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Posts Tagged ‘Bill Danforth’

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The best restaurant in town is a good one in which you are known to the owner; the second best is the one that serves consistently good food whether the owner knows you or not. That’s Leon Birnbaum at his new Chez Leon in Clayton all over. Is it a religious experience? Hell no!  We’ve all been bored in church, temple or mosque.  There’s nothing to be boring about. The classic French cuisine bourgeois prepared by chef Colby Erhart or the lounge lizards, who swoon over the interiors, created by Birnbaum and Dan Byrne. “It’s Selkirk chic!,” exclaimed hair stylist-to-the-stars Randall Jones of Larz Salon to his best pal, the stunning Elizabeth Danforth Sankey, heiress to Bill Danforth. “Yes, more urbane than urbane,” added Sanky. She informed the columnist that she and Elizabeth “Lydie” Wallace have bowed an estate jewelry buying and selling firm, Elizabeth’s Estate. A few tongues wagged about Trudy Busch‘s 84th birthday on the day before and that she was much too ill to celebrate. Here ‘n there were Linda and Tony Karakas with Janet and Smith McGehee, who celebrated the birth of triplet grandchildren.  Genya and Jim Human, along with Steve Anstey, were there praising the sales at the Janet McAfee real estate office. . .

Downtown at Tony’s, Kelly and Blues CEO Peter McLoughlin were bullish about the team and he lamented,  “I wish Dave Checketts had bought the Rams.”  Bryan Cave mouthpiece Harold Blatt with his charming Elaine graced a table with Marilyn and Bernard “Bunny” Edison, whose family empire, Edison Bros. Shoes, collapsed under the stewardship of Andy Newman and Martin Sneider, who had been teaching essentials of retailing at WashU (go figure!).  Also at Tony’s, barrister Gerard Carmody and his wife, Susan, with their daughter Ryann, settled down after a retreat at the Four Seasons with his law firm, Carmody MacDonald. . .

Over at Beffa’s there was celebration over the upcoming nupts of Rachel Crocker (Eureka, Mo.’s Byrnes Hills Stables, LLC) and Robert Brake (Brake Landscaping and Lawncare, Inc.) with his uncle, former cop Ed Beffa. . .

And, at the Palladium party house on Fourteenth Street and Park Avenue, a sumptuous feedbag and cocktails were underway, when the columnist arrived to join in the launching of the EcoLifeSTL.com website and the honors awards presented to the City of St. Louis, AmerenUE’s PurePower and Sustainable St. Louis.  They were chosen for significant contributions they make to promote and encourage Green living in the region.  Said Mayor Francis Slay, “The greatest way to recycle in St. Louis is to save historic buildings like the one we’re in tonight.  The Greenest building is one that already exists and also preserves history.”  Cindy Bambini accepted the award on behalf of PurePower,AmerenUE’s voluntary renewable energy program, and she noted, “Currently, there are 6,000 residential and 200 businesses PurePower customers receiving 100 percent of their energy from the five wind farms in our area.” Emmis Broadcasting’s John Beck was front ‘n center getting plaudits on the broadcast chain of stations involvement in promoting the program.  John Weber of Wells Fargo and his soon-to-marry Jennie Logan of KPNT, The Point radio station, chain smoked as Weber joshed about energy, “Before we left the house, I turned on all the lights, left the fridge door open, turned up the heat and turned on the microwave.”

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WITH THE POLICE COMMISSION:  St. Louis police commissioner Vince Bommarito, owner of the award-winning Tony’s restaurant downtown and shoo-in candidate for Best Uncle of the Year, now has a public relations agent to deal with the simmering (and sauteing?) controversy swirling around his Mardi Gras Get Our of Jail Free call to a St. Louis police supervisor.  Savvy Peggy Lents, who also reps the Missouri Botanical Garden, is now speaking for him.

OF OUR 20,000 MEMBERS, 4,000 ARE OUT-OF-WORK, SAID TERRY NELSON, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY-TREASURER OF CARPENTERS DISTRICT COUNCIL OF GREATER ST. LOUIS AND VICINITY.

