Andy Davis and his “Stony Island” at Siskel Center 4/4-5

DIRECTOR ANDREW DAVIS made his mark as a rising star in 1978 with his first feature, “Stony Island,” about the fictitious Stony Island band, a fusion of rock, blues and jazz, mentored by musician Gene Barge, and the band’s journey to become American idols.

Now “Stony Island” and Davis are back home for two nostalgic days, Wednesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 5 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

The film was made before South Sider Davis went to L.A. and earned his considerable reputation by directing Oscar-nominated “The Fugitive,” “Collateral Damage,” “Holes,” “Chain Reaction” and 23 other features.

The original ’78 film, called “a substantial document of Chicago’s music scene by Numero Group co-owner Rob Sevier, was written and produced by Tamar Hoffa, whose daughter Susanna Hoffa is in the film, and made in 25 days on a $300,000 budget, which was huge back then. 

The DVD will be release April 24.

ACTOR KELSEY GRAMMER (now known to millions of TV viewers as Chicago’s politically expedient “Mayor Tom Kane”) will receive the Hugo’s Career Achievement Award at the 48th television ceremony April 19 at the new Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel. 

Grammer can add the tall, silver Hugo statuette to his vast collection of well-deserved four Emmys, two Golden Globes and a SAG award, not to mention an armload of nominations (16 Emmys, 16 SAG and 8 Globes) received over his 20 year TV and movie career.

The tribute will showcase highlights from the actor’s career, including his long-running role as Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC hit “Frasier,” the spinoff of his character in “Cheers.”

Optimus will receive a silver Hugo statuette for Commitment to Excellence in Television.  Tickets are $100 each.  Call 312/683-0121 or order online here. (My 2010 Hugo was the Chicago Legend Award and I promise to wear my tiara to the awards show on the 19th.)

THE CITY OF CHICAGO’S FIRST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENT, Redmoon artistic director Jim Lasko, will be Energy BBDO’s special guest at its monthly Creative Salon.

Thursday, April 12 at the agency.  Cited as “one of Chicago’s most creative individuals,” by the Dept. of Cultural Affairs, which anointed him artist-in-residence, Lasko fits the Salon’s mission of introducing creative icons from the arts and learning about their creative inspirations.

During his visit, Lasko will share his thoughts on the nature of his work and why it’s important, and offer a peek at Redmoon’s upcoming season, which will as usual include both guerrilla-style and formal productions.

Energy’s CCO Dan Fietsam came up with the salon idea and so far 15 persons from commercial, theatrical, music, visual and fine arts have shared their insights with the agency audience and the generous invitation to those from our visual media community who wishes to join them.

The Creative Salon takes place 4-6 p.m., and light refreshments will be served. RSVP here.

TOM WIEBE’S EARHOLE music and recording studio brought popular band audio mixer Colin Sipon into Earhole’s 11 W. Illinois studios and, believing that the right time had come for a permanent on-site presence in L.A. named Earhole’s long-time composer/producer engineer Matt Harting, who had recently moved to L.A., to the post.  Earhole specializes in agency music and audio assignments.

OKII CUSTOM DESIGNED SOFTWARE and embedded systems applications for the film and photography industry make an appearance in worldwide markets via a strategic distributor partnership with Zacuto USA.

Okii, founded and operated by Will Roberson of Apex, N.C. also offers the FC1 USB Focus Controller for Canon DSLR cameras with video capabilities, and the MC1 USB Mini Controller, a remote control device used for start/stop, digital zoom, and settings changes on Canon DSLR cameras with video capabilities.   

Like all Zacuto products, Okii Systems products are made in the USA.