WBEZ | Rihanna

Rihanna, Bieber and the dangers of celebrity worship

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:00:00 -0500

The gymnasium of Barrington High School exploded with Beatlemania-like screams on Friday as Rihanna, pop princess of the Billboard charts and racy queen of the tabloids, made her grand entrance.

Never mind that she was over three hours late, a delay she attributed to "Chicago traffic" in an Instagram photo she posted just an hour prior. The meet-and-greet for students who had won a video contest about "giving back to your community" was obviously low on Rihanna's priority list, as she offered "thanks for waiting" non-apology to the 2,500 person crowd--the majority of them young girls--and stayed for only 12 minutes.

Fans grew disgruntled waiting for Rihanna to arrive, deeming her behavior "rude" and pathetic." However, most were quick to forgive her when she finally showed up.

"It was a really long wait, but Rihanna is so inspirational," freshman Batul Yawer told the Chicago Sun Times.

Yeesh.

What do these teens find "so inspirational" about Rihanna? Sure, she caught the attention of hitmaker Jay Z in 2004, and with the help of some very talented songwriters, churned out 12 num ber one singles to tie Madonna's record. However, the 24-year-old singer is also famous for rolling drugs on her bodyguard's head, acting erratically on several occasions and, perhaps most disturbingly, returning to boyfriend/abuser Chris Brown after he was convicted of physically assaulting her in 2009.

Of course, everbody makes mistakes, and even chart-topping royalty like Rihanna should not held to standards unattainable by mortal beings. But her questionable conduct in the public eye (irresponsible at best, nihilistic at worst) sets a horrible example for her young fans to follow: be a bad girl, behave unprofessionally, record a love song with the man that punched you in the face and make no apologies for it.

Fans also cling with troubling rabidity to one Justin Bieber, pop singer and babe magnet extraordinaire. His tween devotees (they call themselves "Beliebers") have slammed him with false paternity suits just to get his attention, issued death threats to his now ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez and threatened to cut themselves over his alleged drug use.

Bieber is a talented-enough kid, but this whirlwind of insanity around a 19-year-old who frequently throws temper tantrums (he had the "worst birthday" ever, you guys) and doesn't even know how to spell "Janis Joplin" is downright terrifying.

The hero-worship of athletes is also way over the top. From high school to college to professional leagues, sports stars are showered with inconceivable amounts of money and praise. The greats (Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and even the recently scandalized Tiger Woods) are revered as gods. But besides being masters of their game, what have they really done to better society as a whole?

Some of my role models are actors and musicians; however, they also possess many qualities outside the realms of "acting" and "singing" that I hold in high regard. I look up to these people not just because of their talent, but because of how they carry themselves through the world.

Tina Fey inspires me as a writer, feminist and whip-smart businesswoman. I admire Andrew Bird for being a positive influence on other aspiring musicians through the Andrew Bird Scholarship Fund for Chicago arts programs. Many more of my role models are featured in the PBS documentary Makers, which chronicles over 50 years of trailblazing American women: from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Maya Angelou to the original leader of the feminist movement, the incomparable Gloria Steinem.

Outside of the entertainment industry, I implore our nation's youth to look to the people in their own communities for inspiration. Our life-changing teachers, nurses, neighbors, social workers, mentors, counselors, close family and friends are the true unsung heroes of our society; never to receive the same widespread media coverage as Rihanna and Justin Bieber, but always the ones whom we should value the most.

Who are your role models? Leave a comment below, tweet @leahkpickett or join the conversation on Facebook.

The state of Harpo Studios

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:00:00 -0600

If Chicago declared a patron saint for media coverage, no one person (save the current President of the United States) would be more fitting of such an honor than Oprah Winfrey.

Her daily talk show, taped at Harpo Studios on the Near West Side from 1986 to 2011, drew an average of 7.4 million viewers per day and was nationally syndicated for 25 wildly successful seasons. Her 2008 endorsement of then-Senator Barack Obama for president all but cemented his seat in the Oval Office, her 2009 surprise Black Eyed Peas concert swamped Michigan Avenue with a flash mob of over 20,000 people and her final season culminated in a star-studded extravanagza (oh, hey Michael Jordan, Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder!) that nearly blew the roof off Chicago's United Center.

She was our Mama O, and we haven't had someone of her lightning-in-a-bottle dynamism to rally around since.

After the last Chicago taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show in May 2011, Oprah moved to Montecito, California to run her new cable channel OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Harpo Studios tried to pick up the pieces by launching The Rosie Show in its place that October, but the evening talk program starring actress/comedian Rosie O'Donnell suffered from dismally low ratings and was cancelled by OWN after only one season.

