Latest news with #TheQueens
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
What to do in Chicago: Nikki Glaser, ‘Floating World' and a busy weekend for street festivals
The Queens: Expect three hours of hits as Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills command the stage at the United Center. The four R&B divas, who range in age from 68 to 81, demonstrate how they've earned their status over decades in the business. Maifest Chicago: Lincoln Square promises Gemütlichkeit — geniality — at its annual celebration of German heritage. Eat, drink beer and dance 'til your lederhosen snap. Do Division Street: Two stages programmed by The Empty Bottle and Subterranean are the draw for this West Town street fair, with Ax and the Hatchetmen among the headliners. Beyond the music, check out local artists, food trucks, fashion-forward sidewalk sales and a whole lineup of family fun including a petting zoo. Nikki Glaser: The comedian who went viral for her razor-sharp roast of Tom Brady brings her 'Alive and Unwell' tour to the Chicago Theatre for a four-show stand. If you've only seen her as host of the Golden Globes, now's your chance to see what she can really do. Windy City Hot Dog Fest: This four-year-old festival in Portage Park pits sausage against sausage, with 11 stands vying to be named top dog. Beyond all the hot dog eating — and yes, there also will be a contest to eat the most — the weekend will feature a dog parade (as in, canines) and live music. Porchfest Lakeview: Maybe you've heard of NPR's 'Tiny Desk Concerts.' Lakeview does it better. Watch local acts perform front-porch concerts throughout the neighborhood. Can't make it this weekend? Watch for another installment in Roscoe Village on Aug. 17. Chicago Puppet Lab Showcase: Get a glimpse of puppet theater works in progress, as eight Chicago artists take the stage. A offshoot of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the Chicago Puppet Lab will offer two programs featuring four artists each. 'Hokusai & Ukiyo-e — The Floating World': Promising an immersive experience that brings Japan's Shogun era to life, the Cleve Carney Museum of Art presents a 70-piece collection including paintings and woodblock prints by Hokusai and other masters of ukiyo-e. This is the first time this Chiossone Collection will be shown in the United States. 'Summer Camp': No s'mores here, but plenty of fun. The Siskel Film Center has put together a 10-film lineup of 'sweeping melodrama' and movies that are 'so bad they're actually brilliant.' It kicks off Sunday with Douglas Sirk's 'Written on the Wind' before winding its way through the Maysles brothers' classic documentary 'Grey Gardens,' the Joan Crawford biopic 'Mommie Dearest' and the Bette Davis humdinger 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' Of course there's John Waters and the disastrously fantastic Liz Taylor flick 'Boom!' Chicago Botanic Garden Plant Giveaway: It's tomato season at the Chicago Botanic Garden's plant giveaway. Head to the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden to learn about featured plants — which this weekend will feature La Roma IV and Tomatoberry Garden tomatoes — and then take home a seedling. Plant giveaways run throughout the growing season, featuring a variety of herbs, vegetables and flowers.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
In the court of R&B royalty with Chaka, Patti, Gladys and Stephanie
Near the end of an evening ruled by queens, a king was keeping Chaka Khan waiting. 'Stevie Wonder's in the house tonight,' Khan said late Sunday as she stood in the spotlight at Inglewood's Kia Forum. 'I don't know where he is.' The veteran soul-music star wandered over to the edge of the stage, the black fringe of her bedazzled cape swaying with every step, and peered out into the crowd. 'Steve, you over there?' Khan was in the middle of her set to close Sunday's installment of a traveling R&B revue called 'The Queens' that launched last week in Las Vegas and has her on the road through the fall with three fellow lifers in Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills. (One longs to have been in the room when they decided who plays last.) She'd come out singing 'I Feel for You' — saucy, casual, effortlessly funky — then glided through 'Do You Love What You Feel' and 'What Cha' Gonna Do for Me.' Now her would-be special guest was nowhere to be found. 'Stevie Wonder!' she said again, attempting to summon him to the stage. 'We go back a long, long way. I remember once we did a tour, he and I — must have been back in the '80s, the '70s or something. It was that long ago. We were on tour for dang near two years. Two friggin' frack years.' Khan went on for a minute about a vexing old record deal then seemed wisely to think better of that. 'Call him,' she instructed the crowd, which started up a 'Stevie' chant. 