Behind the Scenes with Billy Dec – 5 Radio Shows, a Live TV Show on ABC & a PSA all in 5 hours!

I woke up at 5am this morning for a BIG press day with Billy.  We had to do 5 radio shows, a live tv show & a PSA all in 5 hours when he literally just stepped off a plane from France, Hungary, and Austria 12 hours prior.  When he initially told me about how much press he wanted to do BEFORE he was live on Windy City Live- I thought it was absurd, but in all the time I have known him, I can say he pushes himself to work beyond what most people think is feasible.  The main purpose behind all this press was to talk about two events that are the very important to him to support art & theatre in Chicago & raise scholarships for kids -  The Madhatter’s Ball & The Piven Theatre Gala.

The schedule of the day went as follows:
6am – Picked up  Chicago Reader, heard BD won “Best Person to Follow on Twitter”                                                                                                                                          6:15am – Car Pickup

6:30am – Stop at Rockit to pick up Burgers
6:45am – Live on Kiss FM with Angi Taylor at Brother Fred
7:30am – J & Julian Show on B96
7:40am – Fresh with Scotty & Rebecca
7:50am – K-Hits with Eddie & Jobo
8:30am – Make-up & Producer’s Session for ABC’s Windy City Live
9-10am – Live on ABC’s Windy City Live
11am – Steve Dahl Show
11:30am – PSA Shoot for Chicago’s Go Do Good Campaign that Connects Art to Action
1-3pm – Work at Rockit Ranch Productions
3pm – Call in with Andy Giersher

I took my camera with me to show you guys what it’s like to be Behind the Scenes when you are live on radio & tv!!! It was a crazy, fun-filled day, and I was shocked to see that Billy was still even standing to make it out that night! (Billy attended a party for Factor Models and worked at Sunda later that night.  I, on the other hand, was asleep by 10pm)

By the way, for those who follow Billy on facebook & twitter – You may have seen the picture of the bird that he posted that seemed to be injured right outside his office on that day.  I’m very happy to report that by the end of the day, the bird was saved thanks to the help from the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors – we will post a video we took and share the whole story here tomorrow!

-Amy

Tags: abc, abc windy city live, Amy Shah, andy giersher, angi taylor, B96.3, billy dec, brotha fred, chicago, chicago bird collision monitors, chicago events, chicago reader, chicago reader best of 2011, eddie and jobo, facebook, fresh 105.9, fundraiser, j and julian, jeremy piven, k-hits, kiss fm, lookingglass theatre, madhatter's ball, piven theatre workshop, psa, Radio, rockit, rockit bar and grill, scotty and rebecca, steve dahl, theatre, twitter, windy city live

Academy Awards in Chicago!

I know a lot of people throw academy award parties across the nation, but wanted to let you know of the 51 “official” academy award parties sanctioned by the academy of motion pictures, arts and sciences, chicago has had one of these “official” parties for the last 16 years!

One of my scariest press memories actually was when I hosted it about 5 years ago w/my buddy Amanda puck who dragged me in to do steve dahl’s radio show absolutely terrified because for months he had been making fun of me live on his show (even made my mom cry once when she heard him in the car)!  In the end, glad amanda helped me face my fear, because ended up that steve and I realized we were actually two nice guys that totally didn’t understand the other til we talked in person.. and we actually created a very nice friendship out of it!

Anywho, this year the official party celebrating the live simulcast of the 82nd annual academy awards will be from 6p-11p sunday march 7th at the gene siskel film center (164 n. state st) hosted by great friends like roger & chaz ebert, harold ramis, Betsy steinberg, mike mcnamara, Amanda puck, david zapata, brook jay and more! tickets at ticketmaster are $100 & all proceeds will benefit the gene siskel film center of the school of the art institute of chicago- enjoy!

Tags: 82nd annual, academy awards, academy of motion pictures, amanda puck, arts and sciences, awards, betsy steinberg, brook jay, chaz ebert, david zapata, gene siskel, gene siskel film center, harold ramis, mike mcnamara, official party, oscar statue, oscars, roger ebert, school of the art institute chicago, steve dahl, ticketmaster, tickets