st. louis
Butterflies flutter and flit around mostly, and occasionally alight just long enough for your camera to catch a vibrant blur. But in our case, they plummet, then sink, in ‘Butterflies,’ Manolo Valdés’ monumental sculpture of welded steel and aluminum (pictured at top). The piece is now on loan from the Gateway Foundation and installed on the east side of the St. Louis Public Library’s downtown branch. As they say, you can’t miss it. The sculpture is enormous: More than 15 feet tall, 31 feet wide and 16 feet deep, it was installed in three separate pieces, by crane. And great pains were taken over the last few months by the foundation and the library to ensure it doesn’t go anywhere, or start to lean like that tower in Pisa. A 31-foot-deep concrete pier was installed to support the statue, which was then placed on a metal and granite base. ‘Butterflies’ is the second-largest piece in Gateway’s collection of 55 works displayed throughout the metro. It’s one in a series of Valdés’ sculptures of butterfly ‘headdresses.’ Headdresses?! That’s heavy enough that just thinking about it could cause a headache, like Iron Butterfly’s psychedelic album ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ probably would, less than two minutes into it. Variations on ‘Butterflies’—or ‘Mariposas,’ in the artist’s native Spanish—have been installed at New York Botanical Garden and at Chatsworth House, a lavish, stately home in Derbyshire, England. Valdés, who lives in NYC, has said he was inspired by the sight of butterflies alighting on a sculpture in Central Park. The downtown library takes up the city block bordered by Locust and Olive streets to the north and south, and 13th and 14th streets to the east and west. As massive as it is, the sculpture is whimsical and uplifting. Aluminum wings glitter in sunlight, their undersides greenish from reflecting the new sod. Next time you check out a book at the library … something you really should do with frequency … make sure you set aside some time for gawking. It’s well worth it.
chesterfield
The summer concert and festival season is in full swing, and coming up June 1 is the first installment of a new monthly celebration in Chesterfield: Party off the Parkway. There will be food. There will be drink. There will be music. There will be … yoga? And origami? You betcha. The free community event takes place the first Thursday of every month from June through October, 4 to 8 p.m., at Chesterfield Central Park. At the first party, enjoy some of the metro’s best barbecue from Sugarfire, handcrafted brews from 4 Hands Brewing Co., and wine from Naked Vine. There’ll be a farmers market featuring local food and one-of-a-kind craft vendors. At 5:30, let there be music! Three Pedros—select members of the band Vote 4 Pedro—will take rock down a notch with acoustic covers of classics, from The Beatles and Tom Petty to The Police and Jason Mraz. Did we mention dessert? June 1 will be Ices Plain & Fancy, which uses liquid nitrogen to ‘flash churn’ its confections, some of which are boozy concoctions. And—surprise!— each month’s party will be a new event with different restaurants, live music, pop-up beer gardens, farmers markets, ‘Get Active’ programs, and art events for kids. This month’s activity will be beginners’ yoga, combining postures, breathing and meditation (bring your own mat!). Kids will enjoy origami, folding colorful paper into critters and other shapes that will become part of an origami public art installation at the ’Burbs Music & Arts Festival … yes, another summer festival coming up Aug. 5. But, meanwhile, let’s stay focused! Dates for the next Party off the Parkway community celebrations are July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7 and Oct. 5. Not from Chesterfield? This sounds like a party to crash!
central west end
The free ‘Live at Lunch’ concert series outdoors in Cortex Commons kicks off on Friday (May 12), giving you an excuse to take a long lunch—then be wildly productive all afternoon following an infusion of local music presented by the Sheldon. Attendees may bring their own lunches, or patronize the local food trucks on site each month. • May 12: The Bottle Snakes, specializing in 1920s and ’30s piano/guitar blues and original ‘low-down blues, raucous stomps and ragged hokum’ • June 9: Harvey Lockhart and the Collective, with Lockhart on saxophone and his collective of musicians on trumpet, guitar, piano, bass and drums • July 14: Emily Wallace & Jim Peters; Wallace, half of the singer/songwriter duo the Sleepy Rubies, is accompanied by guitarist Jim Peters. • Aug. 11: Farshid EtniKo, a combo playing Latin jazz and ‘world’ music performs originals, jazz standards and songs with a Latin flavor and Persian touch • Sept. 8: Crystal Lady, an up-and-coming St. Louis band composed of Chela Mancuso, Aaron Brown, John Walker, Ben Stitzel and David Michelson • Oct. 13: Devon Cahill bills herself as a singer, songwriter, ukulele player and accidental actor. This will be the second year for the series, which takes place on the second Friday of each month, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., May through October at 4240 Duncan Ave. The series is sponsored by Polsinelli.
st. peters
Cancer patients in the western edge of the metro won’t have to travel as far for world-class diagnosis and treatment: Siteman Cancer Center has opened its expanded and renovated $13 million outpatient facility at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, nearly doubling the St. Charles County facility’s size to 37,000 square feet. This center offers access to the same advanced treatments—including more than 500 clinical trials—available at Siteman’s other satellite locations in the metro and on the Wash. U. School of Medicine campus at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Plus, multidisciplinary, coordinated care will help ensure patients can see as many as three physicians in one visit, a team approach that means a treatment plan may be determined in a day. Among the expanded center’s offerings: five medical oncologists—up from three; 16 medical oncology exam rooms—up from eight; 32 chemotherapy infusion chairs; and state-of-the-art linear accelerators with a wide range of treatment capabilities, including delivering precisely targeted radiation to tumors in the body or brain. The center is near the intersection of Mexico and Jungermann roads at 150 Entrance Way. Meanwhile, an expansion is under way at Barnes-Jewish, where the hospital’s Parkview Tower will include private inpatient rooms for Siteman patients.
webster groves
The Big Bend Railroad Club is off a big bend on Big Bend Boulevard, at 8833 to be exact, where real trains once stopped to pick up passengers at the depot, which was built in 1910 and at that time had a beautiful tile roof. The model railroaders inside, who operate a 60-foot-long ‘O’ gauge layout, are a hardy crew, but the current roof of the train hobbyist house, circa 1950, is asphalt shingle—and not hardy at all. The model railroaders have put out a donation jug for anyone who would care to allay some of their expenses for the roof, which members say will cost between $65,000 and $75,000 (that’s a lot of moolah for little choo-choos!), along with other needed repairs and electrical system updates to the former Frisco Railway facility. Inside the donation container on Tuesday (May 2) were a $20 bill and two singles. Watching the model trains run were a number of older men and a young couple with their curious little girl perched atop dad’s shoulders. A father and son were carefully navigating the real railroad crossing to go inside. The depot is open to the public from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month. Webster Groves High School kids started the club in 1938, and when Frisco was planning to demolish it in the 1990s, club members (new ones, of course; although the first club president is still living!) purchased the building and have dedicated most of it to the layout. Volunteer ‘engineers’ on a catwalk (who call their web of RR lines the Springfield & Ozark Railway) give instructions through walkie-talkies to the engineer in the room so he can direct the at least four trains running simultaneously. (Oops, hold everything, that freight car needs to be recoupled … ) For dedicated train nerds—or just those who would appreciate having a neat place to take their kids to see a little bit of Americana—think about parting with a little green for the cause. Check out the website, bigbendrrclub.org, or send a check to the ruined-roof building at 8833 Big Bend Blvd.
