friday night my brother, his wife, and i really had a hankering for breakfast food. my brother lost a bet he had b/w he and his wife (he thought the Lakers would win) so she had a Go To Cracker Barrel Pass to use. (my brother refuses to go there b/c he says they are racist, but since the Pistons won, we had to go b/c she loves it). anyway, the point here is that i finally got to see parts of st. louis that were more 'neck in nature. the Cracker Barrel was in Fenton, which is basically like Independence or Raytown (sans the black people). thus, i went beyond my usual st. louis scenes (chi-chi west county or gritty funky city) to explore a more blue collar, countrified side of the metro. glad to see we're not alone in our redneck-dom.
saturday we went to the St. Louis Jazz Festival in Clayton's Shaw Park. what a great event! the park is beautiful (reminded me of Loose Park, but Shaw is in the middle of Clayton's great CBD) and the festival was great. a very nice and surprising mix of folks. it was a fairly upscale sort of festival, so the vendors had martini's, wine, spiedini, salmon, etc. as well as burgers and brats, and of course Anheuser-Busch threw their muscle behind the event, sponsoring the main stage as well as peddling their wares. the music was great too. the John Scofield trio played a blistering set of avant-garde (but laid-back) jazz noodlings, but the Wynton Marsalis group stole the show. more specifically, their piano player did. good lord. this guy got a standing ovation during every song. they dedicated their last songs to Ray Charles and Elvin Jones. the songs were in the New Orleans funeral style, so it was somber and pretty for a while then became loud and boisterous and had the crowd on their feet (including some hippies doing the hippie jam-band dance). awesome.
after that we went to East Coast Pizza in far-flung Chesterfield. though the setting is less than desirable (the megalithic Chesterfield Valley big box-plex) i think that ECP is easily the best pizza i've had anywhere. Philly natives run the place. big floppy NY-style slices, lots of toppings, great fresh sauce and the best crust ever. HIGHLY recommended. bonus: one of the owners has the world's worst hairpiece. truly a sight to behold.
sunday i met my friends R and T for a day of recreation, st. louis style. i met them at R's grandma's house in Webster Groves, which is a great inner suburb just southwest of the city. much of the housing stock is pretty bland 50s ranches and split levels, but there are also lots of Victorians and early 20th century homes and WG has a great downtown. an all-around comfy and leafy suburb that isn't as expensive (yet) as its ritzy neighbors like Ladue, Clayton, Huntleigh, etc.
we headed to the Central West End first, so i could get coffee and so R and T could show me the building they are moving into (they are longtime bf/gf). the building was on Lindell, a major city and CWE artery. it was called Monticello, and was a 1920's (or so) high-rise brick apartment building very similar to those buildings just east of the plaza (on the south side of 47th, near oak). very cool! it would be a great first apartment for a young couple, i'd say. it is located about a block from the heart of the CWE, so it's a cool location. highlight of our time in the CWE: two 50-something gay men driving a sleek black Bentley, clearly arguing over which way to go.
then we headed to Forest Park, where we planned on "paddleboating" on this network of waterways in the Park. this would be a great thing to do on a date. it's cool to paddle around the water amongst fountains and bridges and trees and paths and the St. Louis Art Museum. it was very sunny and pretty hot. my tender ghostly skin was badly burned, but it was still fun. we had lunch at the Boathouse restaurant there where you rent the boats. i had a good pizza. some old joker engaged me in a conversation about the royals/cardinals series, which i didn't even know was occurring. i had on a KC hat, and this guy goes "Go Cards!" i just smiled. he then informed me he still feels the pain of the 85 series, indicating that even STL-iens think about the 85 series and not just KC people wanting to relive the glory days.
after that we went to the Galleria so T could find a shirt to wear to a wedding (an outdoor wedding in mid-july in baton rouge. eek!). i am not a fan of enclosed malls, but this is a great one. T and R showed me some stuff at Z. Gallerie they aspire to place in their new pad.
we met a friend of R's at the mall and headed to an art opening at a Clayton coffeeshop. the artist is a co-worker of R's at the Pulitzer Museum in St. Louis. cool art, pretty cool coffeeshop, in very cool Clayton. after that i hit the road for columbia.
to my dismay, i realized late last night that i lost my ATM card, most likely in the CWE since that's where i last used it. i tried not to entertain thoughts regarding the sort of character that would pick up my card in the CWE, but alas i was pretty stressed out. luckily i sorted it all out this morning, with no problems.
all in all a great weekend. i like going to st. louis. it's livable and fun. as a whole, i really think that st. louis and kansas city offer a similar quality of life: reasonably affordable housing, a decent range of choices for things to do, and an all-around easy lifestyle. neither city have the bustle of NYC or chicago or the huge range of cultural options found in many large cities, but both offer a cool balance of effortless living and urbanity. i like the midwest.
