Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“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.”
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.
If you want to get on the bad side of British pop star Howard Jones, call him an entertainer. “God, I hate that word,” Jones said. “It reminds me of one of those lounge lizards singing in Vegas.”
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.
“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.”
According to John Avila of the rock group Oingo Boingo, “Boi-ngo”– the title of their latest album – is Japanese slang for “big breasts.” “Don’t quote me on that, though,” Avila said, laughing. “I’m just the bassist, not the linguist. That’s not why we chose that name, though. It was just an interesting title that’s a play on the group’s name. It sounded like fun, and all of us agreed it was a catchy title, so we used it.”
If it weren’t for the makeup caked on his face, Judge Reinhold probably wouldn’t stand out from the crew members on the set of his latest movie, “Vice Versa.” Filmed in Chicago, “Vice Versa” marks Reinhold’s first starring role.
Cannon Films is touting actor Michael Dudikoff as the next big action hero. Luckily for him, there’s not a lot he can’t do physically.A longtime fitness enthusiast, he’s adept at most sports – except karate. That may surprise fans who saw him play a martial arts expert in “American Ninja.”
Dudikoff’s latest film, “American Ninja 2: The Confrontation,” is now playing at local theaters. The sequel to the successful 1985 thriller marks Dudikoff’s return as stoic superhero Joe Armstrong.
Back in 1982 when Chip and Tony Kinman were having critical success with their band Rank and File, the group was one of the forerunners in the return to rock’s country roots. They advertised themselves as being good ol’ boys from Austin, Texas, and Chip even spoke with a slight drawl.
Welsh musician Karl Wallinger doesn’t seem comfortable doing interviews. The singer-songwriter has no trouble coming up with answers, but isn’t used to the attention. “The last time I was in America, I was with the Waterboys,” Wallinger said by phone from New York. “Since Mike (Scott) was essentially the Waterboys, I got to sleep while he did most of the interviews. It was rather nice, actually.”
During Paul Young’s last visit to the United States, he impaled himself onstage and was propositioned on national television. He’s still not sure which made him feel more uncomfortable. “I’m never quite sure when I’m being chatted up,” said the soulful British pop singer. On NBC’s “Tonight” show, actress Sonja Braga indicated she was interested in more than Young’s British accent. “I just sat there thinking, `This can’t be happening.’ It’s quite easy to flirt when you’re onstage, but in private, it’s a totally different situation.”
David Mendenhall said one of the secrets to his success is his youthful appearance. And although the 15-year-old actor is happy playing 12-year-olds, he said he’d eventually like to play older teens.
Charles Rocket launched his acting career in a different way than most of his peers. While colleagues were paying their dues in local theater and moonlighting as waiters, Rocket was appearing on the nightly news as a reporter.
If he had listened to his parents, Jimmy Smits would be teaching astronomy to Brooklyn high school students. Instead, Smits is earning his income as a lawyer. Smits, 31, appears as Victor Sifuentes, one of the attorneys on “L.A. Law.” NBC’s hit series about a fictional Los Angeles law firm airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on WMAQ-Channel 5.
While many would-be actresses would jump at the chance of nabbing a three-year contract on a television soap opera, Rebecca Schaeffer passed it up. “If I give you the real reason why I didn’t take it, I’m going to sound so cocky,” Schaeffer said during a break from working on her role in “My Sister Sam,” a CBS sitcom that airs at 7:30 p.m. Mondays on
WBBM-Channel 2. “But I got offered a role on `Loving’ within a couple of months after I had moved to New York. So I thought, if I got this so quickly, I might want to hold out for something that I really wanted to do.”
Four Southern rockers called the Georgia Satellites have been lost in space during their current concert tour. “The crowds haven’t been what they should be, especially for having two good rock ‘n’ roll bands out together,” said guitarist Dan Baird in a phone interview from an Elektra Records office in Los Angeles.
At barely 5 feet and 90 pounds, Anita Baker is as talented as she is petite. Her soldout concert Saturday night at the Arie Crown Theater — the second of three consecutive Chicago dates – proved that she has no problem matching the exuberance and joy she expresses on her gold album, “Rapture.”
A lot of people are fooled by his name. Patrick Francis Bishop sounds about as American as you can get. But the Eurasian star of “General Hospital” considers himself more Asian than Caucasian. “I think it’s the same for most kids of mixed marriages,” Bishop said. “If a person’s half black and half white, society tends to think of him or her as black.”
Blame it on the babies. That’s what General Public’s Ranking Roger (a.k.a. Roger Charlery) said when asked why the group took two years to release its second album. Both Roger and Dave Wakeling, the British nucleus of the band, became fathers for the second time during the recording of “Hand to Mouth,” the followup to 1984’s “. . . All the Rage.”
“I know to some people we sound like a magician act,” said singer David Baerwald. “But we decided on our name quite simply. David (Ricketts) and I were rehearsing, and people would just talk to us as if we were one person. It’d be, `What do you think about that, David and David?’ It was kind of funny at first, but then we just ended up liking the sound of it. We couldn’t think of a better name that described us, so well, so we stuck with it.”