Photo by Dana Smith

A backyard is as good a place as any to start a movement. That's where, in two separate neighborhoods over roughly nine months, 22 bands outlined the edges of a music collective, filled them in over beer and launched Tower Groove Records. They collected votes and took turns. They staged a carnival at a bar. And this Friday, the collective-slash-label will release its first annual compilation, 21 songs over two LPS that seem to represent 21 different genres. Before the group's weekend of shows to celebrate the release, we talked to all of the bands about the launch, the label and what they hope will be its legacy.

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Megan Gilliland

See also:

Stag Nite Offers Weekly Camaraderie in Debauchery.

Stag Nite: the Slideshow

In this week's print edition we ran a story on Stag Nite, a South City tradition celebrating its ninth year anniversary, which features the time-tested coupling of cheap booze and live music. Unfortunately we were unable to fit in all of the interviews and stories we received due to the size constraints of print media, but luckily the internet is infinite. Click through and read what you missed, and don't forget to head to El Lenador -- the big show is tonight!

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Jennifer Silverberg

This week's RFT cover story by Albert Samaha and Tony D'Souza, tells the complex saga of Yo Banga, a north St. Louis rapper who grew up in gangs, saw his best friend shot to death and spent five years in jail, which is where he started rhyming.

Today, he's working with groups like James Clark's Better Family Life to try and keep St. Louis kids away from guns.

"It's important for the kids to see somebody who looks like them, who was hands-on with this shit," Banga says. "Ain't nobody trying to hear nothing from nobody in a suit. [Better Family Life's] Mr. Clark can speak his ass off, but he can't get it to them the way I can get it to them. I just want them to see that this shit is hard. Most kids think, 'Man, the streets are where it's at.' I don't glorify what I done, but I'm gonna talk about my life. When you take a motherfucker's life, you still can't get back the partner you lost. Is it really worth it?"

And he's making strides in the hip-hop scene as well, his growing following earned partly on the strength of last year's Fresh Out the Blender. But he hasn't completely escaped his old life. Read the story for more, and watch the video, produced by Mr. A, for single "Goon Anthem" below.

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​Five plaintiffs have filed suit against an East St. Louis nightclub after claiming to have suffered injuries during a no-holds-barred melee made infamous last April after video footage emerged and circulated across YouTube. The fracas, which lasted several minutes, included pistol whippings, body slams and several blows to the body with what appear to be metal chairs and bar stools. One security guard was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the hand.

During the early-morning hours of April 3, 2011, during a Webbie concert at Blackmon's Plaza, at least three plaintiffs were caught up in a stampede, one plaintiff was attacked by security officers, and another plaintiff required eight staples in his head after being clocked with a chair, according to the suit, which was filed in St. Clair County Court on January 19.

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Illustration by Sam Washburn

Jason Isbell and Ryan Adams onstage at the Peabody Opera House.

On Tuesday, Ryan Adams' solo tour brought him to St. Louis. You can read our review of the show, but you will note that we have no accompanying photos. Instead, we sent illustrator Sam Washburn, who returned with three pieces from the show. You can download hi-res versions of all three below.

On this tour, Ryan Adams is playing solo in theaters with powerful acoustics. Representatives of the artist say he is not allowing photography at all the shows in order to cut down on possible distractions for other audience members.

Download the above illustration here.

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Sasha Barr

Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum launches his first national tour since 1998 today. Unfortunately, none of the shows are in St. Louis -- he'll play a pair at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago on February 6 and 7. Still, his resurrection has not gone unnoticed in these parts. In this week's feature, Mike Appelstein interviews attendees and fellow performers from NMH's three St. Louis shows and one in Columbia.

The biggest takeaway from the feature is how much of the band's legacy was formed post-mortem. Those who were there saw good shows but not levitations into the face of God. Much of the detail recounted has to do with logistics or even the other bands on the bill. Says Korry Keeker, formerly of KCOU (88.1 FM) in Columbia, "I guess I always think of him more as an awkward, ramshackle twee-hobo who had an extended passage of clarity in which he made his bizarre characters somehow universal and resonant."

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Ben Mudd

Karate Bikini at Off Broadway

Ed. In this week's print edition, we talk a bit about seven bands we're think will be worth watching in 2012. They're listed here -- please let us know what you're excited about in the comments below.

Karate Bikini

Though Karate Bikini has been in existence in some fashion for a few years, it has only one EP to its name and seldom plays shows. But the band's pedigree alone is enough to warrant your attention. Its lineup contains members of some of the best local bands in recent history, including Magnolia Summer, the Bottle Rockets, the Painkillers, Jon Hardy & the Public, Old Lights and Tight Pants Syndrome.

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Peter Frampton

Say what you will about Peter Frampton, but do not accuse him of apathy. Or, as we learned yesterday, of overdubbing.

The iconic English rocker called the RFT offices yesterday because he took exception to a line in our piece Peter Frampton Comes Alive! in St. Louis: Five Other Albums That Should Be Taken On Tour, where writer Dan Moore made the following joke: "Peter Frampton is going to play the iconic Frampton Comes Alive! in its entirety in St. Louis, part of a 35th Anniversary tour that will see the 1970s rocker play his classic live double-album in its entirety for the first time since that time he went into the studio and overdubbed all the live parts shortly before its release."

Dan meant to exaggerate -- neither he nor I ever believed the album was entirely re-recorded in the studio. However, we did believe that some substantial overdub work was done on the original release, based on comments by people like producer and engineer Chuck Ainlay, who worked with Frampton on the 25th Anniversary re-mastering of Comes Alive! and talked about studio tracks that appeared on the original record. But, as Frampton explained to us yesterday, overdubbing was only used to replace audio that failed to come through the live recording for technical reasons such as misplaced microphones.

"The rule that we made was if it makes it to the tape, it stays," says Frampton. "Absolute truth. I've been battling this for 35 years. And when I see something that flippant, you understand why I put my back up."

Our full conversation, below.

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Corey Woodruff

Ryan Spearman and Kelly Wells of Folk School of St. Louis

Tonight, Folk School of St. Louis will celebrate its ten year anniversary with a show at the Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Boulevard, 314-533-9900). The school is the subject of this week's music feature by Chris Bay; read it for an idea of what the organization is about and the struggles it has endured en route to this milestone.

About tonight's show, Bay says, "The centerpiece of the event is a performance by the duo of Pokey LaFarge -- St. Louis' best-known folk musician -- and Ryan Spearman, who's quietly its most valuable." The two musicians recently stopped into KDHX's (88.1 FM) studio on Magnolia street for a session to preview the show. They came away with four tracks of inspired folk -- listen below.

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Dan Zettwoch

In this week's feature, Mike Appelstein explores the recent rethinking of punk pariah GG Allin. It begins:

The song starts out simply enough with guitar, bass and drums all locked into a staccato three-chord pattern. Then the vocals come in. The singer can carry a tune well enough, with a hint of a provincial New England accent. The lyrics are Ramones-cartoony, advising a self-absorbed love interest to "just button your lip" and "shut your mouth, stop acting like a twit!" The chorus is rousing: "Don't talk to me! You don't talk to me!"

Fast, catchy and easy to play: It's understandable that this song has become a much-covered punk classic. Where did it come from? A compilation of punk obscurities? An unreleased Dead Boys session? A regional sampler?

No, no and no. The singer is the late GG Allin, and the song, "Don't Talk to Me," is from his first album, 1980's Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be.

Among the bands that have tackled the song are Queens of the Stone Age, Dum Dum Girls, Ty Segall and St. Louis' own Doom Town. Watch some of our favorite versions below, and let us know which ones we missed in the comments.

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