Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Ziggy Marley is a young man of few words. He prefers that people get his message through his music. “I have nothing to say that I think is more important than the music I make,” said Marley. “It seems useless to me that I talk so much about myself. In the long run, how important is that? A quote is a quote. Music is forever.”
“I’ve had people tell me I’ve got to be more focused with my career,” says Billy Wirth. “But that’s bull. I don’t want to be just one thing. I do what I want to do because I like it. And as long as I’ve got food on the table, my rent paid and a little spending money, that’s all I need right now.”
When German actor Hans Gudegast decided to become an actor in the U.S., he changed his name. “I realized that if acting was something I seriously wanted to pursue, it probably would be better to fit in,” he says. “So, I decided on using Eric Braeden, because Eric is a family name. And Braedenback was the name of a village back home.”
Scandinavia is known for its high standard of living and its equally high prices. But by using Frommer’s Scandinavia on $50 a Day and doing a little bargaining, we were able to find decent accommodations at reasonable prices.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld wants you to listen to the Nike gym-shoe ad and just do it. “It” is whatever you have putting off because of fear or laziness, said the comedian. “I think when people say they’re suffering from creative or writer’s block, it’s just an excuse,” Seinfeld added. “There’s no such thing. A doctor can’t say, `Oh, I don’t feel up to performing surgery today.’ He does it.
When singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet was preparing for his tour earlier this year, he went to Zion to rehearse at Jeff Murphy’s studio. While there, a friend picked up a copy of the Illinois Entertainer and noticed a review of Sweet’s LP “Earth.” Instead of running over to read the review and gloat, he panicked. “I’m one of those rare people who admits to reading everything written about me,” Sweet says, laughing. “And I get really embarrassed if someone reads something about me and it’s not favorable. Luckily, the review was really nice. It was a nice introduction for me to the Illinois Entertainer as well.”
There are a lot of disc jockeys that listeners automatically will tune away from. And then there’s Jonathon Brandmeier, the multitalented WLUP radio personality who has fans willing to pay to watch him perform. Saturday night, in the first of two concerts at Poplar Creek, Brandmeier had Chicagoans eating out of his hands.
Hard rock singer Gary Cherone has a dream, but it’s not about winning Grammy awards or platinum albums. The lead vocalist for Extreme wants to play rock ‘n’ roll until he makes enough money to have an operation to stretch his 5-foot-11 frame by another 12 inches and then join the Boston Celtics.
If things had worked out differently for Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, he would be in Chicago running a karate school today. But he couldn’t get enough money to finance the operation, so Van Damme headed for Hollywood to pursue his childhood dream of becoming an actor.
It’s not difficult to understand why the BoDeans have such a devout fan base. They’re not only good, but they’ve been consistently good since they released their debut album 10 years ago.
From his punk days in the Nuns to his work in the pseudo-country band Rank & File, Alejandro Escovedo made a name for himself as an expressive guitarist who was content to stay out of the limelight. During his tumultuous career, the singer-songwriter’s been a band member, the band leader and, now, a solo artist. He returns to the Chicago area for a performance tonight at FitzGerald’s.
“I was your typical bossy older brother,” Charlie Sexton said, laughing. “But Will really loved music. Soon after learning bass, he switched over to play lead guitar, too. I tell him a little bit of what I learned, but he’s my younger brother and I don’t want to give him a hard time. So I usually wait until he asks for my advice before I go butting into his life.”
One of Matthew Sweet’s most appealing aspects is that while he is making a niche for himself as one of today’s hippest singers, his songwriting has maintained a sweet innocence that betrays his ultra-cool musician image.
Charlie Sexton’s self-titled debut album doesn’t make as strong an impact as his debut “Pictures for Pleasure.” But just when you’re ready to accuse him of suffering from the sophomore slump, Sexton’s skillful guitarwork and deep, emoting voice convince you he’s worth believing in.
The audience is almost as important as the cast in the Apple Tree Theatre’s production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” While the actors are responsible for delivering the witty lines succinctly, the audience is expected to determine how each show will end, and to participate in the acting. Shy people may not like hissing at the villain every time he enters, as the audience is instructed to do before the production begins. They may consider it strange to flail both arms in the air every time the show’s title is mentioned. And they also may feel uncomfortable striking up conversations with actors who plop themselves down in chairs next to theirs before, during and after performances.
Actor Stephen Caffrey was born in Cleveland, attended high school in five different states and now divides his time between Los Angeles and New York. But ask him where home is, and he’ll say Chicago. “My father was in a business that moved him around a lot, and as a result I was often uprooted,” Caffrey said. “The longest I’ve ever been in one place was the eight years I spent in Chicago. It’s hard to describe what bouncing around from place to place is like to people who haven’t experienced it. But eventually you end up just grabbing hold of home, and for me that’s Chicago.”
After spending most of his film career portraying weirdos or villains, Chris Sarandon finally gets to be the leading man – a role he said finds more comfortable. “I’ve been the bad guy on screen for so long it’s difficult for me to remember whether I should wear a white or black hat in the morning,” Sarandon joked in a recent interview. “I’m more at ease now playing the hero, but I still approach every part as a character role. I think you put more into it than if you just play the bland, good guy.”
A woman wearing nothing more than a bikini bottom and a tan walked past a group of men. Instead of trying to get her phone number, they quickly and politely asked her to leave. As part of the production team for “Hollywood Squares,” their job was to keep the audience’s attention on the stars of the TV game show.
“TAMI Show sounded so professional I thought they had already been signed,” Nigel Harrison said in a phone interview. “When I found out they weren’t, I couldn’t believe it. I called up Chrysalis and told them they had to hear this band.
The story behind this sushi restaurant review: AsiAm’s publisher, Tom Kagy, didn’t pay me for my work and wouldn’t even reimburse me for the meal I had to purchase to write this review. I was young and he was an attorney who knew that he could get away with this. It just goes to show that not all Korean Americans stand up for each other. Some steal from their own people and have no compunction about it.