THE YEAR OF OUT TOWN, PART TWOAUGUST-DEC. 2006
AUGUST
Man, this has been a week hasn’t it? From space experts saying Pluto is no longer a planet (They got it like that????) to the Hurricane Katrina anniversary activities in New Orleans and Mississippi (Y’all must check out Spike Lee’s new documentary on HBO, “When the Levees Broke”), to John Mark Karr not being charged in the JonBenet Ramsey murder ( Kerr said he wanted actor Johnny Depp to play him when the movie comes out? What movie? What tha!).This past Monday. I rode the Shrewsberry Metro Link from the Forest Park Station (where I parked my car) to the Forsyth Station to go the Bally Total Fitness (It took no more than 5 minutes to it and paid 2 bones to get a ticket) I decided to try this route now that Bally customers are now forced to get a two-hour validated ticket just to park to work out (After two hours, its 1 bone each hour!). Some of the MetroLink track going to Shrewsberry is under a tunnel (which made it seem as though you were on an amusement park ride) and they had many volunteers people helping people find their way on the new Link route………………………………………………………………………………...
On Saturday, I went inside the alternative world for a night (You should know by now that I like a little variety. LOL). and checked out SCORCH’s Black Pride After Party where actor Jensen Atwood who plays Wade in the popular LOGO series “Noah’s Arc” was the special guest. Every now and then I like to support the causes of others who are in the struggle to be heard and be themselves, so I decided to check it out (and plus I was curious to see how Atwood responded to this type of crowd.)....................
What was up with the MetroLink having to close down rail stops and investigate stations at Forest Park on Tuesday and Wellston on Wednesday because of a derailing and a lady trying to commit suicide respectively? What makes it even more of a trip (no pun intended) is that the grand opening ceremonies for the new Shrewsberry Expansion to St. Louis County will take place this Saturday afternoon at the Forest Park Station where the new expansion to the County to Shrewsberry ! How wild is that? Will this effect people getting on the MetroLink from that station? Meterolink says that everything is still a go for this weekend festivities. And you know all eyes will be on the Link to see what other event will take place. This is just too much playin in the city! …………………………………………………………
My girl Ingrid Owens did not win the primary for the state House district 74 seat in the August 8 election. She cam ein third with 681 votes (26 percent) . the winner was business owner Steve Webb who got 996 votes (38 percent) Electrician Steve Webb came in second with 681 votes (26 percent). She is still a winner for putting up the fight. We are all proud of her. Suprisingly State Senate candidate of District 4 Yaphett El-Amin lost coming in second with over 4600 votes (last I heard she was suing for voter fraud), but her husband Talidbin El Amin of House Dist 57 (the same district I believe Yaphett was a part of in years past) won with 1,230 of the votes ( 43 percent)
My girl Ingrid Owens did not win the primary for the state House district 74 seat in the August 8 election. She cam ein third with 681 votes (26 percent) . the winner was business owner Steve Webb who got 996 votes (38 percent) Electrician Steve Webb came in second with 681 votes (26 percent). She is still a winner for putting up the fight. We are all proud of her. Suprisingly State Senate candidate of District 4 Yaphett El-Amin lost coming in second with over 4600 votes (last I heard she was suing for voter fraud), but her husband Talidbin El Amin of House Dist 57 (the same district I believe Yaphett was a part of in years past) won with 1,230 of the votes ( 43 percent)
Also winning the primary was Jamilah Nasheed (with over 1500 votes and 43 percent of the vote and beating out second placer Sharon Tyus) ) , a grass routes political advocate (I remember a couple of years ago when she was part of that Metro Link protest for jobs on the Metro when she was lying on the tracks near Forest Park Station!) . She will be running for the House District 60 seat. Will see in November if El-Amin and Nasheed can make it happen..............................
CONGRATS TO legendary STL and ESTL educator Katie HarperWright who had a ribbon cutting ceremony this week on the East Side to commemorate the opening of an elementary school named in her honor. The school is located at 7710 State Street and is part of the District 189 system!..................................
CONGRATS TO legendary STL and ESTL educator Katie HarperWright who had a ribbon cutting ceremony this week on the East Side to commemorate the opening of an elementary school named in her honor. The school is located at 7710 State Street and is part of the District 189 system!..................................
This week, State Senators Barak O’Bama and Dick Durbin and Congressmen Jerry Costello of Belleville and Lacy Clay of STL sponsored a bill, introduced in the senate, at the State capitol to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 950 Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, Illinois, as the `Katherine Dunham Post Office Building'. It was which read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
SEPTEMBER
The Superdome in H-town reopened for biz with the Saints v. Falcons game post-Hurricane Katrina (I wonder if any of the proceeds from that game will go to plane tix for Nawlins folk who wanna come back home?). Also, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has been very ill leaving his duties to his right hand men as he deals with his undisclosed illness (reports say he has lost 35 pounds!). President Dubya Bush signed into law a bill introduced by Illinois Senator Barak Obama that would publicly disclose all recipients of federal funding and financial assistance with Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) will allow taxpayers to go online and see how their money is being spent. (O’Bama is looking presidential by the minute., eh? )......................
And what’s up with Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell “TO” Owens? Did he try and kill himself? Did PR people try to cover it up and have him deny the allegations? This dilemma is definitely a pill too hard to swallow (no pun intended. )................
