FREE! "Honkey" Goodbye Roast: November 28 - All Welcome!

From "BJ "Honkey" Lange:

Fellow St. Louisans,

I haven't had that much time to meet all of you, but those who I have met know that I am moving back out west very soon. I signed a lease in Los Angeles starting December 1. My improv school, The Improv Trick (founded by Bill Chott; SNL, The Ringer, Second City) wishes to throw me a roast before I leave. I'd really like to have the community which I've grown to love there, considering how much you all have grown on me.

Date: Saturday, November 28, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: The Improv Trick Comedy Underground
Street: 2715 Cherokee
City/Town: Saint Louis, MO

BJ "Honkey" Lange is moving to Los Angeles, CA and The Improv Trick wants to give him the proper send-off by throwing him a roast!

Roastmasters Angie Patton and Marc Pruter will be there making sure that BJ will be ripped a new one by some of St. Louis' top comedians and his own friends! Come join in on the fun, bring your friends and say good-bye to him in style.

This event is BYOB and there is a $10 suggested donation.

For more information, please contact Marc or Angie at
314-922-1998 info (at) theimprovtrick (dot) com

Map Of My Heart TONIGHT at Cranky Yellow

Self-published author/graphic novelist John Porcellino will be showing a slide show of comics from his new book, Map of My Heart, answering audience questions, and signing books.

Musician Patrick Porter will open the night with a brief acoustic set and St. Louis cartoonist Jerome Gaynor will also be showing his work.

JOHN Porcellino was born in Chicago in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists.

Date & Time:
2009-10-29 20:00:00
Event Location:
Cranky Yellow
2847 Cherokee Street
Event Cost:
$0.00

Both Ends and the Middle: the Cherokee Street All Community Co-Lab Art Showcase

Where: Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts
3151 Cherokee St.
St Louis MO, 63118

When: This Friday night, October 30, from 6-10pm

What It Is: We're showing off drawings and photos workshopped at the Chatillon-DeMenil House located at the eastern end of Cherokee Street and work made during the all-community "Love Letters to Cherokee Workshop" at CAMP on the western end. The exhibition also includes individual works by Lyndsey Scott, Sarah Paulsen, Bill Russell, Maria Guadalupe Massey, Timothy Wagner, All Along Press, St Louis Style and more. Photos of the Peoples' Joy Parade, Eleanore Balson's community-painted box truck and architectural drawings from the Community Hub Project are also included.

The Story: A few short weeks ago Lynn Josse and Emily Hemeyer embarked on a Why Not? quest with only 3-weeks to gather, plan and promote this show. We were astounded at the amount of work we were able to pull together as well as all of the community support. Thank you Cherokee Street neighbors, artists, businesses and friends. It's all for you.

One night only. Costumes welcome.

Date: Friday, October 30, 2009
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Location: a convergence of art, ideas and history

Bad Shoe Lit Mag Release at Cranky Yellow

Head to Cranky Yellow for the release of Bad Shoe, STL’s best ladies lit mag, featuring the amazing art of Rose Bland. We will be co-releasing with Literal Chaos, an independent magazine for flyover country. Enjoy music by HUMDRUM, the Skekses, and Jennifer McDaniel of Maid-Rite. Readings by Julia Gordon-Bramer, Matthew Freeman, Coop, AC Jones, Erin Wiles, Ellen Herget, Amanda Wells, John J. Ryan, Anna Ross, Lauren Keefer, Zach Chasnoff, and more! No cover: buy a book, make a donation, make a donation for cheap beer. Tell yer friends!

UPDATE: Dena Molen and Kristin Sharp will also be reading!

Date & Time:
2009-10-27 20:00:00

Event Location:
Cranky Yellow
2847 Cherokee Street
Saint Louis, MO 63118
Phone: 1.314.773.4499

Cherokee Street tour this Sunday

In the final event of our Arts Then & Now series, your friends at the Chatillon-DeMenil House are getting out to explore more of the neighborhood. At the western end of Cherokee Street, an intact turn-of-the-century streetscape is a perfect setting for art. This free event is brought to you with support from the Regional Arts Commission.

