creve coeur | So, what have you been reading lately? Oh, really? We’re sorry, but that’s kind of lame. You can do much better at the J Used Book Sale, where thousands of books will be available between Aug. 27 and Aug. 31. Stock up where prices are better than most anywhere. Bibliophiles—all right; book lovers—and collectors all anticipate this annual summer sale. Thousands of titles will be available, including various novels of all sorts, biographies, politics, religion, sports, cookbooks, history, animals, art, science, science fiction, mystery, business, women’s issues, foreign languages, gardening, poetry, psychology, self-help, humor, graphic novels … the list goes on. Parents and educators will find a large selection for children and youth as well as educational materials for homeschoolers. Multiples of select titles are available for book clubs, along with miscellaneous videos, books on tape/CDs and DVDs. Here’s the deal, which changes only a little from year to year, if at all. If you come Sunday, preview day, before everything has been picked over and selection is best, it’ll cost you a sawbuck—that’s $10 for you whippersnappers who probably could read more—to check everything out from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free the last four days of the sale, when it’s open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. … except for Thursday, when the doors don’t close until 8 p.m. and you can fill a bag with your treasures for just $5! Proceeds benefit the J’s Cultural Arts Department.
Visit jccstl.com/programs/used-book-sale.
frontenac
‘Barbenheimer’ is a cultural moment unlike any other. Just mix together Barbie and Oppenheimer, two summer blockbusters with completely different backstories, cinematography and themes that were released at the same time in July, et voilà! You wind up with clever, comical (and fictitious) movie posters like our accompanying image. Of course, this isn’t the official poster for either of the two movies running concurrently at Landmark Plaza theaters in Frontenac. But, as frequently as they were both screening daily at the time of this writing, you could buy popcorn and a soda (and Milk Duds, of course), watch Barbie and be blown away by the unexpectedly timely and thought-provoking approach to the timeless, model-skinny Mattel doll and her boy-toy Ken. Then, return to the concession stand for refills, enter the theater screening Oppenheimer to seriously darken your mood. Actually, it’s probably better to see these two movies the other way around. The docudrama about the brilliant scientist who shepherded the Manhattan Project to its completion—developing the first viable atomic bomb—is anything but uplifting. The soundtrack is almost as gloomy as the subject matter. For sunny and danceable—pop hits by Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj with Ice Spice, and Karol G—leave the building right after seeing Barbie. Meanwhile, PBS has its own two-pronged look at the Barbenheimer phenomenon without digging into either theatrical release. Stream the Nine Network’s American Experience episode about J. Robert Oppenheimer, which follows his fascinating, yet troubling arc from the stratosphere of international physics to his dark days of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. Then, look for a two-minute clip from Antiques Roadshow about how to spot a first-edition Barbie. Pricey? You bet! Getting really sick of the way things are going in the world these days? The 1940s and 1950s are all the rage, you know. If nuclear weapons, the arms race and/or Barbie and Ken dolls kind of rub you the wrong way, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saddle shoes and bobby socks or a 1959 Cadillac sporting fins in the back.
ellisville
Many readers, after finishing a particularly satisfying book, wonder when the movie version will be released, how closely it will stick to the printed page, and whether Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep will star. And they have plenty of other questions, we’re sure. Karin Slaughter, a No. 1 bestselling suspense writer, can answer some of those at 7 p.m. on Aug. 25 when she appears at the County Library’s Daniel Boone branch, 300 Clarkson Road in Ellisville. But she may keep some answers close to the vest because, after all, she has to keep making a living as a wildly popular writer of suspense. Slaughter’s international bestsellers—in three series and numerous standalone novels—have already been adapted for television. Pieces of Her is now a Netflix original series starring Toni Collette, Will Trent is an ABC television series starring Ramón Rodríguez, and further projects are in development. What’s more, Slaughter knows how vital libraries remain to our intellectual and cultural well-being: She founded the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit established to support libraries and library programming. The event is free, and copies of her latest Will Trent thriller, After That Night, will be available at the branch for purchase from the Novel Neighbor. Slaughter will be in conversation with freelance TV host Angie Weidinger.
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Soul music is playing overhead at Applebee’s when your reporter sits down for lunch with Jack Morton, who’s played guitar behind some of the greats and on countless great soul, R&B, and blues songs. His ears somewhat keener than your reporter’s, Morton identifies “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” a 1970 hit for Tyrone Davis that’s become a standard. Morton, 81, of Florissant, chuckles. “I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve played that song,” he says. Morton, however, is more attached to classics like “My Girl” by The Temptations and “Mustang Sally” by Wilson Pickett—if the band didn’t play those, heckling might have ensued. Although he played with the likes of Tina Turner and Oliver Sain, both essential to the development of rhythm and blues in the Lou, Morton never did quit his ‘day job’ with the U.S. Postal Service, from which he retired in 2013. “Oliver and I were very close friends,” he says of Sain, who died of bone cancer in 2003. That same year, Sain’s studio on Natural Bridge Road in north county was razed. We can’t turn back the hands of time, of course, but thank heaven for the recordings; Sain’s sax and the guitar both solo on Sain’s 1975 disco-flavored instrumental “Bus Stop.” Although Morton has played nearly everywhere in various groups and been in more recording sessions than you could shake a guitar pick at, he enjoyed his greatest success, and went on the road, with the Fabulous Motown Revue, fronted by the inimitable Steve Schankman, now an uber-successful concert producer. Morton started out on keyboards back when a piano wasn’t really portable. Today a Yamaha electronic keyboard, say, is much easier to carry when on the move. Anyway, he switched from keys to guitar in his late 20s. He doesn’t share opinions about Steve Cropper and other great guitarists from soul’s heyday, but isn’t shy about the legendary William ‘Smokey’ Robinson. “I didn’t think Smokey could sing,” says Morton of the renowned songwriter, bandleader—and vocalist with a very high tenor that many have called falsetto. Then he shrugs. “I got used to it,” he admits after a moment. (Your reporter seconds that emotion.) Fast forward to 2022: Morton suddenly started having trouble with basic motor skills. “I couldn’t write like I was even in the third grade,” he recalls. He’d had a stroke, and although he apologizes for his speech today, it’s not obvious he still has difficulty. He’s back to driving, and gradually regaining his mobility. “I dodged a bullet,” he notes. But he doesn’t have his ‘axe’ with him for our photo. In fact, he’s incredulous. “I never keep my guitar in the car!” he exclaims. (Your reporter realizes his question was, well, pretty dumb.) When a 1971 Bobby Byrd song comes on, Morton grins. They played it for youthful offenders in lockup. Byrd sings, “I Know You Got Soul,” and continues, “if you didn’t you wouldn’t be in here!” ‘In here’ refers to a party or dance club, of course, but Morton et al. hoped the irony wouldn’t be lost on the kids.
