JAIMEVILLE.COM

Flyer Supplier: Thomas Crone’s Old Crap is St. Louis History
By Jaime Lees
Thu., Jan. 19 2012 at 11:09 AM

As a long-time member of St. Louis media, Thomas Crone has been it all: author, journalist, photographer, DJ, webmaster, blogger, videographer, producer, director, actor, publisher, panelist and editor. (Including a spell as music editor of this fine publication.)

The dude works on, like, ten projects at a time and seems to have no problem fitting in another job when inspiration strikes him. Crone is always up to something and, luckily, we music fans are frequently the beneficiaries of his hard work.

He’s spent years as a man-about-town, documenting St. Louis history and reporting on local bands. His latest project is a combination of these two interests. As part of his Second Set column at the St. Louis Beacon, he’s been digging out and scanning all of his old show flyers and posting them to a set in his Flickr site.

We did a quick interview with Mr. Crone today and he explained, “As I’m starting a year-long writing project for the stlbeacon.org, I wanted to finally organize my old collection, which has been split up into several, plastic storage boxes. Last night, I hit the mother lode, finding a bunch of pieces that I thought were lost to time. What’s interesting now is figuring out which were outright harvested off of walls by me, which were lent to me for some project or another, and how many will need to be returned. In one case, I have a loan from someone recently accused of murder. Realizing that was a real shocker; but so many of these evoke some type of interesting or unusual emotion. I’m hopeful that they bring the same for others.”

There are over 50 images in the collection now, and Crone plans to post around 25 more per day and promises, “In addition to the flyers, there will also be ticket stubs, zine covers, press photos, bios a few contract riders…. might wind up with a few hundred pieces by the end of the weekend.”

He plans to move all of these images to SilverTrayOnline.com in the near future, but for now there are already flyers posted to Flickr for you to enjoy from Cicero’s, Creepy Crawl, Lo, Tangerine, the Bernard Pub, the Hi-Pointe, the Lemp Brewery, the Mad Art Gallery, Mississippi Nights, Rocket Bar, Side Door, Stages, etc.

Scans and donations of your old flyers will be considered in the future. Keep an eye out for news on this endeavor at ThomasCrone.com and look for future flyers to be posted at SilverTrayOnline.com.

• link: Riverfront Times

100 St. Louis Bands, 100 Drink Pairings: A Comprehensive Guide
By Jaime Lees
Fri., Nov. 11 2011

​Oh, the interwebz. You give us so many awesome gifts. You even take things that are already awesome, and then you put a kitten on them and make them even awesomer. For that we thank you.

Today we celebrate Drinkify.org. This site is hot stuff this week — it’s being posted all over social media web sites and linked in emails. Drinkify is an online drinking guide that pairs the music you are listening to with a suggested cocktail. It’s kind of like having your own personal smart, crunk sommelier.

The design is simple: you type in a band name, click a button that reads “What Should I Drink” and then Drinkify sends you back a photo of the band and and ingredient list with instructions. Drinkify’s output is based on a combination of search results, including band biographies, images and top tracks. The drink suggestions are usually cocktails, and many of them are eerily-similar to the fancy-folk drinks that are served up at the Royale.

Because there is so much information available online, the results are sometimes scary-accurate. For example, if a band puts its favorite beer in its bio, that is probably the beer that Drinkify will suggest.

To test out the site and get a representative sample of the responses supplied by Drinkify, I searched for every band and performer who was nominated for our RFT Music Awards this year plus some classic St. Louis performers and a few personal favorites.

The results ranged from W.T.F. (Pokey LaFarge) to SHOCKINGLY ACCURATE (Sex Robots) to YEAH, PROBABLY (Funky Butt Brass Band) to THAT’S RAW (Murphy Lee).

Of course, there were some glitches; it’s not a perfect system. But there were some cool surprises, too. Here’s a few findings of my research:

• Drinkify didn’t offer a suggested cocktail for every band I tried or it returned the wrong result. Which is a shame, really, because I’d like to buy Magic City a drink. (Ed. seconded.)
• Sometimes Drinkify gave cocktail result but with no band picture included to certify that this drink was, indeed, for this band. I decided that these results probably couldn’t be relied upon, until I searched for .e. Drinkify says that when listening to .e, the suggested cocktail is 12 oz. of marijuana, served on the rocks. Yeah, that sounds about right.
• Drinkify is totally postmodern. It is aware of itself and of other memes. For instance, a search for the Jumpstarts resulted with a suggestion of “4 oz. of White whine.”