Drawings, photos, collages and love letters from the three workshops in this series will be on display at Ft. Gondo, as well as historical documents and artworks connecting the two ends of Cherokee Street. (A reception for the community will be held on Friday, October 30).

October 25: Tour: Architecture and Art on Cherokee Street
2 p.m.
Starting at Fort Gondo compound for the arts, 3151 Cherokee Street
Over the last decade, our neighbors on the western end of Cherokee Street have developed their intact 19th-century streetscape into a haven for creative endeavors of all kinds. We’ll talk about the birth of an arts community and tour some of the studios and galleries where the art happens every day.

See you there!
Lynn Josse
Public History Consultant
(314) 229-0793

CHEROKEE REAL Inauguration Sunday

You are invited!!

To the inauguration of the:

CHEROKEE REAL
Community Garden and Gathering Space

October 18th (Sunday)
10 am to 4 pm
2647 Cherokee Street

You will find....

Painting, Planting, Music, Neighbors, Gathering, Meeting Wonderful New People, Kids Activities, Food and many other amazing experiences!

We will be planting and decorating the first planters to go on the site as well as decorating the fence and outdoor furniture, making garden ornaments, dancing to great music, eating yummy snacks from Black Bear Bakery and celebrating the creation of a new gathering space and community garden.

*** If you are available to volunteer that would be awesome and please contact Irene Compadre ***

With support from Black Bear Bakery, Red Brick Community Land Trust, Cherokee Station Business Association, and the Community Arts and Media Project

Irene Compadre
icompadre at gmail dot com
314.496.4364

superfun art/play workshop this Sunday

From your friends at the Chatillon-DeMenil House and the wonder-artist Lyndsey Scott:

Our October "Arts Then and Now" events are on the road, exploring how our neighbors on Cherokee Street are inspired to mingle art and architecture. First, we'll meet inside CAMP to draw and brainstorm together. Taking cues from old photographs and advertisements together with current photos, fliers, and news clippings -- we'll let our imaginations explore what the street has been and can be. Then we'll make copies of our sketches and stroll around the neighborhood affixing these images and messages with magnets where people can interact with them. No worries if you're not an 'artist' -- if you've got attentive eyes, willing hands, and a sense of humor you're well equipped to play this game!

Sunday, October 18
1pm
Community Arts and Media Project
3022 Cherokee Street

questions? 229-0793

This free workshop is made possible with support from the Regional Arts Commission.

Improv Benefit for childhood cancer this Saturday

One Night Only!!!! The Improv Trick is proud to host the "BAD BOYS OF KANSAS CITY IMPROV!"

October 17 at 8:00 pm at The Improv Trick Comedy Underground!

Tickets are only $10 and proceeds will benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand, a charity dedicated to fighting childhood cancer.

For more information or to make reservations, call 314-922-1998

Please invite your friends!!! This is going to be a really fun event!

Kansas City Improvisers to Play St. Louis for Cancer Charity
St. Louis – Loaded Dice, Kansas City’s Bad Boys of Comedy are coming to St. Louis to perform with Bill Chott’s Improv Trick on October 17th, 2009. Loaded Dice promises to bring fun, fast-paced comedy with a whole lot of attitude from Missouri’s “West Coast” and a portion of the ticket sales will benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a foundation that supports finding a cure for childhood cancer. The show begins at 8:00 PM.

Loaded Dice competed in Kansas City’s Improv Thunderdome which pits nine improv teams against one another twice a year to determine who the best improvisers in Kansas City are. The Bad Boys of Comedy won, two times, a feat that no other team can claim. The Kansas City-based troupe also hosted a twenty-four-hour comedy benefit this summer raising over $1200 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Clay Morgan, director of Loaded Dice, wants to expand the troupe’s comedy arsenal and help kids at the same time. Loaded Dice partnered Alex’s Lemonade Stand because it supports research going on at KU Med Center and Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. “It was sort of a no-brainer to team up with such a great charity. Plus, they were really jazzed about the idea. Laughter is the best medicine,” Morgan said. He hopes that playing with teams in other cities will raise awareness of Alex’s Lemonade Stand and to learn from other improvisers.