Gladys Kandel-Reeves at the Delmar Gardens family of 20 facilities

Gladys Kandel-Reeves at the Delmar Gardens family of 20 facilities

PITCH & CATCH: It doesn’t take a doctor (though there were plenty of them at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon) to diagnose the condition of patient Cardinal Nation. The Nation is suffering from acute Cardinal fever. The all-too-obvious symptoms include a preoccupation with a certain Magic Number, a preference for the color red, an aversion to a team from Chicago, and a willingness to skip more usual pastimes (including actual work) to sit in Busch Stadium drinking $8 malted beverages. While examining the patient, this columnist collected plenty of fastballs, a couple of curveballs, and a wicked brushback pitch or two.

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SWEET SUITES: “I’m going to lead a delegation to Cuba on Sept. 20 to try and open up a dialogue about travel opportunities,” said US Representative Jo Anne Emerson, who was in a suite with US Rep. Lacy Clay and some other colleagues. “President Barack Obama will drop a bombshell in a joint session on September 9 on health insurance reform,” said Clay, who brags out that he occasionally hears from the President by telephone. Nearby, fellow Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) had a bone to pick with Clay about barbeque. Cohen favored Memphis’s Rendezvous, while Clay (and other locals in the suite) spoke up the ribs for our town’s C&K . . . Nearby was Mike DuBois, a legislative assistant to US Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond, and the new father (with wife, Linda) of 2-month-old Ryan Patrick. DuBois mentioned that, while Bond was recently in Japan, our town’s Roy Pfautch, who spends a lot of time in Japan, arranged a sumptuous feast for Bond and ministers of the Diet. DuBois had this to say about Clay and Bond: they get along very well “despite what you hear.” Sen. Claire McCaskill? Not so much, apparently. “Claire brings nothing to the people,” remarked a bystander (not named DuBois or Clay). “She just tells staff members each morning to get her on television.”. . .David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technologies, said his company is expanding with facilities in China, the Netherlands, Sao Paulo and Singapore. “In 2008, we grossed almost $2.6 billion and are buying $1.5 billion worth of network equipment,” said Steward. “We’re in a tech revolution and thinking about the next level. We’re still hiring.” . Elsewhere, Brenda and Jim Talent were entertaining. “I’m doing public policy stuff and have become a consultant to Fleishman-Hillard,” said the ex-senator.

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WITH THE WORKING STIFFS: Carpenters Union bossman Terry Nelson said, “For $12,000 a week, we are getting groceries to the unemployed in the union.” How many, Terry? ” Of our 20,000 members, 4,000 are out-of-work. But, I’m sure that we’ll pick up after the first quarter of 2010.” As Hemingway’s Jake said in “The Sun Also Rises”, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

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IDIOT BOX BOX: In the Fox Midwest Sports box, account exec Tim O’Connor did the honors for a select Steak ‘n Shake crew. Anchoring the group were Brad Manns, head of franchising, and Springfield, Mo., franchisee Gary Leonard, who tipped us that the 420 restaurants in the chain will soon bow a new entry on the menu: a combination called Pico De Gello, a chilled combination of peppers, onions, tomatoes, lime and lemon juice and cilantro served up on either a steak burger or a steak frank.

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David Steward with US Rep. Lacy Clay and Corbin

David Steward with US Rep. Lacy Clay and Corbin

INVESTORS CORNER: “The Post-Dispach is too episodic,” insisted investments guru Joe Schlafly in the Merrill-Lynch suite. (A charge that a newspaper published daily would find it hard to rebut.) “I invested my own money and got Bill Danforth to contribute seed money for the St. Louis Beacon. We need responsible journalism.” (The St. Louis Beacon is a news/features website staffed primarily by former employees of the episodic P-D.) . . .Between pitches, Ralph Gaia, an IT’er with Centene Corp. raved non-stop about the company’s topper, Mike Neidorff. Why does Gaia love his boss? “I was so impressed that he conducted an ethics meeting, and that he’s arranged a golf tournament for employees at the Bogie Club a week from Friday,” said Gaia . . . Nestle/Ralston Purina makes the best-selling Fancy Feast cat food. That’s the best I could get from the company’s CEO, Patrick McGinnis. “This is my day off and we don’t need any publicity,” he barked when he noticed my notebook . . . Stuart Shelp of the RCGA probably should have listened to McGinnis. “We don’t get along with them (the Regional Business Council) and we got them started.” (Does anybody know RBC exec director Kathleen T. Osborn’s email address?) . . . Brian Rhame, head of institutional advancement, and Mike Loyet, president, of St. John Vianney High School, got my congratulations on the 50th anniversary of their school — and quickly dropped names of some illustrious alums.