'What?' boomed a voice at last over the sound system. It was Wonder, shuffling out from the wings wearing his signature shades and beret to join his old friend for — well, for what? Khan had set up Wonder's cameo by saying they should do 'I Feel for You' again since Wonder played harmonica on the original record in 1984. But Wonder didn't appear to have gotten that note: After clasping hands with Khan, he started telling the story of writing 'Tell Me Something Good' a decade earlier for her group Rufus, which led Khan to cue her backing band on that number instead. And what a number it was — that slinky up-and-down riff still a marvel of rhythmic ingenuity that inspired Khan and Wonder to go off in a volley of ad libs like the seasoned pros they are. Signs of life such as that one are precisely the reason to go to a concert like 'The Queens,' in which the vast experience of the performers — Mills was the youngest at 68, LaBelle the oldest at 80 — serves not as a safeguard against the unexpected but as a guarantee that whatever might happen is fully roll-with-able. Mills got up there Sunday and discovered an unwelcome climate situation — 'I wish they would cut that air off,' she said, 'it's blowing so cold on me' — but went ahead and sang the bejesus out of 'Home,' from 'The Wiz.' LaBelle put out a call for willing men from the audience — 'Black, white, straight, gay,' she made clear — then presided over an impromptu talent show as each guy did a bit of 'Lady Marmalade' for her. And then there was Knight's handler, who seemed to show up a few beats early to guide her offstage after 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' No biggie: He could just stand there holding her arm gently for a minute while she traded 'I've got to go's' with her background singers. Another reason to go to 'The Queens,' especially on Mother's Day, was to behold the finery displayed onstage (and in the crowd). Knight wore a crisp red pantsuit with glittering figure-eight earrings, Mills an off-the-shoulder mermaid gown. LaBelle showed off two outfits, emerging in a silky blue suit before changing into a long tunic-style dress. During 'On My Own,' she kicked off her heels, sending them hurtling across the stage; later, she spritzed herself from a bottle of fragrance then spritzed the front row for good measure. As a three-hour program — Knight opened at 7 p.m. on the dot — Sunday's show moved quickly, with a rotating stage that whirred to life after each woman's set. And of course nobody stuck around long enough to offer up anything but hits. The musical pleasures were the ripples of detail in all those familiar tunes: a little ha-ha-ha Knight used to punctuate 'That's What Friends Are For'; LaBelle's frisky vocal runs in 'When You Talk About Love,' which she sang as a stagehand came out to help put her in-ear monitor back in; the way Khan toyed with her phrasing in 'Through the Fire,' slowing down when you thought she'd speed up and vice versa. (Nobody wants to start a fight here, but Khan was undoubtedly the night's best singer.) After bringing the Mother's Day audience to its feet with 'I'm Every Woman' — somewhere out there was Khan's own 91-year-old mom, she said — she started to make for the exit when her band revved up the throbbing synth lick from 'Ain't Nobody.' 'Oh, one more?' she said to no one in particular. 'S—. One more!' Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
In the court of R&B royalty with Chaka, Patti, Gladys and Stephanie
Near the end of an evening ruled by queens, a king was keeping Chaka Khan waiting. 'Stevie Wonder's in the house tonight,' Khan said late Sunday as she stood in the spotlight at Inglewood's Kia Forum. 'I don't know where he is.' The veteran soul-music star wandered over to the edge of the stage, the black fringe of her bedazzled cape swaying with every step, and peered out into the crowd. 'Steve, you over there?' Khan was in the middle of her set to close Sunday's installment of a traveling R&B revue called 'The Queens' that launched last week in Las Vegas and has her on the road through the fall with three fellow lifers in Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills. (One longs to have been in the room when they decided who plays last.) She'd come out singing 'I Feel for You' — saucy, casual, effortlessly funky — then glided through 'Do You Love What You Feel' and 'What Cha' Gonna Do for Me.' Now her would-be special guest was nowhere to be found. 'Stevie Wonder!' she said again, attempting to summon him to the stage. 'We go back a long, long way. I remember once we did a tour, he and I — must have been back in the '80s, the '70s or something. It was that long ago. We were on tour for dang near two years. Two friggin' frack years.' Khan went on for a minute about a vexing old record deal then seemed wisely to think better of that. 