catch some serious Z's, as the Cardinal nation can be a rowdy bunch. But I ended up dozing off somewhere around the Washington Park Station stop and was thoroughly enjoying my little afternoon constitutional. I don't remember much of the journey from about the Emerson Park Station stop up until the Busch Stadium Station stop, aside from waking every now and then to readjust my sleeping position. But once we crept into East St. Louis, I was out like a light.

When we arrived at the Busch Stadium Station stop, and after all of the folks wearing their various Pujoles and Glaus jerseys departed, I was rudely awakened.

I was sitting there, head askew, when all of a sudden I felt this violent shaking about my shoulders. At first, as I was torn from my restful repose, I thought it might be a Metro security guard looking for my proof of payment (monthly Metro card, $60 a month at Dierbergs or Scnhucks). Then, still as I was climbing from the depths of slumber, I thought it might be a friend of mine who works downtown who I occasionally run into on the train from time to time. But no, neither of these were the reason I was being rudely interrupted from my nap. Turns out it was some random old guy sitting in the seat in front of me. He saw me sleeping and was concerned that I had missed my stop. He saw everyone get off at the Busch Stadium stop and assumed that I should be among the hordes of people looking to cheer the Red Birds on to victory.

Now, not only did this guy give me a violent shake to wake me up, but he kept his hand on my my shoulder and massaged it just a little to much for my comfort level. Then as he was talking to me, explaining why he woke me up, he kept up the masseuse routine and added a couple of good natured slaps on the arm to punctuate his monologue.

My first thought was something akin to, "get your hands off me you gin-soaked bum!" But what came out of my mouth was far more conciliatory. I instead thanked him for his concern, and tried to impart to him that I was fully aware that I was out of commission, and that it was a normal routine for me on my ride home day after day. I had pulled one ear bud of my iPod out so that I could actually here the old man, and he kept up this charade of being concerned for my well being, even after I had replaced the ear bud back into my ear. After a second, I realized he was still talking, and felt obligated to pull it out again and listen to what the guy was saying.

I don't know if I missed something in that span of three seconds or what, but by the time I pulled the miniature speaker from my ear canal, I heard him talking about growing up in Washington DC, and how he thought that we shouldn't be in Iraq.

Needless to say, I was thoroughly confused.

As a veteran rider of public transit, I let my urban instincts take over. Rather than try to engage him in conversation and determine just what it was he was on about, I just nodded my head and smiled and gave the perfunctory, "Yeah! No kidding! You're absolutely right!" line of BS in hopes that he would just go away so that I could return to my dream world. Well, it kind of worked. He said something I couldn't understand, and then followed it with an apology about how he didn't mean to bring up politics. He then grabbed my shoulder again, gave it a brief squeeze and said again that he just wanted to make sure that I didn't sleep through my stop. He then held his hand out for a hand shake (or so I thought... it was more of a index finger shake), said, "God bless!" and then got off the train at the Union Station stop, leaving me to wonder why I always seem to attract the guys who seem to have a light on, but no one in the domicile.

After contemplating my exchange with this seemingly unhinged individual, I promptly went to work at falling back asleep. I managed to do just that before we hit Grand Station.

Subsequently, I slept through my alarm and wound up at the Rock Road Station stop, two stops past my intended target.


**EDIT: The Cardinals won the game, 6-4 in the bottom of the 11th inning**

Starting next week...

Hey boys and girls, I just wanted to let you know that starting on Wednesday of next week (that would be Wednesday, August 13) I will be DJing every other Wednesday at The Trade.

I'd love to see you, so come on down and have a few drinks and listen to some good music.

I'll probably start around 10pm, and I'll go until they tell me to stop, which should be around 2:45am or so.

I'll be playing a nice mix of music, from rock to punk to soul to pop to funk to hip-hop to country and all points in between. If its a good song, I'll play it.

The Trade is located at 3515 Chouteau Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63031. Its located in the lower level of The Complex nightclub. Come down for good drinks, good company and good music.

Dragon Fly

R.I.P Bill Sorby

****EDIT- I received an anon. comment telling me that it was tasteless for me to talk about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Sorby's death, and also pointing out that he didn't actually own the Focal Point (apparently just booked the shows there). I'd like to apologize if anyone thought my original post was crass or tasteless. Upon further review, I have to agree. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone, and have thus edited this post to reflect this. I'm not excusing myself, but I think lack of sleep and the fact that I got the text message at 1:30am had something to do with my lapse of judgment. I've met Mr. Sorby a handful of times, and he was a pretty cool guy, and the last thing I want to do is besmirch his name. My most sincere apologies and condoloences to his family and friends.****



R.I.P. Bill Sorby.

Fish Tails

Cloud 9

Its a zoo out there