events

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past

Sexy Issue Release

Where: Snowflake, 3156 Cherokee Street
When: Saturday, April 26, 2008
Time: 4:00-7:00pm
Admission: Free
What's classier than Playboy and Maxim and much easier to hide under your mattress or in your sock drawer? SEXY--52nd City Magazine's ninth issue. Join us at the Snowflake on Saturday, April 26 from 4 to 7 p.m. for some delightfully cheeky food, drink, music, and entertainment. This issue includes a free CD from the SOUND issue--and a party at Snowflake never disappoints.

Foreign Exchange Issue Release

Where: Hartford Coffee Company, 3974 Hartford
When: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Time: 5:00-6:00pm
Admission: Free

The fine folks of FREE CANDY are allowing us to showcase our latest issue, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, at their next event on Sunday, January 20, 2008. We will have a mag-buying coffee happy hour from 5-6 p.m., just in time for you to peruse your copy over a beverage and get a good seat for Free Candy. The magazine is a mere $8, and if you've not it in the past, you are in for a great treat, with writing and photography from some of our town's most talented folks.

This month's FREE CANDY will feature:

  • a return of everyone's favorite co-hostess with the mostest, JULIA SMILLIE is back to ride herd
  • one of our all-time favorite (and funniest) guests, DEBBIE BALDWIN (of, yes, the Ladue News) will appear
  • another delightful MYSTERY GUEST
  • updates on the world of advanced TOILET TECHNOLOGY
  • find out the horrifying things Amanda's been learning from MOTHERING MAGAZINE
  • Two Words: TOWN TALK

And there's a prize! In keeping with the Foreign Exchange flava, we will award a free copy of the latest issue to the Free Candy audience member who brings currency or a musical instrument from the furthest geographic point from St. Louis to our show. Bust out your lempira or your digeridoo, and a free magazine could be yours.

4th Annual Kick Ass Awards

Where: Duff's, 392 N Euclid Ave, St Louis, MO 63108  (314) 361-0522
When: Monday, November 26, 2007
Time: 6:30-9:00pm
Admission: Free
Press Release (PDF)

The  fourth annual Kick Ass Awards are set. The event will be hosted for the first time at Duff's, the venerable West End restaurant and a venue that's long hosted literary and artistic events on Monday nights, the spot's usual evening of closure.  Admission is free and The Dock Ellis Band will perform. 2007 winners include:

  • Hamiet Bluiett: renowned baritone saxophonist and co-founder of the Black Artist Group
  • Center for Women in Transition: providing mentoring and support services to non-violent female offenders and their children
  • Bill Christman: artist and owner of Joe’s Café
  • The Dock Ellis Band: purveyors of classic country music
  • Marti Frumhoff (posthumous): real estate agent, urban activist, and founder of the St. Louis Rehabber’s Club
  • Great Rivers Environmental Law Center: providing public interest legal services to individuals and organizations working to protect and preserve Missouri's environment
  • Bernie Hayes: author, professor, radio vet and all-around great guy
  • Local Harvest Grocery: South City's hip new spot to shop and nosh
  • Lyndsey Scott: artist and community activist
  • Dana Smith: artist
  • Jay Swoboda: project manager of EcoUrban Homes, committed to health and sustainable construction
  • Josh Weinstein: jazz advocate and host of KDHX's "All Soul, No Borders"past
Stupid Release Party

Where: AMP, 4200 Manchester
When: Sunday, October 28, 2007 5PM
Admission: Free / Magazines $8

That's right...the theme for the next issue of 52nd City Magazine is STUPID and we'll be celebrating at a stupid fun release party at AMP on Sunday, October 28th. Festivities start at 5pm so come on down and get plain silly with us.

