Updated: July 19, 2011 4:50PM

According to Black Ensemble Theater artistic director Jackie Taylor, when her theater troupe’s new Uptown home at 4440 N. Clark opens in November, the company’s most stellar alum will be starring.

Chester Gregory, whose impressive career was launched with his galvanic 2000 BET performance of the title role in “My Heart is Crying, Crying (The Jackie Wilson Story),” will reprise that role for the new venue’s inaugural production. In the wake of his triumph at BET, Gregory, the triple threat” actor-singer-dancer, moved on to Broadway, appearing in “Hairspray,” “Tarzan,” the national tour of “Dreamgirls,” and, currently, “Sister Act.”

Javier Bardem

Updated: July 20, 2011 5:01AM

GENEVA — In the 2008 film “No Country for Old Men,” Javier Bardem’s hitman character mercilessly collected unpaid debts with a deadly bolt gun.

When it comes to movie pirates, the 42-year-old Oscar winner is more understanding.

“People don’t have money, and movie tickets are sometimes too high,” Bardem told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. “I understand that.”

Still, Bardem says freeloading hurts the nine in 10 actors who struggle to pay the bills.

The Spanish actor traveled to Geneva to support actors rights. The World Intellectual Property Organization is hosting talks on a treaty that is expected to be approved by governments next year.

Bardem called for actors to get the same protection as musicians and writers, including the right to earn money from the use of their performance beyond a film’s original release.

Has he ever downloaded a film or song illegally?

“I barely can put on my iPhone,” Bardem said. AP

Farrah Abrahams of MTV’s “Teen Mom.”

Updated: July 20, 2011 4:57AM

Because “Charlie’s Angels” just isn’t complete without a Farrah, Farrah Abraham of MTV’s “Teen Mom” says she’ll be appearing in the next version of the sexy detective show.

In a tweet this week, the mother to baby Sophia said she met great people “at a casting im going to be in the New Charlie Angels movie!” She apparently wasn’t aware that ABC’s “Charlie Angels” update will appear on the small screen.

Contacted by E! Online, an ABC spokesman would not confirm the hire, saying only that Abraham auditioned at a casting call in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The late Farrah Fawcett was the breakout star of the original “Charlie’s Angels.”

Jason Isaacs (from left), Helen McCrory and Tom Felton play the Malfoys — Lucius, Narcissa and Draco ­— in the “Harry Potter” film series

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Updated: July 20, 2011 5:01AM

LONDON — So this is the face of evil: ice-blue eyes, an imperious brow, the sculpted features of Lucius Malfoy, the Muggle-hating wizard supremacist and implacable foe of Harry Potter.

As Malfoy, 48-year-old actor Jason Isaacs has plumbed his character’s dark heart and chilled millions of moviegoers since he appeared in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” in 2002. So it comes as a surprise — it shouldn’t but it does — to hear the British performer renounce evil.

There is, he says, no such thing. Even arch-villain Lord Voldemort is not so much wicked as misguided.

“No one is ever bad,” said the disconcertingly genial Isaacs. “Voldemort sees the way the world ought to be, in his own eyes, and is trying to make it that way.”

Isaacs, who has played villains in movies from “Peter Pan” to “The Patriot,” is back for the sixth time as the black-clad, blond-haired warlock in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the last film in the magical saga.

The film reunites Isaacs with Helen McCrory, 42, as his wife Narcissa Malfoy and 23-year-old Tom Felton as their son Draco, Harry’s classmate and bitter rival at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The Malfoys embody the dark side of J.K. Rowling’s magical world. Staunch allies of Voldemort, they uphold what they see as the purity of wizard ways and wizard blood against the influence of ordinary humans, or Muggles.

Isaacs said Lucius speaks “the language of separation, the language of racism, the language of eugenics.”

“You don’t need to look very far nowadays to see politicians standing on those platforms and seemingly reasonably gathering an awful lot of followers and votes,” he said.

All of the distinguished actors in the Potter stable — Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter — make a final appearance in “Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”

Isaacs said he realized during filming the final confrontation — when practically the entire cast stands in rival armies as Ralph Fiennes’ Voldemort lays siege to Hogwarts — that the experience was unlikely to be repeated.

“We were all there for weeks and weeks and weeks, watching Ralph,” he said. “I remember looking out and thinking, this is probably the most highly qualified bunch of film extras there has ever been in film history.

“There’s dames and knights of the realm and people I would queue round the block in the rain to see on stage — all of us standing around with literally nothing to do.”

Isaacs, recently seen as bruised-but-tender private eye Jackson Brodie in the BBC crime series “Case Histories,” is about to move to Los Angeles to star in “Awake,” a new NBC series about a detective caught between parallel realities.

Still, he is sorry to let Lucius Malfoy go. “Most films that I’ve ever been on — most television programs, most plays even — there’s an undercurrent of fear: ‘We’re all going to lose our money, we’re going to destroy our careers, no one’s going to buy a ticket, no one’s going to see this thing,’” he explained.

“On ‘Harry Potter’ the opposite was true: We were buoyed up on this tide of confidence, this sense that the whole world loved what we were doing and couldn’t wait to see what we were doing next.”

AP

The Chicagoans you encounter during an “en route” excursion are not performance artists. | Hedy Weiss~Sun-Times

‘en route’

RECOMMENDED

◆ Through Aug. 13, at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

◆ $35

◆ (312) 595-5600;
chicagoshakes.com

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Updated: July 20, 2011 2:18AM

Imagine Alice (of Wonderland renown) catapulting down the rabbit hole. But think of her as an Alice who has been outfitted with a whole lot of high-tech gadgetry (headphones, Mp3 player affixed to wrist, Motorola Atrix 4G smart phone in hand) — and you will have some idea of the sensation that comes with embarking on “en route.”

“En route” is the meta-journey experience devised by “one step at a time like this,” a creative outfit based in Melbourne, Australia, that specializes in transforming urban exploration into audience-involving theater. The group (Suzanne Kersten, Clair Korobacz, Paul Moir and Julian Rikert) began its antics at home, has visited the Edinburgh Festival and is already booked as part of the London 2012 Festival Cultural Olympiad. But it is spending the next month in its North American debut in Chicago (courtesy of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture). And if you enjoy offbeat adventures in your hometown (or are a tourist with a genuine spirit of adventure), “en route” is the trip for you. Just be prepared to feel like a bit of a nut case as you traverse the city center — from the Wrigley Building to the Barnes Noble at State and Jackson.

I confess: I am technically challenged, so it took me a while to just figure out how to deal with the gadgetry and concentrate on the experience. And frankly, I prefer to explore the city with my ears open (I hate earphones) and my attention undivided. But I also am a city rat familiar with almost every alleyway, underground passage, hotel lobby and garage that “en route” directed me through, so I could relax that way. And by the end of the journey’s 100 minutes or so, I got into the rhythm of things and even took out my camera to snap some photographs.

The journey is designed to be taken alone, which adds nicely to the dreamlike aspect of it all. Instructions for the starting point of your guided “walk” are sent 24 hours before the actual trek by way of a text message or e-mail. You are met there by a “greeter” who explains the technology, sends you on your way and acts as something of a re-orienting guardian angel if you mess up.

The route I took — dictated by means of texted and recorded instructions, chalk arrows on the sidewalk, little envelopes of instructions left at specified spots along the way as well as the occasional rendezvous with a “guide” ­— led me down a stairway to the river, along some routes where the homeless set up camp (no, they are not performance artists), through the underground pedway that runs past Macy’s and down many alleys connecting major Loop streets. It also took me up to a room in the Burnham Hotel (I was tempted to open a gift soap and wash my hands, but refrained), down a steep and lonely hotel back stairway, up to the posh lobby bar of the Palmer House hotel (where a good-looking bartender had been informed about headphoned visitors), and then on to one of my favorite spots, the “Theater” level of a multi-story garage that offered surprisingly lovely rooftop views of the city.

Throughout there was a numbered soundtrack specifically meant for accompaniment during certain legs of the trip. (I was particularly charmed by “Smooth Violin 3,” by Romanian-born, Chicago-based violinist Horatiu Ormindeanu.) There also was New Age-style narration by local actors, including the excellent Erik Hellman.

“Are you in love with the city, or do you want the city to love you?,” the tape asked.

Well, I do love the city. And I can happily report that while I ducked many pigeons I did not see a single rat.

Jennifer Lopez performs on the TV show “Wetten, dass…?” (Let’s Make a Bet) on the Island of Mallorca last month. | Jaime REINA~Getty Images

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Updated: July 20, 2011 4:57AM

Jennifer Lopez is handling her breakup with Marc Anthony by running away — at least in a sense.

The superstar has agreed to do a number of high-paying gigs around the world — including the one Tuesday night in the Ukraine, where she was to perform at a special wedding party of 300 guests, reportedly taking home a paycheck of nearly $1 million.

“She knows that by being out of the country as much as possible — especially in remote areas where there isn’t the media attention like in L.A. or New York or Miami — she will get some degree of privacy right now. She’s hurting bad. This has been an emotional disaster for her,” a good J. Lo source tells me.

† The actress and singer reportedly is trying to throw herself into her work as a way to get her mind off her personal crisis right now, “although once she’s off a stage or not working on a project, she can hardly forget about what’s going on in her life,” said the source.

“Jennifer is very family-oriented. Despite the problems she and Marc have faced in the past year or so, she really thought they would work through it all, thanks to counseling. … When that didn’t work, it seemed like there was no other alternative than divorce.”

HE SAID WHAT! I’m hearing Mila Kunis is not happy about statements made by a “Friends With Benefits” screenwriter that are fueling the rumor she and her “Friends” co-star Justin Timberlake had (or are having?) a fling.

Co-writer Keith Merryman told the New York Post the two stars “have such amazing chemistry, everyone is questioning, ‘What is going on?’

“Is it art? Is it life?”

Kunis and Timberlake have gone out of their way to deny their relationship during filming — or since — has been anything but a professional one.

FILM FOCUS: Congrats to former Sun-Times colleague-turned-author Robert Kurson for having Emmy-winning screenwriter Adam Mazer set to adapt his book Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man Who Dared to See into a film — produced by the team behind “Black Swan.”

Kurson’s book chronicles the journey of Mike May, a man blinded at age 3 who regained his vision at 46 following experimental surgery involving stem cells.

Before restoring his sight, May had quite the life — not allowing his blindness to prevent him from breaking world skiing records, joining the CIA and becoming a successful entrepreneur. Kurson also will serve as an executive producer on the project.

Mazer won an Emmy last year for penning the HBO drama “You Don’t Know Jack,” starring Al Pacino as suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kervorkian.

† Former Chicagoan George Tillman Jr. (“Men of Honor,” “Notorious,” “Faster”) is attached to direct a movie about the “worst boxer of all time” — the luckless fighter Peter Buckley, who retired with a win after his 300th bout in 2008, still saddled with a lopsided 44-256 record.

EIGHT IS GREAT? Looks like the final “Harry Potter” flick may finally get a best picture nomination, something the Academy hasn’t granted the previous seven films.

In fact, while the earlier “Harry” flicks have received a total of nine nominations, they all were for technical categories, and not one nod resulted in an Oscar to grace someone’s mantle.

However, Hollywood insiders say the record-breaking box office of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” — combined with terrific reviews — may finally score the wizardly wonder a best picture nomination come next year.

BOOK BIT: Among the items going up for sale at Leslie Hindman’s upcoming auction of rare books and manuscripts is a beat-up copy of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

But this isn’t just any battered old book — it was owned by famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the subject of that great 2002 film “Frida” starring Salma Hayek.

Kahlo covered the book with all kinds of doodles, inscriptions, paint and collaged leaves — her way to create a dialogue with Poe’s poetry. That’s one reason the tome is expected to sell for more than $20,000 at the Aug. 9 auction.

SPECIAL SPEAKER: Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s longtime close advisor and first White House press secretary, will keynote the annual “Voices and Visions” speaker series at St. Xavier University — scheduled for Oct. 22.

Gibbs follows a distinguished lineup of previous speakers, including former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, Gen. Colin Powell, ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and journalist Cokie Roberts.

Joe Simon (left) and Jack Kirby dreamed up Captain America in 1940. | Joseph H. Simon photo

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Updated: July 20, 2011 2:18AM

Before there was Captain America, there were his enemies.

“Sometimes, more than the heroes, a lot of comics succeed because of their villains. The Joker. Lex Luthor,” recalls Joe Simon, who dreamed up the superhero in 1940 with the late Jack Kirby. “When Captain America was created, we were looking around and realized that the perfect villain was right on the front pages of the newspaper: Adolph Hitler.

“He had that ridiculous mustache and plenty of goose-stepping henchmen,” Simon says. “So, all we needed was to give him the perfect counterpart, a patriotic hero who would represent the American ideal.”

Their idea led all the way to the multiplex this weekend with the release of “Captain America: The First Avenger,” starring hunky Chris Evans.

