- [Jim] It was certainly a year to remember or at least a year that's going to be hard to forget.

The stories that define 2020 will be with us for some time.

But in so many ways this past year we turned to each other.

It was people in need, but it was also people helping people in need.

And when the going got tough, well, sometimes the band shows up.

We do have things to look forward to, a new soccer team coming in a couple of years, and that football team that was here and then gone, it might be making a comeback.

That and much more as we kick off a new year and Living St.Louis's 18th season.

(upbeat music) - I'm Jim Kirchherr, and I thought I would kick off the new year back on my front porch, because a lot of us spent much of 2020 at home more than usual, more than planned.

It was that kind of year.

We limited contact, we wore masks or maybe we argued about wearing masks.

- [Jim] For St.Louis and for the country and many places in the world, it was a year unlike any in memory unless you're well over a hundred, and remember the 1918 flu pandemic.

For most of the year, the spare bedroom was my main office, a place to write and to edit and to interview.

The dinner table became my grandson's classroom.

On the bright side though, the best part of this, we've been able to have some recess together.

And plenty of people have had to do their gatherings, their parties, their weddings even, looking like this.

And even the Donnie Brooker's have been meeting on Zoom.

Crazy year that forced all kinds of adaptations and adjustments.

With theaters and concert halls closed, front porches became stages.

Musicians set up, invited the neighborhood to gather at a distance to be entertained.

And if you didn't go to them, there was a band who might come to you.

Brooke Butler on one of our favorite stories of 2020, this first aired in September, and we'll have a bit of an update.

(trumpets blowing) - [Brooke] This video was recorded back in late March, right at the height of the pandemic.

The musicians, Dominique Burton and Benjamin Kosberg who are also roommates, decided they'd already been stuck in the house for too long.

So they took out their instruments and played around their neighborhood hoping to just brighten some spirits when the world seemed at its darkest.

And it did exactly that.

The video went viral overnight and now has over 2.6 million views on Twitter.

Flash forward to today, what started as a spontaneous duet around the block, has progressed into one of St.Louis's favorite pandemic pick me ups, the Red and Black Brass Band.

(musical instruments playing) The band has been playing their way through the pandemic, entertaining neighborhoods all around the city when live entertainment is hard to come by these days.

They've gained new members, gussied up their look a bit with branded T-shirts and instruments, and even added some storytelling to their set.

- [Man] And the rest is the history that we're all living.

- [Interviewer] Did you ever think this would be this successful when you first went out to play?

- I couldn't have told myself that this would be remotely as successful as it has been.

♪ I've got a girl from St. Louis ♪ ♪ She's the one that I've been seeing in my dreams ♪ - It's what people need.

You know, it's the thing that we kind of got taken away from us during the pandemic and the COVID 19 in general, which was, we kind of lost a community a little bit, we had to disconnect from one another, and music has an amazing way to bring us together.

- [Brooke] The name Red and Black Brass Band, comes from the fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, who used the colors red, black and gold.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a national fraternity for musicians, and not only is that where the name comes from but also how the other members of the band were led to join.

They're all a part of the St.Louis chapter, the fraternity, and often when they're not sporting the bands gear, they're seen representing those Greek letters.

And actually considering the values of the fraternity, it's not a surprise that these men were led to volunteer their talents to the community.

♪ Stand by me A quote from the Phi Mu alpha Sinfonia mission reads, "We uphold music, not for the sake of music itself, but to uplift our fellow man."

♪ Oh stand by me - So I'd say it's a connection we all shared as a group already, and it was a connection that brought us to music and kept us to music, and it's a big reason why a lot of us are in St.Louis in general.

So it was kind of our way of giving a little bit of tribute to it.

But it was also kind of a way of connecting with each other too, 'cause it was something that we already kind of had together.

(band singing) - Everyone in the group has been in sacrificing and giving as much of their time to it as they can, 'cause people do have day jobs, people are trying to still make some money, people are still trying to survive through COVID, take care of their families.

- For the most part, we worked well with each other with schedules.

So we may not always be there all the time, but where one of us isn't there we can always fill in with our sound it's amazing how we do it.

- [Brooke] Volunteering their time and talents, these guys obviously have a lot of love for the community.

And the community gives the love right back.

(band singing) - [Brooke] I mean a lot, a lot of love.

Not only did they go viral on Twitter back in March, they were also awarded Best Use of Brass in St.Louis magazine's 2020 A list feature.

And when we did a short story about the band back in June, that video received a lot of attention with over 1.5 million views from all around the world.

And most recently, their story was even shared on the PBS News Hour.

