Gypsy Jazz Monday nights at The Joynt!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Any given night of the the week, The Joynt has something great going on and Monday nights are no exception. Last week, though still tired from the weekend, I went in to The Joynt thinking I would sit quietly and simply enjoy listening to one of my new favorite bands. Well, it wasn’t long at all before I had hopped up out of my seat an on to the dance floor! I couldn’t help it! Eyes Manouche will help you find energy you didn’t know you had!

From the website:

Gypsy jazz, aka Gypsy swing and jazz manouche (which means literally “traveler jazz”) is a Paris-based style of music that memorably blends traditional Roma (gypsy) forms (which are already a hodgepodge of various cultures) with elements of American jazz and swing. With its chugging rhythms, sweeping melodies and inventive improvised stretches, this enormously popular and profoundly influential instrumental tradition is as nearly synonymous with the French capitol as accordion-led bal musette, to which it also owes a considerable debt.

The guys are amazing and I managed to stop dancing long enough to record these little samples for y’all. Enjoy. I hope to see you at The Joynt on a Monday night!

Adis Sirbubalo: Accordion, Nikola Dokic: Guitar, Robert Palos: Guitar, Cole Blodget: Bass, Daniel Crane: Drums

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Dancing with the Chicago Celebrities

JenChicago, NBC Chicago Street Team

It was a HUGE success! Arthur Murray’s Fourth Annual “Dancing with Chicago Celebrities” raised $67,000 for the Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®,and what a fun way to do it! All of the toe-tapping fun went down on Friday, March 13, 2009, when Chicago celebrities paired with Arthur Murray professional dance instructors at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The winning team included Dana Kozlov, Assignment Reporter from CBS 2, and her Arthur Murray partner Edgar Chavarria. The MVP went to Robbie Ventura, who along with his team raised the most – $4,680. Other celebrities competing included Pat Cassidy, Radio Personality on WLS 890 AM, Lourdes Duarte, Assignment Reporter for WGN 9, Daryl Hawks, Sports Anchor and Reporter for NBC 5, Evelyn Holmes, Assignment Reporter for ABC 7, and Katie Lorenz, Miss Illinois 2008. The night’s emcee was NBC 5 Sports Anchor, Mike Adamle. WGN Anchor Dina Bair, NBC 5’s Meteorologist, Ginger Zee and ABC7’s Traffic Reporter Roz Varon also returned as alumni.

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Entertainment News for March 20, 2009

LaShonda Matlock, NBC Chicago Street Team

SEEING RED!
Anne Hathaway begged Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani to autograph her dress – after he accidentally spilt red wine all over the gown. The Devil Wears Prada star was at a private dinner for the 76-year-old fashion icon in New York on Tuesday (March 17th) night, which saw Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna turn out for the style mogul.

An eyewitness tells the New York Daily News, “Anne was covered in wine, but she laughed about it. She told him, ‘I want you to autograph this dress and sign it right now.’”

AND HERE COMES THE RIHANNA & CHRIS BROWN SEX TAPE…
We’ve already had the engagement rumors, wedding rumors, baby rumors, so at this point why not throw in a sex tape rumor?

Star Magazine claims that Chris Brown has a graphic video featuring him and Rihanna being very intimate in (how should I put this) “various ways”. Sources are saying that Rihanna is terribly afraid that Chris is going to leak the video if things continue on the current path and they eventually break up. The source went on to say, “Rihanna has no issues with her sexuality. But she’d be mortified if her friends and family found this out! This whole beating incident is terribly humiliating for her. She’s already traumatized and will do anything to make it all go away as quickly as possible.“

CHICAGO GOSSIP:
Tom Brokaw, former “NBC Nightly News” anchor and NBC special correspondent, speaks at the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. tonight at The Field Museum.

NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant will be sharing footwear designs with students today at Walsh Elementary. The star will also do a youth basketball clinic later this evening.

And if you want to know where the celebs like Kobe and others are partying tonight then click on my TWITTER account for all the latest scandal and gossip!

SIGHTINGS:
Actress Sandra Bullock stuck in 6pm rush hour traffic with her security detail on Michigan Avenue…. Billy Dec running from B-96 in Prudential Plaza next door to 103.5 KISS-FM for his second on-air appearance Thursday morning.

