February 8th, 2010 01:45pm
Georgette Braun
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Danica Patrick was the first female to win an IndyCar Series race, and now she’s the first celebrity to design a Hot Wheels toy car, which bears her name and will be in stores in October, according to this MarketWatch.com story.
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(Associated Press photo)
The open cockpit “Danicar” with yellow body and flames will be the traditional size of a Hot Wheel car, 1:64 scale. Hot Wheels is a sponsor of Patrick’s car for NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. Patrick makes her NASCAR debut Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
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And don’t forget Patrick, who starred in GoDaddy ads Sunday during the Super Bowl, will make a guest appearance on “CSI:NY” Wednesday.
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What do you think about all the attention Danica is getting?
February 8th, 2010 01:27pm
Georgette Braun
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Cheap Trick didn’t sing, “Hey, we’re from Rockford,” during Sunday’s Super Bowl ad in their “Dream Police” remake, “Green Police,” for Audi.
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And Danica Patrick didn’t note her Roscoe roots in the GoDaddy ads she starred in.
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So, it’s not surprising that the sock monkeys featured in the Kia Super Bowl ad didn’t carry signs that said “We’re originally from Rockford.” But the sock monkey did originate here, with Nelson Knitting making the original red-heeled work socks used to sew the dolls.
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And the Midway Village Museum, which will host the sixth annual Sock Monkey Madness Festival March 6 and 7 does buy monkeys from Bonnie Connelly, the lady who makes the small one featured in the ad.
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Aug. 1, 2005; Gary L. Carlson/Rockford Register Star
Cheap Trick star Rick Nielsen, left, clowns with the new Cheap Trick Sock monkey after he and the artist, Jane Peterson Hooker, unveiled it at Crash One on Colliseum Drive Monday.
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This is one of several sock monkey statues that appear around Rockford paying homage to the doll’s roots here.
February 5th, 2010 11:34am
Georgette Braun
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If you don’t get enough of seeing Danica Patrick on TV Sunday in GoDaddy ads during the Super Bowl, tune in Wednesday to “CSI: NY” where the Roscoe native and IndyCar and NASCAR racer will guest star.
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In this TV publicity image released by CBS, Gary Sinise, left, talks with guest star IRL driver Danica Patrick during the filming of the crime drama “CSI:NY.”
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Patrick plays the top competitor of a racing star who dies under suspicious circumstances, according to the Associated Press. Antonio Sabato Jr. plays the racing great who dies in a car explosion on the streets of Manhattan two days before a race as the result of car tampering.
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“CSI:NY” airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on WIFR-23 (Comcast 5).
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Patrick’s GoDaddy ads during the Super Bowl will feature her as Marilyn Monroe from “The Seven Year Itch,” Kelly LeBrock from “Weird Science” and Jennifer Beals from “Flashdance.”
February 4th, 2010 01:05pm
Georgette Braun
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On Thursdays at about 6:50 a.m., I go on WREX-TV to pitch fun things to do for the weekend. This morning, I led with the cat show Saturday and Sunday at Forest Hills Lodge.
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I borrowed a FurReal Friends Kitty Cat from a friend’s kid to use as a prop. The toy meows, purrs, blinks, etc. when you pet it or when it’s on automatic. Another friend said her kid got one as a gift, and it creeped them out, so they took it back to the store.
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Reminded me of when I was watching “The Big Bang Theory” on TV Monday and the ringtone laugh of The Joker creeped Penny out.
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Check out the Get Up and GO! segment in this video:
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http://www.wrex.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4515281&h1=Get%20Up%20and%20Go!&vt1=v&at1=undefined&d1=187167&LaunchPageAdTag=News&undefined&activePane=info&rnd=98163529
So, is this a too-Creepy Cat? Or a Purr-fectly fine toy?
February 4th, 2010 09:41am
Georgette Braun
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The third episode of the History Channel’s “American Pickers” antiques-and-vintage-stuff-hunting series on Monday night featured Judy Gambrel of Rockford and will be rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday on Comcast 36.
