my old friend jude law rocks hamlet! and loves chicago….

If you follow me on twitter you came with me to nyc to last week for the live Victoria’s secret fashion show (will probably blog about them in next day or so since doing a viewing party of the actual show I saw at the underground on dec. 1st w/ one of the angels!).  anyway, I thought while there, I would check out an old buddy of mine from London, playing hamlet on broadway, the always amazing jude law.

First of all, let me just say that jude rocked the part of hamlet beyond belief! I know this because in high school I couldn’t understand Shakespeare to save my life, and here I was not only understanding everything, I was thoroughly engrossed, entertained, laughing, shocked,.. & just loving it!  Jude stole the show, literally.  I almost was nervous for others because he was so big and present on stage next to the rest… but eventually it all grooved together nicely and I give them all major props.  Show ends dec 6th, better check it fast!

Anyway, the reason I wanted to share my experience here was because when jude invited backstage to hangout after the show, we literally sat in his dressing room raving & laughing about none other than, of all things… chicago!  We have hungout throughout the years in London together but he just cant let go of the days of running around chicago in 2000/2001 with me & our buddy Daniel craig (who you may know as james bond, who happens to be on broadway too with hugh jackman in “a steady rain” which is about, of all things, two chicago cops!), while they were filming “road to perdition” w/ Robert redford and few other greats.  

We were the inseparable 3 amigos walking every random chicago street day & night trying every restaurant, café, store, park,… laughing, joking, telling stories,… raiding my mom’s fridge, playing Frisbee w/jude’s kids during the day, hanging out late at my spots (at that time… the dragonroom, circus, skylight & the bedroom)… just having the best time ever!  Jude couldn’t stop raving about our culture, art, culinary scene, and most of all.. the nice people… it was fun to update him on my new spots sunda, rockit & underground because they were the exact places I told him I always wanted to open… I could see him trying each item in his head as I told him about our menus and stuff.. it was pretty neat.  

Anyway, it just made me really proud to be a part of this city… its just so conducive to building real friendships & everlasting experiences & memories with people from all over the world… and I love that about Chicago… hope you all are taking those opportunities when can… they are all around us… show guests all your fav spots, not just the touristy ones… share your enthusiasm, personality, story & honesty w/ them… and put it all together… and they will never forget us!  Cheers

Midwest Independent Film Festival Presents “The Best of the Midwest Awards!” by guest blogger : jon landan, team rockit ranch

 I fortunately was introduced to “the arts” at a very early age.  While at Francis Parker School right here in the city of Chicago, I was exposed to some of the greatest talents, both in class and around the city, intriguing me so much I even pursued and landed a couple parts in plays like Oliver, Alice in Wonderland and The Music Man!  As I grew older and moved into other interests, I watched & supported friends from all over the city of Chicago work hard to further their artistic careers, taking classes at The Second City, hustling to improve through practice where ever possible, eventually showing that Chicago & the Midwest has some of the most talent in the country as many of the ones I watched over the years made it on to some of the biggest television shows and movies in Hollywood.

I also have enjoyed watching Hollywood come to us!  Recently it seems more than ever that Chicago and the Midwest have been the home to some of the biggest movies in the world from Batman: The Dark Knight to Johnny Depp’s Public Enemies. And if you think about it, these probably would not have been shot in Chicago & the Midwest without all the hard work done over the years by many of our own local independent film makers, actors, directors, crew… who have been drawing attention to our great part of the country for years!  For that, I think it is only right that we give back and support them, not only to continue to push forward, but to show the world how far we can take it and what we are really made of!

This local success, and more importantly their potential to make even a bigger impact on our behalf, has inspired me to get involved with The Midwest Independent Film Festival, the nation’s only film festival solely dedicated to the Midwest film industry, presenting audiences with regionally produced independent cinema. This film festival dedicated to celebrating and strengthening our film community is year round so you can enjoy at anytime, but I must suggest, all should get involved this week and attend the “BMAs!”  It’s a blast!

The “BMAs” are the “Best of The Midwest Awards” and will not only serve as an excellent opportunity for us to contribute to & support our local film industry, but it will be a great way to meet all that have excelled and represented us in the world of film & entertainment, like acclaimed filmmakers Lori Petty, John McNaughton and Steve Jones highlight the list of scheduled attendees!  See who else will be there on the 1st, including cohost for the evening, our CEO, Billy Dec  —  and check out last year’s photo gallery! 

The event will be this Tuesday, December 1st at Rockit Bar & Grill, 22 W. Hubbard, kicking off w/a fun cocktail reception at 7 p.m.  The Best of the Midwest Awards ceremony takes place from 8:00-9:00 p.m.; festivities continue through 10 p.m.  info and ticket/donation are available at www.midwestfilm.org; all proceeds benefit the 2010 Midwest Independent Film Festival…. Let’s support them! (and us!)

chicago’s “rock for kids!”

