Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
It’s time to get fit, Chicago. Sure, like many of us, you were a bit surprised in January when Men’s Fitness dubbed us the second fattest city in America. Lest we comfort ourselves with the fact that we’re not yet the fattest city in the nation–that distinction belongs to Houston–bear in mind that just last year we were a distant No. 10. Well now, it’s time for us to do something about it.
The first time Jason Schwartzman was on David Letterman’s show, the young actor had a case of the nerves. “I walked out there and it was like being on a roller-coaster ride,” says Schwartzman, now 21. “He’s awesome! I love him. I want to campaign for him to be on Oprah. I don’t know why she won’t have him on. He’s great.” The feeling must be mutual. Schwartzman is scheduled to appear on Letterman’s gabfest twice this week. On Wednesday, his band, Phantom Planet, will perform a song from the new album “The Guest.” The following evening, Schwartzman returns solo to hype his latest film, “Slackers,” which opens Friday.
Supergrass is one English band that’s not afraid to admit it would like to conquer America. “We love coming to America and know that it’s not an easy country to win over,” says bassist-vocalist Mick Quinn, 33. “We’ve always done OK, though, so we’re not going to stop coming back until you tell us we can’t.”
The first time Randy Cordero–lead singer of the Neil Diamond tribute band Super Diamond–met Diamond, he wasn’t sure what to expect. “He was so nice to us,” says Cordero, phoning from his San Francisco home. “He came backstage before one of our shows last year in Hollywood. We talked for about half an hour. He thanked me for what we were doing. I thanked him for not suing us. He was really cool and down to earth–just an all around nice guy.”
Ryan DeFord is smiling ear-to-ear. The 15-year-old guitarist has just finished auditioning for Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who critiqued his performance with an enthusiastic, “Man, you rock!”
Sitting in a suite at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Benjamin Bratt–who is polite, funny and easy on the eyes–isn’t oblivious to the effect he has on the women fluttering nearby. Dressed in grey trousers, a tight black pullover and black ankle boots, Bratt looks every bit the movie star he is about to become. His almond-shaped eyes are liquid and chocolate brown, and the few strands of grey hair flecking his sideburns are his only concession to age.
The footage in “Grateful Dawg” is raw, the camerawork is iffy and the sound bites aren’t compelling enough to warrant feature film treatment. But the music of the late Jerry Garcia and David “Dawg” Grisman–the stars of this documentary–makes this 81-minute excursion worthwhile.
“Snow Dogs” is a cute Disney movie that youngsters most likely will enjoy. There are enough adorable dogs and cartoonish antics to keep the Saturday morning cartoon set giggling. Is it as good as the old “Benji” films? No. It’s not even as entertaining as a really good “Scooby Doo” rerun. But we tolerate the silly plot because the film’s got a lot of heart, the scenery is gorgeous and the dogs are pretty darned likable, as is lead human actor Cuba Gooding Jr.
You’re in the kitchen making a steak, but you’re not sure whether it’s done yet. So you give it a little poke with the spatula, and a tiny voice says, “Medium well-done.” That’s right. Your spatula just spoke to you.
Brian Lane Green is sitting at a coffee shop not far from his Gold Coast hotel. He is oblivious to the second looks he attracts from other patrons. He’s too busy digging into his bowl of soup. “When you run around on stage every day wearing a loincloth, you are very conscious of what you eat,” says Green with a laugh. “I have a tendency to be round. Luckily, my muscles have memory, so they pop out during the shows.”
The year is 2079. For more than a decade, earthlings have battled an alien force that is stronger, smarter and more deadly than anything the human race has encountered. To protect themselves from further destruction, most of the planet has been covered by an electromagnetic force-field dome designed to prevent aliens from infiltrating earth and masquerading as human beings.
By Jae-Ha Kim Chicago Sun-Times January 4, 2002 Forget about Ali. When Trent Carlini prepares for his musical tributes to Elvis Presley, the singer trains like a world-class athlete. “I perform about 45 songs in […]
What’re you doing New Year’s Eve? Let’s take a guess. You don’t have a date for the big night. Or, if you do, the two of you are dreading the thought of dealing with booked restaurants, inebriated revelers and couples trying just a little too hard to prove they’re having the best night of their lives. Then again, who wants to spend $300 for a night on the town when the economy is so iffy?
The film features hip-hop stars Method Man and Redman as a pair of pot-smoking fiends who find refuge at Harvard University. The catch is they have to maintain a 2.0 average to remain there, and without studying, they can do this only with the aid of a friendly ghost who appears when they smoke joints rolled with his ashes.
John Lithgow has grown accustomed to hearing fans tell him how much they loved his stage productions in Chicago. The funny thing, though, is the stage-trained actor has never performed onstage here. Until this weekend, that is, when he stars in “Sweet Smell of Success” at the Shubert Theatre.
Videogame players in this country spent nearly $8 billion last year on consoles, software and accessories. That figure is expected to increase dramatically with the introduction of Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox, which are giving Sony’s year-old PlayStation 2 a run for its money.
Step aside, Anna Kournikova. You’ve got some tasty competition on the pinup calendar front. More than a baker’s dozen of top Chicago area chefs have struck a pose to help fight hunger. Unlike the beefcake and cheesecake calendars flooding the market, there were no age, sex or physique requirements for these models, who gladly posed for the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging’s Holiday Meals on Wheels (Out of the Kitchen to Fight Hunger) calendar.
Just before Blink-182 stepped on stage to headline the Q101 Twisted 8 Ball Thursday night at the United Center, Barry Williams–best known to pop culture fans as the eldest son on “The Brady Bunch”–weaved through the audience making like Eminem. “Will the real Greg Brady please stand up?” Williams chanted as he hopped around on stage. It was a funny moment, but what followed next was weird in the context of a holiday rock show. Q101 personality Mancow Muller appeared onstage to introduce the Portage, Ind., honor guard. The men stood at attention as Wayne Messmer sang a searing rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” And then one of Muller’s cohorts led the crowd in a chant of “USA!”
Kong is a deaf-mute assassin unable to hear his victims begging for mercy or the cacophonous roar of his gun as he completes his assignments. He quickly and meticulously silences his victims in “Bangkok Dangerous,” a beautiful, gory film in which there are no heroes–just bad guys and not-quite-as-bad guys. Directed and written by twins Oxide and Danny Pang, the film assaults your senses with its stylized brutality. Set in Bangkok, the picture depicts the squalor of the characters’ lives. There is no beauty in this Bangkok–just dank despair.
Wendy Liebman is at the doctor’s office. There’s nothing wrong with the comedienne’s funny bone. Rather, the 40-year-old comic is waiting for her fiance to get checked for a spider bite. “My two almost step-sons–who are almost 6 and 10 years old–are here with us, too,” she says, phoning from Los Angeles.