Arts & Culture

Over the past 44 years, the radio and news industries have gone through many changes. Two things that haven’t changed during that time are Mary Edwards’ dedication and passion for her work at St. Louis Public Radio.

Edwards, who came to the station in 1974 after earning her bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, was inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame last year. She started as a music assistant and held positions including music director, program director, production manager and operations manager.

Edwards’ most impactful work at St. Louis Public Radio began on September 3, 1996, with the launch of St. Louis on the Air, the station’s flagship and premier local program. Friday’s show marked her final broadcast as she put in her last day of full-time work and embarked on a well-deserved retirement.

Three players were crowned as winners of the sixth annual Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. Normally, a playoff takes place to determine the sole winner of a tournament, but in an unprecedented turn of events, the players decided to share the title. 

World Champion Magnus Carlsen, his challenger Fabiano Caruana and the Armenian superstar Levon Aronian disliked the rule of eliminating one player by drawing lots and came to the unanimous decision, approved by the chief arbiter, to share the title. Thus, the “no-repeat-winner” tradition of the Sinquefield Cup was broken, as all three have won the previous editions.

Vietnam veterans are on the minds of many following the recent passing of Sen. John McCain, and for former Marine Captain Allyn Hinton, this event conjured up some unique memories.

“John McCain was flying A4s off an aircraft carrier doing bombing missions over North Vietnam when he was shot down, captured and a POW for five and a half years,” Hinton recalled on Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air. “His father was the commander of all naval forces in the Pacific, and so he was quite a prize to the North Vietnamese …”

St. Louis actor Jen Kerner has played dozens of characters, but in recent years she’s taken on a new role: making the theater experience enjoyable for people who are overwhelmed by loud sounds and bright lights that are part of the typical theatrical experience.

Kerner works in job placement for people with developmental disabilities who often have sensory issues. Four years ago, she began to pay more attention to her own sensitivities during rehearsals for “The Music Man," in which the orchestra seemed noisy and abrasive. Shortly thereafter, a doctor diagnosed her with autism.

Blues music runs deep in St. Louis’ roots, and this weekend St. Louisans will celebrate the genre with one of the largest outdoor music events in the region.

On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh discussed the upcoming 2018 Big Muddy Blues Festival with co-coordinator Jeremy Segal-Moss.

A new St. Louis hip-hop festival will go beyond the music and celebrate the culture that surrounds it, including art, film and dance.

The four-day series of events dubbed Hip Hop Week will coincide with Paint Louis, an annual gathering of hundreds of graffiti artists from around the world who will paint murals on the flood wall by South Wharf St. downtown.

“If I say Hip Hop Week, most people will think of it as: ‘Oh, it’s a music festival.’ And [they’re] not thinking of other elements of hip-hop — such as the fashion, such as the film, such as the culture of hip-hop,” said Dwight Carter, a local event promoter who is the festival’s creative director.

The St. Louis Cardinals like what they’ve seen from Mike Shildt, and they want him to stick around and keep it going.

The team announced Tuesday they had removed the interim tag from Shildt, and signed him to a two-year deal as manager of the club. The terms were not disclosed.

Denise Thimes was still a young girl when she first interacted with Aretha Franklin in St. Louis during the late ’60s. But even then the Queen of Soul made a big impression on Thimes, who is now an accomplished vocalist herself.

“I emulated her a lot and never had a chance to, as a little girl, sing for her – which is what I wanted to do when she would come to our home,” Thimes told St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh. “But to have done her birthday party [a few years ago] and to stand there and watch her watch me sing – Don, I had to fight back the tears the whole time.”

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, August 19, 2018 will be “Gospel Piano, Tributes to Jean Kittrell and Aretha Franklin Plus New Music.”  This week’s Jazz Unlimited show will be in three parts.  The Keys and Strings Hour will feature gospel piano with Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann, Hank Jones, Bobby Timmons, Mildred Falls with Mahalia Jackson, Gene Harris, and Johnny O’Neal in the first hour.  We will play tributes to the Jean Kittrell, who died at age 90 on October 14 and Aretha Franklin, who died at age 76 on August 16 in the second hour.  The third hour presents New Music by the Mik

East St. Louis will celebrate its own rich history on Sunday as it joins about a dozen Illinois cities holding celebrations to mark the state’s bicentennial.

The East St. Louis Heritage Festival at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center will note the 200th anniversary of the state’s first constitution, signed in Kaskaskia on Aug. 26, 1818. The festival also will celebrate remarkable East St. Louisans, like iconic jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, Olympic gold medalist Joyner-Kersee, and others.

The relationships cultivated across generations within a family can be seen as valuable for a number of reasons, and grandparents play a special role in it all.

On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh spoke with one local man whose family’s story was turned into a book. Over the course of three decades, Paul Gallant explored the seven continents, but with some unlikely travel companions: his grandchildren.

The USS Missouri has played a role in history that is likely equal to its heft. Missouri’s namesake vessel is three football fields long, 20 stories high, 45,000 tons and once housed a crew of 2,400 sailors. The famous battleship was the site of the Japanese surrender during World War II and was a favorite of President Harry Truman, a native Missourian.

“There’s always a lot of renovation,” explained Mike Carr, president and CEO of the USS Missouri Memorial Association, who joined St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh on Thursday. “It always takes a lot of effort and money to support 45,000 tons of steel."

Another week full of chess action has just finished, and we are fast approaching the end of the regular season of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. This year, the format of the tour consists of five events: Your Next Move in Belgium, Paris GCT, St. Louis Rapid & Blitz (USA), Sinquefield Cup (USA) and the Grand Chess Tour Finalin London, which features the top four finalists from the previous four events.

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, August 19, 2018 will be “The Music of Sonny Clark.”  Pianist Sonny Clark was born in a coal-mining town near Pittsburgh.  Apparently self-taught, he began playing professionally while visiting the west coast.  He eventually moved to New York and recorded several classic Blue Note recordings before dying at age 32, a victim of the 1950’s heroin epidemic.  We will hear him with the Lighthouse All-Stars, his own trio, quintet and sextets, our own Grant Green, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Dexter Gordon, Serge Chaloff, Jackie McLean, Curtis Fuller, Buddy DeFranco

In 1888, a young, African-American woman left Louisiana to join her brothers in St. Louis.

The future Madam C.J. Walker earned a living by doing laundry, then began selling beauty products. Eventually she founded her own company and went on to become one of the nation’s first black, female millionaires. Warner Brothers is producing a TV series for Netflix about her life.

Walker’s time in St. Louis was transformational, according to her great-great granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles, who wrote the book on which the series is based.

Nine arts groups in Missouri and Illinois will share $45,000 in grants announced Wednesday by Arts and Education Council, a nonprofit agency funded by private donations.

The money is split between two programs, each funded by Monsanto Fund. One offers general, organizational support to established arts organizations in rural areas; the other funds smaller groups planning new programs or events.