'Call him,' she instructed the crowd, which started up a 'Stevie' chant. 'What?' boomed a voice at last over the sound system. It was Wonder, shuffling out from the wings wearing his signature shades and beret to join his old friend for — well, for what? Khan had set up Wonder's cameo by saying they should do 'I Feel for You' again since Wonder played harmonica on the original record in 1984. But Wonder didn't appear to have gotten that note: After clasping hands with Khan, he started telling the story of writing 'Tell Me Something Good' a decade earlier for her group Rufus, which led Khan to cue her backing band on that number instead. And what a number it was. That slinky up-and-down riff still a marvel of rhythmic ingenuity that inspired Khan and Wonder to go off in a volley of ad libs like the seasoned pros they are. Signs of life such as that one are precisely the reason to go to a concert like 'The Queens,' in which the vast experience of the performers — Mills was the youngest at 68, LaBelle the oldest at 80 — serves not as a safeguard against the unexpected but as a guarantee that whatever might happen is fully roll-with-able. Mills got up there Sunday and discovered an unwelcome climate situation — 'I wish they would cut that air off,' she said, 'it's blowing so cold on me' — but went ahead and sang the bejesus out of 'Home,' from 'The Wiz.' LaBelle put out a call for willing men from the audience — 'Black, white, straight, gay,' she made clear — then presided over an impromptu talent show as each guy did a bit of 'Lady Marmalade' for her. And then there was Knight's handler, who seemed to show up a few beats early to guide her offstage after 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' No biggie: He could just stand there holding her arm gently for a minute while she traded 'I've got to go's' with her background singers. Another reason to go to 'The Queens,' especially on Mother's Day, was to behold the finery displayed onstage (and in the crowd). Knight wore a crisp red pantsuit with glittering figure-eight earrings, Mills an off-the-shoulder mermaid gown. LaBelle showed off two outfits, emerging in a silky blue suit before changing into a long tunic-style dress. During 'On My Own,' she kicked off her heels, sending them hurtling across the stage; later, she spritzed herself from a bottle of fragrance then spritzed the front row for good measure. As a three-hour program — Knight opened at 7 p.m. on the dot — Sunday's show moved quickly, with a rotating stage that whirred to life after each woman's set. And of course nobody stuck around long enough to offer up anything but hits. The musical pleasures were the ripples of detail in all those familiar tunes: a little ha-ha-ha Knight used to punctuate 'That's What Friends Are For'; LaBelle's frisky vocal runs in 'When You Talk About Love,' which she sang as a stagehand came out to help put her in-ear monitor back in; the way Khan toyed with her phrasing in 'Through the Fire,' slowing down when you thought she'd speed up and vice versa. (Nobody wants to start a fight here, but Khan was undoubtedly the night's best singer.) After bringing the Mother's Day audience to its feet with 'I'm Every Woman' — somewhere out there was Khan's own 91-year-old mom, she said — she started to make for the exit when her band revved up the throbbing synth lick from 'Ain't Nobody.' 'Oh, one more?' she said to no one in particular. 'S—. One more!'
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carlisle pub to host real ale, cider, and street food festival
A pub near Carlisle is set to host a real ale, cider, and street food festival. The Queens, which is located in Warwick-on-Eden near Carlisle, will host its real ale, cider, and street food festival between Friday, May 2, and Monday, May 5. At the festival, the pub will showcase over 20 Cumbrian real ales, from breweries such as Hawkshead Brewery, The Carlisle Brewing Company, and Hesket Newmarket Brewery The festival will also include live music and will see the pub put on a special street food menu, which will include favourites such as Asian spiced beef bao buns, cajun spiced fish tacos, American chilli dogs, and mushroom shawarma. Tom Frayne is the manager at The Queens and was on hand to express his excitement ahead of the festival. He said: "We are excited for our fourth beer festival in two years. They have been going from strength to strength, and this one promised to be the best yet. "We have really focused on showcasing some of the best real ale that Cumbria has to offer. We will have ales from Hawkshead Brewery, The Carlisle Brewing Company, and Hesket Newmarket Brewery, to name just a few. "We will have over twenty real ales and ciders, five bands, and delicious street food available over four days from May 2 to May 5. "Our regular menu will still be available, and we are still taking table bookings
