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Tag Archives: Chicago

Meet The Sickening Cast of ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’ Season 4

Rupaul's Drag Race Season 4 Returns January 2012

Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 4 January 2012!

For the past three years we have been gaging on Rupaul’s Drag Race, and Season 4 is going to be stunning and fierce. Rupaul must have got a budget increase, as it seems the trailer for season 4 is slick and well produced!

Rupaul’s Drag Race was green lit in May of 2008. The show first aired on February 2 2009, and every season has increased it’s fan base and audience. Each season of Rupaul’s Drag Race has had more episodes with season 3 finishing with 18. The show as most of you know, is a reality series that finds the next Drag Queen Superstar. The past 3 winners have been BeBe Benet, Tyra Sanchez, and last seasons winner Raja. Although we loved Raja, we still think Manila should have won but with such a great season who can complain am I right?

Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 4 is slated to begin in January of 2012. Last week Logo released a two minute teaser and two minute teasers to introduce you to the gals. The teaser is slick and set in a sci-fi theme, and really is a great test to how far the show has come. The dragulator was even given a little bit of love!

Let’s talk about the season 4 contestants shall we? Well their is no doubt going to be comparisons going on now that we have 3 seasons in the bag. But we will get there when we get there k hunty’s? One thing to note Chicago, IL is well represented!

Starting off we have The Princess from Chicago, IL. She strikes me as a strong contender although I have to admit (Raven) comes to mind immediately. Then we have Jiggly Caliente who hails from NYC and looks to be the next big gal that claims she’s a loud crazy bitch (and who isn’t these days?)

Next up is Willam from the teaser clip it will be Season 4′s comedian somewhat like Pandora but maybe with a little more style, this funny drag comes to us from sunny LA. Next is Phi Phi O’hara from Chicago, IL. I guess the best way to describe Phi Phi is calm and serious. Latrice Royale is next from Miami and she’s a big old gal and one to watch out for. Has great personality.

Dida Ritz also from Chicago strikes us as another to watch. Great drag queen make up, and poise as well! Chad Michaels from San Diego, CA. and possibly one of the most famous of the Queens. She’s known for her flawless Cher impersonations and has even been in shows from Las Vegas, to London. Hmmm…a dead ringer for Cher? This could really be a serious contender.

Kenya Michaels and Madame Laqueer are this years PR girls and neither strike me to have the moxie that Yara and Alexis had. This year we have two Florida gals Alisa Summers from Tampa, and Lashauwn Beyond (Fort Lauderdale)

We have Milan for NYC, and our pick to win it all (we know it’s dangerous to do so) is Sharon Needles from Pittsburgh, PA. Her little two minute clip is everything that Drag should be, Fun, Camp, Dark, Wierd and just downright creative. Let’s see what this bitch can do!

So there ya go. Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 4 is going to be a knockdown finish to the end to early to call, but our pick is in. So who are you most excited about so far? Do you think we will have another Heather’s/Boogers group? Chime it in below!

Chicago Gay Pride Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Pride Flags

Pride Flags

Sunday, June 28, 2009 marked the 40th Anniversary of Chicago’s (and other cites across the country) Gay Pride Parade.  The first Pride Parades came in 1970, one year after the Stonewall Riots of June 28th 1969, when gays and lesbians took a stand against New York City Police at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, thus starting the Gay Rights Movement in the United States and across the world.

One would hardly call the parade a parade at all when it first started in 1970. Then it was just a modest group that marched the sidewalk of North Halstead Street, shouting and calling for gay rights.  But, they returned year after year and the celebration grew and grew. So large, in fact, that it totally takes over North Halstead, with the sidewalks being for spectators. So many spectators at times that metal barriers are linked together to keep spectators at bay.

Other major cities such as New York City, San Francisco and Toronto also held their parade this day.

From Chicago's Gay Pride Parade 2000

From Chicago's Gay Pride Parade 2000

Aside from this being the 40th Anniversary (to the day) of the Stonewall Riots, this year’s parade also had the first Transgendered Grand Marshal, Chicago’s very own and actress Alexandra Billings, who remarked, “This is a great day for solidarity and a fabulous day for sequins”. This year’s featured participants, in no particular order included members of The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, The Lakeside Pride Band, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weiss and Gay and Lesbian members of the Chicago Police Department, Equality Illinois, representatives from GLADD,  The Jane Addams Hull House, The Chicago Gay Hockey Association, Dykes on Bikes, and The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Veterans marched, some in full uniform. As I mentioned, gay and lesbian Chicago police officers participated in the parade and it has been said that in the beginning of the parade telecasts that they not televise the officers to protect their identities, and now they ride toward the front of the parade every year and proudly televised.

