The Year 2015 had its share of interesting events that occurred in the entertainment in the ILLINOIS/MISSOURI area. From the passing of Chicago native sports announcer Stuart Scott and the ratings phenomenon of Chicago filmed TV show EMPIRE to Chicago native comedian/talk show host Sherri Shepherd's custody case and divorce from her husband Lamar Sally and St Louis TV journalist Martin Duggan's passing. The year was ending with the band Chicago being one of the honorees chosen for the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in the STL area, the heated St Louis Board of Alderman debates and vote to pass the multimillion dollar proposal for the construction of the
Riverfront Stadium and the St Louis Rams possible move away from the city and their correlation.
And don'f forget that OUTSTAGN celebrated 10 years!
Below we have the Top 10 Lists of the ILLI MO entertainment news stories that had a national impact and the St. Louis stories that had a national impact. We also listed some of the WHO GOT STYLErs who made an impact and those entertainment personalities whom we lost this year
TOP 10 ILLI MO ENTERTAINMENT NEWS STORIES OF 2015
10.Jackie Robinson West Litttle Leaguers Organization sues for 2014 championship stripped after residency fraud; organization withdraws suit and eventually disbands
9.Spike Lee's Chi-raq film causes controversy over subject matter of Chicago violence and questioned by city's mayor Rahm Emanuel.
8.Caitlyn Jenner's appearance at a LGBT luncheon in Chicago draws trans protestors about her female authenticity.
7.St Louis Cardinals organization is accused and federally investigated of computer hacking Houston Astros files; scouting director Chris Correa gets fired from scandal
6.Nelly
He gets charged for drugs/gun possession after his tour bus is pulled over in Nashville and was facing years in prison; charges were eventually dropped/The Nelly and Loose Cannon Slim beef continued on Twitter/Nelly makes surprise appearances at Taylor Swift and Stevie Wonder's concerts at Scott Trade Center in St Louis, Mo.
5.Kanye West
He announces on this year's MTV Video Awards after receiving the Video Vanguard Award that he was running for President in 2020/He almost interrupts Beck's Album of Year acceptance speech at this year's Grammy Awards/His last minute fashion show during New York Fashion Week causes a stir of white blonde models wearing nude brown attire/He and wife Kim Kardashian welcomes another child, a son named Saint.
4.The Kansas City Royals win the World Series against the New York Mets . It is their first win in 30 years,
3.Sherri Shepherd is sued by husband Lamar Sally over child support of the surrogate child she refused to claim; she loses case and has to pay child support/Her divorce to Sally is finalized/ She returns to The View on a part-time basis.
2.Ebony Magazine makes headlines and controversy by putting on the cover of a shattered picture of the cast of The Cosby Show and its cover story of Bill Cosby's alleged rape assaults.
AND THE NO. 1 ILLI MO STORY IS
1.The Fox TV Show Empire is a ratings phenomenon starring Chicago native actor Terrence Howard when it aired in January and becomes a pop culture phenomenon drawing 17 million in its first season finale;its first season soundtrack also hits No. 1 on Billboard Top 200
TOP 10 STL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS STORIES of 2015
10.STL veteran radio personality Tony Scott leaves Clear Channel after 25 years and locates to Dallas station KRNB FM
9.Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of KDNL TV (ABC 30) and Dish Network agree to restore the stations signal to the satellite provider after a 24 hour blackout.
8.Destination America airs the first ever live exorcism at the house that inspired the 1972 movie The Exorcist
7.St Louis Cardinals inducts new honorees in its second annual Hall of Fame . They were Ted Simmons, Bob Forsch, curt Flood and George Kissell.
6. April Simpson
A video of a 2014 telecast of the Fox 2 News personality goes viral on social media when colleague Tim Ezell ribbed about her white and black striped sweater shirt and called her The Hamburglar (even comedian Kevin Hart chimed in on Twitter about it)/ She is fired from Fox 2 after an intern reported her for calling him a racial nickname.
