Residents Flock to Downtown Kirkwood Concert

From blocks away, you could hear the sounds of piano and bass playing jazz. This was Kirkwood Station Plaza Thursday, which hosted Downtown Kirkwood's Summer Concert Series.

Thursday night’s band, The Erin Bode Band, a popular local jazz band, performed. The band began as a trio back in 2004: Adam Maness, pianist, Syd Rodway, bass player and Erin Bode, singer. Then, over the years, added a drummer, Derrek Phillips, and just playing with them for the first time was singer/song writer, Derren Raser, who was on guitar.

The Erin Bode Band is thankful for two of its biggest supporters, Kaldi's Coffee House in Kirkwood and Cyrano’s in Webster Groves, where fans can buy the band's latest CD. The CD can also be ordered online at the band's website.

The band wasn’t the only entertainment for the evening though. Station Plaza was visited by jugglers and a balloon artist. For 38 years, Al Stanger has become a juggling star around St. Louis along with his friend Bill Thayer. Bill started to juggle after encouragement from his son in 1991.

“My son, Clint, who is a computer programmer now, was in college and came home one day and said that I had to learn,” Thayer said.

But these two aren’t your ordinary jugglers. They’re both math professors. Thayer works for St. Louis Community College at Meremac and Stanger teaches at University of Missouri, St. Louis. These two can be found anywhere there’s live music practicing their talent, specifically in the Delmar Loop.

Accompanying the jugglers, Laurence C. Levy was creating art. Ballon art that is. Levy was easy to pick out of the crowd with his vibrant balloon hat and a line of children waiting for their chance to get one of his creations. But this is not what Levy is known for.

“I’m a magician who does balloon art,” he said. For more than 50 years, Laurence has been studying and performing magic. He picked up on talent when he went to summer camp at age 11 in Baltimore. When Levy returned home, he went to his local library to find a book on magic and, as he grew older, shadowed other magicians to help grow his skills. Levy can now be found most Saturdays performing at the Incredible Pizza Place, children parties or even weddings.

Listening to the band, Olivia Robinson sat with her family and enjoyed the weather while they waited for their food. Early that evening, Robinson was driving by and noticed a crowd starting to form.

“Whoa, there’s a bunch of people here,” she said. Sitting with Robinson was her relative, Mark Kretschmer, a retired United States Marine. Although he graduate from Kirkwood High School, Kretschmer, a Kirkwood High School graduate, lives in Germany.

“I try to come home once a year or so,” Mark said. “I like to visit my cousin, who’s Olivia’s grandma.” Kretschmer is just one of the many unique people who headed to the Station Plaza for the fun-filled concert series.

The Downtown Kirkwood Summer Concert Series continues Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m. at Kirkwood Station Plaza.