Top 12 things to do in St. Louis this week: 21 Savage performs, City Social kicks off, Timbuktu opens (2024)

FRIDAY

City Social

The organizers, which is to say the City of St. Louis and Greater St. Louis Inc., call it St. Louis’ ultimate block party. The music lineup includes Marquise Knox, Joanna Serenko, Dirty Muggs and a host of DJs, while 15 mostly Washington Avenue restaurants (including Sugarfire, Hi Pointe, Levels Nigerian Cuisine and Havana’s Cuisine) will be pumping out the food and drinks. By Daniel Neman

Brett Goldstein ‘The Second Best Night of Your Life’

You may have first come across Brett Goldstein as the grumpy football player Roy Kent on “Ted Lasso,” for which he won back-to-back Emmy Awards. But he doesn’t just star in the series, he’s also a co-executive producer and writer. By Rosalind Early

Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’

Encore! Theatre is tackling a classic tragedy for its final production of its 2023-24 season. Othello is a North African Moor who marries a wealthy Venetian woman. The two couldn’t be happier, but the evil Iago, an ensign for Othello, is determined to have it all end badly. By Rosalind Early

‘Timbuktu!’

The Black Rep is presenting the musical “Timbuktu!” about a poet who gets himself into and talks himself out of trouble, while his beautiful daughter, Marsinah, meets a prince in disguise and falls in love. The course of true love doesn’t run smooth though in this reinterpretation of “Kismet.” Director Ron Himes actually knows original Broadway cast member Obba Babatundé (“S.W.A.T.”, “Bold and the Beautiful”) and called him during rehearsal, so this staging should be pretty interesting.By Rosalind Early

SATURDAY

Chinese Culture Days

MoBot’s annual sojourn into Chinese culture features music and dance performances, pageantry, art, history and food. Let’s not forget the food. Honestly, isn’t the food why the event is so popular? By Daniel Neman

Spring Native American Market

Note the new address. Otherwise, it’s the same old popular idea: More than 30 Native American artists will be on hand with their art in any number of media: jewelry, ceramics, paintings and drawings, clothing, metal, stone, flutes and woodcarving among them. By Daniel Neman

SUNDAY

Annie Malone May Day Parade

It’s always one of the area’s biggest parades, one of the oldest (since 1910) and certainly one of the most fun. Marching bands, dance teams and plenty of floats draw enough crowds (30,000 spectators to see 3,500 participants) to make it the second-largest African-American parade in the country. Plus food trucks, food and drink vendors and retail vendors. By Daniel Neman

21 Savage ‘American Dream Tour’

We all got sent earlier this year when 21 Savage released the trailer for his biopic “American Dream: The 21 Savage Story” and it turned out to be a parody. While there may be no 21 Savage biopic (yet), fans can still get their fill of the British rapper while he’s on tour behind his “American Dream” album, which featured St. Louis’ own Metro Boomin and got a Grammy nod earlier this year. By Rosalind Early

TUESDAY

BJ the Chicago Kid

BJ the Chicago Kid is as real as it gets, the soulful singer who also does R&B has collaborated with Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q and Kanye West. By Rosalind Early

WEDNESDAY

Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket

Droll author Daniel Handler, who wrote the A Series of Unfortunate Events books as Lemony Snicket, recently published a nonfiction book about his life experiences with advice for writers. In “And Then? and Then? What Else?” Publishers Weekly says: “In a punchy, stream-of-consciousness style, Handler excavates his childhood — including a chilling, flatly delivered recollection of sexual abuse — and his fraught relationship with novel-writing, pulling readers into his funny, fractured world.” By Jane Henderson

THURSDAY

John K. Brown: ‘Spanning the Gilded Age’

This year is the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Eads Bridge, then simply called the St. Louis Bridge since it was the only one here over the Mississippi River at that time. In “Spanning the Gilded Age: James Eads and the Great Steel Bridge,” Brown tells a lively story not only of Eads’ life and the first steel structure anywhere, he also provides insight into the financial world of the Gilded Age. Read more about his book in Sunday’s STLLife section. By Jane Henderson

Michael McDonald ‘What a Fool Believes: A Memoir’ with Paul Reiser

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — and Ferguson native — Michael McDonald, has written a memoir, “What a Fool Believes,” in collaboration with his friend, actor and comedian Paul Reiser. The singer’s tales of encounters with Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones and others, plus tales of his personal ups and downs should make for a memorable read. By Daniel Durchholz