Another one bites the dust

The Sci Fi Lounge at Crestwood Art Space is officially closed forever.

Yet another fantastic venue here in town is gone. I hosted my monthly comics meetup, C4: Comic Creators Coffee Club, here for about a year. We loved meeting here, the fantastic ambience, the way owner Coyote went out of his way to welcome us. Not to mention that he joined us as well, since he's a comic artist himself.



I will miss you, Sci Fi Lounge. You introduced me to the weird, can't tear your eyes away from it, Indian sci-fi epic movie, Robot. I could always wander in on a Friday or Saturday night, and be assured of something fun and interesting to do -- a D&D night, themed movie night, a performance by local bands, Draw Club with sci-fi themed models, the list goes on.

Owner Coyote has said he's not planning to reopen in a new location. I can't blame him, he's not going to find rent as cheap as ArtSpace was offering anywhere else. I only hope in a few years, he might change his mind.

Shameless Grounds

If you are a nerd and you have not been to Shameless Grounds yet, you are missing out.

Shameless Grounds is a sex-positive coffee shop one block west of the intersection of Jefferson and Gravois. It's located in the same building as Koken Art Factory, the venue that puts on the yearly Naughti Gras erotic art show.

Shameless Grounds hosts a variety of great events in their own right: the monthly Literary Nudes figure drawing event, Off the GRID (Genderfuck Retro-Alternative Indie Drag Show), PJs and Movie on Wednesdays, Tenacious Trivia on Mondays, Rope Bite chapter meetings, Kinky Bingo, Kinky Book Club, and more.

At the center of the shop lies Shameless Grounds' lending library, which contains a variety of material that relates to human sexuality, both to educate and to entertain.

In addition to being a welcoming area for many of St. Louis' alternative lifestyle groups, and a great place to hold meetings, Shameless Grounds is also a pretty damn good place to get coffee and some food. The menu is small but tasty, and includes a variety of vegetarian and vegan offerings. The shop also often has lunch specials for around $6.

At The Return of the Big Strip

Sugar Cyanide, Clark Konners, Rayna Skye, Allura Fette and friends are rocking the house tonight at The Return of the Big Strip.

Project Comic Con 2 This Weekend!

Project Comic Con, St. Louis’ annual comic book convention, is this weekend!  I’m really thrilled that StL finally has a proper comics convention in town.  It’s about time.

It’s hosted by Newcastle Comics, and they’ve got a great series of guests lined up, including Gail Simone, Josh Dysart and Greg Horn, as well as local great Lorenzo Lizana.  (I do wish they’d been able to fly in St. Louis expatriate Jim Mahfood for this.  Ah well, next year.) Also, Top Cow Productions will be doing portfolio reviews and Avatar Press will be looking at submissions.   

Project Comic Con is being held at the Maryland Heights Community Center on Saturday, Sept. 18 from 9–6 and Sunday Sept. 19 from 12–5.  Tickets are $12 for one day and $20 for a weekend pass. 

Hope to see you there!

Repo! The Genetic Opera -- Go See It at the Tivoli

"In the year 2056—the not so distant future—an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Out of the tragedy, a savior emerges: GeneCo, a biotech company that offers organ transplants...for a price. Those who miss their payments are scheduled for repossession and hunted by villainous Repo Men."

So begins Repo! The Genetic Opera -- a cult classic gothic rock opera released in 2008. And you can see it this Saturday at midnight at The Tivoli, complete with a shadow cast.

If you haven't already seen this movie, go see this movie. Great visuals, post-apocalyptic dystopian worldbuilding, lots of gore, and great songs. Plus, if you are a nerd living in STL you will probably run into people you already know in the theatre.

In conclusion, Zydrate Anatomy:

NatsuCon Next Weekend!

Next weekend July 16-18 is NatsuCon, St. Louis' summer anime convention!

Guests include Chris Patton, Cristina Vee, Leah Clark, The Hsu-Nami, and Tracy J. Butler.

It'll be at the Sheraton Chalet at Westport. And you can still pre-register for the next 2 days and get a discount on your tickets.

Also, be sure to check out my friend, artist Lorenzo Lizana who has a table in Artist Alley.

STL Losing Another Cool Company

Woot.com is closing its St. Louis office after being acquired by Amazon.com, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Woot is an Internet-based seller with a business model of only selling one deeply discounted item per day, in limited quantities. Sounds doomed to failure, but due to some awesome marketing and copywriting on Woot's part, they've built a devoted following, a culture, even.

Woot only employed about 20 people here in town, but its not the loss of jobs so much as the loss of potential. Woot was one more place that young, geeky writers like myself could get work writing about fun, geeky stuff. It was a place that valued innovation above the tried and true, and we don't have enough companies like that.

Woot's loss is just one more example of an ongoing issue -- St. Louis' inability to attract and keep startups.

Currently, the awesome Square Inc., manufacturer of devices that let you accept credit card payments, also has a small operations office here in town. But who knows how long that will last.