With Michelle “Mike” Ochonicky. Healthy Planet Arts Editor
Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate! It’s warm and wonderful and we’ve waited all winter for the merry month of May, so CELEBRATE!
May means Mother’s Day (don’t forget—it’s Sunday, May 8!). Moms work hard all year long, so why not stretch that Mother’s Day celebration a few extra days. Treat your mom, yourself and any mom-type friends to a Girls’ Night Out that you’ll love. It’s Cool Chicks and Hot Glass at Third Degree Glass Factory, 5200 Delmar, on Wednesday, May 11 from 6-9 p.m. Part of the evening fun includes a free consultation with a personal trainer who will provide custom tips to help you look taller and trimmer. The Glam Slam Beauty Bar will offer free bang trims, 5-minute hair consultations and more. Exercise your uninterrupted creativity by making your own glass creation. Kakao Chocolate will spoil you with chocolate samplings, the cash bar will serve special pomegranate martinis, and gourmet hotdogs (veggie dogs, too!) will be available when you work up an appetite. Make a reservation today at www.stlglass.com or call 314-367-4527.
Celebrate one of St. Louis’ greats May 19-28 during Vincentennial, the 100th anniversary celebration of Vincent Price’s birth, presented by Cinema St. Louis. Born in St. Louis on May 27, 1911, Vincent Price’s family was a sweet one: his grandfather invented baking powder and his father was the president of National Candy Company, the largest candy company in the world at that time, specializing in jawbreakers and jelly beans. The Price family moved from Chicago to St. Louis to market their candy at the 1904 World’s Fair.
A graduate of St. Louis Country Day School (now part of MICDS), Vincent Price held a special fondness for his hometown, even as he gained fame for his roles in film. I remember being so scared by his performances in the 1960’s Edgar Allen Poe film adaptations of “House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Raven,” “Masque of the Red Death,” and more, yet never wanting to miss a minute of movie-terror. His distinctive voice and haunting laughter at the close of Michael Jackson’s famed “Thriller” still send chills up one’s spine.
Price was not only a notable St. Louisan but a very complex man with so many interests. His passion for art and art collecting was lifelong, resulting in the Vincent Price Gallery and Art Foundation on the campus of East Los Angeles Community College. He was always generous to art foundations, including the St. Louis Art Museum.
Vincentennial features a 10-day film festival with screenings at the Hi-Pointe Theatre (May 20-22), Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium (May 23-26) and the Missouri History Museum (May 19, 22, 27). The crowning end of Vincentennial is May 28 at the Muny in Forest Park with an outdoor screening of “Edward Scissorhands” and “Vincent.” Bookending Vincentennial are special appearances by legendary filmmaker Roger Corman and Victoria Price, author of “Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography,” who presents a multimedia remembrance of her father. Find more details at www.vincentennial.com.
Celebrate the ARTful rebirth of St. Louis’ midtown area on May 20 with the annual Art Walk in Grand Center, 5-9 p.m. This free event showcased the region’s fabulous art institutions along with lively entertainment and music throughout the district. The evening ends with the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts-sponsored outdoor screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, “Spellbound.”
Art Walk visitors are issued free “passports” for the event. Collect six or more stamps (provided at each venue) for discounts at district restaurants and discounted tickets to the evening’s Casual Concert by the St. Louis Symphony. Invite some friends and stroll to more than a dozen museums and galleries to savor this celebration of ART. Or hop-on/hop-off the free trolley that runs all evening. Sarah’s Cupcake Truck will be there, too (yum!). The evening’s details at www.grandcenter.org will amaze you!
End this month of celebration in style with Springto Dance, presented by Dance St. Louis. Although dance performances begin at 5 p.m., plan to spend the entire evening (or maybe all three evenings) because you’ll see different dance companies each night, all night. So how much does this kind of fancy-footwork smorgasbord cost? Would you believe just $10 per night? Yes, really—just $10 per night! Where can you go to spend an entire wonderful evening of professional entertainment for such a price? Only at Spring to Dance, May 26-28, at the Touhill Center for Performing Arts on UMSL campus. Visit www.dancestlouis.org or call 314-516-4949 for details.
So, celebrate! And Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
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