- The Red and Black Brass Band in St.Louis, has found a way to bring music to the streets of its hometown.

- [Brooke] Why do you think that's resonating with so many people to see this play?

- It's the power of music.

It speaks to healing, it's joy in such a time where everything in the world is dark, there's so much going on right now.

So we're playing music and our biggest thing is just the passion and love when we believed in blowing that through our instruments.

And I think people can really feel it.

So I think that's why it's resonating all over the world.

(musical instruments playing) - [Brooke] Having picked up a lot of steam throughout the year with their pop-up performances, and countless requests to play at events, things are now cooling down a bit for the band.

Literally with the cooler weather making outdoor performances less desirable, and conditions not yet being safe enough for indoor venues.

But this gives the guys a chance to reflect on some of the more memorable gigs and time to plan for the Spring.

- It's funny because I think for an individual to see you guys play, they'll never forget that.

The excitement, has it gone?

or is it just as exciting for you guys every time you play?

- I guess I'll say it is always exciting for me I will continuously always go out there with a smile on my face even you you know, everybody has their days.

- And it is kinda hard to-- every day was memorable because every day we came across people dancing, we came across kids, just kind of just having a ball.

People singing along, people coming out and even like crying.

Every day we sort of have things like that, so we definitely-- - [Brooke] So maybe it wasn't necessarily a performance, but rather the people who made for the more memorable moments.

Jack, with his parents Chris and Caitlyn, have followed the Red and Black Brass Band on multiple occasions.

And he always comes prepared with his trombone or drums to accompany.

- Throughout the year people actually donated instruments to us knowing that a couple of members were music teachers, and so knowing that we'd probably be able to find a home for them.

And with the drum set, we actually, we couldn't find anybody immediately who needed one so we decided to do a giveaway and Jack seemed like a good candidate.

(indistinct) - There we go.

- We're hoping 15 years from now we'll just get a college student walking up to us and hopefully he'll be a percussionist and (indistinct).

- [Brooke] And you don't have to be a kid like Jack to feel the inspiration that the band gives.

A hot summer gig in June also sticks out for the guys, but for a little different feeling of inspiration.

The Urban League at one of their many food giveaway events, asked the Red and Black Brass Band to play for the massive lines of people in need.

- When we got there the entire mall parking lot is packed with cars, hundreds of not thousands of them 'cause people had started showing up at around 6:00 AM we got there around noon.

And we essentially just walked the parking lot, playing in front of different lots of cars.

And I remember very specifically, 'cause we get to the end of the song and then you just hear all the car horn start, and people clapping out their windows.

They'd been sitting in their cars for six hours.

- And the reason they were sitting in their cars.

Of course, spreading that hope and joy is the reason the Red and Black Brass Band was formed in the first place.

And if they inspire others to follow lead, they're more than welcoming of other musicians.

- Selfishly, I was kinda hoping that there'd be like 12 Brass Bands around the city by the end of the year, spreading in different neighborhoods and we can take credit for all of them.

- You would encourage that you wouldn't like band battle them off their corner.

- I mean we will encourage and band battle them, it's all in the spirit of what music does for people nothing else can do.

Music is just something that everybody will understand everywhere, everybody will love everywhere, it's our duty.

- You know what you guys should do, instead of surprising people in their neighborhood outside, you should like crash some Zoom meetings.

(laughing) So whether they use my ideas or not, you can expect to hear the Red and Black Brass Band back out on the streets very soon.

(musical instruments playing) - This pandemic has been unpredictable and unrelenting and we've spent a lot of time rearranging our normal routines.

We've also spent a lot of time maybe waiting in lines to get a COVID-19 test, and soon to get a shot with one of the new vaccines.

And you might remember that there was this election back in November, standing in line with proper distancing to vote.

But others have spent hours waiting in line for food in numerous food distribution programs, people and organizations gave money and time to make this happen.

There are always people in need of food but it's never been like this.

And while it might not be quite a silver lining, the Urban League's James Clark did see something important happening.

- Well, I think that the most positive thing that it has exposed is the willingness for St. Louis to come together.

So these are the worst of times but they're also the best of times where we see St. Louis coming together and we need this same momentum as we look towards planning for the aftermath.

What can we do differently?

How can we make St. Louis better?

And how can we take a very serious approach to getting resources to families?

We have to have a new paradigm, we have to have a new paradigm.

(crowd ranting) - [Jim] When historians view video archives decades from now, like this Black Lives Matter marching clip after the killing of George Floyd.

Those researchers will be able to quickly peg the year, not just because of the signs but all those masks.

Guess they'll say, must've been 2020.