Crowds danced along with performers in the parade, many of whom made statements in support of gay marriage. Politicians who walked the parade say it is a hot-button issue for the state.

Of the many politicians who marched in the parade was our very own Governor Pat Quinn, who when asked what the Parade, and Pride Day meant to him, replied, “I believe in tolerance, and I think everyone in Illinois and the Land of Lincoln understands that everybody counts. We want everybody in and nobody left out.”

Newly elected Fifth District Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) celebrated his 27th Chicago Gay Pride Parade and said “It’s a beautiful day and a beautiful time for equality”.

pride 005State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-12th District) exclaimed “It’s my favorite day of the year!!” She was joined by first time parade attendee State Representative Susana Mendoza (D-1st District).  Greg Harris (D), 13th District Representative in the Illinois Legislature and a strong same sex marriage legalization advocate said he wished some of his downstate colleagues would be as supportive of the community and its goals as Chicagoans.

Nettelhorst Elementary School parents marched near the front of the parade, leaving behind a wave of bubbles. One kid-filled wagon was topped with a sign that read: “School is out and so are my dads.”

A large, well organized police presence appeared to mingle well with the crowds and reported no major problems .  Fire Department paramedics dealt with heat related issues, but thankfully for the cooperative weather and strong cooling breeze, their services were limited.Halsted merchants were happy with the great turnout and the wonderful weather.

Pride Balloon Fishy

Pride Balloon Fishy

I personally have yet to attend a Pride Parade, but have watched the coverage for the 6 years it has been televised here in Chicago on ABC 7.  The coverage is weak at best, half of the time the commentators have no idea who is marching in front of them, and the parade is never televised live, but rather late at night, and for an hour minus commercial breaks, when the actual parade to my knowledge lasts over 2 1/2 hours.  Why can’t the parade be televised live as it’s happening like any other parade?  Why bury it late at night when people are usually asleep on a Sunday night?  I guess we still have a long way to go, at least here in Chicago before we receive equal rights. Sorry Mr. Governor, but I feel left out.

FYI:  Of all the parades in Chicago, the Pride Parade is the 2nd largest parade. The largest?  The Bud Billiken Back to School Parade.

Guess I’ll be going to next year’s Pride Parade.

But, aside from that, Happy Anniversary Chicago Pride!  Forty Years and Still Going Strong!!!

Until Next Time

Michael Queenstown

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John Callaway Dead at 72

Callaway

1936 - June 23, 2009

Legendary Chicago journalist John Callaway passed away Tuedsay evening July 23 in Racine Wisconsin.  Wife Sandra says John died of a heart attack after feeling faint in a Racine store.

John Callaway was 72.

Callaway founded and was the host of WTTW-11′s Chicago Tonight for 15 years until his retirement in 1999, and wasn’t out of the limelight long before he returned to WTTW’s airwaves a year later as host of the Chicago Stories documentary series, later hosting Friday Night, a segment of Chicago Tonight that featured in-depth interviews with people in the news.

He Hailed from New Martinsville, West Virginia where he lived with his parents and sister.  His father was editor of the town’s newspaper, a boozer who couldn’t hold a job, and the family was poor for most of John’s early years according to a 2001 Chicago Tribune story about his one-man-show, “John Callaway Tonight.” After arriving in Chicago as a college dropout — with, as he often said, 71 cents in his pockets — Callaway began his journalism career at the City News Bureau of Chicago and soon rose to radio and television eminence, the story said.

Callaway later was news director at WBBM-780 AM and in 1968 helped change the station to its current all-news format. According to his biography on the WTTW website, he was named CBS Radio’s vice president for development of all-news stations around the country.He returned to Chicago a few years later and joined WTTW in 1974 as the station’s news director.

“It has been said that John Callaway, who has won more than 60 awards, including seven Chicago Emmys, is the best interviewer on television,” according to a 1994 Tribune article. “He can be tough, like when he told Sen. Paul Simon he hadn’t mastered his own campaign material. He can be sensitive, like when he delicately asked director Gordon Parks about the death of his son. He can elicit quotable sound bites. Mike Ditka, when he was Bears coach: ‘My motives are right, even if my methods stink.’ Rich Daley, when he was state’s attorney: ‘I could subpoena you overnight if you became my enemy.’ He made the Frugal Gourmet cry. When Johnny Carson asked William Buckley who was the best interviewer, Buckley answered, ‘That chubby fellow in Chicago.’ “

Callaway is survived by his wife Sandra, two daughters, Liz Foster Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway (both of whom are singers and actresses), from a previous marriage, and four stepchildren of Sandra’s

The City of Chicago, and maybe even the world,  has lost a great journalist.

Rest In Peace Mr. Callaway

Until Next Time

Michael Queenstown


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