The origin story revolves around a man named Steve Rogers, who is so skinny and scrawny that he’s not fit for military service. He volunteers for a top-secret research project that turns him into beefy Captain America — a man who defends American ideals.

Simon, now 98, says the man with the star-spangled shield was an immediate wartime hit.

“Captain America comics was the top seller for Timely Comics, which is what they called Marvel back then,” he says via e-mail. “Our first printing was 800,000 copies, and they printed 200,000 more. Not only did we have a million copies in print, but they sold out everywhere — the returns were almost nothing.”

Simon was hands-on as an editor, writer, artist, inker and businessman, and is happy to discuss Captain America history.

Q. How did real life for you in New York and later in the Coast Guard during World War II influence this comic character?

A. There were the Nazi Bund members holding their meetings in Madison Square Garden at 50th Street and Ninth Avenue. I can see that corner from my apartment window today, looking south toward the Worldwide Plaza. Back then we weren’t in the war yet, but everyone saw it coming. So it was the perfect time for a new icon to appear, to remind Americans of our ideals and our duty.

Q. How did you create the Captain America costume?

A. The idea for his costume came to me on a bus, and I did the first sketch that night, borrowing the chain mail from another hero I’d worked on — the Blue Beetle. Jack and I had the entire first issue put together before we sold it to Martin Goodman at Timely Comics.

Q. How did the character change over the years?

A. After the war Captain America floundered, interest disappeared and his title was canceled. Kirby and I weren’t involved — we had moved on to bigger and better things. There was an attempt to bring him back in the 1950s, but that ended almost immediately. Jack and I created our own Cold War patriot, Fighting American, to fight the crooks and the commies.

Q. What involvement did you have in this movie?

A. The entire premise of the movie is based on the origin story Jack and I gave Captain America back in the beginning, with the super soldier formula and the fact that he’s one-of-a-kind. Several years back, Marvel and I came to a legal understanding, and Jack and I will be credited as the creators of the character. The producers, especially a fellow named Stephen Broussard, have kept me up to date on what’s been happening, and I’ve been excited by everything I’ve seen. There were several unfortunate attempts to do Captain America movies over the years, and they were all really bad. This time it looks as if they got it right.

Q. Chris Evans returns as Captain America in “The Avengers” next year. What do you see as the future of this character on the big screen and on the page?

A. The comic books are still going strong — at least as strong as the comics can be these days. With that “Death of Captain America” story line [in 2007], readers flocked to the character to see what was going to happen next. That was rewarding to see. And if the movie is as good as I hope it will be, there will be more, even beyond ‘The Avengers.’ I’m very happy about that, because I think Captain America is exactly what we need. Someone who is one of us and represents the best we can be as Americans.

Big Picture News Inc.

Ron Howard was supposed to direct the “Dark Tower” series. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times

Updated: July 19, 2011 8:13PM

Universal has closed the book on the ambitious adaptation of Stephen King’s fantasy Western “Dark Tower.”

Ron Howard had been on board to direct three movies and a corresponding TV series.

A fall start date was shelved, cast and crew were put on leave, and the studio hoped to possibly shoot early next year. But last week word leaked that Howard was prepping another movie, the Formula 1 racing picture “Rush.”

Universal had a July 15 deadline to commit to the movies or not, and all the creatives were told that the studio couldn’t make the financials work.

Hollywood Reporter

Updated: July 19, 2011 2:08AM

MILWAUKEE — Summerfest organizers say attendance at the popular Milwaukee music festival rose 2.6 percent this year, in part due to favorable weather.

The 11-day lakefront music event bills itself as the world’s largest music festival. It wrapped up July 10.

Organizers released a statement Monday saying preliminary data showed revenue up 8 percent this year.

Attendance was just under 879,000. That’s about 22,000 more than last year.

Performers included Britney Spears, Hall and Oates, Peter Gabriel, Meat Loaf, Toby Keith and Jason Mraz. AP

“Sky’s the Limit (Weather Permitting)” stars (front) Jessica Joy, (second row) Aidy Bryant and Michael Lehrer and (back row, from left) Brendan Jennings, Tim Baltz and Mary Sohn.

‘SKY’S
THE LIMIT
(WEATHER
PERMITTING)’

RECOMMENDED

◆ Open run

◆ The Second City e.t.c., 1608 N. Wells

◆ $22-$27

◆ (312) 337-3992;
secondcity.com

Updated: July 19, 2011 2:11AM

The Second City e.t.c.’s new revue, “Sky’s the Limit (Weather Permitting),” moves as fast and furiously as the breakneck meteorological shifts Chicago is known to experience. The pace is established from the start, as the cast of six, directed by Matt Hovde (with zesty musical direction from Jesse Case), is quickly spotlighted and named. From there it’s off on riffs about everything from “faggettes” (gay women), to muffin tops, to an obscenity-spouting Rahm Emanuel, to a pop quiz that asks: “What has gone up 60 percent in the last quarter?” (Answer: Gas companies’ profits.)

And then there’s the little test: Would you be glad to meet the self-declared sex offender who has just moved in next door? (“I will report this to my congressman,” says the abashed homeowner. “I am your congressman,” replies the visitor.) Well done. And so it goes for much of this revue that deals with familiar topics, and sometimes takes things to their raunchiest or most obvious conclusions, yet for the most part manages to be fleetly funny.

Consider the gay marriage sketch, featuring Tim Baltz, Michael Lehrer and Brendan Jennings (as their best man). If unable to wed legally, they threaten the ultimate revenge: They will steal straight men’s wives using their superior fashion sense, organizing skills and pop culture knowledge. Or take the “Honey, I’m pregnant” sketch, in which neither husband nor wife is ready. (As he notes, “I work part time at Blockbuster, which is like being a busboy on the Titanic.”)

A song recalls “how hard things used to be” before iPhones, before video games that make you believe you’re playing tennis, before you could just make things up and post them on the web, and before an ill-advised tweet could undermine a job interview.

Aidy Bryant plays a woman who finds her ideal male relationship with a bird (Baltz). Mary Sohn’s tough veneer melts during an Internet-originated dinner date with a wildly inhibited guy (Baltz) who reads his responses from index cards, while an obnoxious waiter (Lehrer) thinks he has all the answers. Bryant, Sohn and seductive singer Jessica Joy join forces for a no-hold-barred rant against the many politicians who want to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Joy also plays the enabling partner to Lehrer in a sketch about a loser (drink, drugs, infantile behavior) who keeps getting thrown out of Wrigley Field, weddings and more. But then she thinks eBay is a real place, so maybe they’re made for each other.

Joy also sings a zany song full such questions such as “What would happen if someone didn’t turn off their electronic devices on a plane?” and “If one in four people are infected with herpes, does that mean 50 people in this audience have it?”

In a particularly sharp little mix of Freud and religious-moral zealotry, the cast pairs up as three mothers called to school to deal with their sons’ aggressive behavior. In the process, the moms expose the sweet and wimpy natures of the boys who just ache to be bad, while forcing them to repent.

A sketch about community policing turns into a farce of ineptitude and scattershot shooting. A riff on racial profiling makes its point, but not terribly subtly.

When a tornado sweeps people up in their workplace, one guy gets knocked out and lives out his dreams. But while we are told the “Sky’s the Limit,” the real options in all these lives seem rather downsized.

Deborah Voigt | Scott Stewart~Sun-Times

Updated: July 19, 2011 5:07AM

Voigt leaves Strauss for Wagner, and Wagner steps in for Strauss.

Or something like that.

In a surprise move that could portend other changes in upcoming seasons at the Civic Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago announced Monday morning that star soprano Deborah Voigt, who has figured prominently in marketing for the company’s 2011-12 season, has withdrawn from the revival of “Ariadne auf Naxos” by Richard Strauss. The demanding title role in this combination comedy-fantasy long has been a signature part for the star American soprano who turns 51 next month.

Lyric said that Voigt, who opened a run in the very different title role of Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y.. Saturday night, wants to focus on her upcoming debuts in the lead role of Bruennhilde in the third and fourth installments of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lyric said.

The six November-December “Ariadne” dates in Chicago fall between the Met’s performances of “Siegfried” and “Goetterdammerung.”

The choice was Voigt’s, Lyric said, but the Illinois native made no mention of this plan in a backstage conversation after her July 9 Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert at Ravinia in which her Strauss numbers were the highlight.

A number of industry observers have said that Voigt has been losing the lyric sound that was a trademark of hers for years and that she is shifting to roles calling for a more dramatic style such as Wagner, or lighter work such as musical theater. New management led by general director-designate Anthony Freud and artistic consultant Renee Fleming takes over at Lyric on Oct. 1 and has been examining all short- and long-term commitments the company has made.

A request for a direct comment from Voigt or her publicist had not been returned by press time.

In her place, a true rising star, Amber Wagner (no relation to the composer) will make her full-run major role debut at Lyric. Wagner received raves when she was a last-minute substitute in the part for the opera’s opening night this spring at Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company. Lyric music director Andrew Davis conducted that production as he is to at Lyric.

Wagner, 31, an alum of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center, has been a standout since her first days in the training center. A winner of the 2007 Met National Council auditions, and numerous other awards, Wagner was featured in the 2009 hit documentary on the Met competition, “The Audition.” In her scheduled closing night performance as Elsa in Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at Lyric in March, the singer “achieved a total triumph,” the Sun-Times’ Laura Emerick wrote.

“Throughout the evening Wagner displayed the presence and command of an artist of twice her experience,” Emerick wrote. “Her voice poured forth rhapsodically in exquisitely phrased lines while she more than matched the intensity” of her “formidable” fellow cast members.

Wagner is scheduled to be the soprano soloist in the closing weekend performances of Verdi’s “Requiem” with Carlos Kalmar conducting at the Grant Park Music Festival Aug. 19 and 20.

Andrew Patner is critic at large at WFMT-FM (98.7).

Rachel Uchitel (left) slept with both the ex-husband and current boyfriend of Elin Nordegren (right), probably at overlapping times. | AP, Getty Images

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Updated: July 19, 2011 4:57AM

After happily being out of the media glare for many months, Elin Nordegren is furious that she’s back in the spotlight — thanks to new boyfriend Jamie Dingman.

It’s all because word got out that the wealthy financier earlier had a fling with Rachel Uchitel — perhaps overlapping with her romp with Tiger Woods when he was Nordegren’s husband.

Even though Dingman’s dalliance with Uchitel predated his relationship with Nordegren, she is devastated she was blindsided by all this — especially since Dingman didn’t tell her about the creepy connection until after the news broke.

“I think she’s worried she’s stumbled on another ‘Tiger,’ ” said a close Nordegren friend Monday.

† Meanwhile, as TMZ first reported, Uchitel is considering suing her former attorney, the ever-present Gloria Allred. Apparently, Uchitel believes Allred was in cahoots with Woods’ legal team — who were claiming Uchitel’s contacts with TMZ and her appearances on “Celebrity Rehab” violated the terms of her confidentiality agreement with Woods. That’s the deal signed when Woods paid Uchitel a reported $10 million settlement to keep quiet about their affair.

Uchitel denies she violated the agreement but reportedly was persuaded by Allred to pay back most of that settlement — believing she’d risk it all if Woods’ team sued and she lost.

Now TMZ is claiming Uchitel believes Allred cut a deal with Woods’ lawyers, in order to keep her fees for representing Uchitel in all this.

Allred issued a statement denying TMZ’s story and stressing she has not represented Uchitel in some time and has “not had a conversation with [Woods’ attorney] in more than a year. . . . I was not involved in any way in the allegations set forth in the TMZ story.”

SAFETY FIRST: Justin Bieber is reportedly so concerned some of the threats against girlfriend Selena Gomez — coming from a handful of insanely jealous (and delusional) Bieber fans — that he’s paid for additional bodyguards to protect his young love.

J. LO UPDATE: As Jennifer Lopez hunkers down to ride out the media firestorm she ignited by confirming her split with husband Marc Anthony, the Cuban telenovela star she tapped for her sexy “I’m Into You” music video is denying he’s the cause of the couple’s breakup.

William Levy, who recently split with his own wife, released a statement stating, “The only relationship there was or is [with Lopez] is a professional relationship. That’s all there’s ever been.”

† RadarOnline reports Levy faces far more serious problems. A young fan filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the actor, claiming on July 19, 2010, he lured the minor to his Glendale, Calif., hotel room, where he forced her to perform a sexual act on him — leading her to become infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Levy’s camp calls the suit baseless.

CASINO CAPER: The good buzz from the VIP crowd at the Sunday night opening of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines — spearheaded by lead investor Neil Bluhm — had Bluhm, Rivers CEO Greg Carlin and other investors like Desiree Rogers smiling broadly the next day.