“When we play with other troupes, we always learn from their style. We use that to play better and smarter. Performing with teams in Kansas City is great, but there are other cities doing great improv, like St. Louis and Springfield, that are just a few hours away. They offer different styles of doing what we love to do” Morgan says.

Bill Chott, owner of the Improv Trick, hosted the Kansas City Improv Festival a few years ago and Morgan and Chott became friends on Facebook. This connection has led to the cross-state performance for Loaded Dice. The men of Loaded Dice are very excited to perform in St. Louis.

“We’re pretending we are rock stars on tour. We get a chance to do what we love in front of new audiences,” Morgan adds, “We aren’t going to tear up a hotel or anything like that, but we will hit the stage with all the swagger and confidence that is associated with bands like KISS and AC/DC.”

The Loaded Dice will also be teaching a workshop on Sunday October 18 at 1 pm.

Registration is just $25 for Current Improv Trick Students and $30 for everyone
else. Space is limited so reserve your spots today!
314-922-1998

The Improv Trick Comedy Underground is at 2715 Cherokee St. STL, MO 63118

Boots screening season five of PBS’s Art: 21

On THURSDAY OCTOBER 15TH from 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Boots Contemporary Art Space will be screening season five of PBS’s Art: 21

Episode 3: Transformation Whether observing and satirizing society or reinventing icons of literature, art history, and popular culture, the artists featured in Transformation capture the sensibilities of our age while at times inhabiting the characters they have created. Yinka Shonibare MBE, Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy are featured..


Episode 4: Systems Artists invent new processes to convey the attitudes of today’s supercharged, information-based society, examining why we find comfort in some systems while rebelling against others. Systems features artists who realize complex projects through acts of appropriation or accumulation. In some instances, they create projects vast in scope, which almost elude comprehension. Julie Mehretu, John Baldessari, Kimsooja and Allan McCollum are featured.

ALL ARE WELCOME! COMPLIMENTARY POPCORN AND DRINKS!

BYO chair as seating is limited

COME AND CELEBRATE ART WITH US!

e-mail: boots at bootsart dot com
phone: 314.773.2281

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St.
St Louis, MO
63118

Cherokee Print League Call for Entries

CHEROKEE PRINT LEAGUE HOLIDAY SALE!

The Cherokee Print League is organizing its second annual holiday show and sale to take place Saturday, December 5 from 10am-7pm. This indoor print-themed show will take place all along the street, with businesses hosting artists whose work is print-related (printmaking, letterpress, printed fabrics, etc.)

WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU PARTICIPATE!

This is organized as a sale rather than an art show, and we expect a huge turnout, so it would be a great way to make some cash before the holiday season. Hosting businesses will be extensively advertising the event, and 100% of participation fees go toward advertising. You will be provided with a table in an indoor, heated space, and your name and location will be included on a map of the event that will be available the day of the sale.

DETAILS
Participation fee: $50 (tables can be shared, two artists for $25 each)
Students WELCOME: $35 solo or $25 each for shared table

Approximate Table Size: 3'×5' with optional wall space (let us know if you’re interested in some wall).

Advertising: Sauce Magazine/RFT, KDHX, hand-printed posters by The Firecracker Press, Sleepy Kitty, and All Along Press

After party: TBA (But, oh, there will be one!)

To reserve your table, register here or drop off your fee (in cash!) to The Firecracker Press at 2838 Cherokee Street no later than NOVEMBER 1.

For more info on the event, you can call:
The Firecracker Press at (314) 776-7271
or All Along Press at (314) 827-6185

SOME of the PARTICIPATING VENUES: The Firecracker Press, Porter Teleo, Snowflake City Stock, All Along Press, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, Cranky Yellow, Sleepy Kitty, Stirrup Pants Chapbook

PHD Gallery Exhibit Reviewed in the Post

Read an article and artist interview on the PHD Gallery's latest exhibit, Vestiges, on the Post-Dispatch web site here.

