The vice was right for the 16 contestants at last week`s Don Johnson look-alike contest at P.S. Chicago on Division Street, who fancied fast cars, fine clothes and a $500 first prize.
It was easy to pick out the contestants from the ”Miami Vice” fans sipping rum: They were the ones in white linen, hair slicked back, sunglasses draped fetchingly across their chests.
Several contestants confessed to reveling in the attention they get for their resemblance to Johnson, television`s latest macho god, but Dave Beatovic, 24, of Chicago was more practical: ”For $500, I thought I`d come out. It`s worth putting on summer clothes in winter.”
Salesman Greg Henderson`s main weapon was verisimilitude: ”I`ve got the authentic Wayfarer sunglasses and the authentic Rolex watch and the authentic Miami tan. My hairstyle is perfect except for the color.” His hair color, in fact, is closer to Tubbs` than Crockett`s.
The hopefuls made two appearances on stage as the cameras whirred and the lights blazed.
As for winner Raymond Bulinski, 26, of Chicago, well, ”I did it for the fun of it. I just came out for a coupla beers.”
The contest`s rum sponsor wouldn`t be happy about that. SOURCE: By Helen Sierra and Mary Jane Grandinetti.
UNMATCHED APPLIANCES
William Perry can`t make the Super Bowl after all.
Don`t panic: ”The Fridge” will be in New Orleans Sunday, but William Patrick Perry, a 27-year-old controller for ARA Services who plays defensive line for the Groundsmen of the Lincoln Park Touch Football League, can`t get away. Even so, Perry does have some advice for the other William Perry:
”I`d like to tell him to maintain his composure and a good perspective. Don`t get a big head,” Perry says.
”We were 9 and 1 and lost in the first round of the playoffs,” laments Perry. ”Unfortunately, we were just too confident.”
Both Perrys have younger brothers named–no kidding–Michael. And Perry says there is another William Perry who lives in his building and William Perry No. 4 who lives down the block.
”I always get their mail. One Sunday I got a phone call after the game from a young lady who wanted to speak to ”The Fridge,” he said.
An avid Bears fan, Perry was more than pleased when the team drafted the other William Perry last year. ”I posted the newspaper clippings on the bulletin board at work. A few months later the guy is a celebrity!”
Perry, who stands 6-foot-2, weighs 190 pounds, has green eyes and 32 teeth, says he is often asked if he`s related to the other Perry. He offers a pat answer: ”We`re twin sons from different mothers, but they have the same first name: Mrs.”
Last month Perry bought a special Christmas gift for his 6-month-old nephew, Joseph (no relation to Joseph Perry, a fullback with the San Francisco 49ers in the `50s). ”He got a ”Refrigerator” T-shirt he`s going to wear during the Super Bowl,” says Perry. ”But for now we`re calling him `The Cooler.` ”
SOURCE: By Tasia Kavvadias.
HEAVYWEIGHTS GO HOLLYWOOD
Who says working out every day doesn`t pay off?
One day last summer during their usual session in the heavy weight room at the East Bank Club, Dan Mahru and buddy Steve Alexander caught the eye of Zane Buzby, the director of Roger (king of the B-movie) Korman`s lastest film, ”Club Sandwich,” which stars Charles Grodin and will be released in time for Easter.
”She was watching us and thought we`d be good for some of the terrorists in the film,” Mahru says. ”She said she didn`t want to use Hollywood types. ”I wasn`t so sure when she asked us, because I have no illusions about being a movie star–that`s not why I body-build.”
In fact, Mahru is busy running his company, Automatic Ice, and is a lawyer as well, but the offer sounded like so much fun that he and Alexander flew to Los Angeles in late August for a week of shooting.
”I hate Hollywood,” Mahru says. ”We treated everyone nice and some of the people were nice to us, but for the most part Hollywood is filled with obnoxious snobs. Still, it was great fun.
”We thought our parts would be small and we`d be kept in the background, but the cameraman and director kept us at the forefront the whole time. Our parts were shot in Griffith Park, which is a gorgeous place, but there are some weirdos there. At one point we were dressed in our fatigues for the movie and we saw another guy coming toward us also dressed in fatigues. We started to wave to him like he was from the movie too. He exposed himself to us.” SOURCE: By Sherri Gilman-Tompkins.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
CTA riders may gripe about the impending fare increase, but at least they`ll still have a free subscription to the Streetfare Journal.
The journal, a ”magazine” of posters sharing space with the ads inside buses and El trains, features an eclectic variety of art, poetry, quotations and whimsical bits of trivia. One recent poster featured the words of Mark Twain: ”If You Tell The Truth You Don`t Have to Remember Anything.” Another announces that ”In One Day Americans Gobble Up 75 Acres of Pizza.”
Streetfare Journal was created by the Winston Network, a media company that brokers space on and in public transportation for advertisers. Winston began publishing the bimonthly journal in 1984.
Currently appearing in 12,600 vehicles in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., the Streetfare Journal features art and poetry by the well-known and not-so-well-known.
Kevin Doherty, 31, and George Evans, 37, who edit the journal from San Francisco, draw material from a variety of sources, including poetry publications and art museums.
”When you see the posters it`s like getting hit by a left hook,” says Evans, a poet. ”It changes the environment, makes it more human, more interesting.”
Adds Doherty: ”We`re so used to being bombarded by advertising, but this is a gap, a mystery, a curiosity created to help the public receive important pieces of cultural fabric. In plain English, we aren`t advertising. We don`t ask for anything but for the reader to receive the art for what it is.”
Evans and Doherty say they use the works of talented but lesser-known poets because they are not a part of the mainstream educational system.
”It`s not happening to kids in school, but they`re getting it in the back of the bus,” Doherty says.
SOURCE: By Tasia Kavvadias.