Join Your Chicago Chefs who Grow, Teach & Feed! by guest blogger : Amanda Downing, Rockit Chef Team

A lot of what goes into being a chef is giving something back to others; usually it is in the obvious form of creating wonderful food for guests to enjoy. Another part, is giving back to our community and Chicago is one of the greatest communities out there. 

There are so many opportunities to give back to the community throughout the year and many where chefs and restaurants take center stage to help support various causes. Some events that myself and Rockit Ranch executive chef James Gottwald and our entire crew have been a part of have been: Meals on Wheels Chicago, Grand Chefs Gala,  Taste of the Nation as well as many events and classes supporting Common Threads.

New to us earlier this year has been the Organic School Project (OSP) where we were invited to a mac and cheese sMACdown, which was a fun community event where local novice cooks competed with local chefs for the Mac daddy title; there was more than enough cheesy noodles to go around. (and we are proud to say, we are the Mac daddys!).  Since then we have been invited to participate in their Fall Harvest Community Dinner happening Friday November 20th from 6-8pm at Leslie Hall (1111 North Wells St). 

This event will be a celebration of the season with a community dinner showcasing the fall’s harvest using all organic products.  Rockit will be serving an organic version of our roasted butternut squash soup.  It will be a fun way to support such a great program where all the funds raised will support the OSP’s Grow, Teach, Feed after school program for children. 

The mission of OSP is to combat childhood obesity and related health epidemics through the Grow Teach Feed model, laying the foundation for urban youth to build sustainable lifestyles. To learn more about their work with over 3,500 kids since their founding in 2005, please visit www.organicschoolproject.org 

To show your support: tickets for the Fall Harvest are $35 for adults through Nov. 13th and $40 thereafter.

Chicago Fashion Maker Akira! by guest blogger : Bo Osacky, Team Rockit Ranch

Its seems as if “fashion” in America primarily celebrates its achievements in NYC and LA, but after an amazing fashion focus week here in chicago last month, I have a whole new respect for our fashion talent that is finally emerging around the world as future leaders!  I think it has a lot to do with great designers like maria pinto, organizations that give a platform to new designers like gen art, and all the amazing business leaders in entertainment and fashion that are just going for it!

One group of such fashion business leaders are my friends from the local clothing chain of stores, AKIRA.  akira has been determined to change the mindset that fashion strength only exists on the coasts from their opening in 2002, with original thinking and a strong emphasis on local designers.  Akira has woven its way into Chicago mainstream by being everywhere it seems at once – from doing fashion shows weekly at various nightlife venues to teaming up with wonderful philanthropic groups like “imerman angels.”

What I love best is that AKIRA will always be run by good hearted local Chicagoans and will always be about Chicago fashion.  Jon Cotay, part owner of Akira, says “We love having fun, meeting new people, helping others in anyway we can, and hopefully come up with some good ideas along the way.”  This formula seems to grow year after year to where Akira is becoming recognizable not only all over chicago, but across the country, now finding its name in magazines like LUCKY, People, Crain’s, Teen Vogue, to name a few.  

I am such a fan that my rockit ranch team and i decided to produce a fashion show with AKIRA, their amazing new fashion looks, a bunch of superfun model friends,… all tonight at the Underground… and we would love to invite you to join us to check them out, support chicago fashion, and celebrate what’s to come!  Please spread this to all your friends who love chicago fashion!  and join us on our vip list before 1030p by emailing vip@rockitranch.com by today at 4p… see you there!

chicago sport celebs for children’s memorial!

Hugh Hefner Runaway Help Goes Beyond Chicago

Heard this really great story about how back in the day playboy’s hugh hefner, one of the biggest world entertainment industry influencers ever who happens to be from chicago, accidentally made a call to the wrong number, and accidentally got the “National Runaway Switchboard” (NRS) which was also based in Chicago.  Intrigued, he asked what they were all about, was compassionate about their vision, and began to help them grow their services and good deeds!

nrs started (’71) in chicago as a local crisis intervention for young people, but then grew fast into a national 24-hour hotline, which now handles more than 100,000 calls each year.  The NRS provides support, respects confidentiality, collaborates w/volunteers, and responds to at-risk youth & their families 24hrs a day. The saddest part? with family financial problems up this year, so are runaways! 

Anyway, because I love the cause, work & vision… I’m sharing their story, especially since November is National Runaway Prevention Month, and youth is our future. On Friday, November 13th, join their Cocktail Award Reception to help raise money, donate, spread the news that they exist, become a volunteer, visit their website at: http://www.1800runaway.org/

Chicago/Paris Ballet & Mime Connection!

