Dog Whisperer and South Park

Add comment May 9th, 2008 09:35am Georgette Braun

Cesar Millan will speak at the Coronado in Rockford for a Discovery Center Museum fundraiser in October.

He’s so famous, Cartman’s mom on “South Park” (parental advisory) called the dog trainer in to fix her son’s behavior problems. Hilarious but raw.

Cubs are from Mars

Add comment May 8th, 2008 08:15am Georgette Braun

People won’t be uttering that phrase if the state swings a deal to buy Wrigley Field, the Chicago Tribune said today.

The name likely will remain Wrigley Field and won’t take on the name of the chewing gum-maker’s new owner, Mars, the story seems to say.

Just think: We’ll be spared the “Men (in other words, ‘Cubs’) are from Mars, Women (in other words, girls/Sox) are from Venus” kind of thinking.

Puddle of Mudd and Nirvana

1 comment May 7th, 2008 01:16pm Georgette Braun

I’m not the only one who thinks Puddle of Mudd is Nirvana-like.

Better hurry if you want to check it out up-close-and-personal.

Only four of 76 seats remain in the front two rows for Puddle of Mudd’s

show with Finger Eleven at On the Waterfront Aug. 31 in downtown Rockford. Tickets cost $86.50 for those first-two-row seats. But you can get a reserved seat behind those for $32.50. Or stand waaaaay in the back for only the price of a festival admission pass.

Waterfront logo marks silver anniversary

3 comments May 7th, 2008 11:26am Georgette Braun

MedicineMan of Rockford again has designed the On the Waterfront logo. It’s the 10th year the Rockford business has designed the Waterfront logo. The company is owned by Mike Bunjan and Sandi Kohn. This year’s theme: An Explosion of Music.

TVs made overseas and economic stimulus payment

3 comments May 7th, 2008 11:15am Georgette Braun

You know those forwarded e-mails we all get. Here’s a good one I got today.

Economic Stimulus Payment

‘This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A  format:

‘Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
‘A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

‘Q. Where will the government get this money?
‘A. From taxpayers.

‘Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
‘A. Only a smidgen.

‘Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
‘A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

‘Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China?
‘A. Shut up.’

Bears’ Benson and boating on Rock River

Add comment May 6th, 2008 01:49pm Georgette Braun

With all the hoopla over Cedric Benson of the Chicago Bears being charged with operating a boat in Texas while intoxicated, which he plans to fight, made me wonder what the laws are on the Rock River Valley, right outside my office window.

They aren’t as strict as driving a car.

Chris McCloud of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources tells me that it is legal here for the driver of a boat to consume or possess an alcoholic beverage as long as the operator isn’t over the legal intoxication limit of .08 (same as in a car).

Passengers of boats are allowed to consume alcohol, but their actions can’t endanger or disrupt the public or they are subject to fine and arrest. You can’t have open liquor in a car being driven in Illinois.

So, what do you think about all that?

Where is best catfish dinner in Rock River Valley?

5 comments May 1st, 2008 02:59pm Georgette Braun

A reader needs an answer to this by tomorrow afternoon. She’s having company and they really want good catfish.

I’ve had catfish in a clay pot at Hai Quynh Vietnamese Restaurant, 324 Seventh St., Rockford, 815-964-5353. The typical dirt-taste of the catfish was nicely overpowered by a hoisinlike sauce.

Other recommendations?

$5 family train rides: Harvard to Chicago

1 comment May 1st, 2008 08:29am Georgette Braun

Today’s top story in the Register Star about an Elgin-Belvidere-Rockford route picked for future commuter rail got me thinking about the very cheap way for individuals and families to get to Chicago on weekends.

The Metra route that starts and ends in Harvard in McHenry County (35-minute drive northeast from Rockford) charges just $5 for an adult, who can take up to three kids under age 12 on that same five-buck fare, to ride on Saturdays and Sundays as many times as you want to any stop along the way and to the end in Chicago.

I lived in Harvard for about two decades, and more than a few times a year would take the kids into the city to see the lighted store windows at Christmas or to go to the air and water show and other fun places. We’d catch a cab or walk to wherever we were going. A few times we took the bus or the elevated train, though for the occasional user those latter options are harder to navigate.

There are nine trips in and an equal number of trips back on the weekend from and to Harvard.

Way cheaper these days than driving into the city, finding and paying for a place to park, and way less stressful.

Emily and Ellen

Add comment April 30th, 2008 01:54pm Georgette Braun

See Emily Bear, 6, of Rockford, whose new CD is available now, play piano on YouTube, taken from last week’s “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” of favorite moments during 800 shows.

Emily’s on screen from about 3:10 minutes into the segment until about 4:10.

V-ICE

7 comments April 30th, 2008 08:23am Georgette Braun

We all have moral weaknesses.

LT’s is causing some of us to think twice about our own vices with a billboard outside the bar and grill on Alpine Road in Rockford.

Ah, but wait, the bar’s aim really isn’t to get us into self-examination. It’s to get you into the place Friday night to see rapper Vanilla Ice (”Ice Ice Baby”) perform.

My colleague at the paper, movie man Will Pfeifer, told me today he saw V-ICE on LT’s billboard.