Chicago’s own Jim Belushi and his Sacred Hearts band had the crowd rockin’ — kicking things off, natch, with “Sweet Home Chicago.” Among those attending the jam-packed bash were the Cubs’ James Russell and Randy Wells, ex-Bears Jerry Azumah and Steve McMichael; Roe Conn; Richard Roeper; Sugar Rautbord; Robin Berger; Linda Johnson Rice; Neal, Shelly and Steve Zucker; Eric Ferguson; Jamie Blyth; Karen and Marvin Herman; Katherine and Judd Malkin, and a whole slew of Bluhms.

SEEN ON THE SCENE: Zac Efron — currently filming “Heartland” with Dennis Quaid in Iowa (and later in our area) — slipped into Sunda for a quick drink with friends before heading over to the Underground Sunday night. . . . “Mad Men” star Vincent Kartheiser was spied at Sunda earlier in the weekend. . . . Danny Pudi from NBC’s “Community.” a grad of Second City’s Training Center, was back there Saturday doing a QA with the current crop of students. . . . Bears and ex-Bears made the scene at the House of Blues’ Foundation Room — including Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Caleb Hanie, Tommie Harris and Fred Harris. . . . Speaking of Da Bears, Lance Briggs was seen at Public House. . . . Hawks Corey Crawford and Bryan Bickell got their steak fix at Chicago Cut, where (separately) newly engaged Bull Kyle Korver and family celebrated the happy news with two bottles of Cristal champagne on the steakery’s patio. . . . JBar was the weekend party place for the Chicago Fire’s Jon Conway, Cory Gibbs, Jalil Anibaba and Dasan Robinson — plus the Bulls’ Omer Asik.

Updated: July 18, 2011 8:06PM

If there is a casting trend to be detected in Chicago these days, it is of the mix-and-match variety, as directors draw on a few out-of-town performers with impressive credits to complement stellar locally based actors.

The latest example comes with Gary Griffin’s revival of “Follies,” the grand-scale Stephen Sondheim musical (40 actors and musicians) that spins the story of a reunion of follies dancers at the soon-to-be-demolished theater where they once worked.

The show, set to run Oct. 4-Nov. 6 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, will feature such Chicago veterans as Susan Moniz, Hollis Resnik, Mike Nussbaum, Nancy Voigts, Marilynn Bogetich, Kathy Taylor, Dennis Kelly and Ami Silvestre, along with “imports” Brent Barrett (a Broadway regular who appeared in the London revival of “Kiss Me Kate”), Caroline O’Connor (who recently starred in “Sweeney Todd” in Paris) and Robert Petkoff (who has several Broadway credits, and who starred in such earlier Chicago Shakespeare productions as “Hamlet” and “Troilus and Cressida”). Tickets: (312) 595-5600.

† Meanwhile, at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, the Chicago premiere of “In the Other Room (or The Vibrator Play),” Sarah Ruhl’s wistful and playfully sexy comedy of Victorian manners, will run Sept. 9-Oct. 9. Sandy Shinner will direct, and Chicago actress Kate Fry, who recently starred in the New York premiere of “A Minister’s Wife,” the new musical that began life at Glencoe’s Writers’ Theatre, will lead the cast. Tickets: (773) 871-3000.

† This fall’s Chicago Children’s Theatre production of “Goodnight Moon,” the new musical based on the popular Margaret Wise Brown story, will run Oct. 27-Dec. 23 at the Victory Gardens Biograph. It will be directed by Lookingglass Theatre’s David Kersnar, with Alex Goodrich as Bunny, Sara Sevigny as the Old Lady, Becky Poole as Mouse, and Aaron Holland in multiple roles. Tickets: (773) 871-3000.

Ja Rule got choked up before his sentenceing on Monday. | AP

Updated: July 18, 2011 8:32PM

Blaming his failure to file federal income tax returns on youthful inexperience and bad advice, rapper Ja Rule was sentenced Monday to more than two years in federal prison.

“I in no way attempted to deceive the government or do anything illegal,” he said, minutes before being sentenced in a New Jersey federal court. “I was a young man who made a lot of money — I’m getting a little choked up — I didn’t know how to deal with these finances, and I didn’t have people to guide me, so I made mistakes.”

The artist admitted in March that he failed to pay taxes on more than $3 million that he earned between 2004 and 2006 while he lived in Saddle River, N.J.

Ja Rule was sentenced in New York City last month to up to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempted criminal weapon possession. The case stemmed from a gun found in his car in 2007.

U.S. Magistrate Patty Shwartz in Newark ruled that the majority of his 28-month federal sentence could be served at the same time as New York state prison sentence.

Depending on his release date for his New York sentence, he could serve from four to 12 months of the federal sentence. The federal time will be served at the Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where he is serving the state sentence.

He has also been ordered to pay $1.1 million in unpaid taxes.

Wearing a bright yellow prison jumpsuit and handcuffed at the wrists, Ja Rule turned to look at his wife, who was seated in the courtroom, after the sentence was read. She declined to comment after the hearing, saying only that it was a stressful time.

Ja Rule’s attorney, Stacy Richman, said he was saddened by the sentence, as he wanted to be reunited with his family and get back to work in order to be able to pay his taxes.

Charlie Sheen has been fired from “Two and a Half Men.”

Updated: July 18, 2011 8:32PM

NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Sheen, who was fired from “Two and a Half Men” in March, aims to launch another hit sitcom — this time, on his own terms.

The tempestuous star is planning to return to series television in the aptly titled “Anger Management,” based on the 2003 film of the same name.

With no network currently in place, the new series will be produced by Lionsgate Television and shopped to prospective broadcast and cable networks by Lionsgate subsidiary Debmar-Mercury, the company announced Monday.

The 45-year-old Sheen will have a “significant ownership stake” in the series, Lionsgate said.

Not only that, but, as Sheen noted in the statement, he will have “a certain amount of creative control.”

“I chose ‘Anger Management’ because, while it might be a big stretch for me to play a guy with serious anger management issues, I think it is a great concept,” he said.

Anger issues and what he complained was a lack of creative control led to his terminal clash with “Two and a Half Men” producer Chuck Lorre and the show’s network, CBS. By the time of his dismissal, Sheen had threatened and maligned his bosses, who in turn blasted him for his erratic behavior as a drug-abusing, reckless playboy. After that he intensified his rants in various media interviews and a live concert tour.

In May, Ashton Kutcher was announced to replace Sheen in “Men,” TV’s most-watched sitcom, which returns this fall for its ninth season.

Sheen’s new project will reunite him with Joe Roth, with whom Sheen has worked in five features, including “Major League,” “Young Guns” and “Three Musketeers.”

Sheen welcomed the chance to be back in business with Roth, whom he called “one of my favorite movie producers of all time.”

No co-stars or production start date have been announced by Lionsgate for “Anger Management.”

In the film, which starred Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, a mild-mannered man is ordered to attend group anger-management sessions led by a therapist who needs anger therapy himself.

The role Sheen will play was not specified by Lionsgate.

———

Television Writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Deborah Voigt | Scott Stewart~Sun-Times

Updated: July 18, 2011 7:03PM

Voigt leaves Strauss for Wagner, and Wagner steps in for Strauss.

Or something like that.

In a surprise move that could portend other changes in upcoming seasons at the Civic Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago announced Monday morning that star soprano Deborah Voigt, who has figured prominently in marketing for the company’s 2011-12 season, has withdrawn from the revival of “Ariadne auf Naxos” by Richard Strauss. The demanding title role in this combination comedy-fantasy long has been a signature part for the star American soprano who turns 51 next month.

Lyric said that Voigt, who opened a run in the very different title role of Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y.. Saturday night, wants to focus on her upcoming debuts in the lead role of Bruennhilde in the third and fourth installments of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lyric said.

The six November-December “Ariadne” dates in Chicago fall between the Met’s performances of “Siegfried” and “Goetterdammerung.”

The choice was Voigt’s, Lyric said, but the Illinois native made no mention of this plan in a backstage conversation after her July 9 Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert at Ravinia in which her Strauss numbers were the highlight.

A number of industry observers have said that Voigt has been losing the lyric sound that was a trademark of hers for years and that she is shifting to roles calling for a more dramatic style such as Wagner, or lighter work such as musical theater. New management led by general director-designate Anthony Freud and artistic consultant Renee Fleming takes over at Lyric on Oct. 1 and has been examining all short- and long-term commitments the company has made.

A request for a direct comment from Voigt or her publicist had not been returned by press time.

In her place, a true rising star, Amber Wagner (no relation to the composer) will make her full-run major role debut at Lyric. Wagner received raves when she was a last-minute substitute in the part for the opera’s opening night this spring at Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company. Lyric music director Andrew Davis conducted that production as he is to at Lyric.

Wagner, 31, an alum of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center, has been a standout since her first days in the training center. A winner of the 2007 Met National Council auditions, and numerous other awards, Wagner was featured in the 2009 hit documentary on the Met competition, “The Audition.” In her scheduled closing night performance as Elsa in Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at Lyric in March, the singer “achieved a total triumph,” the Sun-Times’ Laura Emerick wrote.

“Throughout the evening Wagner displayed the presence and command of an artist of twice her experience,” Emerick wrote. “Her voice poured forth rhapsodically in exquisitely phrased lines while she more than matched the intensity” of her “formidable” fellow cast members.

Wagner is scheduled to be the soprano soloist in the closing weekend performances of Verdi’s “Requiem” with Carlos Kalmar conducting at the Grant Park Music Festival Aug. 19 and 20.

Andrew Patner is critic at large at WFMT-FM (98.7).

Jeremy Piven (left, with Rex Lee) as Ari Gold in the final season of “Entourage” on HBO.

Article Extras

Updated: July 18, 2011 7:12PM

It’s time to hug it out for the last time.

But Hollywood agent Ari Gold might go out with a whimper instead of a screaming fit.

“You’ll have to find a new word for ‘soft’ to describe where Ari goes this season. I finally got to show Ari Gold’s soul,” previews actor Jeremy Piven, 45, who ends his successful eight-season run as Ari beginning Sunday on HBO.

The Evanston Township High School grad says that Ari reaches epiphany status this season.

When we last left him, his wife (Perrey Reeves) had dumped her tantrum-prone other half.

“In the eighth season, I finally get to reveal Ari Gold’s humanity,” says Piven from his Los Angeles home. “My God, I’m really able and allowed to show other sides of this guy.

“He is brought to his knees by the possible loss of his family. As an actor, you can only dream about playing emotional stuff like this in a final season.

“How often do you even get to play a character who can take all the oxygen in the room for himself? Ari is an equal opportunity offender. He’s a maniac. A rage-a-holic. But this last season, we finally open him up and show his layers.”

As the final episodes pick up, Vince is just out of rehab for a coke problem and has an idea for a new script.

“Without sounding too hokey, this is a season of change,” Piven says. “Some of these guys are men-children. The theme of this season is that at a certain point in life, everybody grows up.”

Fans are filling up Facebook pages demanding to know why the series has to end. Can’t these guys grow up in a slower fashion?

Although he’s sad about that fact that the show has wrapped, Piven is ready to put Ari on a shelf — at least for now.

“No matter how great a show is, it has to end. I think ‘Sex and the City’ went about seven seasons. We did eight, which is an amazing run,” Piven says.

What about an “Entourage” film?

“It feels like the kind of show that would benefit from opening it up on the big screen,” says Piven, who’ll be in theaters with “Spy Kids 4” next month. “This show begs to be expansive. The idea of having an ‘Entourage’ movie that takes place across the globe and is seen around the globe just feels great to me.”

Piven grew up in Evanston as the son of the late Byrne Piven, who along with his wife, Joyce Piven, founded the now legendary Piven Theatre Workshop, which produced Hollywood talents like Jeremy and his friends Joan and John Cusack.

“My dad was a rare bird like no other,” Piven says in a soft voice. “I do feel his energy around me, and it’s a nice feeling.

“In a way, I feel like I’ve been directed by him my whole life,” he says. “As I get older, I feel an even stronger connection to him.

“When I act out really emotional scenes like this new season of ‘Entourage,’ I feel especially close to my father, because that’s what he loved to watch.”

Piven laughs when you mention how he nearly turned down the role that would win him three Emmys. “In the pilot episode of ‘Entourage,’ Ari Gold has one scene,” Piven says. “He was just this fringe guy. The agent. Some guy named Ari.”

His pal Mark Wahlberg, executive producer of “Entourage,” had to talk him into taking the job.

“I called him up and said, ‘Jeremy, there is no choice. This role will really make you.’ ” Wahlberg recalls. “And I guess I was completely right.”

One wonders if everyone will hug it out in the finale in September.

“Oh, you’ll get an homage to the past at the end,” Piven says, fretting about giving too much away. “And the line is, ‘Let’s hug it out, bitch.’ Let’s just say there was some hugging.”

Now, there will be some adjusting — and constant reminding people that he’s not Ari Gold.

“The complete irony is that people think I am Ari,” he says. “No one knows who I am. Listen, I’m just a stage actor from Chicago. I’m an emotional guy. I’m not this character. I’m even shy. I don’t run around screaming at people.

