Kick, Push...Coast

As we went to press, A to Z discovered that Blueberry Hill's long-running Friday-night hip-hop event, the Science — which is broadcast concurrently on KDHX (88.1 FM) — quietly held its final live performance last week.

Radio show co-founder DJ Solo says the program will still air from 10 p.m. to midnight every Friday, but that the live broadcast from Blueberry Hill that began in 1998 is ending for, among other reasons, changing times.

"The crowd was thinning out," Solo says. "All the people coming to the Science back in the day are older now, outgrowing the club life, not going out as much."

Check this space or www.riverfronttimes.com/blogs for more on the story soon.

Ironically, the ending of the Science comes on the heels of news that the area's other long-running hip-hop night, the Hi-Pointe Café, has a new home. The weekly showcase is now held at M.P. O'Reilly's (5627 Manchester Road; 314-781-4487) on Mondays.

HPC co-host DJ Rob Boo gives props to fellow host Finsta for securing the locale.

"Two of my homies, Derrick ‘Tech Productions' Kilgore and Ron Edele, are bouncers there," Finsta says. "[They] told [M.P. O'Reilly's] about the HPC situation and they immediately wanted to help since they weren't busy on Mondays. But then again, what club is busy on Mondays besides [the] Hi-Pointe?"

Finsta says the larger space will allow them to hold more theme nights and listening parties for new CDs. But anyone worried that a new location might mean changes for the night can rest easy.

"The only change [is] the address," Finsta says. "This is something that we've all grown to love and have been doing for eight-years-plus. Why fix something that isn't broken?"

Indeed, those involved at M.P. O'Reilly's include the same hosts and DJs that helped foster a family atmosphere at the old HPC; they're not even planning to change the name of the night with the move — much less mess with the formula that helped the HPC become a mandatory destination for national artists and St. Louis musicians alike.

"We will still continue to have the best hip-hop freestyle session in the city," DJ Boo says. "We'll still showcase local artists trying to get their voices heard in the city. We want a place for all aspiring emcees to sharpen their rhyming skills."