WEEKEND HOT SPOTS!
FRIDAY: Stay Lounge. The official after-party spot and best of all everyone is V.I.P.! Stay Lounge- 111 West Erie.
SATURDAY: Bon V hosts Image Magazine party and to get in free just mention IMAGE at the door! Bon V – 1100 W Randolph St

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Maven’s Diva Series: NBC Chicago Street Team

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Thursday, February 5th, the ladies of the NBC Chicago Street Team were the featured “divas” at Maven’s Diva Series. The Diva Series honors strong and confident women making a positive change in Chicago. I got to have some great chats with these ladies, that we have all come to love.

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Maven’s Diva Series: Featuring the ladies of the NBC Chicago Street Team!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team
Thursday, February 5, 2009. 6-9pm. Free

The Diva Series is back and this week will be honoring the divas, er… ladies of the NBC Chicago Street Team! The Diva Series seeks to celebrate influential women in Media, PR, Fitness, Fashion, Beauty and much more! Crimson Lounge hosts the weekly series with $3 drink specials (sparking champagne, house wine and draught beer)

I, among the other ladies of NBC Chicago Street Teamers will be in attendance and celebrating! The Diva Series is always a good time for BOTH men and women! After all, the smart guys know that the celebration of women is a VERY good thing. Come straight from work and enjoy the $3 sparkling wine special, which is always a hit with the ladies!

RSVP here on Facebook!
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Sarah Vargo: THE nightlifer to watch in Chicago!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Ok, so maybe I am slightly biased (since Sarah is such a good friend of mine) but when Chicago Magazine recently listed her as one of the top five nightlifers to watch in Chicago, I knew that my successful friend was getting the acknowledgment that she richly deserves!

We started out, Friday night, at Crimson Lounge where Sarah and team will relaunch Maven‘s Diva Series. After we had our fill of “Girl Talk” Sarah led us over to Underground where we danced, laughed and partied the night away! Benjamin Newby, manager and good friend of Sarah’s, made sure that we all had a great time!

Congratulations, Sarah! You deserve it!

PS: We’ll definitely be watching YOU!

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Keep Santa in your heart all year!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Much to my delight and surprise, I found myself to be the current “Featured NBC Chicago Street Teamer”! After such an exciting, bustling and fantastic Chicago Holiday season, I feel as though the gifts just keep on coming!

I also realized that in the midst of all the excitement, there were TWO holiday videos that I never actually posted on this site. I know, I know… and I’m sorry. Please forgive Santa.

Due to the “Santa-Clause-y” nature of the videos, I wondered if the time had passed and it was too late to post… BUT THEN I thought, “What would Santa do?”

So, “bada-bing, bada-boom”… here you go. Please enjoy Santa dancing at the Go Green event and ice skating in Millennium Park.

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Cheeky Chicago New Year’s Eve 2009!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Ringing in the New Year… This is how we do it!

Cheeky Hosts NYE at Angels & Kings “A Global Threesome” kicks off 2009 in style with a triple champagne toast, goody bags, cupcakes, hot hot DJ’s and special guest Catt Sadler from E!’s “The Daily 10.”

Feel fine in 2009 with more rockin’ videos at JenChicago.com!

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Helping out the Greater Chicago Food Depository!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Dennis McKinnon of the “85 Chicago Bears helps raise money for those in need this Holiday Season!

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Yelp Holiday Bash!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

On December 11, Yelp hosted their 2nd Annual Winter Wonderland Cocktail Soiree at Architectural Artifacts… and it ROCKED! If you missed this one, get on the website and start yelping, so that you do’t miss the next one!

From the website:

Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great (and not so great) in your world. You already know that asking friends is the best way to find restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local. Yelp makes it fast and easy by collecting and organizing your friends’ recommendations in one convenient place.

