Dancing With the Stars - Season 11 "Stars" Announced

Dancing With the Stars returns to television on September 20. This will be their 11th season, and they're really stretching the term "Stars." Here's the list. (Thanks, USA Today!) The comments that follow are mine.


Singer Michael Bolton, 57 - zzzzz hope his dancing is more exciting than his catalog of music.

Actress/singer Brandy, 31 - I hope her dancing is better than her driving skills.

Actress/comedian Margaret Cho, 41 - OK, I like Margaret Cho. She should be fun to watch.

Actor/retired L.A. Laker Rick Fox, 41 - Sports person. Sorry...don't know him.

Actress Jennifer Grey, 50 - Baby is 50? How old is her nose?

Actor/singer David Hasselhoff, 58 - His professional partner can motivate him with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a cheeseburger.

Actress Florence Henderson, 76 - Mrs. Brady! Aww...she's the senior in this season's cast. Hope she sticks around for a while.

Actor Kyle Massey, 19 - No clue.

Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin, 19 - Seriously? HELLO...in what realm is she a STAR???

Reality TV's Audrina Patridge, 25 - No clue.

Reality TV's Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, 27 - Wow...he's 27. I would have thought he was in his early 20's. I hope he and Bristol hit it off. If you know what I mean. ;-)

Retired NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, 38 - quarterback...that's football. Still no clue who he is though.

Not a very exciting cast. I'll watch though. I always do. Will you?

Speaking of The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (see post below)

There is now a theme song for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. It was written by the lovely, gracious and extremely talented Jane Wiedlin. Doug is a good friend of hers. I feel very priviledged that I can also call her a friend and because of this, I will now shamelessly promote her song. It can be downloaded for a mere 99 cents on iTunes. You'd be a fool not to add this happy little song to your music collection. After all, how many pop songs can you name that have the sentence "All of New York is swallowing" in the lyrics?

I'll even make it easy for you...here's a link right to the song on iTunes!

The Great Food Truck Race

As you all know, my friend Doug (The Big Gay Ice Cream Man) has a food truck in NYC called "The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck." Doug's truck is part of a long list of trucks included in the voting for season 2 of "The Great Food Truck Race," a show on The Food Network. Through September 10, you can visit the site, simply by following this link, and cast your vote (actually 10 votes per day!!) for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. Winners receive $10,000 and a chance to appear on season 2 of the show. There's something in it for the voters, too...a chance to win a trip to The Food Network NYC Wine and Food Festival. How bad can that be?

Vote early and vote often for The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. I appreciate it and so does Doug.

Sniffle

I know, not the most exciting topic to come back with but that's what I've been doing on and off for the past four days.

A week ago, my throat was scratchy. I didn't feel sick, just annoyed by a scratchy throat. I didn't let it slow me down though. One night I had coffee with my friend Jim who was visiting from Wyoming (or Montana or some wilderness state...some place where chickens come knocking on his front door but that's a different story). The next night was dinner and theatre with Dan, Luis, Polo, Denise and Tina, then the next night was dinner with my pal Debbie who works for the same company and was in Chicago doing some training and education at our buildings. Each night was a delightful time. Well Thursday was laundry night and by the time it came time to do laundry, I just wanted to crawl into bed. I didn't though, I toughed it out and got my chores done, then I came home and went right to bed. I called off work on Friday. I just felt icky. My head was congested and I was tired. It never felt like I had a cold, though. It seemed more like allergies.

Case in point, Saturday morning I got up and felt great. I went shopping and had lunch with a new friend. Afterwards we hung out for a while. I did decline the opportunity to go out that night with him, deciding to err on the side of caution and just rest. Well at about 9, the flood gates broke and I was sneezing and sniffling and coughing. Sunday, most of the water works stopped but I was still stuffy.

Today at work I felt OK...not great but well enough to go to work and be productive. I'm still not convinced it's a cold, because of the on and off pattern. For my friend's sake I hope it's not a cold. That's all I'm saying. :)

I just took a couple Benadryl tablets. I'm sure I'll be asleep shortly.

Really exciting post, huh? Well at least it's not another "Dancing With the Stars" post. OH WAIT....

Hi

Yes...still here. Just haven't had a lot to talk about lately. I just get the feeling that what I do discuss really only interests me, so until I have something really great to discuss, I'll just stay quiet.

But, just to let you know what I've been up to, I took a trip to LA last month, had a great time. I've been enjoying summer in Chicago. It's been hot and sticky and it's just the way I like it.

Mom's doing alright. The cat is fine. My sister is back on track with her weight loss and is down 20 pounds.

I saw the Joan Rivers documentary, I liked it. I actually went to see it when I was in LA.

Okay...guess that's it for now.

A Star is Born

Yes, this is yet another post about The Go-Go's. But I've got actual news to share. Rather cool news, in fact. At least I think so and since this is my blog, I'm going to write about it.