On somber musical note, the STL area has lost yet another blues legend to the other side. A couple of weeks ago, the STL lost blues legend Bennie Smith. Now another father of the blues has left this physical world, Henry Townshend. According to stltoday.com, Henry "Mule" Townsend, patriarch of St. Louis blues music, was the last remaining link to St. Louis blues' earliest days. Townsend, who was 96, was the only blues artist to record in every decade of blues recordings, and possibly the only artist in general to record from the 1920s to the current decade. The renowned singer, guitarist and pianist died last Sunday of pulmonary edema in Grafton, Wis., where he was being honored at a blues festival.....................
This week, my heart has been weary on the developments that occurred in my hometown of East St. Louis with the now national covered story about Tiffany Hall who has been charged in the killing of her best friend Jimella Tunstall and her unborn baby and the killing of Tunstall’s three young children who were found in the late mother’s apartment in the John Deshields Apartment Complex in East St. Louis. The oldest, 7-year-old DeMond Tunstall, was found in the dryer and the younger two children — 2-year-old Ivan Tunstall-Collins and 1-year-old Jinela Tunstall — in the washer. Hall, 24, appeared before a judge Monday via a video monitor from the St. Clair County Jail. She was arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child. She pleaded not guilty.........................
This week, my heart has been weary on the developments that occurred in my hometown of East St. Louis with the now national covered story about Tiffany Hall who has been charged in the killing of her best friend Jimella Tunstall and her unborn baby and the killing of Tunstall’s three young children who were found in the late mother’s apartment in the John Deshields Apartment Complex in East St. Louis. The oldest, 7-year-old DeMond Tunstall, was found in the dryer and the younger two children — 2-year-old Ivan Tunstall-Collins and 1-year-old Jinela Tunstall — in the washer. Hall, 24, appeared before a judge Monday via a video monitor from the St. Clair County Jail. She was arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child. She pleaded not guilty.........................
Last Saturday, I went to Marshall faulk fashion show rehearsal at YMCA at Emerson and it turned out OK. It was a two hour rehearsal (as opposed to the original five hour rehearsal). We rehearsed all six scenes that will be featured in the show. Their have been some scaling down of the cast albeit it is a PRO BONO service (and it is on a Saturday morning wherr most people do their usual Saturday things) . Me and this brotha named Avery are the original guys from day one (I believe model Malik Ali has fired himself). The females are touch and go as far as regular attendance. It’s really turning into a reality show for real. It should be called FASHION SHOW SHOWDOWN where the models go to rehearsal and see which ones will make it to the runway base don their own interest in being a part of the show.....................
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The Billboard charts is still treating our STL artists very kindly. There is much action going on the charts for them that even I couldn’t predict what could happen. .On the Hot 100, Jibbs is still leading the way , but not for long so it seems. Jibbs track, “Chain Hang Low,” spends a second week at No. 8 in its 8th week on the chart. On the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, Chingy and Nelly switch places yet again at the top. This week, Nelly and Janet returns to the No. 1 spot and Chingy’s former No. 1 hit moves down to No. 3. this is too crazy for real. Who would have thought that STL rappers would be taking turns at No. 1 on this chart........................
On the East Side, there is a lot of buzz going on for the Malcolm Martin Memorial park (where I supervise security officers on the East Riverfront area near the Casino Queen) )platform that is set for construction this month and the committee for a bronze statue for the 1st black mayor in the ESL. First off, there are reports that the Southern Illinois Contractor’s Association (SICA) spearheaded by prez Guy Gettis is urging the Mayor Carol Officer and the board to name the platform in honor of SICA and former ESL Mayor Gordon Bush, who, in SICA’s opinion helped put the plan together for the park and the Geyser that is there (Which is the tallest geyser in the world BTW) and helped blacks get construction during the time of the geyser’s construc tion................................
TWO STL ARTISTS WILL OPEN FOR R&B SINGER JOE SEPT. 30
TWO STL ARTISTS WILL OPEN FOR R&B SINGER JOE SEPT. 30
As part of this year’s St. Louis Gateway Classic post-events two St. Louis-based artists will be featured as opening acts in a national musical concert .They are American Idol finalist Nikko Smith and gospel star Praiz. They will open for national R&B recording artist, Joe at The Roberts Orpheum Theatre.........................
It has been an interesting week in the news as well as the AMBER ALERT on STL Newborn Abigail “Baby Abby” Lynn Woods went nationwide (It’s almost as infamous as the Baby Jessica falling in the well in the 80s!) and found alive at the house of the lady who kidnapped the baby lived 5 miles from the parents! Then the saga of the Floyd Irons v. School Board is heating up again as Irons and Demetrius Johnson filed a civil lawsuit against St. Louis Public Schools Prez Veronica O’Brien (who is using tax payers money for security for her and her family at her crib) for spearheading the firing of Irons of teaching and coaching b-ball in the public schools.......................
And what’s up with Venezuelian Prez Hugo Chavez calling Pres. Bush in a speech The Devil! Its enough that evangelist Pat Robertson wanted to see him killed (remember that statement), now he has up the ante with this statement,. I must say, Chavez is trying to tell us something. What you think? And whats goin on with this Tickle Me Elmo—the remix selling like hotcakes (I say go on brotha who created Elmo, more like “Elbro,” Do your thang. LOL)................................
On Tuesday, I checked out the CD release party for Chingy’s third CD, “Hood Star’ at Club Xes inside the Drunken Fish in the Laclede’s Landing area on 2nd and Washington ............................
St. Louis Idol winner Whitney Cook was on Fox 2 (with a new do with the Shirley Temple curls) last Friday talking about her trip to Seattle to compete there for the American Idol competition on Sept. 19. TBA on her results.......................
