Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe are doing it. So are Tonya Harding and Barry Williams. And come to think of it, Danny Bonaduce and Long Island Lolita Amy Fisher are doing it, too. Hey now, get your minds out of the gutter. We’re talking about that other contact sport– boxing.
Ryan DeFord is smiling ear-to-ear. The 15-year-old guitarist has just finished auditioning for Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who critiqued his performance with an enthusiastic, “Man, you rock!”
Lady Madonna is no stranger to Chicago. She got a good dose of the city when she filmed “A League of Their Own” here in 1991. But when she hits town this time, it’ll be her first concert tour stop as a married mother of two young’uns. Think that’ll cramp her style when she’s here next week for her two sold-out concerts? We doubt it very much.
For years, Christina Aguilera had tried to prevent the release of “Just Be Free,” a collection of recordings Aguilera made when she was 14 and 15 years old. The diva-in-training, now 20, recently settled with Warlock Records on the condition that the album would contain a message that says in part: “I made the recordings as a possible stepping stone to a career in music, which is my ultimate passion. They were made just so that I could get my foot in the door of the music business. I did not intend that the recordings would be widely released, especially after I signed with a major record label.
You’ve got to feel a little bad for the Chicago cast of “The Real World.” The seven young ‘uns probably thought they’d get to live rent-free for the summer in a way-cool house in way-cool Wicker Park, hang with a Pumpkin or two and use the MTV soap opera-style documentary to launch their 15 minutes of fame.
Those shiny, pristine CD-like discs are my obsession. Each time I get a new one, it’s like I’m getting a sweet gift. Besides their affordable price, they are a movie buff’s dream. Sure, there’s the prime attraction of the movie. But most discs contain myriad treats, such as the director’s commentary, alternate endings, the option to watch the film with subtitles or listen to it in a foreign language, interviews with the cast and so on.
See Tarzan skate. See Jane swoon. See Tarzan and Jane swing on vines through the air . . . with their ice skates on. “Disney’s Jungle Adventures on Ice” takes three beloved Disney stories–“The Jungle Book,” “Tarzan” and “The Lion King”–and gives them a twist for the 21st century. The vignette for “The Jungle Book,” for instance, incorporates hip-hop beats into the remastered score.
So you wouldn’t know Pokemon from Gumby’s pal Pokey. That’s OK. The producers of “Pokemon-Live!” promise that even adults will understand the concept of the stage production, which is based on the Japanese video game phenomenon that spawned an animated TV series as well as a couple of feature films.
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.
