Archive for May, 2009
May 20th, 2009
A state vote as early as today could quadruple the number of video poker games in Illinois bars, truck stops and VFW halls in Illinois, according to this Daily Herald story.
There are about 65,000 video poker games throughout the state. The legislation would regulate facilities that offer illegal payouts under the table.
If the video poker bill gets all its OKs, players would be restricted to wagering no more than $2 per bet, and the maximum payout by a machine would be $500, according to this Chicago Tribune story.
I’ve seen those games in the Rockford/Belvidere area, but I’ve never understood HOW the winners get paid under the table. Can you enlighten me?
May 19th, 2009
Robert Behmer won a Saturn Vue, Helen Berg took the Honda Accord and Carol Terry has until May 30 to decide if she wants a Dyna FX motorcycle or $13,000.
The three Rockford residents were winners of the 2009 vehicles/cash in the 14th Three Vehicle Raffle at the 100 Men Who Cook event on Saturday to benefit The Literacy Council.
May 19th, 2009
The timing couldn’t be better for the opening yesterday of the new-and-improved Franchesco’s Ristorante at 7128 Perry Creek Parkway, Rockford, just east of JMK Nippon.
The words “Sinatra Room” affixed to the one side of the eatery greet passerby who’ll be more tuned into Sinatra because of an upcoming big-screen biopic to be directed by Oscar-award winning Martin Scorsese about Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Enter the restaurant and step down into the dark-and-swanky, drinks-and-entertainment-only Sinatra Room and it’s easy to be swept away by co-owner Benny Salamone’s admiration for the legendary 1940s singer.
(Go to rrstar.com/multimedia to see more photos.)
The room is three times the size of the former Sinatra Room at Franchesco’s old location near CherryVale Mall, which was vacated to make room for a yet-to-open Walgreen’s. The Sinatra Room can seat 110 people. It features midnight blue-ish walls that hold photos and paintings of Sinatra and fellow Rat Packers, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.
Cushioned chairs surround small tables, and high-back chairs at pub-height tables line walls. A 10-foot TV screen hangs in the middle of one wall and will play music videos featuring Sinatra, jazz greats and other musicians including The Beatles and Eric Clapton. When football teams are playing Sundays, four screens on both sides of the big screen will show games. Live entertainers will perform in the room that features a dance floor. Comedians will entertain on Wednesday nights, a new feature for the new Sinatra Room. The walls of the room contain subwoofers and a hidden area is filled with sound mixing boards and lighting controls to enhance ambience.
“The acoustics in the whole restaurant are perfect,” said Salamone, who owns Franchesco’s with Tom Larson of Youngberg Industries. Other features of the rest of the restaurant include Benny’s Lounge, a bar with windows into the Sinatra Room that can be closed; a white-tablecloth dining room with cascading waterfalls and fireplaces; and a chef’s table in the kitchen.
You call ahead to reserve the chef’s table, where Chef Dan Schimka will serve your party samples from whatever is being cooked in the kitchen, or whatever you’d liked to be served, along with wines, if you choose. You watch the cooks in action as Schimka visits with you as much or as little as you like. Salamone says the chef’s table “is a Chicago thing,” and he knows of no other restaurant in Rockford offering one. The kitchen is nearly the size of the entire restaurant at the old place.
The new Franchesco’s can accommodate about 750 people at one time, including in the banquet area. It employs about 130 people. Salamone and his father, Frank Salamone, who is at the restaurant every day, opened Franchesco’s in 1986. “This is what I have dreamed of doing all along,” Salamone said of the new Franchesco’s, “And I’m doing it ‘My Way,’ ” he said, referring to one of Sinatra’s best-known songs.
By the way, Benny Salamone says he’s a big Johnny Depp fan and hopes Scorsese picks Depp to play Sinatra. Other stars are reportedly under consideration as well, according to this Washington Post story.
Who do you think should play Frank Sinatra in new Martin Scorsese-directed film?
May 19th, 2009
First of all, don’t cringe in all your superiority and tell me I’m a boor because I can’t wait to watch two season final competitions tonight: “Dancing with the Stars” and “American Idol.”
