May 23rd - May 30rd - 2011

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Watch for TicketPulse®.net and TicketTicker®.net coming soon. The purpose of these ventures in development is to educate the public on THE NATURE and PROCEDURES of purchasing tickets and direct them to worthwhile opportunities (and venues) by which to maximize their enjoyment of the myriad of entertainment options available in our vibrant and beautiful city at the BEST PRICE and AVAILABILITY.

As we approach the Memorial Day weekend, one is reminded to get out and enjoy the scenery and one incredible way to do that and integrate it with a good cause AND physical activity is to participate in the "Bike the Drive" event on May 29th.

This is when the ENTIRE Lake Shore Drive North AND South is shut down for bike riders who are riding to support the Active Transportation alliance, whose mission is to better the transit, biking and walking options in our city, more info is available at bikethedrive.org.

Now, from working your body to expanding your mind.

The Chicago Tribune is sponsoring the Printers Row Lit fest June 4 and 5 in the South Loop. This is a celebration of the written word, with notable speakers and discussion groups planned FOR FREE. Note certain events in the Harold Washington Library and University Center require reservations in advance, you can sort thru all the red tape by going to Chicago Tribune.com and accessing the festival information.

In an uplifting note as we Chicagoans slog thru an unseasonably HARSH spring that seems to be masquerading as a cruel extension of late winter in MAY, in reality we are suffering thru the coolest Mid May stretch we have had since 1945 (that's 66 years people, right after we won WW II) according to esteemed meteorologist Tom Skilling on the Channel 9 News , the story of Haley Reinhardt, all of 20 years old, warms the heart.

Reinhardt, a finalist on "American Idol", one of only 3 remaining contestants which include Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alania , was feted by her hometown of Wheeling Illinois on Saturday May 14th when the town president Judy Abruscato declared the day "Haley Reinhardt" Day and 400 people braved the cold and raw RAINY day to turn out and cheer her as she wound thru the town in a motorcade that stopped at the Village Hall among other stops which included a pool center she used to work at in town and a local Wheeling restaurant for lunch, a sentimental and emotional trek thru her recent past as reported by the Daily Herald.

We applaud her choice of song as "What is and what should never be" by supergroup Led Zeppelin and commend her recovery after slipping on the stairs during the performance on Wed May 18th.

Sadly, she was voted off on May 19th, but congrats to her as being in the top 3 of this year's top heavy in talent competition in a helluva accomplishment she can savor FOREVER.

A thoughtful touch was having her father play guitar on her performance.

The visit Haley made in Wheeling culminated at the nearby Arlington Park racetrack where Reinhardt performed a free concert like Idol winner Lee DeWyze did at the same location last year.

Singers Scotty McCreey and Lauren Alania are the ONLY 2 contestants left on this years Idol and one will be crowned American Idol champion on May 26th on Fox TV.

For the record, the ticket onsale for the annual summer tour for the top ten "American Idol" finalists was May 13th for the Allstate Arena stop on the national tour which is August 6th, a major venue located literally MINUTES from her hometown of Wheeling right down Interstate 294 South and perhaps the closest venue to a hometown artist that made the top ten on tour in the Idol competition ever.

In an interesting footnote, the Aug 6th local show sold out here at the Allstate Arena quickly, in no small measure to it's close proximity and location to her hometown, and a reasonable face price of $65.00 per ticket BEFORE service charges CERTAINLY contributed to the healthy box office on this show, something we have repeatedly preached in this year of economic uncertainty in the entertainment world.

For the record, the WHOLE tour this year for American Idol sold VERY WELL across the country, unlike last year when numerous cancellations, including Omaha, Nebraska and Toronto, Canada, marred the tour.

Garth Brooks is returning to the Encore Theatre at the Wynn Las Vegas starting in August.

The master showman, whose only live performances will be in Las Vegas this year, is limiting his exposure to selected runs starting on Aug 19 and 20. He will play Sept 9, 10 and 23 and 24. In October, he is slated to play the 7th and 8th as well as the 21st and 22nd and the last 2 shows on sale at press time are for Nov 4 and 5.

In case you are wondering, tickets cost $225.00 each for Garth Brooks, but the "out the door" price is $253.00 with service charges.

Robin Trower, a great guitarist whose primary success was in the 70's with his landmark 1974 masterpiece "Bridge of Sighs" warms up the upcoming holiday weekend with a show at the House of Blues on May 27th with tickets still available at press time at Live Nation.com.

Death Cab for Cutie, one of this reporters favorite bands from Seattle played an intimate show at the Metro on May 20th highlighting songs from their new release "Codes and Keys" which will be released on May 31st, and in a signal to their booming popularity they are returning to the area on Aug 25th to play the much larger U.I.C Pavilion with tickets already on sale by the time you read this

Last week's Metro Pulse® stated that the Windy City was losing 2 of it's homegrown icons within DAYS of each other, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Mayor Richard M. Daley.