Read more…

Hailing from the mean streets of St. Louis, MO, Clownvis Presley has accomplished more in the past few years than most entertainers achieve in their whole careers. In addition to hosting his own monthly variety show and MCing countless events, his charisma and superior singing voice have earned him opening slots on quite a few high-profile shows. He has toured extensively and performed with superstars such as Little Richard, Neil Hamburger, the Dresden Dolls, and Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric fame) — all of which has earned him the title “King of Clowns.”

Thanks to a controversial appearance on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Clownvis is now familiar to millions of people around the planet. His phenomenal audition must be seen to be believed (maybe even more than once). Haven’t seen it? Check out the videos section of this site.

Now based in Los Angeles, Clownvis is ready to rock the entertainment world. Much more than just a party clown, this showman does it all. In addition to hosting music awards, festivals, fundraisers and burlesque revues, Clownvis is also a good guy, donating his talents to charity events and non-profit organizations.

Mr. Presley’s diverse show is loved by a variety of audiences, which has allowed him to perform at theaters, bars, kids parties, biker rallies, store openings and nursing homes. Audiences of all ages appreciate the core of his show — his singing. Clownvis croons both classic covers and originals, including audience favorites like “Barack O’s Tacos” and the Golden Girls theme song, “Thank You For Being a Friend.”

Clownvis is a natural daredevil on stage, using dangerous items like fireworks, topless girls and his own invention, the Anti-Gravity Freedom Rocket ™. He hosts a true variety show. He might take a phone call from Chubby Checker, perform magic or host his own commercial break. On stage, he is flanked by members of the Clownvis Mafia, including his business manager, Narvel P. Tuffnuts and his musical director, Teddy Longsworth. You never know what to expect, but you know you will be a lifelong Clownvis fan by the curtain call.

Clownvis’ legendary stage show is more in demand than ever. Clownvis shines brightest when he’s in the spotlight, and in addition to scheduling live shows in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, he is busy booking a North American tour. The King of Clowns is also producing a comic book and a series of video shorts. He plans to host a television show and headline Las Vegas. Viva Clownvis!

from ClownvisPresley.com
(Clownvis and I wrote this bio together for his website.)

PINK: A Benefit
10 p.m. Friday, November 9. The Upstairs Lounge, 3131 South Grand Boulevard. $7 to $10. 314-773-3388.
By Jaime Lees
Published: November 7, 2007

Pink is a bouncing, beat-filled party thrown by some philanthropic electro-types to benefit the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. But this multi-level Upstairs Lounge event (i.e., the crew’s taking over the main floor and the Blue Room) not only benefits females — it celebrates them: Women (and their curves) are featured prominently, from the boob-a-licious flyer to the all-female DJ line-up. Headliners Kelly Marie and cQuence are backed by six locals, including Jen Z, Karizma and Shea Marie. Pink is a great opportunity to dig on a variety of techno, house, and drum and bass — and to toss some bills to a good cause. Throw down and shake ‘em, girls: Bouncing, beats and boobies are made for each other.

• article link
• UnitOvOne – MySpace

Rock the Vote
The 2007 RFT Music Awards winners are here!
Published: June 13, 2007

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2007 RFT Music Showcase
Week of May 31, 2007
By Roy Kasten , Paul Friswold , Dean C. Minderman , Andrew Miller , Alison Sieloff , Christian Schaeffer , Brooke Foster , Annie Zaleski , and Jaime Lees
Published: May 30, 2007

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Tired of the same old bars? Try this handy-dandy guide to some new (and not-so-new) nightlife hotspots.
By Annie Zaleski and Jaime Lees
Published: March 21, 2007

Live in St. Louis long enough, and your going-out ritual becomes predictable. For some it’s heading to South Grand for last call (and then some) on weeknights. For others it’s braving a lack of parking to hit the Landing or Soulard on weekends. Still others prefer to guzzle cheap pitchers of beer at Blueberry Hill, or make the scene in the Gayborhood on Manchester.

Whatever the place, we realize that it’s far too easy to fall into a social rut. So in the spirit of the start of spring and impending warmer weather, we’d like to recommend some lesser-known places to check out, places that might not always be on your social calendar. Consider this piece a guide to some newer hotspots in town — and a reminder about some long-standing nights that still deserve your patronage. (click to continue)

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