Motley Crue drummer helicopter ride a downer

Add comment February 3rd, 2009

Celebrities are no strangers to being pulled over by the cops, but Tommy Lee has taken being pulled over to new heights — literally

This story tells about the helicopter Tommy Lee, Motley Crue drummer,  was riding in being pulled over, or is it down?

The Crue returns to the Rockford MetroCentre Feb. 15.

Rockford mom featured in diaper campaign

Add comment February 3rd, 2009

Kristen Frericks, 37, of Rockford knew she’d won $300 in a Huggies contest because judges for the diaper company liked what she had to say about motherhood.

But when she watched the video of herself for the first time online at generationhuggies.com when I called to interview her Tuesday, she wished she’d have had a little more prep time. “I should have had more makeup on. I said ‘person’ too many times.”

Stephanie Miller, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said Frericks looks “great.” But what’s more, it’s what Frericks said about being a mom that was most impressive. Frerick’s take on motherhood: It’s about being selfless. “Always putting yourself last,” she said. “Making this little, tiny person, a good, giving person to society.”

Frericks entered the contest in October when she and her husband and 3-year-old son Theo were at Navy Pier in Chicago. A few people approached her and asked if she’d like to enter by recording a 60-second video in a Video Creation Station van on site. So, she did. Other sites around the nation hosted the station as well. Frericks found out in December that she was a contest winner.

The messages of 30 moms from more than 300 were chosen to celebrate Huggies 30 years in business. They are at generationhuggies.com. As part of the online campaign, the videos also will stream on other sites this year.

What will $300 buy for Frericks? More Huggies, of course. Frericks, a sales manager, is due to deliver her second child in July. “I’ll use Huggies again. They fit my son better.”

The winner of the $30,000 sweepstakes associated with the campaign is Kristine Barrett of Shelbyville, Tenn., a mom and grandmother who’ll use the money to invest in her family’s future.

Tell in “comments” here what motherhood means to you.

Golan art gallery may close

4 comments February 3rd, 2009

Roni Golan says he’ll close his Golan Liberman Art Gallery in Rockford if he doesn’t make enough at an art sale later this month to pay rent, or if others don’t help him come up with a way to keep the gallery open. Local arts boosters say it would be a shame for his gallery at 2209 E. State St. to close.

Golan creates abstract wall art, sculptures and furniture and will sell about 100 pieces. Prices range from $100 to $6,000. His art will be discounted up to 80 percent from 6 to 11 p.m. Feb. 27 and 28 at 2209 E. State St.

(art by Roni Golan)

His gallery on East State has been open about a year and a half, but he’s had galleries in Rockford and Cherry Valley a total of 10 years. “This is not about me,” Golan said in an e-mail. “It is about our cultural survival.”

Anne O’Keefe, executive director of the Rockford Area Arts Council, said Golan is passionate about the arts in Rockford and has been innovative in getting people into his gallery, including hosting routine Laughing Club socials. But the economic crisis is tough. “It’s not friendly to retail art galleries or support for arts organizations,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe said one possible upshot from Golan’s maybe-going-out-of-business sale: It could spur other local artists who want to display and sell their works into working out some kind of co-op deal with Golan. “The space is beautiful,” she said, and it’s surrounded by upscale operations such as Poska’s gift and novelty shop, an interior design studio, and DiTullio’s, which is relocating its deli to the strip mall there.

If you have other ideas for Golan or the Rockford arts community, share them in the comments section here.