As of this writing, they are both sailing off into the sunset so….(Oprah has other projects like owning HALF of a new cable network, but Mayor Daley is retired)

Metro Pulse® is committed to positive reinforcement and inspirational values disseminated to our readers and in highlighting that train of thought, I felt it proper to note the comic book influenced "superhero influx" that is upon us, cultural events that can replace the loss of our icons in a feel good sort of way, and activities we can currently enjoy AND look forward to..

Thor-the movie currently playing to sell out crowds

X-Men First Class- movie opens June 3rd

The Green Lantern- movie opens June 17th

Captain America- movie opens July 22nd

Hulk- the movie opens sometime in 2012 TBA

The Avengers- movie opens on May 4th 2012

The Amazing Spiderman- movie opens July 3rd 2012 AND the Broadway musical "Spiderman-Turn Off The Dark" OFFICIALLY opens in New York after MANY previews on June 14th 2011

Iron Man 3- movie opens May 3rd, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises-movie opens July 20th, 2012

Superman, Man of Steel- movie opens in December of 2012 BUT filming will start for certain scenes in local suburb Plano this August and September if you are hankering for a "superhero" fix sooner in a LIVE context.

Henry Cavill is in the title role in case you don't know who superman is when you show up at the filming.

Expanding upon the dissemination of joy in our world, check out how many female celebrities are PREGNANT. They are ALL Due sometime this summer as these things are NEVER etched in stone time wise.

Kate Hudson

Pink

Tina Fey

Natalie Portman

Victoria Beckham

Jewel

Selma Blair

Don't you feel better already?

Farm Aid (farmaid.org) returns Aug 13th to Kansas City Missouri at Livestrong Field with a face price of $150.00, a charitable endeavor that was born here in the Midwest in Champaign Illinois in 1985.

The Who are back in the news with dual announcements in this weeks Metro Pulse..

First, guitarist and song writer Pete Townshend has inked a deal with Harper Collins to write his autobiography and lead vocalist Roger Daltrey is touring the rock opera classic "Tommy" and plays the Venue at Horseshoe Casino on Oct 7th with tickets on sale by the time you read this.

Townshend cited this autobiography (named Pete Townshend Who He?) and the research he was doing for it as the pretext to his accessing child pornography earlier this decade that got him in trouble with the UK authorities and gave his reputation a "Black Eye'. He was forced to register on a sex offenders registry for 5 years as part of the plea to avoid jail time although he was eventually cleared of the charges.

In his defense, his girlfriend, Rachel Fuller, is Smoking hot, I saw her live at a charity performance billed as the "Rachel Fuller's Attic" at the House of Blues here in Chicago a few years back where I witnessed the most incredible free form guitar jam in the middle of "Young man blues' by Townshend I EVER SAW in my life, the chords and reverb he played STILL resonate in my subconscious from his red Stratocaster as I continue.

Daltrey is touring with Pete's little brother Simon on guitar and promises to sing "Tommy", the rock opera first released in 1969 in it's entirety for this performance.

Speaking of memoirs , add Gregg Allman of "The Allman Brothers Band" to the list of aging rock stars eager to tell their story before they forget, and Keith Richards was so enamored of his autobiography "Life" hitting number one on the best seller list he is SERIOUSLY considering a sequel to fill in the blanks.

More on the Stones later Read on…..

We were MORE than pleased to hear about Corporate Accountability International and their insistence and displeasure thru major ads taken out in major papers across the US this last week that McDonald's, the omnipresent American restaurant chain, retire 48 year old advertising spokesperson "Ronald McDonald" based upon the pertinent fact that "the Clown' is sublimally hustling Happy Meals with a programmed reward based TOY component to kids, foods that ARE NOT in the best nutritional interest of the children as defined by fat AND calorie content, utilizing PREDATORY marketing methods designed to create targeted demand for products AIMED SOLELY at children..

In a past Metro Pulse®, we castigated the fast food industry in general for their POOR choices in their summer promotions and listed each chain and the deplorable sugar laden choices they were CHOOSING to highlight in their advertising campaigns.

If you think this isn't SERIOUS having a reward MARKETED in the guise of toys being associated with the consumption of fatty foods in young impressionable minds, be aware that in December of this year, San Francisco BANS by law Happy Meals that contain MORE than 600 calories and derive MORE THAN 35 percent of their total calories from fat, a direct attack on the cheeseburger, fries and coke combo that contains 640 calories total. Santa Clara County in California, yes, THE WHOLE COUNTY, also instituted a ban on the Happy Meals/toy combos recently.

Leave it to California to set the pace in these matters.

