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Salon Soha

We were on our way from Murdoch Perk to PrinHi to watch A&K's DVRed Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, when we noticed a huge ruckus on the left side of Macklind Avenue. Gobs of people were hanging out on the sidewalk, drinking wine and celebrating around a sweet window graphic for "Salon Soha." One of the gals waved us over and tried to talk us into stopping, but we were already late, having stopped at the Macklind Deli to look for Unibroue beer products (denied, but Molson's did fine in a pinch) so we had to scurry on. Laine didn't whip out her camera and take a picture, sorry, but it looked like a cool party. Kelly, the owner of Salon Soha, is doing an EXCELLENT job getting her new business off the ground. We're default clients, since our stylist, Teresa Saputo, gave up her salon last week to be one of Kelly's girls, instead of the other way around. I'm excited, because I can walk down for a haircut. The new place is really only a couple of blocks closer now, but since it's on our side of Hampton, it might as well be in our front yard.

You've probably walked past this building tons of times. It's a corner house with a storefront basement at street level, with a big round window out front. It was a beauty parlor for many years, and then was empty and dusty for a long time, too. As usual, I'm so happy to see our neighborhood hold onto its businesses. Thanks Kelly and Teresa! Welcome to SoHa!

Bench Press Burlesque

We saw these kick ass chicks at the final Playground of the Ridiculous at the Contemporary two weekends ago. Laine has a ton of pictures on her flickr page. Check 'em out. The ladies were delightfully raunchy and unabashedly political as they ripped into the status quo one goofy, yet athletic skit at a time. They seem to be nursing a beef with Myspace, as it strangles conventional human interaction, but their act is *screaming* for a website.

Chihuahua's

I don't normally bother with restaurants outside city limits, but the fact remains that I do work out in the county, as ashamed as I am to admit it. Laine was still on vacation for a week when we came back from our week in the Smokies, so she met me for lunch one day, out in the burbs. This Mexican restaurant, Chihuahua's, is out near Westport, at Dorset and McKelvey. They had feeding crabby business people down to a science. The food was on par with every other Mexican restaurant in the area, but the speed was fascinating. It was the first time I'd gotten back from lunch on time, possibly ever.

This whole post was an excuse to put up the picture of the Bimbo Bear. I made Laine take that picture, and it still cracks me up.

It's Friday Night, and the Mood is Right

KDHX's Rob Levy (Juxtaposition, 8:00, Wednesday nights, of course) will be spinning an extra set this weekend, apart from his usual Saturday nights at The Royale. We're meeting up with hopeful future SoHa residents Justin and Lisa in Benton Park this evening, at The Stable Eatzzeria at 1821 Cherokee to drink Jamison and listen to Mr. Levy play his funky music. Before that, from 6 to 10 pm, Firecracker Press is celebrating the release of Lumberyard #2 at their digs at 2838 Cherokee. Live DJ there, too, as well as multi-media projections of poetry and imagery. Should be weird and fun, as most Firecracker events tend to be.

BUT FIRST... We're going to the Office Depot on Christy and filling up our paper bag full of 15% off school supplies. Hells yes. I'm debating with myself about changing the elementary school we usually tell OD to give to with whatever percentage of our purchase they offer to local kids and teachers. For years, we've been telling them "Blow MIddle School" 'cause we figure Blow needs the money, and it's just fun to say. Anyone know of a school that needs the $$ more? We spend A LOT of money at Office Depot.

Missouri Loves Misery, Monday, August 11th

Left Bank Books presents another stop on the Misery Loves Company Tour: Andrea Askowitz is schlepping her memoir, My Miserable Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy to St. Louis. She's stopping in at Novak's Bar and Grill (in The Grove) to read excerpts. She's invited local acts Kyle Kratky and Julie Dill (yes, *this* Julie Dill) to be The Pips to her Gladys Knight. Event starts at 7:00, be there. Rumor has it that Novak's recently healthified their menu, so grab some food and be entertained for awhile. The children are our future!!

neighborhood jinxes

I'm following a fiesty e-mail chain in response to a young gal moving from rurual Missouri sticks to the big bad city. She initially posted to find out if anyone could recommend apartments for rent near them, so she could save gas when she came into the city to apartment shop.

A lot (any is too many) of people chose to direct her to Richmond Heights or Maplewood (hello?) rather than live in the city, because they were worried for her safety. This sparked a rousing debate about crime rates and city pride that's continued for a couple of days now.

This listserv is attached to what used to be St. Louis Freecycle, now ReUse it St. Louis (more on those shenanigans at another time) so a lot of the participants are, how to put this delicately, pancake afficianados. They're the same people who gripe about loud music and "riff raff" on the SoHa neighborhood listserv. I cannot resist an aside here, The 7-11 at the corner of Brannon and Chippewa getting a license to sell alcohol does *not* threaten your well being in any way whatsoever. "Riff raff" will find its way to our neighborhood without the help of a convenience store's liquor selection. I'm sure if Joe Boxcar really wanted to, he could set up his cardboard chair out on the 7-11's corner right now with the 40 of Olde English he picked up at the 7-11 at Macklind and Chippewa, which, hello, is also in our neighborhood.

ANYWAY. This was said in a wise response to the gloomsprinklers' pessimism: Crime happens anywhere and everywhere it's allowed to flourish. Living in the city is no more dangerous than living anywhere else, as long as you're aware of your surroundings and intelligent about your habits. We keep our eyes open and our ears open and we look out for each other even more than subdivisions in the counties. Just yesterday, someone knocked on our front door, and since I never got around to putting up the sign that reads, "We don't answer the door unless you call first," (without the phone number published), I almost answered it, but then thought better of it. They didn't stick around and I went out to see if they left a political flyer or weird neo-nazi newsletter (haven't gotten one of those in a long time, ha) and there between the door and storm door was a gigantor cardboard box from Amazon with my new laptop case in it. One of our neighbors had been outside watering their lawn or something when UPS came, and they signed for the package for us and dropped it off once they knew we were home. I felt like a jerk for not answering the door after that, but I got over it.

This city is full of great people who want nothing more than to smile at you over a fence and nod at you at the grocery store. We don't meddle in each other's business, but we keep an eye out for trouble and we watch each other's backs. As the economy continues to crap out, I imagine people will start to get desparate, but the likelihood of that outcome will be lessened significantly if we try to do our part to take care of each other. If a black kid hanging with her friends on your street keeps getting the evil eye from the old folks in the neighborhood, why shouldn't she just go ahead and swipe your purse if you think she's capable, guilty even, of far worse.

I *love* seeing kids goofing off in our neighborhoods, whatever color, age, or ethnicity. It tells me their parents feel safe enough to leave them out there. So welcome to the city, Amanda. Whatever neighborhood you choose to settle in will be lucky to have you. We need all the pioneering idealists we can get.