FREE Improv Class, Longform Class begins Monday

FREE Improv Class Wednesday, Longform Class begins this Monday, October 5.

Take this FREE class and you can register for The Lifetime Class:

Introduction to Improv – Level 1
Wednesdays, 7-9pm – Join in anytime, for Life!
PUBLIC SPEAKING, NETWORKING, FUN

Bill Chott from SNL, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Ringer is recognized nationally as one of the best improv teachers. Take advantage of this class while he’s in town, and you’ll be able to take it for FREE for the rest of your Lifetime. Bill and others teach this class year-round and once you’ve taken the class you can always come back and take this class for free. This class is a safe and comfortable environment, suitable for beginners and experienced improvisers looking for a fresh point of view.

Students in this class will be eligible to perform in a Student Showcase at the Improv Trick Comedy Underground.

The Improv Trick Comedy Underground is located at 2715 Cherokee St. Saint Louis, MO 63118

Instructors: Bill Chott and Marc Pruter

This Sunday at City Art Supply

From our friends at City Art Supply:

Hello,


Sunday evening we’re having a very special show at City Art Supply, here’s the info…


Alexis Gideon, Shelley Short, .e, Mark Early, Eric Hall, and Jeremy Kannapell

8PM Sunday, September 27, 2009.

*

Alexis Gideon
From Portland, OR. Hip-pop electro folktales about liophants, ringtones, and medieval battle strategies; performed to homemade animated/stop-motion video projections.

Shelley Short
Portland, OR also. Gentle and sparse guitar/voice arrangements with breezy melodies. Her CDs will sit by your desk like a candy dish, ready whenever you need a bit of something sweet.

.e
Delicate skittering beats, gazing synths, live-looping guitars, and vocal drifts; all delivered from one of Saint Louis's most lauded underground solo acts.

Mark Early
A rare solo performance from the synth/guitar/toy piano/noise wrangler for Glass Teeth, Tone Rodent, and Macro Meltdown. You have no idea what could happen, do you?

Eric Hall
The member of Grandpa's Ghost and N. Nomurai, plus several other projects, will be stirring up a droning psychedelic stutter-funk trance from manipulated field recordings and found sounds.

Jeremy Kannapell
Ghost Ice leaves his powerful bass cabs at home and instead brings you a different side of his contorted aesthetic: 8mm film projections.

*

This show is free, though donations for the touring act's expenses are kindly encouraged; and you can also show support by picking up merchandise. In return, we will provide refreshments. Fair enough?

City Art Supply
3215 Cherokee Street
Saint Louis, MO 63118
(314) 771-5375

Openings at PHD Gallery

Please join us at PHD Gallery
for the opening of
TWO NEW EXHIBITS
Saturday, October 3, 2009
7 - 10 PM

PHD Gallery hosts

VESTIGES: Found Wood Sculpture & Photography
&
MARK SHEPPARD: Bone Crusher Rat Rods

PHD Gallery
2300 Cherokee Street
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 664-6644

**********

VESTIGES depicts the evidence of time’s passage & the beauty that can exist in the legacy left behind. The exhibit juxtaposes found wooden sculpture with photography. Susan Nanny & Marsha Sanguinette retrieve river wood & polish it, until it lives again in evocative biomorphic forms. David R. Hanlon's photographs record the fallen Monuments of Syria & Jordan. Jim Sabo reverses the notion of finding relics & instead digitally creates them. Mark Florida photographs contemporary urban decay. Dr. Ivy Cooper of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville observes that the works are: "captivating evidence — fleeting, tenuous, melancholy — of lives and structures once thought to be permanent and unchanging."

MARK SHEPPARD: Bone Crusher Rat Rods- With a nod to the West Coast "Kustom Kulture" of the 1950s & 60s, Mark Sheppard unveils 12 new "hot rod" ink drawings in PHD’s Portfolio Gallery. Inspired by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth’s grotesque caricatures, Sheppard creates an original crew of "creatures who won’t die driving cars that won’t break!" The artist has also released a limited edition print based on his ink drawings. Sheppard is an MFA graduate in painting from Washington University in St. Louis & works as an artist & instructor.

