September 22, 2025 • 40 mins
The Neon Museum of St. Louis is not just a place; it's a vibrant testament to the intersection of art, history, and science, all wrapped up in the glow of neon lights. Executive director, Deborah Katon lights up the captivating journey of the museum located on the neon highway, Route 66. The Neon Museum, which started as a pop-up gallery showcases local artists' neon works, rare neon clocks and signs, and donated neon items to make the place glow!
Deborah shares her personal journey as a sculptor and her love for glass and neon, giving us a fascinating peek into the meticulous art of tube bending and glassblowing. She explains how different noble gases come into play, including helium and argon, and how they contribute to the vibrant colors that light up our nights. She shares insights on the intricate process of making neon art, which is anything but a walk in the park – it’s a tricky business involving precise air pressure, electrical currents, and a lot of practice.
Upcoming events at the Neon Museum include pop-up dinners featuring local chefs, craft nights, and the exciting plans leading up to the 100th anniversary of Route 66. The museum is more than just a gallery; it's a community hub where art and science collide. It's a space where kids and adults alike can explore the wonders of neon and its impact on culture. So, whether you’re a local or just passing through, the Neon Museum of St. Louis is a must-visit destination that promises to light up your path with creativity and color.
[00:00] Introduction to the Neon Museum of St. Louis
[00:53] Route 66 and Its Historical Significance
[02:36] Meet Deborah Katon: Executive Director of the Neon Museum
[05:23] The Art and Science of Neon
[17:07] Neon Museum Exhibits and Events
[24:02] Exploring the Kaleidoscope Exhibit
[24:32] Science and Art for Kids
[25:37] Museum Tours and Hours
[26:21] Route 66 Centennial and Neon Clocks
[27:16] Better Rate Mortgage Ad
[28:00] Welcome Core Initiative
[28:54] Back to St. Louis In Tune
[30:25] Jokes and Fun Facts
[33:48] Thought to Ponder
[37:46] Favorite Museums Discussion
[39:20] Conclusion and Thank You
Takeaways:
- The Neon Museum of St. Louis is a vibrant intersection of art, history, and science, showcasing the beauty of neon signs along historic Route 66.
- Deborah Katon, the executive director, started the museum after a pop-up gallery that highlighted local artists' neon works, transforming it into a beloved community space.
- Neon signs, made from noble gases like neon and argon, involve a fascinating process of glassblowing, tube bending, and high-voltage electricity to bring them to life.
- As neon art evolves, the museum embraces both traditional techniques and contemporary styles, fostering a community of artists dedicated to this unique medium.
- The upcoming centennial celebration of Route 66 in 2026 positions the Neon Museum as a key player in preserving this iconic American highway's legacy.
- Craft nights and pop-up dinners at the museum provide fun, engaging ways for the community to connect with art and culture, making it a lively hub for creativity.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you want the intersectionof art, history and science, you
must go to the neon Museum ofSt. Louis on historic Route 66. The
Neon Highway. We're going totalk about the neon Museum of St.
Louis on St. Louis in Tune.Welcome to St. Louis in Tune. And
(00:29):
thank you for joining us forfresh perspectives on issues and
events with experts, communityleaders, and everyday people who
make a difference in shapingour society and world. I'm Arnold
Stricker along with co hostMark Langston.
Hey, you're the host with the most.
Oh, the root or the route?
Oh, here we go.
I know, Route 66.
(00:49):
That's right.
We had that conversation whenwe talked about the book. Route 66,
right?
Yeah, yeah. I think it'scommon to say Route 66. In the. In
my broadcast journalism class,it was a point of discussion. It
should be route or root. And Ithink actually it's root, but it's
evolved into route.
(01:11):
And we just discovered beforethe show went on that the hundredth
anniversary next year and thedate was significant. That's what
we discovered. It's November11, 1926 was when Route 66 was established.
November 11th being Armistice Day.
Wow. And you mentionedsomething about the 11th. What's
(01:32):
the elevens?
Yeah, it's the 11th day of the11th month and at 11 o' clock was
when World War I ended.
Wow. A lot of 11 there. Yeah.That is crazy. Now with Route 66,
was that when did they cut theribbon or was it. Was it when the
concept of the road wasannounced and we're gonna. We're
(01:53):
gonna build this road. Thismight be a trick question, but. And
it doesn't really matter, but we're.
Going to build this route onrock and roll.
Okay.
Okay.
That sounds right. Soundsperfect to me.
We're glad that you joined ustoday, folks. We want to thank our
sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage,for their support of the show. You
can listen to previousshows@stlintune.com please help us
(02:16):
continue to grow by leaving areview on our website, stlandtune.com,
apple Podcasts, or yourpreferred podcast platform. We're
going to skip our thought toponder right now, Mark, because our
guest is. She's just glow withneon. And Deborah Katon is the executive
director of the neon Museum ofSt. Louis. Deborah, welcome to St.
(02:37):
Louis in Tune.
Thank you for having me today, Mark.
Last night I know you weren'table to make it, but last night I
went to the museum and Deborahgave me a tour and I was just fascinated
by all of the things that youhave in there related to neon. So
how did this all get started?
I am a sculptor and one of thematerials I use for my pieces is
(03:00):
neon. And I had some largeworks that needed to be hung and
then had this idea we shouldhave a pop up gallery and showcase
neon works from all theartists in the St. Louis area. And
13 of us got together and hada pop up gallery at a building on
(03:20):
Route 66 which is now the NeonMuseum. It took about a year to transform
into the museum with a lot ofhelp from other artists and enthusiasts
around. So now we've beenthere for almost three years.
Because you've been. Youstarted out what, glassblowing?
(03:41):
Yes. Glass has been one of mymain materials since undergrad and
through grad school and thenthrough working at atomic neon and
glass and teaching neon andhad taught a lot of glass classes
at Craft alliance before that.
So.
So you've done a lot ofteaching with that. And why glass?
What was the why that mediumnumber one.
(04:03):
There's some of us heat. Welike summer and hot. And you get
addicted to standing in frontof that. That's with the glass blowing.
And then I, my work gotsmaller and started doing torch work.
Okay.
And then from there I went tothe tube bending, which I thought
was going to be just an easytransition. And it was a bit humbling
(04:23):
having to learn that new skill.
Yeah. What's different about that?
We have different torches, thetube bending and when we blow in
it, we just have a little blowhose that we. With a little glass
tip in our mouth that goesinto the tube with a cork. So when
you do a bend, when the glassgets soft, it moves. You don't want
(04:44):
it to collapse on itself, soyou give little tiny puffs of air.
Oh my. Just knowing how muchair to blow in. There has got to
be a talent.
Yeah. If you blow too much,which is very common when you're
beginning, it makes a reallythin, tiny bubble of glass that then
shatters and sprinkles, whichis something you don't want to breathe.
(05:06):
Oh. Oh.
It's beautiful when it getsbig and transparent.
Yeah.
Not when it explodes though.
No, we don't. No exploding.No, please, no.
So neon. Explain neon to us.
So neon is one of the noblegases and we use mostly neon and
(05:27):
argon gas, sometimes kryptonand xenon. But we call everything
neon, no matter what gas we'reusing inside.
And a noble gas is a gas thatcan't be mixed with another gas.
It's called an inert gas.
Okay.
And so yeah, it doesn'tcombine. And when you light them
(05:48):
up, they exhibit differentproperties, different colors. And
there's helium, neon, argon,krypton, xenon and radon will kill
you and comes up from theearth, so we don't use that. Helium
is the one gas that'sextracted from the earth, so it's
(06:10):
a non renewable resource,which I find very interesting. And
the other gases are extractedfrom air and we buy them in like
6 inch bulbs that get mailedto us from. The magic of extracting
individual gases from air.
How in the world does that happen?
Yeah, this is. That's crazy. Crazy.
(06:31):
A lot of physics, a lot ofscience goes into the whole neon
making process. So there's theglass part, then there's the mad
science part, and then there'syour high voltage electricity part.