Have y’all heard about this new wine that is called Chuck Berry Wine? (I hear you drink it and you start walking like a duck. I couldn’t resist the joke there.) They are having a release party for it Sept 30 and Oct 1 at the Crown valley Winery. For more info call 866-207-9467. Her also will be celebrating an 80th B-day as well..................
On Tuesday, I checked out the music video premier party for STL-bred rapper Penelope Jones . She had a private party for the video, “No Matter What They Say” (with singer Mya) at Nectar Lounge. I got an invite from Terri from the Vision Group to come through...............................
St. Louis Idol winner Whitney Cook was on Fox 2 (with a new do with the Shirley Temple curls) last Friday talking about her trip to Seattle to compete there for the American Idol competition on Sept. 19. TBA on her results.......................
Have y’all heard about this new wine that is called Chuck Berry Wine? (I hear you drink it and you start walking like a duck. I couldn’t resist the joke there.) They are having a release party for it Sept 30 and Oct 1 at the Crown valley Winery. For more info call 866-207-9467. Her also will be celebrating an 80th B-day as well..................
On Tuesday, I checked out the music video premier party for STL-bred rapper Penelope Jones . She had a private party for the video, “No Matter What They Say” (with singer Mya) at Nectar Lounge. I got an invite from Terri from the Vision Group to come through...............................
There is another STL artist on the upswing that is making noise on the charts. St. Louis –bred teen rapper Jibbs (whose big brother DJ Beats from the production team Da Beatstaz produced beats for Nelly and the St. Lunatics BTW) is pulling his weight on both the Hot 100, Rap and R&B charts with his sing-song kid chorus hit, “Chain Hang Low.”.....................
Did you all know that the Arch will be represented in the new edition of the board game Monopoly? I think that’s pretty cool....I got an email this week on former Troy's On the Park owner Troy Williams’ new bar and restaurant called Filter (formerly Nik’s) that has opened............................
Isley Brother’s group member Ronald Isley got three years in federal prison for tax evasion. According to Eurweb.com, Isley was sentenced because he failed to make any payments to the IRS for twenty years............................
Local actor and singer Stuart Allen is an extra in the St-Louis filmed flick, “Ghost Image” a supernatural thriller starring Elizabeth Rohm (“Law and order”), Waylon Payne (“Walk the Line”) , and Stacey Dash(“Clueless"). It has been filming in the ST. Louis area since August.......................
Did you all know that the Arch will be represented in the new edition of the board game Monopoly? I think that’s pretty cool....I got an email this week on former Troy's On the Park owner Troy Williams’ new bar and restaurant called Filter (formerly Nik’s) that has opened............................
Isley Brother’s group member Ronald Isley got three years in federal prison for tax evasion. According to Eurweb.com, Isley was sentenced because he failed to make any payments to the IRS for twenty years............................
Local actor and singer Stuart Allen is an extra in the St-Louis filmed flick, “Ghost Image” a supernatural thriller starring Elizabeth Rohm (“Law and order”), Waylon Payne (“Walk the Line”) , and Stacey Dash(“Clueless"). It has been filming in the ST. Louis area since August.......................
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OCTOBER Therre is also controversy going on with the Michael J Fox commercial which endorses US Senator hopeful Claire McCaskill and her wedge issue, Embryonic stem cell research to cure certain diseases like Fox’s Parkinson’s. Critics say McCaskill is taking advantage of Fox’s disease to make a point. Well, I beg to differ. In the commercial, Fox is shaking all over the place and it is Fox who is not on his meds. Fox didn’t have to go on a commercial and shake. He is doing that on his own—to make a statement (And a strong one at that). Anti-stem cell celebs like former STL Rams player Kurt Warner will be featured in a commercial for people to vote against stem cell research or in their words, “The Human Cloning Bill.” Enough already. Therre are many more issues that hit Americans more closer to home like health care, low gas rates, minimum wage and safe streets. Ya feel me?......................
There have been a lot of buzz about Illinois Senator Barak Obama running for prez in 2008. He hinted about it when he was on Meet the Press last Sunday. Now of course the same buzz was on Jesse Jackson in the 1980s when he ran twice, and Colin Powell in the 1990s, but is America really ready for Obama or is this just a set up for him to jump at the bait?.........................
Madonna was on Oprah's show this week via satellite from her home in London to talk about her controversial adoption of an African baby boy and the Malawian government protesting such action........................
On Tuesday, I checked out the CD release party for 15 year old rap phenom Jibbs at the newly opened Club Dolce located at 200 N Broadway (corner or Pine and Olive).On the same day, I got the invite from his New York publicist Teresa Sanders who call’d me on my celly to invite me to this (via Post’s Kevin Johnson). So I rearranged my supervisor schedule duties at the Water geyser to accommodate the invite.......................
The Lost", written and directed by Todd Spence, shot and edited by Dan Gartner, sound design by James Green, and remaining crew all being from St. Louis, is being recognized, and is also a Finalist with the Third Screen Film Festival in Los Angeles, California.................................
Well, this week has been dramatic on a local level especially last Saturday. Early that day, Ali Jones, the founder of Nelly's St. Lunatics crew was stunned with a Taser over 40 times by a suburban St. Louis police officer and arrested after a routine traffic stop. According to kmov.com, Hazelwood Police said that Ali Jones reisted arrest and kicking the arresting officer.
