Friday, December 19, 2014

OUTSTAGN COUNT DOWNS THE TOP 20 STL ENTERTAINMENT STORIES of 2014


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)




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)


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.

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