Yeah, I've got a questionabout that one coming up here.
I never really understood. Soit's the gases that make the neon
(06:53):
glow.
Correct. And the colors insidethe tubing. If it's a clear tube,
it's a red neon. If it's aclear tube, it's the blue argon.
The rest of the tubes, almostall are phosphor coated on the inside.
I showed you that. How theylook white until you light them up
and then they glow different colors.
So you put the gas in and thenyou have to plug it.
(07:13):
Everything is hermeticallysealed by flame. So when you melt
it together, no air, no gascan get out.
I'll be darned.
And then to electrify it, youput a. You were showing me that there's
a little.
While we're working, there's apiece at the ends called an electrode
where the electricity canenter. There's wires that come out,
(07:37):
still sealed, so no gas getsout. And before you seal everything
up, there's a little tube thatcomes out of one of those electrodes.
It's a tubulated electrode andthat gets melted onto the manifold
where your neon piece thengets bombarded with high electricity
to make a vacuum. And you needthe vacuum so you can then fill it
(07:59):
with the gases that you want.And there's little. Which is like
hot and cold, but insteadthey're neon, argon or air, things
like that. Another whole skill set.
Wow. It's just.
It's not like buying a set ofpaints and a canvas.
No.
And going to it.
Yeah.
This is really intricate.
(08:20):
It is, yeah.
The thing that I think got mewas the electricity and the amount
of electricity that it takes.And you have to have a Transformer.
Yeah. The neon all runs on atransformer. Small neon. Like your
little clocks. They'll run onthose little packets that just plugs
for the wall that are likesmaller voltage. But neon runs on
(08:41):
high voltage. And because theway the neon bombards, the way the
electricity bombards thegases. We are big sign hanging in
the window. The neon Museum ofSt. Louis. We have four transformers
running that in four sections.And we have a 15,000 volt and some
(09:02):
12,000 volts.
Wow.
And so we cover everythingwith what we call little booties.
Safety to cover whatever is live.
I can understand. And youdon't want to break neon while it's
being electrified, do you?
You don't want to break neonever because the gas goes right into
(09:23):
the air. Right back to theair. And then you can't repair that.
You'd have. You could repairit. But it has to be refilled. The
ends have to come off. Newends on. It's another long process.
That's why getting your neonrepaired is not an inexpensive process.
Wow. I was.
(09:45):
Oh yeah, yeah. It's all good.It's all worth it.
It reminded me a little offluorescent lights that you're not
supposed to break either. Thatthey have a gas in them.
Correct.
I don't know what kind of gasit is.
Not a good one.
Not a good one.
No.
You're not going to inhale it.But a very similar kind of concept
too. Because those havetransformers too. Or on. On the ends
(10:05):
of it. But it's not that high voltage.
Correct. Remember, neon waswhat we had first. It was invented
in the 1910s and it's pretty spectacular.
My next question was when didall neon start? I didn't.
It started in the 1910s and itevolved on the neon highway with
the usage of the automobile.Because people needed signage to
(10:28):
see where to stop for food andgas. And then hence our Route 66
with our little byways throughSt. Louis. Because the roads were
ever changing and improving.But the neon as well was evolving.
Artists started using neonjust because it was a new material.
So there's a long history ofneon art of the times. Different
(10:53):
neon artists have differentstyles. So it's regional. When you
go to different places aroundthe country. You can see how somebody
bends and like what theircurves look like.
Interesting.
Does the. Does one of theseartists pieces last a long time?
How can the neon will lastuntil you break it?
(11:16):
Okay.
As long. And so we have piecesin the museum. There's a piece on
one of the artists work. KenStahl's piece outdoors. And you could
tell it's over 100 years oldbecause of the kind of tape that
they used on it. It was madeout of a fiberglass. And it was used
(11:37):
as a what we call a blackoutwhere you don't want to see those
areas of the neon becausethey'll be distracting. In a word,
because the glass is allconnected. We use the blackout paint
now. We don't use that. Sothings like that help us age things
and photographs. And I thinkthe longest light bulb that's ever
been lit, which is likesomewhere small town in US has been
(12:00):
114 years.
Wow.
The old time neon signs, theywere just like one continuous piece.
They all are. Because neon,the way it works, it's on a circuit.
Okay.
So you always have twoelectrodes, one on each end. The
electricity goes through one,goes all around the other. Because
the way it bombards the first,electron bombards the second, electron
(12:25):
bombards the third. So Iforget the question now.
No, that it's one continuouspiece of words.
Yes. So when you're makingwords or letters, it's one continuous
piece. So there's differentlevels of it. There's the backside
you don't see and then thefront side. And that's flat. That's
your word. Yeah, it'scontinuous. That's why if you break
(12:47):
it, you have to do the wholeword Unless it's an individual letter
or individual pieces.
So there's a flat side tothat. I didn't realize that that
was all.
Round to neon text. There is,yes. And sign. So the front is flat
and then the back goes back acouple inches with your bends. And
the bends are there becauseyou have to keep it all connected
(13:09):
or else you'll have a mess. Astraight line with 2.
Do they automate manual whenthey make these? And I love that
an artist can. You can blowthe glass and do it all by hand.
Are they doing any automated.
No, this is all handmade.
So if I see something in a barfor some beer and a lot of the. Somebody's
(13:29):
made that.
A lot of the commercial signsare being made overseas. You can
still buy commercial neon. Alot of it's coming from China. It's
good work. The transformers,I've heard are iffy on that, like
how long they'll last. If youwant your neon repaired, you have
to go to one of the places Ithink there is to people that are
(13:50):
doing it in St. Louis again,I've got to meet all the neon people
around town. And people haveput work into different Shows.
It's amazing. And it reallyshows the skill level. If you're
writing a word and it's onecontinuous thing and you've got to
do all these curves. You wereshowing me some patterns last night
(14:12):
of some things that peoplewould. How they would figure out
what to do.
We work on the patterns. Allof the neon benders work on a flat
pattern with a screen on topso the paper doesn't burn. It's been
drawn out. We have circles andlines. Tells us where to bend, tells
us how it connects, tells uswhere the beginning and the end of
(14:33):
your piece is to where. Sothat's where you put your electrodes.
Your pattern will have whichpieces are separate. So for the neon
Museum of St. Louis sign, theletters in the Neon Museum are all
separate, but of St. Louis isthree different words. So that would
all have been drawn out. Andso the bender would know exactly
(14:56):
where to bend it. And now ifsomething were need repair, they
would go back to the originalpattern so that they can bend it.
Because everything is then puton. Assembly is a whole other thing
with the neon because it'sdifferent levels. So we use things
called standoffs. Because itcan't really sit flat unless it's
(15:19):
a flat piece, which there are.So you have to elevate it from the
background. You have to secureit. You'll see bar signs are made
with structures like littlesteel grid systems. Some people work
on plexi as a way to do it.And my work is. My work is freeform.
I don't bend on the screen. Iam a sculptor. So I make parts and
(15:41):
bend in the air and assemble.And then they're used as pieces,
hanging chandeliers or insculptures. So I don't always need
to use that. But we havedifferent wire that you use. So we
use something called GTO tohook up our electricity. Again because
(16:04):
of the voltage that's going init. So different materials.
And the bill must be high tocharge all these things and keep
these things lit at home.
I leave a bunch of money onlit all the time. Probably seven
pieces, smaller pieces. Butonce you get as many pieces as we
now have in the museum on, weeven have things on rotation. I told
(16:28):
you there's this thing calledmath. So, you know, you times the
amount of neon times five, andthat's what you do to your bill.
So.
Oh, my.
A fact of life. So we don'tkeep the lights on all the time.
We turn them off at night whenwe keep always our sign on and some
(16:52):
pieces on. But we're lookingfor grants and sponsors for things
like solar so that we can keepthe lights on more, charge them up.
We're talking to DeborahCaton. She is the executive director
of the neon Museum of St.Louis. And folks, you can go to neonmuseumstl.com
neon museumstl.com and youwere located on Choteau. And what
(17:18):
is that?
