Be still my heart, ‘Rescue Me’ gets sixth season as fifth season starts April 7

Add comment February 27th, 2009

I’ll be happily tied up on Tuesday nights from April 7 to Sept. 8 watching the fifth season of my favorite drama, FX’s “Rescue Me.”

And there’s more: The show featuring Denis Leary has been renewed for the sixth season, according to the LA Times.

   Hurray!!!

Huntley domestic murder and the laws

Add comment February 27th, 2009

A new state law apparently wouldn’t have applied in the murder case of Jennifer L. Beaudion of Huntley, who allegedly was killed Wednesday by her ex-fiance David J. Griner.

Bischof law provides that anyone who violates an order of protection could get clamped with a Global Positioning System ankle bracelet and have their movements monitored by contractors who would call police when person A gets too close to person B, according to this Feb. 22 Register Star story.

It wouldn’t appear to apply because Beaudoin didn’t go back to court to renew a temporary restraining order. But Beaudoin had contacted police at least three times since an order of protection she took out against him expired in December, according to this Northwest Herald story.

The three, post-protection-order times police were called certainly reveal potential abuse, if not outright abuse. It’s too bad that she didn’t get another restraining order. I hope police advised her to do so. I wish there were some kind of reporting mechanism, like the one that requires doctors to advise child protection services in the case of suspected abuse.

Banning metal bats, and your thoughts on it

3 comments February 26th, 2009

Chicago is thinking of banning the use of metal bats because of safety concerns, according to this Daily Herald story.

It’s modeled after a ban on metal bats in New York City for high schools and organized, competitive baseball games for ages 8 to 18.

Tell in comments here about any bad/good experiences you’ve had with metal bats.

TV election coverage favors Republicans, study says

1 comment February 26th, 2009

‘Liberal bias?’ Indiana University professors find network TV election coverage favors Republicans, according to this Indiana University study.

“We don’t think this is journalists conspiring to favor Republicans. We think they’re just so beat up and tired of being accused of a liberal bias that they unknowingly give Republicans the benefit in coverage,” said associate professor Maria Elizabeth Grabe.

And the plot thickens with Burris son’s job

Add comment February 26th, 2009

BURRIS’ SON GOT STATE JOB FROM BLAGO

SCANDAL MUSHROOMS | He serves as housing authority counsel despite facing foreclosure on his own home, according to the Sun-Times.

Rockford College’s Uncommon Lives women-in-the-arts series on hiatus

Add comment February 25th, 2009

Hard telling when/if Rockford College will bring back the weeklong series “Uncommon Lives: Extraordinary Women in the Arts.” The culprit: money.

The series started in 1991 and virtually every other year brought in half a dozen nationally recognized women writers, musicians, dancers and singers for performances, workshops and lectures that were open to the public. It cost the college, once a college for women only, $80,000 to $100,000 for each series, said Chuck Brown, communications and new media director for the college.

The last time Uncommon Lives was offered was in 2006 when Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves and Twyla Tharp, choreographer and author, were among the featured women. The series attracted about 2,000 people that year, Brown said.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Brown said the college’s financial picture has stabilized since 2008, when Robert Head took over as president. But in 2006 and 2007, the college “had to focus its resources on activities that generated revenue to maintain academic programs and services,” Brown said. In short, the college was focused on attending to the “nitty-gritty” of running the college, he said.

However, the college will consider putting on Uncommon Lives again in the future, he said.

Cheap Trick’s Dream Police truck at Chicago Auto Show

1 comment February 25th, 2009

Local resident John Connell went to the Chicago Auto Show last week, and took some pictures (click here) of a promotional truck featuring images of the Rockford-based band.

The truck isn’t for sale. Instead, it is designed to get automotive professionals and media to look at products that RealWheels Accessory Corp. sells.

The dashboard is trimmed with checkerboard patterns, the kind guitarist Rick Nielsen of Rockford wears. And a TV screen that rises from the back of the truck showcases Cheap Trick music in the Rock Band 2 video game. The “Dream Police” vehicle is a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the band’s album, which its creators grew up listening to,  Jeff Dolphin of SVL Productions, Rockford, has said. The local company consulted with RealWheels on putting in the video screen, fog machine and lasers on the truck.

Connell’s take on the show?

“The show this year was a bit of a disappointment as there were less vehicles this year and a lot more tacky vendors, which I’d not seen in the previous years.”

The latest on Cheap Trick drummer in another band

5 comments February 23rd, 2009

Just got off the phone with Bun E. Carlos, Cheap Trick drummer, who is making headlines because he’s also part of a new group, Tinted Windows. Other members are former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson and Fountains Of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger.

(Provided photo. Bun E. Carlos on the left.)

Here are five things you should know about Carolos and Tinted Windows:

1. Carlos  is continuing to drum with Rockford-based Cheap Trick. He’s been with Cheap Trick since the group’s inception in 1974.  Carlos lives in Boone County.  “All of us are working around the schedules of our main bands,” he said.

2. Tinted Windows’ sound “is not really all that different” than Cheap Trick’s, Carlos said. “We have guitar, bass and drums, a great singer and killer songs.” And, he said, “We are all pretty much on the same level musically.” The self-titled Tinted Windows CD will be released April 21 on S-Curve Records. Listen to the “Kind of a Girl” track here at Rolling Stone.

3. The group will play April 20 on “The Late Show With David Letterman.”

4.  Carlos drums on three tracks on Miles Nielsen’s new CD, and performed with Miles’ dad, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen of Rockford, Friday night at Kryptonite in Rockford. In January, Carlos  recorded five tracks in Chicago with The Vandalettes.

5. For more information, go here and here.

Tell about your getting autographs from celebrities

6 comments February 23rd, 2009

I’m planning to write a story about Rockford-area people who get autographs from celebrities, including sports stars. Why they do it. What it means to them. Where they keep the autographs.

Share here your story about getting a celebrity/sport star’s autograph. I may contact you via e-mail to get more info to maybe feature you in an upcoming Register Star story.

On Thursday, I had Stephen McEveety, producer, and Cyrus Nowrasteh, director, and actress Shoreh Aghdashloo, all of “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” sign the book of the same title at the Beloit International Film Fest. Yeah, I know they didn’t write the book, but they were happy to sign it. And I got Anthony Bourdain’s autograph in one of his books when he was in Rockford a few years ago as featured speaker for a One Book, One Rockford event. The books are just sitting on a shelf.

Ugandan film people’s choice in Beloit

Add comment February 23rd, 2009

The People’s Choice Award at last week’s Beloit International Film Festival was “The Abanunule,” the Ugandan feature about a former street orphan who turns away from a positive life at a boys’ home to return to drugs and violence on the streets.