Classic rock

by Mary Poletti

St. Louisans like classic rock. But don’t take my word for it. Scroll through the FM dial around here sometime. We have four — count ’em, four — classic rock stations.

Spoiler alert: This guy has a lot to do with it.

There’s the grandaddy of them all, KSHE 95, with its iconic pig & its love of sweet electric guitar riffs, toeing a hard-rock line; a former coworker in Quincy who grew up in West County once referred to it as the official radio station of 55-year-old dudes who still have garage bands. There’s KHITS, with its broad format & well-known local voices like the smoky-toned Radio Rich. There’s Oldies 103.3, which plays pretty much everything from the ’60s into my lifetime. With all that saturation in the market, the debut of 100.3 The Brew a few months ago was the facepalm heard ’round the region, although it’s since become the soundtrack to many an afternoon in the garage and/or backyard BBQ in some southerly parts of the County. And we’re not even counting 106.5 The Arch, where it’s not unheard-of to hear Kelly Clarkson’s “What Doesn’t Kill You” & Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” back to back (I know, because I did on my way home from work today).

Seriously, who really needs four classic rock stations?

A million classic rock fans who will listen to all four of them, that’s who. St. Louis has shown plenty of loyalty to classic rock. Shows like Boston, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith — the mainstays of ye olde Riverport (and it’ll always be Riverport to many of us) usually sell the place out. To say nothing of the insane amount of money we’ll shell out to see the really good stuff at Scottrade. (The Dome, meh.)

St. Louisans reserve a special place in their hearts for a certain former Van Halen frontman, mostly because vice versa. Sammy Hagar loves him some Gateway City. He decided some 32 years ago, when he was greeted with a raucously devoted crowd while headlining a show at the old Busch Stadium, that he owned St. Louis & would always hold it dear. (Frankly, if my first experience of St. Louis were the old Busch circa 1980, I’d fall in love, too.) As much as we love our homegrown celebrities, we go completely ape-crap if someone not from St. Louis starts extolling the virtues of our fair city & adopts it as his own. Not solely because of his athletic achievements do we so deeply love Pennsylvania native Stan Musial, although I must make it clear here that there is no comparison between the Redbirds’ perfect knight & the Red Rocker.

If Hagar is emblematic of Van Halen & Van Halen is emblematic, in so many ways, of the brand of classic rock most likely to be heard on St. Louis airwaves, no wonder we love classic rock around here.

We have our philosophical reasons, too. St. Louisans like classic rock because it’s down in there with the people, just like them. We’re an unpretentious bunch, and classic rock is an unpretentious genre, even if a lot of its surviving stars are still eerily reminiscent of the guys from “This Is Spinal Tap.” It’s music for grilling in your backyard, cruising in your car, working on your car, enjoying the weekend. It lends itself really well to cracking open an ice-cold beer. St. Louisans live for that kind of thing.

Too, St. Louisans like classic rock because it is, by definition, nostalgic. It encapsulates better, simpler days for many of us. A lot of outsiders, and a lot of locals as well, argue that St. Louis has seen better days. Around here, we like to remember the past fondly. Classic rock is the soundtrack to such memories.

Perhaps as much as anything else, classic rock has endured. And so has St. Louis. That’s as good a reason as any for St. Louisans to like classic rock.

Mary Poletti is a marketing professional in the financial industry & a resident of the City’s St. Louis Hills neighborhood. She grew up listening to Steely Dan cassettes in her dad’s Escort, so she’s not really in a position to judge.

The City Museum

by Kurt J. Pankau

“It’s that building over there, with the bus on the roof.”

The City Museum (Wikipedia - GNU Free Document License)

Nestled in Washington Avenue Loft District, hidden behind a deplorably boring name, you can find one of the hidden gems of St. Louis: The City Museum.

The Museum was/is the brain-child of artist Bob Cassilly who bought an old shoe factory and turned it into a surreal/industrial funhouse chock-full of interactive attractions — a place that is virtually impossible to describe without slashes and semi-colons and em-dashes. There is no rhyme or reason to the building and its layout; there is, however, a giant praying mantis on the roof next to the ferris wheel.

Now you will pray to MEEEE!!!!!!

And there are slides.  And I don’t mean slide-projector slides or vacation slides; I’m talking about physical ride-from-the-third-story-down-to-the-ground slides, the largest of which is ten stories and deposits you next to a Wurlitzer pipe organ. There are caves; there’s a bank vault; there’s a wall made out of empty Coke bottles. There are giant sculptures of fish that you can crawl around in.  Out front you’ll find MonstroCity, a metal network of caged paths that connect towers, catwalks, a tree house, two airplanes (side note: you haven’t lived until you’ve climbed off the wing of an airplane through a metal cage two stories above a parking lot), more slides, and two ball pits. That’s right, two ball-pits.

If awesomeness were measured in ball-pits, The City Museum scores a 2.

Don’t be fooled by the kid’s stuff (did I mention slides?) — The City Museum is a fun for anyone who likes to run and jump and climb, and you’ll find a surprising number of adults in and on the attractions. The Museum hosts numerous wedding receptions every year and if you absolutely have to get some culture in you, you can find actual museum exhibits inside if you look hard enough.  You can also visit the log cabin that was owned by Daniel Boone’s son (where they serve alcohol). Alternately, there is a kids-only section indoors that includes a rideable train. And for the more Bohemian types, there’s a vintage clothing store.

Bohemian types enjoying the City Museum. Also, slides.

The City Museum draws over half a million visitors yearly, many of them locals.  They keep coming back because of the freshness, the fun, the humor, and the singular uniqueness.  And they bring their friends, because the City Museum is the kind of thing that really has to be experienced to be believed.

Regular admission is $12 per person (plus $5 for roof access–and believe me, you want roof access).  This may seem steep-ish for a “Museum” or a family weekend outing, but there’s lots to do so go early and plan to stay for a while. Group rates are available, check their hours before you go. For more information, their home on the web is conveniently located at www.citymuseum.org.

Kurt J. Pankau is a professional programmer and amateur musician.  He lives with his wife in Creve Coeur where they have two staircases but, alas, no slides.  His band and his blog should be avoided at all costs.