Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
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.
For as long as Justin Roman can remember, he has wanted to be a singer. Even as an all conference pitcher at Roselle’s Lake Park High School, he deejayed in his spare time, and thrilled to the music of his idol, Michael Jackson.
Dr. Drew Pinsky is known to thousands as the guy on MTV’s “Loveline,” but now he’s got a Web site, too.
Love them or hate them. But the four musicians in the English rock band Bush don’t want to invoke indifference. “Most of the bands that I hear don’t generate anything in me,” Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale says. “It’s impossible for everyone to like everyone, so I don’t take any of this personally. There are plenty of people who are regarded as geniuses, and I don’t think they are at all.”
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.”
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.
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.
A good sequel is like money in the bank. But is it also an oxymoron? Not necessarily, as proven by a couple of this summer’s biggest followups. During its first three days of release, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” made $1 million more than the original “Powers” grossed during its entire theatrical run.
As a child, director Mike Figgis was fat. One day in gym class, as a way to “encourage” him to lose weight, his teacher ordered Figgis to strip down to his boxer shorts and run through the gymnasium while his classmates swatted away at him. That cruel memory is poignantly re-created in Figgis’ latest film, “The Loss of Sexual Innocence,” which opens Friday at the Music Box Theatre. “I was so ashamed of what happened that I didn’t even tell my parents,” said Figgis.
Bassist Ted Ansani never wanted a solo career. As one-third of the Chicago-based power pop band Material Issue, Ansani was content to leave the spotlight to extroverted singer-guitarist Jim Ellison. But after Ellison committed suicide three years ago, Ansani and drummer Mike Zelenko found themselves in a predicament. Ellison had been their singer, songwriter and spokesman.
In 1977, Meco Monardo scored a No. 1 hit with ” `Star Wars’ Theme/Cantina Band,” which he was moved to write after seeing the movie . . . 11 times. Backed by 75 musicians, Meco incorporated R2-D2 sound effects and created a kitschy disco number.
Drew Lachey’s got a little something to say about the boy band phenomenon – or, depending on how you look at it, stigma.
Barefoot and clad in a pair of sweats that have seen better days, Viggo Mortensen walks over to introduce himself. His hands and arms are covered with names and phone numbers he has scribbled on himself after checking his answering machine. And his hair is tousled and flecked with tiny bits of paint. None of this can hide Mortensen’s deadly good looks.