Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“I was your typical bossy older brother,” Charlie Sexton said, laughing. “But Will really loved music. Soon after learning bass, he switched over to play lead guitar, too. I tell him a little bit of what I learned, but he’s my younger brother and I don’t want to give him a hard time. So I usually wait until he asks for my advice before I go butting into his life.”
Actor Stephen Caffrey was born in Cleveland, attended high school in five different states and now divides his time between Los Angeles and New York. But ask him where home is, and he’ll say Chicago. “My father was in a business that moved him around a lot, and as a result I was often uprooted,” Caffrey said. “The longest I’ve ever been in one place was the eight years I spent in Chicago. It’s hard to describe what bouncing around from place to place is like to people who haven’t experienced it. But eventually you end up just grabbing hold of home, and for me that’s Chicago.”
After spending most of his film career portraying weirdos or villains, Chris Sarandon finally gets to be the leading man – a role he said finds more comfortable. “I’ve been the bad guy on screen for so long it’s difficult for me to remember whether I should wear a white or black hat in the morning,” Sarandon joked in a recent interview. “I’m more at ease now playing the hero, but I still approach every part as a character role. I think you put more into it than if you just play the bland, good guy.”
A woman wearing nothing more than a bikini bottom and a tan walked past a group of men. Instead of trying to get her phone number, they quickly and politely asked her to leave. As part of the production team for “Hollywood Squares,” their job was to keep the audience’s attention on the stars of the TV game show.
“TAMI Show sounded so professional I thought they had already been signed,” Nigel Harrison said in a phone interview. “When I found out they weren’t, I couldn’t believe it. I called up Chrysalis and told them they had to hear this band.
Competitive volleyball got major exposure during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles when the American men won the gold medal. But beach volleyball is a different sport, with two-man teams covering the entire court. Sinjin Smith and his partner, Randy Stoklos, are the No. 1 team in the world. “It’s hard to believe I get paid to play in the sun and ogle girls in bikinis,” Smith said with a chuckle. “Seriously, the great thing about volleyball is it’s a sport anyone can play. It’s cheap, and you don’t have to be 19 to excel at it.”
In 1975, actor Dustin Tri Nguyen and his family escaped Vietnam during the fall of Saigon at the end of the war. His best friend wasn’t so lucky. The Viet Cong killed him. “A lot of people say I’m so fortunate to be on a hit TV series. But when you put things into perspective, I’m just lucky to be alive. Being an actor is a bonus. Being on a series where controversial topics are addressed is an actor’s dream.”
When pop singer Tiffany embarked on her first tour last year, her record company used a gimmick to promote her: It sent her to shopping malls across the country where she sang to prerecorded music. Now, with a self-titled debut album that has sold 4 million copies, along with two No. 1 singles and a Top 10 hit, the 16-year-old is performing across the country with a seasoned six-piece band.
Singer-guitarist Dave Pirner admits to playing in some pretty raunchy bands while cutting his punk-music teeth. Today, the 24-year-old musician fronts Soul Asylum, a loud, guitar-heavy group that he claimed is the most “imageless band ever.”
By Jae-Ha Kim Playboy July 1988 “Beach volleyball got some great exposure in that scene with Tom Cruise in Top Gun,” says Sinjin Smith. “Although looking at it from a professional standpoint, their game was a […]