Backstage with Ron Onesti

Ron Onesti:  Another King is Gone We lost one of the very last founders of Rock ‘N Roll a few months ago, Richard Wayne Penniman, otherwise known as Little Richard.  As flamboyant as he was entertaining, he was often called the…

Ron Onesti:  The Power of Music…on her last day There was a special Sunday several months ago that I would like to tell you about. The day started like most others at The Arcada.  The building came alive in the morning…

Ron Onesti:  Music People on the Street I have been in the music game for a long time.  It’s a great biz to be in, especially in my situation that involves literally all types of music.  I can connect with pretty…

Ron Onesti:  Baseball memories I am honored to have been recently elected President of The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.  It is a forty-five-year-old organization of which I have been greatly involved with.  The founder and President, George Randazzo…

Ron Onesti:  Dick Biondi Celebrates HIS “Big 89” There is a cup of hot cocoa in front of a crackling fire in the fall, there is peacefully floating on a raft on a small river in Tennessee, and there is sundown…

Ron Onesti:  Reminiscing with a Neighborhhood Gal So I am sitting here in a random Panera, trying to get my thoughts together about this week’s column.  How it generally happens is my weekly topics just come to me, I open my…

Ron Onesti:  An Inaugural installation of much needed Chicago Pride I attended the inaugural Induction ceremony of the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum last night.  It was like the final round of a heavyweight championship!  We attendees…

Ron Onesti:  Take Me Back to “Chicago” Can you believe it’s September already?  The summer came and went, the COVID Devil has raised its ugly head for almost two years, and we survived (to varying degrees) lockdowns, shutdowns and quarantines.  What’s…

Ron Onesti: Where have all the Ballrooms gone? I recently lost a close friend of mine.  His name was Nick, or as I called him, “Uncle Nick’.  He was ninety-two. I met Nick quite a few years back at the first…

Backstage with The Arcada Theatre’s Ron Onesti: James Gandolfini, a Soft-Spoken Hollywood Heavyweight It’s already been eight years since the untimely passing of 51-year-old actor James Gandolfini.  And still, any time his name is mentioned in any article or interview, the…

Ron Onesti: Warm Memories of “Mr. Warmth”…Don Rickles Being my ripe old age of 59 years is becoming a bittersweet situation.  I feel incredibly blessed to have been born in a WWII household, being a youth through the 60s, in high…

Backstage with Ron Onesti Memories are made of…Dean Martin We all have those legendary performers we wish we could have met in person.  For me, the list begins with Jackie Gleason, Jimmy Stewart and James Cagney.  But one name resonates…