Jones claims the officer stunned him numerous times without provocation. The officer says the rapper resisted arrest, kicked him and damaged his squad car. Police in this St. Louis suburb say they'll review the case — including looking at footage shot by the arresting officer's dashboard camera — to sort it out.
"My head's kind of spinning," Hazelwood police Capt. Greg Hall said Monday. "We have two very different explanations as to what happened." It began Saturday afternoon when Jones was pulled over after an officer allegedly observed him illegally backing up his Corvette at a traffic light to enter a left-turn lane. Officer James Taschner determined that Jones' driver's license had expired in 2001 and confirmed it with a dispatcher.
Taschner apparently felt he had sufficient reason to handcuff the rapper instead of just issuing a ticket, Hall said. Officers can arrest drivers if they believe they won't make good on tickets.Jones told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that despite the expired license, he had a permit to drive, and the state agreed.
The Missouri Department of Revenue said Jones obtained a permit in the summer that lets him drive with another adult in the front seat. It wasn't clear whether Jones gave police the permit, and why the error was not caught in the radio check. Hall said it might have been an oversight.........................
Earlier on in the week, the Bushes (as in Dubya and Laura) were in the STL to help promote their various causes. Dubya for U.S. Senate candidate Jim Talent and Bush for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During Dubya’s speech a female protestor in the crowd raised her fist interrupting his speech and her stating for him to get our troops out of Iraq. He ignored the protester and security escorted her out of the venue. Laura addressed women about cancer at the Gateway Arch site which, later on, was lit up with pink lights to represent breast cancer awareness. I guess people breasts took over the Bushes speeches directly and indirectly to say the least.........
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Nationally, the country celebrated the 300 million births in the US of A, but according to reports, the number wasn’t celebrated like the bicentennial due to the immigration problems. Anybody can read between the lines on this. I think Public Elementary said it best on their 1989 release, “Fear of a Black Planet.”
Drumvoices Festival of Arts celebrating the 20th b-day of the Eugene B Redmond Writers’ Club Oct 24-27. Oct. 24 is a Katherine Dunham Literary Tribute at 12:30 at the Dunham Hall Theater at SIUE (FREE) and a reading by Indianapolis Poet Laureate Mari Evans in the Mississippi-Illinois Room at SIUE at & p.m. (FREE). On Oct. 25 the EBR Writer’s Club will have a 20th B-Day reception at the Missouri History Museum, located at Lindell and DeBaliviere, at 7p.m. (Invite only); On Oct. 26 there will be a poetry reading by former California Poet laureate Quincy troupe at the Dunham Hall Theatre at SIUE at 12:30 p.m. (FREE), Poet K Curtis Lyle opens and The club will have a b-day and awards banquet at the casino Queen Hotel ballroom at 7 p.m..........
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November
One was the whereabouts of Lemay family members, a grandmother and her two adult children, a boy and a girl. who were missing after family members began to worry before Thanksgiving when they hadn't heard from family members and couldn't reach them. Relatives called authorities to help find their family. Last Sunday night, police went to the house in the 200 block of Runyon Avenue in Lemay.
But when police arrived, Anthony Lynn, 38, , who was the son of one of the grandmother’s son, never spoke with police before opening fire on an officer sent to check on the missing people's welfare, striking the cop three times in the leg. After a five-hour standoff and roughly 10 rounds of tear gas, Lynn climbed out a second-story window with his dog. He sat on an awning, reached back into the window for two guns, and raised one toward police. A police sniper fired, killing Lynn...........
According to reports, a dozen high school students at Edwardsville High School were expelled for an on-campus brawl over who got invited to a party, a fight school officials said was arranged on the social-networking hub MySpace.com...........
Nightclub violence is not just going on the STL…The NYC is feelin’ their share of tragedy as well. Last Saturday, there was a heinous shooting of three guys after a nightclub on the day he was to have married the mother of his two young children, Mr. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of police gunfire. And his death has sparked a furious outcry from family members and civil rights advocates, who have accused the police of using excessive force. At a vigil and rally yesterday in New York, a crowd led by the black civil rights leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, shouted: 'No justice, no peace.'.................................
Speaking of protest, The Reverend Jesse Jackson is calling for one (SURPISE). He wants folks to boycott the latest Seinfeld DVD box set in the wake of Michael Richards racist rant at a comedy club. Richards, 57, who played Kramer in the hit series, which ran from 1990 until 1998, was recently on Jackson’s nationally syndicated radio program, "Keep Hope Alive," as a part of a series of apologies for the incident, said he knew his comments hurt the black community and hoped to meet with the men (he heckled).
He told Jackson that he had not used the language before. Jackson, who called Richards' words "hateful," said the comedian's inclusion on the show was a chance for a broader discussion about "cultural isolation" in the entertainment industry.As far as the hecklers in question, Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, want a personal apology and maybe some money...........
On a sad note, we lost another pillar in the journalism world when he lost former New York Times Managing Editor Gerald Boyd 56. on Thanksgiving. In Harlem. According to an stltoday.com article, Boyd, the Soldan High School graduate started as a Post-Dispatch clerk and rose to second-in-command at The New York Times.
On a sad note, we lost another pillar in the journalism world when he lost former New York Times Managing Editor Gerald Boyd 56. on Thanksgiving. In Harlem. According to an stltoday.com article, Boyd, the Soldan High School graduate started as a Post-Dispatch clerk and rose to second-in-command at The New York Times.
Unfortunately, his legend is tainted especially after Boyd was caught up in controversy in 2003 after Jayson Blair, a young Times reporter and protégé of Mr. Boyd, was exposed as a serial fabricator. The resulting scandal cost Mr. Boyd his job as managing editor..............................
