Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Sure, Britney, Christina, ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys look pretty cool dancing around onstage at their concerts. But let’s face it–so could you if you had a personal choreographer showing you how to position every part of your body.
After building an empire as a celebrity shoe designer, Steve Madden finds himself in a precarious situation, teetering like someone in the platform shoes that earned him fame and $163 million in sales for his company in 1999.
Come July 8, 12-year-old Allie Greenberg will be one of the first kids in Chicago to own the new Harry Potter book. Allie, who’ll be in seventh grade at the University of Chicago Lab School this fall, put her name on the pre-order list at Barbara’s Bookstore in Old Town, oh, a year ago.
Richard Hatch walked around naked, caught a lot of fish and got on a lot of people’s nerves before winning the million-dollar prize on “Survivor.” And Chicago’s gay community is loving all of the attention being lavished on a man one of his cast mates referred to as “Darth Gaydar.”
After 13 years and 92 stage productions – including the infamous “Real Live Brady Bunch” and “Coed Prison Sluts” – the Annoyance Theatre is closing its doors this weekend.
Temporarily.
When the Chicago Symphony Orchestra implemented its Musicians Residency Program two years ago, its goal was to build bridges through music. The CSO wanted to be accessible to folks who may never have attended orchestral performances before.
By Jae-Ha Kim, Robert Manor, Shu Shin Luh Chicago Sun-Times May 25, 2000 Elliott Gould and a dozen other actors and actresses grabbed the spotlight at AT&T’s annual meeting in Chicago Wednesday, demanding the company support their union’s efforts to […]
There is a moment in Steppenwolf’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” that is especially poignant. Looking nervous and unsure, Tim Sampson, the actor who portrays the childlike Chief Bromden, announces that he doesn’t feel big, like his father. At 6-foot-3, Chief Bromden isn’t talking about his height, but rather his inability to come to terms with self-esteem issues that were passed down from father to son.
When Katie Brown turned 11, her parents didn’t take her to a toy store to pick out a present. They gave her a wallpaper book and some swatches of carpeting and let her redecorate her room. Small wonder, then, that she grew up to be Gen X’s answer to Martha Stewart, the hostess of the Lifetime Channel’s No. 1 show, “Next Door With Katie Brown.”
Directing Gary Hobson wasn’t difficult for Kyle Chandler. After all, Chandler has played Hobson on the CBS series “Early Edition” for four years. What did present a challenge for Chandler was shooting scenes that centered on Gary, without being able to view himself in action as it happened.
A brief statement said the prospective parents “are happy to confirm the rumors that they are expecting a child at the end of this year.” “We would be grateful if the media would kindly allow us some privacy at this special time, and we thank you all for your good wishes,” said Ritchie, director of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”
Not yet 20, Jonny Lang is a blues veteran. He’s been on the road touring since he was 13, earned fame by 16 and was nominated for a Grammy at 19.
When your name’s Bela Lugosi Jr., sometimes people don’t hear the “junior” part. “I’m not sure if my name is a blessing or a curse,” says Lugosi, 62, son of the late horror movie legend who starred in “Dracula.” “There are some people who assume that because my dad was an actor, that I must’ve wanted to become one, too. Early on, I took my dad’s good advice and stayed out of the talent side of entertainment. Instead, I became a lawyer.”
In “Scream 3,” the movie’s heroine asks a detective what he knows about trilogies. He answers, “In the third one, all bets are off.” All bets are on that the latest entry in the “Scream” franchise will fare as well as its predecessors. After opening last Friday, “Scream 3” went on to gross $34.7 million in its first weekend–more than all the rest of the films in the top 10 combined.
Former Chicagoan Bob Bass lost his chance to become a millionaire. And he wants a second shot at it. As a contestant on last week’s highly popular game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” Bass was asked which U.S. president was the youngest at his inauguration. He answered John F. Kennedy. The show maintains that the correct answer is Theodore Roosevelt.
It’s one thing watching a guy play bass on stage. It’s another thing seeing him walk toward you in a club. So when Caroline Ansani saw Ted – the man who would become her husband – venturing toward her, she busted a move.
Collaborating with brothers is nothing new to Patrick Cassidy, whose real-life siblings are former teen idols David and Shaun. But how about the six nephews of Donny Osmond, the singer whom many folks still associate with the starring role in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”?
Remember how you threw out your Partridge Family lunch box when you hit high school? Chances are that if you had held onto it, you’d be up $160. Oops.
Former Luvabull Jody Russell is following in the footsteps of Paula Abdul, who parlayed a cheerleading gig into a singing career.
“Fatty Drives the Bus” sure sounds odd enough to be the followup to the Annoyance Theatre’s best known production, “Co-Ed Prison Sluts.” But the feature – which hits video stores today – actually marks the Chicago-based improv troupe’s first foray into film.