creve coeur | With many events at the Jewish Community Center in Creve Coeur, you don’t have to be Jewish to attend or fully enjoy them. That certainly is the case for the Used Book Sale this month and the Book Fest in November. First, the sale: The popular event returns to the Staenberg Family Complex Arts & Education Building from Aug. 25 to Aug. 29. Browse thousands of books with titles in every genre, from hard-to-find special editions to your favorite novels and nonfiction reads—along with miscellaneous videos, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs. Discover that perfect vacation read or get started with back-to-school reading lists. Proceeds directly benefit the J’s Cultural Arts Department and help bring great authors, films and theater to the Lou. Dates and admission prices are as follows:

  • Sunday, Aug. 25—VIP Early Access, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.: $100
  • Sunday, Aug. 25—Public Preview, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: $20
  • Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 26 to Aug. 28—10 a.m. to 7 p.m.: Free
  • Thursday (‘Bag Day’), Aug. 29—10 a.m. to 8 p.m.: Free, fill a bag for $10!

Visit jccstl.com/programs/used-book-sale for updated and complete information. Want to hear from authors as much as buy books? For the book fest, Nov. 2 through Nov. 17, four authors are slated to headline. Diplomatic negotiator Mickey Bergman opens the festival with his book In the Shadows. A former paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces, Bergman worked in high-stakes hostage negotiations, securing the release of Americans held captive overseas. Julia Quinn, writer of the enormously popular Bridgerton series, is scheduled to appear Nov. 7. On Nov. 16, cookbook author, critic and chef Joan Nathan presents My Life in Recipes, her memoir-cum-travelogue. Wrapping up the event on Nov. 17 is Daniel Handler, most famous for writing A Series of Unfortunate Events under the name Lemony Snicket. Handler’s latest, a memoir and more, is And Then? And Then? What Else? Tickets are available Aug. 18. For more information, visit jccstl.com/jbf-tickets.

south county
Planes, trains, and automobiles. And a boat! But first, let’s take to the skies. A retired F/A-18 E1 Super Hornet fighter jet is now part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of Transportation in the wilds of South County somewhere adjacent to Kirkwood, Des Peres and Ballwin. The workhorse U.S. Navy plane, manufactured by Boeing, was dedicated Aug. 3 by USN brass and is now available for all to see, with museum admission. The carrier-based planes, active in Iraq and Afghanistan, saw action as recently as this year. On Jan. 12, Super Hornets from the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower joined strikes in response to Houthi rebel attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea. They also were in action against Houthi forces on Dec. 26, 2023. A speaker series event on the new exhibit is to be held Aug. 8, from 9 to 10 a.m., with Tim Bischof giving a free presentation on the legendary plane. If space remains, registration is required. Other modes of transportation are the subjects of upcoming talks, including one next month on train stations in the metro, presented by Doug Schneider on Sept. 12. On Oct. 10, ‘The Mother Road’ will feature Katie Seale discussing the digital preservation of a massive volume of Route 66 material at Rolla Research Center. And, finally, a boat; specifically, a legendary paddle-wheeler: On Nov. 14, author Dennis Brown will present from his fascinating book, Voices on the River: 22 Days on the Delta Queen. For more on these free presentations or to register, visit tnmot.org.

tower grove park
It’s going to be hot, hot, hot Aug. 24 and 25 at this year’s Festival of Nations, and we’re not making a weather forecast two-and-a-half weeks in advance. We’ll wager there won’t be freezing rain, at least, to interrupt the 35-plus performances over that weekend from musicians and dancers representing more than 50 countries. And we’ll lay money on the likelihood that many of the performers and scores of cooks preparing and serving all manner of global dishes will be sweating, as will international vendors and some of the 100,000 guests expected this year. But we’re not so much talking temperature and humidity as we are the wild and crazy, Caribbean-flavored dance smash by Buster Poindexter from the 1980s. If you’ve never heard “Hot Hot Hot,” well, you just haven’t been to a wedding reception in the last 40 years. Artists will be playing and dancing to the music of Latin America, Africa, India, the Middle East, China—you name it. And co-headliner Lisa Ramey, a St. Louis native based in NYC, will be singing a hot and heavy, heady mixture of soul and straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll, perhaps with some gospel mixed in. We’re trying to describe an emotional performance of music as muscular as that of late legends Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin—especially if the Queen of Soul were backed by the Rolling Stones. You may recall Ramey from The Voice, when she was on John Legend’s team; surely you remember her ‘Notable Neighbors’ bow in this magazine from early June. Speaking of hot, observers say her career has been like a watched pot!

notable neighbors
manchester
One of the first things you notice about retired NHL player Mike McKenna of Manchester is his perfect pearly whites. OK; he was a goaltender and always wore a mask. Plus, his dad, 74, is a dentist. Besides, McKenna is a gregarious guy who’s probably smiling most of the time. But when McKenna left pro hockey in 2019, he was only 34, still a young man who needed to support his family. For a while after retiring, he commuted from St. Louis to Nevada to work as a TV analyst for the Vegas Golden Knights. He’d also written regularly for trade publications, so probably could have continued to grow in a media direction. Instead, he parlayed his economics background from St. Lawrence University toward business and started working his Rolodex, as some Boomers would say. McKenna started a three-pronged attack toward establishing his new career: Network, network some more and keep on networking. Because competition has been in his blood since before he tied on his first pair of skates, he landed as GM of the metro’s first Macadoodles store, in Dardenne Prairie, a St. Charles County municipality that promises to be as big or even better than Lake St. Louis or Wentzville. As a competitor with Total Wine, Schnucks and Dierbergs, McKenna is certain the company’s customer-focused and -driven approach will put his new Macadoodles head and shoulders above the rest. For one thing, you might not get such knowledgeable, professional advice at the supermarket. Nor will you enjoy wine tastings several times a day, every day. Certainly not at a wine bar “under the wine dome,” a rooftop turret surrounded by windows that let the sunshine in to make the vast space airy and bright. This is not a place to run in, grab a bottle, and leave. It’s meant for hanging around and enjoying. Free coffee, free popcorn and staff that want to get to know you and your particular tastes. Talk bourbon. Explore the humidor. Guests are invited to take their time, because, after all, they’re not rushing in and out of a big-box store for more diapers. A Macadoodles visit should be an excursion. “If they come in our store and don’t have fun, we’ve failed,” says McKenna of his store, 9,900 square feet adjacent to a Starbucks and Sugarfire at Bryan and Feise roads. From the Macdoodles in Columbia, Jeff City and other points west, somewhat cynical observers have referred to the look and feel as “Elevated Clampett,” which McKenna and his colleagues just love. But don’t head lickety-split westbound on Hwy. 40/I-64 just yet: Next-to-finishing touches are being applied for an early-fall opening. And is hockey out of his blood yet? Well, his black cap read “Violent Gentlemen Hockey Club.” It’s tongue-in-cheek, but the former journeyman goalie does play regularly, without referees or whistles. And he coaches kids. His daughters Kenlin, 11, and Adeline, 8, love hockey. Kenlin skates with other girls—and boys. “My oldest would be dragged from co-ed kicking and screaming,” McKenna says, grinning. “She loves sticking it to the boys.” On McKenna’s exhaustive Wikipedia page, you’ll see his stats from Pee-Wee (amateur) all the way to when he was waived by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2019. Under ‘Personal Life,’ you learn he’s a fan of Swedish metal band Amon Amarth. On Instagram, visit @macadoodles_dardenneprairie.