CHICAGO – It began with a boy and his dream (nightmare?). John LaFlamboy, to be exact, as he took an idea he had in college and made it his life’s work. He owns and operates the HellsGate Haunted House in Lockport (Illinois), which was designed, built and put together by Haunted House experts expressly for the spookiest month of the year. For info on how to purchase tickets, click HellsGate.
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On-Air Film Review: Lift Every Voice and Sing for ‘Till’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 28, 2022 - 5:09pmCHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on October 27th, 2022, reviewing “Till,” a narrative re-telling of the Emmett Till civil rights incident from 1955, in wide release beginning October 28th.
Podtalk: Chinonye Chukwu & Danielle Deadwyler for ‘Till’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 19, 2022 - 10:05amCHICAGO – The film “Till” is the story of Emmett Till, a black Chicago boy who was murdered in 1955 while visiting relatives in the American South. Instead of hiding the killing, Till’s mother Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler) chose to show the world the result of her son’s hate crime murder. Chinonye Chukwu directed the film.
Film Review: A Little Drama! On-Air Review of ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2021 - 5:29pmCHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on January 7th, 2021, reviewing the new film “Stars Fell on Alabama,” which is available now through Video-On-Demand.
Interview: Sister Act ‘Larkin Poe’ on New Album ‘Self Made Man’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 21, 2020 - 10:28amCHICAGO – Larkin Poe features sisters Rebecca and Megan Lowell, who are singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalists creating their own brand of rock ’n roll … rooted in grit, soul, and their southern heritage flavor. Originally from Atlanta and currently living in Nashville, they are descendants of tortured artist and creative genius Edgar Allan Poe.
Film Review: The Friendship Page of Black & White in ‘Green Book’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 19, 2018 - 9:13amCHICAGO – In the original sin of racism in America, structured in the societal relationship between whites and African Americans, there had to be small steps before there were larger ones. In 1962, a black piano virtuoso and his white Italian New Yorker driver toured through the Deep South and developed a friendship, in the new film “Green Book.”
Interview: Director Julie Dash of ‘Daughters of the Dust’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 29, 2016 - 3:55pmCHICAGO – Iconic and historical are the two apt terms for a film directed by an African American woman, the first to be distributed theatrically, Was it the 1920s? 1940s? It had to be the 1970s. No, it was 1992 when that barrier was broken, with the film “Daughters in the Dust,” directed by Julie Dash.
Film Review: ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Depends on its Own Piety
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 7, 2016 - 8:43amCHICAGO – “The Birth of a Nation” has been making news since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early this year. Taking place before the American Civil War, this incendiary look at a real slave rebellion in the deep South does pack a punch, but its approach isn’t completely successful.
