Tonight, April 26, The St. Louis Poetry Center presents readings by former Missouri poet laureate Walter Bargen and Expressionist painter and poet Ed Boccia at the Focal Point in Maplewood. The acoustics at this venue are top-notch, and you can bring food and drinks in from the Maya Cafe next door. (Or if you want to be more civlized-like, have dinner before or after the reading while sitting down at a table, rather than balancing a Styrofoam container of nachos on your knees.) The reading is free, and begins at 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Twenty-four-year-old St. Louis filmmaker Drew Stewart screens Breadth of Hope at the Tivoli on April 27 at 7 p.m. (but get there at 6 p.m. for the live music). The documentary weaves together the stories of three people with ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The documentary, Stewart’s first, won the 2011 Inland Press Association’s award for “Most Creative Use of Multimedia;” proceeds go to charities supporting St. Louis families dealing with ALS. There will be a Q&A with the filmmaker following the film. More info here.
April 29 from 5 to 9 p.m., Chesterfield Arts holds a free LEGO Design Challenge as part of their “Studio Night Live,” open house series. Here is the catch: you have to register no later Wednesday April 27. And if your kid doesn’t like LEGOs (which would be weird, but entirely possible) they can sit at a potter’s wheel for the Clay Spin-Off, or check out live artists’ demonstrations. More info here.
She was Allen Tate’s wife, Robert Lowell’s cousin. Her first book, Birthdays from the Ocean, received two nominations for the National Book Award; Karl Shapiro said her second book, The Looking Glass, should have been nominated for a Pulitzer. But no one remembers Isabella Gardner. That’s changed now that Dutch scholar Marian Janssen’s terrific biography of Gardner, Not at All What One is Used To, published last December by the University of Missouri Press. Janssen did much of her research at Washington University, whose Special Collections Department holds Gardner’s papers in its archives. On Friday, April 29 at 4 p.m., Janssen delivers a lecture, "Not at All What One Is Used To: The Life and Times of Isabella Gardner," at the Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room. In addition to her talk, the event (which is free), includes a short audio recording of Gardner reading her work, plus a reception following the lecture. For more information, call the Department of Special Collections, 314-935-5495.
We don’t know if Mouse Races require a tiny little pistol to signal the opening of the starting gates. We do know that there will be some mouse racing going down on Saturday, April 30 at 7 p.m. at St. Martin of Tours (610 Ripa), to benefit Family Musical Theater. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Admission includes snacks, soda pop, and two complimentary beer tickets. And for a little more cash (it’s all going to a good cause) you can enter to win door prizes…including the chance to name a mouse. Call 314-448-1436 for more info.
And on Sunday, May 1, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis welcomes its next exhibit, Cryptic: The Use of Allegory in Contemporary Art, with a Master Class from Goya with a “Running of the Bulls Family Day Fun Run.” (So, you see, it’s more like a running of the kids.) The run takes place along Washington between Spring and Grand between noon and 3 p.m. Runners are encouraged to dress in costume, though part of the event includes making a “self-created bull run-inspired costume.” Post-race diversions include live music and food and dessert trucks out on the street, and activities inside the museum, including a storytime. Cryptic opens May 20, and features the work of contemporary artists Folkert de Jong, Hiraki Sawa, Allison Schulnik, Dana Schutz, Javier Tellez, and Erika Wanenmacher, matched with pieces from Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. More info here.
