Watch: Make Your Own Holiday Memories

Jodi Klusacek, an officer with the Oak Forest Green Steps Commission and distributor of eco-friendly Shaklee products, shows how you can turn old tin canisters and empty mason jars into new holiday keepsakes in a Patch video.

The idea of going green for the holidays is one Oak Forest Green Steps Commission officer Jodi Klusacek embraced long ago. She now shares green tips and healthy lifestyle choices regularly on her Nature's Resources Facebook page. And she shares a couple of tips here in a Patch video to help you prepare of the holidays. Why not turn an old tin canister into a Christmas gift box? Or illuminate a bathroom with a scented mason jar light?

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PHOTO GALLERY: Artists Show Goods at the Old Campground Festival

The United Methodist Church is celebrating its 175th year and held another successful festival on Saturday.

Vendors and artists sold their crafts, paintings, ceramics, wood and other items while local entertainment performed on stage during the 36th annual Old Campground Festival this weekend at the United Methodist Church. Families also enjoyed children's games and face painting.

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Talk Radio: Show About 1980s Shock Jock Still Fits Today’s World of Facebook

The New Lenox-based Spotlight Theater is performing the Pulitzer-nominated show about a wide swath of humanity calling into a late night radio show.

Jeff Gamlin still appreciates musicals and comedies. The vice president of area performing troupe Spotlight Theater has even played roles in said genre classics like “Grease” and the “Music Man.” But given his choice he’d prefer something a few shades darker; plays that draw too clear a picture of reality for better or worse. For that reason and a few others he chose to direct “Talk Radio” to close out Spotlight’s latest season. Eric Bogosian’s Pulitzer-nominated play premiered in 1987, focusing on an important night in the life of a quick-witted, brash, crass and brutally up front radio DJ named Barry Champlain. His show “NightTalk” on a Cleveland radio station is one night away from national syndication, and between him and the rare …

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SouthScene

Lucille Ball, 'Sexual Perversity' and Hot Jazz Mark Eclectic May Arts Scene

This week featuring events on the South Side, Chicago Heights, Frankfort, Joliet, Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Park Forest, South Holland and University Park.

Beverly Theatre Guild presents Leading Ladies, a Ken Ludwig farce about two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors who read a newspaper story about an elderly and ailing woman who has been unable to find her daughter's sons, Max and Steve. The wealthy woman wants to locate her grandsons so she can bequeath each a very healthy sum in her will. As in millions. And that's where it starts. The actors put on their best performances pretending to be be Max and Steve, and of course, romantic complications add additional layers of wackiness to this wacky play.  When: 8 p.m., May 6-7; 2 p.m., May 8 Where: Baer Theatre, Morgan Park Academy, 2153 W. 111th St., Chicago Cost: $20 Tickets and information: 773-284-8497 and by e-mail to …

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SouthScene

Dorothy and the Wizard, Anna and the King Set Stages for Exotic Places

This week featuring events from Chicago Heights, Frankfort, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Park Forest and South Holland.

Beverly Arts Center presents  the exclusive premiere of an original cabaret musical, Last Night at the Piano Bar, based on the real life exploits of piano bar artist Dan Gillogly, who also co-wrote the script with Jeff Award-winning Nate Herman.  The musical tells the story of one night in the lives of four characters in a North Side lounge. There's Frank, a tough city worker who likes expensive clothes; Grace, a former beauty queen now known for her wifely housekeeping in a television ad; Rhonda, the brash bartender; and Jimmy, a wide-eyed kid from Iowa who before this night could never have imagined this big city adventure. When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, April 29-30; 3 p.m. Sunday, May 1. Where: Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St. Cost…

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SouthScene

Blues, Bhutan, Bright New Stars Buzz Southland

This week featuring events from Alsip, Beverly, Chicago Heights, Flossmoor, Oak Forest, Orland Park, Palos Hills, Park Forest, Tinley Park and South Holland.

Tracy Smith, adored by cable television fans who gravitate to the Comedy Central, continues her stop at Riddles Comedy Club with four shows this weekend during which she is bound to recount the adventures of the single life and more, all with her come-hither blend of comedy and cute. When: 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. shows tonight (April 15) and April 16 Where: Riddles Comedy Club, 5055 W. 111th St., Alsip Cost: $5 for 8 p.m. shows, $12.50 for 10:30 p.m. performances Ticket information: 708-422-5055, www.myridriddlescomedyclub.com and at the door  Born in Detroit but with "Delta blues-filled blood," John Lee Hooker Jr, son of legendary blues man John Lee Hooker,"was exposed to the life of blues from a young age," the younger man's official bio …

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SouthScene

Roads on Southland Stages Lead to Dublin, San Jose and the Old Ball Game

Chicago Heights, Flossmoor, Frankfort, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Palos Hills, Tinley Park and more turn spotlights on for entertainment in the coming week.

Mr. Blotto heads to Beverly Arts Center with its distinct blend of every kind of rock music imaginable, from hard rock to country, to blues-rock to good old rock 'n' roll. When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 8 Where: Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th Street Cost: $12, $10 members Information: 773-445-3838 and beverlyartcenter.org It’s fun. It’s tragic. It’s cheaper than cheap. The Drama Group presents a free and informal play reading of George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House. “Written between 1916 and 1917, Heartbreak House is a telling indictment of the generation responsible for the First World War," states the theater troupe’s information notes. "With its bold combination of high farce and bitter tragedy, Shaw’s work remains an uncannily …

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SouthScene

'Famous Fives,' Emerald City, Peter Noone, Extraordinary Art Shows Color the Coming Week

This week with events in Chicago Heights, Frankfort, Joliet, Mokena, Oak Lawn, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Park Forest, Tinley Park and University Park.

Union Street Gallery unveils a new, national juried exhibit, Word and Numbers, with a “smart, city gallery feel," according to gallery information. Union Street Gallery exhibits always are free. When: A reception is 6-9 p.m. March 4. Show runs March 2 through April 2. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, noon-6 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Where: Union Street Gallery, 1527 Otto Blvd. Cost: Free More info: Call 708-754-2601. Under the direction of celebrated guest conductor Victor Yampolsky, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra continues its performance season with Famous Fives, a program of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D-minor. Read our preview story by…

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Lorraine Swanson

10:09 am on Friday, March 4, 2011

I saw Peter Noone in concert last year. Yes, I am old. He put on a great show. He's very witty and still has the pipes.   more ›