Lakeview's Alley Returns
The Alley
One of Chicago's underground retail giants is back on Belmont after several years. The Alley, the
iconic lifestyle and clothing shop rehabbed their former Taboo Tabou space at 843 Belmont, and the
success of their grand opening last month even surprised founder Mark Thomas.
"The foot traffic at Belmont and Clark is incredible, the draw from the Cubs to the draw from the
Lake and the draw from Boystown has made the early opening of the Alley pretty successful."
Thomas operated The Alley as a pop-shop over the winter as he recovered from surgery. But the
itch to get back into the retail game was too much to pass up. “They say you could never go home,
Thomas told IE. “Returning to Belmont and Clark for the second or third time, it’s kind of a strange
experience with Target on the corner. We ran polls on Facebook, and Lakeview came up as the location
that was most requested by our customers for the newest incarnation of the Alley, with second-place
being Schaumburg.” Fans of the store can find gear that made the store famous in the '80s and '90s. T-
Shirts, shoes, and jewelry are dominant, while fans of Taboo Tabou can still find their favorite bedroom
gear, including lingerie and toys. Being back in Lakeview has motivated the Alley’s owner to stick
around for the long term, complemented by its online website presence.
“For the store to survive people have to do more than love the Alley, people have to shop The Alley’s
website, and they have to return 3 or 4 times a year to support us. They have to say no to clicking on
merch on Amazon to keep our lifestyle alive.”
Hello Our Names
Are....Cherie & Brie
Sure, it was a wild ride. The career of vocalist Cherie Currie had started
back in the mid-‘70s with the Kim Fowley-assembled all-girl outfit with Joan
Jett, The Runaways, then rocketed into film roles (“Foxes”), an album with her
sister Marie, a trashy autobiography (Neon Angel), even a Hollywood film
about the group, 2010’s The Runaways, directed by Floria Sigismondi. But — as
her side gig as a chainsaw artist revved up — her fondness for show business
powered down. By 2017, she says, “I was over it — that was it, I was gone. I
was actually in the process of selling my SoCal house and moving to Northern
California, where I was buying two cabins. I was through with this industry for
good.” Still, Currie hadn’t quit rock and roll altogether. In 2017, she was still
accepting occasional session offers, some quite disheartening.
“There was one production from Brazil that was particularly irksome, she
recalls. “It was in English, thank God, but they wanted what they wanted —
namely my name, but the style they wanted me to sing it in was like nothing I
was used to, and it was incredibly strange. And while it was fun to do sessions
like that, none of them were anything like the Fanny one. Not even close.” She's
referring to the time two years ago when she was invited to attend a studio ses-
sion with the first glam girl group, Fanny, to be signed to a major imprint back
in 1969. The original Fanny members were recording a comeback album,
Fanny Walked the Earth and she was excited to participate. Currie gravitatedat-
ed immediately to drummer/vocalist Brie Darling (nee Howard)
who
Continued on
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8
Love Terri
07•2019
ByeTunes
Terri Hemmert with Muddy Waters, circa 1982 (photo via WXRT)
It revolutionized the way we buy music, and not necessarily for the better. Whether you love it or hate
it, Apple iTunes enabled music lovers a legitimate electronic platform to purchase their music back in 2001,
though the interface was a bit clunky. Later Apple added the ability to buy or rent movies on the service as
well as download podcasts. For early iPod owners, the easiest way to buy your music was through the
iTunes store. And it was the dream of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
After 18 years, and several years of rumors of its imminent demise, Apple is discontinuing the service
as we know it, though your iTunes purchases through the years will still be accessible through three new
music apps. “Users will have access to their entire music library, whether they downloaded the songs, pur-
chased them or ripped them from a CD,” Apple said in a prèss release last month “For those who like to
own their music, the iTunes Music Store is just a click away.”
6 illinoisentertainer.com july 2019
She’s been a staple midday host at WXRT since 1992, and now she’s ready
to cut back on her radio schedule on her terms. Longtime radio host Terri
Hemmert announced last month that she’s stepping down as a full-time host
at the station at 93.1 after being on the air since 1981.
"In a few weeks, I will move from being on air five days a week year-round
to a schedule with much more flexibility while still remaining part of the sta-
tion and work I love so much. My doctor will be thrilled; I’ll be getting eight
hours of sleep a night. After all these years.” Hemmert will continue to be a
station fill-in host, and she’ll maintain her Sunday morning show dedicated
to the Fab Four. “I will continue hosting Breakfast with The Beatles because
that teenager still lives inside me. I will continue coming into the radio sta-
tion at least a couple of days a week to use the XRT Public Affairs
Department that I started 45 years ago with a pair of scissors, a typewriter,
and reels of audio tape, to find ways to share information with our audience
and inform them how to make living in Chicago better by being aware of
free events and volunteer opportunities."