OUT 350--RETRO BLOG --March 6-15 2007

STL-TIDBITZ

WHILE OUTTOWN GOES ON SPRING BREAK BELOW IS WHAT WAS HAPPENING AROUND THIS TIME LAST YEAR IN 07.


The STL primaries had a shocker as St. Louis Alderman Lewis Reed defeated incumbent Aldermanic President Jim Shrewsbury (BOTH PICTURED ABOVE) Tuesday in the Democratic primary by a little more than 2,000 votes. Reed will be sworn in as aldermanic president April 3, as he is unopposed in the general election. Reed won the primary with 53.62 percent of the vote. Shrewsbury received 46.18 percent, while the remaining 0.2 percent were write-in votes, according to the St. Louis Board of Election. Reed, 44, a native of Joliet, Ill., has served almost eight years as alderman. He was elected 6th Ward alderman in 1999. In April 2001, Shrewsbury succeeded Francis Slay as president when Slay left his unexpired term to become St. Louis' mayor. Shrewsbury, 51, was elected to the position in November 2002...............................................Highway 64 is getting’ ready to get shut down in a matter of lanes starting this weekend, for three whole years. Are we ready to stay on idle?.............................................................The small town of Edwardsville, ill,. Is getting big news goin this past week. One with a deadly plane crash in a field killing a St. Louis pilot and later in the week a small outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to a popular downtown bar and restaurant Vanzo’s (I wonder iof any peanut butter was served?).......................................................................First, the STL was gettin caught up in the violence with its clubs, now the East Side seems like they are trying to play catch up=--in one night. Two East St. Louis nightclubs, Onyx and Rio, were ordered closed in the wake of shootings there over last weekend. Police Chief James Mister and City Manager Robert Betts met yesterday with the owners of Club Rio and Club Onyx to discuss security issues and whether the clubs' business licenses would be returned. Corey Starks of Cahokia was fatally shot early Saturday after he and two friends left Club Onyx and confronted two men they found in Starks' friend's S-U-V outside. Less than an hour later, 29-year-old Kendrick Barnes of St. Louis was shot to death after he and three friends were ordered to leave Club Rio.


AND NOW ONTO MA'AT'S TRAVELS.............

I didn’t do much over the weekend cause I was so busy preparing for my upcoming stageplay “Monologues and Penisillin” (THE FLIER PICTURED ) but on Friday I did make it out to Stress Free Fridays at Posh for a minute. The crowd was kind of sparse but it was so much other events going on at the time (March Madness, First Fridays at Drunken Fish, etc) that it was a lot for the socialites to choose from. I stayed for a couple of hours, hung with my boy Kamren, ate the chicken (and gettin' plenty of muscle exercise from it. LOL) talked with Mark Jones the co-founder of Stress Free and then bounced. Oh, DJ Nappy Needle was on the 1s and 2s spinnin' the alternative hip-hop jams. In the house were Derek Leopold (nice suit) and rapper Black Spade.....................................On Saturday, I had callbacks for my fashion show TESTOSCOUTURE and my rehearsals for my stageplay Monologues and Penisllin at the Emerson Library at Webster University with my cast which includes Darrell Moore (Killa MC), L.A. Williams (Dr. Jones), jaron Hicks (Ms, Vageena Honey), Carlos McClaurin (Goldy Bear) and Archie Coleman (Mista) and Tamitra Williford (background female).The Callbacks were interesting. Two of the guys that I saw in November had to return to a second audition to show me that they did what they were supposed to do with their working out regimen.They both improved especially in the abs area (One guy even wanted to go down to his b-day suit to prove that he worked out, but I told him that wouldn’t be necessary. LOL) .



The rehearsals went fine. I mostly helped them get their voices for their characters. After rehearsal I got a call from local actor/director Joel King about a program at COCA with African dancers Afriky Lolo and Diade, but when I got to my car, my back right tire was on a flat for the SECOND TIME, so I had to go and pump air in it. The first time occurred after I hit a bump on Highway 64 after leaving the Water Geyser on late Friday/early Saturday. I heard the tire go POP and didnt realize until Saturday morning that it was on a flat. Come to find out, a nail was in my tire and I had to get it fixed at the tire store M&M in Cahokia. I went on and got two more used tires cause my tires were showing silver stands wherr the grooves used to be. LOL



On Sunday. I chill'd out and listened to the Freeman Bosley Jr. Show on 100.3 The Beat and while I was listening to co-host Nicci Roach's (or should I say Infamous Nicci RO!) Nic and Nine, I heard her give me a shout out on my play and my blog! They gave me about 2 minutes, especially on my blog and how popular its becoming. I didnt really realize how popular it has become until FBJS personality Darrion Phelps said when he sees me comin he tries to go the other way. CLASSIC. But thanks FBJS for the shout out and I hope I can be on the show this coming up Sunday to be the "fifth wheel" for a few minutes.