Did you all know that KSDK anchor Cordell Whitlock was the god son to the late Ed Bradley? I didnt know that. Well, Bradley left Whitlock $250,000 of his $6.5 million estate which was mostly given to his wife. Whitlocok is credited saying Bradley sparked his interest in journalism by bringing him to a White House press conference as a third-grader...................Looks like local radio jocks and execs who work for Clear Channel are still getting jacked these days. First it was long time radio personality Denine Busby, then GM Chuck Atkins, exec Baqi Cherry, Isis Jones (who left or ATL), now its 100.3, The Beat’s Dee Lee of Morning Show with Dee Lee........
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Did you all know that KSDK anchor Cordell Whitlock was the god son to the late Ed Bradley? I didnt know that. Well, Bradley left Whitlock $250,000 of his $6.5 million estate which was mostly given to his wife. Whitlocok is credited saying Bradley sparked his interest in journalism by bringing him to a White House press conference as a third-grader...................Looks like local radio jocks and execs who work for Clear Channel are still getting jacked these days. First it was long time radio personality Denine Busby, then GM Chuck Atkins, exec Baqi Cherry, Isis Jones (who left or ATL), now its 100.3, The Beat’s Dee Lee of Morning Show with Dee Lee........
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As far as local stuff, the big stuff has been Belleville Police Chief Dave Ruebhausen was officially fired from Mayor Mark Eckert cause of loafin on the J.O.B and for, "socializing with young officers in taverns and not communicating with other white shirts on the force" (MAN, AND IT TOOK THIS LONG FOR HIM TO GET FIRED???). The mayor is still claiming that the chief’s firing had nothing to do with the Nov. 10 standoff in downtown Bellville which got Sgt. Jon Brough shot in the face (he is blinded and cant smell as of this writing (come on now, who does the mayor think he is fooling? Seems like it’s a wash your car after it rains kind of scenario….)….
Then the production of the week was Hollywood movie star Tom Cruise’s "invisible" marriage to actress Katie Holmes in Italy. It was definitely a spectacle (Critics call'd it Mission Impossible 4) as they made it a red carpet gala with private guests to witness (ala Liza Minnelli-David Gest wedding in 2002). They are now honeymooning in the Maldives. I wonder if there will be a tape of that action? Might as well, everything else is public….
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch cancelled "ill-considered" plans for a book and interview by OJ Simpson after a huge public outcry from people against it. In a dramatic climb-down that followed a storm of outrage over the proposed Simpson media blitz, Australian-born magnate Murdoch said News Corp. was pulling the plug on both a book and two-part television interview entitled "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened," chronicling how he would have murdered his ex-wife and her friend in 1994 -- if he were the killer. But news of the Simpson media blitz sparked howls of condemnation, with the families of victims leading a chorus of disgust. The writing was definitely on the wall on this one, but you know somebody got a copy of the book and tape and will sell both on EBay, you know its comin….
Belleville “tent” resident Larry Sicka went on a family rampage this week by stabbing to death his ex in-laws Henry (who who lying in the grass of their front yard) and Dolores Kahle , at their Swansea home on Thursday afternoon(luckilly the wife had called 911 before her demise) .
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch cancelled "ill-considered" plans for a book and interview by OJ Simpson after a huge public outcry from people against it. In a dramatic climb-down that followed a storm of outrage over the proposed Simpson media blitz, Australian-born magnate Murdoch said News Corp. was pulling the plug on both a book and two-part television interview entitled "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened," chronicling how he would have murdered his ex-wife and her friend in 1994 -- if he were the killer. But news of the Simpson media blitz sparked howls of condemnation, with the families of victims leading a chorus of disgust. The writing was definitely on the wall on this one, but you know somebody got a copy of the book and tape and will sell both on EBay, you know its comin….
Belleville “tent” resident Larry Sicka went on a family rampage this week by stabbing to death his ex in-laws Henry (who who lying in the grass of their front yard) and Dolores Kahle , at their Swansea home on Thursday afternoon(luckilly the wife had called 911 before her demise) .
Then, on the next day, then went to another in-law‘s in Edwardsville and tried to kill her, but without such luck when she called the police which yielded to his feeling to Bellville at someone’s’ resident taking someone hostage near St. Elizabeth’s Hospital (they had that area police barricaded). Before taking the person hostage, Sicka, (MAN, WHAT A NAME FOR A SICK MAN-- SICK-A), who repeatedly was living in a tent, shot at Belleville police, shooting one police officer, Sgt. John Borough (who was in recovery and out of critical condition as of this writing) in the face the next day. A few hours later, Sicka fatally shot himself.............................
On the STL Side, the big stories dealt with the random violence that occurred at the Galleria mall and Club Plush on the same day last Saturday. On the Club Plush incident, 22-year-old Charles Hogans was fatally shot early last Sunday, moments after he and another man were thrown out of a nightclub for fighting, police said. The shooting happened at Plush in the St. Louis Union Station complex.
On the STL Side, the big stories dealt with the random violence that occurred at the Galleria mall and Club Plush on the same day last Saturday. On the Club Plush incident, 22-year-old Charles Hogans was fatally shot early last Sunday, moments after he and another man were thrown out of a nightclub for fighting, police said. The shooting happened at Plush in the St. Louis Union Station complex.
