United We Stand! Register to Vote! & more

So this is going to be a more interesting Royale email.  So pay attention!! There is much to digest.

I Register to vote
II DNC & RNC viewings
III Yard Signs available
IV Misc

I Register to vote

Even if you have not made up your mind on the election this fall make sure you *register* to vote and make sure you go to the polls.  We have voter registration forms behind the bar.  The final day of registration for Missouri is October 8th.

This is a very important election year, so please please if you live in Missouri, REGISTER IN MISSOURI.  Are you currently on a short stay out of town and miss the election?  BE SURE TO REGISTER AND VOTE IN MISSOURI.  You can get an absentee ballot, but be sure to do it in time!

So maybe you are already registered to vote?  Well I am sure you have some friends or family that might not be registered, so bring your unregistered friends down for a drink or bring your grandmother for lunch and ask the bartender about registering to vote. 

Here is an online resource if you don't get a chance to belly up to the bar: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=voter

II DNC and RNC viewing parties

So this week has been the big DNC party in Denver.  There have been viewing parties every night.  The Young Dems of STL are hosting a big party for Barack Obama's acceptance speech will be at the Moolah Theater on Lindell across from SLU. 

There are other parties around town but the Royale will be holding a more low-key viewing party on Thursday.

However, the Royale will also be doing a first- holding a viewing party for the RNC next week for John McCain's acceptance speech on Sept 4th.  Invites for Sept 4th viewing party are extended to all Americans; Democrats, Republicans and the thirsty.  All those concerned about the future of our country.  Regardless of what you think of the President Bush, John McCain and Republicans or even Barack Obama and the Democrats we are all Americans who are here to make this country work.

Yes, I have put a series of paintings on the side of the building supporting our choice for the next President of the US, Barack Obama.  You may differ, but the point is to find out as much as possible and make up your own mind.  So come down to the Royale to discuss with your neighbors about the future of our country. 

III Yard Signs

We have Barack Obama yard signs!!  The Royale purchased a number of yard signs from the STL Young Dems and we have a special offer if you are looking to obtain one at no cost.

So just email me a story, haiku, picture, video about your favorite President(or prez candidate) of the United States.  Please keep it clean kids, my mother is going to review the pieces!  Then we will let you know when to pick up the signs!

If you don't want to mess around with my tomfoolery for the signs, you can buy them through the YDSTL
online: http://www.youngdems.com/
or email: ydstlouis@gmail.com

IV Misc

Check out this interesting column by Sylvester Brown here:
http://tinyurl.com/5p3byy 
(FYI I do not expect a big crowd for the speech Thursday)

We have a few other things going on this fall at the Royale, so pay attention!

Peace

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith
Proprietor
The Royale Food & Spirits
3132 South Kingshighway
STL, MO 63139
314-772-3600

www.theroyale.com
www.stlstreets.com

Running out of Gas and Correspondence

So I ran out of gas about two weeks ago on a trip back from Columbia. I took my motorcycle to interview a candidate for state rep for my video blog. I was so embarrassed about running out of gas that I didn't tell anyone for a while. But I lucked out. And my luck has been documented!

I mounted a camera to the back of my motorcycle(thanks Dilip), and the following is video of me running out of gas on Hwy 70 between Columbia and the STL. The video shows me departing Columbia and then cuts to about 5o miles east of Columbia where I run out of fuel.

Second is a copy of my post the The Royale website thanking the man Patrick who helped me out.

The third is a response from Patrick mailed to me by US Mail on Saturday.

#1 Video of me running out of gas:

Click To Play

#2 Link and my post to the Royale site:

Thank you to Patrick

Filed under: News, Events, Blog, Managers Blog — July 29, 2008 @ 8:33 pm

Hello Patrick,

I would like to thank you. I met you last week on a stretch of Hwy 70 somewhere between here and Columbia. I was riding my motorcycle I just picked up. I was pushing it and trying not to stop. I was almost out of gas, but I was unsure of exactly when I was going to run out of gas. You see, on a new motorcycle some reserve tanks have more gas than others. And I was only at 116 miles on my tank.

But alas, I bought a gas pig of a motorbike. A Yamaha VMax. It is a fun bike, but oink oink!!

So Patrick, thank you for helping me out last Wednesday. I coasted into the rest stop, for I was out of fuel. I coasted next to an old mobile home with a trailer. I noticed a small sign on the trailer that read “Laverda Mid-Ohio.”

I felt a sense of relief. Laverda is a scooter and motorcycle brand from Italy. Patrick, thank you. I saw you at the rest stop having lunch with your daughter.

Thank you for taking your time to help me out. And I hope you had fun out in Ohio with your different hot rods at the rally. That hopped up Laverda street buggy looks crazy fun.

I heard you were in tonight for dinner. I was upstairs finishing up a few things, so dang I missed ya! Thanks for stopping down.

Thank you Patrick, I owe you one!

I love America!

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith

#3 The letter then sent to me by my fellow traveler and good Samaritan:

New MTV videos

I have two videos I posted up on the MTV blog.



The first is on Stephen Webber, the Democratic candidate for the 23rd district of the Missouri State House. He has a very interesting story. At 25 he is running as the youngest candidate. He grew up in Columbia Mo, and graduated with a degree in economics from my alma mater, Saint Louis University. His graduation was delayed twice with tours in Iraq. He served as a Marine with one of the tours in Fallujah. He worked in DC for Claire McCaskill before he announced his bid for state house. He has a great grip on the issues. There is much more to the guy, so I will likely be doing another piece sometime next month.

Don't forget to vote next Tuesday.



