61revised.com

Primary season can seem a little lonely for those of us who are political junkies, in part because outside of DC, Iowa, and New Hampshire few other folks share our passion or needless understanding of the 15% rule in a caucus.  Indeed most years our breed are glued to our respective internet and television screens awaiting election returns, basking in the solitary glow of the monitor.  But you need not spend another election night alone, since The Royale will be host to the Young Democrats caucus party in which they’ll have their own drunken mock vote.

Not that you need to know much about the caucus process or be a card carrying Democrat (did any party ever hand out cards?).  I’d imagine even some Republicans are welcome to organize their own caucus mock-up tomorrow night starting around 8pm in this Tower Grove South hang-out frequented by the liberal elite of St. Louis.  As for us political junkies, unless you carry a certain fondness for C-SPAN (who usually put camera crews in the middle of sample caucus returns), you’re going to want to check out this shindig on Wednesday, January 3rd.  Quite frankly the whole idea of a caucus isn’t all that different from an actual party, especially in the case of the Democrats system. 

Just like a party people arrive at the event and quickly organize themselves into socially aligned clusters, and should some groups seem insufficiently popular (say less than 15% of the *ahem* party), they get a chance to make the rounds at the event and try out a second choice of groups.  You can come for the party, and stick around for the perks Iowans can’t enjoy - like non-judgmental stares and booze onsite.  But mostly because it’s a party, and we’re all invited; that’s democracy if I ever heard of it.

For all those looking for a last minute Wednesday night activity, Legacy Books and Café in the Loop is hosting a (presumably free) showing of No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now! Tonight at 7pm. After the screening, a panel (including Webster University’s resident socialist political science professor Dan Hellinger) discussion will follow.

However, for those not interested in an evening of modern socialist theory, swing by meetup.com to find out what else might be happening in the city tonight.

Sure everyone is still talking about Girl Talk’s show last weekend, and some video has even been posted on YouTube, but Washington University wasn’t the only internet addled headline maker last weekend.  Another video fell under the shadow of those headlines, from another university around Saint Louis - my alma matter Webster.  You can see for yourself in the video above, a promotional clip celebrating the glorious return of GTV (G as in Gorlok, the Napoleon Dynamite-esqe lion/griffin/other mascot of the university).

Now last time I checked, GTV was still broadcast primarily as a CCTV (or Closed Circuit Television network) to those who live on Webster’s campus, with occasional stints over public access cable in local markets (ie Webster Groves).  But I’m willing to bet this teaser clip is only the beginning of these Broadcast students’ work going Broadband.  After all this blog was started by two Webster students interested in using a new medium, and we see the evidence of broadcast spilling onto the internet every day.  And by every day I mean every day of the television writers strike.  Either way, we’re pretty sure some pirated (ie student produced) content is going to slip onto the web, so I’m looking forward to sharing clips with you pretty soon

PS - Would it kill someone to update this website?  It’s just a little outdated, and we like to give credit where it’s due when we link it.

As a college graduate, I have a job. I work at PubDef.

If you read the site, you’ll have noticed a mini-feud with KSDK. I don’t want to mix business and pleasure by posting shop talk here, but I think this opens the door to a pretty interesting topic. Click the link in this paragraph to read more.

Just about every news source concerned with St. Louis has written about the Zombie Squad at some point (hell, I’ve already written one), but did you hear when that story went national?  And by national I mean of the public radio variety, since KWMU’s own Adam Allington had his Zombie Squad story picked up by the Weekend America program.  NPR has picked up many stories from St. Louis in the past, but this story with its emphasis on community involvement really does justice to the lives of the undead by focusing on their highly successful blood drives.  You can hear for yourself and save a copy as your own survival guide.

Instead of rolling in your grave with the undead, why not roll up a sleeve for the next Zombie Squad Blood Drive?  We know beer and brains sound much more savory on a Saturday afternoon, which is why I’m almost sure the donation is scheduled on September 29th from 11am-4pm as a means to deter vampire attacks.  Your undead corpse will be lying on a cot in no time, especially considering the increase of Red Cross units to accept donors at the St. Louis Police Association building on Hampton where the drive is taking place.

And if you’re interested in supporting the community of the recently deceased a bit more immediately, why not check out the Night of the Fashionably Dead shows at GroveFest 2.  This adult undead show (21+) will feature zombie fashion and lingerie for 3 shows tonight, and 2 shows tomorrow (Sunday September 16th) in conjunction with the Arch Rival Roller Girls exhibition games as part of this celebration of Forest Park Southeast.  You’re not really living, even if you go.

With a bulletin board that looks like this, no wonder this blog might fall behind in sharing the best shows, events, and nouns around town (see previous post for details).  It’s hard enough to filter through the flyers to find something worthwhile, much less stumble across the right dead-tree media.  It’s easy to understand why kids in the county don’t know what’s going on in the city, and vice versa.  To say nothing about the uselessness that MySpace has become in spite of it’s ubiquity (browsing through the same profiles with the same regularity of routine around your neighborhood).

