urbanSTL

stellar wrote:

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:^Why would you want that annoying idiot to be our ambassador?

To me he was a symbol of tolerance.



I had a friend stay with me for a week while moving from Detroit to Denver. He still brings up seeing Baton Bob in the CWE. He doesn't remember Forest Park or the good meals he had. He remembers seeing a grown man in a tutu throwing a baton.

While driving up Euclid with my parents when they came to visit, Baton Bob once came to our car and kissed the window where my Dad was sitting and then rubbed his chest against it. My Dad, who usually can be less than tolerant of such things, actually got a big kick out of it. He told me he had seen a CNN story on the Naked Cowboy in NYC and had wondered if all big cities had such characters.

I'd seen him four or five times, and none of those times was he rude. In fact, people were cheering him on. Perhaps someone said something negative to him first, and then he responded with the profanities?

Also, I understand it wasn't the police per say that had the problems, but calls to them from people involved with organizations putting on events where he showed up uninvited...the Hybernian Parade in Dogtown is the one that I recall.

Either he is a problemed individual, or some people were egging him on which caused him to become confrontational. Or maybe the attention just went to his head. Who knows.

Still, I miss seeing the OLD Baton Bob.

Well, if Baton Bob's gone, how about we elect a new ambasador. How about the pirate guy that performs in the fountains downtown during the summer?

stellar wrote:The fact that he ever even existed in St. Louis to me was hopeful. I am from a northern state that I never realized was as moderate as it was until I moved to Missouri and learned about the bible belt. It's a shock. All those "Praise Jesus" radio stations and "Jesus is your friend" commercials on TV with the creepy goatee guy. The fundamentalist politicians that represent Missourah and by default me that I could not disagree with more. This is a red state with a little blue dot on the eastern border. That is why I appreciated Baton Bob. He stood up to the people that I consider Freaks and twirled in their faces with a smile on his.

That's what I miss. I don't miss Baton Bob per se, because his behavior became quite boorish by the time he was preparing to move to Atlanta.



What I do miss is the idea that someone like Baton Bob managed to exist and thrive by doing what he was doing in a place that's often been dismissed as staid and socially conservative. I appreciated the irony of the prudish locals that immediately dismissed him as a freak when in my eyes they are often the true freaks. I liked how he attracted attention wherever he went in the CWE, yet the sight of him was business as usual on Euclid and the other major streets in the area. He was living proof that Saint Louis is a more progressive place than it's given credit for sometimes.



That said, I don't know if it was his run-ins with law enforcement, the folks behind the Hibernian Parade, being assaulted by drunk hoosiers, or what, but his behavior became increasingly confrontational in the last few months he spent in Saint Louis. I never witnessed it personally, but his profanity-laced tirades (that could occur anytime, anywhere) quickly became common knowledge, just at the time when he started demanding to be paid for his appearances. Not exactly the best way to win over the community, now is it?



I'm sure BB moved to Atlanta simply because he burned every bridge that he could here. It's surely not because Atlanta is somehow more tolerant than Saint Louis. If anything, it's quite similar in that the city proper and inner 'burbs are somewhat progressive, but it's a realtively short drive to Bible-thumpin' country.



Baton Bob obviously isn't the answer, but you're right. We need more 'weird'.

Baton Bob was a jerk. Good riddance.

They will be interviewing Baton Bob on KMOX in just a few minutes.

Framer wrote:Baton Bob was a jerk. Good riddance.

I agree. I used to love it when we'd be having dinner at the CWE and you'd hear his crazy whistle blowing and then he'd walking up singing some Tina Turner song. I loved that!



But I didn't think it was so great the night I was dining at Culpeppers and watched him totally freak out on a bunch of people having dinner at Wildflower -- screaming at them to "get out of their box" and to go back to West County and other rude things. After that I had no use for the guy.

aimster wrote:

Framer wrote:Baton Bob was a jerk. Good riddance.

I agree. I used to love it when we'd be having dinner at the CWE and you'd hear his crazy whistle blowing and then he'd walking up singing some Tina Turner song. I loved that!



But I didn't think it was so great the night I was dining at Culpeppers and watched him totally freak out on a bunch of people having dinner at Wildflower -- screaming at them to "get out of their box" and to go back to West County and other rude things. After that I had no use for the guy.

You make it seem like he acted that way, totally unprovoked. Is that true?

^

He made it known that he wanted to be added to the city's payroll as its official "Ambassador of Mirth" or he was going to pack up and move to Atlanta. That's what citylover was referring to.

zas wrote:You make it seem like he acted that way, totally unprovoked. Is that true?

Yes. I was across the street when he started screaming at those people and I didn't see them do anything to provoke his comments.



They were probably looking at him like he was crazy, but come on -- he was wearing silver hot pants and singing like a Diva. Who wouldn't look at him funny?

That may be the case, but to say he wanted to "extort money" is not only gossipy and unnecessarily negative, it's rather libelous, especially since no proof was provided.

zas wrote:

Citylover wrote:Didn't he try to extort money out of the city?

For a board that seeks facts, it's disheartenting that a moderator would engage in such blatant gossip.



Where's your proof?

Sometimes you have to look at us as not moderators, as just regular contributers. It's just not possible to stay in "moderator mode" all the time. The mods on here have been on these boards for sometimes 5 or more years going back to Skyscraperpage, stl rising, and the old World Skyscrapers forum. I'm coming up on 5 years on SSP. We're like a big family thats not necessarily afraid to say what's on our minds as long as we keep it within the rules.



And that's one of the great things about this forum. We have good discussions that can weed out the things that may not be quite right.

^ I can understand his frustration that the CWE was becoming too gentrified, and I've even expressed my own disapointment with the "Pottery Barn-ization" of the West End.



But -- it's not really something one person can control, and even if one wanted to keep the openness / rawness (and "liberalness") of the area, his response didn't help. That was like pissing in the wind -- it all just splatters back on you.

Xing wrote:Someone willing to be honest with themselves, including honesty that will warrant others to refer to them as an "a**hole", is still worthy of respect in a state and region that has been, for the most part, sociologically unwilling to express their true realities.

Sorry, but I think you're giving him too much credit.

zas wrote:And just for future reference, and for your own safety, hateful stares are enough to set any black queen off.

I never said anything about hateful stares.



But if you're going to march through the West End wearing Daisy Dukes and singing as loud as you can, you should be able to handle a few stares.