Chess vs. Sports

I have a six year old at Kennard Classical Junior Academy. I recently discovered that the school has a chess club. I thought about it for a moment. Would chess team be a good thing for him? Does he have the patience? Is it better than spending time/effort on Catholic sports little leagues (baseball and soccer)?

My son recently learned how to play chess from his older cousin. He is pretty into it at this point. I'm not really into chess, but maybe I need to start. The other day I was kind of day dreaming while we were playing and he beat me. In one fell swoop he came in with a bishop and took my king in a check mate situation. It was a wake up call on 2 fronts. One, I guess I need to take him more seriously. Two, I need to brush up my chess skills and nurture his progression if he's really into it.

Healthy Adult Crush

The Breeders are playing tomorrow night at Pops in Sauget, Illinois. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the Breeders are playing tomorrow at Pops.....Ahhhhh.

All right that's enough. The Breeders are the only female led band that I can think of that rock hard with true originality. Can you challenge me on this? I am looking to be proven wrong. By rock, I mean in a Ramones, White Stripes, Rolling Stones, Husker Du way.

Janet Weiss, Kim Gordon, Kim and Kelley Deal....these are the best women in rock EVER. I am close to adding Carla Buzolich too. I'm just not there yet. Am I missing anyone?

Anyhow, I will be there tomorrow to see the Breeders for the first time in my life. I've also never been to Pop's.

Here's one of my favorite Kim Deal moments, covering Guided by Voices. Damn. Damn. That's kim in the red sweater. Yeah, that's kelly in the white sweater. Cooler than a well digger's ass. They define female rock cool like Keith Richards in 1968 defined male rock cool.

Local Bands

A much trusted old friend of mine casually played an album from a local band, Miles of Wire. I loved it. It was solid from start to finish. The singer had Jeff Tweedy inflections and intonations and they kind of had a Wiskeytown vibe, yet were very original. I tried to find this album, but it is not for sale on their website. The copy my friend played was burned and had no title. Anybody know anything about these guys? I'm tempted to go and see them.

What are the best St. Louis based bands/musicians of the last 10 years?

I'm certainly no expert, but here's some local shit that has made an impression with me over the years:

Son Volt
Chuck Berry and his daughter who plays a wicked harp.
Henry Townsend
Bennie Smith
Highway Matrons
Gentlemen Callers
Nadine

What am I missing?

Shop the City

Have you seen those stickers around town that say "Shop the City"?

I agree with the sentiment. I go out of my way not to spend money in the burbs.

I recently attempted to simplify my life by dropping the non-local bank and cell phone company I've done business with for years.

The last straw with the bank was that they built a brand new headquarters in a flood plain in Chesterfield. I realize money is not stored in banks, but on principal, I cannot trust my money with an institution that settles down in a high risk flood plain. That just seems counter intuitive to me.

Secondly, ATT seems to be a big employer in STL. I went with them, dropping Verizon who does not employ as many in the city.

Speaking of city related stickers, where would one pick up one of those oval shaped CITY stickers I see about town?

Peterman Reality Tour-STL Style

Yeah I like Seinfeld. I like Kramer. I know there is a real guy in NYC that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David crafted the Kramer character after. The "real Kramer" does bus tours of the legendary Seinfeld sites in NYC.

I work in the burbs. Unfortunately. Most (~90%) of the people I work with live in the sub and exurbs. Most don't know STL at all. They know the city mainly as legend. An interesting yet scary place best left alone.

They just don't get it. They have no idea what St. Louis is like. Yet, they usually claim her namesake as home.

Is there a market to give reality tours of the STL I know and love? Would suburbanites be willing to pay money to see the real STL? Many of these people I work with are not from the metropolitan area. They see pictures I have of STL in my office and they'll ask "is that NYC?". Or, "wow, that beautiful where's that." I reply, that is STL, a city 25 miles from here. And you're right, it's beautiful.

Most county suburbanites have no clue what STL is about. Maybe we should reach out to them and spoon feed em and drive them around and show them what they are missing. Maybe we should show them the neighborhoods and local establishments that the vast majority of people don't know about.....Or, maybe they don't deserve to know. ...After all, Red Robin is acceptable cuisine to some of these folks.