“But to play a guy who is the exact opposite of me was a feast.”

Big Picture News Inc.

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT
HOW OUTSIZED AMBITION, GREED, AND CORRUPTION LED
TO ECONOMIC ARMAGEDDON

By Gretchen Morgenson
and Joshua Rosner

Times Books, 352 pages, $30

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:28AM

The American dream of homeownership morphed into a national nightmare thanks to greedy bankers, greedy legislators, greedy business leaders, greedy rating agencies and 98-pound-weakling regulators. Reckless Endangerment names names.

Its authors have been following the mountainous mortgage scandal since it was a few widely spaced molehills. Pulitzer-winning New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson and financial analyst Joshua Rosner say they wrote the book because they are angry that the American economy was “almost wrecked by a crowd of self-interested, politically influential and arrogant people who have not been held accountable for their actions.”

“We are disturbed that so many who contributed to the mess are still in positions of power or have risen to an even higher rank,” Morgenson writes. “A system where perpetrators of such a crime are allowed to slip quietly from the scene is just plain wrong.”

The duo also wanted to give credit to ordinary Americans who tried to ward off the crisis early on, but whose repeated warnings were unheeded or calculatingly quashed. Two examples:

◆ Quashed: When Ed DeMarco, a career researcher at the U.S. Treasury, drafted a report suggesting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be privatized in 1996, Larry Summers, then deputy secretary at Treasury, demanded he rewrite the report.

◆ Unheeded: At the Congressional Budget Office, Marvin Phaup calculated that Fannie and Freddie gleaned about $7 billion in benefits from their government links in 1995, and they kept $2.1 billion for themselves and their shareholders. CBO head June O’Neill stood by Phaup’s research. She testified before Congress, to no avail.

The beginning of the end

The mortgage crisis started with the “housers” — President Clinton and others who pushed for creative mortgage financing because they believed more Americans should own their own homes.

Then quasi-public Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did away with their traditional underwriting criteria. That resulted in a wave of new mortgages and produced profits that pumped up executive bonuses at both institutions.

Then private mortgage execs took cues from Fannie and Freddie and wrote loans for individuals who would not have been deemed creditworthy a few years earlier.

The problem was exacerbated by a mix of new products, corporate chutzpah, understaffed regulatory agencies and government moves opening lending, lowering reserve requirements and loosening appraisal rules.

You’ve read it before piecemeal, but Morgenson and Rosner’s detailed start-to-finish tale of the bigwigs and bit players behind the mortgage debacle shows how business people traded corporate board seats, foundation cash and low-interest mortgages for backing.

The bad guy

The book’s central villain is retired Fannie Mae CEO James A. Johnson, who, the authors say, engineered Fannie’s profits to assure he and his lieutenants always qualified for generous bonuses. How generous? In 1998, Johnson got a $1.9 million bonus — and his total compensation was $21 million.

The book also shines a light on lesser knowns — feckless federal regulators, university researchers who wrote what their funders wanted, and the wizards who conjured up dicey new mortgage products.

They reserve special scorn for the Wall Street bankers who they say ignored numerous signs of wrongdoing and kept the mortgage machine moving: “Their avarice would finally, and forcefully, demonstrate how a noble idea like homeownership could be corrupted into something that so poisoned the global economy that it was left in a semi-vegetative state.”

Some of the tidbits flabbergast, even if you’ve read them before:

◆ Countrywide’s “Fast and Easy” loan required no documentation of a borrower’s assets, or even his income. A company executive drove a car
with a vanity license plate that read: FUND ’EM. When asked to explain what the plate meant, the exec said Countrywide’s sole criterion for whether an applicant was funded was whether the person could fog a mirror.

◆ In addition to the much-publicized sweetheart mortgage deals doled out to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, other legislators, including Nancy Pelosi and Robert Bennett, got jobs for their children.

◆ When Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines retired under pressure after the scandal broke, he did so with thank-yous, bonuses, a legal defense fund and lifetime health benefits.

◆ The major rating agencies, which reaped big fees from rating companies’ creditworthiness, often kept their lips zipped until public announcements made it absolutely necessary for them to downgrade a stock.

Morgenson and Rosner provide a four-page cast of characters that will help any reader who’s not thoroughly versed in foreclosuregate.

The book is well-indexed, so Larry Summers, Donna Shalala, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Barbara Boxer, Joseph Stiglitz and Tim Geithner won’t have to read all 317 pages to learn how they are portrayed.

Gannett News Service

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FILE: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Singer Nick Lachey (L) and Vanessa Minnilo arrive at the 2011 Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute To Industry Icons Honoring David Geffen at Beverly Hilton on February 12, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey were wed on July 15, 2011. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) R:MerlinGetty_Photos109037594.jpg

Updated: July 18, 2011 2:09AM

After dating for more than five years, Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo are married.

The couple wed Friday on a tropical island. “Our wedding invitations were in the form of a plane ticket,” Lachey, 37, told People. “We told them they were going away and the attire was ‘island chic.’ It was all very vague.”

They announced their engagement in November. Lachey’s first marriage, to Jessica Simpson, was chronicled on the MTV reality show “Newlyweds.”

He now is host of NBC’s “The Sing-Off.” Minnillo, 30, will co-host the next season of the network’s “Wipe Out.”

A special about the wedding will air July 30 on TLC.

AP

Maci Bookout (from left), Farrah Abrahams and Catelynn Lowell are in their third season on MTV’s “Teen Mom.”| Richard Drew~AP

Updated: July 18, 2011 2:09AM

NEW YORK — People tend to stare at 19-year-old Maci Bookout.

“On the weekends that Bentley’s dad has him and me and my friends go out … to a club or something,” she says, “I can tell that people are, like, watching to see how I’m going to act.”

The Chattanooga, Tenn., mother of a 2-year-old named Bentley is one of the stars of MTV’s “Teen Mom” (9 p.m. Tuesdays, MTV) a reality show about kids with kids.

Bookout and her co-stars — Farrah Abraham, Amber Portwood and Catelynn Lowell — made their TV debut on another MTV reality show, “16 and Pregnant.” The series was so successful that the network tapped them to star in the “Teen Mom” spin-off. Nielsen reports some 3.65 million viewers tuned in to its third season premiere on July 5.

Viewers watched Lowell and her boyfriend Tyler grieve over the daughter they gave up for adoption, Abraham’s ups and downs with her mother and Bookout navigate co-parenting with her ex-fiance Ryan.

Motherhood has made the teens instant celebrities, with tabloids and bloggers hot on their trail.

But Abraham, 20, who has a 2-year-old daughter named Sophia, doesn’t think that having a baby should make her a celebrity or a role model. “By no means do we think, ‘Oh, it’s cool to be a teen mom.’ I definitely don’t think that it’s cool,” she says.

Fame hasn’t been easy for all the teens, particularly 21-year-old Portwood, of Anderson, Ind., who was given probation in June after pleading guilty to two domestic battery charges against Gary Shirley, the father of her child. The incidents aired on the reality show.

The following week, Shirley called 911, fearing Portwood was about to hurt herself. The reality star was hospitalized and is now undergoing treatment at a rehab facility. Her child, Leah, is living with her father.

“I love Amber. I mean, I hope that she just keeps her head up and she knows what she needs to get done and stays strong,” says Lowell, 19, of Port Huron, Mich. “I think where she’s at is good for her right now and she just needs to focus on getting better.”

AP

Ray Romano (from left), Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula played middle-aged friends on the show.

Updated: July 18, 2011 2:09AM

Ray Romano’s award-winning TV series “Men of a Certain Age” has been canceled after two seasons.

Calling it a “difficult decision,” the cable network TNT said Friday the show failed to attract a big enough audience despite its excellence. “Men of a Certain Age” averaged 2.7 million viewers for the episodes that concluded this month.

The show received a prestigious George Foster Peabody award earlier this year. This week, co-star Andre Braugher received an Emmy nomination as best supporting actor in a drama series.

AP

Daniel Radcliffe plays the hero of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”

Weekend box office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and
Canadian theaters:

1. Harry Potter $168.6 mill.

2. Transformers: Dark $21.3 mill.

3. Horrible Bosses $17.6 mill.

4. Zookeeper $12.3 mill.

5. Cars 2 $8.3 mill.

6. Winnie the Pooh $8 mill.

7. Bad Teacher $5.2 mill.

8. Larry Crowne $2.6 mill.

9. Super 8 $1.92 mill.

10.Midnight in Paris $1.9 mill.

Hollywood.com

Updated: July 18, 2011 2:09AM

LOS ANGELES — The boy wizard has vanquished the dark knight and a band of pirates with a record-setting magic act at both the domestic and international box office.

Warner Bros. estimates that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” took in $168.6 million domestically from Friday to Sunday. That beats the previous best opening weekend of $158.4 million for 2008’s Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight.”

Overseas, the film added $307 million in 59 countries since it began rolling out Wednesday, topping the previous best international debut of $260.4 million set in May by “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

“Part 2” topped $475 million in a matter of days, putting it on course to become the Potter franchise’s first billion-dollar worldwide hit.

It does have the advantage of 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than 2-D shows. Because of the higher 3-D price, plus regular inflation, “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” sold fewer tickets but took in more money than “The Dark Knight” over opening weekend.

“The 3-D component, plus the IMAX, plus it being the last ‘Harry Potter,’ it was just this convergence of things that created this incredible record,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

Meanwhile, Woody Allen hit a milestone of his own as his romance “Midnight in Paris” pulled in $1.9 million to raise its domestic total to $41.8 million, a personal revenue record for the filmmaker. The movie beat Allen’s previous high of $40.1 million for 1986’s “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

AP

Article Extras

Updated: July 17, 2011 11:41PM

TORONTO — The main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest collapsed Sunday night during a Cheap Trick concert as a severe thunderstorm sent the band members and thousands of fans running for cover. At least five people were injured, one seriously.

The members of Cheap Trick got off the stage safely, but witnesses said the musicians were thrown off their feet.

“Everyone is okay and we are so lucky to be alive and hope that all the fans are okay too,” the band, best known for hits including “Surrender”, “I Want You to Want Me” and “The Flame”, said in a message posted on Facebook.

Video of the Bluesfest site posted on YouTube within minutes of the storm’s passing showed a stage that had crumpled and collapsed over electronic equipment. Twisted shards of metal jutted out from the stage, which stood several stories tall before it was destroyed.

Jocelyne Turner, a spokeswoman for Ottawa Fire Services, said five people were treated at the site. Three of them were sent to hospitals and one had life-threatening injuries.

The Globe and Mail newspaper of Toronto reported that a 46-year-old man was in serious condition, suffering a pierced abdomen, a fractured pelvis and a fractured leg after he was gored by a piece of the collapsing stage.

Environment Canada had a thunderstorm warning in effect for Ottawa, saying winds were expected to reach 56 mph (90 kph).

Bluesfest is one of North America’s main musical events. The festival first took place in 1994 and has since grown from a one-stage, three-day event to a multi-staged, 12-day music showcase featuring some of the best international talent.

AP

Jennifer Lopez brought Marc Anthony to the Grammys in February, but lately she’d been going to events with other guests. | LARRy Busacca~Getty Images

Article Extras

Updated: July 18, 2011 2:09AM

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s surprise announcement Friday — that they were splitting — caught off-guard even some of the couple’s very close friends and associates.

However, a longtime J. Lo pal told me Sunday, “I know Marc’s short fuse and explosive temper has been an issue. I’ve always thought Jennifer had learned to deal with that.

“After all, it’s not like she’s not one to handle herself in big verbal battle,” added the friend. “She can let loose herself. … I’ve seen her launch some pretty strong screaming matches!”

That said, only a tiny handle of folks — in Lopez and Anthony’s very tight inner circle — were aware of the couple’s decision to end their marriage after seven years and the birth of their twins Max and Emme, now age 3. While there were hints — Lopez attending the Prince William and Duchess Katherine gala July 9 with her mom as her date and a July 4 party with only her kids — no one picked up on it.

“That’s not surprising. … Their separate careers often prevented them from attending social affairs together,” said an “American Idol” staffer who has come to know Lopez well.

† Speaking of work, I’ve been told by a reliable source close to both artists they will continue to work together on “Q’Viva! The Chosen,” the competition show seeking undiscovered talent across Latin America. While the show has yet to be sold to a network — or even begin filming — deadline.com reports the couple “will work on it as planned.”

As for “Idol,” while E! News and other outlets have reported that Lopez has a deal in place to return for the hit series’ 11th season, there has yet to be an official announcement that she’ll rejoin fellow judges Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler — who both have confirmed they will be back for the new season.

† While rumors already are flying about a new Lopez romance — with telenovela star William Levy, with whom she filmed that very sexy video for her “I’m Into You” single — a key member of Team Lopez told me Sunday not “to jump to any conclusion. … I think this is just about a marriage falling apart for other reasons after seven years.”

