So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Singer and actor Alice Ripley's cabaret show  was previewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.  Ripley performs here tonight and Saturday night for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival.

* Electronic musician and composer John Wiese will present a free, public composition workshop at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 8 in Room 4 of Tietjens Hall on the Washington University campus. Wiese (pictured) will be in St. Louis for a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, November 11 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall theater.

* The 2018 St. Louis International Film Festival, which will take place November 2-12 at various venues around town, includes a number of films with musical subjects, notably the local premiere of Mr. Handy's Blues, a documentary about "St. Louis Blues" composer W.C. Handy.

The festival's screening of the Handy bio at The Stage at KDHX will be paired with a live performance by singer Valerie "Miss Jubilee" Kirchoff, cornetist TJ Muller, and pianist Ethan Leinwand. You can see the entire festival schedule here.

* Drummer Dave Weckl and bassist Tom Kennedy are headed for Europe next month, touring with guitarist Mike Stern and saxophonist Bob Malach as the Mike Stern/Dave Weckl Band. The group will play dates in Germany, Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Slovakia and Poland, and then return to the USA for a half-dozen shows in December on the West Coast.

* Pianist Peter Martin's music education video company Open Studio Network was featured in an article on AVClub.com.

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby was interviewed on Philadelphia radio station WRTI's program "The Bridge"

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* The "TAP Dynamics" show this Saturday and Sunday at the Grandel Theatre, which features dancers performing to live music from a jazz trio led by drummer Allison Miller, was previewed by Kenya Vaughn of the St. Louis American, and by Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

* Wilson also has a story in the Post previewing next week's appearances by saxophonist/singer Grace Kelly (pictured) at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's new album The Mugician is being released today, and as part of the roll-out, the entire album was previewed on AllMusic.com and Harrold was interviewed by Salon.com.

* Music for Lifelong Achievement's annual musical instrument drive was featured in a report on local CBS affiliate KMOV (Channel 4).

* The deadline for applications for Regional Arts Commission's Artist Support Grants for this year is Thursday, October 12. RAC is presenting a free workshop on how to apply on Monday, October 2; for more on that, and details on the grant program, go to https://racstl.org/grant/artists-support-grants/.

* Composer and flute player Fred Tompkins is offering free downloadable and streamable music, both previously unreleased and from his back catalog, via a new Bandcamp page.

* The Gateway Jazz Festival, a day-long smooth jazz event that debuted this July at Chesterfield Amphitheater, has announced a date for 2018. The fest will return for a second year on Saturday, July 21, 2018, and discounted "early bird" tickets are on sale now at http://www.gatewayjazzfest.com/.

* The Riverfront Times' annual "Best of St. Louis" issue is out this week, and the winners in the annual Readers' Choice poll include the Broadway Oyster Bar for "Best Restaurant" and Record Exchange for "Best Record Store". You can see all the results of the RFT's Readers Choice poll here.