30, 35, 37 Choteau.
3537 Choteau, just east of theintersection of grand and Choteau.
35, 30, 37.
Correct.
And you have talk about,you've mentioned a little bit that
you have things that themuseum owns and then you have some
artists who are displayingworks. And let's discuss some of
(17:41):
the things because I was. Youhave a huge sign from grand center
down there that's justmagnificent. And there's a little
key to the vacancy, no vacancylittle thing that's on top of it.
So we were donated the museumwas a set of the park signs that
(18:02):
were from grand center, theKransberg Arts, they donated the
set of orange park signs tothe museum. So we have the smaller
of the park signs, which isstill about 14ft long, hanging in
the museum with the no vacancysign up at the top. When somebody's
(18:22):
in our restroom and they turnthe light on, the no goes on for
no vacancy, which they can'tsee and probably most people don't
know happens. But that's veryentertaining for us. So, yeah, we
have signs that have beendonated. We have a lot of things
on loan. We have a lot ofthings for sale, all of the artwork,
(18:45):
the contemporary work. Andwe're showing work now from around
the country. So we haveartists in there now from the east
coast as well as from theMidwest. All of their work is for
sale. And soon you can lookand see more on our website.
Right.
As we get more sale things putup. And you can also see the work
(19:09):
on our social media.
And you just don't have. It'sjust not a museum. You do other kinds
of things there. And you'regoing to be coming up with some activities
coming up.
Yes. So we try and get thelight out, make the world a brighter
place, one happy visitor at atime. That's our motto. That's our
(19:29):
mission statement, actually.So coming up, we're going to be doing
some craft nights. They're thelast Tuesday of each month. And we
have a watercolor onehappening and then an ink on paper.
I believe they'll be doing acollage one. And I think they may
even Be doing a Shrinky Dinkcraft night.
What's a Shrinky Dink?
(19:50):
Shrinky Dinks. When you'rekids, you draw in this plastic and
then you put it in the ovenand it shrinks down very small, about
a fifth of the size.
Love it.
Yeah, it's just a throwback.
Yeah.
Yeah, Sounds like fun.
We're also going to be doing.We have some. It's called our Neon
Elixir Pop up dinners. Andit's a kind of local celebrity chef
(20:12):
named Colleen Claussen.
And.
And she is the chef atMilquetoast on Jefferson. But so
she'll be doing some pop updinners again until the end of the
year. So there'll be threemore coming up. And all of our events
are through Eventbrite.
I was going to mention that.And folks, you want to go to Eventbrite
to check that out, just plugin the search engine. Neon Museum
(20:34):
of St. Louis. So that craftnight is Tuesday, September 30, 7pm
Then there's one Tuesday,October 28, and the Elixir November
1. That's a Saturday eveningat 6:30pm I had a question related
to. Gosh, where is it? Howneon. Yeah, that's exactly right,
(20:59):
Mark. Yeah. Yeah, we'regetting ready for double jeopardy
here. How neon has evolved. Doartists. I'm sure the purists still
use the same kind oftechniques. Maybe the transformers
are a little different. Buthave people. As the media move forward,
(21:21):
I know we see these stringlights now that are used.
String lights are all led.They're less expensive and less fragile.
And I think they're wonderfulbecause they're adding more color
to the world. And everybodyneeds that because color induces
dopamine and makes us relaxedand calm like you would be in a bar
(21:42):
surrounded by neon. Butthere's something spectacular and
magical about real neon. Whenthe electricity goes through and
makes that plasma makes ourfourth form of matter, people. And
you can really feel it.
Yeah, she's got this plasmathing there that's just.
I love this.
It's wild. Yeah, it's wild.
(22:04):
Yeah, it's. Are there manyartists that do this?
That there are artists aroundthe world and I am assuming it's
a smaller community on, on oursocial media, on the Instagram and
the Facebook. And then ifanybody comes through town, everyone
wants to share knowledge andsee everyone else's studios. And
we get people coming fromaround the world through the museum.
(22:27):
We have a nice connection. Nowa gentleman from Canada and he made
a plasma xylophone that I'veyet to see. But one of the things
that we're working on, we havedifferent exhibitions and different
openings is to do a plasmaexhibition and kind of introduce
people to that. And plasma isreally affect what happens when you
(22:50):
put these gases and light themup in a larger container than the
tube. Because technically alllit neon is plasma.
I'll be darned. Are there any classes?
Yes. If anybody's interestedin learning neon as a profession
or even for fun, they call themuseum. Then I can give them the
(23:11):
information on who to go to.
And that number folks is314-585-0538. That's 314-585-0538.
The website again is neonmuseumstl.com neon museum stl and
the museum. I just want togive this background. Founded in
(23:32):
2022 was just a pop up andthen grew into this permanent museum.
I there's a schnook signthere, Mark. There's this rhinoceros,
neon rhinoceros in there. It'sjust magnificent.
I love it.
Thank you.
I saw some photographs of it.Very interesting. Really an interesting
(23:53):
place. I'm sorry I missed thetour, but I will be there to take
a look at it all. There's thatkaleidoscope. Is it a kaleidoscope?
Yeah, we have, we call it ourresident kaleidoscope. And it's a
real kind of fun, exciting wayto see that there's more than meets
the eye and everybody smileswhen they see their picture taken
(24:14):
through it.
Yeah, I love it. I've got myface just kaleidoscoped around.
Helps keep the rodents away.His face does.
I didn't break the mirrors.
No, we have a picture behindthe desk here. Keeps all the bugs
away.
Is this a place for kids?
It's not a place for toddlersor kids that are going to touch things.
(24:35):
It's a place for kids that areinterested in science, if they're
interested in art and if theyjust love color. So of course you
don't want to touch anything.We have stanchions but yeah, we do
get middle schoolers and highschoolers. And that's another thing
(24:57):
we're starting is doingbringing in the high schoolers for
education because we touch onall of these topics and how they
intermix and how nothing isseparate. And so that's coming up.
Yeah, I got in there and shewas, she whipped out the periodical
table.
I was like, you're in trouble.
(25:18):
I am in trouble. I'mperiodically in trouble, especially
that that time. Thank you forcoming in and talking about this.
Thank you for having me. And Ihope everyone takes the time to come
visit us. You need to checkour hours.
What are your hours? Yeah.
So for tours, we are openevery second and fourth week of the
(25:39):
month on Wednesday andSaturday night. And we give tours
every half hour during thattime starting at 6:45. We open at
6:30. And then we have otheropportunities that we talked about
to come and see the museum.The different and also people, they
(25:59):
can come and rent the space orhave private tours. Again, everything
is on the website or they cancall. So we have different ways to
reach different demographics.
And you'd like to gear it upfor the hundredth anniversary, Correct?
Oh, that's very exciting. Sobecause we're on Route 66, we've
(26:20):
been very involved with thecentennial coming up, the hundredth
year anniversary of Route 66and the fact that we are the only
neon museum directly on theneon highway as I think it's pretty.
Special for St. Louis, theneon highway and the clocks. She
has a collection of clocks.Neon clocks. Oh, it's cool. It's
(26:43):
really cool.
It's very neat. Very neat.
Thanks for coming on, Deborah.
Thank you guys.
We're gonna take a brief breakand don't go away, folks. This is
Arnold Stricker with MarkLangston of St. Louis and Tomb. We'll
be right back. As strange asit may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage,
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Tickle in those ivories.
Welcome back to St. Louis inTune. That's Mark Langston on the
other microphone and he'sdoing. He's playing air piano. There's.
That's right. Tickle in theivories. I love it.
There you go.
This guy's good.
Now you're playing air guitar.
He's jamming.
This is Bob. Bertha Cell.
Yeah.
(29:09):
Ought to talk to Bob sometime.
What a concept. That'd be great.
Bob, we're playing your. We'replaying the theme song like all the
time.
So come on in. I know you gota lot of jokes. I've got.
No, you're fine. I appreciateDeborah and what she's doing there.