5.Mizzou football head coach Gary Pinkel (PICTURED ON RIGHT)steps down as head coach after 12 years after announcing he has lymphoma and after supporting the Mizzou football players in protest against racism at the university; replaced by Barry Odom.
4.Nelly (SEE ABOVE)
3.The Gateway Arch celebrates 50 year Anniversary of its construction in October. Kiener Plaza holds an all day celebration.
2.St Louis Cardinals goes under investigation on Houston Astros database hacking scandal (SEE ABOVE)
AND THE NO. 1 STL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS STORY IS
1.The new Riverfront Stadium construction discussions starts by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon/ a rally for the stadium at Edward Jone Dome occurs participated by Nixon, Mayor Francis Slay and co-chair of stadium development Dave Peacock / Thousands of Fans of Rams protest the possible move of the St Louis Rams at end of the year at Peabody Opera House/ Nixon meets with Rams owner Stan Kroenke in a private meeting at Rams Park about the new stadium and St Louis Rams/Board of Aldermen votes to pass the multimillion dollar deal for the new stadium construction;allegations of bribery was refuted; Slay and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed votes for the financing of construction and Comptroller Darlene Green opposed/St Louis Rams plays possibly its last home game at Edward Jones Dome against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Dec 17 (winning 31-23). This story is ongoing.
In 2015, we chronicled each week the ILLI MOians who made an impression with their choice of fashion choices whether it was a certain hairstyle, a certain dress, a certain suit or certain accessory (Loose Cannon Slim made one week for posing behind a luxury jeep). This year, two people made an impact with their style choices.
The first was St Louis based event manager/promoter and Cafe Soul co-promoter Angela Brown. She made an impression with two gowns she wore.
In April we featured Brown who glammed up in a dark pink one shoulder gown with silver pumps and chandelier type earrings. She was attending a gala at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City..
AND
In October she made one of our Fashion Hits at Delux Magazine's Power 100 at Lumiere Theatre, Here she was wearing this elegant black gown and long chain gold earrings.
The second was STL socialite and hospital administrator Sahar Bahar(Curtis Smith).
AND
He made one of our Fashion Hitz lists when he wore this retro black tux with ruffled purple shirt at Delux magazine's Power 100 event at Lumiere Theater in October.
FIT BITZ 2015
This year we introduced a new segment called FIT BITZ spotlighting ILLI MOians who were physically fit whether for competition purposes or everyday lifestyles. There were two people who made an impression in this category.
The first was Shonda Bush who made the list two times this year . She is a fitness trainer at The Steel Company/Elite Fitness Training in the St Louis area who also have special boot camps for women.
The other was Saint Charles, Mo. based fitness model/trainer Jamie Brick Luckett who also made the list a couple of times who was featured on the cover and inside the 2016 OBSDN Men of Color Calendar and was featured in an isue of Apeel Magazine.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE ILLI MOians in arts and
entertainment that we lost in 2015
JANUARY
STL Musician Alvin Jett (Dec 23, 2014)
ESPN Sports announcer Stuart Scott
Mr Cub Ernie Banks
MARCH
STL jazz singer/club owner Gene Lynn
APRIL
Illinois State head coach Torrey Ward and deputy director Aaron Leether
MAY
Chicago radio personality Ty Wansley
STL veteran meterologist Dianne White-Clatto
STL club flowerist Jerell Dixon aka Rose Man
JUNE
STL veteran PBS TV personality/journalist Martin Duggan
Cubs veteran Lennie Merullo
STL radio personality LaVerne Holliday
AUGUST
STL film critic/journalist Joe Williams
East St Louis rapper Sherraine Gee
SEPTMEBER
New York Tankees veteran Yogi Berra
STL singer Jerome Pookie Lane
NOVEMBER
STL jazz enthusiast Don Wolff
DECEMBER
STL rapper Swagg Huncho
THAT WAS THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2015...WE WILL RETURN JAN 8. 2016 WITH A NEW POST, A NEW LOOK AND DIFFERENT CHANGES FOR THE YEAR 11 OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL UNDERGROUND BLOG IN THE MIDWEST!
