In 2014, St Louis got her spotlight in a major way from St Louis native rock legend Chuck Berry performing his 200th concert at his monthly gig at Blueberry Hill in January, the debut of the controversial and short lived reality series BAPS on Lifetime, to the Board of Alderman electing the city’s first poet laureate, Michael Castro. Of course, we would be remiss to mention the civil unrest in the town of Ferguson, Mo in August after the death of teen Mike Brown and the outpouring of tributes from common folk to celebrities including Nelly, Talib Kweli, J Cole, Keke Palmer, and Flavor Flav to name a few .
Below are the Top 20 St Louis based stories that made an
impact in 2014
20. East St Louis Peace rally was held at Malcolm Martin
Memorial Park with Chicago native rapper Common, and acts Arrested
Development, St Louis native gospel
singer Amber Bullock and St Lunatics member Murphy Lee (OCT)
19.Talk show host Wendy Williams visited St Louis on her
Thank You Tour (MAY)
18.Radio Station Louis 103.7 FM stunted their station by
repeating the song “Never Gonna Give You Up “ by Rick Astley 24 hours until it changed its format . (JUNE)
17.Singer Mylie Cyrus cancelled her Bangaz Tour at Scott Trade
Center due to illness (as well as Kansas City). Her tour was rescheduled later
in the year. (APRIL)
16.Longtime radio personality Tony Scott was shockingly fired
from Clear Channel’s Magic 100.3 FM but was rehired by rival Radio One’s Foxy
95 later in the year. (MAY)
15.The St Louis Cardinals announced its first class inducted
in its Hall of Fame for the newly constructed Ballpark Village. They were Mike Shannon,
Marty Marion, Willie McGee and
Jim Edmonds. (MAY)
14.Conversations and rumors about the St Louis Rams leaving
St Louis after the 2014 season continued (even had a citizens group Save The Rams protesting the save them) with Governor Jay Nixon creating
a committee to save the team before its contract with Edward Jones Dome ends in
January 2015.
13.Garth Brooks performed at Scott Trade Center for four sold
out days with one fan attending, singer Justin Timberlake (Dec)
12.St Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford reinjured his ACL
during an exhibition game with the Browns and replaced by Shaun Hill. (AUGUST)
11.The opening of Ballpark Village finally opened but caused controversy in its clothing policy (MARCH)
10.St Louis celebrated turning 250. It celebrated with
events and a symbolic cake with the numbers 250 placed at various venues across
St Louis (FEB)
9.Former American Idol finalist and singer Nikko Smith had a
touch of mistaken identity for a brief time when he was mistaken with Love and
Hip Hop reality star Nikko Smith who
made a sex tape with Mimi Faust. (APRIL)
8.The debut of the STL filmed reality series BAPS which involved young black upscale movers and
shakers aired on Lifetime but caused
controversy with some of its negative images of women of color and was
canceled due to low ratings. (JULY)
7.The 1999 Greatest Show on Turf St Louis Rams and its coach Dick Vermeil had a 25 th anniversary reunion of their SuperBowl win during halftime at the Rams game against The
Niners at Edward Jones (OCT)
6.The death of St Louis Cardinals player Oscar Taveras was a
shock for all Cards fans when the young upstart died in a car accident along
with his girlfriend in his hometown of the Dominican Republic . He was 22.
(OCT).
5.St Louis based freelance writer Daniel Durchholz’s review
of BB King’s less than stellar performance at the Pageant had gone viral causing
much discussion about the legend’s ability to perform. King issued an apology
and blamed it on his health matters (APRIL)
4.Slain teen Mike Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden gave an exclusive interview
on Clear Channel radio on the Tammy Holland Show to talk about her son, her
feelings on his death and seeking justice for him as the grand jury was still
without a decision to indict. (NOV)
3.St Louis reared rap mogul Nelly joined in the
protests in
Ferguson, Mo after getting flack
from that community of
their opinion of
his involvement after the Aug 9 incident. As a
result of this, Nelly went on Hot 104.1 to voice to speak
about
the criticism. He also called Attorney General Eric
Holder on matters and
formed a scholarship in the honor of
Mike Brown's Family, Meanwhile, Nelly
protested in
Ferguson with protesters as it was documented by BET for a
subsequent special that aired hosted by BET News
Correspondent Marc Lamont Hill
and Actress Keke Palmer
(AUGUST)
(AUGUST)
2. The
outcry after the death of slain teen Mike Brown struck a nerve across the
world. The media also had a frenzy in reporting the after effects. It
was soon after the August 9 event, Hollywood came to Ferguson when life coach
and motivational speaker Iyanla Van Zandt brought
cameras to film a special episode of her popular “Fix My Life” series on OWN. Titled,
“IYANLA: FIX MY LIFE SPECIAL REPORT: HEALING IN FERGUSON" theepisode
followed Iyanla Vanzant as she worked with the Ferguson, Missouri
community to promote peace and healing. She also brought face-to-face Ferguson police
chief Thomas Jackson and Michael Brown's uncle, pastor Charles Ewing to discuss
the need for peace, then hosted a community discussion with leaders and
citizens. In the hip hop world, twelve hip hop artists -- The Game, Diddy, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Wale, DJ Kaled, Swizz Beatz, Yo Gotti, Curren$y, Problem, and King Pharaoh
& TGT -- collaborated on the track “Don’t Shoot,” in memoriam of Mike
Brown and in protest of police violence.The song was released recently on the Empire Distribution SoundCloud page,adding itself to the growing
list of tribute songs inspired by Michael Brown, such as Lauryn Hill's "Black
Rage" and
J. Cole' s "Be Free."
(AUGUST)
(AUGUST)
AND THE NUMBER ONE STL ENTERTAINMENT STORY OF 2014 WAS
1. During the aftermath of
the non-indictment verdict of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson from the
death of teen Mike Brown, continued civil unrest throughout St Louis and throughout. The sports world was
also affected. In December, the major event was The St Louis Rams when
five players (Wide receivers Stedman Bailey,
Tavon Austin, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt and tight end Jared Cook )raised their hands in the Don’t Shoot position with their hands up. The gesture made international headlines, one of The St Louis Police Board demanded an apology as well as the fans. In the end, The Rams did not have the guys to apologize for they were expressing their First Amendment Rights, The gesture sparked other sports figures to follow their lead including Derrick Rose and Lebron James.
Tavon Austin, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt and tight end Jared Cook )raised their hands in the Don’t Shoot position with their hands up. The gesture made international headlines, one of The St Louis Police Board demanded an apology as well as the fans. In the end, The Rams did not have the guys to apologize for they were expressing their First Amendment Rights, The gesture sparked other sports figures to follow their lead including Derrick Rose and Lebron James.
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