Cocktails provide by:
Barefoot Champagne / Poinsettia
Between Lounge / Hot ‘n’ Dirty
Blackbird / Anejo Smash
Blue 13 / X’s and O’s
Bull & Bear / The Broker’s Breakfast
Chaise Lounge / X-Miss-tini
Encore Liquid Lounge / White Winter Pear
Jbar / S’more-tini
May Street Market / Nectar Martini
MK / Adlib
Uncommon Ground / Winter Tree Tini
Zed 451 / Cranberry Spiced Old Fashioned

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MAVEN’s Diva Series with le Dress!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

di·va – [dee-vuh, -vah] noun, distinguished female singer; prima donna. Goddess, fine lady.

Every Thursday, in downtown Chicago, divas gather at Madame Tartine for MAVEN‘s Diva Series. This weeks’ series featured the Ladies of le dress, Eva and Robyn Anderson! The sister-in-laws opened the “dresses-only” store this summer, as a result of their personal experiences in trying to locate dresses for a variety of events. The store has a price range from $40 to $500 with sizes ranging for 0 to 12.

The Diva Series runs weekly from 7-11 with complimentary champagne cocktails from 7-8pm. And though Madame Tartine is packed full of beautiful women, the smart guys know that the Diva Series isn’t just for the ladies. (that’s a hint, guys!)

Come celebrate the Diva Series with Sarah Vargo and Renae Placinski of MAVEN!

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Samson gets a haircut!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

Let me tell you a little story about a fellow named, Samson…

Okay, we don’t have time for a long drawn out story, but suffice it to say… Samson is my friend, my buddy, my dog. And I love him. Very much.

There are a lot of dog lovers, like me, here in Chicago and we all want to take care of our little friends. They need their nails trimmed, teeth brushed, hair cut, la-la-la… One might think it a good idea to buy some clippers, a nail file and toothpaste… and then just “have at it”… BUT if you have ever tried to groom a squiggly dog, in less than 3 hours, you would know how easy it is to make the little guy look like he just stepped off the set of Fraggle Rock. Trust.

So, as I was searching for a place to groom my best pal, I found Streetervile Pet Spa and Salon. I spoke with the owner, Marion, and was convinced that Samson was going to be in good hands. And, of course, he was!

Beware: If you thought Samson was handsome before… hold on to your socks!

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Hornitos’ Midnight in the Garden of Agave

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

What do you get when you combine the Garfield Park Conservatory, wonderfully costumed performers, DJs, dancing, and a whole lotta Hornitos tequila?

Midnight in the Garden of Agave. Check it!

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Thrillist Chicago Launch Party

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

It’s officially here. Thrillist Chicago. It’s a free daily email and they only cover what they like. Why waste your time with NOT fun stuff (ie: bad reviews) is their logical position. The magazine is targeted at “guys like us” says co-founder Ben Lerer, and I think it has kickin’ stuff for everyone.

Dave, the local editor for Chicago does a great job of finding cool things to do and write about. I didn’t say that these things are all necessarily reasonable priced, but definitely cool. (I haven’t stopped thinking about this bronze appliqué holster that was featured a few weeks back by Skin.Graft. )

The party was a ton of fun and everyone was wonderfully nice. The 50/50 is an awesome bar and did a phenomenal job of hosting us. They have an amazing staff, good music and nice clean restrooms. (We love that, don’t we, Ladies?) Therefore, I say, the launch was a huge success with music, an open bar, Jet Blue giveaways and more.

Sheesh… It’s a dirty job…

If you want to get in the loop with Thrillist Chicago, you may join here.

(A special “Thank you” to Michelle Molina for being my videographer. Music: Kevin MacLeod)

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Pride of Baltimore II

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

As I was finishing up some filming today for the Mackinac Race at the end of Navy Pier, Samson (my dog) and I passed a beautiful ship that we had to explore.

Dave Castle was kind enough to talk with me about the history of the ship, its background and how people can get involved. Being a guest crew member seems to be a wonderful way to “get away” on the open water.

From the Web site:

Maryland’s PRIDE is a reproduction of an 1812-era Baltimore Clipper privateer. She is Maryland’s working symbol of the great natural resources and spectacular beauty of the Chesapeake Bay region. Her mission is threefold:

• to promote Maryland trade and tourism
• to represent the goodwill of all Maryland’s citizens
• to provide a unique education platform via onboard programs and the Internet for American history and maritime sciences.


