Here at Ageless North Shore we favor the counter-intuitive approach to stories. Why else would we feature Traeger Furs now that spring is upon us? And why feature a furrier at all? Doesn’t that play into the North Shore stereotypes that Ageless often debunks?

Well, as our good friend Walt Whitman used to say;

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Barry Traeger

Barry Traeger’s family-owned business has been in Skokie for 40 years. Before that, Traeger Furs plied their trade at 190 N. State, the historic State/Lake building in Chicago. Back in the day, 190 N. State was a hub for small shops who saw customers by appointment only. As the customer base moved to the suburbs, Traeger Furs joined in the migration.

So Barry and I sat down last Friday afternoon at his show room on Lincoln Ave. We spoke about Skokie’s redevelopment and the Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie (IMODS). Barry suggested that I meet with Howard Meyer, executive director of the Skokie Chamber of Commerce and Randy Miles, owner of the Village Inn. Click here for that post.

Traeger wanted to talk about fur. Or as he told me, “the fur fair this May in Montreal is now called the Luxury Outer Wear Show.” Traeger embraces the “New Attitude” which is the theme for the 2010  North American Fur & Fashion Exposition in Montreal (NAFFEM).

The selection at Traeger Furs reflects the changing styles and lifestyles of their customers. In most suburbs, where you are in and out of your car all the time, you are naturally going to favor a jacket or mid-length over a full length coat. But if you live in the city or a more walker-friendly suburb, Traeger has elegant full length coats for you as well.

Sheared Beaver Jacket designed by Jean Crisan

And then there is weight. Long hair raccoon, fox, and beaver coats are not as fashionable as they once were. They are just too heavy in today’s slender world. In fact, capes and ponchos are a big part of the product mix in the more casual 21st century.

Today, the buzz word is shear…as in sheared mink and shearling.

Sheared mink has a sleek look while maintaining the shiny appearance and luster of the long haired coats. And as importantly, the sheared mink maintains the warmth in winter that has traditionally been the attraction of the fur coat.

Shearling has become a very popular alternative to mink and sable. The lightweight lambskin has the look of leather but is softer and much lighter weight.

Traeger Furs carries the unique knit designs of Paula Lishman. Through a patented process Lishman transforms strips of fur into fur yarn. Lishman’s collection includes strollers, full length coats, shawls, blankets, jackets and other accessories.

Woven Fur Jacket by Paula Lishman

By nature and by design, the world of fashion is one of change and innovation. But Traeger Furs maintains the lessons learned at 190 N. State. Early on, Arnold Traeger, company’s founder took advantage of the larger space available in Skokie and built a cold storage vault  And I can attest that they are cold and spacious. Your furs will spend a comfortable and rejuvenating summer in their humidity controlled facility.

Repairs, reconditioning and even restyling are done on site. Barry told me about a full length mink coat that their designers refashioned into a shorter length coat. And then used the extra fur for a detachable hood. Doesn’t a fur hood sound cozy?

Lazaros Kapetanou, master furrier

The official End of the Season Sale runs through March 13. There are some serious savings for real, North American, luxury outerwear. For women and men.

Any Ageless North Shore readers…you can go to Traeger furs ANY TIME through the end of March and ask for Barry. He’ll take good care of you.

The revitalization of Downtown Skokie is a work in progress. Howard Meyer, executive director of the Skokie Chamber of Commerce and Randy Miles, president of IMODS and owner of the Village Inn are working with the Village of Skokie to make it happen.

Randy Miles and Howard Meyer...casual Friday

The Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie is

Continue reading Howard Meyer, executive director of the Skokie Chamber of Commerce and Randy Miles, president of IMODS and owner of the Village Inn are working with the Village of Skokie to make it happen.

Randy Miles and Howard Meyer...casual Friday

The Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie is a nonprofit organization composed of business people, property owners and concerned citizens that propose ideas for downtown development.

I met with Howard and Randy at the Village Inn on a Friday afternoon. Howard and Randy had had a meeting at the Village Inn earlier in the day and Howard told me the place was packed.

Old time Skokians remember this location where Lincoln and Niles Center meet across from the historic St. Peter’s Church (built 1894) as Alberti’s. Randy greets his customers like friends or family. The Village Inn serves thin, thick and stuffed pizza included in a menu of 165 items. In fact, a flaming platter of saganaki interrupted our conversation as Randy shouted “opa,” (isn’t that a law?)

Randy offered me a beverage. I ordered a Coke because one can lose your concentration at the Village Inn surrounded by the 6 big screen TV and 39 smaller monitors.

We talked about business. Namely the business of filling vacant store fronts, improving facades, and generally creating the goods and services that the downtown Skokie workforce needs and Skokie residents want.