Hogans, 22, was shot several times about 2:30 a.m. in a parking lot off 20th Street behind Plush, police said. Just before he was killed, Hogans and another man fought in the crowded club, and Plush security guards made them leave, police said. Moments later, shots rang out, and Hogans was found wounded. He apparently was on his way to his car when he was shot Homicide detectives assume that the killer was the man with whom Hogans had fought. Police say they got only a sketchy description of the man and could find no witnesses to the shooting as of this writing.
As a result, Club Plush surrendered its liquor license the day after a patron was shot and killed and is now is closed. This is the latest black club causality in the STL. The last was Club Formula, on Washington AVE, closing its doors last month from a killing of a bouncer.(Side note. This club was going to close regardless of the violent incident due to my source that said the club was planning on closing before the end of this year.)
Then, there have been violence and death happening at On Nov. 5, when a man was shot to death inside the front doorway of the Royal Palace Lounge, at 4266 Natural Bridge Avenue. On Nov. 11, St. Louis police officers working as security guards for Spruill's Nightclub at 1100 North Jefferson Avenue wounded four men after they critically wounded a man near the club. On Sept. 24, a police officer working as a security guard for Spruill's, wounded a man who had just shot another man on the club's parking lot...............
Now the malling in the mall.A tiff on a basketball court a mile away led to a weekend brawl in the food court of the St. Louis Galleria, authorities said Monday as they sorted out the details and worked on new safeguards. One is to enforce a "zero-tolerance" policy on rowdy behavior at the mall, in Richmond Heights, through the holiday season.
Police say participants detained from fights Saturday evening range in age from 13 to 20 and attend several schools across the area. Nobody was hurt, and no weapons were involved.The problem started between two juveniles after a pick-up basketball game at the Clayton Center earlier in the day, said Richmond Heights police. Their fistfight sparked dozens more among young people at the mall.................
There was a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this week in the Nations Capitol for a memorial honoring slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., The memorial, to be built roughly a half-mile from the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his historic speech, will be the first to honor an African American on the Mall. Dubya, who gave a speech before jetting off to Asia for a week long trip of smiles and Democracy relations, joined former President Clinton and a host of civil rights figures and members of Congress to celebrate the monument to be built not far from where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in August of 1963.......................
And the R&B world is mourning the loss of yet another giant in the biz when Gerald Levert, died last Friday at his Ohio home at the age of 40 from a heart attack stemming from heart disease. Gerald Levert had a heart attack in his sleep. Before I was going to press last week, I snuck in about Ed Bradley passing last Thursday as well at age 65 from leukemia. I don’t think No one knew how sick he was. He was a true revolutionarian in the journalism biz. He was not scared to push the buttons on controversial topics and figures in the world of entertainment, violence and politics.....
The STL yet again was in the national spotlight this week (following the Cards World Series win and the STL being the most dangerous city claim) as all eyez were on the belt weather Missouri state with the US Senator race between Repub Incumbent Jim Talent was dethroned by State Auditor Claire McCaskill . It was so that media all the way from London was here to cover this heated contest! (THAT’S BLOODY GOOD I MAY SAY)..........................
Democrat Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Sen. Jim Talent in one of the nation's most closely contested races, a campaign that focused on McCaskill's support for a stem-cell research referendum. Democrat Claire McCaskill nudged past Republican Senator Jim Talent with 50 percent of the vote, to Talent's 47 percentThe other national spotlighted issue was the stem cell research bill as it was slightly voted YES on a 51%-49% split. .
And the R&B world is mourning the loss of yet another giant in the biz when Gerald Levert, died last Friday at his Ohio home at the age of 40 from a heart attack stemming from heart disease. Gerald Levert had a heart attack in his sleep. Before I was going to press last week, I snuck in about Ed Bradley passing last Thursday as well at age 65 from leukemia. I don’t think No one knew how sick he was. He was a true revolutionarian in the journalism biz. He was not scared to push the buttons on controversial topics and figures in the world of entertainment, violence and politics.....
The STL yet again was in the national spotlight this week (following the Cards World Series win and the STL being the most dangerous city claim) as all eyez were on the belt weather Missouri state with the US Senator race between Repub Incumbent Jim Talent was dethroned by State Auditor Claire McCaskill . It was so that media all the way from London was here to cover this heated contest! (THAT’S BLOODY GOOD I MAY SAY)..........................
Democrat Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Sen. Jim Talent in one of the nation's most closely contested races, a campaign that focused on McCaskill's support for a stem-cell research referendum. Democrat Claire McCaskill nudged past Republican Senator Jim Talent with 50 percent of the vote, to Talent's 47 percentThe other national spotlighted issue was the stem cell research bill as it was slightly voted YES on a 51%-49% split. .
Spending on the stem cell proposal and Senate contest each easily topped $30 million. A McCaskill stem cell research ad featuring actor Michael J. Fox — swaying noticeably from the effects of Parkinson's disease — drew nationwide attention and the skepticism of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh who did a poor imitation of Fox in a spoof of the Fox ad.
The battle for the Senate hung on a few thousand cliffhanger votes in two states Wednesday, long after polls closed in an election that swept Democrats into power in the House and delivered a rebuke of GOP scandal, the Iraq war and the course of a nation. US SENATE (50 seats). The Dems gained six seats and the GOP lost six seats, gaining the majority (After a too close to call vote in states Montana and Virginia) US HOUSE OF REPS (435 seats); 228 Dems and 195 GOPS. The Republicans lost 27 seats and Dems gained 28 seats; 218 seats were needed for the majority.
