Kenya Vaughn

EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois — On a bright May morning inside Dunham Hall, the heartbeat of WSIE 88.7 — The Sound — pulsed a little stronger. The heritage jazz station, which first hit the airwaves in 1970, gathered donors, students, volunteers and longtime supporters for a ribbon cutting that marked something far bigger than a new tower […]

“Is God Is” is a trip — both literally and figuratively. With her film directorial debut, adapted from her play of the same name, Aleshea Harris takes audiences on a ride they won’t soon forget. The twists she threads through this bloody thriller keep viewers on edge. The biggest names attached are St. Louis’ own […]

More than 1,000 job seekers stopped by as tornado recovery work was held nearby The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis opened its “Weekend of Service” on Friday with the kind of energy that has defined the organization’s work since the May 16, 2025 tornado changed the landscape of North St. Louis. More than 1,000 […]

Day two of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ “Weekend of Service” marked the one-year anniversary of the tornado that touched down on their headquarters and the surrounding area. Just as it has been throughout the past year, that place of devastation served as a beacon of hope. Their food and essentials drive-thru distribution […]

May 26, 2026 will mark the 100th birthday of music icon Miles Dewey Davis. Across the region, tributes have poured in for the Alton-born, East St. Louis–raised genius who expanded the very possibility of sound through the lens of jazz. Out of Miles’ horn came ideas that shifted the trajectory of American music. What has […]

When the Class of 2026 arrived at historic Charles Sumner High School four years ago, they stepped into a building still recovering from virtual learning, pandemic disruptions and uncertainty. They finished their journey standing in the same place many were when a tornado tore through their school one year earlier — the Dr. Henry Givens […]

The fact that Michael Jackson was unmatched as an entertainer becomes even more apparent when watching performers attempt to capture his talent, skill and energy. Only one person to date — Jaafar Jackson in Antoine Fuqua’s biopic Michael — has truly come close. And he shares 25 percent of the late superstar’s DNA. Jaafar’s portrayal […]

There are musicians who play instruments, and then there was Sonny Rollins. He played, stretched, bent and reshaped his tenor saxophone into a language that was unmistakably his. While Dexter Gordon is often credited with translating Charlie Parker’s breakneck phrasing to the tenor horn, Rollins used Bird’s blueprint to build an entirely new vocabulary. And […]

While the main character quotes lines from the play, the most famous line from Hamlet never appears in Fat Ham. James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation poses a different question altogether. Not “to be or not to be,” but “to laugh or to cry. He leans into the answer that Black America has relied on for […]

For the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, Rollin’ on the River marked a new way of bringing St. Louis back to the riverfront. Launched this Memorial Day weekend, the inaugural event drew families, skaters, tourists and longtime St. Louisans to the base of the Arch in way that provided joy, accessibility and a sense of place. […]