It is sometimes helpful to assess our circumstances through quantifiable measures. It is possible to determine personal financial efficiency for the month by tracking transfers to savings account(s). In similar terms, employers can look at grade point averages and determine overall competency. While outcomes may not always be clear cut; we somehow still place unwavering trust in numbers. Perhaps, it gives us a point of reference, a place where we could examine gradual changes that are too minute and extensive to notice.

By Joan Lipkin

Every generation has its halcyon days — those Summers of Love or Studio 54 escapades — that define a moment in time and describe the revelers who indulge, imbibe and subscribe to the prevailing notion of what it means to be young, vibrant and decadent. When I arrived in St. Louis nearly two decades ago, I was a fresh-faced farm boy from rural Kentucky – the penultimate overachieving, extra-curriculared do-gooder from a Southern Baptist upbringing.

Let’s assume, for a moment, that our conversation about South City bar culture won’t include Soulard, as it’s almost a republic unto itself. And we’ll make another good-sized assumption, rendering the South Grand business district as another individual potentate, too; heck, we’ll even give Dogtown that independence, with an Irish flag flying high. Relating to ethnicities, one last qualifier: we’ll acknowledge the fact that a couple dozen Bosnian owned-and-operated establishments dot streets such as Gravois and Morganford, but we’ll leave those for another conversation.

On April 15, the Vital VOICE sat down with “Big Sexy Kool” DJ Kaos to discuss the African-American club scene. Known as “king of the St. Louis hip hop club scene and the hottest hip-hop radio personality in St. Louis,” Kaos hosts a very popular show on HOT 104.1 and has been St. Louis’ most controversial and outspoken DJ.

Vital VOICE: What places did you like to go when you first started to going to clubs and are African-American owned clubs more prevalent now?

The urban identity of St. Louis and its surrounding counties has been shaped in many respects by the skills, culture and political leanings of immigrants over the centuries. These new Americans had a particular impact on city neighborhoods from the Italian influences of “The Hill”, The Irish settlers of “Dogtown” or the German heritage of Benton Park.

According to data released by the Pew Research Center last September, 58% of Americans know little or nothing about the practices of Islam, a percentage that has changed very little since 2001.

When I met with Melissa Matos, director of the St. Louis chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights advocacy group for Muslims in North America, I started the conversation with questions that I hoped were basic, but not misguided.

“Can you clarify the terms Islamic and Muslim?” I asked.

St. Louis must seem like a million relaxing miles away from the pressures of Hollywoodland.

Aaron Eckhart, the star of “Meet Bill,” which opens locally in theaters on Friday, April 4, was calm, cheery and cool during an interview at the new Four Seasons hotel in Downtown St. Louis Wednesday afternoon.

His demeanor was quite in contrast with his character, Bill, stuck in a midlife rut with a lifeless marriage and a job working for his father- and brother-in-law, where he's browbeaten and degraded.

The cool kids are going green, folks. And in this age of hip, spending a lot of money isn’t required: designer jeans and a sports car will get you nowhere, but your thrift-shop skirt and Metro pass are coolness gold.