Asylum Street Spankers photo by Tiffany Snyder-Hofeldt
On Wednesday, February 16, at 8 p.m., poet and humorist Jeremy Sigler (whose most recent book is Crackpot Poet) will be at White Flag Projects to lecture on humor and art, and read some poetry. It’s part of WF’s current show, Time Wounds All Heels (which runs through February 28). Though the press release states that this show “examines humor’s potential effect on form and perception,” White Flag’s Matt Strauss puts a finer point on it: “Nothing’s explicitly funny, or intended to provoke a laughter response,” he says. “It deals with ambiguity that exists in contemporary art practice, where humor informs the work being produced.” The two big anchor points of the show, he says, include a brand-new print from John Baldesarri, Nose/ Silhouette: Green, and Andy McEwen’s Untitled (Richard) (2007), the obituary for the not-dead artist Richard Prince, which was part of the Guggenheim Museum’s “Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance” group show last April. A number of younger artists, including Jane Hammond, Robert Lazzarini, Edward Lipski, Adam McEwen, Jaime Pitarch, Michael Williams, Donelle Woolford (the artistic alter ego of Joe Scanlan), and Erwin Wurm round things out. And because “there was nothing explicitly funny in the show,” says Strauss, he’s also invited Chicago’s Comedians You Should Know to perform a full night of stand-up at the gallery on Saturday, February 19, also at 8 p.m. Free. Times: noon–7 p.m. Wed, noon–5 p.m. Thu–Sat.
White Flag Projects, 4568 Manchester, 314-531-3442, whiteflagprojects.org.
Also on Wednesday, February 16: legendary goofball singer/songwriter Jonathan Richman, who swung from post-punk (“Roadrunner,” “Pablo Picasso,”) to weird and innocent stuff like “Chewing Gum Wrapper,” and “Abominable Snowman in the Supermarket.” This solo tour features drummer Tommy Larkin ($15, $18 day of show). And on Friday, it’s the Asylum Street Spankers’ “Spanks for Everything” Farewell Tour. After a semicontentious split with slam poet and principal songwriter Wammo, saw player Christina Marrs and the rest of the Spankers are calling it quits. But the band has a lot to be proud of: 18 years of touring, nine albums, and a lineup that has, over the years, included more than 50 musicians. Its brand of old-timey country blues, heavily influenced by the novelty records of the early 20th century, always managed to sound fresh even after the world was smote by the swing revival of the 1990s. Part of that was the band’s humor, part of it was the musicians’ amazing musical chops, and part of it was the way the band played both antique jazz songs and country rap, always seeming like masters of their craft instead of dilettantes. This is your last chance to see the group live. For real. ($18, $20 day of show.)
Off Broadway, 3511 Lemp, 314-773-3363, offbroadwaystl.com.
On Friday, The Sheldon Art Galleries open a suite of new shows, including Max Lazarus: Trier/St. Louis/Denver—a Jewish Artist’s Fate (through May 7). When he fled Germany in 1938 after the rise of the Third Reich, Jewish artist Max Lazarus came to St. Louis before leaving for Denver, where he died of tuberculosis in 1961. This exhibit covers Lazarus’ entire career, including his lithographs, synagogue designs, and more than 50 paintings, including landscapes of Trier, Germany, and St. Louis landmarks like the Old Courthouse. Shown in tandem with this show, in the Bernoudy Gallery of Architecture: The Synagogue Murals. This collection of gouache paintings comprises studies for synagogue murals, which Lazarus designed between 1921 and 1931. His commissions included German synagogues in Merzig, Homburg, Langen, Herford, Lübbecke, and Neumagen; all were destroyed by the Nazis. Also opening: Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire—50 Years in Photography (through May 21), which includes the photographer’s half-century career includes black-and-white photographs from several of his most famous series, including “The Beatniks,” “The Democrats,” “Runway,” “Boxing,” and “Social Graces;” and Gina Alvarez and Jana Harper: Poems by Bobby Thiel (through June 4), a series of collaborative prints, inspired by a notebook of poems by a young boy, which “combine photographs, images, shapes, and colors inspired by Japanese prints and Indian miniatures,” and were created by “layering digital prints with traditional printmaking techniques and handwork that included drawing, stitching, and collage.”
Sheldon Art Galleries, 3648 Washington, 314-533-9900, thesheldon.org.
It’s not quite dog parade season yet, but you can sate yourself with wine and food in the meantime. On Friday, it’s the annual Soulard Mardi Gras Wine and Beer Taste, a popular annual event billed as a “Mardi Gras happy hour,” featuring tastings from local wineries and breweries. A tasting book includes 12 tickets, which purchasers redeem for tastes of wine. (5:30–9:30 p.m.) Then, on Saturday it’s the Crystal Cajun Cook-Off, featuring 10 professional chefs and 10 amateurs, who brew up a roux, étouffée, or beignets to compete for the title. Ticket price includes four sample tickets to catered Cajun and Creole food (Department of Health regulations prevent sampling of the chefs’ dishes), as well as beer, hurricanes, and soda. Live music by Spur (noon–4 p.m.). Both events are held at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park, and are $30, $35 at the door.
Mardi Gras Inc., 314-771-5110, mardigrasinc.com.
And finally: more poetry (just to go full circle!) On Monday, February 21, River Styx brings in two poets who are united by one word—the title of Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s newest collection, Apocalyptic Swing, refers to boxing. In the book, as poets.org noted, the sport “becomes a fascinating intersection of the physical and the metaphysical, the literal fight and internal strivings.” Sara Burge’s new book is Apocalypse Ranch; poet Marcus Cafagña writes that “every word is written as if the human and animal lives of her native Missouri Ozarks depend upon it. With assiduous attention to detail, the 'rotting houses' and 'broken farms' of small-town America are given a realistic and often disturbing perspective.” Admission is $5, $4 for members, students and seniors; the reading starts at 7:30 p.m. Calvocoressi will also read on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at the MUC Bookstore on the Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville campus.
River Styx at Duff’s, 392 N. Euclid, 314-533-4541, riverstyx.org.