The point is, a clown, an innocent non threatening but effective common denominator to gaining the trust of the VULNERABLE children is representative of an insidious spokesman preying on the impressionability and IGNORANCE of the children by fostering comfort and trust, and, by extension, the power of suggestion in regards to the consumption of certain products THAT ARE NOT HEALTHY, doing severe damage and MANIPULATION to the programmed tastes and behaviors that can linger for a lifetime in these children, and mentally creating an "awards system " rewarded with 'Exclusive" toys for the consumption of said products.

McDonald's, based in Oakbrook Illinois near Chicago, should be reminded of another clown indigenous to the Chicagoland area who also interacted and preyed on children, one John Wayne Gacy, who buried 33 poor souls in his front yard 3 decades ago, he also was known as a clown (even painting them in his spare time) and relished the role, no comparison to "Ronald" per se and his well documented charitable endeavors, but the point about MANIPULATION in gaining the trust of children for perceived nefarious purposes is well taken, I rest my case.

In a footnote, the annual meeting of McDonald's was held here in Oakbrook, Illinois on May 19th and the imperial decree from on high mandated "Ronald" STAYS.

Nothing like a company RECEPTIVE to the VALID concerns of it's customers .

Sadly, here in Illinois, which has the 4th highest childhood obesity rate in the country, it is glaringly apparent when moving about in our society the serious problem that exists with our youth when one sees overweight children at such a YOUNG AGE, and being a cancer survivor I am ALL too aware of the long term ramifications of childhood obesity on LONG TERM health.

SEND THE MESSAGE to the financial MERCENARIES at McDonald's by NOT BUYING the sugar laden products they offer and play their bottom line AGAINST them, all businesses NEED to make money and McDonald's DOES offer healthy alternatives, but if the consumption of these CORE sugar and fat laden products plummets, then the mantra will be to REPLACE them with WHAT sells, hopefully healthy choices, this is a message ONLY YOU can send with your pocketbook, PLEASE take heed.

In a very real way, the fate of our society AND YOUR CHILDREN depends on it.

We also had Joey "The Clown" Lombardo here in Chicago but he was a gangster now behind bars, and we were also the birthplace of famous TV clown "BOZO the Clown", so you know.

OK, enough clowning around…….

As we endure a horrific spring, at least we have a "Heat Wave" at United Center with our Bulls playing the Miami Heat in the semi finals for the championship of the EAST, and this year the Bulls allowed many seats priced at a premium to be sold on the public onsale for the 4 games we have at home here in Chicago due to the team having the BEST record in the NBA this season which garners them home court advantage THRUOUT the playoffs.

Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 FOR THIS ROUND ONLY were released at the same time on 5/13 at prices that ranged from $800.00 a ticket (with a $30.50 per ticket service charge) for downstairs center court to $350.00 for downstairs in the corners to $325.00 for the downstairs sections directly behind the baskets to $425.00 a ticket for all other downstairs sections elevated in the oval around the court, in the club levels (section 200) the CENTER sections were scaled at $350.00 and the corner sections in the club section were $325.00, and front rows in the center upper decks (section 300) were $175.00 a ticket, and All the rest were $150.00.

That's right, get ins at $150.00 in the door in the last row upstairs to say "You were There".

These prices represent a hefty premium over the prices charged to the season ticket holders, certainly a potent argument for buying season tickets, but one would argue that the 3 Musketeers that are the front line of the Miami Heat , Lebron James, Chris Bosch and Dwayne Wade, are creating a once in a lifetime, first time event in this round, and the secondary market for QUALITY seats is seeing prices realized that dwarfed the Black Hawks Stanley Cup run last year, in some cases the center court seats fetching $2,000.00 a ticket at press time. And this is NOT the FINALS.

After the first 2 games, let us hope they MAKE the finals as the Heat sure tightened up in game 2 and the Bulls head to south Miami for game 3 at press time.

To be fair, The Hawks released NOWHERE near the quantity of seats on their onsales last year that the Bulls did this year AND at nowhere near the face prices quoted here.

Speaking of hoops and the basketball term "Shot clock", a fascinating crime story comes to us from the city of New York that neatly ties in to basketball and the concept of "Wise Guys".

For the record, history teaches us that "wise men" existed and are noted thru out history, but the 20th century crime families in NEW YORK, CHICAGO and elsewhere spawned "wise guys". READ ON.

The 5/4/11 New York Post is reporting that in a trial involving Bonanno crime family captain Dominick Cerale, it was revealed that he was attending a New Jersey Nets game in courtside seats that were prominently featured on TV to mask his alleged conspiratorial involvement of a mob hit on one Randy Pizzolo that was to take place at PRECISELY the same time he would be potentially seen on TV, between 8 and 8:30 PM.

He was never implicated in the murder directly, but copped to ordering the hit on instructions from jailed Bonanno boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano who he is testifying against in an arranged plea deal with the FEDS, and the guy WAS WHACKED, but Cerale was convicted for other stuff and that landed him in the witness protection program and hence the "flip" and the testimony in open court on this slick move.