The battle for the Senate hung on a few thousand cliffhanger votes in two states Wednesday, long after polls closed in an election that swept Democrats into power in the House and delivered a rebuke of GOP scandal, the Iraq war and the course of a nation. US SENATE (50 seats). The Dems gained six seats and the GOP lost six seats, gaining the majority (After a too close to call vote in states Montana and Virginia) US HOUSE OF REPS (435 seats); 228 Dems and 195 GOPS. The Republicans lost 27 seats and Dems gained 28 seats; 218 seats were needed for the majority.
This is the first time in 12 years that the Dems have captured the whole US Congress seats.Then a “planned” bomb hit when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, resigned after six stormy years as Secretary of Defense, replaced by ex CIA agent Robert Gates. I found it interesting that the whole resignation was planned right after the Dems majority win........................
The other bomb shell was when pop singer Brittany Spears filed for divorce from Kevin “K-Fed” Federline and was seen skating at Rockefeller Center on election day (I guess we know where her priorities were when it comes to voting) ! Her divorce petition cited irreconcilable differences with husband Kevin Federline and came just two months after the birth of their second child. The date of the separation after two years of marriage was given as Monday....................
In International newz: Suddam Hussein was sentenced to death this week and two co-defendants have been found guilty of murder and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to death by hanging over the 1982 killings of 148 people in theIraqi town of Dujail. The death sentences for Hussein, his half brother and a senior official in his regime marked the end to a trial that began more than a year ago. The trial cost the lives of three defense lawyers and was set back by the replacement of the main judge, among other interruptions........................
The St. Louis Cardinals are actually THE World Series champs ! I am like that Old school Atlantic Star jam, “Am I Dreaming?” And I think err body here in the STL are thinking the same thing. The last time the Cards has won a series was when Ozzie Smith was the star of player of the Redbirds, “ET” was the top flick, “Dallas” was one the top shows in the USA and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was just getting ready to drop and I was a pre-teen (I’ll just leave it at that. LOL) That year was 1982. From 83 wins to World Series champions in less than a month is unheard of like the Invisible man trying to speak! They won their 10th championship , second in the major leagues to the New York Yankees' 26 titles. didn’t go to the pep rally or the March to the Stadium pep rally on Sunday.
The St. Louis Cardinals are actually THE World Series champs ! I am like that Old school Atlantic Star jam, “Am I Dreaming?” And I think err body here in the STL are thinking the same thing. The last time the Cards has won a series was when Ozzie Smith was the star of player of the Redbirds, “ET” was the top flick, “Dallas” was one the top shows in the USA and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was just getting ready to drop and I was a pre-teen (I’ll just leave it at that. LOL) That year was 1982. From 83 wins to World Series champions in less than a month is unheard of like the Invisible man trying to speak! They won their 10th championship , second in the major leagues to the New York Yankees' 26 titles. didn’t go to the pep rally or the March to the Stadium pep rally on Sunday.
I decided to look at it on TV and from the looks of it, it looked like the crowd that was at the Million Man March in 1995, instead of a sea of black people, it was a sea of red, as in Cards paraphernalia and all. I hear that almost a half a million people were all hanging down on Market Street downtown on the curbs and up in buildings and all just to catch a glimpse of the 2006 Cards champs. And a third of them were lucky to get a seat inside Busch for the pep rally.................................
With the Nov. 7 off-year election slowly creeping up on us, I’m sure we have all seen our share of the mudslinging campaigns out there. One in particular has been the ‘racist’ commercial (dubbed the Call me ad) produced by the Republican National committee against Demos. Harold Ford, a brotha who is running for the Senate from Tennessee. The commercial depicts a pretty blonde woman coming on to an African-American politician saying, “Call Me.” They Republicans were playing off the fact that Ford had once been invited to the Playboy Mansion and well, there you go. Can we say the Mandingo Syndrome? Playing up on white man fear of the black private dick taking their white women playing on this. In other words, the Willie Horton trump card. This is too much playin...........................
In other controversial political stuff, Mass. Senator and former 2004 prez hopeful John Kerry I’m sure is regretting remarks of education and Dubya this week when he spoke to students at Pasadena City College in Pasadena. The quote that got err body in an uproar a (and I’m sure will be the quote of the year) was, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."It was supposedly suppose to be joke on Bush, but I guess, like his audience, they didn’t get the joke and didn’t laugh. (Or as Janet said on Rhythm Nation CD jam, "The Knowledge": Its nice to laugh, but don’t be the joke!" HELLO)..........................
DECEMBER
The meltdown is literally one for Ameren UE. According to stltoday, AmerenUE said last week's storm that left a thick coat of ice on trees, poles and power lines, prompting many to snap, is “unprecedented in its 100-year history. The utility made the same argument when back-to-back thunderstorms left almost a million people without electric service in the bistate area in July — some for as long as nine days.”
As reported, about 498,000 AmerenUE customers were in the dark as a thick glazing of ice from the winter’s first storm on Nov. 30 snapped tree limbs and power lines. Company officials warned it would take several days to restore the crippled system.Company officials said about 285,000 customers in Missouri were in the dark, most of them in the St. Louis metropolitan area..........................
This week, we lost yet another pillar in the ST. Louis international community when actor/opera singer Robert McFerrin died this week. He, who wa steh father to Grammy Award winning jazz artist Bobby McFerrin, died Nov. 24, a day before Thanksgiving, at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in St. Louis after a heart attack. He had Alzheimer's disease. He was 85........................