  • Drink & Appetizer Specials
  • Prize for stupidest costume/outfit
  • Great new cover art by Firecracker Press!
  • Writing by Michael Allen, Aaron Belz, Chris King, Jim Klenn, K. Curtis Lyle, Piedmont Chris Johnson, April Seager and Mike Steinberg.
  • Topics like Gary Coleman, wigs, washing machines, mustard, feet and MORE!
  • Web issue goes live on Sunday with even more writers and artwork.
Chippewa Chapel BBQ Benefit

Where: Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp, 314-773-3363
When: Thursday, August 2, 8-10 p.m.
No cover, BBQ for sale, 21-up after 10 p.m.

The hosts of the Chippewa Chapel and Off Broadway have generously offered to host a BBQ benefit for 52nd City. Bring a few dollars for BBQ and your guitar: enjoy a bite, then sign up for the Chippewa Chapel's open mic, the most-popular open mic and jam in South City. The open mic ordinarily kicks off at 9 p.m., but we'll have music on the gorgeous Off Broadway stage beginning at 8 p.m. this evening. Some 52nd City giveaways will be peppered through the evening.

SPORTY  Issue Release Party

Date: Saturday, July 28th
Time: 3PM - 6PM
Location: Riley's Pub, 3458 Arsenal Street, St. Louis, MO 63118 PH: (314) 664-7474
Admission Free / Magazines $8
Join us in the backyard of Riley's for yard games and fine refreshments from one of the friendliest establishments in town.

SOUND  Issue Release Party

Date: Saturday, April 14th
Time: 4PM - 7PM
Location: The Royale, 3132 S Kingshighway Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63139 PH (314) 772-3600.
Admission Free / CDs and magazines $8

 

Come on out and get your copy of the latest issue of 52nd City--a SOUND CD featuring the following:

  • JOSH WEINSTEIN | Ornette On Sound
  • K. CURTIS LYLE with DAVE STONE | Nut Check 
  •  TOM WEBER | Feeding Yogi
  • THE PHIL SESSIONS: Guerilla recordings in St. Louis public spaces featuring DAVE STONE, FRED FRICTION,  JEREMY BRANTLINGER, SUNYATTA MARSHALL , BRETT UNDERWOOD,  JEREMY KANNAPELL ,  JASON HUTTO, DERRICK MOSLEY, ERIC HALL
  • LEARN, ARTIST | The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
  • CLOISTER | Orange Juice
  • JULIE DILL | From Calypso
  • COLD WAR | A Simple Song
  • ROBERT GOETZ | Sid
  • MAD ART RADIO HOUR | Selection from "I Love Sylvia"
  • HEIDI DEAN | Single Again
  •  JAMES WEBER, JR. | Camping Omens
  • MC401(k) | Girls Go To Mars
  • AARON BELZ | Andy's Mom's Velveeta Log-shaped Tupperware Container
  • THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Warm Goodbye 

  • Date: Sunday, April 1, 2007
  • Time: 5PM - 8PM
  • Location: Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th Street St. Louis, MO  63118 PH 314-771-8230
  • $5 cover at the door / $10 includes a magazine /$40 includes one year subscription and free admission to future events.

YOU help raise the funds for the next issue of 52nd City magazine, the honkiest, tonkiest, hippest arts and  literature magazine in town. Our next issue is SOUND, a CD to be released April 14, 2007.
THE DOCK ELLIS BAND will raise the fun (and quite possibly the roof)! Only a fool would pass up this good time!

STUFF Issue Release Party

Show us your STUFF at the 52nd City STUFF RELEASE PARTY on Saturday, January 13, 2007 at SNOWFLAKE (3156 Cherokee).

SHOW & TELL STUFF
Bring your favorite stuff or interesting collection and share a story...sort of an open mic night show and tell for your marbles, matchbooks, and memorabilia.
MYSTERY SACKS OF STUFF
Free mystery sacks of stuff to all who attend! While they last!
MAGAZINE STUFF
Get the latest edition of 52nd City magazine, which is entirely devoted to STUFF--writing and artwork by local talent exploring the mysteries of why we just can't seem to let go of our material things. Only $8 and something worthy of piling up around the house!

