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GO columnist Georgette Braun is curious about a lot of things. She’ll answer your questions, pose some of her own, and comment on everything from entertainment to life and death. |
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14 comments February 23rd, 2009
Everybody knows Sin City is Party City. And when you don’t have money, you don’t party like you used to. Period. Everybody knows that, too.
Las Vegas is what it is. And hoteliers and casinos should quit whining that jabs from government officials upset about bailed-out companies partying in Vegas on the taxpayers’ dime are hurting their industry.
1 comment February 23rd, 2009
What: 16th annual Wing Ding 2009, all-day rock music festival featuring several national bands.
When: Sunday, May 24.
Where: Bell Bowl area of Chicago Rockford International Airport, Rockford.
Cost: $15, up from $10 last year because of increasing entertainment and operational costs; two for $20 at certain promotions to be announced.
Who’ll play: Bands are expected to be announced in the next two months. In past years, the lineup has included Buckcherry, Hinder and Three Days Grace.
Information: wxrx.com
3 comments February 19th, 2009
Billboard.com reports that Bun E. Carlos, Cheap Trick drummer who lives in the Rockford area, is part of a new “supergroup” called Tinted Windows. This is in addition to drumming for Cheap Trick.
The other members of Tinted Windows are former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson and Fountains Of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger.
The pop group will play its first major show March 20 in Austin.
1 comment February 18th, 2009
I was listening to Mancow Monday morning on The Eagle 96.7 FM in the car, and he asked for listeners to call in if they thought they knew the tune he played, which plays in his daughters’ room.
I called once and didn’t get through. Got into the house and called again. I got through, which surprised me. I’ve only once at another time called a radio station and got through. It was to WXRX in Rockford when I wanted to comment on what they were talking about: UFC fighting.
A guy on the Mancow phone line asked me for the name of the tune, which I told him I thought was “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” He said, “We’ve already got someone guessing that,” and he hung up. I didn’t turn the radio in the house to find out if I was right, because I was late getting to work. I’m sure that was the tune, though. I tried to get through at 888-2MANCOW a few times after the show was off the air this morning, but of course all I got were busy signals.
Anyway, when I was surfing the Web this morning, this story caught my eye because of my call to Mancow. It’s about how the brains of lonely people work differently than those of the non-lonely. The bottomline: “Lonely people feel a hunger,” said John Cacioppo, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. “The key is to realize that the solution lies not in being fed, but in cooking for and enjoying a meal with others.”
Good advice. You got any? Does any song that addresses loneliness speak to you? Have you ever been surprised that you’ve gotten through on a radio call line?
Add comment February 18th, 2009
Loraine Borys, Rockford mom of two of the band members of The Last Vegas who loves to bake treats, is a marketing machine.
Her latest updates today on the band that won a contest to open for Motley Crue on its current tour.
A message from guitarist Adam Arling to his mom: “Tim our Tour Manager took all the boxes of treats for the Crue to the Crue’s road crew (who are the one’s who we work with day to day). Â They were a smashing success, and Tim said through the treats we earned some massive brownie points and they’re gonna be cool to us the rest of the tour. Â ha.”
 And a YouTube video about the band winning the contest.
Add comment February 17th, 2009
Nikki Sixx, Motley Crue guitarist, details on his MySpace blog how it came to be that his pal Cheap Trick’s “Rick Neilson,” who is really “Rick Nielsen,” came to play Sunday with the Crue and The Last Vegas at the MetroCentre and how the tour bus ended up at Nielsen’s house where Nielsen showed his guitar collection.
3 comments February 16th, 2009
There won’t be a car czar to oversee government loans to the dreadfully challenged car makers, according to new Obama plan outlined in this cbsnews.com story.
As the teams move forward, Obama “wants to make sure that we’re getting the expertise and input of agencies across the government,” an official said.
I really want to believe that appointing senior administrative officials instead of one czar will help.
But the glass-half-empty in me wonders if it’s a bad omen: That in a U.S. auto industry collapse that puts the economy in an irreversible skid that it’ll be easier to spread the oversight blame among a bunch of people, a system, than to point at just one czar-like person. And when that happens, there seems to be a big cloud of amorphous unaccountability. The accountability seems to evaporate.
Seems when I can point a finger at somebody, I can understand something better. And I have a picture of what went wrong if I can attach a face to it. Sure, I could attach Obama’s face to it, but now, he’s like teflon.
Add comment February 13th, 2009
Just got off the phone with Skip E. Lowe, known as a kid in Rockford as Sammy Labella, who says Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick character is partly based on him. Lowe says that is a widely known fact in Hollywood, though Short won’t admit it, Lowe says.
Short is performing Saturday at the Coronado in Rockford, and Glick will interview Channel 23 weather forecaster Aaron Wilson as part of the show.
“Martin Short doesn’t like to admit he stole my persona,” Lowe said. Lowe said he’s never met Short, but he “adores him. He’s funny, very talented.”
Lowe, 78, of West Hollywood interviews stars on cable channels broadcast mostly in California, and said he just a few days ago had dinner with actor Sean Penn.
Anything Lowe doesn’t like about Glick? “He made him fat. And he’s trying to make me stupid,” Lowe said. “I am not stupid. Sometimes I forget people’s names. But that is part of the charm of my personality, I’m told.”
I interviewed Short a few weeks ago, but was unaware of the possible connection to Lowe, so I obviously didn’t ask him about it.
Lowe left Rockford when he was a teen to pursue acting. He has family who live in Rockford, including brother Carl Labella, a teacher.
1 comment February 12th, 2009
Equipment is being installed now so that one auditorium at ShowPlace 16 in Rockford will be able to show the hot, new 3-D Jonas Brothers movie starting Feb. 27.
Two 3-D auditoriums at the Lindo Theatre in Freeport already are in place for the showing of “Burning Up,” a documentary following concerts put on by The Jonas Brothers, America’s hottest boy-band group.
The movie is named after the trio’s best-selling album. Candid footage of the brothers is edited into their sold-out performances.
2 comments February 12th, 2009
1. Remember The Heavils from Rockford, the metal band with guitars that members made from such items as toilet seats?
Well, The Heavils disbanded awhile back, but drummer Brian Milo is still in the biz, kind of. He’s traveling with The Last Vegas on the Saints of Los Angeles Tour, which plays Sunday at the MetroCentre featuring Motley Crue. He’s taking pictures of the band and acting as a drum technician for Nate Arling.
2. So, do we think Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick frontman and Rockford resident, will show up on stage Sunday to play with the Crue? Maybe. In an e-mail earlier this month, Nielsen said he would if he was in town and if the Crue asked him to play.
“Better brush up on my Crue,” Nielsen said in the e-mail. “Hmmm, let me see, all in the key of E, tuned down a half step …. OK, got it ….”
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