Chicago Culture, Celebrity, Arts & Entertainment
Chicago culture, arts & entertainment with Billy Dec

Browsing all posts tagged with emmy.

10/26/10

producers of “the amazing race” casting new show at rockit wrigley

General

I was randomly talking to my agent from Grossman & Jack, Lindsay Glickstein, and she mentioned to me that her talent Jeff Schroeder (check out this video of us in the kitchen at Rockit Wrigley) of the 7-time Emmy winning show “The Amazing Race” is out doing a new show “Around the World“… reminded me that the same people who produced the amazing race asked me to help out for their new show called “focus rally america.” The show is a interactive cross-country road rally, and they are looking for digital savvy people who love adventure! teams will compete for cash, prizes, and new 2012 ford focus vehicles- competition will be fierce and contestants will need to rely on the help of their friends, fans and followers. If you’re interested in being on the show- come to the casting call this Thursday at Rockit Wrigley from 9p-midnight! For more info, visit: www.focusrally.com!

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09/24/10

How the heck did Billy Dec win an Emmy?!

General

Haha- someone just asked me that on twitter- so thought I would share the mini piece that won it for me (click here) and let all know that nominations for this year’s emmy awards are this tuesday and you may see my name at it again! (I hope?)

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educations and technical achievements – to be included in that category again would just be a huge honor.

what I pray might get nominated took hours, days, months, years.. of great work by many when I was serving as Director of Cultural Relations for the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee. Basically i asked 50 celeb friends if I could interview them about their love for our city and their support for the games taking place here, and in the u.s. In general. It was brilliant, supportive, loving, informative, fun, entertaining & community building.. All good things.

Anyway, This coming Tuesday, September 28th is the 2010 Emmy Nominations Party at Rockit Bar and Grill (22 W Hubbard) from 5:30 – 7:30pm. For more information and tickets click here and wish me luck!

For an example of my olympic interviews, click here!

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06/07/10

My radio reel is very Chicago!

celebrities, chicago, President Barack Obama, Radio, Video

I was recently asked out of no where by two different contacts to hear my voice on radio… so put this lil mix together of some past radio interviews I did… and thought I would share w/you all because it stirs up great feelings of all the amazing things there are to talk about in this great city of chicago!  I can go on all day about it… it all just makes me so happy… thanks to all who let me on… and to all who tune in… more to come I hope… Enjoy!