 

{see photos from the STUFF party}

WHEN: Saturday, January 13, 2007
TIME: 2pm - 5pm
WHERE: Snowflake, 3156 Cherokee Street, Saint Louis, MO 63118

Independent Art Market

Pick up a copy of 52nd City at the Independent Art Market...the perfect stocking stuffer for all your smart friends!  Holiday packs with all three issues from 2006 can be yours for just $15.

52nd City Variety Show at Independent Art Market

And if that weren't enough, after our rousing success at Art Outside, the 52nd City Variety Show makes it back onto the stage and into your hearts on Friday, December 8th at the Independent Art Market. From 8:00-10:00 p.m. enjoy amateur acts ranging from Shakespearean finger puppet theatre, to beat boxing, to improv. If you are interested in performing, we'll entertain any idea in order to entertain our fans. Please contact thomascrone@yahoo.com if you would like to take part in this experimental fun.  So come on out and join the fun, and get quality holiday gifts from some of St. Louis' best.

Rock-n-Roll Craft Show

You can get copies of 52nd City Magazine at the third Rock-n-Roll Craft Show, November 25-26 at Mad Art Gallery. We will have specially priced holiday packs available. Get all three issues from 2006 for just $15 at this rockin' fun event.

Third Annual Kick Ass Awards

The Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester in “The Grove”
Thursday, November 9, 2006; 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
(Event is immediately followed by the Chippewa Chapel Traveling Guitar Circle & Medicine Show)
Sponsored by 52ndCity.com and The Atomic Cowboy
Admission is free (but we request all the change you can donate at the door – really!)
Info: thomas @ 52ndcity.com; 314-776-6929

The third annual Kick Ass Awards will be offered to 13 St. Louisans, collaborators and organizations, dedicated to quietly improving the civic life of this City and region. The event will celebrate the works of the 12 nominees listed below – along with a special, mystery award going out to conclude the night.

The Kick Ass Awards were begun in Austin, TX, in January 2004, by noted journalist, author and educator Spike Gillespie. An erstwhile St. Louisan, Spike gave out awards to deserving local folks who didn’t always get a public nod of appreciation for the work they were doing around her community. A fourth ceremony will be held at Austin’s amazing bookstore, Book People, this coming January, but not before St. Louis’ third annual event, now at the Atomic Cowboy after two great years at the late Gallery Urbis Orbis.

Over the past year, the event’s organizers have formed a website, quarterly magazine and specialty publishing company, 52nd City Media, currently represented online at 52ndCity.com. The publishers of the site and a small committee of volunteers selected the nominees for 2006.

Admission to the event is free, but… we’d love donations in the form of change. Literally, we possess a “Trash Can Full of Change,” which appears at various civic and cultural events around town. We’d ask that those attending the event check their change at the door. Otherwise, the event is FREE for all.

Note, too, that the event will be immediately followed by the Chippewa Chapel Traveling Guitar Circle & Medicine Show; you can find information on this weekly, eclectic, nomadic open mic night at: www.chippewachapel.com.

Here are the 13 winners for the Kick Ass Awards for 2006:

  • Advocates of youth cycling and computer education, BIKEWORKS
  • The venerable urban educational institute, CROSSROADS SCHOOL
  • KAREN DUFFY, namesake of Duff’s and a longtime champion of the CWE and River Styx
  • SCOTT EMANUEL of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri
  • Singer, songwriter and recording artist STEVE EWING
  • World class poet and member of the Hoobellatoo collective K. CURTIS LYLE
  • The ever-evolving, ever-growing NON-PROPHET THEATRE COMPANY
  • STUDIO STL, a local organization dedicated to children’s literacy
  • Cherokee’s metal/punk/hard rock emporium TENSION HEAD
  • Writer, bartender, KDHX late night host and more… the one-and-only BRETT UNDERWOOD
  • The East Loop’s movers and shakers, the salon V-VEGAZ STYLE
  • DOUG WHYTE of KDHX-TV, a leading proponent of documentary and “challenge” films
  • Plus a special MYSTERY winner!