It's a 501C3, a non profitmuseum and folks, if you get an opportunity,
(29:32):
go down there. We have a lotof museums in St. Louis and this
is one worth going to. Andbecause you do have science, you
have art, you have history.And she is very knowledgeable. She
does some work. There's a lotof artists work that is displayed
there. You can purchase it.Some of it's like just on loan for
display and. But it's history.I was watching this one clock and
(29:56):
so that is the coolest clock.Like the neon thing goes around and
I remember seeing those atthis will. This will date me. Filling
stations where somebody usedto come out and fill the tank and
wipe the windows too.
And check my oil.
Yes, and check the oil too. Yeah.
And some of the other fluids.The fluid. Yeah. I know it's crazy.
(30:18):
Got some crazy days that aretoday. Or crazy what is today is
go with your gut day. Do youever go with your gut?
Sometimes.
Oh, you're too educated to gowith your gut?
No, but you got to trust your instincts.
You do. And I don't thinkfolks trust their instincts as much
as they should. Let's see.Education Technology Day, International
(30:43):
Day of Sign Language. Do youknow any sign language?
I do, just very. And what'sinteresting about sign language is
every country has a different set.
What?
It's not one universal thing.Yeah. I was like, you go to another
country and they're not goingto understand what you're saying
so when I was.
A Cubmaster, that's one thing.We teach the kids how to do the ABCs
(31:07):
in sign language.
This is. Thank you.
Yeah, but we don't do the.Yeah, the. You're doing the gestures
for folks that can't see.Yeah, that. That mean things. We
just did the things with thefingers. Okay. So my name is Mark.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
So we could do that. NationalApple Cider Vinegar. They said that's
good for you.
Do you drink that every day?
(31:28):
No, but I should. NationalCheckers Day. When was the last time
you played checkers?
I haven't played checkers fora long time.
You should be playing checkerstoday, I'll tell you that. I know
it. I know it. National Dog inPolitics Day. I should read more
about a dog in politics. ThePresident's Head. National Dog in
(31:49):
Politics Day celebrates thefirst dog of the United States. A
FOTUs. They call it FOTUs.
FOTUs.
First Dogus. Who holds animportant place in the hearts of
all American dogs. So I guessthis president that we have now does
not have any animals.
I don't believe he doesn't.
I think most every presidentthat I can think of has had a dog.
(32:14):
Yeah.
Or something like that.
I agree with that.
Restless Legs Awareness Day.National Voter Registration Day is
today.
Restless legs. I had restlesslegs and I got a new mattress and
it seemed to help out.
Is that right?
Yeah, I got one of those wherethey go. Comfort sleep. Comfort.
It wasn't Sleep comfort brand,but it was one of those kind of mattresses,
(32:35):
and it seemed to help out a lot.
Can you adjust the front andthe back? No.
It's not one of them fancypants ones.
Yeah, the fancy pants. I likeit. Seed. Get. Seed gathering day
is today.
And I think that's about seed gathering.
Yeah. Where you gather allsorts of different. Let me see what
you gather. All sorts ofdifferent kinds of seeds. Participating
in seed gathering seasoncelebrates should be. Let's see,
(32:55):
the top of your list. Inautumn. So we're just right. We're
officially, I guess, in autumn now.
We are.
So you go out and. Oh, grabseeds. I've. I do that all the time.
I go out. We have a garden, awild garden, and I'll take some of
the flowers, dry them out alittle bit, get the seeds, and I'll
save them till the next season.
And you throw them out thereand they work. Yeah.
And it works. For me, to makeit work is an amazing thing.
(33:19):
That's pretty good.
Yep. So that's. I'M justtrying to find more things to ask
and say because I'm trying toput you off.
Oh, okay. No, you're fine.You're fine.
I have so many jokes that I'mjust so worried about.
I have a lot, but I can't logon to my Facebook account. So I have
things saved there. But I doreally. I did miss the thought to
ponder because we wanted toget right to our guest and get into
(33:42):
that particular conversation.But our thought to ponder today is
don't watch the clock. Do whatit does. Keep going.
That's good. I like that.
And it's to remind people tobe persistent and focus on moving
forward, not dwelling in thepast or we're freezing in time. You
(34:02):
keep moving.
Can't move.
Yep, Keep moving.
That's a good. That's good advice.
So don't watch the clock. Dowhat it does. Keep moving.
I like that. That's thecurrent studio audience does too.
Yeah, they do. I finally didit, Mark.
Okay.
I bought a new pair of shoeswith memory foam insoles. No more
forgetting why I walked intothe kitchen.
(34:27):
Have you ever done that?
What? Buy new souls?
No.
Yeah, I do that all the time.Like, why don't I come in here? Sometimes
I have to go back to where Iwas and then I know.
I'm starting to do that too.It's a little scary, folks. It is
scary. Okay, go ahead.
Now you will really get thisif you're in St. Louis. If you're
in maybe you will get thiswhere you live around the world.
(34:49):
But in England, they drive onthe left. Where I live, we drive
on what's left?
There you go.
And maybe some of you rememberthe actor who played Ironside and
Perry Mason. His name wasRaymond Burr. He had a lumberjack
(35:09):
brother named Tim.
Oh, my. You really said that,didn't you?
And tonight we're havingHimalayan rabbit stew for dinner.
We found him a laying on the road.
Wow.
(35:30):
And I do know that for theradio station KXOK 1029 FM here in
St. Louis, you can ask whatAlexa to play the station. After
a massive public outcry fromusers believing Alexa was listening
in on their everydayconversations, Amazon has announced
it will be releasing a mailversion as it won't be listening
(35:52):
to anything at all.
Wow.
Then there was this headline,cross eyed teacher loses job. Could
not control her pupils.
Oh, my God. So bad.
(36:14):
And ants never get sick.
No.
They have little antibodies.Now we just, the season's just changed.
We turned to autumn. Or someof you might call it fall.
Yeah. Right.
There's a Halloween coming upat the end of the of October and
(36:35):
the places already have allthe stuff hanging out. Some people
already have their yards fullof stuff.
Yeah.
Anyway, this is something youcould do. Folks dress up as a screwdriver
this Halloween. You're sure toturn a few heads.
Wow. Wow. Oh gosh.
And some, some people arereally hoity toity or they think
(36:58):
they're too big for theirbritches. Stuff like that. No matter
how big and bad you are, whena two year old hands you a toy phone,
you answer it.
Yes, I would say you've got todo that.
You've got to do that.
How would you not see here?And who are you going to talk to?
Yeah, you just do.
Hello?
(37:18):
Hello, I have somebodyimportant on the phone here and I
guess we could close with thisone. Salons always have hair on the
floor. Garages always have oilon the floor. Banks. What's your
problem?
Yeah, yeah, I like that one.That one. We need that. Yeah, but
is their problem. I don't knowwhat is wrong with them.
(37:41):
Folks, what's your favorite museum?
Ah.
Or maybe you have many.
Oh, good question.
Think about that.
Do you have a favorite?
But do I have a favorite?
Wow.
I always judge museums off ofthe Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield.
Oh, very. Oh, what a great museum.
Yeah, great museum.
(38:02):
Actually one of my favorites.That's a good one. I didn't even,
I didn't even.
And a lot of them it's.
If you've never gone to thatmuseum, you should go.
Yeah. It's an hour and a halfeast of St. Louis.
Take the train.
Take the train. Stops right inthe middle of town.
We've taken the train and gonebefore. Yeah, what a great museum
that is.
But some museums don't havethe funding to be able to do some
of the hands on kind ofactivities or the, the you get it
(38:25):
in visual kinds of things. Buttake a check, take a look at, at
the museums we have and herein St. Louis and check them out.
There's a wide variety ofthem, especially the one that we
talked about today, the neonMuseum of St. Louis.
And some of their funding isgetting cut.
Right. Because of, there was alot of kind of government reevaluation
(38:45):
I would say about what are wefunding, why are we funding it? And
they had apparently lost somesupport that they were getting. And
so it's always good to supportthe local folks and see what's going
on. So don't travel toSpringfield. Travel down to 35, 37
Choteau just east of grand andgo to the neon Museum of St. Louis.