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THE GOLDEN YEARS: It’s a great time to be young, in an area that hasn’t quite grown up yet, in a world on the brink of disaster. But, still poised for the future is optimistic visionary Gladys Kandel-Reeves, who has toiled for more than four decades at the Delmar Gardens family of 20 facilities, which stretch from here to Atlanta, and including Omaha, Kansas City and Las Vegas. And now, the glamorous woman is touting the company’s fifth retirement center in O’Fallon, Mo., the Garden Villas of O’Fallon, that opens in November with a bowling alley, no less. . .

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PINHEADS: St. Louis Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Kraft has been accused of threatening a couple with a gun during a dispute about a parking spot at a Shrewsbury bowling alley. His subsequent legal problems in St. Louis County have drawn the support of his friends, including managers in his department and judges. A recent fundraiser to help pay his lawyers was hosted by the St. Louis Sheriff Lt. Ray Harris, and Deputies Charles Russo and Kathy Kraft, sister of Charles. Wonder what the St. Louis County prosecutor thinks about that?

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COMINGS & GOINGS: Cop talk (no, not CopTalk) says that Governor Jay Nixon will dump the decades long tradition of being escorted through St. Louis by a special detail of the Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department. The guv is rumored to be considering using the state patrol to take over the duty. Is this an early indication of how the guv is leaning on the contentious issue of surrendering state control of the city’s police force? . . . One of my all-time favorite news anchors, Deanne Lane, sent a note to set the record straight. “I was not fired. I resigned from KSDK (Channel 5), because I no longer wanted to work at night.” Could she still be working in TV? “Among the offers I’ve had was one from KMOV (Channel 4),” Lane penned from Centene Corp, where she is listed as media contact . . .David Bonetti, sharp-tongued art critic with the Post-Dispatch has written that he “took advantage of advanced age and a benefits package and decided to retire.” He further stated, “Although some of the Cherokee Street clique would like to think that I was fired by an enlightened management that wants reviews of inept artists showing their woeful attempts at self expression in vanity galleries, that is not the case”. . . Z. Dwight Billingsley, whose most recent column for the Post-Dispatch compared President Obama’s national healthcare prescriptions to bad public education policies, has penned his last column for the newspaper. (Will Z. Dwight now follow familiar migration patterns and end up in the St. Louis Beacon?). . .Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi will be special guest on Oct. 3 at the Chase-Park Plaza for the fifth annual gala with Rep. Russ Carnahan. For more info or to RSVP call 314-534-2004. Former Post-Dispatch editor Ellen Soeteber still has her CWE condo and regularly visits her mom, Norma Soeteber, in Shiloh, Ill., as well as other family and friends. But, she and her husband, Dick Martins, are enjoying being back in South Florida, where multiple cultures and lifestyles are the happy norm.  When not in our town, she misses her family, her friends, and former colleagues at the Post-Dispatch and the Missouri Biotanical Garden. Christine Bertelson has ankled the Post-Dispatch for what she hopes will be a brighter future with Guv. Nixon’s office, beginning Tuesday. A media maven mentioned to her how nice Nixon’s state fair speech was on Aug. 13, while still in the paper’s employ. She is rumored to have replied, “I wrote it” The maven also suggested, that her dealing with Nixon while in the employ of the P-D, got other staffers’ noses out-of-joint. Bertelson served a number of posts at the paper, including editorial page editor, colyumnist and features editor…

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HELLO?: The announcement that the local telco will no longer have to deliver its White Pages directory to customers will deprive some of us a favorite pastime: playing the Name Game. One favorite: the St. Louis directory contains a Hitler (and a bunch of Hittlers), a Tojo, two Roosevelts, nine Trumans and 12 Churchills. (There are also eight Schmucks and eleven Dierbergs – but, that’s not a food fight, not a World War.)

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BURY MY HEART: David Simon, family service guy at Kriegshauser Mortuary West, is tub-thumping the firm’s pre-arranged funeral services.