The competitors are so close in “Dancing,” and I’m soooo curious about whether the androgynous but terrifically voiced Adam Lambert will outperform the more comfortable Kris Allen.
Which show will you watch tonight?
May 18th, 2009
If you missed the Rockford Area Music Awards Ceremony in April at the Tebala Shrine Temple in Rockford, you can catch broadcasts of the events at 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Sunday on Comcast Channel 57.
May 18th, 2009
… The fundraiser happened Saturday in Ohio to honor late, former WREX-TV anchor. Check out the WREX story.
Photo Courtesy: WBNS 10 TV
May 15th, 2009
This May 8 New York Times story lays it out about the song by the Rockford-based power pop quartet:
On the way the fortunes of the brothers (and the rhythms of Rudo y Cursi) bounce and skitter as each one struggles with vice and temptation. Cursi’s real passion is not soccer but music, and so he pursues an ill-starred second career as an accordionist and balladeer. His signature song is a norteño version of the old Cheap Trick hit “I Want You to Want Me,” the video for which is one of the film’s comic highlights. His bid for pop stardom is accompanied by a dream-come-true tabloid romance with Maya Vega (Jessica Mas), a television hostess he and his buddies used to fantasize about back home”
May 15th, 2009
He’s 70 years young, has a tough-sounding name and carries his house on his back.
He’s Mr. T, the Gulf Coast box turtle that lives in the Children’s Gallery on the third floor of the Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 N. Main St., Rockford.
Kids ages 6 to 12 are invited to help him celebrate his birthday from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Make a turtle for your garden by painting a river stone and using turtle shells from the Burpee collection as pattern examples.
Pre-registration and payment is required, 815 965 3433 ext 1020.
Cost is $18.
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May 15th, 2009
Shuvlhed, a hard-rocking foursome that will play Saturday during Groove Walk at Hawks Nest in downtown Rockford, this week was named one of four bands winning the chance to compete for a spot on a Summerfest stage in Milwaukee on June 28.
Shuvlhead was the top online vote-getter with 63,418 votes cast in the race with about 800 bands in the first stage of the Briggs & Stratton Battle of the Bands. Voting for the second phase — the winner gets on the Summerfest stage — begins tomorrow at the Briggs Web site and ends June 7. The band with the most votes gets to perform on the Backyard Stage and gets rock-star treatment complete with limo service.
Shuvlhed members posed with a Briggs & Stratton generator in this photo the group sent to Briggs with its new CD, “Never Rest,” set for a May 30 release. Nothing like suckin’ up to those in charge, eh?
Shuvlhed hails from the Kingston area in DeKalb County, a 30-mile drive southeast of Rockford.
Duane Fisher, a Shuvlhed member, describes the band’s sound as a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and 3 Doors Down. “This contest is huge for us; we’re (competing) on a national level,” he said.
Two other groups with Rockford ties will perform at Summerfest:
The Last Vegas, which played Saturday at Bar 3 in Rockford, the same place where Shuvlhed played on Friday, opens for Puddle of Mudd June 25 on the Miller Lite Oasis Stage. Adam and Nate Arling, who grew up in Rockford, play in The Last Vegas. The band won a contest and opened for Motley Crue on a tour that stopped in Rockford in February.
Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons of Appleton, Wis., which features Miles Nielsen of Rockford as a band member, plays on the Briggs’ Backyard Stage June 25.
May 14th, 2009
Rock out at school — at Keith Country Day School’s Rock-n-Roll Camp this summer, that is.
The fifth annual camp for those ages 11 to 17 will be at 1 Jacoby Place, Rockford, and will be held in two sessions: 8 to 4 p.m. June 15 to 19, and the same time from June 22 to 26. Cost is $375 for each session and includes classes, instruction and materials. Each student is asked to bring an instrument.
Students will receive musical instructions at all skill levels, build self-esteem and perform at the Sinnissippi Park Band Shell in Rockford. To register, call 815-399-8850, extension 145 or go online to summer-rocks.com.
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