Podtalk

CHICAGO – Catching a young actor in an early career stride is like catching lightning in a bottle. Colin Ford has such a breakthrough role portraying Rickey Hill, a Texas ballplayer who is battling a degenerative disease that may not give him enough time to fulfill his major league dreams. The film is aptly titled “The Hill.”

CHICAGO – The Czar of Noir is coming to town, bringing his very popular “Noir City Chicago” back to the Music Box Theatre for 2023. Eddie Muller, the host of Turner Classic Movies “Noir Alley,” will appear on behalf of a specially curated series of noir genre classics. For more information, full schedule and tickets, click NOIR CITY.

CHICAGO – One of the finest genre filmmakers from Chicagoland is releasing her latest horror epic. Writer/director Jennifer Reeder has created “Perpetrator,” her fourth feature film, and it will have a run at select theaters, including Chicago’s Music Box Theatre (LINK HERE) as well as streaming on SHUDDER beginning September 1st.

CHICAGO – Nicole Bernardi-Reis is a veteran local producer, yet found another calling within the film arts as co-director … with Laura Bermúdez … of “With This Light.” The documentary is the story of Sister Maria Rosa Leggoi, a Honduran nun who spent her life building and providing shelter for orphaned, poverty stricken and abused children. “With This Light,” makes its Chicagoland premiere on August 9th, 2023, and begins a one week run at the Wayfarer Theaters in Highland Park (Illinois) on August 11th. Click LIGHT for details.

CHICAGO – The celebrity line-up at the upcoming FAN EXPO Chicago is top of the pops, and making a prime appearance is actor Mira Sorvino, who made a big splash by winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Mighty Aphrodite” in the 1990s. The FAN EXPO takes place from August 10-13, 2023.

CHICAGO – One of the greatest celebrity shows and entertainment gatherings in the country is landing in Chicago in three days, and the line-up for potential autograph seekers/meet and greet is top of the line. FAN EXPO takes place from August 10-13, 2023. For tickets and information, click FAN EXPO Chicago.

CHICAGO – As summer winds down, there are still many beach reading opportunities, and you won’t find a more tense thriller than “No Place to Die,” the debut novel of Roger Kelly Smith. The setting is a near-future colony on the moon, with a geo-political struggle between the U.S. and China that has implications for Mother Earth.

CHICAGO – Lollapalooza is not the only music festival in town. Access Contemporary Music (ACM) … a lesson and appreciation conservatory … presents the annual Thirsty Ears” Classical Music Street Festival, bringing the art and “classical gas” to the Ravenswood neighborhood in the Windy City. For more information and performer schedules, click THIRSTY EARS.

CHICAGO – YIPPIE! It’s back, in the neighborhood of its roots. YippieFest 2023 will be August 4th-6th in the Lakeview/Buena Park venue of PRIDE ARTS, 4139 North Broadway in Chicago. The space is less than a half mile from the former Mary-Arrchie Theatre, whose “Abbie Hoffman Festival” was the template for the three-day performance celebration. Tickets prices are for one day or all three days, so click YiPPIE FEST 2023.

CHICAGO – When a smart and ambitious California girl moves from her “one horse town” to early 1970s Los Angeles, what better way to break into the show business than being an NBC-TV Studio Page for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and other programs of the era. Author Shelley Herman tells “My Peacock Tale.”