People don't move to St. Louis for the climate

Summer in St. Louis can turn erudite, educated, civic-minded and respected men into Stanley Kowalski. Stripped to the waist, once eloquent community leaders bellow from fire escapes with hearts full of lust and their hands full of the cool condensation from an ice-cold can of Budweiser, pleading with Stella Artois and raising their fists in the face of an unmerciful God who is quite obviously Belgian.

Once-threatening waters are receding from the steps of the Arch, but dread doesn't recede quite so quickly from the hearts and minds of St. Louisans. The character-building climate sears resolve into the furrowed brows of a a weary but tenacious people, and the old familiar distinctions between cop and crook, sinner and saved, dandy or down-and-out, melt away in the heat of the day and simmer under cover of darkness. Regardless of status, whether real or ascribed, we are brothers and sisters baptized in sweat. In this heat, it doesn't matter where you went to high school.

But wait! There comes a glimmer of hope! The Ken Kase Group is releasing their new single! The proud men and women of St. Louis have patiently waited eight years for a sign of hope, and in the midst of uncertainty and despair, their prayers have seemingly been answered.

On Saturday, July 19th, inflation woes will seem trivial. Rising gas prices will seem a mere dawdle. The housing market crisis, credit woes, presidential politics, the nagging thought that you might have left the oven on when driving to work, the rising cost of foam packing pellets, the inevitable magnetic reversal of the poles, global warming, the switch to digital TV, the Middle East crisis, corruption, that funny smell in your car that you can't quite identify, violence, the A-B buyout, recession, missing socks...will all be forgotten when the weekend arrives.

The Ken Kase Group's CD release party for "Shiner" is scheduled for Saturday, July 19th, at 10:00 PM at Cicero's, 6691 Delmar in the University City Loop. Tight Pants Syndrome will open the show, and Tom "Papa" Ray, KDHX's harp-wielding Soul Selector himself, will perform with the band on "Chocolatown".

These are the first new KKG recordings in eight years, so come on down and join the fun! The Ken Kase Group is a great hedge against angst and a welcome antidote to existential summer ennui.

--kk