Later on that day I had my meeting with my fashion show team Mocha Latte and Marquita Buchanan at the Westin Hotel Restaurant in downtown St. Louis. We were getting our designers and sponsor hopeful lists together (and well as our one-drink on. LOL) I am really getting excited about TESTOSCOUTURE. The imagination of an all-male fashion show competition is slowly becoming a reality . Its an adventure, but somebody’s gotta do it (Oh and thanks Mo for the Corona and hope the Body Blast at Blackmon’s Plaza didn’t tear you up even more seeing all those floppy
di(s)ks!LOL)


I was perusing the morning radio on Thursday and didnt hear Craig Blac or Wendy Brown (PICTURED) on 104.1. I heard C-Note on therre along with Tony J doing traffic. Well, when I was talking to a buddy of mine at a another radio station, he was tellin' me that they got the boot yesterday right after their shift. I also heard PD, Garth Adams also got the boot, too. WHOA! Who saw that comin? Rumor has it it might have been because of the conversation on how to find weed on one of their shows a few days back. I also heard that the Morning show's ratings wasnt up to par neither especailly after Dee Lee's Morning Show on the Beat left the air a few months back in place for Steve Harveys Show. The radio biz aint no joke..............

Whats this I hear about former Vashon Coach Floyd Irons gettin back in the coaching game. Well, from reports, they are saying that Irons wants his old job back coachin at Vashon where he led the school with several state titel sin its 30 year career there Only problem is former NBA star and Vashon alumni Anthony Bonner was hired to be the coach after Irons' ousting last summer. Hmmm, this is about to get interesting!............................

I hear local comedian Jessie Taylor (PICTURED) is tearin it up at The Plaza every Sunday at The Plaza (formerly the Spotlight) in Baden. I gotta come out and see whats the hoopla. I know whenever Brother Taylor (when is the wedding?) is hosting a comedy night, its worth the travel. I also hear STL American entertainment editor will be having a roast of his decade anniversary at the paper. hey, whurr's my invite? LOL................................Kudos to local signer Landon King who will be recording a song with Grammy Award winning St. Louis producers Track Starz. King won Fox 2's Mike Contest...........................Watch out St Louis Galleria, Fairview Heights, Ill. has just built their swanky shop center. It had its grand opening of Shoppes at St. Clair Square, wherr more than 10 upscale shops are located in front of the old St. Clair Square....Whats this I hear about a pajama party that is exclusive at someone's crib on McPherson next Friday?............................It was good seeing my gym buddy S Ramey back in the gym at Bally in Clayton. I havent heard or seen him since July. He told me he was in a a bad car accident in Denver and had to get therapy. Glad to see you back, man......................... My baddd, to Jakada Fashions' Demond Tucker who had a private b-day party he had at Posh last Saturday. I was supposed to have been there but I was tired from rehearsal and the flat tire incident. But I did hear that 104.1's comedian Arvin Mitchell became the drive-by host and started a Chicken Noodle Soup contest all up in that small venue. Whats really goin on in the city? For real. LOL............................Kudos to my girl local actress Shawn Guy-Pitts who will be performing a one-woman show at UMSL's Stop the Violence week on March 21. I'll keep you posted on the times oh and she said that it will be FREE....

Popular DJ Enoch has just posted a new episode on his podcast. the title is Knocturnal Sunshine Episode: Knocturnal Sunshine #214. You can hear it at http://knocradio.podOmatic.com/....

Peep out veteran radio personlality Edie Bee with her weekly jazz series Jazz on the Bee Side"Sundays from 1-3pmOn Soul Classics 1490 WESL AM and if you want to get on Vanuta Applebum's hot new entertainment newslatter, email her at vanitaapplebum@yahoo.com and tell her Ma'at sent you to her!.......

And condolences to the family of STL-based comedian and Last Comic Standing finalist Brett Clawson who passed a couple of months ago from a car accident. He was 32.

STL-TIDBITZ SPOTLIGHT

The STL area is currently celebrating the 160th anniversary of the famous Dred Scott(PICTURED ) trial in June of 1847 for his freedom and the courts denial of it. The following year, the Missouri Supreme Court decided that the case should be retried. In an 1850 retrial, a St. Louis circuit court ruled that Scott and his family were free.Two years later, the Missouri Supreme Court stepped in again, reversing the decision of the lower court. Scott and his lawyers then brought his case to a federal court: the United States Circuit Court for the District of Missouri.In 1854, the Circuit Court upheld the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court. Scott appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court, but lost because the Court did not see him as a legal citizen of the United States..With the aid of new lawyers, the Scotts (he and his wife Harriet) sued again in federal court. They lost and appealed to the United States Supreme Court.Dred Scott is interred in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri. Harriet was thought to be buried near her husband, but it was later learned that she was buried somewhere in Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Missouri.In 1997, Dred and Harriet Scott were inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. (THIS COMES IN PERFECT TIMING WITH ESPECIALLY WITH Rep. Talibdin El-Amin who introduced legislation for Missouri to apologize about slavery.)

MAAT-IDBITZ--As I said last week, I did a guest spot on the ST. Louis access channel show last Wednesday, The Best of the STL (PICTURED IS YOURS TRULY WITH BEST OF THE STL CO-HOST GILBERTO PINELLA--ACTOR DARRELL MOORE IS SEEN BEHIND PINELLA'S HEAD) to talk about my stageplay and fashion show....The play ad can also be seen on Regional Arts Commission, STL411 and NPR's local websites. I also got word that the play will be in the calendar for Vital Voice Magazine March 9....This is the second week of my having script readings at my job at the Water Geyser. It definitely has worked out instead of renting a space somewhere cause I am the only one in the office during my shift....I got a call from a famous model named Levy Christian Pambia, a brother from Paris (as in France) who called me from Paree about being in my fashion show. I will keep you posted on that one!



OUTTOWN will be back with a new post Wednesday, March 19!