Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone!
First thing you should know: the mighty K. Curtis Lyle, one of my favorite poets ever (also, in full disclosure, a dear friend) will be reading his amazing long poem, "Barackutopia," at the Royale's Inaguration Day party tomorrow sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. I am a working girl, so I can't make it down, but hopefully you can. All the details here. And if, like me, your afternoon is spoken for, you can read the poem online.
I've also received emails from several folks urging me to vote for St. Louis in AmericanStyle magazine's 2009 Top Arts Destinations readers' poll. (I voted. I didn't get a sticker, but it's as easy as pie. You can cast your vote here.) While I know that these sorts of polls are often token things, you never know who's reading specialty mags like that ... it would be cool to see St. Louis named, not only because we deserve the honor (we do!) but because I'd love to expose our city to folks who still think of St. Louis as "flyover territory." Which, as the girl who crunches together all the monthly arts listings, I can assure you we definitely are not. And it's not like little old Inauguration Day tomorrow isn't a reminder on the importance of voting, n'est-ce pas? —Stefene Russell
