Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Lollapalooza lineup announced: Eminem, Outkast top 2014 Lollapalooza Artist

Eminem and Outkast will headline a diverse lineup of more than 130 acts at this year's three-day Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Jane's Addiction lead singer and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell announced Wednesday.

The lineup also includes recent Grammy darling Lorde, rockers Kings of Leon and Arctic Monkeys and electronic dance music stars Calvin Harris and Skrillex.

"Every year you're shooting to have just an incredible bill that people will look at and say, 'I'm there,'" Farrell said in an interview. "The music is going to entertain them and do wonders for their heart and so is the city."

This year marks the festival's 10-year anniversary in Chicago's lakefront Grant Park. This year acts will perform on eight stages from Aug. 1-3. The full lineup is available on Lollapalooza's website.

Last year's lineup included The Cure, Mumford & Sons, The Killers and Nine Inch Nails. Eminem last played Lollapalooza in 2011.

"He's on top of his game and he's doing a great show," Farrell said. "His live show is incorporating really well-made video and guest appearances."

Outkast announced earlier this year that they were coming off hiatus and performing more than 40 festival dates in 2014.

Pop fans will be excited for Lorde, whose hit "Royals" won song of the year and best pop solo performance at this year's Grammy Awards.

"She's got a love affair going with her audience," Farrell said. "They scream and howl for her."

Farrell works each year to curate a lineup. This year he said it wasn't that difficult because so many acts want to play Lollapalooza.

"It has become the gig to get," he said. "Getting all that excitement built around your band. People are throwing themselves at us."

This year's lineup continues the festival's efforts at attracting international acts. Artists from Australia, Chile, Ireland and South Africa will perform.

Last year's festival sold out at 100,000 visitors a day, or 300,000 over the three-day event. Three-day passes sold out on Tuesday. One-day passes go on sale Wednesday morning.

Elton John, Kanye West and Jack White will headline this summer's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. OutKast will also headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April along with Arcade Fire and Muse at the festival that plays over two weekends in Indio, Calif.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Master chef Judge Graham Elliot Loses Nearly 150 Pounds

After undergoing a sleeve gastrectomy at the University of Chicago Medical Center, the MasterChef judge and has lost a whopping 147 lbs. “I thought it would take two or three years to do this,” admits Elliot, 37, who now weighs 253 lbs. after tipping the scales at nearly 400 lbs. at one point. “I thought I’d lose 60 or 70 pounds the first year.”
He requests that his dressing room on the MasterChef set is filled with almonds, dried fruit and seaweed chips instead of the usual sweets. “In the past I would get stressed and ask craft services for cookies and candy,” says Elliot, who is currently in Los Angeles filming the upcoming season of the hit cooking competition show. “But now I know my stomach is the size of a banana and I need to have food that just gives me energy. So I can either have a moment of sweetness but feel really bad or I can order something delicious and light like sashimi.” The perks of his healthy transformation include wearing the same size jeans he did during his freshmen year in high school (that’s a size 36!), finally flying without wearing a seatbelt extender and losing the sleep apnea machine he’s had to use since 2005. “That’s life-changing,” he tells PEOPLE. “It was like being chained to the bed — not being able to lean over and hug [my wife] Allie or snuggle with my kids [Mylo, 7, Conrad, 3, and Jedidiah, 18 months] — because I have a huge mask on my face. Once my machine broke and I had to stay up for 48 hours because I physically couldn’t sleep for five minutes without gasping for air.” Elliot believes his personality has changed too. “I’m more assertive but in a positive way,” explains the chef, who recently opened his newest restaurant Primary Food & Drink in Greenwich, Conn. “I’m still the comedian but in meetings I’m a little more in command and not afraid that if I say something wrong, someone is going to call me fat. And really that’s what has taken control of my life since high school.” But no question, making his three boys proud is the absolute best benefit. “At my son Mylo’s birthday in January, we were all running around playing tag with his friends,” recalls Elliot. “He was telling them, ‘My Dad is the fastest one here. He can beat us in a race.’ That was awesome!”