This video is an interview with Magan Wiles. She is a young woman, also studied at Saint Louis University, who went to Palestine to see what was going on. She returned home and in order for her to express what she experienced she put together a rather heavy play called "Beautiful Resistance."

67th State Candidate Questionnaire

So there is a race in the 67th. That is this here part of the state of Missouri, south central city STL. There are five candidates, and four of them are actively campaigning. There have been no polls, only yard signs. But as we know, yard signs do not go to the polls. That is for damn sure.

All of them have come in and I have talked to them. It is always hard to figure out anything substantive in casual bar conversation. I wanted to know more. There are already a lot of ways to find out information, but I have been unable to do all the research I wanted.

So I sent the candidates Chad Beffa, Mike Colona, Joan Landmann and Rob Stelzer each a Questionnaire.


This is Steven Smith from the Royale.

We never got a chance to talk much about the issues in our state. I have not made a decision on who to vote for in this election.

Here are some questions I have of the field of candidates for the 67th. I am sending these questions to each candidate. I really need to know a bit more before I vote. I know this is a lot to ask when you are running tight to the election, but I want to make an informed opinion.

Most questions I see you being asked in the press, neighborhood groups, special interest groups etc have to do with health, education, abortion and taxes. I have a few different ones. Don't feel you have to go into great detail. A sentence or two maybe three is enough per question. I hope that you can take the time to answer. I would like to publish the answers on my blog. Thanks.

==

What are your thoughts on undocumented immigrants? Illegal Aliens? Is there a difference in the definition between the two?

Should Saint Louis City Police Department/State Police assist the Federal Agencies on "roundups" of undocumented workers? Would you support legislation that would bar city or state law enforcement from assisting Federal agencies in "roundups"?

What do you believe are the best assets in the 67th?

Would you support legislation to make Missouri smoke free state wide?

Why have we failed in the past to retain young people in Saint Louis/Missouri? What can we do to change this?

What can be done to improve economic opportunity in Saint Louis/Missouri? And for young people?

How can we increase tax revenues in our city/state?

What can we do to save money in our state budget?

What are your thoughts on biofuels? Corn being used as biofuel? Government subsides that drive corn as a biofuel?

Do you support charter reform in the city of Saint Louis?

Do you support the merging of the city and county? Would you support statewide legislation mandating the merger?

Do you support any change in Missouri's transportation policies? If so, what change would you like to see?

What sort of business/personal recycling policies would you like to see the state become involved in?

What are a few things a citizen of the 67th can do bridge the racial divide in this city?

What are your thoughts on the public funding of ballparks? Downtown parking garages? Stadiums? Hotels?

What is your thought on the use of TIFs? Would you support change? What change?

What are your thoughts on the Blairmount wholesale purchasing of properties?

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith
Proprietor
The Royale Food & Spirits
3132 South Kingshighway
STL, MO 63139
314-772-3600

www.theroyale.com
www.stlstreets.com

New content

Okay, I got regular stlstreets.com content coming, but here is some stuff I have embedded from my MTV gig. I actually really like these pieces. I hope you do too. They are fun. They take a while to produce, so I haven't been able to blog all regular like I want to. So check these out till I get my really funny regular blog out soon.



This is the best edit so far and the content is pretty strong as well. I am still working on everything. Let me know what you think. This is an interview with Scott Ritter, a former USMC Intelligence Officer and UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq, the former Soviet Union and Mid-East. He is a really interesting cat and has a real straight take. I got to make these interviews short, so it doesn't quite do justice.




So this is the interview with Pamela Merrit of Angryblackbitch.com. She also came along to the convention and gave some really great insight to just how screwy the whole deal was.

This new gig

The following was posted on my new blog. The post below is the only thing I have up now. I will still post to stlstreets, but most of the posts will be cross posts from the new blog. There may be occasional posts on stlstreets only.

===

My name is Steven Smith. I run a bar in a state that fought on both sides of the civil war. I live in the city that sided with the Union. And to look at the how Missouri is today, things do not appear to have changed all that much. We are still in a contentious situation , as we have historically for Missouri even had a controversial foundation based in a compromise.

There is a profile page with a bit more on the specific particulars about myself. My formative years have been here in Saint Louis, the big city on the eastern half of Missouri. The bluest part of the blue dot in a red state. I am Jesuit educated, but I have not been trained in journalism. I have not been trained for news writing. I studied history. And I worked. A lot. My first job was selling newspapers on the street corner. The Post-Dispatch. That was my first of many jobs, but none of my jobs were in professional news writing or
video production. Until now. Now I am to produce it all.

I have been contracted to do a blog on the 2008 campaign covering Missouri for MTV. The program is called Choose or Lose or the think.mtv.com site. I am a part of the 2008 Street Team. The job is open ended which allows me to cover any issues that impact the state of Missouri. My primary demographic are the 15-24 year olds in the mighty state of Missouri.

I was sent to New York at the MTV headquarters Viacom for a week of training earlier this month. Fifty other young Americans were contracted to cover their states as well. We were saddled with a mound of electronic gear, video camera, mic, laptop, software etc. We are to produce one post a week, and at least two of those posts will need to be video. This will be interesting, for I am used to blogging at stlstreets.com. I have been playing with shooting and editing video. This new blog will naturally develop from that base at stlstreets.com.

So what will I produce for this blog? Well, that is in development. I have my interests, but I am open to all issues. I have already started developing stories in immigration, voting, economic opportunity, civic engagement, education, urban environment, the war, health care and more. This will be more of a free form blog style than a formal news report or news story.

Please contact me here for any ideas or thoughts. And join the think.mtv site to explore and learn what this is all about.