Pride of Baltimore II from Jen Knoedl on Vimeo.

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Rock with me at the Double Door!

Cara “Cara’s Basement” Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

I blogged about this event a few days ago, but just wanted to remind you about the Shannon Sperando Cancer Benefit Concert at The Double Door tomorrow (Saturday, July 5). Live music from Munroe, Dave Costa, The Chemist vs. The Computer, Facing Winter and Mer. Only $8 for five bands and you’ll be helping out a young lady with cancer.

I had the pleasure of appearing on NBC 5 Today this morning with Rob Elgas and Zoraida Sambolin to chat about this event. Well, it wasn’t exactly a pleasure arriving at 5:30am but it was pretty cool being inside the NBC studio’s. Now that I’ve seen the video, though, I realize that I probably should have packed a brush in my purse and applied more blush for the bright lights – but that’s the kind of thing that happens when you stick a radio person on TV!!

Please click here to read my original blog (it includes more details) about this benefit concert.

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Sundays with Tim

Tom Kolovos, NBC5 Street Team

Life is strange. At 44 years of age, I’ve lived long enough to have buried a lover, a mother and a few hatchets.

Death is ever stranger. Especially the death of strangers.

I never met Phyllis Hyman but in 1995, when she committed suicide at the age of 45, I felt a very real sense of loss. That exact same sense of loss came over me again on Friday when I heard that Tim Russert had died from a heart attack.

I’ve never met Tim but he has been in my home on most Sunday mornings for something like 15 years. NBC’s “Meet the Press” has always been mandatory viewing for me even as I have found the amount of television that I care to watch has changed in inverse proportion to the number of channels on the cable box. (“Deal or no Deal?” Are you kidding me? No, seriously, are you kidding me?)

I don’t know about you but I live in a world where all the network weekday morning news programs have morphed into infotainment; a world in which the real news on the evening news is that America is still not ready for a female anchor let alone a female president; a world in which the cable news channels offer programming and personalities mostly reminiscent of the WWF; and a world where, Monday through Thursday, the only real news analysis can be found on “The Daily Show.”

Phyllis Hyman was one of the best vocalists ever to make music. Her “Greatest Hits” and her penultimate record, the masterful 1991 “Prime of My Life,” are primers on how to sing any songbook (or phonebook). “Gonna Make Changes” on the former and the title track on the latter were, it turns out, as cruel a choice of words as can be found in life’s playbook.

Tim Russert was quite possibly the last practitioner of intelligent broadcast journalism. Presidents, Princes (of Darkness known as Cheney) and Kings will still have occasion to meet the press, but it’s difficult to imagine (today) that, without Tim presiding, it will evermore be done with such diligence or accountability.

I began by saying that life is strange. How strange, you ask? Well, walk this way.

Just last week I walked into Zolla/Lieberman Gallery and saw the most ravishing painting by Chicago native Maria Tomasula. I’ve known and admired her work since 1995, but her newest painting “Royalty,” is something to behold. (You must see it in person because the reproduction here does it, and her talent, no justice.)

I intended to devote a whole blog next week to the exhibit of her work, but I found myself thinking today that her own description of this exceptional piece is a more fitting tribute to the legacy of Tim Russert (or any of our dearly departed) than I could have come up with myself. She writes:

This painting began as a meditation on the relationship between being and not being and how that relationship is imagined by different people. For some people, death is the end of life on earth but the beginning of something else. [T]his painting advocates the idea that death is final, and that while death (represented by the skull) is crowned with an image of life (the halo of fruits emphasizing succulence, sensation, fecundity, pleasure), the skull is at the center, irrevocable and final. But, for me, this isn’t a cause for lamentation. Instead, it is to say that our paradise is in this life that we live right now. And far from being simply an advocacy of hedonism, for me, there is a call for responsible action imbedded in this view. If this life is it, as far as we know, then we have a responsibility to do everything we can to bring into existence the most just society we can, because if we want to enjoy our lives, we want to do so in a society that makes the pleasures of life accessible not only to us but to the greatest number of people possible.

The exhibition of Ms. Tomasula’s work runs through August 23rd at 325 West Huron in Chicago.

TheBestDressedList.com

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