Theaster Gates at Boots

Missed the Theaster Gates opening at Boots?

All is not lost!:

The opening of the Theaster Gates exhibition, Holiness: In 3 Parts, was a night filled with 3 dynamic performances. Orron Kenyatta, started the evening off with lyrical poetry. The Zion Temple Baptist Church Choir, from St. Louis, then uplifted us with powerful gospel songs. Part three is when Theaster Gates and The Black Monks of Mississippi performed songs that told the story of Dave the slave potter. These performances were surrounded by Gate's minimal sculptures that were constructed out of objects that he found in his own backyard. Also included in the exhibit are two shoeshine chairs and a video of shining shoes accompanied by a Buddhist-like audio chant. Holiness: In 3 Parts will be on display until 10.16.2

If you missed the opening don't worry. You can view highlights from the evening on the Saint Louis Art Map Blog.


Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO
63118 • 314.773.2281

CheroFlea Market at CAMP

From CAMP's Outreach Coordinator, Lyndsey Scott:

CheroFLEA MARKET @ CAMP

Saturday October 3, 8am-3pm

3026 Cherokee Street


A la dream interpretation website:

*Basement* The house generally represents your psychological and emotional self. Each part of the house may deal with a different part of you. The basement is built first. It is often below ground (or at least some parts of it), and is essentially the foundation of the house. Dreaming about a basement and understanding the dream, may provide you with valuable information which may lead to greater self-awareness. A recurring dream about basements (i.e. being in a basement, a basement, furnishing a basement, etc.) should not be ignored. These dreams may be symbolic of your unconscious, instincts and intuition, and degree of awareness of a current situation or a problem.

I recently had some really stellar basement dreams, straight up dancing with brooms in subterranean clouds, spacious, mysterious. More recently than that, I’ve spent many love-labor hours alongside other collective members giving the underbelly of CAMP, the Community Arts and Media Project, a great scouring – in keeping with the current effort to regenerate the project’s vision and efficacy in engaging creative, socially-responsible strategies for community building on Cherokee Street. For sanity, I engaged with this work of schlepping, sorting, and disposing the ruins as play -- a treasure hunt performance piece remix of Whachoogondowithallthatjunk, while envisioning what it is we hope to make space for.

Whereby, You are duly invited to come browse the oddities unearthed and celebrate this milestone of shapeshifting with us. Together with neighbors’ stuff, a hodgepodge including books, bikes, furniture, costumes, mirrors, shelves, toys, et al awaits you, and we look forward to raising funds for the bike shop, youth art, and other programs.

If you’re falling in love with Cherokee but have not yet been to CAMP, make your way thru. I think you’ll find we are developing into a site that can nurture a uniquely expressive and honest dialogue with the neighborhood. It’s piqued my creativity for months….

CheroFLEA MARKET @ CAMP
Saturday October 3, 8am-3pm
3026 Cherokee Street

For more on CAMP click here.

For more on the CheroFLEA MARKET visit Cherokee Street News

To volunteer in setup/cleanup or with CAMP in general, call (314) 827-4730.



Love from

Lyndsey Scott

CAMP Outreach Coordinator

Art and architecture at the Chatillon-DeMenil House

September 19, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., Sketch workshop with Emily Hemeyer. Come draw architecture with us! You don’t have to be an artist to create an individualistic work of art. We’ll focus on looking at details as well as the whole, and creatively expressing your observations on paper. All ages welcome! Materials will be provided (or feel free to bring your own favorites).



September 27, 2:00 p.m., Greek Revival Architecture and the DeMenil House, illustrated talk by Esley Hamilton. Greek Revival became a national style that captured the political idealism of a young nation. Find out how the Chatillon-DeMenil House does (and doesn’t) reflect the dominant architectural classicism of the mid-19th century.