Illinois Science and Technology Park photo: C&M Photographics

With the growing base of the Illinois Science + Technology Park developed by Forest City Enterprises, the Skokie Campus of Oakton Community College (site of the former Niles East High School–go Trojans) and expansion of the Skokie Swift, aka the Yellow Line, Skokie business is poised for a growth spurt.

Even better; with consultation from IMODS the Village of Skokie has embarked on an ambitious redevelopment program. Features of the program include:

• Facade Assistance
• Interior Rehab
• Design Assistance
• Change of use allowance
• Parking Requirement Waiver
• Broker’s Bonus Program

This program offers real money…Up to $100,000 in matching grants–not loans– to update and renovate an existing building for approved use.

But the program and redevelopment of Skokie faces significant challenges. Not the least of which is the recession, which began in late 2007 and continues to hold the economy in its icy grip. Also, the retail building stock in Skokie is older as are its landlords. Some building owners have been slow to recognize the new economic realities.

Festival of Culture 2009 : photo by Ruth Sinker for Skokie Public Library;

One of Skokie’s greatest strengths is its ethnic diversity. Howard told me that in Skokie schools, “over 90 languages are spoken.” And yet this diversity can be a challenge in crafting an identity or brand for Skokie’s downtown.

When asked what types of businesses they’d like to see downtown, Randy and Howard pretty much agreed…galleries, restaurants, crafts & artisan shops, independently owned boutiques and jewelry stores, an upscale grocery, a health club, even a movie theatre.

Upside down at the Backlot Bash

I told Randy and Howard that we’re big fans of Al Curtis and the Skokie Theatre and that we attended last year’s Back Lot Bash in Skokie. Howard told me about the Skokie Festival of Cultures coming up on May 22 & 23.

As Skokie competes with surrounding suburbs and Chicago, the Village never loses sight of the culture advantage of diversity.

Tomorrow we will feature a profile of a member of IMODS, Barry Traeger, of Traeger Furs, inc

At last night’s Academy Award presentation, there was an uneasy juxtaposition between the affable and  funny hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and Oscar winning film, Hurt Locker.

Martin and Dan Aykroyd. "Two Wild and Crazy Guys"

Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross, "Now do I have your attention."

Evidence of their baby boomer bona

Continue reading Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and Oscar winning film, Hurt Locker.

Martin and Dan Aykroyd. "Two Wild and Crazy Guys"

Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross, "Now do I have your attention."

Evidence of their baby boomer bona fides is their hosting of Saturday Night Live. Martin has hosted 15 times. Baldwin 14. Since its debut in 1975, Saturday Night Live helped a generation make the transition from  passionate idealism in the 60s to the reality based irony of today.

The men portrayed in Hurt Locker are Army volunteers defusing bombs in Iraq. There is little irony in searching out roadside bombs amidst a hostile if not combative populace.

The interpretive dance version of the nominated musical scores included a hip-hop, break dancing tribute to Hurt Locker where a lots guys fell down highlighted the chasm between the text and the subtext of the film. Hurt Locker became part of the award season spectacle and thus is another to squeeze viewership from its brand.

In Katherine Bigelow’s acceptance speech, she spoke about fellow producer and screenwriter

Katherine Bigelow, the first woman, to win Oscar for best director.

Marc Boal’s courageous script. Context is everything. And the pen may be more powerful than the sword, but they both get blown up by an IED. Gracefully both Bigelow and Boal thanked the troops and Bigeolow included hazmat workers and firemen.

Of course, the Academy Award history is replete with the awkward juxtaposition of the elation of award winners and the decidedly tragic subject matter of the winning films. This cringe-inducing reality was best expressed by Ricky Gervais at the 2009 Golden Globes, when he congratulated Kate Winslet for winning the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as a Nazi prison guard in The Reader.

“I told you, do a Holocaust movie and the awards come, didn’t I?”

2009, Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais to Kate Winslet ‘I told you, do a Holocaust movie and the awards come, didn’t I?

Winslet went on the win the Oscar for best actress in 2009 and her speech was professional and thankfully unmemorable.

As a devoted Oscar fan, (I watch every year and bet on each category), I acknowledge that I buy into the hype and the nature of this most prestigious of “pseudo-events.” Daniel Boorstin’s profound analysis of American culture, “The Image,” characterizes a “pseudo-event” as follows:

1. It is not spontaneous, but comes about because someone has planned, planted, or incited it. Typically, it is not a train wreck or an earthquake, but an interview.

2. It is planted primarily (not always exclusively) for the immediate purpose of being reported or reproduced. Therefore, its occurrence is arranged for the convenience of the reporting or reproducing media. Its success is measured by how widely it is reported…. The question “Is it real?” is less important than, “Is it newsworthy?”