(39:05):
Yeah, great. I'm going.
Yeah.
Hope I'll see you there.
It's a good time.
Yeah.
So don't forget you can go toEventbrite, folks, and check out
the activities that they havethere. That's all for this hour.
Mark.
Wow. It's a lot of fun, actually.
It was. And we're glad to haveDeborah Caton on our show. Want to
thank you folks for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you
can listen to additionalshows@stlntune.com consider leaving
(39:28):
a review on our website, ApplePodcast, Podchaser or your preferred
podcast review platform. Yourfeedback helps us reach more listeners
and continue to grow. We'llneed to get Bob Bertha Sell on the
show so we can thank him inperson, but he's our theme music
composer. Want to thank oursponsor, Meta Rate Mortgage, our
guest, Deborah Caton. And Iwant to thank Mark Langston, our
co host. And folks, we thankyou for being a part of our community
(39:49):
of curious minds. St. Louis intune is a production of Motif Media
Group and the US RadioNetwork. Remember to keep seeking,
keep learning, walk worthy andlet your light shine. For St. Louis
in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
(40:30):
Sam.
If you want the intersectionof art, history and science, you
must go to the neon Museum ofSt. Louis on historic Route 66. The
Neon Highway. We're going totalk about the neon Museum of St.
Louis on St. Louis in Tune.Welcome to St. Louis in Tune. And
(00:29):
thank you for joining us forfresh perspectives on issues and
events with experts, communityleaders, and everyday people who
make a difference in shapingour society and world. I'm Arnold
Stricker along with co hostMark Langston.
Hey, you're the host with the most.
Oh, the root or the route?
Oh, here we go.
I know, Route 66.
(00:49):
That's right.
We had that conversation whenwe talked about the book. Route 66,
right?
Yeah, yeah. I think it'scommon to say Route 66. In the. In
my broadcast journalism class,it was a point of discussion. It
should be route or root. And Ithink actually it's root, but it's
evolved into route.
(01:11):
And we just discovered beforethe show went on that the hundredth
anniversary next year and thedate was significant. That's what
we discovered. It's November11, 1926 was when Route 66 was established.
November 11th being Armistice Day.
Wow. And you mentionedsomething about the 11th. What's
(01:32):
the elevens?
Yeah, it's the 11th day of the11th month and at 11 o' clock was
when World War I ended.
Wow. A lot of 11 there. Yeah.That is crazy. Now with Route 66,
was that when did they cut theribbon or was it. Was it when the
concept of the road wasannounced and we're gonna. We're
(01:53):
gonna build this road. Thismight be a trick question, but. And
it doesn't really matter, but we're.
Going to build this route onrock and roll.
Okay.
Okay.
That sounds right. Soundsperfect to me.
We're glad that you joined ustoday, folks. We want to thank our
sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage,for their support of the show. You
can listen to previousshows@stlintune.com please help us
(02:16):
continue to grow by leaving areview on our website, stlandtune.com,
apple Podcasts, or yourpreferred podcast platform. We're
going to skip our thought toponder right now, Mark, because our
guest is. She's just glow withneon. And Deborah Katon is the executive
director of the neon Museum ofSt. Louis. Deborah, welcome to St.
(02:37):
Louis in Tune.
Thank you for having me today, Mark.
Last night I know you weren'table to make it, but last night I
went to the museum and Deborahgave me a tour and I was just fascinated
by all of the things that youhave in there related to neon. So
how did this all get started?
I am a sculptor and one of thematerials I use for my pieces is
(03:00):
neon. And I had some largeworks that needed to be hung and
then had this idea we shouldhave a pop up gallery and showcase
neon works from all theartists in the St. Louis area. And
13 of us got together and hada pop up gallery at a building on
(03:20):
Route 66 which is now the NeonMuseum. It took about a year to transform
into the museum with a lot ofhelp from other artists and enthusiasts
around. So now we've beenthere for almost three years.
Because you've been. Youstarted out what, glassblowing?
(03:41):
Yes. Glass has been one of mymain materials since undergrad and
through grad school and thenthrough working at atomic neon and
glass and teaching neon andhad taught a lot of glass classes
at Craft alliance before that.
So.
So you've done a lot ofteaching with that. And why glass?
What was the why that mediumnumber one.
(04:03):
There's some of us heat. Welike summer and hot. And you get
addicted to standing in frontof that. That's with the glass blowing.
And then I, my work gotsmaller and started doing torch work.
Okay.
And then from there I went tothe tube bending, which I thought
was going to be just an easytransition. And it was a bit humbling
(04:23):
having to learn that new skill.
Yeah. What's different about that?
We have different torches, thetube bending and when we blow in
it, we just have a little blowhose that we. With a little glass
tip in our mouth that goesinto the tube with a cork. So when
you do a bend, when the glassgets soft, it moves. You don't want
(04:44):
it to collapse on itself, soyou give little tiny puffs of air.
Oh my. Just knowing how muchair to blow in. There has got to
be a talent.
Yeah. If you blow too much,which is very common when you're
beginning, it makes a reallythin, tiny bubble of glass that then
shatters and sprinkles, whichis something you don't want to breathe.
(05:06):
Oh. Oh.
It's beautiful when it getsbig and transparent.
Yeah.
Not when it explodes though.
No, we don't. No exploding.No, please, no.
So neon. Explain neon to us.
So neon is one of the noblegases and we use mostly neon and
(05:27):
argon gas, sometimes kryptonand xenon. But we call everything
neon, no matter what gas we'reusing inside.
And a noble gas is a gas thatcan't be mixed with another gas.
It's called an inert gas.
Okay.
And so yeah, it doesn'tcombine. And when you light them
(05:48):
up, they exhibit differentproperties, different colors. And
there's helium, neon, argon,krypton, xenon and radon will kill
you and comes up from theearth, so we don't use that. Helium
is the one gas that'sextracted from the earth, so it's
(06:10):
a non renewable resource,which I find very interesting. And
the other gases are extractedfrom air and we buy them in like
6 inch bulbs that get mailedto us from. The magic of extracting
individual gases from air.
How in the world does that happen?
Yeah, this is. That's crazy. Crazy.
(06:31):
A lot of physics, a lot ofscience goes into the whole neon
making process. So there's theglass part, then there's the mad
science part, and then there'syour high voltage electricity part.
Yeah, I've got a questionabout that one coming up here.
I never really understood. Soit's the gases that make the neon
(06:53):
glow.
Correct. And the colors insidethe tubing. If it's a clear tube,
it's a red neon. If it's aclear tube, it's the blue argon.
The rest of the tubes, almostall are phosphor coated on the inside.
I showed you that. How theylook white until you light them up
and then they glow different colors.
So you put the gas in and thenyou have to plug it.
(07:13):
Everything is hermeticallysealed by flame. So when you melt
it together, no air, no gascan get out.
I'll be darned.
And then to electrify it, youput a. You were showing me that there's
a little.
While we're working, there's apiece at the ends called an electrode
where the electricity canenter. There's wires that come out,
(07:37):
still sealed, so no gas getsout. And before you seal everything
up, there's a little tube thatcomes out of one of those electrodes.
It's a tubulated electrode andthat gets melted onto the manifold
where your neon piece thengets bombarded with high electricity
to make a vacuum. And you needthe vacuum so you can then fill it
(07:59):
with the gases that you want.And there's little. Which is like
hot and cold, but insteadthey're neon, argon or air, things
like that. Another whole skill set.
Wow. It's just.
It's not like buying a set ofpaints and a canvas.
No.
And going to it.
Yeah.
This is really intricate.
(08:20):
It is, yeah.
The thing that I think got mewas the electricity and the amount
of electricity that it takes.And you have to have a Transformer.