Both events take place at the Chatillon-DeMenil House, 3352 DeMenil Place (at the far eastern end of Cherokee Street)

Boots Fall Opening Exhibition this Friday

Boots Contemporary Art Space
Fall Opening Exhibition
Holiness: In 3 Parts
A solo exhibition by Theaster Gates

Opening reception: Friday, September 18, 2009 - 6:30 - 10 p.m.

Holiness: In 3 Parts, a solo exhibition at Boots, will give Theaster an opportunity to work through ideas surrounding the psychic space of the back yard. On opening night, with help from his performance ensemble, The Black Monks of Mississippi, Gates will bring charismatic structures of the black church into brief conversation with the formalities of City Planning Policy.

Performance will begin at 7:42 and last till 8:53

Part 1: The Westside Piece (Front Space) 7:42- 7:52 (Theaster and possibly Orron Kenyatta-poet)

Part 2: The Glorious Picnic (Front of the back) 7:52- 8:40 (Black Monks of Mississippi)

Part 3: Stairwell to heaven and Other things from my backyard (Back of the back Space) 8:40-8:53 (Monastic Funk Band)

"Holiness in three parts could be thought of in the following way: Heaven, Hood and the City - using sculptural objects made from things in my backyard, we will move between these three loosely prescribed categories. With 'The City' representing hell and the hood being somewhere between paradise and the underworld, I hope to consider three different presentation formats, in three different parts of the space in what would appear to be a Joseph Beuys-styled performance that uses the black religious form to deliver thoughts on new urbanism, slave labor via the embodiment of Dave the slave potter and the history of the racialized body through performance. Holiness in three parts is literally a trinity of confusion and urban rumination. Lots of stones will be left unturned, but those turned will get a good shining"


About Theaster Gates
Sculptor and performance artist, Theaster Gates works with the sacred city found just below its forgotten and often abandoned exterior. With parts of old buildings and visions of grand rehab projects, Gates, a believer in the possibility of place, begins to release some of the resonate beauty of the city's under belly in a way that is both contemplative and frenetic

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO • 63118 •

Firecracker exploding all over the place (heh)

• Go see our friends from The Firecracker Press this weekend at the Mosaics Art Festival in St. Charles and get a free custom-printed poster (whoa, did I just say free? I believe I did!) The event? Also free! This is an offer you can't refuse. Firecracker will be up and running at the festival Saturday, September 19 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, September 20 from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Festival information here.

• I meant to mention this before but I must have spaced out (I am on fire today!) Did you know that Firecracker has got a poster going out into space? Well, it's true! Way cool. Read more about it here.

*FREE TIX* WED 9/9 - Improv Comedy Show

From BJ "Honkey" Lane, of the Improv Trick:

Friends of St. Louis Improv, Talent, and Artists –

Come See Why The Improv Trick Won an RFT Masterminds Award, and why BILL CHOTT/Improv Trick was featured in This week's RFT cover feature!!

Our last stage match at The Stable.... An all-ages event.

St. Louis' top comedy improvisers match wits in The Stagematch, a no-holds-barred, knock-down, drag out head to head bout. Audience suggestions are spun into pure comedy gold in this evening of competitive improv.

Imagine if Wrestling at the Chase broke out at a Whose Line Is It Anyway improv show! Cheer your heroes, boo your villains, and you'll laugh till you're down for the count at The Stable (St. Louis's hottest new brewhouse and distillery) to play games and share new games. Teams of 2 players set comedy records, bring home the gag trophy and bash wits for your comedy enjoyment.

Funds will be raised for scholarships for local youth scholarships to become improv students, and this party will go on way into the night.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Doors Open at 9:00pm

The Stable
1821 Cherokee Street (at Lemp)
St. Louis (Benton Park by Lemp Brewery)

Looking forward to seeing you at the show. Good food, drinks, laughs and memories, let me know how many free tickets you need.

Bringing improv back to St. Louis ,

BJ “Honkey” Lange

Student/Performer, The Improv Trick

314.922.1998

info at theimprovtrick dot com