Schools That Rock

Venues: While exploring the Loop, catch a show at Blueberry Hill, which consumes an entire city block and contains two venues: the Elvis Room, where hilarious karaoke action occurs four nights a week, and the Duck Room, which on Fridays hosts a grand hip-hop party called the Science. Area DJs, breakers and freestylers throw down and the whole shebang is broadcast live on community station KDHX. Frederick's Music Lounge is an integral part of the city's alt-country scene. The South City venue's specialty drink is a mix of whiskey and chicken broth called Cock Soup. Cicero's, meanwhile, used to be an alt-country standby; nowadays, the club sticks mostly to booking jam bands. Impervious to change, however, is punk venue the Creepy Crawl. It books up to ten bands a night for a crowd anxious to mosh to tunes by the likes of Motion City Soundtrack. For those anxious to sit down, there's the Pageant, a 1,500-capacity, balconied theater that welcomes acts like Elvis Costello.

Record Stores: Unless you insist on shopping at Euclid Records in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves, you'll likely bulk up your CD collection at Vintage Vinyl. The name is misleading: It's mainly a CD store, but it's one of the country's best, employing the kind of obsessive geeks equally well-versed in Keith Richards and Kool Keith.

(Posted July 28, 2005)

News Main