It was a tough year in many ways but when plywood went up in anticipation of unrest, folks came out to make the best of it and leave a message.

- This pandemic can't be over soon enough.

It has been deadly, it has been disruptive, but it's not like everything has come to a halt.

- [Jim] We have seen things moving forward and they will continue to move forward in this new year.

The NGA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agencies' massive campus on the North side, under construction but years away from being ready.

Opening later this year the new City Foundry development on Forest Park Parkway between Vandeventer and Gand, continuing development along the Parkway that includes IKEA and CORTEX, they will have business retail restaurant and a phase two plan that includes residential.

Construction continues on the new Major League Soccer Stadium on Market Street, just West of Union Station.

The owners this past year did announce the new team name without of course a live audience.

- [Man] We are St. Louis city, SC.

- But the opening season has been delayed until 2023.

And for a while last year, St. Louis had American football back.

A year ago The XFL BattleHawks got off to a great start in a city that was starved for professional football.

But even as Ann Marie Bugar was putting the finishing touches on her story this was in pre mask 2020, everything changed and it's changing again.

But let's begin with that story from early Spring.

(crowd cheering) - [Anne-Marie] It's been four years since football fans in St. Louis have cheered on a football team at the dome.

But by the crowds, the noise and the fanatics, (crowd cheering) you wouldn't know this was the first home game of the very first season for the St. Louis Battle Hawks, one of eight brand new XFL teams.

The XFL announced in 2018, the rebirth of what they're calling the fan first football league, a fast-paced game that's entertaining, but true to the sport.

- There's some big news coming up.

- [Anne-Marie] St. Louis' native Kurt Hunzeker is the president of the St. Louis Battle Hawks.

- From day one, even before the name Battle Hawks and the brand was born, we knew that we had something special here because we are going to build the first homegrown pro-football team.

The previous two teams came from somewhere else and here in St. Louis we all know being St. Louis born and raised means a lot.

- [Anne-Marie] St. Louis fans were onboard early.

- This feels great.

And when you look around here, the atmosphere's insane.

This is a football city, we love it and we're so, so excited.

- [Anne-Marie] High television ratings and a sold out first home game proof St. Louis who was ready for some football.

St. Louis was the only city selected for the XFL, that doesn't share the market with an NFL team.

- It certainly helps, and I think at the beginning it certainly could have hurt just because of the history of pro football in St. Louis but by stating right out of the gate that we were home grown, it allowed us to be very present and future and very positive as we engaged the community.

- [Anne-Marie] And no one seems to mind that the Battle Hawks are taking over the Rams Turf.

And I mean all of it.

Not only are they playing at the dome, they practice at the former Rams Park.

- Yeah I grew up 15 minutes from where we're sitting today.

- [Anne-Marie] Just like the Battle Hawks, the teams starting center, Brian Folkerts, is also St. Louis born and raised.

He's a former Hazelwood Central Hawk and coincidentally, a former St. Louis Ram.

- So, you know we're just a supplemental league for super fans of football that once the super ball's over and they're left with a void in their life, and that's where we come in we're a bunch of guys, college all-stars, or former NFL players that we're all just playing for the love of the game and we just can't seem to give it up.

- [Anne-Marie] (laughs) Just can't quit.

- Yeah.

- [Anne-Marie] Now the previous iteration of the XFL from 1999 to 2001, combined extreme elements of professional wrestling with football, it wasn't successful.

And while WWE CEO, Vince McMahon still owns the league, Hunzeker is clear, XFL 2020 is very different.

- I mean, it was really an entertainment focused entity.

Whereas the XFL 2020 is rooted entirely on the product, the game of football.

- This is true football, it's the football everyone knows.

It's not the old body slam, WWE wrestling football of the 2000s.

But so this is real football that everyone's gonna recognize and we're putting a good show out for people.

- [Anne-Marie] Are you getting hazed over here?

- Yeah, yeah (indistinct) - [Anne-Marie] The clear delineation between the two XFLs, came when the rule enhancements were unveiled.

- We saw that it was going to be fast paced.

We saw it was all about player safety, and that is when it really started changing the narrative for people where-- and it's also a generation later of this is new for a lot of people, but it also kind of, hey, the past is the past, this is all about the future, this is all about people who love football.

- [Anne-Marie] And clearly, this city loves football.

The home opener on February 23rd brought over 28,000 football fans together.

Filling the lower bowl of the dome, selling out the first game in the XFL.

- There was a sense of we've been doing this for decades, walking around the tailgates the first two home games that it's our first and second home game and yet friends who have tailgated for years are coming back together whether it's from the last team or when I was a kid the football cardinals were here.