Winners in 2005: Dylan Hassinger, Teresa Mithen, the Webster University Film Series, Peter Venezia, Pat Brannon, the Publishing Group, Ivy Cooper, John Burse, Michael R. Allen & Claire Nowak-Boyd, Margie Newman & Alan Brunettin and Cynthia Daly.

Winnters in 2004: Luigi Larhman, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, Maid Rite, Andrea Dunn, Mary Sue Rosenthal, Aaron Belz, Brandyn Jones, Andrea Avery, Kraig Schnitzmeier, Terrell Carter, MoKaBe’s and the Alternative Music Pub.

52nd City has been supported by: the Hartford Community Café, The Royale, Firecracker Press, the Independent Art Market, The Time, Snowflake, Mad Art Gallery and Fred Hessel of Edward L. Bakewell Realtors.

Drink Issue Release Party

Thursday, October 26: 52nd City's third issue, "Drink," will be released with a casual affair at Riley Irish Pub, 3458 Arsenal (314-664-7474), 7-9 p.m; come for the new mags, as well as pizza and drink specials at this cozy tavern in Tower Grove East. In addition to the print edition, for sale at the event, the same day will debut our latest web issue at: www.52ndcity.com. Contributors to the print and web editions include: Aaron Belz, Chris King, Tom Weber, Jennifer Gaby, Nick Findley, Bill Chott, James Weber Jr., Adam Scott Williams, Caroline Huth and Julia Smillie, among many others.

 
52nd City Variety Show

On Saturday, September 9, 7:00-9:00 p.m., 52nd City will be sponsoring the 52nd City Variety Show at Art Outside, the weekend-long art fair held at the Schafly Bottleworks. We would like to extend an invitation to magazine subscribers, contributors, advertisers and supporters: if you, or someone you know, would like to put on an act during our two-hour slot, please let me know at your earliest convenience.

We would would like to personally invite those with particular talents to express themselves in this family-friendly, yet artistic, environment. Can you spin a dog, on a plate, on a stick? Can you pop and/or lock? Perhaps that first novel needs to be dusted off for a chapter-one reading? If so, please let us know. Any/all type of spoken word, musical and eclectic acts will be entertained and I believe there's video capability, as well; collaborations and solo bits, all work for us. Your involvement, or that of friends, would be most welcome, lest Thomas be forced to stand up there and read Ernest Kirscthen's "Catfish and Crystal" for 120-minutes; don't make him!

Pass along to potentially interested, sane parties, as you please. And contact us, if interested.

Trivia Night / FAITH Issue Release

Though Bastille Day is traditionally associated more with the loss of one's head (at least if you are a monarch) rather than the use of one's head, we at 52nd City have decided to be contrary. We're throwing a Bastille Day trivia night/2nd issue release party at Mad Art Gallery (2727 12th St.) on Friday, July 14. To clarify, showing up for trivia doesn't mean you are obliged to buy a magazine - and if you'd like to come down and see the new issue right off the presses, there's no obligation to play trivia.

  • DATE: Friday, July 14, 2006
  • TIME:  Doors 6:30pm / Trivia 7:00pm
  • PRICE: $100 for a table of 10. (Sorry, but no partial payments accepted. Your table must pay in full at the door. Cash/checks only.)
  • PLACE: Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th Street, St. Louis, MO 63118
  • RESERVATIONS:  Thomas@52ndcity.com or 314-776-6929
  • DETAILS:  You can bring your own snacks. Cash Bar. (No outside liquor allowed.)

All proceeds, as always, go to the production of our little magazine. We may not have fireworks, champagne and the Tour de France like they do in Paris, but it should be a fun time. And if you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for our second issue (themed "Faith") this will be the first place to get your hands on it.