I know it is hard for some to believe for some reason, but I love the ballet… and I’m especially excited to share news that because 2010 marks the 90th anniversary of a famous Paris-born surrealist ballet, Le Boeuf sur le Toit (English translation: The Ox on the Roof: The Nothing-Doing Bar), T. Daniel Productions, NFP, (the Chicago Mime Company), has coordinated 2 special performances in it’s honor- one for us Chicagoans, and one in Paris on the original stage of the ballet!  

The show is particularly important to T. Daniel and Laurie Willets, artistic directors and internationally-renowned Mime Artists, because they studied the art of Mime under Marcel Marceau and Etienne Decroux, two of masters of the modern art!  Also, pretty cool that even though Paris is the “spiritual Home” of Mime, T. Daniel and Laurie Willets made Chicago their home base, and Marceau brought his official Paris school to Chicago, the only other city to host his school! 

For all who are interested, the basic plot of the ballet is a Frenchman’s view of what an American bar would be like during Prohibition.  It’s shown through a sequence of scenes based on music inspired by Brazil, a country in which the composer spent two years during World War I. The stage set is that of a bar frequented by a number of characters: a bookmaker, a dwarf, a boxer, a woman dressed in man’s clothing, a policeman, many more. If you want to check out this historical performance, head out to the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston on November 12th or check out http://www.tdanielproductions.org for more info!

i won an emmy!

You probably caught me and emmy award winning actor jeremy piven twittering our heads off all saturday night at sunda & underground celebrating after my surprise emmy win!!  Here’s one of our twit pics, I apologize for the crummy quality, it’s from my phone. (Seriously, if you are not following me on twitter, click here, you are missing out)  anyway, I let everyone pass the award around and everyone thought he brought his emmy’s out with him- no one believed I actually won my own, it was insane!  We actually had to start twittering clarifications that it was mine, because reporters started to inquire, it was pretty funny…

Anyway, Omg I’m freaking out- for about 5 years now I have been hosting tv shows like metromix & nbc’s 24/7, and have been nominated before, but never thought I would actually ever win an emmy award!  Here is a link to some footage I was poorly playing around with- it’s so raw, but I thought for sure I wasn’t going to win… had I known I had a chance, I would have lit it better, and I would have dressed better! Haha!  (if can make it through the black out for a minute toward the end, you will see us reappear at the very end for photographers backstage with the award in hand!!!!!!  (its worth it, I’m shaking in nervous excitement!)

If notice another group gets announced first, it’s because I guess they actually had a tie in our category, so I didn’t even hear us get called second!  It was scary, I didn’t hear my name, but everyone around me was like, “go up there!”  anyway, you will also see I dragged two guys up there with me… philip jones who shot & directed, and chris robins of bridges media group who did all the creative & post production magic… I share this honor with them, my buddy tom hodges for advising and watching over us all with all his expertise & experience in the industry, my partners brad young & arturo gomez, the entire rockit ranch family, and all the teams, families, signifigant others, and all of you who show so much support allowing us to pursue such amazing things!

In case wondering, This year marked the 51st year of The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and our emmy award was for a piece where I documented our rockit ranch asian travels & our new asian restaurant sunda’s evolution, “hosting” the story we called “Journey to Sunda” … the exact category was for Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programs : Program or Program Series Broadcast/Advanced Media!  all I have to say is… now I’m hooked… with your support, I’m going to tell more stories and be back at the emmy’s for more!  Thank you all!

“new kids on the block” donnie wahlberg going underground in chicago!

art, culture, film & entertainment…and my roots

dare to dream chicago w/ gavin rossdale from bush!

Chicago Designers make a “DIFFA” (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS)

2008 DIFFA Table Designed by Chicago's Kara Mann

This week, I was invited to a great series of events hosted by DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) Chicago chapter. DIFFA is a “not-for-profit fundraising and grant making foundation that distributes funds to Chicago area HIV/AIDS service agencies that provide direct service, preventive education and outreach to people who are HIV positive, living with AIDS or at risk for infection.” This is an incredible group that over the past 15 years has granted more than $38 million to hundreds of organizations.

DIFFA is made up of volunteers from the fashion industry, interior design, furnishings and architecture so it makes perfect sense that my buddy, fashion designer, Maria Pinto will serve as the Honorary Chair by designing a table for 20 people with Believe Tables, featuring 10 of Chicago’s top Residential Interior Designers!  Dining by Designs is a 3-night event starting this Thursday (Nov 5th) and ends on Saturday night with the annual DIFFA Gala.