However, when I asked if it was just a coincidence that Levy and his wife, Mexican actress Elizabeth Gutierrez, also had just separated, my source said, “I really can’t comment on that.”

BABY BEAT: Congrats to real estate queen Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner on the arrival of their first child.

Trump gave birth Sunday morning, and almost immediately tweeted, “This morning [Jared] and I welcomed a beautiful and healthy baby girl into the world…We feel incredibly grateful and blessed.”

The “Apprentice” mainstay and Kushner were married in October 2009.

QUITE A MILESTONE! A large collection of industrialist Fred Gohl’s good friends gathered for the heartwarming, elegant fete his wife Susan hosted Saturday night at the Ritz-Carlton — a terrific toast to Fred’s 95th birthday.

In his invocation, Msgr. Ken Velo had the crowd chuckling when he quipped, “I imagine when Fred’s mother gave birth — on that summer day in 1916 — she must have thought, ‘My, it’s been eight years since the Cubs won the World Series!’ ”

TUNE TIMES: Chicago jazz singing fave Spider Saloff is just back from Down Under, where she performed her one-woman musical, “The Roar of the Butterfly” in Melbourne, Australia.

Saloff will perform the show at the Celebration Theatre in West Hollywood in August, with hopes to bring it to Chicago for a longer run.

† Our Town’s cabaret mainstays Nan Mason and Terry Higgins will be back at the Drake Hotel on Saturday (plus July 29, Aug. 13 and Aug. 27).

† The “Monday Night Live” cabaret-style, “open mike” program at Petterino’s — hosted by Denise McGowan Tracy and Beckie Menzie — will showcase select cast members from “West Side Story,” coming to the Cadillac Palace through Aug. 14.

SEEN ON THE SCENE: While Matthew Lewis made the rounds here Friday — boosting his eighth and final outing as Neville Longbottom in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” — the actor made a late-night stop at Hub 51 and nearby Studio Paris. … Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, who grew up in Park Forest, was spied enjoying drinks with fans at the Original Mother’s. … Chicago-bred ex-NBA player (and current Comcast SportsNet analyst) Kendall Gill was seen dining at Holy Mackerel! in Lombard. … Miller Beer’s popular man-about-town Fritzy Konstantelos hosted Richard Dent at Gene Georgetti’s — toasting the Bear great’s upcoming Aug. 8 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Updated: July 18, 2011 3:34AM

For controversial rap group Odd Future, Sunday afternoon at the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival began with a little damage control.

Less than an hour before taking the stage in Chicago’s Union Park, members of the group delivered boxes of cupcakes to the anti-violence organizations on site — the same organizations manning booths and handing out paper fans containing domestic violence resource information specifically to counter what they saw as dangerous expressions of hate, violence and homophobia in Odd Future’s music.

“They took some of the fans, too,” said Amanda Wapiennik with Family Shelter Service. “One of them said, ‘See, we’re nice.’ I said, ‘We never said you weren’t.’ … That’s exactly the kind of dialogue and exchange we’re looking for.”

It was nice while it lasted.

Odd Future’s set, at the height of Sunday’s swelter, was rife with the usual foul language and appalling exhortations to violence and misogyny — lots of “smack you, bitch,” “f— the police,” “f—in’ ‘ho,” happy tales of “punches to the stomach” and advice to “shoot that f—in’ nigga, aim for the head,” and I lost count of the number of times someone shouted “f—in’ bitch!” — even while they gave lip service to opposing voices. Group leader and breakout solo star Tyler the Creator, his left leg in a cast for a broken foot, said, “A big shoutout to the domestic violence groups out here.” This came as the echo of the latest “f—in’ bitch!” died away and right before the next song, “I Got a Gun (You Better Run).”

Shock tactics simply are in the young group’s DNA, and the 15-song set was thick with the confrontation that’s caused such a fuss all year around their mostly free online recordings and raucous live shows. Problem is, the shock and awe is all they brought. Odd Future knows how to engage a crowd with nasty talk, stage diving (even Tyler, in his cast) and the mystical bond between crowd and performer created by the middle finger, but musically the 45-minute set was a very average hip-hop show. (Big Boi, on this same stage and nearly same slot last year, brought so much more.)

Members Left Brain and Hodgy Beats opened the show, dishing up a song from their reissued MellowHype album “Blackendwhite.” DJ Syd Tha Kid provided most of the beats and musical backing, thin as it usually was; Odd Future’s recordings sound much more inventive. At times, five members were prancing back and forth at the lip of the stage or diving over it. The whole thing was like watching a “Chinese fire drill,” but the often monotonous beats and hate speech was more like listening to Oi! (a racist punk subgenre) without guitars.

In the end, though, the rappers wanted us to know, as they repeated over and over, that they don’t care what you, me or anyone thinks of them. Before launching into “Pidgeons,” with its refrain of “Kill people, burn s—, f— school,” Tyler dedicated “this beautiful song to everyone who don’t like me, every protester … everyone writing a faggot-ass review of this show.” There was extra, unprintable advice for the latter, even though reviews like this one and other articles about the group’s controversy are likely the chief reason Odd Future has seen a spike in sales.

But of all the hot air, the most absurd thing the group shouted during “Radicals” may have been this:

“I’m radical! I’m f—in’ radical!” There’s really nothing radical about their potty mouths and juvenile gross-out humor. If anything, it’s old.

Henry Cavill plays Theseus in “Immortals,” about an all-star alliance of Greek gods declaring war on humanity. It comes out Nov. 11.

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:27AM

LOS ANGELES — There may be no “i” in team, but sometimes there’s profit.

Alliances are all the rage in Hollywood. You’ve got the X-Men, “Fast Five’s” rogue band of motorists and the orally fixated kids from “Twilight’s” team Edward and team Jacob.

Next comes “Immortals,” which plans to corner the market on Greek gods. And beefcake.

The film, due Nov. 11, touts itself as an “Avengers” for the historical set, an all-star lineup of mythological icons including Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and King Hyperion.

Just don’t compare it to a comic book movie.

“They’re going a little haywire with the whole comic book thing,” says Stephen Dorff, who plays Stavros. “Maybe that’s what the kids like, but this is more grounded. We’re not running around in those ridiculous costumes.”

If anything, “Immortals” celebrates exhibitionism. Director Tarsem Singh (“The Cell”) asked his actors — including Henry Cavill as Theseus, Mickey Rourke as the evil King Hyperion and Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”) as Phaedra — to hit the gym and watch the sweets for the film, which features scantily clad physiques straight from “300.”

Set after the mythic Greek struggle between the gods and titans, “Immortals” tells the story of Hyperion, mad with power, declaring war on humanity and amassing an all-star team of irritable immortals. Mankind is no match until Theseus steps up as a ringer for team human.

Dorff says “Immortals” will shed the pretension of “fancy accents and standing in front of a lot of green screens, which I’ve never been a big fan of. There are big sets, real props. If you look at ‘Star Wars,’ the characters are laid out kind of like that. And I get to be Han Solo.”

Still, best not to get too deep, even in Greek mythology, he says.

“This is ‘300’ meets ‘Gladiator,’” he says. “It’s an ab-fest.”

Gannett News Service

Patty (Glenn Close) and her former protege, Ellen (Rose Byrne), are “kind of feeling each other out” this season, Close says.

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:27AM

‘Damages,” Glenn Close’s complex legal thriller, has tackled stories inspired by the bad deeds of Martha Stewart, Bernie Madoff and Enron. In its fourth season, now on DirecTV, it’s gunning for Blackwater, the private military contractor that has operated largely out of sight in war zones.

“Each season has been inspired by something that gets us going,” says executive producer Todd Kessler. “What is this company doing making billions of dollars and privatizing war and turning it into an industry? It’s not a history lesson, and it’s not meant to be authentic in terms of what Blackwater actually does and how it gets contracts, but it’s something we all had a visceral response to and the public knows very little about.”

As the season opens, driven lawyer Patty Hewes (Close) is pursuing a case against a big pharmaceutical company, while in her personal life, she’s caring for her 3-year-old granddaughter and employing a private detective to search for her missing and estranged son.

“It’s probably the most benign we might see her,” Close says. “She seems more low-key; her claws seem to be pulled in a little bit.”

Her former protege Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne, “Bridesmaids”) is now at a large firm and sees her ticket to glory in a case involving a former high school classmate. Chris Sanchez (Chris Messina) was traumatized as an employee of High Star Security Corp. in a mission gone bad in Afghanistan, where several members of his unit were killed.

The company is led by Howard Erickson (John Goodman), who’s “extremely religious and patriotic, and by his lights he’s doing God’s work on Earth by helping the United States of America,” Goodman says. But his aide, Jerry Boorman (Dylan Baker), is helping Erickson cover up the mysterious events that led to the deaths — and Ellen’s lawsuit against the company.

“The news is full of hypocrites,” says executive producer Glenn Kessler. “Our interest was to dramatize a man who believed in these convictions. He’s put into a crucible, and it’s difficult to maintain [them] before forces around you put them in conflict with each other.”

The center of the show remains the wary dynamic between Patty and Ellen. “Their relationship is much more complex than it was initially, and that makes for some of the most interesting psychology this season,” Close says. “They’re kind of feeling each other out. Patty will always think of Ellen as her No. 2, … but Ellen has other ideas.”

After all, Patty once tried to have Ellen killed. “Early on, she says ‘I never want to owe that woman anything,’ ” Byrne says of her character. “But then she gets back into bed with her.”

The switch from FX, which canceled the series after last year’s low-rated third season, to DirecTV, where it becomes the satellite service’s first exclusive drama, includes a few changes: more coarse language, a bit more violence and fewer (but longer) episodes. Ten installments average 51 to 56 minutes, and there’s a guaranteed fifth season.

“The big difference is no commercial breaks,” says executive producer Daniel Zelman. “It changes the rhythm of a show. The audience is never pulled back.”

Gannett News Service

SuperHeavy (from left): reggae maestro Damian Marley, Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger, composer A.R. Rahman and singer Joss Stone.

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:27AM

LOS ANGELES — SuperHeavy isn’t music’s first supergroup. Remember Cream, the Highwaymen, the Traveling Wilburys and Temple of the Dog?

But it may be the first to hatch its own genre, which should come as no surprise considering the ensemble’s diverse membership.

As Rolling Stones fans awaited word of the band’s next tour (“It’s not on the table,” Mick Jagger says), the iconic singer and his friend/collaborator Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) formed SuperHeavy with British soul singer Joss Stone, reggae star Damian Marley and Indian composer/musician A.R. Rahman.

Their anticipated self-titled debut arrives Sept. 20 with an indefinable fusion of rock, soul, reggae, blues, pop and Indian music. Reggae-steeped first single “Miracle Worker” showcases Marley’s toasting skills, Stone’s strapping vocals and Jagger’s sexy yowl. A video will be released this month.

Jagger and Stewart, who co-produced the album and share a passion for Jamaican and Caribbean sounds, cooked up the multicultural concept and sought out sterling collaborators.

Stone, who worked with the pair on the 2004 “Alfie” soundtrack, was high on the list, as was Marley, youngest son of reggae icon Bob Marley. Rahman, whose “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack had just won Oscars for best song and score, was considered a catch for his pop-exotica sensibilities.

“I said, ‘Hey, look, we’re going to try this experiment,’ ” Stewart says. “Everyone turned up without knowing what it was. Mick said: ‘This is mad. We haven’t written any songs.’ We started jamming, and it was amazing. It got to certain peaks where it was, whoa, this is happening.”

The group hammered out most tracks over three weeks at the Village studio in L.A. They also recorded off the coast of Cyprus, as well as in France, Turkey, Miami, the Caribbean and India. Jagger and Stewart shaped the sessions into 17 songs.

The results — ranging from dance track “Energy” to “Satyameva Jayate,” a Rahman composition that finds Jagger singing in Urdu — defy categorization.

“It’s definitely an unknown genre,” Jagger says. “But it’s accessible and structured. I worry people will think it’s some kind of world jam. It’s not.”

No live dates are confirmed. Nor is a sequel. Yet.

“I know Dave is already talking about the next one,” Jagger says. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a one-off thing. But we’ll see what happens.”

Gannett News Service

Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis play pals who add sex to their platonic relationship in “Friends With Benefits.”

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:27AM

Mila Kunis has a lot of friends. There are no benefits — at least, not those kinds of benefits.

Sure, she’s available for long phone calls at 2 in the morning. She’ll help you move. She’ll even watch your cat.

Kunis, who became a star last year with “Black Swan,” says friendship ends right there.

“This whole friends-with-benefits thing that’s going on these days is something generational that is never destined to have a long shelf life,” says Kunis, 27, who adds, “Although in talking to reporters for this movie, I met a few who actually met their spouses through having a friendship first.

“So maybe a great friendship leads to bigger and better things,” she says. “Either that or the whole thing just hits the skids and frizzles completely!”