Taco Bell has removed green onions at all of its 5,800 restaurants nationwide following more than 60 cases of E. coli linked to restaurants in three states. Three samples of green onions were found to be ``presumptive'' positive for E. coli (I guess the stuff got people really runnin for the border!) …..
Taco Bell has removed green onions at all of its 5,800 restaurants nationwide following more than 60 cases of E. coli linked to restaurants in three states. Three samples of green onions were found to be ``presumptive'' positive for E. coli (I guess the stuff got people really runnin for the border!) …..
St Louis Blues star Brett Hull retired his jersey this week. Hull, joins his father, Bobby Hull, as an NHL legend, as he watched his No. 16 of his, climb to the rafters at Scot Trade Center. Not in the 89-year history of the NHL has a father and son each had his number retired. Brett Hull will become the sixth player in Blues history to receive that honor….
Ameren is getting some of the power taken from them, sorta a speak. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Ameren Corp.'s AmerenUE seeking compensation and punitive damages for its alleged actions and negligence resulting in the Dec. 14, 2005, breach of the Taum Sauk reservoir........
Seems like the St. Louis Board of Public Schools is in yet more drama. School Board Prez Veronica Obrien is calling for the possibility of the State Government coming and taking over now that the prez and recently elected super Diana Bourisaw are at odds at what needs to be done to get the school’s population’s numbers up. Also, it has been rumored that the Board is in millions of dollars in debt…..
St. Louis Blues Coach Mike Kitchen got out of the kitchen cause it got too hot for him resulting in his firing this week due to the Blues’ losing yet another season and having the lowest record of wins in NHL history. He was replaced by former Los Angels Kings Coach Andy Murray (It is interesting that the firing came on the heels of former Blues player Brett Hull’s retirement ceremony) ….
Former University of Missouri prez Elson Floyd is now the 10th president of Washington State University and the first African American to hold such a title. The 50-year-old Floyd will succeed V. Lane Rawlins, who will retire June 30 after seven years as president.....
NEW NEWZ:
Veteran KSDK-TV, channel 5, anchor Karen Foss announced Monday that she plans to retire after more than 27 years with the station. Her final news broadcast will be Dec. 28......................
Police have yet to release the identity of a construction worker who fell to his death Monday while remodeling a downtown building.The worker was on the sixth floor of the Syndicate Trust Building at 10th and Locust streets around 6:50 p.m. when he fell through an opening and dropped to the second floor. The victim died shortly afterward at a hospital..........................
Veteran KSDK-TV, channel 5, anchor Karen Foss announced Monday that she plans to retire after more than 27 years with the station. Her final news broadcast will be Dec. 28......................
Police have yet to release the identity of a construction worker who fell to his death Monday while remodeling a downtown building.The worker was on the sixth floor of the Syndicate Trust Building at 10th and Locust streets around 6:50 p.m. when he fell through an opening and dropped to the second floor. The victim died shortly afterward at a hospital..........................
HOOD RIVER, Ore. - The search for two climbers missing on Mount Hood narrowed Tuesday to a largely aerial quest over a small, treacherous section of the mountain, which has had up to 10 feet of snow since the men vanished and a companion since found dead near the summit.
The body of Kelly James, 48, of Dallas was removed by helicopter Monday from the 11,239-foot summit after rescue workers winched it up from a snow cave about 300 feet down the steep north side.Wampler said the search for Brian Hall, 47, also of Dallas, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, of New York City will continue for now as a rescue effort, not a recovery operation. But more bad weather is expected at midweek and Wampler said the chances for survival are less if the two were without shelter.......................
The Missouri Highway Patrol dispatched a helicopter from St. Louis this morning to join in the search for two missing 12-year-old boys in Pike County, Mo.Although details were sketchy, Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Northum said the search involved two Amish boys last seen on Tuesday afternoon.Leading the search is the Pike County Sheriff's Department, headquartered in Bowling Green, about 75 miles northwest of St. Louis. Sheriff Jim Wells said the boys were sent to do chores about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, then failed to return to their school in a rural area of the county, about three miles from Bowling Green. A resident of the area reportedly saw the boys in the woods around 3 p.m., but they haven't been seen or heard from since..................
Firts Lady Laura Bush has had a cancerous tumour removed from her right shin, the White House disclosed today. tors diagnosed a squamous cell carcinoma, a malignant skin cancer, below the First Lady's right knee, her office said today, leading to small operation in early November............................
President Bush says the U.S. needs to increase the size of Army and Marines, and says strategy and tactics in Iraq will change to meet the situation on the ground. Bush also said Wednesday that insurgents in Iraq thwarted U.S. efforts at "establishing security and stability throughout the country" in 2006..........................
Firts Lady Laura Bush has had a cancerous tumour removed from her right shin, the White House disclosed today. tors diagnosed a squamous cell carcinoma, a malignant skin cancer, below the First Lady's right knee, her office said today, leading to small operation in early November............................
President Bush says the U.S. needs to increase the size of Army and Marines, and says strategy and tactics in Iraq will change to meet the situation on the ground. Bush also said Wednesday that insurgents in Iraq thwarted U.S. efforts at "establishing security and stability throughout the country" in 2006..........................
Billionaire and Apprentice star Donald Trump did not fire Miss USA Tara Conner. Trump, who is the co-owner of the pageant, says Conner is a good person and deserves a second chance. Reports surfaced last week of her alleged drug and alcohol abuse. At yesterday's press conference, the beauty queen tearfully admitted to drinking underage and apologized for her behavior...................
That's it in a nutshell of the Year in Out Town 2006. See ya outside in January 2007!
