Doomsayers who predicted “riots in the street” during the World Cup Games should be at Indian Lakes Resort, where Spain’s contingent has been staying. Following the Spain-Germany game, a hundred or so Spanish players, press and followers were in The Cave bar and found themselves in the middle of 50 or so German fans. The next three hours were spent singing and applauding each other’s national songs. Later in the week, several hundred Spaniards entertained everyone with a human pyramid that reached a height of six stories. “It sure hasn’t looked anything like the NBA Finals,” said resort GM Mike Brennan. “Everyone gets along real well.”
Flighty: Placido Domingo does his free concert Monday evening in Grant Park’s Petrillo Music Center. There were several sightings of the Spanish opera star, a World Cup fan, in Chicago last week. Then there was the Chicago PR firm that issued a release saying its client, a restaurant, catered a charter flight from Meigs Field for Luciano Pavarotti and King Carlos of Spain. When asked to check again, it turned out Domingo-not Pavarotti-was the singer on board. Furthermore, King Carlos was not on the plane. Hey, all those opera stars and kings look alike.
Working girls: The sudden ending of “Sunset Boulevard”-about 72 hours’ notice-in Los Angeles was a blow for Karen Mason, who was Glenn Close’s understudy. Mason is used to quick notices, though. The former Chicago cabaret star got less than a few hours’ warning several times when she had replaced Close, who battled flu much of the past month. Once, Mason was called to perform after the first act. “Boulevard” was on solid financial ground, but apparently was closed when Faye Dunaway, who was to take over the Norma Desmond role in July, couldn’t sing well enough.
Huh? State Senate President James “Pate” Philip and other Republicans are pushing for Medicaid recipients to make co-payments for health care to reduce skyrocketing costs. Asked to explain, Pate likened it to his days selling turkey stuffing at Pepperidge Farm, where he recently retired: “We used to give (stores) free displays for Thanksgiving and Christmas for stuffing. I would go into warehouses afterward and I’d find 75 cases, 50 cases (of stuffing), and we pay about 12 bucks a display. So I decided to put a $2 charge on them. Oh, I caught hell like you couldn’t believe. What was I doing, right? But I went into the warehouses after Thanksgiving, after Christmas and guess what? There were two cases, three cases, four cases. Why? Because you had to pay two bucks apiece.” Oh.
Not-so-common ground: William Kelly, GOP candidate for Congress, was invited to appear on WBBM-Ch. 2’s “Common Ground” this weekend. The subject was welfare. He would’ve appeared opposite his opponent, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but the invitation was rescinded later in the day. Kelly suspects backroom politics. Not so, says show host Monroe Anderson. Anderson said he didn’t make the invite, but canceled it later because Kelly bailed from the show at the last minute several weeks ago.
Chicago roots: The Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications opens a three-month exhibition Sunday highlighting the city’s contributions to country and western music. Museum President Bruce DuMont notes that the old “WLS Barn Dance” here was the first major program to showcase the music.
INC.lings: Steve Zucker received the business award at Ed Kelly’s annual Giant Awards Dinner on Friday in the White Eagle. Zucker, in turn, praised Kelly, who ran the North Side park “that kept me out of trouble.” Other honorees: Johnny Kerr, Chris Zorich, Bernie Spatz, Linda MacLennan and Max Kurland. . . . Sunday birthdays: Eleanor Parker, 72; Al Lerner, 48; Charles Robb, 55; Pamela Bellwood, 43. . . . Chef Paul LoDuca, detained earlier in the week for trying to sell a ticket on the street en route to a World Cup game, is turning a negative into a positive. Anyone who brings a Cup ticket stub into his Mare or Vinci restaurants gets a free appetizer.