Kunis stars in “Friends with Benefits” with Justin Timberlake, who shares her views of not being pals with perks.

“I guess it could work if you continue to be honest with yourself and the other person about where you are and the level of commitment,” Timberlake opines.

Kunis warns, “Obviously, you have to be safe, too. The other thing is you have to be honest with your intentions and be honest with your partner.”

In “Friends with Benefits” (opening Friday), she plays a woman trying to avoid romantic cliches when it comes to all that complicated relationship stuff. Instead, she decides that she has enough fun with her friend (Justin Timberlake). Why not just add sex to their friendship?

She never figures that their emotions will play into the mix.

Kunis says she loved the script, a rom-com without the usual trite beats.

“Frankly, I was always a bit hesitant to do a romantic comedy,” she admits. “Don’t get me wrong. I love them, but I didn’t want to be in one of them. One rom-com is just like the other. At one point, you can’t even tell them apart anymore.

“When this idea came along, it was a movie I’d want to see. It was more of a buddy comedy vs. a romantic comedy, with a touch of the vibe of ‘Easy A,’ which is a movie I love.”

The couple has nude scenes together, but “it wasn’t romantic,” Timberlake says. “You have 30 crew guys standing around, which was good because we were trying to make these love scenes as awkward as possible.”

Adds Kunis, “You’re not required to be sexy when you’re being a little goofy.”

In her last movie, Kunis romped in bed with Natalie Portman.

“Natalie and I were actually lucky enough to be friends prior to production, which made it all a lot easier,” she says. “We didn’t really discuss it very much. We just kind of did it. It made sense for the characters. It wasn’t put in for shock value.”

Kunis was born in Ukraine and grew up with her brother Mike. Her mother, Elvira, a physics teacher, and father Mark, a mechanical engineer, worked until they moved the family to Los Angeles when Mila was 7.

Looking for something to do, she began to act at age 9 after her father found a local youth acting class. A top talent agent immediately spotted her.

“Acting was never something my parents wanted me to do, so it wasn’t something they pushed me to do. I was only allowed to keep doing it if I got straight A’s in school and stayed in school,” she says. “It was my afterschool activity.”

At age 14, she was cast as Jackie Burkhart on “That ’70s Show.” She was told that actors needed to be 18 to audition for the role and Kunis insisted she would be 18 … on her birthday.

“I just never mentioned it was a future birthday,” she says, laughing.

After films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008) and “Date Night” (2010), she says stardom hasn’t gone to her head.

“I think I’m so cool, but when I meet someone famous I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’” she says with a laugh. “I remember years ago I was at a restaurant in New York City, a real hole-in-the-wall place. And I saw a contestant from ‘Project Runway.’

“I thought, ‘I’m going to play it cool. It’s no big deal.’ I finished eating and planned on walking away. I just turned around and it was like diarrhea of the mouth.

“I said, ‘I totally think you should have won. I’m such a fan,’” she recalls. “He had this look like, ‘This girl is crazy.’ ”

Big Picture News Inc.

In “Terri” (opening Friday), John C. Reilly (right) plays a high school vice principal who mentors an outcast student (Jacob Wysocki, center, with Bridger Zadina). “I have a real ease with younger people,” Reilly says.

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:28AM

Chicago native John C. Reilly has a message for his hometown: “Enjoy the summer, but don’t listen to these people who say it only lasts five minutes. I want to build up my city and not destroy it.”

Yes, the character actor (“Chicago,” “Cedar Rapids”) and all around nice guy has a soft spot for the place that gave him an unlikely career. “I went to Brother Rice on the South Side and I was a play person, as we called us back then,” says Reilly, who plays the vice principal now in the teen angst drama “Terri.”

“Basically, I felt like an outcast in high school. I wasn’t the loner. Actually, I was surrounded by other weirdos like me,” says Reilly, whose lifeline was the school’s stage. “I found out that the theater people were actually fun, and it’s what got me through those years.”

In “Terri” (opening Friday), Reilly is a mentor for a large 15-year-old boy in a small town who has i-s-s-u-e-s. “My wife brought me the script, and I know she has really great taste,” he teases. “She married me!”

Were you the kind of teen who was in the principal’s office?

There was a matter of me getting into a little bit of trouble in some high school hallways. I was more of a restless kid than a mischievous one. But I wasn’t organized in my mayhem. I wasn’t stealing official school documents or anything. I’ve heard of kids hacking into computer systems. And then there are the kids who cut school. I was never one of those criminal masterminds. I was just the guy who talked a lot in high school and got in trouble for it.

Does it make you feel old now playing the principal?

I’ve always loved the mentor part in movies. And I have a real ease with younger people, so this role really fit. I’m the guy who is always quizzing younger people about life and what they want to do. I loved this role and the idea in real life of treating teens like equals and making a connection with them. Basically, this principal character is an uncle character. He’s not your teacher. He’s not your parent. He’s just there for you. He won’t judge you.

Did anyone fit that bill at Brother Rice?

I had a guidance counselor who was so great. It was like going to confession at church in his office. But it was nice to know that he was there. If things ever got crazy, there was an ear that wasn’t your parents who were bound to care for you.

Does a kid from the South Side really think he has a chance of conquering Hollywood?

You mean a C+ student, but one who was totally dedicated to doing plays and community theater production? Honestly, I never really thought of acting as a Plan A. I never had the audacity to dream that I could make a living as an actor. I really had no examples of that as a kid growing up in Chicago. I just knew that one of those days I had better figure out what I wanted to do for a living. I had this crazy idea that what I loved to do could be what I did for that living. But the other half of me thought, “Maybe I should become a lawyer.” … The key was every single time I did something specific, I’d get so bored after six months. Becoming a actor was a way to become everything.

You’re in one of the most buzzed about films of the fall, “Carnage,” directed by Roman Polanski and co-starring Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet? What can you tell us about it?

It’s based on the play “God of Carnage,” 90 minutes in real time with all the characters in one location. You could get a little claustrophobic under those circumstances, but I looked around the room every single day and thought, “What the heck am I doing in that room?” It’s the story of two couples who meet to talk about a fight their sons had and it ends up with them fighting. It’s this crazy dark comedy, and makes me glad I became an actor and not a lawyer.

Big Picture News Inc.

Jim O’Heir now plays Jerry on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.” | Keith Hale~Sun-Times

Article Extras

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:27AM

Niche theater fans and twentysomethings packed Strawdog Theatre in Wrigleyville in early 1990, sporting beanie hats and toting Twinkies, eagerly anticipating the moment when grotesque puppets and a psychotic janitor would take the stage.

The janitor worked at a genetics laboratory and made pets of the mutated experimental critters, forcing them to perform in make-believe children’s television shows and passive-aggressively torturing them. In the big finish, the blood-covered janitor, played by Jim O’Heir, thrust himself into an incinerator and died.

For his role in “Stumpy’s Gang,” O’Heir received reviews both rave and rabid. The one he remembers best was scorching in its criticism:

“Jim O’Heir, though he seems like a nice enough fellow, should be embarrassed to do what he’s doing in the privacy of his own home, let alone onstage,” the actor recites. The harsh review, rather than bringing back painful memories, now elicits a chuckle from O’Heir.

“I say to this day, it’s because of ‘Stumpy’s’ that I have the career I have,” O’Heir says. “ ‘Stumpy’s’ is what brought it all together for me.”

In the 21 years since “Stumpy’s,” O’Heir, 49, has created a name for himself in what he casually refers to as “the biz.” He’s been called ursine, uninhibited and enthusiastic, but the thing most striking about O’Heir is his warmhearted humility. Dressed in a cheery striped button-up and a jolly grin to match, O’Heir is the picture of Midwestern sensibility and charm.

As the self-declared “king of the guest stars,” O’Heir flitted from one television show to the next until 2009, when he scored a gig on “Parks and Recreation” as clumsy office fall guy Jerry Gergich. Three seasons later, O’Heir is just as spirited as he was when he debuted in Chicago, and although he’s been living in Los Angeles for years, this is still the city he calls home.

“A lot of people are down on L.A.; I don’t hate it, I love it,” O’Heir says. “But this is home. I land in the O’Hare Airport and it feels right.” O’Heir was in town for his annual “see a million people in nine days” trip.

O’Heir grew up in Lansing, Ill., and moved to Wrigleyville when he was 24. As a DJ in Rensselaer, Ind., he was invited to participate in a class with Second City. In 1987, he and some classmates formed White Noise, a theater troupe that quickly garnered acclaim for productions like “Singin’ in the Brain” and “Book of Blanche.”

When the gang decided to take a show to Los Angeles in 1994, however, it was the manic janitor they pinned their hopes on.

“If any show is going to work in L.A., it’s going to be crazy ‘Stumpy’s Gang,’ ” O’Heir says with a laugh. The L.A. show, originally slotted for a six-week run, played for four months. Afterward, O’Heir decided to pursue roles in television pilots.

He’s had his ups and downs — from a Comedy Central series called “Strip Mall” to Matt LeBlanc’s failed movie “Ed,” co-starring a baseball-playing chimpanzee — but O’Heir never lost his love for acting.

In 2009, he auditioned for what was then referred to as the “Untitled Amy Poehler Project” for the role of Ron Swanson, the macho, mustachioed head of the parks department.

“My theory is and will always be that every audition is important,” O’Heir says. “You’re in front of them, you’re showing them what you can do, and down the road, you’ll get a call.” O’Heir did get a call, but not for Ron Swanson, a role that eventually went to Nick Offerman. Instead, he was asked to read for Jerry and landed the part.

At first, the show’s writers didn’t know what they were looking for in Jerry, telling O’Heir to just sit at a desk and see what happened “naturally.” Then, in an early episode of season two, the co-workers compete to see who can dig up the most dirt on each other, and it is accidentally revealed to Jerry that he was adopted.

“As an actor, that was a great moment for me, because they found Jerry,” O’Heir says. Since then, Jerry’s split his pants during a meeting, accidentally referred to a painting as a “murinal” and fallen into a creek, prompting teasing abound from his co-workers. O’Heir says he doesn’t mind — in fact, he lives for those moments.

“I love when they let us do stuff out of the box,” O’Heir says of the directors. “I remember just laying in that creek — it’s raining outside and I’m laying in a creek thinking, ‘This is the life.’ ”

O’Heir recently wrapped up filming for “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” a 2012 pre-apocalyptic comedy starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightly. He plays a sheriff who gets stuck with Carell and Knightly after an overeager deputy arrests them.

This week, O’Heir reunites with the “Parks and Rec” gang to begin filming the fourth season.

“We’re in a group where everybody can handle their own, and that’s fun,” he says. “We’ve all had improvisational training, and it’s fun because when you’re with people you trust, in improv, that’s the whole game.”

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Updated: July 17, 2011 2:24AM

The 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival opened Friday afternoon and quickly established a yin-yang balance to the weekend’s musical offerings.

The annual indie-rock-and-more event at Union Park in Chicago’s West Loop features nearly 50 bands over three days on three stages. More than 50,000 fans are expected to attend over the weekend, culminating in a sold-out lineup today featuring controversial rap group Odd Future.

Shortly after the gates opened Friday, the music began ­— light, blissful tunes on a side stage from electronic duo Gatekeeper vs. dark, enigmatic alt-rock on a main stage from South Dakota native EMA (Erika M. Anderson). The rest of Friday would swing between these extremes: inventive new electronic music and grinding, often classic rock and roll.

The knob twiddlers

Fey young Londoner James Blake not only proved himself, following his curious debut album released in February, he proved to be the night’s most transcendent performance. Influenced by American RB — and vocally often a dead ringer for Aaron Neville — the 22-year-old Blake made cold beats and fragmented samples come alive Friday evening on the festival’s smallest stage. Seemingly shy behind his keyboard, Blake played a set both graceful and grandiose, reaching surprising heights often with just two or three ingredients.

The intrepid Merrill Garbus, the central figure of tUnE-yArDs, leapt to life with “Party Can (Do You Want to Live?)” on the strength of her insistent looped vocals, a lynchpin of the tUnE-yArDs’ engaging, exciting set. Singing, re-singing and playing her own abbreviated drum kit, Garbus, her face streaked with colorful war paint, wailed and cooed and hollered through a set bristling with punkish spirit and bracing compositions. Each song found dissonance and harmony tugging at war, never finding an easy truce but always a workable and tuneful solution.

Animal Collective closed out the night, making a god-awful racket of their unfocused, rambling electronic jams. Industrial clanking, monotonous rhythms and lengthy, noodling transitions between songs made for a noisy, messy performance. Only a few moments came close to gelling — a frenetic calypso waltz early in the show with wild static noises sliding up and down the scale, and an easygoing “A Long Time Ago” — but most of the music was scattered. I know the Guggenheim has bestowed some art-rock cred on them, but while their drifting, shiftless sounds may constitute art it doesn’t constitute a good time.

