It’s been a year since the metro became a national flashpoint for race relations after a Ferguson police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man. Have things gotten better? It depends on who you ask. One positive outcome has been a new play that examines the relationship between African-Americans and the police: Black and Blue. The play, by Lee Patton Chiles, is based on a compilation of interviews with police officers and members of the African-American community. Raw and revealing, interspersed with rap and spoken-word performances by Dyce (pictured), the play will be performed in early October in Kirkwood and two other communities, with two of the dates free of charge. All three performances will be enhanced by panel discussions or a Q&A with cast members after the final curtain. Tickets for the first performance, at the Missouri History Museum at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 2, are $15; $12 for museum members. The second is at Parkway United Church of Christ, 2841 N. Ballas Road, on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m. Admission is free; first-come, first served. The third showing is Friday, Oct. 9, at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, 11333 Big Bend Blvd. in Kirkwood. It also is free of charge. Curtain is at 7 p.m., so arrive early. KDHX critic Tina Farmer describes the dramatic effort as, “a thoughtprovoking, well-acted and strongly worded play that stirs discussion to create a fuller, more varied and nuanced understanding of racial conflict, not only in St. Louis, but across America.”
[maplewood]
Count on Maplewood for a healthy dose of the wonderfully weird. For its summer festival Let Them Eat Art in July, the city kind of celebrates Bastille Day, for goodness sake! Well, here’s another Day for ya’: Zwanze Day. And the Maplewood brewery Side Project Cellar, 7373 Marietta Ave., is all hopped up about the Belgian tradition, where a keg of the Belgian beer will be tapped at 2 p.m. Side Project is supposedly one of only five dozen or so joints worldwide that think Zwanze Day is a big deal. When? What? Zwanze Day is Saturday (but of course), Sept. 19. Of all the beer joints in all the towns in all the world … Side Project Cellar is the only Missouri establishment to go all Zwanze, so far. What the heck does Zwanze mean? Some say it could be the Flemish word for joke. Apparently it’s a way to celebrate beer. Isn’t every day around and about a weekend a reason to celebrate beer? Zwanze lovers are eager for a fun beer with nontraditional ingredients. For foam aficionados, I certainly hope that Wild Brussels Stout, the Zwanze beer of this year, doesn’t smell as bad as it sounds. Wait … Brussels is the city, not the most awfullest vegetable in the animal kingdom, if I do say so myself. At any rate, it looks like our friends in Maplewood again are up to good, or no good, for the good of all venturing somewhere around the Sutton-Manchester intersection come mid-September. There will be vendors. And music, I bet. Plus lots of other fun stuff, considering it’s a festival in Maplewood.
[st. charles]
You’ve heard of being up the creek with no paddle? Well, hundreds of folks, equipped both with paddles and canoes (or kayaks), started out in Kansas City late last month for an annual river race to St. Charles to raise awareness about water purity. Well, partly. It seems that some participate in the annual race just to make their arms real sore. I mean, they actually race the 340 miles along the Missouri River. There are no cash prizes, but I bet the trophies are really nice. This year, the 10th annual, two fellas from Texas made it ahead of the other 598 or so. In 34 hours—a record. Yes, it was all downstream, but, I mean, what’s the rush? There are plenty of other rivers in this state—the Current, the Huzzah and the mighty Meramec, to name check just a few—where folks let the river do most of the work. They stop on the bank from time to time to enjoy a bologna sandwich and the beverage(s) of their choice. And then they float. Many of them meander. Now, that’s our idea of a few summer days on the river. Full disclosure: mine, at least.
[st. louis]
Many of us of a certain age feel like we could use a face-lift. Well, how ’bout a $22 million job? If you’ve been around since 1929, you might have to undergo TLC that’s almost as costly. OK, if you’re an important period hotel, that is. This is the overhaul … interior, mostly … that the Lennox Hotel, at 823-827 Washington Ave., underwent to become a new boutique convention hotel slated to open Sept. 2. Originally designed by St. Louis architect Preston Bradshaw, it had been in mothballs since 2011, its future uncertain. It has taken 16 months to renovate the property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and now the place will assume its new life as a Courtyard by Marriott—one of the most unexpected properties in the chain, to be sure. It would be incorrect to characterize the hotel as an Art Deco creation. Officially, it’s in the Renaissance Revival style, with terracotta faces and cornices prevalent during the commercial boom of the 1920s, before the Black Friday crash of 1929 and all the economic despair that followed. It evokes the Jazz Age and a more carefree, upper-crust lifestyle. Perhaps the most notable original interior features are the green marble wainscoting and rich wood paneling, with the ornamental brass elevator doors as a centerpiece of the lobby. But no tiny rooms upstairs here. The original 165 suites have been converted to 165 spacious rooms. Other early 20th-century design themes are well represented, such as chairs that could have been designed by Eames and other furnishings with a touch of Saarinen. But they and the fixtures were reimagined; that is, they were treated by our town’s Lawrence Group architects. Officially, it will be known as (take a deep breath) The Courtyard by Marriott St. Louis Downtown/Convention Center Hotel. But let’s still just call it the Lennox, shall we?
[university city]
Does your city need you? Of course it does. Residents of any city need to participate in a little self-care, whether it’s volunteering to water and trim the plantings around town (as they do in Glendale, and probably elsewhere around the metro) or participating in neighborhood watch programs (which vigilant citizens do in every community). U. City now has its own fledgling nonprofit—UCityNeeds.Me—that hopes to help close the racial divide in the community and participate in healing the rift region-wide. (The organization says StL is the sixth most racially polarized city among nearly three dozen similar metro areas.) But such big ideas start with a conversation, which by all means should continue beyond the ‘official’ startup period between Aug. 21 and Sept. 21. The brainchild of the Rev. Chris Paavola, pastor of the new church All Nations, the campaign has affiliated with U. City groups, including Man of Valor, WYMAN, Alpha Phi Omega, SPG Youth and Operation Food Search, among others. When the program was piloted earlier this year, residents responded by mail or online, and with more than 250 cards filled out at Fair U. City; 36 households have displayed yard signs. A ‘reveal’ party will be held Saturday, Oct. 3, at the community center in Heman Park for discussion of the findings and what else residents want and need. Paavola walked 100 miles of U. City streets to begin the dialogue.
[webster groves]
Catty-corner at Lockwood and Sylvester avenues in Webster Groves are two buildings dedicated to self-improvement: The public library helps strengthen the mind, and the YMCA helps strengthen the body and spirit. But the latter is set to close in early October, and the 700-some families will be moving to the Kirkwood Y if they so choose. The YMCA of Greater St. Louis looked at several factors in making the decision, and most of them had to do with funds to keep the Webster Y afloat. Membership has dropped significantly in the last 15 years, by about 50 percent. And the building, which dates to the late 1950s, has been increasingly expensive to maintain. Officials say it would cost nearly $1 million for needed capital improvements. The Kirkwood Y, 325 N. Taylor Ave., has been affiliated with the Webster branch for more than 30 years, and former Webster members will be welcome there, as well as at the 16 other branches throughout the Lou.
Pictured: University City