3. Its relation to the underlying reality of the situation is ambiguous. Its interest arises largely from this very ambiguity…. While the news interest in a train wreck is in what happened and in the real consequences, the interest in an interview is always, in a sense, in whether it really happened and in what might have been the motives. Did the statement really mean what it said?

4. Usually it is intended to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Reality

And now today, TV, newspapers, blogs, radio, and social networking sites will cluck and chatter and comment on dresses (what’s up with Tina Fey?) and add their own spin to one of the grandest of the “pseudo events.”

And this year, I thank my blog platform software for giving me this opportunity to join in the mess.

Novelist Amy Shearn authored today’s post.

(UPDATE: This show has been postponed until Sunday, May 16th at 2:30 PM) At the Wilmette Theatre, North Shore residents and beyond will have an opportunity that would make seven-year-old me shriek with joy.  No, it’s not a pet unicorn or a canopy bed: it’s a performance by the talented

Continue reading Amy Shearn authored today’s post.

(UPDATE: This show has been postponed until Sunday, May 16th at 2:30 PM)
At the Wilmette Theatre, North Shore residents and beyond will have an opportunity that would make seven-year-old me shriek with joy.  No, it’s not a pet unicorn or a canopy bed: it’s a performance by the talented show business veteran Andrea McArdle, who created the role of Annie in the Broadway musical Annie in 1977.

Andrea McArdle

Andrea was kind enough to chat with me recently about her upcoming performance, her illustrious career in show business, and a certain spunky orphan named Annie.

AS: Okay, I’m sorry, you’re probably tired of talking about “Annie”…

AM: (laughing) I’ve made my peace with it.  During the whole thing I was not that fun to deal with.  It’s just so different when you’re in it.

AS: I was obsessed with “Annie” as a kid.

AM: I always meet gay guys who are like, “The red album! The red album!” [The original Broadway cast recording]

"The Red Album"

AS: Exactly.  I read that you were pulled from the chorus of orphans to play Annie on Broadway.

AM: I was the toughest orphan.  The only reason they never considered me for Annie was that I wasn’t a redhead. I was on the soap opera “Search for Tomorrow” and I was contracted with long brown hair.  Then they realized not to look for what’s outside — you could dye hair or wear a wig, not that my mother would have let me dye my hair — but to look for the soul of the character, and I got the role.

AS: What was it like to be cast as Annie?

Reid Shelton, Andrea McArdle and Sandy

AM: The show wasn’t a hit then. To me, I treated it the same way I treated the school play — I didn’t really see the difference between that and Broadway.  I had no idea what a Tony award was. When I was nominated for one I was like, “Oh, cool.”  It was just another gig.

I have great parents.  I was always the daughter before  a commodity.   I was a gymnast before theatre and it was just like that — being part of a team.  Afterwards, it became a hit.  When it hit we knew we were the toast of the town.  It could have been terrible, but like I said, I had great parents.

AS: What was it like being a child star?

AM: I’m lucky that it wasn’t television, which uses you up and spits you out.  You know, sometimes I’m still waiting for my “Norma Rae” role and think it just hasn’t happened yet.  (laughs.)   After “Annie,” I had offers to go on sitcoms but they were all terrible and luckily we knew better.  It would have had a horrible outcome, just trashed my reputation.  They didn’t know what do with kids when I was hot.

Today they have the Disney channel, I would have had my own show, a whole franchise.  But then, American Broadway was dying — it was the beginning of the British Invasion and all major producers were on their last legs.  There were really no projects around, so we just didn’t get to ride the momentum.  That’s why it’s nice to also be a singer.  It was hard to cast me — I looked like an eight-year-old boy until I was eighteen and then suddenly grew up one summer — so no one knew what to do with me.

AS: You appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and performed with Liberace. What was that like?

Liberace (photo from liberace.org)

AM: It was amazing. I wasn’t phased. I did the Carson show three times. I played Judy Garland in the movie Rainbow on NBC and Liberace saw it. I was in school writing a paper on JFK and got a call to go to Las Vegas. Liberace gave me my sweet 16 party, which was wrong on so many levels, but great.

AS: What do you think of contemporary child stars?

AM: Ugh, so many of them are puppets for sick parents.  It’s so different from getting into business because a child has talent. I feel horrible for them; I would never want to grouped into the child star group.

AS: Do you ever get tired of being Annie?

AM: Well, sometimes I think the Annie thing has held me back.  If I had arrived on scene at 18 or 19 it would been better — you can’t be an adolescent girl in mary janes and a red dress forever.  But I wouldn’t change a thing.

AS: What were some of your favorite roles?

AM:I got to play Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.”  I was 37, and I was surprised they were calling me.  I thought they were calling me for Mrs. Potts and I was like, Mmm, I don’t know if I’m ready to play a teapot.  But I loved playing Belle.  My daughter was 12, and it was great to be in something she was so in to.  I think that’s the best Disney story, too.  It’s not just for kids.  It has universal appeal.