The rockers

Somewhere between the knob twiddlers and the hardcore rockers is Battles, a New York trio (down from a quartet) whose members are not averse to describing their music as “math rock.” Mixing loops and ferocious live drumming from former Helmet basher John Stanier, Battles ably re-crated the tunes from their new and acclaimed “Gloss Drop.” Former Chicago guitarists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka worked sometimes together, sometimes at cross-purposes on, under and around the beats. There were moments the music was both punishing and pretty, a strange but exciting experience.

Stubbornly prolific band Guided by Voices returned to Chicago for the fest, still going with its reunited “classic” ’93-’96 lineup. But the longer this rascally band trundles on, the more fun they get. Lead singer Robert Pollard is growing into his natural curmudgeoness, and Friday evening’s set was 45 minutes of pure kicky, catchy rock. Pollard took the stage joined by Neko Case singing harmony and shaking a tambourine on “Echos Myron.” Clutching a tequila bottle, Pollard and his jittery leg led the band — with the rip-roaring twin-guitar attack of Tobin Sprout and Charles Mitchell — careening through an oldies but very good set.

Alt-country queen Neko Case seemed in a relaxed, cozy mood, playing a set of mostly ballads and slow belters. You know, the stuff that best showcases That Voice — songs like “The Pharaohs” with its long, patient phrases about being “your blue, blue baby,” or her tiger empathy in “People Got a Lot of Nerve.”

With squeeze box, banjo and frequent brushes on the drums, Case commanded a steady set and reminded Chicagoans how much we miss her being a resident.

Jimmy Buffett put the picture below — assembled from three photos taken at Steve Goodman’s Chicago apartment — on the wall of his new Margaritaville club at Navy Pier. | Rick Diamond~Getty Images

JIMMY BUFFETT AND THE CORAL REEFER BAND

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Toyota Park, 7000
S. Harlem, Bridgeview

Tickets: $44-$149

Information: (800) 745-3000; ticketmaster.com

Article Extras

Updated: July 17, 2011 6:37AM

Like fireflies in a jar, the characters on the cover of Steve Goodman’s “Somebody Else’s Troubles” record were captured in the summer of 1972.

It was always summer when Jimmy Buffett and Goodman got together.

Buffett popularized the Goodman ballads “Banana Republics” and “California Promises,” and the late Chicago singer-songwriter and Buffett co-wrote the Pensacola, Fla.-based “Frank and Lola” and the Key West ballad “Woman Going Crazy on Caroline Street” among others.

On Aug. 7, 1972, Goodman put out a casting call for a cover shoot for his second album. A group of raconteurs and songwriters were instructed to meet at Goodman’s huge apartment at 3759 N. Wayne, not far from Wrigley Field. There would be no last call.

The crew included Buffett (identified as Marvin Gardens on the album cover); Earl Pionke, the larger-than-life owner of the Earl of Old Town folk music club; Goodman’s best friend, John Prine; Fred Holstein, and his brother Ed.

The photographer was P. Michael O’Sullivan.

A regular at O’Rourke’s Pub on North Avenue, around the corner from the Earl, O’Sullivan was an internationally acclaimed photojournalist who documented civil strife in Northern Ireland. One of his images of the Detroit 1967 riots ended up on the cover of Life magazine. O’Sullivan also took pictures of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones when they dropped into O’Rourke’s. (Dylan contributed uncredited piano and vocals on the “Somebody Else’s Troubles” title track.) O’Sullivan died of lung cancer in 2004 at the age of 64.

Buffett recalled that David Goodman, an assistant photographer at Playboy magazine and Goodman’s younger brother, brought O’Sullivan to the session.

The album cover was designed by Gib Foster, who had designed the first two album covers for Earl of Old Town favorite Bonnie Koloc. Foster knew O’Sullivan from the Old Town neighborhood and asked the acclaimed photographer to shoot the cover.

An outtake from this historical gathering hangs in Buffett’s new Margaritaville Bar Grill at Navy Pier. Clay Eals, the author of the definitive 2007 biography Steve Goodman: Facing The Music (ECW Press, $29.95) scanned three of O’Sullivan’s photos together to create the image. O’Sullivan made nearly 150 images of the session.

Expect Buffett to drop in his new club — unannounced, of course — when he is in town with his Coral Reefer Band for Saturday’s show at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.

“I had just gotten into Chicago and was told we were going to have dinner at Steve’s place,” Buffett said in a Tuesday phone conversation. “And we were going to shoot this album cover.” Buffett had met Goodman at the Earl of Old Town. In the early 1970s, Buffett was an opening act at Richard Harding’s Quiet Knight, adjacent to the L tracks on West Belmont Avenue.

Buffett had his first major market success in Chicago. He opened for Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, Neil Sedaka and others at the Quiet Knight. “I was loyal to Richard,” Buffett said. “He played me there many times, and I stayed when I started getting a following. That’s how it was then.”

But some things never change.

The night before the shoot Goodman’s beloved Cubs were waxed 12-2 by the New York Mets, with washed-up Cubs relief pitcher Tom Phoebus as the main victim.

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

The longer you study O’Sullivan’s photos, the more you wonder if there was a sly and humorous 1970s Chicago style of songwriting. Goodman was funny and made a point in his stage show never to linger in one mood. Prine has rapier wit and is a gifted storyteller. Eddie Holstein is wry. His brother Fred, who died in 2004, was the most pensive of the group, as the photograph depicts. Fred Holstein does not seem to be in on the joke going around the kitchen table.

Buffett was the outsider who was born in Pascagoula, Miss.

“It is a Chicago style not necessarily identified with the city,” Buffett explained. “There were just so many good people doing solo acoustic guitar shows. The Holstein brothers, Bonnie Koloc, Mike Smith. And those singer-songwriters also had to be comedians and emcees. I had to do that in my early New Orleans days. Stephen Stills and [Eric] Clapton were the guitar players I idolized. My natural strength seemed to lie in the ability to bulls— on stage. I had that talk with myself. I thought, ‘It’ll take a lot of hard work and practice, so if I’m successful, I can hire a good guitar player.’ After New Orleans, when I got to Chicago I worked places that were minor league ballparks, the Steak Ale circuit. So meeting all those people in Chicago was a renaissance for me.

“They were great storytellers, bulls— artists on stage and performers. I gravitated toward that. I found my place.”

Goodman wanted Foster to capture the rustic look of the 1970 cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Deja Vu.”

“A down-home feeling,” Foster said Wednesday from his studio barn on the wetlands of Rochester, Ind. “These were his friends. John, Ed, Fred and everybody. He had Nancy [Goodman’s wife] cook a big roast. When I got there Earl had brought in a couple of ‘Texas fifths’ [gallon jugs of whiskey]. Steve was picky on what had to be done. Michael gave me complete freedom. He let me stage everything, and I’d look through the camera and OK it. You don’t find that very often, especially with Michael and the photojournalist he was. I liked everything he did.

“I may have been his first commercial job. I had done a lot of commercial work, but I had never done a record that had Bob Dylan and David Bromberg on it.” (Also tenor saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman).

Buffett actually was shy about particpating in the photo session.

“I didn’t know who he was,” said Foster, 70. “And today I have a lot of friends who are real Parrotheads. When I walked in, there was John, Earl and this guy wearing a ripped T-shirt. I figured he was a neighborhood friend. Buffett never said anything. He just stood in the back. Michael didn’t know him. In fact they never introduced us. I think Goodman was behind all that. It became a good ol’ boy, down-home event.”

The characters in the photo are ahead of today’s hipster quotient with cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz beer in the foreground.

“I drank snifters of cognac,” Pionke said from his pad in Pullman.

Buffett said, “PBR’s? That was Earl’s influence. It was either cheap or happening, I can’t remember.”

Pionke recalled, “The only thing missing from this photo is Nancy. [She is on the album cover with their daughter Jessie]. Michael was a real good photographer. All the folk people really liked him. He was a good Irishman. I spent a lot of time in that apartment. Stevie would hold his Christmas parties there. I’d give Steve $300 and they’d get the food. I’d bring the cognac and wine. I never bothered bringing the beer. Go to the corner and get it. We’d talk about whatever the musicians wanted to talk about: themselves. Then the guys would pull out their guitars and we had a hootenanny. It was wonderful.”

Pionke’s 4 o’clock license at the Earl was equally wonderful for performers closing other Chicago clubs.

“The Earl had the best Chicago acoustic folk guys,” Buffett recalled. “The Quiet Knight was a bigger venue [Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits played there] but the Earl was the late-night place to be.” Pionke said, “Performers were hungry, and they’d come in for our cheeseburgers and a couple of beers. And the stage at the Earl from 2:30 until 4 in the morning was a place where you could play anything you want. Jimmy would also cash his checks from Richard Harding.”

Pionke, 76, never would have pegged Buffett for superstar status.

“He looked like a natural born s—kicker to me,” Pionke said with a gritty South Side laugh. “And a con artist. He was so smooth. I’d put him in my class where you’re amongst the elite. Steve befriended Jimmy right away. They were good pals.”

The Goodman-Buffett friendship lasted until the singer-songwriter’s death from leukemia on Sept. 20, 1984. Buffett sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” for his friend on Oct. 2 in the first game of 1984 divisional playoffs at Wrigley Field.

“Not long after that photo was taken I had finished my Chicago run and was heading to Denver,” Buffett recalled. “We always took the train. I was staying on Steve’s sofa and he took me to Union Station. The night before I had gotten drunk and spent most of my money. I didn’t have money to buy a train ticket. Goodman was having a lot more success than I was. People were recording his songs. I said, ‘I need to borrow some money, I’ll give it back to you when I get out there.’ Without hesitation he lent me $100, $200.

“That’s the kind of friend he was.”

SEX ON THE MOON
THE AMAZING STORY BEHIND
THE MOST AUDACIOUS HEIST
IN HISTORY

By Ben Mezrich

Doubleday, 308 pages, $26.95

Updated: July 14, 2011 8:39PM

What kind of 25-year-old would break into NASA and steal the most precious minerals on Earth? Meet Thad Roberts, a genius so head-over-heels in love with his girlfriend that he tried to steal the moon, or at least the rocks from it, just to impress her. In Sex on the Moon, author Ben Mezrich details the riveting account of how one of the most improbable heists in history went down.

After winning a spot in the Johnson Space Center Cooperative Program in Houston, Thad worked as a co-op in the life sciences department. He soon learned that once a lunar sample has been used in an experiment and then returned, NASA considers it “trash” because it’s no longer a pristine research sample. While they may have lost their scientific value, the rocks are still worth a fortune to a collector. But Thad’s not really motivated by the money; it’s the fantasy of stealing the rocks, working out the plan, that captivates him.

Had he not met a beautiful young co-op named Rebecca, Thad likely would have kept the idea of stealing the moon rocks as just an idea. He was a rising star in the JSC program and was on track to a job offer at NASA after he graduated from the University of Utah. He might have even realized his dream of becoming an astronaut some day. But love can do funny things to a person. Thad has a passionate love affair with Rebecca, cheating on his estranged wife, a high school sweetheart he married at 19. Rebecca acts as a catalyst for Thad, spurring the heist into a reality when he decides to take their romance to a new level. “Rebecca, I want to give you the moon,” he tells her, tears in the corners of his eyes as he reveals the plan.

Rebecca, another co-op named Sandra, and stoner Gordon (names were changed), a pal from UT, become Thad’s partners in the heist. He devises a plan to break into Building 31, which houses the moon rocks at the JSC. While aspects of the plan are ingenious, most of it will leave you wondering why NASA isn’t more secure. At one point, he and Rebecca use a dolly to wheel a 600-pound safe right out of the lab and into the back of their getaway car — a Jeep Cherokee.

Prior to the heist a sale had been arranged with a Belgium mineral collector by the name of Axel Emmermann. Unbeknownst to Thad, Emmermann was suspicious from the start and contacted the FBI in Florida. A sting operation eventually landed Thad an eight-year prison sentence in 2003. The girls got probation. Gordon also went to jail.

Thad’s ultimate demise is one of the most unsettling things about Mezrich’s tale. It’s hard to watch such a gifted, compelling character self-destruct. While it’s obvious he is caught up in his feelings for Rebecca, something even deeper appears to be driving him head-first into this wild and crazy scheme destined to fail. Despite his accomplishments, Thad can never quite shake the deep-seated insecurity that he doesn’t belong. It never feels like he’s being himself, but rather some character designed to impress those around him. When it came to the heist, Thad decided to become James Bond. Not only would he make off with the moon rocks, he’d get the girl as well. In reality, the role cost him everything.

Mezrich, who wrote the bestseller The Accidental Billionaires, the story of how Facebook was founded and the basis for the hit movie “The Social Network,” specializes in writing about young geniuses with questionable ethics and complicated motives. Sony has already purchased the film rights to Sex on the Moon. If Thad Roberts is as compelling a character on the big screen as he is on the page, Sony could have another hit on its hands.

