Marlee Matlin

Blessed with a simple, heartbreaking beauty, Marlee Matlin carries her star status with self-effacing humor. A native of Chicago’s northwest suburbs, Matlin presently lives in New York. Having lost her hearing at the age of 18 months, she was recently back in town to attend the creative arts festival at the Center on Deafness in Des Plaines where she had been a student.

The new Duran Duran still attracts notoriety

“There haven’t been as many screamers at our shows as in the past,” said bassist John Taylor, one of the heartthrobs in the British pop band Duran Duran. “It’s really been kind of nice because not only do we have newer, older fans, but we still have a lot of our fans from seven years ago. It’s like we’ve grown up together.”

A stroke of genius: He’s young and hungry but the ideas come fast

Frank Lindner was too young to buy a copy of Playboy at most stores when he went to work as the magazine’s art historian. Before leaving his teens, he had worked his way into a job that sounds like every man’s fantasy come to life. Today, the 22-year-old bachelor is works as a free-lance art director and illustrator for the Limelight nightclub. His latest work – a series of sensual murals dubbed “Erotic Haze” – is on exhibit through October at the Limelight, 632 N. Dearborn.

Bon Jovi plays fairy godmother to Cinderella

The story of Cinderella reads like a rock ‘n’ roll fairy tale. The band’s debut album, “Night Songs,” has sold more than a million copies, and the four hard rockers are on their second major tour in two years. The Philadelphia-based quartet will be the opening act for the immensely popular Bon Jovi in concerts starting at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Rosemont Horizon.

Rockin’ Scots Hipsway will sway here

“Somebody was saying that I was too tall to be a rock singer,” Grahame “Skin” Skinner said. “Actually, I didn’t sing in most of the groups I was in before because I didn’t think I had a good voice. I played a little guitar — very little. The theory goes that a baritone doesn’t reach his potential until he’s 35, so I’ve still got several years to ago. Then I can make my comeback.”