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The stars of the show, Mike Wolfe (left above), who owns an antique store in Iowa, and his friend, Frank Fritz, drove away with a truckload of stuff they bought from Gambrel for several hundred dollars. She lives in a 9,000-square-foot apartment in the the 700,000-square-foot warehouse that was originally the National Lock building on Seventh Avenue, just south of 18th Avenue. Her now-late husband, Maury, who spent much of his life in the moving and storage businesses, bought the building in 1983. Anderson Packaging is the complex’s biggest tenant.
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(Theformer National Lock building where Gambrel lives. Register Star photo.)
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She said Maury, whom she married in 1989, was a collector of many things, as she is. Their collections include World War II and patriotic items, antique woodworking tools, cast iron, and hardware, general store and tavern items. “To my husband, ’sell’ was a four-letter word,” Gambrel said.
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Gambrel sold the pickers, who scrounge the countryside looking for stuff to sell to antique dealers, restaurants that feature vintage items and movie-makers, a bunch of stuff that Gambrel said was more junk than antique. They filmed here for eight hours in two days in late September. The show learned of Gambrel’s collection after getting a lead from the Byron Museum of History.
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Among the items the TV stars purchased were an old cart with wheels and aluminum chairs with vinyl seats that were originally part of National Lock. Gambrel said the pickers also bought a vintage North American Van Lines sign for $75 and later sold it for $1,200. She said that although critics say the show takes advantage of those who don’t know the value of the stuff they’re selling, Gambrel said the middlemen were “totally professional.” She said she wouldn’t have known whom to sell that sign to in order to get that price.
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Gambrel is thinning out their collections and will hold an auction maybe this fall. Although she said she has been contacted by several people interested in looking through her things, she said she won’t accommodate such buyers.
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So, how does Gambrel like the show? Fine, she said, except she wishes the focus were different. “It’s all about how much money they are making. I think it should be about the people they are meeting.”
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February 3rd, 2010 08:40am
Georgette Braun
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The Who’s Pete Townshend, in an exclusive interview with Billboard, has revealed that the band’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance will feature a “compact medley” of their signature classic-rock anthems.
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“We’re kinda doing a mashup of stuff,” the guitarist tells Billboard. “A bit of ‘Baba O’Riley,’ a bit of ‘Pinball Wizard,’ a bit of the close of ‘Tommy,’ a bit of ‘Who Are You,’ and a bit of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’”
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What's your fave song by The Who?
February 1st, 2010 11:21am
Georgette Braun
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Kurt Elling, who grew up in Rockford and is based in Chicago, won a Grammy Award on Sunday for Best Vocal Jazz Album, “Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman.”
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It was Elling’s ninth nomination and his first win.
January 29th, 2010 11:28am
Georgette Braun
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Danica Patrick is dressed like Marilyn Monroe in the film icon’s famous skirt-blowing-up scene in “The Seven Year Itch” and as Jennifer Beals in the shower dance routine from “Flashdance” in a Go Daddy ad for the Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
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But another Go Daddy ad featuring the Indy racer and NASCAR driver who is a Roscoe native wasn’t approved by CBS to air during the big football game. That one featured Patrick narrating a story about a effeminate former football star who starts a Go-Daddy hosted online store and becomes a fashion designer.
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Last year’s Go Daddy ad also featured Patrick and was the most-watched, according to this story.
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January 29th, 2010 10:19am
Georgette Braun
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Joan Allen, a 1974 Rochelle High School graduate, will be the inaugural honoree Feb. 23 at the Chicago Cultural Center for the Steppenwolf Salutes Women in the Arts, an annual fundraising luncheon forum for the Steppenwolf.
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The event recognizes Allen, a founding member of the Steppenwolf, for her career in theatrical arts.
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(Joan Allen; photo from imdb.com)
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Allen has been nominated for three Academy Awards, for “The Contender,” “The Crucible” and “Nixon.” She won a Tony for her role in “Burn This.” She also received a Golden Globe nomination for the title role in Lifetime Television’s “Georgia O’Keeffe.”
January 29th, 2010 09:06am
Georgette Braun
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Actors who starred on Shawn Ryan’s “The Shield” will appear on “Lie to Me,” a Fox show the former Rockfordian produces.
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Those actors include his wife, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, Catherine Dent, Benito Martinez, Kenny Johnson, David Marciano and David Rees Snell, according to this story.
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Cathy Cahlin Ryan and Shawn Ryan (photo at imbd.com)
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