Me in the Chicago Tribune and the Indianapolis Star Today

I am in today's Chicago Tribune, in a story about the stand-up scene. The writer talked to me and Dan about ChUC and also quoted my very first comedy soul sister, K-Rock.

I'm heading to Midway to grab a flight to Cleveland to visit Melissa, who's house-sitting there. Yes, Cleveland! It's all part of my brilliant plan to escape the harsh Chicago winter by making an almost imperceptible shift in the exact same latitude.

Also, I had a record three articles published in the Indianapolis Star this morning. If you're interested in the 26th annual Flower and Patio Show at the Indiana Fairgrounds, I am darned near an expert on the subject at this point. My parents are calling everyone within a 25 mile radius making sure everyone reads today's paper and marvels at my flair for proper punctuation and short, easy-to-digest paragraphs.

A quote from the Trib piece:

Stand and deliver

In a town full of improv and temptations to move elsewhere, the stand-up scene still has its stars

By Glenn Jeffers | TRIBUNE REPORTER

March 7, 2008

...Chicago Underground (Comedy)...is more of a showcase for the new "room-to-room" comics like Brady Novak, Brendan McGowan and Fay Canale. Though the room's a little bigger than the Lodge, the show still carries the same hangout vibe back when Sam ran it out of Gunther Murphy's. Comics do their sets, then knock back a few and talk shop in the bar.

Thank Dan Telfer and Elizabeth McQuern, the show's new producers, for keeping that vibe. The two have retained several local comics by sticking to a tried-and-true philosophy: Give them whatever they want, from extra time to letting them play music on stage. "We want them to feel spoiled," says Telfer, 29, of Evanston...

Coming Soon...

Super busy. The other two Buckets and I wrote and shot our first sketch on Sunday. It was amazing. I love them. I'm editing it. I'm exhausted.

Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough

Whoa, that last post was my 1500th entry in Bella Rossa! I had no idea. And I have hardly blogged at all in the last ten days. That has never happened. Okay, so I'm still super busy. What's going on? Well, apparently I'm becoming a filmmaker, for one thing. Lots of exciting news. Will catch up soon.

But first, a cheer for some of my comedy homies and valued friends:

Returning friends I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with last night at the Lodge. Comedy best friends. People who invite me over for a comedians' Thanksgiving. Comedian friends who are so wowed by my editing work that it makes me take myself seriously as a filmmaker.

My adored niece and creative partner in crime, soon to be my roommate. (Our home is going to become a hangout and focal point of Chicago comedy and creativity, wait 'till you see!)

My office friends (sorry, no links), and people like the very sweet Bridget Fitzgerald, who keep popping up to see me onstage, even when I'm head-to-toe red blotches and talking so fast I finish my jokes two minutes early.

My new friends, who are soon to figure heavily in my creative development and production (get lots of sleep, Nellie!).

My co-producer Dan, currently swimming in a river of creative, marital, and reproductive bliss with his beautiful wife Victoria.

And cheers for smokin' hot, crazy smart, very funny boys (okay, "boy") who have let me grab and fondle them in private moments and in public as well. Oh, you didn't go to ChUC last Tuesday? Then you don't know what I'm talking about. That's okay. He knows who he is.

And, apropos of absolutely nothing, here's a 40 second video of a slow-moving train gliding through a market in Bangkok, and then the shopkeepers flipping down awnings and pushing out cars of wares seconds after the train has passed. It's so beautiful it looks choreographed.