busch stadium | The Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming baseball team with a ‘dad-bod’ squad of male cheerleaders, storms our beloved stadium April 4 and 5. The performances—um, games—are both sold out, so unless you know someone who knows someone, your chances of getting in are slim. Although it’s too early to be certain, the games will likely be televised. But who are these Savannah Bananas, anyhow? Based in Savannah, Georgia, they’re what some would call a novelty act or maybe even circus performers; they play a wacky version of baseball similar to what the Harlem Globetrotters do for basketball. In banana ball, for instance, whenever a fan catches a foul, the batter is out! Plus, anyone attempting a bunt will be ejected, a batter can steal first base, and nobody gets awarded a walk, ever. Sometimes, it’s because the pitcher is way up on stilts. Or he pitches from a trampoline atop the mound, and may release a pitch after doing a flip or another trick. It’s all in goofy fun, and the team(s) are made up mainly of current or former college players, sprinkled with one-time MLB vets, as well. Teams, plural? Well, they have to have opponents who can go bananas, too. The Party Animals will be the opponents at Busch. And they could even win. When it comes to the cheerleading squad, the Man-Nanas, the squad holds open tryouts from time to time, the next being April 4 in Savannah, before everyone gets on a plane for the StL. So, there may yet be hope as an athlete for your intrepid correspondent—he hasn’t hit much of anything with a bat since 1971—as a Man-Nana. As an adult, I did manage once to smack a few softballs in a batting cage. Softballs, which were lobbed at me. Literally. They leisurely arrived at 30 mph, probably even slower. (For more on the wacky antics of banana ball, spend some time on thesavannahbananas.com.)

the metro
Running through May, a PSA campaign aims to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care among Black youth in St. Louis City and County. “Perception Isn’t Always Reality: Mental Health” is being led by 10 Black youth aged 16 to 24 and 10 adult artists/mentors of color. Working together, the youth and adults have been collaborating with health experts, community residents and marketing, media and communications professionals by conducting research, developing music and writing the PSAs. The resulting fact-based, peer-to-peer messaging targets a wide audience through billboards and public transportation print ads in North St. Louis City and County, as well as social media and radio ads throughout the greater metro. Mental-health experts say youth are viewed as trusted messengers who can help drive regional change in knowledge and attitudes on mental illness and accessing mental health care. The campaign was scheduled to be most active through the winter holidays, when many youth suffer from seasonal affective disorder and loneliness. The project has been spearheaded by St. Louis Story Stitchers, an artist collective based in Grand Center Arts District.

creve coeur
International Holocaust Remembrance Day was Jan. 27, commemorating the day in 1945 that the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz. It was only then that the Allies got a glimpse of the horrors perpetrated there, in Nazi-occupied Poland, which soon made the world aware of the systematic murder of 6 million Jews. The Germans exterminated men, women, children, babies, grandparents, shopkeepers, homemakers, lawyers, doctors, artists and composers. The true nature of the Holocaust was discovered only 80 years ago, just a blink of an eye in human history. Most survivors, who were just children then, are elderly men and women today. But the reminiscences of many who have passed on are in the collection of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in Creve Coeur. “May Their Memory Be a Blessing” is the program to be presented at the museum on March 13 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. by the Chamber Project St. Louis. The works of two composers who were murdered by the Nazis, Hans Krása and Gideon Klein, will be featured during the first half of the program. Krása was killed Oct. 17, 1944. He was 44. Klein was only 25 when the Nazis murdered him in January 1945. Both men wrote music while imprisoned, despite the inhumane conditions. String trios by Krása and Kline will be performed during the first half of the concert. In between, the musicians will play a new work from young composer Benjamin Rouder processing recent events inextricably linked to the past. Following intermission, the musicians will explore the museum’s special exhibit, “The Artist Who Captured Eichmann” through the music of Argentina-born composer Osvaldo Golijov. The concert closes with familiar old tunes from the classical and klezmer repertoires. At this writing, it was not clear when tickets might be available. Please visit chamberprojectstl.org.

notable neighbors
midtown alley
The Cherry Garage, at 2926-2936 Locust St., isn’t intended to restore the StL’s ‘automotive row’ to its former glory. But the new business will go a long way toward raising the neighborhood’s profile as a burgeoning new automotive destination, if co-owner Keaton Christensen has anything to say about it. Maybe someone could call it Automotive Row 2.0. “We don’t do any body work,” Christensen says. “What we do is make your car fast and cool.” (In a word, “cherry.”) His co-owner, and lifelong friend, is Jacob Case. They have to deal with calls originating from Google searches asking about transmission work and whatnot, because their particular type of business—a speed shop or custom shop—isn’t specified on the search engine. Their focus, for now, is getting the garage ready for a grand opening this spring. That means it’s busy as a beehive. “I try to take Sundays off,” he admits, with a big grin. The up-and-coming neighborhood vibe has really accelerated, thanks to our newish MLS soccer stadium just a few blocks away. The sales location of Bimmers R Us, an automotive concern dedicated to BMWs and Minis, is a stone’s throw away on Lasalle Street. After touring the work and storage areas, we sat down at one of the tables in front that will be part of the café intended to open to the public simultaneously with the garage. The floor is the original hexagonal white tile common a century ago, with groupings of blue tiles at regular intervals of a few feet. A lot of the work in this section was in exposing the brick walls. It creates a special atmosphere, and doesn’t have that faint, but pleasant, automotive aroma when Cherry Garage brews java for one of its Cars & Coffee get-togethers. “You feel like you’re sitting outside in Europe,” says Christensen. The generous front area has been set up for university receptions, a wedding and even a baby shower. Christensen is a certifiable gearhead with an affinity for all makes and models of any vintage, but has a special love for 1980s and ’90s ‘rides.’ Because they’re “simple, nimble and lightweight.” Asian vehicles are closest to his heart. “They’re malleable… and cute!” He has three: He regularly drives a 2003 Subaru WRX; a bright-red, high-performance 1989 Mitsubishi Starion and a bright-yellow 1986 Toyota MR2 are at the garage. Case and Christensen operate like two sides of the same brain, which they sharpened in a special engineering program at WashU: One finished as an electrical engineer, the other a mechanical engineer. But first, dear reader, Christensen went to Metro High School in the city, which has been named the best public high school in the state. For him, transforming autos from just four wheels and an engine into something remarkable is a complete joy. “It’s all about being unique,” he says. “Why not show your personality through your vehicle?” And a variety of personalities is rarely more evident than during a car show at the Cherry Garage. Car buffs come from far and wide, some even from overseas, he says: “These are niche cars you don’t see on the street.” And there’s coffee. See what else is rolling at thecherrygarage.weebly.com.