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Add comment June 30th, 2009
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Archive for June, 2009
Rockford singer/songwriter has high hopes for Nashville night
3 comments June 29th, 2009
A 20-year-old Rockfordian, one of seven competitors in a country singing competition in a Chicago suburb on Saturday, plans to take to a Nashville stage soon with hopes of being discovered for her vocals or songwriting.
Amanda Torp-Pedersen didn’t win the Colgate Country Showdown at the Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, but said the experience gave her another chance to hone her performance skills. “I am learning how to be more comfortable on stage,” she told me today. For the competition, she sang, “All of Me,” a piece she penned, and Faith Hill’s “Red Umbrella.”
(Amanda Torp-Pedersen performing Saturday in Orland Park. Photo provided.)
Torp-Pederson is 2007 graduate of Rockford Christian High School and attends Belmont University in Nashville. She has performed in Rockford for sports teams including the Ice Hogs, RiverHawks and Raptors and has won a vocal competition at On the Waterfront.
She plans to attend a writers night in Nashville, where she’ll perform three original songs on stage. Such audiences typically include music scouts, she said.
Dillinger gang rounded an Indiana corner as now-Rockfordian ducked inside store
Add comment June 29th, 2009
Talk about dodging bullets, and infamous ones at that.
Al Petzke of Rockford was 7 years old when he narrowly missed being shot up by — who he believes then and still does — was John Dillinger and his gang in South Bend, Ind.
(Al Petzke, photo provided)
Dillinger, the subject of “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp and opening Wednesday, and his gang had allegedly just robbed the Merchants National Bank on June 30, 1934. It was less than a month before Dillinger was shot dead in Chicago by police.
Petzke and his father had just entered the Cloud Brothers appliance store to buy a replacement part for the family’s wringer washing machine. Al’s mom washed clothes to make money during the Depression.
They heard sirens, exited the store, then quickly went back inside the vestibule of the store when they saw the gang driving Studebakers and the cops rounding the corner. “They went by in a hurry,” Petzke, 82, told me after reading my June 25 column about a car housed at Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe used by the Dillinger gang in a robbery. The Studebaker is expected to be seen in “Public Enemies.”
“We kept hearing this ‘pop, pop, pop,’” Petzke said. “We just wanted to make sure they did not hit us. I just hung on to my dad.”
When the shooting was over, father and son and store staff gathered outside. Bullet holes were found in a sign outside the store. The story about the bank robbery allegedly by the Dillinger crew was a big deal the next day in the South Bend Tribune, he said.
“I’m lucky I didn’t pee in my pants,” said Petzke, who moved to Rockford in 1953 and was an engineering director for WTVO-17 for 44 years.
150 years for Madoff surprising
Add comment June 29th, 2009
Wow, 150 years for Ponzi-scheme mastermind Barry Madoff. That surprises me. Last I heard, pundits were predicting between 15 and 25 years.
Are you surprised by Madoff's 150-year sentence?
WWE and ECW shows live at MetroCentre Sept. 8
Add comment June 29th, 2009
Two professional wrestling shows will be taped live at the Rockford MetroCentre on Tuesday, Sept. 8, back-to-back for later TV broadcasting.
WWE’s SmackDown stars expected to be here include Jeff Hardy, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jerico, John Morrison and The Divas. ECW’s stars expected to be here include Christian, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, Finlay, Evan Bourne and Tommy Dreamer. The ECW show will start at 6:30 p.m. followed by SmackDown.
(Rey Mysterio, photo provided)
Tickets cost $50, $40, $30, $22 and $15. They go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 11, at metrocentre.com, 815-968-5222 and the MetroCentre box office at 300 Elm St.
The ECW shos is expected to air at 9 p.m. the night of the taping on the SciFi Channel (Comcast 156). The WWE show is expected to air at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11 on myNetworkTV (Comast 16).
Cheap Tricksters on Colbert show Monday
Add comment June 26th, 2009
Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander of Rockford-based Cheap Trick will appear Monday night on “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central (Comcast 45). The theme song for the Stephen Colbert program is “Baby Muggles,” a Cheap Trick piece. Nielsen has appeared before on the show.
(Stephen Colbert)Children’s Gallery at Burpee temporarily closed during renovations
Add comment June 26th, 2009
Don’t worry about those little critters who were housed in the third-floor Children’s Gallery at Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford.
They, including Mr. T., a 70-year-old Gulf Coast box turtle, are being cared for by the education staff of the museum while the Burpee is undergoing a renovation expected to be completed next summer. The Children’s Gallery, where kids not only viewed little live animals but put on animal costumes and did other activities, is closed to the public and has been turned into an office for education staff.
After renovation, the gallery will be in a different space. Burpee hopes to have space for a living exhibit similar to that in the gallery, but it’s not sure yet if that’ll happen.
Emily Bear’s Australian TV debut impressive
Add comment June 26th, 2009
Emily Bear, 7, of Rockford told Australian TV viewers Sunday who were watching an evening news show about three international child prodigies including her that she is “just a girl who plays piano” and that she really digs composing music. “It’s something you can do and nobody can tell you what to do or when to do it,” she said.
Go to Emily’s Web site to connect to the “Sunday Night” video of Emily and her family shot earlier this month in Rockford.
(EDDY MONTVILLE | RRSTAR.COM
Emily Bear takes a break Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from playing with the Jodi Beach Trio at Franchesco’s Ristorante in the Sinatra Room in Rockford, where the “Sunday Night” crew was filming.)
Emily’s Mom, Andrea Bear, said the TV segment about her daughter was “a very beautiful, very classy story.” She told me today, though, that while Emily practices four hours a day a few days before a major concert, her daughter’s daily practices can be as short as 15 minutes a day. Emily practices piano an average of two to two-and-a-half hours a day, Andrea said.
Beach Boys back at Beloit Riverfest; Guess Who on tap, too
Add comment June 12th, 2009
The Beach Boys are bringing their 1960’s “Good Vibrations” back for the second year in a row to Beloit Riverfest July 12, and The Guess Who of 1970 “No Sugar Tonight” fame is on tap, too, for July 11.
(Two of the original The Beach Boys will perform along with other members of the band. Photo provided.)
Other headliners for the July 8 to 12 festival along the Rock River in downtown Beloit, Wis.: Grass Roots Band on July 8, Survivor on July 9 and Trapt on July 10.
An advance general admission for a five-day pass costs $25, and gets you admission to the concerts behind reserved seats. Advance reserved seating for the five days is $65. Advanced ticket sales for all concerts and admission to the festival ends Monday, June 15.
Advance tickets may be purchased at beloitriverfest.com and at its office at 520 E. Grand Ave., Beloit; 608-313-1200. But you can only buy the highest-priced premiere seating online after Monday.
Prices for:
Grass Roots Band: $4, $2 for child for general admission, $10 or $25 for reserved, all in advance; $8, $20 for reserved at gate ($25 for premiere online).
Survivor: $7, $2 for child for general admission, $2, $10 or $25 for reserved, all in advance; $10, $20 reserved at gate ($25 premiere online).
Trapt: $9, $2 for child for general admission, $22.50, $50 for reserved, all in advance; $13, $30 at gate ($50 premiere online).
The Guess Who: $11, $2 for child for general admission, $27.50, $75 for reserved, all in advance; $13, $35 at gate ($75 premiere online).
The Beach Boys: $11, $2 for child for general admission, $30, $100 for reserved, all in advance; $13, $37.50 at gate ($100 premiere online).
Other activities at Riverfest include carnival, lip sync contest on July 11, and kickboxing and power boat races on July 11 and 12.
