
Courtesy of Vintage Vinyl
Chance Operations, Bad Shoe, Voices From The Underground and Get Born are hosting a benefit reading for poet Mathieu Paul tonight at 7p.m. at Duff's (392 N. Euclid in the Central West End). Paul took a fall from a four-story building this summer, suffered some damage to internal organs, and is lucky to be alive. He spent several weeks convalescing in the hospital, and has been unable to work, so his fellow poets organized this reading to help him pay his bills. The cover charge is $5, and the lineup includes Erin Wiles and Elly Hegert of Bad Shoe; Joseph Sulier and Joe Wetteroth of Get Born; Tony Renner, curator of Chance Operations; anthologist, poet and musician Matthew Freeman; Bill Foster; Julia Gordon-Bramer; Soulard Culture Squad alum Philip Gounis; poet and hip-hop artist Jacob Cohen; and the wonderfully lucky Mathieu Paul himself.
This Saturday at 3pm, George Clinton makes an in-store appearance at Vintage Vinyl prior to Parliment-Funkadelic's performance at Chaifetz Arena. We suspect there are few pains and tribulations in life that cannot be healed by an encounter with Dr. Funkenstein himself, or, if you are just feeling a little bit too much like Sir Nose Devoid of Funk—strangled by your own pinstripes—get thee to 6610 Delmar for a meet-and-greet with the almighty god of funk himself.
If you're looking for something to do, oh, around middle-to-late September (specifically the 19th), Creative Saint Louis is throwing a city-wide scavenger-hunt/trivia contest. As they explain it: "At 2 p.m., teams of (up to) five will pick up a packet at Mangia. This packet will contain instructions that will then be executed in the Saint Louis community-at-large. The instructions may call for people to collect things. Or to collect photographs, or autographs. Or to build things. Or even be wearing specific pieces of clothing, for bonus points. The experiential scavenger hunt will run for up to two-and-half-hours, at which point teams will roll back to Mangia for a timed, 30-questions-in-30-minutes trivia blitz, which will be Saint Louis-specific, but will allow for teams to use whatever forms of information they choose to bring, from classic STL reference books to super-phones. At 5 p.m., the day wraps and the counting begins. Winners will be notified that night and will receive a fantabulouis Saint Louis prize pack." As a St. Louis transplant who enjoys the mental challenge of doing trivia but finds it miserable to sit in the same chair for three our four hours, I'll say: why did someone not think of this sooner?
And finally, if you missed Cranky Yellow's swap meet last Saturday, here's some consolation: they are booking gallery shows again. Matter of fact, they have a very crowded calendar right now. Take a look at that here, and synchronize your smartphone (or Filofax) accordingly.