This issue features the work of Patrick Landewe, Andrea Noble, Curtis Lyle, Randall Roberts, Eric Erfan Vickers, James Weber, Franklin Jennings, Aaron Belz, Lindsey Durway, Kerry Zimmerman, Jane Linders, Carmelita Nuñez, Andrea Day…and MORE…and even MORE on our website coming July 14th. Oh…and we have a new printer so new pricing!

Hope to see you there!

Book Sale

DATE: Saturday, April 15, 2006
TIME: 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
PLACE: The Royale
ADDRESS: 3132 S. Kingshighway, Saint Louis, Missouri
DETAILS: Proceeds to help with print/production of our magazine. Says Thomas, "The books we've collected so far are a pretty good lot, with plenty of non-fiction and civically-oriented texts, along with poetry, coffee table-worthy art books and even some comic stylings from Woody Allen. Subterranean Books in the Loop has even offered some titles."

Magazine Launch Party

DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 2006
TIME: 7-9pm
PLACE: Atomic Cowboy
ADDRESS:  4140 Manchester, Saint Louis, Missouri, 314-775-0775
DETAILS: The print issue party--join us for the festivities. Purchase the debut print edition.


Time Saver Trivia

DATE: Thursday, February 23, 2006
TIME: Doors 6:30PM / Games 7:00PM
PLACE: Hartford Coffee Company, 3974 Hartford, 314-771-JAVA
COST: $20 per table of four. With only 15 tables of four available, please register early.
DETAILS: If you’ve played marathon, night-long trivia contests, don’t fear. This one’s a quick-moving, pop-culturally-themed evening of trivia, with four-person teams. Game’s beginning at 7:00 and we’ll roll through 50 quick questions, which a heavy emphasis on that pop-cultural clutter in your head. Teams need to pay the total of $20 before the game’s start. No individual payouts of! $5 per player, please! Registrants/team captains are responsible for entry fee.
FOOD/DRINK: Though alcohol is not sold at Hartford Coffee Company, you may bring your own. Because we’re not paying for space usage, please patronize the HCC counter for all your other drink and food needs. Can’t stress it enough: BYO beer, wine and spirits, but no outside food and liquid refreshments.
PRIZES: Winners receiver their cash back, plus absolutely fabulous, yet-not-necessarily-expensive, STL-related gifts. Full rules will be provided at the door, which opens at 6:30PM

52nd City Website Launch Party

DATE: December 30, 2006
TIME: 7PM - 9PM
PLACE: Gallery Urbis Orbis | 419 N. 10th Street | St. Louis, MO 63101
DETIALS: 52nd City Media celebrates its preview online issue at Gallery Urbis with a launch party on Friday, December 30th from 7-9pm. Check out new fiction, poetry, essays, and photography on the 52nd City website from contributors Andrea Avery, Aaron Belz, Thomas Crone, Thom Fletcher, Chris King, Michaela McGinn, Thomas R. Raber, Tony Robinson, Stefene Russell, Julia Smillie, Mike Steinberg, Mary Kaye Tonnies, and Brett Underwood.

Also on tap...Eric Hall (Grandpa's Ghost, Massamalgam) and Jason Hutto (Phonocaptors, Sexicolor) present live improvisation using multiple instruments and electronics to build textural soundscapes to accompany the video works of Van McElwee. Stefene Russell reads poetry to the jazz improv of Dave Stone. $5 donation at the door. Plenty of food, drinks, and merriment.  

2nd Annual Kick Ass Awards

DATE: Friday, November 11 @ 7 p.m.
TIME: 7PM
PLACE: Gallery Urbis Orbis | 419 N. 10th Street | St. Louis, MO 63101
DETAILS: Sponsored by 52ndCity.com and Gallery Urbis Orbis, TThe second annual Kick Ass Awards will be offered to 13 St. Louisans, collaborators and organizations, dedicated to quietly improving the civic life of this City and region. The event will celebrate the works of the 12 nominees profiled on our blog.