Picture it, February 2002. The Go-Go's had recently released their fourth CD and I, along with a couple friends decided that they deserved a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. DeDe, who lives in San Jose, Joseph who lives in Las Vegas and me, here in Chicago, decided to research how one goes about getting a star. I won't bore you with all the details about what qualifies a celebrity for a star, but there has to be a nomination document prepared, the celebrity has to be willing to appear at the ceremony (unless they're dead), and the nominating party has to be able to write a check for $15,000 over to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Hmm...

So we brainstormed and came up with some ideas. We contacted members of the band and since they were scheduled to perform a handful of shows around the country, we asked them if they would let us auction off "Meet and Greet" events at each of their shows. They were 100 percent on board and agreed. We set up a Paypal account and created a website and people donated. Much to our surprise, we raised OVER $15,000 in 34 days.

Then it was up to us to write the nominating document. It was a labor of love for us. We poured over articles that chronicled their Los Angeles roots and their rapid rise to fame. The end result was a great presentation. We even solicited for celebrity testimonials and we got them. Finally, we got a letter from their management stating the band's committment to appear at a ceremony, should they receive a star. I organized the box, which included CDs and a DVD of their work and sent it to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. We were thrilled with our work and felt like we were a shoe-in.

Nope.

Undaunted, we knew we needed to do nothing but send a letter during the next year's nomination period to have our nomination renewed. We did, again feeling very confident.

Nothing.

Each year, we kept it up. We tweaked the nomination, updated it and kept submitting it.

No-go.

Back in 2008, I spoke with their current manager, who was committed to see this through. By now the fee had been increased to $25,000. He said that the balance would be raised elsewhere. At that same event, I had a brief chat with Belinda Carlisle about it and she was so surprised that they hadn't been awarded their star but thanked me for my continued efforts. The nomination period came and went and again, no star.

2009 - no star.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the band, who had been working together a few weeks each year, would embark on their final tour, dubbed "Happily Ever After - The Go-Go's Farewell Tour." The Star would be a do or die effort as far as we were concerned. Having raised the money, thereby making a committment to all of the investors, we knew we would have to continue, but with the band finished, the chances of getting the star would have been even worse.

The band's management has been doing their part to keep the nomination alive. Not having seen what was submitted, we were nervous but hopeful.

Unfortunately, The Go-Go's had to cancel their "Farewell Tour." Guitarist Jane Wiedlin was injured in an accident while hiking near her home and tore the ACL in her left knee. Surgery was done on July 16, she is recovering at home.

Thursday July 17, a headline appeared online that The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced their 2011 nominees for Stars. 30 recipients were announced, the article named about 10. I glanced through the list, shrugged and went back to my work.

I received a text message from a friend who said "Jane just posted on Facebook that The Go-Go's are getting their star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Is it true?"

"What?"

I began to search online, I could not find a complete list of nominees. Thankfully the work day was over so I left for home, but before I got there, I had an email from DeDe telling me that it had finally happened.

The Go-Go's got their Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!!

I still can't believe it. If it hadn't been for us brainstorming one night, this would never have happened. Because of our efforts, the band that has meant so much to us for nearly 30 years will finally be immortalized in the very pavement where they, as a band, were born. Let me tell you, it's a great feeling knowing that I played a part in that.

Next up, the placement of the star. It probably will be a few months before it happens. I will be there. I can't wait!

Summer Reading

On Tuesday June 1, Belinda Carlisle’s book “Lips Unsealed” was released.

I first heard about this project over a year ago. There had been some talk on the internet that Belinda had signed a deal to release an autobiography. Much discussion ensued. Would it be a tell-all about her days as a member of The Go-Go’s? Would she reveal secrets about her band mates or would this be just about her. Well, the latter is more accurate. In the book, Belinda discusses growing up while dealing with feelings of insecurity, coping with losing her father, and finding her place in the world. It’s a journey that walks the reader through the forming of The Go-Go’s, their rise and fall and reforming, and all of Belinda’s personal demons that manifested themselves on and off for nearly 30 years. Ultimately it’s a story of redemption and healing.

Having heard so many of the stories over the years, it was really cool to read them as told by someone who was there. There are glimpses into the recording sessions of her solo albums. And, as she has been most candid about in press interviews, stories of drug and alcohol use, including during her pregnancy.

Belinda opens up about motherhood, and dealing with the regret of not being home with her son as much as she would have liked.

She even mentions "Dancing With the Stars." :)

I read the book in 3 days. I paced myself, as it would have been easy to not put the book down. The book is truly her voice and her sense of humor. Yes, there are parts of the book that made me laugh. Overall it’s a pretty fair balance of ups and downs but by the time I got to the end I was feeling happy for her.

As a fan, I would recommend this book to everybody. It may not be to everybody’s liking so I would qualify my review by suggesting it to anybody who is interested in a story of someone’s journey to find who they are and creating an eye opening journey along the way.

That’s the first of my summer reads. What’s on your reading list this summer?