Sex on the Moon is a fast and furious read, powered along by Mezrich’s desire never to take his eyes off the story. There’s no need to diverge into a lengthy history of NASA or breakdown of a moon rock. He’s already got the goods, and he knows it.

Eeyore (from left), Kanga and Roo, Owl, Rabbit, Piglet, Tigger and Christopher Robin join Pooh Bear in the new feature “Winnie the Pooh.”

Updated: July 15, 2011 9:17PM

HOLLYWOOD — Winnie the Pooh made his debut nearly 86 years ago. British author and playwright A.A. Milne wrote about the oddly named teddy bear in London’s Evening News. Christopher Robin, Tigger and the rest of Pooh’s friends from the Hundred Acre Wood were introduced a year later in a collection of stories about the toys of a little boy that come to life in his imagination.

Pooh was a sensation in Britain for decades but didn’t really cross the pond until the early 1960s, when animation king Walt Disney — who had heard about the stories from his own young daughters — acquired the film rights. Instead of making a feature-length film, though, Disney strategically decided to introduce the willy-nilly-silly old bear to American children in a 25-minute featurette, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.”

The animated short was so successful, the studio followed with “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” which did even better with audiences and won an Academy Award. With Pooh mania in full swing, the featurette “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too” went into production and was released. The featurettes were combined in 1977’s “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.”

More than three decades later, Walt Disney Animation Studios takes on “the bear of very little brain” once again in the feature “Winnie the Pooh,” now in theaters. The whole gang is back: Christopher Robin, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit and, of course, the Pooh bear, in a G-rated comedy based on three of Milne’s stories.

In a summer of noisy popcorn movies, “Winnie the Pooh” offers a gentler paced alternative. It’s a classic story about friendship, adventure and a lost tail. No 3-D or CGI for this Pooh. It’s strictly old school in the traditional hand-drawn animation style.

“It’s a nice, calm conflict-lite environment,” says co-director Stephen Anderson, who previously helmed Disney’s retro-futuristic “Meet the Robinsons.”

Any ideas about jazzing up Pooh Co., with new characters, modern problems or flashy new technology were dismissed from the outset.

“This is all about returning Pooh to his roots,” says Don Hall, a Disney animation veteran co-directing his first feature.

The mandate for Anderson and Hall was to keep Winnie the Pooh faithful to the books and the featurettes. That directive came from the top — Disney’s chief creative officer John Lasseter, who also serves as the film’s executive producer.

“John was a champion of this,” says Anderson. “He’s nostalgic for classic Disney but he also wants to make it fresh for today.”

The tricky part was the pacing. The original featurettes had a leisurely pace, but would that satisfy more sophisticated modern audiences? Test screenings helped the filmmakers find what they hope is the right balance.

“We didn’t want to go the route of the crazy quick cuts, but we also didn’t want to stick to strictly to the slower pace of the ’60s films,” says Anderson.

One of the techniques pioneered in the original featurettes and incorporated into the new film is the integration of the words on the page, the characters and the narrator’s voice — essentially breaking down the fourth wall between the audience and the film. Slipping that element into the new film was a no-brainer for Anderson, who loved seeing Pooh and his pals interacting with the words on the pages in the original shorts.

“The first thing that came into my head was Pooh standing on a block of text,” says Anderson. “As we made the movie, we put more of those in it.”

The filmmakers also knew they had to find the right voices.

“For some of the characters, they had to have imitations of the original because [the voices] just define those characters,” says Anderson, referring to Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore.

Voiceover veteran Jim Cummings, who has provided the voice of Winnie the Pooh for more than three decades on other Disney platforms including DVDs and cable TV, does the same here. (Sterling Holloway, who provided the voice in the original featurettes, retired in 1977.) Cummings also is the voice of Tigger, replacing Paul Winchell, who died in 2005.

“Paul was my old buddy,” says Cummings. “He told me he always thought of Tigger as a kid from Brooklyn … mixed with a little bit of [Bert Lahr’s] Cowardly Lion.”

The filmmakers thought they could take more liberties with the voices of Owl and Rabbit. So they recruited Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” as Rabbit and “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson as the voice of Owl.

“It just seemed like a funny idea to take Craig Ferguson’s persona and put him into that character for Owl and see what happens,” says Anderson. “He’s played that guy — the egotistical blowhard — on ‘The Drew Carey Show.’ ”

As for the enduring popularity of Winnie the Pooh, Cummings feels there’s a certain quality that is timeless.

“The fact is there is no fad there,” he says. “These stories always will be sweet and the characters always will be great. No batteries required. Just bring your heart and you’ll be happy.”

Entertainment News Wire

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Updated: July 15, 2011 9:07PM

NEW YORK — Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s marriage has hit a sour note: The superstar couple announced Friday they are breaking up. The two married in 2004 and have 3-year-old twins, Max and Emme.

In a Friday statement to The Associated Press from Lopez’s publicist, the pair called the decision to end their marriage a “very difficult decision.”

They said they have come to an “amicable decision” on all matters and asked for privacy.

It’s Lopez’s third marriage, Anthony’s second.

Jennifer Beals

Bridging the Faith Divide:
A Public Talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

† 1:30 p.m. Sunday

† UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine, Chicago

† $25-$125

† (312) 413-5740;
ticketmaster.com

Updated: July 16, 2011 2:08AM

Jennifer Beals is well known as an acclaimed actress with a long list of film credits, including her breakout starring role in 1983 hit “Flashdance” and her work with Denzel Washington in “Devil in a Blue Dress,” as well as TV roles on “The L Word,” “Lie to Me” and, most recently, “The Chicago Code.”

But Beals also is a practicing Buddhist and has been involved with the upcoming visit to Chicago by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who will speak at the UIC Pavilion on Sunday and lead a panel discussion at the Harris Theater on Monday, which is sold out.

Beals, 47, was born and raised in Chicago, and now resides with her family in Los Angeles. She spoke recently by phone to Sun-Times Media.

Q. What is your formal involvement with the visit by the Dalai Lama?

Jennifer Beals: I was the spokesperson, interfacing with the press to let people know he was coming. I was the person who was running through the streets going, “His Holiness is coming! His Holiness is coming!”

Q. For the Dalai Lama’s visit, will you be present?

A : Absolutely.

Q. At both of the events?

A. Yes, absolutely. I believe on the 17th I may speak.

Q. Have you met or been in the presence of the Dalai Lama?

A. I haven’t met him, although I feel like I have met him personally, because he makes you feel that way when he’s in the room. And he’s also very funny.

Q. How did you get into Buddhism?

A. I don’t remember exactly how it began. It was 14 years ago. Formal study would have been 10 years ago. It’s a very interesting thing. The Buddha doesn’t want you to take anything on faith but to investigate it on your own, so it requires a lot of analytical thinking. So I started studying at a center, I had a teacher who was a [Buddhist] nun.

Q. For the visit of the Dalai Lama this weekend, what are you hoping to get out of it?

A. I always hope I will get a deeper level of understanding of his teaching, because there are so many different levels upon which you can comprehend. And so, for me, a deeper understanding.

Acclaimed composer-conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, in Chicago to lead the Grant Park Orchestra in a program of his own works and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 this weekend. | Jean Lachat~Sun-Times

Penderecki
AT GRANT PARK

† 7:30 tonight

† Jay Pritzker Pavilion,
Millennium Park

† Free admission

† grantparkmusicfestival.com

Updated: July 16, 2011 2:08AM

‘So much of what a Polish artist has done reflects the unique conditions of the Polish people and Polish history.”

Though he is talking about a history that contains, in his own lifetime and memory, the modern partition and remapping of his country, World War II, the Holocaust, the deaths of millions of his countrymen, an imposed communist dictatorship, the Solidarity uprising, martial law, the fall of the Berlin Wall and a rough-and-tumble contemporary democracy, Krzysztof Penderecki shares this observation in a quiet, almost avuncular way.

“Music is a response to its time — the time of the composer’s own life and the time around him.”

At 77, the bearded, gentle-eyed Penderecki is his nation’s most revered and accomplished composer with a career of international successes stretching back half a century. He is always conscious of the past and future as well as the present. In Chicago to lead concerts this weekend at the Grant Park Music Festival , he is thinking about Beethoven, whose Third Symphony, the “Eroica,” closes his program; his own work for three cellos and orchestra from 2000, as well as new pieces he is composing.

As with many composers and conductors, Beethoven remains a universal standard for Penderecki.

“There is no one else in music who creates and recreates anew each time like Beethoven,” he says. “No one else wrote nine symphonies — nine! — where each of them is new and different.”

His own new works are also always on his agenda. “Throughout my life, I have always planned projects for 10 years ahead of me,” he says. “I always have something to do.”

Right now, he is working on “several” solo concertos (“There are examples; Paganini wrote 200 or so for violin!”) and a new opera, his fifth, based on the ancient Greek story of Phaedra.

His career as a conductor, not only of his own music but of other large-scale symphonic works from Beethoven to Shostakovich, also keeps him before world audiences “as often as 50 engagements a year,” he chuckles, as if he himself is not sure how he keeps up such a pace.

Born in 1933 in Debica, also known as Dembitz by its historic Jewish population, destroyed by the Nazis when Penderecki was a boy, he has composed across a wide array of genres and styles. His early works were both major contributions to the avant-garde and hard-hitting responses to world events: “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima” of 1960, and his 1967 take on the “Dies Irae” prayer, a memorial to those murdered at Auschwitz. (“Remember that Auschwitz is only 30 miles from Krakow,” where he took his music studies.)he observes. His operas, from “The Devils of Loudun”in 1969 to the Lyric Opera of Chicago commission “Paradise Lost” (1975-78) to musical translations of the theater of the absurd, “The Black Mask” (1984-86) and “Ubu Roi” (1991), are reminders of his strong literary sensibility and love of written texts.

Meanwhile, his instrumental music in recent years, such as the Concerto Grosso No. 1 being heard at Grant Park, has been increasingly tonal, melodic and inspired by earlier classical musical styles.

When asked in conversation in the Pritzker’s sunlit backstage Choral Room to characterize his broad range of styles and focus, he at first replies with a wry smile, “chaotic.” But then he adds: “My music comes from me and has to be written to give me pleasure. In any other [field of the arts], an avant-garde lasts for three or four years and then is replaced by the next avant-garde. Only in postwar modern music did an avant-garde last for three, four decades. I was beyond it. I was not part of a group. Other music was coming out from me. I had been a violinist; this had an effect on what interested me. I lived in history. This had an effect. I was interested in setting sacred and literary texts. This was different.”

Conducting also came to fill more of his schedule, including with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2000 in his own Symphony No. 7 and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. The CSO actually presented his three cello concerto this past season with three of its leading members taking the solo parts under Charles Dutoit. “Grant Park is an excellent orchestra, too,” Penderecki says. “We were really able to just play the Beethoven straight through in rehearsal. We understood each other very quickly.”

And what of his “Paradise Lost,” based on John Milton’s epic poem, having had its world premiere at Lyric in 1978 when the company was in difficult financial straits? Penderecki is philosophical. “This is what happened,” he says. “But it had a life elsewhere; it went to La Scala, to the Vatican.”

Would he like to see it done again in Chicago or elsewhere in the States? Could “Paradise” be revived?

“Regained,” he laughs, referring to yet another Milton poem.

Andrew Patner is critic at large for WFMT-FM (98.7).

.

Updated: July 16, 2011 1:37AM

Pitchfork, the three-day music festival expected to draw 50,000 people to Union Park this weekend, has become an annual rite of summer for many city residents.

But unlike previous years at the seven-year-old fest, Friday night’s crowd did not appear to be a sell-out, and tickets remained for Saturday. Sunday’s show was sold out.

Still, those who attended Friday were just as enthusiastic to be there and were happy they enjoyed mild weather before an expected heat wave wallops the Chicago area.

“The weather today is great,” said Adam Zielinski, 26, who attended the outdoor event with his girlfriend, sister and her boyfriend. “But I can’t say as much for the rest of the weekend.”

This is Zielinski’s sixth time at Pitchfork, who came to see Friday night’s headliner, Animal Collective.

“We’re all just having a great time,” he said. “It’s something that we do every year — get together, listen to some great music and just hang out.”

He added: “What’s great about this festival is that there are so many great types of music and so many different types of artists who are trying to express themselves.”

Many attendees were planning on spending the entire weekend at the festival (three-day passes are sold-out), including John Case, 29, who showed up Friday with some co-workers.

“It’s about being out in the city, meeting people, listening to some great music and just kind of enjoying life,” Case said. “It’s something else great to do on a weekend in Chicago.”

Kate Puckett, 24, broke out in an impromptu dance during Neko Case’s performance.

“This is amazing — there are really good beats,” Puckett said. “I like to feel [the music].”

Along with headlining bands Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio, a number of other popular and critically-acclaimed groups will perform Saturday and Sunday, including No Age, Destroyer, the now-notorious Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All and local favorite Chrissy Murderbot.