Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Grrrrrrrumble!!!! The noise you hear is the collective hunger pangs of wannabe patrons waiting for a table at Shiroi Hana. The line outside the Japanese restaurant is long and winding. There is no band playing. And as far as I can tell, there are no celebrities inside to bother, either.
Moxy Fruvous sings about Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Seuss, eats fried buttery brain and once spent a whole day busking, only to net a Canadian dime and a Kleenex – used, no less. “That’s all right,” guitarist-vocalist Michael Ford said, laughing. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”
“Forever Plaid” is a tribute to the guy groups of the ’50s and ’60s who dressed exactly alike, performed choreographed moves and sang beautiful, heartbreaking harmony. It also is a hilarious, quick-paced 90-minute musical comedy that sends up those groups as much as it pays homage to them. Like the songs, “Forever Plaid” is light and frothy. At Tuesday night’s opening at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre, the four starring actor; singers perfectly depicted the euphoria of being in front of an audience while conveying the pathos of being dead.
It’s 10 a.m. Saturday and there’s already a line at Leo’s Lunchroom. But no one seems cranky. Hungry, yes. Crabby, no.
I lost my headache at Jane’s. Let me explain. The first time I ate at the Bucktown restaurant, I reacted in typical American horror when the waitress seated my friend and me right next to the only other couple in the restaurant. But too embarrassed to ask to be moved farther away, we sat there and made the best of it and ended up having a fabulous time.
Earwax isn’t the most appetizing name for a cafe/record and video store. But it is a pretty darned catchy one.
In a perfect triple bill for a beautiful summer night, the Spin Doctors, Gin Blossoms and Cracker played to a capacity crowd Saturday night at the World Music Theatre, and the band’s diverse musical styles couldn’t have complemented each other better.
Chris Isaak used to joke that he had less screen time in the three films he’s been in so far than in the video for his breakthrough single, “Wicked Game.” Those days are gone. The San Francisco-based singer-actor stars as the father of a young boy believed to be a reincarnated Buddhist teacher in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Little Buddha” (now playing in Chicago at the Fine Arts). Last year, Isaak took a break from recording for filming in Nepal and Seattle.
Place: No Exit. Time: Just about anytime, but try Sunday afternoons around 4. Why: Because it’s a lot of fun, there’s free jazz music and the coffee is killer.
When the producers started auditions for the film “Backbeat,” they saw more than 100 actors for the role of the “forgotten Beatle” Stuart Sutcliffe, at least 50 actresses for the part of his German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr and dozens of other actor-musicians for the other members of the Fab Five. But when it came time to cast the role of 19-year-old John Lennon, they saw only one actor – Ian Hart.
I’ll be the first to admit I had a bias about Lulu’s the first time I went there for dim sum, the traditional Chinese brunch where diners sample small portions of many dishes. First of all, there’s nothing traditional about Lulu’s. It’s in Evanston, which doesn’t have a large Chinese population. Second, I didn’t see any Asian chefs. And third, does a place named Lulu’s really sound like it would have good dim sum?
Here’s the story/of a TV sitcom/that just wouldn’t ever really go away/Though folks can see reruns on Channel 50/They still pay big bucks to see the live play. Since Chicago sisters Jill and Faith Soloway staged their first line-for-line recreation of a “Brady Bunch” episode three years ago at the Annoyance Theatre, their production of “The Real Live Brady Bunch” has taken on a life of its own. Running through Monday, the play returned to Chicago Tuesday night to a full house at the Park West.
“You won’t get your money back if you don’t like it,” David Lee Roth said, laughing. “But I think people at my shows enjoy themselves no matter what because they see I’m having a great time.”
My friends used to snicker when I told them about my yearly trips to Idaho’s capital. And to tell you the truth, if I didn’t have family out here, I probably wouldn’t have given the city a second thought as a potential vacation spot. But you know what? All the potato jokes aside, Boise is a fun place to spend a weekend without having to worry about traffic jams or spending a lot of cash.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! What would Alice say if she heard you were going around the country talking about safe sex and birth control? “She’d probably say, `Good for you,’ ” said Maureen McCormick, the actress who portrayed Marcia Brady on “The Brady Bunch.” “Marcia may have been a virgin, but obviously I’m not.”
Divided into two sets, spanning more than 26 songs and running three hours long, Poi Dog Pondering’s spectacular concert Friday night at the Vic was the creative realization of ambitious leader-singer Frank Orrall. In the second of four sold-out shows – three evenings at the Vic followed by a gig Sunday at Lounge Ax – Poi Dog Pondering put on an event that transcended the boundaries of a typical rock ‘n’ roll concert.
Candy-coated. Saccharine. Gaggingly syrupy. Celine Dion’s heard it all from critics who hate her music. “I’m used to getting some critics who like me and some who can’t stand me,” says the French-Canadian singer, who was sweet enough to call us from Quebec. “Thank goodness there are more people out there who like syrup.” Since 1990, when Dion released her first English-language album, “Unison,” Dion has won a loyal following of fans who fell in love with her smooth vocal delivery on such songs as “Where Does My Heart Beat Now?” After her duet with Peabo Bryson on the Grammy Award-winning “Beauty and the Beast” a couple of years ago, she became a bona fide star.
Until releasing his latest album, Nick Heyward hadn’t had a fantastic day for a long, long time. A decade ago, Heyward fronted the English pop band Haircut 100, whose debut album, “Pelican West,” spawned a trio of hit singles (“Love Plus One,” “Favourite Shirt” and “Fantastic Day”). At the height of the group’s success, he trimmed himself from Haircut to pursue a solo career.
Don’t let the faux leopard skin tablecloths scare you when you peek inside Soul Kitchen. The food waiting for you inside this Ukrainian Village restaurant is scrumptious.
Making as much noise as Sonic Youth and relying as heavily on guitars as My Bloody Valentine, England’s Swervedriver throws in a touch of reggae that mutates their sound just so. Sometimes uneven live performers whose songs tend to drone on a la the Grateful Dead, Swervedriver fares much better with its current CD “Mezcal Head”: strong lyrics and punkish guitars played LOUDLY.