Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
You know how people are always saying that pretty boys would make nice-looking women? Well, check out the current issue of Rolling Stone with Brad Pitt on the cover . . . in a dress. In fact, the prettiest of all male actors is featured in three more photos wearing dresses. And he doesn’t look good in them, either.
Linda and Jeff Van Kley had seen each other around the office. She worked in marketing communications at CNA Insurance. He was an actuary.
According to the Olympic creed, “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part.” Try telling that to the managers and sports agents who are counting on the athletes to upgrade their medals into deals with the likes of Nike, Gatorade and McDonald’s. That’s a cynical view of the Olympics. The latest Omnimax film, “Olympic Glory,” presents a purer version of the Games.
Sure, its easy to make fun of the Backstreet Boys–especially if youre over the age of 17. But when things click just so–as they did Tuesday night at the Allstate Arena–the Backstreet Boys prove that they are the kings of the boy bands. At last year’s concert at the New World Music Theatre, the five-man group from Orlando, Fla., appeared dwarfed by the enormodome and was plagued by off-key harmonies.
Just when you think that Canadians really aren’t that different from Americans, there’s this little matter of ketchup chips. Len vocalist Sharon Costanzo is munching on a big bag of this treat when she phones from Toronto for an interview.
“I would like to think that it’s my glowing talent that got me cast in `Bluff,’ ” says John Cryer, laughing. “Did I get cast because I’m a `star’? If casting me can get people to come to the theater, that’s great. But I think that Chicagoans support theater regardless of who’s in the cast.”
Allison Ellis never imagined that she would be keeping house . . . on a boat. Then she met Gregg Collins at a Web development company in Seattle where they both worked.
You can’t go wrong with either cover of the October issue of Latina. In its annual tribute to Hispanic men, the magazine produced its first-ever split cover. Half of the 300,000 issues shipped nationwide feature Ricky Martin on the cover. The rest showcase a bare-chested Benjamin Bratt, formerly of “Law & Order” and currently Julia Roberts’ better half.
In her one-woman show “I’m the One That I Want,” Margaret Cho recalls how getting her own sitcom in the mid-1990s signified acceptance to her–for the first time in her life. What she didn’t realize then was that acceptance came with a price.
Perhaps the best way to present “Grease” from now on is on ice. Ever since Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta starred in the 1978 film version of the play, most productions of the musical have been overshadowed by memories of the movie. But when you’ve got skaters performing double loops and death spirals, you tend to forget about the film and lose yourself in the fun.
If you’re a 16-year-old boy and a pretty blond girl picks lint off of you, the first thing you might think is, “She likes me!”
If you were a Korean-American girl growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s, there weren’t too many Asian celebrity role models to pick from. So Margaret Cho chose pop star Olivia Newton-John: an Australian.
It was a dog on a motorcycle that caught Kathryn Chandler’s eyes. The guy with the dog was Kyle Chandler, star of CBS’ “Early Edition” (which is filmed in Chicago). But back in 1993, there was no “Early Edition.” And Kathryn hadn’t seen Kyle in any of his other roles. All she knew was that any man giving a big dog a ride on his motorcycle was a little eccentric.
Let me preface this by saying that if a straw’s the only utensil required to “eat” my meal, I generally don’t consider it a proper meal.
By Jae-Ha Kim Chicago Sun-Times September 14, 1999 Take heart, women. Even Michelle Pfeiffer has issues with her body. She tells Premiere in the September issue: “I have the utmost admiration for women who are uninhibited […]
Got angst? Well, so do Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos. And the two women channeled theirs in very different ways Saturday at the New World Music Theatre. Opening her set with “Sympathetic Character,” headliner Morissette performed a variety of material that ranged from lusty rockers to lullaby-pretty ballads. She alternated between songs from her current album “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” and her breakthrough 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” – which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide – and gave the show a cohesive feel.
In 1985, B.J. Murray was, as his business card said, Grand Poobah of the VIP Room when the late, great Limelight opened in Chicago.
Before Shania, there was Olivia. In a greatest-hits concert Friday at the Chicago Theatre, Olivia Newton-John took the audience on a two-hour tour of songs that showed off her aptitude for country (“If You Love Me (Let Me Know)”), pop (“Xanadu”), rock (“You’re the One That I Want”) and ballads (“I Honestly Love You”). In the ’70s, when female country stars wore their hair big and their sequins even bigger, Newton-John – who was born in England, raised in Australia and pretty enough to be a model – ruffled many Nashville purists by winning the 1973 Grammy Award for best country vocalist.
At the end of the month, Olivia Newton-John will get out of jail. In a movie role, of course. “I begin shooting `Sordid Lives’ when this tour is over,” Newton-John says, phoning from Atlantic City, N.J. “I play a singer who just got out of jail. So she’s a little tough. I think it’ll be fun for me because it’s so interesting to do different things.” Playing a felon isn’t something that fazes Newton-John. But playing a guitar is.
Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King. Malcolm X. Oprah Winfrey. They are all pioneers who have made an impact on American society. And all four most likely will make the final cut of “The 100 Most Influential African Americans of the 20th Century.”