I really got a kick out of reading this , thought you would to, creative or what?

The ONLY reason he was caught AT ALL was because "Boss of Bosses" Joe Massino of the Bonannos did the UNTHINKABLE and flipped on everyone, creating an environment where everyone jockeyed for mercy and flipped on everyone else to reduce potential jail time, note that this was THE FIRST TIME EVER that a "Boss of Bosses " of a major crime family ANYWHERE flipped to the Feds.

For the record, Cerale left the game with minutes left in the 4th quarter to receive the code on his pager (7-11) that the hit was successful and he then quickly discarded the pager while driving on the expressway. Gives new meaning to "using the shot clock" eh?

In a DUMB move buy a NON wise guy, one brilliant Canadian citizen from Ontario, Robert Shearing, promised his lovely wife 2 tickets/passes to the historic Oprah farewell held at United Center on May 17th but was unable to deliver so he faked a beating by Chicago street thugs by cutting HIS OWN forehead with a rock and scraped his hands on the sidewalk, claiming the Hispanic and black ghosts of the WEST SIDE on Casper Drive near the 200 block of South Wood Street robbed him of the non existent ducats.

After he fessed up several hours later to the suspicious cops on this masochistic move, he was promptly arrested and charged with FELONY disorderly conduct for filing a FALSE police report and will appear in court this week.

He was being held on $20,000 bond, wonder how his wife is taking this memorable trip to our toddlin' town? At least she can see the televised version of the event at some point anyway.

The following is a fascinating email that was sent to me by a dear friend that highlights certain numerical combinations and coincidences that will only happen next in 823 years, so this year's events are special. Yes, this means the last time this unique calendar event transpired, the world was in the throes of medieval times in the 12th century, but you can read into this what you will, Metro Pulse reports the factual aspects what's happening but takes NO position of the validity of this claim, that is FOR YOU to decide and act upon if you so choose.

Read on.

THIS IS THE ONLY TIME WE WILL SEE AND LIVE THIS EVENT

This year, July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This happens once every 823 years. This is called money bags. So, forward this to your friends and money will arrive within 4 days. Based on Chinese Feng Shui. The one who does not forward.....will be without money.

It's a numerical mystery/once in our lifetime event but allow me to continue.

This year we will have 4 unusual dates. 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11 + that's not all, Take the last 2 digits of the year you were born in -now add the age you will be this year, the result will be 111 for everyone! This is the year of Money!

October will have 5 Suns, 5 Mons + 5 Saturdays. Again, this happens only every 823 years. These particular years are known as 'Moneybags'. The proverb goes that if you send this to 8 good friends money will appear in the next 4 days as explained in Chinese Feng Shui Those who don't continue the chain won't receive. Its a mystery, but its worth a try.

Good luck
"I GET BY GIVING"

This mantra is a pure reflection on the concept of benevolence and one I live by.

Frankly, this positive ,yet seemingly harmless and innoculous action sounds better than the "STOCK MARKET" to ME at this point, but what can it hurt to send to 8 people you know and have affection for, it is interesting knowledge and awareness at the least, let me know if any of you get "LUCKY", it would please me to no end to see some wealth disseminated here IN A POSITIVE AND GOOD WAY.

Back to the rich, storied and timeless beat……………..

Rolling Stone is reporting that Mick Jagger has FINALLY made the move into ANOTHER band.

After 49 years with the iconic Rolling Stones, Jagger has joined forces with Damian Marley, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart and Indian film composer A.R Rahman and has been secretly recording for the last 18 months under the band name "Super Heavy" with a debut LP due from the consortium in September.

The music appears to be a free form mish mash of musical genres influenced by each member's individual and personal tangents and IS NOT reliant upon any member to "CARRY" the project, something Jagger reportedly really relished as they explored some different experimental sounds and styles. No word on a tour at this point.

For the record, July 12th 1962 is the OFFICIAL date that would be the 50th Anniversary of the BIRTH of the Rolling Stones and given the egos of the members, one can't see them going out in a blaze of glory without one last BLOW OUT tour, but no definitive word on that at press time. Besides, isn't Keith digging his gig as Jack Sparrow's father now in the latest installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean"?

Barbara Streisand is rumored to be gearing up for a limited US tour for later this year for those of you who wish to harken back to "The Way We Were".

"Spiderman, Turn off the Dark", the troubled ultra expensive Broadway musical with new music by Bono and the Edge of U2, retooled with new components AND a new director, officially opens June 14th at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York after months of turmoil, good luck to them.

Respectfully

Till the next time MD
Michael E. Dehn
metropulseinc@hotmail.com

We are the "Original" Metro Pulse® since 1981. We are celebrating our 30 year Anniversary this year.