I would like to think that after 25 plus years in entertainment, I am pretty well versed on the “who’s who” of the biz. I would also like to think that I am hip enough to know who is hot today. After all, I could tell the difference between a Katy Perry song and a Rhianna song on the radio (at least after being educated by my 8-year-old daughter I could). So when Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and fellow Chicagoan Richard Marx told me he was adding a special guest to his lineup of friends performing with him at our …

I can’t tell you how many people come up to me and say, “What a cool job you have!” They see me on stage, hanging with celebs, and are filled with warm-hearted envy. What they don’t see is the other 97 per cent of the time when I have to create the shows, produce them, sell the tickets and pay the bills. But there are those experiences that make it all worthwhile. Sixties heartthrob, Beach Party movie legend and “Grease” Teen Angel crooner Frankie Avalon played at the Arcada theatre a couple of days before my May 8 birthday. We …

It was the summer of 2002 and we were rockin’ at Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero. We produced a concert series there every summer for years with some of the biggest names in country, rock and R&B. Of the 30-plus shows we did, one stands out as a career moment. It was with “The hardest working man in show business,” James Brown. We built a stage right in the center of the racetrack. It was an awesome concept that added excitement to the already cool experience of “The sport of kings,” horse racing. We had to do sound checks in …

Like so many others, I went from “Sesame Street” to “The Electric Company,” then from “Soundstage” to “NOVA,” then from those Doo Wop shows to “Chicago Tonight.” PBS has always been a big part of my educational and entertainment growth process. Then a program based in the 20th century came along and captivated audiences all over the country. Although I was a Sunday-night “Monty Python” fan back in the day, I never thought I would get into a British television experience that didn’t involve Benny Hill, or Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. But as I watched this year’s Emmy Awards, …

It was like an ’80s MTV video! Platinum blondes, fishnets, leather miniskirts É and that was just the guys! Bret Michaels, front man from rock super-group Poison and a “Celebrity Apprentice” winner, pulled into St. Charles with a splash. His tour bus sported an enormous picture of his familiar face, causing countless double takes and bringing traffic to a stop, and his crazed fans filled the street to the point where we had to close it off. The “Shop All Day, Rock All Nite” Black Friday concert at the Arcada Theatre was really something to experience. When a guy like …

With over 25 years in the entertainment business, there are many moments for which I am thankful. Just being able to walk on the same stage and share a microphone with show-biz icons is in itself an honor. But to rack up the “behind-the-scenes” experiences I have over the years? I am truly blessed. For an Italian American like me, there are two ‘Trinities’ that guide my soul. There is the main one, of course. But as Sunday Mass leads into Sunday gravy, the secondary trinity of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett always adds a certain spice that …