Five questions with Joe McIntyre
“If I wasn’t performing I’d be on a farm somewhere,” says Joey McIntyre. “I don’t know how to do any of that stuff, but I could learn. Or hire someone. I’d sit back and have some lemonade on the porch.
The ice-cream man cometh
Nothing signifies the arrival of summer like a big, refreshing bowl of ice cream. Whether it’s the tinkling of the Good Humor truck or simply the sight of scoops being doled out at Ben & Jerry’s, ice cream brings us to a place that makes us feel young and carefree.
Five questions with Candace Bushnell
Wanna meet the woman behind Sex & the City? Meet Candace Bushnell at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Barnes & Noble, 1441 W. Webster, when she’ll read from her latest book Four Blondes (Atlantic Monthly Press, $12). Meanwhile, she opens up about nagging, her boyfriend and the contents of her purse.
Five questions with Tonic
Tonic singer Emerson Hart blew into the Windy City from Nashville to perform Tuesday at the Double Door. Here’s what he has to say about summer, love and work:
Tragic twentysomethings
She’s 25 and dissatisfied. Who was she? Why hadn’t life lived up to her expectations? What was the meaning of life? Wasn’t this crisis of extended navel gazing supposed to happen when she turned 50? Not if you’re going through a “quarterlife crisis.”
The Wonders of Wang
The day Danielle Cantieri decided on a wedding dress was the ultimate in mother-daughter bonding. With a vague idea of what she wanted, Cantieri slipped into a strapless, princess-cut number adorned with delicate rows of Austrian crystal.
Wood calls catalog `soft porn’
Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood has called for a boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch, the clothing chain that has spiced up its bland image with a quarterly catalog featuring nude and semi-nude models.
Sex, sex and more sex
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to make love with your partner three to five times a week. Now if you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to squeeze all that nooky into your busy schedule–the kids, the job, the social and community duties–perhaps you need to go on a diet, a sex diet. This concept is designed to let you have more, not less, whoopee, according to Laura Corn, in her new book.
Grieving
Get over it isn’t eactly what you want to hear when your mother dies. Neither does heading that your loved one looks good dead. Yet the awkward words from the lips of our friends and family often add up to extreme insensitivity and hurt feelings, when it’s the last thing they mean. In the quiet moments after goodbyes have been said, it’s often hard to avoid dwelling on the hackneyed nature of sympathetic wishes. While we’d liek to think of our well wishers in a positive, warm light, those of us who have grieved can’t help but wonder: “What were they thinking? Are they nuts?”
Downsizing figures
When is a perfect size 6 not so perfect? When it’s really a size 8. Confused? Join the club. If you’re a woman–or you’ve ever tried shopping for your favorite femme–you already know that judging fit by eyeballing the item or checking the tag is a crapshoot. A size 6 Donna Karan skirt may fit like a charm. But if you try that same size in something like Guess? or BCBG, you may wonder when you managed to pack on an extra five pounds.
Chairs on parade? City is furnishing them as street art
Get ready for the latest in summer street art. Two years after Cows on Parade won worldwide media attention for Chicago, the city is installing “Suite Home Chicago”–a series of 350 pieces of life-size sofas, chairs, ottomans and televisions, decorated by more than 150 Chicago area artists. Workers began installing the fiberglass pieces at 8 p.m. Friday. By summer’s end, the city expects to have at least 500 of the exhibits on display along Michigan Avenue, on the museum campus and in the Loop. O’Hare and Midway airports will get exhibits, as well. (There were only 320 cows.)
Just friends–Reality bites for male-female buddies when one wants romance
You have met the man of your dreams. Besides being a walking, talking hottie, he’s smart, funny and well-educated. You look at him and can totally imagine making babies with him. Bad news, though. He only thinks of you as a p-a-l; you’ve got a great personality, but he’s not going to be asking you out anytime soon.
The Currency Exchange: Cold cash vs. warm fuzzies. Which would make you happier?
Admit it. You’ve fantasized about winning the lottery and what you would do with all that loot. You’d buy homes for your kids, hire a full-time chauffeur for your grandmother, donate to the United Negro College Fund, sail around the world on the QE2, and lose 25 pounds at the Canyon Ranch Spa. You’d be ecstatic 24/7. You’d be dead wrong.
These girls and boys just want to have fun
Brooke Shoemaker has a surefire strategy for never appearing in public wearing the same outfit as some other woman: Dress so quirky, so creatively, so out there that there’s no way to duplicate the getup or the xpressions made by passersby as she strolls around, clad in a vintage floral dress, jelly bracelets, fake pearls, way oversize sunglasses and her trusty Van sneakers.
Princess and the plea: negotiating the city
Lara Davidson has never had to change a broken headlight. Nor put together an easy-to-assemble desk. Nor hook up her home entertainment center. She has always found someone to do it for her. What Davidson, 27, learned early on was that with a little negotiating, she could be more successful in her day-to-day maneuvering than her more meek pals, who were too intimidated to ask for special attention.
Margaret Cho: Tears of a clown
Margaret Cho has more than a few reasons to be bitter: At 8, Margaret Cho’s classmates dubbed her “Pee Girl.” At 12, she was ostracized by kids at church. At 14, she was raped by a 22-year-old man she met at a party. And at 16, Cho began a year-long relationship with a 26-year-old who tried to convince her to engage in a threesome.
Do Something!
Bulletin to all former bridesmaids: Here’s your chance to give your dress to someone who can appreciate it. Among clothing items collected by the Hyde Park-based Caring Closet are seldom-worn party dresses that can be given to Chicago-area girls who cannot afford a new prom dress.
City’s fashionistas turn out in force for Red Hot Chicago
Two frightened Dalmatian puppies and a beaming baby almost stole the show on the runway Thursday night at the second annual Red Hot Chicago event. But knockout designs by the likes of Tiffani Kim, Jane Hamill and Reginalds made sure that the well-heeled crowd of 900 at Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom got much more than a dog and pony show.
The best buys are at my guy’s
The pillar of any good relationship, aside from love and all that other jazz, is a willingness to share. Share your feelings, your fears … your clothes?