Time to Kvetch: Parties in the Park

Always one to check out live music, particularly if it is free, I dropped by a Party in the Park yesterday to see what Clayton's Shaw Park had to offer.

Parties in the Park are a once a month deal in which there is food, drink, and live music. Sounds like a regular recipe for summer fun right?

We walked in expecting to see crowds of people sitting out with picnic baskets, laying on the grass, enjoying a tribute to Prince and were instead treated to a scene I can only describe as goyische, or fratty... I mean, they actually made a whole website about this kind of thing (HTwDB).

Maybe it's that the timing was right after work, or maybe due to the location being Clayton, or maybe it was the margatirass-on-tap, but something just didn't feel right or authentic about listening to music in Shaw Park surrounded by that particular crowd.

Needless to say, we walked right in and walked right out, suffering only minor uneasiness when we were asked to pose by a Kabance photographer.

Luckily, I was able to get down to the Botanical Gardens to catch some music while surrounded by a much larger and more diverse audience.
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Reflections on Chicago

I got back late last night after a wonderful weekend in Chicago, filled with camp friends, abundant Jewish females, family, and public transportation. So the question that follows this is:

---edit---What do I need to do to get make that a part of my life in St. Louis?

First, I'm going to make a commitment to start taking public transportation, advocating for it, and finding out how to make it work. Rosh dropped me at the Grand station this morning, cuz the brilliant designers forgot a park n' ride.

I managed to get there just as the train pulled up, but I didn't have a ticket, and the ticket machine was hard to find. I had to decide between hopping on with out a ticket and waiting for the next train. . . hey, I may be cheap, but I have morals, sometimes.

I hopped off at Clayton, a relatively short ride, then walked another 10-15 minutes to the office, cuz I don't know which bus to take.

So now there are three major issues that have come up in this one experience with STL metro transportation.
A. Where is the ability to drop my car off?
B. Why is the ticket system so backwards. Its like Amsterdam, really. Put in a turnstile system like NYC or Chicago, it works, people pay.
C. Why is the metrostl website not super user friendly. I would want to streamline the whole thing so that it comes down to stops, times, and travel planning. Show me an interactive map that isn't from 1995.
D. This didn't so much come up from this one ride, but really, add more lines/stops. Read More......