Yeah. The neon all runs on atransformer. Small neon. Like your
little clocks. They'll run onthose little packets that just plugs
for the wall that are likesmaller voltage. But neon runs on
(08:41):
high voltage. And because theway the neon bombards, the way the
electricity bombards thegases. We are big sign hanging in
the window. The neon Museum ofSt. Louis. We have four transformers
running that in four sections.And we have a 15,000 volt and some
(09:02):
12,000 volts.
Wow.
And so we cover everythingwith what we call little booties.
Safety to cover whatever is live.
I can understand. And youdon't want to break neon while it's
being electrified, do you?
You don't want to break neonever because the gas goes right into
(09:23):
the air. Right back to theair. And then you can't repair that.
You'd have. You could repairit. But it has to be refilled. The
ends have to come off. Newends on. It's another long process.
That's why getting your neonrepaired is not an inexpensive process.
Wow. I was.
(09:45):
Oh yeah, yeah. It's all good.It's all worth it.
It reminded me a little offluorescent lights that you're not
supposed to break either. Thatthey have a gas in them.
Correct.
I don't know what kind of gasit is.
Not a good one.
Not a good one.
No.
You're not going to inhale it.But a very similar kind of concept
too. Because those havetransformers too. Or on. On the ends
(10:05):
of it. But it's not that high voltage.
Correct. Remember, neon waswhat we had first. It was invented
in the 1910s and it's pretty spectacular.
My next question was when didall neon start? I didn't.
It started in the 1910s and itevolved on the neon highway with
the usage of the automobile.Because people needed signage to
(10:28):
see where to stop for food andgas. And then hence our Route 66
with our little byways throughSt. Louis. Because the roads were
ever changing and improving.But the neon as well was evolving.
Artists started using neonjust because it was a new material.
So there's a long history ofneon art of the times. Different
(10:53):
neon artists have differentstyles. So it's regional. When you
go to different places aroundthe country. You can see how somebody
bends and like what theircurves look like.
Interesting.
Does the. Does one of theseartists pieces last a long time?
How can the neon will lastuntil you break it?
(11:16):
Okay.
As long. And so we have piecesin the museum. There's a piece on
one of the artists work. KenStahl's piece outdoors. And you could
tell it's over 100 years oldbecause of the kind of tape that
they used on it. It was madeout of a fiberglass. And it was used
(11:37):
as a what we call a blackoutwhere you don't want to see those
areas of the neon becausethey'll be distracting. In a word,
because the glass is allconnected. We use the blackout paint
now. We don't use that. Sothings like that help us age things
and photographs. And I thinkthe longest light bulb that's ever
been lit, which is likesomewhere small town in US has been
(12:00):
114 years.
Wow.
The old time neon signs, theywere just like one continuous piece.
They all are. Because neon,the way it works, it's on a circuit.
Okay.
So you always have twoelectrodes, one on each end. The
electricity goes through one,goes all around the other. Because
the way it bombards the first,electron bombards the second, electron
(12:25):
bombards the third. So Iforget the question now.
No, that it's one continuouspiece of words.
Yes. So when you're makingwords or letters, it's one continuous
piece. So there's differentlevels of it. There's the backside
you don't see and then thefront side. And that's flat. That's
your word. Yeah, it'scontinuous. That's why if you break
(12:47):
it, you have to do the wholeword Unless it's an individual letter
or individual pieces.
So there's a flat side tothat. I didn't realize that that
was all.
Round to neon text. There is,yes. And sign. So the front is flat
and then the back goes back acouple inches with your bends. And
the bends are there becauseyou have to keep it all connected
(13:09):
or else you'll have a mess. Astraight line with 2.
Do they automate manual whenthey make these? And I love that
an artist can. You can blowthe glass and do it all by hand.
Are they doing any automated.
No, this is all handmade.
So if I see something in a barfor some beer and a lot of the. Somebody's
(13:29):
made that.
A lot of the commercial signsare being made overseas. You can
still buy commercial neon. Alot of it's coming from China. It's
good work. The transformers,I've heard are iffy on that, like
how long they'll last. If youwant your neon repaired, you have
to go to one of the places Ithink there is to people that are
(13:50):
doing it in St. Louis again,I've got to meet all the neon people
around town. And people haveput work into different Shows.
It's amazing. And it reallyshows the skill level. If you're
writing a word and it's onecontinuous thing and you've got to
do all these curves. You wereshowing me some patterns last night
(14:12):
of some things that peoplewould. How they would figure out
what to do.
We work on the patterns. Allof the neon benders work on a flat
pattern with a screen on topso the paper doesn't burn. It's been
drawn out. We have circles andlines. Tells us where to bend, tells
us how it connects, tells uswhere the beginning and the end of
(14:33):
your piece is to where. Sothat's where you put your electrodes.
Your pattern will have whichpieces are separate. So for the neon
Museum of St. Louis sign, theletters in the Neon Museum are all
separate, but of St. Louis isthree different words. So that would
all have been drawn out. Andso the bender would know exactly
(14:56):
where to bend it. And now ifsomething were need repair, they
would go back to the originalpattern so that they can bend it.
Because everything is then puton. Assembly is a whole other thing
with the neon because it'sdifferent levels. So we use things
called standoffs. Because itcan't really sit flat unless it's
(15:19):
a flat piece, which there are.So you have to elevate it from the
background. You have to secureit. You'll see bar signs are made
with structures like littlesteel grid systems. Some people work
on plexi as a way to do it.And my work is. My work is freeform.
I don't bend on the screen. Iam a sculptor. So I make parts and
(15:41):
bend in the air and assemble.And then they're used as pieces,
hanging chandeliers or insculptures. So I don't always need
to use that. But we havedifferent wire that you use. So we
use something called GTO tohook up our electricity. Again because
(16:04):
of the voltage that's going init. So different materials.
And the bill must be high tocharge all these things and keep
these things lit at home.
I leave a bunch of money onlit all the time. Probably seven
pieces, smaller pieces. Butonce you get as many pieces as we
now have in the museum on, weeven have things on rotation. I told
(16:28):
you there's this thing calledmath. So, you know, you times the
amount of neon times five, andthat's what you do to your bill.
So.
Oh, my.
A fact of life. So we don'tkeep the lights on all the time.
We turn them off at night whenwe keep always our sign on and some
(16:52):
pieces on. But we're lookingfor grants and sponsors for things
like solar so that we can keepthe lights on more, charge them up.
We're talking to DeborahCaton. She is the executive director
of the neon Museum of St.Louis. And folks, you can go to neonmuseumstl.com
neon museumstl.com and youwere located on Choteau. And what
(17:18):
is that?
30, 35, 37 Choteau.
3537 Choteau, just east of theintersection of grand and Choteau.
35, 30, 37.
Correct.
And you have talk about,you've mentioned a little bit that
you have things that themuseum owns and then you have some
artists who are displayingworks. And let's discuss some of
(17:41):
the things because I was. Youhave a huge sign from grand center
down there that's justmagnificent. And there's a little
key to the vacancy, no vacancylittle thing that's on top of it.
So we were donated the museumwas a set of the park signs that
(18:02):
were from grand center, theKransberg Arts, they donated the
set of orange park signs tothe museum. So we have the smaller
of the park signs, which isstill about 14ft long, hanging in
the museum with the no vacancysign up at the top. When somebody's
(18:22):
in our restroom and they turnthe light on, the no goes on for
no vacancy, which they can'tsee and probably most people don't
know happens. But that's veryentertaining for us. So, yeah, we
have signs that have beendonated. We have a lot of things
on loan. We have a lot ofthings for sale, all of the artwork,
(18:45):
the contemporary work. Andwe're showing work now from around
the country. So we haveartists in there now from the east
coast as well as from theMidwest. All of their work is for
sale. And soon you can lookand see more on our website.
Right.
As we get more sale things putup. And you can also see the work
(19:09):
on our social media.
And you just don't have. It'sjust not a museum. You do other kinds
of things there. And you'regoing to be coming up with some activities
coming up.