According to this article from the Daily Beast, The Rosie Show was a disastrous experience for everyone involved ("a f*cking hellhole," allegedly) and proved to be yet another disappointment for Oprah's fledging network. OWN struggled to connect with audiences since its premiere in January 2011, prompting a major overhaul of low-rated programming and numerous staff replacements over the next two years.

The channel's losses were estimated to be $330 million as of May 2012; however, the much-publicized Oprah's Next Chapter series has provided a sizable ratings boost. And after a raise in OWN's retransmission consent fee (the channel was given to cable providers practically for free during its first year on air) the network expects to break even in 2013.

So while Oprah's career post-Chicago got off to a rocky start, recent sit-downs with Rihanna and Lance Armstrong have helped cement her status as a top interviewer. Katie Couric tries, but she doesn't have the majestic "it" factor that Oprah possesses in spades.

My two cents: OWN should tape more shows in Chicago. Oprah's celebrity interviews are entertaining, revealing and a huge ratings coup for her network, but I'd like to see her take on Chicago's struggles with public schools and gun violence from her old stomping grounds at Harpo Studios. These local issues should matter on a national level, and having Oprah in our corner could help to bring about the positive change we need (or at least, a high-profile media platform to spread awareness in moving forward).

The 2013 lineup for OWN includes four new original series, a half-hour sitcom and a one-hour scripted drama from Tyler Perry, all filmed in either Atlanta or Los Angeles. Personally, I would love to see more Harpo productions occupying the soundstages here in Chicago, instead of producers always relegating their forces to the overutilized backdrops of Hollywood.

Also, new episodes of Oprah's Master Class, Oprah: Where Are They Now? and Oprah's Next Chapter should feature more Chicago talent. The first people that come to mind: local production designers, editors, musicians, artists, graphic designers, personal chefs and camera crews that had steady employment when Oprah was in town, and have struggled to find work since.

Has Oprah forgotten about us? When former Mayor Richard M. Daley named the block of Harpo Studios "Oprah Winfrey Way" in May 2011, the talk show queen declared the honor "better than an Oscar or an Emmy."

"It is really just a full circle, a miracle story," said Winfrey, "that a little colored girl born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on a red dirt road ends up with my name on a street in the greatest city in the world, Chicago."

The legendary studio still stands at 1058 W. Washington Boulevard, but who knows how long it will remain. The film division of Harpo just folded, and most of the scripted shows are based in California. Will the lingering effects of Oprah's legacy last much longer, as her once constant presence in Chicago becomes more of a distant memory with each passing year?

We all know how much Oprah loves giving back ("You get a car! You get a car!" "AUSTRALIAAA!"and the once annual freakout spectacular "My Favorite Things!") so here's hoping that she will return to "the greatest city in the world" with open arms.

Confession: I can't stand the Black Eyed Peas, but I watched this entire video in awe.

Follow Leah on Twitter @leahkpickett or add her on Facebook.

Meet Chris Brown's tattoo artists

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:00:00 -0500

Described as a "Grammy-winner, girlfriend beater and real-life trainwreck" by The Paper Machete producer Kim Bellware, Chris Brown made headlines last week by debuting a new tattoo that some said looked like the face of his ex-girlfriend Rihanna after she had been abused by him.

Though Brown denied it, explaining that the tattoo was actually inspired by a Mexican Day of the Dead sugar skull, the world was left wondering about the how and why in choice in body art.

We went straight to the source: Comedians Brendan Dowling and Tim Sniffen, who -- luckily enough -- know exactly how that tattoo came to be. Read an excerpt below or listen above:

Tim: Since the first Egyptians used crude pigments injected beneath their skin to make mystical symbols and designs, the allure of the tattoo has been with us.

Brendan: But God knows we didn't expect to wind up running the hottest tattoo parlour in Los Angeles.

Tim: Nope: #8 on Time Out LA’s list: 'The Twenty Underground Tattoo Parlors We're Not Going To Tell You About'.

Brendan: Look at us now!

Tim: That's right, it started at some afterparty, we had just filmed a multi-episode arc for 2 Broke Girls--

Brendan: We kill the horse.

Tim: Well, there's that ruined.

Brendan: So we're at this party and Bonnie Raitt won't shut up about how bored she is with her body.

Tim: No, and when she corners you, that hair, you're not getting away.

Brendan: So she's whining about how she has to be a cronesmaid at Katy Perry’s divorce party and the dress shows off her shoulders, and she hates her shoulders.

Tim: Finally we can't take it anymore. We grab some wire from Fred Savage's basement...

Tim and Brendan: Fred Savage! That's where we were.

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