Musician and native St. Louisan Jack Spann (aka Jon Rosen) will release a new recording June 16, Beautiful Man From Mars. On it, Spann (pictured at top) provides lead vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar and bass. The Webster University grad (‘94), who met David Bowie prior to the rock legend’s death last year, also played on the demos for what would become Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, and was invited to tour with him.
His students, and their parents, are all set to give educator Patrick Jackson the send-off he deserves. The Kirkwood School District orchestra director is retiring this year after 25 years with the district. On May 20, a banquet in his honor is planned at Kirkwood H.S. Under his leadership, students have soared to great heights, including KHS orchestra performances at Carnegie Hall (2010, 2017), Lincoln Center (2013) and the Missouri Music Educators Association.
Major kudos are due to Bob Chapman, longtime CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Group in Clayton, for being named the third best chief executive in the world! That distinction was announced last month by the leadership development firm Leadership From the Core. Chapman has penned a book titled Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Treating Your People Like Family, which tells you a lot about how he runs his business, an engineering consulting and manufacturing technology firm.
Congratulations to Dr. William and Anne Tao, local nonagenarians honored recently with a Lifetime Achievement Award from OCA St. Louis, an Asian American advocacy organization. The Taos, who reside in University City, founded William Tao and Associates consulting engineering firm in 1955 and have been active contributors to our community. As some of the earliest Chinese-Americans in St. Louis, they helped form OCA. The Taos have three sons, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.