Paramount Theater Aurora

Paramount gets 10000th subscriber

AURORA — The Paramount Theatre has received its 10,000th subscriber to its new Broadway Series.

Mark and Sarah Heiss of Sugar Grove were presented with a prize package of Paramount tickets, pre-show dinners, behinds the scenes access at the Paramount and other goodies for being the 10,000th subscribers, the theater announced Thursday.

“My family and I have a long-time association with the Paramount and a lot of memories there,” said Mark Heiss, an administrator in the Plainfield School District.

“We were excited to support the new Broadway Series by buying our tickets, and now I am especially thrilled to be the 10,000th subscriber.”

Starting this fall, the Paramount is self-producing and a four-show Broadway Series, opening with “My Fair Lady” Sept. 14 to Oct. 2.

Other shows in the series are “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Nov. 2-20; “A Chorus Line,” Jan. 18-Feb. 5 2012; and “Hair,” March 14-April 1, 2012.

For tickets or information on the Paramount’s Broadway Series or other shows in the 2011-2012 theater lineup, visit ParamountAurora.com, call the Paramount box office at 630-896-6666 or stop by the Paramount Theatre at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

Six Degrees of Bacon Brothers: Celebrated Siblings Kevin and ...

Female fans will be wild to see their favorite Footloose actor with his megawatt, silver screen smile, but Kevin and Michael Bacon, aka The Bacon Brothers, are coming to Aurora’s Paramount Theatre this month to rock!

Kevin and Michael Bacon could be major rock stars, but they’re having more fun being one of the best-kept secrets in the industry. The celebrated siblings are terrific singers, masters of multiple instruments and pensive, polished songwriters. Along with their stellar band mates, Ira Siegel on various guitars, Paul Guzzone on bass and Frank Vilardi on drums, The Bacon Brothers create a magical explosion onstage, slipping between genres, making their music hard to describe but easy to embrace. They call it “forosoco”– a blend of folk, rock, soul and country. Some just call it cool.

The Bacon Brothers will perform one-night-only, Tuesday, August 30 at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. Tickets are $35-$55. For tickets and information, go to ParamountAurora.com , call the Paramount box office, (630) 896-6666, or visit the box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 2 hours prior to evening performances. The Bacon Brothers are sponsored by The Barry Family and The Kane County Chronicle.

More about The Bacon Brothers Long before Kevin launched his prolific stage and screen career, and before Michael became known as a go-to composer for film and television, they were just two brothers, born nine years apart, coming of age in Center City Philadelphia. By the late 1960’s, Michael, already a professional musician, would gig with his band at the city’s famed Electric Factory with a young Kevin tagging along when he could. It’s a time preserved in the cover art for The Bacon Brothers’ latest, New Year’s Day, with a preteen Kevin singing alongside a mandolin-strumming Michael. The record, laden with the brothers’ trademark gritty rock and a touch of Philly soul, hearkens back to those roots in the City of Brotherly Love, when life was less complicated and music filled the air.

“My earliest memory of music was what my brother was playing or the music he brought home,” Kevin recalls. “I would sit on the steps of our basement while he was downstairs practicing with our sister, Hilda, and their band. So my heroes growing up were all rock ‘n’ rollers. I wasn’t really into sports, or even movies. If I could save money I’d buy an album.” With 2009 marking 14 years of The Bacon Brothers band’s existence, any cynical preconceptions about well-known actors “dabbling” in music now can safely be discarded. The band has gigged relentlessly to build up a following, and New Year’s Day represents their sixth LP release. Along the way, the younger brother has apparently caught up with his elder sibling in some ways.

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