I loved played Sally Bowles — it’s really fun to play a bad girl.

AS: Many Ageless North Shore readers are redefining or reevaluating their lives and careers at midlife.  How have you managed to maintain such an active career in a field notoriously interested in youth?

Andrea at New York's Metropolitan Room. (photo by Richard Termine )

AM: Well, you know, I’m in a period of crossroads.  I’ve been mature enough to play mothers for almost a quarter of a century.  This business owes us nothing.  Who wants to wait two years to sing two great songs in a show?  That’s why cabaret is so incredibly appealing. No one wants to see, you know, a “seasoned” 17-year-old sing cabaret.  It took me years to feel comfortable  with cabaret; it’s easier to sing for 6000 people than for 60.  You have to deal with the people and their energy…but once you face it, it’s liberating.

Now I have so many great stories and I can chat with the audience.  It’s a live version of what a book would be, but it’s all off the top my head.  I’ve had a lot of funny experiences! Who else performs for the queen at 13? I mean, Catherine Zeta Jones was my Molly in London.  No one could pronounce her name — we called her Zeetie.  It’s just interesting to see where everybody ends up.

My story is a success story — theater is what I love. I was lucky.  Now you have to go and do tv just to get the roles you want.  Since Broadway went corporate it’s just such a machine.  It changed everything.  It’s all marketing.  I mean, when you see reality tv show stars getting roles…it’s tough.  But in theater,you do it for the love of it.  And I love what I do.

For tickets to an “Evening of Song, ANDREA MCARDLE with Doug Peck on the piano”, Monday March 15 at 7:30 click here.

__________________
Amy Shearn is the author of  How Far Is the Ocean from Here. Her work has appeared in Jane, West Branch, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, a baby and a dog. Visit her online at amyshearn.com.

Eggscommunicate by Mary Dritschel©

artist Mary Dritschel at EAC

Spiffy Pictures at the Art Center Highland Park

Wiggle Root by Vivian Visser©

paintings by Andrea Harris© at Ryerson Woods

glass mosaic by Chris Heisinger© at Simply Art Chicago

Scott Kieffer, etchings at Gallery G, Glencoe

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Eggscommunicate by Mary Dritschel©

artist Mary Dritschel at EAC

Spiffy Pictures at the Art Center Highland Park

Wiggle Root by Vivian Visser©

paintings by Andrea Harris© at Ryerson Woods

glass mosaic by Chris Heisinger© at Simply Art Chicago

Scott Kieffer, etchings at Gallery G, Glencoe

It’s the beginning of the month and that means new art exhibits in North Shore galleries. Here’s what we found interesting:

Mary Dritschel at the Evanston Art Center
This retrospective of the work of artist Mary Dritschel is a delight – full of word play, sexuality, politics and humor. Dritschel’s constructed objects, photography, painting and installations reflect her years as an art-maker and curator both here and in Brazil where she lived for many years.

Dritschel makes her art with a designer’s precision and an artistic sensibility that springs from a sharp intellect and a punster’s humor. Dritschel’s passion for feminist and political concerns are tempered by her humor and her seventy-five years of life experience. Through April 4. Don’t miss it.

The World of Spiffy Pictures at The Art Center in Highland Park. This Friday, March 5 opening (6:30-9:30) ought to be a hoot…
“Creators and producers David Rudman (the puppeteer behind Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster), Adam Rudman and Todd Hannert of Spiffy Pictures will bring The Art Centers Gallery to life with puppets, video and film. Spiffy Pictures will be putting together an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the production of Nickelodeon’s Jack’s Big Music Show, Disney’s Bunnytown and Curious Buddies.

The exhibit will include sets and puppets from various productions. There will be artist drawings, storyboards, puppet designs and video presentations. The Main Gallery and entranceway to The Art Center will be transformed into an experience. On Opening Night, there will be a live performance around 7:30 pm.”  from the Art Center website.

ALSO SHOWING…

Simply Chicago Art in Evanston: Chris Heisinger and Annette Jackson, “A Touch of Glass.” Heisinger’s glass mosiacs and Jackson’s glass bead jewelry through March 28. Opening reception Saturday, March 6, 3-8 pm.

The Art School and Gallery G in Glencoe has a show of Scott Kieffer’s etchings and Barbara Roseman’s watercolors. Keifer’s small etchings, mostly landscapes, are beautifully drawn and printed. Stop in and take a look – even the prices are accessible.

On March 20 “All About Dresses,” A show by Susan Shwartz and Colleen Conley, opens at Gallery G with a reception from 4-8pm.

The Block Museum in Evanston still has The Bloomsbury Group, through March 14.