Yes. So we try and get thelight out, make the world a brighter
place, one happy visitor at atime. That's our motto. That's our
(19:29):
mission statement, actually.So coming up, we're going to be doing
some craft nights. They're thelast Tuesday of each month. And we
have a watercolor onehappening and then an ink on paper.
I believe they'll be doing acollage one. And I think they may
even Be doing a Shrinky Dinkcraft night.
What's a Shrinky Dink?
(19:50):
Shrinky Dinks. When you'rekids, you draw in this plastic and
then you put it in the ovenand it shrinks down very small, about
a fifth of the size.
Love it.
Yeah, it's just a throwback.
Yeah.
Yeah, Sounds like fun.
We're also going to be doing.We have some. It's called our Neon
Elixir Pop up dinners. Andit's a kind of local celebrity chef
(20:12):
named Colleen Claussen.
And.
And she is the chef atMilquetoast on Jefferson. But so
she'll be doing some pop updinners again until the end of the
year. So there'll be threemore coming up. And all of our events
are through Eventbrite.
I was going to mention that.And folks, you want to go to Eventbrite
to check that out, just plugin the search engine. Neon Museum
(20:34):
of St. Louis. So that craftnight is Tuesday, September 30, 7pm
Then there's one Tuesday,October 28, and the Elixir November
1. That's a Saturday eveningat 6:30pm I had a question related
to. Gosh, where is it? Howneon. Yeah, that's exactly right,
(20:59):
Mark. Yeah. Yeah, we'regetting ready for double jeopardy
here. How neon has evolved. Doartists. I'm sure the purists still
use the same kind oftechniques. Maybe the transformers
are a little different. Buthave people. As the media move forward,
(21:21):
I know we see these stringlights now that are used.
String lights are all led.They're less expensive and less fragile.
And I think they're wonderfulbecause they're adding more color
to the world. And everybodyneeds that because color induces
dopamine and makes us relaxedand calm like you would be in a bar
(21:42):
surrounded by neon. Butthere's something spectacular and
magical about real neon. Whenthe electricity goes through and
makes that plasma makes ourfourth form of matter, people. And
you can really feel it.
Yeah, she's got this plasmathing there that's just.
I love this.
It's wild. Yeah, it's wild.
(22:04):
Yeah, it's. Are there manyartists that do this?
That there are artists aroundthe world and I am assuming it's
a smaller community on, on oursocial media, on the Instagram and
the Facebook. And then ifanybody comes through town, everyone
wants to share knowledge andsee everyone else's studios. And
we get people coming fromaround the world through the museum.
(22:27):
We have a nice connection. Nowa gentleman from Canada and he made
a plasma xylophone that I'veyet to see. But one of the things
that we're working on, we havedifferent exhibitions and different
openings is to do a plasmaexhibition and kind of introduce
people to that. And plasma isreally affect what happens when you
(22:50):
put these gases and light themup in a larger container than the
tube. Because technically alllit neon is plasma.
I'll be darned. Are there any classes?
Yes. If anybody's interestedin learning neon as a profession
or even for fun, they call themuseum. Then I can give them the
(23:11):
information on who to go to.
And that number folks is314-585-0538. That's 314-585-0538.
The website again is neonmuseumstl.com neon museum stl and
the museum. I just want togive this background. Founded in
(23:32):
2022 was just a pop up andthen grew into this permanent museum.
I there's a schnook signthere, Mark. There's this rhinoceros,
neon rhinoceros in there. It'sjust magnificent.
I love it.
Thank you.
I saw some photographs of it.Very interesting. Really an interesting
(23:53):
place. I'm sorry I missed thetour, but I will be there to take
a look at it all. There's thatkaleidoscope. Is it a kaleidoscope?
Yeah, we have, we call it ourresident kaleidoscope. And it's a
real kind of fun, exciting wayto see that there's more than meets
the eye and everybody smileswhen they see their picture taken
(24:14):
through it.
Yeah, I love it. I've got myface just kaleidoscoped around.
Helps keep the rodents away.His face does.
I didn't break the mirrors.
No, we have a picture behindthe desk here. Keeps all the bugs
away.
Is this a place for kids?
It's not a place for toddlersor kids that are going to touch things.
(24:35):
It's a place for kids that areinterested in science, if they're
interested in art and if theyjust love color. So of course you
don't want to touch anything.We have stanchions but yeah, we do
get middle schoolers and highschoolers. And that's another thing
(24:57):
we're starting is doingbringing in the high schoolers for
education because we touch onall of these topics and how they
intermix and how nothing isseparate. And so that's coming up.
Yeah, I got in there and shewas, she whipped out the periodical
table.
I was like, you're in trouble.
(25:18):
I am in trouble. I'mperiodically in trouble, especially
that that time. Thank you forcoming in and talking about this.
Thank you for having me. And Ihope everyone takes the time to come
visit us. You need to checkour hours.
What are your hours? Yeah.
So for tours, we are openevery second and fourth week of the
(25:39):
month on Wednesday andSaturday night. And we give tours
every half hour during thattime starting at 6:45. We open at
6:30. And then we have otheropportunities that we talked about
to come and see the museum.The different and also people, they
(25:59):
can come and rent the space orhave private tours. Again, everything
is on the website or they cancall. So we have different ways to
reach different demographics.
And you'd like to gear it upfor the hundredth anniversary, Correct?
Oh, that's very exciting. Sobecause we're on Route 66, we've
(26:20):
been very involved with thecentennial coming up, the hundredth
year anniversary of Route 66and the fact that we are the only
neon museum directly on theneon highway as I think it's pretty.
Special for St. Louis, theneon highway and the clocks. She
has a collection of clocks.Neon clocks. Oh, it's cool. It's
(26:43):
really cool.
It's very neat. Very neat.
Thanks for coming on, Deborah.
Thank you guys.
We're gonna take a brief breakand don't go away, folks. This is
Arnold Stricker with MarkLangston of St. Louis and Tomb. We'll
be right back. As strange asit may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage,
(27:13):
we love talking to peopleabout mortgages. Everyone in St.
Louis promises a bettermortgage rate. But what you really
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and refugees. The welcomeCorps is a new service opportunity.
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more, contact theInternational Institute of St. Louis
at infoistl.org or call314-773-9090. That's info-tl.org
or call 314-773/9090.
(28:48):
Tickle in those ivories.
Welcome back to St. Louis inTune. That's Mark Langston on the
other microphone and he'sdoing. He's playing air piano. There's.
That's right. Tickle in theivories. I love it.
There you go.
This guy's good.
Now you're playing air guitar.
He's jamming.
This is Bob. Bertha Cell.
Yeah.
(29:09):
Ought to talk to Bob sometime.
What a concept. That'd be great.
Bob, we're playing your. We'replaying the theme song like all the
time.
So come on in. I know you gota lot of jokes. I've got.
No, you're fine. I appreciateDeborah and what she's doing there.
It's a 501C3, a non profitmuseum and folks, if you get an opportunity,
(29:32):
go down there. We have a lotof museums in St. Louis and this
is one worth going to. Andbecause you do have science, you
have art, you have history.And she is very knowledgeable. She
does some work. There's a lotof artists work that is displayed
there. You can purchase it.Some of it's like just on loan for
display and. But it's history.I was watching this one clock and
(29:56):
so that is the coolest clock.Like the neon thing goes around and
I remember seeing those atthis will. This will date me. Filling
stations where somebody usedto come out and fill the tank and
wipe the windows too.
And check my oil.
Yes, and check the oil too. Yeah.
And some of the other fluids.The fluid. Yeah. I know it's crazy.
(30:18):
Got some crazy days that aretoday. Or crazy what is today is
go with your gut day. Do youever go with your gut?
Sometimes.
Oh, you're too educated to gowith your gut?
No, but you got to trust your instincts.
You do. And I don't thinkfolks trust their instincts as much
as they should. Let's see.Education Technology Day, International
(30:43):
Day of Sign Language. Do youknow any sign language?
I do, just very. And what'sinteresting about sign language is
every country has a different set.
What?
It's not one universal thing.Yeah. I was like, you go to another
country and they're not goingto understand what you're saying
so when I was.