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04/23/10

World Malaria Day in Chicago

baseball, celebrities, charity, chicago, Chicago White Sox, General, Music

First of all- check this quick video made by 4th & 5th graders in Kyoto, Japan- about the horrible malaria problem in Africa they are trying to help- a fight that we here in chicago will be supporting this weekend!
In partnership w/ the Chicago White Sox, Malaria No More will recognize World Malaria Day on Sunday, April 25th during the White Sox/Mariners game in a variety of ways to raise awareness & funds to support their mission to end malaria deaths by 2015. The day will start off w/ my long time buddy, 3-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Jeremy Piven throwing out the 1st pitch. Then American Idol Finalist, Elliott Yamin will lend his phenomenal voice to the National Anthem and God Bless America. Also in attendance will be our Governor, Pat Quinn, showing his support for the continent of Africa.
Why are all parts of chicago & the world coming together? Because every 30 seconds, a child dies of malaria in Africa. Approximately 250 million people are infected with it every year. 90% of those terribly unfortunate people, are under the age of 5 years or pregnant women. Malaria no more has set out to end these deaths in just five short years. Seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? But oddly enough, it’s not – and you can help! It’s a known fact that malaria comes from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, but it might not be known that this disease and subsequently this epidemic can be solved with just a $10 mosquito net!!! You can donate a life-saving net by texting the word “NET” to 85944  - this will last for five years and can cover two people. It’s so easy to help!
For more information about Malaria No More and what you can do to help – visit www.malarianomore.org
***UPDATED MAY 17TH 2011***
This is the 2nd year in a row that the Chicago White Sox have partnered with Malaria No More to help educate and prevent this treatable disease that claims the lives of over 1700 a day in Africa (this time last year, that number was up to 2200 a day!). This Thursday, May 19th,  come out and see the Sox take on the Cleveland Indians – former Chicago Bear Jerry Azumah along with long-time supporter Governor Pat Quinn will be on hand to help host the evening. Although these devastating statics are slowly getting better, there is still so much work to do – please visit www.malarianomore.org for more information and to see first hand how anything you can do to help, makes a world of difference.
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First of all- check this quick video made by 4th & 5th graders in Kyoto, Japan- about the horrible malaria problem in Africa they are trying to help- a fight that we here in chicago will be supporting this weekend!
In partnership w/ the Chicago White Sox, Malaria No More will recognize World Malaria Day on Sunday, April 25th during the White Sox/Mariners game in a variety of ways to raise awareness & funds to support their mission to end malaria deaths by 2015. The day will start off w/ my long time buddy, 3-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Jeremy Piven throwing out the 1st pitch. Then American Idol Finalist, Elliott Yamin will lend his phenomenal voice to the National Anthem and God Bless America. Also in attendance will be our Governor, Pat Quinn, showing his support for the continent of Africa.
Why are all parts of Chicago & the world coming together? Because every 30 seconds, a child dies of malaria in Africa. Approximately 250 million people are infected with it every year. 90% of those terribly unfortunate people, are under the age of 5 years or pregnant women. Malaria no more has set out to end these deaths in just five short years. Seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? But oddly enough, it’s not – and you can help! It’s a known fact that malaria comes from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, but it might not be known that this disease and subsequently this epidemic can be solved with just a $10 mosquito net!!! You can donate a life-saving net by texting the word “NET” to 85944  - this will last for five years and can cover two people. It’s so easy to help!
For more information about Malaria No More and what you can do to help – visit www.malarianomore.org

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11/09/09

i won an emmy!

celebrities, chicago, General, nightlife

 

You probably caught me and emmy award winning actor jeremy piven twittering our heads off all last night at sunda & underground celebrating after my surprise emmy win!!  (Seriously, if you are not following me on twitter, click here, you are missing out)  anyway, I let everyone pass the award around and everyone thought he brought his emmy’s out with him- no one believed I actually won my own, it was insane!  We actually had to start twittering clarifications that it was mine, because reporters started to inquire, it was pretty funny…
Anyway, Omg I’m freaking out- for about 5 years now I have been hosting tv shows like metromix & nbc’s 24/7, and have been nominated before, but never thought I would actually ever win an emmy award!  Here is some footage I was poorly playing around with- it’s so raw, but I thought for sure I wasn’t going to win… had I known I had a chance, I would have lit it better, and I would have dressed better! Haha!  (if can make it through the black out for a minute toward the end, you will see us reappear at the very end for photographers backstage with the award in hand!!!!!!  (its worth it, I’m shaking in nervous excitement!)
If notice another group gets announced first, it’s because I guess they actually had a tie in our category, so I didn’t even hear us get called second!  It was scary, I didn’t hear my name, but everyone around me was like, “go up there!”  anyway, you will also see I dragged two guys up there with me… phillip jones who shot & directed, and chris robbins of bridges media group who did all the creative & post production magic… I share this honor with them, my partners brad young & arturo gomez, the entire rockit ranch family, and all the teams, families, signifigant others, and all of you who show so much support allowing us to pursue such amazing things!
In case wondering, This year marked the 51st year of The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and our emmy award was for a piece where I documented our rockit ranch asian travels & our new asian restaurant sunda’s evolution, “hosting” the story we called “Journey to Sunda” … the exact category was for Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programs : Program or Program Series Broadcast/Advanced Media!  all I have to say is… now I’m hooked… with your support, I’m going to tell more stories and be back at the emmy’s for more!  Thank you all!