- (indistinct) - There's about 40 of our friends who are in the same section.

And we're all the mafia, yeah.

- [Woman] That is awesome.

- And I'm the godfather.

We're here to support the community and support the team.

- That love of football has always been in St. Louis and we're really just kind of tapping into that.

- [Anne-Marie] A regular XFL season runs 10 weeks filling the gap between the Superbowl and the start of the NFL season.

But like all sports on every level, their season was canceled due to the COVID 19 outbreak.

Hunzeker tweeted, "St. Louis, you made the start of this season the most fun I've ever had professionally.

And we're just getting started, stay safe.

And remember that I love you all."

(crowd cheering) And no doubt St. Louis will be waiting, ready to cheer on the 2021 Battle Hawks.

St. Louis waited a long time for football, and now we need it more than ever.

- But there will be no 2021 XFL season, a few months after that story the XFL was bankrupt.

But then in steps, Dwayne Johnson, AKA The Rock, wrestler turned movie star, buying and reviving the league, details to follow.

- For all things sports we go to Frank Viverito, president of the St. Louis Sports Commission.

XFL, Frank, it was there, then it was canceled, then it was out of business, now there's talk that it's coming back.

- Yeah, so The Rock net now has purchased the league and all of the franchises are owned by the league.

And so they pretty much would be rebuilding again my guess, would be to keep them worked and to try to make it better when the league comes back in 2022.

The St. Louis franchise was the top one in the league, so my guess is that we'll certainly be in line for a look, you know in '22.

- So the Sports Commission, your business, you guys bring in a lot of amateur tournaments, NCAA, Olympic trials.

- We lost 13 of our 15 events in this calendar year, but on the plus side of it, you are booking events long into the future and so we always take an elongated view of our success and the overall sports activity in the region, and we have great corporate membership and partnerships.

But you're exactly right as we look into the upcoming year we have events like the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament, we have the NCA Wrestling Championships scheduled for St. Louis in March for the ninth time in the past 21 years.

We have a number of national championships in gymnastics, and the United States Olympic gymnastics trials coming up in St. Louis in June before the Olympic games in Tokyo in July.

- [Jim] Those tournaments might take place, but if they do, there might not be anybody in the stands, just athletes and coaches, referees and of course, TV cameras.

- Television is a key piece of the visibility and the importance of the event, but the big component of the financial outlook are the fans in the stands.

- When you have something like gymnastics or a wrestling tournament, even though the general public may not be standing in line to buy tickets, you're pulling in people from around the country, they're staying in the hotels, living in the restaurants, they're seeing how great St. Louis is, they're going to the arch, all of that.

They're not doing that?

- [Frank] No, they're not doing that.

- And I think we have to keep in mind that St. Louis is not the only city who is facing this.

So it's not like you're at any greater disadvantage than the other cities who vie for these sorts of things.

- It's every single place in this country and around the world.

And it's sports at every level, it's your kids literally tournaments, it's our national championships, it is the NHL, the NBA, the NFL Major league baseball, MLS, everybody's trying to figure out how can we play safely?

How can we get the revenues back?

And it's gonna be a challenge for everyone in 2020.

- I know we've only really skimmed the surface of this year and review only barely touching the real tragedy of the loss of life, and jobs, and homes, but that story is not over and it is well covered in the paper and on the nightly news.

- We know we're still gonna get hit-- - And we'll be seeing more of this guy giving us steady and sometimes stern updates, warnings, even pleadings.

Pandemic Task Force leader, Dr. Alex Garza, who no doubt will be happy when this job comes to an end.

Another person looking forward to retirement is St. Louis's first woman mayor Lyda Krewson.

She was sworn in almost four years ago in the City Hall Rotunda, and was expected to battle for a second term.

But nope, as she turned 68, she unexpectedly announced that this was a good time to let somebody else take the job.

- So help me God - The other mayor who got a lot of attention was Ella Jones.

She was elected the first black mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, and that got national news coverage.

(crowd cheering) - And so did the story of Cory Bush, the activist and protest leader, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

A sign of the times, along with this, the empty pedestal where once stood a statue of Christopher Columbus in Tower Grove park.

A symbol of a new, more complex interpretation of our history.

- And since this is Missouri's bicentennial year no doubt there is more of that to come.

Well that's Living St. Louis, thanks for joining us, I'm Jim Kirchherr and we'll see you next time.

- Living St. Louis is made possible by the support of the Mary Ranken Jordan and Ettie A. Jordan Charitable Foundation and by the members of Nine Network.

(upbeat music)