Most Popular
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Red Alert: Everything they really don't want you to know about those pesky traffic-light cameras
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Seeing Red: Partners battle over a Wash. Ave. eatery's ownership
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Ludo is fired up and ready to play on the national stage
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Curious Gorge: Ian tests the animal magnetism of Three Monkeys
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Grand Old Patty: Ian goes on a beefy binge at Burger Bar and Sub Zero New American Burger Restaurant
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Seeing Red: Partners battle over a Wash. Ave. eatery's ownership (15)
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Red Alert: Everything they really don't want you to know about those pesky traffic-light cameras (10)
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Is a Wash. U. dean destroying alumni records and making unjust department cuts? (3)
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Can Taqueria los Tarascos' tacos make you feel homesick for a place you've never lived? Si! (2)
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Fist City: Rockwell Knuckles aims to punch through St. Louis hip-hop's glass ceiling (2)
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The 75s make an extra-fancy splash with its debut record
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Producer nonpareil Pharrell Williams is happy to be just one of the band again
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Texas Tornado: St. Louis musicians invade SXSW
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LA punks X celebrate turning 31 in style
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Rooney/Jonas Brothers
7:30 p.m. Monday, February 25. Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard.
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St. Patrick's Day the Unreal Way
06:05PM 03/17/08 -
Iron and Wine at the Pageant, Friday, June 13
01:00AM 03/19/08 -
Dooley's Last Day
01:12PM 03/18/08 -
This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
06:08PM 11/09/07
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Recent Articles By Christian Schaeffer
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Matt Pond PA
9 p.m. Thursday, March 13. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, 6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City.
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Speakeasy Does It
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One Lone Car
North, South, East & the Rest
(Uranus) -
Wherefore Art Thou, Dromio?
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Kentucky Knife Fight
Live at Stagger Inn, December 14, 2006
(self-released)
National Features
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Phoenix New Times
Canine Crusaders
That drug-sniffing dog up ahead? He may not be your best friend.
By Ray Stern -
Broward-Palm Beach New Times
The Muscle Men
Thanks to a string of Florida "anti-aging clinics," baseball's steroid scandal isn't limited to superstars.
By Michael J. Mooney -
Miami New Times
Picked On
Farm workers earn nada in America's green-bean capital.
By Janine Zeitlin -
Village Voice
"Why I'm No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal"
An election-season essay from one of America's greatest playwrights.
By David Mamet
With Hysterical Stars, Head of Femur finally has the budget to make the record that fits the scope and imagination hinted at on its debut album, 2003's Ringodom or Proctor. The band's sound has always been intricate, with brass sections hiding in every corner and tempo changes popping up throughout. Occasionally, though, the weight of ambition crushes the limitations of the songs; the plaintive "Oh You're Blue" doesn't warrant the opulent string flourishes, and it often feels that all twenty-something guest musicians are vying for the same microphone in the studio.
The kitchen-sink treatment works best on Head of Femur's manic, vaguely psychedelic songs, like "Easy Streets." While the well-orchestrated zaniness is still well intact, Hysterical Stars has a strong streak of melancholy, one that fits nicely with Matt Focht's earnest, fluctuating tenor. "Song for Richard Manuel" is a touching paean to the late The Band singer, and the saxophone soloist beautifully channels Garth Hudson's sweet, elastic tone. It's a fitting tribute to one band of genre-bending misfits from another.
