Last call to choose your nominations. I’ve been telling y’all for weeks. Now the rubber is hitting the road on the nominations period for the inaugural St. Louis American Reader’s Choice Awards. You only have until the end of the month – which is a few short days. I’ve said it before and now I’m saying it again: Don’t leave your folks hanging. Because if you do, you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves. So go ahead and make this first Reader’s Choice one for the record books. At this point you should have already copied and pasted the link – and saved the page. But because I don’t want to hear any of that “I wanted to nominate, but I didn’t know where to go” foolishness, I’m going to share the link one more time. Don’t say I’ve never done anything nice for y’all. Here’s where to go to get the full rundown on how to nominate your people: www.stlamerican.com/readerschoice/
A good day to be a St. Louis R&B leading lady. We had already gone to print, so it was too late to mention last week. But two women making waves for St. Louis on the R&B music scene experienced major moments on the same day last Wednesday. First off, Tamron Hall invited Tish Period back to her show to perform her new single “Mirrors.” I was over the moon to see that Auntie Tam is demonstrating her continued support of Tish’s talent. Kelly Clarkson, it’s your move. You picked her for your team on “The Voice,” now put her on your show too! You know what…instead of saying what somebody else should be doing, let me spend the last little bit of my words on this topic to give Tamron Hall some flowers for following up.
Meanwhile back at home, Morgan Taylor was slaying the stage for her sold-out City Winery debut presented by Alonzo Townsend and ‘nem Wednesday night. I got my life and saw so many of my favorite folks that if I mention them all I won’t have room to say everything I want to say about the actual show. I will say that City Winery temporarily became City Nupery! All the top-tier Kappa uncles were squozed (yes, squozed) up in there. And I saw some of couples goals, particularly Larry and Becky Blue and Eric and Angela Rhone. Okay, back to Morgan. She did that! I do have one tiny piece of advice though. Morgan, niece, don’t let anybody put you back in that catsuit again. Now the little short set prom dress hybrid was giving! But that other thing was looking like something Tisha Campbell’s character in “School Daze” would have worn in one of those performances by the “wannabes.” There, I got that off my chest. Now I can tell y’all how our daughter tore that stage up! And she wasn’t just singing other folks’ music. She had original music and all of it was a straight up bop! I was checking more for her music than the covers – which is rare for an emerging talent…and a good thing. She just needs the right person to see her with the power and influence to put her on and I’m sure she’s got next. And when she does level up, can somebody send her a note telling her take Yolanda Lankford with her as a hype woman. She was hollerin’ like the rent was do – and I wasn’t mad about it.
New school blues you can use. The quick weaves were deep in the building at Chaifetz Arena for the 18th Annual Gateway Blues Festival Friday night – and I would be a hypocrite if I was bothered by it! I’m talking about looks that that would have given EJ Johnson, Billy Porter and Law Roach a run for their money. For clarity, I’m talking about Law’s recent 1970s game show host cropped looks of late, not the typical 30-inch middle part bust downs and cholo French braids. If y’all were there and saw somebody who looked like me with a blended 27-piece pulled together from dismantled units like a patchwork quilt…and was! I was giving the ladies “Before You Walk Out My Life” Monica with a splash of the original Harriet Winslow from “Family Matters” about the head. My fellow aunties were rightfully shook! But enough about my OG Nene Leakes hair game, let’s get on with the show. I had an absolute ball! Full disclosure, I was lowkey expecting to be underwhelmed because I’m partial to the veterans. I’ve attended more than a dozen of the Gateway Blues Festivals, and this was the first one that didn’t have a legend in the game on the bill. I was like, “Can a sista at least get a sip of Theodus Ealy or Bobby Rush?” I know they are long in the tooth, but they are still out in these streets singing and hunchin’ and carrying on. But I must say that King George, Tucka, 803Fresh, West Love, EJ Jones, Mike Clark Jr. and host Henry Welch held it down for 2026. And the audience was as entertaining as the acts. There are two things I know for sure after attending Friday’s performance. The first is that “Boots on the Ground” ain’t going nowhurre (said in my St. Louis accent). Go on and put it with “The Electric Slide” and “The Wobble.” The second is that everybody should attend at least one Gateway Blues Festival in their lifetime, because it is a show you have to experience to truly explain. Millie Jackson’s grown woman rap transitions still lives rent free in my head and that was about 15 years ago. Millie crawled so that Meg Thee Stallion could twerk!
314 week, take two. I know we technically have a whole 50 weeks before 314 Day turns the big 2-1, but it’s gonna lowkey feel like we are having a 314-Day repeat for the rest of the week. As you are reading this right now, I am somewhere downtown cutting up for St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day 2026. And on Saturday, I will be kaw-kawing until the cows come home when the St. Louis Battlehawks kick off their 2026 season at home. And did anybody tell y’all that Nelly and the St. Lunatics will be the halftime entertainment? The Dome is gonna be lit! Oh and a little birdie told me that game tickets where 33 percent off.