Off Broadway Is On!

Neon Memes • Earlier this decade, I covered country music―including alt-country, insurgent country, Americana and whatnot―for PLAYBACK:stl, a local monthly freebie that now survives only as a website. On that beat, I perforce became a semiregular at one of St. Louis' true treasures, Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Avenue, 314.773.3363). In the past two years or so, though, I've paid far less attention to Steve Pohlman and Kit Kellison's much-lauded nightclub. My bad. This month alone, the venue's hosting such high-octane out-of-towners as ex–Drive-By Truckers frontman Jason Isbell (tonight!), Two Cow Garage (November 8) and Centro-matic (November 11). Moreover, to their credit, Pohlman and Kellison continue to support local talents. By way of example, tomorrow, Friday, November 7, Magnolia Summer will celebrate the release of their third CD, Lines From the Frame, at Off Broadway. Then, next Saturday, November 15, the venue will host the Love Experts and Rough Shop―St. Louis Magazine's "A-List" established musical acts for, respectively, 2007 and 2008. The two local bands, incidentally, will open for New York's Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3―regarding whom, spin "Amphetamine" from their Static Transmission for a jolt of guitar-driven adrenaline. So be there or...well, just be there, OK? ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor