Visiting dignitary: Nina Gordon
Nina Gordon talks about her support for her former Veruca Salt bandmate Louise Post, her childhood fascination with Scott Baio and her impending tour to promote “Tonight and the Rest of My Life.”
Year: 2000
It’s a small world after all at Disney
Disney is suffering a bad spell of congestion. The crush of holiday visitors forced Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., to suspend ticket sales Thursday for the third time this week. The park took the action in the morning, planning to resume sales. But sales still were halted at dusk.The amusement park also stopped selling tickets Wednesday and on Christmas Day, spokesman Tom Brocato said.This is the first time it has done this in four years.
Is DVD best of `Friends’?
Six years ago, I fell in love. Hard. Not with a man, but with a television sitcom called “Friends.” I loved it so much that in 1995, I wrote a book about the series called Best of Friends (HarperPerennial). For the record, I never wrote a book about any of my ex-boyfriends.
Fashion Anthropologie
“My mother came over to the United States from China in 1947,” said art dealer Elaine Kwan. “She brought a big steamer trunk full of dresses. But when she went to college in Minnesota, she didn’t have any use for them and just kind of forgot about them. I never really had the opportunity to get real, tailored Chinese dresses made, so when I came across this trunk, I couldn’t believe my luck. I fit perfectly into them.
Material girl and Guy: She’s always had the wear-with-all
The first time we got a look at Madonna in a wedding dress, she was writhing around onstage in a PG-13 performance of “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 MTV Music Awards. A year later, she donned a wedding gown for real when she married actor Sean Penn.
Hires of angels: Personal assistants
Sure, everyone loves the holidays. But if the preparations and chores surrounding the season to be jolly make you want to spit out, “Bah humbug!” simmer down. There are plenty of people who’ll provide services to make your holiday that much easier. For a price, of course.
Little people, big voices
Lil’ Bow Wow is 13, loves basketball and has gone on tour with ‘N Sync. And when he made an appearance at Evergreen Plaza in southwest suburban Evergreen Park recently for a CD signing, more than 10,000 fans showed up. Not bad for a kid still in grammar school.
Hal Sparks: “Queer As Folk”
I narrate the show and it’s a very sexually oriented series. And I do start the show saying, “It’s all about sex.” But it’s also very relationship driven. We deal with a lot of other issues besides sex. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’re not just a gay show. I think it’d be funny if we were a gay version of the “Sopranos.” We bring a guy in who thinks he’s going to get a makeover and instead, we whack him!
Bronzeville history captured on film
Back in the late 1940s, Wayne F. Miller was quietly documenting the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood with his expressive photographs. He didn’t play favorites. He shot–with equal enthusiasm–the city’s stockyards, steel mills, churches, nightclubs, celebrities and street scenes.
Morton finds directing to her liking
There are times when Amy Morton would rather not be directing_like when she perceives that her actors don’t like her. Never mind that it’s all in her head.
Visiting dignitary: Brian Liesegang
Brian Liesegang, front man for American Sunshine and former member of Nine Inch Nails and Filter, lives in Lincoln Park.
Mad about plaid
Whether it’s delicate houndstooth or bold tartan, plaid is back and it’s making a high-fashion statement. Forget the image of Steve Martin in a mismatched plaid, polyester suit on “Saturday Night Live.” Today’s plaid is showing up in shoes and handbags, as well as skirts and tops.
Spice Girls lose their heat
What the Spice Girls want–what they really, really want–is another hit album. But if early sales reports are any indication, their latest record “Forever” isn’t going to cut it.
Magnificent Lights Festival
Forget about 1,000 points of light. Michigan Avenue will glow with a million holiday lights when the ninth annual Magnificent Lights Festival kicks into gear Saturday.
CNN’s Shaw to retire
As a 12-year-old in 1952, Bernard Shaw already was honing the skills that would make him one of the country’s top journalists. With his polite demeanor, intelligence and persistence, the scrappy kid from Chicago finessed his way into the Democratic Party convention_a feat he repeated four years later.
`God’ isn’t one with us
“God, Sex & Apple Pie” is being marketed as the next “Big Chill.” “Little Shiver” is more like it.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (2000)
Two bicyclists, a chair and a tightrope. No, that’s not the name of a new ABC sitcom, but the components of the most thrilling act at this year’s Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, which opened Wednesday night at Allstate Arena. Madrid’s Quiros High Wire troupe easily stole the show–not a simple feat considering the competition, which included dancing horses, impeccably trained elephants and the freakishly talented acrobat who, suspended from the ceiling by just her hair, juggled flaming batons.
“Stardom”: Model behavior
A model stares at the camera. She is beautiful and her expression is blank. “It was fun,” she says of her life. “It was all fun, until it was not fun.” For the viewer, “Stardom” is not so much fun.
Sony launches PlayStation 2
One out of every four homes in North America has a first-generation PlayStation. And it looks like a good chunk of those households are jonesing to get their hands on the new version of game console. PS2, which doubles as an entertainment center (it can play audio CDs and DVDs), promises mind-blowing graphics and sound.