Fortunately this medium gives us the opportunity to do something about it ourselves.  Thanks to technology we can cast the widest net, while delivering the specific content people are searching for.  For instance, if I wanted to announce an event, let’s say a Blog Party, I could publish an article, list an event others can add to their calendar, and let people invite their friends within my control.  In that same process, I have created driving directions, made a collective photo album, and helped set up the next activity.  And we can’t say enough about The Circuit, which gives us the local community connection that other Social Networks have lost.  Which helps make sure people don’t just hear about your event, but actually helping you make sure they show up for it.  Oh, and then published pieces like this are made after we find out about your concert/show/venue/store/blog/etc…

Highway 61 (revised) is not just a blog, so much as it is a community that brings attention to worthwhile people and places.  We use social bookmarks to share the news we find, pool photos that inspire us, tune each other in to good tunes, keep each other up to date on events, and put Saint Louis back on the map.  Occasionally, we publicly post articles to make sure that word is spread, but with your help it could be much more…

If you are interested in becoming a contributor/author to Highway 61 (revised), we’re interested in helping your voice be heard.  So far we’ve used our multiple contributor format share different perspectives and earn readers with regular updates.  Since you’re appearantly among that audience, you probably have a good idea what we’re about.  So if you’re still interested in becoming a contributor to our blog, please contact us either via The Circuit or myself directly @ skewgee at yahoo dot com.  And check back here soon for an announcement you’d probably expect as the first thing we’d be working on…

Just because the next couple weekends in Saint Louis will be jam packed with outdoor Festivals, midnight bike-wrangling cowgirls and boys, and lord only knows what else on Labor Day weekend, doesn’t mean you need to come up short this week.  For those inclined to stay indoors due to inclement weather (or just us film geeks), the Webster Film Series and KDHX have teamed up for a local filmmaker showcase screening of sorts.  Under the moniker of “Coming Up Shorts” and playing this Thursday, August 23rd @ 8 PM in the Winifred Moore Auditorium (where else?), this is how the Film Series describes the show:

KDHX Community Media presents the results of their filmmaking competition,
Coming Up Shorts. The program showcases the 3-minute videos made by local
media artists with KDHX TV providing the selected artists with all the
resources necessary to make their shorts, trailers or a stand-alone short
films. These videos will screen on KDHX TV as “Bumpers” between their scheduled
programming.

(more…)

Look at this.

This girl is riding the Metro-Link. She’s wearing a lot of makeup. She also looks really confused.

Then again, I’d be confused too if my light rail commute involved blurriness and six outfits.

Sure, it’s great that they decided to feature the Metro-Link, but (no offense to her as a person) this model looks like a county resident who repeatedly expresses extreme fear or disinterest in visiting any part of the city that isn’t Washington Avenue or the Central West End.

As for the photos themselves, while I don’t expect gallery quality from a local rag I would appreciate it if photographers went for creative composition and stopped to reshoot blurry photos. If this was an aesthetic choice, I’m seriously missing something. Unless, of course, that choice was to make the spread look like a college senior’s Facebook album. (Was this one taken with a camera-phone?)

(more…)

To our compatriots in mass communications, we wish you “Good night and good luck”.  As witnessed in this clip, pop culture is way ahead of our preconcieved notions of online citizen journalism.  Then again, if you found this website, you probably already knew that.

And if you get a chance, attend a screening of the Simpson’s movie.  You know, unless you’ve already made plans for the weekend.

As you might have already heard (heh), The Listening Room Series is touring through the Schlafly Tap Room tonight August 1st @ 8 pm.  As part of the Third Coast Int’l Audio Festival in Chicago, this Listening Room Series event sponsored by KWMU gives us the opportunity to hear some of the best audio documentary work and talk about it.  You might have already heard some of the festival, since KWMU airs the festival finalists around thanksgiving time.  And if you’ve enjoyed listening to Radio Lab last Sunday, you’ll get to hear some more, as the Listening Room will highlight that series tonight.

In celebration of this unique audio event, we thought we might take the opportunity to share some of our favorite podcasts, local or otherwise.  Of course we recommend the Radio Lab podcast and pretty much every podcast from KWMU, since it has become the area’s last/only locally owned newsroom.  Local media is also well represented in the Gateway Media Literacy Partner’s podcasts, which will help you get back up to speed following their conference we wrote about earlier this summer. 

If you’re having a little writers block, why not give a listen to the book readings on The Writer’s Almanac or at least the ever popular This American Life podcast for a little audio inspiration.  But if a break from writing altogether is needed, we might suggest jamming to the Trouble in River City podcast, which was updated relatively recently.  And don’t forget that video podcasting is alive and well over on LoFiStl.com during dirty week (this last week).