Composer/musicians Frayne Lewis and Mike Middleton have a lot in common. They both grew up in their fathers’ music and were mentored by their fathers: Frayne by jazz legend Ramsey Lewis and Mike by Kent Middleton, a Leo Burnett EVP and head creative on the Phillip Morris account.

“Mike’s like an industry photo negative of my own personal experience,” Lewis says of the latest addition to OneSun Entertainment Group, CRC’s fast-growing composing division.

Middleton says he was hired “for two tasks at hand.

“THE MERRY GENTLEMEN,” the all-Chicago feature that was shot here in 2007, is being distributed theatrically by Samuel Goldwyn Co. May 1 in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and on May 8 in Boston and San Francisco.

The movie, starring Michael Keaton, also the director, and Kelly MacDonald, was written by Draftfcb creative exec Ron Lazzeretti.    

Jim Belushi will be one of the Friends of Bill Hogan hosting a March 24 fundraiser on behalf of the former Teamsters official, as he defends his right to free speech.

In a bizarre parallel universe out of an H. G. Wells sci-fi novel, Bill Hogan could go to jail for six months for violating an order to never speak to anyone in the union ? including his son.

“Although I am personally angered by the way Bill has been treated, he keeps his head up and takes the high road. I will support Bill to the end,” Belushi said.

POLITICOS WEREN’T ALONE IN THE SPOTLIGHT at the recent Democratic and Republican Conventions.

Producer Carey Lundin’s alter ego, “Citizen Kate,” star of the increasing popular website, www.citizenkate.com, struck high saturation pay dirt. “We proved that hard work, planning, creativity and just showing up, are all it takes to be successful,” says Lundin. At the two national conventions, “Kate,” aka actress Kate Soglin, got her share of the spotlight.

Funeral services for longtime sports cameraman Andy Lock of AndyCam, who died from a heart attack Wednesday, will be held Tuesday, Aug. 26 at St. John’s Church in Kankakee at 11 a.m.

Mr. Lock had been filming pre-game White Sox interviews prior to the game at U.S. Cellular Field when he was stricken.

Visitation is Monday, 4-9 p.m. at the Schreffler Funeral Home, also Kankakee; call 815/932-2421.

SIX NEW HD SPOTS returns the LaSalle St. law of Cochran & Montgomery to TV advertising for the first time since the death in 2004 of Johnny Cochran of O.J. Simpson trial fame.

SPI-TV shot six spots in the firm’s office, three with attorneys in their office and three in a conference room with other attorneys.

“Instead of a hard message like many law firm spots, each of these spots has a certain message,” says SPI-TV partner Jim Demas, the writer/producer/director. SPI-TV’s Roger Gazga was DP; Product Productions handled lighting.

WILLIAM FORSYTE leads a slate of familiar and sometimes sinister character actors in producer-director Scott Prestin’s crime thriller, “The Chicago Blues,” slated to shoot in late summer by Prestin’s company, American Stonehenge.

Forsythe (“Halloween”) will be joined by Vincent Pastore (“The Sopranos”), Daniel Baldwin (“Mulholland Falls”), Jon Gries (“Napoleon Dynamite”), Fred (The Hammer) Williamson and Farrah Forke (TV’s “Wings”).

Moon’s Sandwich Shop, 16 S. Western, has a sign outside that’s barely readable after decades of city wear and tear. But as we all know about the best holes-in-the-wall, like a book, we never judge it by the cover.

It turns out that Moon’s is hands-down one of the best diners in the city, possibly even the Midwest.

Moon’s is a bona fide chop shop in a city full of dinky imposters and one that’s usually packed to brim with saucy characters.

Intertwining certain foods can cause my taste buds to go berserk, like the sassy little appetizer known as goi cuon.

I’ve had an infatuation with these Vietnamese spring rolls since I first tasted them years ago at Le Colonial, but a short time ago, I stumbled across the mother of all goi cuons at Ba Le French Bakery, 5018 N. Broadway.

The epitome of freshness, goi cuons are like a delicious little soft-sandwich, served tidy and exotic like the Vietnamese, but with the class of the French thrown in for good measure.

Chicago is about to regain its once-dazzling reputation for jazz as production of a series on the music and artists gets underway at Ch. 11.

“Legends of Jazz” is a 13-week, half-hour series hosted by Chicago jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, with Larry Rosen, one of the greats of the music industry, as an executive producer.

“Legends” will swing for three months at Ch. 11’s 5,400-sq. ft. Studio A and like “Sound Stage” performances in the next studio, will be shot in HD and 5.1 surround sound.