Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
It’s not often an actor buys his co-star. But then again, Viggo Mortensen isn’t your average actor. And come to think of it, the co-star isn’t some hot young filly — it’s a real horse. “I just fell in love with him [on the set of ‘Hidalgo’],” Mortensen says. “He doesn’t live with me [in Venice, Calif.]. He stays at a friend’s house, and I go over to ride him as much as I can.”
Singer-songwriter Michael Tolcher is sated. After enjoying a nice sushi meal, the singer is ready to chat about his debut album, “I Am” (Octone Records), which will be in stores on April 6. He’s already opened for Maroon 5 and Gavin DeGraw and is anxious to get back on the road — even if that means climbing back into a cramped van. Tolcher phoned from his hometown of Atlanta to talk about the record-release shindig he’s planning, what he does to relax and why he’ll always have fond memories of Chicago.
It will be a bittersweet Valentine’s Day for Joseph Shabalala when his band Ladysmith Black Mambazo plays a sold-out show at the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory in west suburban Batavia. Touring to support the group’s recently released album “Raise Your Spirit Higher,” Ladysmith Black Mambazo will be performing many songs that Shabalala wrote for his wife, Nellie, who was murdered outside a church in South Africa two years ago.
Marc Maron is 40. Or, as he likes to say, 37 in show-biz years. Funny and sarcastic, he’ll be in Chicago this weekend to sign copies of his book, Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life as a Reluctant Messiah (Broadway, $12.95), at 6 tonight at Borders in Evanston (847-773-8852). And the comedian also will perform Saturday night at Skokie’s Centre East Theatre.
How do you successfully take a motion picture event and encapsulate it into a game for a GBA? Well, you really don’t. “Peter Pan” works on some levels; the storytelling is adorable — from Peter’s first meeting with Wendy through his final battle with Captain Hook.