A Cubmaster, that's one thing.We teach the kids how to do the ABCs
(31:07):
in sign language.
This is. Thank you.
Yeah, but we don't do the.Yeah, the. You're doing the gestures
for folks that can't see.Yeah, that. That mean things. We
just did the things with thefingers. Okay. So my name is Mark.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
So we could do that. NationalApple Cider Vinegar. They said that's
good for you.
Do you drink that every day?
(31:28):
No, but I should. NationalCheckers Day. When was the last time
you played checkers?
I haven't played checkers fora long time.
You should be playing checkerstoday, I'll tell you that. I know
it. I know it. National Dog inPolitics Day. I should read more
about a dog in politics. ThePresident's Head. National Dog in
(31:49):
Politics Day celebrates thefirst dog of the United States. A
FOTUs. They call it FOTUs.
FOTUs.
First Dogus. Who holds animportant place in the hearts of
all American dogs. So I guessthis president that we have now does
not have any animals.
I don't believe he doesn't.
I think most every presidentthat I can think of has had a dog.
(32:14):
Yeah.
Or something like that.
I agree with that.
Restless Legs Awareness Day.National Voter Registration Day is
today.
Restless legs. I had restlesslegs and I got a new mattress and
it seemed to help out.
Is that right?
Yeah, I got one of those wherethey go. Comfort sleep. Comfort.
It wasn't Sleep comfort brand,but it was one of those kind of mattresses,
(32:35):
and it seemed to help out a lot.
Can you adjust the front andthe back? No.
It's not one of them fancypants ones.
Yeah, the fancy pants. I likeit. Seed. Get. Seed gathering day
is today.
And I think that's about seed gathering.
Yeah. Where you gather allsorts of different. Let me see what
you gather. All sorts ofdifferent kinds of seeds. Participating
in seed gathering seasoncelebrates should be. Let's see,
(32:55):
the top of your list. Inautumn. So we're just right. We're
officially, I guess, in autumn now.
We are.
So you go out and. Oh, grabseeds. I've. I do that all the time.
I go out. We have a garden, awild garden, and I'll take some of
the flowers, dry them out alittle bit, get the seeds, and I'll
save them till the next season.
And you throw them out thereand they work. Yeah.
And it works. For me, to makeit work is an amazing thing.
(33:19):
That's pretty good.
Yep. So that's. I'M justtrying to find more things to ask
and say because I'm trying toput you off.
Oh, okay. No, you're fine.You're fine.
I have so many jokes that I'mjust so worried about.
I have a lot, but I can't logon to my Facebook account. So I have
things saved there. But I doreally. I did miss the thought to
ponder because we wanted toget right to our guest and get into
(33:42):
that particular conversation.But our thought to ponder today is
don't watch the clock. Do whatit does. Keep going.
That's good. I like that.
And it's to remind people tobe persistent and focus on moving
forward, not dwelling in thepast or we're freezing in time. You
(34:02):
keep moving.
Can't move.
Yep, Keep moving.
That's a good. That's good advice.
So don't watch the clock. Dowhat it does. Keep moving.
I like that. That's thecurrent studio audience does too.
Yeah, they do. I finally didit, Mark.
Okay.
I bought a new pair of shoeswith memory foam insoles. No more
forgetting why I walked intothe kitchen.
(34:27):
Have you ever done that?
What? Buy new souls?
No.
Yeah, I do that all the time.Like, why don't I come in here? Sometimes
I have to go back to where Iwas and then I know.
I'm starting to do that too.It's a little scary, folks. It is
scary. Okay, go ahead.
Now you will really get thisif you're in St. Louis. If you're
in maybe you will get thiswhere you live around the world.
(34:49):
But in England, they drive onthe left. Where I live, we drive
on what's left?
There you go.
And maybe some of you rememberthe actor who played Ironside and
Perry Mason. His name wasRaymond Burr. He had a lumberjack
(35:09):
brother named Tim.
Oh, my. You really said that,didn't you?
And tonight we're havingHimalayan rabbit stew for dinner.
We found him a laying on the road.
Wow.
(35:30):
And I do know that for theradio station KXOK 1029 FM here in
St. Louis, you can ask whatAlexa to play the station. After
a massive public outcry fromusers believing Alexa was listening
in on their everydayconversations, Amazon has announced
it will be releasing a mailversion as it won't be listening
(35:52):
to anything at all.
Wow.
Then there was this headline,cross eyed teacher loses job. Could
not control her pupils.
Oh, my God. So bad.
(36:14):
And ants never get sick.
No.
They have little antibodies.Now we just, the season's just changed.
We turned to autumn. Or someof you might call it fall.
Yeah. Right.
There's a Halloween coming upat the end of the of October and
(36:35):
the places already have allthe stuff hanging out. Some people
already have their yards fullof stuff.
Yeah.
Anyway, this is something youcould do. Folks dress up as a screwdriver
this Halloween. You're sure toturn a few heads.
Wow. Wow. Oh gosh.
And some, some people arereally hoity toity or they think
(36:58):
they're too big for theirbritches. Stuff like that. No matter
how big and bad you are, whena two year old hands you a toy phone,
you answer it.
Yes, I would say you've got todo that.
You've got to do that.
How would you not see here?And who are you going to talk to?
Yeah, you just do.
Hello?
(37:18):
Hello, I have somebodyimportant on the phone here and I
guess we could close with thisone. Salons always have hair on the
floor. Garages always have oilon the floor. Banks. What's your
problem?
Yeah, yeah, I like that one.That one. We need that. Yeah, but
is their problem. I don't knowwhat is wrong with them.
(37:41):
Folks, what's your favorite museum?
Ah.
Or maybe you have many.
Oh, good question.
Think about that.
Do you have a favorite?
But do I have a favorite?
Wow.
I always judge museums off ofthe Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield.
Oh, very. Oh, what a great museum.
Yeah, great museum.
(38:02):
Actually one of my favorites.That's a good one. I didn't even,
I didn't even.
And a lot of them it's.
If you've never gone to thatmuseum, you should go.
Yeah. It's an hour and a halfeast of St. Louis.
Take the train.
Take the train. Stops right inthe middle of town.
We've taken the train and gonebefore. Yeah, what a great museum
that is.
But some museums don't havethe funding to be able to do some
of the hands on kind ofactivities or the, the you get it
(38:25):
in visual kinds of things. Buttake a check, take a look at, at
the museums we have and herein St. Louis and check them out.
There's a wide variety ofthem, especially the one that we
talked about today, the neonMuseum of St. Louis.
And some of their funding isgetting cut.
Right. Because of, there was alot of kind of government reevaluation
(38:45):
I would say about what are wefunding, why are we funding it? And
they had apparently lost somesupport that they were getting. And
so it's always good to supportthe local folks and see what's going
on. So don't travel toSpringfield. Travel down to 35, 37
Choteau just east of grand andgo to the neon Museum of St. Louis.
(39:05):
Yeah, great. I'm going.
Yeah.
Hope I'll see you there.
It's a good time.
Yeah.
So don't forget you can go toEventbrite, folks, and check out
the activities that they havethere. That's all for this hour.
Mark.
Wow. It's a lot of fun, actually.
It was. And we're glad to haveDeborah Caton on our show. Want to
thank you folks for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you
can listen to additionalshows@stlntune.com consider leaving
(39:28):
a review on our website, ApplePodcast, Podchaser or your preferred
podcast review platform. Yourfeedback helps us reach more listeners
and continue to grow. We'llneed to get Bob Bertha Sell on the
show so we can thank him inperson, but he's our theme music
composer. Want to thank oursponsor, Meta Rate Mortgage, our
guest, Deborah Caton. And Iwant to thank Mark Langston, our
co host. And folks, we thankyou for being a part of our community
(39:49):
of curious minds. St. Louis intune is a production of Motif Media
Group and the US RadioNetwork. Remember to keep seeking,
keep learning, walk worthy andlet your light shine. For St. Louis
in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
(40:30):
Sam.
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