 

EMMY w piv

You probably caught me and emmy award winning actor jeremy piven twittering our heads off all saturday night at sunda & underground celebrating after my surprise emmy win!!  Here’s one of our twit pics, I apologize for the crummy quality, it’s from my phone. (Seriously, if you are not following me on twitter, click here, you are missing out)  anyway, I let everyone pass the award around and everyone thought he brought his emmy’s out with him- no one believed I actually won my own, it was insane!  We actually had to start twittering clarifications that it was mine, because reporters started to inquire, it was pretty funny…

 

Anyway, Omg I’m freaking out- for about 5 years now I have been hosting tv shows like metromix & nbc’s 24/7, and have been nominated before, but never thought I would actually ever win an emmy award!  Here is a link to some footage I was poorly playing around with- it’s so raw, but I thought for sure I wasn’t going to win… had I known I had a chance, I would have lit it better, and I would have dressed better! Haha!  (if can make it through the black out for a minute toward the end, you will see us reappear at the very end for photographers backstage with the award in hand!!!!!!  (its worth it, I’m shaking in nervous excitement!)

 

If notice another group gets announced first, it’s because I guess they actually had a tie in our category, so I didn’t even hear us get called second!  It was scary, I didn’t hear my name, but everyone around me was like, “go up there!”  anyway, you will also see I dragged two guys up there with me… philip jones who shot & directed, and chris robins of bridges media group who did all the creative & post production magic… I share this honor with them, my buddy tom hodges for advising and watching over us all with all his expertise & experience in the industry, my partners brad young & arturo gomez, the entire rockit ranch family, and all the teams, families, signifigant others, and all of you who show so much support allowing us to pursue such amazing things!

 

In case wondering, This year marked the 51st year of The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and our emmy award was for a piece where I documented our rockit ranch asian travels & our new asian restaurant sunda’s evolution, “hosting” the story we called “Journey to Sunda” … the exact category was for Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programs : Program or Program Series Broadcast/Advanced Media!  all I have to say is… now I’m hooked… with your support, I’m going to tell more stories and be back at the emmy’s for more!  Thank you all!

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10/06/09

I got my 2nd Nomination for an Emmy!

General

 

 

I got my first nomination for an emmy last year while hosting nbc’s late night entertainment tv show “24/7” which was the hugest surprise ever!  Never thought I would be so blessed, but just found out from my tv friends following me on twitter that it happened again!  This time, it is for the video posted here called “Journey to Sunda!”   to be exact… The category reads: “Outstanding Achievement for Entertainment Programs – Advanced Media Arts/ Entertainment
Program or Program Segment… Journey To Sunda: Billy Dec, Host/Performer.  Rockit Ranch Productions”
I never imagined I could win an emmy, but if it happens this time around, I know exactly who I would want to thank!  I would thank bridges media group for being such an amazing creative pool of talent tricking this project out from start to finish beyond belief, my partners Brad Young & Arturo Gomez along with the entire Rockit Ranch family for all the support and resources to make this project (and all our projects/venues) a reality, and all of you for allowing me & my team to have a place in chicago to entertain you, fulfilling our passion to do so through our venues, and through projects like this one… thank you…
I got my first nomination for an emmy last year while hosting nbc’s late night entertainment tv show “24/7” which was the hugest surprise ever!  Never thought I would be so blessed, but just found out from my tv friends following me on twitter that it happened again!  This time, it is for the video posted here called “Journey to Sunda!”   to be exact… The category reads: “Outstanding Achievement for Entertainment Programs – Advanced Media Arts/ Entertainment
Program or Program Segment… Journey To Sunda: Billy Dec, Host/Performer.  Rockit Ranch Productions”
I never imagined I could win an emmy, but if it happens this time around, I know exactly who I would want to thank!  I would thank bridges media group for being such an amazing creative pool of talent tricking this project out from start to finish beyond belief, my partners Brad Young & Arturo Gomez along with the entire Rockit Ranch family for all the support and resources to make this project (and all our projects/venues) a reality, and all of you for allowing me & my team to have a place in chicago to entertain you, fulfilling our passion to do so through our venues, and through projects like this one… thank you…

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