ballwin
Ground was broken late last month on a ‘smart’ home for Ballwin police officer Michael Flamion, who is paralyzed from the neck down after he was shot in the back during a routine traffic stop last July. The home, near the police station, will be equipped so that Flamion can move around on his own easier with help from an iPad that he doesn’t have to control with his hands, which remain paralyzed. He has regained some movement in his shoulders. The Gary Sinise Foundation, which is dedicated to constructing smart homes for wounded soldiers paralyzed in combat, is building the home for Flamion and his wife, Sarah. Ballwin police chief Kevin Scott lobbied the foundation to expand its mission to include first responders. The foundation also is retrofitting the home of Hazelwood officer Craig Tudor, whose spinal cord was damaged in a collision while on an emergency call in his squad car. Tudor and his wife, Christine, attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The families have become close since Flamion and Tudor underwent treatment at Craig Rehabilitation Center in Englewood, Colorado, last year. As they regain some movement and independence, both men are fortunate to have supportive people in their lives. The foundation also is assisting veteran Chris Sanna, paralyzed by an armed robber’s bullet after leaving a Cardinals game in September 2015.
chesterfield
Since it’s spring, but still chilly as I write this, what better name for a pop-up boutique than Emerge? Two days from now (Friday, April 7) the aptly named retail concept will debut at Taubman Prestige Outlets in Chesterfield Valley. Several of the merchants that will appear from time to time—they’ll be rotated out and replaced every Saturday—have storefronts already, like Kakao Chocolate. But others, such as Delirious By Design (I know, right? Love that!) are entrepreneurial, online merchants that will be afforded an opportunity to leverage the 2,000-square-foot co-op space for exposure over the summer. Plans are to keep the venture open Friday through Sunday during mall hours, and only through August for now.
st. louis
If you’re heading to Denver from the StL for business or pleasure, soon you’ll have twice as many flights to choose from. (I’m sorry, but doesn’t ‘from which to choose’ just sound lame? That construction is something up with which we should not put!) OK, we’re back … beginning June 5, Frontier Airlines will have two flights to Denver instead of only one. The flights will depart from St. Louis Lambert International Airport at 1:50 p.m. and 7:35 p.m. over the summer. Speaking of getting our words cattywampus, isn’t the name of our big airplane place Lambert-St. Louis International Airport? Nope. It has been changed officially, and now we have the logo to prove it. Plus—look, kids! No hyphen! What a relief for beleaguered copy editors everywhere.
town & country
The AKC Museum of the Dog (pictured at top) is moving back to its original home in NYC sometime next year when a suitable space is found, read: one that looks nice and is not too expensive. You might want to check out this unique spot in the next 12 months or so before the American Kennel Club goes all uptown with it. (Note: The museum is closed Mondays.) Back in 1985, the AKC realized that its home in the New York Life Building on Madison Avenue was getting as cramped as a doghouse that used to be big enough for a Saint Bernard puppy. It really hasn’t been in its idyllic setting in Queeny Park all that long. Since 1987, the relocated museum has grown from its humble beginnings at the antebellum Jarville House (1853), a beautiful example of Greek revival architecture where the Edgar Queeny family lived for a while. It was soon evident that even more space would be needed, and in 1990, a modern addition expanded the museum to 14,000 square feet, all dedicated to art inspired by man’s best friend. (If your dog is friendly, this place is dog-friendly.) The gift shop occupies the former carriage house. More than one wedding has been held for dog lovers who include purebreds, mutts or both in their wedding parties. And you wouldn’t be an animal lover if you skipped the exhibit that’s at the museum through Sept. 24: Canine Impressions: Dog Show Scenes II, a collection of dog-show oils by Terry d. Chacon. Chacon’s work also includes bronze sculpture and custom jewelry art. It’s unclear what will move into the space, but it probably won’t be retooled to display cat artwork, since there are cat museums elsewhere … although there are enough kinda funny cat memes and videos to fill 12 times the room available.
university city
The late Chuck Berry already has been immortalized by historians as the ‘father of rock ’n’ roll,’ and he so frequently performed at Blueberry Hill in U. City that some in the StL may have imagined him to be immortal. But although he passed on March 18 at the age of 90, his music will live on forever. It’s even way out of this world, and probably the solar system … Johnny B. Goode was the only rock song on a recording launched into outer space in 1977 on the Voyager spacecraft in an effort to depict life and culture on Earth in case extraterrestrial beings happen upon it. But on Berry’s home planet, despite his legal problems and checkered past, he is revered, and nowhere more than in the Loop. A bronze of Berry playing guitar—on the north side of Delmar Boulevard near Salt + Smoke—was festooned with flowers and bead necklaces, stuffed animals and candles at its ‘duck walking’ feet. Pedestrians by the dozens paused to take selfies with the statue. Vintage Vinyl had an epitaph on the marquee, but most impressive was the giant painting of Berry’s posthumous album, Chuck, being completed on the west wall. While on a scaffold, Joe Albanese referred to an image of the cover as he rendered white against a black background. A man strolled up to snap a picture with his smartphone right as a reporter took one with his camera and said, “We’re gonna make you famous!” Albanese paused, looked down and shrugged, quipping, “I’m already famous.” The album he was memorializing on the brick wall is the first Berry had recorded since 1979. It will be released in June, and the buzz from critics, notably Rolling Stone, is positive.
