Tag Archives: Places

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 …

Johan Botta as Otello (Photo by Ken Howard courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera) Shakespeare’s “Othello” is one of the greatest plays of all time. In the characterizations of Desdemona and Iago, the concepts of Pure Good and Pure Evil are contrasted, as is not to be found anywhere else. As for Othello, the play shows how the most powerful of men can be utterly destroyed by jealousy. The theme of a black man and white woman loving each other is to this day controversial, and is a fascinating subject that has remained appealing to audiences ever since the tragedy was …

After the passing of Beethoven in 1827, Giuseppe Verdi was the greatest musical genius of the 19th century — a century filled with great composers. This is not merely an opinion. In fact, Verdi’s services were more in demand by far than those of any other composer, and he was paid more for his music than anyone else. Yet Verdi was not the same type of genius as Mozart or Donizetti, who could separate their art from their personal problems. These composers showed again and again that they could create music of a beautiful, optimistic or even humorous nature despite …

Set sketch by Scott Pask When you hear someone say, “We’re going to the opera,” that person is almost surely going to attend a performance of a Romantic Era, or 19th-century opera. And quite probably, the opera to be viewed will be a “tragic” drama, or at least tell a very dark story. For of the 60 or so works that make up the “standard repertoire” (that tiny fraction of all operas composed that are routinely staged most frequently), only about nine are what you might call “comic” pieces. The most popular of these by far is Rossini’s “Il barbiere …

In the 2013-14 season, Lyric Opera of Chicago is presenting three operas that are all in the very first circle of popularity, and have been for many years — Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” Verdi’s “La traviata” and Rossini’s “Il barber di Siviglia.” Many who have never seen an opera or know anything about the genre have at least heard of these works. So it may seem unbelievable that all three of these masterpieces, on their opening nights, were pathetic flops! In retrospect, however, there are understandable reasons for this in each case. For the first time, Puccini was so confident in …